NORTH COAST, Calif. – Mendo Lake Credit Union (MLCU) invites the public to “Shred the word – protect yourself from identity theft” with free shredding opportunities in both Lake and Mendocino counties.

Anyone may bring up to five boxes or bags of old documents for free shredding to the credit union branch at 14866 Olympic Drive in Clearlake between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon on Thursday, April 28, or to the branch at 963 11th St., Lakeport, during the same hours on Thursday, May 26.

Individuals taking advantage of the free shred event do not have to be members of the credit union, according to Jamey Gill, Mendo Lake Credit Union’s director of Marketing and Community Outreach. It is open to the public.

Additional “Shred the Word” events are scheduled for May 27 at MLCU’s Ukiah branch and April 14 at the Fort Bragg branch. Items for shredding may be delivered between 9 and noon on each of the planned days.

Gill said MLCU encourages people to take steps to protect themselves from identity theft by destroying old confidential documents that are no longer needed for tax filing or other purposes.

Mendo Lake Credit Union is a member-owned financial cooperative and has been serving members’ financial needs since 1959. MLCU branches are located in Lakeport, Clearlake, Fort Bragg and Ukiah.

For more information, contact the Mendo Lake Credit Union Member Service Center at 707-468-0161.

LUCERNE, Calif. – Robertson and Associates, CPAs and Marymount California University's Lakeside Campus, along with Mendocino College are partnering to teach individuals in the community the ins and outs of the tax codes relating to higher education.

The seminar will be held at the Marymount California University Lakeside Campus, 3700 Country Club Drive, Lucerne, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21.

If you have dreamed of the opportunities a university degree would provide to change your life or if you have children that will be going to college, Robertson's seminar will provide a wealth of useful information for you.

Knowing the tax breaks for adults and children will help you reach your goals.

“It's never too late to go back to school, and it's never too early to learn to save for your children's education,” said Michelle Scully, executive director of the Marymount California University Lakeside Campus.

Ulises Velasco, director of financial aid at Mendocino College, also will be on campus to cover the “basics” of financial aid and how to understand/what to expect.

The workshop is provided as a service to community members at no cost.

For more information call 707-274-6725 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Want a garden, but don't have the space?

Would you love to have produce, but no where to plant?

Would you love to grow, but don't know how?

The first work day at the Clearlake Community Garden, located behind the Clearlake Senior Center at 3245 Bowers Ave. in Clearlake, will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 16.

They will be building boxes and learning from the Master Gardeners. 

Lunch will be provided. 

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake continues its 2016 series of “Concerts with Conversation” at 7:30 on Saturday, April 16, with the lively blues, R & B and boogie woogie sounds of keyboard artist Macy Blackman.

Based in San Francisco, the Blackman Trio also includes the saxophone stylings of Nancy Wright with Bing Nathan on bass.

A concert featuring Macy Blackman is like stepping straight into a New Orleans blues and R & B club. He is a master of the music and has been sharing and teaching it in the Bay Area since moving here in 2000 to accept a position at U. C. Berkeley.

“I’ve played at the Blue Wing a couple of times and love coming up to Lake County,” said Blackman. “But the chance to do what I call R & B chamber music in the smaller venue of the Tallman Meeting House will be something special. I love to talk about the music almost as much as I like playing it.”

Tallman owner Bernie Butcher said the timing worked out well for this show. “Macy and Bing were available,” he said, “and Nancy will be up here with her own Rhythm and Roots Band performing the night before at the Soper Reese.”

Nancy Wright came to San Francisco in 1983 and has established herself as perhaps the area’s leading blues and R&B sax player. She has recorded and performed with the best of the best in this genre including John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Elvin Bishop, Joe Louis Walker, and many others.

“What I love about Nancy,” said Butcher, “is how she has blossomed in the past couple of years from such an accomplished supporting player now to front her own Rhythm and Roots Band. This showcases not only her instrumental skills for her songwriting and vocal attributes as well. And she’s a wonderful person to boot.”

Wright said she’s looking forward to her return to Lake County with her own band at the Soper Reese on Friday night but also “to join the great Macy Blackman in playing our version of New Orleans R&B chamber music!”

This is the final scheduled event of the Tallman’s 2015-6 series of Concerts with Conversation. However, a bonus concert has been added on Friday evening, May 20. The renowned Nashville based dobro player Rob Ickes will be at the Tallman together with the rising young country music star Trey Hensley.

Tickets for both the April 15 and May 20 shows are priced at $25 plus tax and may be purchased by calling the Tallman Hotel at 707-275-2244 ext. 0. They are also available on line through www.eventbrite.com .

SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, State Sen. Mike McGuire’s bill that will protect California’s beloved whale populations from dangerous entanglements resulting from lost or abandoned crab fishing gear received unanimous approval in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

The Whale Protection & Crab Gear Retrieval Act, which was proactively initiated by California’s Dungeness crab fishermen, would create a regulatory program with incentives for fishermen to retrieve Dungeness crab fishing gear that would otherwise be lost in the ocean.

It’s estimated that thousands of pots are lost every season and these pieces of gear could have hundreds of feet of rope attached to a locater buoy.

The lost gear has created marine debris and entanglement hazards for whales and other marine life, along with others in the crab and salmon fleets.

“In 2015, 61 whales were reported entangled off the West Coast, 57 in California alone. Humpbacks were the main species impacted. This is the highest total since the National Marine Fisheries Service started keeping records which started in 1982,” Senator McGuire said. “In light of these alarming developments, we are working with the thousands of hard working men and women of California’s Dungeness Crab Fleet and environmental organizations from across the state to bring forward a lost fishing gear recovery program.”

