Note: We distinguish between "Natives" (Indigenous peoples) and "Settlers" (everyone else) and generally mean Lake County, unless otherwise specified. By "Tribes" (capitalized) I mean the Federally recognized Tribes of Lake County. By "tribes" (un-capitalized) I refer to the original villages and peoples of Lake County.

The close involvement of C4H supporters with Lake County Natives (enrolled and un-enrolled) goes back decades.

For example, in 1995 Dallas Cook was a founder of KPFZ 88.1 FM, which established two radio shows with Native presenters -- Clayton Duncan, and James & Gail Brown Eagle.

Over the past twenty five years most of us have attended the Bloody Island sunrise healing ceremonies on a regular basis - led by Clayton Duncan and his brother Doug. These have almost always been followed - and in recent years proceeded - by social gatherings.

Some of our (present) members who are long-time Lake residents supported Clayton Duncan's campaign in 2006 to rename the high school mascot from "Indians" to "Knights". (Record Bee) Clayton also attempted to rename the town of Kelseyville, in 2009 (Record Bee) and in 2018. (Record Bee) For the latter, he was informed by the registrar of voters that it would be by county ballot. Incidentally, the new name "Konocti" was suggested at that time. An independent online petition suggesting a name based on Mount Konocti was launched in 2020. (KZYX)

In 2020 Lorna Sides and Dallas Cook started to talk about re-activating the name change process, with a slightly different tack. The old Settler name of Kelseyville would be changed by Settlers. In addition to Clayton Duncan, one of our early supporters and advisors was the late Thomas Leon Brown, then cultural director of Elem. He suggested the name "Citizens for Healing".

Incidentally, the concept of "healing" is not a new one. The governor of California established the Office of Truth and Healing. At the KVUSD "land acknowledgement" meeting the word healing was used fifteen times. When the ballot measure was passed, Moke Simon said "This name change happens, it will start the healing, whether you believe it or not, for the indigenous people in this community. It's a pure, pure yes to that question."

Starting in early 2021 we were advised by two Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO's), Mr Robert Geary of Elem advised us on tribal names, and that different tribes have different names for the same place. He stressed the importance of getting permission both from the "donor" of the name, and those of the area receiving the name. (KPFZ)

Mr Montez of Big Valley participated in that meeting, and assisted us over several months. He is a member of the National Association of THPO's which states, with particular attention to renaming: "Typically, the best person to talk to when you reach out to a tribal nation is their tribal historic national preservation officer. These officers are in charge of information about cultural ties to certain places."

Mr Montez said that all THPO's of the Lake County Tribes met regularly, and that he would ask them to consult with their tribal authorities as to whether the proposed renaming was welcome:

According to the Press Democrat : "Ron Montez, an elder with the Big Valley Band of Pomo .. was instrumental in securing support to change the name of Kelseyville from all seven tribes around the Clear Lake."

Soon after that meeting we were invited to set up an information table at the community breakfast at the Robinson Rancheria dance grounds, after the 2021 Sunrise Ceremony. We received broad support, and no opposition. Incidentally, KQED reported on that year's ceremony, referenced our activities, and quoted Kevin Engle, one of our members.(KQED)

In this process we came to believe that the name "Kelseyville" is disrespectful to Natives, and that an attempt to change it would be welcomed by them. We therefore planned a round-the-lake educational program, which we anticipated would lead to a ballot measure.

Before we launched the campaign, Mr Montez emailed us in his official capacity:

Note that the chairman of Big Valley Rancheria during the early years of our activity was the late Phil Gomez.

Our campaign kickoff at Big Valley Hall in April 2022 was attended by many Natives and Settlers. It was front-page news in the Press Democrat and Record Bee. We had only just adopted the proposed name Konocti.

The next several meetings, including Kelseyville, Lakeport and Lucerne were attended by supporters, opponents and those who came to find out about us. Many attendees signed an informal petition of support (submitted to the BGN). We had NO suggestions of a name other than "Konocti".

After our kick-of meeting, the next meeting with significant Tribal involvement was in Upper Lake, hosted by the Habematolel. This was set up by Mr Montez. Participants included at least two Natives who are now Chairmen or Vice-chairman of their tribal councils. In particular, the chairman of Robinson instructed his vice-chair, Supervisor EJ Crandell to attend.

Our collective notes indicate that nobody spoke against the proposal to change the name, nor the proposed name "Konocti".

The next meeting was held at Elem, presumably with senior tribal approval (I missed it, so have no notes).

We were then informed, at the Nov '22 meeting in Clearlake that the BGN has responsibility. Peter Windrem emphasized in a statement that this was not a "backdoor effort".LakeCoNews He officially informed county staff, who notified us. By the time we contacted the BGN our opposition had already filed an objection.

We announced this on our web page in Dec 2022: "This will be a business meeting, to discuss how to proceed now that the renaming would be done by the National Geographic Naming Committee, not by a Lake County Ballot." C4H Dec 2022

In one of our very first email communication with the BGN we ask:

We asked our tribal advisor to comment on some parts of our application. We filed our application with the BGN in Oct, 2023 -- over a year after we were informed of BGN's jurisdiction.

By the time our proposal was accepted and published in the BGN case file (January,2024) three Lake County Tribes had already sent letters of support:
Letter of Support from Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake (in which they specifically thanked us.)
CA_KONOCTI_HABEMATOLEL.PDF

Subsequently all Lake County Tribes and all National Tribes have submitted formal approvals to the BGN (NCA Resolution - adopted)

After the BoS decided to hold an advisory ballot, we met with Chairman McCloud of Big Valley. He subsequently requested that the Tribes write the argument for the change, which we welcomed. We also cooperated with him on items that should be in his rebuttal to the opponents - who, incidentally, filed no rebuttal to his argument.

With the possible exception of Supervisor Crandell —who eventually voted to support our proposal—no Native has publicly opposed the renaming, in meetings such as ours, KVUSD and BoS, in person or by email.


Support for the change was clearly expressed by (then) Supervisor and Tribal Chairman Moke Simon: Would the name change help start with the healing? ...   [If] This name change happens. .. It will start the healing, whether you believe it or not, for the indigenous people in this community. It's a pure, pure yes to that question ... So yes, this name change would start the process and it's going to be a long one, but it's a .. .it would absolutely start that healing that needs to happen for the Indigenous 7 nations in this county.