Dan Ferias with Robert Coker of Tatonka Trading. Photo courtesy of the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce.

CLEARLAKE – Dan Ferias of Clearlake won $1,000 for shopping local this holiday season.

Local merchants put together this contest for the third season in a row. Entries were collected from local merchants just for shopping local this holiday season.

Participating merchants included the following:

A & B Collision, 7070 Old Highway 53

Avina's Market, 14060 Olympic Drive

Bob's Vacuum Repair & Supply, 4165 Mullen Ave.

Brown's RV, 9702 Highway 53

Cactus Grill, 3900 Bayliss Ave.

Clearlake TV & Appliance, 14915 Olympic Drive

Clearlake Veterinary Clinic, 3424 Emerson St.

Curry's Furniture, 14090 Olympic Drive

Dr. Thomas Hewlett, DDS, 3560 Old Highway 53

Elegant Touch Salon, 14820 Olympic Drive

Featherbed Railroad Co., 2870 Lakeshore Drive in Nice

Girlfriends Salon, 14510 Lakeshore Drive

Gloria's Gift Gallery, 14824 Olympic Drive

Highlands Nursery, 3445 Old Highway 53

Jonas Heating and Cooling, 9125 Highway 53

Jones & Lewis Memorial Chapel, 16140 Main St.

Lake Optometry, Dr. Bonner, 14595 Olympic Drive

Lakehouse Inn & Bistro, 14165 Lakeshore Drive

Lakeshore Bait and Tackle, 14913-D Lakeshore Drive

Lakeside Herbal Solutions, 4345 Mullen Ave.

Lakeside TV & Appliance, 14092 Lakeshore Drive

Lisa's Sizes 3-60, 14290 Olympic Drive

Marie's Lakeshore Feed & Grain, 14590 Lakeshore Drive

Middletown Florist, 21037 Calistoga Street No. 8 in Middletown

One Stop Automotive, 14570 Lakeshore Drive

Perfect Printers & T’s, 14096 Lakeshore Drive

Photos by Joe Harden, 707-995-1669

Remember When, 14892 Lakeshore Drive

Reliable Plumbing, 707-568-7165

Remington Plumbing & Bath, 13300 E. Highway 20, Unit J

Shannon Ridge Tasting Room, 12599 E. Highway 20

Tatonka Trading, 14560 Lakeshore Drive

Tha Spot, 14455 Lakeshore Drive

Tire Pros of Clearlake, 14320 Lakeshore Drive

Valenzuela Performance Tire, 9245 Highway 53 in Lower Lake

Wild About Books, 14290 Olympic Drive

X-Site Motorsports, 14883 Lakeshore Drive

Tatonka Trading collected all of the entries from the local merchants and drew the winner from thousands of entries.

Dan Ferias was called at home by Bunny Carter and Robert Coker, owners of Tatonka Trading in Clearlake to announce he was the winner of this year's contest. He came down to collect his $1,000 in Chamber Bucks to be used as cash at local merchants.

Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce organizes the Shop Local Program. Any business in Lake County can participate in the marketing campaigns, you do not have to be a member of the chamber to participate.

Visit the Clear Lake Chamber online at www.clearlakechamber.com or call 707-994-3600 for more information.

The Sharon family won a free tree for being Skelton's Christmas Trees' 500th customer. Photo courtesy of Rod Skelton.

LAKEPORT – Skelton's Christmas Trees, celebrating 27 years of bringing fragrant, fresh-cut trees to the Lakeport area, would like to thank their many valued customers. To show their appreciation, they gave every 100th customer their chosen tree free.

"Several lucky persons thought we were joking when we told them that their tree was free," says Rod Skelton, owner. "I really enjoy doing this. Our plan was so well received and appreciated that we’re going to make it a yearly tradition."

"This year, because of the poor economy, our bargain area was very popular. We were able to get some very nice "economy" trees which we sold at greatly reduced prices .... a feature which no other local seller offers."

"We hope next year to again be at the parking lot of New hope Fellowship Church across from K-Mart Garden Center and behind Mackey Tire. Come see us," said Skelton. "Our trees are the freshest in town because we store and display them in water bowls. Most of our beautiful trees are Noble and Nordmann Fir from the prime Christmas tree growing region of Silverton, Oregon. Also, we now have a mechanical tree shaker which effectively shakes out the old needles lodged in the branches. We are the only seller in the Lakeport area that performs this free service."

The 500th customer winning a free tree was the Sharon family of Lakeport: Jon, Katie and baby Hayden, born Dec. 8, making this his first Christmas.

Other tree winners were Haley Ostern of Lakeport, Debbie Dittmar of Nice, Kreg Barnett of Kelseyville and Christopher Ray of Lucerne.

In September 2009, gasoline demand rose 0.05 percent when Californians used 1.219 billion gallons of gasoline compared to just under 1.219 billion gallons the same month last year.

The average California gasoline price at the pump in September was $3.17 per gallon compared to $3.84 in September 2008, a 17.4-percent decrease.

In the third quarter of 2009, gasoline consumption increased one percent when Californians used 3.772 billion gallons of gasoline compared to 3.736 billion gallons the third quarter last year.

Gasoline sold in September generated approximately $322 million in sales tax during that month, an estimated $23 million less than generated last year.

September sales and use tax revenues from gasoline would have been about $59 million less had the state portion of the sales and use tax not increased by one percent on April 1, 2009.

Diesel fuel sold in California during September totaled 244 million gallons compared to September’s last year total of 254 million gallons, which is a decline of 3.9 percent.

California diesel prices were $2.84 per gallon in September 2009 down 30.6 percent compared to September 2008 when the average diesel price was $4.09 per gallon.

Diesel consumption in California declined 10.6 percent in the third quarter of 2009 when Californians used a total of just over 654 million gallons of diesel compared to the third quarter of 2008 total of 732 million gallons. This decline is similar to those seen since early 2008.

“Diesel consumption generally follows economic activity and is especially closely related to construction and transportation of goods,” said BOE Chair Betty Yee. “These two areas of the economy were particularly hard hit during the recession, and have not yet recovered.”

The BOE is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors. Figures for October 2009 are scheduled to be available at the end of January 2010. All monthly, quarterly, and annual figures can be viewed at: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm .