Dr. Bill MacDougall. Courtesy photo.

As the predictions of huge budget cuts loom, the Konocti Unified School District must continue its focus on providing superb programs that our parents and students consider valuable and desirable.

There are many ways to look at the upcoming years. One would be to cut things to the bone and deeper. We would need to eliminate programs such as music, art and other electives, eliminate after school activities and cut personnel, including site administrators and counseling services. We would need to cut teaching staff and raise class sizes.

This would be an obvious approach to cutting expenditures in order to balance a budget. We would have nothing to offer but the basic core subjects. When parents considering a move to Lake County compare the schools, we will be competing with our neighboring districts based solely upon test scores. In addition, if safety becomes tenuous and high interest, career-based programs become scarce, I believe we will lose clients. We will simply lose.

I prefer to approach these times as an opportunity to focus on what we can do better than anyone else. Maintaining class sizes as low as we can, providing an excellent performing arts program, emphasizing our career-tech programs, strengthening our programs for our gifted and academically talented, and providing a high-relationship, rigorous education for all students are investments that will pay for themselves. Our clients will be happy and provided with an excellent, well-rounded education. They will remain in the district and they will encourage others to come.

We must find ways to increase revenue and make each dollar go farther. Therefore, KUSD is forming two committees to address the upcoming financial projections.

The first committee, the Increasing Enrollment and Revenue Committee, is looking at methods to do just that. This committee will look into the areas of attendance, recruitment and retention of students. We are looking for experts in student attendance, instructional programs, grant writing, fundraising, marketing, labor market projections, real estate/housing, health care and community values/needs, parents and students.

The second committee, the Consolidation of Services Committee, is researching and proposing methods to decrease spending. This committee will review the possibility of consolidation of schools and other district operations so that KUSD can operate on a smaller budget. To do this, we will investigate collaborative partnerships with the county, other school districts, and the communities of Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Glenhaven and Lower Lake. We are looking for experts on county operations, representatives from each community, parents, facility, maintenance and grounds keeping experts, experts in transportation, food services, student support services, law enforcement, and school finance and site representatives.

If you know someone who is an expert in one or more of these areas, please call the district office at 994-6475 and give us his/her contact information. We want the committees to be of manageable size and to have specific focus. We anticipate the first meeting to be at the end of October and recommendations given to the KUSD board by February.

As we make this leap, our staff members must develop a relationship with each student. Staff members must know the student well enough to determine what strategies will make him or her succeed. This process will be done individually in the classroom and as professional learning communities.

An important thing that we can do as an educational community is to realize and appreciate the fact that everyone is working very hard and doing the best they can. The employees of KUSD and our community must join together to help one another, work together and be kind to one another. We may not be able to change the financial climate of the United States today, but we can create the climate in which we live and work. When we are all doing our part, we help the children of our community experience growth, safety and joy. If we make our community a place of respect, trust, consideration, tolerance, and compassion, then we can overcome the obstacles created by the financial crisis.

We have completed the first six weeks of school. Almost all classes are full to contract size or at the maximum allowable under class size reduction. Our support staff is also working right at capacity levels. The secretaries, custodians, librarians, food service providers, paraprofessionals, tech support, and maintenance/grounds personnel are all doing their very best to provide the highest level of service.

I have had the pleasure of visiting all of the schools, observed many classrooms, ridden several school buses and attended all of the Back-to-School Nights. One thing I can say, without reservation, KUSD has many fabulous employees who care deeply for our youth and our community. In fact, we exemplify what is best in our community.

Let me give you some examples.

The first day of school I rode a bus in the morning. As we pulled up at each stop, I saw children genuinely pleased to see their driver. The driver, in turn, welcomed each student and often called them by name. The parents also knew the driver by name. As I talked to the driver, I found that he had driven the same route for over four years and that he has known many of the students, their siblings and their families for at least that long. This long-term relationship is important, powerful, and positively impacts our community and our students’ lives. His smile and welcome is one the first interactions each student has before they arrive at school.

