Middletown players, led by captain Jake Davis (44), just before their final regular season game on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

The weekend victory ensures a playoff berth for the Mustangs in the upcoming North Coast Section Division IV tournament, while the battered Wolverines – who suited just 14 players Friday night – will sit out the post-season due to extensive injuries.

Also for the third straight year, the Mustangs finish the year with an overall 9-1 record, putting them tied for first place with St. Patrick/St. Vincent and Fort Bragg in the Division IV football standings.

“I think this is probably my best overall team of the last three years,” longtime coach Bill Foltmer said before the game.

After a failed attempt by the Wolverines to open the game with an onside kick, the Mustangs quickly took control, needing just four offensive plays before running back David Pike scored on an eight-yard dash.

Middletown's Luke Parker, Lake County sack leader, pressures Willits quarterback Brent Horger on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

After both teams traded interceptions, Middletown struck again on a nine-yard end zone pass from quarterback Kyle Brown to wide receiver Connor Chick, and the Mustangs went ahead 14-0.

Middletown put one more score on the board before the first quarter ended when Pike carried the ball three consecutive plays, capping the drive with a seven-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 21-0.

Pike scored twice more in the second quarter – on carries of 38 yards and 8 yards – breaking Lake County’s all-time record for most touchdowns scored in a single season at 29.

Jereomy Hoefer scored Middletown’s next touchdown on a three-yard scamper, and defensive back Andres Fernandez posted the Mustangs’ final score of the night when he intercepted an errant Willits pass and ran it all the way back to the Wolverine end zone to bring the score to 49-0.

The Friday night win is Middletown’s third consecutive shutout victory – and their six of the season – and extends Middletown’s current winning streak to nine games.

“They’re a class act,” Willits head coach Nat Collicott said of the Mustangs. “It’s an honor to play Coach Foltmer on his field and hey, they’re good. I wish them the best in the playoffs.”

Middletown running back David Pike takes off on a 28-yard run for his third touchdown run of the game on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. He later added a fourth touchdown, his 29th of the season, setting a Lake County record. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

Collicott said of his team, “We’re pretty beat up. We had some very key injuries. We lost all of our running backs and some starting defensive players.”

Foltmer noted the Wolverine injuries and said, “It wasn’t the same Willits team that it was earlier in the season.”

Willits finished the game with just 64 yards total offense on 21 carries, while Middletown had 255 yards total offense on 31 carries.

Kyle Brown completed three of four passes for 67 yards and Pike carried the ball 13 times for 131 yards for the Mustangs.

Looking ahead to the playoffs, Foltmer sounded upbeat about his team’s prospects.

Foltmer specifically cited star defensive linebacker Jake Davis – who was last year’s All North Central I League Most Valuable Defensive Player and sat out the first half of this season with a broken jaw – calling him “my best player, and arguably one of the better players I’ve ever had.”

Middletown tight end Chris Oatman makes a remarkable one-handed catch for a 40-yard completion from quarterback Kyle Brown on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

“We’ve got a pretty strong defense, and I think defense is what will help you go a little bit deeper in the playoffs,” Foltmer said.

He added, “There’s an old saying in football: ‘Offenses put butts in the stands, but defenses win championships.’”

In JV action, the Mustangs beat Willits 38-6, finishing their season with an 8-2 record, while the Wolverine loss to Middletown brought their JV team record to 1-9 for the year.

Middletown’s next game – their first of the post-season – will be determined by North Coast Section Division IV tournament directors on Sunday, Nov. 14.

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Middleton junior Nolan Thachenko breaks a tackle in the second quarter of Middletown's 49-0 win over Willits on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

Retiring Middletown High School Athletic Director Geri Giovannetti receives the Middletown Sports Boosters Community Service Award in a halftime ceremony on Friday, November 12, 2010, in Middletown, Calif. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

The quake, reported at 12:34 a.m., occurred at a depth of 1.4 miles eight miles southeast of Talmage, nine miles west of Lakeport and 10 miles southeast of Ukiah, according to the US Geological Survey.

The survey received 27 shake reports from seven zip codes, including Lakeport, Hopland, Ukiah, Santa Rosa, Vacaville and San Jose, an estimated 219 miles away.

A 3.0-magnitude quake was reported near Talmage in August, as Lake County News has reported.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

The hospital plans a $12.1 million renovation and expansion of its emergency department.

The festivities began with a reception followed by a variation of the traditional groundbreaking, in which hospital executives and physicians wielding golden sledge hammers broke through a symbolic emergency department wall, signaling commencement of the long-awaited renovation project.

Participants in the ceremony included Jennifer Swenson, vice president of operations; members of the hospital’s governing board and medical staff; and St. Helena Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Terry Newmyer.

“This is an exciting event for us, and we want to share it with everyone,” said Newmyer. “A modernized and expanded emergency department is a critical milestone in our commitment to delivering excellence here in our community.”

The renovation will create 12 state-of-the-art patient monitoring rooms, two of which will be for trauma patients.

The project also will improve the configuration of the emergency department, providing a private ambulance entrance, a welcoming entrance for walk-in patients and visitors, and a pleasant, comfortable environment in the larger remodeled waiting area.

The triage area will be redesigned so that patients can go directly from the emergency department lobby to a private bed, if necessary.

St. Helena Hospital Clearlake is a 25-bed acute care Critical Access Hospital serving South Lake County.

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Veggie Girl Esther Oertel looks at the culinary history of Thanksgiving. Courtesy photo.

In just over 10 days, most of us will be celebrating the quintessential American holiday, Thanksgiving.

Roasted turkey with stuffing, bowls of sweet and white potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies will fill our tables.

While we consider this delicious fare traditional for the Thanksgiving feast, the truth is that what we serve on this day has evolved over time. What the Pilgrims and Indians ate in 1621 New England bears little resemblance to what we serve today.

In 1841, more than 200 years after what we now refer to as “the first Thanksgiving,” New England historian Alexander Young discovered a letter from Edward Winslow, one of the original colonists, mentioning the 1621 feast. It was Young that gave that feast the moniker mentioned above.

Winslow describes four hunters killing enough fowl to feed the camp for a week. While turkey was plentiful in North America – and eaten by the colonists and Wampanoag Indians – it’s speculated that the “fowl” mentioned in the letter consisted of seasonal waterfowl such as ducks and geese.

Turkey eventually became the fowl of choice on Thanksgiving menus, but not right away.

A menu for a New England Thanksgiving dinner circa 1779 mentions roast turkey, but only as one of the meats offered at the meal, not as the star. Also listed are venison, pork, pigeon and goose.

In contrast, this year more than 240 million turkeys will have been raised as the mainstay of our Thanksgiving dinners.

What about the stuffing? Historians tell us that the practice of stuffing the cavities of fowl and other animals with mixtures of breads, spices and other items is ancient. Romans and Arabs employed this cooking technique. The terms “stuffing” and “dressing” as they relate to cookery derive from Medieval European culinary practices.

The English settlers and Wampanoag did occasionally stuff birds and fish, but if stuffing was used, it likely consisted of herbs and onions, rather than bread.

Any cranberries served at the harvest celebration were likely only in Wampanoag dishes. They enjoyed them raw or sweetened with maple sugar.

It would be 50 years before an Englishman mentioned boiling this New England berry with sugar for a “sauce to be eaten with … meat.” Since sugar was expensive in England in 1621, it’s quite possible that there was not any of this imported sweet in New Plymouth at that time.

Today turkey and cranberries are a much-loved food marriage.

The tradition of serving fruit with meat, particularly citrus fruit with fatty meat, goes back thousands of years, likely originating in the Middle East. Examples are found in many cultures and cuisines. The acid in the fruit cuts the fat in the meat. In the case of lean meats such as turkey and chicken, cranberries add flavor to what is generally considered a bland food.

Other classic meat and fruit combos include pork and applesauce, goose and cherry sauce, fish and lemon, and duck l’orange.

It’s hard to imagine Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes, but the original feast didn’t include them.

Potatoes, which originated in South America, had made their way across the Atlantic to Europe, but had not been generally adopted into the English diet. The potato was virtually unknown there in the 17th century. At that point they were not included in the diet of the Wampanoag Indians, either (though they did eat other varieties of local tubers).

Today’s Thanksgiving meals typically include a version of a sweet potato (or yam) dish, but that wouldn’t have been included in the original harvest meal.

The sweet potato, which originated in the Caribbean, also had made its way to Europe, but was rare and available only to the wealthy. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain liked them and had them planted in their court gardens. Their son-in-law, King Henry VIII of England, liked them as well, and considered them to be an aphrodisiac.

Yams are native to Africa and are often confused with sweet potatoes. Most sweet potato dishes – pies included – are just as successfully made with yams.

Like the white potato, neither yams nor sweet potatoes were part of the diet of the Wampanoag Indians or, for the most part, the English at the time of the first feast.

Have you ever wondered why marshmallows are so often paired with sweet potatoes on the Thanksgiving table?

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marshmallows were very trendy. They were mass produced, plentiful and very inexpensive, and were aggressively marketed by the companies that manufactured them.

The earliest recipes found pairing marshmallows and sweet potatoes date to the 1920s. There were typically casseroles where marshmallows were layered with the potatoes. To a lesser extent, they were also paired with candied yams.

Often signature dishes from the 1920s were very sweet, and some historians speculate that this is a reaction to Prohibition.

Pumpkin, native to the New World, was likely available as part of the harvest feast, but not in the form of pie. It may have been baked, possibly by placing it in the ashes of a dying fire, then mixed with animal fat, maple syrup or honey, and made into a soup, a common way of using it by American Indians.

As for our beloved Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, recipes for stewed pumpkin tempered with sugar, spices and cream wrapped in pastry have roots in Medieval times, when similar pies were made with squash and gourds.

Corn was part of the earliest Thanksgiving feast, though it was hard Indian corn, unlike the corn we know today.

American Indians were cooking with corn long before European settlers arrived, and the English colonists learned to grind it for use in breads, pancakes, porridge and puddings as a substitute for the grains they were used to.

While we don’t know exactly what was served at the first Thanksgiving, historians can be pretty certain that it included at least some of the bounty available to them, such as cultivated parsnips, carrots, collards, turnips, parsley, spinach, cabbage, sage, thyme, onions and marjoram, as well as native cranberries, pumpkin, nuts, grapes, lobster, oysters and other seafood.

In the spirit of the colonial U.S., I’ll leave you with a modern interpretation of Abigail Adams’ pumpkin pie, courtesy of The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook by Mary Donovan, et al.

Enjoy!

Abigail Adams' pumpkin pie

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, grated

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup dark rum or brandy

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Pecans

Whipped cream

10-inch pie shell, unbaked

Mix all ingredients together and pour into the prepared pastry shell.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes more, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Garnish with pecans and whipped cream flavored with rum or brandy.

Esther Oertel, the "Veggie Girl," is a personal chef and culinary coach and is passionate about local produce. Oertel owns The SageCoach Personal Chef Service and teaches culinary classes at Chic Le Chef in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., and The Kitchen Gallery in Lakeport, Calif. She welcomes your questions and comments; e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Jennifer Kelly, center, at the Lake County Teacher of the Year Award Dinner earlier this year. On Friday, November 12, 2010, Kelly was named one of the five California Teachers of the Year. She is pictured with, top row, husband, Ron; childhood friend, Susie; and, front row, parents Herring and Lisa. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Office of Education.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A local star teacher has been honored as one of the state's top educators.

On Friday State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell announced the five teachers recognized as California Teachers of the Year for 2011.

Among them was Jennifer Kelly, an eighth grade science teacher at Middletown Middle School.

Also honored were Shannan Brown, fifth grade teacher, Thomas Edison Elementary School, San Juan Unified School District, Sacramento; Darin Curtis, eighth grade physical education, Tierra del Sol Middle School, Lakeside Union School District, Lakeside (San Diego County); Beverly Gonzalez, fourth grade mathematics and writing, Santa Fe School, Baldwin Park Unified School District, Baldwin Park (Los Angeles County); and Khadir Rajagopal, ninth through 11th grade mathematics, Grant Union High School, Twin Rivers Unified School District, Sacramento.

“Our California Teachers of the Year are amazing instructional leaders who have a great passion for helping students reach their full potential,” O'Connell said. “They each have unique ways of teaching and thinking that inspire their students to love learning. The Teachers of the Year inspire me, and I hope they inspire veteran teachers and encourage future teachers to follow their footsteps into the classroom.”

In 1972, California began recognizing outstanding teachers to honor the profession chosen by 300,000 persons in the state and to heighten interest in teaching as a career.

The process results in the annual selection of five teachers statewide who successfully employ strategies to increase academic success and narrow the achievement gap with a range of diverse students.

The five teachers serve as California Teachers of the Year for a one-year term. Their responsibilities include effectively representing the state’s teachers; motivating and inspiring other educators; and championing the positive contributions of the teaching profession.

In May Kelly was recognized as Middletown Unified District Teacher of the Year and soon after she completed the countywide selection process and was nominated Lake County Teacher of the Year.

After submitting a 21-page application in August, she was notified that the state had chosen her as a finalist.

An on-site visit was conducted to observe her teaching, and then she was invited to Sacramento for an intensive panel interview.

During the process, Kelly said this of her profession: “As the world around us becomes more complex, the value of teaching grows even more in importance.”

Only one other Lake County teacher has received such recognition in the California Teacher of the Year's 37-year history – Alan Siegel from Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake was selected as 2005 California Teacher of the Year. Additionally, Marc Morita, a seventh grade English teacher from Middletown Middle School, was selected as a finalist in 2008.

“When you walk around campus and ask students about their favorite classes, they continuously rank Mrs. Kelly’s science class as a favorite,” said Middletown Middle School Principal Dan Morgan.

“Her energy and enthusiasm is inspiring,” Morgan said. “She has a huge variety of hands-on projects and tons of activities. Year after year, her students score proficient and advanced on the California STAR Tests, regardless of their demographics, socio-economic status, or ability level in other subjects.”

Kelly grew up in Mill Valley and earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of California, Davis, and three credentials from San Francisco State – a single subject credential in life science, a supplementary credential in chemistry and a multiple subject teaching credential.

A teacher for more than 20 years, Kelly came to Middletown Middle School in 1999. She and her husband, Ron, have three sons – Tanner, Scott and Jacob.

Kelly said she feels fortunate to be teaching in Middletown. “Middletown Unified School District supports teachers; they give you the freedom to teach to your strengths while covering the curriculum.”

Showing students she cares and developing exciting lessons are ways Kelly is able to encourage students to learn the skills necessary for success. She is adamant that educators can have students be successful on state tests without sacrificing creativity in presenting the curriculum.

“I love teaching; I enjoy the challenge of taking concepts and turning them into ideas the students are inspired to question, learn and understand,” she said.

Kelly is enthusiastic about fulfilling her role as an ambassador of the teaching profession. “I am excited about promoting education in Lake County, and helping to educate the public on the challenges and successes of the teaching profession.”

When asked what new endeavors might be in her future, Jennifer is clear. “I am ready and eager to help and support other teachers, but I have no desire to move into any other career focus. I want to keep teaching.”

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Shane Hutchins died after being shot by a Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy on Wednesday, November 10, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – The search for a wanted parolee ended on Wednesday after the man was shot by a Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy.

Thirty-two-year-old Shane Hutchins, a transient that officials said had been on the run for several months, died following the shooting on Wednesday night, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.

Smallcomb said Hutchins was wanted on numerous felony charges and had been reported or observed to be in possession of both firearms and knives.

On Wednesday deputies, Ukiah Police officers, Major Crimes Task Force agents and California State Parole officers were continuing their search for Hutchins when they received information from several sources that he was in a residence in the 18900 block of Lahmon Lane, located just east of Fort Bragg and off of Highway 20, Smallcomb said.

Deputies and Major Crimes Task Force agents proceeded to the residence and established a perimeter, and just before 9 p.m. Wednesday they entered the residence in an attempt to apprehend Hutchins, according to Smallcomb.

Smallcomb said Hutchins fled the residence and went into the brush, where the deputies and officers pursued him.

One of the deputies confronted Hutchins and shot him, Smallcomb said.

Emergency medical aid was summoned, but by the time they arrived Hutchins had died, Smallcomb said.

Smallcomb said the deputy who shot Hutchins has been placed on administrative leave.

The California State Department of Justice is investigating the incident, said Smallcomb.

He said an autopsy of Hutchins is pending.

Smallcomb said additional information directly about the shooting will be released from the California Department of Justice Bureau of Investigations Unit.

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Kelseyville High School Music Teacher Ted Foreman in the Kelseyville High School Music Room. Courtesy photo.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Kelseyville Unified School District’s commitment to its music program was one of the big draws for new Kelseyville High School music teacher Ted Foreman.

Foreman was hired following the retirement in June of longtime music teacher Tom Aiken.

Foreman grew up in Detroit, where he began playing music in sixth grade.

His first instrument – which continues to be his primary instrument – was trombone, because it was “the loudest instrument that fit on the bus,” he reported.

At age 16 Foreman attended a music camp which fueled a lifetime passion for music, and led to a full ride scholarship to attend boarding school to focus on his music.

After graduation from Southern Methodist University in Texas, with a double major in music and anthropology, Foreman began several years performing music in a variety of venues.

Foreman played trombone with the New Mexico Symphony, taught at University of Colorado, did graduate work at The Julliard School in New York City, and toured with the plays “Les Miserables” and “The Lion King.”

He also toured with the Singapore Symphony, the rock band YES and Moody Blues. One of the high points was to perform with the orchestra of famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Foreman’s desire to share his love for music led him to earn a teaching credential through Project Pipeline’s Fortune School of Education.

His first teaching job was at John Swett High School in Crockett, Calif. He received the honor of District Teacher of the Year in Crockett in his fourth year there.

A desire for a new and unique experience led Foreman to Hoonah, Alaska. The largest Tlingit Village in Alaska gave Foreman yet another opportunity to share his musical talents and ideas.

Following a year in Alaska, Foreman began the search for a small school district in California with a commitment to music.

This search led Foreman to discover Kelseyville Unified School District.

Foreman was hired and began his job with the new school year in September after Tom Aiken’s retirement.

Foreman said of Aiken, “Tom left behind an amazing program. He has been available to answer any questions I have asked of him. I appreciate his – and the district’s – confidence in me.”

Foreman will continue to offer jazz band, concert band, choir and some junior high music classes. He plans to start a “Contemporary Music Workshop” class, which is a “rock band class” where the students will write and perform original music.

Every aspect of producing music – including writing music, sound engineering, album designers, band manager and performer – will be covered in this class. Live shows will be presented by the students.

Foreman expects the many contacts he has made in his previous years in the music industry will be called upon for assistance with the Contemporary Music Workshop class.

Beth Aiken is the music teacher for fifth and sixth grade students in the district. Between Aiken and Foreman, Kelseyville’s music program will continue to offer the “highest quality music education possible,” according to school board member Gary Olson.

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Matthew Shane Merrill, 21, was arrested Tuesday morning, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Bauman said Merrill was booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, rape, destroying a communications device and misdemeanor spousal battery.

On Tuesday at about 11 a.m. deputies responded to a residence on Marine View Road in Hidden Valley Lake on a report of a kidnapping and rape, Bauman said.

He said a 22-year-old Hidden Valley Lake woman reported she had just fled from the suspect and that he was still driving around in the area in a blue Mazda sedan.

When the first deputy arrived in the area, he immediately spotted Merrill's vehicle in the area

of Marine View Drive and Deer Hill Road, according to Bauman.

After failing to yield to the deputy’s attempt to stop him for several blocks, Merrill was eventually stopped and detained. Bauman said Merrill had a moderate injury to his head that indicated he had been in some kind of altercation.

Deputies contacted the victim at her home a short distance away. Bauman said the woman also had some minor injuries indicating she had been in an altercation.

Bauman said the woman reported that she and Merrill had a previous dating relationship and he had invited her the night before, to go to the Twin Pine Casino bar. She accepted but when they got there she asked him to take her home and he refused.

After having a drink or two together at the bar, they left the casino at about 10 p.m. but instead of taking her home as she again had asked, he took her to his home on Greenridge Road, after driving her around Hidden Valley Lake for several hours, Bauman said.

The two reportedly argued while in Merrill’s bedroom and at one point, Merrill reportedly broke a cell phone the woman was going to use to call 911 and threw her shoes out of a window to prevent her from leaving the house, Bauman reported.

The arguing apparently continued throughout the night, Bauman said, until Merrill allegedly assaulted the woman and then held the victim down on his bed and forced her to have sex with him.

When Merrill fell asleep after the alleged rape, the victim sneaked out of the house and walked to her own home on Marine View Drive, arriving at about 4 a.m. Bauman said Merrill showed up at her house later that morning and the arguing resumed, with both parties hitting each other.

At one point, Merrill took the woman's car keys in another apparent attempt to keep her from leaving. Bauman said the woman was able to get her keys back and she struck Merrill on the head with them, causing a laceration.

He said the victim was eventually able to leave and go to her mother’s house a short distance away and call the sheriff’s office.

Merrill remains in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $250,000. Bauman said the Lake County Superior Court issued an emergency protection order keeping Merrill away from the victim.

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Officials investigate the scene of a single-vehicle collision on Highway 20 near Lucerne, Calif., on Wednesday, November 10, 2010. Photo by Gary McAuley.

LUCERNE, Calif. – A woman whose vehicle rolled over on Highway 20 Wednesday was arrested on charges of driving under the influence.

The crash occurred at about 6:45 p.m. on Highway 20 just west of Foothill Drive in Lucerne, according to initial reports from the California Highway Patrol.

The woman, whose name was not immediately available, was driving a newer model pickup when she was involved in a single-vehicle crash that rolled the pickup over, according to Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Steve Hart, who was pulled from a rescue on the hills above Lucerne to respond to the crash.

Hart said the woman was uninjured.

She was accompanied by three dogs, who also appeared uninjured and were removed from the scene by Lake County Animal Care and Control, Hart said.

Hart said the roadway was blocked for about 10 minutes. CHP and Lake County Sheriff's officials responded to the scene along with Northshore Fire, which sent a total of four units.

The woman was determined to have been driving under the influence of prescription drugs, according to reports from the scene. The CHP arrested her after she failed a sobriety test.

CHP reported the roadway was cleared just before 8 p.m.

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The single-vehicle rollover crash on Highway 20 near Lucerne, Calif., on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, closed the roadway for a brief time. Photo by Gary McAuley.

An artist's concept of Spitzer passing through Earth's dusty tail. Courtesy of NASA.

Did you know that the Earth has a dust tail? The Spitzer Space Telescope sailed right through it a few months ago, giving researchers a clear idea of what it looks like. That could be a big help to planet hunters trying to track down alien worlds.

“Planets in distant solar systems probably have similar dust tails,” said Spitzer project scientist Mike Werner. “And in some circumstances these dust features may be easier to see than the planets themselves. So we need to know how to recognize them.”

It's extremely challenging – and usually impossible – to directly image exoplanets. They're relatively small and faint, hiding in the glare of the stars they orbit.

“A dust tail like Earth's could produce a bigger signal than a planet does. And it could alert researchers to a planet too small to see otherwise,” Werner said.

Earth has a dust tail not because the planet itself is particularly dusty, but rather because the whole solar system is.

Interplanetary space is littered with dusty fragments of comets and colliding asteroids. When Earth orbits through this dusty environment, a tail forms in the rear, akin to swaths of fallen leaves swirling up behind a streetsweeper.

“As Earth orbits the sun, it creates a sort of shell or depression that dust particles fall into, creating a thickening of dust – the tail – that Earth pulls along via gravity,” explained Werner. “In fact, the tail trails our planet all the way around the sun, forming a large dusty ring.”

Spitzer's recent observations have helped astronomers map the structure of Earth's dust tail and figure out what similar “tell-tale tails” attached to alien planets might look like.

A computer simulation of Earth's dust tail/ring seen from a vantage point outside our solar system. Colors indicate density; purple is lowest, red is highest. Credit: Christopher Stark, GSFC.

Like our own solar system, other planetary systems are infused with dust that forms a dusty disk encircling the central star. And like Earth, exoplanets interact with their dust disk gravitationally, channeling and drawing strange features into it.

“In some stars' dust disks there are bumps, warps, rings, and offsets telling us that planets are interacting with the dust,” said Mark Clampin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. “So we can 'follow the dust' to the planets. So far, we've seen about 20 dust disks in other solar systems. And in some of those cases, following the dust has already paid off.”

Clampin, Paul Kalas and colleagues were looking for a planet around the bright southern star Fomalhaut when they unexpectedly found a dust ring. The shape of that ring led them to their goal.

“We suspected that the ring's sharp inner edge was formed by a planet gravitationally clearing out the surrounding debris,” said Clampin. “We tracked the planet by this 'footprint' in the dust.”

Another Hubble image shows a dusty disk around Beta Pictoris, a star in the constellation Pictor, or “Painter's Easel.”

“Note the smaller dust ring that's tilted with respect to the larger dust disk,” said Clampin. “Like Earth, this planet is shepherding the dust into its orbital plane.”

Clampin explained why it's hard to see the Earth's dust tail from within our solar system: “Imagine looking at fog on the Golden gate from above where you can clearly see the structure. If, on the other hand, you are standing on the bridge, it's a lot harder to discern the shape of the cloud.”

Clampin and Werner said Spitzer's observation of Earth's dust tail and these initial observations of dust structures in distant solar systems set the stage for the planet hunting debut of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope, targeted to launch in 2014, is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope. For more information, see www.jwst.nasa.gov/ .

They fully expect the huge and powerful new telescope to spot many tell-tale tails ... of the alien variety.

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A Hubble image of dusty material circling the star Beta Pictoris. Courtesy of NASA.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Layoffs, pay cuts, financial instability. Nearly every American has been impacted by the shaky economy and can relate to the out of control feeling that comes with being hit by unforeseen circumstances.

For many families Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent veto of funding for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care was that unforeseen circumstance.

The Stage 3 program was developed to assist with child care service payments for low-income families that are transitioning off or are former recipients of cash aid.

Temporary relief was felt on Nov. 5 as Alameda Superior Court Judge Wynne Carvill delayed the implementation of the cuts until at least the end of November when a hearing on the case can be held, but families relying on the funding to get back on their feet still have reason to worry.

Kim Beall has run Sunshine Family ChildCare out of her home in Lakeport since 1994. Her child care service is one of many registered through North Coast Opportunities (NCO), a local nonprofit that uses the Stage 3 funding to subsidize quality childcare for transitional families.

Over the clinking of toys and children’s laughter she said that the hardest part for her to grasp about the cuts is the lack of compassion, noting that she doubts “anybody involved in these cuts went home and had somebody sitting at their table that had been affected by it.”

Nearly half of the children Beall provides care for will be affected by the cuts.

This would create a financial loss for Beall, but it’s the moral aspect of the situation that bothers her, not the money. Pulling in just over $18,000 a year monetary gain is not her focus; she’s in it for the kids.

Unchanged dirty diapers, children being left unsupervised in homes and stifling hot cars, secondhand smoke exposure – these are just a handful of the horror stories Beall tells about inexpensive child care services.

Christal and Jimmy White were once the victims of inadequate child care and have since found Sunshine Family ChildCare and Beall who also informed the couple about NCO.

“It’s hard to trust somebody with your kid,” said Christal White. “I don’t want to lose Kim”

“She is so good with the kids, I don’t know how she gets my daughter to listen,” her husband chimed in with a smile. “Whatever she is doing, it’s working.”

Jimmy White was laid off from his job with a cabinet shop a little over a year ago. With help from NCO he has gone back to school to receive his GED.

He has been steadily job searching and says that the child care funding is exactly what his family needs to gain the financial stability to be self-sufficient.

They have been trying to find new services but say the anxiety of reliving their bad experience tends to affect their daily productivity. They’ve also noticed a difference in their daughter.

“She’s all mixed up,” Christal White said. “It’s not good for a kid to just be bounced around all the time.”

The Whites have made a temporary arrangement to cover child care, but both agree that their journey to stability without Stage 3 help scares them.

Valerie Stark of Lakeport knows that fearful feeling.

“I was shocked to hear the news,” said Stark. “We go through this every year with the budget, but I never thought they’d really cut the funding.”

Dolls, trophies and photographs of her children decorate the modest two-bedroom apartment where she lives. Her driveway is unoccupied because she couldn’t afford to pay her car registration and is falling behind on rent and electricity.

Separated from her husband and having recently lost her job, Stark struggles to provide for her three children – ages 1, 4 and 6 – alone.

Her $315 a week unemployment check makes her ineligible for child care coverage. She currently works part-time and says she is afraid to find a steady job because she may have to quit for lack of reliable child care.

Stark also takes her children to Sunshine Family ChildCare and credits Beall with the fact that her son entered kindergarten at the top of his class. Laughing, she thought about how Beall has him sit down to “do his letters” at the beginning of every day.

Anger and frustration are common emotions for Stark. She acknowledged that her own choices got her to the position she is in, but stresses that she is trying to be self-sustaining. The decision seems backwards to her because she feels like she has “no choice but to be back on welfare.”

“I don’t want to be back on the system,” she explained, tears welling up in her dark blue eyes. “I want to work … this affects the people that are trying.”

The Whites also feel frustrated wondering why the decision was made to take funding away from families working to be good examples for their children. They feel like the child care cuts are encouraging people to “jump on welfare and collect the benefits.”

“I know the program works, I’ve seen it work,” said Beall. “All the people that think these families are just leeching off the system don’t realize that sometimes they are just one paycheck away from being right there … they just don’t see it.”

Although families can rely on funding for now, those affected hope that the delay will provide time for people to realize the severity of the Stage 3 cuts.

They hope that communities can put aside differences to unite over the unforeseen circumstances that people have experienced and not give handouts to the undeserving, but provide a helping hand for those truly in need.

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Nineteen-year-old Jeremy Michael King climbed up the 60-foot face of Castle Rock – located on the west side of Lucerne near Roland Drive – Wednesday afternoon, according to a report from Sgt. Dave Thompson of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which assisted with the rescue.

King was on the rock about two hours and when evening arrived and it got dark he panicked, Thompson said.

Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Steve Hart said the district received the call at around 6 p.m.

Hart said he, Chief Jim Robbins and Battalion Chief Pat Brown responded, along with medic and heavy rescue units, an attack vehicle, a light unit and a utility vehicle.

Reports from the scene indicated fire officials were concerned about endangering personnel and equipment in trying to get to King. They noted that the ground was wet due to recent rains.

So Hart said the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's Henry-1 helicopter was called in to conduct a long line rescue.

Firefighters at the scene reportedly helped light up the rock where the climber was located in an effort to help guide the helicopter in.

Once the helicopter arrived, Hart said it took about five minutes to rescue King.

Thompson said a trained Henry-1 crew member rescued the teen using a “horse-collar” rescue “strop.” King was then flown with the rescuer via the 100-foot long-line to awaiting fire crew members. He was uninjured.

Thompson said the Henry-1 is equipped with state-of-the-art night vision goggles and a 50-million candle-power Night Sun spotlight.

That equipment, plus ample nocturnal rescue training, enables the Henry-1 crew to be available to perform these nighttime long-line rescues, which are generally not conducted elsewhere throughout the nation, Thompson said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .