Archive - 2013 - News Article
April 19th
Frustration with a state fire prevention tax that costs property owners as much as $150 a year continues to grow in the Eastern Sierra, but there is some hope for a legislative solution, even as a bill to repeal the tax died last week, according to county officials.
April 18th
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Would help officers in fights, brawls, Chief says
Members of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department will get top-of-the-line TASER devices soon, according to Police Chief Dan Watson.
Citing a cut in the force because of austerity budget cuts earlier this year, Watson said the new devices would be particularly effective when just one officer is at the scene of a crime, fight or any other instance in which the officer feels threatened.
25,000 comments so far
Yosemite National Park this past week announced the extension of the public comment period for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft Comprehensive Management and Environmental Impact Statement (MRP) through Tuesday, April 30.
Previously, the public comment period was slated to close on Thursday, April 18.
Copeland, MLPD civilians get nod
The Mammoth Town Council this past week gave a few appreciative gestures to some of Mammoth’s citizens.
First, the council on Wednesday night, April 17, handed out a certificate of appreciation to Kathy Copeland, the founder and leader of Disabled Sports of the Eastern Sierra.
Members of a citizen’s committee continue to oppose land swap
Some June Lake residents were not charmed—or convinced—last week by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO Rusty Gregory’s assurances that he was a changed man and that MMSA would finally invest enough in June Mountain Ski Area to make it thrive.
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Council plows ahead anyway
A proposal to change the name of Minaret Boulevard to McCoy Boulevard in honor of the founder of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, came to a screeching pause on Monday, April 15.
Just hours before Mammoth Lakes Tourism Chief John Urdi and others were set to meet in order to hammer out details on the proposal, Mammoth Lakes Foundation CEO Evan Russell sent an email on McCoy’s behalf to stop the effort.
April 16th
By
Mike Gervais, Special to the Times
Last week’s arrest of a Bishop resident on charges of embezzling more than $1.5 million in public funds has raised just as many questions for taxpayers as investigators.
At the top of the list of questions seems to be how a county employee could have gotten away with the ongoing theft – as alleged – for as long as she did.
Dawndee Rossy, 46, and her husband, Ken Rossy, 43, were arrested by District Attorney’s Office investigators on Thursday for a total of 44 felonies related to their alleged embezzlement of taxpayer money from Dawndee’s work.
Yosemite National Park announces the extension of the public comment period for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft Comprehensive Management and Environmental Impact Statement (MRP) through Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Previously, the public comment period was slated to close on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
“The MRP is an expansive document which guides park management actions for many years. We want to make sure the public has a thorough opportunity to review the draft plan and submit comments,” stated Kathleen Morse, Yosemite National Park’s Chief of Planning.
High temperatures combined with a light snowpack will allow for an early start to plowing area roads this spring, the Inyo National Forest announced in a news release on Tuesday, April 16.
The Town of Mammoth Lakes was to begin plowing roads in the Mammoth Lakes Basin on Wednesday, April 17, while Caltrans will begin plowing to the Minaret Vista at the end of April.
Town crews will begin plowing into Reds Meadow Valley soon after that, according to Marty Hornick, the Inyo’s acting pubic affairs officer.
County officials said the Digital 395 project is almost done in Northern Mono County and is slated to move into Inyo National Forest lands sometime soon, pending a few more necessary permits.
Another week has gone by since Verizon was hit with some big fines for not providing high speed broadband service to Crowley Lake and Swall Meadows and still, neither community had service as of press time, according to county officials.
A claim for damages against Mono County by former Mono County Sheriff’s deputy Jon Madrid was rejected Tuesday by the Mono County Board of Supervisors at the advice of county counsel. Madrid is claiming he was unfairly fired from his job.
Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO Rusty Gregory confronted persistent rumors that Mammoth Mountain has is going to be sold or has been sold to Vail Resorts with five short words Tuesday.
“We are not for sale,” he said, to a Bridgeport courthouse room full of June Lake residents and the Mono County Board of Supervisors. He said he was talking to a top executive of the company a few weeks ago about something unrelated and perhaps, that was where the rumor was coming from.
April 15th
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Runners from the Mammoth Track Club and representatives of Mammoth Lakes are apparently safe in Boston, where two bombs killed two and injured dozens more near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15.
The track club’s Josh Cox, a distance runner, sent a tweet saying “I'm safe. Scary.”
Meb Keflezighi, who did not run in the race but was in Boston to promote his foundation, also tweeted that he too was safe.
