By Sean Whaley, Las Vegas Review-Journal

CARSON CITY — Nevada Highway Patrol troopers soon will have another set of eyes on their interactions with the public.

Nevada’s 465 uniformed patrol officers who deal directly with the public are on track to begin wearing body cameras by a January deadline, joining Las Vegas police in the full use of the devices.

Requests for proposals by companies to provide the cameras to the NHP were submitted late last month, and the Nevada Board of Examiners is expected to award a contract for the devices, associated recording equipment and training in early December.

The cameras are required as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 111 during the 2015 legislative session.

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Publisher’s note: The following endorsement is from Lake Tahoe News after a team of seven community members gathered to discuss Measure T.

It was in 1911 that California became the 10th state to offer the initiative process to voters. Now 24 states allow initiatives on the ballot.

At the state level it has evolved into a business where companies – for a price – will gather signatures, provide legal oversight, consulting and even campaign for the cause. In California it’s big business. The Nov. 8 state ballot has 17 statewide initiatives.

A variety of reasons exist for people to want to use the initiative process. The basic reason is to get a topic before the voters that the electeds can’t or won’t address. It’s also a way to circumvent the normal legislative process.

At the local level it is still very much a grass-roots process.

South Lake Tahoe voters next month will be asked a question about the loop road that was brought forward by a group of citizens who are against the project. The goal of Measure T would be to force the city to go back to the voters once a preferred alternative is chosen to ask them to vote yes or no on the loop road.

Writing the rebuttal to the initiative were Steve Teshara, as interim CEO of Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce – though he is also the chair of the Tahoe Transportation District board, and Sharon Kerrigan, executive director of the South Lake Tahoe Board of Realtors. Their argument has more to do with why they like the loop road than whether the voters should have a voice, or even anything to do with the actual ballot question.

While the bulk of the project would be in the city limits, the Stateline casinos would also be impacted. Both state transportation departments would be involved and the feds are the lead because this is a project spearheaded by the Tahoe Transportation District. Really, anyone who ever drives Highway 50 through the South Shore would be affected if this project goes through. The proposal is to take the highway behind Harrah’s and MontBleu, then turn the current highway from about Pioneer Trail to Lake Parkway into a city-county street.

The project is complex and is more than just rerouting a road. But the merits of the project are not what Measure T is about.

Measure T would bind the hands of the city when it comes to staff and electeds being able to do their jobs. We have a problem with that. We need to allow our elected representatives to do just that – represent us when it comes to the loop road and the sundry of other issues.

That is why it’s important to have people on all elected bodies who represent your beliefs, why it’s important to make your beliefs known to the electeds and to the public, and why being engaged early and not just at the eleventh-hour is important.

By saying no to Measure T Lake Tahoe News is not taking a stance on the loop road itself. Nor would the voters.

We are saying no to Measure T because it is poorly worded, is open to litigation, has and will continue to cost the city (which is the taxpayers) money that could be spent for better uses, it’s a waste of time, and the ultimate outcome is meaningless. If it passes, there will be a court hearing Dec. 5 to address the lawsuit brought to stop Measure T.

If Measure T is upheld by the court and therefore a special election would be required down the road, at a minimum that would cost the city $10,000.

And while money should not be the overriding reason not to pursue one’s beliefs, the cost involved in terms of real dollars and time spent is a waste with no benefit to the residents of South Lake Tahoe.

We say this because even if Measure T passes and the next question is a direct yes or no to the loop road, it won’t matter. TTD and the state transportation agencies can do what they want without the city’s blessing.

For those wanting to stop the loop road, it would be better to lobby the individual members of the TTD board, get in front of the people who have the money, and go to the state transportation agencies.

By Kara Fox, Moonshine Ink

By 2025, all water systems in California must be metered. This requirement proved too much for Mid-Sierra Utilities, which owns and operates Tahoe Cedars and Madden Creek water companies in Homewood and Tahoma.

“I didn’t want to put in the meters, so I sold it,” said Robbie Marr, president of Mid-Sierra Utilities.

But instead of selling to the Tahoe City Public Utility District, which put in offers for the small water companies in 2013 and again earlier this year, Marr and his siblings decided to sell to San Dimas-based Golden State Water Company, which has 39 water systems across California. Marr said the sale has not been finalized and an application still needs to be submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates private water and sewer companies. Marr believes selling to Golden State is the best choice for his family, and for customers.

Although Golden State boasts 1 million customers and 500 employees throughout California, the TCPUD believes the right choice to be for it to take over Mid-Sierra Utilities water systems and is not backing down despite the impending sale. The public utility district has acquired 17 private water systems since it was founded in 1938. There are currently 10 private water companies along the West Shore.

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By Colton Lochhead, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevadans are split when it comes to legalizing recreational marijuana use, according to a poll of 800 likely voters commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Forty-seven percent said they would vote “yes” on Question 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot, 46 percent opposed the measure, and 7 percent remained undecided, according to the poll.

The proposed measure would let Nevada join the likes of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska in allowing the retail sale of marijuana to adults 21 years and older. It would also decriminalize the possession of less than 1 ounce of the drug.

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Publisher’s note: The following endorsement is from Lake Tahoe News after a team of seven community members gathered to discuss who should be on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board.

This will be the first election in which Lake Tahoe Unified School District residents vote for board members based on areas – aka, where they live – instead of everyone being at large. Two contested races are going on, with a third area only having one filer.

Bonnie Turnbull

Annie Davidson

In choosing who to endorse Lake Tahoe News gives a great deal of thought as to the total makeup of the board. Normally, building a cohesive, well-run board is the goal. But with this election we believe it’s time to shake things up a bit.

For too long the LTUSD board has been a puppet for Superintendent Jim Tarwater. He controls the board instead of the board controlling him. After all, the board is his boss, which is often lost on these electeds. This is not to unequivocally say what Tarwater and the board are doing is bad. What we are saying is that those who disagree with him have found themselves silenced in some manner. This is never a good thing.

All entities need to have open dialogue, be able to agree to disagree without being disagreeable, and to welcome new ideas.

Two of the more innovative ideas to recently come into being in LTUSD – two-way immersion at Bijou Community School and growing domes at Sierra House Elementary School – were the inspiration of parents. Tarwater was initially against them and started to lead the board that way. But the parents were tenacious. Eventually they won, and therefore the students were the ultimate beneficiaries.

Tarwater also did not bring the issue of the community play fields to the board, but instead made it a staff decision not to be a partner with the city and Lake Tahoe Community College. While the outcome may have been the same, a stronger board likely would have demanded the topic be agendized for discussion and a vote.

Lake Tahoe News believes Bonnie Turnbull for Area 3 and Annie Davidson for Area 1 are the change the LTUSD board needs.

Turnbull, while she can be aggressive and difficult to work with, is a woman with conviction who has tremendous ideas. We hope she will be able to temper her personality just a bit in order to be a productive member of the board, while at the same time challenging the status quo.

She would be replacing Mike Doyle, who admits he is the quietest board member. At meetings he appears uninterested, unengaged and a rubber stamp for the administration. The community deserves better representation. He also chose not to respond to LTN’s questions by the deadline, saying he was too busy.

While Davidson and Larry Reilly are both well respected in the community, Davidson brings more to the table. In August she had already read the district’s Education Technology Plan, the 2014-15 and 2015-16 budgets, Local Educational Agency document, Local Control Accountability Plan and Measure G bond projects information. And she said she was able to discuss any of them in detail.

Reilly when asked the same question – What do you know about the strategic plan, finances, debt, goals of the school board? – told LTN, “Again, I am currently reviewing the data.”

There isn’t time for that – we need someone who gets the intricacies of the district now. Being a classroom teacher and coach are much different than being a board member.

Another strike against Reilly is that his wife is a high school counselor. This could present a conflict of interest when it comes to voting on staff contracts and other issues. The district several years ago had this same problem with the Romagnolos – one was on the board, the other a principal. Eventually the board member stepped down.

We would like to take this opportunity to commend Troy Matthews for asking to answer Lake Tahoe News’ questions even though he is running unopposed in Area 4. This shows he wants people to know who he is, that he is conscientious, and cares about the community and district.

By Seth A. Richardson, Las Vegas Sun

A federal judge on Friday found partially in favor of two Native American tribes in their lawsuit against the Secretary of State’s Office and two Nevada counties in a voter disenfranchisement case.

Federal Judge Miranda Du released her ruling late Oct. 7 which found in favor of the Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiute tribes’ request for early in-person polling in Nixon and Schurz and Election Day in-person polling at Nixon. She denied the request for satellite voter registration sites in both places.

“In this case, while injunctive relief would impose costs upon defendants, there is no indication it would interfere with the state’s ability to move forward with the November election as scheduled,” Du said in the ruling. “The public interest is served by the enforcement of the (Voting Rights Act of 1965) and the inclusion of protected classes in the political process.”

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By Daniel Rothbergn, Las Vegas Sun

A lawsuit asks a Carson City court to invalidate the Energy Choice Initiative, a November ballot measure seeking to end NV Energy’s monopoly and create a competitive electricity market.

Opponents are not challenging the initiative’s placement on the ballot this year but are using the case as a preemptive measure to block it from appearing on the ballot again in 2018. For the measure to pass, voters would need to approve it twice.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, argues that the initiative is improper because instead of enacting specific legislation, it would unlawfully bind future Legislatures to create a competitive electricity market by 2023.

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Publisher’s note: The following endorsement is from Lake Tahoe News after a team of seven community members gathered to discuss the merits of Measure P.

Recreation is what the South Shore is all about. And while the natural environment provides ample opportunity to play outdoors, that isn’t sufficient. For many athletic endeavors there needs to be a built environment.

This includes swimming, basketball, hockey, tennis, pickleball, as well as soccer, football and baseball. Even cyclists need defined dirt or asphalt to ride on.

It’s no longer good enough to say, “We live in a forest, therefore we don’t need to spend money on recreation.”

Not only is it time, but we’re overdue. That is why Lake Tahoe News enthusiastically supports Measure P on the South Lake Tahoe ballot. It will increase the hotel tax from 10 to 12 percent for most properties, while those in the redevelopment area will pay 14 percent instead of the current 12 percent.

We recognize there is going to be a limit as to what tourists will pay. But on the flip side we need to assess some of the reasons they are not coming.

A big reason is that the athletic facilities are subpar for tournaments. Those tournaments – for a variety of sports – could bring thousands of people a year to the area. Collectively, the smaller events already do. The sporting community and hotel operators believe the larger event organizers would bring their teams (along with fans and money) to South Lake Tahoe if they could play here.

Those people also need some place to sleep. And the local lodging association is excited about that prospect, which is why that group is behind this tax proposal.

In many ways the tourists will be paying for the facilities they will be using and the locals will reap the rewards.

What LTN likes about this tax is that the money raised must go to recreation and cannot be squandered for some other use. We like that rebuilding the 1970’s era recreation complex is the first item on the to-do list. It’s a relic from the past. The maintenance costs are staggering. It’s like duct tape is holding the facility together.

The city would be able to borrow money against the projected income from the additional transient occupancy tax so the improvements could start almost immediately instead of waiting to collect enough TOT to proceed. The city’s debt ratio is rather low and bond rating is high, so this should not be difficult to do.

We know those using the pool – including the community swim team – are apprehensive about the pool being closed for a significant period. We hope the talks with the Tahoe Keys to fill the gap will be realized so there is no interruption in aquatic activities.

We also like that Regan Beach is part of the mix when it comes to upgrades. That is an underutilized piece of property that could offer locals (and others) so much more.

South Lake Tahoe deserves to have state-of-the-art facilities – first for locals, second for tourists.

Jerrod Haase, a South Tahoe High alum, is in his inaugural season as the Stanford men’s basketball coach. Photo Copyright 2016 Carolyn E. Wright

By Vytas Mazeika, Bay Area News Group

Stanford men’s basketball practice began Sunday. But whatever drills first-year coach Jerod Haase put his players through at Maples Pavilion, it’s unlikely to compare with the two-day Navy SEAL camp from a couple of weeks ago in South Lake Tahoe.

For example, the Cardinal hit the pool on Day 2 before sunrise for a couple of hours.

“It was about 30, 33 degrees outside,” junior guard Dorian Pickens said. “We were swimming in the pool and we had our hoodies on, and one of the tasks is we had to go underwater and take the sweatshirts off and pass them to the teammate, meanwhile treading water. They had to put them back on and we had to do it in a certain amount of time.”

Haase, who grew up in South Lake Tahoe, took advantage of a Navy SEAL training program once during his four-year stint at University of Alabama at Birmingham to teach teamwork and leadership in tough situations.

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By Priya Hutner, Tahoe Weekly

Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington returned home two weeks from the day they left Tahoe after attaining their goal to summit Cho Oyu, the mountain known as the Turquoise Goddess, in record time.

Speaking from his home in Squaw Valley, Ballinger had been home less than 48 hours, where he’d returned from the top of the 26,906’ peak five days prior.

Admittedly exhausted, Ballinger was bright, positive and upbeat. He was on a high, overjoyed and elated that the trip was a smashing success. All of the prep, all of the training and all of the logistics favored the team on their whirlwind adventure.

“It was an amazing summit day. It was warm and sunny, there were very few climbers on the mountain and we got to ski the whole way down,” said Ballinger.

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