Families of soldiers from El Dorado County who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts will congregate at Sierra-at-Tahoe on April 10 at noon.

The Gold Star Parent ceremony will be at the top of Grandview.

Last year a plaque was put up on a large boulder overlooking Lake Tahoe to honor Tim Smith, the South Lake Tahoe soldier who died in Iraq. This month’s ceremony will be by that plaque.

Mike Shreve is helping spearhead the project. He said he is doing it to “help our community heal.”

Non-skiers will be issued a lift voucher for free from Sierra. Lift access starts at noon. Everyone must download by 3pm.

For any business, getting a customer through the door is important. Getting that same customer to return again is essential.

To address these concerns and provide those in the South Shore hospitality industry with customer service training tools tailored for Tahoe, the Leadership Lake Tahoe class is offering  “Ask Me’’ concierge training.

Training will be April 13 from 9-11am at the South Shore Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce office, 169 Highway 50, Stateline. Cost is $20 for chamber members and $30 for non-members.

To sign up, call (775) 588.1728.

• David Kelly of South Lake Tahoe, the ultimate advocate for people with disabilities, is celebrating that his bladder cancer is in remission.

David Kelly

• The California Department of Education selected the El Dorado County Office of Education’s School Attendance Review Board as a model program for its dropout prevention efforts. This is the first year a county office of education was recognized by the board for its dropout prevention efforts.

• Two hundred forty acres on a ridge above Donner Lake near Interstate 80 may be preserved if the town of Truckee, Truckee Donner Land Trust and Tahoe Donner Association can come to an agreement.

• Lake Tahoe students came away with several awards during the 43rd annual Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair at UNR. Mata Rodolfo, grade seven at Whittell High in Zephyr Cove, placed third for “Soil”. Zephyr Cove Elementary’s Samantha Forvilly and Gigi Stetler earned a fourth in the fifth-grade team category for “The Bacteria Among Us,” while Skye Kidd, Kate Krolicki and Kenya Maltase received fourth place in the sixth-grade team category for “Ski and Snowboard Speed”. Lake Tahoe School second-grader Ingrid Altunin took third place with her exhibit “Tanning of Leaves,” while the Incline Village school’s Thyra Altunin won first place for fifth-graders with “Playing Dice with Mozart”.

• Tahoe Grizzlies will compete in the junior hockey California Championships April 9-11 in San Jose. The skaters are age 10 and younger.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council will conduct a public hearing on April 6 at 9am to discuss the proposed redevelopment area that encompasses 20 percent of the city limits.

To learn more about the issue via previous Lake Tahoe News articles, click here and here.

The 127-page draft EIR and all the documents related to the proposed redevelopment area are at www.ctcip.org.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that four California rural businesses will receive more than $11 million in loan guarantees intended to expand opportunities for rural economies, spur job creation and support local communities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the awards to 24 states as part of the USDA Rural Development’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, an ongoing, specialized program tailored to promote rural business and economic growth which received additional funding through the Recovery Act.

The four California recipients of loan awards are:

* MSKB Tahoe Properties, LP; Farmer Mac II LLC: $2,242,000 loan. MSKB Tahoe Properties, LP received a $2.242 million guaranteed loan to purchase two adjacent motels in South Lake Tahoe that will benefit the community by adding to the tourism infrastructure as well as creating and retaining jobs. MSKB Tahoe Properties bought the combined 41-unit Secrets Inn and Heavenly Inn near Stateline from private investors for $2.75 million.

* Alta & Saginaw Associates, LLC; Suncrest Bank: $3,055,000 loan.

* Aghaloo DDS, LLC; Midwest Business Capital/UMWSB: $1,600,000 loan.

* Viscon California, LLC, LPOD, Inc., and M&W Porter Properties, LLC; National Bank of California : $4,250,000 loan.

Free is the operative word when it comes to the K-Tahoe card.

It’s free to get. Nothing to fill out. No code to remember. Using it at various businesses will bring more free things or at least discounts.

No coupons to cut, no to ink to wash off. No worries someone is tracking your usage and going to market some obscure product to you in the future.

KTHO FM-96.1/AM-590 is giving away the cards at the radio station (2520 Lake Tahoe Blvd.) in the Swiss Chalet Village in South Tahoe.

Participating businesses will be on the station’s website and touted on air so the consumer knows where to go to get whatever the deals of the day or month are.

A date night has been created with Horizon casino – 15 percent off at any restaurant and then a movie ticket for $7.50 instead of the normal $10.

Blue Angel Café is offering a free bowl of chowder or house salad.

Les Schwab will rotate tires for free or give a six-point inspection.

Several other businesses are on board. To participate, call (530) 543.0590. To get a card, which fits in a wallet and looks like a credit card, stop by the station.

The next meeting of the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee is March 31 at 6pm at South Tahoe High School, 1735 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

This meeting is open to the public, similar to Board of Education meetings, and the public is invited to attend.

Joe Stewart of SMC Construction and Steve Morales, Lake Tahoe Unified School District director of facilities, will lead the committee, staff members, and public on a tour of the Construction, Arts and Transportation Academy and Stadium View. The CAT Academy is scheduled to begin classes April 19.

For more information, click here.

Heavenly ski patrol fundraiser on April 10 at 4:30pm at the top level of the city’s parking garage at Heavenly Village.

Blue Turtle Seduction and an opening band will provide entertainment for this all-age event.

Tickets are $10.

For more information, contact the First Aid station at the California base at (530) 541.6466.

The U.S. Forest Service will continue its Meeks Canyon prescribed fire activity Monday.

The project would continue through the week as favorable weather permits.

Other fire management agencies both state and local are expected to conduct prescribed fire work during this period.

Residents and travelers can expect to see smoke from prescribed fire project areas.

• Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, is having a town hall meeting March 30 from 6:30-8pm in the Aspen Room at Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe.

Ted Gaines

• U.S. Postal Service officials this month unveiled a Nevada postage stamp that has the state flag, mountains and a desert ocotillo plant. This is part of the agency’s “Flags of our Nation” collection.

• Charles Fee is producing artistic director for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.

• Three South Lake Tahoe residents have been chosen from 250 nominees throughout El Dorado County as “Champions for Children”. They are Bijou Community School teacher Bob Hickman, South Tahoe Middle School secretary Becky Fortier, and Orion Davis of the Probation Department.

• In May, Carson City Parks and Recreation Department will conduct an online survey asking people what they want for indoor recreation.