Mace

Firefighters say Mace may have caused the heavy fumes at an L.A. Fitness Center on Tuesday night that made dozens of people feel ill and sent eight to the hospital with minor injuries. Fire Department Operations Chief Ed Lazar said Mace probably was released near the front door, where the odor was strongest, and spread through the air conditioning system and entrance. The fitness center was closed and 200 people were evacuated. It reopened at 4:30 a.m.

Firefighters say Mace may have caused the heavy fumes at an LA Fitness Center in La Habra on Tuesday night that left dozens of people feeling ill and sent eight to the hospital with minor injuries. Investigators found no evidence of the substance, but firefighters detected a smell suggesting Mace, and other substances such as pepper spray have been ruled out, a spokesman said. The fitness center, usually open until midnight, was immediately closed and about 200 patrons evacuated.

Passengers on commercial airlines can now check in a can of Mace or pepper spray with their luggage, but they face penalties if they carry the self-defense spray on board with them, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday. The agency adjusted its regulations in response to numerous requests from flight crew members and passengers who said they want a means of self-protection once they arrive at their destinations.

Dozens of students and teachers were injured Friday when what was believed to be Mace was sprayed inside a junior high school, officials said. Police said there were no arrests in the case. All 1,600 students in the school in the New York City borough of Queens had to be evacuated, officials said. An Emergency Medical Services spokesman said 73 people were injured, including 54 children, suffering from breathing difficulties and irritation to the nose and lungs.

As the title of their latest hit film indicates, producers Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme are familiar with the clear and present dangers involved in making techno-action movies. There was the rebellion in southern Mexico that nearly cost them the right to film special-effects explosives scenes in that country, which they used as a double for Colombia.

The Rancho Santiago College District will offer a class on the proper use of Mace on Wednesday. The course will cover the legal rights and responsibilities regarding all forms of self-defense, how to avoid being a crime victim and what to do when victimized in a violent crime, district spokesman Dale Ruhe said. The cost of the course is $30. On completion, participants will receive a lifetime certification from the state Department of Justice to carry and purchase Mace.

In a room full of shaved heads, handlebar mustaches and Harley-Davidson belt buckles the size of footballs, Bob Burton is going over the finer points of hunting humans. Make no mistake, he tells the audience, "there's nothing like the thrill of putting your hands on a total stranger and telling him he's under arrest." But remember these simple guidelines: When transporting your prisoner by plane, it usually isn't a good idea to carry your gun through airport metal detectors.

Ventura County sheriff's deputies have joined their Oxnard and Simi Valley counterparts in using an oil extract from the cayenne pepper plant to subdue suspects who threaten deputies with physical harm. Under a pilot program of the state Department of Justice, oleoresin capsicum, known as "OC" or "pepper spray," is replacing chemical Mace as the primary non-lethal method of disarming would-be attackers, Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter said Monday.

In an attempt to defuse racial tension, a Korean-American grocer publicly apologized for spraying an African-American student with Mace during a dispute in his store. Johnston's Market owner Taek Won Kim made the apology to UC Berkeley junior MarQuette Jones in a statement released Friday by the Korean Community Center of the East Bay. Kim also promised to stop using Mace in his store. "Maybe it was my fault," Kim told the San Francisco Chronicle later. "I apologize.

Seven people were treated at a local hospital Friday after someone activated a canister of Mace in a fast-food restaurant. Employees of a Del Taco restaurant on Avery Parkway said a group of teen-agers set off a Mace canister and then ran out of the establishment about 1:20 p.m. "Some witnesses said they saw teen-agers in the bathroom playing around," said Bob Dewid, a Del Taco district manager. "It looks like it was just some kids having a good time.