Archive - Jan 2011 - News Article
January 13th
By
Mike Gervais/Register Staff
Bishopâs office of the California Highway Patrol has a new leader at the helm, one who hopes to carry the area office through tough financial times and bring a little stability to the local command.
By
Mike Bodine/Register Staff
The first designated sober living spaces on the Bishop Paiute Reservation are nearing completion.
Ground was broken in November 2008 on the Coyote Mountain Apartments. Since then, homegrown labor and local contractors have been the primary muscle at the site, and will see the project through to a projected completion date of March 1.
Robert Vance, director of the Bishop Paiute Community Development Department and lead planner for the project, said the estimated finish date for the six, two-story buildings is still on track âas long as the weather holds.â
By
Mike Gervais/Register Staff
For the second year in a row, the Bishop VFW and Auxiliary Post will be sending a local student to Sacramento to participate in the Voice of Democracy, and for the second year in a row, a member of the Blum family will be making the trip.
The Voice of Democracy invites high school students statewide to write an essay and give a three- to five-minute audio presentation of the speech on a theme selected by the VFW. The winners from each VFW post go on to district judging, and the winner from that contest advances to the state level.
January 11th
By
Mike Gervais/Register Staff
Following a 30-year career in city government, serving as administrator for the City of Bishop, Rick Pucci stepped into a new, although not unfamiliar role last week.
Retired from his post at the local municipality and having successfully won a bid for Third District Inyo County Supervisor in June, Pucci took his seat on Jan. 4 at the dais alongside other members of the Board of Supervisors.
By
George Shirk/Mammoth Times Senior Writer/Special to The Inyo Register
A travesty of justice?
The California Third Appellate District Court sure didnât think so.
The three-member panel unanimously upheld a $30 million judgment against the Town of Mammoth Lakes in the Hot Creek Aviation litigation.
It wasnât even close.
Thus ends the litigation in a dispute that began in 1997. Now begin the myriad questions facing the town and what itâs going to do about them.
By
Mike Bodine/Register Staff
The first year centered around Manzanar and Japanese-American internees, in 2010 it was all about Jill Kinmont Booth and this year the focus will be Native Americans. These have been the various topics of discussion that accompany the annual Community Reads event in Inyo County.
January 10th
By
Mike Bodine/Register Staff
Coso Operating Company has completed its first year of pumping water from its Hay Ranch site to its geothermal power plant, and itâs time to check the numbers.
Coso started pumping 1,860 gallons per minute of water on Dec. 25, 2009 and as part of the Conditional Use Permit allowing it to do so, the project has to be monitored, recalibrated and potentially changed due to any harmful environmental impacts. The CUP issued by Inyo County stated that the project would have to be evaluated and recalibrated prior to the one-year benchmark before further pumping would be allowed.
By
George Shirk/Mammoth Times Senior Staff Writer/Special to The Inyo Register
Former Mammoth Lakes Police Department Sergeant Eric Hugelman won a decisive judgment against the Town last week.
Hearing Officer Roberto Morales ruled that Hugelmanâs termination a year-and-a-half ago was unjustified and ruled that he should be reinstated.
Morales ruled that Hugelman should have been suspended for three weeks, at most.
Now the question is whether Hugelman will, in fact, rejoin the force and how much back pay he is entitled to.
The Town Council took up the matter in closed session after Wednesday nightâs regular meeting, but no decision came out of the session.
By
Mike Gervais/Register Staff
Seven Owens Valley residents made the trip down to Pasadena last week to participate in the 122nd Annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
Led by Sage Romero, the Aka-Mya dance group was featured in the RFD-TV parade entry with a âOne Nationâ theme.
According to Romero, RFD-TV âoriginally had a vision of having a representative for each of the 552 tribes in the U.S., but I guess they didnât get too much of a response, and ended up bringing the list down to 40.â
January 6th
By
Mike Gervais/Register Staff
Beginning this week, county department heads and employees who are not represented by unions or special associations will begin paying part of their own health insurance.
The change is a move on the part of county leaders hoping to save money during challenging fiscal times by having about 70 employees pick up the difference of increased insurance costs.
Traditionally, Inyo County has paid the monthly cost of insurance for its employees.
