I love the thoughtful reflections published in the Town Crier. I greatly appreciated Bryan Asch’s “Human Etiquette” column (Jan. 29, 2015) and last year’s interview of the enthusiastic young scientist who followed his passion and became an astronomer, specializing in cosmology. But Conor O’Farrell’s “Love is Active” meditation (Feb. 19, 2015) was so great and…
By Chris Kramer MCFSC President With the recent election of officers on the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council, I’d like to introduce myself as the new president. I plan to keep our message going in the same positive direction that past president Mike Esnard did with this column. I also will ask other board members…
Some 32 summer camps have now been documented in the Idyllwild area since 1920. But Idyllwild Institute-Fiesta stands out for its oddly nondescript name. This was a program to cultivate leadership and patriotism in high school girls enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Given the tendency of JROTC to attract disproportionate numbers of…
65 years ago – 1950 Ernie Maxwell and Ralph Accardi, conducting the snow survey, got lost near Hidden Lake. But Maxwell declared, “Each year we get a little less lost.” 60 years ago – 1955 Under a franchise granted to W.E. Huffman, Star Route mail carrier between Hemet and Idyllwild, passengers were to be carried…
A few weeks back, I wrote about the Art Alliance of Idyllwild board in this column, expressing concern about transparency issues several members brought up during the board’s annual membership meeting. In response to the members, AAI is offering public sessions after each board meeting. (AAI is not a public entity; its board meetings are…
As our tax law becomes ever more complex, misconceptions regarding the law and its interpretation increase. Many people think that by filing an extension they can postpone paying the tax owed. An extension only extends the time to file, not to pay. You should pay the estimated amount owed with your extension to lessen penalties…
What a happy face I had when opening my last issue of the Crier and seeing the photo from so long ago — 1955 in Skunk Cabbage Meadows [“Past tense,” Feb. 12, 2015]. Golly, it seems like yesterday I was 14 years old and now at nearly 74 the memories are still so vivid. I…
I was very close when the fatal crash near McCall Park occurred on Saturday. Two riders on Suzuki or similar bikes had passed me at high speed across the double yellow on a blind curve. Then they swerved from side to side to see how close to horizontal they could get. Once I stopped to…
I attended a meeting of the Fire Code Committee on Feb. 11, 2015, sponsored by the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council. The purpose was to hear how the San Bernardino County Mountain Defensible Space Guidelines work. It has three rules: within 15, 30 and 100 feet of a structure. The illustration they presented showed a…
65 years ago – 1950 Eleanor Johnson’s long-cherished project of beautifying Village Circle got underway. 60 years ago – 1955 Ted Belden filed a patent on the special design for the Pinecraft “Idyllwild Chair.” It was a fitted-to-size chair proportioned to small, average or big people. 55 years ago – 1960 The Christian Science Society,…
