By Los Angeles Times

Nearly three years after Jaycee Dugard was rescued from the ramshackle compound where she gave birth to two daughters while being held captive, she is still learning how to be a free woman.

“My growth has not happened overnight, and every day brings new challenges and choices that I have to make,” she writes in a new afterword to her 2011 memoir, “A Stolen Life,” which comes out in paperback July 3. “Living out in the world has its share of problems, and I am learning what works and what doesn’t.”

Now 32, Dugard was kidnapped in 1981. The gap-toothed 11-year-old had said goodbye to her stepfather and was headed off to catch her morning school bus in South Lake Tahoe when she was abducted by Phillip and Nancy Garrido.

For the next 18 years, the couple kept Dugard in a series of tents and soundproof sheds in their Antioch backyard. Phillip impregnated her twice during years of methamphetamine-fueled rape. Nancy helped deliver Dugard’s daughters.

The Garridos pleaded guilty to rape and kidnap charges 14 months ago; he will spend the rest of his life in prison, while she could be up for parole in 30 years.

“A Stolen Life” became an immediate bestseller last July. In the original version, Dugard wrote about missing her mother and raising her children. She spared no detail of her ordeal and chronicled the growth she had undergone during her first months of freedom.

In the short section produced for the paperback version, Dugard acknowledged that she felt like that kidnapped 11-year-old when she worked on the memoir. But “as I write this addition for the book, I feel a whole heck of a lot older. I have truly started to take back my life and live in the sunshine.”

She is still learning to feel comfortable with everyday activities, she says, like eating out: “When I go to a restaurant as much as possible I sit with my back to the patrons so they can’t see my face,” she writes. “Why? Is this old behavior or new? I think it is a combination. What am I afraid of? If asked then, I would say, of being seen. If asked now, I would say of being seen.

“What has changed?” she continues. “Yes, I’m free, but to truly be free, I must fully accept who I am and what I have been through. Not just for me, but for my kids…. I feel that in order for my children to move forward with their lives they have to see that I am moving forward with mine.”

By Cal Thomas

One of many things left out of the film “The Iron Lady” was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s warnings on the effects a single currency would have on the economies of European nations. Thatcher’s premonitions place her among the great political prophets of all time.

On the single currency, Peter Oborne, a columnist for the London Daily Telegraph, writes, “Mrs. Thatcher foresaw with painful clarity the devastation it was bound to cause. Her autobiography records how she warned John Major, her euro-friendly chancellor of the exchequer, that the single currency could not accommodate both industrial powerhouses such as Germany and smaller countries such as Greece.” Thatcher predicted the currency would harm poorer countries because it would “devastate their inefficient economies.”

The idea of a European Union modeled on the United States was unlikely to succeed from the beginning because, unlike American states, European countries lack a common bond. There are different languages, different histories (Colorado, for example, never invaded Nebraska) and different religions, including for six decades, atheism imposed by communist dictators in Eastern Europe.

Cal Thomas

How can a European “E Pluribus Unum” be forged out of that?

BBC reporter Laurence Knight stated the obvious when he summed up Spain’s financial disaster by noting its citizens during the relatively brief “good times” of the 1990s spent much more on housing and other material goods than they could afford. Sound familiar? Living within one’s means was a lesson forgotten by individuals and governments, whose main preoccupation — in Europe and America — has been giving people what they want in hopes they’ll re-elect the politicians who dispensed the goodies. That formula has contributed to an unemployment rate in Spain approaching 25 percent. Spain last weekend was approved for a bailout of up to $125 billion from the eurozone, the fourth country to ask for a loan since Europe’s debt crisis began.

Knight wrote last month, “Unfortunately for Spain, it shares a currency with Germany. That means Spain can no longer simply devalue the peseta — something that would automatically make its workers cheaper and more competitive in the world. There is no peseta to devalue.”

As columnist William Rees-Mogg wrote last Friday intThe Times, “So far as British opinion goes, Europe is seen as a cost to be borne rather than a loyalty to be cherished.”

After all this, the “conservative” British government, still ignoring Thatcher’s warnings, is proposing a referendum that, if approved by voters, would move Britain closer to the European Union. The Daily Telegraph reported, “EU leaders are discussing moves toward more integrated financial, fiscal and even political systems among the 17 countries that use the euro.”

Are they mad? Why would Britain want to associate itself with governments and economies (and people) that have behaved so irresponsibly? During the Cold War, Britain did not try to integrate its economy with that of the Soviet Union. In Europe, union has not brought unity, nor can it. Does Britain want to share more of the continent’s misery, or should it try instead to point its people and the eurozone states to real change with freer and more empowered individuals, not government, leading the way?

