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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The group of volunteers that every year organizes the largest catfish derby west of the Mississippi is back at work, getting ready for next year’s event.

The committee reported that the 37th annual Catfish Derby is set for May 16 to 19, 2019.

Once again, the Northshore Fire Protection District in Clearlake Oaks will serve as derby headquarters.

“Last May, we had just under 1,000 entries, we anticipate at least that many in 2019,” said Committee Chair Dennis Locke.

Sponsored by the Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association the Catfish Derby is the biggest catfish derby west of the Mississippi – and the primary fundraiser for the Association.

“The derby raises funds to support our local communities including school scholarships, community giving to worthy causes and more,” said Association President Margaret Medeiros.

According to Locke, people come from throughout California and other states to participate in the catfishing contests with categories for adults and kids.

“About 60 percent come from outside of Lake County,” he said.

For some the derby is a tradition. “Each year, to commemorate the annual derby, we design and sell t-shirts. But some groups and families return sporting their own creative derby shirts – it’s always fun to see the latest designs,” said Locke.

Last year, the planning team worried that the sidewalk construction project in the Oaks would dampen the mood. “We didn’t get one complaint,” said Gail Jonas, committee member and former Derby Chair. “Folks come here to fish and have a good time, that’s what’s most important to them and why I love volunteering for this event,” she said.

Locke said in 2019 derby visitors will find the town all spruced up with new sidewalks, street lights and a new eating place or two. “It’s going to be another great derby,” he said.

Each year, the planning committee compiles and distributes a booklet full of ads that serve as a guide for exploring Lake County. Visitors converge on Clearlake Oaks, filling up local hotels, nearby campgrounds and other lodging places.

“It’s an economic boost for our little town that spreads countywide as visitors make their way around our beautiful lake, stopping to shop, eat and enjoy all that our County has to offer,” said Locke.

The program for 2019 is unchanged from prior years. Participants will compete for cash awards totaling $10,000. The family friendly affair concludes with a BBQ and awards.

To purchase an ad, volunteer during the derby or for more information about the annual event, call 707-596-0248.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The annual “Spirit of the Season” program, which provides holiday gift baskets and gifts for young children, is taking sign ups this week.

Registration will take place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Middletown United Methodist Church, 15833 Armstrong St.

Spirit of the Season expects to serve 130 families across south Lake County. This includes residents from Hidden Valley Lake and Cobb as well as Middletown.

The program provides Christmas presents and food to eligible residents.

To be eligible, applicants must live in the Cobb, Hidden Valley Lake or Middletown areas and need help to be able to give their family a Christmas meal. Qualified applicants’ children (who are not in high school) can receive a gift valued at $25 or less. High School students will receive a $25 gift card.

To apply, register on one of the available dates. Bring your child’s Christmas wish list, and choose three gift ideas per child with no gift over the $25 limit. It’s also important to know your child’s clothing and shoe sizes.

If you have never participated in Spirit of the Season, bring proof of residence and income.

Registrants must be present to pick up items on the distribution date, Saturday, Dec. 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on Highway 175 in Middletown.

Tax-deductible donations are needed and can be sent to: SoS, P.O. Box 1468, Middletown, CA 95461.

For more information, call Hedy Montoya at 707-322-5080 and leave a message.

Collisions are the number one killer of teens in the United States and distracted driving is often the cause.

The California Highway Patrol is working with Impact Teen Drivers, or ITD, on a year-long program to help eliminate these preventable collisions.

With a one-year grant that started Oct. 1, 2018, the CHP and ITD are working at schools and community events throughout California to help teen drivers.

The Teen Distracted Drivers Education and Enforcement grant includes an education component as well as enforcement operations. The message of the program is simple: focus on the road ahead and get where you are going safely.

“Any distraction can be dangerous for a driver, but young drivers are at the highest risk,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “Electronic devices, other people in the car, adjusting vehicle controls – these are just a few ways any driver can be distracted. Our goal is to protect young drivers through education.”

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2016 found that nine percent of drivers 15 to 19 years old involved in fatal collisions were reported as distracted. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of the fatal collisions.

The study also found that hand-held cell phone use while driving is highest among 15- to 29-year-old drivers.

“We are privileged to work with the California Highway Patrol to stop the number one killer of teens in California – preventable car crashes,” Dr. Kelly Browning, executive director of Impact Teen Drivers, said. “Through a strong combination of education and enforcement, we can change the driving culture to one that is distraction free.”

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After seven years filled with major wildland fires, the Northshore Fire Protection District’s chief has retired.

Jay Beristianos, who grew up in Upper Lake, has been in the fire service for 42 years professionally, plus additional time as a volunteer. He served in the U.S. Forest Service in 1978 and 1979. Later, he spent 21 years with Ukiah Valley Fire.

He became Northshore Fire’s chief on Sept. 1, 2011, and officially retired as of Sept. 15, just days before the Mendocino Complex – the largest wildland fire in California history – was fully contained. He estimated it burned about 90 percent of the fire district.

He’s being succeeded in the chief’s role by Mike Ciancio, who has been the district’s deputy chief for several years.

The district now has 21 firefighters, with four to five active volunteers, Beristianos said.

When he took over as chief, he said his goal was to continue on with what Chief Jim Robbins had started – building a professional fire department. The challenges included establishing policies and training.

“I think we're well on the way. I've very proud of the personnel we have here,” Beristianos said, adding that they do good work and are great on emergency scenes.

Beristianos has also been working on weed abatement as part of his fire protection efforts, noting the fire districts are in the process of working out a joint powers authority with the county to address it. He said the districts have been working on the project for a year, after having started by asking the county to update weed ordinances.

The district sends out 1,000 letters a year asking property owners to cut their weeds, Beristianos said.

He said absentee owners are a big problem, with paper lot owners not responding to the district’s letters or many of them coming back unclaimed. However, the biggest concern is for lots in town where weeds aren’t mowed.

Earlier this year, the county’s fire districts also switched their dispatch service from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Central Dispatch to Cal Fire.

“It has its challenges but we feel like it's working well,” said Beristianos, explaining that it improved incident command on fires.

Earlier this year, the district failed to get a fire tax passed among Northshore voters, which Beristianos said was necessary to keep the district fiscally sound.

“The district is going to have to look seriously at doing it again. Nothing changed,” he said, adding that Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne haven’t had increases in fire taxes since 1996, and for Clearlake Oaks it’s been since 2004.

Meanwhile, costs to provide services are growing. Beristianos said the district can’t just lay off people, and it has no new volunteers. They also buy used equipment to try to save money.

“Something’s got to give,” he said.








Beristianos’ service as chief intersected with one of the disastrous periods of wildland fires in the county’s history.

Beristianos acknowledged he doesn’t know all of the factors causing the past several years of devastating fires, but he does have some ideas.

“We've always had fires,” he said, adding, that, now, “They're bigger fires.”

Beristianos said he thinks it’s a combination of factors – climate change, the results of drought and, this last year, a double crop of grass.

Lake County and other parts of California now have a year-round fire season. “I think it’s evolved,” said Beristianos, explaining that he can remember that, once November arrived, firefighters could put aside their wildland fire gear until May or June.

As for prevention, Beristianos said, “Prescribed burning is a must.”

He said prescribed burns need to take place to reduce catastrophic fires.

He said Lake County is facing a new normal that includes fires that start and burn with extreme rates of spread in dry fuels and rough topography. “With those conditions, you can’t get enough resources fast enough to control the fire before it gets too big.”

Many small departments – which are the first line of defense – are having a tough time making ends meet and have to call in Cal Fire as backup. Beristianos said the state has to look at supplementing local government by upstaffing.

In the case of the Mendocino Complex, he said there were two major fires – the Ranch and River branches of the complex – going at the same time and getting big fast, incident complexity and a lack of firefighters, as resources needed to be sent to the Carr fire in Redding.

