NCT Sheriff's Department expects to freeze 200 positions
Most North County stations should see only a small staffing impact, with just one frozen position each at the Encinitas, San Marcos and Poway stations, officials said...

Teresa Barth has sent out an email saying she learned of this change this morning, in the newspaper.

TCN The New Face of Heroin
Detective Johnson said because the Encinitas station only has two detectives for their department’s jurisdiction — which encompasses Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff-by-the-Sea and Rancho Santa Fe — he and his partner are sometimes restricted to how quickly they can respond to citizens’ reports.

“We have limited time and ability to take care of things as fast as people want,” Johnson said. “If it was in my backyard, I’d want it done tomorrow, but it doesn’t work that way in our job. There are too many legal hoops we have to go through.”

See Also: LB Got Heroin

NCT EDITORIAL: Fire tax result shows need for thorough look
San Diego County voters love to carp about federal pork-barrel projects. Yet Tuesday they showed an amazing willingness to OK an ill-crafted, hurried and larded plan to hike local taxes for improved wildfire protection.

Thank goodness the county's fire tax idea failed to hoodwink two-thirds of all voters needed for passage...

And perhaps now our county government will give its nearly $5 billion budget a thorough scrubbing of unnecessary and low-value spending before approaching the public with any new taxes.

One low-value example is the board's $2 million slush fund, set aside for each of its five members to dole out to various groups for special projects ---- a total of $10 million that our minders of the public till could not see fit to put to better use.

See Also: Pam Slater Pays for Go Go Dancers with Public Funds

NCT High Speed Train Ballot Measure Coming
A move is under way to spread the $9 billion in a ballot measure for high-speed rail throughout the state rather than just on tracks between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

NCT Committee approves county fire tax
A regional committee of elected officials and fire chiefs on Friday approved a plan to levy a $52 parcel tax throughout the county to raise about $50 million a year to help pay for fire resources.

UT TIP Academy to argue its case against closure
TIP Academy charter school will have a chance Tuesday to try to persuade the Encinitas Union School District not to shut it down.

UT 2 to test incumbents for MiraCosta board
Two candidates have signaled their intention to run against incumbents for the MiraCosta College board of trustees.

UT MiraCosta decides fate of remaining palm trees
MiraCosta College officials hope they have written the last paragraph in the two-year saga of the palm trees.

UT Outsider to review Fire Department for [Carlsbad]
The Carlsbad Fire Department will use an outside evaluator to tell the City Council how firefighters are doing their jobs and how they might do them better.

Fire Chief Kevin Crawford has been seeking a study on the department's operations and facilities for two years, and he told the council during a workshop yesterday that the report would help with long-term planning.

He called it “a report card on your fire delivery system . . . an examination of the fire department from stem to stern.”

NCT Encinitas council coverage for May 22, 2008
Also at the council meeting, fire Chief Mark Muir presented his department's strategic plan and reviewed accomplishments of the last year.

Muir said the department adopted a new fire sprinkler ordinance, new wildland safety codes, a baby safe-surrender program and the city's novelty lighter ban...

Eighty percent of the time, he said, calls for assistance were answered in less than five minutes...