Community

The Lake Tahoe Community College Writers’ Series proudly presents an evening with novelist Gayle Brandeis and short story writer Dimitri Keriotis on Thursday, March 5 at 7 p.m. in the Aspen Room, inside the library building. The two writers will read selections from their works, answer audience questions, and sign copies of their books, which will be available for sale. This event is free and open to the public.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District Board of Directors will be holding a Board Workshop on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the District Board Room located at 1275 Meadow Crest Drive, South Lake Tahoe, California. The purpose of the Workshop is to review the proposed 2015-16 budget and ten-year financial plan for the District.

While a quorum of the District Board of Directors may be attending this Workshop, there will be no action taking place on their behalf. A regular public Budget Board Meeting will be held the May 7 at 6 p.m. in the District Board Room.

Run. Balance. Win. Oh, and attempt that in snowshoes.

The next in a three-part series of Camp Richardson’s Snowshoe Cocktail Races, is set for Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. Racers, cocktail trays in hand, navigate through obstacles and up and down the beach. The winner is the fastest and driest at the finish. Prizes range from dining certificates and marina rentals. Registration is free in multiple race categories. www.camprichardson.com

Who: Novice, amateur and expert snowshoe racers (Snowshoes are provided.)

Sierra-at-Tahoe brings the second annual Equinox Spring Festival to the slopes beginning March 21. This free festival features live bands over three consecutive weekends, signature Sierra events for all ages and competitions on and off the mountain. Competitions including the Van's Hi-Standard Series and 9th Annual Buckle Up Big Air will be taking place on-mountain, while the 8th Annual Salsa Showdown will happen in the base area.

Due to the generous donation from someone in the community, the South Tahoe High girls' and boys' basketball games are free on Saturday, February 14.

The Junior Varsity girls open up the day of basketball with their 10 a.m. game, followed by the JV boys at 11:30 a.m.

Varsity games get underway at 1 p.m. for the girls and 2:30 p.m. for the boys.

All games will be against Churchill County High School of Fallon, NV.

The Friends of the Library, in partnership with the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, are excited to present "Pyramid Lake and the Imagined West". Author Dr. Bernard Mergen is in Reno for new exhibit of this very historically significant Lake and will be coming to the library to share the history of Pyramid Lake from the 1840s to the present in an educational and entertaining way.

Location

Dr. Graham Kent (STHS class of 1980) from the UNR Seismological Laboratory will give a presentation on ALERT Tahoe . ALERT Tahoe is a new, one-of-a-kind, fire camera and multi-hazard tracking system that includes smoke investigation, prescribed fire oversight, wildfire tracking, Earthquake Early Warning, and monitoring of extreme weather events. A prototype of the fire camera system is functioning, scoring early successes during the summer of 2014.

Dr. Kent will present on the existing and planned camera system, in an incredibly interesting presentation.

Location

Join TINS for a fun evening of sampling single malt scotches paired with delicious food. TINS will guide a tasting of five scotches with diverse personalities, from light and smooth to rare and complex to boldly peaty. The scotches will be accompanied by a four course meal designed to complement the flavors of the evening, with rib-eye steak as the main course.

Famous for the line of people leaning over its side, the Fanny Bridge at Lake Tahoe's North Shore is going to be part of a major overhaul set to begin construction in May 2016.

The Tahoe Transportation District is holding a community workshop to get feedback from residents on six proposed plans (as well as a "no build" option) for the "Wye" area where Highways 89 and 28 meet.

The Coyote Grill is hosting a night of chili and fun to benefit the Lake Tahoe Humae Society on Thursday, February 12 from 5 p.m. to closing. Their community favorite, Charity Chili, is just a $3 donation for all you can eat Chili.

For every bowl of chili purchased during the first two hours you get a free raffle ticket. You can also bring in any pet food donation for another free raffle ticket.

Free pet emergency kits will be handed out to attendees from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.

The Humane Society will have the raffle prize drawing at 7:00 p.m.

The City of South Lake Tahoe is offering free sand bags to residents year round, not just during storms. They are available at no cost year round. The sand lot is located at the City’s Streets and Snow Removal Yard located at 1160 Rufus Allen Blvd., which is next to Campground by the Lake.

The Tahoe Art League is pleased to invite the public to observe a demonstration in watercolor techniques by Lady Jill Mueller, to be held as part of its monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 11th, at 6:00 p.m. at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center. This event is free.

Lady Jill’s landscapes of the High Sierra/Great Basin region beautifully depict our mountainous high desert terrain with skill that leads the viewer to the sensation that they are part of the scene, admiring nature.

There has been a lot of work completed on the baseball fields in South Lake Tahoe, including a new diamond for local little league teams. One needed item wasn't on the list of projects completed with Measure S funds was replacing the old and broken scoreboard so a fundraising effort has begun to replace it.

South Tahoe High varsity baseball coach Starbuck Teevan started a GoFundMe page in order to help with the $18,500 needed for a new scoreboard.

Almost twenty years later and the Tahoe Valley Area plan isn't in place, yet. John Hitchcock, the City of South Lake Tahoe Planning Manager, gave the Council another presentation on the status of the plan and where things stand as of today during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

First proposed in the early 1990's, the resurrection of the Tahoe Valley Area plan made great strides towards adoption in 2014 with Hitchcock holding four public meetings where input was requested, presenting the plan to TRPA three times, three times to City Council and twice to the planning commission.

All too often, we hear from people who have been victimized by some sort of scam. Before the internet existed these “confidence scams” were frequently perpetuated through direct contact and bolstered by a victim who is too trusting. With the internet and other technology, criminals have shifted their efforts so as to accomplish their rip-off over long distances and without direct contact. Unfortunately, local law enforcement has limited capacity to track and ultimately prosecute such crimes.

RE/MAX Reality Affiliates, a Minden real estate network, donated $5,750 to the Douglas County Community and Senior Center for one year naming rights of the Dining Room and eight electronic score boards in the gymnasium.

“We saw this as a great opportunity for us to support an amazing cause,” said John Fisher, broker and owner of the network.

The network generously stepped forward at the opening ceremony of the Community Center on December 6th, 2014 to provide the donation.

In an effort to better serve the homeless youth under the age of 24 in the South Lake Tahoe community, Tahoe Youth and Family Services is having a free BBQ and annual Homeless County.

St. Theresa Catholic Church is hosting the 21st Annual Crab Dinner on Friday, February 13, 2015. The event will take place at Grace Hall, on the corner of Highway 50 and Lyons Avenue in South Lake Tahoe, right next to the church.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails and a silent auction, the crab dinner starting at 7 p.m., followed by the dessert auction at 7:45 p.m. If that weren't already enough, there is a raffle and live auction beginning at 8:30 p.m.

The South Lake Tahoe Dog Park located at Bijou Park has reopened.

The park was closed on January 13 as a precautionary measure after several local dogs became infected with Parvovirus. Since then, it has been thoroughly cleaned under the recommendation of the South Lake Tahoe Humane Society.

A 2011 false arrest complaint against the City of South Lake Tahoe by Patrick Solomon ended up in a jury trial in Federal Court's Eastern Division in Sacramento. On Thursday the jury came back with a decision siding with the defense, stating that there was no wrong doing on behalf of the City or the police department.

The case started when Solomon was arrested on January 21, 2011 for assaulting an El Dorado County Sheriff's Officer Deputy Brandon Pena.

Officer Pena was a County correctional officer and knew the plaintiff during his time as an inmate at the El Dorado County jail.

The 47th Annual Tahoe Douglas Rotary's St. Patrick's Day Celebration has some added extras this year to make this time honored tradition even more fun than usual.

On March 13, 2015, the Rotarians will open the doors at Harrah's Tahoe to the public who will be treated to the first ever First Responders Recognition evening tied into the traditional St. Patrick's Day event.

It was another packed house meeting on Thursday night for the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District.

The last few meetings have been full of anger, dysfunction, arguing and mis-information. Many came to this board meeting hoping to have answers and a clear understanding of what the future holds for the Tahoe Paradise Park, which the board oversees.

It was clear early on that this meeting was going to be more of the same.

The South Tahoe Alliance of Resorts (STAR) gave a total of $15,000 to three area non-profits this holiday season to feed families as well as secure essential upgrades to community centers/programs.

STAR gifted $5,000 to Christmas Cheer All Year’s Food for Families, which resulted in $11,400 worth of fresh food from Raleys supermarket. Through this initiative Raleys was able to purchase items at wholesale while selecting various items that were in more demand. For every $1 donated to Christmas Cheer results in more than $2 worth of food.

The Community Athletic Coordinating Council, an organization consisting of representatives of youth and adult sports organizations in South Lake Tahoe will be holding a meeting on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. This meeting will be held at the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Boardroom, starting at 5:15pm. This is an open meeting and all interested community members are invited to attend.

Topics to be discussed include
 Election of Officers – 2015
 Develop and adopt procedures for submittal of projects
 Project Review and Update
 Old and Unfinished Business
 New Business