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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control is holding an adoption event this week, featuring a number of dogs ready for new homes.
You can take home a dog with the county adoption fee waived through this Friday, April 26.
Females dogs cost $131 to $146, depending on size, which affects spaying costs; with total fees for males totaling $121.
Those costs include spaying and neutering, microchipping, vaccinations and a county license. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
Female pit bull mix
This female pit bull mix is 6 months old.
She has a short brown and white coat, gold eyes, weighs nearly 26 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 7, ID No. 35880.
Male Chihuahua mix
This male Chihuahua mix is 2 and a half years old.
He has floppy ears, a short tan coat and weighs nearly 7 pounds.
He’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 35885.
Shepherd mix
This male shepherd mix is 4 years old.
He has a short white coat and has not yet been altered.
He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 36078.
Shepherd-beagle mix
This female shepherd-beagle mix is 2 years old.
She has a short black and tan coat, weighs 35 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 15, ID No. 36065.
Male retriever mix
This male retriever mix is 4 years old.
He has a short yellow coat and brown eyes, weighs 46 pounds and has been neutered.
Shelter staff reported that he’s a very mellow, gentle and well-mannered dog. He gets along great with older, mellow dogs.
Find him in kennel No. 16, ID No. 35734.
Pit bull terrier mix
This female pit bull terrier mix is 6 months old.
She has gold eyes, weighs nearly 30 pounds and has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 36064.
Female terrier mix
This female terrier mix is 1 year old.
She has a short black and white coat, a docked tail, weighs 20 pounds and has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 35882.
‘Sparkles’
“Sparkles” is a 2 year old border collie mix.
She has a short black and white spotted coat, floppy ears and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 20, ID No. 35947.
‘Bella’
“Bella” is a 3 year old pit bull terrier mix.
She has a short brown coat, weighs 48 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 26, ID No. 36074.
Pit bull terrier mix
This female pit bull terrier mix is 2 years old.
She weighs nearly 42 pounds, has a short white and brown brindle coat, and has been spayed.
Shelter staff said she’s a very sweet dog and is great with other dogs. She doesn't appear to have been given much attention but she loves a lap to crawl into, and has a low energy level.
She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 35823.
‘Hunter’
“Hunter” is a 2 year old male wirehaired terrier mix.
He has a short black and white coat, weighs nearly 58 pounds and has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 36079.
Please note: Dogs listed at the county shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Grebe photographs, handouts and notecards of Clear Lake’s famous Western and Clark’s grebes will be shown at the 19th annual Heron Days event Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5.
Sponsored by the Redbud Audubon Society, Heron Days offers both birding boat tours and an Audubon nature education exhibit area.
The grebe display shows the courtship synchronized “dancing” of grebe pairs across the lake surface, colonies of floating nests, and baby grebes riding on a parent’s back.
Grebe notecards are available for sale at the Redbud Audubon exhibit, as are birding field guides and other nature books.
Tickets are still available for the unique 90-minute Audubon-guided pontoon boat birding tours that will be held on both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s trips will leave from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. from the boat launch docks at Lakeside County Park in Kelseyville. The boat tours will go north along the shoreline of Clear Lake to the heron rookery near Corinthian Bay.
On May 5, boats will leave during the same hours from the boat launch docks at Redbud Park in the City of Clearlake. The boat tours will visit Anderson Marsh where a variety of birdlife can be seen, including some nesting herons.
Each boat will have experienced Audubon guides to explain the birds viewed on the tours.
Boat tour tickets cost $20 per person and are available for online purchase at www.redbudaudubon.org or by calling 707-263-8030.
Anticipation is building as Comet ISON plunges into the inner solar system for a close encounter with the sun in November 2013.
Blasted at point-blank range by solar radiation, the sungrazer will likely become one of the finest comets in many years.
When NASA’s Swift spacecraft observed the comet in January 2013, it was still near the orbit of Jupiter, but already very active. More than 112,000 pounds of dust were spewing from the comet’s nucleus every minute.
It turns out, some of that dust might end up on Earth.
Veteran meteor researcher Paul Wiegert of the University of Western Ontario has been using a computer to model the trajectory of dust ejected by Comet ISON, and his findings suggest that an unusual meteor shower could be in the offing.
