task force

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - On March 22, 1974, Nancy Webster, 37, and her daughter, 19-year-old Rebecca Dinkel were seen at a café in the Garden Valley area of El Dorado County.

They left the cafe shortly after Nancy received a threatening phone call from her abusive, common-law husband, Clifton Mahaney.

It was the last time anyone saw either one of them alive.

Two drug traffickers were sentenced today to a total of 16 years in federal prison after a traffic stop in Carson City for speeding led to the discovery of large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin in their car.

Danny Lyle Jensen II, 39, and Kimberly Lopes, 37, both of Henderson, Nevada, were sentenced to 130 months and 63 months, respectively, and five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Howard D. McKibben. They previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - It has been announced by the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners that Tom Stone is the new county manager.

Stone, who beat out 42 potential candidates for the position, has lived in Douglas County since 2011.

“I’m looking forward to working with all five commissioners and the great staff at Douglas County”, said Stone. “Seldom in a person's lifetime do they have the opportunity to serve two exceptional counties in two great States. I am truly honored.”

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their annual community grant EpicPromise celebration, 93 local nonprofits were awarded a total of $1.9 million in cash as well as additional in-kind product support. Across the company, Vail Resorts will give $11.4 million in support to more than 250 community non-profits over the upcoming year.

Each year Vail gives away money and product to groups serving the communities they have resorts located. For Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar, support was given to support the health and resilience of the Truckee and South Lake Tahoe communities.

Carson City Sheriff’s Office detectives and the Special Enforcement Team have arrested several people related to an ongoing investigation that involved alleged kidnapping and robbery.

Patrol deputies responded to a report of a battery with a deadly weapon call on Sunday, Nov. 25 at around 2:00 a.m. near the water tower area of Goni Road, said CCSO Capt. Brian Humphrey.

Over 80 local nominees will be celebrated during the 11th annual Blue Ribbon Awards on Thursday, Nov. 8 at MontBleu Resort starting at 5:30 p.m.

The public is invited to join the Tahoe Chamber in celebrating the businesses and individuals that make the South Shore a great community to live, work and play.

The Tahoe Women’s Community Fund (TWCF) will be celebrating two local women during their annual Membership Celebration Dinner on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Tahoe Beach Retreat. Tickets are on sale now for $35 each and can be purchased online at tahoewomenscommunityfund.org.

Everyone is welcome to attend, and it is the perfect opportunity to get to know the organization if you are not already a member.

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.

On Saturday, June 23, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Sugar Pine Foundation will co-host a Tahoe yellow cress (TYC) planting with the Tahoe yellow cress Adaptive Management Working Group at Baldwin Beach, which is National Forest System land managed by the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU). In addition, the LTBMU will host a TYC information booth at the Native Species Festival on June 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center.

Nationally recognized human trafficking consultant John Vanek will return to South Lake Tahoe for a May 18, 2018 presentation as a guest of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and Live Violence Free.

Vanek, an author and retired lieutenant of the San Jose Police Human Trafficking Task Force, will speak on that date at Sierra Community Church at 6:00 p.m. Vanek is a leadership, collaboration, and anti-human trafficking consultant and speaker working with law enforcement agencies, non-governmental and community-based organizations, academic institutions and private sector companies.

If you had walked onto the LTCC campus on Tuesday, April 3, you would have never guessed that there were 325 6th grade youth and 220 agency and volunteer workers throughout the corridors, all learning information on how and why to keep themselves safe from drugs. “Choices, what are yours?” was the theme of our efforts in keeping our youth drug free. With the country’s attitudes and norms about drug use changing, times are even more difficult for our kids.

News spread through South Lake Tahoe this week that surprised and shocked many, the City Council's decision to put City Manager Nancy Kerry on indefinite leave. The council will be meeting in closed session on Monday, February 12, 2018 to discuss the situation. Their agenda item, "PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE Pursuant to Government Code Section 54957(b)" starts at 9:00 a.m.

That section of code allows special and closed session meetings to consider the appointment, employment, evaluation of performance, discipline, or dismissal of a public employee.

Stephan L. DeGraffenreid will be spending the next 15 years in prison after being sentenced Wednesday by United States District Judge Howard D. McKibben.

DeGraffenreid plead guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor in September. He was sentenced to the minimum number of years for those charges.

An Affordable Housing Task Force has been formed to assist Douglas County in its efforts to develop quality affordable housing opportunities. This has been in the works since July when they entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nevada Rural Housing Authority “For Creating a Viable Path to Achieving Affordable Housing for Douglas County, Nevada.”

Part of the Board of County Commissioners Strategic Plan includes evaluating the potential of offering affordable housing development incentives through the update of the Housing Element of the Master Plan.

One important component to living a long and healthy life is to get preventive health screening for serious diseases. If your doctor finds a disease early, it’s often easier to treat and may cause less damage.

In addition to celebrating milestone birthdays as celebrations, consider them reminders for important health checks. Here's a timeline for health screenings through the decades:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Barton Foundation is delighted to announce the appointment of Troy Matthews as its new Executive Director.

Matthews’ commitment to serving his community is exhibited through his involvement and leadership in multiple organizations including Tahoe Regional Young Professionals, the South Tahoe Drug Free Coalition, Progress for Tahoe, El Dorado County Housing Task Force, LTCC Theater Arts Task Force, Leadership Lake Tahoe, and serving on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District School Board.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Tahoe Youth and Family Services announced today that Christopher Croft has officially resigned his position as Executive Director effective November 15, 2017. He has served the communities of South Lake Tahoe, Douglas County and Alpine County in this position since June 10, 2014.

Almost five years after a 15-year-old El Dorado High School student died after ingesting a designer drug, a Camino man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for his death.

Elijah Lee Richter, 26, is charged with knowingly and intentionally distributing 25i-nBOME, the drug that killed Alejandro Nunez Avila in a Pollock Pines home on on September 8, 2012.

Richter had been arrested at the time with Jesse Howard Roberts, then 21. Roberts has already convicted in the case and sentenced to six years. He currently is listed as being an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif.

There are now an estimated 102 million dead trees in California, creating unhealthy forests that are prone to major and catastrophic wildfires. Even though funds are being allocated to remove many of them, where will that timber go?
For now, there aren’t many options because of what has transpired from the government since 1968.

In that year the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior issued orders restricting the volume of timber that could be harvested from Federal lands in the West. It was updated in 1969 to limit the total harvested to 350-million-board-feet.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Cold Case Task Force of the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office is seeking the public's assistance in solving the unsolved murder of South Lake Tahoe resident Manpreet Singh. Singh was the lone attendant on the night shift at U.S. Gas on August 6, 2013 when a gunman entered the store, shot and killed Singh.

A customer walked into the store that evening at 10:50 p.m. and called 911 to tell them Singh had been shot. Video from that night shows the gunman walk from Palmira Avenue and enter the store at 10:40 p.m.

During a special meeting of the Lake Tahoe Community College Board of Trustees on Thursday, Russi Egan was hired as the college's new Vice President of Administrative Services.

Egan is currently the Vice President of Administrative Services and Chief Financial Officer at Palo Verde College in Blythe, Calif. She will begin her new job at LTCC on July 1.

The position has been vacant since Jeff DeFranco became the school's new Superintendent/President in January, 2017.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded 22 tons of seized cocaine this week, six in San Diego, 16 in Florida. The wholesale value of the cocaine is about $577.5 million.

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton offloaded the cocaine in San Diego during a media event Friday. Several cutters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean area seized the drugs mid-January through February.

The drugs were intercepted in international waters off the coast of Central and South America.

The annual joint board meeting with the Lake Tahoe Community College and Lake Tahoe Unified School District to discuss common goal strategies will be held on Tuesday, March 28 in the LTCC board room, L104, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

LTUSD will start off the evening with a closed session at the Education Center Board Room at 5:00 p.m. before moving over to the college. They will then reconvene their open session back at the Education Center Board Room at 7:30 p.m.

The following is Mayor Austin Sass's monthly letter to the community: