Archive
June 1st, 2012
By
Leslie Willoughby, Special to the Mammoth Times
Thereâs something funny about a mule that nobody tries to explain. Mules are not outlandish, hide-slapping, hee-haw hilariousâalthough that kind of humor attends Mule Days more often than would be expected in dire economic times.
Mules provide the kind of mild amusement that curls one side of the mouth, an absorbing sort of sparkle that has demanded 43 annual repetitions of Mule Days, and expanded the celebration to an entire week of demonstrations (Mule ShoeingâŠ), competitions (Log SkiddingâŠ), and that old western standby, a Saturday night dance.
Olympic hopeful Josh Cox has a music library of about 55,00 tunes, says he, but before a big race, there is only one: âIâve listened to U2âs âWhere Streets Have No Nameâ before every race since 1989, the first line is my mantra.â For the curious, âI wanna run, I want to hide/I wanna tear down the walls/That hold me inside/I wanna reach out/And touch the flame/Where the streets have no name.â âŠ
Among the items in the Town councilâs Budget Reduction plan is a proposal to slice its $65,000 annual commitment to the Whitmore Animal Shelter.
It is so tucked away that the people whom it would impact, not to mention the sheltered hounds and potential pet pusses, donât really know anything about it.
âI have not heard anything about that,â said Supervisor Vikki Bauer. âWe havenât made that leap. Thereâs no decision yet.â
For the seven candidates in the three Mono County Board of Supervisors races, this week is ground zero âand it all comes down to who has the most âkick.â
Voters go to the polls Tuesday, June 5. By midnight Tuesday, Mono County citizens should know who will occupy the three open county supervisor seats, barring a run-off election in the hot District 4 race.
It will be the end of a long marathon that began in the winter. Now it is up to the runners to provide that last big kick before the finish line.
And now for something completely different.
Having made a career out of newspaper reporting, forest stewardship, pet products, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area marketing, magazine writer, magazine editor and then (whew!) even more forest stewardship, Stacy Corless is going back to where she started.
That would be education.
Corless, 41, is a bona fide lover of Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra. She is moving from the Friends of the Inyo in July to become executive director of the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation (MMCF).
Joe Walker, a Mammoth man arrested in January for various sex crimes against a juvenile Santa Barbara girl, was sentenced to state prison for five years this morning in Santa Barbara Superior Court, according to Santa Barbara Senior Deputy District Attorney Mary Barron.
"He was remanded to jail today and they will transport him to state prison" sometime in the next week, Barron said.
Wrangling between Mammoth and LADWP continues, judge chosen
Mammoth and Mono Lake have a new Inyo National Forest deputy district ranger and her name is Sarah Tomsky.
Most recently Tomsky has served as a program specialist in fuels management at the U.S. Forest Serviceâs Region 5 Regional Office in Vallejo.
When heâs not building bridges to Mammothâs Hispanic community, Police Chief Dan Watson is helping build houses for Mexicoâs impoverished.
Two weekends ago, Watson and about 40 members of the Mammoth Rotary Club were in Sierra Azul, a small Mexican village near Tecate, building a house in one day.
âThe homes built by Corazon volunteers are humble by U.S. standards,â Watson said. âThey have no plumbing or electricity, but they are a big step-up for the recipients and very much appreciated.â
By
Makie Dawson, Senior Class President: Class of 2012
As the Senior Class President, I would like to thank everyone for their help in organizing and fund-raising for the Mammoth High School class of 2012 senior trip to Los Angeles.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, 62 students and eight chaperones had an amazing time.
By
Caelen McQuilken, age 10, 5th Grade, Lee Vining Elementary School, Special to the Times
A teacher, a friend, a parent, a computer, a nursery, a principal, three special volunteers, and a group of motivated students: Do you think this combination could end in five new trees planted at a school? If your answer was yes, you were right.
It all started a few months ago when a Lee Vining Elementary school teacher, Ms. Silliker, assigned the fifth- and sixth-grade class a persuasive writing challenge. Ms. Silliker told us to brainstorm ideas for things we could change at our school and then we would write persuasive essays about the ideas to our principal, Mr. Yost.
May 31st
Local Mammoth resident and day care provider Monique Foster was an adult woman before she realized that she had been sexually abused as a child.
Today, sheâs become a fierce advocate for children, who like her, have been to hellâbut are not yet back.
âI was working with these kids, they felt lost, they had no hope, there was no hope,â she said. âI could understand, because I realized that thatâs how it was for me, that this was me.â
The controversial process of closing some of the roads in the Inyo National Forest in entering its second year this summer, and the forest will hold another meeting this week to answer questions and update the public about the plan.
The meeting is Thursday, May 31 in Bishop (see below for more details).
May 30th
By
George Shirk - Times News Editor
A 47-year-old, six-year veteran ski patroller at Mammoth Mountain died Sunday when the off-road motorcycle he was driving crashed on a racecourse near Ridgecrest.
A violent encounter with a domestic violence suspect forced Mammoth Lakes Police officers to Taser the suspect, 43-year-old Stephen Anthony Mellor, and left the victim of Mellor's attack bruised and bleeding.
Mellor was subsequently arrested an booked at the Mono County Jail on $50,000 bail.
According to the police, on Saturday, May 26, at about 10:30 p.m., Mammoth Lakes Police officers responded to a domestic violence incident at Snowcreek Condos.
