LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The fourth grade classes of Coyote Valley Elementary School were recent guests of the curator of the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum, Antone Pierucci, assistant curator Whitney Petrey, and Pierucci's energetic staff.

Among the many interesting things we learned was that way before iPods delivered music to our ears, there was the Edison Home Phonograph.

The museum's machine is a circa 1906 version.

The museum document states, “Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph record machine in 1877. Recordings were on cylindrical tubes which rotated on a shaft and moved the cylinder along a rigid stylus. This machine was of limited use because of its short, 4-minute recording capability and general set-up of the player.”

After doing a little digging around on the Library of Congress' Web site, I found that the Edison Home Phonograph came into being due to some of his other inventions; namely the telephone and telegraph.

In a series of serendipitous events, Edison had been diligently toiling over a device that would transcribe the messages received from the telegraph machine he invented. His hypothesis was that telephone messages could be heard in a comparable way.  

First, he used a metal tube, wrapped in tin foil. Next he devised a way for his “diaphragm-and-needle units” to function as recording and playback devices. Sound vibrations created groves in the cylinders via the recording needle.

On the Web site, www.antiquephono.org it is stated that Edison's Home Phonograph was a definite boon to those in the mid-income range in the 19th and beginning 20th centuries. The machine was sturdy and reliable and hence, proved popular due to these features.

Thomas Edison hoped that the uses for his machine would go farther than mere music appreciation. He thought it was feasible in the future for his machine to be used for dictation, speaking books for the blind, speech lessons, teacher's lesson plans, musical toys and more!

Mr. Edison was truly ahead of his time.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Some Lake County children who love to write stand a good chance of getting published this fall.

Again this summer the Lake County Library will sponsor the popular Young Writers Workshop.

Open to Lake County children and teens from fifth grade through high school, this summer’s program has an exciting twist.

A culmination of the program will be the publication of an anthology of writings by the kids who participate in the sessions – a book to be made available to the public later in the year.

Published author and columnist Robin C. Harris will conduct the free weekly sessions to be held on Saturday mornings beginning June 4 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lakeport branch of the Lake County Library. The library is located at 1425 N. High St.

“In my work as a substitute teacher in eight schools this year, I saw many examples of a passion for writing on the part of students of all ages – an interest we hope to nurture, and a talent that needs an outlet such as we hope to provide. I want these kids to get their stuff in print,” said Harris.

Harris is a dynamic and inspiring teacher whose energies may exceed the noise level normally associated with libraries.

“That’s OK, though,” he said. “The stereotype of the old-fashioned librarian with her hair in a bun and her finger to her lips is no longer with us. We want this to be fun, and fun it will be. They’re not gonna throw us out.”

After all, Harris is the appointed member of the Lake County Library Advisory Board, representing District 5.

Much of the participants’ work will be in the area of fiction – specifically short stories, but non-fiction and poetry will be covered as well. Parents will be invited to sit in on the sessions as spectators in an effort to ensure continuity for their kids from one week to the next.

“This is not an English class,” Harris said. “Our work this summer will be to get stuff on paper in whatever from it turns out to be. Kids who have sat through language arts classes all year don’t need more of the same. The polishing can come later.”

All writings will be critiqued, and students will be helped over the rough spots in an effort to make their work ready for publication.

Lake County students entering grades five through 12 will be welcome in the program. The free eight-session workshop will begin June 4 and continue through Aug. 6, with a day off on July 2.

Preregistration is strongly encouraged, as this will be a popular activity, and will be limited to the first 20 applicants. Each applicant should bring a three-ring binder, some paper and a pen or pencil.

For information, students and parents may contact Amy Patton at the library 707-263-8817 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

California’s Community Property laws apply to how assets are divided at divorce and how assets are transferable at death.

Federal law, however, preempts (supercedes) California’s Community Property laws with respect both to so-called “ERISA (“Employee Retirement Income Support Act”) Qualified Plans” and to all “federal retirement” benefits, including Social Security. Let us discuss.

As the recent 2016 California Appellate decision in Marriage of Peterson (243 CA4th 943) shows, the division of a married couple’s retirement plan benefits in a divorce can be uneven.

In Peterson, the husband contributed to Social Security. The wife, however, was a member of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) Plan; thus, under federal Social Security law she was prohibited from contributing to Social Security.

Could the husband’s $228,000 Social Security contributions during marriage could be considered in allocating the wife’s $216,000 in LACERA benefits, a community property asset under California state law?

The court held that federal law prevented the court from considering the husband’s contributions from marital earnings to Social Security when allocating the wife’s LACERA benefits.

To do otherwise would be to offset the husband’s Social Security benefits against the wife’s LACERA benefits, which is prohibited under Federal Social Security Law.

The wife’s LACERA benefits, however, was community property under state law, and had to be divided equally.

Thus, the husband kept his Social Security benefits, entirely, under federal law and gained one-half of his wife’s LACERA benefits, under California state law.

If, however, a spouse, once divorced, dies unmarried and leaves his or her ex-spouse as beneficiary to an ERISA Qualified Plan, then under ERISA the ex-spouse still inherits, notwithstanding that California's Probate Code provides that divorces terminates the inheritance rights of a surviving ex-spouse.

The lifetime division of a spouse’s ERISA Qualified Plan during a divorce, e.g. a 401(k) retirement plan, however, can be more equitable.

Although federal law protects an employee (and his or her beneficiaries) who participates in an ERISA Qualified Plan against any alienation (assignment) of benefits, a significant exception exists for Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO’s”).

Provided the court’s order meets the QDRO requirements, the court can order the transfer of an interest in an ERISA Qualified Plan to a non participating spouse in dissolution proceedings.

After death, however, a deceased non participating spouse (whose spouse contributed marital earnings into an ERISA Qualified Plan) cannot devise what would have been his or her one-half community property interest. So decided the US Supreme Court in the landmark Boggs v. Boggs decision ((1997) 520 US 833).

ERISA also protects a surviving non participant spouse because the participant spouse may not name anyone else as the primary death beneficiary without the non participating spouse's consent.

Thus unless the non participant spouse survives and inherits the deceased participant’s ERISA qualified retirement plan, the non participant spouse will not be able to control who later inherits the retirement plan after the surviving participant spouse dies.

With respect to non qualified plans, however, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and all other nonprobate assets that pass to designated death beneficiaries (including regular life insurance, annuities, and pay on death accounts), California's Community Property Law normally still applies.

The contributing spouse whose name is on the account needs the consent of the non contributing spouse to name death beneficiaries with respect to the one-half of the contributions made from marital earnings that belongs to the non contributing spouse.

As discussed, federal law can have major implications for the non contributing spouse and his or her beneficiaries.

While federal law protects a living non contributing spouse, it does not protect a deceased non participating spouse's right to transfer his or her one-half community property interest.

Clearly, anyone confronting any of these legal issues needs to consult with a qualified attorney for guidance.

Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com .

This is the most detailed view of Pluto’s terrain you’ll see for a very long time.

This mosaic strip – extending across the hemisphere that faced the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015 – now includes all of the highest-resolution images taken by the NASA probe.

With a resolution of about 260 feet per pixel, the mosaic affords New Horizons scientists and the public the best opportunity to examine the fine details of the various types of terrain on Pluto, and determine the processes that formed and shaped them. 

 “This new image product is just magnetic,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. “It makes me want to go back on another mission to Pluto and get high-resolution images like these across the entire surface.”

The view extends from the “limb” of Pluto at the top of the strip, almost to the “terminator” (or day/night line) in the southeast of the encounter hemisphere, seen below.

The width of the strip ranges from more than 55 miles at its northern end to about 45 miles at its southern point.

The perspective changes greatly along the strip: at its northern end, the view looks out horizontally across the surface, while at its southern end, the view looks straight down onto the surface.

The movie shown above moves down the mosaic from top to bottom, offering new views of many of Pluto’s distinct landscapes along the way.

Starting with hummocky, cratered uplands at top, the view crosses over parallel ridges of “washboard” terrain, chaotic and angular mountain ranges, cellular plains, coarsely “pitted” areas of sublimating nitrogen ice, zones of thin nitrogen ice draped over the topography below, and dark mountainous highlands scarred by deep pits.

The pictures in the mosaic were obtained by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) approximately 9,850 miles (15,850 kilometers) from Pluto, about 23 minutes before New Horizons’ closest approach.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Many traffic collisions in California end in death or injury as a result of individuals speeding or driving aggressively.

The California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area will deploy additional officers on Highway 20 in an effort to reduce the number of motorcycle incidents or collisions resulting from unsafe speed, following too closely, unsafe lane changes, improper turning, and other primary collision factor violations by motorcyclists and other drivers. 

The operation begins on Sunday, May 29.

To assist the CHP in this traffic safety effort, the Clear Lake Area has received a federally-funded grant titled, “Have a Good Ride II.” 

The CHP Clear Lake Area will deploy future motorcycle safety enforcement operations through September 30, 2016.

Statistical data from the CHP’s Clear Lake Area database showed that in the Clear Lake CHP Area boundary, from January 2015 through December 2015, there were 37 injury traffic collisions, and one fatal traffic collision involving motorcycles.

Of the 37 injury collisions, 11 involved driving under the influence, the agency said.   

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.