KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – After devoting tens of thousands of hours of service, the California Highway Patrol’s local senior volunteer force continues to be a critical source of support and assistance for the agency’s busy officers and staff.

On Wednesday, the CHP’s Clear Lake Area office in Kelseyville office held its 15th annual senior volunteer appreciation luncheon to underscore the value of the volunteers’ contributions.

Lt. Hector Paredes, the Clear Lake Area commander, presented a plaque honoring the group to Ed McDonald, who has been a member of the program since its inception and is president of the volunteers.

In awarding the recognition, Paredes noted the 25,000 hours of work the group has given to the CHP over the past 15 years of service.

In addition to McDonald, the volunteer crew includes Jessean Boone, John Wiskirchen, Al Reynolds, Claude Meade, Dennis Van Meter, and two retired CHP officers who worked here in Lake County, Larry Caravario and Mike Humble.

The senior volunteer program at the Clear Lake Area office in Kelseyville began its recruitment in November 2001, under then-Commander Dane Hayward, with a notice in the newspaper, seeking community members interested in participating.

Key qualifications include having no felony convictions, being available to volunteer during office hours, the willingness to perform various duties, the ability to work with minimal supervision in an office-type setting and working with officers in the field.

The senior volunteers had their first academy and graduation over five days in February 2002, with instructor officers Mary Bosserman, who has since retired as a CHP officer, and Officer Erich Paarsch, who now is a sergeant with the agency.

The academy covered topics including duties, grooming and equipment, conduct, regulations, ethics and incompatible activities, field duties, first aid and CPR, and a driving course, according to a copy of the original academy outline McDonald provided to Lake County News.

The week after that first academy, the volunteers held their first meeting, with members at that time selecting the name the “Flying Wheel Club” for the group, which also is known as Konocti 151 Senior Volunteers.

The original group of volunteers included, in addition to McDonald, Bob O’Neil, Chris Jewell, Dave Boone, Don Stewart, Betty Votaw, and well-known Pearl Harbor survivor Walt Urmann, based on meeting notes McDonald also provided.

Officer Kory Reynolds said the volunteers are put through background checks similar to those required for state employees, although they’re not as extensive as what would be required of a CHP officer.

He said the volunteers offer a valuable service, taking on all manner of duties that allow the sworn officers to stay on the road.

Reynolds, whose father is among the volunteers, said they help with a variety of tasks, including offering support to personnel on major incidents, transporting vehicles for maintenance to out-of-county locations, taking evidence to the Department of Justice, making trips to CHP headquarters and other locations on important errands, assisting with local parades, putting out the radar trailer, monitoring traffic complaints and clerical duties.

McDonald worked for 38 years managing parking facilities in San Francisco. During that time, he would come up to Lake County and work on ski boat races.

When he retired in 1991, he returned to Lake County and made it his permanent home.

When the volunteer opportunity came up with the CHP 10 years later, he jumped at it, and has been doing it ever since.

McDonald estimates that he averages between 40 and 60 hours a month, with the other volunteers averaging around 30 hours a month.

“It keeps me busy,” and not sitting around the house, said McDonald, who will turn 83 this year and is known for his volunteering with other community causes as well.

In addition to the duties Reynolds outlined, McDonald has an extra role at the agency – portraying “Chipper” the CHP mascot.

Chipper attends school and community events and is popular with the children. “They like Chipper,” McDonald said.

Besides making good use of his time, McDonald said the volunteering is a way of giving back to the community.

And, he added, “I’m learning something every day.”

Community members interested in joining the volunteer corps at the Clear Lake CHP can call the Kelseyville office at 707-279-0103.

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 Lake County Library will present two LEGO events for the public in April.

On Friday, April 21, at 3:30 p.m. the Lakeport branch of the library will host the first meeting of a LEGO club. The library is located at 1425 N. High St. The free program focuses on elementary school children, but is open to all ages.

On Friday, April 28, at 3 p.m. the Redbud branch of the Lake County Library, located at 14785 Burns Valley Road in Clearlake, will host a LEGO event that is open to all ages.        

The LEGOs were purchased with a generous grant from the Lake County Wine Alliance to the Friends of the Lake County Library to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, resources at the library.

The idea for the LEGO club is for children to get a chance to use their imaginations to design, build and invent.

For more information about the LEGO programs please call the library at 707-263-8817.        

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

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.

NICE, Calif. – According to Patricia Gross, she has always been nice, but now she gets to become the Nice postmaster.

On Friday, April 21, at 2:30 p.m., Gross will raise her right hand to be sworn in as the new postmaster at the Nice Post Office, 3964 East Highway 20.

Manager of Post Office Operations Bobbie Riley will administer the official oath of office at the Friday ceremony.

Gross will follow a proud tradition that goes back to 1930 when Max Maiereder was the first postmaster.

Gross started her postal career in 1994 as a rural carrier and transferred to the Upper Lake Post Office in 1996 as a rural carrier. She became a clerk at the Lucerne Post Office in 2000.

She started her management track as an officer-in-charge at the Covelo and Laytonville Post Offices. Her first postmaster position was in Glenhaven in 2008, the position she held until being selected as the Nice postmaster.

“It is an honor to work for the Postal Service, said Gross. “I want to provide the community with excellent customer service and show the community what a great company the Postal Service is.”

Gross, 55, enjoys camping and spending time with family, friends and spoiling her grandchildren. Her son, Kevin and daughter-in-law, Angela, have three children, Dominic, 12, Ethan, 5, and Wyatt, 18 months. Gross resides in Bachelor Valley.

Gross believes in community service and participates in community activities and school functions.

As postmaster, Gross manages all postal operations at the Nice Post Office with two employees who process and deliver an average of 2,150 pieces of mail daily to 1,832 PO boxes and one highway contract route with 313 delivery stops.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The American Lung Association has released its annual State of the Air report, which once again puts Lake County at the top of clean air rankings nationwide.

In the 2017 report, state and local area air quality are graded on an A through F scale by comparing local ozone and small-particulate concentrations with the federal air quality standards.

Although many areas, especially within California, were given failing grades, Lake County passed with flying colors.

Lake County received a “A” grade for Ozone and a “B” grade for short term particulate pollution, and is ranked the third-cleanest county in the nation for annual particulate average concentrations.

Lake County did not change significantly from previous annual averages even though the period of time covered by this report includes the Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem fires, according to Douglas Gearhart, air pollution control officer of the Lake County Air Quality Management District.

Out of California’s 58 counties, Lake County is one of only nine that did not have any days of ozone exceeds from 2013 through 2015. Gearhart said this impressive record has been documented by continuous air quality monitoring.

The report presents data showing what the residents of Lake County actually are breathing on a daily basis, Gearhart said. It does not exclude wildfire impacts or other natural events that may be excluded when determining attainment status.

The “B” grade for short term particulate pollution is the result of impacts from the 2015 wildfires. Gearhart said this shows that despite the Valley, Rocky, Jerusalem and other fires, the residents of Lake County still enjoy some of the cleanest air in the nation.

The American Lung Association grades are the latest recognition of a long history of air quality accomplishments in Lake County.

Strong local support for clean air measures has enabled the county to comply in full with not only the Federal Clean Air Standards, but also with the more rigorous California Standards for ozone and other air pollutants for the past 26 consecutive years. No other air district in California can match that record, Gearhart said.

Gearhart attributes the success of the program to strong community support, cooperation of local agencies, fire protection districts, Cal Fire, the agricultural community, industry, the district board of directors, and to the dedication and hard work of Air Quality Management District staff.

“The third cleanest county in the nation for particulate matter is a significant indicator of the hard work and dedication this community has to maintaining a healthful environment,” Gearhart said. “Even with the drought and wildfires of recent years, we still enjoy the Lake County clean air.”

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Austin Park in Clearlake will be the site this Saturday for events to celebrate Earth Day and the community’s skatepark.

The Lake Community Pride Foundation will host the 11th annual “Andy Day” skate park event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the Earth Day Festival from noon to 3 p.m.

Andy Day is a celebration of Andy Johnson who died 11 years ago on April 18 as the result of a vehicle crash.

He was a young teenager when he started his skatepark activism. Without his dedication and charisma to bring the community together, the skate park would never have been built.

The park, named after Johnson, celebrates his life and his legacy each and every year around the time that he passed away.

There will be live music from The Lyricist, As All Else Fails, Fetti Rich and a Path of Exile.

Next to the skate park, those who love to play basketball can come and take part in a communitywide basketball tournament. Build your teams for a 2 on 2 and get your team to the top spot. Come ride and feel the rhythms as the community and youth are celebrated.

Earth Day is a celebration of our planet, our environment and mostly our community. Hosted by Lake Community Pride Foundation in coordination with Citizens Caring 4 Clearlake, this event will offer fun for all ages, including a bouncy house, youth activities and live music. Cactus Grill will have a food booth.

The Earth Day festival starts directly after annual Clearlake Clean Up Day. Celebrate the good deed of cleaning the community and learning new ways to continue to make Clearlake a cleaner city for everyone.

Lake Community Pride Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 that manages the Lake County Safe House and the official sponsor of the Power to the Youth events that are organized throughout the year.

Austin Park is located at 14077 Lakeshore Drive.

LUCERNE, Calif. – Capstone projects created by the graduating seniors at Marymount California University’s Lakeside Campus will be showcased on Monday, April 24, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Community members are invited to stop by to view the projects, which students will be on hand to discuss.

The showcase will be held at the campus of MCU Lakeside, 3700 Country Club Drive in Lucerne.

Capstone is a year-long senior project that demonstrates mastery of the program learning outcomes through an original work of research.

The primary focus of the project is to address a need in the community. Capstone students have chosen projects that appeal to their own interests and opportunities to contribute to resolving a community issue.

The capstone project is planned to resolve the problem, and also contributes to the academic preparation and personal growth of the student.

Marymount California University, Lakeside, offers upper division degree-completion courses in liberal arts, psychology and business management.

Applications are being accepted for the fall 2017 semester. Courses are both hybrid (meeting every-other-week) and online.

For information call or email Enrollment Coordinator Kathy Windrem at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 310-303-7670.