LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency and Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee have released the draft groundwater sustainability plan for the Big Valley Groundwater Basin for public review.
The Big Valley Basin Draft Groundwater Sustainability Plan, or GSP, is now available for review during a formal 21-day public comment period that ends Dec. 3.
The GSP is being prepared pursuant to the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, or SGMA, which was amended in 2015.
Deputy Water Resources Director Marina Deligiannis told Lake County News that the Big Valley Draft GSP is the first and only draft GSP prepared for Lake County as required by SGMA.
She said Lake County has only one priority basin, Big Valley Basin (5-015), a “medium” priority basin as identified under California Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118.
Bulletin 118 is the state’s official publication on the occurrence and nature of groundwater in California. An updated version of the plan was just released this week.
In 2018, the state was considering the reclassification of the Upper Lake groundwater basin as a priority basin, but after efforts from the Lake County Water Resources Department, Department of Agriculture and Farm Bureau to update the irrigated acres in the basin, the state dropped the classification to “very low,” Deligiannis said.
On April 13 the county brought on Luhdorff & Scalmanini, Consulting Engineers, and Stantec Consulting Services to develop and implement the Big Valley GSP, she said.
“Since then, the team has been hard at work to develop the GSP with anticipation of GSP adoption by the SGMA deadline of Jan. 31, 2022,” Deligiannis said.
County officials offered the following suggestions for providing written comments.
• When submitting comments, please include the Draft GSP section number to which you are referring, along with any line numbers that relate to the content you are referencing. Each section is labeled, and you will find line numbers on the left side of each document.
• If you have comments on tables or figures in the Draft GSP, please provide the number and title for tables and figures you are referencing.
• If you have multiple comments, please organize them by section.
• Please also note, any comments submitted become part of the public record.
All comments on the Draft GSP must be submitted by Dec. 3 in one of three ways:
• By email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please include “Draft GSP Comments” in the subject line.
• By postal mail: Big Valley Basin Draft GSP Comments, c/o Lake County Water Resources Department, 255 N. Forbes St., Room 309, Lakeport, CA 95453.
• In-person drop-off: Water Resources front desk, Big Valley Basin Draft GSP Comment, Attention: Lake County Water Resources Department, 255 N. Forbes St., Room 309, Lakeport, CA 95453.
If you have questions regarding the Draft GSP public comment period, or if you have any issues accessing the Draft GSP files, contact Water Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 707-263-2344.
You can find all GSP-related meetings, including meeting agendas, presentation materials, and recordings, in the archive here.
To receive updates about GSP development and future implementation, sign up for the Big Valley Basin GSP Interested Parties list here.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake Family Resource Center announced that it has been selected by the former Hunger Task Force board to continue the annual tradition of the holiday food giveaway program.
The center, or LFRC, is now accepting donations at any branch of WestAmerica Bank. These donations go toward the purchase of food for residents of Lake County only and are much appreciated by all who receive them.
This program is funded 100% from generous community donations and that support will help keep this program going year after year.
A gift to the program also allows donors to write a dedication to loved ones past and present, if desired.
The 2021 Holiday Food Program will be drive-thru only. Participants will receive one gift card per family to either Foods Etc. in Clearlake, or Bruno’s Shop Smart in Lakeport, depending on the home address of the recipient.
To sign up and receive a card you must bring photo identification and proof of physical address. All participants must wear masks, no exceptions.
Residents of Glenhaven, Clearlake Oaks, Spring Valley, Clearlake and Lower Lake, are invited to sign up and receive their gift card on Dec. 4 at the Burns Valley School parking lot from 10 a.m. until 400 households have applied.
Residents of Kelseyville, Finley, Lakeport, Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne are invited to sign up and receive their gift card on Friday, Dec. 17, starting at 9 a.m. until 400 gift cards have been distributed. That sign-up event will be held in the Lake Family Resource Center parking lot at 896 Lakeport Boulevard, Lakeport.
For more information on how to receive a card or to donate please call 707-279-0563, Extension 135, or contact the center at www.facebook.com/LakeFRC.
Ian O. Williamson, University of California, Irvine
Finding good employees has always been a challenge - but these days it’s harder than ever. And it is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
The so-called quit rate – the share of workers who voluntarily leave their jobs – hit a new record of 3% in September 2021, according to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The rate was highest in the leisure and hospitality sector, where 6.4% of workers quit their jobs in September. In all, 20.2 million workers left their employers from May through September.
Companies are feeling the effects. In August 2021, a survey found that 73% of 380 employers in North America were having difficulty attracting employees – three times the share that said so the previous year. And 70% expect this difficulty to persist into 2022.
As a professor of human resource management, I examine how employment and the work environment have changed over time and the impact this has on organizations and communities. While the current resignation behavior may seem like a new trend, data shows employee turnover has been rising steadily for the past decade and may simply be the new normal employers are going to have to get used to.
The economy’s seismic shifts
The U.S. – alongside other advanced economies – has been moving away from a focus on productive sectors like manufacturing to a service-based economy for decades.
That change has been seismic for employers. A majority of the jobs in service-based industries require only generalizable occupational skills such as competencies in computing and communications that are often easily transportable across companies. This is true across a wide range of professions, from accountants and engineers to truck drivers and customer services representatives. As a result, in service-based economies, it is relatively easy for employees to move between companies and maintain their productivity.
And thanks to information technology and social media, it has never been easier for employees to find out about new job opportunities anywhere in the world. The growing prevalence of remote working also means that in some cases employees will no longer need to physically relocate to start a new job.
Thus, the barriers and transition costs employees incur when switching employers have been reduced.
Greater options and lower costs to move mean that employees can be more selective and focus on picking jobs that best fit their personal needs and desires. What people want from work is inherently shaped by their cultural values and life situation. The U.S. labor market is expected to become far more diverse going forward in terms of gender, ethnicity and age. Thus, employers that cannot provide greater flexibility and variety in their working environment will struggle to attract and retain workers.
Employers now have a greater obligation than in the past to convince existing and would-be employees why they should stay or join their organizations. And there is no evidence to suggest this trend will change going forward.
Thus, there is a large incentive for businesses to adapt to the new labor market conditions and develop innovative approaches to keeping workers happy and in their jobs.
A May 2021 survey found that 54% of employees surveyed from around the world would consider leaving their job if they were not afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work.
Given the heightened priority employees place on finding a job that fits their preferences, companies need to adopt a more holistic approach to the types of rewards they provide. It’s also important that they tailor the types of financial, social and developmental incentives and opportunities they provide to individual employees’ preferences. It’s not just about paying workers more. There are even examples of companies providing employees the choice of simply being paid in a cryptocurrency like bitcoin as an inducement.
While customizing the package of rewards each employees receives may potentially increase an organization’s administrative costs, this investment can help retain a highly engaged workforce.
Managing the new normal
Companies should also plan on high employee mobility to be endemic and reframe how they approach managing their workers.
One way to do this is by investing deeply in external relationships that help ensure consistent access to high-quality talent. This can include enhancing the relationships they have with educational institutions and former employees.
For example, many organizations have adopted alumni programs that specifically recruit former employees to rejoin.
These former employees are often less expensive to recruit, bring access to needed human capital and possess both an understanding of an organization’s processes and an appreciation of the organization’s culture.
The quit rate is likely to stay elevated for some time to come. The sooner employers accept that and adapt, the better they’ll be at managing the new normal.
A mural of Vanessa Niko in Upper Lake, California. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A jury on Wednesday convicted an Upper Lake man of the June 2017 beating death of his longtime girlfriend, a tribal member whose death illustrated on the local level the violence Indigenous women face.
The verdict in the murder trial of Willy Tujays Timmons was read out in Judge J. David Markham’s courtroom on Wednesday afternoon.
Timmons, 41, was convicted of the murder and torture of 35-year-old Vanessa Yvette Niko on June 30, 2017.
He also was found guilty of inflicting injury resulting in a traumatic condition and aggravated mayhem, with several special allegations — including use of a deadly weapon and personally inflicting bodily injury — also found to be true.
The jury deadlocked on prior allegations, specifically, two misdemeanor prior domestic violations orders that Timmons was on probation for at the time of the crime.
Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson said the prior allegations didn’t constitute a really contentious issue — and hadn’t actually been argued at trial — so she wasn’t sure why the jury hung on them. Following the reading of the verdict, she moved to dismiss them.
Niko, a member of the Habematolel tribe who also was of Samoan descent, has become the local face of the effort to bring more awareness to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, also known as MMIW, which in many cases has a root in domestic violence.
Niko’s cousin, Ida Morrison, who attended every day of the trial, told Lake County News in a Wednesday night interview that she was relieved with the outcome.
“I am happy with the verdict,” she said.
She saw three of Niko’s children on Wednesday, and said they were also relieved that Timmons will serve time for killing their mother.
With Timmons’ defense attorney considering filing a motion for a new trial, Judge Markham scheduled a hearing at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, in his Department 2 courtroom, at which time the sentencing date will be determined.
It was not immediately clear how much prison time Timmons could be facing. However, it is expected to be substantial.
In addition to the murder conviction, Timmons’ conviction on the torture charge itself could result in a life sentence with the possibility of parole under state law.
The story of a murdered Indigenous woman
Niko was a mother of six; Timmons was the father of three of her children. The youngest of her children was 11 months old when she died.
In a previous interview with Lake County News, Morrison recounted how Timmons and Niko had a difficult relationship and often had to stay away from each other for periods of time.
On the day he killed Niko, Timmons came to pick her up, taking her to a home on Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake where, hours later, a deputy would respond to find Timmons assaulting Niko. Authorities said he struck her in the head with a rock and fatally injured her. She died at the scene shortly after the deputy arrived.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” Morrison said of what her cousin endured. “She didn’t deserve that.”
In May, a mural of Niko, with a theme calling attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women, was dedicated in downtown Upper Lake.
Niko’s life was celebrated and friends and family sought to bring attention not just to her case but those of untold others across the nation.
Morrison — who in the years since Niko’s death has fought to keep her memory alive and keep focus on the case — was credited for her work to help bring about that mural project.
She said she believes the mural has brought a lot of awareness to the community about the violence — including from domestic partners — that Indigenous women face.
Morrison said she still gets emails and messages about the mural. “It continues to keep me humble.”
She said her journey with MMIW awareness isn’t complete, and she plans to continue to stay involved in honor of her cousin.
Morrison said she has wanted to not just raise awareness of MMIW but also of the larger issue of domestic violence and its impacts on victims, female and male alike.
She encourages people in the midst of it to reach out, for others to support them by breaking the silence around it and for an emphasis to be placed on prevention.
“We need to start speaking against violence and continue to stay vigilant with that,” Morrison said.
Bearing witness
In the four years since Niko’s murder, the case had moved slowly through the courts, with numerous trial dates set and then vacated. Complicating the case in its early days was that Timmons at one point had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in the case.
More recently, COVID-19 and its impacts on the courts would see this and many other cases delayed also.
Then the trial was set again for August, only to be rescheduled once again.
Morrison and other friends and family members continued to try to raise the case’s visibility. On Sept. 21, they stood outside of the Courthouse Museum in downtown Lakeport, holding signs that read “Justice for Vanessa Niko” and “You are not forgotten,” as well as stylized outlines symbolizing Indigenous women.
That same day, across the street at the courthouse, a case management conference to finalize the details of the new trial date, set for Oct. 20, took place.
That date held, and the delays came to an end when the trial started.
Evidence in the trial began on Oct. 27. Held at the Lake County Fairgrounds to ensure the ability for social distancing due to COVID-19 concerns, the trial ran Wednesdays through Fridays.
Morrison was there for every day of the trial, along with several family members — an aunt, cousins from Lake County as well as from Chico — and a family friend. ‘We minded our p’s and q’s,” she said, not wanting anything to be held against them in the proceedings.
During the trial, Timmons took the stand, giving what Morrison said was detailed testimony.
But asked about the important statements he and others made at the trial, she said, “I don’t care to remember any of it, honestly,” nor did she care to speculate about what he was thinking or why he killed Niko.
The trial had been expected to go as late as the middle of December, but everything moved more quickly than expected, Morrison said. “I’m grateful that the trial was as speedy as it was.”
The jury began deliberations on Friday. Those deliberations continued through this week, finally ending on Wednesday. Markham convened court to hear the verdict read just after 3:30 p.m.
For the family, the verdict is a relief, and Morrison said they are still looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, once Timmons is sentenced. And then there is life beyond that.
“We’re just going to continue to be strong,” Morrison said.
She believes her cousin’s tragedy “has turned into her purpose,” which is to bring awareness to situations such as hers.
