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Mary Lemmon, a longtime Mammoth Lakes resident, and the wife of the town’s first mayor, passed away on Aug. 6 after a battle with cancer. She was 88. Mary was born in 1923 in Honolulu, Hawaii, which at the time was not yet a state. In December 1947, she married Boyd Lemmon in Eugene, Ore.

The couple owned a condo in Mammoth for many years, and moved to town on a permanent basis in 1976. While in Mammoth, Mary was very active with the Mammoth Lakes Hospital Auxiliary, and painted and exhibited her own watercolor works. Boyd was a local practicing Certified Public Accountant, and after the Town’s incorporation in 1984 was elected its first Mayor.

Recently, the couple had relocated to Reno, Nev., and when Boyd passed away in 2008, Mary relocated to the Village of Laguna Woods, where she spent part of the last few years playing bridge, dancing and continued her painting. The couple had two children: Guy Lemmon and Brenda Baumgartner, and had 3 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.

A memorial service was held for Mary recently in Laguna Woods.

Canada with her running club in Kenya wearing shirts donated by Footloose Sports. 

Interested in joining the Peace Corps? Talk with longtime Eastern Sierra local Mary Canada, and depending on how old you are, she might just tell you to wait a few years.

Canada returned last fall from a 27-month Peace Corps experience in Kenya and felt that some of the younger, fresh out of college volunteers weren’t able to cope as well with the Peace Corps mission as their older counterparts.

“They didn’t want to socialize with the Kenyans,” Canada said, giving an example of the group’s going away party that did not include any Kenyans. Two of the Peace Corps’ three mission goals revolve around understanding the culture you are thrown into, and helping that culture understand Americans.

Canada became interested in the Peace Corps back in 2007 when she read a New York Times article that said the Peace Corps was looking for older volunteers. Today, at 65, she would definitely recommend the Corps to others, especially those of similar age.

“You get to do something different and learn something new,” Canada explained.

Her interest was piqued at a time in her life when she was restless.

“My kids were grown and I was ready to do something different,” she said.

Canada was stationed in an extremely rural area called Kadzinuni.

“It’s not on any maps,” she said. “It’s a collection of smaller villages.”

While there her general assignment was public health. She taught classes about HIV prevention as well as malaria.

“I had an interpreter when I taught younger grades,” Canada said of the country with 46 different language dialects. She was, however, able to speak to the older classes on her own as she slowly obtained a grasp on Swahili.

Besides teaching at the schools, Canada would also hold impromptu classes at the health clinic right next door to where she lived. Family planning was a big topic.

“There were an average of 6-8 kids in a family,” Canada said.

Even though she was the first white person to live in Kadzinuni, Canada said she never felt nervous or afraid for her safety.

“There are no guns,” she exclaimed.

She did, however, get tired of being stared at sometimes. Small children would often run away from her screaming.

“After about a year, people that I saw on a regular basis got used to me,” she said.

Besides bringing a new skin color to the area, Canada also introduced a bit of the Eastern Sierra active lifestyle.

Part of the Peace Corps assignment is for volunteers to initiate programs that will be ongoing when the volunteer leaves. Besides starting a library (which many Eastern Sierra locals helped get going with donations of books and money), Canada also started a running club.

“I wanted to be able to exercise,” Canada said. Eastern Sierra locals Carrie and Dan Meyers secured donations of shirts and running shoes to help get Canada started.

Even though it was often tough for some of the kids to participate in the club due to school and the need to go home after school to help with household chores, Canada believes it was success.

“When I was leaving, the headmaster at the school told me that the kids in the club were some of the better students,” Canada said.

Now back in her old stomping grounds, Canada feels she is more patient and a better listener then she used to be. The experience has also made her question the superiority of the US, and its consumerism and fast-paced lifestyle.

“Sometimes people are in a rush for the wrong reasons,” she said.

She continues to work with a non-profit called the Kenya Education Fund, which helps Kenyan kids interested in going to high school.

She is working for the Eastern California Museum, and was recently appointed to the Mono County Mental Health Advisory Committee. She’ll even be moving back into her home on Red Fir in the near future.

