Past Tense: October 10, 2019

70 years ago – 1949
An early October snowfall left 3 inches of snow on the ground.

65 years ago – 1954
There was dancing every Saturday night at the Pine Cove Lodge.

60 years ago – 1959
A free “trans-ocean telephone call” to Hawaii or Alaska would be offered to someone at the next Rotary meeting. The audience would listen in on loud speakers.

55 years ago – 1964
Cable television franchised by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors was being offered on the hill.

50 years ago – 1969
Volunteers were being sought to help the Forest Service repair the Scenic Trail before winter. Little or no regular maintenance had been done on the trail since being built 10 years previously.

45 years ago – 1974
A joint, all-out, seven-day-a-week fire patrol effort was initiated locally by the U.S. Forest Service and the California Division of Forestry (Cal Fire). Members of the Fire Watch units would patrol on the ground and in the air every day until the close of fire season.

40 years ago – 1979
Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies again raided marijuana fields in Anza, seizing $10 million worth of pot and arresting 12 people. It was the latest in a series of raids that had begun in August.

35 years ago – 1984
Prices for some products offered at Fairway Supermarket: Bananas, 5 pounds for $1; carrots, 1 pound for 25 cents; and onions, 6 pounds for $1.

30 years ago – 1989
Larry Bischof, owner of Harmony Farms Nursery, was told by Riverside County Road Department officials that he had to give the county right-of-way on 15 feet of his land for the future expansion of Highway 74 from a two-lane to a four-lane highway.

25 years ago – 1994
About 150 people demonstrated along a stretch of Highway 243 to express their opposition to abortion.

20 years ago – 1999
Residents were stunned by the deaths of three young teachers from the Desert Sun Science Center’s AstroCamp. They were killed in a traffic collision while changing a flat tire on the Long Beach 710 Freeway.

15 years ago – 2004
About 40 volunteers, many of them kids, spent 20 hours raising the skate ramps for the Idyllwild Skate Park and the long-awaited skateboard park was opened.

10 years ago – 2009
Beginning Oct. 15, the Idyllwild Business Roundtable was to premiere “3rd Thursdays!” with participating Idyllwild merchants aiming to entice local shoppers by staying open until 8 p.m., offering special treats, giveaway gifts or entertainment, and donating a portion of each 3rd Thursdays’ sales to a local nonprofit.

5 years ago – 2014
Negotiations about Idyllwild’s emergency radio station, WNKI, between the Mile High Radio Club (MHRC) and the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) reached an impasse. MHRC offered to manage the station and bring their expertise to its dials and antenna almost two years prior, but withdrew their offer after they were unable to reach an agreement with IFPD.

1 year ago – 2018
The Mountain Quilters of Idyllwild, at 77 strong (“76 women and one brave man,” according to Penny Bottomley), hosted its 15th-annual Quilt Show.