At the same time, Morrison expects the verdict will give hope to people who have had to endure domestic violence.
For those in a relationship marked by domestic violence, “Please get help. Reach out,” said Morrison. “As hard as it may seem, keep holding on. There is hope. There is light.”
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Clearlake Oaks woman will stand trial for fatally shooting her ex-boyfriend in July.
Following a Wednesday morning preliminary hearing, Judge J. David Markham ordered Tammy Grogan-Robinson, 57, to be held for trial for killing Charles Vernon McClelland.
McClelland, 56, of Rohnert Park, died after being shot four times in the torso by Grogan-Robinson early on the morning of July 7.
She was taken into custody in Missouri, where she has family, in August on an arrest warrant issued by the Lake County Superior Court, and extradited back to Lake County.
Grogan-Robinson entered a not guilty plea in the case last month. She is represented by Lakeport attorney Mitch Hauptman.
Grogan-Robinson initially told investigators that she shot McClelland in self-defense after he sexually assaulted her in her unit of the duplex he owned on Island Circle Drive in Clearlake Oaks.
However, in the testimony presented on Wednesday, it was stated that Grogan-Robinson had shot McClelland multiple times as she pursued him through the house.
During the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Rich Watson called four witnesses: Kenneth Hobbs, who had become friends with Grogan-Robinson after meeting her on an adult dating app, and Lake County Sheriff’s detectives Jeffrey Mora, Todd Dunia and Richard Kreutzer, all of whom were involved in the investigation of McClelland’s death.
Hauptman called no witnesses of his own, instead conducting a brief cross examination of each of the four men who took the stand.
Watson questioned Hobbs, an El Dorado County resident, about his interactions with Grogan-Robinson, who he had met earlier this year on an adult dating site that he said was more for “sexual hookups.”
She posted pictures of herself in lingerie and they texted for several weeks, talking about sex and meeting up.
Over the July 4 weekend she texted Hobbs, telling him that her ex-boyfriend — McClelland — was there and that they had become sexually involved again.
On the night of July 6, Grogan-Robinson sent Hobbs the first of several texts in which she said she was going to shoot her ex-boyfriend in the face. Hobbs said Grogan-Robinson was upset that McClelland was texting his then-girlfriend.
Hobbs said she sent five more texts, and their lengthy exchange discussed her being upset. She also said more than once that she was going to kill McClelland.
She then asked Hobbs to delete the messages. He asked why, and told her even if he did, they could be retrieved from the cell carrier.
When she first brought up shooting McClelland, Hobbs said he thought she was joking. “I told her she should not do it.”
The texts continued until late on the night of July 6.
The next morning, they had their first phone call when Grogan-Robinson called Hobbs to say she had shot McClelland and that he was dead.
She told Hobbs that McClelland had entered through her bedroom window, that her handgun was on the nightstand and there was a struggle for it, that he had sexually assaulted her and she shot him.
Hobbs said he told her that they ought not to be speaking to each other, because he said he knew she was facing legal actions, and he was looking out for her as well as for himself.
Grogan-Robinson, who was staying in a hotel room after the shooting, also texted Hobbs to ask him to come and see her.
Hobbs said he saved screenshots of their text exchanges as a precaution but didn’t call law enforcement, stating that he believed that they would find him. They eventually contacted him and he provided them with the screenshots of the texts.
Detectives testify about investigation
Mora said he responded to Sutter Lakeside Hospital on the morning of July 7 to interview Grogan-Robinson, who told him she had been sexually assaulted and then shot the person.
“She stated that she was in an on-and-off relationship with Mr. McClelland for about five years,” and that they had broken up in March, Mora said.
Grogan-Robinson lived in Unit A of the residence and McClelland lived in Unit B; while he was her landlord, he lived primarily in Rohnert Park. He came up to Lake County on July 2 and they were periodically hanging out.
She told Mora that she and McClelland didn’t have consensual sex during that visit, and that while he had suggested they should she declined because he had another girlfriend.
On the night of July 6, they had dinner and drinks, she had marijuana edibles and he smoked marijuana before going back to his residence, which she assumed was because he was texting his girlfriend.
She said that around midnight early on July 7, she was in bed and woke up to McClelland entering her bedroom. He had a 9 millimeter handgun that belonged to her and forced her at gunpoint to have sex with him.
Grogan-Robinson said she fell asleep and woke up shortly before 6:30 a.m. when her phone vibrated due to receiving a text from her job supervisor.
That’s when she saw the firearm on the bedside table opposite from where she was lying. She said she got up to put it away and McClelland came into the room and asked her if she was ready to go again.
In her statement to Mora, she said she told McClelland no, cursed at him, grabbed the firearm and began shooting as he walked toward her. Mora noted she said nothing about struggling with McClelland for the gun — a claim she’d made to others — and estimated she shot three to five rounds.
Mora said Grogan-Robinson underwent a sexual assault exam at the hospital and her home was processed for evidence.
When Deputy Joe Lyons collected the sexual assault kit at the hospital the nurse told him there were no physical findings of sexual assault. However, as of Wednesday, Mora said the sheriff’s office hadn’t received the Department of Justice’s analysis of the kit.
Det. Dunia said when responding deputies arrived at Grogan-Robinson’s residence, they found McClelland’s body just inside the front door.
Dunia said he believed one of the shots was made in the master bedroom, but he wasn’t sure if it was that shot that made a hole in the closet door.
In an interview with Dunia, Grogan-Robinson said McClelland was at the front door when she fired the last shot. She also told him she was in the bedroom when she shot McClelland, but due to the home’s layout, Dunia said the only possible way to take the final shot was to come out of the bedroom.
Dunia said he believed she was pursuing McClelland. “I believe he was trying to exit the residence.”
Grogan-Robinson also told Dunia she wasn’t sure where the bullets hit McClelland because his arms were up.
Kreutzer said he found the handgun — a Sturm, Ruger & Co. five-round 9 millimeter — in the nightstand.
He said Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted the autopsy, identified McClelland’s injuries as being consistent with defensive wounds.
Kreutzer said the bullets entered the left and right sides of McClelland’s torso, specifically, hitting his forearms, biceps and sides.
In his final report, Omalu ruled the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the trunk, Kreutzer said.
Watson argued at the end of the hearing that Grogan-Robinson had planned to shoot McClelland. “She carried out those acts even though the person she was texting with tried to talk her down.”
