News

Rapper Frank Ocean arrested for marijuana possession near Tom's Place

January 3, 2013

On Monday, Dec. 31 at approximately 4:30 p.m., a Mono County Deputy Sheriff, with the assistance of a California Highway Patrol Officer, observed a black BMW traveling at a high rate of speed, southbound on U.S. 395 near Tom’s Place.

The vehicle was stopped by the deputy. As the deputy approached the vehicle, a strong odor of marijuana came from inside the car. Christopher Breaux, aka Frank Ocean, 25, Beverly Hills, had a small bag of marijuana on his person. Breaux was cited for possession of marijuana and released.

What's Up, Up Here? Dec. 28-Jan. 3; News snippets from here and there

December 30, 2012

That was nasty business at Alpine Meadows last week when longtime ski patroller Bill Foster, 53, a veteran member of the Alpine ski patrol team was killed in an avalanche. He died on Christmas Day at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno after being caught in an intentionally triggered slide the day before. Our advice: Don’t ever, ever, ever take the patrollers for granted. Bill had logged 28 years at Alpine. …

The Year in Review: Mammoth Lakes 2012- A Tale of Two Cities

December 28, 2012

Back from the abyss

If ever there was a year more topsy-turvy, nobody in Mammoth can remember it.

From the blackness of the first six months (bankruptcy, record-bad snow season, mass layoffs at the ski area, etc.), Mammoth emerged at the end on a very bright note.

It was almost like falling in love all over again.

The 2012 bankruptcy

December 28, 2012

To the edge and then back again

Practically everyone calls it “The Bankruptcy,” even though Mammoth never actually crossed that line.

The town came close enough, though, and it seemed at times as if the eyes of the nation—and certainly California—were focused on Mammoth in the same way television crews and bystanders wait nearby to see the precise moment when the house slides off the cliff.

Mono County schools escape cuts—twice—in 2012

December 28, 2012

Saved by the bell

Mono County school districts entered 2012 under the serious threat of severe state budget cuts.

Both of the county’s school districts—Mammoth Unified and Eastern Sierra Unified—made cuts early in the year, trimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from budgets that could ill afford it.

In June, Mammoth Unified got a break when district voters agreed to renew a property tax measure.

The fishing season hooked us in 2012

December 28, 2012

New cooperation emerges

It used to be, back in the not-so-old days, it was every man for himself when it came to fishing in the Eastern Sierra.

But when spring arrived early in 2012, the result of a near-disastrous low-snow season, the fishermen and their related businesses found a bond in the new Eastern Sierra Fishing Coalition.

Sports took center stage in 2012

December 28, 2012

In London, the World Cup and here at home

It seemed like every time a sports fan turned around, there was something to catch his or her attention.

If it wasn’t John Teller on the World Cup Ski Cross tour, it was Stacey Cook, climbing to 10th in the world in women’s World Cup downhill racing, then nabbing her first two World Cup podium finishes on back-to-back days in Lake Louise in early December.

The 2012 election that wasn’t

December 28, 2012

No one dared care

While Mono County blessed the electorate with a genuine dogfight, in Mammoth, voters in the municipal contest were treated (as it were) to the Election That Wasn’t.

In spite of a town aswirl in controversy, finger-pointing, blame-gaming, layoffs and general overall mayhem, two seats opened on the Town Council.

Incumbent Jo Bacon signed up for re-election, while political neophyte Michael Raimondo brought his bagel-bagging electorate to the show.

After that, no one.

New stuff was built in 2012

December 28, 2012

Parks, tracks, you-name it

A distant observer might have thought poor ol’ Mammoth was just going to dry up and call it quits, what with all the national, state and local press about the town’s tightrope-walk along the brink of financial ruin.

But with a combination of Measure R and Measure U funds, coupled with careful planning, political willpower and the force of volunteerism, Mammoth just kept chugging ahead.