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Good old days and snowy spring weather

Norm and Alan Nicholls

Several readers mentioned how much they liked the headlines and stories we printed in our last column from the Sierra Sun and Truckee Republican of Sept. 15, 1966. Therefore, we decided to take a few more excerpts from the newspaper prior to returning it to Jerry Blakeley.One page of this edition of the Sun featured headlines and articles from years past: 50 years ago (Sept. 7, 1916): A crew of 30 men, fully equipped for road building, has been sent by the state engineer to Lake Tahoe to start work on the Tahoe City to Crystal Bay road. The estimates by the state engineer on the cost of the road were $60,000. (Note: Nowadays, it would cost more than that for one Caltrans inspector.) 30 years ago (Sept. 24, 1936): Organized football under the direction of Principal G.E. Hofmann at the high school started this week. Due to the generosity of young Frank Titus, who has loaned his football to the school, the team may work into a league. Lavon Joseph and Bob Bowers are the captains. 25 years ago (Sept. 18, 1941): Nick Sassarini brought in the first buck after the opening of hunting season. August Esola, another local high school student, brought his buck in a few minutes later.In 1966, one of the local columns was Donner Doings by Mrs. Carson Vi White, Charlie Whites mother. She wrote: Sundays race (sailboat race on Donner Lake) was canceled because of high winds and ocean-like waves. Both Howard Mehl and Agee Kading lost their sails and masts trying to get from the west end to the start line. Race judge, Sky Miles, was kept busy towing in disabled boats.Fun stuff, huh? By the way, the annual subscription price for the Sun in 1966 was $3! Of course, at that time it was a weekly publication, not a daily.

I wrote the following prior to leaving for Arizona last Thursday, so I wasnt surprised when I got home Sunday night to hear it had snowed a foot or more:Whats Mother Nature telling us? It sure seems like there is an abundance of robin red breasts in town this spring. Last week, there must have been at least 50 little fat robins sitting in the apple tree behind our office. They looked like little no, big oranges hanging all over the tree. These guys were very well fed. Does that mean we have a final chapter of winter coming? Doubt it, but I thought it was interesting that Snow Tech was taking down their snow poles from their customers driveways in Tahoe Donner last week. The combination may mean measurable snow, and all the ski areas will already be closed!

A big thank you to John and Rachel Lamoreux for inviting Alice and I, and Glen and Dana Frey to join them at their beautiful vacation home outside of Phoenix, Arizona, this past weekend. We left Thursday night and didnt get home until midnight Sunday night.We went down primarily to see the NASCAR races on Friday and Saturday. If you have not been to one of these races, you cannot imagine the spectacle. Being there in person is much more exciting than watching on TV. The cars are loud, fast, and on the straightaways they attain speeds above 180 mph. Yet, the separation between the cars, at times, is just inches or sometimes no separation at all. My driver, Kyle Busch, took out Alices driver, Ryan Newman, during Friday nights race. They went from being in the top 10, to being done for the night instantly. Rachels favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, won the Nextel race on Saturday, so she gets the bragging rights this time around!



The answer to our question, who were the husband and wife owners of the Truckee River Book and Tea, formerly located in downtown Truckee Tom and Joanne Meschery.According to Ron Rettig, our early-bird winner, Tom is a former college and NBA star and a published poet. Joanne, among other novels, wrote a great one dealing with a fictional Truckee and the attempt of Disney to build a resort: The sleepy town of Tullease nestled high in the Sierra mountains as it says on the dust-jacket. Thus, the title In a High Place. It is still a great read, and captured the Truckee of the mid-1970s. Thanks, Ron, for your answer and insight.Other winners included Buffalo Cano and Val Kelly, Gordy Kjer, Barbara Brill, Jeanette Harrigan, Tom Meggett and Norm Justesen. Carla Beebe is also recognized as a winner for coming up with the question.Norm and Alan Nicholls of the Nicholls Real Estate Group, are affiliated with Dickson Realty at 11500 Donner Pass Road.


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