LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Clearlake’s new Starbucks has opened its doors, with other coffee house projects also in the works and the potential for still more such businesses to be based in the city.
Starbucks, located next to Carl’s Junior on Dam Road Extension and next to the Walmart shopping center, was open for business on Monday.
Clearlake Mayor Dirk Slooten said the new store has 27 good-paying jobs.
“We’re really excited about it,” he said.
The work on the new coffee house broke ground in May. Originally reported as having a September opening date, City Manager Alan Flora said it encountered several delays.
Flora told Lake County News that the new Starbucks received its certificate of occupancy from the city earlier this month and had been training staff and going finalizing preparations since then.
Flora said that while there are many places in Clearlake that serve coffee, in addition to the Starbucks the city has just two other dedicated coffee shops: Sisters Coffeehouse, 14812 Olympic Drive, and Catfish Coffee at 14624 Lakeshore Drive.
Another coffee house project in the works is Mudslingers, approved by the planning commission earlier this year for a drive-thru and walk up coffee shop at 14760 Olympic Drive.
Flora said the city doesn’t have a firm date for when Mudslingers might open. Noting they are waiting on the city, he said the city’s plans for the first phase for the Burns Valley development are nearing completion and a bid will go out for the work.
Once that work is done — including installing the roadway, parking and utilities — Mudslingers will be cleared to build their store, Flora said.
Down the road, Marcel’s French Bakery & Cafe at 15090 Olympic Drive received planning commission approval in February for a new drive-thru in an existing building that previously housed a bakery.
Flora said Marcel’s is being held up by needing to complete certain requirements in the use permit conditions, primarily installation of curb gutter and sidewalk.
There also is the potential for other coffee house locations, Flora said.
“We have had some pretty serious talks with a couple of other national coffee brands, but nothing set in stone at this point,” Flora said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is set to hold a special meeting this week to finalize new maps for supervisorial districts and consider a letter to the state regarding masking requirements for indoor high school sports.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 924 6009 0973, pass code 597249. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,92460090973#,,,,*597249#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
At 10 a.m., the board will host the final public hearing on the county-level redistricting process.
Staff will present for approval the new boundary maps for the five supervisorial districts, and discuss a draft ordinance amending the Lake County Code to establish the new boundaries of the supervisorial districts for the county, pursuant to state election code.
In an untimed item, the board will consider a letter to the California Department of Public Health regarding indoor basketball facial covering rules for youth sports.
In a memo to the board, Chair Bruno Sabatier is asking for support to send the letter to CDPH Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly regarding a mandate that indoor basketball players and referees wear facial coverings.
“Our schools have reached out to us, letting us know that they are advocating for change regarding facial coverings as it is not realistic and potentially dangerous to ask our youth to wear facial coverings while exerting the amount of energy needed to run up and down the court,” Sabatier said.
The letter requests the state change the mandate to allow players and refs to play without facial coverings during practice and games and to test twice a week to mitigate the potential for the spread of COVID-19.
The letter notes, “Wearing a facial covering and sitting in a classroom is vastly different from wearing a facial covering and exerting an enormous amount of energy indoors. Due to the heavy breathing, sweating, and accelerated moisture build up created within a mask, mandating that athletes and refs wear facial coverings increases the potential for choke hazards as well as increased fatigue while they are playing. Basketball is a physical sport, and the potential for masks to be moved possibly impairing the vision of players or masks torn off falling on the ground creating a dangerous obstacle on the court are high. In attempting to the reduce the hazards of COVID, mandating facial covering for basketball may increase other hazards to the physical well being of the players.”
It also points out that CDPH has already approved allowing college athletes to play without facial covering, “and we feel that the needs of our youth match the needs of our college athletes.”
The letter continues, “We have all worn masks throughout the pandemic and have experienced at one time or another running up a flight of stairs or carrying heavy items exerting enough energy to make us realize that a mask and increased levels of exercise do not go hand in hand. Imagine playing an entire game of basketball? We are asking our youth to do the impossible.”
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt resolution authorizing Lake County Behavioral Health Services to increase the rates for specialty mental health services effective July 1, 2021.
5.2: Adopt resolution approving County of Lake Health Services to apply for funding in the amount of $542,450 through the California Department of Public Health for fiscal years 21/22 through FY 26/27 and authorize the director of Health Services to sign said application.
5.3: Approve purchase of vehicle equipment from Precision Wireless in the amount of $65,433 from the Sheriff/Pursuit Replacement Budget Unit 2217, Object Code 28.30; and authorize the sheriff/coroner or his designee to issue purchase order.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Consideration of a presentation by United Way of the Wine Country regarding possible expansion of 2-1-1 Lake County from disaster-only to full service.
