NICE, Calif. – If you’re looking for a club with great people, fantastic food and fun events, consider joining the Sons of Italy.

The club holds monthly dinners and other special events at its clubhouse, located at 2817 E. Highway 20 in Nice.

This month the group is holding its third membership drive in tandem with a special dinner and dance on Saturday, May 18, to stop the sale of the building and save the club, which is a great venue for community members of all ages.

Former restaurateurs John and Lisa Alotta are cooking the meal, with homemade chicken and turkey Cannelloni Alfredo,vegetables, salad, dessert, coffee or tea on the menu.

The High Notes will provide music for dancing after dinner.

The no host bar will open at 5 p.m. and dinner will start at 6 p.m. There will raffle tickets sold and a door prize, too.  

The dinner will cost just $15. Tickets will be sold at the door but please call for reservations of more than four at 707-274-9952 or 707-357-4488.  

Bring a friend, everyone is welcome.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Church of the Nazarene will hold its annual yard sale on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The sale will take place at the church, 15917 Olympic Drive, Clearlake.

The sale benefits the church’s children’s and youth ministries.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Bar Association will offer a continuing education program entitled “The Virtual Law Office” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 8.

Local Attorneys Robert Riggs and Peter Windrem will present the seminar.

The program will focus on the wide range of research tools that can are available to attorneys and paralegals on the Internet.

Participants are invited to bring their laptops to follow along with the presentation.

Those who take part will receive 1.5 hours of mandatory continuing education credit.

Cost of the training is $15 for members of the Lake County Bar and for paralegals. Non-member attorneys are welcome to participate for $35.

For information about the location of the upcoming event contact Bar President Mary Heare Amodio at 707-263-5759.

The Lake County Bar Association is a multiple activity provider of continuing education for members of the State Bar of California.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The University of California Cooperative Extension invites growers and others involved or interested in producing olives to attend the special presentation “Managing olive insect pests” on Tuesday, May 14.

The presentation will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Lake County Agricultural Center, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport.

The talk will be given by University of California Integrated Pest Management Specialist and Research Entomologist Dr. Marshall Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is an expert on biological control of orchard insect pests and is a leader in the control of olive fruit fly and other olive pests.

He has received numerous awards and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Entomological Society of America.

There is no fee and morning refreshments will be served.

Further information can be obtained from U.C. Cooperative Extension at 707-263-6838, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or http://celake.ucdavis.edu .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – You wouldn’t think that picking up your neighbor’s trash would draw you closer, but officials say six years of seeing it in action has proved that dirt can be the tie that binds.

More than 150 volunteers came out in the beautiful weather to pick up trash, clean signs, paint, pull weeds and sweep walkways on Saturday, April 27, as part of the annual Clearlake Clean Up Day.

“It really opens people’s eyes and educates them about how much litter is out there,” said one volunteer. “You’d be surprised what people leave behind.”

Kathy Thornburn-Wilson, program founder six years ago, said that after people clean an area, they begin to take personal ownership in it.

“It’s a great way to involve youth and kids in the community, to give back to the community as a family,” said Gary Logoteta, pastor at Crossroads Church. “People want to help, this event brings people together.”

That’s the reason so many volunteers do so much, city officials said – because it’s given them a way to make a difference in our community.

The hot dogs help, too.

After the work is done, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Clearlake barbecued from noon to 1 p.m. at Austin Park with food and drinks donated by local businesses.

The Mormon Church’s Helping Hands event coincided with this year’s spring cleanup in Clearlake bringing the two groups together.

Julie Price of C&S Waste said the volunteer spirit in Clearlake is alive and well. C&S Waste has been a partner in this event since the beginning. Bruce McCracken of C&S Waste said that his crew took an amazing amount of garbage and recyclables this year.

Tamara Richmond of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce passed out fabric grocery totes sponsored by members of the chamber.

“We’re looking forward to the time where we do not see plastic bags in our trees and bushes,” she said, noting that the canvas totes are more environmentally safe.  
 
The county of Lake’s quagga mussel program had members at the event sharing information on the repercussions of quagga mussels if our waterways were to get infested.
 
