• An Al Tahoe neighborhood workshop will be Oct. 9 from 6-8pm at South Tahoe Middle School. It will include updates on Al Tahoe planning projects including Harrison Avenue improvements, district parking solutions and Lakeview Commons event planning.

• Evelyn Yonker sold the Markleeville Art Gallery to Laura Barr. It’s now called Markleeville Art & Soul.

• South Lake Tahoe planning commissioners will have a public hearing about improvements to Linear Park on Oct. 11 at 10am at Lake Tahoe Airport.

• Tahoe City Downtown Association is hosting the 8th annual Tahoe City Harvest Festival Oct. 6-20.

• Campo restaurant in Reno has been named one of the best new American restaurants for 2012 by Esquire magazine. Mark Estee is chef-owner.

Sierra Avalanche Center wants your best short (3 minutes or less) ski or snowboard film footage from the 2011-12 winter season.

Submit your short films (using an online video sharing site) to jenny@sierraavalanchecenter.org by Nov. 1.

Sierra Avalanche Center is a nonprofit dedicated to providing snow safety information to the general public to increase knowledge and understanding of snow conditions thereby reducing the impact of avalanches in the Central Sierra.

For more information about the SAC film contest, go online.

By Kathryn Reed

A 13-year-old walks into his principal’s office and says he wants to write a letter to the judge. The judge lets him take the stand. His parents are in the courtroom.

“I told him, all you can do is tell your truth,” Beth Delacour said.

In the end, the judge last year said the boy no longer had to visit his dad. This meant no longer being regularly exposed to guns and drugs.

Teacher Cindy Cowen, left, and South Tahoe Middle School Principal Beth Delacour talk about anti-bullying programs. Photo/Kathryn Reed

While Delacour, who is principal of South Tahoe Middle School, is not a proponent of single-family households, she knows sometimes it beats the alternative. What she most advocates for is helping her sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders find their voice so they can stick up for themselves.

That same youngster stopped by her office this school year. He said he wants to be a judge someday and asked his principal what he needs to do to make that dream come true.

Delacour and Cindy Cowen, a teacher at the South Lake Tahoe school, spoke before Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra on Sept. 27 about how the service club’s financial support is helping bring programs to the school that deal with bullying – this includes working with the aggressor and the victim.

The overall goal is to change the climate and culture of the school.

“We needed to get these kids to feel like they are people,” Cowen said.

Through Teen Truth Live the message is if you aren’t making a difference, you are doing nothing. This program has been part of the school for a few years. This year a summit of between 30 and 50 students will be convened with the goal being for them to identify what other improvements can be made to the school.

As Delacour said, the kids are the ones in the trenches – they are seeing, hearing, feeling what is going on more so than any adult on campus.

One of the Soroptimists asked what the difference between bullying and teasing is.

The educators said bullying is chronic, it doesn’t stop, it’s harassment, it’s repeated and it’s unwanted.

Because bullying can be a learned behavior, another member of the service group asked if parents are part of the anti-bullying lessons.

They have been. But those who “needed” to show up to events the school sponsored didn’t and therefore it was more like preaching to the choir based on who attended.

Between Horses and Humans is another component of helping youth stop being a bully and for others to stand up to the bullies. It’s also a program where parents must be involved.

Oct. 1 was World Stand Up to Bullying Day.

Ultimate Wing Wars, a chicken wing cook-off event, is coming to the Best Western Carson Station hotel-casino Oct. 5-7.

Organized by W.R. “Willie” Davison, the self-proclaimed Chicken Wing King, bars, restaurants and catering groups will serve up their sauced wings to the public and prepare for battle.

Attendees, armed with napkins and a hearty appetite, will help choose the winner of this war.

Carson Station’s Ultimate Wing Wars will also feature dozens of vendors for shopping, kids games and casino giveaways and special promotions inside the newly remodeled Carson Station in Carson City.

Admission is free. Wing sampler plates start at $3.

Schedule:

Oct. 5: 10am to 8pm

Oct. 6: 10am to 8pm

Oct. 7: 10am to 6pm.

Updated Oct. 3, 6:55pm

By Kathryn Reed

A suspected drug lab exploded in the middle of South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday afternoon.

Barrek Madden, 23, of South Lake Tahoe was flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento with third-degree burns to his face and upper torso.  Schuyler VanFleet, 22, of South Lake Tahoe had his hair, eyebrows and beard singed. He was arrested on felony charges of unlawfully causing a fire and operating a drug lab.

At about 3:15pm Oct. 3 an explosion could be heard coming from a bottom floor unit of the Forest Manor Apartments at the corner of Forest and Wildwood avenues.

Firefighters enter the apartment just before 4pm Oct. 3. Photos/Kathryn Reed

“They had butane as part of the process and it caught fire,” Police-Fire Chief Brian Uhler said.

He said the suspects were cooking or refining the hashish.

Because fire crews did not know what all was inside the apartment they took their time before entering. At first they let the fire smolder a bit.

“We withdrew personnel because of a possible drug lab and materials,” Uhler said.

A family who lives above the suspected drug lab fled down the street after hearing the explosion, which they described as loud.

“I see smoke and one guy on fire. I don’t know him. I just got my family out,” the resident, who did not want to give his name, told Lake Tahoe News.

All the units were evacuated.

South Tahoe firefighter Doug Bailey hooks the hose to the hydrant.

The extent of the damage to the one unit is not known, nor is is known if other units experienced smoke damage. However, the entire complex at 3754 Forest has been deemed unsafe at this point. The fire department has requested the American Red Cross provide temporary shelter for the displaced residents.

By Kathryn Reed

El Dorado County Chief Probation Officer Greg Sly has been place on indefinite leave.

Superior Court Judge Suzanne Kingsbury, who has oversight of the Probation Department, made the decision effective Sept. 28. She deferred comment to County Administrative Officer Terri Daly.

Daly was not available for comment.

County officials speaking off the record told Lake Tahoe News the CAO has been having issues with Sly for some time. What those issues are remain unknown.

Mike Applegarth, who works in the CAO office, said because it’s a personnel matter, he is not at liberty to provide any details. He did not know if Sly is on paid or unpaid leave.

Gary Hudgeons, assistant chief probation officer, has been named acting chief by Kingsbury. He did not return phone calls.

In an email that LTN obtained Hudgeons says, “I have spent the weekend mostly in shock of this news and I suspect many of you will be as well. There is a very difficult road ahead of us over the next days and weeks.”

By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau

CARSON CITY – A national organization is reporting an alarmingly low number of absentee ballots being requested by members of the military in battleground states around the country – including a 55 percent decline in Nevada – ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.

“The number of absentee ballots being requested is shockingly low,” said Eric Eversole, founder and executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project. “While we knew the number of absentee ballots requests would increase as we got closer to the election – and they have – the number being requested is still way too low and indicates that many military members will have their voices silenced on Election Day.”

The group reports a 46 percent decline in absentee ballot requests in Florida this year compared to the 2008 presidential election, a 59 percent decline in North Carolina, and 70 percent declines in Virginia and Ohio.

The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office reports the number of ballots requested by military personnel within the U.S. and overseas totals 2,210 so far in this election year, a 55 percent reduction over the 4,919 requested in 2008. The number is up from the 1,533 absentee ballots requested in the 2010 mid-term election in Nevada.

The 2,210 requests is also an increase from the 1,750 absentee ballots cited as being requested in Nevada in a report issued by the MVPP on Aug. 27.

UOCAVA numbers in Nevada for 2008, 2010, and 2012 through the MOVE Act deadline:

The 2012 requests reported by the Secretary of State’s Office are through the 45-day window when ballots had to be mailed. More requests can and should be received by counties.

Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller said he has been told that it takes a maximum of seven days for an absentee ballot to be delivered to the most remote forward operating base in Afghanistan. And in the case of Nevada, military personnel can vote via email, he said.

“It is the highest priority of the Department of Defense and their military system to get those ballots to the troops,” Miller said. “They process those ballots very quickly.

“I’m confident that we’re going to see a relatively high number of requests coming from our military,” he said. “The outreach seems to be working. We still have a lot of time for them to request their ballots. And I think that’s the critical point here; is that although the numbers are a little bit low right now, there’s still several weeks for the military to request their ballots and I’m confident that they are going to do so.”

One reason for the drop in the number of requests is that the troops serving in Iraq have returned home, and the number of troops serving in Afghanistan have been on the decline, Miller said.

“I’m confident at the end of the day that we’re going to see a high turnout of our military men and women overseas casting ballots,” he said. “The fact remains we simply have fewer military overseas because in 2008 we were fighting active wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and we don’t have that high of numbers of personnel overseas right now.”

Miller’s office reported on Sept. 24 that all Nevada military ballots and ballots to Nevadans covered by the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act were in the mail 45 days in advance of the election as required by the law.

All 17 county clerks and registrars of voters confirmed that all valid requests were transmitted pursuant to applicable state and federal laws. Reports based on rumors that the ballots would not be delivered on time were inaccurate, according to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office.

“The timely mailing of these ballots is critical,” Miller said in announcing last month that the counties met the deadline. “Just more than a week ago I was honored to visit our troops in the Middle East, including the officers and enlisted personnel who manage and oversee the elections process among the troops. We assured them that they’d have the ballots on time so that their votes would count. As the people who are on the front lines of protecting democracy, we owe them that.”

In July, Nevada was named one of 15 “all-star states” by the MVPP. The MVPP cited Miller’s proactive approach to military and absentee voting issues including his leadership in Nevada’s passage of the Uniform Military and Overseas Voting Act, and the use of internet technology to allow members of the military to determine whether their ballot has been received and counted.”

Nevada had an issue complying with the MOVE Act in 2010 in Elko County due to the failure of a private vendor to deliver printed ballots on time. But the U.S. Department of Justice praised Nevada elections officials for working “quickly and cooperatively” to address the delay.

In an Oct. 1 news release, Eversole said the Pentagon and its Federal Voting Assistance Program failed to comply with a key provision of the MOVE Act to provide greater voter assistance on military installations. In particular, FVAP failed to create voter registration offices that would provide voting assistance to every military member when they checked into a new duty station.

“Notwithstanding the data, we have not given up and will keep fighting for our military voters,” Eversole said. “The registration deadlines are quickly approaching, but there is still time to fix this mess. We are asking every active duty military member or spouse to visit hereosvote.org where they can quickly register and request an absentee ballot. They can quickly fill out the form and get their absentee ballots in 7 to 10 days.”

For 12 years TransWorld Snowboarding has been ranking the best overall resorts, parks and pipes in North America. This year the magazine ranked Sierra-at-Tahoe among the Top 10 Overall Resorts, Terrain Parks and received the editor’s pick for Best Value.

Sierra has been recognized six of the past 10 years in TransWorld Snowboarding and for the third year in a row has been ranked as one of the Top 10 Overall Resorts.

The resort poll ranks mountains based on mountain features such as parks and pipe, terrain, and other areas including vibe, snowfall, lodging, value, and food. Each year TransWorld readers are polled to rank their three favorite resorts based on their overall experience.

The 2013 resort poll ranked Sierra Resort as the sixth best overall mountain in North America and fifth best park.

Sierra was recognized as the fifth best terrain park in the nation, earned by scoring high in specific categories like jump and rail design, grooming, variety of features, overall vibe, and park challenge.

By John Powers, Boston Globe

To bid or not to bid? And if so, for the summer of 2024 or winter of 2026?

That’s the task for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s working group, which will make a report to the board in December.

The last two American bids for Games, for 2012 and 2016, were disasters, with New York going out in the second round and Chicago rejected before its mayor had entered the convention center for the vote.

Now that the USOC and the International Olympic Committee have resolved their revenue-sharing dispute with a long-term agreement, the major roadblock is gone.

The IOC clearly would love to have an American candidate, if only to jack up US television rights fees.

But with the cost of a bid around $50 million and trending higher, the USOC understandably is reluctant to put up another also-ran entry.

“If we don’t think we can win, we will not bid,” chief exec­utive Scott Blackmun declared after the recent board meeting.

The Americans haven’t hosted the Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996 and haven’t bid for the Winter Games since Salt Lake City hosted in 2002.

With the next two winters slated for Europe (Sochi, Russia) and Asia (Pyeongchang, South Korea) and Munich and St. Moritz both possible candidates for the 2022 edition that will be awarded in 2015, the geo­political rotation would favor a bid for 2026; and Salt Lake City, Denver, Lake Tahoe-Reno, and Bozeman, Mont., all have expressed interest.

More likely, though, would be a bid for the summer of 2024, especially if a European city (Madrid or Istanbul) gets the 2020 nod next year. Though the USOC could put up Chicago or New York again or the intriguing possibility of San Francisco, the competition would be stiffer, with Toronto, the next Pan American Games host, likely to be in the chase as well as 2012 runner-up Paris, which would be celebrating the centennial of hosting the 1924 version.

“It’s possible that we could come to the conclusion that a bid does not make sense for a variety of reasons,” observed USOC chairman Larry Probst.

By Alyx Sacks, KRNV-TV

Al and Delane Pennington never farmed a day in their lives up until about eight years ago.

Now they’ve fallen into what they call a labor of love.

Nestled in the heart of Washoe Valley is a 1 acre-rarity.

“Can you imagine a more beautiful spot than here,” Al Pennington says.

The Apple Basket is the only organic apple picking orchard in Nevada.

The Penningtons have operated the orchard about a year after they bought it, but spring freezes the last two years have forced it to stay closed.

Last weekend they got to re-open.

“You know it’s a lot of work and my wife and I do it all and we enjoy it just love having the people come out here,” Pennington says.

Apple lovers are enjoying it too.

“It’s a tradition for my family being from the east coast that we get to use great grandma’s recipe and make some apple sauce,” Tracy Jung says.

There’s some 200 trees full of golden delicious’, braeburns, cameos, and galas to choose from.

The apples are $1.50 a pound.

They’re certified organic; therefore no pesticides and no oils are used to treat them.

According to the USDA, the average cost this year in September for organic apples ranged from at least a $1.72 on up to $2.54.

“You don’t even have to buy them at a store you come here and pick them and you save money,” Elise Draeger says.

So what does it take to be the only organic apple picking orchard in Nevada?

Pennington says a lot of hard work.

Including constantly removing dead apples and debris under the trees and that helps with pest control.

The Penningtons also use chickens to help clear up unwanted pests.

All their methods seem to be working.

“It was really fun and I think everyone should do it,” Draeger says.

The Pennigtons hope to keep the orchard open until the end of October.