In commemoration of this being 75 years since the Nevada State Parks were created, the agency is having two contests open to park visitors.

The first contest is comprised of two separate photo contests. In the first one, contestants can choose to visit any 12 of the state parks over the next six months to qualify for a random drawing. The idea is to photograph the entrance sign at each park entrance, with or without family members in the photo, to prove you’ve been there.

The second photo contest involves more traditional photos in any of following three categories: park scenery, wildlife and family fun in the park. Winners will be judged and awarded prizes, including publication on State Parks’ website and in a future Nevada State Parks calendar.

The second contest set involves three geocaching challenges, including a northern region, southern region and a statewide challenge. Participants will need to use a Geographic Positioning System (GPS) unit to locate a hidden cache in a number of designated state parks. Each cache will have a stack of business size cards unique to the park in which they are located. Participants are encouraged to collect cards from these parks and to send them to designated park offices with an entry form

The park entrance sign photo contest and the geocache challenge contest winners will be selected by random drawings. The drawings will take place as part of the Nevada Day celebration in Carson City in October.

Deadlines and information on each of the contests and their entry forms can be found on State Park’s website.

South Shore residents are invited to participate in a Community Graffiti Clean Up Day by Leadership Lake Tahoe.

Members are working in conjunction with the Lake Tahoe Boys & Girls Club.

Meet at the Boys & Girls Club (old Al Tahoe Elementary School in South Lake Tahoe) on May 1 at 10am. Volunteers will paint over graffiti in various locations around town under the guidance of the Community Service Officers of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

The vision of this project is to foster a sense of community by bringing citizens together to collectively make a difference in the appearance of our town, as well as discourage criminal behavior in our community.

Lake Tahoe fine artist Reds Regan will be performing a live painting execution and displaying his primitive contemporary artwork at Lava Cap Winery during the Passport event in Apple Hill this weekend.

Regan is exhibiting his internationally recognized acrylic paintings at the winery and will be undertaking a live painting execution demonstrating his ambidextrous painting style throughout the weekend.

Regan’s exhibition will add a cultural element to the Passport Weekend event at Lava Cap. Twenty-six El Dorado wineries are hosting the Passport festivities which feature wine and food pairings, barrel tastings, and art and music.

Background on Reds Fine Art

Regan has been a professional artist for 25 years. The intensity of his paintings is rooted in his Irish heritage. He studied Celtic and other primitive art forms while developing his own unique style which is called primitive contemporary. His unique composition and energetic expression create a poetically simplistic yet boldly relaxed style. Regan’s work has been associated with Salvador Dali, Joan Miro and Picasso.

Lava Cap is located at 2221 Fruitridge Road, Placerville.

For more information about Lava Cap wines, click here.

For more information about Reds Regan’s artwork, click here or call (530) 577.5298.

By BBC

Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar has died at the age of 82 after a very short illness.

Mr. McKellar passed away at the home of his daughter Jane, in Lake Tahoe in the United States.

The singer was known for his recordings of Scots songs, particularly those of Robert Burns, and appeared in musicals, on television and on radio.

Kenneth McKellar

Jane McKellar, 46, said her father had died just one week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Read the whole story

Don’t miss the Heavenly ski patrol fundraiser ($10 donation) party from 4:40-8:30pm on the top level of the Heavenly Village Parking Garage. Here is the ski report for Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.

The 38th annual Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance will be Father’s Day — June 18-20 — at the Sierra Boat Company in Carnelian Bay on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore.

“We changed the date from August to June last year for the first time, allowing our event participants a full summer’s use of their cherished woodies, and providing attendees with a fun Father’s Day weekend activity,” Dave Olson, chairman of the 2010 Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance and president of the Tahoe Yacht Club Foundation, said in a press release. The Concours offers a unique opportunity for an up-close look at more than 85 antique and classic boats, with great food, live music and exhilarating wooden boat rides all part of the show experience.

In addition to the dozens of restored wooden boats from all makes, models, and years, the Marque Class for 2010 will be “Classic Glass” (up to 1964), and will consist of two subclasses: “Transitional Fiberglass,” to include boats manufactured with wood hulls and fiberglass accessories such as fins, hard tops, or decking, and “Full Fiberglass,” boats manufactured primarily out of fiberglass. Come feast your eyes on early models from Chris-Craft, Century, Arenacraft, AristoCraft and Correct Craft, featuring gleaming afterdecks, ‘vertical’ tails and swooping rear fins constructed of fiberglass.

Proceeds go to educational and charitable opportunities that enhance the expertise or understanding of maritime skills in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Event details and tickets are at (530) 581.4700.

Now through May 15, discounted ticket prices are $25 for one day, or $30 for a two-day pass, with kids under 12 admitted free.

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

The American River Conservancy has announced a summer program for teenagers that combines adventure travel and community service.

Epic Sierra Adventures invites youths 15 to 18 to participate in the River, Rocks and Ranges tour during July and August. The cost is $1,650.

Read the whole story

The Tahoe Earth Day Foundation is hosting two screenings of the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival at two venues.

