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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
KELSEYVILLE – Students at Kelseyville High School rejected the initial idea of a walk-out to protest the firing of a favorite teacher this week, opting to write letters and make phone calls instead.
Math instructor David Blair received the equivalent of a pink slip last week when Kelseyville Unified School District's board of trustees unanimously agreed to terminate his contract.
Time will tell whether the pen is mightier than the door.
Currently the board has no plans to revisit the issue, according to the superintendent's staff Thursday afternoon.
"We had to weigh things out," said school board member Valerie Ramirez about the decision. "We did that and we came to that decision as individuals."
Ramirez wouldn't comment about the board's direction but affirmed she would reconsider her vote if the issue were presented to the board again.
The issue itself remains cloudy as parents and district staff alike refuse to put their names to allegations that the math teacher is being fired because of a controversy regarding his decisions made as basketball coach, a job he held last year but no longer retains.
"Rumor has it it's a political thing about his being a basketball coach," said one parent. "The bottom line is if it is about basketball, guess what? He's not doing that anymore."
Parents Brad and Peggie King were willing to put their names on a letter to the board regarding the firing.
"Mr. Blair is teaching high level calculus to a group of very bright and dedicated students, some of the best in this year’s graduating class," the letter reads.
"Mr. Blair is dedicated, competent and concerned. He has set the bar high enough to challenge these students ... this is somewhat of a rarity in the current educational climate and these college-bound students will have an even greater appreciation next year when this becomes the norm."
The King letter goes on to urge the board to "make every effort to retain the teacher" despite the acknowledgment, "we cannot know all the facts leading up to the superintendent’s recommendation to the board to not renew the contract with Mr. Blair, as they may include confidential personnel issues."
But Peggie King thinks David Blair is being terminated because he is a good teacher.
"People don't like this teacher because he's passionate, he doesn't listen to excuses and he really pushes the kids,” she said.
King said of her daughter who is in one of Blair's classes, "She's had to work like a dog and she should be proud of herself."
She added, "They're wanting to dumb it down.”
Also enraged is parent Marc Yaffee whose two daughters have been in Blair's classes. "My daughter said he's the best teacher in the school."
Yaffee said he has been impressed with Blair's passion for math, noting that he tutored two students who were behind all summer – without pay – and also attended some training himself at Stanford "on his own dime."
Yaffee is calling for an emergency session of the school board to reconsider the matter.
Two other parents who didn't want to be identified echoed Yaffee's sentiments. All three cited the teacher's website (blairmathematics.com), challenging work ethic and dedication to the subject as well as to the students.
Yaffee noted that he counted 95 supportive students at the student-led meeting held during the lunch hour Tuesday. He commented that students at the top of the class as well as students who have not received good marks from the teacher all support the man.
Freshman Katie Murphy contacted all five board members by phone or via email according to her father, Phil Murphy, and heard back from all of them.
Katie's polite letter to school board chairman Peter Quartarolo stated, "In my opinion, Mr. Blair brings a higher level of education to our school.
"Mr. Blair is an exceptional math teacher," Katie's letter reads. "For me, he is the first math teacher I have ever had that truly helped me to understand and be interested in math. His teaching methods always get the concept across to me. His is also the most helpful and accessible teacher I have ever had; he has a website with help links and he answers questions by email every night of the week. He helps students who are not only in his math classes, but also in physics and chemistry. His door is always open to student who seek help and want to learn.
"Finally, " Katie Murphy's letter concludes, "the student body does not want to see this teacher leave our school. We want an emergency board meeting before March 15."
Superintendent Boyce McClain, who confirmed the next scheduled board meeting is March 22, said he was citing state law in explaining the process by which teachers are hired and fired.
According to McClain, teachers have a two-year probation period during which the school board can "see if the fit is good."
Because of the state's March 15 deadline regarding termination notices, the superintendent explained, that period is actually more like a year and a half, "so they have time to find a new job."
The school board met in closed session last week to evaluate pros and cons, according to McClain, then voted unanimously "not to re-elect Mr. Blair."
When asked to describe the evaluation criteria presented to make the decision, McClain said, "The high school principal and I went in and shared all the data we had."
McClain said Blair is fully credentialed for the position, but he would not rule out his performance outside the math classroom, repeating that the board evaluated "all the data of Mr. Blair."
McClain said confidentiality code prohibits his further comment on personnel issues.
High School Principal Matt Cockerton was unavailable for comment Thursday.
But McClain continued that "Mr Blair didn't like (the decision)."
McClain added, "It appears he has chosen to rally his students and peers."
The superintendent said "there will probably end up being a board meeting," and "one way or another the community will be heard.”
"The board always cares about what the community thinks," McClain said.
E-mail Maile Field at
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- Written by: Linda Juntunen
LAKE COUNTY – March is going to be a very exciting month for three of the county’s local watershed groups, along with the citizens who live in the Kelsey Creek, Middle Creek and Scotts Creek watersheds.
Thanks to a $400,000 grant awarded to the West Lake Resource Conservation District, studies will be conducted in these three watersheds that will allow these groups to gather information about both the historical and current conditions of the natural resources in these areas.
These watershed assessments will be used in making management decisions and obtaining funding for restoration, fuel load management, habitat improvement, water quality and various other projects in the future.
In order to put together the most comprehensive documents possible, it is vital that the local communities participate in these studies.
This grant opportunity was specifically designed for the citizens in each of these watersheds to participate in the process, and help in developing the information that goes into these assessments.
The three watershed groups in the participating areas will be holding meetings in March, and citizens in these areas are urged to attend.
Are you concerned about clean air, clean water, fire safety, erosion problems, development, and the day-to-day issues we all deal with? Well, we all live in a watershed, and if you live in one of the three included in this grant opportunity, now’s your chance to share your opinions, your concerns and your knowledge of the area in which you live.
If you reside in the vicinity of Kelsey Creek from Forest Lake on Cobb Mountain to Clear Lake itself, you live in the Kelsey Creek Watershed, and are encouraged to attend the Big Valley CRMP meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. The event will be held at the American Legion Hall, corner of Second Street and Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
If you live in the vicinity of Clover Creek, Sam Alley Creek, the town of Upper Lake, or the areas near the East Fork and West Fork of Middle Creek to Rodman Slough, you reside in the Middle Creek Watershed. Please make it a point to attend the next meeting of the Middle Creek CRMP at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 14. This month’s meeting is being held at the Upper Lake High School Library, 675 Clover Valley Road (corner of First Street and Clover Valley Road), in Upper Lake.
There are a number of communities included in the Scotts Creek Watershed. If you live in the areas of Saratoga Springs, Witter Springs, Bachelor Valley, Blue Lakes, Scotts Valley, Cow Mountain, and Tule Lake to the confluence at Rodman Slough, you live in the Scotts Creek Watershed. The date to mark on your calendar is 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15. The meeting will be hosted by the Scotts Creek Watershed Council and held at the Scotts Valley Women’s Clubhouse, 2298 Hendricks Road, Lakeport.
Each of these meetings will be facilitated by Korinn Smith of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Lakeport. The meetings will be structured to gather the information which will be used to develop the purpose and goals of these assessments. Greg Dills, watershed coordinator for East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts also will be on hand to answer questions and share his knowledge of the process.
This is an opportunity to participate and have a voice in the issues that concern your community. You may be the person that helps to identify an issue others know nothing about!
What do you want your watershed to look like in five, 10 or 50 years? Now's your chance to have a say in the future of your own community. Don’t miss this opportunity to get involved. To quote one of the watershed volunteers, “This is a really big deal!”
For questions or additional information, call Dills at 263-4180 x12 or Linda Juntunen at 263-7950.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT – After a day of nitpicking newspaper coverage by the defense and nibbling at its findings by the prosecution on Wednesday, there was still no decision regarding a change of venue motion for the trial of Renato Hughes, a young black San Francisco man charged with murder by accomplice of two of his companions in an alleged burglary.
On Wednesday, the hearing of the motion filed by Hughes' attorney Stuart Hanlon concluded 13 hours of testimony with the likelihood that Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann will render his decision when the hearing resumes Friday morning.
Hanlon and his key expert in the hearing, Craig Haney, spent most of Wednesday going over 72 articles from assorted publications regarding the case, which stems from the alleged forced 4 a.m. entry into the Clearlake Park home of Shannon Edmonds on Dec. 7, 2005.
