LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Lakeport City Council will consider an application submitted to the city for a downtown criterium bike race.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

At the start of the meeting, Mayor Marc Spillman will present a proclamation designating the month of November as Hospice and Palliative Care Month to Corrigan Gommenginger, executive director of Hospice Services of Lake County, and Janine Smith-Citron, development specialist for the organization.

Public Works Superintendent Doug Grider will present to the council the application submitted by the Main Street Elite Cycling Team to hold a criterium bicycle race in downtown Lakeport on July 15, 2017.

The team made a presentation to the council about its plans in August. Criterium races tend to follow a closed course, with numerous laps.

Grider's report said city staff suggests some conditions on approval of the application, specifically, requirements that the promoter will continue to work with city staff to resolve issues concerning the detour route, the surfacing of Fourth Street between Main and Forbes Streets and any other issues that arise concerning this event.

“The promoter is additionally responsible for getting buy-in from downtown merchants by working with the Main Street Association to address any of their concerns,” Grider said in his report.

On Tuesday Grider also will ask the council to authorize acceptance of the USDA Water/Wastewater Improvements Project and record a notice of completion with the county.

In other business, the council will accept and file the other post-employment benefits actuarial report
prepared by Total Compensation Systems Inc.

On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular Lakeport City Council meeting on Nov. 1; the warrant register for No. 9; authorization for the city manager to sign a purchase order and supporting contract documents for the procurement of a utility truck for the Public Works Department; rejection of claim 2016-005 filed by Intercare Holdings as recommended by REMIF; rejection of claim 2016-006 filed by Carole Brown as recommended by REMIF.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

111516 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

“The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present.” – David Thelen

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Covered wagons and stagecoaches paint a quintessential portrait of the wild west in our minds.

The 19th century mode of transport has come across into our literature and culture over time. A movie classic example is “Stagecoach” with John Ford.

A stagecoach was good for all purposes – transporting people, mail and goods. They were towed by horses or mules, and were at once  a dependable and necessary form of transportation.

The stagecoaches of Lake County's history were derived from the 13th century's “manuscript,” according to Encyclopedias Brittanica.

In the book, “History of Lake County 1881,” Lower Lake's transportation link to the external regions was discussed thusly : “Lower Lake is connected with the outside world by two stage lines, one extending from East Lake to Calistoga, and the other from Lower Lake to Woodland. The mail service has been heretofore daily for some time, but is at present only tri-weekly.”

When Robert Louis Stevenson lived on Mount St. Helena in 1880 he noted that two of the most popular stage drivers of the era were Clark Foss and Bill Spiers, who made frequent forays into Lake County.

Driver Foss is described by Menefee’s Sketchbook as “second to none in the handling of horse, whip, and lines.”

Foss is further described by his rival, Bill Spiers in his recollections: “Colonel Foss weighed two hundred and sixty-five pounds, and could handle six horses like you’d handle that many cats. He would lift them right up off their feet and swing them around the corners so fast you couldn’t see the leading team. He drove his stage to the Big Geysers for years, and he’d run down the last hill with a yell to wake the dead.”

The Lawley toll road from Calistoga to Middletown was constructed with Lawley and his partners, Henry Boggs and William Patterson, in 1866.

The toll rates for the roads were determined by the Board of Supervisors. Some of the charges follow, below. After public outcry in 1873, the high tolls were reduced.

• Four horse team: $1.50.
• Eight horse team: $2.50.
• One horse buggy: $0.75.
• Man and horse: $0.25.

The following quote, which is paired with a photo of stagecoach driver William Spiers, in the Sharpsteen Museum in Calistoga and is an excerpt from Ken Stanton's book, “Mount St. Helena & R. L. Stevenson State Park – a History and Guide”:

“William Spiers was one of the county's early freight drivers, hauling supplies to mines in Lake County. Thrifty and persevering, Bill bought the Lodi Stable and with the aid of a contract to carry U.S. Mail, operated the Calistoga-Clear Lake Stage Line. Bill became one of the counties most familiar pioneers. He served on the city council 36 years. Friendly and optimistic at all times, he answered all questions of health, business or prospects with one answer, 'Finest Kind.'”

