By Karoun Demirjian, Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is holding a Valentine’s Day hearing on the practice known as patient dumping, which could put a federal spotlight on a Nevada scandal involving the practice.

The commission announced the hearing last week, expressing concern about the “extent to which patients with a psychiatric disability are denied adequate care and whether there has been systematic neglect of this group.”

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By Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun

The Not-So Super Bowl got the best of the vast majority of sports bettors.

Approximately 2 out of every 3 gamblers wagered on Denver minus-2.5 against Seattle all the way through Sunday’s kickoff, losing their money after a 43-8 Seahawks blowout victory.

Casinos will post a profit on the biggest annual betting event for the 21st time in 23 years, since the state began officially tracking the Super Bowl as its own entity. Although the Nevada Gaming Control Board won’t release the official tally until later in the week, the sheer volume of bets on the Broncos all but guarantees a substantial figure for the house.

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• Every Tuesday from Feb. 4-March 25 Harrah’s Lake Tahoe is having free blues shows at Casino Center Stage.

• The Cal-Neva in Crystal Bay has pushed back its opening to May 2015.

• The Pop-Tarts U.S. Revolution Tour’s second stop on its three-stop tour will relocate from Boreal to Mammoth Mountain. The freeskiing and snowboarding event is Feb. 23-28 and will feature men and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle competitions.

• Incline Village General Improvement District has hired Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton to be its general manager.

• Former South Lake Tahoe orthopedic surgeon Richard Steadman is retiring from active surgical practice. He will continue to be co-chairman of the Vail-based Steadman Philippon Research Institute.

Elijah Teter, right, will be in Sochi for the Winter Olympics that start this week to coach Kaitlyn Farrington and Hannah Teter. Photo/Provided

By Jessie Marchesseau

The name Teter is synonymous with snowboarding. Though Elijah Teter’s name may not be on the competitors’ roster for the most recent halfpipe competition and you haven’t seen him stand on a podium lately, he is likely standing not too far away.

Teter, who used to live in Meyers, spent a decade as a pro snowboarder. After just missing a spot on the 2010 Olympic team, he turned his focus from competing to coaching. Now he is watching some of the athletes he trained take their skills to the Olympic playground in Sochi.

Kaitlyn Farrington and Hannah Teter, who have been under Elijah Teter’s instruction, will be representing Team USA in snowboard halfpipe. Ayumu Hirano, the 15-year-old Japanese phenom Teter has been working with since 2012, will be in Sochi riding for Japan.

It was after the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver that Teter began coaching fulltime. Even when he was riding professionally, he remembers always offering tips to other riders. He helped his sister train and coached a little during the summers. Teter said he enjoyed it, but never really considered it as a career option. Then in 2010, his sister Hannah, who had just won a silver medal in Vancouver and already had a gold from the 2006 Olympics, asked him to be her full-time coach. He accepted, and the transition from rider to coach was made. (Hannah Teter lives in Meyers and rides for Sierra-at-Tahoe.)

He now spends his winters in Colorado, and in addition to working with Hannah, is in his third season as a snowboard halfpipe coach with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, a nonprofit focused on winter sports training. SSCV athletes come from all over the world and have graced many Olympic, X Games and World Cup podiums. (Much of the rest of the year Teter is in Grass Valley.)

Two years ago, when Teter was serving as a judge at the X Games, he was approached about coaching Japanese Olympic snowboarder Kazu Kokubo. Kokubo is possibly the most famous pro snowboarder Japan has seen, both because of his riding ability and his outspoken personality. Teter accepted the offer, and, along with SSCV, later picked up one of Kokubo’s teammates: Ayumu Hirano.

Hirano is being hailed as the one who could possibly dethrone Shaun White in the halfpipe and bring home Japan’s first medal in the event. At last year’s X Games, he brought home the silver, a close second to White. Though Japan will be sending its own coaches to Sochi with Hirano, Teter will surely be cheering him on.

Working as a coach and mentor to athletes at this level is no easy task, but having been in their shoes gives Teter a leg up.

