![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_0073.jpg\")
Residents in Dana Point at the OC Sailing and Event Center Meeting Room. Credit: NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice OF OC<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the exact place where this man\u2019s son apparently grew up playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A \u201cJetty Rat,\u201d as one local activist told me in the parking lot after the meeting, explaining why the man in the front row was so intense and unable to sit through the bureaucrat\u2019s bullshit without reacting.<\/p>\n
This was a crowd too informed to be fooled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And they asked good, hard questions, often shouted from the audience or as part of interrupting officials, as the real Q&A would come way late in the meeting and was controlled by Foley, who read queries from the crowd on cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There seemed to be concerns about the crowd tone, evidenced by the Sheriff\u2019s deputies posted visibly at the entrance to the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_0051.jpg\")
Sheriff deputies posted outside Supervisor Katrina Foley\u2019s Townhall. Credit: NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice OF OC<\/p>\n
Foley \u2013 who lectured the crowd for the first half hour of the gathering on her climate action plan \u2013 tried to control the room as much as she could, clearly hoping that gathering all the county bureaucrats together in one room for a town hall would help community members get their heads around how to change the narrative for the creek and California\u2019s first state beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
OC Public Works officials basically told the crowd that in order to prevent flooding during storms and keep flood insurance rates stable in the area, they needed to keep the channels on the San Juan Creek clear in order to protect all the housing and commercial developments that Orange County has allowed to be placed right up to the creek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foley did log a big win from the crowd when she announced that \u2013 based on her advocacy \u2013 she could guarantee that all herbicide spraying in the San Juan and Trabuco Creeks would halt immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brent Linas, a 41-year old former Navy special operations officer, who has been leading the Creek Team and lives in San Juan Capistrano, saw the town hall and Foley\u2019s announcement as a clear win for transparency and accountability after he was given unclear answers for months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone on Monday night got to see what the Creek Team has been dealing with, how County of Orange officials evade straightforward questions about herbicide use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For three hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_0060.jpg\")
Supervisor Katrina Foley leads discussion at town hall on herbicides in local creeks. Credit: NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice OF OC<\/p>\n
Foley \u2013 who oftentimes on Monday scolded activists over their tone and hard push for accountability \u2013 strove to brand Tuesday\u2019s town hall as the start of finding solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet even she got visibly frustrated at one point with the bureaucrats from the County of Orange for their inability to just answer questions in an open manner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She announced that she\u2019s also establishing an advisory committee \u2013 one that includes the Creek Team \u2013 that\u2019s tasked with finding an alternative way to keep vegetation out of creeks.<\/p>\n
Creek team leaders say they are taking the lead on setting up the committee, which left me wondering how this process will actually work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_0016.jpg\")
San Juan Creek near Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. Credit: NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice OF OC<\/p>\n
Creek activists note there are apparently endangered species \u2013 like Steelhead Trout and Least Bell\u2019s Vireo \u2013 in the creek that the bureaucrats at OC Public Works aren\u2019t happy about seeing in the waterway because, in their minds, if these animals establish themselves in the habitat, it compromises the official aim of keeping the flood control channels flowing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet it seems the protected animals are already there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Activists also found public records noting that county officials are relying on old environmental permits issued in 2013 to do their spraying in waterways \u2013 permits that state water board officials have just given administrative continuance to despite being long expired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the permits are enforceable, there\u2019s questions why they aren\u2019t updated to reflect the newest understanding of local waterways \u2013 especially around issues like herbicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Activists say the federal EPA looks to have these permits renewed every five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At this point, Linas notes that the permits have been expired longer than they were issued for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How Accurate are the Environmental Tests?\u00a0<\/p>\n
County officials also told the public on Monday night that when they spray, they take scientific samples nearby to make sure there\u2019s acceptable levels of herbicide in the water.<\/p>\n
That prompted Rob Beard \u2013 a 28-year-old biochemist working with the Creek Team \u2013 to interject during the town hall several times, accusing OC Public Works officials of gaming the data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beard noted that many of the public records released by the County of Orange lacked effective GPS coordinates to really be able to measure where spraying occurred by contractors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re sampling in the wrong spot, you could be missing a lot of the herbicide and it could be giving false negatives,\u201d Beard said in an interview after the Monday meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreover, he publicly accused county bureaucrats of presenting false results to calm the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we asked again,\u201d Beard said in an interview this week about the county providing GPS coordinates of field measurements. \u201cThey made up a document and passed it onto me,\u201d he said, referring to an Excel spreadsheet prepared by county officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beard also notes that public records they have seen \u2013 such as a 2024 local Agricultural Commissioner investigation \u2013 show the county doesn\u2019t properly give public notice when they spray the creekbeds.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC_0046.jpg\")
San Juan Creek near Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. Credit: NORBERTO SANTANA, JR., Voice OF OC<\/p>\n
I never heard any Public Works officials contest what Beard said publicly at the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the metadata was made by someone who wasn\u2019t a field scientist,\u201d Beard said, adding, \u201cI would get fired if I did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted that in some cases, lab operators didn\u2019t test results of herbicide spraying soon enough to be valid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bethany Nelms, 42, another Creek Team leader who lives in San Juan Capistrano also noted that OC officials don\u2019t measure for herbicides at the mouth of the creek where it flows into Doheny State Beach, where all the kids play.<\/p>\n