Archive - 2010
October 1st
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
If thereâs one thing that gets the goat of Crowley Lakers, itâs when a bear gets their goat.
About a dozen people showed up at Wednesdayâs meeting of the Long Valley Regional Planning Advisory Committee to hear Steve Searlesâ take on a bear assault on a pygmy goat on July 31.
For Crowley Lake residents, who usually donât have to deal with bears, the mauling of the goat was a strange and gruesome event, and Searles acknowledged that the bear had âcrossed the line.â
He said if he had been there, and if he had jurisdictional authority (he doesnât), âIâd have shot the bear.â
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 â 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 Districtâs superintendentâs employment contract met with resistance from two board members, but passed on a 3-2 vote.
The amendment was created to settle a âdisputeâ that arose when at least one member of the school board, Doug Northington, said he was concerned about how Superintendent Don Clarkâs 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
Mammothâs 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 townâs finance director.
âItâs the best July weâve ever had in terms of TOT collections, and this only reflects the monthly remittances,â he said. âThere are other condo owners who remit quarterly, so this will continue to grow.â
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 fatherâs 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 Gaultâs 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).
By
george Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
The Mammoth Huskies travel to Bishop tonight, and thatâs almost enough to put a glaze over Head Coach Tom Gaultâs eyes.
âIâm not sure what to expect,â Gault said earlier this week, âbut Iâll tell you that somebody asked me the other day, âYou look back on the Bishop-Mammoth rivalry, what are the some of the high points you can mention?â
âAnd I told him, âWell, weâve beaten them (the Broncos) three or four times in 30 years, so those are the high points.ââ
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Weâve known quite a few ski bums in our time around here. If you think about it, Dave McCoy himself would probably been called a ski bum, had the term or the lifestyle existed at the time. Maybe Dave was the original ski bum, for all we know.
Those were heady times for us back then, when the ski towns were being built and the ski bum subculture emerged. Look around town and theyâre everywhere still, each finding just enough work to free them to lay down some serious skiing and snowboarding in the winter.
Boola Boola - Mammoth Times Editorial
October 1, 2010
Mammoth plays at Bishop tonight in football. Thatâs about as big as it gets around here. Weâre 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. Itâs been your basic cross-town rivalry, up and down U.S. 395 and we think itâs actually pretty great.