• Mammoth Mountain opens Nov. 10.

• The 2012 Tahoe Rim Trail through-hikes are Aug. 4-8 and Sept. 18-22. Register online starting Nov. 21. Call Jaime at (775) 298.0231 for more info.

• People are invited to get involved with the Lake Tahoe Prosperity Center. The North Shore event is Nov. 15; South Shore is Nov. 16. Click on flyer for more details.

• Big Blue Concierge is a mobile concierge service that recently opened in the basin.

• Organizers deem the inaugural Tahoe Expo a success as outlined in the summary report.

As the “Official Shipper of the Holidays,” the United States Postal Service this week released the suggested mail-by dates to ensure packages, cards, and letters reach their intended destination before the 2011 celebrations begin.

Dates are provided as a guide for dropping holiday wishes into the mail.

Postmarking for domestic mail — mailed from and delivered within the U.S. — and international mail destined for overseas should occur by:

Publisher’s note: The following editorial is from the Nov. 4, 2011, Sacramento Bee.

There is no ideal solution to get California out of its medical marijuana quagmire. But two steps would be a huge improvement and help fix much of what is broken with Proposition 215, approved by voters 15 years ago Saturday.

If we’re going to have medical marijuana, more research is needed on what diseases and conditions can be treated, what doses work best and how the drug can be most safely ingested.

And that means getting marijuana off the federal government’s Schedule 1 list of drugs. What’s already known shows that marijuana does not belong in the same category as cocaine and heroin – drugs with high potential for abuse but without any medical benefit whatsoever.

This reasonable reform was recommended by the California Medical Association, which took the bold step last month in passing a resolution calling for legalization, strict regulation and, above all, more research.

Reclassifying marijuana would lessen the conflict between federal law and California and the 15 other states that have since allowed medical marijuana. A bill introduced in Congress this year would go even further, removing marijuana entirely from the list of controlled substances. While not legalizing marijuana, HR 2306 would limit federal enforcement to international and interstate smuggling and would let the states regulate pot.

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By Barbara De Lollis, USA Today

Travelers in the coming year should prepare to pay higher rates and compete for the best rooms, a new analysis of future hotel bookings suggests.

Occupancy nationwide is expected to increase by about 5 percent and rates by about 4 percent, according to industry tracker TravelClick’s analysis of North American hotel bookings for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2012.

“While there is much uncertainty regarding where the overall economy is headed, hotel industry performance over the remainder of 2011 and heading into 2012 continues to look strong,” said Tim Hart, a TravelClick executive vice president.

The gains should please hotel owners, who endured steep drops in occupancy and room rates in the recession. Revenue per available room, the industry’s key financial measure, is expected to increase by almost 7 percent, the analysis said.

But the recovery will not be across the board.

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TAMBA Trail day with Carson Valley Trails Association is Nov. 12.

CVTA has been busy all summer working on the Sierra Canyon Trail with trail machines putting in about 13 miles of trail. Now they are trying to finish the last half mile section by hand.

Meet at the end of Carson Street (two blocks south of the four-way intersection) in Genoa at 9am. Bring lunch to eat on the trail, about a 15-minute hike in.

For those who stay until the end, TAMBA will buy the first round at the oldest bar in Nevada, walking distance from the trailhead.

Wear layers, good and typical safety items like safety glasses/sunglasses and gloves. Hardhats will be provided.

By Kathryn Reed

Two new faces will be on the South Tahoe Public Utility District board, incumbents are returning to Lake Tahoe Unified and Lake Tahoe Community College boards, and the recreation measure on the South Shore is officially R.

Kelly Sheehan came out of the gate with 65.13 percent of the vote compared to incumbent Dale Rise’s 34.4 percent.

A clearly emotional Sheehan was cautiously optimistic with the initial results. But others near her wondered if it was mathematically possible for her to even lose at that point. She wasn’t ready to claim victory at that point no matter what others said to her.

Randy Vogelgesang and Kelly Sheehan celebrate their victory Nov. 8 at Steamers. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Sheehan had invited all of the utility district candidates to her bar-restaurant, Steamers. Rise was the only one not to show up Election Night. Nor did he return a call for comment.

Sheehan and Randy Vogelgesang spent part of the night huddled together – the voters’ top choices. Neither had run for any political office before being on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Vogelgesang replaces Marylou Mosbacher who did not seek re-election.

He said he is humbled by the win.

Vogelgesang held on to the lead absentee voters gave him. With numbers coming out just after polls closed at 8pm, Vogelgesang led with 37.71 percent, Claude Gunsch 28.55 percent, John Runnels 20.9 percent, and Mary Kortge 12.63 percent.

With absentees accounting for the 18.9 percent turnout in early returns, El Dorado County Registrar of Voters Bill Schultz was not surprised. This, despite the county’s growth in absentee voting for each election.

“With this election, everything’s gonna be low,” he told Lake Tahoe News at 10:05pm, about 15 minutes after the votes from the lake showed up at the county offices in Placerville.

By the time the final vote was tallied at 11:11pm, the numbers are below with the winners in bold:

STPUD Seat 3:

Vogelgesang – 37.18 percent, 1,128 votes

Gunsch – 28.54 percent, 866 votes

Runnels – 21.29 percent, 646 votes

Kortge – 12.82 percent, 389 votes

STPUD Seat 4:

Sheehan – 66.39 percent, 1,989 votes

Rise – 33.24 percent, 996 votes

LTUSD:

Sue Novasel – 32.73 percent, 2,283 votes

Larry Green – 29.23 percent, 2,039 votes

Michael Doyle – 27.69 percent, 1,932 votes

Michael Bischoff – 9.91 percent, 691 votes

LTCC:

Karen Borges – 49.47 percent, 2,524 votes

Fritz Wenck – 37.36 percent, 1,906 votes

Michael Bischoff – 12.54 percent, 640 votes.

All of these numbers are unofficial until certified, which can take up to 30 days. Board members will take their seats in December.

Schultz pointed out that the turnout could have been even lower if not for measures that get out the vote among a community’s most motivated citizens.

“In an off year, I really think it’s the passion behind whatever initiative there happens to be,” he said. “I think it’s whatever’s personal.”

In the South Shore’s case, Measure R — a rewrite of the recreation initiative Measure S of 2000 — made the ballot.

R needed a two-thirds majority to pass – which it more than achieved with 70.19 percent or 2,234 votes compared to the opposition that had 949 votes for 29.81 percent.

For Schultz, it has been difficult losing Assistant Registrar Norma Gray, a 31-year county employee who became a fixture in the Elections Department. A picture of her hangs in the kitchen as a “jewel of her memory,” Schultz said. She died in December.

— Susan Wood contributed to this story.

Waiting until just before the comment period ended, opponents to the U.S. Forest Service’s plans to thin about 10,000 acres on the South Shore submitted letters questioning the validity of the environmental document.

The South Shore Fuel Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project would treat 10,112 acres; the intent being to target the wildland urban interface and prevent another Angora Fire.

As reported on Lake Tahoe News a month ago, an objection to the final EIS by the Oct. 28 deadline would trigger a 30-day resolution period. It’s been triggered by Earth Island Justice’s John Muir Project, and Echo Lakes Association. Anyone or any entity which had commented on the original environmental impact statement had the right to comment on the latest document.

The conservation groups want the Forest Service to do more analysis. The same woodpecker species that Earth Island said should prevent thinning of the Angora burn area is being cited as a concern with the larger project. With Angora, a judge sided with the Forest Service.

The Forest Service has until the end of the month to respond to the comments it received. Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson will be the one decide to approve the project or not. If she signs the record of decision, it could end up in court. If she doesn’t sign it, the projects future is murky.

— Kathryn Reed

By Tyrus W. Cobb

Proponents of “green energy” continue to hype the potential of solar, wind, biomass and other renewable resources as cheap, abundant engines that can efficiently propel economic growth in the state.

But these cheerleaders ignore the soaring costs associated with producing electricity from these sources, a differential that will only be magnified as vast new reserves of traditional fossil fuels become available.

These adherents seem unaware of the shale gas revolution that has occurred in the past few years and the coming explosion of oil production in North America. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) has unearthed vast natural gas reserves previously buried in inaccessible shale rock.

There is a historic shift occurring in global oil and gas production. American expert Dan Yergen predicts an amazing “new rebalancing,” with the Western Hemisphere moving back to self-sufficiency and an end to our reliance on long-distance energy shipments from areas of conflict. Venezuela is now considered to have bigger oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, new finds in the Arctic area are very promising and recent oil exploits in Canada and the U.S. suggest that technology might be trumping geology.

Offshore oil will be tapped, but the most significant development is the exploitation of extensive rock formations ranging from Texas to North Dakota, believed previously to be too costly and technologically impossible to extract the fuels.

Tyrus W. Cobb of Reno served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan for national security affairs 1983-89.

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By Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

A political rift within the tribe operating the Thunder Valley Casino Resort is fueling acrimony over a $1 million sponsorship pledge for the Sacramento Kings and triggering a recall drive against tribal council members.

The turmoil within the United Auburn Indian Community, whose Placer County casino is one of the nation’s richest tribal resorts, is centered on internal issues that include disputes over distribution of casino income and payments to a tribal attorney.

But an apparent lightning rod in the recall effort – announced Monday against all five members of the United Auburn tribal council – is the tribe’s decision to pledge $1 million to support a community drive to keep the Kings in town.

A tribal faction, including former council chairwoman Jessica Tavares, complained in a news release that the tribal council made the pledge “without first notifying or obtaining approval from the tribe.”

The group took issue with the tribal council pledging to support the pro basketball team while apparently denying financial support for a tribal school and drug rehabilitation services for tribal members.

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