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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster. The newest dog is listed at the beginning of the list.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 3476.
‘Cleo’
“Cleo” is a female Doberman pinscher mix with a short gray coat who is new to the shelter.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4865.
‘Dusty’
“Dusty” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier with a tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4750.
‘Sassy’
“Sassy” is a female Labrador retriever and pit bull mix with a short black with white markings.
She is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4602.
‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
Toby is house trained and neutered.
He is dog No. 4389.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Lt. Corey Paulich said 60-year-old Efrain Antonio Menjivar of Martinez went missing while swimming on Saturday near Clearlake Oaks.
At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Menjivar was swimming approximately 30 to 40 yards offshore near Harvey Boulevard when he went under and could not be located, Paulich said.
Menjivar’s body was located at 6 a.m. Wednesday near the shoreline in the area of Island Drive in Clearlake Oaks, Paulich said.
Paulich said an autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
Menjivar’s death is the third water-related death from the weekend, all of them from incidents that occurred offshore of Clearlake Oaks.
Early Saturday, a boating accident offshore of Island Drive led to the deaths of Webster Medley III, 51, and Novia Walton, 50, of Fresno, as Lake County News has reported.
The newly engaged couple had been out with Medley’s family on the lake when the boat began to take on water and capsized.
Medley attempted to save Walton and disappeared, while Walton was taken to an out-of-county hospital and died on Saturday night. Medley’s body was found on Sunday morning.
The sheriff’s Marine Patrol is conducting additional follow-up, including an examination of Medley’s boat.
As of Thursday, the agency had not released any updates on the investigation into the fatal boating accident.
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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Gehlen Palmer, longtime resident and former Middletown librarian, is this year’s Middletown Days Pioneer award recipient.
Palmer will be featured at the Middletown Days Parade this year which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19. He will also be honored for his contributions to the community with a plaque, immediately following the parade, at the celebration near the arena at Central Park.
Palmer didn’t set out to be a librarian, he originally wanted to go into science, but, “Math,” he says, “was the issue.”
Born in 1947 in San Francisco, his formative years were spent around his father’s family who were readers and former teachers. He recalls driving his grandmother nuts by asking her to read “Ferdinand,” and Dr. Seuss’s “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” over and over again.
The family moved to Middletown in June of 1953, right after he finished kindergarten. His mom, Dorothy Rees, was a housewife and charter member of the Lioness Club. His father, Reis “Finney” Palmer, was a charter member of the Lion’s Club. He was also the milk man and owned the Golden State Foremost Dairy which is now known as Clover Dairy.
Palmer attended Middletown Elementary which at the time was located on Highway 175 and Middletown High back when the middle school and high school were still one.
His favorite teacher was Dave Robertson, the English teacher. They talked about books. The high school had just gotten a new library on campus. Palmer recalls typing up the check out cards during study hall.
After graduating high school in 1965, he headed to Humboldt State to study liberal arts. Then in 1967, in order to avoid being drafted and having to go to Vietnam, he joined the Coast Guard.
He was eventually sent to Indianapolis where he attended the Defense Department Journalism School. His last duty station was Governors Island in the middle of New York Harbor where the USO would give servicemen free tickets to Broadway shows. He ended his time with the Coast Guard five years later as an E5 Second Class Journalist.
Next, he headed off to Tampa and General Telephone and Electronics Services where he was a technical writer for two years before heading back to California, specifically, Monterey.
In 1975 he began what he calls “working in the book business.” He was a book clerk at the Navy Exchange bookstore at the Naval Postgraduate school by day and worked for the Pacifica Grove Public Library in the evening.
One day, he saw an ad for a bookstore manager in Astoria, Oregon and he packed up and moved. He held that job for the next three years before deciding to run his own bookstore. He had the store for 11 years, but when his mother died in 1993 — his dad having passed in 1978 — he moved back to Middletown.
He gave himself six months to find a job. One day he went into the Middletown Library and overheard the librarian lamenting that she only had two days left, hadn’t received very many applications and, of those received, not many were qualified.
Palmer put in his application and three weeks later he was the new librarian. At that time, the position was considered extra help and only 15 hours a week.
The old Middletown Library used to be housed across the street from the current library in what is now the Gibson Museum. If you had ever visited before construction of the new library, you know just how crowded it eventually became. There were stacks and stacks of books behind the counter because there was nowhere else to put them.
In addition to his librarian duties, Palmer, the sole employee, also served as janitor and groundskeeper for many years. He says he enjoyed the position and there was lots of work to be done, so he stayed to do it.
In 2000, as part of a classification and compensation study by the county, he was rewarded for his efforts. He received the largest raise of anyone in the county based on all the jobs he was covering. His hours were also increased. He said that he gave himself a “small raise” and put the rest away for retirement.
That same year a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation allowed the library to offer public access computers. That resulted in a conversion of an empty room into a Children's Room. The responsibility was left to Palmer who partnered with the Lioness Club to fundraise and to paint it. They also helped with the forming of the Friends of the Library.
Even with all the upgrades, the Gibson building eventually became too small to meet the needs. Planning for the new library actually began back in 1997 under then-Supervisor Ed Robey. The request for proposal didn’t actually go out until around 2010. Palmer thinks it was under Supervisor Jim Comstock.
County Librarian Susan Clayton gave Palmer leeway to help plan the new building. Palmer also helped to relay requests from library patrons as to what they would like in the new building.
“That got us the donation of the Circulation Desk from Calpine (the reception desk in the Visitor's Center) and the transfer of custom shelving from the Gibson Children's Room to the new library,” he said.
Palmer credits many individuals with helping with planning.
In April of 2013, the efforts of so many came to fruition and the new library was opened. Palmer got to enjoy the new building until he retired in November of 2018.
It should be noted that when he retired the position was still not full-time at just 30 hours a week, which, he says, gave him more time at home and to do the things he wanted to do.
These days, he still has lots to do around his house as he is one of the folks who lost his home in the Valley fire. He is enjoying his retirement and his new home, especially the back porch which has a great view of Cobb Mountain. He calls the porch a “terrible distraction.”
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Acting Public Health Officer Dr. Evan Bloom and epidemiologist Sarah Marikos joined the board via Zoom.
“The short of it is that things remain the same,” said Bloom, noting case rates are low at 3.3 per 100,000 people, with testing positivity of 2.5 percent
“There have been some upticks in cases around Northern California,” Bloom noted.
“We are seeing some indications of possible mild upticks within Lake County, however, that remains to be seen with our numbers,” he added.
Bloom said vaccination coverage rates also remain the same.
Marikos said testing is declining statewide, with an overall test positivity rate of 0.8% and the daily case rate at 2 cases per 100,000 people.
She said the state was set to release its updated tier metrics on the Blueprint for a Safer Economy later that day, with Lake County to remain in the orange tier, indicating moderate transmission. She said that ranking is based on data from May 23 to 29.
Lake is among 35 counties in the orange tier this week, with 19 in the yellow, or minimal transmission, tier and three in the red, or substantial transmission, tier. There are none in the widespread, or purple tier, according to the state’s blueprint website.
Marikos said the state will be running the blueprint for the last time next week as it’s planning to sunset the framework on June 15.
She said Lake County’s overall case rate has been really stable since mid-April, with the number of cases ranging from 12 to 24 per week.
Testing is declining slightly in Lake County and also is declining statewide, said Marikos.
Compared to a lot of other rural counties, Lake County is doing a good job of testing people and keeping the testing rate up, she added.
Over the last two week, about 950 county residents were newly vaccinated. Marikos said 53% of Lake County residents age 12 and older are now fully or partially vaccinated, compared to 66% of Californians.
Marikos offered the following vaccination breakdowns by age group: 8% of those in the 12 to 17 age group are vaccinated; 37% of those ages 18 to 49; 67%, ages 60 to 64; and 61%, age 65 and older.
With vaccinations slowing, the disparity between Lake County’s numbers and state is growing, because the state is vaccinating at a higher pace, Marikos said.
Speaking to the sunsetting of the blueprint framework, Bloom said, “Although the restrictions for businesses are going away, and that we are all happy that they are going away, the virus is not going away. The virus is still here, which is why vaccination is important.”
He said the virus comes in waves, and its impact differs in times of the year and seasons, which is why he encouraged people to get the vaccine.
Public Health is concerned that the vaccination rate and coverage is slowing, particularly in the 65-plus and 18 to 49 age ranges, he said.
“Vaccination is still important because we have not reached a level where we would feel that we could avoid a significant surge based on vaccine coverage of the county,” he said.
He encouraged people to continue to take precautions after the tiers go away on June 15, including wearing a mask if necessary and continuing to use social distancing, including in large groups.
There were some big community events recently where masking and social distancing didn’t take place, and he said Public Health is starting to see some cases from people who attended those events. That leads them to be concerned about more upcoming events, like July 4.
“The virus is still with us, unfortunately, so use your common sense,” Bloom said.
All of the vaccines are available throughout Lake County, with Bloom noting that Public Health is working on a number of different fronts to try to increase vaccination coverage incrementally.
Bloom said Public Health is working with school boards and will soon be starting clinics for children and families that will rotate throughout Lake County’s school districts.
They also are working with Behavioral Health, Medicare and Medicaid providers, and Public Health has applied for support from the state for mobile vaccination teams, he said.
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