Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Retired Mono County Superior Court Judge Edward Denton passes

Judge Edward Denton, April 24, 1926–July 12, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Reno Record-Courier.

Judge Edward Denton, who played an influential role in re-watering Lee Vining Creek, died on July 12, 2019 at age 93.

During a heat wave in May of 1986 the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) was forced to release water down the previously-dry Lee Vining Creek—water that brought trout with it. The Mono Lake Committee quickly went to court to keep water flowing in the creek for the trout, and it was Mono County Superior Court Judge Denton who granted the temporary restraining order that forced DWP to release enough water to keep the fish alive until the case could be tried. While it was just ten cubic feet per second of water, it was a significant decision to the Mono Lake Committee.

In a recent issue of the local paper, The Sheet, retired Judge Stan Eller recounted his memory of battling DWP to keep water flowing down Rush Creek with the late Dick Dahlgren while Judge Denton was out of town. Eller said “Denton came back and I was concerned. He had a congenial relationship with DWP. His reaction was ‘I’m behind you 100%. Don’t give it another thought.'”

A funeral mass will be held this Thursday, August 15 at noon at the Infant of Prague Mission Catholic Church in Bridgeport, with interment immediately following at the Bridgeport Cemetery and a potluck at the Memorial Hall in Bridgeport from 2:30–6:00pm.