Members of the community are invited to join Sierra Resort employees as they spread out to clean up the mountain. This year’s collection effort will cover a broader area than the inaugural year, with some teams heading up one of the chairlifts, some covering the base area, and some focusing on critical stream zones. All of the trash will be weighed and collected, with prizes given in a variety of categories. There will be a BBQ at the end of the day to celebrate Keepín Sierra Clean.

For more information, visit www.SierraAtTahoe.com or call (530) 659.7453.

Event schedule:

10am registration begins

10:30am ride to the top of Sierra Resort

12:30pm gather by the main lodge to weigh and collect trash

1pm BBQ begins

1:30pm  prizes distributed

2pm ski swap begins

3pm event concludes

Anderson's Bicycles is all geared up for a warm fall.

By Susan Wood

Don’t put away the shorts, swimsuits, garden tools, bikes or appetites for an Indian summer.

The mercury in South Lake Tahoe is expected to rise this week and may even meet or surpass the record high for Sept. 25 of 81 degrees, the National Weather Service in Reno reported Sunday.

It will definitely feel more like summer, even though the first day of fall  is Tuesday.

At the very least, Tahoe residents and visitors will see temperatures continuing to stay warmer than normal. Meteorologist Gina McGuire said the forecast for this week calls for highs 10 degrees above the normal 70-degree mark.

“We’ve been warm this month,” she said. “And we’ll probably tie the record this week.”

“Bring it on,” sums up the response from Doug Anderson, who owns Anderson Bicycle Rental on Highway 89. The South Lake Tahoe business has been around for 31 years, so it’s witnessed the ebb and flow of Mother Nature’s whims.

“I aim for Halloween weekend (to close), but in the last three years, I’ve been open until Thanksgiving,” he said, grinning. “I like this time of year. I hope we have an Indian summer.”

Even when the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area types board up their Tahoe cabins and second homes and head home, Anderson said he enjoys sitting in the warm fall sun waiting for customers.

The Bay Area may see inland temperatures hit the century mark this week, so those residents may not be through with cooling off in Tahoe yet.

Still, most people in Tahoe would be advised to bundle up at night as the regional highs will be offset by an extreme temperature differential by as much as 50 degrees on some days this week. Overnight lows are predicted to drop to the mid-30s at night.

The warm September coincides with the latest prediction from the “2010 Old Farmer’s Almanac”, which forecasts an Indian summer as late as early November for the Intermountain region, which includes the Central Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Tahoe, which sits on the triangular corner of this region with the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, may also see a winter characterized as mild and wet.

Extremes could be the name of the game this winter in Tahoe, according to the Almanac, which boasts an 80 percent accuracy rate. November’s unseasonable warm temperatures are predicted to give way to much shoveling in December and power outages in January. Look for an early February welcome mat to birds and an early thaw in March may launch spring and cut winter short, the publication claims.

Even the “Almanac” has something to say about climate-change debate.

“The prolonged low level of sunspot and space weather activity in the early stages of Solar Cycle 24 reinforces our belief that we are at the beginning of a period of significant change,” it reads under the General Weather Forecast and Report section. It explains the atmosphere’s gradual cooling could be offset by “warming caused by increased greenhouse gases.”

The “Almanac” agrees with other climate reports that the winter of 2009-10 will experience conditions of El Nino, a tropical weather phenomenon characterized by a warming of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. However, a mild El Nino should be in store.

Skiers may rejoice at the prospect of the above normal snowfall prediction for the Intermountain region by the “Almanac”.

Susan Wood is a freelance writer based out of South Lake Tahoe. She may be reached at copysue1@yahoo.com

BY MARTHA BELLISLE, Reno Gazette-Journal

Carl Probyn, step-father of the South Lake Tahoe girl kidnapped in 1991, likened the law enforcement and parole officers who oversaw the man who allegedly abducted her to the “Keystone Kops” and blasted them for failing to see three young females living in his back yard.

“These guys should feel real guilty about taking a pay check, with what she went through for 18 years,” Probyn said today at a fund-raiser for Jaycee Lee Dugard, 29.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations until noon Oct. 2 for its 2009 Blue Ribbon Awards.

The awards highlight outstanding South Shore businesses and individuals who exemplify what it is to work together in an effort to improve the quality of life in Tahoe.

Categories are: Experience, Service — Customer & Public Agency, Entrepreneur, and Green — Small and Large Business.

More details and entry forms are at www.tahoechamber.org or call (775) 588.1728, ext. 303.

Winners will be honored at a Nov. 12 lunch at Embassy Suites, South Lake Tahoe.

By Susan Voyles, Reno Gazette-Journal

With Northern Nevada still reeling from the national recession, the region will get a rare opportunity this fall to sell itself when industry leaders in tourism, economic development and geothermal energy gather in Reno for three national and international conventions.

The National Tour Association is expected to draw more than 400 group tour and travel companies from across the continent at its annual convention Nov. 14-18. As part of the event, its members will tour hot spots in Reno, Tahoe, Virginia City and Carson City.

Read the whole story

Gina M. Thompson, who represents the USFS Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, has been named one of three finalists in the Federal Public Employee category of the California On Location Awards (COLAS).

The COLAS are sponsored by the Film Liaisons, a group representing more than 40 California film commissions, including the El Dorado Lake Tahoe Film & Media Office. They work cooperatively to attract, retain and facilitate film production throughout the state.

