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The Wiggins bills that he signed were:
SB 2, which authorizes a vote of the Pierce's Disease and Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board on whether the industry assessment should be continued needs to be passed in 2008. PD and the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter continue to be a problem for California winegrape growers. Industry funds are a key component, along with state and federal funds to pay for research and containment. This bill is sponsored by the Family Winemakers of California, the California Association of Winegrape Growers), and the Wine Institute.
SB 215, which requires local agency formation commissions to consider "sustainable community strategies" before making boundary decisions. Local agency formation commissions (LAFCOs) control the boundaries of cities and special districts, operating under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act and are considered by the courts to be the "watchdog" over these boundary changes. One of the purposes of LAFCOs is to "discouraging urban sprawl." To guide their boundary decisions, LAFCOs must adopt "spheres of influence" for cities and districts, designating their future service areas and boundaries. LAFCOs’ boundary decisions must be consistent with these spheres of influence. SB 215 is supported bu the California Association of LAFCOs, Mendocino LAFCO, Planning & Conservation League, Sonoma LAFCO, and Trust for Public Land.
SB 260, which increases the cap on the fee assessed on each gallon of motor oil manufactured in California from two cents per gallon to five cents to cover the costs of administering the existing California Department of Food and Agriculture, Division of Measurement Standards, Petroleum Products Program. The motor oil fee has not been increased in 29 years (1979). The current rate is not sufficient to cover the costs of the current program. SB 260 is sponsored by the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association.
SB 620, which requires a compulsory survey during the time of re-licensure in order to monitor the Osteopathic Doctors' (D.O.s) workforce. In 2001, AB 1586 (Negrete McLeod) required the California Medical Board to administer a compulsory medical doctor (M.D.) physician survey with re-licensure. The survey includes information regarding: weekly hours in patient care, practice zip code, training status, self-designated specialties, and Board certification. The survey has provided a total count of physicians by specialty (i.e. primary care or specialist) statewide, and by county. SB 620 would require a similar compulsive survey for the D.O. Board in order to provide more information on all primary care physicians practicing in California in order to better address recruitment and retention of physicians, and to identify services needed in specific regions. SB 620 is sponsored by the Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of California and supported by the California Medical Association.
SB 635, which allows Sonoma County to increase a number of fees for the purpose of funding domestic violence prevention programs. SB 635 will also extend Solano Countys Family Justice Program until 2011. The purpose of raising the fees for marriage licenses, certified copies of marriage certificates, fetal death records, and death records issued by the county clerk, is to fund oversight and coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention and prosecution efforts. Currently, similar pilot programs exist in Alameda and Solano but are subject to sunset in 2010. The program would also sunset for Sonoma County in 2015.
The Wiggins bills that he vetoed were:
SB 158, which would have required health insurance plans that currently cover cervical cancer screening, to also provide coverage for the genital human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for girls ages 11 - 26. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. HPV is also the only known cause for cervical cancer.
SB 272, which would have updated academic and career counseling statutes and trains career and vocational education counselors to advise students of all their postsecondary options (including career technical education, multiple pathways, or college education). The California education counseling statutes have not been updated in over two decades. By updating the education counseling statutes and specifying the roles of career counselors, SB 272 would enhance existing counseling programs in order to better address the academic and career needs of students. Furthermore, SB 272 would encourage school counselors to obtain training opportunities to learn about innovative concepts such as multiple pathways and Career Technical Education (CTE).
Visit Wiggins' Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/ .
CLEARLAKE OAKS – A Clearlake Oaks man was arrested late Saturday night for murder.
Alberto Alejandro Montes, 24, was taken into custody just before midnight by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, according to booking records.
He's charged with one count of murder, with bail set at $500,000, plus an additional felony charge of bringing a weapon into the Lake County Jail.
Earlier Saturday evening, sheriff's deputies, Clearlake Police and Northshore Fire paramedics responded to an incident at the Elem Indian Colony in Clearlake Oaks in which a male subject was reported to have been shot in the chest.
Northshore Fire has arrived at a location on Sulphur Bank Drive at the colony at about 6 p.m. to fight a three-acre wildland fire, according to Battalion Chief Pat Brown.
Brown said Northshore's personnel were busy with firefighting operations and didn't witness the incident.
However, Brown said an advanced life support engine was pulled from the fire and responded to the medical call for the shooting at the colony.
Brown referred questions about the shooting to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which did not respond on Sunday to requests for more information about the arrest or the shooting.
The victim in the shooting, which occurred shortly before 7 p.m., died. By that time a suspect already had been taken into custody.
Montes, whose profession is listed as a cook, was booked into the jail at 12:20 a.m. Sunday, according to jail records.
A tentative arraignment date for Montes has been set for Tuesday.
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released the statewide results last month as part of the 2008-09 Accountability Progress Report.
The API is the state's accountability system, while the federal government requires the Adequate Yearly Progress and Program Improvement. O'Connell's office reported that both the API and AYP are based upon statewide assessment results from the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program and from the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE).
Students go through the API testing in the spring.
“Our accountability report confirms that most California schools are continuing to make solid gains in academic achievement,” O'Connell said. “For the seventh year in a row schools at every level have made real progress toward the statewide API target of 800, and almost half of our elementary schools have met or exceeded this goal.”
The API is a numeric index that ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000 with a statewide target of 800.
The testing tracks subgroups including racial/ethnic subgroups, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, English learners and students with disabilities, which must meet growth standards for a school to meet its API growth target.
O'Connell reported that the API results also show “a slight narrowing” of the achievement gap between Hispanic or Latino and African American students and their white or Asian peers.
According to the report, 42 percent of all California schools are now at or above the overall statewide target API of 800, up six percentage points from the year before. This includes 48 percent of elementary schools, 36 percent of middle schools and 21 percent of high schools.
Statewide, all student subgroups demonstrated between 11- and 15-point improvement, O'Connell reported. African American, Hispanic or Latino, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students increased their API this year by 15 points, while the API of white students increased by 14 percentage points and the statewide increase for all students was 14 points.
Overall, Lake County's districts showed improvements. The school with the single highest API score growth was Konocti Unified School District's Blue Heron Opportunity School, which rose by 127 points to reach 582 points. The district as a whole grew by four points.
Middletown Unified School District made impressive gains for the year in its API testing. The district's overall growth was 34 points, with Middletown High School improving by 61 and Lake County International Charter School gaining 100 points.
The majority of the district's schools have API scores of 800 or above, and Cobb Mountain Elementary has the highest API score in the county – 881.
Superintendent Korby Olson noted that the API scores of Middletown High School, Middletown Middle School and Cobb Elementary School not only make them the highest performing schools in Lake County, but place them among the top performing schools in Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties.
Olson said all of the district's schools made continued growth on the API thanks to the consistent efforts of the staff and administration.
He said the teachers in Middletown have had a focus on the state standards for more than 10 years,with the focus in the last several years centering on instructional strategies to deliver the standards.
In Lakeport, where scores improved districtwide by 26 points, Superintendent Erin Hagberg said staff use achievement data to drive their instruction methods in order to meet the performance requirements.
Hagberg said teachers spend time in collaboration meetings at grade levels in order to share best practices and make sure they're on the same page, while looking at achievement data and adjusting their approach when necessary.
“I think the results of that are seen in our great scores,” Hagberg said.
Hagberg said the district is continuing to focus on closing the achievement gap for its subgroups – economically disadvantaged students and English language learners, groups which she said are of concern at districts around the county.
She credited those subgroups' improvement to the hard work of both staff and students.
“I'm extremely proud of them,” Hagberg said.
The scores for the counties districts and API testing schools follow. The most recent year's API scores are listed, followed in parentheses by the school's 2008-09 growth number.
Kelseyville Unified School District
Overall growth: -4
Kelseyville Elementary, 755 (-24); Riviera Elementary, 813 (1); Mountain Vista Middle School, 735 (7); Kelseyville High School, 688 (-13).
Konocti Unified School District
Overall growth: 4
Burns Valley Elementary, 711 (-1); East Lake Elementary, 717 (-7); Lower Lake Elementary, 729 (-22); Pomo Elementary, 718 (0); Oak Hill Middle School, 660 (-2); Lower Lake High, 665 (38); Richard H. Lewis Alternative, 706 (-37); Blue Heron, 582 (127); Carle Continuation High School, 678 (-17).
Lake County Office of Education
Overall growth: 18
Lakeport Unified School District
Overall growth: 26
Lakeport Elementary, 783 (32): Terrace Middle School, 801 (30); Clear Lake High School, 757 (10); Lakeport Alternative (Home School), 717 (23).
Lucerne Elementary School District
Overall growth: 7
Lucerne Elementary, 729 (5).
Middletown Unified School District
Overall growth: 34
Cobb Mountain Elementary, 881 (30); Coyote Valley Elementary, 813 (25); Minnie Cannon Elementary, 728 (2); Middletown Middle School, 810 (13); Middletown High School, 780 (61); Lake County International Charter School, 839 (100).
Upper Lake Union Elementary School District
Overall growth: -5
Upper Lake Elementary, 699 (1); Upper Lake Middle School, 666 (-12).
Upper Lake Union High School District
Overall growth: 3
Upper Lake High School, 701 (17); Clover Valley Continuation High School, 551 (No valid API base for 2008).
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
It took firefighters about an hour to contain the fire, which was reported on Sulphur Bank Drive at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown.
Fire response included three engines and two chief officers from Northshore Fire, mutual aid equipment from Cal Fire – including three engines, one dozer and a chief officer – and a mutual aid engine from Lake County Fire Protection District, Brown reported.
The fire started in the colony and burned towards the Bradley property, Brown said. The fast rate of fire spread was due to 20 mile per hour winds coming off of Clear Lake.
Shortly before 7 p.m., a shooting occurred at the colony. Brown said fire personnel were involved in firefighting operations and did not witness the incident.
A Northshore Fire advanced life support engine was pulled from the fire and responded to the shooting on a medical call, Brown said.
He referred further questions on the incident to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which did not respond to inquiries on Sunday. For more on the shooting, see Clearlake Oaks man arrested for murder .
Clean up and mop up on the fire continued until 9 p.m., Brown said.
NICE – Behind the brightly painted blue door of a former firehouse along Highway 20 is a new and unexpected attraction: A lunchbox museum and collector's emporium.
Step into the newly opened Clarke's Collectibles and Lunchbox Museum and you'll be greeted by Debbie Clarke, a smiling and energetic woman whose enthusiasm for the wonderful stuff of childhood has coalesced into a colorful and magical new shop.
She and husband Duane transformed the former Nice Firehouse into a shop and museum that is part carnival, part walk down memory lane. It features more than 100,000 collectible items for sale, including dolls, television and movie memorabilia, and toys.
For the last 24 years, Clarke has collected lunchboxes, beginning with the first one that she and husband, Duane, purchased together at a flea market in 1985. It was a lunchboxes featuring teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman that is now nestled amidst the hundreds of other reminders of trips to the school cafeteria.
She has 700 lunchboxes in all, most of which line the walls. Extras are for sale.
Look closely and you're likely to see the lunchbox you carried to school as a child – this reporter did.
One of Clarke's treasures is a Beatles lunchbox she picked up at a small junk store in Clearlake a few years back for 25 cents. During the peak buying season at Christmas, Clarke has seen the same lunchbox go for as much as $1,000.
When eBay came along, Clarke's collecting went to another level. “Then it got really crazy,” she said, noting she bought about 250 lunchboxes on eBay alone.
Clarke joined eBay's passionate collectors team in 2005 and was featured in a short eBay film in Chicago in 2008. She's also been the subject of many articles, with the shop's opening now gaining more attention around the region.
Clarke said she's fascinated by the social history that's portrayed on the lunchboxes. As an example, she's noticed that boxes produced during the Vietnam War seemed to have more of a pro-military theme.
She' especially fond of the TV show-related lunchboxes, which feature every genre – from Roy Rogers and “Gunsmoke” to “Kung Fu,” “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Nancy Drew.” Plus there are plenty of Disney and Star Wars boxes.
Then there is the collection of Ponytail boxes. Ponytails, popular from the 1950s to 1980s, were cardboard coated with vinyl in which little girls stored their dolls. Because the cardboard can be easily ruined, it's hard to find them in good condition.
Clarke also has vinyl lunchboxes that, like the Ponytails, are extremely rare because they were easily ruined.
“These are the rarest kind you can get and they cost a lot more,” she said, pointing to a display of the vinyl lunchboxes.
These and numerous other items for sale not just at the shop by on Clarke's eBay page.
Then there is the carnival theme, with a display at the back of the store.
A friend of Clarke's worked at Sonoma County's Recycletown, and happened to be there one day when a man came in, bringing with him animatronics that his father had built for Playland by the Sea in San Francisco.
The man intended to rip out the metal innards of the robotic characters to put them in the recycle bin, but Clarke's friend intervened and they were saved.
One of the characters, an animated bear with a hot dog cart, now resides at the back of the store, next to a giant Laughing Sally which the Clarkes acquired from artist Poe Desmuke, who also did a large carnival themed painting on the shop's ceiling.
Drop 50 cents into the slot and Sally is happy to laugh up a storm, as the bear and other characters move, blink, even stick out their tongues while a neon carnival sign flashes “Open.”
Adding an extra measure of authenticity is that Laughing Sally's mirth is a tape of the original Laughing Sally, which Clarke got from Sheldon Steinberg, who owns the antique plumbing shop The Elegant Bowl, located in the old livery stable next to the Blue Wing Saloon & Cafe in Upper Lake.
It was through Recycletown that Clarke also got ahold of a large shipment of Star Wars-related items that were donated after George Lucas moved his movie production headquarters into a new facility in the Bay Area.
Opening the store took about a year, said Clarke.
The genesis of the project came about around seven years ago.
Clarke had grown up in Lake County and attended Lower Lake High, but had moved to Sonoma County where she was a history teacher in Healdsburg.
One day as she and her husband were driving through Nice, they saw the old firehouse and he said he'd love to own such a building. And it just so happened that when they stopped to look at the building it had a “for sale” sign.
The couple, who between them have three grown children, later sold their home in Sonoma County and moved to Nice full-time. Both of them recently retired and then began their next career as shop proprietors.
While Duane Clarke is the artistic one in the family – designing and painting the building's colorful interior – Debbie Clarke turns her enthusiasm toward her job as curator, sharing her knowledge with anyone who is interested.
They've also created a library for people to look up their item's value.
Even though they've just opened full-time, they're already had a lot of interest, especially from visitors traveling along Highway 20. Many stay for hours at a time.
“They're finding stuff from their childhood,” she said.
She's also seen visitors come in a little down and leave in a better mood after experiencing the colorful displays.
Clarke's Collectibles and Lunchbox Museum is located at 3674 E. Highway 20. The shop is open Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., or private tours can be scheduled by calling the shop at 707-274-9175.
Visit their virtual museum online or contact them through their Web site at www.retrodeb.com . The site also features a video of Laughing Sally.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The California Highway Patrol reported that the crash occurred on eastbound Highway 175 on the way to Cobb, one mile from Kelseyville, just after 1 p.m.
A motorcycle was reported to have gone off the road and into a nearby field, according to the CHP.
The CHP said another vehicle was involved. That vehicle had gone 20 feet off the roadway.
The collision resulted in both of the highway's lanes being blocked for emergency vehicles, the CHP said.
Officials said the roadway was reopened just a few minutes before 2 p.m.
The identities of those involved and the extent of their injuries was not available Saturday, although the CHP reported major injuries.
A CHP unit in Santa Rosa was dispatched to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to conduct a blood draw in the case.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at