Man with weapons cache arrested in Midway area A 27-year-old man was arrested with a cache of weapons and ammunition after he allegedly threatened co-workers of Alert Ambulance in the Midway District on Aug. 24, according to police officials. The incident, which resulted in the seizure of four semiautomatic handguns and several cases and clips of ammunition, began about 11:40 a.m. when police received a call from an employee at the Hancock Street ambulance service. The employee reportedly told police that another employee identified as Brandon Murray, 27, had made threats to “hurt everyone at the office,” sending officers in motion to make contact with the employees. Shortly after noon, Murray reportedly called the business again, indicating he was on his way over to retrieve his personal items. At about 12:20 p.m. a car matching the description of one of Murray’s cars was spotted in the North Park area, but the driver was not Murray. Plainclothes officers apparently spotted Murray and his wife arriving at their home at 2:15 p.m. and then followed them until patrol officers could make a so-called “high-risk stop” of the vehicle at Winona and Orange avenues. He was taken into custody without incident, according to police. Investigators said the guns Murray had in the vehicle are not illegal to possess, but it is illegal to transport loaded firearms in a car and to have a concealed weapon without a permit. Murray was booked on two counts of threatening to commit a crime which will result in great bodily injury and an additional count of spousal abuse. Public workshop on cliffside benches set The Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council (SCNPC) will hold a public workshop on the cliffside benches issue from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. at the Cabrillo Recreation Center on Monday, Aug. 31. The goals of the workshop are to study suitable bench designs and the city’s proposed locations for the replacement benches. Following the Aug. 3 SCNPC meeting, a temporary hold was put on the removal of the benches by city workers to allow the park council to bring ideas about design and location of future benches to the SCNPC’s regularly scheduled Sept. 14 meeting. The ideas and input developed by SCNPC members and residents will be presented to city representatives for possible adoption. The Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council also formed an ad hoc committee that met Aug. 9 to discuss these issues on a broader scale. For more information, contact SCNPC vice chair Barbara Keiller at (619) 223-2784. Plea issued to save popular OB?holiday float The Polar Express float, an annual Peninsula holiday favorite in the Ocean Beach Christmas Parade, is in danger of leaving the station if local storage space is not found for its parts before Sept. 1, according the float’s builders. The intricate float’s parts are currently being housed at a hangar at Gillespie Field. If help does not arrive in securing a new storage area, the Polar Express will be moved to Coronado, where a local business has provided storage space upon the urging of the Coronado Chamber of Commerce. “If people want to see it back in Ocean Beach again, someone needs to step up,” said Bob Sherman, one of the builders of the float. “It would be a neat thing to try to save and to have that [tradition] continue for future Christmas parades.” Sherman is looking for a Peninsula family or business with a 10-by-12 storage space that can be made available to store the float’s parts. Sherman said parts include eight wooden drive wheels, 4-by-8 sheets of plastic, a 6-foot boiler front, a 7-foot cowcatcher and a large amount of miscellaneous lumber. “We need something on a more permanent basis at least for a few years,” Sherman said. “We can’t keep moving it around because it takes a team of people.” Peninsula residents or businesses with the available storage space are urged to call Sherman at (619) 847-1122 or e-mail him at [email protected] before Sept. 1.