“Coaching at the elite level is about a lot more than just teaching them tricks,” Ben Boyd, program director of SSCV, told Lake Tahoe News. “It’s about getting them in the right mindset.”

Boyd often coaches alongside Teter, and said this is something his fellow instructor is particularly good at. There is always a calmness about him, and he has a way of getting athletes to believe in themselves, said Boyd. Teter learned the importance of the mental aspects years ago as a pro rider. He says he spent time each day meditating and “centering” himself.

“When it comes down to it, we’ve all got good tricks, it’s who can land their run,” Teter told Lake Tahoe News.

These personal experiences as a rider make Teter’s influence as a coach invaluable. Boyd said he is one of the rare few who can break down the technicalities of a complicated halfpipe run and really understand what’s happening.

Teter still spends a lot of time on his board and has no reservations about his decision to get into coaching. “It’s nice to pursue something you’ve been pursuing for 20 years,” he said.

Teter may spend his days training athletes on how to do spins and grabs, flips and jumps, but in the end, he says the most important thing he can pass on is something he acquired a long time ago: a pure and simple love for snowboarding.

Josephina

Some cats are a bit aloof, others are on the independent side. Some, especially those who become homeless as adults, are fearful or withdrawn.

Josephina, who has been at the animal shelter since late December, has none of these characteristics. She is happiest in someone’s lap, being petted, and she loves to be brushed. Even better, she likes other well mannered cats and dogs, so she should fit into just about any household.

Josephina is spayed and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Go online or go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

Publisher’s note: The Tahoe 4 Tahoe Committee sent this letter Feb. 2 to the City Council to outline the process that was followed to bring the parking initiative to the voters of South Lake Tahoe. The council on Feb. 4 will discuss the election process for the parking initiative.

Dear Mayor and Council Members,

The following is a time line of the steps that were taken to advance the parking initiative that has been approved for the ballot:

On Nov. 6, 2013, Tahoe 4 Tahoe submitted to City Clerk Susan Alessi a Notice of Intent to Circulate Petition. By law the city clerk refers the request to the city attorney so a title and summary can be provided. City Attorney Tom Watson responded to T4T on Nov. 14 in part: “The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed the notice of intent to circulate petition and attached text of the Initiative. It is the duty of the city attorney to review the text for compliance with California law. If the text is proper and appropriate following that review, the city attorney should provide a ballot summary and title, allowing the circulation of petitions. Following our review we are not able to provide a ballot title and summary”.

On Nov. 17, 2013, T4T requested to meet with the city attorney, Tom Watson, to obtain clarification of the issues raised in the Nov. 14 rejection letter.

On Nov. 19, 2013, T4T received a letter from Tom Watson, city attorney, stating in part: “We respectfully decline as there is no assistance this office can provide your organization. The role of the City Attorney’s Office is not to provide legal advice to private individuals and groups. Our role is to provide an objective review and summary of initiatives.”

On Dec. 2, 2013, T4T received a phone call from Tom Watson inviting us to meet with him.

On Dec. 3, 2013, T4T met with Tom Watson, city attorney, at the city offices. The more than one-hour meeting was productive and we were each given a letter (dated Dec. 2, 2013) from Tom Watson at the start of the meeting. This meeting was recorded by T4T. That letter states in part: “This correspondence is to outline the issues that this office observed with the proposed initiative in our review in order to prepare a ballot measure summary. My job as city attorney is to assist both the public and the council navigate through the initiative process so that if the voters so enact, the initiative can be effective and without further challenge by legal process.”

On Dec. 4, 2013, Tom Watson was on local TV discussing the initiative for paid parking with Austin Sass on the High Sierra Report. Tom Watson described what a city attorney is and does: “Let’s at least identify what the city attorney is and his role. My role is I work directly for the City Council. I am not a staff member although I am an employee of the city. As a result I have the ultimate responsibility to be the chief legal officer for the city and I’m accountable to both the council and the people so when I made this decision (to reject the first petition) it was entirely in my purview. I would advise them that this was happening, but I don’t consult or ask their opinion or to generate some sort of consensus. The advantage of the city attorney is I am not political so I am trying to do what I believe is in the best interest of the citizens of this community by giving them the opportunity to vote on an initiative that is clear, understandable and gives a clear choice, yes or no.”

On Dec. 9, 2013, T4T submitted a rewritten and revised notice of intention to circulate petition initiative.

On Dec. 11, 2013, T4T received the title and summary from the city attorney giving the group official permission to proceed with the gathering of signatures with the intent of qualifying the initiative for the ballot.

On Jan. 15, 2014, 1,422 petition signatures were delivered to the city clerk, Susan Alessi, who hand delivered them to the El Dorado County Elections Department.

On Jan. 23, 2014, the El Dorado County Recorder Clerk certified that the signatures were sufficient to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

This committee undertook the monumental task of bringing a voter initiative to the ballot knowing we had the guidance and approval of the city attorney.

At the Feb. 4th City Council meeting you will be tasked with options as outlined by the Election Code or seek some form of legal challenge against the voters.

City Manager Nancy Kerry and City Attorney Tom Watson are recommending an impact report be commissioned at a cost of $25,000-$35,000.

This overview is respectfully submitted in the belief that the responsibility of elected officials is to the citizens.

No one should be afraid of the outcome because South Lake Tahoe belongs to the people that live here.

Sincerely,

Tahoe 4 Tahoe Committee

Rejuvenate Sauna is offering a series of free classes this month.

• Zyto Compass Bio Surveys (10 minute readings) use state-of-the-art bio-communication technology to discover how to bring your body into balance. Drop-ins welcome every Tuesday and Saturday from noon-5pm with Chris Alper.

• Aroma Touch Technique (30 minute sessions) will help people reduce stress with essential oils. By appointment on Mondays and Wednesday from 6-8pm and Sundays from 1-4pm with Sue Dehnen.

• Integrative Yoga Therapy demonstrations are designed to manage asthma, pain, high blood pressure, as well as many other medical conditions. Drop-ins welcome every Thursday from 3- pm with Charles Whitten

• Learn Emotional Freedom Technique to address the body’s imbalances and create wellness. Drop-ins welcome Feb. 11 and Feb. 25 from 6:30-7:30 pm with Rosemary Manning.

• Crystal Singing Bowl Meditation is a way to harness the power of sound. Drop-ins welcome every Sunday from 6-7pm with Chris Alper.

For more information, call (530) 545.3426. Rejuvenate Spa is next to Nepheles at 1169 Ski Run Blvd, No. 2, South Lake Tahoe.

An email scam targeting utility customers appears to be making its way across the country, including to Liberty Utilities customers.

Utility customers have been contacted via email from someone claiming to represent their utility provider. The email indicates the customer has an overdue balance and demands payment immediately. Some of the emails have included specific customer information.

Liberty Utilities says not to respond to an email of this type. Specifically, do not click on any link or open any attachment to that email as doing so may compromise personal information.

Liberty customers who receive such an email should call 800.782.2506.

By Howard Stutz, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada’s casino industry cracked the $11 billion gaming revenue figure during 2013, the first time the benchmark had been reached since 2008.

The Gaming Control Board released the state’s calendar year-end and December gaming revenue totals Friday.

Statewide, casinos collected $11.14 billion during 2013, a 2.6 percent increase over 2012. The all-time state single-year record remains $12.8 billion in 2007.

Baccarat — a card game favored by high-end customers who travel to Las Vegas predominately from Asia — figured heavily into the numbers.

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The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit received 12 letters of objection to its Forest Plan.

During the 90-day objection resolution period the Forest Service will work with those objecting to try to resolve their concerns. After the objection resolution period, the regional forester will sign a record of decision and the revised Forest Plan will take effect.

The Forest Plan is the planning document for the local USFS office for the next 15 years.

The objection letters are online.