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While it may be deflating, events like the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are best watched from home this year. Here, the Harold the Fireman balloon lies face down as he readied for the parade on Nov. 27, 2019. Gary Hershorn via Getty Images

As Americans prepare for the first Thanksgiving in the time of the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a stark warning a week before the big day: Don’t travel.

No over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s condo. No flying to a beach gathering with the family you choose.

And if it sounds like the CDC is trying to be like the Grinch who stole Thanksgiving, it is important to remember the grim statistic of more than a quarter of a million people dead from COVID-19. There is no mistaking: The coronavirus is out of control.

Ultimately, lowering the staggering numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths lies squarely with us. Yes, governments can mandate actions; but we’re the ones responsible for adhering to them. Our failure is clear when you look at the latest numbers: Deaths from the virus are projected to soon approach 2,000 Americans a day, and cases continue to climb in the vast majority of states.

If national numbers don’t spur action, will it help to localize the problem? You can find out what’s happening closer to home here at the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Drill down to see the data in your state and county, then take a moment to pause and consider the catastrophic consequences. It’s still within our power to reverse course and lower these numbers. But as a public health scholar and researcher, I can tell you that as infections increase, the more difficult that becomes.

Even the rural states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wyoming are experiencing tremendous surges. Exhausted hospitals and health care workers across the U.S. are becoming overwhelmed, if not already there. Overwhelmed systems place care at risk. Those with other health conditions need medical intervention and hospitalization. And those with a lax attitude about COVID-19 put themselves at increased risk for negative health outcomes.

Vaccines are on the horizon, but in the meantime, the pandemic is not winding down.
Vaccines may be on the way, but the pandemic is hardly winding down. Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images

Changing behavior is a must

Modifying our behavior minimizes the chances to spread infection. But this is a big task. Government actions are most effective when based on local data and the option to loosen or tighten restrictions based on solid information. We should not view these actions as an attempt to take away our civil liberties. Instead, we should think of them as liberating, a way to keep us away from the virus.

It is not too late to modify your behavior if you’ve been reluctant to accept the realities of the virus. With promising vaccines on the horizon, our challenge as individuals is to reduce current infection numbers. And to do that, everyone must commit to established public health strategies.

A traditional Thanksgiving this year may not be a good idea.
Skipping the traditional Thanksgiving this year may be a good idea. Ariel Skelley via Getty Images

A dozen things you can do

  1. Always mask up when indoors and around people who don’t live in your household.

  2. Always mask up when outdoors and unable to maintain physical distancing.

  3. Use either disposable masks or a multi-layer tightly woven cotton mask. Single-layer kerchiefs are insufficient.

  4. When you mask up, make sure it fits your face and covers both nose and mouth. Wash or sanitize your hands after touching or removing the mask.

  5. Remember that masks are not a substitute for physical distancing.

  6. Maintain at least six feet of distance between you and others outside of your household.

  7. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

  8. Avoid motions that transfer organisms from your hands to your face. Your mouth, nose and eyes have mucous membranes that are potentially receptive to these organisms.

  9. Clean frequently touched surfaces.

  10. Do as much as possible outside and keep interactions with others short.

  11. Fortify ventilation systems for more frequent air exchanges.

  12. Curtail in-person holiday celebrations with those not in your household.

Celebrations are particularly challenging because it’s difficult for everyone to self-quarantine for the 14 days prior to the event. Also, events are typically inside rather than out; spacing of six feet may not be an option; ventilation systems in our energy-efficient homes are likely COVID-19-insufficient; and one cannot be masked while eating.

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]

So for Thanksgiving, do a virtual gathering instead. Cook the same menu in different houses to promote a sense of sharing. Send e-cards to each other with a personal note and wish for a good holiday. Or do a Zoom call where all can speak and express thankfulness for the ability to still be able to connect this year.

It is not unusual for COVID-19 patients to rage when they discover that those around them dismissed or downplayed the wisdom and experience of scientists and doctors about the realities of the pandemic. But there is no need to give up, even in the face of increasingly frightening statistics. Instead, now is the time we need to commit not just to ourselves, but to one another. What’s standing in the way of curtailing the numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths is us.The Conversation

Pamela M. Aaltonen, Professor Emerita; Immediate Past President, APHA, Purdue University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week took formal action to ask the governor to reconsider tightening COVID-19 restrictions and modifying a state tier system that its members agreed are harming – not helping – communities.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was “pulling an emergency brake” in response to virus case spikes across the state in recent weeks.

The result of Newsom’s action was that 29 of California’s counties moved into the purple or most restrictive tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

Now, 42 of California’s 58 counties – accounting for 94.1 percent of the state’s residents – are in that most restrictive tier, and on Thursday Newsom went further by issuing a nighttime stay-at-home order for those purple tier counties.

