Tuesday, 04 March 2025

Register

News

Posted On

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week will take up the second reading of an updated cannabis cultivation ordinance and a request by the sheriff to offer incentives to new deputy hires.

The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx. Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.

In an untimed item, the board will consider the second reading of an ordinance governing commercial cannabis cultivation. The ordinance is not on the consent agenda, where there had been indications it would be placed during the discussion at last week’s meeting.

Also untimed is a resolution proposed by Sheriff Brian Martin that would authorize him to offer hiring incentives for the deputy sheriff I/II job classifications.

Martin’s report to the board explained that his budget has 66 full-time deputy sheriff classification positions allocated, with 47 of those positions filled and another deputy expecting to give his resignation soon because he has a conditional job offer at a local police department.

“In an effort to attract more candidates, I am proposing this resolution to offer hiring incentives to applicants who have already completed an academy, or are already currently certified and eligible to be hired as deputy sheriffs,” Martin wrote.

Citing hiring incentives offered by other agencies – including a $5,000 hiring bonus and a $20,000 college loan reimbursement given by the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Cruz Police Department’s $10,000 hiring bonus and a $15,000 hiring bonus for laterals available at the city of Modesto – Martin is asking to offer $5,000 hiring bonuses for up to 10 deputy sheriff candidates.

“It is my recommendation that funds from Rural Sheriff’s Budget Unit 2206 be used to fund these hiring bonuses,” said Martin, explaining that, pursuant to state law, Lake County is allocated $500,000 each year for our Rural Sheriff’s Budget. “The funds are specifically earmarked to enhance law enforcement efforts and recruiting and retaining qualified Deputy Sheriff staffing will most certainly meet this goal.”

The full agenda follows.

CONSENT AGENDA

7.1: Adopt proclamation designating March 20, 2018 as National Agriculture Day in Lake County.

7.2: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held Feb. 6, 2018.

7.3: Adopt Resolution consolidating the Human Resources Department into a division of the Administrative Office and amending Resolution No. 2017-25 Establishing Position Allocations for Fiscal Year 2017-2018, Budget Unit No. 1012, Administrative Office.

7.4: Approve letter to Bruce Wilson, executive director of the Workforce Alliance of the North Bay, urging that the Lake County Employment Development Office remain open.

7.5: Approve request for advance step hiring of Mental Health Specialist II, Step 5 for Dr. Peter Galagar.

7.6: Adopt resolution authorizing access to state and local summary criminal history information by the Department of Child Support Services.

7.7: Sitting as the Kelseyville County Waterworks District No. 3 Board of Directors, (a) waive the normal sealed bid process under Ordinance No. 2406, Section 38.2 because there is no economic benefit to the county, for the purchase of a vehicle to be utilized within the Kelseyville County Waterworks District No. 3; and (b) authorize the Special Districts administrator/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order through the statewide bid contract to Downtown Ford of Sacramento in the amount of $33,067.50.

7.8: Sitting as the Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors, (a) waive the normal sealed bid process under Ordinance No. 2406, Section 38.2 because there is no economic benefit to the county, for the purchase of a vehicle within the Lake County Sanitation District Southeast division; and (b) authorize the Special Districts Administrator/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order through the statewide bid contract to Downtown Ford of Sacramento in the amount of $33,067.50.

7.9: (a) Waive the normal sealed bid process under Ordinance No. 2406, Section 38.2 as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of the goods; and (b) approve to issue a purchase order in the amount of $30,700.31 to ProForce Law Enforcement for the purchase of 25 - X26P Taser units.

7.10: Approve waiver of the 900 hour limit for certain janitorial positions within the Department of Social Services.

7.11: Approve waiver of the 900 hour limit for certain facility maintenance positions within the Department of Social Services.

7.12: (a) Waive the normal sealed bid process under Ordinance No. 2406, Section 38.2 because there is no economic benefit to the county, for the purchase of a vehicle within the Special Districts administration division; and (b) authorize the Special Districts administrator/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order through the statewide bid contract to Winner Chevrolet in the amount of $24,005.40.

TIMED ITEMS

8.2, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating March 20, 2018, as National Agriculture Day in Lake County.

8.3, 9:15 a.m.: Public hearing, continued from March 6, consideration of a resolution imposing the county’s last, best, and final offer to Lake County Employees Association, Unit 4.

8.4, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of resolution approving resolutions and capital fire facility and equipment plans submitted by Lake County Fire Agencies and updating the Lake County Capital Fire Facility and Equipment Plan. (Staff requesting continuation of this item to March 27 at 9:30 a.m.)

8.5, 9:45 a.m.: (a) Consideration of waiving the normal sealed bid process under Ordinance No. 2406, Section 38.2 as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods; and (b) consideration of the Everbridge Mass Notification User agreement.

UNTIMED ITEMS

9.2: Consideration of staff recommendation to adjourn the April 19 cannabis workshop and reschedule the May 17 cannabis workshop.

9.3: Second reading, consideration of ordinance for proposed amendments to Chapter 21, Article 27 of the Lake County Code to regulate the cultivation of cannabis.

9.4: Consideration of a resolution expressing the intent of the Board of Supervisors in its adoption of Urgency Ordinance Number 3071.

9.5: Consideration of a resolution authorizing hiring incentives for deputy sheriff I/II Job classifications.

CLOSED SESSION

10.1: Employee disciplinary appeal (EDA 16-04) Pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54957.

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.
Posted On

Andrew Carnegie as an older man. Library of Congress image.


America loves a good rags-to-riches story. In fact, they’re some of our most treasured myths, the foundation stones of American identity.

On this day in history, an important event occurred in the storyline of one of our most favorite rags-to-riches tale.

If you’ll forgive the impertinence, I’ve written a rendition of the myth myself. Can you tell who the story is about?

* * * * *

In a land of mist and shadow, of ash and heather and oak and willow, there once lived a boy. An ordinary boy he was, from a family of ordinary people.

The people of this land, which was named Dunfermline, were known the world over for their homespun cloth.

When the boy’s grandfather was a boy, Dunfermline was a prosperous town. But the coming of coal, of steam and iron and smoke put an end to that.

In hushed tones, the once-proud weavers now spoke of the behemoth, the end of their livelihood, and “Industry” they called it. One by one, Industry put the weavers out of business.

When it came for the boy’s family, his father resisted, and spoke at length and with passion about the masters of industry, the landed gentry. It was they, he said, who unfairly profited from the destruction of Dunfermline prosperity. The landed gentry were not used to being confronted, and lashed out spitefully.

The boy and his family fled in exile far across the ocean, to a city named Allegheny in a land of once sylvan mountains, owned long ago by a family named Penn. Here, too, the behemoth industry had made its mark.

The boy and his family struggled in their new land, his father unable to conform to the new reality of a world driven by Industry. He failed time and again, each failure sending his family further into debt.

The plight of his family drove the boy, now 13 years old, to find work. The only jobs around, of course, were for Industry. Facing starvation on the one side, and the behemoth on the other, the boy bent his head and accepted the lesser of two evils.

Starting as a bobbin boy, he worked dawn until dusk running needles from one sewing machine to the other in a nearby cotton mill. He made $1.20 each week. After a time, he was hired as a messenger boy for the nearby telegraph office, but that too didn’t pay much.

His father looked on in sadness, knowing where the path his son was on would lead him. Industry swallowed men whole, pushed them, beat them and squeezed every ounce of energy from their muscles. After a time, when they were no longer of use, the behemoth cast aside the dried husks and sought new fuel for its production.

This was the normal life for immigrants like the boy.

But then one day, the boy discovered a secret place; a cool, dry clean place where children of working families were welcomed. No ordinary place, this house – because it was indeed a house, although the boy hadn’t seen one so large in his life – contained a library of books on every topic imaginable.

Invited in by the owner, a kind gentleman who once was a Colonel in the military, the boy picked up a book and read. He read in the early mornings before work. He read right after work before supper and he read after Sunday services.

Every waking moment he was not working, he was reading, learning more and more about the world around him. This knowledge gave the boy an edge over the other factory workers who didn’t know about the secret place, and never learned to read. The boy soon got a job as a telegrapher at a local train station.

A few years later, he rose to the rank of superintendent. Then one day, his supervisor came to the boy – now a grown man – with a proposal. Would he like to buy into a new type of Industry, one that could make him lots of money?

