LAKEPORT, Calif. – A fundraising effort has been launched to help the dozens of families still displaced due to flooding and damaged infrastructure at the Will-O-Point Resort in Lakeport.

On Friday, Supervisor Rob Brown announced that he is working to raise funds to assist the residents who remain evacuated in replacing food and other items that were lost when they were flooded out.

“As renters with simple means, few if any, had insurance,” he said.

Will-O-Point was one of four Lakeport neighborhoods placed under mandatory evacuation on Feb. 20 due to the flooding, as Lake County News has reported.

Since then, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, which has jurisdiction over mobile home and trailer parks, red-tagged all 41 residences in the lakeside park. Water, sewer and power infrastructure are damaged, making it unsafe for them to return to live in the park in the short-term.

Many of those same residents met with county and state officials on Wednesday to find out what assistance is being made available to them as they wait to return home, which could be three to four months out, based on initial estimates.

The city has come up with a plan to transition them from the evacuation shelter at the Lakeport Seventh-day Adventist Church, which closes at month’s end, to longer-term housing situations, including rooms at Konocti Harbor Resort in Kelseyville.

Brown said he’s also working with local vineyard and orchard owners to look at other housing options.

In the meantime, the evacuees on Wednesday had reported needing assistance to replace food and other essentials that they lost when they left their homes.

On Friday, Brown announced he had launched the fundraising effort to respond to those concerns.

Brown said he’s worked out an arrangement with the Lakeport Grocery Outlet for gift cards to be purchased for the residents in order for them to get “an initial hand up for them and their families.”

He said anyone wishing to contribute can make a check out directly to Grocery Outlet and he will make arrangements to pick it up and distribute the cards directly to the survivors.

Anyone who would like to donate or to get more information is invited to call Brown at 707-349-2628.

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.

Special needs trusts, or SNTs, are for special needs beneficiaries who receive needs-based government benefits, such as SSI and Medi-Cal.

Assets held in a fully discretionary SNT do not count as available resources for determining needs based eligibility because the trustee has complete discretion over whether, when and how to distribute assets.

The purpose of a SNT is to supplement needs based government benefits and make the SNT assets last longer.

Family members of the special needs beneficiary sometimes serve as trustee of a SNT. But they do not always know and understand what is involved in administering special needs trusts that a trustee must understand. Let’s discuss.

First, know what type of special needs trust is involved. Is it a first party SNT or is it a third party SNT?

First party special needs trusts are established when a special needs beneficiary receives an inheritance, gift or a personal injury award in their name.

Federal law requires both that first party SNTs be used for the “sole benefit of the special needs beneficiary” and that any unused funds remaining after the beneficiary dies be used to payback Medi-Cal Estate Recovery. The same is not true of a third party SNT.

Third party SNTs are established by family and/or friends in advance to receive gifts made either at death or during lifetime.

Direct gifting to the special needs would otherwise result in disqualification from benefits and end up with a full or partial spend down and/or funding a first party or pooled SNT managed by a nonprofit organization.

Second, understand how distributions from the SNT affect the beneficiary's ongoing receipt of SSI and Medi-Cal benefits.

Distributions for the beneficiary's food and shelter (including utilities) are treated as “in kind support and maintenance” for SSI. Such distributions reduce the beneficiary's SSI benefits (check) dollar for dollar, but only up to the presumed maximum value.

In 2017 the presumed maximum value for an eligible individual is $265 and for an eligible couple is $387. Thus, the SSI reduction for in kind support and maintenance often does not completely eliminate SSI benefits.

Sometimes it is necessary to make in kind support and maintenance distributions and accept the reduction in SSI because a beneficiary cannot afford to live on SSI alone. Provided the SSI reduction does not totally eliminate all monthly payments then the continued receipt of any SSI monies remains an ongoing link for Medi-Cal eligibility.

Third, understand that the SNT trustee must exercise appropriate discretion, and not simply make distributions because the beneficiary or anyone else asks.

Exercising discretion means balancing the pros and cons of distributions, bearing in mind that the purpose of the SNT is to meet the unmet needs of the beneficiary while first using non trust resources (government benefits) to satisfy as many needs as possible.

Fourth, understand the tax, accounting and investment duties. The trustee must account to the beneficiary, his representative, and with first party SNTs to the court. A trustee must keep well organized financial records and work with an attorney, tax preparer, and an investment advisor.

Clearly the duties of a trustee require a competence and dedication not always possessed by every SNT Trustee. So what alternatives exist?

Fortunately, professional fiduciaries and trust companies exist who for a fee can manage such assets. Also, when the SNTs sole asset is money a variety of pooled SNTs managed by nonprofits exist who can manage such money.

Anyone confronting these SNTs issues needs the advice of a qualified attorney to evaluate these options and to implement the best course of action.

A SNT trustee usually needs the guidance of an attorney, tax preparer and investment advisor.

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 .

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Northshore teenager sustained major injuries in Potter Valley on Friday when he fell off a skateboard while being pulled by a pickup.

James Derr, 17, of Nice was injured in the accident, which occurred just before 1 p.m. Friday, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.

The CHP said Garret Pierachini, 19, of Potter Valley was driving a 1987 Chevrolet pickup at slow speeds eastbound on Main Street west of Eel River Road, with Derr – who was on a skateboard – holding onto the bed of the pickup.

Derr lost his balance and fell off the skateboard and underneath the pickup, which struck him while he was on the ground, the CHP said.

The CHP said Derr sustained major injuries and was lifeflighted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for medical treatment.

No drug or alcohol involvement is suspected in the incident, the CHP said.

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.

NASA's upcoming mission to investigate the habitability of Jupiter's icy moon Europa now has a formal name: Europa Clipper.

The moniker harkens back to the clipper ships that sailed across the oceans of Earth in the 19th century. Clipper ships were streamlined, three-masted sailing vessels renowned for their grace and swiftness. These ships rapidly shuttled tea and other goods back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean and around globe.

In the grand tradition of these classic ships, the Europa Clipper spacecraft would sail past Europa at a rapid cadence, as frequently as every two weeks, providing many opportunities to investigate the moon up close.

The prime mission plan includes 40 to 45 flybys, during which the spacecraft would image the moon's icy surface at high resolution and investigate its composition and the structure of its interior and icy shell.

Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because it holds a salty liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust.

The ultimate aim of Europa Clipper is to determine if Europa is habitable, possessing all three of the ingredients necessary for life: liquid water, chemical ingredients, and energy sources sufficient to enable biology.

"During each orbit, the spacecraft spends only a short time within the challenging radiation environment near Europa. It speeds past, gathers a huge amount of science data, then sails on out of there," said Robert Pappalardo, Europa Clipper project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Previously, when the mission was still in the conceptual phase, it was sometimes informally called Europa Clipper, but NASA has now adopted that name as the former title for the mission.

The mission is being planned for launch in the 2020s, arriving in the Jupiter system after a journey of several years.

JPL manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about NASA's Europa Clipper mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/europa .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office reported Friday that the official canvass for the Lake County Fire Protection District’s Measure D parcel tax is under way.

A special election on the tax was held on Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.

The preliminary results Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley released Tuesday night indicated that the measure narrowly failed. It requires 66.7 percent of the vote to pass.

However, Fridley said 303 ballots still remain to be counted and the Tuesday results are not final.

The breakdown of ballots still to be counted is as follows:

– Vote-by-mail (or absentee) ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 135.
– Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before March 7 and received by March 10: 87.
– Vote-by-mail ballots that require further review for various reasons: 49.
– Provisional ballots: 32.

Fridley said provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots requiring further review may be entirely
counted, partially counted or not counted.

The process of certifying election results, also known as the official canvass, is mandated by state law to make sure the public can have confidence in the integrity of the final results, Fridley said.

The official canvass period lasts 30 days. Fridley said there are many checks and balances when certifying the election results.

She said her office does not update results between the unofficial Election Night results and the final certified results of the Election. “We do not interrupt the careful steps that we take during the canvass to release interim unofficial results.”

Fridley said interim unofficial results have no bearing on the final outcome of Measure D. Only final certified results will impact the district measure as to whether it receives the required percentage of the vote to pass.

When Daylight Saving Time begins on March 12, many motorists may find themselves short of sleep and a danger on the roadways.

The California Highway Patrol wants the public to be aware of the risks associated with drowsy driving.

“When clocks are set forward in the spring, people often lose an hour of sleep,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “Drowsy driving can have the same effect on a person as drinking alcohol, with equally deadly consequences. The skills required to be a safe driver are significantly reduced when you have not had enough sleep.”

Preliminary 2016 information shows that 33 people died and more than 3,800 were injured in collisions caused by fatigued or sleepy drivers on California roadways.

Data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Reporting System also indicates that sleepy or fatigued drivers were responsible for more than 6,700 collisions.

Sleep-related collisions are most common in young people, who tend to stay up late, sleep too little, and drive at night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Nationally, 55 percent of all collisions in which the driver fell asleep involved drivers 25 years of age and younger.

Signs of drowsy driving include trouble focusing, heavy eyelids, an inability to remember the last stretch of road just driven, yawning constantly, head bobbing and drifting from one’s traffic lane.

According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60 percent of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 37 percent admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year.

To prevent drowsy driving, the National Sleep Foundation recommends:

– Get enough sleep before driving. Most adults need seven to nine hours.
– Do not drive if you have been awake for 24 hours or more.
– If you feel sleepy, drink something with caffeine.
– Let a passenger take over the driving.
– If all else fails, find a safe place to take a short nap by exiting the freeway or pulling into a rest stop, or stay somewhere for the night.

The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service, and security to the people of California.