Community members learn about emergency kits from Northlake Medical Pharmacy and are reminded to keep a supply of prescription medication on-hand at the first disaster preparedness expo in Lakeport, Calif., on Saturday, October 15, 2011. Photo by Terre Logsdon.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Bringing together emergency responders, community groups, businesses and the public, the first disaster preparedness expo held in Lakeport on Saturday was educational for all involved.

The city of Lakeport and Mendo Mill sponsored the event, which took place at Mendo Mill on S. Main Street.

“Not only does this kind of event raise public awareness of what to do in the event of an emergency, but it serves as a networking event for providers of disaster-relief services,” explained Lake County Health Office Dr. Karen Tait.

Gregg Scott, volunteer emergency services coordinator with the Lakeport's Police Department, had written in a news article that residents needed to consider what they and their family would do in the event of an emergency in Lake County – if the power, phone lines, cell phone or other infrastructure were down for an extended period of time.

“Communications between the community and first responders is a critical link that we provide on a regular basis,” explained Arland Souza with the Nice Amateur Radio Club, who said there are more than 300 amateur radio – also called ham radio – operators in Lake County, many of whom, “listen in and assist daily in and for your community.”

Many of the organizations represented at the expo operate on, and are currently seeking, volunteers such as the Lake Evacuation and Protection (LEAP), which cooperates with Lake County Animal Control to aid in the evacuation of domestic animals and livestock in the event of an emergency, and the Lake County Medical Reserve Corps, which assists professionals who want to volunteer during an emergency or disaster.

Informational booths at the event included attorney Dennis Fordham, Lincoln-Levitt insurance, Amerigas, Lake County Vector Control, North Lake Medical Pharmacy, the Nice Amateur Radio Club, CalFire, California Highway Patrol, Timberline Land Management, Vietnam Veterans of America, T-Mobile, the Lake County Medical Reserve Corps, American Red Cross, Lake Evacuation Animal Protection (LEAP), Vulcan Vents, Mark Davis Insurance, Paul Davis Restoration and Remodeling and more.

For more information on volunteering with LEAP, contact Nehemiah White at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For more information on registering to volunteer with the Lake County Medical Reserve Corps, contact Linda Fraser at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Timberline Land Management reminds residents to assist firefighting efforts by maintaining defensible space around homes and structures at a disaster preparedness expo in Lakeport, Calif., on Saturday, October 15, 2011. Photo by Terre Logsdon.

At its Web site, www.occupywallstreet.org, the organization said Friday there would be more than 951 cities in 82 countries demonstrating in concern on Saturday, Oct. 15.

More than 100 such protests are said to be taking place in the United States alone this weekend, including one in Lakeport and one in Clearlake.

In Lakeport, the demonstration will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the corner of Fifth and Main Street.

In Clearlake, protesters will gather from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Cooper Tires parking lot at the corner of Olympic Drive and Old Highway 53 and Burns Valley Road.

Lake County Peace Action held a similar demonstration in Lakeport on Oct. 6, and Occupy Wall Street protests have been making their way around other areas of the North Coast, including Santa Rosa and Napa.

The nationwide movement is composed of people identifying themselves as “the 99 percent” – those who are losing their jobs and homes due to the country's deep recession, which they blame on the banking industry.

The top 1 percent, meanwhile, holds more than one-third of the entire country's wealth, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis.

Thus Main Street is taking its battle to Wall Street, and gaining friends along the way in the form of unions and powerful organizations like the California Teachers Association, which said Friday it endorsed the movement and that it embraced the call to raise taxes on the rich, to reregulate the banks, and to enact a financial speculation tax.

Such actions, the group said, will restore public budgets for schools and other vital services, and set California and the rest of the country “back on a road to democracy and prosperity.”

The national chapter of the Sierra Club also has endorsed the movement, noting in a statement, “Corporations that pollute our air, land and water, that put greed ahead of community good, public health and the nation's economic well-being must be held fully accountable. In our work around the country, we have seen first-hand how international coal and oil companies have wrecked communities, polluted our environment, and dominated the political process. We stand with Occupy Wall Street protesters in saying 'enough.'”

Information on local meetups and protests can be found at www.occupytogether.com. More information about the movement and the protests can be found at www.occupywallstreet.org, https://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt and can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/OccupyWallSt.

The Tumblr site, www.wearethe99percent.tumblr.com, also shares the stories of people taking part in the movement.

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

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Less than a week after federal officials said they were cracking down on marijuana-related businesses in California, a well-known Mendocino County dispensary was raided on Thursday.

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency were reported to be raiding the garden of Northstone Organics in Mendocino County, according to a report from California NORML.

California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced the raid as a “shameful and despicable” attack on California's most successful legally regulated marijuana cultivation program.

Gieringer and his group reported that Northstone Organics, directed by Matt Cohen, has been a

pioneering participant in Mendocino County's innovative “zip-tie” program to license medical marijuana gardens.

“The DEA is doing nothing but encouraging lawlessness and disobedience to the law,” said Gieringer. “This is a victory for the Mexican cartels.”

The dispensary's Web site also was down on Thursday.

Northstone, which reportedly delivers medical marijuana as far as Southern California, has two employees facing charges for transporting marijuana after being arrested on Sonoma County, according to www.miller-mccune.com.

Federal officials were reported to have been conducting several raids on dispensaries and related organizations around California on Wednesday and Thursday, according to various media outlets.

Raids also were going on elsewhere along the West Coast, with a raid netting 43 arrests taking place in northwestern Oregon Thursday.

In addition, this week federal officials indicated they are intending to go after marijuana advertisements in newspapers, online media and other venues.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – California’s political landscape changed significantly on Oct. 10, 1911, but many Californians may not be familiar with that momentous event.

One hundred years ago the number of eligible voters in California roughly doubled overnight when an amendment to the state constitution passed, enfranchising California women nine years before the 19th Amendment granted equal suffrage nationwide.

Official election returns show that this measure barely passed, but it was enough to secure new rights for California women.

Statewide the “yes” vote was 125,037 (50.73 percent), while the “no” votes totaled 121,450 (49.27 percent). Voters in Lake County approved the woman suffrage amendment 471 to 341.

The dry statistics don’t show how long and rocky the path to equal suffrage in California was.

The women and men who supported the cause worked many years to bring it about as powerful interests opposed to women voting campaigned against the measure.

In 1896 liquor interests feared that women would vote for prohibition if they had the vote. The brewing and liquor groups succeeded in defeating California’s suffrage measure on its first outing.

Before the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on Aug. 20, 1920, California and several other states had granted suffrage to women. Some suffragists favored the state-by-state avenue to suffrage, while others pursued the federal amendment directly.

As the 19^th century closed, American women were interested in participating in civic life, and Lake County women were no exception.

Women developed their political skills in the years before equal suffrage, participating in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, labor unions, civic clubs and improvement clubs to benefit their communities.

They learned to speak in public and to petition government officials about their causes. Some were active suffragists who pursued the vote and some followed other paths to civic engagement.

California granted women the right to run for school-related offices in 1874 and in 1890 Lake County women began to win offices for which they couldn’t vote.

Women served on local school boards and women held the office of superintendent of Lake County schools for 44 of the years from 1890 to 1942.

Etta Kise Harrington was sworn in 1890, with Hettie Irwin, Minerva Ferguson and Mary Mason Harrow following her. Only Charles Haycock managed to break the gender line and to serve two terms during that period.

After Mary Mason Harrow left office in 1942, men held the office until Judith Luchsinger was elected in 1979.

As the 1896 presidential election fired national debate about Free Silver and the presidential contest between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley, another political campaign stirred passions in California.

Pro-suffrage supporters had succeeded in placing an amendment to grant women’s suffrage on the ballot and suffragists mounted a determined effort against strong opposition.

Part of the plan was to involve high-level suffragists in the California campaign.

Susan B. Anthony, the septuagenarian pioneer suffragist, came to California to direct the state’s equal suffrage campaign, bringing other well-known suffrage speakers to canvass towns and cities throughout the state.

California women formed suffrage clubs, held conventions and demonstrated for equal suffrage. Lake County’s equal suffrage advocates, both female and male, joined the movement. Women in Upper Lake and Kelseyville formed suffrage clubs in their towns.

Not everyone in Lake County viewed female suffrage as a good thing.

The Clear Lake Press commented on Sept. 24 that “Will Clendenin and O.T. Boardman expect to prove that the government will go where the Rev. Yorke said – to 'tarnashion smash' if the affirmative [suffrage] win.”

Despite the their husbands’ attitudes, Ada Clendenin and Viola Boardman were among those attending Lake County’s biggest suffrage event, the Lake County Women’s Congress, which opened on Sept. 22, 1896. Congress president Emma Ransdell welcomed the guests (female and male) to the two-day program.

Local speakers Marcia Mayfield, W.L. Rideout, Hannah Millard Coffin, the Rev. H.W. Chapman, Ida League, Viola Boardman, Col. Herman Winchester and Lorenzo Scranton presented papers on such topics as “Women in art,” “Women as inventors” and “Mothers of great men.”

The featured speaker, nationally-known suffrage orator Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, spoke both days, where her eloquence, demeanor and intelligence won over the Lake County press corps and an appreciative audience.

Shaw spoke about how the qualifications for voting had changed over the centuries, becoming more liberal at each change, leaving sex as the only qualification.

She raised the question, “Why not eliminate the word “male” as a qualification?” Shaw disposed of all arguments against women’s suffrage to the satisfaction of her audience.

Since her birth in England, Shaw had traveled a long way, both geographically and intellectually.

The Shaw family migrated to the United States when Anna was a child, settling in rural Michigan. In an era when higher education for women was uncommon, Shaw earned both a divinity degree and an M.D., but found her true calling as a pro-suffrage speaker. Her oratorical skills made her a national star of the suffrage movement around the turn of the 20th century. In 1896, Lakeport was just one of many California towns on her itinerary.

The Lake County Bee on Sept. 23, 1896, approved Shaw’s manner and described her as “a pleasant, agreeable lady, and far, very far, from being the vinegar visaged, long, lank masculine creature, such as the caricaturist generally represents the woman suffragist to be. She is refined and intelligent, kind and gentle, and withal, possessed of an intellect such as few of her opponents possess.” Other local writers were similarly impressed.

A few days before the election the Lake County Bee urged its readers to vote for suffrage because “[e]veryone who believes in justice cannot be true to themselves and do otherwise.”

Despite the efforts of pro-suffrage activists, the equal suffrage amendment lost on Nov. 3, 1896. Lake County voters voted against it 718 to 603 and statewide it lost 110,355 to 137,099.

Next week, the effort for suffrage continues.

Author's note: In researching this article, the writer was not able to find photographs of any Lake County suffrage events in the collection of the Lake County Museum. If any reader knows of photos of any suffrage events, please contact Jan Cook at Lakeport Library, 707-263-8817.

Visit the Lake County Sesquicentennial Web site at www.lc150.org or the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Sesquicentennial/171845856177015.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An extensive investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force into organized drug trafficking over the past several months has culminated in multiple arrests and the seizure of methamphetamine, marijuana, weapons and thousands of dollars for asset forfeiture, according to a Friday report.

In May, the Lake County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force opened an investigation into the operations of the “Rodriguez” drug trafficking organization, according to a report from Capt. James Bauman.

Information gathered from the investigation revealed that the organization was responsible for the distribution of large amounts of methamphetamine and the illegal cultivation of marijuana throughout Lake County, Bauman reported.

To date, the investigation has resulted in the seizure of approximately one pound of methamphetamine, 1,318 marijuana plants, 205 pounds of processed marijuana, four firearms (one of which had been stolen), eleven arrests, and the seizure of $26,089 for asset forfeiture, Bauman said.

On May 19, narcotics detectives made three arrests in the city of Clearlake in relation to the investigation, Bauman said.

Those arrested included 26-year-old Michael Tremell Mitchell of Clearlake, 30-year-old Edgar Agustin Castellanos of Las Vegas and 25-year-old Fernando Flores-Nunez of Clearlake. Bauman said the men were arrested at two separate locations and all three were booked on felony narcotics charges. Castellanos and Flores-Nunez were both illegal aliens and had immigration holds placed on them.

On Aug. 5, 34-year-old Juan Manuel Rodriguez Sandoval of Clearlake was arrested for possession of marijuana for sales and cultivation of marijuana, Bauman reported. On Aug. 8, 22-year-old Juan Martinez Ruiz, a transient, was arrested for the possession of a controlled substance for sales and transportation of a controlled substance.

Both Rodriguez Sandoval and Martinez Ruiz remain in custody at the Hill Road Correctional Facility with immigration holds, he said.

On Sept. 16, narcotics detectives arrested 28-year-old Luis Benigno Rodriguezlomeli of Clearlake for having a false compartment in his vehicle that was designed for smuggling drugs, Bauman said. After detectives located the compartment, a sheriff’s narcotics detection K-9 confirmed the compartment had recently been used to conceal narcotics. Rodriguezlomeli remains in the custody of the sheriff on an immigration hold.

On Oct. 2, Jorge “George” Rodriguez, 49, of Middletown; 27-year-old Manuel Herrera Valdovinos, a transient; and 34-year-old Ruben Carra Valdovinos of Clearlake were arrested for cultivation of Marijuana and possession of marijuana for sales. Bauman said Rodriguez and Herrera Valdovinos also were charged with being armed in the commission of a felony.

All three remain in custody with immigration holds. Bauman said Rodriguez is currently on non-revocable parole for the sale of methamphetamine to an undercover police officer and has a previous conviction for being armed during the commission of a felony.

On Oct. 5, 55-year-old Rhonda Heidi Roper of Clearlake was booked at the Hill Road Correctional Facility for cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sales, Bauman said. On Oct. 7, narcotics detectives arrested 33-year-old Jeronimo Flores-Gonzalez of Clearlake for cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sales. He too, remains in custody with an immigration hold.

Bauman said the 11 arrests were the result of several months’ worth of diligent investigations by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force into organized drug trafficking in Lake County.

He said the effort also was supported by the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail, the California Department of Fish and Game and the Lake County Probation Department.

The coordinated effort included the service of 13 search warrants, executed at residences in Clearlake, Kelseyville, Clearlake Oaks, Middletown and the city of Brentwood, Bauman said.

Sheriff Frank Rivero commended the Narcotics Task Force for their tenacious pursuit of drug traffickers and their relentless pursuit of the Rodriguez drug trafficking organization.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – For 47 years, the Kelseyville High School wrestling program hasn't had a home of its own, shuttling between empty classrooms and whatever space was available.

But that's changed, thanks to community donations and thousands of volunteer hours that supported the program's first building, which was constructed over the summer.

On Wednesday afternoon, the new William Miles Turner Wrestling Facility had its official opening, with its namesake – and the founder of the school's wrestling program – on hand to see it open.

Kelseyville High's wrestling program began in 1964, not long after the arrival in the little town of 26-year-old Miles Turner, fresh out of the Army and accompanied by a Tennessee walking horse named Adam, a blue tick hound named Tilla and a bantam rooster.

Turner would later marry, and he and wife, Rowena, raised four children. Their sons and thousands of others have moved through the program since, benefiting from the guidance, discipline and fitness aspects of the sport.

“I'm just so honored, I don't know how to put it into words,” Miles Turner said Wednesday.

The 2,400-square-foot building sits next to the high school's gymnasium, and represents 6,000 volunteer hours and community contributions totaling nearly $300,000, according to county supervisor and local businessman Rob Brown, credited by Principal Matt Cockerton with spearheading the effort.

But Brown said the project's true value is priceless.

“It is the result of hard work, dedication and a commitment by many people that recognized a need, and filled it,” he said at the event.

Brown said what made the project even more valuable to him was that most of the work was done by students.

In fact, students from around the county showed up and worked long hours in the summer heat to help put the building up. According to Brown, the project's motto was, “Building Character.”

The back wall features artwork by Roxie Mynatt and on another wall hangs pictures of all the program's wrestlers who have gone to the state finals. They include Benjamin Turner (Miles Turner's son), 1993; Dwayne Ford and Rena Vega, 1994-1995; Steve Brown, 2000-02; and Adam Whittington, 2003.

Brown told Lake County News that many of the people who contributed to the wrestling room were the same people who supported the multidisciplinary interview center for the District Attorney's Office, completed in 2008.

Brown told the group who assembled for the grand opening that the whole project started off with the donation of a new wrestling mat from Calpine Corp.

“It was nice of them to purchase this for us but, once we got it, I realized we really had no good place to put it,” he said.

He began discussing where the mat could be stored with high school Athletic Director Steve Olson and Cockerton.

That led to the larger project, which was supported by Kelseyville Superintendent Dave McQueen, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook and Brock Falkenberg, senior director of Human Resources/Designated Services at the Lake County Office of Education, who oversees ROP projects.

Brown also offered thanks to his friend Kelseyville High teacher Mike Jones, who offered guidance and assistance on the project.

But the biggest thanks was owed to Turner, who was Brown's own high school wrestling coach. Today, Turner's son, Willy, is a member of the coaching team, along with Brown, Elvis Cook and Adam Garcia.

“We as coaches, aspire to be a positive influence on kids. And, as a coach, I will consider myself successful if, at the end of my career, I can look back and know that I had influenced only half of the young people that this man has influenced,” Brown said.

Willy Turner agreed with Brown's sentiments, crediting his father with being an important influence on the lives of many.

Cockerton also thanked Brown for his effort to make the project a reality, and presented him with a piece of conduit with what had once been wires for the school's fire alarm and telephone systems sticking out one end. Brown had inadvertently dug them up while working on the building. Cockerton suggested he hang the memento over the door.

A list of volunteers and contributors to the project follows.

Adult volunteers

Willy Turner, Boone Bridges, Curt Winchester, Bob Fisher, John White, Jesse Head, Matt Odom, Adam and Kim Garcia, Dustin and Darin Knight.

Contributing businesses and organizations

G.R. Shaul, Pivniska Trucking, Allen Keithly Transportation, Clearlake Lava, Clearlake Redi Mix, Mendo Mill, Kelseyville Lumber, Turner Insulation, Lake County Electric Supply, Big Valley Electric, Totorica Plumbing, Totorica Fire Protection, Northshore Drywall, Jeff Bour Painting, JC Painting, Quality Sheet metal, Calpine Corp. and Caltrans.

Financial contributions

Steve Brookes, Don Borges, Lisa Pope, Vicki Totorica, Ron Bartolucci, Kelseyville Sunrise Rotary and Miles Turner.

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Left: This is an image of the star HR 8799 taken by Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) in 1998. A mask within the camera (coronagraph) blocks most of the light from the star. Center: Recent, sophisticated software processing of the NICMOS data removes most of the scattered starlight to reveal three planets orbiting HR 8799. The positions of these planets coincide with orbits of planets observed by ground-based telescopes in 2007 and 2008. Right: This is an illustration of the HR 8799 exoplanet system based on the reanalysis of Hubble NICMOS data and ground-based observations. The size of the HR 8799 planetary system is comparable to our solar system, as indicated by the orbit of Neptune, shown to scale. Credit: NASA; ESA; STScI, R. Soummer.

In a painstaking re-analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images from 1998, astronomers have found visual evidence for two extrasolar planets that went undetected back then.

Finding these hidden gems in the Hubble archive gives astronomers an invaluable time machine for comparing much earlier planet orbital motion data to more recent observations. It also demonstrates a novel approach for planet hunting in archival Hubble data.

Four giant planets are known to orbit the young, massive star HR 8799, which is130 light-years away.

In 2007 and 2008 the first three planets were discovered in near-infrared ground-based images taken with the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini North telescope by Christian Marois of the National Research Council in Canada and his team.

Marois and his colleagues then uncovered a fourth innermost planet in 2010. This is the only multiple exoplanetary system for which astronomers have obtained direct snapshots.

In 2009 David Lafreniere of the University of Montreal recovered hidden exoplanet data in Hubble images of HR 8799 taken in 1998 with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

He identified the position of the outermost planet known to orbit the star. This first demonstrated the power of a new data-processing technique for retrieving faint planets buried in the glow of the central star.

A new analysis of the same archival NICMOS data by Remi Soummer of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore has recovered all three of the outer planets.

The fourth, innermost planet is 1.5 billion miles from the star and cannot be seen because it is on the edge of the NICMOS coronagraphic spot that blocks the light from the central star.

By finding the planets in multiple images spaced over years of time, the orbits of the planets can be tracked. Knowing the orbits is critical to understanding the behavior of multiple-planet systems because massive planets can perturb each other's orbits.

“From the Hubble images we can determine the shape of their orbits, which brings insight into the system stability, planet masses and eccentricities, and also the inclination of the system,” said Soummer.

These results are to be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

The three outer gas-giant planets have approximately 100-, 200-, and 400-year orbits. This means that astronomers need to wait a very long time to see how the planets move along their paths. The added time span from the Hubble data helps enormously.

“The archive got us 10 years of science right now,” said Soummer. “Without this data we would have had to wait another decade. It's 10 years of science for free.”

Nevertheless, the slowest-moving, outermost planet has barely changed position in 10 years.

“But if we go to the next inner planet we see a little bit of an orbit, and the third inner planet we actually see a lot of motion,” said Soummer.

The planets weren't found in 1998 when the Hubble observations were first taken because the methods used to detect them were not available at that time. When astronomers subtracted the light from the central star to look for the residual glow of planets, the residual light scatter was still overwhelming the faint planets.

Lafreniere developed a way to improve this type of analysis by using a library of reference stars to more precisely remove the “fingerprint” glow of the central star.

Soummer's team took Lafreniere's method a step further and used 466 images of reference stars taken from a library containing over 10 years of NICMOS observations assembled by Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizona.

Soummer's team further increased contrast and minimized residual starlight. They completely removed the diffraction spikes, which are artifacts common to telescope imaging systems. This allowed them to see two of the faint inner planets in the Hubble data.

The planets recovered in the NICMOS data are about 1/100,000th the brightness of the parent star when viewed in near-infrared light.

Soummer next plans to analyze approximately 400 other stars in the NICMOS archive with the same technique, improving image quality by a factor of 10 over the imaging methods used when the data were obtained.

Soummer's work demonstrates the power of the Hubble Space Telescope data archive, which harbors images and spectral information from over twenty years of Hubble observations.

Astronomers tap into this library to complement new observations with a wealth of invaluable data already gathered, yielding much more discovery potential than new observations alone.

From the NICMOS archive data Soummer's team will assemble a list of planetary candidates to be confirmed by ground-based telescopes. If new planets are discovered they will once again have several years' worth of orbital motion to measure.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., in Washington, D.C.

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For young drivers between the ages of 15-20 years old, traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for teens in America. Teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

“Inexperience combined with speed, a lack of seat belt compliance, distractions, alcohol or any other risk-taking behavior can have deadly results behind the wheel,” said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Unlike a video game, you aren’t given multiple lives and there isn’t a reset button; our goal is to arm California’s youth with enough knowledge to make smart driving decisions.”

The CHP is hoping National Teen Driver Safety Week – Oct. 16-22 – will serve as an important reminder for teens and their parents or guardians to get involved with any number of the traffic safety programs the department offers which are geared toward teen drivers.

The programs include Start Smart, a driver safety education class targeting new and future licensed teenage drivers between the age of 15-19 and their parents/guardians.

In addition, Impact Teen Drivers – a nonprofit, public awareness and education program – is designed to educate teens about the dangers of distracted driving.

There's also Every 15 Minutes, a program focused on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends and many others.

National Teen Driver Safety week was established by the U.S. Congress in 2007. It is observed annually the third week of each October to raise national awareness to teen driver safety issues and encourage safe teen driver and passenger behavior.

“Kids will imitate you and your behaviors,” added Commissioner Farrow. “Parents or guardians can help reinforce what their teen drivers learn in these programs by practicing safe driving habits at all times. This will help our young drivers mature into great drivers for the rest of their lives.”

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The agencies were on scene until late while working on the hazmat spill on Tuesday, October 11, 2011, near Lucerne, Calif. Photo by Gary McAuley.

The spill resulted from a fuel tanker rollover that was reported just before 2:30 p.m. in the 8800 block of E. Highway 20, a quarter-mile off of the highway, according to the initial California Highway Patrol report.

Initial reports were that 700 gallons of kerosene were spilled because of the tanker rolling over.

A Jonas Oil fuel tanker had rolled down a hillside while making a delivery to a private residence. The driver reported to officials that he tried to miss the branches of a tree that had encroached into his lane by driving onto the right shoulder.

However, the road's shoulder was soft and the truck slid off, rolling two to three times, according to estimates from officials at the scene.

The truck came to rest on its passenger side – approximately 100 feet off the roadway – against an oak tree. One of the tank's vent caps was damaged, causing the spill.

The driver reported to officials that only three of the tank's four compartments contained some amount of fuel, though it was unknown just how much remained after a morning of deliveries.

Officials at the scene said the driver was wearing his seat belt and was able to get out of the truck on his own. He reported being unharmed and denied medical attention, but was assessed by a paramedic on scene. He later was taken to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake for a mandatory blood draw, as is common in crashes.

Jonas had representatives on scene shortly after the incident occurred, providing assistance and information to the incident command set up at the scene.

The initial fire crew on scene disabled the trucks electrical system and set up a hazardous materials leak containment system. The Lake County Hazmat Unit arrived on scene and then secured the damaged area and stopped the leak.

After an assessment by officials on scene, it was determined that in order for the tow company to recover the vehicle safely, a “stinger operation” would have to occur, in which the fuel tank's compartments are tapped and drilled into and then vacuumed of there fluid contents into another tanker.

This operation requires a minimum of six hazmat trained personnel, but only three of Lake County's team were available to respond, so a mutual aid request was made to neighboring Mendocino County's Redwood Empire Hazardous Incident Team, and they responded.

Two tow and recovery trucks were called in from Pope Valley; they winched off the tanker to provide stabilization so the crews could work safely around the vehicle.

REHIT arrived approximately three hours into the incident, and a plan was made involving the four agencies on scene – Northshore Fire, Cal Fire, Lake County Hazmat and REHIT. As night fell, crews worked together getting equipment to the site.

