Archive - Oct 2012 - News Article
October 30th
By
Mike Gervais, Special to the Times
Local authorities are continuing a search for a missing hiker from Pacific Palisades who has been in the backcountry for more than 10 days.
Authorities launched a massive search effort last Wednesday after the hiker failed to return from a planned three-day hike in the Inyo National Forest.
Mammoth Community Water District General Manager Greg Norby announced that he regrettably will be leaving the District, having very much enjoyed working with the MCWD Board and professional staff.
October 26th
Catching the humanitarian bug from Habitat for Humanity
“Be careful if you go,” warned Marc Margulies, who recently returned from Poland. At Habitat for Humanity, they have a word for the addiction that many folks experience after their first humanitarian trip with the organization: they call it “Habititis.”
Once you’ve caught it, you will find yourself booking your next trip, and then your next, to travel to a new corner of the world and help build homes for those in need.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
If there is a model for an even-tempered civil servant, it might be Mammoth Town Manager Dave Wilbrecht.
But near the end of last weekâs Town Council meeting, the normally unflappable Wilbrecht just about came unglued over the issue of a possible closure of Whitmore Park and its centerpiece, the Whitmore Pool.
In all, the proposed reduction would total $57,416 in the 2012-13 fiscal year, and $177,764 in 2013-14.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power seems to be losing supporters each day, and former general manager David Freeman is one of them.
âAll of a sudden, out of the blue, they come out firing their heavy artillery,â Freeman said. âI canât even get mad, it makes me so sad.â
LADWP officials filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 12 to force the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District to halt what the department is calling Great Basinâs âsystematic and unlawful issuance of water-wasting orders to L.A.âs customers,â related to dust mitigation on Owens Lake.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Twenty years after the Rainbow Fire blew hot embers from Redâs Valley into the very outskirts of Mammoth, Inyo National Forest officials said it is time to reduce the fire risk in the Lakes Basin.
Beginning next summer with a series of informational give-and-take meetings with public, the Forest Service said it would begin thinning the basin woodlands in the summer of 2014.
It is a very large project, said Sue Farley, the forestâs environmental planner, who will lead the ramp-up to the actual cut-and clear efforts.
The Mammoth Lakes Women’s Club Holiday Dazzle returns just in time for early holiday shopping. The fundraiser starts at 6 p.m. and will take place Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Grand Sierra Lodge in the Village. Everyone is invited and admission is free.
Mammoth Mountain introduces new restaurant in The Village
The Village dining scene will change this winter with the opening of “Campo Mammoth,” the newest offering by chef Mark Estee, according to a news release issued by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area Wednesday night.
It is modeled, the ski area said, on Campo Reno, named one of Esquire’s best new restaurants in America.
Mark it down for July 5 to 7
Building on the success of last year’s second Mammoth Food & Wine Experience, the Mammoth Lakes Foundation this week announced plans for the next summer’s event, promising more, more, and more.
“Planning is already under way to expand the 2013 festivities and focus on engaging even more attendees in a variety of ways,” said Evan Russell, CEO/President of the Mammoth Lakes Foundation, in a press release.
We pass on a deeply heartfelt RIP to Martin Harris, former resident of Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth Mountain ski school instructor, and member of Mammoth’s Celtic band Wild Mountain Tyme band. He was admitted to a hospice in England and passed away from complications of prostate cancer. He was 65 years old. …
Won U.S. title in 1985
Long-time Mammoth resident, Connie Lizza Moyer, was recently inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame in Laramie.
In only the second year of combined scoring, the UW men’s and women’s ski teams she competed on won the 1985 NCAA national title. The members of that team were honored for the accomplishment at the 20th annual Induction Ceremony in September.
Eastern Sierra Land Trust Executive Director Karen Ferrell-Ingram received the Frank Wells Last Best Place Award by the Sierra Nevada Alliance at its annual conference in South Lake Tahoe.
The Frank Wells Last Best Place Award goes to a leader who has exhibited outstanding leadership in protecting the Sierra’s best places.
Big party at Welcome Center
Everybody who was anybody was at the Welcome Center last Saturday, Oct. 20, to open the new, enhanced Mammoth Lakes Trail System.
The Girl Scouts did color-guard ceremonies; Inyo National Forest Supervisor Ed Armenta offered remarks; Mammoth Mayor Matthew Lehman was coerced off the trails to commemorate the trails; and John Wentworth, executive director of the Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access (MLTPA) Foundation took time off from trail work.
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
Public support for Proposition 30, which would funnel $494,734 into Mammothâs schools and $2.4 million into Eastside schools, appears to be running out of gas.
In new findings released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, with support from The James Irvine Foundation, likely voters in California are sharply divided over Prop. 30, Gov. Jerry Brownâs tax measure to fund education, with just under half now supporting it.
When the ballot for Prop. 30 was first introduced, 48 percent said they would vote yes, 44 percent would vote no, and 8 percent were undecided.
A group of (apparently) non-local labor union organizations appealed an Oct. 11 decision by the Mono County planning commission to allow an expansion of Ormat Pacificâs Casa Diablo geothermal plantâs energy-generating capacity.
The appeal sends the project to the county supervisors for a final decision in November.
The project has been on the countyâs plate for years. It has already passed through the planning commission and through the environmental review process, and was expected to have been implemented by now, according to county officials.
