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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Radio ad spots began running in June on KGO 810 AM in the San Francisco Bay Area and KSTE 650 AM in the Sacramento area and will continue into the month of August. The campaign promotes Lake County as an affordable, nearby vacation destination where visitors can experience the area’s charming towns, award-winning wines, and amazing outdoor recreation.
“Often, in tough economic times, many businesses and destinations hold back and don’t advertise,” said Debra Sommerfield, deputy administrative officer for Economic Development. “We decided to see this as an opportunity. With fewer advertisers out there, we have been able to negotiate ad rates and get more exposure for the money.”
While in previous years, Lake County was competing for travelers’ attention with higher-priced family vacations like air/cruise packages and theme parks, Sommerfield said that this year, travelers are looking to stick closer to home, and they are much more price-sensitive.
“We believe this puts Lake County in a good position to be considered as a viable vacation destination for value-seeking travelers from the Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley,” she said.
In April, the Lake County Marketing Program entered into an underwriting agreement to sponsor a new travel series on public television, “OpenRoad with Doug McConnell.”
The well-respected host of the former “Bay Area Backroads” show that aired for many years on KRON-SF, McConnell launched this new travel series this spring on public television.
The series is being broadcast on KQED on Monday evenings and randomly throughout the week and has been approved for syndication, which makes it available to any public television stations across the country which might choose to pick it up.
Lake County is featured with an on-air underwriting message at the beginning and end of each episode along with a presence on the show’s companion Web site, www.openroad.tv .
In addition, the Marketing Program is hosting a booth at the 12th annual Sunset Celebration Weekend, an event presented by Sunset Magazine, a monthly travel and lifestyle magazine focused on living in the West, which is held Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, at the publication’s headquarters facility and test garden in Menlo Park.
This is the second year the county is participating in this event and once again is partnering with both the Lake County Winery Association, which is staffing the booth and pouring Lake County wines for event-goers to sample, and the Lake County Winegrape Commission, which is generously donating an impressive prize package.
The Lake County Marketing Program is a division of the County Administrative Office and promotes tourism to and commerce in Lake County. The Marketing Program’s promotional efforts range from advertising and print materials to travel shows and media relations.
Funding for the Lake County Marketing Program is derived from local transient occupancy taxes (hotel bed taxes) collected in the unincorporated areas of Lake County, as well as through participation agreements with other entities including the city of Clearlake, the city of Lakeport, Big Valley Rancheria, Robinson Rancheria and others.
For more information, contact the Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program at 707-263-2580.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
“Every year, the state loses millions of dollars in revenue from California residents who unlawfully register their vehicles in other states or countries,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “With the help of the public, and our investigators, we’re able to return much needed funding to the state to help maintain our infrastructure.”
Last year, the “CHEATERS” program enjoyed its most successful year with more than $1 million in total fees collected from violators.
State law requires an owner to register their vehicle within 20 days of accepting employment or establishing residency in California. Failure to comply with the law will result in penalties.
Anyone who spots an out-of-state license plate can report it anonymously to the CHP’s Web site (www.chp.ca.gov).
When making reports it’s important to include the following:
State of plate;
License plate number;
Date and time observed;
Where it was observed;
Make, model and color of vehicle;
Any additional comments (decals, license plate frames, bumper stickers, etc.).
Once the information is submitted, it is automatically fed into the "CHEATERS" database. If there is enough information to prove that the owner or driver of the vehicle is a California resident, a compliance letter will be sent requiring the owner to properly register their vehicle.
“These violators are in California using our services, but not paying their fair share of the costs,” said Commissioner Farrow. “It’s time for vehicle registration cheaters to end their free ride, and pay
their fair share.”
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
In December, Kent Arndt – a stay-at-home father of three and former Hidden Valley Lake Association (HVLA) employee – submitted a complaint to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleging discrimination under the federal Fair Housing Act.
HUD accepted Arndt's housing discrimination complaint on May 8, and referred it to the state three days later, according to agency documents.
Annemarie Billotti, a spokesperson for the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, confirmed to Lake County News that the complaint – which she called “fairly new” – was now with their agency.
Because the matter is under investigation, Billotti could not offer any specifics about the situation.
Arndt alleged that the Hidden Valley Lake Association's practices are discriminatory against familial status, with rules that are too restrictive toward anyone under age 18.
Specifically, Arndt's claim alleges that the association's rules restrict children ages 13 through 17 from using the tennis courts, and the homeowners association's rules also state that “baby sitting children on the courts is prohibited.”
Arndt, who with his wife Bonnie has three children ages 1 through 7, said he was prohibited from bringing his children with him to the tennis courts on March 22, 2008.
In addition, Arndt alleged that the association's curfew rules are too restrictive toward minors.
The association has a curfew for children under age 18 between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m., which goes beyond the county's curfew for minors, which lasts from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. but also has many exceptions, Arndt said.
Arndt's 7-year-old daughter often visits friends who live three or four blocks away, but on June 25, 2008, Arndt said association officials prohibited his daughter from returning home by herself based on the rules.
The complaint names as respondents the Hidden Valley Lake Association and Jim Johnson, the association's general manager at the time of the complaint. Johnson was succeeded late last month by interim general manager, Charles Foster.
Department of Fair Employment and Housing investigator Michelle Partee was assigned to the case May 21 and has since begun working the case to determine if the association is discriminating against a “protected group” – which includes familial status, according to state law.
Late last month a draft conciliation agreement between Arndt and the association already was submitted to both parties for their consideration.
The terms of the agreement call for:
– Immediately allowing “all common areas of the community to be open to all residents regardless of age,” with possible exceptions for limits on the use of the pool and sauna, where one must be age 14 or older to use them unless supervised by an adult;
– Within 30 days of the full execution of the agreement, amending all rules to remove specific reference to age restrictions regarding the use of amenities, such as specified hours for tennis playing for teenagers and curfew. The association also would need to provide the Department of fair Employment and Housing “with written notification of all rules that have been amended/eliminated and how the residents of the community have been notified regarding the amended rules.”
– Removing all posted community signs which reference age restrictions in the common areas and tennis courts. The association must then submit photographic proof showing the sign(s) before and after removal of language specifying age restrictions within 30 days of the full execution of the agreement.
– Posting and maintaining the Department of Fair Employment and Housing fair housing poster in the clubhouse or association community area; the poster is supposed to be “prominently displayed so as to be readily apparent to all persons seeking and/or enjoying housing accommodations.” Within 30 days of the full execution of the agreement, the association must submit a photograph showing the displayed poster.
Arndt was told that if the complaint can't be worked out through an agreement, the department will complete its investigation and issue a decision on whether there was a violation of the law.
Foster said the association board received the materials last Thursday at their meeting.
“Outside of that they're reviewing it now and we have no other comment to make,” Foster said.
Arndt has lived in Hidden Valley Lake almost seven years, and was the association's activities coordinator from 2004 through 2008. During the course of his employment with HVLA, he spent a lot of time researching state and federal rules and regulations to make sure operations were in legal compliance.
He said questions such as those he raised in his complaint aren't new – similar ones relating to children and restrictions of their use of such facilities as the pool had been broached by other individuals. Such matters, he said, were “always being discussed.”
Arndt said his concerns came to a head after he became a parent – both through guardianship and adoption – in the course of a few years. Then it became evident to him that the rules were particularly restrictive against parents and families.
In February 2006, he informed then-general manager that Rick Archbold that he believed, based on his research, that some of HVLA's age restriction rules were potentially illegal and discriminatory against children, based on fair housing laws.
He said he received no response, and a month later he filed a complaint with HUD, which he later withdrew after the agency encouraged him to try to work it out with the community leadership first.
In November of 2007, the HVLA board reportedly discussed fair housing issues and sent them to their attorney to have the rules rewritten, but they never were, said Arndt.
He and his family filed a formal complaint with the association in May of 2007. He resigned from his job with the association in February of 2008, and three months later he and Bonnie took the matter to the association board of directors, where it was tabled.
“We followed the process and it went nowhere,” he said.
Eventually, after researching the matter further, he decided to take it to the government agencies. “For two years I've tried to bring this to the place where we are now, which is, 'Let's talk about this,'” said Arndt.
Arndt said Partee, who is acting as a go-between, has been candid in telling him that if the complaint process doesn't work there are other departments and agencies that might be able to affect some change. There's also civil court.
Billotti said when there is a complaint of discrimination against a homeowners association, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing has jurisdiction.
“We only deal with discrimination complaints,” she said.
Arndt acknowledged that homeowners associations often have their own rules, which he said he understands is “part of the experience” which helps protect the association against liability. But he alleges that state and federal law puts boundaries on what homeowners associations can do.
While Hidden Valley Lake got its start in the 1960s as a community marketed toward retirees and summer residents, it's since become a community filled with families, which Arndt suggested has been a difficult transition for some people and has resulted in resentment.
Arndt believes that the rules may be contributing toward a sense of prejudice toward families, which he said isn't good for promoting Hidden Valley Lake's community spirit.
“I believe Hidden Valley Lake can be a better, more enjoyable and more friendly community if these rules are fixed,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that Reynaldo Damian Corrales, 29; Amador Davila Garcia, 35; Juan Amezcua Cornejo, 24; and 32-year-old Carlos Barrera Hernandez were arrested late Wednesday on felony charges of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.
Bauman said that a sheriff's deputy on routine patrol spotted a pic-up truck backing out of a wooded area off of Highway 29 – south of the Konocti Conservation Camp in Lower Lake – on Wednesday at about 8 p.m. He said the deputy stopped to make sure the vehicle had not crashed into the brush.
One of the four men told the deputy they had been repairing a gate on the property and were just leaving but none of the men could say who the property owner was or how they could be contacted, Bauman said.
Once other deputies arrived to assist and detain the four men, the deputies checked the wooded area to determine why the men were really there, according to Bauman.
About 100 yards into the woods from the highway, deputies located a length of irrigation hose running from a water well up a hillside, said Bauman. Following the hose about 200 yards up the hill, they located a small handmade water reservoir dug in the ground and several hundred small marijuana plants growing from a seed bed.
Bauman said when the deputies returned to the truck and confronted the men about the marijuana plants, they were told they had been shown the grow site and provided the marijuana seeds by a man from Santa Rosa.
The men also said they started the grow about a month prior and were apparently told by the man who provided the seeds that once the marijuana they were growing was harvested, they would all be paid an unspecified amount of money, Bauman said.
Bauman said all four suspects were transported and booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.
Each of the men are held on a $10,000 bond, however Bauman noted that immigration holds were also placed on all four by federal immigration officials.
