“Love thy neighbor” takes on a new meaning for local church
November 14, 2007
A recovering addict, Rex McQuillen is the pastor at Sierra Community Church in South Lake Tahoe.He is also on the board of the Angora Fire Fund, which raises money for the victims of the fire that burned 3,100 acres and destroyed 254 homes in South Lake Tahoe. His church alone has raised over $100,000 for the fire survivors.View slideshow about Rex McQuillen and the Sierra Community Church. A recent sermon was about the teaching, “love thy neighbor.” Listen to part of the sermon.
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Tough winters, tough people
November 14, 2007
Mark Lucksinger, a 30-year resident of Lake Tahoe, says it takes commitment to live in an environment that can be challenging, especially in harsh winter conditions.
"They're just tough people," Lucksinger said. "Clearly Tahoe is not for some people. To live here you have to be adaptable."
As a child, Lucksinger's family traveled from San Luis Obispo, Calif., to vacation at Tahoe's North Shore each summer. However Lucksinger had never considered what it would take to endure a Tahoe winter — something year-round residents are used to doing.
Having "never seen a snowflake until the fall of 1974," when he moved to Tahoe, Lucksinger had to learn how to cope with Tahoe's cold and harsh winters.
Recalling the birth of daughter in March of 1975, while he was still a newcomer to the area, Lucksinger said he worried about how he would clear the driveway and keep the road open, in order to get his wife to the hospital in time to have the baby.
"It was a huge adventure," he said "We really weren't Tahoe people yet. You eventually become that."
As Lucksinger and his family became Tahoe people, his family discovered that living in Tahoe has its distinctive advantages.
Lucksinger's daughter, who grew up on skis in Tahoe and still lives in the area, enjoys a way of life possible only for those who are willing to live in Tahoe year round.
"She can do in the course of her lunch break what it takes others an eight hour drive to do-without worrying about the drive, traffic, crowd and huge lift ticket prices."
However, this recreational way of life is only possible for those willing to endure the difficulties brought on by the winter season. Few stay to deal with power and gas outages, snowed-in roads and walkways, and the unavailability of commercial goods because of inclement weather.
Recalling the winter of 1982-83 in which 80 percent of South Lake Tahoe was without heat because of a gas outage, Lucksinger said that people used electric heaters, wood-burning stoves, and "just bundled up" to get by.
"People just dealt with it," Lucksinger said. "It's just the way it was. It's a part of living here."
Lucksinger, who doesn't own snow removal equipment "has learned to shovel snow pretty well."
Lucksinger said there were other Tahoe residents who were are able to adapt to even more extreme winter conditions. During the early 80s as new Tahoe resident, Lucksinger said he would visit Ralph King, who lived in the Echo Summit area since the early 1930s.
"Here is a guy who lived in a remote area in the winter time," Lucksinger said. "They lived up there with a wood stove. They didn't have utilities and all that. They had unreliable power that was out all the time. He lived this way for 50 some years."
During his early days as a Tahoe resident, Lucksinger said he'd visit King to gain a sense of perspective.
"Whenever I'd feel sorry for myself, while we were struggling trying to get by up here, I would drive up and listen to Ralph," Lucksinger said.
During one of his visits, Lucksinger said King told him a story about how he'd get supplies in the winter while snowed in.
"He told that me when he was younger he would ski to Kybers which was the nearest outpost that had anything," Lucksinger said. "He would load up with as many goods as he would carry on his back, and ski back up the hill back to Echo Summit. It's 20 to 25 miles. It's not a short trip."
Upon returning home from his visit to king, Lucksinger said he'd found the sense of perspective he needed about dealing with the realities of life and getting by in Tahoe.
"I'd go up there and listen to him, come back to Tahoe and say to my wife, ‘We've got it made. Life is really good,'" Lucksinger said.
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Hispanics attend landscaping class
November 14, 2007
Spanish-speaking residents had an opportunity to learn more about landscaping and Best Management Practices in their native tongue at a meeting earlier this month in Kings Beach.
“There are almost 300 Hispanics working in construction in the North Lake area,” said Juan Luna, owner of Luna Enterprises, Inc. landscaping company. Read more
Related posts: [ Juan Luna talks about BMPs ] [ Groups help resolve landscaping issues ] [ Community meeting to discuss solutions for BMPs - Live streaming video available ] [ Site set up to encourage Hispanic participation ] [ Community newspaper struggles to reach Hispanics ]
Best Management Practices in Tahoe Gardening
November 7, 2007
John Cobourn, water resource specialist from UNR Cooperative Extension, and Eric Winford, environmental scientist from Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, talk about landscaping choices recommended for Lake Tahoe.
In the Lake Tahoe area there are two presentation gardens, which were built to educate homeowners about landscaping and gardening in the basin. They are open to the public and often hold classes and other public events intended to promote Best Management Practices and defensible space.
 Click on photo to see slide show of the North LakeTahoe Demonstration Garden. |
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Community organizer dedicates life to social justice
November 2, 2007
Every week day Emilio Vaca kisses his wife and 3-month-old daughter good-bye and leaves his in-laws home in Kings Beach to go to work as an educator, organizer and community volunteer. More often than not, he doesn’t make it home until sometime after dinner.
Finding strength, energy and support in his family and the feeling of reward that he gets from helping the Tahoe community, Vaca dedicates himself to causes ranging from domestic violence to affordable housing. In his struggle to make the Tahoe community better, Vaca is also struggling to simply create a place for himself and his family.
Vaca, 28, has lived at Tahoe since transferring to Sierra Nevada College in 2003 and becoming the first Latino male to attend the school. After a slow transition to the Incline Village culture, Vaca’s work in the Tahoe community began in earnest when he became student body president.
“I went from helping to organize the largest community college student protest in Sacramento,” Vaca said, “to taking kind of a back seat (at Sierra Nevada College). Once I was elected student body president, I began feeling more satisfied with my political involvement and that’s when things really started working up again.”
He volunteers as a facilitator for a youth organization, sitting on the boards of various planning agencies and organizing community meetings about affordable housing.
Vaca spends his days and evenings working at Tahoe Women’s Services as the prevention project manager.
“We do all the education at the community schools about domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse,” Vaca said.
Out of a staff of 24, Vaca is the only male working for the nonprofit organization.
“Sometimes it can be just a little overwhelming,” Vaca said with a laugh. “But it’s great. I consider it a blessing and a humbling experience to work with 23 women.”
In addition to working in local schools, Vaca volunteers with an organization called Creciendos Unidos (Growing Together) and Creating Alternatives, a group that works to educate Tahoe youth about drugs and alcohol.
“We’ve sponsored several events that are alcohol free for our youth to come and hang out at. We’re trying to promote a healthy environment,” Vaca said.
Vaca also represents Tahoe Women’s Services in the struggle to create affordable housing for Tahoe’s working class.
“I sit on the board of the Workforce Housing Association of Truckee Tahoe,” Vaca said. “But Tahoe Women’s Services is also involved in the push for affordable housing. We have a safe house, and a lot of our clients are there for two months. In those two months they’re required to look for a job and get their feet back on the ground. But after two months they have nowhere to live because there’s nothing affordable.
“How do you even define affordable when the median house price is $500,000?” Vaca asked. “I’m truly fortunate that my wife’s parents have room for us to stay in their home while we search for a place to live.”
Vaca also sits on the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association board, another position that allows him to work to create low-cost housing.
“The NLTRA paid for the publication of a scientific survey we just conducted in Kings Beach to see how the community feels about affordable housing,” Vaca said.
“We’re really trying to make it a community effort. We got the county to give money too because they’re going to use a lot of that study for future housing developments too.”
Though he represents the Latino community by sitting on the boards of many different associations, including the community planning committee for the TRPA, Vaca maintains that he is not a spokesman for all Latinos.
“I was invited to a stakeholders meeting and I (wanted them to) define stakeholder,” Vaca said. “I don’t own a home, I don’t own a business, I’m a stakeholder in protecting my family but nothing else. I don’t want to be the token Latino that (agencies) use to check the Latino community off their list (of people to talk to). Just because I’m Latino doesn’t mean I speak for all Latinos.
“One of my big goals is to create a Latino Chamber of Commerce (for Tahoe). If I’m able to do that then we could bring a section of the community to the table to provide input. (That way) maybe in a year or two it won’t be me sitting at the table representing the community but it will actually be community member(s) representing (themselves). That’s the ultimate goal.”
Despite all of his efforts and all of the time that he contributes to the community, Vaca said, he doesn’t get weighed down by it all.
“My wife asks me every day, ‘Do you feel overwhelmed, overworked?’ No, I don’t because it’s really rewarding to know that I’m able to help shape policies and projects that are going to benefit the long-term welfare of our children and community.”
In his endeavor to create a place for himself and his family, Vaca is also striving to start his own consulting business, which would serve to help members of the community organize their own causes.
In the end, it’s Vaca’s family that matters most to him and keeps him going.
“I’m really glad that I have a supportive wife and family, otherwise I don’t know how I could still be involved in all the things that I am doing,” Vaca said. “My wife and my family are supportive of what I’m doing, of what we believe in.”
Related posts: [ Affordable housing a growing concern at Tahoe ] [ From morals to economics, poverty is everyone’s problem ] [ Organizador comunitario dedica su vida a la justicia social ] [ Our Workers ] [ Student blogs about working parents ]
Latest Headlines
- Hearing planned in Incline tree-felling case - The federal trial for an Incline Village woman charged with hiring a tree-cutting company to chop three Ponderosa Pines from her Lake Tahoe property has been canceled and a change-of-plea hearing scheduled May 1.
- Truckee man takes torch to North Pole - A Truckee man who reached the North Pole this week carrying an unlit torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games plans to discuss his experience and environmental issues Saturday by audio and video transmissions with participants at a Lake Tahoe festival.
- Quake pattern watched closely - As earthquakes continue to shake Reno, two reports released this month give new insight into the likely characteristics of a temblor at Lake Tahoe.
Winds are Southwest at 5.8 MPH (5 KT). The humidity is 39%. The wind chill is 42. Last Updated on Mar 11 2010, 3:45 pm PST.
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