As part of its Chamber EDucation program, the North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Sierra Economic Development Corporation is hosting a “How to Start a Business” workshop Oct. 13 from noon to 1:30pm at Mourelatos Lakeshore Resort, 6834 North Lake Tahoe Blvd., Tahoe Vista.

Deadline to register is Oct. 11.

This workshop taught by Brent Smith of the Sierra Economic Development Corporation will assist attendees in minimizing their risks and walk them through the steps in the business start-up process. They’ll also learn about free resources.

The cost is $55/person, and participants need to bring their own lunch. To register, call the Sierra Economic Development Corporation at (530) 823.4703 or email info@sedcorp.biz.

By Scott Rapp, Post-Standard

Cayuga County has a chilling plan to kill the swelling population of Asian clams at the north end of Owasco Lake.

The county is planning to freeze the critters to death by lowering the winter lake level by one more foot than usual to 709 feet above sea level in November.

Dropping the lake level an extra foot is expected to kill an estimated 90 percent of the tiny mollusks, an invasive species that could wreak environmental and recreational havoc on the lake if left unchecked.

Tens of thousands of the clams are living mostly in sandy-bottomed water less than six feet deep in an area that encompasses about 123 acres at the north end of the lake, according to a recent study. Initially, officials estimated the clams, first spotted in the lake a year ago, had invaded about 15 to 25 acres near Emerson Park.

The clams are tiny but can cause big problems, like those being seen in Lake George and Lake Tahoe. Asian clams can trigger toxic blue-green algae blooms, which can ruin boating and swimming, and can make people sick and cause animals to die. Also, the clams can clog water intake pipes and befoul water quality.

Read the whole story

By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

Hunters, anglers and field scientists face a new danger tromping through Nevada’s backcountry — one that is also requiring increasing time and attention of the state’s limited force of game wardens.

Officials of the Nevada Department of Wildlife report a “tremendous increase” in illegal marijuana cultivation on public land in recent years, with much of the activity associated with violent Mexican drug cartels.

“It’s been on our radar screen for years but not on the front of our radar screen,” Chief Game Warden Rob Buonamici said. “It is now.”

Indeed, dealing with marijuana grows is becoming one of the basic duties of game wardens, right along with checking hunting and fishing licenses, arresting poachers and conducting boat patrols, Buonamici said.

Read the whole story

By Susan Skorupa, Reno Gazette-Journal

Look out the window or the back door; stroll around the house, paying attention to the things you’ve overlooked all summer.

The gutters under the roof eaves already are filling with leaves, the back deck is scuffed and splintered in some spots, a few roof shingles look ragged.

Already in the evening, chilly drafts are seeping inside from around doors that open to the outside or the unheated garage. Window curtains dance with the slight breeze around unopened windows indicating some kind of unsealed space where the outside is creeping inside.

Winter’s coming. Time to clean the furnace and boost the amount of insulation in the attic, but it’s also time to look at the exterior of the house. What’s going on with roofs, gutters, windows, doors and outdoor living areas needs attention, too.

Where to start? No. 1 on the list: Caulking. Door frames and window frames inside and out can let cold air inside.

“Caulking today is more scientific than it was 10 years ago,” said Chuck White, field divisional merchandising manager for the Home Depot western division. “At minus 50 or at 110 degrees, you can put it on. The technology has grown and it lasts longer; it’s easier to use and consumer friendly. It’s the No. 1 repair that do-it-yourselfers can do.”

Look up on the roof. Rather than climbing around on the shingles, scan the roof for loose shingles or flashing or possible weak spots from a ladder or from inside a neighbor’s house.

Read the whole story

Placer County will have a town hall meeting in Kings Beach on Oct. 25 to kick off the process for updating its long-range plans for North Lake Tahoe.

The meeting starts at 6pm at the North Tahoe Event Center, 8318 North Lake Blvd., Kings Beach.

Placer County has nine community plans for the Tahoe basin. Most are joint planning documents developed about 20 years ago by the county and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

TRPA is in the process of updating its Regional Plan, and all community plans within the Lake Tahoe Basin must be consistent with that plan.

