Highway and road potholes are one of the fallouts of the major precipitation all over Southern California this winter, including in the San Jacinto Mountains. State highways 74 and 243, as well as Riverside County roads, are more difficult to drive under the circumstances, especially in more trafficked areas. Caltrans handles the state highways. The…
The outlook for the 2023 summer fire season has benefited greatly from the wet and snowy winter. None of the major fire units are currently predicting a serious and dangerous fire season for Southern California. Fire will always be a threat; but this year, particularly during spring, the likelihood of a major fire is significantly…
Idyllwild Water District directors may have violated the Brown Act (the California open meetings law) in the March 29 special meeting by voting on the rate study for both water and sewer under discussion and not action items. “Procedural error. We will have to correct that at the next meeting. We should have directed our…
On March 18, the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) announced the closing of most of its internal Forest System Roads. The closures would expire June 30 and were the result of … “Significant winter storms in February and March 2023 [that] have resulted in extreme snowfall on the higher elevation terrain of the forest and…
Last week’s Idyllwild Water District (IWD) Board of Directors vote for new rates in a special meeting occurred in apparent violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. The vote was taken under the title “Discussion Items,” whereas in order to vote, the item should fall under IWD’s “Action Items.” Following…
A 32-year-old Idyllwild resident was convicted for two felony charges stemming from a fatal traffic collision in 2020. Victor Javier Sanchez was convicted for a total of 3 years and 8 months in state prison on felony charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving causing bodily injury. Probbation was denied. At about…
This week, the Crier met Marla Sparks, proprietor of Art Department, which shares with Mountain Pottery the newly remodeled building at the corner of Pine Crest Avenue and Maranatha Drive, one of local developer Shane Stewart’s projects. Together, the two businesses make up a “creative corner” where locals and visitors alike will find the unexpected,…
During March 2023, the Hill has experienced a very consistent weather pattern. Rainstorms, of varying strength, arrived Monday or Tuesday and moved east by Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The last week of March was no different, but this pattern may be changing, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). As of April 1 (no…
The Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) has access to nearly $2 million of federal funding to help harden homes, to make a home more resilient to potential wildfire damage. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs to approve the projects by May 31. Approval includes an MCFSC inspection and three bids from approved…
The March 28 meeting of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Board of Commissioners opened with a bit of a surprise: Commissioner Christina Reitz announced her retirement from the board on the grounds that she would soon be moving from Idyllwild and joining her husband, Patrick Reitz, former IFPD chief and current chief of the…
