Patrick Reitz. Courtesy photo. LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Fire Protection District reported Wednesday that it has named a new chief.
The new chief is Patrick Reitz, who will join the district’s team on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
He succeeds Chief Jeff Thomas, who resigned in May, as Lake County News has reported. Since then, Dan Grebil has served as interim chief.
Reitz is the former fire chief for the Idyllwild Fire Protection District in Idyllwild, California; the city of Sheridan, Wyoming; and the Crooked River Ranch Rural Fire Protection District in Terrebonne, Oregon.
Lakeport Fire said Reitz has served for more than 35 years in emergency services, including experience in fire, emergency medical services, or EMS, and law enforcement in Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming and California.
Having started as a volunteer firefighter, he has worked with volunteer, career and combination fire and EMS departments and districts; as well as private, volunteer and county EMS services.
In addition, Chief Reitz has worked as an adviser for emergency and disaster planning and preparation, as well as fire and emergency services issues with individuals, organizations and agencies.
Reitz and his wife, Christina, have five children and three grandchildren. They are relocating from Idyllwild, where Christina works for the Post Office and is a commissioner for the Idyllwild Fire Protection District.
The couple has been active in both the community and their church, and is looking forward to getting settled and getting to know the community of Lakeport.
The five-member Lakeport Fire District Board of Directors — appointed by either the Lakeport City Council or the Board of Supervisors — said in the Wednesday statement that it is enthusiastic about bringing on Reitz.
The board cited his extensive background in emergency services and how it will benefit the community with knowledgeable oversight of the fire district.
The Lakeport Fire Protection District provides fire protection and advanced life support ambulance services to Lakeport and surrounding areas.
Career staff includes the fire chief, three captain/paramedics, three firefighter/paramedics, six firefighter/EMT’s, one administrative assistant and one office assistant. The current volunteer firefighter roster is 19.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Police are investigating the death of a teenager that occurred earlier this week.
The Clearlake Police Department said that its officers responded to the area of Mullen Avenue and Valley Avenue at 3 a.m. Monday on the report of an injured person lying in the roadway.
When the officers arrived, they found a 17-year-old male, dead from a gunshot wound, the department reported.
Shortly before 3:30 a.m. that day, the department issued an advisory notifying the public of police activity on Valley Avenue between Mullen and Lasky avenues and asking them to please avoid the area.
The department said its detectives responded to the scene and have been actively investigating the shooting.
Further information regarding the circumstances are not being released at this time as the investigation is ongoing.
If you have any information regarding this investigation, please contact Det. Trevor Franklin by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-994-8251, Extension 321.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Purple Power Walk is returning to bring awareness and recognition for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Lake Family Resource Center will host the sixth annual walk on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 5350 Main St. in Kelseyville.
The event will begin at 9 a.m. and will take place, rain or shine, with participants wearing purple as they walk through town.
Lake Family Resource Center Victim Services Program Director Sheri Young said the purpose of the walk is to honor those who survived, to mourn those who have been lost and to join advocates, partners and community members throughout Lake County through visual awareness.
Those suffering as a result of domestic violence and needing help can call or text the community crisis line around the clock, seven days a week, by calling or texting 888-485-7733.
For more information about the Purple Power Walk, call 707-279-0563 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
American voters overwhelmingly say they want government and industry to ensure the products they buy are free of harmful chemicals, and they are willing to pay more for it, according to a national online survey commissioned by the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco.
“At a time when most issues are politically polarized, the issue of keeping people safe from harmful chemicals finds widespread agreement among Democrats, Republicans and Independent voters,” said Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, which conducted the poll.
The survey of 1,200 registered voters found broad agreement that the government require products to be proven safe before they are put on the market. More than 90% of those surveyed support this requirement and two-thirds strongly agree with these ideas.
The poll of 1,200 registered voters also found:
• 92% of voters agree and 63% of voters strongly agree that the government should require products to be proven safe before companies are allowed to put them on the market.
• 93% of voters agree and 62% strongly agree that companies should do a better job of removing harmful chemicals from consumer products.
• 88% agree that companies should do a better job of removing plastic and plastic packaging from consumer products.
• 76% are concerned about the impact that chemicals and plastics have on climate change.
• 54% say chemical regulations are not strong enough, while 21% say they are about right and 10% say they are too strong.
• 89% support and 56% strongly support the goal of the Toxic Substances Control Act to make it easier to limit or ban harmful chemicals and better protect vulnerable populations like pregnant women, children and people who live near polluting factories.
• 93% agree and 57% strongly agree that it is important to remove harmful chemicals from where we live, work and go to school even if it increases the costs for some products, and similar numbers agree that it is important for companies to keep harmful chemicals out of everyday products, even if it increases costs for some products.
Voters are concerned about all of the chemicals they were asked about in the survey and expressed the most worry about chemicals ingested through water, food and food packaging. Still, they are unsure of how the chemical regulatory system works.
About half (49%) say the chemicals in food and consumer products have been tested for safety, although this is not true.
“People assume that what they buy is safe and that almost always isn’t the case,” said Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, who directs PRHE and the EaRTH Center at UCSF. “The good news is this survey reveals overwhelming support for the government to do a better job of protecting people from harmful chemicals.”
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Area Town Hall this week will host a visit from Congressman Mike Thompson and school board candidates.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in the Middletown Community Meeting Room/Library at 21256 Washington St., Middletown. The meeting is open to the public.
To join the meeting via Zoom click on this link; the meeting ID is 659 964 1209. Call in at 669-900-6833.
At 7:05 p.m., Congressman Thompson will be the guest speaker. He is expected to attend via Zoom.
He is running for reelection this November. Redistricting has placed all of Lake County back in one district, California Congressional District 4.
At 7:50 p.m., MATH will host a forum for Middletown Unified School District Board candidates.
Those confirmed to speak include Allison Berlogar, appointed incumbent; Annette Lee, interim dean of Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus; Chris Ochs, appointed incumbent and school facilities director for Calistoga Joint Unified School District; Larry Allen, incumbent and retired teacher; and Hank Lescher, retired business owner. MATH reported that Eileen Anderson has dropped out of the race.
In business items, scheduled for 8:45 p.m., MATH will discuss the September meeting minutes, correspondence and board nominations for 2023.
The MATH Board includes Chair Monica Rosenthal, Vice Chair Ken Gonzalez, Secretary Todd Fiora, Rosemary Córdova and Bill Waite.
MATH — established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 — is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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. — The Lake County Association of Realtors’ latest report on home sales shows drops both in numbers of homes sold and overall pricing in September.
Over the month of September, the total homes sold through the multiple listing service totaled 94, compared to 99 during the same time last year.
The homes sold include traditionally built “stick-built” houses as well as manufactured homes on land.
There were five sales of mobile homes in parks compared to six for the same time last year, and 27 bare land — lots and acreage — sales, compared with 38 for the same time last year.
Total percentage of homes bought for all cash in September was 34%, compared to 23% for the same time last year.
Of those, 36% were financed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (“conventional loans”) compared to 55% for the same time last year; 20% were financed by FHA (same as last year this time); and 3% were financed by the VA or CalVet (unchanged from this time last year); 6% had other financing such as private loans or seller financed notes (compared to 9% last year at this time).
There are 416 homes on the market right now. If the rate of sales stays the same at 94 homes sold per month, there are 4.4 months of inventory on the market at the moment compared to 5.2 months of inventory a month ago. That means that if no new homes are brought to the market for sale, in 4.4 months all of these homes would be sold and there would be none available.
Less than six months of inventory is generally considered to be a “sellers’ market” while more than six months of inventory is often called a “buyers’ market.”
The inventory had been growing steadily from March through August, but last month stopped that trend.
Most homes were selling very close to the asking price, at an average of 96% of the asking price.
This is in contrast to other areas, where homes sell for more than the asking price.
The median time on the market last month was 32 days, compared to 20 days for this time last year.
The median sale price of a single family home in Lake County over the last 30 days was $282,500, a drop from last month’s $300,000, and lower than $350,000 during this time period last year.
In the past 30 days, 33% of homes sold had seller concessions for an average of $8,201; a year ago, 24% of homes sold had an average seller concession of $5,991.
A more detailed breakdown by the different areas is below.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Since 2004, October has been recognized as Emotional Wellness Month by mental health advocates across the nation.
Social, cultural and political conflict, COVID-19, natural and manmade disasters have made this a stressful, even traumatic time for many.
As the holiday season approaches, it is likewise important to recognize family and community events and gatherings are stressful for some.
“Lake County’s communities are resilient and strong, but it is important to be aware of our emotional wellness, and how critical good mental health is to our overall health,” said Todd Metcalf, director of Lake County Behavioral Health Services.
The National Wellness Institute defines wellness as, “An active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.”
The institute further breaks down the six dimensions of wellness: emotional, intellectual, physical, occupational, social and spiritual.
Maintaining awareness of our emotions and feelings is key to preparing for challenges, life events, or any situation that can cause emotional imbalance.
Staying focused and paying attention to the here and now, instead of obsessing on the past or being too focused on the future, helps to support emotional well-being and promote general health.
Some ways to support emotional awareness can include:
• Pursuing a hobby; • Staying connected or creating new social connections; • Physical exercise and meditation; • Self-care; • Laughter.
Paying attention to emotional wellness also makes it easier to deal and cope with behavioral health concerns, such as addiction, depression and stress.
Emotional Wellness Month is a great time to reflect on emotional wellness and encourage others to do the same.
For more information, please contact Lake County Behavioral Health Services at 707-274-9101 or 707-994-7090.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Due to understaffing, Lake County Animal Care and Control is temporarily suspending after-hours on-call services.
The county reported that responding to reports of stray and injured animals after normal business hours is not mandated under the law, in most cases, however, Animal Care and Control has attempted to offer “the highest possible level of service” within staffing and resource limitations.
Effective immediately, weekday after-hours calls placed by dialing 707-263-0278 will receive a response the following business day.
An on-call officer will be available during weekend hours through the remainder of October: Friday at 5 p.m. to Monday at 8 a.m., Oct. 14 to 17, 21 to 24, and 28 to 31.
Starting Nov. 1, all after-hours services will be temporarily unavailable, including weekend services.
If stray injured dogs and cats are found after 5 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends, they can still be taken to local veterinarians to receive care.
Lake County Animal Care and Control is in the process of hiring more officers, and on-call services will be reinstated as soon they can be safely provided.
Training of newly-hired officers typically takes five to six months, but the agency’s sincere hope is to accelerate this process, and resume after-hours services within the first quarter of 2023.
Animal Care and Control can be reached at 707-263-0278, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
During this time of transition, Animal Care and Control’s contracted answering service will still be receiving calls after business hours.
Any calls received will be documented and an officer will respond the next available workday.
In a partnership spanning more than 90 years, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection with the National Fire Protection Association — the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week — unite to promote this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Fire won’t wait. Plan your escape.”
Fire Prevention Week this year is Oct. 9 to 15.
This year’s theme brings quick action safety measures front of mind for residents to utilize in the event of a home fire.
Cal Fire urges all residents to incorporate this year’s Fire Prevention Week theme because homes can burn fast. In some instances, you may have as little as two minutes or less to safely escape a home fire once the smoke alarm sounds.
After all, you plan for vacations, holidays, and weekly meals, why not plan to save your life and those around you in the event of a home fire?
“Too many lives are lost in home fires each year in California,” said State Fire Marshal Chief Mike Richwine. “According to a newly-released National Fire Protection Association report, U.S. home fire deaths hit a 14-year high last year, marking the critical importance of Fire Prevention Week and the reminder to plan and practice a home fire escape so that action can be taken when the smoke alarm sounds.”
There are two key factors critical to safely escaping a home fire: early warning from smoke alarms and advance planning.
Accordingly, this year’s Fire Prevention Week concept offers a blueprint to guide you and yours safely and swiftly out of a home fire. Invest a little time now so that you and yours are ready for the fire that won’t wait.
