By Kathryn Reed

It was getting to the point that the store looked more used than the items on the shelves.

Fourteen years after the Attic Thrift Store moved to its Lodi Avenue location, it finally got a thorough spring-cleaning. It was so intense the shop was closed for six weeks before reopening last month.

Pat Lacey is in charge of house wares at the Attic Thrift Store. Photos/Kathryn Reed

A fresh coat of paint complements the new flooring, curtains and display cases.

“It was getting pretty raunchy,” says Pat Lacey, one of the nearly 125 volunteers who make up the Barton Auxiliary.

The auxiliary, which is in its 51st year, opened the South Lake Tahoe thrift store in 1961. Through the years it has raised millions of dollars. In the early days this money is where the payroll came from for the doctors at Barton Memorial Hospital.

The $315,000 the group raised in 2010 is going to pay for the $800,000 expansion and renovation of the Barton Community Clinic.

The bulk of what the auxiliary raises is from the thrift store.

During the recession donations have not tapered off, but the number of people shopping has shot up.

The Attic is cleaner and less cluttered.

“We have some really nice stuff. Some things from stores are brand new,” Lacey said while sitting on one of the couches that is for sale. “The celebrity golf tournament (last year) donated T-shirts. Harrah’s donated shirts, too.”

A designer dress with the original $159 price tag came in recently. It sold for a few dollars within minutes. Pricing is consistent for a particular item; it’s not based on the age or wear and tear of it.

Children’s clothing is popular because little ones outgrow their clothes so fast that most of these items look like they have not been worn much.

Baby clothes sell well.

Plenty of shorts are on racks now. Jeans are something the Attic seems to keep a steady supply of.

No clothes with holes are put out – and workers would rather they were never donated. Children’s clothing gets washed on site, but not any of the other garments. Nelta Brown handles all the baby stuff.

Several straw hats with red, white and blue piping around them have been donated. Odds are they’ll be snatched up for a Fourth of July party.

Lacey is responsible for the house wares area. She’s sold a ton of canning jars lately. As she straightens the shelves, she makes sure the Father’s Day mugs are front and center.

Although the prices on items are relatively inexpensive, most days the Attic has a sale. On Friday it was half off on DVDs. There’s even a free table out front. Things that have been in the store awhile often end up there, along with dinnerware with a chip in it.

Workers know some people shop for deals and then resale the item at a higher price.

“If they want to make money, we don’t care. It’s free to us,” Lacey explained. She relayed the story of a guy buying a $4 piece of artwork and selling it for $150.

Most of the workers are from the auxiliary – so they are working for free. The store manager, Henry Suarez, is paid. So are a few of the guys who help with sorting and doing the heavy lifting.

The Attic is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm and Saturdays 10am to 2pm. For information, call (530) 541.3378.

By Janice Lloyd, USA Today

Apples are at the top of the list of produce most contaminated with pesticides in a report published today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public health advocacy group.

Its seventh annual report analyzed government data on 53 fruits and vegetables, identifying which have the most and least pesticides after washing and peeling. For produce found to be highest in pesticides, the group recommends buying organic.

Most apples are full of pesticides, according to a report. Photo/LTN file

Apples moved up three spots from last year, replacing celery at the top of the most-contaminated list; 92 percent of apples contained two or more pesticides.

“We think what’s happening to apples is more pesticides and fungicides are being applied after the harvest so the fruit can have a longer shelf life,” says EWG analyst Sonya Lunder. “Pesticides might be in small amounts, but we don’t know what the subtle, long-term effects of many of these pesticides are yet.”

The worst offenders also include strawberries (No. 3) and imported grapes (No. 7). Onions top the “clean” list, found to be lowest in pesticides.

Read the whole story

North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District IAFF Local No. 2139 Incline Village and Crystal Bay firefighters are putting on the 2nd annual Firefighters’ Poker Pedal June 25.

Event registration begins at 1pm at Great Basin Brewery, 5525 South Virginia St., Reno.

The event raises funds for Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation.

The ride starts at 2pm. Registration is $20 online or $25 on day of the event.

The 9-mile loop starts at Great Basin Brewery and riders will stop in to pick up a poker card at each participating eatery and breweries – Clary’s Bar & Grill, Ceol Irish Pub, Foley’s and Silver Peak Restaurant complete the hand.

Black Rock Bicycles is donating a cruiser bike for the winning male and female poker hands and there will be additional raffle items to keep it interesting.

No bike? No problem. Black Rock Bicycles will be on site with bicycles for rent. Rentals will be $20 per preregistered rider.

Aries is a sweet young Husky-shepherd mix who is too smart for his own good. He can climb fences — the last time he did that, he ended up at the shelter and then his owner moved away and left him.

He is friendly and playful with all people and dogs, and walks nicely on the leash.

Aries is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.

He 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

Celebrate Snowshoe Thompson with folk products displayed by the Sons and Daughters of Norway, Norwegian dancers, Norwegian fjord horses with a cart and a Chautauqua presentation of Snowshoe Thompson, the man who carried the mail in the late 1800s from Genoa to Placerville twice a month for 20 years.

The June 19 2-5pm event is at Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa.

For more information, call (775) 782.2590.

Nevada State Parks invites the public to a weekend of free historic events at Mormon Station State Historic Park in Genoa.

June 18 is Pioneer Living History Day with the Sierra Nevada and Truckee Meadows Mormon Pioneers from 10am-4pm.

Learn how to make rope and corn-husk dolls, watch Dutch-oven cooking demonstrations, have children play pioneer games, see tools used by early pioneers and enjoy the cannon, muskets and black powder rifles fired each hour, on the hour throughout the day.

For more information, contact the park at (775) 782.2590.

Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy a day at the park. Visit the log-cabin museum and see an 1862 Light Cavalry sword on display for the first time in more than 40 years.

Admission is $1 for adults; children 12 and under are free.

The second bear this year has been killed in Douglas County, according to Nevada Division of Wildlife officials.

Carl Lackey, biologist with the state agency, said the bear was put down Friday near Holbrook in southern Douglas County because people had been feeding it, which led the bear to break into homes to obtain people food.

This bear was a repeat offender – having been tagged in 2010.

The first bear killed was near Heavenly Mountain Resort, officials said.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

A conservation group that last year purchased the land around a scenic Sierra lake developed a recreation strategy designed to allow for limited boating while protecting the lake from aquatic invaders.

The plan for Independence Lake, released Thursday, is seen as a compromise after critics decried last summer’s closure of the lake to all motorboats, representatives of the Nature Conservancy said.

“This is probably the best approach. I think it’s a reasonable compromise,” said Chris Fichtel, the conservancy’s Independence Lake project director.

While the plan represents an improvement over an outright closure to all motorboats, it’s still unfair to many who have boated on the lake for generations, said Kenny Osburn, an organizer of the group Friends of Independence Lake.

“It’s very frustrating, and it angers me,” Osburn said. “We strongly suggest they open the lake to all user groups all summer long.”

In May 2010, the conservancy purchased 2,325 acres of land around the lake owned by NV Energy for $15 million. The lake bottom is owned by California while the Truckee Meadows Water Authority owns up to 17,000 acre-feet of the lake’s waters as drought storage.

Read the whole story

Despite all the warnings about how high rivers are in Northern Nevada and Northern California, not everyone is paying attention.

South Shore residents on Sunday saw two trucks stuck midstream in the Carson River.

Crossing the Carson River on June 12 and getting stuck. Photo/Bob Anderson

The river is flowing at about 3,000 cubic feet per second right now.

The height of the run-off is not expected to hit until the end of the month, so rivers are likely to rise more and run just as fast or faster in the coming weeks.

On top of that, all rivers are extremely cold — so getting out of a stuck vehicle to wade to safety poses even more dangers.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Jen Gurecki and Julie Lowe of the Dolphin Project, an organization that is determined to stop the violence against women in Kenya, will speak the June 16 7:30am Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra meeting.

All are welcome at the breakfast meeting.

The meeting is at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center.

For information, call (530) 409.2791.