6.3, 9:25 a.m.: Consideration of the California Fire Safe Council 2021 Cal Fire Evacuation Route Planning and Development Grant Program application for financial aid for the Soda Bay Corridor Evacuation Route Planning and Maintenance Project, and authorize the Public Works director to sign.
6.4, 10 a.m.: (a) Redistricting Public Hearing #4 — Final approval of boundaries/maps; (b) discussion of a draft ordinance amending Article II of Chapter 2 of the Lake County Code, establishing the boundaries of the supervisorial districts for the county of Lake, Pursuant to Sections 21500 et seq of the California Elections Code.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of letter to California Department of Public Health regarding indoor basketball facial covering rules for youth sports.
7.3: Consideration of the following advisory board appointments: Western Region Town Hall.
7.4: Consideration of Cannabis Equity Grant application.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public Employee Appointment Pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): Interview of Health Services director appointment of Health Services director.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Today marks the first day of Hanukkah, and in its honor, we’re going to explore the complex food culture of Israel.
We’ll also hear from a few folks who’ve got local as well as Israeli connections to get their take on the food there.
Israeli cuisine is influenced by a plethora of factors — immigration from other countries, other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, various styles of Jewish cooking, the tradition of keeping kosher, food customs associated with Shabbat (the weekly seventh day of rest), year-round Jewish holidays, regionally available foods and world trends from chefs trained abroad.
Because of the great diversity present in Israeli food culture, it might be helpful to think of it as a patchwork of different cuisines, rather than a cohesive whole.
As Jews returned to Israel from the Diaspora, their scattering throughout the world, they brought with them foods and recipes from an astounding number of countries. In particular, the Mizrahi, Sephardic and Ashkenazi styles of cooking are prevalent throughout Israel.
Mizrahi Jewish cuisine has roots in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Arab countries. Flatbreads, lentils, chickpeas and rice are staples of this cuisine, and spices popular in the Middle East are favored, among them cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, sesame seeds and spice blends such as za’atar.
Sephardi Jews are the Jews of Spain and Portugal. When they were expelled from those countries in the 15th century, many settled in North Africa — Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Egypt — as well as in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Lebanon, Syria and the Holy Land. Their cuisine has been influenced by these many countries.
It emphasizes salads, stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, olive oil, lemon, lentils, dried fruits, herbs such as cilantro and parsley, saffron, nuts, chickpeas, and a variety of spices, including cumin, turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon.
Because of similar influences, Mizrahi and Sephardim cuisine overlap and share many dishes in common.
Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine developed among Jews throughout Europe, particularly Eastern and Central Europe. The Jewish dishes that we’re familiar with in this country — things like latkes (the potato pancakes made during Hanukkah), challah (braided bread), matzo ball soup, strudel, and Jewish deli staples — are of Ashkenazi origin.
The cuisine is based on ingredients available to the historically poor Ashkenazi community of Europe. At one time they were forbidden to grow crops, so the food is less vegetable focused than Mizrahi or Sephardic cuisine.
Baked goods, potatoes, cabbage, beets, chicken, fish and less expensive cuts of beef such as brisket are featured. Due to the lack of availability of the olive oil used in traditional Jewish cooking, fat rendered from chicken skin, known as schmaltz, was used in many dishes.
Another factor adding to the diversity of Israel’s food is that the area that is modern-day Israel has been inhabited, conquered and fought over by countless peoples in its long history. It’s been a melting pot of world influence in times both ancient and modern.
Thanks to the Biblical and archaeological records that provide insight, many of Israel’s culinary traditions can be traced back to the time of the kings of ancient Israel, more than 3,000 years ago.
The ancient Israelites ate foods based on what’s known as the “seven species,” two grains and five fruits. These are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 8:8) as being special products of the Land of Israel. They are wheat, barley, grapes, olives, pomegranates, dates, and figs. All retain an important place in Israeli cuisine today.
Arab foods, as well as foods from other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, have been adopted and adapted by Israel. While the nation doesn’t have a food that can be considered a national dish (or even a distinct national cuisine), there are some foods that can be considered Israeli staples, and such regional influence can be seen in them. Below are a favored few.
Hummus, a dish that likely originated in ancient Egypt, is a smooth, silky paste made from chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, cumin and salt. Sometimes olive oil is added. Hummus recipes vary from region to region. Jerusalem hummus, for example, is served with spicy ground beef and pine nuts.
Falafel is a popular street food and considered by some to be Israel’s unofficial national dish. Made from ground chickpeas rolled into balls and deep fried, falafel is often served in pita bread, or along with hummus or an Israeli salad.
Also a popular street food, shawarma is meat cooked on a spit and served with toppings in a pita. Toppings can include hummus, pickles, grilled hot peppers, pickled mangoes, olives, fried eggplant and even French fries.
Shakshuka is a bright and bold North African dish that’s become a quintessential part of breakfast or lunch in Israel. Eggs are cooked on a bed of tomato sauce spiced with paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper and topped with fresh herbs when it comes out of the oven. It’s served in the pan it’s baked in.
An Israeli salad is made with finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers and dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Diced bell peppers, grated carrots, finely shredded cabbage or lettuce, sliced radish or fennel, chives, chopped parsley, and spices like mint, za’atar or sumac can be added for variety.
And finally, an “Israeli breakfast” is a common offering in hostels and hotels, however humble, and consists of a panoply of foods eaten there at breakfast, often including omelets, an Israeli salad, cheeses, olives, breads and pastries, labneh (thick yogurt), fruit and shakshuka.
I had the privilege of speaking with several former residents of Israel to learn about the food memories they hold and their personal Israeli food favorites.
Lisa Kaplan, executive director of the Middletown Art Center, moved to Israel with her family when she was 11 and lived there for 23 years. Her mother, a Palestinian Jew from Jerusalem, is from a family which has been rooted in the region since the 1700s.
Though it was mostly American or Ashkenazi food eaten in her family, her heart beats for the traditional Middle Eastern foods in Israel. It’s the hummus, lentils, rice, fresh salads and street food from the open-air markets that she craves.
A favorite of hers is kibbeh, ground lamb inside a bulgur coating (in form a bit like a corn dog, Kaplan said), which she got from the open-air market three blocks from her home. She visited there every Friday to buy vegetables.
A Moroccan friend in Israel taught her to make mejadra, a lentil and rice dish with onions and spiced with coriander and cumin. It’s still a favorite of hers and she makes it at home.
The foods and smells of the open-air markets in Israel influence the way she cooks here. She loves the way Middle Eastern flavors like lemon, garlic, olive oil, cumin and Baharat, a spice blend, tingle the palate and energize her.
If you ever get the chance to taste the hummus that Kaplan makes, do. It’s a labor of love and, from what I hear, tastes pretty darn good!
If you’ve been to a recent farm-to-table dinner at the Peace and Plenty saffron farm in Kelseyville, you’ve tasted Chef Arnon Oren’s food.
Melinda Price of Peace and Plenty Farm tells me that it’s been fun working with Chef Oren to create menus using their saffron and seasonal produce. Saffron was used in nearly every course of their last dinner (even in the ice cream, which is hugely popular). There’ll be further collaborations for dinners next year.
Oren was born in Israel and raised in a small town near the Sea of Galilee. His mother was an agricultural instructor, so, not surprisingly, their property included an abundant garden and was full of fruit trees.
This bounty — as Oren says, the original flavors of Israel — has influenced the flavor profile of his cooking. He believes in using the best ingredients possible and letting them shine.
Scents often evoke memories, and for Chef Oren, it’s the smell of fig leaves that takes him back to Israel, where he remembers plucking fresh figs from the trees of his childhood home.
He especially enjoyed Israel during Jewish holidays, which take place throughout the year, every couple of months or so, when everything seemed more pronounced. As is customary, his mother made jelly doughnuts during Hanukkah, and Oren laughed as he recalled their irregular shapes, unlike the perfect bakery versions.
Bourekas, fried pastries filled with cheese, are his go-to street food in Israel, and cardamom is a fondly remembered spice. His culinary creations often include cardamom — he uses it in sweet and savory applications, from chocolate cake to chicken.
His recipe for sweetened labneh with cardamom is offered for us today. Labneh is a Lebanese cream cheese that can be used as an accompaniment to sweet or savory foods.
Jivan Dicovsky, a Lake County life coach, was born in Israel and raised in Tel Aviv, one of its most populous cities. His family’s roots are in Western Europe and their style of eating reflected that; however, he grew to love Israeli food with Middle Eastern roots.
He began cooking after his divorce, including Israeli foods like hummus, falafel, and various soups and stews. He cooks almost exclusively Middle Eastern foods, though his favorite cold weather food to make is traditional Jewish chicken soup.
I also had the chance to chat with my youngest son, Billy Oertel, who visited Israel while he was in college. He found the mix of foods interesting, from Middle Eastern fare to Eastern European blintzes or pierogies.
He found it surprisingly easy to eat as a vegetarian there; there was always something meat-free on offer. The falafel was his favorite dish. He said it was the best he’s eaten, and though he’s been trying, he hasn’t found anything to match it here.
I especially wish to thank these folks for sharing their memories and thoughts with me.
Chef Arnon’s Sweetened Cardamom Labneh with Fresh Fruit
1 quart whole milk yogurt 10 pods of green cardamom or 1 teaspoon cardamom powder Zest from 1 lemon 2-4 tablespoons sugar Fruit of your choice
Over a strainer that is over a bowl, pour the yogurt into a clean cloth towel.
Tie the cloth and hang it over a bowl in a sink at room temperature overnight. (Do not refrigerate.) You can also leave it in the strainer, although it is best to hang.
