enforcement

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On the heels of the banning of electric scooters in many cities, Governor Jerry Brown of California has signed a bill that mandates helmets for users only if they are under the age of 18 and if the scooter goes above 15 miles per hour.

The bill, authored by Republican Assemblyman Heath Flora of Ripon, was written to encourage scooter use to alleviate congestion on the state's roads and meet climate change goals of reducing car emissions.

The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2019.

Mayor Wendy David has stated that it is okay to have Vacation Home Rentals in residential neighborhoods as long as there is 'consistent' enforcement. Sorry Wendy but planning and zoning are not determined by enforcement. What has been ‘consistent' is the city's failure to deliver effective enforcement. When a neighbor calls in to complain about a problem with a VHR, a warning call goes out to the agent or owner of that VHR to warn them of the complaint. By the time the Enforcement Officer arrives the lights are out and the report reads: "Quiet on Arrival".

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, current Councilman Austin Sass shares his thoughts in his quest for another term on the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

Jen Dulyanai will present a program on Safety for Women during the next American Association of University Women (AAUW) on Saturday, October 13 starting at 10:00 a.m. at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Location

This September and October, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board will move forward with hearings and final milestone decisions on two significant initiatives: A new Shoreline Plan and an overhaul of the agency’s transferable development rights system.

TRPA will hold hearings for both these initiatives at the Governing Board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 26, and could hold final votes on them as early as Wednesday, Oct. 24.

El Dorado County’s Department of Transportation today announced crews will be
performing road work on Lakeview Drive on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe beginning Thursday, September 20 and continuing through Friday, October 5, 2018.

Lakeview Drive between Silvertip Drive and Saturn Drive, will be closed to
traffic for construction. The closure is necessary to ensure motorist and worker safety while the County’s contractor performs work on Lakeview Drive.

11:00 a.m. update 9/11/18 - Douglas County Sheriff's Office is reporting that two men went into the water and that one, a man in his 30s, has not been found at this time. The other man was transported to the hospital.

On Monday, underwater drones and K9s were used in the water along with law enforcement boats to aid in the search.

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LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Multiple agencies spent Sunday night and most of Monday searching for a person who reportedly jumped off a boat near Nevada Beach.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) recently made connections with a senior citizen through their new Caring Neighbors Program. They found the senior had been scammed out of over $34,000 over the past 20 months.

In the program, a deputy and a volunteer visit seniors to obtain needed information such as consent, next of kin and medication information. The information is beneficial in case of a future emergency involving the senior citizen.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe man who died in Lake Tahoe Monday has been identified as 74-year-old Robert Hill.

Mr. Hill left his home in the Tahoe Keys on Monday, August 27, 2018 at about 8:30 a.m. to go fly his model airplane on the Lighthouse Shore beach. According to the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD), it appears the model plane crashed into Lake Tahoe and he went in to retrieve it.

The California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) Valley Division and Golden Gate Divisions, having jurisdiction over the Sacramento regions and San Francisco Bay Area, are partnering with the Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP) to participate in an “I-80 Challenge.”

This effort aims to reduce distracted and reckless driving along the 615 miles of Interstate 80 from San Francisco, Calif. to the Nevada/Utah Stateline from Monday, August 27 – Labor Day, September 3, 2018, by enhancing traffic safety, enforcement, and education along this section of the National Highway System.

In December of 2017, the South Lake Tahoe City Council approved the latest Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance based on months of workshops, testimony and compromise.

They found out during their meeting on August 21, 2018 that one portion of that ordinance cannot be enforced due to the Vehicle Code which allows for parking on streets.

This was brought to light during public comment at the meeting when local resident Andrea Olsen said the Community Service Officer (CSO) told her they could no longer enforce renters parking on city streets.

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) was found in drinking water wells in South Lake Tahoe near the "Y" in 1989, and it remains in the groundwater today, forming a containment plume from the intersection of Highway 50 and State Route 89 and heading toward Lake Tahoe through the Tahoe Keys.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South and West Shore, including Meyers, South Lake Tahoe, Meeks Bay, Tahoma and the Echo Summit area. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

Some of those recently added to last week's log:

7/25

8:20 a.m. - Lost Property - Cornelian Dr - LOST CELL PHONE

Detectives from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department flew to Tennessee overnight to arrest Nicola "Niki" Congero, the former executive director of Lake Tahoe Humane Society.

Congero, 50, was arrested without incident on the morning of Wednesday, August 1 and booked into the Knoxville jail on charges of embezzling approximately $60,000 from the South Lake Tahoe based non-profit. She is being held there on $200,000 bail and is currently awaiting extradition.

The follow letter was given to South Tahoe Now and mailed to the South Lake Tahoe Mayor, City Councilmembers and staff:

Dear Mayor David and Council Members:

I am writing to you as a follow-up to my letter of May 12, 2018 (see at end of story) regarding Policy Priorities and Issues for City Government.

Quality and Affordable Housing for Residents is Very Important

A 39-year-old South Lake Tahoe man was arrested by the Butte County Sheriff's Office after being found with a large quantity of illegal drugs.

On July 16, 2018 at approximately 9:00 p.m., law enforcement was called about a suspicious vehicle on the Oro Quincy Highway north of the Berry Creek area. The occupant of the car, Jay Sool White, was contacted by a Butte County Sheriff's deputy who subsequently searched White's car.

A major drug ring that stretched from Mexico into El Dorado and Placer Counties and beyond was broken up with the arrest, conviction and sentencing of Francisco Felix, 45, of Mountain House on July 13, 2018.

Felix will be in prison for up to 20 years for his role in leading a large, multi-defendant drug-trafficking conspiracy that moved significant quantities of methamphetamine from Mexico into California and throughout the United States, and that controlled at least three large marijuana grows in the Central Valley of California, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

One man died and his shooter arrested after an argument on Saturday, June 30 in South Lake Tahoe.

Police responded to the 1000 block of Julie Lane shortly before 5:30 p.m. after reports of shots fired. Upon arrival they found 44-year-old Christopher Kitchen of South Lake Tahoe on the road at the entrance to Tahoe Verde Mobile Home Park. Despite life saving measures, Kitchen was prounounced deceased after medics took the victim to Barton Memorial Hospital.

On Saturday, June 30, 2018, the California Highway Patrol (CHP), South Lake Tahoe Area, will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint in the east area of El Dorado County. The checkpoint will be setting up at approximately 8:00 p.m. and will be operational at 9:00 p.m. The checkpoint will conclude at approximately 2:00 a.m.

It is unknown where it will be set up but could be anywhere from Meyers to the state line. Designate a sober driver if you plan to go out and drink.

Due to high water in Lake Tahoe, the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) has announced that they will temporarily close portions of some South Lake Tahoe beaches for public safety and to protect sensitive habitat and areas prone to erosion.

This news affects the Upper Truckee Marsh and three CTC beaches near Lakeview Commons (see map above), both areas heavily used during the 4th of July holiday.

Recreationalists that frequent these beaches will need to make alternative plans. CTC asks for patience and cooperation during this time of high water.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office recently acquired four new law enforcement chaplains. The new chaplains are civilian volunteers; faith based religious leaders in the community. The chaplains completed 60 hours of training in protocols and procedures in chaplaincy, along with DCSO procedures. The four new chaplains increased the group size from two to six. They are Bill Henderson, Eddy Sims, Frank Russell and Luke Wartgow.

Customers of Liberty Utilities on both the north and south shores of Lake Tahoe have been targeted again by scammers demanding cash payments to avoid shut off of their power over the weekend.

Liberty Utilities' customer service reps are getting calls from customers to advise them of the demands.

The scammers appear to be legit at first, reciting the customer's account numbers to them.

At this time Liberty Utilities does not know how they obtained the account information. They have contacted the appropriate law enforcement agencies to let them know about the situation.

El Dorado County has supplied animal control services to the City of South Lake Tahoe since 1998.

In the past twenty years, the City has entered into seven different agreements with the County for rabies quarantine investigations, humane investigations, vicious animal complaints, shelter services, impoundment of strays, removal of dead animals from City roadways, enforcement of all State, County and City codes dealing with animals, and maintenance of a County Animal Shelter, all six-days-a-week, with options of emergency services.

There was a multi-agency response to a residential structure fire near Antelope and Alder streets in Tahoma on the west shore of Lake Tahoe around 9:48 a.m. Thursday.

When Meeks Bay Fire Protection District (MBFPD) fire engines first arrived, they found the home 50 percent engulfed in flames. Three adults live in the two-story house and two were home at the time of the fire. They were able to get out with no injuries.