Lynwood : Photo Bill Squabble Settled

The issue of payment of outstanding city bills amounting to $423,000 has been quietly settled. With little comment, the Lynwood City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday to pay the bills that had caused a squabble last month.

Councilmen last month had quarreled over a single $159 expense and ended up refusing to approve all of the city’s $423,000 biweekly bills. Councilman E. L. Morris objected to the $159 charge from a photographer who billed the city after taking three pictures at the request of Mayor Robert Henning. Henning said the pictures promoted the city.

One photo showed Henning and Councilwoman Evelyn Wells with county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn at a birthday party given in Hahn’s honor at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Also in the picture, which appeared later in a local newspaper, was Alfreddie Johnson Jr., a candidate in the Nov. 4 special City Council election to replace deceased Councilman Louis A. Thompson.

Henning has endorsed Johnson. Morris has endorsed Louis Heine, one of seven other candidates. Morris said the photograph was political.

The council had deadlocked over payment of the bills, with Morris and Councilman John Byork asking that the $159 be excluded before they would approve the bills. Wells and Henning would not agree.