“For several days around January 12, 2014, Earth will pass through a stream of fine-grained debris from Comet ISON,” said Wiegert. “The resulting shower could have some interesting properties.
According to Wiegert’s computer models, the debris stream is populated with extremely tiny grains of dust, no more than a few microns wide, pushed toward Earth by the gentle radiation pressure of the sun. They will be hitting at a speed of 125,000 miles per hour.
Because the particles are so small, Earth’s upper atmosphere will rapidly slow them to a stop.
“Instead of burning up in a flash of light, they will drift gently down to the Earth below,” he said.
Don’t expect to notice. The invisible rain of comet dust, if it occurs, would be very slow. It can take months or even years for fine dust to settle out of the high atmosphere.
While the dust is “up there,” it could produce noctilucent clouds (NLCs).
NLCs are icy clouds that glow electric-blue as they float more than 80 km above Earth’s poles. Recent data from NASA’s AIM spacecraft suggests that NLCs are seeded by space dust.
Tiny meteoroids act as nucleating points where water molecules gather; the resulting ice crystals assemble into clouds at the edge of space itself.
This is still speculative, but Comet ISON could provide the seeds for a noctilucent display. Electric-blue ripples over Earth’s polar regions might be the only visible sign that a shower is underway.
Wiegert noted another curiosity: “The shower is going to hit our planet from two directions at once.”
When Earth passes through the debris stream, we will encounter two populations of comet dust. One swarm of dust will be following the Comet ISON into the sun.
Another swarm will be moving in the opposite direction, pushed away from the sun by solar radiation pressure. The streams will pepper opposite sides of Earth simultaneously.
“In my experience, this kind of double whammy is unprecedented,” said Wiegert.
Bill Cooke, lead scientist at NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, said there’s little danger to Earth-orbiting spacecraft.
“These particles are just too small to penetrate the walls of our satellites, and they don’t stand a chance against the heavy shielding of the ISS,” Cooke explained.
However, he added, mission operators will be alert around Jan. 12 for possible anomalies.
Sky watchers should probably be alert, too. The odds of seeing anything are low, but Comet ISON could prove full of surprises.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Model A Club on Wednesday gave Lower Lake High School a gift for the ages.
The gift, 83 years old, was a Model A truck, which, like a graying matinee idol, showed its age.
But Bill Gabe’s automotive class at the school will soon change that.
“We want younger people in our club so we’ve donated this pickup and they’re going to restore it,” said Jerry Eddy, president of the Lake County club. “We’ll be in contact with them throughout the restoration. We’ll help them with all the parts.”
Ultimately, the truck will take on the appearance of the numerous classic Model As that many of the 63-member Lake County club members drove on to the Lower Lake High School campus and could have just come off Henry Ford’s assembly line.
They came in a variety of body colors and upholstery. All were well polished and doubtlessly better looking than they did in 1930. Most were valued in excess of $20,000. No one doubted that the old black pickup truck given to Lower Lake High will command such a price.
It was a unique gift for a unique high school program.
“This is the only high school in the state that we know of that has a program in which the American Society of Engineers certifies kids when they get out of school,” said Eddy. “So when the kids graduate they can go to work.”
Model A Ford Club of America President Alex Janke, who came from Concord for the ceremony at the school, praised the Lake County club.
“This kind of thing we do for local communities all over the country,” Janke said. “It is not the first Model A we’ve given away, but for a club the size of the Lake County Club this is a huge gift. They do a lot of things for the local community in a big way. This is a very generous club.”
Earlier, the Lake County Model A club donated $500 to Lower Lake to offset tool costs.
“They (Lower Lake High School) also have a Model T that was donated to them by Jonas Oil. And it is the original truck that old man Jonas used to deliver fuel oil,” said Eddy.
“This is the kind of car that is restored by common guys,” Janke said. “And yet they are just as much fun – in fact more fun to drive – as high-end cars like Rolls Royce, Pierce Arrow and Packard.”
In his seven years at Lower Lake High, Gabe has established a model program for aspiring automotive mechanics.
“The (Konocti Unified School) superintendent and the board said ‘make us a program,’” Gabe recalled. I told them we needed all new equipment and a building that’s worth a darn.”
The district, he added, wrote a grant – approved for $3.4 million – for the new building.
“We do paint, body, everything,” Gabe said. “We have all the modern equipment. The kids will have a customer come in, fill out a work order and do whatever’s needed for $20 an hour.”
The Model A will be the property of Lower Lake High School and will function as a vehicle to carry the homecoming queen and king and the like.
Gabe’s eyes swept over the restored Model As lined up outside his building.
“It will look like one of these,” he said.
Email John Lindblom at
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A woman who allegedly was involved in the hate crime assault of two black men last summer has reached a plea agreement.
Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said defendant Vanessa Michaels, 25, of Novato, pleaded to a felony count of preventing a witness from reporting a crime and admitted an allegation that her act benefited the criminal conduct of Barbarian Brotherhood street gang members.
“This plea agreement is just, in that it takes into account the degree of this defendant’s involvement in this terrible crime,” Ravitch said. “It sends a clear message that if a person assists in a crime, even if they are not the actual perpetrator, and even if it is after the fact, they will be held accountable under the law and punished appropriately.”
The charges resulted from an assault that took place near the McDonald’s on Santa Rosa Avenue in South Santa Rosa.
On Aug. 26, 2012, at approximately 2 a.m. it is alleged that Aaron Welch of Clearlake and co-defendant Salvatore Bordessa of Windsor both wielded knives and assaulted two male victims, Ravitch said.
Welch stabbed one of the victims in the arm and leg requiring stitches to close each wound. During the assault Welch yelled racial slurs and “BBH”, the common initials of a white supremacist criminal street gang, the “Barbarian Brotherhood,”, of which Welch is a member, according to the case.
The evidence at preliminary hearing showed that Michaels took a witness’ phone, preventing the police from being called during the assault.
Michaels’ sentencing is set for May 14. It is agreed to that she will be placed on probation for three years.
Welch was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison on April 11, as Lake County News has reported.
Bordessa will be back in court on April 25 to set trial dates, Ravitch’s office said. Michaels faces up to three years in prison if she violates her probation terms.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Jason Riehl. Sgt. John Cregan and Detective Kyle Philp of the Santa Rosa Police Department headed the investigation.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The unemployment situation across Lake County and California showing continued gradual improvement based on a new report.
The California Employment Development Department’s Friday report on March unemployment showed that the state’s overall rate dropped to 9.4 percent, down from 9.6 percent in February and 10.7 percent in March 2012, with nonfarm jobs increasing by 25,500 during the month for a total of 14,592,100.
Lake County’s unemployment rate in March was 14 percent, giving it a statewide rank of No. 42. The county’s rate was down from 14.5 percent in February and 16.7 percent in March 2012, according to Dennis Mullins, of the Employment Development Department’s North Coast Region Labor Market Information Division.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s March unemployment rate was 7.6 percent, the lowest national rate since December 2008. It had declined from 7.7 percent in February and 8.2 percent from March 2012.
California’s rate for March also is the lowest since December 2008, when it was 9.2 percent, the Employment Development Department reported.
Mullins said Lake County’s wage and salary employment declined 80 jobs between February and March, however Lake is up 230 jobs over the year, with eight industry sectors gaining jobs or remaining unchanged, and three declining for the period.
There were 3,470 residents of Lake County unemployed in March, as compared to 3,660 the previous month and 4,220 in March 2012, according to the data.
Mullins said year-over job growth occurred in farm (+340), information (+10) and government (+50), with declines reported in manufacturing (-10), trade, transportation and utilities (-10), and leisure and hospitality (-130). No change occurred in mining, logging and construction; financial activities; professional and business services; private educational and health services; and other services.
Statewide, construction; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; and government added 41,100 jobs over the month. Mining and logging; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; and other services reported job declines totaling 16,600 over the month, the state reported.
Lake’s neighboring counties had the following unemployment rates in March: Colusa, 23.9 percent;
Glenn, 13.7 percent; Mendocino, 9 percent; Napa, 6.7 percent; Sonoma, 7.3 percent; Yolo, 11.1 percent, the state reported.
Colusa’s unemployment rate was the highest in the state, with Marin’s 5.2 percent the lowest, according to the report.
The Employment Development Department reported that there were 532,831 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the March survey week, compared with 487,497 last month and 570,089 last year.
At the same time, new claims for unemployment insurance were 58,842 in March 2013, compared with 41,698 in February and 55,393 in March of last year, the state said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at