The next day, place the strained yogurt into a clean bowl. This is your Labneh. Save the liquid from the yogurt.
Grind the cardamom if you are using pods and sift it into the labneh. Otherwise, add the cardamom powder.
Add the sugar, lemon zest and mix well. You can add back some of the liquid if the labneh is too thick.
Serve with fruit of your choice and enjoy!
Recipe by Arnon Oren.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council will carry out its annual duties of choosing its leadership for the coming year at its meeting this week and also will approve a program to support local college studies.
The council will meet in closed session at 5 p.m. to discuss existing litigation against the county and treasurer-tax collector, negotiations for property at 6452 Francisco and 6461 Manzanita, Melinda Wymer’s suit against the city and the city’s suit against Amerisourcebergen Drug Corp. before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 2.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
At the start of the public portion of the meeting, the council will announce its action from closed session, get a presentation on December’s adoptable dogs, present the 2021 Living the Lake Life photo contest winners and receive an update on the Hope Center.
The council is set to consider continuing to Jan. 6 a public hearing to consider a development agreement with Ogulin Canyon Holdings LLC to allow a cannabis Operation located at 2185 Ogulin Canyon Road, a property formerly owned by the city.
Under business, council members will consider an agreement between the city and Woodland Community College for the Clearlake Promise Program.
The program, spearheaded by Mayor Dirk Slooten, would set aside $55,000 for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic years “for the purpose of implementing a last dollar scholarship program” to pay the fees for qualified Clearlake residents who graduate from any high school within the city of Clearlake and attend any one of the three Woodland Community College campuses.
“The services will benefit the City of Clearlake and its residents by encouraging Clearlake residents graduating from high school to pursue a college education and to provide educational opportunities for students who may not otherwise be able to afford to continue their education,” the agreement notes.
The council also is set to get an update on the recovery effort for the August Cache fire.
The last action of the evening will be the appointment of the 2022 mayor and vice mayor. Slooten and Russ Perdock have served as mayor and vice mayor, respectively, for the past year.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; approval of temporary street closure for the annual Christmas parade and tree lighting; approval of a reimbursement agreement with Lake County for the Pyrethroid and Stormwater Monitoring Sampling Program; authorization of the agreement for vegetation abatement on city/RDA owned properties; authorization to approve the Cannabis Equity Program; adoption of resolution 2021-61 approving the application for Rural Recreation and Tourism Program Grant Funds of the Burns Valley Sports Complex Project; continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Aug. 23, 2021, and ratified by council action on Sept. 16, 2021; continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Aug. 18, 2021, and ratified by council action on Aug. 19, 2021; continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on March 14, 2020, and ratified by council action on March 19, 2020; continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action Oct. 12, 2017; continuation of authorization to implement and utilize teleconference accessibility to conduct public meetings pursuant to Assembly Bill 361; Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting minutes of Oct. 13, 2021; approve the City Hall holiday closure; authorize city manager to enter into a contract with E4 Design for dry utility design services for the Burns Valley Development Project; authorize city manager to enter into a contract with E4 Design for dry utility design services for the Airport Property Development Project; approve proposed 2022 City Council meeting calendar.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Unemployment numbers remained steady in Lake County last month, while declines were reported on the state and federal levels.
The California Employment Development Department’s latest report on joblessness showed that Lake County’s unemployment rate was unchanged in October, remaining at 6.2%. The October 2020 rate was 8.3%.
Lake County’s September and October 6.2% unemployment rate is the lowest for the county since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020.
California’s rate in October was 7.3%, down from 7.5% in September and 9.8% in October 2020. The state’s payroll jobs totaled 15,963,400 in October 2020, 16,677,800 in September 2021 and 16,774,600 in October 2021.
The state’s employers added 96,800 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy last month, and thanks to October’s job growth, the state has now regained 1,828,500, or 67.4 percent, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said.
California’s one-month job growth also accounted for about 18.2% of the nation’s 531,000 overall jobs gain in October.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said the jobless rate nationwide was 4.6% in October, compared to 4.8% in September and 6.9 percent in the previous October.
A state dashboard showed that Lake County had 718 Unemployment Insurance claims in October and 50 claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, compared to 1,527 and 230 claims, respectively, in those categories the previous October.
In Lake County, the total farm employment category was down 28.2% over September, with information posting an 11.1% decline followed by a 7.1% in trade, transportation and utilities. Categories showing growth included nondurable goods, 3.7%, and government, 1%.
Lake County’s October unemployment rate ranked it No. 41 out of California’s 58 counties.
The lowest unemployment rate in California in October was 3.4% in Marin, while Imperial County came in with the highest, 17.7%.
