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Readers write

Tanya Schnitzius from the Truckee Tahoe Senior Council noticed that one senior who lives at Donner Lake hadn’t been to the Senior Center meals program in about a week. She was concerned he might be snowbound and could need his walkway shoveled.

I’m the activities coordinator for Truckee’s Boy Scout Troop 267. Tanya told me the story and it sounded like a job for the Scouts.

I went by the house to see what I was getting the Scouts into. It was an ordeal just finding the house. I called one of the dads and asked him to check it out ” maybe we’d need reinforcements.



To make a long story short, we all arrived the next morning to shovel our senior citizen, Al, to freedom. We couldn’t have done it ourselves. We had help from Brian Olson of West End Snow Removal. We dug in and eventually made our way to Al’s car. When Brian arrived he pulled the car free with his plow. He also helped us clean the driveway area, saving us hours of work. I hear rumors that Brian does this for other seniors in the area on a steady basis, and he does it out of the kindness of his heart.

By the time we were done, our senior had a clean driveway, clean car and clean and safe walkway to get in and out of his house (he couldn’t wait to get to the grocery store).



My intentions aren’t so much to toot our horn, but say please pay attention to your neighbors during storms. This senior citizen had been in his house almost two weeks. Al couldn’t get out because there was so much snow, and since it looked like nobody lived there the snowplows kept moving more snow in his area.

It took about an hour to find and dig the car out, plus another hour to shovel snow that led to his door by our small army of boys and parents. This local senior would not have been able to do it himself.

Esther Walters

Proud mom from Troop 267

Upon reading the newspaper last week I was disturbed and angry to find out that three bears were killed because they found there way into a house that had an access door left open by the owners. Whose fault is the damage of the house, the owners or the bears? Shame on the owners. The bears here in Tahoe are harmless. It’s a good thing for the owners this didn’t occur in Yosemite or they would be facing federal prison. I, and maybe many others, feel there should be a law to protect our wildlife in the Sierra.

Roberta Flores

Homewood

I know I’m not in an exclusive club when I say I’m outraged at the horrific shooting of the bear sow and her cubs in Tahoma recently.

After reading the story last week and Ann Bryant’s “My Turn” account in the Sierra Sun, sure, you could write it off to a “he said, she said” situation. However, it seems the trend is to resort to violence as the answer to problems with wildlife. In this case, hire mercenaries to kill the bears under your house, who are there because you’re the one with the “open-door” policy. Would it even occur to the homeowner that there are less drastic and tragic steps (i.e., call Bryant back) to remove the unwanted bears?–

Bears can’t read and they don’t understand laws pertaining to trespassing, squatting or breaking and entering. They don’t have the luxury to jump in their SUV and speed back to Granite Bay when the weather gets bad at the lake. These bears were just being bears, and bears are opportunists. Should they be slaughtered for being bears? If my little ones and I are starving and you leave your door open, I may do as the bears did ” and I can read and know the law.

I’m surprised this cabin owner is surprised by the backlash from his neighbors. After all, he’s accountable for his senseless actions. Other than the bears, the only ones who deserve sympathy are possibly the grandchildren he mentions, for they have to bear (no pun intended, really) the stigma of being related to this reckless animal killer.-

As my husband and I prepare to bring our first child into this world, we feel privileged to live in this extraordinary area of the country. But we forget that there are among us those who have no respect for nature and essentially are less worthy of living in the Tahoe area than the three massacred bears.

I hope he doesn’t believe in karma debt. I hear payback isn’t just a bitch, but also a sow.

Annette Means

Truckee

We write to you as members of a dying breed in this region ” the middle class. What keeps us fighting to stay here are the many assets this community provides. We love the access to open space, the involved citizenry and the good schools for our children. Our fear is that as the region grows, our needs will be eclipsed by the needs of meeting the demands of growth.-

So what can we do? Fight for what we want to keep our community vibrant for the families that work and live here. Keeping our schools vibrant is key to keeping our community vibrant. Music, art, libraries, small class size, science and computer programs; these things keep our schools a place our children want to go.

Supporting Measure A on March 8 is our way of fighting to keep our region livable for the middle class. We urge all of you to do the same.

Seana Doherty

and family

Truckee

It is common knowledge that Truckee High School has a jazz band amongst its many extracurricular activities. But what is this band all about besides waking up early and playing music? This is what few people know about this group ” what it is about.

Jazz band is about community service. Jazz band is about broadening the musical horizons of today’s youth. Jazz band is about preserving the arts in today’s society. Clearly, jazz band is about much more than just playing music.

Every year we go on a tour of Central California to play for under-privileged children who do not have music programs; aging veterans; and sick children in hospitals. Our jazz band plays a variety of songs that bring distant memories of the veterans’ youth. We play songs to young children in elementary schools to inspire the passion of music in their lives. We play songs to ill children who don’t hear anything else besides respirators. Every year we donate four days of our free time to do this. And every year we continue to play for these people. We could not successfully do this without the help of Measure A.

Not only does our jazz band just play around California, our jazz band plays actively in our own community. Every year our jazz band plays at Rotary functions, local fundraisers and a variety of community events. In addition to playing at community functions, members of the band also provide volunteer services at Optimist fundraisers such as the annual Christmas tree lot and also the Cannibal Cruise.

Without Measure A none of this would occur, for there would be no jazz band. So we encourage each and every one of you to go into that voting booth and vote not for Measure A, but for your community. Make the right choice. Vote yes on jazz band! Vote yes on Measure A.

Egan Dolph,

Greg Beno

Lia Chase

Jazz Band Seniors


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