A South Lake Tahoe man was arrested July 31 on charges of supplying marijuana to a minor, a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of obscene matter.

Officer Russell Liles said Jim Zamosky, 57, refused to cooperate when first approached last week about reportedly supplying marijuana to three girls ages 12, 13, and 16.

Jim Zamosky

A search warrant was obtained at which time Zamosky was arrested without incident. During the search marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia, two handguns, one shotgun and a World War I era rifle were seized. An obscene photograph depicting a 1- to 2-year-old child was also located, officers said.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Kathryn Reed

Summer vegetables mean barbecue season. I think I could have grilled veggies every night for dinner.

It’s that savory taste of veggies from the farmers’ market marinated in some concoction that is never the same that makes me love this time of year. Shopping at a farmers’ market is also likely to mean the veggies are never the same because it’s all about buying what is in season.

There is no wrong combo of things to cook together. It’s a matter of what sounds good. Hopefully, you know what tastes good together, too.

The key to a medley of vegetables is a variety of color. All green is not very appetizing no matter how delicious the marinade or the food is.

Peppers are a good way to add color. Carrots are too, though they take longer to cook. Yellow squash, red onions, cauliflower – good to mix with all those green veggies.

Marinades come in all flavors. I tend to mix my own instead of buying something at the store. Ones in the store are often full of sugar, salt and things I cannot pronounce.

As I was wrapping up my summer drink research, I carried over that tropical mindset into a marinade. It turned out pretty darn good.

I don’t list measurements because I didn’t write any down as I was cooking. And the bigger reason is the quantity of marinade needed depends on how many veggies you are grilling.

When making a marinade, it’s safest to do so in a bowl so you taste it before putting it is on the veggies. Then taste a veggie during the day to see how the marinade is holding up. You can adjust flavors as you go along.

I tend to cut up enough to nearly fill a 9 x 13 glass dish. Then I refrigerate the marinating veggies for the better part of the day. Sue grills them up in a basket that is like a wok for the grill, but has holes in it.

This is a main dish for me, but can be a side dish. Served with rice pilaf (I do it from scratch, not a box) and fresh fruit (from the farmers’ market) and a good white wine (from the foothills) and it’s a delicious meal – and you are eating sustainably.

Summer Marinade

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Juice of several limes

Juice of 1 lemon

Several cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch green onions, chopped

Olive oil, as needed

Rum, not too much

Garlic salt, lightly season

Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over chopped vegetables when flavor is just right. Refrigerate a few hours before cooking.

Smoky is a very nice medium hair cat. She is 2 years old and is an indoor cat.

She has lived with other cats, dogs and children, and so would fit into most homes. She loves to play with laser pointers and dangling toys.

Also, the shelter is currently running a special – there are so many adult cats at the shelter, that the adoption fee has been lowered to $40 to increase the chances of adult cats of finding a new home soon. Consider adopting an adult cat this week.

Smoky is spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

Dogs are allowed in the Upper Truckee Marsh if on leash. The canine ban was lifted today.

For three months dogs were not supposed to be in the South Lake Tahoe meadow that borders Trout Creek and goes to Lake Tahoe.

Even though Trout Creek still exceeds its banks, AJ is ready to walk in the meadow. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Dogs running free was the problem. The animals threatened or destroyed wildlife habitat.

The California Tahoe Conservancy, which owns this sensitive piece of land, will evaluate the data collected during the closure in the coming weeks and present it to the board later this year.

No determination has been made if the seasonal closure will be instituted again.

— Kathryn Reed

A business boot camp for entrepreneurs and small businesses will be all day Sept. 27-29 in South Lake Tahoe.

The boot camp is designed to build your business and help you create your business plan.

This three-day course that will cover market analysis, marketing strategies, finances, business law, pitfalls of small business and more.

For information or to register, call (775) 588.1728, ext. 303 or email emily@tahoechamber.org.

Tahoe Arts Project is having an evening of music on the beach on Aug. 4 from 7-9pm.

Lakeshore Lodge and Spa in South Lake Tahoe is hosting this benefit for Tahoe Arts Project that will feature the music of Niall McGuiness, Trey Stone and Rocky Sleight. Bring blankets and low back chairs, but no pets.

Hot dogs, sodas and baked goods will be available for sale. A suggested donation of $10 per person will support Tahoe Arts Project’s mission of bringing professional performing arts into the schools and community of South Lake Tahoe.

Call (530) 542.3632 for more information.

By Emily Kirkpatrick

Study after study shows that children suffer from the summer slide when school is not in session. But the answer doesn’t have to be – and shouldn’t be – contained only within the walls of a school. And, given the severe budget cuts that Bay Area schools are facing, it can’t be.

The onus is on parents to keep kids’ minds actively engaged – and it doesn’t just mean another summer reading program. Children spend five times as much time outside school as they do in the classroom, most heavily concentrated in the summer, so parents are the best ones to prevent summer learning loss.

A study just released by the Rand Corp. found that students experience the most benefits when summer programs include individualized instruction, parental involvement and small class sizes. An earlier study by Harris Cooper, a professor of psychological sciences now with Duke University, estimated that summer loss for all students equals about one month of school. Low-income students experience even higher levels of loss.

The common solution in both studies is parents. Cooper suggests parents work with children during the summer months by engaging in small, individualized programs.

Emily Kirkpatrick is vice president of the National Center for Family Literacy.

Read the whole story

By Bill O’Driscoll, Reno-Gazette-Journal

Larry Woolf’s five-year run operating the casino inside Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort will be over on Monday.

The long-time gaming executive, whose formative years are tied to such legends as Bill Harrah and John Ascuaga, will head back to his Las Vegas headquarters of Navegante Group, the casino management firm he’s owned and operated since the mid-1990s.

The Grand Sierra’s new owner, The Meruelo Group, has hired another veteran gamer, Tony Santo, whose Santo Gaming firm already manages the hotel, to take on the casino, too.

Woolf magnanimously acknowledges the change, saying, “It’s best to run a hotel and casino as one unit.”

But ever the competitor in a hotly competitive market, Woolf also points to his success in growing casino revenue last year at the 2,000-room hotel, opened in 1978 as the MGM Grand-Reno, while the overall Reno-Sparks market sputtered.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Twenty-six seconds. That’s all it took for Corey Carlson to win his first mixed martial arts bout this summer.

Now the 24-year-old South Lake Tahoe resident is training for a match at MontBleu in Stateline this fall. A date for the cage fight has not been set. Also in the ring will be Ryan McCarthy and Paul Hubbell of South Lake.

The trio train at Escobar Training Grounds in their hometown.

Corey Carlson stretches before he spars at Escobar Training Grounds. Photos/Kathryn Reed

“I love the shape I’m in,” Carlson says.

He lost his first two bouts in the 170-pound division. Now he fights at the 155-pound level. Between diet, taking cardio workouts seriously and being more disciplined he got into better shape and dropped the weight he needed to be more competitive.

Standing, talking to him he doesn’t look imposing – especially with his boyish smile. Then the video of his win in Reno is played. Abs of steel, biceps that bulge and legs of iron. Don’t mess with this guy.

Being in great shape, proper mindset and accurate execution is what will take him to the level he aspires to – the Ultimate Fighting Championships in Las Vegas.

Mixed martial arts have been around a little more than a century, with the popularity in the United States having taken off more recently. It’s practically a free-for-all in the ring. Boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, karate and judo are all allowed.

Competitors wear boxing gloves and are bare foot. Punching the other guy while he’s down is OK. Kicking is common.

A full round is 3 minutes, with three rounds being a full match. If a knockout isn’t scored, then the winner is determined based on points.

Carlson trains just about every day. When he’s not at the gym, he’s on his bike or running. Having reconstructive ACL surgery 18 months ago after landing a kick the wrong way has not slowed him down.

Escobar Training Grounds – better known as ETG – is not the typical gym.

Cory Escobar, who owns the facility with wife Dori, likes to call it a school instead of a gym.

“Every day you are being taught,” Escobar says. He’s hobbling around with a cast on his leg – the result of a water skiing accident.

Escobar grew-up in this lifestyle with his dad having a gym in South Lake in the early 1990s. He lived here from 8- to 13-years-old, and then moved back at 18. The 30-year-old opened the gym four years ago, but this is the third location because they needed to expand.

Three distinct areas are set up, with the front being where adult martial arts classes are going on. In the center is the regulation-size boxing arena. Behind it is where kids as young as 3 are learning karate. When they are done the sparring class takes over the mats. This is where Carlson is.

Most people are not on the competition track. Instead it’s about embracing the challenge of martial of arts.

Dori Escobar mostly teaches kids, with some adult karate classes. She has seen her students take the discipline and respect aspects learned at ETG and have them transcend to the classroom in terms of improved grades.

“Respect is a big one. We work a lot on moral integrity,” she said.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Mose Roenberg of UC Davis will dissect cheese making’s more than 9,000-year evolution to become a unique and complex technology enabling more than 2,000 different cheeses.

The event is Aug. 11, with a 5:30pm no-host bar and the program at 6pm.

Cost is $10, which includes cheese tasting.

It is at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village.

Although cheese making is an ancient art, modern cheese production relies on the application of cutting-edge science and state-of-the-art fermentation technologies. If cheese was developed today, it would be hailed as a triumph of biochemistry.

Modern cheese making depends on the wise application of enzymes and microorganisms, complex fermentation approaches, sophisticated engineering and a dynamic series of biochemical cascades during cheese ripening (aging). A great diversity of cheese is produced from the same raw materials. The attributes of cheese are dramatically influenced by the climatic, geological and agricultural characteristics of the region. Cheese Terroir provides unique cheeses from specific regions.

Taste a broad array of cheeses produced all over the world and discover the (almost) magical way by which milk is transformed into a rich spectrum of cheeses differing in their flavor, aroma, texture and appearance.

Rosenberg is a professor and dairy specialist.For additional details, contact Leanne Burns, (775) 881.7562, ext. 7474 or lkburns@ucdavis.edu.