He said she shot McClelland first while in the bedroom and then pursued him through the house before hitting him with the final shot.
Judge Markham found sufficient evidence that Grogan-Robinson was responsible for the killing and ordered her to stand trial.
She will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Nov. 30 in his Department 2 courtroom.
At that time, Markham also scheduled a bail review for Grogan-Robinson. As a result of a hearing in late September, Markham had ordered she be held without bail because he considered her a flight risk and a danger to the community.
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.
Patient Mary Coats, longtime resident of Clearlake, California, and beloved dance instructor, shares memories with Nurse Case Manager Kelly Dymer. Photo courtesy of Hospice Services of Lake County. LAKEPORT, Calif. — November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to recognize and celebrate this specialized type of care — care for the whole person, including medical, emotional, personal and spiritual care, as well as grief support for the person’s loved ones.
“Hospice Services of Lake County encourages everyone to learn more about the many benefits of comfort care to help a person to experience as much quality in life as possible despite a serious or life-limiting illness,” said Hospice Services Executive Director Cindy Sobel.
Hospice care is provided wherever a patient calls home and is covered 100 percent by Medicare, Medi-Cal and many private insurance plans.
Hospice care is provided by a full team that includes the medical director, Dr. Peter Stanley, registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, home health aides, social workers, spiritual care givers and specially trained volunteers. Grief counseling is also offered to the patient and family.
Services include medication for symptom management and pain relief, medical equipment such as oxygen, a hospital bed or a wheelchair and supplies, as appropriate for the patient’s care.
Patients interested in comfort care may have a wide range of diagnoses such as Alzheimer’s disease, liver failure, heart or lung disease, or cancer. No matter a patient’s age or condition, comfort care is available for anyone with a life-limiting illness meeting eligibility requirements, regardless of ability to pay.
When people are not feeling their best, they want to be home — out of the hospital — and live as normally as possible. Seven in 10 Americans say they would prefer to die at home, according to a Time/CNN poll. Comfort care is part of a solution that honors people’s wishes and ability to stay at home at a time when each moment is precious.
Sooner is better. If you are interested in information about comfort care, you are encouraged to contact Hospice Services of Lake County, and sooner is better. Sometimes we need help but are not sure what we need or what is available. You don’t have to be referred by a physician to start the inquiry process.
“By contacting our office, we can help you determine if the time is right,” said Sobel. “We’ll discuss your greatest needs and goals and answer questions to help make informed decisions. One important thing to remember is that you have a choice. Even if you do not have a referral from a doctor, you can still reach out to start the process.”
Choosing a compassionate, professional hospice is an important decision. Examining your options earlier is always best.
Robert Coats said of the hospice care provided for his mother Mary Coats, a longtime resident of Clearlake, “The hospice team is supporting our family by giving expert care to make sure my mother’s final months are as content and comfortable as possible. Hospice staff are not only medical professionals but also have become our friends.”
“This time at the end of life is often difficult and stressful, but Hospice Services of Lake County is there with care and support so that patients and loved ones can find meaning and peace,” said Sobel.
Hospice Services of Lake County is a nonprofit organization serving the community for 43 years.
For assistance or information on hospice and palliative care services, to donate or to volunteer, please contact 707-263-6222, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Janine Smith-Citron is director of development for Hospice Services of Lake County.
Konocti Unified School District Superintendent Becky Salato, left, administers the oath of office to student board members Amethyst McCoy and Isaac Huffman on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, in Lower Lake, California. Courtesy photo. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Oct. 27, Konocti Unified School District Board members welcomed two student representatives to their ranks: Amethyst McCoy and Isaac Huffman, both high school seniors.
After swearing in the students, Superintendent Becky Salato congratulated them and told them she looks forward to hearing their perspectives on a range of issues important to local students.
“The best way to be responsive to our students’ needs is to fully understand those needs. What better way than to hear from the students directly? Amethyst and Isaac are excellent choices to represent Konocti students because they value education and are willing to engage in the process to help things improve,” Salato said.
McCoy, who refers to themself as non-binary and prefers the pronouns they/them, is a senior at Lower Lake High School where they participate in Upward Bound, a class that provides opportunities for participants to succeed in their precollege performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits, or as McCoy put it, to help students overcome barriers to college and to discuss real-world problems.
McCoy’s Upward Bound teacher, Michael McMurtrey, invited McCoy to consider the role of student board representative, in large part, because they have demonstrated the ability to see issues clearly and to engage in discussions about how to address them.
Huffman, a senior at Konocti Education Center and a Middle College student, is the other student representative.
Huffman currently serves as Associated Student Body president and senior class vice president, so when his civics teacher and school principal asked whether he would be interested in taking on the role of student board representative, he said he was happy to do so, as it is another way to represent and advocate for fellow students.
Both student representatives have attended at least one board meeting so far. Using the example of managing COVID — keeping schools safe, paying contractors for COVID testing, and more — McCoy said they believe most students are unaware of and uninterested in these types of issues, and probably will remain so unless students can understand how the issues affect them directly.
Huffman believes one of the most important issues facing Konocti Unified is the continuing effects of the pandemic on students’ emotional states. He said social norms are in the process of being reestablished at school.
“Power dynamics between grades are indeterminate. And some [students] are still trying to accept the fact that we've missed two years in school. People are still catching up, readapting to social dynamics,” he said.
He encouraged schools to continue to inform students about the services available through social-emotional counseling, and he encouraged students to speak up if they need support.
“I think schools are doing a pretty good job. Ultimately, you can only help people as much as they want to be helped. I’d say some people are struggling, but most are adapting,” Huffman said.
In the wake of COVID-19, another issue affecting students is the lack of teachers.
“Mainly, I want the district to work on hiring more teachers or more subs, because at the moment, a lot of teachers are out every day,” said McCoy. “At least three or four classes are held in the MPR and two classes are in the library.”
McCoy expressed concern that those locations would be difficult to evacuate in the event of an emergency.
“There is good stuff happening at Lower Lake High School,” McCoy said. “A lot of teachers are trying to teach as much as they can, even with the interruptions of disruptive students. They are trying really hard to get through as much curriculum as they can.”
Both students are pleased to represent their classmates on the school board. They come from different backgrounds but share a belief in the importance of education.
McCoy has been in Lake County for the past seven years after moving to the area from Illinois. When they’re not at school, they spend their time studying, playing video games, watching anime, and “obsessing over BTS,” a popular K-pop band.