Again, Margaret Thatcher was right when she said, “A democratic Europe of nation states could be a force for liberty, enterprise and open trade. But, if creating a United States of Europe overrides these goals, the new Europe will be one of subsidy and protection.”

Most profoundly, Thatcher warned, “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.”

That is precisely the seductive siren call the “conservative” British government now hears. It is a call, that, if answered “yes” by voters will wreck Britain’s struggling economy and potentially cause it to go down the drain along with most of the other economies on the continent.

Today’s politicians can’t pretend they were not warned.

Cal Thomas is co-author (with Bob Beckel) of the book “Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America”.

By Carla Rivera, Los Angeles Times

Three of California’s highest-ranking, most influential educators announced within the span of a few weeks that they would be leaving their posts, creating a vacuum in the state’s higher education system at a time of unprecedented challenges.

The impending departures of Charles B. Reed and Jack Scott, chancellors of California State University and the California Community Colleges, as well as UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, have invited intense scrutiny and questions about whether the three institutions can entice visionary leaders willing to contend with a litany of issues:

Steep cuts in state support. Navigating California’s byzantine political landscape and vast array of ethnic and cultural constituencies. Keeping campus gates open for the hundreds of thousands of college graduates who will be needed to fill the state’s workforce.

The stakes for California and the nation are high, said state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who chairs the state Senate Committee on Education.

“We have the finest system in the world, no matter what its shortcomings,” Lowenthal said. “We’ve had an affordable higher education system that has spurred the U.S. economy. For years California has led the way, and we need more than ever to have the best of the best as leadership. But it’s a tough job.”

And some say it will not be as easy to find leaders as in the past. At a time of uncertainty and dwindling resources, “an intelligent person would think carefully about taking such a position,” said Michael Tanner, chief academic officer and vice president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Disturbances are still visible, but High Meadow no longer looks like the construction site it has for the past two summers.

Instead, the meadow is a verdant green that if on this particular Sunday weren’t so chilly, would be inviting to lounge in. It looks ideal for Frisbee. On a hot summer day the creek would beckon to soak ones feet in after the arduous climb. The meadow is at 7,843 feet – a 1,500-foot elevation gain from lake level.

Looming to the left is Monument Peak at 10, 067 feet. This is the mountain on the boundary of Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Cold Creek reroute through High Meadow will be done in October. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Looking toward the route for Star Lake are the well-known South Shore icons Jobs, Jobs Sister and Freel peaks. Pockets of snow dot the mountains almost like icing.

At the edge of the meadow is a creek – the realigned portion of Cold Creek. Barely a trickle of water is flowing.

Part of the reason why the meadow is such a lush green in June is because it’s getting a little help beyond what Mother Nature has done.

“The sprinklers we set up to irrigate the constructed channel to help the vegetation along since we’ve had such a dry spring,” explained Stephanie Heller, hydrologist with the Forest Service. “We’ll be introducing flow into the constructed channel in mid-July, after that the irrigation will no longer be needed because we expect groundwater levels to come up very quickly.”

Two years ago the U.S. Forest Service began a major project to reroute Cold Creek to its natural meander. By Oct. 15 it’s expected to be completed.

“We still need to construct the channel and a grade control weir at the downstream end of the project, construct connections of the constructed channels to the existing streams, fill the existing Mainstem channel, and construct in-channel log structures on the East Fork tributary of Cold Creek,” Heller told Lake Tahoe News.

The final touches will include decommissioning all temporary roads and staging areas associated with the project. Water is still flowing through the old channel.

A towering mound of dirt and piles of logs that look big enough to build a cabin make the entrance to the meadow seem less than idyllic. That’s all part of the restoration project. The dirt came from the first year of the project. It will be used to fill in the old channel, according to Heller.

“The logs will be used for a variety of different purposes when we complete construction. For example, logs will be incorporated into the grade control weir at the bottom of the project, logs will be placed in the backfill of the existing Mainstem and in floodplain areas to break up flow paths and created habitat complexity, and logs will be used to construct in-stream debris jam structures in the East Fork Tributary,” Heller said.

Eighty of the 280 acres of this Sierra meadow have been restored.

The $2 million restoration is being paid for with money from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.

The goal of the project is to have Cold Creek meander like it did before cattle grazed in the meadow, willows will sprout from the bank, the dead beetle-infested lodgepoles will be hauled away, and wildlife will return to the area.

Motorists are advised to plan ahead and factor in additional travel time for Saturday morning on westbound Interstate 80 near the Colfax area.

All Interstate 80 westbound traffic will be detoured at the Eagle Lake off-ramp June 16 from 5am-1pm. A contractor is scheduled to replace the bridge approach slabs.

This work is part of the $167 million Emigrant Gap project on Interstate 80. Work includes total roadway replacement with Portland Cement Concrete, improving the drainage systems and installing new sediment/debris collection systems. Completion is expected in fall 2013.

• Bing Travel lists Lake Tahoe as one of the world’s most beautiful lakes. Here are the others.

• See how Tahoe Pipe Club has revolutionized the Frisbee and Secchi disk industries by combining for the first time these instruments into one disk.

• Placer County Board of Supervisors hired David Boesh to be the county’s CEO. He was most recently CEO for San Mateo County.

• Bluesdays (as in blues music and blue plate dining specials) are back at the Village at Squaw Valley every Tuesday in July and August, 6-8:30pm.

• Tahoe Reggae Festival featuring Pepper with Katchafire kicks off MontBleu’s outdoor Summer Concert Series in Stateline on June 30.

• Lake Tahoe Custom Cycles’ grand opening is June 16 from 11am to 3pm at 1150 Melba Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

South Lake Tahoe’s Community Service Department is offering summer camps for youth and teens now through Aug. 24.

Camp Tadaka is designed for grades kindergarten to 8th-grade and is operated from 7:30am-6:30pm daily.

Tahoe Outdoor Adventure Camps is designed for ages 12-16. Nine adventure themed camps over the course of the summer include: geocaching, river rafting, backpacking, bicycle skills, stand-up paddling and more.

Call (530) 542.6056 to register or for more details.

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced this week that fire restrictions are in effect for all public lands managed by the bureau’s Mother Lode Field Office.

Included are approximately 230,000 acres of BLM-managed lands in El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Amador, Sacramento, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Sutter and Mariposa counties. Campers are urged to familiarize themselves with special restrictions before visiting public lands in these counties.

The restrictions prohibit all open fires on public lands because of extremely dry conditions, according to a news release.

A valid California campfire permit is required for all fires. Campfire permits may be obtained free of charge at any BLM, U.S. Forest Service, or California Department of Forestry Office.

Restrictions include:

• No open fires except in designated campgrounds. Lanterns and portable stoves using gas, jellied petroleum or pressurized fuel are permitted.

• No welding or use of any torch with an open flame, except by special permit.

• No operating internal combustion engines, except on a maintained road.

• No firing tracers or incendiary devices capable of starting a fire.

• No fireworks.

Violations are punishable by fines of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year. For additional information, call the BLM’s Mother Lode Field Office at (916) 941.3101.

By Melissa Clark, New York Times

Drinking seasonal cocktails used to mean manhattans in the winter and gin and tonics in the summer.

Then a decade ago, mixologists started infusing the likes of lemon verbena and butternut squash into spirits, taking the notion of seasonal cocktails to a more literal level. Now, you’re just as likely to encounter an heirloom tomato in the glass as on the plate.

And some restaurants have been creating tasting menus with cocktail pairings that highlight the season’s best, from the aperitif through dessert, seasonal dining from coupe to nuts.

These pairings work really well at home, too. I spent the past weeks letting seasonal cocktails inspire the snacks that I served with them.

I found that the rules for matching cocktails with food are a lot more lax than with wine. Really, anything goes, though the more complicated and layered the ingredients are in the glass, the more involved your accompanying hors d’oeuvres can be, and vice versa. For simpler cocktails, simple foods work best.

To greet our first warm night, my husband and I sipped Emperor’s Gardens, rhubarb and gin cocktails spiked with Thai basil and seasoned rice vinegar (a condiment used to make sushi rice, flavored with sugar and salt).

Alongside, I echoed the vinegar and basil in a quick shrimp salad garnished with roasted peanuts for crunch. We ate the shrimp on cucumber rounds, but mounding them on crisp lettuce leaves would have been a slightly fancier presentation.

Read the whole story

Tangled Roots Writing in Truckee is putting on a class called Poetry: Play with Language.

You don’t need to be a poet or understand poetry to take this workshop – you will improve your writing in any genre.

The class is June 21 from 5-8pm.

Cost is $35.

For more information, call Karen Terrey at (530) 386.3901 or email tangledrootswriting@gmail.com.