KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Thursday, July 18, at the monthly meeting of the Konocti Lioness Club held at the Riviera Hills Restaurant in the Clear Lake Riviera, Noah Lyndall was the guest speaker.
Lyndall is a Kelseyville High School student who was a freshman at the time he attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in San Francisco, held this past June.
At age15, he was the youngest participant.
He once again thanked the Konocti Lioness for their donation which helped him attend this educational program.
With an interest in sports medicine, his career goal is to become an orthopedic surgeon.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Lioness sixth annual Christmas Boutique will be held Dec. 6-7.
Vendors are selected by first-come, first-chosen basis for this juried show.
For information and an application email Teri Beagan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her at 707-295-0535.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Horse Council’s second annual Fiesta of the Horse was held on Sunday, June 30, drawing an enthusiastic crowd despite triple-digit temperatures.
More than 200 people enjoyed the shade in the spectator area.
Again the event was held at Rancho de la Fuente, on Soda Bay road outside of Lakeport.
Owners Frank and Rosana Perez rolled out the welcome mat, providing tents and chairs for the audience, and going the extra mile to be the most excellent hosts imaginable. They open up their beautiful ranch for this event at no charge, their gift to the community.
“Gift to the community” is also the Horse Council's motivation for putting on this family event, according to show organizer Deb Baumann.
To defray expenses this year, the LCHC welcomed co-sponsors who donated prizes or money. The resulting silent auction and prize raffle provided additional entertainment in addition to covering costs. Even modest admission fees can make an event off-bounds for many families.
The LCHC hopes to see more parents bring children next year (one little girl won a free riding lesson in this year’s raffle).
After a dramatic grand entry with flag presentation by members of the Lake County Junior Horsemen, the opening act was a thrilling display of medieval jousting (the first time an audience in Lake County has been privileged to watch two armored knights tilting at each other).
Extra kudos to Brian Claiche and Scott Donohoe for wearing chain mail and steel helmets in the triple-digit heat, and to Denise Claiche who made everyone look stunning with her costume creations for humans and horses.
Other performances included a return of Flamenca & Garrocha, Arabian, Morgan, mustang and colonial Spanish horse breed demonstrations, a Western dressage musical exhibition by Nancy Williams, a comedy wild west act provided by sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and mounted shooting.
Fiesta of the Horse showcases local talent and creates a bridge between the horse community and its neighbors. The LCHC appreciates the sponsors whose generosity enable LCHC to put on this event at no charge to the public.
The event’s primary co-sponsor is Rancho de la Fuente. Additional major sponsors this year were the Highland Springs Equestrian Center, Holdenreid Harvesting, Hooves & Wheels Carriage Club, Rancho Californio, and the Tallman Hotel/Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake.
Other business co-sponsors were Balius Farm Miniature Sport Horses, Barreda’s Lower Lake Feed Store, Bruno’s Shop Smart, Gaddy Shack Ranch, Rainbow Ag, RB Peters and Wine Country Blanket Repair.
Individual co-sponsors were Deb Baumann, Scott Bennett, Dorothy Collett, Dana DiRicco, Debbie James Elliot, Tina Herman, Sheri Holdener, and Kim and Mike Riley.
The LCHC is very grateful to all who volunteered that day. In addition to many already named above, volunteers included Allan Bibbee, Whitney Braito, Barbara Claiche, Makenna Kidd, Kate Erquiaga, Toni James, Laura Jernigan, Kenn and Susan McCarty, Jeannie Ruminski, Frank Stawicki, Heather Stentz, Carol Thorn, Alexandra and Juliana Vidich, and Virginia Vovchuk. Kim and Mike Riley did an awesome job coordinating the parking.
Special thanks to flamenco dancer Diane Stawicki, who set up multiple comfort stations featuring iced water (courtesy of Bruno's), cookies, chips and fruit cups for volunteers and performers alike, paid for by “Friends of Diane” (folks who enjoyed last year's show and who wanted to help support this year's). It was an extraordinary effort, appreciated by all.
Raffle and auction items sent many audience members home with armloads of goodies (someone went home with a certificate for 20 bales of hay, courtesy of Holdenried Harvesting).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) on Tuesday announced that they will introduce the bipartisan Conservation Easement Incentive Act of 2013.
The legislation provides a permanent tax incentive to family farmers, ranchers, and other landowners who chose not develop their land and instead preserve their property for conservation.
