A slew of people have started to sign up to be in South Lake Tahoe’s second annual Fourth of July Parade and Event.

The parade will start at Big 5 at the Y at 10am July 4 and conclude at the American Legion Post by 11am.

It will feature veterans and active military personnel. Two local Gold Star moms will have cars in the parade in remembrance of their sons lost in battle, Sgt. Tim Smith and Spc. Garrett Fant.

Plans are under way for the second annual Fourth of July Parade in South Lake Tahoe. Photo/Provided

There is no charge for veterans or active duty military to be in the parade, but they need to register through the parade producer, Golden Bear Events.

Businesses, service clubs, and families may also be in the parade.

Last year featured a vintage garbage truck from South Tahoe Refuse, an antique military transport truck, vintage vehicles from the South Tahoe High alumni carrying elected officials and veterans, the Soroptimist Fighting Chance car, the Banana Man in the Jamba Juice car, Beachcomber Inn with a surfin’ USA theme, Affordable Construction Services with employees in Uncle Sam hats, and a South Lake Tahoe fire Truck.

A celebration of independence will be at the Legion from 11am to 3pm. A short ceremony will honor veterans, then music, food, vendors, and fun will be available until mid-afternoon.

For more information, call JoAnn at (530) 544.7412.

Several troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol, as well as other employees for the Department of Public Safety, will be volunteering their June 14 to raise money for Special Olympics Nevada and California.

The volunteers will wait tables at the Hard Rock Café at Harveys in Stateline during lunch and dinner. They will be working for “special tips.”

As patrons are greeted, each volunteer will leave an envelope with each table for those wishing to make a donation. These tips are in addition to the regular server’s entitled gratuity.

Approximately 40 percent of the adults who live in El Dorado County are age 55 or older and this percentage is expected to increase. Many of these individuals continue to stay active in the job market or are actively seeking employment.

To assist these individuals, the El Dorado County Connections – One Stop is expanding its outreach efforts through the Mature Job Seeker Assistance Program. The Mature Job Seeker Assistance Program provides free assistance and support to older people looking for a job in El Dorado County.

Free services through the Mature Job Seeker Assistance Program include:

• Help creating and printing resumes

• Paid work experience

• Access to job recruitment boards, computers, copiers and fax machines

• Tips on how to network and use social media

• Updating communication techniques for interviews

• Connecting hobbies, activities and non-work skills to new employment

• Encouraging self-confidence, adaptability to change and self-motivation

• And more.

The Mature Job Seeker Assistance Program is operated at the Connections – One Stop offices located at 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe. and 3047 Briw Road in Placerville. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8am to 5pm. For more information, call (530) 573.4330 in South Lake Tahoe or (530) 642.4850 in Placerville.

By Kathryn Reed

Agriculture – it was the common thread of communities that led to the creation of fairs.

The selling of livestock and the celebration of the harvest are not what they once were. But fairs, they are still going strong.

The four-day El Dorado County Fair opens today with the theme Blue Jeans and Country Dreams.

El Dorado County’s fair dates to 1859 when it was in Coloma. The current site in Placerville was first used in 1939.

Mutton bustin is usually a crowd favorite at the El Dorado County Fair. Photo/LTN file

The fairgrounds have grown to 47.77 acres. Loren and Mary Forni once owned this land. The $6,196.50 needed to buy the land came from a horseracing pari-mutuel tax account created by the Legislature in 1933. Today the fair is run by a nonprofit, with no money coming from the county’s general fund.

“The importance of fairs is that they instill a sense of community. The community is coming together not only to run into each other at the fair, but to look forward to seeing the animals the kids have raised and to the auction to see how the community comes together for the kids,” Jody Gray, CEO of the fair, told Lake Tahoe News.

While plenty of livestock can be viewed – from cows to rabbits to goats – and an abundance of pies, jams and knitting to marvel over, many who attend this fair and others are doing so for the entertainment.

South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tom Davis, who has been on the fair board for almost nine years, said, “There is a lot less agriculture and more entertainment and bands.”

The board members, though, buy one of the pigs each year and then in the fall have a barbecue. It’s their way of supporting the kids.

Through FFA and 4-H many youngsters on the West Slope participate in a way of life that today is foreign to those living at Lake Tahoe. Cattle no longer have a presence in the basin and few horses are here. The rabbits that are hopping around are wild and tend to be a nuisance to gardeners.

It’s the non-animal contests that Tahoe residents tend to participate in.

Gray, who graduated from South Tahoe High in 1980, said with the growing interest in locally sourced foods more people are competing in the pie and preserved goods competitions.

Plenty of eggs have come in as well because of the proliferation of backyard chicken coops.

Photography entries have also been escalating now that digital is the norm.

Most of the events at the fair are covered with the $9 entrance fee. The carnival rides are separate.

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Fair details:

• Dates-times: Opens at noon today and goes until midnight. Continues noon to midnight Friday; 10 am to midnight on Saturday; and noon to 10pm Sunday.

• Location: El Dorado County Fairgrounds, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville.

• Tickets: $9 for ages 13 and older, $7 for ages 7-12 and seniors, free for children 6 and under and attendees in military uniform. Ride wristbands are $30.

• More info: Website or (530) 621.5860.

By Dennis Shanahan, Fox 40

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is rehabilitating a bear cub that was found near Meeks Bay last Thursday.

The cub’s mother was found dead Thursday north of Meeks Bay. The cub was found up a tree nearby; he wouldn’t come down.

Saturday, rescuers from the Bear League were able to get him out of the tree, taking him to the South Shore facility.

He looks to be healthy, weighing in at 17 pounds. Both Fish and Wildlife officials and veterinarians have checked the cub out and have deemed that he can be rehabilitated.

The cub will be kept for about a year, with LTWC noting that they will keep human contact with him to a minimum. He’ll be eating food that he would normally catch in the wild.

By Susan Wood

STATELINE – Swirling winds gave firefighters chills Wednesday afternoon as they quickly battled a nearly 15-acre blaze on the top of Kingsbury Grade.

The June 12 blaze started at a spot where fire officials said a property owner is planning to build a home on a private road. A satellite dish erected on a pole and an iron bench mark the potential point of origin. Fire officials told Lake Tahoe News they believe the fire may be human caused. However, as reported earlier, it is possible a smoldering fire ignited from a lightning strike earlier this week could be the cause.

Tahoe Douglas Fire found out about the fire about 3pm when a motorist came into the station at the top of Kingsbury Grade saying smoke was visible while driving from the Carson Valley.

Firefighters on the evening of June 12 work the King Fire. Photos/Susan Wood

It took about 200 firefighters, 12 engines and two hand crews nearly five hours to contain the blaze. One firefighter suffered smoke inhalation. No air tankers could be used because of the high winds. A red flag warning is in effect until 11 tonight.

“It started here about 1 acre and moved pretty fast,” said Tahoe Douglas Capt. Bob Child as he showed Lake Tahoe News where the fire started.

Flames at times shot up 30 feet and high winds sparked spot fires farther down the slope toward the valley.

Child said, “If there was no wind, we would have eliminated this to 1 acre. But we got on this really fast.”

He told his crew this morning, “I hope we don’t have a fire today (because of the wind).”

Assisting Tahoe Douglas were the U.S. Forest Service, Genoa, East Fork, and Lake Valley firefighters.

Most of what burned was Forest Service land. Much of the flora was manzanita, which is highly combustible and burns extremely hot. The terrain is a mixture of brush, rocks and pine trees.

Had the fire gotten out of control, it could have reached the town of Genoa. Had the winds changed, Ridge Tahoe would have been in the path if the fire crossed Kingsbury Grade.

“If the wind changes, we have procedures to follow,” Sharon Graham with the resort told Lake Tahoe News. The management team met to make sure everyone was prepared.

Tape outlines the potential point of origin of the 15-acre King Fire.

The fire was about three miles north of the ridgetop tourist area. The Ridge knows all about evacuating. Guests had to flee during the 2002 Gondola Fire. And the Ridge was home to firefighters fighting the blaze while it burned toward the resort that Fourth of July weekend.

No evacuation of tourists or residents was necessary with the King Fire.

“We were lucky the wind was headed in the direction it was, blowing northeast,” Child said.

Dave Pereira, assistant fire management officer with the Forest Service, agreed, and was impressed with the “great job the crews did.”

Pereira is concerned about the dry winter the Sierra and all of California and Nevada experienced because fire season has arrived earlier than normal.

No structure beyond the shed on the property where the fire may have started was ever threatened.

Kingsbury Grade was closed for several hours between Tramway on the Tahoe side and Foothill Road on the Carson Valley side.

Firefighters are expected to spend the night to fully extinguish the fire.

— Kathryn Reed contributed to this story.

The Comstock History Center presents Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada, featuring 35 pieces of art from Wally Cuchine’s collection.

Known for his unflagging commitment to and support of artists, as well as his unswerving faith that the art and artists of Nevada are a valuable resource, Cuchine has acquired an unparalleled personal collection of Nevada art. The exhibit is named for Nevada’s Highway 50, known as The Loneliest Road in America.

The exhibit runs June 22-Aug. 18 at the Comstock History Center, 20 North E St., Virginia City. Museum hours are Thursday-Sunday from 11am-4pm. The exhibit is free.

Spot fires are flaring up outside the main King Fire. Photo/Tahoe Douglas Fire

Updated June 12 7:50pm:

Kingsbury Grade is open now that firefighters have a handle on the wildfire that erupted on the Carson Valley side of the Sierra highway.

Douglas County sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Brooks told Lake Tahoe News fire crews are expected to be working the fire throughout the night. However, containment of the approximately 5 acre blaze is expected soon.

Updated June 12 7:10pm:

One of the nearly 200 firefighters battling the King Fire is being treated for heat exhaustion.

The fire near the top of Kingsbury Grade continues to burn out of control, with spot fires erupting outside the main fire line.

An army of fire apparatuses are along Kingsbury Grade. Photo/Susan Wood

The red flag wind advisory for the area is in effect through 11pm.

The fire is burning away from the Ridge Tahoe, though people in rooms looking out to the Carson Valley can see smoke.

“If the wind changes, we have procedures to follow,” Sharon Graham with the resort told Lake Tahoe News. The fire is about three miles north of the ridgetop tourist area.

The Ridge knows all about evacuating. Guests had to flee during the 2002 Gondola Fire.

As of now, no evacuations of tourists or the heavily populated residential area are in place with the King Fire, nor are any structures threatened.

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A wildfire on the Carson Valley side of Kingsbury Grade started just before 3 this afternoon.

Motorists must find another route between the valley and Lake Tahoe because Kinsbury Grade is closed from Tramway Drive to Foothill Road. It is being called the King Fire.

The fire started about one mile from the summit and as of 4:30pm was between 5 and 10 acres and growing.

This shows the area of the fire.

Eric Guevin with Tahoe Douglas Fire told Lake Tahoe News, “No structures are threatened at this time. Possible cause at this time is lightning.”

Winds have been heavy for much of Wednesday, which is causing the fire to spread in a northeast direction.

No air support has been called in because winds are 40 to 50 mph at the head of the fire, Guevin said.

Tahoe Douglas, East Fork and U.S. Forest Service firefighters are on scene.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

The East Shore Express, a park and ride bus that runs from Incline Village to Sand Harbor, begins service this weekend.

Buses will operate Saturdays and Sundays beginning the weekends of June 15-16 and June 22-23 from 10am to 8pm. Daily operations run June 29 through Sept. 2 with service from 10am-8pm. Buses run every 20 minutes on weekends. Hours of operation on the Fourth of July are 8am-8pm.

Roundtrip fare is $3 per person and $1.50 for children 12 and under, seniors and disabled. Fares include admission to Sand Harbor. Passengers transferring from Tahoe Area Regional Transit pay $1 with a transfer slip.

The East Shore Express loops from the old Incline Village Elementary School on the corner of Highway 28 and Southwood Boulevard to Sand Harbor.

By KRNV-TV

A Truckee High School student has died after a rollover crash Tuesday evening on Sierra County Road.

About 6:25pm, California Highway Patrol says, for reasons still under investigation, Corey Adam Neill, 18, drove his 1995 Chevrolet pickup at a speed that was unsafe for the condition of the dirt/gravel roadway. CHP says, due to Neill’s speed on the rough roadway, he lost control of his vehicle. The vehicle went into a ditch and then overturned.

As the vehicle overturned, passenger Andrew L. Metlenko was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Metlenko was not wearing a seat belt.

Alcohol was not a contributing factor.