One of the oldest and fastest growing sports in North America has gained a toehold in Northern Nevada and Tahoe-Truckee, thanks to the efforts of the Tahoe Truckee Lacrosse Association whose mission is to promote the game with local grade school, high school and college programs.

While many young athletes of all ages are joining the league, there is room for those who are lacrosse savvy.

The greatest need is for coaches and individuals with knowledge about lacrosse.

Volunteers are needed for the league’s Tahoe Tournament slated for July 22-24 (Open Division) and July 30-31 (U19 or high school division). Later in the fall, additional volunteers are needed for the Laxtoberfest Tournament on Oct. 1 at Squaw Valley.

Additionally, the Tahoe Truckee Lacrosse Association is always on the lookout for newbies to participate in the sport.

Those interested in playing lacrosse or volunteering for the Tahoe Truckee Lacrosse Association should contact Bud Haley at (775) 636. 5978 or haleyventures@charter.net. For information on lacrosse in Northern Nevada and Tahoe-Truckee, go online.

Lake Tahoe News subscribers Connor Yingling and Judi Allen are going the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament next week.

First, they knew Neil Lomax, who has played in the previous five tournaments, is not coming back this year. Second, they were randomly selected from the people with correct answers to the trivia question to win the pair of tickets to one day of the tournament.

More opportunities to win tickets to the 22nd annual event at Edgewood Tahoe in Stateline will be coming soon. Keep reading Lake Tahoe News.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first round of the giveaway.

By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

More of all that water rushing down the Truckee River can now be captured for use.

At a time when there’s much more water in the river than normal for this time of year, a newly completed structure allows the area’s primary water provider to divert nearly 10 million gallons per day more than it could previously.

And with the river’s water the cleanest and cheapest available, that’s clearly a good thing as summer’s heat arrives and the demand for water spikes, said Mark Foree, general manager of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

“We always want to maximize use of Truckee River water,” Foree said. “This project allows us to do that.”

Foree refers to the new Glendale diversion structure on the river near the intersection of Glendale Avenue and Galletti Way.

The $3.7 million structure, finished last winter and put into use in June, increased the amount of the river’s water that can be diverted to the nearby Glendale water treatment plant from 28 million gallons per day to 37 million gallons per day.

Read the whole story

The El Dorado County Health Services Department, Mental Health Division invites the public to participate in the community planning process to review El Dorado County’s current Mental Health Service Act Programs and provide comment on the county’s 2011-12 annual update covering Community Services and Supports, Workforce Education and Training, Prevention and Early Intervention and Innovation Plans.

Meetings are July 13 from noon-1pm at 1900 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe and July 14 from noon-1 pm at 670 Placerville Drive, Placerville.

In addition to the community meetings, members of the public with comments and questions about the Innovation Plan may send them to:

El Dorado County Mental Health, MHSA Project Management, 670 Placerville Drive, Ste. 1B, Placerville, CA 95667 or email them to MHSA@edcgov.us.

The South Lake Tahoe Recreation Facilities Joint Powers Authority will continue its public hearing regarding the possibility of turning the 2000 voter approved Measure S into Measure R on July 13 at 1pm in the Creekside Room (near the cafeteria) at Lake Tahoe Community College.

The El Dorado County Health Services Department is offering Tdap vaccine at low-cost this summer for middle school and high school students who will need proof of the vaccination to start school.

The Tdap vaccine, which helps protect against pertussis, will be administered to 7-12 grade students at the following student vaccination clinics:

* Every Tuesday during July and August from 8am-1pm at the farmers’ market in South Lake Tahoe (American Legion parking lot), 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

* July 16 from 11am-3pm at the fairgrounds in Placerville, in the Organ Room, 100 Placerville Drive.

* July 28 from 3-6pm at the Community Church in Grizzly Flats, 5061 Sciaroni Road.

* Aug. 2 from 3-6pm at Light of the Hills Lutheran Church in Cameron Park, 3100 Rodeo Road (behind Applebee’s).

* Aug. 4 from 3-6pm at the Pollock Pines Community Church in Pollock Pines, in the Evergreen Room, 6361 Pony Express Trail.

* Aug. 10 from 3-6pm at the Georgetown Community Center in Georgetown, 6329 Lower Main St.

The Health Services Department is requesting a $10 administration fee for the Tdap vaccination. However, no child will be denied the vaccination due to inability to pay. Parents are urged to bring their child’s yellow immunization record to the vaccination clinic.

The Tdap vaccine protects against pertussis (also known as whooping cough).

In addition to the student vaccination clinics, the Health Services Department also offers the Tdap vaccine by appointment. To schedule a vaccination appointment, call (530) 621.6100 in Placerville or (530) 573.3155 in South Lake Tahoe.

By Robert Salonga, Contra Costa Times

Nearly two years after she was freed from the captivity that robbed her youth, Jaycee Dugard looks to a pinecone as both a link to life before her horror and a symbol of hope for her future.

“Back then (the pinecone) was the last thing I touched. You know, the last grip on me. Now, it’s–it’s a symbol of hope and new beginnings. And that–there is life after something tragic,” Dugard, 31, said in an excerpt released by ABC News on Thursday from her yet-to-be-aired exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer.

In the excerpt, Dugard said after she was zapped with a stun gun by kidnapper Phillip Garrido, she tried to scoot into some bushes and remembers touching something sticky before lapsing into unconsciousness. After the liberation of Dugard and the two daughters she bore from Garrido’s sexual abuse in a home outside Antioch, the internationally recognized survivor said she asked people to bring her pinecones.

She would later realize that the pinecone was the sticky thing she remembers touching before she was whisked from her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood in 1991 to the home of Garrido and his wife Nancy, where the 11-year-old was forced to satisfy the sexual desires of Phillip, already a convicted kidnapper and rapist.

Dugard told Sawyer that she now wears a symbol of a pinecone around her neck to remind her of the hope that helped her endure 18 years of captivity and the long-delayed freedom she now enjoys.

Read the whole story

ABC News will air the Diane Sawyer interview with Jaycee Lee Dugard on July 10 at 9pm.

Part of the interview involves Dugard’s book “A Stolen Life” that will be released this month.

The New York Times reported the network did not write a check for the rights to an interview, but it did pay a six-figure sum for the rights to Dugard’s home movies.

Black Bear Inn in South Lake Tahoe is offering two winemaker dinners in July.

Dobra Zemlja Vineyards will be highlighted July 13 and Jeff Runquist Wines will be featured July 27. Both wineries are in Amador County.

Each dinner will consist of six courses prepared by the inn’s chef, Alex Elsaesser. A wine will be chosen by the winemaker to complement each course.

The cost $65 per person. Reservations are necessary. For more information, go online.

Publisher’s note: This is reprinted with permission from the August 1975 Lake Tahoe Historical Society newsletter.

Willard Ball, Judge of the Lake Valley Judicial Court, recalled his 21 years at South Shore during the Society’s April 1975 meeting. Like so many others, Bill Ball started his residence at Tahoe in the midst of a blizzard in March 1953 as a California Highway Patrolman transferring from eleven years on motorcycle patrol in Contra Costa County. The only paved road was Highway 50 and a sign on the highway in Bijou stated the population was 1800 – obviously only in summer.

Bill, who lived at Blackwood Road and Pioneer Trail, frequently found it necessary to plow out the road with his own equipment first, before he could move out with the patrol car. No radio communication was available; the telephone was the only means of getting a call and frequently there was a lapse of time before the call would reach the officer. Even though he endeavored to keep in touch, it was not unusual for Bill to come home to lunch to have his wife relay a message about a wreck occurring as much as two hours earlier. He eventually arranged with the Sheriff’s office to set up a red light in front which they would turn on whenever they had a message for him, so he would see it when cruising by.

There were only two resident patrolmen at the time, covering the area from Lake Valley to Riverton until 1958 when the CHP substation was established, after which there was always a complement of six to seven patrolmen.

In 1964, Bill retired from the CHP and was elected to the judgeship, his erroneous assumption being that it would never be more than a two-day a week job. He noted in 1965 the Lake Valley Court was 29th out of 250 California judicial courts; by 1968, it was up to 5th place. He recalled Judge Lawson as being on the bench on his arrival in Tahoe, having been preceded by Judge Palmear, the first such judge in the area. When Judge Lawson died in 1954, Rudy Buchannan was appointed, and served until Judge Ball was elected. For many years this judgeship was termed “Justice of the Peace” with the incumbent also considered a peace officer. However, in 1950, all such justices in California became Judges of the Judicial Court. Presently, there is pending legislation to create a Municipal Court at South Lake Tahoe and at Placerville.

Mike Willis, former Highway Foreman, Sheriff Dick Pacileo, and Sheriff’s Captain Dick Lowe were on hand at the meeting to help Bill remember such occasions as the time a deer, hit by a car, was dressed out and hung up in the drunk tank. The next drunk arrested was suddenly sober and wanted nothing so much as to plead guilty and get out of the place. The Judge recalled the days when a dozen or more deer could be seen almost anytime in the meadows and in the trees off Pioneer Trail. “Now there are dogs down in the meadow,” he said. “The dogs run the deer off.”

He mentioned many familiar names to old timers on the South Shore: Lew Pilot, the fist resident CHP officer in 1945; Captain Brewster, the first CHP Captain at the Lake, followed by Captain Personus, and Captain Jim Brewer; CHP Lt. Ball, recently retired, who was a cadet when the Judge was learning to ride motorcycles; Bill Turman, now City Judge at Fallon; Bill Timm; Game Warden Alec Sears, headquartered in Placerville

The Judge opined that law enforcement in general has deteriorated over the years with a lack of respect developing among the people. He noted approximately 16,000 warrants presently outstanding for those who have failed to appear in traffic court over a six year period, and detailed the administrative problems concerned with this backlog. Contrary to a popular impression, he estimated that 90% of the warrants are for local residents, not for the tourists.

The judge noted he will soon be retiring again inasmuch as California statutes have decreed that, after December 31, 1976, all judges must be attorneys with five years experience, marking the end of the lay judge in the California court system.