Steph Curry is ready to add to his hardware. Coming off this week’s NBA championships, the Gold State Warrior has committed to play in the annual American Century Championship next month.

Joining Curry at Edgewood Tahoe will be his father, Dell; just like last year.

Also returning is entertainer Justin Timberlake.

This will be Curry’s fifth time to play the ACC. His best finish was in 2013 when he placed fourth. Harrah’s Lake Tahoe sportsbook has him at 20:1 odds to win this year.

The tournament is July 11-16 in Stateline.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

South Lake Tahoe Library is hosting a summer reading challenge.

Children, teens and adults of all ages may participate in the reading challenge from June 20-Aug. 26.

Register and log activities online. There is an opportunity to win a prize for every five books read.

Special performances will be on Fridays at 2pm from June 23-July 14. For more information or to see the calendar of events, call the library at 530.573.3185.

Tahoe Institute for Natural Science and the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will host Wild Tahoe Weekend, June 24-25.

The sixth annual Native Species Festival is that Saturday from 10am-4pm. This festival is a  way to spend the day outdoors and learn about the many native plant and animal species of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Attend walks led by field professionals and explore educational booths from various public and nonprofit agencies.

Participants will experience frequent visits from Lulu the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and Smokey Bear.

On Sunday, TINS will host the seventh annual Lake Tahoe Bird Festival from 10am-3:30pm. The event includes hourly guided bird walks along the Rainbow Trail, information and presentations on migratory birds, bird crafts and games, bird house building, live birds, and more. 

The event is at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center on the South Shore just off  Highway 89.

There will be a talk called Living with Wildlife on June 21 in Incline Village.

People will learn how to protect their pets, home, and property from wildlife — from mice to bears to mountain lions.

Rebecca Dmytryk, the founder of Human Wildlife Control Association, and Madonna Dunbar, resource conservationist for IVGID, will be the speakers.

The talk starts at 6pm at the UC Davis Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village.

The pier installation at Ski Run Marina was finished June 14. Photo/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

A new era in the tourism boat industry at Lake Tahoe starts today with the Safari Rose’s maiden voyage from Ski Run Marina.

Marina owner Elie Alyeshmerni has paid for a new, longer dock in order to accommodate the vessel that until now had been based at the Tahoe Keys Marina.

For years he has been looking to install a pier that would be unique to Tahoe in terms of being environmentally superior, aesthetically pleasing and functional.

Work started earlier this spring, with everything being completed on June 14.

“It’s like a Lego set. You put it together and it can be changed,” Alyeshmerni told Lake Tahoe News of the new dock. “The nice thing about this is that it’s floating and goes where the water is.”

Arnold Finn of Global Dock Marine System approaches a finger float that was place in the lake in May. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Global Dock Marine System designed and installed the dock. It’s a green system, as in being environmentally friendly for the water and shore. It is made from recycled material. It’s polyethylene plastic that should last 50 years. (The company had been based in Florida, but is relocating to Reno.)

Twelve steel beams were installed to accommodate the 126-foot-long, 12-foot-wide pier. A 40-foot-long bridge connects the old dock to the new floating pier. It shoots to the west at a 30-degree angle.

There are no hinges. Three-quarter-inch steel rods tie it together. It was all assembled with hand tools.

Special bollards are on the dock that are better for boats. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“Once it’s in the water it is inert. Nothing can leach out and go into the lake,” Arnold Finn, part owner of the dock company, told Lake Tahoe News as he started work in May.

Each vertical float can support 3,600 pounds, so it would be possible for a vehicle to drive on it. Each float is 8 feet by 4 feet.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency granted a permit for this project on a temporary, one-year basis. A one-time extension is possible for another six months.

This recycled plastic is what is floating in the water after being put together like a puzzle. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The Tahoe Queen had operated out of this South Lake Tahoe marina since 1983. During the drought when the lake level got low it could no longer dock there. Aramark, the owners of the paddle-wheeler, turned it into scrap after it caught fire last August.

When the boat no longer existed Alyeshmerni told Aramark its lease would not be renewed. That company had not honored its contract to dredge the marina nor did it operate the required number days.

“As you know, the Tahoe Queen was damaged beyond repair due to a fire last year while it was being renovated. We are in the process of looking at future vessels to replace the Tahoe Queen and hope to look at future opportunities at Ski Run Marina,” Dave Freireich of Aramark told Lake Tahoe News, even though he acknowledged the company no longer has a lease with Ski Run. 

Steve Dunham now has a 10-year lease at Ski Run, with an option for another 10 years. He brought the Safari Rose to Tahoe in 2003. It is an 80-foot-long mahogany and teak yacht that will operate in the summer season. 

Dunham will be using a steel boat year-round, which will be docked across from the Safari Rose later this summer. One can carry 70 passengers, the other 110. Both will operate during peak times.

The floating dock on June 13 before being put in its “permanent” home. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Ski Run is permitted to have 1,950 passengers a day, but does not intend to even reach half that number.

The hull of these boats is V-shaped, unlike the Queen’s.

“Basically most boats other than the Tahoe Queen (could not) operate off of the (old) Ski Run pier because it is short and the shelf is relatively shallow. The Queen was able to pull up to the existing pier head to allow for loading and unloading, where most other boats have to pull up to the side of the pier for loading and unloading and is not feasible,” Tom Lotshaw, spokesman for TRPA, told Lake Tahoe News. “In order to make the pier serviceable, without an extension, dredging would have been requested by the applicant.”

If dredging is required in the future, that is now the marina owner’s responsibility.

