By Kathryn Reed

A show of force late Monday afternoon by El Dorado County employees prevented the chief probation officer and others from being found in contempt of court.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steve Bailey summoned Greg Sly to his courtroom April 8 to talk about the staffing situation at the Juvenile Detention Center in South Lake Tahoe. Bailey is the presiding judge of the juvi system and Sly is head of probation.

Since September there has not been enough female staff to allow girls to be housed at the South Lake Tahoe facility. Today there are seven girls in the juvenile system; one is from Tahoe. She is with the rest of the girls in Placerville.

Bailey and Sly met April 5. Bailey wasn’t satisfied with Sly’s reasons for the ongoing staff shortage and at that meeting threatened Sly and other county officials with contempt of court. This could have resulted in their sitting in a jail cell or facing a fine.

Greg Sly, El Dorado County chief probation officer, is ready to spend more time backpacking with his dog. Photo/Provided

It was Sly, two members of the county legal team, the human resources director and a member of the chief administrative office who met with Bailey on Monday. The result is none was detained or fined, and that there is better understanding of the recruiting process for probation.

Staffing issues

The 40-bed Tahoe facility was built to house an equal number of girls and boys. This is the second time since the facility opened in 2004 that the girls’ side is dark. That’s because a minimum of six female employees are needed to keep that side of the 24-hour facility open. Physical searches and showers require staff to be the same sex as the detainees.

Five of the seven female workers are injured – some are workers’ comp cases, some injuries happened outside of work.

Sly told Lake Tahoe News he hopes to be back to a full complement of employees by May 1. Three of the injured workers should be off leave and new recruits hired. The hiring process takes about six months with all the background checks and other training needed for probation officers.

Fully staffed at the Tahoe Juvenile Treatment Center would be 10 men, 10 women.

The JTC has had trouble keeping and recruiting people because it’s more expensive to live in Tahoe, more remote and the kids more dangerous than those in Placerville.

Probation officers cost the county about $90,000 a year in salary and benefits. There are 131 people in the department. Probation has an annual budget of about $14 million.

In the current recruitment batch 318 people submitted applications. Of those, 168 went through the testing process. Nine of the 60 top tier applicants want to work in South Lake Tahoe.

After a report by Sly last fall went to top administrators as well as the Board of Supervisors, the county has created the position of program coordinator and hired a counselor for the Tahoe site.

While Sly is getting what he wanted in terms of staffing, it came with some retaliation last fall when he was placed on a 10-week paid administrative leave for reasons Chief Administrative Officer Terri Daly has never disclosed.

The lack of communication continued between Daly and Sly when after a report by a third party was done on the probation department, Daly kept it from the person in charge of the department for several weeks. It also took a public records request for Lake Tahoe News to obtain the document.

The report says, “The findings of this study are that the major critical factors affecting El Dorado County’s ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel for its juvenile justice facilities are: Fiscal issues; work schedules and shift structures; operational and programming issues affecting staff safety; and, to a slightly lesser extent, safety concerns associated with facility physical plants.”

Consultant’s report

Suzie Cohen and Associates was paid $33,000 to evaluate the county’s juvenile facilities from October 2012-February 2013. The consultant was tasked with looking at staffing, programs, operations, population levels at the facilities in South Lake Tahoe and Placerville, and more.

Recommendations include:

• Increase base pay by 10 to 12 percent for staff.

• Raise base pay of chief probation officer before hiring a new one.

• Increase stipend for Tahoe employees.

• Have someone do a scheduling study to potentially go from three eight-hour shifts to two 12s.

• Screening and placement of wards should be the responsibility of probation staff, not the courts.

• Community members and service providers should assist with delivering life skills.

• Introduce a “true” drug and alcohol treatment program.

• Introduce “proven” programs that reduce recidivism.

• Girls should have as many programs as boys.

• More internal training.

• Develop comprehensive emergency response plan with El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.

• Plan to build a new juvenile facility in Placerville.

Not much has changed since the county did a needs assessment for South Lake Tahoe in 1999-2000. The consultant quoted from that report, “The Tahoe area could pose particular problems … because it is relatively remote, has a small and transient population base, has no university nearby from which to draw, is expensive and has a mainly recreation/gaming economy. The consultant added, “Especially if El Dorado County pays less than comparable and/or neighboring counties, recruiting and retaining staff will continue to be extremely difficult.”

Population projections for the county indicate both juvi facilities could be full as time goes by.

The report says, “Violent crime and youth gang activity are more prevalent in South Lake Tahoe than on the West Slope. As a result, juvenile offenders from the Tahoe basin are somewhat more sophisticated and have committed more serious offenses than their counterparts form the West Slope.”

Staff who were interviewed by the consultant team spoke of the differences between Tahoe and Placerville, right down to how a little snow in Placerville means closing offices, while Tahoe offices stay open with several feet of snow.

“Cultural differences between the West Slope and South Lake Tahoe reportedly contribute to morale problems in many agencies, including the DA’s office, the bench, the jail and others,” the report says. “People in South Lake Tahoe feel cut off, like ‘step children.’ They say managers and administrators in Placerville ‘don’t know what it’s like up here.’”

Sly retiring

The county on April 5 opened the recruitment process to replace Sly. His last day will be Sept. 13. With his assistant chief retiring in December, Sly announced his retirement early with the intent of allowing his replacement to be on board so there is no gap in leadership.

He has been with the department for 23 years.

Sly will be 50 when he retires. He is considering what his future will entail. He’s hoping not to work the first year. Instead, he wants to fill his time backpacking. The John Muir Trail is on his list.

Sly has a new dog that became part of the family to be his backpacking buddy.

He is also looking at going to law school. He and his daughter could be classmates. Sly admitted with the turmoil in his life of late, labor law is of particular interest.

Having taught at Lake Tahoe Community College, he also envisions possibly teaching at UNR.

Then part of Sly also thinks selling backpacks at REI could be his next career.

A world-renown magic show is coming April 12 to Truckee High School theater.

Set to become an annual spring fundraiser, Custom Learning Academy is hosting the family-friendly “Magical Mystery Show”. Showcased on Fox’s “Master of Illusion” series, Carson Entertainment has performed across many of the world’s most famous stages. Combining music, magic, comedy, and much more, the show has larger than life grand illusions and hilarious antics.

The show starts at 7pm. Tickets are $10 in advance (available at CLA in Tahoe Donner and online) and $12 at the door. Additional details and tickets may be found online.

Truckee High School is located at 11725 Donner Pass Road in Truckee.

For more information, contact office@customlearning.org or call (530) 587.5470.

To the community,

One week ago many individuals came together to send a message to our youth. The message focused on the power they have to make the right choices for themselves when faced with alcohol, tobacco and drug experimentation. Our youth gained information at the Drug Store Project, but when it comes down to the moment, they will have to be true to themselves. They are in fact responsible for their own decisions and their own outcomes.

In a couple weeks our survey collection from parents, students, and participants will close. At that time we will evaluate the opinions of those that were there to formulate our plan for next year. Many of our kids will have processed the information through conversations with each other and with their families; others will have “moments” of deeper understanding when faced with the very issue of what choice they want to make.

During Drug Store Project students learn about the consequences of their choices. Photo/Provided

I’d like to thank the many who always step up to the plate to make this event happen for our kids: Barton Health, Barton Health Foundation, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, California Conservation Corps, California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, California Highway Patrol, California National Guard/DDR, CALSTAR, Cathy Huffman, El Dorado Community Foundation, El Dorado County District Attorney, El Dorado County Mental Health, El Dorado County Probation, El Dorado County Public Defender, El Dorado County Search & Rescue-Tahoe Team, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Team of Active Retirees, El Dorado County Superior Court, El Dorado Sheriff’s Office, Harrah’s Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Foundation, Harrah’s HEROS, Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Sunrisers, Kiwanis Club of Tahoe Sierra, Lake Tahoe Community College, Lake Tahoe News, Lake Tahoe Resort at Heavenly, Lake Tahoe Unified School District Lake Valley Fire Protection District, McFarlane Mortuary, Optimist Club of Lake Tahoe Partnership of Community Resources, Pro Leisure, Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe, Sierra Community Church, Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra, South Lake Tahoe Fire Department, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, South Lake Tahoe Police Department Explorers, South Lake Tahoe Police Officer’s Association, South Tahoe High School students , South Tahoe Middle School, STMS Junior S Club, Tahoe Douglas Elks Lodge No. 2670, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, Tahoe Youth & Family Services, Vitality Lake Tahoe, Zephyr Cove Elementary, and the many community volunteers.

Without your donations, support, and time our kids would not have this opportunity.

Best regards,

Lisa Huard, Safe Schools Consultant

The Bantam hockey team from the South Tahoe Amateur Hockey Association will compete at state next weekend. Photo/Provided

By Ted Parkhill

The Bantam hockey team from the South Tahoe Amateur Hockey Association had an amazing weekend of playoff hockey at the Vacaville Ice Sports arena. They placed second overall across Northern California.

With this strong finish, the team qualified to compete at the California State Hockey Championships in San Jose April 12-14.

On March 23 the team faced the Redwood City Black Stars Bantam team. The Tahoe Grizzlies started their playoff weekend with a solid 3-1 win.

On Saturday evening, the Grizzlies faced the Santa Clara Black Hawks. It was a nail biter and was a fantastic old-time hockey game. In the end the Grizzlies managed to roar past the Black Hawks with a score of 3-2. This win assured the Grizzlies of playing in the championship game the next night.

On March 24, the Grizzlies faced the Fresno Junior Monsters. The Junior Monsters were hungrier than the Grizzlies and won 3-1. With this win the Junior Monsters qualified for the championship game later that day.

The championship game was held on Sunday evening.

Again the Grizzlies faced the Jr. Monsters. It was a hard fought game but in the end the Monsters dominated in the first period. and were up 2-0. The Grizzlies roared back and tied it up 2-2. But the Jr. Monsters responded with two more goals to win the Northern California Championship.

Head Coach Ken Wood said, “The team play was the key to their success. The defense was a brick wall and the offense scored at critical times. We look forward to competing at the state level.”

The Grizzlies ended the season as the runner up. Both the Fresno Jr. Monsters and the Tahoe Grizzlies will see each other again at the California Amateur Hockey Association’s annual State Championships at the Sharks Ice in San Jose from April 12-14. Los Angeles’ California Heat and the San Diego Gulls will also be competing.

Ted Parkhill is with the South Tahoe Amateur Hockey Association.

Squaw Valley and the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association welcome brides-to-be to the Lake Tahoe Wedding Faire at Squaw Valley on April 13 from noon-4pm.

The event will host a range of bakeries, florists, musicians, photographers, venues, event coordinators and wedding rentals.

In addition to vendors, the Wedding Faire will feature a raffle with some great prizes.

Interested brides-to-be may register for the event online. Admission is free and the first 100 people to register online will receive a complimentary glass of Champagne upon arrival.

Karen Bender of South Lake Tahoe is headed to Truckee next month to see the production of “Best of Broadway”.

She correctly guessed that Lake Tahoe News Publisher Kathryn Reed’s favorite musical is “Sound of Music”.

If you want to see one of the shows put on by the Truckee High School Drama Club, performances are at 7pm on May 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 and there is a special Mother’s Day matinee at 2pm on May 12.

By Torey Van Oot, Sacramento Bee

A technology long deployed on the battlefield could be coming to a farm, newspaper or police station near you.

An expected boom in the use of nonmilitary “unmanned aerial vehicles,” commonly known as drones, has California looking to regain some of the aviation industry swagger it enjoyed for decades before defense downsizing shuttered military bases and manufacturers.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which is moving toward a 2015 target for opening the skies for public and private drone use, estimates that more than 30,000 could be in flight nationwide by 2020.

“We’re not darkening the sky yet, but we’re poised,” Richard Christiansen, vice president of aerospace engineering firm Sierra Lobo Inc., said at a Southern California symposium on civilian drone uses.

At stake for California and other states is a piece of $82 billion in economic activity the drone industry estimates it will generate between 2015 and 2025.

But the emerging technology has attracted questions about use, safety and privacy, leading state and federal regulators to grapple with how to govern drones. Capitol hearings and the two-day symposium in Thousand Oaks, sponsored by state lawmakers and an industry association, have explored those issues in recent weeks.

Unmanned systems are most commonly known for their use by the military, which has increased its reliance on drones to conduct surveillance and track down terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. But advances in technology and cuts to defense spending have led manufacturers to experiment with new ways to use what the industry calls “UAVs.”

Boosters of the technology say it could be used to assess and sell real estate, help news organizations report stories and patrol oil pipelines, ports or vast swaths of water of the coast.

First responders and emergency management officials see potential in monitoring and fighting wildfires or assessing damage from natural disasters in real time. Some law enforcement officials want to use drones to conduct surveillance and search-and-rescue operations or crack down on illegal drug cultivation and trafficking.

Shipping companies have explored using them to deliver packages, industry representatives say. UC Davis has been granted a waiver to test drones that spray and fertilize crops.

“Everywhere I go people ask me for new applications for these things,” Kristen Helsel, a vice president for Public Safety UAVs at AeroVironment, told a room of industry representatives and policy specialists at the symposium. “There are smart people out there who when we put the technology in their hands, they’re going to be able to think of great ways to use it that will save lives and protect property.”

But the opportunity for expansion has sparked privacy concerns and calls for rules about where, how and by whom the system can be used.

“The key thing is that there has to be a (regulatory) framework in place before the drone is deployed,” said Linda Lye, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. “In too many other instances, we see the technology rapidly outpacing the law.”

The ACLU wants states and federal officials to ensure information collected in non-law enforcement capacities, such as surveying a forest, isn’t stored and later used for other purposes. The organization believes a regulatory scheme must include warrant requirements and other safeguards in place to protect the rights of citizens.

It is especially concerned about how police and other government agencies will deploy drones. Such uses, Lye believes, will be widespread because the aircraft are less costly than helicopters or other surveillance tools and the Department of Homeland Security is offering grants to help pay for the equipment, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for each aircraft.

Industry reports downplay those uses, saying agriculture is expected to attract much of the spending in the early years.

Privacy concerns also have led to some public backlash. Supervisors in Alameda County, for example, have put a county sheriff’s proposal to seek a drone on hold in light of pushback from privacy advocates and others in the community.

Drone supporters in California say privacy concerns must be addressed, but not to the detriment of development.

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, who has introduced legislation setting parameters for use and privacy rights, said he hopes privacy concerns don’t hurt California’s “opportunity as a state to earn back some of the eminence that we once held in the area of job creation around aviation and innovation in aerospace.”

“Most of these platforms have nothing to do with caring one iota about what people do in their backyard,” the Camarillo Republican said. “If we allow the privacy issue to drive these jobs out of California or to drive the industry underground, that would be a terrible consequence of a concern that has to do with only one of the limited applications of the fastest growing sector of aerospace in the last 25 years.”

Gorell’s package of bills, co-authored by Democratic Assemblyman Steven Bradford, includes a set of proposed tax breaks to attract the drone industry to the state.

Those bills represent two of least 80 proposals related to drones in 39 statehouses across the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Because the authority to regulate federal airspace rests with the FAA, many of the proposals tackle privacy concerns and issues over data storage and usage.

Drone boosters also are working outside the Statehouse to promote industry growth in California. At least two applications, backed by groups in San Diego and Ventura County, have been submitted to win one of six test sites the FAA is set to award nationwide. The locations chosen are expected to become hubs for drone development in the future.

“What the Bay Area is for IT, one of these test sites could be for aerospace and (unmanned aerial systems),” said Ventura County Director of Airports Todd McNamee, who is working on a proposal that would open corridors of airspace for testing that run from Oxnard along the coast to Northern California with inland routes east to Redding and Truckee. “That’s how we sort of envision it.”

The FAA says 50 applications have been received from 37 states. Supporters, pointing to other states with coordinated campaigns, have called on Gov. Jerry Brown to put more muscle behind at least one of the proposals to increase its competitiveness. Legislators trying to raise the issue’s profile in the Capitol convened a committee hearing last month.

“We want to do everything we can to get those jobs and economic development here in California,” said Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, who chaired that hearing.

While securing a test site could accelerate growth in California, supporters say the technology will advance either way.

Some limited testing through public-private partnerships is occurring in the state’s military airspace. The FAA has handed out 1,400 waivers – only to public agencies – such as the one UC Davis received to operate drones under certain circumstances since 2007; 327 of those were active as of mid-February.

Hobbyists like Jason Goldman, a recent Pepperdine University graduate who builds his own drones, are already in the air for recreational purposes, awaiting the OK to do more with their drones.

“We’re here now and we’re ready,” Goldman told the symposium audience last month. “I say let us fly.”

A domestic violence call ended with a known gang member being arrested April 7 on felony battery and drug charges.

Jesus Rodriguez, 20, of South Lake Tahoe is an admitted member of the Norteno criminal street gang and has been involved with prior violent gang related encounters in South Lake Tahoe, according to officers.

Jesus Rodriguez faces felony domestic battery and possession of a controlled substance for sale charges. Photo/Provided

Police officers were called to the residence by the 8-year-old brother of the victim.

“The victim stated she had discovered her husband … had hidden a significant amount of cocaine inside the residence they share with their 2-year-old child,” police Lt. Brian Williams said in a press release. “The victim re-hid the drugs prior to confronting Rodriguez about her discovery. When she refused his demand to return the cocaine to him, Rodriguez allegedly pushed the victim down on a bed and forcibly held her down with his hands around her throat.”

Rodriquez fled the house with the couple’s toddler.

Officers recovered 20.6 grams of cocaine at the house.

Rodriquez was arrested at his brother’s home.

The child was returned its mother.

 — Lake Tahoe News staff report

By U.S. News and World Report

The Associated Press decreed last week that the term “illegal immigrant” is no longer appropriate to describe people who reside in the United States without legal permission.

An update to the AP’s influential stylebook was blasted out in an email to subscribers of the guide’s online version, saying in part, “Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant.”

In a blog post the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor, Kathleen Carroll, elaborated that the news organization “had in other areas been ridding the Stylebook of labels” and ultimately decided it was best to only label specific behaviors as illegal.

Debate over the term is highly political. Opponents of illegal immigration fear softening the language is a move to subtly shift the policy debate over immigration reform away from enforcing current immigration laws.

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is one of the nation’s foremost anti-illegal immigration hawks. Arpaio told U.S. News Wednesday, “If a person enters the United States illegally, that’s how we should refer to their status and not try to soften the crime of entering illegally by calling it something else.”

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, told the Los Angeles Times that the AP’s “Big Brother” style update was “political correctness on steroids.” Gheen told the Times his group will begin using the term “illegal invader.” On Tuesday evening late-night TV host Jay Leno joked that he would use the term “undocumented Democrats.”

The AP previously defended its use of the term “illegal immigrant.”

AP Deputy Managing Editor Tom Kent wrote in an October 2012 memo excerpted by the Poynter Institute: “Terms like ‘undocumented’ and ‘unauthorized’ can make a person’s illegal presence in the country appear to be a matter of minor paperwork. Many illegal immigrants aren’t “undocumented” at all; they may have a birth certificate and passport from their home country, plus a U.S. driver’s license, Social Security card or school ID. What they lack is the fundamental right to be in the United States.”

Following the AP’s Tuesday announcement, the public editor of the New York Times disclosed that it too was preparing to announce a revision this week to its stylebook entry for the term “illegal immigrant.” That change “will probably be more incremental” and introduce a more nuanced offering of terminology, rather than an outright ban on the term, according to the Times.

Cycling on the recently repaved Camp Rich trail on April 7. Photos/LTN

Shoveling off the barbecue on April 8.

Yesterday people were in shirtsleeves enjoying Tahoe, this morning they are shoveling snow.

It must be spring in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

This could be the last powder day of the ski season as resorts gradually stop spinning lifts.

Wind will continue to blow through the basin today. A lake wind advisory from the National Weather Service in Reno is in effect until 8pm Monday. Waves on Lake Tahoe could be 2 to 4 feet high.

Snow tires or chains are required on some highways in and around Lake Tahoe. Click on the road icons on the top of Lake Tahoe News’ home page to learn about restrictions affecting the roads you’ll be traveling on.

It’s was a blustery commute April 8 over Spooner Summit, with snow blowing and the white stuff piling up a bit.

Wednesday looks like it will be the nicest day this week, with a high about 60 degrees and mostly sunny skies.

No moisture is in the forecast for the rest of the week.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report