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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The town of Upper Lake was awarded the Lake County Children’s Council’s inaugural Pinwheel Challenge trophy, honoring the community’s display of pinwheels to raise awareness of child abuse prevention, during the National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.

The students of the Kelseyville High School ag mechanics class created the bronze pinwheel trophy under the direction of Michael Zeni.

The pinwheel is a national symbol for child abuse prevention because it serves as a reminder of the great childhoods we want for all children.

The Lake County Office of Education’s Ana Santana, director of the Lake County Children’s Council and Healthy Start Youth & Family Services, said, “It was exciting to see so many great displays of pinwheels in Lake County this year. Upper Lake was awarded this trophy because of the sheer heart the entire community put into this project.”

There were many Lake County participants in this year’s Pinwheel Garden Challenge including individuals, communities, agencies, schools and more. Lake County Probation, Lake Family Resource Center, Tule House, Supervisor Tina Scott and family, and Middletown Unified School District were just a few of the wonderful displays of pinwheels.

Santana added, “What was wonderful about Upper Lake’s display is that the pinwheels were handmade and hand colored by the children of Upper Lake, the population that we are working so hard to safeguard.”

“This was a collaborative effort. Paper pinwheel decorations were courteous of youth who attend Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Education Center, the kindergarten classes of Mrs. Wurm and Ms. Glenn at Upper Lake Elementary School, and Upper Lake Head Start Half Day Site,” said Joy Marcks, education director for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake.

Many Upper Lake businesses displayed the pinwheels including the Upper Lake Post Office, Highlights by Amanda, Upper Lake Water District, Country Carpets, Mi Chelas Mexican Restaurant, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribal Office, Double Dee’s Coffee Shop and the Gingerbread Barn.

April has been established as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and communities across the nation participate to raise awareness about abuse prevention.

Child abuse is expensive. The cumulative financial impact to the Lake County community for the 136 verified child victims last year is $29.3 million.

Though these costs are accrued over the course of the victim's life, Lake County will continue to incur the same cost each year until we are able to reduce and ultimately end child abuse.

The Lake County Children’s Council is administered through the Lake County Office of Education, and is a consortium of several local agencies who work towards child abuse prevention in Lake County. It is funded through the California Department of Social Services and other grants.

The goal statement is, “Child abuse prevention through the transformation of Lake County into a trauma informed, resilience focused community.”

For more information please visit www.lakecoe.org/Childrens_Council .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs waiting for new homes this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of beagle, border collie, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, hound, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, poodle, shepherd, terrier and treeing walker coonhound.

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”).

‘Blaze’

“Blaze” is a male Labrador Retriever with a short black coat and white markings.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 2, ID No. 12304.

‘Buddy’

“Buddy” is a male beagle with a short brown and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 11906.

‘Scooby’

“Scooby” is a male poodle mix with a medium-length white and tan coat.

Shelter staff said he previously was an outside-only dog in a family with 5- and 12-year-old children. His owner described him as very friendly and smart.

He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 12312.

‘Scubi’

“Scubi” is a male pit bull with a short tan and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 12, ID No. 12290.

‘Luke’

“Luke” is a male treeing walker coonhound with a short tricolor coat.

Shelter staff said he is dominant with other dogs and would prefer not to play but just soak up human affection. He can live with others but prefers to not have them in his space. Luke is good with children ages 6 and above.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 11771.

Male German Shepherd

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

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 20, ID No. 12272.

Female German Shepherd

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

She is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 12273.

Pit bull-border collie mix

This female pit bull-border collie mix has a short tricolor coat.

She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 12274.

‘Charlie’

“Charlie” is a male Labrador Retriever with a black coat and white markings.

He’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 12262.

Chihuahua-terrier mix

This male Chihuahua-terrier mix has a short black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 29a, ID No. 12112.

‘Duke’

“Duke” is a male Labrador Retriever with a short black coat with white markings.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 34, ID No. 11022.

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.

A NASA rocket mission to study disturbances in the upper atmosphere, which interfere with communication and technology systems, will form night-time white artificial clouds visible by residents of the Republic of the Marshall Islands during two rocket flights to occur between June 9 and 21.

This the second flight of the Waves and Instabilities from a Neutral Dynamo, or WINDY, mission. The mission this time is referred to as Too-WINDY -- it’s catchier than WINDY 2.

Too-WINDY will study a phenomenon that occurs in the ionosphere – a layer of charged particles in the upper atmosphere. Known as equatorial spread F, or ESF, these disturbances occur after sunset at latitudes near the equator in part of the ionosphere known as the F region. The disturbances can interfere with radio communication, navigation and imaging systems and pose a hazard to technology and society that depends on it.

The Too-WINDY mission consists of two NASA suborbital sounding rockets that will be launched five minutes apart in a window between 8 p.m. and 3.a.m. local time (4 a.m. and 1 p.m. EDT) June 9 to 21 from Roi-Namur. The Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is near the magnetic equator, where post-sunset ionosphere storms are more intense, making the site an ideal location for these studies.

The first rocket launched, a two-stage 47-foot long Black Brant IX rocket, will carry and release both tri-methyl aluminum (TMA) and lithium. The release of the lithium vapors is not visible to the naked-eye but can be viewed with the special cameras.

The TMA will form white artificial clouds that glow in the night sky. Scientists on the ground and from a NASA Langley Research Center aircraft will photograph the movement of these clouds to measure the winds and energetic particles that are in motion in the upper atmosphere. The clouds are expected to be visible for about 30 minutes.

The TMA is deployed between 50 and 112 miles altitude, while the lithium is deployed between 155 and 210 miles altitude. Both substances, which are harmless after release from the experiment, move with the atmospheric winds and can therefore be used to determine the wind speeds and direction over the area where these ionosphere storms are occurring.

TMA reacts spontaneously on contact with oxygen to produce a pale white glow visible from the ground. For the Too-WINDY mission, sunlight reflected by the Moon, will illuminate lithium producing an emission that can be detected with cameras equipped with narrow-band filters. Using moonlight allows the launches to occur later in the evening when the critical ESF conditions occur.

The second rocket, also a Black Brant IX, will be launched five minutes after the first rocket. The second rocket carries instruments to measure ionosphere densities and electric and magnetic fields present in these storms.

During WINDY, launched in September 2017, the second rocket payload did not obtain useful data. Improvements have been made to the payload’s instruments to correct for the anomaly during the WINDY mission.

The ionosphere is defined as the layer of Earth’s atmosphere that is ionized by solar and cosmic radiation. Ionization occurs when incoming energetic radiation strips electrons from atoms and molecules, creating temporarily charged particles.

The nighttime ionosphere has two layers E and F. Disturbances in the F layer, the layer studied by Too-WINDY, degrade radio and radar signals at magnetic latitudes. Predicting these disturbances ahead of time, could help improve the reliability of space-borne and ground-based communication systems.

Too-WINDY attempts to answer questions about the origin of ESF by measuring how horizontal thermosphere winds influence the formation of ESF, as well as taking direct measurements of ionosphere densities and electric and magnetic fields inside these storms.

Data from the ARPA Long-Range Tracking and Instrumentation Radar, or ALTAIR, located on Kwajalein Atoll will play a key a role in the mission. ALTAIR is used to monitor the state of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere in order to determine when the large-scale disruptions occur and will tell the scientists when to launch the rockets. ALTAIR also will be used to monitor the evolution of the ESF after the rockets launch.

Too-WINDY is supported by researchers from Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York; Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina; and Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

More information on NASA sounding rocket missions and the use of artificial clouds and vapor tracers in science research is available at www.nasa.gov/soundingrockets .

NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Wallops is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.

Keith Koehler works for NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Fire Protection District got good news on Friday – final confirmation that its Measure M fire tax has passed.

The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office on Friday reported to district officials that the special May 7 all-mail election has been certified and finalized, with the measure passing. The agency had 30 days to complete the official canvass.

“I know the district is very pleased and humbled to see the overwhelming support of the Lakeport area community in passing Measure M,” said Lakeport Fire Board member Alan Flora, one of the newer board members who also is city manager for Clearlake.

Measure M needed a supermajority of 66.7 percent to pass.

The final vote count showed that the measure received 1,700 yes votes, or 74.27 percent, versus 589 no votes, or 25.73 percent.

Counted ballots cast totaled 2,289, with another four reported as “undervotes,” or ballots not counted due to unclear markings, based on the official canvass documents.

The Registrar of Voters Office said 5,983 ballots had been mailed to registered voters in the fire protection district’s boundaries. The turnout rate was 38.33 percent.

Lakeport Fire put the measure before voters in order to bring in much-needed revenue to the district, which last year laid off three full-time firefighters.

Measure M is forecast to bring in $1,206,000 in its first year, rising to more than $1.3 million by the fifth year thanks to annual consumer price index adjustments not to exceed 3 percent.

The first payments on the measure won’t start coming in until the December property tax bills.

“Now the real work begins in bringing the district back up to the state of readiness the citizens expect and deserve. It is my pledge to advocate for responsible spending of district revenues in a way that ensures sustainable service into the future,” Flora said.

The Lakeport Fire Protection District Governing Board will hold its next meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at Station 50, 445 N. Main St.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A week after the Lake County Planning Commission voted to deny a cell tower project in downtown Middletown, Verizon Wireless has filed to appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors.

The commission voted on May 23 to deny a minor use permit, variance and categorical exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act that Verizon is seeking to place nine 4G antennas on a 60-foot-tall lattice tower owned by Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. and located at 21347 Highway 175.

One of the key points of contention has been the very small setback – 43 inches, when the zoning ordinance requires a 100-foot setback from residences – from the closest neighboring property, owned by Rosemary Cordova.

The commission sided with residents’ concerns and voted down the project.

However, on Friday, the Lake County Community Development Department reported that Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, appealed the decision.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors included in the appeal documents, Paul Albritton, Verizon’s attorney, alleged that the planning commission erred in its decision and abused its discretion, “and that the decision is in direct violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.”

Albritton argued that the commission’s error and abuse of discretion came in declaring that the proposed wireless communications facility didn’t satisfy the findings for the minor use permit, variance and CEQA exemption.

He also said the commission’s denial violated the Telecommunications Act because it was not supported by “substantial evidence.”

In this case, Albritton wrote that there is “substantial evidence to demonstrate that the Proposed Facility satisfies all required findings for approval and meets all applicable County standards or qualifies for a variance.”

He also stated that “as there is a significant gap in Verizon Wireless service, and there is no less intrusive alternative to address the gap,” denying the project application constitutes a prohibition of service in violation of federal law.

It’s not yet been determined when the appeal may make it to the Board of Supervisors, with planning staff on Friday offering a rough estimate of at least a month.

Senior Planner Mark Roberts did not immediately respond to a request from Lake County News for a more specific time frame for the appeal to be heard by the board.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Yuba Community College District Chancellor Dr. Douglas B. Houston will recommend Dr. Artemio “Art” Pimentel as the new Woodland Community College President at the June 13 regular board of trustees meeting.

Pending approval by the governing board, Dr. Pimentel will assume office on July 1.

He is the third president of Woodland Community College in its 11-year history as an accredited California Community College.

“The Yuba Community College District conducted a state wide search to find the perfect administrator to serve as the next President of Woodland Community College. The college and community are ever changing and strong bold leadership will lead us to new heights,” said President Richard Teagarden, “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Pimentel as the newly selected President and a member of the Yuba Community College District leadership team.”

Born in the city of Woodland, Dr. Pimentel is a proud product of the Woodland Joint Unified School District, graduating from Woodland High School in 1997.

Dr. Pimentel served in 2006 as the public information officer at Woodland Community College, as the director of TRiO Programs in 2009 and was appointed as the executive dean for the Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College in 2012.

In July 2014, Dr. Pimentel accepted the position of campus dean for the West Sacramento Center for Sacramento City College in the Los Rios Community College District and was appointed as the district director of educational services and student success.

In addition to his career in higher education, Dr. Pimentel was elected to the Woodland City Council in 2004, serving as Mayor of Woodland in 2008. Additionally, Dr. Pimentel served on the Woodland Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees in 2014, as the Chairman for the Yolo County Transportation District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality District, and the Cleaner Air Partnership of Sacramento.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in social sciences from California State University, Sacramento, a Master of Arts in educational leadership from California State University, Sacramento and a Doctorate in Education from the University of California, Davis.

“A community college should be the center of a community, an institution that supports lifelong learning, civic engagement and a place where students can grow and thrive,” said Dr. Pimentel. “I look forward to working with the college campus and community to build upon the energy and commitment to continue this vision.”

Yuba Community College District Chancellor Dr. Douglas B. Houston attributes the leadership and involvement of Woodland Community College’s faculty, staff, students, and community members and leaders of the city of Woodland in assisting with attracting and selecting such a highly-qualified campus leader.

"I am very proud that after a very competitive search process, that attracted numerous highly qualified applicants, to be nominating Woodland's own Dr. Art Pimentel to serve as the next WCC President,” said Houston. “Dr. Pimentel has been highly successful in all that he has done for this region and is passionately dedicated to Woodland and the communities served by the college."