A report from public health nurse Erika Nosera of the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency's Public Health Branch said Mendocino County has had three confirmed cases of measles so far this year.

Those three cases in Mendocino County are among 11 cases reported statewide so far this year, health officials said. Nearly all of the cases have been linked to travelers to or from Europe and Asia, as well as their contacts.

The Monday report from Mendocino County said more than 5,000 cases have been reported this year in France, where one patient died and eight had neurological complications.

In the case of Mendocino County, a French traveler visiting the coast became ill and the infection was spread to two unimmunized county residents, Nosera's report explained.

Lake County has so far not experienced any measles cases, according to Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait.

“We've been spared,” said Tait, noting that it's been several years since a case has been reported locally, which she attributed to vaccinations.

However, measles appears to be having a resurgence, in part, due to people not being vaccinated against the disease. “Some people are resisting vaccination for personal reasons and that leaves them vulnerable,” she said.

The World Health Organization reported that the United States has had 44 confirmed measles cases so far this year, compared to 64 confirmed cases in 2010.

The last time California experienced a severe measles epidemic due to an imported case and due to low vaccination rates was 1988 to 1990 when 16,400 Californians contracted measles, 3,390 people were hospitalized and 75 died, according to Nosera's report.

The highly contagious viral disease is spread through coughs and sneezes, and in indoor settings the virus can stay in the air for as long as two hours after the infected person has left the area, Mendocino County health officials reported.

Symptoms begin with a fever that lasts a couple of days followed by a cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes and a rash that typically appears first on the face, along the hairline, and behind the ears and then affects the rest of the body. Nosera reported that infected people are usually contagious for about eight days – four days before their rash starts and four days after.

Those who think they have measles should call their doctor first before entering a health facility and potentially infecting others, Nosera said.

Complications from measles can include diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia, Nosera reported. Children younger than age 5 and adults over 20 are more susceptible to complications from measles.

While most cases come through fine, “It can be very serious occasionally,” said Tait.

Mendocino County health officials said death can occur from severe complications.

Nosera said children should get their first dose of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at 12 months of age or later, with the second dose usually administered before the child begins kindergarten.

Anyone born since 1957 who has not had two doses of vaccine may still be vulnerable to measles and should ask their doctor about getting immunized, she 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, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

A California Department of Water Resources map of water basins around Lake County, with some water basins in neighboring counties also shown.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The US Geological Survey is conducting a study that's assessing the quality of water in the state's many aquifers, including groundwater basins around Lake County.

The study is part of the US Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program and the State Water Resources Control Board’s Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program, officials reported.

NAWQA tracks the status and trends in the quality of freshwater streams and aquifers to provide a sound understanding of the natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources, according to a US Geological Survey statement.

The study says 40 percent of the state's drinking water comes from groundwater.

Despite the availability of water from Clear Lake – which must be purchased through Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District – wells are a major sources of water in the county. The US Environmental Protection Agency reports that of the 52 water districts in the county, 31 use groundwater as their source.

Miranda Fram, a US Geological Survey research chemist, said the study is assessing the water quality of aquifers that are used for public water supply.

“We've been going around the state sampling groundwater in groundwater basins,” she said.

The US Geological Survey reported that the sampling of untreated groundwater in more than 2,000 California wells began in 2004, and will continue through this year. Local water agencies and well owners are cooperating voluntarily with the study.

Fram said there are 35 study units around California, with the Northern Coast Ranges study unit the 30^th to be sampled.

The US Geological Survey said the Northern Coast Ranges study unit includes California Department of Water Resources-defined groundwater basins in Mendocino, Lake, Napa, Colusa, Glenn, Del Norte, Trinity and Humboldt counties.

The unit includes 58 wells and cells – 29 California Department of Public Health wells, 23 domestic or irrigation wells, five miscellaneous wells and one spring.

Fram said scientists analyzed the groundwater for numerous materials, including pesticides, solvents, gasoline nutrients, radioactivity and microbial indicators such as coliforms.

She said they analyzed those materials at very low concentrations, lower than typically is done for regulatory sampling.

“One of the interesting things about this study unit is the detection frequencies were pretty low compared to many of the other places we've looked at in the state,” Fram said.

Fram said there were a few pesticide detections in the study unit, but they were at low levels of commonly used pesticides.

Those findings were in the inland basin areas of the unit, around Clearlake and Ukiah, with no detections in coast basins, Fram said.

Findings of volatile organic compounds – like chloroform, MTBE and some common solvents – were scattered, and were detected in 10 percent of the 58 wells sampled in the Northern Coast Ranges unit, according to the study. Chloroform was detected most frequently.

Fram said all of those compounds were found at “really, really low concentrations.”

Maps of the area showed that gasoline additives and trihalomethanes – the latter reportedly used as refrigerants and solvents, and believed to be cancer-causing – were found in some Lake County wells.

She said they also looked at naturally occurring inorganic constituents, like nitrates and arsenic. Fram said they didn't find any high nitrate concentrations, such as they found in other more heavily used basins along the California coast.

Some inland basin wells have arsenic and boron, but the detections were few, Fram said.

Detections of pesticides occurred in agricultural areas but only 18 percent of the time in the study unit. Only a few Lake County wells appeared to have tested positive for the materials, according to a map of study results.

Detections of perchlorate – a contaminant that can be both natural and manmade – also weren't very frequent, and only one Lake County well appeared to have them, the study showed. Barium, arsenic and boron were found in some Lake County wells.

There were “no detections at all” when it came to mercury, Fram said. “Mercury is not something that we see commonly in groundwater anywhere, in any of the places that we've looked at” so they weren't expecting to see it, she added.

One material commonly found in the coastal and interior basins is manganese, which Fram said is found in levels high enough to stain materials but not high enough to cause health issues.

She said the mineral may cause some people to notice a sulfurous smell. Low oxygen levels allow manganese to be present, Fram explained.

Mark Dellinger, administrator of Lake County Special Districts, said a US Geological Survey staffer took samples in July 2009 from a well in Big Valley that is one of five that supply the Kelseyville water system.

He said the district made special arrangements for her so the well could be a flowed in a certain way to allow her to take the kinds of samples she needed.

The full report on the study is expected to be available this spring. The scientists involved with gathering the data have been traveling around the state to discuss their initial findings, the US Geological Survey reported.

The Northern Coast Ranges unit preliminary findings were presented at a Jan. 27 meeting in Eureka, as Lake County News has reported.

“It went really well,” Fram said of the gathering. “It was a small crowd but a very interested crowd.”

The more comprehensive report that's scheduled to come out, complete with tabulated data, will look more at water quality issues in an effort to understand why the water quality is the way it is, Fram said.

One of the neat things about the program is the use of environmental “tracers,” Fram said. Those include stable isotopes and certain elements used to help date the age of the water to show when a well was recharged.

“Age dating has been around for a while, but it's unusual to have age dating on so many samples,” she explained.

Dellinger said that tracer information is of particular interest to him. Being able to know the recharge cycle of an aquifer, he said, is very important in relation to the resource's sustainability.

The project's next phase is to look at the data to see when the water is recharged. That report will take a few more years to be completed, said Fram.

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 , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

If I had just one herb to use in the kitchen forever, it might be thyme. Basil is sometimes called the king of herbs, and, along those lines, I’ll dub thyme the wise butler. And this behind-the-scenes butler gets along with virtually everyone.

There are so many wonderful applications for thyme in both sweet and savory cooking that I’m hard pressed to mention them all. Suffice it to say that I appreciate its amazing versatility.

Restaurant critic Jeff Cox, a gardening and culinary guru, says if you have only one pot to use for an herb planting, plant thyme.

If you’re inclined to plant a backyard or windowsill herb garden, now’s the “thyme” to start, and there are plenty of varieties from which to choose.

The basic thyme used in most recipes is common or garden thyme, with the botanical name thymus vulgaris. It grows as a small, woody shrub with petite and flavorful gray-green leaves. In mid-summer, when most thyme plants flower, it sports tiny blooms in shades varying from white to lilac. This is the thyme that is typically found for sale in markets.

Another popular version of this herb is lemon thyme, prized for its light citrus taste. It’s popular in the garden and, as its name implies, adds a lemony touch to beverages and foods. A simple tea may be brewed by pouring a cup of boiling water over four or five sprigs in a cup. Lemon thyme is wonderful with fish and fresh summer salads.

Caraway thyme, native to the islands of Sicily and Corsica, was imported to continental Europe, where it’s beloved because its caraway overtones are perfect for flavoring beef.

Other thymes with interesting scents and flavors include nutmeg thyme and camphor thyme, which smell and taste of their namesakes.

Different thyme varieties grow as shrubs, hanging plants or ground creepers. Mother-of-thyme is a creeping variety used in landscaping, often planted between flagstones on a path. Its lavender flowers are a favorite of bees.

When buying the herb fresh, whether for planting, cooking or drying, run your hand gently over the leaves. If they don’t lightly scent your hand, choose another plant.

Thyme is one of the herbs central to the cooking of Provence, France and is featured in the popular “herbs de Provence” dried herb mixture, along with lavender, fennel and a variety of other herbs. Every company has its own signature blend.

It’s also commonly used in the traditional French “bouquet garni,” a bundle of fresh herbs tied with kitchen spring or enclosed in cheesecloth and dropped into a soup or stew to flavor it. The bouquet garni is then pulled out prior to serving.

Thyme goes with almost all meats – fish, beef, chicken, lamb, pork and some game animals such as venison or rabbit. It also pairs well with sweet vegetables, such as carrots; meaty vegetables, such as mushrooms and eggplant; with cooked onions and tomatoes; and even with fruits such as figs and strawberries.

In addition to its use in the cooking of France, other Mediterranean cuisines enjoy its benefits, such as Italy, Greece and Spain. It’s used in Middle Eastern and Jamaican dishes, as well.

It’s wonderful with beans and other legumes; it flavors soups, stews and ragouts; it pairs well with cheeses such as cheddar and chevre (fresh goat cheese); it’s fantastic in vinaigrette dressings; and it’s even used to flavor honey.

Other herbs that are companionable with thyme include bay leaves, oregano, marjoram, basil, savory, lemon verbena, mint, tarragon and rosemary.

It gets along well with spices as varied as cloves, allspice, paprika, coriander, mustard and nutmeg, to mention a few.

Other friends include garlic and lemon.

See what I mean about this behind-the-scenes butler getting along with everyone? Thyme is definitely the belle of the ball, the popular debutante.

One herbal newsletter has gone so far to advise, “When in doubt, use thyme.” Thymely advice, indeed.

The plant’s reputation as a medicinal curative has grown over the centuries. It’s been thought to assist in the cure or relief of ailments as diverse as epilepsy, melancholy, nervous disorders, flatulence, stomach aches, asthma, coughs, nightmares and even shyness.

As recently as World War I, thyme oil was used as a battlefield antiseptic.

While modern science hasn’t connected the dots in all the claims made by thyme enthusiasts through the years, it has found the volatile oils in thyme to be beneficial to our health in many circumstances.

Thyme has long been thought to be beneficial to respiratory conditions, such as coughs, bronchitis and chest congestion, and several volatile oils in the herb have been isolated in the aid of these ailments.

Not only does thyme have antimicrobial properties (specifically against bacteria and fungi), it contains significant antioxidants and flavonoids that protect cells against damage.

Thyme is considered a nutrient dense spice, with excellent stores of iron and manganese. It’s also a very good source of calcium and dietary fiber.

The word “thyme” may be traced to ancient Greek, where it was derived from either a word meaning “courage,” appropriate for its invigorating quality, or from one meaning “to fumigate” since the burning of thyme was used to chase stinging insects from ancient Greek homes.

Thyme may be used as a fresh or dried herb. My preference is to use fresh thyme, but the flavor of this herb holds up well when dried. Since dried herbs are more concentrated, use about two-thirds less than when using fresh.

Late spring and summer is “thyme” for thyme, and here are some ideas for its use.

Serve sprigs of fresh thyme with yogurt or sour cream on beet borscht, hot or chilled, in place of dill.

Sauté strips of red and yellow bell pepper with olive oil, garlic and thyme and serve with pasta.

Marinate artichoke bottoms in olive oil, lemon juice and fresh thyme.

Add thyme sprigs to olives in their brine.

Scoop out the inside of halved cherry tomatoes and fill them with a mixture of yogurt or sour cream, minced fresh thyme, basil and a bit of Dijon mustard.

Don’t forget about thyme blossoms. Use them as a beautiful garnish along with thyme leaves.

The recipe for today is a springtime brunch tart with a variety of flavors that, though diverse, complement one another: thyme, cardamom, balsamic vinegar, apricot jam, sweet spring strawberries and freshly ground black pepper. I especially like the combination of strawberries, cardamom and fresh thyme.

If goat cheese is unavailable, you may double the amount of cream cheese used. Enjoy!

Strawberry brunch tart with thyme and black pepper

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 pound (2 pints) fresh strawberries, sliced

3 tablespoon apricot jam

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 – 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, crushed slightly

Freshly ground black pepper

Brown sugar to taste (about ½ - 1 tbsp)

4 ounces cream cheese (low fat is OK)

4 ounces goat cheese, “fresco” style

With a fork or a whisk, mix the cardamom and sugar together in a bowl until they’re evenly combined. Set aside for later.

Unfold the puff pastry and roll it out a little to flatten it and seal any seams.

Crack an egg into a bowl. Whisk it with a fork to blend well.

With a pastry brush, spread the beaten egg along each edge of the puff pastry.

Fold one edge over about three-quarters of an inch or so and repeat with the other three sides, so that your puff pastry looks like it has a picture frame around it.

Place pastry on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brush the pastry with beaten egg.

Sprinkle the whole thing (edges + center) with cardamom sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Set aside to cool.

Wash, hull and slice strawberries into medium bowl.

Combine jam, balsamic and thyme leaves in small saucepan and heat until just warm.

Pour over strawberries and mix well. Add ground pepper and brown sugar to taste.

Combine goat cheese and cream cheese in food processor with a teaspoon of cardamom sugar, or mix by hand until creamy.

Spread over cooled pastry.

Spoon strawberry mixture onto tart. Spread evenly to edges of “picture frame” but not on it.

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Recipe by Esther Oertel.

Esther Oertel, the “Veggie Girl,” is a culinary coach and educator and is passionate about local produce. Oertel teaches culinary classes at Chic Le Chef in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., and The Kitchen Gallery in Lakeport, Calif., and gives private cooking lessons. She welcomes your questions and comments; e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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LAKE PILLSBURY, Calif. – A 3.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded near Lake Pillsbury early Monday morning.

The quake occurred at 3:53 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.

It was centered four miles north northeast of Lake Pillsbury, 17 miles southwest of Alder Springs and 21 miles north of Upper Lake, at a depth of 9.9 miles, the survey reported.

No shake reports were submitted on the quake, according to US Geological Survey records.

The Lake Pillsbury area experienced two quakes measuring 4.3 and 4.2 in magnitude on Feb. 22, as Lake County News has reported.

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President Barack Obama announced the news to the nation in a televised Sunday evening address that came with little explanation beforehand regarding the topic.

“Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children,” Obama said at the beginning of the nine-and-a-half-minute speech.

Bin Laden, 54, was the self-proclaimed mastermind of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Thousands of Americans were killed when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing an estimated 40 people.

He also was implicated in a series of attacks in Africa in the 1990s that killed hundreds of people and injured thousands more, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The president said that not long after taking office he directed Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta to make capturing or killing bin Laden a priority.

Last August Obama was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden's whereabouts.

“It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground,” he said.

But last week Obama determined there was enough evidence to take action, and the raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was carried out on Sunday at Obama's direction by a small group of Americans.

Obama said the group executed the raid “with extraordinary courage and capability,” killing bin Laden after a firefight and taking his body into custody.

The president said none of the American forces were harmed and they avoided civilian casualties.

Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Sunday, “The impact of bin Laden's death cannot be overstated.”

Thompson added, “For over two decades, bin Laden and his terrorist network have brought death and destruction to communities around the world. This is a defining moment in our nation's history and, I hope, a turning point in the ongoing war on terrorism.”

He thanked the intelligence community and the Armed Forces for their hard work bringing bin Laden to justice. “While our fight against terror is far from over, I am hopeful that Bin Laden's death will bring us one step closer to peace."

Gov. Jerry Brown also said Sunday that Americans can be grateful that the president brought bin Laden to justice.

“Our friends as well as our adversaries throughout the world can be assured of America's resolve in combating terrorism and protecting the values of democracy and freedom,” Brown said.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) added her praise for the president and Armed Forces, saying of bin Laden, “Today the world knows that he has paid the ultimate price for what he did.”

She added, “His death doesn’t lessen the tragic loss of all those killed by al Qaeda, or the pain of their loved ones, but it closes a chapter on his unspeakable act.”

Also on Sunday, the U.S. Department of State alerted U.S. citizens traveling and residing abroad “to the enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan.”

The agency said the travel alert will expire on Aug. 1.

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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. This week the topic is settlers who moved to Lake County hoping to escape the unrest of the American Civil War, which also marks the sesquicentennial of its beginning this year. The following excerpt is from “Lower Lake Lore,” written by Jane Weaver, a moving force behind the restoration of the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum.

The Copsey train of some 40 wagons came from Missouri to Lake County in 1856.

These pioneers understood that trouble was brewing between the North and South and they wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

Pleasant Smith and wife Saphonia Copsey were married on the trip across the plains, and came directly to the Lower Lake area.

She was known for naming Jerusalem Valley and giving similar biblical names to other adjoining territory. They also were the first to move to Jerusalem Valley, and they lived there for many years.

Only a few years after the Copseys establishing themselves in the lower end of our county the Civil War broke out. Those men that had come with the Copsey train decided that they would have no part of a war and would not fight for either side.

Believing it possible that authorities might enforce a wartime draft and compel the younger men to enter the army, they decided to resist.

About one-half mile south of where the road crosses Soda Creek in Jerusalem Valley and one-fourth mile up, and west of the stream, is a slope nearly one-half mile long from top to bottom. It is composed mostly of clay, is open country and contains a few small white oaks. The immigrant road from Middletown runs through here.

In the middle of this slope is a neat little hill with an appearance as if it had been poured out of a sand bucket. On the top of this hill is a natural formation of broken up rocks ranging in size from small stones to large boulders.

Pleasant Smith, George Bishop and others living nearby took advantage of this natural fortress-like location and built themselves what is now known as Jerusalem Valley Fort.

Instead of building a wall around a single enclosure, they dug a series of fox-holes. There were four well-defined holes, each about 5 feet across and three feet deep. Another half dozen less perfect holes were started.

From this vantage point, the men in the fort had a good view in all directions. With two men to a foxhole, back to back, hidden behind these rock barricades, it would have taken a small army to dislodge them.

Necessary supplies, such as powder, lead for bullets and other items to withstand a siege, were brought in with each family furnishing a share.

The Civil War ended. No attempt was ever made by the government to force any of the men to enter the conflict, therefore, the fort was never put to use.

After all danger was over, the supplies were divided up and given back to the original owners and the Jerusalem Valley Fort was abandoned.

A late descendent of one of the parties remembers, as a boy, helping to cut up the remains of a lead brick which had been stored in the fort.

The intention had originally been to melt down the brick for bullets. It was cut up and used instead as shot for a muzzle-loading shotgun.

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But snowpack water content is still 144 percent of the April 1 full season average.

The readings will help hydrologists forecast spring and summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs. The melting snow supplies approximately one-third of the water used by Californians.

“All indications are that we’re moving toward summer with a good water supply for our farms and cities,” said state Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin. “We must be aware, however, that California can quickly turn from wet to dry, and we can’t afford to forget the lessons of conservation that we learned in the 2007-09 drought.”

Snowpack water content is measured manually on or near the first of the month from January to May, and in real-time by electronic sensors.

Electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 159 percent of the April 1 seasonal average. Electronic readings for the central Sierra show 144 percent of the April 1 average. The number for the southern Sierra is 127 percent. The statewide number is 144 percent.

The first of April is normally when snowpack water content is at its peak.

California's reservoirs are fed both by rain and snowpack runoff.

A majority of the state's major reservoirs are above normal storage levels for the date. Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, is 112 percent of average for the date (93 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity).

Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project's largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 108 percent of average (94 percent of capacity).

DWR estimates it will be able to deliver 80 percent of requested State Water Project (SWP) water this year.

In 2010, the SWP delivered 50 percent of a requested 4,172,126 acre-feet, up from a record-low initial projection of 5 percent due to lingering effects of the 2007-2009 drought. Deliveries were 60 percent of requests in 2007, 35 percent in 2008, and 40 percent in 2009.

The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years due to pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.

The SWP delivers water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly one million acres of irrigated farmland.

Statewide snowpack readings from electronic sensors are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ .

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Known by many as “the largest catfish derby west of the Mississippi,” the event features an Adult Derby and a Kids Derby for those under 16 years old.

The grand prize winner of the Adult Derby will receive a cash prize of $4,000 (based on minimum of 350 adult entries) and the winner of the Kids Derby will receive a Nintendo Wii System.

Derby headquarters will be located at the Clearlake Oaks Fire Station, 12655 East Highway 20, and will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Derby headquarters also will be open for preregistration from noon to 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 12. No registrations will be accepted after 11 p.m. on Friday.

Registration for the Adult Derby is $45 ($40 for those who preregister on Thursday). Registration for the Kids Derby is $10.

Proceeds from the event benefit community projects.

For applications, call (888) CL-DERBY, (707) 998-1006; for information, (707) 998-3795, www.clearlakeoaks.org.

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One day, years from now – or maybe billions of years, no one knows – aliens might be surprised to run across an old spaceship from Earth.

Improbably far from home, the ancient probe is space cold, its nuclear power source spent long ago; an iconic white antenna points silently into the void, beaming no data to the species that made it.

Yet this Voyager may speak to its finders.

A golden record is fixed to the side of the probe, and if ET can decipher it, he might be surprised again, because Voyager has a story to tell – and it's a love story.

Rewind to 1977.

Jimmy Carter was president, Star Wars was the top-grossing film, and NASA was preparing to launch the two Voyager probes to the outer planets.

Like Pioneer 10 and 11 before them, Voyager 1 and 2 would fly by the gas giants and, after a frenzy of data-taking, slingshot out of the solar system.

These spacecraft were to become interstellar ambassadors. Less than nine months before launch, Carl Sagan was asked by NASA personnel to assemble “some message for a possible extraterrestrial civilization.”

Later, one member of Sagan's small team would describe the process as “a fire drill” with nothing less at stake than First Contact itself.

“The chances of aliens finding the Voyagers in the vast emptiness of space are small – some say infinitesimal – but we took our jobs seriously,” recalled team member Ann Druyan. “From the moment when Carl first broached the project to Tim Ferris and me, it felt mythic.”

Voyager would carry a selection of Earth's greatest music, a photo gallery of our planet and its inhabitants, and an audio essay of terrestrial sounds, both natural and technological.

But how would this information be conveyed?

A popular technology in the 1970s was the 8-track tape. That would never do. For one thing, what would ET think? Moreover, magnetic tape is susceptible to degradation by space radiation and magnetic fields. A message recorded on such a medium would decay long before it was found.

Radio astronomer Frank Drake, who became a key member of Sagan's team, suggested a phonograph record. Extraterrestrials would stand a good chance of figuring out how to play back such an old-school technology – and phonograph records were tough.

By one estimate, the etchings on a suitably-shielded metallic phonograph record could last for hundreds of millions of years in interstellar space, eroded mainly by a slow drizzle of micrometeoroid impacts. A copper record coated in gold would satisfy the thermal and magnetic requirements of the Voyager probes.

“Eventually we decided on having the record designed for 16 2/3 revolutions per minute,” wrote Sagan. This was half the speed of a conventional 33 1/3 platter. “[There would be] some loss in fidelity but not, we believe, an extremely severe loss, especially if the recipients were as clever as they would have to be to acquire the record in the first place.”

Choosing the contents of the record was a heady and agonizing process. Even with the stepped-down spin rate, there was only enough room for about 90 minutes of music and a hundred or so images.

“I remember sitting around the kitchen table making these huge decisions about what to put on and what to leave off,” said Druyan. “We couldn't help but appreciate the enormous responsibility to create a cultural Noah's Ark with a shelf life of hundreds of millions of years.”

In their book, “Murmurs of Earth,” Sagan and the team describe the decision-making process.

Much of the challenge was intellectual – for example, how to cover the complete geographical, historical and cultural variety of the world’s music in 90 minutes or less.

Among Western music, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode” made the cut; selections from Jefferson Starship did not.

Some challenges were legal: The Beatles' “Here Comes the Sun” could not be sent because the Fab Four, who unanimously wished their work sent to the stars, did not hold the copyright to their own song.

Other challenges were bureaucratic. In one of many anecdotes that illuminate the human condition as well as anything on the Golden Record, Sagan describes the tortuous process of obtaining permission for a number of UN delegates to simply say “Hello.”

Ultimately, it couldn't be done, and Sagan appealed to the foreign language departments of Cornell University, where professors and students were eager to help. Thus a representative set of short greetings was assembled, beginning with Sumerian, one of the oldest known languages, and ending with a greeting from an American 5-year old: “Hello from the children of planet Earth.”

When all was said and done, Voyager blasted off with 118 photographs; 90 minutes of music; greetings in 55 human languages and one whale language; an audio essay featuring everything from burbling mud pots to barking dogs to a roaring Saturn 5 liftoff; a remarkably poetic salutation from the Secretary General of the United Nations; and the brain waves of a young women in love.

Of all the selections on the record, it is the latter which might pique ET's interest most. It certainly has this effect on human listeners.

Just how do you stumble upon a woman in love and record her brain waves for an interstellar message? It helps when the young woman is herself a member of the recording team: Ann Druyan.

“I had this idea,” said Druyan, “that we should put someone's EEG on the record. We know that EEG patterns register some changes in thought. Would it be possible, I wondered, for a highly advanced technology of several million years from now to actually decipher human thoughts?”

Sagan and the others liked the idea, and volunteered Druyan to provide the brain waves.

“I contacted Dr. Julius Korein of the New York University Medical Center, and with Tim Ferris's help we set up an hour-long recording session for my innermost self,” she said.

The EEG was scheduled for June 3, 1977. Druyan prepared a script to guide her thoughts – “a mental itinerary of the ideas and individuals of history whose memory I hoped to perpetuate.” She could not prepare, however, for what happened two days before the scheduled recording.

“On June 1, 1977, Carl and I shared a wonderfully important phone call,” she said.

Without the aid of a date or even a romantic moment alone, the two had fallen in love during the mad rush to complete the Golden Record.

“We decided to get married. It was a 'Eureka' moment for both of us – the idea that we could find the perfect match,” she said. “It was a discovery that has been reaffirmed in countless ways since.”

Echoes of that moment reverberated through her mind during the recording session. Her conscious mind may have been reciting culture and philosophy, but her subconscious was buzzing with the euphoria of the Great Idea of True Love. The hour was electronically compressed to a single minute that sounds, appropriately, like a string of exploding firecrackers.

“My feelings as a 27 year old woman, madly fallen in love, they're on that record,” said Druyan. “It's forever. It'll be true 100 million years from now. For me Voyager is a kind of joy so powerful, it robs you of your fear of death.”

If aliens ever do find one of the Voyagers and decipher its contents, they will briefly meet dozens of musicians, artists, whales, dogs, crickets, engineers, and common working people. But the only one who they might have a chance to truly get to know is that young woman – not a bad choice.

It has been pointed out that the most probable finders of Voyager will be … us. Eventually, technology may allow humans to overtake and recover the distant probes. In that case, they will be reduced to mere time capsules from the year 1977.

Arthur C. Clarke recognized this possibility and suggested adding a note to the Golden Record: “Please leave me alone; let me go on to the stars.”

Because Voyager has a story to tell.  

Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County's state senator will hold a virtual town hall focusing on the state's budget this week.

Sen. Noreen Evans is hosting the event from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

“As we all know, these are hard times and California is facing some very difficult decisions about how to balance our budget,” Evans said in a statement released by her office. “I rely on your input to make decisions in the Capitol that are best for Senate District 2 and the state of California as a whole.”

Community members will be able both to watch the forum online and post questions at http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/focus/townhall/sd02/.

Evans said she's looking forward to hearing from community members “and maximizing this opportunity to work together.”

Constituents can visit Evans' Web site at http://sd02.senate.ca.gov/.

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Rehorse Rescue of Jamestown, Calif., is dedicated to rescuing horses, which are increasingly being abandoned and victimized due to the poor economy and owners who don't properly care for their animals. Photo courtesy of Raquelle Van Vleck.

Last year two Lake County residents were rescued from a very dangerous situation. They resided in a location where they should have been safe and protected but were instead found unclean, malnourished and injured.

Those two residents were a 4-year-old pinto stallion named TJ and a 14-year-old pinto mare named Breezy, owned at the time by former Animal Control Officer Terrie Flynn.

Thanks to rescue and rehabilitation efforts from the Rehorse Rescue Ranch in Tuolumne County the two horses have come full circle, both making exceptional recoveries.

Breezy was adopted, according to Rehorse Rescue director Raquelle Van Vleck.

TJ also is in the process of being adopted by a volunteer, she said.

“We wait for them to find their human,” she said. “They'll stay as long as they need to.”

Each of the horses was underweight and suffered from rain rot, a condition in which bacterium creates lesions on the horse’s body and is usually caused from insect bites and unclean stable conditions.

Breezy’s hooves were severely overgrown and TJ suffered from a serious injury to his penis, possibly caused from a barbed wire fence. They conducted a reconstructive surgery to remove the scar tissue and avoid amputation.

Breezy, a mare surrendered in 2010 by a Lake County Animal Care & Control officer, has been adopted after being rescued and rehabilitated by Rehorse Rescue of Jamestown, Calif. Photo courtesy of Raquelle Van Vleck.

“He's just as happy as he can be,” Van Vleck.

Situations such as the ones with Breezy and TJ have become all too common throughout the state and nation, and are currently on the rise, according to Van Vleck and animal rights groups that monitor the treatment of horses.

With the number of calls more than tripling since the rescue of Breezy and TJ the Rehorse Rescue Ranch has seen a significant increase in the number of mistreated horses in need of help.

TJ, a stallion surrendered to Rehorse Rescue of Jamestown, Calif., in 2010 by a Lake County Animal Care & Control officer, is in the process of being adopted. Photo courtesy of Raquelle Van Vleck.

“Last year at this time we had 17 horses and now we’re up to 45, if that is any indication of the increase there has been as far as the number of horses in crisis,” Van Vleck said.

The startup of the Rehorse Rescue Ranch came as a bit of a surprise, even to Van Vleck.

She began to notice the amount of horses that were suffering a little over three years ago and started taking the animals in.

“We didn’t even know we were doing rescue when we were doing rescue,” she said.

Once the need for a large animal equine rescue in the area was identified she decided to start the Rehorse Rescue Ranch. It officially incorporated in February of 2009 and received nonprofit status in June of 2010.

Although there have been numerous success stories at Rehorse Rescue, including the adoptions of 24 horses and the relocation of 53, the increase in horse abuse provides Van Vleck with many challenges.

“We’re getting calls from Las Vegas and Southern California and emails from all over the country,” she said in an exhausted tone. “It’s been tough. We want to help as many horses as we can, but because our community and surrounding counties are in crisis we have to put them first and foremost.”

In one particularly serious case earlier this year Van Vleck, along with animal control, rescued 10 Morgan horses from a property in Calaveras County.

The horses were kept in the backyard of a house, fenced by barbed wire, in conditions so unclean they “almost had to swim through feces and urine” in order to access their water trough, she said.

One stallion also was housed in a 10-by-10-foot chain link dog kennel with a roof on top inhibiting him from lifting his head.

Rehorse Rescue works in collaboration with county officials; however, due to increases in budget cuts many animal control offices do not have the funds to hold horses until they can be placed and have turned to Van Vleck in order to save horses from facing euthanasia.

They have currently taken horses from five different animal control offices including Calaveras, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Lake counties.

A growing crisis

The effects of the recession are felt in nearly all aspects of equine rescue.

Many of the rescue and rehabilitation facilities rely on fundraisers, adoption fees, donations and sponsorship for funding and due to the economic downturn have experienced decreases in cash flow.

According to Jacque Schultz, senior director of community outreach for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the organization awarded more than $1 million in grant funding to equine efforts in 2010, nearly doubling the amount given the year prior.

“California was yet again the No. 1 state,” Schultz said “They’ve been No. 1 in the number of grants applied for and received since I’ve been in charge of the program for four years.”

Van Vleck says that they’ve applied for some grants but with the stiff competition it’s hard to rely on the funding. She usually tries to find money elsewhere.

“We're beyond struggling,” she said, adding she takes it “one day at a time.”

The challenges are exacerbated by the current cost of hay, at $13 a bale, and expected to go as high as $20 by the summer. Van Vleck said she feeds 12 bales of hay each day.

She worries what those climbing hay prices will do for horse owners barely making it right now.

Because of the hefty expenses involved with caring for a horse, the troubled economy also is considered to be a contributing factor in the rising numbers of horse abandonment cases around the nation.

However, Van Vleck believes that this is a much bigger problem than can just be pinned on the recession.

“It’s not just the economy,” she said. “I think the recession has a lot to do with it, but the reality is that there are still people out there that need to take care of their horses.”

Often times, she said, the source of the problem is new owners who aren’t educated on how to properly care for a horse or people who wait until the situation has escalated to dangerous levels to ask for help.

With an increased number of horses at the facility and an extremely tight budget it is much easier for the Rehorse Rescue Ranch to maintain and relocate a horse than it is to rehabilitate one, she said.

Van Vleck believes commitment and responsibility will help decrease the number of mistreated horses.

“Horses depend on us for everything, every bit of care,” she said. “We have domesticated them and we are therefore responsible for them.”

How you can help: Visit Rehorse Rescue online at www.rehorserescue.org, make a donation or adopt a horse into a loving forever home. The group also can be reached at telephone 209-337-5886; e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; or at P.O. Box 494, Jamestown, CA 95327.

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May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, and the California Highway aPatrol (CHP) along with its traffic safety partners are reminding all motorists to safely share the road; it may save a life

Following several years of increases, in 2009, the most recent year for which finalized data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) is available, the number of people killed and injured in motorcycle-involved collisions dropped.

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That year in California, 396 people died and 11,488 were injured as a result of a crash involving a motorcycle.

“The drop in overall number of collisions is encouraging, but there is more work to be done,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “All motorists are reminded to be extra alert when on the road to help keep everyone safe.”

One of the main reasons motorcyclists are killed in crashes is because the motorcycle itself provides virtually no protection in a crash.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 80 percent of reported motorcycle crashes result in injury or death; a comparable figure for automobiles is about 20 percent.

“Motorcyclists are much more vulnerable than passenger vehicle drivers,” said Robert Gladden, Vice President of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. “In addition to wearing the proper safety gear, especially a helmet that is certified by its manufacturer to meet DOT specifications, riders are encouraged to enroll in a training course.”

The CHP strongly encourages all riders to sign up for the California Motorcyclist Safety Program (CMSP) before beginning to ride.

CMSP offers the Basic RiderCourse for beginning motorcyclists and Basic RiderCourses 2 for riders who are interested in improving their skills.

CMSP expects to train 65,000 motorcyclists per year and operates more than 120 training sites throughout California. To find a location nearest you, go to www.ca-msp.org/.

Committed to developing and promoting traffic safety campaigns that help save lives, the CHP uses educational campaigns as an avenue to reach the public with its motorcycle safety message. These campaigns are made possible by grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

“Increased awareness by everyone on the road will result in greater safety,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. “Through the continued efforts of law enforcement, traffic safety organizations on every level and the public, we can extend this downward trend in collisions statewide.”

Helping the CHP spread the word about motorcycle safety awareness to the motoring public is the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). During may, caltrans is set to display an important message, statewide on the agency's changeable message signs: Share the road, look twice for motorcyclists.

“Exercising common sense and courtesy on the road will go a long way in this traffic safety endeavor," said Commissioner Farrow.

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