LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office is planning to conduct testing next week of its ballot tabulation computer and software.

Pursuant to regulations of the California State Commission on Voting Machines and Vote Tabulating Devices, a logic and accuracy test will be conducted for the ballot tabulation computer and software to be used for the Nov. 8 Consolidated General Election.

This test will run on Monday, Oct. 31, at 9 a.m. in the Registrar of Voters Office, in Room 209 on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport.

All interested persons are invited to observe this test.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, co-chair of the House Military Veterans Caucus, led his bipartisan co-chairs in sending a letter to Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning asking him to grant an exception to the requirement that current and former service members who enlisted in the National Guard between 2006 and 2008 repay unauthorized bonuses.
 
“It’s wrong to require service members and veterans to repay enlistment bonuses that were issued in error,” said Thompson. “The brave men and women who serve our country in uniform shouldn’t be the ones paying the price for others’ mistakes. Given that the Secretary of the Army has the authority to grant an exception to these repayment requirements, he should do so without further delay. As a veteran myself, I won’t stop fighting until this egregious situation is resolved and these debts are forgiven.”
 
The Secretary of the Army has the authority under law to grant an exception to repayment requirements if the repayment is determined to be “against equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the best interest of the United States.”

The letter asks the secretary to grant an exception on these grounds given the length of time since the bonuses were awarded and the misleading tactics used by the California National Guard, and others, during this period.
 
Thompson, himself a veteran, was appalled to learn that thousands of current and former soldiers in the Army National Guard, including 9,700 in California alone, are being asked to repay enlistment bonuses they were awarded eight to ten years ago.

Upon learning of this unacceptable situation, Thompson immediately took action to help his fellow veterans find relief from this unfair financial burden.
 
In addition to Thompson, the letter was signed by Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Thomas J. Rooney (R-FL) and Collin Peterson (D-MN).

The full text of the letter is copied below.
 
Dear Secretary Fanning,
 
As co-chairs of the House Military Veterans Caucus, we were appalled to learn that thousands of current and former soldiers in the Army National Guard are being asked to repay bonuses they were awarded when they enlisted eight to ten years ago. We understand that these unauthorized bonuses were particularly common within the California National Guard, which is in the process of attempting to recoup bonuses from 9,700 current and former members of the Guard.
 
The men and women who bravely signed up to serve their country should not be punished because recruiting and retention officials and their supervisors made mistakes and used misleading language in their contracts. Many individuals chose to enlist because the bonuses they were offered provided much-needed financial relief to their families. Many also went on to serve multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is egregious to ask for these bonuses to be paid back a decade after they were awarded when these funds are unlikely to be readily available.
 
We understand that Sections 303a and 373 of Title 37 of U.S. Code require the Secretary of the Army to recoup bonuses when service members do not fulfill all the requirements laid out in their enlistment contracts. However, the law also authorizes the Secretary to provide exceptions to these repayment requirements “if the Secretary concerned determines that the imposition of the repayment and termination requirements with regard to a member of the uniformed services would be contrary to the personnel policy or management objective, would be against equity and good conscience, or would be contrary to the best interest of the United States.” Given the well-documented unethical and unlawful practices by the California National Guard during the period in which these soldiers enlisted and the amount of time that has passed since these bonuses were awarded, we believe asking for recoupment is clearly against equity and good conscience and is not in the best interest of the United States. We understand that the California National Guard has set up a task force to help service members file for financial hardship waivers and have inaccuracies corrected through the Board for the Correction of Military Records. However, it is disrespectful to these individuals’ service and sacrifice to subject them to these onerous and bureaucratic processes because of actions that were, again, no fault of their own.
 
We ask that you use the authority currently available to you to grant an exception to the repayment requirements for the impacted current and former service members that have been identified for bonus recoupment. Thank you for commitment to the men and women who help keep our nation safe.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Dry Creek Road at Dry Creek Bridge reopened to single-lane traffic on Wednesday.

Drivers are directed to stop and proceed when it's clear across the new bridge.

The roadway had been closed earlier in the week due to a washout caused by the recent storms.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Haunted Lake County will host its haunted house Halloween event at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Oct. 29.

The “Clayton Door Experiment” will take place from 5 to 11 p.m.

The admission cost is a requested cash donation, with proceeds to go toward Clayton fire recovery.

Visit Haunted Lake County's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/hauntedlakecounty/?fref=ts .

The Lake County Fair is located at 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.

The Lake County Law Enforcement Chiefs Association is a group of the law enforcement department heads within Lake County who, among other priorities, work together to share information, improve the training and safety for our local peace officers and improve law enforcement service to the people of our communities.

We are urging the public to be aware of the fine details of Proposition 57 and vote no on it because we don’t believe it will lead to safer communities here or anywhere else in California.

Proposition 57 would lead to the early release of dangerous offenders and reduce the incarceration time of career criminals including drug dealers and gang members.

We understand the intent of Proposition 57 is to reduce prison overcrowding; however this proposition includes drastic changes to our parole system that will release thousands of dangerous felons into California communities while our state is already experiencing a spike in crime. This will only further erode public safety.

