Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s annual Connect for a Cause Charity Mixer is Jan. 12 from 5:30-8:30pm.

This event will include drinks, appetizers, a photo booth, and raffle prizes. All proceeds from the raffle will be donated to Bread & Broth.

Guests are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for Bread & Broth. Those who do so will then be entered to win the door prize.

The fundraiser is at Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe. Cost is $10 for children, $20 for chamber members and $30 for others.

With January being Blood Donor Month, Tahoe Douglas Fire is having a blood drive.

It will be Jan. 17 from noon-5pm at Station 23 at 193 Elks Point Road, Round Hill.

Northern Nevada needs about 900 blood donors to give each week to ensure patient needs are met.

Appointments are recommended to ensure proper staffing and keep donors moving smoothly through the process, but walk ins will be accepted. 

To give blood, a donor must be in generally good health, free from cold or flu symptoms for at least 48 hours; be at least 17 year old (16 year olds may donate with signed parental consent); and weigh at least 110 pounds. Photo identification is required.

For more information, contact Kate Warner at 775.588.3591 or kwarner@tahoefire.com.

Winter storms often cause power outages.

Here are some tips from Liberty Utilities to handle being without power:

• Keep all doors closed to keep the heat inside.
• Dress warmly and stay together in the same room or area. 
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer closed as much as possible. 
• Turn off all appliances, including computers and peripherals, especially those that generate heat. This helps prevent hazards or damage when service is restored.
• Turn off all lights except one inside your home/business and one outside. The inside light lets you see and the outside light lets Liberty Utilities’ crews know when the power is back on.
• When power has been restored, conserve electricity in the first hours to prevent further outages.
• Do not use electric stoves or clothes dryers in the first hour after restoration.

The Nevada Division of Forestry is soliciting preproposals for two competitive grant program areas, landscape scale restoration and hazardous fuels reduction.

Nevada’s urban and rural ecosystems are continuously threatened by invasions of non-native species, vegetation diseases, development disturbances, unsustainable management and destructive natural events such as floods and wildfires.

NDF has funding from the U.S. Forest Service. Funds may be used to implement restoration treatments that improve or restore urban/rural forests and rangelands, water resources, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. Projects that mitigate wildfire behavior, noxious weed infestations and negative ecosystem impacts are also eligible.

For more information on landscape scale restoration grants, contact Heather Giger at 775.684.2552 or hdgiger@forestry.nv.gov.

Additionally, NDF is also seeking pr-proposals for the Western States Fire Managers and Hazardous Fuels-Community Protection programs, which assists cooperators with identifying and implementing fuel reduction projects to mitigate community losses from wildfires. Funding is available through two grant sources, the Western States Fire Managers and the Hazardous Fuels-Community Protection. Funds can be used for costs associated with implementing on-the-ground hazardous fuels reduction projects, information and education relating to wildland urban interface issues, restoration of fire adapted ecosystems and homeowner and community protection planning.

For more information on these grants, contact Ryan Shane at 775.684.2511 or rshane@forestry.nv.gov.

Lake Tahoe Community College is having multiple artists’ receptions on Jan. 19.

The free receptions will be simultaneously from 5-7pm. This is an opportunity to meet the artists whose works will be on display.

In the Haldan Art Gallery in the library building will be a group exhibition by the faculty and staff of the Department of Art at Humboldt State University. Meet them during an artists’ talk at 5:30pm. The artwork on display imparts an understanding of the variety of media, techniques, and concepts in which these teacher-artists are engaged. Over the past several years, LTCC has had a number of students transfer to Humboldt State’s art program, which offers a variety of majors, including fine art as well as more commercially focused programs. This exhibit will be open through March 24.

In the Foyer Gallery located in the Fine Arts building will be oil paintings in Claudia Garza’s “Landscapes of Our Backyard” through March 25. Garza began taking classes at LTCC in 2006, and has continued to enroll in painting classes on and off.

In the Student Gallery in the Main Building Commons will be another group exhibition of artwork by members of the Tahoe Art League. With this new exhibition, TAL hopes to introduce the wide variety of subjects, techniques, and styles of art produced by its members.

For more information about art exhibits, contact Phyllis Shafer at 530.541.4660 ext. 251 or Shafer@ltcc.edu.

Three-term El Dorado County supervisor Bill Johnson has died.

William Van Dyke Johnson was part of the pioneer family that helped create South Lake Tahoe before it was even a city.

Bill Johnson

Mr. Johnson died Dec. 19, 2016. He was 85.

He was born at the J Lazy J Ranch on Mottsville Lane in Gardnerville on March 21, 1931. He graduated from Gardnerville High School class of 1949. 

Mr. Johnson served two years in the Korean War in the Army. Upon being discharged he went to San Francisco where he went to hotel and restaurant management school.

It was on Aug. 29, 1953, that he married Felice Muldoon in South Lake Tahoe. He was in the property management business for nearly 20 years.

In 1969, the voters elected him to represent Tahoe on the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, where he served for 12 years. He was instrumental in convincing the county to sell Lake Tahoe Airport to the city – and at a favorable price for South Lake Tahoe. The bill — $1.

Mr. Johnson along with his sister Marjorie Springmeyer and brother Knox Johnson gave land to the city for what is now the city-county government complex on Johnson Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe.

As an elected official, Mr. Johnson was on various boards, including the Tahoe Basin Transportation Authority for nine years, Tahoe Transportation District, and Highway 50 study corridor group.

More recently Mr. Johnson and his wife had property in Camino where they ran Bills Apples and Felices Dolls.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Felice, and sister Marjorie Johnson Springmeyer.

Mr. Johnson is survived his sons, Ross, Kent and Curtis; brother Knox; daughters-in-law; four grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

There were no services. Donations may be made in Mr. Johnson’s name to any veterans group.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report

Bodie James Briggs joins parents Jessica and Steve Briggs and half-brother Zachary. Photo/Provided

South Lake Tahoe’s first baby of the new year arrived Jan. 4 at 5:08pm at Barton Memorial Hospital.

Bodie James Briggs weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 19 inches.

His parents Jessica and Steve Briggs of Meyers named Bodie after California’s famous gold mining ghost town.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with Douglas County Social Services and a community task force will be starting Caring Neighbors on Jan. 11.

Trained sheriff’s volunteers who have completed background checks will be calling on seniors who live in Douglas County. The client can have a phone call once or twice a week or whichever frequency they wish. The client can also sign up for uniformed DCSO volunteers to visit them briefly at their home. 

The free program was designed to let the seniors of Douglas County know that they are not alone.

Referrals to the program can be made by the senior themselves, or a neighbor, relative, friend, or an emergency responder such as a fireman or sheriff’s deputy.  The referral will be followed up on and consent is required by the senior client.

For more info, call Douglas County Social Services at 775.782.9825. 

Nellie

Nellie is a 10-month-old Jack Russell terrier/Queensland Heeler mix who weighs about 25 pounds. As is typical of these breeds, she is very energetic and smart and will do best in a home where she will get lots of exercise and training.

She is a little scared of new men and needs a home without small children. She is a puppy and is still in the “let’s try out these teeth” stage. Nellie is a nice girl who has been in the shelter for three weeks. We would love to get her into her new home soon.

Nellie is spayed, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

By Jane Greenhalgh, NPR

With more states legalizing recreational marijuana, parents are facing the question of whether they should smoke pot around their children.

“I have never smoked and would never smoke around my child,” says one mother who lives in San Francisco. California is one of eight states that allows recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older.

This woman uses marijuana to treat her migraines and insomnia, but she never uses it around her 5-year-old son. (She asked that her name not be used because marijuana use remains a federal offense.) “I don’t want to impact his air quality by the decisions I’m making,” she says.

This is the right decision, according to research by Karen Wilson, a pediatrician and lead author of a study showing that children absorb chemicals from secondhand marijuana smoke.

Read the whole story