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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair has compiled its annual wish list for equipment.
Businesses and individuals can write off the full market value of equipment, supplies or funds that they donate to the fairgrounds, just as they would any other donation to a non-profit or a government agency.
“We will happily supply the proper documentation for a donor’s tax preparer,” said fair chief executive officer Richard Persons.
Although the fair is operated by a state agency, the 49th District Agricultural Association, it receives no tax dollars.
“The association depends upon revenues it derives from activities on the fairgrounds and from donations by businesses and individuals in order to survive,” said Persons. “People often think that their state income taxes help to support the fairgrounds, but that isn’t the case. There are no tax dollars of any sort, all funds are generated locally.”
After the publication of the wish list in previous years, the fair received donations of thousands of dollars worth of landscaping equipment, painting equipment, a backhoe tractor, a bucket lift truck, fencing, 4-inch steel pipe, a 12,000 gallon water storage tank, more than 70 new 55 gallon drums, a strap banding tool with strap supplies, several hundred hours of labor, and some cash.
Items on the fair’s current wish list include a small refrigerator approximately 12 cubic feet in size, large two or three door commercial refrigerators, a turf vacuum, two weed-eaters, a commercial paper shredder, ten full sheets of exterior plywood, a commercial carpet cleaner/vacuum, 40 gallons of white latex paint, a small tractor with a bucket.
Also needed are 120 feet of 36” culvert pipe, fifty cubic yards of road base, 25 cubic yards of concrete, 200 yards of pea gravel, and various roofing materials. The fair will accept donations of most types of tools or equipment in good condition, supplies, labor, or cash donations.
Businesses or individuals interested in donating should stop by or call the fair office at 707-263-6181. Winter hours at the fair office are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The office is located at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.
Buildings and outdoor areas at the fairgrounds are available for events all year round. The annual Lake County Fair takes place Labor Day weekend each year.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A retiring Lake County Superior Court judge will be celebrated at a party early next month.
The retirement celebration for Judge David Herrick will take place beginning at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3, in his Department 1 courtroom on the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Herrick took the bench in 1994, winning election on the retirement of Judge John Golden.
He announced earlier this year that he planned to retire and so did not seek reelection.
Michael Lunas of Lakeport won the judicial race in November and will succeed Herrick on the Department 1 bench. His oath of office ceremony also is set for January.
Community members are invited to drop in during the Jan. 3 event, enjoy some cake and offer Judge Herrick congratulations on his retirement.
Scientists this week unveiled an unprecedented new look at our planet at night.
A global composite image, constructed using cloud-free night images
from a new NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite, shows the glow of natural and human-built phenomena across the planet in greater detail than ever before.
Many satellites are equipped to look at Earth during the day, when they can observe our planet fully illuminated by the sun.
With a new sensor aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched last year, scientists now can observe Earth’s atmosphere and surface during nighttime hours.
The new sensor, the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), is sensitive enough to detect the nocturnal glow produced by Earth’s atmosphere and the light from a single ship in the sea.
Satellites in the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program have been making observations with low-light sensors for 40 years. But the VIIRS day-night band can better detect and resolve Earth’s night lights.
The new, higher resolution composite image of Earth at night was released at a news conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
This and other VIIRS day-night band images are
providing researchers with valuable data for a wide variety of previously unseen or poorly seen events.
“For all the reasons that we need to see Earth during the day, we also need to see Earth at night,” said Steve Miller, a researcher at NOAA’s Colorado State University Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. “Unlike humans, the Earth never sleeps.”
The day-night band observed Hurricane Sandy, illuminated by moonlight, making landfall over New Jersey on the evening of Oct. 29.
Night images showed the widespread power outag
es that left millions in darkness in the wake of the storm.
With its night view, VIIRS is able to detect a more complete view of storms and other weather conditions, such as fog, that are difficult to discern with infrared, or thermal, sensors. Night is also when many types of clouds begin to form.
“NOAA’s National Weather Service is continuing to explore the use of the day-night band,” said Mitch Goldberg, program scientist for NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System. “The very high resolution from VIIRS data will take forecasting weather events at night to a much higher level.”
Unlike a camera that captures a picture in one exposure, the day-night band produces an image by repeatedly scanning a scene and resolving it as millions of individual pixels.
