services - Idyllwild Town Crier

Page 24 - Idyllwild Town Crier, July 17, 2008
County strips local MASH unit
By Marshall Smith
Correspondent
A 1950s-era TV show, “Father
Knows Best,” winked at
the show’s title with good-natured
humor. Many episodes
showed that although father
meant well, he didn’t always
know best.
When Mountain Disaster
Preparedness (MDP) President
Nancy Layton agreed
with Riverside County Public
Health officials to have them
remove an antiquated X-ray
unit from a 1960s-era Civil
Defense Packaged Hospital
unit that MDP had supervised
and tended for many
years, she didn’t expect them
to strip the container of
other items. These included
sterilizing equipment, suctioning
devices, a field microscope
and various materials
that might have been useful
to the community were it cut
off from outside help for a
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REALTOR ® Associate
54295 North Circle Drive
P.O. Box 243, Idyllwild, CA 92549
E-mail: trischa@idyllwildrealtor.com
Bus: (951) 659-2125
Cell: (951) 288-8789
Fax: (951) 659-2127
www.idyllwildproperty.com
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951-659-2114
significant period of time.
Layton said she was
clearly surprised and not
particularly happy with the
“county-knows-best” attitude
officials displayed during
their June 5 visit.
Layton said she respectfully
emphasized to Public
Health Senior EMS Specialist
Britta Barton that
MDP, operating under the
supervisory aegis of the
Idyllwild Fire Protection
District (IFPD), would use
the equipment responsibly.
She made clear that one
MDP board member, Dick
Goldberg, is an emergency
room physician thoroughly
competent to sort out what
equipment is useable from
what is not. He also is able
to understand potential liability
issues connected to
the equipment, she said.
Layton said she respectfully
lodged protests as item after
item was removed.
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It was clear that MDP
owned the container itself,
having paid $7,200 for it in
1992. But the question of
who owned the contents of
the unit was unresolved at
the time the county arrived
to remove the X-ray unit.
The county claims it owns
the contents, even though
former MDP board member
and long-time resident
Vi Hallacy remembers the
county “giving” the contents
to MDP. IFPD captains Jim
Manietta and Mike Mulhall
remember that the county
transferred the contents to
IFPD, but no one at IFPD
could locate a document of
transfer. “That file has disappeared,”
said Chief Steve
Kunkle.
In a July 14 telephone
conversation, County Public
Health official Saman
Kashani clarified the confused
parentage of the mobile
field hospital. Kashani
said the federal government
transferred this civil defense
issue unit to what is now
CalFire sometime in the early
1980s.
County Fire transferred
ownership of the unit and
contents to the County
Health Department through
a memorandum of understanding
dated Sept. 19,
1988.
This brouhaha began
when Layton told County
Office of Emergency Services
(OES) Coordinator Gina
Moran-McGough that the X-
ray unit was taking up valuable
storage space in MDP’s
container, and asked if the
county had the means and
could facilitate its removal
as a potential hazardous
item. “Moran-McGough got
the notion that the material
in the container should
be ‘divvied up’ among the
various mountain disaster
DORA DILLMAN
Realtor-Associate
Village Center Office
54274 North Circle Dr.
P.O. Box 243, Idyllwild, Ca 92549
E-mail: dora@lovethehill.com
www.lovethehill.com
groups,” said Layton. “She
also seemed to take almost
virtual ownership of the
MASH unit [field hospital]
on behalf of Riverside County
OES in her conversations
with others.”
Goldberg, who was out of
town on June 5, subsequently
called Barton to discuss what
appeared to be the county’s
dismissive treatment of Layton
and, by implication, the
community. Goldberg said
Barton seemed contrite and
apparently sensed that she
and her team may have
come off heavy-handed during
their June 5 incursion.
“Everything that was taken
was appropriate,” Goldberg
noted, although he did say
that it would have been
beneficial had the suction
units been left.
The dustup produced
an agreement between the
county and IFPD, transferring
ownership of the unit’s
contents to IFPD as of June
2008. “The county had to
transfer the contents to another
public agency,”said
Kunkle. He said MDP, which
has keys to the unit, would
continue to supervise it.
Layton understands the legal
reasoning behind the need
to transfer the contents to
a public agency and concurs
that IFPD was the logical
choice. “At least the unit
and its [remaining] contents
remain on the Hill for the
community’s use in event of
disaster,” said Layton.
Kashani said, “I’m planning
to come to the next MEM-
SCOMM meeting to address
any issues the community
might have with the way our
department handled the removal
of supplies from the
packaged disaster hospital.’”
M a r s h a l l S m i t h
c a n b e r e a c h e d a t
marshall@towncrier.com.
Bikes require illumination at night
SB 478 took effect Jan. 1, requiring anyone operating a
bicycle during darkness to use illumination devices while
riding on a highway, a sidewalk or a bikeway.
Cell: (951) 288-5604
Bus: (951) 659-3425
1-866-680-3425
Fax: (951) 659-0180
‘Brendashing
Steele’
Jack Clark gave this update
following the career of
24-year-old Idyllwild native
and touring golf pro Brendan
Steele.
After missing cuts in
his first five starts on the
Nationwide Tour, Steele has
completely turned his rookie
Sports
Sports is
sponsored by
Vic Sirkin of
Robin Oates
Real Estate.
Part of the
proceeds go
to Town Hall
Recreation
programs.
Vic Sirkin
season around with five straight tournaments in the money.
His latest is last week’s $1,000,000 Nationwide Tour Players
Cup in West Virginia, one of two major tournaments on
the tour, where he finished birdie-birdie to put up 75-68-
69-71=283 and tie for 32nd place.
(Side note: A player who was lower rated than Steele
going into the tournament finished the 72 holes in a tie
for first, so there’s no reason the Idyllwilder couldn’t find
himself at the top at any time.)
Steele is entered in this week’s $600,000 Price Cutter
Charity Championship at Highland Springs Country Club
in Springfield, Mo.
Softball
Jeremy Teeguarden gave this report on Town Hall
Adult Coed Softball.
The 2008 adult softball season kicked off last Monday
with two-time defending champ Ajax taking on Pacific Slope.
Ajax jumped out to a big 8-0 lead with Kim Marcus and
Kirsten Torrez getting a couple nice hits each. Jim Zimmerman
pitched great for Ajax which kept Pacific Slope
scoreless for five innings. When the game looked to be
over, Pacific Slope erupted for six runs in the sixth inning
to close the gap. Noah Whitney and Jaime Gooch each
chipped in a couple of nice hits to help. Pac Slope got one
more run in the last inning to cut the lead to 1 run, but
with the tying run on second base. Ajax got the final out
to hold on for a one-run victory, 8-7.
On Wednesday, Creekstone Inn took on a new team
this year: Idyllwild Arts. Creekstone got going early with
the bats as both Robert Priefer and Jessica Priefer got on
base five times and scored 4 runs apiece. John Newman
and Melissa Wilson had a couple of nice hits for the Artful
Dodgers, but in the end it wasn’t enough as Creekstone
ran away with the victory.
Thursday saw Forest Lumber take on another new team:
Kintz Construction. Shane Fender got Forest Lumber off to
a good start with some good bat work, and Wendy Fender
scored a couple of key runs. Miguel Necochea pitched well,
and both he and Holly King had a couple of nice hits to
help Kintz Construction. Forest Lumber slowly built a lead
and came away with a 12-6 win.
Kintz Construction played back to back, this time taking
on Pac Slope, who got the bats going quickly and
never looked back. Shawn Gooch had four hits and Amy
Righetti got on base four times to lead the way. Shawndee
Necochea played solid defense and second base for Kintz,
and had a couple of great hits, but in the end Pac Slope
ran away with the victory.
Forest Lumber played again Sunday, this time taking on
Pac Slope. In a great defensive game, both teams struggled
to put runs on the board. Jesse Wilkerson for Forest Lumber
and Ryan Righetti for Pac Slope both pitched great.
The game went back and forth until the sixth inning when
Noah Bischof crossed home plate with the winning run
and Pac Slope came away with a 6-5 win.
Send local sports reports to itc@towncrier.com or drop them
off at the Town Crier by 10 a.m. Mondays. Photos also are
welcome. If sending by e-mail, resolution should be 300 dpi.
Trivia test
Geography: The island nation of Madagascar lies off
the coast of which continent
Answer: Africa