LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Democratic Central Committee will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, April 5.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at 1210 S. Main St., Lakeport.

The group will hear from two judicial candidates, Judy Conard and Michael Lunas.

The agenda will also include an update from Congressman Mike Thompson, state Sen. Noreen Evans' representative Sunol Grayhorse and Assemblyman Wes Chesbro's representative, Joey Luiz.

In addition there will updates and discussion on the May 5 candidate event to be held at the Sons of Italy Hall in Nice, and the annual legislators barbecue scheduled for Sept. 22 in Clearlake.

Meetings are open to the public and Democrats are invited to join.

Contact Wanda Harris at 707-987-9027 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Spring Horse Camp will take place April 2-6 and April 9-13.

The camps will take place from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 18585 Guenoc Lane, Hidden Valley Lake.

Owen Ranch Spring Horse Day Camps will focus on horsemanship, horseback riding, rodeo/barrel racing, trail rides and equine safety.

Students bring a sack lunch. Classes will be held rain or shine (covered arena available).

Prices by the day are $70 per day or save $50 with the weekly discount. When you sign up for a week, the discounted price is $300, or $60 per day.

Call 707-355-0121 for reservation and information.

In testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell emphasized the importance of collaboration in developing restoration projects on national forests and grasslands.

“The aim of these efforts is to move beyond the conflicts which have characterized forest policy in the past and toward a shared vision that allows environmentalists, forest industry, local communities, and other stakeholders to work collaboratively toward healthier forests and watersheds, safer communities and more vibrant local economies,” Tidwell said.

Tidwell emphasized that such collaboration not only results in better projects, but will also create jobs.

His remarks were made before the House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry.

“The Forest Service recognizes the need for a strong forest industry to help accomplish forest restoration work,” Tidwell remarked. “Forest industry involvement also lowers the cost of restoration to the taxpayer by providing markets for forest products.”

Tidwell presented a list of programs already in place at the Forest Service that will enhance the restoration and management efforts on the nation’s forests and grasslands:

• Implementation of the new forest Planning Rule that emphasizes restoration, public involvement, and sustainable management to provide benefits and services both today and for future generations.
• Investing in restoration projects with partners though the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. These projects have demonstrated that collaboration among stakeholders can facilitate large landscape scale restoration, thereby improving forest health, reducing wildfire risk, restoring fire-adapted ecosystems, and increasing timber and biomass production from the national forests.
• The Watershed Condition Framework which provides a consistent and comprehensive approach for classifying the condition of the 15,000 watersheds that comprise the National Forests and Grasslands and for prioritizing restoration needs.
• Integrated Resource Restoration which allows the agency to align its budgeting to focus on landscape scale restoration projects across resource areas and, with partners, combine the restorative focus of several line items into a single item.
• The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy which is a collaborative process with active involvement of all levels of government, non-governmental organizations and the public working for an all-lands solution to wildland fire management issues.
• The Forest Service bark beetle strategy which focuses management efforts on priority treatment areas to ensure human health and safety and to reduce hazardous fuel conditions on more than 17 million acres of National Forest System lands impacted by bark beetles.
• Use of stewardship contracting which allows the Forest Service to offset the value of the services received with the value of forest products removed. This authority is crucial to collaboratively restore landscapes at a reduced cost to the government.
• Expanding markets for forest products through the development of new markets for woody biomass utilization and green building materials by providing a reliable and predictable supply of biomass for potential investors.
• Research using new technologies and cutting-edge science to help better understand impacts of forest disturbance on natural and cultural resources.
• Use of a new objections process prior to a decision, rather than using an appeals process after a decision. The process tends to increase direct dialogue between the agency and stakeholders and often results in resolution of concerns before a decision is made.
• Improved efficiency of the National Environmental Policy Act process by learning from and sharing the lessons of successful implementation of streamlined NEPA analyses.

