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Tahoe trash drivers strike gold

STATELINE, Nev. — They found no trace of a mythical sea monster, no sign of mobsters in concrete shoes or long-lost treasure chests. But scuba divers who spent a year cleaning up Lake Tahoe’s entire 72-mile shoreline have come away with what they hope will prove much more valuable: tons and tons of trash. In addition to removing 25,000 pounds of underwater litter since last May, divers and volunteers have been meticulously sorting and logging the types and GPS locations of the waste. The dozens of dives that concluded this week were part of a first-of-its-kind effort to learn ...

Outdoors calendar

Atkinson Mills Sportsmen’s Club • Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The club is located at 55 Sportsmen Club Lane, McVeytown; email atkinsonmillssportsmens club@gmail.com; online at http://atkinsonmills-sports mensclub.weebly.com Blue Rock Sportsman Club • Club meetings at 2 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month on the gun range, and at 7 p.m. in January and February in the barn. To east end Blue Rock: From Milroy, follow signs to Reeds Gap State Park. Free camping available and kitchen is open during all events except trap ...

Smoky Mountains seeks to increase fees

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced a plan Wednesday to start charging parking fees along with higher rates for campsites, day-use cabin rentals and picnic pavilions starting next year. Visits to the park have increased 57% over the past decade to a record 14.1 million last year and have taken a toll on facilities, the park said in a news release. Additional revenue from the changes would allow the park to address renovations along with law enforcement staffing challenges and services including trail maintenance and trash removal. The park is ...

Duck hunters build ammo business from backyard

COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — Three friends with a passion for hunting gathered around a small table after a duck hunt in 2017 in an old 1920s style house surrounded by porcelain rabbits in Hackberry Flats, Oklahoma. Over some cold Miller Lites and a hot DiGiorno pizza, Jared Lewis, Nick Charney, and Jason Lonsberry began Apex Ammunition. “I can remember it to this day — we were sitting at a small circular table with a porcelain bunny to my left … and this idea came along,” Lewis told the Columbus Rotary Club on Tuesday at Lion Hills Center. Lewis is the company’s chief ...

Outdoors calendar

Atkinson Mills Sportsmen’s Club • Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The club is located at 55 Sportsmen Club Lane, McVeytown; email atkinsonmillssportsmens club@gmail.com; online at http://atkinsonmills-sports mensclub.weebly.com Blue Rock Sportsman Club • Club meetings at 2 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month on the gun range, and at 7 p.m. in January and February in the barn. To east end Blue Rock: From Milroy, follow signs to Reeds Gap State Park. Free camping available and kitchen is open during all events except trap ...

Private property owners sue over Virginia’s hunting dog law

WILSONS, Va. (AP) — Soon after Jim Medeiros bought his 143-acre (58-hectare) cattle and poultry farm in rural Virginia a decade ago, he and his wife were startled by the sounds of 20 hunting dogs barking and howling as they circled their house and chased their chickens. When Medeiros confronted a hunter nearby, the man told him he had permission to hunt on Medeiros’ property. In disbelief, Medeiros called the agency that enforces a state law allowing hunters to retrieve their hunting dogs from private property, even when the property owners object. “He told me, you can’t ...