New owners are local and will protect Town Hall Idyllwild’s Town Hall, built in 1946, sold. The Johnson family, which resumed ownership of the building when the Chamber of Commerce dissolved in 2013, sold the building to a local group. Shane Stewart, their broker, said, “There will absolutely be no change. The building will remain…

Not only has the horrendous fire season burned thousands of acres, destroyed homes and taken lives, but the cost of fighting these disasters is devastating the U.S. Forest Service’s budget resources. “We are expending in excess of $150 million per week on fire suppression activities,” said secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, on Sept 11. “And…

For the eighth consecutive year, the Idyllwild Town Crier is requesting nominations for the annual Ernie Maxwell Community Spirit Award. Bring your nomination to the Town Crier office at 54405 N. Circle Dr., mail it to P.O. Box 157, Idyllwild, CA 92549, or send by email to becky@towncrier.com by Friday, Aug. 31. The honor is…

Over the past two months in this column, we’ve elaborated on our statement of the Town Crier’s tasks, i.e., serving as a community watchdog that publishes the good news with the bad, warns of danger, advises of opportunity, challenges authority, praises accomplishment, investigates irregularity, marvels at art, exposes abuse, celebrates lives and publishes its readers’…