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Hermosa Beach News for 2007

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Top Stories on This Webpage: Starting March 22, 2007

Read the complete news stories, just below on this webpage:

Divorcing robber strikes a local bank - The “Irreconcilable Differences Bandit,” who robbed a Hermosa bank on March 9 saying he really needed the money, has been linked to nine other bank robberies in the greater LA area since Dec. 22, the FBI said. He also is being sought in a Dec. 14 street holdup in Beverly Hills in which he allegedly used a revolver.  In Hermosa, the robber walked into the Union Bank of California at 1401 Pacific Coast Highway about noon, wearing a blue blazer, a blue scarf and a blue baseball hat with white trim. He allegedly patted his side and told a teller he had a gun and presented a note demanding large bills.  FBI spokeswoman Laura Einmiller said the robber told the teller, “I’m sorry I have to do this, but if I didn’t really need the money I wouldn’t be doing this.” 

Referendum targets plaza parking rule - City Hall watcher Jim Lissner has launched a referendum drive to overturn a city ordinance that eases some parking requirements for Pier Plaza businesses.  The City Council earlier this month exempted new or rebuilt businesses on the pedestrian Plaza from a requirement to provide on-site parking, instead allowing them to pay into a city fund for future parking lots.  The council’s decision allows a new and expanded Baja Sharkeez to pay into the fund rather than providing five on-site parking spaces. Sharkeez’ owner plans to rebuild after fire gutted the business last May.  Lissner, a frequent critic of what he sees as a saturation of alcohol-serving businesses in Hermosa and resulting rowdiness and noise, has until the second week in April to gather signatures from 10 percent of the town’s registered voters, who number about 1,400 people.  If he is successful, the council could either reconsider its decision or see the matter placed before Hermosa voters. 

 

HB Police target crimes of ‘opportunity’ - Police Chief Greg Savelli urged Hermosans to combat opportunistic criminals by locking homes and cars, keeping an eye on their neighborhoods, and taking steps such as carving personal identifying marks into their skateboards.  After examining the Police Department’s crime statistics covering 2006, Savelli said much of the preventable crime in Hermosa is perpetrated by the opportunistic rip-off who preys on the unlocked garage, the unlocked car, the valuables sitting out on the car’s back seat instead of tucked away in the truck.  “We’re seeing crimes of opportunity. It’s the open door, the open car,” Savelli said.  “People find they have a sense of safety in our community, and they might not realize that people walking through our community sometimes take advantage of that sense of safety,” he said.

 

Firefighters, disputes and volunteers - Oh my! A firefighters’ representative on Tuesday announced progress in a dispute with management, and City Council members engaged in a heated dispute over the way the city handles disputes between residents.  The council’s regular meeting also featured glowing testimonials to the recent celebration of the city’s 100th birthday, and praise for Councilman J.R. Reviczky, a retired electrician who spent hundreds of hours obtaining and installing a new lighting system for the expanded Hermosa Beach Historical Society Museum.
 

Injured firefighter is back on the job after hand surgery - Hermosa firefighter Paul Hawkins returned to duty on Tuesday, two months after his hand was injured as he fought a five-alarm blaze that leveled five downtown Manhattan Beach businesses.  Hawkins was injured as he and another firefighter forced open a door to one of the businesses. He was holding a tool that another firefighter struck with the flat of an ax head, and Hawkins’ hand got in the way. Firefighters said Hawkins barely flinched, and continued working on the blaze for more than two hours before allowing himself to be taken to a hospital. After surgery to his right hand, Hawkins’ pinkie finger remains frozen into a hook shape, and he continues to experience some limited mobility in his ring finger. 

 

A round goes to men suing over HBPD arrest - A Jan. 29 hearing is set to consider the remainder of a criminal case against Christopher Briley and Justin Thomas, who are suing the city, claiming false arrest, excessive force and malicious prosecution in a videotaped incident on the Pier Plaza July 4, 2003.  Briley last week was acquitted on misdemeanor charges of battery on a police officer and challenging a person to fight in public. The Superior Court jury deadlocked—with the vote tallies favoring the defendants—on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest or delaying a police officer against both men. At the Jan. 29 hearing, a judge will consider whether prosecution can continue on those charges, their attorney Thomas Beck said.  The acquittals came after jurors were shown video footage of the incident by a cameraman who was shooting local comedian Eric Coleman performing improvisational pieces with the Pier Plaza’s crowded party scene as a backdrop.  “The jurors were horrified by what was on that TV screen,” Beck said. 
 

Police retrained on arrest procedures - Police cameras might watch downtown - HBPD Chief Greg Savelli has begun studying the possibility of placing video cameras in the party-hearty downtown area to help police catch lawbreakers.  In other public safety developments, Savelli said police officers were receiving extra training on when to arrest people for being drunk in public, which has proved a controversial matter for the HBPD. And a fire captain said an investigation into the six-month-old Baja Sharkeez fire might soon move forward.  On the video front, Savelli said any cameras downtown would not be used for “Big Brother” style surveillance.  “We want to be cognizant of the concern that it’s ‘Big Brother’ out there,” Savelli said on Monday, referring to Orwellian fiction portending a future with excessive government surveillance. “There would not be someone sitting there and monitoring the cameras.”

 

HB bar plan a threat to public safety - This letter represents a plea that the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission and City Council exercise whatever influence they have to deny a permit for a 15,000-square-foot restaurant/bar at the Hermosa Pavilion. I currently own a business in Hermosa -- after 33 years in law enforcement for Los Angeles County. There was a time when I didn't think any city could have too many bars. What has happened to our little community shows me I was wrong.  The proposed monster bar at the Pavilion is not planned to meet the needs of the Hermosa drinkers. If every resident drank, we'd still have plenty of bars. It's an effort to draw drinkers and their wallets from out of the area. Make no mistake, that effort will be successful. As a former gang investigator, I found that every unsavory element imaginable between here and Riverside would find his way to the 91 freeway and drive toward the sun. That would drop them right here, about six blocks north of the proposed mega-bar.

 

Letters - Audit ‘em - I read with great interest last week’s letter “Drink to me thine eyes.”  I am in complete agreement with the writer’s scathing disapproval of what is happening in Hermosa Beach’s downtown bar district.  As a Hermosa Beach home owner, I am disgusted and appalled at what our fair city has become.  All of our cops are down in the bar area.  You never see police around the rest of the city Thursday thru Sunday nights.  I hope my house isn’t being robbed because there would not be any police watching out for me.  They are all downtown stopping the fights, urinating, underage drinking, and doing their own share of checking out the chicks and admiring groupies.  It is pathetic.  Recent figures show that residential burglaries in Hermosa rose in 2004 from 137 in 2004 to 187 in 2005.  That is a whopping 36 percent.  It is no wonder, as our cops are all downtown where the fights and scenery are.

 

Letters - HB lane changes will benefit bars - "Where but in Hermosa Beach would upper Pier Avenue, the central access to its downtown bars, be reduced to one lane each way to allow for still more alcohol dispensing businesses on widened public sidewalks, while causing bar patrons in their cars, cabs and limos to use residential side streets as the alternate access to that bar district?"  That's quoted from a letter to the Daily Breeze 10 years past when Hermosa's City Council took the first legal step toward a single-laned Pier Avenue.  The single lane is to promote more alcohol-dispensing establishments along upper Pier Avenue. Tiny Hermosa Beach is alcohol-, cab- and parking-saturated at night and needs not one more alcohol outlet of any kind to swagger or stagger past. City residents have been impacted and damaged enough by incredibly dumb council approvals regarding alcohol. Have they nor the council no limit?

 

Letters - Drink to me with thine ayes - The downtown drinking district continues to generate numerous quality of life issues and a negative image for our community.  Destruction is not limited to vandalism spilling into our neighborhoods.  On May 25, 2006 during a candidates’ forum a resident spoke of violence (drunken brawl) that occurred in front of their home.  The victim’s scream awakened residents in the early morning hours, as the assault was in process.  I was especially distressing to witness because the victim was a woman.  The atmosphere of public intoxication, which is encouraged pay no dividends.  How unfortunate, families and children who desire to visit the beautiful beachfront and pier have to pass a throng of bars.  Hermosa’s permissive drinking policies in the downtown bar district is having a debilitating effect on our community.  The erosion of public safety touches the lives of every resident and property owner. 

 

Letters - A tire iron to Hermosa’s downtown - Over the last several years the residents of Hermosa Beach who live west of Monterey Blvd. have had to survive beer bottles in their yards, public urination, and the destruction of private property. Last Saturday night at 3 a.m., my car and a neighbor’s car suffered the blows of a tire iron, resulting in broken windows and body damage. A few months ago the church on the corner of 16th Street & Manhattan Ave. had a brick thrown through a very expensive 80-year-old stained glass window. These are not isolated incidents. The list of vandalism, thefts, battery, loud and disorderly behavior, and DUI driving resulting in hit and run accidents is long and must be addressed and remedied. I am aware that with budget cuts and the magnitude of this problem the HBPD is already overtaxed with respect to available resources but a solution must be found. Last Friday night cost me $841 and I stayed home. Can anything be done?

 

Hermosa Beach man 36, is killed in late night traffic crash - A 36-year-old Hermosa man was killed when the 'pickup truck he was driving went out of control on Sepulveda Boulevard and smashed into a metal wall outside Hotel Hermosa shortly before 1 a.m. last Wednesday, police said.  Only minutes before, the man had plowed into parked cars on two Hermosa streets, police said. He then drove the 2001 Toyota Tundra into Manhattan and was making his way south on Sepulveda where he struck some concrete trashcans on the northwest corner of the intersection with Artesia Boulevard, police said.  The pickup also struck the concrete median and knocked over a traffic light pole. The vehicle skidded sideways across part of the intersection, flipped over and went the rest of the way upside down, a passing motorist told police.

 

The saddest rule of government - One of the maxims told to me about government when I was first elected to office was a simple, sad, and frustrating one: “You don’t get a crosswalk until a kid gets killed.”  The accident that occurred on PCH two weeks ago, killing a teenage boy trying to cross the street, was tragic not just because it was likely preventable. It is tragic because the need for a signaled crosswalk at that intersection has been known for years.

 

1.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

2.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

3.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

 

Teen was fun-loving, precocious, adventurous - A 15-year-old Hermosan who was struck and killed in an intersection last week was a sweet-natured, precocious, adventurous young man who loved surfing and rock climbing, family members said.  Ian Wright “was walking at nine months, and rock climbing at nine months and one day,” his mother Ellen Wright said.  The teenager also was a “voracious reader” who loved history and mythology, and fantasy offerings such as “The Lord of the Rings.”  Wright was crossing the six-lane highway going from east to west, within the painted crosswalk, and had cleared all but the final lane when he was struck by a southbound 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer driven by a 25-year-old West Covina woman, police said.

 



The Easy Reader – March 22, 2007

Hermosa Beach

Divorcing robber strikes a local bank

 

by Robb Fulcher

 


A man alleged to be the ‘Irreconcilable Differences Bandit’ stands at the counter of a Torrance bank that was robbed on March 9. Surveillance photo courtesy FBI

The “Irreconcilable Differences Bandit,” who robbed a Hermosa bank on March 9 saying he really needed the money, has been linked to nine other bank robberies in the greater LA area since Dec. 22, the FBI said. He also is being sought in a Dec. 14 street holdup in Beverly Hills in which he allegedly used a revolver.

In Hermosa, the robber walked into the Union Bank of California at 1401 Pacific Coast Highway about noon, wearing a blue blazer, a blue scarf and a blue baseball hat with white trim. He allegedly patted his side and told a teller he had a gun and presented a note demanding large bills.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Einmiller said the robber told the teller, “I’m sorry I have to do this, but if I didn’t really need the money I wouldn’t be doing this.”

He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

“In some cases, he’s somewhat apologetic, but at the same time he’s threatening a weapon and demanding cash,” Einmiller said.

The man also is being sought in connection with bank robberies in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Encino, Pasadena, Brentwood, Glendale and Torrance. The Torrance robbery, of a Citibank at 2700 Pacific Coast Highway, occurred about a half-hour before the Hermosa heist on March 9.

The bandit got his nickname after the first bank robbery in Beverly Hills, when he told a teller that he was going through a divorce and needed help in wiring money, FBI officials said.

“The bandit requested that the wire transfer be done is such a way so that his wife’s attorney would not know,” Eimiller said. “The bandit then instructed the teller to read a note on which he demanded money, and then verbally threatened a gun and a bomb.”

In at least one robbery, a witness reported that the man brandished a revolver.

The suspect is described as 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-9, 150 to 175 pounds, 45 to 50 years old with a medium build, a clean shaven face, and sandy or salt-and-pepper hair cut short. He has been seen wearing a polo shirt, pants, nylon jacket and aviator-style sunglasses. He has been seen leaving the banks in an older white Honda Accord.

The FBI and police urge anyone with information about the man’s whereabouts to call the FBI at 310-477-6565. ER

 


The Easy Reader – March 22, 2007

Hermosa Beach

Referendum targets plaza parking rule

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

City Hall watcher Jim Lissner has launched a referendum drive to overturn a city ordinance that eases some parking requirements for Pier Plaza businesses.

The City Council earlier this month exempted new or rebuilt businesses on the pedestrian Plaza from a requirement to provide on-site parking, instead allowing them to pay into a city fund for future parking lots.

The council’s decision allows a new and expanded Baja Sharkeez to pay into the fund rather than providing five on-site parking spaces. Sharkeez’ owner plans to rebuild after fire gutted the business last May.

Lissner, a frequent critic of what he sees as a saturation of alcohol-serving businesses in Hermosa and resulting rowdiness and noise, has until the second week in April to gather signatures from 10 percent of the town’s registered voters, who number about 1,400 people.

If he is successful, the council could either reconsider its decision or see the matter placed before Hermosa voters.

Lissner told the City Council that the ordinance would allow a higher saturation of alcohol businesses on the Plaza. He suggested limiting the parking waiver to businesses that convert into offices or stores, to encourage those uses.

During council discussions, Councilman Michael Keegan said the ordinance is needed because the creation of the pedestrian Plaza left the businesses, except the Mermaid restaurant, with no space in front for parking.

Councilman Pete Tucker said the city could have required Sharkeez to buy parking spaces in a city lot behind the business, but that would reduce the number of city-controlled spaces in the lot.

Sharkeez’ rebuilding plans call for a 50 percent larger building with the new second floor being changed from storage area to space for patrons with a retractable skylight overhead. After adding an elevator, staircases and wider bathrooms to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, patron occupancy might be increased by about 60 people, owner Ron Newman said.

Officials said Sharkeez will be required to pay about $500,000 in parking-related fees. ER

 


The Easy Reader – March 1, 2007

Hermosa Beach

About Town

 

Cool city - The Environmental Priorities Network on Tuesday honored Hermosa Beach for becoming the first area town to sign a “cool cities” pledge to reduce greenhouse gas pollution seven percent by 2012.  The City Council took the first steps to form a volunteer committee to oversee the project, and agreed to pay a San Francisco firm $600 a year to monitor local greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming and are targeted in the international Kyoto agreements. 

Environmental Priorities Network President Lillian Light gave Mayor Sam Edgerton a plaque stating that Hermosa was first in the beach cities or Palos Verdes Peninsula to sign on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, joining about 350 cities across the U.S. Manhattan Beach followed Hermosa and will receive a plaque from the network in March. 

To save energy and reduce the gases, Hermosa will continue to encourage a switch to fluorescent lighting in homes and businesses, and will work with the Gas Company to encourage gas-saving practices, according to a report by City Manager Steve Burrell. 

In addition, the city will revive discussions that occur periodically about a possible “loop bus” to carry passengers between Hermosa, Manhattan and Redondo Beach.  For information on taking part in the city committee see www.Hermosabch.org/

Clean eateries - City officials honored 41 of Hermosa’s 107 restaurants that achieved perfect scores in a monitored program to keep pollutants away from local storm drains that empty into the ocean. The eateries will receive “Clean Bay Restaurant” stickers to display in their windows, showing patrons they are doing their part to care for the Santa Monica Bay.

More on Sharkeez - The City Council agreed to exempt Pier Plaza businesses from a requirement that would have forced Baja Sharkeez to provide five on-site parking spaces – instead of simply paying into a city fund for future parking lots -- when the business rebuilds and expands following its 2006 fire.

Councilman Michael Keegan pointed out that the creation of the pedestrian Plaza left all the businesses, except the Mermaid restaurant, with no space in front for parking. Councilman Pete Tucker said Sharkeez could have been required to buy parking spaces in a city lot behind the business, but that would reduce the number of city-controlled spaces.

Sharkeez was gutted by fire in May, and rebuilding plans call for a 50 percent larger building with the new second floor being changed from storage area to space for patrons with a retractable skylight overhead. After adding an elevator, staircases and wider bathrooms to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, patron occupancy might be increased by about 60 people, owner Ron Newman said.

School program - The Hermosa Beach Fire Department, the local Tom C. Pickard and Co. insurance agency and Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Watch worked together to secure a $9,200 grant for emergency preparedness materials for Hermosa public school students. Included are the books Rescued and Shake with the Quake.

Hearts of Hermosa - The Hermosa Beach Education Foundation is inviting one and all to the 2007 edition of its annual gala, the Hearts of Hermosa dinner, dance and auction, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, March 9, at Sangria Restaurant on the Pier Plaza. The fundraiser is the largest of the year to fund educational programs that otherwise would be axed in Hermosa public schools.

This year’s event will feature a nautical ambience with cocktail party attire. The evening begins with the much anticipated silent auction, complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres accompanied by the Caribbean sound of Island Vibes.  Dinner and desserts will be prepared by chefs of Sangria. A highlight of the evening will be the rowdy live auction, followed by dancing to Tres Hombres.

Auction chair Susie Fraley said this year’s items include perennial favorites and new attractions, including dinner for four at the city firehouse, tickets to a Broadway play, basketballs autographed by Laker great Kobe Bryant and UCLA coaching legend John Wooden, a custom Spyder surfboard, a stay at an oceanfront Hawaiian vacation home, and a motorized Euro scooter.

The 15-year-old Hermosa Beach Education Foundation is a 100 percent volunteer, nonprofit organization. Last year’s event raised more than $180,000 and helped to save vital academic programs for students.  Tickets are $150; for information see www.hbef.com. This year’s event is organized by co-chairs Kaye Caldwell, Michelle Lohuis and Dina Stern. Susie Fraley is the auction chair and Claudia deFries the sponsorship chair. ER
 

 


The Easy Reader – February 1, 2007

Hermosa Beach

Police target crimes of ‘opportunity’

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

Police Chief Greg Savelli urged Hermosans to combat opportunistic criminals by locking homes and cars, keeping an eye on their neighborhoods, and taking steps such as carving personal identifying marks into their skateboards.

After examining the Police Department’s crime statistics covering 2006, Savelli said much of the preventable crime in Hermosa is perpetrated by the opportunistic rip-off who preys on the unlocked garage, the unlocked car, the valuables sitting out on the car’s back seat instead of tucked away in the truck.

“We’re seeing crimes of opportunity. It’s the open door, the open car,” Savelli said.

“People find they have a sense of safety in our community, and they might not realize that people walking through our community sometimes take advantage of that sense of safety,” he said.

In addition to locking doors, locking up bicycles, and placing valuables in car trunks, Savelli suggested keeping records with the serial numbers of items such as computers and TV sets, and engraving a “personal identifier” onto items such as skateboards. When police recover stolen property, that personal information helps them get the stuff back to the owners.

“We also urge people to watch out for their neighbors, and report suspicious activity,” Savelli said, praising a resident for making a recent call to police upon seeing “a person looking into vehicles” parked along a street.

The crime statistics revealed no sharp trends, prompting Councilman J.R. Reviczky to say that crime has been relatively “flat” in Hermosa for a couple of decades. The rate of serious crime is typically low in the city, most years passing without a murder.

Last year saw a rise in reported sex crimes from six to 10, but police said those numbers were not large enough to be statistically significant.

Hermosa’s murder rate returned to zero in 2006, down from one in 2005, when a Lomita man was shot dead and his brother wounded at a residential construction site. The suspect in that case was believed to have fled to Mexico. ER

 


The Easy Reader – January 25, 2007

Hermosa Beach

Firefighters, disputes and volunteers

 

Oh my!

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

A firefighters’ representative on Tuesday announced progress in a dispute with management, and City Council members engaged in a heated dispute over the way the city handles disputes between residents.

The council’s regular meeting also featured glowing testimonials to the recent celebration of the city’s 100th birthday, and praise for Councilman J.R. Reviczky, a retired electrician who spent hundreds of hours obtaining and installing a new lighting system for the expanded Hermosa Beach Historical Society Museum.

Reviczky was named Historical Society volunteer of the year for his efforts to light the museum anew, with a state-of-the-art system, at about one-tenth the usual cost.

“The city owes you a debt of gratitude,” Councilman Michael Keegan told Reviczky.

Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association President Paul Hawkins addressed the council with his thanks for making changes in a study to include the question of whether the Fire Department has enough firefighters.

Two weeks ago, Hawkins told the council that the upcoming study of the department’s resources might be stacked against the view that more firefighters should be hired. The council responded by calling for input from the firefighters association in setting the parameters for the study.

“I want to thank you publicly for your wisdom in diffusing what could have been a contentious matter,” Hawkins told the council.

Council members tore some new ones as they debated whether to dump city school board member Lance Widman as a city-contracted mediator for disputes between Hermosa residents.

Widman has provided nonbinding mediation of disputes – often between neighbors, or tenants and landlords – for years. The council decided to rethink the annual renewal of his contract after he was videotaped removing a campaign sign from a public park. The sign opposed a school bond measure that Widman backed.

Prosecutors said the sign was placed in the park illegally, and Widman broke no law in removing it.

A city file on Widman’s contract included 24 letters supporting him, some written by officials of South Bay city governments and police departments. The file contained four letters opposing Widman, including one from former Hermosa council candidate Fred Huebscher.

A two-hour discussion ended in a six month extension of Widman’s contract, at which time the council will continue its dispute over how to settle disputes.

Widman, and other mediators in his charge, handle about 15 disputes each year, costing the city a total of $8,000 or less. Widman reports a 75 percent success rate.

His critics, including Keegan, describe Widman as a polarizing figure with a nasty temper who harbors bias against people who disagree with his school board-related positions.

Widman vigorously defended the school board’s construction of a gymnasium at Hermosa Valley School, which was the subject of a failed lawsuit by critics. In a letter to the editor published in local newspapers, Widman labeled some gym critics, including Keegan’s brother, a “gang of four.”

“If you are not on his side, you are his enemy,” Keegan said of Widman. “…I can’t believe we can’t find somebody who’s a little less notorious.”

Mayor Sam Edgerton countered with a contention that it was Keegan whose judgment was clouded by emotion.

“If you’re that angry about somebody, you’re not supposed to vote,” Edgerton told Keegan. “That’s bias.”

Councilmen Kit Bobko and Pete Tucker also criticized Widman, while Reviczky defended him. Reviczky said residents who want mediation, but don’t want to work with Widman, can use one of Widman’s other mediators.

Tucker said he was tired of people throwing the school gym into the Widman discussions, and Bobko appealed for calm.

“This is bordering on a blood feud between those opposing the gym and those supporting the gym,” Bobko said. ER

 


The Easy Reader – January 25, 2007

Hermosa Beach

Injured firefighter is back on the job after hand surgery

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

Hermosa firefighter Paul Hawkins returned to duty on Tuesday, two months after his hand was injured as he fought a five-alarm blaze that leveled five downtown Manhattan Beach businesses.

Hawkins was injured as he and another firefighter forced open a door to one of the businesses. He was holding a tool that another firefighter struck with the flat of an ax head, and Hawkins’ hand got in the way. Firefighters said Hawkins barely flinched, and continued working on the blaze for more than two hours before allowing himself to be taken to a hospital. After surgery to his right hand, Hawkins’ pinkie finger remains frozen into a hook shape, and he continues to experience some limited mobility in his ring finger.

“It’s never going to be 100 percent, but it’s good enough to do the work we do,” he said. “I’ll never play the piano again, but I never played it before.”

Physicians told Hawkins that a second surgery might improve the flexibility of the pinkie finger.

“Luckily I’m pretty ambidextrous,” he said. “I write with my left hand and do strength things, like swing a hammer, with my right.”

Hawkins underwent physical therapy, using his injured hand to manipulate small tools, and before he returned to work he made sure he could perform tasks such as pulling on his gloves and pulling a gurney from an ambulance.

“It feels good to be back,” he said.

Hawkins is among the mainstays of a program to help develop the fire department of Hermosa’s sister city, Loreto, Mexico, and was selected to aid in Gulf Coast emergency efforts following Hurricane Katrina. A number of Hermosa firefighters volunteered for 30-day stints to aid the hurricane victims, and Hawkins was chosen along with fellow firefighter Aaron Marks. ER

 


The Easy Reader – January 4, 2007

Hermosa Beach

A round goes to men suing over HBPD arrest

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

A Jan. 29 hearing is set to consider the remainder of a criminal case against Christopher Briley and Justin Thomas, who are suing the city, claiming false arrest, excessive force and malicious prosecution in a videotaped incident on the Pier Plaza July 4, 2003.

Briley last week was acquitted on misdemeanor charges of battery on a police officer and challenging a person to fight in public. The Superior Court jury deadlocked—with the vote tallies favoring the defendants—on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest or delaying a police officer against both men. At the Jan. 29 hearing, a judge will consider whether prosecution can continue on those charges, their attorney Thomas Beck said.

The acquittals came after jurors were shown video footage of the incident by a cameraman who was shooting local comedian Eric Coleman performing improvisational pieces with the Pier Plaza’s crowded party scene as a backdrop.

“The jurors were horrified by what was on that TV screen,” Beck said.

Attorney Damian Capozzola, who represented Hermosa, agreed that the video played an important role in the trail, but said the footage supports the officers. On the charges that resulted in the deadlock, Capozzola said some jurors agreed with the prosecution’s interpretation of the video, and others agreed with the defense interpretation.

After the trail, jurors told Beck that HBPD officers Landon Philips and John Sibbald, and Sgt. Nancy Cook, appeared “evasive” in their testimony, Beck said.

Capozzola praised the officers, and said he would look forward to returning them to the stand if city officials continue to pursue the remaining charges.

“I was proud of the way they testified,” he said.

Capozzola also said that Thomas testified to aspects of the incident that were “misrepresented” in papers filed by his own attorney.

“I think it’s a bit disingenuous of the defense to make a case about who was evasive,” Capozzola said.

The federal lawsuit against the city by Briley and Thomas claims that Philips knocked Briley to the ground while he was handcuffed, and Cook wrenched and broke Thomas’ forefinger. Trial could begin in the lawsuit by August, Beck said.

Also on tape

Another lawsuit against the city, also stemming from a July 4, 2003 arrest and also captured on videotape, could return to a courtroom in April, Beck said.

A federal jury in July unanimously rejected Kenneth Agner’s claims of assault and battery, false arrest, negligence and the filing of a false police report in the incident. Jurors split 7-1 in the favor of police on Agner’s claim of excessive force for the pepper spray, allowing Beck to continue pursuing that part of the lawsuit.

Police said they arrested Agner on suspicion of being drunk in public, and he was pepper sprayed only after he resisted officers’ attempts to place him inside a police car. Agner later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace. Agner’s lawsuit claims that Hermosa Beach Police Officer Don Jones grabbed him by the hair and, with Agner’s hands cuffed behind him, Officer Raul Saldana shot pepper spray into Agner’s open mouth and his eyes just before the officers placed him inside the police car. The lawsuit also accuses officers of filing a false report about the incident. Then-Police Chief Mike Lavin has said the use of pepper spray was not mentioned in the arrest report, though it should have been. He added that the “totality of the circumstances” justified Saldana’s actions.

Videotape of that incident, as well as the ones involving Briley and Thomas, were shot by cameraman Lance Baily.

The video

Agner is shown standing outside the car’s open rear door and shouting to a crowd that had gathered, while an officer tries to wrestle him into the car. Saldana then sprays Agner in the face, and Agner slides into the car. Separately, the tape shows officers handcuffing Briley and knocking him twice to the Plaza pavement, and grabbing and cuffing Thomas, breaking his forefinger, according to Beck. According to Lavin, the tape shows that officers acted properly.

The tape shows Briley being taken to the ground and handcuffed. At about the same time, Thomas emerges from the heavy July 4 crowd and is approached by Cook. Sibbald leaves Briley on the ground to assist Cook, and Briley stands up. Sibbald returns to tackle Briley with a “clothesline” hold to the throat and moves back toward Cook. Police reports supplied to Beck state that Briley was initially cuffed after he began to shout obscenities at another man and squared off to fight, and then refused to leave the area. Beck said Briley was shouting obscenities at the officers, not at another civilian, was not about to fight, and was not told to leave. Briley, in an interview, said his involvement began when he was confronted aggressively by another man in the crowd, and an officer tried to grab Briley from the side. “I sort of ducked down and let him fall off, then I saw it was an officer, and I threw my hands up,” Briley said. He was wrestled down by two officers and cuffed. According to Beck, police state that Briley was tackled after he rose to walk away. Briley said he rose to stand, but did not try to walk away. He said he was not told to remain seated. Returning to the tape, Thomas was pushed back away from officers by Cook. Police reports supplied to Beck stated that Thomas grabbed Cook’s wrists, but Beck said the police sergeant grabbed and twisted Thomas’ forefinger, breaking it. Police reports state that Cook took action because Thomas was aggressively moving toward other officers, and Beck said that was not true. He acknowledged that Thomas was yelling “F—k you, cops” and “You can’t do that to him,” referring to Briley.

Next, the camera captured Thomas being tackled with some difficulty by Cook, who is smaller than he is. Thomas rose to his feet with Cook still attached to him and raised his arms. As a surrounding crowd hooted, another officer arrived to help wrestle Thomas to the ground. A number of small fireworks were tossed into the officers’ area from the crowd. ER

 


The Easy Reader – November 16, 2006

Hermosa Beach

Police retrained on arrest procedures

 

Police cameras might watch downtown

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

HBPD Chief Greg Savelli has begun studying the possibility of placing video cameras in the party-hearty downtown area to help police catch lawbreakers.

In other public safety developments, Savelli said police officers were receiving extra training on when to arrest people for being drunk in public, which has proved a controversial matter for the HBPD. And a fire captain said an investigation into the six-month-old Baja Sharkeez fire might soon move forward.

The cameras

On the video front, Savelli said any cameras downtown would not be used for “Big Brother” style surveillance.  “We want to be cognizant of the concern that it’s ‘Big Brother’ out there,” Savelli said on Monday, referring to Orwellian fiction portending a future with excessive government surveillance. “There would not be someone sitting there and monitoring the cameras.”

Video from the cameras would be used by detectives to help find suspects or vehicles after a crime has been reported, he said.  The cameras also would serve as deterrents to criminal behavior and would help resolve issues of police treatment of people, either in favor of police or a person complaining about an officer, Savelli said.

He said he visited Santa Monica to see that city’s pier-side video camera system, and the idea to use similar cameras in Hermosa is “in the infant stage.”  Savelli said Hermosa’s municipal wireless internet signal, which stretches from City Hall to the Pier Plaza, would be used to transmit digital video to City Hall for storage.

Councilman Michael Keegan, a champion of the city’s Wi-Fi system who unsuccessfully pushed for its expansion throughout Hermosa, praised the police chief’s nod to the technology.  “I’m very pleased with the chief’s vision regarding the Wi-Fi system,” Keegan said. “It’s a new look.”

Police retraining

At a Monday community meeting at City Hall arranged by Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Watch, Savelli said his officers have undergone further training on when to arrest people for being drunk in public.  “We have had the city prosecutor in to brief them on the elements of that crime,” Savelli said. “If [suspects] are arrested for being drunk in public, are they really drunk in public?”

Under state law people must pose a threat to themselves or others to be considered illegally drunk in public. Critics of the HBPD contend that officers improperly use that law to arrest people who are not breaking the law, and a number of lawsuits against the city have resulted.

Sharkeez fire

Also at the meeting, HBFD Capt. James Crawford said fire investigators might soon conclude a stalled investigation of the fire that gutted Baja Sharkeez on the Pier Plaza.  Fire Chief Russell Tingley said in retrospect, city officials could have investigated the May blaze sooner if they had not “turned the building over to the owner” soon after the fire.

The investigation, which is a routine matter in a building fire, has been stalled while the Sharkeez rubble was probed for asbestos, and while owner Ron Newman jockeys with the city over what portion of the building was destroyed in the fire. That matter could cost Newman hundreds of thousands of dollars in a rebuild of Sharkeez.

Crawford noted that firefighters went into the Sharkeez rubble recently to remove rotten food including chicken and marinated goods after neighboring establishments complained of the odor. ER

 


The Easy Reader – November 16, 2006

Hermosa Beach

HBFD reorganization urged

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

In a retirement memo to his boss, the number two man in the Hermosa Beach Fire Department called for a reorganization of HBFD.  Assistant City Fire Chief Jerry Gomez suggested that his position be eliminated in favor of a fourth captain’s position, and recommended hiring a civilian emergency preparedness coordinator and full-time grant writer. He made the recommendations in a Nov. 1 memo to Fire Chief Russell Tingley.

Gomez, who has been a popular figure with the HBFD rank and file, is retiring effective Dec. 29 after 32 years in the firefighting field, including the last five in Hermosa.  “I’m taking his communication under consideration,” Tingley said on Tuesday. “I’ve received it, I’ve read it, I’m mulling it over.”

Tingley called Gomez a “dedicated employee” who is “truly an asset” to the Fire Department. He said Gomez’ proposals had not been discussed prior to the memo.

Aaron Marks of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association said the association had no immediate comment, but was interested in considering any options to increase staffing. The association has sought the addition of three new firefighters, and with that in mind has helped change the city’s ambulance billing system to create more revenue.

“As a result of my difficult and personal decision process to retire from full-time fire service duty, I couldn’t help but think of possible succession scenarios upon my separation from the organization,” Gomez wrote to Tingley.

“Without in-depth thought the apparent option would be to continue with the current organizational structure by recruiting and hiring a new assistant fire chief and continuing business as we have been for the last five years.

“I must share with you my opinion that this would not be the best option for the organization. I strongly feel that my current assistant chief position has accomplished and fulfilled the organizational need it was created for five years ago.

“In assessing the organization’s present administrative and projected needs it is clear that fire prevention, emergency preparedness, arson investigation and OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] mandated safety programs are clearly areas that need program management.

“I feel my separation from the department creates an opportunity to reorganize the administrative staff to better address the organization needs and may prove to be a financial savings to the city budget after closer scrutiny and labor considerations negotiation.”

Creation of a fourth full-time captain, “staffed from within the organization,” would “increase the career path opportunities within the organization, provide mentorship, and possibly groom in-house candidates for filling the fire chief position,” Gomez wrote.

The new captain would “improve daily operational flexibility,” working overtime as needed and shouldering the responsibility of fire marshal, an administrative post that helps to enforce the fire codes, Gomez wrote.  Gomez envisions the new captaincy as a three-year assignment rotating among all four captains.

Asked about the memo, Gomez on Wednesday said he thought it was a good time to suggest the changes because he is leaving, the fire marshal’s position is vacant, and safety matters are being handled on an ad hoc basis, without concentrated supervision.

Asked why he described his decision to retire as “difficult,” he said, “There are some underlying issues that I don’t really want to address at this time.” He also said he will miss his fellow firefighters and finds it difficult to walk away from ongoing projects such as securing better facilities for the department, which operates out of a cramped and aging fire station. ER

 


The Daily Breeze – July 21, 2006

Letters to the Editor

 

HB to decide eatery's closure time

Next week, the Hermosa Beach City Council will decide whether Mediterraneo restaurant is to close at 2 a.m., the hour the owner would like, or midnight, the hour the Planning Commission gave him.

It will be a tough decision for council members. Most of the other restaurants on Pier Plaza enjoy the 2 p.m. closure time. If the public upholds the Planning Commission's midnight time, it would be a turning point in Hermosa. An old precedent will have been broken, and a new one set.

The hearing will be held 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. The public can attend and speak to the item.

-- JIM LISSNER  Hermosa Beach

 


The Daily Breeze – July 16, 2006

Sunday Letters to the Editor

 

HB bar plan a threat to public safety

This letter represents a plea that the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission and City Council exercise whatever influence they have to deny a permit for a 15,000-square-foot restaurant/bar at the Hermosa Pavilion. I currently own a business in Hermosa -- after 33 years in law enforcement for Los Angeles County. There was a time when I didn't think any city could have too many bars. What has happened to our little community shows me I was wrong.

The proposed monster bar at the Pavilion is not planned to meet the needs of the Hermosa drinkers. If every resident drank, we'd still have plenty of bars. It's an effort to draw drinkers and their wallets from out of the area. Make no mistake, that effort will be successful. As a former gang investigator, I found that every unsavory element imaginable between here and Riverside would find his way to the 91 freeway and drive toward the sun. That would drop them right here, about six blocks north of the proposed mega-bar.

This proposal represents a huge public safety issue ripe for a citizen's backlash. Weekend policing/patrols and 911 response times are already seriously compromised by the Pier Plaza bar scene, even when things are going smoothly. Between 1 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., I have to assume the majority of drivers here in Hermosa are drunk and trying to find their way out of town.

This bar is being planned and bankrolled by a truly interesting character, and local officials know it. He has relied on brinkmanship and foot dragging on other issues with the Pavilion, and the notion of a real, viable, restaurant is laughable. If the restaurant doesn't make him money -- which it won't -- he'll have a bigger bar. If he has entertainment, he can charge a cover, which is cash and under the radar as to reportable revenue.

In terms of planning, let's make some plans for our kids and their kids. This is not Moreno Valley. The folks who can afford to live here are bright, successful and obviously did something right with their lives, or have a trust fund. Please don't allow our elected officials to turn their backs on these people and pander to the developer and an army of horny twenty-somethings who will descend on our community. They will not be driving down here for dinner.

-- RICHARD HALLIBURTON

Hermosa Beach 

 


 

The Easy Reader – June 29, 2006

 

Hermosa Beach – Letters to the Editor

 

Audit ‘em

 

Dear ER:

 

I read with great interest last week’s letter “Drink to me thine eyes.”  I am in complete agreement with the writer’s scathing disapproval of what is happening in Hermosa Beach’s downtown bar district.  As a Hermosa Beach home owner, I am disgusted and appalled at what our fair city has become. 

 

All of our cops are down in the bar area.  You never see police around the rest of the city Thursday thru Sunday nights.  I hope my house isn’t being robbed because there would not be any police watching out for me.  They are all downtown stopping the fights, urinating, underage drinking, and doing their own share of checking out the chicks and admiring groupies.  It is pathetic.  Recent figures show that residential burglaries in Hermosa rose in 2004 from 137 in 2004 to 187 in 2005.  That is a whopping 36 percent.  It is no wonder, as our cops are all downtown where the fights and scenery are.

 

I heard recently that one homeowner who lives up the street from the pier awakened at midnight to strange noises outside his house and after looking out his window, discovered a young couple exploring their carnal knowledge on his front yard.  He turned the sprinklers on and that ended it.  He didn’t even report it to the cops.  How much of this sort of thing isn’t even added to the list of published statistics?

 

If I want to go downtown in my own city for a dinner on Friday night after working hard all week, I would have to wait in line behind a screaming bunch of tiny-bobs and gang bangers who live everywhere but here to get into a restaurant where the decibel level approaches the level of a jack hammer.  And then when I did get out of there with my lady without being thrown up on, leered at, and commented about, I could go home to my peaceful neighborhood…maybe.

 

Do I have to go to a neighboring city to eat on weekends?  Have we ever asked the ABC Board to audit those Pier bars to see if they are even paying their fair shared of city taxes?

 

Anonymous

Hermosa Beach

 

 


The Daily Breeze – June 25, 2006

Sunday Letters to the Editor

HB lane changes will benefit bars

"Where but in Hermosa Beach would upper Pier Avenue, the central access to its downtown bars, be reduced to one lane each way to allow for still more alcohol dispensing businesses on widened public sidewalks, while causing bar patrons in their cars, cabs and limos to use residential side streets as the alternate access to that bar district?"

That's quoted from a letter to the Daily Breeze 10 years past when Hermosa's City Council took the first legal step toward a single-laned Pier Avenue.

The single lane is to promote more alcohol-dispensing establishments along upper Pier Avenue. Tiny Hermosa Beach is alcohol-, cab- and parking-saturated at night and needs not one more alcohol outlet of any kind to swagger or stagger past. City residents have been impacted and damaged enough by incredibly dumb council approvals regarding alcohol. Have they nor the council no limit?

Most disingenuous was the council's June 13 attempt at deception in bragging that $4 million will be spent repairing Hermosa's neglected residential streets. In fact, more than half of that is for this single lane paving and expansion of the alcohol district onto widened upper Pier Avenue fancy sidewalks, and at no cost to the commercial property owners to benefit there. Less than half will go for any residential street repair in the other 96 percent of the city, and that after virtually nothing was spent this current year.

The city's public safety costs of nil-city-revenue producing alcohol businesses are drinking the city treasury dry, so why does the Hermosa's council desire more alcohol-dispensing businesses anywhere in city?

-- HOWARD LONGACRE


The Easy Reader – June 8, 2006

 

Hermosa Beach – Letters to the Editor

 

Drink to me with thine ayes

 

Dear ER:

 

The downtown drinking district continues to generate numerous quality of life issues and a negative image for our community.  Destruction is not limited to vandalism spilling into our neighborhoods. 

 

On May 25, 2006 during a candidates’ forum a resident spoke of violence (drunken brawl) that occurred in front of their home.  The victim’s scream awakened residents in the early morning hours, as the assault was in process.  I was especially distressing to witness because the victim was a woman.

 

The atmosphere of public intoxication, which is encouraged pay no dividends.

 

How unfortunate, families and children who desire to visit the beautiful beachfront and pier have to pass a throng of bars.

 

Hermosa’s permissive drinking policies in the downtown bar district is having a debilitating effect on our community.  The erosion of public safety touches the lives of every resident and property owner. 

 

Remedial action in the bar district is essential and will require significant policy changes.  The answer is not to saddle residents with more costs to support a highly undesirable section of town.

 

Name withheld by request

Hermosa Beach

 

 


The Easy Reader – May 25, 2006

A tire iron to Hermosa’s downtown

Dear ER:

Over the last several years the residents of Hermosa Beach who live west of Monterey Blvd. have had to survive beer bottles in their yards, public urination, and the destruction of private property. Last Saturday night at 3 a.m., my car and a neighbor’s car suffered the blows of a tire iron, resulting in broken windows and body damage. A few months ago the church on the corner of 16th Street & Manhattan Ave. had a brick thrown through a very expensive 80-year-old stained glass window. These are not isolated incidents. The list of vandalism, thefts, battery, loud and disorderly behavior, and DUI driving resulting in hit and run accidents is long and must be addressed and remedied. I am aware that with budget cuts and the magnitude of this problem the HBPD is already overtaxed with respect to available resources but a solution must be found. Last Friday night cost me $841 and I stayed home. Can anything be done?

