CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Friday morning vehicle crash led to a propane leak, brief evacuations of some nearby homes and a closure of Highway 20.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash happened just before 8:30 a.m. on Highway 20 at Paradise Valley Boulevard.
A small green four-door sedan went off the highway and down an embankment next to the Paradise Cove subdivision, according to reports from the scene.
Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos said the crash resulted in no injuries, but the vehicle hit a residential propane tank and knocked it over.
The result was that the overturned tank was leaking liquid propane in the backyard of the residence, Beristianos said.
Northshore and Cal Fire firefighters used water streams to disburse a propane gas cloud away from the home. Beristianos said a winch had to be used to upright the tank so the value could be turned off.
He said residents in nearby homes were asked to evacuate while the work at the scene involving the propane tank was taking place.
At the same time, Highway 20 was closed for about an hour to reduce the chance of igniting the propane cloud, Beristianos said.
Beristianos said Northshore Fire sent two engines, a heavy rescue and a medic unit, and Cal Fire sent two engines, with a total of 13 personnel on scene.
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.
Humans sometimes struggle to adjust to Daylight Saving Time, but just measuring the exact length of a Saturn day is one of the big challenges for scientists on NASA's Cassini mission.
Over more than a decade in Saturn orbit, Cassini's instruments have wrestled with confusing measurements to determine the planet's precise rotation rate.
The mission's final year and unprecedented trajectory will carry Cassini to unexplored regions so near to Saturn that scientists might finally answer the question:
Just how long is a day on Saturn?
Michele Dougherty used to say that measuring the length of a Saturn day was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Now she thinks the old cliché falls short. "It's more like searching for several needles that change color and shape unpredictably," she said.
Based at Imperial College, London, Dougherty is principal investigator for the magnetometer instrument (MAG) on board Cassini, studying the planet more closely than any spacecraft before. Yet Cassini's instruments can't seem to nail down something fundamental about Saturn that, for Earth, is hard to miss: the length of a day. Part of the challenge stems from what a day truly is.
When a person says, "It's been cloudy for days," they're conveying how long (that is, for how much time) the sky's been cloudy. But a day is really a description of motion, not time. The sun doesn't rise or set. Instead, the sun's apparent motion is the result of Earth spinning on its axis. And an observer need not be on Earth to figure out the length of an Earth day.
Someone in space or on another planet in our solar system could choose a distinct surface feature on Earth, such as Madagascar, then note its position and click a stopwatch. When Madagascar returns to the position it was in when the stopwatch was started, the observer could note the elapsed time.
If they measured precisely enough, they would find that Earth rotates once per 23.934 hours. That's Earth's rotation rate – the very definition of a day.
Using the same principle, Earthlings have learned the rotation rates of other planets. A day on Mercury lasts about two Earth months. And a Mars day lasts 24.623 Earth hours, barely longer than Earth's. But watching surface features does not work equally well for all planets.
When the bulk of a planet swims beneath thousands of miles of atmosphere, the challenge of clocking its rotation rate is even tougher. The swirling cloud bands on a gas planet like Saturn and Jupiter move at different rates, making it impossible to use the clouds to measure the planet's rotation rate. But even then, scientists have a couple aces up their sleeve: the planet's magnetic field and radio wave emissions.
In a planet's interior, heat causes electrically conductive fluids to move, and those currents generate a magnetic field that can extend out into space many times the diameter of the planet.
On Earth and Jupiter, the magnetic north pole is tilted from each planet's rotation axis by about 10 degrees, meaning it's not aligned with the "true north" pole on either planet.
If you could see Jupiter's or Earth's magnetic field from space, and you sped up time, the magnetic field would appear to wobble like a hula hoop as the planet spins.
Since the magnetic field is generated in a planet's deep interior, for most planets, the field's rotation rate tells scientists the rotation rate of the planet itself. One full wobble equals one day.
