Dole Offers Words About Wisdom

With a display of high energy and good humor, Elizabeth Dole gave Orange County something she was too exhausted to give last fall: a rousing speech.

Standing before 500 people at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, Dole called for the country’s return to the wisdom of its founding fathers at a benefit for Angelitos de Oro, a support group of Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Orange County.

Last October, Dole disappointed 150 attendees at a $10,000 per couple dinner for the California Republican Party, also held at the Hyatt. Weary from helping her husband, Bob, campaign for president, she failed to address the crowd, ducking out after the salad course.

On Saturday--for a fee said to be about $30,000--Dole posed for pictures with event underwriters and dined on a three-course meal before making her remarks at the luncheon, which netted $100,000.

Criticizing a government she says has come to employ “regulation over responsibility,” Dole, president of the American Red Cross, urged the nation’s leaders to have faith in the “wisdom and goodness of the people.”

“Individuals and national character are what we need,” she said. “Why aren’t we able to give our children what was given us? Because [the government has become] too bureaucratic. We know, for many years, all the power has gone one direction--right to Washington, D.C.

“Decisions once made by state legislatures, city halls and kitchen round tables are now made in Washington. What we now need to do, it seems to me, is to remember . . . the 10th Amendment of the Constitution: ‘Those powers that are not specifically delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states, belong to the states and to you and me--we the people.’ ”

Employing her famous “Dole stroll,” (where she abandons the podium and walks along a ramp as she talks) Dole, 60, also spoke of her early days at Harvard Law School.

“On my first day in 1962--I was one of 24 women in a class of 550--a male student came up to me, like someone throwing cold water in my face, and said, ‘Elizabeth, what are you doing here? Don’t you know there are men who would give their right arm to be in this school, men who would use their legal educations?’

“These are the first words I heard. Currently, that man is a senior partner of a very prestigious Washington law firm. And I enjoy telling this story. In fact, I love to tell this story,” she added, laughing. “A number of my male classmates, who are partners in prestigious Washington law firms, call up and say, ‘Elizabeth, tell me I’m not the one.”

She’s not going to reveal his name, however. “I think I’ll just let them all sweat it out.”

As for her husband’s failed presidential bid: “People will say to me, ‘You must be so exhausted,’ ‘it must have been so horrendous, so grueling.’ Let’s set the record straight--it was the highlight of my life, a marvelous experience . . . it was a privilege to be able to do it.”

Dole also praised the efforts of nonprofit organizations such as Big Brothers / Big Sisters, the goal of which is to provide volunteer role models for at-risk children.

“Clearly, in my view, children who have overcome at-risk behaviors have had one thing in common--a one-to-one connection with a caring adult who serves as a mentor,” she said.

Big Brothers / Big Sisters of Orange County provides male and female role models to between 500 and 600 children, said its director, Patricia Davis.

“And we have a waiting list of 164 children, most of them little boys,” Davis said. “Right now, we need two things: more Big Brothers for our little boys. And little girls--parents don’t seem to come forward with little girls.”

Role models are asked to give from three to six hours per week and a commitment of one year. For information, call (714) 544-773.

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What the world needs now: Love--supporters of South Coast Repertory just can’t stop talking about it. On Friday, hundreds of them packed the Costa Mesa theater to watch the premiere night performance of “How the Other Half Loves,”--a wild, ‘70s-set comedy about three couples and two memorable dinner parties--told by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.

“You may be holding your sides and crying from laughter by the time you get through this evening,” J. Michael Hagan--president of the SCR board--told guests at a pre-performance supper for corporate donors at the Center Club in Costa Mesa.

Indeed. During intermission, playgoers proclaimed the comedy one of the best they’d seen. “The actors’ timing is perfection,” noted Catherine Thyen. “Love and marriage is a dance, and they are dancing it so deftly.”

Love will also be the theme of SCR’s July 12 summer spotlight benefit. SCR director David Emmes will team up with theater buff Judie Argyros of Newport Beach to perform “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney. Anybody who wonders why SCR chose Argyros to star in the production needs to go no further than the Tony-Award winning Emmes himself.

“She has a natural talent--a tremendous flair for the theatrical,” Emmes said. “And we thought her recognition in the community along with mine might sell some tickets.” The event includes dinner. Ticket prices are $100 to $250. For information, call (714) 957-2602.

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Youthful courage: Adriana Perez had two engagements Wednesday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre: a backstage speech and an onstage performance with the St. Joseph Ballet.

No small task for a 15-year-old girl who lives in a drug-dealing Santa Ana neighborhood that breeds fear and distrust.

“Sometimes I wake up in the morning and think about all that happens in the world when I am asleep,” she told donors who’d gathered backstage for a reception before the ballet’s opening night. “I realize how many of my friends fall into the hands of gangs, drugs and violence in search of a refuge. In these times . . . its hard for us teenagers to have an optimistic view of life.”

For Perez, the St. Joseph Ballet has made the difference. The four-year troupe member said it provides “hope, security, inspiration and encouragement. . . . With the help of many, great wonderful sponsors like you . . . I am given the opportunity to shine on stage and have the feeling I have accomplished something.”