Then, the day-night band reviews the amount of light in each pixel. If it is very bright, a low-gain mode prevents the pixel from oversaturating. If the pixel is very dark, the signal is amplified.
“It’s like having three simultaneous low-light cameras operating at once and we pick the best of various cameras, depending on where we’re looking in the scene,” Miller said.
The instrument can capture images on nights with or without moonlight, producing crisp views of Earth’s atmosphere, land and ocean surfaces.
Flickr slideshow of more Suomi NPP “Earth at Night” imagery.
“The night is nowhere as dark as we might think,” Miller said. And with the VIIRS day-night band helping scientists to tease out information from human and natural sources of nighttime light, “we don’t have to be in the dark anymore, either.”
“The remarkable day-night band images from Suomi NPP have impressed the scientific community and exceeded our pre-launch expectations,” said James Gleason, Suomi NPP project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The Arctic region continued to break records in 2012 – among them the loss of summer sea ice, spring snow cover, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
This was true even though air temperatures in the Arctic were unremarkable relative to the last decade, according to a new report released this week.
“The Arctic is changing in both predictable and unpredictable ways, so we must expect surprises,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, during a press briefing at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
“The Arctic is an extremely sensitive part of the world and with the warming scientists have observed, we see the results with less snow and sea ice, greater ice sheet melt and changing vegetation,” Lubchenco said.
Lubchenco participated in a panel discussion that presented the annual update of the Arctic Report Card, which has, since 2006, summarized the quickly changing conditions in the Arctic. A record-breaking 141 authors from 15 countries contributed to the peer-reviewed report.
Major findings of this year’s report include:
- Snow cover: A new record low snow extent for the Northern Hemisphere was set in June 2012, and a new record low was reached in May over Eurasia.
- Sea ice: Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September 2012 set a new all-time record low, as measured by satellite since 1979.
- Greenland ice sheet: There was a rare, nearly ice sheet-wide melt event on the Greenland ice sheet in July, covering about 97 percent of the ice sheet on a single day.
- Vegetation: The tundra is getting greener and there’s more above-ground growth. During the period of 2003-2010, the length of the growing season increased through much of the Arctic.
- Wildlife and food chain: In northernmost Europe, the Arctic fox is close to extinction and vulnerable to the encroaching Red fox. Additionally, recent measurements of massive phytoplankton blooms below the summer sea ice suggest that earlier estimates of biological production at the bottom of the marine food chain may have been ten times lower than was occurring.
- Ocean: Sea surface temperatures in summer continue to be warmer than the long-term average at the growing ice-free margins, while upper ocean temperature and salinity show significant interannual variability with no clear trends.
- Weather: Most of the notable weather activity in fall and winter occurred in the sub-Arctic due to a strong positive North Atlantic Oscillation, expressed as the atmospheric pressure difference between weather stations in the Azores and Iceland. There were three extreme weather events including an unusual cold spell in late January to early February 2012 across Eurasia, and two record storms characterized by very low central pressures and strong winds near western Alaska in November 2011 and north of Alaska in August 2012.
“Popular perceptions of the Arctic as a distant, icy, cold place that has little relevance to those outside the region are being challenged”, said Martin Jeffries, co-editor of the 2012 Report Card and Arctic science adviser, Office of Naval Research & research professor, University of Alaska-Fairbanks. “As snow and ice retreat, the marine and terrestrial ecosystems respond, and talk of increased tourism, natural resource exploitation, and marine transportation grows. The Arctic Report Card does a great service in charting the many physical and biological changes.”
Apart from one or two exceptions, the scientists said the air temperatures were not unusually high this year relative to the last decade.
Nevertheless, they saw large changes in multiple indicators affecting Arctic climate and ecosystems; combined, these changes are strong evidence of the growing momentum of Arctic environmental system change.
The record-breaking year also indicates that it is unlikely that conditions can quickly return to their former state.
“The record low spring snow extent and record low summer sea ice extent in 2012 exemplify a major source of the momentum for continuing change,” added Jeffries. “As the sea ice and snow cover retreat, we’re losing bright, highly reflective surfaces, and increasing the area of darker surfaces – both land and ocean – exposed to sunlight. This increases the capacity to store heat within the Arctic system, which enables more melting – a self-reinforcing cycle.”
