LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Effective Monday, Nov. 26, at 8 a.m., Cal Fire’s burn permit suspension in the State Responsibility Area in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties will be lifted.
Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones is formally cancelling the burn permit suspension and advises that those possessing current and valid agriculture and residential burn permits can now resume burning on permissible burn days.
State Responsibility Areas are generally the unincorporated, rural, grass, brush and timber covered lands.
Any burns larger than 4 foot by 4 foot piles must be inspected by Cal Fire prior to burning until the end of declared fire season. Inspections may be required for burns other than agriculture burns. This can be verified by contacting the Lake County Air Quality Management District at 707-263-3121.
Contact your local Cal Fire station to obtain a burn permit in the State Responsibility Area.
Cooler temperatures, higher humidities and winter weather have helped to begin to diminish the threat of wildfire.
Property owners and residents are asked to use caution while conducting debris or agriculture burns, follow all guidelines provided and maintain control of the fire at all times.
Individuals can be held civilly and/or criminally liable for allowing a fire to escape their control and/or burn onto neighboring property.
Residents wishing to burn must verify it is a permissive burn day prior to burning, which can be confirmed with the Lake County Air Quality Management District.
Pile burning requirements
– Only dry, natural vegetative material such as leaves, pine needles and tree trimmings may be burned. – The burning of trash, painted wood or other debris is not allowed. – Do not burn on windy days. – Piles should be no larger than four feet in diameter and in height. You can add to pile as it burns down. – Clear a 10 foot line down to bare soil around your piles. – Have a shovel and a water source nearby. – An adult is required to be in attendance of the fire at all times. – Safe residential pile burning of forest residue by landowners is a crucial tool in reducing fire hazards. State, federal and local land management and fire agencies will also be utilizing this same window of opportunity to conduct prescribed burns aimed at improving forest health on private and public lands.
For more information on burning, visit the Cal Fire Web site at www.fire.ca.gov.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department has implemented a new web portal for Animal Control.
The new site can be accessed from the “Quick Links” section of the Animal Control page on the city of Clearlake’s Web site at http://clearlake.ca.us/211/Animal-Control .
The portal allows residents to save a trip to City Hall and license their dogs through a completely online process.
The portal also enables residents to search for found and adoptable pets in the shelter.
The new portal is part of a comprehensive software system implemented over the past two months to improve operations at the shelter, increase efficiency of staff, and deliver enhanced quality of service to the community.
Clearlake Animal Control officers have access to the system from new laptops installed in their vehicles. It also supports the tracking of microchips in redeemed and adopted animals released from the shelter.
“We are working hard to improve our operations at this shelter and this is a critical component,” said Chief Andrew White. He continued, “Implementing this type of system has been a goal of our staff for some time and we are excited to unveil it to the public.”
In addition to the new portal, payment for services can now be made on site at the shelter via credit card. This will save residents from making a trip to City Hall for the payment component.
“It’s exciting to see the improvements that we are making with our Animal Control Division,” said City Manager Greg Folsom. “Having the online portal is going to make it much easier for citizens to find their lost pet or to find a new pet to add to their family.”
The portal is available 24 hours a day and is updated in real-time as animals are taken into the shelter and become available for adoption.
Thanksgiving is an important time, when schools teach the story of who we are and where we come from as a nation.
My own students have told me about the Thanksgiving story they learned in school, which focused solely on the survival of the Pilgrims and the friendly meal shared with “Indians.”
In my research and experience as a teacher educator, I have found social studies curricular materials (textbooks and state standards) routinely place indigenous peoples in a troubling narrative that promotes “Manifest Destiny” – the belief that the creation of the United States and the dominance of white American culture were destined and that the costs to others, especially to indigenous peoples, were justified.
As we consider history and its place in our schools, it is important to ask: how do state-mandated history standards represent indigenous peoples in social studies education? And, in this season of “Thanksgiving,” should we revise our curriculum to be more accurate and culturally relevant?
Placing indigenous peoples in the shadows of the past
We analyzed the standards in two ways: 1) the percentage of standards that included content about indigenous peoples pre-1900 versus post-1900 and 2) how the standards presented the story of indigenous peoples in US history.
We found 87% of the standards placed indigenous peoples in a pre-1900 context.
In other words, these standards confined indigenous peoples to a distant past.
This pre-1900 time stamp is significant because the turn of the 20th century saw increased American military conquests of indigenous lands and peoples as the country expanded west toward the Pacific Ocean.
But the standards rarely, if ever, present these events and the loss of life and land from the perspective of indigenous peoples.
Other scholars have written about similar findings in their research.
For example, University of North Carolina-Greensboro’s Wayne Journellfound that 10 states – California, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – conclude their coverage of indigenous cultures and histories in US history standards around the “removal policies” of the 1830s.
Removal policies, led in large part by President Andrew Jackson, forcibly moved indigenous peoples off their lands. These policies, legalized under the Indian Removal Act, opened territories to American settlers traveling west.
Our research on curriculum standards also found that while most states included the Indian Removal Act, many excluded any consideration of the consequences to indigenous peoples related to their forced removal.
Prentice Chandler, who researches race and racism in social studies education at the University of Cincinnati, articulates the problem of placing indigenous peoples in the distant past, in the following way:
The treatment of American Indians in history texts pushes them to the fringes of the story: Native Americans are seen as having cordial relations with whites, being obstacles for Manifest Destiny, and eventually succumbing to white progress, never to be discussed again, as though they never existed.
Perpetuation of stereotypes
Along with controlling when indigenous peoples are included, standards and textbooks also dictate how their experiences are told.
Historians Clifford Trafzer and Michelle Lorimerfound that California social studies textbooks failed to include critical content about the kidnapping, rape, enslavement and murder of indigenous peoples during the Gold Rush era of the mid- to late-1800s.
The texts instead focused on the exciting lives of American pioneers who traveled West in search of wealth.
In yet another examination of textbooks published between 1991 and 2004, social studies scholar Tony Sanchezfound that although the quantity of content related to indigenous peoples increased over time, the quality – in terms of how accurately cultures and histories are represented – is lacking.
For example, Sanchez found most descriptions of indigenous people’s clothing were stereotypical. Instead of including a variety of examples of cultural dress, the texts used generalizations, such as showing indigenous peoples wearing feathers and breechcloth.
Boarding school experiences
There are many other such glaring omissions.
My own research looked at how textbooks published between 2011 and 2013 wrote about the “boarding school era” – the period after the Civil War and into the 1900s during which the federal government used legal means to remove indigenous children from their homes.
Six of the eight textbooks I studied wrote that these education policies were peaceful reforms.
These texts presented, above all, the perspectives of white American reformers. These reformers believed boarding schools should be used to Christianize and educate indigenous children in the white American way of life.
The perspectives of indigenous peoples affected by this education policy were largely ignored. The textbooks did not include the stories of indigenous parents’ efforts to fight the removal of their children. Very few of the texts featured testimonies from indigenous children themselves – either positive or negative. There was little discussion of the lasting effects of these policies today.
Even when indigenous peoples were included in the textbooks, it was only as short, simplified sidebars or at the end of chapters.
Bringing this to Thanksgiving
Francis Rains, a scholar of Native American studies and history at Evergreen State College, and Karen Swisher, an education scholar and former president of Haskell Indian Nations University, have asked teachers to consider the following when teaching about indigenous peoples:
We believe that we should be asking what should be taught, when it should be taught, and how it should be taught. Perhaps most importantly, we should be asking, Why are we teaching about “Indians” or “Native Americans”?
My own students, all education majors, regularly talk about how they learned Thanksgiving as children. We discuss how the story many of us grew up learning in school neglects the voices and experiences of the indigenous nations whose lands were invaded by Europeans, including the Pilgrims.
The late Michael Dorris, first Chair of Native American Studies at Dartmouth, articulated the problem with Thanksgiving in this way:
If there was really a Plymouth Thanksgiving dinner, with Native Americans in attendance as either guests or hosts, then the event was rare indeed. Pilgrims generally considered Indians to be devils in disguise, and treated them as such.
This Thanksgiving, let us hear and learn the story of indigenous peoples – their past, present and future – through their voices and not through the voice of Manifest Destiny.
In social studies we have an opportunity to invite students to rethink things, to offer alternatives, even of past events, as a means of learning. As citizens of a country that prides itself on justice and democracy, we have an opportunity to help students understand the consequences of when justice and/or democracy fails.
On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates. The image combines information from two instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars and the Context Camera. Credits: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/Brown University. NASA has chosen Jezero Crater as the landing site for its upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission after a five year search, during which every available detail of more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet was scrutinized and debated by the mission team and the planetary science community.
The rover mission is scheduled to launch in July 2020 as NASA’s next step in exploration of the Red Planet. It will not only seek signs of ancient habitable conditions – and past microbial life – but the rover also will collect rock and soil samples and store them in a cache on the planet's surface.
NASA and the European Space Agency are studying future mission concepts to retrieve the samples and return them to Earth, so this landing site sets the stage for the next decade of Mars exploration.
“The landing site in Jezero Crater offers geologically rich terrain, with landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years old, that could potentially answer important questions in planetary evolution and astrobiology,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Getting samples from this unique area will revolutionize how we think about Mars and its ability to harbor life.”
Jezero Crater is located on the western edge of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin just north of the Martian equator. Western Isidis presents some of the oldest and most scientifically interesting landscapes Mars has to offer.
Mission scientists believe the 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer) crater, once home to an ancient river delta, could have collected and preserved ancient organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life from the water and sediments that flowed into the crater billions of years ago.
Jezero Crater’s ancient lake-delta system offers many promising sampling targets of at least five different kinds of rock, including clays and carbonates that have high potential to preserve signatures of past life.
In addition, the material carried into the delta from a large watershed may contain a wide variety of minerals from inside and outside the crater.
The geologic diversity that makes Jezero so appealing to Mars 2020 scientists also makes it a challenge for the team’s entry, descent and landing engineers.
Along with the massive nearby river delta and small crater impacts, the site contains numerous boulders and rocks to the east, cliffs to the west, and depressions filled with aeolian bedforms (wind-derived ripples in sand that could trap a rover) in several locations.
“The Mars community has long coveted the scientific value of sites such as Jezero Crater, and a previous mission contemplated going there, but the challenges with safely landing were considered prohibitive,” said Ken Farley, project scientist for Mars 2020 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “But what was once out of reach is now conceivable, thanks to the 2020 engineering team and advances in Mars entry, descent and landing technologies.”
When the landing site search began, mission engineers already had refined the landing system such that they were able to reduce the Mars 2020 landing zone to an area 50 percent smaller than that for the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover at Gale Crater in 2012.
This allowed the science community to consider more challenging landing sites. The sites of greatest scientific interest led NASA to add a new capability called Terrain Relative Navigation, or TRN. TRN will enable the “sky crane” descent stage, the rocket-powered system that carries the rover down to the surface, to avoid hazardous areas.
The site selection is dependent upon extensive analyses and verification testing of the TRN capability. A final report will be presented to an independent review board and NASA Headquarters in the fall of 2019.
“Nothing has been more difficult in robotic planetary exploration than landing on Mars,” said Zurbuchen. “The Mars 2020 engineering team has done a tremendous amount of work to prepare us for this decision. The team will continue their work to truly understand the TRN system and the risks involved, and we will review the findings independently to reassure we have maximized our chances for success.”
Selecting a landing site this early allows the rover drivers and science operations team to optimize their plans for exploring Jezero Crater once the rover is safely on the ground.
Using data from NASA’s fleet of Mars orbiters, they will map the terrain in greater detail and identify regions of interest – places with the most interesting geological features, for example – where Mars 2020 could collect the best science samples.
The Mars 2020 Project at JPL manages rover development for SMD. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. Mars 2020 will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Every year, as the percentage of drivers age 65 and older increases, many look to the California Highway Patrol to help them maintain their ability to drive safely.
The CHP has implemented the Age Well, Drive Smart program to assist senior drivers by providing them tools to remain safe and confident on the road.
The Age Well, Drive Smart curriculum covers current California driving laws, safe driving practices, and the effects of aging on a person’s ability to drive safely.
Many senior drivers are unaware of changes in their physical or mental condition that affect their ability to drive safely.
The Age Well, Drive Smart program includes a self-assessment component to help identify these changes and offer possible corrective options.
“Giving seniors the tools to be safe drivers and recognize changes in their physical and mental condition is key to their safety and independence,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “California senior drivers can contribute to roadway safety for everyone by participating in the Age Well, Drive Smart program.”
The two-hour Age Well, Drive Smart class is offered free of charge at CHP Area offices and other venues, such as senior centers, throughout California.
If you or a family member would like to attend an Age Well, Drive Smart class, please contact your local CHP office.
The Clear Lake Area Office is located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville, telephone 707-279-0103.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Peter C. Mancall, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Jennie A. Brownscombe’s ‘The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth’ (1914). Wikimedia Commons
There is no holiday more American than Thanksgiving – and perhaps none with origins so shrouded in comforting myths.
The story is simple enough. In 1620 a group of English Protestant dissenters known as Pilgrims arrived in what’s now Massachusetts to establish a settlement they called New Plymouth. The first winter was brutal, but by the following year they’d learned how to survive the unforgiving environment. When the harvest season of 1621 arrived, the Pilgrims gathered together with local Wampanoag Indians for a three-day feast, during which they may have eaten turkey.
Over time this feast, described as “the first Thanksgiving,” became part of the nation’s founding narrative, though it was one among many days when colonists and their descendants offered thanks to God.
The peace wouldn’t last for long, and much of America’s early Colonial history centers on the eventual conflicts between the colonists and the Native Americans. But the traditional version ignores the real danger that emerged from two Englishmen – Thomas Morton and Ferdinando Gorges – who sought to undermine the legal basis for Puritan settlements throughout New England.
Over 200 years later, when President Abraham Lincoln declared the first federal day of Thanksgiving in the midst of the Civil War, it was a good moment for Americans to recall a time when disparate peoples could reach across the cultural divide. He was either unaware of – or conveniently ignored – the English schemers who tried to chase those Pilgrims and Puritans away.
Tensions mount
The Puritans followed the Pilgrims, founding the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630. There, John Winthrop, who became the governor, wrote that the English wanted to create a “city upon a hill.” The line came from Matthew 5:14, an early example of how these English travelers viewed their actions through a biblical lens.
The growing numbers of English migrants strained the local resources of the Algonquian-speaking peoples. These locals, collectively known as Ninnimissinuok, had already suffered from a terrible epidemic possibly caused by a bacterial disease called leptospirosis and an infectious disorder, Weil syndrome, in the late 1610s that might have reduced their population by 90 percent.
Worse still, in 1636 the Puritans and Pilgrims went to war against the Pequots, whose homeland was in southern Connecticut. By the end of 1637, perhaps 700 to 900 natives had died in the violence, and another 900 or so had been sold into slavery. The English marked their victory with “a day of thanksgiving kept in all the churches for the victory obtained against the Pequods, and for other mercies.”
English hostility against Natives has taken a central place in historians’ version of the origins of New England. But though it is a powerful and tragic narrative, indigenous Americans did not pose the greatest hazard to the survival of the colonists.
A new threat emerges
Just when the Pilgrims were trying to establish New Plymouth, an English war veteran named Ferdinando Gorges claimed that he and a group of investors possessed the only legitimate patent to create a colony in the region.
Gorges had gained notoriety after battling the Spanish in the Netherlands and commanding the defense of the port city of Plymouth, on the southwest coast of England. Afterwards, Gorges was in search of a new opportunity. It arrived in 1605 when the English sea captain George Waymouth returned to England after a voyage that had taken him to the coast of modern Maine and back. Along with news about the coastline and its resources, Waymouth brought back five captive Eastern Abenakis, members of the indigenous nation that claimed territory between the Penobscot and Saco rivers in Maine. Waymouth left three of them with Gorges. Soon they learned English and told Gorges about their homeland, sparking Gorges’ interest in North America.
Gorges, with a group of investors, financially backed an expedition to the coast of Maine in 1607, though the colony they hoped to launch there never succeeded.
These financiers believed that they possessed a claim to all territory stretching from 40 to 48 degrees north latitude – a region that stretches from modern-day Philadelphia to St. John, Newfoundland – a point they emphasized in their charter. Gorges remained among its directors.
Kindred spirits
As luck would have it, Gorges soon met Thomas Morton, a man with legal training and a troubled past who had briefly visited Plymouth Plantation soon after the first English arrived. Morton would join forces with Gorges in his attempt to undermine the legal basis for the earliest English colonies in New England.
Morton and the Pilgrims despised one another. By 1626 he had established a trading post at a place called Merrymount, on the site of modern day Quincy, Massachusetts. There, he entertained local Ninnimissinuok, offering them alcohol and guns. He also imported an English folk custom by erecting an 80-foot pole for them to dance around.
The Pilgrims, viewing Morton as a threat because of his close relations with the locals and the fact that he had armed them, exiled him to England in 1628.
To the disappointment of the Pilgrims, Morton faced no legal action back in England. Instead, he returned to New England in 1629, settling in Massachusetts just as Winthrop and his allies were trying to launch their new colony. Soon enough, Morton angered the rulers of this Puritan settlement, claiming that the way they organized their affairs flew in the face of the idea that they should follow all English laws. The Puritans, looking for an excuse to send him away, claimed that he had abused local natives (a charge that was likely baseless). Nonetheless, they burned Morton’s house to the ground and shipped him back to England.
After a short stint in jail, Morton was free again, and it was around this time that he began to conspire with Gorges.
During the mid-1630s Gorges pushed English authorities to recognize his claim to New England. His argument pivoted on testimony provided by Morton, who claimed that the Puritans had violated proper religious and governing practices. Morton would soon write that the Puritans refused to use the Book of Common Prayer, a standard text employed by the Church of England, and that the Puritans closed their eyes when they prayed “because they thinke themselves so perfect in the highe way to heaven that they can find it blindfould.”
In a letter he wrote to a confidant, Morton claimed that at a hearing in London, the Massachusetts patent “was declared, for manifest abuses there discovered, to be void.” In 1637, such evidence convinced King Charles I to make Gorges the royal governor of Massachusetts.
But the king never followed through. Nor did the English bring the leaders of the colony to London for a trial. The Puritans maintained their charter, but Morton and Gorges refused to back down.
A quick compromise
The title page of the controversial ‘New English Canaan.’Ancient Lights
In 1637, Morton published a book titled “New English Canaan.” In it, he accused the English of abusing and murdering Native Americans and also of violating widely accepted Protestant religious practices. (Today there are around 20 known copies of the original.)
With good reason, the Puritans feared Gorges and Morton. To make peace, they relented and in 1639 Gorges received the patent to modern-day Maine, which had been part of the original grant to the Massachusetts Bay Company. By then, Gorges’ agents had already begun to establish a plantation in Maine. That settlement ended the legal challenge to the existing New England colonies, which then prospered, free of English interference, for decades.
But Morton wasn’t quite done. He returned to Massachusetts, possibly as an agent for Gorges or perhaps because he had hoped that the situation might have improved. When he arrived local authorities, having seen his book, exiled him again. He retreated north, to Gorges’ planned colony. Winthrop wrote that he lived there “poor and despised.”
By 1644 Morton was dead, along with the scariest threat the Pilgrims and Puritans had faced.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Monday, Dec. 3, North Bay economist and Sonoma State University professor Dr. Robert Eyler will present a countywide economic development strategy.
The public presentation will begin at 9 a.m. at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church, 5340 Third St.
The economic strategy was initiated in collaboration with the county of Lake, the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, the Workforce Alliance of the North Bay, or WANB, and the Lake County Economic Development Corp., or LCEDC.
The county, the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, and WANB have supported their commitment to economic development by funding the development of this countywide economic development strategy.
Public participation at meetings held throughout Lake County, coordinated by the LCEDC, contributed to creating a strategy that offers an honest look at the realities, possibilities and opportunities for Lake County’s economic health and well-being, focusing on realistic economic sector opportunities.
The LCEDC is a coalition that includes the county of Lake and cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, community business leaders, and experts in the areas of workforce development, real estate, banking, health care and education.
The purpose of the LCEDC is to facilitate the creation, retention, expansion and attraction of businesses in Lake County.
For more information, call the Lake County Economic Development Corp. at 707-279-1540, Extension 101, the County Administrative Office at 707-263-2580, the city of Lakeport at 707-263-5615 or the city of Clearlake at 707-994-8201.
MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – Mendocino National Forest officials have issued a new Forest Order for the Ranch fire that extends the closure through at least July, 2019.
Forest Order No. 08-18-17 goes into effect Nov. 22, 2018. The order is posted on the forest Web site here: https://www.tinyurl.com/y7qvlqvd .
Forest Order No. 08-18-17 closes all National Forest System lands, roads, trails and campgrounds as shown on Exhibits A and B due to hazards such as stump holes on roads and trails and dead standing trees.
In addition, 20 miles of trail as shown on Exhibit C are closed where concentrated use poses a safety risk to the public and could result in resource damage.
The trails are:
· Forest Trail No. 60 Erickson Ridge 4x4;
· Forest Trail No. 61 Coyote Rock;
· Forest Trail No. 62 Oak Flat Access;
· Forest Trail No. 63 Browns Gulch;
· Forest Trail No. 64 Powder House;
· Forest Trail No. 65 Powder House 4x4;
· Forest Trail No. 66 Refuge 4x4;
· Forest Trail No. 67 Rattlesnake 4x4;
· Forest Trail No. 69 Windy Point.
There is a significant amount of work that needs to be done before the Ranch fire area is reasonably safe to open.
Forest Supervisor Ann Carlson explained, “We are doing everything possible to reduce risks to the public and reopen areas but we simply need more time. We appreciate your patience while we continue the recovery and restoration process.”
Currently, the forest is planning the hazard tree removal project and identifying those priority areas where fire damaged trees are safety hazards near roads.
There are 200 miles of roads within and around the Ranch fire area that have been identified for hazard tree removal.
The conditions throughout the winter will have a direct impact on how much work can be accomplished.
Forest Order No. 08-18-17 supersedes Order No. 08-18-16 dated Oct. 5, 2018.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Oct. 26, before the United States Congress, John Garamendi formally honored Lake County’s Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund as California’s Third District Woman of the Year.
Saderlund was selected for “extraordinary efforts during the eight wildfire disasters Lake County faced over the past four fire seasons,” with Garamendi also noting that she “repeatedly exceeded expectations,” and, “Her value to the community in managing the enormous costs of these disasters cannot be overstated.”
“Cathy and I have worked together for many years, and I have known very few individuals with her depth of commitment to serving her position with quality and integrity,” said Lake County District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown. “Her contributions every day are exceptional, and her excellence in her role has enabled the county government to have clear understanding of our finances. Congressman Garamendi’s recognition is exciting, and very appropriate given the work Cathy does all the time to keep us on track.”
The county of Lake also announced that its 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR, has been awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada, or GFOA.
GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting. Its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
Lake County’s CAFR has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure.” Award-winning reports clearly communicate their financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the CAFR.
“This recognition is particularly meaningful given the enormous workloads our financial offices have faced over the past year,” said Brown.
Additionally, on the strength of Saderlund’s leadership, the county earned the California State Controller’s Award for Counties Financial Transactions Reporting, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017.
In a letter, State Controller, Betty T. Yee, stated, “Lake County’s excellence in reporting helps SCO produce accurate and useful government financial data which is relied upon by policymakers, journalists, researchers and many other Californians.” Yee continued, “I am grateful for your contribution to the quality and transparency of public funds.”
“One of the key tenets of our County’s Purpose Statement is maintaining transparency, accountability and quality service,” affirms County Administrative Officer, Carol J. Huchingson. “Our Auditor-Controller’s office and the 2017 CAFR embody those values, thanks to the uncommon dedication of Cathy Saderlund and her staff. We could not be more thrilled that their efforts have been recognized.”
Saderlund and her staff’s remarkable achievements were formally recognized by the Lake County Board of Supervisors’ at its Tuesday 20 meeting.
The county encourages community members to join in congratulating Saderlund and all of the staff members who work every day to ensure Lake County’s financial reports are accurate, transparent and accessible to the reader.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As part of the Thanksgiving holiday, Gov. Jerry Brown announced that he has granted 38 pardons and 70 commutations, with one of those pardons going to a local man.
Individuals who have been convicted of a crime in California may apply to the governor for a pardon.
Those granted pardons all completed their prison sentences years ago and the majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes. Pardons are not granted unless they are earned.
A gubernatorial pardon may be granted to individuals who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and have lived productive and law-abiding lives following their conviction.
The process includes eligible individuals obtaining a Certificate of Rehabilitation, which is an order from a superior court declaring that a person convicted of a crime is now rehabilitated.
Among those granted full and unconditional pardons this Thanksgiving is Adrian Irvin John.
The pardon document for John explains that he was sentenced in July 2001 in Lake County Superior Court for robbery with the use of a weapon.
John served three years, one month in prison, and three years on parole. He was discharged in October 2007 after having completed his sentence.
The Governor’s Office reported that John obtained from the Lake County Superior Court an order dated Aug. 2, 2016, “evidencing that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.”
The document continues, “Indeed, Mr. John is active in his tribal community and coaches children’s sports teams. By granting the Certificate of Rehabilitation, the court has recommended that he be granted a full pardon.”
When a pardon is granted, the California Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are notified so that they may update their records on the applicant. The pardon is filed with the Secretary of State and the Legislature, and it is a public record.
Individuals currently serving a sentence for a conviction by the California courts can petition to have their sentence reduced by applying for a commutation.
In the majority of these commutations, the individuals have been granted the opportunity to make their case before the Board of Parole Hearings, which will determine whether they are ready to be paroled.
Copies of the gubernatorial pardons and commutations can be seen below; John’s pardon is on page 26. Additional information on pardons and commutations can be found here.
California Gov. Jerry Brown announced the appointment of Judge Ioana Petrou as associate justice, Division Three and Judge Tracie L. Brown as associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal.
First District Court of Appeal
Ioana Petrou. Courtesy photo. Ioana Petrou
Ioana Petrou, 50, of Oakland, has been appointed associate justice, Division Three of the First District Court of Appeal. Petrou has served as a judge at the Alameda County Superior Court since 2010.
She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2004 to 2010 and was counsel at O’Melveny and Myers LLP from 2002 to 2004. Petrou served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York from 2000 to 2002.
She was an associate at Foley and Lardner LLP from 1996 to 1999, at Weissburg and Aronson from 1995 to 1996 and at Proskauer Rose LLP from 1994 to 1995. Petrou served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Sheila Prell Sonenshine at the Fourth District Court of Appeal in 1992.
Petrou earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
She will fill the vacancy created by the elevation, subject to confirmation, of Justice Stuart R. Pollak to presiding justice, Division 4 of the First District Court of Appeal.
This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.
The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline. Petrou is a Democrat.
Tracie L. Brown. Courtesy photo. Tracie L. Brown
Tracie L. Brown, 47, of San Francisco, has been appointed associate justice, Division Four of the First District Court of Appeal. Brown has served as a judge at the San Francisco County Superior Court since 2013.
She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California from 2002 to 2013 and was an associate at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP from 1997 to 2002.
Brown served as a law clerk for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit from 1998 to 1999 and was an associate at Morrison and Foerster LLP from 1996 to 1997.
She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College.
She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Timothy A. Reardon.
This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.
The commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline. Brown is a Democrat.
The annual compensation for each of these positions is $237,365.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Authorities arrested a Clearlake woman on Tuesday for an animal cruelty case that has been under investigation since the summer.
Dawn Thompson, 43, Clearlake, was arrested in the 14500 block of Burns Valley Road for an active warrant for her arrest issued by the Lake County Superior Court, according to Clearlake Police Det. Ryan Peterson.
Peterson said that Clearlake Animal Control Officer Melinda Wymer began an animal cruelty investigation on June 26 involving three adult horses and 10 dogs in the 14500 block of Burns Valley Road.
Through the investigation, the horses and the dogs – ranging in size from a small terrier mix to a greyhound – were located on the property, Peterson said.
The dogs appeared to be in good health, but lacked appropriate access to food and water. Peterson said the horses on the property appeared to be in poor health and lacked appropriate access to food and water as well.
Peterson said Thompson was contacted on the property in June and she advised that four of the 10 dogs belonged to her daughter. Thompson claimed ownership of the three horses.
At that time, Officer Wymer issued Thompson a notice of violation giving her 30 days to correct the conditions. Peterson said Officer Wymer followed up with Thompson and determined she failed to comply with the notice of violation and provide the horses with medical care, proper food and adequate living conditions.
On July 5, Officer Wymer executed an abatement warrant along with the assistance of the Clearlake Police Department and seized the three horses. The horses were transported to a local boarder and provided with veterinary care, Peterson said.
Through the nearly five-month-long investigation, Officer Wymer determined Thompson committed felony animal cruelty, according to Peterson.
Peterson said Officer Wymer completed her investigation, which was forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office for review.
He said the Lake County District Attorney’s Office requested a warrant for Thompson's arrest. The Lake County Superior Court issued a warrant in the amount of $15,000 which was served with Thompson’s Tuesday arrest.
