At The Open Poetry Readings held at the Idyllwild Library on Friday, host Ken Luber ends the evening with a reading of “Empty Jars” by co-host Howard Minkin.
Photo by John Drake
Photo by John Drake
Photo by Doris Lombard
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Last week in Idyllwild: April 23, 2015
At The Open Poetry Readings held at the Idyllwild Library on Friday, host Ken Luber ends the evening with a reading of “Empty Jars” by co-host Howard Minkin.
Photo by John Drake
Photo by John Drake
Photo by Doris Lombard
Help starts here: Dial 211… Aquí comienza la ayuda: Marque 211
The Riverside County Department of Public Health sent four public health workers — Kevin Meconis, James Atkins, Martin Baxter and Anne Accurso — to the Idyllwild Library Tuesday night, April 14, to discuss health and other social needs with Hill residents. Twenty-two local residents attended and expressed concerns and suggestions in addition to asking questions.
The public health personnel described the county’s 211 program that serves to advise callers of the wide-ranging services available to county residents and to refer them to the agencies that can best help them with their needs.
The county’s 211 fliers, in both English and Spanish, describe the 211 program’s purpose as:
“Providing information and referrals to: food pantry/food stamps, shelter and housing services, breast-cancer resources, free and low-cost computers, employment opportunities, health and dental care, legal assistance, advocacy, counseling, volunteer opportunities, child care and parenting resources, support groups, youth and senior services … and 3,000 additional programs.”
“Le proveemos información acerca de: despensas de comida, albergues y viviendas, computadoras económicas, empleos, atención médica y dental, ayuda legal, abogacía, consejería, donde prestar servicio voluntario, ayuda con cuidado infantil, clases para los padres, grupos de apoyo, programas para adolescentes, programas para personas de la tercera edad, servicios para personas minusválidas … y 3,000 programas adiciónales.”
Many in attendance appeared unfamiliar with 211 and all that it offers, and several residents suggested that the county needs to make the program more highly visible to the people in need of it.
The suggestion was made that, since the 211 fliers are already on line, people can see them there, but Kent Weishaus, clinical social worker/therapist in Idyllwild, pointed out that often the patients he treats cannot afford an Internet connection and do not even have transportation to get to the library to use the public computers there. And Dr. Kenneth Browning, local physician, related that some of the people he treats cannot afford the gasoline to make health-care appointments off the Hill.
Resident Jan Goldberg suggested the county post more notices in the Town Crier, but others pointed out that the people in most financial need cannot afford to subscribe to the paper or even to purchase an individual issue. Many called for notices and fliers to be posted at the post office, but it is not clear whether those same people are able to afford a post-office box or the transportation to regularly get to it, if they had one.
Browning stated that he would be happy to make the 211 fliers available at his office. Browning also emphasized that his office is open six days a week, and the only thing keeping his office from performing as an urgent-care center is the lack of X-ray capability. He said Hill residents very badly need an X-ray machine, but about $160,000 would be needed to purchase one.
Dr. Richard Goldberg remarked that initial-case finding was needed because some people are not even aware of their specific health needs, much less the resources available to address them. He further suggested that the county’s mobile clinic come up to Idyllwild more frequently with flu and other vaccines, and that the county find a way to periodically send medical specialists up the Hill.
Other local residents related personal experiences and rendered suggestions as well. But there appeared to be overwhelming agreement that the county needed to better get the message out regarding its Call 211 program, and that the services available through that program would be of significant benefit to those most in need of them.
At the close of the meeting, the county public health workers stated that it had been one of their more successful and well-attended local county-wide meetings, and they were grateful for the many new ideas and suggestions they had received.23
Appeals court stymies tiered water rates
On Monday, a state appellate court affirmed a lower-court ruling regarding how water rates must be determined.
The decision said, “The trial court did not err in ruling that Proposition 218 requires public water agencies to calculate the actual costs of providing water at various levels of usage.”
The 4th District Court of Appeal did not throw out tiered rates many water districts use, including all three on the Hill, but emphasized that these rates must be based on the actual costs, not a pre-determined scale.
“While tiered, or inclined rates that go up progressively in relation to usage are perfectly consonant with [the state’s constitution], the tiers must still correspond to the actual cost of providing service at a given level of usage. The water agency here did not try to calculate the cost of actually providing water at its various tier levels,” the three-judge opinion said.
In a quickly released announcement, Gov. Jerry Brown said, “The practical effect of the court’s decision is to put a straitjacket on local government at a time when maximum flexibility is needed. My policy is and will continue to be: employ every method possible to ensure water is conserved across California.”
He also added that the state’s lawyers will review the decision.
The decision also approved using water rates to raise revenue for capital projects. It questioned whether low-volume users might be subsidizing the cost of these facilities needed to serve high-volume users.
