Headlines show 2016 was an eventful year in Surf City
In 2016, Huntington Beach opened a new 38,000-square-foot senior center, hosted its first air show and unveiled a 9/11 memorial at City Hall.
Below is a list of the year’s top stories, in chronological order:
City outlaws use of reptiles for entertainment
The Huntington Beach City Council decided in May to ban the use of reptiles for public entertainment and raising money.
The previous city law prohibited the use of reptiles that are venomous or longer than 8 feet.
Police Chief Robert Handy said people wearing snakes around their necks downtown during large events like the U.S. Open of Surfing sparked safety concerns.
“We’re just trying to restrict the street-performance-type use of them,” Handy said at the time.
23-year-old who beat officer is sentenced
A 23-year-old Huntington Beach man was sentenced May 20 to seven years in prison for beating a police officer to the point of unconsciousness.
Bryce Headrick pleaded guilty to a felony count of aggravated assault on a peace officer.
Prosecutors said Headrick and his father, Darryl, brutally beat an officer after he had tried to pull over Headrick, who was riding a bicycle.
The officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Workers begin clearing out Wintersburg
The process of restoring the Historic Wintersburg site began in 2016 with trimming of trees whose limbs hovered over buildings.
Preservationists’ long process of trying to acquire and restore Historic Wintersburg, which was designated an endangered historic site in 2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, entered a new phase: stabilization.
The work is important because a strong wind could damage the unstable structures, and dry brush on the ground and piled up on some roofs could spark a fire, officials said at the time.
The process began with the trimming of old trees whose limbs hovered over the site’s dilapidated buildings.
The Wintersburg Preservation Task Force, a committee appointed by the City Council, was heading the renovation at the site, which is considered an important part of Japanese American history.
Trash company Rainbow Environmental Services, now owned by Republic Services, owns the property.
Groups dress up as mermaids to swim
Mermaiding took hold of Southern California in 2016.
The practice entails dressing up as one of the mythical creatures and swimming in the ocean.
People have formed various groups over the years, making their way to Huntington and other beaches in full mermaid attire, flippers and all.
Apsychologist from Riverside who preferred going by the name Mermaid Callie told the Daily Pilot in June that she and her “mersisters” feel free while swimming in their tails.
Man arrested for being drunk on a horse
A man was arrested over the Fourth of July weekend on suspicion of drinking while riding a horse through downtown Huntington Beach.
The man was a performer in the city’s parade but continued to ride the horse down Main Street after the event ended, police spokeswoman Jennifer Marlatt said at the time.
Police said the man was handed red cups containing alcohol from people in the street.
“It’s possible to be arrested for public intoxication while on a horse if you ride up to [officers] with a red cup in hand,” the Police Department tweeted. “DUI on a horse would be a new one. This was a charge of public intoxication.”
38,000-square-foot senior center opens
A decade in the making, a 38,000-square-foot senior center finally opened on July 10 in Central Park.
The new center features a fitness center, dance lessons, a large event room, computer classrooms and a transportation center with shuttles and buses.
“This is a center that seniors can be very proud of,” Randy L. Pesqueira, executive director of senior services, said in June. “It really tells how the city feels about its senior population.”
H.B. police to begin wearing body cameras
The Huntington Beach City Council in September voted 4 to 3 in favor of purchasing 50 police body cameras.
Police Chief Robert Handy took the request to the council, pointing to the number of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. that use the filming devices.
Council members Billy O’Connell and Barbara Delgleize and then-Mayor Jim Katapodis dissented, arguing that the money could be put to better use.
About 50 officers were issued body cameras and began using them on Dec. 16, according to police spokeswoman Jennifer Marlatt.
H.B. unveils City Hall 9/11 memorial
Employees with RBA Builders Inc. work on the 9/11 memorial outside Huntington Beach City Hall in September.
It took five years, but Huntington Beach finally premiered its 9/11 memorial — on Sept. 11.
The monument features the words “We Will Never Forget” displayed between two 9½-foot-tall granite columns that symbolize New York City’s Twin Towers, which were destroyed in a terrorist attack 15 years ago. Two pieces of steel from the towering buildings were embedded in the memorial.
The monument had been in the making since Sept. 11, 2011, when the Huntington Beach Police Officers Foundation and the Firefighers Assn. were given the two pieces of steel from the towers.
The memorial had faced a few setbacks over the years, but the community and city officials expressed excitement when the project was finally completed.
Jim Katapodis, a former police officer who was mayor at the time, said in September that the memorial was particularly important to him.
“We said we will never forget,” Katapodis said. “That’s important to me that we make sure that people don’t forget what happened on Sept. 11. We have to teach our kids and everybody else about that day.”
Surf City gets another major event: an airshow
Surf City hosted the Breitling Huntington Beach Airshow from Oct. 21 to 23, featuring the aerial displays of the Air Force Thunderbirds jet team.
The first such event in the city, known for the U.S. Open of Surfing and other major occasions, was considered a resounding success, with more than 550,000 people attending, according to event director Michael McCabe.
McCabe said next year’s event, which will be held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and will feature the famed Blue Angels fighter jets, will be even better.
Florida man dies fulfilling his surf dream
A man who was living out of his van in Florida traveled to Huntington Beach to fulfill his longtime dream of surfing near the city’s pier.
Dana Brown, 60, paddled out on Nov. 6, but as the waves swelled to 4 to 6 feet and the sun began to set, he was slammed into one of the pier’s pillars.
A group of surfers dragged him to shore, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital four days later.
Brown, who was very close to his father George, had been emboldened to go on the trip following the older man’s death in March.
“I hope he caught one great wave,” said Rachael Katz, a friend of Brown’s. “He died doing what he loved.”
Ex-teacher slits his throat in court after being convicted of raping girl
A Huntington Beach man slit his throat in a courtroom on Oct. 19 after a jury found him guilty of raping a girl when she was 13.
As a verdict was announced in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Jeffrey Scott Jones, 56, pulled out a razor blade and sliced his throat.
Jones was handcuffed and rushed to the hospital, where he recovered from his injuries.
Jones was accused of sexually abusing and raping a girl between Sept. 1, 2012, and May 9, 2013.
He had not been in custody since he posted $1 million bail on July 25, 2013.
He is expected to be sentenced in March.
Rainbow pledges $22 million in settlement with Ocean View
Trustees of the Ocean View School District announced in November a settlement agreement with Rainbow Environmental Services amounting to $22 million, marking the end of three years of litigation against the waste disposal company.
Ocean View sued Rainbow in 2013, alleging that dust and chemicals from the company’s waste transfer station in Huntington Beach were making students at neighboring schools sick.
The district’s Oak View Elementary School and Oak View Preschool in Huntington Beach are located across the street from the facility, at 17121 Nichols Lane, where trash is collected and processed.
Under the agreement, Rainbow will spend $18 million to fully enclose the trash facility and install a ventilation and filtration system to help reduce noise and odors.
Rainbow also will provide the district with $4 million for a gymnasium at Oak View Elementary and trees along Nichols Lane to create a barrier between the school and the transfer station.
Councilmen Katapodis and Sullivan say goodbye
Former Mayor Jim Katapodis and longtime Councilman Dave Sullivan stepped down from the Huntington Beach City Council in December.
Katapodis, a former police officer who had served four years on the council, took a job in Sacramento as a consultant for the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.
Katapodis said he was proud of his work erecting a 9/11 memorial at City Hall and opening a 38,000-square-foot senior center in Central Park.
Sullivan, who joined the council in 1992 and served two mayoral terms, dedicated himself to fighting high-density development in the community.
“It has been an honor to serve this city,” Sullivan said at his final council meeting on Dec. 12. “I have great respect for the staff.”
Staff writer Alex Chan contributed to this report.
Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
