LTUSD, LTCC candidates' forum Wednesday.

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE — About 70 people listened Wednesday to the seven education candidates share their views about why they should be elected Nov. 3.

Even though all are running for California seats, the meeting was at Harveys in Nevada.

Nothing earth shattering was shared by the candidates. Each had 2 minutes for an opening statement and concluded with a 1-minute wrap-up. The incumbents touted experience and continuity, while the newcomers professed to bring change and new ideas to the respective boards.

Seated in the order they will appear on the ballot were Lake Tahoe Community College board of trustee candidates Kerry David, Molly Blann, Mary Jane Sanchez and Roberta Mason. (Sanchez is the challenger.) For Lake Tahoe Unified School District board of education the candidates are Judy Cefalu (challenger), Duane Wallace and Wendy David.

All were asked: If the state were to return half of the money it has taken away, what would they do with it?

Wendy David would spend it on restoring programs, which in turn would mean being able to hire people.

Wallace would ensure class-size reduction kept going, hire teachers and aides, and have programs brought back.

Cefalu would make sure help is available in the classroom for teachers, and expand the bus routes.

Mason would add back services like tutoring, and restore the Wilderness Program to be a signature program like originally intended.

Sanchez would like to create A Young at Heart program. She (repeatedly) pointed people to her website for information about her desires on most issues.

Blann would use the money to restore classes that have been cut and continue with international outreach.

Kerry David would like to rehire people whose jobs have been cut and maintain adequate salaries.

The challengers were asked how many meetings they’ve attended. Cefalu said all since declaring her candidacy. Sanchez said several.

When asked what the role of a board member is, all said to make policy and then each added a bit more.

The event was sponsored by Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe.

To vote in the Nov. 3 election, El Dorado County residents must be registered by Oct. 19. To register, go to http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm.

By Kathryn Reed

Looking at the big picture is what Tracy Owen Chapman does when it comes to placing Lake Tahoe Community College interns.

It’s all about asking them where they think they’ll be in five or 10 years. It’s keeping track of industry trends. It’s about creating matches that are relevant and not creating busy work.

Chapman is in her second year of being the internship and work experience coordinator at the South Lake Tahoe two-year college.

On Tuesday she updated the board of trustees about her program.

Her goal is to create a seamless transition from school to career for students.

Chapman’s research shows communication skills the No. 1 attribute employers are looking for, followed by the ability to edit video and be adept at technology.

About half of the interns are eventually offered paid positions with the company. She pointed to the U.S. Forest Service being willing to take students on as unpaid interns, and then hiring them down the road if it works out and the need is there.

Internships are all over the board. One person went to Lakeland Village. Instead of spending 12 weeks at one job, the person had six two-week intervals to get a feel for that aspect of the hospitality industry.

Casinos have said yes. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Tahoe Daily Tribune are other entities to embrace interns.

“I think the whole community is out there waiting for me to knock on their door,” Chapman said.

Marketing is her background; and marketing this program is her goal.

For those interested in having an LTCC intern, contact Chapman at (530) 541.4660, ext. 294 or owenchapman@ltcc.edu.

Hear Lake Tahoe News Publisher Kathryn Reed moderate the Ask the TRPA show this morning at 10:15am on KTHO AM-590 or www.kthoradio.com.

Hi, Kae

These stories are wonderful.

I can relate to one of the stories in which a participant at the SLT GP meeting asked why the LTCC doesn’t have forestry in the curriculum. I’ve given numerous talks at the Tahoe Issues Class over the years. They used to have a wilderness program that was much more hands-on. I think there’s definitely interest among the agencies in the basin with forestry expertise to assist with educating students on forest science, but that would have to come with the hiring of a professor or even an instructor.

Cheers!

David Fournier, Meyers

Debbie Endsley, 51, of Placerville has been appointed by the governor to be director of the Department of Personnel Administration. She has served DPA as chief deputy director since 2007, chief of the Benefits Division from 2004-06 and deputy chief of the Benefits Division from 1998-2004. Prior to that, Endsley served the California Public Employees’ Retirement System as a research analyst from 1995-1998 and the Department of Rehabilitation as an associate budget analyst from 1988-95 and associate personnel analyst from 1984-88. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $142,965. Endsley is a Republican.

By Mike Dunne, Sacramento Bee

Reno’s food culture, long identified with all-you-can-eat casino buffets and steak-and-egg specials, is maturing and diversifying.

Aside from restaurants, Reno offers food enthusiasts a small and quiet but industrious community of entrepreneurs who produce specialty foods and beverages of uncommon creativity and quality.

They’re scattered all about Reno and Sparks, often tucked into blank-faced industrial parks or cookie-cutter shopping plazas.

While readily accessible, they aren’t so numerous or centralized to justify on their own a trek to Reno, but they will provide a diversion for food enthusiasts who happen to be visiting the “the Biggest Little City in the World.”

Read the whole story

Associated Press

RENO — Thousands of Nevada hunters are getting excited as the hunting season looms for the state’s most popular game bird: the chukar (chuck-ur).

Nevada Department of Wildlife officials said the 2009-10 chukar season should be good for most of the state partly because of a wet spring that led to higher chick production.

About 12,000 hunters are expected to take part in the hunt for the bird from Oct. 10 through Feb. 7.

“It’s a huge deal. When I go out in public, I’m constantly getting queried, ‘How’s chukar going to be?” said NDOW spokesman Chris Healy.

Read the whole story

Genoa Country Store owners Kathleen Contento and Doug Lubushkin are handing the keys over to Benedetti Markets Inc. on Oct. 1.

Substantive changes are not expected to the rural Nevada outpost.

For more information, go to www.genoacountrystore.com.

By Kathryn Reed

Sixteen months – that’s the amount of time John Hellman will spend behind bars for embezzling $16,574 from the Red Cross that had been donated to assist the 2007 Angora Fire survivors.

Hellman, 49, pleaded no contest to the multiple charges. He was sentenced in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville on Wednesday.

“What he did was awful, but I feel that was a fair sentence,” said Keith Cooney, one of the Angora survivors who was affected by Hellman’s criminal activity.

All of the clients Hellman stole from were given their just due by the Red Cross.

Part of Hellman’s sentence is that he must pay back what he stole. The judge also granted the Red Cross’ request to have Hellman pay the $4,266 the agency has incurred in investigating the case.

The Red Cross was at Wednesday’s hearing, where representatives talked about the three significant impacts Hellman had on their operation.

“He committed a crime against the Tahoe Angora Fire victims, assistance that was diverted away from their needs and into John’s pocket,” Dawn Lindblom, Red Cross CEO in Sacramento, reiterated after the hearing. “The second impact was to the donor’s who gave to the Red Cross and trusted us. And the third crime was against the American Red Cross by impacting the reputation and mission of the Red Cross.”

Lindblom said her agency believes justice was served.

Hellman worked out of the Community Disaster Resource Center that was established after the fire of June 24, 2007, destroyed 254 houses on the outskirts of South Lake Tahoe.

In court documents, Hellman stole the money between Sept. 16, 2008, and Dec. 20, 2008, in increments ranging from $840 to $2,682.

It was through a routine audit after the Red Cross left Tahoe that the financial wrongdoing was discovered.

The sign wasn't busted -- Carrows is gone.

Another business has closed shop in South Lake Tahoe — this one with sizable square footage.

The Carrows near the Y left last week. The Carrows by Stateline is still open.

With the city looking to include the bulk of the town in its latest redevelopment plan, the closure should be good news. This is because one of the criteria to be a redevelopment area is that it must be full of blight. Economic blight, aka empty storefronts, counts in the definition.