The justices concluded that the California Constitution would permit “water agencies passing on the true, marginal cost of water to those consumers whose extra use of water forces water agencies to incur higher costs to supply that extra water.”
Officials and community working to contain threats to oaks
Photo by J. P. Crumrine
“If [the Goldspotted oak borer problem] doesn’t get taken care of, it will devastate the oaks on the Hill,” said Chris Kramer, president of the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council, as he opened the community meeting Saturday at the Nature Center.
The MCFSC invited experts from the University of California, Riverside, Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service to discuss the current condition of oaks on the Hill and status of the GSOB infestation here and in Southern California.
The number of infested trees remains at 62 this winter, but every speaker encouraged the audience to pay special attention to the black oaks as leaves begin to sprout and appear this spring.
Anyone observing small or dwarf leaves should call the GSOB hotline at 951-659-8328. Inspections can be arranged and the tree’s condition assessed and confirmed.
More volunteer inspectors are needed and Edwina Scott, MCFSC executive director, encourages people to sign up or call her office for more information 951-659-6208.
“Idyllwild is unique. A lot of people here care about the forest,” she said. “We need your help. Nobody knows the neighborhoods better than you.” GSOB volunteers are able and willing to educate and prepare new volunteers, she promised.
The GSOB is not native to Southern California and probably arrived in San Diego County in the mid-1990s, according to Dr. Tom Scott, University of California, Riverside. Since it is an invasive pest, it was not identified until 2008. Meanwhile, more than 65,000 Southern California acres have been devastated and more than 80,000 oak trees have died or been removed. Costs are in the millions.
In 2012, the GSOB was first identified in Idyllwild. The goal is to avoid what happened in San Diego County, Scott said. “One tree in Idyllwild had more than 5,000 beetles.”
“Only two positive trees have been identified in the last six months,” said Cal Fire Hill Forester Gregg Bratcher. “But I don’t believe the problem has been solved. The community must still be vigilant.” Infested trees have been identified throughout Idyllwild and some in Pine Cove.
Thus far, no infested trees have been discovered on U.S. Forest Service land on the Hill, said San Jacinto Ranger District Forester Kayanna Warren.
But each speaker emphasized that current drought conditions, which have stressed all the forest trees, do increase the vulnerability of oaks to GSOB attacks.
The rapid response of organizing community groups to look for it and experts, including Cal Fire, removing severely damaged trees have probably contributed to a limited effect on the Hill compared to San Diego County, said Kevin Turner, University of California, Riverside.
“We think we’re actually having an impact. We won’t know for several more years,” said Scott. “We have not seen any problems on the Hill similar to San Diego County.”
Normally, 400 to 500 beetles will emerge from an infested oak each year and it takes between two and three years for the damage, which the larvae created, to kill the tree. “So don’t wait until the tree dies to call for inspection or removal,” Scott stressed.
“I think if we keep working the way we have been, we won’t lose all the black oaks, but we can’t stop now,” Scott urged the group.
Riverside County 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington attended the meeting, too. Afterwards, he said, “Wow, our natural resources in this beautiful community are under attack. This raises so many red flags when the beetle threatens the quality of life of my constituents.”
As the session ended, Bratcher also advised the group to be aware of more pine trees succumbing to bark-beetle attacks. In the past two months, he has observed an increase in the number of dead or dying pines from the native bark beetle.
“This has also been accelerated due to the drought,” he added. “This is the fourth year that water has not been available for trees. Their safety relies on the production of sap from water to enable them to pitch out the beetles.”
Before ending, Turner also advised the group of a new pest that can kill sycamores and willows: the Polyphagous shot hole borer. While this beetle favors avocado trees — and local growers are very worried — it also will attack many other trees.
Consequently, transporting firewood harboring the PSHB may introduce it to the Hill. It is prevalent in the avocado orchards and people buying firewood should be cautious about introducing this pest to the Hill.
Hip Hop legend Flavor Flav at Soboba
Hip hop icon Flavor Flav will be hosting a free fan meet-and-greet and announcing the grand prize winner of a 2015 Maserati Ghibli at Soboba Casino from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, April 26.
Club Soboba cardholders will have an opportunity to meet Flavor Flav. Group passes will be issued starting at 4 p.m. for Club Soboba members to have their photo professionally taken with Flav, and receive an autographed photo of the star. Not a member of the club? Joining is free. The event will take place in the smoke-free banquet room next to AC’s Lounge at the casino; all guests must be 21 or older.
Flav’s visit to the Inland Empire comes on the heels of Soboba Casino’s “King of Bling” promotion, which ran during March and April. Players had a chance to win a share of $170,000 in free slot play, and one lucky player will walk away holding the keys to a brand new 2015 Maserati Ghibli.
Born William Jonathan Drayton Jr., Flav is known worldwide for his work with the legendary Hip hop performance group Public Enemy. Many also know him from the VH1 reality-television series, “The Surreal Life” episodes “Strange Love” and “Flavor of Love.” Flav popularized the role of the hype man now used regularly throughout the Hip Hop genre. In his own words, “The hype man’s job is to get everybody out of their seats and on the dance floor to have a good time.” Some of his notable exclamations of hype include chanting, “Yeah, boy!” and “Flavor Flav!” during performances. Flav, as well as, the rest of his Public Enemy crew, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. (http://rockhall.com/inductees/public-enemy/bio/)
Soboba Casino Director of Marketing Michael J. Broderick remarked, “We are very excited to be hosting Flavor Flav, a true musical prodigy and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Flav has promised some surprises for his fans, and he has even hinted that he might pick up the mic for an impromptu set.”
Soboba Casino is located at 23333 Soboba Road, San Jacinto.
Landscape designer Mark Taylor listens to the land
Photo by Marshall Smith
“For me, all design is emotional,” said landscape designer Mark Taylor. “I have to be patient and allow the design to generate. By listening and being slow, the land speaks to me.”
Taylor forges landscapes, working with both the massive and the delicate — the boulders and the trickling water, steel girders and wooden decks. He brings his experience teaching martial arts into his work as a designer. “I don’t force the design. I wait. When I feel connected to God and life I don’t need to take anything from anyone. I take responsibility.”
Taylor said his call to landscape design came early, at the age of 7, seeing a brochure with plants characteristic of the Idyllwild area. What made that odd was that at the time he and his family were living in Hawaii. “I felt drawn to those spaces with those plants.”
In 1983, Taylor and his sister attended Elliott Pope Preparatory School in Idyllwild. After graduating as valedictorian, Taylor attended Santa Monica Junior College and spent one year at the University of Southern California studying mechanical engineering. “I realized I didn’t need to be in the academic setting,” he remembered. “I needed to be in a shop, bending metal and making things. I came back to Idyllwild because I liked the mountain. I needed to have one foot in the wilderness and one in society.
“I started working for David Reid-Marr, a great designer and a very spiritual man. He opened up quite a big world for me — touching the land, welding metal, creating water courses, experiencing construction and design.”
Taylor said Reid-Marr’s influence was profound. “In terms of artistic vision, David sees things quickly,” he said. “But that is not me. For me there is a fog. I have to be patient, spend time in the land until the land speaks to me and the fog burns off. Then the ideas come and I don’t compromise.”
Taylor is much like his design work — strong and gentle, fierce and soft-spoken, methodical and considerate. His current projects are both on Hill, with residential design work in landscaping and deck construction, and off-Hill with “green wall, living architecture” projects for corporate clients like Loewe’s Hotel in Santa Monica. He said he is intrigued with building living walls of plants for large buildings. “It’s both engineering and medicine,” he noted. “Getting it installed requires logistical measurements, bolt placements and heavy equipment. Then it becomes emergency medicine — how to keep the plants alive.”
And it is this thoughtful balance — combining the engineering and the medicine — Taylor brings to all his projects that gives them their characteristic individuality.
In addition to teaching, Taylor is also involved in local theater as an actor, set designer and builder. He heads a local men’s group and can be found on certain
Sundays leading a drum circle.
For more information about Taylor’s landscape and building site design, see www.myground.net.
Fatality on Highway 74 shuts down traffic for hours Saturday
A head-on collision at about 6:50 p.m. Saturday, April 18, resulted in a fatality that closed Highway 74 in both directions near Bull Canyon Road (40 feet west of mile marker 73.75) to just above Palm Desert. The closure lasted until 11:01 p.m. according to California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Darren Meyer.
Teresa Gonzalez, 50, of Mountain Center was driving her 1990 Ford F-150 truck westbound when she crossed the double-yellow lines and collided head-on with a 2007 Kia Sorrento heading eastbound and driven by Danny Deubler, 83 of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Deubler and passenger Kathy Deubler, also 83, sustained major injuries and were air transported to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.
Meyer said Gonzalez died at the scene from injuries she sustained. He noted that occupants of both vehicles were wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision and that “alcohol and or drugs are suspected to be a contributing factor in this collision.”
The highway was closed for the times cited because of the severity of the crash, according to Meyer. Reading from the report, Meyer said there had been a fuel leak and one of the badly injured individuals had to be cut from the vehicle. Two helicopters landed — one to take the most severely injured person first, and the other for the second. Two tow trucks also responded. In addition, a coroner had to come from Perris and did not arrive on scene until 9:30 p.m. Also, since drugs or alcohol might have been involved, investigators had to survey the collision site for evidence.
The incident is being investigated by CHP Officer Nunez. Anyone with information or questions may contact Meyer at 951-769-2020, ext. 238.