Rick Koenig

Hermosa Beach


The Easy Reader – April 27, 2006

     Hermosa Beach News

Man is killed in late night traffic crash

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

A 36-year-old Hermosa man was killed when the 'pickup truck he was driving went out of control on Sepulveda Boulevard and smashed into a metal wall outside Hotel Hermosa shortly before 1 a.m. last Wednesday, police said.

 

Only minutes before, the man had plowed into parked cars on two Hermosa streets, police said. He then drove the 2001 Toyota Tundra into Manhattan and was making his way south on Sepulveda where he struck some concrete trashcans on the northwest corner of the intersection with Artesia Boulevard, police said.

 

The pickup also struck the concrete median and knocked over a traffic light pole. The vehicle skidded sideways across part of the intersection, flipped over and went the rest of the way upside down, a passing motorist told police.

 

The pickup struck the wall and came to a stop upside down. The driver, who was alone in the vehicle, was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where he died from his injuries about 6:15 a.m., Manhattan Beach Police Sgt. Bryan Klatt said.

 

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office identified the man as Lance Juracka.

 

Hermosa police first began getting calls when the pickup hit a parked vehicle near 16th Street and Hermosa Avenue, Sgt. Tom Thompson said. As police rushed to find the motorist they got further calls saying the pickup had bashed into a parked car at about 22nd Street and Manhattan Avenue. A witness to the second crash said the parked car was pushed 50 feet down the roadway.

 

"All three crashes happened within six minutes of each other," Thompson said.

 

"We were getting calls left and right."  Some of the initial callers reported that the pickup was heading south, unintentionally throwing off police a little. Just the same, officers arrived at Artesia and Sepulveda/Pacific Coast Highway about the time the pickup got there, Thompson said. Long streaks of paint were seen at two of the crash sites, and police said the pickup appeared to be equipped for painting jobs. ER

 


The Easy Reader – March 30, 2006

On Local Government

 

The saddest rule of government

by Bob Pinzler

 

One of the maxims told to me about government when I was first elected to office was a simple, sad, and frustrating one: “You don’t get a crosswalk until a kid gets killed.”

The accident that occurred on PCH two weeks ago, killing a teenage boy trying to cross the street, was tragic not just because it was likely preventable. It is tragic because the need for a signaled crosswalk at that intersection has been known for years.

But, before you start blaming the city for the lack of movement on this issue, it is important to note that very often the driving force in keeping structures like a traffic signal from being installed are the people who live in the neighborhood. In this specific case, neighbors have long been concerned that a light at that intersection would make it easier for people to go around the crowded intersection at PCH and Pier, thus bringing more traffic to their streets.

No question about it, traffic in the South Bay has become a nightmare. During rush hours, a driver can be backed up long enough to miss green light after green light. Little is more frustrating than being in one of those jams. However, so long as we try to live within our present infrastructure while adding more people in to use it, traffic will get nothing but worse.

No easy answer or, for that matter, not even a difficult solution is on the horizon. Public transportation in this area will never reach the point that people will leave their cars in large enough numbers to make a significant difference. In addition, secondary highways, the official title of streets such as PCH, can only be widened so much, especially in areas where merchants are reliant on street parking for the success of their businesses. But still the people come.

Many of the highways and local roads in our area carry more than twice the traffic they were designed for, especially during peak-use hours. It is expected to get worse, causing more driver frustration. That brings us back to our stoplight on PCH. The primary rationale for installing one must be safety, particularly since adding one more light to PCH will do little to help, or hinder, traffic flow.

The problem is not exclusively ours. In another South Bay city, residents on two sides of a major street are fighting over a traffic light that CalTrans has said is necessary to reduce traffic accidents. The two sides of the street are in different cities. One says the light is needed. The other is concerned that, by introducing a traffic light, more “cut-through” traffic will occur in their neighborhood. In the meantime, while this impasse is going on, people are being injured and property is being damaged.

We are stuck in a problem without a good solution. In those cases, we need to do what we can until someone … anyone … comes up with something new.

 


1.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

2.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

3.  Photos of Pedestrians Using The PCH and 16th St. Crosswalk

The Easy Reader – March 23, 2006

Hermosa Beach News

Teen was fun-loving, precocious, adventurous

 

by Robb Fulcher

 


Ian Wright.

A 15-year-old Hermosan who was struck and killed in an intersection last week was a sweet-natured, precocious, adventurous young man who loved surfing and rock climbing, family members said.

Ian Wright “was walking at nine months, and rock climbing at nine months and one day,” his mother Ellen Wright said.

The teenager also was a “voracious reader” who loved history and mythology, and fantasy offerings such as “The Lord of the Rings.”

Wright had been attending ninth grade at Village Glen School for autistic students in Culver City and was on track for advanced placement courses that would help him get into college.

He had Asperger Syndrome or AS, which the National Institutes of Health describes as an “autism spectrum disorder” often causing some impairment of communication skills.

Wright’s mother said AS is sometimes called “high-functioning autism.” Her son was good at taking in information but sometimes found it difficult to grasp “subtlety and nuance,” and faced challenges in communicating what he knew.

His AS sometimes appeared in social interactions as well.

“He would walk up to a perfect stranger in a grocery store and ask if he knew about [the Egyptian god] Osiris,” Wright’s mother said.

Wright was an organ donor, and after his death organs were removed for donation, his mother said.

Fatal accident

Wright died Friday night, one day after he was struck about 5 p.m. as he crossed Pacific Coast Highway at 16th Street, one of Hermosa’s most dangerous intersections, on a “Razr” scooter, police said.

Wright was crossing the six-lane highway going from east to west, within the painted crosswalk, and had cleared all but the final lane when he was struck by a southbound 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer driven by a 25-year-old West Covina woman, police said.

City police officers and Fire Department paramedics treated Wright at the scene and rushed him to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office listed head injuries as the cause of death. Police said Wright was not wearing a helmet and tried to cross PCH when it was unsafe to do so.

New stoplights

Workers had begun installing traffic lights at the intersection this week, paid for by the developer of the refurbished Hermosa Pavilion mall that stands at the intersection. City Manager Steve Burrell said developer Gene Shook offered to pay for the traffic signal in 2003, and worked with Caltrans to get it installed.

As the installation neared, a number of people living east of the intersection told the City Council that the signal might contribute to traffic problems in their neighborhood. The council continued to back the installation, but promised that city officials would take steps to fix any unintended problems if they occur.

Hermosa Beach Police Sgt. Tom Thompson said he expects the traffic light to ease the safety issues at the busy PCH intersection. He pointed to a another troublesome intersection at PCH and Fifth Street where left-turn signals were added to the traffic lights about six months ago, making it safer to cross the street.

“We engineered the problem away and the same thing will happen at 16th Street, we believe,” Thompson said.

He said the 16th Street intersection had become more troublesome after a 24 Hour Fitness facility opened in the Hermosa Pavilion, and people began parking along the east side of PCH and crossing to and from the mall, sometimes at the crosswalk and sometimes not.

