Coto de Caza’s Bode Miller

finally showed his age Sunday.

Miller, 36, established himself

as the oldest Alpine skier to win

an Olympic medal when he tied

for the bronze in the super-G.

SPORTS 1

MOUNTAINMAGIC FOR BODE MILLER

MOUNTAINMAGIC FOR BODE MILLER

Orange County Registeris a Freedom Communicationsnewspaper. ©20 1 4

FOUNDED IN 1905

Customer service: toll free 1 -877-OCR-7009 [627-7009]

Abby ● Show 6Comics ● Show 4-5Deaths ● Local 1 3

Lottery ● News 3People ● News 2TV ● Show 3

Coast Inland

65/53 72/50

Weather in Local

PRICE: $1 · MONDAY, FEB. 17, 2014 · OCREGISTER.COM

WOMAN SAYS SHEKILLED OTHERS

A Pennsylvania womancharged with her husband inthe death of a man they metthrough Craigslist said shehas killed more than 20 oth-er people. NEWS 4

RECORD SET FORCONCRETE POUR

A project laying the founda-tion for the tallest buildingwest of the Mississippi indowntown Los Angeles hasbroken the world record forthe largest continuous con-crete pour. NEWS 11

INSIDE

SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS Day 10

CHRISTOPHE ENA, AP

A tearful Bode Miller em-braces his wife, Morgan,on Sunday after medaling.

CHRISTOPHE PALLOT, GETTY IMAGES

S

nowboarder and climber Alicia McCann straps into a commer-

cial zip line without a worry and soars over Skull Canyon.

McCann, 28, is one of thousands to check out the latest fast-

growing adventure activity in Southern California. Located in for-

ests, mountains and canyons, zip lines allow harnessed riders to glide

through the air from point to point on high-wire runs.

But a state agency charged with protecting public and employee safetyconsiders zip lines amusement park rides that need stricter regulation.

State regulators shut down at least 13 commercial zip-line operators – in-cluding some in the Inland Empire – without warning last summer until

Kristin McCann, 26, of Anchorage, Alaska, takes a test run on a “bunny” zip line at Skull Canyon Eco Experiences & Zipline in Corona.

LEFT HANGINGZip-line operators are confused

by new state requirements after a wave of closures and inspections.

PHOTO AND STORY BY SUZANNE HURT

STAFF WRITER

SEE ZIP LINES ● PAGE 1 1

Gabriel Cruz is asign waver. A hu-man billboard. Signjockey.

He’s been at itonly a short while,but he’s developinga veteran’s savvyabout his surround-ings. There’s thetraffic, the pedes-trians ... that thing standingacross the street.

It looks human. It’s hold-ing a sign. Cruz has seen itskind before, in many places.It’s the slow creep of robotsand mannequins standingon sidewalks in place of hu-mans advertising for a busi-ness.

Well, it’s not an actualcreep. The robot sign wa-vers and mannequins don’t

walk. Yet.The one Cruz is

looking at is acrossWestminster Ave-nue in Santa Ana.She’s the shapelyplastic womanstanding in front ofGuero’s Auto Repairholding a bright yel-low sign selling tire

and brake services. Cruz is unimpressed.“She can’t do anything,”

he said. “She just standsthere.”

But Leo Espinozacouldn’t disagree more.The owner of the auto re-pair shop said the manne-quin cost him about $150,takes zero breaks and

Sign wavers rage against the machines

BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Rather thanhire a humanto wave a signat Guero’sAuto Repairin Santa Ana,the companyhas a manne-quin with amotor in itsbelly thatwaves a sign.The manne-quin, whichcost about$150, has re-ceived an un-wanted over-ture from abar patron.

‘‘She can’t doanything. Shejust standsthere.”G A B R I E L C R U Z

S I G N W A V E R ,

O N M A N N E Q U I N

S I G N W A V E R

DAVIDMONTERO

STAFFWRITER

SEE SIGNS ● PAGE 1 0

ZIP-LINE OVERSIGHTThe state adopted regulations for per-manent amusement park rides in 2001after a death on Disneyland’s SailingShip Columbia. The state’s occupationalsafety and health agency is now tighten-ing its oversight of zip lines.July-August 2013: Cal/OSHA closes 13permanent zip-line operators and startsinspecting them.Dec. 13: Attorney challenges state overCal/OSHA process.Jan. 13, 2014: Nine permanent oper-ators, 13 portable ones are permitted.Jan. 15: Cal/OSHA meets with zip-lineindustry representatives.

Sources: Cal/OSHA, staff research

Some leading scientistssuggest climate changemost likely had little to dowith the drought that hasbeen ravaging California,contrary to President Ba-rack Obama’s assertionFriday in the Central Valleytown of Los Banos.

In fact, the most recentcomputer projections sug-gest the state should be-come wetter as the worldwarms.

While the president is onsolid ground in making thecase that the effects appearto have been worsened byclimatic warming, scien-tists said, a ridge of high ba-rometric pressure parkedoff the coast is believed tobe the reason why stormsystems have been drivenfarther north. In that re-spect, experts say, thisdrought bears a strong re-semblance to previous ex-treme dry spells, includingthe crippling one in 1976and 1977. News 3

Droughtcausesparksdebate

Some scientistssay it’s not a

result of climatechange, as

Obama asserts.

SEC: News DT: 02-17-2014 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 1 PG: Cover_A BY: wfawthrop TI: 02-16-2014 21:54 CLR: CMYK

Register Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 News 111

FROM PAGE 1 / STATE

Call RIGHT NOWCall RIGHT NOWfor a free inspection,for a free inspection,949-200-8320949-200-8320

Licensed, Insured. State License PR 2272

IF TERMITES WERE THISIF TERMITES WERE THISBIG EVERYONE WOULDBIG EVERYONE WOULDGET AN INSPECTIONGET AN INSPECTION

TERMITES CAUSE MORE MONETARY DAMAGE THANTORNADOS, EARTHQUAKES OR FIRES COMBINED!

KILGUARD® NOT ONLY KILLS TERMITESBUT PREVENTS THEM FROM RETURNING!• Stay in your home – Keep all of your food without suffering roof or plant damage• Stay in your home – Keep all of your food without suffering roof or plant damage• Kills both types of termites – Complete termite coverage.• Kills both types of termites – Complete termite coverage.• Control all species of termites for your entire home – System installs in hours not days.• Control all species of termites for your entire home – System installs in hours not days.• Once installed, termites cannot return to protected areas – Lasts years, not hours.• Once installed, termites cannot return to protected areas – Lasts years, not hours.

$200 OFFCall today and receive

Our KILGUARD® Completehome termite treatment

Offer valid only with this ad and cannot be combined with any other ad/coupon.Must present coupon to inspector at time of inspection. Expires 2/28/14.

YouMayHave NewOptions in aResearchStudy

With Major Depressive Disorder,sadness can be both profound andpersistent. If you or a loved one isstill ighting depression, even atertrying medication, our doctors inviteyou to a free in-person consultation.

WWW.IRVINEDEPRESSION.COM866-983-2699

If you qualify, youmay receive 5-6months of:

Currently marketed antidepressants at no costInvestigationaldrug,SeroquelXR,orplaceboatnocostDoctor’s visits related to the study at no costPayments for your time and your travel expenseYou do not need health insurance to participate

NOT SEEING THE RESULTS YOUWANT FROM

they were inspected andpermitted by the state,which began in August.

Operators and their at-torneys believe the closureswere unfair because they’dalready passed inspectionsbased on safety standardsdeveloped by a national in-dustry organization. Addi-tionally, the state didn’t in-spect the courses for viola-tions before closing them.Now, they worry the clo-sures have painted zip linesas unsafe.

Zippers such as McCann,however, say they felt safebefore the state got in-volved.

“I would prefer to trustpeople who do it as a busi-ness rather than the state ofCalifornia,” McCann ofTruckee said before sheand sister Kristin McCann,26, of Anchorage, Alaska,put on harnesses, climbinghelmets and gloves.

Some, such as Skull Can-yon Eco Experiences & Zi-pline in the Temescal Valley,were closed by the Califor-nia Department of Industri-al Relations’ Division of Oc-cupational Safety andHealth for weeks ormonths.

“Cal/OSHA called themand told them to shut downor they’d be shut down,”said Costa Mesa attorneyDoug Dennington, who rep-resented Skull Canyonowners Pete and Mike Lis-ton in their struggle to re-open.

“We’re not talking aboutmillionaires here. We’retalking about people – thisis their livelihood.”

A number of zip lines re-main shuttered, but othersremain open in the Temes-cal Valley south of Corona,Big Bear and Wrightwood.

Cal/OSHA spokesmanPeter Melton said the agen-cy began more rigorousoversight because “therehave been deaths and inju-

ries.” Cal/OSHA is investi-gating the injury of an em-ployee who hit a platformwhile testing a zip line, saidMelton, who wouldn’t elab-orate on the injury or saywhether it sparked the clo-sures.

Melton acknowledgedthat that injury is the onlyserious zip-line injury Cal/OSHA knows of. He alsopointed to one death – atLake Tahoe’s Heavenly skiresort in 2009.

But, according to newsreports, that death was noton a zip line. A Glendorahiker fell from a chairliftwhen a 6,200-foot ropeused to haul zip-line har-nesses up the mountainbroke in high wind and en-tangled in the lift. Cal/OSHA had inspected andcertified Heavenly’s ziplines in 2008.

SAFETY AT ISSUEThe agency’s Amuse-

ment Ride and TramwayUnit has overseen zip linessince 2007, but inspectedonly two permanent onesbefore July. The unit didn’tinspect more of them soon-er because officials didn’tknow many existed until Ju-ly, Melton said.

Cal/OSHA later deter-mined some of the newlydiscovered zip lines weren’tbuilt using structural stresscalculations or reviewed bya licensed engineer as thestate requires, Melton said.Some parts of systemshadn’t been tested and cer-tified, he said.

Platform constructionand land use are subject tolocal regulation, but safetymeasures aren’t – and notall zip lines use platforms.

Zip-line owners fear theagency’s regulation at-tempts have led customersto question the zip lines’safety – though most al-ready are certified annuallyby inspectors credentialedby the Association for Chal-lenge Course Technology,as required by insurancecompanies.

The state’s action costbusinesses money and em-

ployees lost jobs, saidJames Borishade, the asso-ciation’s executive director.

A zip line near Yosemitewas closed 10 days in Au-gust – its peak season – untilowners flew in an engineerto certify their course andpass a state inspection.

The lost business andcertification cost $40,000to $50,000, said co-ownerVictoria Imrie, adding theywere closed even thoughthey follow the rules.

“They told us if we didn’tcomply, we could face a$25,000 fine and jail time,”she said.

ZIP-LINE RULESMelton initially said own-

ers voluntarily stopped op-erating the zip lines. Oper-ators and their attorneysdisagreed. Melton laterconfirmed “owners weretold not to operate” until in-spected and certified.

Last summer, Cal/OSHAbegan telling operators thatzip lines with braking de-vices were amusementrides subject to state regu-lations in place for amuse-ment rides since 2001.

The threat of shutdownled some – but not SkullCanyon – to stop usingbraking systems to avoidclosure, attorney Denning-ton said.

Melton confirmed a fewstopped using brakes.

That caused Cal/OSHAto announce in an Oct. 30letter that zip lines mustnow meet amusement parkride regulations. The lettercontained the state’s firstguidelines specific to ziplines.

Yet operators remainconfused, Dennington said,about how to meet state re-quirements for safety com-ponents such as harnesses,brake systems and zip-lineanchors because theyhaven’t gotten a checklistand the requirements keepchanging as Cal/OSHAlearns about the industry.

ZIP LINESFROM PAG E 1

CONTACT THE WRITER:

95 1 -368-9444 or

shurt@pe.com

1999, Guinness World Re-cords adjudicator MichaelEmpric said.

“We just wrapped up,and we broke the world re-cord,” said Rossall excited-ly by phone minutes afterblaring horns officially an-nounced the last pour.

Empric monitored thepour overnight by smart-phone before meeting withcontractors and engineersSunday to check their final

LOS ANGELES ● A projectlaying the foundation forthe tallest building west ofthe Mississippi has brokenthe world record for thelargest continuous con-crete pour, a GuinnessWorld Records adjudicatorsaid Sunday.

Round-the-clock pouringstarted at 4:47 p.m. Satur-day with 208 trucks makingmore than 2,100 trips andpouring 82 million poundsof concrete during an18 1⁄2-hour period, said SeanRossall, a spokesman forthe project building a sky-scraper called the New Wil-shire Grand. Ultimately21,200 cubic yards of con-crete was poured by 11:30a.m. Sunday, beating the ex-isting record of 21,000 cu-bic yards set by The Vene-tian hotel in Las Vegas in

numbers. Empric, who hadjust finished judging a suc-cessful Valentine’s Day ef-fort to set the record for themost people feeding eachother simultaneously, saidhe has learned a lot aboutconcrete and the challengesof such a pour.

Each truck made 10 to 14concrete drops travelingthrough the night fromeight concrete plants with-in a 20-mile radius, Rossallsaid.

For the past severalmonths, crews have pre-pared the site by digging an18-foot-deep pit and lining itwith 7 million pounds ofreinforcing steel.

The concrete now must“cure” or set and hardenover the next couple weeks.

The New Wilshire Grandproject, developed by Ko-rean Air, is estimated tocost more than $1 billion.

MARK J. TERRILL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Crews pour concrete for the New Wilshire Grand building’s foundation in a record at-tempt for the largest continuous concrete pour in history Saturday in Los Angeles.

WORKERS SET RECORD FOR LARGEST CONCRETE POUR

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE NEWWILSHIRE GRANDOnce finished, the sky-scraper will soar 1,100 feet,making it the tallest struc-ture west of the MississippiRiver. It will boast a 900-room hotel, conventionspace and offices. It’sscheduled to be completedin 2016 and open in 2017.

SEC: News DT: 02-17-2014 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 11 PG: Viewpoint_A BY: wfawthrop TI: 02-16-2014 20:28 CLR: CMYK