State workers in East County struggle to cope with prospect of huge pay cuts, lay-offs; Judge orders Sept. 12 hearing on Governor’s wage-slashing orders

By Miriam Raftery
Photos by Aida Canonizado

Mildred
Scarber, a state employee who works at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
in El Cajon, was shocked to learn that Governor Schwarzenegger has ordered
all state employees’ pay rates slashed to the federal minimum wage: just
$6.55 an hour.

“This drops my pay by two-thirds,” said Scarber, a salaried employee
who has worked at the DMV for eleven years. “Previously our pay roughly
came to $18 an hour.”  In addition, the Governor has eliminated
all overtime – so Scarber also loses the $100 to $300 a month she typically
earned helping staff the ever-busy DMV office. 

Still No County Fire Department Five Years After Cedar Blaze



By E.A. Barrera

"Given the existing high-risk conditions that are projected to continue into the future, destructive firestorms will certainly occur again. Yet, even armed with this knowledge and after the Cedar Fire wake-up call, the San Diego region is woefully unprepared."

-- San Diego County Grand Jury, May 29, 2008

October will mark the first anniversary of the Witch Creek Fires and fifth anniversary of the deadlier Cedar Fire.  Four years have passed since voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition "C" which called for a Countywide Fire Department.  Yet  the County of San Diego is still at the nascent stage of organizing collective fire departments of the region into one unified command structure.