Past Tense: Aug. 12, 2021

70 years ago – 1951
It was reported that wild turkeys turned loose on the Wellman ranch were doing well and reproducing as hoped.

65 years ago – 1956
The annual Chuckwagon Dinner for the benefit of Town Hall netted almost $500.

60 years ago – 1961
Construction of a clubhouse at Tahquitz Lake Golf Course was nearly completed.

55 years ago – 1966
Idyllwild resident and actress Marjorie Main, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in the series of Ma and Pa Kettle films, was named to head the local Red Cross drive.

50 years ago – 1971
Redistricting resulted in the mountain area being moved from the 5th to the 3rd Supervisory District.

45 years ago – 1976
The Rustic Theatre was showing Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in “All the President’s Men.”

40 years ago – 1981
A desire for controlled growth in Idyllwild was evident when about 80 residents gathered at Town Hall to learn how the Hill would be affected by Riverside County’s revised general plan.

35 years ago – 1986
After serving as president of the local chapter of the Izaak Walton League for nearly 30 years, organization founder Ernie Maxwell turned the gavel over to Ray Williams. Meantime, the Ikes were opposing a proposed 50-mile car rally over the Thomas Mountain-Rouse Ridge range.

30 years ago – 1991
Dwight “Buzz” Holmes of Idyllwild resigned from the governing board of Hemet Unified School District to seek employment as a music teacher at Idyllwild School.

25 years ago – 1996
Reducing class size was on the agenda for Hemet Unified School District, which planned to reduce student population in its first, second and third grade classes.

20 years ago – 2001
Then Idyllwild Fire Protection District Board President Glen McWilliams cast the tie-breaking vote in an IFPD board decision to contract with Riverside County to provide dispatch services for the Idyllwild Fire Department.

15 years ago – 2006
Idyllwild’s beloved Tree Monument, carved by Jonathan LaBenne in 1989 from a 400-foot tree donated by Pearson Wood Service, was dismantled because it had become unstable due to climate and woodpecker-inflicted damage. Sections of the monument were later sold to bidders to raise money for a new monument.

10 years ago – 2011
Riverside County representatives came to Idyllwild to discuss the proposed Idyllwild Historic Preservation.

5 years ago – 2016
Idyllwild Massage on North Circle Drive had been the subject of nighttime vandalisms in five separate incidents.

1 year ago – 2020
As hiking some of Southern California’s tallest peaks and rugged, beautiful wilderness areas become increasingly more popular and crowded, Forest Service officials reinstated a day-use permit system for entering three wilderness areas on the San Bernardino National Forest.