By John Simerman, Contra Costa Times

Contra Costa County will slap a $24,000 lien on the property near Antioch where Phillip and Nancy Garrido kept Jaycee Dugard in sexual bondage for years, after a cleanup last year of mounds of trash, hazardous wiring, junk cars, dilapidated structures and an open septic hole in the yard.

The cleanup followed three separate law enforcement searches of the property on Walnut Avenue after authorities learned that Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters, fathered by Phillip Garrido, had been living for years in a hidden compound of tents, sheds and outbuildings, never seeing a doctor or enrolling in school.

The lien, which the Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday, adds to a growing public debt on the property where authorities say the Garridos held Dugard since they abducted her in 1991 at age 11 on her street in South Lake Tahoe.

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Two people and their pets escaped injury Tuesday afternoon when a fire broke out at their South Lake Tahoe residence.

When Lake Valley firefighters arrived at 1406 Black Bart Ave. they saw light smoke coming from the roof.

Firefighters quickly determined there was a fire in the chimney chase that connected to a large attic, and were able to extinguish it before it spread to the surrounding structures or wildland. The cause is being labeled accidental.

Crews were at the house this morning in the snow mopping up after the 4:12pm fire.

Leona Allen, spokeswoman for the department, told Lake Tahoe News the fire started in the older section of the 5,000-square-foot house that had been remodeled.

An estimate of the cost of damages is not known. It will likely be up to the insurance company to determine whether the structure is salvageable.

By Kathryn Reed

Lake Tahoe Community College officials were alerted Tuesday that members of Westboro Baptist Church will picket the college during the March 19 production of the “Laramie Project” at Duke Theatre.

Members of this Topeka, Kansas, church run by Fred Phelps travel the country preaching that God does not like homosexuals.

In fact, the web address for the church is www.godhatesfags.com.

Matthew Shepard

LTCC President Paul Killpatrick enlightened the board at the regular meeting Tuesday about the planned protest. Killpatrick said the college would be contacting law enforcement to ensure play attendees are protected and that the protest is peaceful.

The “Laramie Project” is about the death of Matthew Shepard, the college student who made national headlines after he was tortured and killed near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 because he was gay.

The church has a protest schedule. LTCC is there. The reason for the protest spouts hatred.

By Kathryn Reed

One hour. That was the amount of time Les Lovell was given by Stan Perez before a press release was sent last week saying Perez was withdrawing as a candidate for El Dorado County sheriff.

“It was probably as shocking to me as it was anyone else,” Lovell told Lake Tahoe News. He said Perez and his campaign manager made the decision without any input from him. “I don’t know why he chose to withdraw at this point. I think the amount of money and some negative press coming out. It was a personal decision.”

Lovell, a lieutenant in the sheriff’s office based in South Lake Tahoe, was picked by Perez to be undersheriff. That decision by the retired California Highway Patrol chief had been met with mixed emotions in the basin. Some believe the No. 2 slot should not be named until after the election. Others saw it as a move by Perez merely to woo Tahoe voters.

Lt. Les Lovell was not part of team deciding Stan Perez should back out of the sheriff's race. Photo/Lisa J. Tolda

None of that matters now that Perez has pulled out of the race. On Feb. 19 Perez told Lake Tahoe News his departure had to do with money and the difficulty in fund raising, and having spent more than $50,000 of his own cash.

Subsequently, the Mountain Democrat in Placerville wrote a story stating Perez lied about his education and therefore was paid at a rate of pay he had not earned.

Perez has since written a scathing letter to that paper saying its allegations are completely false.

That letter in part says, “Had you conducted a thorough inquiry and asked for the CHP’s policy by which the educational pay incentive program works – which is a public document and was given to whom we believe is ‘your source’ – it would have shown that eligibility for educational pay is possession of an Advanced POST certificate. On July 3, 1995, I completed the CHP Form 74, which is the application for this pay having been awarded an Advanced POST certificate. I checked the box on this form entitled, –$200 for Advanced POST certificate or equivalent. I did not check the Associate Degree box nor the Bachelor Degree box. On July 13, 1995, the CHP approved me to receive the aforementioned pay based upon me being awarded an Advanced POST certificate, not a degree.”

