Past Tense: February 4, 2021

70 years ago – 1951
Idyllwild Fire Chief Bill Price had his truck equipped with a radio so he could keep in touch with the California Department of Forestry Fire Station in Perris.

65 years ago – 1956
Glenn Froehlich, chair of the Chamber Membership Committee, reported that the Hill canvass of local residents netted 101 new regular memberships.

60 years ago – 1961
January had been the warmest on record and the Forest Service started insect-control work.

55 years ago – 1966
A restraining order to delay foreclosure of the Tirol restaurant was lifted and the date of the sale was set.

50 years ago – 1971
Folk singer Glenn Yarbrough, lead singer for the Limeliters, was starting a school that would feature outdoor education for children at the Hurkey Creek Camp Roosevelt facilities he had purchased in 1969. The property is now Camp Ronald McDonald.

45 years ago – 1976
Third District Supervisor Clayton Record and County Sheriff John McCoy ruled out the placing of undercover-narcotics investigators in Idyllwild, as suggested by members of the Idyllwild Parents Club.

40 years ago – 1981
Low ridership caused the Riverside Transit Authority to terminate bus service between the Hill communities and Hemet.

35 years ago – 1986
The director of the new Riverside County Waste Management Department stated that the dump, which was almost full and due to be closed, would not be replaced with another landfill. Instead, a more economical transfer station would be created.

30 years ago – 1991
The Hill Municipal Advisory Council reported that the Hill’s water districts would not have sufficient water supplies to support the level of growth on the Hill if it continued.

25 years ago – 1996
Due to funding cuts, it was announced that low-cost hot lunches would no longer be served to seniors at the Idylwild-Pine Cove Community Center.

20 years ago – 2001
Idyllwild School received a Governor’s Performance Award of $22,342 for exceeding the state’s benchmark for Academic Performance Index growth targets.

15 years ago – 2006
The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management agreed to a proposal from the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council to expand its projects’ boundaries to extend from Pine Cove to Mountain Center. The FSC administers granted funds to help reduce fire abatement costs for local property owners.

10 years ago – 2011
Casey Abrams, 19, Idyllwild School and Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) graduate, was vying for a ticket to Hollwood as a 2011 “American Idol” contestant. On Wednesday, Feb. 2, Abrams’ Austin audition played to an IAA crowd at the Fireside Room of the campus dining hall.
5 years ago – 2016
Ron Singerton, a speaker for the Idyllwild Community Center Speaker Series, discussed the publishing industry.

1 year ago – 2021
Idyllwild local Andrew “Andy” Smith had been working for the U.S. Forest Service for 20 years and was honored with the agency’s Agency Partner Employee Award. This award is given to an agency employee who has been very helpful to the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) and an advocate for the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).