After college, McCoy plans to travel to South Korea to teach English, and then return to Lake County to teach the Korean language to local students, “so native Spanish speakers would have another language option.”
Huffman was born and raised in Lake County. In fact, his grandfather, Bud Shipley, served as a school board member years ago, and is quite pleased with Huffman’s appointment to the board.
When Huffman graduates this spring, he hopes to have both a high school diploma and his associate degree from Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus. In the fall, he hopes to attend a four-year university majoring in engineering or education, though he is keeping his options open.
Both students look forward to sharing their ideas with board members and informing their classmates about board issues.
McCoy admitted to feeling nervous about speaking up but said they “absolutely” felt welcome and encouraged to speak their mind.
“I get nervous about bringing stuff up, but I want to make the school a better place, so I will,” McCoy said.
Huffman said he plans to bring forth student issues and updates on what is going on at Konocti Education Center. He said his first board meeting “exceeded expectations,” as he was sworn in and then seated with the elected board members.
Unpermitted hoop houses at High Valley Ranch in Clearlake Oaks, photographed by Lake County Code Enforcement staff on October 25, 2021. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — For the third time this year, the Board of Supervisors overrode its planning commission and granted an appeal of a major cannabis operation.
In a 3-2 vote that followed about four and a half hours of testimony and discussion, the board upheld an appeal filed by Don and Margie Van Pelt against the Sourz HVR Inc. project on the 1,640-acre High Valley Ranch, the former PSI World property, located at 11650 High Valley Road in Clearlake Oaks.
The Lake County Planning Commission approved the project’s major use permit and adoption of initial study for a commercial cannabis cultivation license in July over the objections of neighbors like the Van Pelts.
The company, which also received permission for early activation of its project, proposed 80 acres of outdoor cannabis cultivation, five acres of nursery area, a distribution license to allow for transport of cannabis goods, the construction of 11 buildings for drying and storage totaling 111,000 square feet and the use of the existing 13,000 square foot conference center for packing, distribution and office space on a 649-acre portion of the ranch.
The Van Pelts, who own a number of local businesses including Cache Creek Vineyards and Winery, appealed the planning commission’s decision within a week, as is required by law.
They faulted the project on all of its key points — from dust and odor, to traffic, water usage and other issues that, together, they argued will detrimentally impact the quality of life in High Valley.
The appeal was scheduled to be heard on Oct. 19 but was held over for a month after the Van Pelts’ attorney, Brad Johnson, requested more time. At that point, the county was busy working to fulfill a large Public Records Act request submitted by Johnson on Sept. 17.
Late Monday afternoon, Johnson submitted a 145-page brief to the county elaborating on the existing arguments and placing additional emphasis on issues with grading.
But what appeared to be a larger problem for the project was the temporary installation of structures that Sourz said were hoop houses needed for drying cannabis.
County code states, “The early activation permit shall not allow any construction, grading, or removal of mature trees on the property.”
That put Sourz in a position where it didn’t have a facility for drying the crop, which led to erecting what the company’s attorney, George MacDonald, insisted were temporary structures.
On Oct. 25, Code Enforcement Officer Marcus Beltramo and Assistant Planner Katherine Schaefers visited High Valley Ranch and found 21 fully constructed 4,000-square-foot hoop houses, each 20 feet wide by 200 feet long, with another three under construction and a 2,000 square foot structure to be used for storage.
County staff said they didn’t meet the definition of hoop houses — which must not have electrical equipment. In this case, the structures had heaters, lights and fans. Hoop houses also are supposed to be made of translucent material, and the ones on High Valley Ranch were black materials over metal framework.
Beltramo’s inspection report said there was evidence to substantiate 25 violations of the conditions of approval for early activation and 25 violations of building code due to there being no electrical permits issued for the structures.
The county’s Code Enforcement Division subsequently issued a notice of violation for the structures.
Had the structures actually met the definition of hoop houses, they would have been allowed without a permit for the purposes of agricultural cultivation.
Attorney targets supervisor over text messages
Planning consultant Richard Knoll, who formerly served as the city of Lakeport’s Community Development director, was part of the team representing the Van Pelts, who he said asked for his help after the planning commission decision.
Knoll said he had suggested Don Van Pelt hire an attorney, and recommended Brad Johnson, who MacDonald pointed out later in the meeting is the attorney for two other large-scale cannabis projects, Bar X and Lake Vista Farms.
Knoll also is connected to Lake Vista Farms, having represented it before the Clearlake City Council last year. Last week, he represented Ogulin Hills Holdings LLC before the Clearlake Planning Commission in its 21-acre cannabis project. One of the partners in that project, Brian Pensack, is listed as the manager of Ogulin Hills Holdings as well as Lake Vista Farms, both of which are LLCs registered in the state of Delaware and share the same San Rafael address.
In his remarks to the board, Knoll said county ordinance seemed to require an objective analysis of the project to determine if it will be detrimental to health and safety. The ordinance, he added, doesn’t say it’s OK to simply refer to an initial study under the California Environmental Quality Act.
“The county has an opportunity handed to them to analyze this project in real-time,” Knoll said, and to look at the work done during the early activation, read comments and complaints, and assess if it’s actually creating detrimental impacts.
In his review, Knoll said the High Valley neighborhood didn’t get an objective or reasoned review, with Van Pelt and other neighbors being detrimentally impacted.
In his presentation, Johnson took an unusual approach when he used documents he received from his Public Records Act request to allege that county officials — in particular, Board Chair Bruno Sabatier — were showing favoritism toward Sourz. Specifically, he showed texts between Sabatier, county staff and Sourz staff discussing efforts to move the project along in an attempt to prove the point.
Johnson wanted Sabatier to recuse himself from the discussion, and Sabatier refused. When Johnson continued his statements about the text messages, Sabatier attempted to give context to the messages. Johnson told him to stop interrupting.
“I suggest counsel watch his tone with the board,” County Counsel Anita Grant said to Johnson in a rare admonishment.
Johnson faulted the project for inadequate analysis on myriad topics including traffic, the hoop houses and grading that led to violations from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He claimed county staffers were pressured by the applicant to push the project through the process.
He also questioned the project’s use of water from nearby Brassfield Winery via an aboveground pipeline that MacDonald said has been dismantled.
