Updated July 3 at 7:45am: Power was restored at 11:45pm.
Liberty Energy reported a power outage Saturday night affecting the South Tahoe Public Utility District wastewater treatment plant and Lake Tahoe Community College.
The outage was caused by an overhead conductor failure, according to Liberty Energy officials.
This is the third Liberty Energy outage this week.
STPUD was running on a generator.
— Lake Tahoe New staff report
The Nevada Film Office is looking for amateur screenwriters with scripts about the Silver State.
Aug. 31 is the deadline to submit an entry.
The winner of the 24th annual competition will be flown to Las Vegas.
More info is online.
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
Every morning, she climbed the wide marble steps of the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga was not trained for this work. She was a homemaker, not a historian. But she had a lifetime of simmering anger and unanswered questions.
By lamplight in the grand reading room, she scoured thousands of documents, inventing her own organizing system to keep track of the information she found. She brought home so many copies that she commandeered a bathtub and used it as a filing cabinet.
Eventually, after years of labor, she happened upon files that would help correct injustices committed during one of the darkest periods of American history — and of her own.
These days, she works at the dining room table at her home in Gardena.
Now 86, she is busy finishing a book of first-person remembrances of the Japanese American experience in World War II. Asked about her deadline to finish the book, she lets out a low laugh.
“Yesterday,” she says.
Her home is quiet and light-filled, with Japanese screens and a budding fuchsia orchid. Scattered about are bankers boxes packed with files.
The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit North Shore office will begin selling woodcutting permits Labor Day weekend.
North Shore residents who wish to purchase a permit before then may do so at the Forest Supervisor’s office located at 35 College Drive in South Lake Tahoe.
The North Shore office issues wilderness permits for Desolation Wilderness, as well as National Recreation passes including the Access, Senior and Annual Interagency passes. It also sells maps and provides hiking, biking, backpacking, off-highway vehicle and other recreation information for the Lake Tahoe Basin.
The North Shore office is located at 855 Alder Ave. in Incline Village. Office hours are Thursday through Saturday from 8am-4:30pm. The phone number is (775) 831.0914.
By Ronald Roth
Noise induced hearing loss is irreversible, but preventable. Approximately 26 million Americans between the ages 20 and 69 have high frequency hearing loss from overexposure to loud noise at work or during recreational activities.
NIHL at a younger age is thought to accelerate age-related hearing loss.
Hearing loss is a common sensory disorder, affecting tens of millions of people of all ages in the U.S. Noise from concerts, iPods, stereos, firearms and sporting events can result in NIHL when repetitive exposure occurs. Harmful noises at home also may come from lawnmowers, snowblowers and shop tools.
The plugged in generation
We have become a generation “plugged in” to amplified sound and high levels of noise from earbuds, headphones and video games. These can potentially damage the delicate structure of the inner ear, resulting in high-frequency hearing loss.
You can reduce noise exposure by:
• Limiting the time of continuous exposure to noise.
• Reducing the volume level.
• Wearing earplugs or earmuffs when shooting or running loud machinery. Special earplugs and earmuffs are available at hardware and sporting goods stores.
• Being alert to hazardous noise levels in the environment.
• Protecting the ears of children who are too young to protect their own.
• Making family, friends and colleagues aware of the hazards of noise that could be a detriment to them.
If you suspect you have hearing loss, have a medical exam by an otolaryngologist, a doctor that specializes in diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
Ronald Roth is board-certified in otolaryngology. He works for Barton Health in South Lake Tahoe.
By Kathryn Reed
Speeding watercraft, life vests, distressed boaters and trapped raccoons – all things the men and women who patrol Lake Tahoe must contend with throughout the boating season.
With the lingering winter weather, summer on the lake is really starting this weekend. The empty moorings bobbing in the water and vacant slips indicate either a slow start to the season or people don’t have the money for this sport.
This isn’t a leisure ride for the officers as they motor around in their boats. While multiple jurisdictions are on the water, there are no real lines delineating boundaries. They help each other help those on the water.
An urgent call comes across the radio about 5:30pm Friday. A 30-foot boat is taking on water near Cave Rock.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Kyle Rahn, right, inspects Kelly Rogers' boat. Photos/Kathryn Reed
South Lake Tahoe police boat patrolmen Steve O’Brien and Dave Gottlieb are closer to Emerald Bay than to Cave Rock. Still, when an “urgent marine information bulletin” is put out, it means everyone responds.
With the throttle down, they arrive first. Close behind are the Coast Guard and Placer County boats.
Kelly Rogers of Reno seems relaxed for a man whose boat is supposed to be sinking. It turns out the bilge is able to pump out the water that keeps coming in, but he doesn’t want to start the motor for fear of doing some serious damage to it.
He’s told no one there can tow him per Coast Guard regulations because he is not in imminent danger. He’s told to call Vessel Assist. It’s like the AAA of the water. He balks at the fee.
O’Brien and Gottlieb let the Coasties take over – they are the senior guys on Lake Tahoe. An inspection of Rogers’ boat turns up the required life jackets, but he doesn’t have a fire extinguisher.
Before arriving at the scene, the South Tahoe guys had been dealing with a couple celebrating their 17th anniversary lounging in an inflatable boat near Ski Beach. Their tranquility was disturbed when the two were told they must have a lifejacket on board.
Officer Steve O'Brien gives a couple life vests before they paddle to shore.
That’s the rule. All boats must have life jackets for the people in the vessel if more than 200 feet from shore. Anyone 12 and younger must be wearing the vest at all times.
The couple from the Sacramento area handed vests and told to paddle to shore. The vests are then returned to the officers.
Earlier on the Nevada side the two check out the buoys where the barge will be tied up for the Fourth of July fireworks that are shot off on the South Shore. That barge used to be the original Dixie paddle-wheeler.
It’s the boat patrolmen’s job to keep a 1,000-foot perimeter around that barge and the three tied to it so no boats get near where the pyrotechnic display originates. Between 500 and 700 boats are on the lake each July 4.
O’Brien and Gottlieb say it can get a little crazy with people not used to boating at night and many having been drinking for hours.
While in the area on Friday they meet up with Jim Hill and Jim Warne on the Douglas County sheriff’s boat.
“We saw two boats with obsolete two stroke engines. We were on other calls and couldn’t get to them,” Hill said of the serious polluting machines. “So the people doing the boat inspections are not checking engines.”
A week ago the Douglas County boatmen made a felony arrest. A guy at Secret Harbor was threatening people with a blow gun.
It’s not just people that are problems.
Officers Steve O'Brien and Dave Gottlieb
Puttering around the homeowners’ area of the Tahoe Keys a guy on a boat waves down the officers, asking what to do about the raccoon that is trapped on his boat in a compartment. He is told to call Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
The El Dorado County sheriff’s boat comes by. They are headed back to the lake after towing in retired Superior Court Judge Jerry Lasarow. Deputy Mike Sakau and Sgt. Bruce Rosa are going to investigate a report of a log near Rubicon Bay.
South Tahoe has two boats on the lake this particular day and will do the same through the Fourth. Hours and days vary for the various departments.
Most boat programs in California are funded through a grant from the state Department of Boating and Waterways. SLTPD’s boat patrol has existed since the 1970s. It’s reserves or retired officers on the water.
The three main functions are enforcing the law, education, and search and rescue. Last year there were three deaths on Lake Tahoe – one at Camp Richardson, one at Sunnyside, and another on the North Shore.
This aluminum craft has a hose on it that allows water to be pumped from the lake in case the crew needs to fight a fire. Flipping a switch allows the hose to extract water from a sinking boat.
Much of this particular day is talking to people about slowing down to at least 5 mph in no-wake zones and ensuring people have Coast Guard approved life vests. Everyone on a personal watercraft must wear a vest.
These two say the lake appears 5 feet higher than it was a year ago. Water is under docks and piers – a sight that hasn’t been seen for years. Kiva Beach doesn’t have much sand. Beaches appear more full than they really are because there is so much less space than years past.
O’Brien is emphatic in wishing there were some sort of license for people to be allowed to operate a boat. Anyone 16 and older can do so. People 13, 14 or 15 can drive a boat if someone 18 or older is on board.
It’s not just boaters the patrol units keep an out on. At Timber Cove Pier a couple boys are playing on the steps and in the water. O’Brien asks them what the sign says. They read it. “No swimming or diving.” They get out.
Despite a lecture from Officer Dave Gottlieb and saying he understood, the teen keeps going too fast for where he's at.
Lake Tahoe is 60 degrees now. It doesn’t take long for hypothermia to set in.
Bob Hassett, who operates the concession at Timber Cove and most of the South Shore marinas, chats with the officers.
“Our biggest challenge is the cold water. We educate people how serious it can be,” Hassett said.
The officers work in tandem with marina owners and their employees. At Ski Run an 18-year-old on a personal watercraft is going faster than he should be. He’s not listening to O’Brien and Gottlieb. The two tell a marina employee the teenager needs to have the keys taken away. She says she’s on it.
The officers move on to the next incident. There is always something to do when patrolling Lake Tahoe.
The Nevada Commission on Tourism has launched a website to meet the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, an increasingly lucrative and vibrant market within the travel industry.
The site offers information on LGBT-featured events, as well as information on Nevada’s hotels, shows and amenities.
“The Nevada Commission on Tourism recognizes the importance of this vast market to Nevada’s tourism industry,” NCOT interim Director Larry Friedman said in a press release. “We continually expand and improve our efforts to reach potential visitors, and that is why we developed this new website that offers need-to-know information for the LGBT community.”
The LGBT travel business amounts to $60 billion in the United States, according to Community Marketing, Inc.in San Francisco. A healthy portion of that business comes to Nevada — Las Vegas is one of the top three U.S. destinations for LGBT travelers, according to CMI — and NCOT seeks to maintain and build that LGBT market.
The gay.travelnevada.com also includes a link that offers a free Nevada Visitor’s Guide to those who sign up.
Summer is definitely here.
Plenty of rum runners were being consumed at the Beacon Restaurant on Saturday on the South Shore. The beach and restaurant were packed. One local who has been in South Lake Tahoe for multiple decades told Lake Tahoe News this is the busiest he has seen it on a July 4th weekend.
The beach by the Beacon on July 2 is covered with people. Photo/Provided
The water was crowded July 2, too.
Lather up with the sunscreen because temps will continue to be in the 80s for the next several days.
Read Lake Tahoe News on July 3 to find out what the boat patrol is encountering on Lake Tahoe.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
By Deborah Blum, Los Angeles Times
I still remember the moment in my childhood in which I lost all faith in the innocent purity of plants. One day, I was a carefree adolescent at summer camp, exploring the leafy woods with my fellow campers. A couple of days later, I was an illustration for a medical textbook. “The worst case of poison ivy I’ve ever seen!” the camp nurse told the other staffers as she trotted me and my dime-sized blisters around for inspection.
OK, I kind of enjoyed the attention. The slightly awestruck reaction. What 12-year-old girl wouldn’t? But the itching, the oozing, the angry red swelling of feet and legs? Hated every minute. And since that summer, I’ve never entered forested land without conducting a slightly neurotic survey of the plant life furling about my feet.
It’s a story that places me among the countless Americans — health officials estimate there are more than 350,000 new cases every year — who’ve tangled with poison ivy or its relatives, poison oak and poison sumac, and regretted it. I may, however, be one of the few ivy victims who have come to admire the enemy. In fact — have I spent too much time in the woods recently? — my purpose here as summer begins is to defend and even praise the fascinating, sometimes beautiful and environmentally essential poison ivy plant.
A joint EIR-EIS is being prepared to study the environmental effects of the proposed Kings Beach Town Center project.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Placer County are asking for comments on the scope and content of the environmental documents. Comments will be taken until July 26.
The TRPA’s Advisory Planning Commission will have a scoping meeting July 13 at 9:30am at the TRPA office in Stateline. The county will have a scoping meeting July 19 at 6pm at the North Tahoe Conference Center in Kings Beach.
Comments or questions may be sent to Theresa Avance at tavance@trpa.org.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report