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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The quake, reported at 12:34 a.m., occurred at a depth of 1.4 miles eight miles southeast of Talmage, nine miles west of Lakeport and 10 miles southeast of Ukiah, according to the US Geological Survey.
The survey received 27 shake reports from seven zip codes, including Lakeport, Hopland, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Vacaville and San Jose, an estimated 219 miles away.
A 3.0-magnitude quake was reported near Talmage in August, as Lake County News has reported.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A local star teacher has been honored as one of the state's top educators.
On Friday State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell announced the five teachers recognized as California Teachers of the Year for 2011.
Among them was Jennifer Kelly, an eighth grade science teacher at Middletown Middle School.
Also honored were Shannan Brown, fifth grade teacher, Thomas Edison Elementary School, San Juan Unified School District, Sacramento; Darin Curtis, eighth grade physical education, Tierra del Sol Middle School, Lakeside Union School District, Lakeside (San Diego County); Beverly Gonzalez, fourth grade mathematics and writing, Santa Fe School, Baldwin Park Unified School District, Baldwin Park (Los Angeles County); and Khadir Rajagopal, ninth through 11th grade mathematics, Grant Union High School, Twin Rivers Unified School District, Sacramento.
“Our California Teachers of the Year are amazing instructional leaders who have a great passion for helping students reach their full potential,” O'Connell said. “They each have unique ways of teaching and thinking that inspire their students to love learning. The Teachers of the Year inspire me, and I hope they inspire veteran teachers and encourage future teachers to follow their footsteps into the classroom.”
In 1972, California began recognizing outstanding teachers to honor the profession chosen by 300,000 persons in the state and to heighten interest in teaching as a career.
The process results in the annual selection of five teachers statewide who successfully employ strategies to increase academic success and narrow the achievement gap with a range of diverse students.
The five teachers serve as California Teachers of the Year for a one-year term. Their responsibilities include effectively representing the state’s teachers; motivating and inspiring other educators; and championing the positive contributions of the teaching profession.
In May Kelly was recognized as Middletown Unified District Teacher of the Year and soon after she completed the countywide selection process and was nominated Lake County Teacher of the Year.
After submitting a 21-page application in August, she was notified that the state had chosen her as a finalist.
An on-site visit was conducted to observe her teaching, and then she was invited to Sacramento for an intensive panel interview.
During the process, Kelly said this of her profession: “As the world around us becomes more complex, the value of teaching grows even more in importance.”
Only one other Lake County teacher has received such recognition in the California Teacher of the Year's 37-year history – Alan Siegel from Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake was selected as 2005 California Teacher of the Year. Additionally, Marc Morita, a seventh grade English teacher from Middletown Middle School, was selected as a finalist in 2008.
“When you walk around campus and ask students about their favorite classes, they continuously rank Mrs. Kelly’s science class as a favorite,” said Middletown Middle School Principal Dan Morgan.
“Her energy and enthusiasm is inspiring,” Morgan said. “She has a huge variety of hands-on projects and tons of activities. Year after year, her students score proficient and advanced on the California STAR Tests, regardless of their demographics, socio-economic status, or ability level in other subjects.”
Kelly grew up in Mill Valley and earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of California, Davis, and three credentials from San Francisco State – a single subject credential in life science, a supplementary credential in chemistry and a multiple subject teaching credential.
A teacher for more than 20 years, Kelly came to Middletown Middle School in 1999. She and her husband, Ron, have three sons – Tanner, Scott and Jacob.
Kelly said she feels fortunate to be teaching in Middletown. “Middletown Unified School District supports teachers; they give you the freedom to teach to your strengths while covering the curriculum.”
Showing students she cares and developing exciting lessons are ways Kelly is able to encourage students to learn the skills necessary for success. She is adamant that educators can have students be successful on state tests without sacrificing creativity in presenting the curriculum.
“I love teaching; I enjoy the challenge of taking concepts and turning them into ideas the students are inspired to question, learn and understand,” she said.
Kelly is enthusiastic about fulfilling her role as an ambassador of the teaching profession. “I am excited about promoting education in Lake County, and helping to educate the public on the challenges and successes of the teaching profession.”
When asked what new endeavors might be in her future, Jennifer is clear. “I am ready and eager to help and support other teachers, but I have no desire to move into any other career focus. I want to keep teaching.”
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Matthew Shane Merrill, 21, was arrested Tuesday morning, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said Merrill was booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, rape, destroying a communications device and misdemeanor spousal battery.
On Tuesday at about 11 a.m. deputies responded to a residence on Marine View Road in Hidden Valley Lake on a report of a kidnapping and rape, Bauman said.
He said a 22-year-old Hidden Valley Lake woman reported she had just fled from the suspect and that he was still driving around in the area in a blue Mazda sedan.
When the first deputy arrived in the area, he immediately spotted Merrill's vehicle in the area
of Marine View Drive and Deer Hill Road, according to Bauman.
After failing to yield to the deputy’s attempt to stop him for several blocks, Merrill was eventually stopped and detained. Bauman said Merrill had a moderate injury to his head that indicated he had been in some kind of altercation.
Deputies contacted the victim at her home a short distance away. Bauman said the woman also had some minor injuries indicating she had been in an altercation.
Bauman said the woman reported that she and Merrill had a previous dating relationship and he had invited her the night before, to go to the Twin Pine Casino bar. She accepted but when they got there she asked him to take her home and he refused.
After having a drink or two together at the bar, they left the casino at about 10 p.m. but instead of taking her home as she again had asked, he took her to his home on Greenridge Road, after driving her around Hidden Valley Lake for several hours, Bauman said.
The two reportedly argued while in Merrill’s bedroom and at one point, Merrill reportedly broke a cell phone the woman was going to use to call 911 and threw her shoes out of a window to prevent her from leaving the house, Bauman reported.
The arguing apparently continued throughout the night, Bauman said, until Merrill allegedly assaulted the woman and then held the victim down on his bed and forced her to have sex with him.
When Merrill fell asleep after the alleged rape, the victim sneaked out of the house and walked to her own home on Marine View Drive, arriving at about 4 a.m. Bauman said Merrill showed up at her house later that morning and the arguing resumed, with both parties hitting each other.
At one point, Merrill took the woman's car keys in another apparent attempt to keep her from leaving. Bauman said the woman was able to get her keys back and she struck Merrill on the head with them, causing a laceration.
He said the victim was eventually able to leave and go to her mother’s house a short distance away and call the sheriff’s office.
Merrill remains in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $250,000. Bauman said the Lake County Superior Court issued an emergency protection order keeping Merrill away from the victim.
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- Written by: Cate Oliver
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Layoffs, pay cuts, financial instability. Nearly every American has been impacted by the shaky economy and can relate to the out of control feeling that comes with being hit by unforeseen circumstances.
For many families Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent veto of funding for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care was that unforeseen circumstance.
The Stage 3 program was developed to assist with child care service payments for low-income families that are transitioning off or are former recipients of cash aid.
Temporary relief was felt on Nov. 5 as Alameda Superior Court Judge Wynne Carvill delayed the implementation of the cuts until at least the end of November when a hearing on the case can be held, but families relying on the funding to get back on their feet still have reason to worry.
Kim Beall has run Sunshine Family ChildCare out of her home in Lakeport since 1994. Her child care service is one of many registered through North Coast Opportunities (NCO), a local nonprofit that uses the Stage 3 funding to subsidize quality childcare for transitional families.
Over the clinking of toys and children’s laughter she said that the hardest part for her to grasp about the cuts is the lack of compassion, noting that she doubts “anybody involved in these cuts went home and had somebody sitting at their table that had been affected by it.”
Nearly half of the children Beall provides care for will be affected by the cuts.
This would create a financial loss for Beall, but it’s the moral aspect of the situation that bothers her, not the money. Pulling in just over $18,000 a year monetary gain is not her focus; she’s in it for the kids.
Unchanged dirty diapers, children being left unsupervised in homes and stifling hot cars, secondhand smoke exposure – these are just a handful of the horror stories Beall tells about inexpensive child care services.
Christal and Jimmy White were once the victims of inadequate child care and have since found Sunshine Family ChildCare and Beall who also informed the couple about NCO.
“It’s hard to trust somebody with your kid,” said Christal White. “I don’t want to lose Kim”
“She is so good with the kids, I don’t know how she gets my daughter to listen,” her husband chimed in with a smile. “Whatever she is doing, it’s working.”
Jimmy White was laid off from his job with a cabinet shop a little over a year ago. With help from NCO he has gone back to school to receive his GED.
He has been steadily job searching and says that the child care funding is exactly what his family needs to gain the financial stability to be self-sufficient.
They have been trying to find new services but say the anxiety of reliving their bad experience tends to affect their daily productivity. They’ve also noticed a difference in their daughter.
“She’s all mixed up,” Christal White said. “It’s not good for a kid to just be bounced around all the time.”
The Whites have made a temporary arrangement to cover child care, but both agree that their journey to stability without Stage 3 help scares them.
Valerie Stark of Lakeport knows that fearful feeling.
“I was shocked to hear the news,” said Stark. “We go through this every year with the budget, but I never thought they’d really cut the funding.”
Dolls, trophies and photographs of her children decorate the modest two-bedroom apartment where she lives. Her driveway is unoccupied because she couldn’t afford to pay her car registration and is falling behind on rent and electricity.
Separated from her husband and having recently lost her job, Stark struggles to provide for her three children – ages 1, 4 and 6 – alone.
Her $315 a week unemployment check makes her ineligible for child care coverage. She currently works part-time and says she is afraid to find a steady job because she may have to quit for lack of reliable child care.
Stark also takes her children to Sunshine Family ChildCare and credits Beall with the fact that her son entered kindergarten at the top of his class. Laughing, she thought about how Beall has him sit down to “do his letters” at the beginning of every day.
Anger and frustration are common emotions for Stark. She acknowledged that her own choices got her to the position she is in, but stresses that she is trying to be self-sustaining. The decision seems backwards to her because she feels like she has “no choice but to be back on welfare.”
“I don’t want to be back on the system,” she explained, tears welling up in her dark blue eyes. “I want to work … this affects the people that are trying.”
The Whites also feel frustrated wondering why the decision was made to take funding away from families working to be good examples for their children. They feel like the child care cuts are encouraging people to “jump on welfare and collect the benefits.”
“I know the program works, I’ve seen it work,” said Beall. “All the people that think these families are just leeching off the system don’t realize that sometimes they are just one paycheck away from being right there … they just don’t see it.”
Although families can rely on funding for now, those affected hope that the delay will provide time for people to realize the severity of the Stage 3 cuts.
They hope that communities can put aside differences to unite over the unforeseen circumstances that people have experienced and not give handouts to the undeserving, but provide a helping hand for those truly in need.
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