Regarding the statewide picture, the number of Californians employed in October was 17,639,100, an increase of 32,700 persons from September’s total of 17,606,400, and up 588,800 from the employment total in October of last year, the report said.
The number of unemployed Californians was 1,383,200 in October, a decrease of 41,200 over the month and down 471,200 in comparison to October of last year.
The number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased by 3,100 from September 2021 to 416,500 jobs in October, a decrease that is seen seasonally. The report said the agricultural industry had 7,400 more farm jobs in October 2021 than it did the October prior.
The Employment Development Department said 10 of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in October. Only the government category showed declines, with a loss of 4,000 jobs attributed to reductions in city and county government.
Professional and business services led with 39,500 new jobs thanks to large gains in employment services; followed by leisure and hospitality, 21,500; Trade, transportation and utilities, 14,900, which the report attributed to good growth in food services and drinking places, and strong hiring in the retail trade sector; construction, 7,500; education and health services, 5,400; financial activities, 4,400; manufacturing, 2,800; information, 2,700; other services, 1,800; and mining and logging, 300.
Also in October, there were 463,257 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the monthly sample week, compared to 493,987 people in September and 1,650,946 people in October 2020.
Concurrently, the Employment Development Department said 59,879 initial claims were processed in the October 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 18,999 claims from September and a year-over decrease of 92,762 claims from October 2020.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — A prized collection of artist Grace Hudson’s paintings are returning home to Mendocino County in a unique agreement reached with the Palm Springs Art Museum in Southern California.
The pact provides for the direct gift of 16 Hudson artworks to the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, and a long-term loan of two other oil paintings.
Hudson was known for her work focusing on the region’s Pomo Indians, completing several hundred portraits of them.
The Palm Springs collection includes two oil paintings Hudson did in 1901 during a transformative sojourn in Hawaii. Her work from that period is rare.
Also in the gifted collection are five sepia portraits (bitumen on canvas) of local Pomo elders in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and oil paintings that depict a sweat lodge, hop fields and an Ukiah Valley landscape with the subtle presence of a figure carrying wood in a Pomo burden basket.
There are two unfinished portraits, “Indian Girl” and “Head of Indian Girl,” that Grace Hudson Museum staff believes will be useful for research purposes. Lastly, there are two small landscapes of historic Todd Grove, and the old Fish Hatchery that once existed along Gibson Creek on Ukiah’s west side.
Costs associated with the transfer of the paintings were underwritten by a grant from the Miner Anderson Family Foundation in San Francisco.
Author/filmmaker Robert Mailer Anderson has deep ties to Mendocino County, where he graduated from Anderson Valley High School. An uncle, Bruce Anderson, is editor/publisher of the Anderson Valley Advertiser.
Norma Person, a Sonoma County philanthropist and widow of former newspaper publisher Evert Person, pledged her support if needed for the transfer agreement with the Palm Springs Museum in addition to making a generous contribution to help ease pandemic related financial losses at the Hudson.
The Persons to date are the single largest financial contributors to the Grace Hudson Museum.
“We are happy to help return this special collection to Mendocino County,” said Robert Mailer Anderson. Palm Springs Art Museum staff contacted the Grace Hudson Museum about the possibility of gifting the collection last May.
Rather than sell the individual Hudson art works to collectors on the open market, senior staff at the Palm Springs museum decided that gifting the artwork to the Grace Hudson Museum would be the best outcome for the public, scholars, and art historians.
“Palm Springs believed that by keeping the paintings in the public trust rather than selling them to private collectors was the right thing to do,” said Grace Hudson Museum Director David Burton.
The Miner Anderson Family Foundation awarded a $40,000 grant to the Grace Hudson Museum to cover the expected transfer costs of the Palm Springs collection. Sotheby’s estimated the collection could bring up to $200,000 if auctioned.
The Palm Springs Art Museum is shifting emphasis to modern and contemporary art, leading to its decision to gift the Hudson work. The museum in the early 2000s decided to move away from an art mission first defined in the 1930s. For decades the Palm Springs museum focused on natural history, the surrounding Cahuilla Indian culture, and later fine art.
Senior Palm Springs staff realized as the museum’s new direction evolves that the important Hudson collection would mostly likely remain in storage, and out of view of the public.
During the discussion between the two museums, Palm Springs staff asked the Grace Hudson Museum to pay all transfer-related costs associated with the gift of the paintings.
Director Burton said he, current curator Alyssa Boge, retired museum director Sherrie Smith-Ferri, and former curator Karen Holmes reviewed the collection, and evaluated its potential importance.
Burton traveled to Palm Springs to personally view the paintings and he found them to be in “good or excellent condition.”
“We concluded the Palm Springs collection would significantly expand and enhance what we do here,” said Burton.
The Ukiah museum is the single largest repository of artist Hudson’s work and is known nationally for the breadth of its collection of Hudson paintings and Pomo artifacts collected by the artist and her husband, Dr. John Hudson, a noted ethnologist.
