Former Chief Runs Against One of the Board Members Who Fired Him

By Mark Gabrish Conlan

October 8, 2012 (Lakeside) – The Lakeside Fire Protection District contains 55 square miles of land, 65,000 people, and according to its website, http://www.lakesidefire.net, “is primarily suburban residential but also has several core commercial zones, some light industry, and many rural/agricultural properties.” It has a significant wildland/urban interface — firefighter-speak for places where homebuilders have butted developments up against forests and other wild areas. In the last decade, that has proven a recipe for brewing out-of-control fires that have threatened properties and claimed lives—particularly here in Lakeside, which has been devastated by several of the worst wildfires in county history.

October 31, 2010 (Lakeside) – Nine people are running for seven seats on the Lakeside Planning Group, an advisory board to the County on local planning issues. Six are incumbents (Julie Bugbee, Chad Ennis, Emad Bakeer, Thomas Medvitz, Anton Botter, and Glenn Inverso). Three are challengers: retired Lakeside Fire Chief Mark Baker, East County Community Action Coalition co-founder Laura Cyphert, and Jeffrey Brust, a construction contractor.

By Miriam Raftery
 

October 14, 2010 (Lakeside) – Six candidates are vying for three seats on the Lakeside Fire Board—a body that has faced heated controversy over firing its fire chief and an $800,000 budget shortfall. Incumbent Peter Liebig seeks reelection; two other incumbents, Key Coyle and Rick Smith, opted not to run again. Liebig faces competition from challengers Mike Anderson, Emad Bakeer, Susan Conniry, Milt Cyphert, and Jon Lorenz.

The issues facing fire boards are life and death--particularly in Lakeside, where the deadly Cedar Fire killed 12 people overnight after starting in the nearby Cleveland National Forest.