From left to right, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg, Minnie Cannon Elementary School Principal Brandy Fischer, Lake County Teacher of the Year 2021 Michelle Mackey, Middletown Unified School District Superintendent Michael Cox and Middletown Unified School District School Board President Misha Grothe. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Office of Education.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Michelle Mackey, sixth grade teacher at Minnie Cannon Elementary School in Middletown, has been named Lake County Teacher of the Year 2021.
“Michelle Mackey is a spectacular teacher that only gets better every year,” said Brandy Fischer, Minnie Cannon Elementary School principal.
Mackey received notification of the honor on Thursday, May 6, at an outdoor assembly at Minnie Cannon Elementary School.
Her students, administration, school board president and family members looked on as Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg presented a surprised Mackey with a plaque and flowers.
Mackey was chosen as the Middletown Unified School District Teacher of the Year in March.
In April, Mackey participated in an application process and interview at the Lake County Office of Education. There she was chosen from a group of four other Lake County District Teachers of the Year to represent Lake County at the California Teacher of the Year competition this summer.
The other district teachers of the year for 2021 include Jim Wenckus, Kelseyville Unified School District; Andrea Pullman, Konocti Unified School District; Jodi Mansell, Lakeport Unified School District; Stella Winkler, Lucerne Elementary School District; and Angel Hayenga, Upper Lake Unified School District.
“Each year, I feel privileged to attend these interviews. I was impressed by each and every teacher represented,” said Falkenberg. “They are all winners.”
Mackey began her teaching career after volunteering in the classroom when her children were young. She was inspired by her children’s preschool teacher, Brandy Fischer, who is now principal at Minnie Cannon.
Mackey then went on to earn her bachelor’s degree, teaching credential in both multiple subject and special education, and a master’s degree in autism spectrum disorder.
Besides making advances in her own education, Mackey also believes in helping others achieve their education goals. She currently mentors four beginning teachers, and two student teachers joined her in the classroom this year.
But it is Mackey’s connection to her students that makes her stand out.
“She is iconic in Middletown. She is known as the teacher who can meet each student at their individual level and get them to where they need to be,” said Middletown Unified School District Superintendent Michael Cox.
Mackey will spend this summer preparing her application for the California Teacher of the Year Program, where she will be competing with teachers from some of the biggest school districts in the state.
The California Department of Education will announce five California Teachers of the Year in October 2021. Mackey hopes to be one of those five.
Lake County has had three California Teachers of the Year in the last 16 years.
Erica Boomer from Upper Lake Unified School District was named a California Teacher of the Year 2019.
Jennifer Kelly from the Middletown Unified School District received the honor in 2011 and Alan Siegel from Konocti Unified School District received the honor in 2005.
Falkenberg acknowledges the high success rate Lake County teachers have had in the California Teacher of the Year program.
“Our Lake County students are being served well by some of the best teachers in our state. That’s a very impressive thing,” he said.
The Lake County Teacher of the Year is a program administered through the Lake County Office of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about Michelle Mackey and the Lake County District Teachers of the Year, visit www.lakecoe.org/TOY.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Faced with intensifying drought conditions, Sheriff Brian Martin has declared a drought emergency in Lake County.
Martin took the action in his capacity as director of Emergency Services, citing the drought this year and the fact that the state of California is in the second consecutive year of extremely dry conditions due to historically low rainfall totals.
In his two terms as sheriff, he’s issued numerous emergency declarations for fires, storms and floods, public safety power shut-offs and the pandemic. This is his first emergency declaration for drought.
“The water levels today are just slightly lower than they were in 2014,” although not as low as the 1970s, Martin said.
Lake County Water Resources reported Clear Lake was at 0.77 feet Rumsey — the special measure for Clear Lake — on Friday, compared to 4.43 feet Rumsey on May 7 of last year.
On March 4, 2014, when the board approved the last drought emergency, the lake was 1.60 feet Rumsey.
On April 21, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a regional drought emergency for the Russian River watershed in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, where reservoirs are at record lows.
Martin said his new proclamation doesn’t do anything but declare an emergency, and he’ll discuss what that means with the board on Tuesday.
“This is meant to start triggering some things,” Martin said.
He said he will ask the board to be able to close county-maintained boat ramps either at his discretion or that of Public Services Director Lars Ewing, with approval from Public Works Director Scott De Leon.
The ramps that could be closed due to the low-water conditions are at Lakeside County Park, Lucerne Harbor Park and Clearlake Oaks, among others, Martin said. The county also will ask the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport to monitor their ramps and water levels.
The conditions that could lead to closures at some point will be different for each of the ramps, Martin said, adding that he wants to keep recreation opportunities available for people as long as possible.
Martin said there are parts of the lake that are already exposed this early in the year and some boat ramps are no longer usable. He said they’ve had reports of boats running aground or hitting rocks and they don’t want people to damage their boats or trailers, or get stuck.
The sheriff’s Marine Patrol division is already having its own problems with storing boats, getting them into and out of the water, and even reaching some areas due to the low water levels, Martin said.
He said a boater recently ran aground in the Rodman Slough about 300 yards out. “We can’t get in there with our regular boat patrol vessels.”
On Tuesday, Martin said De Leon will give a presentation comparing the current lake level to levels in 2014 and the late 1970s drought. He’ll also give a projection of how the lake level will change in the months to come, when evaporation is expected to draw it lower.
Martin said another goal of the proclamation is to raise the public’s awareness and ask community members to take their own initiatives to conserve water and pay attention to conditions.
He said he hopes to minimize the actions that they could be forced to take to save water.
“I don't know what all the impacts are going to be but I know there’s going to be a bunch,” he said, noting potential impacts ranging from drinking water to water supply for farming and cannabis production.
The language of the proclamation follows.
WHEREAS, Chapter 6, Article 1 of the Lake County Code empowers the Director of Emergency Services to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency when Lake County is affected by, or likely to be affected by a public calamity and the County Board of Supervisors is not in session, and;
WHEREAS, the Sheriff, as Director of Emergency Services of Lake County does hereby find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property have arisen within the County of Lake, caused by extreme drought conditions since March 5, 2021; and
That these conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of Lake County, and;
That the County Board of Supervisors of the County of Lake is not in session and cannot immediately be called into session;
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY PROCLAIMED that a local emergency now exists throughout Lake County, and;
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that during the existence of said local emergency the powers, functions, and duties of the emergency organization of Lake County shall be those prescribed by state law, by ordinances, and resolutions of the County; and that these emergency proclamation shall expire seven days after issuance unless confirmed and ratified by the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
AND, IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that said local emergency shall be deemed to continue to exist until its termination is proclaimed by the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
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 Friday Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed five individuals to serve on the newly formed Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.
The formation of this task force was made possible by the governor’s signing of AB 3121, written by then-Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), which established a nine-member task force to inform Californians about slavery and explore ways the state might provide reparations.
“California is leading the nation, in a bipartisan way, on the issue of reparations and racial justice, which is a discussion that is long overdue and deserves our utmost attention,” said Gov. Newsom.
Newsom pointed to his signing into law a number of key bills focused on leveling the playing field in society and ensuring that everyone has a fair shot at achieving the California dream.
He said Friday’s appointment “of individuals with an expansive breadth of knowledge, experiences and understanding of issues impacting the African American community is the next step in our commitment as a state to build a California for all.”
The five individuals selected by the governor to serve on this task force represent diverse backgrounds and meet the statutes required by law, which include choosing one candidate from the field of academia with expertise in civil rights and an additional two appointees selected from major civil society and reparations organizations that have historically championed the cause of reparatory justice.
Other key factors considered for committee candidates included a background in economics and community development, health and psychology, law and criminal justice, faith-based and community activism, and an expertise in the historic achievement of reparatory justice.
The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans will have a total of nine members, with two individuals appointed by the Senate and two members appointed by the Assembly.
The task force will select its own chair and vice chair and their work will be staffed by the Attorney General’s Office. Members will meet over the next year and conclude their work with a written report on their findings, along with recommendations which will be provided to the Legislature.
The positions do not require Senate confirmation and there is per diem compensation for not more than 10 meetings.
After months of interviews and careful consideration, the governor made the following appointments.
All of the appointees are Democrats.
Dr. Cheryl Grills
Cheryl N. Grills, Ph.D., 62, of Inglewood, was recently chosen to serve as president’s professor at Loyola Marymount University, a designation bestowed upon LMU’s most distinguished faculty who already hold the rank of tenured full professor and are acknowledged leaders in their respective fields, having achieved national and international recognition of their work.
In addition to her community-based research, her work focuses on racial stress and trauma, implicit bias and community healing focused on the needs of people of African ancestry.
Grills has been a professor of psychology and director of Psychology of the Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University since 1987.
She is commissioner and vice chair of the LA County Sybil Brand Commission, where she has served since 2011.
She was president of The Association of Black Psychologists from 2011 to 2013. She is the leader of the Global Emotional Emancipation Circles Training Team, where she has served since 2009.
She is the current lead on a national Impact of COVID-19 on Communities of Color Needs Assessment for several Congressional Caucuses and national civil rights organizations.
Grills was leader of the Emotional Emancipation Circle process under the Community Healing Network in 2009.
Grills earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University with a double major in Psychology and African American Studies.
Dr. Amos Brown
Amos C. Brown, Th.D., 80, of San Francisco, is a renowned civil rights leader who studied under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was later arrested with King at a lunch counter sit-in in 1961 and joined the Freedom Riders who protested segregation in the South.
Brown was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Ministerial Award for outstanding leadership and contributions to the Black church in America and was also inducted into the International Hall of Fame at the King International Chapel at Morehouse College.
Brown has been a pastor at the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco since 1976. He was a pastor at Pilgrim Baptist Church from 1970 to 1976 and at Saint Paul’s Baptist Church from 1966 to 1970.
Brown is president of the San Francisco Branch and a member of the board of directors of the NAACP.
He earned a Doctor of Theology degree from United Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology degree from Crozer Theological Seminary.
Lisa Holder
Lisa Holder, J.D., 49, of Los Angeles, has dedicated her career to racial and social justice and systems change.
Holder is a nationally recognized, award-winning trial attorney who has been identified as a “Super Lawyer” by Los Angeles Magazine for four consecutive years.
Holder has been counsel at Equal Justice Society since 2016 and principal attorney at the Law Office of Lisa Holder since 2010.
She was lecturer in law and adjunct professor at UCLA School of Law from 2017 to 2019. Holder was adjunct professor at Occidental College from 2012 to 2016 and associate attorney at Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson from 2005 to 2009.
Holder was deputy alternate public defender at the Office of the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender from 2001 to 2005.
She was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship through the Open Society Foundation in 2001. She was an investigator and analyst at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem from 1995 to 1997.
Holder is a steering committee member of the Equal Opportunity 4 All Coalition and Vice Chair of the Child Care Law Center.
She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.
Don Tamaki
Donald K. Tamaki, J.D., 69, of Piedmont, is known for his historic work serving on the pro bono legal team that reopened the landmark Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States, overturning Fred Korematsu’s conviction for refusing incarceration during the mass roundup and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and providing a key legal foundation in the decades long Japanese American Redress Movement.
He is also co-founder of StopRepeatingHistory. Org, a campaign focused on drawing parallels between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the targeting of minority groups based on race or religion.
The campaign’s current work is focused on the intersectionality of the Japanese American Redress Movement and that of African American Reparations, with an emphasis on creating solidarity and promoting public awareness on the importance of advancing reparations for African Americans.
Tamaki has been senior counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP since 2020, where he also served as managing partner from 2006 to 2020 and was Partner from 1987 to 2020. He was owner of the Law Offices of Donald K. Tamaki from 1984 to 1987.
Tamaki was executive director at the Asian Law Caucus — Advancing Justice from 1980 to 1984. He was a Reginald Heber Smith Staff Attorney at Community Legal Services of San Jose from 1976 to 1979 and Co-Founder of the Asian Law Alliance.
Tamaki is a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco and Asian American Bar Association of the Bay Area.
He received the State Bar of California Loren Miller Award in 1987 and the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award in 2020.
He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis
Jovan S. Lewis, Ph.D., 38, of Berkeley, is an economic anthropologist and geographer who researches reparations, the political economy of inequality and race in the United States and the Caribbean.
His current work focuses on the history and contemporary circumstances of the historic Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the consequences of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
Lewis is an associate professor and the incoming chair of the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 2015.
At Berkeley, he has also been co-chair of the economic disparities research cluster at the Othering and Belonging Institute and Faculty Affiliate in African American Studies since 2015.
He earned Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees in economic anthropology from the London School of Economics and a Master of Arts degree in administration from the University of Miami.
Rachael A. Woldoff, West Virginia University and Robert Litchfield, Washington & Jefferson College
When the pandemic forced office employees into lockdown and cut them off from spending in-person time with their colleagues, they almost immediately realized that they favor remote work over their traditional office routines and norms.
Even before the pandemic, there were people asking whether office life jibed with their aspirations.
We spent years studying “digital nomads” – workers who had left behind their homes, cities and most of their possessions to embark on what they call “location independent” lives. Our research taught us several important lessons about the conditions that push workers away from offices and major metropolitan areas, pulling them toward new lifestyles.
Legions of people now have the chance to reinvent their relationship to their work in much the same way.
Big-city bait and switch
Most digital nomads started out excited to work in career-track jobs for prestigious employers. Moving to cities like New York and London, they wanted to spend their free time meeting new people, going to museums and trying out new restaurants.
But then came the burnout.
Although these cities certainly host institutions that can inspire creativity and cultivate new relationships, digital nomads rarely had time to take advantage of them. Instead, high cost of living, time constraints and work demands contributed to an oppressive culture of materialism and workaholism.
Pauline, 28, who worked in advertising helping large corporate clients to develop brand identities through music, likened city life for professionals in her peer group to a “hamster wheel.” (The names used in this article are pseudonyms, as required by research protocol.)
“The thing about New York is it’s kind of like the battle of the busiest,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, you’re so busy? No, I’m so busy.’”
Most of the digital nomads we studied had been lured into what urbanist Richard Florida termed “creative class” jobs – positions in design, tech, marketing and entertainment. They assumed this work would prove fulfilling enough to offset what they sacrificed in terms of time spent on social and creative pursuits.
Yet these digital nomads told us that their jobs were far less interesting and creative than they had been led to expect. Worse, their employers continued to demand that they be “all in” for work – and accept the controlling aspects of office life without providing the development, mentorship or meaningful work they felt they had been promised. As they looked to the future, they saw only more of the same.
Ellie, 33, a former business journalist who is now a freelance writer and entrepreneur, told us: “A lot of people don’t have positive role models at work, so then it’s sort of like ‘Why am I climbing the ladder to try and get this job? This doesn’t seem like a good way to spend the next twenty years.’”
By their late 20s to early 30s, digital nomads were actively researching ways to leave their career-track jobs in top-tier global cities.
Looking for a fresh start
Although they left some of the world’s most glamorous cities, the digital nomads we studied were not homesteaders working from the wilderness; they needed access to the conveniences of contemporary life in order to be productive. Looking abroad, they quickly learned that places like Bali in Indonesia, and Chiang Mai in Thailand had the necessary infrastructure to support them at a fraction of the cost of their former lives.
With more and more companies now offering employees the choice to work remotely, there’s no reason to think digital nomads have to travel to southeast Asia – or even leave the United States – to transform their work lives.
During the pandemic, some people have already migrated away from the nation’s most expensive real estate markets to smaller cities and towns to be closer to nature or family. Many of these places still possess vibrant local cultures. As commutes to work disappear from daily life, such moves could leave remote workers with more available income and more free time.
The digital nomads we studied often used savings in time and money to try new things, like exploring side hustles. One recent study even found, somewhat paradoxically, that the sense of empowerment that came from embarking on a side hustle actually improved performance in workers’ primary jobs.
The future of work, while not entirely remote, will undoubtedly offer more remote options to many more workers. Although some business leaders are still reluctant to accept their employees’ desire to leave the office behind, local governments are embracing the trend, with several U.S. cities and states – along with countries around the world – developing plans to attract remote workers.
This migration, whether domestic or international, has the potential to enrich communities and cultivate more satisfying work lives.
This illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft departing asteroid Bennu to begin its two-year journey back to Earth. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona. NASA invites the public and the media to watch its first asteroid sample return mission begin a two-year cruise home at 1 p.m. Pacific Time Monday, May 10, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The public can follow along on the NASA Solar System Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts using #ToBennuAndBack, and ask questions about the mission by commenting on an Instagram story between 9 a.m. Pacific Time, May 10 and 9 a.m., May 11. Answers will post to NASA Solar System’s Instagram stories on May 11.
Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, is the first NASA mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid, survey the surface, and collect a sample to deliver to Earth.
During the broadcast, scientists will reveal new imagery from the mission's final flyover of the asteroid Bennu and discuss the tense moments from the sample grab in October 2020.
The broadcast also will cover how the team engineered its way out of challenges that threatened its mission.
At approximately 4:16 p.m. EDT, the OSIRIS-REx control room located at Lockheed Martin, in Littleton, Colorado, will receive a confirmation that the spacecraft fired its main thrusters to push away from asteroid Bennu’s orbit, approximately 16 minutes after it happened.
After seven minutes of firing its thrusters, OSIRIS-REx will officially start its long journey home with more than 2.1 ounces (60 grams) of asteroid material.
The OSIRIS-REx departure sequence is the mission's most significant maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018.
The spacecraft’s thrusters must change its velocity by 595 miles per hour (958 kilometers per hour) for OSIRIS-REx's path to intersect Earth and achieve a successful sample return at the Utah Test and Training Range on Sept. 24, 2023.
There is no straight path back to Earth. Like a quarterback throwing a long pass to where a receiver will be in the future, OSIRIS-REx is traveling to where the Earth will be. The spacecraft will circle the Sun twice, covering 1.4 billion miles (2.3 billion kilometers) over to catch up with Earth.
OSIRIS-REx made history many times during its two and half years of operations on the asteroid, including breaking its own record for the closest orbit of a planetary body by a spacecraft. Bennu is the smallest celestial object ever orbited by a human-built spacecraft.
OSIRIS-REx will bring back the largest sample collected by a NASA mission since the Apollo astronauts returned with Moon rocks. Scientists plan to analyze the sample to learn about the formation of our solar system and the development of Earth as a habitable planet.
Once recovered, the capsule will be transported to the curation facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the sample will be removed for distribution to laboratories worldwide. NASA will set aside 75% of the samples for future generations to study with technologies not yet created.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator.
The University of Arizona leads the science team and the mission's science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.
OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate Washington.
Morgan Matthew Jack, 44, of Lakeport, California, was arrested early on the morning of Friday, May 7, 2021, following a standoff with law enforcement who responded to his home after receiving a report that he threatened to kill his girlfriend. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A man who served prison time for the 2007 killing of a taxi driver was in a standoff with law enforcement early Friday after he threatened to kill his girlfriend.
Morgan Matthew Jack, 44, of Lakeport, was taken into custody hours after the standoff began, said Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
At 3 a.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office received a report that Jack had threatened to kill his live-in girlfriend at their residence in the 2600 block of Mission Rancheria Road, Paulich said.
Paulich said the girlfriend had been able to leave the residence before Lake County Sheriff’s deputies arrived.
When deputies attempted to make contact with Jack and place him under arrest, he refused to exit the residence. Paulich said deputies entered the residence and attempted to contact Jack.
While inside, the deputies heard metallic noises they recognized as a firearm being manipulated and believed Jack was armed. Paulich said the deputies exited the residence and again attempted to get Jack to come out.
He said the deputies could see Jack in the doorway at the front of the residence. The deputies saw Jack raise a rifle-type firearm and fire one shot in their direction.
The deputies secured the area and requested additional units respond. Officers from Lakeport Police Department, Clearlake Police Department and California Highway Patrol responded to assist, Paulich said.
The Sheriff’s Office Crisis Response and SWAT Teams responded to the location, Paulich said. While trying to speak with Jack he challenged deputies, several times telling them he was not coming out and they would have to kill him.
After approximately two hours Jack exited his residence, challenging one of the negotiators to approach him, Paulich said.
Paulich said Jack was taken into custody with the assistance of a police K-9 unit from the Clearlake Police Department and SWAT team members. Some of the officers as well as Jack received minor injuries during the arrest.
The Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit served a search warrant at Jack’s residence, where Paulich said they located a pellet rifle that resembled an assault-type rifle.
Jack was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment and later booked at the Lake County Jail for charges of criminal threats, assault on a peace officer with an instrument not a firearm, and obstruction. Paulich said Jack’s bail is set at $50,000.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office had prior contact with Jack in 2008 when he was arrested related to the death of Paul Womachka, a “Hey Taxi” driver whose body was found in a submerged taxi at the Big Valley Rancheria in the summer of 2007.
Jack later pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter related to the killing and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He received numerous credits that reduced his prison time by several years.
A pellet rifle that resembled an assault-type rifle which deputies recovered from the home of Morgan Matthew Jack, 44, of Lakeport, California, following a standoff on the morning of Friday, May 7, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
California Assemblymember James C. Ramos presented H.R. 40 on the Assembly floor on Thursday, May 6, 2021. Courtesy photo. The California Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution designating May as California Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Month.
Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland), the first California Native American elected to the Legislature, introduced the resolution, H.R. 40.
Ramos opened Thursday’s floor session with a Native American prayer in honor of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“California has the sixth-highest death rate of Indigenous women in urban cities — and our state has the largest Native American population in the country,” Ramos said. “Native American women face a pandemic of violence against them, and we must be persistent and consistent in increasing awareness, increasing preventative measures and in resolving these cases so loved ones can have closure.”
Ramos cited a 2012 report by the federal Department of Justice which stated:
– Nearly half of all Native American women — 46 percent — have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.
– One in three Indian women will, at some point in her life, experience the violence and trauma of rape.
– On some reservations Native American women are murdered at a rate more than 10 times the national average.
– In 2016, more than 5,700 cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls were reported to the National Crime Center.
“What makes these statistics even more horrifying and shameful is that we know these cases are underreported or misclassified,” said Ramos.
Last year, Ramo successfully introduced 3099. It authorized funding for the state Department of Justice to assist local and tribal law enforcement, improve collaboration among tribes and sponsor a study to increase protective and investigative resources for reporting and identifying missing Native Americans in California, particularly women and girls.
As chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs, he also conducted two informational hearings about this issue.
Ramos said he’s looking forward to building on this effort with California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“An injustice against any of us is an injustice against all,” said Bonta. “When our Indigenous brothers and sisters are hurting, we must stand united in support. No Indigenous women or girls should have to live in fear of being victimized. We must not shy away from the reality that this is happening all too often and that too many go without getting justice. It will take all of us working together to better understand and, eventually, solve this problem. California is home to more Native Americans than any other state in the country. We have to lead the way forward. I’m proud to be part of that effort in working to recognize May 2021 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Month in the State of California.”
Ramos said he was heartened that the Department of the Interior recently established the Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. He said it will add weight and new energy to the investigation to resolve these cases.
Before the vote was taken on H.R. 40, 73 Republicans and Democrats joined in as co-authors.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The city of Clearlake reported on Thursday that the work to build a new Starbucks has begun.
Starbucks has officially broken ground and will be bringing the first standalone drive-thru location to Lake County just north of Carl’s Jr. and west of Walmart at 15881 Dam Road Extension, the city reported.
It’s not the company’s only presence in Lake County. A Starbucks kiosk is located on the other side of the lake, in the Lakeport Safeway.
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora updated the Clearlake City Council about the project at its Thursday night meeting.
He said the new Starbucks is expected to be open for business on Sept. 3.
“Hurray for Starbucks,” said Councilman Russ Cremer.
Cremer said he’s been getting a lot of comments from community members this week in response to the work being done at the new store’s site.
The new Starbucks store is being developed by the Monterey-based Orosco Group, a boutique real estate development firm specializing in commercial, multifamily residential and mixed-use development projects.
“Despite the pandemic, tenant interest in Clearlake as a regional retail hub has been strong. Starbucks is the first of several national retailers who will be opening a new store within our project,” said Patrick Orosco, partner at The Orosco Group.
The company has developed more than three million square feet of new product with a total market value of over $1 billion during its 40-year history. It targets infill opportunities that benefit from its community-based redevelopment process.
Since the recession of 2008, The Orosco Group said it has applied its ground up development and underwriting experience to the acquisition and repositioning of distressed and excess retail, office and residential properties.
