Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News convened an editorial panel of seven community members to come up with this endorsement.

An elected board, while comprised of individuals, ultimately is a team. They don’t have to agree – in fact 5-0 votes are not necessarily a sign of a healthy board – but they do need to play nice together.

The current South Lake Tahoe City Council is not always respectful of one another. They don’t all look each other in the eye or actively listen. Their body language, at times, is atrocious.

Too often the same subject matter is revisited over and over again because a vote didn’t go someone’s way. This keeps the city from being able to move forward. The vote on the plastic bag ban is just one example.

While technically the recession ended years ago, the fallout from it is still being felt in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Not everyone has recovered in terms of jobs or the housing market. Summer was good to many, winter bad for most. But when 60 percent of Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s students receive a free or reduced lunch, clearly the people here are not doing well. That translates to 60 percent of the people with school-age children not being able to provide their child with lunch. Who knows what those families are eating the rest of the day.

South Lake Tahoe needs jobs that pay a livable wage. The town – and region – needs to attract people here who will spend money. We need infrastructure. We need businesses to invest in their product, including modernizing their buildings and signs.

First, we need to take care of more than 20,000 people who call South Lake Tahoe home. Then we can worry about the greater South Shore, the basin and those who visit.

Government can only do so much to help. A few ways the City Council can help include creating regulations that encourage redevelopment, not charging outrageous fees, enforcing the rules on the books so the town doesn’t look like a flea market, bringing like-minded businesses-residents together to form community service districts, marketing the area and not relying solely on the primarily Nevada-funded tourism agency, realizing recreation is more than a bike trail (though we like bike trails), and investigating new and different industries to supplement tourism beyond minimum wage jobs.

We believe the continued efforts of Brooke Laine, and the infusion of newcomers Wendy David and Austin Sass will help South Lake Tahoe be a more progressive town by the time their terms are up in 2018. We believe they are already leaders who have like-minded goals, though different approaches. We believe they comprise the team that will take South Lake Tahoe out of its morass of conflict and backpedaling and into a world of progress and prosperity for all, while bringing compassion and understanding to the process.

Laine has demonstrated her ability to be a voice of reason since being appointed in January 2013 to the unexpired term vacated by Claire Fortier. Laine was elected to serve on the council from 1998-2002.

One thing that makes her unique is she is and would be the only councilmember who has a full-time job where she is an employee not working for herself. She is more like most people in town – working for someone else. Laine has demonstrated the ability to do the city’s work efficiently and effectively. She is always prepared, having read the council packet.

As someone who was born and raised here, Laine brings a breadth of experience others cannot. She also has the institutional knowledge that is critical.

She can see both sides of an issue, does not come to meetings with blinders on, and truly cares about the town and residents. She is thoughtful in her approach to decision-making, is not swayed by whoever talked to her last and is not climbing a political ladder.

David has demonstrated she is a consensus builder. We need that now.

She is the only one who has the life experience of working with the less advantaged in our community through her endless volunteer and paid positions. She is the one interacting with those who are working three jobs to barely survive. She will bring to the council a depth of knowledge from a sector of the community that is not currently represented.

We expect she will be well versed in the rigors of the city in short order. She has the time and intelligence to be a contributing member of the council from Day 1.

Her tenure on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board is an asset — she understands a board is a team. Plus, the district is an integral component of future recreation plans. She could be a bridge between the entities, as the city and district have not always seen eye-to-eye.

As with our 2012 endorsement of Sass, we’re still wary of his arrogance. It has not been tempered since he last ran. Still, we believe his strengths outweigh his weaknesses. We hope he embraces the team concept quickly.

Sass does his homework as evidenced by his thorough responses to Lake Tahoe News’ questions and depth of answers at forums, he cares about the economy, he understands numbers and he is without question the candidate who recreates the most. This last fact is important as the area puts more of an emphasis on recreation.

Plus, he has worked for major players like Heavenly Mountain Resort and Aramark. He is the candidate with the most big-business experience. We need that type of diversity on the council.

Lake Tahoe News believes Laine, David and Sass will be a strong team on the South Lake Tahoe City Council who will represent the best interests of residents and the concerns of the greater South Shore area for the next four years. We also believe they will complement the remaining two council members whose terms expire in two years.

Lake Tahoe News could not endorse the other candidates for the following reasons:

• Angela Swanson: She would be better off working outside of Lake Tahoe for the betterment of the basin or being an employee and not an elected official where there is a light continually illuminating her ethics, judgment and political aspirations. At some point she needs to take ownership for having said before the June supervisorial election that she would not seek to retain her council seat, for having taken money in a paper bag for a charity from someone who is now in prison, and for quitting her term on Lake Tahoe Unified School District and then immediately collecting a paycheck for her work as a consultant with the district.

• Tom Davis: His decisions are not rooted in good public policy. Look at past decisions on the Chateau project, redevelopment as a whole, and the plastic bag ban as examples. He is a follower and not a leader. He is not forward thinking. He can be argumentative and dismissive to the public.

• Matt Palacio: He needs to get more experience before jumping right onto the council. We can’t afford to wait for him to catch up to speed. At a candidate forum he mentioned the town doesn’t need another car parts store, which spoke volumes about his lack of knowledge of zoning and free market issues. He is good at pointing out a need for younger people on the council, but besides being in his 30s, we don’t see that he has anything else to bring to the table. He is lacking vision. And the fact he eliminated a question on LTN’s form (which we reinstated) instead of writing “no comment” or the like points to a character flaw of taking the easy road, or perhaps not being straight forward and honest.

• Bruce Grego: He was voted off the council in 2012. We believe the public has already spoken. He has done nothing in this time to change our opinion of him when we did not endorse him two years ago.

By J.D. Morris, Las Vegas Sun

Sheldon Adelson continued his crusade against online gaming, passionately opposing its legalization during an appearance at a major gaming industry trade show.

Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is arguably the loudest critical voice against legal gambling on the Internet. He made his latest remarks during a keynote discussion on the second full day of the Global Gaming Expo, or G2E.

Saying that “when you’re on the Internet, you cannot know your customer,” Adelson suggested that it’s easy for underage players to gamble online.

He was responding to questions from Roger Gros, the publisher of Global Gaming Business, who pushed back on the casino magnate’s objections. Gros said, “You know your customer better on the Internet than you do in person” in defense of online gaming’s ability to authenticate players’ identities.

But Adelson would hear none of it, especially when it came to the idea that online gaming should be legalized because it already happens.

Read the whole story

By Diana Lambert and Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee

California students are getting better at passing the high school graduation exam, but the test may be on its way out.

The state is in the midst of an education overhaul as schools begin adopting Common Core State Standards, national guidelines that proponents say focus more on critical thinking and problem-solving. California education leaders say an expected shift in classroom instruction and test methods will render the current exit exam obsolete.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has proposed alternatives to the California High School Exit Exam that include scrapping it altogether, using parts of the Common Core test instead or relying on college entrance exam performance to determine eligibility for graduation. Lawmakers are expected to take up the issue next year, though state education officials say a new test is unlikely until July 2017.

The exit exam includes math problems at the sixth- through eighth-grade level, as well as an English portion that tests at the 10th-grade level. All high school students in California, with the exception of some disabled students, must pass it to graduate.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe Hard Rock owners are spending $60 million to renovate the property.

By Kathryn Reed

A song, like poetry, can capture a mood, leave an edible mark and forever resonate throughout time. It can be head-banging, soul-searching, spine-tingling.

“Music is different to every single person. So is how you interpret it,” Don Marrandino, general manager of Lake Tahoe Hard Rock, told Lake Tahoe News.

Marrandino knows his music, knows Lake Tahoe and is gambling on the two being perfect together.

It’s the music that lures people into Hard Rock establishments. Then the unique memorabilia – from tickets to playbills to outfits to instruments – keeps them in the zone.

It’s more like a museum than casino in many ways. One doesn’t need to gamble to get the full flavor of a Hard Rock.

What the Hard Rock tries to do is put a little of its spell into all corners of the property so people will want to come back, stay longer and spend the night. It would be near impossible to see everything on one or even a handful of visits. And, of course, the music is always changing.

The 539-rooms of what was the Horizon hotel-casino at Stateline have been gutted to their studs. Contractors are scurrying to finish the $60 million remodel as soon as possible. Reservations are being taken starting the night of Jan. 9.

An earlier opening date is possible – maybe even New Year’s Eve.

“One thing we’re adamant about is we don’t want to open when we are not ready. We hope in the next several weeks to have a better idea of when we are ready to do so,” Marrandino said.

This rendering shows how the rooms are being revamped.

He said there have been challenges to dealing with an old building – it opened in 1965 as Del Webb’s Sahara-Tahoe – but nothing that has cut into the time or could not be overcome.

Marrandino would like to recapture some of the glory days of the old property by having people who once played there take to the stage again. He wouldn’t mention any names in particular.

While the great and even obscure sounds from the 1960s to today will boom from the speakers for all to hear, the new casino will also have a separate venue for music.

Specifics about most of the property are being kept underwraps – including if the concert hall will be anything like The Joint in Las Vegas, how big it will be or if anyone has been booked.

First, more than 500 employees need to be hired and trained, which started last month.

Tats, piercings, unnaturally colored hair – they have a place in front of the house. Yes, Lake Tahoe Hard Rock wants authentic people to work at the Stateline hotel-casino, not people who look like everyone else.

“The employees are allowed to be themselves. The only thing we demand is they treat customers like they are their best friend,” Marrandino said.

The preview center that opened this summer in the Heavenly Village will close Oct. 15. There are no plans to have a Hard Rock retail outlet outside of the casino property. But do expect different merchandise than what has been sold elsewhere. This is because the creative geniuses are working on winter specific logowear.

“We are putting stuff together that has never been done before at a Hard Rock. It should make for fun holiday presents,” Marrandino said. (This suggests a pre-Christmas opening.)

Whenever opening day is, it will begin a phased approach. Marrandino said it could take two years for the entire property to be fully operational.

No word yet on specifics about the dining establishments. But Executive Chef Jonathan Snyder won’t be the only local with a position of authority. The human resources director and marketing director also grew up here.

As for what will happen to the Hard Rock Café next door at Harveys, their public relations firm says they are staying open. The café and hotel-casino are owned by different entities.

By Nathan Hurst, Springfield News-Leader

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Researchers at the University of Missouri and the University of Minnesota have found that local governments can help cut record levels of youth obesity by expanding public lands available for recreation.

Sonja Wilhelm-Stanis, an associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, found that counties with more non-motorized nature trails and forest lands have higher levels of youth activity and lower youth obesity, while counties with more nature preserves have lower activity levels.

Wilhelm Stanis, along with her co-authors Andrew Oftedal and Ingrid Schneider from the University of Minnesota, studied data from every county in the state of Minnesota, comparing youth activity rates and youth obesity rates to amount of public non-motorized nature trails, motorized nature trails, nature preserves, parklands and forest land.

Read the whole story

By Scott Sonner, AP

You’d be hungry too if you couldn’t find any food and were used to eating the equivalent of more than 80 cheeseburgers a day.

An already busy bear season has exploded in the Sierra Nevada with nine hungry bruins captured since Wednesday morning near Reno and Lake Tahoe as an ongoing drought continues to make food scarce in the mountains. A 10th was hit and killed by a car Thursday in south Reno.

Since July 1, Nevada Department of Wildlife officials have caught 42 black bears and released all but two back into the wild. They said two repeat offenders had to be killed — one so bold it was rummaging through picnic baskets in July on a busy Tahoe beach.

Cars have killed an additional 10 bears as the animals move into more populated areas from the parched foothills on the Sierra’s eastern front, where streams are down to a trickle and the usual supply of berries and insects is lacking.

Bears and cubs are prolific on both sides of the state line. Photo/Kathryn Reed

A surge in activity is expected with cooler temperatures this time of year, when a typical bear’s food intake jumps from 3,000 to 25,000 calories a day, said Chris Healy, Department of Wildlife spokesman. That’s the human equivalent of 83 McDonald’s cheeseburgers.

The animals are going through hyperphagia, a physiological change in which they eat as much as they can to store fat for winter hibernation.

“Nothing much gets in the bear’s way when they are this hungry,” said Carl Lackey, the agency’s chief wildlife biologist. “Nature’s dinner bell is ringing.”

He noted a third consecutive year of drought has exacerbated bear encounters with humans.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife captured 97 bears last year and 83 in 2012, mostly between July 1 and Dec. 1. The 10-year highs and lows were 159 in 2007 and 40 in 2009.

On Thursday, game wardens and wildlife biologists were back on the trail of nuisance bears raiding garbage cans and climbing trees near residential areas in search of fruit. Over the past two days, they’ve trapped two mother bears and three cubs in the same part of west Reno, a sow and two cubs at south Tahoe near Stateline, and a 2-year-old near Carson City.

“It’s pretty wild,” Healy said Thursday after they captured the latest one near Carson City. He said the separate bear families caught in Reno on consecutive days were “literally at the exact same spot.”

Lake Tahoe’s multitude of colors can be seen where the Incline trail will go. Photos/Kathryn Reed

By Kathryn Reed

INCLINE VILLAGE – It’s possible people won’t be able to pedal the Incline Village to Sand Harbor bike trail that is slated to break ground next summer.

And it has nothing to do with the grade – that is expected to be no more than 5 percent. Nor even the length to begin with – it will be three miles when this demonstration plot is finished in what could be 2016.

It’s the views that may keep people from progressing far at once. People likely will be pulling over to snap photo after photo.

From the road this windy stretch of Highway 28 looks like it could fall into Lake Tahoe. The truth is there is a wide swath of land before reaching the water – and not just in drought years. This is where the bike path is going to be built.

The Incline section is one small part of what eventually will be the 30-mile Stateline-to-Stateline Bike Path. It will encompass all of Nevada at the lake. The even larger plan is to have a path around the entire lake.

The first phase of the Stateline-to-Stateline trail was completed in 2013 with 2.2 miles that go from Rabe Meadow in Stateline to Round Hill Pines Beach.

This past summer the Tahoe Fund launched a fundraising drive to secure $750,000 to help leverage $12 million in public dollars for the project as well as put some aside for a future endowment fund for maintenance. Tahoe Transportation District is the lead agency to get the trail built, but this section would be Nevada State Parks responsibility for upkeep.

The trail will mean not having to walk along the highway.

The nonprofit raised the money in seven weeks. The 16 vista points ranged from $15,000 to $100,000 depending on size and access. Those with more modest budgets can still donate $100 to have recognition at the start of the trail, and donors will also be recognized at kiosks at different locations.

Near where Tunnel Creek Café sits today will be the addition of 90 parking places. Already a bike trail exists on Lakeshore Drive. Eventually the Stateline trail will go to Crystal Bay.

The section breaking ground in May will head from the café on the mountain side. Where the actual Tunnel Creek flows is where cyclists/walkers will cross Highway 28 – either underground or via a bridge. This is about one mile from the café. People will be adjacent to the lake the rest of the way to Sand Harbor.

Amy Berry, CEO of the Tahoe Fund, said, “It’s like building a highway alongside the highway.”

This is because it will be 10-feet wide, entails potential over and underpasses, cantilever bridges, grades to meet American with Disabilities Act rules, signs and other necessities. Plus, building at Tahoe – and so close to the water – requires hurdles to be leaped before contractors are hired.

Scenery will be a main draw to this route.

People will be walking or riding at a level that is lower than the state highway. And while this may sound noisy, the normal passenger car just made a hum on a recent morning. The beauty, even on a smoky day, could not be interrupted or derailed by anything above.

There will still be spots for motorists to stop, like at Memorial Point.

Stairs descend from the road to the water. Not all of these will be saved or in their same configuration when the trail is built. Besides getting people from Point A to Point B, the route is designed to stop people from parking on the narrow highway, reduce accidents, improve the environment and get people closer to Lake Tahoe. Estimates are that 100,000 people will use this trail once it is in the ground.

“It is a trail that takes you someplace, but the journey is the destination,” Berry said.

By Steve Gorman, Reuters

LOS ANGELES — California forestry officials have opened an inquiry into a life-threatening ordeal faced by 12 firefighters who were nearly engulfed by flames in the Sierra Nevada last month before a helicopter pilot flew to the scene and led them to safety.

The team had already crawled into foil-lined personal fire shelters — a survival measure of last resort — before they were spotted by the pilot as columns of fire raced up a canyon at them, igniting whole trees along the way.

The incident, which came close to becoming the deadliest California firefighting tragedy in nearly five decades and recalled the loss of 19 firemen in Arizona last year, unfolded on the third day of the King Fire.

Cal Fire, swiftly began a “near miss review” of the Sept. 15 incident, but the story was not widely reported at first.