Something in the man quavered. He knew what this meant. He knew it from somewhere in his bones, a place where the echo of the mist and shadow, the ash and heather and oak and willow of Dunfermline remained. He stood at a crossroads, one way towards the normal path of immigrants, and another towards the oak-paneled rooms of the landed gentry.

Puck magazine cartoon of Carnegie the philanthropist by Louis Dalrymple, 1903. Public domain image.


Scraping together the money, the man invested in his supervisor’s Industry, and so made his decision.

Years went by. The man made lots of money from that first investment scheme. He continued making good investments, eventually buying shares and owning some of the biggest Industries in his adopted land.

He ran a steel company that employed thousands of immigrants in its factories. He was unimaginably wealthy. He had established himself as one of the leaders of the Landed Gentry, and all his fellows clapped him on the back, proud to see him among their numbers.

But they were soon deceived.

The man, now an old man, began writing essays and books and giving speeches about what it meant to be a member of the landed gentry. His fellows looked askance at him. What was he up to, they wondered.

Then, the old man wrote a book, The Gospel of Wealth. In this book, the old man claimed that the landed gentry should live without extravagance, that they should provide only moderately for their families, and that the bulk of their wealth should not go back to feeding industry. Rather, they should spend most of their money on improving the welfare and happiness of everyone.

At this, his fellows scoffed angrily, shocked to discover a Marxist under a capitalist’s clothes. But, the old man ignored his naysayers and when he sold his biggest Industry for $480 million, the old man put into practice what he had been preaching.

Starting back where he began, he built a cool, dry, clean place in Dunfermline. This place was not secret, like the house of the kind colonel from his boyhood, but it too was full of the most wonderful of books.

Years later, after spending most of his wealth on building public libraries, the old man died peacefully, content in the knowledge that he had sown the seeds of a more equitable future.

* * * * *

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the above story is about the life of Andrew Carnegie. It has historical elements, to be sure.

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father was a political activist who fled the country and took his family to Pennsylvania.

Carnegie did make wise and profitable decisions in his life and on March 24, 1900, he incorporated his steel company, which a year later he sold for $480 million.

His philanthropy is well known. Some of his over 2,000 libraries the world-over are still standing today, like the one in Lakeport, Calif.

But we often forget that that wealth was made on the backs of thousands of unskilled laborers who worked long hours under grueling conditions for 14 cents an hour.

Carnegie ordered his plant manager in Homestead, Pennsylvania to call out 300 Pinkerton agents to brutally quash a labor strike in 1892 (which failed, but the arrival of the state militia turned the tide). Carnegie had actually become the very type of man his father had railed against.

But who am I to ruin a good story?

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
"Harper's Weekly" cover of the Homestead Strike of 1892. Publicly Carnegie was for unions and against strong-arming strikers. Privately he set up mechanisms to do just that. Public domain image.
Posted On

Lake County Animal Care and Control Officer Holly Bray rescues a chicken during the Clayton fire in Lower Lake, Calif., in August 2016. Photo courtesy of Animal Care and Control.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake Evacuation and Animal Protection will hold its annual training later this month, and community members interested in joining the effort are invited to take part.

The meeting and volunteer recruitment event will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 31, in the Little Theater at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St., Lakeport. Participants are asked to enter at the Martin Street main gate, turn right into large field in front of the Little Theater.

Lake Evacuation and Animal Protection, or LEAP as it’s known, was created in 2011 under the aegis of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

It has filled a critical role in the years since, with Animal Care and Control staff and the LEAP volunteers saving and helping animals in the county’s wildland fires over several summers.

The group’s efforts won it the 2015 Governor’s Volunteering and Service Award for Governmental Agency of the Year, as Lake County News has reported.

Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson said they are planning to change the training up a bit this year.

“Instead of just lecture, we are hoping to break everyone into four groups and rotate them through the four main areas of operation that LEAP provides: Field services, staging area, disaster response trailer and office work,” he said.

Davidson added that they hope to let everyone get a little hands-on experience during the training sessions.

Snacks will be provided.

For more information about LEAP call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.
Blog Left ad
Posted On

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will get an update on the work to repair the damage Library Park sustained from last year’s floods, consider a proposed ordinance regarding abating dry vegetation, and make appointments to a commission and committee.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the council chambers at 225 Park St.

On the agenda is an update to the council from Public Works Director Doug Grider, who will report on the projects to repair damage to Library Park due to the 2017 flood event.

Also on Tuesday, Community Development Director Kevin Ingram will introduce a proposed ordinance amending the Lakeport Municipal Code to change the date in which dry vegetation creating fire hazard conditions on private property must be abated from early July to June 1. At the same time the council will consider setting a public hearing on the proposed ordinance for April 3.

In other business, the council will consider the proposed appointments of Cindy Ustrud, Jen Hanson and Ben Moore to the Parks and Recreation Commission effective immediately, with terms expiring Dec. 31, 2019, and a request by Mayor Mireya Turner to appoint two council members to the Finance Committee.

Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on March 6; the March 13 warrant register; approval of Application 2018-010, with staff recommendations, for the Home Wine and Beer Makers Festival event to be held in Library Park on June 16; approval of Application 2018-011, with staff recommendations, for the Lakeport Camp and Shine VW Car Show event to be held on Park Street on June 16; resolution rescinding Resolution 2649 (2018) and revising the master pay schedule in conformance with California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 570.5; and adoption of the proposed resolution supporting the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act 2018.

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.

032018 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

Posted On

The Executive Council of the Habematolel Pomo tribe of Upper Lake, Calif., presents a check to the Lake County Office of Education for the Lake County Attendance Challenge. Pictured from left to right, back row, Sam Icay, Tracy Treppa, Iris Picton and Aimee Jackson; front row, left to right, Angelina Arroyo, Brock Falkenberg, Kim Cobarrubia and Sherry Treppa. Courtesy photo.


LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribe donated $1,500 to the Lake County Office of Education to be awarded to the three Lake County schools with the best attendance during the LCOE Inaugural Attendance Challenge.

“The leadership of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribe is proud to support the efforts of Lake County Office of Education to spotlight the importance of and promote school attendance,” said Sherry Treppa, chairperson of the tribe’s executive council.

During the week of March 19 to 23, each Lake County school will try to reach 100-percent attendance.

The Lake County Office of Education will be collecting attendance data throughout that week to determine the winning schools, divided into the following categories:

– Highest attendance percentage for elementary school;
– Highest attendance percentage for middle school;
– Highest attendance percentage for high school.

“With chronic absenteeism being a true concern for Lake County students, LCOE staff brainstormed solutions to help educate the students, parents and community on the importance of attendance. And thus, the Attendance Challenge was born,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.

The definition of “chronic absenteeism” is missing 10 percent of the school year—or about 18 days – for any reason, excused or unexcused. This equals missing two days of school a month.

Rob Young, Emergency Services/Special Projects Coordinator at LCOE, who is responsible for organizing the Attendance Challenge, explained that the winning school in each category will receive $500 to be used to celebrate and support good attendance.

Treppa added, “When leadership and parents make school attendance a priority, our children get better grades, develop healthy life habits, avoid dangerous behavior and have a better chance of graduating from high school, attending/graduating from college and generally being a successful contributing member of their family, their tribe and society.”
Posted On

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Saturday many Lake County residents will join people across the nation in celebrating Irish heritage and culture as part of St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, now coincides with Irish-American Heritage Month, thanks to a 1991 proclamation by the US Congress and an annual proclamation by the president.

The day began as a holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century.

However, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade didn’t take place in Ireland but in New York City on March 17, 1762, and featured Irish soldiers serving in the English military, according to a US Census Bureau fact sheet. This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948.

The Census Bureau reported that 32.3 million Americans – or 10 percent of the United States’ population – claimed Irish ancestry in 2016, making it the No. 2 ancestry group in size, behind German with 44.7 million, according to the American Community Survey.

There are estimated to be 20,590 Irish speakers in the United States, the agency said.

In Lake County, the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2012 to 2016 found that there were 6,882 residents who reported Irish ancestry. In keeping with the nationwide pattern, that group ranked No. 2 in size compared to those reporting German ancestry, who totaled 7,744.

Those interested in finding out more about their ancestry can find information at the following sites:

– Famine Irish passenger record data, offered by the National Archives: http://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=180&;cat=SB302&tf=F&bc=sb,sl.

– National Archives immigration records: www.archives.gov/research/immigration/.

– Irish Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Dedicated to assisting visitors with searching for family history records, www.irishgenealogy.ie.

– Information on travel and events in Ireland: www.ireland.com.

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.




