POLICE BRIEFS

-- Eron Ben-Yehuda

BEACH, DOC MAY REOPEN TODAY

Health officials today may reopen a small beach and a boat dock in

Huntington Harbour that were closed to swimming and diving because of a

sewage spill.

The spill was caused by a block in a pipeline leading to the Westchester

Bay Docks, said Larry Honeybourne, program chief of the Orange County

Health Care Agency’s water quality section. The sewage drifted to tiny

Trinidad Beach, he said. It remains unclear how many gallons seeped out,

he said.The blocked pipeline started leaking Saturday, but health

officials weren’t notified until Tuesday, at which point they closed off

the water to recreational users and divers who maintain the bottoms of

boats in the harbor, he said.

The Westchester Bay Homeowners’ Assn. owns the private pipeline, which

has been repaired, he said. Officials are awaiting the results of water

samples to make sure contamination levels are within acceptable

standards.

In late November, more than 1,000 gallons of sewage leaked into the

harbor, forcing the closure of Peters Landing, Sunset Aquatic, Portifino

Cove and Mothers Beach. That leak also began with a clog in a pipe.

POLICE SEARCH FOR CAR THIEVES

Police are still searching for at least four thieves who stole five

Lincoln Navigators from a Huntington Beach dealership lot last week.

One suspect is already in custody.

At about 8 a.m. last Thursday, the thieves drove the sports utility

vehicles, worth $50,000 each, off the lot of the Beach Lincoln-Mercury

dealership at 16800 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Janet Perez

said. They somehow got the car keys from lockboxes on the lot, she said.

Company officials didn’t report the cars missing until 10:20 a.m. because

no one noticed they were gone until a buyer arrived to pick up her

preordered vehicle, she said.

After a police bulletin was sent out, officers noticed one of the

vehicles driving northbound on Beach Boulevard, she said. They pursued

the car onto the southbound San Diego Freeway, until a man jumped out of

the car and hid in the bushes, she said. Police arrested Armen

Hovanissian, 22, of Burbank.