Jake Callanan of South Lake Tahoe on March 24 received the merit and valor certificate from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Jake Callanan

He along with his employer Ski Run Boat Company were given the honor at the Lake Tahoe Marina Association meeting Thursday.

Last summer when Callanan heard a woman screaming he relinquished control of his vessel to the capable hands of his customers. He jumped into the lake, swam about 20yards to find that the woman’s teenage sister was unconscious, unresponsive face down in the water.

While others called 911, Callanan swam and carried the girl back to shore. As he was preparing for to preform CPR she began breathing and eventually regained consciousness.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Gary Parrish, CBS Sports

UAB coach Jerod Haase has spoken with Stanford officials and is considered among the leading candidates to be the next coach of the Cardinal, a source told CBS Sports.

Haase has been UAB’s head coach for four seasons.

He’s won 20 games each of the past two seasons. UAB won C-USA this season.

Haase, 41, is a graduate of South Tahoe High School. Before UAB, he was an assistant for Roy Williams at Kansas and North Carolina.

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By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe has put El Dorado County and Lake Valley Fire Protection District on notice that it intends to get out of the ambulance service by April 15.

The multiyear contract between the three agencies allows for any entity to give a 30-day notice. The city did so on March 15.

The City Council took that unanimous action in closed session that Tuesday and the City Attorney’s Office subsequently wrote the letter. (Councilman Hal Cole was not at that meeting.) The city, assuming it does get out of the contract, will have to forfeit a $50,000 bond.

The city and Lake Valley in 2001 were first awarded the contract from the county. The fire agencies work together under the Cal-Tahoe Joint Powers Authority to provide ambulance service in their combined territories. Two members from each of their respective boards sit on the JPA.

At issue is the reimbursement the JPA gets from the county to operate the ambulance service. It’s been an issue for years. The city contends it is spending $700,000 a year in excess of what it is reimbursed.

Both fire agencies want 100 percent reimbursement and are frustrated that more than $2 million is sitting in a county controlled fund for the JPA. The money comes from the assessment property owners pay and ambulance fees that are collected via the JPA.

County officials contend there is no way that money can be released because of the contract that is in place. To do so could potentially result in a lawsuit from one of the bidders because it is a fixed priced contract.

“We have the fund balance for unanticipated expenses,” Creighton Avila, CAO spokesman, told Lake Tahoe News. “Also paid out of that are things like billing and contracts. There could be any number of emergencies out there. That is what the fund balance is there for.”

What no one at the city – elected or staff – could explain is why in 2015 the JPA agreed to extend the contract three years, so now it expires in 2019. At least one city councilmember would have had to say yes to it. Councilmembers Tom Davis and JoAnn Conner were the city’s reps at the time of the decision. Now the JPA has Davis and Mayor Wendy David as members. Davis did not return a phone call. At no time did the council as a whole give direction to JPA members Davis and Conner to extend the contract.

Lake Valley would gladly take over the ambulance service – which has been discussed in earnest since last summer.

“Yes, we want to take it over, but there is not enough revenue under the existing contract for staffing of all three ambulances,” Lake Valley Fire Chief Gareth Harris told Lake Tahoe News.

The next JPA meeting is set for April 11. It’s possible an emergency one will be scheduled before then.

In a statement, the county Chief Administrator’s Office said, “The county is expressly concerned about the threat to public health and safety of residents and visitors to the South Lake Tahoe region should the city of South Lake Tahoe terminate its ambulance service contract, with the Cal-Tahoe JPA, without making adequate provisions to ensure that its action will not put ambulance service in the South Lake Tahoe region at risk.”

South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Jeff Meston told Lake Tahoe News, “There won’t be any interruption to ambulance service. That is not good for anyone and we won’t allow that to occur.”

The county sent the city a letter on Tuesday. As of Thursday no one at the city had seen said letter. The city has not provided LTN with its letter.

The county in its letter says the JPA board per the contract would have to agree to the termination by the city.

The letter says, “The Cal-Tahoe JPA board members and member agencies should consider all of the consequences, financial and otherwise, that could result if the Cal-Tahoe JPA agreed to allow a member agency to terminate one of the subcontracts without making adequate provisions to ensure that ambulance service is not put at risk.”

The letter goes on to say, “While the county remain open to discussing alternative proposals for operations after the expiration of the existing EMS agreement, please be on notice that the county intends to exercise and enforce its rights under the existing EMS agreement and to pursue any and all available remedies if there is an event of a default.”

It Takes Talent, now in its fifth year, proved there is quite a bit of talent at  Zephyr Cove Elementary School.

