Is this photo of Rudy or Tigger? It’s hard to be sure, since these orange kittens look so much alike.

These very cute little boys have only been in the shelter a few days, and they probably won’t be here much longer. They are very playful and energetic, as you might expect. If they are adopted by the time you make it to the shelter, please consider one of the other many cats at the shelter who are waiting for their new homes.

Rudy and Tigger are neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. They are 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 online to see photos and description 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

Sawmill Pond continues to be stocked with fish and will be full for the June 9 annual Kids Fishing Derby.

Look for some big cutthroat trout to be on the lines.

This pond on the edge of South Lake Tahoe at Sawmill Road and Lake Tahoe Boulevard is only for kids 14 and younger. No one older is allowed to fish there.

June 9 is the annual Fishing Derby at Sawmill Pond. Photo/LTN file

The pond has been stocked since April and will continue to get new fish through September. The Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe is helping make that possible. Optimist Club and Raley’s are primary sponsors of the event.

The Department of Fish and Game is bringing in the trout from Heenan Lake for the derby, which is from 8am-noon.

Victor Babbitt with the El Dorado County Fish and Game Commission has these tips, “Some of the best ways to catch fish at the pond are to use power bait or worms. Lures and flies work well, but should not be used when it is crowded.”

Babbitt added that the U.S. Forest Service is working on an interpretive sign project to give information on the local area as well as the native fish, flora and fauna.

By Linda Fine Conaboy

MEYERS — Search and rescue volunteers know when they sign up for the job no two days will be the same, a generalization they discovered to be tragically true on Saturday during what was supposed to be a routine training exercise.

The SAR training cadre, consisting of Marcel Rowley, Terry Carroll, Nathan Smith, Chris Stanton, Bruce Donley, Sten Seeman, Charlie Powers, Brian Tupper, John Nugent, Mike Mullens, Matt Massie and Sienna Smith under the leadership of Scott Gabler and Deputy Greg Almos had finished a water rescue training class on the Upper Truckee River and had just arrived at Camp Richardson to complete their smooth water maneuvers.

According to Almos, suddenly a 911 call went out and the SAR team-in-training made their way to the vicinity of the Valhalla pier where a male had jumped off of a kayak and attempted to swim to shore.

El Dorado County search and rescue volunteers on June 2 train in the Upper Truckee River. Photos/Linda Fine Conaboy

“We had two boats in the water,” Almos, who leads the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department SAR unit, told Lake Tahoe News. “The SAR volunteers ran to help and with the assistance of Camp Richardson employees, immediately pulled the victim out of the lake and started CPR.”

Almos said the SAR team continued administering CPR even after the medics arrived to start their advanced care procedures. According to Almos, rescuers were able to detect a pulse after performing CPR, but the Bay Area man died the evening of June 2.

The 31-year-old from Antioch has not been identified pending notification of family.

Almos, who is also in charge of the Office of Emergency Services as well as the boating program, said more adults than kids are rescued by the SAR team, mainly because adults are more daring and kids tend to be supervised, a fact that proved true on Saturday.

He said lake rescues happen fairly frequently, but not often in the rivers. “If someone is in distress in swift water, it’s tubists and sometimes it’s kayakers,” he said of river rescues. “This is a mild year because the water [in the rivers] isn’t so high.”

Saturday’s training class started on the Upper Truckee River where it flows through Meyers and passes the banks of the old Sierra Pines Campground. It is designed to give awareness and beginning insight into various types of water — standing or flowing waters, Almos explained.

During a moving water rescue, ideally, there will be two people downstream to snag a victim who may have slipped by the upstream team. Rescuers communicate by a series of whistles; one blast is an attention getter; two blasts notifies people something is coming and to look upstream; three short sounds means something is happening downstream and three long blasts indicates an emergency, or that a rescue is in progress.

Almos cautioned that it’s important to do what you can do to rescue someone while you’re onshore rather than wading into the water — especially if you’re alone.

“You could attempt to use a throw bag (an inflatable attached to the end of a rope). Going in after somebody has to be well thought out. You need a support team for that,” he said. “Do what you can do from shore.”

The 11 people involved in Saturday’s rescue are all volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 50 and are part of a larger group totaling 35 within the Lake Tahoe Basin in El Dorado County. There are about 100 volunteers located on the West Slope. They all have pagers and are on call 24/7.

“We run anywhere from 50 to 70 calls annually,” Almos said. “Although most calls are for backcountry rescue, all of the rescues are performed by the team.”

He added that the Placerville team handles between 20 to 40 calls each year.

“People need to understand that cold water can be very dangerous. Plan your recreation. Don’t be impulsive. Always have people with you and always have a life jacket if there is a chance you could be submerged. It’s all about safety and avoiding a problem,” Almos said.

——-

Notes:

• The 2012 National Search and Rescue Conference is June 4-6 at Harvey’s in Stateline. The conference is a combined presentation by the Mountain Rescue Association and the National Association for Search and Rescue and features various exhibitors, speakers and workshops.

• The third annual El Dorado County Search and Rescue Appreciation Day is June 20 at Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe from 5-9pm. More information is on the flyer.

Caltrans is advising motorists to expect up to 10-minute delays on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe between Trout Creek Bridge and Los Angeles Boulevard beginning June 4. Crews will begin grinding and paving operations as part of a stormwater and water quality improvement project.

Beginning June 4, motorists can expect eastbound lane closures from 7am-3:30pm Monday through Thursday, until 11am on Friday.

This work is part of a two-mile, $40.6 million road improvement project. This project includes new sand traps, stormwater detention vaults and filtration ponds to collect and treat runoff before it reaches Lake Tahoe. In addition, the project will help reduce vehicle emissions by adding Class II bike lanes, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks, and pedestrian lighting. Other features include new intersection signals, landscaping and streetscaping.

