Signal Hill Ca

A Signal Hill man recently arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing his boss has also been charged with an 11-year-old homicide for which he once was arrested but never convicted. Jeffrey Keith Means, 42, was charged this week with stabbing Ronald Henry, 67, in his Long Beach apartment Dec. 19. During the investigation, detectives discovered that Means had been arrested on suspicion of fatally bludgeoning Hal Shaw, 48, in Whittier in 1996.

Larry Forester, the mayor of Signal Hill, is ahead by a single vote going into Monday's recount. Though the slimmest of margins, it is a lot better than being down by nine, which was the case after the ballots were counted in Tuesday's city election. But then the absentee and provisional ballots were added in, and those gave Forester the upper hand, by a vote of 429 to 428 over challenger Nancy Long. "Emotionally, it's a roller- coaster ride," Forester said.

It was 1975 and skateboarding was hugely popular when Jim O'Mahoney, head of the U.S. Skateboard Assn., got a call from the producer of ABC's television show, "The Guinness Book of World Records." The producer wanted to shoot a skateboarding event for the show. As a child, growing up in Long Beach, O'Mahoney begged his parents to drive fast over the steepest section of Hill Street, an almost 30-degree incline in Signal Hill that mimicked the feeling of a roller coaster.

A 63-year-old Signal Hill building designer has been charged with bribery for allegedly giving a Westminster city planner an envelope stuffed with cash to expedite the approval of a shopping center expansion, police said. Trung Hieu Vo was arrested Wednesday and faces a felony count of bribing a public official with an amount exceeding $400, Westminster police spokesman Lt. Bill Lewis said. The exact amount was not disclosed.

Ever since a gusher made Signal Hill one of the richest oil fields in the nation, the small town has rebelled against its big neighbor, Long Beach. Signal Hill became a city in 1924 to keep Long Beach from taxing its black gold. Now, the cities are feuding again -- this time over gas, not oil. At issue are millions of dollars that Long Beach is expected to receive from Sempra Energy as part of a settlement in an antitrust lawsuit over alleged price-gouging during the 2000-01 energy crisis.

At first glance it looks like a simple, grassy knoll in the micro-city of Signal Hill, tranquil and quiet like any city garden. But petite Hilltop Park offers more. History. Inspiration. Most of all, a panorama that sweeps along the Pacific, from Huntington Beach, past Long Beach's high-rises and the harbor's otherworldly cranes, past Santa Catalina Island and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The view stretches to downtown Los Angeles, seemingly so close on a clear day.

Voters in several Los Angeles County cities will cast ballots Nov. 8 on a variety of local issues, including a beach-protection initiative in Hermosa Beach, whether the elective office of mayor should be eliminated in El Monte and tax measures in Sierra Madre, Signal Hill and the City of Commerce. Sierra Madre Measure F would levy a public-safety tax to help pay for paramedic services, new fire equipment and increased salaries for police officers. A two-thirds vote is required for approval.

Nearly 150 disabled people are on a waiting list to move into a specially designed Signal Hill apartment complex whose 24 units were taken upon opening earlier this year. The federally funded complex, owned and operated by the Crippled Children's Society of Southern California, features ramp access, wider doors for wheelchairs and lowered light switches.