LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Redbud Audubon Society will present its annual Heron Days boat tour event the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May with registration through the Society’s Web site to begin on March 31.

Planners of the event were concerned about the level of Clear Lake being high enough, but it was decided the lake level is sufficiently high to move forward with the event.

There may be some areas that will be inaccessible, but the main viewing areas for birds and wildlife should be fine, a spokesperson noted.

The Redbud Audubon Society has held this event for more than 20 years; it includes taking visitors on pontoon boats to different sites on Clear Lake to see nesting great blue herons, egrets, and double-crested cormorants.

Often seen on the boat rides are numerous other wildfowl, most notably the Western and Clarkes Grebes that often put on grand displays of “dancing,” across the water as part of their courtship ritual. Grebes too are often on their nests that are formed on tules along the shoreline in certain areas of the lake.

Boats are careful not to disturb wildlife and visitors are often treated to unexpected sightings such as otters, muskrats, and even bald eagles.

Last year the event was changed somewhat to increase the opportunity for participation for everyone by presenting the boat tours over two weekends. This was a successful approach and will be repeated.

The first weekend of boat tours will be held on April 28 and 29 with tours leaving from Lakeside County Park to view great blue heron rookeries and other areas of interest along the shoreline between the county park and south of Lakeport.

The following weekend, May 5 and 6, tours will leave from the Clear Lake Campground on Cache Creek (formerly Shady Acres Campground) and will visit a nesting site in Anderson Marsh State Park along Cache Creek as well as touring other areas of the marsh.

Boat tours will be leaving from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. from both sites.

Registration and payment will be available at the Redbud Audubon Society Web site at www.redbudaudubon.org starting on March 31.

Boat tickets for an approximately 90 minute tour are $30 with well-behaved children age 8 and over welcome. No pets are allowed.

The Redbud Audubon Society is a local conservation organization that has been operating in Lake County for 40 years. The society holds monthly programs and field trips from September through May and has been presenting Heron Days for 22 years.

The public is cordially invited to take advantage of the fabulous opportunity to view the amazing wildlife on Clear Lake.

Poliomyelitis, or polio, has spread its malignant roots through every age of humankind.

The disease is older than recorded history, as much a part of what it means to be human as animal domestication and creating the written word.

In ancient Egypt, a grave marker dated to the second millennium B.C. depicts a priest with a crutch and a foot deformity commonly seen in patients with polio.

How many victims did polio claim between the dawn of recorded history and the modern era? It’s anyone’s guess, really. The ancients were so used to death and disease that it was futile to differentiate between one and the other.

Only in modern times have people felt the need to name the exact ailment that was in the process of killing them, as if calling it out reduced its danger.

Actually, it eventually did, and scientists began identifying diseases with the hope of curing them.

But it was a long process.

It took several thousand years for us to pinpoint polio and formally describe it in all its ghastly manifestations.

The first detailed case of the disease took place in 1773 when Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish poet, contracted it as a young boy.

His doctor at the time identified the ailment as a “teething fever,” but from detailed accounts describing his sickness, we can safely say it was in fact polio.

Sixteen years later, the English physician Michael Underwood provided the first clinical description of the disease.

Another half century went by before further descriptions were made and a detailed analysis conducted on the disease’s effect on the spinal cord.

It eventually received its name, Poliomyelitis.

The name itself describes its effects: it is derived from the Greek words for Gray and Marrow (referring to the spinal cord) and inflammation.

Polio frequently strikes the young, becoming endemic in the hot summer months. Most of its victims survive the ordeal without any permanent side effects, but others aren’t so lucky.

Such patients are left with permanent evidence of Polio’s malignant touch, in the form of partial or complete paralysis of the spine. In addition to spinal paralysis, the disease can cause paralysis of the lungs.

The first epidemic of polio in America occurred in 1894 in Vermont. From then on, the disease swept through cities every few years, becoming a macabre boogeyman for parents of young children to worry about.

The most visible historic case of the disease is of course President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who contracted polio in 1921.

For the rest of his life, FDR would be a benefactor for polio victims. In 1927, he formed the Warm Springs Foundation in Georgia, a rehabilitation center. A few years later, he organized a party on his birthday to raise funds to support the foundation.

In the depth of the Great Depression, celebrities and wealthy New York socialites attended these galas and gave freely of their money. By the time he became president, these birthday balls had become so successful, that he formed a national foundation: the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes.

FDR might be the most public victim of the disease, and the most prominent benefactor when we think about it today, but in reality, there were many others working to raise money for research and to support rehabilitation.

The march towards first dealing with, and then eradicating the disease began soon after the first major epidemics, but stalled shortly thereafter.

In 1908, a scientist identified the type of virus that caused polio. Two decades later, the iron lung was invented to help those patients suffering from lung paralysis.

Milestones in the study of viruses eventually played a pivotal role in finding the cure for the disease.

In 1931, Dr. William J. Elford developed a porcelain filter small enough to trap viruses. This also proved that viruses were solid particles, not liquid as had been suggested before. And so, bit by bit, discovery after discovery, the world came closer to eradicating this ancient disease.

By the 1930s, various teams of scientists were working to develop a vaccine for polio. In 1935, two such experiments ended with disastrous consequences, with many of the tests subjects contracting the disease and others dying.

World War II delayed any further extensive studies into Polio, but immediately after scientists were back on the track.

The man to finally meet with success was Dr. Jonas Salk. A research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Salk was able to grow an inactivated (dead), controlled form of the virus.

You see, like all vaccines and inoculations, the tested polio vaccines contained small amounts of the virus itself. These served to allow the patient’s immune system to overcome the enfeebled virus, thus growing immunity from future contractions.

On March 26, 1953, Dr. Salk announced to the world that he had successfully tested a polio vaccine. Within months, schoolchildren throughout the country were receiving the vaccinations.

Between 1955 and 1957, the cases of polio in the U.S. dropped 85 to 90 percent.

After millennia of suffering and centuries of fighting, we finally had a tool to eradicate the hurt and suffering of polio.

But the most extraordinary thing about this story?

When asked who held the patent on the vaccine, Dr. Salk replied, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the Sun?”

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Teacher, nonprofit communications director and former Lake County resident Nils Palsson has filed as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fifth Congressional District in the upcoming 2018 midterm election.

The district includes all of Napa County and parts of Lake, Sonoma, Solano and Contra Costa Counties.

Running as an independent “no party preference” candidate, Palsson, 32, represents a platform of social, racial, environmental and economic justice for all, with an emphasis on getting money out of politics and restoring our democracy. He was also a candidate for this Congressional seat in 2016.

Palsson is challenging ten-term Democratic incumbent Mike Thompson. One of the main factors leading Palsson to declare his candidacy was his discovery that Thompson accepts major political contributions from big banks and some of the worlds largest and most destructive corporations. Thompson’s political donors include military-industrial giants Honeywell and Lockheed Martin, mega-banks JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, telecom companies Verizon and Comcast, big pharmaceutical and health insurance corporations, fossil fuel companies, and many other large corporate PAC’s and lobbyists.

Palsson accepts no such lobbyist or Super-PAC contributions, building his campaign entirely on small individual donations and grassroots community action.

“Big money has taken over politics,” Palsson wrote in his official candidate statement, which will be mailed home to voters in April. “I am running for this office because we, the people, deserve a voice in government.”

Palsson has pledged to lead the movement in Congress to impeach President Trump, resist his policies, and support legislation for Medicare for All, affordable housing and education, a living wage, immigration reform, and a strong response to climate change.

A self-described “Berniecrat” (a progressive political candidate aligned with the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders), Palsson was elected to be a delegate for Sanders in 2016.

Palsson, who resided in Lake County from 2010 to 2016, currently lives in Santa Rosa, where he serves as communications director for the sustainability and community resilience nonprofit Transition US, national hub of the global “Transition Towns” movement to respond to climate change and economic instability by creating strong local communities and economies. Palsson also works as a science teacher, and formerly taught US and World History at Kelseyville High School. Before working toward his teaching credential, Palsson also substitute-taught in many grade levels and districts all around Lake County.

Achieving tuition-free public college and universal pre-K for all children, and ending the student debt crisis for the millions of Americans crippled by student loans, are among Palsson’s legislative priorities.

Father to 5-year-old Satya Rose, Palsson writes that parental concerns are a driving force behind his run for Congress. “The climate crisis is very real, and harmful practices like fracking are polluting our groundwater. The status quo is failing our children and grandchildren, failing future generations,” he writes. “Future generations will judge us for the actions we take right now to reverse the climate crisis and build a just society for all.”

Palsson claims that his refusal to accept corporate lobbyist funding places him in a stronger position to be a faithful representative to the people. “Unlike most of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, including our own incumbent Congressman, I do not accept money from the fossil fuel industry or big banks. I will work to ensure that all our children inherit a healthy planet, a strong economy, and a just society. I stand with the people.”

Endorsements for Palsson’s 2016 campaign included the national group Elect Bernie Thinkers, and he is currently supported by a growing list of community members and working people from around the district.

Running in a four-way primary on June 5, in which the top two candidates advance to the November election regardless of party, Palsson hopes to be the one to challenge the long-time incumbent. The race also includes one Green Party candidate, Jason Kishineff, as well as an additional No Party Preference candidate, Anthony Mills, whose Facebook profile lists him as a resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Palsson supports a Constitutional Amendment to end what he refers to as “the disastrous Citizens United ruling” and establish that corporations are not people, and that campaign contributions do not constitute free speech.

Born in San Francisco and educated at New York University, Palsson moved to Lake County in 2010, where he became involved in grassroots efforts to build a stronger local community.

He was displaced during the Valley Fire of 2015. Although the fire didn’t consume his home, Palsson was ultimately displaced when his landlords chose to sell the home he was renting in the burn zone. He subsequently moved to Santa Rosa.

“I am just like the rest of the people in my district,” Palsson wrote in a statement. “I’m dealing directly with challenges like student debt and the housing crisis. I know how it feels to be a working-class parent – and I am ready to represent the working-class people of this district in Congress.”

More information about his campaign is available at www.NilsforCongress.com. 

The primary election will be held June 5. The deadline to register to vote is May 21.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has six mixed-breed dogs this week eager to get to their new homes.

The dogs offered adoption this week include mixes of German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, pit bull and shepherd.

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”).

Pit bull terrier

This female pit bull terrier has a short brown and blue coat.

She’s in kennel No. 7, ID No. 9588.

Pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix

This male pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix has a short black coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 9591.

Female shepherd mix

This female shepherd mix has a medium-length tan and brown coat and floppy ears.

She’s in kennel No. 16, ID No. 9658.

Terrier mix

This male terrier mix has a tan and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 9659.

‘Onyx’

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix.

She has a medium-length black coat with white markings, and already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174.

‘Daisy’

“Daisy” is a female black Labrador Retriever.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 24, ID No.9698.

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.

On the outskirts of our galaxy, a cosmic tug-of-war is unfolding – and only NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope can see who’s winning.

The players are two dwarf galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, both of which orbit our own Milky Way Galaxy.

But as they go around the Milky Way, they are also orbiting each other. Each one tugs at the other, and one of them has pulled out a huge cloud of gas from its companion.

Called the Leading Arm, this arching collection of gas connects the Magellanic Clouds to the Milky Way. Roughly half the size of our galaxy, this structure is thought to be about one or two billion years old. Its name comes from the fact that it’s leading the motion of the Magellanic Clouds.

The enormous concentration of gas is being devoured by the Milky Way and feeding new star birth in our galaxy. But which dwarf galaxy is doing the pulling, and whose gas is now being feasted upon? After years of debate, scientists now have the answer to this “whodunit” mystery.

“There’s been a question: Did the gas come from the Large Magellanic Cloud or the Small Magellanic Cloud? At first glance, it looks like it tracks back to the Large Magellanic Cloud,” explained lead researcher Andrew Fox of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “But we’ve approached that question differently, by asking: What is the Leading Arm made of? Does it have the composition of the Large Magellanic Cloud or the composition of the Small Magellanic Cloud?”

Fox’s research is a followup to his 2013 work, which focused on a trailing feature behind the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This gas in this ribbon-like structure, called the Magellanic Stream, was found to come from both dwarf galaxies.

Now Fox wondered about its counterpart, the Leading Arm. Unlike the trailing Magellanic Stream, this tattered and shredded “arm” has already reached the Milky Way and survived its journey to the galactic disk.

The Leading Arm is a real-time example of gas accretion, the process of gas falling onto galaxies. This is very difficult to see in galaxies outside the Milky Way, because they are too far away and too faint. “As these two galaxies are in our backyard, we essentially have a front-row seat to view the action,” said collaborator Kat Barger at Texas Christian University.

In a new kind of forensics, Fox and his team used Hubble’s ultraviolet vision to chemically analyze the gas in the Leading Arm. They observed the light from seven quasars, the bright cores of active galaxies that reside billions of light-years beyond this gas cloud. Using Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, the scientists measured how this light filters through the cloud.

In particular, they looked for the absorption of ultraviolet light by oxygen and sulfur in the cloud. These are good gauges of how many heavier elements reside in the gas.

The team then compared Hubble’s measurements to hydrogen measurements made by the National Science Foundation’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, as well as several other radio telescopes.

“With the combination of Hubble and Green Bank Telescope observations, we can measure the composition and velocity of the gas to determine which dwarf galaxy is the culprit,” explained Barger.

After much analysis, the team finally had conclusive chemical “fingerprints” to match the origin of the Leading Arm’s gas. “We’ve found that the gas matches the Small Magellanic Cloud,” said Fox. “That indicates the Large Magellanic Cloud is winning the tug-of-war, because it has pulled so much gas out of its smaller neighbor.”

This answer was possible only because of Hubble’s unique ultraviolet capability. Because of the filtering effects of Earth’s atmosphere, ultraviolet light cannot be studied from the ground. “Hubble is the only game in town,” explained Fox. “All the lines of interest, including oxygen and sulfur, are in the ultraviolet. So if you work in the optical and infrared, you can’t see them.”

Gas from the Leading Arm is now crossing the disk of our galaxy. As it crosses, it interacts with the Milky Way’s own gas, becoming shredded and fragmented.

This is an important case study of how gas gets into galaxies and fuels star birth. Astronomers use simulations and try to understand the inflow of gas in other galaxies. But here, the gas is being caught red-handed as it moves across the Milky Way’s disk. Sometime in the future, planets and solar systems in our galaxy may be born out of material that used to be part of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

As Fox and his team look ahead, they hope to map out the full size of the Leading Arm – something that is still unknown.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

For more information visit NASA's Hubble Portal at www.nasa.gov/hubble or see the science paper at https://media.stsci.edu/preview/file/science_paper/file_attachment/311/Fox_published_APJ_paper.pdf.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Clearlake Oaks man charged for an October shooting spree in which he killed his father and a friend, shot and wounded two others including a California Highway Patrol officer, attempted to kill three others and set two fires as he fled has been ordered to stand trial.

On Wednesday, at the end of his preliminary hearing, Alan Leroy Ashmore, 62, was held to answer in the case, according to District Attorney Don Anderson, who is handling the case prosecution.

Ashmore’s defense attorney is Andrea Sullivan, who administers Lake County’s indigent defense contract.

“The evidence from the prosecution at the preliminary hearing revealed that Mr. Ashmore was making strange statements and bizarre claims in an interview with police after the incident,” Sullivan said.

“The issue in Mr. Ashmore’s case is not whether or not he committed the alleged acts, but his frame of mind and mental state at that time,” she said.

Anderson said Ashmore is charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of his father Douglas Ashmore and his friend Richard Braden; two counts of attempted murder regarding Harold Noell and Mauro Lopez; one count of attempted murder of a peace officer for CHP Officer Steven Patrick, who was injured when he was hit in his bulletproof vest by a shotgun slug; five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, four counts of shooting at an occupied dwelling, two counts of arson, robbery, burglary and a felon in possession of a firearm.

Anderson told Lake County News in a February interview that he would not seek the death penalty for Ashmore because of his age and the fact that, before the shootings, he had little criminal background.

During the daylong preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Anderson presented evidence alleging that on Oct. 23, Ashmore went on a shooting spree in Clearlake Oaks.

Ashmore first shot his female friend, Cantra Hoeck, in the foot because she would not have sex with him. When his father tried to intervene, Alan Ashmore shot him in the face, instantly killing him, Anderson said.

Ashmore then tried to kill his neighbor, Harold Noell, who witnessed the first shooting; however, the pistol misfired and Noell escaped. Anderson said Ashmore then fired several rounds into three separate residences from both inside and outside of the residences.

Anderson said Ashmore drove to the end of Anchor Village and shot and Killed Richard Braden with several rounds from his shotgun while Braden was seated in his vehicle.

Just prior to leaving the area Ashmore shot one round from his shotgun at Officer Patrick, striking Patrick on the side of his abdomen. Patrick was wearing his bulletproof vest, but still received a large bruise, Anderson said.

Patrick returned to work in January after three months off duty, as Lake County News has reported.

After injuring Officer Patrick, Ashmore drove to the Chevron Station on Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks where he met Mauro Lopez. After accidentally bumping into each other, Ashmore fired one round, barely missing Lopez’s head. Ashmore then stole a Pepsi from the store and when leaving the store he was shot at by Lopez, Anderson said.

Anderson said Ashmore then drove to the other end of town and entered the Power Mart store where he stole a pack of cigarettes. While leaving the store he pointed the gun at the store clerk. Once outside the store Ashmore fired several rounds.

Ashmore drove up High Valley Road with sheriff’s deputies and Patrick a few minutes behind him. Ashmore stopped along side of the road where he lit two fires to bring attention to that area, Anderson said.

Ashmore then drove to the Brassfield Winery where he encountered James Davis. Ashmore pointed a gun at Davis in an attempt to steal his vehicle. Davis was able to escape after a high speed chase from Ashmore, Anderson said.

After leaving Brassfield Winery and deputies in pursuit, Ashmore continued up High Valley Road until he came across a road block set up sheriff’s deputies, CHP and Lakeport Police officers. Anderson said Ashmore surrendered without resistance.

As for a possible motive, in a previous interview, Anderson said that Ashmore told investigators after he was taken into custody that he “would just kill anyone that f****** moved.

The next steps in the process of moving the case to trial involve Ashmore going back to court for arraignment, which Anderson said is set for April 24.

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. – Two broken power poles discovered on Friday night led to power outages in Lower Lake and Kelseyville, with an extended road closure of Gaddy Court due to the damaged pole and downed lines.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters were dispatched to a report of arcing power lines off of Highway 29 near Spruce Grove Road outside of Lower Lake.

In less than 10 minutes Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta had found an issue with a pole off of Riata Road.

Pacific Gas and Electric reported that an outage affecting 271 people began at 8:55 p.m. in that area, extending down to outside of Hidden Valley Lake.

Repair crews arriving at the scene found a broken power pole in the area, PG&E said. Power is estimated to be restored by 4 a.m.

A few hours later another broken power pole and downed power lines in Kelseyville led to an extended closure of Gaddy Court beginning late Friday night.

Firefighters were first dispatched to the area of State Street and Gaddy Lane near Gaddy Court at around 11:30 p.m. on a report of downed lines and a pole.

Kelseyville Fire Protection District firefighters arrived on the scene minutes later to find a severed pole suspended over the roadway and downed lines, based on radio reports.

Radio reports indicated that incident command requested a county roads crew respond to the area to help manage the extended road closure and also asked PG&E to send a repair crew.

The California Highway Patrol would later report that Gaddy Court would be closed through the night from Blue Court to Clark Drive.

At the same time, PG&E reported a power outage in the area impacting approximately 321 customers which began at 11:30 p.m. Friday.

As of 1:30 a.m., PG&E had confirmed the discovery of a broken power pole but did not give a reason for it nor an estimated time of power restoration.

More information will be posted as it becomes 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.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has presented a $75,000 check to the Lake Area Rotary Club Association for an important local safety project.

PG&E’s Kevin Dasso, vice president of electric asset management, announced the company’s support for the project during the Clearlake City Council meeting on Thursday night.

“Years of drought, extreme heat and more than 129 million dead and dying trees have created a ‘new normal’ for our state, and we want to work together with our communities to be sure we are
continually adapting to meet these challenges. Unfortunately, no community has experienced this new normal more consistently than Lake County,” said Dasso, as he addressed council members.

Dasso said the funds will go toward improving response capability and strengthening the community’s resilience.

To that end, Lake Area Rotary Club Association, or LARCA, said the funds will be used to purchase a generator for Clearlake’s senior and community center, which during the county’s wildland fires has served as an emergency evacuation shelter.

“I’m just elated. We have been fundraising for several years to get the money to purchase and install a backup generator as well as showers and other necessities for the community senior center and now with PG&E’s donation, it’s finally going to happen.This means a lot to the city of Clearlake,” said Russ Cremer with the Lake Area Rotary Club Association.

Lake County has experienced five large wildfires in the past four years, all of which destroyed structures and required evacuations.

During these fires, the Clearlake Community Senior Center was open to evacuees as an emergency shelter. Given its proximity to the fires, the center lost power during two of those emergencies.

The community has been working on a solution for future emergencies – including purchasing a backup generator.

The generator will enable the community to have a fully-functioning emergency shelter in Clearlake, officials said.

“The community has welcomed us with open arms and the out-of-town crews who supplemented our local response to the recent wildfires have come away with such an appreciation for the beauty of this place and the kindness of the people here,” added Dasso.

PG&E said the donation is part of its larger strategy to assist communities in confronting the consequences of climate change.

That strategy was announced in late 2017 along with a $1 million shareholder contribution to the California Climate Challenge, a new corporate-giving initiative dedicated to helping communities prepare for, withstand and recover from extreme events caused by climate change.

The strategy has three major pillars:

– Respond: PG&E will work to support the effectiveness of first responders in both preventing and combating wildfires.

– Rebuild: PG&E will support fire-impacted communities and help them restore and rebuild what’s been lost for as long as it takes.

– Resilience: PG&E will support California’s efforts to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change, including infrastructure resiliency.

Also this week, PG&E announced its Community Wildfire Safety Program, a comprehensive effort in conjunction with first responders, civic and community leaders and customers to reduce
wildfire threats and improve safety.

For details on the new program as well as information on how PG&E is helping with rebuilding efforts in the areas impacted by the Northern California wildfires, visit www.pgecommitment.com.

BERKELEY, Calif. – A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars’ putative oceans came and went over the last four billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million years earlier and were not as deep as once thought.

The proposal by geophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, links the existence of oceans early in Mars history to the rise of the solar system’s largest volcanic system, Tharsis, and highlights the key role played by global warming in allowing liquid water to exist on Mars.

“Volcanoes may be important in creating the conditions for Mars to be wet,” said Michael Manga, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science and senior author of a paper appearing in Nature this week and posted online March 19.

Those claiming that Mars never had oceans of liquid water often point to the fact that estimates of the size of the oceans don’t jibe with estimates of how much water could be hidden today as permafrost underground and how much could have escaped into space. These are the main options, given that the polar ice caps don’t contain enough water to fill an ocean.

The new model proposes that the oceans formed before or at the same time as Mars’ largest volcanic feature, Tharsis, instead of after Tharsis formed 3.7 billion years ago.

Because Tharsis was smaller at that time, it did not distort the planet as much as it did later, in particular the plains that cover most of the northern hemisphere and are the presumed ancient seabed.

The absence of crustal deformation from Tharsis means the seas would have been shallower, holding about half the water of earlier estimates.

“The assumption was that Tharsis formed quickly and early, rather than gradually, and that the oceans came later,” Manga said. “We’re saying that the oceans predate and accompany the lava outpourings that made Tharsis.”

It’s likely, he added, that Tharsis spewed gases into the atmosphere that created a global warming or greenhouse effect that allowed liquid water to exist on the planet, and also that volcanic eruptions created channels that allowed underground water to reach the surface and fill the northern plains.

Following the shorelines

The model also counters another argument against oceans: that the proposed shorelines are very irregular, varying in height by as much as a kilometer, when they should be level, like shorelines on Earth.

This irregularity could be explained if the first ocean, called Arabia, started forming about four billion years ago and existed, if intermittently, during as much as the first 20 percent of Tharsis’ growth. The growing volcano would have depressed the land and deformed the shoreline over time, which could explain the irregular heights of the Arabia shoreline.

Similarly, the irregular shoreline of a subsequent ocean, called Deuteronilus, could be explained if it formed during the last 17 percent of Tharsis’s growth, about 3.6 billion years ago.

“These shorelines could have been emplaced by a large body of liquid water that existed before and during the emplacement of Tharsis, instead of afterwards,” said first author Robert Citron, a UC Berkeley graduate student. Citron will present a paper about the new analysis on March 20 at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science conference in Texas.

Tharsis, now a 5,000-kilometer-wide eruptive complex, contains some of the biggest volcanoes in the solar system and dominates the topography of Mars. Earth, twice the diameter and 10 times more massive than Mars, has no equivalent dominating feature.

Tharsis’ bulk creates a bulge on the opposite side of the planet and a depression halfway between. This explains why estimates of the volume of water the northern plains could hold based on today’s topography are twice what the new study estimates based on the topography 4 billion years ago.

New hypothesis supplants old

Manga, who models the internal heat flow of Mars, such as the rising plumes of molten rock that erupt into volcanoes at the surface, tried to explain the irregular shorelines of the plains of Mars 11 years ago with another theory.

He and former graduate student Taylor Perron suggested that Tharsis, which was then thought to have originated at far northern latitudes, was so massive that it caused the spin axis of Mars to move several thousand miles south, throwing off the shorelines.

Since then, however, others have shown that Tharsis originated only about 20 degrees above the equator, nixing that theory. But Manga and Citron came up with another idea, that the shorelines could have been etched as Tharsis was growing, not afterward. The new theory also can account for the cutting of valley networks by flowing water at around the same time.

“This is a hypothesis,” Manga emphasized. “But scientists can do more precise dating of Tharsis and the shorelines to see if it holds up.”

NASA’s next Mars lander, the InSight mission (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), could help answer the question. Scheduled for launch in May, it will place a seismometer on the surface to probe the interior and perhaps find frozen remnants of that ancient ocean, or even liquid water.

Douglas Hemingway, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, is also a coauthor of the paper. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Lake County due to storms moving into the area Friday evening.

The warning, in effect from Friday afternoon through 6 a.m. Sunday morning, reports that a cold system with lower snow levels and heavy snow will drop south over the region into the weekend.

The heaviest snow will be Friday night with a second round Saturday night, with the forecast calling for 4 to 8 inches at lower elevations, and 12 to 18 inches over the mountains. Peaks could see snow accumulations of up to 3 feet.

Areas in Lake County forecast to see some snow include Cobb, parts of the Mendocino National Forest north of Upper Lake and Mt. Konocti.

Lake County is primarily expected to see rain, which the National Weather Service forecasts to range from as little as a tenth of an inch in some areas of the southeast county to up to half an inch in the south county and about an inch in the northern part of the county.

Rain is expected through Sunday, when the forecast calls for conditions to clear.

Forecasters also are predicting wind gusts of up to 25 miles per hour in lower elevations and more than 30 miles per hour in the Cobb area on Friday night and into Saturday, with single digit wind speeds expected on Sunday.

Nighttime temperatures are expected to dip into the high 29s on Saturday before gradually rising into the low 40s early next week.

Daytime temperatures next week are forecast to rise into the low 70s, the National Weather Service said.

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. – During its Thursday night meeting, the Clearlake City Council selected a fifth member to fill a seat left vacant earlier this year due to a resignation.

The council voted unanimously to appoint Russell Cremer, a local businessman known for his work with Rotary, fire recovery and his service on the Clearlake Planning Commission, to fill the seat, the term of which expires in November.

Cremer will succeed Russ Perdock, who on Feb. 1 announced that he was resigning before the end of his first term in order to pursue the city’s police chief job, as Lake County News has reported.

The appointment came at the end of a lengthy discussion in which Cremer just edged out Dirk Slooten, the city’s planning commission chair.

Last month, the council had decided to advertise to fill the vacancy, and City Clerk Melissa Swanson had reported receiving six applications by the March 15 deadline. In addition to Cremer and Slooten, applicants included Sheryl Almon, Jennifer Fitts, Cheryl Marinaro and James Reed.

An ad hoc committee that included Mayor Bruno Sabatier, Vice Mayor Phil Harris and Swanson had met Monday to review the applications. Normally, the planning commission chair would have been included but because Slooten had applied the makeup of the group was changed to add Swanson.

That committee had recommended that the council interview Marinaro, a Realtor, and Slooten and consider one of them for appointment, as Lake County News has reported.

With the exception of Marinaro, all of the applicants would appear before the council Thursday night.

Slooten, a retired business owner, was born in the Netherlands and earned his bachelor’s degree in Amsterdam before immigrating to the United States in 1972, settling in the Bay Area. In 1994 he started Slooten Consulting Inc., a land surveying business. He and his wife, Karen, moved to Lake County full-time in 2013.

He also was a member of the Measure V committee and the steering committee for the city’s zoning update, and before moving to Lake County chaired the Yolo County Airport Commission for four years.

Slooten is president of the Rotary Club of Clear Lake. He chairs the Fire Relief Committee of the Lake Area Rotary Clubs Association and the Rotary District 5130 Fire Fund, which covers Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties, and is a member of the Measure V Oversight Committee.

Cremer came prepared to make his case for appointment, bringing with him support letters from Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta and Konocti Unified Superintendent Donna Becnel among others, with Becnel also appearing to speak in his favor. Sapeta also had come to the meeting but ended up having to leave before he spoke.

Cremer has a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis and worked for more than 26 years as an appraiser, farm manager and consultant, and for more than 20 years has been an independent consultant.

He also has extensive community service to recommend him. In addition to his work on the planning commission, he served on the Lake County Fire Protection District Board for five years, was on the committee that was behind the successful campaign for the Measure V sales tax as well as the fire district’s successful Measure D committee.

Cremer currently serves on the city’s cannabis ad hoc committee and the Konocti Unified Measure Y Oversight Committee, and the boards for the Clearlake Rotary, Lake Area Rotary Club Association and the Lower Lake Community Action Group.

Like Slooten, Cremer has been part of the Lake Area Rotary Club Association’s Fire Relief Fund, which raises and distributes money for fire relief and community safety projects.

In February, Cremer and Slooten presented a $14,350 check to Sapeta for a fire communications project, as Lake County News has reported.

While the council would eventually come to a unanimous decision for Cremer, for much of the discussion the council’s members appeared divided between the two men because of the vast qualifications of both.

While some members appeared to favor Cremer’s longtime presence in the county, Harris lauded Slooten’s emphasis on economic development, with Sabatier noting Slooten’s desire to reach out to the community’s most vulnerable members.

Sabatier said he believed Slooten was more of a consensus builder who could put emotions aside.

Councilwoman Joyce Overton gave her support to Cremer, noting she had discussed the men’s resumes with some other individuals who also concluded that Cremer and Slooten were the top applicants.

Councilman Nick Bennett, citing the letters of recommendation and support from Smith, said there was wide support for Cremer.

Noting that the election is coming up in November, “I can tell you who I’m probably going to support in November” with a sign in his yard, Bennett said.

Vice Mayor Phil Harris said his only other concern about Cremer was his involvement in so many different activities. He said the council would need Cremer’s undivided attention and asked that he make it his priority.

Overton moved to appoint Cremer, with Bennett seconding. They were joined by Sabatier and Harris to make it unanimous, with Cremer receiving a round of applause after the vote.

Originally, it had been anticipated that the appointee would take the oath on April 12, at the council’s next regular meeting.

However, on Thursday evening City Manager Greg Folsom reported that a special council meeting is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday to talk about a number of items, including several contracts.

Folsom said Cremer will be sworn in at the start of that special meeting.

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The American Red Cross of the California Northwest will be honoring 18 inspirational community members – one of them a Lake County woman – for their lasting impact on the community at its 15th Annual Real Heroes Breakfast on Friday, April 27, at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa.

After careful consideration, a committee of local community leaders selected the 2018 California Northwest Red Cross Hero Award recipients based on the degree to which their acts of heroism uphold the values of the American Red Cross and leave a lasting and positive impact on the residents of the Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties.

Among those named is Ginny Craven, who has been named “Service to the Armed Forces Hero.” She is founder of Operation Tango Mike, which since 2003 has delivered care packages to members of the military overseas.

Other honorees are:

– Animal Hero: Peter Lang.
– Blood Services Hero: Jerry Seltzer.
– Disaster Services Heroes: Eli Ponce and Dan Wynn.
– Education Heroes: Matt Markovich and Stephanie Jarrett.
– Environment Heroes: Chris Ostrom, Aaron Ostrom and Tim Haywood.
– First Responder Hero: Mark Aldridge.
– Healthcare Heroes: Peggy Goebel, Joe Clendenin and Robert Pellegrini.
– Humanitarian Heroes - Adult: Matthew and Amanda Nalywaiko.
– Humanitarian Heroes - Youth: Patrick Foley and Jackson Phillips.
– International Services Hero: Pearl Fisher.

Registration will open at 7 a.m., and the program will run from 7:30 until 9 a.m.

Table sponsorships and individual tickets are still available for the event.

The Real Heroes Breakfast is a signature event in support of the lifesaving programs and emergency services the local chapter provides to the nearly one million residents in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties.

To purchase tickets and for more information about the event, please visit www.redcross.org/CalNWHeroes2018 .

Detailed descriptions of each honoree are featured below.



Service to the Armed Forces Hero: Ginny Craven (Lake County)
Ginny Craven runs Operation Tango Mike (code for Thanks Much) to send support packages to military personnel. She hosts monthly packaging parties at the Umpqua Bank in Lakeport, with a typical crowd of 40 volunteers ready to work. More than 20,000 packages have been sent, not randomly, but addressed to specific individuals.

Animal Hero: Peter Lang (Sonoma County)
When wildfire raced into Sonoma County from the east, Safari West owner Peter Lang spent the entire night at the 400-acre wildlife preserve, saving over 1,000 animals. After sending his wife, guests, and employees off to safety, Lang remained at the preserve to shepherd over 1,000 animals to safety while the fire raged around them. Lang worked past dawn and saved every animal on the preserve.

Blood Services Hero: Jerry Seltzer (Sonoma County)
Jerry Seltzer, former commissioner of Roller Derby League, teamed with American Red Cross to hold blood drives, inviting the local Resurrection Roller Girls team to participate enhancing the activity. Coined “Make’em Bleed,” the Roller Derby-themed blood drives have spread throughout California and the country, bringing in a five-year total of over 1,100 units of blood.

Disaster Services Heroes: Eli Ponce (Napa County) and Dan Wynn (Napa County)
For six days, Eli Ponce and Dan Wynn, of Eli Ponce and Sons General Engineering, saved homes and entire neighborhoods by voluntarily working around the clock to create firebreaks behind Browns Valley during the Nuns fire. The pair put themselves in harm’s way, using their business’ bulldozers to dig breaks and divert the raging fire until Cal Fire could take over. They refueled six times, donating the cost of fuel as well.

Education Heroes: Matthew Markovich (Sonoma County) and Stephanie Jarrett (Sonoma County)
Athletic Director Matt Markovich and Stephanie Jarrett, district manager of training and compliance, introduced the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event to SRJC. 350 Students participated in a mile-long walk, in high heels, then broke into discussion groups to have the often-difficult conversations about how to identify warning signs of sexual assaults and how to be more active in preventing them.

Environment Heroes: Chris Ostrum (Mendocino County), Tim Haywood (Humboldt County) and Aaron Ostrum (Humboldt County)
Passionate about keeping outdoor spaces free of litter and debris, Chris Ostrum, Tim Haywood and Aaron Ostrum founded the Pacific Outfitters (PacOut) Green Team in Arcata and then in Ukiah. PacOut Green Team is dedicated to improving the environment at the Lake Mendocino and other recreation areas by leading weekend “60-minute cleanups.” Ostrum also creates awareness by speaking at Ukiah High School, partnering with other organizations, and engaging local government to provide funds for staffing recreation areas.

First Responder Hero: Sgt. Mark Aldridge (Sonoma County)
Deputy Mark Aldridge, of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, protected the lives of 35 people, young and old, the night of the Tubbs fire. Deputy Aldridge prevented cars from descending into the inferno that was already burning across Mark West Springs Road. He directed people to drive back up the road and meet in the parking lot of the Mark West Lodge to shelter in place, park the cars in a circle and cover them with wet blankets. He kept the crowd safe and calm until they could safely drive out after the fire passed.

Healthcare Heroes: Peggy Goebel (Sonoma County), Joe Clendenin (Sonoma County), and Robert Pellegrini (Sonoma County)
Peggy Goebel, Joe Clendenin and Robert Pellegrini volunteered their healthcare skills and knowledge above and beyond the call of duty at the Veterans Memorial Shelter in Santa Rosa during the Tubbs fire. Goebel, a nurse, took the lead to care for the hundreds of people evacuated from their homes and local hospitals, many wearing just their pajamas. Dr. Joe Clendenin led some 600 doctors and nurses to administer to the medical needs and Pellegrini, a local pharmacist, personally filled, delivered and paid for critical medications for the evacuees.

Humanitarian Heroes - Adult: Matthew and Amanda Nalywaiko (Sonoma County)
Matthew and Amanda Nalysaiko founded a small, local nonprofit called Serve A Little, which marshaled an army of professional tradesmen, mechanics and skilled handymen, to help low-income single mothers and military wives with home and auto repairs. The organization also collected donated cars and refurbished them for deserving mothers. This has now become a four-bay auto shop and all proceeds go to helping single moms in need.

Humanitarian Heroes - Youth: Patrick Foley (Sonoma County) and Jackson Phillips (Sonoma County)
Jackson Phillips and Patrick Foley, both 17 years old, volunteer with the Red Cross as Pillowcase Project Educators, and Phillips joined the Disaster Action Team. When the wildfires hit in October, Phillips and Foley immediately reported the Red Cross. Both of their homes, and most of their friends' homes were lost in the fire that night, along with their school. However, instead of focusing on what they lost, Phillips and Foley worked long hours every day, for two weeks after the fires, to help in shelters; to help in warehouses; to help wherever they were needed.

International Services Hero: Pearl Fisher (Sonoma County)
Seven-year-old Pearl Fisher learned at The Healdsburg School that, instead of going to school, young girls in parts of Africa have to retrieve water for their families from a dirty stream a long way from their village. She wanted to do something to help, so she started designing and selling greeting cards and asked her friends to donate to the cause. She has now donated more than $10,000 to Water4 to help drill wells.