Aaron Bassler, 35, of Fort Bragg, Calif., is seen here in a surveillance video early in September 2011 while he was allegedly burglarizing a vacation cabin in a remote part of Mendocino County, Calif. Bassler is believed to have burglarized several vacation homes, including one reported on Sunday, September 25, 2011. Bassler is wanted in connection with with the August 2011 murders of North Coast residents Matthew Coleman and Jere Melo. Photo courtesy Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said it believes a man being sought for two August homicides was involved with a burglary reported on Sept. 25 near Willits.

For more than a month the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and a force of allied agencies have sought 35-year-old Aaron James Bassler of Fort Bragg.

Bassler is wanted for the August murders of Fort Bragg Councilman Jere Melo and Mendocino Land Trust employee Matthew Coleman.

Earlier this week. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said the search is taking place in a 400-square-mile area along the North Coast near Fort Bragg.

On Sunday, Sept. 25, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a discovered burglary of a vacation cabin located in the 16000 block of NorthSpur Road, approximately 14.2 miles east of Fort Bragg and approximately 10 miles northwest of Willits along the Noyo River watershed, according to a Wednesday report.

Upon arrival at the scene deputies discovered the person responsible for the burglary had forced entry into the cabin and appeared to have taken food items. Officials said investigators are still attempting to obtain an inventory of the cabin's items from the owner who was not present at the scene.

Deputies collected various items from inside the cabin that were believed to be touched by the person who had committed the burglary, according to the report. Those items were forwarded to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Evidence Bureau for processing of latent prints, which resulted in the recovery of a latent print.

The recovered latent print was forwarded to the California Department of Justice laboratory in Sacramento for identification purposes.

On Wednesday afternoon a Department of Justice latent print criminalist contacted investigators and confirmed the recovered latent print was Bassler, the Mendocino Sheriff's Office said.

The NorthSpur Road area was the location of additional burglaries that Mendocino County Sheriff's detectives were sent to investigate on Sept. 20, the report said.

One full-time residence and at two vacation cabins located in the 17000 block of NorthSpur Road had allegedly been burglarized. The agency said detectives learned the structures were not occupied at the time of the burglaries, forced entry was used and food items had been taken.

It also was learned that a .22 caliber rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun had been taken during one of the burglaries. Detectives at this time believe Bassler to be responsible for those burglaries.

As a result of the preceding information the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office activated the reverse 911 system on Wednesday afternoon to warn the residents of NorthSpur of Bassler's presence.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said the effort to apprehend Bassler continues with support from several local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The public is encouraged to be vigilant of their surroundings and to report any possible sighting of Bassler by calling the Command Post at 707-961-2479 or 911 under emergency situations.

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Last November, a case on behalf of Phyllis Wehlage, a resident of Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare, was filed against Evergreen California Healthcare and associated entities, including EmpRes Healthcare.

The case initially was filed in Sonoma County Superior Court – the corporation has a facility in Petaluma as well – and earlier this year the case was moved to the federal court's jurisdiction. A specific dollar amount in damages was not included in the filings.

Wehlage, who stayed at Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare in 2008, allegedly suffered “indignities and other harms” due to inadequate nurse staffing levels, the complaint stated.

In June federal court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled against EmpRes' and Evergreen's motion to have Wehlage's suit dismissed, clearing the way for the suit to become class action, according to court records.

However, earlier this month, following additional filings in the case, attorneys for EmpRes Healthcare filed a notice of mediation, which is supposed to commence in the case on Oct. 24.

Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare is a 99-bed skilled nursing facility for both long- and short-term needs, according to its Web site.

It's part of the larger, privately held Evergreen Healthcare Companies and EHC Management LLC, which are affiliates of EmpRes Healthcare, based in Vancouver, Wash. The corporation has skilled nursing and assisted living facilities across California, and in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Messages left for Evergreen Healthcare's legal department and the lead attorney on the lawsuit were not returned.

Wehlage's attorneys, led by Michael Crowley, allege that the lawsuit is necessary because Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare is habitually understaffed.

The California Association of Health Facilities, a group representing an estimated 85 percent of California's nursing facilities, believes such litigation is damaging to the industry.

Mark Reagan, the association's attorney, called such lawsuits a “shakedown” of the industry.

Court documents explained that there was no response or long wait times for response to Wehlage's call light; she had lack of assistance for grooming and bathing; inadequate attention to toileting needs resulted in her sitting in a urine-soaked bed for hours; she suffered “rough and painful handling” by the facility's staff; and she was not assisted with eating or provided with the necessary fluids.

“All evils stem from understaffing, in my view,” Crowley told Lake County News.

Patricia McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, agreed, arguing that most problems with health care quality in convalescent facilities are directly related to staffing.

“Understaffing is a chronic condition in California. There's no question about it,” said McGinnis, adding, “The problems that emanate from understaffing are huge.”

In addition, “We have a very, very poor enforcement system in California,” she said, noting that the system is “very provider oriented.”

McGinnis said there's an “easy answer” to these issues. “The state needs to go in and start doing enforcement and oversight.”

However, without that oversight, McGinnis believes that a lawsuit like that filed against Evergreen is the only remedy, as the state's complaint process is long and, in her view, often ineffective.

Reagan said the suits are in fact giving rise to problems for the industry. As one example, he said facilities looking for insurance are facing higher premiums because of the suits.

The association also argues that the state's licensed convalescent facilities are highly regulated and are meeting state and federal requirements for care.

In June Judge Wilken ruled there was a viable cause of action in Wehlage's case, and to address concerns the court had, Crowley and his team filed an amended complaint that named Evergreen's numerous other facilities as well as additional individual residents for the class action standing.

Crowley said the understaffing that is alleged in the case violates the Patients Bill of Rights, which includes the right to be in a facility that has sufficient staff to care for the needs of patients.

That bill of rights also lays out minimum state staffing requirements – including 3.2 nursing hours per day per patient – which the suit alleges Evergreen Lakeport violated.

McGinnis said convalescent facilities received an extra $1 billion in reimbursements between 2004 and 2008, but alleged that they still didn't meet state staffing requirements.

She said nursing home staff commonly are underpaid and have no health benefits, and as a consequence there is high turnover.

California Association of Health Facilities spokesperson Deborah Pacyna countered McGinnis' arguments on staffing levels, stating that the actual statewide staffing average is 3.6 hours per patient.

Pacyna said California convalescent facilities' hours of care surpass the the national average of 3.4 hours per day, and are beyond the statewide requirement of 3.2 hours per day per patient.

On June 29, Gov. Jerry Brown signed ABx1 19, which extended the Medi-Cal payment system for nursing homes until July 31, 2013, amounting to a Medi-Cal having to repay nursing homes about $400 million for a temporary rate cut, according to McGinnis.

McGinnis said her organization opposed the bill because it does not require facilities to use the money for staffing or care, and the system continues to lack meaningful accountability measures. She said those reimbursements should be used for patient care, not profits.

Reagan maintained that facilities are doing just what McGinnis said they should – providing greater care thanks to the government's reimbursement incentives.

According to the US government's Medicare site, www.medicare.gov, Evergreen Lakeport Healthcare is the lowest-ranked of three Lake County care facilities in Medicare's five star quality rating programs.

Evergreen's overall rating was one out of five stars, defined as “much below average.” It received one star for health inspections, two stars – “below average” – for staffing and three – “average” – for quality measures.

Inspectors found the facility had 13 health deficiencies – ranging from mistreatment, quality care, residents rights, nutrition and diet, pharmacy, environmental and administration – for the period of May 1, 2010, through July 31, 2011, two more than the average number of such deficiencies in California and eight more than the federal average.

A landmark case sets the stage

Crowley and law partner Tim Needham are “battle tested” in cases like Wehlage's. Crowley was lead trial counsel on a landmark class action case involving an estimated 32,000 plaintiffs versus Skilled Healthcare, a nursing home chain which owns 22 facilities, including all five of those located in Humboldt County.

In July 2010 a Humboldt County jury awarded the plaintiffs in the Skilled Healthcare case a $671 million verdict, the largest of its kind in the nation's history, following four and a half years of litigation and six and a half months at trial, Crowley said.

