To the community,

Every Monday at St. Theresa Church’s Grace Hall, the Bread & Broth cooks use their well-honed culinary skills to prepare the nutritious and tasty meals enjoyed by our very grateful dinner guests. These wonderful meals are made possible by the funding provided by B&B’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsors.

On Sept. 21, the hosting AAD sponsor was Riva Grill. In addition to donating $250, Riva Gill sent a sponsor crew who brought their dining skills to provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere for the evening’s guests.

“We had such a great time, it’s so good helping others,” said Riva Grill server Antoine Eshak.

Fellow Riva Grill volunteers were servers Cesar Sentillan and Maura Jones, and bartenders Melissa Gibson-Taylor and April Vogt. The Riva Grill crew was great and paid the B&B cooks a big compliment.

“The food was as good as Riva’s, our chefs should come here to take some lessons,” added Eshak.  Based on the number of seconds served, the dinner guests agreed.

As with each dinner served by B&B for those in need, the collaboration between AAD sponsors and B&B volunteers is what makes the meals so successful. B&B would like to thank Riva Grill for the funding and help they provided at their sponsorship dinner.

In addition, B&B would like to acknowledge the wonderful setting and delicious appetizers and drinks that the Riva Grill provides for the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s BAHM for Charity held in February. B&B has been a grateful recipient of proceeds from this fun and charitable event.

For B&B information, please contact me at 530.542.2876 or carolsgerard@aol.com.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

Kindergarten teacher Izzy Evans reacts to getting a bucket of water dumped on her. Photo/Kathy Haven

To the community,

Bijou Community School PTA would like to thank all the people involved who made our walk-a-thon a phenomenal success this year. Bijou students raised over $28,000 with the help of their parents and their friends and our community.

These funds will go to pay for field trips, water bottle refilling stations, playground equipment, after school clubs, student enrichment in and out of the classroom, and classroom supplies. Most amazing though, was that over 150 of the 600 students at Bijou raised $50 or more, and more than three-fourths of the students contributed in some form or fashion.

Bijou PTA would like to extend a special thank you to Thrans for their donation of balloons to our event, and Ed McClain for being a great emcee and disc jockey. Also, a big thank you to Mike Keck for creating the most amazing dump tank to soak our teachers with.

Lastly, Bijou PTA would sincerely like to thank the teachers and our principal, Cindy Martinez, who once again stepped up to make the best walk-a-thon prize yet. Ms. Martinez and eight teachers were doused with 5 gallons of water each to the extreme joy of 600 children because they raised over $20,000.

Thank you everyone! I am proud to be part of Bijou community school where everyone contributes something to make our school a little bit better each year.

Kathy Haven, Bijou Community School PTA

To the community,

Twice daily when school is in session we are faced with racing motorists and excessive traffic on San Diego Street. This is the neighborhood of the magnet school. My husband and I call it the “circus”. At approximately 9am and 3pm parents are in such a hurry to deliver or pick up their precious cargo they forget they are in a residential neighborhood and not on a freeway.

I’m sure the woman who yelled out her car window (this week) “I’m going 25!” when I told her to slow down felt justified. But for those of us who have not read the California Driver’s handbook in a while, here is what it says about speed limits:

“California has a basic speed law. This law states you may never drive faster than is safe for the current conditions regardless of the posted speed limit. Your speed should depend on;

·      The number and speed of other vehicles on the road

·      Whether the road surface is smooth, rough, graveled, wet, dry, wide or narrow

·      Bicyclists or pedestrians walking on the road side or crossing the street

·      Whether it is raining, foggy, snowing, windy or dusty.”

In others words, drive safely no matter the posted speed limit. Common sense must prevail. So let’s all remember whatever neighborhood you are driving through, show some respect for those residents and slow down.

Janet Rodriguez, Meyers

By John Tierney, New York Times

If you live in the United States, you probably do some form of recycling. It’s likely that you separate paper from plastic and glass and metal. You rinse the bottles and cans, and you might put food scraps in a container destined for a composting facility. As you sort everything into the right bins, you probably assume that recycling is helping your community and protecting the environment. But is it? Are you in fact wasting your time?

In 1996, I wrote a long article for the New York Times magazine arguing that the recycling process as we carried it out was wasteful. I presented plenty of evidence that recycling was costly and ineffectual, but its defenders said that it was unfair to rush to judgment. Noting that the modern recycling movement had really just begun just a few years earlier, they predicted it would flourish as the industry matured and the public learned how to recycle properly.

So, what’s happened since then? While it’s true that the recycling message has reached more people than ever, when it comes to the bottom line, both economically and environmentally, not much has changed at all.

