Archive - Oct 2010
October 1st
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
The Friday Night Lights were not so kind to the Mammoth Huskies Friday night in Bishop. It was more like Friday Night Lights OUT.
The final was 59-6, Broncos, but it wasn't really that close.
The visiting Huskies (2-2) were inundated by eight Broncos touchdowns and another Bishop field goal. In the second half, the Broncos (4-0) scored 35 points without their superb starting quarterback, Chance Callahan, who was injured late in the second quarter and sat out the second half.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
There might be worse places to crash a paraglider, but it’s hard to imagine.
A 37-year-old Santa Cruz man on Monday evening went down two miles west of the White Mountain Research Station’s Barcroft Laboratory near Barcroft Peak, breaking his back and lying in the darkness – helpless in steep, rocky, unforgiving terrain.
“Fortunately he didn’t land in a rock ditch or in a cliff band or truly challenging terrain,” said Jeff Holmquist, a member of the rescue team.
“We caught a huge break because of that, and obviously, so did he.”
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
If there’s one thing that gets the goat of Crowley Lakers, it’s when a bear gets their goat.
About a dozen people showed up at Wednesday’s meeting of the Long Valley Regional Planning Advisory Committee to hear Steve Searles’ take on a bear assault on a pygmy goat on July 31.
For Crowley Lake residents, who usually don’t have to deal with bears, the mauling of the goat was a strange and gruesome event, and Searles acknowledged that the bear had “crossed the line.”
He said if he had been there, and if he had jurisdictional authority (he doesn’t), “I’d have shot the bear.”
Maybe Dave McCoy didn’t know what he was getting into when he signed up for a Facebook account. Within days, Dave had 550 friends, forcing him and his assistant, Brandon Russell, to do some serious gardening to his account. ...
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
The Mammoth Mountain Ski Back Trail, at best a highly modified success last ski season and at worst a flub, is getting a makeover.
On the trail itself, workers under the direction of Operations Director Clifford Mann have been grading, erecting retaining walls and fixing the areas that made the trail nearly impossible for snowboarders and a problem for many skiers.
Having largely completed the work in the forest, Mann and his crew now are busy on the finishing touch – the long awaited pedestrian bridge across Forest Trail.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
A proposal Wednesday to amend the troubled Eastern Sierra Unified School District’s superintendent’s employment contract met with resistance from two board members, but passed on a 3-2 vote.
The amendment was created to settle a “dispute” that arose when at least one member of the school board, Doug Northington, said he was concerned about how Superintendent Don Clark’s vacation days were being paid out to Clark.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Mammoth Mountain Ski Area on Wednesday announced winter air schedules and fares, including the new flight to and from San Francisco International.
The flights, to and from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and Portland, begin Dec. 16, according to a news release Tuesday from Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.
United Airlines will offer nonstop service from San Francisco International to Mammoth Yosemite Airport. Flights will be operated by United Express carrier SkyWest Airlines, using 66-seat CRJ700 regional jets. Flights start at $188 round-trip.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Mammoth’s merchants, hoteliers and restaurateurs may have varying opinions on the success of their summers, but the town government is calling Summer 2010 a winner.
Judging by the latest Transient Occupancy Tax figures, July 2010 was the biggest July in town history, according to Brad Koehn, the town’s finance director.
“It’s the best July we’ve ever had in terms of TOT collections, and this only reflects the monthly remittances,” he said. “There are other condo owners who remit quarterly, so this will continue to grow.”
Kenna Tidwell was born in Mammoth Lakes, grew up in Sacramento then returned to Mammoth in recent years to work at Union Bank, Mammoth Pet Products and Mammoth Business Essentials. She is survived by her father Ken Tidwell and her mother, Bambi and two brothers, Kameron and Kenton of Sacramento, along with grandparents, Don and Pam Rake of June Lake.
A celebration of life for Kenna will be held at the home of Don and Pam Rake, 70 Los Angeles Street, June Lake, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010 at 1 p.m. Friends are welcome.
Clyde Hiatt, a Bishop and Mammoth Lakes resident, went to be with the Lord on Monday, September 27, 2010. He passed away peacefully in a house he built in Cayucos, California, surrounded by his family.
He is survived by his wife Catherine, sons Michael and Jake Hiatt, daughter in-law Erin and three grandchildren, sisters Mickey Freeman and Rabia Hammel and brother Lew Hiatt.
Real Joseph Armand Balthazar, 78, passed away on Aug. 20, 2010 while hiking near Horsehoe Lake.
Passionate about skiing, climbing, hiking, biking, and nature, he discovered Mammoth Lakes in 1966 and became a devoted resident for the next 54 years.
Born in St. Albans, Vt. January 27, 1932, near the French Canadian border, Real, his two sisters and brother were raised by his mother, in the midst of the depression, after his father’s sudden death in 1937.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Three games into the season and with their conference season looming, the Mammoth Huskies (2-1) have given themselves an infusion of athletic talent.
In a move that is unparalleled in Head Coach Tom Gault’s long tenure at the helm, six players walked on two weeks ago, asking for spots on the team.
All of them are from the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team, and some could see game action tonight when the Huskies visit their longtime rivals, the Bishop Broncos (3-0).
Boola Boola - Mammoth Times Editorial
October 1, 2010
Mammoth plays at Bishop tonight in football. That’s about as big as it gets around here. We’re fired up.
The Mammoth/Bishop rivalry has been going on for more than 50 years. Bea Beyer tells us that when she moved from the Bishop schools to Mammoth, she and some students would sleep in the gym to protect their turf from the vandalism that had been going on for years.
There have been effigies hung from freeway overpasses, Clorox poured on a field, toilet papering, etc. It’s been your basic cross-town rivalry, up and down U.S. 395 and we think it’s actually pretty great.