Wednesday, 09 October 2024

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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Dissatisfaction about a chip seal project and the resulting safety concerns will culminate in a Tuesday meeting where community members will get a chance to seek answers from state officials.


Supervisor Jim Comstock has organized the meeting with Caltrans' District 1 Director Charlie Fielder and his staff, which will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at the Calpine Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.


“We want to get Caltrans' attention,” Comstock said. “We just weren't getting any answers that fit right.”


This summer, Caltrans completed two rubberized chip seal projects, one along 12 miles of Highway 29 from the Lake/Napa County lines to the Coyote Creek Bridge, and the second along 8.5 miles on Highway 175 from Cobb to Middletown, as Lake County News has reported. Pavement striping was just finished on the Highway 29 portion last Friday.


Caltrans reported that the total combined cost of the two projects – completed by International Surfacing Systems of West Sacramento – was about $2.1 million.


Caltrans reported that the rubberized chip seal strategy was intended to seal and preserve the existing pavement while providing increased winter traction and a good binding surface for future paving projects, Frisbie explained.


The chip seals in Lake County were the first in the district to use half-inch aggregate rather than the more common 3/8-inch aggregate, Caltrans said.


The agency said such chip seals allow the treatment of three times more pavement than an asphalt thin blanket overlay could. Caltrans said it's also a green technology, using 40,000 recycled tires just for the Lake County projects alone.


But south county residents are none too pleased with the outcome of the projects, said Comstock.


He took a road trip around the county with Fielder and some of his staff to look at the work, and Comstock said Fielder agreed that there were issues.


Comstock said several years ago Caltrans did an open grade asphalt project, which provided a good road surface but failed sooner than expected.


“There are areas where it's completely worn through,” said Comstock.


However, he was told a grinder was broken which resulted in no asphalt grinding to prepare the road surface before the chip seal projects began. Instead the contractor put the chip seal over the areas where the pavement was worn through.


That, coupled with the larger aggregate, provided what Comstock said is not an ideal driving surface.


“It is dangerous to drive on. It does throw you around a little bit,” he said, adding that it's worse if you're pulling a trailer.


Comstock said the chip sealed was put over brand new pavement done in front of the Hidden Valley Lake and Twin Pine Casino entrances.


“We went from some bad to some good to all bad,” he said.


Frisbie said Caltrans has received complaints about the road work. He said the larger, half-inch rock isn't the kind of finish that Caltrans wants to be on the road for a long time, and they plan to repave.


He said people have expressed concern that the projects have been a waste of money. However, he said the chip seal does a good job of sealing little cracks in the pavement and waterproofing it. It also will help new asphalt bind to the old. Because of that, they often will put down a chip seal and then immediately pave over it.


Repaving a portion of Highway 175 – which also will include a section of the highway at Highway 101 in Mendocino County and another section of Highway 175 bounded by Highway 29 – won't take place until next summer's construction season, he said.


The repaving on Highway 29, however, is probably two or three years down the road, Frisbie said.


Comstock said Fielder indicated to him that they're making an effort to get funds to redo the highway sooner.


Comstock said people are not happy.


“Two to three years, that's just not acceptable,” he said.


Comstock pointed out that Caltrans was able to quickly get funds to repave an eight-mile portion of Highway 29 outside of Lakeport earlier this year.


Middletown businesswoman Linda Diehl-Darms started a petition for area residents to express their concern, said Comstock.


They've collected more than 1,000 signatures, with the petitions gathered up around Sept. 15, he said.


“I told the folks in Middletown I would hand deliver them to Caltrans,” Comstock said of the petitions.


He said he plans to hand the petitions over to Caltrans on Tuesday.


If anyone hasn't signed the petition and wants to, Comstock said he'll make sure they get the chance at the Tuesday meeting.


He said Caltrans will present information on the projects and what they're going to do about the situation. Community members also will have the chance to ask questions.


Comstock said Middletown's streets are county maintained roads that until recently were in “atrocious” shape, and he's worked with county Road Superintendent Steve Stangland and Public Works Director Brent Siemer to address the problem.


The county put $50,000 for asphalt toward a paving project, and county workers assisted by inmate laborers did the work. Comstock said they've been able to get many of the town's streets repaved that way.


“They're way better than the highway now, which isn't much of a standard to go by,” he said.


Comstock said the Caltrans chip seal projects hadn't looked good to him, even before they started. “The finished product seems to have borne out my concerns.”


