To the publisher,

Attached is my response [click on letter] to the recall as required. Rather then continue to throw mud, I felt it was important to remind people who may be asked to sign the recall petition of all the positive things our board has accomplished over the past two years. I am limited to 200 words so I was unable to fit in all the good things the board has done, but these are a few of our achievements. This has already been submitted to the El Dorado Elections Department and will be sent to those who signed the “Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition” via certified mail.

Mike Kraft, president of the Fallen Leaf Lake board

By Gus Thomson, Auburn Journal

Justice is coming for Sheriff William Elam. It just took a little while.

Elam was killed in October 1951 when his car swerved off the a rain-slickened Sierra highway.

He wasn’t the first Placer County Sheriff’s Department officer to die in the line of duty and he wasn’t to be the last.

But somehow, when it came time to place the names of those who had died from the Sheriff’s Department among the 19,000 on the National Peace Officers Memorial, seven were inscribed and Elam’s was left off.

Sgt. Andrew Scott, while researching the history of his 159-year-old department, noticed the discrepancy and there was soon a move within the sheriff’s office to rectify the error.

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The Douglas County Public Library is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express on May 1. At 10am National Pony Express, Nevada Division will present a lecture in the Lampe Park Pavilion.

Afterward there will be a mail bag exchange demonstration in Herbig Park. Write a letter to be carried by a Pony Express rider during the program and visit the horses before they ride. Pick up your letter immediately after the mail exchange demonstration. Younger children should be accompanied by an adult.

For more information, call (775) 782-9841, visit the library at 1625 Library Lane in Minden, or go to douglas.lib.nv.us.

U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews expect to conduct prescribed fire operations in Slaughterhouse Canyon on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore beginning April 18. The project would continue throughout the week if favorable weather conditions persist, with the goal of completing 245 acres.

State and local fire management agencies may also be conducting prescribed fire work during this period.

Residents and travelers can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire project areas.

This and other prescribed fire projects are designed to reduce wildfire risks to communities and critical resources. Smoke management is part of every prescribed fire burn plan, and efforts will be taken to reduce actual or potential smoke impacts on community areas.

By San Stanton, Sacramento Bee

For nearly a year after Phillip Garrido was put on supervised parole in California in 1999, parole agents never bothered to visit him at home.

They did not perform the standard parolee interview, assess him or check his living arrangements, as is routine.

Phillip Garrido

And although GPS monitoring showed he was spending large amounts of time in his Antioch-area backyard, there’s no evidence parole agents ever investigated why.

That yard is where authorities say he kept Jaycee Lee Dugard captive for 18 years after allegedly kidnapping her in 1991 when she was 11.

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Lion’s Club District 4A-1 Student Speakers Contest is at noon on April 17 at the Horizon casino in Stateline. Four locals will judge the event.

Get some turns in because the season is winding down at many resorts. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

• Lake Tahoe Museum’s website is up and running.

• Carl Young, program director at the League to Save Lake Tahoe, has been selected as Lake Tahoe Community College’s distinguished alumni.

• South Lake Tahoe plans to disseminate bid documents April 19 for Lakeview Commons (aka 56-acre Project). Assuming funding is available via the California Tahoe Conservancy, the bid would be awarded June 8, with construction to start after July 4.

• The 1928-era courthouse in Markleeville will be replaced. California will supply the $24.37 million to build the facility in Alpine County.

• Kids 15 and under can snowmobile for free the remainder of the season at Zephyr Cove Snowmobile Center.

The Tahoe Rim Trail Association’s three-day, regional Guide Training will be May 21-23. The training will be at Granlibakken Conference Center in Tahoe City, and the course cost includes food and dormitory style lodging. This training is designed for those who wish to guide for the TRTA, or for another organization.

Volunteers get the skills they need to be competent, responsible wilderness guides who know how to lead a group, whether in an urban or a remote setting. This comprehensive Guide Training, offered to the general public to give eager outdoors people the skills that they need to not only be successful in their outdoor pursuits, but also to be knowledgeable and excellent volunteer or paid guides.

New this year, is an Interpretive Skills track (Track B) in addition to the basic Track A. Track B is aimed toward those who have taken the first track (Track A), or those that specifically want to learn interpretive skills. This track will be instructed by USFS staff from the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit that specialize in interpretation and education.

If you are interested in being a guide for the Tahoe Rim Trail Association or another organization, this is the training for you. All participants over 18 years of age are welcome to attend, regardless of your background or level of ability.

Dates: May 21 at noon to May 23 at 1:30pm.

Cost: $165 per person for all three days of training.

The cost includes all meals from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch and dormitory style lodging.

Registration: The deadline for registration is April 30 at www.tahoerimtrail.org or call (775) 298.0012.

By Joseph Day and Richard McIntyre, Sacramento Bee

The Sierra Nevada is the foundation of California’s water system and needs attention. The Sierra supplies 65 percent of all water used by the people of the state, from the clean, safe water that comes from your faucets to the water used to grow crops.

Without its broad granite presence looming over the Central Valley, what most of us take for granted as “the way things are” would not be.

Looking at the Sierra as California's water solution.

Without the Sierra, irrespective of what laws were passed, the state, federal and regional water projects that supply San Francisco, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California simply would not exist – and neither would the San Francisco Bay Delta.

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