Sweet Jane is about 2 years old. She came to the shelter with her kittens in October. She was a wonderful mother and fostered motherless kittens along with her own.

Sweet Jane gets along with other cats and dogs. She has been here a long time and really deserves a home of her own.

Sweet Jane is spayed, microchipped, 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.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

– Susan Baumflek

The spring line up of Fireside Chats at Sierra Nevada College hosted by Andy Whyman includes a list of topics from global citizenry, to national security, and environmental preservation.

SNC’s Laura Brunel-Canale, a senior lecturer in the Humanities Department, tops the schedule with “Escaping Ethnocentrism Through Study Abroad” — a discussion about her decadelong research into the benefits of cultural immersion programs in places such as the Yucatan Peninsula and El Salvador. This community dialogue will be Feb. 17 at 7pm in Sierra Nevada College’s Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, rooms 139/141. Refreshments will be served.

March 24 is Keith Hansen, former National Intelligence Council official. Hansen served for more than three decades with the government in military and civilian assignments. As an expert on strategic nuclear force issues, he was deeply involved in negotiations on the disarmament of nuclear weapons. Hansen will address the balance between national security and the public’s right to know. A timely subject given the recent Wikileaks, Hansen will discuss this topic from a policy and intelligence perspective.

On April 28 is Joanne Marchetta, TRPA executive director. Marchetta oversees all aspects of the organization which is charged with regional planning, development and redevelopment oversight, regulatory enforcement and environmental protection and restoration programs for the region.

For more information on the events, contact Shelia Leijon at (775) 832.1310, or shelia_leijon@ivgid.org.

With a special focus on local youth development programs, the Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation recently announced grants totaling $115,200 to 15 organizations through its winter 2011 granting cycle.

This year’s top grant recipient is Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) who was awarded a $30,000 grant. ARC’s unique 40-day program is designed to support youth in gaining essential leadership and academic skills to support their equitable involvement in a diverse community and society.

Other youth-oriented grant recipients include Boys and Girls Club of North Tahoe, $10,000; Girls on the Run, $4,000; Get in the Act! Arts in Action, $2,500 and Jazz Artist in Residence, $7,500. The TMRF also awarded grants to outdoor focused groups including Disabled Sports USA Far West, $2,000; Northstar XC-Snowshoe Series, Tahoe Rim Trail Association, $7,500; Trails and Vistas, $1,000; Truckee Trails Foundation, $4,540 and Truckee River Watershed Council, $10,613. Additionally, grants were awarded to Project MANA, $3,550; Sierra Senior Services, $9,000 and Tahoe Family Solutions, $4,000.

This year the Foundation has launched a donor club, Friends of the Foundations, to help supplement the Foundation’s current grant giving. Friends will have an opportunity to serve as influential ambassadors for the Foundation’s select philanthropic programs and outreach efforts.

The Friends of the Foundation offers both a $10,000 and a $5,000 giving level and membership is open to just 30 donors at each level. Donor benefits include skiing, golfing, dining and cultural event privileges.

The mission of Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation is to serve as a catalyst for community enhancement by providing leadership and funding which will enrich the quality of life in the Truckee – North Tahoe region through cultural, environmental, educational and charitable pursuits.

For more information on the Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation and the Friends of the Foundation donor program, visit www.tmrfoundation.com.

By Steven Ferry, Hospitality.net

Why have butler service in a hotel? In the cases canvassed, there were two basic reasons: either because the hotel owners conceived they had the best property in the world/on the PGA tour/etc. and they believed the corollary on the service side could only be supplied by the addition of butlers. Or because they wanted to give their most important guests such a level of service. The five hotels participating in this article have provided guests with this butler service for the last 6-16 years, building the desired reputation and reaping the rewards. Contrasting this with hotels that have signed onto the butler concept and then disbanded the service, it is obvious that butler departments are not always guaranteed success.

How did they do it, those who succeeded?

First of all, by overcoming the obstacles they met on the way, starting with launching the service. In the case of the iconic Burj al Arab in Dubai, the problem was finding qualified staff in a country that did not have many locals to draw upon. When you have to man a department of something like 160 butlers, it is easy to see why this would be a challenge. In the end they sourced their staff from about 100 countries. Falling Rock in Pennsylvania, a privately held resort designed in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and boasting a challenging Pete Dye-designed golf course, also provides 24-hour butler service to its 42 rooms and suites. Their main challenge, being on a huge estate in the countryside far from any cities, was likewise recruiting butlers, which they resolved by targeting regional colleges and universities. Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe did not have such issues, but struggled with the more prosaic problem of making their pantries flow sufficiently to keep up with the demand for butler services. In the ideally situated Seven Stars Galleria in Milan, their challenge was being able to deliver the same level of service required in a private estate, while being in a hotel environment. This resolved with a perception shift that each room or suite was a single house with the most important guest in it. One of these hotels also mentioned justifying a large payroll as a challenge, which they overcame by providing the expected level of service with concomitant guest satisfaction. They all also hired experts to train their staff, rather than trying to fudge the training by in-house solutions not based on the butler model.

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CASA El Dorado has hired John Adams to be executive director. A private-sector veteran with nonprofit consulting experience, Adams replaces Susan Dorsey, who, after more than three years as CASA’s top administrator, has resumed a career in the healthcare field.

Adams brings decades of private-sector experience and development leadership for regional nonprofits. In 2010, he completed a master’s degree in organizational leadership with a certificate in nonprofit and public leadership at Chapman University. Adams received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for volunteer service to local agencies in 2009.

For three decades, Adams worked in executive sales, marketing and business development roles for technology companies. He most recently served as managing director of Nexthop Technologies. Earlier, Adams enjoyed a 14-year career at Network Equipment Technologies, where he served as vice president and general manager of a business unit overseeing operations in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Adams has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame de Namur. He and his wife, Lyn, have three grown children.

49er Treasure Trail is an interactive hunt all over Amador County on March 26 from 10am-4pm and March 27 from 10am-1pm.

Navigate Historic Amador County by conquering clues and challenges, which are all worth points. Win prizes for the most points, unique costume, most fun team, slowest to finish, traveled the farthest, and more.

Get your clues from your 49er Treasure Trail Guide, available at registration. Clues will lead you to Clue Spots, where you can receive points and tokens. Challenges will come in the form of a game or puzzle. Enter the challenge spot location, play the game or solve the puzzle and earn extra points.

March 25 from 5-7:30pm is registration and kick-off at the ACT Visitor Center, 115 Valley View Way, Sutter Creek.

Results and prizes will be handed out March 27 at 3pm at the Amador County Fairgrounds.

Advance registration: $15 each/$25 per couple. Family of 4: $40. Day of event: $17.50 each; $30 per couple. Family of 4: $50. Kids under 18 must be accompanied by adult in order to win prizes. Registration includes: program with rules and map, gunny sack and lanyard identifying the person as a player, plus a goody bag.

To commemorate and celebrate the contributions to the United States made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week. The first celebration occurred on Feb. 12, 1926.

For many years, the second week of February was set aside for this celebration to coincide with the birthdays of abolitionist/editor Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.

Each year, U.S. presidents proclaim February as National African-American History Month.

The population figures shown here are based on various sources but not on the 2010 Census. The 2010 figures for the black population and other races will be released by April.

As of July 1, 2009, the estimated population of black residents in the United States, including those of more than one race, was 41.8 million, or 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population. This figure represents an increase of more than a half-million residents from one year earlier.

California is one of 18 states with an estimated black population on July 1, 2009, of at least 1 million. New York, with 3.5 million, led the way. The other states on the list were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Longtime South Lake Tahoe resident Vee Gay died Jan. 29. She was 72.

Mrs. Gay suffered an aneurysm.

Her career as a nurse led her to be active in the medical community until the time of her death. In January she had been elected president of the Sacramento Valley Area Council, a regional group of hospital auxiliaries. She was a past president of the Barton Auxiliary.

Vee Gay and daughter Catherine Hembrow

Mrs. Gay put in more than 10,000 hours of volunteer time with the auxiliary. Part of that time was spent at the Attic, the thrift store the auxiliary runs. She was at the store on a monthly basis providing blood pressure checks for anyone who wanted one.

Mrs. Gay graduated from John Hopkins school of nursing in 1959, though at the time she was known as Vee Hall.

She worked for her first husband, Frank Hembrow, in his medical practice as a nurse in South Lake Tahoe.

Mrs. Gay was a past member of the Barton Memorial Hospital board of directors, was on the Tahoe Valley Community Plan team, and supported the choral group TOCCATA.

“Her contributions have been many,” her friend Judy Cefalu said. “This woman had a great laugh. She was happy, pleasant, easy to get along with … just a good woman.”

Mrs. Gay is survived by husband David Gay of South Lake Tahoe; daughter Catherine Hembrow; and grandchildren Samuel and Sarah.

Services are pending.

By Maggie O’Neill, Reno Gazette Journal

They call themselves “human-powered.”

They are snowshoers, backcountry skiers and others who use their own power, i.e., their feet, to make their way through the winter outdoors.

No snowmobiles nor helicopters are used to access out-of-the-way places.

They believe that the most authentic way to experience the season is via their own locomotion and in the quiet and serenity of nature.

Gail Ferrell, president of the Snowlands Network, is an advocate of the human-powered experience, as is Elias Dechent, president of a Reno grassroots film organization called Artemisia.

Together, Ferrell and Dechent are promoting a backcountry film festival that encourages the human-powered experience in lieu of the motor-powered one. This Backcountry Film Festival is scheduled for Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Reno and will feature six films that focus on experiencing nature from a human-powered viewpoint.

“It’s like promoting art in the school,” Ferrell said. “You want to expose (people) to what is possible.”

The films, expected to take 90 minutes to show, will include the festival’s “Best of,” which is Teton Gravity Research’s “Deeper” and that features Jeremy Jones. Not sure who that is?

“He’s a famous snowboarder and he lives in Truckee,” said Dechent. “His big thing is that he’s changed his philosophy (on) snowboarding. His way is to not use helicopters or snowmobiles to get to hidden places. He just climbs or hikes there. And also because he is doing that, he takes way longer. So he has to stay there for weeks or months, but it also gives him the possibility of getting to places where no one else is.”

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Moe is a sweet 15-month-old boy who spent much of his life chained up outside. He would love an active owner who will take him to training classes. Moe is unsure of most other dogs and needs to be an only pet until he learns that other dogs are fun to play with.

Moe is neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.

He 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.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

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

— Susan Baumflek