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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake Ministerial Association reported that it has delayed the official opening date for its warming center as it does not yet have the necessary funds to open.

The center had been set to open on Monday, Dec. 4. The new target opening date is set for Monday, Dec. 18.

Opening the center is dependent on having 25 percent of the center’s annual budget – or about $12,000 – in the bank prior to that date.

The association said that it has just under $3,000 in hand and it’s appealing to all of the companies and individuals in Lake County to provide donations as quickly as possible.

This is the third year that the warming center plans to provide a safe place for up to 24 homeless guests, who will have a warm place to sleep and have a nourishing hot meal during the coldest days of the year.

Assistance with permanent housing, employment opportunities and other services are provided.

The center will open Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. and is located at the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Park Way in Lakeport.

Last year, the center served 101 homeless individuals. Most were long-term residents of Lake County, 13 percent were veterans. Nine of the guests were under the age of 18 and 19 were over the age of 59.

Two guests died on weekends when the center was closed, the association reported.

This year, warming center coordinators are already receiving urgent requests from social service agencies to shelter their most vulnerable clients and staff is having to respond that they cannot yet guarantee an opening date.

For every night the warming center is not funded, the association said 24 individuals – some of them fire survivors – will remain vulnerable on the streets.

Please send your donations to Kelseyville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 446, Kelseyville, CA 95451 (write Warming Center on the memo line) or online at https://www.gofundme.com/lma-warming-shelterministry.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions, to ask for a pickup of your donation or to volunteer to assist this local, life-saving project.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – After going a month without shaving to benefit a local group that supports cancer survivors, the Lakeport Police Department’s participating officers gathered on Friday afternoon to find out who would win best beard honors.

The officers participated in “No Shave November” to raise cancer awareness and and to help fundraise for their partner organization in the effort, Sponsoring Survivorship.

A total on what was raised wasn’t immediately available. All funds will go to Sponsoring Survivorship.

Sgt. Mike Sobieraj won the contest, with Officer Tyler Trouette getting runnerup.

Officer Andrew Welter won the “Better Luck Next Year” award.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office also participated in No Shave November and reported that deputies and correctional officers raised $4,000 for cancer research.

A video of the Lakeport Police Department winners’ selection and a discussion of their beard-growing techniques is featured above.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Kelseyville’s annual “Christmas in the Country” celebration lit up the downtown on Friday night.

Residents and visitors crowded the streets to visit merchants, have dinner and treats at local churches and restaurants, and to enjoy the evening’s signature event, the Parade of Lights.

The parade featured Santa, floats from many local groups and the famed “Bubble Machine.”

A video of the full parade is shown above.

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." – Ludwig van Beethoven

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – When our county's pioneers had any precious down-time to speak of after a hard day of working in the fields, or completing chores such as milking, canning, gardening or preserving, they may have enjoyed reading by lamplight, creative needlework or they may have played word games.

Pioneer children passed the time playing “hide the thimble,” they made shadow puppets and also played with rag or paper dolls.

Some lucky pioneers who had the means to transport a large instruments such as a piano or an organ may have had some precious time to practice that versatile instrument.

They may have had the means to purchase an organ constructed locally.

The Gunn Organ, one of which was donated to the historic Courthouse Museum in Lakeport by A. G. Fultz, was made by James A. Gunn, who had an organ factory called Gunn Organ and Furniture factory in the late 1800s in Kelseyville.

Others may have perfected their skills on a banjo, which was invented in the 1800s. Folks back then may have played the harmonica, which was common in the late 1800s.

Depending on cultural practices, some pioneers may have played the concertina, also called the accordion.

Dulcimers were played by some, and are related to the German scheitholt. The Dulcimer was perfected in America; and it hailed from Appalachia.

Another popular instrument was the fiddle, also known as the violin, which was sometimes used to accompany the dulcimer. Fiddles were probably one of the most popular instruments, since they easily crossed cultural groups.

Of course, we cannot forget the improvised tools that were used as musical instruments back in the day, such as a whiskey jug, washboard and the spoons – a popular percussion instrument.

According to the Library of Congress, the first hit song was "Home, Sweet Home."

The Library of Congress Web site explained, "Regarded as America's first bona fide hit song, presented here in a performance by the famous Australian soprano Nellie Melba. The song was adapted from Henry R. Bishop's 1823 opera "Clari, Maid of Milan," with lyrics by John Howard Payne. It was widely sung throughout the nineteenth century and subsequently recorded by many early recording artists."

