The Lake Tahoe Historical Society will have its fall meeting on Oct. 19 at 7pm in the Lodge at Camp Richardson.
Dave Borges will open the program with a short talk on early days at Emerald Bay followed by a film on the story of Vikingsholm just released by the State Parks of California.
Helen Smith, long time summer docent narrates much of the film. Smith’s mother was a good friend of Lora Knight.
The event is free.
Celebrating its 48th consecutive year, the North Tahoe Ski Swap, slated Oct. 23 9am-3pm at North Tahoe High School gymnasium, is an annual local event that heralds the beginning of the much anticipated winter snow and snowboard season.
Offering a dizzying variety of snow sports equipment and clothing, this year’s event will not disappoint the masses who enjoy getting a great deal, while also supporting worthwhile programs at North Tahoe High School and North Tahoe School.
The event began almost five decades ago as a glorified garage sale to benefit a Tahoe Community Nursery School. As interest grew, the sale later moved to more spacious digs including the high school gymnasium, as well as Alpine Meadows. Now the swap is under the auspices of North Tahoe’s public high school and middle school and will again be held in the North Tahoe High School gymnasium.
Admission is $1.
Additionally, students will be selling raffling tickets for awesome prizes including ski passes, dining gift certificates and much more.
Interested in selling some equipment at the swap? On Oct. 22, public sellers are asked to register equipment at the middle school gymnasium entrance from 3-9pm. Merchant sellers are asked to register equipment on Oct. 22 from 2-9pm and check out after the event on Saturday afternoon.
For more information, or to volunteer (and get to pre-shop), call (530) 581.7050, ext. 4344.
By Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee
State officials have unveiled a dramatic new design for California driver’s license cards, using technological advances they say put the state years ahead of counterfeiters.
The cards – issued beginning this month to new and renewing drivers – will be among the most secure in the world, said Matt Paulin, a chief deputy director with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Notably, driver’s licenses and identification cards will be printed vertically for anyone under age 21, making it easier for police, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs to see at a glance.
Free flu shots are coming to Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.
On Oct. 22 from 11am–2pm in Patterson Hall, Hometown Health will offer free walk-in flu vaccinations to individuals with the following insurance plans:
· Hometown Health – HMO or PPO
· Senior Care Plus
· State of Nevada – HMO
· Medicare – Primary, with no other HMO. (Must have Part B.)
The seasonal flu shot will be available to students and others without the required insurance for a charge of $28 made payable by cash or check.
In order to receive this service free of charge, a valid insurance card must be shown at the time of vaccination. The 2010 influenza vaccine includes H1N1 protection.
For more flu prevention information, go to www.flu.gov.
All the smoke people are seeing and smelling on the South Shore is a controlled burn on Kingsbury Grade.
U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews area off Buchanan Drive burning 10-15 acres. The burn could last through Friday.
State and local fire management agencies may also be conducting prescribed fire work during this period.
Residents and travelers can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire project areas.
This and other prescribed fire projects are designed to reduce wildfire risks to communities and critical resources.
The “Kokanee Literary Journal” reading is Oct. 19 in the Aspen Room at Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe.
The reception starts at 6:30pm, reading at 7pm.
The journal will be available for purchase for $10. Refreshments will be served.
The “Kokanee” features poetry, short stories and essays by LTCC students, alumni, and faculty, as well as the work of nationally and internationally-known writers such as Brain Turner, Patricia Smith, Denise Duhamel, Sholeh Wolpe, and Todd James Pierce, who have participated in the LTCC Writers’ Series. The cover art was done by LTCC student artist and winner of the 2010 Kokanee Cover Art Award, Calee Allen.
For more information, contact Suzanne Roberts at (530) 541.4660, ext. 708 or robertss@ltcc.edu.
Barton Health Foundation’s second annual celebration of National Philanthropy Day is Nov. 5 at Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe.
Registration is at 11:30am, lunch and program from noon-2pm.
Barton Health grants will be distributed.
Cost is $25 per person. RSVP by Nov. 1 by calling (530) 543.5909 or email foundation@bartonhealth.org.
The Truckee River Watershed Council on Oct. 27 from 6-8pm at the Truckee Donner PUD is having a public information meeting regarding the Coldstream Canyon restoration project design and implementation.
Coldstream Canyon, or Cold Creek, extends from the crest of the Sierra Nevada to just west of Truckee. There is a long history of human disturbances in the canyon, from construction of the Central Pacific Railroad to construction of Interstate-80. Such disturbances have and continue to cause increased size of peak floods, increased erosion of fine sediment, loss of riparian habitat and degraded aquatic habitat. Restoration will begin 2011 and consists of expanding the existing floodplain. By creating additional floodplain, fine sediment erosion will be significantly reduced, riparian vegetation will increase, and some flood protection will be afforded. The project will have water quality and habitat benefits.
To RSVP for the meeting, call the Truckee River Watershed Council at (530) 550.8760. Light snacks will be provided.
Who and what to vote for?
Those are questions Californians who vote by mail are asking themselves now, Nevadans who vote early will soon answer and everyone else will decide Nov. 2.
On the South Shore, three seats are open on the South Lake Tahoe City Council and the two Douglas County Commission incumbents are being challenged. El Dorado County voters must decide on a sheriff – someone from within or an outsider. U.S. senators in both states will be voted in. California and Nevada will have a new governor. Propositions line the ballot.
Lake Tahoe News on Oct. 12 finished publishing profiles of 12 of the 14 candidates in the South Shore races. Two of the 10 City Council candidates did not return the questionnaire.
The answers are there to compare one to another. It’s time for you to evaluate them. But first it’s important to know what you want in a candidate.
Lake Tahoe News believes there are more important issues than legalized marijuana and the number of dispensaries in South Lake Tahoe. State and federal law can handle some of that. And if it’s a legal way for the city and business owners to make money, what’s the harm? People seem to forget 24-hour drinking is next door in Stateline, prostitution is a short drive away and the Stateline casinos practically promote sex at the nightclubs. Morality can’t be the issue.
Pot has been a huge issue here long before people tried to sell it legally. Ask any police officer. Where was the outrage before it became legal?
The questions that need to be asked and answered are: What can be done to change how easy it is to get a prescription for medical marijuana? Is it better for the people who are going to smoke pot without a true medical need to get it at a collective where the goods are not laced with anything than on the street? Could the pot clubs reduce crime? With the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office not prosecuting people with a minimal possession of marijuana, is it better for law enforcement to know pot users are off the street so they can deal with more serious offenses? How much money can the city make off this enterprise?
It’s time the discussion of local elections centers on real issues. What about the 25 percent of South Lake Tahoe’s children living in poverty? Not a single official from the city of South Lake Tahoe was at the Oct. 8 Poverty to Prosperity forum. Shame on them. Let’s hope whomever the new three electeds are for the city will want to be part of that discussion and part of the solution.
People talk about wanting recreation to be the focus of the future. Great. But has any one of them spoken to the U.S. Forest Service to know the fed’s recreation sites are tapped? Have they been at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe on a Saturday?
Recreation – define it — all you candidates who mouth off about it. Be specific what you want and how you will achieve it. What are you going to do that others haven’t done or aren’t doing?
Lake Tahoe News is a huge supporter of recreation. It is fantastic Amgen is bringing the Tour of California cycling event to the basin in May 2011. Kudos to the visitors’ authorities on both ends of the lake to make this a reality.
And hats off to the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board for voting to revamp the football field so it will have lights and be able to attract outside entities to use the site.
Two thumbs up to Douglas County and others for the Stateline-to-Stateline bike trail that is in the planning stages.
This election (or any other for that matter) is not about voting for friends. It’s about voting for the person who can achieve the goals you deem important. It’s looking at track records. Now is not the time to elect people who need a learning curve. The South Shore, California, Nevada and the United States need to right the listless ships of bureaucratic and political morass that have bogged each entity for years.
Locally, Lake Tahoe News is supportive of the candidates with vision, ones who have experience with finance, who can work together as a team, who aren’t afraid to go against the status quo, who are about substance and not hot air.
We need people who call Lake Tahoe home, but who also have experience from elsewhere to bring depth and perspective to decisions. Living here for decades does not make someone more qualified than someone who has been here less than a decade. On the flip side, being here for years does not make someone a good ole boy.
It’s easy to talk a good game, especially for people with a communications or marketing background. But talk is cheap. The South Shore deserves more. We deserve more than going to meetings and putting colored sticky dots on poster boards at endless meetings and to have nothing come of it. (Think TRPA Regional Plan.)
Government will never solve what ails society. But it can help or hinder the process. City councils, county commissions, Congress – they are there to set policy. What kind of policy do you want? Who running for office will help you get what you want and what is best for your town, your state, the country?
Then look in the mirror. What are you doing to help yourself, your town, your state, your country?
If you want Tahoe to look better, what does your home and business look like? If you want less poverty, are you able to hire more people? Or pay people more? Charge a fair price and not one to rape tourists and in turn send locals off the hill.
We are all in this together – at the local, regional, state and national levels. It’s time to play nice and learn the definition of compromise to take off the tarnish that befalls the Lake Tahoe Basin in order to make it shine like the jewel it should and can be.
Your vote is that important.
Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News is providing a glimpse into what skiers and boarders can expect at Lake Tahoe area resorts for the 2010-11 season.
Squaw Valley: Home of the 1960 Winter Olympics for good reason
• Projected opening date: Nov. 20
• Daily adult lift ticket: TBA; last season’s was $83
The flame from the 1960 Olympics still burns at Squaw. Photo/Kathryn Reed
• What’s new?: Right off the top, Squaw begins the season with a new chief executive officer, Andy Wirth, who succeeds Nancy Cushing. The wife of late founder Alex Cushing will remain as chairman of the board.
Squaw excels as a ski resort for big kids and real kids, with the latter touting an overhaul of the Belmont Park section into a children’s fun zone including a snow fort and kid-friendly bumps and whoopty-dos.
In addition, the ski resort is expanding its night skiing capability with improved lighting in the Riviera terrain park and halfpipe.
The resort has also added a “gates” ski clinic designed to enhance a rider’s all-around skills in slalom and Giant Slalom
Also on board is a new ski demonstration center and shop, conference center at the Olympic Village Inn, renovations to Squaw’s base lodge and an overhaul to the ground floor of the Gold Coast Lodge.
On the slopes, improved snowmaking and new state of the art grooming machines provide the finishing touches to a world-renowned resort.
• What’s special about Squaw?: The resort boasts legendary terrain that’s enough to stimulate Olympic skiers and guest service worthy enough to call it an Olympic resort.
• Last year’s snow total: 560 inches
• Lift hours of operation: 9am to 9pm (weekends); 9am to 7pm (weekdays) from Dec. 19, 2010, through March 27, 2011
• Skiable terrain: 4,000 acres
• Number of lifts: 33
• Vertical feet: 2,800
• Directions: Head north on Highway 89 and turn left at the Olympic torch and follow the Squaw Valley road that empties out to the resort.
• Website
— Compiled by Susan Wood