The San Jacinto Post Office is hosting a Passport Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 7. The fair will offer passport information to U.S. citizens and accept passport applications.

Families and individuals will be able to apply for passports on a walk-in basis without taking time off from work, school or other weekday activities. No appointments are necessary.

To obtain a passport for the first time, applicants need proof of U.S. citizenship and a valid form of photo identification, such as a driver’s license. A certified copy of a birth certificate (not a California abstract or photocopy) or naturalization certificate is the best proof of citizenship.

One photograph is required and can be taken at the passport event.

The fee for a Passport Book for first-time adult participants is $110 and $30 for a Passport Card. The fee for minors under age 16 is $80 for a Passport Book and $15 for a Passport Card. There is also a $25 processing fee per application.

Parents applying for Passport Books/Cards for children under age 16 must both be present, along with the child. An expedited service fee of $60, plus Priority Express Mail postage, will reduce processing time to less than three weeks (normally it is four to six weeks). Passport photos are $15. Payment is accepted in the form of cash, check or money orders only.

The San Jacinto Post Office is located at 315 E. Esplanade Ave., San Jacinto.

Check the U.S. State Department’s consular website at http://travel.state.gov for more passport information.

It would be difficult to be more “Idyllwild” than Dave Hunt. The newly appointed County Service Area 36 Advisory Council member was born and raised in Idyllwild, with a long family history here.

His grandparents came here in the early 1930s from Hemet. His grandfather managed Camp Maranatha, and the family swam there. Then his grandfather managed the Rustic, and the family worked there. Then an uncle managed the Chart House, and the whole family later worked there.

His father, Bud Hunt, was the local fire chief and was a vice president of the Riverside County Fire Chief’s Association. Dave Hunt grew up with the Johnson boys, Jay and Steve, racing them in homemade soap-box-derby cars down River Road.

His eighth-grade teacher, Doris Lombard, told him he could do whatever he wanted for a project as long as he learned something. Hunt, who liked taking things apart and putting them back together, took an old bicycle apart, reconditioned it and put it back together. At 15, as a result of his eighth-grade project, he founded the Bike Route bicycle shop his father still maintains. As a young man, he worked in a variety of capacities in industrial management.

Hunt received a Bachelor of Arts in industrial education from Humboldt State University, multiple subject teaching credentials from U.C. Riverside and a master’s degree in vocational education from Cal State University, San Bernardino. He later earned an administrative-services credential from the same university.

Hunt has taught within the Hemet and Temecula Valley unified school districts, at Palomar College and at Mt. San Jacinto College. Of his teaching and life philosophy, Hunt said, “I believe that the educational process is ongoing throughout life and can occur in a wide variety of settings and conditions. Educators must teach by example in everything that they do.”

Hunt has clear ideas of what his personal history, as well as his educational and work experience, can bring to the CSA 36 Advisory Council. “One of my priorities is to keep Town Hall up and running,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of grant writing, so I think I could get some grants for its rehabilitation.”

Hunt explained why it’s important. “It’s because it really does belong to the community,” he said. “The community built it and the Johnson family has made it available for community recreation. I’d like to see Town Hall working hand in hand with the Idyllwild Community Center, and have its public recreation integrated with the ICC. I’d also like to see if there would be some way for the county to donate the old county library to a local nonprofit so that it could become an educational resource center — maybe to accommodate on-Hill general education and specialty classes in conjunction with MSJC.”

Hunt feels strongly that community recreation programs should benefit all community demographics, not just youth recreation. “My goal is to see that recreation addresses all age groups,” he said.

As an Idyllwild-raised “Hillbilly,” Hunt believes the forest is a major recreational resource that, as part of the Wilderness Act, should be taken care of. “I’d like to see more hiking for kids, tied in to trail maintenance and teaching young people to respect the forest. That respect for the forest is what differentiates us from Big Bear.”

After his wife’s death from cancer, Hunt, whose children are grown, resolved to spend more time volunteering in Idyllwild. He recently became a Forest Service Lookout Tower volunteer. “I’ve always wanted to do it since I was a kid,” said Hunt.

When he noticed an article in the Town Crier noting the lack of volunteers for the CSA 36 Advisory Council, he jumped at the chance. “One of my first questions at the interview was, ‘What is your definition of recreation?’” He believes recreation should be broadly defined — to include life-learning opportunities, not just traditional sports.

“I hope all people attend meetings so we understand why we are there and get to know what the community wants,” said Hunt.

Of why Idyllwild seems so right for many, Hunt said, “The mountain accepts you and breathes you in, and it works.”

On April 19, Ira Robert Ellis, 37, of Poppet Flats, had two hearings before Judge Becky Dugan in Department 41, Riverside, of the Riverside County Superior Court.

The first was a Marsden/Sanchez hearing in which Ellis, who was represented by a deputy public defender, asserted that he had been denied his right to effective counsel. Dugan denied that motion and ordered the transcript of that hearing sealed.

The case was then called for a sentencing hearing, and Ellis requested immediate sentencing, waiving arraignment for pronouncement of judgment.

Under statutes providing for sentence enhancement due to prior felony convictions, Dugan found that Ellis had two or more convictions that qualified as a strike.

On count 1, which she deemed to be Ellis’ principal count (possession of ammunition by one prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm), she denied probation and imposed a term of two years, eight months in state prison.

On count 3 (mail theft), count 6 (resisting or obstructing arrest) and count 7 (hit and run, property damage), Ellis was sentenced to 180 days in county jail, sentence to run concurrently with the state prison sentence on count 1.

Ellis, who has been in custody, was given 81 days of credit for time served. He was further ordered to pay statutory restitutions and assessment fees totaling $920, $300 of which is suspended unless his future parole is revoked. He was also ordered to pay victim restitution in an amount to be determined by the Probation Department.

Counts 2, 4 and 5 were dismissed in the interests of justice, and Ellis remained remanded to the custody of the Riverside County Sheriff.

Cal Fire responded to reports of a building filled with smoke at the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center on Thursday, April 21. When firefighters arrived just before 8 a.m., they found a single-story structure with light smoke showing, confined to one room.

Responders contained the fire within half an hour.

Zen Center resident Melissa Severa said no one was hurt. “A Zen student resident left an item near the wall heater and it caught fire,” noted Severa. “The fire was contained to one room alone, the resident’s bedroom. Her wardrobe is a loss, and she is a fashion designer just graduated from The Royal Academy in London, so [in the wardrobe] must have been some ‘one-of-a-kinds.’

“What matters is that everyone is safe.”

Seventeen firefighters from companies 53 (Garner Valley), 23 (Pine Cove) and 30 (Pinyon) responded to the incident. During the Mountain Fire in 2014, the Zen Mountain Center narrowly escaped fire damage but was hugely impacted later by water-carried mud coursed over fire-ravaged hills directly in back of the center.