The wheels of the system can’t move fast enough, said Beristianos, and there aren’t enough local, state or federal resources. He said the US Forest Service doesn’t have enough California resources, and Forest Service engines from Upper Lake often are sent out of area to incidents.

“Firefighting, I think, has to be a higher priority at the state level,” said Beristianos, adding that he was not blaming anything on the state. Rather, he said local government fire districts and Cal Fire need to be better funded.

As for what people can do to protect themselves, Beristianos said it goes back to defensible space and “house hardening.”

In the case of defensible space, it means clearing vegetation around homes, and cleaning gutters – an item that gets overlooked but which can be important, as pine needles or leaves that gather there can easily catch fire.

House hardening includes putting in vents that close off heat, using tempered glass, fire-resistant or noncombustible siding, and sprinklers.

Regarding what’s next, Beristianos was planning to take a month and a half off to decompress before starting a new job with an insurance company, which has hired him as a wildfire specialist.

“I’ve got the personality, I can't sit around,” he said.

In the capacity of wildfire specialist, Beristianos will cover an area from Monterey to the Oregon border, doing home inspections and evaluating fire risk in order to reduce premiums. He starts work Oct. 31.

“It's a natural fit,” he said.

He likes to fish, kayak and travel, and he’ll have time for that even with the new job.

Beristianos expects to stay in Lake County in the near future. He and wife, Lori, have two adult daughters and granddaughters, and they’ve thought of moving closer to family.

He said he’s proud of the department, whose members give it all to protect the community.

“It's been a pleasure to serve the community,” Beristianos said.

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 will meet this week to discuss updates to the Clearlake Municipal Code and gym equipment for the Clearlake Police Department.

The council will meet for a closed session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss one potential case of litigation before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, the council will meet a new police officer.

Under business, the council will discuss and consider a request for consent for withdrawal of Casitas De Mendota LLC of its interest in the partnership of “O” Village Investors, related to the development of Olympic Village Apartments, as well as a request for the city to sign a subordination agreement in reference to the same project.

Staff reported that in 2009 the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency gave “O” Village Investors a $700,000 loan for the development of affordable housing.

The council also will consider approving the commitment of Community Development Block Grant program income funds for Code Enforcement as well as the first reading of an amendment to the Clearlake Municipal Code adopting building code sections.

Also on Thursday, the council will consider approval of the purchase of gym equipment for the Clearlake Police Department.

Staff reports said the police department received a bid from a Sacramento company for equipment totaling $37,543.13. The Redbud Health Care District has approved a grant to cover the entire purchase.

On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers; consideration of continuing the declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action on Oct. 12, 2017; second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 214-2018 adding Section 3-4.16 to the Clearlake Municipal Code to provide informal bidding procedures under the Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act; minutes of the Sept. 6, 19, 27 and Oct. 11 meetings; disposal of surplus police vehicles, Resolution No. 2018-50; approval of street closure for the annual Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31, Resolution No. 2018-48.

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 Culinary Club of the Lake County Campus of the Woodland Community College will be holding its second annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, Oct. 27.

The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the campus, 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake.

The festival celebrates the fall season with local food and craft vendors, family-friendly activities, including a bounce house, pumpkin painting, music and more. Please come and support your community college in a family fun event.

Take and bake dinners as well as many tasty treats will be available for purchase.

Proceeds from the Harvest Festival directly fund scholarships at Lake County Campus of the Woodland Community College.

For more information, or to participate in this event, can be found at http://LCC.yccd.edu , at www.facebook.com/AromasLakeCountyCampus/ or by calling 707-995-4175.

Community Colleges are said to be one of America's most important anti-poverty programs. The Lake County Campus offers certificate and degree programs that help students achieve their academic goals, transfer to a university, or obtain employment in a variety of fields.

With smaller class sizes that give students a more personal experience with qualified, dedicated professors, community colleges offer many advantages for the first two years of post-secondary education.