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A Christmas wish tree is being hosted by the city of Clearlake, and is located in the lobby of Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Now in its third year, the Clearlake wish tree is for children from around Lake County who are sponsored through Social Services/Child Protective Services and Lake Family Resource Center.
Ornaments on the tree include identification numbers – no names – and basic information about the particular child, including gender, age and a gift idea.
Wrapped gifts can be brought by Wednesday, Dec. 9, or community members can make a monetary donation to the city of Clearlake with “Christmas wish tree” noted on the check and organizers will do the shopping for them.
Vice Mayor Judy Thein, who has helped organize the tree over the last three years, said a shopping trip for some of the gifts is planned for Friday.
She said the donations and generosity to benefit the children this week has been “overwhelming.”
Thein said they still have 68 children they're collection gifts and donations for this holiday season.
“It's touching the community in so many ways,” she said of the effort.
Another wish tree effort is taking place at Umpqua Bank branches in Kelseyville, at 4280 Main St., and Lakeport, at 805 11th St.
Umpqua Bank also is collecting gifts for children in the care of Child Protective Services in Lake County. The children range in ages from 2 months to 17 years.
The Umpqua Bank trees in Kelseyville and Lakeport have approximately 150 names on them, according to bank officials. People can stop by the bank, choose a tag and sign the register, and then return the wrapped gifts and tags by Dec. 10. They also will take monetary donations and do the shopping.
For more information about Umpqua Bank's effort, call the Lakeport branch at 707-262-3342.
A number of other efforts are going on around the county to help those in need this holiday season.
The Upper Lake Fire Auxiliary Christmas Cheer Program is raising funds and collecting goods to distribute in its holiday baskets.
The effort includes a wish tree at the Westamerica Bank branch in Upper Lake, where they're seeking gifts of new toys and clothing for children age 1 month to 17 years.
Donations of food – particularly whole hams and turkeys – and funds are being sought. For information call Pet Acres at 707-275-2729 or Clarke's Collectibles in Nice at 707-274-9175.
This Saturday, Langtry Estate & Vineyards is hosting its annual Christmas charity drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the winery, 21000 Butts Canyon Road, Middletown.
They'll have music, pictures with Santa, shopping and collection of donations for local charities.
For information call Langtry Estate & Vineyards, 707-987-2385.
Then this Sunday, Dec. 6, the 17th annual Lake County Toy Run, will circle Lake County.
Bring an unwrapped new toy to the Kmart parking lot on S. Main Street in Lakeport and join the 11 a.m. fun run around the Clear Lake to the Kelseyville Lions Club. Lunch, sponsored by Clear Lake Road Riders, costs $10. For more information call 707-263-9000.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
On Tuesday, Dec. 15, the Lake County Community Development Department and members of the Middletown Area Plan Advisory Committee will host a community meeting at the Middletown High School to introduce the Draft Middletown Area Plan Update.
The meeting – which previously had been scheduled for Dec. 8 – will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Middletown High School multipurpose room, 20932 Big Canyon Road.
Information will be provided during the meeting concerning changes in policies, zoning and land
use designations that are proposed by the Draft Middletown Area Plan Update.
The draft area plan was developed by the Advisory Committee and the Community Development Department as an update to the area plan adopted in 1989.
When adopted, this area plan will provide an updated policy framework and plan to guide future growth within the planning area. The planning area includes the communities of: Middletown, Hidden Valley Lake, Anderson Springs, Coyote Valley and Guenoc Valley, along with the outlying rural areas.
The draft Middletown Area Plan Update is available for review on the Web at www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Community_Development/Documents .
Copies of the draft area plan are also available at the county libraries, and at the Community Development Department located on the third Floor of the Lake County Courthouse.
For more information, call the project's manager, Kevin Ingram, at the Community Development Department, 707-263-2221.
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LUCERNE – The full moon this week provided a great opportunity for local photographer Ron Keas.
Keas caught the full moon setting at 6 a.m. Wednesday from a Lucerne Park.
A frequent contributor to Lake County News, more of Keas' work can be seen at his Web site, www.3dviewmax.com/ .
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Mark George Sanders, 59, was arrested for felony hit and run following the incident, which occurred at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at the stoplight at Kit's Corner, the intersection of Highway 281 and Highway 29, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Tanguay.
Tanguay said 77-year-old Kelseyville resident Derek Millard was on his bicycle, stopped at the intersection's northeast corner during a red light.
Millard pressed the button for pedestrian crossing, and when the light turned green and the pedestrian crossing green light was activated, he began to cross the Highway, according to Tanguay.
At that time, Sanders was driving his 1997 Mazda pickup truck westbound on Highway 281 approaching the intersection. Tanguay said Sanders' light turned green and as he made a right turn onto northbound Highway 29 the front of his pickup truck struck Millard as he was crossing the road.
Millard was thrown off of his bicycle and Tanguay said Sanders fled the scene in his truck. A witness was able to get the information on the pickup truck and the information was broadcast over law enforcement radios.
A CHP officer spotted the Mazda pickup truck and pulled Sanders over, arresting him for felony hit and run, according to Tanguay.
Millard sustained moderate injuries to his side and hands as a result of this collision, Tanguay said.
The CHP reported that alcohol is not a factor in the collision, which is still under investigation by CHP Officer Mark Crutcher.
In addition to the hit and run charge, Sanders was booked on a misdemeanor probation violation, with bail set at $10,000, according to jail records. He remained in the Lake County Jail late Wednesday.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for convicted murderer James Robert Ivsich, 48, according to Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff attended the lifer hearing at California State Prison-Solano in Vacaville to argue against Ivsich’s release.
Ivsich was convicted of the second-degree murder of his 56-year-old mother, Patricia Erickson, Hinchcliff said. Judge Robert Crone Jr. Sentenced Ivsich to 16 years to life on Jan. 14, 1991.
Ivsich's minimum eligible parole date was March 31, 2001, said Hinchcliff, who attended previous parole hearings for Ivsich to oppose his parole.
According to investigation reports by the Clearlake Police Department, Ivsich was living with his mother at the time at their residence on Alvita Avenue in the city of Clearlake.
Ivsich was reportedly abusing alcohol and had been verbally abusive and threatening toward his mother on previous occasions according to witnesses.
When officers arrived at the Alvita Avenue residence on May 1, 1990, they found Erickson inside the residence with two stab wounds, one in her chest and one in her back. Ivsich was sitting in a chair with a bloody fixed blade knife lying next to him. His blood alcohol level shortly after the incident was .32, four times the legal limit for driving.
Ivsich initially told investigators he did not remember what happened except that he was home with his mother when she suddenly fell over with a knife in her back. He subsequently told investigators that he had left the house and when he returned home he gave his mother a hug and found a knife in her back.
He later told investigators he came home and an unknown intruder ran out of the house past him and he found his mother with a knife in her.
Ivsich was last denied parole in December 2008 for a three-year period. However, due to a change in the law on length of parole denials, Ivsich was given a new hearing on Nov. 30, Hinchcliff said.
At the hearing the parole commissioners agreed with Hinchcliff’s argument that Ivsich still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released at this time, and that based on his failure to obtain counseling and treatment while incarcerated, it was unreasonable to expect he would be ready for parole for at least five years.
His parole bid was subsequently denied.
Hinchcliff said Ivsich's next chance for parole and a parole hearing will not be until December 2014.
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UPPER LAKE – On Tuesday afternoon, a work crew installed the new arch leading into downtown Upper Lake.
The project is a key piece of the town's downtown revitalization project, which began over the summer.
County Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely said the arch installation “represents a major milestone of the Upper Lake Main Street Project.”
The $1.7 million downtown improvement project is upgrading both sides of Main Street, extending from Highway 20 down to the intersection at Second Street – including undergrounding of utilities and new sidewalks, county officials reported. Main Street also is being rebuilt and new streetlights have been installed.
Seely said improvements are still coming, with the column stone work and landscaping to be installed in the coming weeks.
Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Saloon owner Bernie Butcher commended Seely and the redevelopment agency for the work downtown.
While street repaving was under way last week, Butcher said the street was only shut down for a few days, and the crews did a good job of allowing access to Main Street businesses.
“When finished, it will be quite an attractive transformation,” he said of the project.
Butcher gave Seely kudos, noting that Seely has personally overseen the project every day during construction.
The arch and new streetlights are in place in time for the town's holiday celebration and Christmas parade, which takes place on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 5. Upper Lake's merchants and residents invite everyone to come and join in the fun.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
