How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Female domestic shorthair
This 2-year-old female domestic shorthair cat has a gray tabby coat.
“She is an adult cat with some playful kitten tendencies when toys are brought out. She has a sweet little meow and likes to have playful chats with you,” shelter staff said.
She is in cat room kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-3661.
‘Mama’
“Mama” is a 2-year-old domestic shorthair cat with an all-black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-3884.
Female domestic shorthair
This 1-year-old female domestic shorthair has a buff coat.
“This lovely lady may take a little bit of time to warm up to you, but once she does you'll get to meet one of the sweetest kitties. She will make your hand tired from all the pets she wants,” shelter staff said.
She is in cat room kennel No. 56, ID No. LCAC-A-3972.
Male domestic shorthair cat
This 1-year-old male domestic shorthair cat has a black coat.
Shelter staff said he is a sweet, talkative kitty, who loves head scratches and will rub all over your legs as you walk through the room.
He is in cat room kennel No. 60, ID No. LCAC-A-3932.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LOWER LAKE, Calif. — The history of Anderson Marsh State Historic Park and its latest milestone were celebrated on Saturday with music, memories and gratitude.
Gathered in the shade of the same ancient oaks clustered around the ranch house that retired California State Parks Ranger Tom Nixon said the Pomo once gathered acorns under, community members marked the park’s 40th anniversary.
Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association, or AMIA, hosted the event, which included a hike, educational and historic displays, and a great big anniversary cake. The group formed two years after the park’s creation and today has an active hand in running and supporting it.
The 1,605-acre park officially opened on Aug. 15, 1982. Its grounds encapsulate a layering of history and cultures. The park includes an area of unspoiled natural habitat filled with Indigenous cultural sites, and a time capsule of Lake County’s ranching families in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The park’s main building is the historic ranch house that was built in 1856 by the Grigsby brothers, who came from Tennessee on an ox cart, with additional phases of building continuing through 1923, when the Anderson family owned it.
There also are numerous outbuildings and barns, a windmill, and many hiking trails that take visitors out through a rich and varied landscape complete with all manner of wildlife — fish, birds, otters, muskrats, deer, mountain lion and bears.
Rita Durgin, a representative from Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry’s office, presented a resolution from Aguiar-Curry and Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire commending the park on its anniversary.
The resolution noted that the park was created to protect 27 Native American archaeological sites, including those of the Koi Nation, and other cultural artifacts that date back as far as 14,000 years.
The park also holds “one of the oldest and most complete records of Native American cultural history in the California State Parks system,” the resolution stated.
The resolution also noted that the 540 acre portion of the park known as the Anderson Marsh Natural Preserve “constitutes one of the sole remaining natural wetland tule marshes in the County, protecting multiple native habitats for many species of birds like the Great Blue Heron and other wildlife.”
The park’s creation and continued operation are testament to the power of community — when people have ideas, the willingness to follow through on them, attentive lawmakers and the support of their neighbors.
Since its inception in 1980, its creation in 1982 and up to the present day, Anderson Marsh has been the little park that could.
It has endured numerous challenges, from early opposition from the property owners, to a state bureaucracy that wasn’t initially interested in the park plan, a building project contractor who was caught digging up artifacts and arrested, and staffing and budget cuts in the 1990s.
In 2008, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar proposed to shutter dozens of state parks to address budget shortfalls. That year, his list included Anderson Marsh and Clear Lake State Park. Another proposal in 2009 also listed Anderson Marsh. Schwarzeneggar eventually relented and withdrew the proposal.
In 2016 the Clayton fire came close to destroying the park’s buildings, reaching the park entrance and causing park staff to evacuate the contents of the ranch house.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and caused some of the park’s favorite events, such as its Christmas celebration, to be canceled.
However, the park, which continues to be championed by a devoted group of volunteers and supporters, has survived and thrived.
In 2021, AMIA received a grant from the Department of Parks and Recreation in restoring and rehabilitating the three-acre entrance meadow that burned in the 2016 Clayton fire.
Other projects are underway, with HistoriCorps volunteers to paint a portion of the ranch house and repair windows, and stabilize and paint the outbuildings later this month.
In June, the city of Clearlake committed $21,000 to plant 100 valley oak trees at the park this fall.
In the spring, AMIA will launch its new twice-monthly “senior days” events, which include free bus trips, educational programs and lunch at the park, funded by a $9,220 “Parks Improvement” grant from California State Parks Foundation.
“This is a beautiful, beautiful place,” said Chris Glenn, the supervising ranger for both Anderson Marsh and Clear Lake State Park.
A vibrant history
During the Saturday celebration, the South Barn was opened so visitors could see exhibits,
Gae Henry, one of the park’s stalwart volunteers, shared the history of the native peoples and showed displays of taxidermy — from bobcats to owls to herons — that have made their home on the property.
Henry showed stone replicas of petroglyphs found on the property as well as some artifacts, including stone points and round sling stones.
She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the property, explaining that the South Barn’s original roof collapsed in a 1948 snowstorm, with the roof later being rebuilt with the original wood.
Henry said the teenage Grisgby brothers came to the property in 1855, riding in an ox cart from Tennessee.
They began construction of the original portion of the ranch house, and lived on the property for 15 years, Henry said.
During those years, a huge flood put Sacramento under 16 feet of water. The dam on Cache Creek was blamed, and vigilantes burned the mill and took down the dam.
“It didn’t help,” as it wasn’t about the dam, Henry said.
The Grigsbys sold the land to the Clear Lake Water Works Co. In 1885 John and Sarah Anderson — who Henry said traveled from Edinburgh, Scotland — purchased 1,300 acres the Grigsbys had owned from the water company.
The family had six children. Mora Anderson, the youngest, lived on the property until her death in 1966.
The fight to preserve the past
In 1980, when archaeologist John Parker began lobbying local and state leaders to create the park and protect its extensive Indigenous cultural sites, it wasn’t on any state list of properties planned for a park, according to former parks area manager, William Beat, who was on hand for Saturday’s celebration.
Beat said he didn’t think many people understood how much work went into getting the property in the first place.
The owners of the property that became the park were not initially willing to sell it to the state, Beat said. One of those owners, Ray Lyon, had planned an extensive development there that was to include condominiums, and he went to the Board of Supervisors to ask for the necessary zoning change.
The community rallied against the plan, and Beat said when Lyon’s attorney drove by and saw the parking lot for the meeting filled with cars, Lyons decided to go back and renegotiate with the state.
One of the people Parker enlisted to help with rallying the community to form the park was Roberta Lyons, who grew up with members of the Anderson family. At the time, Lyons was a reporter for the Clear Lake Observer American, which her family, the Hanchetts, owned at the time.
She wrote the first and most important stories about the effort to create the park. Today, Lyons is the AMIA president and one of the county’s greatest environmentalists, according to Nixon.
“The people make it happen,” Lyons said of the effort.
When the state finally agreed to create the park, Beat said he received a budget that he recalled as being up to $750,000 to cover park acquisition, renovation of the buildings and staffing.
Nixon and his wife, Valerie, both retired as rangers, worked in Lake County. He said propagating some of the younger oak trees at the park’s entrance are among his proudest accomplishments, and said they came from a time when rangers had more latitude for such projects.
“When it’s all said and done, it all comes down to the people in your life,” he said, crediting Parker for his efforts.
Nixon said Beat also had tried to get Indian Island to add to the park, an effort that didn’t succeed. However, Beat’s efforts to save the state’s redwoods in parks in other parts of the state did.
“He is a legend,” Nixon said.
Nixon recognized local Pomo leaders, including the late Nelson Hopper, and the Brown and Beltran families for their work and for sharing their knowledge and culture.
Others critical to the park’s creation and preservation include AMIA Board members Henry Bornstein and Gae Henry; Nixon said he didn’t know where the park would be without them.
“This place just got under my skin,” but in a very good way, Nixon said.
Beat also told Lake County News that Anderson Marsh has always been a special place for him.
Members of the Anderson family remain involved in the park today.
Gordon Haggitt, one of the descendants who retired in 2021 as the county of Lake’s longtime surveyor, today is a member of the AMIA Board.
Both he and his cousin, Winifred “Winnie” Anderson Lea — who came with her daughter and son-in-law — remembered herding cattle on the ranch with their great aunts and uncles.
Speaking of those who worked to make the property a state park, Haggitt said, “We’ve got an extra sense of gratitude.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: U.S. Postal Service
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The U.S. Postal Service recognized the centennial birth of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz with a first-day-of-issue ceremony, unveiling a pane of 20 new Forever stamps at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center on Saturday.
“The Postal Service is pleased to present its new Forever stamps commemorating the birth centennial of Charles M. Schulz — the beloved creator of ‘Peanuts’ … the most popular and influential comic strip in history,” said Luke Grossmann, the Postal Service’s finance and strategy senior vice president, who served as the stamp’s dedicating official.
“This isn’t the first time the Postal Service has featured ‘Peanuts’ characters on postage stamps. Snoopy appeared as the World War I Flying Ace in 2001. And in 2015, we issued stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ — which like the strip itself, was created with both adults and children in mind,” he said.
“The joy of ‘Peanuts’ — matched with the joy of sending and receiving mail — is a wonderful way to commemorate Sparky’s life and the happiness his comic strip continues to bring to the world. From holiday mail to personal collections, we hope these stamps brighten the lives of ‘Peanuts’ fans and stamp collectors alike,” said Jean Schulz, widow of Schulz, referring to the cartoonist by his nickname.
Other participants at the ceremony were Gina Huntsinger, director of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, and Paige Braddock, chief creative officer of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates.
Sparky’s story
Within days of Schulz’s birth on Nov. 26, 1922, an uncle nicknamed the infant after the laughable racehorse Spark Plug, a trending character in the newspaper funny pages. The nickname “Sparky” stuck for life, and so did Schulz’s ties to the comics.
Schulz’s “Peanuts” became the most popular and successful comic strip in the history of the medium.
Its characters, including Charlie Brown and Snoopy, became some of the best-known and most-beloved characters in all of American art and literature, gaining worldwide adoration through the comic strip itself, then via books, greeting cards, television, cinematic films, advertising campaigns, a Broadway musical, and countless other media and products.
Charles Monroe Schulz (1922-2000) was born in Minneapolis and grew up in neighboring St. Paul, Minnesota.
An only child, the avid reader with a knack for drawing was promoted from third grade directly to fifth. Consequently, he was younger and smaller than his classmates, forever feeling like an outsider and an observer.
At age 14, Schulz’s first published drawing appeared in the popular newspaper feature “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” Its subject, his eccentric pet dog, would later serve as his inspiration for Snoopy.
After high school, Schulz furthered his art education through a Minneapolis-based correspondence course. When World War II intervened, Schulz was drafted into the Army, serving in France and Germany, and rising to the rank of staff sergeant.
After the war, he returned to the correspondence school, this time as an art instructor, where his friends included a fellow teacher named Charlie Brown.
Schulz also found work lettering comic books and drawing single-panel cartoons for a local newspaper. He also sold several cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post.
“Peanuts” debuted in seven newspapers on Oct. 2, 1950. That number would eventually balloon to more than 2,600, in some 75 countries and 21 languages, with 355 million readers worldwide. Charlie Brown and Snoopy were soon joined by Schroeder, Lucy, Linus and Pigpen. Through its cast of children, the strip found humor in life’s often painful realities, such as insecurity and unrequited love.
In the late 1950s, Charlie Brown’s baby sister, Sally, joined the cast, and Schulz and his growing real-life family moved to Sonoma County, California, eventually building an ice arena in Santa Rosa. (The adjacent Charles M. Schulz Museum opened in 2002.)
As “Peanuts” became a worldwide phenomenon — with beloved television specials, books, a Broadway show, feature films and countless consumer products — Schulz added other favorite characters, including Peppermint Patty, Franklin, Marcie and Snoopy’s bird companion, Woodstock. NASA sought Charlie Brown and Snoopy as morale-building mascots.
