AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File July 17, 1997.
The California side of Lake Tahoe.
Two reporters were denied access to the site of a sinking sea plane on Lake Tahoe’s “quasi public” beaches, says the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
The two reporters from KTVN in Reno went to cover the story on Burnt Cedar Beach and Ski Beach when Hal Paris, Parks and Recreation Director for the Incline Village General Improvement District, an agency overseeing those beaches, denied the reporters access, the Bonanza said. Paris denied them access based on an ordinance of the district. This ordinance requires people seeking access to the “quasi public” beach to have a district card or have someone they know sponsor their entry as a guest and pay an eight dollar fee.
An unidentified person with a district card approached the reporters and got one in as a guest, the Bonanza said. After paying the eight dollar fee the reporter/guest was admitted. Public safety officials were also granted admission. Officials like those of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, U.S. Coast Guard and other emergency officials were granted access to the beaches without paying a guest fee because they were, “doing their jobs.”
All this comes after an April 30th 2008, Policy and Procedure Number 136 was passed by the district, the Bonanza said. This policy set up “designated public forum areas… areas where all persons may exercise the activities of expression, speech and assembly, to the extent permitted by law and this Policy and any rules and regulations which the District may adopt.” The document goes on to list these “designated public forum areas” and both beaches, Burnt Cedar Beach and Ski Beach, have these areas.
According to the district's website, it is a “quasi public” agency whose job it is to “provide water, sewer, trash and recreation services for the communities of Incline Village and Crystal Bay, Nevada.”
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