Featured Articles from the Huntington Beach Independent

If the notion of a vegan meal makes you cringe, a dinner at Mai Nguyen's Au Lac might very well change your mind, especially if you are a fan of Vietnamese, Chinese or Japanese food. Co-chef Ito actually calls his cuisine "Humanese" because he wishes to break down boundaries between people — "we are all merely and wonderfully human. " We think their delicious food will make it an easy transition for carnivores to enjoy a vegan meal. Ito is at the helm of the separate raw food kitchen for those already converted to a plant-based diet who want to take it to the next step.

Opening statements began Monday in the trial of a Huntington Beach man who is accused of shooting and killing another man at a city park, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Derek Christopher Adams, 23, is accused of shooting Gregory Heintz at Murdy Park in Huntington Beach on Oct. 22, 2010, while the victim was there with friends to retrieve a cell phone Adams had allegedly stolen. On that day, Adams is accused of going to the home of Cody Masher in Newport Beach at about 11 a.m. along with his co-defendant and friend Marissa Star Bilotti, 21, breaking down the door and confronting Masher and his girlfriend, according to prosecutors.

ORANGE - Craig Pazanti cradled the championship plaque securely under his left arm while he wiped his brow with his right hand late Saturday at center court at Santiago Canyon College. "I've been telling the kids all year, that I thought they were the best team," Pazanti said, the sweat he was still wiping away on occasion, the beads the result of an intense match his Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team had just fought and survived. Pazanti was proven right - his Oilers are the No. 1 team.

It seemed like a regular day. Kaitlyn Dobrow, 18, woke up in time for her eight-hour shift as a receptionist at the Days Inn & Suites of Huntington Beach. She worked from 3 to 11 p.m. until her best friend, Kristen Kidd, gave her a ride to the gym, where they exercised together. Back home about 1 a.m., she texted Kidd, "I just puked my guts out and my joints hurt so bad. " She arose between 9 and 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12, with complaints of a headache and body pain, but Advil provided no relief.

Huntington Beach High needed a win on the final day of the regular season on May 9, to stay in the conversation for the CIF Southern Section baseball playoffs. The Oilers stayed relevant by winning, 5-0, at Edison. The victory led to a playoff berth that they were awarded Monday and on Tuesday they remained alive in Division 1 postseason play. Huntington went to Riverside to battle ML King in a Division 1 wild-card game between teams that were at-large entries to the playoffs.

It has been 20 years since Huntington Beach High won its first CIF Southern Section championship in boys' volleyball. Entering the week, the Oilers were one win away from playing for another title. Huntington advanced to Wednesday's Division 1 playoff semifinals by sweeping its third-straight postseason opponent. This time, it was Dana Hills which felt the wrath of the Oilers, who scored a 25-20, 25-18, 25-21 quarterfinal road victory over the South Coast League runner-up. The win, the 11th-consecutive by sweep for Sunset League champion Huntington, put the No. 4-seeded Oilers, 29-2 overall, into a semifinal match at home Wednesday against top-seeded Mira Costa (Bay League No. 1)

The final week of the Sunset League baseball race sure made things interesting. Prior to the closing day of league play on May 9, Fountain Valley High already had won the Sunset League baseball championship. The Barons finished league play with a 12-3 record, one game ahead of fast-charging Marina which took second place with an 11-4 record. In a battle for CIF playoff consideration, Huntington Beach defeated Edison to finish fourth in league. The Barons had a three-game lead in the Sunset standings going into the final week.

Elizabeth Romero's parents enrolled her in piano, singing and ballet lessons when she was small. By nudging her toward these activities, they hoped to coax their daughter out of the shell of her shyness. Today, it's clear that the parental decision has helped Elizabeth gain a foothold in finding the buds of her self-esteem. The Fountain Valley resident, who just turned 18, is on the verge of graduating, not only as a standout student from Huntington Beach High School, but as one of the brightest stars to come out the campus' Academy of the Performing Arts (APA)

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.

"A cement-covered marshmallow. " That's how Katherine Coones describes her husband Rusty, a 6-foot-5 biker bear of a man who, despite what some might consider to be an intimidating presence, is disarmingly warm and engaging. On Goldenwest Street right near the 405 Freeway is Illusion Motorsports, the world this couple (along with Rusty's business partner, Rodrigo Requejo) has been building for more than a decade. They call it "the premier motorcycle customizing shop of Orange County," and after a tour, it's obvious why. Though they'll do tune-ups and other bike maintenance here, it's the design and building that they're primarily focused on. Several dozen bikes in various stages of creation and design are on display, including one $80,000 beauty that Rusty is customizing for a local businessman.

Two Huntington Beach councilmen are looking to take on bigger roles in Orange County. Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Harper is considering running for the 74th Assembly District, while Councilman Joe Carchio is contemplating throwing his name into the Orange County Board of Supervisors election. This comes on the heels of Assemblyman Allan Mansoor's (R-Costa Mesa) consideration of replacing Supervisor John Moorlach in the 2nd District, an area that encompasses Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

And the sweep goes on. When Huntington Beach fell behind by six points late in the first set of Wednesday's CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys' volleyball semifinal match with Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, the Oilers were in danger of having their straight-sets win streak snapped. Not only that, but a first set loss to the top-ranked Mustangs would force the No. 4-seeded Oilers to play catch-up the remainder of the match. Danger averted. Huntington regrouped after falling behind, 19-13, in that first set, and stormed back with an incredible rally that produced an eventual, 25-23 win. The comeback ignited a spark under the Oilers, who never looked back.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is looking into whether a Huntington Beach woman intentionally let her cocker spaniel loose on a mail carrier, authorities said. The postal worker, former Olympic swimmer Shirley Babashoff, called 911 last week saying she was hiding from the dog in her truck. Babashoff, of Fountain Valley, told a dispatcher that a resident got angry as she approached the door to have her sign a piece of registered mail, authorities said. She said the resident, Patricia Johnson, let out her black and white cocker spaniel and unleashed a verbal tirade at her, authorities said.

As soon as a group of 10 Wardlow School alumni stepped foot inside its stripped-down front office, images from childhood popped into their heads. Alumni from the former school toured the Huntington Beach campus one last time before Tri Pointe Homes levels the site to begin construction on new housing. After discovering that Wardlow was about to be demolished, Karyn Sontag and other former students contacted Tri Pointe to see if they could see the school before it was torn down.