On Corral Canyon, about five miles north of PCH, in the same dead-end parking lot at the entrance to the state park where two adult surfers committed suicide a few months ago, a young man, about 17 years old, not yet identified, apparently committed suicide by carbon monoxide. His body was found at about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday by two local bike riders.

They saw a small, bluish Honda Accord LXI, probably 1996 or 1997, with an L.A. Lakers license plate frame, parked in the large, unpaved parking lot, with the motor running and no other vehicles around. They noticed one end of a small, green hose on the ground near the automobile tailpipe, where it had apparently fallen out, with the other end of the pipe leading into the right, front passenger window of the automobile. From a distance, they could see no one in the car.

They approached and then saw the occupant seated in the front driver’s seat, which had been lowered as far back as it could go, motionless, with his eyes open, but with no apparent look of distress on his face, and his arms crossed over his chest. He had a cast on one arm, from wrist to elbow, and there were some small drawings and signatures on the cast. There was what looked like a small folded note on the dashboard, as well as a small case that could have been an eyeglass case or a small cell phone. The young man was described as having blond hair, perhaps bleached or sun streaked, cut very short, and dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

One of the two witnesses to the scene, Dr. Priscilla MacRae, who lives in Corral Canyon and who, along with her husband, Holden, teaches sports medicine at Pepperdine University, rushed back to her house to call the paramedics and the sheriffs while her father, Bob J. Gilliam, who was visiting from Hot Springs Village, Ark., remained at the scene.

Gilliam, a psychologist, who in recent years has specialized in training grief counselors since his own son was murdered in 1993, told The Malibu Times it appeared to him that the green pipe looked partially melted. He speculated the pipe and towel had fallen out of the exhaust pipe of the automobile and that, although the boy was motionless, he thought there might still be a possibility the boy was alive. There were towels stuffed around the other end of the pipe where it entered the window, apparently to seal up the car. Gilliam, formerly at Pepperdine for almost 20 years, had taught psychology and was director of academic computing his last four years. He decided to break the window to try to render CPR. After smashing the window with a rock, he reached over to touch the young man, but rigor mortis had set in.

He then turned off the engine and waited until the sheriff’s deputies and paramedics arrived. When they did, they taped off the scene and left everything in place, as they’re required to do, and awaited the arrival of the homicide detectives and the county coroner. One of them indicated it looked like the victim had been dead for several hours.

Dick Callahan contributed to this story.

Reported and photographed by Dercum Over

The Malibu Times asks Malibuites what they think of term limits and the mayoral election.

Patrick Sullivan Jr.:

“Term limits for any politician are a good idea. They tend to get fat and stagnant. I support an open election for the mayor. At least it would be representation by the people. I have a feeling it would solve a lot of problems Malibu has had since cityhood.”

Dr. Suzanne Donovan (with son, Max):

“I’m against it [term limits] because it limits the involvement of individuals in local government. [Independent election of the mayor] would have to go hand in hand with giving him some sort of real power.”

Tricia Alexander:

“The mayor should be elected; he should represent the people, not just the council. Limit the term? Definitely get new blood in there, new ideas.”

Alan Roderick-Jones:

“They don’t realize they’re moving to the country. They bring their city ways…. My worst is the cats they bring. We have birds here; we’re losing the quail…. There should be a limit to the number of times they can run…. PCH is getting so blocked…. I’d want to vote someone in again, it’s hard to find someone … the money the police spend with their helicopters looking for topless women, send them to France, they’ll have a great time….”

Eamon Harrington:

“I’m against it [term limits]. You should be able to stay in as long as people want you in. I don’t really like career politicians, but I don’t want to lose good public servants. I’m 100 percent for electing the mayor.”

When three-term City Councilwoman Carolyn Van Horn is sworn in next week as the council’s choice for mayor, two Malibu political traditions will be evident: long-term incumbency on the City Council and the council’s own selection of mayor. But those traditions are threatened with extinction by two ballot measures proposed by Councilman Tom Hasse for the April 2000 election.

One measure would limit council members to two four-year terms, and the other would grant voters the power to choose the city’s mayor.

The City Council must still qualify the measures for the ballot, and the council is scheduled to consider them at its Sept. 13 and Sept. 27 meetings.

The proposed term-limits initiative, which can not lawfully be applied retroactively, would start counting down the clock on those council members elected next April.

While the thrust behind the once-hot term-limits movement was voter resentment toward entrenched office holders, Hasse insisted this week his efforts are not directed at the council’s long-term incumbents — Van Horn, Mayor Walt Keller and Councilwoman Joan House — because their long tenure in the past would not be counted under the term-limits measure. He also said he was following through on a campaign promise to pursue term limits.

Still, he did not know when he made that pledge, nor did he know until about a month ago that new term-limit laws could not be applied retroactively.

Hasse said his measure is “aimed at bringing good public policy to Malibu.” He described the limits on holding elected office as part of the American democratic tradition, and he cited as evidence the limits imposed on the office of the president. Additionally, 18 states, including California, have imposed term limits on state legislators, and scores of cities and counties across the country have municipal term limits.

“We don’t have a hereditary monarchy here,” said Hasse.

According to the advocacy group U.S. Term Limits, 46 cities in California have such limits, including all the major cities, as well as some smaller ones. Nationally, municipal measures have passed with an average of 70 percent of the vote, higher than the average for state legislative limits.

But despite the one-time popularity of term limits, Stanley Moore, professor of political science at Pepperdine University, said most political scientists now regard term limits as an “absolute failure.”

Moore said under term limits, amateurs have ended up replacing experienced politicians who were knowledgeable about a variety of issues, and, he said, the electorate widely voted for term limits out of a belief that anybody could do a politician’s job.

“They were suffering from a tyranny of complexity and they wanted simplicity,” he said. “But we need people who can deal with complex issues, and at the city council level, you’re still dealing with complex issues.”

How the rest of the council will respond to Hasse’s proposed measure is unclear. Keller and House are on vacation, and Van Horn and Councilman Harry Barovsky did not return calls seeking comment. In 1992, Keller and Van Horn supported a council resolution imposing term limits on council members, but that was before general law cities, such as Malibu, were empowered by state law to have term limits.

In proposing the initiative requiring a separate election for mayor, Hasse said he is trying to end the confusion and what he described as acrimony among council members over the mayoral selection process.

In an attempt to give all five current council members a chance to serve as mayor during their four-year terms, the council, after last year’s election, devised a new mayoral term of eight months for each council member. That figure was then extended to nine months and 18 days, starting with the council term that begins in April.

Yet that whole system could be revised once again if new council members are elected in April, because last year’s mayoral selection process is not binding on future City Councils.

Hasse said he is hoping to avoid future repeated changes to the mayoral term with his proposed measure. About one-third of California cities have a directly elected mayor. When he started researching the issue, Hasse said, he expected to find that only large cities had separately elected mayors, but he found that small cities do as well.

“In a representative democracy, why shouldn’t people elect who they want as mayor to that office?” he said.

The measure proposes the first direct election begin in 2002, but Hasse made no recommendation on the length of the mayoral term.

The directly elected mayor would not have additional powers over City Council members, such as the veto power, but because the mayor chairs the council meetings and serves as the city’s representative, mayoral candidates would require a different set of skills, he said.

The direct election system does have a financial downside. If an incumbent council member who was not up for re-election chose to run for mayor and then won, a special election would have to be held to fill the vacant seat.

For the record: An article dated Aug. 19 incorrectly reported the approximate size of the Malibu Bay Company’s land holdings in the Civic Center. The company owns approximately 40 acres there.

Spring may have been a little late this year, as the song says, but the fire season has arrived early.

As of Tuesday, more than 59,000 acres have burned in Southland fires that began Saturday, as firefighters battle to control five blazes raging in the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests.

Two engine companies from this area, both from Station 144 in Westlake Village, were sent to Lake Arrowhead.

The Santa Ana winds that traditionally drive wildfires from the Valley to Malibu have not begun, but the Santa Monica Mountains are heavy with brush that grew thick during El Nino-driven rains last year, then browned early this season from La Nina’s drought. “The lack of rain has created a hazardous year if the winds come,” said Malibu Fire Capt. Jerry Reese.

That worry was focused by the recent water-main rupture that left portions of the city without running water for four days and depleted reserves.

“We had four fire department water tenders standing by, and the city of Malibu had their own, also,” Reese said.

Fire prevention efforts have been stepped up this year, and the results are encouraging, Reese said. “We’re probably 97 percent completed with inspections. We’ve had a great success rate with people this year. They’re starting to understand what we’re trying to do.”

Inspections of houses started June 1. Reese said he tries to contact owners ahead of time so they can walk around the structure with the inspectors. “If they can’t, we want them to call us back to follow up. We leave an official brush inspection report.”

The overall brush clearance perimeter is 200 feet from the house, and within the first 50 feet, all weeds and grass (except for lawns) must be cut down to the earth, and all trees and shrubs “limbed up” off the ground about one third of their height to reduce what firefighters call ladder fuel. Also, a 10-foot clearance around LPG tanks is required.

“We also advise, if they have a lot of ornamental vegetation around the house, that they remove any native plants that are mixed in to reduce the fuel load,” Reese said.

Native plants are favored for their drought tolerance, but most are more flammable than ornamentals. “If they want to keep the natives, they may have to take out some ornamentals. Laurel Sumac is the most flammable, and there’s a lot of that around,” Reese said. “If it’s within 50 feet of the structure, we have them remove it totally.”

But inspectors take into account what the vegetation is doing for hillside stabilization. “In some cases, instead of removing, we have them “lollypop” the plants. That means stripping the lower branches and leaving just the vegetation on top,” Reese said. That saves the root system, and the top foliage breaks up the rain so it doesn’t erode the soil.

If work needs to be done, inspectors give a 30-day notice. If there’s been no response and no work has been done, the fire department sends out its brush-clearing unit.

“They try again, and they issue the fines, depending on how much they need to do,” Reese said. There’s an automatic $200 administrative penalty, then a $231 abatement enforcement cost. “If they still don’t remedy the problem, agricultural weed abatement goes out and posts the property. If that warning isn’t answered, then they do the work and bill the homeowner for the cost recovery.”

Reese said the emphasis is educational, not punitive. “Our goal is to involve the resident, and to make a defensible space for ourselves and a refuge for the resident if they can’t get out.”

Wildfire protection also means water storage. In addition to drinking water, residents can store water in 55-gallon drums, available at some hardware stores that sell earthquake preparedness supplies. “I’d have a couple of those blue plastic drums sitting in the garage, and you can get a little hand pump that goes inside the drum,” Reese said. “I was surprised they [the water district] only had a 24-hour back up in the water supply.”

Fire inspectors also check the house for holes or vents into attics, where embers could enter and ignite the interior. These should be blocked off with the smallest mesh available, so air can get in but embers can’t. Clearing dried leaves out of rain gutters and moving anything flammable away from the house is also important.

On days when the Santa Anas blow and the fire danger is high, residents should put flammable patio furniture inside the garage before leaving for work. Even chairs with aluminum frames and plastic webbing can burn. “As it melts, little flaming balls of plastic drip down and can ignite the deck,” Reese said. “And old boxes, even trash cans, that might be stacked up against the house should go inside. And close all the windows.”