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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Was it the wine, the pork noshes or just plain Lake County hospitality that created that special Lake County wine experience?
The 2014 Lake County Wine Adventure the last weekend in July was hands down the best one yet, according to organizers.
And to prove it, the Lake County Winery Association (LCWA) invited participants to cast their votes for winery with best food and wine, winery with best hospitality and winery with best overall experience.
The votes are in and the ballots have been counted: Gregory Graham Wines was the must-visit hot spot for 2014.
Gregory Graham Wines and host Greg Graham swept all three contest categories.
Graham’s Baconfest featured four specially selected wines paired with delicious pork offerings to bring out the best in the wines.
Guests sipped the wine and savored the pairings in the patio area shade under the welcome mister spray to quench the afternoon sun. Out on the crush pad, revelers could sit a spell and enjoy their wine or dance to the music of the California Cowboys.
Chacewater Winery and Olive Mill and Six Sigma Ranch and Winery shared second and third place recognition, respectively, in the contest categories.
Chacewater’s crush pad was rocking and rolling. Always a favorite Wine Adventure stop, guests enjoyed sampling Chacewater’s awardwinning wines and noshed on their famous pork carnitas.
Chacewater won second place in the winery with best food and wine category. They enjoyed third place ranking for winery with best hospitality and winery with best overall experience.
Six Sigma Ranch & Winery rounded out the winners with a second place finish in the winery with best hospitality and best overall experience and third place in winery with best food and wine.
Six Sigma pulled out all of the stops with a pig roast accompanied by their tasty Tempranillo for this year’s Wine Adventure. Guests enjoyed tours in the Six Sigma pinzgauer, feasting their eyes on the beauty of the historic ranch lands.
The best winery contest was a new addition to the annual Wine Adventure this year.
“This idea was suggested by Megan Hoberg of Cache Creek Vineyards as a way to recognize and celebrate the hard work of the winery teams that put this event on each year,” according to association Director Terry Dereniuk.“While top honors went to Graham, Chacewater and Six Sigma, all of the participating wineries had fans who cast their votes in their favor and enjoyed the warm welcome of the Lake County wine experience.”
The dates for the 2015 Wine Adventure have been set.
Mark your calendar for May 16 and 17, 2015, for the next Wine Adventure weekend.
Other upcoming events include Give the Gift of Wine Holiday Open House Dec. 5, 6, and 7, and the public tasting and People’s Choice on July 25, 2015.
LCWA works to promote the wines of Lake County’s high elevation region. Membership is open to wineries, winegrape growers, and individuals or businesses interested in promoting the Lake County wine industry.
For more information about upcoming events, sponsorship or membership opportunities, call 707-357-5237 or visit www.lakecountywineries.org .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Residents in south Lake County are invited to attend informative town hall meetings featuring news and updates on Measure O and Measure P, the two marijuana cultivation ballot measures appearing on the November election ballot.
The meetings – which will take place on Thursday, Oct. 9, and Thursday, Oct. 16 – will offer information about the ballot measures and revisit the benefits of Measure N, voted in by a majority of Lake County citizens in the June primary election.
The first event is the monthly Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Middletown Community Center Activity Room in the new county senior center and library building located on Calistoga Road (Highway 29) in downtown Middletown.
This meeting is open to the public.
Hidden Valley Lake residents are encouraged to attend a special meeting at the Hidden Valley Lake Community Center in Hidden Valley Lake at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, hosted by the Protect Our Lake County Committee, which has formed to oppose measures O and P.
The one-hour meeting will focus on the potential impacts of measures O and P within the community and within the Hidden Valley Lake Home Owners Association.
Measure O, titled the “Medical Marijuana Control Act,” and Measure P, “The Freedom to Garden Human Rights Restoration Act of 2014” are both cannabis cultivation measures authored by pro-marijuana activists.
A yes vote in November for either O or P results in more lenient regulations for cannabis cultivation while a no vote keeps the voter-approved Measure N county ordinance in place. That measure, among other things, prevents outdoor grows within community growth boundaries and also governs the size of indoor grows.
District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock, will be on hand to answer questions along with Beau Moore of Cobb, Monica Rosenthal of Middletown and other committee members representing Protect Our Lake County.
If you are unable to attend but would like more information contact Rosenthal at monica@protectourlakecounty or go to www.ProtectOurLakeCounty.com .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – In honor of National Fire Prevention Week, Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will host open houses and open fire stations on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 9 a.m. to noon.
“Open houses provide the community and fire service personnel an opportunity to discuss fire and life safety actions, outside of an emergency incident,” Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Scott Upton said.
Chief Upton invites all to visit the fire house, take a tour of the fire station, see the equipment close up and visit with Cal Fire personnel.
The 2014 National Fire Prevention Week theme is “Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives! Test Yours Every Month.”
Some families choose the first day of the month or the last day of the month to check their smoke alarm. What day of the month does your family test their smoke alarm?
Chief Upton and fire service personnel encourage you and your family to stop by the stations Oct. 11.
The following is a list of Cal Fire facilities hosting open houses on Oct. 11.
LAKE COUNTY
– Middletown, 15522 Lake St.
– Kelsey Cobb, 8948 Highway 175
– Clearlake Oaks, 140 Spring Road
NAPA COUNTY
– Yountville, 7401 Solano Ave.
SONOMA COUNTY
– Cazadero, 4600 Cazadero Highway
– Hilton, 12604 River Road
– The Sea Ranch, 960 Annapolis Road
– Cloverdale, 1001 Cloverdale Blvd.
– Santa Rosa, 2210 W. College Ave.
– Occidental, 3100 Acreage Lane
– Glen Ellen, 14000 Sonoma Highway
– Petaluma, 655 Lohrman Lane
– Cloverdale, 1001 Cloverdale Blvd.
YOLO COUNTY
– Brooks, 14023 Highway 16
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Wednesday that it has reached a discrimination settlement agreement with a Napa Valley apartment owner and charged the owners of a Lenexa, Kansas, apartment complex with discrimination as a result of management at the two sites allegedly putting overly restrictive rules into place to control the free movement of children.
Allegations include management placing restrictions on children playing outside, and in one case forcing children to clean the manager’s office toilet when the youths were found outside unaccompanied by an adult.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. This includes setting rules that discriminate against families with children.
“Placing special rules on families with children unfairly singles them out and creates a hostile living environment that is authoritarian and unequal,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “The Fair Housing Act protects the rights of families with children to enjoy their homes the same way as other households.”
In Napa Valley, seven affected families and the nonprofit group Fair Housing of Napa Valley filed complaints with HUD alleging that the manager at the River Park Manor Apartments cursed at children when he found them playing outside unaccompanied, and then ordered the children to his office and instructed them to sit on the floor.
HUD’s charge further alleges that once at the office, the manager required the children to clean the office toilet and pick up trash around the complex, and threatened them by telling them that their families may be evicted if they did not comply with his instructions.
The apartments also had a rule prohibiting children from using the swimming pool during certain hours.
Under the terms of the agreement, the owners and manager of River Park Manor Apartments will pay Fair Housing of Napa Valley $3,750; waive four months of rent for five of the families (a total monetary value of $19,000); pay two former tenants a total of $7,000; eliminate the rule that limits pool usage by children during the day; and obtain fair housing training for employees.
In a separate case, HUD charged the owners and property managers of The Reserve Apartments in Lenexa, Kansas, with violating the Fair Housing Act when they allegedly instituted a policy that prohibited children under the age of 16 from freely using the common areas of the property.
According to HUD’s charge, the property’s policies allegedly required children to be supervised by an adult at all times and prohibited youth from playing anywhere on the property except the playground.
The rules also allegedly prohibited kids from playing any team sports on the property, and from riding bicycles, skateboards, or scooters on the property.
One of the affected families was a single mother who had a 14-year-old son. When she complained that her son was essentially on “lockdown,” the management office allegedly refused to renew the family’s lease in retaliation.
A United States Administrative Law Judge will hear the charge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court.
If you have been trying to buy or rent a home or apartment and you believe your civil rights have been violated you can report it online at www.hud.gov/fairhousing , call 1-800-669-9777, TTY 1-800-927-9275 or by downloading HUD’s free housing discrimination mobile application, which can be accessed through Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
A Tuesday afternoon crash claimed the life of a Cal Fire airtanker pilot working on a wildland fire near Yosemite National Park.
As of Wednesday morning, the pilot's name had not been released. The pilot’s family requested the name be withheld until all immediate family could be notified.
“This crash underscores just how inherently dangerous wildland firefighting is and the job is further compounded this year by extreme fire conditions,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire director. “We have secured the crash site and will be cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board on their investigation.”
Cal Fire officials said contact was lost with the airtanker as it was flying over the Dog Rock Fire, which broke out Tuesday afternoon and has burned about 130 acres near Yosemite.
Emergency personnel responded to the last known location of the aircraft, and were able to access the crash scene Thursday night after working through difficult terrain. After arriving at the scene they found the pilot had died.
The S-2T tanker – known as Tanker 81 – was based out of the Hollister Air Attack Base.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the pilot’s family during this difficult time,” said Jeff Cavarra, program director for DynCorp International.
CAL FIRE operates 22 other Grumman S-2T airtankers across California.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – An online fundraiser has been started to help a family whose home burned last Wednesday morning.
The fundraiser can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/help-my-sisters-family-get-in-another-home-after-fire-/242492 .
Nikki Wilbur launched the effort to raise $3,000 in order help her sister, Amber Alves, who along with husband, Lucas, 2-year-old daughter, Julianne, mother-in-law Gloria Alves and Gloria's boyfriend, Alex Ramirez, were displaced when their home at 8925 Soda Bay Road was destroyed last week.
“It just happened so fast,” Amber Alves said.
Amber and Lucas Alves have been living at the address for about three years, she said.
On the morning of Oct. 1, Amber Alves – who works as a dispatcher for Gossett Alarm in Lakeport – got off work and arrived at around 12:40 a.m. to the modular home, which was located at the Bayview Terrace mobile home park.
Everyone was settled in for the night. Then, she said, “We heard something crackling outside.”
She looked out to see the modular was on fire. Everyone was awakened, they grabbed the baby and got out as quickly as they could.
Firefighters were dispatched to the incident just before 1 a.m., according to radio reports. Fire officials reported that, by the time firefighters arrived, the home was fully involved.
“We don't know what caused it,” Alves said.
She credited firefighters with doing a great job of keeping the fire from spreading into the wildland on Mt. Konocti or from damaging neighboring homes.
Alves went back into the house to find a cat, which at that point she couldn't find, and managed to get out uninjured.
While some possessions were rescued, many sentimental and valuable personal items were lost, including all of their pictures of Julianne, also known as “Zabo.”
Their missing orange cat would turn up a few days later, coated with black from the fire, Alves said.
Overall, she said her family was “super lucky” to have gotten out safely.
Now, they're trying to find a new place to live.
Red Cross offered them temporary housing, but Alves said they didn't want to take it because they felt others might need it more. Instead, they are staying with her sister-in-law, but quarters are cramped, as nine people are now sharing that two-bedroom home.
“We just want to get into a new place,” Alves said.
Red Cross gave them enough money to each buy a few outfits, and they have received clothing donations and items for the baby.
“We have to replace everything,” Alves said.
Gossett Alarm, Alves said, “has been great to us, too,” and is helping them out.
For those wanting to make donations of clothes and other items, Alves can be contacted through the fundraiser Web page or at 707-245-1448.
Email Elizabeth Larson at