Free Republic

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Bisecting a wide sandy beach, the Huntington Beach pier beckons tourists and surfers alike, creating a break in the waves that helps gives the city its nickname: Surf City, USA. It is a scene as laidback as the name would suggest - and a stark contrast to the political hostility spilling out of City Hall just a short drive inland.

Police Chief Mike Halstead in Surf City, North Carolina, was forced to retire after posting a statement to his private Facebook page calling the Black Lives Matter movement "an American born terrorist group." Chief Halstead made the post on September 3, and it came to the attention of Surf City Mayor Zander Guy a few days later. The mayor called an emergency meeting of the town leaders on Tuesday and the town told Halstead that if he did not retire, he would be fired. He retired and took 60 days' severance. In his post, Halstead said that the issue is...

Long-time Huntington Beach surfer Gary Sahagen had a prediction about how the world record attempt to get the most people riding one wave would go down. "It's either going to be spectacular, or a spectacle," Sahagen said, before joining 66 other surfers crammed onto a 42-foot board on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. Turns out, it was a lot of both.

Surf City was a mythical place, a paradise for the era’s restless teens in the summer of 1963, when the song became the first surfing tune to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Fame came quickly for the Los Angeles-born duo of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, who became stars in their early 20s. They would build on their success with hits such as “Dead Man’s Curve,” “Ride the Wild Surf” and “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena,” joining with their younger friends, the Beach Boys, in writing the anthems of the California coastal lifestyle. Skip forward more than...

Ex-CIA chief defends waterboarding of al Qaeda leader Jose Rodriguez has no regrets about using the "enhanced interrogation techniques" - methods that some consider torture -- on al Qaeda detainees questioned after 9/11 and denies charges they didn't work. The former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service talks to Lesley Stahl about those methods, including waterboarding, for the first time and defends their use - even comparing them to the current policy of killing al Qaeda leaders with drone strikes. The Rodriguez interview will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, April 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Rodriguez says everything his...

Give me one reason why "judicial extraordinaire" Harriet Miers is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court. One.

It's time for politicians to protect the film industry and implement stiff anti-piracy laws. According to the Motion Picture Association of America, "pirates are costing the film industry billions of dollars each year." Thank you, J. Scott Davis

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Three pipe bombs have exploded in the city in recent days and police warned residents today to alert officials and stay clear if any suspicious devices are spotted. The bombs are constructed with galvanized-metal pipe and contain a black-powder explosive. They are designed to cause serious injury and property damage, police said. At least one of the bombs was hidden inside another object. There were no reports of injury or serious property damage from the three explosions. The bombings occurred at Holland Drive and Marken Lane about 9:50 p.m. Aug. 31, at Pacific Coast Highway and 12th...

Sacramento -- They're having fun, fun, fun in Santa Cruz now that state lawmakers have passed a bodacious resolution that says the town has every right to call itself "Surf City USA." Wading into murky waters where no legislator has ever hung ten before, the Senate Rules Committee declared that the Orange County town of Huntington Beach -- which also fancies itself as Surf City USA -- cannot claim exclusive rights to the name. For years, the two towns have both used the moniker, but the informal truce was broken not long ago when Huntington Beach applied for a trademark...

Dean Remembers Jan Torrence pays tribute to his late surf-rock mate Best friends "He was driven," says Dean Torrence of singer, songwriter and producer Jan Berry -- his best friend and the other half of the best-selling surf-rock and hot-rod-pop duo Jan and Dean. "He always knew what he wanted to do and how to go about doing it. And he didn't wait around for someone else to tell him it should be done differently. Luckily for him, most of the time it turned out." The tragic exception came on the morning of April 12, 1966, when Berry -- at...