Archive - Feb 4, 2011
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Police Chief Dan Watson didnât get exactly what he wanted from the Town Council Wednesday evening, but at least he got something.
Thatâs more than he got in his first two tries before the council, on Dec. 15 and Jan. 19, when the chief tried to figure out a way to add some muscle to his force.
On both those occasions, the council turned him down flat.
But on Wednesday, after yet another proposal from Watson, the council approved filling the MLPDâs open lieutenant position from within and adding a sergeant.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Mammoth Times Staff Writer
While much of the rest of the country got walloped by a massive winter storm this week, the Sierra remained stuck in a stubborn dry pattern that shows no signs of breaking anytime soon.
Even the groundhog in Punxsutawney didnât see his shadow meaning, if groundhogs can be believed, that winter will end soon.
But the huge snows that hit the Sierra back in December were enough to, so far at least, protect the state of California, which gets 30 percent of its water from the Sierra Nevada mountains.
How do we know?
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Members of the Recreation Commission began to wrap their heads around implementing the townâs recreation vision on Wednesday afternoon.
The commission met with Carl Ribaldo and Austin McInerney of the Strategic Marketing Group, along with facilitator, former Tourism and Recreation director Danna Stroud.
The consulting group walked the commission through the steps and guidelines that would make the so-called âRecStratsâ document a viable recreation road map by August.
Kaya Turski won the silver medal Thursday in slopestyle at the FIS freestyle skiing world championships in Utah.
Turski scored 41.70 points in the final as she navigated the obstacle course of rails, jumps and other features. Athletes are judged on their tricks in the terrain park.
âIâm very happy, I landed my run and I skied how I wanted to ski,â Turski, the X Games gold medallist, said in a news release.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Thereâs this thing about Patrolmenâs.
It a little gem of a black diamond groomer run that parallels Chair 2/Stump Alley Express, and itâs so tucked away that not many skiers find it, even on a crowded day.
The reason the cognoscenti like it so much is that they can make of it what they want. Ski it one way, and itâs more of an advanced intermediate than black.
Ski it another way and thereâs freestyle and tree skiing to be had.
But the real pull on Patrolmenâs is that a skier can generate some ungodly speed as the run bends its way onto a wide approach to Chair 2.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
You canât exactly call them the Twin Towers, because theyâre hardly ever on the basketball court at the same time.
But Mammoth Huskies Alejandro and Francisco (âCiscoâ) Flores are most definitely identical twins, so much so that coach Jason Patterson has needed to devise a few tricks for telling them apart.
âThey wear different colored shoes,â Patterson said, âso thatâs how I can tell them apart most of the time.
âAnd they wear their hair slightly differently.â
A first time visitor to a Husky practice wouldnât know, though.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Itâs early in the game, but itâs likely that Mammoth will host a 10-day running camp this summer.
And if it goes ahead, it wonât be like any other running camp anywhere.
âI want it to be more than just going to a fat farm, said Visit Mammothâs John Urdi.
âThey should be coming here and enjoying the hiking we have, the cycling, maybe even fishing.
âMaybe on one of the days the runners would go into Yosemite and maybe do some running in the Valley.
âThereâs lots of possibilities.â
The tentative â very tentative â name for the camp is a âFit-cation,â he said.
By
George Shirk - Mammoth Times Senior Writer
Mammothâs athletes took to the Colorado mountains and the Texas marathon courses last weekend, and the results can be summarized in two words.
âCrushed it,â said Mammoth Recreation Manager Stuart Brown.
Johnny Teller (ski cross) and Kaya Turski (ski slopestyle) took gold medals at the Winter X-Games in Aspen, while Tyler Flanagan took home a bronze in snowboard slopestyle.
Meanwhile, in Houston, the Mammoth Track Clubâs Jen Rhines won the U.S. Half Marathon Championships, establishing her personal best.
On the menâs side, Patrick Smyth of the Mammoth Track Club placed third.
Town Manager: Worst Job?
February 4, 2011
We know a guy who keeps a list of the worst jobs in the world, or, if not the worst jobs, jobs he would never do, for whatever reason.
Theyâre the ones you might expect: summer highway construction in South Dakota; working the blood pit in your neighborhood slaughterhouse; working timber on the Sierraâs (hot) west side.
Weâve got another one: Town Manager.
Thereâs a reason why town managers last only four or five years on average.