On Sept. 11 from 11am-4pm, the Horizon Casino-Resort in conjunction with JRW Group Entertainment will host a community event with 100 percent of the proceeds to be donated to the Tahoe Douglas Bomb Squad.

Admission is free.

Members of the bomb squad will put on a demonstration, along with K-9 units.

The event on the south end of the Stateline property will include entertainment, a barbecue and more.

The barbecue costs money. Tickets are available at:

Horizon Main Cashier or Gift Shop

Douglas County sheriff’s Stateline substation (Monday-Thursday, 8am-5pm)

Tahoe Douglas Round Hill Station (Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm)

KTHO at Ski Run Marina (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm)

Cost before the event is:

• $15 – includes barbecue, commemorative T-shirt and $5 free slot play

• $25 – includes barbecue, T-shirt, $5 free slot play and two tickets to the Bethany Owen show.

Prices are more at the event.

Friends of the Library is sponsoring an autumn wreath-making workshop with Anna McLeod on Oct. 1 at noon.

Bring the following supplies:

Wreath frame: sturdy wire, grapevine or straw.

2 spools florists’ green paddle wire

Wire cutters and scissors or garden clippers

2-3 grocery sacks of 6-8 inch pieces of plant materiel: sagebrush, laurel, dried leaves, etc. Any autumn foliage that will hold its leaves and shape when it dries.

Pretty things to trim your wreath: small pine cones, berries, moss, citrus twigs, straw, dried flowers, etc. Keep in mind that an outdoor wreath might attract a hungry bear.

Ribbon – at least 6 feet high quality ribbon. Wide ribbon shows up the best.

This program is best suited to teens and adults. Call (530) 573.3185 for additional information. The event is free. The library is at 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

On Sept. 11 from 11am-4pm, the Horizon Casino-Resort in conjunction with JRW Group Entertainment will host a community event with 100 percent of the proceeds to be donated to the Tahoe Douglas Bomb Squad.

Admission is free.

Members of the bomb squad will put on a demonstration, along with K-9 units.

The event on the south end of the Stateline property will include entertainment, a barbecue and more.

The barbecue costs money. Tickets are available at:

Horizon Main Cashier or Gift Shop

Douglas County sheriff’s Stateline substation (Monday-Thursday, 8am-5pm)

Tahoe Douglas Round Hill Station (Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm)

KTHO at Ski Run Marina (Monday-Friday 9am-4pm)

Cost before the event is:

• $15 – includes barbecue, commemorative T-shirt and $5 free slot play

• $25 – includes barbecue, T-shirt, $5 free slot play and two tickets to the Bethany Owen show.

Prices are more at the event.

By Justin B. Phillips, Contra Costa Times

It was 3:30am, and Brian McCarthy was fast asleep when a bear took his 2002 Toyota Prius for a test drive. The Pleasanton man’s car had been parked in the driveway of his west Lake Tahoe cabin.

After wedging itself inside the car, the bear became stuck. Frustrated, hungry and mad, it kicked, scratched, bit and tore at the interior of the hybrid, trying to force a way out as easily as it found its way in.

In its behind-the-wheel rampage, the bear ripped open the seats, bit a chunk out of the steering wheel and damaged the Prius’ gear box, shifting the car into neutral.

From the safety of the cabin, the awakened family watched helplessly as the commandeered Prius slowly started rolling out of the driveway.

“Our son was the first one who woke up, and he was watching the bear through the window,” McCarthy said. “We were looking out of our bedroom window and from our view, you could look down and see the bear in the car, and its arms were just flailing all over the place, through the windows and everything.”

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

A South Lake Tahoe woman is one of the four people killed by a gunman Tuesday at IHOP in Carson City.

Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67, was at the restaurant having breakfast with her husband, Wally Gunderson, when shots rang out just before 9am. He was wounded, but his condition is unknown.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong at a 9am press conference this morning said it was not believed the South Lake Tahoe couple was sitting with the Nevada National Guard personnel, but were at a nearby table.

Eduardo Sencion, 32, of Carson City is the shooter. He later shot himself, dying Tuesday afternoon at Carson Tahoe Hospital. Sencion with his brothers ran Mi Pueblo market in South Lake Tahoe and Stead. Their second Tahoe store closed last year.

