Since the early 20th century, readers in Lake County have had library service, growing from local grass-roots efforts into the county-run system we have today.

Networks of several kinds have been important to libraries in Lake County for more than 100 years. Some of these networks formed in various communities to start libraries, while other networks included people and institutions far from Lake County. Computer networks now connect the library to the rest of the world.

The individual libraries had their own networks as interested citizens and civic organizations such as women's clubs, town improvement clubs and library committees banded together to bring library service to their towns.

Library supporters borrowed space in a number of buildings, donated books and labor, and raised money for the town libraries.

Benefactors with connections outside of Lake County, and even beyond California, provided major support to local libraries. Harriett Lee Hammond, a native of Massachusetts who lived near Upper Lake, donated money to construct the library in Upper Lake and hired a Boston architect to design it. Chauncey Gibson of Oakland and Middletown donated Middletown's Gibson Library. The Carnegie Corporation of New York granted money to Lakeport for the Carnegie Library on Park Street.

As early as 1906, The California State Library sent crates of books to Lake County as part of the Traveling Libraries program and local organizations distributed the books to readers. In 1918 and from 1921 to 1922, county library organizers from the State Library visited Lake County, urging local officials to form a county library, but their efforts did not succeed. Efforts to form a county library in 1946 and 1956 also failed.

When Lake County finally committed to starting a county library system in the 1970s, the State Library organized and managed the federally-funded Lake County Library Project, from which the current county system developed. The Project's bookmobile delivered books to many Lake County communities.

Voters elected to form the Lake County Library system in the mid-1970s, bringing Lakeport, Clearlake (Redbud Library) Upper Lake, and Middletown Libraries into one system. The Kelseyville Library, which the Kelseyville Women's Club had operated since 1914, reportedly ceased operations around this time.

The most significant change for the Lake County Library since the 1970s occurred in 2001, when the library system automated and joined a catalog/circulation network with the Sonoma and Mendocino County Libraries.

Library patrons in Lake County now have access to the collections of the three counties, approximately one million books, through the automated catalogs in the libraries and the online catalog. See the library Web site at www.co.lake.ca.us/Page386.aspx, and choose “Catalog” to locate and request books from home. A library card issued at any branch library in the tri-county network is good anywhere in the system.

Lakeport Library, located at 1425 N. High St., is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m.; telephone 263-8817.

Redbud Library, 14785 Burns Valley Road, Clearlake, is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m.; telephone 994-5115.

Middletown Library, 21267 Calistoga Road, is open Tuesday through Friday, 1 p.m to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; telephone 987-3674.

Upper Lake Library, 310 Second St., is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Wednesday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; telephone 275-2049.

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The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the at the Middletown school multi-use room on Wardlaw Street.

Agenda items will include consideration of appointing Linda Diehl Darms as parliamentarian; MATH meeting day and place change; encouraging children to attend MATH meetings; MATH by-law amendments and Rosenberg Rules of Order, by-law committee; presentation by David Petri on building a library on Big Canyon Road.

MATH is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (includes HVL), Long Valley, and Middletown.

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Senate Bill 1137, introduced by Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland), was approved 6-3 Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Insurance.

SB 1137 would enact a comprehensive package of reforms designed to prevent unnecessary foreclosures from further worsening state and local economies and housing markets.

Specifically, the bill would require lenders to contact borrowers in a timely fashion before a Notice of Default (NOD) may be filed in order to assess the borrower's financial situation, explore options to avoid foreclosure, and to provide the borrower with a toll-free number for HUD-certified housing counseling agencies.

According to Wiggins, the goal of SB 1137 is to “reduce the number of foreclosures in California, ensure that foreclosed properties do not become a source of blight to the communities in which they are located, and provide increased protections to individuals who rent properties that ultimately go into foreclosure.”

California is suffering the effects of a severe housing crisis, which has not only negatively affected borrowers who have lost their homes to foreclosure, but has also had significant negative ripple effects on housing values, local economies, and the state economy.

Although many other states have been affected by what has colloquially become known as "the sub-prime mortgage crisis," California is suffering more than many others.

Sen. Wiggins described SB 1137 as a “response to the expectation that defaults and foreclosures will continue to grow in number in California through 2008, and out of concern over the negative impact they will have on California homeowners, California's local economies, and the state economy.”

