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Project PC, a division of the Earth and Spacial Technology (EAST) class at Middletown High School, is offering free computers to community members, according to teacher and EAST Advisor Dan Renninger.
The only requirement is that those who apply for the computers can't already own one, and must sign the Project PC Terms of Agreement. In return the group will provide a refurbished computer, a 20-minute lesson teaching new computer owners how to set up and use the machines, and an informational pamphlet.
The computers come complete with an installed copy of Windows 2000 Pro, OpenOffice 2.3, anti-spyware software and a variety of other programs that are useful during everyday computer use, Renninger explained.
Project PC formally got started during this school year. “This is the first year we were able to do it successfully and get it off the ground,” said Middletown High senior Bobby Oertel, who is leading the student project.
Currently six students – three seniors and three freshmen – spend about four hours a week – in addition to extra time on their own, refurbishing computers or helping with other tech issues around the school and, as a result, saving the school a lot of money, said Renninger.
“This was a student-initiated project,” he said. “They felt there was a need in the community to provide technology for people.”
He added, “They had skills with computer and they felt that they could give back.”
Oertel added that it's a chance for the seniors to share their knowledge with the younger students.
He said Project PC so far has given away 15 computers to individuals, and another eight have been put to work in the Minnie Cannon Elementary School library, where they replaced older computers.
Renninger said Redbud Community Hospital donated about 70 older computers to the effort. “That's the biggest batch we've received.”
In addition, Langtry Estate and Vineyard also has promised another set of computers, said Renninger.
The challenge now, said Oertel, is getting the word out. They have plenty of computers ready and can have many more – as many as 50 – prepared for new homes within a week.
Renninger said his students are working hard and doing a great job. “They're good kids, they've got good hearts.”
Added Oertel, “It's just a great way to help the community.”
It's not only a great community service, but an excellent way for the students to hone their skills in preparation for careers in information technology, said Renninger.
Oertel said he's planning to pursue a career in the technology field.
Project PC also is accepting more computer donations, either PC or Macintosh – anything community members or businesses want to donate, said Renninger.
He added that any materials they can't use will be recycled.
For more information about the free computers or to donate machines contact Dan Renninger at 987-4140, Extension 4010.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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More than 300 participants – including Lake County residents – decried Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's position to close 48 California state parks and reduce lifeguard staffing on 16 state beaches.
“Never before have California’s state parks been under such assault,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation. “From plans to build a six lane toll road through San Onofre State Beach to a proposal to add transmission lines through protected desert wilderness, to this latest proposal to shut down 48 of California’s magnificent state parks, the attack on state parks has been unprecedented.”
Goldstein said the gathering demonstrated that state parks are essential to Californians’ quality of life and government can’t ignore the will of the people.
With picket signs and banners, legislators, mayors, environmentalists, teachers and park users unified to send the Legislature and the governor a message that closing even one state park is unacceptable.
These proposed cuts impact nearly every Californian. More than 77 million people visited California state parks last year and this year, 9,000 camping reservations for opening day in May have been logged, an increase of more than 20 percent over last year. Meanwhile, millions of teachers and students continue to utilize state parks for affordable educational activities.
“Throughout the state, hundreds of volunteers work to improve our state parks and raise greater awareness about all the benefits our state parks have to offer to Californians," said Randy Widera, president of the California League of Park Associations. “We will continue fighting to keep all of our state parks open as they are essential to our communities and should be preserved as a lasting legacy for future generations.”
These cuts along with a reduction in lifeguard staffing, results in a little more than $13 million in savings to the state, or one-thirteenth of 1 percent of the state budget. However, those savings are negated when factoring in the loss of tourism dollars to local economies.
“Our history is an immutable part of our state’s culture. These parks generate millions of dollars of revenues for our state and local economies and their closure will do very little to assuage the debt we are facing,” said Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria). “What we stand to lose if we close these parks and historical monuments is far greater than any monetary benefit we gain from their closure.”
“Access to our state parks is among the investments we hold most dear in California. Today’s budget crisis represents the greatest threat to our parks in a generation,” said Assembly Budget Committee Chair John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). “The solution is not to shut down state parks, eliminate lifeguards at our state beaches, or pave new roadways through our parks. Our state parks are a legacy for the future. We should spend the next several weeks talking with the people of California about what kind of California we want to have, how we’re going to save our parks and how we should fund them.”
The governor’s proposal calls for the closure of 18 state parks, 16 state historic parks and museums, three state beaches, nine state recreation areas and two state reserves.
