Beach service honors victims
Sun., Jan. 23, 2005
VENTURA, Calif. – Friends and family gathered Saturday on a windy beach to bid farewell to 10 people who were killed when a mudslide damaged more than two dozen homes in the free-spirited oceanfront village of La Conchita.
Hundreds of people wearing shorts, sandals and Hawaiian shirts converged for the ceremony in which surfers planned to paddle about 100 yards from shore and say a prayer before spreading the ashes of some of the victims amid flowers floating on the waves.
The mudslide on Jan. 10 was triggered by days of heavy rain that turned Southern California into a flood zone. The torrential rain was responsible for 28 deaths in the state.
La Conchita, with just 156 homes, is a Bohemian community populated by a variety of artisans, surfers and retirees.
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