LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council is set to consider a request to annex 300 acres to the city and an agreement to provide supplemental policing services to the city of Lakeport.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 21, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, July 21.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
On Thursday, the council will meet one of the shelter’s adoptable dogs before holding a public hearing on adoption of Resolution No. 2022-48 approving the fiscal year 2022-23 fee schedule.
Under business, the council will consider a request from the owners of Lake Vista Farms to initiate a process to annex 300 acres at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road.
In May, the Board of Supervisors upheld an appeal by neighbors against the Lake Vista Farms cannabis project.
City Manager Alan Flora’s report to the council explained that the Lake Vista Farms project is no longer viable and the owners are analyzing other uses for the property, including cannabis, industrial and residential.
“The same owners have worked with the City on a few other projects within the City limits and at this point would prefer to work with the City on the development of the 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon properties as well,” Flora wrote.
In other business, Police Chief Andrew White will ask for the council’s authorization to enter into an agreement with the city of Lakeport for either entity to provide supplemental law enforcement services.
White’s report said the proposal is in response to the Lakeport Police Department’s request for assistance from the Clearlake Police Department to cover patrol shifts due to temporary staffing challenges. “The Clearlake Police Department has sufficient staffing to provide this coverage on an overtime basis without negatively impacting coverage in Clearlake.”
The council also will consider a contract amendment to the state for additional funding for the Chelsea Investments/Clearlake Apartments project, and hold a first reading of an ordinance amending city code relating to appealing abatement orders to the city, with the second reading to take place Aug. 4.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; minutes of the June 8, 2022 Lake County Vector Control District Board Meeting; adoption of Development Agreement, DA 2022-01 for a commercial cannabis operation located at 2250 Ogulin Canyon Road, further described as Assessor Parcel Number 010-044-19; second reading of Ordinance No. 263-2022 amending Chapter 8, Section 8-6 of the Clearlake Municipal Code relating to traffic and parking regulations.
The council also will meet in closed session to discuss an ongoing lawsuit against the county of Lake and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen and an anticipated case of litigation.
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.
Emily Smith-Greenaway, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Ashton Verdery, Penn State; Haowei Wang, Penn State, and Shawn Bauldry, Purdue University
COVID-19 was the third-most-common cause of death between March 2020 and October 2021 in the U.S., behind only heart disease and cancer, according to a recent study.
Older adults face the greatest risk of dying from COVID-19, but infection with the coronavirus remains a serious risk for younger people, too. In 2021, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in adults aged 45 to 54, the second leading cause for adults aged 35 to 44 and the fourth leading cause for those aged 15 to 34.
As sociologists who study population health, we have been assessing how losing a loved one to COVID-19 has affected people’s well-being. Our research shows that more than 9 million people have lost a close relative to COVID-19 in the U.S. This dramatic rise in bereavement is troubling because our research finds that COVID-19 bereavement not only increases people’s risk of depression, but can make them uniquely vulnerable to mental distress.
The distinctness of grieving COVID-19 deaths
Researchers have a sense of what constitutes “good” and “bad” deaths. Bad deaths are those that involve pain or discomfort and happen in isolation. Their unexpectedness also makes these deaths more distressing. People whose loved ones die “bad deaths” tend to report greater mental distress than those whose loved ones died in more favorable circumstances.
COVID-19 deaths often bear many hallmarks of “bad” deaths. They are preceded by physical pain and distress, often occur in isolated hospital settings and happen suddenly – leaving family members unprepared. The ongoing nature of the pandemic has inflicted an added layer of agony, as individuals are grieving during a time of protracted social isolation, economic precarity and general uncertainty.
In another recent study, our team used national survey data from 27 countries to test whether the mental health impacts of COVID-19 deaths are more severe than death from other causes. We focused on the case of spousal death and compared two groups of people: those whose spouses died of COVID-19 in the pandemic’s first wave and those whose spouses died of other causes just before the pandemic began. We found that COVID-19 widows and widowers face higher rates of depression and loneliness than expected based on widow and widower mental health outcomes pre-pandemic.
The secondary population health consequences of COVID-19 deaths
The outsized effects of COVID-19 deaths on grieving spouses’ mental health is troubling because we estimate that nearly 500,000 people have already lost a spouse to COVID-19 in the U.S. alone. The mental health problems that people face after losing a loved one can also lead to declines in physical health and even increase a person’s risk of death.
Our research suggests that COVID-19 not only increased rates of family bereavement, but that people who lost loved ones to the coronavirus were particularly distressed afterward. But we studied only widowhood; future research needs to identify the potentially unique health, social and economic consequences of COVID-19 losses for other bereaved relatives.
With COVID-19 representing 1 in every 8 deaths between March 2020 and October 2021, there are millions of people who could benefit greatly from financial, social and mental health support. It is also critical to continue taking steps to prevent future COVID-19 deaths. Each death averted not only saves a life but also saves numerous loved ones from the harm that follows these tragedies.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has additional dogs this week waiting to get out of the shelter.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Belgian malinois, border collie, bull terrier, Great Pyrenees, Labrador retriever, pit bull, poodle, shar pei, shepherd, terrier and treeing walker coonhound.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
This 3-year-old female Chihuahua is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-3696. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female Chihuahua
This 3-year-old female Chihuahua has a short red and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-3696.
This 1-year-old male Belgian malinois is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-3694. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Belgian malinois
This 1-year-old male Belgian malinois has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-3694.
This 1-year-old male pit bull is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-3693. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull
This 1-year-old male pit bull has a short brown coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-3693.
This 3-year-old female Great Pyrenees is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-3669. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female Great Pyrenees
This 3-year-old female Great Pyrenees has a white coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-3669.
“BonBon” is a 2-year-old male poodle in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-3668. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘BonBon’
“BonBon” is a 2-year-old male poodle with a long curly coat.
He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-3668.
“Autumn” is a 6-year-old female treeing walker coonhound in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-1776. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Autumn’
“Autumn” is a 6-year-old female treeing walker coonhound with a tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-1776.
“Cali” is a female pit bull terrier in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-3571. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Cali’
“Cali” is a female pit bull terrier with a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-3571.
“Hoss” is an 8-year-old male Chinese Shar-Pei in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-3638. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Hoss’
“Hoss” is an 8-year-old male Chinese Shar-Pei with a short tan coat.
He is in kenne lNo. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-3638.
This 9-year-old female shar pei-pit bull mix is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-3622. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Shar Pei-pit bull mix
This 9-year-old female shar pei-pit bull mix has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-3622.
“Missy” is a 3-year-old female pit bull terrier in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-3524. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Missy’
“Missy” is a 3-year-old female pit bull terrier with a black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-3524.
This 1-year-old male pit bull-bull terrier is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-3644. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Pit bull-bull terrier mix
This 1-year-old male pit bull-bull terrier has a short white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-3644.
This young male border collie-Labrador retriever mix is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-3646. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Border collie-Labrador retriever mix
This young male border collie-Labrador retriever mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-3646.
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.
While all Americans have seen their grocery bills swell, many may not fully appreciate the enormous burden that rising food costs pose for low-income households. The reason is simple: Poor families spend a much larger share of their income on food than the median household.
What explains this enormous discrepancy? The answer begins with a dramatic change in spending patterns among American households during the 20th century, which I learned while researching shifts in commuting practices.
In the 1900s, the bare necessities of life, including food, were enormously expensive compared with today, leaving little room for spending on other goods or services for most Americans, according to a 2006 study by the Department of Labor. On average, American families spent over 40% of their income on food in 1901, 23% on housing and 14% on clothing.
But the relative cost of food and clothing decreased steadily over the next 100 years. By 2002, the two categories represented only 17.3% of a middle-class family’s expenditures and by 2020, the figure had fallen to 14.2%.
The sharp drop in the cost of food and clothing led to a massive reshuffling of family budgets over roughly the past century. As people reduced their spending on these items, they spent more on housing, transportation and insurance. As the country became wealthier, discretionary spending increased, too. Most Americans had more room in their budgets for eating out, televisions and entertainment.
This revolution in household spending largely excluded poor Americans, who continue to devote most of their income to feeding their families and other necessities like shelter. As a result, they are particularly vulnerable to spikes in food costs.
Low-income households devote more than twice as large a share of their budgets to food as middle-income households. As a result, food inflation is around twice as burdensome for families of limited means. But this actually understates the burden of high food costs on the poor because, unlike middle-class families, they have little discretionary spending they can pare back to free up funds for food.
American households are responding to soaring food inflation by eating out less frequently, buying generic brands and consuming less meat. For many, it may be the first time they’ve ever had to be so careful about what they spent on food.
Poor families, however, have long been forced to deploy these tactics to keep food expenditures in check.
An estimated 38 million Americans are food insecure, meaning that they have insufficient means to obtain sufficient food. The concern is, with food inflation rising at the rate it is, more families will face the prospect of being unsure where their next meal is coming from.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control is offering new adult cats along with kittens to new homes this week.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
This female domestic short hair kitten is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-3624. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female domestic short hair kitten
This female domestic short hair kitten has an all-gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-3624.
“Mom” is a female domestic shorthair cat in cat room kennel No. 21, LCAC-A-3635. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Mom’
“Mom” is a female domestic shorthair cat with a white coat and blue eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. 21, LCAC-A-3635.
This 3-year-old male domestic medium hair cat is in cat room kennel No. 63, ID No. LCAC-A-3633. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male domestic medium hair cat
This 3-year-old male domestic medium hair cat has a gray coat with white markings.
He is in cat room kennel No. 63, ID No. LCAC-A-3633.
This female domestic shorthair kitten is in kennel No. 84a, ID No. LCAC-A-3614. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has an all-black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 84a, ID No. LCAC-A-3614.
This female domestic shorthair kitten is in kennel No. 84b, ID No. LCAC-A-3615. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic shorthair kitten has an all-black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 84b, ID No. LCAC-A-3615.
