Boat spills paint, residue into Newport...

Boat spills paint, residue into Newport Harbor

A boat owner caused a bit of pollution off Harbor Island on Monday

when material from his boat came off in the water as he was sanding

it.

The spill of paint and sanding residue occurred about noon in the

800 block of Harbor Island Drive. The owner was sanding his boat in

the haul-out area of the marina with plastic protection in place. But

wind gusts blew the material out of the plastic and into the water,

creating an area of 2 by 150 feet of white sanded material in the

harbor, said Sgt. Gary Smith of the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department Harbor Patrol.

Although the area of pollution was minor, the harbor patrol took

samples and filed a report, Smith said. It will ultimately be up to

the district attorney’s office to decide whether to file charges.

The material eventually dissipated in the bay.

Smith said that although the winds can be mercurial along the

harbor, it is still up to boat owners to take the necessary

precautions.

“The owner could have done a better job of putting plastic down

and readjusting the plastic when the wind picks up or stopping work

altogether,” Smith said.

-- Deirdre Newman

Josh Slocums fire causes $100,000 in damage to site

A fire that ravaged most of the interior of Dennis Rodman’s

Newport Beach restaurant was caused by a shorted electrical wire,

officials said Monday.

The fire, which broke out about 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Josh

Slocums, caused an estimated $100,000 in property damage. The blaze

started when an electrical wire that was plugged into an outlet but

not connected to anything else shorted behind the wood molding in the

back of the restaurant, said Randy Scheerer, Newport Beach Fire

Department division chief.

“Probably better housekeeping on their part would have served to

prevent [the fire],” Scheerer said.

The fire broke out shortly before the restaurant was about to

open. Rodman came to survey the damage Sunday afternoon, Scheerer

said.

Rodman’s fiancee, Michelle, who was at the restaurant Monday

afternoon as contractors scurried about assessing the damage, said

she wasn’t sure when the restaurant would reopen.

“We’ll wait and see,” said Michelle, who declined to give her last

name. “It will reopen and be better than it was.”

The restaurant looked like a movie set Monday as an eclectic array

of salvageable furniture and accessories sat outside in the parking

lot, waiting to be taken away and cleaned. Sterling silver

candelabras, a giant bottle of Moet Chandon, and silver and purple

masks with yellow feathers on top were just some of the items that

survived the blaze.

-- Deirdre Newman