Lake Valley Fire Protection District, South Lake Tahoe Fire Department and the California Conservation Corps are teaming up to help city residents with defensible space and slash removal.

On Oct. 18, members of the CCC are volunteering their time to provide free chipping to residents in South Lake Tahoe.

In order to participate in the chipping service, homeowners must:

• Place slash and brush piles adjacent to a driveway or street so the chipper crew can readily have access.
• Place piles in an area where equipment can easily turn around (chippers are on trailers).
• Place the cut ends of branches and trees facing toward the driveway or road.
• The chipper can only handle material up to 6 inches in diameter.
• Piles must be free of trash, including rocks, dirt, wires and lumber. They must also be free of pine needles, pine cones, leaves or shrubs.

After the pile has been placed, call 530.577.2447 and leave your name,  address and phone number to get on the list. State that you are in the city limits for the Oct. 18 chipping day.

By Tim Henderson, Washington Post

NEW YORK — At 81, Stan Piotrowski has no desire for full-time company. He lives alone in Tudor City, an enclave with a very high proportion of single dwellers.

“At this point in my life, I wouldn’t want to live with anybody,” he said. “I want to do what I want to do. If I want to sleep late, I can sleep late.”

Piotrowski may be happily alone in his apartment, but he has plenty of company nationwide. The proportion of Americans who live alone has grown steadily since the 1920s, increasing from roughly 5 percent then to 27 percent in 2013, according to the latest Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau.

The phenomenon, which is most prevalent in cities, raises health and safety issues for local governments.

The growth in the number of men living alone is especially dramatic, rising from less than 6 percent in 1970 to more than 12 percent in 2012, according to a Census Bureau report released last year. Fifteen percent of households are women living alone.

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Bob Grant

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News convened an editorial panel of seven community members to come up with this endorsement.

An educator as board member is often frowned upon. This is because it can diminish the level of checks and balances, create favoritism and be a presumed vote for the unions.

But we have not found that to be the case with Lake Tahoe Community College instructor Larry Green being on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board. Nor do we believe it would be the case with South Tahoe High School instructor Bob Grant being on the college board.

We believe Grant is hands down the best candidate for the LTCC board seat being vacated by Molly Blann. This is the first year the college will have had district elections where the seats represent a specific geographic area and not the entire college boundary.

Grant brings many things to the table that his challenger doesn’t. One is his depth of understanding of the education arena.

LTUSD and LTCC are in a unique relationship, whose bond continues to grow stronger. This has a lot to do with the leadership of the boards and administrations. It is a partnership that needs to continue to be nurtured to ensure resources are shared and not duplicated, that the interests of locals and others are understood, and that programs complement one another where possible.

Grant has proved himself to be a leader at STHS in his capacity as an instructor. He isn’t someone who puts in the minimum number of hours and calls it a day. He has taken on tasks that go well beyond the classroom.

Most important he puts students first. While the job of a board member and a teacher are extremely different, at the end of the day what is in the best interests of students needs to come first – no matter the grade level.

We believe Grant understands the complexities and nuances of the education field to be able to step onto the board without a learning curve. This is critical as the college navigates unchartered waters of looking at potentially managing a $55 million bond or revising it, creating a baccalaureate program, resurrecting the good neighbor policy with Nevada, expanding the sports program, leasing property for student housing, and dealing with a shrinking budget.

As for Grant’s challenger, Michelle Sweeney, she doesn’t have the experience Grant does. Plus, on her resume she wrote “CA Governor appointee to TRPA Governing Board.” This is simply not true. The truth is she worked for the governor’s appointee. She was never in a position to sit at the big table to cast a single vote, and we can’t get over the fact that she misrepresented herself in this way.

By Howard Stutz, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Casino operator Full House Resorts said Monday the Las Vegas-based company has been “evaluating strategic alternatives for several months” and called a proxy fight by a group of shareholders “inappropriate and disruptive.”

The company said in a statement it was exploring options, such as “potential merger or sale of the company.”

The statement followed a proxy solicitation filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by a group of Full House shareholders. The group is led by former Pinnacle Entertainment CEO Dan Lee and is seeking a special stockholders meeting to remake the company’s board of directors.

Full House owns three casinos: one in Indiana, one in Mississippi and the Stockman’s Casino in Fallon. The company also manages the Grand Lodge Casino at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe under a lease agreement. In September, the company’s management contract for an Indian casino in New Mexico ended.

Full House said it would “inform its stockholders of the result of its review of strategic alternatives at the appropriate time” and asked its shareholders to not take any actions on the proxy filing.

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With the intent of providing a higher level of service to South Lake Tahoe home buyers and sellers,
South Tahoe Association of Realtors created the area specialist certification program for its
members.

To achieve the certification, a licensed Realtor must demonstrate sufficient knowledge regarding the following local agencies and industries:

• TRPA
• Homeowner insurance
• Building department
• California Tahoe Conservancy
• Vacation rentals
• South Tahoe Refuse
• South Tahoe Public Utility District
• Fire district.

After each presentation, a test is given. To qualify for the certificate, which has been approved
by the California Association of Realtors, one must pass with at least an 80 percent accuracy rate. The
certificate is valid for two years.

The following is a roster of Realtors who earned the certification last month: Molly Allen, Shelia Asselin, Daniel Bartley, Pamela Belli, Pamela Bettencourt, Molly Blann, Gary Bolen, Veronique Borges, Anja Buchholz, Carol Butler, Richard Cappel, Andria Cawelti, Angela Clark, Ken Daley, Nanda Dozier, Cassandra DeLaurentis, Diane Dickert, David Fischer, Michael Flanagan, Jennifer Fortune, Darlene Fritts, Ken Garber, Monroe Herington, Brooke Hernandez, Sam Holmes, Vicki Inferrera, Margarete Kallerman, Joe King, Marc Lasater, Davey Paiva, Daniel Resendiz Rodriguez, Jessica Seifert, Linda Szendrey, Monika Taboada, Jill Teakell, Jarred Uppendahl, Jacqueline Vallier, Jeffrey Waldie, Ronald “Flip” Walker, Jackie Weaver, Tracy Wood and Erin Yohnka.

Aspens along Armstrong Pass. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Daniel R. Cluck

Concern for the health of California’s quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) habitat has increased in recent years due to heavy wild ungulate and domestic livestock browsing, competition from conifers and other vegetation in the absence of fire, the impacts of drought and the potential negative impacts of climate change.

In response, land managers are taking inventory of California’s aspen resources and identifying the magnitude of these threats. These inventories have thus far included assessments of aspen regeneration, conifer encroachment and animal browsing as indicators of aspen health. Restoration treatments have also been implemented to rejuvenate and protect individual aspen stands. These include removal of competing conifers,
fencing, prescribed burning and/or a combination of treatments.

Spotted aspen leaves are the norm this year.

Recent California aspen studies have examined regeneration response to conifer removal treatments (Jones et al. 2005, Shepperd et al. 2006), simulated browsing (Jones et al. 2009), and white fir competition (Pierce and Taylor
2010). To date, no inventories or studies in California have assessed the impacts of native insects
and diseases to aspen health or their responses to various restoration treatments.

Daniel R. Cluck is a forest entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service. Here is a link to the full report.

With a change in weather coming this week, autumn colors may quickly fade.

Lake Tahoe Community College’s men’s and women’s soccer teams return home this week.

More than 300 people watched the Coyotes in the inaugural doubleheader on Oct. 3.

All the action takes place on the Community Playfield at 1300 Al Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe. This is next to the college’s physical ed building.

The remaining home games are:

• Oct. 14 vs. Butte. Men play at 2pm, women at 4pm.
• Oct. 17 vs. Feather River. Women play at 2pm, men at 4pm.
• Oct. 21 vs. Shasta. Men play at 2pm, women at 4pm.

Both teams are still in contention to make it to the playoffs in the Golden Valley Conference.

The Barton Foundation is honoring Patty Olson with this year’s Spirit of Philanthropy award.

Patty Olson

Olson has been in South Lake Tahoe since 1950. She is a founding member of the Barton Auxiliary. She helped organize the auxiliary’s first fundraiser for the hospital and hosted many other Barton fundraising events at Young’s Bijou Lodge, which she and her husband, Neal, owned and operated.

The 89-year-old helped raise funds to build St. Theresa Catholic Church in the 1950s and was instrumental in the creation of St. Theresa School in 1962. She also served on the El Dorado County Recreation Commission for eight years and was a charter member of the Cancer League.

When her husband died in 1998, Olson helped raise funds for the Neal Olson Playroom that is available at the hospital for families to enjoy.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association is hosting a two-day wilderness first aid course taught by the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS.

The classes are Nov. 1-2, 8am-5pm at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in Stateline.

This course will provide individuals with a foundation of important first aid concepts critical to responding effectively to emergencies in a remote backcountry environment. The course will help participants prepare for the unexpected. This fast paced, hands-on training is designed to meet the needs of trip leaders, camp staff, outdoor enthusiasts and individuals working in remote locations. It will introduce caring for people who become ill or injured far from definitive medical care.

Classroom lectures and demonstrations are combined with realistic scenarios where mock patients will challenge people to integrate their learning.

At the end of the course, participants should have the knowledge, skills and ability to make sound decisions in emergency situations.

Learning takes place both in the classroom and in outdoor settings regardless of weather conditions. Come prepared for wet, muddy, cold or hot environments.

No previous first aid training is required. Participants must be 16 years old to attend. Successful course completion earns participants a WMI wilderness first aid certification. This certification is current for two years.

Go online to register.

By Oulimata Ba, HNGN

California’s record-breaking drought may be wreaking havoc on local wildlife and forcing residents to steal water.

But for state vineyard owners, the lack of water has produced the best wine grapes in years.

“This year’s vintage could be one for the ages,” Michael Coats, who co-owns Valerie’s Vineyard in Sonoma County, told the Wall Street Journal.

Winemakers across the Golden State’s Napa and Sonoma counties say the three-year drought has produced weather conditions that have made the grapes tastier and better in quality. The secret is the lack of water, which causes the vines to grow smaller grapes, leading to a higher concentration of sugar, according to Michael Honig, president of Honig Vineyard & Winery in Napa County.

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