To the community,
I wanted to let you know Lake Valley Fire Protection District, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (USFS) and CalFire will be hosting and open house on July 8 from 10am to 3pm. t will be at our fire stations in Meyers at 2211 Keetak St.
We want to show off our pretty little fire engines and cool equipment.
Leona Allen, Lake Valley Fire Protection District
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 July 8 from 5:30-7:30pm at the 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.
Contact the Family Caregiver Support Program at (530) 621.6151 if you have questions.
The South Lake Tahoe Senior Center is in need of volunteers to drive the van to transport senior citizens. The Senior Center transportation program operates with volunteers that transport senior citizens throughout the community to the Senior Center, local appointments, grocery store and other places.
Any interested individuals who can volunteer up to four hours one day a week are being sought as drivers.
The Senior Center is recruiting drivers with an acceptable DMV driving record. You need not be a senior to be a volunteer driver.
Contact the Senior Center if you have an interest in volunteering with this program. The South Lake Tahoe Senior Center is located at 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.
For more information, call the Senior Center at (530) 542.6094.
To the community,
My project has been approved in The Good Idea competition and now I need your votes. My project is aimed toward creating a sustainable future for Tahoe.
Click here to vote.
Search: The Tahoe Project
Or go to: Planet section for $50,000
The Overview:
Three greenhouse projects within the local school district provide access to used bikes for cheap, flexible and human powered transportation. Provide bike carts to locals for free use to and from grocery stores as well as any other needed use. Creation of a high altitude cold climate seed bank. Use recyclable clothing to create usable shopping bags; ultimately eliminating the use of plastic bags within our community. Create community composting projects for education; and through demonstration prove that waste from restaurants and home kitchens can, through time, create soil. Provide venues for, and teaching of, alternative classes such as: yoga, cooking, nutrition, composting, permaculture, bike maintenance, plant propagation, etc. Building 101 would incorporate permaculture ideals; teachings would include improving basic carpentry skills and building: wood stoves, cob ovens, compost showers, and greenhouses, all of which would be from recycled materials.
Thank you so much,
Aria Benham, South Lake Tahoe
Zephyr Cove Library on July 8 at 1pm will celebrate the Summer Reading program with Bubble Lady Rebecca Nile. The Bubble Lady will entertain and delight the audience with her bubbles.
The excitement mounts toward the finale as they grow in size, until there is a bubble large enough for an audience member to fit inside it. Families of all ages are welcome.
The Bubble Lady has performed throughout San Francisco
and the Bay Area. Trained by “The Amazing Bubble Man,” Louis Pearl, she guarantees a laugh-filled, squeaky-clean show.
This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Douglas County Public Library. The Douglas County Public Library in Zephyr Cove is located at 233 Warrior Way.
For more information, call (775) 588.6411 or visit douglas.lib.nv.us.
Lake Tahoe Music Festival’s 2010 season builds upon the past two years with a six-concert series July 22–Aug. 7 featuring America -– 40th Anniversary Tour, Wynonna, Natalie Cole and Michael McDonald along with Broadway’s Best and the Simply Sinatra Pops concert.
The festival also adds to “Strictly Classical” concerts July 21 and 28 featuring the premiere of the Orchestra Academy and guest soloists and Academy instructors Ariana Ghez, principal oboist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Jerry Grossman, principal cellist for the Metropolitan Opera.
The North Shore music festival attracts people from all over the country. Photo/Provided
Tickets start at $25 for festival concerts, or $10 for Strictly Classical performances and are on sale online or by phone at 877.772.5425). Purchase tickets in person at the at the Music Festival office, located at 10775 Pioneer Trail, Ste. 210, Truckee, Monday through Friday 8am-5pm or at the Tahoe City Visitors Center at 380 North Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, daily from 9am-5pm.
The Lake Tahoe Music Festival has grown its economic impact to the region to just more than $4 million in 2009 and estimates a nearly $5 million impact for 2010. The figures, compiled by Streamline Communications and Outreach, are estimates based on ticket sales and survey results from the festival during the past several years and factor in lodging, dining and entertainment spend by visitors to the annual festival.
While the festival draws ticket purchasers from 32 states, 38 percent visit from the Bay Area, Sacramento and Central California..
For more information about the Lake Tahoe Music Festival, click here or call (530) 583.3101.
When Jacob Morrison goes wood collecting, it’s not for firewood. The Truckee native has developed a keen eye for spotting logs and limbs that are suitable for his one-of-a-kind rustic furniture pieces.
Morrison’s passion for woodworking took root during his years at Truckee High, where he took the woodshop course three times. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in biology and summer stints as a tile layer, in 2007 Morrison and his wife, Lindsey, moved to Portola to start Rustic Tree Creations.
Jacob Morrison
Searching looks for special chunks of wild wood, or takes someone’s throw-away lumber.
Morrison also spends time scavenging old tools from antique shops and flea markets, refurbishing them for use in his craft. Recently, he took a group of relics and made them into a chair that he calls his Rustic Chairmakers Chair. It won the People’s Choice award at the North Tahoe Arts Gallery May showcase.
The whimsical art seat called Dancing In The Wind is a playful design from lodgepole pine branches, with the legs designed dance while the back is blowing in the wind. The seat is fashioned from a reclaimed Turkish shipping crate.
Currently, a variety of works from Rustic Tree Creations can be seen at the Artisans Market Place on Donner Pass Road in Truckee. The art co-op features 19 local artisans and is open daily 11am-6pm.
For more information about Rustic Tree Creations, contact Jacob Morrison at (530) 832.5435.
Squaw Valley is slated to host the first SATELite Festival this September. This year’s SATELite Festival will unite adventurers, artists and consumers for film premiers, photo exhibits, cycling events, wine and dining experiences and live music.
The SATELite Festival comes to Squaw Valley Sept. 10-12
The weekend will include an array of activities including films and music, art and symposiums, and dinner and drinks all in support of conservation. The event is a community-based event celebrating the beauty of nature and the steps that all must take to preserve it. Participation in the festival is free, compliments of event sponsors and donors, and tickets to additional activities including dinners, concerts and symposiums will be all benefit SATELite’s 2010 cause.
For more information about the SATELite Festival and their 2010 environmental cause and sponsors click here.
By Stephen Ward
Pristine might have been the last word to use to describe the beaches of Lake Tahoe early this morning.
Thanks to a group of volunteers on the South Shore, most people will never know what the shoreline looked like after people left behind their trash from the Fourth’s festivities.
With the South Shore’s population more than doubling for the holiday weekend, the impact on the environment is noticeable, as is people’s reluctance to be responsible for themselves. Instead of using trash receptacles, they left their trash and other items on the beach.
Trash collected from South Tahoe beaches on a previous July 5. Photo/Kenny Curtzwiler
This is the 11th year Kenny Curtzwiler, owner of K&K Services, has rallied his staff together to clean the majority of El Dorado Beach, along with Regan Beach and the walkways surrounding Highway 50.
“One day I walked over to El Dorado Beach and noticed it was wrecked, and I decided to start cleaning up,” Meyers resident Curtzwiler said. “I never asked the city for help, I just decided to clean it myself.”
South Lake Tahoe Parks and Recreation Director Gary Moore sang the praises of Curtzwiler, saying the cleanup takes a lot of pressure off his department. Until last year, Curtzwiler had paid the dumping fees.
Curtzwiler and his five employees are sticking to the same regime they have for the past decade, which involves coming to the area with a dump truck and trailer to load all the waste into the beds of the vehicles before taking the collection to South Tahoe Refuse. Curtzwiler estimates approximately 50 yards of trash are accumulated each year.
He is starting the work this morning at 6 on the lake side of Highway 50 across from Aloha Ice Cream, they work their way east and anticipate being done by 10:30am. Curtzwiler says volunteers are welcome.
According to Curtzwiler, the majority of trash found at the sites is broken chairs, empty beer bottles and wet clothes.
Clean Tahoe crews will also be out today. The nonprofit that picks up trash in the public right-of-way in the El Dorado County portion of the basin was preparing to spend the majority of today restoring the facilities tarnished by tourists.
“We have two trucks we use to pick up trash from the public walking areas,” said Ellen Nunes, who runs Clean Tahoe.
Clean Tahoe has set its focus on cleaning the public parameters, and believes a few hours will be needed in order to fully regenerate the grounds.
The U.S. Forest Service owns Nevada, Kiva, Pope and Baldwin beaches on the South Shore. Because phone calls were not returned, it’s not known what their plan of action is for the debris left behind form Fourth of July revelers.
While many organizations anticipate a substantial amount of garbage left behind, some resorts don’t consider cleaning up after the holiday a grueling endeavor.
Austin Sass, spokesman at Zephyr Cove Resort, anticipates the Zephyr Cove beach to be back to normal within two to three hours, and says the time it takes to restore the property isn’t different than any other weekend.
“We get our entire staff out there and pick up trash until the beach is clean again,” Sass said.
As for harmful materials, Sass is steadfast in ensuring the property will not be threatened by the use of fireworks or glass beverages.
“We have recycle bins at the front of all entrances to the beach,” Sass said. “And you can’t even see the fireworks from our beach since we’re a cove, so we close before the show even gets started.”
Though jurisdictions have fines for littering, with resources on the Fourth devoted elsewhere, it is impossible to enforce such laws.
Lake Tahoe News would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July.
Maybe for a day we could put aside the negativity and instead celebrate that we actually have the right to express our opinions. It was the extreme forward thinking of individuals more than 200 years ago who granted us these rights.
Lake Tahoe News does not take lightly its freedom and the inherent responsibilities bestowed upon it via the U.S. Constitution.
We never take freedom of expression for granted. So many countries still do not allow the media to publish or broadcast the truth, but instead only allows its citizens to know what the government sees fit. The United States of America, though not alone, is to be commended for the freedoms it grants its citizens, and in turn the media.
Let us not forget with freedom comes responsibility. And let us not forget that all actions come with consequences.
We thank all of the people who have commented on Lake Tahoe News. This site has been criticized for allowing people to use a screen name, so to speak, instead of a full name. To which, the response is, anyone could say they are Jane Doe. That is no different than putting up Local or some other moniker. There are times when anonymity is necessary, but strength comes from putting a name to your words and thoughts.
It is all of you who symbolize what Independence Day is all about. We live in a country that allows independent thought. That is certainly something worth celebrating.
On a local note, Lake Tahoe News would like to remind everyone fireworks are illegal throughout the basin. Lake Tahoe has suffered the consequences of unintended fires in recent years – most notably the 2007 Angora Fire that destroyed 254 houses on the South Shore when an illegal campfire was not completely extinguished.
Let freedom ring, but let it ring responsibly.
Happy Fourth!