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THE SPELLING OF A WITNESS' NAME HAS BEEN CORRECTED.
LUCERNE – Northshore Fire officials are still trying to determine what caused a fire that destroyed a Lucerne man's home on Friday evening.
The fire was dispatched at approximately 8:18 p.m. Friday to 6856 Lakeshore Boulevard, the home of George Riehl.
Neighbors initially had been concerned that Riehl, injured in a motorcycle crash a few years ago, was still inside. However, he was safely evacuated.
Sitting on the ground about a block down the street from his burning home, Riehl was crying out, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”
Some neighbors took the chance to get away from the scene, where propane tanks were said to be located.
One woman took her two small children and walked down the street and away from the street crowded with emergency responders, saying that if anything else exploded she wanted her children to be safe.
Fire hoses were stretched out for blocks and water was running down the streets from the house, tucked in at the end of Lakeshore Boulevard in the Lucerne Riviera.
A total of 10 Four Northshore Fire vehicles – including four trucks, two battalion chiefs, Chief Jim Robbins, two ambulances and another large pickup – plus two Lake County Sheriff's patrol vehicles responded to the scene.
“We're not sure what the cause was,” said Robbins, explaining that Riehl had driven up to the house and parked on power lines that the fire had knocked down.
The downed lines were sparking and hampering firefighters from getting into Riehl's home, said Robbins. Pacific Gas and Electric was called to the scene to deal with the power line issues so firefighters could work on the fire.
Barry Mac Leod, who lives next door in another home owned by Riehl, was standing in bare feet outside of his home, trying to find his dog and two cats. His wife took a cat out of the garage, tucking it into her coat.
He said he was in his kitchen when he heard barking dogs, then his daughter said that Riehl's house was on fire. About that time he said he heard an explosion, which he guessed came from a small propane tank on the side of Riehl's house.
Mac Leod said he got his grandson and family out of the house, then rescued his motorcycle from the garage, but hadn't been able to find his dog or second cat.
He said he used a garden hose to put out one of the burning power lines as the fire reached a point over his house. Mac Leod also wetted down the back of his own home and tried to put out the fire burning Riehl's home.
“His home is completely gone,” said Mac Leod.
As he was speaking another loud explosion from the direction of Riehl's home was heard. Acrid-smelling smoke came from the house and floated down the street.
The fire damaged the back of Mac Leod's home and its eaves, Robbins said.
Mac Leod pointed out that it was Friday the 13th. “I just mowed the lawn today, too.”
He said he was grateful he was there and able to take action.
“If we hadn't gotten home it might have taken everything,” he said, adding that he feared the fire could have reached two or three other homes, all of which are built in close proximity to one another along the street.
An arson investigator was called to the scene to help in determining the fire's cause.
Northshore Fire engines were still returning to quarters at nearly 1 a.m. Saturday after working on the scene all evening. One engine was reported to be staying on scene all night.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – A sea of people in various shades of pink descended on Lakeport's Courthouse Square Friday afternoon, rallying to show their support for education in these uncertain times.
Educators, parents, students, community members and a few canines festooned with pink ribbons were on hand for the “Stand Up for Schools” event, coinciding with “Pink Friday” – the deadline day for districts to give pink slips to teachers for the coming fiscal year.
The afternoon rally in downtown Lakeport was punctuated by the incessant honking of passing cars, their drivers hitting the horns to show support for schools, teachers and students.
More than 100 local teachers, administrators and classified employees have received layoff notices so far this year, and at this point just how many of them stand to be hired back isn't yet known.
But what is certain is that California is “racing to the bottom,” according to Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck, who told the more than 200 people crowded into the square that California is now ranked 47th among the nation's 50 states in per-student spending.
Here in Lake County, local schools are being forced to cut more than $5 million in the coming fiscal year after having cut out $3 million to help balance the budget last September, he said.
The result is growing class sizes and loss of vital programs such as art, music, sports, and after school intervention and tutoring programs. Some districts are planning to close their library doors for all or part of the day, he said, while some districts are closing entire schools. That's the case in Konocti Unified, which on Wednesday voted to close Oak Hill Middle School.
Geck said that now, more than ever, schools need stable funding, but that aim is being defeated by a broken state budgeting system, and legislators need to know the budgetary cuts they're making are undermining students.
The state, he said, needs to commit to longterm funding for schools. Referring to stimulus money coming from the government, Geck called schools “the real economic recovery vehicle.”
While California's schools are ranked at No. 47 for the amount of funding devoted to each student's education, the massive budget cuts will push California to dead last for per-student spending, Geck said.
At the same time, the state's schools are saddled with the highest standards and expectations, and schools need the resources to meet those high performance requirements, said Geck.
He added, however, “We can't get overwhelmed by the bad news.”
Action is needed, said Geck, as the state begins gearing up for a special May 19 election which will examine new funding sources for schools. Getting out the message about the importance of voting in that election is critical if future cuts are to be avoided and California's race to the bottom is to be pulled up short.
Geck said the community must stand up for students, “Because they're depending on us.”
Local attorney Doug Rhoades, in a gray suit punctuated by a pink shirt, said he supports spending his tax dollars on the future, in the form of students.
Rhoades said his own children are no longer in the school system, but he wants his grandchildren to be able to have the finest teachers and education they can. He said he would rather pay higher taxes if it meant having better education.
Lakeport Unified School District Board member Bob Weiss said the Stand Up for Schools event was the beginning of community organizing.
He challenged everyone in the crowd to think of 10 people who weren't there and get them to work for education.
Weiss suggested that coordinated calls to Gov. Schwarzenegger's office and local legislators were in order, as well as a trip to Sacramento.
“We need a traffic jam down there,” he said.
Looking on during the event was Martin McClure, now in his 10th year of teaching.
A six-year resident of Lake County, last year McClure made the move from teaching in Ukiah to teaching kindergarten at Lakeport Elementary.
On March 6, he received a pink slip, a day after Lakeport Unified School District's board voted to lay off a total of 17 classified employees and teachers as part of a plan to address $800,000 in revenue shortfalls.
McClure doesn't know what to expect; it's not yet known whether the district will be able to hire him back.
“If they can they will,” the said. “They don't know. There's no money.”
The situation should become clearer after April 30, when the district holds kindergarten roundup and will get an idea of its kindergarten enrollment in the coming year. “That will be the first indication,” McClure said.
McClure said he really wants to keep teaching in the district. “I love teaching at Lakeport Elementary.”
He doesn't want to have to make the move to another school, but he's not ruling out the need to do that. If all else fails, McClure said he'll start putting together his resume.
McClure said it was uplifting to see so many people come out to support education. He's concerned that a lot of people still don't understand the budget games the state is playing at local districts' expense.
Legislators are trying to deal with the bad economy at the expense of education, “and that's just wrong,” McClure said.
Pam Klier, president of the Lakeport chapter of the California Teachers Association – who organized the Pink Friday event – said they had no idea so many people would come out to show their support.
What's next for teachers here and across the state?
“That's the big question, isn't it?” Klier said.
For years, a teacher shortage has been talked about, but with so many teachers no out of work, Klier said perhaps no such shortage still exists.
Many teachers affected by the recent round of layoffs – nearly 18,000 statewide, laid off as part of the effort to meet $11.6 billion in cuts to California's schools in grades kindergarten through 12th grades – still don't know what's ahead, said Klier.
Teachers and community members now need to figure out a way to channel the kind of energy that was in evidence on Friday afternoon, fortified with pink rice krispie treats and cotton candy.
Klier said a lot of attention will now be focused on the May election.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – Lakeport Police have apprehended a man wanted in connection with a Thursday armed robbery.
Adan Lupercio Casares, 40, of Lakeport was arrested shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, according to Lake County Jail records. He's being held on $10,000 bail.
On Thursday morning a 16-year-old teenager reported that a man had approached him at the Lakeport Car Wash on Martin and S. Forbes streets, showed him a folding knife and demanded his money before fleeing on foot, as Lake County News has reported.
Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke said Casares matched the description of the suspect, and was known to the department's officers through prior contacts.
Burke said the investigation into the armed robbery is continuing.
Armed robberies in Lakeport are rare, said Burke.
While a certain amount of petty thefts occur as part of the normal crime pattern, he said they haven't yet seen an increase in crime due to the economy.
Burke said the topic of correlating crime to the current economic situation is a hot topic in law enforcement circles these days.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Deputy Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson said the dog, taken into custody on Thursday morning, is currently in quarantine at the Lakeport shelter.
The dog, said to be a pitbull mix, attacked the female driver as she was delivering a meal to a client at a location in downtown Clearlake off of Lakeshore Drive, according to Linda Blackstone, program coordinator at the Highlands Senior Center.
“It was not our client's dog, it was her neighbor's dog,” said Blackstone.
The dog first bit the driver on the hip, said Blackstone. The woman turned and as she did so the dog let go of her hip and clamped onto her arm. She was then able to pull away, but in doing so a lot of flesh was stripped from her arm.
Blackstone said the dog's owner took the Meals on Wheels driver to St. Helena Hospital-Clearlake, where the injured woman received about 98 stitches. It took two and a half hours to complete the stitching procedure, but surgery wasn't necessary.
The driver is now at home recovering, said Blackstone.
Davidson said the dog will stay at the shelter for at least 10 days, the length of the normal quarantine period. He said shelter staff were able to confirm that the dog has been vaccinated for rabies.
He said Animal Care and Control's investigation is continuing.
“The owners have been completely cooperative with our efforts,” said Davidson.
Whether the dog becomes the focus of a vicious animal abatement it yet to be determined, said Davidson, and will depend on the circumstances.
Blackstone said she reminded her Meals on Wheels drivers to be very careful of dogs in the wake of the Wednesday attack.
The situation also puts into focus a problem for Meals on Wheels drivers: Blackstone said this was the fourth dog bite incident the center's drivers have dealt with in two years.
“It's getting to be too much,” she said.
That's led them to start looking for pepper spray for protection, said Blackstone. The center also plans to send out letters to its clients asking them to contain any dogs they may have.
“We don't want to have to deny anyone services,” said Blackstone.
People who have elderly neighbors who receive Meals on Wheels services also are asked to please keep their animals secured. In doing so, they'll protect drivers and make sure the critical nutritional services to seniors aren't interrupted.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The Lake County Community Development Department will host two town hall meetings this month to introduce the draft plan.
The first town hall meeting is scheduled to take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, March 23, in the Rose Room at the Lucerne Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive, Lucerne.
The second meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, at the Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge, 15900 E. Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks.
During these meetings Community Development Department staff, along with members of the Shoreline Communities Area Plan Advisory Committee, will be present to provide the public with information concerning changes in policies, zoning and land use designations that are proposed by the Draft Shoreline Communities Area Plan.
The advisory committee and the Community Development Department developed the draft area plan.
When adopted, the plan will provide a policy framework and plan to guide future growth within the planning area.
The planning area includes the communities of Lucerne, Kono Tayee, Paradise Cove, Glenhaven, Clearlake Oaks, Spring Valley, the unincorporated areas north of the city of Clearlake including portions of Clearlake Park, and all of the outlying rural areas around these communities to the eastern county line.
The Draft Shoreline Communities Area Plan is available for review on the Web at www.co.lake.ca.us.
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, contact Kevin M. Ingram, the project manager, at 263-2221.
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Those predictions proved true Wednesday night, when the board – in a 3-2 vote – directed Superintendent Dr. Bill MacDougall to close Oak Hill Middle School.
Board members Hank Montgomery and Herb Gura were the dissenting voices in the vote, which came at the end of a special four-hour meeting held in the Lower Lake High School gym, with about 100 people in attendance.
The meeting ended shortly after the vote, with board members sitting in a strained, grim-faced silence as people – some of them unhappy Oak Hill staffers and parents – filtered out of the gymnasium. Some called out angry comments to the board.
The district board has hosted nine meetings on possible consolidation measures to close the budget gap. Most of those meetings had focused on public comment, but Wednesday night was the board's first opportunity to discuss it as a body.
They came to the table having heard MacDougall's proposal – which included closing Oak Hill Middle School – at a meeting held March 4.
The board heard presentations from business manager Laurie Altic and Dana Moore, the district's director of maintenance and operations. Moore gave an in-depth description of the logistical aspects of moving students to new school facilities and how to improve schools to take on additional students.
Closing Oak Hill and moving its 473 students to other schools was part of two separate recommendations.
In the first, schools (not including the high school) would be converted to K-8, for a savings of $1,025,680, with a $265,980 cost to shift students for a net savings of $759,700. Facilities costs would amount to $475,500, but Moore said those funds are specifically for building projects, and can't be used in classrooms.
The second recommendation called for closing the school, converting Pomo Elementary to grades fourth through eighth, while Burns Valley becomes K-3, and Lower Lake and East Lake are K-8. That also would save the district $1,025,680, with $170,376 to shift students for a net savings of $855,304. Facility costs would be $510,500.
The board also voted to support continuing class size reduction measures, which MacDougall estimated would save the jobs of 13 to 15 teachers.
Board members give their perspectives
When it came time to discuss the choices – whether to close the school and realign some grades or choose another route – Montgomery was clear that he opposed Oak Hill's closure.
The proposal to close the school, he said, “has become more a referendum on Oak Hill and what it does rather than is this the best way to save money.”
Montgomery credits his children's success in college and beyond to their time at Oak Hill. “They had a tremendous experience.”
So he was troubled to hear Oak Hill become the focus of so much negative comment at the public meetings, which he said made him sad “to the very core of my existence.”
He said he's tried to think he way through closing the school, but he can't justify it. “It seems to me that closing Oak Hill is not the solution.”
Board member Carolynn Jarrett said that, based on the public hearings, she believed the relationship between school staff and parents isn't there, despite the teachers' hard work to improve the school.
Jarrett, who taught elementary school in Konocti Unified for 18 years, said for her it was a financial decision. She favored closing Oak Hill and transitioning to K-8 schools, and using the knowledge of elementary and middle school teachers to benefit students.
Said Gura, “It's such a complex decision, and anything we do affects so many other things.”
If the district didn't have its financial issues, Gura said he wouldn't even be considering closing a school. Gura said he had three children who have successfully gone through Oak Hill, with a fourth who was looking forward to the school.
He said he still many questions about the logistics of the move, and wanted to hear what the rest of the board had to say.
Board Clerk Anita Gordon, who has been on the board 10 and a half years, called the district's budget challenge “the most difficult subject matter I've ever faced sitting here in this chair.”
Gordon worked at Oak Hill for two years, and said she admired and respected the school's staff. “Teachers there are doing amazing things.”
Like Montgomery, she was saddened to hear so many negative comments made about the school in public meetings, because she knows the work the teachers and administrators are putting into the school.
But Gordon said she was thinking about the money, adding that there isn't a district in the state not having the same discussion.
The choices before the board, Gordon said, were both gut-wrenching and horrible. “They're not anything we wish to do.”
If Oak Hill was left open, that wouldn't address the looming cuts, said Gordon. They also could face the loss of students whose parents don't want them to attend Oak Hill.
Closing the school, added, Gordon, made the most sense monetarily.
Board President Mary Silva, whose four children attended Oak Hill, said it hurt to have to close the school.
“I don't know what else to do,” she said. “I don't know where else that money is going to come from.”
She said she couldn't see spending money from the district's reserves because of concerns about what the next fiscal year might bring.
“This board really has to look at all the options and make sure we're making the best choices for all the children, not just particular sites,” Silva said.
Gura asked Montgomery for his ideas – he noted he usually had good ones – on other options for how to trim the budget.
Montgomery said he had a few ideas, but none of them were big ticket items. He said they could revisit staffing ratios and take a line-by-line, surgical approach to the budget.
He said closing Oak Hill will delay the district's budget problems, not solve them. Montgomery said they needed to anticipate unintended consequences, otherwise, “We're going to wander off into the darkness.”
Montgomery asked the board to take more time to go over the budget and give the decision the time it deserved. The extra work, he said, would be nothing when compared to what it will do to the district to close one of its schools.
Silva said the district already has given out 52 pink slips to teachers, and said they'll be able to rehire teachers if the school is closed. “We're a tough district. We'll make it.”
Jarrett, referring to information Altic had provided earlier in the meeting, noted that the middle school model is expensive, more so than elementary schools. “We need to get lean.”
She said she was cautiously trying to urge the process along. “I don't think we have a lot of time for this.”
Other solutions offered
The board heard from 10 speakers, many of them speaking against closing Oak Hill.
Carle High School teacher Angela Siegel offered several options for getting through the budget crisis, agreeing with Montgomery's idea of going through the budget “surgically.”
Her suggestions included drawing small amounts from the district's reserves, saving an estimated $350,000 by not filling some positions, dropping some expensive software programs and not requiring a techie to be called every time a minor computer issue arose.
She suggested that, in the long run, it would cost more money to make the changes the district proposed.
Parent Liberty Perry said the situation was affecting a lot of lives and, whatever the decision, it was going to be hard, and no one would be completely happy with it.
“I just ask that you make this in a timely manner so these teachers that were given pink slips know what to do with their lives and their kids,” she said.
Burns Valley teacher Katherine Mullin said the process has produced a lot of anxiety for teachers and is affecting the staff at her school.
“This ongoing conversation is taking its toll. Our aides are scared to death. We have almost none left,” she said.
The sooner they know what's going to happen the better all of them can cope, said Mullin. She said her husband, who teaches in another district, also received a layoff notice.
Mullin said that every bit of energy she spends on the issue “is one little piece of me that the children of this district don't get, and they need every bit that I can offer them and they deserve it.”
The longer the district waits, she said, the less quality teachers it will be able to access, pointing out that two of the best young teachers she's seen have given their resignations and plan to leave the district.
Glen Goodman suggested the district's proposals were an expensive way to save money. Meanwhile, they still didn't know how much federal stimulus money they might receive that could help the situation. The district also could lose students and, along with them, attendance-related funding.
“It just seems to me that there's go to be a better way,” he said, urging the board not to hurry but to take the time to make the right decision.
Oak Hill Middle School teacher Tracy Lahr defended the school, and said the students haven't been asked what they want.
Oak Hill is a community, Lahr said. Closing the school isn't a win-win situation.
Another Oak Hill teacher, Paul Leiferman, said the school and its teachers take a lot of vitriol from the community. “There are those of us who are really tired of it,” he said.
Leiferman, who has taught at the school for 10 years, recalled one of his young students, a girl whose home was filled with abuse, but who – with the help of teachers – improved her grades and got onto the volleyball team.
One day she'd served some aces and went home looking forward to telling her story to a family member, only to find the man had hung himself.
“Those are the kinds of things we work through over there,” Leiferman said.
He said he wished more people knew about such stories.
Not a pleasant decision
MacDougall told the board that district staff already has gone through the budget line by line – as Montgomery had suggested they do – in order to find other cuts. If there had been a panacea, they would have used it already.
“It is not a pleasant situation whatsoever,” MacDougall said.
He said the board could direct him to go back through the budget, line by line, but he guaranteed they would arrive at the same conclusions.
Jarrett moved to direct MacDougall to close Oak Hill, with Gordon seconding. Silva joined the two in voting for the proposal, with Gura and Montgomery voting no.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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