MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COUNCILS – Possible new configurations considered for MACs

By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY

Staff Writer

The Crest Forest and Lake Arrowhead Municipal Advisory Councils (MAC) act as the liaisons between the individual mountain towns and County Supervisor Dawn Rowe, letting her know what the local concerns and needs of each area are and what those local residents want.

Paramount on the minds of the Crest Forest MAC members was the recent passing of member Penny Shubnell. Accolades were paid to her dedication to the community and “her seniors.” A bouquet was displayed at her seat. Chair Steve Garcia, Vice Chair Kyle Schulty and member Rick Dinon attended in person with member Gilbert Flores online.

Bill Mellinger of the Lake Gregory Community Advisory Committee and Nathan Godwin, general manager of the Lake Gregory Company, reported the premanufactured restrooms are under construction; they hope they will be ready for spring.

The free community Thanksgiving dinner will be held at the San Moritz Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 28, from noon to 4 p.m. They are still seeking volunteers on both Wednesday and Thursday to prepare the meals.  They anticipate about 700 people will eat in the lodge room itself and over 400 more meals will be delivered to those who are shut-ins or who cannot get out to the dinner. Community members who want to volunteer to help for a few hours either day or want to order a meal to be delivered should log onto www.CrestlineThanksgiving.com and sign up.

The Goodwin’s Family Christmas Party for the whole community will be on Monday, Dec. 2 in Lake Gregory’s north shore parking lot for the bonfire and on the patio for the tree lighting from 5 to 8 p.m. Santa should arrive on a fire truck; he will listen to Christmas wishes from the kids and have gifts for those 10 and under. The churches will share the Christmas story, before the count down to the tree lighting.

Several programs to recognize veterans at the schools were announced by school board member Bill Mellinger. The students also again got to paint the plows before winter so be sure to look for those colorful blades this winter as they plow the streets.

Sara Green reported from the Crestline Chamber of Commerce that the election of chamber board members is occurring this month. Come meet the candidates during the chamber’s public meeting on Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m.; voting will take place the next week with e-mail ballots sent to the chamber members. They are also currently interviewing for a new chamber office manager, whose job will begin in January. They will be hosting quarterly mixers in 2025; those businesses that want to host one should notify chamber President Louis Boehle to get onto the schedule for 2025.

Crestline has new holiday decorations for town, which will make the town more festive for the holiday. The decor includes large decorative gift boxes that will be tastefully set around town. These decorations were acquired by Boehle at no cost to the community.

Speaking of Christmas, the Blue Jay Christmas parade will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon, Dec. 7 on Highway 189 in Blue Jay. The theme is “Our House is a Very, Very Fine House.”

Lt. Mauricio Hurtado of the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station reported on how successful Red Ribbon Week had been at VOE school; their Halloween trick or treat at the station was lots of fun, meeting all the kids.

The barricaded suspect incident on Arth who threatened to burn down the house had the SWAT squad called in; after four hours the situation was handled successfully with an arrest. This was one of the 1,845 calls for service the office received in October. They are also investigating the filmed incident of the egret killing at Lake Gregory; he reported the man’s name given on the Internet was wrong and hoped that those who were harassing that local man should stop or they might be arrested for harassment. Captain Harris added the suspects who are from off the mountain have been identified and charged and that the case will go to the DA, for animal cruelty charges. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is also involved in the wild bird’s death investigation.

The sheriff’s office is currently accepting nominations of worthy, needy families who should attend their annual Christmas party on Dec. 20. To nominate a family, call (909) 336-0637 and speak with Lyndsey Garrett.

Lake Arrowhead MAC

Captain Craig Harris told the Lake Arrowhead MAC to be aware of the potential of counterfeit money that is circulating on the mountain and to not accept money that doesn’t “feel right.” He also suggested hiding gifts and purchases in the car when shopping so as to not attract the attention of thieves.

Since Highway 330 has been closed, reported CHP Sgt. Lomenmick, there have been more crashes and tickets written since many are in too much of a hurry on the mountain roads, especially on Highway 18. There have been 36 crashes, (up from the normal 25 on all the highways), 304 citations and 20 DUI arrests. Highway 330 will remain closed until Caltrans determines the road is safe to reopen, with repaired guardrails, signage and new road bed, as six miles of the roadway was affected by the Line Fire.

