US Marine PFC Ivan Wilson was killed in Afghanistan on Monday. Courtesy photo.

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED

CLEARLAKE – A young Clearlake Marine died Monday after being wounded in combat in Afghanistan, becoming Lake County's first military casualty of the war in the Middle East.

PFC Ivan Wilson, 22, was fatally wounded by an improvised explosive device while serving in combat operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Ginny Craven, founder of Operation Tango Mike and a friend of the family, confirmed Wilson's death. She said the US Marine Corps notified Wilson's mother, Denise Wilson of Clearlake, shortly after 5 a.m. Monday.

Military officials did not release additional details to Lake County News on Monday about the circumstances surrounding Wilson's death.

However, he may have been the same unnamed soldier who the Associated Press reported died Monday after being wounded over the weekend by a roadside bomb in the Helmand provide.

Located in southern Afghanistan, Helmand province is where the Taliban insurgency has proved the strongest, according to the Associated Press.

Lake County Veterans Services Officer Jim Brown said Wilson has the tragic distinction of being the first soldier from Lake County to die in the current Middle Eastern military operations.

However, Wilson's isn't the first death associated with the war to strike close to home. In April 2005, peace activist and Lakeport native Marla Ruzicka and her Iraqi translator, Faiz Ali Alim, were killed by a suicide car bomber in Baghdad.

Wilson was on his second tour of duty in the Middle East. He had served in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Jan. 29 to Aug. 25, 2007.

“This is definitely close to the heart of all of us,” said Craven, explaining that Wilson had had a chance to visit with community members during visits home, so he had become well-known.

A 2004 graduate of Clearlake Community School, Wilson enlisted in the US Marine Corps on Sept. 11, 2005. He was a rifleman with the Third Platoon, Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Division, Fox Company.

Wilson's death comes at a time of escalating violence in Afghanistan, where 559 US soldiers have died in the past seven years and thousands more Afghan civilians have perished.

The Web site icasualties.org, which tracks deaths in war zones, reported Monday that June was the deadliest month for coalition military personnel since military operations began in Afghanistan in 2001, with 45 deaths, compared to 31 in Iraq.

So far this month there have been 24 deaths in Afghanistan, and 22 in Iraq, according to the group's statistics.

Last September, at an Operation Tango Mike packing party, Supervisor Rob Brown presented Denise Wilson with a proclamation congratulating and thanking the Marine for his service in Iraq.

Brown said that the Board of Supervisors will hold a moment of silence in memory of Ivan Wilson at the Tuesday board meeting.

In addition to his mother, father and grandparents, Wilson is survived by siblings Nathan and Jackie, and members of the local veterans community, Craven said.

The family said through Craven that they'll have more information about services shortly.

Craven said the family needs time to cope with the tragedy and asks that their privacy be respected at this time.

Community members and friends may send cards and letters to Denise Wilson, PO Box 1624, Lower Lake, CA 95457.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors' chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV Channel 8 will broadcast the meeting live and replay it on Sunday morning.

At 9:30 a.m., the board will present a proclamation designating the week of July 15 through July 22 as Invasive Weed Awareness Week in Lake County. The week will be marked by the annual invasive weeds tour on Thursday. Call 263-0217 by July 22 if you are interested in taking part.

The board will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. to review annual grantee performance reports for community development block grants for the Clearlake Oaks Plaza Restoration and Housing Rehabilitation. They'll also review program income activities, including Housing Rehabilitation Revolving Loan Fund, Business Expansion and Retention Revolving Loan Fund and Public Works Facilities.

Other items on the agenda include the following.

Timed items:

9:15 a.m.: Hearing, nuisance abatement assessment confirmation and proposed recordation of notice of lien in the amount of $21,386.66 for 19872 Powder Horn Road, Hidden Valley Lake, Toni L. Day.

10:30 a.m.: Consideration of approval of Amendment No. 1 to Agreement between the county of Lake and North Lakeport Water System Inc. to extend the time for payment of delinquent property taxes, simplify the project design and reduce project costs (water system improvements), County Service Area 21 – North Lakeport Water.

Untimed items:

– Proposed contract between the county of Lake and Tracy Katelman (dba ForEverGreen Forestry), for development of the Lake County Community Wildlife Protection Plan in the amount of $37,500.

– Proposed agreement between the county of Lake and Verizon Wireless for provision of cellular phone services.

– Consideration of proposed agreement between the county of Lake and SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists Inc. for engineering services for Victoria Drainage-Lucerne Channelization and Culvert Upgrade in the amount of $27,760.