“Thank you, to all the people who helped put this event together this year,” said Clearlake Public Works Director Douglas Herren. “It takes a lot of time and resources to put this event on and it could not be done without a single one of them.”

He expressed his gratitude to all the businesses that donated food and drinks and the volunteers who helped give the city its annual spring face lift.

The next event will be the Coastal Clean Up, which includes cleaning up our shoreline on the lower arm of the lake in September.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The coveted People’s Choice Award for Celebrity Lip Sync 2013 went to the “Werewolves of London/Thriller” 18-member act, starring Robert Boccabella, president of Business Design Services of Lakeport.  

The Perpetual Trophy will be presented to Robert Boccabella for display in his office until Celebrity Lip Sync 2014.  

First runner-up this year was “Spice Girls.” A “keeper trophy” was awarded at the Sunday 2 p.m. performance to Jennifer Strong of Strong Financial Network for her win in 2012 with “Hero.”

More than 90 people from local businesses and civic organizations in Lake County participated in this year’s theme, “Syncing Around the World,” which packed audiences the weekend of April 20-21 at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

This fourth annual fundraiser for the Lake County Chamber of Commerce will assist the Chamber with community outreach.

Highlights of this year’s show included returning veteran master of ceremonies, Tom Lincoln of Lincoln-Leavitt Insurance Agency, accompanied by MC-WannaBe Jennifer Strong of Strong Financial Network, and those crazy knucklehead stage hands, the 3 Stooges (Bert Hutt of Murder Us Productions, Rick Hamilton of RAH Signs & Outdoor Media, and Tony Barthel of Featherbed Railroad B&B).

Red Carpet arrivals included favorites such as Gloria Estefan (Laura Sammels of Hospice Services of Lake County), Elvis (Kenny Parlet of Lakeview Supermarket & Deli), Barry Manilow (John Magee of Clear Lake High School), Julie Andrews (Sandy Robertson of NorCoast Insurance) Carmen Miranda (Lyle Coburn of Your One Stop Party Shop), the B-52s band (Tim Barnes of Cheeze’s Main Street Pizza, Diana Schmidt of MonaVie and Sarah Dutra of  STS, Inc.), and Whoopi Goldberg (Selena Jackson of Behavioral Health)

The program was interrupted by a procession of the Queen of England (Karen Wilson of Sons of Italy), Prince William (Gabe Strong of CLHS), Princess Kate (Alice Crockett of CLHS) and the famous 3 Tenors (Rod Levendusky, Retired; Rod Rehe of Rodric Rehe, DC and Larry Richardson, Dance Instructor) who rallied for a performance of “Wannabe” from Britain’s Spice Girls, ending a weekend-long promotion of  “Spice Girls Wannabe in Lip Sync” (Kristy Weiss of Lincoln-Leavitt Insurance Agency, Beth Havrilla of Lake Event Design, Jennifer Strong of Strong Financial Network, Dena Barron of Lake Village Estates and Ari Lopez of Ceago Vinegarden).  

The chamber would like to especially thank its VIP sponsors: John H. Tomkins Tax Consultants, Lake Parts, G&G Printing Services, Lake Village Estates Manufactured Home Park, Northlake Medical Pharmacy, Gossett Alarm, Lakeview Supermarket & Deli, Lincoln-Leavitt Insurance Agency, Delta Iota Tau Sorority, and Friends of Lip Sync Bill Bain, Sandy McDonald and Sharon Coburn.

Finally, this entire production could not have been done without the following people whose talents, energy and selflessness goes beyond imagination. They have given, given and given more than could be expected from Volunteers at any time, the chamber is deeply indebted to: Kristy Weiss, Diana Schmidt, Sarah Dutra and Larry and Zoe Richardson.   

The idea for lip sync was brought to this chamber by past president Jan Parkinson, who is a backbone of the production.   

The Chamber office staff of Stephanie Codling, Nicole Johnson and wonderful office volunteers Bill Knoll, Alice Richardson, Barbara Conley and Pat Norcio keep everything running smoothly and just make it happen, whatever it takes.  The event could not have been done without them.

For more information on Celebrity Lip Sync and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, please contact Melissa Fulton at 707-263-5092 or www.lakecochamber.com .