DELIVERABLE ME THIS, BATMAN
Mammoth Lakes Town Council approved a contract update, worth an estimated $6 million, with Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) on Wednesday, July 15. Last year, MLT and the Town of Mammoth[…]
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BEARLY AWARE
Coming off a fairly dry winter, the local bear population was active earlier than usual this spring. And Mammoth Lakes has been jammed with tourists ever since travel restrictions were[…]
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STUCK IN A MINEFIELD
As of Thursday, the United States stands far and away at the top of the Covid-19 charts. Not exactly a chart one wants to hit. Certainly not Kasey Kasem’s Top[…]
More Faces, More Cases
Jurisdictions around California have seen spikes in Covid cases in recent weeks, raising concerns that the state as a whole is beginning to lose ground in the fight against Covid-19. […]
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The Real is Real
What a difference a few weeks make. Prior to reopening, Stacey Bardfield, Owner/Broker of Mammoth Sierra properties, described the local real estate market as being “dead as a doornail.” And[…]
Handling the Covicissitudes of Life
“Like all hospitals around the country, Mammoth Hospital has not been immune to the financial impact of COVID-19,” said Melanie Van Winkle, CFO for Mammoth Hospital, in an email to[…]
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TOP NOTCH ATLEEWORK
While many summer events and activities have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s one throwback summer activity that’s eminently portable and perfect for social distancing. Reading. And Bishop’s[…]
King of the June-gle
The Tiger Bar in June Lake was temporarily closed on June 27 due to a lack of compliance regarding COVID-19 protocols. The order came from Mono County Health Officer Thomas[…]
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But At What Cost?
A week ago, Ingrid Braun, the Sheriff- Coroner for Mono County gave a presentation to the Mono County Board of Supervisors regarding possible police reform through the lens of a[…]
Inyo Face!
In a public ruling late last month, Inyo County was dealt a setback in its attempts to take over three landfills from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.[…]
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NIH Pressured By Covid
The Northern Inyo Hospital District board met Wednesday evening to discuss the FY 2020-2021 budget. The board continues to work through financial difficulties borne of Covid impacts and the Flanigan[…]
Jan and Rich McAteer: Survivors
Life in Mammoth has a lot in common with the reality television series, “Survivor.” Maybe it’s the island living theme. Or maybe it’s the scramble for limited jobs and resources.[…]
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On The MLRocks
Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s three-year contract with the Town of Mammoth Lakes expires at the end of June. On Wednesday, MLR Executive Director Matt McClain pleaded for MLR’s very life before[…]
Tyson Ain’t No Chicken
Operating a summer camp can be tough. Factor in the current Covid-19 pandemic and it becomes an exponentially bigger headache. Clay Tyson is 56 years-old and first came to Mammoth[…]
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Don’t Hold the Ketchup
After running out of time during its previous meeting due to prolonged budget deliberation, the Mammoth Lakes Tourism board reconvened on Monday afternoon to finalize the ‘20-’21 budget and vote[…]
Mono = No Mo’ $$
Early on in Mono County Finance Director Janet Dutcher’s FY2020-2021 budget presentation during Tuesday’s Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting, she put an ominous slide on the screen. In large[…]
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Mammoth Lakes (plus one) Tourism?
With Scott McGuire departing his position as an at-large member on the Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board, that same board took up the question of who will be McGuire’s replacement at[…]
And oh what Hites We’ll Hit …
Strange as it sounds, there can be a benefit to lousy reporting. First, Mammoth Mountain Vice-President Eric Clark’s excerpted remarks at Wednesday’s Mammoth Lakes Tourism board meeting: “I wanted to[…]
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A Wing and a Prayer
Published in 1987, ‘The Art of the Deal’ by Donald J. Trump will likely be a relic studied for years: how did that guy become president? . The book’s authors[…]
We’re Crawling and We Can’t Get Up
The uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has made any sort of planning and forward thinking difficult. While the state has been walking back restrictions on its reopening plans, the changes[…]
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There’s No Bidness like TBIDness
Mammoth Lakes Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) was established in 2013. At the time, MMSA (now Alterra) CEO Rusty Gregory had a grandiose plan to generate more air travel to[…]
Seismic Activity At Foundation
The Mammoth Lakes Foundation Board recently determined it needed to slash its permanent staff from four members to two in the wake of the Covid crisis. “In order to preserve[…]
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A Run on the Bank
Like everyone else, I suppose, I am watching the corona drama unfold with a mixture of horror and fascination. All the while looking at my own books and trying to[…]
Byrne Baby Byrne
We all respond to pandemic hysteria a little bit differently. My response has been low-grade pyromania. I live next to LADWP property in Bishop. And there are tumbleweeds everywhere –[…]
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Gentleman Jack
He was the type of guy who still wrote thank you letters. A guy who made it a point to remember people’s names. And if he were in line at[…]
Taking COV(ID)ER
With COVID-19 aka coronavirus causing major shutdowns in cities across the globe, it was only a matter of time before the Eastern Sierra saw large-scale shutdowns of its own. Life[…]
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Coronavirus Finds Timmy Lupus
The Bad News Bears (1976) was one of the seminal movies from my childhood, and I think of it this week during the worldwide coronavirus meltdown because it really does[…]
All Is Not (Hollo)well
Finger-pointing, accusations from former employees, threats to The Sheet over supposed personnel documents which Lunch has never seen, and at the center of it all, veterans who’d prefer more service[…]
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March Madness
Over the course of the past week, concern about COVID-19 (coronavirus) has reached fever pitch around the globe. On March 11, a number of major points in the evolution of[…]
Results are in!
Voters in Inyo and Mono Counties turned out on Tuesday, March 3, to cast their ballots in a number of races both local and national. The Inyo County results were[…]
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Rabbi of the Mountains
For the first time, maybe ever, Mammoth Lakes will have a Rabbi living here supporting the Jewish community and spreading kindness to anyone who needs it. Rabbi Yisroel Gordon recently[…]
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Scare-port Blues
Mammoth-Yosemite Airport’s commercial service is scheduled to be shifted to the Bishop Airport by late October. This would mean a daily, year-round flight from Los Angeles and two[…]
Burbine= Fine Wine
There’s a reason why the name stuck. In 1998, newsman Tom Brokaw published a book called “The Greatest Generation” to describe Americans who came of age during the Great Depression[…]
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Walk it Back
Just when you’d think you’re fully out of the weeds, you can get pulled right back in. The conversation around the proposed Colitas Farms project in Walker came before the[…]
I URD-GE YOU TO RECONSIDER
So a few things that have crystallized (and not) for me this week. On Measure F … I see an argument on both sides. On the Fire District’s side, how[…]
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Courting a New Court
Bishop City Council held a special meeting on Monday, February 10 to hear a presentation on plans for a new court building in downtown Bishop. Court Executive Officer Pam Foster[…]
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The Real McCoy
“Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.” -William Butler Yeats Dave McCoy, founder[…]
Dusty in the Wind
The Mammoth Grand Prix wrapped up last week and a local Mammoth Snowboarder named Dusty Henricksen managed to capture a first-place finish in the Slopestyle event in February. The 17-year[…]
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Walker on the Wildside
In 2016, California voters passed Proposition 64, known as the Adult Use of Marijuana act, to allow for the growth, sale and usage of recreational cannabis in California. The question[…]
Hungry for Justice
“A party without cake is just a meeting,” said the famous American culinary icon, Julia Child. It is also said that “Where there is cake, there is hope.” So, notwithstanding[…]
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Scopes Trial
Inyo County hosted two public scoping meetings, in Bishop and Mammoth, as part of the environmental review and initial study which need to occur this year before Bishop Airport can[…]
Embrace The “Suck”
The Sierra Nevada can be an intimidating place to settle. The combination of altitude, isolation, and extreme weather remove any possibility that that it might be easy, creating an environment[…]
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LAPLANTE TAKES ON THE GRAND PRIX
The Mammoth Grand Prix begins Wednesday January 29 and finishes up on Saturday February 1. Skiers and snowboarders from all over will be competing in the event, looking to get[…]
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LEFT OUT TO DRY
Southern California Edison representatives were in town earlier this week for a presentation on a subject that refreshingly had nothing to do with Public Safety Power Shutoffs, although it may[…]
HE DID IT HIS WAY
Bob Todd was a drinker, a toker, a gambler, a slob, a Deadhead, an avid sports fan. He was loud, outspoken, caustic and funny. He didn’t broker dummies and fools.[…]
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HOW BOUT SOME GATORADE
I want to relate a story told by Major Gen. Ted Banta at the Operation Mountain Freedom (Wounded Warrior) luncheon Thursday. He was talking about a Marine Gunnery Sergeant named[…]
NEARING CLIFF
The new year is only three weeks old and Mono County’s financial headaches are already getting started. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Public Health Director Sandra Pearce, Public Health[…]
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BUYER BEWARE
On January 5, 2019, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “High Cost of Wildfire Insurance Hurts California Home Sales.” The article discussed rising insurance premiums associated with houses[…]
NOT QUITE TAKING FLIGHT
While businesses in town may have seen an uptick in customers and sales during the holiday season, dismal passenger enplanement numbers served as a reminder to Mammoth Lakes Tourism, the[…]
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A COCKTAIL TO AVOID
In no particular order … I’ve been catching up with some reading this week. One headline from the Dec. 18 Wall Street Journal that caught my attention: “Pittsburgh Airport Ramps[…]
PITCH THE TENT!
