The Weekly Newspaper of Manhattan Beach
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 Vol. 11, No. 12 December 7, 2017
Inside
This Issue
Certified and Licensed
Professionals...................7
Classifieds............................5
Entertainment......................6
Finance..................................4
Food.......................................7
Looking Up...........................2
Pets............................. 12 - 13
Politically Speaking............5
Real Estate.................. 8 - 10
Seniors..................................2
Sports....................................3
Weekend
Forecast
Chevron’s Women’s Network Bake
Sales Support Walk With Sally
Chevron’s Women’s Network held bake sales at the Chevron refinery throughout the month of October. All the proceeds, $1,300, were given to Walk With Sally for programs supporting children whose
parents, guardians or siblings have cancer or have succumbed to cancer. Chevron did a check presentation with Walk With Sally last week. Those in the picture include Casey Stokes, RSD Operations Manager
and Women’s Network Management Sponsor; Diane Reed, Human Resources Manager; Women’s Network Leadership Team members; Michele McRae, Director of Development Walk With Sally, Page Sacks,
Special Events & Communications Manager, Walk With Sally; and Nick Arquette, Founder and Executive Director, Walk With Sally. Photo Provided by Chevron.
Stores Ready for Crowds and Shoplifters
surveillance systems and some have added
more personnel during the holidays to greet
people while entering the store. Having this
natural surveillance of human interaction
with potential criminals usually deters them
because they know they are being watched
by employees,” he revealed.
Thieves don’t just prey on the retailers.
Manhattan Beach residents report more thefts
of all kinds around the holidays, including
package thefts and home burglaries. Vehicle
burglaries also jump around the holidays,
with some thieves smashing car windows to
grab merchandise in plain view, according
to Zins.
Like the stores, residents should be on
the lookout of suspicious characters in their
See Shoplifters, page 4
By Rob McCarthy
If the UCLA men’s basketball coach wanted
his team to play good defense and get some
steals, three young members of the Bruin
squad clearly misunderstood Steve Alford’s
instructions. In what became an international
shoplifting incident, the younger brother of
Lakers guard LaVar Ball got caught stealing
from a store in China.
The goodwill tour turned into a lesson
in Chinese criminal justice for Bruin fans
and Americans. The three UCLA freshmen
- LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley
- escaped possible prison sentences in China,
which considers retail theft a disrespectful
act by anyone - including tourists - toward
that host nation.
Californians don’t share the Chinese
government’s stern view toward stealing
from stores, and in 2014 passed a statewide
initiative to downgrade shoplifting to a
misdemeanor when the value is $950 or
less. The authors of Prop. 47 said the
voter-approved change in the state’s penal
code would lower adult prison populations,
and it did.
An unintended consequence has been
more shoplifting by individuals and criminal
gangs, the retail industry says, though stealing
was on the rise before the 2014 passage
of the criminal-sentencing initiative. Still,
shoplifting by American adults is a crime
that’s expensive on a national scale and an
embarrassment when it’s done overseas.
The next time you’re in a South Bay
store or at one of the malls, think about
this statistic. One in 11 people will steal
something from a retailer, and it’s not usually
premeditated. Habitual shoplifters steal six
times per month, according to the National
Association for Shoplifting Prevention.
Retail thieves get busier around the holidays
in Manhattan Beach, according to Officer Tim
Zins with the police department. Stores that
sell alcohol know from experience they’ll be
targeted between now and New Year’s Day.
Shoplifters in the city want the good cheer
without paying for it, Zins says.
“Suspects come into the stores with heavy
clothing and attempt to hide the alcohol
under their clothes and try to walk out of
the stores,” Zins said. Some shoplifters will
walk past the cashier without paying for
merchandise, hoping they blend in with the
crowds. The less-stealthy thieves will grab
a bottle and dash for the front door.
Big and small retailers have come to
expect unwanted visits by these modernday
Grinches, and Zins says the stores have
security measures in place to detect thieves
lurking in the aisles. Surveillance cameras
will catch a shoplifter in the act, but there’s
high-tech isn’t the only way the stores are
fighting back, according to Zins.
“Many stores have upgraded their video
Manhattan Beach Tennis Team
Crowned National Champions
Shown: Left to Right – Jarrod Quan, Katie Moore, Barry Dylewski, Margaret Adler, Kevin Wang, Helen Robinson, Eugene
Zhou, Preethika Venugopal. Photo provided by provided by USTA.
The tennis team from Manhattan Beach,
Calif., representing the USTA Southern
California Section, was crowned champion
at the USTA League 18 and Over 9.0 Mixed
Doubles National Championships held at the
Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama. •
Friday,
December 8
Partly
Cloudy
74˚/53˚
Saturday,
December 9
Partly
Cloudy
78˚/54˚
Sunday,
December 10
Partly
Cloudy
78˚/54˚