The California Department of Public Health on Thursday launched an all-new, comprehensive opioid website that gives Californians a single source of prevention, data, treatment and support information.
The website, http://opioids.ca.gov, is part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s multi-pronged approach to connect Californians with information to prevent and reduce overdoses and deaths and support those struggling with substance use and addiction.
“Spreading awareness saves lives, and for the first time we are pulling together all of our opioid information in one place to help educate and protect our families and communities,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón. “Fighting the opioid epidemic requires a broad response at many levels of government, which can be challenging for everyday people to navigate. This site pulls all those efforts together into one place for youth, adults, care providers, schools and parents. In support of Governor Newsom’s master plan to tackle opioids, CDPH is excited to launch this all-encompassing website to spread awareness, increase education, provide resources, and help save lives."
Overdoses affect all of us: Nearly 7,000 Californians died from opioid-related overdoses in 2022 and opioids are a main driver of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. The new, easy-to-navigate site provides valuable information and education on preventing and treating opioid overdoses and substance use disorders, which is are crucial steps in fighting the ongoing epidemic across the country.
The website includes five main sections:
About: Comprehensive background on opioids and fentanyl, the serious harms they can cause, and the history of the opioid crisis.
Prevention: Prevention methods and strategies that anyone can use, including step-by-step guidance for responding to a suspected or confirmed opioid overdose.
Data & Information: The latest overdose and substance abuse and misuse data and trends.
Treatment & Support: Resources for those struggling with, or supporting someone with, an opioid use disorder.
California Action: Details on California’s efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic, including enforcement actions targeting traffickers and dealers.
Overdose prevention grants: Coinciding with the launch of http://opioids.ca.gov,, the state is awarding nearly $8 million in grants to local organizations to implement evidence-based and community-driven public health interventions for preventing overdose from fentanyl and other opioids.
The grants have been allocated to six organizations across the state, including two in Northern California, two in the Central Valley and two in Southern California. These grants will assist efforts to increase education, testing, recovery and support services.
How CDPH is taking action: In March 2023, Gov. Newsom announced the state’s Master Plan for tackling opioids in California, including over $1 billion in funds to curb opioid use and abuse. As a part of this plan and in addition to awarding these grants, CDPH has launched its all-new website, began the first phase of a comprehensive opioid education and awareness campaign, implemented the Campus Opioid Safety Act, developed and distributed various promotional and information assets, and more.
For additional information on opioids, please visit CDPH’s all-new California’s Opioid Response website.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — At a community meeting in Woodland on Wednesday hosted by the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service, attendees called on President Joe Biden to expand Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
Nada Wolff Culver, principal deputy director at the Bureau of Land Management, Karen Mouritsen of BLM California, and Wade McMaster, Mendocino National Forest supervisor, representing Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien attended the meeting and heard from over 75 speakers who unanimously expressed their support.
Attendees included tribal leaders, local elected officials, scientists, conservation advocates, outdoor recreationists, and local residents and community members.
Over 88,000 supporters have signed a petition urging President Biden to use the Antiquities Act to expand the monument.
The proposed expansion area - Molok Luyuk - is located on the eastern edge of the existing monument and includes 13,753 acres of BLM-managed public lands in Lake and Colusa County.
Expanding the monument will help safeguard lands that are sacred to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and preserve important wildlife corridors and the area’s distinct biodiversity.
“Many of the plant and animal species within Molok Luyuk are traditionally important to the lifeways of the Patwin people, and we consider their protection and stewardship to be part of our sacred responsibility to the land,” said Yocha Dehe Tribal Chairman Anthony Roberts.
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which is requesting the expansion, has a long and significant connection to Molok Luyuk, stretching back thousands of years. The ridge includes areas where religious ceremonies are practiced and sites that were central to vital trading routes.
A key goal of this effort is also to establish co-management with federally recognized Tribes and to return to an Indigenous name for these lands. Molok Luyuk is Patwin for “Condor Ridge” and is a name provided by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. Currently, the area is referred to as “Walker Ridge.”
“Molok Luyuk is a special and sacred place for area tribes and for many local residents who enjoy recreation activities like hiking and mountain biking,” said Lake County Supervisor E.J. Crandell, a member of the Robinson Rancheria Tribe. “The natural beauty of our home also drives tourism, which is key to the economic vitality of the region. Protecting these beautiful lands would be a gift to future generations.”
