News

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – Gar Abbas will serve as the Mendocino National Forest supervisor in Willows starting Monday, March 19.

Abbas comes to the Mendocino from the Cowlitz Valley district of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington where he is the district ranger.

“I’m looking forward to contributing to the work being done by Mendocino National Forest employees and neighboring communities to improve forest health and enhance stewardship opportunities,” Abbas said.

He will hold the forest supervisor position until Ann Carlson returns from a temporary assignment on the Sequoia National Forest.

Abbas began his Forest Service career as a volunteer in 1994 and has since gained experience as a district ranger on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and deputy forest supervisor/ area manager for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

He has experience as a fish and wildlife biologist as well as minerals and special uses administrator.

Abbas earned bachelor and master of science degrees in Oregon focused on fish and wildlife ecology.

He previously worked on the San Bernardino and Klamath national forests and says he is excited to be returning to California.

The Abbas family enjoys the outdoors, especially alpine skiing in the winter, a wide variety of water sports in the summer and hiking and backcountry camping trips.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – North Coast Opportunities Inc. recently wrapped up a three-year project in Lake County.

Partnerships to Improve Community Health started in 2014 thanks to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant totaling $1.4 million.

These grants were intended to support public health efforts to reduce chronic diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities and control health care spending.

One of the most resounding successes was the “Menus of Change” initiative.

To combat the conflict restaurants face between serving crowd-pleasing versus healthy food, the Culinary Institute of America, or CIA, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health developed Menus of Change: The Business of Healthy, Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices.

Partnerships to Improve Community Health contracted with CIA’s lead trainer, Chef Brad Barnes, to deliver the Menus of Change training in Lake County.

More than 26 chefs representing 15 restaurants and food service locations participated as a part of the "Eat Well Lake County" initiative.

These restaurants committed to reducing sodium and increasing plant-based options on their menus.

The training was extremely well received, with 88 percent of participants saying it exceeded their expectations.

One of the best examples of Menus of Change being put to work comes from the Woodland Community College Culinary Program.

Chef Instructor Robert Cabreros incorporated the Menus of Change philosophy into the menu for Aromas Café, the on-campus restaurant run by culinary students.

We are very surprised by how well it has gone with our customers,” said Cabreros. “We have sold more salads and healthy rice bowls than ever before. Maybe three to four times as many salads!”

Cabreros took it a step further by including elements of the training in the college’s culinary curriculum, and many of the first graduates are already working in Lake County restaurants.

“The sustainability potential is huge,” said NCO Administrative Manager Robyn Bera. “The inspiration to create healthy menus is likely to ripple through our restaurant environment as more and more new chefs graduate from this program.”

Learn more about the Culinary Program or Woodland Community College by calling 707-995-7900. You may also the Lake County Campus page at www.yccd.edu.

Another success comes from Judy’s Junction, a small restaurant in Upper Lake.

Owner Joanne Breton was adamant that she couldn’t make changes without losing her loyal “greasy spoon” loving customers. She was also convinced her long-time staff wouldn’t be able or willing to change.

Chef Barnes provided a one-on-one coaching session and made simple suggestions like replacing high-sodium canned goods with low- or no-sodium options. He also helped her add salad options to a few lunch and breakfast items.

The changes have all been positively received, and Breton is happy to be encouraging her customers to eat healthier.

“The best way to continue the positive trend in healthy menu items is to eat at participating restaurants,” said Bera.

Look for the Eat Well sticker in the following establishments: Wholly Bowl, Angelina’s Café, Running Creek Casino, Judy’s Junction, Blue Wing Saloon, Fresh & Bangin, Adventist Health Cafeteria, Aromas Café and Saw Shop Gallery Bistro.

LUCERNE, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the community’s help in tracking down who was responsible for burglarizing the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center last month.

Lt. Corey Paulich said images of two people were captured on surveillance video at the senior center early on the morning of Feb. 21.

He said they took a set of golf clubs from the rear of the senior center.

On this same night a burglary occurred to the senior center, Paulich said.

The suspect or suspects entered the Meals on Wheels prep area where they took thermal delivery bags, 40 pounds of ground beef, two pork roasts and hams, according to Paulich.

If you have any information regarding these thefts or if you can help identify these two people in the surveillance video please contact Deputy Sarah Hardisty at 707-262-4200 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson has filed for reelection in the Fifth Congressional District.

The district includes all of Napa County and parts of Lake, Sonoma, Solano and Contra Costa counties.

“Today I am announcing that I have filed my reelection papers to again represent our Congressional District in Congress,” Thompson said in a Monday announcement. “It has been my honor to represent the place where I was born, grew up, raised my children, and still live today. The support of so many from across our diverse district is humbling, from supervisors, to mayors, to sheriffs, to business leaders, and to community advocates. Building strong working relationships with these community members has given me invaluable insight into the needs of the people I serve,” he said.

“Throughout my career in Congress, my number one priority has been to serve the people of our district. Together with so many partners in our community, we have been able to accomplish great things, including securing billions in federal disaster relief to aid recovery from the devastating fires of last fall. We have fought for policies that support our businesses, expand the use of renewable energy, and strengthen Medicare for our seniors. Through casework that helps constituents navigate the federal government, we have secured millions in benefits and payments owed to constituents,” Thompson continued.

“My work is not finished, which is why I am honored for the chance to again run to represent our district. This includes leading the fight in ensuring criminals and dangerous individuals can’t easily access guns, while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding individuals to own firearms. This also means working to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare so that we provide a secure retirement for our nation’s seniors. And as a Vietnam combat veteran, I will never stop working to support our veterans and their families,” he said.

“Working together, we will continue to develop and implement real solutions to the challenges we face as a district and a nation and ensure our district continues to be one of the best places in our nation to live, start a family, open a business, enjoy a secure retirement, and achieve the American dream,” Thompson concluded.

A list of those signing Rep. Thompson’s nomination papers follows.

Chris Kelley, Hercules mayor
Dan Romero, Hercules Vice mayor
Rob Schroder, Martinez mayor
Richard Zampa, retired president, District Council of Iron Workers of the State of California
Tim Farley, former Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board member
Carol Hatch, retired district director, Congressman George Miller
Ridge Greene, chairman, Port Costa Conservation Society
Roy and Rose Swearingen, Pinole City Council member
Brian Martin, Lake County sheriff
Brad Rasmussen, city of Lakeport Police chief
Madelene Lyon, board member, Lake County Office of Education
Peter Windrem, attorney at law, Kelseyville
Margaret Silveria, city manager, city of Lakeport
Kelly Cox, former Lake County administrative officer
David Weiss, vineyard management firm owner, Kelseyville
Moke Simon, Lake County supervisor
Rob Brown, Lake County supervisor
Becky Curry, community leader, Kelseyville
Janet Thompson, nurse
John Robertson, Napa County sheriff
Jon Thompson, sergeant, Napa County Sheriff’s Department
Jill Techel, mayor of Napa
Belia Ramos, Napa County supervisor
Mel Varrelman, CPA and retired Napa County supervisor
Diane Dillon, Napa County supervisor
Robert Torres, owner, Trinchero Family Estates
Amelia Ceja, winery owner and business woman
Maria Cisneros, former president, Napa County Hispanic Network
Hope Logo, community advocate and leader
Paul Bradford Onorato, community leader
Mary Jane Bowker, community leader
Erin Hannigan, Solano County supervisor
Bob Sampayan, mayor of Vallejo
Elizabeth Patterson, mayor of Benicia
Osby Davis, former Vallejo mayor
Anthony Intintoli Jr., former Vallejo mayor
Rosemary Thurston, trustee for Solano Community College
Jimmie Jackson, president Vallejo Branch NAACP
LaGuan Lea, real estate broker
Jon Riley, executive director, Napa Solano Central Labor Council
Buck Kamphausen, Vallejo business owner
Maureen Cottingham, Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance executive director
Steve Page, Sonoma Raceway president and general manager, Sonoma
Tim Smith, former Sonoma County supervisor
William “Willie” Tamayo, business owner, Santa Rosa
Francis Meinenger, retired business owner
Michael Mulas, dairy farmer and grapegrower, Sonoma
Raymond Mulas, dairy farmer and grapegrower, Sonoma
Vicky Mulas, dairy farmer and grape grower
Margaret Fishman, Santa Rosa Junior College Board Trustee
Mark Landman, mayor of Cotati
Cheryl Ann Diehm, community activist
Chris Coursey, mayor of Santa Rosa
William Fishman, attorney at law
Timothy Smith, former Sonoma County supervisor

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall this week will meet candidates for its board and will get updates on a number of projects.

MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8, 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.

The group is set to hear a number of items that were on last month’s agenda. However, that meeting lacked a board quorum.

Under discussion items, the group will hear from District Attorney Don Anderson about the Valley fire and from Supervisor Moke Simon about the Middletown Area Town Hall itself.

Other items to be discussed are a Caltrans safety project on Highway 175, a resort and residential project on the Guenoc property, the county planning department’s backlog, road repair in Anderson Springs, adding a second alternate position to the MATH board and Texas-based Cross Development’s use permit modification to reduce the size of the planned Dollar General store at 20900 Highway 29 from 9,100 square feet to 7,225 square feet.

In other business, MATH Board candidates Joe Sullivan, Courtney VanLeuven, Margaret Greenly and Fairlight Ahlgren will introduce themselves.

The MATH Board includes Chair Claude Brown, Vice Chair Marlene Elder, and members Lisa Kaplan and Mike Tabacchi.

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.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Monday’s snow survey at Phillips Station tells a more positive story than it did before the recent storm, but totals are still well below average, officials reported.

Despite the recent late-winter storm that brought much-needed snow to the Sierra Nevada, the snow water equivalent is 9.4 inches, which is 39 percent of normal for early March.

“California has unquestionably experienced a dry winter this year, with a near-record dry February,” said Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth. “While we’re happy to kick off March with this healthy storm, the variability of this winter’s weather patterns underscores the importance of continued conservation and the ongoing need to strengthen California’s water supply reliability for our people, our economy, and our environment.”

The snow survey conducted today by Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, was the second measurement at Phillips Station for this snow survey period.

On Feb. 28, Gehrke conducted the official snow survey of record, which found a snow water equivalent of 1.7 inches, or just 7 percent of average for that time of year as recorded since 1964.

Given the forecasted storm, Gehrke conducted a second measurement on March 5 to record its impact, which yielded a 32 percentage-point increase in snow water equivalent over the previous week.

Snow water equivalent is the amount of water contained within the snowpack. The snowpack – often called California’s “frozen reservoir “– normally provides about a third of the water for California’s farms and communities as it melts in the spring and summer and fills reservoirs and rivers.

“As indicated by the increase in snow depth and water content from last week to today, this recent storm provided a much-needed boost to our snowpack,” said Gehrke. “Today’s measurements are greater than what we found last week, but not enough to bring the state up to an average year.”

In addition to the manual surveys conducted at Phillips, DWR also logs electronic readings from 103 stations scattered throughout the Sierra.

Electronic measurements indicate the snow water equivalent of the northern Sierra snowpack is 7.4 inches, 30 percent of the multi-decade average for today’s date.

The central and southern Sierra readings are 11.5 inches (43 percent of average) and 8.7 inches (37 percent of average) respectively.

Statewide, the snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 9.5 inches, or 37 percent of the March 5 average.

Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://bit.ly/2rVa84a.

The Phillips snow course, near the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road, is one of 260 that are surveyed manually throughout the winter.

Manual measurements augment the electronic readings from the snow pillows in the Sierra Nevada that provide a current snapshot of the water content in the snowpack.

California’s exceptionally high precipitation last winter and spring has resulted in above-average storage in 154 reservoirs tracked by the Department.

DWR estimates total storage in those reservoirs at the end of February was 24.6 million acre feet, or about 100 percent of the 24.7 million acre feet average for the end of February.

In related news, snow measurements in the Mendocino National Forest showed a 21-percent snow water equivalent for Anthony Peak in January and 18 percent in February, while no measurements have been done for the Plaskett Meadows area so far this year, based on state data.