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- Written by: Lake County News reports
School and special districts boards are among the seats up for election this fall.
That’s in addition to District 5 supervisorial runoff between Bill Kearney and Jessica Pyska.
The Lakeport and Clearlake city councils also have elections this November.
In Clearlake, on the ballot will be David Claffey and Joyce Overton, while in Lakeport candidates are Michael Froio, Michael Green, Nathan Maxman and Kenny Parlet.
While many positions will be on the ballot, in several cases where there are not enough candidates for seats or the same number of candidates as seats, those will not go on the ballot.
The following are the lists of seats for fire, school and special districts that will be filled by the fall election as well as those that have been filled and will not be on the ballot.
More information about the general election is available on the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office website.
SEATS THAT WILL APPEAR ON THE BALLOT
Callayomi County Water District
Rosemary Córdova, incumbent
Sandra Harris, retired administrative assistant
Roger Rosenthal, refrigeration controls technician
Kelseyville Unified School District
Beniakem D. Cromwell, appointed incumbent
Natalie Higley, labor advocate/mother
Mary Beth Mosko, mother
Gilbert Rangel, school literacy director
Konocti Unified School District
Susan C. Burton, incumbent
Michael “Mac” McMurtrey, assistant education director
Zabdy Neria, mental health specialist
Mary Silva, incumbent
Upper Lake Unified School District
Franklin Gudmundson, correctional deputy for the county of Lake
Don Meri, lead construction foreman
Claudine Pedroncelli incumbent
SEATS THAT WILL NOT APPEAR ON THE BALLOT
Buckingham Park Water District
Tom Brandon, incumbent
Shannon Maurer, appointed incumbent
Callayomi County Water District
James Rayburn, retired staff sergeant
Clearlake Oaks County Water District
James Burton, retired fire chief
Michael L. Herman, appointed incumbent
Mary M. Medeiros
Cobb Area County Water District
James “Jim” Agur, incumbent
Kees Winkelman, incumbent
Joshua Dixon, appointed incumbent (two-year unexpired term)
Konocti County Water District
Kirsten Priebe
Jeffrey Stanley, incumbent
Lake County Board of Education
Trustee Area No. 1: Melissa Nevin Kinsel, incumbent
Trustee Area No. 2: Mark A. Cooper, incumbent
Lakeport Unified School District
Dan Buffalo, incumbent
Philip Kirby, incumbent
Jeannie Markham, appointed incumbent
Lucerne Elementary School District
Stacia Fetzer, incumbent
Mendocino-Lake Community College District
Trustee Area No. 7 (Lake County): Temashio Anderson, appointed incumbent
Middletown Unified School District
Zoi Bracisco, retired program manager
Misha Grothe, incumbent
Upper Lake County Water District
Dawn R. Binns, incumbent
Valerie Duncan, incumbent
Allen Merriman, incumbent
Villa Blue Estates Water District
Donna Lynn Brooks
Ann Knudsen
Gary Pierce, incumbent
Yuba Community College District
Trustee Area No. 7: William Roderick, student services director
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Thanks to the work of firefighters protecting communities around Lake Pillsbury against the approach of the August Complex, evacuation orders in the area have been reduced to warnings.
The US Forest Service said Monday that the August Complex had grown to 878,470 acres – up about 8,000 acres since Sunday – with containment up two percentage points to 45 percent.
The complex, which began due to lightning on Aug. 17, is burning on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests. Fire officials continue to anticipate it will be fully contained on Nov. 15.
Firefighters have been on high alert across the complex’s vast acreage due to an ongoing red flag warning that the National Weather Service issued last week because of high winds from an offshore wind event.
Critical fire weather conditions continue, officials said, with winds on Monday expected to be sustained at 12 to 18 miles per hour with gusts to 25 miles per hour on ridges and high areas, and 6 to 12 miles per hour in valleys.
Officials said temperatures will be close to 100 degrees and the humidity will be in the single digits. Relative humidity values did not increase much overnight, so fuels will start out dry this morning. As a result of these conditions, there will be significant potential for rapid fire growth for most of the day.
Despite the high winds and critical fire weather Sunday, crews successfully defended control lines in the Lake Pillsbury area and the east side of the South Zone is still fully contained, the US Forest Service reported.
On Monday, fire crews are continuing their work to secure firelines in the Pillsbury Lake and Rice Fork areas, the Forest Service said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that the evacuation orders have been reduced to warnings for all residents and areas south of fire’s edge, north of North Ridge and West Crockett Camp, east of the Lake-Mendocino County line and west of the Lake-Glenn County line.
Also, evacuation orders have been lifted for all areas south of North Ridge and West Crockett Camp, east of the Lake-Glenn-Colusa County line and north of Pack Saddle Creek, the sheriff’s office reported.
Evacuation orders remain in effect for all areas north of the fire’s edge, south and west of the Lake-Glenn County line, and east of the Lake-Mendocino County line, the sheriff’s office reported.
Full evacuation information can be found here.
The Forest Service said the last remaining elements of the 14th Brigade Engineering Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord departed the August Complex on Sunday after fighting the fire for 30 days.
“The hard work by these dedicated soldiers made a significant impact on the South Zone of the August Complex,” said Mike Quesinberry, incident commander of the National Incident Management Organization. “This unit provided additional capacity when national resources were critically low and played an important role in increasing containment and protecting structures.”
On the east side of the complex, the Burned Area Emergency Response team, or BAER, is
mobilized and prepared to start their analyses of the burned area, the Forest Service said.
After a fire, officials said the priority is emergency stabilization in order to prevent further damage to life, property or natural resources on Forest Service lands.
The stabilization work begins before the fire is out and may continue for up to a year. Rehabilitation focuses on the lands unlikely to recover naturally from wildland fire damage, officials said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Thousands of people across Napa and Sonoma counties are once again under evacuation due to a fast-moving wildland fire incident that includes three fires that began on Sunday.
The Glass fire began shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday in the Deer Park area of Napa County. Cal Fire said the first units on scene found a fast-moving 20-acre vegetation fire. By 1 p.m. Sunday, it had grown to 1,200 acres and had doubled again to 2,500 acres by nightfall.
The fire has had a dangerous rate of spread and has expanded into Sonoma County, officials said.
On Sunday night, two additional fires – the Shady and Boysen – began in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said those fires were in the area of St. Helena Road and Los Alamos Road.
Cal Fire said those fires have merged with the Glass fire.
Overnight the incident as a whole burned several thousand more acres, with officials reporting on Monday morning that it had burned 11,000 acres, with no containment.
Cal Fire said crews have reported the Glass fire has had short-range spotting with wind-driven runs.
Early Monday, firefighters reported over the radio that the fire was jumping Highway 29 in Napa County and also had crossed over in the 4400 block of Silverado Trail.
Resources have been thin due to so many other fires around the state – Gov. Gavin Newsom said 27 incidents are burning across California – and early Monday crews were being moved around to priority areas as the fire moved closer to homes.
Cal Fire said that the fire is threatening 8,543 structures. There was no report from Cal Fire on Monday about how many structures have been damaged or destroyed, but there were multiple reports Sunday night and into early Monday about losses to vineyards and wineries, including photographs and video footage of burning homes.
The Shady fire portion of the incident was reported to be burning in and around Trione-Annadel State Park on Monday morning.
The fire has led to evacuations across Napa and Sonoma counties. The maps below show the evacuation areas as of Monday morning for both counties.
On Sunday night, thousands of residents were on the highways attempting to leave the areas of the Shady and Boysen fires, with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office directing evacuees to head east on Highway 12 toward Sonoma because westbound traffic toward Santa Rosa was gridlocked.
By Monday morning, Cal Fire had 1,070 firefighters assigned to the incident, along with 133 engines, 22 water tenders, five helicopters, 26 hand crews and 35 dozers.
Cal Fire said it has activated two new incident management teams. One is being sent to the Glass fire and the other to the 15,000-acre Zogg fire in Shasta County.
A red flag warning remains in effect through Monday for strong and gusty offshore winds, low humidity and dry fuels.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Tribal Health Consortium is partnering with Westside Community Park and the Lakeport Lions Club to bring a new playground to the park.
On Tuesday, Tribal Health Chief Executive Officer Ernesto Padillo presented a $5,000 check to Westside Community Park Committee members.
They were joined by Lakeport Lions Club board members, who previously donated $100,000 to construct a playground at Westside Community Park.
“Lake County Tribal Health Consortium is happy to help reach the fundraising goal at Westside Community Park,” Padilla said. “Parks like Westside don’t only promote physical activity time but family time as well, which is equally important. Any opportunity LCTHC has to give back to the community that has helped us grow and promotes health is an opportunity we don’t pass up.”
Westside Community Park Committee Chair Dennis Rollins said the donation came about after the committee sent out a fundraising letter in an attempt to raise $5,000 to supplement the Lakeport Lions Club's playground donation.
“The current budget requirement is $110,000 with the cost of grading still to be added when the engineering is complete,” he said. “Ruzicka Associates is donating the engineering services.”
Rollins said Lake County Tribal Health received that letter and offered the entire $5,000 to meet the goal the committee’s letter described.
In addition, so far more than $4,000 more has come in from community donations in response to the letter, Rollins said.
“This playground will become a reality thanks to the Lions Club, Lake County Tribal Health and members of our community,” Rollins said.
Earlier this month, during Tribal Health’s groundbreaking of its new Clearlake clinic, Padilla presented a $25,000 to the city of Clearlake to go toward improvements at Austin Park, as Lake County News has reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at