safety

A 24-year-old woman from Folsom, CA was found on the side of Highway 89 near Tallac Creek Friday evening after bailing from the car of her boyfriend.

A concerned passerby saw the woman, who was bleeding, and called authorities. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office (EDSO) responded at 9:09 p.m.

Learn how you can be fire safe in your home and community at the Wildfire Safety Expos in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday, June 20.

Agencies will be on hand to provide information on creating a home evacuation plan,preparing for fire, creating defensible space around your property and more.

The expo will be at the TJ Maxx parking lot at the "Y" from 12:00 p.m. to 3 p.m.

If you cannot attend, visit their website for more information.

Safety for cyclists and pedestrians is a big concern for the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD), cycling groups and those enjoying these activities.

In the last six years, 12 people have died in South Lake Tahoe while cycling or walking. In that same time, 42 people were injured while riding bikes on the road while 37 pedestrians were hurt.

Just as the annual parade through South Lake Tahoe on the 4th of July was gaining momentum, it has been canceled for 2015.

A disappointed JoAnn Conner, owner of the parade organizer Golden Bear Events, released the message on Facebook and via email on Thursday, June 17.

"I am sorry to have to report that the popular 4th of July Parade is cancelled this year," Conner said. "There were a couple of huge last minute hurdles that just came up. No time to overcome them."

A trip to South Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July fireworks turned deadly in 2014 for a couple from Dixon, CA when the motorcycle they were riding was struck by a drunk driver in the Twin Bridges area.

Megan Hickel, 28, was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in state prison for killing the couple, 48-year-old Richard Schwab and his wife Kelly, age 49.

El Dorado County Superior Court Presiding Judge Suzanne Kingsbury handed down the sentence after Hickel pled guilty to two counts gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

The impact of vacation rentals, a popular option for tourist lodging, is a big, and controversial topic in South Lake Tahoe.

Here is a list of road projects around the Lake Tahoe basin.

U.S. Highway 50 (El Dorado County) from the junction with State Route 89 to 3rd Street in South Lake Tahoe: Eastbound motorists can expect alternating lane closures around the clock from 7 a.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Friday for gas line relocation work.

Several Troopers from the Nevada Highway Patrol, as well as other employees for the Department of Public Safety, will be volunteering their time to raise money for Special Olympics Nevada and California on Sunday June 14, 2014 in the Hard Rock Café.

Those of us living in the Sierra Nevada are well aware of the drought and of the growing threat of wildfires caused by dry conditions. Due to the threat of catastrophic wildfires in the West, three major players at the government level have called for reforms in the way the federal government funds wildfire suppression efforts.

Here is a list of road projects around the Lake Tahoe basin.

U.S. Highway 50 (El Dorado County) from the junction with State Route 89 to 2nd Street in South Lake Tahoe: Eastbound motorists can expect alternating lane closures from 5 p.m. to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday for gas line relocation work.

In order to ensure motels and hotels being used as long term housing were kept decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable, the City of South Lake Tahoe has created a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) ordinance. At Tuesday's City Council meeting, the first reading received unanimous approval and support.

The ordinance gives the lodging community guidelines to follow if renting out units more than 30 days.

Safe and habitable units will be made available within the next twelve months once the design and maintenance standards are approved at the next council meeting June 16.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board on Wednesday unanimously approved the Tahoe Transportation District’s State Route 89/Fanny Bridge Community Revitalization Project to realign State Route 89 through Tahoe City.

The project realigns State Route 89 to route through traffic over roundabouts and a new two-lane bridge across the Truckee River to reduce transportation conflicts among drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians at the congested pinch point at the Tahoe City “Wye.”

As the severe drought in California continues, the following water restrictions and provisions of the South Tahoe Public Utility District Water Conservation Program and the California State Water Resources Control Board Emergency Water Conservation Regulation are mandatory to conserve water resources. Failure to comply may result in a fine.

RESTRICTIONS
• Outdoor irrigation may only occur between the hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and is limited to 20 minutes per zone per day, on your designated watering days. Drip or micro irrigation is exempt from this requirement;

Heavy rains in February caused part of the rock face at Cave Rock to fall into the lanes of traffic on Highway 50. A temporary fix was completed at that time.

Depending on the weather, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) plans on closing two lanes in order to further evaluate the damage and secure the Cave Rock rock face and slope on U.S. 50, Lake Tahoe following recent rockfall.

Once again, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department is reminding motorists to Click It or Ticket. As part of the national seat belt enforcement campaign, law enforcement agencies around the country will be stepping up enforcement May 18-31, including one of the busiest travel weekends of the year that kicks off the summer season.

It’s Wildfire Awareness Month at Tahoe, and with the summer tourist season around the corner, we must all remember that drought has left our Region with severely dry forest conditions and an extreme risk of wildfire. This summer we need to think about “when” not “if” another fire will happen. All of us have important roles to play in preventing the next wildfire, and in making sure our homes, families, and communities are prepared for it.

- Many children go undiagnosed and unidentified; they are penalized for inappropriate behavior though symptomatic.
- 42% of diagnosed students graduate with a high school diploma.
- 48% of diagnosed students drop out of school.
- 50% will serve jail time after leaving school; 20% serve sentences prior to leaving school.
- Currently 12 % of children in America under the age of 18 have a diagnosable
mental illness.
- Among the US population, mental illness impacts 1 in 4 individuals.
- 50% of adult cases of mental illness had signs and symptoms by age 14.

Many times law enforcement officers are the first people a mentally ill person comes in contact with. In South Lake Tahoe, police officers and sheriff's deputies are forced to become front line mental health workers, and since they are on the front lines, Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) is an important part of their job.

El Dorado County received a grant for the Sheriff's Department to receive the training, and, to date, four sergeants and 18 deputies have been trained. While most patrol the west slope, South Lake Tahoe has three CIT officers (two sergeants and one deputy).

A large oven fire at MontBleu Resort Wednesday afternoon caused the evacuation of 200 people from the casino and sent two people to the hospital with smoke related complaints.

Just after 3 p.m., Tahoe Douglas Fire received a call about a fire at the South Shore casino. The fire department responded with a full structure fire team according to Fire Marshal Eric Guevin.

"When we got there we found significant amount of fire and smoke," Guevin told South Tahoe Now. "Casino staff had tried to extinguish the fire with three extinguishers."

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department cited three clerks for selling alcohol to minors during a minor decoy operation on Saturday, May 2.

Clerks at Beverages and More (BevMo), CVS in Bijou, and Safeway all sold the minor alcohol. One unidentified store did not sell the decoy alcohol.

A 24-year-old employee at BevMo, a 21-year-old employee at Safeway and a 35-year-old employee at CVS were all cited. At each store, the employees involved were women.

Now that weather is favorable for roadwork, Caltrans and NDot have begun their projects around Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas.

Long term projects:

State Route 89 (Placer County): Work continues on a $70.1 million project from Tahoma to the "Y" junction with State Route 28 in Tahoe City on Lake Tahoe's West Shore that will upgrade storm water drainage and treatment systems, add curb and gutter, resurface and realign the road, add new left-turn pockets and widen shoulders on a 9-mile stretch of the highway. Completion is expected in fall 2016.

There’s no shortage of views on the question of legalizing recreational marijuana in California.

That much was evident at a series of focus groups earlier this year, where 48 men and women representing a cross-section of the state filed into rooms with one-way mirrors to share their opinions. The research is aimed at shaping an expected legalization initiative for the 2016 ballot.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month: Treatment Not Jails

Across the nation, many counties are investing huge sums of money to house people with mental illness in jails, with little return for the community in terms of public safety or treatment for people who need it most. A new national initiative, Stepping Up, provides an opportunity for counties to get support in addressing this problem.

An Opening Day celebration is planned at the South Tahoe Little League Complex this Saturday, April 25th. A parade and ribbon cutting ceremony are planned prior to the start of scheduled games. The parade will start on the street next to the South Tahoe Middle School tennis courts at 9:00 a.m. with a planned parade path to follow Lyons Avenue to Rufus Allen, and into the major’s field by way of the snack shack entrance. Parking will not be available at South Tahoe Middle School due to the eWaste collection event. Parking is available along Rufus Allen Blvd.