KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Firefighters have stopped forward progress on a vegetation fire that began Monday afternoon near Kelseyville.
The Kelsey fire was first reported just before 2 p.m. in the 9500 block of Kelsey Creek Drive near Conklin Lane and Carder Road, according to radio reports.
Kelseyville Fire, Lakeport Fire and Cal Fire were dispatched, with Cal Fire’s response including tankers and helicopters.
The first units on scene reported that it was three to four acres with a west wind on it and one structure threatened. Due to it being near homes a deputy was requested to respond.
Just before 2:30 p.m., the Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued a Nixle alert ordering residents in the area to evacuate.
By 3 p.m., the sheriff’s office had followed up by issuing an advisory evacuation for one mile out from the south of intersection of Kelsey Creek Drive and Wight Way.
Minutes later, incident command reported that forward progress had been stopped on the fire, which was being held to 20 acres.
At 3:45 p.m., the sheriff’s office lifted the advisory evacuation notice but officials urged area residents to remain vigilant due to the windy conditions.
Incident command reported that there is a small spot fire on the incident’s right shoulder, with firefighters working their way around it. It was estimated to be about a quarter-acre in size.
The forward rate of progress on that spot fire was reported to have been stopped just after 4:30 p.m., according to scanner reports.
Just before 5 p.m., incident command reported the main fire was 75-percent contained, with firefighters working to address a third spot fire.
Reports from the scene stated that two engines will be kept at the scene overnight, with most of the rest of the engines expected to be released by 10 p.m.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
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.
Labor Day is a U.S. national holiday held the first Monday every September. Unlike most U.S. holidays, it is a strange celebration without rituals, except for shopping and barbecuing. For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and the start of the school year.
The holiday’s founders in the late 1800s envisioned something very different from what the day has become. The founders were looking for two things: a means of unifying union workers and a reduction in work time.
History of Labor Day
The first Labor Day occurred in 1882 in New York City under the direction of that city’s Central Labor Union.
In the 1800s, unions covered only a small fraction of workers and were balkanized and relatively weak. The goal of organizations like the Central Labor Union and more modern-day counterparts like the AFL-CIO was to bring many small unions together to achieve a critical mass and power. The organizers of the first Labor Day were interested in creating an event that brought different types of workers together to meet each other and recognize their common interests.
However, the organizers had a large problem: No government or company recognized the first Monday in September as a day off work. The issue was solved temporarily by declaring a one-day strike in the city. All striking workers were expected to march in a parade and then eat and drink at a giant picnic afterwards.
Labor Day came about because workers felt they were spending too many hours and days on the job.
In the 1830s, manufacturing workers were putting in 70-hour weeks on average. Sixty years later, in 1890, hours of work had dropped, although the average manufacturing worker still toiled in a factory 60 hours a week.
These long working hours caused many union organizers to focus on winning a shorter eight-hour work day. They also focused on getting workers more days off, such as the Labor Day holiday, and reducing the workweek to just six days.
These early organizers clearly won since the most recent data show that the average person working in manufacturing is employed for a bit over 40 hours a week and most people work only five days a week.
As the U.S. economy expanded beyond farming and basic manufacturing in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it became important for businesses to find consumers interested in buying the products and services being produced in ever greater amounts. Shortening the work week was one way of turning the working class into the consuming class.
Common misconceptions
The common misconception is that since Labor Day is a national holiday, everyone gets the day off. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While the first Labor Day was created by striking, the idea of a special holiday for workers was easy for politicians to support. It was easy because proclaiming a holiday, like Mother’s Day, costs legislators nothing and benefits them by currying favor with voters. In 1887, Oregon, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey all declared a special legal holiday in September to celebrate workers.
Within 12 years, half the states in the country recognized Labor Day as a holiday. It became a national holiday in June 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the Labor Day bill into law. While most people interpreted this as recognizing the day as a national vacation, Congress’ proclamation covers only federal employees. It is up to each state to declare its own legal holidays.
Moreover, proclaiming any day an official holiday means little, as an official holiday does not require private employers and even some government agencies to give their workers the day off. Many stores are open on Labor Day. Essential government services in protection and transportation continue to function, and even less essential programs like national parks are open. Because not everyone is given time off on Labor Day, union workers as recently as the 1930s were being urged to stage one-day strikes if their employer refused to give them the day off.
In the president’s annual Labor Day declaration last year, Obama encouraged Americans “to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities that honor the contributions and resilience of working Americans.”
The proclamation, however, does not officially declare that anyone gets time off.
Controversy: Militants and founders
Today most people in the U.S. think of Labor Day as a noncontroversial holiday.
The first controversy that people fought over was how militant workers should act on a day designed to honor workers. Communist, Marxist and socialist members of the trade union movement supported May 1 as an international day of demonstrations, street protests and even violence, which continues even today.
More moderate trade union members, however, advocated for a September Labor Day of parades and picnics. In the U.S., picnics, instead of street protests, won the day.
There is also dispute over who suggested the idea. The earliest history from the mid-1930s credits Peter J. McGuire, who founded the New York City Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, in 1881 with suggesting a date that would fall “nearly midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving” that “would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”
Later scholarship from the early 1970s makes an excellent case that Matthew Maguire, a representative from the Machinists Union, actually was the founder of Labor Day. However, because Matthew Maguire was seen as too radical, the more moderate Peter McGuire was given the credit.
Who actually came up with the idea will likely never be known, but you can vote online here to express your view.
Have we lost the spirit of Labor Day?
Today Labor Day is no longer about trade unionists marching down the street with banners and their tools of trade. Instead, it is a confused holiday with no associated rituals.
The original holiday was meant to handle a problem of long working hours and no time off. Although the battle over these issues would seem to have been won long ago, this issue is starting to come back with a vengeance, not for manufacturing workers but for highly skilled white-collar workers, many of whom are constantly connected to work.
If you work all the time and never really take a vacation, start a new ritual that honors the original spirit of Labor Day. Give yourself the day off. Don’t go in to work. Shut off your phone, computer and other electronic devices connecting you to your daily grind. Then go to a barbecue, like the original participants did over a century ago, and celebrate having at least one day off from work during the year!
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Bike Angels United is planning its seventh giveaway for fire survivors and children in need this fall.
The giveaway for survivors of the Pawnee fire and Mendocino Complex will take place at the Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge on Saturday, Nov. 10.
Bike Angels is an all-volunteer group formed by Candy Alcott of Livermore.
Alcott’s original goal was to bring joy to the families and children affected by the 2015 Valley fire.
Since then, the group has continued its giveaways in response to the other wildfire disasters the county has endured.
Alcott said that hundreds of people have continued to support the group’s efforts for three years.
Now, they’re asking for more support as they prepare for their November giveaway.
Bicycles, new or gently used, and new helmets are needed.
Donations are also needed to fix bikes for the November giveaway.
Alcott said new bikes and helmets can be purchased online at www.walmart.com and shipped to the Clearlake Walmart (store No. 1979) for Bike Angels United. The order confirmation number should then be messaged to Alcott or to the Bike Angels United Facebook page.
For more information call Alcott at 850-375-8492 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on Facebook contact Bike Angels United.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department is attempting to locate two men it said attempted to kill another man on Sunday evening.
Alberto Garcia, 33, and Antonio Perez, believed to be about 30 years old, are being sought in the case, police said.
The agency said that on Sunday evening officers were dispatched to a Royale Avenue address for a disturbance.
Evidence and witnesses at the scene indicated that Garcia and Perez went to the residence of the 27-year-old male victim to confront him regarding a domestic issue, police said.
A violent encounter ensued and the victim was ultimately hit in the head with a large sharp metal object and received significant injuries, according to police.
Police said one of the suspects fled the scene on foot and the other fled in a silver Ford F-150.
Officers tracked the suspects movements to another location in Lakeport but determined they had fled from there as well, police said.
Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing with multiple officers and agencies involved.
Police said Garcia and Perez are being sought for attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon and battery causing great bodily injury. They may still be armed with a knife and considered dangerous.
If you see the suspects or vehicle, do not approach them and notify Lakeport Police or your local law enforcement agency.
Anyone with information can reach the Lakeport Police Department by phone at 707-263-5491, by sending a private message to them on Facebook or by sending an anonymous message from your cell phone by texting the words TIP LAKEPORT followed by your message to 888777.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Fire crews are closing in on full containment on the massive Mendocino Complex, which officials now expect will be fully contained in another week.
The complex continues to be managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service and California Interagency Incident Management Team 3 under Incident Commander Mark von Tillow.
The U.S. Forest Service said the complex remained at 459,123 acres on Sunday, with containment up to 97 percent, the first containment increase in a few days.
The Ranch fire, which remains the complex’s active portion, is at 410,203 acres and 97-percent containment, officials said.
The River fire was contained at 48,920 acres nearly three weeks ago. The Forest Service said suppression repair on that part of the complex has been completed.
The Forest Service said the date for full containment on the complex has been moved back by eight days to Sept. 9.
Approximately 980 personnel, 27 engines, 21 hand crews, one helicopter and a dozer remain assigned to the complex, officials said.
The Forest Service said steady progress is being made in the final suppression operations of the Ranch fire, where the last section of uncontained fireline remains west of Stonyford within the forest boundary.
The remaining uncontrolled fire line, shown in red on the map above, is located around the Colusa-Glenn County border near Fouts Springs.
The weather forecast shows temperatures in the high 90s, the hottest in two weeks. While the Forest Service said fire activity will increase within the perimeter, it is not expected to challenge the fireline.
On Sunday, the Forest Service said firefighters were monitoring interior burning, extinguishing hot spots and pulling excess hose and equipment off firelines.
Fire crews have completed 364 miles of suppression repair, primarily on the west and north sides of the fire, officials said.
In addition, about 670 miles of fireline have been identified for suppression repair, though this number is expected to increase as more repair needs are reported, the Forest Service reported.
Despite the destruction the fire has caused in public lands, there are signs that wildlife is surviving. Officials shared a picture of a buck who this past week was seen hanging out near the fire camp in Stonyford.
The fire has continued to put up large amounts of smoke and haze, which blanketed Lake County as well as the Sacramento Valley throughout the weekend.
The Forest Service said the smoke and haze are expected to continue, noting that smoke from several fires burning in Northern California is expected to drift south and east over the Sacramento Valley and toward the coast.
Stonyford and Elk Creek will have heavy smoke impacts, while areas such as Clear Lake, Potter Valley, Covelo, Ukiah and the Sacramento Valley are expected to have moderate smoke impacts with potential for spikes of heavier smoke on Sunday.
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.
It is the unfortunate reality of the universe that life is not fair.
The world has no obligation to make our stay on it any better or worse than where our own actions take us.
For some people, life is a terrible thing to happen to them. For others, who learn to bend with the pressures of life rather than break, it holds limitless possibilities.
Take, by way of example, the little-known inventor Philo Farnsworth.
Philo was born in a log cabin in Indian Creek, Utah, in 1906. Stories tell us that from the time he could talk, he was asking questions about gadgets.
At 11, the boy and his family loaded up several wagons and made the long journey to Idaho, where they hoped to set up a new life.
On the way north, they stopped in Salt Lake City, where the electric street lights, cars and telephone wires set the young inquisitive boy agog with wonder.
The Farnsworths stayed a few years at an uncle's farm, which had electricity for light, heat and equipment.
It was while living here that Philo discovered his passion for tinkering and he routinely fixed the old generator and mechanical farm equipment on the farm.
His bedroom in the attic was full of science magazines, his favorite being Hugo Gernsback's “Science and Invention.”
He avidly followed the results of the magazine’s ongoing competition whereby readers from throughout the country submitted their inventions for consideration.
The magazine editors awarded prizes to the most spectacular inventions devised by their readership.
When he was 15 years old, his family moved out of his uncle’s house and onto their very own farm.
Shortly thereafter, Philo won Gernsback's first prize of $25 for best reader invention – he had built a magnetic car clock.
When he came of age, Philo attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where his family had recently moved. Unfortunately, when his father died suddenly a few years later, Philo dropped out of university to care for his now struggling family.
But that didn’t stop him from tinkering, and not long after dropping out of college, Philo attracted the attention of two investors.
With funding from these men, Philo moved with his new wife to a laboratory in San Francisco. It would be here that he would create his greatest invention to date.
For years, the young man had been kicking around the idea of transmitting images across space electronically.
The notion itself was nothing new and, in fact, other inventors throughout the world were struggling to develop just such a device – most notably, the Russian-born inventor Vladimir Zworykin at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Pittsburgh.
The race was on to develop the world’s first feasible television set.
On Sept. 7, 1927, in his small laboratory in San Francisco, Philo placed a slide containing an image of a triangle in front of a machine he called an Image Dissector.
Retreating to a back room, Philo gathered around a receiving tube and pressed the button to commence the experiment. As he watched, one line of the triangle appeared in a small bluish square of light on the receiver – he had done it, he had invented television.
If he thought fortune and fame would soon be his, Philo was sorely mistaken. The age of the idealist-inventor-turned-businessman was past. It was up to capitalists, not the inventor, to fully harness the possibilities of new inventions.
That, at least, is how David Sarnoff saw things. Sarnoff was the president of Radio Corporation of America, more commonly known as RCA, the biggest radio company in the nation.
When news reached him of this Philo Farnsworth and his unbelievable device, Sarnoff knew he had to control it. So, the businessman sent along Vladimir Zworykin, the Russian inventor who now worked for RCA.
Zworykin approached his fellow inventor with RCA’s offer of $100,000 for the rights of the television – an amount of money equivalent to roughly $1.5 million today. But this Utahan farm-boy had more guile in him that Sarnoff had supposed, and he obstinately refused to sell his brainchild for so cheap a price.
So Sarnoff resorted to the favorite weapon of all capitalists – the courts. Suing Philo for supposed copyright infringement, Sarnoff hoped to bog down the inventor in a sea of lawyer bills and complicated legal briefs. Philo was equally determined, however, and he travelled to Europe to drum up investors and when he returned to America, he gave Sarnoff the fight of his life.
After nearly a decade of court battles, Sarnoff recognized that his profit margins were quickly dissipating. In 1939, he caved and offered Philo Farnsworth a $1 million, multi-year licensing agreement for his device.
Sticking to his guns had allowed Philo to holdout and instead of a one-time payment of $100,000, he received what in today’s equivalent would be $16.8 million for licensing alone.
Despite his achievements, Philo Farnsworth never received the acclaim he so deserved. In 1957, he was a mystery guest on the game show “I’ve Got a Secret.” A panel of celebrities peppered him with questions about his secret, but failed to guess what it was: “I invented the television.”
Philo’s prize for stumping the panel was $80 and a carton of cigarettes.
No, life isn’t fair – even for those, like Philo, who fight for the just purpose of receiving due rewards.
But, we can take heart in the story of Philo Farnsworth. He, at least, was able to assuage the injuries done to him by impartial Fate with $16.8 million.
Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Miss Lake County Scholarship Competition, which is making its return this fall after a hiatus of several years, announced that it has a new October event date and is set to hold another orientation as well as its first rehearsal this week.
The pageant originally had been scheduled for Sept. 22, but due to the Mendocino Complex, the pageant committee decided to set a new date for Oct. 20 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.
The competition’s focus is to showcase the inner beauty, talent and intelligence of the young women of the Lake County community.
Contestants will will be judged on talent, evening gown, interview and an on-stage question.
There is no longer a swimsuit event attached to this competition thanks to the decision of the Miss America Pageant – the governing organization – to discontinue it beginning this year.
The new Miss Lake County will receive a $5,000 scholarship, but all contestants will qualify for some level of scholarship.
The next orientation for potential contestants will be held on Thursday, Sept. 6, in the upstairs conference room at Umpqua Bank, located 805 11th St. in Lakeport.
Anyone interested in the pageant is invited to attend and ask questions.
The first rehearsal for contestants is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8.
If you are interested in participating as a contestant, volunteer or sponsor please contact the committee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Firefighters on Sunday afternoon are at a new wildland fire near Highland Springs.
The Ridge fire was first reported just after 2 p.m. in the area of Highland Springs and Old Toll Road near Lakeport.
Units responding saw a large column of smoke and began requesting air resources.
The first firefighters on scene at about 2:15 p.m. reported that the fire already was four acres with a moderate rate of spread, with the potential for 100 acres.
About 10 minutes later, the fire was reported to be 10 acres, burning in heavy brush, with a moderate to rapid rate of spread, and more resources requested.
As of 2:30 p.m., resources requested were reported to include 10 engines – four from local agencies and six from Cal Fire – four water tenders, two dozers, seven tankers and several helicopters.
Units on scene later gave the precise address of the incident as 13387 Adobe Creek Road.
At 3:15 p.m., incident command reported the fire to be 30 acres, burning in brush downhill to the east, with a west wind on it.
Retardant has been put across the right flank and across the head of the fire, with a structure about a quarter mile out in front of it, according to radio reports.
Five additional Cal Fire engines and four additional crews requested were requested at that time.
Shortly before 4 p.m., the fire was reported to be 40 acres, with the forward rate of spread slowed due to retardant.
By 4:30 p.m., the fire was reported to be holding at between 35 and 40 acres, with retardant all around it and a dozer attempting to access the most active portion of the fire.
A short time later, incident command said the fire had been mapped by a helicopter at 36 acres and was 5-percent contained.
Just after 6 p.m., the fire was reported to be holding at 36 acres, with containment up to 15 percent.
Additional updates will be posted on this page.
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.
A planet-encircling dust storm on Mars, which was first detected May 30 and halted operations for the Opportunity rover, continues to abate.
With clearing skies over Opportunity’s resting spot in Mars’ Perseverance Valley, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, believe the nearly 15-year-old, solar-powered rover will soon receive enough sunlight to automatically initiate recovery procedures – if the rover is able to do so.
To prepare, the Opportunity mission team has developed a two-step plan to provide the highest probability of successfully communicating with the rover and bringing it back online.
“The Sun is breaking through the haze over Perseverance Valley, and soon there will be enough sunlight present that Opportunity should be able to recharge its batteries,” said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at JPL. “When the tau level [a measure of the amount of particulate matter in the Martian sky] dips below 1.5, we will begin a period of actively attempting to communicate with the rover by sending it commands via the antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Assuming that we hear back from Opportunity, we will begin the process of discerning its status and bringing it back online.”
The rover’s last communication with Earth was received June 10, and Opportunity’s current health is unknown.
Opportunity engineers are relying on the expertise of Mars scientists analyzing data from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to estimate the tau near the rover’s position.
“The dust haze produced by the Martian global dust storm of 2018 is one of the most extensive on record, but all indications are it is finally coming to a close,” said MRO Project Scientist Rich Zurek at JPL. “MARCI images of the Opportunity site have shown no active dust storms for some time within 3,000 kilometers [about 1,900 miles] of the rover site.”
With skies clearing, mission managers are hopeful the rover will attempt to call home, but they are also prepared for an extended period of silence.
“If we do not hear back after 45 days, the team will be forced to conclude that the Sun-blocking dust and the Martian cold have conspired to cause some type of fault from which the rover will more than likely not recover,” said Callas. “At that point our active phase of reaching out to Opportunity will be at an end. However, in the unlikely chance that there is a large amount of dust sitting on the solar arrays that is blocking the Sun’s energy, we will continue passive listening efforts for several months.”
The additional several months for passive listening are an allowance for the possibility that a Red Planet dust devil could come along and literally dust off Opportunity’s solar arrays.
Such “cleaning events” were first discovered by Mars rover teams in 2004 when, on several occasions, battery power levels aboard both Spirit and Opportunity increased by several percent during a single Martian night, when the logical expectation was that they would continue to decrease.
These cleaning dust devils have even been imaged by both rovers on the surface and spacecraft in orbit (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lfJ0c7WQ8 and https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/5307/the-serpent-dust-devil-of-mars/ ).
The chances are small that dust accumulation would be the root cause of Opportunity’s lack of communication. Nonetheless, each day during the passive phase, JPL’s Radio Science group will scour the signal records taken by a very sensitive broadband receiver of radio frequencies emanating from Mars, looking for a sign that the rover is trying to reach out.
Even if the team hears back from Opportunity during either phase, there is no assurance the rover will be operational. The impact of this latest storm on Opportunity’s systems is unknown but could have resulted in reduced energy production, diminished battery performance, or other unforeseen damage that could make it difficult for the rover to fully return online.
While the situation in Perseverance Valley is critical, the rover team is cautiously optimistic, knowing that Opportunity has overcome significant challenges during its 14-plus years on Mars.
The rover lost use of its front steering – its left-front in June of 2017, and right front in 2005. Its 256-megabyte flash memory is no longer functioning.
The team also knows that everything about the rover is well beyond its warranty period – both Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, were constructed for 90-day missions (Spirit lasted 20 times longer and Opportunity is going on 60 times).
The rovers were designed to travel about 1,000 yards, and Opportunity has logged more than 28 miles. Through thick and thin, the team has seen their rover soldier on.
Now, Opportunity engineers and scientists of Opportunity are planning, and hoping, that this latest dilemma is just another bump in their Martian road.
“In a situation like this you hope for the best but plan for all eventualities,” said Callas. “We are pulling for our tenacious rover to pull her feet from the fire one more time. And if she does, we will be there to hear her.”
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will honor the work of firefighters during the Mendocino Complex and consider taking a position against the proposition to repeal the gas tax that has helped the city make road repairs.
The council will meet for a closed session to discuss labor negotiations with unrepresented management and City Manager Margaret Silveira at 5:15 p.m. before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council will present a proclamation of gratitude to the Lakeport Fire Protection District for its service during the recent wildfires.
The district and Cal Fire were central to protecting the city from the River fire portion of the Mendocino Complex, which caused the city to be under a mandatory evacuation for several days at the end of July and start of August.
The council also will meet new employees Kris Perkins and Jonathan Ohlen, present a proclamation in honor of Gerald “Gerry” Mills, a longtime member of the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors, on his retirement from the board, and get an update from Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Dan Peterson on the hospital and its response to the wildfires.
Under council business, Silveira will present to the council a proposed resolution supporting opposition to Proposition 6, “Repeal of the Road Repair and Accountability Act,” which will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Council members also will consider adopting a proposed resolution adopting a grievance procedure under the American Disabilities Act, Notice under the Act and designating the Administrative Services director as the ADA coordinator; authorizing the purchase of a John Deere 210L Skip Loader; and direct the city’s voting delegate to the League of California Cities Annual Conference to support the two resolutions provided in the annual conference resolutions packet.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on Aug. 21; the Aug. 31 warrant register; review and filing of the fiscal year 2017-18 Civil Grand Jury Report response; and adoption of the proposed amendment to the Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Service Authority Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement to add a fifth voting member selected at large by the service authority.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – While weaving is an ancient and traditional craft, in the hands of dedicated and talented weavers, it’s also an art form.
Weaver extraordinaire Sheila O’Hara and her students returned to the Lake County Fair for the 10th year in a row to share and show their artwork.
On Saturday, several of the group were on hand for a demonstration using small table looms in the Little Theatre, which is the Textile and Clothing Building during the fair.
In the video O’Hara – who learned to weave as a child and holds a bachelor’s degree in weaving – and one of her students discuss their work and how their interest began.
O’Hara teaches all levels of weaving at my home studio on Tuesday afternoons and will have a booth at the upcoming Steele Wines Harvest Festival Oct. 13 and 14.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The county of Lake reported that its Mendocino Complex recovery coordinator will be holding office at several locations around the county in the coming week.
Lake County Recovery Coordinator Nathan Spangler will be available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, through Friday, Sept. 7, at the following locations:
· Wednesday, Sept. 5:Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Recovery Center at the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Community Center, 9460 Main St., Upper Lake.
· Thursday, Sept. 6, Spring Valley Community Center, 1300 Wolf Creek Road, Clearlake Oaks.
· Friday, Sept. 7: Nylander Park Visitor Center, 12588 Acorn St., Clearlake Oaks.
The Ranch and River fires, together known as the Mendocino Complex, have exacted a considerable toll upon County lands and residents, alike.
County and city, state and federal agencies, local and national nonprofit groups, and countless community members have risen up in response.
Needs remain, and full recovery will be a long-term effort. Many wildfire survivors were able to take positive steps by visiting the county’s local assistance center, receiving a variety of supports and services in Lucerne in early August.
Dozens more have connected with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get information on federal assistance, including grants and low-interest disaster loans.
FEMA’s Disaster Resource Center remains open Monday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Community Center, 9460 Main St., Upper Lake. The center will be closed for the Labor Day holiday, Monday, Sept. 3.
Each individual’s recovery journey is unique, and Lake County residents are understandably at various stages. Some are navigating initial responsive steps. Others, for example, have detailed questions regarding steps required to rebuild.
Some have practical needs, and may need to be pointed in the right direction to replace a vital document.
For others, emotional needs may be in the foreground, and the county can connect individuals with Behavioral Health and other supportive resources.
Given the diversity of emerging recovery needs and the geographic expansiveness of the Mendocino Complex disaster, it was decided to have Spangler travel to different locations around Lake County to connect with survivors.
“I am looking forward to meeting with Ranch and River fire survivors, helping to identify needs and available supports, and working with wildfire survivors to chart the best way forward,” said Spangler. “Whatever your recovery-related needs are right now, you are not alone. I hope to see many of you, and will happily do all I can to help make your next steps a little clearer.”
Spangler can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 916-521-7108.