DUI checkpoint irks Malibu drivers
A DUI checkpoint on Pacific Coast Highway between Webb Way and Cross Creek Road had to be suspended Friday evening after the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station received numerous complaints about a traffic backup.
The checkpoint started at 7:10 p.m. and was suspended at 7:29 p.m., Sgt. Phil Brooks said this week. The checkpoint resumed at 9 p.m.
Brooks called it a misperception by the public that the checkpoint alone was responsible for the backup, blaming it on a “perfect storm” of an accident in Topanga and the timing being off for the traffic signal at the intersection of Cross Creek Road and Pacific Coast Highway.
“We’re not idiots, we’re not going to stand there and block traffic for five miles,” Brooks said. “If it starts to get backed up, we let them go through.”
For every 50 vehicles that passed through the intersection where the checkpoint was set up, 10 were stopped. Brooks said drivers were asked if they had been drinking and to show their driver’s license. He said the process took no more than 30 seconds per driver.
During the night, two DUI arrests were made, 10 citations were issued and seven cars were towed.
Items owned by alleged criminal’s wife auctioned
Items owned by former Malibu resident Elizabeth M. Frommer were sold at public auction on Tuesday. Frommer and her husband, Peter, left Malibu last year for Aspen, Colo., where Peter Frommer was arrested on felony fraud charges.
The goods were seized and put into storage following the foreclosure of the Frommer’s beachside estate. The beach house was the last Malibu residence of the Frommers, and many Malibu residents are now creditors of the Frommers. The online auction conducted by Los Angeles auctioneers, R.L. Spear Co., included furniture, art, jewelry, rare books and a grand piano, among other items.
Mel Gibson makes final court appearance on DUI conviction
Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira told actor/filmmaker Mel Gibson he has met the terms of his no-contest plea to misdemeanor drunken driving. Mira said Gibson must remain on probation for another 18 months to complete his three-year sentence, but he won’t have to appear in court again if he doesn’t commit further violations
Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said Gibson has attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for about a year and completed a 90-day program for DUI offenders. She said he has also volunteered to make a public service announcement.
Gibson was arrested in August 2006 after being pulled over on his way home from Moonshadows restaurant. His arrest was at first reported by the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station as taking place without incident. But shortly after that, a Sheriff’s deputy report appeared on the Web site, TMZ, revealing that Gibson had made anti-Semitic statements to the deputy and behaved poorly at the Sheriff’s station.
‘M*A*S*H’ is back
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the final episode of “M*A*S*H,” Malibu Creek State Park is being enhanced with some of the features that were there when the area was used as the set for the show. Several actors and others will be at the unveiling event on Saturday at 10 a.m.
According to a press release from the California Department of Parks and Recreation, visitors to the park will be able to see a replica of the multidirectional sign, the original path to the helicopter pad, ropes outlining the footprint of the M*A*S*H hospital, the swamp, the Blake/Potter tent and the mess tent. There will also be restored vintage military vehicles and an ambulance.
Malibu Creek State Park is located at 1925 Las Virgenes Road. There is no parking at the “M*A*S*H” site. It is about a two-hour walk from the parking lot.
Old coach is new coach for Pepperdine basketball
Tom Asbury, who guided the Pepperdine University men’s basketball team to three NCAA tournament appearances during his six seasons as head coach of the team from 1988 to 1994, will return as head coach next season. The university announced Asbury’s hiring on Tuesday, and will formally introduce him during a press conference on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Asbury, 62, was most recently at the University of Alabama as an assistant coach.
Eric Bridgeland, who was named interim head coach after Vance Walberg’s midseason resignation, will remain in that position until the end of the season.
Pepperdine is 9-18 this season with a 3-8 record in the West Coast Conference. The team lost to No. 23 St. Mary’s, 100-64 at home on Monday.
-Jonathan Friedman