By Ted Long

This week’s Sheriff’s Citizens Academy was a presentation by the K-9 unit. Two K-9 officers brought their dogs and all the equipment that they use working with them. The presentation featured a demonstration of the dogs apprehending a suspect and a drug search.

The dogs were born and bred in Germany, which seems to be law enforcement’s first choice for dogs. The dog is purchased and owned by the handler and typically when the dog retires in eight to 10 years the handler is rotated out of the K-9 unit and another officer comes in.

Ted Long

The use of a dog is a matter to be taken seriously. The dogs are bred and trained to bite. That is to say, if the dog is let loose, he will bite you and bite you hard. There are rules and guidelines about when a dog can be used. They are motivated by the general “use of force” principles – the severity of the crime, the threat of violence by the offender and the use of alternative methods.

For example, a violent crime suspect in a building fleeing from capture would be a good opportunity to use a dog. The officer is required to give warning that the dog will be let free, prior to releasing the dog.

The question came up about language: What if the suspect does not speak English? There is no requirement to know what language the suspect might speak and the officers reported that because the dog makes so much noise prior to release it is difficult to not know what is about to happen.

The presence of the dog is a threatening experience and it is easy to see that it would be a useful tool in gaining cooperation. The dogs are often used in this manner. They can calm a situation.

There is a K-9 on duty for each shift and is often called in to back up an officer.

The dog lives with the handler who has the ultimate decision on the use of the dog. Both officers like the fact that while they have ownership and control of the dog, it has meant additional expense for them. It also has given them the rights over the dogs’ use. One got a clear sense of the handlers’ close relationship to the dogs and their genuine concern for the dogs’ well being

Like the use of a gun, use of a dog requires careful supervision and an effective review as a deterrent to abuse.

I commented on the fact that we often hear about administrative reviews of the use of shootings by police, but I have never heard of a case concerning the use of a dog. I do believe this speaks well of their use. I suspect it has a lot to do more with the relationship the officer has with the dog as compared to that of his gun.

Ted Long is a South Lake Tahoe resident participating in the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Citizens Academy.

By Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times

Looking at scenes of the Boston sidewalk a few hours after Monday’s bombing — torn clothing, bloodstains, shards of glass — I found my mind going back to a similar sidewalk in Tel Aviv in September 2003. A Hamas suicide bomber had blown himself up at a bus stop outside the Tsrifin army base, and by coincidence I was nearby and got there to witness the immediate aftermath. As I wrote then, parts of the bomber were still on the street, including his hairy leg. His shoe had been blown off, but his brown sock was still daintily on his foot. Israeli rescue workers calmly carried away the dead on stretchers, with an odd mix of horror and routine. But what I remember most was something the police spokesman said to me: “We will have this whole area cleaned up in two hours. By morning, the bus stop will be repaired. You will never know this happened.”

Thomas L. Friedman

We still do not know who set off the Boston Marathon bombs or why. But we do know now, after 9/11, after all the terrorism the world has seen in the last decade, what the right reaction is: wash the sidewalk, wipe away the blood, and let whoever did it know that while they have sickeningly maimed and killed some of our brothers and sisters, they have left no trace on our society or way of life. Terrorists are not strong enough to do that — only we can do that to ourselves — and we must never accommodate them.

So let’s repair the sidewalk immediately, fix the windows, fill the holes and leave no trace — no shrines, no flowers, no statues, no plaques — and return life to normal there as fast as possible. Let’s defy the terrorists, by not allowing them to leave even the smallest scar on our streets, and honor the dead by sanctifying our values, by affirming life and all those things that make us stronger and bring us closer together as a country.

Let’s name a playground or a school after that 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard, who was standing by the finish line, and who ran out and hugged his father, Bill, after he completed the race, and then trustingly walked back to the sidewalk to be with his mother and sister when the bomb tore through them all. Let’s donate to the favorite life-giving charities of the other victims. Let’s pitch in to help the injured recover. But on lovely Boylston Street in Boston, a place normally so full of life, let there be no reminder whatsoever of what President Obama called this “heinous and cowardly act” of terror.

And while we are at it, let’s schedule another Boston Marathon as soon as possible. Cave dwelling is for terrorists. Americans? We run in the open on our streets — men and women, young and old, new immigrants and foreigners, in shorts not armor, with abandon and never fear, eyes always on the prize, never on all those “suspicious” bundles on the curb. In today’s world, sometimes we pay for that quintessentially American naïveté, but the benefits — living in an open society — always outweigh the costs.