“Today’s discussion is not about who’s right,” but whether there is enough information submitted that there is a fair argument that the project may have a significant impact on the environment, Johnson said.
If so, he said the county has to do an environmental impact report, or EIR, on the project.
Johnson went on to ask the board to grant the appeal, deny the project, abate the current activities and start the EIR. He said he was concerned that county staff would attempt to resubmit the project after the violations were abated and before an EIR was done.
Applicant’s attorney points to conflicts
For his part, MacDonald argued that nothing new with regard to the project had been revealed due to Johnson’s Public Records Act request. Rather, MacDonald stressed Johnson’s conflicts of interest.
In a 19-page letter to the board submitted on Nov. 12, MacDonald said, “the involvement of Mr. Johnson in this matter should be viewed by the Board of Supervisors with great scrutiny because he is representing the interests of market competitors ‘Bar X’ and ‘Lake Vista Farms.’”
Bar X proposes to grow up to 80 acres of cannabis on the Bar X Ranch, located on 1,600 acres near Middletown. Lake Vista Farms, located at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road, Clearlake, plans for nearly 26 acres of cultivation.
“Mr. Johnson’s clients, Bar X and Lake Vista Farms, are large scale commercial cannabis operations in Lake County. Thus, the Sourz Project is a direct market competitor of these similar Projects,” wrote MacDonald.
He said Bar X’s prospectus supplement, used to attract investors and shareholders, “boasts that the Bar X project will have a maximum ‘capacity to grow up to 80 acres of cannabis’ and that it ‘will be the largest cannabis cultivation operation in the region.’ Once the Sourz Project becomes fully operational, these representations made by Bar X to its investors and shareholders will no longer be true. Thus, Bar X, and its attorney Bradley Johnson, are highly motivated to disrupt and interfere with the Sourz Project for pure market competition and manipulation purposes having nothing to do with environmental concerns.”
Regarding the results of the Public Records Act request, “Appellant has cherry picked text messages and taken them out of context to say they prove things they don’t,” MacDonald told the board on Tuesday, adding that what occurred at the meeting was textbook for “dirty litigation practices,” and constituted “trial by ambush.”
MacDonald said High Valley is an agricultural area, that there is a right to farm act in California, and that PSI Seminars had far more traffic than this project is expected to have.
He maintained that the planning commission didn’t approve it due to preferential treatment.
Regarding the hoop house structures, MacDonald said that as soon as the violation was filed against them, the work started to take them down. As of Monday night, six had been removed.
Praise and criticism
During public comment, Richard Derum, a Realtor, cannabis grow and consultant who has supported the project as it has made its way through the county’s approval processes — including making appearances at planning commission meetings — told the board that the plan is the most comprehensive he’s seen.
He called opposition to it “NIMBY on steroids” — NIMBY standing for “not in my backyard” — and that the applicants have been put through too much.
On the other side was neighbor Maria Kann, a consistent project opponent who has lived in High Valley for 22 years. She said she’s experiencing harm from the project, citing issues of dust, stress, litter, unsafe and impaired drivers, noise and traffic around the lock.
Another neighbor, Bryan Valentine, also stated his opposition due to noise, smell, traffic, environmental destruction and water usage. He said they needed to do what’s right, and that it’s not all about the “mighty dollar.”
Lake County Cannabis Alliance President Jennifer Smith said the project meets the land use components for the county’s cannabis program.
She called it a “landmark situation” that will set the tone for the rest of Lake County and impacts projects still in the queue.
Sabatier had indicated a desire to continue the public hearing to early December to give time to review the additional documents and testimony. He felt the noncompliant hoop houses were a glaring issue but he still wanted to find a way to say yes to the project.
However, Supervisor EJ Crandell in whose district the project is located, said the project needed more mitigation for neighbors. Crandell, attending the meeting via Zoom, moved to uphold the appeal. Supervisor Moke Simon seconded the motion.
When the vote was called, Crandell and Simon voted yes, and supervisors Tina Scott and Jessica Pyska voted no. Sabatier, who continued to struggle with finding a legitimate pathway forward, finally added his own yes vote.
In voting 3-2 to uphold the appeal, the board granted it without prejudice, which allows Sourz HVR to reapply.
Last month the board granted an appeal of Blue Lake Organics LLC’s project in Upper Lake and remanded it back to the planning commission for further environmental review and earlier this year upheld an appeal of the WeGrow project near Hidden Valley Lake, also without prejudice, citing a faulty environmental document. WeGrow is set to appear before the Lake County Planning Commission this week with the newest version of its project.
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.
The draft congressional map. Image courtesy of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council gave staff further direction on Tuesday regarding input on maps released by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.
The commission redraws State Assembly, State Senate and congressional districts every 10 years, based on the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
At its Nov. 2 meeting, the council had directed City Manager Kevin Ingram to write a letter to the commission expressing support for the latest “visualizations,” or scenarios, for how Lake County would be grouped.
However, Ingram reported that before he could get a letter completed, more changes were released.
Since then, the commission has moved from visualizations into draft maps.
Ingram told the council during its brief discussion of the matter on Tuesday evening that he expected to see smaller changes to the mapping going forward.
The process has been moving quickly in recent weeks, and between the time Ingram completed his report to the council last week and the Tuesday meeting, newer maps were posted on the commission’s website, supplanting what was in Ingram’s report.
The draft maps now show Lake County being grouped with Colusa, Glenn, Napa, Tehama and Yolo counties for the State Assembly, and with Del Norte, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Sonoma and Trinity for State Senate.
The draft State Assembly map. Image courtesy of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. For Congress, Lake County is proposed to be bundled with Napa, Solano and Yolo counties. It’s a scenario that would no longer have Lake County split over two congressional districts, as has been the case over the past 10 years.
“It is our overriding priority to just keep Lake County whole,” said Councilwoman Mireya Turner.
She moved to direct staff to prioritize redistricting efforts to make sure Lake County is not split into different districts and to keep the county aligned with strategic agricultural and economic partners.
That’s an approach that Ingram said will allow staff to craft a tailored response to each proposed mapping change and ensure that the city’s voice is presented to the commission.
The council approved the motion with a 5-0 vote.
The council also voted unanimously to cancel its second meeting of December, which was set for Dec. 21.
The cancellation was proposed because city offices will be closed beginning on Dec. 22 to observe the Christmas holidays and there are no urgent pending items for the Dec. 21 meeting.