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Starting in March Lake County Code Enforcement began tackling what has become an annual task of cleaning up dump sites in remote areas, said Code Enforcement Manager Voris Brumfield.
“In last year's budget we requested funds to start illegal dump cleanups,” she explained.
On March 8 Code Enforcement began with cleanups near Upper Lake, Nice and Clearlake Oaks, said Brumfield.
Moving to another spot along the Northshore, on March 29 Code Enforcement cleaned up the Morrison Creek area, said Brumfield, which also had been cleaned up about a year ago.
Later this month, cleanups will take place at sites in Kelseyville and Cobb, Brumfield added.
The cost to do the cleanups is more than $5,000 per day, said Brumfield. The county will apply to California Integrated Waste Management Board for reimbursement.
Brumfield said most cleanups take place during the spring, when the weather is more mild and there is less concern about running into rattlesnakes.
The California Integrated Waste Management Board reports that illegal dumping is a problem throughout the state. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by jurisdictions around the state in cleaning up dumped materials, while private land owners also find themselves paying to remove garbage dumped on their land.
Code Enforcement's Web page on the county Web site – www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/DepartmentDirectory/Code_Enforcement.htm – has more information on illegal dumping and how to help prevent it.
To report dumping to Code Enforcement, call 263-2309 during working hours or contact their 24-hour hotline message phone at 263-2308. Illegal dumping also can be reported by calling 1-888-DFG-CALTIP.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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OK, I admit it: I’m a foodie on a freakish scale. In addition to the usual appreciation for fine foods that makes a person a “foodie,” I love heirloom vegetables, organic foods, and exotic meats. I take a keen interest in all the different aspects of food production, including fiddling about in my own garden.
I love to research how things are grown all around the world, like checking weather patterns in Southeast Asia to see if this is going to be a good year for Tellicherry pepper. I even have my own signature six-peppercorn blend, the contents of which are a strict secret. I know, I know, as my wife is always saying, “Pull UP!” So yes, I admit it, I love food to the point of obsession.
So now that you know a little about my love of gastronomy, I thought I would tell you a little about the fun time of year that we are in ... Seed Catalog Season! This is the time of year that my Lay-Z-Boy is surrounded and covered with catalogs, as I examine them in an effort to narrow down what I will be growing this year.
Every year I try to find one unique item that I’ve never grown before. This year I’m planting Mexican Sour Gherkins, a type of cucumber that grows to be the size of a teaspoon. Perfect for pickling! I’ll still have the usual tomatoes, onions, artichokes, herbs, etc.
I’m always looking out for a more flavorful and bigger tomato. This year I am going to start the process of hybridizing my own variety of tomato out of “Coustralee,” “Zogola,” and “Omar’s Lebanese” tomatoes. I’ll also have a couple of a tomato plants that I grew last year called “Quingza” just for eating. I just love to garden.
Tomatoes utterly love our climate. The warm to hot summer temperatures here are similar to the tomato’s native Central and South America, the lack of summer rains helps prevent fungal diseases, and our high altitude intensifies flavors in the fruits more than gardens at sea level.
If you’re interested in improving the flavor of your tomatoes even more, I will let you in on a little secret of my own. Don’t water your tomatoes so much. When I won “Best Tomato of Show” at a North Bay festival (with a cherry tomato called “Matt’s Wild Cherry”) a man approached me and asked for some advice. He commented that he watered his tomatoes twice, and even sometimes three times a day, and he wanted to know how many times I watered mine.
You could see the astonishment in his face when I told him, “Two or three times per year.” I explained to him how every time you water your tomatoes, you water down their flavor. How do they get enough water then? I use a very intensive method for growing tomatoes which requires a lot of preparation before the actual planting begins but which makes the plants mostly self-sufficient. If you would like to learn more, feel free to e-mail me for specifics.
I now want to make a plea with the public at large. When I lived in Santa Rosa, every couple of weeks during the growing season I would harvest all of my extra vegetables and bring them to the local battered women’s shelter. I’m a firm believer that although your next-door neighbor may LIKE getting your extra harvests, there are places out there that actually NEED them. With the recent success of the Wine and Chocolate event (which benefited the new battered women’s shelter), it renewed my belief that these types of programs need to be supported on a continuous basis. If you are a gardener who wishes to donate your extra produce, please contact me. I am willing to start a program that will deliver garden fresh fruits and vegetables to the current and new domestic violence shelters.
If you don’t have a garden and still wish to donate something, then you are also welcome to contact me. I can arrange to have your food picked up and delivered to the shelter. Together we can change our community for the better.
My personal e-mail address is
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, announced that it wrote to Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins Friday, calling for aggressive investigation and prosecution – if warranted – of two girls accused of microwaving a hamster.
The girls, ages 14 and 15 years old and Lower Lake High School students, were arrested March 31 and remained in Juvenile Hall until April 3, charged with intentional animal cruelty for microwaving the hamster, as Lake County News has reported. The hamster lost three of her four feet but has otherwise recovered.
The teens are due to go to court April 18, according to Clearlake Police Officer Carl Miller, the school resource officer who led the investigation.
"Those who abuse animals can be dangerous to people," said Dale Bartlett, the Humane Society of the United States' deputy manager for animal cruelty issues. "Americans have no tolerance for violence against the creatures who share our world."
The Humane Society, which monitors incidents of cruelty across the United States and provides input to prosecutors in more than 200 cases annually, reported that it also offered Hopkins' office its support and resources.
Humane Society officials reported that getting the serious attention of prosecutors in cases involving allegations of animal cruelty is an essential step in protecting community safety. That's because the connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented.
The group pointed to studies that show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.
“Strong, carefully considered sentencing that includes incarceration, psychological treatment, and a ban on pet ownership is the most effective available tool for reducing recidivism and interrupting the cycle of criminal behavior,” a Humane Society statement noted.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKE COUNTY – Local rockers Faded At Four remain in the competition for a recording contract and a shot at fame in a contest that pits talented bands from around the country and the world against each other.
Lake County Bodog Battle of the Bands Finalists, Faded At Four took Hollywood by storm in the latest round of competition for the $1 million recording contract on March 12.
The five-member band was once again complete with glove-wearing guitarist Chris Murphy returning to the group after his brief hiatus from the band.
Murphy joined his fellow band members, vocalist Jon Foutch, guitarist Brian Kenner, bassist Martin Scheel and drummer Chris "Pencil" Sanders on the stage of the Avalon in Hollywood.
Several of their fans made the trek to Hollywood to see this band compete for a place on the reality TV series, Bodog Battle of the Bands as once again, another venue was filled with chants of "Faded Faded Faded" by fans proudly displaying their support in their Faded At Four T-Shirts. Fans were presented with a special treat in Faded's performance, their new song, written for their Bodog performances called "Faded."
Faded At Four started their journey with Bodog in July 2007 by registering at the Bodog Web site and submitting their bio and music for judging by online voters.
Shortly after registration, they became No. 1 in the San Francisco division and rapidly moved up the ranks to become No. 3 in the nation, securing their spot in the live competitions.
In October the band performed in their first live round, the audition round to show the judges that they were a real band with real musical talent by traveling to San Francisco to compete at 12 Galaxies.
Moving on with seven other bands from that round, Faded at Four prepared for the "Impress the Judges Round" again at 12 Galaxies in December by offering their fans a bus ride to the venue, food and drink on the bus, a Faded At Four t-shirt and admission to the venue for one flat fee. Fifty fans packed the venue and voted their favorite band into the next round in January.
January's Semi-Regional Finals found Faded At Four facing off with 11 other bands. Their fans once again offered their loyal support by loading on buses to attend the show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.
This time fans from Sacramento joined their Lake County counterparts and three buses were brought to the show. Faded At Four, with their fans help, moved on to the Finals in March in Hollywood.
One band out of the 12 that played at the Avalon in Hollywood moved on to the reality series. Two more bands may join the reality series participants by fan voting online.
The Wildcard vote takes place from April 1 to April 30 on Bodog Battle of the Bands Web site. Faded at Four's fans may vote for them once daily by logging onto the Bodog website and casting their vote.
The winners of this nation wide voting will be announced on Bodog's Web site in May.
Faded At Four is competing in the Bodog Battle Wildcard voting along with MTV2's On The Rise online voting. Links to both of these sites can be found at Faded At Four's Web site, www.fadedatfour.com. where fans can go vote for Faded every day.
Faded At Four also will return to the studio to complete their long-awaited album, "Collateral" along with playing at many venues in the area. Fans are advised to check Faded At Four's Web site for
upcoming shows that they are working on in multiple counties in the area along with the latest updates from this local band who is helping to put Lake County on the map!
Those wishing to book Faded At Four in a venue near them can contact the band by sending an email to
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