Editor: Maintained fire breaks saved our Westridge cabin. I am grateful to firefighters for maintaining fire breaks and flying retardant drops. A friend told me to read “Granite Mountain,” a story of the 2013 Yarnel Hill Fire near Prescott, Arizona. The book was written by the lone survivor of 20 Hot Shot firefighters. A 2017…
Editor: My wife Elaine and I have prepared ourselves for emergency survival for the past 25 years or so, starting with the earthquake in San Fernando Valley. Since then, we have picked up a few tips that some of you might put into practice. Listed below are reflections on our last escape. Divide emergency shelf…
Editor: I appreciate your “Fake news, American institutions and the presidency” editorial. As the Republicans bring our democracy to its knees, it seems like we are fighting our Revolutionary War all over again; against (wanna be) King Trump and his klan. I’m sure many will “disagree” with me, but the tyranny is obvious. Those who…
Editor’s note: This letter was received before the Cranston Fire of July 25. It was temporarily lost in the scramble of evacuation. Editor: [July 18] was another idyllic day at my little cabin in Mountain Center, where one of my greatest joys is simply leaving cool water out back to see what birds and bunnies…
Editor’s note: I’m giving Jack a turn again this week. “Fake news” is taken to mean one thing at the national level, but something quite different at the local level. When any newspaper values its reputation, it does not report rumor as news. It uses reliable sources and it verifies them. A reliable news source…
Hello from the Idyllwild Association of Realtors! What a month it’s been. First off, on behalf of our association (and the community), we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all the firefighters and local law enforcement officers who have kept our town safe once again from the most recent wildfire: Cal Fire (the…
70 years ago – 1948 At long last, a suitable place was found for a mountain branch of the county library — a small building on the Fern Valley Lodge property. Volunteer librarians were being sought. 65 years ago – 1953 Sierra Club members of the rock-climbing division again tackled Tahquitz Rock. Several new routes…
Editor: I am a “flatlander” and frequent visitor to Idyllwild. On Aug. 12, 2018, I walked from a downtown restaurant to my friend’s home on the south end of town. I passed the billboard in front of the fire station that announced that the fire danger was “very high.” A half-mile down the road I…
Editor: To wish all the residents well as Idyllwild recovers from the Cranston Fire, we’d like to share the story of our experience with Ambassador Sully. Idyllwild is justly famous for being a dog-friendly town, but we also found it to be a friendly dog resort. Our party of four met Chris and her dog,…
Editor: We discovered the bees swarming in our backyard on Sunday, Aug. 5. There were hundreds of them flying wildly below the branches of a cedar tree. Knowing that bees are so endangered, we watched through the evening hoping they would move on. Monday morning, I discovered a small blob of bees in the branches….