Perez responded to a phone inquiry from Lake Tahoe News on Feb. 23 regarding the education brouhaha via an email. That email said the official education pay document proves he did nothing wrong.

“What he told me is that he only accepted the pay rate of associate’s degree because his bachelor’s degree is not accredited,” Lovell said. “I talked to Stan last Saturday and he said the whole thing about education incentives is bunk and he can prove it.”

Still, though, what Lovell says about the associate’s degree and what Perez’s letter says don’t jibe.

Perez in his email said he was out of good cell phone coverage and therefore an interview on Tuesday was not possible.

To further convolute the issue, on Perez’s website under training it says:

FBI National Academy

CHP Academy

U.C. Davis Executive Leadership Program

P.O.S.T. Supervisory Leadership Institute

Criminal Justice Management, BS

Administration of Justice, AA

The California Highway Patrol could release Perez’s personnel records stating his rate of pay, the incentive pay and documentation of his education. Lovell said Perez met with the CHP commissioner on Friday. What will be disclosed to the public remains to be seen.

Lovell is not going to back any of the other six sheriff’s candidates at this point. He wants to meet with them before the June primary.

“I don’t expect any retaliation because I supported somebody who is no longer in the race. We’ll see,” Lovell said.

Lovell had considered running for the position before he met Perez.

“Because of his concepts and ideas I joined his campaign,” Lovell said. “Clearly, I am disappointed because of his concepts and energy would be really good for us.”

By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

The El Dorado County sheriff is objecting to a request that Phillip and Nancy Garrido be allowed to visit each other in jail, saying it “is breathtaking in its audacity.”

Lawyers for the pair say the two accused kidnappers of Jaycee Lee Dugard need to meet to make family decisions and that they must be allowed to discuss their pending court case.

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By Kathryn Reed

Things are beginning to sizzle at Chase’s Bar and Grill inside Lake Tahoe Airport and it has nothing to do with what’s being prepared in the kitchen.

Owner Sam Sonki Ahn believes the city of South Lake Tahoe, as his landlord, is not acting in good faith in negotiating a new lease. He is accusing the city of negotiating a lease with a potential buyer of the restaurant.

City Attorney Patrick Enright acknowledges the city is in talks with Tom and Diane Miller.

Sam Sonki Ahn discusses his lease with South Lake Tahoe to operate Chase’s restaurant. Photo/Kathryn Reed

“They won’t buy it without a lease. We are talking to the potential buyers about what the lease would be,” Enright said.

The Millers, who used to own Steamers Bar and Grill in South Lake Tahoe, could not be reached for comment. They were at the Jan. 26 City Council meeting and spoke briefly before the council went into closed session to discuss the lease.

The direction from the council was for the city attorney’s office to negotiate a more coherent lease with someone.

“What we want is a viable restaurant there. Now no one frequents it. The new owners have new marketing ideas and would market it more aggressively. They want to change the menu and be open more hours,” Enright told Lake Tahoe News.

What has Ahn frustrated is that he says the Millers are not talking to him directly about the sale of the restaurant and are instead making a deal with the city that will run him out of business. He believes the city, as the landlord, should have no say in the sale of a private business.

Enright agrees the actual sale should be between the Millers and Ahn. However, even Enright is calling the Millers the new owners, but the current owner says he has not negotiated any deal with anyone for the sale of Chase’s.

Ahn said he has been trying to negotiate a long-term lease with the city, like he has had in the past, but the city since November will only keep it month-to-month.

Ahn took over the restaurant about five years ago from Mike Weber. Ahn said he paid $78,728.17, plus $8,000 for inventory to Weber.

He said he is willing to sell the restaurant for $49,000.

“I also bought the equipments and more fixtures. I invested about $150,000 total,” Ahn said.

But what he owns and what the city thinks it owns are in dispute.

“The current lease is confusing and vague as to who owns what. What we are willing to do is pay a nominal amount and city would own it and there would be no issue in the future,” Enright said. “The city is only negotiating to resolve the dispute as to who owns what.”

The city has offered Ahn $5,000 for the fixtures, bar, lights and everything in the commercial kitchen.

