MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Lunch will host Middletown Unified School District Superintendent Catherine Stone as the speaker at the group's meeting on Wednesday, June 15.
The meeting will take place from noon to 1 p.m. at the Middletown Senior Center, 21256 Washington St.
Stone became the Middletown Unified School District Superintendent in June of 2015.
Assuming any new position of leadership requires a learning curve, but Stone's learning curve increased exponentially on Sept. 12, 2015, when the Valley fire began.
Her first year as MUSD's superintendent was a true trial by fire, a thorough test of her abilities and character under pressure. The reports are that she passed with flying colors.
Come meet Stone and hear how the schools and district are doing, what they've accomplished this year and what they're looking forward to in the 2016-17 school year.
For only $5 per person, enjoy spaghetti, zucchini and French bread.
Reservations are required. Please call 707-987-3113 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information or to make a reservation before 6 pm Tuesday. After Tuesday evening, please call the senior center, 707-987-3113.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport woman involved in a solo-vehicle crash late Thursday night that knocked out power and caused a small fire was arrested for driving under the influence.
Marcela Espinoza Perez, estimated to be in her mid 20s, was the driver in the crash, according to Sgt. Saul Bernal of the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area office.
Bernal said Espinoza Perez was traveling by herself in a 2005 PT Cruiser, heading eastbound on Soda Bay Road near Waldo Lane. She was driving at an undetermined speed in a 50-mile-per-hour zone when the wreck occurred.
Espinoza Perez was unable to manage a curve in the roadway, went off the road, hit some signage and struck a utility pole, Bernal said.
Reports from the scene said the crash knocked down power lines, trapped Espinoza Perez in the car and started a small fire in a field nearby.
Espinoza Perez sustained minor injuries and was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Bernal said.
Bernal said alcohol was determined to be involved and Espinoza Perez was placed under arrest.
On Friday afternoon there was another vehicle crash on Soda Bay Road – near Konocti Bay Road – involving a utility pole.
Bernal did not have full details on the incident, but said the road had been closed for several hours as AT&T worked to make repairs.
He said about 300 feet of phone line was across the roadway in the wake of the crash, which involved a Jeep hitting a pole.
County roads staff and AT&T had been on scene Friday afternoon helping with traffic control, Bernal 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.
I am willing to guess that not a lot of people tuned into the six episodes of the international crime thriller “The Last Panthers” that had its run most recently on the Sundance Channel.
Fortunately, Acorn, specializing in world-class television from Britain and other foreign territories, has released the entire series about a thrilling jewel thief drama on DVD and Blu-ray for the convenience of your viewing pleasure.
While smartly written and coolly compelling as a complex character-driven crime thriller, having “The Last Panthers” on home entertainment allows one the ability to either pause to catch a breath or even replay some key scenes that may require a second look.
Shot in seven countries and five languages, this thrilling reinvention of the heist drama demands close attention to the English subtitles, except when British insurance adjuster Naomi (Samantha Morton) and former MI-6 offer Tom Kendle (John Hurt) spar over the investigation.
The six-episode series is a travelogue from the underbelly of the French port city of Marseilles to the dark corners of Hungary and the war-torn Balkan territories of the former Yugoslavia. Serbian bad guys are particularly nasty criminals.
Patterned after the real-life fearsome criminal organization of the Pink Panthers, “The Last Panthers” opens with a Marseilles jewel heist orchestrated by Milan (Goran Bogdan) that bears the hallmarks of the gang believed to be retired.
The getaway is botched by one of Milan’s hired thieves as he kills a young girl during a shootout with police, and as result, the stolen diamonds are considered virtually untouchable to anyone that might buy the purloined goods.
Meanwhile, French-Algerian cop Khalil Rachedi (Tahar Rahim), having grown up in the Marseilles ghetto with a keen insight into criminal behavior, doggedly pursues a police investigation that gets hobbled by bureaucracy as well as conflict with the British insurance investigators.
“The Last Panthers,” though a crime story with complex characters, is a gripping look at the dark side of illicit activities in Europe. Often complicated in scope, the series demands your careful attention but the payoff makes it worthwhile.