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Based on preliminary numbers, a longtime tribal chair and a school board member have won seats on the Lake County Board of Supervisors, with Middletown Unified voters returning an incumbent and selecting a new member for the district's board.

Early Wednesday morning Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley issued a preliminary election ballot count which will not become final until the official canvass is completed in about a month. That process will include counting thousands of absentee ballots.

Based on that preliminary count, Jose “Moke” Simon III of Middletown was the top vote-getter in the District 1 supervisorial race, Tina Scott of Lakeport received the most votes in the District 4 race, and Sandy Tucker and Misha Grothe topped the field for two seats on the Middletown Unified School District Board.

In the race to succeed retiring District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock, Simon was in a close contest with Monica Rosenthal, who had been the top vote-getter in a four-candidate field in the June primary.

In the first absentee returns issued on Tuesday night, Rosenthal initially had a 5-percent lead over Simon, the longtime tribal chair of the Middletown Rancheria, with that lead shrinking to a little more than 1 percent when the first one-third of the precinct returns were tallied.

However, when the final precincts were counted, the race results flipped, with Simon coming in with a nearly 5-percent lead over Rosenthal.

The preliminary results showed that Simon received 1,357 votes, or 52.1 percent of the vote, compared to the 1,244 votes, or 47.8 percent, cast for Rosenthal.

In the District 4 race to succeed Anthony Farrington, who is leaving the board after four terms, the preliminary results were more decisive.

Scott, who currently serves on the Lakeport Unified School District Board, ended the night with a commanding lead over Martin Scheel, a Lakeport City Council member.

The ballot count so far shows Scott with 2,195 votes, or 60.4 percent, compared to Scheel's 1,424 votes, or 39.2 percent.

Although a large number of absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, statistically it is unlikely that Scott can lose the race.

In other election news, in the Middletown Unified School District Board race, which had two open seats, the preliminary results showed that Tucker, the incumbent, received 1,005 votes, or 35.8 percent, followed by Grothe, with 923 votes, or 32.9 percent.

The two women hold strong leads over the rest of the field, which includes Sean Millerick, 575 votes, 20.5 percent; and Helena Welsh, 300 votes, 10.7 percent.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With two big fields of candidates for the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport, preliminary election results showed that voters supported keeping incumbent council members, while also selecting some brand new faces.

The ballot count issued by Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley early Wednesday morning is still preliminary, and results will not become final until the official canvass is completed in about a month.

As such, the large fields, with close margins between candidates, could see some changes in percentages and placement before the races are finally called.

There were three seats available on both the Clearlake City Council and the Lakeport City Council in Tuesday's election.

In Clearlake, incumbents Nick Bennett and Joyce Overton sought reelection, and led the field, based on the preliminary results.

Bennett, appointed earlier this year to fill the remainder of Denise Loustalot's term, received 1,306 votes, or 24 percent, while Overton – seeking a fourth term – received 1,167 votes, or 21.4 percent.

The early vote tally suggests that businessman Phil Harris will take the third seat, having brought in 1,145 votes, or 21 percent.

Also in the race are Joey Luiz, who previously served one term on the council, with 786 votes, or 14.4 percent; Bill Shields, 746 votes, or 13.7 percent; and Jeremy Mayfield, with 287 votes, or 5.3 percent.

In Lakeport, in his bid for a second term, Councilman Kenny Parlet – a well-known local businessman – was the top vote-getter in the preliminary results, receiving 685 votes, or 22.9 percent.

In second place, another local businessman, Tim Barnes, received 592 votes, or 19.8 percent, followed by George Spurr, who currently serves on the Lakeport Planning Commission, with 532 votes, or 17.8 percent.

Rounding out the field are Ted Mandrones, a former councilman, with 504 votes, or 16.9 percent of the vote; consultant Michael S. Green, with 354 votes, or 11.9 percent; and Nathan Maxman, the executive director of the Northshore Community Center, with 309 votes, or 10.3 percent of the vote.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.