for the Mayor, 
Update July 30, 2010: The DA Hearing Officer called to say there was a "typo" in the hearing notice, and that revised notices would be sent to the Respondents. The DA's office did not provide us with a copy, so what the "typos" are is not known.
The DA's Whittier Office confirmed police charges of violation of Penal Code 148.2, illegal conduct at a burning building, against George Edwards, Jeffrey Heintz, and John Pearce.(Pearce and Heintz also attacked George Edwards at the Annual Meeting of the Improvement Association on June 17th - Story here)
A hearing is scheduled to be held August 10th to see if criminal charges should be filed (See Notice of Office Hearing)
Edwards was reporting on a house fire on East Rd on May 28th. Chief Rorher arrived from home at the scene.
Edwards asked Rorher, "Chief, do you feel responsible for only having one fire engine staffed?
Any comment on why you only man one engine?”
Edwards posted the video of the interview with the chief on YouTube. Subsequently, a deputy questioned Edwards about the incident, and according to Edwards, asked about the YouTube video.
There is no mention of anyone interfering in the incident report for the fire.
The law is clear that media representatives can be present at the scene of a fire.
It is not known what roles John Pearce and Jeffrey Heintz might have played in illegal conduct at a burning building, or if the East Rd fire is the subject of the hearing. Multiple calls to the DA's office have not been returned.
The City has been reluctant to address the reduction in Fire protection service and diversion of funds to the General Fund that had historically been directed to the Fire Department.
In March 2010, an ISO evaluation of the City's Fire Suppression Capability lowered the City's rating (See Story), noting that the Fire Department was only staffing one fire engine.
In April 2010, the Fire Chief sent a letter to ISO saying the City would take no action to change the rating.
Also in April 2010, the City Council approved giving $31,000 to a Roads contractor, which could have been kept in City coffers, while bemoaning the lack of revenue for the City and need for multiple tax increases or new taxes.
The Council also approved $320 for gold jewelry for the Mayor,
and all City employees now had "gold" embossed business cards 
, costing multiple times that of regular ones.
In our May 2010 Newsletter issue we reported on the City Council using "Enron" type accounting to "bankrupt" the Fire Fund, claiming now that the Fire Tax needed to be increased.
In May 2010, a brush fire on Ardsheal/Skyline and a home fire on East Rd were responded to by only one City fire engine.
By June 2010, all full time fire personnel had either been removed or resigned.
In June 2010, the City Council's Budget removed funding for the Fire Training Academy, which had been a source of volunteers for the Fire Department.
Into June 2010, the City Website still advertised that two fire engines were being manned.
By June 24th, without notice, the City website was changed to staffing minimum of one engine.
In 2008, the City had a full time Fire Chief at a cost of $106,000 per year. In June 2010, the City Council approved hiring a part-time (less than 20 hours per week) Fire Chief for $100,000.
At the July 2010 City Council meeting, the Council approved promoting a $15 per hour intern to a $62,000 a year position, claiming he would be doing Fire department reports, but such was not noted in the job description in the Staff Report. Funding for the position is being taken from the Fire Department.