PUBLIC SAFETY Firefighters honor fallen Newport Beach...

PUBLIC SAFETY

Firefighters honor fallen Newport Beach colleague

Newport Beach Firefighter Alan Schmehl was honored with other

fallen firefighters at a memorial ceremony in Colorado last weekend.

Schmehl’s death from brain cancer last year was considered to be

on the job because he was diagnosed after years of exposure to

chemicals on the job. Schmehl’s widow, Judy Montgomery, and his two

young sons attended the ceremony at the International Assn. of

Firefighters Fallen Firefighter Memorial with members of the Newport

Beach Fire Department.

* The city of Costa Mesa is offering disaster-preparedness courses

in various neighborhoods over the next month.

The classes will include neighborhood watch information, CPR

training and basic emergency readiness. Members of the Costa Mesa

Citizen Corps, who would help city services in a large-scale

disaster, are hoping to organize more neighborhood groups of trained

volunteers.

* A Jamboree Road crash on Tuesday killed 64-year-old Laguna Beach

resident Ralph Difiore.

Difiore’s Chrysler Sebring collided with an SUV driven by

35-year-old Tustin resident Martha Lopez, who was also injured in the

accident. Newport Beach police are investigating the cause of the

accident, which happened in the intersection with Back Bay Drive on

Tuesday afternoon.

* A UC Irvine campus shuttle bus caught fire and was gutted

Thursday morning, the day before classes started.

The 28-passenger bus was one of 13 used as campus shuttles for

students and faculty. State fire investigators are looking into the

cause but do not believe it was set intentionally.

* The retrial of Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant

Sheriff Don Haidl, and two friends accused of gang-raping an

allegedly unconscious 16-year-old girl will not include testimony

that a date-rape drug was used in the act.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Thursday on what evidence

will not be used when the case is retried early next year. Keith

Spann, Kyle Nachreiner and Greg Haidl are accused of gang-raping an

apparently unconscious girl at Don Haidl’s Corona del Mar home in

2002 and videotaping the incident.