The extension makes the marina as a whole less congested when it comes to boat traffic

Alyeshmerni hopes to make the pier a permanent addition to his marina.

Updated June 18:

To the community,

I am writing you in regards to the article that has surfaced regarding Mark Salmon, Soccer Coach at South Tahoe High School. I am not able to make it to the board meeting June 13, but I would like to be heard regarding this matter. I have worked next to Mark for several years while coaching throughout our kids growing up. I have a daughter at the high school who would love to continue playing soccer throughout her high school years, but did not register last year to play at the high school because Mark was the coach. I do not ever want my daughter to play for Mark again. 

Mark coached my daughter for all-stars one season and it discouraged her from playing soccer the following season. We did not have a good experience with him. I have heard this from several parents and players throughout this community. Since Mark has coached many of the children in our community over the years, many of the girls who played under him, have quit playing soccer with him or just quit playing soccer all together because of their experience with him as a coach. 

Three years ago, I had about 25 families who were willing to write letters to try and have Mark removed as the high school soccer coach. Unfortunately, most of those families decided not to say anything because they wanted their daughters to have the opportunity to play at the high school even if Mark was the coach. Most of them were afraid of the retaliation it may have had on our children. It was the only option, so they kept quiet. Now that this process has started, several more parents have been willing to step up to have Mark Salmon removed. 

As soon as I heard this was going on, I signed my daughter up for the next school year to play high school soccer with the hope that Mark Salmon will be gone. My daughter loves soccer. She has been playing since she was 4-years-old. She is now 15. I have another daughter who plays soccer as well. Our family is very involved in soccer. My daughter has had the same coach for the last 6 years. She plays fall and spring as well as for club.

At the time my daughter started to play club soccer, Mark was the main person in charge of the STFC Team. My daughter’s coach, was another coach under STFC and Mark’s politics got the best of our team and made our coach leave STFC. Mark encouraged the girls to try out for his team, but the girls did not want to. Most of the girls followed the other coach to Nevada and have been playing for him since. Mark and the other coach have very different styles of coaching. Our coach is respectful to his girls and in return they respect him. 

I would be willing to do just about anything to have Mark Salmon removed from the high school and having anything to do with soccer at all in this community. Just because he has training as a coach and he wins games, does not mean that he is a good coach or a good person. He should not be the kind of person who our girls look up to as a role model.

Please people, speak up, for our kids as well as our community. Send your comments to. jtarwater@ltusd.org, schandler@ltusd.org, bbannar@sbcglobal.net, aswanson@ltusd.org, tmatthews@ltusd.org, lreilly@ltusd.org, bturnball@ltusd.org, paulpalant@yahoo.com.

Jeanna Rangel, South Lake Tahoe

By Simon Worrall, National Geographic

When we first see Elizabeth Bennett, in the 2005 film of “Pride and Prejudice,? she is walking through a field, surrounded by birdsong and trees. Nature, for Jane Austen’s heroines, is always a source of solace and inspiration. And as Florence Williams shows in her new book, “The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative,” modern technology is now revealing what goes on in our brains when we step outdoors—and why nature is so good for us.

When National Geographic caught up with Williams by phone in Washington, D.C., she explained why even a house plant can make us feel good, why the practice of “forest bathing” is now supported by the Japanese government, and how trees can lower the murder rate in our cities.

The Mappiness project was developed in the U.K. by a happiness researcher called George MacKerron. It’s a brilliant idea, which tries to capture in real time what people are doing and how it makes them feel. I downloaded this app onto my phone and used it for about a year.

The way it works is, it pings you at random times a couple of times a day and gives you a list of options. Are you driving, doing childcare, cooking, hanging out with friends? Are you outside or inside and how are you feeling? Like, “I feel happy, not so happy.”

Read the whole story

By Colette Harris, Outside

In 2017, Adrian Ballinger of Olympic Valley was determined to stand on the top of the world without the help of supplemental oxygen. He had spent the better part of a decade guiding people to their Everest dreams as founder of Alpenglow Expeditions and had already summited six times with supplemental oxygen. But, Ballinger says, Everest is all about finding your limits, and for him, that meant making the ascent sans oxygen bottles.

He and his climbing partner, Cory Richards, first attempted to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen in 2016. Richards was successful. Ballinger was forced to turn back just 200 feet shy of the top. But 2017 was different. Ballinger and Richards, both Eddie Bauer-sponsored alpinists, summited Mount Everest together, and this time it was Ballinger who made it without supplemental oxygen.

Ballinger had started training for that moment six months in advance. But how, exactly, does one prepare for arguably the most daunting physical challenge on the planet? We asked him.

Read the whole story

On June 27, members of the California Highway Patrol South Lake Tahoe office, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, and community members will come together informally to discuss community issues, have coffee, and build relationships.

All community members are invited to attend. The event goes from 9-11am at Alpina Coffee Cafe on Emerald Bay Road.

This is an opportunity for community members to ask questions and learn more about the various departments.

The idea is to improve relationships between police officers and community members one cup of coffee at a time.

By Chris Kudialis, Las Vegas Sun

Security experts from across the world discussed the components of a robust tourism industry, including safety, health and enjoyment Tuesday at the International Tourism Safety Conference in Las Vegas.

“Tourism security means economic well-being, health well-being and safety well-being,” said renowned tourism security scholar Peter Tarlow.

The event drew more than 320 participants from law enforcement and the hotel, security and tourism industries, representing 20 countries, including Israel, China, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland and Nigeria. The two-day conference concludes today.

Tarlow is a nationally renowned Texas-based scholar and author whose tourism security projects include working with police for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and last year’s Summer Olympic Games.

Read the whole story