By Nancy Kerry

Leaving a legacy is often described as passing something down from one generation to another; in other words, what impacts will remain after a lifetime of service and actions?

Recently a broad group of South Shore community leaders came together to consider what our shared legacy for the community would be as a result of our collective actions. This group of nearly 40 leaders included elected officials and staff from both counties, city staff, college board members, business owners, community leaders and chief executive officers from local employers, as well as nonprofit and agency leaders. We discussed the benefits we could achieve if we developed and agreed upon shared legacy principles that we would utilize to guide our decision-making and strategic planning.

We sought to develop principles upon which we collectively agreed should be the legacy goals of our community. In designing these principals, we agreed they should convey our community’s interests in an exceptional quality of life and also address impacts on the economy, environment and social equity. We discussed how legacy principals should demonstrate environmental stewardship, economic diversity and contribute to a sustainable and vibrant community.

We shared what we collectively understand and what we have learned from our community, which included these concepts: our community should be inclusive of all members; our community comes together in times of crisis and supports one another; and ours is a community of individuals striving to make a living in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The group developed an initial list of more than 50 ideas, which were paired down to those with similar themes resulting in the nine proposed “legacy principles” listed below.

Now it’s your turn to provide input about our shared legacy. After reviewing the proposed principles below, choose three or four principles you think are the most important for the South Shore. Consider how these principles might be utilized by private businesses, nonprofits and public agencies in their decision-making.

Proposed Legacy Principles

Collaborative Leadership – we recognize and incorporate a collaborative approach to leadership at the South Shore; we collectively represent a diverse group of residents, businesses and agencies and recognize no one particular private, public or non-profit agency or company is solely responsible to lead the South Shore community; we value our collective resources and by adopting a collaborative leadership philosophy we will leave a valued legacy for the South Shore.

Gratefulness – we are a community that expresses our appreciation for all that is the South Shore, which includes Lake Tahoe’s unparalleled natural environment, our community pride, neighbors helping neighbors, grateful for the opportunity to live, work and play in Lake Tahoe; we are a community investing in our shared successes grateful for the opportunity to leave a legacy for the next generation.

Environmental Integrity – we are a community that invests time and resources toward environmental stewardship; we believe it is our shared legacy that we have been entrusted to care for the outstanding natural resource of Lake Tahoe; we believe our built environment should closely mirror the natural environment and as a result, the natural and built environment will demonstrate our environmental integrity.

Shared Experience – we recognize residents and visitors may share a wide variety of experiences at the South Shore; we share experiences ranging from those valuing nature to those celebrating festivals and concerts.

Vitality – we are a community representing a belief in the health and wellness of individuals; we encourage a healthy lifestyle as well as neighborhood, community and economic vitality.

Inclusiveness – we are an inclusive community; we welcome new residents to the community as well as long-time residents; we are inclusive of all sectors, organizations, points of view from residents and visitors alike.

Culture and Recreation – we are a year-round community comprised of indoor and outdoor cultural and recreational opportunities for residents and visitors.

Bold Innovation – we are a community that embraces innovation in our approach to community challenges; we are supportive of innovators and entrepreneurs including those with big, bold ideas for we recognize bold innovation will enable us to leave a legacy of entrepreneurship.

Thank you for taking the time to help identify the principles that should be our shared legacy for the South Shore. Please share this opportunity with your friends and family and weigh in at Speak Up South Lake Tahoe a new civic engagement tool to collect community comments, share and discuss ideas and develop a collective understanding of the views in the community. A few weeks from now, the leadership group will meet again and assess the level of community agreement about these principles and develop a list of Legacy Principles to share with the community.

Nancy Kerry wrote this in collaboration with members of the South Shore CEO Round Table, which includes a large group from the public and private sectors.

A woman’s body was found by a creek in El Dorado County on May 17.

An autopsy revealed no signs of foul play or trauma, according to the sheriff’s department. The identity of the woman, who is white and believed to be between 60 and 70 years old, is not known.

Teens walking near Weber Creek in Placerville discovered the body in vegetation. It appeared the body had been there for some time, deputies said.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Caltrans has scheduled an open house for May 21 to gather public comments on alternatives for a bridge project on Highway 50 over Echo Summit.

Caltrans is considering five alternatives, including replacing the bridge in one construction season by closing Highway 50 for up to 90 days, replacing it in two seasons with a full highway closure of up to 50 days, replacing the bridge in two seasons with one-way traffic control, or rehabilitating the existing bridge in two seasons with a full highway closure of up to 50 days.

The bridge, which is located seven miles west of South Lake Tahoe, was built in 1938 and is showing signs of wear. The project is currently in the environmental documentation phase.

The meeting will be at the at CCC center in Meyers from 6-8pm.

To the community,

Bread & Broth is very grateful to Vail Resorts for their EpicPromise grant that funded their fifth Adopt A Day of Nourishment dinner of 2015 on May 4. The EpicPromise grant sponsorships are alternated on a monthly basis between Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Heavenly Mountain Resort.

On May 4, Kirkwood Mountain Resort took the opportunity to send management team members who donated their time to work with B&B volunteers to provide a hot, nutritious meal and a safe place for dinner guests to gather and socialize.

Bread & Broth would like to thank Kirkwood Mountain Resort management team members Dave Myers, mountain operations director; Brian Bigley, base operations director; Jon Copeland, skier services director; and Rebecca Daiek, administrative executive for being very dedicated and helpful volunteers. The team’s consensus was that they are happy to help and look forward to coming back at future Kirkwood sponsorships.

With the recession and the depressed economics of the area, many community members continue to struggle with hunger. B&B works to ease this hunger by serving full-course meals on Mondays at St. Theresa Church Grace Hall and soup suppers at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church on Fridays. B&B’s is able to continue its mission thanks to our generous volunteers, donors and sponsors. Kudos to Vail Resorts and Kirkwood Mountain Resort for their continuous and generous support.

For more B&B information, go online or find us on Facebook.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

To help professional landscapers improve water use efficiency, the Department of Water Resources and the California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis will conduct three workshops, including one in South Lake Tahoe.

The workshops will feature indoor presentations and outdoor demonstrations. Additional materials will be provided to all attendees after the event.

The $20 registration fee includes an attendance certificate that may be used to obtain continuing education units.

The local workshop is June 5 from 7:30am-noon at Lake Tahoe Community College.

For more information or to register, go online or call 530-752-6642.

Several Heavenly Mountain Resort employees were honored May 17 for saving the life of a skier in January.

Kevin Coyne of Walnut Creek had a heart attack in the lift line at Comet Express on Jan. 18.

Alan Payne, assistant manager for Heavenly’s Nevada Lift Operations, retrieved the AED unit from East Peak Lodge, while first-year ski patroller Grey Grandy took over CPR from Payne’s girlfriend, Karen. Responding ski patrol staff included Chris Grasso, Brandon Commanda, Jason Scott, Ashley Daw, Chris Child, Ryan McPartland, Justin Keys, and Luke Voss, in addition to Mike Orr from mountain safety.

Ski patrollers transported Coyne down Nevada Trail to the Boulder area, where Tahoe Douglas firefighters initiated advanced life support before Care Flight transported the patient to Renown Medical Center in Reno.

The quick action of the employees saved Coyne’s life, which allowed him to walk his daughter down the aisle this spring. He is also looking forward to his own nuptials in October.

Coyne returned to Heavenly this week in honor of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week (May 17-23). Care Flight and Phillips, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automated external defibrillators, presented an award to the team who assisted in saving Coyne’s life.

By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

Last September, Andrew Tavalero was within days of completing his six-month hike of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail when he stopped in a remote Washington town.

Tavalero, 22, struck up a conversation with some other hikers, who told him his Siskiyou County hometown of Weed had been hit with a devastating wildfire. A phone call to his mother confirmed that the blaze had destroyed his family home.

“I remember standing on the side of this road thinking, ‘I could hitchhike home now; I could get a bus ticket,’ ” Tavalero said. “I sat there for 10 minutes and thought, ‘I’ve come this far and I’m going to quit 50 miles from the Canadian border?’

“There’s no way I’m going to quit. You get that kind of attitude, that I’m going to crawl to the finish line if I have to.”

Tavalero made it, and is listed on the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s “2,600-miler list” as one of 3,430 people who have successfully completed the trek between the Mexican and Canadian borders along the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, most of it through wilderness areas.

In recent weeks, as many as 1,500 other people began the arduous journey to add their names to that list.

Most will drop out or postpone finishing until another year.

But hundreds likely will finish. The number of people trekking the PCT has grown steadily for years as the Internet and, more recently, the book and film “Wild,” about author Cheryl Strayed’s experience on the trail, have stoked interest.

Read the whole story

Raul E. Moreno Campos, a doctoral candidate and teaching fellow at UCLA’s Department of Political Science, will be at Lake Tahoe Community College on May 26 at noon to give a presentation on State-Sponsored Violence, U.S. Imperialism, and the Salvadoran Civil War.

Campos will share a historical and political analysis of the development of the Salvadoran military regime, and the onset, development, and resolution of the Salvadoran Civil War. He’ll explore the role that the U.S. government played in this process, including the sending of military advisors from U.S. Special Forces, and their training and sponsorship of the Salvadoran military.

Campos was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, and lived there throughout the entirety of the Salvadoran Civil War (1979-92).

The free talk will be in the board room at LTCC.

An El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the local drug task force was arrested Tuesday on drug charges.

Douglas County sheriff’s deputies were called to the home of Mark Zlendick in Gardnerville on May 19 because of an alleged domestic dispute.

Mark Zlendick

Investigators said they found narcotics and paraphernalia at the house on Centerville Lane.

Zlendick, 47, was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance, trafficking methamphetamine, conspiracy, and possession of paraphernalia.

He posted the $55,640 bail.

Zlendick has been with El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department since 2004. He was a member of the South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team when arrested. El Dorado has placed him on paid administrative leave.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Volunteers are needed for South Tahoe High School Sober Grad Night on June 5.

It will be at Heavenly Mountain Resort’s California Lodge from 9pm-4am.

Volunteers are needed May 29-June 4 for set up as well as during the event.

To signup, go online or contact Deni Sullivan at 530.545.1688 or tahoeclan@sbcglobal.net.