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The Tahoe Douglas Rotary Club recently held their annual Children's Christmas party and traditional turkey dinner at the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel. On the guest list were families from both Live Violence Free and Sierra Child and Family Services. Thirty families and 80 children enjoyed an afternoon of food, entertainment, a visit from Santa and gifts.

Three local community groups were recently awarded grants form the South Lake Tahoe Rotary Club. The Drug Store Project was given $1,000, H.E.R.O Scholarship Fund $2,000 and the Sierra House Elementary 5th Grade Nature Bridge $1,500.

The Drug Store Project, which is operated under the guidance of Tahoe Youth and Family Services will use the money to continue its annual youth drug awareness and avoidance program in 2016. This is program is designed to reduce future drug experimentation/use/abuse and increase student knowledge about the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

When Nick Arbelaez moved to South Lake Tahoe with his fiancee Stephanie Shamo, he was taking the Assistant Soccer Coach position at LTCC and she was headed to Barton Health.

After Head Coach Ben Wade and LTCC parted ways mid-season, Arbelaez stepped in as interim head coach, leading the Coyotes to the final four for California Community Colleges.

At Tuesday's board meeting, Arbelaez was introduced to the trustees along with
other coaches and volunteers that have helped both the men's and women's soccer teams have early successes in the young programs.

Who were the first residents of the Lake Tahoe basin? How do you convey the word "SOS" in Morse Code? What is the 1930's cabin tour? If you don't know the answers to these questions, ask a third grader.

In the month of October, 220 students from third grade classes in Lake Tahoe Unified School District took field trips to the Lake Tahoe History Museum where they spent a morning with hands on displays, singing and docent led museum tours.

The school tours started in 2010 when Jackie Dumin, the Tallac Site Director for the U.S. Forest Service, developed the program.

The inaugural Winter Bazaar will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2015, at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event is open to the public and will feature stocking stuffers, gifts for Hanukkah and Christmas, and small prizes for attending. Food will be offered for sale by Seniors, Inc. The Senior Center is located at 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

Lake Tahoe author Jennifer Quashnick will be launching her newest book "Sierra Nevada River of Lies" at Bonafide Books in Meyers on November 7 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Her newest book is the second one in Quashnick's Mountaingirl series which was started off by "Sierra Nevada Trail of Murder."

A description of the newest story: An offer to help someone in need leaves Rachel Winters and her friends in the killer’s sights as they slowly unravel a multi-layered scheme for profit. Meanwhile, a discovery about Luke Reed’s long-lost family threatens them both.

Investigators are making a new push to solve the murder of a Nevada teen found slain in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in 1979, as a part of a video campaign highlighting cold cases.

The Lake Tahoe Unified School Board student representative is now junior Sarah Smith. She was sworn in by Board President Barbara Bannar at the last meeting.

South Lake Tahoe's Cork & More is not going to close at the end of the month as previously announced. The media coverage of their closing brought potential buyers out of the woodwork. Stay tuned to see if a sale is successful.

Ponderosa High School resource officers were notified of a 16-year-old male student who was reportedly showing photos of a naked female to other students on Tuesday, October 20, 2015.

An investigation was started and the photos were located on the student’s cellular telephone. The photos were of an underage nude female who had posed for the pictures. Further investigation revealed the same male subject allegedly inappropriately touched another female student the prior day while on the campus, which is located in Cameron Park.

Update 7 a.m. 10/14/15:

Dianne Thacher is no longer missing and returned to her dorm room at Sierra Nevada College Tuesday afternoon. The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that she is safe, not injured and that there was no foul play associated with her disappearance.

To help South Lake Tahoe children in need, Bread & Broth 4 Kids has been formed to bring weekend food to 100 students each week. The bag of food is to help with meals when they aren't in school and able to receive free breakfasts and lunches Monday through Friday.

Bread & Broth is a non-profit, all volunteer organization that provides free, hot meals to those in need in South Lake Tahoe. They are now seeking donations and volunteers for the new kid's program.

Long time local artist Ellen Nunes joins Chinese artist Yu Ji and winners from the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Spring Art Show in a trio of art exhibits on campus this fall. To celebrate the three shows, the community is invited to attend the free artist receptions for all three exhibits which will be held simultaneously on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.. This gives people an opportunity to meet the artists, see their works up close, and enjoy light refreshments with fellow art lovers.

