Past Tense: February 22, 2018
file photo
70 years ago – 1948
For the PTA Founders’ Day tea, mothers were asked to bring pennies to match their age. They were permitted, however, to bring them wrapped and to deposit them when no one was looking.
65 years ago – 1953
Mike Michelson fell from an oak tree. An ominous hum from the fallen branch disclosed a bee hive. Mike brushed off the bees and went home with the loot — a huge hunk of honey.
60 years ago – 1958
District Ranger John Gilman reported logging operations would start in the Dark Canyon area and on South Ridge to clean up hundreds of trees felled by the 90 mile-per-hour winds of November 1957.
55 years ago – 1963
Caught in a fierce blizzard Saturday night near Mt. San Jacinto Peak, Jackson Jordan Sr., a Pasadena attorney, sent the four Boy Scouts in his party on to shelter. They were rescued by helicopter Monday. Jordan himself died in the storm. His body was recovered Tuesday.
50 years ago – 1968
The ISOMATA Festival Choir gave a free public concert and donated $1,000 toward building a rehearsal hall on campus.
45 years ago – 1973
A weekend storm that brought 11 inches of welcome snow to Idyllwild and 14 inches to Pine Cove also kept rescue units busy evacuating 38 people from blizzard-swept mountains. One man perished in the storm.
40 years ago – 1978
A Hemet builder’s plans to construct 1,000 homes near Hemet-Ryan field could have hindered U.S. Forest Service firefighting efforts, according to Danny Britt, U.S. Forest Service district ranger in Idyllwild. If built, air tankers used to combat fires could not fly over the area because they would emit too much noise for residents living near the airfield, he said.
35 years ago – 1983
The Idyllwild Fire Protection District and Riverside County Fire Department agreed to provide mutual fire response aid to area fire stations.
30 years ago – 1988
American Legion Post 800 offered to sponsor a community softball program on the Idyllwild Softball Association fields at Dutch Flats.
25 years ago – 1993
All seven of the Hill’s Cub Scout dens celebrated the 1910 birth of the Boy Scouts of America by having dinner together and putting on skits.
20 years ago – 1998
Valentine’s Day was a special occasion for a dozen local half-pint dancers. Instructor Dawn Jackson hosted her first dance recital at Town Hall.
15 years ago – 2003
Help would be on the way to take down the estimated 20,000 dead trees on private land locally when a congressional committee approved a bill that would fund the Forest Service with $3.3 million.
10 years ago – 2008
A Hemet woman was struck and killed by a car at night while trying to warn oncoming traffic of a collision blocking Highway 74 near Wilson Way.
• • •
Idyllwild Pines Camp Director Paul Schlenz was asking the commuity to be more respectful of the camp grounds and spaces open to the public and to be more diligent at correcting and reporting abuses.
5 years ago – 2013
A major venue in town changed hands Friday, Feb. 15. Phil and Barbara Calderone bought the Rustic Theatre business from Shane Stewart, who had owned it since 2007.
1 year ago – 2017
Nearly 140 people attended the Idyllwild Indivisible meeting at St. Hugh’s Episcopal Church Monday night. This group of concerned locals was dedicated to the advancement of sustainable economic, environmental and social justice.