Some action items you can take to equip your home and plan your escape are:
• Make the first Saturday of each month “Smoke Alarm Saturday” - a working smoke alarm will clue you in that there is a fire, and you need to escape. • Strategically install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area, every level of the home and the basement. • Test the alarms regularly by pressing the test button and change the battery if there’s no sound or the sound is low. If your smoke alarm chirps, change the battery immediately. • Develop a home fire escape plan and rehearse it with all family members at least twice a year! • Map the escape route including windows and doors—make sure the route is free of obstacles. • Predetermine an outside meeting place that’s a safe distance in front of your home. • Everyone should know the fire department’s emergency number and how to call when they’re safely outside.
For more information about Fire Prevention Week and general fire prevention practices, visit www.fpw.org.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — The Bureau of Land Management and partners from the off-highway vehicle, or OHV, community are holding a free South Cow Mountain OHV Safety Event for the public at the South Cow Mountain OHV Management Area, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, to promote safe and responsible recreation.
"OHV recreation can be an exhilarating and exciting experience for novice and seasoned enthusiasts alike,” said Ukiah Field Manager Nick Lavrov. "Critical to the sport, we ask the public to make safety a priority and recreate responsibly to preserve the amazing landscapes and create the best rides for now and future generations in the years to come."
The event will start at the Westside Staging Area with a safety clinic that is focused on responsible operation of an off-highway vehicle.
Topics will cover “Know before you go” principles, and how to be safe while on the trail. Visitors may also enjoy visiting the Leave No Trace, TREAD Lightly! and other trail etiquette booths with outdoor activities throughout the day.
The South Cow Mountain OHV Management Area encompasses roughly 23,000 acres of public lands challenging motorcyclists, all-terrain vehicle drivers, and four-wheel drive enthusiasts.
For questions on the safety clinic, please contact Ashley Poggio at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
South Cow Mountain OHV Management Area will remain open to the public during the event.
For more information and directions to the South Cow Mountain OHV Management Area, visit the webpage here.
For other information, or to request reasonable accommodations to participate, please contact the Ukiah Field Office at 707-468-4000.
California Highway Patrol Officer Eulogio Ceja (left) and Sgt. Miguel Fernandez staff an El Protector booth during a recent event. Photo courtesy of the CHP. The California Highway Patrol will continue to expand lifesaving Spanish-language traffic safety outreach with its second El Protector — Spanish Traffic Education Program, or STEP, grant from the Office of Traffic Safety.
More than a quarter of California’s approximately 15.6 million Hispanic residents speak limited English or solely Spanish.
The El Protector program is designed to help bring traffic safety education directly to the Spanish-speaking population to reduce crashes and save lives.
Spanish-speaking officers will share traffic safety tips on Spanish media outlets and conduct traffic safety presentations with community partners at a variety of venues statewide, such as health fairs, migrant camps, businesses that employ a high number of Spanish-speaking employees and Hispanic/Latino cultural events.
Topics include the importance of seat belts/child safety restraints, the dangers of driving under the influence or being distracted behind the wheel, the primary causes of crashes, defensive driving techniques, teen/parent safe driving, driver’s license requirements, and other educational subjects.
“Making California’s roadways safer is our top priority,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray. “The El Protector program strengthens the CHP’s presence with our partners in California’s Spanish-speaking communities and provides every resident with traffic safety knowledge and resources to reduce crashes and save lives.”
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Patricia Fabian, Boston University and Jonathan Levy, Boston University
An air scrubber in a classroom at the E.N. White School in Holyoke, Mass. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
As fall temperatures cool across the U.S., many schools will struggle to ventilate classrooms while also keeping students and teachers comfortable and healthy. Children and teachers spend over six hours a day in classrooms during the school year, often in buildings that are decades old and have inadequate heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems.
Fall 2022 marks the start of the fourth school year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spotlighted the importance of indoor air quality in schools. Ideally, all school buildings would have adequate ventilation, filtered air in each classroom and windows that open. Sadly, this is not the case – and indoor air quality in many schools is poor as a result. This is especially problematic in the wake of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s August 2022 COVID-19 guidance for schools, which scales back other measures for limiting transmission, such as masking, testing and quarantining.