By providing tax benefits to landowners who choose conservation, the bill helps preserve our nation’s farm lands and open spaces for future generations.
The bill has received broad bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, with more than 125 original co-sponsors.
“Conservation easements work. They’ve already encouraged landowners to conserve millions of acres of farm lands and scenic open spaces, but there’s more we can do” said Thompson. “By making this important conservation tool permanent, our bill will give landowners the certainty they need to preserve and protect even more land and natural resources for future generations.”
“Whether you are a farmer looking to preserve land that's been in your family for generations or a local land trust forging community partnerships to protect natural resources, this legislation gives you greater freedom to make critical choices about future land use,” Gerlach said.
“Our effort to make the conservation easement tax incentive permanent has generated bipartisan support because it makes sense,” Gerlach added. “I look forward to continue working with Congressman Thompson and my colleagues in the House to provide certainty and ensure that conservation easements remain an option for all property owners in the future.”
Under Thompson and Gerlach’s bill, landowners who donate their property’s development rights would maintain ownership and management of the land, but forgo their rights to develop the land in the future.
The Conservation Easement Incentive Act would make permanent an enhanced tax incentive for donating development rights that will otherwise expire at the end of 2013.
The incentive’s current uncertainty discourages conservation because it takes an average of three years to set up a conservation easement.
Landowners who want to donate their development rights for conservation may not know if incentive’s tax benefits will be available to them by the time their conservation easement is established.
Eliminating this ever-changing deadline will give more farmers, ranchers, and forest owners the assurance they need to choose land conservation over development.
In addition, the Conservation Easement Incentive Act would also help moderate-income landowners choose conservation by:
Raising the maximum deduction a donor can take for donating a conservation easement from 30 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in any year to 50 percent; Allowing qualified farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their AGI; and Increasing the number of years over which a donor can take this deduction from five to 15 years.
The Conservation Easement Incentive Act has been endorsed by the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, National Wildlife Federation, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, American Forest Foundation, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and more than fifty other groups.
The bill will be referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for further consideration, on which Congressmen Thompson and Gerlach both serve.
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – When docent Rob Sansom walked into the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum for the first time and saw the little bar that had been set up all he could think of was, “What a cool place this would be to have an old-timey drink!”
With that idea in mind the Ely’s “Cocktails in the West” program began – historic cocktails in restaurants that capture the history of Lake County.
In most depictions of the Old West saloon, whiskey was the drink of choice but there was a thriving cocktail culture during Victorian times.
“Professor” Jerry Thomas is the most well known of the Victorian mixologists of the day as he is one of the few that wrote anything down.
Armed with “Professor” Jerry Thomas’s recipes, sourced by David Wondrich in his 2007 book “Imbibe,” there were some simple cocktails that one might have encountered at the Ely Stage Stop.
The menu for “Cocktails In The West” include the Champagne Cocktail, Whiskey Cocktail (predecessor to the Old Fashioned), Manhattan Club (the original Manhattan), the Saratoga and the Sherry Cobbler, a quite refreshing beverage for the summer.
The three participating restaurants in our Cocktails In The West promotion are the Blue Wing Saloon in Upper Lake, the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro in Kelseyville and the Boar’s Breath in Middletown. Each building has its own history.
The Blue Wing Saloon Restaurant in Upper Lake, adjacent to the Tallman Hotel, is a recreation of the original 1880s saloon that was demolished during Prohibition.
It captures the spirit of the Victorian saloon with its Eastlake back bar and Lake County black walnut bar top.
The Saw Shop Gallery Bistro in Kelseyville is housed in a 1906 late Victorian period building with some of the architectural details still intact.
During its life as a boarding house and private residence it has been home to many of Lake County’s ancestors, past and current. The bar was milled from Lake County black walnut too.
And finally there is the Boar’s Breath in Middletown. The oldest of the three buildings, the corner brick building has housed a turn of the century general mercantile (Cannon Bros.) and the original “Corner Store” now known as Hardester’s.
The Blue Wing, Saw Shop and Boar’s Breath are looking forward to serving everyone some historical spirits. So starting the week of July 15 stop in to any one of these establishments and order up a cocktail that Black Bart might have enjoyed.
If you want the recipes, stop by the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum to purchase recipe and history booklets. Cheers!
For more information, visit www.elystagestop.com or www.facebook.com/elystagestop , email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or better yet stop by the museum.
The Ely Stage Stop is located at 9921 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville and is open on Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., or 707-533-9990 during business hours.