TNT Cable dives into the complicated nature of a crime family that is run by a matriarch in “Animal Kingdom,” in this case Ellen Barkin’s Janine “Smurf” Cody, a grandmother with a habit of lounging around the house with her adult sons while wearing a bikini top more appropriate to a woman half her age.
Meanwhile, her four sons range from the oldest and most dangerous Pope (Shawn Hatosy), returning home from a stint in prison and eager for the next heist, to Scott Speedman’s Baz, the second son with a girlfriend seemingly anxious to have him out of the family business.
The two other sons are Craig (Ben Robson) and Darren (Jake Weary), and the family unit adds on another member when Smurf’s grandson Josh (Finn Cole) moves in after his mother dies from a heroin overdose.
“Animal Kingdom” appears to have a small budget for wardrobe, as most of Smurf’s sons run around shirtless as if they were auditioning for modeling jobs at Abercrombie & Fitch. But then they reside in Oceanside, surfing on most days while intimidating those trying to share the ocean.
As a family unit, the Codys are an unruly bunch of criminals given to thuggish and reckless behavior, which is evident from a careless robbery in the first episode that doesn’t go smoothly, to say the least.
Tensions simmer in the Cody clan, especially when Pope becomes agitated when his mother insists that he should remain on the sidelines for an upcoming heist, considering he’s fresh out of prison and perhaps a bit rusty.
“Animal Kingdom” will have a ten-episode run over the course of the summer. From the first look at the opening episode, I am not completely convinced that I will stay engaged to the end, but my curiosity is likely to give the second installment a chance.
“Gridlocked,” an intense action thriller with a high body count in its energetic shootouts, is not likely to be found in movie theaters or even television, unless it appears as a video on demand.
This high-octane crime thriller does, however, bring the kind of crowd-pleasing explosive action and extreme fight scenes that turns “Gridlocked” into a natural straight-to-video entertainment.
Former SWAT leader David Hendrix (Dominic Purcell of “Prison Break”) is down on his luck and has failed to receive medical clearance after taking a bullet on the job.
He’s now stuck at a routine NYPD job and is not too happy about his demotion from the Strategic Response Team, or SRT.
To make matters worse, this tough guy cop is forced to babysit Brody Walker (Cody Hackman), an obnoxious hard-partying celebrity who’s been sent on a mandatory ride-along as part of his probation.
Hendrix and his charge end up visiting the cop’s old crew at a remote SRT training outpost, only to arrive just in time for an assault from vicious mercenaries under the command of a corrupt former military operative (Stephen Lang).
“Gridlocked” is an unrepentant B-movie display of violence perpetrated by relentless machine-gun shootouts that are easily forgettable soon after viewing.
By the way, Danny Glover shows up as an SRT facility guard in what can only be for the reason of an easy payday.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Library has announced public availability of thousands of movies, television shows, music albums, eBooks, audiobooks and comics, all available for mobile and online access through a new partnership with hoopla digital, www.hoopladigital.com .
Lake County Library card holders can download the free hoopla digital mobile app on their Android or IOS device or visit www.hoopladigital.com to begin enjoying thousands of titles – from major Hollywood studios, record companies and publishers – available to borrow 24/7, for instant streaming or temporary downloading to their smartphones, tablets and computers.
"The library is trying to make it as convenient as possible for people here in Lake County to get the content they want in the format they prefer," said County Librarian Christopher Veach.
Veach said hoopla digital allows patrons “instant access to a huge variety of titles and is a wonderful addition to what we already offer in print and online."
“With hoopla digital, it is our mission to empower the evolution of public libraries while helping them to meet the needs of the mobile generation. We’ve worked for years to create a best-in-breed service that is fun, fast and reliable. And we continue to secure content deals to expand our offering of popular and niche movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, audiobooks and Comics,” said Jeff Jankowski founder and owner of hoopla digital.
Library officials said hoopla digital is a category-creating service that partners with public libraries across North America to provide online and mobile access to thousands of movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, audiobooks and comics.
With hoopla digital, patrons can borrow, instantly stream and download free dynamic content with a valid library card. All content is accessible via hoopla digital’s mobile app and online at www.hoopladigital.com . It is a service of Midwest Tape – a trusted partner to public libraries for over 25 years.
If you rage with frustration during a marital spat, watch your blood pressure. If you keep a stiff upper lip, watch your back.
New research from the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University, based on how couples behave during conflicts, suggests outbursts of anger predict cardiovascular problems later in life.
Conversely, shutting down emotionally or “stonewalling” during conflict raises the risk of musculoskeletal ailments such as a bad back or stiff muscles.
“Our findings reveal a new level of precision in how emotions are linked to health, and how our behaviors over time can predict the development of negative health outcomes,” said UC Berkeley psychologist Robert Levenson, senior author of the study.
Link stronger for husbands
The study, published today in the journal Emotion, is based on 20 years of data. It controlled for such factors as age, education, exercise, smoking, alcohol use and caffeine consumption.
Overall, the link between emotions and health outcomes was most pronounced for husbands, but some of the key correlations were also found in wives. It did not take the researchers long to guess which spouses would develop ailments down the road based on how they reacted to disagreements.
“We looked at marital-conflict conversations that lasted just 15 minutes and could predict the development of health problems over 20 years for husbands based on the emotional behaviors that they showed during these 15 minutes,” said study lead author Claudia Haase, an assistant professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University.
The findings could spur hotheaded people to consider such interventions as anger management, while people who withdraw during conflict might benefit from resisting the impulse to bottle up their emotions, the researchers said.
“Conflict happens in every marriage, but people deal with it in different ways. Some of us explode with anger; some of us shut down,” Haase said. “Our study shows that these different emotional behaviors can predict the development of different health problems in the long run.”
Studying longtime couples
The study is one of several led by Levenson, who looks at the inner workings of long-term marriages. Participants are part of a cohort of 156 middle-aged and older heterosexual couples in the San Francisco Bay Area whose relationships Levenson and fellow researchers have tracked since 1989.
The surviving spouses who participated in the study are now in their 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.
Each five years, the couples were videotaped in a laboratory setting as they discussed events in their lives and areas of disagreement and enjoyment. Their interactions were rated by expert behavioral coders for a wide range of emotions and behaviors based on facial expressions, body language and tone of voice.
In addition, the spouses completed a battery of questionnaires that included a detailed assessment of specific health problems.
In this latest study, the researchers focused on the health consequences of anger and an emotion-suppressing behavior they refer to as “stonewalling.” The study also looked at sadness and fear as predictors of these health outcomes, but did not find any significant associations.
“Our findings suggest particular emotions expressed in a relationship predict vulnerability to particular health problems, and those emotions are anger and stonewalling,” Levenson said.
Raised voices, knitted brows
To track displays of anger, the researchers monitored the videotaped conversations for such behaviors as lips pressed together, knitted brows, voices raised or lowered beyond their normal tone and tight jaws.
To identify stonewalling behavior, they looked for what researchers refer to as “away” behavior, which includes facial stiffness, rigid neck muscles, and little or no eye contact. That data was then linked to health symptoms, measured every five years over a 20-year span.
The spouses who were observed during their conversations to fly off the handle more easily were at greater risk of developing chest pain, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems over time.
Alternately, those who stonewalled by barely speaking and avoiding eye contact were more likely to develop backaches, stiff necks or joints and general muscle tension.
“For years, we’ve known that negative emotions are associated with negative health outcomes, but this study dug deeper to find that specific emotions are linked to specific health problems,” Levenson said. “This is one of the many ways that our emotions provide a window for glimpsing important qualities of our future lives.”
In addition to Levenson and Haase, co-authors and researchers on the study are Sarah Holley at San Francisco State University, Lian Bloch at Stanford University and Alice Verstaen at UC Berkeley. The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the German Research Foundation.
Yasmin Anwar writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office reported Friday that thousands of ballots are still to be counted in the weeks ahead as the official election canvass takes place.
Approximately 7,919 ballots remain to be counted, according to Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley.
Statewide, as of the end of business on Friday, the California Secretary of State's Office said 2.4 million ballots are yet to be processed for the presidential primary.
Thousands of vote-by-mail or absentee ballots were mailed out to Lake County voters early in May. Beginning on May 17, Fridley and her staff began processing the absentees returned to the elections office on a rolling basis.
Fridley said absentees that arrived at her office by June 1 were added to the precinct ballots cast on Tuesday, making up the preliminary vote count.
However, as is customary, thousands of ballots – primarily absentees but also provisionals – still remain to be counted, she reported.
Still to be tallied are those absentee ballots that were mailed in as late as Tuesday and had to arrive in Fridley's office no later than Friday to be counted, according to Fridley.
Fridley said the breakdown of the remaining 7,919 ballots to be counted is as follows:
– Vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail and received between June 2 and June 7: 4,144. – Vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail from military and overseas voters: 64. – Vote-by-mail ballots received at the elections office counter between June 2 and June 7: 730. – Vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 1,722. – Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before June 7 and received by June 10: 426. – Provisional ballots: 833.
Fridley explained that provisional ballots may be entirely counted, partially counted or not counted.
After the election has been certified, provisional voters may contact the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 to find out if their vote was counted and, if not, why it was not counted.
Fridley also offered a breakdown of ballots remaining to be counted by supervisorial district and Measure U, the Kelseyville Unified School District's bond measure:
– Supervisorial District 1: 1,813. – Supervisorial Districts 2 and 3: 2,339. – Supervisorial District 4: 1,912. – Supervisorial District 5: 1,855. – School Bond Measure “U”: 1,753.
The 7,919 ballots that remain to be counted surpasses the numbers reported in the previous two primaries of note – the June 2014 primary, which has 6,053 still to be counted during the official canvass, and the June 2010 primary, which had 3,766 absentees and provisionals that had not been counted on election night, as Lake County News has reported.
For comparison, the recent numbers also are higher than the November 2014 election, which included supervisorial and other county races, when 5,536 ballots were counted during the canvass; and the 4,500 ballots that were tallied in the canvass in November 2010. A comparative count for November 2012 wasn't immediately available.
Once the count is final, the overall voter turnout picture is expected to significantly improve. The preliminary turnout estimate was 27.6 percent.
Fridley's office has 28 days during the official canvass period to finalize the count and certify the election results to the state.
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.
Scientists using radar data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have found a record of the most recent Martian ice age recorded in the planet's north polar ice cap.
The new results agree with previous models that indicate a glacial period ended about 400,000 years ago, as well as predictions about how much ice would have been accumulated at the poles since then.
The results, published in the May 27 issue of the journal Science, help refine models of the Red Planet's past and future climate by allowing scientists to determine how ice moves between the poles and mid-latitudes, and in what volumes.
Mars has bright polar caps of ice that are easily visible from telescopes on Earth. A seasonal cover of carbon-dioxide ice and snow is observed to advance and retreat over the poles during the Martian year.
During summertime in the planet's north, the remaining northern polar cap is all water ice; the southern cap is water ice as well, but remains covered by a relatively thin layer of carbon dioxide ice even in southern summertime.
But Mars also undergoes variations in its tilt and the shape of its orbit over hundreds of thousands of years. These changes cause substantial shifts in the planet's climate, including ice ages. Earth has similar, but less variable, phases called Milankovitch cycles.
Scientists use data from MRO's Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) to produce images called radargrams that are like vertical slices though the layers of ice and dust that comprise the Martian polar ice deposits. For the new study, researchers analyzed hundreds of such images to look for variations in the layer properties.
The researchers identified a boundary in the ice that extends across the entire north polar cap. Above the boundary, the layers accumulated very quickly and uniformly, compared with the layers below them.
“The layers in the upper few hundred meters display features that indicate a period of erosion, followed by a period of rapid accumulation that is still occurring today,” said planetary scientist Isaac Smith, the study's lead author. Smith led the work while at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, but is now at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.
On Earth, ice ages take hold when the polar regions and high latitudes become cooler than average for thousands of years, causing glaciers to grow toward the mid-latitudes. In contrast, the Martian variety occurs when – as a result of the planet's increased tilt – its poles become warmer than lower latitudes. During these periods, the polar caps retreat and water vapor migrates toward the equator, forming ground ice and glaciers at mid-latitudes. As the warm polar period ends, polar ice begins accumulating again, while ice is lost from mid-latitudes.
This retreat and regrowth of polar ice is exactly what Smith and colleagues see in the record revealed by the SHARAD radar images.
An increase in polar ice following a mid-latitude ice age is also expected from climate models that show how ice moves around based on Mars' orbital properties, especially its tilt. These models predict the last Martian ice age ended about 400,000 years ago, as the poles began to cool relative to the equator. Models suggest that since then, the polar deposits would have thickened by about 980 feet.
The upper unit identified by Smith and colleagues reaches a maximum thickness of 1,050 feet across the polar cap, which is equivalent to a 2-foot-thick global layer of ice. That is essentially the same as model predictions made by other researchers in 2003 and 2007.
“This suggests that we have indeed identified the record of the most recent Martian glacial period and the regrowth of the polar ice since then. Using these measurements, we can improve our understanding of how much water is moving between the poles and other latitudes, helping to improve our understanding of the Martian climate,” Smith said.
After 10 years in orbit, Mars Reconnaissance and its six science instruments are still in excellent shape.
“The longevity of the mission has enabled more thorough and improved radar coverage of the Martian poles,” said Richard Zurek, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “Our long life in orbit and powerful 3-D analysis tools are allowing scientists to unravel Mars' past climate history.”
The Italian Space Agency provided the SHARAD instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Sapienza University of Rome leads its operations. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the orbiter and supports its operations.
When it comes to “gun legislation,” not all politicians are liars; it’s just that about 90 percent of them give the other 10 percent a bad name!
It never ceases to amaze me how many “gun control” bills are written and passed merely on the basis of what our senators “think they know” or are told by other “anti-gun” politicians or the media. Many of them are deliberately lying for the purpose of their own personal agenda.
Responsible gun owners are tired of hearing comments like:
– “Ninety-nine percent of Americans want stricter gun laws.” – “The AR-15 rifle is a 'military style assault weapon that sprays bullets'.” – “The AR-15 stands for 'assault rifle'.” – “The 'bullet button' on an AR-15 makes magazine changes in the blink of an eye.” – “These new 'plastic pistols' can’t be detected at airport security and can be produced on a cheap 3-D printer.” – and, the popular “high capacity magazines for handguns.”
It’s sickening that so many politicians are repeating this garbage when they truly have no real knowledge of firearms and/or how to even handle a firearm.
Most of them want stricter gun laws for the working class Americans, yet they (and their entire families) are protected 24 hours a day … with guns.
I am wise enough to know that people who are definitely “pro-gun” or “anti-gun” will most likely not change their point of view. I am directing this to address the “neutral” population and those who fall into the category of “ignorance” regarding gun ownership.
Ignorance is not a bad thing – it just means you have not been educated on the facts.
If you have been informed of the facts but continue to stick your head in the sand, well, then most likely you are an idiot and I can’t help you there!
The worst offenders are people who have been educated with facts but deliberately lie to the American people because they have their own agenda of how we should live. Continually repeating these lies does not make it true, it just makes you a chronic liar.
Fact No. 1: When you hear a statement like “the polls show 99 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws,” that is a lie. What they mean is, a poll was paid for by billionaire Michael Bloomberg and results were obtained from his “anti-gun” organizations.
Fact No. 2: The AR-15 rifle was never designed for the military. It was designed for the civilian market and does not “spray bullets” like a military weapon.
Fact No. 3: The “AR” does not stand for “assault rifle” and it is not an assault weapon. The “AR” was merely the letter designation of the manufacturer, “Armalite”; the same as Glock designates their pistol models with “G-17” or Sig Sauer designates their models starting with “P-938.”
Fact No. 4: The “Bullet Button” (prior legislation made it mandatory on a AR-15 in California) is extremely hard to manipulate, especially under stress. It cannot be depressed in the “blink of an eye.” I challenge anyone to come out to the range and demonstrate how fast they can manipulate this device to change magazines.
Fact No. 5: These so-called “plastic pistols” most certainly can be detected at airports and security screening facilities and in no way be completely produced with a 3-D printer. If you are anti-gun and believe this, you should “print one” and test fire it yourself. You are more of an idiot than I thought!
Fact No. 6: The “standard capacity” magazines for most handguns today is 12 rounds, 13 rounds, 15 or even 17 rounds. The “high capacity” magazines are the 34-round, 50-round or 100-round. Our California anti-gun politicians gave the term “high capacity” magazines to any magazine that holds more than 10 rounds.
I suggest you get out to your local gun range and get the facts for yourself. Even if you don’t want to own a firearm or participate in the shooting sports, at least get out to the range or talk to one of the range officers of our local law enforcement and get the facts.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The 2016 Lake County Wine Awards Competition hosted by the Lake County Winery Association at Langtry Estate wrapped up on Thursday, with 10 professional wine judges tasting 129 wines during the two-day competition.
At the end of the judging, six wines were awarded the coveted Sweepstakes awards, the “best of the best” red, white, pink and dessert wines.
Gregory Graham 2015 Sauvignon Blanc was named the White Sweepstake winner. The wine is made with winegrapes from the Windrem Vineyard in the Big Valley District AVA, an area in Lake County known for producing stellar Sauvignon Blanc winegrapes and wines.
The judges selected two wines for the Red Sweepstake. The Obsidian Ridge 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon shared the honors with Steele Stymie 2012 Merlot. The Obsidian Ridge label is produced by Tricycle Wine Partners in Sonoma County with vineyards located in the Red Hills Lake County AVA. Steele Stymie is well known Lake County winemaker Jed Steele’s premium label.
Cache Creek Vineyards took home the Pink Sweepstake award for their 2014 Rose. The Specialty / Dessert Sweepstake was also a tie with Chacewater Winery & Olive Mill receiving the award for their 2015 Bartolucci Vineyards Muscat Canelli and Gregory Graham earning the same award for his 2014 Bartolucci Vineyards Moscato del Fresco.
When asked for her reaction to the Competition, Deborah Parker Wong, member of the 2016 judges panel and Northern California editor for The Tasting Panel Magazine noted, “I’ve never been prouder of the winegrowers and producers in Lake County than I was on Thursday morning when we sat down to survey the work we had done the day before.”
Lake County’s Stephanie Green echoed Wong’s sentiments. “The winemakers and the farmers truly worked together bringing out the truest of our Terroir in each region. What an incredible tasting competition making it easy to give gold medals that were well deserved but making it extremely difficult to choose sweepstakes and best of class.”
The judges’ thoughts supported the comments from the Lake County wine industry.
“Over the past couple of years, we have seen an impressive jump in the caliber of wines made from Lake County fruit, and that showed again at this year’s competition,” said Debra Sommerfield, president of Lake County Winegrape Growers. “Winemakers have come to know that grapes grown in this high-elevation region deliver consistent quality and excellent color and phenolics that contribute an intensity and distinct flavor profile to their wines.”
Sommerfield added, “It’s wonderful to see how many of the award-winners were made with grapes from some of our region’s most prized vineyards. Congratulations to the winemakers for crafting such impressive wines and the winegrowers for producing such high-quality grapes.”
Lake County Winery Association Executive Director Terry Dereniuk agreed with Sommerfield’s comments. “It was exciting to hear the judges talk about how good the wines were again this year. The competition results continue to highlight the quality that you get when you purchase Lake County wines.”
The full results of the competition will be available online at www.lakecowineawards.org by June 24.
The panel of 10 judges drawn from the wine industry, education, and media convened on Wednesday to blind taste and evaluate the wines using the West Coast style of judging.
Judging this year were Carl Brandhorst, president of Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, Fairfax, Va.; John Buechsenstein, wine educator/sensory evaluator, The Culinary Institute of America and UC Davis; Martha Dunne, author "Wait, What Do You Mean?" Asperger's Tell & Show, Sacramento; and Mike Dunne, contributing wine columnist, the Sacramento Bee.
Also on the panel were Rick Fraga, wine education / hospitality at Martinelli Winery, Windsor; Stephanie Green, sommelier and wine educator, Kelseyville; Ellen Landis, Wine journalist/certified sommelier/wine educator, Vancouver, Wash.; Ken Landis, chef and former owner of Landis Shores Oceanfront Inn, Vancouver; Tom Simoneau, KSRO Wine Guy, and owner of Simoneau Vineyards, Healdsburg; and Deborah Parker Wong, Northern California editor, Tasting Panel Magazine, San Francisco.