The first screening is April 20 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences (291 Country Club Drive, on the campus of Sierra Nevada College) in Incline Village. The second screening is April 23 at the Resort at Squaw Creek (400 Squaw Creek Road) in Olympic Valley.

Each screening will begin at 7pm and feature 90 minutes of selected environmental films, chosen among hundreds screened at SYRCL’s 8th Annual Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City.

The film festival is the first of several events scheduled for the Tahoe Truckee Earth Day celebration. The films will address a variety of topics, including water, climate change, energy, conservation, wildlife, and adventure. Each venue will feature different packages of film, featuring Flathead Wild in Incline Village and Generations at Squaw. Food, beverages, and raffle tickets will be available for purchase at both events.

Tickets are $10 and advanced tickets are available at New Moon Natural Foods in Truckee and Tahoe City. Tickets will be available to purchase at the door, though seating is limited.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the April 2, 2010, Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Two safety-related bills now making their way through the state Legislature are being viewed as either examples of exemplary caution or inexplicable nannyism.

While we understand the sentiment of those wanting to protect free choice, we see these bills — one we support and one we oppose — as examples of legislators acting with legitimate concern, not acting like Mary Poppins.

The first is Senate Bill 880 by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, which would require minors to wear a helmet while skiing or snowboarding. The legislation is in response to the many head injuries that occur due to collisions on the slopes involving skiers and/or snowboarders. At the main trauma center in Lake Tahoe, doctors report seeing at least one a day. A study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that 53 percent of the ski and snowboard injuries suffered by children under 15 could have been prevented or would have been less severe had they been wearing a helmet.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

MINDEN — Starting June 1 the cost of a hotel room in Douglas County is likely going to be 3 percent higher.

Notices were sent out Tuesday to the hundreds of properties that will be affected by increasing the hotel tax from 10 percent to 13 percent. The commissioners on April 15 will hear the first reading of the ordinance to create the higher tax, with implementation expected June 1.

For every 1 percent increase it’s expected to generate $400,000 at Lake Tahoe and $60,000 in the Carson Valley. The 3 percent will be split with 1 percent going to the county for parks and recreation and the tourism agencies taking 2 percent. The money generated at the lake stays at the lake; the money in the valley stays there.

The room tax at Stateline casinos may go from 10 to 13 percent in June. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“The additional fees collected will bolster Lake Tahoe South Shore’s efforts to stay competitive as a premier vacation destination,” said Carol Chaplin, executive director of Tahoe Douglas and Lake Tahoe visitors’ authorities. “Uses for the increased revenues have yet to be discussed, but should the license fee be implemented, it allows us to look toward the 2011 budget for a more impactful presence in our markets through advertising, online and public relations efforts.”

TDVA board chairman John Packer did not return multiple calls.

“I like the nexus between the tax and the service,” Douglas County Manager Michael Brown said. “If the promotional agencies were not pushing for it, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

Tourism is the largest industry in Douglas County. Officially called the Transient Lodgers License Tax, the fee is assessed on every room in the county including vacation rentals. With fewer people traveling and hoteliers dropping room rates to attract people, the income generated has been declining for the past 10 years.

In 2000-01, just more than $7 million was collected from the room tax. That figure dropped to $5.46 million in 2008-09.

From the 10 percent collected at the lake the division is:

• 1 percent goes to the Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority;

• 1 percent to the Tahoe Douglas Transportation District;

• 1 percent is split with five-eighths going to the State Economic Development, $75,000 of three-eighths going to the South Shore Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, and the rest of the three-eighths to the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority;

• 7 percent is split with TDVA getting 65 percent of the 7 percent and the county getting 35 percent.

The threat of the state taking money from local jurisdictions is one reason Douglas officials opted to not have the voters decide the measure. Even if the outcome were to increase TOT, the state would have to sign off on it and could have redirected where the money was spent.

With the county implementing the plan, the state cannot take the money.

In a memo from Brown to the commissioners dated March 24, it says, “The state may impose a 3 percent increase in the TOT rate for all Nevada counties in order to raise funds to help address its financial crisis. In the last legislative session, the state increased the TOT 3 percent to be charged and collected in Washoe and Clark counties. The extra funds collected can be used for a variety of state [not local] purposed until 2011 when the funds will be directed to ‘public education’.”

If the state increases TOT, this would be on top of what Douglas County is proposing.

Plus, the language is being written so tourism agencies at the lake and in the valley get the money and the county can’t change its mind about how to distribute it. This is partly in response to what many say South Lake Tahoe did with the hotel tax collected in the city – it uses the money for things other than marketing the area to tourists even though tourists have paid the tax.

The other benefit is being able to start collections a year earlier than if the state were involved. This equates to a projected $1.36 million.

“Putting these additional funds to work as soon as possible is critical to support our local economy, as well as our park and recreation facility and equipment needs,” Brown said in his report.

A 13 percent room tax is in line with other areas. Reno’s ranges from 12-13.5 percent; South Lake Tahoe is from 10-12 percent, plus the Tourism Improvement District flat rate fee of a few dollars a night; San Francisco is 14 percent; Seattle 16 percent and Houston 17 percent.