the PHOTO: REA Hallelujah! Katy Grans Drake is the winner of The Sheet’s sheet “Can You Name the Candidates?” Survey, 2016. See more News, Views & Culture of the Eastern Sierra survey results, p. 22 Saturday, May 21, 2016 FREE Vol. 14, No. 21 WHAT ABOUT IT, BOB? PANTS ON FIRE? County Clerk bungles ballot; may force special Town Council election Did Fesko drink the RCRC cola? By Rea By Bodine erhaps Mono County “What happened is the ror,” Musil told Town Council. t appears Mono County Adventure Trails pilot project Clerk Bob Musil should instructions for voters should “I take full responsibility and Supervisor Tim Fesko did and committed Mono to a Pblame the stars. After have said ‘Vote for no more apologize not only to your not tell the truth about his similar program. The Adven- than two candidates,’ and I all, as any ass-trologist like Council but also to the voters knowledge of a piece of draft ture Trails program allows Clouds McCloud can tell you, mistakenly it says ‘Vote for of Mammoth Lakes.” legislation that would have off-highway vehicles (OHV) Mars is currently in retro- no more than three,’” Musil Musil presented five op- committed the county to an to travel on county approved grade. told The Sheet on Wednesday, tions for moving forward to expensive project. dual-use roads for access to How else to explain two May 18. Council. Option One, Musil At the February 16 Mono amenities such as lodging or fairly significant mistakes “It’s my mistake,” Musil said, would be reprinting the County Board of Supervisors fuel. over the past two months. said. “I’m the one that made ballot completely. This would meeting, he said if he had The bill was being spon- In March, the Clerk sent out the error.” require reprinting ballots known about the Adventure sored by the Rural Counties almost 2,000 misleading voter The error was, unfortu- for the entire county and Trails legislation earlier than Representatives of California registration cards (he tried to nately, not noticed until mail- reprogramming the voting the beginning of February, (RCRC). Fesko is Mono Coun- recycle old cards to the alarm in ballots had been sent to machines, Musil said. He he would have brought it to ty’s RCRC representative. of perplexed voters. approximately 1200 voters in anticipated that this would the attention of the board for Inyo County had asked And now the latest: On the Mammoth Lakes, an estimate cause confusion among vot- discussion. other county representatives ballot just sent out to voters, made by Councilmember ers and require more than 30 However, he responded to a if they would be interested in it indicates there are three Jo Bacon when Musil ad- hours worth of testing for the January 11 email to the group being included in the bill and open seats for Mammoth dressed Council on Wednes- machines, as well as poten- supporting the legislation, Fesko, speaking for Mono Lakes Town Council when in day evening to present them tially disenfranchising voters saying, “Next week may be a County, said yes. This was fact there are two. with options for solving the who had already mailed in great time to discuss this.” not an official endorsement, The error has thrown the debacle. ballots and were no longer in Mono County’s name was but a commitment made by June 7 election into chaos. “It was a proofreading er- town for the second added to a bill that would Fesko during an informal dis- see BOB, page 7 have expanded Inyo County’s cussion in December, 2015, THE MULES ARE LOOSE, according to Inyo County Supervisor Matt Kingsley CHECK YER BOOTS COMMUNITY STAR and Sierra County Supervi- By Bodine sor Lee Adams. The bill was olks have been haulin’ close to allow the procession not discussed at future RCRC ass, draggin’ ass and through. meetings, according to the Fslappin’ their asses, and It’s part horse show, part agendas, but emails contain- mules, in Bishop on Memo- celebration, part spectacle ing draft language of the bill rial Day Weekend for 47 and all a kick in the ass; it’s was sent to Inyo and Mono years. After more than 500 Mule Days. An estimated county representatives King- volunteers get the Tri-County 30,000 people will walk sely and Fesko. Fairgrounds prepped for through the fairground’s Fesko had knowledge that the big weekend, the horse gates over the 5-day event. the bill was moving forward. trailers and RVs start showing But it’s not the same old But, it’s unsure exactly how up a week before the event, dog and pony show. This year Mono County’s name was some getting ready to watch will include a unique salute included because the item Wednesday night’s entertain- to veterans, a world-class was never brought before the ment, the 2015 Western Mu- clogger dancing on the back entire Board of Supervisors. sic Association Entertainer of of a mule, and a memorial to According to RCRC represen- the Year, Dave Stamey. Mule Days co-founder and tatives Kingsley and Adams, By Wednesday, people are pioneer, Bob Tanner. the only way a county can be starting to claim their spots New this year is a collect- included on an action is if the with lawn chairs on Main ible souvenir book chock representative says it wants Street for Saturday’s parade, full of beautiful photos and its county to be included. one of the largest non- articles with accurate infor- Kingsley said Mono County motorized parades in the mation about mules. “The was on the legislation “be- world. “The chairs, Caltrans general public doesn’t neces- cause he (Fesko) asked it be hates the chairs,” says Mule sarily know the difference put on the legislation.” Days Organization Executive between a mule, a horse, or RCRC’s Public Director, Tammy Mandrell. donkey, we’re just getting the Larry Wylie receives a Community Star Award from Palisades Glacier Interstate Highway 395 has to see MULES, page 14 Principal Katie Kolker. See p. 5 for more. see FESKO, page 8 In the weeds Under stress Joe Dante Not free parking Man missing /p. 6/ /p. 2/ /p. 12/ /p. 10/ /p. 4/ 2 I www.thesheetnews.com THE SHEET I Saturday, May 21, 2016 BM SAYS STATE GOES FOR NUMBER 2! the Ted Carleton ....... Jack of all Lunches As those who have perused the front page are well aware, the County 760.937.4613 / [email protected] and Town are mulling options about what to do with the Council elec- June Simpkins ..Jack of everything else tion thanks to the County Clerk’s brain fart with the ballot. 760.937.3967 / [email protected] The most popular option appeared to be printing a separate ballot sheet Mike Bodine ..................Writer for the Town Council race only and holding the election on June 7 as News, Views & Culture of the Eastern Sierra [email protected] scheduled. In breaking news, Mono County Clerk Bob “Meta” Musil announced “Cum eorum quae tenet, est for- Sarah Rea .....................Writer late Thursday that the Secretary of State’s office has allowed the County tis et quis sit pars” 209.605.1860 -Tuck Pendleton to move forward with “Option 2” in the ballot fiasco. Charles James .............Contributor This means the Mammoth Town Council election will be held on June JACK LUNCH 760.614.0546 7. PUBLISHER Clouds McCloud ......... Discussion of the issue at Wednesday’s Council meeting changed my Ass-trologer P.O. Box 8088 mind about the political horse race. I now have Truax and Hoff blowing Abagael Giles .................Writer Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 past Bill Sauser. Jennnifer keeps falling further and further behind. My 802.578.3476 760.924.0048 binoculars aren’t strong enough to find her. She’s blending in with the /[email protected] dirt and shrubs on the backstretch. An adjudicated paper of general circula- For a subscription to The Sheet contact All it took was a little bit of whining. tion. ©2016 The Sheet, all rights reserved. Lunch at his above e-mail address, or call the When Council called candidates forward to ask their opinion of what www.thesheetnews.com office. Issues are mailed out bi-weekly. Cost they’d like to see happen, Jennnifer said “Running a campaign is stress- Check out for more content, daily updates and free online is $65/year. ful, and I’d like to get back to my life.” She wants the campaign over classifieds. with as soon as possible, meaning, June 7. I can understand why it’s stressful. When you have to appear at event The Northern Mono Chamber of Commerce sponsored a candidates’ after event and you don’t know anything about the place you live or forum for Mono County District Four candidates Tim Fesko, John its history or the people you wish to represent or what you’re talking Peters and Bob Tems on Thursday evening May 12 at the Walker Com- about, yes, I imagine that’s stressful. munity Center. And if campaigning is stressful, geez, imagine if you get the job! The three candidates all have impressive resumés and work histories. Then Sauser got up and parroted her and said the campaign indeed Bob Tems is a retired manager from Lockheed and holds an MBA takes an “emotional toll” on a person and his or her family. degree from Redlands. He currently holds a part-time job as an agri- I didn’t realize Bill’s pontification and bullshit caused such turmoil cultural inspector based in Topaz.