The public will have an opportunity to taste the Gold medal winners during the People’s Choice Wine Tasting on July 30 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Moore Family Winery in Kelseyville.
The event will open with a blind tasting of Lake County wines entered by the wineries. Participants will be invited to experience wine like the professionals as they test their palates to select the People’s Choice.
The afternoon will include a food and wine pairing demonstration by Chic le Chef, olive oil tasting with local producers, and dancing to music provided by Grand Slam DJ’s. For information and tickets go to www.lakecountywineries.org .
Fishing for salmon and rockfish with mixed tackle?
Question: I fish out of Port San Luis. When fishing for salmon in a private boat, as long as I am trolling with barbless hooks, am I allowed to have barbed hooks in my boat? I am asking because we would like to troll for salmon in the morning and rockfish in the afternoon.
Last year we didn't know what to do so we fished with salmon gear in the morning, then came back in and swapped for our rockfishing gear. That extra trip cost us two hours of travel time and a lot of extra fuel.
When asking around I heard from one guy that I was not allowed to have barbed hooks in the boat while salmon fishing, but then another guy said it was ok to have barbed hooks in the boat as long as I was trolling barbless hooks.
What’s the correct answer? (Carl R.)
Answer: You can have the two types of gear on the boat, but since you’re fishing north of Point Conception, once you begin fishing for salmon or have salmon on board, you can troll using only one line with up to two single-shank, barbless hooks regardless of what you’re fishing for (California Code of Regulations Title14, section 27.80(a)(2)).
You did mention that you’re usually trolling, but if you’re mooching for salmon using bait and not trolling, you’re allowed to use only barbless circle hooks between Point Conception and Horse Mountain.
For complete salmon fishing regulations, please visit our ocean salmon Web site. For a summary of the recreational groundfish (including rockfish) fishing regulations for 2016, please check our regulation summary tables online at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Salmon .
Complete sport fishing regulations are also available online. Regulation booklets are available for download at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Sport-Fishing ; paper copies are also available at your local California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) office and wherever sport fishing licenses are sold.
Rather than casting, a remote control boat to take lure out?
Question: Can I use a remote control boat to drop my lure farther out than casting and then bring the remote control boat back to shore while waiting for a bite?
The lure is connected to a fishing pole through 50 pound test braided line. The remote control boat will not be used to assist in pulling the fish out of the water. The lure and the sinker will be lifted off the water while the boat is moving farther off the shore.
Once the distance is far enough, then the lure and the sinker will be released and the remote control boat will head back to the shore for battery charging. Is this operation legal? (Lawrence C.)
Answer: Yes. There’s nothing in the Fish and Game Code or Title 14 regulations prohibiting the use of a remotely controlled boat to get your terminal gear out to locations beyond where you can cast. Some people also use kites for this purpose.
Selling a Canadian mounted full size bear?
Question: I purchased a full size mounted black bear from a machine shop owner in 1996. The machinist told me he bought the bear from a store in Canada in 1982 and brought it back to California for display in his shop.
He didn’t provide me with any kind of paperwork confirming this. I just bought it by chance when I saw it in his office while having some metal parts fabricated for a job.
I know it’s illegal to kill game in California and sell it for profit, but is it also illegal for me to sell the bear I have that isn’t even from California? I’ve had the bear for about 20 years and now it’s time to pass it to someone else to appreciate.
Do you have any advice? The last thing I want to do is unknowingly break a state law and get arrested. (Steve H., Long Beach)
Answer: It is unlawful to sell, buy or possess for sale the meat, skin, hide, teeth, claws or other parts of any bear in this state (FGC, section 4758).
Unfortunately, this section applies to all bears, including those lawfully taken out of the state, and this is one of the few violations in the code that may be punished as a felony.
In addition, FGC, section 3039 prohibits selling or purchasing any part of a bird or mammal found in the wild in California, and this includes taxidermy mounts. However, for purposes of passing it to someone else to appreciate, you can give your mount away.
Your best bet might be to contact a museum, school or service club to see if they might want it.
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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