Featured Articles from the Huntington Beach Independent

Huntington Beach artists can forget about entering their work in Laguna Beach's Festival of Arts open-air show, unless they can prove that they live in one of 34 ZIP codes outside of Surf City. Under the Festival's present-day rules, Surf City and points in Orange County north and west of Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Irvine lie outside the zone of residential eligibility for the annual juried summertime fine arts exhibit. But Kate Hoffman, executive director of the Huntington Beach Art Center (HBAC)

When Austin Brashears was ready to take off for New Zealand, his mother's boss lent him a small item for his travels: a backpack. The Huntington Beach resident had arranged a semester abroad, and he didn't intend to spend all his time outside class lounging in the dorm. "He was not going to be laying around playing Xbox," said Debbie Kagawa, chief financial officer of Capital Resources & Insurance, Inc., where Brashears' mother has worked for more than 10 years. "He was going to be out seeing people.

Four local prep baseball teams had the daunting task of playing first-round CIF Southern Section playoff games on the road Friday, each traveling to different pockets of the Southland. Edison, Huntington Beach, Marina and Ocean View all played well in their first-round games, but only Huntington and Marina returned home with victories. Huntington traveled to face Moore League champion Long Beach Poly and the Oilers, an at-large entry from the Sunset League, pulled out a 2-1 win over the fourth-ranked Jackrabbits in a Division 1 game.

A memorial service and paddle-out have been scheduled for Austin Brashears, the Huntington Beach resident who died this month in a minivan accident in New Zealand. Debbie Kagawa and Sage Russo, the leaders of the Bring Austin Home campaign that has raised funds to transport his body home, said Brashears' parents are in New Zealand and plan to return to the United States with the remains Sunday. Kagawa, the longtime boss of Brashears' mother, said the campaign's PayPal account exceeded $20,000 in donations Friday morning.

A teacher's aide hired to assist the Ocean View High School band instructor with music instruction was arrested Monday on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old student. Kristopher Charles Maw, 24, of Huntington Beach, who also works for Huntington Beach High School, was booked on suspicion of digital penetration, oral copulation and unlawful sex with a minor. He was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail, Lt. Craig Junginger said. The student's name has not been released. Maw was hired as a "walk-on coach" to work with the band teacher, assistant superintendent of human resources Deborah Coleman said.

It's one of the prettiest pictures I've ever seen of Huntington Beach. A classic sunset looking through the pier, a rich spectrum of purples framing the yellow sun in violet, indigo, fuchsia, mauve, magenta, plum - it is stunning. And how perfect that it is literally the very first image taken by one of the city's most important citizens. When Alicia Wentworth arrived in Huntington Beach back in 1947, she could not have had a clue the role she was destined to play in city history.

Two electricity generators at a Huntington Beach power plant have been sold to allow another project to rise. AES Huntington Beach LLC, part of a company that generates electricity in 28 countries, sold two of its four power units to Santa Ana-based Edison Mission Energy, a Southern California Edison affiliate, said AES Southland President Eric Pendergraft. The sale is part of an agreement that keeps emissions within the South Coast Air Quality Management District's limits in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Pendergraft said.

When Lauren Anne Clement heard that one of her local retailers was hosting a talent show, she felt like a longshot. The Pensacola, Fla., dance instructor hadn't competed in years, and she had less than a day to throw together a costume, find a partner, pick a song and choreograph a routine. Racing against deadline, Clement and her sister, Tori Siddall, chose the Bill Haley classic "Rock Around the Clock," assembled 1950s-style outfits out of dresses and pearls and worked out a swing-dance duet.

The Huntington Beach Adult School still has room available in its popular computing classes, following its computer center’s move to a new location on the Ocean View High School campus, 17071 Gothard St., Huntington Beach. The school has long been known as “Huntington Beach’s best-kept secret.” “But we can’t be anymore,” said computer instructor Tracy Foreman. “If we’re going to survive, we can’t be a secret.” The school is coping with new locations and budget cuts that have seen many of its programs chopped or modified.

Assemblyman Allan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) told a conservative group Monday that he believes his Republican opponent in the June 5 primary will bow down to unions and special-interest groups in Sacramento. During a Surf City Tea-sponsored forum in the Huntington Beach Central Library, Mansoor said Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who is running against him in the 74th Assembly District race, supports unions and raising taxes. "That's a clear difference between me and my opponent, who calls herself Republican," he said.

A Huntington Beach resident is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on multiple counts of fraud, theft, money laundering and the 2008 stabbing death of a Santa Monica man. Daniel Edward Becerril II, 35, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing a financial investment client shortly after stealing about $550,000 from his investment accounts, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Richard Lewis. Police began investigating Becerril after discovering the body of Alexander Merman, who worked as a Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school teacher.

For years since we moved to Huntington Beach, I have wanted to go on a grunion run. So when the call came last week that Bill Burhans, a seasonal interpretive specialist for the Department of Parks and Recreation, would be leading a small group of Amigo de Bolsa Chica members along the beach one night at 11:30 p.m., I happily tagged along (with my son in tow). Now, you may have read Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray’s column last week about how successful the trip was. They were there; they know what we all witnessed.

You published a letter from Lynn Beasley who writes as if only she knows the facts about the Orange County Humane Society on Newland Street in Huntington Beach ( "Concerns about H.B.'s animal shelter," May 12). Let me be very clear, I do not have any ax to grind with the person, only her misinformation. Her letter centers on a $7,000 monthly payment that goes to the shelter. Her statement is that it goes to Dr. Samir Botros. How far from truth are her facts? This fee, whatever it is, goes to the shelter.