By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY

Staff Writer

At the Nov. 7 Crest Forest Municipal Advisory Council meeting, special presentations were given by the Alterra group, who now own Snow Valley, and Southern California Edison.

Alterra purchased Snow Valley last January and many improvements have made to the facilities this last summer season. They will have many $5 tickets for teens on non-school weekdays. The spokesman said locals’ season passes are the same price as last year right now, until the snow flies.

Shane Massoud from Southern California Edison gave the same presentation that he gave to the Lake Arrowhead MAC, which was reviewed in last week’s Alpine Mountaineer, about their fire mitigation efforts. During weather – snow, wind and red flat – episodes, they will have crews, supplies and equipment pre-stationed for faster response. Because they are still working on the lines in Crestline, it is essential that SCE have current phone, text and email addresses so they can pre-inform electrical users of planned outages. And he reminded everyone whenever a line is down to assume it is live and not approach or touch it.

Massoud said that it is not fiscally viable to bury the lines locally despite the high local maintenance costs because of snow and other factors. SCE has already engineered the plans for replacing the lines in this area, so they are unlikely to change their plans. However, Massoud did ask those in attendance if they thought that underground wires would be beneficial locally by reducing the number of times power would be out; more than 85 percent raised their hands. Crestline has experienced three planned 12- to 15-hour power outages in the past five weeks.

Mountain Transit has free mountaintop routes and invites all to explore their website mountaintransit.org with their new routes with stops at the high school and hospital. “By riding the bus, when possible, with gasoline now at $5 a gallon, this is a good way to save money,” said Mike Harris.

Bill Mellinger, president of the Rim of the World Unified School District board of trustees, was enthusiastic about the accreditation board that visited Mountain High School because it had no suggestions for improvement as they were impressed by everything they inspected. They commented they couldn’t remember a time when a school had no recommendations made. When they shared the report with the staff and students, they were ecstatic. This positive review supports the innovative programs the school is offering.

The fire, sheriff, CHP and road departments are getting ready for winter by holding group planning sessions, preparing for winter visitors and having the proper staffing to deal with the usual and unusual situations that winter weather and snow visitors may bring. Everyone wants to be prepared after last winter’s extreme weather and the problems it brought.

Sheriff’s Captain Craig Harris explained that, because sheriff’s deputies were already at B&L Liquor, they were able to keep the vehicle from leaving Sleepy Hollow after the shooting, when the call came in. Detectives and inspectors had to spend all day collecting evidence and they thank the town for their cooperation, considering the major streets of the community were closed for the investigation.

He warned that some homeless people may decide to move into a vacant house for the winter; if that is suspected, let the sheriff’s department know. They would like the address of the home suspected to have squatters in it and, if possible, the name of the property owner and why you suspect those living there are squatters and not just new renters.

The Lake Gregory Community Advisory Council invited everyone to the free community Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, Nov. 23, Thanksgiving Day, at the San Moritz Lodge from noon to 4 p.m. The Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club, which is coordinating the event, cooks for 1,000. Anyone who would like to volunteer should contact Jeri-Lynn Miller, the volunteer coordinator, at [email protected] or call her at (909) 754-9742.

The playground project at Lake Gregory did not get its grant, but needs more community support for matching funds. Go to their website at LakeGregory.com for detailed information. Over at the basketball courts, they have painted pickle ball lines on the court so more can play.

On Dec. 2, the Goodwin’s Family Christmas celebration with the traditional bonfire and Santa will take place in the lake’s North Shore parking lot from 4 p.m. to sunset. The tree lighting and telling of the Christmas story, sponsored by the community churches, will take place after sunset. Each child under 12 who shares their Christmas list with Santa will get a small gift.

The Lake Gregory silt basins have been cleaned twice already this year by tractors but are filled again from the recent storm. The county is working on future permits for lake dredging as well.

During public comments, Jeannine Just complained about a new neighbor who opened a business last summer who plays loud music and has events until late hours and who had a haunted house over the Halloween holiday with disturbing screams. She has called Code Enforcement and the sheriff about them frequently for their construction and business model.

Crestline resident Linda Ferrela stated she didn’t think that same business was operating with the proper permits since it was cooking outside and operating its bright lights after the 10 p.m. dark skies ordinance deadline. Another neighbor, Tommy, complimented the same business for the child-friendly video arcade room, a place where his children can do children’s arts and crafts and where he has the ability to purchase a tasty dinner and other food and drink at the business late at night. He praised the business on allowing the live radio play performances of Frankenstein to be performed in their tent over the Halloween holiday, which was well received. He wished the other neighbors would stop harassing this local new business and wasting taxpayers funding by constantly calling the sheriff.

The MAC board cannot do anything about this issue since both county Land Use, Code Enforcement and the sheriff have already been informed about this situation and are actively investigating the conflict between these residential and business neighbors.

The Rim of the World Historical Society’s holiday party will be held in the San Moritz Lodge on Dec. 9 and is open to any member of the community by RSVPing at mtnmuseum.com. The theme is the “Swinging 60s in the Swingingest Town in America” and attendees are encouraged to attend in 60s garb for a dance party and delicious dinner.

The next Crest Forest Municipal Advisory Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the San Moritz Lodge and the public is invited. The MAC will be dark in January. The Lake Arrowhead MAC will be dark in December and is meeting on the first Thursday in January at 6 p.m. at the community room at the Twin Peaks county office building.