Ahn contends about two-thirds of the items in the nearly 3,000-square-foot restaurant belong to him — including the counter, water faucets, bar area and other objects.

Enright and Ahn agree the liquor license belongs to Ahn. It is in the name of the restaurant and cannot be transferred off the site.

Ahn pays the city $552 in rent each month, plus 5 percent of gross revenue.

The city wants the restaurant to be a bigger moneymaker — to be a place locals visit as well as those on business at the airport, and to possibly be a place where service clubs would meet.

Charges against John Andoh, administrator of the South Shore’s bus system, have been dropped.

Andoh was arrested in October on a warrant stemming from allegations he lied to South Lake Tahoe officers about a summer traffic accident.

John Andoh

“I just got the minute order in the mail. No apology from anyone. A very costly endeavor for a very minor charge in which the accident was not my fault per the police report that I finally got last month,” Andoh, who runs the bus agency known as BlueGo, told Lake Tahoe News.

Reno Gazette-Journal

A bear suspected of prior break-ins to homes in the Incline Village area was shot dead today as it rushed a Washoe County sheriff’s deputy, officials said.

The black bear, a 10-year-old male weighing about 600 pounds, was discovered hibernating beneath a condo in the Bitterbrush development, said Carl Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

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By Kathryn Reed

Until these Winter Olympics close on Feb. 28, the true greenness of them won’t be known. Green as in environment, not the cash collected.

The goal from the outset of the Vancouver Olympic Committee was to make the 2010 Games the greenest to date. (London has already said it will out-do Vancouver when it hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics.)

An early goal was to offset 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide the Games were forecast to produce. Officials say 110,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be direct emissions, while two-thirds of the total would be from air travel.

Part of the off-set comes by building venues in clusters so transportation needs are cutback; expansion of public transit; hydro power replaced some diesel generators; and energy from ice refrigeration plants and the heat put off from them at places like the Whistler Sliding Centre being harvested to be turned into renewable energy.

Twenty hydrogen buses are traveling along the Sea to Sky Highway that goes from Vancouver to Whistler.

Critics say Olympics can’t really be sustainable because of the transportation issues as well as the billions of dollars in construction that is required.

Vancouver Olympic Committee officials did not return multiple calls.

Coke is doing its part to make the Games sustainable. Photo/Kathryn Reed

To reach sustainability goals it has taken the cooperation of government, corporations and the public.

Coca-Cola, a major sponsor of the Olympics, is all about recycling. The company said its goal is to have a minimum of 95 percent of the waste during the 17-days of the Olympics be diverted from landfills.

In addition, 100 percent of plastic, single-serve beverage bottles and other recyclables are being taken to a recycling center near Vancouver.

At the Richmond Oval, which is just outside of Vancouver and is the speed skating venue, rainwater is collected to be reused for irrigation and plumbing.

Richmond Oval Photo/Provided

When the Nordic venue just outside of Whistler was established, trees needed to be cut down. More than 30,000 cubic yards of wood waste was left. The material was chipped, then an organic compound was added to it and all of it was placed in plastic bags. When it’s ripe the material will be spread out to help revegetation occur.

Eight sports venues and two athletes’ villages were shooting for at least silver designation in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Two have hit gold. But in today’s construction world, LEED silver is becoming the norm and is no longer an anomaly.

Methane gas from an old landfill near Whistler is being captured and turned into a heat source.

Software company Pulse Energy partnered with utility firm BC Hydro to track energy consumption at nine Olympic venues.

For more information about sustainability efforts at the Vancouver Olympics, click here.

By Jim Sloan, Sacramento Bee

Development takes much of the blame for the long decline in Lake Tahoe’s legendary clarity. Now, in a move they admit seems “counterintuitive,” regulators are counting on more housing, ski lodges and hotel rooms to help reverse it..

Although construction of new projects has all but ceased at the sensitive Sierra lake, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has launched a new initiative – dubbed the Community Enhancement Program – with the goal of attracting a different breed of builder.

Artist's rendering of what Homewood may become.

The idea: to replace blighted or environmentally damaging projects from the 1950s and ’60s with new, “green” buildings that not only fit in with their surroundings but also would hold back lake-clouding runoff.

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