The fire was reported at 9790 Highway 175 at approximately 8:18 p.m., according to radio reports.

The home’s occupants were able to safely get out, and reported to a dispatcher that they could see flames, radio traffic indicated.

Reports from the scene indicated an electrical issue may have been the cause.

South Lake County firefighters responded to the home, where the fire was reported to be out about 20 minute after the initial report. Two fire units remained on scene to handle the mop up.

Additional details were not available Friday evening.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A planning meeting for the county’s new Mt. Konocti Park has been postponed until early next year, along with work on the park as winter weather arrives.

Lake County Public Services Director Caroline Chavez said this week that the public meeting on the park’s planning status, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 30, has been postponed for the winter.

Chavez said the next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 2012.

The last planning meeting was held Tuesday, Nov. 2, and meeting participants were brought up to date on the current status of the Mt. Konocti Park development, according to Chavez.

Additional park improvements are on hold through the winter months, said Chavez, and so there are no new developments to report.

Chavez reported that participants also were asked to submit their preferences for priorities and questions on the planned development which will be reviewed by county staff and the newly-formed Konocti Regional Trails Team.

The Konocti Regional Trails Team has had some initial meetings to begin reviewing the community input and developing priorities for Mt, Konocti and other regional trail systems including a communications plan to keep people informed of plans and progress, according to Chavez.

Mt. Konocti is currently open only to hikers while plans are developed and the special order vault restrooms are built, delivered and installed, officials said.

For more information, visit the Konocti Regional Trails Web site at www.konoctitrails.com.

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The fire, which occurred early in the morning on Sunday, Nov. 20, killed Clearlake residents 55-year-old James Gerace and 14-year-old Daniel Critser, and injured 43-year-old Michelle Critser of Clearlake and her 4-year-old son, David, according to reports from friends and information from the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office.

“It’s just a terrible tragedy,” said Humboldt County Coroner Dave Parris.

Parris said the fire was reported at approximately 1:38 a.m. at an RV park on Patricks Point Road in Trinidad.

Gerace and his girlfriend, Michelle Critser, had gone on a camping trip with her sons Daniel and David in the 1980s motorhome, which Parris said the family had recently purchased.

Michelle Critser and her young son were able to escape through a side window, but not before both were burned. Parris said the little boy had burns over 40 percent of his body.

Gerace used a weapon to try to break out the windows in order to escape, said Parris.

“He did every possible thing that he could” to escape, Parris said of Gerace.

When Gerace and Daniel Critser were found, Gerace’s head was out a window, and the boy’s body was in his lap. Parris said Gerace finally was overcome by smoke.

“It’s all indicative of this guy being a true hero,” Parris said.

Michelle Critser and her 4-year-old son initially were treated at Mad River Hospital in Arcata before they were flown to Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, Parris said.

He said Michelle Critser was burned but not to the same extent as her younger son. She later was released from the hospital.

Lake County News contacted Shriners Hospital for Children seeking an update on the child’s condition, but no information was provided by the end of the day Wednesday.

Parris said no autopsies have been performed on Gerace and Daniel Critser. The cause of death for both is attributed to the fire.

However, work is continuing to narrow down the fire’s cause, which Parris said is being ruled as accidental.

“Whether we’re going to be able to find the exact cause, it’s hard to say at this point,” Parris explained.

He said an arson task force is investigating the fire’s cause, but the investigation is being delayed by the holidays. Parris said he expects work to resume on the matter next Monday.

What the investigation has revealed so far is that the fire began on the inside of the motorhome, Parris said.

A laptop and battery were charging on the kitchen table, which Parris said appears to be in close proximity to the fire’s area of origin.

Parris said investigators also are following up on information that the motorhome recently had work done to it to ascertain whether that could have contributed to the fire.

He said the laptop and other mechanical parts recovered from the motorhome may have to be sent to a lab for more thorough investigation in order to arrive at a final cause.

The family’s insurance company also is coming in to assist with the investigation, Parris said.

Services for Daniel Critser have been planned for 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, at Grace Church Kelseyville, 6716 Live Oak Drive.

A memorial service for Jim Gerace will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, at Clearlake Community United Methodist Church.

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In a potentially significant finding in the search for life beyond Earth, scientists studying data from NASA's Galileo probe have discovered what appears to be a body of liquid water the volume of the North American Great Lakes locked inside the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The water could represent a potential habitat for life, and many more such lakes might exist throughout the shallow regions of Europa’s shell, say researchers writing in the journal Nature.

“The data opens up some compelling possibilities,” said Mary Voytek, director of NASA's Astrobiology Program at agency headquarters in Washington. “However, scientists worldwide will want to take a close look at this analysis and review the data before we can fully appreciate the implication of these results.”

The Galileo spacecraft, launched by the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989, provided scientists decades of data to analyze before the probe plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere in 2003.

One of the most significant discoveries was the inference of a global salt water ocean below the surface of Europa.

This ocean is deep enough to cover the whole surface of Europa and contains more liquid water than all of Earth's oceans combined.

However, being far from the sun, the ocean surface is completely frozen. Most scientists think this ice crust is tens of miles thick.

“One opinion in the scientific community has been if the ice shell is thick, that's bad for biology. That might mean the surface isn't communicating with the underlying ocean,” said Britney Schmidt, lead author of the Nature paper and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin. “Now, we see evidence that it's a thick ice shell that can mix vigorously and new evidence for giant shallow lakes. That could make Europa and its ocean more habitable.”

Schmidt and her team focused on Galileo images of two roughly circular, bumpy features on Europa's surface called chaos terrains.

Based on similar processes seen on Earth – on ice shelves and under glaciers overlaying volcanoes – they developed a four-step model to explain how the features form (diagram). The model resolves several conflicting observations. Some seemed to suggest the ice shell is thick. Others suggest it is thin.

The recent analysis suggests chaos features on Europa's surface are formed by mechanisms that involve significant exchange between the icy shell and the underlying lake.

This kind of “chaos” may provide a pathway for transferring nutrients and energy between the surface and the vast global ocean already thought to exist below the thick ice shell. Researchers believe this would increase the potential for life there.

"This new understanding of processes on Europa would not have been possible without the foundation of the last 20 years of observations over Earth's ice sheets and floating ice shelves,” said Don Blankenship, a co-author and senior research scientist at the Institute for Geophysics, where he leads airborne radar studies of Earth’s ice sheets.

The authors have good reason to believe their model is correct. Still, because the inferred lakes are several miles below the surface, the only true confirmation of their presence would come from a future spacecraft mission designed to probe the ice shell.

Such a mission was rated as the second highest priority flagship mission by the National Research Council's recent Planetary Science Decadal Survey and is being studied by NASA.

Galileo was the first spacecraft to directly measure Jupiter's atmosphere with a probe and conduct long-term observations of the Jovian system. The probe was the first to fly by an asteroid and discover the moon of an asteroid.

NASA extended the mission three times to take advantage of Galileo's unique science capabilities, and it was put on a collision course into Jupiter's atmosphere in September 2003 to eliminate any chance of impacting Europa.

The Galileo mission was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

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Of that amount, $309,685,106.50 was collected in criminal actions and $37,297,893.80 was collected in civil actions, Haag’s office reported.

Additionally, the office collected $14,203,025 in criminal and civil forfeitures.

These collections came from, among others, the following two cases:

1. USA v. TomorrowNow Inc. (case # CR 11-0642 PJH), in which $20,004,800 was collected. This case related to the defendant TomorrowNow Inc.’s unauthorized access to the computer systems of Oracle Corp. to unlawfully download software and related documentation pertaining to certain Oracle product lines. In addition to admitting its guilt with respect to unauthorized computer access charges, TomorrowNow also pleaded guilty to a criminal copyright charge alleging that it infringed the copyrights of Oracle software applications by installing numerous illegal copies of those software applications on TomorrowNow’s computer systems.

• USA v. Kie-Con, Inc. (case # CR 10-0934 NC) in which $5,000,125 was collected. This environmental case related to the defendant Kie-Con Inc.’s unlawful discharge of process water from its manufacturing process of pre-stressed and pre-fabricated concrete products directly to the San Joaquin river. In a plea agreement, Kie-Con admitted that, starting at a time unknown to the government, but no later than January 2004, and continuing to April 2007, employees routinely discharged the process water by using a hose that pumped the process water from sedimentation basins to a nearby storm water drain.

A portion of this amount, $1.3 billion, was collected in shared cases in which one or more U.S. Attorneys’ offices or department litigating divisions were also involved.

The $6.5 billion represents more than three times the appropriated budget of the combined 94 offices for fiscal year 2011.

“During this time of economic recovery, these collections are more important than ever,” U.S. Attorney Haag said. “The hard work of the attorneys and staff has helped return millions of dollars to the U.S. treasury and victims of crimes, while ensuring that the criminals who wrongfully took the funds were put behind bars.”

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims.

Statistics indicate that the total amount collected in criminal actions totaled $2.66 billion in restitution, criminal fines, and felony assessments.

The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss.

While restitution is paid directly to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

The statistics also indicate that $3.83 billion was collected by the U.S. Attorneys’ offices in individually and jointly handled civil actions.

The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.

In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, and Small Business Administration.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorneys’ offices, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1.68 billion in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2011.

Forfeited assets are deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund and Department of Treasury Forfeiture Fund and are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

The nationwide collection totals for the U.S. Attorneys’ offices for fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011 combined is $13.18 billion, which represents nearly a 52 percent increase over the fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2009 combined total of $8.55 billion.

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Firefighters responded to the scene of a structure fire at 13195 Country Club Drive in Clearlake Park, Calif., on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

CLEARLAKE PARK, Calif. – A Clearlake home was damaged in a Wednesday night fire.

The fire was reported at 13195 Country Club Drive shortly after 8 p.m., according to radio reports.

The home was damaged but not a complete loss. Reports from the scene indicated the fire ran through the attic space and destroyed the roof.

Firefighters reportedly had to pull down much of the ceiling to make sure the fire was completely extinguished.

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Let us examine the rules, first, and then consider a scenario.

Retirement plans are “income tax shelters.” Except for Roth IRAs, retirement plans are funded with pre-tax earned income by way of an income tax deduction for the contributions. Income earned inside the retirement plan accumulates tax free until distributed out either to the participant or to his death beneficiary.

Distributions are then taxed as ordinary income in the year received.

Tax deferral may not continue indefinitely. The plan must be distributed gradually once a participant reaches 70 ½ through annual “required minimum distributions” (RMDs) over the participant's life expectancy, or, with a married couple, over their joint life expectancy.

A beneficiary who inherits a deceased participant's retirement plan may also use his own life expectancy to compute his or her RMDs, but must commence RMDs the year after the death; unless the beneficiary is married to the decedent, in which case he or she can wait till age 70 ½.

A participant's own retirement plans do not count against the resource (asset) limitation for Medi-Cal eligibility provided that the plan makes sufficient annual distributions, similar to RMDs.

But the income does count towards the Medi-Cal share of cost. After the participant dies, the plan is also exempt from subsequent Medi-Cal estate recovery. This is remarkable; assets that are exempt for Medi-Cal eligibility purposes are normally subject to estate recovery.

But for SSI eligibility purposes an IRA is not an exempt asset. It counts both towards SSI resource and income limitations, and is subject to estate recovery.

So how can someone on SSI who inherits a retirement plan maintain SSI eligibility, and SSI-linked Medi-Cal eligibility, and the favorable income tax deferral discussed above?

I recently assisted a client with this problem. He received SSI/Medi-Cal and was named as a beneficiary on his deceased mother's IRA.

If he received his IRA directly as beneficiary he would lose these benefits. He would have to withdraw all of his inherited IRA at once and spend it down in order to regain his SSI and Medi-Cal eligibility. That would have triggered immediate income taxation of all IRA distributions in the year received.

Instead, we helped the beneficiary's father to establish a “special needs trust” ("SNT") and the beneficiary to assign his inherited IRA to the SNT, with court approval. The order was necessary to confirm the assignment and satisfy the IRA plan administrator.

An inherited IRA account was then established in the name of the trustee of the SNT and the problem was solved.

Now, the SNT receives the beneficiary's RMDs and the beneficiary retains his SSI and Medi-Cal eligibility.

The SNT pays income tax each year on the RMDs which are reported by and taxed to the beneficiary.

The trustee uses the IRA to supplement the government benefits by purchasing the comforts of life that are otherwise not met by his government benefits.

The foregoing approach worked because the beneficiary's father was able and willing to participate and because the beneficiary had the capacity to assign his retirement plan.

Not every person who receives SSI and/or Medi-Cal is in that same situation. Different approaches may, therefore, be required depending on the circumstances.

It may, for example, be necessary to utilize a conservatorship in order to establish the special needs trust and to assign the inherited IRA over to the trust. That would be a more involved affair and whether it is worthwhile proceeding would also require consideration of the various costs and benefits.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com.

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This is in addition to defense cuts of near-equal size already planned across the same decade.

President Barack Obama promised before Thanksgiving to veto any attempt to block the automatic cuts unless Republicans agree to replace them with a “balanced” debt reduction package, one that includes tax increases on the wealthy and closing of corporate loopholes as well as Democrat concessions to curb popular federal entitlement programs.

With most Republicans having pledged to a powerful lobbyist, Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform group, not to allow tax increases of any kind, military associations fear pay and benefits are in the crosshairs of both parties, particularly the TRICARE health program for military retirees.

It is against this backdrop of threats to current benefits that gays and lesbians in uniform have begun to press for benefit equality.

Advocates are lobbying the department for regulation changes, filing challenges in federal court and pressing Congress to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act which prohibits extension of federal benefits, including military allowances, travel costs and health care, to spouses in same-sex marriages.

Military gays and lesbians have been able to serve openly since September 20 when repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law took effect.

A social research center at UCLA, the Miller Institute, estimates that 66,000 homosexuals serve on active duty and the National Guard and Reserve.

Defense officials recently released a list of 14 military benefit programs that allow service members to designate “beneficiaries of their choosing, regardless of sexual orientation.”

These include: Service Members Group Life Insurance; Veterans' Group Life Insurance; Post Vietnam-era Veterans Assistance Program; the All-volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program (active duty death benefit); military death gratuity; final settlement of accounts; wounded warrior designated caregiver; thrift savings plan; casualty notification; escort for dependents of deceased or missing; designation as “person having interest in status of a missing member; persons eligible to receive effects of deceased persons; and travel allowance to attend Yellow Ribbon Reintegration events.

And, under the military’s Survivor Benefits Plan, members can designate anyone to be a beneficiary under an “insurable interest” category of SBP. For such coverage, retirees pay a monthly premium equal to 10 percent of covered retired pay versus 6.5 percent for spousal coverage.

Same sex partners, even if armed with a marriage license from a state that recognizes homosexual unions, remain ineligible for spousal SBP.

Zeke Stokes, communications director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay and lesbian advocacy group, said the list is a helpful resource.

But every program listed was available to gay members before repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, even if many hesitated to list same-sex partners for these programs or notifications for fear of revealing too much while DADT was in effect.

Eileen Lainez, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said officials continue “a careful and deliberate review” of programs with an eye toward revising eligibility for additional benefits “if legally permitted.”

The day before the list was released, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston on behalf of six married homosexual couples on active duty or two who are retired seeking full military benefits.

The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and other statutes that prohibit same-sex married couples from getting all benefits and family support that straight couples get.

Benefits illegally denied, the suit contends, include housing, health care, full survivor benefits, identification cards, and access to base stores as well as other morale, welfare and recreation programs.

“If one of our plaintiffs deployed and died in combat, the same level of survivor benefits that accrue naturally to a spouse would not accrue to their spouse because they are not recognized by the federal government,” said Stokes.

Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, the largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, said DoD doesn’t have to wait for courts or Congress to extend more benefits to gay and lesbian members.

For example, the law allows base shopping and ID cards for military “dependents.” DoD through regulation simply could broaden the definition of dependent to include same-sex spouses.

Defense officials said these issues are, in fact, being studied.

The services are getting a lot of questions from gay members on benefits, particularly access to health care and base facilities such as commissaries, exchanges, housing and education services. Members are encouraged to direct these questions to their personnel office.

A DoD Web site with general information is:www.defense.gov/dadt_repeal.

Support groups are strengthening. One Nicolson helped to launch is American Military Partners Association at: www.militarypartners.org.

Believing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional, President Obama’s Justice Department announced in February that the department no longer would defend the law in federal court.

That has left opponents of gay marriage, including the Family Research Council (www.frc.org) looking toward the Republican-led House of Representatives to provide attorneys to defend DOMA against the new lawsuit.

Nicholson said that, besides the benefits disparity, gay service members have reported very few problems so far with repeal of DADT.

“We haven’t hear many complaints at all,” he said.

Gay members who have revealed their status to peers, subordinates or commanders “are really expressing a lot of surprise at how well they are received,” Nicholson said.

“Certainly not everybody is coming out. People are making judgments based on their environment and surroundings. It’s an individual judgment call, but it’s just like any other conservative workplace,” he said.

To comment, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111 or visit: www.militaryupdate.com.

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Jessica Rachelle Armstrong, 40, of Hidden Valley Lake was arrested in Fort Bragg for obstructing police on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 16, according to a report from the Fort Bragg Police Department.

Armstrong did not respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday evening.

A police officer pulled Armstrong over for not wearing her seatbelt, and when she was asked to present her driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of vehicle insurance as required by California State vehicle code, she refused, the agency reported.

Armstrong reportedly told the officer that she was not required to provide any identification, nor was she required to possess a driver license due to her freedom to travel about the country in her private property which is protected by the US Constitution, according to the report.

Fort Bragg Police said its officers explained to Armstrong that she is required by California state law to have a valid driver’s license, valid vehicle registration and proof of valid automobile insurance any time she operates her vehicle on public roadways, and that she was required to present these items upon request of a peace officer during the performance of their duties.

They also told Armstrong that should she refuse to present the required documentation that she could be subject to arrest, have her vehicle towed and impounded, and the canine she had inside her vehicle would be required to be transported to the Mendocino County Animal Shelter in Ukiah during her incarceration, police reported.

Armstrong reportedly refused to cooperate with officers, and denied their having any authority over her or her private property, and stated she was going to leave. Police said officers subsequently removed Armstrong from her vehicle and placed under arrest for obstructing a peace officer during the performance of their duties, and additional vehicle code violations.

Police said Armstrong’s vehicle was towed and stored, and her dog – which reportedly bit one of the officers during the arrest – was transported to the Mendocino County Animal shelter. Armstrong was later transported to the Mendocino County Adult Detention Facility in Ukiah.

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 21, Armstrong and an unidentified male subject showed up at the front desk at Mendocino County Animal Care and Control on Plant Road in Ukiah and asked to home quarantine the dog, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Animal Care and Control Director Bliss Fischer was working the front desk when the two came in, and explained to Armstrong that the dog had to stay at Animal Care and Control during the quarantine period, Smallcomb reported.

Smallcomb said that while Fischer was speaking with Armstrong, the unknown male suspect allegedly sneaked around to the kennel area and retrieved the dog, then contacted Fischer and asked about the spay and neuter program that was going on that day.

When Fischer went to retrieve information for the male suspect, he and Armstrong allegedly fled the area in Armstrong's vehicle with the dog, Smallcomb said.

Fischer then realized the dog the unknown male suspect had was Armstrong's quarantined dog. Fischer then contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, according to Smallcomb.

Deputies contacted Armstrong via telephone, where she admitted to taking the dog. However, Smallcomb said Armstrong refused to return the dog to Animal Care and Control and advised the dog was being quarantined at an unknown location somewhere in Lake County.

Smallcomb said a report was forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office for charging.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The latest report on poverty from the US Census shows the toll the recession has had on residents around the nation, with new approaches to Census data showing millions more people are finding their income has fallen below the poverty line.

The US Census Bureau released its official poverty measure report in September, but followed up earlier this month with a supplemental report drawing on additional research, assistance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and findings from other agencies and experts taking part in an interagency technical working group.

The new research is meant to complement, not replace, the official measure – in use since 1969 – and “is intended to better reflect contemporary social and economic realities and government policy effects and thus provide a further understanding of economic conditions and trends,” the US Census Bureau reported.

The September report put the 2010 official poverty rate for the United States at 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million people in poverty, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. That increase of 0.8 percent amounted to 2.6 million additional people in poverty in 2010.

The November supplemental report, however, put the 2010 poverty rate higher, at 16 percent, or 49.1 million people.

The official report showed that black Americans were the group with the highest overall poverty rate, 27.5 percent, followed by Hispanics, 26.7 percent; Asians, 12.1 percent; and whites who are not Hispanic, 10.1 percent.

However, the supplemental measure had Hispanics as the group with the greatest number in poverty, 28.2 percent, followed by blacks, 25.4 percent; Asians, 16.7 percent; and white, 11.1 percent.

The supplemental Census poverty report did not break out specific numbers for states or communities.

However, a Lake County News review of Lake County's poverty numbers for 1997 through 2009 showed a growth rate in the number of those people of all ages living in poverty.

For 2009, the peak year, 22.1 percent or 14,185 Lake County residents were listed as living in poverty, above the national average of 14.3 percent for that same year, according to Census data. Numbers for 2010 were not yet available.

Gloria Flaherty, executive director of Lake Family Resource Center, called local poverty rates “horrific.”

Even so, she believes that the actual numbers may be higher. “There's a lot of people who aren't counted,” she said, just as many people aren't reflected in unemployment numbers.

“The need is so great and these communities have been hit so hard by the economic downturn,” said Patty Bruder, director of community action for North Coast Opportunities, which is taking over community action agency responsibilities in Lake County.

More people are falling into poverty as a result of the struggling economy, said Bruder.

Wes Winter, North Coast Opportunities' executive director, added, “We’re seeing that everywhere that we’re working.”

Flaherty said Lake Family Resource Center has waiting lists to help families in need.

While younger families struggle to make ends meet and cover child care expenses, seniors are challenged by the growing cost of health care and living expenses, Flaherty said. Many people are moving in together in order to pool their resources and make it through the tough times.

Flaherty said Lake Family Resource Center has seen “dramatically” increased need as a result of the economic downturn.

While some programs can only serve a limited number of people and so they don't have waiting lists, “In other programs we're paddling as fast as we can” because funding is decreasing, she said.

“Because of state budget cuts we lost quite a bit of funding,” she said, noting the organization is trying to serve more families with less.

Flaherty said families also are seeking services that Lake Family Resource Center hasn't provided historically, including food pantries and help during times of homelessness.

Such services, Flaherty added, are sparse in Lake County, although she credited Lake County Hunger Task Force for its efforts to meet the need.

Flaherty said they are seeing families that are in desperate need of food and pantry staples – “just the basics of life that we're missing.”

As part of its increased presence in Lake County, North Coast Opportunities said it will offer a food pantry and is working as part of an area food hub in order to meet the need, Bruder said.

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A three-vehicle crash east of Clearlake Oaks, Calif., closed down Highway 20 for just over an hour on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Wednesday evening collision resulted in minor injuries and traffic delays.

The crash occurred east of Clearlake Oaks on Highway 20 near Catholic Church Road shortly before 7 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

Reports from the scene indicated there were multiple injuries and three vehicles involved, including a red Thunderbird and a silver Dodge Durango pickup which collided head-on, and a 1990s Chevy Suburban.

All lanes of traffic were blocked and incident command called for three tow trucks to remove all of the vehicles from the scene, according to radio traffic. Traffic was reported to be backed up all the way to Butler Avenue in Clearlake Oaks.

CalStar, REACH and Enloe Hospital all declined to send air ambulances because of the inclement weather, so the patients were transported by ground ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, officials reported.

Two people from the Thunderbird were admitted to the hospital, according to the CHP. It was not clear how many other victims there were.

The roadway was reopened by 8:15 p.m., the CHP said.

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A red Ford Thunderbird and a silver Dodge Durango pickup collided head-on, and a 1990s Chevy Suburban also was involved in a collision east of Clearlake Oaks, Calif., on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface. ChemCam fires laser pulses at a target and views the resulting spark with a telescope and spectrometers to identify chemical elements. The laser is actually in an invisible infrared wavelength, but is shown here as visible red light for purposes of illustration. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Following Wednesday morning's Launch Readiness Review, NASA and contractor managers gave the launch team the go-ahead to continue working towards liftoff of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) on Saturday, Nov. 26.

No significant launch vehicle or spacecraft issues are being worked on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket or the MSL spacecraft, which includes the rover Curiosity.

“This rover, Curiosity rover, is really a rover on steroids. It's an order of magnitude more capable than anything we have ever launched to any planet in the solar system. It will go longer, it will discover more than we can possibly imagine,” said Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator in NASA's Science Mission Directorate. “The Mars Science Lab and the rover Curiosity is locked and loaded, ready for final countdown on Saturday's launch to Mars.”

The next major prelaunch milestone is rollout of the Atlas V to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41.

“We plan on rolling the vehicle out of the Vertical Integration Facility on Friday morning,” said NASA Launch Director Omar Baez. “We should be on the way to the pad by 8 a.m.”

“We've had our normal challenges and hiccups that we have in these kinds of major operations, but things have gone extremely smoothly and we're fully prepared to go on Saturday morning. We hope that the weather cooperates,” said Peter Theisinger, MSL project manager from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Launch day weather is predicted to be favorable, with only a 30 percent chance of conditions prohibiting liftoff.

The launch can be watched at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

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