Clean Tahoe’s annual Community Cleanup Day is June 2 from 8am-4pm.

Drop off furniture, tires and appliances at the South Tahoe Refuse transfer station (2140 Ruth Ave.) for a discounted price of $5 per truckload for El Dorado County residents on the South Shore, and for $10 for South Shore Nevada residents.

Free secure document shredding and free e-waste disposal is also being offered.

Refrigerators are accepted at the reduced price of $15 per refrigerator.

Vail Resort’s Echo charitable giving program, Clean Tahoe Program is a partner in the program this year.

The question of where Mark Twain camped on Lake Tahoe has inspired the Gatekeeper’s Museum in Tahoe City to host the Mark Twain Tahoe Mystery Public Festivity featuring two authors with competing theories.

The event, which kicks off a summer-long public opinion poll about the two possible sites, will be June 21 at 6:30pm at the Gatekeeper’s Museum.

When Twain and a partner came to Lake Tahoe to stake a timber claim and get rich, he fell in love with the lake. Twain built a campfire that accidentally spread, starting a low-burning forest fire. The exact location of Twain’s camp has never been officially determined.

Two authors recently offered competing theories of Twain’s Lake Tahoe campsite location. Robert Stewart, in his book “Finding Sam Clemens’ Cove at Lake Tahoe, Nevada”, pegs a site near Sand Harbor State Park in Nevada. David Antonucci, in his book “Fairest Picture”, pinpoints a site near Speedboat Beach on the North Shore on the California side.

The event is free for North Lake Tahoe Historical Society members. A $10 donation is suggested for non-members.

The Gatekeeper’s Museum is located in the log cabin next to Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City.

The Carson Valley Trails Association fundraiser for the Carson Valley Discovery Trail is June 19 from 5-8pm at the C.V.I.C. Hall in Minden.

The event will feature live and silent auctions, games, live music performed by Foothill Road, complimentary refreshments and no-host bar.

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling (775) 265.3736.

This event will kick off CVTA’s fundraising effort for the 100-mile Carson Valley Discovery Trail, a 100-mile loop trail system envisioned to eventually encircle the Carson Valley. This trail system, which is part of the CVTA’s Strategic Plan, generally follows the Douglas County Trails Master Plan, and is on the way to becoming a “destination trail”, with recognition as a National Recreation Trail.

Placer County’s Community Development Resource Agency, Environmental Health Services and Executive Office North Lake Tahoe offices will doing business out of a county-owned office building in Tahoe City starting Monday.

They moved this weekend.

The new offices are located at 775 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, in the building known as the Customs House.

Placer County purchased the Tahoe City building in the summer 2010 and the Assessor’s Office is currently using a portion of the facility.

The new offices have video teleconferencing capability so Tahoe area staff can meet with west county staff without incurring the time and costs of driving from Lake Tahoe to Auburn. The building will be more customer friendly and have a larger waiting area.

The ninth annual Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop steering committee has chosen Family Resource Center of Truckee as this year’s nonprofit beneficiary.

A portion of the revenue from this event will go directly back into the Truckee community through this nonprofit. The Family Resource Center of Truckee is committed to empower families and individuals to be self-sufficient, valued and contributing members of the community. The Family Resource Center is designed to respond to the changing community needs.

The Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop has gained momentum in each successive year, donating proceeds to local nonprofit organizations such as InnerRhythms Dance Theatre, Lake Tahoe Music Festival, Humane Society of Truckee/Tahoe, Truckee High School band program, Glenshire Elementary, Girls on the Run Sierra, Sierra Senior Services and Truckee Elementary Special Friends programs and Tahoe Women’s Services.

The Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop set for Oct. 6 from noon–4pm.

Tickets for the event are $35 in advance ($40 day of) and are available online. A $3 service fee applies for online sales. The ticket includes wine tastings with more than 30 wineries, five food tickets, commemorative glass, program/passport and goodie bag.

For more information, call (530) 550.2252.

The man accused in the hit and run DUI accident last summer in the Stateline casino corridor pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving causing death or substantial bodily harm and one count of vehicular manslaughter.

David Stephenson, 36, of Discovery Bay has been sentenced to four years in prison. He would be eligible for parole in one year.

Stephenson was driving east on Highway 50 when the vehicle he was driving struck Joan Marie Hamrick, 60, of Valley Springs who was crossing the highway from Horizon to MontBleu. She later died of her injuries after being airlifted to a Reno hospital.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

A free meditation will be conducted May 28 from 6-7pm at Tahoe Wellness Center in South Lake Tahoe.

The class starts with learning simple relaxation exercises for the head, neck and shoulders. Meditation will focus on compassion.

Donations are accepted.

For more information, email Rosemary_Manning@mail.vresp.com.

Lake Tahoe Historical Society will present two talks May 31 by Martin Hollay.

The Hungarian native will talk about his deep ski roots in Lake Tahoe.

Martin Hollay

Times are 2pm and 6pm. The talk is free at the museum in South Lake Tahoe

Call the museum for more information and to reserve a spot — (530) 541.5458.

By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

Medical marijuana advocates Saturday opened a three-day event to rally support to regulate a legal dispensary industry in California, spurred on by videotaped messages from two members of Congress who recently pushed an amendment to deny funds for federal raids on cannabis businesses.

About 200 people, including dispensary operators and people who use marijuana for medical conditions, turned out at a Sacramento labor hall in a conference to rally support for a bill to create a state oversight agency for cannabis business and make it harder for cities and counties to ban dispensaries.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who passed the bill out of his public safety committee, said it faces difficult path to passage as state lawmakers shrink from the medical marijuana issue while “the (federal) Department of Justice is going rogue on us and the U.S. attorneys are participating in this spin cycle of reefer madness.”

Representatives of marijuana patients’ advocates Americans for Safe Access and a union organizing California marijuana workers, the United Food & Commercial Workers, used the event to attract volunteers to flood the Capitol on Monday to lobby lawmakers to pass Assembly Bill 2312, which is opposed by law enforcement groups.

Read the whole story

El Dorado County has scheduled a series of meetings to collect public comment on the Targeted General Plan Amendment and Zoning Ordinance Update.

The purpose of scoping meetings is to request public feedback on the range of environmental issues that should be analyzed in the Environmental Impact Report.

The public is invited to attend the following meetings:

May 30, 6-7:30pm:

Union Mine High School Library, 6530 Koki Lane, El Dorado

June 7, 6-7:30pm:

El Dorado Hills CSD Pavilion, 1021 Harvard Way, El Dorado Hills

June 18, 6-7:30pm:

Greenwood Community Center, 4401 Highway 193, Greenwood

June 20, 6-7:30pm:

Pioneer Park Community Center, 6740 Fairplay Road, Somerset

June 21, 6-7:30pm:

Camino School Old Gym, 3060 Snows Road, Camino

June 25, 5:30-7pm:

Lake Valley Fire Protection District Station 7, 2211 Keetak St., Meyers

June 27, 6-7:30pm:

Cameron Park Community Center, 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park

June 28, 9am:

El Dorado County Planning Commission, 2850 Fairlane Court, Placerville.