Restaurants, bars tied to DUIs now alerted by Laguna Beach police
Good morning and happy New Year! It’s Wednesday, Jan. 1. I’m Carol Cormaci bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events.
In hopes of curbing the number of arrests for driving under the influence, Laguna Beach is taking a unique route: When police can tie a restaurant or bar to a DUI arrest, the owners of those establishments are getting a letter notifying them of the incident.
“Officials say Laguna Beach has had the highest number of DUI arrests per capita of any city of its size in California for at least two decades, in part because it is a magnet for many tourists and visitors who drive in for the day. While the city’s population is only about 22,000, Laguna Beach sees about 6.5 million visitors annually,” writes our Los Angeles Times colleague Hannah Fry.
Fry’s story appeared on the front page of the paper on a most appropriate day, New Year’s Eve, when cheers to the coming year have a way of leading to hair-raising behaviors behind the wheel that can turn deadly.
“In 2020, [Laguna Beach] had 42 crashes that were alcohol related. In 2021 and 2022, there were 50 and 55 crashes, respectively, that were alcohol related, according to city data,” the reporter notes.
“In Laguna Beach, residents for years have complained about the noise and quality of life issues that stem from late-night visitors to the city’s watering holes,” Fry writes. “The city’s geography — nestled between two other beach cities with robust nightlife — and its concentration of more than 130 establishments make it a prime location for DUI arrests, police say.”
Once Laguna police learn where a drunk driver last imbibed the letter goes out to that business, according to the article. It’s intended to be advisory in nature, to help purveyors of alcohol to be on alert and to watch for signs a drunk patron could be planning to get behind the wheel.
“It’s not intended to be punitive because the business owners don’t know what they don’t know,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert told The Times. “So it’s an opportunity for them to look at whether there’s a pattern with certain bartenders overserving or do some additional education with not only their bartenders but their security staff.”
Calvert also confirmed for the paper that between January and Dec. 26, the police department, which had been making about 200 DUI arrests annually, sent 75 such letters to restaurants, bars and hotels in Laguna Beach and other cities.
One man who owns several restaurants in Laguna Beach was dismissive of the new practice of advising business owners of the role they may have played in a person driving under the influence. He told the reporter it’s nothing more than a waste of money and time.
But there are also fans of the plan, including the town’s recently seated mayor, Alex Rounaghi.
“The data shows us this is a problem that we need to address, and I think this is a really very innovative, collaborative and data-driven way of doing that,” he said. “Any time that we can save a life and prevent future deaths it’s important for us to do that.”
MORE NEWS
• Newport Beach planning commissioners may soon be considering a proposal by the Irvine Co. to build 800 new luxury apartments in two separate projects within Newport Center and adjacent to the Fashion Island shopping mecca, the Daily Pilot reported over the weekend. “Both communities would provide quality housing to meet the needs of employees, including young professionals, of the hundreds of businesses within Newport Center,” Kevin Martin, Irvine Co.’s vice president of development, wrote in a letter to planning officials. The proposal is in its earliest stages, a company official said, so there is no current timeline for when the projects would be constructed, assuming they are ultimately approved by the City Council.
• Turner Construction Co. and design-build partner DGA Architects have have been awarded a $158-million contract by the state’s Department of General Services to build a 15-acre regional emergency operations center on the southwest corner of the Fairview Developmental Center at 2501 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa. The facility will include a 35,000-square-foot office, storage warehouse and 120-foot communication tower. The state-run center will allow the California Office of Emergency Services to coordinate resources to support 226 incorporated cities in 11 Southern California counties in the event of an emergency and serve as training grounds for disaster response efforts.
• Several people are already announcing their candidacies in the 2026 state Senate and Assembly contests centered in Anaheim and Santa Ana where the electorate is largely Latino and Democrat. In a TimesOC look at who has so far thrown a hat into the ring, Mike Madrid, author of “The Latino Century: How America’s Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy” is quoted as saying, “What’s going to be determined in these races is what Latino politics will largely look like in the course of the next decade.” Madrid is a senior fellow at UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology.
PUBLIC SAFETY
• Last weekend was busy for local coastal Orange County fire crews, who responded to a garage fire in Costa Mesa Saturday, a blaze that broke out inside a Fountain Valley 24 Hour Fitness Sunday and an apartment complex in Newport Beach early Monday. All combined, the fires resulted in the evacuation of multiple residents and scores of gym members, the hospitalization of two apartment tenants and the temporary closure of all three structures.
CRIME
• A woman who served as the chief financial officer for a furniture manufacturing business in Laguna Beach was arrested for siphoning off more than $300,000 from her former employer over a period of two years. Police allege Rebecca Buehler used the money to fund a “lavish lifestyle,” which included the purchase of an SUV, luxury handbags and alcohol. The business she allegedly stole from was closed due to financial hardship and the thefts only came to light when its owner attempted to close an associated bank account in early 2024.
SPORTS
• The Ducks rallied from a two-goal deficit at Honda Center Sunday to beat the Edminton Oilers for the first time in eight meetings. The score was 5-3. It was the first time since March 30, 2019, the Ducks defeated the Oilers by more than one goal, the Associated Press reported in this story that ran in the L.A. Times. Last night the Ducks hosted the New Jersey Devils in a game played after our deadline.
LIFE & LEISURE
• The annual 28-hour New Year’s marathon radio broadcast organized by Jim “Poorman” Trenton at KOCI 101.5 FM and featuring guest hosts from around Orange County ends at 1 p.m. today, so if you haven’t yet tuned in and are reading this newsletter early enough in the day, it’s not too late. Trenton told the Daily Pilot the hosts are given free rein on how what they want to put on the air during their segments, and things can get quirky, to say the least. “They can do anything they want, short of an FCC violation,” Trenton said. “I remember in the first year we had a guy on who got super drunk who had a couple hours [to host]. It was like riding a bull. I mean, I’ve never ridden a bull. But I was questioning my sanity at 4 in the morning.” Check out our story on the event, headlined “Nudist, podiatrist, mechanic, principal among guests for Orange County radio station’s 28-hour New Year’s show.”
• The visual and performing arts program at Orange Coast College is the recipient of a $9.44-million gift from an alumnus of the school whose name is not being made public. It is the largest gift to date in the school’s 77-year history, officials said, and will be used to create the OCC Endowment for the Arts.
CALENDAR THIS
• “Back to the Future: the Musical” opened last week at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and will continue through this Sunday. A DeLorean that was restored using parts from one of the vehicles used in the “Back to the Future” film trilogy will be on display at Segerstrom Hall for one night only, Friday, from 5 to 10:30 p.m. The restoration of the vehicle by Gale and Terry Matalas was made possible by local Segerstrom Center donor Dave Tabb, according to this TimesOC feature on the musical and the DeLorean fans who turned out or its opening. Tickets start at $44.07 and can be purchased at the Segertrom’s website.
Until next Wednesday,
Carol
KEEP IN TOUCH
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