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The pageant originally had been scheduled for Sept. 22, but due to the Mendocino Complex, the pageant committee decided to set a new date for Oct. 20 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.
The competition’s focus is to showcase the inner beauty, talent and intelligence of the young women of the Lake County community.
Contestants will will be judged on talent, evening gown, interview and an on-stage question.
There is no longer a swimsuit event attached to this competition thanks to the decision of the Miss America Pageant – the governing organization – to discontinue it beginning this year.
The new Miss Lake County will receive a $5,000 scholarship, but all contestants will qualify for some level of scholarship.
The next orientation for potential contestants will be held on Thursday, Sept. 6, in the upstairs conference room at Umpqua Bank, located 805 11th St. in Lakeport.
Anyone interested in the pageant is invited to attend and ask questions.
The first rehearsal for contestants is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8.
If you are interested in participating as a contestant, volunteer or sponsor please contact the committee at
The council will meet for a closed session to discuss labor negotiations with unrepresented management and City Manager Margaret Silveira at 5:15 p.m. before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council will present a proclamation of gratitude to the Lakeport Fire Protection District for its service during the recent wildfires.
The district and Cal Fire were central to protecting the city from the River fire portion of the Mendocino Complex, which caused the city to be under a mandatory evacuation for several days at the end of July and start of August.
The council also will meet new employees Kris Perkins and Jonathan Ohlen, present a proclamation in honor of Gerald “Gerry” Mills, a longtime member of the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors, on his retirement from the board, and get an update from Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Dan Peterson on the hospital and its response to the wildfires.
Under council business, Silveira will present to the council a proposed resolution supporting opposition to Proposition 6, “Repeal of the Road Repair and Accountability Act,” which will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Council members also will consider adopting a proposed resolution adopting a grievance procedure under the American Disabilities Act, Notice under the Act and designating the Administrative Services director as the ADA coordinator; authorizing the purchase of a John Deere 210L Skip Loader; and direct the city’s voting delegate to the League of California Cities Annual Conference to support the two resolutions provided in the annual
conference resolutions packet.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on Aug. 21; the Aug. 31 warrant register; review and filing of the fiscal year 2017-18 Civil Grand Jury Report response; and adoption of the proposed amendment to the Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Service Authority Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement to add a fifth voting member selected at large by the service authority.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
090418 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd
Labor Day is a U.S. national holiday held the first Monday every September. Unlike most U.S. holidays, it is a strange celebration without rituals, except for shopping and barbecuing. For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer and the start of the school year.
The holiday’s founders in the late 1800s envisioned something very different from what the day has become. The founders were looking for two things: a means of unifying union workers and a reduction in work time.
History of Labor Day
The first Labor Day occurred in 1882 in New York City under the direction of that city’s Central Labor Union.
In the 1800s, unions covered only a small fraction of workers and were balkanized and relatively weak. The goal of organizations like the Central Labor Union and more modern-day counterparts like the AFL-CIO was to bring many small unions together to achieve a critical mass and power. The organizers of the first Labor Day were interested in creating an event that brought different types of workers together to meet each other and recognize their common interests.
However, the organizers had a large problem: No government or company recognized the first Monday in September as a day off work. The issue was solved temporarily by declaring a one-day strike in the city. All striking workers were expected to march in a parade and then eat and drink at a giant picnic afterwards.
The New York Tribune’s reporter covering the event felt the entire day was like one long political barbecue, with “rather dull speeches.”
Why was Labor Day invented?
Labor Day came about because workers felt they were spending too many hours and days on the job.
In the 1830s, manufacturing workers were putting in 70-hour weeks on average. Sixty years later, in 1890, hours of work had dropped, although the average manufacturing worker still toiled in a factory 60 hours a week.
These long working hours caused many union organizers to focus on winning a shorter eight-hour work day. They also focused on getting workers more days off, such as the Labor Day holiday, and reducing the workweek to just six days.
These early organizers clearly won since the most recent data show that the average person working in manufacturing is employed for a bit over 40 hours a week and most people work only five days a week.
Surprisingly, many politicians and business owners were actually in favor of giving workers more time off. That’s because workers who had no free time were not able to spend their wages on traveling, entertainment or dining out.
As the U.S. economy expanded beyond farming and basic manufacturing in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it became important for businesses to find consumers interested in buying the products and services being produced in ever greater amounts. Shortening the work week was one way of turning the working class into the consuming class.
Common misconceptions
The common misconception is that since Labor Day is a national holiday, everyone gets the day off. Nothing could be further from the truth.
While the first Labor Day was created by striking, the idea of a special holiday for workers was easy for politicians to support. It was easy because proclaiming a holiday, like Mother’s Day, costs legislators nothing and benefits them by currying favor with voters. In 1887, Oregon, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey all declared a special legal holiday in September to celebrate workers.
Within 12 years, half the states in the country recognized Labor Day as a holiday. It became a national holiday in June 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the Labor Day bill into law. While most people interpreted this as recognizing the day as a national vacation, Congress’ proclamation covers only federal employees. It is up to each state to declare its own legal holidays.
Moreover, proclaiming any day an official holiday means little, as an official holiday does not require private employers and even some government agencies to give their workers the day off. Many stores are open on Labor Day. Essential government services in protection and transportation continue to function, and even less essential programs like national parks are open. Because not everyone is given time off on Labor Day, union workers as recently as the 1930s were being urged to stage one-day strikes if their employer refused to give them the day off.
In the president’s annual Labor Day declaration last year, Obama encouraged Americans “to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities that honor the contributions and resilience of working Americans.”
The proclamation, however, does not officially declare that anyone gets time off.
Controversy: Militants and founders
Today most people in the U.S. think of Labor Day as a noncontroversial holiday.
There is no family drama like at Thanksgiving, no religious issues like at Christmas. However, 100 years ago there was controversy.
The first controversy that people fought over was how militant workers should act on a day designed to honor workers. Communist, Marxist and socialist members of the trade union movement supported May 1 as an international day of demonstrations, street protests and even violence, which continues even today.
More moderate trade union members, however, advocated for a September Labor Day of parades and picnics. In the U.S., picnics, instead of street protests, won the day.
There is also dispute over who suggested the idea. The earliest history from the mid-1930s credits Peter J. McGuire, who founded the New York City Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, in 1881 with suggesting a date that would fall “nearly midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving” that “would publicly show the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”
Later scholarship from the early 1970s makes an excellent case that Matthew Maguire, a representative from the Machinists Union, actually was the founder of Labor Day. However, because Matthew Maguire was seen as too radical, the more moderate Peter McGuire was given the credit.
Who actually came up with the idea will likely never be known, but you can vote online here to express your view.
Have we lost the spirit of Labor Day?
Today Labor Day is no longer about trade unionists marching down the street with banners and their tools of trade. Instead, it is a confused holiday with no associated rituals.
The original holiday was meant to handle a problem of long working hours and no time off. Although the battle over these issues would seem to have been won long ago, this issue is starting to come back with a vengeance, not for manufacturing workers but for highly skilled white-collar workers, many of whom are constantly connected to work.
If you work all the time and never really take a vacation, start a new ritual that honors the original spirit of Labor Day. Give yourself the day off. Don’t go in to work. Shut off your phone, computer and other electronic devices connecting you to your daily grind. Then go to a barbecue, like the original participants did over a century ago, and celebrate having at least one day off from work during the year!
Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Fire crews are closing in on full containment on the massive Mendocino Complex, which officials now expect will be fully contained in another week.
The complex continues to be managed by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service and California Interagency Incident Management Team 3 under Incident Commander Mark von Tillow.
The U.S. Forest Service said the complex remained at 459,123 acres on Sunday, with containment up to 97 percent, the first containment increase in a few days.
The Ranch fire, which remains the complex’s active portion, is at 410,203 acres and 97-percent containment, officials said.
The River fire was contained at 48,920 acres nearly three weeks ago. The Forest Service said suppression repair on that part of the complex has been completed.
