To the community,

To everyone that needs oxygen to live … that is every single one of us and most all lifeforms. All of us have the right to clean, toxin free air and water as described in the Constitution as “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

SMUD, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, put a notice out May 17 that says they plan a massive increase in cloud seeding without any environmental review. The meeting is June 1 at 6:30pm at Strawberry Lodge. The notice says they plan to treat 444 square miles of Desolation continuing across Highway 50 and over the headwaters of the only river that feeds Lake Tahoe, the Upper Truckee, and out to Kirkwood.

There are numerous water agencies with money to spend that have a target on the basin. All of the particulates fall out over the basin as carried by the prevailing wind out of the southwest and west, mostly. Their programs are poisoning both the east and western watersheds for their thirsty landscaping and buildings for the millions deplaning without housing in both California and Nevada.

Both states are long past the point of being able to handle any more people and that is one of the only reasons that we have government. To protect the resources that sustain all life. Unending sustainability has always been a contradiction in terms.

Where is (El Dorado County Supervisor) Sue N(ovasel) on this? I called her office early last week for a response and have received no call back. What about the El Dorado, Placer, Washoe, Douglas, Alpine and Amador counties boards of supervisors?

Where is TRPA? Where is the city? How about the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club? How about the SLT realty board? Are they “Love Canaling” our properties?

The endless list of toxins that have been proven to be sprayed on us daily have resulted in undeniable decimation of our natural environment. The airplane noise is everywhere now, even deep in the wilderness. It is undeniable for anyone with eyes and ears. Silver iodide and the 10 other faux names it goes under, is harmful to aquatic life, should never end up in a water system and causes numerous ill effects in humans and all life. It has made me terribly sick with a cough that won’t quit for two winters as well as many other symptoms. The sky terrorists have practiced on us long enough.

Barton — time to expose your respiratory related treatments and admissions and oxygen saturation rates. How many people are on CPAP machines and hauling around oxygen? How many residents are getting home oxygen delivery? What is the percentage oxygen in our air? (Not near what it should be). One thing is certain. You can’t detect what no one is testing for.

If any attorney is reading this, we need a cease and desist order for SMUD and any other agency that is toxifing our environment and our bodies.

Now connect these dots. City of SLT removed all noise monitoring from the airport. Notice in Friday print paper says city will make all kinds of changes at the airport for current and future aviation needs. No environmental review. No information on what the future aviation needs are. I am guessing they are in bed with the weather modification corps and interests and intend to use the airport for these harmful, noisy and unlawful spraying activities — for money of course. Time for answers. Please be at the meeting and submit your comments.

Linda Witters, Upper Lake Valley resident of 38 years

By Christine Hauser, New York Times

At least nine states now ban “conversion therapy” for minors, a discredited method meant to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, after Nevada and Connecticut this month joined others in prohibiting the practice.

Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada this month signed Senate Bill 201, making it illegal for any licensed medical or mental health care professional to provide sexual orientation or gender conversion therapy to anyone under 18 years of age, a statement from his office said.

“Conversion therapy has been disavowed by medical experts and is considered a non-effective method of treatment that can cause harm to an adolescent,” Sandoval said. “This law will help protect some of our state’s most vulnerable youth.”

Read the whole story

By Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee

Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay is perhaps the most spectacular nook in one of the world’s beautiful alpine basins. But it can be an elusive nook. This winter, avalanches closed the highway above the bay for weeks, severing the loop road around the lake.

What if the highway didn’t have to make that tight-rope walk across the steep mountainside behind the bay? What if it simply ran straight and low along the lake shore instead, like it does elsewhere in the basin? Of course, that would mean a bridge across the mouth of Emerald Bay.

The idea seems heresy, like putting braces on the Mona Lisa.

It almost happened.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

I’m one of those fair-weather barbecuers. Love that the season is upon us.

This salad is so incredibly easy to assemble, colorful and healthy. Any vegetables you like will work well. It’s not that they have to be grilled, but the flavor and charred look add so much.

It makes for a perfect entrée. It’s also one of the salads that is served at room temp or warm as opposed to cold.

Plus, by using quinoa the protein is taken care of.

Grilled Quinoa Salad

1½ C quinoa

1 tsp kosher salt, plus more

¼ C olive oil, plus more

3 T fresh lemon juice

Fresh ground black pepper

1 bunch scallions

1 bunch asparagus

1 red pepper

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 avocado, cut into 1-inch pieces

½ cup mint leaves

¼ cup sunflower seeds

Sea salt

Cook quinoa.

Whisk oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Pour over warm quinoa and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper.

Grill scallions, asparagus and pepper (halved) over medium-high grill. Grill tomatoes in a basket. Cook until done; should have char marks on veggies, including tomatoes splitting. Cut onions, asparagus and peppers into bite-size pieces.

Divide quinoa onto plates, add veggies. Then top with avocado, mint and sunflower seeds. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

By Ben van der Meer, Sacramento Business Journal

Eleven years after sales began, a rare single-family home project near Lake Tahoe has completely sold out.

Developers announced this month the last original property sales for Martis Camp, a 671-home project on 2,100 acres south of Truckee and north of the Northstar ski resort.