We can't see magnetic fields, but instruments called magnetometers can, and radio antennas can detect radio emissions from a planet with patterns that repeat each time the planet rotates.
In fact, almost as soon as radio antennas were invented, scientists figured out that Jupiter has a nine-hour and 55-minute day, according to Bill Kurth, a University of Iowa physicist and leader of Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) team.
"Jupiter is like a clock. It doesn't lose time. It doesn't gain time," he said.
But Saturn is like no other planet orbiting our sun. Its magnetic field seems to be offset from its rotation axis by very much less than a degree, so Saturn's magnetic field doesn't hula but instead appears to spin smoothly with no wobble. Scientists might then expect to observe a steady signal of magnetic strength and direction at Saturn, but they don't.
The Cassini MAG instrument has detected a signal in Saturn's magnetic field which looks like a wave in the data that repeats about every 10 hours and 47 minutes. Scientists call that regularly repeating signal a "periodicity."
But this periodicity has a different value whether you're observing Saturn's northern or southern hemisphere, and it also seems to change with the seasons.
The RPWS instrument has also detected periodicities, and another of Cassini's instruments, the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) has observed energetic charged particles (protons, electrons, ions) being whipped around Saturn periodically by its magnetic field.
"The MIMI instrument sees these blobs that move about the planet," Kurth said. But observations of the blobs, the radio emissions, and the magnetic field don't agree enough for scientists to feel they're sure about Saturn's rotation rate.
Cassini scientists didn't think Saturn's rotation rate was a puzzle they'd have to solve. "We thought we already knew, because Voyager measured it," Kurth said. Voyager data had suggested a Saturn day was about 10.7 hours. But Cassini's magnetometer measures it as a bit longer, or a bit shorter, depending on whether the spacecraft is observing Saturn's northern or southern hemisphere.
"Saturn has stymied us," Dougherty said. "Its rotation rate is somewhere between 10.6 and 10.8 hours, probably, but the signal we're seeing, we're not sure it's linked to the interior at all. All we know is that, in our MAG data, we see oscillations that are different in the north or the south, and they change over time."
One possible cause is that something in Saturn's atmosphere is disrupting or canceling out the effects of the true planetary magnetic field, Dougherty said. If that's the case, getting closer to Saturn might help.
For the final phase of Cassini's mission, the spacecraft will perform 20 orbits just outside of Saturn's main rings starting in November 2016, followed by 22 orbits flying through the unexplored space between Saturn's upper atmosphere and its innermost ring starting in April 2017. There, Cassini should have a better shot at seeing Saturn's rotation rate more clearly and resolving the mystery of Saturn's day.
"By the end of May 2017," Dougherty said, "we should know whether we'll be able to solve it."
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After a break in the rain, forecasters are predicting some more precipitation on Saturday for Lake County.
The National Weather Service said there are chances of rain around Lake County during the day and night on Saturday.
Up to a tenth of an inch is expected during the daytime, with another quarter of an inch possible Saturday night, according to the forecast.
Light winds also are expected, with temperatures in the high 60s during the day and in the low 50s at night.
Conditions are expected to clear on Sunday and remain mostly clear through next weekend, the National Weather Service 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.
California has released a new surveillance, prevention and care plan designed to dramatically reduce new HIV infections in the state, with the goal of eventually getting that number to zero.
The “Getting to Zero” plan is a blueprint for state and local health departments and community organizations working to achieve a more coordinated statewide response to HIV.
“Thanks to better treatment and prevention options, new testing technology and better access to health care, California has reached a point where we can begin to envision the possibility of zero new HIV infections,” said California Department of Public Health Director State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. “In a state as large as ours, it will take an incredible amount of coordination, innovation and work to make this vision a reality. This report lays the foundation for achieving our goals.”
The “Getting to Zero” plan was developed by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in coordination with local health officials, other state departments, medical and non-medical providers, and HIV community organizations and planning bodies.
The report set four goals to be achieved by 2021. The four goals are to reduce new HIV infections, increase access to care, reduce disparities in underserved communities and achieve a more coordinated statewide response to the HIV epidemic.
To achieve those goals, the report outlines 15 strategies and 12 key objectives that will be monitored on an annual basis by CDPH’s Office of AIDS. Some of the strategies include improving HIV testing and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) utilization, enhancing availability of HIV care and increasing community collaboration and involvement.
“This comprehensive plan reinforces the state’s ongoing commitment to address the HIV epidemic,” said Dr. Karen Mark, Chief of the Office of AIDS at CDPH. “This commitment includes supporting people living with HIV, reducing the rate of new infections, and recognizing that not all communities have been equally impacted by this epidemic, and making those most at risk a high priority.”
The full Laying a Foundation for Getting to Zero: California’s Integrated HIV Surveillance, Prevention and Care Plan report and Executive Summary are available on CDPH’s Web site at www.cdph.ca.gov .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Veterans with stories to share and volunteers to help collect personal accounts are being sought for the Veterans History Project.
The Veterans History Project is an ongoing effort of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.
The project collects, preserves and makes accessible to the public the personal accounts of American war veterans.
The goal is that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
This week it was announced that Karen D. Lloyd, a retired colonel and former US Army aviator, has been appointed as the new director of the Veterans History Project.
In her previous assignment in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Lloyd worked to expand the Veterans History Project's outreach efforts and developed products to facilitate the implementation of a project volunteer corps.
Volunteers for the project are needed. Veterans are asked to share their stories, and interested individuals are needed to help record the veterans' accounts.
Students in the 10th grade and above also may participate and there are special resources for educators and students.
Help honor our veterans by making their stories known.
To participate, contact Congressman Mike Thompson's Napa District office at 707-226-9898 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Caltrans reports that the following road projects will be taking place around Lake County and the North Coast during the coming week.
Included are Mendocino County projects that may impact Lake County commuters.
LAKE COUNTY
Highway 29
– Pavement marker replacement from 0.3 miles north of the Siegler Canyon Bridge to just north of Cruikshank Road will continue. One-way traffic control will be in effect overnight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., or from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
Highway 53
– Rocky fire cleanup from Crawford Avenue to 40th Avenue will continue. One-way traffic control will be in effect between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., weekdays. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
MENDOCINO COUNTY
Highway 1
– Bridge deck repairs at the Brush Creek will continue. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
– Bridge deck repairs at the Albion River Bridge will begin Monday, Nov. 7. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.
Highway 20
– Pavement repairs from the North Calpella Overcrossing to Cold Creek Bridge No. 3 will continue. One-way traffic control will be in effect overnight from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays. Motorists should anticipate 20-minute delays.
Highway 101
– Routine maintenance near Frog Woman Rock will continue. A northbound lane restriction will be in place. Motorists should anticipate minor traffic slowdowns.
– Bridge rail upgrades at the South Willits Overhead will continue. Northbound traffic will be restricted to one lane 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists should anticipate minor traffic slowdowns.
– Emergency culvert repairs just north of the north Willits railroad crossing will continue Wednesday, Nov. 9. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.
– Emergency slide repairs just south of Standish-Hickey State Park will continue. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
Highway 253
– AT&T has been granted a Caltrans Encroachment Permit for utility repairs near Robinson Creek Road beginning Monday, Nov. 7. One-way traffic control will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.
The Caltrans Traffic Operations Office has reviewed each project and determined that individual project delays are expected to be less than the statewide policy maximum of 30 minutes, unless noted otherwise above.
For information pertaining to emergency roadwork or for updates to scheduled roadwork, please contact the California Highway Information Network (CHIN) at 1-800-GAS-ROAD (1-800-427-7623).
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Thursday afternoon fire destroyed a Spring Valley residence, but no one was hurt.
The fire at 3755 Spring Valley Road was dispatched at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, according to radio reports.
Firefighters arriving at the fire found that there was no one in the home, with the blaze at that point active at the back of the structure, reports from the scene indicated.
Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos said the structure was a mobile home with a roof built over the top of it.
“That's what made it so difficult,” said Beristianos, explaining that the fire went through the mobile home's original metal roofing and was under the additional roof.
A deputy at the scene reported hearing an explosion in the structure, but Beristianos said nothing of significance was found, and such explosions are common in residential structure fires.
Firefighters quickly gained ground on the fire. “We had a pretty good handle on it. It wasn't going anywhere,” said Beristianos.
He said the fire took about an hour to get under control.
The structure was a total loss, said Beristianos, adding that firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to a nearby travel trailer.
Beristianos said Northshore Fire had two engines, the support team and a total of about 16 firefighters and support crew, with two engines and a battalion chief from Cal Fire and an engine from Lake County Fire.
He said crews cleared the scene at around 7 p.m.
The fire's cause is under investigation. “It appears to be accidental, though,” Beristianos 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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Going to sleep “later” as a result of the upcoming Daylight Saving Time change on Sunday, Nov. 6, can disrupt sleep patterns and may result in sleep-deprived drivers struggling with performance and concentration behind the wheel.
The California Highway Patrol is joining with the National Sleep Foundation to promote Drowsy Driving Awareness Week, Nov. 6 to 13, and increase awareness of the dangers associated with the deadly driving behavior.
California has seen an increase in collisions involving sleepy or fatigued drivers over the last three years, the CHP said.
In 2013, there were 4,284 collisions involving sleepy or fatigued drivers. The number increased to 4,693 in 2014 and to 5,511 in 2015, according to the CHP.
Over the same time span, the CHP said those collisions resulted in the deaths of 28 people in 2013, 44 people in 2014 and 45 in 2015.
“Most people are aware of the dangers of driving while intoxicated, but many do not know that drowsiness also impairs judgment, performance, and reaction time just like alcohol and drugs,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “Teens and young adults are at the highest risk of drowsy driving, due to their chronic sleepiness and overall lack of driving experience.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are an estimated 100,000 collisions annually in the United States that are a result of drowsy driving. These collisions result in more than 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and an estimated $12.5 billion in monetary losses.
Here are some tips to avoid drowsy driving:
· Get a good night’s sleep before a long drive. · Get off the road if you notice any signs of fatigue. · Take a nap. Exit the freeway, pull off the road and find a safe place to take a 15- to 20-minute nap. · Consume caffeine. The equivalent of two cups of coffee can increase alertness for several hours, but do not rely on it for long periods. · Drive with a friend. A passenger who remains awake can help watch for signs of fatigue in the driver and take a turn driving if necessary.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service and security to the people of California.
Emery Curtice Jr. was born on March 12, 1935, in Westwood, Calif. (Lassen County). His parents were educators and they moved to Berkeley, Calif., when he was a young child. His father was the principal at Berkeley High School and his mother was a teacher at Garfield Elementary. He was the younger of two children.
Emery was active in school activities and athletics and played football, basketball and baseball. He graduated from Berkeley High School in 1952.
Emery enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in the summer of 1952 and served in the Korean War, reaching the rank of sergeant.
Upon the conclusion of the Korean War, Emery returned to Northern California and enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College. He also played on the football team at SRJC and was the center on offense and nose tackle on defense.
Emery began his career in San Rafael, Calif., in the late 1950s and worked as a car salesman as well as a boat salesman. For many years his automobile and boat lot was on Third Street in San Rafael. He was an active part of the Marin County business community for 30+ years.
Emery met the love of his life, Betty Ann Nicolari, in 1976, and their love grew and flourished. They were married in July of 1978. During those formative years of family life, they enjoyed boating and camping. In 1982 Emery and Betty relocated to Kenwood, Calif., in Sonoma County and began raising Arabian horses.
In 1989 Emery and Betty decided to move to Lake County, Calif., and purchased a five acre ranch on Bell Hill Road outside of Kelseyville where they raised walnuts and animals.
They began playing golf together on Cobb Mountain and initially met Hobergs Golf Course professional Les Russo and his wife Michelle. The Curtices became hooked on golf, were impressed with the Cobb Mountain golf scene, and decided to relocate to Cobb to be closer to the golf courses and their golfing friends.
They purchased a house alongside the third fairway at Adams Springs Golf Course in 1994 and became a very active part of the very lively Cobb Mountain golf scene.
Emery and Betty enjoyed retirement on Cobb Mountain and coordinated their free time with a handful of memorable trips to Hawaii as well as many concert weekends in Lake Tahoe and Reno. They even attended the 63rd birthday party of Frank Sinatra in Tahoe.
Emery was the pro shop manager at Adams Springs Golf Course for close to 10 years through the autumn of 2015. He was a very popular fixture at Adams Springs and during his time there he earned the nickname as the “Godfather of Adams Springs.”
Emery passed away quietly in his sleep during the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016.
He is best remembered as a friend to many who always had a great smile. He always seemed to find time to offer advice and encouragement to the many and varied people he crossed paths with.
He was one of the all-time great storytellers. His stories were a combination of some of the more interesting aspects of human behavior mixed with humor and charm.
Once you initially met Emery, he was your friend for a lifetime. He had a heart of gold, would go out of his way to help a friend or stranger, and was one of those people who everyone knew and loved. He was an impact person who touched many people.
Emery is survived by his loving wife, Betty; six children, Debbie, John (Donna), Guy (Barbara), Daryl (Cindy), Al (Kathryn) and Toni Ann; 11 grandchildren, Kelli, Ryan, Chris, Sarah, Dana, Lexi, Sean, Linsay, John, Al and Evan; six great-grandchildren, Drew, Ethan, Garland, Owen, Haisley and Jobie; sister, Lou (Roger); and his first wife, Lynne who did an awesome job with their children.
A celebration of life will be held at the Masonic Hall in Clearlake on Saturday, Dec. 3, at noon. If you plan to attend, please contact Adams Springs Golf Course at 707-928-9992 for further information and to RSVP.
Arrangements by Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary, 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Authorities said human remains found Wednesday on the Sonoma State University campus belong to a missing Cotati man who is believed to have been the victim of foul play.
The remains of 18-year-old Kirk Kimberly were discovered by a university employee, with the identity confirmed on Thursday, according to Sgt. Spencer Crum of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
Just after noon on Wednesday, the Sonoma State University Police Department was informed by the campus employee that they had discovered what appeared to be human remains in a shallow grave, Crum said.
Crum said the body – covered by dirt and debris – was located on the outskirts of the Sonoma State University campus in a wooded area about 200 yards west of parking lot “M.”
At the request of Sonoma State University Police, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office assumed lead role in the investigation and deputies and detectives responded to the scene, Crum said.
Due to the lack of daylight, Crum said detectives decided to cordon off the area and post officers to secure the crime scene overnight.
On Thursday morning, Sheriff’s Crime Scene and Violent Crimes detectives responded back to the university and began the task of processing the crime scene, Crum said.
At about 3 p.m. Thursday, the body was unearthed and taken to the Central Morgue Facility, Crum said. At that time authorities determined that the decedent was a male.
Crum said a forensic pathologist conducted an external examination of the body. Through fingerprints, investigators confirmed the identity of the body to be that of Kimberly, who was reported missing on Oct. 17. His family has been notified.
The pathologist also was able to determine the preliminary manner of death to be at the hands of another. As a result, Crum said the sheriff's office is now considering this to be a homicide investigation.
If anyone has information about Kimberly’s disappearance or has knowledge of this incident, they are asked to call Det. Horsman of the Sheriff’s Violent Crimes Unit at 707-565-2185.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Friday morning vehicle crash led to a propane leak, brief evacuations of some nearby homes and a closure of Highway 20.
