Five-year-old Teagan Auld plays the farm game during the Nov. 2 Family Day at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Gardnerville.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
The Douglas County Historical Society invites the community to Family Day at the Museum on Saturday. This free event takes place at the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 1477 Main St., in Gardnerville. The museum is open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. for this special event and the program gets underway at 11:30 a.m.
This month, The American Red Cross presents “Prepare with Pedro,” an educational program that helps children prepare for and know what to do in case of local emergencies such as a home fire. Other activities planned include the museum’s monthly scavenger hunt, Kid’s Page, and family-friendly games.
Throughout 2025, each visit to a Family Day event at the museum earns attendees a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from the museum’s bookstore. The more Family Day events attended, the greater the chance of winning. The drawing will be held during CVMCC’s annual Holiday Gala event on December 8, 2025, and the winner need not be present to win.
Family Day at the Museum is held the first Saturday of the month (except for July) and is sponsored in part by Renewal by Anderson, The WNC Administration for Children and Families, and the Dennis R. Little Trust.
For more information, visit CVMCC online at www.HistoricNV.org or call 775-782-2555.
Stay alert to scams
Scammers will go to any length to try and con people, and it seems there’s always a new tactic to try and get unsuspecting victims to hand over their personal information.
I recently received a text that stated I was late in paying a FasTrak® toll fee. FasTrak is used statewide in California to electronically pay fees on tolled bridges, roads, and express lanes. The message included a link to click on and pay this “overdue” fee.
Although I’d traveled to California a couple of weeks prior to receiving the message, I did not enter any tolled areas nor do I have a FasTrak account. Also, the date listed in the text did not correspond with my recent travel dates.
The message seemed off, so I did a quick online search that immediately revealed a number of notifications and press releases regarding this particular suspicious text message.
The official FasTrak website, www.fastrak.org, even has an advisory message about this scam that pops up on their website and must be read prior to accessing their site. It tells drivers to “disregard phishing texts being sent to [their] phones that detail a specific outstanding toll amount” and to contact their regional tolling agency if they are unsure whether the message is legitimate. Further, the advisory asks drivers to “…file a complaint at www.ic3.gov. This is a site dedicated to sharing information on Internet crimes across law enforcement agencies.”
IC3 stands for “Internet Crime Complaint Center” and is a site run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On the Federal Trade Commission website, www.consumer.ftc.gov, consumers can get advice; check for notices regarding suspicious calls, emails, and texts; and also file scam complaints. The site lists current consumer alerts related to scams and provides helpful tips on how to keep personal information and privacy secure.
In this rapidly changing world of technology, let’s do our best to help one another be aware. alert and stay safe out there.
Amy Roby can be reached at ranchosroundup@hotmail.com.