Despite decades of exhortations and mandates, it’s still typically more expensive for municipalities to recycle household waste than to send it to a landfill. Prices for recyclable materials have plummeted because of lower oil prices and reduced demand for them overseas. The slump has forced some recycling companies to shut plants and cancel plans for new technologies. The mood is so gloomy that one industry veteran tried to cheer up her colleagues this summer with an article in a trade journal titled, “Recycling Is Not Dead!”

While politicians set higher and higher goals, the national rate of recycling has stagnated in recent years.

Read the whole story

By David L. Kirp, New York Times

Dose preschool work? Although early education has been widely praised as the magic bullet that can transport poor kids into the education mainstream, a major new study raises serious doubts.

Since 2004, Tennessee has offered state-subsidized prekindergarten, enrolling more than 18,000 of the state’s neediest 4-year-olds. An early evaluation showed that, as you’d expect, youngsters who attended pre-K made substantial gains in math, language and reading. But, startlingly, the gains had evaporated by the end of kindergarten.

Those first results were alarming, and worse was yet to come.

A just-released study tracks the same kids to third grade. There’s still no evidence that the children benefited cognitively from preschool. They may be better socialized to school life — a skill, emphasized in preschool, that may well bring long-term benefits — but many of them haven’t mastered the three Rs. That’s terrible news, since being a proficient reader by third grade is widely regarded as the best predictor of high school graduation.

Read the whole story

By Michele Simon, Al Jazeera America

The organic and natural food industry is booming. Last year, sales of organic products topped $39 billion.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that most natural food companies steer clear of political battles that can have a significant effect on their business model.

The conventional food industry has had a decades-long head start in D.C. — and knows far too well how to play the game. The Grocery Manufacturers Association was formed more than a century ago, and in recent years has been leading the (largely successful) opposition to the labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients — a key issue for the organic foods sector.

Read the whole story

To the community,

Thanks to the support of 38 local businesses-organizations, dozens of local vendors and hundreds of weekly attendees, On Course Events produced over 20 community events this summer, including three brand new event series.

None of these events would be possible without the support we have from our local community. The best part is we’re able to recycle that support right back into the community and the local nonprofit organizations that support it. That’s true Tahoe support.

The Live at Lakeview Summer Music Series, On Course Events’ most popular series, raised the
most money for our community. The popular Live at Lakeview Beer Garden raised approximately $3,800 for the South Tahoe BMX Association. The Live at Lakeview Bike Valet services hosted over 1,200 bikes this summer, raising over $1,000 in donations for nonprofits including Lake Tahoe Humane Society, Sugar Pine Foundation, Tahoe Youth & Family Services, and more.

New events in Meyers this summer, including the 10th Tee Summer Music Series and Tahoe
Paradise Music in the Park created brand new opportunities for community fundraising. The Bike
Valet services offered at the 10th Tee Summer Music Series raised over $200 for the Lake Tahoe
Humane Society. The Sierra-at-Tahoe Education Foundation also benefited from the new
concerts, raising over $700 at the Tahoe Paradise Music in the Park Series.

On Course Events has a lot in store for the upcoming season and plans to continue with its
summer lineup in 2016. Connect with On Course Events on Facebook and Instagram to stay
updated on upcoming events.

Leslie Schultz, On Course Events

By Natalie Wexler, Washington Post

It’s no secret that many Americans are lousy writers. Just ask any college professor or employer, including those at prestigious institutions. With theadvent of e-mail, writing ability has become more important than ever, and writing deficiencies have become increasingly apparent.

Surely one reason so many Americans lack writing skills is that, for decades, most U.S. schools haven’t taught them. In 2011, a nationwide test found that only 24 percent of students in eighth and 12th grades were proficient in writing, and just 3 percent were advanced.

If students get writing assignments at all, they’re usually of the “write about how you feel” variety. There’s value to that kind of exercise, but it doesn’t provide kids with the tools they need to write analytically.

Read the whole story

To the community,

Thank you to the “bought and paid for” Mountain Democrat — they receive significant income from the advertising Red Hawk Casino purchases from the paper, God knows you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you — for bringing us the front page propaganda on the wonderful, exciting and all around beneficial gun range and motocross track. What better way to show that you are a “good neighbor” than for our Indian neighbors to select two significantly intrusive activities that negatively impact the value and enjoyment of the surrounding residential property by the surrounding owners.

The “tribe” decided to place a 29-lane outdoor gun range on property located next to residences and a short distance from two schools and a church because the “community” wanted it soooooo much. I have lived here almost three decades and have never heard one person indicate that we need a 29 lane or any other public or semi-public gun range in Shingle Springs. After protests from local neighbors and community organizations, the “tribe” indicated that they would scale down the 29-lane gun range to a five-lane gun range. Thank God we will only have five guns going off at once next to residences.