During another bus ride, I observed a driver hesitate to leave a stop because a student was not there. She knew that student rarely missed school, but also that he had a very hard life. Seconds after conveying her concern to me, we saw a head bob up and down in the distance. The child came up to the bus winded and crying. Apparently, he had not been woken up and ran out of the house without his homework or breakfast. The driver welcomed the child and told him that he had made the right decision to get on the bus and to come to school. She assured the child that things would be OK and that he would have breakfast at school. The child wiped the tears from his face and hugged the driver.

I have many stories of many classrooms, but the overriding aspect that impressed me was the constant praise given to the students when something is done correctly or appropriately. Our teachers consistently emphasize the positives and correct the inappropriate behavior by asking what should be done or giving specific directions.

In one classroom of first graders, the teacher has each student seated next to a partner in groups of four. She would say “make sure that your partner is ready” and they would quickly bring each other to attention. Then she would say “My darlings what …” or “My angels how …” or praise them saying “you are doing so well, my loves.” She meant these terms of endearment and you could tell that the students adored their teacher.

Later that afternoon, I also saw several teachers with their students in the lunchroom. One teacher was at the front of the table flipping through multiplication flash cards as the students ate their lunch. Another teacher was cutting students’ hamburgers in half so it was easier for them to eat and still another was using a press to slice whole oranges into eighths. I presented an eighth grade teacher with a sunflower one morning and she turned to her students and said, “See, what did I just tell you, you never know when something good is going to happen!”

These stories and many just like them happen every day in our classrooms, in our buses, in our cafeterias, in our offices and on our school yards.

On behalf of the employees of the Konocti Unified School District, I want to say that it is a honor pleasure to serve this community.

Dr. William R. MacDougall, Ed.D., is in his first year as Konocti Unified School District's superintendent. He plans to share these periodic updates with community members.

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Brett Behrens.

Never having done something like this before, I am not sure where to start.

So I’ll take you back to the beginning of this new beginning of my life written in several entries summarizing the past nine years, including the highs and the lows. Hopefully at that point, I’ll be to my life as it is today.

I’m afraid that if I start from today things that took place in 1999 won’t make much sense. They still might not.

Knowing that dialysis was a reality, I sat down with my dialysis nurse to discuss the possibilities. There were many.

There was, of course, hemo dialysis. This is where you are hooked up to a machine for a period of time determined by your nephrologist, for a machine to filter your blood for waste and excess fluid. Think of it as a large machine doing the work your kidneys would normally. For me that would be about four hours a session, three times a week.

Second, there was peritoneal dialysis. Now this is a little more complicated to explain.

A surgeon places a a peritoneal dialysis catheter in your abdomen. Dialysis occurs when you fill your abdomen with dialysat chemistry. Next the blood pases through the liquids as the travel from one area to another and re-entering your blood vessels. You drain and fill your abdomen four times a day. Each “exchange” takes about 45 minutes. Peritoneal dialysis is much more mobile as you can take the bags of chemisty with you if you are going on a trip.

With hemo, you have to make arrangements with a center close to the area you’re visiting and hope they have room to fit you in. And with more people needing dialysis, being a traveling patient is becoming increasingly more difficult.

Of course there was a third choice, do nothing and die.

This really isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t relish the thought of going to a clinic three times a week. To me, it was just another part of losing my independence. By this time the vision in my left eye was getting worse and I knew my time driving was the next thing that was going to be taken from me.

This was not a good time in my life.

At least I can say that in my 25 years of driving I never had an accident. I had several close calls but never a wreck.

Time went forward and I did lose my driving privileges as well as more sight in the eye I had left. I would have my good days but I knew my vision would never be good enough to get my license back.

Never in my life did I ever think I would follow in my father’s footsteps. But little did I know, that was just what I was doing.

In attempting to get on the kidney transplant waiting list, I was required to get an angiogram done. For those who don’t know, an angiogram is where they run a camera up through your thigh to your heart to see what kind of condition your heart is in.

In my case, the results weren’t good. They found major blockages and said I was in dire need of bypass surgery.

