MONTEREY – Entries are now being accepted for regional winners in the 18th annual National Senior Poets Laureate Poetry Competition for American poets age 50 and older in which the California Senior Poet Laureate is sought. Deadline is June 30.

Winning poems of state senior poets laureate will be named in July, following which they advance to final rounds of competition from which the winner of $500 and the 2010 National Senior Poet Laureate title will be announced around Sept. 1.

Dewell H. Byrd, retired school administrator from Eureka, won the 2009 California Senior Poet Laureate Award with his poem "Portrait Day."

Winner of the 2009 National Senior Poet Laureate Award was Patricia Frolander, 66, A rancher from Sundance, Wyo.

Co-sponsors Vera-Jane Goodin Schultz and Wanda Sue Parrott founded the contest administered by Amy Kitchener’s Angels Without Wings Fdn. In 1993.

The 2009 winners can be seen in Golden Words Anthology, along with rules for the 2010 Senior Poets Laureate Contest, at www.amykitchenerfdn.org .

Thank you to all who participated in the acting class with instructor/director Carol Dobusch, to producers Taira St. John and Jenna Radtke, and to all who participated in the production.

Thank you, as well, to the front of the house for handling the concessions and to my husband, Ed Posada for popping mountains of popcorn to throw at the dastardly villain. It took a great deal of work by a good many people, but it was fun and a successful fundraiser for LCAC.

The January show in the Linda Carpenter Gallery on Main Street features the work of students from Upper Lake. We are pleased that we have a gallery where students are given the opportunity of showing their work in a professional gallery setting. Kudos to them, their teachers and assistants who encourage art as one of the facets in their learning experience.

A very merry crowd attended January's First Friday Fling which was held on the second Friday of the month, Jan. 8. I apologize for the confusion with the paper first printing that the event would take place on Jan. 1, but all ended well with the new artists and continuing artists receiving good critiques and comments on their work. The music of Neon and Mike Wilhelm definitely added to the festivities.

We are busy planning for our 18th annual Winter Music Fest to be held at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre. If you'd like to help out in some way, by bringing cookies, working concessions, ushering or one of the countless theatrical opportunities, please contact Betty-Lou or the gallery at 707-263-6658.

Well, here we are half way through the first month of a new year and busier than ever. We are pleased with out partnership with Mendocino College, the recognition of the Lake County Board of Supervisors as their official representative in the state and local partnership program with the California Arts Council (CAC), being awarded three grants by CAC, the National Endowments for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation. Added to that list is an Artist in Residence Program at McLaughlin Nature Reserve from UC Davis.

Quite an accomplishment for the Lake County Arts Council, and it would not have been accomplished without your hard work and dedication. Thank you and let's add more to that list in 2010.

Shelby Posada is executive director of the Lake County Arts Council, headquartered on N. Main Street in Lakeport.

Well, at least, that’s the case for NBC, whose sagging fortunes seem only to get worse with every passing day.

Only last summer, Jay Leno handed over the reins of “The Tonight Show” to Conan O’Brien, and the veteran late night host became NBC’s grand experiment to create “The Jay Leno Show” in a 10 p.m. time slot for five nights a week during the fall season.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you now know how well that strategy played out.

Speaking to a packed room of TV critics and other media types, Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, confirmed what everyone already knew, namely that Jay Leno’s 10 p.m. show would vanish from the airwaves the day before the start of the Vancouver Olympics.

In a matter-of-fact tone, Gaspin said of the failed Leno show experiment that “while it was performing at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet our affiliates’ needs and we realized we had to make a change.”

The translation of this network-speak is that NBC was actually making money on the reduced costs of producing a nightly talk show, but affiliate stations around the country were taking a financial beating as their 11 p.m. local news slots often slipped into last place.

The grand NBC plan was then to move Jay Leno back into the late-night lineup with his own show at 11:35 p.m., while “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” moves to 12:05 a.m. and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” starts at 1:05 a.m. No one knows what will happen to “Last Call with Carson Daly,” but my guess is that he will soon be relegated to Las Vegas lounge acts after 2 a.m.

But then, Gaspin acknowledged that the network doesn’t have a “done deal” on this arrangement, and within 48 hours Team Conan was putting out statements that the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting is going down in flames.

I rarely, if ever, quote the work of other critics, but Marc Berman of Mediaweek’s Programming Insider has some astute observations.

He calls NBC’s decision to have had Jay Leno with his own talk show at 10 p.m. “arguably the biggest fiasco in the history of television.” Then he goes on to point out that “what no one at NBC seems to realize is since Leno flopped at 10 p.m., a half-hour version is unlikely to fare any better at 11:35 p.m.”

To me, it seemed like NBC was making a Solomon-like decision to split the baby, and yet it may never find the appropriate business model.

Then came word that O'Brien is planning to leave the network, with NBC now looking to put Leno back behind “The Tonight Show” desk.

With the sudden need to program the 10 p.m. time period Monday through Friday, Gaspin can only guess that the network will come up with two more hours of scripted shows, possibly another reality hour, and then a combination of either an expanded “Dateline” or repeats somewhere else in the schedule.

Soon, it will be open season for producers from David E. Kelley to Jerry Bruckheimer pitching new programs. Actually, the talent search is already under way, as NBC announced a slew of projects getting the green light.

Master of the action-procedural drama, Jerry Bruckheimer delivers more of the same with “Chase,” a drama set in the American Southwest, where a crucial fugitive apprehension team comprised of U.S. Marshals tracks down the nation’s most notorious criminals. Tension builds as the cat-and-mouse game of the ultimate search escalates in each episode.

Meanwhile, David E. Kelley’s “Kindreds” follows a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer and his group of misfit associates as their lives come together to form an unconventional kind of law practice. Having already created “Boston Legal” and “L.A. Law,” Kelley obviously has a thing for legal dramas.

As if it doesn’t have enough drama of its own, NBC is looking ahead to a slew of even more dramatic series. Based on a BBC series, “Prime Suspect” centers on a courageous female detective who investigates complex mysteries in a politically explosive big city.

“Undercovers” features a husband and wife team coming out of retirement and being reactivated as CIA agents. A thriller with a unique storytelling device, “The Event” features multiple points of view concerning a decent, regular fellow battling against mysterious circumstances within a larger conspiracy.

NBC also wants to revive the 1970s private eye drama “The Rockford Files,” but I can’t see anyone other than James Garner as the right fit.

On a more immediate note, NBC has great plans to launch a Jerry Seinfeld production called “The Marriage Ref.” Unfortunately, the acclaimed comedian is working only behind the scenes to deliver what he calls “a comedy about situations in reality.”

For a show getting a sneak preview after the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, “The Marriage Ref” will put real-life married couples on the spot to have their disputes resolved by comedian Tom Papa serving in the titular role.

The concept of “The Marriage Ref” is to dwell on marital tiffs of a less serious nature, running the gamut of quirky, funny and relatable disagreements which seemingly pose no immediate threat to a bickering couple.

Like a sporting event, the couples set forth their case and will be given a call by the ref. Advising and influencing the ref’s decision will be a panel of so-called experts, comprised of top celebrities, comedians and sports stars who will weigh in and offer their own wit, wisdom and unique opinions. Among these “experts” will be Charles Barkley and Alec Baldwin, and so it is clear there will be nothing serious about this program.

NBC may have some luck with the fortuitous timing of the Winter Olympics. With Canada in the same time zones as the United States, prime time programming is not an issue, and NBC has the services of congenial Bob Costas as the prime time host, while Al Michaels performs similar duties in the daytime.

NBC will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Lake Placid games, when the U.S. Hockey team improbably beat the Russians and Al Michaels delivered the memorable line: “Do you believe in miracles?”

We know a network that is hoping for a miracle of its own.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

California Arts License Plate fees are charitable deductions to the state of California for tax purposes, according to the Franchise Tax Board.

Whether the additional fees Californians voluntarily pay for arts plates were considered a charitable contribution to the state of California was in question for years.

The recent clarification is especially helpful for businesses and residents looking to support arts statewide.

Sales and renewals of the arts plate account for over 60 percent of the California Arts Council's budget. Currently the state's per capita investment in the arts is around 10 cents per person even with the arts plate funds, putting California in last place compared to other states in the nation.

"It's a crucial time for the arts in California," said Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, chair of the California Arts Council. "Our economy relies on creative minds, artistic organizations and innovative workers, yet our per capita state investment in the arts is the lowest in the nation. Individuals and businesses can help change that by buying Arts Plates, especially for the upcoming holidays and as part of end-of-year charitable donations."

"One million cars with California Arts Plates would mean close to $40 million for the arts," continued Feruzzi Shriver. "That would put California near the top in arts funding rather than dead last."

The California Arts Council is the state agency that advances California through the arts and creativity, and the agency's programs emphasize arts for children and communities.

The arts plate, designed by California artist Wayne Thiebaud, first hit the roadways in 1994. Since then sales and renewals of the plate have provided over $20 million for the arts in California. Fees for sales and renewals of the arts plate go directly into the Arts Plate Fund, minus the Department of Motor Vehicles' cost to fabricate and administer the plate.

For information on the plates visit www.cac.ca.gov/licenseplate/index.php .

The showing will take at the Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave. near Mullen in Clearlake.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the showing at 6 p.m. A discussion will follow.

Every year, despite the increasing global outcry, "fishermen" in Taiji, Japan slaughter 23,000 wild dolphins from September through March.

The dolphins are eaten, despite their high levels of mercury. Many dolphins are also captured to fill orders from various seaquariums around the world, including those in the US.

Decades ago a very young Ric O'Barry captured and trained the five dolphins which became, jointly, "Flipper" of TV fame.

After one of his favorite dolphins committed suicide in his arms, he realized the incredible cruelty of imprisoning these freedom-loving, intelligent, even compassionate creatures from the open seas in a tiny, watery prison. Since then, he has worked to stop the harvest and the slaughter.

In this dramatic, suspenseful and well-made film, intrepid dolphin-lovers and filmmakers brave very real danger to film the truth about the cruel slaughters in the cove, and the harvesting of dolphins bound for the entertainment world.

The astounding and humbling act by O'Barry at the end of the film to inform people must be seen to be believed.

With this fine film, Second Sunday Cinema completes its third year of providing important, interesting and well-made documentaries to the people of Lake County.

For more information call 707-279-2957.