Alcohol

Officials with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control recommended approval Tuesday of an alcohol license for Ka Shabu in downtown Huntington Beach. Staff Counsel Valoree Wortham and licensing representative Leonora Amante said during a hearing at the department's Santa Ana office that the Asian restaurant had already made concessions to the community while selling liquor under a temporary permit. They also said it would provide a unique dining experience in the neighborhood, due to its unusual style that allows customers to cook their own meals at the table.

Huntington Beach, which topped all California cities its size in alcohol-related injury traffic collisions in 2009, fared slightly better the following year, according to statistics released in March by the Office of Traffic Safety. The city ranked fifth out of 53 in its population category in 2010, the numbers showed. A total of 136 people were killed or injured in alcohol-related collisions, down from 195 the year before. DUI arrests were slightly down from the year before as well, with 1,274 compared to 1,558 in 2009.

Under a new bill by state Sen. Tom Harman, coastal cities like Huntington Beach and Newport Beach could potentially gain more power to regulate or limit drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in the city. It's exactly what some residents have been asking for. They've been pressuring the city to address the proliferation of drug and alcohol recovery facilities that they say are causing problems in their neighborhoods. City officials say state and federal laws severely limit how they can regulate the facilities, because recovering drug and alcohol addicts are classified as disabled and thus entitled to legal protections.

The arrest of nine people in a recent DUI checkpoint was one of the many results of more than $280,000 in grants to the Huntington Beach Police Department from the state and federal governments to crack down on alcohol-related crime. The department has launched a yearlong program to prevent driving while intoxicated, thanks to a $181,077 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “The grant will improve traffic safety in Huntington Beach,” Police Chief Kenneth Small said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has named the cause of death in the mysterious case of a woman whose body was found in the water near her Huntington Harbour boat in March. Jim Amormino, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said the official cause of death for Anna Krivenkoff, 45, following an autopsy and toxicology reports, was “saltwater drowning due to acute alcohol intoxication.” Sheriff’s deputies found the body of Krivenkoff at about 2 a.m. March 26 after they responded to word of a large pool of blood outside Turc’s, a Sunset Beach bar, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Craig Bryant said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has named the cause of death in the mysterious case of a woman whose body was found in the water near her Huntington Harbour boat in March. Jim Amormino, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said the official cause of death for Anna Krivenkoff, 45, following an autopsy and toxicology reports, was “saltwater drowning due to acute alcohol intoxication.” Sheriff’s deputies found the body of Krivenkoff about 2 a.m. March 26 after they responded to word of a large pool of blood outside Turc’s, a Sunset Beach bar, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Craig Bryant said.

A man who police say kept a woman packed in ice at the Fairmont Newport Beach hotel probably won’t be charged on any counts involving her death, prosecutors said Tuesday. Stephen Royds kept the body of former Huntington Beach resident and his girlfriend Monique Felicia Trepp packed in dry ice in a 2-by-3-foot green plastic bin in the hotel room for about a year, police said. She was 33 when she died. A recent autopsy report showed Trepp died from an overdose of cocaine and alcohol, according to the Orange County coroner’s office.

The City Council approved tougher conditions of approval for downtown businesses selling alcohol or providing entertainment at its first meeting of the new year Tuesday. The council approved a resolution to standardize conditions for new entertainment and alcohol sales permits. It was approved, 5 to 0, with Councilman Joe Carchio abstaining and Councilman Gil Coerper absent. The new conditions are meant to “change the current nightclub atmosphere, which has created a public safety issue along with compromising the surrounding neighborhoods’ quality of life,” according to the documents.

Local lawmakers wrapped up 2007 with legislation including the reform of prison drug and alcohol rehabilitation, improved access to dental care and the elimination of loopholes in family estate planning law. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore said one of his greatest achievements was co-writing legislation that will expand prison drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. DeVore, one of the Assembly’s most conservative legislators, partnered with one of the most liberal, Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton)

Two Huntington Beach residents were killed and another was seriously injured when the boat they were in crashed into the Gilbert Drive Bridge over Shelter Channel in Huntington Harbour early Saturday morning. Caleb Steele, who celebrated his 30th birthday June 3, and Shawn Wilson, 35, were out boating with James Geekie, 37, during high tide at 1 a.m. when the boat was unable to clear the bridge, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the 12-foot, inflatable Zodiac boat, was traveling up to 20 mph in the 5-mph zone, he said.