Archive - 2013 - News Article
March 13th
The California Energy Commission committee reviewing the proposed 500-megawatt (MW) Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System will hold two additional days of evidentiary hearings.
When: Monday, March 18, 2013 and Tuesday, March 19, 2013 beginning at 9 a.m. (March 19 will only be held if necessary)
Where: California Energy Commission, Hearing Room A, 1516 Ninth Street, Sacramento, California
Arrangements have been made for people unable to attend the meetings to participate by telephone and/or by computer. For details, click the link and scroll to page 4:
In February 2012, USDA Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell selected the Inyo National Forest (INF) as one of the first national forests to revise its Forest Plan using the 2012 Forest Service planning rule. The INF’s existing Forest Plan was completed in 1988 and has been amended multiple times since then. The Forest Plan provides direction and zoning for the management of a range of resources and activities such as water, wildlife, ecosystems, and recreation for the 2 million acre Inyo National Forest.
Supervisors approve guard rail for trailhead area
Not many people live along Lower Rock Creek and that’s the way the people that do, like it.
The little community of Paradise has been waging a small war for the last few years, trying to get a developer and Mono County to make the main trailhead along the creek safe after a recent development went in near the old Paradise Lodge and Restaurant.
March 12th
Teams sought to renew their snow and ice rescue skills
The bitter wind bites and lifts snow and ice crystals, flinging them against the black rock and white ground, hitting the Search and Rescue team in the face as they struggle up the steep mountainside.
They have been climbing for precious minutes now, trying to reach an avalanche victim. A steady avalanche beacon sound—“beep, beep, beep”—is the only lifeline they have to the unknown victim.
“Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.”
By
George Shirk- Times Managing Editor
Town resident Lou Stewart replaces Boccia
The Mammoth Unified School District on Tuesday named an interim superintendent in the wake of the now-you-see-him, now-you-don’t resignation of Rich Boccia.
Lou Stewart takes over the position on Monday, March 11, bringing with her three decades of experience in education.
According to school officials, Stewart has been an elementary school principal, high school co-principal, and Director of Special Education, and began her career as a special education teacher.
A little bird could hold the fate of Mono County in its sharp talons
It is hard to imagine that the fate of Mono County might rest not in its mountains, not in its ski hills, or bike trails or world renown trails, but in something far more innocuous.
A little bird, no bigger than a chicken.
By
George Shirk- Times Managing Editor
Business Improvement District fee on fast track
The push for a Business Improvement District fee on tourism-based businesses in Mammoth is so radically different from other California models that tourism chief John Urdi said the town stands alone.
“We’re an anomaly here,” Urdi said on Wednesday March 6, in a short presentation to the Town Council.
Residents vent their frustrations as Rusty Gregory asks for political support for a land trade
One of the Mono County Board of Supervisors agenda items for its Tuesday, March 5, meeting was to hear Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO Rusty Gregory’s presentation for political support for a federal land swap.
March 10th
RAW: According to the Mono County District Attorney's office, on March 8, Mammoth Lakes resident, Gene Wayne Harris, was arrested on a warrant charging contact with a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense.
On March 1, the Mono County District Attorney was referred an investigation through the MLPD School Resource Officer Program after Harris, 41, made inappropriate contact with a minor through her Facebook account.
March 7th
About $5.2 million in grants will begin to flow to ranchers and farmers in the Sierra after the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) Governing Board recently approved $5.2 million in Proposition 84 grant awards.
The grants aim to assist Sierra ranchers and farmers in 18 counties with conservation measures designed to protect California’s most important watersheds.
With the completion of this grant round, the SNC has awarded $52 million to nearly 300 projects in the Sierra in the past five years.
The Mammoth Lakes Police Department (MLPD) recently entered into an agreement with Police Reports, U.S., to expand public service to allow individuals involved in traffic collisions to purchase a copy of the report on-line.
Traffic Collision reports can be purchased for $10 by either coming in to the police station, calling, writing, emailing, or purchasing online.
Spanning three days, the Mammoth Biathlon includes a day of shooting and instructional clinics at Snowcreek Athletic Club and Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center, and two days of racing on the exclusive back side of Mammoth Mountain. The Mammoth Winter Biathlon takes place in partnership with the Eastern Sierra Nordic Ski Association, from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24.
A wildland job fair will be held in Mammoth on Saturday, March 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the U.S. Forest Service Fire Station #2 on the Sawmill cutoff road junction with S.R. 203.
A seasonal firefighter can expect to earn between $10,000 and $25,000 during the season, depending on the fire severity that season.
For more information, contact 924-5543 and ask for Jeff Lucas or email Lucas at jlucas@fs.fed.us
Low-level offenders who might otherwise go to the county jail may have another alternative now in Mono County. Offenders can now pay a fee—$250—and complete “certain terms and conditions” in lieu of being charged and/or going to jail, according to the Mono County District Attorney’s office.
If counseling is needed, the offender pays for it, along with other costs. The case can be closed within six months with no conviction, if all the terms of the program are met.
Friends of the Inyo (FOI) welcomed Dr. Tom Boo of Bishop and Jo Bacon of Mammoth to its Board of Directors at its February board meeting.
FOI is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the preservation, exploration and stewardship of the region’s public lands.
Tom Boo is a physician at Northern Inyo Hospital who believes that working with Friends of the Inyo will be a great opportunity to live by the maxim “think globally, act locally.”