In 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts orbited the moon in paired spacecraft called Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Schulz’s characters all reflect aspects of the cartoonist’s inner life, his rich imagination and his great humanity. Charlie Brown faces constant defeat and rejection, but never loses his resolve — whether it’s to kick the football before Lucy pulls it away, to get a kite aloft or to win a single baseball game.
For five decades, Schulz steadfastly wrote, drew, inked and lettered every “Peanuts” strip — nearly 18,000 of them.
On Feb. 12, 2000, he died following a battle with cancer. The final installment of “Peanuts,” a farewell from the cartoonist to his fans and his unforgettable cast of characters, appeared in newspapers the next day.
In addition to the many awards received during his lifetime, Schulz was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, in 2000. “Peanuts” continues through the re-publication of his unparalleled body of work.
Stamp artwork
The stamp artwork is by Schulz and Greg Breeding was the designer and art director.
During its five-decade run — Schulz created daily strips from 1950 to 2000 — “Peanuts,” featured Charlie Brown and his beagle Snoopy. Eleven members of its beloved gang, all in a celebratory mood, adorn 10 stamp designs on a pane of 20.
The six stamps on the first row feature Charlie Brown in his familiar zig-zag-stripe shirt. Long-suffering, but never truly defeated, he is the center of the cast and largely reflects Schulz’s own insecurities and resilience.
Second, the headstrong Lucy Van Pelt, often the antagonist, is all smiles here in her blue dress. Third is Franklin, introduced to the strip in 1968, triumphant in a red tee shirt.
Fourth on the first row of stamps is Sally, Charlie Brown’s little sister, shown in her pink polka-dotted dress. Sally joined the strip as an infant in 1959. Pigpen, charming and self-assured, is seen on the fifth stamp in his perpetual cloud of dust, a layer of soil, and blue overalls. Sixth is Linus, Lucy’s sensitive, intelligent, and capable younger brother. He wears his typical red-and-black-striped shirt.
The second row’s four stamps begin with Snoopy, whose many alter-egos demonstrate Schulz’s own fanciful imagination. On this stamp, his bird companion, Woodstock, flutters about as Snoopy does his celebratory dance. Second is Schroeder, a prodigy often seen leaning obsessively over his piano — much as Schulz leaned tirelessly over his drawing board. Schroeder is shown here in his purple-and-black-striped shirt.
Peppermint Patty, seen third on the second row, is casual in sandals and her vertically-striped green shirt. Athletic and definitely not academically minded, her baseball team routinely defeats the hapless team headed by “Chuck,” as she calls Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty’s loyal friend Marcie appears next on the row’s final stamp. Marcie’s no-nonsense outlook contrasts with Peppermint Patty’s; together they make a great team.
A 1987 photograph of the cartoonist, taken by Douglas Kirkland, appears in the center of the pane. The portrait is framed by the characters Schulz brought to life.
Postal products
Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide.
Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.
A feature story about the stamp will be available at facebook.com/usps following the ceremony. Information for ordering first-day-of-issue postmarks and covers is at usps.com/shop.
The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of border collie, German shepherd, hound, husky, Labrador retriever and Rottweiler.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
Male border collie
This 2-year-old male border collie has a black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-3995.
Labrador retriever mix
This 2-year-old female Labrador retriever mix has a short black coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-3994.
‘Harley’
“Harley” is a 6-month-old female German Shepherd puppy with a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-4024.
Male husky
This 3-year-old male husky has a short tricolor coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-4014.
Male German shepherd
This 2-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
Shelter staff called him a “handsome sweet dude who is motivated by treats and does well walking on a leash.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-3870.
German shepherd mix
This 7-month-old female German shepherd mix has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-4011.
Female husky
This 1-year-old female husky has a cream and black coat.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-3893.
German shepherd mix
This 7-month-old male German shepherd mix pup has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-4012.
Rottweiler mix
This 4-year-old female Rottweiler has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-4013.
Email Elizabeth Larson at