After several people addressed the Rancho Palos...

After several people addressed the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council this week on such weighty matters as weeds and trash on vacant lots, an illegal fence and a luxury hotel along the coastline, Flo McTaggart got down to serious business.

She told the council--which includes her husband, John McTaggart--that she wasn’t speaking for or against anything, nor representing anyone but herself. “I just did not want to spend my 36th wedding anniversary alone,” she said.

With that, the McTaggarts’ 6-year-old grandson, Douglas Goosey, ran up to the council table with a bunch of balloons, and Flo McTaggart brought out a large cake. Mayor Robert Ryan declared a 10-minute recess so everyone could eat it.

John McTaggart had thought about skipping the meeting, his wife said, but she asked several council members to tell him he was needed. Otherwise, he would have missed his own surprise party.