So now a kidney transplant was on hold and I needed some major heart work. The toughest part was going to be finding a surgeon willing to take a chance with a diabetic on dialysis with an injection fraction of about 15 percent. The injection fraction is the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart on the down beat.

But my cardiologist, Dr. James Srebro knew the man for the job, Dr. Ramsey Deeks. Both are doctors in Napa and as far as I’m concerned the best in their fields.

Dr. Deeks said I needed at least two, possibly four bypasses, but he assured me he would not do anything that my body couldn’t take. With that we said it’s what we need to do and let’s get a time scheduled.

He harvested a pair of smaller veins near my heart and about five hours later, I was good as new. I spent a day and a half in ICU and another two and a half hours in a regular room and that was it. I was prepared for five to six days there. The worst of my pain was the day after surgery when they got me out of bed for a walk. I made one lap around the wing and I was pooped.

Actually, the worst pain was once when I sneezed. I thought my chest was going to explode. But I had my heart shaped pillow they gave me to support my chest and all was intact.

In fact the day I was discharged, we went home and I attended a Boy Scout meeting. My wife, Peggy, called me crazy. It was a challenge I gave myself to complete.

It’s those challenges which make me stronger and keep up the spirit to make this second life one that I will make better than the first.

I realize I am tough on myself and I drive myself harder now than I ever have. But as I explain to Peggy, I’m no tougher on others than I am on myself. She tells me I need to settle down and enjoy life. She says I go to extremes at times. Maybe she’s right. But when you’re 46 sometimes it’s hard to change what you’ve always known and done.

My father had triple bypass surgery and came back stronger and he said he felt 25 years younger. Me too.

That was five years ago, the day when President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier and announced the war in Iraq was over.

Since then, I have had many more procedures done, tried to get back on the transplant list three times and am now working to get a part-time job working from home. Heck I even had pneumonia and wound up on a ventilator with a tube run gown my throat for three days. That happened the day after Christmas last year.

There’s so much I could about just in the last nine years of my life, I’d never catch you up to October 2008.

The only reason I tell you these things is I want you to know a bit about my life. My second life.

Brett Behrens is writing a regular column for Lake County News about dealing with serious health problems. Behrens, 46, is a native of Lake County. He has spent most of his life behind the lens as a photojournalist and the owner of a successful portrait photography studio. He continues his image-making activities as his time and eyesight allows.

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On Nov. 18, 2007, after a night of heavy drinking at a bar in Martinez, I got into my car and drove onto Highway 4. I was driving in the wrong direction and nearly killed many people. I finally came to rest near the Pacheco exit after colliding head on into another driver who was simply trying to get home to his family for the holidays.

The impact of this crash resulted in this man having severe injuries almost resulting in his death. I suffered a broken back, seven months jail time and three years probation. My license was suspended for a year, plus three months of DUI classes, court fines and restitution.

Up until this collision, I had a clean driving record. I owned a home with my husband of 11 years and our 5-year-old daughter. I had a job I loved for five years at a local school. To most, I seemed like just another working mother and wife except this mother and wife has struggled with alcoholism for 16 years.

I was pretty good at first hiding it, lying about it, denying it, especially to myself. I tried to get help through local alcohol programs, counseling and rehab. The thing was, I did it for everyone else. I did it to make them happy. I wanted to show everyone else that I could do it.

That was the biggest mistake of my life. I should have been doing it for myself all along like everyone was telling me. I never wanted to do it for me. I didn’t like me, I didn’t love me. I was a miserable person who loved alcohol more. And near the end, even more than my own family.

Sound hard to believe? Well that’s the power of alcoholism. It makes you lose interest in all the things you once loved and loved doing. Consuming every ounce of who you are until you decide to change it, beat it, and kill it before it kills you. Or you can wait and do nothing like I did and continue on a path of destruction until you kill yourself or someone else in the process.

Never in a million years would I have ever thought I could cause such a horrible accident, cause the hurt and pain I have put my family and the victim and his family through. But I did and I will be living with that for the rest of my life.

This collision has been a big turning point in my life. It has taught me that sometimes in life, tragic things have to happen to us or someone we love no matter how much it hurts or who it hurts. To give us a reality check and open our eyes a little wider to the fact that someone with a higher authority has complete control over our lives and the power to take everything that means anything to us in an instant. To also help us realize that we are given one last chance to live life the way it was meant to be lived, with a purpose. Do you know what yours is?

I have learned that my ugliest personality trait was selfishness. I am now selfish in a different way. I put myself and my recovery first. I try not to worry so much over the things I have no control over. After all, our most destructive habit is worry. I have also learned that the worst thing I can be without is hope. I had, at one time, given up all hope that I could ever get sober. Now I am full of hope, strength and have the courage to keep up my sobriety and not give up.

Since my release, I have been working very hard to start a new life for myself. Being involved in my recovery is number one. I am looking forward to doing some public speaking and sharing my story with others who may be struggling with alcoholism. I am also starting a new career in the medical field as a CNA. And I am enjoying being a sober mother to my daughter.

Thank you to those who took the time to read my story. I hope that you remember my story and how quickly your life can be affected if your planning to continue to drink and drive.

Wendy Jensen is a member of Team DUI.

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The last five weeks have brought so many ads we feel like we're drinking from a fire hose – and we'll bet you're pretty saturated, too.

Since our first "Whoppers of 2008" piece, we've seen some of the same themes repeated. McCain's campaign doesn't tire of distorting Obama's tax plan, it seems, and in the process has whipped up at least 15 minutes of fame for sudden star Joe the Plumber. Obama continues trying to pull seniors into his camp by making deceptive claims about what McCain would do to Social Security, and he has new distortions about his opponent's plans for Medicare.

And there are some fresh deceptions gobbling up airtime, including false depictions of McCain's position on stem cell research, Obama's connections to former Weatherman Bill Ayers and the community group ACORN, and both candidates' health care plans. Then there's a new parlor game, pin-the-blame-on-the-candidate for the financial crisis that has gripped the country.

For more on these and other mendacities and misrepresentations we've found recently, please read on to our Analysis section, where you'll find summaries of many of our articles and links to the full-blown versions.

And if you haven't voted already, do so by the end of Tuesday. After all, why do you think we've been doing all this work?

Analysis

Remember, these are just the recent clunkers. For a collection of those from earlier in the campaign, see our first installment, "The Whoppers of 2008” (which can be found at www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_whoppers_of_2008.html).

McCain: The "Welfare" Man Cometh

Since our last roundup of whoppers, Joe the Plumber has joined the cast, and Barack Obama's "spread the wealth" comment to him has been made infamous by John McCain. In fact, in Obama's exchange with Joe, he was simply talking about making the nation's progressive tax system a bit more progressive by cutting taxes for most while raising them on top earners. McCain himself has defended progressive taxation in the past.

Also, McCain began denigrating Obama's proposed refundable tax credits as "welfare." But refundable tax credits are a key feature of McCain's own health care plan, except that he calls them "reform." In an early version of Obama's plan, only a tiny portion of his tax credits would have gone to anyone who didn't work, and advisers quickly announced that they had added a work requirement even for that one (a tax credit to benefit homeowners who don't itemize deductions).

Two outside groups joined McCain in the tax attack. But one of them, Let Freedom Ring, pulled its ad off the air rather than defend its false assertion that Obama had voted to raise taxes on "100% of America." An ad by another independent group, RightChange.com, says that Obama's plan would hike taxes on "many small businesses" to 62 percent. That's a ridiculously inflated figure that includes the state tax rate paid by people making more than $1 million annually in California.

Meanwhile, McCain has continued to broadcast, in speeches and ads, his most harped-upon deception of the campaign, telling voters that Obama favored higher taxes on "families making over $42,000 a year." As we've said ad nauseam, Obama's plan would raise taxes only on individuals making more than $200,000 a year, or couples or families making more than $250,000.

