Huntington State Beach

A swimmer believed to be in his early 20s was caught in a riptide off Huntington State Beach and drowned Thursday afternoon, officials said. A fisherman saw the man struggling to stay afloat in 3- to 5-foot surf near the mouth of the Santa Ana River, authorities said. He had been wading in chest-high water when the rip current pulled him about 75 yards from the shore, said state lifeguard supervisor Lon Graham.

A spill from an Orange County sewage treatment plant forced lifeguards to close a mile of Huntington State Beach for the remainder of the Labor Day holiday weekend. The spill occurred late Saturday afternoon at a treatment plant along the Santa Ana River, said Mike Brousard, lifeguard supervisor.

A 2,000-foot stretch of Huntington State Beach was closed to surfing and swimming Tuesday after health officials discovered a raw sewage spill. The 1,000-gallon spill, which occurred sometime between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday, came from a blocked line in the sewage system of a mobile home park near Newland Street, health officials said.

Lifeguards continued searching Friday for the body of a Fullerton teenager believed to have drowned at Huntington State Beach after he stepped into a trench while swimming with a friend. The search for Oswaldo Jesus Ramos, 14, will continue until his body is recovered, lifeguard supervisor Michael Brousard said. Oswaldo and an unidentified 15-year-old friend were swimming about 50 yards from shore Thursday when they began struggling in the water, Brousard said.

For the third time in less than a week, a swimmer has apparently drowned off the Orange County coast. An 18-year-old Riverside man was presumed drowned off Huntington State Beach late Monday, authorities said. The man, whose name was being withheld until his relatives were notified, was at a beach cookout between Magnolia Avenue and Brookhurst Street when he and a friend entered the water about 8 p.m., according to Joe Milligan, park superintendent.

Lifeguards are rescuing people along the Huntington Beach coast at about double last year's rate, with unusually warm water luring swimmers unprepared for the ocean's riptides. Two people have drowned in the last week, including Drean Rucker, a high school All-American from Riverside who was supposed to play football for USC this year. Lt. Michael Beuerlein, operations head at Huntington City Beach, calls the deaths "sunset drownings" because they occurred after dark.

Orange County authorities on Saturday found the body of Drean Rucker, a USC-bound football star who disappeared earlier this week while swimming off Huntington State Beach. A harbor patrol boat from the Sheriff's Department recovered the remains of the high school All-American about a quarter-mile west of the Huntington Beach Municipal Pier. An autopsy is pending. Authorities said two people on personal watercraft spotted the body about 8:40 a.m.

Re "Before We Turn On the Tap," Nov. 30: The Times' editorial observation that "a thirst for good information is just as important as a thirst for water" is absolutely correct. There is a dearth of information on the environmental impacts of the proposed Poseidon desalination project in Huntington Beach, as pointed out by three state agencies in letters to the city of Huntington Beach: the California Coastal Commission, the California Energy Commission and the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

More than 500 young people from Police Activities Leagues throughout the state will gather in Huntington Beach today for two days of beach-related events and camping sponsored by the California state parks. Billed as the first annual Beach Play Day, the event will be the first time many of the youths have gone to the beach and camped, organizers said.

Wake up! See the roses, even after work! Spring hath sprung, and so hath the clock--forward, by an hour. Perhaps during the winter months you went straight from the office to the gym. Or home to veg out in front of the TV. Or to happy hour. If you're a nine-to-fiver, wherever you went was probably indoors or involved artificial light--it was dark outside. Now, thanks to daylight saving time, the sun doesn't set until around 7:30 p.m. Locally, that's cause for some to celebrate.