Last spring, Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) students in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 11th grades took a new style of state testing. The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) was an on-line assessment that measured their problem solving and critical thinking skills.

LTUSD Superintendent Dr. James Tarwater will present the results to the School Board Trustees during Tuesday's board meeting.

High schools in the Placerville area wore the colors of Union Mine High today as a sign of solidarity after two of the school's Junior Varsity football players suffered brain injuries during a football game on Friday.

A Carson City teenager died Saturday after authorities were called to Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe for an accident on the water. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong confirmed the victim is a 15-year-old Carson High School student.

The teen’s name has not been released. A chaplain from Carson City has notified the parents, said Furlong. The teen died after he was taken to a Reno hospital after emergency crews were called to Sand Harbor at around noon Saturday. Washoe County authorities would not confirm if it was a possible drowning.

Chautauqua performers Chuck Baldauskas and Doc Durden will present “Buffalo Bill & Wild Bill: Pals Together Again” at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday September 2, at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

Location

The celebrities have been gone from South Lake Tahoe for over a week, back to their jobs and families. While they were the attraction of the American Century Golf Championship, the true stars were the volunteers who made it all happen.

Volunteers helped in many aspects. Soroptimists had their food tents and spent every day serving sandwiches, drinks, chips and snacks.

The Lake Tahoe Bike Coalition had a group out each day, manning the bike valet for the 200 cyclists that used their free services.

Whittell High School senior Daria Sharon was announced as the recipient for the seventh annual Gene Upshaw Scholarship Award at this year’s American Century Championship.

Her academic achievements and dedication to sports and community service made her the premier candidate to earn this scholarship, valued at $5,000.

Classical music scores from the hit PBS TV-series “Downton Abbey,” Hollywood classics “Sense and Sensibility,” and the Hitchcock masterpiece “Psycho” along with flamenco and dance-inspired symphonies will highlight the second weekend of Lake Tahoe SummerFest. Ana Vidović, premier classical guitarist of her generation, along with Jeremy McCoy, a critically acclaimed double bass player with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, are the guest artists Aug. 7-9.

Every quarter, the Lake Tahoe Community College Music Department puts on a final exam that truly rocks. Traditionally, Rock Ensemble students studying with teacher and professional musician Eric Hellberg stage a concert to earn their final grades.

This Spring, students in LTCC’s New Wave Music and Beginning Rock Ensemble classes will be rocking for an even higher purpose: their final exams will also serve as a benefit concert to support a fellow rocker in need.

Liberty Utilities has announced the winners of their annual high school and community college scholarships for students living within the utility’s service territory.

South Tahoe High School – Priya Patel
Loyalton High School – Cheyenne Little
Coleville High School – Joel Gomez
North Tahoe High School – Johanna Gur
Portola High School – Saul Juarez
Truckee High School – Aaron Kuyper
Lake Tahoe Community College – Antonio Benitez

TACH, in association with Nepalese Association of UNR and co-sponsored by Joe Crowley Student Union at UNR in Reno, presents “A World Music Night” for an effort to support the earthquake victims of Nepal on Friday May 29th at 7:00 p.m., The concert will be held in The Theatre in the Joe Crowley Student Union on the 3rd Floor.

Homelessness has many faces. Some are old, some are young. It affects all races, religions, and sexes. It can be triggered by a poor economy, inconsistent work, a medical catastrophe, and death of a family member. In the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD), there are 246 homeless students (1).

I recently sat down with one of those students to understand a day in the life of a homeless student.

Barton Health, Tahoe Center for Orthopedics, and Lake Tahoe Unified School District are offering free sports physicals for student athletes.

South Shore students can receive medical and orthopedic screenings from Barton Health’s Tahoe Center for Orthopedics on Monday, June 1 at the South Tahoe High School Blue Gym.

The sports physicals start at 5:30 p.m. with the schedule as follows:

5:30 p.m.: South Tahoe High & Middle School athletes
6:00 p.m.: Pop Warner athletes
6:30 p.m.: Whittell High & Middle School athletes