News

Is winter over yet? Kinda. Mostly.

April 30, 2011

The weatherman says yes. Mostly.

According to Mammoth’s weather forecaster, Howard Sheckter, the long, cold, snowy winter of 2010-11 is finally over – mostly.

With 618 - 637 inches measured up at the 9,200 foot elevation on Mammoth Mountain now, the winter goes down in the record books as Mammoth’s snowiest, though not wettest, winter ever.

It started snowing on Oct. 5, making it seven months of snow, although an abnormally dry January and February gave us something of a break for a short time.

June Mountain snowboarder found safe

April 29, 2011

On the afternoon of April 24, the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue (SAR) Team was called out to search for a lost snowboarder.

Tiffany Pridanonda, age 21, of Walnut, CA, was snowboarding on June Mountain with a group of friends when she became separated and went out of bounds from the top of Chair 6. She went downhill to the east but could not climb back up.

She sent cell phone text messages to her friends and attempted to navigate to Highway 395. She went as far as the Hartley Springs campground, called 911, and was advised to stay where she was until the SAR team arrived.

Vons employees could strike – maybe

April 26, 2011

Ready for another strike at Vons?

It could happen.

The union representing Vons, as well as Ralphs, Albertsons, Safeway and other Pavilions stores last week voted to authorize a strike

The labor contract between the union and their employers, ratified four years ago, expired on March 6, and workers have continued on a day-to-day basis since then.

While a work stoppage isn’t a foregone conclusion, the threat recalls memories of 2003-2004’s protracted strike and lockout, which lasted 142 days and cost the stores roughly $2 billion.

Meridian Boulevard puts school kids

April 23, 2011

There are so many puzzles attached to Meridian Boulevard that Mammoth’s town staff and planners hardly know where to start.

There is repaving, for example, and traffic calming.

But one problem is perfectly clear.

School kids using the four-lane street as a route to and from school have nowhere to go except for the street in winter. The snowbanks grow. The traffic gets heavy.

“From Old Mammoth Road to Azimuth we have a sidewalk, but it’s not wide enough to get snow removal equipment in there,” said Public Works Director Ray Jarvis.

Searles wins $74,000, three-year contract from Town

April 23, 2011

Not that long ago, the town government was split on Steve Searles.

Not any more.

Searles, who is Mammoth’s wildlife specialist (and sudden television star, with “The Bear Whisperer”) won a $74,315-a-year contract for three years on Wednesday when the Town Council approved it.

“Everyone needs a hero,” said councilman John Eastman, “and every community needs a hero. Steve Searles is a hero for the Town of Mammoth Lakes.

“We need him as our wildlife specialist in Mammoth Lakes.”

Unofficial dog park is great, except for the poop

April 23, 2011

We’re talking poop here.

Dog poop, to be specific.

Mammoth has a new unofficial dog park down Sherwin Creek Road – 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 – poop that could easily have been picked up by their human companions but wasn’t.

Town goofs on Wilbrecht contract

April 23, 2011

It was supposed to be a coronation Wednesday night.

Instead, it turned out to be a “whoops” moment for the Mammoth Lakes Town Council, which was all set to finalize incoming Town Manager Dave Wilbrecht’s $180,000-a-year contract.

It didn’t happen.

In what Mayor Skip Harvey called an “embarrassing” situation, the terms of Wilbrecht’s retirement benefits ran contrary to a November council resolution, which councilwoman Jo Bacon said she can’t even remember making.

Two heroin overdoses in Mammoth

April 23, 2011

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.

MHS named California Distinguished School

April 16, 2011

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 – 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.