By Kim Minugh, Sacramento Bee

A charity organization appears to be looking for money at the same time the Placer County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team is seeking donations, causing some confusion among residents, according to authorities.

As part of the Search and Rescue team’s annual fundraising efforts, a telemarketing company is calling Placer County residents to ask for donations. At the same time, a group calling itself “Search and Rescue Charities,” which has no affiliation with the county Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, also is calling residents for money, according to a news release from the Placer County Sheriff’s Department.

County officials are advising residents that the Search and Rescue Charities group is not raising money for the local Search and Rescue team.

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A USDA food distribution for Nevada residents will be Sept. 22 at the Tahoe Douglas Senior Center, 885 Highway 50, Zephyr Cove.

There are only four nonperishable items to be given away this month. The next distribution will be Nov. 17. More commodities will be available then.

Items will be distributed from 9-10am.

Preference will be given to residents who have participated in past months. Nevada identification to prove residency is needed to receive food.

For more information, call (775) 586.8330.

By Dennis Cocking

The board of directors of the South Tahoe PUD, going back to 2006, has made its position crystal clear on the purchase of Lukin’s Water Company. It has been discussed many times in open session, has been part of annual public budget presentations, has been reported on by the local media, and has been discussed in the district’s quarterly newsletter. It is not confusing nor is it a secret. But, just for the record, here it is again.

The district has never sought to buy the Lukins Water Company. The district’s board of directors has taken the position that the district had no interest in purchasing the Lukins system if the cost of upgrading the system would be borne by the district’s current customers. If a funding mechanism, other than the district’s customers, could be secured, the district would consider the purchase.

Dennis Cocking

Before Sept. 30, 2011, the district will be submitting, after consultation and agreement with Lukin’s Water Company and the city of South Lake Tahoe, a pre-application for a California Department of Public Health consolidation grant. This grant would allow for purchase of the system and funding to construct the necessary improvements to provide adequate fire protection in the current Lukin’s service area. Should the pre-application make the first cut, we would be invited to submit a full application. This grant process is a very competitive one and many hurdles must be cleared before the district could be awarded the grant.

If the district were to be successful in obtaining the grant, it would be impossible, due to the conditions and controls the state places on grant administration, to use the funds for any other project or “other expenses.” It just can’t happen. Nor can any entity, including the state of California, “force” the district to purchase anything. No such mechanism exists.

The district has mutual aid water interties with Lukins, Tahoe Keys, Lakeside Mutual, and Edgewood water companies that provide two-way emergency water supply. Lukin’s Water Company recently had water supplied through such an intertie due to a pump failure within their system. Lukins does not receive free water; they are being charged the same rate as any other water user. Since these interties are for emergency water supply, no connection fees apply, since water can potentially flow both ways. This arrangement is not unique to STPUD; it exists virtually everywhere within California. This type of operational information is very easily obtained with a phone call or, in many cases, with a visit to the district’s website.

Finally, while I am dispelling rumors, district employees never have nor never will receive free water and sewer service. It is considered a gift of public funds and is expressly forbidden by law.

Dennis Cocking is public information officer for South Tahoe Public Utility District.

Spin-A-Yarn is starting up again at the South Lake Tahoe Branch Library. All knitters and crocheters are welcome to come for an afternoon of crafting.

Also on Oct. 1 at 1pm workers will be collecting caps for the Caps for Kids program.

The library is at 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.

Event organizers have added a host of shops, galleries and restaurants to the line up for this year’s Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop, set for Oct. 1 from noon to 4pm.

The Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk & Shop showcases some of the region’s finest restaurants and wineries, offering attendees the opportunity to wander the wonderful shops and galleries of historic downtown Truckee while sampling creations by area chefs, paired with wines from throughout California (with one Nevada winery).

A pre-event activity is the Stomp Out Hunger Grape Stomp on Sept. 30 at the Truckee River Winery Tasting Room, 11467 Brockway Road in Truckee. Doors open and music starts at 4pm. Stomping begins at 5pm. Each four-member team will vie to produce the most juice in two minutes. A fundraiser for Sierra Senior Services, the cost is $150 for each four-member team and there are 16 team slots available. Spectator tickets, which include wine tastings and appetizers, are $15 per person. For more information, call Sierra Senior Services at (530) 550.7600

Tickets for the eighth annual Downtown Truckee Wine, Walk and Shop are $30 in advance and $40 the day of the event and are available online or at the Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center, The Pour House and Avec Wine + Food and in Reno at the West Street Wine Bar. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Girls on the Run – Sierras.

For more information, call (530) 550.2252.

Updated Sept. 19 at 8:10am.

By Kathryn Reed

CAMP RICHARDSON – Water samples are expected to be taken today from Taylor Creek after an oil slick was discovered by a U.S. Forest Service employee during the weekend.

“After a thorough investigation it appears that a passing motorist threw a piece of petroleum-soaked astro turf into Taylor Creek off the bridge,” according to John Washington with the U.S. Forest Service.

A sheen of oil is stopped Sept. 18 by a boom in Taylor Creek. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Four white oil absorbing booms are draped across the South Shore creek that feeds into Lake Tahoe. Sheets designed to pick up hydrocarbons and not water are strewn about the edges of the creek, looking more like garbage than something to help the environment.

Booms and absorbant sheets pick up the oil in Taylor Creek.

A major concern is what the pollutant will do to the kokanee salmon run this fall. This tributary is a major spawning area for the fish – with events conducted just to witness their migration, making it also an economic concern on top of an environmental issue.

The fish have not started to spawn.

Forest Service officials who could answer questions about the environmental affects of the spill were not available this weekend, nor were California Department of Fish & Game, Lahontan Water Quality Control Board and El Dorado County Department of Environmental Health workers. The latter agency is now responsible for the site.

While a posse of officials descended on the site Sept. 17, no one was patrolling the water Sunday.

Signs, though, on the Rainbow Bridge have been posted saying, “Warning: Fire hazard No smoking on or near Taylor Creek.”

While the booms say, “Oil only sponge” – it would take getting up close to them to know that. The booms were put out by Lake Valley firefighters, with Fallen Leaf Lake firefighters arriving later Saturday.

A sheen about 2-square-feet in area could be seen Sunday near one of the booms. It was not possible to see how much the apparatuses had absorbed.

“The original reported sheen was 10 feet by 20 feet. Our spill coordinator observed that it appeared to be limited to between the street bridge and the walking bridge at Taylor Creek,” USFS spokeswoman Cheva Heck told Lake Tahoe News.

An original possible source of the contaminant was thought to be from a boat at Fallen Leaf, with the water coming over the dam into Taylor Creek. Billy Reif with the Forest Service on Sunday told Lake Tahoe News he does not believe the source is upstream because there is no evidence of the oil there.

He discovered the oil when he arrived at work at the Taylor Creek Visitors Center on Saturday about 7am.

Looking at the creek from the bridge at Highway 89 there is no evidence of oil or of the booms farther down the waterway.

This is the second incident this summer involving oil potentially affecting Lake Tahoe, though neither has done so. The other was at Zephyr Cove Resorts.

The 7th annual Food Fest is Oct. 8 from 6:30-10pm at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. This is the major fundraiser for the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation, which supports enrichment programs in all LTUSD schools.

The event features food from Tahoe restaurants, wine and beer from local wineries and distributors, music, and silent and live auctions.

Tickets are $35 and are available at all school offices, the district office, and Fox Gas station.

Who killed Flabbius Corpus? Was it Maximus Testosterus, or maybe Bogus Fortunatus? You have the opportunity to solve this ancient Roman murder at the Children’s Museum Murder Mystery on Oct. 1.

Enjoy a tri-tip dinner and meet the eight prime suspects as the audience works to unravel the clues to this mystery. And if you would like, wear your toga.

Tickets are $35 and are available at the Children’s Museum at 813 N. Carson St., Carson City or call (775) 884.2226.

Cocktails are at 5pm, with dinner beginning at 5:30pm.

By Reno Gazette-Journal

1pm update: Ed Larson said he simply appreciates being alive after Friday’s crash at the National Championship Air Races that killed at least 9 people, including pilot Jimmy Leeward, whose plane slammed into the tarmac adjacent to VIP boxes.

Larson, 59, who splits time between Reno and San Diego, was sitting in Box 50 and talking to a friend with his back to his scene when they heard a sound from the crowd that indicated something was going wrong.

He saw the plane, the Galloping Ghost, a modified P-51 Mustang, coming down and started to run.

He said he was struck from behind with debris and temporarily knocked unconscious.

“A whole bunch of things hit me in the back,” said Larson during a press conference at Renown Regional Medical Center, from which he was being released on Sunday.

He suffered injuries to his head, and shrapnel also tore through his Achilles tendon and calf muscle.

“It was just meat hanging out and muscle,” he said.

He also suffered a dislocated shoulder.

He was transported to Renown via a helicopter.

Larson underwent successful surgery and was released on Sunday. He said his rehabilitation is expected to last two months.

“It just makes you appreciate to be alive,” he said of the experience.

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By Greg Lucas, Capitol Weekly

John Laird is sitting in an armchair in his austere 13th floor office in the state Resources Building on O and 9th Streets. The former chair of the Assembly Budget committee is in shirt sleeves buttoned at the wrist. He gestures broadly while talking.

There are posters of parks on the walls, a hard hat from the state firefighters on a credenza, a row of baseball caps in the otherwise empty bookcase. His desk is ordered but full.

John Laird

Named secretary on Jan. 5 – one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s first appointments – the 61-year-old Santa Rosa native touched many of the issues he now is responsible for overseeing during his six-year tenure in the Assembly: state parks, the Sierra Conservancy, renewable energy, the future of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The former aide to East Bay Rep. Jerry Waldie, Santa Cruz City Council member, director of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project and Cabrillo College Board trustee talks with Capitol Weekly about his current job and some of its unique challenges.

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