Obama: Senior Scare

In two TV ads and in speeches, Team Obama made false claims aimed at frightening seniors into fleeing from McCain's camp, to wit: McCain proposes to cut $882 billion out of Medicare benefits and eligibility to help pay for his health care plan. This turkey draws in part from a newspaper story saying McCain would pay for the health plan with "major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid." The story said nothing about cutting benefits or eligibility, though, nor does it say the McCain camp has given a target number. One ad says benefits would be cut 22 percent, and there would be "higher premiums and co-pays."

These claims have a de minimis relationship with reality, if that. The Obama camp borrowed calculations from a Democratic think tank that had piled detailed assumptions and calculations on top of a flat misrepresentation of what McCain's economic adviser had said in the newspaper article. He was quoted as saying Medicare benefits would not be reduced, and reductions would come through "efficiencies."

McCain: Obama and the "Terrorist"

A McCain TV ad says Obama "lied" about his association with Bill Ayers, a former member of the radical, bomb-setting, anti-Vietnam War Weather Underground group. In a Web ad, McCain says the two are "friends" who have "worked together for years." GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has said repeatedly on the stump that Ayers and Obama "pal around" together. And in a large-scale robo-call effort, McCain's campaign implied that Obama "worked closely" with Ayers in the latter's earlier, Weather Underground days.

But nothing Obama said about Ayers has been shown to be untrue. All available evidence indicates the two know each other but are not close. They met in 1995, when Obama was asked to head the board of a school reform group, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, that Ayers had helped start. The organization, formed to dispense grants in an effort to improve the city's schools, was hardly radical; its board included a number of well-regarded Chicago establishment types. Also, Obama and Ayers overlapped for two years on the board of another foundation, and Ayers hosted a coffee in his home when Obama was running for the Illinois state Legislature.

Ayers is unrepentant about his past, and Obama doesn't excuse him, calling his acts as a Weatherman "despicable." But in Chicago, Ayers isn't seen as all that controversial. He's now a professor of education and was named a Chicago Citizen of the Year in 1997 for his work on school reform.

Obama: Celling McCain Short

Any ad that features the mom of a sick child is sure to pull a few heartstrings. But this radio spot is flat wrong when it says that "John McCain has stood in the way – he's opposed stem cell research." Technically, the carefully-worded phrase is correct: McCain has opposed embryonic stem cell research. But not since 2001, when he became convinced, he says, that the potential good it could do outweighed other considerations.

And although his vice presidential candidate feels otherwise, and the Republican Party platform doesn't support his views either, McCain still opposes the Bush administration's restrictions on stem-cell research. Our conclusion: The Obama-Biden ad seriously misstates McCain's position.

Garbage Barrage

An upstart group with an official-sounding name, the National Republican Trust PAC, emerged from the shadows in late September and claims to have raised nearly $7 million for a barrage of ads in the final weekend before Election Day.

The "Republican" group actually has no formal connection to the Republican Party, and the first ad it aired is one of the sleaziest attacks we've seen. It flashes on screen the driver's license of 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta and claims Obama has a "plan" to give licenses to illegal aliens. Never mind that Obama says he's not proposing drivers' permits for non-legal immigrants, or that the 9/11 terrorists didn't need driver's licenses to board aircraft (their passports would have done just fine) or that Atta had actually been granted a visa and had been allowed to enter the country legally. This group doesn't let facts stand in the way of a smear.

There's more. The spot also alleges that Obama's health plan will cover illegal immigrants. Wrong again. Obama has quite explicitly ruled out coverage for those who are here illegally. Nor does he propose granting Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants, as the ad also claims.

Financial Crisis? Blame Someone!

There's nothing like a good disaster to bring on the finger-pointing. With the financial system in a tailspin, MoveOn.org seized the moment to hammer on former Sen. Phil Gramm, a onetime McCain economic adviser, for cosponsoring a 1999 bill repealing some regulations on financial institutions. But the bill had broad bipartisan support, passing the House 362-57, the Senate 90-8; Democratic President Bill Clinton signed it into law. Did it "strip the safeguards that would have protected us," as the ad charges? Actually, economists of various political stripes – as well as Clinton – have credited the law with cushioning some of the blows of the recent troubles.

A McCain ad turns the tables by saying the Republican candidate tried in vain to "rein in" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the institutions whose underwriting of too many risky home mortgages contributed to the meltdown. Obama was "notably silent," the ad says, and "Democrats blocked the reforms." Actually, Republicans never brought the bill up for consideration on the floor; they controlled the Senate at the time. And besides, McCain signed on to the 2005 bill too late for it to have made any difference.

The game caught on in congressional ads, too, where even more ludicrous factual contortions took place in order to parcel out blame. In one ad, a Republican state legislator who's running for a House seat is tied to the crisis and the $700 billion bailout for doing nothing more than going on record supporting Bush's tax cuts; the candidate has never even served in public office at the national level.

McCain: The ACORN Fables

In another attempt to paint groups and people with whom Obama has some connection in as unsavory a light as possible, McCain has gone after the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. And we've gone after him, for an ad accusing the group of "massive voter fraud" and for saying in the final presidential debate that ACORN is "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Both claims are breathtakingly inaccurate. There's a huge difference between voter fraud and voter registration fraud. And while ACORN, which hires part-time, $8-an-hour canvassers to go door-to-door and register people to vote, has had widespread problems with phony registrations invented by employees who don't want to work, the problem has never been that it sent people to the polls using bogus identities or to vote in any other fraudulent manner. Even the Republican prosecutor of the largest ACORN case to date said the shenanigans of ACORN workers were "not intended to permit illegal voting."

To be sure, Obama's interactions with the group have been greater than he has let on. But whether those ties can accurately be called "long and deep," as McCain's ad claims, is highly questionable.

Health Care Hardball

Understanding the candidates' health care plans may seem almost as difficult as convincing your insurer to pay for an annual physical. And it's not made any easier when Obama and McCain misrepresent each other's proposals. We found an Obama ad perpetrating the whopper that McCain's plan contains the "largest middle-class tax increase in history." It's true that McCain would, for the first time, require workers to pay federal income tax on the value of their employer-provided health insurance. But that's offset by the tax credits he'd provide of up to $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per couple or family – and most people would come out ahead.

But the McCain campaign and Republican National Committee have gone after Obama's plan with a gigantic deception of their own, which they offered in a radio ad we dissected. Obama would "rob 50 million employees of their health coverage," the ad says. We flagged that statement for grossly mischaracterizing an analysis of a plan that wasn't even Obama's. In reality, two prominent studies found that Obama's plan would produce a net increase in the number of employees with health coverage through their jobs. Under McCain, according to the same studies, there would be a net decrease.

In addition, McCain has repeatedly said that Obama wants to "take over the health care of America," as he said in the third debate between the candidates. "[H]is object is a single-payer system." That's not true, either. While the Democrat has remarked that he'd probably favor a single-payer design if he were building a health care system from scratch, he's said several times that at this point, it makes more sense to improve what's currently in place – and that's what his plan would aim to do.

And There's More ...

Too many to mention, really, but here's a sampling of the other distortions and falsehoods we've run into in the closing weeks:

• The National Rifle Association opened fire on Obama with ads claiming he voted to ban deer-hunting ammunition (not true) and voted to “make you the criminal” for using a handgun in self-defense (a serious distortion of a vote to uphold enforcement of local gun bans in Illinois).

• Obama has repeatedly claimed that McCain supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and in one ad charged that McCain had "sold ... out" Pennsylvania workers whose factory closed. The ad further implied that their jobs were sent to China. That's not what happened. No jobs were sent to China, and the factory closed because the television parts it manufactured were becoming obsolete. As for those tax breaks, McCain has supported a provision of the tax code that allows companies to defer paying U.S. corporate taxes on profits they earn and leave overseas. But economists have said this isn't a major reason why jobs are lost.

The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. Politics, and increase public knowledge and understanding. Visit them at www.factcheck.org.

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Esther Oertel is program director for the Friendly Visitor Program. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY – Our national population is aging on a grand scale, and Lake County is no exception. In fact, we have a higher percentage of retired folks here than many places in our nation.

Many within the elderly population are what might be called “invisible people.” They have lived busy and productive lives, but are now tucked away in their homes with very little contact with others.

While at one time they raised families, worked in jobs, volunteered within our communities or served our nation in the military, they are now mostly alone, living a confined and isolated life. Many rarely see their family; some wait long periods for even the simplest contact with another human being. They are homebound seniors.

Konocti Senior Support Inc. of Clearlake has a program that benefits otherwise isolated homebound seniors: Friendly Visitors of Lake County.

Through weekly one-hour visits by trained volunteers, the outside world is being brought to the lives of those who otherwise have limited contact with it.

The program is currently funded by the Redbud Healthcare District as a means to preserve the health of the isolated elderly by combating depression through friendly visits. Our program currently serves South Lake County, from Clearlake Oaks to Middletown and west to Kelseyville.

Clients of this program are called “Ami’s” – the French word for friend – and trained and supervised volunteers offer friendship, understanding and compassion by visiting seniors’ homes weekly to chat, write a letter or maybe play cards or work a jigsaw puzzle.

Many of our volunteers are seniors themselves, but volunteers can be of any age. We are currently working with local high schools to provide community service hours for teens that are recommended to our program.

Volunteers are given free training on the specifics of aging, communication and other facets of the program and are then matched to an Ami within their community. They arrange with the Ami a mutually beneficial time for a weekly visit. Volunteers attend a monthly meeting for support, advice and camaraderie.

The motto of Friendly Visitors of Lake County is “Two hearts are better than one.” We are always amazed that such a small slice of time – one hour a week – can bring such great benefits.

We have a waiting list of seniors who are waiting to be matched with a friendly visitor and are on the lookout for caring individuals willing to be volunteers.

The requirements for volunteering are simple: reliable transportation, the willingness to be trained and, most of all, the desire to share one’s heart and spirit with someone in need.

And here’s our little secret: Our volunteers are greatly blessed! They often report that our training and their visits with their Ami benefit their lives greatly.

To volunteer, refer a client or to simply ask a question, contact Friendly Visitor Program Director Esther Oertel, at 995-1417 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Trainings are offered on a continuing basis.

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With the issue of a GE Free Zone ordinance in Lake County being put off time and time again, I thought I would take some time to explore some questions concerning the genetically modified organism (GMO) issue in hopes of raising awareness of the GMO monster which has been slowly and steadily creeping up on us from the shadows.

Biologists classify every living thing into four basic categories – Plantae, Animalia, Protista and Fungi. Since genetically modified organisms (or genetically engineered organisms) more often than not contain genes from several different kingdoms, they do not actually fall into any of these categories and therefore cannot technically be considered an animal, a plant, a protist or a fungi.

Are they simply freaks of nature? Well, that would imply that they were actually of nature. Yet, since nature has never combined the DNA of even two different kingdoms since the history of the planet, they can hardly be considered “of nature” at all. They are no more natural than the Frankenstein monster. Hence, they have been dubbed “Frankenfoods” by many. After examining the facts, I would dare say they are actually less natural than the Frankenstein monster and more accurately compared to the monstrous science experiments of Dr. Moreau which could not be categorized so easily.

So, really, what are they? Well, maybe, we should move on to the next question ...

Why should you care?

Since the government agencies such as the FDA, EPA and USDA have yet to be able to accurately define these GMOs, they have yet to be able to hold them to any standards of accurate research, testing or labeling. Instead, these GMOs are simply treated as “new inventions” which are then patented and passed on to the consumer as if they were just another product of a savvy company. Yet, these broad allowances have made for some fairly interesting developments.

For instance, baccilus thuringiensis (BT) is a bacteria often used as a pesticide. The genes from this bacteria (from the Monera Kingdom) are currently being introduced into food crops (from the Plantae Kingdom) used to create genetically modified food where the pesticide is no longer outside the plant but is now part of this new GMO’s DNA. However, because BT is considered a pesticide, and our foods are not required to be labeled with any pesticide information, this new GMO food is not required to be labeled to contain the genes of a pesticide within it. This creates a huge safety issue for the consumer, because genetic code cannot be scrubbed or washed off like other pesticides and can be consumed internally.

In the same vein, many plants we consider food crops are being genetically engineered to contain Glyphosate, a non specific systemic herbicide which allows resistance to pesticides. This means that our food crops can and very well may be sprayed even heavier with pesticides. Again, these GMOs are not required to be labeled, allowing for the possible consumption of pesticides.

And, even when the genes of the GMOs are simply coming from two sets of gene pools which are similar, there are potential hazards due to lack of a definition. For instance, when crops of soybeans were combined with genes of a brazil nut, the crop was still allowed to be referred to as soybeans, creating an issue for those consumers with nut allergies because the Brazil nut gene did not have to be legally mentioned in any labeling. With the current lack of accountability, biotech companies bear no responsibility towards the consumer concerning these GMOs, even if a consumer went into anaphylactic shock (a type of allergic reaction which can cause death), because legally they are not required to make these distinctions, due to lack of definition.

So, this brings me to the question, once again …

What are GMOs?

Maybe, the question we should be asking is – what purpose do they serve?

Many biotech companies would answer this question by telling you that GMOs are going to someday feed the world and end world hunger by producing “new and improved” genetically engineered crops. However, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, hunger is not a food issue but a political and social issue. When it comes down to it, the hunger problem the world faces is not in the creation of the food but in the systems of delivering the food. We are not having a food shortage, unless you consider the biotech industry’s attempt to patent many food crops as “new inventions” in an attempt to control our food supply through a “pay to plant” system which includes terminator seed which “terminates” (basically creating an unfertile plant) the seed after each season forcing growers to buy new seed every season.

And, in fact, even if you accidentally sow the patented seed or your seed is simply contaminated by their crop and it reproduces their seed, you can be held financially responsible by these companies. Several farmers in the U.S. and Canada have already realized this, thanks to being sued by Monsanto (one of the largest biotech companies in the world) for thousands of dollars.

This issue should weigh heavily, on the minds of many farmers. Particularly, it is a question of great importance, to organic farmers. From a business standpoint, we need to be asking what will become of the reputation of other farmers (as well as other businesses), if contamination occurs?

In the year 2000, many farmers found the answer, thanks to Aventis and their genetically modified Starlink corn.

Starlink corn was actually banned for human consumption in the U.S. because it could trigger symptoms adverse enough to land people in hospitals. Still, somehow, it found its way into the food supply.

In fact, this genetically modified corn was suspected to have contaminated over 300 products and these products had to be recalled.

As a result, farmers and other companies which sold the accidentally tainted products lost enough money to sue for over 10 million dollars. These farmers and other companies didn’t just lose money, though, due to GMO corn which should have never entered the marketplace, they lost their good reputation, as well.

So, again, I ask, what are GMOs, really? I believe it is a question you should care about and be asking. Ask yourself, ask the biotech companies and ask the government. Keep asking, until you get an answer you can believe in.

I believe, it is time we begin to care about GMOs and the motives behind those who support the promotion of GMOs (such as Monsanto, the company who promoted Agent Orange and Aventis who brought you the Starlink Corn fiasco) and the motives behind those who support initiatives like a GE Free Zone in Lake County (such as Organic Farmers and The Coalition For Responsible Agriculture). Let’s not make the mistake of allowing the GMO monster to hide in the shadows and attack indiscriminately without accountability.

For a firsthand look at the newly drafted ordinance concerning the creation of a GE Free Zone in Lake County, please visit www.lakelive.info/cra/draftordinance.pdf and, if you like what you see give, go ahead and show your support by endorsing the ordinance and writing or calling your supervisor to express your support for a GE Free Zone in Lake County.

A supervisorial district map with phone numbers and email addresses for all board members is available at http://www.lakelive.info/bos.htm and don’t forget to join supporters of the GE Free Zone Ordinance at the BOS meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21!

Andrea Anderson is a writer/photographer for www.butterflygardennews.com, a natural living resource. She lives in Lakeport.

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