By Thomas Peele, Contra Costa Times

Boaters who ignore or don’t know basic safety rules cause 88 percent of reported recreational boating accidents in Northern California’s waters, a Times analysis of U.S. Coast Guard data shows.

The unforgiving nature of narrow, curving rivers and sloughs, faster and faster boats, reckless behavior and the lack of mandatory boater education in California combine to make the state’s inland waterways more dangerous to people in small boats than even the vast Pacific Ocean.

As tens of thousands of boaters flock this month to rivers, remote mountain lakes and reservoirs, and the notoriously dangerous San Joaquin Delta, the data shows that people are often injured or killed in boating accidents that could be prevented with common sense.

“When you have horsepower, particularly on personal watercraft and ski boats, people smell those gas fumes and they lose about 100 IQ points,” said Cary Smith, president of the California Boating Safety Officers Association.

Between 1995 and 2004 there were 4,754 reported recreational boating accidents in Northern California and the two Nevada counties on the eastern side of Lake Tahoe, according to data analyzed by the Times. Those accidents claimed 364 lives and injured 3,033 people.

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By Karen Houser

Youth in South Lake Tahoe have set the wheels in motion and are taking the next steps to form a South Lake Tahoe Youth Commission. In 2009, high school and community college students began meeting and looking into what it would take to form a Youth Commission. The purpose of the commission is for the youth to have a “voice” in the future of our community.

Following the model established by the El Dorado County Youth Commission, the planning team has been meeting regularly to develop action plans and identify the needs of the youth in the community. Once established, like their county peers who work directly with the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and local Supervisor Norma Santiago, the South Lake Tahoe Youth Commission will work with the South Lake Tahoe City Council.

Tiffany Racz, (L-R) Hannah Wheelen, Alicia Estrada, Daniel Reyes and Keith Dennis Taylor are part of the SLT Youth Commission. Photo/Provided

The El Dorado County Youth Commission evolved from efforts of a group of young people who wanted to make a difference, just like the group now working in South Lake Tahoe.

The planning team recently wrote, presented and was awarded an EDGABY grant. The El Dorado Grant Advisory Board for Youth (EDGABY) is a program of the El Dorado Community Foundation and the El Dorado County 4-H Youth Development Program. EDGABY is made possible through funding from the El Dorado Community Foundation. The $2,000 award will be used to host a Youth Summit later in the summer.

Youth commissions are operating successfully in many communities across the state and give young people the opportunity to serve in an advisory capacity to their city or county government, bring young people into the government policy making process and provide them with opportunities to develop leadership skills in the political arena.

For information on how to become involved with the planning process of creating a Youth Commission for South Lake Tahoe, contact Karen or Shannon at the Boys & Girls Club (530) 542.0838 or click here. For more information about the El Dorado County Youth Commission and EDGABY click here.

Karen Houser is executive director of the Lake Tahoe Boys & Girls Club.

By Kathryn Reed

Things are beginning to sizzle at Chase’s Bar and Grill inside Lake Tahoe Airport and it has nothing to do with what’s being prepared in the kitchen.

Owner Sam Sonki Ahn believes the city of South Lake Tahoe, as his landlord, is not acting in good faith in negotiating a new lease. He is accusing the city of negotiating a lease with a potential buyer of the restaurant.

City Attorney Patrick Enright acknowledges the city is in talks with Tom and Diane Miller.

Sam Sonki Ahn discusses his lease with South Lake Tahoe to operate Chase’s restaurant. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“They won’t buy it without a lease. We are talking to the potential buyers about what the lease would be,” Enright said.

The Millers, who used to own Steamers Bar and Grill in South Lake Tahoe, could not be reached for comment. They were at the Jan. 26 City Council meeting and spoke briefly before the council went into closed session to discuss the lease.

The direction from the council was for the city attorney’s office to negotiate a more coherent lease with someone.

“What we want is a viable restaurant there. Now no one frequents it. The new owners have new marketing ideas and would market it more aggressively. They want to change the menu and be open more hours,” Enright told Lake Tahoe News.

What has Ahn frustrated is that he says the Millers are not talking to him directly about the sale of the restaurant and are instead making a deal with the city that will run him out of business. He believes the city, as the landlord, should have no say in the sale of a private business.

Enright agrees the actual sale should be between the Millers and Ahn. However, even Enright is calling the Millers the new owners, but the current owner says he has not negotiated any deal with anyone for the sale of Chase’s.

Ahn said he has been trying to negotiate a long-term lease with the city, like he has had in the past, but the city since November will only keep it month-to-month.

Ahn took over the restaurant about five years ago from Mike Weber. Ahn said he paid $78,728.17, plus $8,000 for inventory to Weber.

