Reno Gazette-Journal
It was a good day for North teams in the 2A and 3A NIAA state golf tournaments on Wednesday.
In the 3A, Truckee’s Allan Nousiainen took first place after a one-hole playoff. He shot a 74 (at the Oasis Golf Club’s Canyons Course) on Day 1 and a 76 on the second day (Falcon Ridge) for a total of 150.
By Kathryn Reed
For whatever reason, I seldom eat sandwiches. But I really like them. I may be on a roll, so to speak, since I’ve had one each of the last two weekends.
A week ago I had one of my favorites with my mom – avocado, tomato and lettuce on multigrain bread. I never get tired of this combo. Sometimes I add cheese. Mustard is usual.
Long ago I stopped putting mayonnaise on sandwiches. At some point I figured out the condiment is not the healthiest of choices. The other reason mayo can be bad is when the sandwich can’t be kept chilled – like on a hike.
I was reminded of this last weekend as I was preparing food to take with me on a hike with friends. The plan was to stop for lunch along the way. Instead of bringing my normal sticks and twigs to snack on I decided to create a unique sandwich.
The night before the hike I steamed a little asparagus. I left it out overnight to cool, wanting it at room temperature and not chilled.
Because it wasn’t a hot day I knew cream cheese would fine. I wouldn’t use it if I were hiking in the middle of summer or lived someplace with a warmer climate. Low fat cream cheese tastes fine and means I don’t have to hike as far to burn off the calories.
I put on one layer of roasted red peppers. Next time I’ll add more. You could make your own. The jar variety works fine for me.
A flavorful cheese meant not needing to season the sandwich further. I think more slices would have overpowered the other ingredients.
Hiker’s Veggie Sandwich
1 sourdough roll
3 cooked asparagus spears, cut in thirds
Roasted red peppers
Cream cheese
3 slices cheddar horseradish cheese
Steam asparagus until tender. This should take just a few minutes. Let cool.
Cut roll in half – just to make it easier to eat and for sharing. Put as much cream cheese on as you like. Layer with asparagus so it covers the bottom of the roll. Top with roasted red peppers. Add slices of cheese.
To the community,
Bueno and Marty Kettleson of Bert’s Café recently hosted a Spaghetti Night fundraiser for Tahoe Arts Project. It was a wonderful evening enjoyed by many.
All of us at Tahoe Arts Project would like to thank Crystal Dairy, Bonanza Produce, Sara Lee and of course the staff at Bert’s for helping to make this fundraiser a success.
A big thank you to all of you who had dinner with us that evening and to the TAP board members and volunteers who helped serve our guests. Tahoe Arts Project is a nonprofit organization that brings professional performing arts into the schools and community of South Lake Tahoe.
Event proceeds will benefit more than 5,000 K-12 students who see our programs. If you would like to know how you can support Tahoe Arts Project, please call (530) 542.3632.
Thank you,
Peggy Thompson, executive director Tahoe Arts Project
By Kathryn Reed
STATELINE — The two candidates for El Dorado County assessor squared-off Wednesday before an audience that included their boss Tim Holcomb, who is retiring.
Retired El Dorado County Judge Gene Rasmussen and sitting Judge Suzanne Kingsbury were also at the Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe forum at Harveys Lake Tahoe.
Keith Brooks had it easy because his opponent for the judgeship based in Cameron Park, Robert Huckaby, chose not to attend.
Michael Gordon and Karl Weiland
All three candidates were given time to make an opening statement, then answered a few questions before making a closing statement. All will be on the June 8 ballot in California.
Karl Weiland is the current assistant assessor and has been endorsed by Holcomb. Michael Gordon is the senior appraiser in the assessor’s office. Brooks was appointed to the bench almost a year ago, and therefore is the incumbent.
Neither assessor candidate had one defining statement that set him apart from his opponent. It was that Weiland threw out more statistics, was a bit more polished and had longer answers than Gordon.
Weiland is the No. 2 guy in the office. Gordon is lower on the totem pole, but the most experienced appraiser.
When asked about assessments on property in the Angora burn area, both said Proposition 8 should be applied so people are not adversely affected with higher rates. But that isn’t what happened. And people affected by the fire were in the room.
Both said it’s up to the county tax collector to go after delinquent taxpayers.
Brooks primarily handles civil litigation, but said it is imperative judges understand all facets of the law because they have to fill in for their peers.
Keith Brooks
He is familiar with Tahoe, having worked in the casinos out of college, met his wife on the South Shore and they have a house in Lake Tahoe.
Brooks is not sure penalties for crimes will go by the wayside even in a depressed economy because it costs money to deal with the issue. He does see community service as a potential solution, though not completely.
He believes in a holistic approach when it comes to dealing with juvenile crime – like drug court and Court Appointed Special Advocates.
These candidates have been invited back to the South Shore next week. The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce is hosting a forum for the offices of El Dorado County judge, sheriff and assessor on May 25 at 6pm at the South Tahoe Senior Center at 3052 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe.
By Steve Pajak, Sacramento Bee
When the operators of Gray’s Crossing in Truckee decided they were going to allow public play, they weren’t going to let a little thing like a foot of snow get in the way.
After three years as a private club, Gray’s Crossing opened to the public for its 2010 season Friday, five days after being blanketed in white.
And Sacramento golfers thought weird spring weather was messing with them.
“We’ve been working around the clock getting the course dialed in,” said Shane Jones, the course’s head professional, on Monday.
Coined “A Sunday run you’ll never forget,” the Lake Tahoe Marathon will bring about 3,000 racers to Lake Tahoe Sept. 22-26 to run the 26.2 miles down the West Shore, along with a host of other events.
In addition to the event’s popular marathon (Sept. 26 starting in Tahoe City), runners and walkers may choose from the Tahoe Triple, three marathons in three consecutive days (starting Friday); 20-Mile Power Walk and Run, a non-competitive event (Sunday); 72-Miler (Saturday); 3-Day Triathlon (starting Friday); Marathon Relays for two- and five-person teams (Sunday); Half Marathon (Sunday); 10K, starting at Emerald Bay’s Inspiration Point and 99 percent downhill (Sunday); 5K (Sunday); 35- or 72-Mile Bike Races (Saturday); Kayaking and Swimming events (Friday); A La Carte Marathons (Friday and Saturday); free Kids Fun Run (Saturday); Race Directors Fun Run (Wednesday) and Speed Golf, run one of the Lake Tahoe’s most scenic golf courses playing with three clubs (Thursday).
New this year is the Tahoe Double Dare, two laps around the lake in opposite directions (a special one-time only event); half mile, 1-mile and 2.5-mile swims and the Triple or A La Care Marathons, with different finishers medals for each of the three different marathons (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
Early bird online registration specials saves participants 10 percent off fees, available through May 31.
For more information or to register (fees vary for events), call (530) 544.7095 or visit the Lake Tahoe Marathon website. The website is also home to a course map and profile, event descriptions and 2009 race results.
By Kathryn Reed
Mother Nature is hard at work this season as she creates another tributary into Lake Tahoe.
Trout Creek in South Lake Tahoe normally flows into the Upper Truckee Marsh and then into the Upper Truckee River that lets out into Lake Tahoe at Cove East.
Not this year.
Trout Creek is flowing into Lake Tahoe -- a rare thing. Photos/Kathryn Reed
The creek has its own outlet into the lake. Although it is crossable via foot, it might mean getting soaked up to at least one’s knees in some locations.
“It’s nature doing what nature does,” Bruce Eisner of the California Tahoe Conservancy said. The state agency owns the marsh. “It’s fascinating to see nature in action.”
The CTC will continue to let Mother Nature do what she wants. It’s likely in a month the breach will not be evident as the snowmelt decreases and temperatures rise.
This is not the first time a breach has occurred. But it’s also not an annual event.
For now, much of the meadow near the edge of the Al Tahoe neighborhood is more like a marsh. Egrets are swooping low as if fish may be in those waters. Flocks of Canada geese waddle in the muck. Mountain chickadees chatter about cheeseburgers.
Blades of wild grass poke above the water. Reflections of the cloudy unsettled sky are reminders summer has yet to arrive in this part of the state.
But all has not been quiet this spring along the beach. On a couple warm nights South Lake Tahoe police officers have been called out to break up parties. Bonfires have been a problem in the past. Several cigarette butts line the trails in the area. A wildfire is a real concern.
At the May 18 City Council meeting it was agreed the CTC will pay $12,251 to the city for police officers’ overtime to patrol the Upper Truckee Marsh and beach area, as well as Cove East on the other side of the river through June 25. An agreement between the city and CTC was entered into in July 2009 for police to patrol the areas at a cost of not more than $20,000. The extra money is to fill out the current contract.
The CTC is in the process of crafting a draft environmental impact report regarding restoration of the Upper Truckee marsh. It will come out this year. It was delayed for several months because the bond freeze by the state prevented money from flowing to the CTC to fund the creation of the document.
“We have an obligation to protect habitat. That is our overriding concern,” said Ray Lacey, CTC deputy director. “The CTC is closely monitoring the use patterns. It’s likely in the future there will be different recommendation to tailor some of those patterns.”
The agency is worried about dogs off leash, more so in the wetlands than on the beach. Residents have become reluctant to frequent the beach when young people are partying there.
Wildlife habitat as well as recreation concerns are things the CTC staff and ultimately the board will have to balance.
Public input will be sought by the CTC as it moves forward with plans.
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An accident late Wednesday afternoon in South Lake Tahoe prompted phone lines to be busy as locals tried to figure out what happened.
A dispatcher for the South Lake Tahoe Police Department said a vehicle went off the road near Grocery Outlet and the Upper Truckee River about 4:15pm.
No major injuries occurred, but the dispatcher didn’t know if anyone was taken to Barton Memorial Hospital.
Calls were left with the police department’s watch commander. Until officers return calls it’s not known what caused the accident, who was involved and the true extent of injuries.
The accident did cause quite a backup on Highway 50 – mostly in the eastbound lane. Several police cars were at the scene as well as South Lake Tahoe fire vehicles.
Publisher’s note: The following is El Dorado County’s letter to South Lake Tahoe regarding redevelopment.
Dear Mayor Lovell and Councilmembers:
The County of El Dorado continues to object strongly to the proposed Redevelopment Plan for the South Tahoe Redevelopment Project Area No. 2 as outlined in previous letters [April 6, 2010 and May 3, 2010].
The County must respectfully request that the City not adopt the Redevelopment Plan at this time. Furthermore, the County requests that the Council direct City and Redevelopment Agency staff to meet with the County to discuss its concerns and explore opportunities for negotiation rather than leaving the County with no option but to pursue litigation.
We were disappointed to learn that you did not revise the recommended boundary of Project Area No. 2 as we had thought you would. While the County does not wish to impede the City’s planning and development goals in the proposed Project Area, the documentation prepared by the Redevelopment Agency does not provide sufficient evidence that the proposed Project Area is blighted, as defined by California State Community Redevelopment Law (CRL).
We incorporate all our previously stated objections, but emphasize the following three areas:
• Remove the Airport area from the project area. The Airport area is not blighted, and in fact, improvements to the runway were recently completed and staff is confident of securing federal funds for other airport needs. The Agency fails to demonstrate that the Airport suffers from physical or economic blight.
• Remove other industrial property included in the project area.
• Provide assurance that the City, under the Teeter Plan, will bear the cost of project area property taxes that go delinquent.
The County continues to express concern that the primary purpose of forming the proposed project area is not to address blight conditions, but simply to capture tax increment, which will have a detrimental effect to the County and other agencies.
The County’s Auditor and Controller estimates that, even with statutory pass-through payments, the County is likely to lose between $4,660,176 and $16,953,025 in property tax increment over the life of the proposed Redevelopment Project, depending on the success of the Project. This loss of tax increment would put a severe strain on the County’s ability to provide needed public health and safety programs throughout the region.
The CRL is a powerful and extreme tool to be used only when extraordinarily serious problems cannot be remedied by use of regulatory authority and available financing methods.
The proposed Project area does not meet the requirements of the law and will serve only to disrupt viable businesses and put an undue burden on the rest of the community.
For the reasons cited above and set forth in previous letters and incorporated herein, the County objects to the formation of the Proposed Redevelopment Project Area No. 2 and urges the City not to adopt this plan.
Sincerely,
Norma Santiago, chair Board of Supervisors County of El Dorado
The Tahoe Rim Trail Association is offering a Leave No Trace Training for Trainers on June 12–13 in Incline Village and D.L. Bliss State Park.
This training will teach not only Leave No Trace wilderness skills and ethics, but also how to share the knowledge with others including teaching techniques and interactive Leave No Trace activities for all ages.
Leave No Trace is a nationally recognized set of principles designed to encourage wilderness users to walk more lightly on the Earth.
The Leave No Trace Trainer’s Training is geared towards those who would like to take a leadership role in disseminating Leave No Trace principles to others. Appropriate for educators, wilderness professionals, TRTA volunteers, and others.
The course will be an overnight in D.L. Bliss State Park and a $65 donation to the TRTA is encouraged. Dinner and breakfast will be provided.
For more information, contact Mila Dunbar-Irwin at programs@tahoerimtrail.org or (775) 298-0238 or visit www.tahoerimtrail.org.