By Frank X. Mullen Jr., Reno Gazette-Journal

This is certain: four stockmen, eight American Indians and a posse member were shot dead in the frozen Nevada desert in February 1911.

Over the past century, nearly everything else about the “Shoshone Mike” case has been questioned, revised and exaggerated, according to researchers who studied the case.

The stockmen were murdered in Little High Rock Canyon, 135 miles north of Reno, in January, but their bodies weren’t discovered until Feb. 10. Lawmen and cowboys followed the suspects’ trail more than 200 miles.

A posse caught up with a 12-member Indian band on Feb. 26. In a dry wash north of Golconda, the pursuers began shooting. When the smoke cleared, posse member Ed Hogle was dead and the bodies of four Indian men, two women and two children lay bleeding in the snow.

Four Indian children — ages estimated at 16, 7, 4 and 10 months — were captured and brought to the Reno jail. They were kept there for several months.

Traditionally, the story has been told as a victory of justice over savagery: a tale of noble cowboys and renegade Indians.

It happened 21 years after the massacre of Indians at Wounded Knee, S.D., where 146 Sioux Indians — men, women and children — were slain by the U.S. 7th Cavalry and 25 troopers died. The Shoshone Mike massacre occurred at a time when automobiles, airplanes and movies were in their infancy.

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By Phillip Reese and Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

As the region struggles to regain its economic footing, even tony Placer County has lost much of its luster.

A suburban county northeast of Sacramento, Placer County attracted tens of thousands of mostly affluent new residents during the past decade, and it remains wealthy today. Its poverty rate is still lower than that of every other county in California; its residents earn more income than the statewide average; its jobless rate trumps that of most other places.

But each of those vital economic indicators has veered sharply in the wrong direction during the last several years – more quickly than the rest of the state and much more quickly than other affluent counties:

• During 2005, Placer County had the third-lowest unemployment rate in the state. Today, it ranks 17th, according to the Employment Development Department.

• Cumulative personal income in the county dropped by $1.6 billion, or 14 percent, from 2007 to 2009, according to the Franchise Tax Board.

• The poverty rate in Placer County increased by 1.6 percentage points, to 7.2 percent, from 2005 to 2009, almost double the percentage-point increase statewide, census data show.

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A fun and fast-paced workshop that will teach the leading energy medicine method, Emotional Freedom Technique, is slated for April 20 starting at 8:30am.

It is easy to learn, and one can use it any time to alleviate stressful emotions. Workshop will include handouts and Powerpoint demonstration.

The workshop setting is the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber Conference room, 169 Hwy 50, Stateline. It will be taught by mind-body therapist Rosemary Manning, a chamber member.

The cost is $12 for chamber members and $20 to non-members.

The registration deadline is noon April 19.

To register, go to:

http://www.tahoehealthtouch.com/workshop_calendar.html

The Windjammer’s Yacht Club Annual Chowder Feed/Membership Drive is scheduled April 1 in the WYC Clubhouse at the Tahoe Keys Marina (to the left of the Fresh Ketch).

Social hour starts at 6:00pm. Dinner (chowder, ham, salads, dessert, and more) is slated for 7:00pm. The general meeting will follow dinner.

The cost is $15/person. Those who are interested are asked to RSVP at vnungary@gmail.com

A Sewing Bee is scheduled April 9th at 10am at the El Dorado County Library at 1000 Rufus Allen Blvd.

Participants may make cute and simple dresses from pillowcases that will be donated to Hope4Women International’s Dress A Girl Around the World

Campaign.

Visit their website at

http://dressagirlaroundtheworld.webs.com. Over 14,000 dresses have been donated to 30 countries around the world since 2009.

Space is limited with 10 sewing machines and two irons so please register at the library front desk or call 530-573-3185.

The event is sponsored by Friends of the Library

School officials placed Tahoe Valley Elementary School on lockdown Monday afternoon when two students allegedly reported seeing a suspicious man carrying a gun on campus.

During their lunch break at about 12:30pm, children were gathered in their classrooms while South Lake Tahoe police searched the premises. Officers received assistance from California Highway Patrol and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, police reported.

The lockdown lasted for 20 minutes.

No one matching the description was seen by officers. Accounts by the students varied, with the location of the spotting narrowed to the eastern fence line of the playground at the school located in the Tahoe Island neighborhood.

The man had been described as a while male adult in his 30s, wearing a green shirt, black pants and brown boots.

–Lake Tahoe News staff report

The D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare Program is having auditions for their performance of “Twelfth Night” for ages 13-18 on April 9 at the D.W. Reynolds Community Center, 948 Incline Way, Incline Village.

Auditions will be from 3-6pm and must be scheduled in advance.

Auditioners should prepare two short monologues – both pieces should total no more than 4 minutes together and at least one should be a Shakespeare piece.

Contact Joe Atack at joe@tahoebard.com to schedule an audition time.

Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe is looking for someone to design its poster for the Nov. 11 wine tasting fundraiser.

The original art piece must incorporate the theme Tahoe and Wine Tasting and be 11 by 17 in size.

The winning artist will receive $250 and two tickets to the event.

The original art becomes property of SISLT and will be used as advertising for the event. The deadline is May 31. Drop off artwork to 1017 Carson Ave., No. 6 (Skin & Hair), South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, contact Valerie Conners at (530) 544.8545, or email valerieconners@yahoo.com.

It’s warming up, with light winds — finally, enjoy! Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

By Loretta Kalb, Sacramento Bee

The bill is coming due this year for local governments struggling to fulfill generous pension promises they made in better economic times.

Starting July 1, most cities and counties in the Sacramento region will need to step up their contributions to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which administers benefits for their 14,000 employees.

These cash-strapped local governments will see their combined contributions jump by $26 million to a total of $200 million, a Bee analysis shows.

That’s money that won’t go to other services – such as police protection, recreation programs and senior centers.

The increase won’t stop at $26 million, either. Higher CalPERS contribution rates are being phased in over the next three years and will remain in place for 30 years.

Today’s situation is the reverse of a decade ago, when rich investment returns had boosted CalPERS’ portfolio by $68 billion in just three years. When the fund proposed a plan to sweeten state retirements, it encountered scant opposition. By the end of 2000, local governments began adopting similar enhancements.

Now, thanks to a stock market meltdown, a housing free fall and thousands of job losses, local and state politicians are rethinking the retirement benefits approved then.

The Little Hoover Commission, a bipartisan government watchdog agency, last month calculated that the 10 largest public pension plans in California faced a combined $240 billion shortfall in 2010.

More than a third of that shortfall belonged to CalPERS, the commission found.

CalPERS has cited its 24 percent investment loss in 2008-09 as largely responsible for the higher contributions rates it’s now charging local member agencies, along with longer life expectancies for retirees.

But some say that doesn’t tell the whole story.

In El Dorado County, Auditor-Controller Joe Harn criticized CalPERS for not recognizing in the late 1990s that the strong investment returns wouldn’t last forever.

“They gave reports to local agencies that you could increase retirement benefits and it will be very, very affordable,” Harn said. “When the market jumped dramatically, they gave (local governments) relief from contributions.”

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