Capt. Leonard Purvis will replace Capt. Joe Borja on Thursday, Feb. 16, as the new commander of the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s Hemet Station. Borja is retiring and for the last month has been working with Purvis on the transition. Purvis and Borja visited the Town Crier on Monday, Feb. 6. Purvis, with more than…

Five center-of-town businesses were open Thursday following the previous evening’s evacuation and remained so throughout the evacuation. Fifteen customers graced the Red Kettle restaurant at 9:15 Thursday morning. Most appeared to be residents, but a few were fire-related personnel, including freelance fire photographer Jenny Kirchner. Fire photographer Jenny Kirchner had placed herself in the thick…

Editor’s note: Each year, the Town Crier reports the information below for the three local water districts — Fern Valley, Idyllwild and Pine Cove — and the Idyllwild Fire Protection. The FVWD information appeared in the Feb. 1 issue, the IWD information was in the Feb. 8 issue and the PCWD information was published in…

In an informal meeting, two members of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District’s Finance Committee discussed with staff the status of the current-year budget and progress on preparation of the fiscal 2017-18 budget last week. After three-quarters of this fiscal year is competed, expenditures have exceeded revenue by only $4,300. IFPD has received 60 percent of…

Driving through Idyllwild for the rest of the summer will be different, if not difficult at times. As many know from the recent postal box fliers, Riverside County is planning extensive road work, mostly resurfacing, which will begin this month and continue into the last of October. Motorists can expect lane closures during construction with…