Listen to "Home Sweet Home" on Library of Congress' link at https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox.6651 .

American popular music has had a way of making its way around the world. From the time Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder made it possible to record music, American music has long entertained and thrilled people world-wide.

From Scott Joplin's ragtime-style dance music to jazz, blues and swing music, American music has made its mark. American country music is said to have originated by bringing in African American spiritual music and Appalachian folk music.

I you want to time-travel and enjoy old-fashioned music, be sure to visit Lake County Museum's own Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum's monthly free Fiddler's Jam in their barn.

There you can soak up not only the toe-tapping music that our local musicians are fiddling for you but you can take a trip to times past in the old barn where the music is played. There you will view old-fashioned farm implements and antique tractors as well as a stagecoach nearby. Living history events are held there on the fourth Saturday of each month at noon.

The Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum is located at 9921 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville near Kit's Corner. Fiddler's Jams take place the first Sunday of each month from noon until two p.m. and is free, but donations are welcome.

For more information, view the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum Web site at http://elystagestop.com/.

For a list of old-timey songs, their lyrics as well as audio files, visit http://www.songsforteaching.com/themeunits/pioneerstheme.htm.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also formerly wrote for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

A team of astronomers used data from both the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia satellite to directly measure the 3D motions of individual stars in a nearby galaxy.

The achieved accuracy is better than anything previously measured for a galaxy beyond the Milky Way.

The motions provide a field test of the currently-accepted cosmological model and also measure the trajectory of the galaxy through space. The results are published in Nature Astronomy.

Astronomers from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and Leiden Observatory, both in the Netherlands, used data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia space observatory to measure the motions of stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy. The Sculptor Dwarf is a satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, 300 000 light-years away from Earth.

Only by combining the datasets from these two successful ESA missions – produced more than 12 years apart – could the scientists directly measure the exact 3D motions of stars within the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy. The is the first time this has been achieved with such accuracy for a galaxy other than the Milky Way.

Davide Massari, lead author of the study, described the precision of the research: “With the precision achieved we can measure the yearly motion of a star on the sky which corresponds to less than the size of a pinhead on the Moon as seen from Earth.”

This kind of precision was only possible due to the extraordinary resolution and accuracy of both instruments. Also the study would not have been possible without the large interval of time between the two datasets which makes it easier to determine the movement of the stars.

The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, which are among the most dark matter dominated objects in the Universe. This makes them ideal targets for investigating the properties of dark matter.

In particular, understanding how dark matter is distributed in these dwarf galaxies allows astronomers to test the validity of the currently-accepted cosmological model. However, dark matter cannot be studied directly.

“One of the best ways to infer the presence of dark matter is to examine how objects move within it,” explained Amina Helmi, co-author of the paper. “In the case of dwarf spheroidals, these objects are stars.”

The information gathered about the 3D motion of stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy can be translated directly into knowledge of how its total mass – including dark matter – is distributed.

The new results show that stars in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy move preferentially on elongated radial orbits. This indicates that the density of dark matter increases towards the centre instead of flattening out.

These findings are in agreement with the established cosmological model and our current understanding of dark matter, taking into account the complexity of Sculptor’s stellar populations.

As a side effect of the study, the team also presented a more accurate trajectory of the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy as a whole as it orbits the Milky Way.

Their results show that it is moving around the Milky Way in a high-inclination elongated orbit that takes it much further away than previously thought.

Currently, it is nearly at its closest point to the Milky Way, but its orbit can take it as far as 725 000 light-years away.

“With these pioneering measurements, we enter an era where measuring 3D motions of stars in other galaxies will become routine and will be possible for larger star samples. This will mostly be thanks to ESA’s Gaia mission,” concluded Massari.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A fatality was reported as the result of a vehicle crash late Friday afternoon near Upper Lake.

The wreck was reported just before 5 p.m. in the area of Highway 20 and Van Sleeper Road.

Initial radio reports stated that the crash involved two or three vehicles.

Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters arriving at the scene reported that the crash involved two vehicles and partially blocked the highway.

The first units at the scene and a battalion chief that arrived immediately after them reported over the radio that one person had died in the wreck.

Radio reports indicated there also was one person who was injured but up and walking around and another person who was uninjured.

Fire units remained on scene until shortly before 6:30 p.m., based on scanner reports.

Additional details were not immediately available.

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.