Featured Articles from the Huntington Beach Independent

An investigation was underway on Thursday into a vicious brawl between two men on the 405 Freeway that was caught on video. The bloody confrontation took place just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday near the Beach Boulevard off-ramp in Huntington Beach, according to the California Highway Patrol. The incident involved Richard Brun, a celebrity bodyguard, and a truck driver, identified as 40-year-old Denny Saavedra. The fight stemmed from a road-rage incident roughly 10 miles away, police said.

A familiar shop on downtown Huntington Beach's Main Street is being evicted from its location because it can longer make the rent. Electric Chair, a store which sells punk-rock, rockabilly, alternative and pin-up girl attire and accessories, will close its doors at 410 Main St. for good Christmas Eve. The business was hit hard by the economic downturn in 2008, co-owner Mohammed "Moe" Memon said. "We're just scrambling and trying to figure things out," Memon said. "We have been pretty financially devastated from this whole thing.

Ian Christopher Berrier, the man Huntington Beach police shot and killed Thursday night, had multiple charges prior to his death, according to court files. Over the past three years, the 20-year-old Huntington Beach resident was involved in five cases, three of which were still active. Berrier was cited for using his cell phone while driving in 2010, while a charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance was dismissed in 2011. In the three active cases, he pleaded not guilty to six charges.

The Ocean View Cubs were perfection for four innings of their Little League District 62 Tournament of Championships Majors division opener Saturday. Steven Gingery threw three perfect innings, followed by one perfect inning by Chad Minato, and the Cubs shut out the Costa Mesa American Angels, 10-0, in an Area 1 game halted by the mercy rule at Huntington Valley Little League. Offensively for the Cubs, Minato and Chase Nelson doubled, Jacob Haffner, Patrick Pockels and Brian Smallshaw each had an RBI hit and Ryo Takada and Jerritt O'Brien also had hits.

Some columns just seem to strike a chord. I can tell right away as the emails start to come in when something has truly resonated. Leave it to Meadowlark Airport to unlock so many memories from those who took to the air there, and also those who enjoyed its flight history from the ground. People sent me pictures, they recounted stories, and Carl Obert was even kind enough to send a copy of the old Meadowlark Café menu featuring a flying hamburger on its cover. As I wrote last week, there was a follow-up I wanted to do on the beloved airstrip.

Three of the four teens who allegedly beat a man nearly to death with skateboards were charged Thursday with assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury, said Huntington Beach Police Lt. Mitch O'Brien. One suspect was released without being charged, O'Brien said. Viktor Silcock , 25, of Huntington Beach, was allegedly beaten by a group of skateboarders Friday in Murdy Park. Silcock is expected to survive, but he remains in critical condition in UC I rvine Medical Center's trauma unit after sustaining blunt-force trauma to his head when a group of teenagers allegedly attacked him inside a laundromat, police said.  According to public records, Silcock is a member of a Huntington Beach family that includes more than 40 adopted boys with special needs.

I was disappointed to see the letters in your mailbag section all held the same opinion - that Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian was wrong to ban abortions at its facility. I hope you will publish other opinions as well about this matter. I, for one, applaud Hoag for its decision. If abortion supporters are worried about where they or their daughters can get their next abortion, they need only look in the yellow pages for any number of providers. I must say that the fact that one writer called abortion “a service” is unconscionable.

"The hardest things are questions about the time - about what she endured in the last eight, 12 hours. He has admitted to nothing. And that is hard because the imagination is worse than any reality - and then there is the place where she was found. " Erin Runnion and I were having a cup of tea in Huntington Beach last week and she was describing, in part, what inspired a journey she had made several days before to an outpost along the Ortega Highway - to the spot where her daughter Samantha's body was discovered 10 years ago, brutally murdered after being abducted the day before at her home in Stanton by a man named Alejandro Avila (who is now deservedly on death row)

Deepa Bharath A former volunteer at a Huntington Beach animal shelter has filed a complaint with the state Veterinary Medical Board alleging that the veterinarian who owns the shelter uses unlicensed technicians to euthanize and perform surgical procedures on animals at his adjoining hospital. In her complaint, filed against AAA Animal Hospital and the Orange County Humane Society, both on Newland Street, Shelly Hunter states that she is "addressing the illegal, inhumane and unethical practices" taking place at the shelter and the hospital.

Fountain Valley man dies in multi-car crash A 19-year-old Fountain Valley man was killed Friday morning in a four-car accident that injured four others near the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Indianapolis Avenue, police said. A white cargo truck and a red Pontiac GTO were traveling southbound on Beach Boulevard when they collided, causing the driver of the Pontiac to lose control and cross the center median into oncoming traffic, police said.