How the Palm Springs collection of Hudson paintings was assembled is a study in art history. Eleven Hudson paintings were donated to Palm Springs by C. Frederick Faude, a wealthy fine arts and antiques dealer who had showrooms in San Francisco and Sausalito.
At the time, Faude’s collection of Hudson paintings was considered one of the country’s largest. Faude also was a benefactor of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where a gallery is named in his honor.
Faude and his partner, San Francisco restaurateur Louis Foerster, lived in San Anselmo in Marin County where they donated fourteen acres of land for a public park that is named in his honor.
Three of the Hudson paintings coming to Ukiah were gifted to the Palm Springs museum by a trust established by the late actor and artist George Montgomery. Another Hudson painting was given by a trust of actor William Holden.
The newly acquired paintings from Palm Springs are to arrive at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah in early January. Museum Director Burton said they will be the centerpieces of a new exhibit highlighting recent acquisitions, scheduled to open in February.
Mike Geniella is an endowment board member of the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A daylong holiday celebration capped by the annual Christmas parade is planned in Clearlake this weekend.
The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce invites the community to welcome the holiday season on Saturday, Dec. 4.
The day begins at 11 a.m. with vendors all day at Austin Park.
The parade lineup begins at 4:30 p.m. at Redbud Park. At 5 p.m. the parade will begin and continue to Austin Park.
Add to the holiday spirit by participating in a friendly competition between the businesses along the parade route for the best holiday decorations. A $100 gift card will be awarded as a prize
For more information or to enter the parade, contact the chamber at 707-994-3600. Parade entries must be returned at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, to the chamber at 14295 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
There are estimates. In 2019, 8,162 Indigenous youth and 2,285 Indigenous adults were reported missing to the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, out of a total of 609,275 cases. But crimes against Native individuals often go unreported, and with American Indian and Alaskan Native cases, race is sometimes ignored or misclassified as white.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that Native American women are murdered at a rate three times that of white American women.
I almost became part of statistics like these. As a child, I was attacked by a person who targeted and typically killed isolated rural children. I know firsthand that the threat of being attacked and “disappearing” is real. And as a scholar who studies tribal justice and has tried to draw attention to the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous people, I find the lack of reliable data particularly frustrating. It is hard to call media attention to the seriousness of an issue that cannot be clearly measured.
Furthermore, as the recent case of Gabby Petito demonstrates, U.S. media tends to provide more compassionate coverage when the victim is a young white female – a phenomenon former PBS anchor Gwen Ifill called “missing white woman syndrome.”
So how can researchers and Native communities convince the media to pay attention to missing Indigenous people? And how can they convince authorities to investigate these cases?
Scarcity of reliable data
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement started in Canada with the first official gathering in 2015. MMIW is a loose coalition of groups throughout Canada and the U.S. that seeks to draw attention to the disproportionate violence experienced by Indigenous women.
Since databases often list more missing Native American males than females, the MMIW movement is now typically referred to as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) movement. Beginning in 2021, May 5 is now recognized in the U.S. as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.
After suffering massive historical trauma, including through forced relocation and forced assimilation, many Indigenous people do not trust authorities. As a result, they do not report the crimes that are taking place. Crimes that do not get reported typically do not get counted.
Problems of jurisdictional authority further complicate the issue of poor data. Even if a Native family decides to report a loved one missing, do they report it to federal, state, tribal or local authorities? Since tribal communities are often treated as sovereign nations, state or local authorities might not take action on the case. However, tribal authorities may lack the resources required for a missing person investigation. And, since the missing person is typically not somewhere on the reservation, tribal authorities may lack legal authority to conduct an off-reservation investigation or to arrest non-tribal individuals.
Finally, even if a missing person report does make its way to a law enforcement agency that can handle the case, if the missing person is a child, law enforcement agents can use their discretion to declare the person a runaway. If a child is officially classified as a runaway, there is no amber alert and typically no media coverage. The crucial window of time to locate the victim immediately following the crime is often lost.
Historic and contemporary disregard
Missing person cases involving people of color in the U.S. are less likely to be solved than cases involving white victims.
U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute two-thirds of the Indian country sexual abuse and related cases referred to them between 2005 and 2009. This was partially due to jurisdictional disagreements between the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and perhaps difficulty in obtaining evidence in violent crime cases as well as a perceived lack of victim credibility due to the interracial nature of many of the crimes. The fact that many crimes in Native communities are not even investigated makes that ratio even more striking.
I believe there are many factors, both historical and current, for the lack of attention paid by police and media to missing Indigenous people.
Historically, Indigenous people, like many people of color, were not thought of as fully human by the white colonizers. Tribal people were considered to be animalistic and heathen, and Indigenous women were, and still are, thought to be sexually promiscuous.
This feeling of superiority over another race led to a willingness by the colonizers to kill Indigenous people, force them into slavery, remove them from desired lands and later place their children in boarding schools where they were stripped of their language and culture and sometimes died.
In an 1886 speech, Theodore Roosevelt, who would go on to become U.S. president, said, “I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.” This historic dehumanization of Indigenous people is still evident today in violence against Native American people.
Native Americans, both male or female, are more than twice as likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. Native Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest per capita rate of violent crime of any racial or age group in the U.S.
The majority of violence experienced by Native Americans is committed by someone of another race. This interracial violence rate is much higher for Native Americans (70%) than for white (38%) or Black victims (30%). Also, about 90% of Native American rape victims have assailants of another race – typically white.
Grassroots Native-led efforts, particularly over the past five or six years, are starting to bring national attention to the issues of crime and violence that affect Indigenous people.
In 2019, the Trump administration formed the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, which became known as Operation Lady Justice. In April 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, created a Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to improve collaborative efforts among law enforcement agencies. Previously, as a Representative from New Mexico, she sponsored the Not Invisible Act in 2019 to improve intergovernmental coordination and consult with tribes to establish best practices to lessen the number of missing Indigenous people.
And in October 2021, President Joe Biden proclaimed Oct. 11 to be Indigenous People’s Day, a day to acknowledge the atrocities of the colonizers while also recognizing ongoing contributions of Native people.
While thousands of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Native Americans await justice, perhaps now there will be understanding and a commitment to address this ongoing tragedy.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has a kennel full of dogs waiting to be added to new homes this holiday season.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of American bulldog, American Staffordshire terrier, border collie, Doberman, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, hound, Labrador retriever, mastiff and pit bull.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
“George” is a 1-year-old male American bulldog mix with a short gray coat.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-1430.
Female American Staffordshire terrier
This 7-year-old female American Staffordshire terrier has a short gray coat and white markings.
She is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-1890.
Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-1892.
Labrador-pit bull mix
This 5-year-old female chocolate Labrador retriever-pit bull mix has a short chocolate-colored coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-1769.
Female mastiff
This 3-year-old female mastiff has a short brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-1868.
German shepherd mix pup
This male German shepherd mix puppy has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 17b, ID No. LCAC-A-1849.
‘Cynthia’
“Cynthia” is a 1-year-old female Doberman pinscher-hound mix.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-1891.
‘Luna’
“Luna” is a 3-year-old female German shepherd-Great Pyrenees mix with a white coat.
She is in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-1906.
Female American Staffordshire mix
This 3-year-old female American Staffordshire mix has a short black coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-1727.
Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2155.
Male German shepherd
This 2-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-1903.
Male mastiff
This 2-year-old male mastiff has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-1869.
Male shepherd mix
This 2-year-old male shepherd mix has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-1743.
Labrador-border collie mix
This 12-year-old male Labrador retriever-border collie mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-2101.
Female German shepherd
This female German shepherd has a black coat.
She is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-2169.
Male pit bull mix
This 3-year-old male pit bull mix has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-2119.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Federal communications officials reported that the process is now underway to convert to 10-digit dialing in parts of the country — including California and Lake County — in order to facilitate calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The process to convert to the new system began at the end of October, with a deadline of July 15, 2022.
The Federal Communications Commission said a 10-digit dialed telephone call requires entering both the three-digit area code and the seven-digit telephone number to complete the call, even if the area code is the same area code as your own.
When an area code transitions to 10-digit dialing, you will no longer be able to dial seven digits to make a local call.
Transitioning to 10-digit dialing will not affect your current telephone number. Your phone number, including your area code, will not change, the FCC said.
In California and in Illinois area code 708, you may be required to dial the number "1" before the area code and seven-digit phone number for local calls.
California has the most area codes affected, including the 707 area code which covers Lake County, along with 209, 530, 562, 626, 650, 925, 949 and 951. All of them require 1 +10 digit dialing for landline customers.
In 2020, the FCC established “988” as the new, nationwide three-digit phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The new three-digit dialing code will be available nationwide by July 16, 2022, and will provide an easy to remember and easy to dial three-digit number to reach suicide prevention and mental health counselors, similar to "911" for emergencies and "311" for local government services.
To help facilitate the creation of "988," area codes that use "988" as a local exchange, or the first three digits of a seven-digit phone number, will need to use 10-digit dialing.
The FCC said there are 82 area codes in 35 states and one U.S. territory that currently use "988" as their local exchange and allow seven-digit dialing. A local exchange, also known as a central office code, is the first three numbers of a seven-digit telephone number.
To prepare for implementation of a quick way to dial the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — using only "988" to connect callers to the Lifeline — these area codes must transition to 10-digit dialing for all calls, including local calls.
