Building on the successes achieved in recent years, the Avoid the 6 DUI task force bring more traffic enforcement to El Dorado County. Special DUI enforcement campaigns are as a result of a $321,513.00 grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

“Our first grant funded event will start Memorial Day Weekend with a multi-agency DUI check point and DUI saturation patrols,” Sgt. Shannon Laney said. “This is a big deal for our community and brings in much needed funding to combat impaired driving, our No. 1 cause of injury collisions in South Lake Tahoe.”

The grant activities will specifically target those who drink too much and get behind the wheel.  Additionally, funding will target repeat DUI offenders with warrant/probation sweeps searching for those in violation of court orders and those who have not appeared in court on past DUI arrests. Finally, the Avoid the 6 DUI Campaign will conduct court sting enforcement operations focusing on those who leave the courtroom and drive away on suspended licenses after being ordered not to drive by the judge.

South Lake Tahoe Police Department will administer the grant for the entire county. Funding for the grant comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Agencies participating in the ‘Avoid the 6’ task force include: South Lake Tahoe Police Department, Placerville Police Department, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, El Dorado County Probation, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control

“The Avoid task forces have played an integral role in the recent reductions in alcohol-related and other deaths on our roadways, lowering alcohol impaired deaths by more than 20 percent in the last three years in California,” Christopher Murphy, director of the Office of Traffic Safety, said in a press release. “This grant will help make South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County a safer place to visit, live and work.”

By Kathryn Reed

Another layer of government is encapsulating Lake Tahoe.

In March, members of the California legislative Joint Committee for the Protection of Lake Tahoe were named. The bill was passed last year to create the committee.

Lake Tahoe’s two representatives, Assemblyman Ted Gaines and state Sen. Dave Cox, both Republicans from Roseville, are on the panel. Joining them are the man who wanted to create the committee, Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento; along with Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Santa Monica; Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco; Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Palo Alto; and Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland.

Members have yet to meet and there is no date for a meeting.

Steinberg chairs the panel.

“The Lake Tahoe region is a vulnerable ecosystem that we must protect while also repairing prior environmental damage,” Steinberg said in a press release last year after the legislation was approved. “This committee is essential in this process as it oversees capitol (cq) investments in conservation and restoration measures.”

His contention is the state committee will help implement the Environmental Improvement Program that has been operating without him and the others for more than 10 years.

When Gaines was in South Lake Tahoe last week he chatted with Lake Tahoe News about the latest layer of government. He isn’t sure what all the committee will do, but he wanted to be on the panel to ensure he had input into anything that might affect his constituents.

Gaines said the language is vague in the statute that was passed by the Legislature.

If nothing else, Gaines hopes the committee could help stimulate the economy in the region, while also helping ensure lake clarity remains a priority.

Because the seven members haven’t met, it’s unknown what their true collective intentions will be or if the the team was merely created for taxpayers to fund a trip to Tahoe for people who don’t represent the area.

The 2010 Tahoe Truckee Earth Day Festival is slated for April 24 from 11am–5pm at the Village at Squaw Valley. This all-ages, community sponsored event gives participants an opportunity to learn about recycling/composting, alternative energy, sustainability, watershed and forest health, and reducing ecological footprints via a diverse array of agency representatives and earth-friendly vendors. It is the largest eco-event in the North Lake Tahoe-Truckee area. More than 6,000 people attended in 2009.

Earth Day is a Zero Waste event. Typical trash receptacles will not be available in an effort to drastically minimize waste. Booth participants are requested to minimize handouts and implement other forms of waste reduction. All food vendors will be using biodegradable take-out containers made of either paper or PLA, a high tech starch-based plastic. Food and biodegradable waste will be collected and composted by Full Circle Compost in Minden.

In addition to Saturday’s festivities, there is an entire week of events scheduled to celebrate Earth Day.

For more information, click here.

On April 17 from 5-7pm, bowl in the 2nd annual South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center Bowl-A-Thon.

The SLTWC Bowl-A-Thon raises funds for the local Sexual Assault Response Team.

Adults and children over 12 are invited to participate. No bowling skills are required.

Team registration ends April 9. Create and sign up your team of six bowlers by contacting Sarah Sanchez at (530) 544.2118.

A winter storm watch is in effect from Sunday afternoon through Monday morning for the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The National Weather Service is calling for 6-10 inches of snow at the lake and 10-18 above 7,000 feet. Winds will be from the southwest at 15-25mph, with gusts up to 40mph, and 70mph on the ridges.

Poor visibility from blowing snow is likely. The Weather Service predicts the worst conditions will be Sunday evening until daybreak Monday. Expect to have to chain up or put your vehicle into 4-wheel drive.

It’s going to be cold, too. The highs will be in the 30s Sunday and Monday, possibly reaching 40 when the sun peaks out Tuesday.

Overnight, it will be 19 Saturday, 18 Sunday and 12 on Monday.

South Lake Tahoe Wedding & Honeymoon Association will meet at Tahoe Bowl in South Lake Tahoe on April 7 at 6pm.

Let Lindsay Townsend know if you are able to attend — (530) 543.6113 or townsend-lindsay@aramark.com.

Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center is creating an ongoing book study group.

A different book will be studied each month. The book for April is “Choices That Change Lives: 15 Ways to Find More Purpose, Meaning, and Joy” by Hal Urban.

The particulars: Sundays from 6:30-8:30pm, Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center, 3665 Tamarack Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

Suggested love offering is $10.

For more information, click here.

Each spring hundreds of Nordic skiers, snowshoers and fit bodies race up the mountain at Squaw Valley in the annual Billy Dutton Uphill, in honor of late local luminary, Billy Dutton.

The original “run what ya brung” race is an uphill answer to the famous “Chinese Downhill” of the ’70s. Starting from the bottom of KT-22, the course climbs 2,000 vertical feet over 3.2 miles to the finish at High Camp, elevation 8,200.

The Billy Dutton Uphill race is open to all ages. Registration for the April 11 race begins at 7am at Dave’s Deli and the race starts at 8am at the Funitel. The $20 entry fee includes a T-shirt and goodie bag and all proceeds benefit Far West Nordic’s juniors program.

The always smiling Billy Dutton helped establish the Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue (TNSR) in 1976, based on his passion for cross country skiing and his vast knowledge of the Tahoe Basin and the surrounding backcountry.

Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe, will be at Heavenly Mountain Resort today announcing the Glen Plake Gunbarrel 25. Here is the ski report.

Learn about organic gardening, composting and having a productive garden without using inorganic fertilizers. Location: Veterans’ Memorial Building, 130 Placerville Drive, Placerville

Date: April 10

Time: 9am-noon

Cost: free

Inforamtion: (530) 621.5512