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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A support group is starting in Lake County for grandparents, aunts, uncles, foster parents and anyone caring for children that they are now raising because the biological parents are no longer caring for them.

Statistics show that more than 3.5 million grandparents are raising children in this country.

Support groups are offered as a space where individuals can come together to share their stories, experiences, and lives in a way that helps reduce isolation and feeling helpless at times.

Oftentimes, we think we are struggling alone, but support groups help us see that there are others who may be dealing with similar situations and who in turn can help with resources, supports, and encouragement based on their experiences.

Grandfamilies, as named by the creator of this new support group, found that there was not a place locally where these parents could go to find support or to talk to others in this situation.

Delores Farrell has a long history of working in social services for the state of California, has raised two of her grandchildren and she now lives in retirement here in Lake County.

Farrell feels that the group will be able to become a resource and support that may be beneficial for a specific need or problem.

She is anticipating having guest speakers from Department of Social Services, legal services, and others to help navigate the complex issues of caring for these children.

Farrell hopes that the group will bring a sense of community so that the caregivers do not feel so alone.

Please call Farrell at 650-269-0185 and leave your name and number to reserve a seat at an upcoming meeting.

Light refreshments will be served and childcare is provided. Farrell hopes that the group will be able to meet every other Monday or on a regular schedule as decided.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors will consider updating the fee schedule for county department services this week.

The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

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

In a item timed for 9:30 a.m. on the board’s fairly short agenda is the consideration of a resolution amending the master fee schedule for departmental services rendered by the county.

The full agenda follows.

CONSENT AGENDA
 
7.1: Approve letter of support for AB 2966, an act to amend Section 8686 of the Government Code, allowing the state to cover up to 90 percent of the costs associated with the removal of dead and dying trees in rural counties experiencing the governor’s declared tree mortality crisis.     

7.2: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings held Jan. 2, 2018, and Jan. 9, 2018.

7.3: Approve first amendment to consulting services agreement – recruitment and selection services, authorizing the county administrative officer to sign.

7.4: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Mountain Valley Child & Family Services for specialty mental health services for fiscal year 2017-18 for an increase of $35,000 for a new contract maximum of $60,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the amendment.

7.5: (a) Approve rental agreement between the county of Lake and Paul E. Lowen for storage hangar No. 1 at Lampson Field for the monthly amount of $300, and authorize the chair to sign; and (b) approve rental agreement between the county of Lake and Paul E. Lowen for storage hangar No. 2 at Lampson Field for the monthly amount of $500, and authorize the chair to sign.    

7.6: Approve award of bid for the Mockingbird Lane at Robinson Creek Bridge Replacement Project; Bid No. 18-01, Federal Aid Project No. BRLO-5914 (105) in the amount of $1,264,590.47 to Team Ghilotti Inc. of Petaluma and authorize the chair to execute the notice of award and agreement.

7.7: Approve the submission of an electronic grant application to the State of California Department of Boating and Waterways in the Amount of $100,000 for the purchase of a new law enforcement patrol boat and trailer.

7.8: (a) Approve award of bid to Hilomast for the purchase of a mast for the mobile emergency command post in the amount of $11,389.09 and authorize the sheriff/coroner as the assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order; and (b) approve the budget transfer, moving funds from 38.00 to 62.74.

TIMED ITEMS

8.2, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of a resolution amending the master fee schedule for departmental services rendered by the county.

CLOSED SESSION

10.1: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): (a) Interviews of interim Community Development director (b) appointment of interim Community Development director.

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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LAKEPORT, Calif. – By the age of 5, 90 percent of human brain capacity has developed.

These early years – prenatal through age 5 – are when a foundation is being laid for language, literacy, social skills, critical thinking, gross and fine motor skills, problem solving, empathy, and every vital capacity that a person will need to build a healthy and rewarding life.

The vision of First 5 Lake County is that all of Lake County’s children will receive the best possible start in life and thrive.

Each quarter in 2018, the First 5 Lake Commission will be recognizing Children’s Champions in our community – people who are going above and beyond to make sure that our youngest citizens are protected, nurtured, and prioritized.

The First 5 Children’s Champions for the first quarter of 2018 are: Christopher Veach, director of Lake County Libraries; Jeff Smith, District 2 supervisor; Kari Donley, LVN at Adventist Health Clear Lake; and the IMPACT/QRIS Team at Lake County Office of Education, consisting of: Angela Cuellar-Marroquin, LPC/QRIS coordinator; Angel Coppa, QRIS Coach; and April Strait, QRIS coach.

Christopher Veach reached out to First 5 Lake to find out how he could bring needed information about parenting, community resources, and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, to the parents and caregivers of young children attending the Lake County Library story times.

Since that initial brainstorming meeting, local agencies have joined the collaboration and have committed to send staff to story times throughout the year to share with parents about their programs, how their services can be accessed and to answer any questions.

Conversations have also begun regarding how to capitalize on the comfort level community members already have when visiting the libraries by bringing in educational programs about ACEs and parenting to those trusted spaces.

Jeff Smith served as a First 5 Commissioner from 2010-2018 as a representative from the Board of Supervisors.

As he prepares to end his tenure as District 2 supervisor, he has now passed the First 5 baton to the capable hand of Supervisor Tina Scott, but the commission would like to honor his many years of service and his ongoing care, concern and advocacy for Lake County children and families.

Kari Donley is a licensed vocational nurse working in the Bright Start OB program at Adventist Health Clear Lake.

Donley recently contacted First 5 after running into roadblocks in obtaining immediate drug treatment services for a pregnant patient in her care.

She then brought the issue to the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board who invited key government contacts to the table to discuss what systems changes could be implemented to make sure that pregnant patients would be sure to receive a seamless referral for needed treatment during the critical prenatal period of child development.

Donley’s passionate advocacy on behalf of her patient has resulted in systems changes and stronger working relationships between agencies that will benefit many more Lake County mothers and babies in the future.

The IMPACT/QRIS, or Quality Rating Improvement System, Team at Lake County Office of Education, led by Angela Cuellar-Marroquin, is in the process of implementing several multi-year grants aimed at increasing the quality of childcare and early education in Lake County.

Angel Coppa and April Strait serve as quality improvement coaches and work with 30+ different daycares, preschools, family childcare homes and other non-traditional sites where children are cared for and educated in the County.

