April 2024

New growth sprouts in the Caldor burn area.

Serving Lake Tahoe’s South Shore Since 1994

Blue Lake Animal Care Center looks forward to providing quality, compassionate care for your furry friend.

Pilates helps to alleviate back pain by lengthening your spine and stabilizing your core. Strengthening your upper back and stretching your chest and neck to help you stand straight can reduce stiffness and restore your posture.

Whatever your pilates experience, you can benefit from pelvic floor rehabilitation by joining our pilates reformer classes.

Exercise without fear and crank up your core strength!

mindbodytahoe@gmail.com

I recently went to see the South Tahoe High production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. What a show! It was funny and touching with a cast, live orchestra and a set that belied its student amateur status.

I was surprised when earlier this year, I learned the drama department doesn’t have much of a district-funded budget. The district pays the faculty salary of drama teacher Ethan Niven and pays for the utilities and maintenance of the theater facilities, but otherwise, the department must rely on ticket sales, charitable donations and fundraisers. I talked to Niven who said some shows can cost up to $10,000 to produce with the lumber, costumes, props, makeup and so on. And, of course, the department has to pay for the rights to the show. The rights for Putnam County were around $4000.

This all impacts what shows are produced. The Sound of Music though a heartwarming classic, is staged every so often because it is a moneymaker, bringing in a wider swath of the community than otherwise would come to a high school play. It is often called The Sound

of Money in drama circles, said Niven, and helps build a nest egg for future productions. Niven said he’s gotten good at doing a lot with a little. “It’s shocking how many people think I have a budget because I’m good at making old things seem new.”

Another school function that brings in the broader community is sports. A group of five local women has been working for the past three years to ensure gender equity when it comes to sports teams in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District in accordance with Title IX federal mandates. They have found some surprising discrepancies, but are seeking still more information and more buy-in from the district. See our story about their recent presentation to the school board on page 21.

The Mountain News’ own Trish Tomer is out with a new book, Tahoe Local It is a compilation of her columns and other musings and is sure to be a fun read. Last month, Trish lobbied for one-stop shopping in the pages of the Mountain News for organizations and events that need volunteers. We didn’t get enough submissions

for a separate section, but in Heard Around this month, readers can find opportunities to volunteer at Bread and Broth, Valhalla and the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association.

Our cover story this month is an update on the Caldor Fire. With charges against the two main suspects being dismissed by a judge, we thought it was time to look back at the impacts of the fire and the continued aftereffects two-and-a-half years later. Reporter Kae Reed penned a comprehensive story encompassing various topics related to the fire.

Elsewhere in this month’s edition, we recap the El Dorado County Grand Jury's report on TOT taxes. Tahoe Dad takes a look at raising the minimum wage and we have the rest of your favorite columnists doing what they do so well.

As to the late season storms we’ve been having, I’ll take the blame or the credit. I took the flannel sheets off my bed.

-Heather

ANNEXING OUR PAST

There is a city plan to annex 90 parcels currently in El Dorado County that interface with the city’s perimeter and reasonably should have been included in the city’s footprint when SLT was incorporated in 1965.

At the March 26 council meeting, Councilman John Friedrich asked how this might have happened. To answer that question, I turned to Laurel Ames (committee member for the campaign to incorporate as a city and resident since 1947).

Laurel recalls that the committee had limited funds to commission a new boundary line survey, so they adopted the sewer district’s (STPUD) boundaries for the new city’s perimeter. These rogue parcels were likely unimproved at the time and didn’t appear to present a problem if they remained in EDC. The notable exception to this plan was the Heavenly Lodge and parking lot (Cal Base).

The Devil is in the details

Why was Lake Tahoe not allowed to fill to capacity in 2023?

– Bill Beall

Becoming our own city was motivated by residents who wanted local control. In November of 1965, 2,011 voted to incorporate and 613 voted against incorporation. Choosing a name for the new city proved to be a much closer contest-1290 voted for “South Lake Tahoe” and 1,172 voted for “Lake Tahoe.”

There were 19 male candidates for the first city council and the five winners were additionally tasked with heading a city department.

IT’S NOT OVER ’TIL

IT’S OVER Douglas County Clerk

Amy Burgans finds herself in the unenviable position as the defendant in a legal complaint brought by petitioners who gathered almost 5,000 signatures for a citizen’s ballot initiative so

Owner Hugh Killebrew threatened legal action against the committee if his property was included in the proposed new city’s boundaries. To avoid a showdown with the cantankerous Killebrew, Heavenly was surgically removed from the proposed city maps and remained part of EDC. Fiftynine years later, the city is in negotiations with Vail to evaluate the feasibility of bringing Cal Base into the city limits.

voters could decide the zoning issue of vacation rentals located in residential neighborhoods.

The complaint alleges that the clerk deviated from statutory procedures by mixing and matching election signature verification procedures (that are more stringent) with initiative signature verification procedures, resulting in the disenfranchisement of valid DC registered voters who signed the petition. At the preliminary hearing, DC filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Their approval of the clerk’s findings meant the initiative would not go before the voters in November. Now the judge will decide if this initiative to ban commercial businesses (VHRs) in residential neighborhoods will appear on the November ballot.

My view? Let the people decide.

In other local VHR conflicts, El Dorado County concluded a months’ long citizen review of their VHR issues. EDC currently has 900 VHRs that have created the number one issue of clustering.

This review was initiated by EDC Supervisor Brooke Laine who recognized the need to fully vet this issue and made it part of her election campaign.

To navigate this contentious matter, EDC hired a professional consulting firm (Zephyr Collaboration) that provided their conflict resolution services for an amount described as ”Not to exceed $50,000.” The kicker: The person representing Zephyr was former TRPA executive director and defender of the TRPA’s controversial VHR policies,

Judge William Maddox denied this request and instead has requested a transcript of the DC commissioners meeting where three members voted to accept the clerk’s finding of insufficiency without considering the glaring irregularities that citizens presented in public comment.

Joanne Marchetta, who evidently has created a new career for herself as an overpaid consultant. The end result: EDC will enact stricter rules, levy higher fees and fines, allow no on-street parking, reduce occupancy, and hire more code enforcement officers. At this time, the clustering issue has not been addressed.

BEST OF TAHOE

In a small town you don’t always have access to the best services. Tahoe is fortunate to have many five-star providers who bring their ‘A’ game to work everyday. Jason Reid (Reid Dental Arts): This guy is simply the best. Anush Nejad (Public Works Director City of SLT): His standards are high, he is always prepared, and he delivers. Gilberto (head chef Café Fiore): He’s got some kind of magic going on in his kitchen. Jessica Monaloy (Meyers Physical Therapy): She’s an expert in her field who is dedicated to her patients’ recovery. Alexis Holmes and Tara Christian (Holmes Christian LLP): These two women are crazy smart attorneys.

One could easily assume after the monster winter of 2022-23 that Lake Tahoe would have easily hit its legal limit of 6,229.1 feet.

It didn’t. This is mostly because of what the lake level was at going into that winter. It hit a low of 6,222.58 feet in November 2022. On July 21, 2023, it reached a season high of 6,228.3 feet.

folks that operated the dam then, and the lakeshore homeowners.”

Beyond Mother Nature, it is the water master’s office in Reno that controls the amount of water in Lake Tahoe.

In 2023, only the amount of water that legally had to be released from Lake Tahoe to “keep the stream alive” was let out through the dam. This is 50 cubic feet per second in the winter and 70 cfs in the summer.

The National Weather Service in Reno says:

• When Lake Tahoe adds one foot of water, that is about 33.6 billion gallons.

“The U.S. District Court Water Master's Office was created by a federal court order in 1926 as a means to help end rancorous legal disputes over water supplies and to manage water in Lake Tahoe and the Truckee and Carson rivers,” the agency’s website says.

“That is nearly six feet of rise. It definitely ranks in the top five,” Dave Wathen, chief hydrologist with the water master’s office, said in terms of the increased water level in one winter.

So, it wasn’t a matter of Lake Tahoe being allowed to fill or of excess water being released. It didn’t naturally fill to that magic number of 6,229.1 feet.

“It’s a negotiated limit that’s been in place for nearly 100 years,” Wathen explained. “It was a negotiated level between water users, the Bureau of Reclamation, the

The natural rim is 6,223 feet. The next 6.1 feet is considered a reservoir. That water is consumed downstream by municipalities and farmers, and for recreation as it passes through Tahoe City’s rafting companies.

The waters of Lake Tahoe enter the Truckee River through the dam in Tahoe City, then flow to Reno, with its terminus 120 miles away at Pyramid Lake. The final destination assumes there is unused water.

Lake Tahoe is Reno’s and Sparks’ largest and primary source of water. Some years water from Tahoe is also diverted to the Newlands Project, which was established in 1903. Water is sent to the Lahontan Reservoir in Churchill County when the supply for farmers via the Carson River is not sufficient.

The Carson is looking good this season, so supplemental water is not likely to be needed, according to Wathen.

When it comes to record water years, it’s 2017 that the water master’s office points to. That was the biggest year when it comes to runoff. In the 100 years of record keeping, this was the first time Lake Tahoe filled when starting the season below the rim, Wathen said.

“2017 was just a crazy year. We ended up spilling nearly two feet of water,” Wathen said. Releases started in April that year and continued for months to keep the level in check.

The low in 2016 was 6,222.47 feet on Oct. 14. That means the winter of 201617 added more than eight feet of water to the lake: 6.63 feet to reach the legal limit and two feet that were released through the dam.

That doesn’t account for evaporation.

“The daily evaporation from Lake Tahoe (of ) half a billion gallons would meet the daily water needs of 5 million Americans,” according to the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

• That foot increases the volume by 103,200 acre-feet.

• An average household uses 1 acre-foot of water per year.

According to the U.S. Forest Service website, “Lake Tahoe contains an average of 37 trillion gallons of water. That's hard to imagine, but it is enough water to cover a flat surface, the size of California with 14 inches of water. If you did ever manage to drain Tahoe, it would take around 700 years to fill back up again.”

So, what does the forecast look like for this year when it comes to Lake Tahoe’s levels?

The low for 2023 was 6,227.05 on Dec. 4.

“That is only 2 feet below being full, so we have much less space to fill,” Wathen pointed out.

Wathen expects based on current data—aka snowpack, water level, forecasting models—that Lake Tahoe will hit its legal limit this summer

GOT A QUESTION?

Email: mountainnews2@gmail.com

Mail: P.O. Box 8974, South Lake Tahoe, CA 95618.

The following endorsement letter for Tahoe Township Justice of the Peace was shared with the Mountain News and is reprinted here.

Dear Honorable Judge Michael Johnson:

On behalf of the Douglas County Sheriff's Protective Association (DCSPA), representing over 100 Law Enforcement Deputies/Sergeants of Douglas County, Nevada, we are pleased to announce our endorsement of your 2024 campaign for Tahoe Township Justice of the Peace.

Sincerely, Justin Fricke, President DCSPA Judge

This Association represents the men and women who serve and protect this great county. The Association is also a proud member of the Public Safety Alliance of Nevada (PSAN), which is comprised of nearly 100 Law Enforcement organizations and nearly 10,000 officers throughout Nevada.

If we can be of any assistance in your campaign, feel free to contact us; furthermore, we respectfully ask

that you use this endorsement in the positive spirit in which it is given, refrain from using or mentioning it in any negative or derogatory campaign piece.

Best wishes for success in your campaign.

Tahoe

Digital Implant treatment can bring back quality of life with more comfort and aesthetics. We utilize 3D digital technology with surgically guided implant placement that permits a minimally invasive technique that decreases bleeding and swelling without raising a gum tissue flap in most cases.

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Dr. Ortega and “Goose” (530) 541-7040 1060 Ski Run Blvd.

The California Tahoe Conservancy has spearheaded the acquisition of the Motel 6 site, adjacent restaurant and the Knox Johnson historic meadow for a total purchase price of $15.6 million The 31 acres of environmentally sensitive land will be restored as a meadow and wetland which will filter sediment and particles before entering Lake Tahoe and provide a habitat for songbirds, waterfowl, amphibians, fish, and bears. Local funding partners in the project include the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Tahoe Fund and the League to Save Lake Tahoe as well as several California state agencies.

The U.S. Forest Service is seeking volunteers to join its Desolation Wilderness Volunteer Team. Potential volunteers should be able to commit a minimum of six days this summer and can choose from easy, moderate or strenuous duties. Those who are interested should email Don Lane at don.lane@usda,gov by April 19.

As prescribed burning operations continue, the U.S. Forest Service has released a video on the benefits of low intensity fire in forest health.

Visit https://usda-fs.wistia.com/ medias/nsa2fwv8mo to view.

Visit California, the state’s tourism agency, awarded Visit Lake Tahoe (aka Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority) the best destination ad campaign of less

than $1 million for “Awe and Then Some,” which was created by Noble Studios in Reno. Visit CA said, “Once the Visit Lake Tahoe brand was announced, locals embraced it fully, and through ad campaigns, visitations are up significantly.”

Donate blood on May 17 from 11:30am-5pm at the South Lake Tahoe rec center.

Valhalla Tahoe’s annual spring cleanup is April 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bring work gloves, a rake and friends. Drinks and snacks will be provided. For more info, email info@ valhallatahoe.com.

The city of South Lake Tahoe wants feedback from residents. Take the online survey: https://www.cityofslt. us/2310/Community-Survey. It’s available in English and Spanish.

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival comes to Valhalla on April 22 preceded by a Spring Bounty Dinner, prepared by Chef Darren Weston. Silent auction and raffle as well. The cost is $25 for the film festival, starting at 7pm and $100 for the dinner at 5pm. Tickets are available online at sierranevadaalliance.org/wsff.

The Tahoe Art League is sponsoring a workshop for kids ages 8 and up on April 17. Cost is $25 plus a $5 materials fee. Contact Kathy at kplndeweys444@gmail.com to sign up.

Local artist Craig Newman will be hosting a Canvas and Color class on Thursday evenings. These relaxing meditative art classes will be offered every Thursday at the Tahoe Art League from 6 - 8pm. Cost $25. To RSVP, email craignewmanart@ gmail.com.

The South Lake Tahoe Earth Day Festival will be held on April 27 from 10am to 3pm at Lake Tahoe Community College. Take down the bird feeders and secure garbage as spring arrives and with it, hungry bears waking up from a long winter’s nap. To report bear/human conflicts or sick and injured bears, contact the California Department of Fish and Wildlife 916-358-2917 or report online using the Wildlife Incident Reporting (WIR) system at apps.wildlife.ca.gov/wir. Or call the Nevada Department of Wildlife at 775/688-BEAR.

Destination Stewardship has hired Nettie Pardue as its managing director. Meyers resident Pardue most recently worked for Outward Bound. The DS council has also put together four teams to begin identifying and implementing measures to combat the effects of overtourisim.

Last month, high winds at Sierra-at-Tahoe opened up a 30-foot snow crevasse on the mountain, something never seen before. With fewer trees providing a windbreak or buffer due to the

Caldor Fire, such events may become more common.

Tickets and entry guidelines are available online (https:// eldoradocountyfair.org/) for the June 13-16 El Dorado County Fair. This year’s theme is Barrows, Boots and Bling.

Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce is filling its leadership hole with former CEO B Gorman; she quit in 2016 after 10 years at the helm. Mike Glover left abruptly in December.

Melanie and Kevin Hubert are buying Cold Water Brewery from longtime owner and founder Debbie Brown.

Bread & Broth needs a variety of volunteers. Contact Carol Gerard at (310) 256-1019 or carolsgerard@aol.com.

Rotary's Dave Kurtzman is heading a program to distribute free, used in-home medical equipment like shower chairs, wheelchairs and walkers. To request items or donate call (530) 545-3283.