With things falling right back into place, it’s almost as if she never left!

Itching to use the Lake Mary Road Bike Path in its entirety? Here’s the latest status update. (Photo: Kirkner)

Public Works Director Ray Jarvis explained at last week’s Town Council meeting that the much-anticipated opening of the upper portions of the Lake Mary Road Bike Path could be expected within two to three weeks.

“The contractor is just finishing some punch list items and then he will turn the path over to the Town,” Jarvis said. “We will then continue to work with the Forest Service to complete the tunnel under the bridge at Chair 15, the connector bridge at Twin Lakes, the connection next to Tamarack, and bus turnouts, but the other portions of the trail will be opened.”

Town’s Senior Engineer Peter Bernasconi added that the project was on track with its original schedule. He explained  that some upper portions of the trail had been blocked off this summer even though they looked complete to avoid injury claims related to construction and traffic control.

“We had two or three claims last year, so this year the contractor chose to completely block off those portions of the path so that he wouldn’t have to worry about traffic control” Bernasconi said.

Phyllis Benham with examples of her art. (Photo: Kirkner)

No person can stop time, but there are a chosen few in this world who appear able to suspend it, or elongate it, people whose vitality remains intact for birthday after birthday until you (and they) lose count of what year, if not what decade, they’re on.

Phyllis Benham is one of these people.

And Phyllis is holding yet another one of her infamous “pick-a-pot” parties this Sunday from noon-5 p.m. at the home of Susan Burgitt and Mary Pipersky in Sunny Slopes (go to the end of Sunny Slope Rd. and look for the balloons … and bring cash!)

Benham has been “potting” for about a quarter-century now. She became interested in ceramics years ago when she enrolled her children in a summer program and “it looked like fun.”

She later took an adult education class in pottery at Bakersfield College and has followed that up with numerous workshops over the years.

This year marks the 4th annual party. The first year, my wife and I went with the idea of getting Christmas gifts for friends and family.

By the next year, however, we decided we rather liked everything too much to part with it.

And now, with each successive year, Phyllis continues to fill the various nooks and crannies of our house with her wares.

Phyllis works out of Danny Whitmore’s mother’s garage … or 1/2 garage. Mrs. Whitmore died years ago, but the Whitmore family still keeps the place as a vacation home. As the place has no heat, Phyllis’s general potting schedule is April through November.

“I’ve got a wheel, a kiln, all my glazes and accessible water outside … and a dog run, where Danny and his son raised pheasants this summer.”

She explained that she gets her clay in 25-pound sacks, usually ordering 400-500 pounds at a time.

“I used to get it shipped from Laguna Clay, but that proved terribly expensive, so now I pick it up in an airplane from Leslie Ceramics in Berkeley.”

I look at her dubiously. Sometimes the ageism creeps in regardless of how open-minded you think you are.

“You fly?”

“Yes. I get tested every six weeks,” she says. “I pass everything. I don’t have de-icing equipment, so I only fly in decent weather.”

“Does your husband [Herb] fly, too?” I ask.

“No, he reads the paper, although sometimes I wish he’d look out the window once in awhile to see what we’re gonna get hit by.”

Herb and Phyllis met on a tennis court in Santa Barbara in 1949 and were married April 15, 1950.

“Why would you get married on tax day?” I asked.

“It wasn’t tax day at the time. Besides, it wouldn’t have made any difference back then. We didn’t have any money.”

Phyllis first visited Mammoth in 1948 on her way east to attend Bennington College in Vermont. She graduated from Bennington in June 1949.

The Benhams have owned a home in Mammoth since 1980.

“What’s the secret to a long marriage?”

“Lots of space,” replied Phyllis. Then after a few beats, she added, “Really, it’s a crapshoot.”

If you don’t have a chance to make the pick-a-pot party on Sunday, Phyllis does sell her stuff at the Twin Lakes Gallery during the summers. But really, it would be worth your while to drop by on Sunday. It’s like getting everything wholesale from the prices you’d expect to pay for similar stuff at a chi-chi gallery.

From Kirkner’s desk …

Time to sort out the Lake Mary Tunnel collapse

It’s been two seasons since the Lake Mary Road tunnel collasped during the construction of the adjoining pedestrian/bike tunnel, according to Town Manager Rob Clark. At the time of the collapse the Town of Mammoth, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and the contractor, Speiss, pulled together on an emergency basis and installed a new tunnel.

The time has now come to sort out who is actually responsible for the damages and to have that party, or parties, pay up.

Last week the Town was served with an official summons and complaint, which has been filed with the Mono County Superior Court.

“The complaint was filed by Mammoth Mountain’s insurance company, Lexington Insurance,” Clark told The Sheet. “MMSA paid the bulk of the costs at the time of the collapse, which was almost $1.7 million.”

The Town’s insurance company, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, will handle the defense on the Town’s behalf.

“There is no court date set yet,” Clark said, adding that it could get settled before even having to go to court. However, the complex questions and numerous parties involved could make that tough.

“There are potentially multiple reasons for the collapse,” Clark said. “It could have been the original design, the construction process, the way that the Town put the bid together and had it inspected, or something else. Multiple parties could be found responsible. If the parties can’t sort it out then the court will have to.”

Mammoth gets visit from Tornier

Local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mike Karch set up a special treat for Mammoth Hospital a little over one month ago. After making a visit to Tornier Cadaver Lab in the Central Valley, Karch was so impressed with the Lab’s educational opportunities for operating room physicians he asked the facility to share its knowledge with Mammoth’s entire operating room staff. He wanted his colleagues to benefit from Tornier’s more than 50 years of experience in prosthesis design, education, training, and surgical procedure support.

The all-day training lab took place on Sept. 30 in the Mammoth Hospital parking lot. Procedures included a meniscectomy, two total shoulders, two reverse total shoulders, and an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

“Not only was it phenomenally educational, but a great team-building exercise as well,” said Margy Klammer, RN, who helped organize the logistics of the experience.

Tornier hadn’t offered their cadaver lab to an entire operating room prior to the request of Dr. Karch, but was so impressed by the teamwork and enthusiasm in Mammoth that they now recommend the lab not just to physicians but to their operating staff as well. -Press Release

From Geisel’s desk …

District 4 seat to change soon …

The Mono County Board of Supervisors took a few minutes on Tuesday for an important agenda item: a formal proclamation honoring the service of outgoing Interim District 4 Supervisor Bob Peters, who will soon turn over the seat to supervisor-elect Tim Hansen. Board Chair Byng Hunt lauded Peters, who owns the Bridgeport Inn, for his lengthy history of county service, including Regional Planning Advisory Committee and Tourism and Film Commission roles. Peters took over the District 4 seat on March 19 following his appointment by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor exercised his option to fill the seat, which was vacated by the sudden passing of Bill Reid in October 2009, to help the Board avoid any counterproductive legislative gridlock and lack of quorum votes.

For his part, Hansen ran a very grassroots campaign, using a straightforward, direct mail outreach, in addition to his regular practice of attending various meetings and public events. Hansen pulled enough north county votes, and those leftover from the June race that included former candidates Renn Nolan and Bobby Tems, to post a comfortable 15% margin of victory over his opponent, Tim Fesko.

Hansen said he’s always been one to get out and “bullsh*t” with the public, which wasn’t going to change whether or not he won the election. Asked why he thinks he won, Hansen, a pop culture devotee, simply said he thought it came down to his Clark Kent/Superman-esque pursuit of “truth, justice and the American Way.”

Hansen will be sworn in as soon as the election is certified.

Construction in the Lakes Basin has been a common sight this summer and will continue through November as crews work on a bike and pedestrian underpass. (Photo: Kirkner)

Starting Oct. 4 through Nov. 7, Lake Mary Road will be temporarily closed to all access from the northern intersection with the Twin Lakes Loop Road to the southern intersection with Twin Lakes Loop Road. Access to the Lakes Basin will still be available by either Old Mammoth Road or Twin Lakes Loop Road.