In 2006, NOAA’s Climate Program Office introduced the State of the Arctic Report which established a baseline of conditions at the beginning of the 21st century. It is updated annually as the Arctic Report Card to monitor the often-quickly changing conditions in the Arctic. To view this year’s report, visit http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/ .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As the result of an investigation that began early this year, a Lower Lake High School teacher was taken into custody on Friday on charges of possessing child pornography and child molestation.
Clearlake Police detectives arrested Jeremy Duane Stock, 37, at his Loch Lomond residence at 9:15 a.m. Friday on an arrest warrant issued by the Lake County Superior Court, according to Sgt. Nick Bennett.
The warrant was for a felony count of possession or control of child pornography and a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting children, Bennett said.
Bennett said that in January of this year information was brought forward to Lower Lake High School Principal Jeffrey Dixon that Stock was having inappropriate interactions with students.
Dixon contacted the school’s resource officer, Clearlake Police Officer Andrew Jones, and advised him of the situation, according to Bennett’s report. The investigation was then turned over to Clearlake Police Department Det. Ryan Peterson.
Additionally, Bennett said Stock was placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
During the investigation, Det. Peterson completed and served several search warrants approved by the Lake County Superior Court on Stock’s residence, Bennett said.
Bennett said computers, several cellular phones, mass storage devices along with other evidence were seized from Stock’s residence during the service of the search warrants.
He said some of the evidence that was seized was forensically analyzed and, as a result, it was found that Stock was in possession of child pornography.
At this time, it is believed that none of the child pornography discovered in this investigation involved any children from the Konocti Unified School District, Bennett said.
Konocti Unified School District staff and administration were completely cooperative during the investigation, Bennett added.
Stock was booked just after 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Lake County Jail, with a bail set at $100,000, according to jail records. He is due to appear for arraignment in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
Anyone with information in regard to this case or cases of a similar nature involving Stock is encouraged to contact Clearlake Police Department Det. Ryan Peterson at 707-994-8251, Extension 320.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The holidays are in full swing in Lake County, with this weekend filled with a variety of things to do in every corner of the county.
Santa will be visiting with community members, there will be music and caroling, fun with friends and a Hanukkah celebration,
The following is a roundup of events set to take place Friday evening, and Saturday and Sunday.
FRIDAY, DEC. 7
East Lake School Parent Teacher Community Association ‘Photos with Santa’
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The East Lake School Parent Teacher Community Association will host its “Photos with Santa” event on Friday, Dec. 7.
The fun holiday event will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the gym at East Lake School, at the corner of Highway 20 and High Valley Road in Clearlake Oaks. Organizers said hours will be extended if necessary.
Proceeds go to support school field trips. Bring the family for a visit and pictures with Santa Claus.
There is no charge to see Santa. Pictures are printed on site with photo holder card for $7. Additional prints cost $7 per sheet or $12 for a CD. There also will be a bake sale, with students preparing tasty desserts to help support this worthy cause, as well as hot chocolate, melted snowman and hot apple cider for sale.
For more information call Charmaine at 707-685-5438.
Kelseyville Christmas in the Country
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Kelseyville Business Association will present the 19th annual Merchant Open House and Parade of Lights Friday, Dec. 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Main Street.
There will be music, decorations, refreshments, wagon rides, caroling, photos with Santa, the county’s biggest light parade at 6:30 p.m. followed by the lighting of the town Christmas tree.
From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. visit the Kelseyville Presbyterian Church’s chili and chowder dinner or stop by St. Peter’s Catholic Church and enjoy hot dogs and beans and other holiday treats.
Lower Lake Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Open House
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lower Lake Historical School Preservation Committee presents its annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Open House, Friday, Dec. 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum, 16435 Morgan Valley Road.
The tree lighting ceremony will be at 6 p.m., followed by an old-fashioned sing-a-long around the player piano. Bill Barrows also will grace the event with his guitar playing. There will be homemade refreshments, holiday displays and merriment. The museum is located at 16435 Main St. in Lower Lake.
For more information please call 707-995-3565 or email
SATURDAY, DEC. 8
Clear Lake High School Band pancake breakfast
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Clear Lake High School Band will hold a fundraiser pancake breakfast on Saturday, Dec. 8.
