Citizens For Healing is now organized as an Association (C4HA),
See http://admin.citizensforhealing.org for details and contact information of C4HA.
"Citizens for Healing"
(C4H) continues to operate as a loose organization of "Supporters", but has no specific legal standing.
Our main activity at present is working to change the name of Kelseyville to Konocti. This is classified as "issue advocacy".
The Lake County Board of Supervisors put an advisory "Measure U" on the ballot for the November 2024 election. We organized primarily to comply with election law. We prepared for the election, but did not campaign on Measure U ("express advocacy").
We continue to advocate for the change.
The Web Site citizensforhealing.org is maintained by Alan Fletcher info@citizensforhealing.org, who is responsible for the overall content. He also operates the mailing lists described on our Contact page. Particular sections may be signed by individuals, who are responsible for that content.
In order to comply with other regulations, we are not accepting or soliciting donations of any kind.
The beautiful and thriving town of Kelseyville, sitting at the base of Mt. Konocti, is currently named after a brutal man.
Andy Kelsey — with his brothers and his partner Charles Stone — enslaved, starved, abused, raped, tortured and murdered the Pomos living under their control. In 1849, the Pomo held a tribal court and decided to execute Kelsey and Stone.
In revenge for their deaths, brothers Ben and Sam Kelsey and their posse stormed Napa and Sonoma Counties indiscriminately killing Pomos. They were followed in 1850 by the cavalry, with orders to "exterminate, if possible, the tribe", which they almost did, at Bloody Island. The Pomos have not forgotten the Kelseys or the repercussions which continue to affect them.
The commemoration in the town name of these brutal men is offensive to all the local tribes and to many residents throughout the County.
The offensiveness of the name has been discussed in the press since at least 1985, and in 2006 Clayton Duncan of Robinson Rancheria succeeded in his campaign "I am not your mascot" to change the schools team name. He also started to campaign for a change in the town name: almost equal numbers of Lake County residents signed online petitions for and against a name change.
In 2020 a Kelseyville resident decided to reactivate the idea. Citizens For Healing therefore formed as an intentionally NON-organized group. C4H started to investigate the possibility of a name change.
During our first year (2020-2021) we held monthly organizational meetings in Kelseyville's Pioneer park, at which we were advised by a Tribal Cultural Director, and by two Tribal Historical Preservation Officers (THIPOs -- who each held the position for multiple tribes.)
As an example of our early involvement with Natives, KQED reported on the 2021 Bloody Island Healing Ceremony and on C4H's hopes to change the name.
C4H's minutes for March 2021 indicate that both Ron Montez and Robert Geary were present when the name "Konocti" was proposed. We eventually adopted the name "Konocti" as a gesture to acknowledge the wrongs done to the original inhabitants of Lake County. THIPO Robert Geary discusses the name Konocti in a January 2021 KPFZ interview: KPFZ Robert Geary.
We created a web page (initially c4h.club) and an open mailing list, c4h@groups.io. We encouraged opponents to join the list, as long as they engaged us respectfully.
In September 2021 one of the advisory Tribal Officers Ron Montez Sr reported: "I have contacted each tribe in Lake County for their approval to change the name of the town Kelseyville to the name of Konocti and the 7 tribes are unanimously in favor of the name change to Konocti."
At that stage we were informed by the Registrar of Voters that a name change would require a county-wide ballot. It was only at this stage that we adopted the proposed name "Konocti". We prepared a public information campaign, and held a series of public meetings around the lake. The initial meeting was featured on the front page of the Press Democrat and of the Lakeport Record Bee. Prominent opponents were interviewed in those articles.
The Kelseyville Business Association immediately held an advisory poll of its members, many of whom abstained, and the results were "close". The KBA immediately formed a "Save The Name" subcommittee with the sole purpose of opposing a name change.
Many of our round-the-county meetings were attended by opponents to the change. We solicited suggestions for other names, but were told adamantly that it would be "Kelseyville for Ever".
Two of our meetings were held in Tribal Halls — Habematolel and Elem — at which many Natives spoke in support of the change. Several speakers said this was the first time they'd been "invited to the table". “It’s still an open wound that’s not been healed. We are a hurting people. We've wanted to change the name way before [anyone non-Native] thought of it,”
In November 2022 — following a tip-off by a local , retired attorney — the Registrar of Voters informed us that the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) has jurisdiction over the names of "unincorporated populated places", and that they will, on a case-by-case basis, change a name which is "offensive ... to a racial group".
We announced the change of venue from County Ballot to BGN Application on our web page in January 2023. This was not a "back door secret effort" to bypass local opinion, as some have suggested. (Letter by Peter Windrem) This was not done in secret: we posted our drafts for discussion as early as March 2023: Wayback Machine
Since the new name-change effort would now be done in writing, we spent almost a year preparing our application to the BGN, which we submitted in October 2023.
This coincided with the supervisor's primary election for District 5 (Kelseyville), in which renaming was a major issue - inlcuding the knowledge that it was BGN matter.
In June 2024 the Lake County Visioning Forum delivered its final report to the Board of Supervisors. The report identified the history of the county and the name of Kelseyville as factors, but - regarding the issue as outside of their brief - made no recommendations. Supervisor Green proposed establishing a Limited Time, Limited Purpose Committee to review the name change, but that received no support.
In July 2024 the BoS decided to hold an advisory ballot measure : "Shall the Board of Supervisors recommend approval of the proposal to change the name of the town of Kelseyville to Konocti". C4H believes the measure was deeply flawed in concept, timing, demographics and in detail. We prepared ballot arguments, but yielded that right to Mr Flaman McCloud, chairman of the Big Valley Ranchera. We decided to remain as an "issue advocacy" organization, and thus did not campaign on Measure U. The results were about 30% For and 70% Against. The demographics are highly skewed to Whites: fewer than 3% of voters are Native American. On December 10, 2024 the BoS decided 3-2 to recommend the change, and submitted a letter to the BGN.
In Feb 2025 the BoS considered sending a report to CACGN and BGN outlining the difficulties they had encountered in the process, but decided not to do so. In addition they instructed County staff to spend no more time on the name change. At that meeting the chairman of "Save Kelseyville" stated that they would not suggest any alternative new name.
C4H has continued to hold informational meetings on the renaming issue, including a "2nd annual Earthday Picnic" in Kelseyville.
Citizens for Healing (C4H) is a local group of Lake County residents who came together to change the name of the town of Kelseyville to Konocti.
Although not formally organized, the group of individuals has worked effectively together toward their common cause. They were self directed, they identified their own skills, they determined how they could use them to help, and proceeded forward, always staying in communication with each other.
C4H first met on Indigenous Peoples Day, October 12, 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their meetings were held in Pioneer Park in Kelseyville for the first several months. They began to Zoom their meetings early on. When the weather became too extreme, indoor venues were secured for in-person meetings, so as many people as possible could be included.
The last time efforts were made to change the town’s name to Konocti was about ten years ago. But for various reasons the process was not completed. So, from the start C4H wanted to be clear that Konocti would be the appropriate new name - acceptable to all the communities around the lake, especially the tribal nations in Lake County.
Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs) from three different tribes Zoomed the early meetings. They explained that each tribe had distinctly different languages. Konocti is the name of the mountain in the language of the East Lake Tribe of Elem, the oldest existing tribe in the area. After a year, with many lively and informative discussions at the monthly meetings, Elders from all seven tribes approved the use of the name Konocti.
Outreach and publicity would be vital to the success of C4H’s goals:
To educate people about the “real” history of Lake County in the late 1800s and reveal the true character of Andrew Kelsey, the man after whom the town is currently named
To inform people of the intent to change the name of Kelseyville and explain the process
To get input and support from the community
C4H scheduled and hosted community meetings at various locations around the county - in parks, tribal meeting halls, churches, and at other venues. Articles sent to the local media notified the public of the time and location for each month’s meeting.
Finding available and affordable meeting space was difficult. Two local tribes provided space to C4H at no cost (the Habematolel in Upper Lake in August 2022, and the East Lake Tribe of Elem in Clearlake Oaks in October 2022.)
In March of 2022, Austin Murphy, a writer from the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa published a full feature story about the Citizens for Healing and their intentions to change the name of Kelseyville. Murphy’s story included opposing views of the name change. Ariel Carmona, the editor of Lake County Record Bee, responded to the piece. C4H’s own articles and press releases kept the community abreast of their upcoming meetings and scheduled events.
On April 24th, 2022, Citizens for Healing hosted a kick-off party at the Big Valley Hall in Finley. Publicized as a start to the political campaign to change the name of the town, there were scheduled speakers, a potluck, live music, and dancing. About fifty people signed the guest log and wrote comments, and many more were in attendance. The majority of the guests attending were supportive, with a few opposing the name change. Other curious folks were there just to learn about the history, and to find out why the name should be changed.
Several long-time residents of Kelseyville attended the June 2022 C4H meeting held in Kelseyville. The same people attended the meeting in Lakeport in July of 2022. This group of residents opposed the name change and said they wanted to see tribal members from the community at the meetings. They wanted to hear their stories and know the Tribes’ position on the name change.
On August 14, 2022, they did indeed hear the tribes’ stories. Elders and members from four different tribes attended the meeting held in the Tribal Hall of the Habematolel. They stood up, one by one, and spoke from their hearts, sharing stories they’d heard from their grandparents and great-grandparents. They talked about the difficulties growing up in Lake County. They spoke about the inter-generational trauma they still endure that is associated with the horrific history of Andrew Kelsey. Ron Montez, THPO for Big Valley, said “it wasn’t really that long ago, it’s still fresh in people’s minds.” And he felt that changing the name of the town would be a “gift to all the tribes.” Only one person opposing the change got up to speak that day - he addressed the importance of education regarding our local history.
C4H believed originally that changing the name of a town was a political action, requiring a decision by the County Board of Supervisors, or a vote by the people. So C4H volunteers put great time and effort into preparing a measure to put on the ballot. They researched the time frames of the next election cycles and determined the number of signatures they would need to gather on their petitions to qualify. Using documents and literature supporting their case, they wrote draft after draft of the initiative for the ballot, explaining and justifying the name change.
This political road C4H was traversing took an abrupt turn at a special meeting held on November 2022 at Clearlake United Methodist Church. To a sanctuary filled with interested souls, Dr. John Parker presented “The Kelsey Brothers: A California Disaster” and the Rev. Clovice Lewis gave his sermon, “What’s in a Name?”
During the spontaneous discussion that ensued after the presentations, several people in attendance stood up to speak. Among them was a retired attorney whose family roots go back to the original colonization of the area. What he shared came as a big surprise to everyone there.
He told the crowd that to change the name of an “unincorporated populated place” or town, like Kelseyville, simply required a proposal to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN). He explained (and C4H verified this later) that this Board is the Federal authority on names of places, serving under the larger umbrella of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It arbitrates decisions on the naming and renaming of places.
C4H volunteers were relieved and encouraged at once. They didn’t need to write an initiative to put on the ballot, they didn’t need to launch a political campaign, and they didn’t need to organize fundraisers for that campaign. But they could see that the work required in proposing a name change is similar to advancing a political appeal. C4H still needed to do plenty of community outreach, to build awareness and educate people, and to inform all the interested parties. Citizens for Healing have from the beginning been focused and committed to all these tasks.