Officials reported that over the past 18 months the interest from both local and national retailers has continued to grow for the city of Clearlake.
New development opportunities for retailers ranging from 1,800 square feet all the way up to more than 60,000-square-foot anchor sites have helped bring new eyes and new investment into the market, the city said.
The city also has been in talks since last year with King Management LLC, which is interested in purchasing a portion of the city’s Pearce Field airport property at 6356 Armijo Ave. and 6393 James St. to develop a hotel, as well as developing a hotel project on a portion of Redbud Park, where the ballfields are located, as Lake County News has reported.
There are commitments from other retail, restaurant, hospitality and service providers planning to join in on the new construction in the Clearlake later this year as well.
“We are excited to continue welcoming new opportunities to our city and want other retailers to know that our pro-growth city leadership is here to help,” said Flora.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport this week reported on two community improvement projects it conducted in April.
The city and its contracted waste hauler and service provider, Lakeport Disposal Inc., partnered to present the Spring 2021 Community Cleanup Day on April 24.
“We are grateful to Lakeport Disposal Inc., and their staff for coordinating a safe and well-organized event that collected many tons of trash and unusable materials,” City Manager Kevin Ingram said.
Ingram said Lakeport Disposal reported this was likely the most popular Community Cleanup Day since the event began in the spring of 2017.
Collected this year was a total of 21,000 pounds of household trash and junk, 478 pounds of appliances and 286 pounds of electronics, Ingram said.
“The Lakeport Community Cleanup Day is a semiannual event intended to help keep our community clean and beautiful,” said Ingram.
Ingram also reported on the Lakeport Police Department’s participation in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which also was held on April 24.
Ingram said the event brought in 72 pounds of pills delivered to the police station by 49 people in the drive-thru event.
Over-the-counter or prescription medication in pill, tablet or capsule form were accepted along with vape pens and other e-cigarette devices from which the batteries were removed, he said.
Ingram said volunteers from SafeRX Lake County assisted at the event and distributed Narcan kits.
Community members from Lakeport and throughout Lake County took advantage of the event, conducted in coordination with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Ingram reported.
Since the Lakeport Police Department began participating with this program in January 2019, Ingram said more than 700 pounds of prescription drugs have been collected and kept out of the environment.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has a group of dogs ranging in age and breeds needing new homes.
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
“Toby.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
Toby is house trained and neutered.
He is dog No. 4389.
“Sassy.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Sassy’
“Sassy” is a female Labrador Retriever and pit bull mix with a short black with white markings.
She is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4602.
“Inky.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male corgi and collie mix with a long black coat.
He has been neutered and is house-trained.
He is dog No. 4324.
“Hector.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Hector’
“Hector” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier mix with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 4697.
“Dusty.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Dusty’
“Dusty” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier with a tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4750.
“Dorito.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Dorito’
“Dorito” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier mix with a short white and gray coat.
He has been neutered and is house trained.
He is dog No. 4576.
“Chiquita.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Chiquita’
“Chiquita” is a female shepherd and Labrador Retriever mix.
She has a short brindle and white coat.
Chiquita is house-trained.
“Bear.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. ‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier and Labrador Retriever mix with a short brown coat.
He is dog No. 3476.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’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.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. — On Wednesday afternoon, a group of young Pomo dancers performed in the bright early afternoon sunlight in Upper Lake’s downtown as singers chanted and burned sage.
As the young men performed in their beaded and feathered regalia, the young women, some of them crowned with headdresses of tall feathers, spun in circles, their long colorful skirts twirling around their ankles.
They danced barefooted with pieces of carpet put down to protect them from the hot pavement between the Habematolel tribal offices and tribal hall.
Over their heads, gazing past them and up into the sky, toward the mountains, was the portrait of Vanessa Niko, a young woman of Pomo and Samoan descent who, for many, is the face of the nationwide crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women — known as MMIW — in Lake County.
Niko, 35, a mother of six and member of the Habematolel Pomo tribe, was killed on June 30, 2017. The father of three of her children, Willy Tujays Timmons, has been charged with murder in the case.
A mural of Niko was completed by muralist Shane Grammer and a group of a dozen young artists over the course of six days on the side of the Habematolel tribal hall, with the work completed earlier this week.
The project was a partnership with the tribe, the artists and Grammer’s Hope Through Art Foundation, which is dedicated to broadening public awareness and education of social issues such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women through art.
The foundation on Wednesday honored Niko’s cousin Ida Morrison as the “heartbeat” of the project for her support and advocacy.
The mural dedication took place on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.
The ceremonial dancers and many community and tribal members from Lake County, the North Coast and beyond came to celebrate Niko’s life, cut short by what Morrison said is a “generational curse” for native people — domestic violence.
Kumu Hula Mikilani Young, a representative of United Pillars of Aloha, sang and offered chants of honor and healing for Niko and her family as a tribute to her Samoan heritage.
Also on hand were Sheriff Brian Martin and Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
The mural is based on a real-life portrait of Niko, looking back at the camera over her right shoulder, her long black hair flowing loose down her back. The outlines of six daffodils flow throughout the mural, symbolizing her six children — three boys and three girls — who used to pick the flowers with their mother on walks through the rancheria.
There also are handprints in red paint featured throughout the mural, which is the symbol associated with the effort to bring awareness to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Friends and family remember Niko as hardworking, diligent, devoted to her children and her family. She also worked hard to help the Habematolel tribe build its Running Creek Casino, where she later worked as a supervisor.
Morrison said Niko just wanted to be the best mother she could be, and she put her children first.
Niko was a great spirit and a beautiful soul. “We all have a path,” said Morrison, and her cousin’s path suddenly ended in the summer of 2017.
Morrison said Niko and Timmons had a difficult relationship that required them to often stay away from each other for periods of time. But Morrison said that on that summer day nearly four years ago, Timmons came and picked Niko up. With the knowledge that comes from hindsight, Morrison said her cousin couldn’t have realized it would be her last day of life.
Later that day, a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a physical altercation at a home on Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake. There, the deputy found Timmons assaulting Niko, hitting her in the head with a rock. She died at the scene a short time later.
Timmons has remained in the Lake County Jail since his arrest. He was indicted on a charge of killing Niko by a criminal grand jury in December 2017. At one point he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The District Attorney’s Office told Lake County News that Timmons is set for trial on Aug. 11.
Niko’s mother is raising her youngest children. The youngest of the children was just 11 months old when Niko died, Morrison said.
“This needs to stop,” said Morrison.
Dancers perform at the mural dedication honoring Vanessa Niko in Upper Lake, California, on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. A nationwide crisis
The tragedy that took Niko’s life — and which speakers on Wednesday said has had broad impacts on tribal members and the greater community — is just one story in what many individuals and organizations are calling a nationwide crisis.
One speaker at Wednesday’s event in Upper Lake said that a lot of Indian women “grew up pretty rough.”
Morrison said Indigenous people don’t want to report domestic violence because the perpetrators are sometimes family members or someone they know personally.
She said native women are supposed to be strong, and so they think reporting abuse makes them weak.
There is another such tragedy in neighboring Mendocino County, where authorities and family members continue to seek answers in the February 2018 disappearance of Khadijah Britton of Covelo.
Britton, 23 at the time of her disappearance, is believed to have been abducted by gunpoint by her boyfriend, Negie Fallis.
He arrived at a Covelo residence, demanded she come outside, then had a physical altercation with her before witnesses said the two of them got into a black Mercedes sedan and left. She has not been seen since.
In a February online event, Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall said his agency is continuing to try to find out what happened to Britton.
The Urban Indian Health Institute, a division of the Seattle Indian Health Board, issued a report in which it explained that while awareness of the crisis is growing, data on the violence has remained scarce.
In a 2018 report, the group discussed statistics from 2016. In that year, the National Crime Information Center reported there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. However, the US Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases.
The Urban Indian Health Institute also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women “and that rates of violence on reservations can be up to 10 times higher than the national average.”
However, the institute’s report also noted that no research has been done on rates of such violence among American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas “despite the fact that approximately 71% of American Indian and Alaska Natives live in urban areas.”
In April, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — the first Native American woman to hold a cabinet position — announced the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit, or MMU, within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services to provide leadership and direction for cross-departmental and interagency work involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.
The new unit is meant to put “the full weight of the federal government into investigating these cases and marshal law enforcement resources across federal agencies and throughout Indian country,” the Department of Interior said.
Haaland said the new unit will be an “all hands-on deck” approach. “The new MMU unit will provide the resources and leadership to prioritize these cases and coordinate resources to hold people accountable, keep our communities safe, and provide closure for families.”
This week, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation naming Wednesday, May 5, as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, and said helping solve the issues surrounding Native Americans who go missing and are murdered is a priority for his administration.
“My Administration is fully committed to working with Tribal Nations to address the disproportionately high number of missing or murdered Indigenous people, as well as increasing coordination to investigate and resolve these cases and ensure accountability,” Biden said in a Tuesday statement. “I am further committed to addressing the underlying causes behind those numbers, including — among others — sexual violence, human trafficking, domestic violence, violent crime, systemic racism, economic disparities, and substance use and addiction.”
The president said the federal partnerships to address the number of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples will be governed by “the Nation-to-Nation foundation of our relationship with Tribal governments and respect for Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”
On Thursday, state Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland) will present House Resolution 40, marking May 2021 as California’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Month.
He will also lead fellow Assembly members in Native American song and prayer before the start of Thursday’s floor session commemorating Native women who have been victims of violence.
“The numbers of Murdered Missing Indigenous Women and Girls tell us that Native women face a pandemic of violence,” Ramos said. “The crimes against them go unresolved for a number of reasons, from confusion over law enforcement jurisdiction to misclassification of ethnic identity to lack of data and law enforcement collaboration. The bottom line is that victims and their families do not get justice.”
Ramos, the first California Native American elected to the Legislature in its 170-year history, successfully introduced AB 3099 last year.
