June 2024

Pride and Prejudice

An inaugural contingent from Lake Tahoe Pride flies their colors in South Lake Tahoe's 2019 July 4h parade.

Serving Lake Tahoe’s South Shore Since 1994

Last month I attended the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation’s Celebration of Education. It was an evening that showcased various aspects of our local schools from drama and music to culinary arts. The evening was capped off by an awards ceremony for the Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s Hall of Distinction honoring former students, teachers, parents and others involved in education on the South Shore.

The keynote speaker was Ryan Wallace. Wallace was raised in South Lake Tahoe where he was a wrestling champion. After breaking his leg in high school, he discovered he had a rare form of bone cancer and his leg was amputated. What seemed like the end of his world was the beginning of a new chapter in Wallace’s life. For years, now, he has been the wrestling coach at South Tahoe High and South Tahoe Middle School, churning out champions following in his footsteps. But as anyone who has spent time around Wallace soon comes to know, his coaching isn’t about winning as much as it is about integrity, perseverance, dedication and discipline. Wallace also continues to compete in wrestling, himself, and was even a contestant in the Tahoe Dancing with the Stars as a homegrown celebrity.

Wallace and his friend and MMA fighter Chris Cocores feature in Momentum by local filmmaker Michelle

Aguilar-Ficara. The documentary follows the pair as Wallace helps Cocores overcome a catastrophic life event and return to the ring. The film debuted two years ago and hit the festival circuit. The wider public can now stream it on PBS. See our story on page 22 about the film and a new documentary film festival coming to town.

Wallace has recently been named director of leadership and volunteer engagement with the Marcella Foundation which seems to be a natural next step in his journey and a perfect fit.

Elsewhere, in recognition of Pride month, we take a look at LGBTQI+ community in Tahoe. While there has been some controversy around whether there should even be a Pride month, less is known about who these people are and what they do.

I am sure by now, everyone has heard about the shooting death of a yearling bear in the community and whether it was justified. Everyone seems to be weighing in and Tahoe Dad offers his take this month as well as a real-life learning lesson about where our food comes from.

Volunteer opportunities this month, detailed in Heard, are a cleanup at Washoe Meadows State Park, a 5th of July beach cleanup sponsored by the League to Save Lake Tahoe and numerous activities through the Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association.

In two little tidbits about the environment and Lake Tahoe, we look at efforts by Nevada to limit overcrowding at Sand Harbor and examine progress in combating aquatic invasive species.

This month’s Since question involves Barton and the nurses’ union. While technically a private non-profit, the hospital, its medical practices and its employees are woven into the public health and safety fabric of our community and are deserving of scrutiny.

Wrapping up our usual line up are Peggy, Mike, Gary and Dave and Trish ponders that perennial question, Why?

Sometimes, deep in our deadline like now, I wonder why myself. But then it all comes together in a complete package and when I’m out delivering the Mountain News, people stop me and tell me how glad they are another edition is on the streets. And that’s the answer to my question.

-Heather

Caution, political s&#tstorm ahead

South Lake Tahoe is poised for political warfare. Battle lines are being drawn and opposing sides are developing their strategies.

Social media platforms are rife with vitriol and misinformation. Second homeowners (who do not live here) are being advised to change their voter registration from where they currently live to SLT. What’s up?

A Vacancy Tax Initiative has qualified for the November ballot. If passed, it will tax residential units

$6,000 annually if not occupied at least six months of the year. This initiative has caused some people to become completely unhinged.

Some are blaming the city and the city council for this tax measure. Stop! The city and the council are not involved. It’s a “citizens’ initiative.”

If you want to lay blame, start with the 1,159 legally registered city voters whose signatures qualified this initiative for the ballot. This is a bold (the opposition is calling it unconstitutional) idea, but now that it is on the ballot, the voters will be the deciders.

Some of the most notable and controversial changes in California

law — Prop 13 (1978), Legalized Adult use Cannabis (2016), and Same Sex Marriage (2013) — happened by the initiative process that allows citizens to propose new laws instead of the people we elect who very often are more interested in getting re-elected than providing progressive governance.

Groundbreaking ideas rarely make it to the ballot, suppressed by politicians with their own agendas or obligations ($$$) to special interest groups.

Locally, citizens’ initiatives have banned parking meters in five city locations (2014), would have allowed the voters to decide if a loop road could be built (2016) and in 2018 allowed residents to pass a ban on vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods after years of vitriol and failed enforcement policies.

Our so-called leaders were willing to ignore zoning laws to allow investor-owned houses to be used by tourists as nightly rentals.

TAHOE ROCKS

Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains are

underlain by Jurassic (think dinosaurs) granite formations that were glacially sculpted over thousands of years by the planet’s most prolific architect. Mother Nature’s work includes Cave Rock (arguably one of the most recognizable geological features at Lake Tahoe), Castle Rock (an imagined castle accessed off Kingsbury/North Benjamin), Eagle Rock (the grand monolith of the West Shore), Shakespeare Rock (above Glenbrook—so named in 1862 because a discerning eye will find a likeness of the Bard etched by time into the granite), Balancing Rock (at DL Bliss State Park where a gigantic boulder appears to rest on top of a smaller rock), and Monkey Rock (This whimsical primate is

perched above Incline Village overlooking the lake accessed by Tunnel Creek Trail.)

There are always new things to discover in Tahoe and this last entry on the list of notable rocks is located right on Hwy. 50 (in plain sight) near Zephyr Cove Resort. It was very recently that a friend pointed out this phallic monument. When you drive by, you’ll know why she calls it Penis Rock

NUPTIALS

On May 4, Sean Fannan (STHS grad 2002) and his bride Kele Song joined forces at an enchanted ceremony attended by family and friends. The planned outdoor ceremony became an indoor event when Mother Nature graced the Edgewood links with several inches of “spring-snow” (an oxymoron that is a thing in Tahoe.) Congratulations to these brightest of the bright young people who share their generosity and commitment to the SLT community through the Marcella Foundation.

RETIRING

It was 1989 when a STHS graduate (class of ’82) with a newly minted bachelor’s degree from Sac State was hired by Lake Tahoe Community College to work in the Admissions and Records Department. The college had spent its formative years operating out of a motel on Hwy. 50 and had just moved to their new 164-acre campus. Much has happened in the last three and a half decades and this “young man” has had a front row seat to it all. He has worked under all five college presidents and holds the distinction of being employed by the college longer than anyone. This year’s graduation is June 28 and on June 30 Danny Masellones will no longer be LTCC’s unofficial mascot. For many, Danny has been the face of LTCC. He is a gem who finds joy in whatever he does. Replacing Danny will be impossible because he is irreplaceable. Thank you, Danny. You are the best!

To be continued….

"Nearly seven years after voting to unionize, why have Barton Health and its nurses not negotiated a contract? Why have they not used arbitration or mediation to try and reach a resolution?”

– Pat Frega

While neither side is using the word impasse, in some ways that is the status between Barton Health and the nurses’ union.

The nurses at Barton Memorial Hospital and Lake Tahoe Surgery Center voted in November 2017 to join the California Nurses Association. A contract remains elusive even though mediation has been used.

Both sides point to the other for not having an agreement in place.

said that was the pot calling the kettle black.

“For example, Barton has recently implemented, against our union's recommendations and without our consent, significant revisions to the conditions of per diem employment. These hasty and ill-advised changes, in addition to creating a hardship for many experienced local per diem nurses, will affect some contract proposals that we had already mutually agreed upon and

More negotiations are expected this month. They last met for two days in April, which brought the number of sessions to 70. Since talks began in March 2018, 43 tentative agreements have been reached, according to a page on Barton’s website dedicated to the negotiations.

That site says the issues still to be ironed out include:

• Association security

• Wages, premiums and differentials

• Health, dental, vision benefits

• Management rights

• Patient needs staffing.

An interview with CEO Clint Purvance was requested; instead, Barton Health’s PR team answered questions via email attributed to Mindi Befu, director of marketing.

She wrote, “Barton and the nurses’ union have passed revised proposals back and forth on these final topics. Wages, management rights, and association security have been areas (on which) we thought we were getting closer; however, in the last session, the CNA representative made significant revisions to the recent proposals potentially moving us further from a compromise.”

Befu would not elaborate on what those revisions were.

In reply to Barton’s comment about “significant revisions,” Dorothy Dean, an ER nurse speaking on behalf of the union,

they will now have to be revisited,” Dean said. “It is clear to us that Barton is doing everything it can to stall these negotiations because they do not want a union nor a union contract. Their union-busting tactics, in my opinion, indicate that Barton's executives and board of directors want nurses to remain quiet when faced with managerial decisions potentially detrimental to patient care. Apparently, they think they can wear the nurses down and turn us against unionization. It won't happen. Barton nurses remain resolute and committed to winning a first contract that will advance the goal of our union—to provide the best possible care for our patients.”

Both sides agree patient care is a top priority, however in some respects they differ on how to achieve that goal.

The nurses contend the union has already been instrumental in bringing about change to the South Lake Tahoe hospital, citing the hospital now following state staffing laws. “Right away that was a boon to every patient,” Dean said.

Breaks are now the norm—at least on most shifts.

“Probably the most important thing beyond ratios and breaks is the nurses are able to advocate for patients without fear,” Dean said. “We can talk now and explain what might be the best thing for patients. We have a seat at the table, which is something we never had before. That is the most vital thing the union has brought. We now have protections because of the union.”

Another issue the nurses want ironed out is what staffing will look like when the hospital moves to Stateline where the old Lakeside Inn and Casino was. Dean said the nurses’ request to management for the California ratio to be carried to Nevada was rejected outright.

Befu told the TMN, “California and Nevada each have state regulations to ensure hospitals meet safety standards. Both states ensure safe care is provided to patients. Barton has and will continue to follow its state and federal safety regulations. The hospital relocation project is early in the planning phases and if approved will open 2029 the earliest, and Barton will ensure it is in compliance with all state and federal safety requirements at the new location.”

But if a contract is not in place, Barton doesn’t have to comply with California laws.

“What concerns me about moving to Nevada is they will overload nurses again to where they cannot properly care for people and get the care they need for a good outcome,” Dean said.

GOT A QUESTION?

Email: mountainnews2@gmail.com

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

National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S., says there is no federal mandate for nurse-to-patient ratios. NNU says the average in California is 1 to 3.6. California is the only state to have ratios based on specialties, like 1:2 in ICU or 1:4 in pediatrics. Nevada in 2009 passed a bill requiring hospitals to form “staffing committees.” However, the state does not have set nurse-to-patient ratios. Befu said, “Once the hospital moves, existing contracts would remain in place.”

Nurses at Barton Memorial Hospital walk a picket line to let the community know they are working without a contract.

On June 21 from 7pm to 8pm, come experience Indian culture through traditional dance at Lakeview Commons. Sponsored by the India Arts and Cultural Center of Northern Nevada.

The Douglas County Planning Division is hosting a town hall on June 13 at Kahle Community Center 5pm to 7pm to present proposed amendments to the South Shore Area Plan.

Vail Resorts, owner of Heavenly-Kirkwood-Northstar, was recognized by the National Ski Areas Association for overall environmental excellence. The company was also singled out for making inclusion a priority for guests and staff. Heavenly received the award for best collision prevention program. The safety champion award went to Brian Gannon at Sierra-at-Tahoe

Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe’s Crawdad Festival at Valhalla is July 6 from noon to 4 p.m. Proceeds to benefit local student scholarships. Visit valhallatahoe.com/events for tickets and info.

US Forest Service fuelwood permit sales are underway. Permits are $20 per cord with a two-cord minimum and a 10-cord maximum. Obtain permits at the USFS offices at 35 College Dr. Grass Roots Natural Foods is hosting a Locals' Faire in its parking lot on June 22 from 11am to 3pm. Meet local purveyors and sample the goods and take advantage of specials.

Artist Allen Graybill will be hosting live demos of his intricate gourd work on June 21 and

June 28 from noon to 5pm at the Tahoe Art League’s midtown gallery.

Tahoe Paradise Park’s summer concert series features live, local acts. Boot Juice plays on June 28 and Simon Kurth and Friends on July 19. These free concerts are from 5pm to 8pm and food vendors will be on site as well.

Cuppa Tahoe offers a kids’ story hour every Wednesday from 10:30am to 11:30am. Free.

The Tahoe Area Sierra Club is hosting a clean-up at Washoe Meadows State Park on June 15 from 9am to 11am. Come prepared with snacks, water and sunscreen. To pre-register online, visit https://act.sierraclub. org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q0000029KJ4AAM.

As part of its summer reading program, the South Lake Tahoe Library will be hosting Wild Things on June 28 at 2pm. This demonstration features a mix of animals to share a message of conservation and appreciation. With support from the Tahoe Fund and Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation, every local fire agency in the Tahoe Basin now has access to Fire Aside, a software platform that makes defensible space and home hardening evaluations significantly faster to carry out, and risk mitigation recommendations easier for residents to implement. Fire Aside’s Defensible Space Evaluation software makes it easier for fire agencies and residents to conduct inspections by replacing manual forms and checklists with an

interactive digital platform. The program also helps fire agencies create home hardening prescriptions more efficiently, reducing over 50 percent of office hours that could be better spent in the field engaging with the community.

South Tahoe Refuse received a $287,710 grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wood Innovations Grant Program for “advancing community supported wood energy in the Tahoe basin.”

Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association needs volunteers for its events. Email beca@tamba.org for info. June 21 is the deadline to comment on the Lake Tahoe Airport Master Plan: http://tvlmasterplan.com/.

Entries for the 9th annual WordWave Lake Tahoe One-Act Play Competition will be accepted until July 1: valhallatahoe. com/wordwave/.

The 11th annual Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanup is July 5 from 8-11:30 a.m. Sign up online: https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/ events-activities-lessons/keeptahoe-red-white-and-blue-beachcleanup/

Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day is June 22 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Tallac Site. Go to this site https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/events-activities-lessons/tahoe-forest-stewardshipday-spring/ for more info or to sign up.

The 40th annual Hersch Herschman Memorial Tahoe Classic tennis tournament at

Zephyr Cove Tennis Club is Aug. 1-4. Sign up for the all-doubles tourney online: https://www. zctennis.com/tahoe-classic-tournament/ TAMBA’s annual Tahoe Mountain Bike Festival is June 22-23. The main party is that Sunday from noon-6 p.m. at Tahoe Paradise Park. There will be music, beverages, food, raffles, and local vendors. For riders, there will be a bike demo at Corral Trail on Saturday and rides to register for on Sunday. Details are online: https://tamba. org/tahoemtbfest/?mc_cid=cd7e54d174&mc_eid=254c1e235e

The Sugar Pine Foundation this spring planted 16,080 seedlings. Most were sugar pines (9,530). Eldorado National Forest crews planted 5,000 seedlings in the Caldor Fire scar around Grizzly Flats.

The Tahoe Art League summer show is on display through September 21 at its midtown gallery. Come see the various works of local artists.

Barton Health is hosting a webinar about sextually transmitted infections on June 30 from 5pm to 6pm. Register at Bartonhealth.org/lecture.

Participate in a wellness outing with a Barton Health guide on June 13 at 5pm at Lake Baron. Visit BartonHealth.org/ Wellness Outings for more information.

June is Bike Month The highlight is a month-long competition to see which individuals and teams log the most two-wheel miles. A bike kitchen

maintenance and repair event will be held at the Hangar on June 27. Visit tahoebikemonth.org for more information.

