Yorba Linda Ca

Like many in his Yorba Linda neighborhood, David Ramocinski had complained for years about the erratic water supply that left sprinklers sputtering and shower heads trickling. When nothing but air came out of his faucets, he wondered if there would be enough to protect his hilltop house if the bone-dry brush that surrounded it ever caught fire.

James Pickel was sworn in this week as the newest member of the Planning Commission. Pickel, 46, succeeded Rick Violet, a local real estate agent, who resigned last month. Mayor John Gullixson said Violet stepped down because his work occasionally caused conflicts with his position on the city panel. Pickel, a partner in a landscape architecture and planning firm, has served for three years as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Third-term City Council member Mark Schwing has been elected the city's mayor for the coming year. In his acceptance remarks, Schwing said one of his top priorities will be to improve relations between the council and the public. "I hope we can all learn to work together," he said. In his first action as mayor, Schwing declared an end to the practice of requiring members of the public to fill out cards if they wish to address the council during its meetings.

City officials have agreed to participate in a countywide communications system that officials say will facilitate emergency response of police, fire and public works departments. Because the city's police services are performed by Brea through a joint agreement, Yorba Linda will not have to contribute any money to the $80-million system until its Public Works Department joins the system, Deputy City Manager Dave Gruchow said last week.

A Yorba Linda man killed his wife and three of his children late Saturday night before turning the shotgun on himself in a small condominium across the street from the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, police said Sunday. A 14-year-old stepson of the man was also shot but was expected to survive. Police said they did not know the motive for the attacks. Before he underwent surgery, the stepson was not able to explain what started the rampage.

An animal rights organization is urging the Orange County district attorney's office to "vigorously" prosecute a man who took a video of himself abusing rabbits and a dog, then posted it on MySpace, calling his behavior "extremely severe." Joseph Anthony Deiss, 19, of Yorba Linda was charged last week with three counts of animal cruelty and three charges of animal abuse by a caretaker after allegedly throwing a pug and two rabbits 15 to 30 feet in the air and allowing them to hit the ground.

Aside from the ribbon of yellow caution tape, the stately, two-story homes on Via Lerida looked typically Yorba Linda-neat. But inside Ming Lin's home, things were in disarray. The water heater leaked. Glass from a chandelier was strewn across the dining room table. Books had been tossed to the floor. Two doors down at Christi Summers' place, the scene was similar: plaster on the floor and a yawning gap between the fireplace and the newly installed floor. Tuesday's 5.

Residents of Yorba Linda, where fire destroyed 118 homes, had complained for years of poor water pressure, a problem that may have made it more difficult for firefighters to beat back the weekend blaze that tore through the upscale community. In Sylmar, where about 500 mobile homes burned to the ground, fire officials said they were investigating reports of lack of water pressure there.

They are missing teeth in what was a gleaming smile of mansions lining a hilltop in Yorba Linda. Six burned-out husks, the facade of the one owned by Jeff Rindskopf looking like the ruins of a Tuscan villa. "That was my view," he said, holding a snapshot of flowers in his backyard overlooking Chino Hills State Park. He flips through the water-damaged photos. Portraits of his daughters. Family vacations. Snapshots of relatives and friends.

Water officials said Tuesday that pumps designed to push water to the upper reaches of a hillside Yorba Linda neighborhood failed during a Nov. 15 firestorm, possibly explaining why firefighters were forced to abandon the area and let homes burn after fire hydrants went dry. The disclosure came four days after Orange County fire officials blamed the loss of as many as five homes in the neighborhood on lack of water from fire hydrants.