Several days after the year anniversary of the Mountain Fire, Hill residents gathered in the late afternoon to listen to their neighbors’ personal recollections of the days and nights of the fire. At 6 p.m. Thursday, July 17, 2014, on a sunlit early evening unmarred by ominous clouds or smells of smoke, writers and readers…

Battalion Chief Chris Fogle of the San Jacinto Ranger District has assumed command of one of the three Type 2 Incident Management Teams in Southern California. Fogle, entering his 25th fire season, all on this district, succeeds former District Fire Manager Norm Walker as the incident commander of the SoCal Team 1. For the past…

By Don Stoll Idyllwild Arts Manager of Communications and International Student Relations “That’s ancient history. I’ll tell you what resonates today, though.” Bill Lowman, Idyllwild Arts Academy’s founding president, could have talked all day about Dr. Richard MacNeal, who had died in January at age 94. Lowman was planning what to say as one of the speakers at his…

Matt Boss called the minute the Town Crier’s contest started to identify the four men published in this week’s Past Tense column. He correctly identified, from left, Brian Kretsinger, Bud Hunt, Robin Oates and, of course, Matt’s father Pat Boss. Matt won a Town Crier subscription for being the first to call Thursday morning with…