Their one-on-one coaching covers everything from curriculum to the classroom environment, knowledge of child development and the quality of student-teacher interactions, to working with parents effectively.

The team also provide trainings for all Lake County early educators regardless of their participation in the IMPACT/QRIS program and recently hosted a Quality Care Counts Conference which provided a full day of free professional development for early childhood professionals from around the Lake.

The First 5 Lake Commissioners are honored to bring these Children’s Champions and their efforts to the attention of our Lake County friends and neighbors.

Members of the community are encouraged to nominate worthy Champions for Children in Lake County, by filling out a nomination form at: www.firstfivelake.org/childrens-champions.php . New Champions will be selected and honored each quarter.

Using funds derived from CA Proposition 10’s voter-mandated tax on tobacco products, the First 5 Lake County Commission funds programs and services that benefit the health and development of young children and educate parents, grandparents, caregivers and teachers about the critical role they play during a child’s first five years.

Since its inception in 2000, First 5 Lake has supported thousands of families with programs and services designed to help Lake County children grow up healthy and ready to succeed in school and life.

Current First 5 Lake Commissioners are Pam Klier, Denise Pomeroy, Brock Falkenberg, Tina Scott, Crystal Markytan, Susan Jen, Laurie Daly, Carly Swatosh and Allison Panella.
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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Hidden Valley Lake Association’s former golf professional, who won a $2 million settlement against the association in federal court after a jury unanimously concluded that he had been the victim of malicious conduct, including defamation and violation of his privacy, is set to return to court this month as the association challenges the ruling.

Federal Northern Court District Judge Susan Illston finalized the verdict in favor of Wayne Clark on Feb. 9, following a seven-day trial in San Francisco.

The jury found for Clark in his claims for violation of privacy, defamation, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

However, the two-year-old suit is far from settled.

As Clark’s attorney Victor Thuesen was preparing to execute the judgment to collect the award, the association’s attorneys on March 1 filed motions for summary judgment and a new trial, the first steps in seeking to overturn the verdict.

The initial hearing on the association’s motion seeking to overturn the verdict is set for later this week.

Thuesen said the federal appeal process could take as long as a year and a half to complete, with the settlement accruing 1.5 percent interest during that time.

Hidden Valley Lake Association General Manager Edward Simpkins and board members did not respond to requests for comment from Lake County News.

When contacted about whether the association had a formal statement in reaction to the judgment, attorney William A. Munoz of the firm Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney, who is representing the association, said there was no comment at this time.

As such, there has been no explanation about how the suit will be paid if the verdict stands, a concern now being raised by association residents.

In his 40 years of handling cases, including those involving employment and termination, Thuesen said he hasn’t seen one with defamation being as prominent. “This was over the top, just totally over the top.

He added, “This was the most malicious case I’d ever seen,” noting that the jury picked up on it.

In an interview with Lake County News, Clark – who has been a golf pro for 28 years – said he and his wife and daughter moved back to Washington state to take care of his elderly father. He’s now the assistant golf professional at Walter E. Hall Golf Course in Everett.

HVLA “absolutely ruined my career,” he said, explaining that he’s now having to work at minimum wage and finds his name permanently damaged in the small, tight-knit golf professional community.

“It’s all about reputation,” he said. “That’s what my profession is all about.”

He said some people look at the award and think it’s a big award. Between attorney’s fees and taxes, Clark said his family will only get a small portion.

“It was a tough thing on our family what we went through, obviously,” Clark said.

For him it was about clearing his name, although he said that in the golfing community he’ll always be seen as the guy who sued his former employer.

He said what he’s been through is “almost a Hollywood movie.”

The foundation of the case

Clark was hired in 2011 as HVLA’s director of golf, a job he held for about four years.

He said he and his family loved Hidden Valley Lake. They made many friends and he hoped to stay there for the rest of his career.

“We were such a part of that community,” he said.

Clark said he was building a junior golf program, and that the association had a good management team at the time the Hidden Valley Lake Association hired Cindy Spears as its new general manager in May of 2014.

Clark said many of those team members would leave as a result of Spears.

Spears – who said in a Lake County News interview from June 2014 that she had three decades of property management, hospitality and golf management in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina – arrived when there was deep disagreement between the board and a group of homeowners over millions of dollars of proposed improvements, including a new community center and clubhouse.

According to case documents, in April 2015 Spears gave Clark verbal notice that she was terminating his contract for no cause, effective that day, despite the fact that he had had not received any negative performance evaluations or been informed that he wasn’t performing his job appropriately.

It’s Thuesen’s belief that political pressure about the HVLA golf course and Clark’s ability were key drivers of Spears’ decision to fire Clark, which the board ultimately supported. When Spears informed Clark he was being terminated, she said she believed he had been undermining her, and Clark replied that he hadn’t intended to do so.

When Clark asked to go back to his office and collect his personal belongings, Spears said no, and had security march him out, Thuesen said.

“That’s where the trouble began,” Thuesen said.

That same day, Spears concluded that Clark had pornography on his work computer. That claim then extended to allegations of embezzlement, misuse of the company credit card and several other claims attacking Clark’s reputation, according to Thuesen.

In response to backlash from the community, eight days after Spears terminated Clark she went into an executive session with the HVLA Board. Thuesen successfully subpoenaed the closed session minutes, which showed that Spears promoted the idea that there were 600,000 images on Clark’s computer, some of them of child pornography.

“She decided to bury him,” Thuesen said of Spears’ intentions toward Clark.

Ultimately no evidence of pornography was found, a fact confirmed acknowledged by Spears herself in a legal declaration submitted this past fall; at trial, a sheriff’s deputy also testified that no pornography was found, Thuesen said.

The case documents explain that the damaging claims Spears made against Clark also included that he drank and watched pornography while at work, he mismanaged golf operations, that his employment contract was illegal and invalid, that he didn’t pay for food and drinks at the HVLA bar, that the association paid for his participation in golf tournaments inappropriately, that he was about to be arrested for criminal activity and that he had been terminated “for cause.”

Spears made such claims to other HVLA employees and leadership, and passed the information to other individuals to publish on social media and the Internet, according to the case documents.

Clark said he believed the issues really came down to a sharp divide between the homeowners who don’t support golf and those who do.

He said a previous board of directors he had worked under there would come to him if they had questions about the golf operations. However, that stopped when a newer board came on.

As the fallout continued on social media, Clark – even after his termination – continued to be a target.

“Some of these people that posted about me, how they could say the stuff about another human being without ever talking to that person,” he said.

Clark said he believed that most Hidden Valley Lake residents are good people just living their lives, and that it was just a small group of people involved in the online forums that were so damaging to him personally.

Clark said it got to the point where his family couldn’t go to the grocery store any longer. Friends stopped calling. The toll on his young daughter increased.

In the summer of 2015, his mother died. His father has dementia and the family decided to move to Washington to be close to his father.

Clark said that, considering everything, it was hard to move. Then, the week his family was trying to move to the Seattle area, the Valley fire hit and they were evacuated.

He credited the association’s golf course and the green space it created for saving the community from even greater loss than the 60 homes the fire destroyed.

Spears herself was gone from her job within a year of terminating Clark.

Clark called it “a tough, dark time” in Hidden Valley Lake’s history.

The case develops

In April 2016, Clark filed his federal lawsuit against the Hidden Valley Lake Association and 20 “Does” or unnamed defendants.

One of the key issues in the case was that Spears was the association’s main witness, yet she couldn’t be located to testify at trial.

Thuesen said he had private investigators trying to track her down, but to no avail. “We learned very early on that we weren’t going to reach her.”

Then, he said, something weird happened: In September, the association filed a motion for summary judgment and presented a declaration signed by Spears, after having told the court under oath that they couldn’t reach her.

The 450-page filing included an eight-page document containing Spears’ declaration in support of the association’s summary judgment motion.

In her statement, Spears referenced the controversy over the golf course, noting it was the subject of heated debates on social media and at public meetings.

“During the majority of my tenure as GM, through April 15, 2015, Plaintiff Wayne Clark was the acting Director of Golf for HVLA. His position put him in the center of the debate regarding the growing disdain for the golf course and the expenses related, with the golfers blindly supporting his management and operation of the golf course,” Spears said in the declaration.

She said she had reviewed the existing contracts with managers and found that the prior general manager had signed a renewal contract with Clark without board approval. “In fact, I told Plaintiff directly about my concerns regarding the lack of board approval, as well as the board and potentially some of the members. However, I never discussed the details of Plaintiff’s contract. Moreover, I honored Plaintiff Clark’s contract during his employment as though it had been board approved,” she said.

Spears said she had concerns about Clark’s performance and conduct. “After fielding these concerns with fellow managers and employees involved with various situations, I reported these concerns to the board on more than one occasion. As time progressed, my difficulties in managing Plaintiff Clark only grew worse. Thus, shortly before his termination, I asked Julie Vonada, HVLA’s human resource manager, to create a list of bullet items to review with Clark in a disciplinary discussion.”

Emails submitted in court documents showed that on March 3, 2015, Spears emailed Vonada asking for statements from other staff to do a write up on Clark.

Vonada replied on March 5 with a list of bullet points that took away his oversight of the food and beverage director, accused him of socializing too much and not following up on tasks, faulted him for allowing his assistant to give golf lessons when his contract requires him to do all lessons, telling him to be more respectful in conversations with staff and customers, and stating that he had not gone to the golf maintenance yard to show support for the team.

Spears’ declaration stated that the situation with Clark “came to a head” following a Golf and Greens Committee meeting on April 7, 2015, and an opinion piece Clark published in an association magazine. “Later, I addressed the board again regarding my problems with Plaintiff Clark as director of golf, in executive session. The board then gave me authority to handle the problems in any way which I saw fit, up to and including termination of Plaintiff Clark’s employment contract.”

She confirmed that she terminated Clark’s employment on April 15, 2015, pursuant to the “no cause” provision.

“The board reported this to the membership. I did not communicate to the membership that I had terminated Plaintiff Clark ‘for cause,’” Spears stated.

Spears said Julie Vonada then took on the task of cleaning out Clark’s desk to return his personal items. “In so doing, Ms. Vonada reported to me that she had located questionable items including photographs of young girls is scant clothing, a Maxim magazine, and alcohol not belonging to the association. Ms. Vonada sent me photographs of the contents of Plaintiff Clark’s desk, which I forwarded to the board members.” The document included an exhibit showing copies of the emails and a picture of a Maxim magazine and a bottle of alcohol in a drawer.

Spears’ declaration continued: “It was my understanding that Plaintiff was acting as an assistant coach of the youth golf program and using our facilities to do so. Thus, I felt concerned regarding the photographs in Plaintiff’s desk and asked HVLA’s IT manager to review his computer. The IT manager reported that he did locate questionable images on Plaintiff’s computer but he could not determine whether they were of youths. Thus, I discussed the matter with the board and determined the obligation of the association was to make a report to authorities and let the authorities handle any investigation. I reported my concern to various association managers or perhaps employees, to ensure there was nothing further to report. Our executive assistance was also aware, given that she was in charge of board minutes and board meeting packages. I did not disclose the contents of Plaintiff’s desk to members, however. Rather, many of the members were likely in contact directly with the law enforcement agency and/or the deputies performing the inspection of Plaintiff’s computer, as Plaintiff was then at the center of a public debate regarding his role as Director of Golf and whether his termination was a move towards reducing the subsidization of the golf course or done for other reasons.”

The statement added, “Ultimately, the law enforcement agency returned Plaintiff’s computer and reported nothing of concern was located on the computer. I reported that as well to the board, and to any employees with knowledge of the investigation.”

Thuesen said he filed opposition to Hidden Valley Lake’s motions, and in that filing included a declaration by Clark that the photos of the items in his drawer had been staged.

Clark said he had a cold at the time and had set a roll of toilet paper that he was using for tissue on his desk. The photo showed that roll of toilet paper in the drawer, where he hadn’t left it. He said a Maxim magazine was in the drawer but the photos were not.

Thuesen said Richard Pritchard, the current director of golf, also would give testimony, both in a deposition in response to the association’s motion for summary judgment and during testimony at trial, that the alcohol bottle was his, that it had been given to him, and that it was on a shelf, not in that drawer.

During a hearing on Hidden Valley Lake’s motion for summary judgment, Thuesen said Judge Illston asked how the association could say they didn’t know where Spears was but could get signed declaration. The response was that they claimed they reached her via telephone and Internet.

Judge Illston followed up by issuing an order that the association turn over the contact information it had for Spears to Clark.

As a result, Thuesen received an email address and phone number, which he used for two days running in the fall in an attempt to contact Spears. He couldn’t reach her.

Shortly after that, in court Judge Illston raised the issue of locating Spears, and told the association that without her it couldn’t defend the case, Thuesen said.

Thuesen said it’s common in employment-related cases that people still working for an employer that’s involved in the suit are too intimidated to testify. That wasn’t true in Clark’s case.

“In this case, the fact that she [Spears] was not there, the employees came out of the woodwork,” said Thuesen, noting that evidence was coming from everywhere.

He said managers gave depositions and testified, and told of Spears exhibiting similar damaging behavior toward others and provided additional evidence of what she had said about Clark.

Thuesen said the evidence gathered ahead of trial as well as the testimony given during it would paint a picture of Spears as a person who traded in “harsh gossip.”

The trial

Thuesen said the trial began on Jan. 29 in San Francisco federal court.

He said a key piece of testimony at court was that a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy said a test of Clark’s computer found no evidence of pornography.

Thuesen subpoenaed two individuals who had attacked Clark online as adverse witnesses: Mike Gingerich and Michelle Wade.

Wade is credited as a founder of the HVLA Forum Facebook page, and Gingerich was a frequent poster about Clark on Facebook as well as the “HVL Owner Advocate” and “HVL Panorama” Web sites.

Numerous posts made by both Gingerich and Wade were submitted as exhibits for the trial.

After receiving his subpoena on Dec. 14, on Dec. 20 Gingerich sent out an email whose recipients included Lake County News, stating, “‘Freedom of Speech’ does not exist for most members within HVLA. It only exists for a small, elite few, as it always has. Only that small group can say whatever they want and suffer few, if any, consequences. For the rest of us, BEWARE…..This is part of the price I must pay for speaking out on behalf of my investment in HVLA.”

The association’s September filing of its motion for summary judgment included email correspondence between Gingerich and Spears in which he asked if it would help or hurt the association for him to release details about the situation.

Gingerich did not respond to a request for comment from Lake County News.

Thuesen said the testimony of both Gingerich and Wade helped Clark win the case.

In court Thuesen successfully argued that Spears used Wade to make “scatalogical” posts about what she claimed was found in Clark’s desk, and that she used Gingerich to go after Clark as the bad guy in the golf operation.

Gingerich claimed Spears didn’t tell him anything, but Thuesen produced evidence to the contrary, including several emails and a letter in which Spears gave him an outline of what to say next. “He was not a good witness for them,” said Thuesen.

During depositions and at trial, Wade denied communicating with Spears or being friends with her. However, Thuesen said testimony from others – including Julie Vonada, who had been Human Resources director at the time, and Spears’ former administrative assistant – made the connection between Spears and Wade.

Vonada testified that Spears told her she was sending information to Wade, who she called her “little birdie,” a term she also used to describe Wade to her administrative assistant, Thuesen said.

On the day she fired Clark, Spears was overhead making phone calls reporting that she had fired Clark and that she had found pornography in his desk, based on the testimony at trial, Thuesen said.

“She came across as a person who was not telling the truth, on anything,” said Thuesen, adding that he knew the verdict would depend on whether or not the jury believed her.

At trial, the issue of what Spears claimed was found in Clark’s desk on the day of his firing also was addressed.

Vonada, who left the association herself about a year afterward, testified. Thuesen said her testimony was very much in Clark’s favor.

Vonada stated that Spears had told her she was going to fire Clark, Thuesen said. She said she told Spears she was not comfortable being present for the firing, as she had no idea why it was occurring. Spears told her to go and wait in the restaurant.

In the meantime, Spears informed Clark that he was being fired, Clark asked to go back to his office for his personal items and was told no, so he asked for his things to be delivered to him, according to Vonada’s testimony.

Vonada then testified that she received a call from Spears to go and get Clark’s personal items, according to Thuesen.

Thuesen said he believed the photographs were staged. “I just can’t see him having those anywhere,” he said of the photos of scantily dressed women found in the drawer.

The trial took place for seven days, with jurors deliberating for about six hours on an additional day, according to Thuesen.

“When you’re giving a closing argument, you never know what’s going to happen, but you can see when people are receptive to what you’re saying,” Thuesen explained.

The verdict “was unanimous on every single question presented,” he said, and found that the association’s conduct through Spears was “outrageous” and meant to cause Clark distress.

Altogether, the jury awarded Clark $271,250 in past lost earnings, $143,436 in past noneconomic damages, approximately $1,155,000 in future lost earnings and $430,314 in future noneconomic damages.

While the jury found that the harmful conduct was committed by one or more individuals acting on behalf of the association, it found that the association’s officers, directors and managing agents didn’t have “advance knowledge of the unfitness of Cindy Spears and employ her with a knowing disregard of the rights or safety of others,” and also found that Spears’ conduct wasn’t authorized by association leadership and didn’t know of Spears’ wrongful conduct and adopt or approve the conduct after it occurred.

As a result, the jury did not award Clark punitive damages.

After the verdict, Thuesen said he had long discussions with two jurors that gave him a good window into their thinking and decision-making process.

He said they were unanimous in their findings in Clark’s favor from the time they walked into the jury room. One of the main delays was finding an exhibit they wanted to see.

Thuesen said he sent the verdict to a California expert on defamation law, whose comment was, “Wow,” especially over the jury’s five separate findings of malicious conduct.

“I’ve never had that happen and he said he hasn’t either,” Thuesen said.

Even after the verdict, however, Clark said the online postings saying incorrect and “stupid” things about him continued. “It’s hard to convince people sometimes that the world is round,” he said.

Following the verdict, an anonymous letter with a return address of “Concerned Neighbor HVLA” was sent to Lake County News that accused Clark of lying about losing his PGA status, which the letter alleged was a key claim in the lawsuit.

However, the lawsuit’s causes of action did not raise the PGA issue, and Clark separately told Lake County News his PGA status was never taken away. He said the issue was the damage to his reputation.

In the weeks after the verdict, as Thuesen was waiting to execute the judgment to make the association pay the settlement, he received the association’s new motions for summary judgment and new trial.

“Those motions are prerequisites to appealing,” he said, and they also put on hold payment of the $2 million award to Clark.

On March 23, Thuesen filed his motion opposing the Hidden Valley Lake Association’s renewed motion for judgment or motion for a new trial, reminding the court of the damage Clark has suffered personally and professionally due to the association’s untrue accusations against him.

The court schedule shows that Judge Illston has set a hearing on the motion for judgment for April 20 in San Francisco.

That hearing will kick off a series of procedures that could be drug out as long as 18 months, Thuesen said.

“We have some arrows in our quiver,” Thuesen said.

“We’re confident that there will be no change,” he said, explaining that such changes in verdict aren’t typical in jury trials. Unless the jury has been seen to have acted with passion and prejudice, the verdict will stand.

Many of the damaging posts about Clark remain online. He said his suit involves the issues specific to 2015, but he guaranteed that if the association continues to fight the case, it will get worse.

He explained that Thuesen is ready to file a new suit over the defamatory online posts that took place last year and are continuing.

Clark said that after all he and his family have lost, they can wait another year or two to have the matter settled.

“We’ve come this far,” Clark said. “We have nothing so we have nothing to lose.”

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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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Wednesday, April 18, the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District along with the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport staff and local first responders, will be conducting a mass casualty drill simulating a commercial aircraft crash.

The drill is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to noon.

This type of training is mandated by the FAA and must be conducted at least once every three years to evaluate the operational readiness of the fire district, the airport and other emergency responders.

This two-hour, unrehearsed drill, will simulate an aircraft accident involved in fire and resulting in mass casualties.

With the recent expansion of the airport and its terminals, authorities in Sonoma County are seeing an increase in call volumes to the airport.

“As responders, it’s our duty to be prepared for any type of emergency no matter how big or small; prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” organizers said.

Rincon Valley Fire Protection District and local emergency responders regularly train for all aspects of aircraft emergencies such as, extrication and rescue, mass casualty, aircraft fire and hazard mitigation.

This drill will focus on passenger rescue, emergency medical intervention and fire suppression.

“Exercises like the one we are conducting affirm the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District’s commitment to train like lives depend on it, because they do,” said Rincon Valley and Windsor Fire Chief Mark Heine. “We want to ensure that we are prepared to protect our community as well as visitors to our beautiful county. Having a commercial airport in our jurisdiction is a big responsibility and the public at large should feel safe in knowing that their first responders know how to deal with an aircraft emergency, whatever the scale.”
 
In the event of an actual passenger aircraft crash, Rincon Valley Fire Protection District  and the airport will need the assistance of numerous Sonoma County emergency response agencies.

Agencies involved in Wednesday’s drill will include: Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport, Rincon Valley Fire, Windsor Fire, Healdsburg Fire, Forestville Fire, Santa Rosa Fire, Cal Fire, Red Cross, Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services, Sonoma Life Support, Bells Ambulance, Coastal Valley EMS, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, Reach, REDCOM and the Oakland USAR Task Force-4 K-9 teams.

They also will be working with Memorial and Petaluma Valley Hospitals, which will be accepting the drill’s simulated patients.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control is featuring a number of big dogs needing homes this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of boxer, chow chow, German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, rat terrier and shepherd.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

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

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

This young male shepherd mix is in kennel No. 3, ID No. 9819. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Shepherd mix

This young male shepherd mix has a medium-length brown and black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 3, ID No. 9819.

This male Labrador Retriever puppy is in kennel No. 4, ID No. 9814. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Labrador Retriever puppy

This male Labrador Retriever puppy has a short chocolate coat.

He’s in kennel No. 4, ID No. 9814.

This female rat terrier is in kennel No. 6, ID No. 9793. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Rat terrier

This female rat terrier has a short black and white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 6, ID No. 9793.


This female chow chow is in kennel No. 9, ID No. 9810. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female chow chow

This female chow chow has a long black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 9810.

This male German Shepherd is in kennel No. 14, ID No. 9813. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Male German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium-length brown and black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 14, ID No. 9813.

This male boxer mix is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9811. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male boxer mix

This male boxer mix has a short brown and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9811.

“Camilia” is a female German Shepherd mix in kennel No. 20, ID No. 9694. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


‘Camilia’

“Camilia” is a female German Shepherd mix with a long black and brown coat.

She’s in kennel No. 20, ID No. 9694.

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


‘Onyx’

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix.

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

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174.

This young female Labrador Retriever is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 9812. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Female Labrador Retriever

This young female Labrador Retriever has a short chocolate coat.

She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 9812.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 9708. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 9708.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9706. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9706.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 9710. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 28, ID No. 9710.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9709. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.


Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a short black and tan coat.

She’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9709.

This female Labrador Retriever-Great Dane mix is in kennel No. 30, ID No. 9797. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Labrador Retriever-Great Dane

This female Labrador Retriever-Great Dane mix has a short black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 9797.

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.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council is set this week to consider an agreement for making energy upgrades to city facilities.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

On the agenda is a presentation of a proclamation designating the week of April 15 to 21 as
Volunteer Week in the city of Lakeport.

On the agenda is a public hearing for the council to take input on a proposal to authorize City Manager Margaret Silveira to negotiate and execute an energy services contract with ENGIE Services, subject to legal review, for the performance of energy upgrades outlined in the presented scope of work.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram’s report said the council is being asked to review the proposed scope of work prepared by ENGIE Services – formerly OpTerra Energy Systems – to implement solar and other energy conservation measures at various city facilities, and to consider entering into the contract for the company to perform the listed projects and improvements provided in the scope of work.

The scope of work includes indoor and outdoor lighting upgrades to several city facilities, replacing existing lighting in Library Park and along Main Street with energy efficient LED fixtures, HVAC unit replacement at City Hall, the Lakeport Police Department, the city’s corporation yard and Carnegie Library, and construction of solar facilities at several city facilities, such as the CLMSD wastewater treatment plant, the corporation yard, the Green Ranch water wells, the City Hall parking lot, the police department and an electric vehicle charging station adjacent to city hall.

In council business, Public Works Director Doug Grider will take to the council a request to authorize the city manager to sign the purchase order and purchase agreement for the Landscape Structures PlayBooster from Ross Recreation Equipment Co. Inc. The new playground equipment, which costs $74,687.19, is for Library Park.

Grider also will ask the council to consider adopting a proposed resolution approving the city’s Lakeport SB 1 Project List for fiscal year 2018-19 and direct staff to submit to the California Transportation Commission.

Also on Tuesday, Ingram will ask the council to consider adopting a resolution accepting the Hotel Feasibility Study prepared for the city by HVS.

Ingram also is presenting an engineering services agreement with Quincy Engineering for an amount not to exceed $125,000 for the completion of engineering design services for a water main loop line connecting the South Main Street water main with the Parallel Drive water main.

On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on April 3; approval of Application 2018-001 for the Lakeport Criterium event application and agreement between the city of Lakeport and Main Street Elite Cycling; approval of Application 2018-014, with staff recommendations, for the 2018 Memorial Day Parade, to be held May 26; approval of Application 2018-015, with staff recommendations, for the 2018 Tuesday Farmers’ Market, to be held from May 1 to Sept. 25; authorize the out-of-state travel as requested by the city manager to attend RECon – the Global Retail Real Estate Convention in Las Vegas, Nev., from May 20 to 23; approval of the contract for the 2018 Fourth of July fireworks production with Pyro Spectaculars North Inc., in the amount of $20,500 and authorize the city manager to execute the contract.

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.

041718 Lakeport City Council meeting agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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Coyote Valley Elementary School students Sami Maccario (left), Dakota Putrah (center) and teacher Eric Schaffer search for fry to catch for the trout program release on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Lucy Llewellyn Byard.


MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A new program at Coyote Valley Elementary School is giving children a chance to learn about fish both in the classroom and in the creek.

The first trout release program for Coyote Valley Elementary School third grade class began Feb. 28.

That’s when sponsor Tony Blyleven, a director of the Resource Conservation District, or RCD, brought 60 rainbow trout eggs to two classes at the school.

The trout eggs came from the Mt. Shasta Hatchery.

Blyleven attended a Sportsman Expo and learned about trout release programs, deciding to make the project happen at Coyote Valley Elementary School.

It took $400 for each set up but, “the most trying part of the project was building fish tanks with the protective styrofoam around it,” said Blyleven.

Eric Schaffer and Jon Prather’s third grade classes were involved in the six-week long project.

Coyote Valley Elementary School third grade classes of Eric Schaffer and Jon Prather gather for the walk to Putah Creek for trout program fry release on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Lucy Llewellyn Byard.


The students kept a daily journal on the progress: from eggs to alevin (still with yolk attached) to fry to juvenile to adult. The trout released were in the fry stage.

Sierra Cude, 9, wrote in her journal: “We have three baby fish. One egg keeps moving too. The babies have egg yolk on their belly. The baby fish is hiding from big fish.” She went on to describe the food fed to the fish as well as a drawing of the food ingredients.

Students monitored the temperature of the tanks and noted the health of each batch daily.

Schaffer said the most difficult part of the project for him was “arriving in the morning and finding several dead fry at the bottom of the tank. This did, however, open the door for hypothesizing why some of the fish died.”

On Tuesday, the day set for the release, the two classes walked to Putah Creek, a 1.4-mile round trip from their classrooms.

Coyote Valley Elementary School third grade students wait for teacher Eric Schaffer to catch a fry for them to release. Photo by Lucy Llewellyn Byard.


Along the walk both teachers reminded students to respect their surroundings and to make as little noise as possible so as not to upset the area’s wildlife.

At the creek, students paired up and received one fry in a freshly washed cup, which they then released and watched where the fry swam off to. Most of the fry sought shelter under rocks.

Hoping the temperature of the creek was near optimal temperature for survival, Schaffer took along a thermometer to test the water, which was 57.4 degrees Fahrenheit, mid-range for survival.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife was also involved, sending Game Warden Mike Pascoe to answer students’ questions about the relationship of habitat and environment.

“He put on a very informational slideshow and did activities with our classes to help them understand conservation and game/species management,” said Prather.

Pascoe also happily released a fry.

California Fish and Wildlife Warden Mike Pascoe and students from Coyote Valley Elementary School observing a trout release at Putah Creek in Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, April 10, 2018. Photo by Lucy Llewellyn Byard.


“The best thing about raising rainbow trout was releasing them. It was really cool watching them swim away and hide under rocks,” said student Dylan Caviness, 9.

Elizabeth Davis, also age 9, felt the opposite. “I worry about the fry being eaten by larger fish and predators.”

“It has been an awesome project. We are planning on doing it for years to come,” said Prather.

Schaffer also feels the same. “I will definitely do this project again. I get to keep the aquarium and equipment for next year. Having Fish and Wildlife Officer Pascoe with us was a huge bonus. I hope to have him accompany us next year as well.”

At the end of Pascoe’s visit, he proclaimed each student Junior Wardens, presenting them with their own sticker badge.

On the walk back from the creek, students picked up trash along the route, making it a great ending to a great project.

Lucy Llewellyn Byard is a Lake County News correspondent. She lives in Lucerne.
Journal entry by 9-year-old Sierra Cude about the trout release program at Coyote Valley Elementary School in Middletown, Calif.
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Sea ice in the Arctic as seen from ATom’s DC-8 in January 2017. Credits: NASA / Róisín Commane.

Two thirds of Earth's surface are covered by water — and two thirds of Earth's atmosphere reside over the oceans, far from land and the traditional ways that people measure the gases and pollutants that cycle through the air and around the globe.

While satellites in space measuring the major gases can close some of that gap, it takes an aircraft to find out what's really happening in the chemistry of the air above the oceans. That's where NASA's Atmospheric Tomography, or ATom, mission comes in.

Since 2016, a team of scientists with 25 advanced instruments aboard NASA's DC-8 research aircraft has sampled over 400 different gases and a broad range of airborne particles on month-long excursions from Alaska down the Pacific to New Zealand, then over to South America and up the Atlantic to Greenland, and across the Arctic Ocean.

Far from land, the atmosphere above the ocean is where to find the cleanest air on the planet – at least in theory.

Over the course of three deployments, and with their fourth and final trek beginning in late April, the team has found surprising levels of pollutants above the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

"It is astounding to see such dense pollution in the middle of the ocean, so far from the source regions," said ATom's principal investigator Steve Wofsy of Harvard University, recalling their flight up the center of the Atlantic and their stop at Ascension Island halfway between Africa and South America, just south of the equator.

"As we descended the first time, we were stunned to find ourselves in a thick haze of smoke and dust that originated in Africa, thousands of kilometers to the east. The haze had an unappealing yellow-brown hue and was so thick we couldn't see the ocean. All of the hundreds of pollutant chemicals we measure had very high amounts. On each revisit since that first one, we have found a similar pall extending for thousands of kilometers, spanning the entire tropical Atlantic Ocean," he said.

Computer models that simulate the movement of the major gases such as carbon monoxide, created by incomplete combustion from fires, are one of the tools used by the ATom team to get an idea of what they might see on each leg of their flight. It's also one of the tools they are evaluating.

"One of the great things about ATom is showing how well the model generally works," said Paul Newman, chief scientist of Earth science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The model combines weather forecasts with known atmospheric chemistry to tell them where and when a pollution plume will intersect the flight path.

"But it misses a lot of the detail. It’s giving you an understanding of where the stuff is coming from, and that allows you to refine your science,” said Newman. “So we’re not out there discovering uncharted lands, but it’s like, I have a map of Iowa, and I’ll drive around there, and that map is probably, depending on how old it is, 95 percent right. It’s the 5 percent wrong that’s interesting."

One of those interesting deviations occurred over the Arctic, according to atmospheric scientist and ATom team researcher Róisín Commane at Columbia University in New York City.

"One of the largest pollution plumes we've seen wasn't predicted by the models, which came from fires in Siberia. So ATom has given us a snapshot of what we might be missing," she said.

Tracking plumes is only the first step. The next is getting a better understanding of how they change as they linger over the ocean.

Researcher photographing the sea ice as the DC-8 flies over the Arctic January 2017. Credits: NASA/ Sam Hall

For example, the hydrocarbons from smoke plumes react in sunlight with other gases to form ozone, a greenhouse gas and air pollutant best known as the main ingredient in city smog.

The instruments aboard the DC-8 can detect both ozone itself and all the gases that produce ozone by chemical reactions. This means that in addition to tracking ozone in plumes from land, the ATom team can also determine how much is produced from other gases over the ocean.

The center of the Pacific Ocean is much farther from land than the Atlantic. There, ATom observed generally low ozone levels, but the production of new ozone over the ocean based on the measured suite of ingredient gases was higher than the models predicted.

"This implies that the remote Pacific is a larger source of tropospheric ozone than we previously understood," said ATom's deputy project scientist Michael Prather at the University of California, Irvine. "It's a preliminary result, and we have yet to analyze whether this produced ozone is natural or related to pollution, but it does mean we'll need to rethink what we believe about how much ozone is produced over the remote oceans, and what that means for the climate and our efforts to reduce ozone pollution on land."

ATom's final deployment will take place this spring. With the atmospheric data they've collected during flights from each season of the year, the science team will continue to analyze the data and improve the atmospheric models that help us understand our home planet.

ATom is funded by NASA's Earth Venture program and managed by the Earth Science Project Office at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

The DC-8 research aircraft is managed by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in building 703 in Palmdale, California.

A team of over 100 people – scientists, engineers, flight crew and staff – across government agencies and universities support the mission both in the air and from the ground.

To learn more about the ATom mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/content/earth-expeditions-atom.

Ellen Gray is part of NASA's Earth Science News Team.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control is offering eight dogs for adoption this week.

The available dogs are Apollo, Dingo, Evander, Ivy, Robbie, Sam, Tory and Trudy.

To meet the animals, call Clearlake Animal Control at 707-994-8201 and speak to Marcia at Extension 103 Monday through Thursday, or leave a message at any other time.

“Apollo.” Courtesy photo.


‘Apollo’

“Apollo” is a 1-year-old male who shelter staff said was rescued from a heartbreaking case of neglect.

He was severely underweight at 31 pounds – described as just skin and bones, and starving for attention – but since then he’s gained 12 pounds and “has come a long way in every way,” said staff, who added he holds a special place in the hearts of the officers who saved him.

Apollo is very friendly with people and would make a great dog for an active family. He has moments of low confidence and pushy, assertive behavior so Innovative Dog Training & Education is donating some free training to his adopters as well as some free playgroup sessions to his adopters to help nurture a confident social dog.

He is recommended as the perfect dog for a dominant female or stable male dogs who will take him under their wing and teach him a few things. Apollo also is good with both adults and older, respectful children.

“Dingo.” Courtesy photo.


‘Dingo’

“Dingo” is described by shelter staff as a happy, friendly boy who is a true people dog.

He is 2 years old, weighs about 45 pounds, and is good with both adults and children.

Dingo likes to be by your side, has nice manners and sits for treats like a true gentleman. He also loves to play ball and probably Frisbee, too.

Shelter staff said he is great with other nice dogs, but has low confidence and prefers people. He will benefit from more socialization.

“Evander.” Courtesy photo.


‘Evander’

“Evander” is a 1-year-old male Labrador Retriever mix who has an all-black coat and weighs about 45 pounds.

He is good with both children and adults, and shelter staff said they are currently working on his socializing skills.

“Ivy.” Courtesy photo.


‘Ivy’

“Ivy” is a 2- to 3-year-old female husky mix that weighs about 45 pounds.

She is good with other dogs and people.

An assessment of her found her energetic and wanting to play with other dogs, and also loving attention from people.

Her adopter will be offered four free sessions with a socialization playgroup.

“Robbie.” Courtesy photo.


‘Robbie’

“Robbie” is a young and happy-go-lucky mix – possibly Labrador Retriever and Rottweiler.

Shelter staff said is he around a year and a half old and weighs 50 pounds.

He walks well on a leash, makes friends with other dogs, and is playful but not super active.

Robbie is vaccinated, was neutered and had a full dental cleaning.

He recently was diagnosed with heartworm, so he is undergoing treatment. If adopted or taken to rescue, he will need a quiet place to recover.

“Sam.” Courtesy photo.


Sam

Sam, also known as Big Bird, is a 1-year-old male Labrador Retriever mix, weighing 70 pounds with a medium-length black coat.

Shelter staff said he loves to play; he has extremely high energy and can be unruly, and so he needs obedience training.

However, he also loves everyone he meets and has an exuberant personality. Staff suggested he will need an active family to make sure he has an outlet for all that energy.

He’s selective with other dogs, good with adults and recommended for children over age 10 due to his size.

“Tory.” Courtesy photo.


‘Tory’

“Tory” is a 2-year-old female Lab mix. She weighs 50 pounds and has a short fawn coat.

Shelter staff said she is good with both children and adults, is nonreactive with cats and is “selective and assertive” with other dogs, meaning, she would do best with a social male or submissive female.

She’s reported to be calm and sweet, loves to take walks and is amazing on leash.

“Trudy.” Courtesy photo.


‘Trudy’

“Trudy” is a cute 1- to 2-year-old female Labrador Retriever mix who weighs about 45 pounds.

Shelter staff said she loves to play in water, is social but selective with other dogs, and is good with adults and older, respectful children.

She is active and would be a great companion for adventure or a working sidekick on a ranch.

Trudy needs more socialization and would benefit from additional training and playgroups.

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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Amerigo Vespucci. Public domain image.


Every year in October, Americans of Italian ancestry gear up to do battle. It’s part of a decades-long war to ensure the recognition of and respect for the integral role Italian Americans have played in this country.

As a proud Italian American, or IA, myself, I can bear witness to the atrocious and dehumanizing stereotyping of my people. We don’t all have family spaghetti recipes, or like cannolis or speak with our hands. We are more than the sum of those stereotypes.

Like most immigrant groups in the United States, we IAs are proud of our heritage. As Natale Marcone, the president of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, once said at a rally in 1971: “Go home, but never forget, be proud to be an Italian all the time!”

Like a clarion call, Mr. Marcone’s words rang out through our community. And we’ve never forgotten to be proud of being Italian, ever.

Marcone and the founder of the organization, Joseph Colombo Sr., were trailblazers in the fight for IA equality.

As is often the case in the history of oppression, our primary oppressors at the time were goonies of the federal government – the Federal Bureau of Italian-American-Oppression, or F.B.I. (the A.O. was silent).

For decades, the FBI perpetuated the most heinous of all stereotypes: that all IAs are mobsters. They rounded up innocent IA businessmen and harassed IA communities with impunity.

Seeing what they were doing to his people, and becoming a target of their unlawful attentions himself, Mr. Colombo created the Italian-American Civil Rights League as a means of highlighting the plight of IAs.

For that, the FBI arrested him.

Well, sort of. The FBI claimed that Colombo was the leader (or Don) of a family of mobsters. They said that he himself had ordered several high-profile assassinations that left bloody bodies scattered throughout New York City in the 1960s. So what if they had his underlings on recordings admitting to as much? We all know the FBI has long had the technology to alter tapes (Watergate, anyone?).

Fugetta bout it!

It’s that sort of harassment that we IAs used to face every day of our lives. Back in the day, it was “mafia this” and “mobster that” and “where’d you bury the bodies” and all that nonsense. Really, can anyone be sure that there ever really was a mob to begin with? There’s an actual government conspiracy theory for you.

It’s been quite some time since innocent IAs were accosted on the street by men in black. But the anti-Italian forces in this country have conspired to create another libelous attack on our legacy. They’ve grown smarter over the years, preferring a sneak attack over a frontal assault. This time, they’ve come after our greatest icon: Christopher Columbus.

Last fall the attacks reached a crescendo. Thugs spray-painted the word “murderer” on a statue of the great explorer in Binghampton, N.Y. Another statue of Columbus was beheaded in Columbus Memorial Park in Yonkers. And in Minneapolis, a petition was circulated to replace the Columbus statue at the State Capitol in St. Paul with one of the pop star Prince.

Apparently, there is a segment of our country that claims we as a nation should not celebrate a mass murderer; a cruel, rapacious man who not only brought about the downfall of millions of people by his very discovery, but also saw to the killing of thousands himself. Sounds like an FBIAO conspiracy to me, one led no doubt by Comey.

But for the sake of argument, and lest anyone call IAs contrary, let’s just assume that those slanderous, unfounded, libelous claims on our hero are true.

Christopher Columbus. Public domain image.


Let me therefore offer up an alternative to Columbus; a man who, if it’s even possible, is more iconically Italian American than Columbus, certainly a man who is less susceptible to government-funded protests.

His name is Amerigo Vespucci.

Born the son of a humble Italian notary in 1451, Amerigo received a superb education as a child and when he grew up, he began working for the Medici Bank (the Medici of Florence were another saintly family of honest, hard-working Italians who have since been unfairly labelled dictators by pernicious historians).

Amerigo eventually became associated with the outfitting of ships, funded by the city of Florence. We know, for instance, that he helped prepare the ships for Christopher Columbus’ second and third voyages.

After years of seeing others setting sail over the distant horizon, Amerigo himself joined in on the explorations of foreign lands. We don’t know for certain the details of his early career as an explorer, but a few surviving documents tell us for certain that he was a navigator for a 1499-1500 expedition to the New World. Like his fellow Italian, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci’s expedition was funded by the Spanish, but let’s not get bogged down in details.

During his 1499-1500 expedition, Amerigo discovered the mouth of the Amazon River. When he returned to the Old World, he got funds from Portugal to make a second journey, again to what we now know as the coast of South America, near Brazil.

Sure, at the time Amerigo thought he was sailing along a route to Asia, but by his third voyage, in 1501-1502, he realized that the lands he had been mapping were not near Asia, but were instead part of a New World.

In April of 1507 (possibly around April 20, but we don’t know for certain), the scholar Martin Waldseemüller published a pamphlet of Amerigo’s journeys and suggested to posterity that the new lands the great Italian had found be named after their discoverer: America.

You see, our country’s very name comes from an Italian. Take that, Comey.

While I in no way give credence to the mud slung at Christopher Columbus, I think we all can avoid conflict by replacing statues of Columbus with Amerigo – a man both IAs and everyone else can admire.

Of course, the relentless work of the FBIAO has already begun to gather lies about Amerigo Vespucci.

Their agents in academia have claimed that Amerigo usurped the merits of others, and that he really didn’t discover those routes himself. Preposterous, of course, but we must keep soldiering on with the knowledge that truth will win out eventually.

In the meantime, I trust the IA community will take into serious consideration my modest proposal.

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
Posted On

Lia Nicole Long, 16, of Lakeport, Calif., was found safe in Stockton, Calif., on Saturday, April 14, 2018, after having left her home several days earlier. Courtesy photo.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police said the search for a missing Lakeport teenager has ended with the girl being found safe out of county.

Lia Long, 16, had last been seen by her family on Tuesday afternoon, as Lake County News has reported.

Police believed she had been transported out of county by unknown male subjects, and were concerned for the teen’s safety.

The Lakeport Police Department has been working around the clock on the case, following up on numerous leads with help of the FBI, numerous state and local law enforcement agencies and the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, according to Chief Brad Rasmussen.

On Saturday, the effort to bring the girl home reached a positive conclusion when police reported that she had been found in Stockton and was safe.

“Family members are currently with her and will be in the process of bringing her back to her home in Lakeport,” police said in the late Saturday afternoon report.

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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