Lifeguards

Strong rip currents in the ocean from Seal Beach to San Clemente this weekend caused a flurry of swimmer rescues, lifeguards reported. More rip currents are predicted along county beaches today, officials said. No drownings were reported despite the currents, but marine officials said two boats that lost power near Huntington Beach had to be towed to safety by other vessels Sunday afternoon. Rip currents are powerful flows of ocean water away from and usually perpendicular to the shore.

A military explosive device was found Sunday afternoon on Cardiff State Beach, leading to evacuation of a stretch of beach, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said. The explosive device was discovered by a beach-goer, who scooped it up and took it to lifeguards, the Sheriff's Department said. Sheriff's deputies ordered the evacuation and called for the arson-bomb squad. The squad took the device away for disposal, and the evacuation was lifted after two hours. Deputies were unable to determine the kind of explosive device.

As lifeguards begin their busy summer season, the bronzed guardians of California's beaches find themselves at the unlikely center of the battle over costly public pensions. The six-figure salaries of some full-time municipal lifeguards have fueled talk radio segments and blog comments in recent weeks, with some commentators expressing surprise at the pay for those who patrol the beaches. For local government, the larger concern is over the pensions that lifeguards receive when they retire.

The lifeguards fired after making a spoof of the popular "Gangnam Style" video could get their jobs back soon, a reversal that comes after thousands - including the Korean rapper behind the viral song - came to their support. But at least two of the 13 fired lifeguards said they are now unsure whether they would return to the El Monte Aquatic Center. The City Council, on a split vote, directed the interim city manager to hire back the guards as well as their supervisor, terminated in September for filming at the municipal pool while wearing their uniforms - both violations of El Monte's employment policy.

I have been an active beach-goer for the past 22 years at the South Bay and Malibu beaches. During these years I have observed the lifeguards and their degree of effectiveness in handling the public's safety. Primarily pulling people from dangerous surf, and, on occasion, diligently coordinating their ranks to rescue groups of 10 to 20 helpless people caught in huge riptide currents. I have also seen, at sunset, a lifeguard paddle-boarding a great distance to rescue weary windsurfers too tired to fight the wind and sail to shore.

Most of the youngsters don't go on to become lifeguards. Many of them sign up and, to their surprise, spend sometimes challenging half-days of instruction on the sand and in the sea. They sometimes go home both happy and somewhat worn out. But above all else, the Junior Lifeguards program in Huntington Beach -- like in other beach towns up and down the coast -- is supposed to be fun.

Two country club lifeguards using an aluminum pole to untangle a rope on a flagpole were electrocuted when the pole touched a 7,200-volt power line, investigators said Sunday.

I went to the beach last Sunday in the Venice/Marina del Rey area and couldn't help but note the focus and discipline of the lifeguards who were on the job, 100%, every moment. Kudos to our lifeguards and whoever trains and oversees this staff. Neal Tabachnick Culver City

A barefoot, unshaven assailant who demanded money attacked a veteran county lifeguard at Santa Monica Beach with a corkscrew on Tuesday, inflicting a four-inch cut before fleeing across the beach and up the stairs into Palisades Park, authorities said. Terry Hearst, 34, was treated at a hospital for a slashed abdomen and released. The 15-year lifeguard also strained his back when he tumbled seven feet to the sand from a watchtower when the attacker lunged at him.

The hot, muggy weather that has blanketed Orange County for the past few days has sent thousands flocking to the beaches in search of sea breezes and a respite from the stifling, furnace-like heat. But the combination of thong-wearing sunbathers and a brutal rip current generated by a hurricane off Baja California has made the days anything but lazy for lifeguards.

Having been told by healthcare professionals to take it easy after recent medical challenges, is it safe for me to continue following the local news? It's not easy to keep your blood pressure under control while reading that former Bell Police Chief Randy Adams is demanding a pension of $510,000 a year, after the notorious scoundrels in that scandal-plagued town paid him the astronomical salary of $457,000 a year. I began twitching when I saw that Adams invoked the 5th Amendment 20 times in a state pension panel hearing, refusing to confirm that he'd sent an email to a Bell official saying he looked forward to "taking all of Bell's money.

Re "El Monte lifeguards still in the deep end," Sept. 20 This was my impression of El Monte: It is the town where novelist James Ellroy's mother was murdered in 1958, and it was the subject of an amusing song by Llyn Foulkes and the Rubber Band in the 1970s. Comes now a young, exuberant crew of lifeguards who enjoy their jobs, doing absolutely no harm and entertaining more than 1.5 million people worldwide. You can't buy that kind of positive publicity. And Mayor Andre Quintero's response?

When a group of lifeguards and water safety instructors for the El Monte Aquatic Center got fired for making a video spoofing the hyper-viral "Gangnam Style" pop music video, no one disputed that they had violated city regulations. Even the college-age part-time employees themselves admitted that their video, intended as a fun memento of a summer at the pool, was, as a city statement says, "an unauthorized use of city resources and property. " (The resources? The pool and their red swimsuits.)

At the end of the night, the El Monte lifeguards who were fired for making a video spoof of a South Korean pop phenomenon did not win their jobs back. But they did make a splash that continues to be felt in the San Gabriel Valley city. "The city is the laughingstock of the nation," observed political consultant Xavier Hermosillo during a lengthy council meeting Tuesday that ended with city officials ordering a review of the mass firing. He suggested the city "do the right thing" and hire back the guards.

It went viral, all right. But in all the wrong ways. Now 13 city lifeguards and their supervisor in El Monte are fighting to get their jobs back - after being fired for making a video spoof of a widely popular Korean pop star's song. The "Lifeguard Style" video - a takeoff on the YouTube sensation "Gangnam Style" by rapper Psy - rocketed across the Internet, watched by more than 1 million YouTube viewers. Yet the audience that counted most - city officials - took a dim view of it. "We thought it was hysterical and we wanted to try something fun," said Michael Roa, a University of La Verne student who worked at the El Monte Aquatic Center for seven years.

In tight financial times, many cities save money by outsourcing municipal services such as clerical work to private companies. But there is no service more central to government and the people it serves than public safety, which should remain the responsibility of public agencies. The case of a fired lifeguard in Florida shows why. Beachgoers brought lifeguard Tomas Lopez's attention to a man floundering in shallow water. He raced to the scene; by then, the man had been pulled to the beach but had water in his lungs.

Lifeguards are supposed to save lives, right? Well, several lifeguards in Florida were temporarily out of jobs this week after one of them saved a man from drowning on a stretch of beach north of Miami -- and then was fired for doing so. That lifeguard apparently left his station to save a swimmer in distress outside his designated zone. Tomas Lopez, 21, said he was dismissed after Monday's near-drowning, with his supervisor citing liability issues. In response, several of Lopez's lifeguard colleagues banded together and either quit in solidarity or were fired for publicly proclaiming that they would have done the same, according to Fox News.