Huntington State Beach

The Southern California Beach Safety Challenge, aimed at promoting water safety awareness, will visit Newport Beach on Monday. The Challenge, organized by the California State Lifeguard Assn., coincides with National Beach Safety Week. The event that began in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego, on Monday will finish at Huntington State Beach this Monday. The event is a grueling one in which lifeguards and water safety professionals run, swim and paddle from the Mexican border to Huntington State Beach.

Hayden Hemmens was selected by the California Surf Life Saving Assn. as the most outstanding junior lifeguard in the state. Hayden of Costa Mesa is 12 years old. “I’m very excited. I’m just very excited,” said Hayden with a big smile on his face. He was selected for a specific reason: He’s humble. “He’s very skilled in surf racing and he exhibits great leadership by pushing his fellow junior lifeguards to their maximum potential,” said Chris Egan, program coordinator for the Huntington State Beach Junior Lifeguard Program where Hayden is a member.

-- Paul Clinton The Orange County Health Care Agency has closed a strip of beach in West Newport due to a sewage spill. The agency announced the closure at 2 p.m. Thursday, after about 1,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled because of a power failure at a Costa Mesa pump station. The shoreline stretching from the Santa Ana River to Highland Street will be closed to swimmers and surfers until bacteria counts return to an acceptable level. The spill also led to a closure at Huntington State Beach, from the Santa Ana River to Talbert Channel.

The shoreline from 52nd Street in Newport Beach north to Magnolia Street in Huntington State Beach is closed because of two sewage spills. The Orange County Health Care Agency on Tuesday reported the closure of that stretch of beach to swimmers and surfers. The area will remain closed until water quality is up to acceptable standards, the agency reported. The first spill of 94,400 gallons occurred Jan. 9 from storm water flooding Yorba Linda Water District's sewage collection system, according to the agency's website.

The location of a beach memorial service for Michael Conley, a Costa Mesa bar owner and frontman for the 1980s punk band MIA who died last week, has been changed from Newport Beach to Huntington Beach. A memorial service for family and friends of Conley will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday on the beach at Huntington State Beach at Brookhurst Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Parking costs $10. A public gathering that will include music and an open microphone for people who want to share their memories will follow the beach service about 6 p.m. at the Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa.

Paul Clinton Surf City has an image problem. Huntington Beach's shoreline, which has taken its lumps in the media for a rash of bacteria outbreaks, is cleaner than it has ever been, a UC Irvine study concludes. "I think there's a positive environmental message here," said Stanley Grant, the report's lead author. "There's been a lot of money spent over the years on mitigation, and we can clearly see the impacts of that." In the report, published Wednesday on the Web site of the American Chemical Society's journal, Grant surveyed water-quality data from 1958 to 2001.

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS El Pollo Loco grease sparks beach closures A grease blockage at an El Pollo Loco in the 1900 block of Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa set off a chain of events that eventually caused the closure of parts of Huntington State Beach and Newport Beach's coastline. The grease started piling up on Tuesday night, blocking a pipe and causing an overflow into the storm drain, said Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.

This corrects an earlier version of this story. Environmental health officials have closed a portion of Newport Harbor due to a sewage spill. Docks E through H at the Balboa Bay Club and OCC Crew Docks in Newport Beach were reported closed just after noon Monday as the bacteria levels were unsafe, officials said. The spill was caused by a line break at a private vessel pump-out station, according to a news release from the Orange County Health Care Agency. Other beaches had warnings of unhealthy water conditions.

Hayden Hemmens was selected by the California Surf Life Saving Assn. as the most outstanding junior lifeguard in the state. Hayden of Costa Mesa is 12 years old. “I’m very excited. I’m just very excited,” said Hayden with a big smile on his face. He was selected for a specific reason: He’s humble. “He’s very skilled in surf racing and he exhibits great leadership by pushing his fellow junior lifeguards to their maximum potential,” said Chris Egan, program coordinator for the Huntington State Beach Junior Lifeguard Program where Hayden is a member.

The location of a beach memorial service for Michael Conley, a Costa Mesa bar owner and frontman for the 1980s punk band MIA who died last week, has been changed from Newport Beach to Huntington Beach. A memorial service for family and friends of Conley will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday on the beach at Huntington State Beach at Brookhurst Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Parking costs $10. A public gathering that will include music and an open microphone for people who want to share their memories will follow the beach service about 6 p.m. at the Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa.

This corrects an earlier version of the story. Environmental health officials have closed a number of areas along Orange County’s coastline, including a portion of Newport Harbor, due to a sewage spill. Docks E through H at the Balboa Bay Club and OCC Crew Docks in Newport Beach were reported closed just after noon Monday as the bacteria levels were unsafe, officials said. The spill was caused by a line break at a private vessel pump-out station, according to a news release from the Orange County Health Care Agency.

What do you wear for a 150-mile bike ride? If you're Melissa Friedman, it's false eyelashes, a bright red wig in braids, striped stockings and a frilly petticoat. Dressed as her alter ego, Tag-along the clown, Friedman was preparing Saturday morning to set out from Huntington State Beach with more than 2,000 other cyclists on a two-day ride down the Coast Highway to San Diego. Sponsored by local chapters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the event raised more than $2 million to fight multiple sclerosis.

Marisa O'Neil It was a tubular adventure that deflated. Or, maybe he just wanted a swift-water ride to the Pacific. But whatever it was, an unidentified, 20-something man in a wetsuit and booties launched himself in an inner tube from the beach at 56th Street at about 3 p.m. Sunday and floated out to sea, Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Eric Bauer said. At some point, the unharmed man made it back to shore, but not before friends had to report him missing, and a search party went out looking for him. The man, believed to be a Newport Beach resident "wound up floating down to the [Santa Ana]

The shoreline from 52nd Street in Newport Beach north to Magnolia Street in Huntington State Beach is closed because of two sewage spills. The Orange County Health Care Agency on Tuesday reported the closure of that stretch of beach to swimmers and surfers. The area will remain closed until water quality is up to acceptable standards, the agency reported. The first spill of 94,400 gallons occurred Jan. 9 from storm water flooding Yorba Linda Water District's sewage collection system, according to the agency's website.

Boy suffers injuries in collision A 7-year-old boy was taken to the hospital Saturday afternoon after a car collided with him on Wallace Avenue. The boy was taken by ambulance to the trauma center at Western Medical Center, said Costa Mesa Senior Motor Officer Jose Torres. His injuries appeared to be serious but not life-threatening, Torres said. The boy was walking north with his father on the east sidewalk of Wallace Avenue between 19th and 20th streets, police said.

A Costa Mesa group hosts beach cleanup About 70 students from local high schools joined a Costa Mesa environmental group's effort to clean up trash at the mouth of the Santa Ana River on Dec. 7. Earth Resource Foundation, based in Costa Mesa, sponsored the "Human Broom Beach Cleanup" event. Students and group leaders met at Huntington State Beach, at Brookhurst Street and Pacific Coast Highway, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and began picking up trash from the sand.