UPDATE: Power has been restored to Half Moon Bay and the shelter at Adcock Center has been closed.

Coastsiders are cautioned to shelter in place, according to Half Moon Bay’s Emergency Operations Center. Limited shelter is available at the Adcock Center at 535 Kelly Ave as long as power is out. The HMB Police Dept and Coastside Fire District’s Emergency Operating Center will be at the fire station in Half Moon Bay is long as the power is out.  PG&E has not provided an estimated time for when the power is expected to be restored and it could be out the entire weekend.

Seton Coastside in Moss Beach is open for all medical emergencies, but the Coastside Medical Clinic in Half Moon Bay is closed. The EOC is reporting the grocery stores in HMB are closed.

Sand bags are available at these locations:

• Half Moon Bay City Hall, 501 Main Street, in the open parking lot off Johnston Street


• Half Moon Bay Corp Yard at 880 Stone Pine Road (east end of road)


• Princeton’s Public Works Corp Yard at 203 Cornell Avenue


• Pescadero High School at 350 Butano Cut Off Road

Additional cautions:

• High surf warnings and coastal flood watch remains until Sunday afternoon


• Intersection lights are out - please relate to them as four way stops


• Take care with burning candles - don’t leave them unattended


• Do not use propane or charcoal as an inside heat or cooking source


• Limit driving


• Stay away from flooded roadways, ditches and high surf.


• Avoid downed power lines

Mike Niece, director of Coastside Catholic Worker in Half Moon Bay, is facing six months in jail for offering a client $500 for sex, rather than the 10 days for which he bargained. This follows a Superior Court judge’s rejection of the deal, reports the County Times. 

A body found at Poplar beach this afternoon is likely to be one of the two missing crab fishermen whose boat disappeared last week, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

A local man walking some dogs along the isolated southern tip of Poplar Beach at 1:40 p.m. discovered the decomposing body of a man pushed ashore by the tides, said Capt. Mike O’Malley of the Half Moon Bay Police Department.
...
The body washed up a week to the day that it disappeared, a fact O’Malley said was predictable, because over time, the water temperature causes a body to bloat and float to the surface.

“Pretty much in about 7 days the bodies come back up,” said
O’Malley, who had two officers walking the surrounding beaches on Tuesday afternoon, just in case a second body turned up.

Mike Niece, 65, director of Coastside Catholic Worker in Half Moon Bay, pleaded no contest to charges that he solicited sex from a woman who came to the charity looking for a job. Niece will server 10 days in county jail, reports Michael Manekin in the County Times.

The alleged victim, who speaks little English, had approached the police earlier the same day, and investigators set up a sting operation to catch Niece in the act of solicitation, said O’Keefe.

The woman agreed to place a recorded call to Niece from the police station, and the charitydirector repeated his offer for sex, O’Keefe said.

The woman was not a prostitute but a resident of Half Moon Bay, he added.
...
In 2003, a 16-year-old volunteer at Coastside Catholic Worker told authorities that Niece had asked to kiss her, said Half Moon Bay Police Sgt. John Sanchez. The girl told police that she refused the kiss but submitted to a back rub, he said. The behavior sounded “inappropriate,” but it was not criminal and the police did not bring the case to the district attorney’s office, Sanchez said.

Niece also ran into trouble in 2006 when a young transient passing through Half Moon Bay told police that she had been offered “touch therapy” by Niece, Sanchez said. However, during her brief stay in the city, the woman also accused several other people of sexual harassment. Police decided not to pursue the case against Niece because the woman appeared to have a mental condition, he said.

UPDATE: After 24 hour of search a 500 square mile area, the Coast Guard has called off its search, reports Julia Scott for MediaNews.

“Based on the water and air temperatures and sea conditions, predicted survivability for the two fisherman was less than eight hours,” reported Coast Guard Lt. Anya Hunter at noon today. The water temperature was 53 degrees Fahrenheit and there were 18-foot waves pounding the boat at the time of the accident, Hunter said.

There will be a “storm spotter” meeting at the Adcock Center in Half Moon Bay Tuesday, Dec 11from 7 to 9pm.

At this public meeting, you learn how to prepare at home or away for severe weather, understand the strength of heat waves and winter weather, learn how to recognize dangerous conditions and how you can relay local weather information to the Half Moon Bay Police and/or directly to the National Weather Service.

Half Moon Bay is one of the many severe weather-prone areas in California.  Each year, we cope with rainstorms, high winds and even thunderstorms that cause flooding.  The City of Half Moon Bay will be able to help the National Weather Service and its weather and warning programs.

Spotter trained communities are better prepared to save lives from the onslaught of severe weather through better planning, education, and awareness. No community is storm proof, but spotters can help communities save lives. 

RSVP to the Half Moon Bay Police Department (650) 726-8288.

The Half Moon Bay Police Department scored a perfect 100 in a new audit of California law enforcement agencies’ responses to requests for public information. The audit was conducted by Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based group that advocates for transparent government and records access, reports the County Times. The HMB police bounced back from a dismal score of 35 last year to a perfect 100.

Written requests for information were mailed the day before oral requests were made. The agencies were scored on legal compliance and customer service, each on a 100-point scale. Legal compliance was scored on what information was or was not provided and copying costs, which by law is limited to the “direct cost of duplication,” and whether an agency took more than 10 days to allow a record to be inspected.
...
Half Moon Bay Police Chief Don O’Keefe said his department was “very proud” of its score on the audit — a perfect 100, the highest mark in the county — but also criticized the audit for first giving the agency a low score of 35 earlier this year. The department only received the low score, he said, because the auditor was “abrupt,” demanding” and “unclear” in his requests.

Nonetheless, O’Keefe worked closely with the city attorney and the city clerk to insure that the Police Department would better acquaint itself with state law to ensure that all public information requests would be honored.

The Half Moon Bay police are searching for an elderly man suffering from dementia. He was last seen at 2:45pm today (Nov 28) on the 200 block of Main St.  He’s 83 years old, white, 5’4” tall, 164 pounds. He was wearing a black hat, green jacket, checkered shirt, and green pants.

Please call 726-8286 if you have any information.

UPDATED: The man was found near Smith Field and is with his family.

At last week’s meeting of the Coastside Fire Board, the outgoing pro-Cal Fire majority appointed the ninth member of the board, which will have four pro-Cal Fire members and four pro-Local 2400 members after the newly-elected members are seated.

Vince Williams, a pro-Cal Fire candidate in the Pt. Montara race, was at the meeting and recorded portions of the meeting. Darin Boville of Montara Fog created audio files you can listen to on the Web. There is no video.

• Local 2400 Representative Tony Slimick, speaking in the open comment period.
• Alan Davis, Local 2400 attorney, speaking in the open comment period
• Board interview of Matt Conners
• Board interview of J.B. Cockrell [Later appointed to the board]
• Board interview of Michael Gaynes
• Tony Slimick, Union Representative of Local 2400, responding to the interview process and threatening a recall election