Touching Hearts

Northern Exposure

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY: The Claire Devins story is touching hearts around the world. The youngest of five children of Joe and Liz Devins of Carlsbad was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive ATRT brain tumor last November, shortly before her second birthday. When doctors at Children’s Hospital in San Diego held out little hope, the distraught family turned to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis. There, little Claire has been undergoing chemotherapy with the entire family by her side, living in the Target House and a nearby apartment. Joe Devins is struggling to maintain the Oceanside pharmacy he owns while trying to spend as much time in Memphis as he can. And Liz says she’s met some truly inspirational people at St. Jude’s, including Marlo Thomas, whose late father, Danny, founded the facility, and Richard Simmons, whom she ran into at a local hotel. “He seemed to be enjoying meeting people and taking photos with them, so we went up and asked for a photo with him, too,” Liz recalls. “He asked for the reason for our visit to Memphis, so we told him about Claire. He immediately questioned me about how she is doing. Then, he grabbed our hands so we were in a circle with him and led us in a heartfelt prayer for Claire. We had tears in our eyes at this point.” Claire is scheduled to continue chemotherapy treatment until the summer. Meanwhile, her online guest book has attracted more than 13,000 visitors, from as far away as Germany.

TEE TIME: Carlsbad’s posh new civic golf course probably won’t be open until July at the earliest, due to delays in building the clubhouse. But it’s already generating lots of buzz in golf circles. The Crossings at Carlsbad, designed by Greg Nash and boasting gorgeous ocean views rivaling those at Torrey Pines, is surrounded by a habitat preserve, with linked walking and hiking trails. The nearly 400-acre course, just east of Interstate 5, also has the dubious distinction of being the most expensive municipal golf course ever built, with a price tag topping $70 million. When plans for the course were first drawn up more than a decade ago, the cost was estimated at less than $12 million.

FOR THE BIRDS: Opposition to a proposed hotel project on the north shore of Buena Vista Lagoon, west of the 101, was led by the Buena Vista Audubon Society, which operates a nature preserve just across the highway. Ironically, the owner of the north shore parcel, which is slated to become the southern gateway to Oceanside with an 82-room hotel, a restaurant and four detached condos, gave the society the land for its preserve across the street. “Talk about biting the hand,” sighed one Oceanside official.

STEEPLE JACK: Ah, what some churches won’t do to augment the collection plate. The 78-foot steeple at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido is slated to house a cellular antenna from Sprint Nextel. The antenna will be hidden just below the cross, inside what is now a hollow area, which will be enclosed. The lease of the steeple will bring in about $1,000 a month. Trinity is the third church in San Diego County to cut such a deal with a cellular phone provider; nationwide, the number is in the hundreds. There’s even a Web site, SteepleCom.com, that serves as a broker. Its tag line: “Advocates for churches in a wireless age.”

LOCAL ROOTS: Jim Gibbons is the toast of Las Vegas these days. The executive director of horticulture for Wynn Las Vegas, the hottest new luxury hotel on the Strip, is being profiled all over the place for his whimsical Wynn’s Mountain, a 140-foot-high hollow edifice covered with spectacular landscaping, including trees as tall as 65 feet, and overlooking a lake. Gibbons has plenty of other Vegas credits, including the rain forest in the Mirage and the atrium at the Bellagio, but before all that, he honed his chops here in North County, helping to lay out the San Diego Wild Animal Park near Escondido.

HIGH HONORS: Marcos Martinez, a professor at California State University San Marcos, has been awarded the Outstanding Latino Cultural Award in Performing Arts by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. The national award recognizes Latinos who’ve contributed to understanding the Latino community and culture through the arts and performing arts.

AND HONORS HIGH: Abraxas High School in Poway has been recognized as one of 13 model continuation high schools by the California Department of Education. The schools were honored for their innovative programs to help at-risk students. Abraxas, one of 521 continuation high schools in the state, has more than 400 students, most of whom transferred after falling behind in credits at one of the Poway Unified School District’s regular high schools.

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