Santa to turn lights on in center of South Lake Tahoe
The Community Winter Tree and Menorah Lighting will be Dec. 7 from 5-7pm in South Lake Tahoe.
Bring a camera for pictures with Santa.
Hot chocolate, cookies and complimentary Borges sleigh rides are planned.
A Liberty Utilities crew strings the lights across from Harrison Avenue in South Lake Tahoe. Photo/LTN
Lake DJ will provide holiday music. There will also be a performance by members of the South Lake Tahoe Children’s The Art League and museum are having open houses that night.
Organizers are also accepting donations of canned food and toys for Christmas Cheer and Caps for kids.
The event is at the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority California Visitor Center, 3066 Lake Tahoe Blvd.
Soroptimist hosting shop local event
On Dec. 13 from 4-7pm several local businesses and artisans will be selling their wares at Lake Front Weddings, 3351 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.
Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra has invited several vendors who have supported their annual fundraiser, Elegant Evening, to not only sponsor a time to celebrate the holidays, but also to encourage shopping locally.
Check out this lake front event and enjoy wine, appetizers, live music and these businesses — Adore Boutique, Sagebrush Soap, Après Wine, TKO Entertainment, Lake Tahoe Holidays, Le Tournesol de Provence, Bona Fide Books, Taste This!, Heart Rock Herb & Spice Co, Bags 4 Every Reason/Season, Forest Furniture, Imagine Salon, Pat’s Beauty Control, and Ellen Nunes Fine Art.
Time to enter holiday cookie contest
Lake Tahoe’s The Weekly magazine is looking for holiday cookie recipes.
The inaugural Christmas Cookie Contest gives everyone the chance to show off his or her baking talents. Everyone is welcome to enter their favorite, original recipe in the contest for the chance to win a gift certificate to Spindleshanks Wine Bar & Bistro in Tahoe Vista.
It’s easy to enter. Just drop off a dozen tasty cookies, along with the recipe at The Weekly office in Carnelian Bay between 10am and noon Dec. 4, to be judged in the contest.
All types of Christmas cookies are welcome, and kids will are encouraged to enter their creations, as well. (Kids will be judged in a separate category.)
The winning recipes will be featured in the Dec. 13 Christmas edition of The Weekly.
The rules:
• 1 dozen cookies must be submitted no later than noon on Dec. 4 (please use a recyclable plate).
• All types of cookies are eligible for the contest.
• All recipes must be original recipes.
• Kids are welcome to submit cookies, as well, and will be judged in a separate category.
• Each entry must include a the name, phone number and hometown of the cook, as well as a complete, typed recipe. Include all ingredients, serving size and any tips on preparation.
• Cookies will be judged The Weekly staff.
• The winner(s) will have the recipe(s) featured in the Dec. 13 edition, along with a photograph of them. Winner(s) will be required to return to the office on Dec. 5 for a photograph.
All questions may be sent to editor@tahoethisweek.com or call (530) 546.5995, ext. 102. The Weekly is located at 200 Center St. in Carnelian Bay at the corner of Highway 28 (directly across from Gar Woods).
Ski report: Wind not letting up
Time to find a resort not impacted by wind.
Sugar Bowl and Mt. Rose are closed today. Heavenly and Squaw are starting the day on wind hold.
Lake Tahoe News is going grocery shopping. We are taking money each week from the paid subscriptions and going to different stores in the area — to keep that shop local vibe alive — and then what we buy is going to be distributed to groups in need.
Joanne Shope, who runs Christmas Cheer in South Lake Tahoe, said as of this week there are toy requests from 703 children and frozen turkey requests for 450 families. She added that the shelves are bare and the need is great. Christmas Cheer is open Monday and Wednesdays from 11am-2pm and Sundays from 2-4pm. They are located at 1120 Third St.
We’ll be by with goods on Sunday.
Originally for every paid subscriber form Lake Tahoe New received between now and the end of the year, we were going to give one non-perishable food item to entities in the basin that are in need. We’ve at least doubled that commitment.
Paid subscribers help Lake Tahoe News in two key ways — the more forms we have, the better for attaining adjudication, and cash keeps electric bills paid so the computers stay on and reporters get paid.
A benefit to being a paid subscriber is that you become part of the NEWS Team. From time-to-time we give away things — with the last being two tickets to the Soroptimist wine tasting.
Credit goes to longtime LTN supporter Old Long Skis for coming up with the subscriber-food drive. He’s even volunteered his truck to deliver all the goods. He’s that confident LTN will have that much food to donate after all the subscriber forms come in.
On Nov. 12, Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Sunrisers hosted the Monday evening Adopt A Day of Nourishment dinner which served more than 90 meals at St. Theresa Church Parish Hall.
In addition to monetarily sponsoring the nutritious meal, the Kiwanis Club invited members of the Whittell High School Key Club to participate in the Adopt A Day event by serving on the Kiwanis’ AAD volunteer sponsor crew.
“Key Club is a Leadership Program sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. Key Club helps high school students learn the importance of community service and helps mold tomorrow’s leader,” stated Debbie Ward. She and Chuck Nelson, Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Sunrisers’ president, along with the Bread & Broth volunteer coordinator, were pleased with the great job done in helping with the meal’s setup and serving by the Key Club representatives.
Representing the WHS Key Club at the dinner were Veronica Charles, Cody Gibson, Avery Laub, Serena Libert and Gabe Rusk.
Bread & Broth very much appreciates the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Sunrisers support of the B&B program and its goal of feeding the hungry of South Lake Tahoe. B&B also commends the work of the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe Sunrisers in providing leadership and community service opportunities to the young people of our community.
There are many ways to support Bread & Broth in their efforts to help the less fortunate in our community. For more information, please contact me at (530) 542.2876 or carolsgerard@aol.com.
Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth
Truckee 6th-graders win documentary film award
Last year’s sixth-grade students in Reenie McMains’s class at Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, a Tahoe Truckee Unified School District public charter school in Truckee, produced a documentary short film as part of their expedition on the study of California geology.
The film, “Geology of California, 4,500,000,000 Years in the Making,” is a documentary short (25 minutes) that explores the forces that shape the state of California. It can be seen on Vimeo here.
This fall that documentary was chosen as the Best Educational Film in the Yosemite International Film Festival. It was the top choice among hundreds of entries from around the globe for its “originality, imaginativeness, and professionalism.”
The photography, scripts, interview questions, artwork, graphics, and editing were done by the 24 sixth-graders, led by McMains. They formed their own production company, Blue Bear Productions, and partnered with a local film company, DougMcmains.com, for post-production assistance.
Brunt of storm on its way; flooding likely
By Kathryn Reed
With a wind advisory in effect through 4am Sunday, public works crews in the Lake Tahoe Basin will be patrolling streets through the weekend to make sure storm drains are not clogged with pine needles or other debris, which can cause streets to flood.
But there is nothing crews can do to stop the rivers in the region from rising.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the Truckee River will be close to 8 feet between 3am and 3pm on Sunday. Flood stage for the portion of the river along Highway 89 near the Placer-Nevada county line is 4.5 feet.
Officials are advising people to avoid traveling on Highway 89 between Truckee and Tahoe City.
The following are storm totals from the National Weather Service in Reno from 4pm Nov. 27 through 6pm Nov. 30:
Farther downstream, the level of concern is even more heightened.
“(Friday) morning, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Truckee River area and Susanville,” said Aaron Kenneston, Washoe County emergency manager, said at a press briefing. “We are joining forces with our regional partners to declare a state of emergency in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County in order to access state resources that can help us maintain public safety as we deal with the impact of this 25-year flood. Those resources include the Nevada National Guard, the Division of Forestry, and other agencies that specialize in emergency disaster management and relief.”
Storms keep rolling
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency inspectors were out Friday checking on projects and storm drains.
“While we don’t know right now if this was a 20-year storm, BMPs are engineered to handle 1 inch of rain in one hour, which equates to a 20-year storm event,” Jeff Cowen with TRPA told Lake Tahoe News. “The key is that the first hour provides the ‘first flush’ of pollutants. Once that first flush is captured, the stormwater following is much cleaner and less impactful.”
The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a flood watch from this afternoon through Sunday morning for the Lake Tahoe Basin, eastern Alpine County and the Reno-Carson City-Minden area along and west of Highway 395. Heavy rain with high snow levels is expected to occur tonight through Sunday. This will increase the potential for minor flooding near creeks and streams.
Forecasters are calling for 3 to 5 inches of rain during this time period, with isolated amounts up to 7 inches along Highway 89.
With moisture comes the wind – with gusts expected to hit 120 mph on mountain passes.
Clearing the debris
Bobby Maxwell with South Lake Tahoe public works on Nov. 30 clears a storm drain on Ski Run and David. Photos/Kathryn Reed
In South Lake Tahoe the public works crews were driving all over town dealing with the more than two dozen usual problem areas along with the calls coming in from concerned residents.
By 3pm Friday a couple hundred bags of sand have been filled at the fire station near the Y. Bobby Maxwell with the city’s public works department delivered more bags so people can protect their property.
A homeowner on Janet Drive did what he could to clear the water, but Mother Nature was winning. The vactor truck is sent over to suck up the water and debris. Still, sand bags line his driveway while the water ponds on the far side of his street.
This is one of those low-lying parcels, where the street goes up in both directions and the property at the bottom is where the water collects.
The large vactor truck is running all day – and will be this weekend. When it’s full the gunk is dumped in the Caltrans yard at the end of Sierra Boulevard.
The vactor mobile is also one of the tools the city has to help prevent clogs. It along with street sweepers is sent out before storms to rid roads of as much debris as possible.
Maxwell says curbs are a good thing; adding that Highway 50 is noticeably better in this storm because Caltrans installed curbs and gutters the last two years.
But Caltrans’ work has caused problems for those on Fremont Avenue. The city had a pump there on Friday to help with drainage flows. Later in the afternoon the center was pumping water from below the parking lot on to Fremont Avenue with a fire-type hose.
Caltrans messed with the city’s infrastructure in summer 2011 so the drainage is worse. It nearly caused the businesses in the Fremont Mall to flood last year.
Markers let the crews know what kind of drain is installed. DI = drain inlet, P = pipe, and DW = dry well. The latter don’t work all that well because they can only hold so much water. A flooded street is usually the result of a dry well being overloaded, a low-lying area where all the water collects, or a flat area where there is no movement of water – it just puddles.
The drain inlets are where crews can take a metal rake to remove the debris to get the water flowing again.
At Tamarack and Ski Run the water is nearly across both lanes. Water is over the top of Maxwell’s boots. But after a few swipes of the grate with the rake the water is spiraling down the drain. The road is wet, but there is no more standing water.
Along Lakeview Avenue where the city did improvements the last two years it would be hard to know there had been a substantial storm. In winters past about 20 calls came in each season to let crews know water was accumulating.
While snow is more common in Tahoe this time of year than rain, the history books point to plenty of flooding in the area. The most recent significant event was New Year’s Eve 2005.
“It seems like we are working harder in the winter because the storms are more powerful,” Maxwell told Lake Tahoe News.
ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Lights coming back on in Incline Village
Updated Nov. 30 10:20pm: NV Energy says power has been restored to roughly 3,900 customers affected by the power outage in the Incline Village area. Crews are still trying to repair the downed line believed to be the cause. They were able to reroute the power to that area temporarily.
— KTVN-TV
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NV Energy reports all of Incline Village is suffering a power outage.
The outage affects just Incline, not the nearby towns.
Workers have not yet determined the cause of the outage but hope it is a small, isolated problem.
There is no estimated time of power restoration for Incline Village.
— KOLO-TV
Tree lighting includes benefit for Project MANA
The annual Tree Lighting Celebration & Project MANA Food Drive is Dec. 1 from 4:30-6:30pm at the Ritz-Carlton at Northstar.
The evening includes s’mores with the marshmologist, hot chocolate, cookie decorating, ornament making and holiday performances by the children of the Boys & Girls Club and the Tahoe Expedition Academy.
The event is free.
People are asked to bring a non-perishable item for Project MANA. Needed items include peanut butter, canned meats, dried and canned beans, rice, pasta and sauce, cereals, oatmeal, canned fruit and canned vegetables.
