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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Rotary Club’s annual seafood boil is a major community service project for student of Konocti.
Carlé's work crew at this event was run by teacher Dan Maes. On the first day students set up all the tables for people to dine. The next day, after the tables were set with utensils, etc., each student then waited on two people.
“The students at Carlé were a joy to work with and they worked very well together, we were very happy with all the students that served,” said Bill MacDougall, who ran the seafood boil. He also is the former Konocti Unified superintendent and principal of Carlé. “I’m very pleased with the students at Carlé and look forward to working with them again.”
Altogether, the seafood boil is a great opportunity not only to earn community service credits, but to get some work experience under your belt for your future.
“The students from Carlé were hardworking and everyone worked well with each other,” said Ryan O’Bryan, a student from Carlé who worked at the seafood boil.
Kelly Smith, another Carlé student who worked at the seafood boil, mentioned how well the students worked together.
Michael Descalso, a teacher at Blue Heron, will be traveling to Morocco after going through a two-step application process and an interview for a Fulbright Grant from U.C. Berkeley.
Mr. Descalso was one of 15 teachers selected to participate in this “study abroad” program that lasts for one month during the summer, from June 24 to July 24.
The group will be studying the different ethnic groups, cultures and religions of Morocco. Located in North Africa, Morocco is a very diverse country and was a major historical, cultural, ethnic and religious crossroad.
This is an all-expense paid trip by U.C. Berkeley. Mr. Descalso and the 15 other teachers will each be staying in a riad (traditional house) in the old walled-in part of the city called the Madina.
During this trip there will be excursions to the Sahara Desert, the Atlas Mountains, Casablanca and an ancient fishing village on the Atlantic Coast.
The main focus of this trip will be to study how all of these religions, ethnicities and cultural groups interacted and thrived together for more than 2000 years. There will also be some free time built in for the applicants to explore the region.
After this trip Mr. Descalso will create lesson plans involving the information that he will learn on this trip. He said he would then be better able to inform students regarding world religions, geography and language.
He said that implementing personal experiences into his lessons was his favorite kind of teaching.
In conclusion, this should be a really cool and knowledge filled trip for Mr. Descalso, but the real benefactors regarding the cultures that thrived in this region of Africa bordering the Atlantic will be his students.
Ingrid Larsen, a counselor from Woodland Community College, visited Carlé to present the students with an opportunity to earn some college credits to be put toward graduation from high school.
To show our thanks for this opportunity she made available we made her a plaque. Thank you, Ingrid, we appreciate it.
Student of the week is Jose Carillo. Congratulations and good work on earning Carlé's Student of the Week.
“Jose is a consummate student. He comes every day, he works hard, is totally focused and we at Carlé are glad to have such a great student,” said teacher Alan Siegel.
Given that we didn’t have an article last week there were two students of the week: congratulations Marcos Saucedo and Taylor Churchill.
Alan Siegel nominated Taylor and said, “Taylor follows her own lead and really has worked hard to get her credit, you can really tell she takes her education seriously.”
Lance Christensen, who nominated Marcos, said “ I nominated Marcos because he showed how hard working he was, he also demonstrated excellent behavior and finally he seemed really focused on earning his credits.”
Gold level students for the fourth grading period were Alvaro Duran, Nicholas Kieffer, Alfred Lewis and Samantha McCullough. Good work and keep it up and enjoy your off-campus lunch.
Silver level students were Vanessa Gonzales, Donovan Harvey, Cecilia Brown, Micaela Martinez, Aries McDonald, Alex Parriott, Haley Ramirez, Teagan Tompioner and Shaina Yaquinto.
Just as this article was going to print student council ran an activity, more on this in next week’s article.
Nicholas Phipps is a student at Carlé Continuation High School.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A fundraising effort has been launched to help the dozens of families still displaced due to flooding and damaged infrastructure at the Will-O-Point Resort in Lakeport.
On Friday, Supervisor Rob Brown announced that he is working to raise funds to assist the residents who remain evacuated in replacing food and other items that were lost when they were flooded out.
“As renters with simple means, few if any, had insurance,” he said.
Will-O-Point was one of four Lakeport neighborhoods placed under mandatory evacuation on Feb. 20 due to the flooding, as Lake County News has reported.
Since then, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, which has jurisdiction over mobile home and trailer parks, red-tagged all 41 residences in the lakeside park. Water, sewer and power infrastructure are damaged, making it unsafe for them to return to live in the park in the short-term.
Many of those same residents met with county and state officials on Wednesday to find out what assistance is being made available to them as they wait to return home, which could be three to four months out, based on initial estimates.
The city has come up with a plan to transition them from the evacuation shelter at the Lakeport Seventh-day Adventist Church, which closes at month’s end, to longer-term housing situations, including rooms at Konocti Harbor Resort in Kelseyville.
Brown said he’s also working with local vineyard and orchard owners to look at other housing options.
In the meantime, the evacuees on Wednesday had reported needing assistance to replace food and other essentials that they lost when they left their homes.
On Friday, Brown announced he had launched the fundraising effort to respond to those concerns.
Brown said he’s worked out an arrangement with the Lakeport Grocery Outlet for gift cards to be purchased for the residents in order for them to get “an initial hand up for them and their families.”
He said anyone wishing to contribute can make a check out directly to Grocery Outlet and he will make arrangements to pick it up and distribute the cards directly to the survivors.
Anyone who would like to donate or to get more information is invited to call Brown at 707-349-2628.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Northshore teenager sustained major injuries in Potter Valley on Friday when he fell off a skateboard while being pulled by a pickup.
James Derr, 17, of Nice was injured in the accident, which occurred just before 1 p.m. Friday, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.
The CHP said Garret Pierachini, 19, of Potter Valley was driving a 1987 Chevrolet pickup at slow speeds eastbound on Main Street west of Eel River Road, with Derr – who was on a skateboard – holding onto the bed of the pickup.
Derr lost his balance and fell off the skateboard and underneath the pickup, which struck him while he was on the ground, the CHP said.
The CHP said Derr sustained major injuries and was lifeflighted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.
No drug or alcohol involvement is suspected in the incident, the CHP said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office reported Friday that the official canvass for the Lake County Fire Protection District’s Measure D parcel tax is under way.
A special election on the tax was held on Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.
The preliminary results Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley released Tuesday night indicated that the measure narrowly failed. It requires 66.7 percent of the vote to pass.
However, Fridley said 303 ballots still remain to be counted and the Tuesday results are not final.
The breakdown of ballots still to be counted is as follows:
– Vote-by-mail (or absentee) ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 135.
– Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before March 7 and received by March 10: 87.
– Vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons: 49.
– Provisional ballots: 32.
Fridley said provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots requiring further review may be entirely
counted, partially counted or not counted.
The process of certifying election results, also known as the official canvass, is mandated by state law to make sure the public can have confidence in the integrity of the final results, Fridley said.
The official canvass period lasts 30 days. Fridley said there are many checks and balances when certifying the election results.
She said her office does not update results between the unofficial Election Night results and the final certified results of the Election. “We do not interrupt the careful steps that we take during the canvass to release interim unofficial results.”
Fridley said interim unofficial results have no bearing on the final outcome of Measure D. Only final certified results will impact the district measure as to whether it receives the required percentage of the vote to pass.
When Daylight Saving Time begins on March 12, many motorists may find themselves short of sleep and a danger on the roadways.
The California Highway Patrol wants the public to be aware of the risks associated with drowsy driving.
“When clocks are set forward in the spring, people often lose an hour of sleep,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “Drowsy driving can have the same effect on a person as drinking alcohol, with equally deadly consequences. The skills required to be a safe driver are significantly reduced when you have not had enough sleep.”
Preliminary 2016 information shows that 33 people died and more than 3,800 were injured in collisions caused by fatigued or sleepy drivers on California roadways.
Data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Reporting System also indicates that sleepy or fatigued drivers were responsible for more than 6,700 collisions.
Sleep-related collisions are most common in young people, who tend to stay up late, sleep too little, and drive at night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Nationally, 55 percent of all collisions in which the driver fell asleep involved drivers 25 years of age and younger.
Signs of drowsy driving include trouble focusing, heavy eyelids, an inability to remember the last stretch of road just driven, yawning constantly, head bobbing and drifting from one’s traffic lane.
According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60 percent of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 37 percent admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year.
To prevent drowsy driving, the National Sleep Foundation recommends:
– Get enough sleep before driving. Most adults need seven to nine hours.
– Do not drive if you have been awake for 24 hours or more.
– If you feel sleepy, drink something with caffeine.
– Let a passenger take over the driving.
– If all else fails, find a safe place to take a short nap by exiting the freeway or pulling into a rest stop, or stay somewhere for the night.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service, and security to the people of California.
Special needs trusts, or SNTs, are for special needs beneficiaries who receive needs-based government benefits, such as SSI and Medi-Cal.
Assets held in a fully discretionary SNT do not count as available resources for determining needs based eligibility because the trustee has complete discretion over whether, when and how to distribute assets.
The purpose of a SNT is to supplement needs based government benefits and make the SNT assets last longer.
Family members of the special needs beneficiary sometimes serve as trustee of a SNT. But they do not always know and understand what is involved in administering special needs trusts that a trustee must understand. Let’s discuss.
First, know what type of special needs trust is involved. Is it a first party SNT or is it a third party SNT?
First party special needs trusts are established when a special needs beneficiary receives an inheritance, gift or a personal injury award in their name.
Federal law requires both that first party SNTs be used for the “sole benefit of the special needs beneficiary” and that any unused funds remaining after the beneficiary dies be used to payback Medi-Cal Estate Recovery. The same is not true of a third party SNT.
Third party SNTs are established by family and/or friends in advance to receive gifts made either at death or during lifetime.
Direct gifting to the special needs would otherwise result in disqualification from benefits and end up with a full or partial spend down and/or funding a first party or pooled SNT managed by a nonprofit organization.
Second, understand how distributions from the SNT affect the beneficiary's ongoing receipt of SSI and Medi-Cal benefits.
Distributions for the beneficiary's food and shelter (including utilities) are treated as “in kind support and maintenance” for SSI. Such distributions reduce the beneficiary's SSI benefits (check) dollar for dollar, but only up to the presumed maximum value.
In 2017 the presumed maximum value for an eligible individual is $265 and for an eligible couple is $387. Thus, the SSI reduction for in kind support and maintenance often does not completely eliminate SSI benefits.
Sometimes it is necessary to make in kind support and maintenance distributions and accept the reduction in SSI because a beneficiary cannot afford to live on SSI alone. Provided the SSI reduction does not totally eliminate all monthly payments then the continued receipt of any SSI monies remains an ongoing link for Medi-Cal eligibility.
Third, understand that the SNT trustee must exercise appropriate discretion, and not simply make distributions because the beneficiary or anyone else asks.
Exercising discretion means balancing the pros and cons of distributions, bearing in mind that the purpose of the SNT is to meet the unmet needs of the beneficiary while first using non trust resources (government benefits) to satisfy as many needs as possible.
Fourth, understand the tax, accounting and investment duties. The trustee must account to the beneficiary, his representative, and with first party SNTs to the court. A trustee must keep well organized financial records and work with an attorney, tax preparer, and an investment advisor.
Clearly the duties of a trustee require a competence and dedication not always possessed by every SNT Trustee. So what alternatives exist?
Fortunately, professional fiduciaries and trust companies exist who for a fee can manage such assets. Also, when the SNTs sole asset is money a variety of pooled SNTs managed by nonprofits exist who can manage such money.
Anyone confronting these SNTs issues needs the advice of a qualified attorney to evaluate these options and to implement the best course of action.
A SNT trustee usually needs the guidance of an attorney, tax preparer and investment advisor.
Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at