There was some buzz in Mammoth this week that some restaurants might go “rogue” and defy the state order to limit indoor-seating to 25% occupancy (as dictated by the state’s Red-Tier Covid designation). 

Mammoth Mayor Bill Sauser had clearly heard the rumor, because during Wednesday’s Council meeting, he asked staff and fellow Councilmembers what recourse the Town had if restaurateurs told the authorities to pound sand. 

Town Attorney Andrew Morris, who also serves as Town Attorney of Truckee, said some folks suggested the very same thing this past spring in Truckee. But if they don’t like listening to the nice police sergeant telling them to follow the rules, said Morris, then a little state agency with the call letters ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) may step in. Faced with the threat of revocation of liquor licenses, Morris said the Truckee rebellion was quickly extinguisghed. He said he is unaware of a jurisdiction in the state which is disregarding state directives. 

Mammoth Lakes Tourism Executive Director John Urdi made a presentation later in the meeting. At first, he appeared as an upside-down apparition. 

About right, since everything about marketing has been turned upside down in 2020. 

He explained that Mammoth was on record TOT (room tax revenue) pace until the poandemic hit in March. He said TOT revenue from March through June came in at $1.28 million, down about $5 million year-over-year.

Then we set TOT records in July and August. 

Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. 

Urdi said he budgeted 2020-2021 at 60% of noirmal for lodging and retail and 70% for restaurants and the ski area. 

“We will make cuts if we trend below budget,” he said. That has not occurred as yet.  

In addition to charter service to Burbank, Carlsbad and Hawthorne which will be supplied this winter by Advanced Airlines, Mammoth will also boast commercial service via United Airlines to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver. 

United will have 14 scheduled flights/week this winter, down from 21/week last year. 6 weekly flights to LA, and 4 each to San Francisco and Denver 

He said the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Assn. will have the Welcome Center open as of Friday, November 20. 

My favorite part of the meeting, of course, came after the presentation, when Councilmembers literally clamored to tell Urdi how great he was.  

John Wentworth: I want to thank the MLT team for all their hard work. They’re doing good things for the community. 

Lynda Salcido: I couldn’t agree more. “It must’ve been so hard to tell people not to come,” she said. That’s right. Damn tough to tell marketers not to market. The equivalent of telling Trump not to tweet. 

I … can’t … stop … bullshitting. Don’t … make …. me … stop. 

Bill Sauser: I appreciate the ability to be nimble that’s built into the organization. 

How’s this for nifty? They’re putting a mask icon on all their advertising!

By the way, I had a chuckle when my daughter sat me down to watch “Teen Beach Movie 2” with her. The film came out in 2015. The opening musical number? ‘Best Summer Ever.” Ha! We don’t need a pricey ad agency. We just need to co-opt Disney flicks. 

My response to Gary Guenther, whom I generally find clever and convincing. Your letter (on page four) is a bit weak. Here’s why. 

When you think about administering an election, it’s a very difficult and daunting task. One can predictably expect that it’s not going to be perfect. But election officials are damn well trying to make it as perfect as can be. Give ‘em that much. 

And it was the same system that elected Donald Trump in the first place. 

If Mr. Trump had serious issues with the system, he had four years to tackle it – not complain about it in the months leading up to the election because he feared he might lose. Or really, what he feared was that he’d awakened a slumbering giant. He’s really good at inspiring his supporters. He’s also really good at pissing off his enemies. Pissed ‘em off enough so they’d vote en masse. Bummer for him. 

Georgia just recounted. 14,000-vote difference at the outset. Hand recount didn’t change the outcome. 

Statistically, it’s very difficult to imagine overturning results in other states like Michigan where the spread was more than 100,000 votes. 

By comparison, Al Gore accepted a loss in the 2000 presidential election which was determined by a 537-vote margin Florida.

Richard Nixon accepted defeat in 1960 when there was suspicion of widespread voter fraud in Illinois. 

Both these gentlemen had far better reasoin to kvetch than Mr. Trump has right now. 

In the same vein … if you’re a Democrat, you’d probably want to press to eliminate the Electoral College and make the presidency a contest determined by national popular vote. Because that would more properly weight our votes. 

Consider. In the Electoral College, California has 55 electors representing a population of 39.5 million. One elector for every 718,000 Californians.

Wyoming gets just three electors. But then, its population is about 579,000. That’s one elector for every 193,000 Wyoming residents. 

So in presidential politics, a Californian’s vote is worth 1/3 to 1/4 of a Wyoming resident’s vote. Ludicrous. 

Equally ludicrous is being a Republican in California, since California is utterly dominated  by the Democratic party. A vote for Mr. Trump isn’t even worth 1/3 to 1/4 of anything in California. It’s completely worthless. 

Conclusion: Mr. Guenther, you know better. Humans are fallible and the system’s not perfect. For anybody. But it’s pretty good. And for Trump to sow such doubt, and to fire the Cybersecurity guy for doing his job too well is not George H.W. Bush league. It’s just bush league. 

Sometimes you lose. Even The Donald.