During the transition to “988,” Americans who need help should continue to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK) and through online chats.
Veterans and Service members may reach the Veterans Crisis Line by pressing "1" after dialing, chatting online at www.veteranscrisisline.net or texting 838255.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 6a, ID No. LCAC-A-2133.
Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 6b, ID No. LCAC-A-2134.
Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 6c, ID No. LCAC-A-2135.
Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 6d, ID No. LCAC-A-2136.
Female domestic shorthair
This 2-year-old female domestic shorthair has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room C No. 53, ID No. LCAC-A-2139.
Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male domestic shorthair kitten has an orange tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 96a, ID No. LCAC-A-1871.
Male domestic shorthair kitten
This male domestic shorthair kitten has an orange tabby coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 96c, ID No. LCAC-A-1873.
Female domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has an orange tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 96d, ID No. LCAC-A-1874.
Female domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 101a, ID No. LCAC-A-1945.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Michelle L.D. Hanlon, University of Mississippi and Greg Autry, Arizona State University
On Nov. 15, 2021, Russia destroyed one of its own old satellites using a missile launched from the surface of the Earth, creating a massive debris cloud that threatens many space assets, including astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This happened only two weeks after the United Nations General Assembly First Committee formally recognized the vital role that space and space assets play in international efforts to better the human experience – and the risks military activities in space pose to those goals.
The U.N. First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. On Nov. 1, it approved a resolution that creates an open-ended working group. The goals of the group are to assess current and future threats to space operations, determine when behavior may be considered irresponsible, “make recommendations on possible norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors,” and “contribute to the negotiation of legally binding instruments” – including a treaty to prevent “an arms race in space.”
We are two space policy experts with specialties in space law and the business of commercial space. We are also the president and vice president at the National Space Society, a nonprofit space advocacy group. It is refreshing to see the U.N. acknowledge the harsh reality that peace in space remains uncomfortably tenuous. This timely resolution has been approved as activities in space become ever more important and – as shown by the Russian test – tensions continue to rise.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty
Outer space is far from a lawless vacuum.
Activities in space are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is currently ratified by 111 nations. The treaty was negotiated in the shadow of the Cold War when only two nations – the Soviet Union and the U.S. – had spacefaring capabilities.
While the Outer Space Treaty offers broad principles to guide the activities of nations, it does not offer detailed “rules of the road.” Essentially, the treaty assures freedom of exploration and use of space to all humankind. There are just two caveats to this, and multiple gaps immediately present themselves.
The first caveat states that the Moon and other celestial bodies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. It omits the rest of space in this blanket prohibition. The only guidance offered in this respect is found in the treaty’s preamble, which recognizes a “common interest” in the “progress of the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes.” The second caveat says that those conducting activities in space must do so with “due regard to the corresponding interests of all other States Parties to the Treaty.”
A major problem arises from the fact that the treaty does not offer clear definitions for either “peaceful purposes” or “due regard.”
While the Outer Space Treaty does specifically prohibit placing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction anywhere in space, it does not prohibit the use of conventional weapons in space or the use of ground-based weapons against assets in space. Finally, it is also unclear if some weapons – like China’s new nuclear capable partial-orbit hypersonic missile – should fall under the treaty’s ban.
The vague military limitations built into the treaty leave more than enough room for interpretation to result in conflict.
With increasing commercialization, the lines between military and civilian uses of space are less blurry. Most people are able to identify terrestrial benefits of satellites like weather forecasts, climate monitoring and internet connectivity but are unaware that they also increase agricultural yields and monitor human rights violations. The rush to develop a new space economy based on activities in and around Earth and the Moon suggests that humanity’s economic dependence on space will only increase.
However, satellites that provide terrestrial benefits could or already do serve military functions as well. We are forced to conclude that the lines between military and civilian uses remain sufficiently indistinct to make a potential conflict more likely than not. Growing commercial operations will also provide opportunities for disputes over operational zones to provoke governmental military responses.
Military testing
While there has not yet been any direct military conflict in space, there has been an escalation of efforts by nations to prove their military prowess in and around space. Russia’s test is only the most recent example. In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite weapon and created an enormous debris cloud that is still causing problems. The International Space Station had to dodge a piece from that Chinese test as recently as Nov. 10, 2021.
The new U.N. resolution is important because it sets in motion the development of new norms, rules and principles of responsible behavior. Properly executed, this could go a long way toward providing the guardrails needed to prevent conflict in space.
However, the remit of the 95-member committee is to promote international cooperation and study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. It lacks any ability to enforce the principles and guidelines set forth in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty or even to compel actors into negotiations.
The U.N. resolution from November 2021 requires the newly created working group to meet two times a year in both 2022 and 2023. While this pace of activity is glacial compared with the speed of commercial space development, it is a major step in global space policy.