Brandon Opliger (son of Rocky Opliger, retired US Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest) in the left photo, taken approximately in 1989. Opliger was in an IFPD engine. His mother Lori (Friemoth) Richter worked for IFPD and Brandon was four or five years old. The right-hand photo is Brandon now, age 26, employed with the U.S. Forest Service, Cleveland National Forest, on the Palomar Hotshot Crew, out of Oak Grove Station.

Last weekend families of U.S. Navy servicemen and women stationed on the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Carl Vinson had the opportunity to greet their loved ones, board the Vinson and go 40 miles out to sea and watch carrier-based aircraft take off and land. Steve and Margie Johnson and family members met up with son…

Audrey Carver of Idyllwild has joined more than 1,500 undergraduate students from around the world as they begin their academic careers at Tufts University, located in Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts. In all, only 14.6 percent of a record-breaking 21,501 applicants were admitted to the university, the second-lowest acceptance rate in university history. “We often talk about creating…