The closure is due to the construction of a bike and pedestrian underpass, which is part of the Lakes Basin bike path development project. When completed, the Lakes Basin Path will run from the intersection of Lake Mary Road and Minaret Road to Horseshoe Lake. The Lakes Basin Path also includes a trail bridge over Mammoth Creek below the Twin Lakes highway bridge, a number of bus shelters, bus pullouts, connector trails, and an overlook. This project is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For further information regarding the temporary road closure or scope of work, contact Jon Kazmierski, Recreation Officer for the Mammoth and Mono Lake Ranger Districts, at 760.924.5503 or jkazmierski@fs.fed.us. -TOML

Inyo National Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch (left), Mammoth Lakes Mayor Skip Harvey and Town Recreation Manager Stu Brown at the ribbon-cutting for the lower section of the Lake Mary Bike Path on Tuesday. The path’s section, which has a long history dating back to the 1990s, was recently able to be completed with $3 million in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) stimulus funds secured through the state and the U.S. Forest Service. It includes some nifty signage, and a detailed trails map, produced in association with Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access. The Town is now focusing its attention on the upper section. (Photo: Geisel)

A typical indoor grow set-up.

Some girls are risky business

With the passage of local Measure M (which paves the way for the opening of two potential marijuana dispensaries in town) and the recent surge in popularity of medical marijuana, the town of Mammoth Lakes has also seen an increase in what are called “grow-ops,” or home cultivation of marijuana. This is a legal practice in California so long as the grower has a valid medical marijuana card. Beyond the debate over the use of marijuana itself, there’s also concern (and risks) inherent in the grow process.

Even overlooking the fact that pot is illegal on the federal level, there are many inherent dangers not only to your health but also to your place of residence if you grow. If not done carefully and correctly, starting your own grow-op can put an individual and the individual’s home at risk of exposure to water damage, mold, toxic gases, fire, electric shock and even explosions. Growers and property owners need to know of these possible risks.

The issue is well beyond the question of ‘if.’ People are starting grow-ops. The conversation now needs to shift to how people are starting grow-ops, and are they safe and in accordance with the law?

According to the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, a “Basic Physicians Statement and Recommendation” allows a patient to have up to 12 immature plants or six mature plants. The next level of recommendation is called a 420 Exempt, this allows you to have up to 99 plants.

So in order to start a marijuana grow-op, growers frequently have to make major adjustments to the ceilings, walls and basic infrastructure of the home. Marijuana plants require large amounts of water, light and air ventilation (to stimulate the plant and handle the excess moisture).

One of the problems is that people don’t always consult an electrician before deciding to grow in their homes or rental units. “The town doesn’t want to see people setting their houses on fire,” said Scott Calvert of 420 Medicard, “Measure M states that if you draw more than 1200 watts of power, which is basically a couple of lights and a fan, you must have an affidavit signed by an electrician and then have that submitted to the police department.” Calvert went on to say, “I’ve never heard of a setup in a condo or rental unit that hasn’t done some damage to the place. You have to know what your doing.”

Recently I spoke with a local electrician (who wished to remain anonymous) who stated that he got a call about installing two, 1,000 watt fixtures and an exhaust fan system for an individual who said he wanted to build a grow room in his house. Which is legal, but according to a study by the Electrical Distributors Association, grow-ops can consume up to 300 kilowatt hours per day. Though this is considered a larger scale operation,  it is 10 times the average household power consumption. According to the same study the likelihood of fire in a home hosting a grow-op is 40 percent higher.

“You just want to make sure you’re not overloading your circuit. The typical ampage for a house breaker is 15 amps. Now you’re only allowed to run that at 80 percent, which is about 12 amps. Depending on your setup you could easily go over your ampage once combined with average household appliances,” said Mike Wright of Wright Electric, a 420 friendly business.

Jorge Cervantes, author of Marijuana Horticulture stated, “ You need to pay attention to electrical connections, ampere ratings for wire, breaker switches and connectors. Not only could you lose your crop but also your life.”

I then spoke with an experienced grower, “Water is the biggest issue for damage,” stated ‘The Green Goblin’ out of Humboldt County (who wished to remain anonymous). “I have all the water drain out of my room through a drainage system. The other thing that you want to worry about is fire. You should keep all of the electrical above the waist.”

