Note: Seven new teachers have joined the Idyllwild School faculty. The Town Crier will profile them over the next few weeks. “I’m pretty much a kid at heart,” said Wisconsin native and new Idyllwild School Athletic Director Darren McKay. “So, it’s easy for me t identify with the kids. I feed off their energy.”…
Marijuana plants were eradicated from three separate growing operations near Lake Hemet this morning in a joint effort between the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Forest Service. Riverside County Sheriff Sergeant Joe Pemberton estimated between 12,000 to 15,000 plants were removed, a street value of $36 million to…
A big event is approaching. Election Day 2012 is on Nov. 6 and is only 60 days away. For those who vote by mail, the choices are even sooner. I’m not trying to convince you that this is the most important election ever, or even in your lifetime. Every presidential election is important. While the…
A grove of giant sequoias in the San Jacinto Mountains? Yes indeed! One sultry day this summer, I was hiking with friends up one of my least favorite routes, the Black Mountain Trail. The day’s weather only made it worse, but as we passed 7,000 feet and approached the saddle at the head of Hall…
55 years ago – 1957 Pine Dell Estates was a new development in town, just below the village on National Forest Highway [aka Highway 243]. 50 years ago – 1962 It had been 75 days since the last measurable moisture. High temperature for the week was a sizzling 96 degrees. • • • With…
They went from being lost and abandoned dogs to loved dogs. Paws up to our Chip, the teacup Chihuahua, one of the smallest from the Anza Rescue in April, and to Elsie, the deerhead Chihuahua whose owners simply walked away. Chip and Elsie walked proudly out the ARF door sporting new harnesses, their very own…
Twenty-five new police officers completed a rigorous training program at the Ben Clark Training Center and graduated from the Riverside Sheriff’s Department Basic Peace Officer Training Academy. Only one, Cory Zimmerman, will join the Sheriff’s Department and could be part of a new wave of deputies that will increase staffing at Hemet Station. Other graduates…
Without debate, the Idyllwild Fire Protection District Commission unanimously adopted its 2012-13 budget. The commission had reviewed and discussed the current budget in June when it preliminarily approved it during its first August meeting. The total budget equals about $1,663,700 and balances revenue and expenditures. The largest revenue increase, about $45,000, is from the new…
Hey, folks, lighten up! As I walk from our post office to Fairway Foods and other Strawberry Creek Shopping Plaza businesses, I often — make that usually — hear derogatory comments about the new library building. The color, the doors, the parking, the cost of construction — everybody seems to have an opinion, and I…
Our local fire season thus far has not been remarkable, but it has been for others. We did get smoke from the Sage fires recently, but we were never seriously threatened. Other communities in the West have not been so fortunate. The Rocky Mountain states had very large and destructive fires in June, and the…
