LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Democratic Central Committee will postpone its regular monthly meeting one week to the second Thursday of the month for January.

The committee will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Lower Lake Methodist Church community meeting room, 16255 Second St. For a map visit http://goo.gl/maps/A8oiW .

The guest speaker will be Elizabeth Siggins, who will discuss the implementation of Proposition 47. 

Proposition 47, also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, was approved by California voters in the November 2014 election.

Siggins is on the board of Californians for Safety and Justice. She  is the director of the Local Safety and Solutions Project. More information can be found at http://www.safeandjust.org/ .

The committee also will be discussing committee and delegate appointments and plans for 2015.

The agenda for the Jan. 8 meeting includes reports from representatives for Congressmen Mike Thompson and John Garamendi, Assemblyman Bill Dodd and State Senator Mike McGuire, as well as a report from the representative of the Lake County Democratic Club Paula Mune.

Meetings are open to the public and committee membership is open to all registered Democrats.

The Lake County Democratic Central Committee is the official governing body of the Democratic Party in Lake County.

For more information about the Democratic Party in Lake County visit www.lakecountydemocrats.org or ww.facebook.com/LakeCountyDemocrats .

Contact the Democratic Party of Lake County at 707-533-4885 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – In the late fall of 2010, a group of local amateur historians got to together to discuss the possibility of forming a group to honor the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

The Redwood Empire Civil War Roundtable was the result, and the Jan. 5 meeting will mark the fourth anniversary of the group's existence.

“We decided to follow the war chronologically month by month, with each months meeting being a review of what happened that month 150 years prior,” according to co-founder Phil Smoley. “Some months have had much more going on than others, but that has allowed us to discuss some biographies, technologies and politics related to the war on the slow months.”

Two or more presentations per meeting are generally the rule, with different attendees volunteering to put on a presentation.

Thus far, 16 different people have put on over 100 presentations, with co-founder Zane Jensen putting on the most, at 28.

“I teach history to eighth graders, so for me, it has been great to do presentations for a more mature audience of history buffs,” Jensen said. “We have all learned a great deal from each other about that tragic time in our history by being involved in this roundtable.”

Jensen also was the originator of the roundtable idea.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held at 6:15 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5, at the Tallman Hotel, located in historic downtown Upper Lake.

The first part of the meeting will be a review of the group's four-year history, and acknowledging the efforts of the many contributors and regular attendees.

“Attendance has ranged from 15 to 40, with about 30 attending fairly regularly, and well over 100 coming to one or more meetings,” according to Smoley. “These folks are passionate about their history, and we are still debating the unresolved issues from that war 150 years later.”

After the anniversary acknowledgment, Smoley will do a presentation on the Battle of Fort Fisher, which fell to the Union 150 years ago, closing the last open sea port of the Confederacy, speeding up the end of the war.

“At this point, the war was lost. But the dedication and heroism of the men defending the fort defies description,” Smoley said. “They gave their all for a cause already lost.”

Attendance to the Civil War Roundtable is free and everyone is welcome.

The presentations are designed to appeal to the novice and the expert, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions.

For further information, contact Zane Jensen at 707-349-6390 or Phil Smoley at 707-349-1008.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 88 of Lake County, will hold its first meeting of 2015 on Saturday, Jan. 10.

The group will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Konocti Bay Sailing Club building, located at Braito's Marina at the end of the Buckingham Peninsula in Kelseyville.

The meeting is open to anyone 17 years or older who would be interested in joining this active group.

For additional information, call the flotilla's voice mail line at 707-413-0106.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of the Lake County Democratic Club on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

The club will meet at 6 p.m. at the Lower Lake Community United Methodist Church, 16255 Second St., Lower Lake.

Farrington's topic will be the state of Jefferson. A question and answer period will follow his presentation.

Meetings of the Lake County Democratic Club are open to the public. Membership is open to all registered Democrats.

The Lake County Democratic Club is an officially chartered club of the Democratic Party of Lake County.

For more information visit www.lakecountydemocraticclub.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NORTH COAST, Calif. –  Gem Faire, the West Coast’s premier jewelry and bead show, will be in Santa Rosa Jan. 2 to 4 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds/Grace Pavilion, 1350 Bennett Valley Road.

Hours are Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission is $7, valid for the entire weekend.

More than 70 importers, exporters and wholesalers from around the world will be on site with the largest selection of fine jewelry, costume jewelry, precious and semi-precious gemstones, beads, crystals, minerals, findings and much more at manufacturer’s prices.

Other jewelry and beading essentials, including jewelry tools, displays and boxes will be available all under one roof.

Jewelry repair, cleaning and ring sizing service is on hand while you shop.

Be sure to enter a door prize ballot for a chance to win cool items, with hourly drawings throughout the weekend.

For more information, visit www.gemfaire.com or contact Gem Faire, Inc. at 503-252-8300 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Every day the “bad guys” come up with more ways to prey on our computers.

They develop new viruses and new programs that at worst, steal our personal information, and, at best, slow our computers down.

Both PCs and Macs are victims to malware; it’s a myth that Macs are immune.

Here are some tools you need to keep your computer safe while you use the Internet.

The first step is to make sure we are all speaking the same language, so here are some definitions of all the bad stuff that’s out there in the cyberworld.

– Malware: This is a general term which includes any type of virus or malicious software. Any program whose purpose is harmful in any way is a malware program.
– Virus: A virus is malicious code that can spread to new disks or programs.
– Spyware: Spyware can monitor your computer tasks and steal your passwords and other information.
– Adware: Adware pops up unwanted advertisements. Sometimes these ads target your interests by using information stolen by a spyware program.
– Dropper: Some malicious programs can be tiny programs specifically designed to funnel a stream of other malware into your computer.
– Bots: A bot doesn’t usually harm your computer, but it makes your computer a robot to harm others by sending malicious programs or spam to your email address list.
– Ransomware: Holds your computer or data ransom and demands payment before it will release it. Of course, there is no guarantee that paying the money will get your data back since the program is designed by unscrupulous people.
– Rootkit: This technology attaches to the operating system to hide the malicious program. Sometimes your anti-virus program may remove parts of it, but as you reboot your computer the virus comes back.
– Scareware: Some free “anti-virus programs” you may download from the Internet may actually be rogue viruses that will look and act like real Anti-Virus programs. They may diagnose a myriad of “problems” on your computer. These programs will then try to scare you into buying their “full version” so you can “clean up” your computer and “remove viruses.”  Sometimes Scareware will run when your computer starts and it doesn’t offer a way for you to stop them.
– Junkware: Last, but not least, we have what we call “Junkware.” These are programs that we see over and over again in the shop. They may not actually be malicious, but they are programed to start every time you turn on your computer and usually are not anything you want running. A lot of anti-virus programs will not catch these because they are not considered viruses. The majority of these programs come packaged with other useful free programs from the Internet.

In an upcoming article I will explore anti-virus programs and tell you how you can protect your computer for free.

Mark Rudiger has been troubleshooting computers for over 20 years. He owns Lake County Websites & Computer Repair which is located in Middletown. You may contact him by calling 707-987-1923 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .