CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Lake County Youth Services – which operates the Clearlake Youth Center – is holding its third annual Youth Fest on Memorial Day weekend.

The free 'Fun in the Sun Day' will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at the youth center, 4750 Golf Ave.

Highlights of the day will include a car show, music, games, raffle prizes, face painting, arts and crafts, Zumba dancing and vendors.

As part of the event's goal of promoting services for Lake County youth and families, exhibitors will offer information on community resources.

For more information, contact the Clearlake Youth Center between the hours of 2 to 6 p.m. at 707-994-KIDS (5437) or call Joyce Overton at 707-350-2898.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A veteran Lakeport paraeducator has received a statewide honor.
   
Doreen McGuire-Grigg, a special education paraeducator at Terrace Middle School in the Lakeport Unified School District, traveled to Los Angeles last month to accept the Paula J. Monroe CTA Education Support Professional of the Year Award for 2015.

The 325,000-member California Teachers Association gave McGuire-Grigg the honor.

The organization said McGuire-Grigg's skills and dedication have made a difference for students and colleagues at the site, district and state education levels.

“I admire Doreen’s unabashed ability to do what she knows is right no matter what,” said Dean E. Vogel, president of the California Teachers Association. “CTA is a more unified and inclusive organization because of her union work and her inspiring solidarity.”

McGuire-Grigg has worked for the district 27 years. She started as a room mother when her son was in kindergarten and was hired by the district a few years later when he was in the fourth grade.

“I've been doing it ever since,” she said, adding, “I love what I do.”

For all of those nearly three decades she's worked as a teaching assistant in special education, working beside teachers at Terrace Middle School. Currently, she works one-on-one with fourth- through eighth-grade students.

During her education career, she's seen the requirements for her position change due to new laws. She was required to become “highly qualified,” which meant either taking two years of college classes or passing a test. She took some coursework and then passed a test in 2010.

“She’s been in this district for a very long time,” said Terrace Middle School Principal Jill Falconer. “She’s got so much experience.”

Falconer said there isn't a situation McGuire-Grigg couldn't handle with care. “She cares so much about the kids that she works with.”

McGuire-Grigg said the special education setting is completely different from regular classrooms.

One of the rewards, she said, it witnessing when her students experience breakthroughs.

“Having the opportunity to see those 'a ha moments' is huge,” she said.

Seeing students move ahead also is rewarding. In the Read Across America event, she invited past students who now are in high school to come and read to her current students and make breakfast.

“They see what they can do when they get older,” she said of her students.

McGuire-Grigg also works with students in the mainstream school population on yard duty, and helps the special education students work with those other populations of children. “It's really good for them for socialization.”

In her work, she sees children with different challenges and conditions, including autism, but said she can't be more specific about other conditions due to confidentiality. Mostly, she works with the learning disabled who tend to be a grade level or two behind their counterparts.

In those cases, students are sometimes caught up on grade levels and then can be moved from special education to resources classes, she said.

These days, McGuire-Grigg – who is president of the Lakeport Unified Classified Employees Association – also represents California educators on the National Education Association Board of Directors and is a delegate to the State Council of Education, CTA’s top governing body, which consists of nearly 800 elected educators. She's one of the first school support staff to be elected to national and state offices.

Those responsibilities require her to travel to meetings around the nation, as well as conferences where she conducts trainings. She recently traveled to Washington, DC and also has been to Hawaii and New Orleans for her duties.

As a result of that travel, McGuire-Grigg estimates she's away from school about half a year, or between 75 and 90 days annually. While she's away, a substitute fills in for her.

Her travels have taken her to a lot of schools in Northern California, and as a result McGuire-Grigg has concluded, “Lakeport is one of the best places for our kids.”

She calls her school “an amazing place,” noting that wonderful things are happening all the time there.

One of the projects McGuire-Grigg is working on now is a national paraeducator institute through the National Education Association. The goal is to create and share more professional development for paraeducators nationwide through a mostly online program.

“Right now we're kind of limited in the professional development we do receive,” she said. “It's nice that I get to help with that.”

Falconer said McGuire-Grigg has been an advocate for ongoing education for paraeducators, who she said need training and advice. “They’re dealing with challenging students,” she said.

Falconer added that McGuire-Grigg has been a great advocate for such professional development in the Lakeport Unified School District.

McGuire-Grigg said the big push now for paraeducators is professional development in the Common Core curriculum. “We're expected to know what to do but we're not always receiving the information.”

She said the teachers are expected to share it with their paraeducators. “It would be better if we could all go in as a team and learn together, because we're all teaching the same thing.”

McGuire-Grigg also is working on getting an anti-bullying training together this summer – ahead of the start of the new school year – for classified staff at Lakeport Unified.

She said students, teachers and administrators often are trained in anti-bullying, but that's not necessarily the case with staff including bus drivers, campus supervisors and cafeteria workers.

“It's not often that we're included in the training,” and she said anyone who works with students should be trained.

McGuire-Grigg has two years left in her term with the National Education Association Board. After that, “I plan to continue my advocacy for quite awhile,” but she may not be doing it on the national level.

She said a lot of times classified employees are “kind of the unsung heroes” of education.

Without bus drivers driving, secretaries opening doors, custodians keeping facilities clean and groundskeepers mowing lawns in the heat of the day, “the school wouldn't run.”

She added, “It's not always just about the teachers, it's about all of us working together to educate the whole child.”

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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport Police officers took a Hidden Valley Lake man into custody Saturday evening on suspicion of driving under the influence following a two-vehicle crash.

Scott Thomas Imrie, 39, was arrested following the crash, which occurred at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Lakeport Police Sgt. Michael Sobieraj.

Sobieraj said officers were dispatched to 11th Street at the intersection of North Brush Street for a two-vehicle collision with unknown injuries.

When officers arrived they found that both drivers had extricated themselves from their vehicles, he said.

Imrie, who Sobieraj said was driving a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta, was stopped at the stop sign of North Brush and 11th streets.

Sobieraj said Imrie had pulled out in front of a Dodge Durango driven by Lakeport resident Doreen McGuire-Grigg, who was traveling east on 11th Street at the posted speed limit.

McGuire-Grigg did not have time to brake or avoid Imrie and hit Imrie’s vehicle on the driver’s side.  The impact sent Imrie’s vehicle across the eastbound Lane of 11th Street and up onto the property of 370 11th St., coming to rest against the front porch of the residence, Sobieraj said.

Lakeport Fire Protection District medics arrived and evaluated both Imrie and McGuire-Grigg, who Sobieraj said complained of minor injuries. 

Sobieraj said the officers determined through their investigation that Imrie was impaired and driving under the influence of alcohol, with initial blood alcohol tests showing he was more than two times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Imrie also was found to be on active California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation parole out of Lake County, Sobieraj said.

The collision investigation found that Imrie was at fault. Sobieraj said Imrie was arrested and booked on felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08 percent causing injury, as well as a parole violation.

Imrie is being held at the Lake County Jail on a no bail hold, according to his booking sheet.

During the investigation and traffic control, another minor traffic collision occurred in the same area, with minor vehicle damage only. Sobieraj said both drivers exchanged information with the help of the California Highway Patrol and were released.

The Lakeport Police Department reminded drivers that driving under the influence is strictly enforced with zero tolerance.

In addition, the agency urged drivers to be alert – especially in construction zones and collision sites – and always follow the directions of traffic control devices and emergency responders.

The Lakeport Police Department thanked the California Highway Patrol and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for their help with traffic control during the incident.

Editor’s note: The original report stated that the crash occurred at around 7:30 p.m., with police later correcting that to 5:30 p.m.

More than a few kind-hearted Californians are unnecessarily “rescuing” western pond turtles this spring, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is imploring to the public to leave them alone.

Turtles normally travel away from water during a portion of their life cycle, and a solo turtle is not necessarily a lost or distressed turtle.

Spring is nesting season, so many turtles are leaving their aquatic habitat and traveling upland to lay eggs.

Wildlife rehabilitation centers and animal shelters report that a surprising number of people have been bringing healthy western pond turtles – California’s only native freshwater turtle species – to their facilities, thinking there is something wrong with them because they’re not in a pond.

The common name “pond turtle” doesn’t mean they never leave ponds. In fact, this species more frequently lives in rivers, streams, lakes, and permanent and temporary wetlands.

It requires terrestrial habitats not only to nest, but also to wait out extended hot, dry periods or overwinter in a state of dormancy throughout many parts of California.

While most western pond turtles nest somewhat near water, they have been documented traveling long distances (more than 500 yards) to upland habitat to lay eggs and sometimes even farther to overwinter.

With water becoming more scarce as the drought persists, more turtles are moving upland earlier in the season to estivate (summer dormancy).

People may encounter turtles during these travels and think they are lost or sick, since they are quite some distance from water.

CDFW receives many contacts from well-meaning people who report that they have found and collected what they believe to be a sick turtle, when in reality the turtle was traveling to upland habitat as part of its natural activities.

Western pond turtles are designated as a “species of special concern” in California, “critical” in Oregon, and “endangered” in Washington. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in April that the species may warrant protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The turtles are known to inhabit parts of Lake County, according to wildlife officials.

“Western pond turtles face a number of threats throughout their range,” said Laura Patterson, CDFW’s Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Coordinator. “They are shy animals and sensitive to human disturbance. Anyone who removes a healthy turtle from the wild is potentially compromising its ability to successfully reproduce and survive in the future. In addition, anyone – other than a licensed wildlife rehabilitator – who releases turtles that have been kept in captivity is not only breaking the law but putting the health of wild populations at risk by spreading disease. These actions are almost always unnecessary and often quite counterproductive, so I urge the public to take a hands-off approach to caring for these sensitive, imperiled animals.”

Western pond turtle populations have declined significantly in some parts of the state, especially Southern California, due to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.

Predation, competition and diseases from non-native species, including pet turtles released into the wild, have also contributed to declines and localized extinctions.

According to the California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 40, it is illegal to capture, collect, intentionally kill or injure, possess, purchase, propagate, sell, transport, import or export any native reptile or amphibian, or part of one, with very few exceptions.

Native reptiles covered under the law include western pond turtles and desert tortoises.

Once they’ve been in captivity, they may not be returned to the wild without written authorization from CDFW.

It is best to leave all native wildlife alone. If you care, leave them there!

A brochure with more information on western pond turtles and what to do if you find one can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/ljy5cmu .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Four felines are waiting for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control this week.

The two adults and two kittens are cleared to go to new homes.

In addition to spaying or neutering, cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are microchipped 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 there, hoping you'll choose them.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

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

Domestic short hair mix

This female domestic short hair mix has a gray tabby coat.

Shelter staff said she's very sweet and affectionate.

She's in cat room kennel No. 8, ID No. 2141.

Siamese mix kitten

This male Siamese mix kitten has a white coat with gray markings, and big blue eyes.

He's in cat room kennel No. 13c, ID No. 2148.

Siamese mix kitten

This female Siamese mix kitten has a white coat with gray markings, and like her brother has big blue eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 13d, ID No. 2149.

Domestic medium hair mix

This male domestic medium hair mix has an all-black coat.

Shelter staff said he is a sweet cat.

He's in cat room kennel No. 58, ID No. 2187.

Adoptable cats also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Cats_and_Kittens.htm or at www.petfinder.com .

Please note: Cats listed at the shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Have you seen the Marymount Castle? Get your chance at the gala opening party for the 2015 Lake County Wine Adventure weekend on Friday, May 15.

Imagine yourself strolling through the Castle, sipping your favorite wines and savoring the views.

Enjoy wines from a baker’s dozen of Lake County’s finest wineries and nosh on a bountiful array of appetizers prepared by Running Creek Casino.

The BMP Swingtet will be on hand to get the party swinging. Dress in period costume is encouraged for a memorable evening of fun. And of course, don’t forget the password – shhh! The word is WINE.

The Marymount Castle sits high on the hill overlooking Lucerne with views of Clear Lake and architecture that hearkens back to the 1920s.

Formerly known as the Lucerne Hotel, it was the brainchild of two investors in the Clear Lake Beach Co.

Richard Palmer and Louis Becker founded the Lucerne Hotel Corp. and started selling stock for the hotel corporation in 1925. Construction of the hotel began in 1926 but was stopped in 1929 due to the Great Depression.

Financial troubles followed with the Clear Lake Beach Co filing bankruptcy and the hotel property taken over as payment for a construction lien.

In the spring of 1938 the hotel was finally completed. It was opened for a year before closing and being sold. The hotel had a succession of owners including a group who wanted to open it as an Adventist hospital until it was discovered that the doors were too small to accommodate a hospital gurney.

In the early 1950s the Northern California Baptist Association bought the hotel and opened it until about 1955.

The hotel was then sold and resold, and opened and closed for short periods but always went back to the Baptists for the debt.

Today the former Lucerne Hotel is home to Marymount California University and fondly referred to as the Marymount Castle.

Sponsored by the Lake County Winery Association, the Speakeasy will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 15.

The Marymount Castle is located at 3700 Country Club Drive in Lucerne.

The passport portion of the Wine Adventure on Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17, offers a unique opportunity to explore the region and enjoy the Lake County wine experience.

Twenty-six Lake County wineries will open their doors to welcome adventurers from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wineries will offer special wine tastings paired with foods to showcase the flavors of the wines.

Some locations will also offer barrel tastings, live music, and products by local artisans. The best winery contest started in 2014 will return again this year with an opportunity to vote in three categories. Many wineries will also be offering specials on wine during the weekend.

Relay for Life is returning as charity partner for the 2015 Lake County Wine Adventure. Raffle tickets will be sold during the weekend for a chance to win a very special Wine and Dine prize package.

In addition to an instant cellar of Lake County wines, the winner will receive gift certificates for dinner at selected Lake County restaurants and a wine tour for four donated by Frontier Wine Tours.

Participating restaurants include the Saw Shop Gallery & Bistro, the Blue Wing Saloon, Wild Creek Restaurant at Running Creek Casino, Park Place Restaurant and the Manzanita Restaurant at Twin Pine Casino.

Tickets will be $5 each or five for $20. All proceeds will go to the Lake County Relay for Life.

Sponsors for the 2015 Lake County Wine Adventure include Twin Pine Casino and Hotel, Lake County, Sutter Lakeside Hospital and Riley Cabs.

Tickets for the Castle Speakeasy are $55 and advanced reservations are required. Tickets for the two-day passport adventure good Saturday and Sunday are $45 in advance or $50 at the door. The Sunday only passport is $35 in advance or $40 at the door.

Designated drivers are free and will get to enjoy the food and fun as they help make it a safe event for everyone.

Tickets for the Castle Speakeasy and Passport Adventure can be purchased many local wineries, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce or online at www.lakecountywineries.org .

The Lake County Winery Association works to promote the wines of Lake County’s high elevation region.

Membership is open to wineries, winegrape growers, and individuals or businesses interested in promoting the Lake County wine industry.

For more information about upcoming events, sponsorship, or membership opportunities, call 707 357-5237 or visit www.lakecountywineries.org .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Local and state firefighters swiftly contained a wildland fire on Tuesday afternoon in the hills above Clearlake.

The fire was dispatched shortly before 2 p.m. in the area of Napa Street and San Joaquin Avenue, according to radio reports.

Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta said the origin of the fire appeared to have been a quarter-mile past Napa Street, right off of San Joaquin Avenue.

He said it started at the road and burned up to the top of the ridge on Carter Lane.

Altogether, by the time the fire was contained just after 2:30 p.m., it burned between five and seven acres, Sapeta said.

Cal Fire and Lake County Fire had unified command on the incident, based on radio reports.

Winds were a concern for firefighters, with Sapeta reporting that gusts of up to 14 miles per hour were recorded.

However, he said Cal Fire air resources helped knock the fire down fast.

Altogether, in addition to aircraft, Cal Fire sent four engines and two crews, and Lake County Fire responded with an engine, two medic units and a water tender, plus three chief officers, Sapeta said.

Mop up continued for a few hours afterward. “We'll make sure everything is out,” he said.

Radio reports indicated the incident was terminated at about 5 p.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Sapeta said.

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.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Efforts to predict the emergence and spread of sudden oak death, an infectious tree-killing disease, have gotten a big boost from the work of grassroots volunteers.

A joint study reveals the power of citizen science in SOD Blitz, a survey project in which volunteers are trained to identify symptoms of sudden oak death.

Led by Matteo Garbelotto at the University of California, Berkeley, and Ross Meentemeyer at North Carolina State University, the study was published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Sudden oak death is a fungus-like disease that has felled hundreds of thousands of trees in California.

Crowdsourcing the survey and sampling work allowed researchers to gather information that would otherwise be too impractical and cost-prohibitive to obtain.

Researchers then used the data to create a model that predicts the presence of the sudden oak death pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, based upon such variables as rainfall and density of host trees.

Study authors compared the model based upon crowdsourced data gathered from the 2008-2013 blitzes with models using “pre-Blitz” research observations collected from 2000 to 2007.

They found the SOD Blitz model to be more powerful, correctly predicting the presence of the pathogen 74 percent of the time, compared with models based on other sources of data.

“This paper shows that volunteers are as proficient as professionals in collecting data after they get some initial training,” said study principal investigator Garbelotto, an adjunct professor and cooperative extension specialist at UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.

“The data we got from SOD Blitz resulted in the formulation of the best predictive model yet about the spread of sudden oak death in California,” Garbelotto said. “Additionally, we were able to identify new infestations and identify trees that needed to be removed. In one case, in Atherton, tree removal resulted in the only successful eradication of the pathogen in North America.”

The SOD Blitz model also revealed novel findings about the spread of the disease, finding that average population density and average maximum temperature were negatively correlated with the presence of the sudden oak death pathogen.

“The population density finding is important because of the debate about the role of humans in spreading sudden oak death disease,” said Garbelotto. “From this work we can say that humans are not currently spreading the disease, and that the pathogen is doing well spreading on its own.”

Beginning the Blitz

Jean Morrell, a retired biologist living on the Santa Lucia Preserve in Monterey County, learned about sudden oak death in 2007 through an on-site presentation and subsequent hike with Garbelotto organized for the homeowners on the preserve.

The event provided the seeds for the idea of the SOD Blitz as a way to get more people – particularly her fellow homeowners on the preserve – engaged.

For Morrell, the idea kicked off a round of phone calls and personal outreach to her neighbors.

Garbelotto launched SOD Blitz the next year, in 2008, and it has since grown into one of the largest citizen science projects in the country, incorporating 21 coastal communities in California.

Each spring researchers reach out to participants through news stories, radio announcements, community groups and other recruitment methods.

Participants go through mandatory, on-the-ground training by professionals to learn how to detect and sample infected trees.

Training workshops last about an hour, and then volunteers are provided with symptom detection guides, a mobile mapping tool and packets for storing leaf samples.

“When it comes to predictive models, the more data the better,” said study lead author Meentemeyer, a professor of forestry and environmental resources and director of the Center for Geospatial Analytics at North Carolina State University. “This is especially true in less-studied urban ecosystems and people's backyards, where research scientists typically have little to no data. But the data need to be good, otherwise researchers are left dealing with a lot of noise. Motivated people, given a minimal amount of training, are clearly able to provide information that researchers need.”

'People want to protect their trees'

In any one year, the return rate of participants ranges from 15 percent to as high as 40 percent, Garbelotto noted.

“From that first Blitz, we developed a core group of workers that have continued their interest and have followed up year to year,” said Morrell. “Sudden oak death is in all of our backyards, and it will have an effect on our neighborhoods. This is why we can engage people in the program. It not only allows a participant to monitor their own space, but also, if they so desire, they can tromp out into the woods and do work in more remote areas. One only has to give up some 'sweat equity' to participate, and the results are available to everyone at no cost. It’s a win- win.”

Many participants are attracted to SOD Blitz by a shared love of the environment.

