Rusty Strait

Just when you think you’ve seen and heard everything, something pops up out of nowhere to prove you wrong. That happened to me when I talked to a young man Monday afternoon, a senior graduating from Tahquitz High School in Hemet. His name is Adrien Hanes, an eighteen-year-old from Hemet.

With the Westcoast Wrestling Company bringing the sport to The Wheelhouse, the Florida/Sanderson area is beginning to look like the entertainment center of Hemet and the San Jacinto Valley. The AMF Bowling Lanes and Derby Wheelhouse seem to provide the most of it. Upscale restaurants abound from Appleby’s to Steer and Stein and those in between. I will always go where the action is, east, west, north or south.

U.S. population growth has slowed to the lowest rate since the Great Depression, the Census Bureau said, as Americans continued their march to the South and West and one-time engines of growth, New York and California, lost political influence.

COVID-19 sure turned Hemet upside down, but as the Riverside County colors become lighter, Florida Avenue is red hot and raring to go. Last week we caught up with downtown Hemet. This week we sauntered out to the west side hinterlands to see what happened Friday night when Riverside County was reduced to Orange, giving the go-ahead for restaurants and bars to allow 50% occupancy. Let’s take the two most popular venues on the west end of Hemet.

Tuesday night's Hemet City Council meeting presented quite a surprise to those of us who cover this twice-monthly event. In closed session, the Council evaluated the performance of City Manager Chris Lopez and came back into public session with a thumbs up on his performance which, for the first time in years, did not result in termination. We have attempted to contact Lopez for comment but have been unable to do so by press time.