The annual Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care open house is Aug. 2 from 10am-4pm.
There is no admission charge, but donations are gratefully accepted.
Also, LTWC signature wear will be on sale.
LTWC is at 1485 Cherry Hills Circle, South Lake Tahoe.
Ex-49ers and hall of famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice are regulars at the ACC golf tournament. Photo/LTN file
By Susan Wood
If you think it’s humbling to try to break into professional sports and then enter the Hall of Fame, then try golf once you’ve reached the top of your game. Golf can be the most humbling sport of all.
But that’s all in the sport of life for 15 hall of famers who will be joining 78 other participants in the American Century Championship starting next week at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. Four of those hall of famers will be inducted this summer.
So what draws and drives these athletes who were once at the top of their game in professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey to compete in such a different type of sport? And what do they do to prepare themselves for the crossover?
The reasons vary when you ask the athletes, doctors, golf pros and enthusiasts.
Some say a competitive nature brings them here to NBC’s big golf stage. Another observer said the ability to excel in yet another sport motivates them. Others said the network encourages them with the promise of fun and frolic.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, aka “The Bus,” told Lake Tahoe News on a conference call this week that his reason runs a little deeper.
The sixth all-time leading rusher in NFL history, who will be inducted Aug. 8 into the Hall of Fame, explained how he feels he’s in good company with other Hall of Fame entrants. He enjoys the camaraderie of what he calls “a fraternity and brotherhood” over their accomplishments.
“You definitely feel you’re in great company and more so with hall of famers. You have a respect from all these guys. You know what it took to get there. These are the most competitive bunch of guys I’ve ever seen,” said Bettis, who got his nickname while playing at Notre Dame. (Note: Pittsburgh games bring out a huge Fighting Irish following.)
The football great has shown he’s willing to not only compete against his own brother, but in another sport beyond football and golf. They bowled.
Bettis recalled with affection how his family is so tight knit, especially given the struggles. The brothers lost their father and now are enduring their mother having cancer.
“It’s a special weekend for us because of the journey we’ve taken. Our mother and father have never missed a game the entire time I played in the NFL,” Bettis said. He added how he and his mother were both crying when he got the news of his Hall of Fame induction. Bettis’ brother will introduce him during the ceremony.
To Oakland Raider receiver Tim Brown, another inductee this year, the competition on such a stage is what brings him out to the golf course.
“This tournament is the only one of its kind. There’s nothing like Lake Tahoe. You go out there and think ‘I’m going to beat this guy.’ You can’t get this on the football field,” Brown told Lake Tahoe News on a conference call. To cross over to golf, Brown said he walks a lot, but admitted “I’d die” if he walked a lot at his home in Texas where the temperatures are scorching hot.
Another new participant this year, Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward, said he relishes the competition of golf.
“I wished I would’ve started golf a long time ago. We’re trying to work on my game,” the two-time Super Bowl champion said of his fellow teammate Bettis. The two have become close off the field.
So perhaps golf is more than a place for sales executives to solidify a deal. It can be a place for kinship among other athletes.
That’s at least what Phil Weidinger, spokesman for the tournament and a golfer, believes goes on with the players.
“Where else are you going to play with this guy?” Weidinger said, illustrating the uniqueness of the tournament.
Most of the Hall of Fame players hit the course for fun, but some have winning in their back of their minds, like San Francisco 49er receiver Jerry Rice.
“He works on this. That’s his goal – to win this thing,” Weidinger said of the well-liked participant. “There are four to five hall of famers who could win this thing.”
Overall, Weidinger estimated about a dozen of the 93 participants have a shot at it.
And this friendly competition and the fierce competitive nature is just what the sports network is going for with inviting these hall of famers. Besides the exposure of bringing out an athlete at the top of their game gains much of the attraction, Weidinger pointed out.
“You have to have the skills – the skills that are inherent to any pro player or any college player and apply to any sport,” Mike Fry, physician with Tahoe Fracture & Orthopedic Medical Clinic, told Lake Tahoe News of the crossover these athletes make on the golf course.
Fry cited the sports figures’ mental game as coming into play.
“Most of these guys compete with personality. That’s what makes them succeed at what they do,” Fry said.
To fellow golfer Randy Fox, hall of famers in other sports competing on the golf course seems natural. Their intensity, competitive spirit and household name give NBC reason to attract viewers by bringing them on screen.
“Hall of gamers, along with many other athletes take up the game of golf. They all have very good hand eye coordination and with being very competitive individuals. Many excel in the game of golf and become very good golfers. Lots of celebrities from numerous occupations try to get into this event, but NBC chooses the players they feel will create the most interest,” said Fox, who is manager of Edgewood Tahoe pro shop. He attributes the anticipated interest as a reason for the increased number of Hall of Fame participants.
Hall of Fame participants in the July 14-19 celebrity golf tournament: Marcus Allen, Charles Barkley, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, John Elway, Marshall Faulk, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Mike Modano, Jerry Rice, Joe Sakic, Emmitt Smith, Ozzie Smith, John Smoltz and Steve Young.
Publisher’s note: This column was first published in the Auburn Journal and is reprinted with permission.
By Tom Mooers
Denver-based KSL Capital Partners purchased Squaw Valley in 2010, and is now pursuing a sweeping set of entitlements that would remake the region with development of a size, scale and scope Tahoe has never seen.
Their current proposal, known as the Squaw Valley Village Specific Plan, includes a series of high-rise hotels and condo projects with more than 1,500 new bedrooms and a massive indoor amusement park as wide as a Walmart and 10 stories tall, with waterslides, fake rivers, arcades and simulated skydiving.
All told, the project would be so big it would take 25 years of day and night construction to complete.
Placer County decision-makers need to know how you feel about it.
State planning law — the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA — requires thorough environmental review of large development proposals.
In May, Placer County released its initial assessment, known as a draft environmental impact report, designed to encourage public scrutiny and citizen involvement. The draft EIR for the proposed Squaw Valley development runs more than 2,000 pages and assesses the project’s potential impacts on everything from water quality to climate change. It’s available online.
Even a quick read makes it clear that KSL’s proposed development would transform Squaw Valley into a noisy, urbanized place. In the terminology of the Draft EIR, proposed development would have “significant” and “unavoidable” impacts on Squaw Valley — and beyond. For example:
Traffic: According to the document, development would add to area traffic and “exacerbate unacceptable operations” on Squaw Valley Road, on Highway 89 in Tahoe City, in Truckee and in between.
Views: To Squaw’s iconic mountain scenery, the project would make a “substantial contribution to the cumulative degradation of the existing visual character or quality of the site and its surroundings” with a “significant and unavoidable impact on scenic vistas.”
Noise: The project would generate noise louder than “applicable Placer County noise standards,” especially for the 25 years it would be under construction — even at night.
Equally remarkable is the information and impacts not included in the draft EIR. For example, assessment of local water supplies is based on a study that does not include records from the current, record-breaking drought.
Fortunately, CEQA is designed to encourage public involvement. This is where you come in.
The idea is that decision-makers, in this case the Placer County Board of Supervisors, need to hear from their constituents and avoid making decisions that might be prove harmful in the long run.
The primary method of communicating that reaction is known as a comment letter. And, although the process can seem quite complicated, the most important point is quite simple: Anyone can write a letter. You can write something technical — maybe a detailed review and recalculation of the peak time projections for traffic in Tahoe City. Or you can write something deep: I want to see the stars at night. Or something clear: Deny this development application and ask KSL to submit a reasonable proposal.
With so much at stake, it should be easy to figure out what’s important to you — and to share it.
Send your comments to: Placer County Community Development Resource Agency, Attention: Maywan Krach, 3091 County Center Drive, Suite 190, Auburn, CA 95603
Squaw, Tahoe and our Sierra are counting on us. It’s time to stand up. Or, at least, sit down and write a letter.
Feel free to contact us with any questions, by phone at 530.265.2849 or by email at isilverman@sierrawatch.org. And you can sign up online; we’ll keep you posted.
Tom Mooers is executive director of Sierra Watch.
By Aaron Smith, CNN
Background checks for gun sales spiked 11% in June compared to last year, making it the busiest June ever, according to the FBI’s background check data.
Last month the FBI conducted nearly 1.53 million background checks, which are required for all in-store purchases, but not for sales at gun shows or between individuals. That’s the highest volume of checks in June since 1999, when the FBI started keeping track.
Gun background checks have climbed annually since 2003 with the exception of just three years, one of which was 2014, indicating a clear jump in gun sales.
Truckee’s Social Host Liability Ordinance took effect July 9. It aims to reduce underage drinking and substance abuse.
In 2014, the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District administered the California Healthy Kids Survey and found that the alcohol and marijuana use rates for our local students were 8 to 13 percent higher than the California average. The Social Host Liability Ordinance prohibits anyone from hosting, or allowing, a party/gathering to be hosted upon public or private party where those younger than 21 are using or consuming alcohol, marijuana, or controlled substances.
If a violation occurs, the host will receive an administrative citation and fine.
To report an event where underage drinking may be occurring, call 530.550.2320.
By Josh Lederman, AP
Mammoth bones, prehistoric rock carvings and more than a million acres of wilderness will be protected as part of three new national monuments that President Obama is creating in California, Nevada and Texas.
The presidential move, announced by the White House early Friday, brings to 19 the number of monuments that Obama has created or expanded since taking office. Environmental advocates hailed the new monuments as bringing sorely needed protection to natural American treasures, even as Republicans in Congress were pursuing legislation to stop the president.
In Texas, Obama is creating a monument at Waco Mammoth, a relatively small site in central Texas where archaeologists have discovered remains of 24 Columbian Mammoths — the largest of the mammoth species — from more than 65,000 years ago, the White House said. Like other mammoths, the Columbian Mammoth is now extinct, but roamed freely in North America during the Pleistocene epoch, known colloquially as the ice age. The site marks the only spot in the U.S. where a nursery herd of mammoths has been discovered, and is also home to preserved remains of other ancient species including the saber-toothed cat, dwarf antelope and the western camel.
Nevada’s Basin and Range, home to rare rock art from 4,000 years ago, will also become a national monument. The White House said more than 700,000 acres of public land will be protected in an untouched area of the Great Basin region. In addition to petroglyphs, the site also contains “City,” an array of abstract sculptures that artist Michael Heizer has worked on for more than four decades. The project evokes elements of Mesoamerican life, with ceremonial mounds interspersed with more modern architecture. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, has been pushing for years to protect the site and its surroundings.
Tourists and nature lovers in California will see more than 330,000 acres in Northern California set aside for a new monument at Berryessa Snow Mountain. The White House touted the area’s rich biodiversity and Native American cultural sites, but the area is best known as a destination for hikers, campers, fishermen and hunters. Officials said designating the site as a monument would likely prompt increased visits to the area and drive economic growth in the coming years.
“I applaud the president, because his historic action will preserve this magnificent area for generations and boost the local economy,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Some Republicans have complained for years that Obama has abused his authority to designate monuments. In anticipation of Obama’s move, this week Nevada Rep. Cresent Hardy introduced an amendment to an Interior Department bill that would block Obama from creating monuments in areas where there’s been local opposition. His amendment, which successfully made its way into the bill, lists counties in Nevada, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah as off-limits.
“Any decisions that restrict ranching, recreation or other types of land-use activities should have as much local input as possible,” Hardy said, adding that the amendment was “about empowering local communities and local stakeholders most affected by monument designations.”
Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, presidents have broad authority to designate historic or ecologically significant sites without congressional approval, protecting those areas from new development like mining, oil wells and grazing.
Obama has used that authority aggressively as he’s worked to secure a legacy of protecting the environment and warding off the effects of climate change. Earlier this year, Obama designated new monuments in Hawaii, Illinois and Colorado, and last year he expanded the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to cover 490,000 square miles, making it the largest marine preserve in the world.
California’s Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, the White House said. The National Park Service will run Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas, with help from Baylor University and the city of Waco. In Nevada, Basin and Range National Monument will be managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
NFL hall of famers, former Major League Baseball players, and other sports and entertainment celebrities will gather July 12-13 to raise funds for cancer programs and traumatic brain injury research during the 7th annual Gene Upshaw Memorial Golf Classic at Schaffer’s Mill Golf Club in Truckee.
Practice rounds begin July 12, followed by a VIP pairings party. Tournament play begins July 13, with a 10am shotgun start followed by an afternoon awards banquet.
Since the inaugural event in 2009, more than $825,000 has been raised for pancreatic cancer research, medical treatment and care for cancer patients and their families, sustainability and advancement of medical technology, and funding for research in areas such as mild traumatic brain injury at the Gene Upshaw Memorial Tahoe Forest Cancer Center.
Upshaw passed away from pancreatic cancer at 63.
Douglas County Public Library will present a special program at Mormon Station State Historic Park on July 23 at 10:30am.
Guest puppeteer Beth Hyland will team up with Captain Underpants and Superman to share fables and tales that prove there is truly a hero in each of us.
Discover a hero in “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Rooster’s Diamond Button,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk.” There will be chaotic visits from the Mad Scientist Dr. Diaper, the Evil Professor Poopypants and Ferocious Talking Toilets.
Following the puppet show, children will make a craft.
All ages are welcome.
Mormon Station is located on the corner of Main Street and Genoa Lane in Genoa. Meet under the trees. For more info, call 775.782.9841.
The 30th annual Great Gatsby Festival is Aug. 8-9 at the Tallac Historic Site on the South Shore.
This free annual event includes living history tours, vendors selling vintage clothing and jewelry, jazzy music, speakeasy, silent auction, food and more.
That Sunday from 2-4pm is the Great Gatsby Tea & Fashion Show on the lawn of Valhalla. This year’s fashion show theme is Grit & Glamor, portraying historic characters of the 1930s from movie stars to working women. Reservations required – call 530.544.7383. Tickets are $65.
The clothing exhibit will be in the Twin Cabins of the Pope Estate.
The event is from 10am-4pm each day.
By Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post
The hallmark of public libraries — the printed book, bound by covers and centuries of page-turning — is being shoved aside by digital doppelgangers.
Around the country, libraries are slashing their print collections in favor of e-books, prompting battles between library systems and print purists, including not only the pre-pixel generation but digital natives who represent a sizable portion of the 1.5 billion library visits a year and prefer print for serious reading.
Some of the clashes have been heated. In New York, protesters outside the city’s main branch have shouted: “Save the stacks! Save the stacks!” In Northern Virginia, the Fairfax County library system chief recently mused that the Friends of the Library were no longer friends — a feud fueled by outrage over a print collection that has shrunk by more than 300,000 books since 2009. The drop in the District is even more dramatic: Nearly 1 million books have vanished since 2009.