From 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. they will serve up breakfast at the Terrace School Cafeteria on Lange Street.
On the menu are ham/sausage, pancakes, eggs, coffee/milk and juice expertly prepared by Lakeport Kiwanis.
The requested donation is $6 per person; tickets are available at the door.
Proceeds will support the band program’s educational trip to Los Angeles in February.
Anderson Marsh State Park Christmas open house
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Be sure to bring your kids or grandkids to visit Santa, enjoy Holiday goodies and listen to local musicians at the Saturday, Dec. 8, annual Christmas at the Ranch Open House at the Anderson Marsh State Historic Park near Lower Lake.
The event will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Santa Claus will be there to greet children and Christmas songs will be performed by local entertainers with the public invited to join in.
Music starts at 10 a.m. with members of the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association (AMIA) playing, followed by David Neft at 11 a.m. then Harry Lyons, Tom Nixon, Rick McCann, and others playing at noon. Joan Moss will arrive at 1 p.m. to close out the fun day of music and Christmas cheer.
Clearlake Rotary Club Christmas dinner
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Rotary Club of Clearlake will host a free Christmas dinner and celebration at Burns Valley School on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The dinner will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Burns Valley School, 3620 Pine Ave.
The Rotary will serve ham with all the fixings, pumpkin pie, egg nog, tea and coffee.
Santa Claus will make a special appearance. Each child will receive a gift and a photo with Santa.
That same day, the school will host the annual “Warm for the Winter” coat exchange. People are welcome to bring coats that no longer fit and exchange them at this event.
Christmas Craft Faire
NICE, Calif. – The Sons of Italy will host a Christmas Craft Faire on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The faire will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sons of Italy Hall, 2817 E Highway 20, Nice.
More than 20 local vendors will sell their Christmas products.
Hot dogs and Italian sausage sandwiches will be available for purchase.
For more information call 707-274-2244.
Christmas in Middletown
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The annual “Christmas in Middletown” celebration will take place on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The fun will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown Middletown.
Shops will be open late and Santa Claus will arrive in the plaza on a fire truck at 5:30 p.m.
Hospice Services of Lake County will hold a “Light Up a Life Celebration” at 6:30 p.m.
There will be Dutch oven goodness at Studio 175, a walking Christmas tree, craft vendors at the multipurpose, carolers and more.
For more information visit www.christmasinmiddletown.com .
Stone House Museum open house and Christmas celebration
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Stone House Museum open house and Christmas celebration is Saturday, Dec. 8, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in conjunction with the Hidden Valley Lake Association (HVL) tree lighting.
A horse-drawn carriage will transport visitors between Greenview Restaurant on Hartmann Road and the Stone House on Hidden Valley Road. Refreshments and entertainment will be available in HVL’s activity center.
Although the museum is usually open for docent tours the second Saturday of each month, Stone House will not be open for tours during the day of this special holiday event.
Located at 18174 Hidden Valley Road in HVL Stone House is a California State Historical Monument. It was restored and is maintain by the Stone House Historical Society, www.lakecountystonehouse.com .
Clearlake’s Christmas by the Lake
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake will host its annual “Christmas by the Lake” celebration on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The fun begins at 5:30 p.m. with the Clearlake Christmas Parade.
The parade starts at Redbud Park and ends at Austin Park. Santa's arrival will be celebrated by the gazebo.
The lighting of the Christmas tree takes place afterward.
The event is free and open to the public.
Hanukkah celebration
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Freedom Worship Center will host a Hanukkah celebration on Saturday, Dec. 8. The celebration will begin at 6 p.m. A potluck will follow.
The Freedom Worship Center is located at 5565 Main St. in Kelseyville. For more information, call Pastor Greg Hartman at 707-279-6700.
Upper Lake Christmas celebration
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The town of Upper Lake will hold its annual holiday celebration in downtown on Saturday, Dec. 8. The free event will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Main Street.
The tree lighting will take place at 6 p.m., followed by a holiday light parade at 6:30 p.m.
The evening also will feature caroling, a 4-H barbecue and refreshments. Santa also will arrive to take Christmas wishes and photos.
The event is sponsored by Westamerica Bank and the Upper Lake Community Council, and is a benefit for the Upper Lake Auxiliary Fire Department Toy Drive.
Mystery of the Christmas Star
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium will host its seasonal presentations of “The Mystery of the Christmas Star” 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sundays through Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013.
Journey back 2.000 years to Bethlehem as they seek to discover which ancient star was the one the wise men followed to find the baby Jesus.
This modern retelling of the Christmas story also investigates possible dates for the birth of Christ and looks at recorded sightings of significant astronomical events during this important time in history.
What signs in the sky could have been so intriguing as to cause the wise men to cross a desert in search of the newborn King?
“Mystery of the Christmas Star” will answer all of these questions and more, while charming audiences of all ages.
Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for children under age 12.
For more information, visit www.taylorobservatory.org and check its “Planetarium Programs and Movies Page.”
The Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane, Kelseyville.
‘Miracle on 34th Street’
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County Theatre Co. will present “Miracle on 34th Street” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, in the Gard Street School Multipurpose Room, 3890 Gard St., Kelseyville.
The play was written by Mountain Community Theater in Ben Lomond and is based on the Twentieth Century Fox motion picture of the same name.
Tickets are available at Watershed Books, 305 N. Main St., Lakeport; Wildhurst Vineyards, 3855 Main St., Kelseyville; and 30 minutes before performances as the door. Reserved seats cost $15, general $12, seniors and LCTC members save $2 and children under age 5 attend for $5 and tickets for a family of four cost $25.
For information, call 707-279-2595 or 707-998-0224.
Middletown Martha Webster Christmas Dance
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Central Park Committee will present the Martha Webster Christmas Dance on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The dance will take place from 8 p.m. to midnight, right after “Christmas in Middletown,” at the Middletown Lions Clubhouse on Central Park Road.
Light refreshments will be served and the Lions will offer a no-host bar. DJs Mike and Mary will provide the music.
Presale tickets cost $10 and are available at Catfish Coffee in Clearlake, Middletown Florist and Gifts and Studebaker’s Coffee in Kelseyville.
Tickets cost $12 at the door.
SUNDAY, DEC. 9
‘Hotcakes for Heroes’ Operation Tango Mike fundraiser
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Operation Tango Mike and the Kelseyville Lions Club will hold the “Hotcakes for Heroes” pancake breakfast on Sunday, Dec. 9.
It will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Lions Club, 4335 Sylar Lane.
On the menu are pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, juice and coffee.
The suggested donation is $7 per person.
‘Miracle on 34th Street’
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County Theatre Co. will present “Miracle on 34th Street” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, in the Gard Street School Multipurpose Room, 3890 Gard St., Kelseyville.
Tickets are available at Watershed Books, 305 N. Main St., Lakeport; Wildhurst Vineyards, 3855 Main St., Kelseyville; and 30 minutes before performances as the door. Reserved seats cost $15, general $12, seniors and LCTC members save $2 and children under age 5 attend for $5 and tickets for a family of four cost $25.
For information, call 707-279-2595 or 707-998-0224.
My Divas Christmas Concert
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The My Divas Christmas Concert will be held at Middletown Community United Methodist Church on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m.
Their songs are from Renaissance-era England, Italy, France and Spain, and also include Christmas favorites.
My Divas is an a Capella women’s singing group and the concert will include 20 songs.
Wassail and cookies will be served and a “love offering” will be collected for My Divas.
Seating will be limited to 150; contact email
For more information, contact Claudia Listman at 707-350-4016.
Mystery of the Christmas Star
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium will host its seasonal presentation of “The Mystery of the Christmas Star” at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday.
Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for children under age 12.
For more information, visit www.taylorobservatory.org and check its “Planetarium Programs and Movies Page.”
The Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane, Kelseyville.
Cobb Mountain to host ‘Christmas in the Village’ Dec. 9
COBB, Calif. – Cobb Mountain’s “Christmas in the Village will be held on Sunday, Dec. 9.
The celebration will begin at 6 p.m. in the parking lot at Brick Oven Pizza, 16295 Highway 175.
There will be cookies, hot cocoa, hot cider, lighting the tree and caroling with David Neft.
Santa Claus arrives to visit with everyone at 6:30 p.m.