Read the whole story

By AP

SACRAMENTO — California officials are urging residents and businesses to keep conserving water as the state ends another extremely dry “water year” with no guarantee the coming year will be any wetter.

The 2014 water year that ended Tuesday was one of the driest on record, with the state getting less than 60 percent of the average precipitation, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The 2015 water year began Wednesday.

The state’s major reservoirs collectively held only 57 percent of average water storage on Sept. 1, officials said.

Department Director Mark Cowin said “day-to-day conservation – wise, sparing use of water – is essential as we face the possibility of a fourth dry winter,” which is typically California’s rainy season.

Water officials say recent storms, while encouraging, haven’t eased the state’s water woes and forecasters can’t predict if California will get enough major storms to end the record drought.

Earlier this year, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought emergency and called on residents to reduce water usage. The state and federal government have drastically reduced water deliveries to Central Valley farms, and the state water board approved fines of up to $500 for wasting water.

In September, the governor signed legislation that would for the first time regulate groundwater in California, prompted by concerns that increased pumping is depleting aquifers and causing land to sink.

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News asked the two El Dorado County District 5 supervisor candidates a series of questions. All are the same except for one that is specific to each candidate. The responses are being run in the order LTN received them.

Name: Kenny Curtzwiler

Profession/work experience: Room service waiter at Sahara Tahoe – two years / Bartender-Carlos Murphy’s –19 years / Bartender Chevy’s – one- year / Bartender Tudor Pub — three years / Nevada Army National Guard — 20.5 years (I held the ranks of E-1, E-2, E-3, E-5, E-6—O-1, O-2, O-3, and retired an O-4-Major.) I own Skibumfamily Inc and dba K & K Services. Pam and I named our business K & K from the initials of myself Kenny and my son Kaleb (Tree Service, Roofing and Construction Clean Up Company) Lake Tahoe Custom Cycles (Motorcycle Repair Shop) Tahoe Skibum, South Lake Tahoe Skibum and Lake Tahoe Skibum (Retail clothing and writer of the Skibum articles in Lake Tahoe Entertainer and Tahoe Mountain News).

Age: 58

What organizations, committees or groups are you or have you been involved with?: It would be much easier to ask which ones I haven’t been involved in as I am involved with them all. Specifically the major ones are Christmas Cheer, the Children’s Memorial Tree, American Legion and Boys and Girls Club. I do not belong to any one group with the exception of the American Legion. I feel in this way I can give freely to everyone without breaking any affiliation feelings. My company and family have donated to almost every function this community has had for the last 33 years. I am also a registered non partisan and am not affiliated in any way to a political party, in this way I can vote for what is best for our community and not a certain group whether it be political or special group.

Why are you running for supervisor?: My son asked me to make a difference here in a letter he wrote.

Why should people vote for you over the other candidate?: I honestly feel that I have prepared for this position since I first moved to Tahoe by getting involved with the community and lifestyle this area has to offer. I would also like to hold the agencies and elected officials (yes, that will include myself) accountable for their actions, decisions and commitment to our community, which now includes our friends in Pollock Pines.

What do you think is the most pressing issue facing El Dorado County and how will you deal with it?: El Dorado County has lost its focus when it comes to the community and the community needs. It is the responsibility of the government to take care of police, fire and community infrastructure like our roads and facilities. Too often they have gotten lost in the eye candy and smoke and mirrors of certain interest groups whose only focus is to promote themselves first and the community second.

The 56-acre project, which includes Lakeview Commons and the campground on the other side of Highway 50, is owned by the county and maintained by the city. The county has not invested a dime and does not contribute to the maintenance and operations. Would you ask the county to help with paying some of the bills or would you advocate for deeding the land to the city? Why or why not?: I do not know if the county has invested anything. I would have to check on that and get back with you. To the best of my understanding the county is no different than a landlord, they lease the facility to the city and it is the city’s responsibility for T I & M. There are several hundred examples of a landlord not doing anything to their property as long as the rent is paid up here in our community. They see no reason to invest in our community as most of them do not live here, the county is no different, outta sight outta mind. Rather than sell it to the city we need to work together to improve our community, if the county is not willing to work with us then perhaps we should look into transferring stewardship of the site to our community and the people that actually live here.

The city and county are putting together a recreation master plan, but the Board of Supervisors has never voted on whether it would fund the implementation of the plan. Would you dedicate funds to promote the investment of recreation?: See above answer where I talk about out of area landlords. The word Landlords used to be reversed where there were Lords of the Land until the land became a part of the community. As far as investment goes, yes. Obviously, I will take care of our community first.

Being on the board requires working with four others. Give readers an example of how you work well others in difficult situations with differing opinions: My experience in the military required me to work with everyone above and below my pay grade on a daily basis. Contrary to belief the military is not a democracy yet we were required to work as one. The biggest asset I have is that I do not belong to a political party, special interest group or community organization. I belong to this community and will and have always kept that first and foremost in everything I have done in the 37 years I have lived here. I have had a working relationship with just about everyone in this town through my writings as the Skibum to my business as a contractor and specifically due to all the years as a bartender. I am able to walk into the offices of our officials and work out any differences we may have. We don’t always agree but that is what I am here to work out and move on for the betterment of our community. I do not always get what I want but neither does the other side but we do come to a compromise.

What is working in the county and what isn’t; and how would you go about changing what isn’t working?: What isn’t working is the communication between the BOS and the community. It is our, the community’s, job to get involved with what is happening but it is imperative that the BOS share with the community what is going on. For too long these agendas have been pushed through for the consultants and their employers as to what we need without full disclosure and communication with all those affected. We need a representative that is willing to ask the question “Really?”. Our elected officials need to remember who they work for.

Would you consider replacing the current CAO? Why or why not?: I do not have enough information to comment on this question.

The grand jury labeled the county dysfunctional. What is your opinion of that assessment?: No more dysfunctional that our own City Council. I would agree with the statement based on the fact that I have served on the civil grand jury for a year a few years back and am somewhat familiar with the inner workings. The grand jury is made up of volunteers, community members who want to make a difference yet they have no teeth. Every grand jury report has been ignored and if you read all of them they are almost always the same theme. Our elected officials need to read the grand jury report standing next to a mirror to see what they are talking about.

Agriculture is a huge economic driver for the county. What are your ideas in regards to the drought to ensure farmers and ranchers have enough water?: I do not have enough knowledge or interaction with farmers and agriculture to answer this question.

The Sand Fire this summer proved El Dorado County was lacking in emergency response coordination efforts. What improvements would you propose?: I will use our Lake Valley Fire Department as an example. We must be proactive and not always reactive. I attended an El Dorado County meeting [in August] where all the fire district chiefs and committees were there. The biggest theme was they are all asking for money and their fair share of tax dollars and what do we need to improve their services. LV has been proactive in seeking grant funds for defensible space and wood shake replacement. I am a Tree Service and Roofing contractor and I can tell you that when they implemented these programs we have done about a thousand jobs for defensible space and the protection of our community. Proactive not reactive. LV is now asking for a new “tax” for more defensible space programs. This money will stay in our community to help our community. I applaud our Lake Valley Fire Department for being proactive and taking care of the community. The problem with the Sand fire was the same problem with the Angora Fire. Too many agency chiefs egos were bruised because all the outside agencies wanted to be in charge when they should have had less egos involved and let one local agency take charge. We needed to be able to cross jurisdictions and power structures without worrying about stepping on another agency’s perceived power ego.

How would you improve relations with the city of South Lake Tahoe?: Are you asking what I would do as a person or are you asking as the county? Since the question is stated as “you” I will answer that way. I will be no different in what I have done in the past, present or future. I will still just walk in or call for a talk with our officials. I will still communicate with them only this time we can actually move forward on critical issues not just the issues in my articles.

On Lake Tahoe News you commented how you are proud to collect unemployment in the winter when your business closes down. Ethically, how do you justify this?: Below is the actual wording of what I said. I had Ms. Reed look it up for me as I asked her to show me where I said I was proud.

Jealous Jeff? Yes I do collect unemployment on your dime and enjoy every powder day and have absolutely no regrets or ashamed of what I do. Thanks for your opinion.

My company is a corporation and I am an employee of the company. I receive a paycheck and pay into EDD.

Tell the voters something about yourself that they may not know: Someone asked Pam, my lovely wife of 33 years, if she or I was afraid of someone saying something about us that might not be flattering. Her response, “Are you kidding? This guy puts his whole life story out every month in the Mountain News, there is nothing anyone does not know about us.” There is probably one thing though, both Pam and I were adopted.