So, what better way to show the community that our Indian neighbors understand that we all moved here to have a rural lifestyle than to reduce the gun range to five lanes and add a motocross track. That certainly will not disturb the neighbors. The opening day of the motocross track looked like a race day at Prairie City Off Road Park, trucks and motorcycles everywhere;  people parked along Shingle Springs Drive, (no shoulders), trucks parked in private driveways, significant dust drifting across Highway 50 creating a hazard for everyone traveling east or west, but, not to worry. What the “tribe” wants to do is much more important than neighborhood disruption or public safety; after all, the community has been begging for a gun range and a motocross track. I am sure most of you, the past 20 or 30 years, have sat in the kitchens of your rural homes, each and every Sunday and asked each other, “why don’t we have a gun range and motocross track right next to residential property in Shingle Springs?” Seems natural, doesn’t it?

But the above may only be a diversion. While the community was fighting the gun range and motocross track, the “tribe” has been quietly developing and going forward with plans for a 12-pump fueling station, car wash, two fast food restaurants, hotel and other major commercial development at Shingle Springs Drive on the south-west parcel bordering Highway 50. Why is this a problem? 1) It is bordered by residential properties, 2) the “tribe” will pay no taxes to the county and have taken property off the tax rolls, 3) The “tribe” has applied for a liquor license, (nothing better than the mix of guns and alcohol right across the street from each other), 4) Gas tanks near two schools and a church, 5) Underground gas tanks in an area dominated by parcels with wells, 6) The impact on local tax paying businesses and the resultant reduction of money to the county and reduction of employment opportunities at those local businesses, 7) The significant disruption of the rural lifestyle we all sought in moving to El Dorado County and Shingle Springs, 8) The “tribe” is exempt from state court lawsuits brought by citizens for negligent actions that cause injury to patrons. (Yes, you can sue them in federal court, good luck finding an attorney to bring the action) and oh, yes, I almost forgot, 9) Right in the midst of one of the worst droughts we have seen in our lifetimes, and especially for all of you who are conserving water and letting the lawns you paid your hard earned money for die, EID is about to approve a 12-inch diameter water line along Shingle Springs Drive for the benefit of the Indians’ planned commercial development. They apparently have enough water for the above identified commercial purposes, but not for you.

One more thought, have you wondered why the San Stino project people, now the “Mill Creek” project people, have been so quiet? Here is an answer for you. The San Stino/Mill Creek 1,150 housing project also needs a water line along Shingle Springs Drive. San Stino/Mill Creek will be able to piggy-back on to the Indians’ commercial use infrastructure and “presto-chango” — water for 1,150 homes.

The activities I am identifying are and will take place on land that was not part of the original 160-acre Rancheria. It is taking place on property that was “off-Rancheria” land, previously privately owned by non-Indians and subsequently acquired by the “tribe” by representing to the United States Secretary of the Interior, that none of the off-Rancheria property would be used for commercial purposes. Why is this significant to you? The “tribe” can buy off – Rancheria property anywhere they so desire and then do whatever they desire regardless of the county zoning. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is nothing but a rubber stamp robot, so do not count on the BIA to use common sense or reason or regulate the type of activities tribes decide to do on land they acquire in your neighborhood.

Some have postulated that the “tribe” is engaged in a “land grab”, purposefully taking actions to devalue the surrounding properties so they can pick up parcels cheap for further extended commercial development. Your residential neighborhood can have the same thing happen to it. This is a communitywide concern. The fact that this may not be happening in your back yard right at this time is not a reason to ignore what is going on. The time to act is now. Contact the Board of Supervisors, state representatives, the governor and your federal representatives. Let them know what is happening to our rural neighborhoods and that you do not support this out of control development.

Maureen Sample, Shingle Springs

To the community,

The Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsor for Bread & Broth’s dinner on Sept. 14 was Kirkwood Mountain Resort. Through its sponsorship, Kirkwood provided the funding for the meal and sent a hard working sponsor team that thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to help serve the community.

“This has been a great experience,” said Jarrett Morgan, senior administrative assistant for base operations. “It was great to show up and be able to help right away. I speak for the group; you can count on us any Monday needed. Thank you for the opportunity to give back to our community.”

Sharing the volunteer experience with Morgan were fellow Kirkwood teammates Nick Griess, property manager; Brian Bigley, direct of base operations; and John Jennings, manager product, sales and services.

These AAD sponsors volunteers are an integral part of all the work that goes into putting the B&B dinner service together. The B&B volunteers really appreciate their help and enjoy working with all of our sponsor crews.

B&B would like to thank Kirkwood Mountain Resort and the Vail EpicPromise Grant Program for their many sponsorships throughout the year. The $250 donation for hosting each dinner provides hot, nutritious meals to our very grateful dinner guests.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth