Idyllwild News

Organizations looking to involve public more in future evacuation planning On Monday morning public safety officials gathered at the U.S. Forest Service’s Keenwild Ranger station for one of their meetings throughout the year. These meetings are specific to emergency situations.  The officials discussed several topics related to the current fire season and future planning. One of…

Town Crier to request documents from Cal Fire Still no call-backs from any public officials with information as to nature of the “new evidence” that was cited by the DOJ/U.S. Attorney’s office as the reason for dismissing the federal civil lawsuit stemming from the 2013 Mountain Fire.  James Nowlin, one of the defendants in the dismissed…

Riverside County’s property assessments continue to grow. The 2019-20 total county assessed property value is $302.8 billion, a 5.9% increase from FY 2018/19’s total value of $286 billion.  This is the seventh consecutive year that property values have increased since they bottomed in 2012-13 at $204.9 billion following the recession. That year was the fourth…

Last week the Town Crier reported that the federal lawsuit stemming from the 2013 Mountain Fire, by which court action the United States sought to recover some $24 million in fire suppression costs and damage to federal wildlands, had been dismissed by the DOJ/U.S. Attorney’s Office without any monetary recovery to U.S. taxpayers. The DOJ/U.S….

The Local Review Board (LRB) of the Idyllwild Historic Preservation District (IHPD) spent some time discussing how to elevate its presence and help local businesses. While reviewing a draft logo, created by member Ron Kammeyer, board member Nancy Borchers asked, “How do we get some teeth?” She added that the review board exists simply to…

Questions about first responders’ preparation for evacuations, which may be mandated during disasters, such as wildfires, were raised in two public meetings this week. Both the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Commission addressed their agencies’ planning for potential evacuations. Idyllwild couple, Sue Nash and Tom Paulek, were at…

For the ninth consecutive year, the Idyllwild Town Crier is requesting nominations for the annual Ernie Maxwell Community Spirit Award. Bring your nomination to the Town Crier office at 54405 N. Circle Dr., mail it to P.O. Box 157, Idyllwild, CA 92549, or send by email to melissa@towncrier.com by Friday, Aug. 30. The honor is…

The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Commission unanimously approved the Acting Fire Chief Mark LaMont’s contract officially making him fire chief at the July 23 meeting. However, the Town Crier was told by Henry Sawicki by phone that the vote happened during open session. The item is not listed in the open session portion of…