NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lake County Zoning Administrator will consider approving Minor Use Permit MUP 16-31 for Sentry Market, in accordance with Lake County Code, to allow a 6x4 square foot beer and wine tasting area inside the Sentry Market grocery store located at 2265 E. Highway 20, Nice, APN 044-055-46.

Reconsideration of the previously adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration for this project based on Initial Study IS 92-105 is  considered.

The planner processing this application is Tricia Shortridge, (707) 263-2221 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Zoning Administrator will approve this MINOR USE PERMIT with no public hearing if no written request for a public hearing is submitted by 5:00 P.M., December 21, 2016, to the Community Development Department, Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, California.

Should a timely request for hearing be filed, a public hearing will be held on December 28, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room C, 3rd Floor of the Courthouse.


COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Robert Massarelli, Director


By: ____________________________________
Danae Bowen, Office Assistant III
               

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Kelseyville.

The town is preparing for it 24th annual Merchant Open House and Parade of Lights on Friday Dec. 2. 

Main Street is twinkling with all new lights thanks to an amazing team of residents and merchants, including Mike and Kim Riley, Sue Dodd, Cooper Dodd, Eric Schofield, Debbie Gerace, Erik Von Orden, Trena Pauly, Rick White and Dave Morse, who donated their time and talent for all to enjoy.

In addition, the Kelseyville Lions put up the large candlestick decorations on the telephone poles.                                                         

Kelseyville will be the place to be on Dec. 2, with Christmas music throughout town, the town Christmas tree lighting, photos with Santa by Dawn Smith and live holiday music by The Bridge Band in Westamerica Bank. 

The Kelseyville Senior Center will have its Christmas in the Country Craft Fair from 4 to 8 p.m., Kelseyville Presbyterian Church will have chili and chowder, St. Peters Catholic Church will have hot dogs and beans and Kelseyville Methodist Church will have cider, cookies and caroling and the main event.

“'The Parade of Lights” will begin at 6:30 p.m. and of course all the merchants will have their doors open with holiday goodies.

All of this would not be possible without the help of sponsors including Kelseyville Pharmacy, Wildhurst Vineyards, Roto Rooter of Lake County, Pear Festival, Chacewater Winery and Oil Mill, Sawshop Gallery Bistro, Bridges Construction, Polestar Computers, Rick White-Konocti Realty, Napa Auto Parts, Kelseyville Appliance, Nestegg Investments, Big Valley Properties, The Brick Tavern and Fore Family Winery.

To be part of the Parade of Lights contact Mary Morse at Kelseyville Appliance, 707-279-8559.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lake County Zoning Administrator of the County of Lake, State of California, will consider approving Minor Modification MMU 16-07 of Use Permit UP 06-19 of U.S. Cellular, in accordance with Lake County Code to allow the installation of a twelve horsepower generator and ninety-nine gallon propane fuel tank to serve as emergency power.

The Zoning Administrator will reconsider adoption of a mitigated negative declaration for this project based on Initial Study IS 06-82, available December 2, 2016.

The property is located at 10225 Hardisty Rancheria Road, Upper Lake, CA and further described as APNs 003-033-58, 003-022-12, 003-022-24 and 003-022-23 making up one legal lot.  The Planner processing this application is Keith Gronendyke, (707) 263- 2221 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Zoning Administrator will approve this MINOR MODIFICATION TO USE PERMIT with no public hearing if no written request for a public hearing is submitted to the Community Development Department by 5:00 P.M., December 21, 2016.

Should a timely request for hearing be filed, a public hearing will be held on December 28, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room C, 3rd Floor of the Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, California.


COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Robert Massarelli, Director


By: ____________________________________
Danae Bowen, Office Assistant III
               

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Join Tuleyome Board President Andrew Fulks, and Redwood Empire Mountain Bike Alliance on a 9-mile mountain bike ride on Saturday, Dec 3.

The ride is part of a series of events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act.

Participants will meet at the High Bridge trailhead on Highway 16, arrange car shuttles, then drive to the Judge Davis trailhead.

The ride will start along Cache Creek Ridge – the eastern border of Cache Creek Wilderness and continue toward Lynch Canyon, to the Three Ponds Trail and end along the High Bridge Trail to Highway 16.

Although this is mostly a downhill ride with the only big climb at the beginning, it is strenuous.

Rain cancels the ride.

For more information contact Nate Lillge of Tuleyome, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 530-350-2599.

NAPA COUNTY, Calif. – The Napa Valley Cricket Club, or NVCC, wrapped up its fifth season recently.

The season, which started back in April with a tour to Scottsdale and culminated with participation in the North Bay Last Man Stands competition, saw the club play 17 games in seven months.

While their on-field record of 4 and 12 – regular games, 4-7, and Last Man Stands games, 0-5) may seem a poor return many of the games that the NVCC played were lost by very narrow margins.

Their annual season opening Napa Valley World Series of Cricket is an internal game amongst members so doesn’t count in the overall win-loss stats.

Following a narrow 22-run loss on tour in Scottsdale the NVCC opened its season locally with the Napa Valley World Series of Cricket, a game which pits NVCC members from the Australia & America club against members from the Rest of the World.

A tight low scoring game was won by the Rest of the World team, who wrestled back the World Series trophy from the Australia & America team having last win this game in 2014. With five World Series games played the overall score now stands at 3-2 in favor of the Australia & America team.

New to the playing schedule in 2016 for the NVCC were Bradshaw CC who play in the Sacramento Area Cricket League.

A home and away series of games were won 2-0 by Bradshaw with NVCC putting on a brave batting display in the away fixture in May and notching up a very respectable 213 runs in the return fixture in Calistoga in September.

In between NVCC won its annual three-game series against Marin Socials convincingly by winning all three games. Both games against local trans Mayacamas rivals the Sonoma Gullies went the way of the Santa Rosa based team by narrow margins.

For the second year running NVCC hosted two San Francisco based teams – the Twitter Kabootars and the SF Seals. The results were the reverse of 2015 with a victory over the Kabootars (Hindi for bird) and a loss to the Seals. The win over the Twitter Kabootars was all the more impressive given they had ex USA international cricketer Saurabh Verma in their ranks.

In September and October the NVCC took part in the regional Last Man Stands, or LMS, competition. A hybrid form of cricket, LMS was created to provide a quick two-hour game many of crickets traditional rules are tweaked in this format.

With only eight players per team and five ball overs each innings is timed out at one hour. NVCC were well beaten in three of their five round robin LMS games but were beaten by the narrowest of margins – one run and on the last ball of the game – in two of their games.

The game against the LMS Yankies played at the fairgrounds in Calistoga was the highest scoring game of the season in the North Bay LMS league with a massive 349 runs scored with NVCC on the wrong end of a 175-174 score line.

Highlights of the 2016 season included two “Five Fors” – 5 wickets in one game – to Adersh Maqsood in May against Marin Socials at Piper Park and Bernie Peacock in September against Bradshaw CC at the fairgrounds in Calistoga.

While NVCC was involved in a number of high scoring games in 2016 there were no milestone “centuries” – 100 runs in one game – for any of their club’s batsmen.

This year also saw some notable off field happenings for NVCC with a visit to the Napa Valley by International Cricket Council USA representatives Ben Kavenagh and Tom Evans in April.

Kavenagh and Evans met with Napa Expo and the city of Napa Parks and Recreation Department to discuss facilities.

April also saw local cricket players Amritpal Bhatal and Jesse Healy invited to regional combines hosted by the International Cricket Council to identify cricketing talent for US national team selection.

In addition local teenager Caen Healy completed his high school senior project with a visit to Coyote Valley Elementary School in Hidden Valley Lake to do a cricket session closing the circle that started with the NVCC supply run to Calistoga in the aftermath of the Valley fire in August 2015.

The clubs paying ranks grew in 2016 with the addition of a number of new playing members who were regulars throughout the season.

American-born Jamie Johnson who returned to the area after time on the East Coast, Indian-born Chandanpreet Singh who works as a vineyard tech and South African-born Adriaan Foot, who recently moved to Napa and is assistant winemaker at Dunn Vineyards all contributed both on and off the field to the club’s season.

After five successful seasons the NVCC has announced that it will be leaving the Calistoga fairgrounds and moving to Napa.

Increasing pressure on the carnival lawn from other events in addition to the building of the new Boys & Girls clubhouse in close proximity to where they have traditionally played their games has meant the move has become a necessity. The club will be announcing details of their new ground in Napa early in 2017.

The Napa Valley Cricket Club wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the following sponsors: Clos du Val, Crown Hill Stone Supply, Silverado Resort & Spa, Tonnellerie Saint Martin, Cork Supply, Chandon, St. Helena Optometry, Anchor Steam, First Priority Financial, Compadres Rio Grille, Greg Norman Estates, Amcor, Biagi Bros., Ciatti, Lyve Systems Inc., Stone Universe, Blue Jean Black Design, TricorBraun WinePak, Calistoga Roastery, Napa Gourmet Foods, Napa Valley Body Connect, 3 rock marketing, Azmera Consulting, Bill Wagner Realtor, Bernie Peacock Mortgage Consultant and ZAM Apps.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake VA Clinic hosted a Thanksgiving luncheon for veterans on Nov. 23.

The luncheon was a complete Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.

The San Francisco VA Medical Center’s Voluntary Services funded the majority of the meal by purchasing premade meals from a local grocer while Clearlake VA Clinic staff potlucked desserts, extra side dishes and hors d'oeuvres. 

The luncheon started at 11 a.m. with a line of veterans ready to eat. There was so much food, veterans were able to take home an extra plate for dinner.
 
For many of our local veterans, social worker Sheila Rockwell and member services representative Amanda Celli knew this would be the only Thanksgiving meal they would have.

The lunch quickly grew from serving homeless veterans to any and all veterans wishing to have a Thanksgiving meal.

The Clearlake VA Clinic served 37 meals on site and took 15 premade meals to a local homeless encampment where many veterans live. Leftovers of turkey, potatoes, stuffing and whole pies were taken to a local shelter.
 
It was a wonderful day filled with conversation, laughter and lots of pumpkin pie. For clinic staff it was an amazing way to show thanks and gratitude to those who so selflessly served in the Armed Forces.
 
Amanda Celli is member services representative for the Clearlake VA Clinic.

SACRAMENTO – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced the enforcement action taken against Zenefits for multiple license violations has resulted in a $7 million penalty.

Zenefits was charged with allowing unlicensed employees to transact insurance and circumventing insurance agent education requirements.

This is the largest penalty assessed by any commissioner against Zenefits and one of the largest penalties for licensing violations ever assessed in the department's history.

A 2013 start-up, Zenefits is a San Francisco-based company whose business model was to provide online human resources services to businesses and then encourage those same businesses to use Zenefits as an insurance broker.

“Businesses and consumers should have confidence that anyone selling insurance to them in California is doing so in compliance with our consumer protection laws,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “Our enforcement action has resulted in Zenefits paying substantial monetary penalties for their licensing violations and ensures Zenefits complies with all of California's insurance laws and regulations or they will face additional automatic penalties and sanctions.”

The California Department of Insurance launched an investigation in 2015, after receiving complaints that Zenefits employees were transacting insurance without a license.

Shortly after the investigation into Zenefits' business practices and compliance began, the company announced publicly that they were not complying with insurance laws and regulations, which was followed by the resignation of Zenefits' CEO, Parker Conrad.

“In California, we value innovation and new business models, including Internet based start-ups, but we also insist that consumer protections laws are followed,” said Jones. “Zenefits is an example of an Internet based start-up whose former leaders created a culture where important consumer protection laws were broken-a bad strategy that placed the company at risk and that other start-ups should not follow given our strong consumer protection laws and the Department of Insurance's rigorous enforcement of those laws.”

The settlement agreement obtained by the insurance commissioner includes a $3 million penalty for licensing violations, including allowing unlicensed employees to transact insurance, a $4 million penalty for subverting the pre-licensing education and study-hour requirements for agent and broker licensing, and a $160,000 payment to reimburse the Department of Insurance for investigation and examination expenses.

In recognition of the self-reporting and remedial actions already implemented by the company, including the replacement of the former CEO, retraining of all licensed producers, and implementation of an automated process to verify that only licensed individuals solicit and sell insurance products, the settlement provides that half of the total $7 million in monetary penalties are suspended.

The suspended portion of the monetary penalty will be reinstated if Zenefits fails to confirm continued compliance with licensing and regulatory mandates based on an examination of the company's business practices to be conducted in 2018.

The November 2016 election results indicate a continuing conservative shift in public viewpoints in the United States.

The results are profoundly disturbing, even frightening, for many Americans, as issues and policies that many of us deeply value seem to be threatened.

Among these is a potentially significant change in management focus for our public lands. These lands are our American heritage, and are important to our sense of wellbeing and our place in history as a nation and as individuals. Their protection and stewardship should be nonpartisan issues, but the recent election results suggest that this may no longer be true.

Together, we at Tuleyome have striven to protect and steward our public lands. We have been inclusive in our outreach and have developed a strong coalition of collaborators and supporters, including conservation organizations, sportsmen, businesses, ranchers and farmers, off-highway vehicle and other recreational users, elected officials, public agency staff and decision-makers, and many others.

Working together, Tuleyome has helped make important regional conservation stewardship gains over the past 15 years. Now it’s time to defend them. Now is not a time for inaction or depression; now it’s time to organize on behalf of our heritage. Fortunately, our job is made easier by the fact that the American people are on our side.

Here are some thoughts on things to do:

· Take a hike: This might be a stroll in a local park or a rigorous hike through wild lands in the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. If you are experienced take a friend along. Go on a Tuleyome walk. Take care of yourself in this stressful time.

· Really listen: There appears to be a schism in viewpoints among Americans at local, state and national levels. We need to talk to our countrymen, hear their concerns, understand their values and help them to accommodate the diversity that already exists in our country. Cooperation and collaboration can work, but it’s not always easy to accomplish. We can’t force others to understand our concerns, but we can do our part.

· Respect: It’s easy to be dismissive of differing opinions and values. But, we must not.

· Learn more: Learn the trees, the geology, and the animals that roam our public lands. Delve into the policies that protect them and our environment.

· Share with others: Yes, tell your story to family and friends, but more importantly, tell it to others. Talk from the heart: “I felt good on my walk. It was calming and peaceful. I treasure our public lands, where I can walk and be with nature.”

· Support public agency professionals: Dedicated individuals steward and protect our public lands. They care deeply, but are under attack. Let them know you appreciate their work.

· Be an activist: Be informed. Write letters. Make phone calls. Visit elected officials. Even go to Sacramento and Washington DC. Support causes and effective organizations (yes that includes Tuleyome!). Everyone can’t do all these things, but everyone can do something.

Even as we resist rollbacks at the national level Tuleyome will push forward with conservation agendas at regional, state, and local levels.

The proposed Inner Coast Range State Conservancy will be an inclusive program that promotes dialogue and collaboration to fund key projects in our region, including forest health and fuels reduction, water quality and recreational opportunities.

Tuleyome will provide information, offer training and publish action alerts, but we need your help to be successful. Do what you can, when you can.

Bob Schneider is senior policy director for Tuleyome, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland, Calif. For more information visit www.tuleyome.org .