Past Tense: June 6, 2013
65 years ago – 1948
Due to error, Dick Elliott’s name was omitted from the ballot in the school district election. But the diligence of his supporters resulted in 160 write-in votes for Elliott, and he won.
50 years ago – 1963
A Lynwood glider pilot unexpectedly set his craft down on a green at Tahquitz Lake Golf Course. He wasn’t high enough to get over the peaks to the desert.
45 years ago – 1968
The proposed new leash law created a furor in town. Public sentiment was running for dogs being able to run free.
40 years ago – 1973
With nearly everyone in town attending, Anza dedicated the newly refurbished Little Red Schoolhouse Library and Minor Park. James Minor donated the park land.
30 years ago – 1983
Dog owners were warned to check their dogs for heartworm after seven cases were reported on the Hill. Abnormally heavy rains had provided a favorable environment for breeding mosquitoes transmitting the disease to dogs.
25 years ago – 1988
Demonstrations of chain saw art were a popular attraction at the Fine Arts Festival the Idyllwild Art Guild sponsored.
20 years ago – 1993
Several inches of snow fell on the Hill during a late spring storm. It didn’t stick in Idyllwild, but Thousand Trails employee Everett Starnes had to get the plow out to clear the roads at the Pine Cove resort.
10 years ago – 2008
Sometime between 11 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, 2008, and 7 the next morning, thieves stole Denise Whitney-Gioeli’s forest green 1997 Toyota Camry from her home’s driveway on Tollgate. That same night, thieves stole the vehicle of neighbors Kosha and Erica Pino from their home.
1 year ago – 2012
The Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council was about to embark on another endeavor to reduce the risk of significant fire damage on the Hill. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved Riverside County’s “Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.” The action made the Fire Safe Council eligible for federal grant money to help pay the cost of replacing flammable wood shake shingle roofs.
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A Hemet High School student driving a 1994 Ford Ranger pickup ran a red light and plowed through a crosswalk crowded with about 30 students, sending eight to area hospitals, three in critical condition. Six females (three aged 15, two aged 16 and one aged 17) and two males (one aged 15 and one aged 16) were transported. All were Hemet residents.
