MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall is set to hear the latest on several area projects, discuss a local park and emergency preparedness.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at the Middletown Community Center, 21256 Washington St.
Meetings are open to the community, and offer the opportunity for additional public input on items not included on the agenda.
On the agenda is correspondence regarding a Verizon cell tower at 21347 Highway 175, the Crazy Creek Golf Course and Gliderport and the Westside Brownfields Assessment Project, along with an update from the bylaws committee.
Items for discussion will include emergency preparedness with Kirk Cloyd, general manager of the Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District and Liz Black of the South Lake Fire Safe Council, and Middletown Trailside Park with Lake County Public Services Director Lars Ewing.
Trailside Park also will be discussed under area development and projects.
The MATH Board includes Chair Sally Peterson, Vice Chair Claude Brown, Secretary Paul Baker, and at-large members Tom Darms and Marlene Elder.
MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
Meetings are subject to videotaping.
For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has a growing group of dogs available to new homes.
The following dogs are ready for adoption.
“Cadbury.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Cadbury’
“Cadbury” is a female Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix with a smooth medium-length beige coat.
She is No. 1215.
“Jett.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Jett’
“Jett” is a female American Staffordshire Terrier mix who has been spayed.
She has a short gray and white coat.
She is No. 697.
“Macy.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Macy’
“Macy” is a female Labrador Retriever mix with a smooth short black coat.
She already has been spayed.
She is No. 11.
“Neve.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Neve’
“Neve” is a female terrier puppy with a smooth medium-length white coat.
She is No. 1216.
“Sammy.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Sammy’
Sammy is an American Pit Bull Terrier mix puppy with a short brown and white coat.
He is No. 1890.
“Snowflake.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Snowflake’
“Snowflake” is a male Chihuahua with a white coat.
He is No. 1864.
“Wynn.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Wynn’
“Wynn” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier with a short brindle coat.
Shelter staff said he loves affection and is available for adoption or through the foster to adopt program.
He’s believed to be about 6 to 7 years old.
He is No. 969.
Clearlake Animal Control’s shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53, off Airport Road.
Hours of operation area noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The shelter is closed Sundays, Mondays and major holidays.
Call Clearlake Animal Control at 707-994-8251, Extension 1, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or at the city’s Web site.
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. – Based on preliminary results, Measure M, the fire parcel tax the Lakeport Fire Protection District put before voters in a special election, appears to be headed for victory.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office’s preliminary tally, issued on Tuesday night, showed Measure M receiving 1,415 yes votes, or 74.83 percent in favor, versus 476 no votes, accounting for 25.17 percent of the vote.
Those numbers indicate Measure M is on track to pass, as it must receive a supermajority of 66.7 percent.
Interim Deputy Registrar of Voters Marcy Harrison said the 1,891 ballots counted so far were what the elections office had received as of 5 p.m. Monday.
Harrison said about 100 more ballots came in on Tuesday, the final day of the special mail-in election. Those ballots were not included in the unofficial count.
Mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday will continue to be received until Friday, Harrison said.
In addition, retired Registrar Diane Fridley, who was on hand to observe the process, said anyone who failed to sign their mail-in ballot has eight days from the ballot deadline to get it reconciled and have it counted.
The ballots for the mail-in election went out at the start of April. In all, Harrison said 5,982 ballots were mailed to registered voters in the fire protection district’s boundaries.
The fire district board decided last fall to put the measure before voters following its approval of a worst case scenario budget that laid off three full-time firefighters, as Lake County News has reported.
“This is a very positive move for us,” Lakeport Fire Protection District Board Chair John Whitehead said on Tuesday, after viewing the preliminary results.
Whitehead was at the elections office on Tuesday evening to get the early vote count. He was joined by fellow longtime Board member Don Davidson; Alan Flora, one of the two new fire district board members and the city manager for Clearlake; and interim Chief Rick Bergem.
The last time the district had new revenue coming in through a parcel tax was in 1997, Whitehead said. Measure M will supersede that previous tax.
Whitehead said the funds won’t begin to come in until December, when the first installment of the 2019-20 property tax payments come due.
Measure M is forecast to bring in $1,206,000 in its first year. It allows for a consumer price index adjustment not to exceed 3 percent annually, so that by year five it is estimated to bring in revenue totaling more than $1.3 million.
In the meantime, the district is continuing to face budget challenges and has submitted a grant to the Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking funds to rehire the firefighters it laid off.
First run for new voting equipment
The Measure M special election presented the first opportunity for the county to use its new voting software and equipment, purchased in March from Hart InterCivic.
Hart InterCivic staff were on site to assist the county elections office with the vote count.
Harrison said the new equipment is “pretty simple” and user friendly.
Among the ballot count’s observers on Tuesday evening was former Deputy Registrar Maria Valadez, who worked with Fridley for more than two decades, served briefly as interim registrar after Fridley’s December retirement and then left the county of Lake in February to accept a job as assistant county clerk-recorder-registrar of voters for Mendocino County.
Mendocino is now looking at purchasing new elections equipment, a situation common across California after Secretary of State Alex Padilla decertified legacy voting systems in February, setting an August deadline to put new systems in place.
Also present Tuesday night was County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, who the Board of Supervisors appointed interim registrar in February in the wake of Valadez’s departure.
The official canvass is 30 days long and begins on Thursday, Harrison said. By the end of the official canvass, the election results will be certified and become final.
As part of certifying the election results, the Registrar of Voters Office will conduct a public manual tally of a minimum of 1 percent of randomly selected precincts for the election beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 16. The public is welcome to observe.
Correction: The article has been corrected to show that the official canvass starts Thursday, not Friday.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will continue a public hearing on proposed changes to city rules regarding commercial cannabis operations.
The council will meet in closed session at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 9, for employee negotiations before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
On the agenda is a continued public hearing on proposed changes to the Clearlake Municipal Code concerning commercial cannabis, which began on April 25.
The changes proposed to the council – involving provisions for microbusinesses, processing of cannabis and commercial cannabis manufacturing, along with some clarifications – had been discussed and recommended by the Clearlake Planning Commission and Cannabis AdHoc Committee, according to the report from City Manager Alan Flora.
Flora said the council’s direction from the April 25 meeting included a provision that microbusiness cultivation shall be limited to nursery-only cultivation, with nurseries being defined by state regulations for a Type 4 Nursery license.
He said the council also continued the public hearing and held it open to May 9.
In other business, the council will consider a lease with Dell Financial Services for computer workstations for the Clearlake Police Department and discuss replacement and/or purchase of new Public Works equipment.
On Thursday, the council also will host the swearing-in of new police dispatcher Kristiana Outen and Police Officer Melinda Wymer, and offer proclamations declaring the following: Police Week, May 12 to 18; May as Military Appreciation Month; Safe Boating Week, May 18 to 24; Public Service Appreciation Week, May 5 to 11; and May 4, Firefighter Appreciation Day.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; continuation of a declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action Oct. 12, 2017; and receipt of the notice of annual rate modification from Clearlake Waste Solutions.
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.
Veterinary staff working at the Big Fix clinic in Nice, California, in February 2019. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Orphan Dog Rescue is offering a Big Fix clinic from May 25 to 27 at Robinson’s Rancheria Gym across the street from the Robinson’s Hotel and Casino.
More than 25 volunteer veterinarians and veterinary staff are coming into Lake County on Memorial Day weekend with the goal of fixing more than 200 cats and dogs in three days.
This event will be the third that Orphan Dog has brought into Lake County, and the second one this year. This event will also be the largest ever held.
The M.A.S.H.-like clinic will include several health services for Lake County cats and dogs, including spay and neuter, immunizations and microchips.
There will also be limited health care appointments/procedures only for low-income citizens and tribal members.
The cost of the clinic will be about $17,000 – or about $85 to $100 per pet – all of which is paid for by donations from Orphan Dog supporters and the community. Participants are not charged for services.
The spay and neuter clinic is open to any Lake County resident and will be by appointment only. Sign ups for the clinic have begun at www.OrphanDogBigFix.org .
The available spaces will be assigned by first come/first served.
The immunization and microchip clinic will be held from noon until 3 p.m. May 25 to 27.
If someone needs a health appointment for a cat or dog, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss the situation further and to make sure that the need can be accommodated.
The February clinic sign ups indicated a huge need in Lake County for spay and neuter.
Orphan Dog had more than 270 applications for over 400 animals. Seventy nine percent of the applicants had incomes below $34,000 per year and 79 percent of the animals had never seen a vet. Almost 72 percent of the pets were not up to date on their vaccinations.
With those statistics, it is not a surprise that 85 percent of the pets are not licensed.
Donations are gratefully accepted to subsidize this and future clinics at www.OrphanDog.org or by mail at OrphanDog, P.O. Box 662, Lakeport, CA 95453.
Orphan Dog is a 501(c)(3). Beginning in 2003, Orphan Dog has homed more than 4,000 dogs, the majority of whom are from Lake County, California and were rehomed in the Bay Area.
In that 16 years the group has been unable to adopt Lake County out of pet overpopulation.
In 2018, Orphan Dog shifted the focus of their mission to spay and neuter, with the goal of fixing 2020 dogs and cats by 2020.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – May is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month, which draws attention to essential mental health concerns for mothers and families.
Organizations around the world are coming together to increase awareness of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and decrease the related stigma.
In California, as many as 1 in 5 new mothers experience some type of perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, or PMAD.
These illnesses frequently go unnoticed and untreated, often with long-term consequences to both mother and child.
More than 600,000 women will suffer from a maternal mental health disorder in the United States every year, and only 15 percent will receive treatment.
This not only effects moms, but 1 in 10 dads will also experience a perinatal mental health disorder following the birth of their baby.
Any of the following can occur during pregnancy and/or the postpartum period: Depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and psychosis.
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are treatable.
Signs can include:
· Sleep disturbances and changes in appetite.
· Feelings of hopelessness, guilt, and despair.
· Feeling inadequate as a mother.
· Anxious or irritable feelings.
· Panic attacks.
· Feeling emotionally disconnected from you baby.
· Extreme worries and fears, often over the health and safety of the baby or lack of interest over baby’s safety.
If you or someone you know is experiencing signs of a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder there are resources available:
· Lake County 24-hour Crisis Line: 800-900-2075.
· Mother-Wise: A safety net for Lake County moms offering support (at no cost) in an effort to help prevent or minimize the effects of maternal mental health disorders. The Mother-Wise approach depends on community people and resources to provide individualized support. Program services include a stock of donated supplies, weekly moms’ groups in Lakeport, an active Facebook moms group, and home visits with trained volunteers called Saathis, which is Sanskrit for companion. For questions about the program please call the Program Director Jaclyn Ley at 707-349-1210.
· Toll-free Crisis Line: 888-587-6373.
· National Hope Line Network: 1-800-442-HOPE (4673).
· National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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