Placer County intends to consolidate the nine plans into a single policy document with four planning areas. Each planning area will have its own distinct zoning ordinance and community-specific design guideline standards.

The planning areas are:

* North Tahoe east, which covers Kings Beach and the state line community;

* Greater Tahoe City, which includes Tahoe City, Tahoe City Gateway, Lake Forest, and Dollar Hill;

* North Tahoe west, including Carnelian Bay and Tahoe Vista; and

* West Shore, which includes Sunnyside, Homewood and Tahoma.

The county’s update process involves the Placer County Community Development Resource Agency, Placer County Redevelopment Agency and TRPA.

For more information about the town hall meeting and community plan update process, contact Supervising Planner Crystal Jacobsen at (530) 745.3085 or cjacobse@placer.ca.gov.

By Kathryn Reed

Not everyone at Fallen Leaf Lake believes enough is being done to keep out aquatic invasive species.

This South Shore lake has no invasive species and residents want to keep it that way. But with Lake Tahoe just a mile away, that could be difficult. The much larger lake is home to unwanted plant life such as milfoil and animals like Asian clams.

Fallen Leaf Lake wants to remain uncontaminated of aquatic invasive species. Photo/LTN file

It’s mandatory to have boats and trailers washed when launched at Fallen Leaf Lake. What some would like is a station at the other end of the lake at the campground.

Residents have set up a website to help educate people about aquatic invasive species, or AIS.

“We are hoping to get support from community members and the visiting public to help convince the USFS to do the right thing and let us help them by installing and operating the boat decontamination station at the campground,” Fallen Leaf Lake resident Mike Kraft told Lake Tahoe News. “If we can do this, we will be able to decontaminate nearly 98 percent of the boats being launched into the lake. This will help preserve the health and beauty of Fallen Leaf Lake for our future generations.”

The Forest Service owns the campground. The policy is to screen people as they come into the campground and explain the clean-drain-dry protocol. It’s kayaks, canoes and rafts that are launched from the campground.

This July 2011 document explains the USFS policy surrounding AIS.

“We follow TRPA’s protocols and rules for boat inspections,” explained Cheva Heck with the USFS.

Kraft, though, believes more needs to be done.

“We have even offered to provide, install, operate, and maintain the system so there is absolutely no cost to the USFS and they still will not help us protect Fallen Leaf Lake,” he said.

The Forest Service believes it is doing what it can.

Tahoe Keepers was launched this summer as an entity to work with the paddling community to become educated about AIS. The issue with paddlers is they launch at places other than marinas and therefore are not subject to the AIS inspections.

Even though the devastating quagga and zebra mussels have been around for decades, those in charge of waterways have been slow to implement policies to keep them out. It won’t be until next year that Truckee area lakes impose mandatory inspections. Quagga mussels have been found at the Lahontan and Rye Patch reservoirs in Northern Nevada.

An idea that has been floated but is not known to be in place anywhere is to decontaminate vessels when they leave a lake known to be contaminated with an aquatic invasive species so they would not be able to be transported elsewhere.

By Jennifer Eddy

On a day off from skiing in Lake Tahoe, Paul Cullen discovered a wine he wanted to make his own. On Oct. 5 Cullen will be at Après Wine Company in South Lake Tahoe where there will be a tasting of his Sonata wines and performing his signature jazzy, cool acoustic guitar.

Cullen discovered his love of wine while he was touring as a bassist for the band Bad Company.

Paul Cullen will be at Apres Wine in South Tahoe on Oct. 5. Photo/Provided

“My intro to wine was Mick Ralphs, our guitar player. He turned me on to Chateneauf-de-Pape, it was my first taste of really good red wine,” Cullen told Lake Tahoe News. “We were on the back of the bus, pulling an overnighter and sharing a couple of bottles together and from that point on I’ve been a huge fan of wine.”

Many years later he came to Tahoe and discovered a winery in the Sierra foothills.

“It was our first time skiing in 16 years, so our bodies were a mess,” Cullen said. “We decided to take a day off to go wining and we found some of the best wineries going toward Placerville. That’s when we found Drytown Cellars.”

