EQUITY TRAINING
The following email was sent to senior staff at the Town of Mammoth Lakes last Friday. Hello All, My name is Michael Jones and I work for Mono County[…]
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PUTTING ON A CLINIC
Mono County officials announced earlier this week that they had administered over 5,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to county residents since receiving its first allotment. According to the LA Times,[…]
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OUT OF THE PARKER
Mammoth Hospital CEO Tom Parker was gracious enough to spend some time with me this week talking about the state of affairs at the health district and what opportunities and[…]
SEEKING THE LIMELIGHT
Another contender to the throne presented itself to Mammoth Town Council at its regular meeting via Zoom on Wednesday. The contender is the Little Nell Hotel Group, owned by Aspen[…]
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REDISTRICULOUS
Mono County Supervisors were faced with the age-old dilemma at their regular meeting Tuesday. Pawn off difficult, politically sensitive work on others, or buck up and do the job one[…]
AN ODE TO MR INYO
Chuck Kilpatrick, 1935-2020 You would think that a person would revel in a nickname like “Mr. Bishop,” but even though it was a moniker that rolled off the tongue, Chuck[…]
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WHO LEFT WHOM?
When the late Ronald Reagan so famously switched political parties back in the early 1960s, he said in explanation, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party. The Democratic party left me.”[…]
SHOTS ALL AROUND
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread around the country, it has become increasingly clear that the United States’ way out of this pandemic is tied to vaccination. After nearly[…]
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1-2-3, LET’S LOPE!
She was the most wonderful kind of contradiction. She loved people. And she loved her solitude. Perhaps she needed the bouts of solitude simply because her love for all other[…]
GOING (SEMI) ROGUE
Well, this is unexpected. Had a minor communication error within the office (funny, since there are only two of us here. It’s not like there’s a rabbit warren of offices[…]
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LOOK OUT, CASEY JONES!
You know the part in the silent movies where the damsel in distress is tied to the tracks and the train is bearing down. Well, given current stay-at-home orders and[…]
THE FINAL SPIN
Rodney Wiley, 1968-2020 The life of the party has moved on to the afterlife. Rodney Wiley, aka DJ Rodney O, died last weekend after a bout with pancreatic cancer. He[…]
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ZERO POINT ZERO
California entered its second week of more strict stay-at-home orders on Monday, and the Covid-19 situation around the state has only grown worse. Greater Sacramento and the Bay Area fell[…]
WELL DONE, CITIZEN
As my favorite bartender in the whole wide world, Roberta Fisher (of Challis, Idaho) would often say, “You do what you have to do to survive.” And we’re all caught[…]
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RE(X)CUSE ME
There’s been a lot of national hand-wringing of late over the fate of the republic if Trump refuses to concede the election, the resillience of our institutions, et. al. Maybe[…]
THE COLOR PURPLE
After Mono County recorded 37 new Covid-19 cases over the course of a week, California state officials moved the county into the most restrictive of their four tiers: Purple/Widespread Disease.[…]
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SPENDING TO SAVE
Of the many things about my wife I struggle to understand, a principal topic I find confounding is her ability to justify an expense by telling me it’s actually saving[…]
GET BACK ON THE BUS!
While some local schools have gradually returned to in-person learning, Mammoth Unified School District (MUSD) has, for the most part remained online with the exception of some small, highly[…]
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WALKER DIGS IN/DIGS OUT POST-FIRE
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WALKER BURNS-96 STRUCTURES LOST
High wind conditions on Tuesday helped to rapidly grow a fire sparked in Walker, leading to nearly 100 structures burning down over the course of 24 hours, and one recorded[…]
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ONE THING WE CAN ALL AGREE ON
… is that everyone likes an extra six inches. We learned that at a four hour Parcel workshop on Tuesday. A workshop via Zoom that was briefly halted by a[…]
COVID-19TH NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
A Covid outbreak at the Marine Warfare Training Center (MWTC) north of Bridgeport could toss Mono County into a sea of purple. Even without the MWTC, Mono may be seeing red.[…]
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IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE PARCEL
At The Parcel workshop held Tuesday evening, project developer Andrea Clark of the Pacific Companies guessed The Parcel wouldn’t accommodate its first residents until 2023-2024. Which means, the local housing[…]
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MOUNTAIN WARFARE…VERSUS COVID
It’s said that all good things must come to an end. While that end isn’t entirely decided at this point for Mono and Inyo counties’ Covid-19 guidelines, the outlook is[…]
INYO GOES… PURPLE?
Election day has come and gone, and while the dust is settling in the presidential election, the results thus far for Inyo and Mono counties tell some very interesting stories.[…]
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INYO AT RISK OF FALLING OFF WAGON
A recent spike in Covid cases may return Inyo County to ‘red’ status. The state rates each County’s Covid-risk level on a four-tiered system. Red is the second-highest level, where Covid[…]
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PAUL NOSTERDAMUS
Just so we can all appreciate what happens when we sit on our hands and don’t pull the trigger on an investment … I was peeking through archives this week[…]
TIOGA A GO GO?
The trials and tribulations associated with the Tioga Inn hotel and restaurant project, now in its 27th year of planning hell, have been well documented: project proponent Dennis Domaille survived[…]
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INCONCEIVABLE!
With apologies to Wallace Shawn … Eighteen years covering the Eastern Sierra and I’ve never seen anything like it. At its September 28 regular meeting, a majority of Bishop City[…]
THOUGHTS ON TUEZZDAY
I figure I’ve written too much of the paper already, so I asked reporters Hite and Page to give their takes on the first Presidential debate between Mssrs. Trump and[…]
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TALL IN THE SADDLE
Horseman, philanthropist and steadfast friend Roxanne Tallman died September 25 after a long bouth with cancer. She was 73. Tallman was the owner of Hidden Creeks Ranch in Bishop, the[…]
CLEAR SKIES AHEAD?
While the Creek Fire continues to burn in the wilderness to the southeast of Mammoth Lakes, mitigation efforts and seasonal changes are turning the tide against it. Conditions related to[…]
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Back To School
One of the prevailing questions of the Covid-19 pandemic was how schools would look come fall. As local school districts came back in session after summer break, all did so[…]
CREEKY TIMBERS
After a week of warnings about incoming strong winds, Mono County awoke on Friday, Sept. 18 to a light but steady rain. For the first time in days or even[…]
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WOUNDED AGAIN
In a press release issued last Friday. the Mammoth Lakes Foundation Board of Directors said it will not proceed with a land lease or other agreement for the proposed National[…]
UP A CREEK
Fires are raging up and down the west coast, raining down ash, forcing evacuations, literally obliterating whole towns and leading to the unprecedented action of the United State Forest Service[…]
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LOSERS AND SUCKERS
I think the above phrase represents the most difficuilt aspect for me regarding the current zeitgeist. Because there is no doubt in my mind that that’s the language President Trump[…]
Inside and Outside The Bubble
I had the following email exchange with Allen Brown this week. Brown: News Flash! BLM (Black Lives Matter) takes their community improvement team to Kenosha, Wisconsin. What a great organization![…]
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Reefer Madness…In Bishop!
In spite of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana cultivation and sale in California, the plant remains controversial in some circles. Like amongst Bishop City Council. The question of permitting[…]
A Sense of Urgency
Inyo County Supervisors passed an urgency ordinance on Tuesday to “discourage and penalize violations of orders pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic.” But while the Supervisors agreed to the potential enactment[…]
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Man ( Cleaning Up After Man) Defense
After yet another story about trash, Friends of the Inyo asked The Sheet to tag along with an employee to see what the non-profit was doing to mitigate the trash[…]
A Mammoth Undertaking
One of the biggest looming question marks on the Eastside is Mammoth Mountain: will it open for skiing this winter and if so, what would that look like? What would[…]
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Inyo Death Toll Reaches Nine
Inyo County reported its ninth Covid-19 death on Wednesday, the 8th death in the county since the beginning of August. Between the period of August 4-17, testing revealed 83 new[…]
Slow Summer in Bridgeport
COVID-19 affected the Eastern Sierra economy in a variety of ways. Bridgeport, for example, was hit in an entirely different way than other Eastern Sierra town. The economy in Bridgeport[…]
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Free Fireworks
I hope all of you got out this week for the Perseid meteor shower, Mother Nature’s way of making up for the lack of a Crowley Lake fireworks show on[…]
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Oh Brothers
Superior Court Judge Stephen Place granted Inyo County a temporary restraining order on Wednesday. The order will prohibit Two Brothers from Italy restaurant from operating until it complies with public[…]
Deaths Rattle Inyo
Four months of safety behind closed doors, with no visitors permitted, allowed the Bishop Care Center to remain Covid-19 free while care facilities and retirement homes around the country lost[…]
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Need Help?
My curiosity got the best of me this week, so I decided to park a desk and a chair at the path leading from the parking lot to the Mammoth[…]
Is 14K More Than Fool’s Gold?
This week, a new Trails Host program was officially unveiled as part of the solution for the congestion in the Lakes Basin. The program will place two “Trail Hosts” up[…]
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Careless Center
As Mono County goes, so too does Inyo it seems. Inyo County saw a spike of 28 new Covid cases over a three day period between August 1 and August[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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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. […]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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.[…]
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[…]
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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.[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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 –[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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.[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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.[…]
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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[…]
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,[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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[…]
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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[…]
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,[…]
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CONWAY ON ITS WAY
For the first time since 2017, grazing will be allowed at Conway Ranch, a continuation of a ranching history in the area that stretches back more than a century. On[…]
Don’t Celebrate Too Early
It was one of those weeks. I really don’t remember what I did. I think that when a bunch of letters come in (content!), one has a tendency to take[…]