All state jobs are supposed to have an inspector on site during such projects, and Comstock wondered why the chip seal work continued.


“We haven't gotten an answer to that yet,” he said.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

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Middletown's Jereomy Hoefer on a two-yard touchdown carry to give Middletown an early 7-0 lead over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

 



 

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – By a score of 42-0, the Clear Lake Cardinals of Lakeport fell victim to a decisively superior Middletown Mustangs football team in Middletown’s homecoming Friday night.

 

Amid pageantry that included a parade of floats, flag presentations by horses in full gallop and military personnel, and the crowning of the homecoming king and queen, the Mustangs ran up the score early in the game, leading 28-0 at the end of the first quarter.

 

“We just seem to be wrapping up the game in the first quarter in our last three games,” Middletown’s head coach Bill Foltmer said after the win.


The Mustangs have won their last four games, three of them shutouts.

 

 

 

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Clear Lake quarterback Steven Edwards throws a pass against the Middletown Mustangs on Friday, October 8, 2010. He later left the game with an injury. Photo by Ed Oswalt.

 

 

 

 

Scoring highlights of the first quarter included a two-yard scamper by Jereomy Hoefer after a botched Cardinal punt attempt on their opening possession, a 32-yard dash by Middletown running back David Pike and a 15-yard screen from quarterback Kyle Brown to wide receiver Connor Chick, all resulting in touchdowns for the Mustangs.

 

Due to injuries and other factors, Clear Lake head coach Schad Schweitzer said his team was using their third string quarterback for most of the game against Middletown.

 

“We knew what we were up against,” Schweitzer said after the loss. “Today, Goliath won. David didn’t win.”

 

The Mustangs continued to dominate in the second quarter, when Pike took a handoff from Brown in Middletown’s opening drive and ran it six yards into the Cardinals' end zone for his second touchdown of the game.


After Danny Cardenas made his fifth extra point of the evening, Middletown held a commanding 35-0 lead going into halftime.

 

 

 

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Middletown's Chris Oatman after one of his two receptions against the Cardinals on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Ed Oswalt.
 

 

 

 

Foltmer noted Clear Lake had “a key lineman that was hurt” and due to injuries and other factors the Cardinals were “not the same team as they were earlier this year.”

 

The Mustangs scored quickly to open up the third quarter, capped by a 57-yard run by David Pike that broadened their lead to 42-0.

 

The Cardinals' only threat of the game came late in the fourth quarter, when they took 10 plays to drive the ball from their own seven-yard line to Middletown’s two-yard line.


Clear Lake’s Tyler Beets nearly scored on a 46-yard run, but with seconds to go, the Cardinals failed to convert on a first-and-goal opportunity from Middletown’s four-yard line and time ran out.

 

“The team didn’t quit,” Schweitzer said of his Cardinals, calling this game “something to build off of.”

 

 

 

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Jamie Lopez (No. 3) was forced into quarterbacking duties for the Cardinals on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Ed Oswalt.
 

 

 

 

Middletown quarterback Kyle Brown completed eight of 12 passes against Clear Lake for a total of 158 yards, and the Mustangs ran the ball 20 times for 264 yards rushing and 422 yards total offense against the Cardinals.

 

Looking ahead to Middletown’s Oct. 22 match against Ft. Bragg (5-0), Foltmer said, “We have a tough game coming up.”


He added, “the (North Central 1 – North) league is going to be a little bit tougher.”

 

The Clear Lake Cardinals host the Cloverdale Eagles (0-5) in Lakeport next Friday, Oct. 15, while the Mustangs travel to St. Helena (1-4) to take on the Saints.

 

In JV action, the Cardinals were more competitive, but still lost to Middletown 35-22.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

 

 

 

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Middletown's Luke Parker and DJ Brookshire stop a run by Clear Lake's Tanner Mansell on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Ed Oswalt.
 

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A Cal Fire helicopter dropped water on a fire above Nice, Calif., on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Deb Clarke.






NICE, Calif. – A four-wheel all-terrain vehicle is believed to be the cause of a Friday afternoon fire in Nice.


The fire, dispatched at around 4:30 p.m., was located on the hillside above Lakeview Drive and Dodge Road, according to Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Steve Hart.


Hart said the fire burned about three to five acres of vegetation, and did not threaten any structures.


Northshore Fire sent Hart, four engines and two medic units, with Cal Fire sending multiple engines, a dozer and aircraft, he said. The US Forest Service also sent resources to the fire.


Firefighters contained the fire after about an hour, he said.


Nice resident Deb Clarke lives near the scene of the fire and witnessed the suppression efforts.


“The good news is my neighbor on the hill caught the blaze and the Northshore firefighters showed up quick,” she said.


Clarke watched as firefighters dug a fire line, cleared downed trees and used a spotter plane and a helicopter with a bucket to drop water on the blaze.


Hart said the fire was attributed to a quad runner, which firefighters found at the scene.

 

 

 

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Firefighters work on a hillside above Lakeview Drive and Dodge Road in Nice, Calif., where a small fire burned on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Deb Clarke.
 

 

 


“We still have not been able to find the owner,” he said.


Firefighters were remaining on scene overnight to mop up, Hart said.


Clarke said she's been worried about what she called “the deadly combo of dry grass and motorcycles” for awhile.


“Every time I see them going up the private property trails, I cringe,” she said.


While her stepson is a semi-pro motorcycle racer, sparks that can come from the vehicles are particularly dangerous right now, she said.


Also on Friday evening, a fire was reported in Clearlake Park, although additional information wasn't immediately available.


A third fire, reported just after 7 p.m. in Clover Valley, burned a pump house, Hart said.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

 

 

 

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Firefighters from Northshore Fire and Cal Fire responded to the small wildland fire in Nice, Calif., on Friday, October 8, 2010. Photo by Deb Clarke.
 

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A driver escaped serious injury when his pickup overturned on Scotts Valley Road on Sunday, October 11, 2010. Photo by Gary McAuley.





LAKEPORT, Calif. – A driver escaped injury when his vehicle overturned on Sunday.


The single vehicle collision occurred shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday on Scotts Valley Road just south of Highway 20, according to the California Highway Patrol.


The late model Ford pickup with a camper shell rolled over but the driver was able to get out on his own, based on reports from the scene.


Along with the CHP Northshore Fire Protection District sent a battalion chief, an engine, ambulance and a medic unit.


Additional information about the crash's cause wasn't immediately available late Sunday.


Gary McAuley contributed to this report.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

 

 

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Northshore Fire personnel and California Highway Patrol responded to the scene of the crash, which took place about a quarter mile from Highway 20 outside of Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Gary McAuley.
 

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On Saturday, October 9, 2010, volunteer Dennis Locke captained the Clearlake Oaks Key's Property Owners Association weed-harvester cleaning the shoreline around Clarks Island. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 

 


 

 

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – It was a day of lots of hard work and activity at Clarks Island in Clearlake Oaks on Saturday.


The Clarks Island Sustainability Initiative sponsored and promoted a cleanup day at the island, which is located between Tower Mart and the Clearlake Oaks Boat Launch, near Island Drive on East Highway 20.


Following the county redevelopment agency's purchase in 2008 of the former trailer park, the redevelopment agency has relocated the dozen mobile home residents, removed debris and rezoned Clarks Island as open space, as Lake County News has reported.


The community-based Clarks Island Sustainability Initiative formed earlier this year under the direction of District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing to begin the process of rehabilitating the island.

 

 

 

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Volunteer Holly Harris pulled overgrowth by hand during the Clarks Island cleanup on Saturday, October 9, 2010, in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 


On Saturday the group of volunteers cleaned up debris and mowed, and hauled some invasive weeds out of the water.


When Clarks Island was a trailer park, locals planted many plants and trees which have been left in place for now, including apricots, black and green figs, persimmons, many verities of hollyhocks, choke cherries, crab apple and blackberries.


Still head, the county has hired a contractor to remove and replace a crumbling break wall on the island's Highway 20 side.


The group also is looking for a contractor who will donate time to pulling the many rotting piers left behind from the days when the island was a trailer park.


Plans for the island include creating floating islands to help control algae blooms in the area.

 

 

 

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Volunteer Chuck Lamb stacked cuttings for later removal during the Clarks Island cleanup on Saturday, October 9, 2010. Lamb and his wife, Holly Harris, also are very active members of Konocti Trails, which has helped publicize the Clark's Island project. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 


A natural building project is set to start soon, with volunteers needed to help make adobe bricks, and build walls, roofing and other details.


Call 707-263-2580 for a schedule or more information.


Miguel Lanigan contributed to this report.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

 

 

 

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Volunteer, local anthropologist Dr. John Parker, hauled away debris during the Clarks Island cleanup on Saturday, October 9, 2010, in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 

 

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Lake County Parks director Kim Clymire dispatched two parks workers to help in the cleanup on Saturday, October 9, 2010, in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Above is county park staffer Bill Chapin using a chainsaw to trim a broken fig tree branch. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 

 

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Carol Ruttan, a biologist with Lake County Department of Water Resources, came as a volunteer for the Clarks Island cleanup on Saturday, October 9, 2010, in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

 

 

 

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The bridge leading over to Clarks Island from the E. Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. Photo by Miguel Lanigan.
 

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office has identified a man who died as the result of a Wednesday night crash.


Robert Peter Angle, 40, of Lakeport was the victim of the collision, according to Capt. James Bauman.


The CHP reported that the crash occurred at about 6:20 p.m. when Angle's Chevrolet S-10 pickup went off Highway 20 and into the lake in the area of Pepperwood Cove near Lucerne, as Lake County News has reported.


A Northshore Fire Protection District ambulance transported Angle at about 6:50 p.m. to Sutter Lakeside Hospital. Bauman said a physician at the hospital declared Angle deceased at 7:10 p.m.


Bauman said a deputy corner was dispatched at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday to Sutter Lakeside Hospital to investigate Angle's death.


Bauman said Angle's exact cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy, which is scheduled for

Tuesday, Oct. 12.


The cause of the crash is pending further investigation by the California Highway Patrol.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Congressman Mike Thompson is slated to make an appearance as a special guest at a town hall meeting to be held on Friday, Oct. 15, in Clearlake Oaks.


The meeting will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Clearlake Oaks Moose Lodge, at the corner of Highway 53 and Highway 20.


The town hall is one in a regular series of meetings hosted by District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing.


Topics will include updates on local projects and the health of Clear Lake. Thompson also will give an update on issues and events in Congress.


The agenda also includes an open forum to discuss issues of interest to the community of Clearlake Oaks.


Free tables will be set up for local groups, businesses or organizations wishing to distribute informational literature.


Parking at the Moose Lodge is limited, so carpooling is encouraged.


For more information, contact Rushing at 707-263-2368 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

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Yearling goats at Yerba Santa Dairy in Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Esther Oertel.


 





Lake County’s only commercial dairy lies outside Lakeport on picturesque Scotts Valley Road. Named for the herb that grows wild in nearby hills, Yerba Santa Goat Dairy is run by cheese-making brothers Javier and Daniel Salmon.


The only access into the dairy is via a rustic bridge slung over a shallow gorge in which a swollen creek flows after the winter rains. Three low-lying meadows are home to 87 milk goats, and a couple dozen yearlings – milk goats in waiting, so to speak – make their home in a fenced area at the edge of the meadow.


It is here that the brothers from Lima, Peru create the cheeses that are sought after locally, as well as throughout much of the San Francisco Bay Area.


This is the time of year that cheese production slows, as the milk goats have been carrying young since mid-September. Two very busy bucks have impregnated the entire herd, and the twice-a-day milking cycle has dwindled to one.

 

 

 

 

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Bags of cheese hang overnight at Yerba Santa Dairy in Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Esther Oertel.
 

 

 


Come November, the does will not be milked at all. Instead, they’ll spend the winter wandering the hills, eating brush and the coveted Yerba Santa herb. Their babies will arrive in late February and early March, and after they’ve had a month or so to nurse, milking and cheese production will once again begin.


The Salmons also produce cheeses under the Bodega label, carried over from the dairy’s former location in Sonoma County. Generally their cheeses are available from April through October, though some locations may have a supply they can sell beyond October.


Milking more than 80 goats is a three-hour process, which means that in the peak of season, a full six hours of each day is spent coaxing milk from the does. Milking begins on machines (they have four in their milking barn) and is finished by hand.


The milk is pumped directly to a bulk tank, where it’s stored for a day at 38 degrees. The tank can hold up to 250 gallons, but peak-of-season production is generally about 80 gallons a day.


After a brief storage in the bulk tank, the milk is pumped into a neighboring room where handcrafted French and Spanish style cheeses are created. Both raw and pasteurized cheeses are made at the dairy.

 

 

 

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Tubs of fromage blanc at Yerba Santa Dairy in Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Esther Oertel.
 

 

 


Younger brother Daniel handles making the raw cheeses, which include a hard shepherd’s cheese, wonderful for grating; chevito, a semisoft cheese; and cabrello, which is similar to manchego, the historic sheep’s milk cheese made in Spain.


Raw cheeses are aged and allowed to mature for 60 days, while the pasteurized cheeses are sold fresh to stores, restaurants and the public.


Older brother Javier is in charge of pasteurized cheese production, which is generally a two-day process. After the milk is pasteurized, a culture is added. Once the cheese reaches the desired acidity, vegetarian rennet is thrown into the mix, causing the cheese to “clabber” or thicken.


The thickened product is put into cheesecloth bags and left to hang overnight, allowing the whey to drain from the cheese. The Salmons feed the resulting whey, a yellow liquid, to their goats. I was told by Javier that goat’s whey is traditionally drunk in Russia for longevity of life.


By morning, the content of the hanging bags is ready to process into fromage blanc, a creamy, spreadable cheese in tubs; chevre, fresh cheese shaped in soft balls; or fresco, a feta-like cheese with a short shelf life sold in tall wedges.

 

 

 

 

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The Yerba Santa herd includes Alpine, Swiss Saneen and La Mancha goats. Photo by Esther Oertel.
 

 

 


While many of the cheeses are flavored only with natural sea salt, others have ranch-grown herbs or peppers added. While I was there, a bowl of roasted Serrano peppers, bright green with blackened skin, stood ready to be mixed in with a batch of fromage blanc.


Goat’s milk doesn’t have to be homogenized. Unlike cow’s milk, which separates with cream rising to the top, the fat molecules in goats’ milk remain suspended in the liquid.


Goat’s milk is lower in fat than cow’s milk, and because the fat molecules are much smaller, it’s easier to digest. Its molecular makeup is closer to that of human milk, in fact, which gives many unable to tolerate cow’s milk an alternative for dairy products.


Cheese has been made from goat’s milk for thousands of years, and is likely one of the earliest made dairy products. While cow’s milk cheese has dominated the scene in the U.S., most of the world eats more cheese made from goat’s milk than from cow’s.


Like cow’s milk, goat’s milk is a very good source of calcium and the amino acid tryptophan. It is also a good source of protein, phosphorus, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and potassium.

 

 

 

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Yerba Santa

It’s unusual for Congress to pass a comprehensive bill to help thousands of veterans with a final legislative sprint that leaves veterans’ service organizations wondering what just happened.


But that’s what the Senate and House did last week. After a burst of closed-door compromises, they agreed to and separately passed the Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010 (HR 3219), sent it on to the president.


The package has no clear blockbuster initiative. But it improves many veterans’ benefits including some allowances for disabled veterans and various veterans’ insurance options. Employment protections are toughened for those returning to civilian jobs.


Service members moving out of phone service areas will be able to sever cell phone contracts without penalty. And new federal grants will be authorized for job training and counseling, childcare services to homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children.


“I think it’s fantastic and I’m truly incredulous that it went through as fast at it did,” said Tim Tetz, the American Legion’s legislative director.


A week before passage Tetz said he and the Legion’s national commander had visited with Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the veterans’ affairs committee. Knowing Congress would adjourn soon and not return until after the November election, the Legion had urged Akaka to clear an omnibus benefits bill at least during the post-election lame duck session.


Akaka said a bill was being worked. A week later, to Tetz’s surprise, a bill chock full of initiatives had passed both the House and Senate.


“It’s quite expansive,” said Tetz. “It will be hard to find a veteran that in some way won’t be touched by it.”


“The package is excellent,” said Joe Violante, legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. “There are new and expanded provisions for disabled veterans that should help them in a lot of different areas.”


“We have about 20 to 25 separate bills in there,” said Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, in a phone interview. “It’s an incredible move forward for all our veterans, whether talking about those on the street or those suffering from mental illness or women veterans facing sexual trauma. I mean it touches virtually every issue that we’ve been working on for several years.”


The House passed an original HR 3219 in July last year with a contentious provision to establish a $1,000-a-month payment to former World War II merchant marines regardless of need or disability.


Senators and even many vet groups refused to support it, arguing it created a benefit not available to other vets.


WWII-era merchant marines, they argued, already have full veteran status and can apply for VA benefits including a needs-based pension for the elderly.


When House negotiators agreed to remove the merchant marine language, the benefit package came together, expanded by a final packet of Senate amendments, many of them bills already passed by the House.


Here are highlights to take effect when the bill is signed:


– An automobile assistance allowance for veterans who have lost limbs or have other qualifying disabilities will increase from $11,000 to $18,900. It also will be adjusted for inflation on Oct. 1 each year.


– The funeral or burial payment for veterans who die in a VA facility or who are eligible to be buried in a VA cemetery will increase from $300 to $700. This payment too will increase annually for inflation but after 2011.


– Supplemental insurance for totally disabled veterans will increase from $20,000 up to $30,000.


– Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) coverage for totally disabled veterans will be permanently extended to two years, from 18 months, after they leave service. This change will be applied retroactively to persons separated from service on or after June 15, 2005.


– The maximum loan guarantee amount under the Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance program will increase from $90,000 to $150,000. It will increase again, to $200,000, on Jan. 1, 2012.


– Individuals who qualify for retroactive traumatic injury protection coverage under SGLI (called TSGLI) will be expanded to include veterans who incurred qualifying traumatic injuries on or after Oct. 7, 2001, but before Dec. 1, 2005, regardless of where the injuries occurred.


– Veterans will be able to increase Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) coverage by $25,000 every five years until reaching age 60.


– The Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (SCRA) will be modified to allow service members to terminate cellular telephone contracts when ordered to relocate for a period of 90 days or more to an area not supported by the contract.


– The SCRA also will give service members a “private right of action” to file their own lawsuits against those who violate their legal rights. They no longer will have to wait for enforcement action by a federal agency.


The SCRA is strengthened in two other ways, said retired Navy Capt. Samuel F. Wright, a legal expert with the Reserve Officers Association. It now will allow for the Department of Justice to bring a civil action against SCRA violators and those found guilty will have to pay court costs and service members’ attorney fees.


“That’s very valuable,” Wright explained, because SCRA claimants will find it so much easier to find a lawyer.


Architects of the bill found a way to pay for these improvements and many more by extending a reduction in VA pensions for veterans who have no spouse or children and who are covered by a Medicaid plan while residing in a nursing home. This allows the bill actually to save the VA $394 million over five years and a total of $8 million over the next decade.


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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The January 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti’s economy and caused over 200,000 casualties also resulted in significant uplift of the ground surface along Haiti’s coastline, and involved slip on multiple faults, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience.


Because the earthquake did not involve slip near the surface of the Earth, the study suggests that it did not release all of the strain that has built up on faults in the area over the past two centuries, and so future surface rupturing earthquakes in this region are likely.


The paper also suggests that similar events may be hidden from the prehistoric earthquake record both in Haiti and in other similar tectonic settings such as the San Andreas fault in California.


Gavin Hayes, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist, along with colleagues from USGS, California Institute of Technology, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the University of Texas at Austin, used a combination of seismological observations, geologic field data and satellite geodetic measurements to analyze the earthquake source.


Initially the Haiti earthquake was thought to be the consequence of movement along a single fault, which accommodates the motion between the Caribbean and North American plates.


By modeling the patterns of surface deformation, the team was able to assess which fault was responsible. Their results showed that the earthquake may not have been caused by the simple rupture of a single fault, but instead may have involved a complex series of faults.


The pattern of surface deformation was dominated by movement on a previously unknown, subsurface thrust fault, named the Léogâne fault, which did not rupture the surface.


Hayes, a post-doctoral researcher, is contracted to work for the USGS by Synergetic, Inc.


This is one of several papers to be published this month in a special issue of Nature Geoscience on the Haiti earthquake.


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To mark an unprecedented flurry of exploration which is about to begin, NASA announced Thursday that the coming year will be “The Year of the Solar System” (YSS).


“During YSS, we'll see triple the [usual] number of launches, flybys and orbital insertions,” said Jim Green, director of Planetary Science at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters. “There hasn't been anything quite like it in the history of the Space Age.”


Naturally, it's a Martian year.


“These events will unfold over the next 23 months, the length of a year on the Red Planet,” explained Green. “History will remember the period October 2010 through August 2012 as a golden age of planetary exploration.”


The action begins near the end of October with a visit to Comet Hartley 2.


On Oct. 20, Hartley 2 will have a close encounter with Earth; only 11 million miles away, it will be faintly visible to the naked eye and become a splendid target for backyard telescopes.


Amateur astronomers can watch the comet as NASA's Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft dives into its vast green atmosphere and plunges toward the icy core. On Nov. 4 EPOXI will fly a mere 435 miles from Hartley's nucleus, mapping the surface and studying outbursts of gas at close-range.


Later in November, NASA astrobiologists will launch O/OREOS, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to test the durability of life in space.


Short for “Organism/ORganic Exposure to Orbital Stresses,” O/OREOS will expose a collection of organic molecules and microbes to solar and cosmic radiation. Could space be a natural habitat for these “micronauts?” O/OREOS may provide some answers.


Bonus: The same rocket that delivers O/OREOS to space will carry an experimental solar sail.


NanoSail-D will unfurl in Earth orbit and circle our planet for months. Occasionally, the sail will catch a sunbeam and redirect it harmlessly to the ground below where sky watchers can witness history's first “solar sail flares.”


On Dec. 7, Japan's Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter) spacecraft grabs the spotlight when it enters orbit around Venus.


The mission aims to understand how a planet so similar to Earth in size and orbit went so terribly wrong.


Venus is bone-dry, shrouded by acid clouds and beset by a case of global warming hot enough to melt lead.


Instruments on Akatsuki will probe Venus from the top of its super-cloudy atmosphere all the way to the volcano-pocked surface below, providing the kind of detailed information researchers need for comparative planetary.


“Take a deep breath,” said Green, “because that was just the first three months of YSS!”


The action continues in 2011 as Stardust NExT encounters comet Tempel 1 (Feb. 14), MESSENGER enters orbit around Mercury (March 18), and Dawn begins its approach to asteroid Vesta (May).


“For a full month Dawn will be able to see Vesta even more clearly than Hubble can,” said Green. “The only way to top that would be to go into orbit.”


And that is exactly what Dawn will do in July 2011: insert itself into orbit for a full-year study of the second-most massive body in the asteroid belt. Although Vesta is not classified as a planet, it is a full-fledged alien world that is expected to mesmerize researchers as it reveals itself to Dawn's cameras.


Next comes the launch of the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter (August), the launch of GRAIL to map the gravitational field of the Moon (September), and the launch of a roving science lab named “Curiosity” to Mars (November).


“The second half of 2011 will be as busy as some entire decades of the Space Age,” said Green.


Even then, YSS has months to go.


The year 2012 opens with Mars rover Opportunity running the first-ever Martian marathon. The dogged rover is trundling toward the heart of Endeavour Crater, a city-sized impact basin almost two dozen miles from Opportunity's original landing site.


“Opportunity is already under the influence of the crater,” said Green. “The ground beneath the rover's wheels is sloping gently down toward its destination – a welcome feeling for any marathoner.”


Sometime in mid-2012, Opportunity will reach Endeavour's lip and look over the edge deeper into the heart of Mars than any previous robotic explorer.


The only thing more marvelous than the view will be the rover itself. Originally designed to travel no more than 0.6 miles, Opportunity's rest stop at Endeavour will put it just miles away from finishing the kind of epic Greek run that athletes on Earth can only dream about.


Meanwhile, halfway across the solar system, Dawn will fire up its ion engines and prepare to leave Vesta. For the first time in space history, a spacecraft orbiting one alien world will break orbit and take off for another. Dawn's next target is dwarf planet Ceres, nearly spherical, rich in water ice, and totally unexplored.


The Year of the Solar System concludes in August 2012 when Curiosity lands on Mars. The roving nuclear-powered science lab will take off across the red sands sniffing the air for methane (a possible sign of life) and sampling rocks and soil for organic molecules. Curiosity's advanced sensors and unprecedented mobility are expected to open a new chapter in exploration of the Red Planet.


“So the end,” said Green, “is just the beginning. These missions will keep us busy long after YSS is history.”


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


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – There's still time to register to vote, according to county election officials.


The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office is advising new residents of Lake County and registered voters who have moved to a new address, changed their mailing address within the county, or changed their name, that you may need to reregister in order to be eligible to vote in the upcoming statewide general election.


The last day to register to vote for the Nov. 2 general election is Monday, October 18.


The completed voter registration form must be either personally delivered to the Registrar of Voters

Office on or before Oct. 18 or postmarked on or before Oct. 18 and received by mail by the Registrar of Voters Office.


Section 2101 of the California Elections Code states, “A person entitled to register to vote shall be a United States citizen, a resident of California, not in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.”


Residents may register to vote at the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, Room 209, Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, or may phone the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 for information.


Registration forms are also available at most local post offices, libraries, senior centers, city offices and chamber of commerce offices.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

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