Terrorists know that, of course, and feed on it. The explosives were reportedly packed into six-liter pressure cookers, tucked into black duffel bags and then left on the ground. That is the signature of modern terrorism: to turn routine items from our lives into bombs: the shoe, the backpack, the car, the airplane, the cellphone, the laptop, the garage door opener, fertilizer, the printer, the pressure cooker — so that everything and everyone becomes a source of suspicion.

This can pose a much greater threat to our open society than the Soviet Red Army ever did — if we let it — because this kind of terrorism attacks the essential thing that keeps an open society open: trust. Trust is built into every aspect, every building, every interaction and every marathon in our open society. Terrorists can steal it for a moment or even a while, but we dare not let them fundamentally erode it, and I don’t think we will. When you watch the video of the bombing aftermath, notice how many people you see running toward the blast within seconds to help, even though more bombs easily could have been set to explode there.

Fortunately, we don’t frighten easily anymore. You could feel it in the country on Tuesday morning. We’ve been through 9/11. We probably overreacted then, but never again. We tracked down Osama bin Laden with police and intelligence work, and we’ll do the same in this case. But meanwhile, even in this age of terrorism, let’s keep heeding the advice of an advertisement that you could see hanging in a Boylston Street window in a picture taken after the blast. The picture showed a marathoner sifting through unclaimed runners’ bags left behind after the explosion. Behind him, in the window, the ad poster says: “Your home should be a place to rest easy.”

Only we can take that away from ourselves — not some terrorist with one despicable spasm of madness. So hug your kids tonight, but also encourage them to start training for the next marathon tomorrow. Now that I think of it, maybe we should make this one longer — from Boston to the site of the World Trade Center to the Pentagon — to remind ourselves and anyone else who needs reminding: This is our house. We intend to relax here. And we are not afraid.

Nearly one year after Derek “Zippy” Penaranda was beaten at Mo’s Place, three people have been accused of killing him.

Penaranda, who was from Ripon, was on the South Shore in May 2012 to celebrate his 30th birthday. He got in a fight at the South Lake Tahoe bar. He never recovered from the injuries he sustained. He died in October.

“Since the emergency room at Barton, I knew Zip wouldn’t be coming home,” Wayne Penaranda told Lake Tahoe News last fall.

Derek “Zippy” Penaranda and Katie Musselwhite had hoped to one day marry. Photo/Provided

He was cautious at the time with what he wanted to release to the media regarding his son’s death and the criminal investigation. Since Day 1 he said he had been working with El Dorado County Deputy District Attorney Joe Alexander.

Penaranda was not available to speak of the proceedings that occurred this week.

The grand jury indictments leveled against the accused – Rodolfo Hernandez, 44, Sean Canilao, 48, and Ruben Lizzaragga (age unknown) – have been sealed by El Dorado County Superior Court Judge James Wagoner. These three worked as bouncers at the bar.

Hernandez was in custody on involuntary manslaughter charges with bail set at $50,000. However, there is an immigration hold on him. Arrest warrants are out for the other two.

For now the case is being heard in Placerville, though it could be moved to South Lake Tahoe. That may be decided on May 3.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO — A drive to ban most stores from handing out single-use plastic bags got an important boost Monday when the California Grocers Association announced its support for a bill.

The measure by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, would prohibit the bags in grocery stores and pharmacies beginning on Jan. 1, 2015. Shoppers would be urged to bring their own reusable cloth or plastic bags or would have the option of paying the actual cost of a paper bag, estimated at 10 cents or less.

Convenience and liquor stores would face the same requirements on Jan. 1, 2016.

An initial hearing on SB405 in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee is set for Wednesday.

The proposal, if it becomes law, would supersede roughly 70 local plastic bag ordinances, such as those in Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Pasadena and West Hollywood.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council this year said it preferred to keep plastic bags, despite a growing trend do the opposite.

“It is time for a statewide single-use plastic bag ban in California,” Padilla said at a Capitol news conference.

Ron Fong, president of the California Grocers Association, said his 400 members back Padilla’s bill because it provides “consistency and predictability for consumers.” Complying with dozens of slightly different city and county laws is complicated and expensive, he said.

Single-use bags are a form of “urban tumbleweed” that fouls creek beds, parks and beaches and is harmful to wildlife and marine animals, environmentalists contend. The bags also are difficult to recycle, with less than 5 percent being repurposed, they said.

“They blow off the face of landfills and out of transfer stations,” said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. “This is a problem product and the best solution is to phase them out.”

Plastic bag manufacturers counter that their products are made of 100 percent recyclable material that is regularly reused by consumers. Light-weight plastic bags take up less room than paper bags in landfills and account for only 2 percent of all litter, said a fact sheet from a trade group called the American Progressive Bag Alliance.

Padilla’s proposal is not the only one dealing with single-use plastic bags this legislative session. A rival one by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, would put a 5-cent tax on all single-use plastic and paper shopping bags.

By Marek Warszawski, Fresno Bee

THREE RIVERS — Chase Hauber’s friends from high school just don’t understand. Well, except Logan Marlow.

They don’t understand how Hauber can just bail from his junior year to go off on some whitewater kayaking adventure.

“A lot of them have asked me, ‘So when are you going to come back to school?'” Hauber says while sitting on a bus stop bench across the street from the same rapids where he learned to kayak.

“They don’t think I’m taking classes or anything. They think I’m just traveling and kayaking. I explain it to them, but they don’t believe me.”

In fact, Hauber and Marlow, both 16, are attending school. They’re also traveling to exotic locales and kayaking on spectacular rivers. It’s all part of the curriculum for students of the World Class Kayak Academy.

Hauber enrolled in September and spent the fall semester in Canada and Nepal. Marlow joined up in January, and together they spent the past two months paddling (and taking classes) in Chile. After spring break back home in Three Rivers, and hitting up their favorite runs on the Kaweah River, they’re off to Northern California, Washington and Idaho.

“It’s pretty fun,” Hauber says. “Traveling around the world in these incredible places with this great group of kids, you make really close friends, friends you’ll know the rest of your life. And you go on all these adventures.”

The World Class Kayak Academy has 13 students (11 high school-aged boys and two girls) and five instructors. The typical day begins with P.E. before breakfast, then five hour-long class sessions and lunch followed by an afternoon of kayaking. After dinner, it’s time for homework and sleep.

The school generally stays at hostels, all the boys packed into one room, and uses vans with trailers to travel from place to place.

“Just kayak every day, do your homework and see some awesome places,” Marlow says. “A lot of the places we’ve been, all there is to do is school and kayaking – and watching kayaking videos on your computer.”

Hauber’s father, Mike, taught him to kayak when he was 11, and Marlow began accompanying them soon thereafter. When one of the Sierra’s steepest rivers flows through the middle of town, access is not a problem.

Both play other sports – Marlow was a strong safety on the Woodlake football team and is taking a break from baseball and Hauber played JV football – but neither sparks their excitement like kayaking.

“We get to see places that a lot of people don’t get to see,” Marlow says, “and there’s nothing like the adrenaline of getting down a big rapid and realizing you’ve done it.”

Marlow, Hauber and 17-year-old Tristan Gentry, a fellow World Class Kayak Academy student with family in Three Rivers, all pointed to Inferno Canyon on the Futaleufu River in Patagonia, Chile, as the highlight of their semester.

“It’s really big water and it all condenses into this walled-out gorge that’s a couple hundred feet wide at the most,” Hauber says. “And you’re in these Class IV or IV+ rapids that you have to run. You can’t get out and walk.

“It’s fun, but it’s also really nerve-racking because you don’t want to screw up.”

Classmates paddle as a group and are taught river safety by the instructors. And it’s like anything else: If you do something every day for weeks at a time, you improve in a hurry. Same with paddling.

Soon, you’ll have confidence enough to huck yourself (and your boat) off a 30-foot waterfall. As all three boys did in Chile.

“I focus on my hips and not landing too flat or not landing over,” Marlow says. “Tuck up really tight and make sure nothing’s hanging out that can get hurt.”

Hauber and Marlow both plan to return home next year and finish high school. It’ll be a rough transition because both have been bitten by the kayaking bug. But after that, they want to pursue their whitewater dreams – even if that means roughing it for a while.

“It’s super hard to make kayaking a full-time job,” Marlow says. “I’ve met some guys who kayak every day but are living out of their vans. It sounds like fun for a couple years.”

By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times

CalFire is beefing up its staffing in anticipation of a fire season officials worry could be affected by an “extremely” dry winter, the agency announced.

CalFire has hired and trained seasonal firefighters that will help staff seasonal stations and some helicopters “around the clock,” according to a department statement.

The agency announced Monday it had begun “transitioning into fire season” in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The agency said a snow survey conducted in late March indicated low snow levels, as the Northern Sierra Nevada received only 5.5 inches of rain between January and March — a potential record low. CalFire officials are “concerned about the impact to this year’s fire season.”

Officials asked Southern California homeowners to take recommended precautions, including: clearing 100 feet of defensible space around their homes; removing needles and leaves from roofs and rain gutters; trimming branches 6 feet off the ground, and using powered lawn and landscaping equipment in cooler morning hours.

The 26th annual Booster Club Golf Tournament is May 4-5.

This is a joint effort between the South Tahoe and Whittell booster clubs to raise funds for local students. The tournament is at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. Each day is an individual tournament with a scramble format.

The $125 entry fee includes golf, golf cart and lunch.

For more info, call (775) 588.6354 or email kjkjer@aol.com.

By Kathryn Reed

Instead of El Dorado County taking over office space, they repurposed the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center building to the point where the original occupants no longer feel welcome.

Tuesday’s South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting was full of people in support of returning the building in the middle of town to be just a senior center as was the agreement between the two government bodies when documents were first signed in the 1970s.

They got what they wanted. The council unanimously agreed to tell the county it has until June 30 to find another place for its people or the locks will be changed July 1.

City Attorney Patrick Enright said the agreement in place is not valid because it was never signed by the mayor or any council member, and there was never a meeting before the council to discuss the potential changes.

The signatures on the agreement allowing mental health into the senior center are Enright’s, City Clerk Suzie Alessi and former City Manager Tony O’Rourke.

The county owns the land. The building was constructed by the city. The city pays the county for use of the land.

An amended agreement dated Dec. 12, 1972, for what is known as the 56 acres, said the city had until the end of 1976 to build the senior center.

In 1981 the nonprofit Tahoe Basin Senior Citizens Center was founded. This was so the seniors could essentially govern themselves, raise money and make improvements. More than $200,000 in improvements has been made since then.

The facility had been operating exclusively as a senior center. That changed last year with the county in its quest to consolidate offices told the city it would be moving mental health and veterans services into the senior center.

The county hasn’t even reimbursed the city for its share of the utilities from last year.

The American Legion has offered to let the vets have office space when needed. According to Councilwoman JoAnn Conner, who is a member of the veterans auxiliary, the offer has fallen on deaf ears with the county.

No one from the county was at the April 16 meeting, but city staff has been working with county staff and elected officials to come to a resolution. The city says the talk all sounds good, but nothing changes.

And while the seniors knew changes were coming based on meetings that were conducted last year, the outcomes were not all anticipated.

Rooms are off limits, making exercise time be rescheduled to the recreation center. But for this age group to walk in snow and on ice is not the ideal option.

Even more disturbing to the 19 people who spoke on Tuesday is not feeling safe at the center.

Vagrants are now sleeping outside the building. Mental health clients are smoking cigarettes and pot in the bathroom. Kitchen privileges are not what they were. Equipment and furniture belonging to the seniors are missing.

Across the parking lot is the Lake Tahoe Museum, which has been vandalized since mental health patients showed up.

And while it was stressed by many that the intent is not to come down on mental health clients, it’s about the need to segregate these two distinct populations. It’s also about keeping the senior center just that – a center for seniors. For many, this is their one place to socialize, to get a hot meal, to be among their peers.

In other action:

• The council is having a special closed session on April 22 and possibly April 23 to interview up to five candidates for city attorney. There is no local candidate. It’s expected to be a few weeks before the new person is named. Enright’s last day is May 31.

• A two-year agreement with On Course Events will be entered into for the South Lake Tahoe company to operate the Thursday night summer concerts known as Live at Lakeview. There is, however, some disagreement as to who owns that name. Rob Giustina, owner of the company, told Lake Tahoe News he has the rights.

• The council revised the lease with Tahoe Sports Entertainment so alcohol sales are no longer part of the gross sales.

Skylor Klisch

A 21-year-old South Lake Tahoe man is accused of strangling his mother to the point she lost consciousness.

Skylor Klisch was booked April 17 into jail on charges of felony battery and resisting arrest. After a small package of marijuana was allegedly found on him at the jail, he also faces charges related to bringing a controlled substance into the El Dorado County Jail.

The weapon and ammo found on the suspect April 17 in South Lake Tahoe. Photos/Provided

Officers were called to a residence in the 800 block of Tahoe Island Drive on Wednesday at 6:30am. There they found a battered, unconscious 45-year-old woman. Her son, Klisch, had left on a bicycle.

Officers said Klisch didn’t stop until his bicycle lost traction on the snow and he fell.

Officers said they confiscated a .22-caliber handgun and ammunition.

The victim regained consciousness and was provided medical treatment.

A judge has issued an emergency protective order preventing Klisch from contacting his mother until further notice.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

The Douglas County Public Library Lake Tahoe branch will be open from 9am-noon April 25.

The Minden Library is hosting an open house and fundraiser from 3:30 to 5:30pm that day.

The Zephyr Cove library will reopen April 26 at 9am.

For more info, call (775) 588.6411.