A panel of entertainment industry professionals selects the winners. They will be announced at the 15th annual COLAS event Oct. 11 in Los Angeles.

El Dorado Public Health

El Dorado County parents who are interested in their children receiving free immunizations at their school campus through the IZ Xtreme and Kung Flu Fighters programs have until Oct. 1 to turn in registration forms.

“We’ve extended the deadline a couple of weeks so that more parents have a chance to sign up,” said Phyllis Goldie, supervising public health nurse for the El Dorado County Health Services Department.

The vaccines will be administered during the months of October and November. Skilled nurses from the Health Services Department will give the immunizations to the students and return to the school campus for any follow-up vaccines. Parent permission is required.

IZ Xtreme is offered at the middle school level for students in sixth grade. Students in the seventh and eighth grades may also participate. Parents can choose to have their child receive up to four pre-teen vaccines that protect against six serious infectious diseases. The vaccines offered include: Seasonal flu, Meningococcal, Tdap (which protects against pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus), and HPV (human papillomavirus).

“Parents often tell us that their middle school child is up to date on their immunizations,” said Goldie. “But some parents may not know that certain vaccines their child got as a toddler can wear off over time. When a child gets to 6th-8th grades, it is highly recommended that they receive a booster shot of the Tdap vaccine, which is one of the vaccines we are offering through IZ Xtreme. In addition, we are offering two vaccines that are specifically designed for pre-teens and the seasonal flu vaccine, which is recommended now for all school-age children.”

As second school-based program offered this year through the Health Services Department is Kung Flu Fighters. This is a pilot program being conducted in a few schools in El Dorado County. Through Kung Flu Fighters, children in grades K-5 of targeted schools can receive the seasonal flu vaccine free of charge at the school campus, with parent permission. Schools participating in the pilot program this year are: Northside, Georgetown and Otter Creek Schools in the Black Oak Mine School District; Sierra Ridge Middle and Pinewood Schools in the Pollock Pines School District; Gold Trail and Sutters Mill Schools in the Gold Trail School District, and; Bijou, Sierra House, Tahoe Valley, and Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet Schools in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District.

Parents interested in having their child participate in IZ Xtreme or Kung Flu Fighters can obtain registration forms from their school office, or download the forms from the Health Services’ website at www.edcgov.us/publichealth. The completed registration forms should be turned in to the school office no later than October 1. For questions about IZ Xtreme or Kung Flu Fighters, call the Health Services Department at (530) 621-6112 in Placerville or (530) 573-3165 in South Lake Tahoe.

In addition to the immunization campaigns described above, the Health Services Department will also hold numerous community flu shot clinics this fall and is offering the seasonal flu vaccine free of charge to children six months through 18 years of age. For dates and locations of community flu shot clinics, call the flu hotline at (530) 621-6188.

At this time, the Health Services Department is only offering the vaccine to protect against seasonal flu. The seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against the H1N1 virus. However, seasonal flu can cause serious life threatening illness in children. The H1N1 vaccine should be available for release later in the year and, if supplies are limited, will likely be provided to high risk individuals initially before being offered to the general community.

Students are coming and going from Lake Tahoe – all because of the Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe.

Maria Amélia Caixeta Barcelos is a 17-year-old from Brazil who is spending this school year at South Tahoe High School.

Amanda Strong just returned from a year in Japan.

For students and families interested in considering applying for a Rotary Youth Exchange from August 2010-July 2011, the application deadline is Sept. 28 at 5pm. Interviews are Oct. 5 at 5pm.

Students must be between the ages of 15½ and 18½ at the beginning of the year abroad. The student may be a 2010 high school graduate.

For more information, contact B Gorman at (775) 588.5900, ext.301.

El Dorado County health and school officials have reopened the Oak Ridge High, Rolling Hills Middle, and Silva Valley Elementary school campuses and El Dorado Hills Community Services District following a precautionary closure due to a noxious odor.

Officials received word from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency that air-monitoring results from the Oak Ridge High School track and in some classrooms on Sept. 19 indicate that the impact from the incident appears to have passed. Air monitoring levels detected did not pose a risk to health and safety.

Health officials believe the incident was localized to the Oak Ridge High School track and additional air monitoring by theEPA on Saturday have confirmed this.

Aside from persons experiencing initial symptoms, there were no reports of medical attention sought by teachers or students due to this incident. Schools have notified parents that the schools have been opened and school and activities on school campuses will resume as normal today. For additional information, visit www.edcgov.us.

Whether you are an experienced writer or finally daring yourself to start, you’ll find inspiration and motivation in this supportive dedicated group. Create new material, develop a writing practice, read, workshop, and write. The first four-week session meets in downtown Truckee on Monday nights from 6:30-8pm starting Sept. 21 and continuing through Oct. 12th; $55 for four weeks. Sessions will continue through the rest of the year.

Karen Terrey holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She is poetry editor for Quay, a literary arts journal, a past participant of the Squaw Valley Poetry Conference and the Napa Valley Writer’s Conference, and teaches creative writing at Sierra Nevada College. She recently returned from a summer writing workshop in Prague. See her blog at www.karenaterrey.blogspot.com. Contact her by phone at (530) 386-3901 or at tangledrootswriting@gmail.com for more info and to register.