Huntington Beach police: Tracking device leads to stolen iPad

The Huntington Beach Police Department — with a little help from the late Steve Jobs — caught a burglary suspect Sunday and returned possessions to several residents whose homes had been targeted.

That day, the department responded to a burglary report on 19th Street, where residents had awoken to find an iPad and jewelry missing, according to Lt. Mitch O’Brien.

One of the residents, though, still had another Apple device available. By using an application, known as Find My iPhone, that allows an Apple device to physically locate another, he pinpointed the iPad in a house on 22nd Street, authorities said.

Police subsequently arrested Gary Lee Carter, 43, of Huntington Beach. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning to one felony count of first-degree residential burglary, with a sentencing enhancement for having a non-accomplice present during the burglary.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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City Lights: The Poet Laureate of reader comments

Last week, Times Community News got a surprise visit from a poet. No, Rita Dove or Mark Strand didn’t stop by the newsroom. But our story on DrunkRescue, a new Huntington Beach business that offers rides home for out-on-the-town drunks, got an online reader comment much different from the usual anonymous posting.

It was different, mainly, because it was written in rhymed couplets. I emailed the author and asked for his or her name so we could print the comment in Mailbag (it’s in our letters page this week), and a return message revealed that Michael P. Ridley — a.k.a. The Alaskan Poet — had sent it anonymously.

Then again, for those familiar with Ridley’s work, the poem’s author may have been easy to guess. Ridley, a lawyer who lives in Costa Mesa, has a history of posting poetic reader comments and once wrote a column (in verse) for the Orange County Register. He also runs a pair of poetry blogs: one dealing with personal issues, and the other weighing in on news of the day.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Drunk? These guys will drive your car home for a fee

For bar or restaurant patrons who have had too much to drink, a Huntington Beach company is offering a ride home — in a very familiar car.

DrunkRescue, which launched in January, provides a service in which professional drivers take intoxicated customers’ keys and chauffeur them back to their residences.

The owners, Davlyn Sousa De Freitas and Robert Herron, started their enterprise in response to Huntington Beach’s high DUI numbers, although their service has quickly expanded to Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Fountain Valley, Laguna Beach and other surrounding cities.

“People are hearing about us with very little advertising, just social networking websites and word of mouth,” said Sousa De Freitas, who worked as an investment banker for Wells Fargo before starting his new endeavor.

DrunkRescue employs 15 drivers who situate themselves around popular after-dark areas between midnight and 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. If a customer calls the business’ main number needing a ride, the operator relays the message to the driver closest to the customer’s location.

The driver then meets the customer — walking over on foot if he’s close enough, or getting a ride from Sousa De Freitas or Herron if not — and takes the keys to his or her car. After the driver has taken the customer home, Sousa De Freitas or Herron picks up the driver and brings him back to his post.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Questions persist over possible wetlands at Poseidon property

A state commission has reiterated its concern that the site for Poseidon Resources’ proposed Huntington Beach desalination plant may contain wetlands and requested a tour of the grounds with representatives from the company.

The California Coastal Commission, in a March 20 letter to Poseidon, requested a number of documents it called necessary to complete the Connecticut-based company’s application for a coastal development permit. Among the requested items are data sheets that would indicate whether the land contains wetlands.

The commission also asked for a tour with Poseidon officials, which it previously requested in May.

Poseidon spokesman Brian Lochrie acknowledged that the company had not yet arranged a site visit. He explained that officials had been preoccupied with getting a water-intake permit from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, which voted in Poseidon’s favor in February. Several environmental groups have since appealed the decision.

Poseidon now plans to coordinate with the neighboring AES power plant, which owns the property, to set up a site visit with the commission, Lochrie said.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Rohrabacher says campaign payments to wife perfectly legal

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) on Monday denounced a report by a political watchdog group that lists him among politicians who benefit personally from their offices or extend benefits to family members.

“Family Affair,” the report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C., reviewed every sitting member of the House of Representatives through the 2008 and 2010 elections. Rohrabacher, who lives in Costa Mesa, was among 248 politicians profiled and one of 25 from California.

The group, known as CREW, noted that the congressman got more than $60,000 in reimbursements from his campaign committee during the last two election cycles, while his wife received nearly $200,000 in salary and reimbursements during the same time.

Rohrabacher, a 12-term member who represents the 46th Congressional District and chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the figures but said they hardly qualified as news.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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City Lights: Could Trayvon Martin incident happen in Orange County?

Every so often, a local story turns into a national one — and then a local one again, as individual communities hold themselves up to the light and question whether a similar thing could happen to them. Such has been the case with the death of Trayvon Martin.

Leaving one obvious factor out, the incident in Sanford, Fla. — in which an unarmed 17-year-old was shot by a neighborhood watchman who claimed self-defense — is tragic but not unusual. Every day, somewhere, people die under dubious circumstances; every day, judges and police listen to conflicting accounts of who followed whom or who attacked first.

The Martin case deserves a thorough hearing in court, and with pressure mounting nationwide, I have no doubt that it will receive one. But the case has sparked a national dialogue less about self-defense and vigilantism than about skin color. At this point, has anyone not heard countless times that Martin was black and that his death appears to be racially motivated?

In the last month, a Time magazine columnist published a piece advising parents on how to talk to black boys about the Martin case. “Black maleness is a potentially fatal condition,” the author wrote, later suggesting that parents explain, “You will have to make allowances for other people’s racism. That’s part of the burden of being black. We can be defiant and dead or smart and alive.”

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Assembly candidate says quotes slamming councilman were not his

A Huntington Beach resident running for Assembly said a pair of campaign press releases that attacked another candidate for dropping out of the race were sent without his approval.

Travis Allen, one of five candidates in the race for the newly aligned 72 District, attributed the March 9 and 10 emails to “an anxious campaign volunteer,” who issued the statements without authorization.

The releases, which feature the tag “Approved by Travis Allen for Assembly” at the bottom, strongly criticize Huntington Beach Councilman Matthew Harper (pictured) for dropping out of the Assembly race before the deadline to file papers.

Harper, who ran a high-profile campaign for several months, announced March 9 that he had opted out of the race.

The first release calls Harper’s move “a slap in the face” to Huntington residents, while the second calls it a “shocking decision” and praises Allen for putting his own name on the ballot.

“Not only do Matt Harper’s actions raise questions about moral turpitude, but also his off-putting decision has put the future of Huntington Beach in direct jeopardy,” the first release reads.

In the wake of the comments appearing in the media, Allen said he had personally made amends with Harper. Both men are Republicans.

“We’ve had multiple conversations, and I said, ‘Look, I will do what I can to make people know we are good friends,’” Allen said.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Plans for widening 405 Freeway are on the table

State and county agencies may know by the end of this summer how they intend to widen the 405 Freeway, which has been targeted for renovation to accommodate predicted increases in traffic.

Niall Barrett, a program manager for the Orange County Transportation Authority, said during a presentation Thursday at the Fountain Valley Mayor’s Breakfast that officials are considering three alternatives to widen the freeway for 14 miles between the 605 in Seal Beach and the 73 in Costa Mesa.

A pair of draft reports, one outlining the program’s engineering design and another evaluating its environmental impact, are being evaluated by Caltrans, the state’s transportation agency and the OCTA’s partner on the 405 project. Once Caltrans finishes its review, the public will have 45 days to read and comment on the reports.

After that review period ends, the state and county groups may make their selection.

“We’re hoping to get as much of a turnout and as many public comments as we possibly can,” said Barrett, who listed the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center, Westminster Community Center and Rush Park Auditorium in Rossmoor as probable public hearing sites.

– Michael Miller, @MichaelMillerHB, Huntington Beach Independent

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Gary Sahagen, ‘face’ of International Surfing Museum, steps down

On an afternoon last week, Gary Sahagen played a role that he had watched many others play during his decade at the International Surfing Museum.

The role of visitor.

Sahagen, who joined the museum as a trustee in 2001, stepped down in January from his post as director-at-large. Before agreeing to meet at his former grounds for an interview and photo shoot, he admitted that walking through the front door might be bittersweet.

But as he led an impromptu tour around the shelves and displays, Sahagen seemed like the man in charge, even if he wasn’t any longer.

In the small confines of the one-story museum at 411 Olive Ave., he couldn’t go more than a few steps without telling a yarn — about the camera in the glass case that filmed the movie “The Endless Summer,” about the autographed Dick Dale guitar, about the primitive wooden surfboard hung a few inches below the ceiling.

Sahagen, a veteran longboarder and chief executive of a Huntington Beach-based family business, never made a living off running the surfing museum. That’s hardly apparent, though, from listening to him talk about the institution that he helped shape and promote for more than 10 years.

“Representing the museum and Surf City, it’s just an honor,” said Sahagen, who served as executive director and other titles over the years. “Sometimes I pinch myself and can’t believe I get to do this stuff.”

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No appeal filed on Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach

Residents who petitioned the Planning Commission to reject the Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach’s application to rebuild its clubhouse will not appeal the commission’s vote, a spokesman said.

Nesip Tarcan, a member of the group known informally as the 71 Concerned Residents of Downtown Huntington Beach, said in an email Friday evening that the group will instead focus its efforts on enforcing the rules for the new clubhouse laid out by the commission.

“We have had conversations with [Planning Commissioner] Mark Bixby and [City Councilman] Joe Shaw regarding carrying our fight further,” Tarcan wrote. “It is their counsel that we may lose what we have gained if we appeal to the City Council. With an appeal, everything comes off the table and the debate starts anew. We would run a risk of losing what we have gained.”

The commission gave the Woman’s Club the green light Feb. 28 to build a new clubhouse to replace the one that burned down in April. As part of the approval, the commission set limits on how late the club could stay open, how many people could attend events and more.

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