Updated: June 3, 2012, 9:40pm:

Two firefighting P-2V air tankers went down Sunday afternoon — one in Minden where the crew was safe, the other on the Nevada-Utah border that killed two people.

An air tanker fighting a fire in Douglas County slid off the runway Sunday afternoon because of a malfunction with the landing gear. The plane sustained significant damage because the pilot had to land using only one of three landing gear components. Two malfunctioned by not lowering, according to authorities.

The Lockheed P-2V spent nearly 90 minutes in the air burning fuel before making the emergency landing at the Minden Tahoe Airport on June 3 at 3:30pm.

The tanker was being used to fight the Preacher Fire near the Pinenuts in Douglas County. That fire is 90 percent contained; having burned 1,070 acres since June 1 when lightning sparked the blaze.

While firefighters are mostly in mop-up mode, a red flag warning has been issued for Monday.

Across the state and into Utah, Capt. Todd Neal Tompkins, 48, and first officer Ronnie Edwin Chambless, 40, of Idaho were flying a P-2V heavy air tanker that went down about 2pm Sunday in the area of the White Rock Fire. The private plane, which was contracted through Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula, Mont., was dropping retardant on the fire, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

National Transportation Safety Board officials were en route to the crash site.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Scott Oxarart, Reno Gazette-Journal

Campo owners Mark Estee and his wife, Aly, didn’t plan on picking up a hitchhiker on May 21. But he wasn’t an ordinary stranger.

It was filmmaker John Waters with a cardboard sign that read “80-W San Francisco.”

Waters concluded his 11-day hitch hike from Baltimore to San Francisco last week, and part of his trip down Interstate 80 was a stop in Reno. Estee, who was driving to Napa, for a few days of vacation, taxied Waters about 160 miles from Truckee to Vallejo, as part of the journey Waters planned to document in his upcoming book called, “Carsick.”

“We couldn’t believe he was standing there,” Estee said. “It was crazy.”

By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

A drive to regulate California marijuana dispensaries won a key victory Thursday, raising the hopes of advocates who argue that state oversight is critical to staving off federal raids on California’s medical cannabis industry.

The state Assembly voted 41-28 to pass a bill to create a California policing agency to license marijuana stores and oversee a state-sanctioned medical pot industry from growers to delivery drivers to marijuana testing labs.

Since October, raids on California medical marijuana outlets and threats of federal prosecution against operators and landlords have shuttered scores of dispensaries across the state, including nearly 100 in Sacramento County.

Assembly Bill 2312 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, faces a difficult road to passage through the Senate and desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. The bill, which would create a Bureau of Medical Marijuana Enforcement in the state Department of Consumer Affairs, drew no formal law enforcement support.

The legislation has been blasted by critics as short on specifics as to how California can govern hundreds of dispensaries and thousands of workers in a state medical pot trade once valued at $1.5 billion or more.

Read the whole story

If people didn’t already know it, U.S. News & World Report confirmed it — Truckee is one of the most expensive places to live.

The Northern California city comes in at No. 8.

The magazine says, “Everyone from librarians to shop owners feel the economic pinch of working and living in Truckee. The monthly cost of living for couples with a child younger than 6 years old equaled $8,321 in 2010, while couples with two or more older children paid $9,323. Homeowners and renters spent $8,689 and $6,962 respectively, C2ER reveals.”

And the report says it can cost $1,370 to relocate from Sacramento to Truckee.

“Relocation Expense: Workers might spend as little as $280 (if moving to a spot with one bedroom) and as much as $1,370 (for five bedrooms) when relocating within the Sunshine State this June. That’s about how much it costs to move from Sacramento to Truckee.”

The most expensive cities are: 1. Manhattan, 2. Brooklyn, 3. Honolulu, 4. San Francisco, 5. Queens, N.Y., 6. San Jose, 7. Stamford, Conn., 8. Truckee, 9. Washington, D.C. area, 10. Newport Beach.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Publisher’s note: The two South Lake Tahoe Raley’s are part of Local 8. The strike vote is being taken June 3-4 at Embassy Suites.

By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee

Raley’s, trying to head off a strike vote, is warning its union workers about more store closures and other consequences if they walk out.

With members of the United Food and Commercial Workers about to vote to authorize the first strike against Raley’s, company Chief Executive Michael Teel said the grocery chain plans to hire replacement workers to keep stores open if a work stoppage occurs.

Even with replacements, Raley’s expects to close “select underperforming store locations” – and many of those would likely close for good – Teel said in a memo to workers.

Raley’s has already announced four store shutdowns this year, saying it needs labor concessions to become more competitive with nonunion rivals such as Wal-Mart. In his letter to UFCW members, Teel said the West Sacramento chain is a “family-owned business that is fighting for survival in a struggling economy and competitive environment.”

Members of UFCW Local 8, based in Roseville and covering much of the Central Valley, are scheduled to hold strike-authorization meetings starting today. It isn’t known when results of the vote will be available.

The union said employees of Raley’s Bel Air subsidiary won’t vote because their contract doesn’t expire until June 30. The union’s contracts with Raley’s and Nob Hill employees expire Wednesday.

Read the whole story

The 7th annual Tahoe Bike Challenge, which promotes bicycling as an alternative transportation choice over the automobile, is June 4-15.

This is not a competition, but rather an invitation to join hundreds of Tahoe bicyclists in riding your bike to work, school or play. The challenge can be personal or a team effort.

For 2012, goals have been set to increase participation and results. They are:

· 1,000 participants

· 100 teams

· 10,000 trips

· 30,000 total miles traveled.

 To register for the challenge, go online.