Where Irish Eyes are Smiling[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]
Posted On

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission will meet this week to continue its consideration of permits for a proposed new cannabis business.

The commission will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

The meeting will see a continuation of a public hearing that began on March 6 regarding use permits for a commercial cannabis business that will include manufacturing and distribution.

Clearlake Growth Fund I LLC, Growth Fund II Inc. and Clearlake Growth Fund III Inc. are proposing the operation in a 2,825-square-foot portion of a warehouse at 2395 Ogulin Canyon Road.

City Manager Greg Folsom’s report to the commission explains that the applicant is proposing to establish a commercial cannabis business that includes manufacturing – extraction, production of cannabis lotions and edibles – along with wholesale distribution and a delivery-only dispensary.

At the March 6 meeting, the commission approved the distribution and direct delivery dispensary use permits but continued the use permit application for manufacturing with direction to provide more information on hazard materials management, including use and storage of ethanol, and to obtain some initial feedback from the Lake County Fire Protection District and other agencies, Folsom reported.

County and fire district staff have indicated to the city that they will not review and consider the project until it’s approved by the city. Folsom said fire district staff also reported that the new fire code for addressing cannabis manufacturing won’t be available for three months.

He said fire district staffers plan to be at the meeting to answer questions.

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.

032018 Clearlake Planning Commission meeting staff report by LakeCoNews on Scribd

Posted On

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has five dogs ready to go to new homes this week.

The dogs offered adoption this week include mixes of Australian Shepherd, greyhound, Labrador Retriever, pit bull and shepherd.

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.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

“Rowdy” is a female greyhound-Labrador Retriever mix in kennel No. 8, ID No. 9523. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Rowdy’

“Rowdy” is a female greyhound-Labrador Retriever mix.

She has a short black coat with white markings, and already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 8, ID No. 9523.

This female Australian Shepherd mix is in kennel No. 10, ID No. 9539. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Australian Shepherd mix

This female Australian Shepherd mix has a long tan and black coat.

She is in kennel No. 10, ID No. 9539.

This male pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 9591. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix

This male pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix has a short black coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 9591.

This female Labrador Retriever-shepherd mix is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9586. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Labrador Retriever-shepherd mix

This female Labrador Retriever-shepherd mix has a short black coat with white markings.

She’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9586.

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Onyx’

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix.

She has a medium-length black coat with white markings, and already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

Posted On

The Jerusalem Cricket’s eyes are multi-faceted, and its hard-pinching jaws are made for crunching up dead and decaying organic matter. Photo by Robin Loznak, used with permission.


NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Imagine a humpbacked insect with opposable “thumbs” on its front legs, “meat hooks” on its hind legs, limbs that can regrow after being removed, and crushing mouth parts that can inflict a bite so painful you’d think you’d been poisoned by it.

No, it’s not an alien or something from a nightmare, it’s a very real insect: the Jerusalem Cricket (Stenopelmatus sp.).

Native to Mexico and the western United States, the Jerusalem Cricket looks something like a giant mutant ant, with a vaguely human head and dark multifaceted eyes.

Although they appear like something out of a horror movie, these insects – which are not crickets and don’t hail from Jerusalem – are actually fairly benign.

It’s thought that their name stems from the early 1900’s when the exclamation “Oh, Jerusalem!” was commonly used to express feelings of astonishment or disgust. They’re also referred to as “red-skulls,” “children of the earth” and more commonly as “potato bugs.”

Although the name “potato bug” was derived from the notion that these insect eat tubers, like potatoes, that’s only partially true.

Jerusalem crickets do eat roots and tubers, but usually only those of plants that are either already dead or dying. They’re one of nature’s recyclers. They’ll even eat their own shed skin between each molt. Other insects – living or dead -- are also added to their diet to provide them with more nourishment.

The Jerusalem crickets have no wings, so they are earthbound, and on the surface of the earth they are actually rather slow and clumsy in their movements.

It’s underground where the Jerusalem cricket is most comfortable and most adept. Its specialized feet are used mostly for burrowing through the soft earth and under rocks and the roots of trees.

It actually spends the majority of its time underground, but is often found on the surface after a hard rain when its burrows get flooded. Once above ground, these insects are easy-pickings for predators.

As we mentioned, the Jerusalem cricket packs a hard bite, but it’s not venomous. When a bite won’t stave off an attack, the Jerusalem cricket will “skunk” an aggressor with a foul-smelling odor.

See those finger-like protrusions coming out of the last segment of the Jerusalem Cricket’s abdomen? Those are the “cerci,” a kind of tactile sensory organ. Photo by Mary K. Hanson.

They don’t vocalize much, although they can hiss by expelling air through the spiracles on their bodies. Without wings, the “crickets” cannot produce sound as some other insects can, nor can they hear, so they communicate with one another by drumming their abdomen against the ground.

It’s believed that different species of Jerusalem cricket create different drumming songs to attract their mates. The drumming that one Jerusalem cricket produces is picked up by other Jerusalem crickets through special sensors on their legs called “subgenual” (Latin for “below the knee”) organs. Other insects, like cockroaches, have similar organs, but the organs’ shape and sensitivity varies by insect.

Males Jerusalem crickets can be distinguished from the females by the black “hooks” that appear between the cerci at the end of the abdomen. The cerci are those short fingerling-looking things that protrude from the last segment of the abdomen. In lieu of the black hooks, female Jerusalem Crickets will have a long ovipositor below the cerci.

During the mating season, the Jerusalem Crickets are vulnerable to predation since their drumming requires that they be above ground. Another danger to the males during this time is the fact that the females will often attack and eat their suitors immediately after mating.

Once they have been fertilized, the female will lay her eggs in the ground, usually a few inches from the surface, and abandon them there.

After the eggs hatch, it takes about two years for the young “crickets” to reach their full size and sexual maturity.

During those two years, they go through about 12 molts, growing larger after each one until they’re about 2 inches long.

A growing Jerusalem Cricket can regrow a lost limb during the next successive molt after it’s injured, in much the same way some crabs can regrow a lost claw.

Although these weird-looking insects may seem like the stuff of science fiction, they’re actually an integral part of the environment.

Their burrowing helps to aerate the soil, they’re eating helps to process organic matter, and their bodies add nutrition to the diet of birds, bats, coyotes, foxes and other animals.

So, they may be creepy-looking, but they do their jobs well.

Mary K. Hanson is a Certified California Naturalist, author and nature photographer. Tuleyome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland. For more information, visit www.tuleyome.org.
Posted On

Don Anderson (front, right) recently received the 2017 Prosecutor of the Year award presented by the California Narcotic Officers’ Association. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson recently received the 2017 Prosecutor of the Year award presented by the California Narcotic Officers’ Association.

The 7,000-member law enforcement association is comprised of peace officers throughout the State of California.

CNOA, established in 1964, is recognized as the largest training association in California devoted to high quality training for law enforcement professionals.

Annually, CNOA presents the Prosecutor of the Year award to identify, recognize, and honor prosecutors throughout California who are committed to law enforcement.

The honoree is selected on basis on his life time achievements, contributions and efforts as a prosecutor.

The association reported that Anderson is only the third elected district attorney to receive the award since the inception of CNOA.

In the presentation, CNOA President Frank Hartig recognized Anderson for his achievements in increasing the county conviction rate to a state high 87 percent, implementing new and innovated programs such as establishing the first Perjury Intervention Unit in the country and other programs that have raised $250,000 for local charities.

The association recognized Anderson in his tenure as district attorney for personally, and successfully, prosecuting several high profile cases, including a three-defendant homicide in the shooting death of a 4-year-old child, a five-defendant home invasion and the attempted murder of a police officer.

Anderson also was recognized for his 15 years as a deputy sheriff for Lake County where he worked major crime investigations and narcotic enforcement. His representation and support of his peers caused him to be elected president of the deputy sheriffs association five times.

He also was commended for his participation in the case involving the murder of sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Helbush in 1981.

In that case, Anderson pursued the two suspects and, after a furious gun battle in which he was shot in the leg, he took the two suspects into custody.

The association also commended Anderson for saving the life of a young mother in 2013 by pulling her from a burning vehicle.

Anderson, who has acted as a judge pro tem and judicial arbitrator, was commended by his peers for authoring the book, “408 Lakeport,” which was used to assist law enforcement officers with PTSD issues.
Posted On



Notanee Bourassa knew that what he was seeing in the night sky was not normal.

Bourassa, an IT technician in Regina, Canada, trekked outside of his home on July 25, 2016, around midnight with his two younger children to show them a beautiful moving light display in the sky – an aurora borealis.

He often sky gazes until the early hours of the morning to photograph the aurora with his Nikon camera, but this was his first expedition with his children.

When a thin purple ribbon of light appeared and starting glowing, Bourassa immediately snapped pictures until the light particles disappeared 20 minutes later.

Having watched the northern lights for almost 30 years since he was a teenager, he knew this wasn’t an aurora. It was something else.

From 2015 to 2016, citizen scientists – people like Bourassa who are excited about a science field but don't necessarily have a formal educational background – shared 30 reports of these mysterious lights in online forums and with a team of scientists that run a project called Aurorasaurus.

The citizen science project, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, tracks the aurora borealis through user-submitted reports and tweets.

The Aurorasaurus team, led by Liz MacDonald, a space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, conferred to determine the identity of this mysterious phenomenon. MacDonald and her colleague Eric Donovan at the University of Calgary in Canada talked with the main contributors of these images, amateur photographers in a Facebook group called Alberta Aurora Chasers, which included Bourassa and lead administrator Chris Ratzlaff. Ratzlaff gave the phenomenon a fun, new name, Steve, and it stuck.

But people still didn't know what it was.

Scientists' understanding of Steve changed that night Bourassa snapped his pictures. Bourassa wasn't the only one observing Steve. Ground-based cameras called all-sky cameras, run by the University of Calgary and University of California, Berkeley, took pictures of large areas of the sky and captured Steve and the auroral display far to the north.

From space, the European Space Agency Swarm satellite just happened to be passing over the exact area at the same time and documented Steve.

For the first time, scientists had ground and satellite views of Steve. Scientists have now learned, despite its ordinary name, that Steve may be an extraordinary puzzle piece in painting a better picture of how Earth's magnetic fields function and interact with charged particles in space. The findings are published in a study released today in Science Advances.

"This is a light display that we can observe over thousands of kilometers from the ground,” said MacDonald. “It corresponds to something happening way out in space. Gathering more data points on STEVE will help us understand more about its behavior and its influence on space weather.”

The study highlights one key quality of Steve: Steve is not a normal aurora. Auroras occur globally in an oval shape, last hours and appear primarily in greens, blues and reds. Citizen science reports showed Steve is purple with a green picket fence structure that waves. It is a line with a beginning and end. People have observed Steve for 20 minutes to 1 hour before it disappears.

If anything, auroras and Steve are different flavors of an ice cream, said MacDonald. They are both created in generally the same way: Charged particles from the Sun interact with Earth's magnetic field lines.

The uniqueness of Steve is in the details. While Steve goes through the same large-scale creation process as an aurora, it travels along different magnetic field lines than the aurora. All-sky cameras showed that Steve appears at much lower latitudes. That means the charged particles that create Steve connect to magnetic field lines that are closer to Earth's equator, hence why Steve is often seen in southern Canada.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Steve appeared in the satellite data. The data showed that Steve comprises a fast moving stream of extremely hot particles called a sub auroral ion drift, or SAID. Scientists have studied SAIDs since the 1970s but never knew there was an accompanying visual effect. The Swarm satellite recorded information on the charged particles' speeds and temperatures, but does not have an imager aboard.

"People have studied a lot of SAIDs, but we never knew it had a visible light. Now our cameras are sensitive enough to pick it up and people's eyes and intellect were critical in noticing its importance," said Donovan, a co-author of the study. Donovan led the all-sky camera network and his Calgary colleagues lead the electric field instruments on the Swarm satellite.

Steve is an important discovery because of its location in the sub auroral zone, an area of lower latitude than where most auroras appear that is not well researched. For one, with this discovery, scientists now know there are unknown chemical processes taking place in the sub auroral zone that can lead to this light emission.

Second, Steve consistently appears in the presence of auroras, which usually occur at a higher latitude area called the auroral zone. That means there is something happening in near-Earth space that leads to both an aurora and Steve. Steve might be the only visual clue that exists to show a chemical or physical connection between the higher latitude auroral zone and lower latitude sub auroral zone, said MacDonald.

"Steve can help us understand how the chemical and physical processes in Earth's upper atmosphere can sometimes have local noticeable effects in lower parts of Earth's atmosphere,” said MacDonald. “This provides good insight on how Earth's system works as a whole."

The team can learn a lot about Steve with additional ground and satellite reports, but recording Steve from the ground and space simultaneously is a rare occurrence. Each Swarm satellite orbits Earth every 90 minutes and Steve only lasts up to an hour in a specific area. If the satellite misses Steve as it circles Earth, Steve will probably be gone by the time that same satellite crosses the spot again.

In the end, capturing Steve becomes a game of perseverance and probability.

"It is my hope that with our timely reporting of sightings, researchers can study the data so we can together unravel the mystery of Steve's origin, creation, physics and sporadic nature," said Bourassa. "This is exciting because the more I learn about it, the more questions I have."

As for the name "Steve" given by the citizen scientists? The team is keeping it as an homage to its initial name and discoverers. But now it is STEVE, short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.

Other collaborators on this work are: the University of Calgary, New Mexico Consortium, Boston University, Lancaster University, Athabasca University, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook group.

If you live in an area where you may see STEVE or an aurora, submit your pictures and reports to Aurorasaurus through www.aurorasaurus.org or the free iOS and Android mobile apps. To learn how to spot STEVE, click here.

Kasha Patel works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Posted On

On Friday, Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that he and a record 182 members of Congress from both parties are requesting $75 million in federal funding for the National Instant Criminal Background Check Systems, or NICS.

“A strong background checks system helps keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. That’s why I am proud to announce a record number of supporters for my appropriations request for the NICS background checks system,” said Thompson, who chairs the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. “This is strong progress, but our work to prevent gun violence continues. Congress should also immediately take up my bipartisan background checks bill, H.R.4240, which will expand the system and close loopholes to help keep our schools, our communities, and our nation safe.”

A copy of the letter is below.

March 18, 2018

The Honorable John Culberson The Honorable José E. Serrano
Chairman Ranking Member
House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice,
Science and Related Agencies Science and Related Agencies
H-310, The Capitol 1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

“Dear Chairman Culberson and Ranking Member Serrano:

“As the Committee begins writing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, we respectfully request funding for implementation of the National Instant Background Check Systems (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (Pub. L. No. 110-180) at a $75 million level. The Act provides for grants to states to upgrade their electronic databases, incentives for states to transmit electronic records to NICS, penalties for states that do not comply, and requirements for keeping NICS up-to-date, including the removal of obsolete or erroneous records. The Act also provides financial incentives for states to develop “relief from disabilities” procedures for persons who have lost the right to possess a firearm due to a mental health adjudication or commitment but are later determined not to pose a danger to public safety.

“As you are aware, the Gun Control Act of 1968 (Pub. L. No. 90-618) precludes certain persons, including felons, those adjudicated mentally ill, illegal aliens, drug abusers, and those under a restraining order, from purchasing or possessing firearms. The only way to enforce these requirements effectively is to ensure that NICS has up-to-date records from state and federal sources. At present, millions of records are currently missing from the various databases that make up NICS. Many states do not have the resources necessary to implement the technology to automate criminal history and mental health records, which has allowed persons otherwise prohibited from purchasing or owning firearms to do so in violation of federal law. This remains a serious problem because many states still do not submit adequate numbers of mental health and criminal records to make NICS work as intended.

“The intent of NICS Improvement Amendments Act is to ensure there are sufficient resources to provide accurate and timely data about persons prohibited from possessing firearms. This cannot be achieved absent adequate funding for NICS. In fact, demand for this funding is increasing every year and we must provide adequate funding to meet this growing need. While the Act authorized a combined total of $1.125 billion from FY 2009 through FY 2013, a total of only $63.567 million was appropriated during that time.

“We fully understand the current constraints on the federal budget and appropriations process. Keeping citizens safe, however, must be Congress’s top priority. The NICS Improvement Amendments Act has been severely underfunded in years past, and the-all-too-frequent tragedies across our Nation unfortunately show that gun violence is still a very serious issue that plagues our country. Ensuring NICS has complete and timely information to keep firearms out of the hands of persons who cannot safely and legally possess them while at the same time protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights will save lives. Consequently, we respectfully urge the Committee to fund the NICS Improvement Amendments Act at a level that at minimum of $75 million.”

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

LCNews

Responsible local journalism on the shores of Clear Lake.

 

Memberships:

 

Search