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument stretches from Napa County in the south to Mendocino County in the north, encompassing 330,780 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
President Barack Obama designated the national monument in 2015 using the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law that grants U.S. presidents the ability to designate federal public lands, waters, and cultural and historical sites as national monuments.
Earlier this year, elected officials, community leaders, and residents joined Senator Padilla, the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, Representative John Garamendi, Representative Mike Thompson and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in calling on President Biden to expand Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument using the Antiquities Act.
Northern California tribes, local elected officials, businesses, neighboring landowners, and over 300 scientists support the proposed expansion.
Supporters consider the Wednesday meeting a critical step forward in the effort to protect Molok Luyuk and follows a September visit to the area from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning.
“Molok Luyuk is a gem of rich cultural heritage and history, diverse wildlife and rare plants, stunning natural beauty, and accessible recreational activities,” said Sandra Schubert, Executive director of Tuleyome, leader of a local conservation organization. “We are deeply grateful to BLM Deputy Director Nada Culver and Wade McMaster of the USFS for spending the time to listen to our community's desire to protect these special lands right in their backyard. We urge President Biden to expand the existing monument and permanently protect the entirety of Molok Luyuk.”
The proposed expansion area includes oak woodlands, rocky outcroppings, wildflower meadows, the largest known stand of McNab cypress, and dozens of rare plant species. Protecting the landscape would help the state of California and the Biden Administration meet their shared goals of protecting 30% of lands and waters by 2030.
“As an avid OHV recreationist, I strongly support expanding Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to include Molok Luyuk,” said Don Amador, former chair of the CA State Park Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission and one of three OHV users who spoke at the meeting in favor of the expansion. “The permanent protection of Molok Luyuk will improve the management of these lands and increase public access to recreation opportunities. This is a win-win for our community and I add my voice in support of President Biden using the Antiquities Act to expand the monument.”
To learn more about this effort and to sign a petition in support of the expansion of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, visit www.expandberryessa.org.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Organizers of the annual holiday Wreaths Across America ceremonies planned for this weekend are inviting residents across Lake County to take part and remember the sacrifices of veterans.
The ceremonies will take place at five cemeteries around Lake County beginning at 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday, Dec. 16.
They will be held at the Hartley, Kelseyville, Lower Lake, Middletown and St. Mary’s cemeteries.
This year the theme is, “Serve and Succeed.”
Wreaths Across America has three goals: To remember the fallen, honor those who serve and their families, and teach children the value of freedom.
Youth and veterans organizations have volunteered to conduct the Wreaths Across America ceremonies this year.
Eight ceremonial wreaths will be placed to remember all soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who served, honor their sacrifices and teach our younger generations about the high cost of our freedoms.
Wreaths Across America pursues its mission with nationwide wreath-laying events amid the holiday season, and year-round educational outreach inviting all Americans to appreciate our freedoms and the cost at which they are delivered.
Specially designated wreaths for the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, Space Force and POW/MIA will be placed on memorials during a ceremony that will be coordinated simultaneously at over participating locations all across the country and overseas.
In 2022, more than 2.7 million veteran wreaths were placed on headstones at 3,702 participating cemeteries around the country in honor of the service and sacrifices made for our freedoms, with each name said out loud.
More than 644 truckloads of wreaths were delivered across the country by hundreds of volunteer professional truck drivers.
Every person has something to give, whether it is their time, ideas, compassion or resources. Mother Teresa said it best: “The greatest good is what we do for one another.”
Take an hour amid the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, bring your families to one of these heartfelt ceremonies on Saturday and help lay a wreath as part of remembering and honoring our veterans and teaching our children the value of the sacrifices that have been made.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has many dogs ready to join new homes for the holiday season.
The Clearlake Animal Control website lists 40 adoptable dogs.
Up for adoption is “Dandelion,” a female Doberman pinscher mix with a tricolor coat.
Also available is “Boo,” a male Alaskan husky mix with a gray and tan coat.
Click a number to change picture or play to see a video:
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that home sales this fall have continued to strengthen and are nearly on par with numbers a year ago.
Over the month of October, a total of 78 single family homes were sold through the multiple listing service, compared to 65 in September and 83 sold a year ago during the month of October 2022. These include traditionally built “stick-built” houses as well as manufactured homes on land, the association, or LCAOR, reported.
There were nine sales of mobile homes in parks in October, compared to six in September and seven sold during the month of October 2022.
For bare land (lots and acreage) 24 were sold in October, which is the same number of closed sales in September and lower than the 27 during October 2022.
As of the end of November, there were 427 “stick built” and manufactured homes on the market right now. If the rate of sales stays the same at 78 homes sold per month, there are currently 5.47 months of inventory on the market at the moment. That means that if no new homes are brought to the market for sale, in 5.47 months, all of these homes would be sold and there would be none available.
Less than 6 months of inventory is generally considered to be a “sellers’ market” while more than 6 months of inventory is often called a “buyers’ market.”
October’s data is a shift from September’s, where more than six months of inventory were available.
Agents are reporting a drop in requests for property tours, and fewer clients writing offers, which is consistent with the national home sales data.
The total percentage of homes bought for all cash in October was as follows: 31% (compared to 45% for September and 25% for October 2022); 32% were financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (“conventional loans”) compared to 26% for September and 42% for the October 2022; 23% were financed by FHA (the same as September as well as for October 2022); 6% were financed by the VA or CalVet (unchanged from September and compared to 5% for October 2022); 3% had other financing such as private loans, USDA, or seller financed notes (compared to 0% in September, and compared to 1% for October 2022).
There is a new entry for buyer financing: 1% of the sales had an assumable loan, meaning that the buyers were able to take over the existing financing, which was probably with an extremely low interest rate. The homes in October sold at an average of 96% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract, but an average of 93% when compared to the original asking price when the property first came on the market.
This means that the asking home prices had been reduced from their original asking prices on the homes that sold before they actually sold. (In September homes sold for 97% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract, and 92% of the original asking price.)
A year ago in October, homes were selling at 97% of the asking price at the time the property went under contract and 89% when compared to the original asking price.
The median time on the market in October was 36 days, compared to 40 days in September and 37 days in October 2022.
The median sale price of a single family home in Lake County in October was $318,750, which is higher than the $249,000 median sale price for September but lower than the median sale price of $330,000 during October 2022.
This indicates that in October, the higher priced homes were selling in greater numbers to bring the median sale price up compared to September 2023, but in October 2022 the higher priced homes were selling at an even higher clip.
The median asking price of homes on the market right now is $372,000, which is a slight drop from October's $375,850.
In October, 40% of homes sold had seller concessions for an average concession of $9,069; these numbers are almost identical to September 2023, with 40% of homes sold having seller concessions for an average concession of $9,033.
In October 2022, 45% of homes sold had an average seller concession of $9,035.
Also in October, average concessions were higher for FHA ($9,749), while cash sales showed an average concession of $3,570, and buyers with a conventional loan had an average concession of $2,704.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Middletown Rancheria has received a grant from Pacific Gas and Electric for habitat restoration.
The PG&E Foundation has awarded $500,000 to five grantees — one in each of PG&E’s five regions — through its Better Together Nature Positive Innovation Grant Program.
The projects selected are meant to preserve California’s unique biodiversity, focusing on land, air quality and water stewardship.
On the North Coast, Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians is receiving a Better Together Nature Positive Innovation grant to develop and implement a project to protect native plants and animals on tribal land in Lake County.
“Middletown Rancheria looks forward to bringing increased community engagement, cultural understanding, respect, and protection of its ancestral territories' native species and habitats, and providing local environmental stewardship, through the tribe's Natural Biodiversity Project’s goals of education, outreach, and promotion of cultural keystone species and habitats in the region,” said Tribal Chair Moke Simon, who also serves on the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
“Tribal ecological knowledge sharing and outreach in our vulnerable communities can lead to a better understanding of the human effects on the natural landscape and its plants and animals. With the funding opportunity provided by The PG&E Corporation Foundation, the tribe will continue to work in support of a more comprehensive understanding of the region's biodiversity needs and struggles through this project,” Simon said.
Other Better Together program award recipients are Farm Discovery at Live Earth of Watsonville, Little Manila Foundation of Stockton, Maidu Summit Consortium of Chester and the Marine Science Institute of Redwood City.
These grants are funded by The PG&E Corporation Foundation. Charitable donations come from PG&E shareholders and other sources, not PG&E customers.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Wildlife disease specialists have confirmed the re-occurrence of the Eurasian strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in California wild birds.
In late October, Canada geese were found dead in Sacramento County and submitted to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Health Laboratory for testing.
Preliminary testing was performed at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory in Davis.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the detection of HPAI H5N1 in two Canada geese in early November.
Subsequent detections have been made in wild birds in several additional counties during mortality surveillance including from Contra Costa, San Diego, Santa Clara, Solano and Yolo.