Beyond minimizing COVID-19 transmission, indoor air quality also matters for student academic performance. This is especially important given the learning losses that many children experienced in the first two years of the pandemic. Hot, stuffy classrooms make it harder for students to learn. So do cold classrooms.
Our research focuses on indoor environmentsand health – an area that has received increased attention during the pandemic, since most COVID-19 transmission occurs through shared air indoors. There is ample evidence that smart investments in school buildings can reduce transmission of infectious disease, while also improving learning and increasing well-being for students, teachers and administrators.
Many school districts have limited resources and buildings in poor condition. Where should they start? Here are some priorities we see for immediate action and longer-term investments that can truly transform the school experience.
Filters and fresh air
Since the spring of 2020, schools have invested millions of dollars in interventions to reduce COVID-19 transmission, including high-efficiency, free-standing commercial filter units and ventilation upgrades. These actions are a drop in the bucket, given the structural improvements needed in many schools, especially in less wealthy school districts, but they are an important start. And their benefits extend beyond COVID-19, so they should not be discarded.
Schools with mechanical ventilation have been able to increase the amount of filtered fresh air that these systems pull indoors. This dilutes all indoor pollutants. For kids and school staff, particularly those with asthma, allergies and sensitivities, this can mean fewer missed days of school, less medication, and fewer asthma attacks and subsequent trips to the hospital.
Improved ventilation can actually increase learning and attention. A 2010 study showed that kids performed better on standardized tests when ventilation rates were higher. Poor ventilation may also affect teachers: A 2016 study found that office workers’ cognitive performance improved when they were exposed to lower carbon dioxide levels, which is a marker of better ventilation. And a 2018 analysis showed that students’ performance on school tests declined on hot days, especially in schools without air conditioning. If you’ve ever felt that it was hard to concentrate in a hot, stuffy room, the science backs you up.
For now, we recommend that schools that have put improvements in place should maintain increased ventilation rates with maximum fresh air, continue to use high-efficiency filters in their HVAC systems and keep free-standing filters running in classrooms. Schools that have not invested in these steps should do so, with states providing funding to lower-resourced districts as needed. The costs of these steps are modest compared with the benefits they provide for health and learning.
Families and staff who want to improve conditions in their schools should focus on providing every classroom with improved ventilation and filtration, including building DIY boxes, if necessary.
A Corsi-Rosenthal Box is a homemade air cleaning system that can reduce indoor exposure to airborne particles containing the virus that causes COVID-19. It can also reduce the levels of other particles in the air, such as dust or wildfire smoke.
Funding for healthier buildings
These near-term solutions can help, but the best way to ensure that schools provide healthy conditions for learning is by investing in healthier buildings.
Funds for this purpose are available now. All U.S. states have received millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan, enacted in 2021 to address the impact of COVID-19, including Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds. The Department of Education has disbursed US$122 billion to help schools prevent the spread of COVID-19 and operate safely.
With fewer COVID-19 precautions such as masking and testing in place for the fall of 2022, Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are continuing to invest in air filtration and cleaning ducts to improve air circulation in school buildings.
School districts have used this money to address a variety of needs, including staffing, academic support and mental health, but much of it is still available. And only a handful of states have invested in HVAC. According to a review by the independent Brookings Institution, less than 5% of the money from the most recent round of ESSER funds had been spent through the first quarter of 2022.
Another $3 billion was authorized in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act for environmental and climate justice block grants. These can be used to upgrade buildings and ventilation systems to reduce indoor air pollution.
School districts may be tempted to put indoor air interventions on the back burner, given widespread perceptions that the pandemic is over and the many other challenges they face. But in our view, other educational interventions will be less effective if kids are frequently absent due to illness or unable to concentrate in the classroom.
We believe it is important for families and staff to understand the benefits that healthy indoor learning environments offer to everyone who spends time in school buildings, and to hold states and school districts accountable for investing now in HVAC improvements for healthier school buildings.
