MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center team invites the community to join a celebration of two years of exhibits, classes, music, poetry and other events.

The event will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, March 24, at the center, 21456 Highway 175, at the junction with Highway 29.

MAC opened in March of 2015, just six months before the Valley fire. Since then, it has presented 15 contemporary art exhibits, each highlighting work by Lake County artists.

This little volunteer-driven nonprofit is committed to contributing to the local economic and community recovery and development through the arts, and welcomes everyone to participate in enjoying the arts and creative expression. 

Come and dance with friends and neighbors and rejoice in the power of the arts to unite, heal and enrich our lives.

Friday’s event also will honor the memory of James Conlin, local musician and Middletown/Harbin resident who passed this February.

The $5 cover fee and no-host wine bar help support MAC's programming.

Learn more about MAC's classes, submitting work for exhibits and other programs or becoming a supporting member at www.middletownartcenter.org .

Save

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A family that survived the Valley fire is asking for help in locating its son’s prized possession, which was stolen from their temporary residence.

Last month, an as-yet known individuals or individuals stole a motorcycle belonging to 16-year-old Samuel Mijarez.

Making the theft of the motorcycle so much worse is that the family lost almost everything it owned in the Valley fire.

Mijarez is a junior at Lower Lake High School. He and his family moved from Nevada County to Lake County in 2015, according to his mother, Gayle Hill.

They had been living in Middletown only about three months when the Valley fire struck, destroying the home that the family recently had inherited, Hill said.

Since then, not unlike other Valley fire survivors, the family has not been able to return home. Instead, Hill said they’re living in a 15-foot travel trailer at the Lakefront Mobile Home and RV Park at 14581 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake.

Those who know Samuel – including friends, neighbors and, of course, his mom – praise him for being a fine young man, who stays out of trouble.

His mom said his strength and support during the trying times since the fire led her and her husband, Jason, to want to do something special for him, considering that he had lost everything during the fire.

So they saved up and in August purchased him an orange 2002 Suzuki SV650 motorcycle.

Mijarez took good care of the bike. He kept it shined up and posted pictures of it on his Instagram page. His mother said he was studying to get his motorcycle license so he could get out on the road.

Between 10 and 11 p.m. on the evening of Feb. 23, she ran a quick errand to Walmart to help friends. Hill estimated she was gone for 20 minutes. When she returned home, the motorcycle was gone.

Usually locked up, she said it had been left unlocked for a short time. That was long enough for someone to come and take it.

She said she and her son hit the road quickly, driving through the community looking for it. Hill also went into some of the city’s tougher neighborhoods to try to find it.

Her neighbors also helped get the word out. So far she said they’ve received many tips, but no leads that have taken them to the missing motorcycle.

Clearlake Police Officer Leo Flores said Hill reported the motorcycle stolen to the department.

“We’ve spent a lot of hard time pounding the pavement with Officer Flores,” Hill said.

At the time of the theft, the motorcycle was painted burnt orange, with an Xcite Motorsports sticker on its tank and a license plate of 21X9621, Flores said.

Flores said he expects the motorcycle may have been spray-painted a different color since it was stolen a month ago.

He said there were conflicting stories from neighbors regarding the theft, with some claiming they had video of the area at the time. But it turned out there was no video.

The names of several individuals who were suspected to have had something to do with the theft also were forwarded to police. Flores said police have followed up, and visited three homes in an effort to find the motorcycle.

“We have not been able to locate the bike,” said Flores.

He said vehicle theft – including motorcycles – is a common crime in the city.

Hill has hopes of still finding the bike, recalling a statistic that Flores shared with her – that more than 90 percent of stolen motorcycles are recovered.

“I’m trying my best to be positive,” she said, adding that she believes it’s close by, and they’re continuing to get tips.

Through it all, she said her son – though discouraged, and having the toughest time he’s had since the Valley fire – is behaving “way better than I would behave.”

If anyone has information about Samuel Mijarez’s stolen motorcycle, Flores said they can call the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251 and dial “1” to report it to dispatch.

Flores said anonymous reports are welcome, and police will follow up on them.

“We would love to have the bike back, and Samuel has hope for that,” said Hill. “That would be an awesome end to the story.”

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.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Sheriff’s detectives on Thursday arrested a Middletown man found to be in possession of child pornography, with authorities reporting that the man had a previous conviction in a similar case.

Lee Daniel Buckmaster, 39, was arrested for possession or distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography with a prior conviction and a violation of probation, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.

Brooks said that on Thursday the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit received a cyber tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children, or ICAC, server.

ICAC assists law enforcement by providing information regarding known or suspected child pornography that is transmitted via the Internet, Brooks said.

Detectives received the suspected child pornography photographs along with other information to assist in identification of the suspect, according to Brooks’ report.

In reviewing the tip, detectives quickly learned that the account holder was Buckmaster, who was previously arrested by the Major Crimes Unit for a similar offense during an investigation in October 2015, Brooks said. Detectives were aware that Buckmaster was on probation as a result of the previous case.

Detectives contacted Buckmaster on Thursday in the 21000 block of Pine Street in Middletown and conducted a probation search, Brooks said.

Brooks said items linking Buckmaster to the child pornography were located and he was placed under arrest.

Buckmaster was booked into the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility where he remains in custody on a no bail probation violation hold, Brooks said.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake Area Rotary Club Fire Relief Fund has organized a one-day tree planting project at Middletown Trailside Park and is looking for volunteers to come help plant 3,000 trees.

The event will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 25, at the park, located at 21044 Dry Creek Cutoff in Middletown.

Shortly after the Valley fire raged through the south end of Lake County, several nonprofit organizations established fire relief funds.

Two of them, the Lake Area Rotary Club Fire Relief Fund and #LakeCountyRising, recognized the sheer devastation to the forests in the affected areas.

In early October 2015, they collaborated with Charlotte Griswold, president of the Lake County Resource Conservation District; Greg Giusti, county director and forestry advisor for UC Cooperative Extension; and Korinn Woodard, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation District. 

With funding provided by these two fire relief funds, the Resource Conservation District arranged for the propagation of 100,000 native conifers for distribution to property owners in the affected area. The trees required a year of growth and are now ready to plant. 

As part of the project, it was agreed that several thousand of the trees would be set aside for a community tree planting project and the Middletown Trailside Park was identified as the appropriate location for such a project.

Volunteers are encouraged to bring shovels and other tree planting implements, wear appropriate attire (long sleeves, long pants, and closed-toed shoes), bring water and sturdy gloves. A barbecue lunch will be provided.

It is requested that volunteers RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the approximate number of people planning to attend. 

LARCA is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization comprised of the four Rotary clubs in Lake County: Lakeport, Kelseyville, Clearlake and Middletown.

The Fire Relief Committee was formed just two days after the outbreak of the Valley fire and to date has raised nearly $1,000,000 with much of that already distributed so far to the businesses, individuals and communities affected by the 2015 and 2016 fires. To learn more or to donate visit: www.larca5130.org .

#LakeCountyRising is a fundraising effort to support community rebuilding in the areas ravaged by recent wildfires in Lake County with a focus on livelihood, housing, and community needs.

The effort was initiated by three local organizations – the Lake County Winegrape Commission, Lake County Winery Association, and Lake County Wine Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that manages the collection and distribution of tax-deductible donations.

#LakeCountyRising has raised more than $1,000,000 with funds going to a wide range of community-based organizations to assist with post-fire recovery. Approximately a third of funds raised were used to support short-term needs, another third for medium-term needs, and the balance allocated to long-term community rebuilding. To learn more or to donate, visit: www.lakecountyrising.org .

The Lake County RCD is a “special district” of the state of California dedicated to the locally-led long term sustainable conservation and stewardship of natural resources and agriculture in Lake County. It helps private landowners manage their resources sustainably, acts as a focal point for local conservation efforts, and sponsors educational efforts to teach children and adults alike the importance of conserving natural resources.

Activities include soil and water conservation programs, wildlife habitat enhancement and restoration projects, invasive species management, watershed restoration, conservation planning, demonstration of new technologies, education, etc. To learn more visit www.lakercd.org .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Thursday, the Lake County Fire Protection District received unexpected but very good news – its Measure D parcel tax has passed.

The Registrar of Voters Office finished certifying the March 7 special election on Thursday afternoon, with the final results showing the measure got more than the needed two-thirds supermajority to go into effect.

The final ballot count released by Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley showed the measure passing by 67.4 percent to 32. 6 percent.

It needed at least 66.7 percent to pass because it is a specific tax. That meant that it required at least 1,314 “yes” votes. It got 1,325, just 11 more than it needed.

“We’re so happy,” Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta told Lake County News early Thursday evening.

The preliminary election results, released on the night of March 7, had suggested that the measure was failing by a narrow margin of approximately 10 votes, for an overall “yes” vote of 66.3 percent, or 1,133 ballots, to a “no” vote of 33.7 percent, or 565 ballots, as Lake County News has reported.

Still, Fridley’s office had up to a month to complete the work of the final election canvass, which included counting another 303 ballots – most of them vote-by-mail, otherwise known as absentees – that were not part of the preliminary election night tally.

In a March 10 report, she said those 303 ballots included 135 absentee ballots dropped off at the polls on the day of the election; 87 absentee ballots postmarked on or before March 7 and received at her office by the mail-in deadline of March 10; 49 absentee ballots that needed review for various reasons; and 32 provision ballots.

As it turned out, those ballots held the key to the shift in Measure D’s outcome, which went from a preliminary 66.3 percent preliminary yes vote to a 67.4 percent final yes vote. The shift in the no votes from preliminary to certified counts went from 33.7 percent to 32.6 percent, respectively.

The final vote count showed 1,325 votes in favor of Measure D, and 642 votes against it, according to Fridley’s certified numbers.

The final canvass also showed that 1,971 ballots were cast in the special March 7 election, of which 1,647 were absentees and 324 were cast at precincts. Total voter turnout was 23 percent of the 8,578 registered voters in the district, which covers 17 total precincts.

Measure D’s increase to the “yes” column was a 1.1 percent shift from the preliminary tally. In recent elections, the only measure to have a more significant shift toward a positive outcome in the final count was the city of Clearlake’s Measure V road sales tax, passed in November, which also needed a supermajority win.

After the preliminary Nov. 8 count, Measure V had a 67.3 yes vote, which after the final count of additional absentees and provisionals increased by 1.5 percentage points to the 68.8 percent reported at the conclusion of the final canvass in early December, as Lake County News has reported.

Good news and next steps

Sapeta said Lake County Fire Protection District’s phones were off the hook on Thursday afternoon as numerous people found out the finally tally results before district officials did.

With more than two weeks of nervous waiting now over, Sapeta said the good news was like a breath of fresh air for the district. He and the board had expected that they might have to look at cutting services or going back to voters at an upcoming election if the measure didn’t come through.

Sapeta said Measure D taxes livable space on parcels, not outbuildings, garages, barns or other structures. So the increase for people paying the current Measure F parcel tax of $60 on permitted dwellings will instead pay a total of $120, with Measure D canceling out Measure F.

Measure D does not impact the district’s fire mitigation fee, he added, which remains $1 per square foot.

Sapeta said Measure D is expected to bring in between $300,000 and $400,000 in additional revenues each year for the district.

That increased revenue will create financial sustainability in the district’s operations, which Sapeta said has been his goal since becoming chief several years ago.

The Lake County Fire Protection District currently has 23 paid staff to serve a 165-square-mile area that encompasses the city of Clearlake and Lower Lake, the county’s most populous area.

The district reported that its number of calls for service have grown by 267-percent over the last 20 years and is expected to continue to grow.

Currently, Sapeta said the district averages about 5,200 calls for service annually, from emergencies such as fires and vehicle crashes to medical aids.

Earlier on Thursday, in the hours before he found out Measure D had passed, the Lake County Fire District had 18 medical aid calls, and on three of those events had to call in Northshore Fire on mutual aid for coverage, Sapeta said.

“It was kind of monumental,” he said of the day’s heavy call load, adding that it put the importance of the passage of Measure D in perspective.

By this time next year, Sapeta said, he hopes calling for mutual aid in such situations won’t be necessary.

Next steps, said Sapeta, include the district board meeting to carry out the required formalities, including accepting the election results.

He’s then prepared to begin a full local and statewide recruitment for a total of six new full-time staffers, including three firefighter-emergency medical technicians and three firefighter-paramedics.

Those six new positions will fully staff Lower Lake Fire Station 65, which had been a main goal of Measure D, Sapeta said.

He said he’s hoping to have those six new jobs filled as soon as possible.

“There’s a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s all good work,” he 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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Saturday, April 1, has been set aside to honor Lake County senior citizens by a group hoping to make a difference in the lives of seniors, elders and the nonprofit centers that serve meals, both in-home and at the centers, and provide other support services.

Hosted by Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino, the daylong event is the inspiration of District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele.

The event is free to seniors 60 and over and includes lunch, keynote speakers, nonprofit board training, and more than 20 information and service booths.

Several sponsors are onboard including Lake County Senior Centers, Calpine at The Geysers, Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association, Lake Transit Authority and the Lucerne Community Clinic. The group encourages other sponsors to help support the first annual Senior Summit.

When E.J. Crandell, tribal chair of the Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino, approached his Council with the idea of hosting the summit, they were supportive.

“Bringing together all Lake County seniors to share experiences and learn more about the services and activities available to them just seemed like the right thing to do for the community,” said Crandell. “We are pleased to host the inaugural Senior Summit in Lake County.”
“With 21 percent of our Lake County residents over the age of 65 and senior centers struggling to provide meals, basic services and a place for seniors to gather, it’s time to find a long term solution to the funding crisis our centers are facing and to think ahead to the needs of a growing senior citizenry,” said Steele.

“It takes $254,000 to run our annual operation,” said Lakeport Senior Center Director Jonathan Crooks. “We receive only 45 percent of what it costs to keep the basic operation going, the rest we have to make up by fund raising – and that’s an ongoing struggle.”

Joyce Overton, executive director of the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake agreed. “We’ve begun a catering service to try to raise enough money to feed seniors in the Clearlake area. That’s a start but there are needs we know exist, especially for homebound seniors, that we can’t touch because we lack the financial resources.”

All senior centers are facing the same issues, a lack of resources. In some locations, like Upper Lake and Cobb, there are no centers. That’s why Steele is also working on launching the “Silver Foundation” at the Senior Summit.

The goal of the nonprofit foundation is to raise funds through grants, angel donations and trust fund endowments to help senior centers and related entities with funding for everything from food services, to new and expanded support programs, to facility maintenance.

“The Silver Foundation will also be in charge of holding an annual Senior Summit so we can build on each year’s experience,” said Steele.

Steele’s vision is cohesive and effective senior center operations that provide support, increase the quality of elder life in all sectors of the county – including the unincorporated areas, cities and tribal lands – by bringing together agencies, volunteers, businesses and donors with the same goals.

“Each center is independently operated and designed to fill the needs of their local communities. But the centers have one thing in common, insufficient resources, that’s where the Silver Foundation can help,” he said.

The April 1 event will kick off with a plenary session including keynote speaker, Prescott Cole, an attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform who will talk about predatory scams and elder abuse prevention.

Prescott was the inspiration behind a key piece of legislation, the Senior Fraud Prevention Act of 2000 and other elder financial abuse prevention bills.

Other speakers will be on hand as well as a plethora of information booths and workshops on a wide array of subjects and services.

More than 20 booths and workshops are scheduled covering topics such as nonprofit board training, health and nutrition, financial planning, home safety, emergency preparedness, Nordic walking, Tai Chi and much more.

A key aspect of the summit is training for current, new and prospective board members. Local senior centers are governed by nonprofit boards that have responsibility for fundraising, budget, policy and planning, among other things.

“We’re bringing in a professional trainer, Sue Haun, to conduct the workshop,” said Steele. “She is an experienced trainer with an extensive background in planning, nonprofit board development, fundraising and volunteer recruitment; all important aspects of the work nonprofits boards do.”

The idea is to help boards prepare for the growing needs of senior citizens as well as to identify generational differences in senior populations and find ways that seniors can give back to others in need.

“Senior citizens are diverse – some are homebound and need in-home support services while others want to stay active in their communities. The conference is designed to bring together seniors, service providers, volunteers, educators and anyone interested in helping to improve the quality of life for the large Lake County community of senior citizens,” Steele said.

In addition to the training, workshops and booths there will be time for some awards and fun. Several seniors from around the lake will receive special recognition from the event sponsors as well as from Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.

Free play, courtesy of Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino and raffle prizes donated by local vendors and individuals will be issued at the end of the day.

Pre-registration for the summit is encouraged. A site has been set up for this purpose, www.lcseniors.net . The event, which takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., is free to seniors 60 and over and includes lunch. Non-seniors can attend for $5. The event welcomes anyone who wants to take part in improving the lives of Lake County seniors.

For more information call 707-998-1302.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that the February median sales price for a single family residence rose 4.65 percent over the January median sales price.

The median sales price in February was $225,000 compared to $215,000 in January. The February 2017 median was 18.4 percent higher than February 2016 median of $190,000.

The number of sales in February was 47, down 19 percent from the 58 sales in January and down 13 percent from the 54 sales in February 2016.

“The trend over the last five years has been for the median sales price to reach a low in January and then move up throughout the year,” said LCAOR President Bobby Dutcher. “The first half of March is showing increased sales activity and we appear to be in a cycle that is similar to the last few years.”

Cash only financing accounted for 21.3% of the sales, down from 25.9 percent in January and 44.4 percent in February 2016. Conventional loan financing was used in 36.2 percent of the sales, up from 32.8 percent in January and 27.8 percent in February 2016.

There was a sharp increase in the percentage of transactions that were financed with FHA loans going from 1.34 percent in January to 23.4 percent in February. In February 2016 11.1 percent of the transactions were financed by the Federal Housing Administration.

FHA loans are designed for low-to-moderate income borrowers who are unable to make a large down payment.

The California Association of Realtors reported existing statewide single family home sales totaled 400,500 in February, down 4.7 percent from January and up 4.9 percent from February 2016.

The statewide median home price was $478,790, down 2.2 percent from January and up 7.6 percent from February 2016.

LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

February 2017
Median price: $225,000
Median days to sell: 55
Units sold: 47

January 2017
Median price: $215,000
Median days to sell: 56
Units sold: 58

February 2016
Median price: $190,000
Median days to sell: 81
Units sold: 54