Caregiving is a difficult and often challenging role that one can undertake, and taking the opportunity to share information and feel connected to others who are providing care is a vital step to perform this task to the best of your ability. Take the opportunity on Aug. 12 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at South Lake Tahoe Senior Center, 3050 Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe to become connected and rejuvenated at your local support group.

Refreshments will be served. Free respite care is available to qualified caregivers. Pre-authorization is required for respite services. Questions? Contact the Family Caregiver Support Program at (530) 621.6151.

Krissi Russell, local author, presents an interactive nature and music program on Aug. 14 at 2pm at Explore Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe.

Learn about hiking safety and etiquette “On the Trail.”

Krissi’s book will be available for sale following the event.

Gina Stowell, local artist offers face painting designs for all ages. Face painting designs range from $3 to $10 depending on design.

Admission is free.

Explore Tahoe is located in the Heavenly Village at 4114 Lake Tahoe Blvd. at the Stateline Transit Center. For more, information call (530) 542.4637 or click on flyer.

Wild. Beautiful. Colorful. Abundant. Mesmerizing.

The Upper Truckee Meadow is awash with wildflowers.

Wildflowers fill Upper Truckee Meadow. Photos/Gloria Harootunian

This South Lake Tahoe oasis still has water – evidence of a long, late spring. Mother Nature’s reward – a bouquet of wildflowers that Gloria Harootunian has shared with Lake Tahoe News readers.

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By Kathryn Reed

It looks like a lawsuit regarding redevelopment in South Lake Tahoe has been averted.

A flurry of meetings, conversations and correspondence have been going on and exchanged this week between South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County officials.

The issue is regarding the expansive redevelopment area the City Council approved earlier this year. The county has taken issue with the city’s definition of blight and the large swath of land involved.

Lake Tahoe Airport is a major issue for city and county officials. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The county still has 10 days to make a final decision about suing. The next regular board meeting is Aug. 10, though a special meeting could be called before the Aug. 16 filing deadline.

“I think we’ll come to common ground,” El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago told Lake Tahoe News. “There are some issues we may have to agree to disagree on.”

A sticking point has been the inclusion of Lake Tahoe Airport in the redevelopment area. All of the details have not been worked out or voted on by the City Council, but it looks like the area may be condensed so at least that entire parcel is not in the redevelopment area.

Mayor Kathay Lovell said, “There is dialog when before there wasn’t any.” She also described the negotiations as “fragile”.

Staff and electeds from the city and county met at the airport on Monday. Both bodies discussed redevelopment in closed session at their respective meetings Tuesday. The county then sent a letter, which has not been shared with the media, to the city on Tuesday.

“We are very encouraged by their communication,” Lovell said of the letter. “We’ll be meeting again.”

The city and South Tahoe Public Utility District have resolved their differences about the redevelopment area and other issues that subsequently arose. Lovell and district board Chairman Dale Rise signed an agreement on Aug. 4.

• Jens Dressler, chef at Blue Angel Café for the last three years, is buying the 7-year-old restaurant from Jeff and Rosie Cowen. Rosie Cowen will stay on as catering manager.

• Ta-Hoe Nalu 2010 Paddle Festival is Aug. 21-22 in Kings Beach with its $20,000 in cash and prizes, six races, luau and live concert. This is an event for athletes, as well as spectators and families.

• Click on report to read El Dorado County’s response to the grand jury.

• Douglas County schools start Aug. 18. Lake Tahoe Unified starts Aug. 30.

• Susan Frailey, a registered nurse on the South Shore, just published “More Alive Now: Simple Nutrition to Change Your Life”.

• South Tahoe City Councilman Bruce Grego at a July meeting said people who frequent medicinal marijuana collectives don’t appear to need the drug. He determined this by sitting in his car. The same car for which he has a disabled placard that he uses all over town, including at city offices, to park in the blue curb slot. He has no visible disability.

El Dorado County Department of Transportation are about to install pipes that will cross Angora Creek between Angora Creek Road and Mount Rainier Drive.

This segment of Lake Tahoe Boulevard will be closed Aug. 12-Sept. 20.

Drivers, and probably cyclists, should use View Circle to access the Y or North Upper Truckee Road.

By Kathryn Reed

The trial of the former South Tahoe High School security guard accused of smoking pot with a student is not happening this week as scheduled.

Larry Brown’s attorney filed a motion to suppress evidence. That issue is scheduled to be heard Sept. 24.

“Defense also wanted us to take a look at some character evidence they are in the process of pulling together with the thought that it may persuade us to make a different settlement offer, which I advised I would not do in any event without first also meeting with the victim and her parents,” Hans Uthe, El Dorado County deputy district attorney, told Lake Tahoe News. “If we cannot settle the matter and if the motion to suppress evidence is denied, then the case will be reset for trial.”

Brown, 63, pleaded not guilty in May to charges of having provided marijuana to a minor. He is charged with one felony count and two misdemeanor counts related to his arrest in November involving marijuana and a 16-year-old female student.

Publisher’s note: This editorial first appeared in Reno Gazette-Journal on Aug. 5, 2010.

We love Hot August Nights. We’re glad it’s here again. We hope it will be around for many years to come.

That’s the message that officials of the annual celebration of classic cars and rock ‘n’ roll should take from the uproar in Reno that interrupted their preparations for this year’s event, now under way at a variety of locations around the Truckee Meadows.

The anger that followed an interview with executive director Bruce Walter published in the Los Angeles Business Journal, in which Walter was quoted as saying the event would be held exclusively in Long Beach, Calif., in 2012, surely was difficult, even painful, for everyone associated with the event.

But it was an indication of just how important the event has become to the community in which it was founded a quarter-century ago, how much it has become a part of the fabric of life in the Truckee Meadows and how protective the community is of an event that they feel belongs to everyone here, not just those who work in Hot August Nights’ headquarters.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

A letter from the landlord listed what needed to be done – or else.

Unable to do the work herself or pay for someone to do it, June Echeverri was worried. The 76-year-old’s health doesn’t allow her to maintain her yard like she once did. Her daughter who lives with her is on disability.

June Echeverri looks at how her yard is being re-done. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Every spring Tahoe Verde has a spring checkup list for people living in the mobile home park. Echeverri didn’t think she would be able to check anything off the list.

“I really didn’t know what I was going to do,” Echeverri told Lake Tahoe News. The answer came via an invitation from Habitat for Humanity to apply to be part of A Brush with Kindness, a program the El Dorado County chapter offers.

This is the first project on the South Shore the group has done. They started Monday and wrapped up in a few days.

“This program is only exterior. We do minor repairs. It can’t be for cosmetic reasons,” Carolyn Meiers explained.

Meiers has been on the Habitat board in El Dorado County for four years. The next project is in the Bijou neighborhood. That house is scheduled to be painted in September.

“The caveat is the people have to do all the prep work. They are young,” Meiers said. “It has to be scraped and brushed and ready for paint.”

About a dozen volunteers worked from 8am to 4pm at Echeverri’s home. Weeds were eliminated, fern-like plants split apart and replanted, sod eliminated, weed cloth put down, wood chips laid on top of it, a back yard water feature reconfigured a bit and more.

Landscaper Jim Doherty volunteered his efforts to remove the sod. This means no more mowing for the women.

The skirt was painted with donations from Dick Fuller Paints and Valspar Paints.

The hot water heater door was fixed and other repairs were made.

“This is a great example that there are people who care and will offer their time and energy,” Echeverri said as the crew went about their work.

For the men and women working up a sweat she provided a bite to eat each morning, snacks, water and soft drinks.

Unity Church in South Lake Tahoe raised $234 for the project – and supplied much of the labor. Meiers, along with Arlene Wolfe and Bonnie Driscoll make up Hope Lutheran’s committee that is part of all of this.

JJ Stafford decided to spend part of his Tahoe vacation volunteering his time with this Habitat project. The 21-year-old from New York has been doing this type of thing since he was 13.

Seeing the gratitude in the homeowners and hearing them say “thank you” is how he is paid.

For more information about the local Habitat for Humanity chapter or volunteering, contact Carolyn Meiers at (530) 541.4654 or email sltahoehabitat@gmail.com. The process to qualify is a bit rigorous, with distinct income requirements, proof of homeownership, tax forms and about a four-page application to fill out.

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By Kellene Stockwell, Channel 2 News

Fire crews are battling a 460-acre blaze south of Lake Tahoe in Markleeville near the Wolf Creek trailhead in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness.

The Wolf Creek Fire is currently 10 percent contained.

Sierra Front says it started Tuesday night and that lodgepole trees are fueling the blaze.

No structures are threatened and several trailheads remain closed.