LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Superior Court is seeking at least 30 applicants willing to serve as jurors and alternates on the 2017-18 Lake County Grand Jury panel.

The 19-person grand jury is selected from the different supervisorial districts in proportion to the population of each district.

The grand jury serves as the public’s “watchdog” by investigating and reporting upon the affairs of local government. 

The term of service runs from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, and may entail from 10 to 20 hours of work per week attending committee and general meetings, responding to citizens’ complaints, performing research, and investigating the operations of governmental agencies and allegations of wrongdoing by public officials or employees.

The court is looking for applicants in good health who are interested in community affairs, are objective, and are able to work cooperatively with others.

Experience in researching, interviewing, writing and editing, and/or auditing is desirable and having a general knowledge of the responsibilities and functions of governmental and other public entities is helpful.

A grand juror must be a U.S. citizen, age 18 or older, speak English, be a resident of California and Lake County for at least one year prior to selection, and not hold an elected office or have any felony convictions.

Applications may be obtained at at www.lake.courts.ca.gov or by mailing a letter with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Grand Jury Coordinator, 255 N. Forbes, fourth floor, Lakeport, CA 95453. 

Applications also are available at each Superior Court Clerk’s Office; located at 255 N. Forbes, fourth floor, in Lakeport, or at 7000 A South Center Drive, in Clearlake.
 
Further information may be obtained by calling the grand jury coordinator at 707-263-2374, Extension 2282.

Applications must be received by June 23, 2017.

Personal interviews will be scheduled prior to final selection.

If you are interested, please apply. If you are not interested, but know someone who may be, the encourages you to let them know of this opportunity.

Some weeks, too many things happened in history to choose just one. So, enjoy this day-by-day calendar of historical events!

June 5, 1947

During his commencement speech at Harvard University, Secretary of State George Marshall lays out a plan to provide aid to the decimated Europe following the Second World War. This rebuilding program would be known as the Marshall Plan.

Over the course of four years, the U.S. gave over $13 billion in aid to Western Europe (over $130 billion in today’s money).

June 6, 1944

“The eyes of the world are upon you,” intoned General Eisenhower as coalition troops prepared to cross the English Channel to Normandy.

Over the course of that day, immortalized as D-Day, roughly 10,000 allied troops would be killed or wounded (although there remains no “official” tally and some estimates place the casualties much higher).

June 7, 1776

At the Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, a leader of the more radical members of congress, first proposes a resolution “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States …”

The delegates postpone a decision while a committee is formed to write what would become the Declaration of Independence.

June 8, 1869

A patent is awarded to Ives McGaffey of Chicago for “a sweeping machine” that operates by creating a vacuum.

The “Whirlwind” as Ives coined the cleaner, was operated by a hand pump – a far cry from the motorized vacuum cleaners we use today.

June 9, 1860

There are a number of milestones in the history of the American entertainment industry that deservedly hold a place of honor – like the first radio broadcast, the airing of the first television program and many more besides. To this list of achievements should be added one more: the publishing of the first dime novel.

It’s difficult to actually pin down the definition of a dime novel, but I’m partial to the one chosen by Charles Bragin, an early collector of the books: dime novels are paper-covered “lurid literature of the west, detectives, bandits etc.”

I like that “lurid,” since it succinctly identifies what was both the quality of the books and their main appeal for readers.

It all started, like most great inventions, when a businessman recognized a potential market. The businessman in this case were two New York-based publishing brothers Erastus and Irwin Beadle.

Erastus had been publishing juvenile magazines and song sheets out of Buffalo when he and his brother decided to pull up shop and move to the big city of New York.

Once there, they began publishing penny song books. Sales were so good, apparently, that Irwin had a feeling they had stumbled on something big.

On this day in 1860, the budding entrepreneurs published the first novel in their “Beadle’s Dime Novels” series.

Setting the tone for the next half century of novels, the first book was titled “Malaeska: the Indian Wife of the White Hunter.”

Written by historical novelist Ann Sophia Stevens, the Beadles’ debut issue sold over 300,000 copies in the first year – a smashing success.

In a society that had few sources of entertainment, the time was perfect for the cheap novel. Like its name implies, the novels were sold for a dime.

From 1860 until 1874, the series ran 321 issues, novels written by a variety of authors but each one pretty much in the same vein as the rest.

Clothed in distinctive burnt-orange covers, these early editions became known as “yellow backs.” Once this first run of the series ended in 1874, the brothers issued a second run under the new name of “Beadle’s New Dime Novels” (I never said they were especially inventive).

Rather than actually produce new content, the 309 novels issued under the “new” name were essentially reprints of older stories but bound in new covers.

Unlike their earlier products, the Beadles’ dime novels of the 1860s and 1870s targeted an adult audience. Topics ran the gamut from tawdry romance and adventure stories to …. Well that was about it.

Most of these earlier dime novels were inspired by historical events like the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but enough cheesy storylines were added that the end product could barely be described as “historical.”

As the American west was conquered, cowboys and Indians were added to the mix and eventually dominated the scene.

It didn’t take long for other entrepreneurs to realize the mound of money the Beadle brothers sat on.

The first competitor to the Beadle empire came from within – George Munro, a one-time foreman at the Beadle production plant.

Starting in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Munro issued the first novel in his “Munro’s Ten Cent Novels” series.

Karma had her way with Munro, who had cut into his former bosses’ profits, when his very own brother started his own dime novel series, “Ten Cent Popular Novels.”

As the field grew more crowded with competition, the prices of the novels began to drop—from a dime to a nickel.

Striving to market their products as different from the others, some companies changed the format of the novels, shrinking their size and condensing their stories into just 18 pages or less.

Gradually, the readership of the dime novel changed, as younger audiences devoured the short stories at increasing voracity.

The subject matter also began to change, with the rise of detective as a hero and the increasing romaticization of the American West. Here entered Buffalo Bill, the masked bandits and wild desperadoes.

The rise of radio proved the downfall of the dime novel. By the early 1930s the same beloved characters that once filled the pages of novels now filled the living-rooms of American homes, with live actors and sound effects bringing to life the old, stale stories.

Nevertheless, for the nearly 80 years of their heyday, dime novels brought consumable entertainment to the masses for the first time.

For that alone, the Beadle brothers should take their place among the great trailblazers of American entertainment.
 
Antone Pierucci is the former curator of the Lake County Museum in Lake County, Calif., and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.

Save

The California Senate has approved a bill to increase access to school meals for children in need.

SB 138 – the “Feed the Kids Act” will address childhood hunger by removing a massive layer of bureaucratic red tape from the state school meal program enrollment process and by serving all students in very high poverty schools for free.

SB 138 was approved by the Senate on Thursday with unanimous, bipartisan support.

The bill was authored by State Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Lake County, along with Senators Mitchell, Beall, Portantino and Hertzberg.

Should SB 138 be signed into law, there are 41 additional schools on the North Coast that would likely qualify for a 100-percent federal reimbursement for school meals for all of their students.

These include 13 small schools in Sonoma County, nine in Humboldt County, four in Marin County, eight in Lake County, two in Trinity County, one in Del Norte County and four in Mendocino County, McGuire’s office reported.

California has more children in poverty than any other state in the nation, with nearly one in four children going hungry each day.

In fact, there are more children in poverty here in the Golden State now than there were prior to the recession. As a result, McGuire said the time is right for California to broaden the reach of school meals.

Each year, millions of low-income California children who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals miss out on them, also missing out on the academic and health benefits the meals provide.

“When a child goes to school hungry, their ability to learn, grow and thrive is compromised. School meals are extremely effective at fighting the devastating effects of child hunger and improving outcomes in our public schools, yet so many kids who need to eat, aren’t being provided free school meals – and it’s time that changes,” Sen. McGuire said.

Two years ago, Sen. McGuire made significant progress by cutting through bureaucratic red tape and enrolling more than 326,000 students on free lunches.

The process was made easier by streamlining the free lunch system and ensuring students who were on CalFresh were also being enrolled in the free lunch program at their school.

This was a 30-percent increase from the year before and was one of the largest enrollment increases the Golden State has seen in decades.

“California is the sixth largest economy in the world and we produce more food than any other state in America. We have to step up and declare war on childhood poverty and ensure California’s kids get the resources they need to thrive,” McGuire said.

SB 138 would more effectively identify low-income students and significantly increase access to school meals.

Currently, most districts do not use Medi-Cal data to automatically enroll students. This bill will automatically enroll income-eligible students who are on Medi-Cal onto the free and reduced lunch program at their school, therefore increasing the number of children receiving free and reduced lunch.

The California Department of Education believes an additional 500,000 elementary, middle school and high school students would start receiving school meals under this new and efficient certification process.

This bill is modeled after a successful pilot program where 14 school districts enrolled low-income students who receive Medi-Cal into a free school meal program.

Participating districts in the pilot program saw an increase of more than 60,000 students enrolled in their free and reduced lunch programs, which brought in over $33 million in additional federal meal reimbursements.

SB 138 also would allow for very high poverty schools to serve meals to all students for free because increased enrollment of low-income students in the free meal program will result in schools qualifying for a federal meal reimbursement program as well.  

SB 138 will now move to the State Assembly for approval.

A long-lasting lake on ancient Mars provided stable environmental conditions that differed significantly from one part of the lake to another, according to a comprehensive look at findings from the first three-and-a-half years of NASA's Curiosity rover mission.

Different conditions favorable for different types of microbes existed simultaneously in the same lake.

Previous work had revealed the presence of a lake more than three billion years ago in Mars' Gale Crater.

This study defines the chemical conditions that existed in the lake and uses Curiosity's powerful payload to determine that the lake was stratified.

Stratified bodies of water exhibit sharp chemical or physical differences between deep water and shallow water. In Gale's lake, the shallow water was richer in oxidants than deeper water was.

"These were very different, co-existing environments in the same lake," said Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, lead author of a report of the findings in the June 2 edition of the journal Science. "This type of oxidant stratification is a common feature of lakes on Earth, and now we've found it on Mars. The diversity of environments in this Martian lake would have provided multiple opportunities for different types of microbes to survive, including those that thrive in oxidant-rich conditions, those that thrive in oxidant-poor conditions, and those that inhabit the interface between those settings."

Whether Mars has ever hosted any life is still unknown, but seeking signs of life on any planet – whether Earth, Mars or more-distant icy worlds – begins with reconstruction of the environment to determine if it was capable of supporting life.

Curiosity's primary goal when it landed inside Gale Crater in 2012 was to determine whether Mars has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

In its first year, on the crater floor at "Yellowknife Bay," the rover found evidence of ancient freshwater river and lake environments with all the main chemical ingredients for life and a possible energy source for life.

Curiosity has since driven to the base of Mount Sharp, a layered mountain inside the crater, and inspected rock layers that grow progressively younger as the rover gains elevation on lower Mount Sharp.

Differences in the physical, chemical and mineral characteristics of several sites on lower Mount Sharp at first presented a puzzle to the rover team.

For example, some rocks showed thicker layering with a larger proportion of an iron mineral called hematite, while other rocks showed very fine layers and more of an iron mineral called magnetite. Comparing these properties suggested very distinctive environments of deposition.

Researchers considered whether these differences could have resulted from environmental conditions fluctuating over time or differing from place to place.

"We could tell something was going on," Hurowitz said. "What was causing iron minerals to be one flavor in one part of the lake and another flavor in another part of the lake? We had an 'Aha!' moment when we realized that the mineral information and the bedding-thickness information mapped perfectly onto each other in a way you would expect from a stratified lake with a chemical boundary between shallow water and deeper water."

In addition to revealing new information about chemical conditions within the lake, the report by Hurowitz and 22 co-authors also documents fluctuations in the climate of ancient Mars.

One such change happened between the time crater-floor rocks were deposited and the time the rocks that now make up the base of Mount Sharp were deposited. Those later rocks are exposed at "Pahrump Hills" and elsewhere.

The method the team used for detecting changes in ancient climate conditions on Mars resembles how ice cores are used to study past temperature conditions on Earth.

It is based on comparing differences in the chemical composition of layers of mud-rich sedimentary rock that were deposited in quiet waters in the lake.

While the lake was present in Gale, climate conditions changed from colder and drier to warmer and wetter.

Such short-term fluctuations in climate took place within a longer-term climate evolution from the ancient warmer and wetter conditions that supported lakes, to today's arid Mars.

"These results give us unprecedented detail in answering questions about ancient environmental conditions on Mars," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "I'm struck by how these fascinating conclusions on habitability and climate took everything the mission had to offer: a set of sophisticated science instruments, multiple years and miles of exploration, a landing site that retained a record of the ancient environment, and a lot of hard work by the mission team."

In mid-2017, Curiosity is continuing to reach higher and younger layers of Mount Sharp to study how the ancient lake environment evolved to a drier environment more like modern Mars.

The mission is managed by JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Curiosity and other Mars science missions are all part of ambitious robotic exploration to understand Mars, which helps lead the way for sending humans to Mars in the 2030s. For more about Curiosity, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/curiosity .

Save

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The roar of engines echoed across Clear Lake on Saturday as sprint boats came to Lake County to compete.

An estimated 1,000 spectators visited downtown Lakeport on Saturday for day one of the inaugural Lakeport Sprint Boat Grand Prix.

The competition’s classes include K Class, Unblown Flat Bottom, GPS – 100, Sportsmen Extreme, Formula Light Tunnel Boats and Vintage Race boats.

The video above features highlights of the action on Saturday, as well as interviews with racers and event Chairman Jack Long.

Action continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets are available at the event or online at www.sprintboatgrandprix.com .

Saturn's icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus may have tipped over in the distant past, according to recent research from NASA's Cassini mission.

Researchers with the mission found evidence that the moon's spin axis – the line through the north and south poles – has reoriented, possibly due to a collision with a smaller body, such as an asteroid.

Examining the moon's features, the team showed that Enceladus appears to have tipped away from its original axis by about 55 degrees – more than halfway toward rolling completely onto its side.

"We found a chain of low areas, or basins, that trace a belt across the moon's surface that we believe are the fossil remnants of an earlier, previous equator and poles," said Radwan Tajeddine, a Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and lead author of the paper.

The area around the icy moon's current south pole is a geologically active region where long, linear fractures referred to as tiger stripes slice across the surface.

Tajeddine and colleagues speculate that an asteroid may have struck the region in the past when it was closer to the equator.

"The geological activity in this terrain is unlikely to have been initiated by internal processes," he said. "We think that, in order to drive such a large reorientation of the moon, it's possible that an impact was behind the formation of this anomalous terrain."

In 2005, Cassini discovered that jets of water vapor and icy particles spray from the tiger stripe fractures – evidence that an underground ocean is venting directly into space from beneath the active south polar terrain.

Whether it was caused by an impact or some other process, Tajeddine and colleagues think the disruption and creation of the tiger-stripe terrain caused some of Enceladus' mass to be redistributed, making the moon's rotation unsteady and wobbly.

The rotation would have eventually stabilized, likely taking more than a million years. By the time the rotation settled down, the north-south axis would have reoriented to pass through different points on the surface – a mechanism researchers call "true polar wander."

The polar wander idea helps to explain why Enceladus' modern-day north and south poles appear quite different. The south is active and geologically young, while the north is covered in craters and appears much older.

The moon's original poles would have looked more alike before the event that caused Enceladus to tip over and relocate the disrupted tiger-stripe terrain to the moon's south polar region.

The results were published in the online edition of the journal Icarus on April 30.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.

More information about Cassini can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/cassini or https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Preston Dyches works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Five dogs are waiting for new homes at Lake County Animal Care and Control this week.

This week’s dogs include mixes of Chihuahua, German Shepherd, shepherd and pit bull.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is adopting out dogs this week with a $50 discount – waiving the county adoption fee portion and costs for microchipping. There will will be costs for spaying and neutering dogs.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Female Chihuahua

This female Chihuahua has a medium-length brown coat.

She’s in kennel No. 3, ID No. 7624.

Female shepherd mix

This young female shepherd mix has a long black coat with white markings.

She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 7593.

‘Harley’

“Harley” is a male shepherd mix.

He has a short black and brown coat.

He’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 7550.

‘Charley’

“Charley” is a female German Shepherd.

She has a classic medium-length black and tan coat.

Charley already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 7605.

Female pit bull

This female pit bull terrier has a short brown coat with white markings.

She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 7601.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

Save

Save

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College and the Konocti Unified School District have announced the award of the California State Chancellor's Office Middle College High School Grant to create and support the first middle college model in Lake County.

The dual college and high school enrollment program at the Konocti Education Center Medical Career Pathway Program will expand to increase the opportunity for high school students to take college courses that can be applied toward a high school diploma and toward a college degree or certificate.

Located adjacent to the Woodland Community College Lake County Campus, Konocti Education Center's Medical Career Pathway Program already requires students to take two college courses in order to receive their high school diploma.

This program will enable Konocti Education Center students, during their regular school day, to take a majority of the college credits necessary for them to obtain an associate's degree for transfer to a four-year university or specialized health training program by the end of their four years in high school.

This unique course delivery model will also provide Konocti Education Center students free access to their college units and textbooks, at an estimated total cost savings for families at approximately $6,000 per student.

Students will receive supplemental instruction, peer models and coaching, small class sizes, specialized counseling and curricula, academic support, monitoring of coursework throughout the process, and will follow the alignment of a medical pathway leading to a career in the field.

Because of the Konocti Education Center Medical Career Pathway Program's close proximity to the Woodland Community College Lake Campus, students will attend classes on both the high school and college campuses enabling them to integrate into the college campus environment.

The primary goals of this program are to offer a unique opportunity for students to earn college units, reduce absenteeism and high school dropout rates, and improve students' academic performance opportunities for college success. 

It offers a supportive and challenging academic environment that incorporates motivational techniques and learning behaviors with innovative curricula promoting the building of academic skills and career development.

By improving participating students’ academic and decision-making skills as well as their self-concept and self-esteem, the middle college high school model will be a launch board for success in college and career readiness.

“This is an exciting partnership for our school and for our community. The courses offered during the school day will extend our medical pathway opportunities and reduce the time and money it takes for our students to reach college and career goals,” says Konocti Education Center Principal Melissa Lambert.

“This partnership between KUSD and WCC will provide an educational and financial advantage to our students who are most vulnerable, with the ultimate goal of graduating high school seniors landing only a semester or two away from receiving their Associate's degree. Early studies indicate that this opportunity will help provide a successful transition to college and career for these students,” said Annette Lee, Woodland Community College's Lake County Campus executive dean.

Woodland Community College joins about a dozen other community colleges across the state involved in offering the middle college model, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

What's in a name? Besides one's reputation, there’s legal ownership and control over one's assets and affairs, and who inherits one's estates involve names.

Your important documents usually include many names, addresses and telephone numbers, in addition your own.

Over time some of these names and contact information will become obsolete due to life changes.

What effects do the disconnects have on the usefulness of the deeds, living trust, and powers of attorney? Let's discuss.
   
Your title documents, particularly deeds to real property, that use your prior name should be retitled into your current name sooner than later to avoid difficulties should you become incapacitated and when you die.

With real property the owner signs a new deed using the owner's prior name as the grantor's name (worded exactly the same as the grantee's name in the current deed) and transfer title into the owner's current name as grantee. Once the deed is recorded the title is updated in the new name.

Sometimes notarizing a deed that is signed using a prior name is difficult because necessary picture identification in the signor's prior name that is acceptable for notary purposes may not be available.

In that case, two so-called "credible witnesses" – persons who both have their own valid picture identification and who are willing to swear to (amongst other things) that they know the the signor of the document by the prior name – appear at the notary's office, take an oath and sign the notary book.

Credible witnesses substitute for the unavailable recent picture identification in the old name.

If real property is owned by you as trustee of your living trust under a prior name then you will need both to amend the trust to update your name as both settlor and trustee and to retitle the trust assets in the trustee's current name.

The trust amendment would be signed by you as the settlor under the old and new names and accepted by you as the trustee under the current name.

What about the obsolete names and contact information of persons you named to act in the future as your successor trustee, agent under a power of attorney or health care directive?

The old names should be replaced as part of your regular updating of estate planning documents but do not usually require a special update whenever a name changes.

If necessary these persons can execute a "same name as" document should they need to step in as your trustee or as agent using a document that calls them by their prior name.

With powers of attorney and advance health care directives it is good practice to attach an up to date information sheet that provides the agents' current names and contact information.

Changes in a primary address have no legal effect, but the disconnect can make it difficult to contact these persons if someone is relying on the contact information provided in the document.

Another place where names are relevant is with beneficiary designations, such as with pay on death and death beneficiary accounts (such as life insurrance, annuity and retirement accounts).

A beneficiary whose name has changed will otherwise need to provide proof that they are the same person as named as death beneficiary under a prior name.

In addition to obsolete names, obsolete account passwords need to be identified and brought up to date. That is, a master list of account titles and current passwords should be available to whomever will need if they are to act as your agent or successor trustee. There are companies who for a fee will safely maintain this information on your behalf.

