Letters
The Lake County Historical Society is grateful to many selfless and dedicated people who helped us bring about Lake County’s dream: Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum.
In 2001 a vision was born – a showcase museum for Lake County. Thanks to Andy and Betty Beckstoffer, Beckstoffer Vineyards, with the donation of the Ely Stage Stop and five acres to the county of Lake and the historical society, we began.
At this time the original Ely Committee was formed consisting of Rob Brown, District 5 supervisor; Bill Brunetti, business owner; Kim Clymire, Public Services director; Kelly Cox, county administrative officer; Marilyn Holdenried, Kelseyville Business Association and Wildhurst Vineyards; Tony Marchese, past Lake County Historical Society president; Randy and Jackie Ridgel, past historical society officers; Bob Roumiguiere, Lake County vineyard owner and Marin County supervisor (now deceased); Eric Seely, deputy director of redevelopment and Gerry Shaul, Public Works director.
A special thanks to all of you for your hours of dedication over the years.
Major donors are Andy and Betty Beckstoffer for Ely Stage Stop and land; the Kettenhofen Family Foundation for donating $100,000 for the Ely project; the Lake County Wine Alliance 2009 benefits of $4,700; county of Lake Parks Division staff, under direction of Park Superintendent Dana Smalley, restoration of the Ely Stage Stop (a special thank you for almost three years of working on the remodel); Jackson Equipment, donation of equipment and operator for site development; Kelseyville Lumber Co., discount on building materials; Clearlake Lava, donation of sand for barn foundation; Redi-Mix, discount on concrete for barn; Eric Stevenson Construction and crew, pouring the pad for the first display barn; Daren and Derrek Brodnansky, helping pour concrete; Mt. Konocti Growers, donation of storage space for artifacts; T-N-T Storage Kelseyville, donation of storage space for artifacts; California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection, funding for project coordination.
Thank you to Lake County Historical Society member and Ely Stage Stop Project Coordinator Greg Dills.
He has worked countless hours, coordinating with the county of Lake to move the Ely Stage Stop to its present home, collecting, hauling, and storing of artifacts in friends’ and neighbors’ barns, and managing the teams to dismantle donated barns.
We will not forget all of you who contributed to the preparation of the open house and donated items, time and services to make the day a huge success.
To name a few: Rob Brown, master of ceremonies; Boy Scouts Troop No. 44, Clearlake, color guard, presentation of flags; Melody Staats, singing the National Anthem; Sea Scouts Ship No. 711, traffic control and parking; People Services Inc., Ilene Dumont and Marty Diesman, shuttle van drivers; Don Coffin, Andi Skelton and Elizabeth Cook, musicians; Lake County Model A’s Car Club, Tom Macomber; Clearlake Car Club, Rex Claytor; EcoArts of Lake County, parasols; Historical Society members, refreshments, merchandise sales and building decorations; Ely Committee, grounds preparation and building decorations; county of Lake inmate crew, grounds preparation; Lake County News, Lake County Record-Bee and Middletown Times Star, publicity and event coverage; MAX Design Studio, development of Ely logo and painted materials; Direct Image Printing, printed materials; Shelden Signs, hand painted sign on building; RAH Signs, event banners; Rainbow Ag, loan of stock tank; Vintage Antiques, loan of quilt and tablecloths; Lake County Chamber of Commerce, scissors and ribbon for ribbon cutting ceremony; donors of goods and services, furnishings, canopies, bunting and chairs; Historic Courthouse Museum, furniture and building décor on loan; Historic Schoolhouse Museum, Dwain Goforth, display and publicity photos; Barbara White, period costume, Laura Lamar and Max Seabaugh, period costume; David and Margaret Rutherford, period costumes; and Ray’s Market, Jeremy Hubbard, produce manager, Rodney Barr, store manager and Scott Gentle, assistant store manager, 200 brown bags for merchandise sold.
To name a few people who worked behind the scenes: Phil Smoley, Lake County Historical Society president; Greg Dills; Syd Stokes; Broc Zoller; Wilda Shock; Marilyn Holdenried; Linda Lake; Debra Sommerfield; Melinda Moranda; Victoria Brandon; Keith Petterson; Chuck March; Kevin Engle; Vonn Fuqua; Jim Bengard; Richard Smith; Michael Smith; Gerry Shaul; Karl Shaul; Vince Gamble; Chuck Villines; Jean Beeson; Bonnie Skee; and many more of the Historical Society members.
As you can see, it has taken an army to get Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum ready for Lake County. Please forgive me if I missed anyone or if I misspelled your name.
We are looking for docent volunteers; if you are interesting in becoming a part of this great dream please call Val Onellion at 707-995-2022.
Once Val gets a team together and trained, we plan to open Ely’s doors for tours during the holidays. Look for an announcement about dates.
Thank you to every one for attending our open house; about 400 visitors came to Ely July 24. We call that a huge success.
Randy Ridgel is a member of the Lake County Historical Society. He lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
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- Written by: Randy Ridgel
Given the recent clash in Sparks, Nev., between these same two notorious motorcycle gangs, we may well have dodged a bullet.
Unfortunately, the people in the Sparks casino where the clash occurred were, literally, dodging bullets.
Media reports tell of a horrific scene with people diving for cover in what is being called a shootout between the Vagos and Hells Angels.
When the dust settled the president of the San Jose Chapter of the Hells Angels was dead and two others were injured. In a nearby location another person was shot the next day, possibly in retaliation.
At last check, a Vagos gang member was in custody while the search for the suspected killer of the Hells Angels president was under way. How that will end is uncertain but I pray there are no innocent bystanders around if the Hells Angels find the suspected killer before the police.
History shows that to these gangs, bystanders are inconsequential. To this point, a shootout in August of 2010 between the Vagos and Hells Angels left five wounded after some 50 shots were exchanged in the small, unsuspecting neighborhood where the incident took place.
It’s impossible to know if the events that transpired in Sparks could have been prevented. This will no doubt be discussed in debriefings that will surely follow.
But there are poignant and instructive parallels in the handling of these events and those that occurred less than five months earlier in Lake County.
When the Vagos drove into Lakeport they created a specter of disruption and fear such that law enforcement agencies joined forces to keep the peace and the sheriff made the decision to stage a strong police presence at the county lines.
Similarly in Sparks, heightened security and a strong showing of support from various law enforcement agencies was reported.
Also as in Sparks, where decision makers restricted movement and shut down business for a time, similar decisions were made in Lakeport. Police were positioned at strategic entry and exit points, inhibiting movement and effectively shutting down normal activity until it was deemed that Lakeport citizens and patrons were safe.
Later, when the sheriff received word from official sources that the Hells Angles were heading toward Lake County, presumably to war with the Vagos, he took cautionary steps to avoid further disruption and possible calamity by closely monitoring the Vagos and staging officers at county lines until he could be certain the Hells Angels were not heading our way.
In Sparks, a long planned event that was to draw thousands was canceled out of an abundance of caution and extra security and patrols were added, there and in nearby locals.
Thankfully the Hells Angels did not show on the day the Vagos converged on Lakeport, although several days later a Vagos member was severely beaten by Hells Angels at one of our local casinos. In this case, the sheriff’s diligence in pursing and securing evidence from the crime scene resulted in search warrants and arrests.
The sheriff took plenty of heat, including an ongoing investigation into a claim he may have violated the civil rights of the Hells Angels, when he took steps to prevent possible deadly consequences on Lake County soil.
And while we may never really know if we dodged a bullet, one thing is now abundantly clear. Given the obvious callous disregard these gangs have for the rights of law-abiding citizens and innocent bystanders, a fact recently punctuated by the shootout in Sparks, our sheriff and the other law enforcement personnel involved in making the decisions on the day the Vagos paid us a visit knew whose civil rights needed protecting – the citizens of Lake County.
Olga Martin Steele lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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- Written by: Olga Martin Steele
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