In just under an hour, the stinger operation was able to remove 1,085 gallons of kerosene were removed from the truck.

Officials said it will be determined how much of the trucks kerosene was lost once the truck's delivery logs were scrutinized.

The tanker's maximum capacity was 2,800 gallons, but with an unknown amount delivered, hazmat officials estimated somewhere between 100 to 600 gallons spilled onto the hillside.

The crews had a debriefing and the all the command staff had high praise for the teamwork of the agencies on scene.

Northshore Fire Protection District responded with a chief, deputy chief, two engines, medic unit, rescue, support unit and water tender; Lake County Fire responded with the hazmat unit and a division chief; Cal Fire responded with an engine; and also responding were the California Environmental Health Agency, California Department of Fish and Game and CHP.

Nearly 30 emergency personnel were on hand representing the six agencies.

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A tanker overturned on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 11, 2011, near Lucerne, Calif., necessitating a six-agency response due to concerns that several hundred gallons of kerosene were spilled. Photo by Gary McAuley.

A hazmat team uses a

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Friday the preliminary hearing of the three men accused of killing a child and wounding five others in a June shooting wrapped up as the prosecution and defense presented closing arguments.

Over eight days stretching across three weeks, District Attorney Don Anderson has presented evidence in an attempt to link three men – Clearlake Oaks resident Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 23, and Clearlake resident Kevin Ray Stone, 29 – to the June 18 attack that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp.

The three men are accused of driving to the Lakeshore Drive home of Desiree Kirby and boyfriend Ross Sparks and their children, and shooting into a crowd of friends gathered in the yard late at night.

The little boy was hit and died at the scene. Kirby was seriously wounded and has ongoing health issues; also wounded were Sparks and his younger brother Andrew, as well as family friends Ian Griffith and Joey Armijo.

Braden, Lopez and Stone are charged with murder, mayhem, several counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and numerous special allegations such as use of a firearm for the incident, which Clearlake Police have said was the worst single shooting in the city's history.

Before he invited the closing arguments to begin, Judge Stephen Hedstrom allowed Stone's attorney, Komnith Moth, to finalize his arguments on an objection he raised earlier in the proceedings regarding the admissibility of a July 1 interview that police conducted with his client.

Clearlake Police Det. Tom Clements and Det. Tim Alvarado traveled to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office to interview Stone early that day. He had been arrested in Santa Rosa nearly two weeks after the shooting.

The 31-minute videotaped interview was presented during testimony on Thursday.

Moth argued that Stone had invoked his right to legal counsel during the interview, and that the statements he made to police therefore shouldn't be allowed into evidence.

Hedstrom found that Stone understood his rights, and that he clearly waived his rights and spoke willingly to the detectives for about the first half of the interview. “Clearly if you can waive a whole, you can waive a part,” said Hedstrom.

Hedstrom said it was clear Stone, in his interview with police, was seeking a deal to prevent him from being prosecuted.

However, Moth got part of what he wanted.

When asked about what specifically happened at the shooting scene, Stone refused to discuss specifics. From that point on, as Clements and Alvarado continued to press him for details, Hedstrom ruled the interview was inadmissible.

The roots of the conflict

In his closing arguments, Anderson said the foundation of the conflict could be traced to a June 9 fight at an adult school graduation in Lower Lake involving Josh Gamble, a cousin of the Sparks brothers, and several members of the “Avenue Boys,” or “Ave Boys,” a local gang believed to be associated with the Norteños street gang, according to previous testimony.

Gamble testified on the first day of the preliminary hearing that he and Armijo were assaulted by the group, and that he was hit in the face with a pipe by Leonardo Lopez, Orlando Lopez's younger brother.

A few days after that fight, Kirby confronted Leonardo Lopez at Walmart about the fight, which Anderson said “added fuel to the fire.”

He said the situation heated up further on June 18 due to threats texted to Ross Sparks from Orlando Lopez's phone, and from a phone argument between Braden and Gamble's cousin, Crystal Pearls.

The threats were being exchanged at a time when Orlando Lopez and Braden were reportedly at a party at the 16^th Avenue home of Leonardo Lopez and his girlfriend, Ashli Athas, which Anderson said was attended by several Avenue Boys.

Braden and Orlando Lopez allegedly left the party and returned with a shotgun, which Braden sawed the handle off of before leaving later in a car driven by Stone. Anderson said Stone became involved in the plan and retrieved a gun from his apartment. Stone's girlfriend, Leighann Painchaud, told police she saw Stone emerge from their home with some kind of firearm under his jacket.

Anderson said that showed premeditation, as did the way the men are alleged to have parked away from Sparks' residence, walking through his neighbor's backyard and shooting over the fence and through a gap caused by missing boards, then fleeing.

In building the scenario, Anderson said all three men were armed. Based on witness statements, the weapons believed to be used included two shotguns, a .22 rifle and a 9 millimeter handgun.

Anderson alleged that Lopez told another jail inmate that he took part in the shooting, claiming that he shot the little boy “almost in half.” Lopez also later claimed Stone killed the child.

“I think there's sufficient evidence that these defendants were there doing the shooting, it was premeditated and they shot into a crowd,” said Anderson.

He added, “They killed Skyler Rapp,” and injured the child's mother, who has injuries that more than likely will leave her disabled for the rest of her life, said Anderson.

Looking for the Avenue Boys

In their closing arguments, the three defense attorneys pointed to what they argued were big holes in the prosecution's theory in the case, and questioned the credibility of key witnesses.

Rhoades – representing Braden – said the justice system needs to make sure the right people are punished for the crime, and that it isn't just a matter of a blanket being thrown over a lot of people.

Rhoades looked at the disparity in witness testimony, zeroing in on Athas, who initially told police in two interviews that Braden wasn't at her home the day of the shooting. In a third interview she said he was there, and that she had previously lied due to being threatened. But Rhoades said the threats she offered were hearsay, and came after the first two interviews with police.

He also questioned statements given to police by Dena Smith, the neighbor of Kirby and Sparks, who did not take the stand but whose statements were related on the stand by Alvarado. Smith claimed to have seen Braden and a female through the 11-inch gap in the fence between Sparks' home and his neighbor's from 30 feet away in low lighting.

Stone and Painchaud later would be arrested in Santa Rosa after fleeing. But Rhoades said of his client, “Mr. Braden was arrested at home. That's where he was. He didn't go anywhere. He had no reason to run.”

Rhoades also took issue with the changes in Lopez's story to police, questioning Lopez's account of holding shotgun shells for Braden in the car on the way to the shooting as a way to explain why his fingerprints would be on the shells. He said Lopez has offered “every possible variation” of what could have happened.

He said the only evidence of Braden's involvement was offered by Stone and Lopez, as Braden made no admissions in the case.

Rhoades said Athas' testimony was clearly biased. “We can't put a firearm into Mr. Braden's hands unless we believe Ashli and the two defendants.”

The evidentiary requirements of a preliminary hearing are far lower than a trial, said Rhoades, adding if they were at trial Braden would be walking out completely exonerated.

Moth said Stone had no known motive for committing the crimes, pointing out that the shooting victims who testified all stated they didn't know who he was before June 18.

Referring to Anderson's tracing of the crime back to the June 9 fight, Moth said there is no evidence showing Stone was present for that confrontation. “His motive for the shooting is absolutely unclear at this point. It's essentially nonexistent.”

Nor is there evidence that Stone fired a weapon that night, said Moth. While statements attributed to Lopez put Stone at the scene, Moth said Lopez was “essentially a liar,” whose statements are filled with inconsistencies and a desire to shift blame.

Moth said there also wasn't evidence that Stone knew about what was going to happen that evening. He said his client couldn't be called an accessory if he was found to have only given Lopez and Braden a ride.

In his interview with police, Stone admitted to being on his way to get drugs the night of the shooting when he was called for a ride, Moth said.

Moth then raised the issue of gang involvement.

“The Ave Boys have their fingerprints all over this incident,” he said, noting that Braden and Lopez were alleged to have been at the home of Athas and Leonardo Lopez on June 18, leaving the party ahead of some of the Ave Boys members.

“Their whole presence permeates this entire incident,” he said about the gang of young men who live in the city's Avenues area.

Moth pointed out that the court had, over his objections, previously allowed in testimony that Stone is an affiliated Sureño member. At another point in the hearing, Clearlake Police Officer Ryan Peterson had testified that the Ave Boys appear to be associates of the Norteños, rivals of the Sureños.

Moth said it didn't make any sense that Stone would participate in helping Norteños or any associated group. “It doesn't make any sort of sense your honor. He doesn't have any motive to help out that organization.”

Carter, arguing for Lopez, said there was no direct evidence that his client made any threats to anyone in the run up to the shooting, and he said a jail inmate's testimony that Lopez admitted to the shooting was not credible, as he said Lopez has never made any such claim.

While the shooting victims testified to low light and not being able to see the shooters, Carter questioned how Smith could have seen anyone as clearly as she told police she had.

In addition to telling police in a second interview that she had seen Braden through the gap in the fence, she also stated that she saw Lopez coming through the fence gap with a gun.

Yet Carter said that conflicted with her first statement to police, in which she saw two Caucasian males with short-cropped hair, one of them wearing a black t-shirt with white skulls on it and blue jeans. He said Lopez's features don't match that description, and instead are consistent with Hispanic and American Indian features.

“That completely lacks credibility,” he said of Smith's account.

Carter said there also wasn't evidence that his client had a firearm at the time, nor was it addressed in the preliminary hearing just how many weapons there actually were at the scene. Just because there were two types of ammunition – bird shot and double-ought buckshot – didn't mean there was more than one weapon.

Anderson and the attorneys had the opportunity to briefly rebut each others' arguments before Hedstrom took the case under submission.

Hedstrom said he will deliver his verdict on whether or not the men will stand trial on the charges at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17.

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The vigil will begin at 7 p.m. at Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

This event will feature speakers including Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen. Candles and refreshments will be provided.

The Lake Family Resource Center is commemorating Domestic Violence Awareness Month throughout October.

The group wants to call awareness to the tragedy of domestic violence in hope of ending it in Lake County.

This is the 13th year that Lake Family Resource Center has held candlelight vigils in Lake County. The Oct. 17 vigil will be the second in Clearlake.

All are welcome no matter what the weather.

Lake Family Resource Center provides a multitude of services to build family stability and strength. The agency supports Lake County residents in achieving stable, self-sufficient, and healthy families and communities.

Call them at 707-279-0563.

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On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, Congressman Mike Thompson and fellow members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation called on President Barack Obama to act to deal with the country's troubled housing market. Photo courtesy of Congressman Mike Thompson's office.

On Wednesday Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) joined 32 members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to President Obama urging him and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to act immediately to address our country’s troubled housing market.

More than two million homeowners in California owe more on their homes then their homes are worth, which equals 30 percent of all California homes with mortgages.

“Our economy will continue to suffer and taxpayer confidence will never return if we do not help hard working families navigate through this mortgage nightmare,” said Thompson. “Nothing the FHFA or the Administration has done is working and Californians are the ones who are suffering. Families are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to keep roofs over their heads. Doing nothing is not an option. Today we are calling on the White House and the FHFA to step up and take immediate action to help our communities and hard working middle-class families who just want to keep their homes.”

Specifically, the letter calls on President Obama to urge the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish a plan to refinance all mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and to push for a major principal reduction plan for underwater homeowners, such as modifications in coordination with Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings.

The delegation is also asking that a “Homeowner’s Bill Of Rights” be instituted, which would apply to Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Federal Housing Finance Agency FHFA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and private servicer modification programs.

That program would make the process homeowner-friendly, eliminate needless obstacles to effective modifications, and ensure accountability and establish an appeals process.

The full text of the letter is below.

October 11, 2011

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

As Members of Congress from California, we are writing to express our continuing concerns about the ongoing housing market decline and the manner in which the financial institutions are handling delinquent mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosures. We believe that these institutions are failing to act in good faith and that there are immediate steps your Administration should be taking to address the devastating problems facing homeowners.

On October 4, 2010, we wrote to your Administration requesting help for struggling homeowners who were at the mercy of mortgage servicers. Our letter included dozens of cases from throughout California that highlighted systemic problems in the way financial institutions handle mortgages and the foreclosure process. Since then, we have held meetings with the Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and others outlining the enormous obstacles facing our constituents who are trying to save their homes. Additionally, in March 2011, a group of Members requested a meeting with the Vice President to discuss ways the Administration can be helpful. We continue to hear from our constituents that servicers are uncooperative, misleading and even deliberately obstructive and we have not seen successful efforts from your Administration in response.

In September 2011, RealtyTrac released data that showed that one in every 226 housing units in California had a foreclosure filing during the month of August alone – more than twice the national average. The data also showed that California had a staggering 55% increase in foreclosure notices in August, the second highest in the nation. Numerous reports indicate that our housing troubles are worsening. Each foreclosure represents a missed opportunity for a family to stay in its home. We cannot afford to allow this to continue.

We therefore respectfully urge you to take the following actions:

• Urge the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to use its conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow all mortgages currently owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that meet basic criteria the opportunity to refinance at historically low market rate. This would allow homeowners to reduce their monthly mortgage payment by hundreds of dollars — reducing the number of defaults and preventing foreclosure.

• Secure a far greater number of meaningful principal reductions for underwater homeowners. One promising possibility would be a temporary reduction in the interest rates of certain homeowners who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, so that the entirety of their monthly payments would go to paying down their principal balances for five years. Coordination with the bankruptcy process would make these reductions more likely to succeed than other types of loan modifications, while also limiting the program to those who truly need it and avoiding the administrative failures that have plagued many other initiatives. Such a plan could be implemented for mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as we believe that such a plan would be entirely consistent with FHFA’s obligation to minimize taxpayer losses in the Enterprises. This plan could also be implemented as part of the nationwide settlement currently being negotiated by a group of state attorneys general.

• Institute a “Homeowner’s Bill Of Rights” that would apply to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Home Affordable Mortgage Program, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and private servicer modification programs and include the following:

• Make the process homeowner-friendly: Establish a single point of contact; require servicers to review documents within a timely fashion and disclose information about the process; and ban “advanced fees.”

• Eliminate needless obstacles to effective modifications: Allow for flexibility in the debt to income ratio; end the requirement that homeowners be delinquent in order to be eligible for a loan modification; cease dual tracking; and prohibit servicers from reporting adverse credit information while trial or permanent modification is underway.

• Ensure accountability and establish an appeals process: Create an Office of Consumer Advocate; conduct random audits of modifications; and establish an independent appeals process for homeowners who believe their modifications have been improperly rejected or handled in violation of program rules.

These are actions that can be taken immediately by your Administration to help address the overwhelming problems facing our constituents. We understand that these are not the only actions that must be taken, and we will continue to work in Congress on behalf of struggling homeowners to encourage recovery in the housing market and to prevent similar problems in the future.

Our current economic crisis began in the housing market. Until the housing market is stabilized, our economy will not be able to fully recover. We hope you will act in the best interest of the American people who are facing extreme hardships to keep homeowners in their homes and stabilize the economy.

Mike Thompson

Joe Baca

Karen Bass

Xavier Becerra

Howard Berman

Lois Capps

Dennis Cardoza

Judy Chu

Jim Costa

Susan Davis

Anna Eshoo

Sam Farr

Bob Filner

John Garamendi

Janice Hahn

Mike Honda

Barbara Lee

Zoe Lofgren

Doris Matsui

Jerry McNerney

George Miller

Grace Napolitano

Laura Richardson

Lucille Roybal-Allard

Linda Sanchez

Loretta Sanchez

Adam Schiff

Brad Sherman

Jackie Speier

Pete Stark

Henry Waxman

Lynn Woolsey

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