Past Tense: February 6, 2020

70 years ago – 1950
In order to share responsibility for Town Hall, various organizations were planning to put on benefits for upkeep of the community building.
65 years ago – 1955
Fire Chief Bill Price reported that 13 fire alarms, of which six required no action, had been answered in the previous year.
60 years ago – 1960
It was announced that Mt. San Jacinto State Park was included in Gov. Edmund G. Brown’s proposed state budget that called for appropriation of $93,000 to be used to acquire land in the Stone Creek area.
55 years ago – 1965
Los Angeles Times “Eating Out” columnist Ray Ryon was among a party of gourmets who dined at the Tirol.
50 years ago – 1970
Heralded by the Town Crier as a “sign of growth,” it was announced that Idyllwild had its first sanitation engineer, Wilson Smith, employed by the Idyllwild County Water District. The treatment facility was located on then USC-ISOMATA (now Idyllwild Arts Academy) campus.
45 years ago – 1975
Loggers started clearing the land behind the former post office to make way for the shopping center planned along Strawberry Creek.
40 years ago – 1980
Desert Sun School’s student musical touring company, which had been presenting “Godspell” throughout California and Nevada, returned to Idyllwild to perform for the local community.
35 years ago – 1985
The Hill was buried in snow, but plans were being made for a summer celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park on June 19.
30 years ago – 1990
Josh Bischof, 12, of Mountain Center won two gold medals at the Junior National Championship Luge Race at Lake Placid, New York.
25 years ago – 1995
Parents, teachers and administrators at Idyllwild School were finalizing plans for a fundraising campaign to provide the school’s playground with new equipment. At the time, the playground had only one swingset.
20 years ago – 2000
After standing vacant for about a year, the Paradise Corner Cafe reopened its doors at the corner of highways 74 and 371 in Garner Valley.
15 years ago – 2005
Idyllwild School eighth-grader Max Connif placed second in the Hemet Unified School District Spelling Bee for the second time in three years.
10 years ago – 2010
The Hemet Unified School District (HUSD) had a projected fiscal 2010/11 budget deficit of about $19.7 million. HUSD negotiators said a 7% salary reduction across the board would reduce the deficit by more than half.
5 years ago – 2015
Another deer sculpture had been permanently damaged. Saturday morning, one of the deer from the tree monument was found in pieces near the BBVA Compass Bank.
1 year ago – 2019
Snow fall was estimated to be between 3 to 6 inches between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Tuesday night and above 6,000 feet, accumulations of 8 to 12 inches were likely.