CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – The Clearlake Oaks Volunteer Firefighters Association’s members have been busy this holiday season, sharing gifts and cheer with the community.

The group hosted Santa Claus at the Northshore Fire Protection District’s Clearlake Oaks Fire Station on Friday, Dec. 21, where they handed out gifts to local children.

Then, on Christmas Eve, they came to the aid of a Clearlake family, delivering Christmas gifts to the six children on behalf of Santa Claus.

In addition to its charitable works in the community, the association conducts fundraising for the equipment and training needed to run the Northshore Fire Protection District fire and rescue boat, based in Clearlake Oaks. It’s the only fire and rescue boat of its kind on Clear Lake.

Two district volunteers – Keith Leffler and Ted Christensen – and one captain, Rich Haney, operate the boat.

For community members who would like to support the association and its important work in the county, donations can be mailed to the Clearlake Oaks Volunteer Firefighters Association, 12655 E. Highway 20, Clearlake Oaks, CA 95423.

For more information, contact association President Keith Leffler at 707-350-0383.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

An oversized semi-trailer truck carrying NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) arrived earlier this month at its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for launch.

This NASA and U.S. Geological Survey mission will continue a 40-year record of measuring change on the planet from space.

LDCM is the eighth satellite in the Landsat series, which began in 1972. It will extend and expand global land observations that are critical in many sectors, including energy and water management, forest monitoring, human and environmental health, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture.

Following final tests, the LDCM satellite will be attached to an Atlas V rocket and launched into space February 11, 2013. Built and tested by Orbital Science Corp., LDCM left their Gilbert, Ariz. Facility on Dec. 17.

“LDCM builds on and strengthens a key American resource: a decades-long, unbroken Landsat-gathered record of our planet’s natural resources, particularly its food, water and forests,” said Jim Irons, Landsat project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

LDCM carries two instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) built by NASA Goddard

“Both of these instruments have evolutionary advances that make them the most advanced Landsat instruments to date and are designed to improve performance and reliability to improve observations of the global land surface,” said Ken Schwer, LDCM project manager at NASA Goddard.

OLI will continue observations in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and includes two new spectral bands, one of which is designed to support monitoring of coastal waters and the other to detect previously hard to see cirrus clouds that can otherwise unknowingly impact the signal from the Earth surface in the other spectral bands.

TIRS will collect data in two thermal bands and will thus be able to measure the temperature of the Earth’s surface, a measurement that’s vital to monitoring water consumption, especially in the arid western United States.

NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage the Landsat program.

After launch and the initial check out phase, USGS will take operational control of the satellite, will collect, archive, and distribute the data from OLI and TIRS, and will rename the satellite as Landsat 8. The LDCM data will be freely and openly available through the USGS data system.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance is the provider of the Atlas V launch service.

For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/Landsat .

Ellen Gray works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The rate of people who seek preventive cancer screenings has fallen over the last 10 years in the United States with wide variations between white-collar and blue-collar workers, according to new study.

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine published the new study Dec. 27 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology.

While earlier diagnoses and improved treatments have increased the number of survivors, cancer remains one of the most prominent chronic diseases and, last year alone, claimed the lives of more than 570,000 people in the U.S.

“There is a great need for increased cancer prevention efforts in the U.S., especially for screening as it is considered one of the most important preventive behaviors and helps decrease the burden of this disease on society in terms of quality of life, the number of lives lost and insurance costs,” said lead author Tainya Clarke, M.P.H., research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

“But despite this,” Clarke continued, “our research has shown that adherence rates for cancer screenings have generally declined with severe implications for the health outlook of our society.”

For their National Institutes of Health-funded study, Clarke and her team evaluated the cancer screening behaviors of the general public and cancer survivors to see if government-recommended screenings goals were achieved.

The study looked at cancer screening adherence rates for colorectal, breast, cervical and prostate cancers and compared the screening rates among the general public to all cancer survivors and to the subpopulation of employed survivors.

Results showed that the general public did not meet government recommendations for cancer screenings for any cancer types except colorectal cancer.

About 54 percent of the general public underwent colorectal screenings, exceeding the 50 percent goal of the government’s “Healthy People 2010” national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.

By contrast, cancer survivors, who are at an increased risk of developing the disease, had higher screening rates and underwent the recommended cancer screenings for all types except cervical cancer, which decreased to 78 percent over the last decade.

The study also showed a decline among cancers survivors who sought cancer screenings over the last three years.

The researchers used the recommended cancer screening rates set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2010.

In total, 174,393 people were included in the study analysis, with 7,528 employed cancer survivors and 119,374 people representing the general population.

In addition, the study showed that among survivors, white collar workers had higher screening rates than blue collar workers – a crucial discovery that Clarke hopes will help change current job-related policies and overcome disparities within different professions of working cancer survivors.

The researchers speculated that ongoing disagreements among the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society and others over screening guidelines, as well as the decrease in worker insurance rates over the decade may have influenced the decline in screening rates.

Clarke hopes that more comprehensive research will assess the combined factors affecting screening rates and lead to more effective workplace interventions and increase screening within each occupational sector.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two men were arrested this week after a police officer found them taking gasoline from the transportation yard at a local school district.

David Edward Elliston, 30, and Michael Anthony Gama, 30, both of Nice, were arrested early Thursday morning, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

At about 4:20 a.m. Thursday morning Officer Norm Taylor responded to the Lakeport Unified School District in response of a motion detector alarm going off in the transportation yard, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said Taylor saw a vehicle in the area and two subjects putting gas in the vehicle out of a gas can.

Taylor contacted Elliston and Gama and determined that they had taken the gasoline from the district and may have been out looking for additional gas to steal. Rasmussen noted there have been other gas thefts in the city recently.

Elliston and Gama both were on probation for theft-related crimes, Rasmussen said.

Both Elliston and Gama were booked for felony receiving stolen property and felony probation violations. Both remained in the Lake County Jail on no-bail holds on Saturday, according to jail records.

Their booking sheets said they are due to appear in court next Monday, Dec. 31.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Hundreds of thousands of Californians – including several hundred Lake County residents – are set to lose federal unemployment benefit extensions within days unless the president and Congress take action.

California Employment Development Department confirmed to Lake County News that the federal benefits are set to come to an abrupt halt by the end of this week for some 346,000 Californians, with no action yet taken by President Barack Obama or Congress on this aspect of the “fiscal cliff.”

Approximately 755 Lake County residents will be affected by the ending of the federal benefit extensions, the Employment Development Department reported.

Those benefits for the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program are not the same as the regular state unemployment insurance payments, which will continue and are not affected by the federal stalemate, the agency said.

The most recent numbers available, for this past October, showed that 1,556 Lake County residents were certified for state unemployment benefits, which will not be interrupted.

Earlier this month, the Employment Development Department sent letters notifying the recipients of the federal benefit extensions about the end to the program, which won’t continue payments even if recipients still have an existing balance due them. Those letters also advised of alternative assistance programs.

In July 2008, as the impacts of the recession were beginning to be felt, the first tier of the federal unemployment benefit extensions became available for Californians, the Employment Development Department reported.

State and federal benefits combined could, at one point, provide up to 99 weeks of benefits. The Employment Development Department said that was reduced to 73 weeks this past September.

The state said $40 billion in federal benefit extensions have been paid to out-of-work Californians in the four and a half years since the federal program started.

The Employment Development Department said more than 928,000 unemployed Californians have exhausted all available benefits on the state and federal levels.

The Employment Development Department urged those affected to monitor its Web site, www.edd.ca.gov , or its Twitter account, www.twitter.com/CA_EDD , for updates.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake and Running Creek Casino have donated $80,000 to the Northshore Fire Protection District.

The check presentation was made at Running Creek Casino on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

The Northshore Fire Protection District services the entire Northshore, from the Lake and Mendocino County Line to the Lake and Colusa County line, about 42 miles along Highway 20.

A portion of the money will be used for continued funding of a new position at the fire district and will save money previously spent on outsourcing.

“We are pleased to be in a position to give back to the community in this way,” said Habematolel Tribal Chairperson Sherry Treppa. “Our goal in opening Running Creek Casino was not only to create a better way of life for our tribal members and a greater sense of self reliance, but to also provide a better standard of living for Lake County residents through philanthropy.”

The firefighters of the Northshore Fire Protection District recently made a very important stop at Running Creek Casino on Saturday, Dec. 15, when they gave a personal escort to Santa Claus via fire engine for a tree lighting ceremony and visit with local children.

The event was well attended, with local families enjoying gifts along with hot chocolate, cider and doughnuts with Santa and his elves.

“The owners, management, and employees of Running Creek Casino place a significant amount of importance and dedication on partnering with our local community,” said Running Creek Casino General Manager Mike Schrader. “We strive to be more than just another Lake County Casino. We want to be a key partner in the economic growth of the entire region.”

“These types of donations are huge because of declining revenue sources,” said Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Jay Beristianos. “We have the best job in the world, and when we have the support of groups like the tribe and the casino, it makes it that much better.”

