Archive - News Article
April 22nd, 2011
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
Not that long ago, the town government was split on Steve Searles.
Not any more.
Searles, who is Mammothâs wildlife specialist (and sudden television star, with âThe Bear Whispererâ) won a $74,315-a-year contract for three years on Wednesday when the Town Council approved it.
âEveryone needs a hero,â said councilman John Eastman, âand every community needs a hero. Steve Searles is a hero for the Town of Mammoth Lakes.
âWe need him as our wildlife specialist in Mammoth Lakes.â
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
Incoming Town Manager Dave Wilbrecht has a new best friend, and her name is Marianna Marysheva-Martinez.
A numbers wonk and a high-ranking city administrator in Oakland before she became the Mammoth Lakes Interim Town Manager, the first thing Marysheva-Martinez did was look at the townâs financials.
Her conclusion was dire.
âWeâre in stable shape right now,â she said, âand the reason is that our revenues will be up by the end of June but our expenditures will be up by almost the same amount.
âWhile weâre stable, weâre not in good shape.
âNext year is going to be bad.â
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
Weâre talking poop here.
Dog poop, to be specific.
Mammoth has a new unofficial dog park down Sherwin Creek Road â a rather vast expanse on Forest Service land behind Sierra Meadows Ranch, made accessible this winter by the town plowing down to the Turner Propane tanks.
Dog lovers found it right away.
But Suzanne Nottingham, companion of three dogs (Ivan, Fred and Zion), has been horrified by the amount of poop this winter â poop that could easily have been picked up by their human companions but wasnât.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
The big winter has Mammoth celebrating, but Lee Vining residents are getting worried.
The record-breaking winter raises a worrisome question â when will Tioga Pass open?
More snow means more snow to plow, and the cool April so far isnât helping much, either.
But all is not lost. On Tuesday, April 12, Mono County found out that Mammoth Mountain will be donating some plow equipment to the cause, said county officials.
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
It was supposed to be a coronation Wednesday night.
Instead, it turned out to be a âwhoopsâ moment for the Mammoth Lakes Town Council, which was all set to finalize incoming Town Manager Dave Wilbrechtâs $180,000-a-year contract.
It didnât happen.
In what Mayor Skip Harvey called an âembarrassingâ situation, the terms of Wilbrechtâs retirement benefits ran contrary to a November council resolution, which councilwoman Jo Bacon said she canât even remember making.
Not much action at Police Chief Dan Watsonâs Hispanic Outreach meeting this past week. No community members at all and just three committee members, out of more than 20 who signed up. âThis meeting gets smaller all the time,â Watson said. ...
In the âEr, what?â Department, Councilman John Eastman described his presence at the reception for our new Assemblywoman (Modesto) in Suite Z on Tuesday. âI was able to attend a reception for Kristin (pause) whatâs Kristinâs last name?â (Olsen, for those wondering) ...
On Friday, April 15, Mammoth Lakes Police Officers and Paramedics responded to a radio call in the Old Mammoth area and discovered a deceased 21-year-old woman. Evidence at the scene indicated that she had died of a heroin overdose. Agents from the Mono Narcotics Enforcement Team (MONET) followed up and identified the dealer who supplied the heroin to the victim.
April 18th
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
Winds of nearly 100 miles an hour slammed into Mammoth Mountain early Monday morning, while rain and snow in the Sierra put water watchers on alert.
The winds, which preceded Monday morningâs rain and snow, reached 99.8 miles an hour at 4 a.m., according to ski patrol data.
It didnât let up for more than an hour. At 5 a.m., ski patrol measured a wind gust at 99.6 miles an hour.
The average wind speed for the two hours was 70.3 miles an hour.
April 15th
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
Finally, the call that Mammoth High Shool had been waiting for came.
Word arrived late Tuesday afternoon that the school has been awarded the prestigious California Distinguished School award, one of 97 schools in the state to get the coveted award this year.
A product of rising test scores across all the students in the school â whether English Language Learners, English speakers, Caucasian or Hispanic, the award is a testament to several hard years of work by students, parents and staff alike, said school superintendent Rich Boccia.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
Itâs probably inevitable.
Garbage disposal rates are going to go up sometime soon and some hours or days are going to get cut at most of the countyâs landfills, in an attempt to plug a funding hole that is leaking as much as $2,000-$3,000 a day from the countyâs coffers.
The proposed increase, which goes to the public for a hearing on April 19, will increase residentsâ garbage disposal fees by about 11 percent, if the plan laid out by county staff and approved in theory by the county supervisors passes a final vote on April 19 at a meeting in Mammoth Lakes.
By
Wendilyn Grasseschi - Times Staff Writer
âOne manâs loss is another manâs gain.â
That might be the most appropriate sentiment regarding losing Mono County Administrative Officer Dave Wilbrecht to the Town of Mammoth Lakes as its newest Town manager.
After eight years at the helm of Mono County, Wilbrecht leaves behind a county in enviable shape compared to almost every other county in the state: in the black, solvent, with a small but still present reserve for emergencies and economic hard times.
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
It was a love fest.
When The Town Council named Dave Wilbrecht as the new Town Manager this week, Mammoth residents universally approved the decision.
From Tom Cage, of Kittredge Sports and P3 and Nordic advocate Brian Knox, to recreation commissioner Bill Sauser, former town planner Bill Taylor and former National Forest Service administrator Sandy Hogan, all were crazy nuts about the decision.
âHeâs a natural leader,â Hogan said, echoing county tourism director Alicia Vennos. âThe town is very, very lucky. Heâs an incredible leader,â Vennos said.
By
George Shirk - Times Senior Writer
Skip Harvey has a cwazy idea.
Except this time, it might not be so cwazy to turn the south frontage road on Main Street into a combination pedestrian mall and small festival place.
Harvey, the owner of the Base Camp Café, which would benefit from such a makeover, also is mayor of the town.
The makeover, called âan experiment,â would hit the road, so to speak, in Mid-June and last until the end of September.
Is there ever such a thing as too much ice cream? Pita Vasquez, a Cerro Coso College student, took full advantage of the Ben and Jerryâs free cone day, eating 13 cones in an afternoon. âI never want to eat ice cream again. I had seriously all of them,â she said. Her friend, Bailey Morley, a Mammoth High School senior, had even more â 17 â and was of the same mind. âI feel so bad,â she said late Wednesday night. ...
By
Leslie Willoughby - Times Staff Writer
Some Crowley Lake residents would rather remain in their cell phone dead zone than put up with two towers smack dab in the middle of their neighborhood. Mono County Planning commissioners supported them when they denied a permit to build the towers on Crowley Lake Drive, concluding a meeting last night (Thursday, April 14) at the Crowley Lake Community Center. Area residents who spoke at the meeting sided 14 to 9 against the permit, as they addressed a standing-room-only crowd of more than 60 concerned residents.
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