Valle Vista News

Christmas lights are beginning to twinkle here and there. It is time for me to get to work.

Inland-area charities and churches that serve free Thanksgiving meals are expecting a big turnout next week.

Military personnel can get a free car wash at 7 Flags Car Wash on Veteran's Day, company officials announced.

Taco Tuesday, one of San Jacinto's most endearing events, went on at the Ward home this week hours after the death of the family's patriarch, Joe Ward.

There appeared to be many more than 1,000 shoppers inside the new WinCo warehouse-style discount grocery that opened Monday on Hemet's west side.

The long, political and sometimes bitter process for releaguing in the Mt. SAC area should come to an end today.

Today's Board of Supervisors meeting is sure to draw a crowd, with a minor amendment to the County General Plan and a zoning use permit - both for a proposed biofuels plant on Route 66 northeast of Kingman - on the agenda.

Deputies initially went to the Orpington Avenue home after receiving a call that a hazardous device had been found, Mike said.

"We've seen him five times," said the 69-year-old Valle Vista resident. "I told him, 'I'm your senior groupie.' " Harsany is not alone.

Les Lyon, of Valle Vista, and lots of his friends are curious about the formation of white aircraft climbing above the San Jacinto Valley on a daily basis.

A fortuitous wind shift and an aggressive aerial attack appear to have averted last week's Cottonwood Fire from turning into a horrific nightmare in Idyllwild.

The fire, which started shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday about 10 miles east of Hemet, may be fully contained sometime Monday.

The Cottonwood Fire between Hemet and Idyllwild was 95 percent contained today, with full containment expected by tonight, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Fire officials expect full containment of the Cottonwood Fire in the San Jacinto Mountains by Monday.

The Guardian newspaper of London continues its series on retracing the path the Joads took in John Steinbeck's novel, "The Grapes of Wrath." Sunday finds the series in Valle Vista , a subdivision north of Kingman, Ariz., on Route 66.

The Cottonwood Fire between Hemet and Idyllwild grew to more than 2,200 acre today and was 10 percent contained, as evacuation orders were canceled but a major road remained closed, an incident command spokesman in Idyllwild said.

About 320 firefighers on the ground and in the air this morning continued to battle the Cottonwood Fire in the foothills east of Hemet.

Hundreds of worried Idyllwild residents packed a school gymnasium Friday night to hear that firefighters have held the 2,200-acre Cottonwood Fire in check, at least for now.

A 1,500-acre wildfire burning in the San Bernardino National Forest near Idyllwild prompted the mandatory evacuations of homes in Valle Vista Friday.

They have names like Jaws of Life, spreaders, cutters, Rescue 42 struts, Halligan and flathead ax, and in the right hands, they might speed up extricating accident victims from cars.