For more about the tribe and casino visit www.runningcreekcasino.com , www.upperlakepomo.com , www.facebook.com/runningcreekcasino or www.twitter.com/therunningcreek .

Running Creek Casino is located at 635 E. Highway 20, Upper Lake.

The Mayan calendar finally rolled over again this December and the Four Horsemen didn’t appear, no downpour of poisonous frogs or locusts. On the other hand, 2012 was a disastrous year in many other ways.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this year past 365 days or so was one of the costliest on record in the United States.

While 2011 was also a record year for disasters, when 14 different events cost more than $60 billion in damages; this year exceeded overall costs of disasters.

This surge is much in part due to the hurricane and subsequent superstorm Sandy, as well as the wide spread drought.

Hurricane Sandy has already totaled more than $100 billion in damages to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut together. The estimates are expected to increase over the years as recovery continues.

In the last 12 months there have been 11 billion-dollar events, which included seven thunderstorms, two hurricanes (Sandy and Isaac) and many large wildfires.

The widespread drought may end up being the most expensive of all the disasters that occurred this year.

In fact, the majority of states are still experiencing drought conditions. November 2012 was the 20th warmest and eight driest on record.

According to NOAA, almost 17 percent of the United States is still in “extreme” drought conditions.

This raises the question, do you have the basic necessities in order if a natural or human-caused disaster hits your community? Studies say probably not.

Check out this wealth of resources on how you can do just that: http://www.calema.ca.gov/Pages/default.aspx .

Here are the 11 costliest disasters of 2012:

• Southeast/Ohio Valley tornadoes: March 2-3;
• Texas tornadoes: April 2-3;
• Great Plains tornadoes: April 13-14;
• Midwest/Ohio Valley severe weather: April 28-May 1;
• Southern Plains/Midwest/Northeast severe weather: May 25-30;
• Rockies/Southwest severe weather: June 6-12;
• Plains/East/Northeast severe weather (“Derecho”): June 29-July 2;
• Hurricane Isaac: Aug. 26-31;
• Western wildfires: Summer-fall;
• Hurricane Sandy: Oct. 29-31;
• U.S. drought/heatwave: Throughout 2012.

It is important to note that there were a total of 10 hurricanes measured off the Atlantic coast, as well as 19 depressions and 19 significant storms.

According to NOAA, 349 people lost their lives due to natural disasters this year.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – California’s and the nation’s November employment numbers continued to show improvement, while Lake County’s showed a slight slip based on reduced seasonal employment.

The California Employment Development Department’s latest report said the state had a 9.8 percent unemployment rate last month, the lowest seasonally adjusted rate since January 2009.

California’s unemployment in November was down from the 10.1 percent rate reported in October, and a year-over improvement from the November 2011 rate of 11.3 percent, the state reported. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.

In November, California’s nonfarm payroll jobs decreased by 3,800 for a total gain of 564,100 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010, according to the Employment Development Department’s report, which is based on data from two separate surveys.

Lake County’s unemployment was calculated at 14.5 percent in November, up from 13.8 percent in October but an improvement from November 2011’s 15.8 percent rate, according to Employment Development Department data. The county was ranked No. 51 among the state’s 58 counties for its November rate.

The national unemployment rate reached a near four-year low last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nationwide unemployment last month was 7.7 percent, the lowest rate since the 7.3 percent registered in December 2008.

Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department’s North Coast Region Labor Market Information Division reported that Lake County’s wage and salary employment decreased 610 jobs between October and November, primarily as a result of the farming sector’s seasonal job cutbacks, totaling 520 less jobs.

He said Lake County was down 100 jobs for the year over with five industry sectors gaining or unchanged and six declining.

Mullins said year-over job growth occurred in private educational & health services, 10; other services, 10; and government, 10.

Industry sectors with no change over the year were information and financial activities, Mullins reported.

The county’s industry sectors showing decline included farm, -10; mining, logging and construction, -10; manufacturing, -10; trade, transportation and utilities, -10; professional and business services, -10; and leisure and hospitality, -90.

Lake’s neighbors had the following rates and ranks: Colusa, 18.2 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 12.4 percent, No. 38; Mendocino, 9.1 percent, No. 17; Napa, 7.5 percent, No. 7; Sonoma, 7.7 percent, No. 8; Yolo, 10.7 percent, No. 28.

Marin once again remained at the No. 1 spot for the lowest unemployment, 5.8 percent, with Imperial coming in at No. 58 for its 26.6 percent rate, according to the report.

The Employment Development Department said there were 391,870 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the November survey week, compared with 453,448 in October and 536,294 in November 2011.

At the same time, new claims for unemployment insurance were 39,879 in November, compared with 55,543 in October and 74,082 in November 2011, the agency said.

State, federal surveys show differences

Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,406,400 in November, a decrease of 3,800 jobs over the month, according to a survey of 42,000 businesses that is larger and less variable statistically than the federal survey of households used to derive the unemployment rate.

That state business survey, used to measure jobs in the economy, showed a year-over-year increase – November 2011 to November 2012 – of 268,600 jobs, an increase of 1.9 percent.

The federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, showed an increase in the number of employed people, the Employment Development Department said.

The household survey estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in November was 16,589,000, an increase of 78,000 from October, and up 223,000 from the employment total in November of last year.

The Employment Development Department’s report on payroll employment (wage and salary jobs) in the nonfarm industries of California totaled 14,406,400 in November, a net loss of 3,800 jobs since the October survey, following a gain of 38,800 jobs, as revised, in October.

The report said five categories – construction; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; and leisure and hospitality – added jobs over the month, gaining 27,600 jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities posted the largest increase over the month, adding 12,900 jobs.

Five other categories – manufacturing; professional and business services; educational and health services; other services; and government – reported job declines over the month, down 31,400 jobs, the report showed.

The Employment Development Department said educational and health services posted the largest decrease over the month, down 11,000 jobs. One category, mining and logging, was unchanged over the month.

In the report’s year-over-year comparison – November 2011 to November 2012 – nonfarm payroll employment in California increased by 268,600 jobs, a 1.9-percent increase.

Seven categories – construction; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality – posted job gains over the year, adding 320,000 jobs, according to the report.

The Employment Development Department said professional and business services posted the largest gains on a numerical basis, adding 74,100 jobs, a 3.4-percent increase. Information posted the largest gains on a percentage basis, up 5.9 percent, adding 26,000 jobs.

The report said four categories – mining and logging; manufacturing; other services; and government-- posted job declines over the year, down 51,400 jobs.

Government posted the largest decline on both a numerical and percentage basis; it was down by 34,500 jobs, a 1.4-percent decrease, the agency said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Live! will wrap up its first year on the air with a show this weekend.

Sunday, Dec. 30, marks the 12th outing for the local radio and theater production of Lake County Live!

The doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the show starting at 6 p.m.

Join the audience at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre for an hour of music and laughs as Lake County Live! celebrates its anniversary a month early, and commemorates the year past and the new year to come.

“This should be a great show for our audience in the theater and at home,” said show host and creator Doug Rhoades. “We’ll be revisiting some old friends, with some new laughs and great music along the way.  I hope everyone can join us on Sunday.”

Musical guests include Majide!, featuring Paul Kemp, Machiko and Jim Leonardis, as well as Lucas Swafford and Gypsy Vayous, along with Clovice Lewis and other friends.

Also appearing on this year-end show will be the Ladies of the Lake, a return visit with Belle and Dead-End Rhoades, and a few surprises.

Tickets are available at the Soper-Reese box office open Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Travel Center at 1265 S. Main in Lakeport, or online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .

The program features an in-theater audience, as well as a live broadcast on Lake County Community Radio KPFZ 88.1 FM and stream live on the Internet at www.kpfz.org .

Tickets are $5 for general seating.

On Jan. 1, 2013, the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax, passed by Congress in 2010 to help pay for Obamacare, takes effect.

The 3.8 percent surtax is in addition to any income tax owed and applies to both individuals and trusts and estates.  

Let us examine how the 3.8 percent surtax will apply in 2013 to individuals and to those trusts and estates which are required to file income tax returns.

With individual taxpayers the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax applies to the lesser of the taxpayer’s “Net Investment Income” or the excess of the taxpayer’s “Modified Adjusted Gross Income” (MAGI) over the applicable threshold: $125,000 (married filing separately), $250,000 (married filing jointly and qualified widowers), or $200,000 (single filers).  

Thus, the amount by which MAGI exceeds the applicable threshold limits how much of the net investment income is subject to the surtax.  

With taxable estates or trusts, however, the surtax applies to the lesser of its “Undistributed Net Investment Income” or the excess of an estate’s or trust’s “Adjusted Gross Income” (AGI) above $11,650.

Thus, the amount by which AGI exceeds $11,650 limits how much of the net investment income is subject to the surtax.

Trusts and estates with an AGI above $11,650 also pay the highest tax rates on their excess income (39.6 percent in 2013).

By contrast, individuals do not reach the highest income tax bracket until they earn above $300,000. Accordingly, trustees often distribute out any otherwise taxable trust income to their beneficiaries, who typically are in lower tax brackets.

The surtax applies to bypass trusts, marital trusts, and to third party special needs trust for the benefit of persons with special needs receiving needs based benefits (e.g., SSI and/or Medi-Cal). It does not apply to revocable living trusts, to charitable remainder trusts, or to self-settled (first party) special needs trusts.

For example, consider a third party special needs trust established at the death of a parent for the benefit of a surviving child with special needs.

Because this special needs trust is a third party special needs trust (and not a self settled first party special needs trust) it is required to file its own income tax returns.

Let us say that this special needs trust has $15,000 in adjusted gross income, of which $5,000 is taxable net investment income and the rest is exempt municipal bond interest.

In this case, $3,350 of the $5,000 net investment income would be subject to the 3.8 percent surtax because the trust’s AGI exceeds $11,650 by $3,350 which is the lesser amount (the ceiling). Here the 3.8 percent surtax owed is only $127. The trust’s income tax owed on the same $3,350 is $1,327.

What is Net Investment Income? It is interest, dividends, royalties, rents, unless derived in the ordinary course of a trade or business.  

The surtax excludes retirement income from IRA and 401(k) distributions, which are still subject to income tax.

Thus, if a trust or estate is the beneficiary of an IRA or 401(k) plan, then the trust’s receipt of such retirement distributions are excluded from the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax, which is still subject to income tax (a good reason to distribute to the beneficiary).

This may happen when a special needs trust is named as the plan participant’s death beneficiary in order to preserve SSI and Medi-Cal eligibility of a person with special needs.

Where the trustee can either distribute out the trust’s net investment income and/or otherwise invest in non taxable assets the surtax can be reduced.

The trustee’s ability to distribute out net investment income will be affected by the terms of the trust and California law.

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 .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Horse Council has received a grant to improve a riding trail in the Kelseyville area.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Tractor Supply Co., www.TractorSupply.com , made the $6,300 grant through an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) trail conservation program.  

The funds will be used by the council to make the Lake Trail in Kelseyville more safe, passable and sustainable year round.

The project grant was issued through the Stewards for Trails, Education and Partnerships – or STEP – program to improve the trail riding experience across the United States.

The STEP program allows groups and individuals to submit proposals for projects that fund and generate awareness for trail conservation projects nationwide.

“Tractor Supply’s funding of this project through the STEP program enables us to build and strengthen our relationship with equestrian groups and horse owners,” said John Wendler, senior vice president of marketing at Tractor Supply. “Through this donation, we hope to not only generate awareness about preserving riding trails for our customers, but also stress the importance of environmental stewardship and land conservation for future generations.”

A committee consisting of officials from AQHA, Tractor Supply, Equestrian Land Conservation Resource and National Forest Service reviews each individual proposal, selects the individual projects for funding, and assists in organizing volunteers for the completion of the approved projects.

Forms for submitting trail conservation projects and additional information can be found at http://ridegreen.aqha.com/ .

The Lake County Horse Council formed in November 2010, with the goal of promoting all aspects of the equine industry and inform the public about the horse community.

For more information, visit www.lakecountyhorsecouncil.com or like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LakeCountyHorseCouncil .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The safest resolution a person can make this year is to always plan ahead and designate a nondrinking driver before the celebration begins.

To help ensure the state’s motorists keep this lifesaving commitment, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is preparing to ring in the New Year with an increased enforcement presence throughout the state.

Over last New Year’s holiday, 25 people were killed in collisions throughout California; the majority of those who died within CHP jurisdiction were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Additionally, CHP officers made more than 1,200 arrests for driving under the influence (DUI).

“Safety is the California Highway Patrol’s priority year round,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Hopefully with the presence of additional officers on the roadway during the holiday season, everyone will arrive safely at their destination.”

The New Year’s Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) begins Friday, Dec. 28, at 6 p.m. and continues through Tuesday, Jan. 1, at 11:59 p.m.

The increased enforcement effort follows a similar one that occurred during the recent Christmas holiday.

Throughout that 102-hour reporting period in California, 39 people were killed in collisions and CHP officers arrested 1,170 drivers for DUI.

“This New Year, resolve to make a difference and save lives,” added Commissioner Farrow. “By removing impaired drivers from our roadways, this tragic loss of life can be greatly reduced.”

Serving as an additional set of eyes for law enforcement, the public is also encouraged to report drivers who they suspect may be under the influence.

When calling 911, be prepared to provide a description of the vehicle, including a license plate number, the location, and its direction of travel.

“Our ultimate goal is to help prevent avoidable tragedy by encouraging the public to make responsible choices such as designating a sober driver, buckling up, and traveling at a speed safe for conditions,” Commissioner Farrow said.