CITYSCAPE ROUNDUP:Rohrabacher stands by his comments

Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro this week sharply criticized Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher for comments he made at a recent congressional hearing on U.S. use of extraordinary rendition, but Rohrabacher on Wednesday stood by his remarks.

Under the practice of extraordinary rendition, U.S. authorities detain suspected terrorists and fly them to other countries to be interrogated, where critics allege they may be tortured.

At the April 17 hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, which was broadcast on C-SPAN, Rohrabacher defended renditions while acknowledging a few people may have been held by mistake.

“We’re talking about a minuscule number of people here as compared to the number of people who are being protected,” Rohrabacher said. “We are at war, and we’ve got to make sure that we do not let go 50 terrorists who will go out and plant a bomb in London and kill 20,000 people in order to protect that one person who we arrested accidentally because his name was the same. That’s the type of unfortunate consequence.”

When audience members rumbled in disagreement with Rohrabacher’s remarks, he fired back, “I hope it’s your families that suffer the consequences.”

Barbaro said Rohrabacher should retract that statement and apologize to the people at the hearing.

“I was appalled. I couldn’t believe that a United States congressperson would have that kind of a reaction to people making a simple suggestion or disagreeing with him.” Barbaro said.

“This is typical Bushisms, where you’ve either got to buy in 100%, or anybody who has any thoughts that are discordant is obviously unpatriotic or not worthy of having their comments considered.”

Rohrabacher said he’s heard criticisms of his comments, but he stands by what he said. The extraordinary rendition program has been successful in catching about 200 people involved in terrorist activities, and it’s part of the reason there hasn’t been a major attack on the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, he said.

“Those people who are trying to emasculate the effort to grab these terrorists have to understand that there are consequences if they do that,” he said Wednesday by phone from Washington D.C. “I still believe their families should be the ones that suffer the consequences first.”

Attempts to move surf lawsuit to SoCal rejected

The Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau has had another motion rejected in its attempt to move a lawsuit concerning its Surf City USA trademark closer to home.

The bureau’s contention that going to court in northern California would be a hardship on its Southern Californian witnesses was rejected by a federal district judge Friday. Previously the bureau’s claim that juries in Northern California would be biased was also rejected.

The Conference and Visitors Bureau’s lawyer in the case, San Diego attorney Rich Sybert of the firm Gordon & Rees, said he was disappointed but didn’t see it as a major setback.

“I think we would prefer to be in Southern California,” Sybert said. “I think it’s going to be problematic getting an unbiased jury in Northern California, but we knew we had an uphill battle on the issue going in.”

The owners of two Santa Cruz shops are suing the conference and visitors bureau, saying its registered trademark “Surf City USA” is invalid. The suit has stoked a rivalry between the two cities over their respective claims to the title “Surf City.”

Siren system tests resume after upgrade

The City of Huntington Beach has recently upgraded its emergency siren system and will resume monthly tests on May 4.

Residents are advised to step outside at noon on May 4 to listen for the sirens and become familiar with their sound in case of real emergency.

All fire stations in the city are equipped with the sirens, which are designed to warn residents of impending disaster. Examples would include hazardous chemical spills, tsunamis, or a collapse of the Prado Dam on the Santa Ana River.

If sirens do sound outside of a scheduled test, citizens should immediately turn on a radio to KWVE 107.9 FM, the official government station for emergency alerts.

Tests will be repeated at noon the first Friday of every month.

For further information, please contact Glorria Morrison, the city’s Emergency Services Coordinator, at (714) 536-5980.

Intersection to close during reconstruction

City officials are advising residents that the heavily used intersection of Adams Avenue and Brookhurst Street will be closed to traffic late at night Monday and Tuesday. From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. each evening, Brookhurst Street will be completely closed to traffic, while Adams Avenue will have only one lane open. The night work is an attempt to mitigate public inconvenience at a major intersection.

The closures are part of a citywide reconstruction of major streets including Adams Avenue, which went under construction at the beginning of this month.

In addition to repairing the road surface, workers will cut down and replace overgrown trees damaging pavement. Future repairs are scheduled for Bolsa Chica Street between Warner Avenue and Rancho Road, as well as Goldenwest Street between Warner and McFadden avenues.