Moreover, trust and power of attorney documents should provide specific legal authority to allow the trustee and agent to manage digital (electronic) assets on your behalf.

Clearly it is a good idea to revisit one's legal documents and identify the prior (obsolete) names used in the documents and take any necessary action, including to at least keep a current list of people's names and addresses.

Do not, however, write directly on the legal document. Instead compile and attach a list of current names and contact information to the document. Bring them with you to your attorney and financial planner when you next update your estate planning documents.

Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Turkey vultures are knocked for their vulgar habits which, let's face it, keep our roads and valleys neat and clean – even keeping disease at bay.

But these carrion-eating birds who excrete on themselves to keep cool, regurgitate and “dive” head first into their dead prey do possess bizarre table manners to say the least!

The vulture's scientific name, Cathartes aura, is derived from the Greek word “katharsis,” which means to wash or purge.

The adult turkey vulture's red, nearly naked head allows it to keep itself clean after it feeds on carrion. 

These impressive-looking birds are included in the few species of birds that possess a sense of smell.

Their highly developed sense of smell alerts them to decaying, dead animals, so they usually do not find it necessary to make a kill.

These scavengers do, at times consume the odd plant or insect.

Ornithologists have determined that the portion of the brain that processes smell in a turkey vulture is much larger when compared to birds of comparable size.

Scientists have also determined that as the turkey vultures soar, which they are able to do at quite low altitudes, they pick up odors of carrion. Conversely, these interesting birds may also soar at heights up to four miles.

When you see a number of vultures circling, that is called a “kettle,” as they appear to be boiling up out of the landscape.

These enormous birds often achieve a 6-foot wingspan, and are quite graceful when viewed soaring on the thermals – those layers of heated air above. 

Many birders refer to turkey vultures as TVs, and they are also called turkey buzzard or plain “buzzard.”

Since their silhouettes form a “V” while in flight they are easy to discern – “V” for vulture.

Turkey vultures have been noted to nest in burned-out or hollow tree stumps. Their breeding season here is in the summer months.

If you happen to note vultures hopping, you are witnessing their special courtship practice. Then, several birds will make a circle, and, wings partially extended, they will hop about the circle and begin to follow one another.

They may nest in one of many protected sites, such as a cave, crevice or even in understory, with nests of scant construction.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also formerly wrote for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

Save

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Habitat for Humanity staff and volunteers celebrated the groundbreaking of its 26th house on Fourth Street in Clearlake on May 19.

Partner family Ricky and Debra Bronson have already been hard at work both on the property and in the office accumulating their sweat equity hours and are excited to take the next steps in the construction of their new home.
 
If you would like to contribute to getting house No. 26 completed, please contact the Habitat for Humanity office at 707-994-1100 to learn how you can help.

If you are a first-time homebuyer or a victim of the Rocky, Valley, or Clayton fires and think you might qualify for a Habitat for Humanity home, call the office at 707-994-1100, Extension 106, or stop by the office at 15312 Lakeshore Drive Clearlake for a preapplication.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities have identified the two drivers involved in a Thursday wreck that claimed the life of one of them.
 
Norman Smith, 59, of Yolo County died in the Thursday afternoon wreck that occurred on Highway 20 west of New Long Valley Road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds.
 
Reynolds identified the second driver who survived as Jeffery Ford, 58, of Clearlake Oaks.
 
Ford suffered major injuries and was flown via a REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, as Lake County News has reported.
 
On Friday, Santa Rosa Memorial spokesperson Christina Harris said Ford was in critical condition.
 
The CHP said that just after noon on Thursday Smith was driving a 2011 Ford F-350 pickup westbound on Highway 20 at an unknown rate of speed when, for an unknown reason, his pickup crossed the double yellow lines into the eastbound lane.
 
Smith’s pickup collided with Ford, who was riding a 2017 BMW motorcycle eastbound at 55 miles per hour, the CHP reported.
 
The CHP said Ford had tried to evade Smith’s pickup but couldn’t avoid the crash and was thrown from the motorcycle.
 
The CHP said Smith died at the scene.
 
The investigation is continuing, but the CHP said neither drugs nor alcohol were contributing factors in the crash.
 
Smith was using his seat belt and Ford was wearing a helmet, the CHP 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.