LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Ten minutes of your time can help California and Lake County get more broadband funding.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act allocated $62 billion to improve nationwide broadband availability and access, with an emphasis on unserved and underserved communities.
The more input, feedback, and involvement is shown by residents, the more likely California counties will receive the maximum available broadband dollars from the federal government.
Part of the state of California’s community engagement effort involves distribution and participation in a brief digital equity survey.
To meet statewide goals, at least 250 Lake County residents must complete the survey by June 30.
The survey is anonymous and takes about 10 minutes to complete.
When my oldest son was born in July of 2008, I thought I could easily balance my career and my desire to be far more engaged at home than my father and his generation were. I was wrong.
Almost immediately, I noticed how social policies, schools and health care systems all make it difficult for dads to be highly involved and engaged at home. Contradictory expectations about work and family life abound.
As a fatherhood researcher with four kids of my own, I am convinced that fathers are transformative figures for children, families and communities.
But a man’s mere presence, paycheck and willingness to punish misbehaving children is not nearly enough. Many of the benefits of fathering for children come from dads being nurturing, loving and engaged in all aspects of parenting.
When fathers are caregivers – when they provide emotional support and act affectionately toward their kids – the effects go well beyond growth, development, good health and solid grades. My research shows the benefits also include having children who value emotional intelligence, gender equality and healthy competition.
Nurturing versus stoic dads
Thinking about the broad impact fathers have, I analyzed how fathering affects different social values – such as a belief in gender equality – in May 2021.
Surveying more than 2,500 American fathers 18 and older, I found that involved fathering has a long-lasting impact on the personal principles and cultural perspectives of children.
In my survey, the differences between the least nurturing and the most nurturing fathers are stark.
Surveyed fathers who reported that their own fathers were highly withdrawn tended to be hypercompetitive, emotionally stoic and unappreciative of women’s contributions outside the home.
In contrast, surveyed fathers who said they had highly nurturing dads were much more likely to achieve their goals in a healthy manner, be more emotionally open and believe in equitable partnership.
How dads instill values
Several decades ago, many fathers were unwilling or unable to provide their children with emotional support or physical care. Instead, they focused on bread-winning, children’s discipline and simply being present in the home.
These traditional norms left many contemporary fathers ill-equipped for modern parenthood. Contemporary social norms set broad expectations for fathers: rule enforcement and economically supporting the family while also providing for children’s physical and emotional needs.
Boys, for better and worse, often mirror the habits, interests and values of their own fathers.
My colleague Scott Easton and I found that how one’s father behaves is especially powerful given that cultural, social and institutional norms about fatherhood are much weaker than they are for motherhood.
For example, mothers have traditionally been known for showing children affection and providing emotional support. Social expectations for these behaviors are not well defined among fathers. As a result, dads have a much larger impact on their sons’ fathering behaviors than moms have on their daughters’ mothering behaviors.
Positively, this means that a sizable portion of men replicate the best attributes of their own fathers – such as being loving and affectionate. Negatively, this means bad behaviors – such as extremely harsh discipline – are sometimes repeated across generations.
However, some men compensate for their own fathers’ poor or nonexistent parenting by forming their own ideas and values about parenting.
Mothers and other parenting partners are healthier and happier when fathers are highly engaged with their kids. Men who care for and support their kids benefit too – with improved self-image, life purpose and relationships. And communities gain increased trust and safety from the relationships built when fathers positively participate in their kids’ activities, schooling and social networks.
Valuing supportive fathers
How can American society ensure that healthy competition, emotional openness and respect for women are widespread among future generations of men and fathers? Part of the answer is by valuing loving, supportive fathering.
Many fathers increased their share of child care tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic. These shifts may become permanent, ultimately changing cultural values around parenting and gender roles.
Society also needs to provide clearer messaging to fathers about what does and does not work in parenting. For example, my colleagues and I have shown that men who believe they should be nurturing parents are more involved in their children’s lives. Fathers who demonstrate healthy masculine traits like assertiveness and strong goal orientation also tend to be sensitive, engaged parents.
Thus, there are many routes to transformative fathering. And this is not simply behavior for biological fathers. Fatherhood is broadly defined, and people often look to nonbiological father figures like relatives, stepfathers, foster fathers and unrelated mentors.
All men who support and care for children have a critical role to play in instilling positive social values in future generations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom joined President Biden and a California Climate Action Corps volunteer in Palo Alto on Monday for the president’s announcement of more than $600 million in federal grant funding for climate resilience projects across the country.
President Biden also announced that California will receive $67 million in federal funding to help build power lines and transmission infrastructure, supporting the state’s transition to 100% clean electricity by 2045.
President Biden and Governor Newsom visited the Baylands Nature Preserve, one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland remaining in the San Francisco Bay.
The preserve is part of the Strategy to Advance Flood protection, Ecosystems and Recreation along the San Francisco Bay, or SAFER Bay, Project, a flood and sea-level resilience project that will protect almost 1,600 properties and will enable the restoration of approximately 600 acres of marsh from former salt ponds.
“California’s wildfires, heat waves, and extreme swings from drought to flooding show how climate change is impacting our communities,” Newsom said. “There is no better partner in the fight against climate change than President Biden, who is making unprecedented investments and approaching this crisis with urgency. This new federal funding will support our ongoing climate action to protect our coastal communities from rising oceans and build the clean energy we need.”
“Throughout our history, we’re the only nation in the world to come out of crisis stronger than we went into it,” President Biden said. “We’re doing it again here on the climate crisis. When I think of climate, I think of jobs. When I think of climate, I think of innovation. When I think of climate, I think of turning peril into progress.”
Historic state investments
California’s Climate Commitment, the $48 billion climate budget, includes $4.1 billion in climate resilience funding:
• $1.4 billion in investments over multiple years for nature-based solutions. • $1.6 billion in investments over multiple years to promote community resilience. • $734 million in investments over multiple years for coastal resilience. • On June 1, the Coastal Conservancy awarded $78 million for climate resilience, public access, habitat restoration and wildfire resilience projects. • $444 million over multiple years to address extreme heat.
California’s sea level rise action plan
Last year, California finalized an action plan to tackle sea level rise with a coordinated roadmap including priority investments, programs and policies for 17 state agencies and departments.
The State Agency Sea Level Rise Action Plan includes over 80 actions grounded in the best available science, tribal and local partnerships equity, and other guiding principles.
California Climate Action Corps
As a part of California’s comprehensive strategy to address the climate crisis, Governor Newsom launched the country’s first state-level, climate service corps to empower all Californians to take meaningful action to safeguard the climate.
You can take meaningful action today to help communities across our state by serving in a year-long fellowship, volunteering or taking action at home.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. Masks are highly encouraged where 6-foot distancing cannot be maintained.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the city clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20.
On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Nick Walker will present to the council the proposed 2023-24 fiscal year budget.
The report gives the bottom line number for the budget as $29,798,367.
As part of its budgeting matters, the council also will consider approving the annual appropriations limit, or Gann limit, for the city in the form of a resolution.
Also on the agenda Tuesday are public hearings to approve a resolution adopting revised personnel rules and introduction of an ordinance amending Chapter 2.48, Personnel System, of the Lakeport Municipal Code and schedule a second reading and adoption on July 18.
The council also will consider adopting a resolution to cause a written report to be prepared and filed with the city clerk regarding delinquent water, sewer and solid waste user charges, fees and penalties for the period of June 1, 2022, through May 31, 2023 and setting a public hearing on the written report prior to collection on the tax roll.
In other business, Police Chief Brad Rasmussen will present a report on police statistics for 2022.
On the consent agenda — items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are warrants, ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on June 6; approval of application 2023-020, with staff recommendations, for the Dickens’ Faire; authorization for the city manager to execute amendment No. 1 to the PSA with JJACPA; and approval of an amendment to the city manager contract with Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC.
