News

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Four dogs are awaiting adoption at Clearlake Animal Control this week.

The dogs, all adults, are Magnolia, Robbie, Special and Tater.

To meet the animals, call Clearlake Animal Control at 707-994-8201 and speak to Marcia at Extension 103 or call Extension 118, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or leave a message at any other time.

Below are this week's available pets.

‘Magnolia’

“Magnolia” has a short brown and white coat.

Shelter staff said she loves walks.

‘Robbie’

“Robbie” is a young and happy-go-lucky mix – possibly Labrador Retriever and Rottweiler.

He walks well on a leash and makes friends with other dogs.

Robbie is vaccinated and will be neutered prior to adoption.

‘Special’

“Special” is a year-and-a-half-old Rottweiler and pit bull mix.

He has lived with small dogs, likes children, isn’t a barker and doesn’t appear to both with cats. He’s also sweet.

‘Tater’

“Tater” is a lovable fellow who already is neutered and vaccinated, and is heartworm negative.

Shelter staff said Tater likes being with people and ignores other dogs.

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.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association has announced that free public tours of the historic ranch house at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park will resume in 2018 and will be scheduled after many of the monthly guided nature walks.  

Tours of the ranch house were temporarily suspended after the August 2016 Clayton fire burned onto the park property and the contents of the ranch house were evacuated to keep them safe.  

AMIA reached an agreement with State Parks to do the cleaning of the inside of the house that was necessary before the furnishings and other historic artifacts could be safely returned to the ranch house.  

Now that the ranch house has been cleaned, AMIA has agreed to assume responsibility for the ongoing cleaning of the structure.  

“Resources to clean and maintain the ranch house were not available due to the underfunding of the State Parks system in the California budget,” said AMIA Treasurer Henry Bornstein. “AMIA felt it was vital to step up and take responsibility for the cleaning of the ranch house so that members of the public and students on school field trips can visit the ranch house and learn about the way life was for Lake County ranchers in the 19th and early 20th century.”

For information about ranch house tours, contact AMIA at 707-995-2658 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Lake County and other parts of Northern California due to an incoming storm system expected to bring snow to higher elevations.

The advisory is in effect through Thursday evening for areas above 2,500 feet, where accumulations of 4 to 6 inches are expected.

Forecasters said a Pacific storm will bring periods of moderate to heavy snow and gusty wind into Friday in Northern California’s higher elevations.

The heaviest snow and strongest wind expected into early Thursday morning and again late Thursday afternoon and evening.

In Lake County, the mountain areas north of Upper Lake are forecast for snow due to the storm.

The rest of Lake County is expected to see rain through Thursday night, with a break during the day on Friday and chances of more rain on Saturday before the rain lets up and conditions clear into the middle of next week, based on the forecast.

Temperatures this week are expected to range from the high 30s at night into the high 50s during the day, with light winds forecast through 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The work to finalize the cleanup of the property destroyed in the Sulphur fire is nearly complete, according to a report given to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Among its items of business on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the continuation of proclamation of a local emergency due to the Sulphur fire.

During the Tuesday morning meeting, Lake County Health Services Department staff were joined by representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers to update the board on the Sulphur fire debris cleanup project.

“All the properties have been cleaned of debris,” said Lake County Environmental Health Director Jesse Kang.

He said 91 properties were cleared of toxic materials and three properties in the city of Clearlake are being abated. The timeline for having those properties abated wasn’t known on Tuesday.

Col. Eric McFadden, South Pacific Division deputy commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers – which is responsible for the debris cleanup for the Sulphur fire – was on hand to give the board a report.

He said more than 55,000 tons of debris and 155 parcels have been cleaned in less than two and a half months, which “is no small feat.”

Of those, 103 parcels have been cleared for rebuilding. McFadden said soil sampling and rescrapes to remove materials are going on as needed.

He called the cleanup a huge milestone, and one which required citizen involvement.

McFadden said the Army Corps is continuing to work with property owners on unresolved issues. He asked that if people still have issues, that they call the agency.

“We’re very proud to be able to help Lake County through this process,” he said.

The board also heard from FEMA that more than $650,000 has been disbursed to survivors, with about 520 applicants seeking the funding.

The Small Business Administration has approved $540,000 in home and biz loans. Regarding temporary housing, they have seven requests for housing and of those five have been housed.

Supervisor Jeff Smith – who lost his Clearlake home in the Sulphur fire – lauded the US Army Corps for its work and said they handled his property well.

While there were some bumps in the road, “To have it all cleaned up the way it is today is unbelievable in a short period of time,” he said.

Health Services Director Denise Pomeroy said staff was reluctant to pull the Sulphur fire’s emergency proclamation until the last three properties are abated.

The board also continued proclamations of declarations of local emergencies due to the Rocky, Jerusalem, Valley and Clayton fires, and the atmospheric river storm.

County staffer Marcy Harrison gave the board the latest information on the Valley Fire Debris Insurance Collection Project.

Harrison said that so far $5,558,000 has been collected for the project, which is collecting payments from property owners who participated in the state-led Valley cleanup and who had insurance coverage for debris removal. The funds are not being kept by the county but will be paid to the state. Those who didn’t have insurance coverage are not required to pay.

Altogether, there have been 376 payments made, and 25 of them since last month, for a total of $405,000, said Harrison.

They also are working to get certification of noncoverage from about 75 property owners, she said.

About 10 property owners have asked for a payment schedule to pay for the debris collection. Harrison said the board approved giving impacted property owners who need more time to pay up to two years.

A main item of business on Tuesday was a public hearing to consider extending Ordinance No. 3070, an urgency ordinance allowing temporary and limited registration of certain commercial cannabis cultivation licenses with the state.

While the board approved the extension to allow cannabis growers to go through the state licensing process while the county’s commercial cannabis ordinance is finalized, supervisors heard from a number of growers who expressed their frustration at a county process they found confusing and conflicting with the state’s process.

In other business on Tuesday, the board approved an amended agreement between the county of Lake and North Coast Opportunities for Valley fire and Sulphur fire survivor stable housing assistance, held a public hearing on a resolution amending the master fee schedule for departmental services rendered by the county, considered the Section 8 Administrative Plan for Fiscal Years 17/18 and 18/19 and approved the civil rights certification for Housing and Urban Development.

The board also held an initial discussion on a proposal to require cell tower lessees to provide reciprocity for all cell carriers utilizing county cell towers in order to enhance the local emergency notification system.

The supervisors reappointed Jim Burton, Denise Loustalot and Heather McFadden to the East Region 3 Town Hall, and Karen Graf to the Lower Lake Cemetery District and appointed two new members, Carla Ritz and Tara Walsh, to the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health board.

The board also approved resolutions establishing alternate office hours for the offices of the Assessor-Recorder from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 and for the Treasurer-Tax Collector for the period from Jan. 1 through June 30.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The state’s latest report on unemployment put Lake County’s jobless number up slightly as the rest of California saw a record low jobless rate.

The Employment Development Department said Lake County’s unemployment rate in December was 5.6 percent, up from a revised 5.3 percent in November 2017, and below the year-ago estimate of 6.7 percent.

Lake County’s November and December unemployment rates in 2017 are the lowest for those months in 27 years of Employment Development Department data.

California’s overall unemployment rate in December was 4.3 percent, down from 4.6 percent in November, as the state’s employers added 52,700 nonfarm payroll jobs. In December 2016, the state’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent.

The Employment Development Department said California has now gained a total of 2,793,800 jobs since the economic expansion began in February 2010.

The state’s December jobless rate establishes a new record low in a data series dating back to the beginning of 1976, according to the Employment Development Department.

The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,100 California households.  

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said the December unemployment rate was unchanged for a third month at 4.1 percent, with the national employers adding 148,000 nonfarm payroll jobs. The December 2016 federal unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.

The Employment Development Department report said nonfarm payroll jobs in California totaled 16,980,400 in December, a net gain of 52,700 jobs from November. This followed a revised gain of 53,700 jobs in November.

Those numbers are based on a survey of 71,000 businesses to measure jobs in the economy that is larger and less variable statistically than the survey used for the unemployment rate. The yearover change, December 2016 to December 2017, shows an increase of 342,500 jobs, up 2.1 percent.

The federal household survey, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, showed an increase in the number of employed Californians over the month and the year. It estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in December was 18,548,000, an increase of 39,000 from November, and up 383,000 from the employment total in December of last year, based on the report.

The number of unemployed Californians was 839,000 in December, down by 46,000 over the month, and down by 160,000 compared with December of last year, the report said.

In Lake County, the total farm employment category was up by 3.3 percent in December but down by 0.2 percent for total nonfarm.

The county’s transportation, warehousing and utilities subcategory showed the largest positive growth, 1.9 percent, followed by two categories at 0.7 percent – government and trade, transportation and utilities.

Lake County’s December unemployment rate earned it a No. 34 rating out of the state’s 58 counties.

Rankings for neighboring counties are as follows: Colusa, 17.3 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 6.8 percent, No. 43; Mendocino, 4.2 percent, No. 23; Napa, 3.6 percent, No. 13; Sonoma, 2.8 percent, No. 5; and Yolo, 4.6 percent, No. 29.

In related data, the EDD reported that there were 351,959 people receiving regular Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December survey week, compared with
256,961 in November and 367,944 in December of last year.

At the same time, new claims for Unemployment Insurance were 45,447 in December, compared with 36,177 in November and 52,953 in December of last year.

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. –  Now having completed the first month of its homeless warming center, now in its third season in operation, the Lake County Ministerial Association offered an update this week on the services it has offered and the individuals it has helped.

The warming center is located at the Lakeport Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1111 Park Way, Lakeport.

The association said that the warming center, which opened Dec. 18, has so far served 52 individuals, including one family and five minors.  

The warming center, initially scheduled to open on Dec. 1, delayed its opening until it had sufficient funds available. The association said generous individuals and businesses stepped up to provide sufficient funding to open the doors and the center began operation on Dec. 18.  

Fundraising is ongoing to ensure the center can provide consistent operation through March 31, the association reported.

The center is open five days a week, Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. It is limited to 24 guests per night, per the terms of a major use permit provided by the county of Lake.

Through Jan. 15, the association said its highest number of guests on any one night has been 21.  

Of the 52 individuals served so far, several spend every night, others are eventually able to find permanent housing – although the critical shortage of affordable housing in the county makes that a very challenging endeavor, according to the association.

Many arrive cold, hungry, discouraged and out of plans. After a good night’s sleep, a hot shower, a nutritious dinner, and with clean clothes, the way forward, at least temporarily, becomes a little clearer, officials reported. The vast majority of the center’s guests are long-term Lake County residents.

The most unusual request for housing this season came through the LMA Facebook page:  
“I am here with few resources! My five and a half month old Bombay kittens are living in my vehicle with me. Can you house us for a spell?”

Within minutes, staff responded: “We would set up a large crate and welcome the kittens and their owner.” Thankfully, there were only two kittens who, despite the reputation of Bombay cats to cry and meow more than other cats, were extremely well-behaved and quiet. Eventually, they moved north after finding temporary respite at the warming center.

The Lake County Ministerial Association is dependent on, and extremely grateful to, the many generous and hardworking volunteers that supplement the small staff. Each week night, volunteers are covering check in, intake, dinner preparation and service, showers and laundry, as well as providing carry-out bags for breakfast.

Donations may be made through the warming center’s fiscal sponsor, Kelseyville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 446, Kelseyville, CA 95453.  Please write ‘Warming Center’ on the memo line.  

Volunteer sign ups continue through www.SignupGenius.com.

You can reach staff through email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the warming center’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LMAwarmingcenter.