Ingram’s written report said, if it was necessary to handle any urgent business, a special meeting could be called Dec. 13 or the week of Dec. 27.
Ingram said it will require them to move the council reorganization — the election of the mayor and mayor pro tem — to the end of the Dec. 7 meeting, and that action usually takes place at the second meeting in December.
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.
The draft State Senate map. Image courtesy of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College will host a fall Open House and Street Food Festival on Friday, Nov. 19.
The event will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. at the campus, located at 15880 Dam Road Extension, Clearlake.
During the event, community members will have the opportunity to learn about the more than 50 degree and certificate programs available at the college and the supportive services offered to students and the community.
In conjunction with the Open House, the campus’s culinary club will be holding a Street Food Festival with local food vendors, family-friendly activities, face painting, hula dancing from Kehaulani Hula Studio, Pomo dancers and much more. Food will be available for purchase.
The college invites community members to attend the event, learn more about this local community college and enjoy an afternoon of fun.
For more information contact Mary Wilson at 707-995-7913 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Alex Schwartz, The New School and Kirk McClure, University of Kansas
The pandemic has made the affordable housing crisis a lot worse, in part by increasing the rate of evictions. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Even before 2020, the U.S. faced an acute housing affordability crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic made it a whole lot worse after millions of people who lost their jobs fell behind on rent. While eviction bans forestalled mass homelessness – and emergency rental assistance has helped some – most moratoriums have now been lifted, putting a lot of people at risk of losing their homes.
One solution pushed by the White House, state and local lawmakers and many others is to increase the supply of affordable housing, such as by reforming zoning and other land-use regulations.
As experts on housing policy, we agree that increasing the supply of homes is necessary in areas with rapidly rising housing costs. But this won’t, by itself, make a significant dent in the country’s affordability problems – especially for those with the most severe needs.
In part that’s because in much of the country, there is actually no shortage of rental housing. The problem is that millions of people lack the income to afford what’s on the market.
Where the crisis hits hardest
Renters with the most severe affordability problems have extremely low incomes.
Nationally, about 45% of all renter households spend more than 30% of their pretax income on rent – the widely recognized threshold of affordability. About half of these renters, 9.7 million in total, spend more than 50% of their income on housing, greatly impairing their ability to meet other basic needs and putting them at risk of becoming homeless.
Nearly two-thirds of renters paying at least half of their income on housing earn less than US$20,000, which is below the poverty line for a family of three. Renters with somewhat higher incomes also struggle with housing affordability, but the problem is most pervasive and most severe among very-low income households.
For a household earning $20,000, $500 per month is the highest affordable rent, assuming the affordability standard of spending no more than 30% of income on housing. In contrast, the median rent in the U.S. in 2019 was $1,097, a level that’s affordable to households earning no less than $43,880.
And homes that rent for $500 or less are exceedingly scarce. Fewer than 10% of all occupied and vacant housing units rent for that price, and 31% are occupied by households earning more than $20,000, pushing low-income renters into housing they cannot afford.
A pervasive problem
The problem of housing affordability doesn’t affect only a few high-cost cities. It’s pervasive throughout the nation, in the priciest housing markets with the lowest vacancy rates like New York and San Francisco, and the least expensive markets with high vacancy rates, such as Cleveland and Memphis.
For example, in Cleveland, with a median rent of $725, 27% of all renters spend more than half of their income on rent. In San Francisco, with a median rent of $1,959, 18% of renters spend at least half their income on rent. And it’s even worse for the poorest residents. In both cities, more than half of all extremely low-income renters spend at least 50% of their income on rent.
In fact, there is not a single state, metropolitan area or county in which a full-time minimum wage worker can afford the “fair market rent” for a two-bedroom home, as designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Even the smallest, most basic housing units are often unaffordable to people with very low incomes. For example, the minimum rent necessary to sustain a new a 225-square-foot efficiency apartment with a shared bathroom in New York City built on donated land is $1,170, affordable to households earning a minimum of $46,800. That’s way out of reach for low-income households.
At the heart of the nation’s affordability crisis is the fact that the cost to build and operate housing simply exceeds what low-income renters can afford. Nationally, the average monthly operating cost for a rental unit in 2018 was $439, excluding mortgage and other debt-related expenses.
In other words, even if landlords set rents at the bare minimum needed to cover costs – with no profit – housing would remain unaffordable to most very-low-income households – unless they also receive rental subsidies.
Building new homes alone won’t help very-low-income Americans afford a roof over their heads.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The subsidy solution
Covering the difference between what these renters can afford and the actual cost of the housing, then, is the only solution for the nearly 9 million low-income households that pay at least half their income on rent.
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The $26 billion program currently serves about 2.5 million households, or only 1 in 4 of all eligible households. The current version of Democrats’ social spending bill would gradually expand the program by about 300,000 over five years at a total cost of $24 billion.
While this would be the single largest increase in the program’s nearly 50-year history, it would still leave millions of low-income renters unable to afford a home. And that’s not a problem more supply can solve.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Lake County tribe has given a sizable donation to a first-of-its kind effort to address the inadequate and underfunded legal services that tribes face in court cases that involve the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake has donated $100,000 to the California Tribal Families Coalition to help fund the launch of the coalition’s Legal Council of Tribes, which organizers said is a groundbreaking legal services project aimed at providing the state’s tribes comprehensive legal and social welfare services.
Specifically, the coalition’s efforts will focus on compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, a 1978 statute passed by Congress in response to Native American children being removed from their homes at higher rates than any other group, said California Tribal Families Coalition Executive Director Delia Sharpe.
Legal Counsel for Tribes is a newly developed project of the California Tribal Families Coalition to address the inequity in the courtroom, where tribes are unrepresented, leaving the promises of ICWA unmet.
The coalition is aiming to recruit the best Native American legal talent to ensure that no tribe walks into a court without the best representation the Legal Council of Tribes has to offer, as well as to build a better legal system that respects tribal sovereignty in complicated welfare cases that all too often result in violations of federal Indian law.
Sharpe said they want to have Native American lawyers or lawyers of other backgrounds with a high degree of knowledge in federal ICWA and child welfare, who understand tribal sovereignty.
“Indian child welfare is a very unique area of law,” said Habematolel Tribal Chair Sherry Treppa. “It is sadly not well represented.”
Treppa said she’s seen such issues impact Habematolel’s members, with some court cases involving children being adjudicated in ways the tribe didn’t prefer.