– Request for waiver of the 900 hour limit for extra-help water/wastewater maintenance worker Robert Salvador.

– Proposed lease agreement between the county of Lake and Robert Schall for lease of property located at 809 S. Main St., Lakeport, for additional office space for Child Protective Services in the amount of $23,125, including deposit.

Following the public portion of the meeting, the board is scheduled to have a closed session to discuss employee and In-Home Support Services negotiations, and a public employee disciplinary appeal.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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On the Nov. 4 ballot, municipal elections will take place in both Clearlake and Lakeport, with three seats on each council being up for election, according to Clearlake City Clerk Melissa Swanson and Lakeport City Clerk Janel Chapman.

In Clearlake, the seats currently held by Mayor Curt Giambruno and Council members Joyce Overton and Judy Thein will be on the ballot, while in Lakeport the seats held by Lakeport Mayor Willis “Buzz” Bruns, and Council members Roy Parmentier and Bob Rumfelt will be filled in the election.

In order to run for the four-year council terms, Swanson and Chapman said candidates much be registered voters who live in the city where they're seeking election, be at least 18 years of age and hold US citizenship.

Nomination papers for Clearlake City Council candidates are available at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, Clearlake, through Aug. 8. All nomination papers must be returned on that date by 5 p.m.

In Lakeport, the deadline to file nomination papers for the council seats also is Friday, Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. Each candidate must be nominated by not less than 20 nor more than 30 registered voters; it's therefore recommended that anyone interested should pick up their nomination papers well in advance of the filing deadline to allow time to gather signatures.

For Information contact Clearlake City Clerk Melissa Swanson at 994-8201, Extension 106; or Lakeport City Clerk Janel Chapman, 263-5615, Extension 12, for further information and to set up an appointment to obtain official copies of the nomination papers. Chapman also can be e-mailed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Lakeport City Council will hold a Public Hearing to consider Ordinance No. 874 (2008) correcting/amending Section 17.24.110.B.4. of the Zoning ordinance to limit the maximum number of guest bedrooms in a Bed & Breakfast Inn to five and specifying the maximum guest occupancy to four on Tuesday, August 5, 2008, at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers of City Hall, located at 225 Park Street. If you have questions or comments or would like a copy of the proposed ordinance, please call the City Clerk’s Office at 263-5615, Extension 12.

Dated this 11th day of July, 2008

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JANEL M. CHAPMAN, City Clerk

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There's good news with the budget so far – rumblings about the need to lay off park staff and darken police department vacancies or to close the city's pool don't appear to be turning into reality in the new fiscal year.

A two-hour budget session preceded a brief council meeting of less than 40 minutes Tuesday.

The council spent the budget session looking over general fund expenditures and revenues. Estimated general fund expenditures for the 2008-09 budget year is $5,655,080, as opposed to $5,412,828 in revenue.

However, that slight discrepancy in revenues and expenses could be offset by a projected general fund balance of $668,221 that the city expects to have as it moves into the next budget year.

The city also is keeping a new $400,000 line of credit handy in case it's needed to balance the budget. City Manager Jerry Gillham told Lake County News in a recent interview that the city's financial snapshot has led him to conclude that they are looking at a budget shortfall of about $500,000.

The top five general fund expenditure categories for the coming budget year are public works, $2,125,522; police, $1,755,136; parks, $404,982; trash collection, $378,000; and finance, $342,828. Among other expenses, the Westshore Pool is projected to cost the city $42,381, with animal control services that the city wishes to add to the police department's duties budgeted at $25,000.

In order to fine tune the budget before acceptance, the council asked Finance Director Janet Tavernier to provide more information on projects funded by Measure I – a sales tax measure used to support city projects, including roads and the pool repairs – for the current fiscal year and the one ahead.

Police Chief Kevin Burke – who will take over as interim city manager when Gillham leaves on a National Guard deployment to Iraq on Aug. 1 – suggested to the council that they consider using Measure I funds to keep city services at current levels for the short-term.

City Clerk Janel Chapman said the council will hold a special meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 29, to consider accepting the budget and also look at proposed traffic impact mitigation fees.

Council reconsiders bed and breakfast ordinance, adopts fees

During the regular council meeting, city resident Suzanne Lyons reminded the council in the public comment period that they had promised to revisit televising meetings this month, after they received a free Web cam from a city resident and requests to broadcast the meetings.

“If the city of Clearlake can do it, we should be able to do it,” Lyons said, referring to the Clearlake City Council's decision last week to bless broadcasts of their meetings on TV Channel 8.

The council once again took up an ordinance meant to return the word “maximum” to the city's zoning ordinance when it comes to the number of rooms allowed in a bed and breakfast inn.

The topic has led to lengthy discussions at both council and Planning Commission meetings in recent months, along with repeated revisions of the ordinance's specifics. One previous version had not allowed bed and breakfasts in residential areas.

At the last council meeting, the council had sent the ordinance back to planning staff once more to have additional language added, this time to limit the number of occupants per room to four.

The updated ordinance would allow for a maximum of five rooms, with inns having more bedrooms requiring special Planning Commission approval. Planning Services Manager Andrew Britton said a facility with six or more rooms usually is considered a hotel.

Councilman Jim Irwin suggested that the wording allowing more rooms on approval was a conflict with the updated language and suggested it not be accepted. However, Britton said the ability to seek more rooms already was in the current ordinance language.

When it looked like the council might veer into minutiae about parts of the ordinance that weren't up for consideration, Community Development and Utilities Director Mark Brannigan reminded them that the original intent of the update was merely to replace a missing word – “maximum” – that inadvertently had been left off of a previous ordinance relating to the inns.

Brannigan said they haven't done an in-depth review of the ordinance, but that there haven't been any issues with it other than the missing word.

The council voted 4-1, with Irwin voting no, to accept the revised ordinance's first reading and schedule it for a public hearing on Aug. 5.

The only other agenda item for the evening was acceptance of updated city service fees, which the council sent back to staff at a previous meeting to have them add on annual consumer price index increases. With that completed, the council accepted the fees 5-0.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Larson, the editor and primary reporter at Lakeconews.com, was commended for "her extraordinary and exemplary efforts to keep the public informed during the wild fires of June, 2008 and the Board also acknowledges and appreciates the reliable and trustworthy public service provided to the citizens of Lake County by lakeconews.com."

On Tuesday, Larson thanked the board and the many local and Cal Fire firefighters for their dedication and perseverence for fighting the fire and for granting her access to cover the story and take photographs.

The Board of Supervisors also issued a proclamation commending the firefighters and fire personnel for their extraordinary efforts on Tuesday.

Lakeconews.com was started by Larson in December of 2006. After accepting a position with a California-based agricultural newspaper, Larson resigned as the editor of the newspaper based locally in Lakeport and began Lakeconews.com to provide timely and 100-percent local news to the residents of Lake County – the importance of which was highlighted during the recent Walker wild fire event in Lake County.

"... Through the dedicated efforts of Elizabeth Larson and Lake County News .., the citizens of Lake County were kept informed with up-to-date and accurate information concerning the status of the fires, efforts to contain the fires, the impact of the fires on our air quality and other information important to the health and safety of the general public, along with multiple photographs taken at the actual scene of the fires and at the Cal Fire base camp," the proclamation states.

Shortly after the fire was discovered near Walker Ridge in eastern Lake County near the Colusa County border on Sunday, June 22, Lake County News broke the story of the fire to their thousands of subscribers and readers from across the country.

At the end of each story on the Web site, readers can post comments. A person from Kelseyville wrote after the second story on Monday, June 23, "I am an elderly, housebound, disabled, senior and there is no news other than you. I don't know how I will know when to evacuate."

Because Lakeconews.com is delivered electronically and accessible via the Internet, throughout the fire event, Larson was able to keep updating stories as the situation changed and notify readers – including firefighters – immediately via email, notifying residents of evacuations and where evacuation centers had been opened.

"... The multiple daily updates authored by Elizabeth Larson and other contributors to lakeconews.com were extremely well written, timely, factual, did not sensationalize and proved to be a very reliable source of information, all of which was provided to the public at no charge on the lakeconews.com Web site...," the board's proclamation states.

Lakeconews.com is free to all readers with no subscription fee required, although they do accept donations and have just begun offering advertising.

The board noted that the news delivered via Lakeconews.com was, "... also accessible to individuals outside of Lake County who were concerned about their friends and relatives in Lake County, including the family and friends of hundreds of firefighters ..."

"... The exemplary efforts of Elizabeth Larson and the public service she and lakeconews.com provided should be appropriately and officially acknowledged and recognized by our County government," the Board of Supervisor's proclaimed, and from the many accolades and appreciative comments from the public on the lakeconews.com Web site, the community of Lake County thanks Larson and lakeconews.com, too.

Terre Logsdon was a former staff writer for the Lakeport-based newspaper and worked with Elizabeth Larson there. She is currently a volunteer staff writer for Lakeconew.com because she believes in Larson's good work and Lake County's need for 100-percent local and timely news.

E-mail Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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