Contribute thoughts about the recommendations put forth by the El Dorado County District V VHR Advisory Committee

View the report at https:// www.edcgov.us/Government/ BOS/DistrictV/Documents/ EDC%20VHR%20FINAL%20

AC%20Recommendations%20

Report%203.6.24.pdf. Access the survey at https://www. surveymonkey.com/r/FTJYDQW

Dr. Kyle Swanson has been named Barton Health’s Physician of the Year. Swanson is a boardcertified orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and joint replacement surgeries. Swanson was noted for his surgical skill, his exceptional care and his warm smile.

Lake Tahoe is the focus of a new all-ages book by local author/illustrator Kristen Schwartz. “With Love, From Tahoe—Stories About Simple Things We Can Do to Protect Lake Tahoe” delves into the heart of Tahoe's environmental challenges and offers practical solutions for preservation.

The book will be available for free download in English and Spanish starting April 20, 2024, at https://www.kristenschwartz. com/withlovefromtahoe.html. It was made possible in part by a microgrant from the City of South Lake Tahoe Arts, Culture, and Tourism Commission

The Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association is offering a trail crew leader training on April 27 and April 28.

Visit https://tamba.org/event/ crew-leader-training/?mc_ cid=ee10e4632d&mc_ eid=6289a92ee2 for information and to register.

Have a community item for Heard? Email mountainnews2@ gmail.com, subject line “Heard.”

Camp Rich concessionaire takes over marina

Because Bob Hassett believes the marina and resort at Camp Richardson should be operated by one entity, he is leasing the property he owns there to the new concessionaire.

Financial details of the one-year contract have not been disclosed.

“At this time we are going to get through the next year and see how things work, and move from there,” Hassett told the Mountain News as to why it’s such a shortterm agreement.

“We did it because we believe it’s the right thing to do for the community and the guests. It will allow a seamless experience for everyone involved,” he added.

For about 40 years the resort and marina have had the same operator.

Kansas-based ExplorUS took over Camp Rich at the first of the year after Hassett and wife Tammy were not selected by the U.S. Forest Service to be the concessionaire after running it for 23 years.

The resort includes the former Beacon restaurant now called The Grove, 38 cabins, a 27-room hotel,

The marina at Camp Richardson is being leased by ExplorUS for at least one year from Bob and Tammy Hassett.

campgrounds, general store, ice cream parlor, and mountain sports center.

In 2000, the Hassetts bought Camp Richardson Resort Inc. from a South Korean company. This gave them sole ownership of the marina and pier—about two acres on the water’s edge.

In addition to ExplorUS running the marina—which includes a boat launch, fueling station on the pier, and boat rentals—the company will operate the duplex at the marina which is part of the accommodations’ inventory, and the event center at the boathouse.

Will Boas, vice president of ExplorUS, chose not to speak with this publication, but instead had his PR agency send out a press release to all media the same day this reporter called.

Because the deal involves private property, the Forest Service has no say in the matter.

The Hassetts will continue to operate the Rum Runner Cruise and Vikingsholm tours out of Camp Rich during the summer season.

The US Forest Service Desolation Wilderness Volunteer Team is accepting sign-ups for summer.

Insuring into the future

I started out this month’s column writing about our feckless LTUSD school board and also diving into a recent death in the family, which led to some observations about other deaths that have touched us locally in recent months. And then I had to re-think putting all of that “out there.” I’m not sure why because it’s important to call attention to a poorly functioning school board, especially when it impacts an entire community in one way or another. And I do think it’s useful to think about mortality, and in turn, how we treat the time we have here. Maybe it just seemed a little much for the moment.

So, for now, let’s talk about something else that terrifies many of us and if it doesn’t now, it will one day . . probably soon: homeowner’s insurance.

The other day, we met with our insurance person to review

have been inundated with phone calls for new clients lately, and they have been for a while now. Which means they don’t need to be overly concerned about retention right now as folks are just grateful not to be cancelled. I’m not saying your agent or broker doesn’t care about you; they probably do if they live in your community. It’s just that they don’t need you as much as you need them.

And is there another industry you less want to have such an imbalanced power dynamic?

Banking? Sure. Oil and gas purveyors? Sure. Utilities companies? Yep. But you get the idea: If you are fortunate enough to be allowed to pay the insurance company vast sums of money, fortunate enough that they deign to allow you the privilege of a policy—if you are one of the few chosen ones—you still

times that of our cars, but we’re paying much more for car than home insurance. Riddle me that one.

In fairness, I’m going to make a distinction here: insurance agents and brokers are not necessarily the “bad guy” in this picture (here’s where I beg our agent not to cancel us!); they, too, are at the mercy of their parent company’s policy changes, which are based on–you guessed it–economics.

The fact is, insurance companies are losing money and especially in places like Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and of course, California. And when they lose money, they cut back on employees and retreat from regions that are costing them too much. CapRadio’s Nicole Nixon reported that “In 2023, seven of the 12 largest insurers doing business in California, in-

Especially for us mountain folk, the insurance world has shifted to “wildfire mitigation,” “Fireline” scores, “fire maps” and other arcane and mystical tools whose beauty and allure lie in the fact that they give insurance purveyors a number to roll off their tongue.

our policy stuff. I had half expected she would have some ideas on how to cut some costs—I know, fantasyland on my part.

I should have read the “room” better because as we all know, you’re lucky if you haven’t been dropped by your insurance company and forced to go to the California FAIR Plan or whatever else you can scrounge up. And boy do the insurance companies know they are in the feudal baron’s seat.

The disempowered consumer

It should be no surprise that insurance agents and brokers

should expect to be dropped at the very next opportunity, likely the next cycle when your renewal comes due.

In the meantime, you can suck it up and feel blessed to pay the rate increases that seem to range from 15- to over 100 percent a year.

Meanwhile, RiskFactor. com calculates the odds of a wildfire destroying our home in the next 30 years at 0.8 percent. I suggest that somebody is “milking it” by playing on the fears from recent fire events rather than using actual science.

And a related oddity: the value of our home is about ten

cluding State Farm and Allstate, said they could no longer afford to cover new homes in the state due to wildfire risks.”

They also look at how they can tighten the language in policies to maybe exclude some coverages here and there. And when you really dig into your contract and its language, it’ll disturb your sleep because what’s covered isn’t always a black and white thing. No, that all-important question—covered or not—is often accompanied by some very subjective language that lets the insurance company off the hook and leaves you and your fish pole standing there

like a dork. And that’s in spite of all the money you have paid for years and years, in some cases decades.

What do I mean by subjective language, you ask? Ok, here’s an example: Many—especially after last winter—are concerned about roof collapse from snow and ice. According to our policy, “The collapse must be a sudden, abrupt, and accidental, actual and complete falling down of the building structure or of a structural part of the building structure,” and then adds that “Collapse does not include bending, sagging, bowing, leaning . cracking, bulging, . . . unless an actual and complete falling down has occurred.” So, you’re left to wonder, who defines what’s “complete” vs say, a “partial” collapse? If half of the roof collapses, are you then not covered at all? It isn’t clear, and believe me, I’ve read the thing. Our agent tells us it’s when you can see through the roof in some part of the collapse. But the policy booklet doesn’t say that.

How you get dropped and where that leaves you Especially for us mountain folk, the insurance world has shifted to “wildfire mitigation,” “Fireline” scores, “fire maps” and other arcane and mystical tools whose beauty and allure lie in the fact that they give insurance purveyors a number to roll off their tongue. And that number allows them either to pawn you off on the fates or to grace you with their indulgent protection.

Whether you use the “rock and a hard place,” the “devil and the deep blue sea,” or the mythical “Scylla and Charybdis” metaphor, they all capture where we find ourselves now.

And that’s because if you leave your insurance company—or you’re fired by them—you most likely will only be able to get the California FAIR Plan.

In a November 2023 CalMatters article, Levi Sumagaysay wrote that FAIR Plan premiums “are usually more expensive, and they’re only getting higher. In September, California’s Department of Insurance approved a rate increase long sought by the insurers that finance the plan, for an average 15.7 percent rate hike.”

Ok, so it’s a rock and maybe a bigger rock?

California, you get what you deserve?

Californians have built their homes on ocean cliffs, on hillside stilts, amid trees and brush, in canyons where fires tend to funnel, beside rivers that flood, in the forests and of course, on or near fault lines. In fact, more than 70 percent of us live within 30 miles of a fault where shaking is likely or expected. So, in some sense, maybe we get what we deserve in terms of homeowner’s insurance.

But then again, any place you pick is going to come with some natural risk, whether it be hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flood, fire, extreme heat, blizzard or swarms of locust. Even in a city, you’ve got structural risks, theft, vandalism, fire and more.

I just wonder, are the risks being equally weighed and paid?

As always, feel free to email mikesmutterings@gmail. com

M

Counting the cost of the Caldor Fire

While no entity has put an exact dollar figure on the financial toll of the Caldor Fire, it is in the billions of dollars. That number keeps growing as restoration efforts continue.

El Dorado County reports its costs to date are $16.3 million. This was for employees responding to the fire and recovery afterward, mutual aid, equipment and supplies. It has been reimbursed about $12.6 million by the state and FEMA.

It’s been reported the structural damage amounted to $1.2 billion, which includes the total loss of 1,005 homes or other buildings, with another 81 damaged. The town of Grizzly Flats was incinerated, and Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort incurred significant damage.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in his request to President Biden for financial aid in September 2021 wrote, “The projected economic loss in South Lake Tahoe is estimated to reach nearly $40 million due to the Caldor Fire.”

The U.S. Forest Service says suppression costs came in at $271.1 million for the fire that started Aug. 14, 2021, and was contained Oct. 20.

There are other losses without a price tag—like the animals who died and the air that was polluted. And how does one quantify the death of Harminder Singh Grewal, the Galt police officer who died in a head-on collision on his way to the Caldor Fire? Then there were the 21 people who were injured.

Some losses were likely never reported with people and businesses being under insured or lacking insurance.

Putting a price tag on a wildfire can never quantify the emotional toll. Heart beats still skip at the sound of sirens and the smell of smoke.

Analyzing the numbers Tahoe Prosperity Center wanted to do an economic study about the Caldor fire, but didn’t have the money to do so. Tom

Harris, an economist at University of Nevada, Reno, put together a short memo for TPC.

His analysis from figures provided by TPC showed the projected revenue decline for the entire South Shore for hotels-motels was $21 million, while the loss in revenues for retail-restaurants was $19.4 million for a four-week period between August and September that accounted for the mandatory evacuation.

The document said El Dorado County sustained an employment loss of 522 workers. This amounted to “total labor income loss of $18.2 million, lost total value added of $29.20 million, and lost total economic activity of $50.3 million.”

For Stateline, Harris wrote that the hotel-casino sector for that same four-week timespan saw revenue declines of $32.5 million, with a loss of 343 jobs, $15.3 million in labor income and $42.9 million in economic activity loss.

ing to the Nevada Department of Taxation.

and criticized Nationwide in the same sentence because the company later dropped Getaway Café as a client.

The restaurant was closed for 23 days that summer.

Stateline casinos reported a 77 percent drop in revenues to $5.6 million for September 2021 when the area was evacuated and no one was traveling on Highway 50 into the South Shore.

This had a ripple effect because casinos pay property taxes on revenues and not the actual value of the premises. Third quarter property taxes in 2021 for the Stateline casinos were down more than nine percent, accord-

According to the California Natural Resources Agency, the state doesn’t track or estimate the cost of wildfires in a way that accounts for public health costs or ecological damage.

Businesses rebound

Every business on the South Shore was affected by the fire.

Spoilage of food was a biggie for restaurants and grocery stores.

Getaway Café in Meyers had to toss nearly $18,000 worth of food. Smoke mediation was about another $12,000.

Insurance covered the losses. Owner Diane Guth praised

“I made the call about two days before we were actually evacuated because you couldn’t breathe anymore. People were getting headaches and were nauseous,” Guth said. “Our hoods at the restaurant had been running every single day until we were evacuated. The hoods had been pulling those particles in. That was toxic stuff.”

Siobhan Fajayan, director of marketing for Edgewood Tahoe Resort, would not reveal the economic impact on the Stateline property.

She said while the hotel and restaurants were closed until Sept. 17, Edgewood “remained steadfast in supporting first responders, providing essential resources such as accommodations and food/water to the firefighters….”

While Grocery Outlet in South Lake Tahoe did not put a dollar value on the food it donated, what was distributed filled two pickup trucks.

“It was all of the perishable products—eggs, meat, produce,” explained Ryan Schouten who works for his parents, Kim and Mike, who own the store.

The grocery store was closed for seven days.

The donations were used by South Tahoe Refuse, which had set up a barbecue in its parking lot in South Lake Tahoe first for its employees who were called back to work during the evacuation because of bears creating messes. Then word spread to first responders in the basin, and they, too, were fed by the STR crew.

“It was fun to see all these police and firefighters from all these areas come in,” STR President Jeff Tillman said. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and to-go boxes were provided. “They were protecting our streets. The least we could do was feed them.”

. Large equipment operators work to fix the damage created by dozers on Powerline in Tahoe.

Tillman would not talk about the economic impact to the garbage company, only saying people had been through enough so they shouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of their waste.

“Once people were able to

Summer sales are a huge part of the sporting goods’ business. With few people in town

come back in town we were already on a normal schedule,” Tillman explained. “We set up trucks parked in four different areas in the community so they could bring spoiled food to us. We did that for a week or two.

We had the transfer station open if anyone wanted to get rid of spoiled food or anything else they wanted to get rid of.”

when smoke inundated the basin, then the evacuation, and the reopening not happening until after Labor Day, well, it was almost like losing an entire season of sales.

Doors were taped to try to keep the smoke out and fans were running to cleanse the air.

“We bought huge air purifiers that most people would use for, honestly, cannabis operations,” Aitken said.

Kim Aitken, store manager for Sports Ltd. near Stateline, said the company’s insurance company fully compensated them, but she would not say what the figure was.

While some people were arrested on looting charges, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office did not provide the numbers of arrests or names of people to be able to track what happened to them. Nor could the economic losses be ascertained.

Barton battles

Medical care is a whole different animal during crises. It entails moving people and equipment, and still being able to provide care.

Barton Health was notified evacuations were imminent before the general public was. This was in order to safely move patients and staff. On Aug. 29, the medical conglomerate used buses

from Lake Tahoe Unified School District and local ambulances to move 36 skilled nursing patients to Carson City, and 16 acute patients, seven of whom had Covid, to various partner facilities in the region.

“Equipment related to medical imaging, laboratory, pharmaceuticals, general medical and surgical supplies, and critical care and trauma supplies were evacuated in order to ensure our staff and partner medical facilities could continue to provide care to patients,” Thea Schwartz, communications specialist for Barton Health, said.

First responders take a barbecue break courtesy of STR workers and donations from area businesses.

Barton Memorial Hospital reopened Sept. 6 with ER and acute care services. By Sept. 13 the facility was fully operational.

“During the evacuation there were direct costs to transport patients, medical supplies, equipment, etc. In total, Barton’s estimated overall losses/ expenses—direct and indirect— throughout the entire Caldor Fire event at close to $12 million. Barton was reimbursed from our insurance company for losses specific to the evacuation period at approximately $4 million,” Schwartz said.

Emergency room personnel were the last to leave, which was Aug. 30. Barton used its ski clinic trailer at the Heavenly Mountain Resort’s California Lodge as a triage clinic. This is where firefighters were headquartered.

Life emerges from the charred remains of a tree in the Saxon Creek area of the basin.

Law enforcement from various agencies wait under smokey skies to be fed by STR employees.

Those figures are for the entire Barton health care system, not just the hospital.

“Lost revenue and lost patient visits occurred not only during the evacuation, but also in the weeks leading up to the evacuation due to the smoke/air quality impact on the community. Barton incurred costs to implement smoke mitigation processes including air filters and building maintenance work to improve air quality,” Schwartz explained.

Since then, insurance premiums and deductibles have “increased significantly,” according to Schwartz.

Legal ramifications

When someone is convicted or pleads guilty to starting a fire, restitution is usually part of the sentence. Because a judge said the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office didn’t have enough evidence to take the case against the two men charged with starting the Caldor Fire to trial, restitution isn’t going to happen.