Lake County is among 5.6 percent of the state’s population in the second most restrictive tier, red.

However, there’s no guarantee that Lake County will stay there, as the governor’s office said data is continuously being reassessed.

Over the summer, Lake came close to moving to the purple tier due to outbreaks in local skilled nursing facilities and more recently is being challenged by an outbreak at the Lake County Jail.

In response to Newsom’s action, at the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier asked to add to the agenda an extra item in the form of a letter he wrote that morning to the governor.

That same day, Lake County surpassed the 800-case mark, with 18 COVID-19-related deaths during the pandemic so far. Statewide, by Tuesday there were more than 1,054,000 cases and 18,350 deaths.

“From my perspective, saying nothing is agreeing and I do not agree with the direction that we are going,” Sabatier said.

He said he wanted to act right away before the governor’s actions could impact the county.

The board agreed to add the letter’s consideration to the agenda.

During the discussion, Sabatier said not all places are being impacted in the same way.

Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said there have been a small number of cases related to businesses. Some businesses have been hit harder than others, “and it would be good to try to figure out how to help them stay alive.”

Sabatier said he’s not trying to dismantle the tier system, but wanted to address the shortened timeline for data analysis and ranking. Previously, the county’s caseload was judged over a two-week period. Now, it can be moved within tiers after a week.

Special Districts Administrator Jan Coppinger – giving the perspective of the county’s utilities arm, which serves thousands of sewer and water customers – said that for the first six months of the pandemic, customers were doing pretty good at keeping their water and sewer bills paid.

“In the last two to three months, we’ve seen an explosion in delinquent accounts,” Coppinger said.

“I think people hung on as long as they could,” she said. “They put a lot of extra money into their business to try to operate at 25 to 50 percent of their normal, and it’s hurting them.”

Coppinger said they don’t want to overlook the fact that some of those customers are accruing a lot of back bills, which could cause them to crumble in a few months.

“It’s even worse than what we’re seeing at first glance,” Coppinger said.

Letter explains local impacts

The letter acknowledged that COVID-19 has been a struggle for all. “It has impacted every foundational fabric of our communities. Our schools, our elderly, our medically fragile, and our businesses have all been impacted. Here in Lake County we have worked hard to protect our vulnerable, provide assistance to our businesses, and continue to track the virus and manage the pandemic to the best of our abilities.”

It also recounted the adjustments Lake County has had to make to meet the state’s mandates while working to keep case numbers down.

The letter explained that local leaders have been discussing how to save businesses from the oncoming winter months. “The survival of these businesses, while ensuring the safety of staff and customers, is important for the short and long term of our county as the need for our services has not subsided.”

It then addressed the needs of community members at large. The letter cited a 500-percent increase in calls for substance use disorders and a 129-percent increase in mental health calls, numbers which Sabatier told Lake County News came from Lake County Behavioral Health Services.

Sabatier’s letter then focused on the struggles of restricted businesses, such as restaurants, which if forced to go outdoors-only in the coming winter months would be facing the same kinds of total losses as they would in a public safety power shutoff.

It explained that the state’s discussions with the California State Association of Counties that brought forth the new criteria for small counties was due to Lake County being impacted by a single outbreak such as the one that is now occurring in the Lake County Jail.

“We should be looking for stability with safety guidelines for our communities. This new approach creates a vastly unstable environment for our businesses to try and survive,” the letter said.

“Please reconsider this new change and review how it is that we can support our rural businesses, while utilizing every safety precaution to ensure the safety of our communities and to reduce the risk of an economic collapse,” the letter concluded.

Sabatier wanted to ensure that the last line emphasized the different impacts that are occurring for rural counties.

The board voted unanimously to approve and send the letter to Gov. Newsom and to send copies to state and federal elected representatives.

Sabatier confirmed to Lake County News that the letter – signed by all five supervisors – was sent on Tuesday and that, as in previous cases where the board has sent communications to the governor, it hasn’t received a direct reply.

However, he said the county has seen good outcomes from previous advocacy efforts and is hopeful that such will be the case this time.

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.

111720 Lake County Board of Supervisors letter to Gov. Newsom by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The governor on Thursday took another action he says is necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, a limited stay at home order during nighttime hours that will impact counties that already are under the most stringent restrictions but so far does not apply to Lake County.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order prohibits nonessential businesses and personal gatherings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning Saturday, Nov. 21, at 10 p.m.

“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm,” said Gov. Newsom. “It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We’ve done it before and we must do it again.”

Newsom’s office said this is the same as the March stay at home order which impacted the entire state, but this new order will only apply in counties that are in the purple tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

The counties in the purple tier, the blueprint’s most restrictive, are seeing the highest rates of positive cases and hospitalizations.

As of Thursday, 42 of the state’s 48 counties are in the purple tier.

Lake County remains in the red tier, the second most restrictive. It’s among 10 counties in that tier.

Another six counties are in the lowest tiers, orange and yellow.

Newsom said this new limited stay at home order is designed to reduce opportunities for disease transmission.

Activities conducted during 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. are often nonessential and more likely related to social activities and gatherings that have a higher likelihood of leading to reduced inhibition and reduced likelihood for adherence to safety measures like wearing a face covering and maintaining physical distance, the Governor’s Office said.

“We know from our stay at home order this spring, which flattened the curve in California, that reducing the movement and mixing of individuals dramatically decreases COVID-19 spread, hospitalizations, and deaths,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “We may need to take more stringent actions if we are unable to flatten the curve quickly. Taking these hard, temporary actions now could help prevent future shutdowns.”

“We are asking Californians to change their personal behaviors to stop the surge. We must be strong together and make tough decisions to stay socially connected but physically distanced during this critical time. Letting our guard down could put thousands of lives in danger and cripple our health care system,” said Dr. Erica Pan, the state’s acting Public Health officer. “It is especially important that we band together to protect those most vulnerable around us as well as essential workers who are continuing their critical work amidst this next wave of widespread community transmission across the state. Together we prevented a public health crisis in the spring and together we can do it again.”

COVID-19 case rates increased by approximately 50 percent in California during the first week of November.

As a result, Gov. Newsom and California’s public health officials have announced a list of measures to protect Californians and the state’s health care system, which could experience an unprecedented surge if cases continue their steep climb.

On Monday, the state pulled an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy putting more than 94 percent of California’s population in the most restrictive tier.

The state will reassess data continuously and move more counties back into a more restrictive tier, if necessary.

California is also strengthening its face-covering guidance to require individuals to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions.

Late last week, the state issued a travel advisory, along with Oregon and Washington, urging people entering the state or returning home from travel outside the state to self-quarantine to slow the spread of the virus.

The travel advisory urges against non-essential out-of-state travel, asks people to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving from another state or country, and encourages residents to stay local.

As for travel on the state’s highways at this time, newly sworn-in California Highway Patrol Commissioner Amanda Ray said Thursday that her agency’s mission remains unchanged.

“CHP officers will continue to patrol throughout California and use their sound professional judgment to conduct enforcement stops for violations of the law based upon probable cause,” Ray said.

“As always, CHP officers will have the discretion to take appropriate action when a violation is observed,” she added.
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Dennis Fordham. Courtesy photo.

California’s Proposition 19 (passed in 2020) amends existing local property tax reassessment rules (i.e., California’s Proposition 13 and 58) in its Constitution.

Proposition 19 affects two categories of residents: first, seniors, severely disabled and victims of wildfire or natural disaster who relocate within California; second, families who transfer real properties between generations.

Effective April 1, 2021, “an owner of a primary residence who is over 55 years of age, severely disabled, or a victim of a wildfire or natural disaster may transfer the taxable value of their primary residence to a replacement primary residence located anywhere in this state, regardless of the location or value of the replacement primary residence, that is purchased or newly constructed as that person’s principal residence within two years of the sale of the original primary residence.” (https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/topl-prop19.pdf )

This is welcome news for seniors, disabled persons, and wildfire/disaster victims who are no longer restricted to relocating within their existing county.

“For any transfer of taxable value to a replacement primary residence of equal or lesser value than the original primary residence, the taxable value of the replacement primary residence shall be deemed to be the taxable value of the original primary residence.”

“For any transfer of taxable value to a replacement primary residence of greater value than the original primary residence, the taxable value of the replacement primary residence shall be calculated by adding the difference between the full cash value of the original primary residence and the full cash value of the replacement primary residence to the taxable value of the original primary residence.” Thus, the new residence’s additional value is added to the prior residence’s old tax base.

A person seeking to transfer their residence’s tax assessed value must file an application with the assessor in the county of the new residence. Seniors and severely disable property owners may transfer their old residence’s property tax basis up to three times in their lifetime. No such restriction applies to fire and disaster victims.

Next, under existing law (Proposition 58) a parent can transfer their family residence, family farm and up to $1 million in assessed value of other real properties to their children (either during the parent’s life or at death) without changing the property’s assessed value. Similarly a grandparent to grandchild exclusion applies when the grandchild’s parent (who is the child of the grandparent) is deceased.

Effective February 16, 2021, the parent-child and grandparent-grandchild exclusions from property tax reassessment only apply to transfers of a family home and only if the child or grandchild, as relevant, moves into the family home within 1 year of the transfer. Furthermore, for family homes where the current value at time of transfer exceeds its existing tax assessment (in the hands of the transferor) by more than $1 million (to be adjusted annually), then the excess value is added to the existing assessed value to compute the current assessed value.

Some residents may make wish to transfer real properties to their children (or grandchildren) prior to Feb. 16, 2021, in order to take advantage of existing law.

However, the children and grandchildren will not get a step-up in basis at the death of the transferor parent or grandparent. Rather, they will get the transferor’s adjusted basis in the property at time of transfer. When the children sell the property, they will pay capital gains tax on the difference between their basis and the sales price.

It is expected that the tax revenue lost by giving seniors, disabled persons and fire/disaster victims tax relief is more than made up with tax revenue gains on transfers to children and certain transfers to grandchildren. The revenue funds California’s fire-fighting and local schools.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport Unified School District Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting on Friday to discuss the COVID-19 situation with the county’s Public Health officer and look at possibly moving up the day for returning to in-person instruction.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in the Marge Alakszay Center, 250 Lange St.

Members of the public also can participate in the public session of the meeting via Zoom: https://lakeportusd.zoom.us/j/85759629637.

The agenda can be found here.

On Nov. 9, the board held a special meeting in which it decided to move to the hybrid learning model, which is phase two of the Lake County Return to School Continuum Plan, in January. The hybrid stage will start in-person instruction at schools.

However, at its regular Wednesday night meeting, the board was confronted by students, parents and coaches who wanted the district to move to the hybrid stage on Nov. 30, the date Superintendent Jill Falconer told the board last week that staff would be ready to make the transition.

The board agreed to hold a special meeting on Friday, when Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said he is available to give them a presentation on COVID-19 and schools.

The Friday meeting will host Pace’s presentation as well as the board’s review of the current start date for full implementation of Stage 2 hybrid learning on the Lake County Return to School Continuum Plan.

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.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A week after it decided in a split vote to move to a hybrid, in-person schooling model in January, the Lakeport Unified School District Board on Wednesday night faced a group of students and parents asking it to reconsider and move up that start date by a month.

As a result of the discussion, which took place at the school board’s regular Wednesday evening meeting, the board agreed to hold a special Friday night meeting to reconsider its previous decision, with input from Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace.

During the discussion, Superintendent Jill Falconer emailed Dr. Pace to ask when he could speak to the board, and she reported that he’s available on Friday evening.

To date, only Lucerne Elementary, Upper Lake Unified and some Lake County Office of Education schools are having in-person instruction in Lake County.

Lakeport Unified and the rest of the county’s districts have spent the year so far in distance learning, or phase one, of the Lake County Return to School Continuum Plan. While in phase one, no school sports practice or competition can take place.

The board decided at a special Nov. 9 meeting to move into phase two of the county’s return to school plan at the start of January, when the next semester begins. That stage two, “hybrid” model allows for students to be on school grounds for part of the week, while others can remain in distance learning mode if they wish.

That decision last week followed a lengthy discussion during which Falconer told the board that staff would be ready, at the earliest, to go to the hybrid model on Nov. 30. That was the date favored by board members Carly Alvord and Jeannie Markham, who wanted to get students back into school as soon as possible.

Falconer also reported at that meeting that 75 percent of parents wanted to go to the hybrid model, with just under half wanting to make the transition as quickly as the district could.

However, the teachers who spoke to that board overwhelmingly favored waiting until the start of the next semester in order to give them time to transition to the next phase. District nurse Diane Gunther also had urged caution at that time, noting climbing case numbers.

Sports discussion gives way to concerns about opening date

At the Nov. 9 meeting, Athletic Director Milo Meyer had raised the issue of school athletics and the need to make a decision about whether to allow them, which the board decided to hold over to Wednesday’s regular meeting.

It was in the context of discussing school sports for the 2020-21 school year on Wednesday night that the board encountered pushback from district parents and students about the later opening.

Falconer said the California Department of Public Health has been promising for more than three weeks that it would be releasing new guidelines any time for school athletics.

However, on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom reported that half of the state’s counties were being placed in the purple tier – the most restrictive – in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy due to rising COVID-19 caseloads.

During the same press conference, Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services, said those new sports guidelines aren’t ready.

Later on Monday, in response to Ghaly’s announcement, the California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, posted this statement on its Twitter account: “In today’s COVID-19 press briefing, Governor Newsom and Dr. Mark Ghaly from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) disclosed that the release of updated youth sports guidance has been postponed. Therefore, the current guidance remains in effect, and CIF competitions are not allowed until new guidance is provided.”

While that appeared to leave the board members with little to discuss, they soon heard from coaches, parents and students urging them to take a stand, move up the hybrid phase start date and let students have sporting activities.

They heard about the depression and emotional challenges students continue to experience due to not having the social and instructional interactions at school, which parents said is a necessary outlet for them.

One of those parents, Brian Martin – also Lake County’s sheriff, who emphasized he was only speaking in his capacity as a citizen – said he’d never seen a group of parents and kids wanting to return to school so badly.

Martin urged the board to author a letter to Gov. Newsom and the California Department of Public Health to advocate for sports. “This is not the time to sit back and just wait for the state to guide us.”

He suggested that maybe Newsom is too busy going to the French Laundry – a reference to recent revelations that earlier this month Newsom attended a lavish indoor birthday dinner for a friend at the expensive Napa County eatery.

Martin’s son, Matthew, a Clear Lake High School student, said the large turnout at the Wednesday night meeting, held in the Marge Alakszay Center, was mostly of students who wanted to go back to school.

He said it’s hard to stay at home all the time, not seeing friends or participating in school life. “Please advocate for us.”

Ed Pepper, Clear Lake High’s baseball coach, also asked the board to send letters to the state and get students back to playing sports. “I can’t stand not having another season.”

On Tuesday night, Kelseyville Unified, which announced it is going to the hybrid model on Nov. 30, discussed school reopenings and hosted Dr. Pace. Pepper asked why Pace wasn’t at Wednesday night’s meeting, and Falconer noted later in the meeting that because the board had already made its decision last week, she hadn’t asked him to attend on Wednesday.

High school football coach Mark Cory said he participated in a Zoom call Tuesday night with West Coast Coaching Alliance, which is studying how to return to sports safely.

Cory said he agrees with following the science, which so far shows only a small number of children test positive for COVID-19. He said community leaders need to follow that science.

“At some point we have to make a decision,” Cory said. “We should be playing games, that’s the bottom line.”

He said it’s not an “us against you,” situation, rather, “It’s us together figuring this out.”

One speaker asked if Lake County could have its own internal sporting league if it can keep its case numbers down. Meyer said he had asked that very question of the CIF’s North Coast Section commissioner.

“The answer I got was, no,” said Meyer. “The state would be the one that calls it.”

He also noted that state guidelines currently only allow for conditioning, not practice that involves balls or other shared equipment.

Student Miles Mattina told the board that he’s taking five college-level classes, and while he’s doing well, “School is stressing me out.”

He said it’s requiring long days and nights on the computer, while at the same time he’s prevented from participating in sporting activities.

“I just want to be back with my team,” Mattina said.

He added, “We need to be back in school so that we can play sports.”

Retired teacher and coach Dennis Wilson told the board that they need to throw “a lifeline” to students who are failing due to not having sports. “Get them back in school, get them back in sports.”

Board members ask for special meeting

A person in the audience asked the board members their opinions about going back to in-person instruction.

Board member Phil Kirby, himself a longtime educator and coach, responded, “I believe in kids being in school every single day.”

However, he said he was relying on facts being presented by “the powers that be” outside of the school district.

Kirby said he’s also on the board of managers for the CIF’s North Coast Section and earlier in the day had asked if they had any more information he could share with parents, and was told no.

Alvord said she attended Kelseyville Unified School District’s Tuesday night board meeting and said Dr. Pace was encouraging them to send children back to school.

That’s what Pace also told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning during his regular update to the board on COVID-19.

Pace reported that children are less likely to spread the virus to adults, and that there are few school-based outbreaks around the world, with the virus usually coming into schools with adults – primarily, teachers and staff.

He suggested the downside of not having children in school outweighs having them back in class.

Gunther did not address the school board directly during the meeting, as she had last week, but in a comment she made in the meeting’s Zoom chat line she noted, in apparent response to Alvord’s comments about Pace, “D. Pace also shared that teachers of older students had 2 times the rate of Covid than their non-teaching peers! He additionally deferred to the Board as the ones responsible for the decision and reported Lake County numbers are rising!”

Alvord said she wanted the school board to have a special meeting on Thursday to consider starting school earlier.

Markham said she was in complete agreement with Alvord. “As I voted last week, I believe you need to be back in school.”

Buffalo has three children, with one of his sons active in sports and wanting to get back to school and athletics. Buffalo noted he also was a high school athlete.

“This board had to balance what we were hearing and the consideration of the risks with the needs of our community, our team members, our faculty and our staff here at Lakeport Unified,” he said of last week’s decision.

Buffalo said he wanted to make crystal clear that going to the hybrid model “is not a return to normalcy,” adding, “It will be even more challenging.”

Parent Jason Soderquist criticized the board for waiting until January when Falconer had told them last week that the staff could be ready for the hybrid model by Nov. 30.

“This COVID thing is going to be around for awhile,” said Soderquist. “There is no way that I want my kid out of school for a couple of years.”

Board Member Jen Hanson, who teaches at Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus in Clearlake, said that after last week’s vote she heard teachers thank the board because they are not in a position to adjust their curriculum in a reduced amount of time.

“As a teacher, I will still vote with them,” she said, while also noting that she hates teaching from home. She said that while she’s teaching, sitting across the table from her is her daughter, who is trying to learn online and crying because she wants to be in school.

Alvord continued to press for a special board meeting with Pace in attendance, noting he had given the Kelseyville Unified Board a thorough PowerPoint presentation.

“Let’s ask him what we should do,” Alvord said. “We don’t have to go back and forth and speculate.”

Kirby would later agree that he, too, would like to hear Pace’s presentation. Once a third board member made the request, Buffalo said he would work with Falconer to set up the special meeting.

A short time later in the meeting, Rob Alves, representative for the district’s teachers’ union, said that as far as they were concerned the hybrid model starts Jan. 4, and that a lot needs to happen between now and then to prepare.

He said he had no idea how the union membership would react at this point to a date change for the rollout of the hybrid phase.

“I don’t envy you,” Alves told the board, adding that he appreciated their willingness to dive into the matter.

By the meeting's end, Falconer reported that Pace said he was available to meet with the board on Friday.

She said she’ll proceed on Thursday with setting up an emergency Friday evening meeting, as the board requested.

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.

20JULY Return2School EngSpan FINALFinal by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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Think of the International Space Station, and most likely you imagine an orbiting laboratory, where scientists observe how plants, materials, and humans react to microgravity conditions.

But during the past decade, the station has also served a very different role - that of being a business incubator. And this is one of its star products – the CubeSat.

The CubeSat is one of many types of satellites now found in space. It is one of the smallest; one “unit” is a compact 10 by 10 by 10cm cube and is commonly referred to as 1U. And it can be deployed for a fraction of what its larger cousins cost.

Early small satellites launched from the station were literally thrown into space by Russian cosmonauts! In 2012, crewmembers began utilizing the airlock in the Japanese Kibo module to deploy up to 6U of CubeSats per airlock cycle.

And not long after, the American company Nanoracks built and began operating an even more robust deployer on the station, capable of launching up to 48U per cycle. That changed everything.

Mike Read is the manager of space station business and economic development at Johnson Space Center. He notes how one of Nanoracks’ first customers, Planet, leveraged the new launch capabilities aboard the space station:

“Planet wanted to take high resolution photos of Earth. While you can take pictures from the space station, your coverage is limited by the station’s orbit. With multiple CubeSats however, you can position them to cover almost any point on Earth.”

In a relatively short time, Planet deployed several generations of CubeSats from the space station, proving the viability of their technology approach and their business model.

With these successes, Planet quickly expanded to an operational fleet of over 150 satellites deployed using commercial launch providers. This fleet gives them the ability to image the entire Earth’s landmass every day.

Planet’s imagery is now in high demand by companies and governments who use this big data in the fields of agriculture, forestry and land use, mapping, and disaster response. Within a decade the company has grown from a true start-up to employing nearly 500 people.

Multiple companies are now building small launch vehicles specifically to deploy CubeSats and other small satellites into low-Earth orbit, for use in a variety of ways for companies as well as students and non-profit organizations.

CubeSats are being used to provide internet services to even the most remote regions of the planet. They’re helping build better weather and climate models to improve weather forecasting. They’re enabling text messaging for your phone, around the globe, even without a cell signal.

CubeSats also are leaving the planet. The first and second interplanetary CubeSats accompanied NASA’s Insight Lander on its recent mission to Mars, relaying data about the spacecraft as it entered the planet’s atmosphere.

Some CubeSat missions will serve as pathfinders to help map the way for the Artemis missions to the Moon, and 13 CubeSats will launch on the first mission, Artemis I.

Read concludes with this observation: “Today, more and more, a single large and expensive satellite is being replaced by one of the newest members of the satellite portfolio – a flock of small, less expensive, yet very powerful CubeSats. Affordable access to space has broadened the station’s capabilities in a way that, frankly, was never envisioned. However, that access has enabled CubeSats to become a sustained commercial success, contributing significantly to the growing space marketplace.”

For more science and research from the International Space Station, go to www.nasa.gov/iss-science.

To discover more about the space on, around, and beyond our planet visit http://science.nasa.gov.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Since 1999, Nov. 20 has been observed as Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The day honors Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in Allston, Massachusetts in 1998.

Each Nov. 20, people in nearly 25 countries honor transgender individuals who have lost their lives and stand in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

“As leaders in Behavioral Health, we ensure our doors are open to all people, regardless of gender identity. We celebrate and embrace differences and offer a haven where those we serve have a feeling of safety and security,” said Todd Metcalf, director of Lake County Behavioral Health Services.

“The majority of folks we serve have experienced some sort of trauma, and this population is often targeted with violence. We must create a safe place for healing,” Metcalf said.

Mental health challenges are common; in fact, about one in five Americans are currently living with a mental illness, such as anxiety or depression.

Unfortunately, in the transgender community, that number is much higher, at nearly one in two.

A January 2014 UCLA/Williams Institute review of National Transgender Discrimination Survey data found 41 percent of respondents had attempted suicide – approximately nine times the rate of the overall United States population.

