• At the Aug. 21 South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting Gino DiMatteo’s $1 million claim against the city for not letting him the ability to move his pot shop was denied by the council. DiMatteo now owns Push Fitness.

• Julie Paradysz was recently appointed marketing director at MontBleu in Stateline.

• Truckee has bear-awareness stickers for dumpsters. Call Nichole Dorr at (530) 582.2909 to get one.

• Tahoe City’s Jillian Whisler placed 15th in the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships, which qualified her to represent the U.S. in the 2013 Olympic Distance Triathlon World Championships in London.

• El Dorado Trail from Jaquier Road to Parkway Drive will be closed in El Dorado County from Sept. 4-6 for maintenance. Call (530) 621.5890 with any questions or concerns.

To the community,

Seems the devil’s at it once more. SnowGlobe is again a-go. It’s hard to fathom who is in control in bringing back this nuisance to town.

My logic instructor, Dr. Patch, thought you can’t have a universe of discourse without first defining the terms. So, what is a nuisance? Webster’s New College Dictionary (1995) defines nuisance as “vexatious, a bother that interferes with legal rights by causing damage.” When reviewing SnowGlobe’s first production in town, Webster’s definition of a nuisance fits SnowGlobe’s performance. It was vexation, an annoyance, an irritation. For some folks it created physical discomfort. Noise so loud that there was no escaping the boom, boom pounding. It was an invasion of privacy disturbing citizens’ right to be left alone in their homes.

Bill Crawford

And, of course, the promoters breached the agreement by ignoring the time when the noise was to end. But alas the nuisance will return to cause walls to shake and to induce headaches. Give the devil his due.

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe

PS: The City Council’s 3-2 vote at the Aug. 21 meeting on postponing the Aug. 28 public hearing on the loop road was out of order because the loop road was not on the agenda. I have spoken to the city attorney about the breach of the rules by the council. He was surprised to hear it.

By Mandy Kendall

I just came back from a wonderfully relaxing 10-day trip. However, having been home for 24 hours, the relaxed bit already seems to be wearing off. I’m back to the old schedule of emails, errands, chores and work, making the memories of the trip already seem like a lifetime ago.

Why is it so difficult to relax and make it last? I think relaxing is like exercise, you have to keep doing it in order for it to be effective.

Mandy Kendall

Why do we need to relax? Back in the days when we encountered stressful situations (e.g. a hungry saber toothed tiger) we produced lots of adrenaline that allowed us to respond by running or fighting (the fight or flight response). These days there aren’t so many saber toothed tigers, but lots of situations that prompt the same increase of adrenaline in our bodies. Unfortunately, most of the time, it is not appropriate to fight or run away so we build up all this stress in our bodies without releasing it.

As a result, if stress is prolonged or repeated, it can have some serious health consequences such as high blood pressure and reduced immune function. The symptoms of prolonged stress can manifest in a number of ways such as headaches, neck or back pain, digestive problems, changes in sleep and appetite, muscle cramps or shaking. Emotional issues can also be rooted in long term stress situations with feelings of hopelessness, depression, irritability and anger being some of the common symptoms.

Stressful situations are often difficult to avoid but we can devise ways of dealing with them, so here are a few Qwik-e tips on how to deal with day to day stress and help keep that relaxed feeling all the time:

Calming foods:

Green Tea – is a natural source of L-Theanine which has been shown to reduce mental and physical stress, improve cognition and boost mood

Chocolate – dark chocolate especially helps regulate levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. The more pure the chocolate, the better. Unfortunately a small 1.4-ounce square is sufficient.

Honey – not only is honey a great antibiotic, it is also a wonderful natural anti-inflammatory and had a compound that has been shown to help fight depression and anxiety.

Your inner peace:

Just breathe – it is very easy, when we are tense, to forget to breathe properly. Long slow deep breaths that make our stomachs push out, with shoulders relaxed will help diffuse tension. Thinking the word ‘accepting’ when you breathe in and ‘releasing’ when you breathe out will also help stress melt away.

Stop thinking – no need to spend hours meditating (unless you want to). Recent studies have shown that just five minutes, twice a day, spent just focusing on breathing in and out can relieve stress and depression. If not thinking about anything is a challenge just count your breaths as they come and go. If thoughts still enter your mind, try counting backward from 100 and subtract 7 each time.

Visualizing – this does take some practice but imagining a calm tranquil scene does have an actual calming physical effect on the body as the brain finds it hard to distinguish between what’s real and what’s imagined. So try to be mindful about what you think about and imagine.

Body relaxing:

Muscle clenching – sometimes we don’t realize what tension we are unconsciously holding in a muscle until we consciously use it then relax it. Shoulders are often held in tension without us realizing it and just focusing attention there will alert us to any habitual over use. Tightening a muscle for a few seconds (at least one breath) and then letting it totally relax will help calm the whole body.

Stretch out the tension – releasing physical tension will put your whole system in a calmer state. Even some quick shoulder rolls or a chest opening stretch will help increase blood flow and perk up your energy levels. A few minutes of stretching just before you get into bed will release some of the tension from your day and so aid a more peaceful night’s sleep.

Stroll out stress – sometimes a stroll around the block is all that is needed to re-focus, calm down and put things in perspective

Scents for the senses – essential oils have been used for centuries for all kinds of healing therapies. Lavender is known for its calming effects but whatever scent works for you is fine. Just a few drops in some warm water or in some carrier oil that you rub into your skin may help to take some of the stress out of your day.

Laugh it off – science shows that laughter boosts the immune system and increases blood flow as well as just making you feel better.

A hug a day keeps stress at bay – we thrive on contact so, whether it’s human, feline or canine, a jolly good cuddle will help reduce your blood pressure and perhaps make all of those stresses seem that little bit less important.

Until next time.

Mandy Kendall operates Health Connective in South Lake Tahoe, which aligns wellness seekers with their ideal wellness provider. If you have questions, would like some advice, or would like to request some Qwik-e tips on any health and well-being topic, drop her an email at connect@healthconnective.com or keep an eye out on Lake Tahoe News for regular Qwik-e tips on how to make healthy changes one Quick and Easy step at a time.

By Kathryn Reed

Sawmill bike path may never be completed.

“They make some offers and some threats, but I’m not interested in them,” Cass Amacker told Lake Tahoe News. “They don’t want to pay me nothing for buildable property.”

Amacker for years has owned a 20-acre parcel off Sawmill Road.

Sawmill bike path goes for seven-tenths of a mile before needing to get on the road. Photos/Kathryn Reed

Part of his property is being sought by El Dorado County so the remaining nearly 1.3 miles of trail can be constructed. Earlier this summer about seven-tenths of a mile was put in which had nothing to do with the Amacker property.

It’s a curvy trail that meanders just off Sawmill, almost into a wooded area. It meets all the current bike requirements of being 10-feet wide, with 2-foot shoulders. But it abruptly stops with a big white fence and yellow sign that says “End”.

County officials don’t want it to end there. The whole idea of the Sawmill path is to have it link up with the bridge on Highway 50 that crosses the Upper Truckee River before the path takes cyclists and walkers to Meyers.

Brendan Ferry, senior planner with El Dorado County, remains optimistic a resolution with Amacker and the other private property owner along that stretch of roadway will be found so that section of bike trail can be finished next summer.

But those agreements will need to be in hand by the end of the year in order to request the Congestion Mitigation and Air Management funds from Caltrans, and have the Board of Supervisors approve a bid package and then award the contract to a company. Plus, with the next portion being longer, it will require more time to build it so everything needs to be in place that much sooner.

Regarding the negotiations with the Amackers, Ferry told Lake Tahoe News, “I can’t speak too much about it because there is a lot of legal stuff. The right-of-way process is very defined and confined, and involves a lot of legalese, money and contracts.”

Amacker said the county wants 3 acres.

Where the trail goes on Amacker land the whole width of the path is on their property. Whereas the adjacent private property next to the California Tahoe Conservancy parcel, which is at the corner of Sawmill and Highway 50, comes with a dedicated right-of-way from Incline Road to the Highway, so less of their land is needed.

“I don’t see any problems (with the other property),” Ferry said in terms of securing right-of-way agreements.

A small drainage easement is being sought on both properties because of an existing pipe.

Plans for the remainder of the Sawmill Trail are 80 percent designed.

Amacker contends the county and agencies, which he did not name, have cost him too much money and land in the past, so he is not willing to give his land away now. And he added that even if a price were settled on, that doesn’t mean he’ll ever sell.

Amacker told Lake Tahoe News his land is zoned for a 40-unit apartment complex, so he wants to be compensated for the land’s potential, not for bare soil and trees.

However, Carl Weiland, El Dorado County assessor, said the Amacker ranch is zoned TR1. That would make it capable of having a single-family residence.

“I don’t see anything saying he can have apartments,” Weiland told Lake Tahoe News.

The ranch falls under Plan Area Statement 119 of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The allowable uses are residential (not multi-family, which is what apartments fall under), recreation, resource management, and public service.

While the county and Amacker keep talking, the county is also working on plans to develop bike paths along Lake Tahoe Boulevard that would connect to the existing Sawmill path.

Ferry would like to do both sections of that route in 2014, though funding could force it to be built in phases. All of that land is publicly owned and deals are in place for it to become a reality.

The trail will require cyclists to come off the Sawmill Path and cross Lake Tahoe Boulevard. Going right, toward South Lake Tahoe, the path will be built on the dirt U.S. Forest Service trail that already exists. To the left, it will be adjacent to the roadway. It will tie into the class 2 bike trail that ends at Clear View Drive.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder (Click on photos to enlarge.)

By Jim Fuquay, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A controversial Environmental Protection Agency rule on interstate air pollution, which had been challenged by Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings, the state of Texas and other energy interests, was set aside Tuesday in a 2-1 decision by a federal appeals court in Washington.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington sided with more than three dozen challengers to the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which was issued in July 2011 and reduced caps on emissions from power plants in Texas and 27 other states. The rule had been put on hold in December by the court while it considered the legality of the regulation.

It’s the second time in little more than a week that a federal appeals court found that the EPA overstepped its authority enforcing federal standards on states. On Aug. 13, a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that the agency intruded into state matters when it disapproved Texas’ flexible permit program regulating emissions.

Like last week’s ruling, Tuesday’s decision drew applause from industry groups and Texas officials, while being criticized by environmental groups. Alisha Johnson, a spokeswoman for the EPA, didn’t have an immediate comment on the ruling.

Read the whole story

By Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee

Most Placer County employees will be asked to pay the full share of pension costs under a new two-year contract approved by Placer County supervisors on Tuesday.

For most Placer Public Employees Organization members, the contribution will amount to about 6 percent of pay. In exchange, the county will contribute 6 percent to a fund employees can elect to take as cash, contribute to a 401(k) plan or save for dependent care.

The contract also allows for a 2 percent raise as the contract expires in December 2013 – the first raise for employees since 2009.

PPEO covers 1,700 employees, about 75 percent of the county workforce.

By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times

More than 550,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $1 billion have been seized during an eight-week crackdown targeting illegal marijuana growing operations on public lands across seven Western states, federal authorities announced on Tuesday.

Operation Mountain Sweep, which started July 1, netted 96 illegal marijuana grows in California and resulted in the indictments of 28 suspects. Pot farms were discovered in several national parks, including Death Valley, and in Sequoia and Mendocino National Forests, authorities said.

Rugged terrain on federal lands have become favored areas for pot growers who often live for weeks in the remote areas. Authorities discovered huge amounts of trash, miles of irrigation line, fertilizer and pesticides at the various grow sites.

“Marijuana trafficking organizations seek to turn our nation’s parks and public lands into their own drug havens,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Operation Mountain Sweep is a concerted effort to reclaim these wild and beautiful areas and protect them from further destruction and exploitation.”

The operation in California also resulted in the seizure of eight firearms. About 100,000 marijuana plants were eradicated in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Read the whole story

To the community,

The Aug. 22 neighborhood crime meeting went well, with about 50 people attending.

South Lake Tahoe police were informative and supportive. It seems that police logs are at the front desk and could be added to a website if we had one.

I would like to continue a neighbor watch discussion. Maybe another meeting next month is in order. Any feedback is welcome either online or Acornlawn@yahoo.com or (530) 544.7795.

Mike Lee, South Lake Tahoe

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE – The Edgewood Lodge project kept its “no negative comments” streak alive Thursday with 11 positive remarks.

In a series of votes by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, the hotel project on Edgewood Tahoe golf course received not a single no vote or abstention from any board member at the Aug. 23 meeting.

Edgewood Companies, which owns the course and hundreds of adjacent acres in Stateline, has talked about making this area near the shoreline of Lake Tahoe more than a place for golfers.

A 154-room hotel will be built where hole 9 is now. Reconfiguring the golf course will be the first order of business; and that could be next summer.

There is expected to be no interruption to the annual American Century Championship golf tournament in July. What may pose a problem is parking.

In addition to the lodge will be 10 fourplexes. Those will range from 1,200- to 1,800-square-feet, while the lodge units will be about 500-square feet.

Still to be determined is whether the hotel will come with a brand name that would be recognizable to the consumer. First the need for that would have to be determined. An Edgewood representative told Lake Tahoe News it looks like the need is not there.

In 2014-15, the lodge would likely be built. Financing, though, is an issue and will be the determining factor for when ground is broken.

The structures will be built to silver LEED specifications, with a goal of reaching gold. The other South Shore building meeting the U.S. Green Building Council’s criteria is the Tamarack Lodge at Heavenly Mountain Resort, which is silver.

Many of the people who spoke Thursday talked of the combined economic and environmental benefits the lodge will bring.

“This will be the first true golf resort in Northern Nevada,” Bill Hoffman, executive director with the Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau said.

While he acknowledged the two ends of the lake compete for the drive-up guest, the destination traveler likes to explore the whole lake. And golf, to Hoffman, is a component that brings people to the region and with the Edgewood Lodge would likely bring more visitors.

Even though the four-star hotel will bring a guest who can spend a bit more money than other lodging properties are charging on the South Shore, it has something for the average Tahoe resident. The now-private beach will be open to the public. And there is no intention of charging a fee, like some beaches do on the South Shore.

Plus, the bike trail will go through this property and hook up with the Stateline-to-Stateline trail that eventually will end in Crystal Bay, but will initially go through Rabe Meadow to Round Hill Pines Beach.

Tahoe Maritime Museum is hosting a lecture called Fashion of the Twenties.

Curator Jan Loverin from the Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Research Center will talk about the revolutionary trends of the period and how fashion on and in the lake changed over time.

The Aug. 24 lecture is at 5:30pm. Cost is $5 for members, $8 for non-members.

The museum is at 5205 West Lake Blvd., Homewood.