The DA’s office was uncooperative with answering questions about what, if anything, happens next.

Eldorado National Forest and DA investigators determined

case regarding the fire is closed, or if more evidence is being sought to bring new charges against the father-son duo who have been the only suspects named to date, or if someone else may be held accountable.

the probable cause of the Caldor Fire was from target shooting—a bullet sparking the fire.

Eldorado Forest officials said the case rests solely with the DA’s office now.

Restitution for individuals, businesses and public agencies isn't possible without a conviction.

However, the DA’s office would not answer whether the

In 2016, Wayne Allen Huntsman pleaded guilty to starting the 2014 King Fire in El

Dorado County. In addition to a 20-year prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $60 million in restitution.

“We are uncertain if any restitution has been paid while he has been in prison as that is not information we generally receive,” Assistant District Attorney Lisette Suder said. “As for general restitution rules and guidelines, if someone had money before they went to prison, they would be ordered to pay restitution from what money they had. While a defendant may not be able to earn much money while in prison, a percentage of whatever small amount they may make while working jobs in prison can be set aside to pay a portion of a restitution order. Some victims feel they would rather get something than nothing.”

Suder explained one reason prosecutors seek restitution even though in the moment the perpetrator may not have money is if “the defendant (were) to ever get money in the future from later jobs or inheritance or otherwise.”

This would also include proceeds from book deals or the like.

Helping the forest

Can a price be put on a dead tree? Maybe. El Dorado County Resource Conservation District, which has played a pivotal role in

forest restoration post-Caldor, received $3.5 million from the Forest Service and a $1.2 million grant from CalFire.

To date, the Caldor is the largest fire in El Dorado County’s history and the first to be declared a federal disaster.

Work continues to help the charred forest come back to life.

In all, 221,835 acres were blackened in El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. Most of the fire burned in Eldorado, with 9,885 acres burning in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

Each national forest has separate work plans to restore their lands.

Facts to date proved by Eldorado:

• Helicopter and ground based operations felled approximately 280 acres of hazard trees within Sierra-at-Tahoe’s ski area

boundary. More than 18 million board feet of sawlogs have been removed to Tahoe Forest Products. An additional 1,000 tons of cull and biomass material have been processed on site and removed.

• Hazard tree phase 1 when completed will include 1,849 acres across approximately 24 miles of road. A total of 24 million board feet of timber products are planned to be removed from the project area.

• 2,058 acres of machine pile burning on the Grizzly Flat Fuel Break.

• 39 acres of machine pile burning at Grizzly Flat Fire Station.

• 29 acres of under burning on the Marshall Mine RX.

Last May the Eldorado National Forest conducted meetings to gather public input about its restoration project. More comments could be sought this spring, with a decision possible this summer.

The proposal’s overriding goals are to: “1) restore and manage ecosystem health and resilience, 2) reduce the threat of future uncharacteristic and catastrophic wildfires and associated risks, and 3) provide socioeconomic benefits to surrounding communities and the public in areas adversely impacted by the fire.”

LTBMU finalized a plan in 2022 for 1,528 acres of national forest lands that were burned and approximately 50 acres that were damaged during fire suppression. But work is not done. The agency this year could start on more restoration that focuses on managing the watershed, vegetation, special uses and fuels. Public comment will be sought on those proposals.

“Taking your project from concept to completion” CA

Hazardous trees litter the forest after the Caldor Fire.

Community task force examines girls sports

It started with a letter to the editor three years ago. Kathleen Brown objected to the South Tahoe High School girls varsity soccer team—of which her daughter was a member—getting bumped from the scheduled time and place at which they were supposed to play their final home game of the season, which was also the game where the senior members of the team would be honored—to make way for the football team. Tracy Owen Chapman, who had two daughters and one son participate in sports at South Tahoe High and who said she saw the discrepancies in how teams of each gender were accommodated, read the letter and called Brown and the Lake Tahoe Unified School District Title IX Task Force was born. Title IX refers to the federal mandates that sports teams for each gender be treated equitably.

Along the way, the task force picked up Alexis Holmes, former South Tahoe High athlete, Katie Sheehan, also a former South Tahoe High athlete and girls cross-country coach, and Brandi Bannister, former member of the LTUSD board. Frustrated with what they see as the district’s lack of progress in tackling Title IX issues—though the task force has had many meetings and raised their concerns with district personnel at all levels—they decided to go to the school board and the public in an effort to gain traction and have their concerns addressed. Task force members spoke at the LTUSD Board meeting on March

Girls' sports often get short shrift according to a community-led task force.

28 during the public comment period. Among other things, they said they had been waiting a year for certain information from the district requested under the California Public Records Act.

Nevertheless, the task force was able to obtain some information from the district in the form of student-athlete surveys and glean other information anecdotally. Among their findings was that female athletes are injured at a rate almost six times greater than male athletes and are not receiving the medical support and training needed to prevent and minimize injuries.

The task force also concluded that when transportation to games and meets is stretched thin—not enough busses or drivers are available, for instance—boys teams more of-

ten receive district bus transportation while girls teams are left to cobble together transportation from parents and others.

And, said the task force, priority is given to boys teams when scheduling use of facilities and fields instead of rotating the schedule among the different teams. Sometimes, even Pop Warner football has taken precedence over the girls varsity soccer team when scheduling games and practices, according to a 38-page report compiled by the task force and distributed to the district board and administrative staff.

What the task force is still seeking is detailed financial information about how much

money is spent on sports teams, broken out by gender, sport and participation rates. “We’ve hit a wall in trying to obtain the quantitative data” from the district, Owen Chapman told the board.

The task force hopes to build a framework to hand off to LTUSD for tracking, monitoring and analyzing student-athlete information as it pertains to Title IX that can easily be reported out each year and where adjustments can be identified and implemented if discrepancies among the genders are revealed. “This is the district’s responsibility,” said Owen Chapman. “We are just helping them get there.”

LTUSD Superintendent Todd Cutler, who was not at the

March 28 meeting as he was away at a conference, told the Mountain News he “absolutely wants equity for all of our athletes,” and that Title IX is important to him, especially as the father of two daughters who played sports. Cutler said he was under the impression that LTUSD staffers who had been assigned to gather information had provided it to the task force.

Shortly thereafter, the Mountain News received a call from Beth Sheperd, the director of student services, part of whose job duties include Title IX compliance. Sheperd told the Mountain News she would be meeting in the near term with Barbara Bedwell, dean at South Tahoe High School, and Kevin Hennessee, athletic director, to compile the requested information. (The task force singled out Bedwell, praising her as the most responsive staff member to their inquiries). Sheperd said she would also convene a meeting with the task force every six weeks going forward.

“We don’t need more meetings wasting people’s time. What we need is the information we asked for,” said Owen Chapman. “What we need is results.”

I want to thank Susan Chandler for her full-page op ed in the February edition of the Mountain News where she expresses her thoughts and opinions on voting in elections. Yes, voting is a special right granted only to citizens of the United States and so it should remain. Citizenship legally obtained is precious and must be protected. Thanks also to the Mountain News for printing her opinion.

When it comes to state and federal political matters, political labeling means little on critical issues. Either we are at war or peace. Our border is safe and secure from illegal drugs, child trafficking, and persons on the terror watch list or it is not secure. Our federal government is fiscally sound with no new taxes or not. We either have a balanced and responsible state budget or we have a state audit verified $73 billion deficit for 20242025. Are we helping working people with a strong local, state, and national economy or do we see many businesses and people moving out of state for a better business environment or a better life? Is the state giving away free benefits to illegal migrants at the expense of taxpayers and encouraging illegal immigration from all parts of the world? Are we creating more dependence on the state and federal government to win votes from people who are totally dependent on a government handout? Is our government encouraging individual growth,

Voting Wisely

This month's guest column is by David Jinkens, former city manager and community activist.

self-reliance and success, or dependence on the government?

Most people do not want a federal government that spies on its citizens or censors them directly or with the aid of large technology companies. People want the privacy of their homes, emails, checking accounts, credit cards, churches, and synagogues to be protected. We do not want the full weight of government to mistreat individuals for exercising their constitutional rights or for being good parents. Most of us do not want a government that censors free speech that we are guaranteed under the Constitution. We must have a judiciary that is objective, independent, and free from politics so that all people coming before a court will be treated fairly. We need a change in governance and the philosophy of government from what we have now.

Most decisions made locally have nothing to do with partisanship, whether Democrat or Republican. In California, local elections are by law nonpartisan as they should be. Many people are independent in their thinking. People vote based on whether they think things are going well or not for them in their city, state, and country.

The late Senator Dianne Feinstein is someone I admired for many years when she was a mayor and then our United States Senator. While I did not agree with her position on all matters, her key staff told me that before

voting on important policy matters, she would first ask what is the right thing to do, and then she would discuss the politics of the matter. This is how all-important decisions must be made and we should expect them to be made by all elected officials.

As a person who grew up during the Vietnam War era, I never again want to see policies and actions by the federal government that through weakness, corruption, stupidity, and self-interest drag Americans once again into war. The Vietnam War cost America 58,000 dead and hundreds of thousands injured, and countless others killed and injured in Southeast Asia. Our military served with honor in a war that should never have been fought. These death numbers include two friends and schoolmates of mine. This federal administration has done little to nothing to discourage war in the world, and I fear that once again they will drag us into war.

During the last administration, we had no war in Ukraine, reduced belligerence from North Korea, no threats to our NATO allies, no war in the Middle East, a weakened and less threatening Iran, peace in the Holy Land, and no threats of imminent invasion from the Chinese Communists against the people of Taiwan. Were things perfect? No, but dictators knew not to mess with the United States or its allies. This is worth a whole lot. We must have credibility as a Nation.

By executive action from the former president, the American border was as secure as it has ever been, and the Mexican government worked with us to help secure the border. Today, the Mexican government is basically telling the U.S. government to go to a place where it is extremely hot. The Mexican president tells us he will not help us with the killer cartels nor with massive illegal immigration from all over the world through his country to ours. Federal officials from the top down are ignoring immigration law and aiding and abetting illegal immigration. They are also disrespecting those fine immigrants who came here legally and are making a very positive contribution to our country. I do not blame people for wanting to come here, but American taxpayers cannot financially support the world.

COVID, according to new evidence, likely originated in the Wuhan Lab from gain of function research by arrogant self-serving scientists, including Dr Fauci. It created a pandemic like we had not seen since 1917. Fauci’s self-serving and conflicting advice (we learned recently) took an economy that was booming and severely damaged it. In California, state policies resulted in the closure and destruction of many local businesses, including ones in our own city. Because of regulations promulgated by the governor, schools were closed and many students, especially

those with learning disabilities, were harmed. This is a tragedy. It did not have to be this way.

I respectfully disagree with Ms. Chandler’s comments about Representative Kiley. Mr. Kiley and his staff are engaged at the federal level and are responsive to constituent needs when called upon. He wants to help us, hear our issues, and address them. Too many times elected officials at all levels of government ignore calls for help and do not respond to constituent concerns. They think they are smarter or better than us. He and his staff are responsive. We need balance in government and more than one party rule, and he is helping provide it in Congress.

I hope that all people carefully look at the conditions in our world, nation and state, and ask themselves are they better off than before? Once they decide, they need to vote for people who they believe will be looking out for them first and foremost and make us all safer. They need people in government who will create opportunity and fair treatment for all and empower their success rather than make them dependent on an all-powerful government that blocks their creativity and personal achievement.

The future is in our hands as voters, and we need to choose wisely. I respect that others may have a different opinion on these matters.

Grand Jury examines TOT allocation

Equitable is not a word El Dorado County officials collectively employ when it comes to distributing transient occupancy tax dollars.

The county civil grand jury released a report in March after investigating possible improprieties.

“Sixty-five percent of the TOT revenue is generated in the Tahoe basin and there is a great deal of frustration among those local residents and groups that a much smaller percentage is allocated back to that area,” the report says. “While the funds are being used and distributed in accordance with the law, greater transparency could alleviate public frustration and lack of trust.”

The county has until June 4 to respond. According to spokeswoman Carla Hass, “Staff will bring a draft response to

She said about 70 percent comes “right off the top that has no direct benefit in the basin.”

Grand jury recommendations include:

• The BOS should develop and implement a plan by Jan. 1, 2025, to improve the transparency of the TOT funds request and allocation process, such as a TOT page on their website or a media campaign to alleviate public perception of misuse of funds.

• To clarify that the funds are discretionary, Board Policy B-16 should be updated in the latest CAO Budget Book, and everywhere else relevant, to properly set public expectations and reduce controversy.

• The county tax collector should implement a compliance plan to ensure that all TOT taxes are identified and collected.

The grand jury said, “The definition of ‘economic development and tourism’ was not sufficiently clear. This left the public confused and distrustful, and caused frustration among some of the chambers of commerce who felt they should have received an appropriate percentage of these funds.”

board for approval no later than May 21.” This will serve as the Board of Supervisors’ and county staff’s response.

As an elected official, Karen Coleman, county treasurer-tax collector, is drafting a separate response. She did not want to talk about the grand jury report directly until she submits her comments.

“I’ve been dealing with the transient occupancy tax issues in Lake Tahoe for a long time now. I have an understanding of the frustration. I want to always do the best for the constituents of El Dorado County,” Coleman said.

In the current budget year, her department received $446,500 to manage the TOT funds, and has requested the same amount for the upcoming fiscal year.

County TOT monies will total around $14 million, with $9 million in projected revenues for this fiscal year, and $5 million carried over from last year. Little is expected to change in the next budget.

Supervisor Brooke Laine, who represents the basin and west into Pollock Pines, shares the frustrations of her constituents who see about $7 million generated in TOT in Tahoe going into the coffers in Placerville with only a fraction of that coming back.

The three main sectors receiving TOT dollars per Board of Supervisors’ policy are: tourism impacts (like roads and fire departments), tourism promotion and economic development (film commission, chambers of commerce), and veterans groups (only on the West Slope). The lodging tax is collected from people staying at hotels and short-term rentals.

In 2004 voters agreed to a ten percent TOT countywide with the money to be spent to “offset the impacts of tourism and promote economic development.” In 2022, voters in the basin agreed to bump it to 14 percent, with that added four percent to be dedicated to road maintenance and snow removal in the basin. West Slope voters said no to a similar four percent TOT boost. The grand jury said, “The definition of ‘economic development and tourism’ was not sufficiently clear. This left the public confused and distrustful, and caused frustration among some of the chambers of commerce who felt they should have received an appropriate percentage of these funds.”

The county’s website explains why it can do whatever it wants with TOT dollars: “Because the measure was passed

as a general tax, the use of funds is not legally restricted and can be used for general governmental purposes at the discretion of the Board of Supervisors.”

Nonetheless, board policy states TOT revenue “shall be directed toward the impact of tourism and economic development, with consideration for support of tourism and promotion activities within the county and for continued support for grant fund allocations to support veteran programs within the county.”

What is changing with the proposed 2024-25 budget that goes before supervisors on April 9 as the Tahoe Mountain News hits the streets is breaking out which sectors of the county benefit from specific allocations.

A chart in the agenda packet included a breakdown between the East Slope (what the county calls Tahoe), West Slope and countywide.

“What I am working on that I think dovetails into the (grand jury) transient occupancy tax audit is that the money generated on vacation home rentals in the basin is spent on things in the basin that we need like roads and transit. That is to name a couple big ticket items,” Laine said. There isn’t enough money in the TOT pot to cover the $18 million in new funding requests that have been submitted for 202425. A new benefit to Tahoe, if approved, is $2.5 million to fix the atrociously pothole riddled Fallen Leaf Lake Road.

The county budget is expected to be finalized in June.

Laine is hopeful the new budget process will add transparency to the distribution of TOT dollars. She said change in government comes in baby steps, so equitability is a greater leap forward.

Good government advocate David Jinkens.

Taking a walk on the wild side

Here’s the bad news and the good news: if you rely solely on the Bizarre and Wacky calendar as I do, you’ll notice there are two momentous holidays this month.

The most celebrated is Blah Blah Blah Day on April 17, as it encourages bosses and spouses to nag you, just as they do every other day of your life. But on Blah Blah Blah Day, you’re actually supposed to listen to them. And then you’re required to do all the tasks they want you to do, which clearly makes this the worst holiday ever conceived by control freaks.

As you already know, it’s easy to find self-anointed autocrats who live for the opportunity to inform you of all the rules you should obey in your life (which is difficult), and in pickleball (which is impossible).

If I listened to the H.R. department, I’d have relinquished all

the cheap, tacky uniforms I was required to wear, specially chosen by male executives who simply stole the fashion ideas from their favorite porn sites. That would have severely depleted my wardrobe choices for weddings, funerals and tours of Mar-a-Lago.

And if I listened to some former bosses, both my office and my body would still be wrapped in see-thru plastic, along with my mouth.

And if I listened to my spouse, I’d be serving him a tray of Manhattans between pole dancing demos in the kitchen while I cook him a venison, beef, bacon, elk and fish stew. Notably, I wouldn’t be the one requested for the pole dancing. Anyone vaguely female between the ages of 21 to 21-and-a-half, including mannequins, may apply for that position.

But let’s not forget the least celebrated holiday, which occurs on April 12. That’s Walk on Your Wild Side Day. Most dictators, babysitters and insecure boyfriends have voted to ban this particular holiday. However, it is the best holiday of the year for the rebellious who live among us— specifically children, teens and over-ripe, under-mature retirees. According to my mother, who had the joy of living with me for almost 20 years, I celebrated this holiday every day because Walk on Your Wild Side means “to take a chance” and “throw caution to the wind.” Isn’t that the definition of childhood? It certainly was on my daily to-do list.

Swiss Chalet Village - since 1985 Men

At the age of seven I “took a chance” on a dog and hid it for a week in my fort constructed of cardboard boxes and doll blankets. I confess, if gifted a doll, I’d immediately toss it in the trash. However, I kept their extraneous possessions, sensing they would come in handy one day. And voila! Along comes a stray dog.

He lived on an excellent diet of cheerios, peanut butter sandwiches and fish sticks, until a suspicious car filled with two glaring adults and a back seat stuffed with mopey kids, drove slowly through our neighborhood, the family calling out the windows for their lost dog. And my mom heard them.

Another suggestion for celebrating this holiday is to “do something a little daring.” Does “borrowing” a dozen eggs from the neighbor’s hen house, cracking and stuffing them through the window of our elementary school principal’s new Cadillac and letting the sun bake an omelet on the leather seats count? In my defense, Halloween was just around the corner.

As for another Walk on Your Wild Side suggestion, to “do something out of your comfort zone,” I cut school three times in my life. And they just happened to be the days set aside for our yearbook pictures . because, by the end of my freshman year, I knew I didn’t want “Castro Vile” High School to have another visible record of my challenges with puberty. Hence, in the sophomore, junior and senior yearbooks, I was listed as “missing and doesn’t want to be found.” And since no one ever came looking for me, legally speaking, it’s a cold case.

Now that I’m one of those over-baked retirees, I do my best to convince myself that my wild and crazy days are over. But as I recently discovered, it’s all just a matter of perception. Like when I made my way into the post office in time to hear a parking lot

singing cowboy yelling at my favorite postman and another new postman, huddled in his flak jacket behind the counter. Few realize that upon being hired by the U.S. Postal Service, employees receive a mandatory muzzle and flak jacket. These are necessary for dealing with a public that frequently resorts to hurling word bombs when they can’t figure out which side of the stamp to lick.

So, naturally, I informed the cowboy that my charitable gifting to him was over until he apologized or moseyed on to the next concrete pasture.

My postman friend thanked me, and I thanked him for putting up with the public, including me, basically just another crazy old lady.

And then the new postman rose up, put on his Wild and Crazy pants, and threw caution and his muzzle to the wind.

“You’re not a crazy old lady. You’re a firecracker!”

I suspect I’m not the only one. Walk on Your Wild Side Day encourages us to revel in our cray-cray. It’s time for us to “cast away our inhibitions” and “bring out the inner strength” to do something “wild and crazy.” Even if it’s for somebody else.

Trish is the author of the newly released, “Tahoe Local” — now available everywhere books aren’t banned. Feel free to contact her at trishtomer.com

At a minimum this proposal will hurt local business

On April 23, right after an update on the Heavenly Parking Agreement, the second item of business on the agenda for the City of South Lake Tahoe and our city council is a “Minimum Wage Discussion.” If you care about our town and our local businesses’ ability to stay afloat, please attend, and make your voices heard during the public comment portion of the meeting. Now for my opinion. If the city council votes to raise the minimum wage to $23/hr., they will be signing death warrants for many a local small business and they will ensure that shuttered storefronts and ghost town vibes will be the new South Lake motif.

mine who runs another business. “And my servers regularly go home with over $200 in tip money, but if this thing passes, I’ll have to let people go.”

If you work hard at your job, you should be compensated fairly. That sentiment is universal. But there is a big caveat here: there needs to be a job to work hard at. I spoke with one local business owner who indicated that he’d need to let go of some of his employees, use tablets instead of people for ordering, and stretch his remaining personnel even further. He also indicated that he’d be forced to raise prices.

Rather than improving living standards in town, a huge minimum wage mandate would mean mass layoffs, closed-up shops, and increased costs for everything that families need to survive in Tahoe. “I already pay above the $16 per hour California minimum wage,” said a friend of

Our kiddos would be impacted by this onerous and ill-informed proposal too. Last summer, Michael got his first job, learned some valuable lessons and was able to not only add to his savings account, but also get a debit card issued by our bank. These are essential life skills to build for young adults and we live in a place with, theoretically, lots of seasonal jobs. Summer employment keeps kids out of trouble and starts to teach them how to be positive, contributing members of our society. Our town typically has lots of fantastic opportunities for this to happen. This summer, Jack wants to get his first real job and wrote a letter to Mayor Cody Bass, saying among other things, “I understand the goal of raising wages to

improve people's lives, but I worry that if we do it too much, it might hurt local businesses. For example, the pizza place I want to work at might have to close down if they can't afford to pay everyone more. This could mean fewer job opportunities for people like me because I have a smaller skill set and I need to be taught by people with greater skill sets, and they won’t hire me if it’s too costly.”

If a business needs to pay $23 an hour to a kid, they won’t hire that kid. It’s that simple.

I got my first job at age 13 and I’ve been working and saving and budgeting ever since.

Wifey and I both spent some time in high school as delivery drivers: I delivered pizza in my rusty 1989 International Scout; Wifey was known as the “Dragon Lady” in her green convertible LeBaron delivering Chinese food in Rockland Country, New York. She’d often show up to a door

with little white and red cartons and the surprised customers would say, “Wait a minute, you’re not Chinese…” to which she’d respond, “neither are you.”

For a time in college, I worked for a bagel bakery and really enjoyed learning about how bagels are made and especially enjoyed showing up at 4am to turn on the oven and getting out the dough. I’d tell my friends, “It’s great. I’m not really even awake and I’m getting paid.”

Grinding it out at low wages teaches the value of getting a degree or mastering a desirable skill set. Working for each hour and each dollar when you are younger makes you a bit kinder to other people behind the cash register or waiting on your table; it broadens our collective humanity. The many different people that you work with and for also open your eyes and teach you a tremendous amount about how to handle challenges and be proud

of the goods or services that you provide. The value of work and the value of money are essential life stepping stones for everyone and if this mandate passes, our city council will be robbing our children of the chance to learn independence and economics, and they will be taking more money out of all of our alreadystretched pocketbooks.

Yes, a federal or state-level minimum wage is different and impacts society more equitably and broadly. Local municipalities should leave this issue alone; it will only have disastrous unintended consequences for us all.

M.C. Behm is a fulltime resident of South Lake Tahoe and author of “Once Upon a Quarantine” and “The Elixir of Yosemite.” Available locally and online. To learn more or respond to columns visit www.behmbooks. com or email mcbehmbooks@ gmail.com.

Well, it is official! After many years of study, graphs, charts and much experimentation, I am declaring March my favorite month. And yes, this March had a huge bearing on that decision as it came in like a lion and went out like a lion, good to the last drop.

For me, March is an amazing month because we can have just about every kind of weather condition that exists in our part of the country, except really hot days, you know, those 80 plus degree days, which is just fine because I really don’t like that kind of heat anyway. But we have that interesting blend of winter turning to spring and back again . and again. The days are starting to get longer, the sounds of spring birds in the morning, sometimes little green buds and bright red snow plants starting to pop up. Oh, and then it snows ten inches over them, yippie, powder day.

March has been the snowiest

Winter is March-ing on

month at Tahoe for decades until recently when a couple of freak Januarys with huge snow totals raised the ante for that silly month. Now they are calling January the snowiest month of the year, but that will not last long. March will be back in that seat again soon for sure.

It was March 1, 1991; we were having a very dismal season, lining up to become the worst year of snowfall ever recorded and the worst drought since the Dust Bowl if it continued the way it was going. It started snowing that day and didn’t stop snowing until 240 inches, 20 feet of snow hit the ground by the end of the month.

This was the year that people started using the term “Miracle March.” It happened again in the Miracle March of 2018 when we had only seen 100 inches of snow-

fall (not 100 inches of snow pack) and by the end of March, 253 inches had fallen. I can hear the haters bitchin’ and moaning about it, “Ah I had to shovel my driveway so many times…bla blah blahh.” Yeah, ya should have used some of that hot air to melt the snow in your driveway. Okay, not really; that would melt and then refreeze at night into an ice rink. Oh, maybe then we will bring our ice skates over.

Then there was last year –mmmm, so good. March of ‘23 went down as the snowiest March ever and the third snowiest month ever behind a very sneaky Janu-

ary 2017 in first place; that winter, I feel like it snowed every other night for two months. In second place is February 2019 when all the resorts reported between 269 to a staggering 313 inches in 28 days; yes, that was the one we were calling Februburied. I feel like those two records were anomalies that March can still beat since it has taken some shots at it and has been very close.

This March was not really what I would call a Miracle March, but it sure did save a slow-starting and lackluster winter. March 1 hit and bam, winter, spring, winter. But it was funny because right around that same time, I started to hear the first mutterings from the “I’m over it” folks; they start popping up like the little green buds trying to come up on any available piece of dirt out there.

There is this caveat that comes with March snowstorms, though. If the storms come through cold enough for good quality snow, which they have

done very well this March, you have to get out there either during the storm or immediately after because the higher spring time sun angle will cook that fresh snow instantly, turning it into the kind of snow you can only compare to mashed potatoes – and that just ain’t fun.

The one saving grace is that it is spring in the Sierra, which means all it takes is a few nights of freezing temperatures and some days with that amazing blazing, blue sky and presto – corn. Oh yeah, did I mention that corn snow might just be my favorite kind of skiing? Don’t get me wrong here, there is nothing on the planet quite like a foot of cold, smoke powder snow blowing off your goggles at each turn, but a bluebird sky with playful, soft, smooth corn, wow. As long as I am picking favorites here, if I had to pick my favorite ski or snowboard (which we did for eight years) day, it would be in March, from the top of Mount Shasta, 7,000 feet of corn snow! The stuff that only California mountains can grow. A close second place would be March in La Grave, France. A short ski off the top of the mountain, then a rappel down a rock face and then 4,000 feet down a beautiful couloir. No, it was not sweet corn snow, but who cares when it is an adventure like that one!

Well, I think we are all set up now for some fantastic spring skiing. A bunch of those “I’m over it” folks will be out of the way and corn season is upon us – yippee!

Let’s play

Well, the Oscars are said and done and by and large it went as expected. Now that it is over, I have been able to catch up on a couple more of the best picture nominations, partly because they have recently come out on streaming services.

I have already talked a bit about The Holdovers and Barbie, as well as Oppenheimer so let’s first look at Poor Things which you now can catch for free on Hulu or pay six bucks on Prime. I have to say that the film was good, but not as good as I thought it might be. It begins in Victorian London with Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman who commits suicide and is brought back to life by a rather creepy scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who has replaced her brain with that of a newborn child.

After a time, she runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a trip abroad. Since Bella started with the brain of an infant, she has no moral compass or filter as she gains knowledge while experiencing the world. With a full-grown body, one of the greatest pleasures she discovers, is sex. Sex with men, women, herself, it’s all good. This leads to some rather decadent behavior

and takes her on some different paths. The film is a variation on the Frankenstein story, but with the “monster” being a young woman, physically fine, but mentally starting from scratch and Dr. Baxter in the Frankenstein role. He doesn’t have any great difficulty bringing things back to life, and is a bit like Sid in Toy Story. When he’s not bringing women back to life, he spends his days piecing parts of different animals together and bringing them to life, and I’m not sure why—except maybe to show that he can. Anyway, I felt the creepiness was a bit overdone and detracted too much from Bella’s story. Also, once we see that Bella likes sex, the middle of the film gets overlong with her sexual escapades before getting to the more moving and meaningful conclusion.

Emma Stone, having to go from an infant to an articulate adult over the course of the film, shows that she was indeed worthy of the best actress Oscar. She captures the rawness and unfiltered aspects of Bella very well with great comedic timing for the organic humor that infuses her actions.

Another nominee, American Fiction, is now available on

Prime. It stars Jeffrey Wright (who was also nominated as best actor) as Monk, a frustrated African American novelist whose books only appeal to the more academic crowd. In a fit of disgust over the general white establishment’s profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and clichéd themes, he tries to prove his point by using a pen name to write an over-the-top, outlandish "Black" book of his own. He expects the publishers to reject it, as it is designed to rub it in their face. However, the joke backfires when it is not only published but becomes a best seller, with a movie deal as well, and his hypocrisy propels him right into what he has always fought against.

The film, a bit like Monk’s book, is a satire of how creative white America is attracted to Black culture, trying to superficially celebrate it without really understanding it and in essence creating modern stereotypes, while the creative Black community is forced to write to those stereotypes in order to sell books.

But a second level of the film is about family dynamics, where Monk is the outcast in a family of high-achieving doctors, and how the breakdown of that family, as secrets and truths come out,

along with the tragedies that pull them together, make Monk’s story much fuller.

Wright did indeed deserve the best actor nomination as his Monk navigates the absurdities of his professional world just as he deals with the ups and downs of his personal world. The supporting cast is solid and there’s a good balance of humor and pathos.

Overall American Fiction is funny and poignant and will have you laughing as well as thinking. It’s not a splashy film but is spot on with observations about identity politics and race.

Last up is Anatomy of a Fall, which is a courtroom thriller that takes place in France. For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their 11-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps.

When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide.

Sandra and Daniel were the only others at the house. Samuel's death is suspicious enough to be presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect.

From there, the film moves mostly to the courtroom where we see Sandra on trial, with her relationship with Samuel put under a

microscope to try and determine exactly what happened. Sandra is represented by a former lover and longtime friend Vincent who helps her both in and out of the courtroom. The trial digs deep into what has been a troubled marriage while trying to discover exactly what happened.

Being in a French courtroom, the film’s proceedings are not the same as most American courtroom dramas. It has a more informal feel with a lot more general give and take discussion and no histrionics or sudden revelations. The trial becomes more an exploration into a failing relationship and eventually comes down to an 11-year-old’s perception of events.

Since the film in in France, there are a lot of French subtitles, but because Sandra is German and does not speak French as well as she speaks English, much of the film is in English.

Overall, Anatomy of a Fall is a tight drama about how we perceive both events and relationships. The film unravels slowly but still captures you as it replays events while trying to find a conclusion. There is no formula or Hollywood ending here, just a puzzle of a death and a failing relationship. Teresa really liked this one.

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Sandra Hüller is the main character and murder suspect in Anatomy of a Fall.

Spring has sprung. Not!

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