Every year, thousands of people are seriously injured or killed statewide in vehicle collisions caused by distracted drivers.

The unfortunate truth is distracted driving collisions are 100 percent preventable, because distracted driving is a choice.

Though there are numerous distractions a driver must manage, cell phone use is the most prevalent. With multiple modes of communication and instant entertainment at their fingertips, drivers are constantly engaging in cell phone use while driving.

To combat this issue the California Highway Patrol is launching a statewide Adult Distracted Drivers traffic safety program.

This program is made possible through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and consists of a yearlong campaign of education and enforcement.

By the end of September 2017, the CHP will conduct a minimum of 100 distracted driving enforcement operations and at least 600 traffic safety presentations statewide.

“The CHP wants to encourage every driver to make a conscious choice, every time they drive a vehicle, to not drive distracted,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “It’s a simple choice that can have a tremendous impact on the safety of our roadways.”

It is important for drivers to understand that their chances of being involved in a vehicle collision increase exponentially when they choose to drive distracted. Once that decision is made, distracted drivers place everyone on the road in danger.

Some of the most common types of distracted driving include: texting, talking on a cell phone, eating, grooming, talking to passengers, operating a navigation system and adjusting the radio.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County's 2016 burn ban will be lifted as of 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 14.

Lake County’s joint fire agencies and air quality management district’s open burning program has incorporated both fire safety and air quality management since 1987.

Burn permits are required for all outdoor burning in the Lake County Air Basin. Contact your local fire agency for a burn permit, or the Lake County Air Quality Management District to obtain a smoke management plan.

A smoke management plan is required for all burns over 20 acres in size, multi-day burns, standing vegetation burns, whole tree or vine removals over one acre, and other burns where significant smoke impacts may occur or sensitive receptors may be impacted.

A fee is required for all burn permits, payable at the time the permit is issued. burn permits (agricultural and residential) and smoke management plans are $25, while land development/lot clearing burn permits are $76. Only clean dry vegetation that was grown on the property may be burned.

Residential burn permits require a one-acre or larger lot, a burn location that is located at least 100 feet from all neighbors and at least 30 feet from any structure.

Lot clearing/land development burns require special permits available at your local fire agency. Burn only the amount of material that can be completely consumed during the allowed burning hours. Read your burn permit carefully and follow all the conditions.

Consider using the vegetative waste pickup provided with your waste collection services or composting as an alternative to burning leaves. Contact your local fire safe council for chipping information.

For residents of the South Lake County Fire Protection District, call 707-987-3089 or go to www.southlakefiresafecouncil.org . For all other areas in Lake County, call 707-262-7089 and leave a message.

Officials ask people to be considerate of their neighbors. A permit does not allow you to create health
problems for others and you can be liable for health care costs, fines and other costs resulting from your burning.

Certain estate planning subject matters seem not to get the attention they deserve and often go unaddressed. 

Let us discuss some overlooked areas that should be considered when drafting trusts, wills and powers of attorney.

“Digital Assets” is an all-encompassing term that includes online financial accounts, emails, blogs and other stored electronic data (such as data stored in a “cloud” server).

With more of people’s activities taking place online, over the Internet, the law is trying to catch up to the demands of the fast moving Digital Age.

In September, California enacted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Data Act, or “UFADDA”.

UFADDA is a multi-state approach to enacting uniform state legislation nationwide to allow fiduciaries (trustees, agents and executors) to obtain access and control over the management of a person’s digital assets and communications. Until now only federal legislation has addressed digital assets.

A person can authorize their trustee, agent, or executor of their estate (after they die) to have access and management over their digital assets and communications for the purpose of administering their estate. 

Given that that many people have documents that do not include any authorization, it may be beneficial for such persons to get up to date powers when they revise their estate planning.

Pets are valued companions who often don’t get their due when it comes time for estate planning.   

Planning for the care and placement of pets is authorized under existing law. Pet trusts and powers authorizing the owner’s resources to be used to pay for veterinary care and placement services when the owner is disabled or dies. 

Dependent adult children who either live at home and/or receive financial support also need special consideration.

Authorization for the trustee and power of attorney to continue to allow a child to live rent free in the parents’ home and to continue receiving financial support, in one form or another, should be considered when relevant.

Naming alternative death beneficiaries to inherit life insurance, annuities and retirement plans are often overlooked.

Even when the children are named as alternative beneficiaries to the surviving spouse consideration needs to be given to further alternatives in case a child predeceases the surviving spouse. 

Without planning unintended consequences such as the wrong beneficiary getting the deceased child’s share of a retirement plan or an otherwise unnecessary probate can result.

In long term marriages where each spouse leaves everything to the other spouse, it is often desirable to grant the surviving spouse the authority to change death beneficiaries on non probate assets that are community property assets. 

This can be done by each spouse using their wills to revoke their existing designated death beneficiary designations at death and also authorizing the surviving spouse to name new designated death beneficiaries for both halves of the community property assets.

For example, whole life insurance on the life of the surviving spouse that was purchased while both spouses were still alive with marital earnings is such a community property asset. 

Otherwise, the surviving spouse can only change who inherits their half of the nonprobate community property asset. 

Adequately addressing these and other important areas is a valid reason to review and, if necessary, update one’s existing estate planning documents. 

As a rule of thumb reviewing one’s estate planning every five years with a qualified attorney is a good practice.

Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Hundreds of Lake County residents came out on Friday morning to honor the contributions of veterans.

The county's annual Veterans Day celebration took place once again this year in the showroom at Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport.

Bob Penny, a Vietnam veteran and the county's retired veteran service officer, acted as master of ceremonies, and received the annual “Veteran of the Year Award.”

The Clear Lake High School Jazz Band provided musical salutes to veterans and the Military Funeral Honors Team was on hand to provide the call to assemble, the rifle volley and the playing of “Taps.”

Penny read a letter from Congressman Mike Thompson, himself a Vietnam veteran.

“Veterans Day is about giving thanks” – both to veterans and their families, Thompson wrote.

Thompson's letter also noted that the country's obligation to those who have served lasts year-round, and outlined the necessity of making sure every veteran gets the benefits they deserve.

“We need to make sure our vets have opportunities,” in the form of jobs, education and health care, Thompson said.

He noted that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War. Thompson pointed out that many Vietnam veterans did not receive a welcome on their return, and he offered them his thanks and welcomed them home.

Thompson said he prayed for peace and a day when war is a distant reality.

Following Penny's reading of Thompson's letter, members of local 4-H clubs handed out thank you cards to the veterans in the audience, an annual tradition.

The ceremony's guest speaker was Dean Gotham, a leader in the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter who served in the Marines.

Gotham welcomed his brothers and sisters home. “Today is your day.”

A native Californian, Gotham was in college when he decided to enlist in the Marines in 1967, inspired to do so by President John F. Kennedy's call to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” He would serve in the Third Marine Division in Vietnam, working as a radio operator from 1968 to 1969 and later acting as an instructor.

He said he was filled with rage when he was discharged in 1970, carrying with him the memories of Marines being killed without being able to return fire. He said he learned you can't win a war with one hand tied behind your back.

It would take him years to get to the point where he could seek out help. When he did, Penny was his veteran service officer, and recognized the fact that Gotham had post traumatic stress disorder.

Nearly two decades of therapy has helped him address his severe denial, which was based on his belief that he wasn't truly a combat veteran. At one point in his life, the word “veteran” was empty of meaning to him.

Gotham said he found that the young Marine who he had been, who went to war in the 1960s, was buried inside, under survivor guilt.

He said veterans are people with strengths and challenges, like everyone else. They endure emotional anguish and deplorable conditions, and total only about 0.5 percent of the United States population.

Gotham urged people to remember veterans, and so honor them.

“Please, never forget,” he said, receiving a standing ovation.

Another Vietnam veteran, Supervisor Jim Comstock, presented this year's “Friend of the Veteran Award” to KPFZ's “Veterans Hour” radio show, which is featured every other Friday at 9 a.m. The next show is Nov. 25 on 88.1 FM.

Gotham, current Veteran Service Officer Saul Sanabria and Chris Taliaferro of the Employment Development Department field phone calls from veterans and their families during the show.

Veteran Skip Hulet then presented the “Veteran of the Year Award” to Penny.

Penny is himself a hero of local heroes for his work in the Veteran Service Office. He began working in that office in 1997, and served as veteran service officer from 2005 to 2014.

“You've got me speechless,” Penny said after Hulet presented him with the award, a statuette of a bald eagle and a flag.

He said that as veteran service officer he had tried to teach other vets how to help others. He said he still feels the need to reach out and help in any way he can.

“This award means the world to me,” he said.

After the ceremony, Penny told Lake County News that he served in the US Navy from 1966 to 1969.

During this three years of service, he served 14 months – two separate seven-month assignments – as a forward gunner on a river patrol boat, a 31-one foot craft that was about half the size of a swift boat, and made of fiberglass not steel.

At age 21 in 1968, he was wounded in the leg while out on patrol during the Tet Offensive, which lasted from January to September of that year.

“We got caught in a crossfire,” he said. He and all the other forward gunners were wounded.

In addition to the wounds he received during TET, Penny also suffered a back injury before getting out of the military.

He later went on to study architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and worked in construction in the Bay Area before being introduced to Lake County because his in-laws had a home here.

After retiring, Penny has stayed busy. In September, he worked with fellow veteran Frank Parker on the third annual Lake-Mendocino Stand Down/Veterans Resource Fair, which Penny said helped 200 homeless veterans.

“It's well overdue,” said Parker of Penny's award.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

The moon is a familiar sight in our sky, brightening dark nights and reminding us of space exploration, past and present.

But the upcoming supermoon – on Monday, Nov. 14 – will be especially “super” because it’s the closest full moon to Earth since 1948. We won’t see another supermoon like this until 2034.

The moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical so sometimes it is closer and sometimes it’s farther away.

When the moon is full as it makes its closest pass to Earth it is known as a supermoon. At perigree – the point at which the moon is closest to Earth – the moon can be as much as 14 percent closer to Earth than at apogee, when the moon is farthest from our planet. The full moon appears that much larger in diameter and because it is larger shines 30 percent more moonlight onto the Earth.
 
The biggest and brightest moon for observers in the United States will be on Monday morning just before dawn.

On Monday, Nov. 14, the moon is at perigee at 3:22 a.m. Pacific Time and “opposite” the sun for the full moon at 5:52 a.m. Pacific Time (after moonset for most of the US).

If you’re not an early riser, no worries. “I’ve been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon,” said Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. “The difference in distance from one night to the next will be very subtle, so if it’s cloudy on Sunday, go out on Monday. Any time after sunset should be fine. Since the moon is full, it’ll rise at nearly the same time as sunset, so I’d suggest that you head outside after sunset, or once it’s dark and the moon is a bit higher in the sky. You don’t have to stay up all night to see it, unless you really want to!”

This is actually the second of three supermoons in a row, so if the clouds don’t cooperate for you this weekend, you will have another chance next month to see the last supermoon of 2016 on Dec. 14.

NASA scientists have studied the moon for decades. A better understanding of our moon helps scientists infer what is happening on other planets and objects in the solar system. “The moon is the Rosetta Stone by which we understand the rest of the solar system,” Petro said.

LRO has been mapping the moon’s surface and capturing high resolution images for more than seven years. Extensive mapping of the moon aids scientists in understanding our planet’s history, as well as that of planetary objects beyond the Earth-moon system.

“Because we have the Apollo samples, we can tie what we see from orbit to those surface samples and make inferences about what has happened to the moon throughout its lifetime,” Petro said. “The samples tell us how old certain lunar surfaces are, and based on the number of impact craters on those surfaces, we can estimate the ages of the rest of the moon. Furthermore, we can then apply those models to estimate the ages of surface on other planets in our solar system — all by studying the moon!”