The weather pattern of cool, moisture-laden systems from the Pacific Northwest that have been in place since March and brought high-level afternoon clouds over Lake County earlier this week through Wednesday should dissipate as a higher-pressure system moves in.

Thursday's daytime highs are forecast to reach the mid-80s, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento, with clear and sunny skies.

As the weekend approaches on Friday, the Western Weather Group predicts that temperatures will reach well into the 90s, and continue to climb to the mid- or upper-90s throughout the weekend while remaining sunny and clear.

Overnight lows are expected to be temperate and remain in the upper 50s to low 60s, according to the National Weather Service.

Average daytime highs for this time of year according to the Old Farmers’ Almanac in Lake County should reach the upper 80s – so this weekend is predicted to be hit the average mark.

Currently, another cooler weather system is forecast to move in to Lake County mid-week, bringing back cooler temperatures for the Fourth of July weekend, the Western Weather Group reported.

For up-to-date weather information, please visit the Lake County News home page.

E-mail Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Northshore Fire Protection District officials and the California Highway Patrol responded to the scene of a motorcycle crash in Lucerne, Calif., on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Photo by Tera DeVroede.

LUCERNE – A motorcyclist was injured in a Tuesday evening crash in Lucerne.

The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in a two-way turn lane on Highway 20 near 11^th Street, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters and the CHP were on scene, with the CHP reporting that the rider suffered minor injuries.

It was not immediately clear if another vehicle was involved, based on the preliminary CHP report.

Additional details about the incident and the identity of the motorcyclist weren't available late Tuesday.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

The rider of this motorcycle was injured in a crash in Lucerne, Calif., on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Photo by Tera DeVroede.

An infection that's also known as pertussis, the most severe form of whooping cough typically affects young infants, although all age groups can contract it, the Lake County Health Services Department reported this week.

Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait said no pertussis cases have been reported in the county, but she's nonetheless urging people to be vaccinated.

Mendocino County health officials also reported no cases of the infection so far in their area.

The California Department of Public Health reported that pertussis case numbers tend to peak every two to three years, with the greatest number occurring between August and September. The last peak was in 2005.

Over the past decade, the disease has led to the deaths of between three and four infants under the age of 3 months in California each year, the state reported. The babies likeliest to die from pertussis are those who have not had any immunizations and whose airways are not fully developed.

So far this year there has been a four-fold increase in pertussis cases as compared to the same time in 2009, Tait said.

Five babies in California have died this year because of pertussis and 900 cases have been reported across the the state, according to a report from Dr. John Talarico, who heads the immunizations branch of the infectious disease center within the State Department of Public Health.

Health officials explained that the germ that causes whooping cough is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

It's highly contagious, and the California Department of Public Health said that studies show that half of the infants with pertussis are infected by their parents, particularly their mothers, which is one reason for encouraging parents and caregivers to be vaccinated.

Infants with the infection will show symptoms beginning with a runny nose and low-grade fever, which later progresses into bursts of cough accompanied by a high-pitched “whoop.” Tait reported that the cough can be so severe that it may lead to vomiting and severe respiratory distress.

Tait said it's not just children who get the infection. All age groups are susceptible, and immunity resulting from childhood vaccination may begin to wear off as early as age 10 years.

In older age groups, the symptoms are less characteristic, but Tait said pertussis should be suspected in anyone who has a recent-onset cough that lasts two weeks or longer. The cough can persist for many weeks, even after the person is no longer contagious, she added.

Pertussis is the most common vaccine-preventable diseases, the state reported.

“Pertussis is a preventable disease that still occurs because too often we don’t address the need for re-vaccination beyond the early childhood years,” said Tait. “In addition, the diagnosis is missed in the older age groups because people don’t think about the possibility of pertussis.”

She said babies are routinely vaccinated at ages 2, 4 and 6 months; between 15 and 18 months; and again between 4 and 6 years of age.

Tait explained that it takes time for the protection to build, so it is important for older children and adults to be vaccinated in order to create a “cocoon” of protection around young infants that they contact.

Because immunizations don't offer permanent protection, Tait recommends that – in addition to the five doses of pertussis vaccine recommended before kindergarten – starting at age 11 children receive Tdap – a vaccine that protects against a combination of pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria. Tdap should be given every 10 years.

Anyone who will have close contact with infants also should have the Tdap booster, Tait said.

When respiratory symptoms occur – such as a new cough in older children and adults that lasts longer than two weeks – Tait urges people to consider the possibility that it might be pertussis. A doctor should be seen quickly if a sick person has come in contact with infants.

She said early diagnosis and treatment can prevent serious illness and can result in measures to control the spread of infection.

Pertussis is treatable with antibiotics when given early in the illness. Under some circumstances, antibiotics are sometimes also given to exposed persons in order to prevent infection. The best prevention, however, is vaccination, Tait said.

Tait said pertussis is an infection that must be reported by health care providers to local public health

authorities.

She said she has been informing local health care providers of the status of pertussis cases in California and current recommendations for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

To prevent contracting the infection, Tait urges people to keep sick children home from daycare, and to stay away from infants and young children if you're sick.

To get vaccinated, Tait said residents should see their doctor or contact Lake County Public Health at 707-263-1090 or 800-794-9291.

For more information about pertussis, see www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/Pages/Pertussis.aspx or www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/pertussis_t.htm.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Alan Dean Otis Palmer, 31, was sentenced in the case by Judge Richard Henderson on May 21, according to a Tuesday report from Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott's office.

Palmer had pleaded no contest to felony conspiracy to take 45 abalone for commercial purposes. Lintott reported that Henderson gave Palmer three years in state prison, a $20,000 fine and a lifetime fishing prohibition.

Early in the morning on July 21, 2009, Fish and Game Warden Joel Hendricks received a call from dispatch regarding a report that divers were possibly taking abalone behind the Little River Cemetery out of season, according to the report.

The warden observed two divers about 50 yards away from his location on the bluff. Each diver completed dives lasting nine seconds or more, returning to the surface several times, and handling things under the water, officials said.

After an hour the divers headed towards a sea cave entrance, which runs from the open ocean to a large sink hole on the Little River Cemetery property. Officials said Phillip Horch was there, acting as a lookout, and he told wardens that his two friends were diving for the purpose of one teaching the other to dive.

The two divers, Alan Palmer and Christopher Kern, then walked up the trail. They told the warden they were only spear fishing. Palmer was on felony probation for a past conviction for conspiracy to take abalone for commercial purposes. Not discovering any abalone in their possession, the warden advised all three persons they could leave.

At 11 p.m. that night Warden Hendricks, with the assistance of State Park Ranger Chris Glenn, climbed down into the sink hole. The tide had risen and sea water was pushing through the entrance to the sea cave. The warden saw a live abalone rolling around in the surf, leading him to believe it had been detached.

At 8:30 a.m. the next day, the report explained that the warden entered the sea cave and got into the water. He saw seven abalone clinging to small boulders, and then three game bags filled with abalone, all fresh and alive. There was a total of 45 abalone.

Warden Hendricks submitted a report to the district attorney's office, which charged the case and authorized three warrants of arrest.

On Aug. 31, 2009, prosecutor Tim Stoen presented the case against Palmer at a preliminary hearing before Judge Jonathan Lehan. Judge Lehan thereafter ordered Palmer to stand trial on the charges. Horch and Kern thereafter entered pleas in an associated case, receiving extensive jail terms.

This past April 23, Palmer – represented by defense attorney James Griffiths – entered a plea to the charge of felony conspiracy, and to a charge of commercial taking of abalone, each of which constituted an admission to violating his existing felony probation. He had been sentenced in October 2007 to a year in jail as a term of that probation, according to Lintott's office.

Upon being sentenced on May 21 by Judge Henderson on his new conspiracy charge and his probation violation, Palmer was immediately remanded to the California Department of Corrections to begin his prison term, Lintott's office reported.

Officials said three years is the maximum prison sentence for felony conspiracy in abalone cases.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

The event will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Six Sigma Ranch & Winery located at 13372 Spruce Grove Road in Lower Lake.

Kaj Ahlman, chairman of the Lake County Winery Association, described last year’s People’s Choice Wine Awards as an event where “consumers were able to experience first hand the depth and breadth of the quality wines being produced from Lake County fruit and by Lake County wineries.”

Great wines, music, and delectable food bites will be offered, and attendees will have the opportunity to meet and chat with many Lake County winemakers.

Attendees will have the opportunity to taste and vote on their favorite wines with results tallied and announced at the conclusion of the event.

Lake County is part of the North Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), which also encompasses Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino counties.

Within Lake County, five other AVAs exist – Clear Lake AVA, Benmore Valley AVA, Guenoc AVA, Red Hills AVA, and High Valley AVA.

Admission to the event is $25 per person in advance, $35 per person at the door. Please visit

www.lakecountywineries.org or call 707-274-9373, Extension 100, for more information.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

THIS QUAKE ORIGINALLY WAS RATED AS 3.3 IN MAGNITUDE, BUT HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED TO 3.2.

THE GEYSERS – A 3.2-magnitude earthquake shook The Geysers area on Tuesday.

The quake occurred at 2:42 p.m. Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey.

It was recorded at a depth of 1.4 miles three miles north northwest of The Geysers, six miles west of Cobb and eight miles west northwest of Anderson Springs, US Geological Survey data showed.

Quakes of 3.0 magnitude and above receive special cataloging status from the US Geological Survey, as previously reported by Lake County News.

Ten shake reports were received from six zip codes. Areas where reports came from included Cloverdale, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Hidden Valley Lake, Redding and Hanford – the latter a distance of 400 miles away from the epicenter, the survey reported.

Four aftershocks that were centered close to the epicenter of the 3.3-magnitude quake and ranging between 1.1 and 1.5 in magnitude followed the larger quake over a two-hour period, the US Geological Survey reported.

A 3.1-magnitude earthquake also was reported in Central California near Hollister at 12:23 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey, which was reportedly felt as far north as Windsor, in Sonoma County.

A 3.7-magnitude earthquake was reported June 15 two miles east of The Geysers, as Lake County News has reported.

E-mail Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Curtis Dewayne Dodge, 39, was arrested at about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, according to a report from the Redding Police Department.

Dodge has been on the run since March, and when arrested was found without a GPS monitoring anklet which is a condition of his parole, according to the police statement.

The Redding Police Department reported that officers were dispatched to check out a suspicious black 1993 Oldsmobile Achieva parked to the rear of the Dark Side & Tattooing on Pine Street in Redding.

When officers contacted Dodge, he didn't have any identification and gave them a false name. They became suspicious and began an investigation, which led to their identifying Dodge as a parolee at large out of Lake County, Redding Police reported.

Dodge reportedly told officers that he had been in the Redding area for only five days before five days before Redding Police arrested him.

Officials reported that Dodge has an extensive violent criminal background and also is a convicted sex offender.

He was booked into the Shasta County Jail for violation of parole, sex offender registration violation and providing a false identity to a police officer, Redding Police reported.

Information provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation showed that Dodge originally was sent to prison from Madera County, where he was given a four-year sentence for cruelty to a child.

He was placed on parole in 1995, but was returned to prison six times over the next four years on parole violations, the records showed.

In Lake County in 2003 he was sentenced to prison for two charges of possession of a controlled substance and had five more parole violations. That was followed by a December 2006 sentence for the same charge and three more parole violations, the last one in 2009.

Dodge, who was being held without bail, remained at the Shasta County Jail on Monday, jail records showed.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

A view of Rattlesnake Island from the hills above Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Photo by Chuck Lamb.

Islands are special places. Their uniquely precious web of life is also uniquely fragile, and can unravel at a touch.

Rattlesnake Island, situated a few hundred feet offshore in the Oaks Arm of Clear Lake and the lake’s largest island, is no exception.

Its habitat consists of mixed woodlands – willows, cottonwoods, and several species of oaks including some valley oaks (Quercus lobata) of truly majestic proportions – interlaced with grassy meadows spangled with wildflowers in the spring, and encircled by riparian vegetation consisting primarily of sedge-and-tule marshland.

Diverse flocks of water birds – dabbling and diving ducks, grebes, coots, cormorants, gulls, egrets, herons, etc. – visit the island and the surrounding waters.

It’s not uncommon to observe a swooping procession of several hundred white pelicans wheeling and turning overhead, or a resident osprey sallying forth from its perch on the shoreline to snatch a fish from the lake, while families of otter and the occasional mink can be seen cavorting along the shoreline.

The island is the anchoring landmark on the first of Lake County’s magnet “water trails” for kayakers and canoers, and the waters around it are widely considered to be among the best fishing locations on Clear Lake.

Rattlesnake Island is special for another reason as well. In the words of archaeologist Dr. John Parker, it “has been the political and religious center of the Elem Community of Southeastern Pomo for at least 6,000 years” – in other words far longer than Rome has been Roman, or Greece has been Greek.

During the fathomless span of years that they ate and drank, speared fish and gathered tules, chipped stone and wove baskets, fashioned boats and constructed houses, rejoiced in the newly born and mourned the newly dead, the record of those endless days of their lives accumulated.

Archaeologists have identified six specific sites there, dating back to the earliest human occupation of this hemisphere, but actually it would be more appropriate to consider the whole island as a priceless cultural heritage site, one of the most important in Lake County, in California or in the Western Hemisphere.

Befitting the immense antiquity of its continuous habitation, Rattlesnake Island has been determined eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, and is listed on both the State Register of Historic Resources, and as a Sacred Site with the State Native American Heritage Commission.

As stated by Dr. Parker, “This island and its archaeological remains likely represent evidence of the oldest human use of the Clear Lake Basin ... The sites on Rattlesnake Island are in an excellent state of preservation and still contain the foundations of many of the prehistoric structures that have been built there.”

Despite ties that bind down the endless years, the Elem community no longer has legal title to its own Deep Home Place.

Rattlesnake Island was excluded from Elem trust lands in 1877, apparently by clerical error, and subsequently passed through a series of owners who put it to uses as various as a miners’ labor camp and a pig farm.

The current owner acquired it in 2003, with the intention of constructing a vacation home and several subsidiary structures on the site. Late in 2004 the county of Lake issued a permit for septic system (again apparently by clerical error), and most of the necessary excavation work was performed although the permit itself was subsequently rescinded; after extended tumultuous debate the Lake County Planning Commission then determined that due to the extremely sensitive nature of the site no project approvals could be granted before an environmental impact report was prepared.

There the matter rested until the spring of 2010, when county planning staff recommended that the Planning Commission approve a grading permit on the basis of an archaeological survey that several experts considered inadequate, and “mitigations” consisting primarily of a monitoring plan that was unlikely to prevent damage although sure to slow down the progress of the work and increase costs.

At the subsequent hearing, which took place on May 13, the commission heard more than four hours of testimony from the Sierra Club, the Heritage Commission, two archaeologists, an anthropologist, numerous impassioned tribal spokespersons, and several other members of the public, and then unanimously reconfirmed their earlier decision to require a focused a environmental impact report as a precondition for any project approvals.

Although restricted to an evaluation of cultural resources (suggestions to extend the evaluation to aesthetic and biological impacts were not accepted) limited to the specific locations subject to disturbance by construction or access roads, this decision nonetheless represents a major victory in the effort to protect one of Lake County's most precious treasures.

Perhaps even more significant in the long term, it may also provide the time that Elem’s leaders need to find the financial backing, from the federal government or other sources, needed to take back ownership of their ancestral homeland.

Victoria Brandon is a Board member of Tuleyome and was elected to the Sierra Club's Redwood Chapter Lake Group executive committee in 2004. She has been Group Chair since January 2005, mobilizing support for numerous campaigns other local conservation issues. She's also the secretary of the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch, a participant in the Cache Creek Watershed Forum, a member of the Coalition for Responsible Agriculture, and the Lake County Peace Action newsletter editor.

Tuleyome is a local non-profit working to protect both our wild heritage and our agricultural heritage for future generations. Past Tuleyome Tales articles are available in the library section of the group's Web site, www.tuleyome.org.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Rattlesnake Island is an important cultural and spiritual center for the Elem Colony. Photo by Chuck Lamb.

THE ARTICLE HAS BEEN CORRECTED; IT ORIGINALLY REPORTED THE VEHICLE AS A TRUCK, HOWEVER WITNESSES SAID IT WAS A JEEP. THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS ALSO HAS BEEN CORRECTED, FROM TWO TO FOUR.

KELSEYVILLE – A solo vehicle collision Tuesday afternoon resulted in major injuries.

The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. on Soda Bay Road near Madrone, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A red Jeep crashed and four subjects were reportedly involved, according to witnesses.

A witness reported that one of the injured was being airlifted from the golf course at Buckingham.

The county roads department also was called in to deal with several gallons of oil reported in the road, according to the CHP.

Additional details were not available from the CHP on Tuesday.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

The event began Friday evening but really got going on Saturday morning, with a pancake breakfast at the fire station held before one of the main events – the parade through downtown.

Businesses up and down Highway 29 welcomed visitors coming from as far away as Merced.

The parade included a number of floats, including a clever “Wizard of Oz” float with interactive characters. Also taking part were Uncle Sam – played once again this year by Ronnie Bogner – and fire trucks from the South Lake County Fire Protection District.

It wouldn't be Middletown Days without the parade of horses, an important element in the celebration, with a gymkhana and junior rodeo coming later in the festivities.

Behind the vendor area there were rows and rows of horse trailers and cowboys walking with just as many cowgirls and kids. One of the youngest visitors was 3-month-old Owen Hawkins, there to see his big brother Jon, age 2, ride atop the lead line.

Vendors stayed busy and reported good sales at the event. Among the many items for sale were American accessories and handmade jewelry, plants and decorative, original and whimsical pottery. The Middletown Park fundraiser organizers also reported a strong weekend.

In addition to the parades and shopping, there also was an evening of music and dancing to entertain visitors and residents alike.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

Myron Holdenried operates the forklift, with J.B. Ballesteros and Brian Fisher installing Big Oak Ranch Blazing Star. Photo courtesy of Marilyn Holdenried.

KELSEYVILLE – Brian Fisher and J.B. Ballesteros, owners of Big Oak Ranch, have added their rustic barn to the Lake County Quilt Trail.

Located at 4595 Gaddy Lane, Kelseyville, the quilt block can be seen from the road as one drives north on Gaddy Lane.

The quilt block, named Big Oak Ranch Blazing Star, is a variation of the traditional Lone Star design.

The ranch was built around the time of the great depression by the Trailor family.

Mr. Trailor was the lead engineer on the Hopland Grade (Highway 175) road construction. The house was built from a kit sold by Sears & Roebuck, the Hollywood version.

The Trailor large family lived on the ranch until just after the barn was built in 1935. The barn is currently used for feed and hay for the cattle that are raised on the ranch.

The quilt block pattern chosen for the Big Oak Ranch barn is in honor of Fisher’s mother, Carolyn Beehe. She gifted many of her handmade quilts to him throughout her life.

“My favorite is a small yellow and white quilt, the Rising Star design,” he said. “Today that quilt adorns the guest room bed.”

Fisher and Ballesteros chose the Blazing Star pattern because it looks like a conglomerate of all the quilts that have been passed down to them.

Like most quilt patterns, this old multi-pieced star block is known by many names with variations of sic points, eight points (the most common design) or even more. Blazing Stars are made with small stars that cover the entire quilt top surface.

For more information about the Lake County Quilt Trail, contact Bethany Rose, 707-263-5744.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .