Brea Ca

In an effort to save money, city workers will extend working hours Mondays through Thursdays and take every other Friday off beginning Monday. City officials said employees will work from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every other Friday. Streets that are cleaned on Fridays will now be swept on Wednesdays. In addition, the Brea Civic and Cultural Center, including City Hall, will be closed on the days employees do not work.

A special tax district will finance the construction of an elementary school in the Olinda Heights area, the City Council decided this week. The school, tentatively set to open in spring 1999, will serve the 284-acre, 648-home development north of Carbon Canyon Road and east of Valencia Avenue. The council approved the formation of a Mello-Roos tax district, which will raise about $6.5 million for the school in the form of bonds. The bonds will be paid back by future Olinda Heights homeowners.

Brea police Monday described an object found on a city sidewalk over the weekend as a makeshift bomb that could have seriously injured or killed someone. "It was similar to a pipe bomb, about 6 inches in length," Lt. Martin Needham said. "It had destructive capabilities." A jogger found the device about 8 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of West Lambert Road.

Brea police Monday described an object found on a city sidewalk over the weekend as a makeshift pyrotechnical bomb that could have seriously injured or killed someone had it exploded. "It was similar to a pipe bomb, about 6 inches in length," Lt. Martin Needham, a spokesman for the Brea Police Department, said of the device, found by a jogger about 8 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of West Lambert Road. "It had destructive capabilities."

Police on Wednesday identified a man who died after being shot twice with a Taser stun gun as Roman Gallius Pierson, 40, of Moreno Valley. Pierson was acting in an agitated manner Tuesday, police said. When he ignored police orders to lie on the ground, he was shot twice with the stun gun, which is designed to deliver an electric shock, and then handcuffed, said Sgt. Jack Conklin. A short time later, Pierson stopped breathing and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The city's affordable housing accomplishments have been recognized with the first In My Back Yard (IMBY) award presented by the nonprofit Orange County Community Housing Corp. "Brea has a very considered approach to its community's development," said Allen Baldwin, executive director of the Santa Ana-based organization. "When you involve the citizens in the process, it's owned by the citizens and the elected officials are only carrying out what the citizens have begun," Baldwin said.

The city is close to settling an ongoing dispute with Shell Oil Co. over a parcel of land that was acquired several years ago for a reservoir project, officials said. The City Council, in a closed session this week, approved the terms of an agreement with the oil company, City Manager Frank Benest said. The amount of the settlement will not be disclosed until Shell approves the deal.

A four-acre brush fire in the Brea hills Friday morning burned to within feet of Brea Olinda High School, forcing evacuation of about 400 students from the east side of the campus. Principal Doug Kimberly said the students stayed in the gym and performing arts center on the west side of campus for about 45 minutes while firefighters extinguished the flames. The fire, which began shortly before 11 a.m.

The Brea Certified Farmers' Market opened Thursday, giving shoppers an opportunity to buy fruit, vegetables and other items directly from about 25 growers and producers. The weekly market is the first of its kind in the city and has been a top request of residents, officials said. In a citywide survey two years ago, a farmers market was "in the top five out of hundreds" of proposals, said Tim O'Donnell, assistant city manager. "Today is a solid start."