Detections in waterfowl during hunter-harvest surveillance have been reported from Fresno, Glenn, Kern and Yolo counties.
Prior to these detections, the last confirmed detection in wild birds occurred in June 2023.
This strain of Eurasian HPAI H5N1 has been circulating in the United States and Canada since the winter of 2021-22, arriving in California in mid-July 2022.
In total, 354 confirmed detections of the virus were made in wild birds collected from 44 California counties during mortality surveillance conducted between July 2022 and June 2023.
Detections of the virus appeared to subside during spring and summer in California, as well as more broadly in the United States. Now, as waterfowl and other waterbirds are undertaking fall migration, cases again are on the rise.
Avian influenza spreads through direct bird-to-bird contact and may also spread to birds through contaminated surfaces including hands, shoes, clothing and hunting gear.
While the Centers for Disease Control considers the transmission risk of avian influenza to people to be low, residents and waterfowl hunters are advised to take precautions to protect themselves, hunting dogs, falconry birds, poultry and pet birds.
Steps that may help reduce the spread of HPAI:
Report dead wild birds, and other wildlife, to CDFW using the mortality reporting form. While it is not possible to test every wild bird for HPAI, all mortality reports are important and help disease specialists monitor the outbreak.
Report sick and dead poultry to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) hotline at 1 (866) 922-2473.
Prevent contact between domestic birds and wild birds, especially waterfowl. Exclude wild birds from accessing chicken or other domestic bird feed and water.
Do not feed waterfowl or other waterbirds at park ponds as it may increase the congregation of birds and contribute to disease spread.
Do not bring potentially sick wild birds home or move sick birds to another location.
Before transporting potentially sick wild birds to wildlife rehabilitation centers, veterinary clinics, or other animal facilities, contact the facility for guidance and to determine if the bird should be collected.
If recreating outdoors in areas with large concentrations of waterfowl and other waterbirds, wash clothing and disinfect footwear and equipment before traveling to other areas or interacting with domestic birds.
Where it can be done so safely, consider disposing of dead birds to help reduce exposure to new birds and minimize scavenging by birds and mammals that also may be susceptible to infection. Dead birds may be collected into a plastic bag and placed in the regular trash collection.
Additional safety recommendations for waterfowl hunters:
Harvest only waterfowl that look and behave healthy. Do not handle or eat sick game. Do not handle wild birds that are obviously sick or found dead.
Field dress and prepare game outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. Do not dress wild game in the vicinity of poultry or pet birds.
Wear rubber gloves or other impermeable disposable gloves while handling and cleaning game.
Remove and discard intestines soon after harvesting and avoid direct contact with intestinal contents. Place waste in a plastic bag and dispose in a garbage container that is protected from scavengers.
Do not eat, drink, smoke or vape while handling dead game.
When done handling game, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water (or alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are unavailable), and clean knives, equipment and surfaces that came in contact with game. Wash hands before and after handling any meat.
Keep harvested waterfowl cool (either with ice or refrigeration), below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, until processed, and then refrigerate or freeze.
Thoroughly cook all game to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit before consuming.
Clean and disinfect clothing, footwear and hunting gear before traveling to other areas. As appropriate, footwear and gear may be washed with soap and water, then disinfected in household bleach diluted 1:10 with water for at least 10 minutes.
Bathe hunting dogs with pet shampoo after hunting, and do not feed dogs raw meat, organs or other tissues from harvested waterfowl.
Falconers should avoid hunting waterfowl, and other waterbirds, during the HPAI outbreak.
For guidance on keeping domestic birds healthy, please visit the CDFA and USDA websites.
For guidance on orphaned or injured live wild birds, please contact your nearest wildlife rehabilitation center prior to collecting the animal. Be advised that some wildlife rehabilitation centers may have restrictions on the wildlife species they will admit.
Holiday shopping is in full swing, but city dwellers may have fewer options for buying in person than they did a few years ago. That’s because many large chain stores are pulling out of central cities.
This trend has been building for several years. Target made national headlines in 2018 when it closed its store in a predominantly Black Baltimore neighborhood after just 10 years of operation. COVID-19 sped things up by cutting foot traffic in city centers and boosting online commerce.
Target has closed additional stores in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens have also closed many urban stores.
Closures have spread to many suburbs and small towns. Retailers saddled with high debt, overexpansion, shoplifting losses, slumping sales and online competition are shedding stores fast. But this contraction lopsidedly affects city dwellers, who often lack the shopping options and price competition suburbanites enjoy.
The concept of letting shoppers serve themselves dates back to 1879, when Frank W. Woolworth opened his first store in Utica, New York. Its successors grew into the F.W. Woolworth chain of “five-and-dime” discount dry goods stores, which became fixtures of hundreds of cities, suburbs and small towns in the early 20th century.
Food stores followed suit in the early 1900s, beginning with the Alpha Beta chain in California in 1914 and Piggly Wiggly in Tennessee in 1916. Instead of having clerks gather customers’ orders from store shelves, these stores let shoppers loose in the aisles, then allowed them to pay at the end of their visit.
This approach seeded the meteoric rise of “big box” stores like Walmart and Target in the mid-20th century. With their low manufacturing costs, streamlined logistics, minimally staffed stores, national advertising and vast inventories, big-box chains drove many small retailers out of business – and most Woolworth stores, too.
Self-service came to rule the suburbs, where big chains could build mega-stores with plenty of parking. But they were rare in central cities for most of the 20th century, except for a few affluent enclaves, such as West Los Angeles or Chicago’s North Side. Generally, these chains avoided poor neighborhoods and many downtowns altogether.
As shoppers increasingly gravitated to suburban malls, many urban neighborhoods became retail deserts, with few vendors meeting local needs. Those that endured, often run by small-scale entrepreneurs, typically were businesses that offered a single type of product, such as grocery stores, delicatessens or pharmacies.
Chains discover downtowns
Harvard management professor Michael Porter drew attention to the lack of retail services in densely populated urban neighborhoods in a seminal 1995 article, “The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City.” Economic development, Porter argued, was key to revitalizing inner cities – and these zones housed a lot of potential customers.
“Even though average inner city incomes are relatively low, high population density translates into an immense market with substantial purchasing power,” Porter wrote. “Ultimately, what will attract the inner city consumer more than anything else is a new breed of company that is not small and high-cost but a professionally managed major business employing the latest in technology, marketing, and management techniques.”
Chains of many kinds began to rediscover the central city market in the early 2000s. Tax breaks and subsidized redevelopment projects often greased the wheels. Urban gentrifiers were reliably drawn to new urban chain stores like Target, Walmart and Whole Foods.
Many small retail shops now faced a juggernaut of national chains. One example was independent pharmacies: Between 2009 and 2015, 1 in 4 urban pharmacies in low-income neighborhoods closed.
And chain stores often failed to generate major benefits for their new neighborhoods. Employees had few chances for advancement beyond minimum-wage hourly work. Clustering of chain stores in prosperous neighborhoods and business districts failed to address “food deserts” in impoverished areas.
Broken big boxes
Certain qualities that made chains so successful – national sales strategies, self-service stores and brand awareness – are proving to be liabilities in today’s more complicated and divided urban context.
Retail executives and their trade associations have cited excessive shoplifting losses and weak law enforcement as factors in urban store closures, even though they have conspicuously failed to provide shoplifting data by location. There are signs, moreover, that shoplifting is receding, except for in a few large cities like New York.
In my opinion, there are three reasons why city chain stores are closing at such a high rate compared with those in suburbs.
First, despite job recovery in many cities since the pandemic, low-income urban households remain in crisis, with high rents and inflation driving up the cost of essentials. According to the nonprofit Brookings Institution, 9.6% of suburban residents lived in poverty in 2022, compared with about 16.2% in primary cities. Widespread poverty in a city like Baltimore, for instance, is reflected in the concentration of food banks on the west and east sides.
Less disposable income, compounded by shoplifting losses, can lead to store closures – especially since national chains like Target and Walmart expect the dollar value of sales from stores that have been open for more than a year to increase steadily over time.
Second, urban chains clustered too many of their own branches close together or too near other chains – usually in high-income residential or business districts. Manhattan below 96th Street is a clear example of this pattern. With affluent customers shifting to online shopping, and reduced foot traffic overall thanks to remote work, this aggressive strategy has failed.
Third, widely distributed media images of rampant shoplifting send a message at odds with these chains’ powerful brand images of order, safety and standardization. A small but rising share of shoplifting incidents since 2019 have involved assaults or other crimes. These events have the potential to scare executives concerned about employee lawsuits. Chains want urban locations but not “urban” reputations.
Retail flight
Large retail chains have finally figured out that cities aren’t suburbs. Those that remain are adding staff, scaling back self-checkout, checking receipts at exits and locking down higher-priced goods – essentially, abandoning the self-service model. However, these costly measures won’t bring back online-addicted shoppers or daily commuters, nor will they put more money in struggling consumers’ pockets.
Responding to retail association pressure, some city and state governments are imposing stricter punishments for shoplifting and cracking down on black-market vending on sites like Amazon and eBay. However, it isn’t clear that this get-tough approach can or should rescue the big-box model, since these stores failed to create safe, secure shopping environments in the first place.
As I see it, the urban chain store implosion raises questions about whether suburban-style retail really does much for cities. These stores are mediocre job creators, undercut local entrepreneurs, often pay relatively low property taxes and build ugly parking lots. They also don’t provide the kind of “eyes on the street” local security that small-scale shopkeepers do. In fact, their parking lots and open aisles seem to attract disorder.
Shoehorning suburban-style stores into urban neighborhoods now looks like a Band-Aid for much deeper urban problems. In my view, city leaders would do better to focus on building local capacity and protecting smaller stores that usually have greater local wealth-building potential, more reasonable growth expectations and the kind of personal service that naturally deters shoplifting.
Why, every Christmas, do so many people endure the mess of dried pine needles, the risk of a fire hazard and impossibly tangled strings of lights?
Strapping a fir tree to the hood of my car and worrying about the strength of the twine, I sometimes wonder if I should just buy an artificial tree and do away with all the hassle. Then my inner historian scolds me – I have to remind myself that I’m taking part in one of the world’s oldest religious traditions. To give up the tree would be to give up a ritual that predates Christmas itself.
The solstices, when the Sun is at its highest and lowest points in the sky, were major events. The winter solstice, when the sky is its darkest, has been a notable day of celebration in agrarian societies throughout human history. The Persian Shab-e Yalda, Dongzhi in China and the North American Hopi Soyal all independently mark the occasion.
The favored décor for ancient winter solstices? Evergreen plants.
Whether as palm branches gathered in Egypt in the celebration of Ra or wreaths for the Roman feast of Saturnalia, evergreens have long served as symbols of the perseverance of life during the bleakness of winter, and the promise of the Sun’s return.
Christmas slowly emerges
Christmas came much later. The date was not fixed on liturgical calendars until centuries after Jesus’ birth, and the English word Christmas – an abbreviation of “Christ’s Mass” – would not appear until over 1,000 years after the original event.
While Dec. 25 was ostensibly a Christian holiday, many Europeans simply carried over traditions from winter solstice celebrations, which were notoriously raucous affairs. For example, the 12 days of Christmas commemorated in the popular carol actually originated in ancient Germanic Yule celebrations.
The continued use of evergreens, most notably the Christmas tree, is the most visible remnant of those ancient solstice celebrations. Although Ernst Anschütz’s well-known 1824 carol dedicated to the tree is translated into English as “O Christmas Tree,” the title of the original German tune is simply “Tannenbaum,” meaning fir tree. There is no reference to Christmas in the carol, which Anschütz based on a much older Silesian folk love song. In keeping with old solstice celebrations, the song praises the tree’s faithful hardiness during the dark and cold winter.
Bacchanal backlash
Sixteenth-century German Protestants, eager to remove the iconography and relics of the Roman Catholic Church, gave the Christmas tree a huge boost when they used it to replace Nativity scenes. The religious reformer Martin Luther supposedly adopted the practice and added candles.
But a century later, the English Puritans frowned upon the disorderly holiday for lacking biblical legitimacy. They banned it in the 1650s, with soldiers patrolling London’s streets looking for anyone daring to celebrate the day. Puritan colonists in Massachusetts did the same, fining “whosoever shall be found observing Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way.”
German immigration to the American colonies ensured that the practice of trees would take root in the New World. Benjamin Franklin estimated that at least one-third of Pennsylvania’s white population was German before the American Revolution.
Yet, the German tradition of the Christmas tree blossomed in the United States largely due to Britain’s German royal lineage.
Victoria’s style of rule both reflected and shaped the outwardly stern, family-centered morality that dominated middle-class life during the era. In the 1840s, Christmas became the target of reformers like novelist Charles Dickens, who sought to transform the raucous celebrations of the largely sidelined holiday into a family day in which the people of the rapidly industrialized nation could relax, rejoice and give thanks.
His 1843 novella, “A Christmas Carol,” in which the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge found redemption by embracing Dickens’ prescriptions for the holiday, was a hit with the public. While the evergreen décor is evident in the hand-colored illustrations Dickens specially commissioned for the book, there are no Christmas trees in those pictures.
Victoria added the fir tree to family celebrations five years later. Although Christmas trees had been part of private royal celebrations for decades, an 1848 issue of the London Illustrated News depicted Victoria with her German husband and children decorating one as a family at Windsor Castle.
The cultural impact was almost instantaneous. Christmas trees started appearing in homes throughout England, its colonies and the rest of the English-speaking world. Dickens followed with his short story “A Christmas Tree” two years later.
Adopting the tradition in America
During this period, America’s middle classes generally embraced all things Victorian, from architecture to moral reform societies.
Sarah Hale, the author most famous for her children’s poem “Mary had a Little Lamb,” used her position as editor of the best-selling magazine Godey’s Ladies Book to advance a reformist agenda that included the abolition of slavery and the creation of holidays that promoted pious family values. The adoption of Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863 was perhaps her most lasting achievement.
It is closely followed by the Christmas tree.
While trees sporadically adorned the homes of German immigrants in the U.S., it became a mainstream middle-class practice when, in 1850, Godey’s published an engraving of Victoria and her Christmas tree. A supporter of Dickens and the movement to reinvent Christmas, Hale helped to popularize the family Christmas tree across the pond.
As both American and British cultures extended their influence around the world, Christmas trees started to appear in communal spaces even in countries that are not predominately Christian. Shopping districts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Tokyo now regularly erect trees.
The modern Christmas tree is a universal symbol that carries meanings both religious and secular. Adorned with lights, they promote hope and offer brightness in literally the darkest time of year for half of the world.
In that sense, the modern Christmas tree has come full circle.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding made its way into the hands of Lake County’s nonprofits and schools on Wednesday thanks to the efforts of the Lake County Wine Alliance.
Wine Alliance board members hosted dozens of beneficiaries at a reception at the Soper Reese Theater in Lakeport on Wednesday evening in order to distribute donation checks from the proceeds of the September Wine Auction.
The funds distributed on Wednesday totaled $226,000, down from the record $300,000 handed out last year.
Wine Alliance Treasurer Rob Roumiguiere called the amount of generosity and support in the community “incredible.” That includes not just the donors and people who enjoy the auction, but the estimated 200 volunteers who work every year to produce the event.
In all, 41 beneficiaries received funds from the auction, which began in 2000.
The beneficiaries are all Lake County high schools’ fine art programs and the four high school FFA programs, Adventist Health Clear Lake Palliative Care Department, World Wide Healing Hands, Mother Wise, Lakeport Senior Center, Kelseyville Food Pantry, Catholic Charities, First Lutheran Church, Lake County Youth Symphony, Lake County Rural Arts Initiative, Clear Lake High School Culinary Program, Lower Lake High School Culinary Program, Lake County Arts Council, Woodland Community College Culinary Program, Clearlake Youth Center, Ely Stage Stop, Friends of the Lake County Library, Give Back Track, Konocti Fire Safe Council, Lake County Channel Cats, Lakeport Volunteer Firefighters Association, Northshore Fire Fund, Operation Tango Mike, Jack’s Lavender Farm, United Veterans Council of Lake County, Operation Santa, Sheriffs and You Foundation, Totes for Teens, Lake County Young Life, Lake County Sheriff’s Activity League, Hospice Services of Lake County, People Services and Lake Family Resource Center.
Work on the 2024 Wine Auction will begin in January. Roumiguiere said the event will return to The Mercantile in Kelseyville on Sept. 21, 2024.
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. — Lake County’s latest crop report shows the continued dominance of winegrapes, with cannabis numbers included in the report for the first time.
Agricultural Commissioner Katherine VanDerWall presented the new report to the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday morning.
For Lake County, which has agriculture among its key industries, the report gives an in-depth view of top crops, valuations and changes in acreage.
The estimated gross production value for agriculture in Lake County in 2022 totaled $107,098,745, a 28% increase from 2021. VanDerWall said nursery and timber production was down and there were no participants in industrial hemp; in 2021, there had been three hemp growers and eight acres harvested.
New this year was the first-ever inclusion of cannabis-related statistics, which while basic are meant to be a starting point for further information and study in the coming year, VanDerWall told the board.
That cannabis insert did not give values for the county’s crop. It represented the square footage for both mixed light and outdoor cultivation, information that VanDerWall thanked the tax collector and Community Development Departments for helping the ag department gather.
VanDerWall also looked back through old crop reports over 50 years to offer a comparison of how Lake County’s agriculture and its main commodities have changed over the years.
Looking at the main commodities over the past five decades, VanDerWall said that in 1972, there were 7,025 acres of pears, 270 acres of winegrapes, 9,643 acres of walnuts, 181,022 acres of field and seed crop — which includes pasture, hay, grain crops — and 9,505 head of cows and calves.
In 2022, pears were down to 1,376 acres, winegrapes had grown to 10,987 acres, walnuts totaled 3,485 acres, field and seed crops were at 91,150 acres, and there were 1,624 heads of cattle and calves.
VanDerWall’s report showed that, last year, the top five commodities by value were as follows:
1. Winegrapes: $84,756,086; increase of 43% from 2021. The total tonnage was 45,637 and the total grape acreage was 10,987 acres. 2. Pears: $16,286,443; decrease of 8%. The total tonnage was 16,371 and total pear acreage was 1,375.5 acres. 3. Field and seed crops: $2,294,500; 28% increase. 4. Cattle and calves: $1,509,610; 5.8% increase. 5. Miscellaneous livestock (goats, sheep, hogs, meat birds, etc.): $763,354; 6.4% decrease.
VanDerWall reported that there were increases in livestock and poultry products, 41%; livestock production, 11%; and vegetables, 20%.
There were decreases in walnuts, 65%; nursery production, 45%; and timber production, 91%.
For the next crop report, VanDerWall said her office is looking forward to working with the cannabis industry to expand on the data that we’re going to include and provide. She hopes to mirror traditional agriculture with reporting on production values and different categories, rather than just square footage.
The 2022 cannabis production in Lake County totaled 330,758 square feet, or 7.6 acres, for mixed light cultivation and 7,757,765 square feet, or 178 acres, for outdoor cultivation.
Supervisor Michael Green said that, although it’s bare bones, he was excited to see the cannabis information in the crop report, noting it’s a first step.
Green said he doesn’t know how other industries report, but he hoped the cannabis industry would help with getting that information.
Noting the size of the acreage, he said he would like to see the numbers higher, adding that Lake County’s discretionary use permit process has made this a slow growth industry.
He said he would love to see future reporting formatted so that there can be comparisons to other crops and to signal that cannabis is not out of control, as some have suggested it is.
“It is just a fraction of acreages that are devoted to traditional crops in this county and probably will remain that way for some time,” he said.
VanDerWall noted that her office is doing surveys and reaching out to growers, and so they’re reporting the information they can get.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said it’s difficult to track cannabis because there are so many ways it’s sold. He said he’s looking forward to seeing what additional information VanDerWall can get in the future.
VanDerWall’s report also showed that pest detection activities resulted in no trapping of key pests, ranging from Mediterranean fruit fly to European grapevine moth and vine mealybug, among numerous others.
During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, Eric McCarrick, vice president of the Lake County Cannabis Alliance, thanked the county for the numbers, adding she was glad to see cannabis being integrated into the annual report.
Regarding the crop acres for cannabis, she said it’s only about 1% of winegrapes.
Sabatier moved to approve the crop report as presented, with Vice Chair Moke Simon seconding and the board approving it 5-0.
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.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — This week, the Yuba Community College District Board is set to discuss the contract with the new president of Woodland Community College, a selection which is expected to have a significant impact on the district’s campus in Lake County.
The board will meet in closed session at 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, with the board holding an annual organization meeting at 4:45 p.m. to select its leadership for the new year before the regular meeting begins at 5 p.m. at Yuba College, 2088 N. Beale Road, Building 300-Flavors, Marysville.
Members of the public can attend the meeting virtually through this Zoom link.
The Zoom Meeting ID is 846 7971 9357; the call-in number is 1-669-900-6833.
Last month, Dr. Lizette Navarette accepted the job of Woodland Community College president, as Lake County News has reported.
The selection of the new president has been cited as key by district leadership in setting the course not just for Woodland Community College but for the campuses aligned with it, including the Lake County Campus in Clearlake.
The Full-time Faculty Association of Yuba Community College District has issued a welcome to Navarette and is hopeful that they can work with her to rebuild trust and morale throughout the district.
The contract calls for Navarette to receive a base salary of $205,569 plus a doctoral stipend of $3,300 for a total contractual salary of $208,869.
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.