On June 21, play Hand and Foot, a fun card game at Ernie’s at 5:30pm. Cost, $20 to benefit the needs of Kenyan children. Don’t know how to play? No worries, instruction available. To register, visit https://gofund.me/89bcbbe0, email Paigerice@gmail.com or call 530 318 4760.

On June 12 from 6pm to 7:30pm, El Dorado County will host a virtual workshop on the Tahoe El Dorado Area Plan governing the county’s unincorporated areas in the Tahoe basin.

The workshop will give the public the chance to identify housing, recreational and transportation needs in the community. Visit TEDAreaPlan.com for more information and to register.

The Lake Tahoe Destination Stewardship Plan has received the Project Excellence Award from the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals. The plan seeks to address the impacts of overtourism in Tahoe.

The Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church has been certified as an Earth Care Congregation for its dedication to environmental stewardship.

The congregation tracked and measured progress of its commitment to caring for God’s creation through worship, education, facilities management and community outreach.

Have a community announcement for Heard? Email mountainnews2@gmail.com,

Going to the mat against AIS

The goal is three years from now Taylor Creek and Tallac Creek will no longer be choked with aquatic invasive species.

Much of the Taylor Tallac Creek Restoration Project is near Baldwin and Kiva beaches. The 2,600-acre project area includes 11 miles of perennial stream and 470 acres of stream-environmental zone.

“This is the first treatment to date that we have done in a natural functioning wetland habitat, and the largest aquatic invasive plant removal project we've done in the basin,” explained Sarah Muskopf, forest aquatic biologist with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. “It has been extremely complicated and challenging, but I think the urgent need to treat this area and

the expected benefits that we're going to see upon completion are well worth the effort.”

Muskopf was speaking last month during a webinar hosted by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. This environmental improvement program project was approved by the bi-state regulatory agency.

Since the EIP was launched after then-President Bill Clinton came for the inaugural environmental summit, more than 800 projects have been completed; some by landowners—of which the U.S. Forest Service is the largest—by other government agencies, private companies and individuals. The combined total cost of these EIP projects is just less than $3 billion.

TRPA says it is money well spent.

TAHOE PIANO SERVICE

“In Tahoe we know our environment and economy are inextricably linked,” spokeswoman Victoria Ortiz said. “The direct investment has resulted in nearly double the economic output in the region (so more than $5 billion), and the EIP supports 1,700 jobs annually.”

This particular South Shore project has a price tag of more than $4.7 million.

Riparian vegetation removal started in 2020. Treatment implementation began in June 2022, with implementation completed last August.

The infestation of nonnative aquatic plants like Eurasian watermilfoil has taken over about 16 acres at Taylor Creek.

Tallac Creek has a bit more than 1 acre of infestation.

A major concern is the plants easily fragment, which means they could reach Lake Tahoe and therefore spread to other areas.

Milfoil negatively impacts water quality, raises water temperature, and increases habitat for other invasive species like crayfish and bullfrogs

“The methods we are using are manual only. We are installing benthic bottom barriers,” Muskopf said. These look like black tarps that can be secured to the bottom of the waterways. They block out sunlight, which kills the plant, including the roots. Rebar as well as rocks found in the area keep them in place. Divers are also brought in to use suction devices to remove the unwanted plants.

While the experience for beach-goers and birders will improve, the bottom line is the project is all about improving the environment.

“This dynamic and really rare habitat is extremely important and vital to the majority of native aquatic and riparian dependent species we have here in the Lake Tahoe Basin,” Muskopf said. “These wetland habitats also have huge benefits for water filtering and protecting Lake Tahoe water quality.”

Wild Things comes to the South Lake Tahoe Library on June 28.

designed to kill aquatic species are expected to be removed in summer 2027 at Taylor Creek and Tallac Creek.

The need to get engaged

In the past couple issues, I’ve discussed some concerns about our schools and the kinds of behaviors going on. As anyone knows, disruptive behavior results mostly from disengagement, low self-worth, inability to see the relevance and so on.

Every school has a significant number of individuals who fall into this category—somewhere around 10 percent; I don’t call them “students” because by and large, they’re not doing student things. But it also doesn’t mean they don’t have potential, intelligence, ambitions and so on—and they, too, need meaningful pathways.

Like some other schools, South Tahoe High School, with the financial backing of the community in the form of general obligation bonds, has tried to provide those pathways to address this issue—namely career tech ed (CTE) programs like state-

of-art auto shop, dental, sports medicine, construction, digital media arts, culinary arts, travel and tourism, and more. Unfortunately, this hasn’t solved the issue of the resistant, defiant and chronically disengaged.

Traditionally, school districts have redirected these students at some point in their school career to a “continuation school.”

We, too, have one of these—Mt. Tallac High School. It used to be on-site at STHS, down by the lower end of the football stadium bowl. It is now located at the Al Tahoe site on Lyons Ave.

In the spring of 2020, Mt. Tallac received the green light to go to “state minimum graduation requirements,” which means students do not need all the courses and credits they would need to graduate from South Tahoe High School. For example, they need a year less of math and English, and only one elective. This

makes Mt. Tallac an attractive option for many kids, and I can’t say I blame them.

It's not that I have any problem with this option, but in practical reality, it means students can make up their credits much faster (since there are fewer) and thus reach diploma completion faster; therefore, they don’t need to get to Mt. Tallac until much later in their high school timeline, much closer to graduation. In turn, this means the high school cannot expect to refer students to Mt. Tallac until much later than in the past. So, those students who have decided they are not going to do regular high school, say by the time they are ninth- or tenth- graders (yes, we have those), are “stuck” for two or three years before they can get to Mt. Tallac. And they don’t just make the best of it. Instead, they spend the intervening years contributing to the problem, and worse, not moving toward any kind of success for themselves.

Granted, in California, continuation schools are for students who are 16 or older, so that’s part of the issue for otherwise eligible ninth and tenth graders, but Mt. Tallac is also capped at 60 students, which means they need to focus on the older students who should reach graduation in the relatively near future. So it’s not entirely reasonable to expect Mt. Tallac to accept a bunch of students as soon as they’re 16— though I do remain puzzled as to why the cap needs to be so low.

So where does that leave us as a school district? Some have bandied about the idea of a “Community School.” According to the California Department of Education, “A community school is a public school that serves prekindergarten through grade twelve and has community partnerships that support improved academic outcomes, whole-child engagement, and family development.” They tout

“integrated supports services, extended learning time, and collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators.”

From everything I’ve read, however, community schools are also for adult learners and those who have dropped out of school before completion. Most of the literature about community schools also mentions a key element of “motivated” students, which isn’t the case for the population I’m talking about, and I don’t think it fits the bill here.

What I’d really love to see is a pathway to trade training and certification at younger ages so these kids can move on to something they might value and respond to. I’m talking about auto work of all kinds, landscaping, construction, plumbing, electrical, barbering and many other career pathways that teach kids responsibility along with skills and that also give them a more immediate view toward financial independence.

Yes, we currently have CTE programs in some of these trades, which was largely funded by the 2009 Measure G general obligation bond approved by local voters. However, not all of these provide certification or direct connection to employment, and most importantly, they are enhancements to the regular mandated graduation requirements rather than an alternative to them.

My view is to cut this type of student free of the grad requirements they aren’t buying into already and get them on to a more productive path. They could always come back to traditional education when they’re ready for it and if they wish— and cheaply, too, as the community colleges system is wide open.

The trouble is—it’s unlikely we’re going to see such an option as our education system

seems averse to putting 14-yearolds to 17-year-olds in trade programs . . . and then there’s the cost, which would be substantial. So if we can’t do that, what I’d suggest we need instead is an “Opportunity School,” something I saw in action at another high school at which I taught. According to the CDE, students “may be assigned to the Opportunity environment for all or part of the school day. The intent is always to provide as much instruction as possible within the traditional class environment, with the balance of the day in opportunity instruction when this direct additional support is needed.”

Specifically, Opportunity School, according to the CDE, is for students who “exhibit attendance or behavior problems . . such as irregular attendance, and inappropriate conduct while attending school.” That is the student we’re talking about.

The CDE adds, “Often, negative behaviors represent responses to significant barriers the students are facing and underlying positive goals that could be expressed and met more appropriately. The intent of the identification and referral process is to provide the type of assistance that will help students resolve their problems so that they may maintain themselves in regular classes or reestablish themselves for return to regular classes or regular schools as soon as practicable.”

And isn’t that what we’re after?

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

Taking pride in themselves

While the South Shore has a reputation for welcoming the greater gay community, proactive measures are still necessary because in other parts of El Dorado and Douglas counties, acceptance, tolerance and inclusion are not always the norm.

“I don’t think we can ever fully relax and let our guard down. I think there is a big backlash against people who even identify as woke right now,” Janice Eastburn said. “That has become a dirty word. We need to remain vigilant so our rights and safety are protected as a people. I look forward to a day, someday, where I don’t feel like I need to say that anymore.”

Eastburn first moved to South Lake Tahoe 26 years ago from Sacramento. It was a welcome surprise to be accepted as a lesbian, to not feel harassed or treated differently.

The city of South Lake Tahoe became even more welcoming by passing a resolution in May to make June Pride Month in the city (June is Pride Month throughout the United States and in several countries.) In the past, city proclamations acknowledged Pride Month, but a resolution is almost like codifying it. Eastburn is adamant the resolution is critical today “because of the growing division of hatred we see around the world right now.”

The number of hate crimes against the LGBT community is unknown because the South Lake Tahoe Police and Douglas County Sheriff’s departments didn’t return calls.

Even so, the world is not a safe place. The U.S. State Department issued a "worldwide caution" for U.S. citizens traveling overseas because of "the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events."

The current state of unease is a reason Mayor Cody Bass, who is openly gay, advocated for the resolution. He can only point to a couple instances locally of

feeling backlash against his sexuality in the 27 years he’s been in town.

come up during Trump’s presidency that took us backward in a lot of ways,” Heidel said. “Homophobia became rampant on

Ally can’t meet online because of privacy issues; you don’t know who else is listening. This meant some students suf-

“My hope has always been to not have the club (because it’s no longer needed),” Heidel said. “But I don't see it going away soon because of legislation around the country, and the homophobic, anti-transgender agendas.”

tion had a short run at hosting a ski week as well.

Today, the resort hosts its own events.

“We want to be as diverse of a city and accepting of a city as we can. The LGBT community has long been part of South Lake Tahoe,” Bass said. His bigger vision is having Pride events in June (possibly as early as 2025) throughout the basin and in Truckee to welcome tourists and unite the region. Truckee had its inaugural Pride Week earlier this month.

told by a waiter to leave a South Lake Tahoe restaurant. By then, the Stateline gay bar Faces had been closed for four years.

growing alphabet that includes LGBTQIA+ or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and trans, queer and questioning, intersex, asexual or agender, and more.

Cremeans wanted this group to be inclusive—not just men, not just women, not just those who identify as homosexual—but allies as well. In other words, friends, family and others who support the gay community.

The name Lake Tahoe Pride covers the umbrella of sexual and gender identities.

Cremeans has seen a positive evolution from businesses in the last 14 years.

groups. They have done this by having trail building days with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, working with the city to paint rainbow sidewalk crossings, and collaborating with chambers of commerce.

For Pride Month, the third annual Pride Bike Ride is June 29 starting at Lakeview Commons at 10 a.m., Sidellis is hosting a Pride paint and sip fundraiser June 25 from 6-8 p.m., and on June 18 starting at 5:30 p.m. at South Lake Tahoe Brewing Company is a mixer and queer trivia takeover. Politics and activism are not what LTP is about. It’s about eating, drinking, hiking, skiing— doing whatever everyone else in Tahoe does, but doing so with people who aren’t going to discriminate.

“Even when we have celebrations like the sidewalk commemoration they wanted to have police there,” Kao said. “I want to live in a world where I think I don't need protection. When you have police there it changes the tone.”

The thing about a group like Lake Tahoe Pride is it’s a safe place—especially with the growing homophobic, anti-transgender agendas of some people and communities.

Allies at schools

This could be a lucrative move. After all, the LGBT global tourism market is expected to reach nearly $331 billion this year and is projected to be more than $552 billion in 2031.

Lake Tahoe Pride

One of the most visible gay groups on the South Shore is Lake Tahoe Pride, which was started by Gregory Cremeans in 2010 after he and some gay friends were

“We were just a group having social mixers,” Cremeans said. “I wanted us to be visible in the community. We would take photos and put them on Facebook. There would be people who would step out (of the photo) who weren’t out, then 10 more allies would step in. We needed to let the community know we are here and we aren’t going anywhere and we have friends.”

The first iteration was known as Lake Tahoe LGBT and Friends. Through the years the group has welcomed the

“Back in 2010 we had to call places and tell them we were coming. We had people who didn't want us to show up,” Cremeans recalled. “Today, businesses call us and say they want to collaborate with us.”

The group has also been visible in the annual Fourth of July parade, where it has participated multiple years without negative consequences.

While Cremeans is still involved in the group, others have taken over in leadership roles.

Zephyr Kao’s goal with LTP is to build partnerships with other

Another super safe space is the Ally Club at South Tahoe High School, which has been overseen by adviser Bridey Heidel since its founding in 2006. In that time it has grown from a sexual identity safe place to include gender differences as well.

Anyone may join—one doesn’t have to be part of the LGBT+ team. Ally by definition is a person who is supportive of this group.

However, in the last few years Heidel has seen acceptance take a noticeable backslide on campus.

“To me, unfortunately, (Ally) is still relevant because just when we started feeling like it was safe to go back in water, so to speak, we had some politics

our campus. Things we thought we had resolved in terms of derogatory slurs and hate words all resurfaced when he was president.”

Then came the pandemic, which Heidel said took a toll on students’ mental health and was hard on LGBT+ students who were in unsupportive households or were alone as they came out or transitioned.

fered along without support. In 2016, between 80 and 100 kids were part of STHS’ Ally Club, now it’s more like 10 to 30. Heidel believes the difference in numbers is in part because some kids don’t believe they need such a group, which she loves, but on the flipside “I am absolutely positive kids are not coming out right now” because of fear.

South Tahoe Middle School now has an Ally Club as well.

Lauri Kemper, who is on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board, first got involved in school issues with the Family Life Committee in the early 2000s when her son was at the high school. She was impressed then about the outreach for gay students, as well as what Tahoe Youth & Family Services was offering. As someone who didn’t come out as a lesbian until she was 30, Kemper knows she had it easier than young people who already have a plethora of issues to contend with.

Still, she is an advocate for inclusion at all levels. Kemper highlights the focus on kindness and other behavioral issues at the elementary school to foster compassion. She believes it’s important to be “intentional about inclusion.”

Lake Tahoe Community College started an Ally Club a couple years after STHS. This spring it hosted its inaugural GAYpril event where the Pride flag was raised alongside the U.S. flag for the first time.

Kemper was a speaker at the LTCC event.

Lake Tahoe Pride is a visible presence on the college campus with its annual scholarship for students who best demonstrate what equality means to them. This year two $1,000 awards were given.

Even bigger is that in May the scholarship was endowed with $50,000 in local donations. What Douglas County schools offer is unknown because calls were not returned. However, the school board has a history of being less than inclusive.

On the slopes

Heavenly Mountain Resort has a long history of welcoming the gay community. Lake Tahoe WinterFest gay ski week ran for more than a decade starting in 1996. The now defunct Lake Tahoe Gay and Lesbian Founda-

“As allies, our goal is to ensure we host a consistent, annual celebration on-mountain to support the LGBTQIA+ community. Heavenly launched the Here & Queer coffee hour and began working with Lake Tahoe Pride’s leadership to attempt to bridge the gap between LGBTQIA+ employees/guests, and the local South Lake Tahoe community,” explained spokesman Cole Zimmerman. “During the 2022-23 season, we hosted our first annual Tahoe Region Pride Day at Heavenly, which was a huge success. This season, we doubled our guest participation at Heavenly, and we are looking forward to riding the momentum hosting the event next year and into the future.”

Tommy Todd, a ski school instructor at Heavenly from 200415, remembers early on going to his director asking if he could wear his uniform while giving tours during gay ski week. Yes, was the answer. Todd believes he may have been the only gay employee at the resort then, or least the only one who was out.

“Ski school is traditionally a macho-man kind of place. It feels a little bit like a police or fire station where it would be difficult to be out,” Todd said. “But people knew me as me, not as a gay instructor or manager.”

Vail Resorts has adopted “be inclusive” as a core value to ensure all of its resorts are welcoming.

Heidel was a speaker at this year’s event.

The Pride events have expanded to Kirkwood and Northstar, the other Vail Resorts’ properties in the greater Lake Tahoe area.

It’s a mixture of locals and out-of-towners who participate in the gay ski events.

“We will continue to lend our voice to efforts that educate, inform, and grow our appreciation for the experiences of our LGBTQ+ teammates and allies. We do this by supporting impactful legislation, like the Respect for Marriage Act, and organizing events and activities annually that recognize the significance of LGBTQIA+ communities,” Zimmerman said. “Together, we must all do our part to enable everyone in the LGBTQ+ community to live and work safely and free of hate.”

Claire McCully rides in the 2023 Lake Tahoe Pride bike event.

Heavenly's slopes are awash in gay pride.

Tahoe Pride founder Gregory Cremeans receives the 2019 Harvey Milk Community Builder award from the OUR Center in Reno.

Sand Harbor maxxed out

Sand Harbor was never meant to welcome the number of people it does each year, which is why Nevada officials are in the process of updating the master plan for this state park.

“At the beginning of the early 2000s visitation began to climb and by 2010 the park began to recognize visitation had increased to an unsustainable level for the park,” Kevin Fromherz, program manager with the Nevada Tahoe Resource Team, said.

Fromherz was a speaker last month on a webinar hosted by Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

After a visitation study was completed in 2011 at Sand Harbor, short-term fixes were put in place like closing the gates when the parking lots were full and adding the East Shore Express bus route.

Those no longer work, though, because even more people are flocking to this picturesque lakefront area in Incline Village. Fromherz said the beach is designed for 1,200 users at a time, but the reality is it’s not unusual for 3,000 people to be occupying that swath of sand on any given day.

When the park was created in the 1970s the original capacity was designed around the available parking. The boat ramp, restrooms, parking and group use area are about 50 years old.

The visitor center and stage, which is home to the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, were built in the early 2000s, with new bathrooms installed in 2016.

Fromherz said 2018-19 was one of the highest visitation years (581,148 people),

which was 40 percent higher than 2011 with 409,477 visitors. The counts are based on vehicle traffic and don’t include people using the East Shore trail. In 2021, Sand Harbor was closed from 3pm-5pm and even with the parking lots 60 percent full, the beach was over capacity, according to Fromherz.

Fromherz’s job is to implement environmental improvement projects at Lake Tahoe, which is why the master plan update is under his purview.

“We have the opportunity in front of us to do a complete redesign of the park by improving the recreation experience, potentially expanding the capacity to allow more visitors to enjoy Sand Harbor throughout the year without degrading the visitor experience,” Fromherz said.

Design Workshop is putting together the plan with as many ideas as possible, including updating the visitor count. This summer the public will be invited to engage in the process.

The goal is for the final plan to be out next January. Then construction documents could be drawn in 2026-27, and plan implementation by the end of this decade.

While Sand Harbor was built as a summer park, more people are accessing it in the winter. This aspect will be considered in the new master plan.

Fromherz said another goal is to redesign the parking lots so they are not the primary focus and to incorporate the underused group recreation area.

“The reality with the 1970s design is that the parking lots are probably in the most logical recre-

ation spots for that park,” Fromherz said.

Better integration of how the East Shore multiuse trail connects

to Sand Harbor and improved transit are other things being considered.

Fromherz acknowledged a reservation system is being talked about. Nevada State Parks expects to make a decision on reservations after this summer’s pilot program at a park in Laughlin. It is possible as early as next summer that access to Sand Harbor would be via reservations.

On an environmental note, this year at Sand Harbor (and Meeks Bay) are solar powered devices to clean, drain and dry personal watercraft with pressurized air before heading into the lake to prevent aquatic invasive species from entering Tahoe.

Winter is when the beach at Sand Harbor is not overcrowded.

Local film festival gaining momentum

In its inaugural year, the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival is generating significant buzz, with more than 250 submissions from more than 25 countries.

Organizers have their work cut out to whittle those entries to between 40 and 55 that will be aired Oct. 4-6 at the event center in Stateline.

“Ever since I attended my first film festival with my very first film 10 years ago, I thought, ‘Why doesn't Tahoe have something like this?’,” said Michelle Aguilar-Ficara.

“I always knew I wanted to help start one eventually. I kind of always thought it would be a little later in my career. But after finishing my last film I was eager to do something more community-oriented.”

The 2005 South Tahoe High School grad who is back living in town with her husband, newborn twins (a boy

and a girl) and two dogs, has always had a can-do attitude.

Aguilar-Ficara would like to grow the festival to “make it an annual cornerstone community event with additional yearround programming that involves monthly community screenings, an artist residency, and youth documentary workshops.”

For the initial event, the plan is to have a number of filmmakers be part of panel discussions in addition to the actual films, outdoor activities, and after parties.

Films will either be feature length—more than 40 minutes, or short form, which is less than 40 minutes.

“I don't really have a desire to make this a traveling festival. If there is community support, the goal is for it to grow across town so that we can have various screening locations all over town,” Aguilar-Ficara said. “And my dream is to make a longer

festival, ideally for 10 days. I would love for there to be two weekends, an opening weekend and a closing weekend, and seven days of screenings in between, with films and filmmakers going into the schools as well.”

More details about the festival, including purchasing passes, are available online: https://ltdff. com/.

Aguilar-Ficara hopes to have her film Momentum shown at the festival. That’s up to the screening committee, not her as the festival’s organizer. Momentum is a film she co-directed with Lane Power, who is also from Tahoe. The documentary, which premiered in 2022 at Lake Tahoe Community College, became available in May to stream for free on PBS at https://www.pbs.org/show/momentum/.

“It has been a five-year journey—about three years filming, a year editing, and another

year in distribution and re-editing to prepare the film for public broadcast,” Aguilar-Ficara said.

The film is inspirational, heart-warming and a little gritty.

Chris “Coco” Cocores and Ryan Wallace had plenty of reasons to be angry, to hate life, to give up and give in. These South Lake Tahoe men demonstrate the epitome of a can do, never quit mentality.

The South Lake Tahoebased filmmaker said, “I'm drawn to films that capture a story over time, allowing the audience to feel immersed, as if they are part of the journey. These types of films require a lot of time and patience, so it's crucial to be deeply invested in the story. This commitment deepened when I met Chris and began filming, and even more so when we started following Ryan as well.”

She gravitated to this story when she was relocating to the area from Washington, D.C.

Aguilar-Ficara wanted her next project to be a local story. She just happened to be following Cocores’ plight on social media when she realized she wanted to document his comeback.

“I was particularly moved by the coach-mentor dynamic that Ryan embodies; having overcome significant challenges himself, he has a wealth of wisdom to share. I feel so fortunate Chris trusted us with his story,” Aguilar-Ficara said.

For those who don’t know the adversity that Cocores and Wallace have overcome, this film, which is less than an hour in length, will give you more than a glimpse into who they are and the battles they have endured outside of the ring.

Their lives are intertwined through wrestling and mixed martial arts. Their struggles are individual, yet shared, in that they had significant health challenges as well as a coach-athlete relationship.

South Lake Tahoe’s Escobar Training Grounds is also integral to the storyline.

Locals are bound to know others in the film who are part of the men’s respective support systems, and to recognize plenty of Tahoe locations.

“Nothing can compare to death and I was fighting death,” Cocores says in the film.

Today, Cocores is competing abroad, “continuing to pursue his dreams for the next chapter in his life,” according to his grandmother, Peggy Cocores.

Wallace is now the director of leadership and volunteer engagement with South Lake Tahoe-based Marcella Foundation, where his primary responsibility is “to develop my concept of Momentum Mentors, a youth program that uses the film to connect with kids who are inspired by the film and provide them with the tools and resources to overcome their challenges and work toward their goals.”

He continues to coach wrestling at South Tahoe High and Middle schools. Wallace would like to compete in jiu jitsu tournaments this summer and possibly in the para-jiu jitsu world championships in the fall.

“My mission is to loudly broadcast a counter message to the ‘quick fix’ advertisements our kids are inundated with. Happiness and satisfaction are absolutely

possible, but they come from gratitude, hard work, generosity and genuine concern for the well-being of others,”

has

of the

Wallace said. “They are being told both overtly and inadvertently in a legion of forms, that a politician, a policy, a product, an amount of fame or a substance will solve their problems, which is not a new

a

Ryan Wallace and Chris Cocores star in the documentary Momentum

Michelle Aguilar-Ficara of South Lake Tahoe is

Ryan Wallace in the movie Momentum as he coaches at South Tahoe Middle School.

If you were ever a new parent and recently crowned authority figure, you quickly learned kids are genetically programmed to defy authority. From the moment of birth, a child’s preferred option is to thwart all commands, plea bargains, threats, screams and public sobbing and continue to do exactly what they want. And as much as you were hoping their first words would be “mama,” “dada” or “I wuv you,” I’m betting against it. Because a toddler being told to obey by an authority figure quickly sees there is no valid reason to end the funness of the moment. Me and the toddler are in total agreement on this. Our first response is always going to be, “But why???”

Authority figures are defined as people “whose real or apparent authority over others demands obedience.” I must also point out that authority figures are normally wearing more clothes than we when we’re being arrested (a cautionary tale). And those clothes

But why???

are deliberately designed to be threatening to the under-clothed among us.

But why do I and my gang of toddlers find obedience to authority figures so abhorrent?

Social psychologist Stanley Milgram concludes, “people obey out of fear or a desire to appear cooperative…which can cause them to fail to exercise their own independent, ethical judgment.”

This may hold true for the rest of the population, but my gang and I are fearlessly drunk on candy and will continue to do exactly what we want.

Having lived longer than most teenagers feel is reasonable, I’ve had a myriad of experiences with both real and imaginary authority figures. And many have provided me with endlessly amusing stories to share with fellow survivors at happy hour. Because some authority figures wield “uninformed opinions” and often “lack initiative,” meaning they don’t know what they’re talking

about or hope you’ll do their work for them.

For example: Perhaps someone with a badge knocks at your door and says, “Your dog is in violation of the law for lying with her paws encroaching three inches onto the roadway.”

“But why? The other 36 inches of her are in compliance.”

“This isn’t funny lady. It’s like selling heroin on the street corner!”

To which the 6-year-old son says, “What’s heroin, Mommy?”

Mommy calls the Department of Runamuck Dog Catchers.

“Oh. He’s the new guy from L.A.”

“Figures. Please tell him to ditch the tin star. He’s taking it way too seriously.”

Or, maybe during the Covid era you were visited by an agent from the Department of

Unnecessary Harassment who orders you to purchase plastic to wallpaper your office, counters, table, equipment, cabinets and the stool your ass completely covers and protects. You sense she would also like to see your head thoroughly wrapped in an airtight plastic bag.

“But why?”

She rolls her eyes, sighing at your ignorance.

“Because there’s cooties in the air.”

Naturally, you’re immediately compelled to look up “cooties” in the dictionary, which defines them as, “A children’s term for an imaginary germ.”

Bless her plasticized little heart.

Now, the good news. Some authority figures just get it right. Like the teachers who strive to break the addiction of their student’s brain-sucking devices. And the medical community that deals with us when we’re sick, cranky and unbathed.

Or maybe the motorcycle cop who sees a girl in a ridiculously short dress, stumbling home from her high school graduation, her eyes blinded by tears. Did she sew her own graduation dress

and, in a panic on the morning of graduation, forget she hemmed it and hemmed it again? Luckily, the graduation robe completely covers the revelatory error. Or maybe her parents are wading in the deep end of the bourbon pool, confused on the graduation timing, or unable to recognize their tom-boy daughter in a dress. Even an eye-busting, mini-micro one.

So she walks across the stage to receive her diploma in deafening silence. And then is forced to return the graduation robe, thus resulting in a butt-revealing walk of shame home, alone.

Maybe this cop pulls over and stops the girl, and she groans, thinking, “But why?”

“Bad day?”

“. Yes . ”

“If you want, get on.”

The motorcycle purrs, climbing the hills, through breezes sweetened by rose and honeysuckle blossoms. Concrete dissolves into dirt, the air turns pungent with bay leaf and narrow tunnels of eucalyptus trees, the branches sweeping their arms, releasing an exotic perfume.

These bears aren't chicken

“Why is Michael so loud in the morning?” I lean over and ask.

“Angry breakfast-making?” Wifey responds. “Wait. No. This is too early for him. What time even is it anyway?”

“6:45. Yeah, he’s usually not downstairs until well after 7.”

And freedom turns tears from despair to creations of the wind. She is forever changed.

He drops her off at the door of her new life. Who knows? Maybe she’ll move to Tahoe.

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

“He’s not that loud either. I’ll… check.” Wifey gets out of bed and heads to our door at the top of the stairs. “Hello, can I help you?” She calls down.

“That was polite,” I comment.

About 30 seconds later I hear a loud bang and Wifey yells, “S#@t. God D#%nit!” Darth Vader, our dog, and I spring into action. We run downstairs in time to see a midsize cinnamon-colored bear bolt out of our house and across our backyard. The large rear door to our home stands wide open with a globe that Wifey chucked from the second-floor balcony laying broken on the floor.

“It was either that or the piano,” Wifey shrugs.

“Good choice,” I respond. This was the first time in almost 20 years of living in Tahoe that we’ve had a bear inside our

home. We’ve had them in our yard, once in our car, briefly in our garage, but this was different. This time, while our family lay asleep and unsuspecting upstairs, a bear pushed down on the large ADA-compliant handle of our back patio door, swung the door outward, and ambled with characteristic bear-y nonchalance all around our downstairs. Even though the pantry was accessible and the fridge and freezer were left open, what the bear was most interested in was through our living room and in our garage, just beginning to make their morning clucking sounds. The bear didn’t go immediately for our human food; it was heading for the nesting boxes where our hens and ducks spend the night.

“See? Even the bear didn’t like our snacks in the pantry,” Matilda said. “We definitely need better snacks.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “He took one look at our Smart and Final cereal selection and was like, ‘Yo… I ain’t eating this offbrand fruit whirls junk.’”

We originally bought a flock of chickens four years ago, back in Covid times, and have had them ever since, even adding ducks into the mix last year. We absolutely love having fresh eggs and not generating food waste; nearly everything we don’t eat simply goes in a scrap bucket and is delivered to the chickens. The way we laid out the nesting boxes and chicken run was pretty logical, too. Each night, the chickens head through a small hole into the heat of the garage and their enclosed coop.

Each morning and afternoon, we open the nesting box doors that the kiddos painted with bright colors and funny pictures and get fresh eggs. During the day, they have a run in our side yard, partially protected from the elements by our roof. When we’re around during the day, we let them frolic in our fenced backyard. It worked fairly well with only a few poultry fatalities. That is… until now.

“Sorry kids. I think it’s time. When a bear breaks into

“Point taken,” I laughed. “The only food he had time to taste was some Ranch dressing,” I said while examining the puncture mark on the plastic bottle on our floor. “Sort of courteous of him. I mean, he could have made quite the mess in here.”

your house looking for chickens, it’s time to say goodbye to those chickens.”

There was an uneasy pause in our normally raucous dinner conversations as the four kids and two adults pondered our collective existence without live poultry.

“The garage will smell better,” Max offered.

“And there won’t be chicken poop all over the backyard,” Michael added.

“You all handled that a lot better than I expected,” I said.

“I’ll make a funny post on ChickenTinder and get someone to take them to a new home,” Wifey said. “Something like . . ‘QuackyMcQuackerFace needs an arranged marriage after a bear ran off with Sunflower II.”

“I do have one request,” I started. “Ever since we first got chickens, I’ve wanted to teach you about where your food comes from and actually butcher one of the birds.”

“But they’re our pets,” Matilda protested.

“Not anymore! We’ve seen bears eat them before, so why can’t we? Let’s put it to a vote,” I said. “Raise your hand if we should make chicken soup.”

The vote was four to two and was decided on strictly gender lines.

“Okay, you win,” Wifey said. “But we are not eating Hot Tamale. We’ve had her since the beginning – she’s way too special.”

“We could eat Raw Chicken,” I suggested.

“You mean the one who rarely leaves the nesting box and has the raw spot on her chest?” Matilda asked.

“Yup, that’s the chicken. We’ll have Raw Chicken Soup.”

“I didn’t think it could sound any less appetizing,” Wifey said. “And then you said, ‘Raw Chicken Soup’.”

“We’ll bake her first,” I assured everyone. So, this past Sunday we did it, we rehomed our one remaining duck and three chickens and after four years, I finally got to do my biology lesson for the kids, like my organic farmer brother taught me. And Sunday night… was soup night.

Some other things have changed around our home too. We are now fully locking all exterior doors and throwing all dead bolts. I’ve installed a swami board with some vicious

I walk in the front door of the store—alright, to be clear, the liquor store (we were nearly out of beer!). We are on a camping trip in a different state, yeah, one of those states where you go to the grocery store for food but a different place for your booze.

As I reach for the cooler door to make my selection, this guy does the same. I’d say, younger than me—I think everyone is—he’s kinda scruffy-outdoorsy looking—you know who I’m talking about. He looks over at me, probably thinking, “Yeah, old dude, kinda dirty-outdoorsy

If the shoe fits

looking.” Then out of the blue he goes, “Where you ridin’?”

I say, “Well, we are headed a ways out towards bla bla bla for a few days.”

“Ooh, it should be good over there right now.” Grabs his twelve pack and turns away.

I get back to our van, (a little detail here) which was parked a block and a half away from the liquor store. As I get in, it hits me, just how did he know we were going

riding? We weren’t in an area known for mountain biking, he never saw our van (that detail), we were just passing through . . gas, booze, food—not necessarily in that order. I was wearing “normal” daily clothes, but somehow he knew.

Full of fresh supplies and maybe 35 miles down the road, it hits me (because, you know, it really bugged me, how did he know? I didn’t even have helmet hair!). Preparing to turn onto a different road, I let off the gas and hit the brakes, and that’s when I feel it—my shoes! My regular shoes had gotten wet, a missed creek crossing while walking the dog, so I put my riding shoes on at the store.

Funny thing about our riding shoes—of course, it is pretty obvious from a mile away that they are bike shoes, some more obvious than others, but it’s a fun way to read a book by its cover, or shoes. There are dozens of different types of riding shoes, not just different for the sake of fashion, well, maybe a little. But truly there is a great deal of functionality built into those kicks. Every type of

rider can benefit from the correct shoe whether they ride road bikes, mountain bikes, downhill, dirt jump, gravel, long distance touring, grocery shopping— yes, you may benefit from a special shoe for grocery getting! We riders probably have a bigger variety of shoes than just about any other sport or activity. Imelda Marcos would be proud.

Fun thing about our riding shoes is judging a book by its cover. Of course, it helps if you have been around us goofy, techy, love ridin’ my bike folks for a while, or decades. But even if you are new and learning about this lifestyle, look at people’s shoes. It is so easy to understand just what they do on a bike by their footwear.

The casual shoe—you know, sneakers, hikers, Vans—soft, comfy, daily shoes. These are for riding around town, beach cruisin’, grocery getting, commuting, kids riding around together darting in and out of traffic doing wheelies for blocks, mopeds (e bikes) and often for new riders who simply don’t know yet. And then, who wants to have to put on a “special shoe” just to ride a bike? I thought it was about freedom and feeling like a kid again!

The next type you see in the grocery store walking straight towards the energy gel section. They are barely able to walk, mostly on their heels, toes sticking up because they have huge cleats on the bottom of the plastic-looking shoe to click into their road bike ped-

als as they speed around the lake. Fast, efficient and on a mission (to get more energy gels).

The knobby crew is next. Their shoes look a lot like hiking shoes, usually with some lugged soles showing around the edges saying, “Hey, do see how tough I am? I can go anywhere.” Sometimes when the mountain bikers walk, you can hear the small cleat on the bottom clicking, but most just ride a flat shoe so they aren’t clipping into the pedal on trails

Then there’s a shoe that can be very deceiving because it can look rather mild and comfortable, almost stylish, but is worn by some of the most amazing and aggressive riders on the planet.

The downhillers and even some dirt jumpers wear this one, usually with a little toughness around the edges and some ankle protection since they are doing things on a bike that some people can’t even imagine is possible. This shoe can ride down trails that many people would have trouble walking down in their hiking boots.

Then there are the gravel grinders. The gravel bike folks are really confused. They wear a shoe that kind of resembles a roadie’s shoe but has a sole closer to a mountain shoe. I would fully expect to see one of these riders with a road bike shoe on one foot and a mountain bike shoe on the other, kind of saying, “I don’t do either that well, but I’ll try both.”

So many shoes to wear but I’m out of space here, so I am going outside to kick back, take my shoes off and have a beer. Let’s play.

looking nails and screws over the top cap on our six-foot fence. I also spoke with the manufacturer of our rear terrace door to see if there was an option for a non-lever style handle and was told that all options were ADA compliant, so I asked if ADA stood for Animal Door Access. They didn’t think that was funny. I’ve been MacGyvering a solution instead by disassembling the handle every night before I go to bed and reassembling it in the morning.

The result… so far, no more bears in the house or in the garage or even rooting around where the chickens used to run in our side yard.

Reflecting on our recent odyssey and the prevalence of predators in town, it does feel like there are just more bears this spring than in years past. It seems like I see at least one a day, not only behind my home but out hiking and in other places

around town. Why exactly are there so many bears this year?

I do believe that we, the human residents of Tahoe, are in bear habitat and that we should look for ways to live in harmony with them. And if that means that we finally need to stop being chicken farmers, then so be it.

That being said, the bears this year in particular feel like a ticking time bomb. At some point in the not-too-distant future, there could be a tragic incident that should have been avoided.

Personally, I’d look for lots of other options before shooting a bear with a gun, but given the audacity and ubiquity of the bear population this year, I really don’t fault the resident who shot and killed a bear under somewhat murky trespassing circumstances just a couple weeks ago.

Ideally for all of us, seeing a bear should be a wild and somewhat rare occurrence that reconnects us with big important

concepts like wilderness and the power of untamed nature. It should not be a nuisance or as commonplace as it’s becoming around South Lake Tahoe.

Bears are not annoying pests in search of human food. Bears are powerful predators, majestic and awe-inspiring. I hate thinking of bears like I think of seasonal mosquitos.

The evening before our arranged duck marriage and Raw Chicken Soup dinner was Jack’s 13th birthday party. He and five of his friends had a sleepover in the backyard. As if on cue, a large old bear came moseying by in the meadow behind our home and then just sat on its haunches and watched us from 20 yards away. We yelled and threw rocks, but it seemed like it wanted to make some sort of point, probably that we needed to get rid of our chickens and he would be happy to help in that endeavor.

“Really, Buddy?” I said to

the bear. “Are we really going to do this again?”

I put Darth Vader on a leash, grabbed a shovel and went to the back gate.

The bear still didn’t budge. “Ok, you annoying oversized rat, time to remember your place in the food chain.” At least I hoped it would go down that way.

I unhooked Vader from her leash and opened the gate. Darth and I bolted straight at the bear, who, this time, did get up and run away. We chased the bear all the way across the meadow and then for good measure, across the river too.

That night I slept out on our rear deck with some bear spray and my trusty shovel while the boys slept in their tents with Darth Vader.

It probably is not a popular local opinion, and I might just be a little on edge after chasing a bear across the river and

purchasing eggs for the first time in four years, but I think Tahoe might have too many bears. The CA Department of Fish and Wildlife has the right policy: “This emphasis on nonlethal corrective actions first is a prudent management structure designed to cure the habituation, remedy the conflict, and create the best outcome for the bear itself.” I feel like our family has now gone as far as we are willing to go and enacted as many of the recommendations from the Bear League that we can. Hopefully, that is enough.

M.C. Behm is a full-time 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.

locally in Carson City, NV.

Essential gear for biking.

I have touched on this subject before, but I’m old so I get some leeway for repeating myself. How do we see movies these days? We are getting to where fewer people can remember a time when you saw new movies on a single screen or a drive-in and that was it. If you missed it when it was at the theater, you were out of luck, and by the ’70s it might show up on network TV after about five years.

Then came the age of VHS and DVD where you could watch newer films at your leisure in your own home. And then came streaming. With advances in internet and provider technology, you could now watch films anytime you wanted; a huge variety of films became available and more films were created and released on the streaming services. During the pandemic we also got to see some big-name blockbusters released straight to streaming, a practice that is now the way some films get to us.

So what moves a studio to release a big-name and/or big-budget film directly to streaming? Of course, it’s all about money. Streaming does not pay as well as a theatrical run . . . unless the film does not have a successful run. If a film tanks at the theaters, it has also reduced its value for future streaming. Streaming ser-

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vices will pay well for a first-run film (as an example, Netflix may pay $100-$200 million) because they get exclusivity and can attract more subscribers. And if it does well, they can sell it to other streamers for a second run later.

It’s a gamble as to where the bigger bucks are, but for a film that isn’t a strong bet for theaters, it’s another way to go.

However, since there are no more COVID restrictions on where people can go, streaming is struggling to make the money needed for high-profile films, and

The story is a very fictionalized version of the battle to rule the breakfast market between cereal giants Kellogg’s and Post back in the early ’60s. Schumer and Gaffigan are the rival heads of Post and Kellogg’s who are taking no prisoners in the battle for breakfast supremacy. Cereal was the dominant product, and this was the age of tying every sugary cereal to characters aimed right at the grade-school crowd. But both companies were looking for a way to broaden the breakfast market by creating a breakfast pastry, which

So what moves a studio to release a big-name and/or big-budget film directly to streaming? Of course, it's all about money.

I think we’ll be seeing less of that practice as we go forward.

Let’s look at two first-run films that went directly to streaming this month. The first is Jerry Seinfeld’s new film, Unfrosted. Aside from Seinfeld, the film features many stars, including Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Christian Slater and Amy Schumer. And of course, it was written and directed by Seinfeld, so it should be comedy gold. But it doesn’t quite get there.

for Kellogg’s would eventually become the Pop Tart, changing kids sugary breakfast choices for years to come. Seinfeld plays Bob Cabana, Kellogg’s head of product development and McCarthy is a product developer brought back from NASA (where she had just invented Tang).

The film has a lot of corny Seinfeld style humor with a many jokes and references about the ’60s. The set pieces all capture that early ’60s nostalgia, looking like the advertisements and TV of

the period. The colors are bright and everything is plastic and shiny. The film is more of a parody than any kind of biopic, sort of a Seinfeld version of a movie like Airplane. Unfortunately, if you are not into ’60s nostalgia, then there isn’t much else to latch onto.

Overall Unfrosted is mostly just fun nostalgia. Many of the jokes miss, but the ones that hit are really funny. If you don’t expect anything more than this, then Unfrosted would be worth checking out. Teresa thought it was silly but enjoyed it.

Next up, Jennifer Lopez is in a big budget sci-fi on Netflix called Atlas Is it as bad as most of the reviews? Let’s see.

In Atlas Lopez plays Atlas Shepard, a brilliant AI analyst with a distrust of humans and artificial intelligence, and with good reason since 28 years ago, when she was a child, an advanced AI named Harlan led an AI rebellion that left three million dead before military forces of a new International Coalition of Nations sent him fleeing into outer space. But now they may have found Harlan on another planet and Atlas demands to be part of the task force sent to capture him. However, things go wrong and Atlas is forced to interface with an AI in a mechanical warrior suit to try and save the mission.

There’s a lot in Atlas that doesn’t work. The plot resembles pieces of Pacific Rim with a dash of Aliens, maybe a smidgin of Blade Runner and Terminator 2 with a mix of elements that don’t add up and some large holes in the world-building science. The dialogue is generic and there is minimal character development though J.Lo makes the most of what she has.

So, what does work in the film? First off, the set pieces and action sequences are fairly well done. If nothing else, Atlas is fun to watch. Sure, it’s mostly just a lot of greenscreen with CGI, but on a B level, it’s fun CGI. The banter between Atlas and her AI suit is also fun and as the film moves to the third act, there are some decent reveals, emotional connections and J.Lo cries a lot.

Overall, you need to watch Atlas as a standard B film without questioning too much; just enjoy the ride without getting too critical of everything it’s lacking. Lopez makes a decent action hero, even being some 20-plus years older than her character. And since it’s free on Netflix, there’s nothing to lose. Oh, and this wasn’t a film Teresa would get into.

Melissa McCarthy, Jerry Seinfeld and Hugh Grant star in Unfrosted about the cereal wars of the 1960s.

Dr. Neil Powell • Dr. Ellen Sears

Purchase a new cordless electric lawn equipment device from a store or order online.

INCENTIVE PROGRAM STEP BY STEP:

Apply for the CLIP program at: EDCCleanAir.org

Receive your approved CLIP application via email. Print approved CLIP application.

AMOUNTS:

Within 30 days of the purchase of the new lawn equipment, take the old gas powered lawn equipment and the approved application to an approved disposal site. Disposal site will sign application and return to you.

Deliver complete application and copy of receipt for new equipment to EDC AQMD in person or via email. (edcaqmd@edcgov.us )

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In 4 to 6 weeks, receive a check from El Dorado County AQMD for your incentive!

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Farmer Chris with the fruits of his labor at the opening of the South Lake Tahoe Farmer's Market for the season.