After discovering Drytown Cellars, Cullen contacted his Italian wine distributor and all his contacts on the East Coast. He held a comprehensive wine tasting that included a combination of aficionados and friends.

“We did three tastings of 30 wines each and Drytown Cellars was consistently voted the best,” Cullen said of the Amador County winery.

His Italian mother and grandmother first introduced Cullen to wine and food’s intrinsic relationship.

“I learned how to cook from my mom and grandma. I was making pasta, gnocchi and sauces at 8- or 9-years-old,” Cullen said. “It was a combination of two things, they wanted to teach me and they wanted to sit down together and drink wine.”

Two years ago he was able to go to Italy to see his mother and grandmother’s principles in action.

“My mom and my grandma would make something fresh everyday, we never had a salad on the table with tomatoes on it if tomatoes weren’t in season,” Cullen said. “In Italy everything is based around the seasons and the regions. Every region has its own style of cooking based off local ingredients, and it just so happens that the wines within that region go with the food because they all come from the same soil.”

Cullen’s love for Italian wines also influenced why he chose Drytown Cellars to produce his Sonata wines.

“Its amazing, half of their varietals are Italian and I understand why,” Cullen said. “Their growing area is like being in Piemonte, Italy; hilly, with a perfect microclimate.”

There are three Sonata wines; the Sonata Rosso: a rich red fusion made from Cab Franc, Zinfandel and Syrah grapes; Sonata Bianco: a clean, full bodied Pinot Grigio with a honeysuckle bouquet and his new Sonata Rosé combines the Petit Syrah and Giano grape that Cullen claims is unlike any Rosé.

The Après Wine Co. event begins Wednesday at 6pm. It is free. The wine venue is at the corner of Highway 50 and Ski Run Boulevard in the Red Hut center.

More information about Cullen and his wines is on his website.

Bona Fide Books is hosting guest instructor Nicole Banas for the workshop “Using the Techniques of Film in Your Fiction” at Bona Fide HQ on Oct. 8 from 10am-1pm.

This three-hour genre-bending class will explore how to use cinematic techniques to write effective, well-crafted fiction. Learn how notable authors have incorporated elements such as jump cuts, episodic structures, and swift characterizations into compelling fiction. This workshop-based class will draw inspiration from successful films and short stories that develop character and plot in inventive ways. Students will leave the workshop with a concept for a short story that integrates methods from the big screen.

Nicole Banas

The class fee is $25.

Banas is a creative writing instructor at Temple University in Philadelphia. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in the Roanoke Review, Chrysalis Reader, Forage and other publications. She has a bachelor’s in screenwriting and playwriting from Drexel University and received an M.F.A. in fiction from Temple University in 2008.

In addition to this class, Bona Fide Books will host Todd Borg’s acclaimed three-day workshop “The Hook, the Twist, and the Cliffhanger” Oct. 14-16, and “Grandma Went to Woodstock: Writing the Family History” Nov. 19-20. Learn more about these and other literary events online.

Bona Fide HQ is located at 1069 Magua St., No. 4, behind the Getaway Café in Meyers.

For more information, contact Kim Wyatt at editor@bonafidebooks.com or visit the website.

Now that the autumn months are upon us, it’s a good time to locate and label, or visually indicate, where your water and gas shut-off valves are.

Do this inside and outside of your home. Then, when the snow flies again, and the possibility of frozen and buried pipes occurs, we will be able to quickly minimize any damage to your property.

— Sallie Ross-Filgo, SLTFD

To the community,

The city of South Lake Tahoe was created by popular vote in 1965. The main issues were police, fire, and snow removal. People were not happy with county services.

Presently, because of hard economic times, the city manager wishes to downsize the city’s snowplow crew and use temps to plow city streets. The city manager claims that there will be a sizeable dollar savings for the city by employing temps. Perhaps.

Bill Crawford

Many years ago, a property tax of $20 a year was approved by voters in the city for snow removal. Once a year, the City Council by a majority vote approves to continue collecting the tax. So because the city manger says employing temps will rescue the cost of snow removal, will the City Council Vote to kill the tax?

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe