Campers left stranded on Santa Cruz Island after boat drifts away

Four campers were left stranded on Santa Cruz Island early today when their boat drifted away after its anchor became detached, authorities said.

A witness reported the incident about midnight to the Coast Guard's Los Angeles-Long Beach command center, which dispatched a rescue boat and a helicopter from from its Channel Islands station, said Petty Officer Christina Bozeman of the Coast Guard. 

The 26-foot boat’s anchor became detached, causing the boat to drift about two miles, Bozeman said.

The four campers, whose names were not released, told authorities they were setting up when they realized their boat had drifted away. 

The boat was later located by the Coast Guard. No injuries were reported, Bozeman said.

--Ruben Vives

Small earthquake rumbles off Southern California coast [Updated]

A small earthquake struck this morning in the Gulf of Santa Catalina, but no damage has been reported.

The 3.9-magnitude quake hit at 6:34 a.m., 30 miles southeast of San Clemente Island and 43 miles south of Avalon on Catalina Island, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

[Updated at 9:50 a.m.: According to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Did You Feel It?" site, the temblor was felt in San Diego, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Escondido and as far north as Rancho Palos Verdes.]

In January, a 4.2 temblor hit near San Clemente Island, in the general vicinity of the today's quake.]

-- Baxter Holmes

Coast Guard suspends search for survivors of burning boat spotted off Venice Pier

The U.S. Coast Guard has ended its search for two possible survivors following the discovery of a burning 27-foot boat two miles off the Venice Pier yesterday.

Coast Guard helicopters and ships searched 148 nautical miles of sea before suspending the search at 11:10 a.m. today, according to Lt. j.g. Tyler Stutin. The search began immediately after witnesses spotted the Casey Lynn burning at sea. Authorities were initially told that two people were seen aboard the boat, but a witness said later that they may have been mistaken.

The registered owner is Michael Martinez of Woodland Hills, according to Stutin. Authorities have attempted to contact Martinez but had not reached him as of Wednesday afternoon. His neighbors told KABC-TV  Channel 7 that mail has been piling up at the residence.

The vessel was towed back to shore after Los Angeles County Fire Department lifeguards doused the flames at sea. A small, inflatable Zodiac raft was lashed to the rear of the boat.

Arson investigators are now trying to determine what happened.

-- Monte Morin 

Photo: Authorities examine the burned remains of the Casey Lynn. Credit: KTLA

Paradise Cove pollution fine slashed, outraging environmentalists [Updated]

A Malibu mobile home park that earlier this year was fined $1.65 million for repeatedly allowing raw and partially treated sewage to spill into the ocean and local creeks will have to pay a mere fraction of the penalty, a reduction that has infuriated environmentalists who viewed the fine as a long-overdue punishment.

Calling the reduction of Paradise Cove’s fine to $54,500 a "travesty of justice," Heal the Bay President Mark Gold blamed the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board staff and attorneys for making what he called "egregious" procedural errors.

Because of technical mistakes, Kissel Co., owner of Paradise Cove, saved more than $1 million in penalties and millions more because it did not operate a "First World wastewater treatment system for a decade," Gold wrote on his Spouting Off blog.

"It definitely pays to pollute," Gold said.

Water board officials and lawyers for Kissel Co. could not immediately be reached for comment.

[Updated at 3:05 p.m.: Residents of the 72-acre mobile home park on Pacific Coast Highway have complained of seeing raw sewage leaking from manholes, flowing into storm drains and "running down the street to the playground area," according to water board documents.

When the water board handed down the penalty last year, board spokesman Stephen Cain said the size of the fine "speaks to the importance of what's going on there."

Though not the largest penalty handed down by the water board, the fine for allowing about 2,000 gallons of raw or partially treated sewage to flow into the ocean and local creeks in was considered significant.

The 257 mobile home sites in the park, which evolved from a rustic recreational vehicle campground in the 1950s and '60s into a chic seaside enclave, are nestled among trees and shrubs. All sit within 1,500 feet of the ocean.]

--Martha Groves

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Donuts for Dads: 250 men read to students at Watts elementary school

UC regents committee approves student fee increases; at least 14 protesters arrested at meeting at UCLA

UC regents expected to partner with L.A. County in reopening Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital

L.A. City Council puts off marijuana vote until next week at the earliest

L.A. City Council lists top 10 places where bureaucracy makes it hard to film

Study finds high air pollution levels around Santa Monica Airport

A new UCLA study shows that people who live and work near Santa Monica Airport are exposed to unusually high levels of air pollution — a significant health concern that has been largely associated with major commercial airports such as LAX.

The study, published today in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, found that emissions of so-called ultrafine particles were 10 times higher than background levels about 100 yards downwind of the airport. The levels were 2.5 times higher at a distance of about six football fields.

Less an 1/500th the width of a human hair, ultrafine particles can travel deep into the lungs and penetrate tissue. Research has shown that elevated levels are associated with increased deaths due to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.

Search underway for two people reportedly seen on boat that burned off Venice Pier [Updated]

 Authorities are searching for at least two people who may have been on a vessel that caught fire this afternoon in the waters off Venice Pier.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Los Angeles County Fire Department had dispatched vessels to search for the two, authorities said.

"We have a witness who saw two people on the boat," said Sgt. Bernie Patrick of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Marina del Rey station. "We no longer know where those people are."

[Updated 10:10 p.m.: Peck said that investigators now believe that two people were not on the boat. "The witness now says he wasn't sure," Peck said. But authorities were still searching the waters in the area, he said. "That boat didn't drift out there by itself."]

The 20-foot boat caught fire about two miles from the pier, authorities said. A column of dark smoke could be seen drifting from the distressed vessel. The blaze was reported about 4:45 p.m.

Firefighting boats extinguished the flames, and authorities were preparing to tow the damaged vessel to shore.

--Robert J. Lopez

Authorities search for possible survivors of boat fire off Venice Pier

Fire destroyed  a 20- to 25-foot boat drifting two miles from the Venice Pier, and authorities were searching for possible survivors, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire was reported about 4:45 p.m., according to Fire Inspector Frederic Stowers.

Firefighting boats extinguished the flames, but authorities were unable to board the burned vessel to inspect it. Preparations were being made to tow the boat to shore.

-- Monte Morin

Photo: Joseph Eby

Huntington Beach police seek groping man

Huntington Beach police are searching for a man who has followed women home from the downtown Main Street nightlife district and groped them, said Lt. Mike Reynolds.

Four women have reported similar late-night incidents since August, and police are particularly concerned that the man appears to be growing more bold, Reynolds said.

In one incident, the man followed the victim to her home, and later entered the house through an unlocked door or window and touched her. In other cases, the man has followed victims and tried to talk to them before groping them.

“He’s becoming a little bit more assertive as he’s moving along,” Reynolds said. “That’s the fear, and that’s why we want to make the public aware.”

The suspect is described as a Latino man between the ages of 20 and 30, from 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-9, and weighing 180 to 200 pounds. The man is described as clean-shaven, with slicked-back hair, a deep voice and prominent cheek bones.

Anyone who has information is asked to call detectives at (714) 375-5066.

-- Seema Mehta

Illustration: Police sketch of male Latino wanted in connection with four sexual-battery incidents in downtown Huntington Beach. Credit: Huntington Beach Police Dept.

Boat caught under freeway bridge in Orange County

An L.A. County Sheriff’s Department boat being hauled on a trailer became trapped under a freeway bridge in Orange County today, police said.

The 55-foot boat was being towed on City Drive in Orange at 11:20 a.m. when it reached the California 22 overpass and the boat’s cabin “caught the lip of the bridge,” said Sgt. Dan Adams of the Orange Police Department.

Traffic was blocked for a short period until the boat was removed. There were no reported injuries.

The boat was built in Anaheim and was being transported to the coast, Adams said.

-- Baxter Holmes

At emotional hearing, panel approves landmark curbs on Southern California fishing

In a move greeted with scattered applause and boos, a state blue-ribbon panel late today voted unanimously to approve landmark fishing restrictions for the Southern California coastline, creating a patchwork of havens for marine life needed to replenish the surrounding seas while leaving some waters open for fishing.

The five-member panel, which convened at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, voted to recommend to the state Fish and Game Commission a compromise intended to sustain the 250-mile coastline's economic and environmental health. The commission is expected to take up the plan in December. It has usually approved plans recommended by the panel.

In an interview, panel Chairwoman Catherine Reheis-Boyd said, “We’re not going to make everyone happy, but this has to be done.”

“It’s agony to weigh the environmental goals against peoples’ livelihoods,” she said. “We have to consider the socioeconomic impacts, especially here in Southern California, where the urban-ocean interface is greater than anywhere else in the nation."

The plan was forged during a year of contentious negotiations between conservationists and fishing interests over slivers of beach, access to kelp beds and submarine canyons, and the locations of parking lots and restrooms that could affect water quality, larval production and marine life between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border.

Of particular concern to fishing interests were maps delineating the extent of coastal hook-and-line fishing and deep-sea trawler access that would be sacrificed in the interest of stemming the decline of fish stocks that are the cornerstone of recreational and commercial fishing — for lobster, urchin, squid, sea bass, sheepshead, yellowtail and swordfish — and tourism.

Conservationists grumbled that the economic effects on the fishing industry outweighed scientific guidelines to ensure the long-term health of Southern California's ocean in the minds of some panelists. Commercial fishermen clad in black T-shirts predicted job losses and business closures.

Elected officials tried to intervene on behalf of their constituents. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa dispatched a letter to the panel urging that they approve tough restrictions. A week ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the panel to protect kelp and canyon habitats on both sides of Point Dume but leaving the waters off Palos Verdes Peninsula open to fishing. State Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) supported that plan.

George L. Osborn, a lobbyist for the California Fish and Game Wardens Assn., told the panel late this afternoon, "We do not have the resources to enforce regulations currently on the books. This is a matter that jeopardizes officer safety."

At today's meeting, a group led by Laguna City Councilwoman Verna Rollinger supported a proposal to ban fishing along seven miles of coastal waters. "I want fish in the ocean, and on my dinner plate," Rollinger said. "To do that, we have to restore the ocean."

Tempers flared. The panel was discussing proposed fishing closures when kayak fishing enthusiast Charles Volkens, 44, stood up and angrily shouted at the panelists: "You have not listened to us throughout this whole process!"

-- Louis Sahagun

Santa Monica Pier to be anointed as Route 66 terminus

Although Route 66 -- the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway that John Steinbeck labeled the "Mother Road" -- never fully extended to the beach in Santa Monica, civic boosters aren't letting that fact spoil a good celebration.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, when the nation marks the 83rd anniversary of the numbered highway system, locals will designate the Santa Monica Pier as the historic road's official western tip.

To commemorate the event, Santa Monica tourism officials and representatives of Route 66 organizations will unveil a replica of the "End of the Trail" sign, with 66 vintage cars and motorbikes providing the noise.

The highway's original end point in 1926 was at 7th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, according to Glen Duncan, president of the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation. A decade later, the road was extended to Olympic and Lincoln boulevards in Santa Monica.

But the beach, Duncan said, "was the major tourist attraction" for travelers on what Will Rogers called "America's Main Street." 

Duncan said he supports the notion of the pier as the "spiritual end of Route 66." But calling it the "official terminus," he said, "confuses people about what is historic and what isn't."

-- Martha Groves

Man found floating facedown in Newport Harbor

A 49-year-old man was found floating in Newport Harbor this morning and was pronounced dead soon after at a local hospital, authorities said.

Two kayakers found the man, fully clothed and facedown in the water, shortly before 7 a.m. near the Orange Coast College seabase, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Shontel Sherwood. He was pronounced dead at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

Although Newport Beach police treat each death as a homicide until a cause has been determined, the circumstances are not being viewed as suspicious, Sherwood said.

Police did not identify the man, pending notification of his next of kin, but said he was a local resident.

-- David Zahniser

Surfers win big victory as septic tanks banned in Malibu

In a big victory for surfers and environmentalists, officials have agreed to ban septic tanks in portions of Malibu.

Hundreds attended a nearly 10-hour meeting. Surfer Ken Seino, a member of the Malibu Surfing Assn., pulled open his shirt to show a scar on his upper-left chest, where he had a pacemaker implanted. That was necessary, he said, because of the viral myocarditis he contracted after paddling through raw sewage at Surfrider Beach in the summer of 1997.

"I smelled it, I tasted it, and it was ugly," Seino, 53, said. "I regurgitated before I could paddle to the sand." He said he eventually needed a pacemaker.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed late Thursday to ban septic systems in central and eastern Malibu, a move that would end years of fierce debate over the wastewater devices still commonly used in one of Southern California's most picturesque and exclusive coastal communities.

New septic systems will not be permitted in Malibu and owners of existing systems will have to halt wastewater discharges within a decade.

While many had come to view the septic systems as a strange but effective check against rapid growth in a community beloved for its thinly populated canyons and wide-open ocean vistas, others saw the devices as Third World contrivances that have fouled the community's watershed and popular beaches.

VW bus stolen 35 years ago discovered bound for the Netherlands

When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Port of Los Angeles opened a shipping container bound for the Netherlands, they discovered a 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in Washington state 35 years ago.

Far out, man!

The unusual seizure of the mint-condition bus on Oct. 19 came during a routine inspection of several Volkswagens that were being shipped by a U.S. restorer to customers in Europe. The vehicle identification number of the blue-and-white bus, which was swiped from a repair shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974, was still in police computers.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” customs spokesman Jaime Ruiz said today when the recovery was announced.

The restorer, who was not identified, isn’t a suspect in the theft, authorities said.

“He’s a victim himself. He was an innocent purchaser,” said California Highway Patrol investigator Mike Maleta.

Maleta said Spokane police couldn’t locate the woman who once owned the bus.

“Allstate paid her $2,500 or so to settle the claim,” he said. “Now, it’s worth $25,000. ... It’s in pristine condition. It looks like it’s brand new. So Allstate wanted it.”

Bummer.

-- Mike Anton in Orange County

Photo credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Catalina diving victim identified

A woman who died today after scuba diving off Catalina Island has been identified as Mona Towle, 56, of Redlands,according to the Avalon sheriff’s station.

Sheriff’s dispatcher Connie Shepard said Towle was taken from the Avalon dive park, along with her diving instructor, to a hyperbaric chamber.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent a helicopter to the scene, but Towle was taken by boat to the Two Harbors facility, which is run by USC, according to fire department inspector Frederic Stowers.

Towle was reportedly seeking her deep-sea certification when she suddenly rose to the top from more than 65 feet below the surface at the park, which is near the Avalon Casino.

-- Margot Roosevelt and Kim Christensen

Female diver dies on Catalina Island

A 55-year-old woman seeking her deep-sea certification died after scuba diving off Catalina Island today, according to the Avalon sheriff’s station.

Sheriff's dispatcher Connie Shepard said the woman was transported from the Avalon dive park, along with her diving instructor, to a hyperbaric chamber.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent a helicopter to the scene, but the woman was transported by boat to the Two Harbors facility, which is run by USC, according to Fire Department Inspector Frederic Stowers.

The woman, who was not identified, was reportedly seeking her deep-sea certification when she suddenly rose to the top from more than 65 feet below the surface at the park, which is near the Avalon Casino.

-- Margot Roosevelt

Rescuers find debris but no survivors in area of midair military collision [Updated]

Rescuers searching the coast off San Clemente Island where a midair collision occurred have found debris but no survivors, officials said today.

The collision between a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules transport plane and a Marine Corps AH-1 Super Cobra helicopter occurred about 7:10 p.m. Thursday, 20 miles east of San Clemente Island. A nearby pilot reported a fireball in the sky.

[Updated at 3:50 p.m.: The search for nine military crewmembers off San Clemente Island will continue throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Coast Guard officials told reporters at a 3 p.m. news conference in San Diego.]

The Coast Guard plane from Sacramento, with seven crew members, was searching for a 12-foot skiff reported adrift near the island, which is owned by the Navy and used for training.

Search underway for survivors of military aircraft collision off Southern California coast

The Coast Guard confirmed to reporters in San Diego tonight that a crash occurred between two aircraft -- possibly a Coast Guard C-130 transport airplane and a Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopter -- and said that rescue crews have spotted debris in the water.

Rescue units from the Coast Guard and Navy have responded to the crash site to search for survivors. The airplane was reported to contain seven crew members, while the helicopter contained two. No survivors have yet been spotted. Three Coast Guard cutters and four Navy ships, along with several helicopters, are involved in the search.

A Coast Guard spokesman said that search conditions were good with calm waters and light winds. The spokesman described the aircraft as a Coast Guard airplane and a Department of Defense aircraft. Federal Aviation Administration officials have identified the aircraft as a C-130 and a Cobra helicopter.

The collision is thought to have occurred 15 to 25 miles off San Clemente Island, the FAA said.

Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said that a pilot reported seeing a fireball about 7:10 p.m. near the suspected crash site. Earlier reports stated that a single Navy helicopter may have crashed.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Coast Guard transport plane may have collided with a Marine Corps helicopter off Southern California coast

A Coast Guard C-130 transport plane may have collided tonight with a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra helicopter 25 miles off San Clemente Island, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Both aircraft would have a total of nine crew members, including two on the helicopter, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman.

He said a pilot reported seeing a fireball about 7:10 p.m. near the suspected crash site. Earlier reports stated that a single Navy helicopter may have crashed.

A search-and-rescue operation was underway.

The Coast Guard cannot account for its plane, and the Marine Corps cannot account for the helicopter, Gregor said.

Both pilots were not talking to FAA air traffic controllers at the time of the collision, he said.

—Robert J. Lopez

Long Beach breakwater study gets federal funding

The effort to bring waves back to Long Beach by dismantling its massive breakwater will be getting some federal consideration after funding was approved this week.

An appropriations bill signed by President Obama on Wednesday gives the Army Corps of Engineers $90,000 to review the city's study of reconfiguring the rock wall to create bigger waves, cleaner water and beaches, and more tourism.

The 2.2-mile rock barricade, built during World War II to shelter Navy ships from waves, has been blamed by environmental groups and surfers for trapping in water pollution and deadening the surf.

City of L.A. says it has authority to restrict overnight parking in Venice

The Los Angeles city attorney's office filed legal papers today indicating that it agrees with the Venice Stakeholders Assn. in a battle against the California Coastal Commission over restricted-parking districts in Venice.

In July, the Venice residents group sued both the coastal agency and the city in an effort to reverse their decision that the city must have a coastal development permit to establish resident-only overnight parking in neighborhoods nearest the coast.   In a "cross-complaint" filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the city attorney's office contends that the city "is not obligated to obtain or issue a local coastal development permit in connection with the adoption of any OPD [overnight parking district]." The document contends that the city "is free to adopt and implement the OPDs without consulting, notifying or obtaining any permit from" the coastal agency.

With its action, the city "effectively has agreed with our position," said Mark Ryavec, president of Venice Stakeholders. "Parking restrictions do not constitute development as it's defined in the California Coastal Act."

Venice residents have sought limits on overnight parking in large part to prevent the occupants of campers and other recreational vehicles from taking up curb space. Residents say some of the vehicle dwellers dump sewage down storm drains and hold loud parties.    

-- Martha Groves

Large crowd expected for Malibu septic tank meeting

A Los Angeles regional water board has moved the location of its November meeting from Simi Valley to downtown L.A. to better accommodate a large crowd expected when it discusses a proposed ban on septic systems in central Malibu.

The Nov. 5 meeting of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board will begin at 9 a.m. in the boardroom of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 700 N. Alameda St.

The public will be allowed to comment on the proposed ban.

-- Martha Groves

Wastewater treatment would cost homeowners $1,000 a month, Malibu says

With a proposed ban on septic systems in central Malibu looming, the city today said residential property owners would be on the hook for $1,000 a month to pay for a centralized wastewater treatment system. Commercial property owners could be forced to pay significantly more, the city said.

Malibu said such a system would cost $52 million. That is more than three times the $16.7-million projection that the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has mentioned at recent community workshops.

Upset at what it calls Malibu's slow pace of correcting water pollution issues in Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach, the water board has proposed a prohibition on septic systems in the city's core. The agency says pollutants leaching from aging and overtaxed septic systems are a big cause of the pollution. It plans to consider the issue Nov. 5.

The city has been moving forward with a treatment plan, but its consultants say the operation and maintenance would cost $420,000 a month. Assuming the water board's prohibition zone would include 400 to 500 land parcels, the costs would result in payments of about $1,000 per month per parcel, the city said.

"We are deeply concerned that the regional board has not completed its due diligence and has not considered the overwhelming monthly cost to local homeowners and landowners," said Malibu Mayor Andy Stern.

The city has asked the water board to put the the proposed ban on hold.

For a map of the proposed prohibition area, go to the water board's website.

-- Martha Groves

Good Samaritan helps in Coast Guard rescue of mariner

The Coast Guard rescued a mariner from a capsized sailboat in the Long Beach harbor today after a Good Samaritan noticed his distress and called in for help.

Coast Guard Lt. Ana Thorsson said the Good Samaritan, identified as George Peterson, noticed that the 14-foot pleasure craft was partially submerged and the mariner aboard was bailing it out in an effort to keep it from capsizing. Peterson called for help shortly before 4 p.m. and stayed on hand in case the mariner, who was not identified, needed to abandon his boat, Thorsson said.

“He really went above and beyond the call of duty,” Thorsson said of Peterson.

The Coast Guard sent out a rescue craft to right the ship, pump out water and tow it to San Pedro. The mariner, who was wearing a life jacket, was not injured.

--Teresa Watanabe

 

Officers search for gunshot victim in Ventura County after man is arrested

Police continue to scour the Ventura County coast this afternoon for a gunshot victim who was allegedly shot and dumped along Pacific Coast Highway by a 58-year-old Oxnard man who was later arrested after trying to elude police in an early-morning chase, authorities said.

The bizarre case began shortly after 2 a.m. today when California Highway Patrol officers attempted to stop a pickup truck after the driver ran a stop sign near Camarillo Springs Road and Adohr Lane. A woman jumped out of the cab and ran to officers, screaming for help as the driver took off, said Det. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The driver, Maximo Tamayo-Flores, fled in the truck and was captured when he crashed 1 1/2 miles away in an agricultural field, authorities said.