These risks are due mostly to the fact that people aren’t always consulting an electrician or constructing their grow-op in accordance with Measure M. This also may be because they don’t have their medical marijuana license, or in some cases if they do, they don’t want to disclose their names and addresses to the local authorities.

To bypass this dilemma, illegal growers will tamper with water systems and electrical wiring to not only avoid the high energy cost, but also to avoid alerting their power company and authorities with high household energy usage.

The illegal grower will usually resort to sub-par wiring from an outside power source (example: siphoning off the neighbor, digging up a major municipal power cable, hooking into the complex’s laundry room outlet, etc.), often drawing more power than the transformer was designed for. It doesn’t take MacGyver to figure out that a spark from a faulty wiring setup combined with oxygen, plus fumes from high volumes of fertilizers and pesticides can equal an awesome explosion.

The risk of a mushroom cloud is increased due to the fact that flammable chemicals are usually found in close proximity to electrical wiring. Here in Mammoth, insecticides are almost always used. “It doesn’t matter what you’re growing, said Patricia Vanders of Red Lilly florists, “spider mites are rampant.” Those pesky little spider mites will definitely kill a marijuana plant, so whether your growing some Alabama Liquid Snake or just basil, insecticides are often used. People growing indoors need to especially avoid insecticides that contain Malathion, which is toxic to humans. Not speaking specifically about marijuana, Vanders went on to say, “If you’re growing anything indoors more than likely you’ll need a humidifier, which can lead to problems with mold.”

Marijuana grows faster and healthier in a dank environment (40-60 percent humidity) so growers in arid climates such as Mammoth use humidifiers and hygrometers because marijuana plants require a steady level of humidity. Without proper air circulation, toxic mold or mycotoxins, can grow within the walls of a home and have been associated with the exacerbation of asthma, infections and allergies.  Not to mention the costly damage to the house itself.  “I think it would be wise for landlords to get these clauses in their leases. I don’t think people realize how much weed is being grown in this town,” said Calvert.

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the average claim last year to repair the damage to a mold infected home was $41,000. Unfortunately many insurance companies have policy clauses that will not cover this type of damage. Instead of paying to repair the home, shady sellers will sometimes plaster and paint over the mold to conceal it. Measure M states that proper ventilation must be “provided as necessary to ensure that indoor medical marijuana cultivation area(s) will not create a humidity, mold or odor problem.”

There is a general misconception that Measure M only applies to dispensaries. There’s a lot of rules and regulations for growing in a private residence, most of which are designed with the grower as well as the grower’s neighbors safety in mind. People in Mammoth are certainly growing weed in a legitimate and legal fashion. But if you choose to setup your own grow-op, consult an electrician, your landlord and read the regulations in Measure M. It might just save a lawsuit as well as your life.

Bear tragedies continue … this sad scene comes on the heels of two Lakes Basin cubs put down by USDA wildlife specialists. (Submitted photo)

A four-year old female bear was shot and killed by a 58-year old San Bernardino man at Lake Mary on Tuesday evening.
California Dept. of Fish and Game Lt. Marty Markham told The Sheet the shooting occured at approximately 5 p.m. on Forest Service land. Markham said the man was picnicking with others when a black bear approached.
The picnickers retreated to their car while the bear soon began feasting on their food left near the shoreline. An unidentified person managed to haze the bear away, but after the group returned to the picnic, the bear returned once more.
This time, the man, apparently concerned about several “items” at the scene, retrieved a “large caliber handgun” and fired a single shot from approximately 20 yards away, killing the bear.
Mammoth Lakes Police initially responded before handing the situation over to DFG.
An investigation is ongoing and witnesses are still being interviewed, Lt. Markham said. The shooter’s name is being withheld until it’s determined whether or not charges will be filed with the Mono County District Attorney’s office. Markham added that a final report on the case should be ready in “a few days.”
According to Mammoth’s Wildlife Specialist Steve Searles, there were clear sightlines up and down the shore providing ample warning of bears who might be approaching in either direction.
A dead bear cub was pulled out of Lake Mamie the same day. Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle said the deaths are unrelated.