LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lake County Library is a recipient of a grant of $5,700 to host the NEA Big Read in Lake County.

A national initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.

The Lake County Library is one of 79 nonprofit organizations across the country to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading program between September 2018 and June 2019.

The NEA Big Read in Lake County will focus on Into the Beautiful North by Luis Albert Urrea. Activities will take place in October 2018.

"I'm thrilled to receive the support of the National Endowment for the Arts again this year,” said Lake County Librarian Christopher Veach. “The NEA Big Read is a fun series of events, and it's also a wonderful way to celebrate the importance of reading and literacy in our community.”

Book lovers in Lake County selected “Into the Beautiful North” for the NEA Big Read in a survey.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support opportunities for communities across the nation, both small and large, to take part in the NEA Big Read,” said NEA Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “This program encourages people to not only discuss a book together, but be introduced to new perspectives, discuss the issues at the forefront of our own lives, and connect with one another at events.”

The NEA Big Read showcases a diverse range of contemporary titles that reflect many different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery.

The main feature of the initiative is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports dynamic community reading programs, each designed around a single NEA Big Read selection.

In Lake County, some of the local partners are Clark McAbee of the Lake County Museums, the Lake County Arts Council, Edgar Ontiveros at La Voz de la Esperanza Centro Latino, Lisa Kaplan at the Middletown Art Center, Richard Schmidt at the Lake County Arts Council, Mendocino College Lake Center, Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, Jabez William Churchill, Woodland College’s Gina Jones, Bruno Sabatier, Rod Cabreros, Kandice Goodman and Ian Anderson, KPFZ 88.1, and local educators Kathy Perkins and Jo Fay of the Little Read.

Organizers expect to add more partners as planning continues between now and October.

Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,400 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $19 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country.

Over the past 11 years, grantees have leveraged more than $44 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 4.9 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, approximately 82,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and 39,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible. For more information about the NEA Big Read, please visit www.arts.gov/neabigread.

The Lake County Library is on the internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary.

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities.

Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more about NEA.

Arts Midwest promotes creativity, nurtures cultural leadership, and engages people in meaningful arts experiences, bringing vitality to Midwest communities and enriching people’s lives. Based in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest connects the arts to audiences throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. One of six non-profit regional arts organizations in the United States, Arts Midwest’s history spans more than 25 years. For more information, please visit www.artsmidwest.org .

Hailed by National Public Radio as a "literary badass" and "master storyteller with a rock and roll heart," Luis Alberto Urrea is the award-winning, bestselling author of numerous books of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction and a member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame.

Raised in Tijuana and San Diego by a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea inherited a rich legacy of cultural lore and a love of storytelling from his extended family on both sides of the border, though he claims he’s “more interested in bridges” than borders. In his third novel, “Into the Beautiful North,” an idealistic 19-year-old woman is inspired by the film “The Magnificent Seven” to travel from her home in Mexico to the United States to enlist seven men who’ve left her town to return and help protect it from drug-dealing bandidos.

Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.

They only seem to grow up so fast. VCoscaron/Shutterstock.com

I am one of those men for whom it is impossible to find Father’s Day gifts.

I don’t wear ties. My socks are all the same, in the interest of efficiency. I enjoy cooking, which would seem to open up some possibilities. But I have an annoying habit of buying useful gadgets as I need them, leaving my relatives to purchase paper bags specially designed for storing cheese, say, or devices that carve vegetables into the shape of noodles.

With sympathy for my family, the truth is that my favorite Father’s Day gift this year has been the gift of time. Or more precisely, a new understanding of how my perception of time is warped by the brain. I am a social psychologist who studies how people’s minds shape their subjective experiences. And there are few experiences more subjective than the experience of time.

A childhood whooshing by

Surely every parent has suffered the same pains I am feeling as my daughter turns 8.

In her first year, the sleepless nights were eternities passed under the glowing blue rectangles of an LCD clock. The days stretched out too, as I wished for the time when she could be entertained on her own by a toy or a cartoon, for even a few minutes. It felt like climbing uphill in anticipation of that time when we could coast.

Now, as she stretches from the roundness of a baby toward the long gazelle lines of a pre-teen, I feel that we have somehow accelerated too fast. Somewhere, we crested the top, but there was no coasting, only a whooshing that I can’t slow down.

Is this feeling of time whistling past inevitable? Scientists have uncovered startling insights about how the brain registers the passage of time. Understanding them won’t make that whooshing feeling go away, exactly, but it can make it less painful.

The passage of time

This feeling of time speeding up or slowing down happens in a lot of areas of life.

We generally feel that our moments become more fleeting as we get older. Remember how long summer vacation seemed as a kid? And, ironically, as we get older larger chunks of time like decades seem to fly faster than smaller chunks like days or minutes.

Unpublished research by Heidi Vuletich in my lab finds that scarce resources make the future feel further away, which helps explain why poor children make more impatient decisions than middle-class kids. Time also seems to slow down during an emotionally intense event, whether it’s a car crash or a sleepless night.

Does time really go into slow motion during a car crash? Does it really speed up as we age? What these phenomena have in common is that they are all experienced retrospectively or prospectively, not in real time. There is no way to re-experience the car crash without traveling through the doorway of memory. So when we experience time speeding up or slowing down, is that happening in real time? Or is it a memory illusion?

Neuroscientist David Eagleman and his colleagues ran an ingenious experiment to find out. They used a sky-diving tower at an amusement park in Dallas. Subjects ascended in an elevator to the top of a 100-foot tower and then let themselves free fall into a net at the bottom.

Strapped to their wrists was a chronometer – a device for measuring time perception. It was a screen on which numbers flickered back and forth very quickly – so quickly that it’s difficult to identify the numbers. The point of the chronometer is that if time really slows down for the brain when falling, then a person in free fall should be able to accurately perceive more flickering numbers per second, relative to when they’re safe on the ground.

So what happened? When asked afterward to estimate how long they were falling, subjects overestimated the time they were in the air by more than a third. In their memories, time had indeed slowed down. But, according to the numbers participants reported seeing on the chronometer, time passed at the same ordinary rate as it did before the free fall.

This is why even though we seem to experience a car crash in slow motion, the extra time does not allow us any extra ability to steer out of the way. That’s because the slow motion is in our memories, not in the moment. Think of what this means for our experiences of time slowing down and speeding up: That whooshing feeling is not in our present, but only in our memories of it.

The present is now

So are we doomed to feel that our children’s youth is speeding away?

It is likely to feel that way whenever we reminisce about the past. The more important lesson, though, is not about the past but the present. Now that I’m free falling toward her adolescence, it’s important to understand that time is not really whistling away from me. Each moment lasts the same as it did when she was a baby. Each moment holds as much joy and as much pain now as it will tomorrow.

And so, this insight is a call to let the remembered past and the fretted future go and to return attention relentlessly to the present. Someday I will look back, my head swimming, and remember today like those long, lazy summer days. But right now, a moment is just a moment. Right now she still loves to lay beside me and hear me read to her. Right now I am the big one and the strong one who can scoop her up in one arm when she needs it.

Right now, I am not “my dad,” I am daddy. What more could a father want?

Keith Payne, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control a new group of big dogs waiting for their new homes this week.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of husky, mastiff and pit bull.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

‘Alex’

“Alex” is a handsome male husky with a long gray and white coat.

Shelter staff said he is a great companion who gets along with other dogs, small or large, male or female. Anyone interested in adopting him is asked to bring their dogs for a meet and greet with Alex.

Alex walks well on a leash, has very good manners and will roll over for belly. Staff recommends a secure fence to keep him from getting loose to go explore.

Alex is in kennel No. 20, ID No. 10154.

‘Leah’

“Leah” is a female pit bull terrier with a short black and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 24, ID No. 10124.

Male mastiff mix

This male mastiff mix has a short brown and black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 10189.

Male mastiff mix

This male mastiff mix has a short tan and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 10191.

Male mastiff mix

This male mastiff mix has a short tan and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 10192.

Male pit bull terrier

This male pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 10217.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

Tom Woods knows about space gunk.

As the principal investigator for the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE, instrument aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, he’s all too familiar with the ways that exposure to the harsh space environment can lead to a spacecraft instrument’s degradation.

“Since its launch in 2010, EVE’s sensitivity has degraded by about 70 percent at some wavelengths,” Woods said.

When your job is to measure subtle variability in extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, light emitted by the Sun, that amount of degradation, left unchecked, can be a big problem.

But all is not lost: To correct for the effects of degradation, Woods uses calibration sounding rockets. The seventh such rocket will launch from the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico. The launch window opens at 1 p.m. Mountain Time on June 18.

EVE calibration sounding rockets carry a copy of the EVE instrument to approximately 180 miles above Earth, where it measures EUV light from the Sun for about 10 minutes before parachuting back down to Earth for recovery.

The measurements, made by the rocket instruments unaffected by degradation, are compared to the those from the degraded satellite EVE instrument, so Woods and his team can correct for any discrepancies.

“That’s why the sounding rockets are so important – they’re like a second channel, to calibrate the channel that is seeing the Sun all the time.”

The EVE sounding rockets are a critical part of the mission. “Without the calibration, EVE wouldn’t be able to do its job,” Woods continued. “We really wouldn’t know what the brightness of the Sun is, because we wouldn’t know how much the instrument has degraded.”

Measurements from the EVE sounding rocket are used to calibrate extreme ultraviolet instruments aboard several other spacecrafts, including NASA's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics; Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment; Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory; the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Program; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA's Hinode.

Thanks to calibration sounding rockets like EVE we can keep our space instruments working at full capacity — and through them, keep our eyes continuously on the skies.

Miles Hatfield works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport McDonald’s restaurant has been allowed to reopen after it was closed temporarily earlier this week due to a sewer system issue, with ongoing repairs required for a water leak.

James Scott of Lake County Environmental Health told Lake County News that county staff responded to the restaurant on Monday in response to a significant backup in the restaurant’s sewer lines.

When county staff arrived, the restaurant was still in operation, and there was standing water – specifically sewage – and debris on the floors, with every drain backed up, he said.

The restaurant staff thought it was compliant but Environmental Health informed them that they were required to close due to the circumstances.

“Our goal is to protect the public,” Scott said.

He said at that time there were objects found in the sewer laterals, which were cleaned out. That pipe, he said, appeared to have had a liner put in it and also has a low spot which may have contributed to the problem.

Restaurant staff had to do extensive cleanup inside the restaurant, including washing, rinsing and sanitizing floors and all equipment, Scott said.

During the middle of the week Lake County News heard from community members who said they found the restaurant’s driveway was blocked off and diners weren’t allowed inside.

On the followup inspection, Environmental Health staff found a soggy area in the floor in and around the women’s bathroom. Scott said water would come up out of the flooring when they walked on it.

The restaurant called out Roto-Rooter, which helped find a water leak that had been going for some time, he said.

Repairs of the area where the water leak was discovered are continuing. Scott said the restaurant is keeping that area isolated and sealed off with a tent-like area with plastic sheeting around the women’s restroom and the hallway in front of it.

By Friday the restaurant had reopened, despite repairs continuing. “They’re permitted to operate,” he said.

Scott said the city of Lakeport Building Official Tom Carlton is working with the restaurant, which may need a new sewer lateral.

Environmental Health also remains involved. “We’re working very closely with the management there,” Scott said.

The closure gave rise to conjecture and a number of theories circulating on social media about the possible reasons, including feces in kitchen equipment.

“That’s all fantasy,” said Scott.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake is receiving a federal grant to help it be better prepared for natural disasters.

Clearlake City Manager Greg Folsom announced that the city will receive up to $112,000 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

The grant will enable the city to lay out a mitigation strategy that identifies specific projects aimed at reducing and eliminating risk from future natural disasters.

Following the completion of a Local Hazards Mitigation Plan, the city would be eligible for additional FEMA funding for the completion of those projects identified within the plan, Folsom said.

"While we are not able to prevent the drought conditions and natural disasters that have devastated our community in recent years, we can commit to do what we can to reduce the threat by supporting and implementing projects to lessen future risk to lives and property," Folsom said.

The California Department of Public Health announced the first confirmed illnesses in California this year due to West Nile virus, or WNV.

The four illnesses occurred in Los Angeles, Kern and Riverside counties.

“West Nile virus activity in the state is increasing, so I urge Californians to take every possible precaution to protect against mosquito bites,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith.

West Nile virus is transmitted to humans and animals by the bite of an infected mosquito. As of June 8, WNV has been detected in 14 dead birds from seven counties and four mosquito samples from three counties.

No dead birds or mosquito samples have so far been found in Lake County, based on state data.

Hot temperatures this month are contributing to increasing numbers of mosquitoes and the increased risk of virus transmission to humans, officials said.

So far this season, activity is within expected levels. The risk of disease due to WNV usually increases at this time of year and is highest throughout the summer and early fall, CDPH reported.

West Nile virus is influenced by many factors, including climate, the number and types of birds and mosquitoes in an area, and the level of WNV immunity in birds. The risk of serious illness to most people is low. However, some individuals – less than 1 percent – can develop serious neurologic illnesses such as encephalitis or meningitis.

In 2017, there were 553 reported WNV cases in California, including 44 deaths.

People 50 years of age and older, and individuals with diabetes or hypertension, have a higher chance of getting sick and are more likely to develop complications from WNV infection.

CDPH recommends that individuals protect against mosquito bites and WNV by practicing the “Three Ds”:

1. DEET – Apply insect repellent containing DEET, picaradin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR3535 according to label instructions. Repellents keep the mosquitoes from biting you. Insect repellents should not be used on children under two months of age.

2. DAWN AND DUSK – Mosquitoes that transmit WNV usually bite in the early morning and evening so it is important to wear proper clothing and repellent if outside during these times. Make sure that your doors and windows have tight-fitting screens to keep out mosquitoes. Repair or replace screens that have tears or holes.

3. DRAIN – Mosquitoes lay their eggs on standing water. Eliminate all sources of standing water on your property by emptying flower pots, old car tires, buckets, and other containers. If you know of a swimming pool that is not being properly maintained, please contact your local mosquito and vector control agency.
Click here for audio

California’s West Nile virus Web site includes the latest information on WNV activity in the state. Californians are encouraged to report dead birds on the website or by calling toll-free 1-877-WNV-BIRD (968-2473).

When a person dies other persons may be living in the decedent’s residence and/or other real properties owned by the decedent.

This may include the decedent’s spouse, child, significant other, caregiver, rent-paying tenant or simply a friend.

What happens when such persons assert that they are entitled to live at the decedent’s residence and refuse to leave when asked to do so by the person administering the decedent’s estate?

This scenario often creates an expensive and time consuming problem for the person administering the decedent’s estate because it usually entails going to court.

The trustee administering the decedent’s trust, or the personal representative administering the probate estate, as relevant, is legally required to safeguard and to make productive the estate’s assets, and ultimately to carry out the terms of the decedent’s trust or will.

If the trustee, or personal representative, wrongly allows for persons living in the decedent’s residence to live rent free and/or to damage the premises then the trustee of personal representative has failed to carry out his or her legal duties. If so, the trustee, or personal representative, can be removed and can be penalized.

Sometimes, however, the occupants may have a legal right to remain in the decedent’s residence.

A person may have legal rights to remain at the residence either because they were already lawful “tenants” when the decedent died or because they became lawful tenants afterwards.

A person can become a tenant either formally, i.e., signing a lease agreement, or informally by oral agreement.

Accepting rent from an occupant will create a periodic tenancy at will and give them occupancy rights that will make removing them later more difficult.

Tenancies can also be inadvertently created. It is important to have legal counsel prior to negotiating with occupants.

A surviving spouse and/or dependent minor child (under age 18) who lived with the decedent have special protection.

California law allows for a so-called “probate homestead” to be established if a probate estate is opened that includes a residence if other requirement are met.

A probate homestead can allow the surviving spouse and/or minor children to remain in the residence for a significant period of time.

Also, if the decedent owned the real property in a trust, the trust may allow certain persons to reside at the residence.

The trust might allow a person to remain in the residence while it is being sold or it might allow for the person to have a life estate or a term of years to live in the residence.

The trust should also say what responsibilities the occupant has for maintenance and expenses (insurance, taxes, and utilities).

Otherwise, if persons are occupying the residence and not paying rent, the trustee or personal representative will have to proceed with an appropriate legal action.

In the case of a hold over tenant that would usually mean a civil action for unlawful detainer or an ejectment.

Otherwise, an action for ejectment or a so-called “850 petition” might apply. Which approach applies and is best in any given situation is an important decision to be made in consultation with a qualified attorney prior to proceeding.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com.

What's up in the night sky this month? Enjoy a ringside seat for Saturn, plus a night long parade featuring Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Vesta until dawn.

First up is Venus. It reaches its highest sunset altitude for the year this month and sets more than two hours after sunset.

You can't miss Jupiter, only a month after its opposition – when Earth was directly between Jupiter and the Sun.

The best time to observe Jupiter through a telescope is 10:30 p.m. at the beginning of the month and as soon as it's dark by the end of the month. Just aim your binoculars at the bright planet for a view including the four Galilean moons. Or just enjoy Jupiter with your unaided eye!

Saturn is at opposition June 27, when it and the Sun are on opposite sides of Earth. It rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. Great Saturn viewing will last several more months. The best views this month will be just after midnight.

All year, the rings have been tilted wide open – almost 26 degrees wide this month – giving us a great view of Saturn's distinctive rings. The tilt offers us a view of the north polar region, so exquisitely imaged by the Cassini spacecraft.

Near Saturn, the brightest asteroid, Vesta is so bright that it can be seen with your unaided eye. It will be visible for several months. A detailed star chart will help you pick out the asteroid from the stars. The summer Milky way provides a glittery backdrop.

Finally, Mars grows dramatically in brightness and size this month and is visible by 10:30 p.m. by month end. The best views are in the early morning hours. Earth's closest approach with Mars is only a month away. It's the closest Mars has been to us since 2003.

You can catch up on solar system missions and all of NASA's missions at www.nasa.gov.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The county of Lake has reached a $2 million settlement in a federal lawsuit filed by the son of a woman who died by suicide in the Lake County Jail in 2015.

The case involves the in-custody death of Elizabeth Dara Gaunt, 56, of Santa Rosa.

In the settlement, the county has agreed to pay $2 million to Gaunt’s son, Dane Shikman, while denying allegations of wrongdoing, according to case documents. The county’s settlement payment will be paid by its insurance.

“I believe it to be the highest sum ever recovered in the state of California involving the suicide of an inmate,” said attorney Michael D. Green of the Santa Rosa law firm Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery.

“It was just a fairly egregious case,” he said.

He said a settlement with the county’s private jail medical provider – identified in case documents as California Forensic Medical Group – is confidential. Neither Green nor Shikman could discuss it due to terms of that settlement.

“I brought this litigation not just to vindicate my mom but to expose what I thought was a problem in the system,” Shikman told Lake County News.

County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News that the Board of Supervisors approved the settlement following a closed session discussion earlier this year.

Grant did not have information about the settlement with the county’s jail medical provider, California Forensic Medical Group, noting it’s private.

The case had been set to go to trial June 4 at the federal court in Humboldt County. However, in May, the county signed off on the agreement to settle the case, which was then dismissed in federal court, Green said.

Federal court records showed the stipulation in which the parties agreed to the case being dismissed was filed on May 30.

Green litigated the case along with Matt Lilligren of Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery and Geri Green of the Law Office of Geri Green.

Last year, Green’s firm reached the $4.5 million settlement with the county of Lake over the Lakeside Heights subdivision landslide, as Lake County News has reported.

The basis of the lawsuit

Gaunt’s death occurred on Aug. 2, 2015, a day after she was taken into custody in Nice when deputies responded to a report of a suspicious woman banging on residential yard gates.

Authorities said she was arrested for giving deputies false identification and being under the influence of a controlled substance, later identified as methamphetamine.

Neither Shikman nor Green knows how she ended up in Lake County or why she had come here in the lead up to her arrest and death.

“I really wish I knew,” said Shikman. “It’s a missing piece of the story for me.”

During booking, Gaunt denied being suicidal and was placed in a sobering cell, where she was kept for more than 24 hours, according to a District Attorney’s Office investigation.

Green said jail staff had requested a medical clearance before placement due to Gaunt’s altered mental status.

He said she repeatedly made urgent requests to see a medical doctor but the county’s jail medical provider failed to contact a doctor and instead sent a licensed vocational nurse – not qualified to perform detailed evaluations, render a diagnosis or make treatment decisions – who met with Gaunt for only 30 seconds and failed to perform a detailed intake medical evaluation or required mental health screening.

The LVN failed to consult with a qualified medical professional prior to accepting Gaunt into the jail, despite acknowledging that Gaunt had a positive psychiatric history, Green said.

While Gaunt was placed into a sobering cell for close observation due to concerns about her safety, Green said jail staff failed to intervene properly.

At one point on the afternoon of Aug. 2, she began asking, then yelling for help, according to the district attorney’s report.

Green said Gaunt’s mental condition deteriorated significantly while in custody, and she began to experience hallucinations and became increasingly agitated and psychotic, which was documented by the LVN who last saw her at 2 p.m., shortly before she was found unresponsive. Green faulted the LVN for failing to perform a medical examination, obtain vitals or contact a medical doctor as required.

Minutes later, Gaunt used torn bedding to hang herself, which Green said wasn’t noticed because a correctional officer failed to enter the cell to make the required direct visual observation of Gaunt.

He said Gaunt was found unresponsive at the next cell check at 2:25 p.m., when, during another cell check, a correctional officer found her on the floor of her cell, a strip of her torn up cell blanket around her neck and also tied to the sink.

Despite attempts by jail staff and doctors at Sutter Lakeside to resuscitate her, Gaunt was pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour after she was found unresponsive in her cell, according to case documents.

The autopsy found she died from asphyxia due to hanging, and had a potentially toxic level of methamphetamine in her system.

Seeking answers

Shikman said he was traveling abroad when his mother’s death occurred. He learned about it the day after he returned to his then-home in Washington, DC, when a police officer showed up at his door.

What followed, said Shikman, was a blur, as he called his father and uncle. “We just cried it out on the phone.”

The same day, he flew to California to try to learn what had happened. “None of the circumstances that have come to light during the process of litigation were disclosed to me at the time,” despite him asking, he said.

In the days that followed, Shikman moved quickly to handle his mother’s final arrangements and continue his quest for answers.

Within a week of her death, he traveled to Ireland, where he scattered her ashes off the western coast. He said she had always talked of Ireland as a spiritual home.

He said he exchanged about half a dozen emails with the county, trying to get information about her death. Shikman said the county either was unresponsive or officials said they couldn’t answer his questions.

In October of 2015, District Attorney Don Anderson completed his report on Gaunt’s death, concluding she had died by suicide but making no determination on wrongdoing,

Shikman said Anderson’s office gave him the report as well as a narrative of a video of his mother in her cell before she died. He said that narrative showed him there was serious wrongdoing. That’s when Shikman – an attorney himself – began consulting other attorneys about taking his case, eventually connecting with the attorneys who made up his legal team.

Filing suit

The suit was filed in 2016. It faulted the county and California Forensic Medical Group for failing to give Gaunt – who needed “acute mental health treatment” – a detailed medical screening, mental health evaluation or intervention by a medical doctor despite her repeated requests.

The suit cited seven causes of action, the first three of which referenced the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, which speaks to due process and equal protection under the law: deliberate indifference to serious medical/mental health needs and failure to protect Gaunt against harm; inadequate policies, customs and/or practices resulting in deprivation of medical/mental health care to Gaunt and failure to protect her against harm; and failure to train/supervise.

The other four claims included wrongful death arising from negligence; violation of California Government Code 845.6, which is the failure to furnish or obtain medical care for a prisoner; violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to accommodate Gaunt’s mental disability and discrimination against her based on that disability; and violation of the Unruh Act, which also alleged failure to accommodate for her disability and discrimination against her for it.

“We took about 30 depositions in the case,” said Green.

He said they went into great detail in looking at policies and procedures and where there are gaps where people can fall through.

“From our perspective, she should never have been kept in the jail,” said Green.

Gaunt, he said, “was having a mental decomposition” and should have been sent to an appropriate facility.

Green faulted correctional officers in particular for not doing a proper cell check at the time Gaunt’s suicide was occurring. “They should have gotten her out of there. They didn’t,” he said, adding that they should have appreciated the acute psychotic situation she was in.

In February 2017, as the litigation was under way, Green said the California Board of Vocational Nursing notified California Forensic Medical Group that its policy and practice of using LVNs to make disposition decisions at intake – such as the decision to send an inmate to the hospital for evaluation or instead clear for placement in sobering cell – violates the LVN’s scope of practice under California law.

At the time of Gaunt’s death, it was California Forensic Medical Group’s practice that an individual such as Gaunt who arrived to the jail on the weekend would not receive a required mental health evaluation until the following Monday, Green said.

Since initiation of this lawsuit, Green said that medical provider has revised its policies and practices to conform to California law.

Change also have come from the sheriff’s office, he said.

“I think Sheriff Martin has taken a more proactive approach,” Green said, noting those early changes made weren’t part of the settlement requirements.

Green said Martin – who at the time of Gaunt’s death had been sheriff for seven months – “stepped up relatively promptly” to make a series of changes.

“We did recognize that there were some improvements to be made,” Sheriff Martin told Lake County News.

Martin said that they increased the size of video monitors, replaced the old blankets with new tear-resistant ones that also are much harder to tie around things, added a system where correctional officers must go up to a cell to check them and added clocks within the booking area that go off at designated times to remind correctional officers to do inmate checks.

He said they’ve also implemented suicide and crisis response and intervention training. There have been no suicides since Gaunt’s death, and Martin credited those improvements – as well as interventions – with helping stop them.

Martin said there is always room for improvement. “There’s not a 100-percent foolproof system.”

Other improvements made at the jail cited by Green include a requirement that all inmates receive a mental health evaluation before being admitted into the jail, updates to written policies and inmate observation logs to better ensure the correctional officers are performing safety checks and inmates evaluations in a timely manner, and a requirement that supervisors review inmate logs closer and more frequently to ensure compliance.

Green said the suit ultimately was settled in a couple of pieces, one at the end of May, the other within the month previous.

He said the settlement amount was basically a forecast of what a jury would do. “The county and the county’s medical provider settled it because of the risk of trial.”

Shikman said he’s happy with some of the changes made by the county, including the use of tear-resistant blankets, mental health evaluations, and safety checks and observation logs. “That’s good to see.”

Authorities have to take responsibility for those they arrest, and people have a right to know that family members will be safe when police take them into custody. “That didn’t happen here.”

Shikman said he wants exposure of the structural inadequacies of the law enforcement system, where medical providers want to maximize profits and will skimp if they can. “That’s unacceptable.”

While there are many questions he still hasn’t found answers to, “As to the facts, yeah, I think I have everything I need.”

Green said this was the third lawsuit against Lake County involving a jail suicide. All were different in their circumstances, but similar in that the people who died shouldn’t have been in jail and that all of them, like Gaunt’s case, resulted in a large settlement.

Remembering the woman

For Shikman, it’s important that his mother be remembered as the fully formed person she was, a loving and involved mother, a good friend and a star student in grad school. He doesn’t want her to be defined for her death or for her struggles with substance abuse, which she faced just as millions of others do.

“She was just the best mom that anyone could ask for,” he said, explaining that his parents separated when he was 2 and she was a single mother. “She really devoted her whole life to being a mom to me.”

Gaunt was a social worker who was trained to be a licensed therapist and worked as a substance abuse counselor. She was effective in helping helped others who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, serving the homeless and disabled, he said.

Prior to her death, Gaunt was preparing to apply for licensure as a marriage and family therapist, Green said.

“She was constantly thinking of others first,” Shikman said, noting that people who she had helped had written to her to tell her of how she impacted their lives.

Shikman said his mother also had integrity and unflappable principles, was uniquely intelligent, a constant reader and a woman with a great sense of humor.

“She was really goofy and laughed at herself all the time,” Shikman said.

He said his mother was a shining star who lit up every room she was in.

Shikman added, “Just because someone has drug or alcohol problems, doesn't mean they’re less than. I think we have a tendency in our society to think that.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A fire was reported in a Clearlake Oaks home early Friday morning.

The fire, in the 11600 block of Lakeview Drive, initially was reported just before 3:15 a.m., according to radio reports.

Cal Fire and Northshore Fire units responded, based on scanner traffic.

The first unit on scene about 10 minutes after initial dispatch found one fully involved structure, with several others threatened and about a quarter-acre of vegetation burning.

A short time later, incident command reported that power lines had fallen. However, Pacific Gas and Electric did not report an outage in the area.

Forward progress was stopped on the fire just after 3:45 a.m., with two hours of mop up anticipated.

Additional details about the cause of the fire and extent of the damage were not immediately available.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol will offer a free “Start Smart” traffic safety class for soon to-be-licensed, newly licensed, and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians on Wednesday, June 20.

The class will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

The CHP said a teenager is killed in a traffic collision every four hours nationwide. That equates to more than 1,870 teenagers killed each year. Another 184,000 teenagers are injured in traffic collisions.

These deaths and injuries can be substantially reduced or prevented by eliminating high-risk driving behaviors through education, and the CHP said its “Start Smart” program can help prevent these tragedies.

The Start Smart program focuses on providing comprehensive traffic safety education classes for teenagers and their parents.

Start Smart employs innovative techniques to capture the attention of teenagers and parents, providing a lasting experience.

The curriculum includes information on collision statistics, teen driver and passenger behaviors, graduated driver’s license laws, cultural changes in today’s society and the need for stronger parental involvement in a teenager’s driving experience.

Space is limited for this class. For more information or reservations, call Officer Kory Reynolds at the CHP office, 707-279-0103, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .