To the publisher,

The South Lake Tahoe Earth Day Committee would like to thank you for your contribution to this year’s South Tahoe Day Festival held on April 16 at the Bijou Community Park.

Earth Day was a great success this year with an excellent turnout from our Lake Tahoe community, great variety of local booth vendors, and gorgeous day. Our local event attracted thousands of people from the Tahoe basin and beyond who came out to celebrate our beautiful environment and learn about ways to sustain it now and for future generations.

The success of Earth Day each and every year would not be possible without the support of our local community. Since this year’s event in particular, we have been receiving an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.

As a nonprofit formed to educate the general public about the Lake Tahoe and Truckee region’s unique beauty and how to preserve and protect it, the Tahoe Earth Day Foundation focuses our Earth Day Festivals on watershed and forest health, water conservation, pollution prevention, alternative energy and waste management.

We truly value the exposure we received on your website, as it is one of the best local outlets for what’s happening in our community. If you have ideas or suggestions to improve our event and outreach, please let us know.

Sarah Ford, chair, South Lake Tahoe Earth Day Planning Committee

Jeanne Lear, Human Resources manager South Tahoe Refuse Co.

• Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys are having a job fair April 29 from noon-4pm for people looking for summer jobs.

• Now that the partnership of Feldman Shaw & McLaughlin LLP no longer practices law, Leslie Shaw continues to practice family law under the new firm name of The Law Office of Leslie J. Shaw at 182 Highway 50, Zephyr Cove. His phone number is still (775) 588.5311.

• Carson Tahoe Hospital’s Women’s Health Institute is slated to open May 12.

• National homebuilder Taylor Morrison donated $100,000 to the Special Olympics chapter of Northern California during Celebrity Winterfest last month in Lake Tahoe.

• Tahoe Truckee Unified School District’s last day of school is June 22 – assuming there are no more snow days.

• The U.S. Ski Team’s Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley and Kikkan Randall of Anchorage are using their success on the snow to give back and help others. In an effort to make a difference, Mancuso and Randall joined Skiers Helping Japan by donating part of their World Cup Finals prize money to help the many affected areas of the March earthquake and tsunami.

April marks the 20-year anniversary Creative Concepts Media + Marketing.

The firm established by Laura Partridge is a boutique media buying agency has offices in Truckee and Reno that provide and implement strategic advertising plans.

Twenty years ago, Creative Concepts began when Partridge left the world of radio to launch the agency. Her  understanding of station programming and many years consulting clients with their advertising plans allowed Partridge to offer her industry knowledge and experience to new clients. Today, Creative Concepts develops campaigns with integrated television, radio, outdoor, print, online, social, mobile, and new media elements.

For more information, call (530) 582.4100 or go online.

By Siobhan McAndrew, Reno Gazette-Journal

For years, Wendy Avansino of Reno paid $75 for her favorite face cream at her beauty salon.

“I’d look for other products with the same ingredient — alpha hydroxy — at the grocery store or Wal-Mart but none of them ever compared,” Avansino said. “The amount of alpha hydroxy was so small, and I wouldn’t see the same results.”

After watching popular TV personality and doctor Mehmet Oz on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” talk about alpha hydroxy acids, an ingredient made of sugar cane that evens skin tone, Avansino decided to create her own face cream.

“I remember him saying alpha hydroxy wasn’t that expensive of an ingredient, so I couldn’t figure out why I was paying so much for it,” she said.

The 42-year-old stay-at-home mom also said she was inspired to start her own business to help her family make ends meet. Her husband is a police officer.

She found a cosmetic chemist in the United States in September 2009 and developed her own product, Alpha-Maximum. The face cream is made of all natural ingredients, including glycolic acid, aloe vera, rice bran oil, glycerin and lavender essential oil.

Read the whole story

The Tahoe Resource Conservation District will again manage the Truckee Area Watercraft Inspection Program for 2011.

Entering its second season, Truckee area inspections and boater education on aquatic invasive species will take place at Donner Lake and Boca, Prosser, and Stampede reservoirs from April 30 through Sept. 30. Current funding for Truckee Area watercraft inspections and outreach has been provided by the Truckee River Fund.

Inspections are voluntary, but highly recommended to avoid the spread of AIS, such as quagga and zebra mussels, New Zealand mudsnails and aquatic invasive plants, which pose a significant threat to Truckee/Tahoe area water bodies and the local economy. Free decontaminations will be available for high-risk vessels wishing to launch at Truckee area water bodies at the Alpine Meadows Transportation Station parking lot off Highway 89 and Northstar-at-Tahoe Castle Peak parking lot off Highway 267.

During 2010, Tahoe RCD inspectors logged more than 7,400 Truckee area boater interactions, including inspections and opportunities for boater education on AIS. Boater surveys completed during 2010 inspections indicated that 85 percent agree inspections are an important component in stopping the spread of aquatic invasive species.

To better serve the Truckee area and facilitate AIS prevention efforts, Tahoe RCD has opened a new office in the Tin Can Building in Truckee, located at 10116 Jibboom St. For more information, program updates and announcements go online or contact David Kean at (530) 587.4911.

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, working with the California Tahoe Conservancy, is proposing to restore the Sunset Stables Reach of the Upper Truckee River.

The project would replace the existing channel with one that has the width, depth and curves of a more naturally functioning river. The anticipated result would be a channel that is more stable and connected to the adjacent floodplain, provides better aquatic habitat and supports a healthier meadow ecosystem.

The project area includes about 13,000 linear feet of the river on approximately 297 acres, extending from the middle of the Lake Tahoe Airport runway to Highway 50 near Elks Club Drive.

The Forest Service and CTC are conducting a joint environmental review of the project and have produced a document that satisfies the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The project is also subject to review by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The project management team analyzed five alternatives, including the no-action alternative. The proposed project would involve constructing 12,000 feet of new channel, planting and temporarily irrigating native streamside vegetation along the new channel, creating floodplain features such as willow clumps to enhance wildlife and plant habitat, and removing conifers along the new channel. Under the proposal, CTC and the Forest Service would partially fill most of the old channel using excavated soil from the new channel, as well as some imported soil, and revegetate disturbed areas with native plants. Grade control structures at the upstream and downstream ends of each reach would redirect flow into the new channel and block off the old channel.

The Forest Service and CTC would implement the project in two phases, each lasting three to five years.

The Forest Service is accepting comments on the proposed project through midnight May 23. For more information, go online,  email Theresa Loupe at tloupe@fs.fed.us, or call (530) 543.2788.

By Kathryn Reed

China is huge – and not just in size and population.

Since 2004, Nevada has been capitalizing on the desire of Chinese nationals to travel to the United States. And this month, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was in China to discuss trade and human rights issues. Robert Young was just appointed Nevada’s trade representative in northern China. His job is to work with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development to entice Chinese companies to build operations in Nevada and invest cash in the Silver State.

Nevada would like to lure these Chinese tourists from Tiananmen Square outside the Forbidden City to the Silver State. Photos/Kathryn Reed

The U.S. Commercial Service, a trade promotion arm of the International Trade Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce, says in 2007, China was the 16th largest international market for the United States, with 397,405 Chinese visitors to the U.S. That number is expected to reach 579,000 this year. Chinese people spent a record $2.56 billion in the States four years ago, with average expenditures of more than $6,000 per person.

“Close to 90 percent of the Chinese nationals who visit the United States at some point visit Nevada,” Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki told Lake Tahoe News.

Besides being second in charge of the Silver State, Krolicki heads the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

“Chinese tourists tend to stay longer, enjoy more hospitality, and produce more sales tax than any other visitor from the globe,” Krolicki said.

Nevada was the first state to open a tourism office on the mainland of China – which was in Beijing in 2004. The Shanghai office opened last summer.

With 1.4 billion people, China is a market Nevada wants to lure to the state. Gaming is one of the big draws, with most of the visitors having Las Vegas as their primary destination. The U.N. World Travel Organization says China is the fastest growing travel market in the world.

“We have a very vigorous campaign to get tourists to rural Nevada,” Krolicki said.

NCOT brings groups in to see the state. Suggested tours include trips to Lake Tahoe, Reno, Elko – to ski, experience the wilderness, and tap into to the Old West cowboy mystique.

When in Vegas, it’s not just the tables the Chinese people visit.

“The Caesars, MGMS and Wynns of the world produce more sales tax than gaming. The Chinese are attending shows, eating at some of the finest restaurants, purchase goods at some of the finest shopping facilities in the world,” Krolicki said.

Beijing and other cities are full to high-end stores.

It’s not that the Chinese can’t get these things at home. Macau, in the southern part of the country, is well known for its gaming enterprises – of which Steve Wynn has tapped into. High-end stores abound throughout the country. Food is excellent – and much less expensive than restaurants in the U.S.

Still, like any traveler, they want to explore the rest of the world. One problem that remains is getting a visa to come to the United States. One woman living in Beijing told Lake Tahoe News when she looked into getting a visa it was going to take months just to get an appointment to begin the process.

Krolicki said when the NCOT offices book travel for people to come to Nevada a deal on the books between the governments allows the processing of paperwork to be sped up.

But he also admitted the young, single woman isn’t who Nevada is marketing to.

“The number of millionaires that have the ability to travel who are Chinese nationals is extraordinary. That is the market that is comprising this outbound tourism profile,” Krolicki said.

Renewable energy may be a goal, but like Las Vegas, China likes its water shows like this one in Xi'an.

The lieutenant governor was also involved with about a half dozen other states in creating a memorandum of understanding for China to invest in the United States – especially when it comes to renewable energy like wind turbines.

“All of these little pieces add up to some very satisfying successes. The relationship works both ways,” Krolicki said.

Reid’s office, according to the Las Vegas Sun, said his group would do “site visits of American investments and clean energy projects in Chengdu, Beijing and Xi’an.” These are the same three cities Lake Tahoe News visited this spring. With the abundance of pollution from coal in Xi’an, clean energy was not obviously visible under the gray skies. Locals said the air is worse in winter.

Dragonfly Restaurant will host the Arts for the Schools’ 6th Annual Student Art Show May 5 from 4-6pm.

For those who choose to stay for dinner, Dragonfly will offer half-off all entrees.

This year’s show titled “Artists in Bloom” will showcase more than 400 pieces of Tahoe Truckee children’s artwork. Art pieces were selected from a variety of elementary school classes throughout the region, including artwork created in the Arts For the Schools Artist-in-Residence program.

The art pieces, which include drawings, portraits and perspectives, will be on sale and proceeds benefit Arts for the Schools.

Dragonfly Restaurant and Sushi Bar is located upstairs at 10118 Donner Pass Road, in the heart of downtown Truckee.

Arts For the Schools raises funds throughout the year so that art education can be part of the local school curriculum.

Classic boats from a classic era. That’s what guests will discover at the 2011 South Tahoe Wooden Boat Classic July 29-30 at the Tahoe Keys Marina & Yacht Club.

The STWBC is one of the West’s largest classic boat shows, and this year the headliner will be White Smoke which was originally delivered to South Lake Tahoe’s Pope Estate and is currently part of the Tahoe Maritime Museum’s collection. White Smoke is a 1930, 30-foot Sea Lyon, model 45 triple cockpit runabout. The George A. Pope family enjoyed their home and the boat on Lake Tahoe for years before finally gifting the estate to the U.S. Forest Service.

While White Smoke will command center stage at the STWBC, it will have plenty of company. More than 65 antique and classic boats will be on display at the Tahoe Keys Marina & Yacht Club.

A new attraction this year will be a kit boat, newly built by Tahoe City Boy Scout Troop No. 266 which will be on display in the sponsor tent area. The boat is a project being built by the Scouts and their fathers with guidance and support from ACBS member John Lahti of Tahoe City.

Throughout Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, guests at the Wooden Boat Classic will hear the thunder of these classic beauties while having the opportunity to stroll through the sponsor and charity booths and buy a memento of the day in the Antique & Classic Boat Society’s Ships Store. Snacks, drinks and a barbecue lunch will be available at gourmet refreshment booths. 

The Tahoe Maritime Museum will also have their boat in the marina and will be giving rides to families who join the museum at the boat show.

Dear City Council members,

What can be done to solve the medical marijuana garden “crisis”? Do we threaten sick people with home invasions and huge fines, or do we place the responsibility where it legally belongs?

It is not the job of the City Council to serve as property managers. That is the legal responsibility of property owners and rental property managers. It is their responsibility to clearly spell out the terms of their lease, to screen their potential tenants and perform whatever inspections are required to maintain their property. Absentee owners should take responsibility and hire a local property manager. If tenants are in violation of their lease, then owners and managers have ample legal remedies ranging from eviction to civil and even criminal actions in court.

Steve Kubby

It is also not the job of the City Council to thwart state law and the will of the voters. If the council thinks their cultivation ordinance is so great, then stop threatening patients with fines, public exposure to burglars and make the entire program voluntary.

Medical marijuana patients have legal rights. They are your neighbors and friends. They are sick even though it may not be apparent to you. They are not the problem. In fact they could be your solution.

Most patients I know would be happy to pay an additional 20 percent in rent to have the permission and peace of mind that comes from renting from a “215 friendly” property owner. A voluntary “215 friendly” program that provides patients with city guidelines and permits to grow would be popular and help all involved.

Let freedom grow,

Steve Kubby, South Lake Tahoe