Crab fishermen have taken the lead on this issue and many are already taking part in a limited basis pilot project that was initiated two years ago. Approximately 1,500 lost crab pots have been collected in that program. SB 1287 will build upon the successful pilot project by advancing a statewide solution to the growing problem.

Based on recommendations from the Dungeness Crab Task Force, SB 1287 will call on the Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish a retrieval program. One hundred percent of the program will be paid for by industry related fees, not the taxpayers.

Dungeness crab fishermen, who obtain a retrieval permit through this program, will collect old crab traps after the crab season has closed each year. Those fishermen will be paid a recovery bounty for each trap retrieved from the ocean.

The bill also establishes a fee to be paid by the fishing boat that lost or abandoned the crab trap(s). A crab fisherman who refuses to buy back their lost or abandoned crab trap(s) will not be able to get their vessel permit the next season.

The creation of a self-perpetuating program to recover fishing gear is a necessary action of the commercial Dungeness crab fishing industry to continue operating as a responsible, sustainable fishery.

“The Dungeness crab fishery is in the top tier of California’s commercial seafood catch and the entire industry has weathered a challenging few years, including the historic delay of this year’s Dungeness crab season,” Sen. McGuire said. “This gear retrieval program will be a great step forward in cleaning up our oceans and making a safer environment for the people who work the Pacific for their living and the whales and marine life who call the ocean home.”

A broad coalition of fishing and environmental groups are unified in supporting SB 1287 which will increase mariner safety while reducing marine debris and the potential for whale entanglement, including: Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Sierra Club, Californian’s Against Waste, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Earthjustice, Golden Gate Salmon Association, Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, The Marine Mammal Center, Trinidad Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Assn, Crescent City Fishermen’s Assn, Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Assn, the Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Assn, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, Surfrider and many more.

SB 1287 was approved in the Senate Natural Resources Committee today. The legislation will move forward to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

What others say about SB 1287:

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said: “Our responsibilities – to act as good stewards of nature and our ocean heritage – is more important today than it has ever been. Our environment on land, in skies, and beneath oceans is delicately balanced, each bound to the health of the other. I commend the dedication of crab fishermen and Senator McGuire in their work to reduce ocean debris, protect of our ocean’s whale population, and preserve California’s natural heritage for generations to come.”

Tim Sloane, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, said: “California’s crab and salmon fishermen are the first to recognize the need to remove preventable marine debris, and in the best possible position to do so. SB 1287 gives them the tools to carry out effective gear recovery that will keep our ocean ecosystem clean.”

Dr. Jeff Boehm, executive director of The Marine Mammal Center based in Sausalito, said: “We applaud the efforts of Senator McGuire to advance this important legislation that will protect whales and other marine wildlife by helping to keep our coastal waters free of fishing gear debris.”

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Konocti Senior Support Inc. announced it has found a real local talent in the hiring of Erin Dailey, PsyD to head one of the most outstanding services for seniors in Lake County – Senior Peer Counseling, a free service for seniors who are seeking help in solving their own problems through life to life dialogue with senior-aged peer counselors.

Dailey received her doctorate in clinical psychology, and has more than 10 years' experience doing bilingual psychotherapy in Spanish and English with individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

She is an advocate for the physically and learning disabled community. Dailey also teaches yoga, meditation and Latin dance in Lakeport that is appropriate for folks in need of stress reduction and cardiovascular health.

Dailey's strength lies in her psycho-social-bio-spiritual approach as she strives to treat the individual as a whole keeping them grounded in their environment.

She recently finished an internship in Lower Lake where she treated adults with depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse problems and relationship issues.

She is dedicated to the nonprofit world and has been a mentor to foster youth. Her dissertation had an emphasis on students with disabilities and their need for accommodations in higher education as well as examining the development of minority rights since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Dailey leads a weekly peer counseling consultation group with Senior Peer volunteers, Wednesday’s from 10 to 11 a.m. followed by a training on issues relevant to senior peer counselors open to the public from 11 a.m. to noon each Wednesday.

Upcoming trainings touch on issues such as:

– How to identify and handle maltreatment of seniors.
– Stress reduction and changing thought patterns causing depression and anxiety.
– Handling issues of drug and alcohol abuse with seniors.
– Navigating local financial, social, emotional, medical and spiritual resources helpful to seniors.
– Appropriate boundaries in peer counseling.
– Skillful communication.
– Living in the moment with spiritual ease and positive psychology.

Generally meetings are held at 845 Bevins St. in Lakeport, with the lecture topic presented at 11 a.m.

Call Dailey at 510-306-6410 in order to confirm senior center location.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Come and enjoy spring in Clear Lake State Park on Saturday, April 16, with retired California State Park Ranger Val Nixon.

The two-hour walk will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Visitor Center parking lot and will be a slow walk along Cole Creek, Kelsey Creek and Kelsey Creek Slough. 

The walk will cover about one mile of paved road and established trails.

Participants should wear sturdy shoes and bring binoculars, mosquito repellent and water.

Clear Lake State Park is located at 5300 Soda Bay Rd. Kelseyville, and entry into the park is free for those attending the presentation.

Anyone having special needs should contact Clear Lake State Park Sector Office Tuesday through Thursday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 707-279-2267. 

For further information on California State Parks go to www.parks.ca.gov .