Opinion
- Details
- Written by: Gloria Flaherty
Lake Family Resource Center would like to thank the many people involved in the “All That” Camp for Girls during June. Lake County residents and organizations came together during the last week of June to give 53 local girls, ages 11 through 15, the opportunity to participate in a week long camp designed especially for them.
Double Platinum level sponsors included the Delta Iota Tau Sorority and the Lakeport Main Street Association, each donating $1,500. Platinum sponsors included the Konocti Lioness Club, Lake County Children’s Council, Yuba College CLAS, Middletown Lioness Club, Anita Gordon, Center for Healing Integration, Clearlake Oaks Women of the Moose, Coyote, Beverly Bergstrom, Garett and Katherine Law of the Retired Teachers Association, and Clearlake Veterinary Clinic. Gold Sponsors included Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association, Lakeport Lions, and Carol & Steven Schepper. Silver and individual sponsors included: Shore Line Realty, Girlfriends-Clearlake, Narley Dude Ranch, Loyal Order of the Moose No. 2284, Soroptimist of Clear Lake, Dr. James Kinsell, DDS, Dufrain Publishing, Bill Ruehmann, Chief Kevin Burke of the Lakeport Police Department, Richard and Kathy Freeborn, and Aggie Berry.
As with any activity of this size, nothing would have happened without the many volunteers. One hundred and six community members worked to make the camp a success, including 26 members of the planning committee (a sub-committee of the Lake Domestic Violence Prevention Council).
Thank you so much to the following people for helping bring this camp to the girls of Lake County: Liberty Perry, Renee Griffin, Kayla Hickey, Katrina Hickey, Vicki Hays, Holly Ari, Leslie Lovejoy, Lee Perales, Erika Gonzalez, Suzy Rudofker, JoAnn Sacatto, Lauralee Roarke, Mary Ferrera, Leslie Levitas, Sandra Wade, Anne Card, Iyabode Manley, Deb Ley, Carrie White, Chloe Karl, Vida Feola, Catherine Rose, Carol Schepper, Roz Griffin, Jonathan Killops, Toni Jordan, Rose Brown, Brad Rasmussen, Tom Jordan, Maria Diaz, Annie Barnes, Zoe Flowers, Jared Hendricks, Michelle Meek, Teresa Stewart, Fawn Williams, Susan Dufrain, Donna Montgomery, Andre Ari, Camille Goldberg, Arch Kottler, Zach Burroughs, Jim Davis, Michael Rupe, Coyote, Marla Peterson, Sandra West, Susan Harmon, Jan MacLean, Judy Thein, Erica Harrison, Loraine Montano, Christina Drukala, Fayette Thom, Gail Dyne, Shannon Bucher, Laura Daly, Kathleen Sheckells, Daree Olson-Marks, Jeri Spittler, Linda Jensen, Norma Benitez, Laura Harris, Diane Davis, Janice Thomas, Bonnie Kelly, Tami Tajeda, Janice Hodges, Angela Reising, Beck Grant and Loretta Salvato. A big thanks also goes to the five “brave” teen camp counselors: Felicia Schlapkohl, Alexandra Vidien, Robin Fouche, Sophie Foster and Shannon Barnes.
Again, thank you to everyone who made “All That” so successful. I’m sure there are names I’ve missed, and if so, I’m sorry. Everyone who worked on this event was so valuable and I’m so appreciative of your efforts.
Gloria Flaherty is executive director of the Lake Family Resource Center, based in Lakeport.
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- Details
- Written by: Patricia Jonas Voulgaris
Lake County is just beautiful. You could be any were in the world just being here.
Yes I would like to see some BEAUTIFUL HOMES here. Not the trash that's here. Business needs to be encouraged to come here. Farm land and open space should be saved. That's what helps make this county so lovely.
In my opinion the supervisors do not have a clue what they are doing ... and that means all of them. Do any of you go out and look at the trash homes and trailers that are laying in the waste? I don't think so. If you did it wouldn't be there.
Before you make plans for anything, how about cleaning up these terrible areas? You have to lay a foundation that's neat and clean. It seems to me they are putting the cart before the horse.
Open your eyes and let's not add to the mess we already have, making it worse instead of better. Let's start clean and neat.
Make plans for the next 100 years. So the next fellow can continue keeping this area beautiful for ever. That's how I feel
Patricia Jonas Voulgaris lives in Lakeport.
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- Details
- Written by: Suzanne Dunn
I would like to thank everyone who helped us after the Wednesday collision in which we were hit by an alleged drunk driver, who was arrested.
Everyone was great, including the staff at the hospital. People really came together when needed.
David Lucientes, my fiance, is in a lot of pain with his fractured back. Just keep him in your prayers, please!
I'm not so sure about myself yet, I have to be strong for him.
Our dog also is OK. He is shaken up but glad to be back with us. I don't know who the guy was who found him and called my cell, but I would really like to thank him.
It is a miracle that we survived.
Don't drink and drive!
Suzanne Dunn lives in Williams.
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- Details
- Written by: Jim Lyle
About six or seven years ago (while still living in Lake County) I got interested in Arundo donax. I thought it was beautiful (and still think so), but as I began to learn about it, I also learned about how invasive it is. There is also some history (which I have not verified) that it came into California from Old Mexico. One thing that may not have any credence in supporting that history is, however, interesting and related.
In California, I have seen (in museums and as decor) some of the old Mexican "donkey" carts which had wooden wheels, and wood framed side walls with infilled verticals of ... yes Arundo donax (in the Orient the peasants use bamboo in much the same way). I, myself, made some folding screens with Arundo donax in fill. When dried slowly, it isn't so prone to split, and it stays very strong if you seal (varnish or lacquer) it after it has dried, but not cracked.
But the thing that really got me interested was the many things that the Orient does with bamboo ... and why not us with Arundo donax. One thought was making paper with it. I got so excited, I went up Highway 101 to the Samoa Pacific Paper Co., and managed to get to one of their vice presidents (when I explained to the reception secretary why I was there, she said, "Oh, you need to talk to our Arundo man."). I got to spend almost a half hour with him. When I first started to sell him that Arundo would make paper, he was both amused and nice ...
He stopped me, said that they had in fact made paper from Arundo (because he had badgered the other executives until they tried it), and, yes... it makes very good paper. But!!!
But! Two problems. To get the quantity it would require (it isn't economically viable to go out and mow fence rows and ditches) it would require large plots of land that can be inundated, much like ... in fact, exactly like ... the areas that grow rice. And ... rice will produce more income than the worth of Arundo for making paper. At least, so say the paper people. He did, however, say that they would be glad to use any Arundo that anyone might bring to them. Unfortunately, however, all the paper mills are where forests are, and Arundo is nowhere the trees are. So now we also have a problem of logistics. Damn! Back to square one.
Arundo also makes a good penny whistle if you know how ... and I do (my grandmother from Arkansas taught me how to do it when I was a kid; she used to tell me that she had been a tomboy when she was a little girl).
Dried and varnished (or lacquered) Arundo does make a good in-fill for decorative screens, baskets, lamp shades, trash baskets, shutters, beach mats and such. It can also be laced into a running fence (rope or light wire) much like those which have wooden lath verticals.
But none of that is going to keep up with the over growth that is possible.
My next fantasy ... one I have not pursued ... is that the biomass of Arundo (and, by the way, the hydrilla and other water weeds) could be dried, compressed and made into fire logs. I am absolutely convinced that somewhere there is a combination of material and need for such ... but I haven't the capital to experiment or prove.
And, finally, I am quite cynical about the governmental and political churn that surrounds such problems. I think, in the long run, the real byproduct of such materials and problems, is the publicity opportunity for politicians and capitalists. Problems and/or opportunities like these are great opportunities for noise and apparent action which in fact goes no where, but it can be used to screen and divert attention while the darker side of "business as usual" does as it usually does.
Jim Lyle lives in Yountville. He is a past poet laureate of Lake County.
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