Past Tense: October 19, 2017
70 years ago – 1947
The newly formed house committee for Town Hall took steps to waterproof the basement, purchase oil heaters and provide restrooms.
65 years ago – 1952
Halfway through the deer hunting season, a record number of 374 bucks were tallied. Meanwhile, locals were spreading a tall tale about a hunter who took a snooze and awoke to a buck licking his face.
60 years ago – 1957
Town Crier founders and publishers Ernest and Betty Maxwell sold the newspaper to Mark Clevenger, San Clemente Sun Post news editor.
55 years ago – 1962
Emax watched Joe Rotchert’s African game movies and was entranced by the giraffes: “From head to toe, nothing seemed in the right place.
50 years ago – 1967
Volunteers were busy constructing the Mile-High Trap Club shooting range on Baldy Mountain.
45 years ago – 1972
The Poverty Construction Company was building the first solar kiln in the world. It contained 8,000 mirrors, each cut by hand.
40 years ago – 1977
While working at a restaurant in Idyllwild, Michele McCann was asked to be in a 1978 Ford Bronco commercial. She agreed and added publicity work to her résumé.
35 years ago – 1982
Idyllwild merchants complied with a statewide removal of all over-the-counter drug sales of Tylenol regular and extra strength. The action was taken one week after Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide reportedly caused seven deaths in the Chicago area.
30 years ago – 1987
A two-day storm dumped nearly 3 inches of rain and was blamed for knocking out power to 170 Idyllwild residents.
25 years ago – 1992
Caltrans blamed contractors for the bridge construction delay on Highway 243 at Strawberry Creek.
20 years ago – 1997
The Idyllwild Community Presbyterian Church celebrated more than 50 years of service.
15 years ago – 2002
Lawyers representing the Mountain Resources Conservancy, a Hill environmental group, increased pressure on Riverside County to shut down Idyllwild resident Paul Black’s water exportation business. More than 50 pages of documents were sent to the county in support of MRC’s charges that Black was illegally operating his company, Idyllwild Mountain Spring Waterworks.
10 years ago – 2007
Two small earthquakes, centered in Blackburn Canyon, were distinctly felt in Idyllwild. The first tremor measured 2.8 and the second 3.1.
5 years ago – 2012
The Idyllwild Public Library opened its new and improved renovated building that included new technology, such as numerous computers.
1 year ago – 2011
Brendan Steele joined the ranks of multiple winners on the PGA Tour when he fired a 65 in his closing round to post an 18-under-par 67-71-67-65 — 270 in the Safeway Open in Napa.