Most years pass in Hermosa without a traffic death. The last time a pedestrian was killed was several years ago at PCH and Pier Avenue, in an accident caused by the pedestrian, Thompson said.

In addition to Wright’s mother, who works as director of aviation technology at LAX, he is survived by his father Bill Wright, owner of Wright Productions independent film and video production company and part-time master at Dive N’ Surf, and his sister Katie, a senior at Mira Costa High School.

A funeral service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at American Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach. Wright’s remains were to be cremated and scattered at sea. ER

 


The Easy Reader – March 2, 2006

Police claims nixed, Edison hammered by the HB City Council

By Robb Fulcher

The Hermosa Beach City Council on Tuesday rejected two administrative claims against the Hermosa Beach Police Department, including one by a man who claimed he was forced from a wheelchair and suffered a concussion and injuries to his neck and arms when he was “violently” arrested.

The council also sharply criticized cost increases and engineering delays in a proposed project to bury overhead utility lines, at the expense of property owners, in an area of town spreading northeast from Ralph’s Shopping Center.

The administrative claim by David A. Nichols, described as a paraplegic with limited use of his hands, alleges that he was forced out of his wheelchair when he was arrested August 21, 2005.

An attorney retained by Nichols was not immediately available for comment.  A police report states that Nichols was arrested about 11:30 a.m. for allegedly striking a HBPD officer who was trying to persuade Nichols to clean up after his dog.

The incident began when an employee of a downtown hotel flagged down the officer after failing to persuade Nichols to pick up dog feces, the report stated.  Nichols tried to wheel away from the officer who blocked his path and then was struck, the report stated.

In the other claim Donald Morgan of Lomita alleged that the Hermosa Beach police falsely arrested him August 26, 2005 and seized tools belonging to him, costing him a job.

With the rejection of the claims by the City Council, the two men can file civil lawsuits against the city if they choose.


The Easy Reader – February 16, 2006

Hermosa About Town

 

Arrest brings lawsuit - A civil rights lawsuit has been filed by three local residents who were arrested by Hermosa police on misdemeanor charges in 2004 and later exonerated in a Superior Court trial.  The federal lawsuit claims that Hermosa officers roughed up Robert Nolan of Hermosa and Joel Silva of Lawndale and made false statements in police reports after Nolan, Silva and Michelle Myers of Hermosa were arrested for allegedly blocking a police cruiser as it made its way across the Pier Plaza pedestrian promenade.  The FBI also opened an inquiry into allegations that police violated the civil rights of the three.

Gym appeal - Opponents are seeking to appeal a judge’s decision allowing construction of a gymnasium building at Hermosa Valley School, a project for which ground was formally broken late last month.  A lawsuit by the opponents, including some school neighbors, contended that the school board did not properly address concerns about noise, traffic and parking near the campus on Valley Drive north of Pier Avenue. The lawsuit also contended that the 2002 ballot measure for the school bonds did not include the gym in a list of projects to be funded.  Gym opponents also said they would continue to challenge $1.5 in special state funds the school board secured for the project last year.

School board vacancy - Hermosa Beach City School Board members were leaning toward appointing a replacement for board member Linda Wolin – rather than calling for a fresh election – after she announced she will leave her post to move to the San Francisco area.  Although no formal vote was taken board members last Wednesday said they plan to seek applicants for Wolin’s position, then choose among them, after she formally resigns. Wolin has said she would resign about March, leaving about two years of her term unfilled.  Wolin announced last month that her husband Jon has accepted a new position in Northern California. The family’s move also created a vacancy on the Beach Cities Health District board, of which Jon Wolin was a member.  The Health District board also opted to appoint rather than elect a replacement, and plans to consider applicants for Wolin’s position Feb. 22.  The Health District provides programs such as the Center for Health and Fitness, the AdventurePlex health and fitness center for youth; emotional and logistical support to the elderly; and mental and emotional health classes and seminars for the general public. ER
 

Star search - Anyone interested in producing a public access TV show can call the Adelphia Communications cable company at 406-1960, ext. 1986 to enroll in free classes to learn the technical aspects of getting a program onto the air. Classes are upcoming and the sizes are limited. ER


The Easy Reader – December 1, 2005

Police seek help after home attack

 

Hermosa police were seeking witnesses after a man broke into a home in the 3500 block of Manhattan Avenue about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 29 and fled when a woman resident screamed, and hit and scratched him.

Police urged anyone who might have seen the man flee to call Hermosa Beach Police Detective Bob Higgins at 318-0341.

The man was described as 6 feet tall and athletic wearing a long-sleeved, button-down shirt and possibly khaki pants.

He entered the home, possibly through an unlocked door, police said. The woman was awakened by a sound, shouted, and confronted the man, who was wearing a smooth, latex, skin-colored mask, in a hallway. The man grabbed her throat and she fought back, police said.

Police are hoping witnesses might have seen the man running from the home. ER


The Easy Reader - February 3, 2005

HB Arrests hit an all-time high

 

by Robb Fulcher

 

The year 2004 saw a record number of arrests in Hermosa -- 1,388 -- topping the old record of 1,315 set the year before. Those high-water marks go back at least to 1991, when the Hermosa Beach Police Department began keeping detailed arrest records, Chief Mike Lavin said.

The downtown area with its active and sometimes rowdy nightlife has contributed to the increased arrests, Lavin said.  “That is a reflection, I would have to say, of the downtown. We have so much activity there,” he said.

In addition to those figures, which cover the arrests of adults, police also made 20 arrests of juveniles last year, down from 28 the year before.  Parking citations soared from 46,800 in 2003 to 51,137 last year.

As usual, the most serious types of crime occurred seldomly. Reported sex crimes dropped from 11 in 2003 to seven in 2004. Incidents of robbery by force or fear rose from 13 to 20.

As in most years, no murders occurred in Hermosa in 2004. One murder occurred the year before when a 25-year-old Hermosan was shot as he sat behind the wheel of a car at Pacific Coast Highway and Pier Avenue. That crime, which occurred in March 2003, remains unsolved.

The number of assaults rose barely in 2004, from 140 the previous year to 143. Burglaries of buildings and cars dropped from 143 to 140. Theft, which covers the grabbing of stray bicycles and the like, dropped from 388 to 359. Auto theft decreased from 56 to 45.

DUI arrests dropped from 285 to 164, a decline for which officials could offer no immediate explanation. In another possibly downtown-related development, misdemeanor citations ballooned from 989 to 1,419. Disturbance calls to police rose from 3,025 to 4,201.

Once again there were no fatal traffic accidents in Hermosa. ER


 

Hermosa Beach Crime Statistics - 1998 to 2004

                                                                                                                Criminal        Adult        Total Calls       Disturbance

                  Burglary    Robbery       Assaults      DUI        Citations      Arrests     For Service     Calls            

1998 --     113           17             77          150         562            608        19,951       3,199

2004 --     140           20           143          164       1,419         1,388        30,215       4,201

 

Crime Categories That Have Shown an Increase from 1998 thru 2004

                                                                                                Criminal         Adult        Total Calls       Disturbance

                  Burglary    Robbery       Assaults       DUI       Citations       Arrests     For Service     Calls               

                    Up           Up           Up          Up        Up           Up          Up             Up

               23.9 %    17.6 %     85.7 %    9.3 %   152 %      128 %     51.4 %       31.3 %

 

Source: The Hermosa Beach Police Department Activity Reports

 



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