Daily Archives: February 6, 2010

by | February 6, 2010

Lisa Vanderpump Bentley found over same cliff as Charlie Sheen’s Mercedes

LOS ANGELES — A second stolen car has been found over the side of a road where Charlie Sheen’s Mercedes was pulled from a steep ravine earlier today, and this one too belongs to a celebrity.

Sheen reported that his Mercedes-Benz sedan was stolen from his gated community at around 4 a.m. in Sherman Oaks.

At around the same time, someone reported a “vehicle over the side” in the 13300 block of the winding ridgetop road, said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Soon after, the vehicle was spotted upside-down in a ditch near the actor’s home. Later this afternoon, a photographer reported seeing a Bentley down a cliff just a few blocks away.

No one was inside either vehicle. The Bentley is registered to actress Lisa Vanderpump. The actress, who appeared on “Silk Stalkings” and “Baywatch Nights,” is married to restaurateur Kenneth Todd.

They live near Charlie Sheen’s house in a gated community. Lisa and Ken own the Beverly Hills restaurant, Villa Blanca.

Police spokesman Richard French says three other cars in the area were broken into overnight but investigators aren’t sure if there’s a connection. Sheen reportedly parked the car inside an open garage at his Sherman Oaks home with the keys still inside the ignition.

The home is located in a gated community, and Sheen apparently told authorities that’s why he felt safe leaving the car that way.

The actor received a call around 4 a.m. from his remote diagnostics company, similar to OnStar, telling him his car had been involved in a crash and the airbags had deployed, according to online reports.

Sheen apparently then realized his car had been stolen and called authorities. It was not clear whether the actor was targeted in the theft. Investigators said nothing else was burglarized from Sheen’s home.

No suspects have been found. Police were searching for possible surveillance video of the vehicle leaving the gated community.

Sheen, 44, recently made headlines when he was arrested in Aspen, Colorado on Christmas day following an alleged domestic violence incident with his 33-year-old wife, Brooke Mueller.

Sheen, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, is accused of pinning Mueller to the bed, threatening her with a knife and saying, “You better be in fear. If you tell anybody, I’ll kill you.”

The “Two and a Half Men” star denied threatening his wife.

Sheen is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Aspen on domestic violence charges. He and his wife also are seeking modification of an order that prevents them from communicating with each other. She has said they love each other and want to reconcile.

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by | February 6, 2010

Los Angeles fierce storm destroys homes with mudslides

Authorities said a wall of mud and debris at least several feet high rumbled down a hillside in the community of La Canada-Flintridge, crashing into homes and cars and leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries but residents were being told to leave as another heavy downpour was expected by early Saturday afternoon.

“There are mounds and mounds of dirt piled into homes and cars have been covered up and gone into homes,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida told Reuters by telephone from the scene.

“(The cars) look like toys scattered across the road,” she said.

Authorities had no immediate count of the damaged homes but Nishida said that in the neighborhood where she was working she could count at least two homes that would have to be condemned.

“A car has gone into another residence and I’m smelling a lot of gas so I think there’s a gas leak that the fire department is trying to fix,” she said.

The mud came down on hillsides that were left barren by a massive wildfire last summer and officials had been warning that they were unstable.

Elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, flooding forced the closure of streets and at least one major freeway and overflowed curbs to wash into several businesses in Hollywood.

The National Weather Service has said that a weeklong series of storms that battered California in January were the strongest to hit the region in five years.

A silver lining has been heavy snowfall in mountain ranges that feed the California’s reservoirs, easing critical water shortages. But state water officials have been reluctant to declare the drought at an end.

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by | February 6, 2010

San Dimas plans to save $1 million on City Hall project

As a resident of San Dimas, I am sort of wondering what is wrong with the old city hall. Why does it need to be renovated? I have been bringing my children there for summer activities since they were infants. With the exception of needing new floors and paint, I can’t seem to find anything wrong with the existing structure. JD

City officials think they can save $1 million in loan costs on the $13 million City Hall renovation project.

All five city councilmen and city staff met last week to discuss the final details of the project, including a temporary City Hall move and the type of loan used to pay for the project.

“I am against the rebuilding of City Hall,” Councilman Denis Bertone said. “But the financing mechanism that the city is going to use is probably good.”

The project includes three portions: a City Hall renovation and expansion estimated at $9.2 million, an expansion of the Plummer Building near City Hall at $2.6 million and a revamp of the plaza at $1.1 million.

The projects together are estimated to cost slightly more than $13 million, City Manager Blaine Michaelis said.

The current City Hall has been in use since 1969.

The City Council voted 4 to 1 in favor of the renovation, with Bertone the dissenting vote.

“I understand where Denis is coming from. There are lots of things we could do with the money we are spending,” Councilman John Bonier said. “However, the City Hall is over 40 years old, and while it is not an ancient building, it is outdated in a lot of respects.”

The city plans to borrow $7.5 million for the project and pay an additional $5.5 million from its general fund. The city has about $17 million in its reserves.

Final approval on project bids will be Feb. 23, when the council
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can approve either the City Hall renovation or all three projects, Michaelis said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, a majority of the council appeared to agree on a leasing option through the League of California Cities for 15 years that put the estimated full cost of the loan at $11,126,087, after interest rates are assessed.

Alternative options included 20-year loans costing $12.2 million, $12.8 million and $14.3 million respectively.

The more popular choice now on the table saves the city more than $1 million over the long term versus other options presented Tuesday, but the city will have to make payments of $741,739 a year to pay down the debt.

That total is $100,000 more than two other options considered for approval.

“It saves money in the long run,” Bertone said. “We can afford to do the higher payments.”

Mayor Curt Morris requested to see how the lease would play out if variable interest rates were used instead of a fixed rate, but he was still in favor of the 15-year loan until he saw something that swayed him, he said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Management and construction of the project have been awarded to Griffin Structures Inc., but bidding for various subcontracts – including plumbing and 34 others – begins Thursday.

If bids come under budget, the city would spend less from the general fund but still borrow the $7.5 million, Michaelis said.

Now the city must prepare to move its operation to the old Levity Building while construction begins at City Hall.

City Hall will move to the temporary site at 130 Village Court on March 5, and the move will cost the city about $300,000, officials said.

The temporary offices will be fully operational, and at 48,000 square feet will house every employee and still have room for storage space, officials said.

City officials hope City Hall is only closed to the public for that Friday due to the move, Assistant City Manager Ken Duran said.

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by | February 6, 2010

Eastern Snow Storm Makes Mockery of Global Warming

The huge snow storm that has hit the north eastern United States has made people think twice about the global warming myth. With snow piling up, widespread power outages and roofs collapsing under the weight of the powdery mess, people no more than ever are laughing at the notion of global warming.

At least three buildings have suffered roof collapses in the D.C. area because of the snow. Part of the roof of a house on the 3400 block of 10th Street NE collapsed Saturday morning.

“This is one of our worst fears,” says D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin. “If the roof systems begin to collapse it’s going to take a lot of resources and is going to be very difficult.” Rubin says that there are no injuries, and that one person is inside the house, but is safe.

Rubin says that there needs to be preventative maintenance done to roofs before major storms like this. “A mere 250 gallons of water, which is not a lot of water, equals one ton of weight,” says Rubin.

Meanwhile, politics as usual has come to a screeching halt in Washington DC. People have been jamming the isles of supermarkets stocking up on essentials.

In Dover, Del., Shanita Foster lugged three gallons of water out of a Dollar General store. “That’s all we need right now. We’ve got everything else,” said Foster, adding that she was ready with candles in case the power went out.

Shoppers jammed aisles and emptied stores of milk, bread, shovels, driveway salt and other supplies. Many scrambling for food and supplies were too late.

The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude – let alone two in one season – are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.

The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.

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by | February 6, 2010

British Actor Ian Carmichael dies at age 89

Veteran British actor and School for Scoundrels star Ian Carmichael OBE has died at the age of 89.

The star of film and television died peacefully at his Esk Valley home, on the North York Moors, yesterday.

His second wife Kate Carmichael, 55, today confirmed his death, saying that he had fallen ill over the Christmas holidays.

Carmichael’s career covered seven decades, including a series of classic British comedy films in the 1950s and the role of PG Woodhouse’s Bertie Wooster on television in the 1960s.

His most recent appearances were the in popular ITV dramas Heartbeat and The Royal, last year.

Carmichael was born in Hull in 1922 and trained at the RADA drama school before serving the Royal Armoured Corps, as a commissioned officer in the 22nd Dragoons, during World War Two.

After the war he took up acting again and earned his first big role in 1954 film Betrayed, starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner.

He went to appear in a series of Boulting Brothers satires including Private’s Progress (1956), Brothers in Law (1957) and I’m All Right Jack (1959), as well as the classic Terry Thomas film School for Scoundrels (1960).

During the 1960s and 1970s, he moved into television, playing the hapless Bertie Wooster in The World of Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey in several drama series based on the mystery novels by Dorothy L Sayers.

Carmichael wrote an autobiography, Will The Real Ian Carmichael. . . (please stand up) in 1979 and was appointed an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2003.

He had two daughters, Lee and Sally, with his first wife Pym McLean, who died in 1983.

His last role was as T. J. Middleditch in The Royal in which he appeared from 2007 to 2009.

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