Archive - Sep 21, 2012
NEWS RELEASE
From the Town of Mammoth Lakes
Following up on their announcement of the signing of a term sheet on August 21, 2012, the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition LLC (MLLA) jointly announced today the settlement’s specific terms, executed by parties on Thursday (Sept. 20, 2012.)
Also parties to the settlement are the Airport Developer, Terrence Ballas and his related development entities (“Ballas entities”). The settlement amount is $29.5 million, substantially less than the $43 million judgment held by MLLA against the Town.
The U.S. Forest Service is waiving fees at hundreds of recreation sites across the country on Saturday, September 29, in recognition of National Public Lands Day.
Here locally on the Inyo National Forest day-use fees will be waived at South Tufa in the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area, Reds Meadow and Devils Postpile, and Schulman Grove in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Fees regularly collected at these sites contribute significantly to improving facilities and vistor services in the specific area where the fees are collected.
As fundraisers go, it’s hard to imagine we’ll see one that’s much better than the benefit for Matt Graef at Z-Ranch on Tuesday. Fabulous raffle prizes, great food, and much needed money to the family of Graef, our Mammoth High School football player who is battling cancer. That was small-town Mammoth at its best, we say. …
By
Warren Miller — Special to the Times
As I have grown older, I always thought I would live in a house somewhere in Sun City, Arizona, or Palm Springs, California, playing bridge and shuffleboard with a bunch of old blue and grey-haired people, many of whom would be on walkers.
The long, hot, seemingly endless summer of 2012 comes to an end Saturday, the day of the Autumnal Equinox when night and day are equally long.
Beginning Saturday, the nights are longer than the days for the first time since the Vernal Equinox in March. From now on, the cold bite of winter will likely be felt in the cold, darkening mornings, as shirts and shorts give way to coats and pants.
The Mammoth Lakes Trail System, a long-term project that finally is near completion, gets a ribbon cutting next month at the Visitors Center off Main St./S.R. 203.
It is a ceremony that many trail advocates, working on it since the 1980s, thought might never happen.
Yet a combination of funding sources from various levels of government, then brokered by local public agencies, somehow put together a plan, then found the money.
Not everyone in June Lake is happy about how the community will spend all of the $100,000 in “bridge” money Mono County gave it to survive a winter without June Mountain Ski Area.
“We are in agreement as a community about how to spend about $75,000 to $85,000 of the money,” said Ralph Lockhart, current president of the June Lake Revitalization Committee and the June Lake Chamber of Commerce.
The money will go toward marketing the community and all the events planned for the winter, and the county tourism department will administer it.
But the rest of the money is another story.
A helicopter crash Southeast of Mammoth injured two and started a small brush fire Wednesday afternoon, according to law enforcement officials.
The crash occurred on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at about 12:30 p.m., when Mono County Sheriff’s Department dispatchers received a call regarding a possible helicopter crash. The reports also indicated the helicopter was on fire.
The helicopter crashed on Pole Line Road, southeast of Mammoth Lakes, near Deer Springs Road, according to a sheriff’s department press release.
This Nov. 6, Mono County will hold three local elections—a runoff election for North County’s District 4 County Supervisor seat, and school board elections for both Mammoth Unified School District and for the Eastern Sierra Unified School District.
Here is a brief look at who is running in the local races.
Candidates Bob Peters and Tim Fesko will be facing off for the Mono County Board Of Supervisors District 4 runoff election.
Candidates Shana Stapp, John Stavlo, and Luis Villanueva are running for Mammoth Unified School District, where two seats are available.
North County residents Bob Peters and Tim Fesko have been fighting since almost the beginning of the year for the open District 4 Mono County Supervisor seat, after the June election resulted in neither of them getting 50 percent plus one of the vote.
The campaigns are headed into their final six weeks, and both men are pounding the pavement again, trying to keep the race fresh and memorable some nine months after it started.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
One of these days, the Digital 395 project will be completed.
It might take a year to get the big, fat Internet broadband pipe working at top efficiency—maybe even a little bit longer than that.
But when more high-speed access becomes available to Eastern Sierra residents and businesses, the question is if people will be ready to take advantage of it.
Forty years ago, a small business owner in the Eastern Sierra could make a good, middle class living.
Today, that same business owner’s income has been decreased by 50 percent (adjusted for inflation), according to a recent study, meaning most small-business owners struggle to make ends meet every year.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
“Now is the time to plan ahead,” said Steve Frisch, president of the Sierra Business Council Tuesday, as he gave the Mono County Board of Supervisors a briefing on a Mono/Inyo County economic report.
Mammoth spinners say 'Thank you' to Fall Century
September 21, 2012
We wanted to say thank you to the Fall Century Organizing Committee for providing another fantastic cycling event this year!
Please accept our sincere thanks for selecting The Multiple Sclerosis Society as a beneficiary of the 18th Annual High Sierra Fall Century.
Your commitment piled up $1,700 that will help 2.1 million people worldwide and over 400,000 people in the U.S. alone.
Thank you so much for all you do to make Mammoth a great place to live!