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Written by: Robert Lombardi

Published: 15 January 2008

Created: 15 January 2008

Last Updated: 15 January 2008

My name is Robert Lombardi. While driving home from work I was hit by a teen DUI driver on April 11, 2006.

This event changed my life forever, as well as almost ending it.

I suffered major injuries to both my legs, and for the rest of my life, I will be experiencing pain and the related medical issues involved with life-long implications.

The teen driver did not suffer any injuries, except minor scrapes and abrasions.

My career of 23 years was ended because of this accident, caused by the teen, who did not think of consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol.

That one decision that teen made, changed my life forever.

It is important to always think before you act irresponsibly, because we hold our lives and other people’s lives in our hands, when we choose to drink and drive!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Robert Lombardi

TEAM DUI, a group of local individuals and agencies, has the opportunity to meet lots of people while out attempting to educate the public about the consequences and personal hardship associated with drinking and driving. A lot of the people they meet have their own personal stories about how they have been affected, all of them having a significance in their lives. Robert Lombardi's is one of those stories.

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Published: 14 January 2008

Created: 14 January 2008

Last Updated: 14 January 2008

Looking at the action Native people took to get the name of the Kelseyville high school mascot changed, a normal human being sees pain, a pain that also bears the fancy name of intergenerational post traumatic disorder, and from which many genocide survivors, such as Jewish people, suffer.

This pain began around 1848 in Lake County, just about the time despicable individuals like Kelsey and Stones came to get rich at the expense of local Native people, who through murder, forced starvation, enslavement, disease and massacres had lost at least 50,000 of their own by 1870 ... not to mention dispossession or the loss of land and cultural resources, as well as decades of forced assimilation or acculturation.

In the face of this very real pain, how does the majority of Kelseyville residents react 150 years later?

The Kelseyville residents, as a people and culture, have no pain of their own that can compare to what the Pomo people were made to endure. All they prove to have is a pettiness which reveals an underlying persistent current of ignorance and mean-spiritedness, doing all in their power to revert to the old mascot name.

Kelseyville beats South Dakota in racism. South Dakota, long one of the most racist states in the nation in its dealing with Native people, found the courage to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day.

Kelseyville has neither the courage nor the generosity of heart to allow a change that is meaningful to the Pomos of Lake County, and shames California and this nation.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.

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Written by: Lake County News Reports

Published: 13 January 2008

Created: 13 January 2008

Last Updated: 13 January 2008

As detailed in a recent Lake County News article, along with a host of other draconian budget cuts that would hit particularly hard at local communities, children, the elderly, the disabled and other vulnerable groups, Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing to close 48 of California's state parks and beaches, including both Clear Lake State Park and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park, with catastrophic effects on Lake County.

Both parks protect precious lakeshore habitat; both contain significant cultural resources; both shelter many species of wildlife; both provide important recreational opportunities to county residents and visitors alike.

Each park hosts a vibrant outdoor festival and welcomes school groups for special functions throughout the year, and – to add an extra touch of irony – volunteer interpretative associations in each park are currently engaged in massive facilities expansion projects that will greatly augment the parks’ value to the community.

The meager projected savings from closing these parks wouldn't even result in a net gain to the state budget after deducting direct losses from diminished transient occupancy tax and sales tax revenues generated by park visitors. Potential costs to the people of California from deterioration of public property, increased legal liabilities, and diminished prosperity are incalculable.

Both Assemblymember Patty Berg and State Senator Patricia Wiggins have promised to work hard to keep Clear Lake State Park and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park open – but they need our help.

Please send a message to the governor: by mail to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814 with the message “Keep Lake County parks OPEN!” Delivery by fax is particularly effective: 916-558-3160. Or if you’d rather make a phone call, the number is 916-445-2841.

As always, your own words will convey the strongest message, but there's a great deal of power in sheer numbers too, so don't hesitate to send a form letter if you don't have time to compose your own. A letter can be downloaded from the Sierra Club Lake Group Web site (http://redwood.sierraclub/lake) in both pdf and editable Word format.

Please act today to save our irreplaceable community treasures.

Victoria Brandon is chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group. She lives in Lower Lake.

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