Off to an Icy Start
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
the PHOTO: REA News,sheet Views & Culture of the Eastern Sierra Tyler Goodwin, a sophomore at Mammoth High School, is well on his way to being a real charmer on the sax thanks to new MUSD music teacher Michael Hammers. See more photos, p. 19. Saturday, December 3, 2016 FREE Vol. 14, No. 49 $26,000 FOR WHAT? OFF TO AN ICY START Holler defends EDS study By Giles n April 2016, Town Manag- Last week, The Sheet er Dan Holler contracted reported that EDS had Iwith Environmental Di- mistakenly cited Mammoth version Solutions to prepare Community Water District a feasibility study for a new General Manager Pat Hayes waste management system in for figures he said he never Mammoth Lakes. On Novem- provided the firm. ber 16, Town Council agreed According to Holler, it to pay the firm $26,000 for would have been impractical, that study, which included if not impossible, for town faulty data regarding the staff to conduct a compa- town’s sewage sludge produc- rable assessment of available tion, and no formal descrip- technologies in lieu of hiring tion of the study’s meth- EDS. “You’re looking at 200 odology. This week, Town to 300 hours worth of work,” Manager Dan Holler said he said Holler. Holler said that, wasn’t ready to dismiss the at the time EDS was hired, firm’s figure for organic food town staff did not have access waste on the basis of those to good data regarding the inaccuracies, or the fact that town’s food waste produc- no scientists were consulted tion. He said he contracted for the study. with EDS in the hopes the “I would disagree that they firm would be able to explain PHOTO: JOSH WRAY/MAMMOTH LAKES TOURISM had failed at this point,” Hol- available technologies as Kenzie, Sylvie and Heather Schaubmayer tread carefully as they start running the annual Turkey Trot in ler told The Sheet. Mammoth on Thursday, November 24. Over 200 people showed up to run the beautiful course. see EDS, page 8 THE MUSIC MAN CAUTION: MULES ON ROAD MUSD’s Michael Hammers is a one-man show By Rea first heard about Michael portant.” Hammers from a friend Indeed, in a time when I who said her elementary- music programs across the aged kids were coming home country are suffering, Ham- with the sheet music for Buf- mers, who is currently in his falo Springfield’s “For What second year of teaching at it’s Worth.” Their new music MUSD, has breathed new life teacher, a 26-year-old gradu- into the musical lives of his ate of California State Univer- students. sity Long Beach, was teaching “When I started here, there them the song to perform at were five students in the Mammoth Unified School high school music program,” District’s 2016 Winter Con- Hammers told this reporter cert, which will take place on when I came to sit in on Wednesday, December 14, a couple of his classes on and feature over 300 stu- Wednesday, November 30— dents, from third graders to exactly two weeks before the seniors. big performance. There are “He’s an incredible music now over 40 students tak- teacher and the kids just love ing his classes as an elective it,” Superintendent Lois Klein at Mammoth High School told The Sheet. “He’s really alone. PHOTO: LUNCH brought music to our school Jack Lunch spotted the 20-mule team practicing for this weekend’s Bishop Christmas Parade on Ed district, which is just so im- see HAMMERS, page 18 Powers Rd. on Wednesday morning. Eat at Joe’s Pay to play Slip ‘n slide Who’s on first? Get a job /p. 12/ /p. 10/ /p. 4/ /p. 5/ /p. 2/ 2 I www.thesheetnews.com THE SHEET I Saturday, December 3, 2016 the Ted Carleton ....... Jack of all Lunches ABAGAEL GILES: CONSULTANT 760.937.4613 / [email protected] As a small addendum to Giles’ story about the Town’s contracting June Simpkins... with Environmental Diversion Solutions (EDS) for waste management Jack of everything else 760.937.3967 / [email protected] consulting. sheet Mike Bodine ..................Writer Last week, when Giles had a sit-down with the principals of EDS and News, Views & Culture of the Eastern Sierra Get, Inc., also present was, oddly, what EDS President Michael Ryan [email protected] described as a “Korean film crew.” “Causa ego sermo ut mihi est quoniam Sarah Rea .....................Writer Giles obtained a business card from one of the members of Get Inc.’s solus unus cuius refero ego recipero.” [email protected] crew. Lunch then asked a Korean friend to translate the characters on -George Carlin Charles James .............Contributor the card. 760.614.0546 According to the business card, the company (Get, Inc.) “produces JACK LUNCH Clouds McCloud ......... eco-friendly facilities & machinery.” PUBLISHER Ass-trologer The company’s chairman is Myoungwon Son, who is part of the P.O. Box 8088 Abagael