A handwritten note on the back of this photo has an illegible name and says “At ‘U’ turn near Kingsbury Grade Look-Out Point on way to Minden, Nevada 8/1/51.” Photo/Del Laine Collection Lake Tahoe Historical Society

Kingsbury Grade in 1951 was barely one lane wide and entirely unpaved, with treacherous turns. It was closed in winter.

That hairpin turn in the black and white photo has been removed, with its remnants today seen here. Photo/Bill Kingman

Kingsbury Grade on the Carson Valley side was paved and mostly rerouted by the early 1970s.

The original Kingsbury route also has this special history. Photo/Bill Kingman

— Bill Kingman

The South Lake Tahoe Library is starting a Lego Robotics Club where children ages 10-14 can build and program robots.

This program will run for five sessions. Each session will build from the previous one so its important to attend all of them. They will be March 19, March 26, April 9, April 16 and April 30 from 10-11:30am.

Space is limited and registration is required by March 16 by going to the library or calling 530.573.3185.

The Lego Robotics Club is sponsored by the El Dorado Community Foundation and the Friends of the Library, and is not associated with the official Lego Club.

For the next two weeks representatives from a professional survey research company will be conducting travel surveys with visitors and residents at several recreational and commercial locations throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Results from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s travel mode survey will be used to track the success of and help plan multi-modal travel options around Lake Tahoe. The short survey conducted on tablets is intended primarily to gather data on travel patterns to commercial and recreation areas, but also will be used to collect visitor-specific data and demographic information. The data will be used solely for the transportation planning process.

The survey is being conducted by NuStats. Data collected via this survey provides transportation planners with annual comparisons on seasonal residency, age, gender, income, vacation stay locations, auto occupancy, and types of transportation in regards to how visitors travel to the Lake Tahoe area. Results of the study will be made available to the public.

·       Jessica Perasso and Dana Dose will be giving a free talk about managing diabetes on March 9 from 6-7pm in the board room at Lake Tahoe Community College.

·      Four pilots deliberately had their planes’ tires skimming Lake Tahoe on Feb. 11 in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the longest airplane water ski. Participating were Kevin Sloane of Fly Truckee Tahoe, Kevin Quinn of Points North Heli, Trent Palmer with RC Heli Pilot, and Toby Smith. The men should know within three months if their 30 miles set a record.

·       Dale Dodd, owner of Scusa, Big Daddy’s and Izzy’s Burgers in South Lake Tahoe, is opening an Italian restaurant in March in the old Carrows building near Stateline.

·      There will be a screening of Patagonia’s “Jumbo Wild” on March 10 at 6:30pm at Tahoe Beach Retreat in South Lake Tahoe. Staff from the League to Save Lake Tahoe will share how challenges like those depicted in the movie relate to Lake Tahoe. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for those 18 and younger.

·       Ryan Sommers, assistant chief for North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, will be the interim chief starting March 19.

El Dorado County on Feb. 21 is closing both directions of Highway 50 between El Dorado Hills Boulevard and Bass Lake Road, as well as the Latrobe Road on-ramp to eastbound Highway 50, the Bass Lake Road on-ramp to westbound Highway 50, and White Rock Road between Valley View Parkway and Entrada Circle.

These closures are for blasting operations for the Silva Valley interchange project.

Both directions of Highway 50 traffic will be detoured around the closures via El Dorado Hills Boulevard, Serrano Parkway and Bass Lake Road.

Closures are as follows:

• Eastbound lanes from Latrobe Road to Bass Lake Road will be closed from 6-8am.
• Eastbound on-ramp at El Dorado Hills Boulevard-Latrobe Road will be closed from 4-8am.
• Westbound lanes from Bass Lake Road to El Dorado Hills Boulevard-Latrobe Road will be closed from 6-8am.
• Westbound on-ramp at Bass Lake Road will be closed from 4-8am.

Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s 4th annual Community Breakfast is Feb. 25.

Chamber officials will recap accomplishments from 2015 and give insight into how organizational goals have changed since receiving feedback from the member survey. The survey found that respondents believed the top three challenges facing business in South Lake Tahoe are employment/labor force issues, profitability and growth, and the economy.

The free event is at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel from 8:30-10am.

Space is limited. RSVP to 775.588.1728.

The Food Bank of El Dorado County needs volunteers on Feb. 24 from 9:30-11:30am in South Lake Tahoe to help distribute food from the mobile food pantry.

Volunteers will assist in handing out food and signing people in. For more info, call 530.621.9950 or email volunteer@foodbankedc.org.

Food will be available from 10-11am at the American Legion Hall, 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd. the Food Bank will provide one allocation per household. Recipients must live in El Dorado County and meet California Health and Social Services Agency Emergency Food Assistance Program income guidelines.

The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is partnering with sixth-graders at Tahoe Expedition Academy to put on a community open house about prescribed fire.

At the Feb. 24 open house, people may learn more about the role prescribed fire plays in improving forest health and reducing wildfire risk for Lake Tahoe communities.

Since 2008, agencies have reduced hazardous fuels on nearly 40,000 acres of land in the wildland urban interface where Lake Tahoe’s forests and communities meet.

At the open house, people can meet and speak with fire managers in the Lake Tahoe Basin and learn how agencies decide when and where prescribed fire operations take place. People can also learn more about steps they can take on their own properties to reduce wildfire risk and improve public preparedness, such as creating defensible space and preparing an evacuation plan.

The open house will include stations for people to learn more about fire weather forecasting, smoke dispersal, fire behavior modeling, and how agencies test vegetation moisture before burning. Attendees can also see before and after photos of prescribed burns, maps of upcoming project locations, and sign up for prescribed fire notifications.

Sixth-graders at the Tahoe Expedition Academy are helping to host the open house and will share their knowledge about wildfire and prescribed fire operations. Shelly Robertson’s sixth grade students spent several months learning about the role wildfire plays in the Sierra Nevada ecosystem. They worked and trained with a U.S. Forest Service hotshot crew and local fire protection districts to learn about prescribed fire and the importance of defensible space and preparing for wildfire.

The event is from 5:30-7pm at North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, 7000 Latone Ave., Tahoe Vista.

·       Truckee Police Department’s 2015 annual report is available .

·       Drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds must be registered by Feb. 19. More information is available online. The $5 permits are valid for three years.

·      NBC Sports will air a one-hour show March 27 at noon featuring the Reno National Championship Air Races.

·      UNR is hosting the inaugural symposium on the uses of autonomous robotics systems and vehicles for emergency April 6-8. Register for the event online.

·       Roach Gigz plus Rappin’ 4-Tay and guests Logic One will be at Whiskey Dicks Saloon in South Lake Tahoe on Feb. 27. Doors open at 9pm. Must be at least 21. Cost is $15 in advance or $20 that night.

In recent weeks, Liberty Utilities’ has received calls from customers indicating they received a phone call from someone posing as a collections representative and threatening to shut off power if payment was not made within a specified period of time.

Sometimes the caller has specific customer information such as last payment amount. Liberty is unaware of how this
information has been obtained.

Liberty Utilities warns its customers not to respond to a payment demand of this type. Specifically, do not click on any link or open any attachment to an email or provide any payment type information over the phone.

Liberty Utilities representatives do not place such calls or send emails to customers demanding payment. Liberty encourages customers who receive such a call or email to call the company at 800.782.2506.