Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune 11/07/2023, Submitted 

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Now that winter weather has hit northern Nevada, the Nevada Department of Transportation reminds drivers to travel safely and avoid unnecessary trips during inclement weather.

Statewide, nearly 4,000 crashes occurred in inclement weather between Oct. 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023. This includes 22 crashes involving fatalities. Many of the crashes were due to unsafe driving in snow, ice and other wet conditions, such as driving too fast for conditions, following too closely, or failing to maintain a lane and overcorrecting. 

Particularly in winter weather, motorists are reminded to drive slowly for conditions and leave space between their vehicle and others. Wearing a seat belt and focusing on the road are other important driving tips for any type of weather.

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Originally Published in Moonshine Ink 11/06/2023, Written by Tiffany Connolly

On Oct. 11, learning for local elementary school students took place in the Sierra Nevada forest, and their hands-on, hard-work lesson would bring tears to the eyes of the adults who helped guide them. It was Defensible Space Stewardship Day, and the Truckee Fire Protection District, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP), and students from Donner Trail Elementary School joined together to reduce the threat of wildfires and help community members in need.

The combined team assisted in clearing fuel ladders and lodgepole pines at a property in Emigrant Gap. The goal was to help Hank and Dee Dee Goodrich, an elderly couple living in a mountain cabin, who couldn’t create defensible space on their own because of health concerns and limited resources.

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*PHOTO CREDIT: Moonshine Ink — FOREST MANAGEMENT: SWEP Project Director Ashley Phillips (far right) and Maria Marsh (far left) from Truckee Fire Protection District with their group of students from Donner Trail Elementary working on their section of defensible space clearing.

RE/MAX Gold of Reno and Incline Village to host annual sock drive to benefit Northern Nevada HOPES. Sponsored by Inside Incline Community Real Estate, Northern Nevada RE/MAX Gold realtors will collect new, unused socks for distribution in our local community this winter through Northern Nevada HOPES. 

Northern Nevada HOPES provides affordable, high-quality, medical, behavioral health, and support services for all.  Since 1997, Northern Nevada HOPES has been on the front lines of community health, caring for those with the fewest resources and options, many of whom are living in crisis every day. 

“As community members, RE/MAX Gold agents actively give back to Northern Nevadans in need, year round. Socks are viewed as the most critical resource to keep people’s feet dry and warm in the winter, which leads to improved overall health and well-being”, says owner/broker Sabrina Belleci. “Our collective goal at RE/MAX Gold is to provide 1,000 pairs of socks.”

Socks may be dropped off at the following locations in Northern Nevada through January 31: RE/MAX Gold Incline, Inside Incline, Incline Village Board of Realtors, Ticor Title, and RE/MAX Gold Reno. Financial contributions can be made via Venmo @tiffany-grimes-14 and will directly benefit HOPES. 

Inside Incline is a community driven real estate agency, serving Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Reno, and surrounding communities. With 20+ years of experience, our team provides unmatched local knowledge and real estate expertise. www.Insideincline.com

Northern Nevada HOPES Since 1997, Northern Nevada HOPES has been on the front lines of community health, caring for those with the fewest resources and options, many of whom are living in crisis every day. www.northernevadahopes.com

Huckleberry & Jim had many a grand adventure aboard their raft, adventures that we can read all about in Mark Twain’s iconic book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But who would ever guess a Missouri man, Steve Kueny, could grow a 1,280-pound pumpkin, hollow it out, climb inside, and float 39 miles down the Missouri River inside a pumpkin he just happened to name, “Huckle Berry.”

It took Steve eleven hours to complete his journey from Kansas City to Napoleon, and place his name on a page in the Guinness Book of World Records. Mind you, this record is not your grandfather’s, “Hold my beer…watch this!” No, there was much planning, tender loving care, careful carving and much paddling involved, not to mention the annoyance of pumpkin hairs tickling his toes for eleven grueling hours.  

Kueny claims he was just a man with a pumpkin who was looking for something to do on a Monday morning. But we know he was a man with a mission, and we congratulate him for his creativity and endurance. After all, Missouri is the “Show Me State.” As for Huckle Berry? He was unceremoniously decommissioned, which is to say, run over by a tractor.”

Reading about Steve’s adventure gave me an incentive to go back and reread Cinderella, as she too took a ride in a pumpkin as I recall. Cinderella’s fairy grandmother turned a pumpkin into a golden carriage and turned mice into horses to pull that pumpkin to the prince’s ball. She even turned a rat into a coachman. Don’t ask me how.

But if Cinderella did not leave before midnight, well, that golden carriage would revert to a regular old pumpkin in which to ride home, and I still don’t know how Cinderella got home that night. Did the mice carry her back home in her pumpkin, or did she just call Uber…

If there is a moral to that fairytale I could not find it with a hunting dog, but others more learned than I have suggested that the moral of the Cinderella story is, “Where beauty is a treasure, graciousness is priceless.” So let us go with that, and let it ride.

I had a chance once myself at a world record, and feel the sting of regret even today that I did not make it into that noble book. Yes, back in high school I was carried off the field on a gurney twice in one football game. One more time and I might have landed in the Guinness Book of World Records. I wasn’t hurt, actually, so much as I was really really tired, and, yearning for the sympathy of one of our cheerleaders, who did cross herself when she suspected I must surely be dead on my second exodus on that gurney.

Oh well, the day is young, and we never know when providence might offer an opportunity to earn oneself a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records…

“Hold my beer…watch this!” 

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

Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune 11/02/2023, Staff Report

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – As we enter this season of giving, Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation encourages you to join in giving in all seasons, and collectively on this Giving Tuesday, November 28. 

Each year on Giving Tuesday, charitable individuals rally around their nonprofit community in a day dedicated to collective support.  As this year’s Giving Tuesday approaches, Parasol Tahoe is dedicated to connecting donors to causes they care about. 

As leaders of philanthropy in the Tahoe Basin, the Community Foundation works with nonprofit organizations to achieve their goals and forms connections between donors and nonprofits through TahoeGives.org, an online Tahoe Nonprofit Directory.

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