Winter is Coming

Last week was productive for the Snow Group. On Tuesday, we met with California State Sen. Jeff Stone at his Murrieta office. We shared with him a PowerPoint presentation, which illustrated the Hill’s snow-play visitor problems and proposed solutions.

Stone and District Representative Darrell Connerton immediately understood Idyllwild’s challenges and responded favorably to our proposals. Stone will organize a multi-agency meeting in November or December where representatives of county, state and federal government can coordinate on solutions to the Hill’s snow-play visitor issues.

Also, the Snow Group met informally with residents outside the Idyllwild Post Office. We distributed free refrigerator magnets featuring law-enforcement phone numbers. As mentioned in last week’s column, it is vital that Idyllwilders call the authorities and report any illegal actions by snow-play visitors, or anyone, for that matter. Calls are counted and become statistics the county uses to determine allocation of law-enforcement coverage. More calls equal more cops.

At the post office, we also offered two yard signs designed to be posted in residential yards (or snow berms) to discourage snow-play parking and trespassing. The response was gratifying; we sold more than 60 and have distributed about 250 refrigerator magnets. We also heard many words of support.

One woman with whom we spoke did remark that she didn’t like the idea of our neighborhoods being dotted with signs. We don’t either. We suggest posting these signs only on snowy weekends. Residents who have endured the snow-play visitor onslaughts will surely prefer having a temporary sign in their yard rather than trespassers, illegally parked cars and the disgusting litter some leave behind.

We still have free magnets available as well as a few signs we are offering at cost, $4 and $9. If interested, call 659-3884. To find out more about the Snow Group, visit idysnowtalk.com and Idy Snow Talk on Facebook.