Proposition 53, titled the “No Blank Checks Initiative,” springs from a wealthy Stockton-area agri-businessman’s crusade to affect two major projects that appear to impact his area, his land and his business concerns. The projects, one to build two tunnels around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to divert water to Southern California, and the other, the high-speed…
Riverside County’s property assessments have finally recovered from the recent recession. For fiscal year 2016-17, the county’s assessment roll exceeds its previous record, which was achieved in 2008. The total county property assessment is $255.1 billion, which is 5 percent more than last year’s total of $242.7 billion. “This is the fourth-consecutive year of…
Editor: Apparently, the right to cast a vote for or against the proposed increase in Idyllwild Fire fees will not be available to owners of properties who are “non-residents.” That would include us. Our voting precinct is in Orange County. It is not that the proposed increase is beyond our means. The issue is “taxation…
A certain part of downtown Idyllwild I like to call the Bermuda Diangle. That’s where information that should be in the public eye mysteriously isn’t. Between the Idyllwild Water and Fire districts buildings, an ocean of secrecy exists so vast it could swallow both ships and planes. Recently, Jack, JP and I held our own…
Before and during the public hearing on the Idyllwild Water District standby fee, the audience, directors and General Manager Tom Lynch addressed several other topics besides the fee itself. For example, Lynch said that two wells (nos. 12 and 27) had already been rehabilitated for less than $15,000. Well no. 27, on the north side…
Two traffic incidents, both on Saturday, Aug. 6, both in Idyllwild, and each with similar circumstances, took place over the last week. At 9:20 a.m., Luann Elizabeth Sheneman, 78, of Idyllwild, was driving her 2000 silver Subaru Outback eastbound on Pine Crest Avenue in Idyllwild, 1/10 of a mile east of Highway 243, when she…
Karen Georg’s Idyllwild Massage on North Circle Drive has been the subject of nighttime vandalisms during recent months. In five separate incidents occurring nights or even weeks apart, storefront windows of her establishment have been shattered, apparently during nighttime hours, by the use of a pellet gun, a BB gun and rocks. Georg, who specializes…
A woman from the Coachella Valley has tested posted for the Zika virus and health officials say the woman contracted the illness during her travels. The woman is the second travel-associated confirmed Zika case in Riverside County, according to Riverside University Health System-Public Health. The first case involved a 50-year-old man, who had recently traveled…
Guitarist Bob Boss is a familiar presence in the Idyllwild jazz scene. The San Diego-based musician plays in many Idyllwild events, often with Idyllwild jazz icon Marshall Hawkins at his side. Boss brings his Latin-focused jazz quintet to the Idyllwild Summer Concert Series on Thursday, Aug. 18, for an evening of bossa-nova melodies, poppin’ percussion…
For nearly 40 years, Dr. Eric Barr taught acting, directing and writing at the University of California, Riverside. For 30 years, he chaired UCR’s Theater Department. A key architect of UCR’s master’s degree in fine arts in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, Barr was responsible for launching the program at the UCR,…