Hughes' companions, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, also black, were fatally shot down by Edmonds after the alleged break-in, where the men were allegedly attempting to steal marijuana that Edmonds claims he uses for medicinal purposes.
Hughes, however, is charged with causing their deaths under the provisions of a law that holds the perpetrator of a felony responsible if the felony results in a lethal response.
Hanlon concluded his final argument in the hearing Wednesday afternoon and District Attorney Jon Hopkins was all but finished with his presentation when Mann ended the proceedings.
Hanlon reasserted his position against trying the case in Lake County because of pretrial publicity and the county's racial demographics.
According to research Hanlon has presented, only a little over 2 percent of the county's population is black.
In his final comments, Hanlon told Mann, "The only way you can find (that Hughes) will get a fair trial here is by disregarding the testimony of Mr. (Bryan A.) Stevenson and Mr. Haney. No one is calling this county racist; we're saying he can't get a fair trial."
Stevenson, the executive director of an Alabama civil rights group, and Haney have supported Hanlon's claim that a representative jury cannot be selected for Hughes in Lake County.
"It is speculation on his (Hanlon's) part to make it an emotional issue rather than a judicial one," Hopkins countered. He added that he didn't believe Mann's decision could be decided "simply on numbers."
Hanlon and Haney presented statistics showing that blacks comprise 6 percent of the state's population and pointed out that only nine of the state's 58 counties exceed the state percentage, most notably San Francisco County (13.7 percent), where Hughes lives.
Hopkins questioned if Hanlon and Haney believe that all trials for crimes which blacks are charged with should be tried in those nine counties that exceed the state average in order to get a fair trial.
Hanlon, meanwhile, castigated Hopkins for responding publicly to a document and comments issued by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a civil rights organization in support of Hughes.
Among other things, Hopkins called civil rights-oriented charges by the Baker group a "smokes screen" and he questioned why a well-meaning organization such as this one would comment when he said it didn't know all the facts.
Hanlon said that Hopkins' comments "polarized the community" and by contributing to advance publicity the district attorney was giving "the perception of a problem."
Neither Hanlon nor Hopkins made mention of a document on the letterhead of Hanlon's law firm that surfaced early in the case.
Presumably circulated to raise funds for Hanlon to take over Hughes' defense from Steven Carter, the document asserted that Hughes was being "railroaded" by the Lake County justice system.
Hanlon claimed that he had no knowledge of the document at the time.
Haney occupied the witness stand for easily half of the 13 hours the hearing has taken up so far.
Throughout his time on the stand his theme was the word "allege," which he cited as missing from many of the 72 newspaper articles and other news documents in the case.
Hopkins, however, pared the documents down to 14 by eliminating duplications and sources that prospective jurors in Lake County would never see, such as the Willits News, a law profession publication and comments made on an FM radio station.
Hanlon criticized Hopkins also for failing to bring his own experts to the hearing to refute the findings of Stevenson and Haney.
"The burden's on the defendant," reasoned Hopkins. "I don't think it's my burden to bring in experts.”
E-mail John Lindblom at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the first, and largest, temblor took place at 2:47 a.m.
The quake was recorded at a depth of 1.2 miles, and was centered one mile east northeast of The Geysers, according to the USGS.
About 10 minutes later, a 1.8 magnitude quake followed, the USGS reported, followed by three more small quakes, ranging in size from 1.5 to 1.9 in magnitude, over the next two and a half hours, all centered at The Geysers.
So far this week there have been 15 small earthquakes recorded in Lake County, according to the USGS, most of them centered in or around The Geysers area.
The second-largest quake of the week, at a magnitude of 2.9, took place Sunday morning just after 8 a.m. at a depth of 1.3 miles three miles east southeast of The Geysers and three miles from Anderson Springs, the USGS reported.
A 1.8 magnitude quake was recorded by the USGS on Tuesday at 2:27 a.m. at a depth of seven miles, and centered eight miles from Hidden Valley Lake.
Two quakes hit near Lake Pillsbury on Tuesday, a 2.3 magnitude at 5:27 a.m. and a 2.5 at 2:50 p.m.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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