On Sunday afternoon, during the hottest part of the day, Sgt. Dale Stoebe and Officer Jarvis Leishman of the Lakeport Police Department spent an hour rescuing a baby deer from certain death.

Somehow a fawn still fresh with spots had gotten trapped inside a gated parking lot. Its mother was nowhere to be found and the poor thing was desperately looking for a way to get out.

With no food or water and the temperature over 100, it seemed that this pitiful little creature would probably soon die.

Flagging down Sgt. Stoebe, I asked if he could help. With Officer Leishman's assistance they opened the gate.

The baby deer, already panicked, ran behind the building. Three times Sgt. Stoebe went behind the building to chase the deer to the front so it could find the opening in the gate. But each time the fawn ran to the corners of the fence, before bolting back behind the building.

Finally, the officers came up with a winning strategy. They moved their vehicles away from the gate and out of the deer's sight. This time, when they chased the deer back to the front of the building, they stayed back. This allowed to deer more time to find the opening in the gate, cross South Main Street and head for the lake.

The fawn surely had no idea that the officers had truly saved its life, but I was impressed that these officers would be so persistent and compassionate. That they would help someone in the community, simple because I asked, showed a great deal of caring.

Thank you.

Lisa Deppe lives in Lakeport.

The uses of the ARRA funds are extremely restricted; they can be used for building improvements and/or the purchase of medical and dental equipment. Historically, there have been very few opportunities to make improvements on our facility; MCHC will be using our funding to significantly expand our women’s health services department, Care for Her.

While ARRA funding does help with long-overdue improvements, it does not provide any support for the operations of our center. We find it somewhat ironic that the federal government is willing to improve our facilities while state government is cutting reimbursable services. This reality puts our centers in the position of being more dependent than ever on local donations to help meet the day-to-day health care needs of local people.

We can only hope that an achievable solution for the national health care problem will emerge. Right now, community health centers like MCHC are the backbone of local health care. With growing numbers of uninsured children and adults, declining state reimbursements and more restrictive eligibility standards for basic health services, we will continue to need the support from our generous community.

John Pavoni is chair of Mendocino Community Health Clinics Inc., which serve Lake and Mendocino counties. He lives in Clearlake Oaks.

Current Middletown Rotary President Bea Moulton (on left) hands a $250 donation check for Safe House to Community Action Agency Executive Director Georgina Lehne. The LCCAA administers Safe House, Lake County’s only residential program for homeless teens. The raffle basket donated by Rotary was won by the Germenis family of Cobb at a recent Thursday Night Market at Middletown Plaza. Mendo-Mill of Clearlake has a matching fund during the month of July and matched the check for Safe House. Courtesy photo.

The Rotary Club of Middletown was the grateful recipient of Thursday Night Market’s t-shirt profits. Thank you Tina Stewart, event organizer, and all the other merchants in the Middletown Plaza for giving us this opportunity to be a visible part of our great community.

Proceeds from the t-shirts have been added to other donations received that night for Lake County Safe House, the county’s only residential program for homeless teens. Thanks also to Joan Jacobs who had donated many “Heartwarmer” note cards to Rotary and which were given as a thank-you to all those who donated to Safe House during the Market.

The winner of the raffle basket (donated by Rotary) is the Germenis family of Cobb.

For more information or to donate to Safe House, call 707-994-4076 or 707-995-3235.

Every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Middletown Plaza, you’ll find interesting vendors, wine tasting, music and mingling with your friends. See you there next Thursday evening.

Bea Moulton is president for 2009-10 of the Rotary Club of Middletown.