“The family is grieving. They did not take part in this. They are cooperating,” Furlong said of Sencion’s family. His brother Gilberto Sencion Gonzalez is listed as the owner of the South Lake Tahoe market.

The others killed were all members of the National Guard. They are: Those killed included Maj. Heath Kelly of Reno, Sgt. 1st Class Christian Riege of Carson City, and Sgt. Miranda McElniney of Reno.

The names of the other injured are not being released. The extent of their injuries range from they will recover to life-threatening, according to Furlong.

By Yahoo Studios

Mark Bingham died Sept. 11, 2001, while saving countless lives. Just how many will never be known.

The openly gay rugby player was one of the heroic passengers who led a revolt against the terrorists on United Airlines Flight 93. The hijackers planned to slam the plane into the White House or the U.S. Capitol, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. Instead, the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., killing the terrorists and passengers – but nobody else.

The most visible torchbearer of Bingham’s legacy is Alice Hoagland, his mother. After losing Bingham — her only child — Hoagland became a tireless advocate for issues that were important to her son. Now 61, the retired United flight attendant is a proponent of aviation safety, a spokesperson for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and an avid supporter of rugby.

Flight 93 passengers learned from cell phone conversations that the World Trade Center and Pentagon had already been attacked. Bingham – along with Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick – formulated a game plan of sorts to overtake the hijackers, according to accounts from the phone calls. All four men were athletes.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe News would like to thank all of our readers, advertisers, subscribers, financial backers, morale boosters, commenters, sources and tipsters for an incredible two years.

Life in the Lake Tahoe Basin is never dull. That is reflected in the stories we have brought you about the issues and people who make this region what it is.

We would not be celebrating the completion of year two without all of you. It is with much gratitude we say thank you for being there and here’s to another interesting year of news.

The following people are sporting Lake Tahoe News T-shirts because the contest we had going on: Virginia Matus-Glenn, Janill Gilbert, Liz Norman, Carri Galt, Billie Jo McAfee, Ernie Claudio, David Dewitt, Cat Kope, Tom Dutart, Nadine Aurelio, Christina Shell, Lisa Sinizer, Jennifer Poore, Kerry Boykin, Cathy Vogelgesang, Paula Peterson, Julia Nold, Susan Swift, and Lindsay Bryant. Thank you all for your comments.

If your name is not listed above, there are other ways to get a T-shirt. The older shirts are for sale at the Tuesday farmers’ market in South Lake Tahoe for $15. They will also be available at Bijou Bash on Sept. 10.

The other way to get one of the new T-shirts like the ones that were given away as part of LTN’s birthday celebration is for subscribers to send in a check of $40 or more. For each check received, in addition to the T-shirt, you will be added to our special NEWS list. People on this list will qualify for special benefits like the ticket give-away to the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament.

(Subscribe by putting your email address in at the bottom right of the home page. Then you will receive the morning digest.)

Send checks to Lake Tahoe News, P.O. Box 13406, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96151 or pay via credit card through PayPal on the website at the bottom right of the home page.

Please include your email address so we can ensure you are subscribed to receive the daily digest. To receive the daily email, which lists what has been posted in the last 24 hours, enter your email address at the bottom right of the home page.

Please don’t forget to include your mailing address and shirt size – S, M, L, XL or 2X.

Thank you again for making Lake Tahoe News the success that it is with nearly 60,000 readers a month in more than 100 countries, and more than 3,500 cities.

• Squaw Valley has entered a partnership with Snow Park Technologies with the intention of placing the resort’s terrain parks and half-pipe among the top in North America within the next few years.

• The Tahoe Expo is Sept. 10.

• A group of Incline Village residents is posting photos on Facebook of businesses with dumpsters that are accessible to bears. Do a search on Lake Tahoe Wall of Shame on FB to see what they have to say.

• A tourist thinks he found the Virgin Mary in Lake Tahoe. Click here for that story.

• Vail-based Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals is on Inc. magazine’s 500/5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. The 13-year-old concierge and real estate services company plans to expand into Lake Tahoe in 2012.

By Rick Daysog, Sacramento Bee

Property assessments declined 2.9 percent in the four-county Sacramento area during the 2011-12 fiscal year, underscoring the continued weakness in the local real estate market.

Figures released by the state Board of Equalization on Tuesday show that assessed values in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties fell by about $6.5 billion to $220.2 billion during the most recent fiscal year.

Read the whole story