He said he is willing to sell the restaurant for $49,000.

“I also bought the equipments and more fixtures. I invested about $150,000 total,” Ahn said.

But what he owns and what the city thinks it owns are in dispute.

“The current lease is confusing and vague as to who owns what. What we are willing to do is pay a nominal amount and city would own it and there would be no issue in the future,” Enright said. “The city is only negotiating to resolve the dispute as to who owns what.”

The city has offered Ahn $5,000 for the fixtures, bar, lights and everything in the commercial kitchen.

Ahn contends about two-thirds of the items in the nearly 3,000-square-foot restaurant belong to him — including the counter, water faucets, bar area and other objects.

Enright and Ahn agree the liquor license belongs to Ahn. It is in the name of the restaurant and cannot be transferred off the site.

Ahn pays the city $552 in rent each month, plus 5 percent of gross revenue.

The city wants the restaurant to be a bigger moneymaker — to be a place locals visit as well as those on business at the airport, and to possibly be a place where service clubs would meet.

Charges against John Andoh, administrator of the South Shore’s bus system, have been dropped.

Andoh was arrested in October on a warrant stemming from allegations he lied to South Lake Tahoe officers about a summer traffic accident.

John Andoh

“I just got the minute order in the mail. No apology from anyone. A very costly endeavor for a very minor charge in which the accident was not my fault per the police report that I finally got last month,” Andoh, who runs the bus agency known as BlueGo, told Lake Tahoe News.

Reno Gazette-Journal

A bear suspected of prior break-ins to homes in the Incline Village area was shot dead today as it rushed a Washoe County sheriff’s deputy, officials said.

The black bear, a 10-year-old male weighing about 600 pounds, was discovered hibernating beneath a condo in the Bitterbrush development, said Carl Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

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By USSA

WHISTLER, British Columbia – Wednesday morning marks a change of gears for U.S. women as 2010 Olympic medalists Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) gear up for giant slalom at Whistler Creekside along with Sarah Schleper (Vail, CO) and Megan McJames (Park City, UT).

Mancuso is the defending Olympic champion in giant slalom and will be sporting a specially made speed suit to honor her 2006 gold. For Vonn, it will be an opportunity to chase her first big race podium in the discipline. She has finished as high as fourth on the World Cup, but has yet to climb into the top three.

The start will mark the fourth Olympic Games for Schleper, who missed two successive seasons following the 2006 Olympic Winter Games – the first to a torn ACL and the second to the birth of her son Lasse, who turned 2 last month.

It is the first Olympic race for McJames, who trained in Jackson Hole, Wyo., with the women’s technical program before arriving in Vancouver.

First run is set for 10am with a second run to follow at 1:15pm.

Who has the best omelets? Bobby Flay of Food Network fame is challenging the chefs of Squeeze In.

Squeeze In, which started in Truckee more than 20 years ago, recently opened a location in Reno. More than 60 omelets are on the menu.

The winner will be announced March 3 at 9:30pm on the Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay”.

Racy Tracy omelet at Squeeze In. Photo/Provided

Flay dropped in on Squeeze In owners Gary and Misty Young and Shila and Chad Morris with a surprise all-American omelet throwdown — the first of its kind in the region.

Misty Young took Flay’s challenge, whipping up the Squeeze In’s 300,000th #37 Racy Tracy, the most popular omelet on the Squeeze In menu. It’s packed with avocados and mushrooms sautéed in a white wine sauce and folded in with crisp bacon and Monterey Jack cheese.

Flay’s creation is top secret until the program airs, but the Squeeze In has created a tribute omelet dubbed the Spanish Flay that debuts on the menu March 4.

Hollywood celebrities and U.S. Olympians will meet up with business leaders and Special Olympics athletes for Celebrity Winterfest in a day of alpine racing at Diamond Peak Ski Resort and a weekend of community activities at Incline Village, Marc 5-7

This is the 14th Special Olympics Celebrity Winterfest, the largest single Special Olympics fundraising event in Northern California and Nevada. Proceeds provide funding for more than 17,000 developmentally disabled athletes across Northern California and Nevada to receive free sports training and competition opportunities throughout the year.

For more information, visit www.CelebrityWinterfest.com.

The 46th annual DeCelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relay, the oldest distance relay in the United States, is June 12.

The start and finish is in South Lake Tahoe near the Y.

Runners go around the 72-mile lake.

The cost is $320 per team. Proceeds benefit area high school running teams.

April DeCelle Carter, race director, may be contacted at TahoeRelay@gmail.com.

A winter storm warning goes into affect this afternoon. Here is the ski report from Curtis Fong, the Guy from Tahoe.