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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The prescribed burning will be conducted starting at 10 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. and will be located in and around Berryessa Estates. Smoke from the pile burning may be visible from parts of Napa and Lake counties.
The return of winter moisture will enable Cal Fire personnel to implement the vegetation management tool of prescribed burning for the purpose of burning piles of vegetation that were removed to create a shaded fuel break around the community of Berryessa Estates.
Prescribed vegetation management burns are carefully planned and controlled burns and must meet strict criteria of ecological benefit, weather parameters, smoke management, and fire safety guidelines. When all conditions (prescriptions) are met, trained firefighter’s burn, while monitoring the set criteria, fire behavior, and designated fire control lines.
Shaded fuel breaks are designed to reduce the threat to a community in the event of an unexpected wildland fire by removing shrubs, small trees, and down woody materials, but leaving large overstory trees.
By leaving the larger trees, the fuel break will maintain a higher degree of shade cover, lessening the rapid re-growth associated with direct sunlight and retaining higher fuel moisture in the fuels within the fuel break.
These projects are designed to remove the understory ladder fuels and the dead/down fuels that could become hazardous in case of extreme fire behavior. Shaded fuel breaks are often constructed in strategic areas along roadsides and ridgetops to provide firefighters with improved access to suppress unwanted wildfires and to manage prescribed burns more safely.
For more information about fire safety or prescribed fire and its benefits you may go to the Cal Fire Web site at www.fire.ca.gov or your local Cal Fire facility.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The gathering, titled "Tribal corruption is not traditional," will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, on the north side of the State Capitol Building, 10th and Street and the Capitol Mall in downtown Sacramento.
United Native Americans Inc. and the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization (AIRRO) are sponsoring the event, whose guest speakers will include Lehman Brightman, founder of United Native Americans Inc.; Wanda Quitiquit, who the Robinson Rancheria Citizens Business Council has targeted for disenrollment, along with her family; John Gomez, president of AIRRO who was himself disenrolled from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in 2004; Cesar Caballero of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok; Clayton Duncan of the Lucy Moore Foundation and a Robinson Rancheria member; Norman "Wounded Knee" DeOcampo, a disenrolled Miwok from Vallejo; and Ukiah resident Loise Lockhart, another victim of disenrollment.
"Nobody quite understands what's going on in Indian Country," said Quanah Brightman, vice president of United Native Americans Inc., based on the Bay Area.
Brightman, who is Lakota Sioux and Creek, said it's important to get beyond some current myths about Indians to get to the core of the very complex issues facing Indian nations around the country.
For one, he said, it's believed that because of casinos and an exemption from income tax that Indians are rich. “It's the furthest thing from the truth,” he said.
To emphasize that point, Brightman said the gathering is scheduled for Feb. 5, the one-year anniversary of California voters approving gaming compacts between the state and the Pechanga, Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
Brightman said one of the event's goals is to give Indian leaders the chance to meet with state legislators and to educate them and the general public about the issue of disenrollment – the increasing practice of tribes kicking out members.
He called disenrollment "the new form of termination" for Indians. "We're becoming extinct," he said.
Disenrollment is having far-reaching, divisive consequences for Robinson Rancheria.
In December, Robinson Rancheria's tribal council disenrolled about 50 of its members. Those who were disenrolled included the Quitiquit family, who supported EJ Crandell for the tribal chair seat in a general election last summer. The sitting tribal chair, Tracey Avila, disputed the election, which was decertified.
Avila said the disenrollments were necessary to clean up the tribal rolls and address the membership of those whose place in the tribe had been questioned.
Last month Avila was reelected without any opposition after Crandell was disqualified from running by the tribe's election committee, largely composed of Avila's family members.
Also in January, the disenrollees formed a rival tribal council, with Crandell at its head. That group is applying to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition.
Because of the Robinson Rancheria tribal constitution, the issue of tribal membership ultimately is up to the BIA, which must now also decide whether or not to grant the disenrollees' appeals and reinstate them in the tribe, which Avila has contended in a previous interview is not up to the agency.
The bureau has weighed in on disenrollments in the tribe previously, such as it did 20 year ago, when Wanda Quitiquit had faced a disenrollment, which the agency found was not warranted based on a study of her genealogy.
Troy Burdick, superintendent of the BIA's Central California Agency, received the appeals from the disenrolled Robinson members and said he forwarded his suggestion to the next level in the agency around mid-January; BIA now has 45 days to make a final decision. He would not disclose what his proposed decision to the higher levels of BIA was.
Dale Risling, BIA's deputy regional director, confirmed his office is at work on the matter.
"We're going to begin our review process of their appeals, which is called for under their tribal law," he said.
He added, "We'll be responding to the tribe with our findings on that and our position."
Another tribe that has a constitution giving the BIA the power to review appeals, the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians of San Diego County, was told by the BIA late last year that the tribe could not move forward with disenrolling about 60 members, as Lake County News has reported.
Brightman said Indian leaders plans to introduce a new state bill on Thursday that will call for an end to the disenrollment practice.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED REGARDING MAYA GRIFFIN, ANOTHER LOWER LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT WHO HAS ACHIEVED A PERFECT STAR TEST SCORE.
LAKE COUNTY – Amidst the fairly glum news facing education today – severe financial cutbacks, teacher and staff layoffs, and an all-around assault on resources – it's important to remember one thing: Children are still learning, thanks to the hard work of parents and teachers.
In fact, some children are learning very well, and showing incredible aptitudes in some tough subjects.
One example is mathematics. The county is home to numerous elementary school students who last year did particularly well on California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test, hitting perfect 600 scores on the math portion.
This past year, the districts reported the following perfect scores in the elementary ranks: Konocti Unified, four, Lakeport Unified, two; Kelseyville Unified, five; Lucerne Unified Elementary, one. None were reported in Upper Lake Elementary, and information on perfect-scoring students was not made available from Middletown Unified.
Most of the districts do not divulge names, however, in Lucerne, the star STAR student was second grader Elizabeth McIntire, now 8, who was 7 when she took the test, the district reported.
Students in Konocti Unified were honored for their achievement last November at a school board meeting, where they received commendation certificates, plus bouquets of flowers for the girls.
Two of Konocti's top performers were 10-year-old Kayla Curtis and 12-year-old Eddie Llewellyn. Both are students in Rachel McFarland's sixth grade class at Lower Lake Elementary. The two students were fifth graders when they took the test.
McFarland said the STAR test is an evaluation of how well students meet their grade level standards, after working hard on them all year.
“Getting a perfect score is really a phenomenal thing,” she said.
A second-year teacher, McFarland said other students at the school also have had stellar achievement on the test -- including Maya Griffin, who got a perfect STAR test math score when she was only a third grader (she's in fifth grade now).
McFarland is very proud and complimentary of her students.
She said she will teach a lesson to the class, then assign the students work for the rest of the class period. Eddie usually is the first one done.
“He really is an extraordinary kid – a diligent worker,” McFarland said.
Eddie said math is his favorite subject, which helped him get that perfect STAR test score, no mean feat considering the questions can be pretty tough.
Although he's an all-around good student, some subjects aren't quite in the favorite category, such as English and history, which he called “a little not fun.”
He's also musical, having started taking the saxophone last March and the piano in the summer.
Eddie has a fraternal twin brother, Joey – Eddie emphasizes that he's the older twin – who also is good at math, plays the keyboards and clarinet, plus is the school's spelling bee champion, said McFarland. Spelling, said Eddie, is another one of those not fun subjects.
He said he thinks he'd like to attend the University of California, Davis, for college in the future.
Eddie and his brother live with their parents, Bill and Minsook Llewellyn – plus a dog, fish and cats – in Clearlake. When he isn't acing tests, Eddie also enjoys playing video games and baseball, taking Tae Kwon Do classes, and playing in the school music program's new rock and roll band, along with Joey.
Bill Llewellyn said both boys have attended Lower Lake Elementary since preschool.
“And it's a heck of a chore to get either one out of bed in the morning or to tidy up their room; but I'm not complaining,” he said.
Working at a higher level
McFarland said she doesn't have Kayla for math lessons.
Instead, the 10-year-old walks next door to Lower Lake High School, where she takes algebra with the high schoolers, said McFarland.
“She was on the radar last year for doing really superb work,” said McFarland.
So McFarland said Lower Lake Elementary Principal Greg Mucks decided he wanted to do something different when it came to challenging Kayla, who had already skipped a grade.
That's when they decided to let her try high school algebra. McFarland said when she asks Kayla about how her daily lessons are, her one-word response usually is, “Easy.”
Keeping gifted students interested and not bored is a challenge for educators, said McFarland, who explained that her approach is to focus students toward the high end of achievement, to give them something to shoot for. Every class, she said, has a wide variety of aptitudes, which is what makes teaching a challenging profession.
Kayla's parents, Steve and Mandy Curtis of Lower Lake, said Kayla has always been intellectually precocious.
“She talked real early, she did everything real early,” said Mandy Curtis.
Steve Curtis said his wife read to Kayla nonstop when she was a baby. Mandy Curtis' mom wrote Kayla little books, and with all of that encouragement – plus a little help from Dr. Seuss – the youngster figured out how to read on her own. By the time she got to kindergarten, she could read to her class.
Kayla's first-grade teacher was perplexed about what to do with her, so the Curtises said their daughter did first and second grade at the same time.
“Her teachers have been really, really great about challenging her,” Mandy Curtis said, adding that the teachers are encouraging Kayla to try new things.
Kayla is a straight-A student whose particular strengths are math and science, and who does extra credit. “It's hard to keep her from not being bored,” Mandy Curtis said.
Her parents say she's always starving for new tests when it comes to math. When she was little, she was constantly asking them to make up math tests for her.
“She still does that,” said Steve Curtis, who called his daughter “his little calculator.”
Kayla's skills also extend to writing, and now she's getting into sports, particularly soccer and basketball, and is clog dancing as well, the Curtises said. Her younger brother, Cole, who is 8, also is a good student and excels in math.
Her parents say Kayle has mentioned all sort of possible future careers, including nursing and medicine – she loves to watch documentaries on surgeries, and has never been squeamish. “She likes the gross stuff,” Mandy Curtis said.
Kayla's gifts also have presented her and her family with a dilemma. She is so advanced that Mucks has suggested sending her straight to high school, where her parents said it's estimated she could finish in as little as a year and a half.
“We're trying to keep her a kid as long as we can,” said Steve Curtis, who noted that he doesn't want a Doogie Howser, referring to the television show about the boy genius who becomes a doctor when only a young teenager.
“The hardest thing I think is not putting her forward,” Steve Curtis admits.
However, she and her parents are in agreement that it's more important to let her just be a kid – albeit a really, really smart one – for the time being. That means letting the very social Kayla stay with her friends – who she doesn't want to leave – and grow along with them.
McFarland gives a big helping of praise to her star students' parents, who she called “fantastic” for their level of encouragement and support.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Rachel Elizabeth Gregg, 23, was arrested by Lake County Sheriff's deputies last Saturday night following an incident at Konocti Vista Casino outside of Lakeport.
Captain James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Monday that two deputies were completing a security check at the casino at about 10:20 p.m. Jan. 31 when they observed Gregg driving slowly around the casino parking lot in the dark with only her parking lights on.
Suspecting Gregg may be driving while impaired, the deputies attempted to conduct an enforcement stop on the vehicle, said Bauman.
As Gregg continued to drive around the parking lot, allegedly ignoring the deputies emergency lights and siren, sheriff’s dispatch reported the 1992 Toyota Camry Gregg was driving was reported stolen earlier that day in Willits, Bauman reported.
With Gregg continuing to refuse to yield to the deputies’ lights, one of the patrol vehicles was maneuvered in front of the stolen vehicle to force it to stop, Bauman said.
Once stopped, deputies approached the stolen vehicle on foot and found there was an infant child in the front passenger seat, said Bauman. The deputies ordered Gregg out of the car but she just shook her head and drove off again.
Bauman said Gregg continued to evade the deputies as she exited the casino parking lot and led them onto Soda Bay Road, turning onto Yellow Hammer Lane, and then onto Red Feather Lane where she was forced to stop at the cul-de-sac. Gregg immediately took the infant, later identified to be her 11-month-old daughter, and exited the car.
After Gregg initially refused to surrender the child to deputies, they were able to safely take the child from her and after a brief attempt to resist their attempt to arrest her, she was taken into custody without further incident, said Bauman.
During a routine search incident to Gregg’s arrest, deputies located a purse and cell phone in the back of the car that had been reported stolen from a parked vehicle a very short distance away on Meadow Drive earlier that evening. Bauman said a credit card belonging to the owner of the stolen vehicle was also retrieved from Gregg’s pants pocket.
Gregg was booked at the Lake County Jail for felony possession of a stolen vehicle, felony possession of stolen property, felony child endangerment, felony evading a peace officer, and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
She remains in custody with bail set at $25,000. Bauman said her 11-month-infant daughter was turned over to Child Protective Services.
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