Lake Tahoe Community College Writers’ Series is celebrating National Poetry Month on April 24 at 7pm with poets June Sylvester Saraceno and Laura Wetherington.
These award-winning poets will read from their works, engage the audience with a Q&A, and sign copies of their books. Books will be available for purchase.
The free event will be in the Aspen Room of the South Lake Tahoe college.
The 24th annual Lake Cushing Crossing returns to Squaw Valley on April 12.
The pond skimming event challenges participants to cross the chilly waters of Cushing Pond on skis, a snowboard or any ski or snowboard-based vessel.
The event kicks off at 1pm at Cushing Pond, adjacent to the KT Base Bar.
The competition will be limited to the first 50 registrants. Participants may register on the day of the event at KT Base Bar starting at 9am. Cost is $20 per competitor. Competitors are required to wear a life preserver and helmet.
Smith Flat Road in Placerville will be closed to through traffic at the Highway 50 overcrossing for approximately three months.
Motorists will be detoured to continue east on Broadway Street, turn north on Jaquier Road and then west back onto Smith Flat Road. Marked detour signs will be used to direct motorists.
Bridges at the Smith Flat Road undercrossing and Coloma Street Pedestrian overcrossing are being worked on as part of a $3.2 million seismic retrofit project. Columns will be retrofitted and bracing will be added to the structures.
By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee
As California’s drought stretches toward the hot summer months, state and federal officials are planning extraordinary measures to protect drinking water supplies and endangered Sacramento River salmon, according to a plan unveiled Wednesday.
The “Drought Operations Plan” was released by the state Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operate the primary systems of water reservoirs and canals in California.
Among other things, the plan calls for further loosening of water quality rules in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, allowing the agencies to keep river flows low to preserve as much water as possible in upstream reservoirs, especially Shasta Reservoir. Temporary dams are proposed on three Delta channels to allow the remaining freshwater runoff to more effectively push back saltwater intrusion from San Francisco Bay.
An El Dorado County search and rescue crew is at Cascade Lake this morning searching for a possible body.
A woman hiking on April 9 to Cascade Falls reported to deputies that afternoon that she thought she saw a body floating in the lake.
Nothing was found on Wednesday. A dive team was searching the South Shore lake off Highway 89 on Thursday morning. CalStar is also assisting with the search.
El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News there has been no report of a missing hiker.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
• Bona Fide Books in Meyers is hosting a Letterpress Printing Class on April 27 from 10am-4pm. Letterpress printer Steve Robison will teach a hands-on introduction to the world of letterpress printing. The $50 class includes a full day instruction, materials, and future open shop hours at Bona Fide HQ. Space is limited; call 530.573.1513.
• Truckee High School baseball coach Mike Ellis’ memorial service is April 14 at 2pm at the Assumption Catholic Church, 10930 Alder Drive, Truckee. A tribute at FiftyFifty Brewing Co. in Truckee will follow. Ellis died last weekend of an apparent heart attack. He was 43.
• Marcus Ashley Fine Art Gallery in South Lake Tahoe presents “Hats Off to Dr. Seuss” from May 17-June 22 in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s second book “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins”. Dr. Seuss’s never-before-seen hat collection will be exhibited those dates at 4000 Lake Tahoe Blvd.
• Former Kirkwood Mountain Resort chef Chris Eversole is one of the 20 chefs chosen as a contestant for the 12th season of “Hell’s Kitchen,” a cooking reality program.
• Click here to find out the results of the survey taken about the Truckee Trails & Bikeways Master plan.
What does “judge pro tem” mean?
That question was at the center of a legal challenge between two candidates for El Dorado County Superior Court judge. Dylan Sullivan took Joe Hoffman to court over his use of the phrase on his ballot statement. The two are running for the same seat in the June 3 election.
Placer County Superior Court Judge Charles Wachob heard the case because El Dorado County judges had recused themselves.
Ultimately Hoffman agreed to remove “judge pro tem” as one of his professions.
He told Lake Tahoe News he did so because of the hour that the case was being heard. If the proceedings continued beyond that afternoon, the county may not have been able get ballots off in time for military personnel overseas to vote. Hoffman said that is why he didn’t fight the matter further.
Hoffman says the judicial handbook of a judges’ association allows him to call himself a judge pro tem.
Dylan and her attorney disagree.
“Nobody defines judge pro tem. He has been a settlement law attorney in family law cases. That is not a judge. What he has done is all volunteer,” Jacqueline Mittlestadt, Sullivan’s attorney, told Lake Tahoe News. “But the law is clear. If you are not a judge, you can’t say you are a judge. You can be subject to fines and criminal penalties.”
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Emery Mulligan and Jack Suglian comfort each other after being “shot” April 7 at Tahoe Valley. Photos/Lesia Witkowsky
By Kathryn Reed
Shots have been fired at Tahoe Valley Elementary School. A guy has been seen with a gun. Sirens wail in the distance. Officers in helmets, some carrying AR-15 semi-automatic rifles make their way to the front of the building before entering. A shot goes off as they enter, but they proceed.
This was all a drill on Monday as members of the South Lake Tahoe fire and police departments practiced what they would do if there had been a shooting. They played out the same scenario a week ago at Lake Tahoe Community College, using the two facilities during their respective spring breaks. Lake Valley firefighters participated in last week’s training.
All the first responders knew is that the drill involved an active shooter. They didn’t know where he was, how many were wounded or the extent of their injuries.
Two members of Barton Health’s staff are there, too. Cate Neal is a trauma nurse coordinator and Tina Bruess is the grief counselor. They would be doing the same thing if this were real.
Ultimately it’s up to Barton to decide which patients go to what hospital.
Paramedics have the wounded – who are high school drama students – stretched out on green, yellow and red tarmacs. Red is for people with the severest wounds. The deceased are off to the side. The shooter, once apprehended, it kept far from his victims.
Some of the wounded have walked out on their own; rescue personnel assisted others. The paramedics assess their condition, putting a triage tag around their neck so once they get to the hospital the medical personnel will have some idea of what they are dealing with.
Gone are the days when the wounded are tended to after the shooter is in custody or killed. The old policy had victims waiting hours to receive medical care.
“We make it as safe as we can and then get people inside help,” police Lt. David Stevenson told Lake Tahoe News.
While the scenario had nowhere near the intensity of a real tragedy, it still provides those involved with an opportunity to get a feel for what it would be like.
“Our mass casualty incident training days provided us excellent training opportunities to work on our skills in responding to an incident with multiple victims. These events can be very challenging for responders due to the complexity of the required steps to triage, treat and transport multiple patients,” Kim George, SLTFD engineer, told Lake Tahoe News. She coordinated the event. “This live drill training provides us all with a memory to call upon if we encounter a true incident that is similar in nature and that gives us an advantage.”
Douglas County loaned the city its camera that was posted high in the air to capture what was going on. This was being relayed back to Lake Tahoe Airport, which doubles as the command post for the Office of Emergency Services, where Fire Chief Jeff Meston was watching his charges.
With mass shootings happening throughout the country, and close by – Carson City iHop in 2011 – this type of scenario could be a reality in South Lake Tahoe. The closest school shooting was last year at Sparks Middle School where a student killed a teacher before shooting himself.
Mother Jones has been tracking mass shootings. There have been 67 mass shootings in the last three decades. Most shooters got their weapons legally.
ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)
To the community,
Mere words cannot describe what volunteers mean to Barton Skilled Nursing Facility residents.
Barton Skilled Nursing volunteers wear many hats. They play inspiring music, bring communion, and call bingo. Volunteers turn an ordinary birthday party into a trip down memory lane with music from the past. Musicians share ukulele, piano, and organ music with our residents. They honor our vets. Some volunteers bring in their pets to lick faces and shower our residents with love. Other groups bring church to Skilled Nursing residents every Sunday.
In conjunction with the Barton activities staff, volunteers enhance our residents’ quality of life. Volunteers provide art classes every other week. One teacher brings her students in to read stories. Preschool groups visit and put big smiles on the residents’ faces. Other volunteers sit and listen to our residents’ stories and play a game of cards or dominoes. They wheel residents around for a change of scenery, and they even help take residents on outings in South Lake Tahoe. At times, volunteers are with residents when they breathe their last breath.
Thanks to their dedication and extra hands, volunteers make more experiences possible for our residents.
With much admiration and appreciation,
Maureen Froyum, activity director Barton Health Skilled Nursing
By AP
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets have re-signed versatile backup linebacker Garrett McIntyre.
McIntyre, a South Tahoe High School graduate, became a free agent last month after he was not tendered an offer by the Jets as a restricted free agent. The team announced the deal Wednesday, but did not release terms.
McIntyre was signed by the Jets in 2011 after stints in the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League. He has 5½ sacks, 72 tackles and two forced fumbles in 42 games, including 10 starts, with New York.
An undrafted free agent out of Fresno State in 2006, the 29-year-old McIntyre has also spent time with Seattle, Arizona and Tennessee.