The bill authorized funding for the state Department of Justice to assist local and tribal law enforcement, improve collaboration among tribes and sponsor a study to increase protective and investigative resources for reporting and identifying missing Native Americans in California, particularly women and girls.
The mural portraying Vanessa Niko in Upper Lake, California, on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. Ending the silence
The mural project, with its very public aspects and the community support it received, is part of a shift toward ending the silence that has enabled violence against Indigenous men, women and children to continue.
Grammer has used his art to take on difficult topics before, beginning 12 years ago when a missionary friend working in Cambodia told him about child trafficking. “That project branded my soul.”
Then, three years ago another friend told him about the “lost flowers,” referring to missing and murdered Indigenous people.
“I’m just an artist who said I need to step up and do something,” he said.
Grammer, founder of the Hope Through Art Foundation, is a Chico native who has focused on trying to bring beauty out of tragedy. Some of his work in that vein has included creating murals in the midst of the devastation of the Paradise Camp fire.
In March, he worked on a mural project in Chico in collaboration with Mechoopda and Pomo tribal members to raise awareness of the MMIW issue.
Morrison’s niece was used as a model for the woman portrayed in the Chico mural. During a conversation Morrison had with Grammer, he told her he wanted to paint Niko. He subsequently put together a proposal for the project, and Niko’s mother gave her approval.
“Things fell into place,” said Morrison, who had been praying for something to bring attention to this case and the larger issues of violence and cultural taboo surrounding it.
The Habematolel tribe, with about 280 enrolled members, had stepped up to help raise funds for Niko’s children after her murder.
Tribal Chair Sherry Treppa said they had contributed to Grammer’s Chico mural project and then were approached to support the Niko project, which they did. That support included permission to place the mural on the tribal hall wall.
“It’s important to us,” said Treppa, adding, “Maybe some good gets passed on the community.”
Treppa, like Morrison, notes the silence that has enabled such violence to continue for too long in tribal communities.
“People don’t talk about it,” said Treppa. “Tribal people talk about it even less.”
Grammer said community members have been incredibly generous, donating everything from the lift needed to paint the wall to food for the mural painters.
Community members also were asked to be part of the artistic and advocate process by adding their handprints in red to the mural.
When it comes to Grammer’s goal of bringing beauty from tragedy, Morrison, looking up at her cousin’s portrait, said, “He’s done it.”
Morrison said she feels like she didn’t speak out enough against Timmons, and now she wants to save others. “If I couldn’t do it for her, I’m going to do it for every woman.”
She said if there is even one person who is saved by awareness of the MMIW crisis, she will feel accomplished.
“It’s an epidemic that needs attention,” she said.
Besides her work to advocate for public awareness, Morrison is doing her part to teach the lessons to her children.
With her on Wednesday was her little son, Raymond.
Asked what we need to do, Raymond — who was eating lunch, stopped to say, “Protect the women.”
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. — California is entering its second consecutive dry year and braces for what could be another devastating wildfire season.
While wildfires are a natural part of California’s landscape, the fire season in California and across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year.
Cal Fire said climate change is considered a key driver of this trend. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.
The increasing fire danger posed by dead grass and hotter, drier conditions in the region is prompting Cal Fire to suspend all burn permits for outdoor residential burning within the State Responsibility Areas of Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties.
This suspension takes effect Monday, May 10, and bans all residential outdoor burning of landscape debris such as branches and leaves.
“Last year, California experienced its most destructive fire season in the state's known history. Together, we must continue to adapt and evolve to be able to withstand the intensity of these fires, keeping in mind, that the only way to minimize the damage they cause is through education, prevention and mitigation efforts,” said Chief Thom Porter, Cal Fire director. “We are relying on the public to be ready.”
Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones reminds residents, whether working to create defensible space around your home or just mowing the lawn, if you live in a wildland area you need to use all equipment responsibly.
Lawnmowers, weed-eaters, chain saws, grinders, welders, tractors and trimmers can all spark a wildland fire. Do your part, the right way, to keep your community fire safe.
Since January 1, 2021, Cal Fire and firefighters across the state have already responded to over 1,788 wildfires.
While outdoor burning of landscape debris by homeowners is no longer allowed, Cal Fire is asking residents to take that extra time to ensure that they are prepared for wildfires by maintaining a minimum of 100 feet of defensible space around every home and buildings on their property and being prepared to evacuate if the time comes.
The department may issue restricted temporary burning permits if there is an essential reason due to public health and safety.
Agriculture, land management, fire training and other industrial-type burning may proceed if a Cal Fire official inspects the burn site and issues a special permit.
The suspension of burn permits for residential landscape debris does not apply to campfires within organized campgrounds or on private property.
Campfires may be permitted if the campfire is maintained in such a manner as to prevent its spread to the wildland. A campfire permit can be obtained at local fire stations or online at www.PreventWildfireCA.org.
For additional information on how you can prepare and prevent wildfires, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Michelle Mackey, sixth grade teacher at Minnie Cannon Elementary School in Middletown, has been named Lake County Teacher of the Year 2021.