Read the whole story

Truckee Day is a townwide street clean up and civic-pride day. This will be the 14th year.

Check in stations will open at 8am June 3 to get materials, volunteer T-shirt, and free lunch ticket. Preregistration is not required.

Everyone will be assigned a stretch of road to clean in their neighborhood. Children are welcome as long as they are accompanied by a responsible adult. There there will be a block party starting at noon at Truckee River Regional Park on Brockway Road. Local nonprofit organizations and public agencies are invited to setup a booth at the block party as part of the community expo. For more information, go online.

In conjunction with Truckee Day, Truckee Police Department will be hosting a free paper shredding event for residents from 10am-noon in the Truckee Town Hall parking lot on Truckee Airport Road. Truckee residents may bring up to 100 pounds of paper to be shredded.

By Todd Dewey, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Add the NBA Finals MVP Award and the NBA draft to the growing list of off-field events bettors can wager on at Nevada sports books.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board granted approval Wednesday to offer prop bets on the NBA draft, which will be June 22, and on the winner of the NBA Finals MVP.

William Hill, which operates 109 sports books in Nevada, petitioned the board for approval to take wagers on both events and quickly became the first book to offer betting on the finals MVP.

Read the whole story

Saturn is visible at night with a telescope. Photo/NASA Cassini

By Tony Berendsen

He has been in our night sky long before we were walking the surface of the Earth. Moving among the fixed stars in a repetitive path every 29 years he was noticed by us and given the name Saturn by our ancestors. Saturn, the father of Jupiter, and a variety of mythological stories, are all we knew about him until the development of a new technology allowing a closer look; the telescope.

Viewing the planet Saturn through a telescope is an amazing experience. To the unaided eye it’s a fairly bright yellowish star, but through the eyepiece its unique ring system heightens our imagination and wonder about the solar system.

You can go to Saturn if you like. Of course we don’t have human space flight out to Saturn yet, but with a little imagination, some awesome images from robotic space explorers, and maybe a peek through the eyepiece of a telescope this summer you can have an “almost like being there” experience. And you won’t have to ride in the openness of space for several years, held up inside a rocket, nor worry about getting back to Earth safely.

Let’s start with my favorite way to go to Saturn, through the eyepiece of a telescope. The telescope doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should have a good quality optical system and a sturdy mount. The scope need not be computer controlled or have motors for tracking, although I do prefer computer controlled scopes. There are many telescope manufacturers to choose from, but I prefer Celestron, their product line is amazing, offering something for everyone.

To go to Saturn with a telescope you first need to know where Saturn is in the night sky. This June Saturn is rising in the East in between the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius just after the sun sets. As the stars start to become visible, Saturn will be the first to appear above the eastern horizon. If you’re not sure which star is Saturn, load up a star gazing app on your phone and it will show you.

Next, choose an eyepiece for your telescope that gives a low magnification between 30 to 60 power. The low power will give a larger field of view and a sharper image of Saturn. If you’re not sure about which eyepiece to use Sky and Telescope magazine is a great resource. Depending on the aperture (light gathering power) of your telescope, you will see a beautiful image of Saturn, and at least one moon Titan, or up to seven or more.

Looking through a telescope at high magnifications (to get a closer look) can be very disappointing. Our atmosphere is very turbulent at times, causing a blurred image. There are optical limits to sharp images at high magnification, too. So, if you want a really close look at Saturn have a robot share some images with you, let Cassini take you to Saturn.

The Cassini spacecraft was launched from Earth in 1997 and began orbiting Saturn in 2004. Since then this robust robotic space explorer has sent thousands of images of Saturn and its rings and moons back to the Earth. NASA has posted them for all of us to see on the Nasa Cassini site. Spend some time looking at these images, read the descriptions, and you will be amazed with the absolute beauty and wonder of Saturn.

Don’t stop at those wonderful images, go back to the eyepiece and look at Saturn again. Let the photons bouncing off that distant planet flow into your eyes and ignite your imagination, remember the Cassini images: you are at Saturn.

Tony Berendsen runs Tahoe Star Tours. He may be reached at 775.232.0844 or tony@tahoestartours.com.

·      Heisman trophy winner, Super Bowl champion and wine connoisseur Charles Woodson will be at Lake Tahoe Hard Rock for a wine tasting and signing event on July 15 in the Vinyl Showroom. He is the owner of Napa Valley’s Charles Woodson Wines. More info online.

·      Truckee Running Festival and Waddle Creek Half Marathon are June 4. For more info or to register, go online.

·      In the last fiscal year, Caltrans spent more than $67 million picking up litter along state highways, that’s enough litter to fill almost 9,000 garbage trucks

·      Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce is having a mixer June 22 from 5-7:30pm at Alpine Union inside the Lake Tahoe Hard Rock. Cost is $10 for members, $20 for others.

·      Here are the El Dorado-Tahoe and Sierra roadwork schedules from Caltrans for the week.

Benji

Benji is a 2-year-old Basenji-Shiba Inu mix, as best we can tell. He weighs about 15 pounds, and is a little shy to start. He soon warms up and is very affectionate. He also barks a bit in the kennels, but he is quite sweet when taken out and he wags his tail constantly.

Benji is neutered, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz