Alpenglow Sports’ fourth volume of “The Shadow Campaign,” DPS Ski’s iconic short film series, will be shown Dec. 9 at 7pm.

All proceeds benefit the Tahoe Backcountry Alliance.

Stephan Drake, the founder of DPS and a visionary in the ski-shaping world, will be on-hand.

Partnering with Outdoor Research, crew members were sent across the globe to find the stunning scenery and epic turns that make “The Shadow Campaign” a unique viewing experience.

Alpenglow Sports is the only North America host of the cinematic event.

Doors open at 6:30pm at the Tahoe City shop.

By AutoWeek

George Whittell Jr. was the scion of an immense gilded age fortune, amassed by his grandfathers through banking, transportation, real estate and utility ownership in San Francisco, then consolidated by the marriage of his parents in 1879. He grew up in a mansion on Nob Hill, the toniest address in the city at the time. His father was a member of the most prestigious clubs and social circles. Whittell never sought to follow in his family’s ambitious, entrepreneurial footsteps, though. His goal was to live a sybaritic life, one founded on adventure, unconventionality and, most of all, speed.

“George Whittell liked all things fast,” says Brad Carter, operations director at Whittell’s Thunderbird Lodge, the private estate the playboy built on Lake Tahoe. “Cars, planes, boats and women.”

Whittell began his oppositional antics at quite an early age, running away with the Barnum & Bailey circus after high school rather than attending college, eloping with a chorus girl rather than marrying the society bride his parents had selected for him and buying himself a position in the Italian Army rather than waiting for the U.S. to join World War I.

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Veterans residing at Barton’s Skilled Nursing Facility, from left, Gaston Mariolle, Richard Elder, Ray Goodenough, Gale Parsons, Frank Duff and Chuck Newbre. Photo/Barton Health

By Kathryn Reed

“I think the military is one of the proudest things this nation has. It did more for me than I did for it.”

Those are the words of Ray Goodenough.

He is one of six veterans living at Barton’s Skilled Nursing Facility who was honored Nov. 10 – an early Veterans Day tribute. Also recognized were volunteer Jim Carpenter and hospital staff.

Being in the military is a life-changing experience for almost everyone who serves. It doesn’t matter if they did so voluntarily or were drafted.

For the 88-year-old Goodenough, the Navy taught him discipline and how to be a man. At 14 he had run away from home in Lockport, N.Y. He lied about his age, trying to join the service. At 17 they let him in; this was after the bombs had been dropped on Japan.

World War II was a popular war for young men; where they saw a purpose and something worth fighting for, where the enemy was real and the cause understood. A sense of patriotism permeated the American culture in the 1940s.

Ray Goodenough wrote “Parallel Journeys” with his daughter, Kathy Rem. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Goodenough stayed nine years – until 1955 — which put him in the Korean War, too. He had plans to make a career of the military, but his wife at the time wanted a different life. Plus, they had two kids.

Mostly he worked on aircraft carriers where he had to manage the arresting gear to stop the planes as they landed. And while one time he got hit by a wire and flew 4 feet in the air, he was lucky not to be thrown overboard.

It was in 1972 that he moved to Tahoe. While he had met his second wife, Callie, just as he was leaving Orange County, it was two more years before they were married and they both called South Lake Tahoe home. Together they founded Sierra Council on Alcoholism, Tahoe Turning Point, and both worked for O.P.E.N. — Ordinary People meeting Extraordinary Needs. She died earlier this year.

Nov. 11 is Veterans Day. Photo/LTN

Most of the residents at the SNF are WWII era vets – Gaston Mariolle was in the Navy from 1943-46, Chuck Newbre in the Army Air Corps from 1942-46 and Frank Duff in the Navy from 1944-46. Gale Parsons was in the Marines from 1968-71, and Richard Elder in the Army from 1957-59.

They each received a plaque noting their service that will be placed in their rooms.

For Jim Carpenter, it was having his mom sign for him at age 17 after high school to join the Air Force in 1962 that changed his life. He wasn’t a bad kid, but lacked direction. For the last eight years the veteran has been volunteering at the SNF.

In the military he was a crew chief – a jet mechanic – working on fighter planes. He served from 1962-66. Six months of that he was deployed, the rest of the time he was at Travis Air Force Base. He worked in the “alert barn” where with five-minutes notice he had to have the planes ready to be airborne.

In 1974 he moved to South Lake Tahoe with his wife and son. He worked in body shops; now he spends his summers detailing boats.

For Carpenter and Goodenough the military is still something they are proud of. Without hesitation they would recommend it for young men and women.

Like many who have served, talking about the experience takes some prodding, and even then the stories are limited. And that’s OK. They and those they served with know what they did. Theirs is a kinship that crosses military branches and generations.

Today, though, is when the rest of the country has the opportunity to acknowledge their service.

By KOLO-TV

Scott Stites is the founder and owner of Sparks Metalcrafters. He says he can’t make U.S. flags and other products fast enough. The wait time for a product can last months.

Sparks Metalcrafters doesn’t use polyester, nylon or cotton to make the U.S. Flag. It uses metal.

“I’m not afraid to spend money on the best components,” Stites said.

He also uses some of the best equipment to craft his flags and other emblems. He purchased a CNC Plasma Cutter to produce the designs he created on his computer.

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The Barton Foundation this month gave out $53,000 to local nonprofits to boost services and programs focused on mental health, substance abuse, and access to care.

These were the top three areas of need identified by the 2015 Community Health Needs Assessment completed by Barton Health.

The recipients include:

• Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, supporting social and emotional growth camps for at risk children.
• Live Violence Free, providing funds for child advocacy and youth therapy services.
• Lake Tahoe Unified School District ALLY Club, to educate those working with LGBTQ youth and other under-served populations.
• LTUSD Dental Hygiene Program, for K-8 grade dental care and high school dental education.
• National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) El Dorado County Chapter, supporting the Brain Health Leadership Club at South Tahoe High School.
• Police Activities League, support for at-risk youth.
• SOS Outreach, for healthy living workshops and leadership development programs serving at risk youth.
• South Lake Tahoe Cancer League, supporting community members fighting cancer with transportation to receive care.
• Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless, for temporary shelter services and equipment.
• Tahoe Magic, for Young Tahoe Smiles program funding with dentist Mireya Ortega. Dental care for area youth that are uninsured.
• Tahoe Senior Plaza, to provide hygiene products, transportation, health and wellness programs for low-income seniors.
• Tahoe Transportation District, support for transportation programs focused on seniors, veterans and the disabled.
• Tahoe Turning Point, for the foster youth placed in residential group homes.
• Tahoe Youth & Family Services, for providing free youth mental health and substance abuse counseling services.

Thirty South Shore nonprofits were beneficiaries Nov. 9 of this summer’s American Century Championship golf tournament.

Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority officials distributed the $51,000 at the board meeting Thursday.

Grants ranging from $500 – $5,000 were distributed to: American Youth Soccer Organization, Barton Foundation, Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Bread & Broth 4 Kids, Bringing Art to Schools, Christmas Cheer All Year, El Dorado County Habitat for Humanity, El Dorado County Search and Rescue, Juvenile Service Council of El Dorado County, Kahle Community Center, Kelly Ridge, Kiwanis Community Organization Inc. (Coats for Kids), Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation, Lake Tahoe Educational Fund, Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School, Lake Tahoe Epic Curling, Lake Tahoe Unified School District, Live Violence Free, Saint Joseph Community Land Trust, Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra, South Lake Tahoe Cancer League, South Tahoe Vikings Booster Club, Tahoe Arts Project, Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless, Tahoe Magic, Tahoe Regional Young Professionals, Tahoe Senior Plaza, Tahoe Turning Point, Tahoe Youth & Family Services, and Whittell High School Booster Club.

Since its inception in 1990, the tournament has donated more than $4.5 million to local and national nonprofits.

Truckee Tahoe Airport District will be hosting an aviation career mentoring program for local high school and college students.

The four-session series of mentoring events begins Jan. 18 at the Truckee Tahoe Airport.

The career mentoring program, officially known as the Truckee Tahoe Flight Plan, is designed and conducted by Pathways to Aviation, a nonprofit organization seeking to inform, inspire, and engage the aviation’s next generation.

Students will learn about various aspects of the aviation industry in the first three sessions. They’ll also receive career planning guidance, particularly in the areas of job searching, skills identification, resume writing, and networking. The fourth session will take the form of a networking reception, where they’ll speak face-to-face with aviation industry executives and recruiters.

The Truckee Tahoe Flight Plan is open to all high school and college students and entirely free. To participate, students must register online.

“For Them, By Us” is the first published collection of writing from the Veterans’ Voices writing workshops, a program of El Dorado Arts Council.

This workshop series established in 2014 provides a setting for vets to explore the creative process through writing on any subject, in any form – fiction, memoir, poetry, drama.

Workshop participants who contributed to this anthology came with a range of writing experience. Some had little to no experience with composition, some had professional writing experience, and others had a longstanding interest in writing or had works in progress. What they shared at the outset was having served the country in the military and an interest in developing their own writing skills. What they have gained over the last year is confidence in their ability to communicate, and a camaraderie in a mutually supportive atmosphere. Some even found a voice after decades of silence.

Investigative writer Weston DeWalt leads the Veterans’ Voices workshops. DeWalt is coauthor of the New York Times bestseller “The Climb,” a nonfiction book about a 1996 disaster on Mount Everest. A former acquisitions editor for New York publisher John Wiley & Sons, DeWalt has also worked as a documentary filmmaker, a cold case investigator and as a university teacher of writing and publishing.

The stories collected reflect many experiences and points of view. There are personal reflections on the events of Sept. 11, a return to a family home after a long absence, and a childhood memory of an introduction to coffee. A former cop describes a haunting experience with a traffic accident. A Vietnam vet describes a firefight and its disarming aftermath. There is humor as well, including an imagined scenario of an encounter between a sitting U.S. president and his successor.

The anthologies will be available in December. To obtain a copy, go online.

Alpenglow Sports will host the 13th annual Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival on Dec. 1 at 7pm.

It will include an award winning lineup of short films celebrating adventure, environmental consciousness, youth involvement in the outdoors, and more.

The Backcountry Film Festival is produced by Winter Wildlands Alliance as a celebration of the human-powered winter wilderness experience and a gathering place for the backcountry snowsports community. Winter Wildlands Alliance is a national nonprofit organization that partners with groups like SWEP and Tahoe XC at the local level to inspire and educate the backcountry community to protect and care for the winter landscapes. Funds raised at each screening stay in the local community to support human-powered recreation and conservation efforts, winter education and avalanche/safety programs, and to raise awareness of winter management issues.

The $10 tickets are available online. Doors open at 6:30pm. Alpenglow Sports will host the event in its newly designed in-store theater in Tahoe City, with all proceeds benefiting Sierra Watershed Education Programs.

By Melinda Myers

Brighten those gray winter days with a few colorful, easy-care amaryllis. The 6- to 10-inch trumpet shaped blossoms are sure to generate a smile and brighten your mood. And consider sharing the fun of growing these beauties with friends and families. Watching the bulbs transform into beautiful blossoms is an experience everyone will enjoy – and it’s a gift that requires no dusting.

When buying amaryllis, purchase large bulbs for the biggest and longest lasting floral display. One jumbo bulb will send up multiple flower stems over several weeks. Smaller bulbs can be planted two or three to a pot to create a living bouquet.

Try some of the newer varieties like Lagoon and Red Pearl. Their 10-inch blossoms are sure to enliven any indoor decor. Grow the Nymph series of double amaryllis if you prefer large flowers on shorter stems. Cherry Nymph has a rose-like beauty with layers of fire engine red petals.

Red Pearl, a newer variety of amaryllis, has huge red velvety flowers that are deep crimson, overlaid with burgundy and maroon. Photo/Longfield-Gardens.com

And for something different, grow amaryllis Evergreen with long and narrow, pale chartreuse petals. Large bulbs will have two or more stems, each with four or more flowers. Or plant the uniquely shaped Exotic Star with garnet red stripes and apple green highlights on ivory petals.

Grow your amaryllis in a pot with drainage holes and use a quality potting mix. Plant large bulbs in individual pots that are 7-8 inches deep and 5-6 inches across. Or group several bulbs together in a larger container.

Look for unique containers or decorative baskets to showcase these beauties. To see some creative ways to display and decorate your home with amaryllis, download a free Winter-Blooming Bulbs Inspiration Book.

When planting amaryllis bulbs, the top half of the bulb should stay above the soil surface. You can dress up the container by covering the soil surface with moss or decorative stones. Water the potting mix thoroughly after planting, and place the container in a cool (60-65 degrees), bright location. Water sparingly until the sprouts appear, and then start watering weekly, allowing the soil to dry out in between.  

Or go soilless. Place several inches of pebbles in the bottom of a glass vase or watertight container. Cover the pebbles with water. Set the bulb on top of the pebbles and add more stones around the bulb to hold it in place. Add water as needed, keeping the water level just below (almost touching) the bulb.

Now relax and wait the month or more needed for your amaryllis bulb to wake up and start growing. Flower buds usually emerge before the leaves, but sometimes the leaves come first. When the buds begin to open, move your amaryllis away from direct sunlight to extend the flower display.

You can also display these magnificent blooms in a vase. Wait until the buds are soft and showing a little color, then cut the stems to the desired length and place them in a clean vase with fresh water.

To keep your blooming plant looking its best, use scissors to remove individual flowers as they fade. Cut the entire stem back to the bulb once it has finished blooming. And watch for a second or third flower stem to appear. Some bulbs produce multiple stems at one time while others rest a week or two before sending up another flower stem.

That’s all there is to it. Just plant, water and place in a brightly lit location for weeks of fresh, colorful flowers this winter.

Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including “Small Space Gardening.” She hosts the Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and is a columnist and contributing editor for “Birds & Blooms” magazine.