Sailers, Seabees and Bloody Mary, played by Karen Keehn (center), rehearse for the Playhouse 395 production of “South Pacific”, opening tomorrow at the Bishop High School Theater. Photo by Robb Hardin/Shuttermeshort Photography

By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
3-11-10

The show must go on, and at nearly any cost for the director of Playhouse 395’s latest production. Director Martha Reynolds has voluntarily taken a demotion at her job, but she said the theater “feeds (her) soul.”
Reynolds has taken a big bite this season, directing “South Pacific” that opens this weekend.
She said in an interview earlier this month that she’s had to leave her long-time position as an emergency room nurse at Northern Inyo Hospital to be the pre-hospital liaison. She explained that “you can’t have much of a social life” working the wacky hours at the hospital, but the hospital has been generous enough to work around her directing position.
But she said after her directorial debut, the local hit “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” she had to take a break from doing so much at NIH.
Reynolds takes it all in stride, saying she is “taking a financial hit, but this (the theater) is so important.”
It is hard to imagine that the calm, smiling and approachable Reynolds is an ER nurse, and at the helm of the local theater group. But don’t let her demeanor fool you. She is the oldest of seven children who all attended parochial school. She said she learned how to be “bossy.”
 

By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
3-9-10

Inyo County is expecting to see a massive influx of prisoners at Inyo County Jail in the coming months thanks to state budget-saving measures that will take state prisoners and incarcerate them in county jails.
With that prospect looming on the horizon, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department provided a review of jail staff and services for the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
According to Lt. Randy Geiger, there are 27 armed deputies and correctional officers at the jail, with four support staff members who run the kitchen.
In addition to jail personnel, Geiger oversees two full-time bailiffs for the jail, and one officer who is responsible for the transportation of prisoners to the facility.
Jail staff handled 1,100 bookings in 2009. Inyo County Jail receives inmates from 11 different agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, Bishop Police Department, Department of Fish and Game, and Mammoth PD and Mono County Sheriff’s Department, when Mono County Jail is full, or weather does not allow access to Bridgeport.

In 2009, 707 inmates were booked from the Inyo Sheriff’s Department, 225 from he CHP and 86 from the Bishop PD.
The jail’s four kitchen staff members served 7,797 meals in 2009, which is about 259 meals a day. Geiger said the average meal at ICJ costs $3.64, what he described as a phenomenal savings.
Geiger also said that the jail kitchen staff prepares meals for the Sheriff’s Department’s larger field operations, such as the Barker Ranch dig or the SUMMIT marijuana farm eradication raid.
The number of meals being served at the jail will increase in the coming months, as ICJ
 

By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
3-6-2010

A Bishop High graduate returned home from his first tour of duty in Afghanistan last month to a warm reception from friends, family and veterans.
James “Cameron” Timmons, the son of Bishop resident Gail Timmons and grandson of Wayne and Jeannie Hutton, joined the Air Force shortly after his high school graduation in 2006 and was deployed to Afghanistan from June 2009 to January with the 82nd Airborne Division.
When he returned, Timmons had two weeks of leave, so he planned to come home, visit family and reconnect with some friends.
What Timmons didn’t plan on were the 75 friends, family members and well-wishers who turned out Feb. 20 to welcome him home and, most importantly, thank him for his service.
Timmons’ aunt, Sue Hernandez, picked the airman up from LAX and told him that some friends and family were at her home in Lancaster to welcome him home. When he arrived, Timmons received a warm greeting from familiar faces.
“He knew that our family was having a party,” Hernandez said, “but he didn’t know how many people were there.”
Hernandez coaxed Timmons outside shortly after his arrival under the pretence of getting a photo of him in his dress uniform under the American flag the family flies in front of their home.

Friends, family and the Antelope Valley Patriot Guard, the AV Blue Star Mothers of Lancaster and the Phun Time cruisers welcome Airman James Cameron Timmons (in uniform, below the flag) home after his first deployment in Afghanistan. Timmons, a Bishop resident, said the support he received while deployed and upon his homecoming has been “overwhelming.” Photo submitted

Sen. Ashburn riding in the 2006 Mule Days parade. Ashburn, a staunch opponent of gay rights, was arrested for an alleged DUI after reportedly leaving a popular gay bar in Sacramento, known as Faces. File photo

By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
3-6-2010

Eighteenth District State Senator Roy Ashburn, who’s district represents Inyo County, was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence in Sacramento early Wednesday morning.
Ashburn’s blood alcohol level while driving a state vehicle at the time of his arrest was 0.14, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
In addition, Ashburn was reportedly pulled over after leaving a gay nightclub, Faces, with an unknown male companion in his vehicle.
The additional revelation has come as a shock to both supporters and Ashburn constituents, as not only is the longtime lawmaker married with children, but he also has a long history of voting against gay rights issues and has been known to rally for support of a constitutional amendment that defines a marriage as between a man and a woman.
“We are sorry to hear of Senator Roy Ashburn’s apparent problems,” Thad Taylor said Friday on behalf of the Inyo County Republican party. “Ashburn has been a good friend and supporter of Inyo County.”