Past Tense: November 14, 2019

70 years ago – 1949
A group of volunteer searchers plucked a lost deer hunter out of the rugged North Fork canyon just as he was about to spend his second night in freezing weather without food.

65 years ago – 1954
The Izaak Walton League honored its Woodsmans Breakfast crew for a year of community projects including placing 45 “America’s Cleanest Forest” trash cans along highways and in town.

60 years ago – 1959
A futile search was conducted for a missing Cessna aircraft believed to have crashed in the local mountains during a storm while it was en route from Las Vegas to San Diego. Three people were aboard.

55 years ago – 1964
On the basis of electric company ratios, it was estimated that Idyllwild’s population was 2,700 in November.

50 years ago – 1969
Pine Cove Lodge offered a weekly spaghetti and meatball dinner for 99 cents.

45 years ago – 1974
Rumors were rampant that Frank Sinatra was moving to Idyllwild. Actually, his destination was Pinyon Crest.

40 years ago – 1979
Gov. Jerry Brown announced that California would return to an odd-even gasoline rationing plan.

35 years ago – 1984
The local Cornet variety store was having a Thanksgiving sale.

30 years ago - 1989
Jan’s Red Kettle became the first restaurant in Idyllwild to become completely smoke free. 

25 years ago – 1994
Idyllwild Pizza Company owners Ken and Cheryl Dahleen invited the community to a first-anniversary celebration featuring live Dixieland jazz and two comedy shows.

20 years ago – 1999
Statistics were released showing that student enrollment at Idyllwild School had significantly dropped. Although home sales were up in Idyllwild, the continuing attrition was attributed in large part to fewer families with children moving to the Hill.

15 years ago – 2004
The latest work of art by local sculptor Lee Millett, a 5-1/2-foot-tall sculpture of a prisoner of war on display in the Riverside National Cemetery, was soon to be adopted as the national POW/MIA symbol.

10 years ago – 2009
Sister Helen Prejean, the author of “Dead Man Walking” and “Death of Innocence,” was to present “Justice and Compassion in the Web of Life” at the Learning Center.

5 years ago – 2014
The U.S. Forest Service released a report evaluating the effectiveness of fuel treatments during the Mountain Fire in July 2013. The primary goal of the report was to assess the effect of the treatments on the fire’s behavior and intensity and their ability to improve fire suppression efforts near communities.

1 year ago – 2018
Three tremors, all greater than 3.0 magnitude, occurred in the western portion of Anza, about 4.5 miles northeast of Aguanga.