LAKEPORT – The sun rose over Pearl Harbor at approximately 6:28 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. {sidebar id=111}

The USS Tennessee's routine schedule for the day called for the day's duty to begin at 8 a.m., with the port side of the quarterdeck to be rigged for church at 8:30 a.m., right about the same time as the Seventh and Second Divisions' softball teams were to leave the ship. Quarters were to muster at 9:30 a.m.

It was another Sunday in the busy Naval installation, where ships, planes and people moved all the time, remembers Henry “Andy” Anderson, 90, of Lakeport, who was a first class seaman aboard the Tennessee.

Anderson – whose father served in the US Army in France during World War I – joined the Naval Reserves as a 17-year-old. He had reported in January of 1941 to serve out the rest of his enlistment on active duty. He had started out on Goat Island in the San Francisco Bay, where he received his orders to report to the Tennessee, which was at Pearl Harbor.

Assigned as a commissary storekeeper to the Fourth Division, along the way Anderson had taken an exam for first class seaman along with about 4,000 other sailors. He was one of 68 to pass.

While stationed at Pearl Harbor, Anderson said the Tennessee and its 1,500 crew members came and went regularly, spending one to two weeks at sea at a time before returning. “We were always moving someplace.”

The Tennessee was used as a kind of training ship for Pearl Harbor, with trainees assigned to the ship before being transferred to other assignments, Anderson said.

Life at Pearl Harbor wasn't tinged with anticipation of danger, although they knew things were coming to a head. “We didn't have any idea that we were going to be attacked,” Anderson said.

On the morning of Dec. 7, the Tennessee was moored in “battleship row” alongside Ford Island, which sits in the middle of Pearl Harbor and houses a Naval Air Station. The Tennessee was tied ahead of the USS Arizona, and alongside the USS West Virginia.

At 7:55 a.m., Anderson and other Tennessee crew members were traveling across the harbor in a motor whale boat to pick up supplies.

Not long before, a fleet of PBYs – a large, multipurpose flying boat – had landed at Ford Island, so when a group of planes came in over the harbor the same way as patrol planes, it didn't initially raise concern, Anderson said.

It was the minesweeper USS Oglala that sounded the alert, opening fire on the planes as they came sweeping low over Pearl Harbor just before 8 a.m.

At first they didn't know who was attacking, said Anderson – “until they got over the harbor and you could see the red spots on their wings, then you knew who did what.”

Over the course of an hour and a half, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in two waves. The first, said Anderson, lasted about 20 minutes, and according to historical reports included 183 Japanese planes and targeted battleships and carriers.

The second wave had 171 Japanese planes, which began their assault on Ford Island and Wheeler Field. Anderson recalled the second wave of the attack began after a short intermission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Anderson and his fellow sailors tried to get out of harm's way, the Tennessee was attacked by Japanese planes at 7:58 a.m., according to a Navy chronology of the attack.

The Tennessee was hit twice, with a bomb hitting turret two; a second bomb hit and penetrated the top of turrett three, killing a gunner's mate, said Anderson.

A chunk of metal created by the explosion when the Japanese bomb hit turret two went right through the seat where Anderson would have been sitting at breakfast had he not been on his errand for supplies.

“How lucky I was,” said Anderson, who still has that chunk of metal today.

After the Tennessee was hit, the Utah was attacked at 8:01 a.m. by a torpedo and bombing plane. Minutes earlier, the Oklahoma had been observed capsizing and the West Virginia was in trouble.

The USS Nevada got under way in an effort to clear the channel. “They didn't make it very far,” said Anderson. “They got a torpedo in the bow and that was the end of that.”

The Navy's minute-by-minute attack confirms that the Nevada was hit at 8 a.m. by a torpedo or mine. A minute later she was hit by a bomb, and a minute after that a torpedo hit her port bow. At 8:05 a.m. the listing Utah was abandoned.

Then, at 8:08 a.m., the USS Arizona exploded. She would take with her 1,177 sailors to an ocean grave. Anderson said all of those men were wiped out “within minutes.”

“It all happened so quickly,” said Anderson.

Anderson and his fellow sailors on the whale boat tried to get to the sub base, but made it to the fleet landing instead, where they picked up some men from the Tennessee and transported them back to the ship.

He wouldn't step back on the Tennessee until 4 p.m. Much of the day for Anderson consisted of plucking men from the oil-covered waters of the harbor. He said his suit of whites was turned black from helping the oil-soaked men from the water.

Meanwhile, a call had been put out throughout Honolulu, notifying all sailors to report to their base because an attack was under way. Anderson said sailors were streaming into the base amidst the chaos.

Back on the Tennessee, he reported to a lieutenant about his activities that day. With the ship tethered to the badly hit West Virginia, Anderson said the sailors were cutting the lines between the two ships so that if the West Virginia rolled over it wouldn't cave in the Tennessee's side.

Oil leaking from the Arizona had caught fire which had moved toward the Tennessee's stern. Anderson said the sailors used hoses to push the fire back.

The Tennessee would eventually move out of the mooring keys, as her engine hadn't suffering damage in the attack, he said.

Within the week, the Tennessee set out for Bremerton, Wash., where she was repaired, new guns were installed in her damaged turrets and other weapons were added to her arsenal, said Anderson. The retrofitting took a few months to complete.

When the Tennessee first arrived in Washington, a British warship was there, said Anderson. He and some of his crew members tangled with the British sailors, who he said were “pretty ornery.”

“They had to be taught a lesson or two, and we were just the guys who could do it,” he said. “We were in no frame of mind to take guff from anybody.”

Once the repairs were complete, the Tennessee went back to Pearl Harbor and then back to the Pacific Theater.

He remembers fellow sailors and their anger at the Japanese over the attack. “Once you step on the lion's tale, watch out.”

Anderson would go on to sail to the Coral Sea and Aleutians aboard the Tennessee, and later to Australia aboard the USS Barnes. He served in Okinawa during 1945, the year of the island's brutal major battle. In October 1945 he was discharged.

He went on to raise two sons with his wife, Mary, worked in construction, served on the Modesto City Council and was chief building inspector in Napa, retiring in 1977.

He has memorabilia of his time in the Navy, including documents such as a menu for the Tennessee's July 4, 1941, dinner – turkey was on the menu – to the Tennessee's routine schedule for Dec. 7, 1941.

He's also got pictures of himself and fellow crew members. “I remember all these guys, just like it was yesterday,” he said, looking at one of the pictures.

Today, living in his home in Lakeport that overlooks the water, Anderson said a lot of people have been interested in hearing his story over the years.

“Just going over it in my mind, it was quite a day,” he said.

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

 

 

 

 

 

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LAKEPORT – Local survivors and community members will gather on Sunday, Dec. 7, to commemorate the 67^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The “date which will live in infamy” claimed the lives of more than 2,500 members of the military and ushered the United States into World War II.

The local memorial will take placed at the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's memorial flag mast at Library Park from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 23 North of Lake and Mendocino Counties extends a special invitation to Pearl Harbor survivors and the public to attend.

Lucerne resident Jim Harris, 84, served aboard the USS Dobbin during Pearl Harbor, and later would be at the Normandy invasion on D-Day.

He was just 16 when, on that Sunday morning long ago, he watched Japanese planes sweep in over the harbor and begin their attack.

Harris said it's estimated that more than 4,200 Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive today.

In addition to Harris there are five Lake County residents who survived the attack – Walter Urmann, USS Blue; Clarence “Bud” Boner, USS Tennessee; Chuck Bower, US Sub Base, Pearl Harbor; WK Slater, USS Pennsylvania; and Henry Anderson, USS Tennessee.

The local Pearl Harbor Survivors group also includes “sweethearts” Alice Darrow, a Navy nurse and widow of Dean Darrow, who served aboard the USS West Virginia and died in 1991; Vanya Leighton, whose husband Fred – who died earlier this year – served on the USS Ramsay; and Helen Harris, Jim Harris' wife.

A special luncheon, open to the public, will take place at the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake at noon. Sheriff Rod Mitchell will be the speaker.

The public is invited to attend, but reservations are required as soon as possible. Call Janeane Bogner at 998-3280 for reservations or more information.

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

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LAKEPORT – The Board of Supervisors this week unanimously approved guidelines for a committee to discuss the issue of how to deal with genetically engineered (GE) crops in Lake County.

Supervisors Rob Brown and Denise Rushing, and Debra Sommerfield of the county's marketing department were directed at the Nov. 18 board meeting to work on the composition of the Genetically Engineered Crops Advisory Committee.

On Tuesday they brought their recommendations to the board, including a proposal that the committee include 13 voting members, the same number that served on the agriculture element committee for the general plan, said Brown.

Members would represent the following: conventional farming (two), organic farming (two), environment (two), science (two), agriculture support/services (two), business (one) and members at-large (two).

In addition, Brown, Rushing and Sommerfield would participate as nonvoting advisory members.

The county begins to plan advertising immediately for applicants to participate. “We're encouraging those who are interested in this process to apply,” said Rushing.

The main criteria for voting members, said Rushing, is to be willing to participate fully and listen to what the other side has to say.

Brown said he, Rushing and Sommerfield decided against recommending a timeline for the committee's performance. Instead, they suggested having the committee meet first and devise its own timeline for action, which then can be brought back to the board.

He said he's been surprised by the people who already have expressed interest in being on the committee – some of them haven't been part of the ongoing discussion over the last month or so regarding the GE issue.

Because the discussion thus far has been a heated one at times, Supervisor Jeff Smith suggested that if any committee members become unruly or disruptive, that they should be removed and replaced by an alternate to keep the group moving forward.

Rushing said committee members can express strong opinions, but if they resort to personal attacks, that's a different matter.

Brown said the committee's first meeting will take place after the start of the new year, in the first part of January.

Finley organic farmer Phil Murphy, who has supported preventing GE crops being grown locally in order to offer local farmers another marketing tool, spoke to the board about an e-mail sent by the Lake County Farm Bureau.

The e-mail suggested that Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hajik and Greg Giusti, director of Lake County's University of California Cooperative Extension Office, be added to the committee in nonvoting, advisory roles.

Murphy was concerned about that proposal, saying Hajik already has expressed bias on the issue – in this case, he's against regulating GE crops – and, according to Murphy, has “personal animosity” toward some of the people who have tried to get a GE crop ban passed locally.

“I think that also should be taken into consideration too,” said Murphy, adding that it's fact, not speculation.

Murphy said Giusti also is “extremely biased,” and has authored one paper and co-authored another against any sort of GE regulation.

“His usefulness as an advisory member is extremely limited,” said Murphy.

Brown asked if anyone who has expressed an opinion should be prevented from being on the committee.

Murphy replied that they can get people who don't have a bias. He said they could bring in someone from Monsanto, a large corporation associated with many GE crops, and they would have the same opinion as Giusti.

“Your approach is if they don't agree with you we shouldn't have them,” said Brown.

Murphy denied that. “Let's take a look at a couple of other people, that's all I'm saying, Rob.”

Brown asked for names of people Murphy would suggest, and Murphy in turn suggested University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisory Rachel Elkins.

“It's that simple,” said Murphy.

“It's not that simple,” said Brown, who added that Murphy has “a clear angst” toward a lot of people involved in the process.

Rushing said she felt that Murphy's request was reasonable.

Murphy added that he's not trying to pass himself off as an unbiased person in the matter.

Board Chair Ed Robey – who wrote a GE ban ordinance that was accepted Oct. 21 in a 3-2 vote but which, after a postponed second reading, he withdrew last week – said he had modeled his ordinance on one accepted in Santa Cruz County. An important difference in his version of the ordinance was that he made the agricultural commissioner, not the county's top health official, the enforcing officer.

At the time, said Robey, he didn't know of Hajik's bias against such an ordinance.

Lake County Farm Bureau Executive Director Chuck March said it was because of that proposed regulatory role that they suggested Hajik have an advisory role. Giusti, similarly, was suggested because of his important role in the University of California's local agriculture program.

Before she moved that the board approve the committee's composition, Rushing said it would be preferable to pick people for advisory roles who are unbiased and who people on both sides of the issue can agree on.

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

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LAKEPORT – A lengthy discussion on a proposed ski lake at the last Board of Supervisors meeting is expected to yield a decision at the board meeting this Tuesday.

The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St.

Last week, in a hearing that stretched over more than six hours, Milton and Ellen Heath and numerous residents near Kurt Steil and Gary Johnson's proposed 11-acre ski lake on Butts Canyon Road argued against the plan.

In September, the Lake County Planning Commission approved the lake as part of the plan for Bonavita Estates, which also calls for dividing 534 acres into five parcels

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the board will continue deliberating and offer its decision on the Heaths' appeal of the Planning Commission's approval.

Earlier in the day, at 9:15 a.m., supervisors will discuss adopting an urgency ordinance that puts in place emergency water conservation restrictions and imposes a moratorium on new water service connections for County Service Area No. 2, Spring Valley Lakes.

In an untimed discussion, the board also will continue a discussion begun last week on forming an advisory board to work on issues relating to genetically engineered crops.

Other items on the agenda include the following.

Timed items:

9:45 a.m. ‒ Presentation of proclamation designating Nov. 30 through Dec. 6 as World AIDS Week in Lake County.

10 a.m. ‒ Consideration of proposed agreement between the county of Lake and the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce for marketing, economic development and visitor information services.

Untimed items:

‒ Discussion/consideration of request to award Bid No. 09-13 to Holder Ford-Mercury for purchase of one four wheel drive extended cab flatbed truck in the amount of $49,474.33.

The board also will hold a closed session to discuss labor negotiations and hold a conference with legal counsel on anticipated litigation.

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

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In hundreds of small rural communities across America local Farm Bureaus represent the interests of the local agricultural community – or at least are supposed to. Here in Lake County our branch of the Farm Bureau has struggled to consistently be a fair-minded representative of the farming community in recent times, starting about two years ago when they backed Gary Lewis for supervisor rather than supporting local walnut grower Denise Rushing. Their decision seems to be based mainly on the fact that the majority of Farm Bureau directors are conservative Republicans like Lewis, and they let their own personal partisan political beliefs trump the overwhelming amount of data that showed Rushing was a better candidate for ag and would win in a landslide-as she did.

Fast-forward to 2008, and we see the Farm Bureau backing another conservative Republican for supervisor, Jim Comstock. Being a like-minded, born-and-raised Lake County rancher Comstock was a shoe-in for the Farm Bureau endorsement, but he didn't get it – at first. Too many directors had doubts about Comstock's commitment to ag when he was trying to get prime ag land around Middletown rezoned into shops and houses, and he got the thumbs down from them. But the partisans prevailed by voting again at a later date when certain key directors were known to be unable to attend, and Jim got his endorsement in this embarrassing and unprecedented do-over.

On the big issues the local Farm Bureau wanders off course again, by supporting ballot measures that are deceptive or misrepresented to Farm Bureau members, as they did earlier this year with Propositions 98 and 99. Both of these propositions dealt with the issue of eminent domain, but 98 (which was backed by the Lake County and state Farm Bureaus), included a ban on rent control, which was NEVER mentioned in ANY Farm Bureau publication or other information source. Instead they made false claims about Proposition 99, which won easily. The question is: Why did the Farm Bureau feel the need to shill for landlords at the expense of renters, and why couldn't they tell their members the truth?

This November we see the same thing again, with the state and local Farm Bureaus coming out against Proposition 2, which is about the humane treatment of farm animals. But reading the Farm Bureau propaganda you wouldn't think that's what the proposition was about, as according to them Proposition 2 was a referendum on egg ranches – period! Did they EVER mention it was about the humane treatment of animals? No. Instead we heard EVERY outright lie being put out there by the egg industry, with no other info to balance it or show ANY aspect of the argument in favor of it. Proposition 2 is leading by a wide margin in the polls and is certain to pass, in spite of the misinformation campaign put out with the help of the Lake County Farm Bureau.

Then there is the issue of development. What DID executive director Chuck March privately tell our county supervisors about a development in North Lakeport that required a rezone of ag land? Word coming back from the BOS is that March said the Farm Bureau wouldn't object to this development and rezone (in a radical departure from Farm Bureau policy); what REALLY happened Chuck? Also on the question list is why was it that after the directors told March to draft a letter to voice their opposition to the rezone March did nothing for months, and after being scolded for the tardiness he came up with a letter so useless it was scrapped and another one had to be drafted by a board member?

Another issue where the local Farm Bureau has shown a too-narrow view of reality is on the subject of GMOs, and the recently passed ban on them in Lake County. When the plan was first proposed earlier this year the first people outside of the BOS to know about it were the leaders of the local Farm Bureau, who were asked by the ordinance's sponsors if they would like to help draft the law or have any inputs into the process, which they declined to do. Chuck March instantly made the call not to attempt to improve the ordinance, which he probably should have let the directors weigh-in on before any decision was reached, and one wonders if they even were informed the offer had been made.

Now that the ordinance has passed the Farm Bureau is demanding to be in included on an advisory committee which is supposed to fine-tune it, in spite of the fact that they have a formal policy of not doing ANY negotiations on regulations of GMOs – they are against ALL local regulation. On top of that they have taken $1,000 from GMO industry leader Monsanto, which makes one wonder if they speak for corporate giants or local growers on GMO issues? How can one negotiate with a group that has a policy of no compromise and is on the industry's payroll?

It's time local Farm Bureau members demand a more consistent and transparent leadership that puts them first and isn't simply a front group for whatever ag industry corporation stuffs money in their pockets. We need objective information from the farm Bureau, not deceptive propaganda that makes them (and us!) look like shills and liars. We also need a Farm Bureau board that isn't so short-sighted that it lets partisan politics stand in the way of good decision making, as it has in the past.

Philip Murphy lives in Finley.

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KELSEYVILLE – A harvest dinner and silent auction will be held on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Galilee Lutheran Church Community Center in Kelseyville.

The event, which begins at 6 p.m., is open to everyone.

Tickets cost $5 in advance and $8 at the door. Children under 12 may attend for free.

Galilee Lutheran Church is located at 8860 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville.

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