Obituary: Hannelore Magdalena Evans
Obituary
Hannelore Magdalena Evans
1940-2015
Hannelore Magdalena Evans (Laura, as she was known to friends) passed away peacefully at age 74 at her San Diego home Monday, April 13, 2015, surrounded by her family after battling cancer.
Born July 14, 1940, in Regensburg, Germany, she moved to La Jolla in 1966. Laura is survived by a daughter, Lara Gates, and two grandchildren, Karolina and Natalie.
Laura led a wonderful and exciting life and lived every day to the fullest. A famous model and aspiring actress in the early part of her life, she experienced the wonders of the world. In 1966, she traveled extensively through the United States where she ultimately ended up making her residences in La Jolla and Idyllwild.
Laura was a well-respected psychic. For the past 30 years, Laura guided people in their lives. She was able to help many people with difficult issues.
She also enjoyed writing about her experiences and her life, and was working on a book about her life experiences. Laura was an advocate for abandoned and wild animals.
In her later years, she took on wildlife photography while living in Idyllwild. It was her true passion. Because of her passion to save and care for injured and wild animals, the family requests that donations be made to Project Wildlife at www.projectwildlife.org. Project Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
IWD remains in Stage 2 drought
Idyllwild Water District remains in Stage 2 water emergency, General Manager Tom Lynch told the directors during the April 15 meeting. But IWD is hovering very close to its trigger points for moving to Stage 3 status.
While the groundwater level of the downtown wells is at the criterion of 20-foot depth, the depth of the Foster Lake wells remain slightly above 50 feet, the trigger.
“We’re really just teetering on the edge,” Lynch said.
He also advised the board of Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent executive order mandating significant water reductions for urban water districts. The State Water Resources Control Board was to implement regulations (completed Saturday after the meeting) and Lynch also was awaiting their public distribution to assess the immediacy of moving to Stage 3.
“The details are still coming,” Lynch said. “But some areas of the state are in much more dire straits than us.”
Lynch is in the midst of trying to increase water supply from existing wells without drilling new wells. He announced that the Oakwood well is ready to contribute to IWD’s distribution system.
While IWD is awaiting the state’s approval to add the horizontal wells above Foster Lake to its distribution system, Lynch is addressing improvements for other IWD wells.
Well no. 8 will be refurbished for less than $12,000 and its production will range from 10 to 15 gallons per minute, Lynch told the board. He also is planning to rehabilitate well no. 11 and increase the use of well no. 16.
Besides water supply, Lynch said replacing the sewer effluent pipeline begins next month. The initial project schedule anticipates completion by the middle of August, but he felt the contractor would likely finish the work sooner.
In other water business, the board set May 20 as a public hearing date for its annual standby fees for both water and sewer. They will remain at $30 per acre on unimproved properties. These funds are restricted to deferred maintenance and capital facilities.
The board also agreed to rescind its Resolution 451, adopted in 1993. The resolution granted the general manager authority to review and possibly approve partial forgiveness of water bills under certain circumstances. The issue arose when a current customer requested forgiveness of their January bill.
Lynch denied the request for several reasons, including that IWD has not granted any partial forgiveness during any Stage 2 since 2007 and has never provided partial forgiveness in a Stage 3.
“It would be a gift of public funds and an unfair burden on our customers to bear the cost of what should be a customer’s responsibility,” he told the board.
Since SWRCB will be issuing regulations to implement the governor’s executive order, Lynch recommended rescinding this resolution, which affects water stages 1, 2 and 3, thus eliminating the confusion and ambiguity of possible bill forgiveness during water-emergency conditions. He plans to comprehensively review this policy, as well as all policies and rules regarding water emergencies and their multiple stages.
“As we assess the impacts to our district as the result of the governor’s executive order, we will be redrafting our ordinances and resolutions to be compatible with the state’s guidelines and the unique conditions of our area,” he said later in the week. “This will include re-evaluation of the various trigger points for each stage.”
Since entering Stage 2, IWD has not issued a will-serve letter for more than a year. Director John Cook asked Lynch to look into how IWD might begin to accommodate new development as the economy begins to improve.
He offered an example of one or more property owners drilling a well, giving it to IWD and receiving credit for the water. “What can they do if they can’t get water directly from the district?” Cook asked. He suggested the Rules and Regulations Committee look into the demand for water. “How cautious should the district be, especially if it moves to a Stage 3 condition, and how does production tax the water system?” he asked.
During March, IWD customers used about 5.5 million gallons, about 350,000 gallons more than March 2014. For the first three months of the year, total production has been 18 million gallons, about 7.6 percent more than same period in 2014. But for the past 12 months, production was slightly less than 86.3 million gallons, which was 2 million gallons less than the prior 12 months.
Lilacs in bloom
Photo by Teresa Garcia-Lande