Laura Skelton thought she was going to the post office to pick up mail, but instead found herself in Mariposa County Superior Court.
She was in good company — 49 other Mariposans also made the mistake of checking their mail on Wednesday afternoon.
Now they’re candidates to decide the fate of a man charged with killing a 60-year-old man in Greeley Hill in 2008. Presiding Judge Dana Walton said that “hundreds” of jury summons were mailed out, but when one-third of the people failed to show up, he had to call in reinforcements.
Calling on a seldom-used civil code procedure, Walton sent court bailiffs out to the busiest part of town — the Mariposa Post Office — to gather up new blood for the jury pool.
Ending a lengthy legal battle with environmentalists, the federal government agreed Wednesday to halt all commercial development in Yosemite National Park’s most popular stretch and to consider limiting access to its wilderness.
The settlement was reached by the National Park Service and two small environmental groups that sued the federal government in 2000.
The groups claimed the park’s $442 million plan to move campgrounds and upgrade hotel rooms in Yosemite Valley would jeopardize the Merced River, a federally protected waterway that flows beside famous granite monoliths and dramatic waterfalls.
Under the agreement, the park service will hold off on all planned construction until at least December 2012, when officials are expected to finish a far-reaching plan to manage and protect the river.
The stretch of Highway 41 from the Fresno County line north to Yosemite National Park is a notoriously perilous route shared by tourists, foothill residents and casinogoers. The two-lane road is full of curves and hills and shoulders that are abruptly cut off by walls of rock or precipitous ledges. But worst of all is the traffic.
According to Caltrans, the number of vehicles northbound on Highway 41 at Road 200, about seven miles south of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, has increased 70% from 2001 to 2008 — to nearly 20,000 a day. The growth has been spurred by several factors, including development in the foothill communities of Coarsegold and Oakhurst, and the opening of the casino in 2003.
The presence of all those cars and trucks crammed onto a road with only a handful of passing lanes has led to serious consequences. Since 2003, 47 people have died in crashes — many of them head-on collisions — and there have been 635 accidents with injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The Big Meadow Fire in Yosemite National Park and Stanislaus National Forest has grown to 5,257 acres, from 4,909 acres yesterday. Containment remains at 55%. The fire continues to be active on the northern flank approaching the Tioga Road near Tamarack Flat and in the upper Crane Creek drainage.The evacuation of El Portal residents, which occurred Friday evening, August 28, has been lifted as of 7:30 p.m. last evening. In addition, the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal has reopened for visitors. Crane Flat and Tamarack Flat Campgrounds, and Foresta remain closed. There is no projected opening date at this time.The Big Oak Flat Road is closed to through traffic at the Big Oak Flat Entrance Station to the junction of the El Portal Road. In addition, the Tioga Road remains closed to through traffic from White Wolf to the Crane Flat Gas Station. There is no projected opening date at this time for either road. Hodgdon Meadow Campground remains accessible to visitors. For additional fire information please visit www.inciweb.org. In addition, visitors may call 209-372-0669 or 209-372-0327 for updated fire information during business hours.
What kind of intelligent being would start a control burn on almost the same day as the A-Rock and Yosemite fires of 1990. Was there no one still in Yosemite that remembers that fire that burned homes in Foresta, next to Big Meadow, where the purposed 90 acre fire was set? Now it is over 3800 acres with millions being spent and more than 1000 fire fighters risking their lives. In 1987 the Stanislaus Complex started in late August and burned through fair time, destroying many acres of timber and homes. Is no one listening? The 1960 Harlow fire started at the end of July and burned to the gates of Oakhurst, killing two elderly folks trying to escape. Is no one listening? Maybe living a long time is a handicap but those who don’t learn from the past, etc. I will have more to say about this issue.
The Big Meadow Fire in Yosemite National Park grew to 2,244 acres today, increasing from 2,200 acres yesterday. The Big Meadow Fire was set by Yosemite National Park Fire Crews on August 26, 2009 as a prescribed burn and shortly thereafter, the fire grew out of the prescription lines.
The Big Oak Flat Road, from Crane Flat Gas Station to the intersection of El Portal Road and Big Oak Flat Road, remains closed due to fire activity. In addition, Crane Flat Campground and Foresta also remain closed. There is no projected opening date at this time.
Due to increased fire activity on the northern end of the fire, the Tamarack Flat Campground, along the Tioga Road, has been closed.
his fire is now an escaped prescribed fire and is being suppressed. Fire Managers estimate that 2,200 acres have burned and the fire is 10% contained.
Fire managers began the burn on the morning of August 26 and in a very short time realized the holding lines were not going to contain the fire within the boundaries of this burn. The fire began spotting across the line into pockets of brush, down and dead logs and standing dead trees (snags) to the east of the community of Foresta. This fire is within the 1990 A-Rock fire scar. Yosemite Helicopter 551 began bucket drops, which was followed by additional aircraft resources including other water dropping aircraft.
Currently, three helicopters and four air tankers (with more on order), along with 15 crews and 24 engines (with more on order) are fighting the fire. A Type 2 Incident Management Team will take over the fire on August 27.
Closures: The Big Oak Flat Road is closed from Highway 140 to Crane Flat and the Foresta road into the community of Foresta. There is no estimated time for the road to re-open. Tioga Road (Highway 120) from Big Oak Flat entrance station is open to Crane Flat, on to Tuolumne Meadows, and Highway 395.
Crane Flat Campground and Foresta have been evacuated.
Tamarack Creek (Flat) trail to El Capitan, Old Big Oak Flat trail to El Capitan, and the Rockslides trail to El Capitan are closed.
As a further precaution, the Ahwahnee Hotel will remain closed this evening and the hotel will remain closed at least through Friday, August 28 at noon. The area around the hotel will also remain closed and will be monitored throughout the upcoming days. Guests at the Ahwahnee are being accommodated at other lodging facilities in the park and in surrounding communities. Visitors with upcoming reservations at the Ahwahnee should call DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. Central Reservations at 801-559-5000.
It looks like another fire is also burning. The Second fire is being called the West Fire and it could have started as a spot fire from the Big Meadow Fire.
As of 6 PM, here’s the official word from the NPS about the Big Meadow fire:
The Big Meadow (Foresta) prescribed burn jumped a holding line, has crossed the Big Oak Flat Road, and is now approximately 300 acres. Multiple aircraft and about 100 firefighters are working on the fire. A type 2 incident management team is on order.
No houses are threatened or damaged.
The Big Oak Flat Road from its junction with El Portal Road (Highway 140) to Crane Flat is closed until further notice. It is not possible to drive between Yosemite Valley and Big Oak Flat/Tioga Road/Tuolumne Meadows within the park. An alternate route is available outside the park (via Highway 49).
It is still possible to drive to Yosemite Valley via Highways 41 or 140, and it is possible to drive along the Tioga Road (Highway 120 through the park) from Big Oak Flat Entrance to Tioga Pass.
The Old Big Oak Flat Road Trail is closed from the Big Oak Flat Road to the Tamarack junction.
All 80 guests of the Ahwahnee Hotel were evacuated this afternoon after boulders tumbled off of The Royal Arches.
Dust from the rockfall briefly obscured most of the valley.
Yosemite’s Chief of Media Relations Scott Gediman said the largest of the rocks was about the size of a microwave oven. No damage or injuries were reported.
Updates:
@Ambitious_wench: Rockfall in Yosemite Valley at about 1:33 PM today, west of Ahwahnee Hotel, guests evacuated. Unconfirmed report of car damaged.
@tracyrene: Major rockslide at the Ahwahnee in #Yosemite right in front of me, yikes!
@sarahnidy: Mom called - huge rockslides in yosemite, ahwahnee evacuated. She's right in the middle of it. Yikes!
The control burn that was taking place today at Big Meadow in Foresta on Hwy 120 apparently has gotten out of control and has forced the closure of Hwy 120 between Crane Flat and Yosemite Valley. It is putting up quite a cloud of smoke and at this time the town of Foresta is not threatened. It is burning up the hill out of Foresta north east towards Hwy 120 and Crane Flat.
Fresno Bee: “Yosemite National Park fire managers plan a prescribed fire today in Big Meadow, in the community of Foresta. The burn area will include 90 acres, pending weather conditions and air quality.”
The fact that Tom Bopp ‘81 has held the same corporate job since 1983 makes him somewhat of an anomaly. A melodic anomaly.
That Bopp, who earned a music theory and composition degree from UCLA, has earned this steady living for so long as a hotel-lounge piano player seems, well, unfathomable. Yet, visit Yosemite National Park and pop into the 130-year-old Wawona Hotel, and on most nights you’ll find Bopp banging away on a restored grand piano, pleasing a crowd with a wide-ranging improvisational mix.
“It’s like sitting in my living room, catching up with friends,” says the Torrance native, describing the feeling of the five-night-a-week gig that made him a Yosemite institution.
Last year, Bopp was given the Yosemite Fund Award, which recognizes the “significant effort he has made to enhance the value of Yosemite National Park as a national treasure.”
