Tag Archives: Catalina Island

by | November 9, 2010

Mystery Missile Launch Spotted off California Coast

I don’t know what the big deal is here. We see missiles being launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base all the time. Way to send a message to Asia though. Good on Obama for doing it. JD

A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught by CBS affiliate KCBS’s cameras Monday night, and officials are staying tight-lipped over the nature of the projectile.

CBS station KFMB put in calls to the Navy and Air Force Monday night about the striking launch off the coast of Los Angeles, which was easily visible from the coast, but the military has said nothing about the launch.

KFMB showed video of the apparent missile to former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Ellsworth, who is also a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, to get his thoughts.

Scroll down for KFMB video showing the launch.

“It’s spectacular… It takes people’s breath away,” said Ellsworth, calling the projectile, “a big missile”.

Magnificent images were captured by the KCBS news helicopter in L.A. around sunset Monday evening. The location of the missile was about 35 miles out to sea, west of L.A. and north of Catalina Island.

A Navy spokesperson told KFMB it wasn’t their missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in the area Monday evening.

On Friday night, Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, launched a Delta II rocket, carrying an Italian satellite into orbit, but a sergeant at the base told KFMB there had been no launches since then.

Ellsworth urged American to wait for definitive answers to come from the military.

When asked, however, what he thought it might be, the former ambassador said it could possibly have been a missile test timed as a demonstration of American military might as President Obama tours Asia.

“It could be a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine … to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we can do that,” speculated Ellsworth.

Ellsworth said such tests were carried out in the Atlantic to demonstrate America’s power to the Soviets, when there was a Soviet Union, but he doesn’t believe an ICBM has previously been tested by the U.S. over the Pacific.

Officially, at least, the projectile remains a mystery missile.

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by | July 2, 2010

Two dead in two separate plane crashes in Southern California

Two people died Thursday in two Southern California plane crashes, one of which sparked a small brush fire on Santa Catalina Island.

At Penmar Golf Course in Venice, a small plane crashed near the eighth hole shortly after 6 p.m., officials said. The pilot of the single-engine Cessna 152 was pronounced dead at the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

No one else was on the plane and no other injuries were reported.

A law enforcement source said the pilot may have been practicing landings at nearby Santa Monica Municipal Airport when the aircraft apparently developed engine problems. The plane had just taken off from the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Earlier in the day, a pilot flying near Catalina’s Airport in the Sky radioed controllers about 1 p.m. that he was possibly having a heart attack and might not make it to the runway, authorities said.

A few minutes later, the single-engine Cessna 182P plummeted into brushy terrain about two miles northeast of the airport, said Lt. Jeff Donahue of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The crash sparked a fire that spread to about 20 acres. Roughly 100 firefighters battled the blaze, cutting lines around the fire’s flanks and dousing hot spots, officials said. They were aided by three helicopters that made repeated water drops.

As of Thursday evening, the blaze was 80% contained.

After beating back the flames, firefighters were able to make their way to the crash site, where they found the pilot’s body, said Inspector Matt Levesque of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The pilot was the only one on the plane.

Authorities did not release the names of either of the victims. Federal investigators were responding to both incidents.

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by | June 4, 2010

Mexico Opens consular office on Catalina Island

Catalina Island used to be a beautiful place to go explore an island and camp out. Now it is a virtual ghetto complete with graffiti, gangs and all the other crime that comes with illegal immigration.

Last week I was reading about the ten most polluted beaches in California and Avalon Bay in Catalina Island was number one on the list.

Mexico has now opened their consular office on Catalina Island to give their citizens identification cards and make it easier for their people to screw the taxpayer. The latest update is that the Mexican government has moved this office into a Catholic church because of the outrage this has caused.

The Mexican government is opening a satellite consular office on Catalina Island — a small resort off the California coast with a history of drug smuggling and human trafficking — to provide the island’s illegal Mexican immigrants with identification cards, The Washington Examiner has learned.

The Mexican consular office in Los Angeles issued a flier, a copy of which was obtained by The Examiner, listing the Catalina Island Country Club as the location of its satellite office. It invites Mexicans to visit the office to obtain the identification, called matricular cards, by appointment.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes Catalina Island, said handing out matricular cards will exacerbate an already dangerous situation.

“Handing out matricular cards to Mexicans who are not in this country legally is wrong no matter where it’s done,” he said. “But on Catalina it will do more damage. It’s a small island but there’s evidence it’s being used as a portal for illegals to access mainland California.”

Rohrabacher added, “If there were a large number of Americans illegally in Mexico and the U.S. consulate was making it easier for them to stay, Mexico would never permit it.”

Mexican officials with the consular office in Los Angeles could not be reached immediately for comment. The matricular consular identification card, is issued by the Mexican government to Mexican nationals residing outside the country, regardless of immigration status. The purpose is to provide identification for opening bank accounts and obtaining other services. But the cards are usually used to skirt U.S. immigration laws, since Mexicans in the country legally have documents proving that status, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

In 2004 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI officials called the card an unreliable form of identification. The agency said that Mexico lacks a centralized database for them, which could lead to forgery, duplication, and other forms of abuse.

Officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said their agency was asked by Mexican officials not to enforce U.S. immigration laws on the island while the cards were being issued.

“It amazes me every time that the Mexican government has the gall to tell us what to do,” said an ICE official, who asked not to be named. “More surprisingly is how many times we stand by and let them. This is just an example of one of hundreds of requests we’ve had to deal with.”

In April, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies seized a boat carrying large quantities of marijuana and detained three Mexican nationals who said they were being smuggled into the United States.

The island has a sizable Mexican migrant population. Most are undocumented low-income workers.

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