Archive - 2013 - News Article
May 8th
Mammoth’s Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza promises an incomparable lineup of musical talent and a grand tasting of craft brews from around the country beginning Aug.1 through Aug. 4 outdoors among the pines at Sam’s Wood Site in Mammoth Lakes.
Reds Meadow plowing started Wednesday, May 1, and is still on track to be open by Memorial Day, weather permitting, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
May 7th
Yosemite National Park Rangers have recovered the body of missing hiker Kenneth Stensby near the base of Vernal Fall. Stensby was fatally injured after falling from a cliff near the top of the waterfall. His body was discovered by Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue Ranger personnel and was extricated at about 1:00 p.m. today.
Tonight's lecture at the Green Church is at 7 p.m. and is about the wild and wonderful Sierra mushrooms. Dr. Jonathan Bourne will share his knowledge of the surprising variety of local mushrooms. Come on time, as the doors to the Green Church, located on the intersection of U.S. 395 and the Bnton Crosiing Road, will close once the room is full.
Also find below a list of the rest of the Tuesday night lecture series:
May 7 Introduction to the Mushrooms of the Eastern Sierra
Dr. Jonathan Bourne M.D., Mammoth Hospital
May 6th
‘Reliable’ levels for summer
Mammoth’s unique status as the area with the biggest snowpack in the Sierra this year may not be enough to stave off water restrictions.
The Mammoth area stands out with a snowpack that came in at about 82 percent of normal, compared to about 52 percent of normal for the Sierra overall, and lower than that in places like the Southern Sierra.
Yosemite road updates: Park spokesperson Kari Cobb says it’s official: The Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park will open for the season Friday, May 3, at noon. There will be limited visitor services available at Glacier Point. Vault toilets will be available, but no running water. There is no projected opening datefor the Bridalveil Creek Campground. Meanwhile, the Tioga Roadis officially, tentatively scheduled to open for the season on Saturday, May 11. …
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
A young, motherless bear cub with a taste for apple pie has been getting into trouble around Old Mammoth in the past several weeks, according to Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles.
What's more, the 15-month-old cub has learned to pull at heartstrings to get what he or she wants.
"He or she is 15 months old, in great health and good weight," Searles said at a Town Council meeting on Wednesday, May 1, "but I had abut 50 calls in the last two weeks.
May 3rd
Victoria Ortiz, former AmeriCorps member for the Eastern Sierra Land Trust in Bishop and ski instructor at Mammoth Mountain, is one the shortlist for the "Best Job in the World" competition recently, out of almost 600,000 candidates.
The City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s lawsuit against the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District and other environmental agencies was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on May 2, according to Ted Schade, the district's director.
"The City’s federal court lawsuit filed in Fresno attempted to prevent the District from enforcing state laws that require the LADWP to control the air pollution caused by its water diversions in the Eastern Sierra," according to a May 2 news release from the district.
State claims raffle will benefit wildlife habitat
In the past, the only thing a hunter could do during the time between the Nevada big game application deadline in April and the day the draw results are posted in June was to sit and wait and hope for the best.
That changed last year with the introduction of the Nevada Dream Tags, and it will continue this year as well, according to the state’s wildlife department.
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Focus is on best use of tax money
The Town Council had its first look on Wednesday, May 1, at a proposal that would establish a five-member committee to create the rules by which special event producers might use public tax dollars.
Council member Jo Bacon, the Measure U Application committee, and the Recreation Commission all initiated the idea.
Its genesis was in an April 2 workshop with the Mammoth Lakes Events Coalition.
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Public Works unveils $1.5 million Main Street project
They are as ugly as sin and as dangerous as the next powerful windstorm, earthquake or blizzard.
Mammoth’s Main Street overhead power lines, which carry the main load of electricity to the town, are so unsightly and hazardous that Public Works Director Ray Jarvis this past week made a commitment to bury the problem.
Literally.
May 2nd
Crews start fire prevention work in Mammoth, June
Fire season has begun in the Eastern Sierra, a month earlier than normal.
The combination of a dry winter, especially for everywhere north and south of the Mammoth Lakes region, and an unusually warm, dry spring have pushed the normal fire season up to include May, local fire officials said.
“I haven’t seen that many boats on the water since I was a kid”
If anything could illustrate the craziness and size of last week’s Fishing Opener, it might be how long it took June Lake Marina and Crowley Lake Fish Camp owner John Frederickson to find his mobile phone, lost in the chaos.
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Council in new budget challenge
Despite a carefully crafted five-year plan and an economically successful summer and winter seasons, Mammoth would still come up more than a half-million dollars short of budget expectations for 2013-14, the Town Council learned this past week.