Giles .................Writer Hyundai (cars, ships, steel, construction, major Korean retailer - de- Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 [email protected] partment stores — there are no such things as antitrust laws in South 760.924.0048/[email protected] Korea) Group family. He was also former chairman of Sangyong Motors An adjudicated paper of general circula- For a subscription to The Sheet contact (also a Korean “chaebol” or conglomerate company that manufactures tion. ©2016 The Sheet, all rights reserved. Lunch at his above e-mail address, or call the steel, cars and has many other holdings) and also several of Hyundai’s office. Issues are mailed out bi-weekly. Cost www.thesheetnews.com related companies. Check out for is $65/year. In other words, it wasn’t just a film crew, and it certainly appears as more content, daily updates and free online classifieds. though the “independent” consultant hired by the Town may have a financial interest in the conclusions it reaches and the products and And from Rea’s desk ... services it recommends. I have no objection to individuals or companies coming to Mam- At Myoungwon Lunch’s request, Rea asked local contractor Tim moth to pitch their wares. I do have an objection to Mammoth literally Flynn, owner of Tim Flynn Construction and the framing contractor for paying individuals and companies to make sales pitches (in this case, the new Mammoth Lakes Police Station, why the building had not been Mammoth paid EDS a $26,000 consulting fee to produce an analysis framed in yet despite the fact that snow was on the ground. based upon inaccurate data). Flynn: “No other building has ever been built during snow times? Tell Holler says we paid EDS because we didn’t have the 200- to 300-hours that guy [Lunch] to go get a real f*&king story. Jesus, really? Seriously. I of staff time available to collect and analyze the data. mean that’s just ... the dude needs something to do. I don’t have a com- Giles managed to do a pretty good job collecting and analyzing the ment on that.” data in about 1/100th of that time. Flynn told The Sheet that he is subcontracted under Howard CDM, owned by Martin Howard, who is a second homeowner in Mammoth. “It’s all locals working over there. I mean, everybody’s happy. The [Police Station] is a municipal project. It’s not like it’s a Hooper Presson piece of s*&t house that goes up in 5 minutes. It’s heavily engineered. Plus, we’re in the state of California where you have all these f*&king crazy liberals who want all these green codes and all these laws that you gotta follow. [It’s a] major bureaucracy, paperwork, so it takes 4 times as long … So if there’s a question that needs to be answered it has to go through four different avenues of people because of all the laws. “It’s not just some box that you just build. It’s a police department, a ANNUAL FUNDRAISER 6,000-square-foot municipal building.” When asked how Flynn expected the project to progress with the im- pending weather, he said, “I’m not God. I don’t know the next day that it’s going to snow, nobody does, we’re just doing the best we can.” DECEMBER 3, 2016 Flynn said he hoped that the building would be enclosed by Christ- mas. SNOW SAFETY CLINICS Main Lodge 11 am – 3 pm Indoor & Outdoor Sessions KEN ETZEL Eagle Lodge Doors open at 6 pm $20 Light Appetizers Rae & Silent Auction PHOTO: REA The Sheet got an anonymous tip that “someone” had tacked up a sign that read “The Pig Pen” at the site of the new Mammoth Police Station last month. Unfortunately, “The Pig” was the only evidence of the prank left. SET OUT FOR ADVENTURE Explore world-class trails in the Lakes Basin starting December 2. Cross country ski and snowshoe rentals and lessons available for all abilities. EARLY SEASON SPECIAL* 50% OFF DAILY TRAIL PASSES *Limited Time Offer. Early Season Conditions Exist. TAMARACK CROSS COUNTRY SKI CENTER 4 I www.thesheetnews.com THE SHEET I Saturday, December 3, 2016 LOCAL NEWS IMPROMPTU SKATING RINK Mammoth’s first big storm prompts problems at Post Office parking lot By Rea ammoth residents trying to get my mail and the parking lot was 29]…I’ve been in contact with the Patton, Communications Programs get their mail early this week like a skating rink,” Flynn said. “And Postmaster and I think that you’re Specialist at the USPS, told The Sheet Mwere met with a less-than- I was like, ‘Oh my God! If I go down missing out on some bits of infor- in an email that “United States Postal friendly sight: the Mammoth Post Of- I’m gonna be [in trouble].’ I definitely mation.” When asked why the lot Service contracts are protected by fice’s parking lot was a mess of snow noticed it hadn’t been done and a lot hadn’t been plowed, the receptionist the Privacy Act,” and that The Sheet and ice.