Volunteers Duane Nieman and Sunny Patel (Exhale Lounge) used professional lighting and sound to make the performers look like they were on a real stage. Students in every grade level participated.

Each year a student is chosen to emcee the event. Mia Roper helped the show run smoothly.

Judges Stella Roper, Ed Johns and Steele Wetterer said it was a tight contest. In the end, the prizes went to Lola Remmel (third), Ella Moretti and Emmy Brooks (second) and first prize went to Avi Rippet and Lilly Dingman.

By Kathryn Reed

A woman who has a blog called “Shred Mom” has made scathing accusations against Northstar ski resort. The resort says its investigation into the allegations found the woman to be the aggressor. Placer County sheriff’s detectives are investigating.

Danelle Muresan-Foster – the blogger – told detectives the incident occurred Feb. 25. She made the report the next day. She did not respond to Lake Tahoe News for a comment.

According to the statement she gave to deputies, the brouhaha started when someone allegedly rode close to Muresan-Foster’s son. She confronted the man, yelling at him. She told officers he then bumped her with his chest. She slapped him. He punched her in the left eye. She declined medical attention.

She posted her original story on March 23 and updated it today. It has since made the rounds on social media.

To counter the charges, Northstar GM and Vice President Beth Howard issued a statement Thursday.

“It is important for everyone to know our first and foremost priority is the safety of our guests and employees, and we have zero tolerance for acts of violence. We conducted a timely, thorough investigation into this matter, and given recent interest we believe that it is important to report the results,” Howard said. “One eyewitness to the incident stated Mrs. Danelle Muresan-Foster was the party who was physically aggressive toward another guest. The eyewitness stated that Mrs. Muresan-Foster collided into the male guest in the lift maze from behind; she fell to the ground; and, he tried to help her up. The same eyewitness also stated that Mrs. Muresan-Foster initiated the physical altercation by slapping the other guest.”

The man’s name has not been released.

Dena Erwin with the sheriff’s department told Lake Tahoe News the investigation is ongoing. More statements were taken March 24 with resort officials. She would not venture a guess as to when the investigation will be done. Ultimately it will be up to the District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges are filed against anyone.

By Associated Press

A proposal to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 qualified Tuesday to appear on the statewide November ballot.

California’s current minimum wage is among the highest in the nation at $10 an hour. The measure backed by a faction of health care workers belonging to the state largest union would raise it by $1 each of the next five years.

Subsequently, minimum wage increases would be tied to the cost of living.

Two groups within the Service Employees International Union have split the organization’s support between competing initiatives to raise California’s minimum wage.

SEIU United Healthcare Workers West proposed the measure approved Tuesday.

“This is the one that was moving first, this is the one that qualified first, this is the one that’s the focus,” Sean Wherley, spokesman for the health care workers, said.

The SEIU state council, and the tens of millions of dollars it has promised to spend on a statewide campaign, is behind a different initiative that is still in the signature-gathering process .

That plan would raise wages to $15 by 2020 for large businesses and by 2021 for smaller ones. It would also raise the minimum number of annual paid sick days from three to six.

The SEIU state council has said it hoped the measures could merge, but the qualified measure cannot be amended.

“One or the other would have to be withdrawn,” Wherley said.

The union would have until June 30, a state-mandated deadline, to decide whether to remove one of the proposals.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is supporting both proposals.

Businesses and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown have said such a steep wage increase would be incredibly costly.

Oregon officials approved a law earlier this month that will increase that state’s minimum wage to nearly $15 in urban areas over the next six years.

·       South Lake Tahoe wants input from people about roads and recreation. Here is the online survey.

·      Sierra College, Tahoe-Truckee is hosting a career expo for the community April 22 from 11am-1:30pm. Details are online.

·       Douglas County sheriff’s Deputy Teresa Duffy earned the William H. Spurgeon III Award from the Nevada Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. This honor is the highest recognition for individuals contributing significant leadership to the Exploring program.

·      The Amador Four Fires festival on May 7 celebrates Amador County’s unique terroir. For more info, go online.

By J.R. Sullivan, Outside

In July 2013, 66-year-old Geraldine Largay was hiking in western Maine, nearing the end of a three-month, northbound solo journey on the Appalachian Trail. She’d logged more than 950 miles and traveled through ten states, sending regular texts to her husband, George, who was pacing her by car and meeting up with her from town to town with fresh supplies. On the morning of July 22, the two arranged via text to meet at a nearby trailhead the next day. George arrived on time and waited, but Largay never showed up.

George phoned authorities, and a search party combed the wilderness near Largay’s last known location on the trail, but found nothing. Then, last October, more than two years since Largay vanished, foresters surveying a U.S. Navy facility near Mount Redington found Largay’s remains and some of her belongings near a stream about two miles from the AT, not far from where she was last seen, the Morning Sentinel reported. According to the coroner’s report, released in January, Largay died inside her tent, zipped in her sleeping bag. The official cause of death: inanition—the effects of dehydration and starvation—from prolonged environmental exposure.

It’s unclear what exactly happened to Largay, but wilderness experts familiar with the AT point out that a potential factor in her death reflects a major problem among hikers: an over-reliance on technology to navigate and call for help in times of distress.

“One of the worst trends we’ve seen in the past 20 years is the proliferation of cell phones and technology in the backcountry,” says Tim Smith, a registered Master Maine Guide and the founder of the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School, which instructs students in brush living, guide skills, and long-term winter survival.

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Recipients of Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra’s 2016 community grants. Photo/LTN

Students sleeping in cars, kids in need of a winter coat, food for the weekend. Those are some of the basic needs that aren’t being met on the South Shore. The extras, like being able to take a dance or tennis lesson, to have performing arts in their school – those are also hard to come by.

These needs and wants will be better met thanks to Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra. Today the service club handed out $13,000 to 22 recipients.

At the March 24 breakfast meeting representatives from each entity talked about how they are going to spend the grant. They are:

·      Bijou Community School – Books to promote literacy.

·      El Dorado County Habitat for Humanity-A Brush with Kindness – Paint, tools and supplies.

·      Firefly Yoga – Provide yoga for those who have sustained a traumatic event.

·      Juvenile Services Council – To continue drumbeat program.

·      Kiwanis Coats for Kids – More than 600 coats were bought this winter for youth.

·      Lake Tahoe Shining Stars – Dance scholarships.

·      Lake Tahoe Unified School District-Homeless Advocacy – Bus passes for homeless to get to appointments.

·      South Lake Tahoe Cancer League – Financial grants to those with cancer.

·      South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center – Community garden at Bijou.

·      South Lake Tahoe Humane Society – Books for My Reading Buddy program.

·      South Tahoe High Booster Club – Money to help stock room with food and clothing for teens in need.

·      STHS Avid Junior Class – Money to send kids on college scouting trip.

·      Tahoe Arts Project – Bringing performing arts to the schools.

·      Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless – Money for shower vouchers at South Lake Tahoe Recreation Center.

·      Tahoe Magic – Money for Tahoe Smiles, which provides dental care to youth.

·      Tahoe Turning Point – Gym passes at Kahle Community Center and buying sports equipment.

·      Tahoe Valley Elementary School – Equipment for performing arts programs; and separate grant for reading materials; and a grant to take kids to Sutter Fort.

·      Zephyr Cove Tennis Club Foundation – Scholarships for junior tennis program, expansion of program and to purchase equipment for kids to use.

The money for the grants comes from SITS’ annual Elegant Evening fundraiser. This year’s event is April 23 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Charles Bethea, New Yorker

In February, Tanner Hall, one of the greatest freestyle skiers of all time—he won seven X Games gold medals and four silver in the Big Air, SlopeStyle, and Superpipe events between 2001 and 2009—signed a deal with a Denver-based cannabis-accessories company called Black Rock Originals. Hall, who is now 32 and based near Lake Tahoe, helped the company create the Skiboss Collection, which consists of rolling papers, a cheese-grater-like card for grinding nuggets on the go, and a lighter, all tucked inside a travel-friendly pouch.

“We were all stoked,” Hall said recently, referring to everyone’s satisfaction with the finished product. He’d just returned to California after a few weeks of “ripping” in British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains. Near a backcountry lodge he co-owns, Hall and twelve pals built what he described as “a 22-foot-tall Hot Wheels-type loop out of wood.” He continued, “We all filled it in and skied around Evel Knievel style. We crushed it hard.” The entire effort was filmed for a ski movie planned for release on iTunes this fall.

Hall is the first skier and, it appears, the second active professional athlete—behind ultra-runner Avery Collins, who is sponsored by Mary’s Medicinals—to formally partner with a cannabis company. For those who know him, this is not a big surprise: Hall has also inspired a line of ski gear (including a backpack and high-performance mittens) with the company DaKine, known, winkingly, as THC—that is, the Tanner Hall Collection. Still, it was an unprecedented move for a skier, even in the latter stages of his career, to accept outright sponsorship from a weed brand.

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