Measures have already been taken to drastically reduce the number of state prison inmates per a federal court mandate.

These measures started back in 2011 with Assembly Bill 109 – Criminal Justice Realignment which placed persons convicted and sentenced to prison terms, for many felony crimes in California, in county jails rather than in state prisons.

Then in 2014, with the voter passed Proposition 47, numerous felony crimes were reduced to misdemeanors which have contributed to career criminals continuing to commit crimes in our communities with few consequences.

Proposition 57 claims to apply only to non-violent offenders and we believe its definition of non-violent is in contrast to the public’s idea of non-violent.

The term “Non-violent felony offense” is not defined in the proposition or elsewhere in California law. Penal Code Section 667.5(C) defines “Violent felonies” and includes about 23 crimes. Crimes defined as “Serious felonies” are covered under Penal Code section 1192.7(c). Crimes covered here are not referred to as violent under California law, but they are in fact violent in nature.

These crimes, to name a few, include participation in a criminal street gang and various felonies committed for gang purposes, battery with infliction of serious bodily injury, throwing acid or flammable substances, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, discharging a firearm at an occupied dwelling, rape where the victim is legally incapable of giving consent, by intoxicating substance, or where the victim is unconscious, arson of a structure or forest land, grand theft of a firearm, exploding a destructive device with intent to injure, taking a hostage, soliciting another to commit murder, corporal punishment or injury on a child resulting in a traumatic condition, domestic violence and false imprisonment of an elder or dependent adult by violence, menace, fraud or deceit.

Persons serving prison time for these types of crimes are the ones who will benefit from this proposition if it passes.

We believe victims' rights and other previous public safety initiatives would be weakened by Proposition 57 including Marsy’s Law and the Three Strikes law.

Before voting we ask that you consider the thoughts of your local law enforcement leaders as well as many other law enforcement and prosecutor groups in California.

Brad Rasmussen is chairman of the Lake County Law Enforcement Chiefs Association and the police chief for Lakeport, Calif.

Moke Simon is my choice for county supervisor and I urge the residents of District 1 to support him with their votes.

Born and raised in Middletown, Moke is a trusted leader and presence at every important community meeting and event – and no one can match his Herculean efforts to provide shelter and ongoing support to hundreds of Valley and Clayton fire victims. 

Moke has the business experience the South County needs in its next supervisor. Ask anyone who’s benefited from one of the many job fairs he’s organized or any of the hundreds of local residents employed by the rancheria’s enterprises. Moke is the only candidate who has worked with local, state and federal officials for 20 years, negotiating multimillion dollar contracts that help drive the region’s economy.

Finally, people know that Moke is a man of his word, and when he says he will make county services more accessible and user-friendly – and bring county government directly to Lower Lake, Hidden Valley Lake, Anderson Springs and Middletown – I for one believe he will do it.

John Hess lives in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif.

Findings from a 2015 California Department of Public Health (CDPH) report on sexually transmitted diseases indicate that the number of reportable STDs in California is rising at a faster pace compared to the rest of the country and is at a 20-year high.
 
“Cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are going up in California at a concerning rate,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. “This is the second year in a row that we have seen increases in all three diseases.”
 
The report found a total of 249,224 reportable cases of STDs in California for 2015, with the following breakdown:

· 189,937 cases of chlamydia;
· 54,255 cases of gonorrhea;
· 4,890 cases of primary and secondary syphilis (the most infectious stages of this disease) and 142 cases of congenital syphilis.
 
These numbers indicate an 11.6 percent increase in reportable STDs in California since 2014, when the total number was 223,269.

A number of factors, including changes in sexual behavior (e.g., declines in condom use, increased partners), barriers to access to care and testing, and improved public health reporting may be contributing to the increase in the number of STDs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released national STD data earlier this week, reporting that cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia have reached a record high level in the U.S., with the largest increase being in cases (19 percent) of syphilis.
 
California’s STD rates continue to be highest in young people 15-24 years of age and especially females.

More than 63 percent of the state’s female chlamydia cases and more than 51 percent of female gonorrhea cases are in this age range.

These young women are the most vulnerable to infertility and other serious long-term reproductive health problems caused by STDs.
 
Gay and bisexual men in California are also at high risk. Men who have sex with men account for more than 62 percent of the state’s gonorrhea cases in males and 84 percent of primary and secondary syphilis cases in males.

“Using condoms regularly and correctly, reducing the number of sexual partners and being in a monogamous relationship can dramatically reduce risk of contracting an STD,” said Dr. Smith. “In addition, I urge sexually active individuals to get tested regularly. With these measures, we can stem the rising tide of STDs in California.”
 
To help reduce the STD rate in California, CDPH is in the process of distributing $5 million in grants to local health departments for expansion of STD prevention, testing and treatment programs.

In January of this year, California also enacted the California Healthy Youth Act, requiring comprehensive sexual health education to help young people make informed choices about how to protect themselves and their partners.
 
For more information on STDs and how to prevent them, go to the CDPH Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Branch Web site, http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/std/Pages/default.aspx .