City leaders want dope on medical marijuana

Huntington Beach officials are asking the City Council to pass a

moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries until the Supreme Court

rules on the legality of California’s medical marijuana laws.

“Right now there is conflicting federal and state laws on this

issue,” said City Atty. Jennifer McGrath, who co-wrote the ordinance

with Huntington Beach Police Chief Ken Small and Planning Director

Howard Zelefsky. “We’re waiting for further instruction from the

court.”

The Supreme Court is considering a case between California and the

U.S. Department of Justice regarding the legality of homegrown

marijuana used for medicinal purposes. In 1996, California voters

passed a proposition legalizing medical pot, but federal authorities

insist national laws banning the substance override state laws. The

court is now considering whether the federal government’s

constitutionally mandated authority to regulate commerce includes

raiding individual homes suspected of marijuana cultivation.

McGrath’s Huntington Beach ordinance would include a 45-day

moratorium on the issuance of building permits to anyone seeking to

build a medical marijuana dispensary. She said there are no such

facilities in Huntington Beach, but added that someone had recently

inquired with the Planning Department about possibly building a site

in town.

The ordinance could be introduced to the City Council at its Feb.

7 meeting.

Oil leak believed to cause deaths of sea birds

Inland oil wells are believed to be responsible for the mysterious

deaths of more than 1,000 seabirds that have begun washing ashore

from Huntington Beach to Ventura County.

Scientists earlier ruled out the possibility that the oil was

coming from under the ocean, and are now focusing on the possibility

that onshore oil well caps might have been damaged during recent rain

storms.

Environmental officials have pinpointed the possible contamination

area to pipelines along the Ventura River, said Ken Mayer of the

Department of Fish and Game.

“We believe it’s a spill because the consistency of the substance

we’re finding doesn’t match deposits that usually come from the

ground,” he said.

Oil-covered birds first started washing ashore in Ventura County

and were eventually discovered as far south as Huntington Beach.

About 1,400 injured or dead birds have been discovered so far.

One theory being proposed is that mudslides in Ventura County

might have disrupted an oil pipeline in that area. The incident is

being probed by the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, created

after the American Trader spill off Huntington Beach killed 3,400

birds in 1990. About 200 staff members and consultants are working on

the case.

Huntington Beach company to let go of 90

A Huntington Beach contact lens fabrication plant is slated to

close within the next six months, meaning the loss of 90

manufacturing jobs by one of the city’s largest industrial employers

The move to close down the Ocular Sciences Inc. plant is the

result of a $1.2-billion acquisition by the facility’s owner and

operator, Lake Forest based CooperVision Inc.

Tom Bender, chairman and CEO of the Cooper Companies, said the

closure of the Huntington Beach facility reflects decreased consumer

demand for the low volume, cheaply made lenses.

A similar situation faces 200 manufacturing workers at the

company’s Albuquerque facility. Those employees were recently

notified they would be losing their jobs by mid-2006.

“The Albuquerque facility will go through a gradual shutdown, but

we expect to move quickly on the Huntington Beach plant,” Bender

says. “Essentially both the Albuquerque and Huntington Beach

facilities makes products that are selling like they used to.”

Albuquerque’s manufacturing jobs will be moved to two CooperVision

plants -- Norfolk, Va., and Rochester, N.Y.

The new and much larger CooperVision will have annual sales of

$800 million and will be the world’s third largest maker of contact

lenses. Previously CooperVision was the world’s fourth largest

producer and Ocular Sciences was the world’s fifth largest.

In 2003, Ocular Sciences announced that it would be adding between

60 and 80 jobs to its Albuquerque plant because it was closing down

operations in Europe and shifting that work to its Albuquerque and

Puerto Rico facilities.

As a result of the acquisition, which was officially completed

earlier this month, Ocular Sciences will fold into Cooper and all of

its assets will operate under the new name. Bender says his company

purchased Ocular because its products, share of certain markets and

assets are a good complement for his company.

Employees were notified of the impending layoffs on Jan. 12.

Permanent employees will have the option of taking a Cooper severance

package. Bender did not any details of what that might include.

Employees will also have the option of applying for a position at the

company’s existing customer service operations in Albuquerque. That

facility will actually grow from about 55 workers to 100 positions.

Many of the new customer service jobs will be transferred from the

Huntington Beach facility.

Bender says the Albuquerque customer service facility will become

the main location for handling West Coast customers.

James Earl Jones to speak at library

Acclaimed actor and Verizon spokesperson James Earl Jones will

participate in a special event Monday at the Huntington Beach

Library.

Jones will read from the children’s book “Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes”

before giving a $25,000 check to the Literacy Volunteers of

America-Huntington Valley Inc. on behalf of Verizon and presenting

awards to two top literacy volunteers. The grant will finance

training of volunteer tutors for the group’s adult literacy program.

The event will start at 10 a.m. and is free to the public. For

more information, call 805-372-6969.