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Members of Congress who this week introduced the “Green New Deal.” Photo courtesy of the office of Congressman Mike Thompson.

One of Lake County’s members of Congress announced this week that he is an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal.

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a host of others in supporting the legislation, which outlines broad recommendations on how to aggressively address the threat of climate change over the next decade.

“Climate change is the most existential threat we face today. I have long said that if we do not act now nothing else we do matters because there won’t be a planet to pass on to our children. That’s why I am a proud, original cosponsor of the Green New Deal, a resolution stating the steps we must take to address climate change,” Thompson said.

“Today the United States Congress is making a bold statement about climate change. We are saying that we must take this threat seriously, that we must take action, and that we must use every tool at our disposal to get this done. This includes strengthening our resiliency against future disasters exacerbated by climate change, modernizing our infrastructure, deepening our renewable energy capacity, and mitigating the negative health and economic impacts we are already experiencing due to climate change,” he continued.

I am proud of our new majority for taking this important step forward and stand willing and ready to continue on this path toward addressing climate change,” Thompson concluded.

You can click here to read the text of the Green New Deal.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Forecasters have issued a winter storm warning for Lake County and other parts of Northern California as new storms headed toward the region are expected to bring still more snow.

The warning goes into effect at 4 p.m. Friday and will remain active until 4 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service said two cold storms are forecast to bring significant snowfall to
the Northern California mountains and higher foothills over the weekend, which also will result in periods of dangerous winter driving conditions.

Forecasters expected the first storm will bring light mountain snow as early on Friday, followed by moderate snowfall Friday night through early Saturday.

A second and stronger storm will bring heavy snowfall Saturday afternoon through Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.

The National Weather Service said these cold systems will bring low snow levels with many foothill locations seeing snowfall again throughout the weekend.

Heavy snowfall is expected above 2,500 feet, with light accumulations down to 1,000 feet, based on the forecast.

For much of Lake County, snow is in the forecast from Friday through Tuesday. New snow accumulations are predicted to be half an inch a day from Friday through Saturday, with 1 to 2 inches possible on Sunday.

Daytime temperatures through the weekend will range from the high 30s to the mid-40s, while nighttime temperatures will drop into the mid-20s on Sunday night and rise slightly into the 30s the rest of the week.

There also will be light winds in the single digits on Saturday, with predictions of winds into the low 20s – and gusts into the 30s – on Saturday night in the south county.

With the Cobb area expected to get significant snowfall all day Friday, ahead of much of Lake County, on Thursday night the Middletown Unified School District canceled school in Cobb on Friday.

In a message posted on the district’s Facebook page, Middletown Superintendent Catherine Stone said that because of the snow the district also will not be able to send buses up the mountain to pick up Middletown Middle School and Middletown High School students, so Friday will be an excused absense.

Stone said all other schools will be in session and other buses will run as normal.

District officials will watch the weather next week closely as “we are concerned that we may need to have a late start due to ice on Monday morning,” Stone said. She urged parents to check the district Facebook page or Web site, or to call the district at 707-987-4149 for updated information.

All other Lake County schools will be open on Friday, according to the Lake County Office of Education.

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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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Konocti Unified School District Board held a special meeting Wednesday afternoon with a consulting firm to discuss the recruitment process as it begins the search for a new superintendent.

The meeting at the district office included the approval of the contract with Education Leadership Solutions LLC, which the board had voted last month to hire to lead the recruitment, as Lake County News has reported.

The firm is led by Wally Holbrook, a retired Lake County superintendent of schools, and Dr. Richard Smith, also a retired school superintendent.

President Sue Burton, Clerk Mary Silva, and members Joan Mingori and Patricia Bening-Hale were present for the special meeting. Member Bill Diener was absent.

Also in attendance was district Superintendent Donna Becnel, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

The board voted 4-0 to approve the contract, which is not to exceed $12,000.

Holbrook said he and Smith consult with school boards and administrators, especially in small rural districts, where they do leadership and board trainings.

They wanted to give the board an outline of what the process will look like along with a draft timeline. “We'd really like to hit the ground running on this,” Holbrook said.

Smith emphasized the need to have a positive hiring process to help get off on the right foot with the new superintendent.

“We believe that small school districts have special needs that are very difficult to meet,” Smith said.

This will be their first time leading a superintendent recruitment process. “And to be honest with you, that's why we're so excited about this,” said Holbrook.

The process to be used this time will closely resemble one the district has used previously, with one if its key aspects including two interview teams – one team consisting of the board and the second a community group of up to 17 members.

Smith and Holbrook recommended a structured interview process, with questions determined in advance and all of the candidates asked the same questions in order to be able to compare their answers.

“it takes a lot of guesswork out of the process,” Smith said.

Holbrook said the questions will be based on input from community members, the board and district certificated, classified and management staff. The board also will determine who is appointed to the community interview team.

The process timeline has them hosting the first meetings to gather input on desired superintendent attributes with classified and certificated staff on Thursday afternoon and meeting with management on Feb. 13.

The board will outline its superintendent attributes at a special meeting ahead of its regular board meeting on Feb. 20, with a special board meeting tentatively scheduled on Feb. 27 to develop its final attributes list.

Further meetings with certificated staff are planned on Feb. 20 and 21. Meetings with community group members haven’t yet been scheduled.

The superintendent’s position will be published in EdCal – a publication of the Association of California School Administrators – on March 4.

Applicants must fill out an online survey through TargetSuccess, an educational human development organization, by March 21, and that survey must be completed ahead of the application deadline at noon on March 22.

On March 30, the board will review the applicants and determine the candidates to be interviewed. The interviews will take place all day on April 6, with final interviews to take place the following day. The board can then schedule a site visit to the finalist’s school site on April 10, negotiate the contract through April 16, and have the contract document ready for board approval on April 17.

Holbrook went over how the interview day on April 6 will look, with the candidates being separately interviewed by both interview teams and the finalists being notified that night for a less-structured interview just by the board on April 7.

Regarding the TargetSuccess profile report to be completed by each of the candidates in an online survey, Holbrook explained that he helped develop the organization’s superintendent survey, so it is allowing him to use its survey for Konocti Unified at no charge.

“That provides you some more data. It's good, clear, measurable, informed data to make a decision,” he said, and will provide a detailed report on each candidate. He said they can also get the reports early and condense them, which is a new process.

He said it takes about a half hour to complete for each candidate, and then TargetSuccess generates a report and sends it to him.

Mingori asked if March 22 is too early for the application deadline.

Becnel said it has more to do with the length of advertising time. She explained that people seeking this type of job are looking in February and March. Traditionally, interviews are in April and contracts finalized in May.

The board finished the hour-and-a-half-long workshop by briefly going over the job announcement. Some of the key requirements will be a teaching credential, six references – three professional and three nonprofessional – and five years of teaching experience, desired.

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. – Caltrans announced this week that the California Transportation Commission has approved $54.8 million in transportation projects across the state, including funding for work needed to advance a bridge project in Lake County.

The commission allocated the funds for 46 projects throughout California including $31.1 million for fix-it-first projects funded by Senate Bill 1, or SB 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.

This funding will allow Caltrans to repair or replace 16 bridges, 168 lane miles and 150 drainage systems statewide.

In addition, 248 congestion reducing elements will be installed, including highway message signs, cameras and loop detectors to improve traffic flow.

“As a new year begins, we continue our commitment to improve California’s highways, providing drivers with a smoother ride,” said Caltrans Director Laurie Berman. “SB 1 is not only allowing us to fix our highways and local roads, but it is also reducing congestion, which allows residents and visitors to get where they need to go more safely and reliably.”

Area projects allocated SB 1 funds includes support costs for a bridge project on State Route 20 in Lake County.

This planned project will replace Bachelor Creek bridge near Upper Lake, approximately 3 miles west of the State Route 20/29 intersection.

The current multi-plate steel culvert bridge will be replaced with precast concrete box culverts. The project was allocated $14,000 in right-of-way support costs.

Also getting funding is a bridge project on State Route 96 and U.S. Highway 101 in Humboldt County which will revamp three bridges at the Willow Creek Bridge on Route 96, the Camp Creek Bridge on Route 96 in Orleans and the G Street Overcrossing along U.S. Highway 101 in Arcata. The project was allocated $171,000 in right-of-way support costs.

The Commission also allocated more than $13.7 million for 21 active transportation projects. Of these,13 received approximately $6.7 million in SB 1 funding to improve sidewalks and bicycle lanes, and provide safer routes to school for children who ride their bicycles or walk to school.

Since SB 1 was signed into law in April 2017, Caltrans has repaired or replaced 71 bridges, paved more than 1,300 lane miles, and increased visibility for drivers by adding highly reflective six-inch striping to more than 7,000 lane miles throughout California.

To date, Caltrans has completed 90 fix-it-first projects and begun work on nearly 400 additional projects.

You can find the complete list of State Highway Operations and Protection Program, or SHOPP, projects that were allocated funds at the January meeting at http://catc.ca.gov/meetings/2019/2019-01/Yellows/Revised_Complete_Book(697).pdf .

SHOPP is the state highway system’s "fix-it-first" program that funds safety improvements, emergency repairs, highway preservation and operational highway improvements. A significant portion of the funding for this program comes from SB 1.

SB 1 invests $5.4 billion per year to fix roads, freeways and bridges in communities across California and puts more dollars toward transit. These funds are split equally between state and local investments and will allow Caltrans to fix more than 17,000 lane miles of pavement, 500 bridges and 55,000 culverts by 2027.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors has directed county Community Development Department staff to begin contacting Valley fire area property owners whose temporary dwelling permits, offered under direction of the governor, have expired.

Community Development Director Michalyn DelValle and Chief Building Official Mary Jane Montana appeared before the board on Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.

DelValle said former Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order – issued at the start of October 2015, just days before the fire, which ravaged the south county, was fully contained – suspended all land use and zoning ordinances for a period of three years, allowing for temporary dwellings.

She said that executive order expired Oct. 1.

Community Development records show the department issued 152 Valley fire temporary dwelling permits, 19 of which are still being used, DelValle said.

DelValle said she and her staff wanted the board’s guidance on how to move forward now that the governor’s executive order has expired and the rules it suspended in the county’s zoning ordinance are back in effect.

“We wanted to find out if we need to notify these 19 temporary dwelling permit holders that their permits have expired,” she said.

Supervisor Moke Simon, whose district includes most of the fire area, said he attended the Anderson Springs Community Alliance meeting last month, “And it definitely is an issue that keeps coming up,” both in Anderson Springs and across the entire Valley fire footprint.

Simon asked if an inventory had been done of the 19 remaining dwellings to see if they are in the process of rebuilding, or in any process at all. “What we don’t need is long term, which I think we’re getting.”

If those property owners aren’t doing anything, Simon said the county needed to send them a letter and encourage them to move forward. He said he thought the county had potentially been going to go on a case-by-case basis to look at the different properties.

“Those 19 remaining have not started the building permit process,” Montana replied.

Supervisor Rob Brown, who formerly served on the board of Hammers for Hope, one of the organizations that received state grant funding to assist fire survivors with rebuilding, said some applicants for that program were waiting to be approved through that process and were waiting to apply to the county for permits.

Simon said it was a similar situation with Hope City, another organization assisting with the rebuild. “I do believe that we need to get notice out to them, we need to let them know that the three years is up, you need to be in process,” and that the county can then slowly work through each case. He said he was willing to help make contact with the individuals involved.

Montana said Community Development is proposing to send a letter to those 19 permit holders letting them know that their temporary permits have expired and that in order to comply with county regulations they need to submit a building permit so they can stay there while the new house is being constructed.

She said they also would remind the 19 that the county recently had reduced the minimum square footage – from 720 to 360 square feet – which will be less of a financial challenge to rebuild for some, and then give them a timeframe to comply. She proposed six months, or 180 days, to submit a building permit application.

Montana said that plan doesn’t include the people living on properties in RVs who never got the temporary dwelling permits in the first place. She said they will be handled separately, and notified that they don’t comply with county rules and that they need to take action.

“They need to be notified that that’s no longer an option for them until they submit their building permit,” she said.

Simon asked if she had a number for those unpermitted RVs. She didn’t, but offered an educated guess of between 20 and 25, based on what she’s seen in the field.

Brown said it would be worth cross-referencing the temporary permit holders with those who have applied to Hammers for Hope, Hope City and Habitat for Humanity, noting that there had been some challenges getting people qualified for the rebuilding assistance. He said it’s not happening that fast for them due to no fault of their own.

Board Chair Tina Scott asked Montana if staff could add language to that effect, and Montana said they could ask in the letter if they have applications in place and, if so, to let Community Development know.

Brown said that, overall, 19 isn’t a huge number, and only about 1 percent of the structures lost in the Valley fire. “I’m with moke, we can’t go on forever with it. But, I know that, people are doing the best they can in a lot of cases.”

Special Districts Administrator Jan Coppinger said she’s working on the new sewer system project in Anderson Springs. She has about 15 people in that area that she’s not sure will qualify for state assistance in upgrading their systems because she doesn’t know if they have gone through the permit process. She said she knows who is on the list for Hope City and the state because they’ve contacted her.

However, there are a few people living in situations that are not legal, some of them letting sewage spill on the ground. “I don’t want to legitimize that,” Coppinger said.

“We need to deal with that right away,” said Brown.

Coppinger said she has sent pictures and information to Environmental Health, but that the people say they have no place to go.

Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he approved of the idea of the letter and how to address the situation. He said people are proposing different types of dwellings, like conex boxes, or cargo containers. But he agreed that something needed to be done separately with those who weren’t permitted in the first place and are creating health hazards.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” and the letter is a great place to start, said Simon. He said he and Brown likely will be the first to get the phone calls, and they can work to find if the remaining 19 qualify for help and hopefully get them moved in the right direction. He said some people are just now getting building permits after three years, and others are still in the approval stages.

Brown suggested including contact information for Hammers for Hope and Hope City in the letter, since the property owners may not know that’s an option.

Simon also asked to see a draft of the letter before it goes out.

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. – On Wednesday morning, a Lake County Superior Court judge sentenced an Upper Lake man to prison for the June strangling death of his wife in a case that saw members of both sides of the couple’s family asking for leniency.

Judge J. David Markham sentenced 64-year-old William “Bill” Morton Henry, to six years in state prison for the killing of his wife, 51-year-old Cindi Henry, on June 11 in their Elliot Street home.

In December, Henry reached an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office in which he pleaded to manslaughter, as Lake County News has reported.

A probation report prepared for the case recommended the low term of three years in state prison, and that was the sentence family members had asked the court to hand down.

However, Judge Markham gave Henry the middle term of six years because he found the crime to have a high degree of cruelty.

Henry’s sentencing had stretched over several court appearances beginning late last month, with some of the delays due to attorneys being held up in other proceedings. That was the case on Jan. 28, when Sullivan was delayed on a matter out of county. That led to the sentencing being held over to Monday.

On Monday, the case was delayed initially because Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson was in another courtroom handling a preliminary hearing.

At that point, District Attorney Susan Krones – who had overseen the plea agreement before she took office, while she was still a senior deputy district attorney – told Markham she had familiarity with the case and could handle it in Abelson’s absence.

Markham said he had received and read the Jan. 16 probation report and, at that point, intended to follow the low-term recommendation. But before making a final decision, he took victim impact statements from members of the family.

The judge and other members of the court heard from the couple’s family members about the suffering that all of them had endured since Cindi Henry’s killing, as well as their love for both Bill and Cindi Henry. There also was a remarkable and almost unanimous offering of forgiveness and hope that Bill Henry wouldn’t be sent to prison for a long time.

Bill Henry did not look directly at any of his family members as they spoke, but sat quietly next to Sullivan at the defense table, wearing an orange and white jail jumpsuit and handcuffed with waist shackles.

“It’s still really difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that we’re here in this situation under these circumstances,” said Josh Henry, Bill Henry’s son. “My dad has always been the kind of guy people come to when they need help or a kind word.”

He said his father and stepmother’s home was a place of music and laughter, but a few months before the killing, he said a change occurred. While he never saw anything violent, he said Cindi Henry – who used to welcome him at the door – had begun to turn off the lights and not answer the door when people came by. At the same time, his father would seem confused and repeat stories over and over.

Josh Henry said he stopped going to visit them very often, even though he lived a few blocks away, which he said he’ll regret for the rest of his life. He said they were strong people and he didn’t think it could come to a point where they couldn’t handle things.

“There are a lot of horrible, evil people in this world. I know my dad's not one of them,” he said, adding that no good would be done by putting his father away for the rest of his life. Rather, he said, the family needed him home so they could heal.

Kellie Henry, Josh Henry’s wife, wept as she explained having to discuss the situation with her children and watching her husband cope and take on more family responsibilities. “I want to ask this court not to take away any more time from my family.”

She added, “We have all lost so much already.”

Jaemi Nunn, an advocate in the Lake County District Attorney’s Office Victim-Witness Division, then came forward to read three victim impact statements – from Cindi Henry’s mother Margaret Foutch, her brother Mark Foutch, and her oldest daughter, Annie Peters, all of them asking for leniency for Bill Henry while also acknowledging their love for Cindi Henry.

Margaret Foutch said she couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law, and Peters said Henry had always been a caring and supportive father figure. “He has always been a good man in the lives of my sister and I,” she wrote, adding, “I still support and have much admiration for Bill himself.”

Mark Foutch said he watched the couple live in harmony and peace for 14 years, and said they were his second parents, with Bill Henry helping him turn his life around. However, he said alcohol took over and changed their lives.

He added that Bill Henry will forever be tormented by the killing, and his sister’s death has caused turmoil in both the Henry and Foutch families, which have been intertwined for more than 100 years.

Whitney Peters, another daughter of Cindi Henry, wept as she read her own statement. She called Bill Henry her dad, and started off by saying how much she loved him and that what he did was an accident.

She said she would always love and miss her mother. “She was my best friend.” However, she said she had forgiven her father for what he had done.

“I want him to know when he comes home we will all be waiting,” Peters said, asking for the least punishment possible. She said her mother is in a better place, “with no more pain and anger,” and Peters alleged that her biological father’s abuse of her mother left her in a condition in which nothing could have helped her.

Another private statement from Suzanne Henry was submitted to the judge for consideration but was not read aloud in court. He read it and marked it as Exhibit A.

Krones said that while BIll Henry had no prior record, she argued for a higher prison term, noting the cruelty of the killing.

“He could have left the house, he could have done a lot of things, but instead he stayed in the house and when it got to the point to where it became a very heated argument he could have left at that time, but he didn’t,” Krones said.

Krones didn’t consider an argument between a husband and wife an unusual circumstance in great provocation, adding there was no evidence that Cindi Henry attacked Bill Henry physically, but that she berated him.

She said strangulation takes several minutes and the Bill Henry could have stopped and asked himself what he was doing. Krones also noted that he did not give the Probation Department a statement for its sentencing recommendation report.

Abelson, who arrived in court while the victim impact statements were being read, joined Krones to offer information about the aggravating factors. As she and Krones were discussing the violence of Cindi Henry’s death, two women from the three rows of family members abruptly got up and left the courtroom, weeping.

Henry’s attorney, Andrea Sullivan, asked the court to take into consideration what Cindi Henry’s own children and family suggested about a sentence with the least time possible.

She said last year’s preliminary hearing in the case had addressed the issues the prosecution had raised, and she went on to explain that the killing occurred after Cindi Henry became intoxicated and angry, and began to berate her husband, calling him horrible names and criticizing him for his sexual performance.

He told investigators that the argument went on longer than usual so Bill Henry went to bed. His wife followed him into the room and continued to berate him and scream at him, and based on the evidence, Sullivan said he snapped.

Sullivan said that the strangulation could be considered accidental, and stated that Bill Henry had no prior domestic violence incident lodged against him.

She said he also took immediate responsibility for killing his wife. While he left the area for a few days, he left a note and has maintained good relations with both families.

“He is very, very remorseful,” and his not giving a statement to the Probation Department shouldn’t be held against him because it is very raw for him, too, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the statement submitted to the court by Suzanne Henry should not be considered and is inflammatory, and if any of the allegations it contained were true – which were not outlined in court but which Sullivan said later included a claim that Bill Henry has a temper – that she should have contacted law enforcement. As such, Sullivan asked the court to disregard it.

“I'm going to take all the statements seriously,” Markham replied.

Krones argued that Suzanne Henry’s statement should be considered just like the others, and she said that an argument between a husband and wife didn’t rise to the level of great provocation. She said that Bill Henry could have taken responsibility sooner and called law enforcement immediately, not disappear for a few days.

Markham found Bill Henry’s lack of a prior record a mitigating circumstance, but didn’t find his wife’s berating of him to be another factor of mitigation. “Like Ms. Krones stated, those are only words.”

At that point, it was the end of the day and Markham said he wanted to hold the matter over until Wednesday morning to further consider the case.

On Wednesday morning, the sentencing went forward as planned, with Markham giving the six-year term rather than three years because he considered Cindi Henry’s killing more vicious than other manslaughter cases, while at the same time taking Bill Henry’s lack of criminal history into consideration.

Sullivan said Henry will get a significant amount of custody credits that are expected to reduce his time in state prison.

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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Dennis Fordham. Courtesy photo.

In second marriages, how a person provides for his or her surviving spouse (or registered domestic partner) and/or surviving minor children often involves balancing their concern for the needs and expectations of their second family with their concern for the needs and expectations of any children from a prior relationship.

Unfortunately, the children from any prior marriage may be more concerned about their inheritances than they are about the welfare of their step-parent and/or their half-siblings.

Conflict may arise over the distribution of the estate, particularly as regards the sale of, and the distribution of the proceeds from, the deceased spouse’s residence, which the surviving spouse and minor children may still need to live-in.

The decedent’s residence is often the most valuable asset. Additional pressure can come from the decedent’s creditors.

Determining what protections the decedent’s surviving spouse and minor children involves answering numerous questions.

Was the decedent prior to death already required by family court order(s) to provide for his or her dependents by writing a will, establishing a trust or maintaining life insurance for their benefit?

Is the decedent’s estate subject to a probate? Does the decedent’s will or trust include protections for the family?

What assets go to the surviving spouse as surviving joint tenant? Do the decedent’s individual bank accounts, life insurance, annuities, and retirement plans go to the surviving spouse as designated death beneficiary?

In a probate, the California Probate Code provides Family Protections for the decedent’s surviving spouse and minor children against claims by the decedent’s creditors and heirs or beneficiaries under his will.

The Probate Code’s Family Protections apply only to the decedent’s probate estate; they do not apply to any non probate assets, such as, trust assets, joint tenancy assets, and financial assets designating surviving death beneficiaries.

A spouse’s own family protections rights can be modified or waived in a pre or post marital agreement and terminate upon legal separation, dissolution of marriage and upon remarriage. The rights of minor children end when they become adults.

The decedent’s surviving spouse and minor children are entitled to immediate, albeit temporary, possession of the family dwelling and the decedent’s clothing, appliances, household furniture, tools and vehicles.

Temporary possession ends 60 days after an inventory and appraisal of the decedent’s estate is filed in the probate proceedings, but can be extended by court order.

After filing the Inventory, the probate court may, at its discretion, then set-aside certain estate property for continued use by the surviving spouse and minors during the probate. The probate court may also grant a family allowance to be paid from the probate estate.

Most importantly, the court may set-aside a suitable dwelling for the surviving spouse and/or minor children by creating a “probate homestead.”

In selecting a suitable dwelling and establishing the duration for the Probate Homestead, the Court balances various competing interests of the surviving spouse, the minor children, the decedent’s creditors, and the decedent’s heirs or beneficiaries under the decedent’s will.

A surviving spouse and minor children are not required to be in the decedent’s will to receive a probate homestead.

With assets held in a trust, the trust provisions, and not the foregoing probate code family protections, apply. Any desired family protections must be contained in the trust.

The trust may provide outright gifts, gifts to be held in further trust, and/or with temporary rights, like the right to remain in the decedent’s residence rent free for a certain period (e.g. while it is listed for sale) to the beneficiaries.

While a probate homestead can sometimes be more advantageous to the surviving family, well drafted family protections inside a trust are usually more desirable: Neither a court petition nor the court’s discretion in selecting the property and dwelling to be set-aside are involved.

The family protections to be provided are defined and approved prior to the decedent’s death and are more immediately available upon the decedent’s death, and may last longer.

The foregoing discussion is not legal advice. To protect your surviving dependents consult a licensed estate planning attorney for assistance.

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. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com.
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LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lucerne Area Town Hall is planning a special Saturday meeting in order to discuss possible action in response to a proposed 16-percent rate increase by California Water Service Co., which will be topic of a Monday hearing.

The town hall will meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at the First Lutheran Church of Lucerne, 3863 County Club Drive.

Members will hear a presentation about Cal Water’s general rate case that is currently before the California Public Utilities Commission.

The town hall also will consider possibly taking action in response to Lucerne’s water rates.

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a public forum on Cal Water’s rate increase request from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.

Cal Water’s rate case is seeking a total 16.4-percent increase over three years, totaling approximately $115,136,100, across all of its systems statewide.

The rate increase breaks down as follows:

– $50,673,500 (or 7.6 percent) in 2020;
– $31,461,900 (or 4.4 percent) beginning on Jan. 1, 2021; and
– $33,000,700 (or 4.4 percent) beginning on Jan. 1, 2022.

Community members are welcome to come and give input at the Feb. 11 public participation hearing.

The CPUC reported that public comments will help it reach an informed decision in Cal Water’s rate case.

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. – Lakeport Police’s chief on Tuesday gave the Lakeport City Council his annual update on response times and the call volume for the past year.

Chief Brad Rasmussen said he was very pleased with the response times for calendar year 2018, which are better than 2017.

His report begins in the video above at the 4:56 mark.

Rasmussen broke down calls into different priority levels, and also outlined the types of crimes his officers investigated in 2018.

Regarding response times, he said priority one calls – which are emergencies – had an average of three minutes, while priority two, nonemergencies that need to be deal with as soon as possible, are 11 minutes, and priority three, which are cold calls to be handled when available, average 18 minutes.

Overall, Rasmussen said Lakeport Police officers responded to 9,971 incidents in 2018. Of those, 4,968 were community-generated calls for service, the other half were officer-initiated activity in which officers saw something, responded or assisted.

The incidents that were initiated by officers included 2,689 traffic stops and the remaining 2,314 included pedestrian contacts, helping community members or responding to suspicious activity, he said.

Regarding part one crimes, which the agency has to report to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Justice, Rasmussen offered the following statistics: homicide, 0; rape, 1; robberies, five; assaults, 62, of which 21 were aggravated; burglaries, 48; larcenies, 114; stolen vehicles, 13; arsons, 0; domestic violence cases, 34.

He said they made 91 felony arrests and 482 arrests on misdemeanor warrants.

Rasmussen said they investigated 147 crimes relating to driving under the influence and made 95 arrests. Almost half of those arrests were made by one officer, Casey DeBolt, who Rasmussen said is very skilled at dealing with DUI and for most of the year was working on the weekend night shift, which lends itself to more DUI arrests.

Debolt is going to be submitted for consideration for a law enforcement award from the California Mothers Against Drunk Drivers this spring, Rasmussen said.

Lakeport Police officers’ other traffic-related work included responding to 50 collisions, of which 35 required investigations and another 15 resulted in property damage only with no investigations. Rasmussen said there also were 289 moving citations, 50 other infractions and 123 parking cites.

He said their detective, Dale Stoebe, was referred 72 serious criminal investigations, “which most of the time are serious felony crimes, serious assaults, burglaries, sex offenses, things of that nature.”

In the course of investigating those 72 cases, Rasmussen said Stoebe wrote 20 affidavits for search warrants to seize evidence.

Councilman Kenny Parlet asked how many of the misdemeanors would formerly have been felonies but have been reduced due to proposition 47 and 57.

Rasmussen acknowledged that some would have been felonies, but he said he didn't have a breakdown.

“Great work,” Mayor Tim Barnes told Rasmussen.

Parlet also lauded Rasmussen’s agency for “great response times.”

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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Remember the old adage: Big things come in small packages?

NASA has updated it – in the form of CubeSats.

Imagine a real, working satellite that’s so small you can hold it in your hands: Just 4 inches (10 cm) across, these cubes can be expanded incrementally depending on their specific mission objectives.

The technology packed into these tiny denizens of space is impressive. Originally developed in 1999 by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Stanford University for educational purposes, NASA has since used them for new science missions and to test new electronics, sensors and software that might be included on larger missions.

“The ability to test new technology at a fraction of the cost of a larger satellite makes them invaluable. It really opens your eyes to many possibilities,” said NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Chief Technologist Mike Seablom.

Just as eye opening is the way CubeSats are quickly unlocking new scientific data.

For example, while conventional satellites have long observed clouds and have provided estimates of the liquid precipitation they hold, they have never observed the smaller ice particles that create enormous rain clouds.

The CubeSat known as IceCube contained a new submillimeter wavelength radiometer that could make a space-based measurement of the small, frozen crystals that make up ice clouds.

After being deployed from the International Space Station in May 2017, IceCube created a global map of ice clouds around the planet. Someday, this technique may help improve long range weather models and forecasts.

A long way from Earth, MarCO A and B traveled to Mars and are the only CubeSats so far to leave Earth’s orbit.

When the InSight mission was launched in May of 2018, the MarCO-A and MarCO-B CubeSats also began their 7 month journey to Mars. Now InSight has successfully landed on the red planet.

One of MarCO’s roles was to help relay communications during InSight’s landing process. Landing data was transmitted to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter where its radio stored and forwarded results to Earth after a delay.

MarCO A and B acted as a “bent pipe” signal relay during this critical stage of the mission to allow communication from Mars to Earth to happen in almost real time!

According to Charles Norton, special advisor for small spacecraft missions in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, another advantage of these compact cubes is they allow for very focused scientific inquiries to take place.

The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer CubeSat, or MinXSS, for example, is a student project using a commercial, laboratory detector in space.

MinXSS measures the soft X-ray solar spectrum in the gap of energy coverage between two other missions, RHESSI and IRIS.

This “gap region” in the solar spectrum is important in the excitation of the Earth’s ionosphere and of particular interest for observations of solar flares and active regions.

Or consider a discovery as monumental as the origin of the universe itself. One longstanding mystery for astrophysicists is where one third of the Baryonic or ordinary matter that existed during the early formation of the universe might be found today.

Scientists suspect it lies in the very hot halos of gas that surround galaxies. HaloSat is a CubeSat that will examine X-rays from oxygen atoms surrounding our Milky Way to determine how much missing matter may lie in the halo of our galaxy.

While small in size, CubeSats have potential to make big scientific and technological impacts on Earth, in our solar system, and deep into the universe.

For more about other science missions, both big and small, visit http://science.nasa.gov.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Congressman Mike Thompson will host a fire resiliency summit in Lakeport on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

The summit will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St.

Panelists will discuss fire response and resiliency and answer audience questions.

All constituents of California’s Fifth Congressional District are invited to attend.

Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Flu activity in Lake County is expected to increase in coming weeks, according to Lake County interim Public Health Officer, Dr. Erin Gustafson.

“Flu is circulating at elevated levels throughout California, and it’s not too late to get a flu shot,” Dr. Gustafson said.

The California Department of Public Health recently announced that influenza activity is widespread and increasing throughout California.

Influenza has already claimed the lives of two children so far this season in Stanislaus and Riverside counties.

These tragedies serve as a reminder that influenza can be deadly. Last year, eight in 10 children who died from flu complications were unvaccinated, public health officials reported.

To limit illnesses and deaths attributed to influenza, CDPH recommends that everyone six months of age and older, including pregnant women, receive influenza vaccine every year.

Children 6 months through 8 years of age who have received fewer than two doses of influenza vaccine will typically need two doses this season spaced at least 4 weeks apart.

Influenza activity usually peaks in January and February but continues to spread through the spring. With most of the flu season still to come, it’s not too late to get vaccinated, officials said.

Since Sept. 30, 2018, there have been 151 deaths and 28 outbreaks statewide, according to the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Weekly Report from the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Weekly Report California Influenza Surveillance Program, for the week of Jan. 20 to 26.

Flu activity remains elevated in California, based on laboratory surveillance indicators.

Symptoms of the flu can include a fever, headache, fatigue, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat and body aches. Flu activity usually peaks between December and February each year, but can last until May.

This year’s flu shot is expected to be about 20 percent effective, according to tests by Rice University bioengineer Dr. Michael Deem. That means that among those who are vaccinated, 20 percent fewer will get the flu compared to those who are not vaccinated.

While 20 percent might not sound like much, that’s still enough to prevent 5.3 million infections and 85,000 flu-related hospitalizations nationwide, according to CDC estimates.

Doctors’ offices, pharmacies, Lake County’s local health departments and even many grocery stores all offer flu shots. The vaccine is recommended for everyone over the age of six months. Those at the highest risk of getting the flu – and of having complications if they do get it – are young children, pregnant women, people over the age of 65, and those with chronic health conditions.

Though most people recover from the flu in one to two weeks, it can lead to further complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinus and ear infections.

Please see the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Weekly Report here.

Lake County Public Health is offering seasonal flu vaccines for $2 while supplies last.

For the month of February Public Health will be offering flu vaccines on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Public Health Division, 922 Bevins Court in Lakeport.

Appointments are required for Tuesdays, walk-ins are accepted on Thursdays.

Please call 707-263-1090 or 800-794-9291 to schedule.

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