July 2023

Charlie Ferris looks at what՚s new and what՚s stayed the same in the American River Canyon.

David “Squirrel” Schlosser has owned Strawberry Station since 2011.

Serving Lake Tahoe’s South Shore Since 1994

I went to the unveiling of the Destination Stewardship plan last month and came away feeling we haven’t arrived, yet. Seventeen agencies and organizations around the basin participated in the formulation of the plan by the Center for Responsible Travel. It is designed to “benefit the environment and the quality of life” in the Tahoe Basin.

The plan includes 32 action items divided among four “pillars.” But it is short on specifics. It calls for the creation of a Destination Stewardship Council to identify exactly how its goals will be achieved. The plan uses a lot of vague words like “develop,” “support,” “encourage” and “prioritize,” but offers scant concrete proposals.

The report acknowledges, “there is a sense that far too much time has been spent on planning and discussion and that immediate action is vital to solve increasingly urgent issues.” The plan, however, seems like more of the same planning and discussion.

There are a few items such as the deployment of more Take Care Ambassadors who interact with visitors at popular tourist sites, expanded litter clean up and the purchase of solar-powered compacting trash cans, but that’s it.

In travels over the past year, I have seen how other places try to avoid becoming overwhelmed by visitors. Last August, my family travelled to Italy for my dad’s

80th birthday. During the trip, we spent about a week on the island of Sardinia. We arrived there mid-day but were not able to check into our vacation rental until the property manager got off work from his day job. (I guess having a side hustle is universal for people in resort communities.) He went over the provisions of the stay, from water usage to trash to noise and more. Then he quizzed us about what he said so he knew we didn’t just tune out while he was giving his spiel, and we had to sign that we agreed and acknowledge that violations would result in a huge fine. Sardinia is also limiting the number of visitors to some of its more fragile and overrun beaches through an online permitting system.

I encountered a permitting system for popular attractions when I recently visited my oldest daughter in Portland and we drove out to Multnomah Falls. To access the trail leading to the falls, you must present a permit, available online. When we arrived, the permits for that period were sold out, though we could book for later in the day.

These are the kind of things I was expecting from Destination Stewardship, which was over two years in the making. Could we limit and manage visitors to Emerald Bay through a permit system? Instead of just investing in and encouraging use of public transportation, what specific policies should be enacted to make public

transit an attractive option and travelling by car an unattractive option? Those kinds of things.

On to other things. This month, we continue our focus on affordable housing with a news brief on the roles of El Dorado and Douglas Counties in addressing the issue. Mike calls out the Forest Service, Gary calls out Caltrans and in a related submission, Tahoe Dad’s daughter talks to him about planning a bicycle takeover of the town—columns you can really sink your teeth into, rounded out by our complement of other columnists.

The month also marks the 29th birthday of the Tahoe Mountain News. The first issue was put together in the back room of a house on James Street where the second bathroom had been converted into a dark room. Now we take photos on our phones and send them instantly with no need for chemicals and film. The paper is laid out on a computer, these days, rather than pasted up on boards. And other advancements have made putting things together easier and more convenient.

But one thing hasn’t changed. We are still committed to bringing our readers relevant, meaningful news about their community.

Cheers!

-Heather

Heather Gould

COPY EDITOR

Mike Filce

Joann Eisenbrandt

Gary Bell

Peggy Bourland

Charles Ferris

David Hamilton

Kathryn Reed

Trish Tomer

If you moved to SLT in the last five years, you missed one of the most tumultuous chapters in our city’s history: the VHR Wars. Locals living in residential neighborhoods were fed up and speaking out against the invasion of our neighborhoods by clueless tourists who brought their trash, cars and loud parties to our once-quiet neighborhoods. Hundreds of residential homes were converted to motel-like businesses by out-oftown investors. Residential zoning became meaningless. VHR rental companies and local realtors were making bank on the frenzy to buy houses and turn them into nightly rentals while the city council stood by and let the situation spin out of control.

The number of licensed VHRs ballooned from approximately 700 to 1,400 – not counting the illegal VHRs. That is when the shit hit the fan and residents went to work writing a ballot initiative to ban these businesses in residential neighborhoods. Measure T appeared on the ballot in 2018 and the corporate money poured in to defeat the measure.

The Tahoe Neighborhoods Group that sponsored the measure spent $2,000 during the campaign while the local VHR companies, realtors and outside corporate interests (National Association of Realtors, Airbnb, VRBO) spent $500,000 (not a typo) and still lost. Also in 2018, the three city council incumbents (Wendy David, Tom Davis and Austin Sass) were decisively defeated after four years of VHR chaos and vitriol.

With the passage of Measure T, the next step for the opposition/ losers was to file a lawsuit against the city claiming the measure was unconstitutional. That lawsuit was struck down by the court and more recently their appeal to a higher court also ended with a victory for the city. You might be wondering who is funding this lawsuit. Corporate money?

Right now, Measure T stands and VHRs continue to be banned in residential neighborhoods.

Footnote: One provision of the initiative, Qualified VHRs, allows full-time owner/residents to rent their house for a total of 30 days per year. The court has remanded

the Qualified VHR provision back to the lower court. On June 28 the city council voted unanimously to direct the City Attorney Heather Stroud to defend the Qualified VHR provision. Through the four and a half years of litigation against Measure T, Heather Stroud is batting a thousand.

Today, the neighborhoods have returned to their intended use, but there are still too many cheaters operating VHRs illegally. The city’s enforcement task force has been busy tracking down these bad actors, writing 175 citations and collecting more than $100,000 in fines since January 2022.

BEYOND THE CITY

All around the lake, VHRs continue to undermine locals

trying to find housing or live peacefully in their residential neighborhoods. Douglas County Residents are poised to take the issue to the voters with their own citizens’ initiative that would ban VHRs in residential zones.

The Golden Bear Neighborhood has put El Dorado County on notice that they are violating that neighborhood’s deed restrictions that prohibit commercial uses. Placer County (Tahoe City) and Washoe County (Incline Village) continue to waste government resources on ordinance changes and ineffective enforcement, while ignoring zoning laws and becoming more and more reliant on the commercial hotel taxes that are being extracted from residential areas. The TRPA could fix this mess, but instead they choose to ignore the problem.

ROAD RAGE

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) is planning a “road diet” for Hwy. 50 that will reduce the driving lanes to one in each direction east of Round Hill. This big idea has

been met with strong opposition including from Douglas County. Some Nevada residents are calling this bottle-neck plan crazy, but this corridor is also heavily used by California residents to access services in Carson City or travel to the Reno Airport. There is interstate transport, emergency evacuation and the army of workforce commuters like TRPA’s executive director Julie Regan who lives in Carson City to consider. The current plan is to restripe the road later this summer as a demonstration. Prepare for gridlock.

SENIOR CRISIS

OK, South Lake, we can do this. The El Dorado County Senior Nutrition Program (so-called Meals on Wheels) is desperate for volunteer drivers. This is (no joke) a crisis for our senior community. There are dedicated volunteers who have been doing this important work for years, but new recruits are needed. What to do: Call Tina (she’s amazing) at the Senior Center, 530-573-3130.

To be continued….

How did Kingsbury Grade and Daggett Summit get their names?

Thousands of people drive up and down Kingsbury Grade and over Daggett Summit every day without thinking about how they got their names.

Charles Daggett may have one or two Ts in his last name. The sign atop the 7,334 foot summit that splits the South Shore and Carson Valley has two Ts in Daggett. The state historical marker along Foothill Road uses one. An 1889 U.S. Geological Society map calls the route Daggetts Pass, no apostrophe. The Nevada State Library Archives (NSLA) uses two Ts.

Daggett was Nevada’s first doctor. Born in 1806 in Vermont, he attended Berkshire Medical College in Massachusetts where he also earned a law degree. In 1851, he moved to Mormon Station, now part of Genoa. In 1855, he became prosecuting attorney, county assessor, and tax collector of Carson County.

“People in Carson Valley had never paid taxes before and were outraged. Dr. Daggett’s life was openly threatened over this,” NSLA states.

Hours before trying his first case, Daggett became Nevada’s first “resident” attorney on Nov. 2, 1855. The area previ-

and there is no official surviving document attesting to the year or age at which he died.

“Kingsbury Road, where (his) cabin was located, was a trail that had been established shortly before Daggett moved to the community.”

Visit Carson Valley, a tourist site, contends the route was first a footpath established by the Washoe Tribe to get from one side of the mountain to the other.

Helen Carlson in Nevada Place Names wrote: “… in 1854, (Daggett) staked out a claim to 640 acres embracing its debouchment. After this considerable acquisition the name Georgetown gave way to that of Daggett Trail and Pass.”

Georgetown refers to the California Gold Rush town that was promoting this route as faster than going over what was called Carson Canyon, which was actually the better road.

Carlson’s book introduces Kingsbury Grade: “… named for the Kingsbury brothers, who built it. The trail was opened as a wagon road in 1860 by D.D. Kingsbury and John M. McDonald. A.B. Kingsbury, one of the brothers, was killed in a snowslide in the mountains in 1861.”

ly 2.65 miles north along State Route 206 (Foothill Road) from its intersection with the current Kingsbury Grade, State Route 207,” emailed Meg Ragonese, Nevada Department of Transportation spokeswoman. “Today, the alignment differs from the original alignment which ran from Foothill Road next to the old Van Sickle station and Muller Lane, straight up Haines/Dagget Canyon across the current Kingsbury Grade and continuing onto Dagget Summit near the Nevada side of Heavenly Valley. Much of the old alignment was at one time designated as SR19 and FAS559.” (FAS = Federal Aid Secondary.)

California to the Washoe mines and to shorten the distance between Sacramento and Virginia City by 10 miles. The new 16 foot wide road, supported in some places by granite retaining walls on both sides, made the passage easier for travelers on this main route from California. Merchants and teamsters frequently traveled this road moving goods and people in and out of Nevada. In 1863, some of the tolls were 50 cents for a man and horse and $2 for a horse and buggy. That year, the estimated tolls collected were $75,000.”

In the 1923-24 Department of Highways fourth biennial report, it calls Kingsbury Grade the “oldest road over the Sierras with grades up to 30 percent.”

It became part of the state highway system in 1929. However, “a road connecting Lake Tahoe to the Carson Valley appears on the first official state highway map of 1919,” Ragonese said.

She added, “Small sections of Kingsbury Grade are recorded as being paved in 1951, 1958, and 1959. … beginning in approximately 1965, other sections were paved as part of a U.S. Bureau of Public Roads National Forest Highway System project. By 1968, the entire route was paved as part of the construction of the current Kingsbury Grade alignment,

ously had legal counsel from a Placerville man.

“One of his last known distinctions occurred when he was appointed a member of the Committee of Arrangements for the formation of the Second Convention to form a separate territory out of the Utah Territory. With Dr. Daggett’s persistence, this territory became the state of Nevada,” NSLA documents state. “After his political career he settled down in the Genoa area

Visit Carson Valley called this new Kingsbury route a seven-mile wagon road that ranged from 8 to 16 feet in width. Today, it’s 11.08 miles, with a grade less than nine percent.

No one disputes today’s route is different.

“Old Kingsbury Grade is located in Haines Canyon, west of and below Daggett Summit, earlier known as Daggett’s Pass. The route started at a point approximate-

The Foothill Road historical marker says: “Originally named Georgetown Trail, the Dagget Pass Trail and Pass was named after Charles Dagget who acquired the land at the base of the road in 1854. In 1859-1860, David Kingsbury and John McDonald received a franchise from the Utah Territory to operate the toll road. At the time, the area was part of the Utah Territory. The men spent about $70,000 to construct a wagon road to meet the demand for a more direct route from

which was still designated as State Route 19 around that time.”

When it started being called Kingsbury Grade and more about its eponym could not be ascertained from historical agencies in Nevada.

Kingsbury Grade provides views of Mount Tallac and Lake Tahoe.

Daggett Summit gets its name from Nevada‘s first doctor, Charles Daggett.

A marker on Foothill Road near Muller Lane gives a brief history of Kingsbury Grade.

As the retired city manager, I was asked to provide comments about a proposal being made to the City Council to impose on all businesses within the city limits a requirement that the minimum wage they must pay their employees must be no less than $25 per hour. While at first glance, some residents and voters may think this is a good idea, I urge the City Council to evaluate this proposal and the possible negative impacts it could have on our local economy. Seek the advice and counsel of the business community before acting. They are the ones that produce jobs. Major policy proposals that come before the city council like raising taxes, fees and charges and setting a local minimum wage standard must be carefully evaluated by competent and independent parties to determine the impact on the local economy, the health of local businesses, and whether the proposal has the intended benefit. Policy proposals should never be made without reliable information on how they will impact our community. What might sound like a good idea could be a very bad public policy.

Because South Lake Tahoe borders with Stateline, Nevada, city officials must always evaluate taxing, regu-

latory, and wage issues on whether they negatively impact our competitive advantage in relationship to Nevada. In recent times, we have seen the movement of businesses, large and small out of South Lake Tahoe and into Nevada, and we must be sure that city government officials are doing all that they can to encourage and promote a prosperous local economy to keep businesses large and small in our city. Successful cities nurture business retention, business expansion and new business development. With the costs of all services rising in our city, state and nation, increases in the cost of doing business in South Lake Tahoe will only be passed onto the customer, both local and visitor. My concern would be that this proposal would encourage City residents to shop, dine, and recreate elsewhere and diminish the attractiveness of the City and South Shore for everyone. The concerns expressed here should be evaluated against the proposed benefits from setting a very high City-mandated minimum age.

I share the concerns with others that a universal high minimum wage requirement would:

• Discourage the hiring of first-time workers like

teens and trainees.

• Create a local government generated inflation on all products and services.

• Seniors, lower income residents and people on fixed incomes would suffer the greatest harm because of the higher prices.

• Businesses and services might leave town and move to Nevada next door.

• Labor relations agreements bargained in good faith between parties would be impaired.

• An arbitrarily high minimum wage set by the City Council might disqualify existing residents from qualifying for new affordable housing, something that is already an emerging issue with locals in need.

Local officials need to think about the impacts of their policies before they are enacted. Thoughtful review and evaluation is an essential component of good government decisions.

David Jinkens, MPA South Lake Tahoe

Get wise about wildfire

As summer temperatures increase and vegetation fuel moistures decrease, residents are faced with the ever-present danger of another Caldor, Angora, Tamarack, Camp or Dixie wildland fire threatening our communities. The nationally recognized Al Tahoe Firewise USA Community (a program of the National Fire Protection Association), the largest Firewise USA district in the Tahoe Basin and the first in the city of South Lake Tahoe, with 1,520 parcels and 1,611 dwelling units within the boundaries of Lake Tahoe to the north, Highway 50 to the east and the Truckee Meadow to the south and west, is encouraging all residents to assume responsibility for protecting their homes by creating defensible space up to 100 feet around homes through vegetation management and home hardening.

Since our communities were developed in the Wildland Urban Interface, in and around pine and fir forests,

our families and homes are more susceptible to a wildfire disaster. It is up to each and every neighborhood to assess their wildfire risk and to join with neighbors to act NOW to prevent the loss of life and property.

Many changes in city, county and state laws pertaining to home inspections and assessments, defensible space and home hardening practices, building codes, insurance costs and real estate transactions, are being enacted to reduce a home’s fire risk. So, it is critical that residents make wildfire risk mitigation a high priority to improve a home’s ability to survive in the event of a wildfire.

One way a community can demonstrate a long-term commitment to reduce wildfire risk is to form its own Firewise USA district. A neighborhood with as few as eight parcels or as many as 2,500 can follow the NFPA/ Firewise USA steps to organize and implement the program, and

neighboring communities like Al Tahoe Firewise, along with your local fire department, will assist you with the process.

Remember, you are “only as safe as your next-door neighbors.” Do your part — create defensible space to improve the survivability of your home and community and to protect lives from a devastating wildfire.

For more information about Firewise USA, go to https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-andrisks/Wildfire/Firewise-USA and https://altahoefirewise.com

Dianne Rees, Al Tahoe Firewise USA Community Team Leader altahoefirewise@gmail.com

It’s a glorious summer in Tahoe!

Our neighborhood VHR “hotel” across the street lost their license for the summer.

We are:

*Re-discovering that quiet Tahoe street.

*Keeping our windows open all summer.

*Not having to call the sheriff weekly.

*Getting a good night’s sleep.

*Not hearing f-bombs daily.

*Remembering what the Tahoe experience used to be.

Happiness is getting our neighborhood back!

Unfortunately the VHR “hotel” gets their license back in September because El Dorado County favors TOT taxes above all else here in Tahoe.

Michael Rich

TRPA Salutes the Faces of Tahoe Conservation

Each year, TRPA recognizes individuals for being exemplary citizens and going over and above to advocate for Lake Tahoe. This year, one of our winners is Lila Peterson.

Lila goes above and beyond to reduce waste at Heavenly Mountain Resort. She implemented a program to keep used uniforms out of the landfill, installed a Lomi™ smart composter in the employee center, recycled several pallets of plastic wrappers, organized Blue Crew trash cleanups, created a clothing drive to help employees secure winter clothing, and now assists the resort in their zero-waste program.

Thank you, Lila, for your commitment to conserving Lake Tahoe.

2023 Lake Spirit Award Winner Lila Peterson

Photo: Drone Promotions

View past issues of Tahoe In Depth to read more about Lake Spirit Award winners at tahoeindepth.org.

Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. Help ensure a plentiful supply by donating at the July 28 blood drive at the city rec center, 11:30am to 5pm.

Urologist Dr. Miriam Locke has joined Barton Health specializing in incontinence, kidney stones and prostate cancer.

The beach cleaning robot is back this summer and ready to tackle trash removal at all Tahoe beaches. The robot detects hard to remove trash from below the surface of the sand and last year cleaned 72,000 square feet across 11 beaches in its pilot season. It is especially skilled at removing plastic waste and decreasing microplastics in the Tahoe environment.

The US Forest Service is asking people to stay on the trail in Rabe Meadow (which extends northwest from Kahle Drive and Hwy 50), even if that means walking through sections that are flooded. Going around and creating undesignated trails causes environmental damage in sensitive ecosystems and degrades water quality. The Forest Service plans to construct boardwalks through the meadow beginning next year to limit impacts to the meadow, but for the time being, hikers are asked to follow the established path.

Parker Anderson of Tahoe Heartbeat has created a special Team Awesome X Tahoe Heartbeat to benefit the Boys and Girls Club. The limited-edition hats are available at the club’s Angel of Tahoe building.

Tiffany Schmid has been appointed Chief Administrative Officer for El Dorado County. Schmid is an El Dorado County native who began her career with the county in 2014 as a principal planner. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in anthropology.

Greg Hughes has been appointed lead pastor of the Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church. Hughes comes from Malibu and is no stranger to wildfire. His church there burned to the ground in 2007. Church leaders believe Hughes will “invigorate its mission of spreading love, hope and faith to the local community and beyond.”

D.L. Bliss State Park will be largely closed this summer to replace waterlines that date back to the 1930s. The $3 million project will include new water storage tanks, new pressure reducers and new fire hydrants.

The El Dorado County Recorder Clerk’s Office has received a Tyler Technologies Public Sector Excellence Award. It was recognized for its significant

commitment to public service and striving for greater efficiency and effectiveness in serving the community. Categories that were evaluated include civic interaction and public trust, equity and access and performance and innovation.

Several fire agencies declared June 26 the opening date of fire season. Open flame devices and fires, outdoor burning and other related activities have all been suspended.

Tallac Historic Site and the Taylor Creek Visitor’s Center have announced their summer programs. Lake of the Sky Amphitheater programs are Friday night from 7pm to 8pm and include historical Snowshoe Thompson and Mark Twain nights as well as other topics. Daily tours of the Pope Estate, artist-in-residence and old-fashioned cooking for kids are on the menu as well. For specific information on activities and events, visit https:// www.thegreatbasininstitute.org/ tallac-historic-site/programs-andevents/.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife is offering free fishing licenses for kids 12 to 17 years old to “make it as easy as possible for kids to enjoy Nevada fishing opportunities.” Visit ndowlicensing. com for more information or call (855)542-6369. Kids under 12 do not need a fishing license to fish.

Two solar powered, self-service cleaning stations for kayaks and paddles will be available, one at Meeks Bay and the other shifted strategically around the basin. An online appointment system for boat inspections has been established and can be accessed at tahoeboatinspections.com. Inspections and decontamination are necessary to protect Lake Tahoe from aquatic invasive species.

Beachgoers are asked to avoid the Tahoe yellow cress, which grows nowhere else in the world but the sandy beaches and dunes of Lake Tahoe, by not disturbing plant life and staying out of protected areas.

Sierra Business Council is celebrating the Lake Tahoe Water Trail 20 Year Anniversary with the Endless Paddle Summer education campaign. Paddlers are urged to be Tahoe Keepers and clean, drain and dry their gear and join Eyes on the Lake to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species that can ruin Tahoe‘s pristine waters. Paddlers can find maps, launch sites, rentals, guided ecotours, water safety and weather info at LakeTahoeWaterTrail.org.

South Tahoe High’s varsity volleyball team and coaches will be hosting a Super Spikers twoday volleyball clinic August 11 and August 12 from noon to 3pm, capped off by a scrimmage among

participants. The clinic is open to kids ages 8 to 13 of all skill levels. The cost is $100 to support the school’s volleyball team.

Desolation Hotel has expanded its properties to include the former Sorensen’s Resort in Hope Valley, now known as Desolation Hotel Hope Valley. In addition to the cabins, yurts and vintage trailer, the new owners will offer a wood-fired sauna, telescopes for stargazing, outdoor firepits, summer lawn games, and complimentary seasonal gear for outdoor adventurers (e.g., snowshoes, sleds, cross-country skis, clear bottom kayaks, and paddle boards). “We are proud to be the owners of this storied landmark,” says Chet Pipkin, Co-Founder of Desolation Hotel. “Surrounded by rugged beauty and untamed wilderness, this destination further brings to life our commitment to provide access to unforgettable experiences in nature.”

The Optimist annual Day in Paradise takes place July 22 at Tahoe Paradise Park. Food, beer garden, live music, car show and, of course, the famous duck races. This is a can’t miss event of summer!

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

Greg Hughes, pictured with his family, is the new lead pastor at Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.

Lower your pay ment for a whole year

This is not an “I told you so” because I definitely don’t know enough fire science to tell anyone so. Maybe more of a “something didn’t add up” revisit to a topic I addressed back in 2019.

What put this back on the radar was Dana Gentry’s article in the Nevada Current (reprinted in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on May 26, 2023) titled, “Trees felled in vain in name of fire control.”

Gentry’s opening says it all: “An alliance between governments and the commercial logging industry under the guise of fire management is decimating forests, wreaking ecological havoc, and exacerbating risks for people and property, according to scientists at odds with what they call archaic methods that are futile in controlling fires.”

She references an ecologist, Dr. Chad Hanson, who called out the Forest Service for using the term, “thinning and fuel reduction” as a “euphemism for commercial logging.” This is pretty much what we’ve all been witnessing while being gaslit by the Forest Service into thinking they had some actual method to their madness.

Hanson has ideas about how the money could be better spent, which you can find in Gentry’s article.

Gentry also spoke with Mitch Dion of the Kingsbury General Improvement District, which has implemented best practices for erosion and drainage control for the last 20 years in an effort to preserve the lake’s water quality. “It looks like amateur hour,” said Dion. “Trees were removed from

Mind/Body Fitness

riparian areas, even on private property. We’re a bit troubled that the kind of oversight expertise we expected wasn’t there.”

Dion reportedly expressed these concerns to the Forest Service and told Gentry, “They’ve promised to do better.”

But how do you “do better” with trees that are already felled? With forests that are already harvested? I guess you give the stumps a pat and say, “Sorry”?

You all can — and should — read the article yourself, so I won’t keep recapping it here. But suffice it to say, there seems to be as much evidence that the current approach is creating greater fire danger as any reasoning to the contrary, and it’s starting to feel like the “science” was made to fit the desired policy and profit rather than the other way around.

And this is to say nothing of the visual impact and devastation to the forests and trails we love — or the access to those trails as they get obliterated by logging operations. Just today I was hiking up High Meadows where — you guessed it — logging has been going strong. I didn’t take pictures of the humongous stacks of logs, but like most “thinning” projects around here, they’re from an operation that just happened to have easy access roads for equipment — a nice savings for the logging companies.

And in that vein, Gentry reminds us that the USFS and logging are capital “B” big business, which explains most of what’s going on.

What’s not clear to me, however, is if the local Forest Service folks are just acquiescing to federal policies or if they agree with the policies that drive this trend.

Back when I wrote those pieces in 2019, Greg Case, a former Oakland firefighter of 30 years, reached out to affirm my

concerns, but he also provided much more insight. Case wrote, “In many treated areas (I would point to the area between Sierra Tract and Pioneer Trail) they have left only one species of tree and all the same age. A healthy forest at this elevation should consist of several species of pine and fir, as well as other conifers, and there has to be small trees of various ages to replace the mature ones. What we have now is a tree farm similar to a corn crop (don‘t forget that the Forest Service is in the Dept of Agriculture), and not a healthy forest, and thus not a healthy habitat for wildlife.”

Case went on to explain the science in essentially the same terms that Gentry’s article does now, which is what triggered the memory to go back and search for his email in the first place. Once I found his email, we talked briefly. What stays with me most is his reminder that trees are still seen primarily as a “crop.”

And how does the USFS get away with this? According to Case, “(t)he big fires in the last decade or so have created a fear in the public that has made them complicit and willing to accept whatever the Forest Service tells them is going to make them safer.” That, too, rings true to me.

Case would also like to remind us that one of the most important things in combatting climate change is to plant trees. Even corporations use tree-planting as a carbon offset; however, it would take a newly planted tree 100 years to offset the carbon that the trees being harvested now are absorbing.

Cat Update

Since the cat, “Boof,” started having trouble controlling things other than the heaves, virtually all carpeted areas of the house are beach-toweled for easier cleaning. The hodgepodge of

tie-dye, shark, striped and other towel themes, along with the random stains and “land mines” give it a frat-house feel, which I’m failing to find a positive spin on. We’ll leave it at that.

We’re now convinced he’s unfixable, but he’s been mostly stabilized by anti-nausea meds and creative food enticements. He got wise to the various medsneaks, avoiding his food bowl and all the previous go-tos we tried to hide them in already — even whipped cream and cheddar, his former favorites. Sad times when treats aren’t just treats anymore.

What we finally resorted to is essentially the hockey-style “facewash” maneuver, which is to smear the mixture of crushedup anti-nausea meds in whipped cream all over his nose, chin . . . well, wherever it ends up as he’s thrashing around. Then he has to lick it off and mission accomplished. If you have other ideas, we’re open.

STHS “S” Club Shout-Out

Anne and I both want to acknowledge the great job our S Club (Soroptimist International for high school) members have done this year – ending the year strong with a successful food drive in support of St. Theresa’s Bread and Broth program. The good works our club members do are lower-profile, and they go mostly unrecognized, but it’s the stuff that makes communities work and reminds us of the positive power of our young adults.

As always . . . feel free to email MikesMutterings@gmail.com

The large camera pointing toward the entrance ensures anyone knocking on the door knows they are being watched. It’s not disguised or innocuous like a doorbell indicator. It’s almost intimidating on what otherwise is a non-descript suite in a commercial building in Stateline.

Behind those walls sit Lake Tahoe’s FBI agents. One reports to the Roseville office, which covers 30 of the 58 counties in California. The South Shore office is responsible for all of Alpine County and the eastern portions of El Dorado, Nevada, Placer and Mono counties.

The other agent represents Northern Nevada via the Reno office. Nevada’s main FBI office is in Las Vegas.

The third man in the office is a South Lake Tahoe police detective. For the last two years this has been a fulltime gig but a part-time assignment the prior four years. SLTPD pays the officer’s salary while the FBI provides him a vehicle, cell phone and pays for any overtime.

All three work on crimes in their respective jurisdictions, but because the state line is not a physical barrier for criminals, incidents often involve both states, so cases are worked on collaboratively.

SLTPD’s position

At one time, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department had two officers assigned to SLEDNET (South Lake El Dorado Narcotic Enforcement Team). The multi-jurisdictional task force operated from 1988-2016.

Its dissolution led SLTPD to join the FBI’s Safe Streets Violent Crimes Initiative, which was established at the federal level in 1992. These task forces throughout the country combine local and federal officers to tackle crime together.

“It’s certainly not a replacement for (SLEDNET), but we started seeing some activity in town, especially up against Nevada. We thought this would

be a useful tool to combat some of those things in our community,” South Lake Tahoe Po-

be a useful tool to combat some of those things in our community,” South Lake Tahoe Police Chief David Stevenson said.

likes the focus on illegal fire-

Stevenson likes the focus on illegal firearms and gang activity.

“There have been a lot of illegal firearms cases. Either people who aren’t allowed to have firearms and are buying them or they’ve been illegally modified,” Stevenson said.

a lot of illegal firearms who have firearms and are buying them or

Shore. In addition to drugs being seized, so were weapons—in-

Shore. In addition to drugs being seized, so were weapons—including ghost pistols, which are manufactured without serial numbers, and a barn owl, which is a protected species.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the capture, killing, or possession of hawks or owls without a special permit.

barn owl, which is a tory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the hawks or owls without a special which was discovered confined to a was retrieved by

manufactured in someone’s home or business. They are fairly easy to manufacture and put on the street,” Ragan said. “Depending on how well they are manufactured, they can be a real danger to citizens and law enforcement. If they work once, that is one too many times.”

The FBI also gets involved when people go missing.

“Just in March we assisted with the recovery of a body in Nevada County. A body was found off the road and they asked for our assistance to process the body parts,” Brackett said.

When Kiely Rodni of Truckee went missing last summer after being at a party at a Prosser Reservoir campground, the FBI had 50 agents on the case. While at first authorities thought the 16-year-old may have been abducted, she was found dead in her submerged vehicle in the reservoir.

Drugs have been ufacturing. Today, fentanyl is the

Drugs have been a problem on the South Shore for decades—using, selling, transporting and manufacturing. Today, fentanyl is the most problematic drug, according to local and federal officials.

“I think fentanyl has certainly changed the landscape of illegal drugs and it definitely has gotten worse in the community,” Stevenson said. “I think it makes a bigger impact in the community because it is so unpredictable. The accidental overdoses and those types of issues are because people don’t know what is in the drug they bought. They think they are buying oxycontin and it had fentanyl, and the potency has gone up. It really creates a wildcard for what’s out there.”

Today’s crimes

The ongoing FBI case Operation Bear Trap involves guns and drugs. Sean Ragan is the agent-in-charge who runs the Sacramento FBI division, while Crosby Brackett is an assistant special agent who oversees the Tahoe office. Neither Ragan nor Brackett would say if more arrests are likely or give any details beyond what’s already been publicly disclosed.

The methamphetamine investigation started in spring 2020. It has led to more than three dozen arrests, with several defendants residing on the South

by the U.S. Forest Service. She was eventually

life in the Tahoe basin,” FBI spokes-

“The owl, which was discovered confined to a bathroom during court-authorized arrest and a search, was retrieved by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care as recommended by the U.S. Forest Service. She was eventually healthy enough for release, so she’s somewhere living her best life in the Tahoe basin,” FBI spokeswoman Gina Swankie said. “Needless to say, it was a first for the team on scene.”

Beyond working with SLTPD, the FBI partners with other local and federal agencies on minor and major cases. With Operation Bear Trap, undercover officers bought guns and drugs in Carson City and the Hard Rock Hotel Casino. Some ended up in Sacramento.

“Sure, there is criminal activity that occurs in casinos, but criminal activity occurs anyplace you can name,” Ragan said. “There is drug trafficking and violence (in Tahoe), but not at a higher rate than other areas in our territory.”

Brackett added, “Drugs and gangs are still a problem in that area. The Stateline area (is) very interconnected. The FBI specializes in cases with an interstate nexus.”

In addition to fentanyl and meth, cocaine, heroin, prescription pills and other types of synthetic drugs are common on the South Shore.

“Right now, the thing law enforcement in general is trying to tackle is ghost guns that are being

That’s one thing the FBI brings to the table—a full complement of resources, be it human power, technology, databases, tactical equipment or other tools to assist in crime busting. With a local resident agency (as the Tahoe office is known), it means those resources come faster to an area than if the office didn’t exist.

The Lake Tahoe FBI office is located on Lower Kingsbury Grade in Stateline.

Another big issue for the FBI is crimes against children. The Sacramento office gets about two reports a week.

“Some young people are too scared to go to anybody, so many suffer in silence,”

In addition to overseeing the Tahoe office, Brackett heads up the division’s cybercrimes division.

Sextortion is a growing concern. This is when people, often minors, are coerced into electronically sending explicit photos

“We also work internet enabled crime—like when someone uses a computer to defraud someone. There are all types of scams: romance scams, elderly scams, emails that look like they are from a company asking you to pay a bill,” Brackett said. “All of these things, they occur in South Lake Tahoe.

“Every time a ransom is paid it gives them more reason to continue.”

A bit of history

was the Harveys’ bombing, and the Coddington and Operation Deep Snow cases in the 1980s.

The Aug. 27, 1980, casino explosion was handled by the Las Vegas office because there were no local FBI agents. Two steel boxes stacked on top of each other containing nearly 1,000 pounds of dynamite blew a hole in the Stateline hotel-casino.

Herbert James Coddington, who was 28, murdered two women at his residence in the Tahoe Verde Mobile Home Park near the Y on May 16, 1987, and kidnapped and sexually assaulted 14- and 12-year-old girls. He was sentenced to death, though executions are unlikely to happen again in California.

Deep Snow involved the mayor of South Lake Tahoe and about 20 others on drug and money laundering charges, with arrests starting in June 1989.

daughter, Rebecca Aramburo. Rebecca’s throat was slashed inside a tent at Campground by the Lake. Platz was sentenced to life in prison. Her boyfriend James Csucsai hanged himself in jail.

At times there has only been one agent in the Tahoe office, other times three—two from what is called the Sacramento division even though it’s in Roseville and one from Las Vegas.

The office moved from South Lake Tahoe to Stateline more than six years ago. Location of an office is decided by higher ups based on criteria most any business would use—price, square footage, amenities and ease of access, to name a few.

Available resources

Swankie said. “Our interest is in those preying upon them. We have victim’s resources for them.”

Right now, more male victims are coming forward than female.

“It is any kid who has a device to communicate with others. It could be a phone, computer or video game console,” Swankie said.

The names of the agents in the Tahoe office were not provided, though higher ups say they are part of the community. That’s hard to gauge when you don’t know who they are even though one has been in the office nine years and the other 19 years.

It would seem difficult to be as visible as Chris Campion was during his 25-year stint as an agent on the South Shore. He was on local boards, at community events and a leader in many capacities. He retired in 2014.

South Lake Tahoe had an FBI office in the 1970s that closed in 1979. Then there

Those cases led to the FBI reopening the Tahoe office in 1989. Chick McDevitt was the sole agent until Campion joined him.

Campion has said the three public corruption cases that stood out for him were: Operation Clean Sheets that involved fraud with hotels in the South Lake Tahoe redevelopment area; the arrest of Mary Kay McLanahan, South Lake Tahoe associate city planner, on embezzlement and grand theft charges; and the conviction of Johnny Poland, who was a South Lake Tahoe police officer.

Other notable South Shore FBI cases include Lisa Platz who in 2003 was found guilty of the 2001 murder of her 9-year-old

Even though the FBI keeps a bit of a low profile, the agency wants to be an integral part of the local community.

Agents are available to give talks to community groups. Information is online (https://sos.fbi.gov/en/) for teachers and students about age-appropriate internet use.

People who want to submit info about crime or contact the agency for another reason may do so by going online: https://tips.fbi.gov/home or calling 800-CALL-FBI.

The agency also has teen academies.

TRPA talkS

The FBI handled the Aug. 27, 1980, bombing at Harveys in Stateline.

MAJOR SPONSORS

A river runs through it: what‘s up in the American River Canyon

Aside from a handful of small communities on U.S. Highway 50 between Pollock Pines and Echo Summit, you’ll pass a couple long-enduring landmarks —the Kyburz Lodge, Strawberry Lodge and Strawberry Station. These three have survived

Maybe you noticed the Kyburz Lodge because of the sign out front that announced, “Now entering Kyburz,” followed underneath by “Now leaving Kyburz.” This sign now reads, “Cafe Open.” Kyburz Lodge is coming back to life, courtesy of Arash

fronting the highway. Long ago, it was a bustling place—good food, a place where locals would gather and travelers would stop for a rest. Over the years, though, it went into a steady decline until it simply closed.

Pakzad has been working in hospitality since 2011 and says he spent those years working on the operations side. His goal is getting it back to offering locals and travelers a comfortable, welcoming place to stop, once again enjoying good food and good company. He says he’s in it for the long haul and is committed to getting it fully open. As of now, the Two Feathers Cafe at the lodge is open.

Strawberry is next, between Kyburz and Twin Bridges—with Strawberry Lodge and Strawberry Station being across-the-highway neighbors.

Squirrel started Rocknasium in Davis, 1992, one of the first indoor climbing gyms around. He’s been a rock guy for 37 years. Buying the store, with Lover’s Leap just across the road, was a natural move.

Strawberry Station is a general and convenience store, with a climbing twist. They have most of what a climber may need. They also provide coffee, books about the area and climbing, and a robust selection of snacks and whatnot. In winter, they rent skis and boards.

Petch has four other climbers working with him. They are certified through American Mountain Guides Association, are first responders, CPR-certified and are all very familiar with Lovers Leap. Petch knows every inch of it.

In addition to those certifications, Petch is a certified rock-climbing instructor through AMGA and a Wilderness First Responder. He holds a USFS

floods, heavy snows, forest fires and multiple uncertainties of life in the mountains. Over the last few years, questions about what’s been going on at these establishments have popped up on a regular basis.

Pakzad who bought it in June of 2019. He also owns a place in Martinez, where he saw potential as well.

Kyburz Lodge is a beautiful, old building with river rock arches and a natural rock wall

There are ample questions about Strawberry Lodge these days. It has been closed since Mike Hicks sold it and the adjoining meadow in late 2021 to Stanton Road Capital and Tungsten Partners. Currently, it’s in chainlink limbo.

In theory, when all the permits are in place, renovations will begin. According to the SRC website, they will “commence a repositioning of the Property resulting in an additional 19 rooms. Post redevelopment, Strawberry Lodge will consist of 63 (rental units).”

It won’t be opening any time soon. With any luck, it will retain its mountain lodge flavor.

Across the highway, Strawberry Station, owned by David “Squirrel” Schlosser and his wife Jennifer since 2011, remains open. It has survived everything since being built sometime in the 1940s.

With Strawberry Lodge closed, business has suffered on their side of the road, but Squirrel said the biggest challenge for them is winter snow removal and chain control on the highway. This past winter meant moving mountains of snow, multiple times.

During the Caldor Fire, they were evacuated for six weeks.

Strawberry was somehow spared from being turned to ash and the store survived its worst calamity.

Kyburz Lodge is open again and Strawberry Station is still going strong. Stop in when you can. With some luck, Strawberry Lodge will join the mix, although it’s likely to take a bit more time for that to happen.

Another constant has been Lovers Leap Guides, started and owned by Petch Pietrolungo. He’s been in Strawberry for 30 years, climbing for 35 years. He started Lovers Leap Guides 20 years ago.

concession permit for commercial operations in the El Dorado National Forest.

His climbing clients range in age from six to over 70. Most are in their thirties. It’s quite a mix, and always has been. He works out of his home office and meets clients at Strawberry Station.

During the Caldor Fire, Petch evacuated and headed out to other climbing spots, such as Bishop, Yosemite, the Central Coast and up north in California, hoping to come home to a standing house.

According to Petch, the fire did change Lovers Leap. The burnt trees are still painful to see, but the ground cover and wildflowers that bloomed all over are gorgeous. One rock on Lovers Leap simply blew up during the fire.

Strawberry Lodge

Kyburz Lodge

“There’s all kinds of things we can do even if we don’t have the legal authority.” That is the position of former city manager and community activist David Jinkens. His has been a leading voice that Douglas County and El Dorado County should step up to the plate and provide more affordable housing on the South Shore so the city of South Lake Tahoe doesn’t bear the burden alone.

Jinkens suggested that Tahoe Regional Planning Agency could develop an affordable housing blueprint for the basin much like in the Association of Bay Area Governments in which a consortium of counties identified the needs for the region and required each entity to provide a designated number of affordable housing units based on those findings.

TRPA spokesman Jeff Cowen said while his agency provides various incentives for affordable and workforce housing, there is no requirement for jurisdictions to provide a certain number of affordable housing units. Cowen said TRPA now allows accessory dwelling units (granny flats) on any size parcel whereas before it was limited to only larger parcels. TRPA also waives the cost of development rights for affordable and workforce housing and also waives permit fees for the same.

Cowen said TRPA has an ad hoc Tahoe Living Working Group that meets two to three times a year to “look at our policies and see what could be stymying pri-

vate investment in affordable housing.” Cowen also said relaxing density and height allowances for affordable housing projects is something TRPA considers on a case by case basis.

Just as the Mountain News was going to press, TRPA announced a $2.4 million grant from the State of California for affordable housing, water quality and climate change initiatives. The money will be used specifically to: fund an equity and climate assessment of existing policies and their impact on affordability, access to opportunity and other considerations; establish a two-way engagement plan between the agency and affected communities, especially the disadvantaged and underserved; and implement a streamlined environmental review process for transit-oriented, multi-family housing.

El Dorado County in conjunction with TRPA received a smaller $567,000 grant to prioritize solutions identified by the Living Working Group.

Jinkens said the city should send delegations to El Dorado County and Douglas County to try and influence them to provide more affordable housing units. “Let’s have that conversation. I’ve never heard any of this discussed.”

El Dorado County Supervisor Brooke Laine said she would be open to talking with the city about the subject. “The city is acting boldly and we need to follow suit,” she

said. Laine said to avoid reinventing the wheel, she would consider getting county staff together with city staff to see what options the city has considered or implemented and which of those might work for El Dorado County.

Douglas County Commissioner Wes Rice was recuperating from a stay in the hospital and was unable to talk when the Mountain News called. Douglas County spokesman Eric Cachinero said Douglas County is in the process of updating its master plan, including the growth management and housing element, which is designed to manage growth and “establish an adequate amount of housing inventory to meet the income levels and demands of Douglas County residents without compromising the quality of life.” Cachinero added that addressing the issue of affordable housing “continues to be a priority and concern for Douglas County.”

Jinkens also said it “made no sense” for the California Tahoe Conservancy to purchase the Motel 6 building and tear it down when it could be converted to affordable housing much more cheaply and easily than building from scratch elsewhere.

Jinkens concluded, “the city has to stand up and say we’re willing to do our part but we’re not willing to do any more.”

Have you visited our local hospital lately? Because you’ll find yourself surrounded by nurses who clearly didn’t understand the importance of their sorority house party pledge. Instead, they focused on the boring part of college, like getting an education, so they could deep-dive into bodily areas where most of us would demand a blindfold and a gag.

However, due to a cranky colon, I recently took an involuntary tour. And it just happened to be during Nurses Week – a yearly event recognizing “the many roles nurses play in the health-care journey.” I suspect this includes the feeding, burping and diapering of uncooperative adult-babies.

Nurses Week is a popular event, celebrated by a wide variety of people who all happen to be nurses. The male doctors are too busy with their grueling golf schedule. And the patients wonder why they should be celebrating anything if it doesn’t include free champagne served at their

hospital bedside.

As any forward-thinking person does when visiting a place where your body parts can be squeezed, stabbed, pressed between metal plates or have a hose inserted, I entered the hospital carrying bags of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And I immediately began distributing them at the reception desk. Remember – those sweet, smiling women will direct you to your medical destination, or wherever else they think you should go. So, give them cookies. And remember, it’s natural to be suspicious of them. Because, as we all know, no one that friendly is sober.

Therefore, it’s critical to bribe these women. Otherwise, you could be directed to the brain transplant center to receive a donation from a sociopathic serial killer or worse, Gallagher. Or you could be sent to an internist to have your bowels removed and decoratively arranged on petri dishes to be sold in the hospital gift shop.

Meanwhile nurses are here to take us on a “health-care journey,” although most patients would rather journey to Hawaii. However, nurses are highly trained to ignore your pleas for first class seating and a piña colada. Instead, they will ask questions to assess your current state of health. This will help them determine if you will be able to tolerate having a camera inserted into your nether regions or the mocking of your friends and family when they see the pictures. So try to answer the nurse’s questions as honestly as possible:

“How much alcohol do you normally drink daily?”

“Only one.”

“How many ounces is that?”

“Um. How many are in a growler?”

“Do you exercise daily?”

“Absolutely. I do laps between beers in the hot tub.”

“Are you eating a healthy diet?”

“Yes, I only eat pesticide free Cheetos and organic lab rats.”

Next, much like dating in your twenties, you will be led to a small room and instructed to remove your clothing. At this time, surrender the entire bag of cookies to the nurse holding the sharp object in her gloved hand. The other nurses will be impressed that your heart rate is mimicking Seabiscuit after a win at Santa Anita. They will all carefully observe you hyperventilate, panic and put your hospital smock on backwards. This is one of the few rewards of being a nurse.

Trust in the knowledge that nurses are truly concerned about the quality of your health-care journey. Although you will be required to step on a scale, they will tell you your weight in grams, so you won’t really know how much you weigh and therefore be much happier.

Then they will drape you with a comfortable pre-warmed blanket before wielding a fencing saber in search of your last remaining vein. The other veins wised up earlier and left to pre-board first class on the plane to Hawaii.

At this point, you will be asked to sit in a wheelchair so they can rapidly deliver you to the nearest anesthesiologist to relieve them from the pain of listening to your repetitive whining. Once you’re lying on the treatment bed, you will be prepped by a team of brainiacs consisting of nurses, your female doctor and, hopefully, the one male anesthesiologist who couldn’t get a tee-time. They will ask you your name, age and if you know why you’re there, which is an excellent set of questions to ask whenever admitting someone to a hospital or a bar.

At this point, you may suddenly experience the distinct feeling you’re about to be drugged and hosed without first being offered dinner and copious amounts of alcohol. However, if you’re over the age of 40 or married, you should be used to this by now. So, bribe your nurses with cookies. Even if it’s not Nurses Week. Because they see you at your worst, inside and out. And hang onto your cookies here . . . they have the pics to prove it.

Building critical mass for the end of August

Hi, my name is Matilda. I’m going into 6th grade at STMS and I’m going to be riding my bike to school because that is what I want to do, and my brothers do too. And I don’t want to get hit by a car. We went to the city council meeting where they talked about raising the speed limit. My dad thinks that we should do more to protest the speed limit and let everyone know that they should drive slowly. This is a conversation we had about a thing called critical mass.

“Really? You like, shut down traffic?” I ask. “You can do that on a bike?”

“It takes a whole lot of bikes, but yeah, that’s what we did,” My dad responds.

“Where?”

“In Philadelphia, where Mommy and I met, we’d do it every month.”

“How?”

“We’d meet at City Hall. Right in the center of town and then we’d march or ride slowly en masse down Market Street past the Liberty Bell and Broad Street to Rittenhouse Square, slowly snaking our way through town.”

“How many of you were there?”

“It was like a celebration of bicycles. Sometimes there were thousands of cyclists, especially the one before Halloween, when we all dressed in costumes. There were gorillas and superheroes riding bikes, even a large cardboard toilet on a bike.”

“That’s silly. What did the cars do?” I ask.

“They basically had to go our speed. We didn’t stop traffic, we just made them drive slower.”

“So you took up all the lanes of traffic.”

“Yup. On Ben Franklin Boulevard, all three lanes of traffic heading out of town were clogged with bikes as we made our way to the Rocky Statue.”

“Oh yeah. I remember that statue. What about emergency vehicles, like ambulances and fire trucks?”

“Great question, Kiddo. If we ever heard a siren,

the rule was to pull over and let the authorities get through. The whole reason we were out riding was to make the city safer; it would be pretty dumb if we blocked those vehicles.”

“So that’s what you think we should do in South Lake Tahoe to protest the speed limit raising thing? That’s why we went to the city council meeting and spoke?”

“Yeah. I think it would be pretty fun and awesome and effective. Plus, a Friday afternoon is when all the tourists are speeding into town anyway.”

“So, it would slow them down.”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

“How do we get it started?”

“Well, I suppose we organize and get the word out. I’d want to do it late enough in the afternoon that it doesn’t impact locals picking up kids from camp or club or people getting off work.”

“How late would that be? I have Jr. Giants until like 6pm on Fridays.”

“Good point. Maybe we should get some more buy-in from other stakeholders in the community, talk to

“Well, the main road is probably Lake Tahoe Boulevard and if we want to slow people down coming into town, we should probably meet somewhere closer to the Y and head to the casinos.”

“Perfect. Meet at the Y (maybe at the TJ Maxx parking lot) at 6pm and head to Lake View Commons and beyond.”

“How do we get lots of people there?”

“Well, I can think of at least ten whole families that I know who would come and support this. Who do you know that would go for a bike ride in the middle of town on a Friday evening?”

“I guess I have a bunch of friends that would do that.”

“That’s how it starts, Kid. That’s how it starts.”

Critical mass: the minimum amount of fissile or elemental/atomic material needed to sustain a nuclear chain reaction or fission. It’s also the name given to the direct-action bicycle celebration that began 30 years ago in San Francisco and spread across the globe to any city where congestion and bicycle safety was an issue worth caring about. On the last Friday of each month, citizens come in the hundreds if not thousands armed with naught but fortitude, solidarity, and their bicycles. They meet and then take over the main arteries of their respective cities in a celebratory mass seizure of the streets effectively making cars move the speed of bikes.

“I think we should do it,” I say.

TAMBA and the Police and see if we need a permit. In Philly, we would meet at 5pm to cause maximum rush hour havoc, but that’s not really our goal here. We just don’t want Caltrans to turn our town into Mario Kart.”

“Yeah. And there’s a bunch to decide. Like where do we meet and how far do we go?”

“That’s right. Where do you think we should meet?” my dad asks.

“Me too, Kiddo. Let’s get organized this month and then start at the end of August.”

If you are interested in getting involved, please email my dad.

MC Behm is a full-time resident of South Lake Tahoe and author of “Once Upon a Quarantine” and “The Elixir of Yosemite.” To learn more or respond to columns visit www.behmbooks.com or email mcbehmbooks@gmail.com.

“My dad thinks we should do more to protest the speed limit and let everyone know that they should drive slowly.”

Well, it looks like Caltrans is trying to make our town a worse place to live or visit. They have once again proposed raising the speed limit on sections of Highways 50 and 89 by five to 10 miles per hour. On Highway 50, it would basically be from the base of Echo Summit to Stateline, and on Highway 89 north from the 50/89 junction to Cathedral Road.

The reason Caltrans gives for this increase is based on surveys of traffic moving through these sections of Highway. The last survey done was 11 years ago and resulted in raising speed limits by five mph back then, which many of us thought was a bad idea at that time. The sections they surveyed this time around were from Pomo Street to Country Club Drive in Meyers, which would go from 40

to 45; from Kyburz Avenue to C Street, which would go from 45 to 50 mph; from C Street to Blue Lake Avenue, which would go from 40 to 45mph; and from Highway 89 at the Y to the Pope Beach entrance, which would increase by 10 mph to 45.

The way this seemingly absurd survey works is this: Caltrans picks a section of highway to survey, Tuesday through Thursday to represent mainly local traffic with fewer visitor vehicles and in dry conditions. They use radar to record the speed drivers are moving through that section and count the number of vehicles as well as the number of accidents. Then they use this for-

mula called the “85th percentile speed,” which is the speed at or below which 85 percent of the traffic is moving. If the survey shows 85 percent of the vehicles are moving five mph over the posted speed, then they will raise the speed limit five mph. Well, guess what they found . . . people drive a bit over the speed limit. I’m just going to go out on a limb and say, a lot over the speed limit. Crazy, right? Maybe

it’s the power of observation, which somehow comes from working right on that highway for the past 43 years.

So once the survey is complete, Caltrans is then required to present the proposal for a speed limit change at a public hearing so residents can voice any concerns. On June 20, that happened at a city council meeting where many residents did just that, with the overwhelming response that they do not want speed limits raised in our town. The city council also voted against the proposed raising of the speed limit, as did residents in Meyers at their meeting. Several residents and local officials instead recommended lowering speed limits, citing safety concerns for bike riders and pedestrians, school zone safety and traffic moving in and out of local businesses.

Trumbly Tattoo Removal

I would add another concern besides safety. The general ambiance through our town is destroyed by speeding cars and trucks. It is downright unpleasant to ride, walk, shop, have a burger and a beer at an outside bar – just to be near speeding metal boxes. I don’t understand why we need to go so fast through the middle of our mountain town when so many other places make everybody slow down and just chill. Look at Minden and Gardnerville – 25 mph through town; they enforce it and people obey it, and the feel in town is so much more pleasant. In Bridgeport, Bishop, Lone Pine – even going east on 50 through Carson City – the speed limit is lower, and everybody does just fine.

This survey seems like a horrible disregard for sensible ways of moving traffic through a town center that also hosts a huge number of tourist vehicles as well. We know people are already going too fast, so let’s raise it to an even higher limit at which they will go even faster? It will be great to turn into businesses or pull out across two lanes of traffic that is going 55 mph!

This all feels kind of like, “Hey gun violence is way up in our country, so why don’t we sell more guns?” Good thinking, Caltrans. I have long held the opinion that they need to turn Hwy 50 back into two lanes with a speed limit of 25 mph and give the two outer lanes to bike riders, with sidewalks actually for walking.

Give Caltrans another couple of their survey periods, and the speed limit through town will be 65 mph, with everybody driving a bit over that. Wow, I sure will be able to get to the grocery store quickly. Let’s Play (just not so fast!)

The way it should be: two lanes for cars and two lines for bikes.

Once again Wes Anderson has created a truly Wes Anderson film. Teresa and I had a date night and went down to Carson City for dinner and a movie – Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s latest.

It took me a while to become a big Wes Anderson fan. His first films were quirky, but the humor delivered deadpan was more off-putting than engaging and his detailed settings were caught between art and reality. I loved his animated films, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, but it wasn’t until Moonrise Kingdom that he started to win me over.

Anderson’s films from that point have perfected his unique visual building of self-contained worlds. He uses specific and limited color palettes as well as extremely balanced and symmetrical shots with minute details and all usually with a level of detailed historic nostalgia. Visually, his scenes are more artworks than settings. Moonrise Kingdom, The

Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch all have this quality. And within that visual setting he places his stories, which still have that same deadpan style where characters often describe what they are feeling with emotionless delivery, as if they are narrating their own story, often followed by long pauses as characters observe each other. You would think that this would be boring and lifeless, but it isn’t. It tends to bring an undercurrent of feeling with small nuances instead of broad strokes.

Most all Anderson’s central characters are lonely and/or missing something in their lives with a pall of sadness about them and this style of delivery fits that. Plus, it also supports the low-key humor that pervades the entire film. For me, the humor, both visually and within the story, helps carry the whole film. These films are comedies and both the subtle and obvious humor are blended well into the rest.

So, what is Asteroid City about? Here is where a Wes Anderson film can lose people. His plots and stories, though connected, don’t necessarily have any clean direction or conclusion. Events happen with a beginning, middle and end, but not with any greater purpose. And Asteroid City adds another confusing element: it’s a play within a play.

The film takes place in 1955 and starts with a narrator making a television program about a playwright who is creating a play called Asteroid City. It takes place out in the middle of nowhere Nevada near a site where nuclear bombs are regularly being tested. Augie Steenbeck, a war photographer on a trip with his four children after the death of their mother, gets stuck in Asteroid City (population 87) after his car breaks down. But this turns out fortuitously as there‘s a junior astronomer convention being held and his son has entered a competition to win a scholarship.

The scene moves from the playwright to the actual setting of Asteroid City as the action begins. Even though this is a real setting, it is still a play with actors, as we will be reminded at various points. Though we are mostly in Asteroid City, we will shift between the action, the TV show and some of the actors outside the play. It can get confusing, but it serves the idea that none of this is real, but simply a story. If you are a Wes Anderson fan, you can go with the flow; if not, then it may be a bit much.

Along with Augie’s family story, we get a little romance between Augie and a movie actress, some hijinks with all the brainiac junior astronomers, various scenes with the quirky locals and oh, yeah, an alien.

The humor begins as we enter Asteroid City and see a large missile on whose side is stenciled, “Contains Nuclear Warheads. Please do not detonate.” There is a running non-sequitur with a

speeding car chased by a police car, racing through town (all one block of it) with both the bad guys and cops shooting at each other. After the fly-by, no one makes any mention or even takes notice of them, even as it reoccurs. There is a realistic roadrunner that wanders into a yard and as it steps toward a little girl, softly makes a noise which sounds like a very soft, “beep, beep.”

Wes Anderson is very good at getting A-list actors in his films and Asteroid City is loaded with them. Along with his “regulars” such as Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, Adrian Brody and Willem Dafoe, there is Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Bryan Cranston, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Tilda Swinton and Rita Wilson among others, as well as a brief cameo by Jeff Goldblum as the alien.

Overall, Asteroid City is, I think, one of Wes Anderson’s best films so far, combining his unique visual style with a narrative that has many disparate elements, creating a whole and fun story. It’s like “how many crazy things can we throw together and still make it one story?” It is a film with no greater purpose than to be a story unto itself for our enjoyment. After watching, Teresa and I enjoyed talking about it over dinner. She liked it though not as much as I did. After talking about it, it’s a film I would probably watch again because I’m sure I missed some of the details.

Asteroid City has a unique visual style and worlds within worlds.

THE EL DORADO COUNTY AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT OFFERS INCENTIVE PROGRAMS TO RESIDENTS OF EL DORADO COUNTY TO IMPROVE LOCAL AIR QUALITY.

The Clean Lawnmower Incent ive Pr ogr am (CLIP) offers up to $200 to replace a gas powered lawnmower with a zero-emission cordless electric mower.

The Drive Clean! Pr ogr am offers a $599 incentive towards the purchase or lease of an eligible electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen vehicle.

The Chimney Smoke RIP offers $599 to $2, 000* to replace a non -EPA certified woodstove with a new efficient, cleaner burning, eligible EPA certified device.

*$2,000 incentive available to low-income residents or residents of designated low -income communities

FOR DETAILS, CALL OR VISIT:

(530) 621-7501

Dr. Neil Powell • Dr. Ellen Sears

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A Tahoe Douglas firefighter checks one of the 774 hydrants in the district. This one near the Red Hut on Kingsbury Grade, like all of the others, is serviced and cleaned once a year. The top valve turns the water on, while hoses can be connected to each side. Crews make sure the stem is intact and that nothing could block the flow of water. “We run dry hydrants up here at the lake therefore they can get debris in there.

dry fire hydrant is a non-pressurized pipe system permanently installed in a water source such as lakes, streams or ponds that permits the withdrawal of water by drafting from a fire truck to provide a reliable water source for fire suppression close to the incident. They run the water through them to make sure that we have adequate water flow on an annual rotating basis,” explained PIO Michelle Turner.