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.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — A moderate Saturday evening earthquake centered in Mendocino County was felt across the region and as far away as Southern California.
The United States Geological Survey said the 4.4-magnitude quake occurred at 8:44 p.m. and was centered 5.2 miles southeast of Talmage, 7.6 miles east southeast of Ukiah and 26.5 miles west northwest of Clearlake, at a depth of nearly 5 miles.
The quake was felt around Lake County. This reporter felt it as a sharp jolt.
As of 1 a.m. Sunday, the USGS had received 425 shake reports from around Lake County, the North Coast region and all of California.
The USGS reported the quake was felt as far away as Oxnard and Bakersfield.
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.
Matt Hitchings, University of Florida and Derek Cummings, University of Florida
Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were present in the blood of 96.4% of Americans over the age of 16 by September 2022. That’s according to a serosurvey – an analysis testing for the presence of these immune defense molecules – conducted on samples from blood donors.
A serosurvey like this one helps researchers estimate how many people have been exposed to any part of the coronavirus, whether via vaccination or infection. Both can trigger the generation of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. And by identifying which kind of antibodies someone has in their blood, researchers can break down the 96.4% into different types of immunity: infection-derived, vaccine-derived and hybrid.
COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States are based on only one part of the virus – the spike, or S, protein. Researchers can tell that a person has been vaccinated and has not been infected if their blood has only anti-S antibodies that target that spike protein. If someone has anti-N antibodies, which target the virus’s nucleocapsid protein, it’s a sign that they’ve been infected by SARS-CoV-2. To reliably identify someone with hybrid immunity, a researcher would need to match someone who has anti-N antibodies to an official vaccination database.
What about the 3.6% without antibodies?
Immunologists know that antibody levels decrease in the months after a COVID-19 infection or vaccination, and this is true for many pathogens. It’s possible some people did have antibodies at one point, but they’re no longer detectable. And not every infection leads to a detectable antibody response, particularly if the case was mild or asymptomatic.
Another factor is the accuracy of the antibody test. No test is perfect, so a small percentage of people who truly have antibodies might come up negative.
Together, these considerations mean that the 96.4% number is likely an underestimate. It seems reasonable to conclude that almost no one in this population has neither been infected by SARS-CoV-2 nor received a COVID-19 vaccine.
A clearer picture of a virus’s spread
Serosurveys are useful for understanding how likely different types of people – of varying ages or races, for example – were to have been infected. For this purpose, a serosurvey can be much more reliable than using data on people who received a positive PCR test, or who report having had a positive rapid antigen test, because getting a positive test is heavily influenced by access to care, health care behavior and how severe your illness is. These are sources of what is called bias.
This bias has two effects: It leads to large underestimation of the proportion of the overall population infected, and it can lead to spurious differences between groups. For example, people with mild symptoms are less likely to get tested and are also likely to be younger. Researchers might draw the wrong conclusion that because they’re not getting tested these people aren’t actually catching the virus.
Looking at antibodies as a marker of infection is not biased by such behavioral factors. Many serosurveys, including ones that we worked on in Chennai, India, and Salvador, Brazil, found similar or even higher seroprevalence in children compared with young adults, contradicting an early narrative that children were less susceptible to the virus. Instead, our results suggested that infections in children were less likely to be detected.
What does this statistic mean for future waves?
Antibodies are not just a marker of previous infection; part of their job is to help prevent future infection with the same pathogen. So, serosurveys can be used to understand levels of immunity in the population.
For some diseases, like measles, immunity is essentially lifelong, and having antibodies means you are protected. However, for SARS-CoV-2 this is not the case, because the virus has continually evolved new variants that are able to reinfect people despite their antibodies.
Nevertheless, many studies have shownthat individuals with hybrid immunitywill be more protected against future infection and variants than those with vaccine- or infection-derived immunity alone. It may be useful to know the proportion of the population with single-source immunity in order to target certain groups with vaccination campaigns.
