Editor: If you want to be a volunteer sheriff’s deputy you will be fingerprinted and background checked. If you want to volunteer for Riverside County Fire you will be fingerprinted and background checked. Volunteer for Mountain Community Patrol and you will be fingerprinted and background checked. Heck, volunteer in your child’s classroom and you will…
Editor: The Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) is a wonderful asset to our community. I support IFPD. One reason is because locals elect the board and therefore we have resources here that do not exist in other small, rural towns. Regardless of what some may say, IFPD is better suited for this community than what…
Editor: I was born and raised in Idyllwild with our family history going back to the 1800s. I have worked locally with several of our merchants and personally worked as a volunteer EMT for Pine Cove and Idyllwild for more than 14 years. The importance of local support could not be greater and the Town…
Editor: Riverside County has 61 independent California special districts — four California water districts, eight cemetery districts, one citrus pest control district, six community services districts, 10 county water districts, one fire protection district, four health care districts, two irrigation districts, three library districts, one metropolitan water district, two mosquito and vector control districts, five…
I have had an opportunity to read the political ads supporting Cal Fire, the letters regarding the Idyllwild Fire Protection District problems and while I am somewhat out of place here, I felt it important to maybe help with a little different perspective. First, the California Department of Forestry, or Cal Fire as it is…
Last Friday morning I hiked the Ernie Maxwell trail. Near Humber Park I came across a 6-inch wide ember crater. There were many more black embers easily visible for several hundred yards along that part of the trail. There’s no doubt Idyllwild was saved from catastrophe during the Mountain Fire, and I’m relieved and grateful….
The forum held in Town Hall for the Idyllwild Fire Protection District commissioner candidates was a gross disservice to our community. Town Crier graciously hosted this forum but the moderator and the candidates sabotaged every attempt to give the community honest answers. According to the IFPD commissioner candidates, everything is wonderful. IFPD has no problems…
I thought last week’s Idyllwild Fire Protection District candidate forum went well. I thought the moderator explained the process well, the audience behaved itself and the candidates were articulate. Surprise! The following day I learned that the moderator threw softball questions at the candidates rather than reading the tough questions actually written down. (Some of…
After the recent Idyllwild-area fire, Idyllwild residents, community venues and the Town Crier were profuse in gratitude to firefighters, a much needed expression of our relief. We were so fortunate to have so many Idyllwild area, state and national firefighters and helicopter crews, and patrolling county sheriffs on the job. We were also fortunate to…
I am the mother of Robyn Shaffer, whom I believe you know, and as such I must acknowledge that the Town Crier was the single most effective avenue of news and updates during the recent horrific [Mountain]fire. I am a Los Angeles resident and my ordinary news sources, such as ABC, CBS and NBC, were…
