By Carlos Alcalá, Sacramento Bee

An El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy has filed suit against the county and her department, charging that a “boy’s club” network is allowed to thrive in the Sheriff’s Department, discriminating against female employees.

Deputy Tanya Hunt’s suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, claims she was subjected to sexual harassment and punitive assignments that have made it impossible for her to work.

In a statement relayed by Douglas E. Watts, her attorney, Hunt said her suit was aimed at “bad actors,” not the whole department. “I love my job, and I love serving the people of El Dorado County,” she said in the statement.

Read the whole story

Fox and Hound at the top of Kingsbury Grade is the featured restaurant beginning today for Taste of Tahoe.

Local bands Deep Fryed Moto will play June 11 and Big Bad Wolf is at the restaurant June 12 to help celebrate the week.

Taste of Tahoe is a way to raise money for the local Relay for Life, which in turn raises money for the American Cancer Society. Each week a different restaurant donates a share of its profits to the cause.

Fox and Hound is the restaurant of choice through June 12.

Relay for Life on the South Shore is the first weekend of August.

More than 50 people participated in the inaugural bike parade on June 5 in South Lake Tahoe.

Riders rode a couple miles starting at Ski Run Marina. The entire day was about cycling. Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition created the event. Ski Run Boulevard was transformed into a bike festival on Saturday.

Julie Threewit of Meyers came in costume to the June 5 bike parade. Photos/Ernie Claudio

The more serious cyclists took the to road early Sunday morning to ride around the lake in the annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder

“Footloose — The Musical” at the Duke Theatre on the campus of Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe.

Tickets are $12 general admission, $7 seniors, children and with a student body card.

Call (530) 541.4660, ext. 207 for information or box office hours.

Dates: June 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 7:30pm; and June 13, 20 at 2pm.

South Lake Tahoe BMX Track will open for the summer season on June 8 at 5:30pm.

The track will be open for practice every Tueday and racing every Thursday through August. All ages and abilities are welcome.

American Bicycle Association memberships available on site. Free trial memberships available. Helmets, long pants and long-sleeve shirts required to ride. Mountain bikes also welcome.

The track is located at 1100 Lyons Ave., South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call (530) 542.9337.

By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News

California motorists already have Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe and a firefighter gracing their license plates. Images of the Golden Gate Bridge and a bear wandering through the Sierra Nevada mountains won’t be joining them.

Two campaigns to use specialized license plates to raise money for parks, wildlife and environmental restoration projects in the Bay Area and Sierra Nevada have been abandoned for lack of public interest.

Under state law, sponsors of such commemorative license plates must sign up 7,500 prepaid orders in one year or the DMV won’t produce the plates — which cost $50 a year.

Read the whole story

By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times

It took a while to get into the habit, but when Liz Wetton goes to the market, she always brings her reusable bags. The Malibu mother of three said she feels guilty if she forgets them.

“It’s easy this way and you just feel better,” said Wetton, loading groceries into a Volvo station wagon in a Ralphs parking lot off Pacific Coast Highway.

It’s a common sight in environmentally friendly Malibu, which a year ago banned retailers from dispensing plastic bags. But for the vast majority of California, the question remains: paper or plastic?

Read the whole story

By Geralda Miller, Reno Gazette-Journal

Bicycling in Northern Nevada is a great way to get in shape and see the area’s varied terrain.

Easier on the joints than some aerobic activities, bike riding can burn calories, develop muscle and strengthen the core.

Bikes come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Marian Jamison, who works at Peloton Bicycles in Reno, said you can get a good workout when riding a bike, depending on how fast you go.

Read the whole story

Families who have tweens and teens who plan on playing sports soon, should mark their calendars for June 9 when free sports physicals are offered at Barton Family Medicine, 1090 Third St., South Lake Tahoe.

The free physicals for boys and girls begin at 3:30pm and are offered on a first come, first served basis.

Barton Family Medicine has been offering this free service for 20 years. This year they are partnering with Barton Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Barton Foundation and Barton Public Relations to make this year’s event bigger, better and more thorough.

Students from South Tahoe High School, Whittell High, St. Theresa School and the South Tahoe Middle School are invited.

For more information, call Cindy Cosmi at (530) 543.5660.

By Kathryn Reed

By the time Fourth of July roles around, all campsites in the Lake Tahoe Basin that are in a California state park will be open.

It’s not the case now. At least one loop of each campground is open. But state budget cuts have forced superintendents at the various units to be creative with their resources – including personnel and recreational.

Tours of Vikingsholm run through Labor Day. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Pam Armas runs the Sierra District, which includes the basin and goes from Donner Lake to Mono Lake.

“We have not gotten any complaints and we expected to get some over Memorial Day,” Armas said of the closures. “It was so cold most people didn’t show up.”

She did get complaints in the winter when Sugar Pine was closed to snow campers.

Just last year Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was threatening to close some of the 279 state parks. Public outcry foiled that plan. In his May budget revise he is funding the state parks. But what the Legislature will propose is anyone’s guess.

Still, there will be noticeable differences this summer up and down the state at the parks. Fewer interpretive programs are a given.

“The bathrooms might not be as clean as normal years. There will be a delayed response if someone calls (for a ranger),” Armas said.

This is because she and other superintendents are not allowed to fill vacancies when they arise. People are doing multiple jobs.

Pam Armas

Furlough days will end next month, but Schwarzenegger is proposing a pay cut of 15 percent for most state employees. Armas realizes many people are hurting financially, but she is noticing morale diminishing among her staff as they keep being asked to do more for less.

“I think this will be a really hard summer for all of us,” Armas said of state parks workers.

Another obvious change the public will notice is the elimination of campfire programs and few, if any, junior ranger programs throughout the Sierra District.

“We don’t have enough rangers for public safety and campfire programs,” Armas said. “That is a big loss because people expect to see a campfire program. None are planned, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to do something as the summer goes along.”

She said all the parks are in the same boat when it comes to having to make choices about what to offer the public.

Vikingsholm and Ehrman mansions opened Memorial Day weekend and will stay open through Labor Day. Campgrounds will be open that long as well.

Vikingsholm is full of stories about old Tahoe.

Campground reservations in the Sierra District are tracking typical years, with expectations for them to be full once school is out the weather feels more like summer than winter in the mountains.