Whenever I tell high school students in classes I visit that I appreciated learning about slavery as a child growing up in the Caribbean, they often look confused.
Why, they ask, did I like learning about slavery given that it was so horrible and harsh? How could I value being taught about something that caused so much hurt and harm?
That’s when I tell them that my teachers in St. Thomas – and my fourth grade history textbook – didn’t focus just on the harsh conditions of slavery. Rather, they also focused on Black freedom fighters, such as Moses Gottlieb, perhaps better known as General Buddhoe, who is credited with leading a nonviolent revolt that led to the abolishment of slavery in the Danish-ruled West Indies on July 3, 1848. The historic date is now observed and celebrated in the United States Virgin Islands as Emancipation Day.
The holiday – and the lessons I learned about it – instilled in me a sense of cultural pride and gave me a better appreciation for the sacrifices that Black people made for freedom. It also encouraged me to always push on when faced with challenges.
Students often tell me that they’re not learning much about slavery beyond the suffering and harsh conditions that it involved. As a historian who specializes in how slavery is taught in K-12 classrooms, I believe there are several ways educators can incorporate Juneteenth into their instruction that will give students a broader understanding of how Black people resisted slavery and persevered in spite of it. Below are just a few.
Start early, but keep it positive
As early childhood experts assembled by the National Museum of African American History point out in a guide they created to help develop lessons about Juneteenth, children in the U.S. will probably hear about slavery by age 5. But lessons about slavery at that age should avoid the pain and trauma of slavery. Instead, the lessons should celebrate and teach stories of Black culture, leadership, inventions, beauty and accomplishments. This, the authors of the guide say, will better equip children to later hear about, understand and emotionally process the terrible truths about slavery.
“Juneteenth events can be wonderful opportunities to introduce the concepts of slavery with a focus on resilience and within an environment of love, trust, and joy,” the guide states.
Focus on Black resistance
Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice. As Black history education professor LaGarett King puts it, Black people have always “acted, made their own decisions based on their interests, and fought back against oppressive structures.” Stressing this can help students to see that although Black people were victimized by slavery, they were not just helpless victims.
Juneteenth can also be a way for educators to help students better understand contemporary demands for racial justice. That’s what George Patterson, a former Brooklyn middle school principal, did a few years back at the height of protests that took place under the mantra of Black Lives Matter.
Patterson has said he believes that when students study Juneteenth, they are “better equipped to understand the historical underpinnings of what’s going on in the streets and to put the demands being made in context.”
Teachers need not wait for Juneteenth to be included in textbooks in order to draw lessons from the holiday.
“If it’s not in the textbook, then we need to introduce it, we need to teach it,” Odessa Pickett, a teacher at the Barack Obama Learning Academy in Markham, Illinois, stated during an interview about teachers infusing Juneteenth into their lessons. “We need to bring it to the forefront.”
Educators can make Juneteenth about so much more than the end of slavery. Teaching lessons about the holiday offers an abundance of opportunities about what it means to fight for freedom and maintain a sense of self-determination in the face of oppression.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many new dogs and puppies waiting for homes.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian shepherd, Catahoula leopard dog, German shepherd, husky, Labrador retriever, mastiff, pit bull, plott hound and terrier.
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.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Male German shepherd puppy
This 6-month-old male German shepherd puppy has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 2, ID No. LCAC-A-5315.
Anatolian shepherd-mastiff mix
This 3-year-old male Anatolian shepherd-mastiff mix has a short fawn coat.
He is in kennel No. 5, ID No. LCAC-A-5276.
Male pit bull puppy
This 3-month-old male pit bull puppy has a short brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 6, ID No. LCAC-A-5266.
Male pit bull terrier
This 3-month-old male pit bull terrier has a short brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-5265.
Male yellow Labrador retriever
This male yellow Labrador retriever is a year and a half old.
He is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-5361.
Male Catahoula leopard dog
This 2-month-old male Catahoula leopard dog has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 9a, ID No. LCAC-A-5249.
