There will be an update on the proposed loop road at the state line on Nov. 12 at 5pm at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in South Lake Tahoe.

Tahoe Transportation District and representatives from the arts, recreation, housing and governmental agencies will be leading the discussion.

This is an opportunity to see proposed area gateways, local art, paths, access improvements, community gathering places, and opportunities for safe and affordable housing.

The proposal is to turn Highway 50 near the casino corridor into a city street and have the highway go behind Harrah’s and MontBleu.

Tom Millham, co-founder of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and secretary-treasurer, will be speaking Nov. 11.

He will be talking about the rehabilitation center that was founded 32 years ago, share tales of the thousands of animals that have been saved and touch on the future of this nonprofit that is based on the South Shore.

The talk is free to Lake Tahoe Historical Society members, $3 for others.

The 7pm event is at the Lodge at Camp Richardson.

Lake Tahoe News convened an editorial board to make recommendations on some of the key races and issues on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Here is a recap of the endorsements with links to the editorials:

• South Lake Tahoe City Council — Brooke Laine, Wendy David and Austin Sass
• El Dorado County District 5 supervisor — Sue Novasel
• Lake Tahoe Community College’s Measure F — No
• South Tahoe Public Utility District — Shane Romsos and Duane Wallace
• Lake Tahoe Community College — Bob Grant
• Douglas County sheriff — Ron Pierini.

By Eyragon Eidam, Auburn Journal

Weather experts have little confidence the winter months will bring the rain and snow needed to improve drought conditions in California.

According to a National Weather Service Seasonal Drought Outlook report, the “forecast confidence for California is low,” despite the potential of an El Nino winter.

Typically, California receives approximately 50 percent of its annual precipitation between November and January, but forecasters are not banking on a drought-ending winter.

Doug Parker, director of the UC Institute for Water Resources, said the state would need approximately 150 percent of normal rainfall to pull out of the state’s current drought conditions.

Read the whole story

By Allison Aubrey, NPR

If your little ghosts and goblins dump their candy on the living room floor tonight, go ahead: Let them at it. They can sort, then trade, and gorge on their favorites.

But if you’re like many parents, by tomorrow morning you may want to get rid of some of this candy glut.

One possible solution? Check out the Halloween Candy Buy Back program, which was founded by dentist Chris Kammer in Wisconsin. Kammer’s office offers $1 a pound to buy back candy collected by the young trick-or-treaters in his practice.

Think of it as cash for candy. And the idea is catching on.

This year, more than 2,500 dentists and orthodontists have signed up to participate. By comparison, about 300 dentists participated in 2007, the first year the program expanded nationally.

Read the whole story

Free wood cutting in the Wrights Lake Recreation Area of the Eldorado National Forest has been canceled for this weekend because of safety reasons in regards to the forecast of 11 inches of snow in higher elevation.

“Consideration for the safety of the public and our staff is the reason this decision was made,” Richard Thornburgh, district ranger for the Pacific Ranger District, said in a statement. “We are thankful for the help provided by members of the public during last weekend’s event. Approximately 43 cords of wood were removed from the recreation site to provide heat for members of the community.”

The free wood cutting was a way to cleanup after extremely high winds last winter downed more than 200 trees.

It’s possible more dates will be added this fall or next spring.

By Diane Lewis

It took the considerable effort of a number of community members, educators and parents to bring Lake Tahoe Community College to life back in 1974. But from the college’s very beginnings to its present-day campus on Al Tahoe, no single person has contributed more to the creation, success and growth of LTCC as longtime board of trustee member Roberta Mason.

To honor her five decades of hard work on behalf of the college and its students, the board of trustees voted in favor of renaming the LTCC library in her honor. It will now be called the Roberta L. Mason Library.

“There is no one single individual that deserves more recognition for the formation of Lake Tahoe Community College,” LTCC President Kindred Murillo said. “Roberta is truly the mother of LTCC, and naming the library for her is just a small token of the deep appreciation the faculty, staff, students, and community have for her for her years of dedication. Roberta is the most amazing woman I have ever had the honor of working with.”

Lake Tahoe Community College’s library is being named after Roberta Mason. Photo/Provided

Mason was one of a small group of citizens who began laying the groundwork for a college in South Lake Tahoe back in 1964. That’s when the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board first appointed a citizens study committee to explore the feasibility of operating a junior college. Friends with an interest in having a college in town reached out to the levelheaded and hard working Mason, who became the committee’s chairwoman.

She and El Dorado County Assistant Superintendent of Schools Hazel Hoak were primarily responsible for getting a community college off the ground – a feat that was finally accomplished on March 5, 1974, when voters approved the formation of the Lake Tahoe Community College District by a 66 percent vote.

“You could rename the college Roberta Mason University, and that would be perfectly appropriate,” Hoak says. “She absolutely deserves all the recognition and praise in the world for making Lake Tahoe Community College happen.”

On the same day the new college district was born, voters also selected a four-member board of trustees to supervise the new college district: Mason, Will Cluff, Donald Swanson, and Fritz Wenck. Mason has served as a trustee ever since, right alongside Wenck.

Staff and faculty at LTCC are quick to point out just how involved and supportive Mason has been over the years. If there is a lecture or concert or art exhibit opening or a theatrical presentation happening on LTCC’s campus, then Mason is pretty much guaranteed to be in attendance.

Library Director Lisa Foley says, “Roberta has honored this library with her presence quite frequently for years, to sit by the fireplace and catch up on news in the Sacramento Bee, or to attend our local author and writers’ series events. You’ve got to admit, the Roberta Mason Library has a catchy ring to it.”

Mason was born and raised in Sacramento. She earned an associate of arts degree from Sacramento Junior College, and a bachelor’s in science in chemistry from UC Berkeley. She worked for Dow Chemical in Pittsburg for about five years after graduating, then met her husband, married, and started a family.

They moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1957 when her husband’s architectural work brought him to the area to prepare for the upcoming Squaw Olympics in 1960.

She has served on a multitude of education-related committees and councils, worked at the El Dorado County Library for a few years, and is also a member of Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe and the American Association of University Women.

Mason has two sons who live in town, one teaches at South Tahoe High School. One of Mason’s granddaughters just started teaching kindergarten at Bijou Community School.

“I am deeply honored to have the college’s library named after me,” Mason said. “It means a great deal to me, especially because the library is not just for our students, but for our entire community. Anyone can come in and get a library card and enjoy what the library has to offer. It’s really gratifying to be associated with that.”

After 40 years of service as a board of trustee member, Mason will officially retire at the board’s last meeting of the year on Dec. 9.

Diane Lewis is LTCC’s marketing and communications officer.

A 55-year-old South Lake Tahoe man was found dead in front of a local business.

Edward Cussen died of natural causes. El Dorado County sheriff’s Detective Paul Kuhn said the preliminary autopsy shows Cussen had coronary artery atherosclerosis and alcoholic liver disease.

The final autopsy results will take several weeks.

A passer-by found him Oct. 26 about 8:50am near the northeast corner of the Tahoe Daily Tribune building on Highway 50.

A bicycle was found hear him.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

• The California controller has updated the public pay data website to include 2013 salary, benefits and other compensation data for individuals employed by community college districts, fairs and expositions, and First 5 commissions.

• Barton Health’s Type I diabetes support group meets the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30pm in Barton Memorial Hospital’s board room, 2170 South Ave., South Lake Tahoe. For more info, contact tt1thrive@gmail.com or 530.543.5581.

• Great Clips in Carson City is will give customers who come in on Veterans Day a free haircut card to give to a veteran, redeemable through the end of 2014.

• The El Dorado County Commission on Aging has a vacancy. Preference will be given to those 60 and older. Deadline to apply is Dec. 19. For more info, call 530.642.7276 or email janice.haney@edcgov.us.

• Beginning Nov. 6, the High Fives Foundation will be showcased in the art exhibit in the Reno-Tahoe International Airport’s depARTure Gallery. The showcase will run for three months.

A growing tool for scammers and con artists around the nation is the use of pre-paid debit cards, specifically “MoneyPak” or “GreenDot” cards.

This week a Truckee resident was scammed out of $3,000 when she attempted to buy a vehicle from out of state through Craigslist. After making contact with the scammer, she was directed to eBay motors so “the transaction would be insured”. It was determined that the “eBay motors” page she used was created by the scammer to appear legitimate.

The scammer then told the victim he only accepts payment through GreenDot MoneyPak cards. The victim purchased and provided the numbers on the back of six $500 MoneyPak cards as the $3,000 payment for the vehicle. Once the scammer received the payment, he attempted to scam her again by stating he needs $1,500 more to cover insurance costs for shipping that she will get back once the vehicle is delivered. Once the victim realized it was a scam the seller ceased all communication and the vehicle was never delivered.

A Truckee business was contacted repeatedly from a scammer who said they were representing PG&E and stated the business owner had an outstanding balance of more than $1,400. A Truckee police officer called the scammer back and pretended to be the business owner to determine how the scam works.

The scammer directed the officer to go to almost any grocery store or pharmacy. Once at the store, the scammer instructed the officer to buy two $500 and one $400 MoneyPak cards (the cards can only be purchased for a maximum of $500) making the $1,400 total. The officer was then directed to call the scammer back directly — not through the PG&E customer service number — and provide the numbers on the back of the card to the scammer.

At this point, the scammer can use the numbers from the cards to transfer the GreenDot cards into cash, leaving the victim with no way to recover the lost funds.

The scammers often use voice over IP (VoIP) phones or proxy servers for email correspondence from public places (often in foreign countries), making tracing the phone number or IP addresses and identifying the suspect nearly impossible. The FBI is aware of and currently investigating these kinds of cases.

To avoid being scammed, the Truckee Police Department offers these tips:

• Be suspicious of callers who demand immediate payment for any reason. Scammers frequently pressure the victim into believing the payment must be made “right now!”
• Remember that “GreenDot” or “MoneyPak” cards are very commonly used by scammers and con artists to victimize people.
• Never give out your personal or financial information to anyone who calls or emails you unsolicited.
• Never wire money, provide debit or credit card information, or “GreenDot” card number to anyone you do not know.
• Utility companies and government agencies will never contact you demanding immediate payment using “GreenDot MoneyPak” Cards.
• Scam emails will often be written with spelling and grammatical errors or be written in unusually proper English.
• Pay attention to URLs and email addresses. For example the real eBay motors website is www.ebay.com/motors. But, a scammer may direct you to a fraudulent page with the URL of www.ebay-motors.com. Email address may be made to appear legitimate but be fraudulent as well. i.e. PG&E@support1.com.
• If you ever suspect that the person you are dealing with may not be legitimate, terminate the conversation and contact a verified official representative of the company in question.
• Lastly, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• If you believe you have been the victim of a scam, contact the Truckee Police Department at 530.550.2320.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report