“I am an environmentalist, and my passion is trees. I believe they are the lungs of the Earth,” said Debbie Mendelson, who recruits SOD Blitz volunteers as a member of the Woodside Sustainability and Conservation Committee. “I think first and foremost, people want to protect their trees. Then there are folks who want to do something for the good of their community.”

Mendelson noted that SOD Blitz has also provided an opportunity to engage students in science. She has given presentations at local high schools about sudden oak death and citizen science.

“I think it is a fantastic opportunity for students who have an interest in science to hear a scientist speak in an understandable and warm manner,” she said.

This year's SOD Blitz recruitment has already begun. Community meetings will be held at various locations through early June for those interested in learning more.

Once verified, data from SOD Blitz is uploaded and freely available online.

The National Science Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and PG&E Foundation helped support this work.

Sarah Yang writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Close to 200 people turned out last Sunday at the Twin Pine Event Center for a dinner and auction that celebrated the first anniversary of the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center in downtown Middletown.

A devoted group of community members and volunteers spent a year refurbishing the facility, which formerly had housed the Middletown Library, in preparation for its opening in the spring of 2014.

It's named for Chauncey W. Gibson, who in 1929 contributed funds to build the Middletown Library.

The Gibson family has continued its generosity toward the town, with Harry Gibson – great-grandnephew of Chauncey – helping to underwrite the building's restoration.

Organizers said the success of the May 3 event – on the same date one year after the museum's ribbon-cutting ceremony was celebrated – surpassed expectations.

Although an exact figure wasn't immediately available, Middletown Historical Society President Voris Brumfield said the anniversary party raised enough money to ensure covering operating costs of the museum for a minimum of six months.

Altogether, community members purchased 160 tickets – at a recommended donation of $30 each – to attend the event, in addition to donating during the silent auction or taking part in a raffle, according to Brumfield.

The highlight of the fundraising effort came in the form of an $1,100 check the Middletown Rotary Club presented to the museum.

The Rotary donation is earmarked for an upgrade of the museum’s storage facility, Brumfield said.

Such financial gifts are crucial, as the museum – which the county of Lake supports by offering the building at no charge – is supported entirely by donations and operated only by volunteers.

Brumfield said the museum’s first year included four different main exhibits:

– Veterans of the military, from the Civil War to Vietnam;
– Christmas, including an exhibit of 38 Santa Claus figures from nations around the world and nativity scenes;
– Handmade rag dolls by Sophie Lauterborn and English dolls by Elizabeth Eaholtz; and
– Spas in the Middletown and Cobb Mountain region, including the oldest, Harbin Hot Springs, which is presently being exhibited.

For the museum’s second year of the operation, Brumfield said, “Our plans are to begin serious fundraising and create an endowment fund.”

She added that next month the society hopes to mount a display of Middletown families whose names are recalled on highway signs, buildings and other local landmarks.

The museum's success also has led it to issue a renewed call for volunteers.

For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , phone Nina Bouska at 707-987-2349 or Voris Brumfield at 707-295-7174.

Visit the museum's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CGibsonMuseumCulturalCenter or its Web site at http://www.cgibsonmuseum.com/ .
  
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Five Lake County men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty as public safety officers will be remembered at a ceremony this week.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Chaplains will host the Safety Officer Memorial Ceremony at 5 p.m. Friday, May 15, at Lakeport's Museum Park.

The chaplains invite the public to attend the ceremony and honor the fallen – as well as those men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep the community safe.

The men who will be commemorated at the ceremony include: from law enforcement, Sheriff George Kemp, Deputy William Hoyt and Sgt. Richard Helbush; and firefighters Michael Mattioda and Matthew Black.

Kemp, age 56, died on the night of May 5, 1910. He was attempting to take two suspects wanted for horse theft and burglary into custody near Lakeport when one of the suspects shot Kemp in the chest with a stolen rifle. Kemp died a short time later.

Hoyt, age 52, died Oct. 11, 1967. He was shot in the Lake County Courthouse by a prisoner who – while being led into the courtroom – grabbed another deputy's gun and began firing. A wounded Hoyt staggered to the counter, retrieved a gun kept below it and returned fire. He died later of his injuries.

Helbush, 34, was shot and killed on May 2, 1981, after stopping to help Robert Cox and Annika Deasy – who he didn't know were wanted for a Stockton murder – on the roadside. Cox and Deasy took Helbush's patrol car and later were apprehended after a high speed chase and gunfight on Cobb with deputies and a California Highway Patrol officer.

Mattioda, age 19, died on July 14, 1984, of injuries he suffered in a fire the previous day. According to press reports from the time, Mattioda, who worked for the Lakeshore Fire Protection District in Clearlake, was working on the Mount Baldy fire, which had begun as a structure fire before spreading into the wildland. He was burned over 70 to 90 percent of his body and died the following day of his injuries at a Chico hospital.

Black, age 20, who began working as a volunteer with the Lakeport Fire Department in 1998, died June 23, 1999. Black had responded to the scene of a grass fire that had reportedly been sparked by fallen power lines. While working at the scene to move fire hose into place, Black fell onto a live wire and was electrocuted, with his fellow firefighters unable to revive him.

Also at the Friday ceremony, the names of California law enforcement officers who died in 2014 will be read.

This week's local ceremony coincides with National Police Week, May 10 through 16.

Also on May 15, the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund will mark National Peace Officers' Memorial Day and have a wreath-laying ceremony.

The organization reported that the names of 273 officers killed in the line of duty are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D,C., where the names of Helbush, Hoyt and Kemp are displayed on the memorial's west wall.

Those 273 officers to be added this week include 117 officers who were killed during 2014, plus 156 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now.

The 34th annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend will be held October 3 and 4.

The U. S. Fire Administration Web site reported that 87 firemen died while serving the public in 2014. However, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has not yet announced the number of men and women to be memorialized during the October event. Last year's event honored 104 firefighter who died in the line of duty in 2013.

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.

According to projections detailed in plans released by Caltrans, the agency will need approximately $80 billion over the next 10 years to address current and future needs of the state highway system – a projected funding shortfall of nearly $60 billion with available revenue.

The 2015 Ten-Year State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) Plan outlines a strategy for improving roads, addressing major rehabilitation work on the state highway system and supporting Caltrans’ sustainability goal through projects that bring long-lasting and smart mobility improvements.

The plan identifies approximately $8 billion annually needed to fund these necessary improvements and preventative maintenance activities over the next ten years.

However, in light of a shortfall of approximately $5.7 billion per year in funding, the plan warns that the state highway system will deteriorate and necessitate much more expensive remedies in the future.

“This funding shortfall presents a serious challenge to Caltrans and this state’s transportation system,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “At Caltrans, we have a 'fix it first' mentality, putting transportation dollars where they can be most cost-effective: on preventative maintenance to our existing infrastructure. Our maintenance dollars can only go so far, however, and California is facing much more expensive repairs to its infrastructure in the future due to a growing backlog of necessary repairs.”

Excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel are the primary revenue source for Caltrans, funding the maintenance and operation of the state highway system as well as the administration of the department.

These revenues are declining as a result of reduced fuel consumption due to more energy-efficient vehicles and increased alternative fuel use.

California is currently evaluating funding alternatives which may include increasing the gas tax or registration fees, or switching to a mileage-based fee structure.

The State Highway Operation and Protection Program primarily funds rehabilitation projects and capital improvements along the state highway system that do not add capacity to the system.

Projects largely involve pavement and structure/bridge rehabilitation, but also encompass safety and some types of mobility improvements as well as emergency repair.

The SHOPP is based on a 10-year plan that identifies performance goal-based needs over a 10-year period, with the plan updated every two years.

Caltrans’ Maintenance Program also preserves California’s transportation infrastructure through preventative maintenance and repair of the state highway system.

Proper maintenance, as detailed in the 2015 Five-Year Maintenance Plan, can reduce the amount of the more expensive rehabilitation work done by the SHOPP.

Caltrans constructs, operates and maintains more than 50,000 lane miles of the State Highway System, the core of California’s complex, multi-modal transportation system.

This includes more than 13,000 bridges and structures, 30,000 acres of roadside landscaping, 205,000 culverts and drainage facilities and 87 roadside rest areas.

The department’s transportation infrastructure also includes maintenance stations, equipment shops, traffic management centers, transportation materials laboratories and testing facilities and office buildings.

Much of this system is over half a century old, built in the 1950s through early 1970s, to serve California’s growing population and expanding economy.

The 2015 Ten-Year SHOPP Plan can be accessed at http://www.dot.ca.gov/docs/2015_Ten-Year_SHOPP.pdf and the 2015 Five-Year Maintenance Plan at http://www.dot.ca.gov/docs/2015_Five-Year_Maintenance_Plan.pdf .

A team of astronomers using ground-based telescopes in Hawaii, California, and Arizona recently discovered a planetary system orbiting a nearby star that is only 54 light-years away. All three planets orbit their star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun, completing their orbits in just 5, 15, and 24 days.

Astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California Observatories, and Tennessee State University found the planets using measurements from the Automated Planet Finder (APF) Telescope at Lick Observatory in California, the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii, and the Automatic Photometric Telescope (APT) at Fairborn Observatory in Arizona.

The team discovered the new planets by detecting the wobble of the star HD 7924 as the planets orbited and pulled on the star gravitationally. APF and Keck Observatory traced out the planets' orbits over many years using the Doppler technique that has successfully found hundreds of mostly larger planets orbiting nearby stars. APT made crucial measurements of the brightness of HD 7924 to assure the validity of the planet discoveries.

The new APF facility offers a way to speed up the planet search. Planets can be discovered and their orbits traced much more quickly because APF is a dedicated facility that robotically searches for planets every clear night. Training computers to run the observatory all night, without human oversight, took years of effort by the University of California Observatories staff and graduate students on the discovery team.

"We initially used APF like a regular telescope, staying up all night searching star to star. But the idea of letting a computer take the graveyard shift was more appealing after months of little sleep. So we wrote software to replace ourselves with a robot," said University of Hawaii graduate student BJ Fulton.

The Keck Observatory found the first evidence of planets orbiting HD 7924, discovering the innermost planet in 2009 using the HIRES instrument installed on the 10-meter Keck I telescope. This same combination was also used to find other super-Earths orbiting nearby stars in planet searches led by UH astronomer Andrew Howard and UC Berkeley Professor Geoffrey Marcy. It took five years of additional observations at Keck Observatory and the year-and-a-half campaign by the APF Telescope to find the two additional planets orbiting HD 7924.

The Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of extrasolar planets and demonstrated that they are common in our Milky Way galaxy. However, nearly all of these planets are far from our solar system. Most nearby stars have not been thoroughly searched for the small "super-Earth" planets (larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune) that Kepler found in great abundance.

This discovery shows the type of planetary system that astronomers expect to find around many nearby stars in the coming years. "The three planets are unlike anything in our solar system, with masses 7-8 times the mass of Earth and orbits that take them very close to their host star," explains UC Berkeley graduate student Lauren Weiss.

"This level of automation is a game-changer in astronomy," says Howard. "It's a bit like owning a driverless car that goes planet shopping."

Observations by APF, APT, and Keck Observatory helped verify the planets and rule out other explanations. "Starspots, like sunspots on the sun, can momentarily mimic the signatures of small planets. Repeated observations over many years allowed us to separate the starspot signals from the signatures of these new planets," explains Evan Sinukoff, a UH graduate student who contributed to the discovery.

The robotic observations of HD 7924 are the start of a systematic survey for super-Earth planets orbiting nearby stars. Fulton will lead this two-year search with the APF as part of his research for his doctoral dissertation. "When the survey is complete we will have a census of small planets orbiting sun-like stars within approximately 100 light-years of Earth," says Fulton.

Telescope automation is relatively new to astronomy, and UH astronomers are building two forefront facilities. Christoph Baranec built the Robo-AO observatory to takes high-resolution images using a laser to remove the blur of Earth's atmosphere, and John Tonry is developing ATLAS, a robotic observatory that will hunt for killer asteroids.