The Forest Service said the date for full containment on the complex has been moved back by eight days to Sept. 9.
Approximately 980 personnel, 27 engines, 21 hand crews, one helicopter and a dozer remain assigned to the complex, officials said.
The Forest Service said steady progress is being made in the final suppression operations of the Ranch fire, where the last section of uncontained fireline remains west of Stonyford within the forest boundary.
The remaining uncontrolled fire line, shown in red on the map above, is located around the Colusa-Glenn County border near Fouts Springs.
The weather forecast shows temperatures in the high 90s, the hottest in two weeks. While the Forest Service said fire activity will increase within the perimeter, it is not expected to challenge the fireline.
On Sunday, the Forest Service said firefighters were monitoring interior burning, extinguishing hot spots and pulling excess hose and equipment off firelines.
Fire crews have completed 364 miles of suppression repair, primarily on the west and north sides of the fire, officials said.
In addition, about 670 miles of fireline have been identified for suppression repair, though this number is expected to increase as more repair needs are reported, the Forest Service reported.
Despite the destruction the fire has caused in public lands, there are signs that wildlife is surviving. Officials shared a picture of a buck who this past week was seen hanging out near the fire camp in Stonyford.
The fire has continued to put up large amounts of smoke and haze, which blanketed Lake County as well as the Sacramento Valley throughout the weekend.
The Forest Service said the smoke and haze are expected to continue, noting that smoke from several fires burning in Northern California is expected to drift south and east over the Sacramento Valley and toward the coast.
Stonyford and Elk Creek will have heavy smoke impacts, while areas such as Clear Lake, Potter Valley, Covelo, Ukiah and the Sacramento Valley are expected to have moderate smoke impacts with potential for spikes of heavier smoke on Sunday.
An update on smoke conditions can be found at https://wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlooks/MendocinoNationalForest-SacramentoValleyArea.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The Ridge fire was first reported just after 2 p.m. in the area of Highland Springs and Old Toll Road near Lakeport.
Units responding saw a large column of smoke and began requesting air resources.
The first firefighters on scene at about 2:15 p.m. reported that the fire already was four acres with a moderate rate of spread, with the potential for 100 acres.
About 10 minutes later, the fire was reported to be 10 acres, burning in heavy brush, with a moderate to rapid rate of spread, and more resources requested.
As of 2:30 p.m., resources requested were reported to include 10 engines – four from local agencies and six from Cal Fire – four water tenders, two dozers, seven tankers and several helicopters.
Units on scene later gave the precise address of the incident as 13387 Adobe Creek Road.
At 3:15 p.m., incident command reported the fire to be 30 acres, burning in brush downhill to the east, with a west wind on it.
Retardant has been put across the right flank and across the head of the fire, with a structure about a quarter mile out in front of it, according to radio reports.
Five additional Cal Fire engines and four additional crews requested were requested at that time.
Shortly before 4 p.m., the fire was reported to be 40 acres, with the forward rate of spread slowed due to retardant.
By 4:30 p.m., the fire was reported to be holding at between 35 and 40 acres, with retardant all around it and a dozer attempting to access the most active portion of the fire.
A short time later, incident command said the fire had been mapped by a helicopter at 36 acres and was 5-percent contained.
Just after 6 p.m., the fire was reported to be holding at 36 acres, with containment up to 15 percent.
Additional updates will be posted on this page.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – While weaving is an ancient and traditional craft, in the hands of dedicated and talented weavers, it’s also an art form.
Weaver extraordinaire Sheila O’Hara and her students returned to the Lake County Fair for the 10th year in a row to share and show their artwork.
On Saturday, several of the group were on hand for a demonstration using small table looms in the Little Theatre, which is the Textile and Clothing Building during the fair.
In the video O’Hara – who learned to weave as a child and holds a bachelor’s degree in weaving – and one of her students discuss their work and how their interest began.
O’Hara teaches all levels of weaving at my home studio on Tuesday afternoons and will have a booth at the upcoming Steele Wines Harvest Festival Oct. 13 and 14.