Committee Republicans, searching for ways to curb federal deficits and rein in galloping VA costs, are targeting 1.3 million veterans who claim Priority Group 7 or 8 status and have access to VA care.

Priority Group 8 veterans have no service-connected disabilities and annual incomes, or net worth, that exceed VA means-test thresholds and VA “geographic income” thresholds, which are set by family size.

Priority Group 7 veterans also have no service-connected disabilities and their incomes are above the means-test thresholds. But their incomes or net worth fall below the geographic index. In other words, because of where they live, in high cost areas, they likely struggle financially.

Joseph Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, said he first learned of the committee’s interest in possibly narrowing access to VA clinics and hospitals from a DAV member from Wisconsin, chairman Ryan’s home state.

Violante and other DAV officials arranged their own meeting with a staff member for the committee. He confirmed growing interest in a cost-saving initiative to push priority 7 and 8 veterans out of VA health care.

As this budget committee staffer reminded Violante, proponents for opening VA health care to all veterans had argued it would be cost neutral to VA. That’s because VA would charge these vets modest co-payments for their care. Also VA would bill these veterans’ private health insurance plans for the cost of their VA care.

That argument from 1996 turned out to be wrong. Co-payments collected from low-priority veterans and private insurance plan billings today cover only 18 percent of the cost of care for group 7 and 8 veterans. By 2009, the annual net cost to VA to treat these veterans totaled $4.4 billion or 11 percent of VA’s annual medical appropriation.

The figures come from the Congressional Budget Office’s annual report to Congress, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options.”

Among options it presented this year to the new Congress for reducing VA spending is one to close enrollment in VA care for all veterans in groups 7 and 8 and to cancel the enrollment of veterans currently in two low priority groups.

CBO said this would save VA $62 billion in the first 10 years, from 2012 to 2021. But the net savings to the government over the same period, CBO said, would be about half that amount. That’s because many of the veterans bumped from VA are old enough or poor enough to use Medicare or Medicaid, which would drive up the cost of those programs.

We asked a committee spokesman for comment, both by e-mail and voice mail, but none came in time for this column’s deadline.

Until the mid-1990s, VA had denied health care to priority 7 and 8 veterans. Congress changed that during the Clinton administration, enacting the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Act of 1996.

The law directed VA to build many more clinics across the country. To ensure enough patients to fill these clinics, the VA secretary was given authority to expand care eligibility.

The ban on group 7 and 8 veterans was ended by 1999. Over the next three years their enrollment climbed to 30 percent of total enrollees.

By 2003, then-VA Secretary Anthony Principi stopped allowing any more group 8 enrollments, saying their numbers strained the system for higher priority veterans, including wounded returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s possible that, in sharing what the budget committee eyed due to lower VA health costs, the professional staffer assumed DAV would embrace cancellation of 7 and 8 enrollments because few DAV members would be impacted. But Violante said DAV is concerned, for two reasons.

One, some DAV members separated from service with disabilities rated at zero percent do have access to VA health care as group 7 or 8 veterans.

A bigger concern for his members, Violante said, is that tossing 1.3 million veterans from VA care would leave the system without the “critical mass” of patients needed to provide “a full continuum of care.”

DAV officials worried that an initiative to narrow VA enrollment would be included in the House Republican budget plan unveiled this week. Ryan titled it “Path to Prosperity” and the full committee endorsed it on a straight party line vote April 6.

The budget package, however, doesn’t mention any change to enrollment eligibility nor call for significant cuts to VA budgets. Violante said DAV wants to talk House committees out of taking any action to reduce VA enrollment.

CBO presented pros and cons for canceling 7 and 8 enrollments. An advantage is VA could refocus services on “its traditional group of patients – those with the greatest needs or fewest financial resources.”

It noted 90 percent of group 7 and 8 enrollees had other health care coverage, either Medicare or private insurance. So the “vast majority” cut loose would have ready access to other coverage. Those who don’t could be eligible for health insurance exchanges to be set up in the future said CBO.

One disadvantage is that many veterans who have come to rely on VA for at least part of their medical care would see that care interrupted.

The Obama administration and Congress actually had been moving in the opposite direction, to expand VA enrollment, until Republicans won the House.

As Obama took office in 2009, VA announced that up to 266,000 veterans with no service-connected health conditions would be allowed to enroll in VA health care. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) had fought successfully to add $350 million to the 2009 VA budget so income thresholds controlling priority 8 enrollments could be raised 10 percent.

Edwards lost his reelection bid last year. And new priority 8 enrollees haven’t rushed to join the system as VA officials had expected.

Group 8 and 7 veterans using VA care pay $15 per outpatient visit and a little more for specialty care. Inpatient fees also are modest. The most popular benefit for many of enrollees is discounted prescription drugs. The co-pay usually is $8 for a 30-day supply.

Tim Tetz with American Legion said his organization and many veterans groups would strongly oppose tossing out group 7 and 8 veterans. He credits their enrollment since 1999 as helping to improve VA care.

“If as great of a health care system as we have, shouldn’t we let all of our veterans have access to it, in some manner,” Tetz asked.

While deficit hawks weigh this issue, VA still is enrolling new group 8 veterans who fall below its income thresholds. Those without dependents and living outside high-cost areas, for example, must have income below a means test threshold of $32,342.

More information on group 8 enrollment is online at www.va.gov/healtheligibility or call 877-222-VETS (8387).

To comment, send e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111.

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This year, the Earth experienced the 13th warmest March since record keeping began in 1880, as the climate phenomenon La Niña continued to be a significant factor, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The annual maximum Arctic sea ice extent was reached on March 7 and tied with 2006 as the smallest annual maximum extent since record keeping began in 1979.

The monthly analysis from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides government, business and community leaders so they can make informed decisions.

The study also found that global land surface temperature was 1.49 F (0.83 C) above the 20th century average of 40.8 F (5.0 C), and tied for the 12th warmest March on record.

Warmer-than-average conditions occurred across most of Siberia, southwestern Greenland, southern North America, and most of Africa. Cooler-than-average regions included: most of Australia, the western half of Canada, most of Mongolia, China, and southeastern Asia.

The March global ocean surface temperature was 0.65 F (0.36 C) above the 20th century average of 60.7 F (15.9 C), making it the 12th warmest March on record.

The warmth was most pronounced in the equatorial Atlantic, the western Pacific Ocean, and across the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes.

For the year so far, the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was 0.77 F (0.43 C) above the 20th century average of 54.1 F (12.3 C), making it the 14th warmest such period on record.

The year-to-date worldwide land surface temperature was 1.08 F (0.60 C) above the 20th century average – the 21st warmest such period on record.

Warmer-than-average conditions occurred across northern Alaska, far northwestern Canada, southern Greenland and northern Siberia. Cooler-than-average regions included most of Europe, western Russia, Mongolia, much of China, Australia, and part of central North America.

The global ocean surface temperature for the year to date was 0.65 F (0.36 C) above the 20th century average and was the 12th warmest such period on record. The warmth was most pronounced across parts of the central western Pacific Ocean, the tropical Atlantic Ocean, the North Atlantic near Greenland and Canada, and the southern mid-latitude oceans.

La Niña conditions continued to weaken in March for the third consecutive month, although sea-surface temperatures remained below normal across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, La Niña will continue to have global impacts through the Northern Hemisphere spring, but neither La Nina nor El Nino conditions are expected by June.

The report also found that the average Arctic sea ice extent during March was much-below average, ranking as the second smallest March on record, behind March 2006.

On March 7, Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent at 5.65 million square miles (14.64 million square kilometers), tying with 2006 as the smallest annual maximum extent in the satellite record.

The March 2011 Antarctic sea ice extent was 16.2 percent below average and was third lowest for March since records began in 1979.

Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during March ranked as the ninth largest on record, while the snow cover extent over North America was the sixth largest and largest since March 1979.

In global highlights, England reported its driest March in 50 years and fifth driest since records began in 1910, while average rainfall across Australia was 117 percent above average during March, making it the wettest March on record.

Scientists, researchers and leaders in government and industry use NOAA’s monthly analyses to help track trends and other changes in the world's climate.

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These are adults who are either unable to take care of himself or are susceptible to undue influence – especially anyone over age 65 years old.

On the one hand, the law presumes that gifts by dependent adults either to “disqualified persons” or to their unrelated care custodian – who receives payment for services – are the result of fraud, undue influence or duress, and thus invalid.

On the other hand, the law protects the right of dependent adults to make such gifts that if a certificate of independent review is obtained from an attorney who reviews the matter.

The certificate is the written assurance of the reviewing attorney that the legal instrument used to make the gift – often a will or trust – is not the product of undue influence, fraud or duress forced upon the dependent adult by the beneficiary.

But is a certificate always accepted at face value or can it be still successfully challenged so that the presumption of abuse is restored?

A certificate of independent review is only as reliable and effective as the quality of the underlying review that is conducted by the independent attorney who signed the certificate.

In Estate of Winans (183 Cal App 4th 182) the court confirmed that a certificate does not have to be accepted at face value. Thus a certificate of independent review may be successfully challenged by the unhappy family of the dependent adult.

The court agreed that an evidentiary trial was justified based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the issuance of the certificate.

This certificate was exposed as the product of an inadequate and superficial review by the reviewing attorney who stood to gain by approving the gift.

So what kind of review is needed for the certificate to be respected?

First, the reviewing attorney must be independent of the beneficiary of the gift and may not stand to gain from the outcome. Specifically, the reviewing attorney cannot have any, “legal, business, financial, professional or personal relationship with the beneficiary.”

Each such relationship is an impermissible conflict of interest and raises the possibility that the reviewing attorney is partial towards the beneficiary, and is not independent.

Nor may the attorney have a self interest such as being appointed to act as the executor or successor trustee under the dependent adult’s will or trust in question.

Second, the reviewing attorney should explain to the dependent adult that the gift he or she is making to the disqualified person or care custodian is presumed to be invalid. And, also explain how that presumption may be overcome through the certificate of independent review procedure.

Third, the reviewing attorney should then review the legal document in question with the dependent adult and ensure that the client understands that the gift is irrevocable and understands the consequences.

During their meeting the reviewing attorney should take careful notes which may later become evidence that a thorough and complete discussion regarding all the relevant issues occurred.

Fourth, the reviewing attorney might also inquire of third parties to hear what they have to say regarding the nature of the beneficiary’s relationship with the dependent adult. This means contacting the dependent adult’s family and friends, as relevant.

In sum, a certificate of independent review does not have to be accepted at face value. Whether the certificate works depends on whether or not an independent attorney properly reviewed the matter – for the presence of fraud, undue influence and duress – and properly counseled the dependent adult.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235.

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The Lakeport Masonic Lodge was destroyed by the great San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Museum.

In commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Lake County this year, Lake County News is publishing a series of historical stories about the county, its people and places. With Monday, April 18, being the 105^th anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, this week's story looks at the impact of that quake on Lake County.

The date April 18, 1906, is marked by one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. History.

Many, although born at a different time, recognize the significance of this date. It is the day that San Francisco experienced a devastating earthquake.

At 5:12 a.m., many San Franciscans were still asleep, and others were on the road commuting to their places of employment when the city was shaken violently for about 45 to 60 seconds.

The earthquake shifted the ground at about four to five feet per second. The rupture traveled approximately 5,900 miles per hour and left its imprint on 375,000 square miles.

The earthquake traveled to Northern California areas such as Lake County, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Santa Cruz. It went as far inland as Nevada.

The US Geological Survey and Berkeley Seismological Laboratory have estimated that the quake's magnitude ranged between 7.7 and 7.9 and did $400 million in damage in 1906 dollars.

The aftermath of the earthquake left 225,000 people homeless and about 3,000 dead.

What wasn’t utterly demolished by the earthquake was quickly obliterated by raging fires. Fires burnt about 28,000 buildings and 500 blocks – or one quarter of San Francisco.

Some fires were as hot as 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit and were more catastrophic than the earthquake itself.

The water supply in San Francisco was completely cut off. Citizens began receiving their food from soup lines and many sought shelter at Golden Gate Park or at the beach.

It took approximately three minutes for the aftershock of the quake to reach Lake County.

Lakeport's Lakeview Hotel was damaged by the quake that destroyed a large part of San Francisco on April 18, 1906. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Museum.

Although the effects of the quake weren’t as catastrophic as in other areas it still impacted many.

While Upper Lake for the most part was spared from the quake, other Lake County towns were not.

In Lakeport, the quake shook down the brick walls of the two-story Masonic Hall and both the Lakeview and Giselman Hotels were damaged. Many school chimneys toppled and residences were knocked down.

Some Lower Lake and Middletown residents had chimneys knocked down and household items destroyed. The bell tower and roof at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse were badly damaged as well.

The Lower Lake bell tower played an important part in the functioning of the town and even then had historical significance. The bell was not only used to signify the beginning and end of school, but also was used to alert townspeople of fires and other emergencies.

The earthquake that hit San Francisco on April 18, 1906, was estimated to be between 7.7 and 7.9 in magnitude, left 225,000 people homeless and about 3,000 dead, and did an estimated $400 million in damage in 1906 dollars. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Museum.

After the quake knocked the bell tower down, the bell itself became overlooked and it is speculated that it was melted down and the metal reused during World War II. The loss of both the bell and bell tower was felt by all Lower Lake residents.

The county economy suffered as well, but Lake County was still among the many counties that responded to the request for aid by those in San Francisco.

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Local resorts sent a stage to San Francisco and to Sacramento (pictured here) to entice visitors, noting that Lake County's resorts weren't damaged by the great San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Museum.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office partnered with the California Northern District of the United States Marshal’s Service, California State Parole agents and Clearlake Police officers to carry out the two-day effort to check compliance on convicted sex offenders around the county, according to Sheriff Frank Rivero.

“This is more about compliance than arresting people,” Rivero said, noting he was “very satisfied” with how the operation worked out.

Sheriff's Capt. James Bauman said that the operation, conducted Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15 – which included the work of the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force, Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit detectives, Patrol Division deputies and narcotics detection K-9 teams – involved 151 contacts with convicted sex offenders throughout the county by a total of seven, two-officer teams.

Bauman said 39 probation or parole searches were conducted and officials made seven arrests for parole violations, outstanding warrants or fresh criminal charges.

In addition, nine of the registrants they were searching for were discovered to be in facilities outside of Lake County and 15 contacts resulted in new cases requiring further investigation, which will likely result in arrest warrants, Bauman said.

He explained that the compliance checks entailed unannounced contacts at the homes of sex registrants to verify residency, detect and investigate any legal violations, and conduct searches of those on active probation or parole.

California has some of the nation's most stringent laws for monitoring and controlling registered sex offenders, Bauman said. Requirements include registering annually with local law enforcement jurisdictions where they reside within five days of their birthday, reporting any change in their place of residence within five days of moving to that residence and submitting DNA samples upon registration.

He said there are approximately 315 registered sex offenders currently residing in Lake County.

Bauman said the teams also checked for violations of probation or parole terms, such as possessing pornography or living within a prohibited distance of any school, park or day care facility.

“The ones that aren't in compliance, we're hauling off to jail to think about it,” Rivero said.

On Thursday, Clearlake residents Thomatra Eugene Lyons, 32, and Kelly Jonathan Mills, 24, were arrested for parole violations and booked into the Lake County Jail, Bauman said.

Those arrests were followed on Friday by several more, Bauman said.

Arrested that day in a Clearlake transient camp were Rickie Allen Wood, 57, who allegedly violated his parole and 40-year-old Jeffrey Thomas Zuidema, who was not a registered sex offender but was arrested on a local warrant, according to Bauman.

He said Jonathan Michael Baslee, 22, and Gordon Wilsey Dennler, 53, were contacted in their respective homes and arrested for parole violations.

While conducting a compliance check at another Clearlake location, narcotics detectives contacted 23-year-old Randolf Jay Reiger, who Bauman said was not a registered sex offender but was found to have an outstanding arrest warrant.

As Reiger was being searched, detectives recovered a baggie containing approximately one-half ounce of methamphetamine and narcotics paraphernalia. Bauman said Reiger was transported to the Lake County Jail and booked for possession of a controlled substance for sales, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Rivero told Lake County News the planning for the operation began in January.

He said the US Marshal for the Ninth Circuit came to Lake County to take part in the operation briefing.

Rivero himself took part in the operation, riding with a US deputy marshal through the Lower Lake, Hidden Valley and Middletown areas.

He said he visited 50 to 60 of the registrants during the compliance checks, noting their surprise to see the new sheriff show up.

“This team policing concept is a really good one,” he said, noting, “We're not going to leave any stone unturned.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Investigations Branch funded the branch, Bauman said.

Rivero expressed his deepest gratitude to Sheriff’s Sex Crimes Detective Mike Curran and the United States Marshal’s Service for coordinating the effort.

He also thanked the Sheriff’s Patrol Division, Major Crimes Detectives, Narcotics Task Force, Special Enforcement Detail, K-9 Narcotics Interdiction Units, Deputy U.S. Marshals, California State Parole agents and Clearlake Police officers for participating in the effort.

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Michael Anthony Gama, 28, of Nice, Calif., and Joseph Andrew Kimber, 34, of Lucerne, Calif., were arrested in connection with a burglary on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. Lake County Jail photos.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Proactive enforcement efforts and swift coordination between the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail, Sheriff’s Dispatch and the Sheriff’s Patrol Force has led to two arrests and the recovery of property stolen in a Middletown burglary.

Capt. James Bauman said deputies arrested 28-year-old Michael Anthony Gama of Nice and 34-year-old Joseph Andrew Kimber of Lucerne.

On Wednesday, April 13, at approximately 1:50 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Special Enforcement Detail stopped a silver Honda Civic on Keeling Avenue in Nice. Bauman said the deputy determined that the driver, identified as Gama, was driving with a suspended license and he was detained.

Pending an impound of the vehicle, an inventory search of the Honda revealed numerous items of property in the trunk. Bauman said none of the property belonged to either Gama or Kimber, his passenger. Among items of jewelry, tools and other property, the deputy located an auto club card and pieces of mail belonging to a Middletown man.

The deputy requested that Sheriff’s Dispatch call the man to determine if he had been the victim of theft. Bauman said dispatch informed the deputy that another deputy had just been dispatched to the man’s home in Middletown for a burglary report only minutes before the Honda had been stopped.

The Middletown deputy arrived at the scene of the burglary while Gama and Kimber were still being detained in Nice. Bauman said the burglary investigation revealed that several structures on the victim’s property had been broken into some time between midnight and 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Aside from property taken from the victim’s home, his Blue 1995 GMC Suburban also had been stolen.

Coordinating between Nice and Middletown by phone, the two deputies were able to determine that all of the property found in the trunk of the Honda was stolen in the Middletown burglary, Bauman said.

Gama and Kimber were both arrested for receiving stolen property and transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility for booking. Bauman said the burglary victim responded to Nice and retrieved all of the property recovered by sheriff’s deputies.

When Gama and Kimber were removed from the arresting deputy’s car at the jail, the deputy discovered a broken “meth” pipe on the floorboard where Gama was seated. Bauman said the deputy determined that Gama had apparently retrieved it from his pocket and tried to destroy it while in transit to the jail.

Gama was charged with receiving stolen property, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, destroying evidence, and driving on a suspended license. Bauman said Kimber was charged with possession of stolen property.

The case is pending further investigation, including the recovery of additional stolen property and the victim’s stolen GMC Suburban, Bauman said.

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This vehicle caught fire early on Friday, April 15, 2011. Photo by Doug Moore.

COBB, Calif. – An early morning fire in Cobb on Friday destroyed a van but missed a nearby residence.

The fire was reported shortly after 2 a.m. Friday at 9347 Fox Drive in Cobb, according to radio reports.

Neighbors reported hearing an explosion and county dispatchers received multiple calls on the incident.

The fire burned a van, but while the fire originally was reported to have burned a nearby structure, the building wasn't affected, witnesses said.

South Lake County Fire Protection District did not return a call seeking comment on the fire.

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If you've ever stood in front of a hot stove, watching a pot of water and waiting impatiently for it to boil, you know what it feels like to be a solar physicist.

Back in 2008, the solar cycle plunged into the deepest minimum in nearly a century. Sunspots all but vanished, solar flares subsided, and the sun was eerily quiet.

“Ever since, we've been waiting for solar activity to pick up,” said Richard Fisher, head of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. “It's been three long years.”

Quiet spells on the sun are nothing new. They come along every 11 years or so – it's a natural part of the solar cycle. This particular solar minimum, however, was lasting longer than usual, prompting some researchers to wonder if it would ever end.

News flash: The pot is starting to boil.

“Finally,” said Fisher, “we are beginning to see some action.”

As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On Feb. 15 and again on March 9, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of “X-class” solar flares – the most powerful kind of x-ray flare. The last such eruption occurred back in December 2006.

Another eruption on March 7 hurled a billion-ton cloud of plasma away from the sun at five million mph (2200 km/s). The rapidly expanding cloud wasn't aimed directly at Earth, but it did deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field. The off-center impact on March 10 was enough to send Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into US states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

“That was the fastest coronal mass ejection in almost six years,” said Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “It reminds me of a similar series of events back in November 1997 that kicked off Solar Cycle 23, the solar cycle before this one.”

“To me,” says Vourlidas, “this marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24.”

The slow build-up to this moment is more than just “the watched pot failing to boil,” said Ron Turner, a space weather analyst at Analytic Services, Inc. “It really has been historically slow.”

There have been 24 numbered solar cycles since researchers started keeping track of them in the mid-18th century.

In an article just accepted for publication by the Space Weather Journal, Turner shows that, in all that time, only four cycles have started more slowly than this one.

“Three of them were in the Dalton Minimum, a period of depressed solar activity in the early 19th century. The fourth was Cycle #1 itself, around 1755, also a relatively low solar cycle,” he said.

In his study, Turner used sunspots as the key metric of solar activity. Folding in the recent spate of sunspots does not substantially alter his conclusion: “Solar Cycle 24 is a slow starter,” he said.

Better late than never.

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Auroras over Grand Portage, Minnesota, on March 10, 2011. Photo by Travis Novitsky.

The free Start Smart traffic safety class for teenage drivers and their parents will take place beginning at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27 at the CHP office at Highway 29 and Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville. The class will run about two hours.

Traffic collisions are the No. 1 killer of teenagers in America. Nationally about 5,000 teens will die in automobile crashes, the CHP reported. About 10 percent of those deaths are in California alone.

In California in 2007, there were 82,506 collisions involving teenage drivers statewide, 457 resulted in fatalities, according to the CHP.

The Start Smart program aims to help future and newly-licensed teenage drivers learn the responsibilities that accompany the privilege of being a licensed driver.

The CHP said the program is an education tool for parents and teens to reduce the number of teen injuries and deaths resulting from traffic collisions.

The program provides information on defensive driving, state traffic laws, dynamics of traffic collisions, tips on avoiding collisions and awareness about driving under the influence.

Space is limited for this class. For more information or reservations, call Officer Steven Tanguay at the CHP office, 707-279-0103.

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The walk will begin at 10 a.m. at Library Park, located on Park Street in Lakeport. Walk-up registration will be open beginning at 9:30 am.

The event begins with a special opening ceremony that includes the raising of the Flag of the Missing Child, a statewide initiative to raise awareness on child abuse prevention.

Children, families, teachers, groups, agencies and community members are welcome to show your public commitment to children.

Following the walk, the community is invited to all-day children’s festival.

Everything is free, and more than 30 Lake County agencies and organizations will provide fun children’s activities, giveaways and information on Lake County resources.

Both events are intended to unify the community around the common goal of caring for Lake County’s children by preventing child abuse and victimization, and providing a quality education for every child.

If you would like more information on any of these programs, please contact The Lake County Child Care Planning Council, 707-994-4795, www.lakecountychildcareplanning.com, or The Lake County Children’s Council at 707-262-4146.

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