18-Year-Old Banned From Driving While Out On Bail For 115-MPH Chase

The 18 year old man … who was chased by the CHP into Malibu last week in a 115 mile per hour pursuit … has been ordered by a judge -NOT- to drive any car. 

Collin Brath … a Malibu native .. crashed his BMW into a concrete mailbox and Portapotty last week. 

He was released form jail on Monday … as we reported.

The bail has been set at one hundred thousand dollars … under state law … he had to put up ten thousand dollars in a bond .. which he could have obtained at small cost from a bail bond company. 

If he is convicted … he faces a maximum penalty of up to 3 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. 

But first time and youthful offenders may get off with time served in jail … plus a year probation.

KBUU News has learned from public officials … that this is the second vehicle that the 18 year old has totaled. 

Collin Brath is due back in court on March 4th in Van Nuys. 

 

Malibu Council Grumbles But Writes Check, Part 1: $1 Million For Beach Team

Malibu is spending upwards of one million dollars a year on the Beach Team … the eight extra sheriff’s deputies assigned to the beach every summer.

At this week’s city council meeting … some city council members balked at saddling city taxpayers with that expense… although all voted unanimously to continue the expenditure. 

And the president of the Malibu Township Council criticized the city subsidy.

Jo Drummond:

NEWSCART B70046 BEACHDRUMMON 

“So 18 years ago it seems like we agreed to pay for the beach team, I don’t know why we are at LA County. So I just think you guys should reconsider… Not funding. 

“The beach is a state and a county beach ….so we should not be paying L A County to be issuing tickets.”

Back two decades ago … there were Terri le problems on Zuma Beach and the others … with gangs having fights … drunken brawls … and drunken drivers after people spend the day drinking beer in the send.

The City of Malibu is spending $1 million a year … but it’s taking in about a third of that from $200,000 per annum in parking taxes at the Zuma entrance stand … plus about $150,000 a year in parking ticket revenue.

Sergeant Chris Soderlund … the LA County sheriff’s liaison … says the extra effort is essential.

NEWSCART B70045 BEACHTEAM CS

“We towed over 500 cars this year… So if we don’t have the beach team doing this parking enforcement… We’re going to have total gridlock on Pacific Coast Highway with no enforcement. The other thing too, is, if the beach team is not there, then deputies have to go to the beach from other parts of the city for calls because we’re not there and being poroaacticje and stopping it.

“When people get drunk, they do stupid things, and when we are at the beach, we can prevent it to begin with … and that takes the definition of PCH in other parts of Malibu and patrolling.” 

On Monday night, the Malibu city Council was asked to buy $50,000 worth of new all-terrain vehicles for the beach team to use that passed unanimously but the city Council had some problems with Malibu taxpayers getting socked with the Bill .

City councilman. Paul Grisanti said it’s a good investment. 

NEWSCART B70044 LIFEGUARDS PG SU 

PAUL GRISANTI: “The lifeguards, who are worried about somebody fighting on the beach, can’t be watching what’s going on in the water. 

“And that’s what they’re supposed to be doing rthere.  They are supposed to watch the people dog things in the water.

“And that’s what they’re supposed to be for … they’re supposed the watch the people swimming … doing things in the water. 

“It really helps a lot for them to have the confidence that somebody else is handling fights. Somebody else is handling drinking.

“We need them.”

STEVE UHRING: “I have not heard anybody say we don’t want the beach team, it’s just a matter of how we’re going to pay for it.”

On Monday night … the city council was asked to buy new all terrain vehicles for the deputies at the beach.

It passed … unanimously … but the council is going to try to get L A County help pay for the cops at its county-owned beach.

 

Malibu Council Grumbles But Writes Check Part 2: $2 Million For CHP On PCH

California Highway Patrol officers will be patrolling PCH at a cost of 2 million dollars a year.

The city council approved the contract unanimously last night.

But not without objections … again … about why Malibu taxpayers are paying for it.

Bruce Silverstein:

NEWSCART 70048 PCH COST BS 

“No pun intended: I think this is Highway Robbery.

“And the reason I say that is that I don’t agree that the CHP has the right to abandon PCH just because we are in municipality. There is no California statute that says that, that is an internal departmental determination of what they are responsible for and what they are not responsible for.”

Bruce Silverstein.

But again … all five city council members approved the contract.

You’re listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu, FM 99.1, KBUU.

 

Threats Hurled Against City Councils In Malibu And Santa Monica

Security was extra tight at the Santa Monica city council meeting last night.

And Malibu’s mayor was reportedly threatened by someone at a meeting two weeks ago. 

Steve Uhring says he’s glad that informed sheriff’s deputies at city hall are a good thing … 

In Santa Monica. … extra screening and extra cops were on hand last night. 

Unspecified threats were made against several councilmembers.

The enhanced security measures include additional private security, Santa Monica Police Department officers and screening of individuals entering Council chambers.

City Manager David White sent a letter to city staff saying everyone should allow extra time to get into the chambers and that officials are working to keep everyone safe.

Young Mountain Lion Killed By Vehicle Above Malibu Canyon

Las Virgenes Road has claimed another mountain lion. 

A vehicle smacked into the female cougar … about one-and-a-half years old … along the side of Las Virgenes Road north of Mulholland Highway … above Malibu Canyon. 

That section of two-lane straightaway particularly deadly to mountain lions. 

The new wildlife bridge across the 101 Freeway is several miles away.

National Park Service biologists say she was not wearing one of their radio collars … they will run DNA tests to learn who she is related to.

It is the 39th mountain lion to be killed by a vehicle in the Santa Monica Mountains park service study area … since biologists began tracking the local cougar population in 2002.

Vehicle strikes are the number one cause of death for the local big cat population.

Just down the canyon … a 3-month-old male kitten was struck and killed by a vehicle on Piuma Road … just east of Las Virgenes Road  last September.

 

Coastal Staff Rejects Malibu Activists’ Appeal Of City Council Decision – Again 

For the second time in recent months …  a local activist has been told by the staff at the California Coastal Commission that her formal objections to a project in Malibu are not valid.

Jo Drummond … president of the Malibu Township Council. … is one of five people who asked the Coastal Commission to overrule the city on approval of a house on Big Rock.

Drummond is president of the Malibu Township Council … a political club whose board of directors is made up mostly of several people who have lost city council races.

This time … she objected to plans for a house to replace one that burned down years ago on a street on Inland lane, above PCH on Big Rock Drive.

The appeals was filed by Drummond … Georgia Goldfarb … and four Big Rock residents.

The objections were that the house was too big … and unsafe given the frequent landslides on the Big Rock Mesa,

In a report just issued by the coastal commission staff … they again point out that the Coastal Commission enforces the state Coastal Act.

And the objections filed by Drummond and the others … do not prove any violations of the Coastal Act.

They say the house is not big enough as to violate the city’s Local Coastal Program, … enacted by the Coastal Commission.

And they say the house is not visible from PCH.

Just last month … an appeal filed by Drummond against a house on Busch Drive was unanimously tossed out by a. Vote of the Commission.

It costs the state tens of thousands of dollars to research each complaint … land use planners … lawyers and other staff have to produce a lengthy analysis.

The report for this latest appeal is 30 pages of analysis.

Appealing a city council decision to the Coastal Commission doesn;’t cost anything.

And critics tell KBUU News such appeals are more and more frequently being used as an act of political protest or revenge against city council members. 

And once again … the commission staff says there is no Coastal Commission action that can be taken.

The matter goes before a vote of the commission on February 7th in Oceanside.

 

Paid PR By Accused Killer Of Two Little Boys: Rebecca Grossman’s Campaign Hits Patch

Call it desperation … an attempt to pollute the jury pool.

Rebecca Grossman … the Hidden Hills woman who drove her car into a family crossing a street in a crosswalk … at 71 miles an hour … borderline drunk…. racing her boyfriend in another car. 

She has hired a public relations company that is planting fake articles … in the Internet.

The P-R company blames the little boy’s family … for wearing dark clothing. 

Here’s part of the article … from a PR wire that plants whatever the author wants to pay for.

Quote:

“There remains the admittedly uncomfortable– but regrettably necessary– question about why two young children—dressed in dark clothing and wobbling on a skateboard and rollerblades—were in the street, unsupervised.”

In reality, the two children were crossing the street with their parents and two siblings … two siblings that were yanked out of the way. 

The P-R hit piece also claims that “The fact pattern in this case … that seemed so clear-cut three years ago … has steadily unraveled as evidence has been presented at numerous pretrial hearings.”

Close quote. 

Whatever money can buy… aspirer no expense … hope a bigshot lawyer from Texas to plant seeds of doubt. 

The P-R article claims Rebecca “Grossman’s toxicology test showed that her blood alcohol level was under the legal limit.” 

No, it doesn’t.

It shows that her blood alcohol content was just a hair short of automatically being considered drunk.

It also detected valium … which would combine with .08 blood alcohol to significantly impair the driver. 

The paid drivel goes on and on. 

What’s worse … the article is being pushed out by Patch – a web site that pretends to be news.