She said ICWA also continues to be challenged, pointing to a Fifth Circuit Court decision in the Brackeen case earlier this year in which the state of Texas challenged the statute’s constitutionality.
ICWA gives tribes the legal right to be parties to cases involving their children. However, in many cases the tribes have not been represented by attorneys, which creates significant equity issues, Sharpe said.
Thus the endeavor to recruit young attorneys out of college and start training them to be dedicated to this mission, Treppa said.
Sharpe said they are trying to craft a program so that in every case involving a tribal member child, there would be an attorney with the knowledge necessary to help them.
Sharpe said Habematolel is a member of the California Tribal Families Coalition. “They have been a leader in this work from the very beginning.”
She said Habematolel’s contribution will be a cornerstone for the launch of the rest of the program. “Their support and leadership is imperative to the success of this work.”
Addressing the ‘typical experience’
Treppa said that in counties not familiar with working with tribes, the typical experience has been children getting lost in the system and going into foster care rather than with a family or tribal member.
Tribes with resources have the ability to hire special attorneys that are well versed in ICWA and working in California specifically. However, Treppa noted that a lot of tribal members don’t have the resources to be able to address those situations on their own.
In those cases, had the tribe been involved and notified, they could have found placement within the tribal community with family or a representative the tribe prepared for foster care, Treppa said.
She said the situation in California has been improving because of the state’s position.
However, disparities continue. In California, more than 90% of Native American children available for adoption are still placed in nonnative homes, Sharpe said.
Treppa said she believes Lake County “is getting there” and improving thanks to the positive intergovernmental relationships her tribe has with local government agencies.
Sharpe said the idea for the Legal Council of Tribes started with the California Indian Child Welfare Act Compliance Task Force, convened at the invitation of then-Attorney General Kamala Harris.
That task force created a report documenting compliance concerns with ICWA that was submitted to Harris’ successor, Xavier Becerra, in 2017.
The report included 20 targeted recommendations from the tribal perspective that, if done properly, would increase ICWA compliance across the state, Sharpe said.
She said the No. 1 issue is inequity in the courts; that includes not having the needed legal counsel.
Sharpe said that based on recent data collected by the state of California there are 1,257 children to whom ICWA applies for placement through California courts as of April 1, 2021.
However, while the state of California keeps data on child welfare cases, Sharpe said they have readily acknowledged it is not entirely accurate.
As a result, the exact number of children considered Indian under ICWA isn’t known, Sharpe said.
A phased approach
Sharpe said the new Legal Council of Tribes program is being rolled out in phases, with small targeted goals and regions.
When talking to tribes, the coalition is engaging in a phased up scaling, with targeted goals and regions. “We want to be very, very thoughtful and sustainable in our overall approach,” Sharpe said.
Phase one finalizes the development of the coalition’s internal structure, partnerships with law schools, holding teaching workshops and seminars, starting the law clerk program, recruiting attorneys and doing their own briefing.
That’s largely done, with recruitment continuing. “We have taken on our first case,” she said.
Sharpe said they are now hiring attorneys for the program, working with law schools that have programs specifically dedicated to federal Indian law. They’re also creating a law clerk program to get the law students experience before taking and passing the bar.
They have already hired three fully licensed lawyers, with another law student who had yet to sit for the bar beginning as an advocate in August with the goal of later coming on as the first dedicated legal counsel for tribes.
Sharpe said the coalition believes that within three years they will have a lawyer available for every case in California involving Indian children.
By that point, they also will have the data necessary to back up final reports and recommendations for the overall project and development of a law school curriculum so students will come out of law school with targeted knowledge.
Phase two is launching in three counties with the highest impact, number of tribes and cases, where the coalition also has relationships with the judiciary and can access the entirety of the county’s child welfare system.
The first region set for rollout includes Inyo and Mono counties. Riverside County will be included in phase two, Sharpe said.
From there, they will be looking to add new regions. They’re already looking at Humboldt, where Sharpe said the native population is well under 10% for children, but yet they make up 30 to 50% of the children in the foster care system.
Other counties with high proportionality are Del Norte, Inyo and Lake counties, and are expected to be added in future phases, Sharpe said.
Phase three will overlap with phase two, and will include assessments on the program’s effectiveness and the collaborations, with listening sessions to take place in pilot counties and statewide to determine what counties come. Sharpe said they also have created evaluation tools about which counties will come next.
Phase four will include launching an appellate project to ensure tribes are represented there as well. In phase five, they will publish data and develop law school curriculum, Sharpe said.
“This model doesn’t exist anywhere in the country,” Sharpe said.
“Over time one would hope that as a result of this federal statute that we would see a remediation of this issue,” she said.
To keep the program going, Sharpe said the goal is to pair tribal contributions with public funding.
On Sept. 24, Native American Day, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 873, written by Assemblymember James Ramos, the first and only California Native American serving in the California Legislature.
Ramos’ office said the bill ensures that tribal foster youth have tribal representation during court proceedings involving possible removal from their homes. It also requires the California Department of Social Services to assist tribes in implementing agreements regarding care and custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings. Additionally, the bill clarifies the path to federal and state funding to ensure tribes have the resources needed to aid native youth and families during legal child custody hearings.
“It’s essential that children and tribes have the representation and tools to protect these kids as decisions are made about the most important factor in a child’s life — who will care for them as loving and responsible parents,” Ramos said. “Removing children from their Native American parents and their tribes is traumatic. It evokes the inhumane practices of the removal of children to force assimilation at boarding schools. This is a positive and healing step forward for Native families.”
Sharpe said that bill is expected to channel some funding into the Legal Council of Tribes.
“We believe that is ongoing funding that will allow the program to be sustainable over time,” Sharpe said.
Treppa said her tribe wants to support these types of positive changes and developments throughout California. “We are always going to be an advocate for positive change,” she said, adding, “We’re kind of helping to plant the seed.”
She said she expects it will reach its full potential. “They will be busy full time,” she said, noting there are not enough resources.
With tribes historically lacking resources, “This kind of legal resource is vital,” Treppa said.
Added Sharpe, “We are excited to bring together truly exceptional native law graduates to provide a place for them to launch their careers in Indian law.”
While the Habematolel Pomo has made the initial investment to help get the program off the ground, California Tribal Families Coalition is still seeking more donations to reach its full potential.
Information on becoming involved is available at the group’s website.
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.
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