During February 2008, the most recent month for which foreclosure data are available, RealtyTrac reported that California, Nevada, and Florida continued to document the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

California's foreclosure rate was second highest in the nation, with one in every 242 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. California and Florida metropolitan areas accounted for nine of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates in February, with the Vallejo-Fairfield area rated number eight.

In November 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached an agreement with several state-regulated financial institutions to engage in streamlined modifications of certain types of sub-prime ARMs. A month later, President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson announced the HOPE NOW Alliance plan, an industry-led plan intended to facilitate streamlined modifications of selected sub-prime ARMs.

The American Securitization Forum has also published guidance documents intended to facilitate loan modifications by servicers, pursuant to the contractual terms specified in pooling and servicing agreements. Despite the existence of these voluntary initiatives, defaults and foreclosures continue to rise.

Patricia Wiggins represents California’s 2nd Senate District, which includes portions or all of six counties (Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma). She also chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture. Visit her Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.

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The round table will explore what genetically modified crops are, what negative impacts they have on Lake County’s agriculture, and what can be done to stop them. A new ordinance that would regulate these crops also will be discussed.

Calls from the community will be taken on 263-3435 during the program. The program will be repeated on Tuesday, April 15, at 10 a.m.

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Chevo Ramirez, Wells Fargo Foundation, community development officer and a member of the selection committee said, "MKF was a top finalist, but unfortunately was not selected. It was a tough decision and we do want MKF to re-apply in two years."

Asked by Treasurer Sandra West if he could share why MKF was not selected, Ramirez stated, "It was your bottom line, we want to see more growth with additional revenue and support from other funding sources."

West said MKF did receive a $25,000 grant from Wells Fargo Foundation for 2008, support she said was much appreciated.

According to Sarah Bennett, vice president of Wells Fargo Community Development Group, 69 nonprofit organizations throughout California submitted grant proposals. The decision making process was difficult due to the quality of the applicants and their proposals.

Facilitators Susan Harmon and Sandra West have facilitated 99 participants over the last 19 months and are currently working with 51 active participants.

In just the last two months, from Feb. 8 through April 8, Harmon and West have facilitated opening seven new businesses which created 10 new jobs and facilitated four existing businesses which created eight new jobs. That brings MKF’s grand total, in the last 19 months, to 36 business creations and 93 job creations.

Although disappointed that MKF was not awarded this grant, West and Harmon continue to source and solicit economic development funds from other organizations and are committed to fulfilling MKF’s vision of developing a strong and sustainable local economy in Lake County.

For more information about the free business services that Mt. Konocti Facilitation offers see their web site at www.mtkonocti.com or call 995-8133.

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What most people don’t know is that the brave and sure skipper never filed a float plan, failed to check the weather forecast, and did not carry an emergency positioning indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). The outcome was an extended stay on an uncharted island.

Filing a float plan with friends, relatives or a local marina increases your chances of surviving what can be a deadly situation. When properly completed, the float plan contains information to make a search faster and easier, increasing the probability of a positive outcome. In the case of the Minnow, it was quite entertaining to see the antics of these stranded boaters. In real life, these situations occur, but they aren’t nearly so funny.

A float plan asks such questions as what type of boat, what is your proposed itinerary, do you have a radio, how many people on board, and so on. The answers can shorten the process of locating a missing boater, and an EPIRB takes the search out of “search and rescue.”

Although we have made a little light out of the voyage of the Minnow, safe boating and seamanship is no joke. The Coast Guard Auxiliary is offering boating safety classes this Saturday, April 12, as well as on May 10 and June 21.

Signaling devices and float plans are a fraction of the information offered in this one day classes. With the boating season bursting open, do your family, friends and yourself a service and be an informed boat operator. Eight out of 10 boat operators have never taken a boating class.

Taking a class just might save your life. Some parents require their teenager(s) to take a boating class. In terms of wise boating, this is right up there with filing a float plan and having sufficiently appropriate signaling devices.

Contact Betty Strach, 928-9811, Flotilla Staff Officer for Public Education, for information about these classes. America’s Boating Course is a boating course approved by the United States Coast Guard.

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