KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Cal Fire said this week that its personnel are continuing to work on reducing the impact of potential wildfires by clearing areas of heavy vegetation around the 1,700 homes and businesses in the Clear Lake Riviera.

The project is known as the Mt. Konocti Interface Fuel Break Project and includes five treatment areas: Riviera Heights, Riviera West, Riviera Estates, Clear Lake Riviera and Thurston Lake.

Forty acres in the Thurston Lake Treatment Area were completed earlier this year and crews are now working on the 136 acres contained in the Clear Lake Riviera Treatment Area. Three hundred acres total will be cleared at the completion of this project.

The Kelseyville Fire Protection District, in partnership with the Lake County Fire Safe Council, received a grant from Cal Fire through the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund to create fuel breaks around neighborhoods in the Riviera.

The goal of the Mt. Konocti Interface Project is to remove flammable vegetation around the perimeter of densely populated areas in order to protect residents and their homes from potential wildfire.

In addition to stopping or slowing an advancing fire, the fuel breaks will be locations where crews could more effectively and safely combat a fire and will improve the effectiveness of air tanker drops.

“A community perimeter fuel break provides a defensible space for firefighting aircraft to paint with fire retardant,” said Mike Wilson, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit division chief for vegetation management. “Under average wind conditions these fuel breaks can stop the spread of a fire threatening or starting within a community.”

The treatment areas consist of fuel breaks up to 300 feet wide for close to 9 miles. They are being created where permission to enter properties and reduce fuel loading has been granted.

Masticators are brush mowing machines that grind vegetation in place, resulting in a layer of chipped material that will be left in place to decompose.

Brush and small trees are being removed by hand crews and masticators, depending on slope and access constraints.

Cal Fire inmate and fire engine hand crews are cutting material using chain saws, then piling and burning the material for disposal.

Vegetation is being removed in a mosaic pattern, leaving trees and larger brush specimens interspersed throughout the fuel break for erosion control and wildlife habitat.

Care is being taken to remove the more flammable brush species such as chamise first, while retaining larger manzanita plants and trees such as oaks, pines, and bays as residual species.

“Community wildfire safety is a group effort in the Riviera. Each homeowner/resident must do their defensible space work,” said Wilson. “The homeowners association will enforce their vacant lot clearance rules, and Cal Fire is providing a perimeter fuel break that together will make a difference when the next fire strikes the area.”

Cal Fire encourages all Lake County residents to take advantage of the cool weather months to prepare their homes for the 2017 fire season.

More information regarding defensible space and other fire prevention topics can be found at www.readyforwildfire.org .

Mt. Konocti Interface Fuel Break Project by LakeCoNews on Scribd

COBB, Calif. – A new event debuting later this month will raise much-needed funds for a new inpatient rehabilitation center offering treatment for mothers with substance addiction as well as services for their children.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, all are invited to “Dress to Impress” at the inaugural Oscars-themed red carpet event to support Tule House, a residential program for mothers with addiction.

The event will be held at the Black Rock Golf Course in Cobb and will feature dinner, a raffle and live auction.
 
The evening will begin at 5 p.m. with a stretch-limousine arrival, no host bar and silent auction, followed by a dinner with prime rib, chicken, salmon and vegetarian entrée options. The live auction will liven up the festivities and dessert will add a sweet end to the evening.

All proceeds will support mothers struggling with addiction to drugs, providing treatment and a safe place for their children to flourish.
 
Tule House is a program conceived by Dr. Kimberly Fordham, MD, and overseen by Redwood Community Services Inc., which provides services to foster children and their families.

The Tule House residential treatment program will address the specific needs of mothers recovering from drug and alcohol dependency issues in Lake County.

The nearest intensive inpatient rehabilitation program for mothers is located in Santa Rosa, creating multiple barriers to these women receiving the support they need.

As a labor and delivery physician at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Fordham sees firsthand the increasing amount of methamphetamine positive pregnant women.

“This not only negatively impacts both the health of these women and babies, but also the health of our community as a whole,” said Fordham. “Tule House will create a local option to best offer treatment and support mothers in creating a healthy and positive life in our community.”
 
The Dress to Impress Event is being organized by Fordham and the Women’s Care Unit staff at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.

“We are privileged to support women in the delivery of their newborns,” said Josie Lutz, RN. “We want to extend that support to allow women to be the best parents to their children and to live happy, drug-free lives.”
 
Much work has already begun to open Tule House and with community support and funds raised by the Dress to Impress event, the home will be ready for clients in 2017.
 
Tickets are $65 and may be purchased by calling Josie Lutz at 702-292-2153.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Westside Community Park Committee recently announced several projects completed during the 2016 construction season.

The largest of these projects was earthwork at the south end of the Jane Barnes Field. This area is the site of the future pump track, sand courts and skate park.

The work, completed by RB Peters over several weeks, involved grading to create a level area of about two acres with an engineered bank sloping to the turf playing fields.

Erosion control measures were installed in preparation for the winter rains. The combined cost of this work was approximately $25,000.

Major donations of time and materials were made by RB Peters and Kenn McCarty of Live Oak Belgians. Work is scheduled to resume this spring to construct the pump track.

Last spring members of the community gathered to plant 12 oaks trees in the Memorial Grove. That work was preceded by the installation of 300 feet of irrigation line to the tree area.

A bench donated by the Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Club was placed in the center of the grove on a concrete pad constructed as a donation by Gary and Derek Milhaupt of Sundance Tile. To complete the grove, 22 yards of wood chips donated by Lake County Waste Solution were spread around the trees.

Those being remembered by a tree planted in the Grove are listed on a beautiful mosaic sign created by local artist Chris King. The cost of this project was partially funded by those purchasing trees with the balance coming from the Westside Community Park Committee.

Thanks to the Grillin’ on the Green sponsorship of Sutter Lakeside Hospital, labor by the Kiwanis Club of Lakeport and the Lakeport Public Works Department, three pieces of outdoor exercise equipment were installed along the hiking/walking trail. This is the beginning of a planned par course.

The Rotary Club of Lakeport financed and installed 600 feet of irrigation line and planted 30 trees along the western edge of the Jane Barnes Field.

The Westside Community Park Committee installed four concrete benches that will eventually be shaded by the Rotary’s trees. Benches were donated by Tom and Ruth Lincoln, Ron and Judy Chadwick and the Rotary Club of Lakeport. The work on this project was funded by the Westside Community Park Committee.

The committee also purchased four sets of aluminum bleachers. The Kiwanis Club of Lakeport assembled and set up the bleacher at the baseball and softball fields.

The final project of the year took place in mid-November following the completion of the soccer season.

The Westside Community Park Committee rehabbed the turf on the Jane Barnes Field. This project involved aeration of the turf, over seeding with 1000 pounds of grass seed and the spreading of 173 cubic yards of compost. Jim Holmes donated three days of his time and tractor to help keep the cost down. The field rehabilitation cost $7,200.

The Westside Community Park is being developed by the nonprofit Westside Community Park Committee, a group of local volunteers, on land dedicated by the city of Lakeport as a public park.

The park is the home of the Konocti Youth Soccer League, the Lakeport teams of the Ukiah Men’s Soccer League, the Lakeport Lions’ Horseshoe League and Westshore Little League’s Junior League and Softball League.

Development is made possible by the donation of money, time and materials coming from members of the Lake County Community and from the Westside Community Park Committee’s annual fundraiser, Grillin’ on the Green, held in August.

Information about the Park can be obtained by visiting the committee's Web site at www.westsidecommunitypark.org .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Teams of bright, hard-working students will square off this weekend in the annual Lake and Mendocino County Academic Decathlon.

The competition will culminate in the Super Quiz and awards, which are free and open to the public, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb.4, at Clear Lake High School, 350 Lange St. in Lakeport.

Tammy Serpa, education specialist with the Career and College Readiness Department of the Lake County Office of Education, is the event's lead organizer.

Serpa said this year 73 students from five schools will compete. High schools sending teams are Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Middletown and defending 2016 champion Upper Lake, with a team from Willits also taking part. Middletown and Willits returned this year after not participating in the 2016 competition.

This year's topic is World War II.

Academic decathletes will compete in 10 disciplines: arts, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science and speech. In addition, the teams are scored on their Super Quiz performance.

The local competition also includes poetry and poster production competitions judged by the Lake County Arts Council but not scored in the overall competition.

The full competition actually takes place over the course of several weeks. On Jan. 6, the students took their first exam, an essay, Serpa said. Then, this past Saturday, they completed their speech and interview portions.

“We had 40 volunteers from the community help judge the speeches and interviews,” Serpa said.

Students will compete in the remaining disciplines on Saturday morning, she said. They will then have a break before the afternoon Super Quiz, which will be followed by the awards ceremony.

The team that wins the regional competition on Saturday will advance to the state competition, to be held in Sacramento March 23 through 26, according to the California Academic Decathlon Competition Web site.

The team rosters are shown below.

Clear Lake High School
Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg; Principal David Chamberlain; Coach Kristi Tripp
Team: Brenden Allen, Kaitlyn Avila, Miah Bullard, Alexis Burke, Michael Camacho, Candace Clayton, Zoe Cramer, Anna DelBosco, Dustin Domagalski, Dominik Helms, Brent Hinchcliff, Kyle Jensen, Subhagya Joshi, Christopher Lasher, Carina Martinez Lopez, Clinton Mather, Isabella Mattina, Courtney McIntosh, Nicolette Norcio, Anahy Olmedo, Sarah Pope, Nicolette Rivera, Felix Salinas, Andrew Scott, Connor Simons

Kelseyville High School
Superintendent Dave McQueen; Principal Matt Cockerton; Coaches Erick Larsen and Heather Koschik
Team: Andrew Aceves, Samantha Darnell, Kelsie Engle, Cassidy Holmes, Christina Jimenez, Kyle Keener, Artem Laptiev, Sienna Longoria, Anna Pak, Megan Petersen, Tiara Richards, Merin Rixen, Savannah Rodriguez, Kaitlyn Salata, Hannah Smith, Nichole Stevens

Middletown High School
Superintendent Catherine Stone; Principal Bill Roderick, Coach Jeff Mielke
Team: Robert Carey, Tyler Chorjel, Ella Dunsford, Donald Elder, Diana Espinoza, Carissa Forest, Olivia Glosser, Rachel Harvey, Ashley Hediger, Justin Hingston, Beckett Hoage, Moyra Horrell-Pyzer, Alixe Olson, Gary Pickrell, Jack Shrive, Colton Soderling, James Stalker

Upper Lake High School
Superintendent Pat Iaccino; Principal Sandy Coatney, Coaches Anna Sabalone and Angel Hayenga
Team: Cyndal Ader, Daniela Estrada Flores, Jeff Fannon, Megan Franco, Casey Herman, Miranda Huntley, Anisha Kalan, Kehlani McKelvey, Katlyn Minnis, Cristal Nieves, Rue Owen, Elizabeth Rosas Moreno, Breanna Sanchez, Maria Tinoco, Sarah Williams, Jack Wurm

Willits High School
Superintendent Mark Westerburg; Principal Robert Chavez; Coach Mary Colvig
Team: Katelyn Abernathy, Jace Atalig, Aiden Bertolino Haley, Oliver Campuzano, Hanna Corey, Eduardo Escobedo, Ryann Hee, Mychaela Nowlin, Tachyna Renick, Cheyanne Turner, Alisabeth Wilcox, Miranda Wilson

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.

In February, stargazers will have the opportunity to see bright planets, two comets, an asteroid and “zodiacal light.”

Among the highlights, Venus will remain bright throughout February, and will move closer toward Mars and Uranus.

It's also a good time to see zodiacal light, a triangular glow that results when sunlight bounces off dust particles. Mars and Venus can help find the cone-shaped glow on the western horizon in late February and throughout March.

Comet 45P will make its closest approach to Earth on Feb. 11, and will continue to be visible through the month.

Comet 2P Encke also will be visible through binoculars all month long, and the bright asteroid Vesta can be seen near the stars Castor and Pollux.

For more details, see the video above.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon wants to make sure that everyone who lost a home in the Rocky, Valley and Jerusalem fires is aware that the standard 24-month deadline for receiving insurance proceeds will occur this summer.
 
Insurance Code Section 2051.5 provides that in a “loss relating to a ‘state of emergency,’ no time limit of less than 24 months from the date that the first payment toward the actual cash value is made shall be placed upon the insured in order to collect the full replacement cost of the loss, subject to the policy limit.  Nothing in this section shall prohibit the insurer from allowing the insured additional time to collect the full replacement cost.”
 
County staff verified with the California Department of Insurance that homeowners who do not expect to be able to meet the 24-month deadline can request an extension for “good cause” from their insurance company. Owners may also have concerns about living expenses.

Any consumer who has questions or concerns relating to their insurance matters should file a request for assistance with the California Department of Insurance, which will look into the matter and assist you in resolving your concerns.
 
According to Supervisor Simon, “Filing a RFA is easy and can be done online at: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/101-help/index.cfm .”

Whether a trustee can be required to use trust assets to pay a beneficiary’s own debt is an important question.

Under California law the legal analysis involves the terms of the trust, the California Probate Code, the nature of debt involved, and even the beneficiary's circumstances.

Under California law, a trust established by the beneficiary for him or herself is answerable for the beneficiary’s own debts.

However, a trust for a beneficiary who did not establish and fund the trust can be drafted to provide certain creditor protections to limit the extent to which the trustee can be required to satisfy debts.

Once assets are distributed free of trust to the beneficiary the distributed assets are exposed to collection actions by the beneficiary’s creditors.

A trust that has a restraint on alienation provision – a “spendthrift clause” – generally prevents a beneficiary from transferring his or her interest, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to creditors.

The trust’s spendthrift clause prevents the trustee from directly having to pay creditor judgments unless the creditor obtains a court order.

The creditor must wait until the debtor beneficiary receives a distribution. The creditor, however, can “step into the beneficiary’s shoes” and require any distributions that are mandatory and not discretionary with the trustee.

With monetary judgment creditors, up to 25 percent of what a beneficiary is entitled to receive and any discretionary distributions that the trustee decides to distribute can become subject to a court order requiring the trustee to pay a beneficiary's creditors.

If the trustee has complete discretion over making distributions to or for the benefit of the beneficiary then it may be possible to avoid paying general creditors by not making distributions directly to the beneficiary.

The trustee can instead make purchases that benefit the beneficiary – pay rent for example – and so avoid direct distributions to the beneficiary.

There is an important limitation on court ordered payments of judgment creditors. The court order cannot deprive the beneficiary what is necessary for support of the beneficiary and any of his or her legal dependents.

Next, both a “support trust” and a “discretionary trust” are asset protection trusts that provide important protection from creditor claims.

A “support trust” – one that requires the income or principal or both to be used for the education or support of a beneficiary – is protected, “to the extent that the income or principal is necessary for the education or support of the beneficiary.” The money judgment creditor must prove that there is excess money that is not necessary for the education and support of the beneficiary.

A “discretionary trust” – one where the Trustee has sole or absolute discretion over making distributions of any kind to or for the benefit of a beneficiary – also provides protection against a beneficiary's money judgment creditors. A creditor cannot force the trustee to make discretionary distributions to the beneficiary.

The foregoing protections (the spendthrift clause, the support trust, and the discretionary trust), however, do not apply to spousal or child support, criminal restitution, and required reimbursement of public benefits debts.

A court, to the extent that it finds it equitable and reasonable under the circumstances, can order the trustee to pay such debts out of all or part of any payments either to or for the benefit of the beneficiary.

The legal analysis involved with creditor collection against trust assets varies from case to case and can be complex. The foregoing is only a simplified discussion of a much more complex subject.

Anyone needing advice should consult with a licensed attorney for specific legal guidance and not draw any premature conclusions of their own.

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 .

ACCUWEATHER GLOBAL WEATHER CENTER – AccuWeather reports just after sunrise on Thursday, Punxsutawney Phil declared six more weeks of winter for the United States – a prognostication AccuWeather meteorologists largely agree with.

Though many Americans are longing for warmer weather, most of the country will be faced with weeks of wintry conditions.

“There will be more rain than snow in the big East Coast cities,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. However, the interior Northeast will have a higher chance for snow as temperatures remain below normal.

“As far as a significant warmup goes across the Northeast, I think you have to hold off til late April or early May,” he said.

Cold air and snow will also persist in the Midwest, northern Plains and Northwest, enveloping nearly the entire northern tier of the country.

Northern and central California will see additional winter storms and rainfall. The abundant precipitation will continue to build a buffer for reservoirs in the coming months, Pastelok said.

Meanwhile, wet weather will grip cities from the mid-Atlantic down to the Florida Panhandle.

The rest of Florida will mark the exception for the Southeast, as dry weather prevails between now and springtime.

The spring season will officially begin on March 20.

For more details on what to expect, check back for AccuWeather's full 2017 spring forecast on Feb. 8.

Jillian MacMath writes for www.AccuWeather.com .