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LAKE COUNTY – Thursday marks a special day for Lake County – the 149th anniversary of its founding.
On May 20, 1861, California's seventh governor, John Downey, approved the act organizing Lake County, which was formed from land taken from Mendocino, Napa and Colusa counties, according to the 1881 edition of the “History of Napa and Lake Counties.”
With Clear Lake – believed to be 2.5 million years old, which may make it North America's oldest lake – and Mt. Konocti at its center, Lake County has a land area of 1,327 square miles, according to county officials. It currently is estimated to have about 65,000 residents, according to the US Census Bureau.
On the first Monday in June 1861, the county held its first election to organize its county government, with Lakeport chosen as the county seat, the history explained.
A two-story, clapboard wooden courthouse was built in downtown Lakeport, which local historian Donna Howard said burned down – likely because of arson – in 1867 and was replaced with the building today known as the Courthouse Museum.
To put Lake County's founding in historical perspective, the county came into being in the same year as the Civil War broke out. Earlier in the year, the Confederate States began to form and Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States.
Also on May 20, 1861, North Carolina became the last state to secede from the United States, according to the online North Carolina Museum of History.
Lake County once had been known as the Hot Springs Township of Napa County. Howard thinks a new county may have been formed due to expediency and convenience.
If anyone had to conduct legal business, they had to go all the way to Napa which, in the 1800s, “was a long trip,” Howard pointed out.
Lake County's sesquicentennial will take place next year.
Lake County Deputy Administrative Officer Debra Sommerfield, who heads the county's marketing department, said the county is looking at organizing events to mark the 150th anniversary next year.
Budgets currently are tight, but Sommerfield noted, “We definitely would like to do something in celebration.”
More details about Lake County's history can be found at www.lakecounty.com.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County/City Area Planning Council (Lake APC) will host two community workshops on Saturday, June 5, to review the proposed Lake County 2030 Regional Blueprint Plan.
The workshops are the culmination of almost two years of community visioning and scenario modeling to look at how the county should grow and develop in the next 20 years.
The goal for the Lake County 2030 Regional Blueprint Plan is to guide local government planning and policies over the next 20 years, particularly for land use and transportation.
The final plan will serve as guidance to local governments as the county grows to an estimated 101,000.
According to Lisa Davey-Bates, executive director of the Lake APC, “The Preferred Growth Scenario incorporates the values and vision of Lake County’s residents as they were expressed in previous workshops. Now is the time to see if we got it right.”
The workshops are identical and both scheduled on the same day: Lakeport, June 5, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Fritch Hall, Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St.; Lower Lake, June 5, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Lower Lake Historic School House Museum, 16435 Main St.
Registration and refreshments start 30 minutes before each workshop start time.
To entice Lake County residents to attend, there will be door prizes, including 10 pairs of Chicken-Q tickets donated by People Services at the Lakeport workshop and restaurant gift certificates at the Lower Lake workshop.
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about and comment on the proposed “Preferred Growth Scenario,” a vision of Lake County in 2030 that focuses most growth within existing communities.
Also included are some new development areas that incorporate smart growth features such as community centers, bike paths and a range of housing choices.
Lake APC invites all Lake County residents to one of these workshops. There is no RSVP needed.
For more information or to make a special request for accommodation if you have a physical, transportation or language need, please call Terri Persons at Lake County/City Area Planning Council, 707-263-7799, 711 (TTY), or e-mail her at
More information about the Lake 2030 Blueprint process is available on the Lake APC Web site, www.lakeapc.org.
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Meet at 2 p.m. in the picnic area in Highland Springs Park.
The father of Dr. Neal Woods, now 96, purchased the Highland Springs property in 1943 and renovated the remains of the Highland Springs Hotel for their family home.
The hotel and resort once was known as “The Great Sanitarium of the West.”
Woods has a wonderful scrapbook of old photos from days gone by, collected over the years. He also has many memories of the locations of the hotel, the pool, the riding stables, the medicinal springs and much more Highland Springs information.
Please come and enjoy and bring your questions.
Dr. Woods is looking forward to this gathering to pass along this information for all to enjoy and make sure that the memories of Highland Springs Resort will not be forgotten.
Poor health or rain will cancel.
Please RSVP and remain in contact Saturday evening and again Sunday morning.
For more information contact Kim Riley at 707-279-0343 or email
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The object was found on Siegler Canyon Road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Tanguay.
At around 3:30 p.m. the CHP was en route to investigate, Tanguay said.
By that time, the road already had been closed down, he added.
Drivers along Siegler Canyon Road had to go back to Butts Canyon Road, while those traveling along Highway 29 reported that the CHP was turning back westbound traffic on the Glasgow Grade near Lower Lake.
CHP Sgt. Scott Moorhouse said a bomb squad came from Napa County to investigate the device.
They concluded that the object was not a pipe bomb but a GPS device, Moorhouse said.
He said the affected roadways were reopened later in the evening.
This past January, a facsimile device found along Highway 20 east of Highway 16 by Caltrans workers required a bomb squad be called out, as Lake County News has reported. That item also was not a bomb.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The body of Steven Wade Smith, 45, was located Saturday afternoon after a search that lasted beginning early in the morning, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Early Saturday at about 4:30 a.m., sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of Redbud Park in the city of Clearlake to assist Clearlake Police with a reported sunken boat and recovery of its occupants, Bauman said.
He said that other agencies responding to the incident included the Lake County Fire Protection District, a dive team from the Northshore Fire Protection District, the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol and Lake County Search and Rescue.
Dive team resources from the Napa, Mendocino, and Sonoma County Sheriff’s Departments also were requested for what would later turn out to be the recovery of a drowning victim, he said.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived at Redbud Park, Clearlake Police officers were already on scene after responding to reports of shouting coming from somewhere on the water. Bauman said that two of the three occupants of what was described as an older 15-foot bass boat that had reportedly sunk had been rescued from the water by another fisherman involved in a catfish derby and taken to shore.
He said the two people pulled from the water were identified as 40-year-old Jennifer Christensen and 44-year-old Jeffrey Cruz, both of Oroville. Their rescuer was identified only as Johnny Stevenson.
While medics attended to Christensen and Cruz onshore, Bauman said a Clearlake officer boarded Stevenson’s boat and went back out to look for the third occupant, later identified as Smith.
Bauman said Stevenson and the Clearlake officer searched the area for more than a half hour but were unable to locate Smith but they did locate the sunken vessel submerged about 5 feet below the surface of the lake. The boat ultimately was recovered and towed in by a Northshore Fire Dive Team boat out of the Clearlake Oaks station.
As additional resources arrived at the scene throughout the morning, search and dive teams were deployed on the lake to look for Smith, Bauman said. By early afternoon, Smith had been located by a Napa County dive team by use of sonar equipment. He was submerged in about 20 feet of water, nearly a mile offshore. Smith’s body was ultimately recovered and brought to shore at 2:20 p.m. by the Napa County dive team.
According to the surviving occupants of the boat, Christensen, Cruz and Smith had launched Smith’s boat from Redbud Park the previous evening and they had been on the lake fishing the entire night for the catfish derby. Bauman said that t about 10 p.m. they docked at Clearlake Oaks to weigh their fish and noticed water had accumulated in the bilge area of the boat.
They pumped the water out and proceeded back out to continue fishing. Bauman said all three went to sleep while out on the lake and at some point, Christensen woke up and discovered more water in the boat.
Smith began motoring in slowly towards shore but as he did, the boat took more and more water on. When it was clear that the boat was sinking, all three occupants abandoned the vessel, Bauman said.
Smith was reportedly having trouble staying afloat and despite Cruz’s repeated efforts to help keep Smith on the surface, Smith kept pulling Cruz down with him and Cruz eventually had to let him go to preserve his own life. Bauman said Christensen and Cruz were in the water for 15 to 30 minutes before Stevenson rescued them.
Stevenson told deputies he was also out fishing for the catfish derby with a friend and relative. They also were sleeping on board their boat while anchored off of Redbud Park when, at about 4:30 a.m., they awoke to people yelling for help somewhere out on the water, according to Bauman's report.
Bauman said that Stevenson immediately proceeded toward the yelling and was able to locate and rescue both Christiansen and Cruz from the water. They continued searching for Smith but could not find him so he returned to shore with the two survivors.
Christensen and Cruz were both transported to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake where they were treated and released, Bauman said.
The cause of the sunken fishing boat is pending further investigation, according to Bauman, and the manner and exact cause of Smith’s death is pending autopsy results.
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Starting May 1, the Census Bureau launched its door-knocking operation, where census takers personally visit households that didn't mail back a completed 2010 Census questionnaire.
The personnel-intensive operation – referred to as non-response follow-up (NRFU) – is part of the bureaus' wide-scale effort to count every person living in the United States.
Nationally, an estimated 48 million addresses will be visited through July 10. An estimated 1.8 million addresses will be visited in Northern California. The Census Bureau’s Northern California region stretches from Santa Cruz County, to the south, and the Oregon border, to the north.
About 635,000 census takers have been deployed around the nation for this operation, with more than 19,000 in Northern California.
All enumerators were hired locally, typically working in the neighborhoods where they live. As US Census employees, enumerators take an oath to not reveal any identifiable information with anyone. Violating the oath could result in a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
Opportunists and scammers may want to take advantage of this once-a-decade national effort.
If a 2010 Census worker knocks on your door, here are some ways to verify that person is a legitimate census taker:
Census takers wear an ID badge that contains a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark.
Census takers may carry a black and white canvas bag with a Census Bureau logo.
Census takers will NEVER ask to come into your home.
Census takers will present residents a notice titled “Your Answers Are Confidential,” which explains the U.S. Code, Title 13, guaranteeing the safeguarding and confidentiality of information collected by the Census Bureau.
Census workers will ask the same questions that appear on the 2010 Census form. It should take less than 10 minutes if people cooperate with census takers.
Census workers will NEVER ask for money or donations, Social Security number, credit card information, bank account numbers, immigration or citizenship status.
The Census Bureau NEVER requests for information via e-mail.
The Census Bureau does not conduct surveys or censuses on behalf of political parties or organizations.
In most cases, census workers will make initial visits during afternoons, early evenings and weekends.
Census workers will make up to six attempts at each housing unit address to count possible residents. This includes leaving notifications of the attempted visit at the house or apartment door, in addition to trying to reach the household by phone to conduct the interview or schedule an in-person interview.
The Census Bureau is urging cooperation and patience with the census takers, as this is the best way to ensure that everyone is counted properly.
If asked, the census taker will provide the supervisor’s contact information and/or the Local Census Office phone number for verification. If residents feel threatened, they should call local law enforcement or 911.
Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census takes place every 10 years. Census data determine boundaries for state and local legislative and congressional districts.
More than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed annually based on census data to pay for local programs and services, such as schools, highways, vocational training, emergency services, hospitals and much more.
Learn more about the 2010 Census at www.2010census.gov.
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