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Konocti Unified School Board hires new superintendent
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Konocti Unified School District has a new superintendent.
At its regular meeting on Wednesday evening, the Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees announced that Donna Becnel has been selected to serve as district superintendent effective July 1.
Becnel will succeed Superintendent Dr. William MacDougall, who will retire on June 30.
Board President Anita Gordon said the board was unanimous in the decision to hire Becnel.
Gordon commented that the district is fortunate to have found such an experienced and skilled school administrator to provide leadership to the students and staff of the Konocti Unified School District.
Becnel currently serves as the assistant superintendent for human resources in the Hayward Unified School District.
Before coming to Hayward, she worked in personnel services in the Antioch, San Lorenzo and Castro Valley Unified School districts.
Her first administrative position was in the Mt. Pleasant School District where she served as director of special education and pupil services. Mt. Pleasant is a district about the same size as Konocti located in the San Jose area.
Although her main area of expertise has been in human resources, she has likewise had experience in business services including budget preparation and management as well as experience in curriculum and instructional services.
In the Hayward District, she designed and implemented a program called “Aspiring Administrators” to provide coaching and mentoring support to new certificated and classified management staff.
She has been involved in the communities where she has worked volunteering for community service through Rotary, Chamber of Commerce and the Police Activities League.
She currently serves on the board of directors for a nonprofit that provides counseling services to the local schools and community.
Konocti Unified conducted a nationwide search for the superintendent position and received more than 30 applications.
The applications were screened by a team of educators and the board selected eight candidates to be interviewed.
Each candidate not only had an hour long interview with the school board but also met with a community committee composed of 17 local citizens including parents, community business leaders, teachers, classified staff, parents and school administrators.
After listening to the input from the community committee, the board selected three candidates for a second interview.
Once they identified the top candidate, two board members visited the current district of employment to interview teachers, staff and co-workers, the district reported.
Educators, attorneys move forward on launch of Mock Trial Program
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Local educators and members of the legal community are partnering to bring a new educational experience to the community's young people.
The Mock Trial Program is set to make its debut in the 2012-13 school year.
The program, which began in Southern California, gives young people the chance to study court cases and argue them before real judges in real courtrooms as part of mock bench trials competitions.
The Lake County Superior Court and Lake County Office of Education partnered late last year to bring the program to Lake County.
Close to 20 people – including Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook and Upper Lake High School Superintendent Patrick Iaccino – met in the Lake County Superior Court Department 2 courtroom on Tuesday afternoon to talk about the next steps necessary to make the competition a reality.
Holbrook said presentations have been made at local high schools, four of which expressed their interest in forming teams for the competition.
He said the plan is to be ready at the start of the coming school year.
Court staffer Suzanne Blavet said a number of local attorneys – Stephen and Angela Carter, Anna Gregorian and Bill Conwell, David Markham, Jon Hopkins and Jacqueline Snyder – already are committed to working with teams forming at the various schools.
Still other local attorneys may be joining as well, Blavet said.
Stephanie Wayment of the Lake County Office of Education said every county that has a mock trial competition has the opportunity to send one team to the state competition, which this coming year will be held in Anaheim.
Holbrook said Lake County's Mock Trial Program will have its actual kick off at the end of September or start of October.
Community members interested in participating at various levels should contact the Lake County Office of Education, 707-262-4100.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LACOSAN to begin wastewater collection system inspections in Upper Lake
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Sanitation District (LACOSAN) will be initiating this season’s round of wastewater collection system inspections in the coming weeks.
This year will include smoke testing inspections starting with approximately 50,000 lineal feet of the sewer collection system in Upper Lake.
Smoke testing involves use of non-toxic liquid smoke that leaves no residual and pinpoints potential leaks in sewer lines.
Leak detection and subsequent repairs have a significant impact on minimizing spills throughout the year.
Miksis Services Inc., specializing in leak detection, and LACOSAN crews will be introducing smoke under pressure into the system through the manholes.
“Smoke is introduced approximately every 400 to 800 feet,” said Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger. “If there is a leak in the sewer system, the smoke will find its way to the ground surface, showing our crews where problems exist. Smoke is also visible where there are leaks such as private cleanouts that are not capped properly. We’ve seen many cleanouts that are not capped off.”
Additional common problems detected are rain gutters and roof vents that are illegally connected to the cleanout to avoid flooding yards. All of these contribute to excess rain water entering the collection system. Additionally, if a building’s drain system is faulty, smoke may appear in the building.
“It’s difficult to quantify the exact savings resulting from smoke testing but we do know that all preventive measures taken now will reduce inflow and the amount of storm water treated at the wastewater treatment plant,” said Dellinger. “This method of regular inspection ensures continued proper operation of the collection system.”
In addition, homeowners are encouraged to do their part by doing the following:
- Inspect the rain gutters on your house to see if the downspout connects to a sewer line. Such connections are illegal. If the gutter downspouts are connected to the sewer line, have them disconnected – the large amount of water from the roof can cause a sewage spill. The rainwater needs to be directed onto your lawn and/or to the storm drain system.
- Look for and visually inspect your sewer cleanout. The cleanout is usually a small pipe, about 4 inches in diameter, outside your house that is used to access the sewer lateral for cleaning. You will normally find it near the house (where the sewer lateral comes out) and/or near the property line (where the sewer lateral connects to the main sewer line). Make sure the cap to the cleanout pipe is not missing and has not been damaged (such as by a lawn mower). Replace missing caps so that rainwater cannot get into the sewer line.
- Check to see that outdoor patio, deck or yard drains are not connected to the sewer. Also, be sure that pool or pond overflow drains are not connected to the sewer. These connections are prohibited by the Lake County Sewer Use Ordinance.
LACOSAN is appreciative of the cooperation shown by the community during collection system inspection and testing.
Residents are encouraged to take an active interest while observing the procedure, asking questions and taking time to explore potential corrective actions on their property.
Special Districts provides water and wastewater services in many areas of Lake County.
Any individuals with questions about smoke testing or any work that we do are encouraged to contact the LACOSAN Administrative Office at 707-263-0119.
REGIONAL: San Francisco men convicted of abalone poaching
MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A Mendocino County jury last week found two San Francisco men guilty of abalone poaching following an incident off the Mendocino Headlands.
Jurors found Hou N. Huang, 47, guilty of excessive taking of abalone, and Hong Mei, 39, guilty of unlawful possession of abalone.
The trial lasted three days, but jurors deliberated for only 2 1/2 hours, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
The prosecution’s trial evidence came through single-witness testimony of state Fish and Game Warden Don Powers.
Powers testified that he was patrolling the Mendocino Headlands, when he stopped and watched Huang dive and come up with an abalone on 14 separate occasions. Huang put nine abalone in his dive tube.
The warden testified Huang then swam over to Mei, and Mei took five abalone from Huang. The men then went out of view behind a rock. When the two came back into view, they were now accompanied by a woman. When these three people were subsequently contacted on shore, they had three abs each.
Warden Powers explained to the jury that it is common, but illegal, for people to "high-grade" abalone, meaning a diver illegally takes more than his or her allotted three per day, and then compares and discards all but the largest three. Since abalone blood does not clot, the abalone left behind often die.
In summary, the jury rejected the defendants’ claims of misidentification. It was argued that Warden Powers could not have positively identified and distinguished the two defendants from the other divers in the same area.
The court-appointed defense lawyers aggressively questioned the warden’s observations because, it was argued, he was using binoculars at a distance of 130 yards.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Clayton Brennan sentenced Huang to 24 months court probation, 15 days in jail, court fees, a fine of $2,545, plus forfeiture of his dive gear and the seized abalone.
Judge Brennan sentenced Mei to 24 months court probation, court fees, a fine of $1,499, five days in jail, and other terms similar to Huang. The men are now prohibited while on probation from recreational or commercial fishing.
"I would like to thank the jury," said prosecutor Tim Stoen, “for their service and for reaching a just verdict." DDA Stoen also commended Warden Powers for a good investigation. District Attorney David Eyster said his office will continue “to work with the Fish and Game wardens to target poachers in order to protect the abalone resource that belongs to all of us.”