Male Catahoula leopard dog
This 2-month-old male Catahoula leopard dog has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 9b, ID No. LCAC-A-5247.
Female terrier
This 12-year-old female terrier has a brown and black coat.
She is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-5327.
Male pit bull
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-5258.
Male Catahoula leopard dog puppy
This 2-month-old male Catahoula leopard dog puppy has a short brindle coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 12b, ID No. LCAC-A-5245.
Female Catahoula leopard dog puppy
This 2-month-old female Catahoula leopard dog puppy has a short brindle coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 12c, ID No. LCAC-A-5246.
Male Catahoula leopard dog puppy
This 3-month-old male Catahoula leopard dog puppy has a short tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-5354.
Female pit bull
This 9-year-old female pit bull has a gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-5349.
Male German shepherd
This two and a half year old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-5337.
Male German shepherd
This 1 year old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-5324.
Male plott hound
This 2-year-old male plott hound has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-5143.
Female pit bull terrier
This 5-year-old female pit bull terrier has a short gray and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-5321.
‘Jojo’
“Jojo” is a one and a half year old female pit bull terrier with a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-5312.
Male shepherd
This 2-year-old male shepherd has a tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-5223.
Male pit bull terrier
This 5-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short white coat with red markings.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-5322.
Female pit bull terrier
This 2-year-old female pit bull terrier has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-5333.
Male shepherd
This 1-year-old male shepherd has a tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-5303.
Male pit bull terrier
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-5203.
Male pit bull terrier
This 1-year-old male pit bull terrier has a black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-5334.
Male pit bull puppy
This 5-month-old male pit bull puppy has a white coat.
He is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-5325.
‘Luna’
“Luna” is a 1-year-old female husky with a red, tan and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-5270.
Male shepherd
This 2-year-old male shepherd has a short tan coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-5344.
Female pit bull-shepherd puppy
This 5-month-old female pit bull-shepherd puppy has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-5072.
Male shepherd
This 1-year-old male shepherd has a tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-5310.
Female shepherd
This 10-month-old female shepherd has a tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-5323.
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. — A procession for a Cal Fire captain who died in an off-duty motorcycle crash is set to be held this week.
The Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit said the procession for Capt. Ronnie Boyd will take place on Tuesday from the Napa County Coroner’s Office to Jones and Lewis Clear Lake Memorial Chapel in Lower Lake.
Cal Fire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, or LNU, will begin the procession for Capt. Boyd at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Napa County Coroner’s Office.
The procession will use Highway 29 through Napa and the city of St Helena, and turn to go through downtown Calistoga on the way to Lake County.
Once they reach Twin Pine Casino in Lake County there will be a procession pass-off by the Napa County resources to Cal Fire LNU’s Lake County Crews, South Lake Fire Protection District, and Lake County Fire District.
Once the procession has transitioned to the Lake County resources it will continue down Highway 29 through Middletown, passing the community of Hidden Valley Lake, and proceeding to the destination in Lower Lake.
Throughout the route you can expect delays and traffic in these areas.
“We ask if you would like to pay your respects to Capt. Boyd, please do not block the road, stay on the sidewalks, and do not approach the procession at any time,” Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire said Boyd started his career with Cal Fire in 2003 as a firefighter I in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit and was promoted to a limited-term fire apparatus engineer in 2007.
In 2009, Capt. Boyd was promoted to a permanent fire apparatus engineer position in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit followed by a promotion to a limited-term fire captain position in the Shasta-Trinity Unit.
In 2016, he was promoted to a permanent fire captain position in the Humboldt-Del Norte Unit where he worked up to his passing.
“Capt. Boyd was well known for his glee for life, contagious smile, and willingness to serve the public,” Cal Fire said.
The statement added, “Please keep Capt. Boyd and his family, and the Cal Fire family that knew him, in your thoughts as they grieve through this tragic loss.”
Information regarding memorial services will be provided by the Boyd family at a later date.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Friends and family are remembering a Clearlake couple for their contributions to the community after both died last week as the result of a motorcycle crash in Napa County.
Ronnie Boyd Jr., 51, died at the scene of the crash on Sunday, June 11, and his wife, Dena Boyd, 52, died two days later.
They’ve been memorialized this past week with a moment of silence at the Clearlake City Council meeting, a remembrance post on Facebook from Cal Fire, Ronnie Boyd’s employer, and in numerous social media posts by friends and family.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to Captain Boyd's family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time. #neverforget,” Cal Fire headquarters and the Cal Fire Humboldt-Del Norte Unit posted on their Facebook pages on June 12, the day after his death.
“Ronnie and Dena were a huge part of this community for many years, and great friends to many,” said friend and neighbor Pastor Tee Stacy.
A procession is planned for Tuesday to bring Ronnie Boyd’s body home to Lake County from Napa County, said his daughter, Rachel Weidner. Additional details will be released early in the week.
Those who knew them are struggling with the loss of a vibrant, involved and loving couple, who took pride in their family and their community, and had a lot left to do.
The couple also were preparing to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary in August, said Weidner.
They had gone for an afternoon motorcycle ride last Sunday when something went wrong.
The California Highway Patrol’s Napa Area office reported that the couple was riding a 2015 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound on Butts Canyon Road north of James Creek Road at an unknown speed when, for reasons that remain under investigation, the motorcycle went off the east edge of the roadway and down a hillside, where it crashed.
The Boyds were thrown from the motorcycle. Ronnie Boyd died at the scene and Dena Boyd was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with major injuries. She died on Tuesday.
A passion for firefighting
Ronnie Boyd spent nearly 30 years working his way up through the firefighting ranks before becoming a captain with Cal Fire in the Humboldt area.
Boyd began his firefighting career as a volunteer at Lakeshore Fire in Clearlake, before it became Lake County Fire, in March of 1995.
“At the time he worked at Homestake Mine but that was just his job, firefighting was always his passion. He was eventually promoted to a volunteer captain,” Weidner said.
“Growing up our lives revolved around the station, it was a second home and family not just for my dad but the whole family,” Weidner said.
After the Homestake Mine closed at the end of 2001, Weidner said her father decided he wanted to make firefighting his career.
In 2003, he joined Cal Fire — before it changed its name from the California Department of Forestry — as a seasonal firefighter in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit during the summer, working construction jobs through the winter and continuing to volunteer at the local fire department anytime he was home, Weidner said.
Cal Fire reported that Boyd was promoted to a limited-term fire apparatus engineer in 2007, was promoted to a permanent fire apparatus engineer position in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit in 2009 and then moved to a limited-term fire captain position in the Shasta-Trinity Unit.
Eventually, Boyd was hired by Cal Fire as a permanent employee and in 2015 he decided to step back from volunteering in the Lake County Fire Protection District, Weidner said.
“He still loved the department and very much thought of it as family but being a full-time firefighter and then serving during his limited time off was nearly impossible,” she said.
It was as a Cal Fire employee that Boyd became friends with Greg Bertelli, who later became a Cal Fire division chief before retiring in February 2021.
Bertelli told Lake County News that he and Boyd worked together at the Cal Fire Middletown station for almost four years.
“I could tell you how dependable he was, how he always had a calm demeanor at an incident, how he had an infectious smile and laugh. He never would try to sugar coat an opinion. All of these would be true,” said Bertelli.
“What I remember most is how much he loved and was proud of his children. I would get an update on what colleges his son was looking at. He would have a smile from ear to ear talking about him. I remember coming back from a fire call at 2 a.m. listening to Alicia Keys singing ‘No One’ mainly because Ronnie said how much his daughter enjoyed the song. That is how I remember Ronnie,” Bertelli added.
In 2016, Boyd was promoted to a permanent fire captain position in the Humboldt-Del Norte Unit where he worked for the rest of his life.
Great neighbors, proud grandparents
Stacy said she doesn’t remember when she met Ronnie Boyd, but he and his younger brothers, Jessie and Guy were just youngsters, about the same ages as Stacy’s own three sons.
“I remember Ronnie acting like he was more of a dad than a big brother. He made an impression on me, and I will never forget that,” she said.
“Years passed and I lost track of Ronnie, until I married my husband, and we bought a house in Clearlake. And Ronnie lived down the street from us. Through the many years of being neighbors we became pretty good friends. I watched his children grow, witnessed Ronnie’s work ethic, kindness to others, and his service to the community as a firefighter,” Stacy said.
She recalled Boyd having a wonderful sense of humor, being a redneck and set in his ways. He loved to hunt and to be outdoors, and was a great neighbor who looked out for others.
Stacy said she and her husband Jim didn’t know Dena Boyd as well as they did her husband, however, they liked her very much. “She was always smiling, and she too had a great sense of humor. She loved Ronnie, and he loved her very much.”
Stacy said the Boyds were wonderful grandparents to Weidner’s little girl Raegan. “Ronnie would light up with pride every time he talked about Raegan and being Papa Ronnie. And Dena loved being Raegan’s ‘Mimi.’”
Weidner added, “Of all their titles, Papa Ronnie and Mimi were their favorite. They loved being grandparents and it brought them endless joy. Dena's favorite thing to do was shop for the grandkids, making sure they all had the perfect Christmas or birthday gift or even putting together a little something for each holiday or new season.”
“My husband and I miss them terribly and will never forget them. Our hope is to see them again one day,” Stacy said.
Weidner said Saturday that the timeline for the Tuesday processing was still being finalized, with Cal Fire expected to release additional details soon.
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Each winter, the Geminid meteors light up the sky as they race past Earth, producing one of the most intense meteor showers in the night sky. Now, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission is providing new evidence that a violent, catastrophic event created the Geminids.
Most meteor showers come from comets, which are made of ice and dust. When a comet travels close to the Sun, the ice evaporates and releases gas, dislodging small pieces of the comet and creating a trail of dust. Slowly, this repeated process fills the comet’s orbit with material that produces a meteor shower when Earth passes through the stream.
However, the Geminid stream seems to originate from an asteroid — a chunk of rock and metal — called 3200 Phaethon. Asteroids like Phaethon are not typically affected by the Sun’s heat the way comets are, leaving scientists to wonder what caused the formation of Phaethon’s stream across the night sky.
“What’s really weird is that we know that Phaethon is an asteroid, but as it flies by the Sun, it seems to have some kind of temperature-driven activity. Most asteroids don’t do that,” said Jamey Szalay, a research scholar at Princeton University. Szalay was an author, with Wolf Cukier as the lead author, on the science paper recently published in The Planetary Science Journal.
The research builds on previous work by Szalay and several of his Parker Solar Probe mission colleagues, including the Geminids direct images captured by Karl Battams’ team, to assemble a picture of the structure and behavior of the large cloud of dust that swirls through the innermost solar system.
Taking advantage of Parker’s flight path — an orbit that swings it just millions of miles from the Sun, closer than any spacecraft in history — the scientists were able to get the best direct look yet at the dust grains shed from passing comets and asteroids.
Built and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker Solar Probe does not carry a dedicated dust counter that would give it accurate readings on grain mass, composition, speed, and direction.
However, dust grains pelt the spacecraft along its path, and the high-speed impacts create unique electrical signals, or plasma clouds. These impact clouds produce unique electrical signals that are picked up by several sensors on the probe’s FIELDS instrument, which measures electric and magnetic fields near the Sun.
To learn about the origin of the Geminid stream, the scientists used this Parker data to model three possible formation scenarios, and then compared these models to existing models created from Earth-based observations.
They found that violent models were most consistent with the Parker data. This means it was likely that a sudden, powerful event – such as a high-speed collision with another body or a gaseous explosion, among other possibilities – that created the Geminid stream.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The program is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for the Heliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. APL manages the Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA.
Desiree Apodaca works for the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.