AAA will offer its Tipsy Tow service to drinking drivers from 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve until 6 a.m. on New Year’s Day in Northern California, Nevada and Utah.

Drivers, potential passengers, party hosts, bartenders and restaurant managers can call 800-222-4357 (AAA-HELP) for a free tow home of up to 10 miles.

Just tell the AAA operator, “I need a Tipsy Tow,” and a truck will be on its way. You do not need to be a AAA member.

The service will provide a one-way ride for the driver and vehicle to the driver’s home. If there are additional passengers who need a ride, they will be taken to the driver’s home as long as there is sufficient room for them to be transported safely in the tow truck. You cannot make a reservation.

“We want everyone to ring in the New Year by having fun and enjoying the evening with friends and family,” said AAA Northern California spokesperson Matt Skryja. “But we want everyone to do it safely and responsibly. Simply call for our Tipsy Tow service and help AAA keep the roads safe this holiday.”

According to a recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, 20 percent of all motorists in the past year have driven a motor vehicle within two hours of drinking alcohol. About 13 percent of the total population has done so in the past 30 days. It takes only one or two drinks to impair vision, steering, braking, judgment and reaction time.

AAA estimates that a first time DUI conviction can cost up to $12,000 in fines, penalties, restitution, legal fees and added insurance expenses. You can’t put a price tag on a crash that causes an injury or death.

“If you’ve been drinking, don’t get behind the wheel,” added Skryja. “Give AAA a call and we’ll make sure you get home safely.”

The club will serve prime rib with all the trimmings, baked potato, veggies, salad, rolls and a special midnight dessert buffet with a champagne toast on Friday, Dec. 31, at the Sons of Italy club hall, 2817 E. Highway 20 in Nice.

The bar is open for socializing at 5 p.m. then dinner will be served at 7 p.m.

Enjoy dancing to music of Sounds Like Fun Entertainment right after the meal.

All tickets are $30 at the door. Everyone is welcome.

For information about this event or renting the hall for your own, call 707-274-2244.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Congress passed HR 4853 Dec. 16, and President Obama signed the bill Dec. 17. This bill includes a renewal of tax incentives for private landowners who protect their land with a voluntary conservation easement agreement.

Conservation easements can be placed on lands with high agricultural, natural or scenic value. The incentive had expired at the end of 2009, but has now been renewed through the end of 2011, and is retroactive to January 1, 2010.

Conservation-minded landowners now have until Dec. 31, 2011, to take advantage of a significant tax deduction for donating a voluntary conservation agreement to permanently protect important natural, agricultural or historic resources on their land.

The bill is viewed as particularly valuable to preserving working family farms and ranches.

In Lake County, the organization to which landowners can donate a conservation easement is the Lake County Land Trust.

Land owners maintain ownership and management of their land, can pass the land on to their heirs or can sell their lands. What they, and future landowners, forego are future development rights, thereby conserving the agricultural or natural values of the land.

The enhanced incentive applies to a landowner’s federal income tax. It:

• Raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent;

• Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income; and

• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from six to 16 years.

“Our whole community wins when thoughtful landowners conserve their land this way, protecting wildlife habitat, scenic landscapes, productive agricultural lands, and all the societal benefits the come along with conservation of natural and agricultural lands,” said Catherine Koehler, executive director of the Lake County Land Trust.

“Conservation agreements have become an important tool nationally for protecting our watersheds, farms, and natural landscapes,” Koehler explained. “Nationally, about one quarter of lands conserved annually are conserved through conservation easements.”

The Lake County Land Trust joins America’s 1,700 land trusts and their two million supporters in thanking Congress for making this important conservation tool available.

According to the Land Trust Alliance, the national organization that provides a voice in Washington, DC, for land trusts, bills to make this incentive permanent have 274 House and 41 Senate co-sponsors from all 50 states, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans in the House.

This legislation is supported by more than 60 national agricultural, sportsmen’s and conservation organizations.

To learn more about the enhanced incentive, contact the Lake County Land Trust at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 707-262 0707, or find information at the Land Trust Alliances Web site, www.lta.org/easementincentive.

At this meeting they will be discussing the club's plans for the 2011 political activities.

The public is always invited to Democratic Club meetings.

Regular Lake County Democratic Club meetings are held on the second Saturday of the month at noon in the Rose Room of the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center.

The senior center is located at 3985 Country Club Drive (corner of 10th and Country Club Drive) in Lucerne.

Contact the Democratic Party of Lake County at 707-277-0713 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Some of the new regulations are aimed at clarifying the vehicle code, protecting motorists’ privacy, ensuring better motorcycle rider safety, and providing public information about hybrid and electric vehicles.

“As a driver, you want to be aware of the new rules of the road, and AAA hopes to alert people to the latest changes,” said Matt Skryja, AAA Northern California spokesperson. “AAA actively works to promote safe and responsible transportation, and we supported many of these new laws.”

New laws for 2011

Vehicle code violations

AAA strongly supported SB 949, authored by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach). This clarifying law will stop a growing practice by local jurisdictions that choose to ignore the state laws governing traffic violations, known as the Vehicle Code, and instead cite drivers for traffic violations under vague local ordinances with varying penalties.

Among the many reasons AAA supported this bill is that it will help protect safe drivers from the unsafe ones, since local ordinance citations do not ever have to be reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

With violations unreported, the DMV cannot keep track of the drivers who incurred them and take intervening action when necessary. This law ensures that California has statewide uniform traffic laws, uniform enforcement of those laws and uniform penalties for violations.

Effective July 1, 2011.

Privacy for electronic toll collection

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) authored SB 1268, which AAA supported.

This new law prohibits local transportation agencies, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the Bay Area, from selling or disseminating personal information of subscribers to electronic toll collection systems such as FASTRAK.

AAA supported this bill because, as with other technology that collects data and information from users, individuals may be reluctant to use them for fear their personal information will be used inappropriately or for unintended purposes. AAA hopes the law will help alleviate those concerns and increase usage of FASTRAK or other electronic toll collection systems.

Effective Jan. 1, 2011.

Motorcycle law

AB 1952 closes a loophole that allowed a person with a valid motorcycle driver’s instruction permit to operate that motorcycle prior to taking and passing an on-bike training skills safety course.

Motorcycle drivers under 21 must now complete a 15-hour safety training course before receiving a learner’s permit, and they’re required to have that permit a full six months before applying for a license.

AAA supported Assemblyman Roger Niello’s (R-Sacramento) bill as a common-sense safety measure.

Effective Jan. 1, 2011.

New Web site for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (SB 1455- Kehoe)

The Energy Commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, will develop a Web site to provide consumers with information about charging plug-in hybrid or fully electric vehicles thanks to SB 1455, authored by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego).

With nearly every auto manufacturer developing plug-in and/or electric vehicles, AAA believes this website (operational by July 1, 2011) will help consumers find answers to questions about whether his/her residence will require a utility service upgrade, basic charging requirements, utility rate options, load management techniques, and more.

Effective January 1, 2011.

Towing fees and access notice

Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) authored AB 519, which requires towing companies to give consumers a towing fees and access notice and an itemized invoice of all towing and storage fees.

AAA supported this bill as a way to clean up inferior operators in the industry and to help consumers and insurers predict towing, storage and related billing.

Effective Jan. 1, 2011.

SOUTH LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The South Lake Fire Safe Council has kept busy this year working to protect the community from fire.

The group is offering its thanks to the community for supporting memberships this year. Such memberships help make it possible to protect the community.

Some examples of the the council's activities this year include educational programs and chipping more than 100 sites.

The council currently is working to update its Web site and is making plans for next year.

The South Lake Fire Safe Council meets on the first Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Middletown Fire Station on Highway 175. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

Visit the council online at www.southlakefiresafecouncil.org, where you'll find membership applications and chipping applications.