Tuesday, May 22, 2012
As the number for U.S. Border and Customs Enforcement agents has grown, so has the poundage of drugs seized and number of human smugglers potentially deterred.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series examining drug smuggling, human smuggling and human trafficking in the San Diego and Orange County area, and how federal and local law enforcement agencies are grappling with the problem. Under the affluent veneer of Orange and San Diego counties, thousands risk death, ransom and modern slavery to enter the country without documentation. Others use muddy border tunnels, rickety fishing boats and secret compartments to haul tons of cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana along the I-5 and other highway corridors, or through beach landings. Just this week off Dana Point, the Border Patrol recovered hundreds of bales of marijuana worth more than $3 million on the street. Law enforcement …
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Orange County sheriff's deputies were called to assist Border Patrol agents and the Coast Guard on Sunday afternoon.
U.S. Border Patrol Agents recovered hundreds of bales of marijuana Sunday with a street value of more than $3 million off the Orange County coast, a sheriff's lieutenant said. The bales were found floating by a boater about noon Sunday, approximately 13 miles off Dana Point, Orange County Sheriff's Department Lt. Joe Balicki said. "It kind of makes you wonder how it got there," Balicki said. "We didn't have any reports of vessels in distress." The 160 bales weighed about 7,000 to 8,000 pounds, Balicki said. Seizing the narcotics is the result of the joint effort between federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities working within one regional coordinating group to stop illegal maritime activity along the Southern California …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Eric Naposki and Nanette Ann Packard-McNeal were convicted in the 1994 murder of her former boyfriend, a Newport Beach millionaire. Victim's brother calls Packard-McNeal a "black widow" in court today while the prosecutor labels Naposki a coward.
An Orange County woman convicted of first-degree murder in the death of her millionaire boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility parole today while her co-conspirator secret lover, former NFL linebacker Eric Naposki, had his sentencing delayed until Aug. 10. Nanette Ann Packard-McNeal, 46, received her punishment for the the Dec. 15, 1994, shooting of 55-year-old Bill McLaughlin this morning from Judge William Froeberg at the Orange County courthouse in Santa Ana. Authorities say Packard-McNeal was romantically involved with both McLaughlin and Naposki, 45, and the pair plotted to kill McLaughlin in order to reap the benefits of his savings account and $1-million life insurance policy. Naposki refused to appear in …
The Office of Protective Services patrols five centers for the developmentally disabled, including Fairview in Orange County.
Overtime pay for a small, state-run police force has soared in recent years, according to a California Watch investigation. Last year, the Office of Protective Services paid roughly $2 million in overtime to 80 of its officers, who patrol five centers for the developmentally disabled, including Orange County's Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa. "An unusually high number of [OPS] officers ... have doubled their salaries with overtime, enabling some to earn more than $150,000 a year," California Watch reported, noting that the number of officers collecting overtime "far exceeds" other agencies. At Fairview, patrolman Daniel Butler "regularly collected more money from overtime than from his base pay" and "netted at least $60,000 a …
Friday, May 18, 2012
In honor of National Bike to Work Day, Patch wants to give you a shiny beach cruiser.
Friday is National Bike to Work Day. Patch has a shiny new bicycle, and we're looking to give it a shiny new home! To enter to win the Patch cruiser bicycle, post a photo of you doing something bike-related or with something bike-related. Whether you're riding to work, riding a beach trail or yearning for a new bike, post a photo. Don't have a bike? Be creative—anything goes! Please note: To qualify, the photo must depict at least one person. Uploading a photo is easy. Just click on the big "Upload Photos & Videos" button on this page and choose the photo you want to post. You may enter only once. We'll choose one winner over the weekend in a random drawing from all photos uploaded before midnight tonight. For complete rules, see the …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The 43-year-old is burned by rocks from San Onofre State Beach that mysteriously ignited. She is hospitalized with third-degree burns.
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Thursday, May 17
How rocks from a southern Orange County beach caught fire in the pocket of a San Clemente woman's cargo shorts, landing her in a hospital with third-degree burns, remained a mystery today. The 43-year old woman's children picked up the seven orange and green rocks on Saturday at San Onofre State Beach, which is popular with surfers and known locally as Trestles. The rocks combusted and set the woman's shorts on fire and continued to burn the wood floor of her Avenida Estrella house, according Capt. Marc Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority. The woman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana with third-degree burns to her right thigh and knee, Stone said. He said the victim "stopped, dropped…
Resident says if 85 percent of drivers are breaking the speed limit, then it must be safe.
Controversy continues among those who live off of and travel Camino La Ronda. There are those who want the speeding in the residential area to stop, while others say the street – which actually has few homes fronting it – was built to accommodate speeds faster than the 30 mph limit posted. Mike Johnson, who falls into the latter camp, came to City Hall Tuesday to complain that the crackdown on the speeders should end. “When you have 85 percent of the population that goes over the speed limit, that means it’s safe,” Johnson told the City Council. Johnson got those figures from an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy who was stationed on his motorcycle, looking to cite speeders, he said. The city is conducting a study, but it does not comply with …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sales tax revenues, hotel taxes and new housing starts act as a finger on the pulse of the area's financial health.
While there’s no San Juan Capistrano economic forecast, watching the amount of money flowing into city coffers could serve as one. And the area’s leading indicators are mostly showing positive signs of growth, according to a report the City Council heard Tuesday. Sales tax receipts are expected to be up 12.5 percent over last year, said Cindy Russell, the city’s chief financial officer. Compared to the same quarter last year, sales taxes are up nearly 22 percent. “Each quarter, we’re seeing that improve a little bit,” she said. So what are you all buying? New cars make up 21.5 percent, but business-to-business transactions are the area of most growth, Russell said, especially in the area of heavy industry. Proceeds from service stations …
An analyst hired by environmentalists says the steps being taken by Southern California Edison won't work.
San Onofre could be on ice for 18 months before technicians finally fix the faulty generators that leaked radioactive steam in January, according to a report issued Tuesday by Fairewinds Associates, an energy consulting firm hired by an anti-nuclear group. "The damaged steam generators ... require major modifications with repair and outage time that could last more than 18 months if [Southern California] Edison and [generator manufacturer] Mitsubishi are even able to repair these faulty designed steam generators," the report states. The report, commissioned by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, said replacing the steam generators is the only real solution to the problem. Written by Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds, the analysis …
What do you think looks good?
The Capistrano Auto Center, which represents six new-car dealerships, is asking the city to come up with special sign rules just for car sales. In March, the City Council gave the dealers the right to apply for special, temporary signs. But that deal expires July 21. So the dealers are asking the council to come up with permanent set of rules. "Operating a new car dealership in San Juan Capistrano is not an easy business proposition, as evidenced by the departure and turnover of a number of franchises in recent years," wrote the managers of six local car dealers in a March 5 letter to the city. "We are overdue to revise the sign ordinance that governs new car dealers in this town," they wrote. The six, representing Capistrano Toyota Scion…
Marc Schroeder
7:24 am on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
All a waste of time and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Legalize and open the borders. Anything else is insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. more ›