LAKEPORT, Calif.  – The Lake County Library’s free lecture series “Know Lake County” will feature the Lake County Fair on Saturday, June 18, at 2 p.m.

The presentation will take place at the Lakeport branch of the Lake County Library, 1425 N. High St.

Debbie Strickler, the chief executive officer of the Lake County Fair will be the guest speaker.

Strickler’s program will cover a brief history of fairs in Lake County, and she will discuss opportunities to enter exhibits in the fair, how to enter exhibits, and will distribute contest premium handbooks.

The 2016 Lake County Fair will take place Sept. 1 to 4. The Web site for the fair is www.lakecountyfair.com .

Fairs in Lake County go back to 1880 when the first was held in Grantsville, now known as Lower Lake.

Fairs were held sporadically over the years until the 49th District Agricultural Association was formed in 1938.

The locations have varied over the years before getting the Martin Street location in 1947.

The fairgrounds expanded several times during the 1950s and 1960s until reaching the current configuration.

Fairs have happened almost every year, except during World War II, when no fair was held.

Lake County PEG TV records the Know Lake County presentations for re-broadcast on PEG TV Channel 8 and on www.lakecountypegtv.org . The presentations are also available on DVD to check out from the Lake County Library.

The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

For more information about Know Lake County and other library programs call 707-263-8817.

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters spent Monday and early Tuesday responding to – and quickly controlling – several small wildland fires around Lake County.

Conditions in the county have been dry, and on Monday there were moderate and sometimes erratic winds reported through the day.

The main fire incident of the day on Monday was a small fire in the early afternoon in the city of Clearlake that necessitated a school evacuation, as Lake County News has reported: www.bit.ly/1rmDa7c .

Then, shortly after 6 p.m., a hay field was reported to be on fire on Upper Lake Lucerne Road in Upper Lake.

Northshore and Cal Fire responded, finding the field and a hay baler on fire, according to radio reports.

The fire was contained within about 15 minutes, reports from the scene indicated. It burned between an acre and a half and two acres. About 40 bales of hay needed to be moved from a truck and an hour of cleanup followed.

Just before 7:30 p.m., a vegetation fire was reported on Point Lakeview Road near Sunrise Drive in Lower Lake.

Cal Fire and local firefighters were dispatched, arriving to find people trying to put out the fire, which was about 20 feet in diameter, according to radio reports. It was under control within 10 minutes of the call and additional units were canceled.

Then, shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, firefighters were dispatched to a vegetation fire with structures threatened on Mission Way at Mission Rancheria Road near Lakeport.

Arriving Lakeport Fire units reported finding that the fire had been knocked down by people who already were on scene.

Reports from the scene stated that the fire was contained at less than a quarter of an acre, with the incident terminated at 2:20 a.m.

Local fire officials are urging residents to use particular care due to the dry conditions, including not mowing grass after 10 a.m. and having a fire extinguisher handy when working on vegetation.

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. – A Lakeport man was arrested over the weekend after police said he broke into a woman's home and tried to touch her.

Nathaniel Fulton Hendrickson, 44, was taken into custody early on Saturday morning, shortly after the incident occurred, according to the Lakeport Police Department.

Around midnight on Saturday Lakeport Police officers – assisted by Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies – responded to the report of a burglary to an occupied residence in the city, police said.

The lone 22-year-old female occupant of the home reported that a male subject who she didn't know entered her residence and approached her, stating he wanted to touch her. Police said the woman armed herself with a knife and the man fled the residence.

Officers canvassed the area and quickly got information which led to the positive identification of Hendrickson as the suspect, according to police.

Police reported that Hendrickson was located by officers at his residence several blocks from the victim's home. Further investigation determined that he was under the influence of methamphetamine and on probation.

Hendrickson was arrested for first-degree burglary, being under the influence of methamphetamine, a probation violation and attempted sexual battery, according to the police report.

On Tuesday, the Lake County District Attorney's Office formally charged Hendrickson with residential burglary and being under the influence of methamphetamine, police reported.

Hendrickson remained in custody on Wednesday at the Lake County jail and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

Jail records indicated that bail for Hendrickson – whose booking sheet lists him as a bartender – is set at $50,000.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Late last week authorities eradicated nearly 14,000 marijuana plants discovered at an Upper Lake property.

Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Brooks said the plants were eradicated following a search warrant service on Friday.

At 9 a.m. that day the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit served a search warrant on property located in the 2900 block of Valley View Road, Brooks said.

During the service of the search warrant, detectives located and eradicated approximately 13,816 marijuana plants, according to Brooks.

He said detectives reported that it appeared that four subjects were living in the grow area, based on evidence located at the scene. However, they were unable to locate anyone in the marijuana grow at the time they served the search warrant.

During a search of the area, detectives located ammunition, but were unable to locate any firearms, Brooks said.

Detectives said this is the third time in three years they have eradicated marijuana from the same parcel of property. They also said the grow site is associated with a private residence in the area and the investigation is ongoing, Brooks said.

Brooks said the marijuana was located during a routine overflight mission, based on the detectives' report. The service of the search warrant was supported by the California National Guard Counterdrug Team, who assisted with the eradication.

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Area California Highway Patrol will offer a free “Start Smart” traffic safety class for soon to-be-licensed, newly licensed, and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians on Wednesday, June 22.

The class will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 19 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The CHP's goal is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of these collisions.

“The CHP is committed to mitigating traffic collisions involving young, inexperienced drivers, because they are preventable,” said Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office. “Start Smart is an excellent program that promotes safe driving for young new drivers.”

The “Start Smart” program is aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents happen, but collisions are 100-percent preventable. 

The program is designed to provide an interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people.

“Start Smart” also focuses on responsibilities of newly licensed drivers, responsibilities of parents or guardians and collision avoidance techniques.

Space is limited for this class. For more information or reservations, call Officer Kory Reynolds at the CHP office, 707-279-0103.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Wednesday, June 15, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the last in a series of multistate tests of the new “National Periodic Test” Emergency Alerting System, or EAS, event code.

This test will involve more than 3,000 broadcast outlets in nine states from FEMA Regions VIII, IX and X, according to a report from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Starting at 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time Wednesday – subject to a minute or two of propagation delay through EAS relay networks – broadcasters will sound the usual EAS tones followed by this message text:

“This is a National test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test. Broadcast and cable operators in your area have developed this system in voluntary cooperation with FEMA, the FCC and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the alert tone. This concludes this National test of the Emergency Alert System.”

The sheriff's office reported that this text was crafted by FEMA to make this event sound as much like a regular required monthly test as possible.

All of this is in preparation for the next full National EAS Test, currently slated for late September. Officials said no action is required either by agencies or by the public.

In prior regional tests FEMA has canceled the broadcast in states where there were ongoing events that might be confused with the test. As such, officials said it is possible the test may not occur as scheduled.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – At the end of a record-breaking year for the county's museums, the Lower Lake Historical School Preservation Committee and the Friends of the Lake County Museum will host their annual meetings later this month.

The Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum and the Historic Courthouse Museum in Lakeport have had record numbers of visitors this fiscal year, according to Curator Tony Pierucci.

At both museums, Pierucci said more students have participated in tours and educational programs than any one year in the history of both institutions.

In total, between July 2015 and June 2016, one in five elementary school students in Lake County have come through these two museums on a tour, Pierucci said.

Pierucci said this remarkable increase in outreach is part of a renewed push by the museums and the nonprofits that support them to reengage with the community like never before.

The Lower Lake Historical School Preservation Committee pays for the school buses to bring students to the Schoolhouse Museum. Over the years they have also worked tirelessly to preserve the California Point of Historical Interest that is the Lower Lake Schoolhouse, Pierucci said.

Come be a part of the fun and attend the committee's general membership meeting on Saturday, June 25, at noon at the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum, 16435 Main St. Snacks and refreshments will be provided and officers and board members will be voted in.

The Friends of the Lake County Museum pay for the school buses that transport students to the Historic Courthouse Museum for educational programs and tours, Pierucci said.

With the organization's support, Pierucci said the museum has also been able to purchase professional exhibit supplies and furniture, which you can see on display at the Courthouse Museum’s new exhibit “Crime and Punishment in Lake County: 1861-1930.”

The public is invited to join the Friends at the Historic Courthouse Museum, 255 N. Main St., for the group's annual meeting on Thursday, July 14, at 5:30 p.m. Food and refreshments will be served as the annual report is presented and officers and board members elected.

Both general meetings are a great opportunity to learn more about these two nonprofits and what the museums have planned for the next fiscal year.

You don’t have to be a member to come to the meetings – interested guests are more than welcome.

Visit the museums online at http://museums.lakecountyca.gov/ or https://www.facebook.com/MuseumsOfLakeCountyCa/?fref=ts .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will be conducting two prescribed burns at Berryessa Knoxville Road at East Side Road in Napa County later this week.

The agency said the prescribed burns will take place on Wednesday, June 15, and Thursday, June 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Prescribed vegetation management burns are carefully planned and must meet strict criteria for ecological benefit, weather parameters, smoke management and fire safety guidelines, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said that when all conditions are met, trained wildland firefighters conduct the burn, while monitoring the set criteria, fire behavior, and designated fire control lines.  

Benefits of low-intensity fire in the natural environment include:

– Cleansing of wildland debris. Excessive dead and down branches, brush, and small trees are burned, converting fuels that are hazards in the summer into rich soil nutrients.
– Controlling invasive species. Invasive species such as medusahead and yellow starthistle can be effectively controlled using prescribed fire, allowing native grass species to recolonize their natural habitat. Native grasses are important food and habitat for a wide range of animals.
– Ecosystem health. Low intensity fire helps eliminate and control diseased plants and trees.
– New growth. Prescribed burning encourages the healthy growth of new plants, especially those that are dependent on fire for renewal or seed dispersion.
– Reduced opportunity for destructive fires. Prescribed burns can decrease the size and frequency of large, uncontrolled destructive wildfires.

For more information about fire safety or prescribed fire and its benefits, visit the Cal Fire Web site
www.fire.ca.gov or call your local Cal Fire facility.