Mental health issues are exacerbated by a transgender person’s response to stigma, discrimination, lack of acceptance and abuse; these are far too routine.

For many, having to deal with discrimination results in a heightened stress response, which can lead to depression and/or anxiety.

Beyond threats to psychological well-being, transgender people are also at risk of experiencing violence and death at much greater rates.

Murders of transgender individuals have been shockingly high in 2020, exceeding 2019’s total in seven months, per the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Homelessness is also a critical issue for transgender individuals; one in five has experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Please join Lake County Behavioral Health Services in spotlighting the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.

Lake County Behavioral Health Services provides recovery-oriented mental health and substance use disorder services to those in need.

For more information, please contact Lake County Behavioral Health Services at 707-274-9101 or 707-994-7090.

If you or someone you know may be at risk of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you’re a young LGBTQ person and need to talk to someone, call The Trevor Project’s 24-hour crisis hotline for youth at 1-866-488-7386. If you are a transgender person of any age, call the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week hired the new administrator for Lake County Special Districts.

Scott Harter, who has served as Special Districts deputy administrator, has been appointed as administrator.

“We are excited to see Scott step up to this new challenge,” said Board Chair Moke Simon. “His varied background with county and city agencies has been a great asset in recent years, and this will be an opportunity for him to expand his contributions even more while providing a sense of continuity for Special Districts’ staff.”

Harter will succeed Jan Coppinger, who is retiring after as Special Districts administrator. She has served in the position since 2016.

Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein told Lake County News that Harter’s hire was confirmed following a closed session discussion on Tuesday. A special meeting last week also had included a closed session on the Special Districts administrator appointment.

Harter was one of two candidates considered for the job, Rothstein said.

Harter holds a civil engineering degree from California State University, Chico, and has served in public agencies in Lake County since 1996.

Over the past 24 years, Harter has served as a civil engineer for both the county and city of Lakeport, taken on interim responsibilities in Community Development and Information Technology and, most recently, overseen projects of great county import as deputy Special Districts administrator, the county reported.

“The retirement of Jan Coppinger affects the county in a number of ways,” said Simon. “Scott has worked right alongside her, and understands the void that she leaves. Scott is well qualified to take up the reins, quickly identify gaps, and move the Special Districts Administration forward in a positive direction.”

Special Districts is the water and wastewater agency of the county of Lake.

It oversees the operation of five water systems and four wastewater systems serving more than 40,000 people in 21 communities within Lake County.
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From left, Elizabeth Ann Frost, 40, and Eric Dwayne Kantner, 46, of Lucerne, California, were arrested on Thursday, November 19, 2020, for felony child abuse. Photos courtesy of the Lakeport Police Department.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lucerne couple has been arrested for felony child abuse after their two small children were found wandering outdoors, naked and bloody, at a Lakeport motel on Thursday night.

Officers took Elizabeth Ann Frost, 40, and Eric Dwayne Kantner, 46, into custody in the case, according to the Lakeport Police Department.

The agency said that on Thursday evening Lakeport Police officers – assisted by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Lakeport Fire Protection District – were dispatched to the Anchorage Inn Motel on Main Street to investigate the report of two small children found walking around the grounds naked with blood on their bodies.

The temperature at the time of the incident was approximately 40 degrees, police said.

The police department said officers arrived on the scene and determined that the motel manager located the children after motel guests reported them being outside.

The children, found to be 1 and 3 years of age, were provided immediate care and medical treatment by police and fire. Police said further investigation determined that the children had been outside for up to 10 minutes, both screaming and knocking on doors.

Police said Kantner and Frost, who police confirmed are the children’s parents, were located at the motel and found to have been inside of a room, heavily intoxicated and sleeping at the time the children were outside.

Based on evidence gathered at the scene, officers believe that Kantner assaulted one of the children, causing injury, police said.

Officers determined that the children needed to be taken into protective custody and contacted the Lake County Department of Child Welfare Services, which responded and took custody of them.

The police department said the officers also located two dogs belonging to Kantner and Frost and took custody of them and transported them to Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Both Kantner and Frost were arrested and transported to the Lake County Correctional Facility. Kantner was booked for felony charges of willful cruelty to a child and inflicting injury on a child and Frost was booked for felony charges of willful cruelty to a child and probation violation, police said.

Jail records showed bail for both was set at $75,000. They are set to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Monday.

Local arrest records show that Frost has previous arrests for drug- and alcohol-related charges and probation violations. She also was arrested in 2019 for willful cruelty to a child and this past April for spousal battery.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Officer Kaylene Strugnell at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 707-263-5491, Extension 119.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The opioid crisis highlights stories of adults facing substance use, but lesser-known statistics show that the crisis affects our youth in alarming numbers.

To combat the trend in Lake County, Hope Rising received a $78,750 Youth Opioid Response Grant to prevent and reduce opioid overdose deaths and opioid use disorders among youth, ages 12 to 23.

Until recently, youth facing opioid use disorders in rural Lake County had minimal prevention and education resources targeted to their age group.

Hope Rising is working to change this gap in services with the YOR Grant. By building a framework that encourages innovative solutions to target discrepancies, Hope Rising empowers youth to have a voice in the program.

Partnering with medical systems, nonprofit community agencies, schools, youth outreach-serving organizations, families, and the public, they are creating sustainable change, positive youth development, and age-appropriate engagement.

“The grant extends the focus of Hope Rising’s SafeRx program by prioritizing and addressing high-risk youth in Lake County,” says Kate Gitchell, Hope Rising administrative manager. “Through targeted youth interviews, we were able to build the foundation for a functioning youth advisory board and prevention strategy to drive this work for Lake County.”

Partnership Health Plan of California awarded the Youth Opioid Response, or YOR, grant to 14 California counties.

Lake, Humboldt and Sonoma counties collaborated to engage key informants and focus groups of local youth on developing and driving the campaign materials and direction.

One result of the collaboration is the Find Your Way website, a site offering resources for youth to receive help, get connected to youth services, stay informed, and get involved.

More than one in five youth misused opioid pain relievers at least once by the 11th grade in California. Some youth are at higher risk of substance use disorders, or SUDs, such as experiencing homelessness, trauma, or stigma/discrimination/bias (e.g., a youth of color, LGBTQ), those exiting foster care, documented/undocumented immigrants, or justice-involved youth.

YOR California assists counties in engaging youth teams in community outreach and education using up-to-date technology and social media.

Tactical aims are to prevent opioid overdose-related deaths with youth-specific prevention, intervention, Medication-Assisted Treatment, and other treatment and recovery activities for youth at high risk of overdose.

These services include and target youth with poly-substance use, foster care, or juvenile justice involvement histories, and those in communities with high overdose rates.

Fundamental principles of YOR California incorporate evidence-based practices, supports, and services that are age-appropriate for youth.

Adaptation of successful adult-interventions is crucial to the continuum of prevention, intervention, treatments, and recovery of our youth.

“As an extension of our development, we are engaging our youth advisory board to help develop social media platforms that will speak to their peers about their unique experiences and prevention priorities,” said Gitchell.

For more information about the YOR program or to get resources call 707-998-8488 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Hope Rising serves as a neutral convener to bring together leaders in our county to identify issues, develop innovative solutions, and implement agreed-upon actions with accountability and measurable outcomes. Hope Rising acts to raise, manage and disburse funds.

Additionally, Hope Rising provides facilitation and project management support to drive the work forward and keep projects on track, ensuring active engagement of stakeholders and a focus on outcomes.

Learn more about Hope Rising at http://www.hoperisinglc.org/.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Wreaths Across America program, which honors veterans, will be hosted in Lake County again this year.

National Wreaths Across America Day will take place this year on Saturday, Dec. 19.

This year’s theme is, “Be An American Worth Fighting For.”

This will be the 14th year that Lake County has participated in the program to place wreaths on the graves of veterans in six local cemeteries. The mission is to “Remember, Honor, Teach.”

In the first year, seven ceremonial wreaths were placed in Lake County for the seven divisions of the military during a WAA Ceremony at the Hartley Cemetery.

Ceremonies are now held at Hartley, Kelseyville, Upper Lake, Lower Lake, St. Mary’s and Middletown cemeteries.

In 2019, 2.2 million veterans’ wreaths were placed across the country in all 50 states – 254,000 of them at Arlington National Cemetery.

More than two million volunteers participated last year at 2,158 locations nationwide, with 38,500 volunteers laying wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery. More than a third of the volunteers across the country were children.

Approximately 600 truckloads of wreaths were delivered across the country by hundreds of volunteer professional truck drivers using donated equipment and fuel from approximately 250 carriers.

Boy Scout Troop 42 in Lakeport, Girl Scouts and Big Valley 4-H in Kelseyville, the Lake County 4-H Group in Lower Lake and FFA in Upper Lake and Middletown will be accepting donations for wreaths until Dec. 2.

Individual sponsorships cost $15 for one wreath and the family option costs $60 for four wreaths, small businesses can fund 10 wreaths for $150 and corporations can sponsor 100 or more wreaths for $1,500 or any amount can be sponsored for $15 per wreath.

Toni Funderburg, coordinator of Wreaths Across America in Lake County, said sponsorship forms can be picked up at Lakeport Tire & Auto Service, 1901 S. Main St. in Lakeport, or you can call 707-263-5422 and they will fax or email you a sponsorship form.

To sponsor a wreath online, go to https://wreathsacrossamerica.org/CA0090P or to choose another cemetery or sponsor group in Lake County visit the Wreaths Across America website.

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