Originally Published in the Sierra Sun 8/23/2023, Member Submitted

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino, a spacious resort nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and on the shore of North Lake Tahoe, announces Pascal Dupuis as general manager. Dupuis joins the property from Andaz Mayakoba in Riviera Maya, Mexico. In his new role, Dupuis oversees the daily operations of the 422-room resort, including the full-service Stillwater Spa, 65,000 square feet of functional meeting space, and multiple on-site restaurants.

“I am thrilled to join the incredible team at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, and to being a part of the Incline Village community,” said Pascal Dupuis, general manager of Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino. “I look forward to leading the resort’s team as the property embarks on a new chapter with a major renovation expected to begin in spring of 2024. It is my goal to continue to provide our guests with unparalleled service, unforgettable vacation moments, and new and unique experiences during this exciting time.”

Originally from the French Riviera, in the region of Nice, France, Dupuis developed a passion for travel and hospitality at a young age. As a child, he spent holidays with his grandparents at luxury hotels and destinations, and always enjoyed cooking and helping his mom in the kitchen. With his organic interest in the industry, Dupuis attended the Hotel & Management School in Nice where he obtained his Brevet Technician Hotelier, a national diploma of higher education in France.

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Originally Published in the Sierra Sun 8/18/2023, Member Submitted, Photo Credit Hannah Pence

SAND HARBOR, Nev. – Due to staffing shortages at Sand Harbor State Park, the Nevada Division of State Parks will be closing the boat ramp and adjacent parking lot within the park on Wednesdays and Thursdays, beginning Aug. 23. During these closures, the public will need to use the boat ramp at Cave Rock State Park or another public boat ramp.

With over a million visitors each year, Sand Harbor relies on diverse and committed park staff to operate during the busy summer months. Staff responsibilities include maintaining park facilities, collecting trash that may attract bears, or processing visitor fees. With the current number of vacancies in seasonal positions at Sand Harbor, the park does not have adequate staff to carry out these duties each day and safely manage the boat dock.

These closures will be in effect for the rest of the 2023 boating season unless more seasonal positions are filled, allowing park staff to safely reopen the boat dock.

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Originally Published in the Sierra Sun 8/18/2023, Written by Justin Scacco, Photo Credit Justin Scacco

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Clean up the Lake, known for diving beneath Tahoe’s waves and retrieving litter from the bottom, has taken a major step toward its environmental efforts with the grand opening of a new dive center in Incline Village.

Members from the nonprofit organization celebrated the opening of the new Environmental Dive Center on Thursday with a ribbon cutting ceremony that included several members from the community and other organizations that helped make the center a possibility.

“The center will be the first of it’s kind”, said Clean up the Lake founder and CEO Colin West, who added the goal of the center will be to create an “army” of environmental divers.

The Environmental Dive Center will be a hybrid between a conservation dive school and an environmental science center. Roughly $200,000 was raised in order to make the dive center a reality, and was made possible from donations by Boatworks Mall, Tahoe Beach Club, Nila Ruslen & Pavel Pragin, Marv & Patti Hovatter, Victoria Rosauer, and Lake Tahoe Community College. With support from its donors Clean up the Lake announced it will be able to match incoming donations, up to $125,000.

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We now have a finalized schedule for the Mountain Course Cart Path project and how this will affect the golf course operations and play. These temporary closures were planned to get the project completed earlier and the golf course returned to the golfers. This schedule also results in more days for our golfers to play the full 18 holes.

Please remember that even though the course will be fully operational at times, there will be work going on, noise and some rerouting for carts. Below is the Mountain Course schedule for September 5 through the projected closing date of October 15. 

Mountain Course Schedule

All dates are subject to change due to weather conditions affecting construction activities. Any updates or changes will be posted on the Mountain Course Cart Path page.  

September 5-9: Mountain Course closed for major cart path repairs

September 25 – October 3: Holes 2 and 3 closed  

September 30: Mountain Course closed for major cart path repairs

October 4 – Closing Day (projected October 15):  Mountain Course open with 18 holes

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope this does not impact your plans for golf at the Mountain course too much. Once this project is completed, we look forward to enjoying the improvements and a full season of golfing. Thank you for your patience during this process.

The intrepid Kathy Collins, who has always been Maui personified, recommended “The Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund,” for much needed Maui relief. So with a lump in my throat, and a heavy heart for Lahaina I sent my heartfelt support. 

I was granted a stroll through history while living on Maui from 1973-83 and hosting a morning radio show that included remote broadcasts from iconic Lahaina Town. To benefit the Maui United Way, I published a paperback book, Zowie It’s Maui, the Halcyon years ’73-’83.  

Mark Twain told us back in 1866, “The Sandwich Islands are one long slumbering Sabbath. The good who die there experience no change, for they fall asleep in one heaven and wake up in another.” Our hearts and dollars go out to those who lost a loved one, a pet, a home, a place of business, and for some, all of the above…

It will take years, but Lahaina will come back faster than any other town its size could ever muster. The society I knew there was composed of wild, free, unspeakably happy souls, who laughed at poverty while having a noble good time in all weathers, though they never expected a fire. And why would they? Lahaina was lush and green until climate change, sugar, and the tourist industry sucked up the water, and Maui was transmogrified from sacred pools to savanna, from mangos to matchsticks. How tragic.

Among the things I carried with me when I moved to Tahoe in ’83 was a listing of early house rules at the Pioneer Inn…

How ironic…

There was always something distinct about Lahaina, as if they had a sign at the town border, “Check your cares and inhibitions here, and fill-up your heart with cheer & charity.”

With her noble spirit of Ohana, Lahaina will be back better than ever, and I’m making it a goal to live long enough to bear witness to that heroic return…

                                                        Audio: https://anchor.fm/mcavoy-layne

Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune 8/17/2023, Written by Miranda Jacobson & photo credit

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev.— The Incline Village evacuation drill and preparedness fair invited both residents living in the Second Creek area of Incline Village, along with anyone interested in learning more about emergency preparedness, to the Incline Village Recreation Center on Wednesday, Aug. 16. 

The fair was bustling with residents visiting different booths of fair vendors, ranging from the American Read Cross and PulsePoint Foundation, to community partners of the drill like Washoe County Emergency Management, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. 

Washoe County Regional Animal County Services also had a booth, and offered free dog tags made possible with the funding of the Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation, along with free microchipping for dogs. 

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