“Today, people understand that forests provide a broad range of values and benefits, including biodiversity, recreation, clean air and water, forest products, erosion control and soil renewal, and more. Our goal is to sustain and restore ecosystems that can deliver all the benefits that Americans want and need,” Tidwell concluded.

The mission of the U.S. Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.

Recreational activities on our lands contribute $14.5 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.

NORTH COAST – Caltrans reports that the following road projects will be taking place around Lake County during the coming week.

Included are Mendocino County projects that may impact Lake County commuters.

LAKE COUNTY

Highway 20

– Construction of a roundabout at the Route 20/Nice Lucerne Cutoff Road intersection will continue. Work hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should
anticipate five-minute delays. Contractor – Granite Construction Inc. of Ukiah.

– PG&E of Eureka has been issued a Caltrans encroachment permit for utility repairs near Paradise Cove beginning Tuesday, April 3. Work hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. One-way traffic
control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.

– Clearlake Oaks Water District has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for utility repairs near Spring Road. Work hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect.
Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.

MENDOCINO COUNTY

Highway 1

– Replacement of the Greenwood Creek Bridge will continue. Work hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.
Contractor – Golden Gate Bridge Inc. of Martinez.

Highway 101

– PG&E of Ukiah has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for utility repairs just north of Laytonville on Friday, March 30. Work hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. One-way traffic control will
be in effect. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.

Work on all these projects is weather permitting and subject to change. Caltrans advises motorists to drive with caution when approaching work areas and to be prepared to stop at traffic control stations.

The Caltrans Traffic Operations Office has reviewed each project and determined that individual project delays are expected to be less than the statewide policy maximum of 30 minutes, unless noted otherwise above.

For information pertaining to emergency roadwork or for updates to scheduled roadwork, please contact the California Highway Information Network (CHIN) at 1-800-GAS-ROAD (1-800-427-7623).

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio is hosting a wine tasting event featuring wines from Aliénor Cellars with vineyard manager David Weiss, and artist reception with a collection of recent paintings by Peggy McCamant Alexander on Friday, April 6, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, April 7, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Musical guests during both evening receptions will be acoustic guitarists Stephen Holland and Travis Rinker.

Born in Texas and raised in Seattle, Margaret (Peggy) McCamant Alexander and her husband, Scott, moved to the Napa Valley from Hawaii in 1983 and then to Hidden Valley Lake in 1998.  

She was a reporter, section editor and contributing columnist for the Napa Valley Register and later worked in hospitality and e-commerce management for Napa Valley wineries.

Alexander has been interested in art all her life, since taking children's painting classes at the Frye Museum in Seattle. She received her BFA degree in painting from the University of Washington, where she studied with John Thomas, Richard Kehl, Jacob Lawrence, Dale Chihuly and John Anderson.

This show represents a major departure for Alexander, who has shown her work nationally and internationally.

Unlike the works for which she is known – finely detailed and meticulously mapped pencil and silverpoint drawings featuring multiple images and fine diagonal lines that one reviewer called "rain strokes" – these pieces are acrylic on canvas, loosely painted, semi-impressionistic, boldly colored and highly emotional.

A more important difference is found in the subject matter: the paintings, a series of stylized self-portraits, represent the artist's personal reaction to ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Alexander was diagnosed in October 2010 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurological disorder that affects motor nerves and muscles, eventually resulting in complete loss of function. It is progressive. It is degenerative. It is fatal. There is no cure.

"When my diagnosis was confirmed," said Alexander," and after I did some serious freaking out, I began to paint, working on a series of self-portraits about my relationship with ALS. As my strength and coordination failed I continued to paint, adapting my technique to the disease's progression. Now, even though my right arm is immobile, my left barely works and I am confined to a wheelchair, I still paint, constantly searching for new approaches and new methodology. It is a way of proving to myself that while I may have ALS, it does not have me."

Because her range of arm motion is limited, said Alexander, the paintings are rather small. "When my dominant right hand weakened, I began painting with my left; when my left hand weakened, I tucked brushes into my arm brace; when both arms became too weak to lift to the easel, I put my canvas flat on the table and began to rely more on surface mixing of color.  When I can no longer do that… I'll find something else."

The paintings on view in this exhibit represent two related series. One shows the artist's reactions to ALS in a collection of self-portraits, which serves as a documentation of the disease and its progression plus as a personal catharsis. The second, depictions of things Alexander would like to do and places she would like to go, she calls her "bucket list" series.

Alexander thinks of this exhibit as both a showcase for her visual expression and as an education vehicle for ALS, a disease that affects nearly 6000 Americans per year. "Additionally," she says, "I hope to recognize those who have helped me and other ALS patients so much and that continue the search for a cure; I will donate half of my revenue from art sales to local ALS Association chapter."

Aliénor Wines are crafted from Lake County winegrape fruit by May-Britt and Denis Malbec (Malbec & Malbec).  

Denis Malbec was born into his lifelong career in the winemaking business at Latour, France, to a family that had been at Château Latour of Pauillac beginning in 1920 with his grandfather working in the vineyard, and then his own father, who was also born at Latour and worked there beginning in 1947 and served as cellar master from 1969 to 1994.  

Malbec studied viticulture and enology in Bordeaux and in Reims, Champagne, and following a number of internships in the wine regions of France, he returned to Château Latour in 1993, and then held the position as Enologist and Cellar Master there from 1994-2000.   

May-Britt Malbec is a European Master Sommelier who began her career in wine as a sommelier in her homeland Sweden. In 1992 she won the Prince Henri-Melchior de Polignac award, for best sommelier in the Nordic countries.

David Weiss manages vineyards where the grapes are sourced and is the Lake County representative for Aliénor Wines.

The name Aliénor originates as a tribute to Aliénor of Aquitaine and to the substantive contribution she made to the fine wines of Bordeaux when, eight weeks after the annulment of her first marriage with Louis VII King of France, she married her second husband Henry Plantagenét in 1152, soon crowned Henry II King of England in 1154, and ascended the throne of the Kingdom of England after once being Queen of France.  

As Queen of England, Aliénor shared the sustaining traditions of her native Aquitaine by turning vast areas of France, among them the region of Bordeaux, into English territory.  

During her reign, grape production and wine export, already an important part of everyday life in Bordeaux, grew to levels unequalled before or since.  

The Malbecs believe that Queen Aliénor's remarkable contributions to Bordeaux in the 12th century deserve ongoing and contemporary recognition, which Aliénor Cellars now offer in their wines.

The $12.50 ($10/per person for studio club members) wine sampler with paired appetizers will feature Aliénor 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Roseraie, 2009 Syrah and 2008 Grand Vin.   

There is no charge to those who wish to view the artwork and meet the artist without partaking of the food and wine. Reservations are not required.

Lake County Wine Studio is both a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County.  

Artist’s shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.

The gallery is located at 9505 Main Street in Upper Lake. It is open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Alexander’s show will run through the month of April.  

For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – In response to community need, the Middletown Methodist Church has expanded its food program and is now announcing some updates.

The Middletown Methodist Church community food program prior to 2012 included, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, a fourth Wednesday Food distribution from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., emergency food bags and first Sunday community dinners.

Beginning this past January the program expanded to free community dinners offered every Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Additional free meals were added on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in February.

These meals provide nutritional food to many members of the community and will continue in April.  

Fifteen volunteers, most not connected with the Methodist Church, have made the expanded meal program possible.  

The Thursday and Sunday Breakfast Program from February and March will be modified beginning April 1.

Sunday breakfast will be served at 9 a.m. and the Thursday morning breakfast will be discontinued due to low attendance.   

"Offering regular free meals are important part of what our church does to help our community at a time when folks are having financial stresses," said Pastor Voris Brumfield. "If anyone knows of persons who are in need of a meal or food, please tell them about our programs. We are grateful to the anonymous donors and all the volunteers, because no one should be hungry in our county."

For more information about these and other Methodist Programs email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-295-7174.