This male domestic shorthair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 84c, ID No. LCAC-A-3616. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic shorthair kitten
This male domestic shorthair kitten has an all-black coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 84c, ID No. LCAC-A-3616.
“Fudge” is a young female domestic shorthair cat in cat room kennel No. A#139, ID No. LCAC-A-3700. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Fudge’
“Fudge” is a young female domestic shorthair cat with a gray tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. A#139, ID No. LCAC-A-3700.
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.
Storm damage in Berlin Township, Ohio, from a derecho that moved through the region on June 13, 2022. This derecho is one of nine billion-dollar disasters to strike the U.S. so far in 2022. Credit: NOAA National Weather Service-Cleveland/Neil Fischer. June kicked off a very warm and dry start to meteorological summer for the U.S., according to experts from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
The year so far also brought nine separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters to the nation — including tornado outbreaks, damaging hail and extreme drought.
Below are more highlights from NOAA's U.S. monthly climate report for June.
Climate by the numbers
June 2022
The average June temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 70.7 degrees F (2.2 degrees above average), making it the 15th-warmest June in 128 years.
Above-average warmth dominated much of the nation last month. Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi each had one of their top-10 warmest Junes on record, while Texas saw its fifth warmest on record. Alaska had its ninth-warmest June in the 98-year period of record for the state.
June precipitation across the U.S. was 2.33 inches — 0.60 of an inch below average — tying with 1930 as the 12th-driest June in the historical record.
Despite the below-average precipitation, some states saw a rather wet month. New Mexico had its fifth-wettest June on record, with Washington State and Oregon ranking seventh and eighth wettest, respectively.
Year to date (YTD, January through June 2022)
The YTD average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 48.7 degrees F, (1.2 degrees above the 20th-century average) ranking in the warmest third of the record. California and Florida both saw their seventh-warmest YTD on record, while South Carolina had its eighth warmest.
The precipitation total was 13.84 inches, 1.47 inches below average, which ranked in the driest third in the January-through-June record. California saw its driest such YTD on record, while Nevada and Utah ranked second and third driest for this six-month period, respectively.
This U.S. map is plotted with nine billion-dollar weather and climate disasters that occurred in the first six months of 2022. For details, please visit the website, ncdc.noaa.gov/billions. Credit: NOAA/NCEI.
Billion-dollar disasters
There were nine individual billion-dollar weather and climate events across the U.S. during the first six months of 2022, including:
• Three severe weather events. • Two tornado outbreaks. • Two hail storms. • A derecho event. • A broad drought event.
For this six-month period, the 2022 disaster count ranks fifth highest behind 2017, 2020, 2011 and 2021. With an estimated cost of $2.2 billion, the costliest event so far this year was a severe weather event that occurred across the South between April 11 to 13, 2022.
Since 1980, when NOAA began tracking these events in the U.S., the nation has sustained 332 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (based on the Consumer Price Index adjustment to 2022) per event. The total cost of these 332 events exceeds $2.275 trillion.
Other notable climate events from this report
An intense wildfire season continued: June saw large wildfires burning across portions of the South and Southwest, as many others grew rapidly in Alaska. One million acres burned in Alaska by June 18 — the earliest such occurrence in the calendar year in the last 32 years.
By July 1, 1.85 million acres had been consumed, the second-highest June total on record and the seventh-highest acreage burned for any calendar month on record for Alaska. Across all 50 states, more than 3.9 million acres have burned from January 1 through June 30 — nearly 2.3 times the average for this time of year. Lake Mead hit a record low: In late June the nation’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead, located outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, saw its water level drop close to the dead pool stage — the elevation that prevents water from flowing downstream from the lake’s dam.
On June 30 the water elevation was 1,043.02 feet — the lowest elevation since the 1930s when the lake was first filled.
A map of the United States plotted with significant climate events that occurred during June 2022. Please see the story below as well as the full climate report highlights at http://bit.ly/USClimate202206offsite link. Credit: NOAA/NCEI.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. Masks are highly encouraged where 6-foot distancing cannot be maintained.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the city clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19.
On Tuesday, Public Works Superintendent Ron Ladd will present to the council a construction services agreement with Builder Solutions Inc.
The new park consists of approximately 6.9 acres at 800 and 801 N. Main St.
Ladd’s report said the city received two bids for the project, which were opened on July 12.
Builder Solutions Inc. was the lowest of two bids submitted at $4,399,381. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $4,237,401, Ladd said.
He said construction is estimated to start in early September and be complete mid-January 2023.
In February 2020 the city received a $5.9 million grant to purchase the land and build the park from the California Department of Parks and Recreation in January 2020 through Proposition 68, the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018, as Lake County News has reported.
“After two years of design, the project is ready for construction,” Ladd wrote.
Ladd said the project includes construction of a basketball court, splash pad, skate park, concession building with restrooms, shade structures, picnic areas, fitness equipment, a pavilion, lighting, irrigation and landscaping.
The bids were opened July 12, 2022. Two bids were received for the project.
Also on Tuesday, the council will consider adopting a resolution setting the storm drainage special tax at twenty cents per square foot of area covered by the new structure and related impermeable surface.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on June 21; adoption of a resolution authorizing continued remote teleconference meetings of the Lakeport City Council and its legislative bodies pursuant to Government Code section 54953(e); warrants; approve event application 2022-020, with staff recommendations, for the 2022 Konocti Challenge.
After the open portion of the meeting, the council will meet in closed session to discuss labor negotiations with the Lakeport Police Officers Association.
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.
At right, retiring Lucerne Elementary School District Superintendent-Principal Mike Brown and his successor, Megan Grant, at his retirement send off on Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Lucerne, California. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. LUCERNE, Calif. — Standing together outside of the new kindergarten classroom building at Lucerne Elementary School in the noonday sun on June 30, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg chatted with Mike Brown, the retiring elementary district superintendent-principal.
“This is it, the last day,” Falkenberg said.
Brown agreed. After three decades as an educator, he would leave the school that day and walk into retirement.
The afternoon event on June 30 was part of a heartfelt send off for Brown, a district employee for 32 years, with half of that time spent as superintendent-principal.
“Mike has shaped so many lives in his 32 years of service, mine included,” said Megan Grant, Brown’s assistant principal who now succeeds him in the superintendent-principal job.
The gathering was held next to the school’s new kindergarten building. Funded by a $1.2 million Full Day Kindergarten grant the school received from the California Department of Education, construction took place throughout 2020 and students and teachers moved into it in February 2021.
It offers two state-of-the-art classrooms, spacious enough for big classes and with attached bathrooms, a big plus when dealing with the youngest students who need to make frequent trips.
The building also laid the groundwork for full-day kindergarten that begin for the district in the last school year.
Board President Dawn McAuley said the construction of the kindergarten building took so much effort; from start to finish, it was five years.
“This school is a beautiful place,” where students are safe, protected and educated, McAuley said.
Part of Brown’s send off that day included dedicating the kindergarten building in his honor. The building is now named the Michael V. Brown Kindergarten Complex.
A plaque placed on the building says: “In honor and recognition of the outstanding commitment and 32 years of distinguished service to the Lucerne Elementary School District. Mr. Brown’s exemplary leadership and commitment to the students of this school were unparalleled. He went above and beyond the scope of his position to ensure that the students of this school were given the tools to become capable and conscientious citizens. Let this building embody his legacy and be a place where the seeds of knowledge are planted, nurtured, and given the resources to grow.”
McAuley called Brown “our Johnny Appleseed.”
The seeds Brown has planted and Lucerne Elementary’s resulting accomplishments are critical to offering the community what it needs for its children. Brown said the area is considered high poverty.
On Feb. 9, Brown gave his resignation letter to the school board, which accepted it. “It was hard to write that letter.”
The board then offered the position to Megan Grant, who accepted it. Grant, an Upper Lake resident, has been Brown’s assistant principal for the past six years and has been with the district for 16 years. Her tenure began July 1, the day after Brown’s retirement.
In November, Congressman John Garamendi honored her as Lake County’s Woman of the Year, an honor for which Brown nominated her.
Grant said during the June 30 event that finding a purpose and living with unwavering dedication is what makes a job a career. “Being accountable to your purpose and taking action when the path isn’t clear is what makes a role model,” she said.
“Mike embodies dedication and has been a role model to so many people. He has this amazing ability to plant seeds in people, then come back and give that gentle push when they were ready for it, then move them into change,” Grant said. “It is easy to give advice, it is much harder to give advice at that moment when someone is ready to accept it. That is a space where a person can shape someone else's life.”
Mike Brown, center, leaves the podium after giving his farewell at a retirement celebration on Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Lucerne, California. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. Still loving the job
In a late May interview with Lake County News, Brown explained he had a goal for when to retire.
“I wanted to retire when I still loved going to work,” he said, adding, “I think now is a good time.”
The fact that he still enjoyed his job up to that last sunny day last month — even as the last years of his career were marked with the intensity of finding the way through the unknowns of a pandemic — is something he credits to the staff, faculty, students and their families at the little school.
He noted during his remarks at the retirement event that the school’s employees — 17 teachers and 40 staff — are very cohesive.
“I’ve never seen anything like it at any other school,” he said.
Brown’s wife, Toni, a teacher in the Kelseyville Unified School District who has taught for 36 years, also is retiring this year. She also had been planning it, and after they talked about it, Brown said they decided, “Let’s just do it together.”
They have a growing extended family, with a new grandson, Jack, born in April to one of their daughters, and their son has two young children, all of whom were on hand to see their grandpa’s career be celebrated with the June 30 send off.
Besides time with family, Brown likes to hunt and fish, and hopes to spend a lot of time traveling.
“I have places to go and fish to meet,” he told staff and friends at the building dedication.
During his tenure, Brown has seen all manner of changes and challenges, including the Great Recession, school funding challenges, new funding formulas, more learning requirements, a community challenged by a high poverty rate and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Brown, Grant and the rest of the staff and faculty came through the pandemic challenge by becoming leaders in the effort to return children successfully, and safely, to class, in some cases a year earlier than other districts.
Lucerne Elementary and the Upper Lake Unified School District reopened for classes at the start of the 2020-21 school year, which Brown said was the result of quickly adjusting to state requirements and using COVID money to order supplies and equipment needed to get back in class.
Brown, a believer in the importance of having children learning in person, said getting children back school early in the pandemic is one of his proudest moments.
“Online learning was a flop statewide,” he said.
Even so, he said Lucerne Elementary has families that haven’t yet had their children return to school in person.
From left, Lucerne Elementary School District Board member Bruce Higgins, retiring Superintendent-Principal Mike Brown, Board Clerk Stacia Fetzer and Board President Dawn McAuley at Brown’s farewell send off on Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Lucerne, California. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. The road to Lucerne
Brown, a Yuba City native, met his wife, Toni, when they were attending California State University, Chico, a school known for its teaching program. He was an agriculture major.
When his wife, a member of the Renfro family, wanted to return home to Kelseyville, they made the move from the valley and have remained here since.
He had been working for a moving company and also had enjoyed coaching before he decided to get his teaching degree, which he did through Dominican University.
He did his student teaching in the Kelseyville Unified School District then went to work for Lucerne Elementary, where he taught for 12 years, served as assistant principal for four years and then moved into the superintendent’s job, a position he held for the last 16 years.
When he first arrived at Lucerne Elementary, there were about 350 students. Today, Brown said there are around 300. He attributes the enrollment change to many employers leaving the county over the past few decades, leading to some families leaving the community.
In the years since, the school has dealt with lost time due to wildland fires, recessions, teacher shortages, funding cuts and then new funding and bond opportunities for schools and facilities, and now COVID.
Brown’s efforts have not just impacted students but their learning space.
In his first year, they modernized the gym. Later, in November 2016, voters passed the district’s $4 million Measure A bond, which is paying for new classrooms and other facilities. Then the new kindergarten classrooms were completed.
Brown said he actually had planned to retire two years ago. However, when the pandemic hit, he decided to stay for a few more years, taking the opposite course of some in the profession who decided instead to leave it.
The kindergarten classroom building at Lucerne Elementary School in Lucerne, California, that was named for retiring Superintendent-Principal Mike Brown. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. Navigating new challenges
Challenges aren’t anything new or unusual for educators. However, the last two years have arguably been among the most challenging of his career — and indeed the careers of many educators.
In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Lucerne Elementary was closed briefly, at the same time that other schools closed. Another month would pass before Lake County Public Health confirmed the first COVID-19 case in Lake County.
Brown said that closure during the final quarter of the 2020-21 school year was Lucerne’s only closure.
However, getting his little district ready to reopen sooner rather than later was no straightforward task, with no road map. It required foresight, planning and long hours.
His partner in the work was Grant. Both worked through the entire summer of 2020, getting the necessary preparations, planning and safety measures in place in order to reopen school in August.
He said those preparations included using the first round of COVID funding to upgrade the school’s heating and cooling units, installing high grade air filters and carbon dioxide filters to improve the quality of air and its freshness.
Building projects also continued while the children were away, including new additional classrooms replacing portables. “If you’ve ever taught in a portable, you know the joy of seeing one torn down,” Brown said.
When school did reopen, there were still hurdles to clear. Temperature testing was required. Social distancing, masking and plastic barriers were in place. There also were minor COVID outbreaks.
Once they were back in school starting in August 2020, the doors remained open except for a period during February 2021, when a temporary school closure was required in response to a number of staff being exposed to the coronavirus, he said.
“It was a long year,” he said, noting during that time he substituted in classrooms when teachers couldn’t be at work.
Extra safety measures like temperature checks continued until earlier this year, when Brown said they made the decision to discontinue them. That allowed him and other staff to go back to doing their jobs.
He said he’s proud of that work to welcome children back to the campus.
“They’re really resilient,” Brown said of his students. “I think they know this is their safe place.”
New classrooms at Lucerne Elementary School in Lucerne, California. They are located across from the kindergarten classroom building named for retiring Superintendent-Principal Mike Brown. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. What’s ahead
Brown leaves the district in good stead. Not only is Grant ready for the new leadership role, but there is the potential for more campus improvements to come.
She told Lake County News that she’s doing well and settling into the new position.
There is more work to be done under the Measure A bond, and Brown said he’s hoping that the state will allocate $10 billion for schools this year, as the school is in line for four new classrooms at a cost of $4 million to $5 million, plus modernization of the main building. There also could be another transitional kindergarten grant for the school.
The last project he saw through is the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID program’s introduction.
Brown said Lucerne Elementary is the first elementary school in Lake County to pursue it, and next year, every school will be doing it at the elementary level. He said it helps children become better, motivated students, and to be more independent.
During the last week of school, staff held a farewell barbecue for him, and the children made him banners and cards. “It was adorable,” Brown said.
At his retirement send off on June 30, Brown became choked up as he spoke about watching children come back to school after the pandemic, and he offered his appreciation to his entire hardworking staff, crediting him with helping get the challenges.
He also thanked his wife Toni for putting up with all of it — including going to work earlier and staying later.
“Keep this place an amazing place to work and learn,” he told his staff, also urging them to make a difference in students’ lives and to work to improve the community.
There can’t be any more fulfilling work, he said.
What’s ahead for Brown may be best summed up in a sign that sat on his desk.
It read: “And to think, some of life's best stories haven’t even begun yet.”
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.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to take this panorama of a proposed landing site for the Mars Sample Return lander that would serve as part of the campaign to bring samples of Mars rock and sediment to Earth for intensive study. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is conducting its science campaign, taking samples at Jezero Crater’s ancient river delta, but it’s also been busy scouting.
The rover is looking for locations where the planned Mars Sample Return, or MSR, Campaign can land spacecraft and collect sample tubes Perseverance has filled with rock and sediment.
The sites being scouted are under consideration because of their proximity to the delta and to one another, as well as for their relatively flat, lander-friendly terrain.
Mars Sample Return is a historic endeavor that would retrieve and deliver samples of that faraway terrain for intensive study in laboratories on Earth to look for signs of past microscopic life on the Red Planet.
The strategic partnership between NASA and European Space Agency, or ESA, would involve multiple spacecraft, including a rocket that would launch from the surface of Mars.
Engineers planning a Mars landing prefer to work with flatter ground because rocks and an undulating surface are harder to land on. With that in mind, the MSR Entry, Descent, and Landing team is looking for a pancake-flat landing zone with a 200-foot (60-meter) radius.
“The Perseverance team pulled out all the stops for us, because Mars Sample Return has unique needs when it comes to where we operate,” said MSR Program Manager Richard Cook of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Essentially, a dull landing place is good. The flatter and more uninspiring the vista, the better we like it, because while there are a lot of things that need to be done when we arrive to pick up the samples, sightseeing is not one of them.”
The first stage of MSR is already in progress: Perseverance has cored, collected, and sealed nine samples of Mars rock to date. The ninth, collected on July 6, is the first from Jezero Crater’s ancient river delta. The plan is for Perseverance to drop, or cache, sample tubes on the surface to await later retrieval during MSR surface operations.
Choosing an area that lacks large rocks (especially those over 7 1/2 inches, or 19 centimeters, in diameter), sand dunes, and steeply angled terrain would go a long way toward easing the path for an MSR recovery vehicle to efficiently grab tubes before heading to the MSR Sample Retrieval Lander and its Mars Ascent Vehicle.
The MSR team calls the area they’ve been looking at the “landing strip” because – at least from images taken from spacecraft in orbit – it appears to be as flat and long as a runway. But they needed a rover’s-eye-view for a closer look.
“We had been eyeing these locations since before Perseverance’s landing, but imagery from orbit can only tell you so much,” said Al Chen, Mars Sample Return Systems Engineering & Integration manager at JPL. “Now we have some up-close-and-personal shots of the landing strip that indicate we were right on the money. The landing strip will more than likely make our shortlist of potential landing and caching sites for MSR.”
NASA’s Mars Sample Return Campaign promises to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world.
The campaign would fulfill a solar system exploration goal, a high priority since the 1970s and in the last three National Academy of Sciences Planetary Decadal Surveys.
This strategic NASA and ESA partnership would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and the first launch from the surface of another planet.
The samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover during its exploration of an ancient lakebed are thought to present the best opportunity to reveal clues about the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for past life.
By better understanding the history of Mars, we would improve our understanding of all rocky planets in the solar system, including Earth.
Learn more about the Mars Sample Return Program here.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to take this image of flat terrain to be considered for a Mars Sample Return lander that would serve as part of the campaign to bring samples of Mars rock and sediment to Earth for intensive study. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — After Lake County’s Community Development director resigned last week, the Board of Supervisors is expected to get an update on Tuesday on the process to find her successor.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 19, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 948 7125 3037, pass code 045716. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,94871253037#,,,,*045716#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
On Tuesday, the board will consider an update on the Human Resources Department’s recruitment process for the Community Development director position. The item is untimed.
Last week, Community Development Director Mary Darby tendered her resignation to the board after less than a year, following another closed session performance evaluation, as Lake County News has reported. Her resignation is effective Nov. 4.
A report to the board from County Administrative Officer Susan Parker said Human Resources staff will review with the board the steps that will be taken for the recruitment.
On Thursday, Human Resources staff opened “a continuous and promotional recruitment” which will have a first review of applications on Aug. 9, Parker reported. Human Resources is also planning advertisements with professional organizations, recruitment sites and social media.
If, after the first review of applications, no qualified applicants are produced, Parker said Human Resources will request a bid from the several executive search firms.
She said that Human Resources recently completed a request for qualifications for recruitment firm services for the Public Health officer, her own job and for county counsel attorney positions.
Out of the 10 recruitment firms contacted for the request for qualifications, Human Resources only received two qualified responses for the county administrative officer’s recruitment and one for the Public Health officer recruitment.
It should be noted that the board hired Parker before ever engaging a recruitment firm.
In an untimed item, the board will consider a resolution clarifying the eligibility requirements for early activation permits in Lake County.
In an item on the consent agenda, the board will consider approving the purchase of a customized Mercedes Sprinter 3500 vehicle to serve as Lake County’s new Bookmobile, and authorize County Librarian Christopher Veach to issue and sign a purchase order not to exceed $250,000 to Farber Specialty Vehicles, Ohio. That new vehicle is grant-funded.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve agreement between county of Lake and Hilltop Recovery Services for substance use disorder treatment ASAM Levels 1.0, 2.1, 3.1, intensive outpatient and outpatient drug free treatment services in the amount of $336,150 for fiscal year 2022-23 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.2: Approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake — Lake County Behavioral Health Services as lead agency for the Lake County Continuum of Care and World Wide Healing Hands for fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23 and authorize the board chair to sign.
5.3: Approve Board of Supervisors minutes June 28, 2022.
5.4: Approve purchase of a customized Mercedes Sprinter 3500 vehicle to serve as a Bookmobile; and authorize the county librarian/assistant purchasing agent to issue and sign a purchase order not to exceed $250,000 to Farber Specialty Vehicles, Ohio.
5.5: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and the Yuba-Yuba, Sutter-Colusa Tri-County Regional Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility for youth housing for the term of July 19, 2022, through June 30, 2025, for an amount not to exceed $25,000 in any single fiscal year and authorize the chair to sign.
5.6: Adopt proclamation designating the week of July 17 to 23 as Probation Officers Week in Lake County.
5.7: Acceptance of a donation from the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake in the amount of $25,000.
5.8: Acceptance of an IRobot 510 PackBot from the Hayward Police Department through the 1033 program.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of July 17 to 23 as Probation Officers Week in Lake County.
6.3, 9:10 a.m.: Consideration of ARPA/SLFRF allocation recommendations, pursuant to the recovery and revitalization plan for Lake County Not available Not available
6.4, 9:35 a.m.: Consideration of ordinance to adopt Lake County Sheriff’s Office “Military Equipment” Policy #708.
6.5, 10 a.m.: a) Consideration of an update from the county of Lake’s Energy Services Co. (ESCo), Trane US Inc., regarding recent progress on the N. Lakeport FLASHES Energy, disaster and climate change resiliency projects; and b) consideration of next steps and potential direction to staff to develop a letter of commitment to further the North Lakeport projects.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Continued from July 12, consideration of a resolution adopting a display of flags policy.
7.3: Consideration of resolution clarifying eligibility requirements for early activation permits in Lake County.
7.4: Consideration of second amendment to the abandoned vehicle towing and disposal services agreement with Kelseyville Auto Salvage Towing to Increase the FY 21/22 limit by $5,500 and FY 22/23 by $10,000 and approve the chair to sign.
7.5: Consideration of update on HR’s recruitment process for the Community Development director position.
CONSENT AGENDA
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Government Code sec. 54956.9(d)2),(e)(1) — One potential case.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 549.56.9(d)(1) — Citizens for Environmental Protection and Responsible Planning, et al. v. County of Lake, et al.
8.3: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(1) — Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. County of Lake.
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.
Sightseeing buses at a pullout popular for taking in views of North America’s tallest peak, Denali, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, in 2016. AP Photo/Becky Bohrer
In June 2022, I set off on a 10,650-mile, six-week motorcycle trip from Tennessee to Alaska and back again, carrying not too much more than my GPS and phone. The ride kick-started a year of travel for research – and despite the horror stories of delayed and canceled flights, I couldn’t be happier.
Just about everywhere I went, even in remote parts of the Yukon and British Columbia, folks were traveling. Many of the trailers being pulled were brand-new, suggesting the owners had bought them recently. After yet another cooped-up pandemic winter, it seems people’s appetite to get away is just as keen.
But why do we travel in the first place? What is the allure of the open road?
As a professor of religion, psychology and culture, I study experiences that lie at the intersection of all three. And in my research on travel, I’m struck by its unsolvable paradoxes: Many of us seek to get away in order to be present; we speed to destinations in order to slow down; we may care about the environment but still leave carbon footprints.
Ultimately, many people hope to return transformed. Travel is often viewed as what anthropologists call a “rite of passage”: structured rituals in which individuals separate themselves from their familiar surroundings, undergo change and return rejuvenated or “reborn.”
But travelers are not just concerned with themselves. The desire to explore may be a defining human trait, as I argue in my latest book, “Just Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road.” The ability to do it, however, is a privilege that can come at a cost to host communities. Increasingly, the tourism industry and scholars alike are interested in ethical travel, which minimizes visitors’ harm on the places and people they encounter.
The media inundate tourists with advice and enticements about where to travel and what to do there. But in order to meet the deeper goals of transformative, ethical travel, the “why” and “how” demand deeper discernment.
During my book research, I studied travel stories in sacred scriptures and researched findings from psychologists, sociologists, ethicists, economists and tourism scholars. I argue that meaningful travel is best understood not as a three-stage rite but as a six-phase practice, based on core human experiences. These phases can repeat and overlap within the same journey, just as adventures twist and turn.
Traveling begins long before departure, as we research and plan. But anticipation is more than logistics. The Dutch aptly call it “voorpret”: literally, the pleasure before.
How and what people anticipate in any given situation has the power to shape their experience, for better or worse – even when it comes to prejudice. Psychology experiments, for example, have shown that when children anticipate greater cooperation between groups, it can reduce their bias in favor of their own group.
But phenomenology, a branch of philosophy that studies human experience and consciousness, emphasizes that anticipation is also “empty”: our conscious intentions and expectations of what’s to come could be fulfilled or dashed by a future moment.
With that in mind, travelers should try to remain open to uncertainty and even disappointment.
2. Leaving
Leaving can awaken deep emotions that are tied to our earliest experiences of separation. The attachment styles psychologists study in infants, which shape how secure people feel in their relationships, continue to shape us as adults. These experiences can also affect how comfortable people feel exploring new experiences and leaving home, which can affect how they travel.
Some travelers leave with excitement, while others experience hesitation or guilt before the relief and excitement of departure. Mindfulness about the stages of travel can help people manage anxiety.
3. Surrendering
Travelers cannot control their journey: A flight is canceled, or a vehicle breaks down; the weather report predicts sunshine, but it rains for days on end. To some extent, they have to surrender to the unknown.
Modern Western cultures tend to see “surrendering” as something negative – as hoisting a white flag. But as a therapeutic concept, surrendering helps people let go of inhibiting habits, discover a sense of wholeness and experience togetherness with others. The perfectionist learns that a changed itinerary doesn’t mean a diminished travel experience and lets go of the fear of failure. The person with a strong sense of independence grows in vulnerability when receiving care from strangers.
In fact, some psychological theories hold that the self longs for surrender, in the sense of liberation: letting down its defensive barriers and finding freedom from attempts to control one’s surroundings. Embracing that view can help travelers cope with the reality that things may not go according to plan.
4. Meeting
Meeting, traveling’s fourth phase, is the invitation to discover oneself and others anew.
All cultures have unconscious “rules of recognition,” their own ingrained customs and ways of thinking, making it more difficult to forge cross-cultural connections. Carrying conscious and unconscious stereotypes, travelers may see some people and places as uneducated, dangerous, poor or sexual, while hosts may see travelers as rich, ignorant and exploitable.
Going beyond such stereotypes requires that travelers be mindful of behaviors that can add tension to their interactions – knowing conversational topics to avoid, for example, or following local dress codes.
In many parts of the world, those challenges are intensified by the legacy of colonization, which makes it harder for people to meet in authentic ways. Colonial views still influence Western perceptions of nonwhite groups as exotic, dangerous and inferior.
Starting to overcome these barriers demands an attitude known as cultural humility, which is deeper than “cultural competence” – simply knowing about a different culture. Cultural humility helps travelers ask questions like, “I don’t know,” “Please help me understand” or “How should I …?”
Caring involves overcoming “privileged irresponsibility”: when a traveler does not recognize their own privilege and take responsibility for it, or does not recognize other people’s lack of privilege.
Travel becomes irresponsible when tourists ignore injustices and inequities they witness or the way their travels contribute to the unfolding climate crisis. Ethically, “empathy” is not enough; travelers must pursue solidarity, as an act of “caring with.” That might mean hiring local guides, eating in family-owned restaurants and being mindful of the resources like food and water that they use.
Coming back can cause reverse culture shock if travelers struggle to readjust. But that shock can diminish as travelers share their experiences with others, stay connected to the places they visited, deepen their knowledge about the place and culture, anticipate a possible return trip or get involved in causes that they discovered on their trip.
I believe that reflecting on these six phases can invite the kind of mindfulness needed for transformative, ethical travel. And amid a pandemic, the need for thoughtful travel that prioritizes host communities’ well-being is clear.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Next week the candidate filing period opens for the city of Clearlake’s Nov. 8 municipal election, in which two city council seats will be up for election.
Those seats are held by Russell Cremer and Dirk Slooten, and both men confirmed to Lake County News on Friday that they intend to seek reelection.
Both Cremer and Slooten served on the Clearlake Planning Commission. Cremer was appointed to fill a vacancy in May 2018 and in November 2018 both men were elected for the first time. Slooten is in his second year as mayor.
Also on the ballot is the city treasurer job, which has been vacant for many years and is filled by staff.
The city reported that the candidate filing period begins on Monday, July 18, at 8 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12. That period would be extended to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 17, for non-incumbents if either Cremer or Slooten didn’t file.
Candidate packets will be available in the Administrative Services/City Clerk’s Office, 14050 Olympic Drive, by appointment only.
Candidates are asked to schedule an appointment time with the clerk to go over the packet disbursal process, which takes one hour.
For more information, contact the Administrative Services/City Clerk’s Office at 707-994-8201, Extension 106, or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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.