There have been hillside failures and rocks falling into cars. The Sprinter vehicle that was hit by the rocks in the Narrows resulted in serious injuries and the driver may lose both of his legs. County Fire had to extricate the driver from the van. That accident detoured all traffic through Crestline. There was also a major accident of a car into a tree near Blue Jay last week, which also closed Highway 189 for a few hours. The CHP is serious in getting roadways reopened as soon as safely possible, after a crash, as there are few detours available.

The new head of the Arrowhead CHP office Lt. Isaiah Kee introduced himself at the Lake Arrowhead MAC. He had previously worked at this office in 2022 and is glad to be back.

The CHP will be ready for snow players and enforcing the parking rules to keep the roads open this winter.

County Fire Battalion Chief Jerry Grundy warned against using extension cords to plug in portable heaters, as they overheat and cause fires. Chimneys should be cleaned of soot, heaters and air conditioners should be maintained and working well, and flammable objects should be kept away from them to remove possible sources of ignition for fires. Do not place furniture over floor furnaces. Be sure the batteries in smoke and CO2 detectors are fresh and that the detectors are functioning.

County Fire Chief Jason Serrano recently attended a symposium where he learned about the new methods to employ for electric car accidents with lithium batteries and resulting fires, and how to stop the batteries from getting to the thermal runaway stage.  Fire department personnel are being trained on techniques to prevent forest fires from resulting from such crashes and the special towing techniques required when the electrical cars are in a crash as the batteries can catch on fire after the accident, even while on the tow truck.

County Fire will soon be collecting for their “Spark of Love” toy campaign for needy children to be delivered at Christmas time. Deliver any new toys anyone may want to donate to the various manned fire stations.

Cal Fires Battalion Chief Brett Taylor reported that Cal Fire has responded to fires in California that have burned 1.7 million acres this year.  They have sent multiple engines to the Mountain Fire in Ventura and have been back filled by units from Bakersfield and other locations so they are prepared for the wind event that was affecting the area.

Lake Arrowhead MAC Chairman James Grant gave a report from Caltrans on the repairs to Highway 330 and its closure after the Line Fire. About 85 percent of the replacement of the railing is now complete with only 10 locations left to do. The removal of burned and dangerous trees will need to continue for three more weeks; they have brought in a tree removal subcontractors to assist and speed up the process. The asphalt paving of the road was anticipated to be completed by Nov. 9, weather permitting. They have been installing the striping and rumble strips as they do the asphalt. They will continue to do drainage basin cleanup as a continuous operation as the wet weather season begins even after the opening of the roadway and are preforming a hydro seeding (which makes the hillsides look blue) and they are installing fiber roll for erosion control between mile marker 38.5 and 40.1, plus dirt berms have been installed in 12 locations. Rock scaling along the side of the highway was completed on Nov. 1. They are looking at a Tuesday, Dec. 3 opening date, at this time, although they were trying to get the road way open for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, if weather conditions allow a faster completion of these jobs. Check the Caltrans Quick Maps for exact opening dates and details.

Mountain Transit announced they are changing Route 2 by adding two more stops and Route 4 will begin earlier. See their website for more exact details at www.mountaintransit.org.

Lewis Murray, reporting for Supervisor Dawn Rowe, said the county departments have already held their winter planning sessions at Pali Mountain, coordinating the county agencies in preparation for winter snows and visitors. He handed out paperwork from county roads on plowing directions and planning which will also be mailed to all PO boxes. They will be pre-staging equipment before storms and planning for mudslides; they have chains available and the 100 snowplows and other snow equipment are prepped. The Public Works department has added to their flood watch cameras so now they have 86 cameras to warn of disaster, the largest warning fleet in Southern California.

There will be no MAC meetings in January as Supervisor Dawn Rowe, who was re-elected, must reappoint all MAC members. She is considering how to reappoint the boards, considering whether a Rim of the World MAC with two reps from Lake Arrowhead, two from Crestline and one from the Running Springs area would better suit the communities. Another alternative would be for the Crest Forest and Lake Arrowhead MACs to each meet every other month – five times a year individually with one combined council meeting. A third alternative would be to keep the current system with the two MACs meeting every month and one combined meeting a year.