BLAME TRINA
This article was published in the March 1, 2025 Edition.
What has been remarkable over the course of The Sheet’s 22-year run (to date) has been my general good health and good fortune. That the technology (office computer), weather, my body, or the bodies of my rare stand-ins haven’t completely broken down during any one week.
That’s about 1,500 papers worth – some 375 or so over the first two years or so when I was doing them on a “daily” basis.
While I’d like to think this “Iron Man” streak is worthy of Lou Gehrig (2,130 consecutive games played), the better comp could be the man Gehrig surpassed, a guy by the name of Everett Scott (1,307 consecutive games played).
The thumbnail sketch from Wikipedia:
Scott was a slick-fielding shortstop who led the American League in fielding percentage for seven straight seasons from 1916-1922.
He was also a mediocre hitter (.249 career batting average) with scant power (20 career HRs).
Like Babe Ruth, Scott was traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees following a contract dispute. He won World Series titles with both teams, and served as captain of both teams.
Upon his retirement, he was a professional bowler and owned bowling alleys in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
He also wrote a children’s book, “Third Base Thatcher,” published in 1928.
I start with the above because the kid’s been sick this week and I’m wondering whether or not I’m following her down that rabbit hole.
It’s 3:06 a.m.
I’m debating whether or not it’s too early for coffee. The dog would opine yes, as he’s asleep on my right foot and does not wish to be disturbed.
The dog, a Corgi/Terrier mix, exists as a living, breathing example of the power of advertising.
This is what happens when you run regular shelter ads every week. It breaks you down.
That, and the meeting Inyo Supervisor Trina Orrill held where she talked about the spike in shelter numbers.
Thus the title of this column.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Joey Merten this week. The late Joey Merten. Seems impossible that he’s gone. A guy with that irrepressible energy and zest for life.
I’m guessing he was around my age (late 50s). I’ll have that answer next week. I’m working on the obit …
When I arrived in town in December, 2001, Joey was the manager at Roberto’s, and it sure seemed to me like he was the town’s de facto Mayor.
The place was a zoo. Crowded, loud … but Joey thrived on the pace of it. And was always super pleasant, rushed and yet unrushed. He made the time to give you a smile and pat on the back. And it didn’t matter if you’d been a local for two weeks or two decades – Joey made you feel special. He knew you and was gonna take care of you.
And after I started the paper and would bring Sheets by to litter in various establishments, Joey would see me and give me a big “Lunch!” greeting and pretended that the arrival of the paper had made his day, and he’d make a special place for my stack of insolence.
Joey made you feel special.
Pause here while I grab that coffee – the dog has moved to my padded kitchen bench. The dog does have a name he came with btw. Captain.
Ride captain ride upon your mystery ship/
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.
That’s the bittersweet thing about obits. Joey’s death means that one more time, he’ll bring people together – for a celebration of life this summer. It also means that I’ll call my first landlord (Traci Walker at the Pinecliff ) to commiserate. And track down my first Mammoth roommate, Dave “Farmer” Yaeger, who moved to Hawaii many moons ago. Joey was his best man.
When I spoke with Traci, I learned that her daughter, Winter, is studying journalism in college. I asked (not entirely facetiously) if Winter would like to come home and buy a newspaper. “Oh, she wouldn’t be interested in that,” deadpanned Traci.
As for Joey’s partner, Andrea Barnes, I spoke to her on Monday, on what would have been their 20th anniversary. She said she had just got done feeding Joey’s 10’ boa constrictor. She had to head south for a medical appointment, thus the delay.
My daughter got me this mug I’m drinking out of – a birthday/Father’s day gift. It amuses me because it’s a piece of MLT propaganda. Has the logo and Mammoth Lakes, California written on it and below that, a tagline (of course). The Real Unreal.
But at that MLT Board “visioning” session a few weeks back, the more relevant tagline may have been “What is Real?”
Because there was a whole discussion/digression at to how to define “What is a Local?”
Because the ski bum fantasy stereotype is long dead.
And the guy working three jobs to make it – that stereotype is long in the tooth, too. The guy working three jobs to get ahead – he can’t get ahead these days even if he worked a fourth job. Whereas the guy working half a job qualifies for housing.
So the hard worker, if he’s also a smart worker, and a young guy/gal looking to make it – more than likely he’s living someplace else now.
The facilitator of the workshop, a guy named Matthew Landkamer, had a very interesting, ‘when’ and not ‘if’ supposition. And that is, when will one of these wealthy communities reach a tipping point where the workforce housing shortage will finally precipitate economic collapse.
Of course, that’s a free market solution to some of the woes we wring our hands about. Economic collapse tends to separate the wheat from the chaff and the hoi polloi from their lattes.
I’ve been reading “Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living” by John Kaag and Jonathan Van Belle and Thoreau, if he were alive today, would almost assuredly be a van lifer.
Though not quite a van lifer in the sense that Thoreau wasn’t a mooch: “If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man’s shoulders.”
Or sponging off another man’s shower and parking …
But a van lifer in the sense that he would not enslave himself in a work/labor system to facilitate another man’s leisure.
Thoreau viewed earthly desires and monetary aspirations as a pair of golden handcuffs.
I doubt he would have skipped a powder day to go to work.
I also doubt he would have bought an Ikon Pass.
Which explains the other view expressed at the MLT workshop – that of a sense of what John Mendel described as “local entitlement.”
But is it entitlement? Or is it lack of buy-in towards catering to the landed gentry?
As John Wentworth observed, for remote workers living in their vans, their investment in this community is minimal.
While Betsy Truax said that what makes Mammoth different than other resorts is there’s still a population that lives and works here, one could nitpick and say realistically, they park and work here, and barring family help, Mammoth is a place they’ll have lived.
The other book I’ve been reading is Frank Rich’s “The Greatest Story Ever Sold,” which is a now quaint account of the Bush Administration’s cynical use of 9/11 to “amass power and hold onto it … by the way it dramatized its fable [Saddan and WMD]to the nation and made it credible to so many, even when it wasn’t remotely true. The chronicle of how a government told and sold its story is also, inevitably, a chronicle of an American culture that was an all-too-easy mark for the flimflam … only an overheated 24/7 infotainment culture that had trivialized the very idea of reality (and with it, what once was known as ‘news’) could be so successfully manipulated by those in power.”
If we were an easy mark in 2002 and 2003, what does that makes us now?
Funny thing is, I found the Rich book at the library, but not in the library. It was on that free book cart in the foyer. That’s how relevant the “clever manipulations” of the 2000s seem today.
I’ve heard a lot of people weigh in on the Claire Murphy death – Murphy was the MMSA ski patroller caught in the February 14 slide.
In my history of covering this town, that makes four patrollers who’ve died on the job. During the same time frame, zero law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty (thank God).
Arianne Weiner’s letter on the next page is spot on. All aspects of mountain safety should be in focus.
There is no universe where rushing to open up terrain is worth any risk to a person’s life.
And in the aftermath, I’ve received messages from people who just couldn’t quite believe the apres-ski at Canyon resumed the next weekend as if nothing had happened.
No community conversation. And conspicuous Alterran silence, I’m sure guided by ‘our lawyers told us we shouldn’t say anything.’
“It’ll blow over soon” seems to be the Alterra strategy.
What shocked Fisher was the suggestion in an MMSA Instagram post dated February 22 that it would share information regarding fundraising efforts.
What? Fundraising from whom? There’s no need for fundraising. Alterra should be paying 100%.
Next MMSA Instagram post caption: Fresh midweek corduroy and wide open groomers.
But as Ms. Weiner alluded, this isn’t isolated. We appear to be downplaying the danger inherent in the sport because no one wants to step on anyone else’s buzz.
And it’s “go go go gimme my shred why can’t they get stuff open? In the old days they woulda had it open.”
As personal examples, I was knocked unconscious on the hill (by a reckless skier) in 2021. The skier in question had been tucking down from Chair 5 so he could keep his speed to reach a “pop-up” bar which had been set up at the top of Chair 10.
In 2017, an out of control snowboarder on Scottie’s missed my then-6 year old daughter and I (stopped for a rest) by a matter of inches. Board up, butt sliding, flying past at 25 mph. Still gives me nightmares. He would have killed her.
This season, I was plowed over again by a snowboarder speeding through the slow zone in front of Main Lodge trying to keep speed to get to the gondola.
Guy just left his goggles on and his facemask over his face while the patroller took the report. No remorse. It must have been this old guy’s fault for standing in the way.
To the powers-that-be: I don’t know what your skier satisfaction surveys say, but Arianne, I feel, very gently and deftly gave you the pulse of what the community is thinking and feeling.
In the old days, Rusty would have come down to a Council meeting and faced the music. He was good in the big moments. He communicated that he cared deeply. And then he sat respectfully and listened.
This is a leadership 101 moment. And if none of you have been empowered to lead, that is a profound indictment of Alterra Mountain Company
What’s the score?
The above graphic came from the CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress).
It doesn’t really give you a dramatic visual, but the point is, the pandemic just sent everything five points in reverse and recovery has been slow and uneven.
Statewide, the English standard was met by 50.87% of students in 2019. That was the high water mark.
The trough was 46.66% in 2023.
Statewide, the math standard peaked at 39.73% meeting proficiency in 2o019. That number dipped to 33.38% in 2022 before rebounding slightly to 35.54% in 2024.
Locally, Mammoth Unified scores for 2024 were 41.61% and 35.25% for english and math respectively.
At Bishop Unified, those numbers were 39.61% and 34.34%.
Round Valley Elementary had the highest scores locally at 65.63% for english and 72.72% for math.
Nationally, the percentage of 8th graders at a basic or better reading level is at its lowest level since 1992.
The rich get spendier
From the Wall Street Journal this week, the front page headline, “US Economy relies heavily on the rich.”
According to the Journal, the top 10% of earners (those making more than $250,000/year) account for 49.7% of all spending, up from 36% three decades ago.
Between Sept. 2023 and Sept. 2024, this cohort increased its spending 12%. Spending by all other economic classes declined during this period.
During the past four years, the bottom 80% have increased their spending by 25%
The top 10% have increased their spending by an average of 58%
Price increases during that span averaged 21%.
And finally, from my mother …
Well, actually it’s a Mencken quote from 100 years ago shared by my mother.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
This to me was illustrated nicely when I read this week that the U.S. had voted against a U.N. resolution condeming Russia’s actions against Ukraine and supporting Ukrainian territorial integrity.
The US voted the same way as Russia, North Korea and Belarus.
