By Susan Wood

In an apparent show of testosterone, a confrontation at South Tahoe High School this week that led to an arrest of a Pop Warner coach by a California Highway Patrol officer has turned into a legal battle with opposing investigations.

Defensive coach Jim Durham was arrested and later released Tuesday evening after sharing a heated discussion about trespassing with CHP Officer Alton Randall, who removed Durham from the football field in front of many parents, players and other coaches.

Consequently, Durham and the Pop Warner league have retained an attorney, and the CHP South Lake Tahoe division will conduct an internal investigation of the incident.

According to the CHP, Randall was on duty that night as he responded to motorists parking in an illegal parking zone and walked through the fencing where the teams practice. Durham approached the officer and allegedly told him he was “not allowed on the field,” CHP Lt. Tim Malone explained of the state agency’s investigation.

The two men were terse in their exchange until the coach became “animated, aggravated and approached the officer in an aggressive manner,” Malone added.

“(Randall) told him to stop and not approach any further,” Malone told Lake Tahoe News. From there, the uniformed officer pulled out his Taser stun gun but “he did not deploy the Taser.”

Durham was arrested on charges of obstructing, delaying and resisting an officer. He was released and not booked into custody. Malone would not say if Randall has a history of being in confrontations. He was not placed on any type of leave.

The case may end up with the El Dorado County District Attorney’s office, but Tahoe’s Assistant District Attorney Hans Uthe has not received it, he told Lake Tahoe News Friday.

No report was made by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

The highly charged incident stunned Lake Tahoe Unified School District Superintendent Jim Tarwater.

“I’ve never in all my years had that happen on school grounds,” Tarwater said Friday.

CHP has jurisdiction to enforce the traffic laws. It’s unclear how the traffic ended up on a football field.

“Going out on a field – that I don’t know about,” Tarwater said, characterizing the confrontation as “unconventional.”

The incident has become a serious matter for Pop Warner, which issues its own local, regional and national codes of conduct. The question of a possible wrongful arrest arose.

South Tahoe Pop Warner President Chuck Leonard declined Friday to speak to the legal matter and deferred all questions to their attorney Al Villalobos.

Villalobos insisted that people on the field recall a different version of the exchange between the two men and hopes to get to the bottom of the matter after the league completes its interviews with witnesses.

“Pop Warner is investigating the incident between Officer Randall and coach Jim Durham, and (the youth athletic organization) is very concerned about allegations of inappropriate police conduct in front of 100 players, coaches and parents,” he said.

He stopped short of saying whether the incident will lead to a suit against the state or the officer, but he didn’t rule it out.

Villalobos declined to comment further while the matter is being investigated.

To the community,

The South Lake Tahoe Moose Lodge is sad to report that due to unforeseen state regulations and new inhibitory costs, this year’s 9th Annual Kids Fishing Derby must be canceled. The Lodge is working diligently to resume the Fishing Derby in 2011, and we look forward to being able to resume this free annual event for our local kids next year. We apologize for any inconvenience this cancellation may cause, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to obtain the approval to continue the event this year as we have done for the past eight years.

Thank you to all our supporting sponsors, and be assured that we will apply our current funds to next year’s Kids Fishing Derby.

Sincerely,

The Moose Lodge

Lava Cap Winery is partnering with Rick Kushman of the Sacramento Bee to offer a series of classes on wine.

Kushman is an award winning journalist who’s been nationally syndicated and a weekly commentator on food and wine on Sacramento’s KFBK NewsTalk AM-1530. His popularity as a speaker comes in big part because he makes wine fun, which is surprisingly rare among wine educators and somewhat ironic since people drink wine to have fun.

In Harvest 101 Kushman will focus on the process of harvesting wine grapes. He will begin the class in the vineyard and then move to the crush pad, where the grapes are harvested. Kushman will discuss how the winemaker improves the wine quality through particular harvesting techniques. The class will finish in the winery’s barrel room with wine tastings.

Lava Cap’s popular red and white wines will be featured and sampled, including new releases.

The class will last 90 minutes and begins at 1pm on Sept. 18th at Lava Cap Winery near Placerville. Contact Lava Cap Winery for tickets and information (530) 621.0175 or www.lavacap.com.

By Nancy Cauley

The current status of Zephyr Cove Elementary School, according to No Child Left Behind, reveals that ZCES is currently on the “Watch List” in the area of English-Language Arts.

NCLB law requires that all students obtain a predetermined “Percent Above Cut” (PAC) which translates into how many students are proficient on the state-mandated Criterion Reference Test (CRT) that is administered every March. On the surface this appears to be very simple, but is in reality quite complex because of the way the information is tracked by the state of Nevada.

If you will picture a table with nine rows and four columns, you begin to see the complexity unfold. In addition to a single PAC rate for the entire school, each subpopulation also has its own box to be checked. To further muddy the waters, a single student may be counted in multiple boxes.

By these calculations, a percentage of ZCES students did not meet the PAC and, hence ZCES did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress for the 2009-10 school year. We have one year to increase the number of students who are proficient in English-Language Arts and our work has already begun in achieving just that.

I have a great deal of confidence in the dedicated staff at ZCES to meet this goal. If you have any questions on the specific data related to NCLB please feel free to contact me or go to http://www.nevadareportcard.com.

Nancy Cauley is principal of Zephyr Cove Elementary School.

By Carla Roccapriore, Reno Gazette-Journal

Being on equal footing with other children is a rare occurrence for many living with muscular dystrophy.

However, that chance was available at the statewide summer camp for Jerry’s Kids held Aug. 15-21 at the Nevada State 4-H Camp in Stateline.

Local Muscular Dystrophy Association officials said the camp is the highlight of the year for many participants.

Activities included a derby car race. Each participant carved a car out of pine wood, added wheels and decorated them, and cheered as the vehicles raced in groups of three down a ramp.

Read the whole story

By KCRA

The board that considers compensation for California crime victims is being advised to reject a claim by the mother of Jaycee Dugard, who authorities said was held captive for nearly two decades by a paroled rapist.

Lynn Margherita, spokeswoman for the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, said Thursday the board’s staff is recommending the claim by Terry Probyn be handled by the courts.

Probyn’s claim was not included in the state’s $20 million settlement with Dugard and the two daughters she bore to her alleged kidnapper.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe News is the only place to find news about Lake Tahoe seven days a week.

There are several ways to stay in the know. One way is to visit the site regularly.

Another is to become a subscriber – for free. Go to the bottom right of the Home page, enter your email address, click on the confirmation email in your inbox, then each morning you will receive an email listing what has been posted in the last 24 hours. You can peruse the headlines or click on one to get the full story.

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Year-round swimming lessons are offered at the South Lake Tahoe Parks & Recreation Swim Pool Complex.

Sign ups are going on now for all levels, adult & me through Level 6. Group lessons are for kids 3-13 years of age and classes last 25 minutes. The cost is $26.25 for any of the six-class sessions.

Upcoming sessions: Sept. 14–23 between 1:30-4pm; Sept. 14–30 between 6:05-7:05pm; and Sept. 18–Oct. 23 between 9:30-10:30am.

Private swim lessons are ongoing for all ages and abilities. Prices begin at $20 per 25 minutes for one student.

Register for all classes at the South Lake Tahoe Recreation & Swim Pool Complex, 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd., Monday–Saturday.

If you have questions, call (530) 542.6056 or drop by to sign up.

By Mike Sweeney

Some of my favorite moments are spent with my family at our local state parks. A day of hiking at San Bruno Mountain State Park is at the top of my list. The park is close and accessible, and we practically take it for granted. Unfortunately, with each visit, the problems confronting our parks become more visible.

On San Bruno Mountain, budget cuts have made park rangers a rare sight – no longer available to answer questions or explain the features of the park. Once-pristine natural habitats are overrun by invasive species. Our favorite trails are overgrown and sometimes closed. Restrooms might or might not be open and clean. But the worst part is that the problems at this urban oasis are far from isolated.

California’s 278 state parks are falling apart because of chronic underfunding. Roofs and sewage systems leak, restrooms are not cleaned regularly, bridges have collapsed, trails are closed, campgrounds and visitor centers are shuttered, and buildings and other structures throughout the system are badly deteriorated.

Altogether, state parks have amassed a $1.3 billion backlog in needed maintenance and repairs, turning the nation’s best state park system into one of the country’s most endangered sites, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Read the whole story

Mike Sweeney is a Bay Area resident and executive director of the California chapter of the Nature Conservancy, a leading conservation organization. To learn more, go to www.YesForStateParks.com.

Machete

Rated R

1.5 bagels out of 5

By Howie Nave

Writer/director Robert Rodriguez is by far one of the trippiest filmmakers when it comes to framing a story. Long before the “Twilight” movies made vampires sexy and brooding Rodriguez in the last century was freaking us out with “From Dusk to Dawn” by making vampires what they should be: not of this planet and scary as hell.

Then there was this century’s “Grindhouse” which handsomely paid homage to those cheesy B-movies reminiscent of those classic exploitation films of the ’70s.

Ironically, it was during “Grindhouse” in 2007 that we first caught a glimpse of what would be “Machete” in the way of a fake movie trailer. In that trailer were many who would wind up starring in this movie. Rodriguez continues his “Mexploitation” genre with his latest outing, “Machete.” Fans of his work will remember 1992’s “El Mariachi” which follows a similar thread (as a Mexploitation flick) and like that flick “Machete” offers up plenty of in your face, non-stop violence, a maxed out gore factor coupled with topical political issues (primarily illegal immigration complete with angry Tea Party types) that will surely piss some folks off. Part comedy in the darkest sense of the word with plenty of blood shipped in, “Machete” is anything but mainstream and will appeal primarily to Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino fans. Others will probably leave the theater scratching their heads wondering if someone had slipped something in their popcorn.

What a role of a lifetime for character actor and Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo. Usually he’s relegated to playing crooks in secondary roles that get bumped off and not the title character. You’ll probably recognize him in mainstream movies such as “Desperado” and “Con Air.” Most of his past wardrobe usually consisted of prison garb or leftover outfits reminiscent of “The Postman.” Trejo easily fits in with other former heavies that include Steven Seagal and former “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson in roles that would have had their fans screaming, “Say it ain’t so!” as drug lords playing against their one-time good guy image. Hey, it worked for John Travolta (Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”) revitalizing his stalled career, so maybe these guys were thinking the same thing when they agreed to sign on.

Oscar heavyweight Robert De Niro plays U.S. Sen. McLaughlin who hates everybody and gets a contract put out on him for his efforts, but more on that later. Then there’s the women who are anything but Barbies here. Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and twins Elise and Electra Avellan probably won’t be in any Disney movies after this. And then there’s troubled actress Lindsay Lohan. Who knew that the character she plays here would have carried over into her real life? She plays April (which I believe was the same month she appeared in court for the second time) and yes, she’s topless and drugged out. Many have speculated that she wasn’t acting at all, but merely playing herself. I can’t be too tough on her as easy as it is because Alba, although she looked hot, was less convincing as an INS officer. Although I wouldn’t mind being interrogated by her. I think they dressed her up so provocatively to take your mind off of her bad acting.

Regardless, I respect Robert Rodriguez because he takes chances (some work, some don’t) but here the thin premise rests pretty much on revenge, bad stereotypes and really bad humor. Machete (Trejo), he’s a former Mexico federale who is hired to kill the senator and I thought he should have wounded the writers (written by both Robert and his cousin Alvaro Rodriguez). And just like the city of South Lake Tahoe, nepotism is a big part of Rodriguez’s movies. In addition to cousin Alvaro Robert’s sister, Rebecca, Rodriguez serves as editor with Roxie Rodriguez working in the capacity of production office intern.

If you love this picture, than fear not because there’s talk already of another one in the works. “Machete” is rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity with a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Howie Nave is host/emcee/manager of The Improv at Harveys. You can hear him Monday-Friday 6 to 10am on KRLT FM-93.9.