The Multi-use-facility (or MUF) appears to be gaining traction. This week, on Tuesday January 7, both Mammoth Lakes Recreation and the Recreation Commission received an update on the progress made[…]
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GET PITTED
Every developer that has ever built in Mammoth Lakes has to face the question: “What about snow storage?” Mammoth Lakes is fresh off of a winter that dropped 492 inches[…]
CALMING THE WATERS
BUSD Supt. Katie Kolker talks goals, building trust Katie Kolker took over as Bishop Unified School District (BUSD) interim Superintendent on November 4, 2019, following the conclusion of former Superintendent[…]
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THE BALLAD OF A SELF-MADE MAN
Tony Colarsardo: 1950-2019 To call Tony Colasardo a pillar of the Mammoth community would be an understatement. He was more of a steel column. And now he is gone. Colasardo.[…]
ONE MAN, MANY CAROLS
Gus Kreiger is just a single person but starting this coming weekend, he’ll transform into a full ensemble of more than twenty distinct characters over the course of his performance[…]
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WE NEED STU!
You can really make a game of it. Think of all the businesses that have come and gone in the Village at Mammoth since it opened in May, 2003. Hennessey’s,[…]
ALL THE WAY BACK
This season the Bishop Broncos football team cruised to an 8-2 regular season record and entered the playoffs as the #1 overall seed in the division 6 central playoffs. After[…]
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Still Depressed- the Sequel
The initial findings of a nine-month Workforce Health and Well-Being Project for Mono County employees revealed exhaustion, frustration, and anxiety within the ranks, painting a picture of a workforce struggling[…]
Send in the Browns
In response to last week’s editorial, I heard through the grapevine something along these lines, “There he goes again – suggesting that Mammoth Lakes Tourism (MLT) should operate with less[…]
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Park Place vs. Boardwalk
Mammoth’s Town Council and Planning and Economic Development Commission (PEDC) held a special joint meeting on Wednesday to discuss the preferred draft plan for The Parcel workforce housing development. Public[…]
Helping to Understand the Universe
A crowd gathered at Cerro Coso Community College in Bishop on the night of Thursday, November 14, to hear a talk by Dr. Katie Bouman, an assistant professor of computing[…]
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Poison Pill For Mill City Tract Owners
“We were hoping as we got more detailed studies maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as we thought. But I’m not going to sugarcoat this. This isn’t good news.” Inyo[…]
The Boy of Summer
Marty Burgenbauch: 1948-2019 It’s fairly ironic that the last band (of many bands over the years) Marty Burgenbauch was a part of was called “The Jaded Haters,” as Marty was[…]
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I’m With Keynes
There was a great essay in November 2 issue of The Economist on credulity and politics, pretty much asking “Why isn’t lying more damaging [to politicians]?” I could quote the[…]
Is The Plan To Ban?
Mammoth Town Council met Wednesday night, November 6, in front of a completely packed Suite Z. Some people left after the town announced its new hires and handed out awards[…]
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Whacking the Tobaccy
On November 1, a new tobacco ban goes into effect county-wide, removing flavored tobacco products such as menthol cigarettes from the shelves of local retailers. The institution of this ban,[…]
Dollywood West
If there’s one thing about Mammoth, it’s that we have a knack for doing things and celebrating things which inevitably fall out of fashion or become utter relics. There’s the[…]