He called the Skilled Healthcare case a “perfect storm” in which he and his legal team were able to prove 1.3 million violations over a six-year period. The Humboldt County jury gave the plaintiffs in that case the maximum $500 penalty per violation.

The company later was allowed to settle for $50 million, which prevented it from going bankrupt, “which we were really not interested in doing,” Crowley said, adding they wanted the company “to function as a viable business that obeys the law.”

The court also issued an injunction in that case to ensure compliance, Crowley said.

“This is not unique to Skilled Healthcare,” said Crowley. “This is an industrywide practice,” and a practice that he said has become increasingly used despite laws like AB 1629, enacted to increase the size of medical reimbursements in order to increase staffing levels.

Rather than take that money and hire more staff, Crowley said such facilities are using it to increase profit margins – at the expense of patients.

The staff the facilities did have were paid “shockingly low” levels; in some cases, certified nursing assistants were not even paid minimum wage, he said.

The class action approach, Crowley said, is more effective, “because, quite frankly, we're dealing with corporations,” he said, adding, “They're not going to do the right thing because it's the right thing.”

A result of the verdict and injunction, said Crowley, was that every one of Skilled Healthcare's facilities began to aggressively hire certified nursing assistants, licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses.

“This hasn't been bad for business, this has been excellent for business,” he said, with more hires – and higher pay – set to result.

At first Skilled Healthcare's shares dropped, but they've since rebounded. “That company's in fine shape,” said Crowley, adding “We're not out to put anybody out of business,” but rather to change the industry's corporate culture.

In one way, the victory was hollow. “Most of our named clients died before trial,” said Crowley, with one woman surviving long enough to see the matter resolved.

Crowley argued that it was a victory for patients and a major wake up call for the industry.

However, the California Association of Health Facilities, has a markedly different view of such litigation.

Reagan said the group viewed the Skilled Healthcare award as “outlandish,” arguing that it was rendered by the jury without findings of patient suffering or harm.

“I think there was significant concern but certainly not panic under the circumstances,” Reagan said, in addressing the industry's reaction to the suit.

In the Skilled Healthcare suit, as in Evergreen Lakeport, Crowley alleged that the convalescent home industry has used understaffing as a business model.

In the Evergreen Healthcare suit, “there's very similar issues going on,” said Crowley.

“We think we can accomplish a social good with this,” Crowley said.

But Reagan and the California Association of Health Facilities don't share that opinion.

Reagan accused Crowley and his colleagues of being opportunists after having gotten “a very good result” in the Skilled Healthcare case.

There have been at least seven separate class actions brought by the same attorneys, said Reagan, trying to replicate an outcome that the association believes is not based on the facts.

In about half of those cases Reagan said the courts have dismissed the claims or limited them significantly.

Reagan believes that, ultimately, it will become “legally untenable” to carry out such awards against facilities.

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November 2010 - Wehlage v. EmpRes Healthcare

The district's board of trustees unanimously ratified the agreement with the the California School Employees Association Chapter No. 638 at the board's Sept. 20 meeting, according to district Superintendent Dave McQueen.

The document, which also was ratified by the CSEA leadership, is for the period July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014.

McQueen said the district was glad to have reached a conclusion on the negotiations.

Tiffany Kemp, the district's chief financial officer, said negotiations on the CSEA contract began in May 2010. Kemp added that all union contracts are for three-year terms.

CSEA Chapter President Holley Luia said the mediated agreement was reached when the district's unrepresented employees – including the superintendent, principals, confidential office employees, chief financial officer, counselors, classified management and the board of trustees – all agreed to cap themselves at the same benefit level as they asked the classified employees to take.

According to the document, benefits for full-time classified and unrepresented staff are capped at $16,000 per year.

Luia said that agreement most closely resembles a “fair share” and not the full share of the financial burden that she said classified workers had originally been asked to take.

Other points of the mediated agreement matters related to discipline, including putting a committee together to consider disciplinary issues, which McQueen called “pretty standard.”

Kelseyville Unified was put into “qualified” status by the state after concerns arose that it might not be able to meet its financial obligations, as Lake County News has previously reported.

That has led to hard financial decisions for the district, including layoffs and service cuts that the district board had to add to a financial recovery plan earlier this year. In all, the district identified nearly $2.3 million in cuts to keep fiscally sound.

Overall, classified staff workers have taken 21 layoffs, said Luia, although four and a half positions recently were restored thanks to additional, unanticipated state funding.

Even so, Luia – a secretary at Kelseyville High School who was among those who were hired back after layoff this summer – said the classified union remains concerned about the safety and well being of students on district campuses because of the cuts.

She said the cuts have resulted in inadequate custodial services, with three school campuses down to only one full-time secretary with a half-time secretary split between sites.

In addition, the district's transportation department has only four hours of clerical making it difficult for parents and school sites to get busing information, Luia said.

“CSEA is astutely aware of how the layoffs of such services hurt our kids and inconvenience our communities families and hope to make future restoration of laid off positions a priority for the district,” Luia said.

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The Employment Development Department's latest report on California's employment numbers showed that Lake County had a 16.6 percent unemployment rate in August, down 0.9 percentage points over the month and 0.6 percentage points over the year.

California's unemployment rate in August was 12.1 percent, up from 12 percent in July but down from 12.4 percent in August 2010. The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.

The number of people unemployed in California was 2,175,000 – up by 8,000 over the month, but down by 83,000 compared with August of last year, the state reported.

The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged in August at 9.1 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The August 2010 national unemployment rate was 9.6 percent.

In August, Marin had a 7.8 percent unemployment rate, the state's lowest, and Imperial County had the highest statewide rate, 32.4 percent, according to the report.

Lake County's August rate ranked it No. 54 of the state's 58 counties, the Employment Development Department reported.

Lake's neighboring counties registered the following unemployment rates and statewide ranks: Glenn, 16.3 percent, No. 53; Colusa, 16 percent, No. 50; Yolo, 11.2 percent, No. 23; Mendocino, 10.7 percent, No. 16; Sonoma, 10 percent, No. 10; and Napa, 8.8 percent, No. 3.

Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department's North Coast Region Labor Market Information Division reported that Lake County industry employment increased 250 jobs between July and August.

Mullins said that increase is part of a usual trend as seasonal farm employment increased and schools begin rehiring for the new term.

He said that nine industry sectors gained jobs or were unchanged over the month, and two declined.

Job growth was noted in farm (+130); manufacturing (+10); trade, transportation and utilities (+10); private educational and health services (+10); and government (+100), according to Mullins.

He said industries with no change over the month included mining, logging and construction; information; financial activities; professional and business services.

Leisure and hospitality was down 20 jobs for August, and the “other services” category was down by 10 jobs, according to Mullins' report.

Mullins said government (-70), construction (-50) and financial activities (-20 and includes real estate) continue to lag over the year, accounting for over three-fourths of the county’s year-over job decline (-180).

Amongst Lake County's cities and Census designated places, in August Clearlake Oaks once again had the highest unemployment, 24.6 percent, followed by Nice, 24 percent; the city of Clearlake, 23.7 percent; Lucerne, 17.5 percent; Kelseyville, 16.9 percent; Middletown, 16.9 percent; city of Lakeport, 16 percent; Cobb, 14.8 percent; Lower Lake, 13.9 percent; Hidden Valley Lake, 13.7 percent; north Lakeport, 13.1 percent; and Upper Lake, 8.6 percent.

Lake County had a labor force of 25,120 people in August, with 4,170 of them jobless, based on the most recent state report. In July, records showed there were 24,980 people in the work force, with 4,360 of them out of work.

The Employment Development Department reported that there were 543,089 people in California receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the August survey week, compared with 566,380 last month and 620,844 last year.

New claims for unemployment insurance were 54,463 in August 2011, compared with 57,897 in July

and 65,261 in August of last year, the state reported.

State shows slight decrease in job numbers

Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 14,057,200 in August, a decrease of 8,400 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically.

The Employment Development Department said the survey of 42,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over-year change – August 2010 to August 2011 – showed an increase of 171,100 jobs, up 1.2 percent.

The federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, showed a decrease in the number of employed people.

The state said that survey estimated the number of Californians holding jobs in August was 15,830,000, a decrease of 18,000 from July, and down 58,000 from the employment total in August of last year.

Five categories – mining and logging; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; and leisure and hospitality – added jobs over the month, gaining 9,100 jobs, according to the Employment Development Department. Trade, transportation and utilities posted the largest increase over the month, adding 5,700 jobs.

Six categories – construction; information; financial activities; educational and health services; other services; and government – reported job declines over the month, down 17,500 jobs, the state said. Construction posted the largest decrease over the month, down 7,200 jobs.

In a year-over-year comparison, from August 2010 to August 2011, nonfarm payroll employment in California increased by 171,100 jobs, up 1.2 percent, according to the report.

The August report said that eight categories – mining and logging; construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality – posted job gains over the year, adding 209,200 jobs. Professional and business services posted the largest gain on a numerical basis, adding 57,700 jobs, up 2.8 percent.

Information posted the largest gain on a percentage basis, up by 5.6 percent, an increase of 24,100 jobs, according to the report.

Three categories – financial activities; other services; and government – posted job declines over the year, down 38,100 jobs, the state said.

The report showed that government posted the largest decline on both a numerical and percentage basis, down by 27,400 jobs, a decrease of 1.1 percent.

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Scientists think that a giant asteroid, which broke up long ago in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, eventually made its way to Earth and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Data from NASA's WISE mission likely rules out the leading suspect, a member of a family of asteroids called Baptistina, so the search for the origins of the dinosaur-killing asteroid goes on. This artist's concept shows a broken-up asteroid. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission indicate the family of asteroids some believed was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs is not likely the culprit, keeping open the case on one of Earth's greatest mysteries.

While scientists are confident a large asteroid crashed into Earth approximately 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of dinosaurs and some other life forms on our planet, they do not know exactly where the asteroid came from or how it made its way to Earth.

A 2007 study using visible-light data from ground-based telescopes first suggested the remnant of a huge asteroid, known as Baptistina, as a possible suspect.

According to that theory, Baptistina crashed into another asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter about 160 million years ago. The collision sent shattered pieces as big as mountains flying. One of those pieces was believed to have impacted Earth, causing the dinosaurs' extinction.

Since this scenario was first proposed, evidence developed that the so-called Baptistina family of asteroids was not the responsible party. With the new infrared observations from WISE, astronomers say Baptistina may finally be ruled out.

“As a result of the WISE science team's investigation, the demise of the dinosaurs remains in the cold case files,” said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near Earth Object (NEO) Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

“The original calculations with visible light estimated the size and reflectivity of the Baptistina family members, leading to estimates of their age, but we now know those estimates were off,” said Johnson. “With infrared light, WISE was able to get a more accurate estimate, which throws the timing of the Baptistina theory into question.”

WISE surveyed the entire celestial sky twice in infrared light from January 2010 to February 2011. The asteroid-hunting portion of the mission, called NEOWISE, used the data to catalog more than 157,000 asteroids in the main belt and discovered more than 33,000 new ones.

Visible light reflects off an asteroid. Without knowing how reflective the surface of the asteroid is, it's hard to accurately establish size. Infrared observations allow a more accurate size estimate. They detect infrared light coming from the asteroid itself, which is related to the body's temperature and size.

Once the size is known, the object's reflectivity can be re-calculated by combining infrared with visible-light data.

The NEOWISE team measured the reflectivity and the size of about 120,000 asteroids in the main belt, including 1,056 members of the Baptistina family.

The scientists calculated the original parent Baptistina asteroid actually broke up closer to 80 million years ago, half as long as originally proposed.

This calculation was possible because the size and reflectivity of the asteroid family members indicate how much time would have been required to reach their current locations – larger asteroids would not disperse in their orbits as fast as smaller ones.

The results revealed a chunk of the original Baptistina asteroid needed to hit Earth in less time than previously believed, in just about 15 million years, to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“This doesn't give the remnants from the collision very much time to move into a resonance spot, and get flung down to Earth 65 million years ago,” said Amy Mainzer, a co-author of a new study appearing in the Astrophysical Journal and the principal investigator of NEOWISE at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. Calif. “This process is thought to normally take many tens of millions of years.”

Resonances are areas in the main belt where gravity nudges from Jupiter and Saturn can act like a pinball machine to fling asteroids out of the main belt and into the region near Earth.

The asteroid family that produced the dinosaur-killing asteroid remains at large. Evidence that a 10-kilometer (about 6.2-mile) asteroid impacted Earth 65 million years ago includes a huge, crater-shaped structure in the Gulf of Mexico and rare minerals in the fossil record, which are common in meteorites but seldom found in Earth's crust.

In addition to the Baptistina results, the NEOWISE study shows various main belt asteroid families have similar reflective properties. The team hopes to use NEOWISE data to disentangle families that overlap and trace their histories.

“We are working on creating an asteroid family tree of sorts,” said Joseph Masiero, the lead author of the study. “We are starting to refine our picture of how the asteroids in the main belt smashed together and mixed up.”

JPL manages and operated WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The spacecraft was put into hibernation mode after it scanned the entire sky twice, completing its main objectives. The principal investigator, astronomer Edward Wright, is at UCLA.

The mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan.

The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

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Firefighters work on a home at 3040 Edgewood Drive in Kelseyville, Calif., which caught on fire on Monday, September 26, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Monday afternoon fire damaged a home in the Kelseyville.

The fire was reported at about 1:45 p.m. at 3040 Edgewood Drive, according to reports from the scene.

Due to the steep terrain – the large two-story home is located on a hillside – and the fact that several others homes were close by, two local fire agencies and Cal Fire all converged at the scene with resources.

Kelseyville Fire sent two engines and one chief; Lakeport Fire sent an engine and a medic unit; and Cal Fire sent two battalion chiefs, three planes, one helicopter and one Konocti Conservation hand crew.

Reports from the scene indicated that most of the fire's damage was contained to the front portion of the home's upper story.

Units were being released from the scene shortly after 2:30 p.m., according to radio traffic.

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The same plan would protect current members from retirement changes but would form a powerful commission to modernize military retirement for future generations.

Like base closing commissions, final recommendations would have to be wholly rejected or accepted. The president and the Congress could not make select changes.

The White House debt cutting plan, delivered to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, confirms what advocates for TRICARE beneficiaries had feared: that they are expected to share in the fiscal sacrifices to be asked of millions of Americans drawing federal entitlements.

Military associations sound equally alarmed by the rhetoric in the White House recommendations suggesting that key military benefits are just too generous and must be brought nearer to what civilians receive.

“Military service is unlike any other occupations, whether in government or the civilian sector,” said Joe Barnes, national executive director of the Fleet Reserve Association. Yet the White House now puts “a tremendous focus on trying to benchmark benefits associated with that service to what’s going on in the corporate world.”

“We were shocked at the tone of it,” said Steve Strobridge, director of government relations for Military Officers Association of America. “It talks about, basically, civilianizing the military benefits package. I mean it expresses that as a goal, which to us is absolutely anathema. The whole point of the benefit package is to provide an offset for unique conditions of military service. You can’t civilianize the package without civilianizing service conditions. If the last 10 years show us anything it’s that military conditions are getting worse than when these programs were designed.”

Two TRICARE features are targeted. Users of TRICARE for Life (TFL), the prized supplement to Medicare for beneficiaries 65 and older, would pay an annual fee, starting at $200 in 2013, with adjustments for inflation.

The White House notes that TFL users now pay only the Medicare Part B premium, $110 a month for most, and pharmacy co-pays. Otherwise they face no out of pocket health costs. By contrast, private sector elderly, in 2009, paid on average $2100 a year for their “Medigap” policy.

The annual TFL fee would save a $6.7 billion over 10 years.

Obama’s would save another $20 billion across a decade by raising pharmacy co-pays in the TRICARE retail network, sparing only active duty members. Current co-pays “have lagged” behind other plans, it says.

Family and retiree drug costs at retail outlets would move “closer to parity with the most popular federal employee health plan, BlueCross BlueShield Standard, and closer to the health plans that most Americans have from their employers,” the White House report explains.

Federal civilians now pay about $45 to get a brand name drug at retail. Military beneficiaries pay $9 and it rises next month to $12. Obama also wants military drug co-pays to rise automatically with costs to the government, thus shifting from a set dollar co-pay to a percentage formula. So co-pays for generic drugs at retail would be set at 10 percent of the Defense Department’s cost for the medicine.

Sometime after 2013 this would climb to 20 percent. Co-pays for brand names would start at 15 percent of cost and be raised to 30 percent over some yet unspecified period.

In proposing a commission to “reform” retirement, with authority similar to that of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, the White House said the current system “is now out of line with most other government or private retirement plans.”

Even as associations like MOAA and FRA alerted members to details of Obama’s plan, and urged that e-mails and letters of protest flood Congress, the outcome of this fight to protect benefits appeared more uncertain than in battles past, with the real chance changes could become law by year’s end.

The unusual structure adopted in August to reach a debt deal – with the president and Congress conceding to the joint or “super” committee of 12 lawmakers responsibility to shape a take-it-or-leave-it legislative package by November 23 – almost certainly handcuffs the influence of lobbyists to derail whatever package of cost curbs the committee’s majority embraces.

“It changes the dynamic considerably,” said a key congressional staff member. “The changes get rolled into a package and all of a sudden it looks like just your fair share. And we shouldn’t take our fair share?”

The super committee’s power to cut a final deal leaves TRICARE advocates “automatically at a disadvantage” that they didn’t face defeating the Bush administration’s call for hefty TRICARE fee hikes starting in 2006. Those ideas had to clear familiar ground, the armed services committees.

“They can influence those committees very dramatically,” the staffer said.

Only two super committee members also serve on armed services, though all standing committees are invited to share views on cuts they favor and oppose. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who chairs the Senate military personnel panel, said he views lifetime health care as “part of a moral contract between our government and those who have stepped forward to serve. For this reason, I oppose the president’s proposals to impose new TRICARE fees on military retirees and other beneficiaries.”

But Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine major general, strongly supports initiatives to slow TRICARE cost growth as well as retirement reforms for new entrants. He applauds the planned retirement commission, urging that a prominent military leader, like retired Gen. Colin Powell, serve as chairman.

Punaro is an influential member on the Defense Business Board, which has recommended to the defense secretary broad changes in retirement and new initiatives to curb “out-of-control” health costs.

“The path advocated by the Praise-the-Lord-and-Pass-the-Benefits outfits are pushing this nation either to a hollow military or to a military way too small to deal with the threats we face,” Punaro said.

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

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Scott De Leon, director of the County’s Public Works Department and Water Resources, reported that Water Resources staff has been on the lake throughout the summer performing regular water monitoring activities and the presence of a different species at this time is not surprising.

The species is identified as Microcystis, a species that tends to appear in spring and fall, whereas summer algal blooms in recent years have consisted mostly of a species called Lyngbya.

“Similar to other species of blue-green algae that we’ve seen, Microcystis also has the potential to release toxins, so it’s important for people to avoid areas with heavy algae accumulation or surface matting, regardless of the type,” De Leon said.

When viewed in the water, the Lyngbya species appears to be fibrous with hair-like filaments and creates floating mats that turn turquoise, purple, orange, and yellow.

In contrast, the Microcystis species appears to be more granular and its presence makes the affected water look like bright-green pea soup.

Both species can produce nuisance odors and may release toxins into the water, county officials reported.

Although the species are different, the advice remains the same, that is, common sense.

Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait agreed, recommending that it is best to avoid areas near dense patches of algae.

“If you see signs of algae accumulation, it’s best to keep away from that area,” Dr. Tait said.

Dr. Tait and officials from Lake County’s Environmental Health Division continue their recommendations that people and pets stay out of impacted areas, that untreated lake water never be used for drinking water, and that anyone experiencing symptoms after exposure should contact their physician.

“Clear Lake is one of many recreational water bodies around the world that are experiencing a similar increase in the presence of algae blooms,” De Leon said.

He noted that since algae mats move with the currents, the expanse of Clear Lake combined with changing winds can make mitigation efforts a challenge.

De Leon also said, “That also means that at any given time, there are generally many areas on Clear Lake that are not affected.”

The algae monitoring and mitigation efforts are part of the county’s focused approach to protect Clear Lake’s ecosystem and to enable residents and visitors to enjoy the lake to the fullest extent possible.

Lake County’s Water Resources staff has been trying a variety of techniques to mitigate the nuisance algae all summer, including harvesting, aeration and circulation, and chemical treatments.

It is expected the algae will subside significantly with the forecasted cooler temperatures.

For information on blue-green algae, visit the California Department of Public Health Web site at www.cdph.ca.gov/healthinfo/environhealth/water/pages/bluegreenalgae.aspx.

For information on the County’s algae mitigation efforts, contact the Lake County Water Resources office at 707-263-2344.

For health-related questions, contact the Lake County Health Services office at 707-263-1164.

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Daniel Ray Loyd, 50, of Nice, Calif., is facing charges for the murder of 48-year-old Cindy Yvette Quiett of Upper Lake, Calif., on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. Lake County Jail photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The continued arraignment of a Northshore man accused of killing an Upper Lake woman earlier this month had to be delayed on Monday due to conflicts of interest concerns among local defense attorneys.

Daniel Ray Loyd, 50, of Nice, returned to Lake County Superior Court on Monday, but for a second time did not enter a plea.

He's charged with the Sept. 13 shooting death in Lucerne of 48-year-old Cindy Yvette Quiett.

Charges the District Attorney's Office has filed against Loyd include murder, a special allegation of using a gun and a second special allegation alleging that Quiett's homicide occurred during the commission of a robbery; robbery and a special allegation of use of a firearm; assault with a firearm, with a special allegation of personally using a firearm; allegations of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a felon carrying a loaded firearm in public; being a felon in possession of ammunition; a misdemeanor charge of brandishing a firearm; and special allegations that Loyd had two prior state prison terms, which attach to all of the main counts in the case.

Last week, defense attorney Doug Rhoades was appointed Loyd's attorney, and had asked for additional time before entering a plea, as Lake County News has reported.

However, on Monday, “I and every other public defender had to declare a conflict,” Rhoades told Lake County News.

He said those numerous conflicts for local attorneys arose from the number of people listed either as victims or witnesses in the case, with all of the attorneys having had some contact with some of those individuals.

In Rhoades' place, Ukiah attorney Robert Boyd was appointed Loyd's defense counsel, Rhoades said.

Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine said Loyd's entry of plea was put over to 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, in Lake County Superior Court's Department Three.

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 .

From left, PIT Volunteer Desiree Scott from San Rafael and Forest Service Archaeologist Christa Westphal pick through screens looking for cultural artifacts during the PIT project on the Forest. Courtesy photo.

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – For a week, 32 volunteers, 11 archaeologists and two tribal representatives from Round Valley lived on the Mendocino National Forest to work on a Passport in Time (PIT) archaeology project.

The work took place in the forest from Aug. 22 to Aug. 26.

The project participants were working on sample excavations across a site believed to be a prehistoric hunting base camp.

Findings included stone flakes from making and maintaining projectile points, partial and nearly whole projectile points, as well as other stone tools.

Projectile points are mostly large specimens used on spears, rather than associated with bow and arrow, a technology that came later in time.

“It’s kind of unusual at this elevation to find a lot of ground stone – we’re at 6,200 plus feet,” said Forest Archaeologist Mike Dugas. “There are quite a few pieces including a small pestle, an anvil stone and various milling stone fragments typically used for processing plant foods. These implements suggest families were at the site, as plant processing was typically done by women.”

Most projectile points found at the site appear to be 3,000 to 5,000 years old, according to the archaeologists.

“The early component is most likely representative of the Yuki tribal territory,” Dugas said. “The presence of artifacts which appear to be made from northeast obsidian sources suggest the Nomlaki were here at some point also. Obsidian analysis will tell us more about who and when the site was occupied. The bulk of tools we’re finding here are from the early period.”

PIT participants started 15 excavation units to sample across the site. Working in teams of three, they excavated square holes, digging across each layer a centimeter at a time and collecting the dirt in 5 gallon buckets which were poured through screens to filter out cultural artifacts. Each layer was carefully documented, including what items were found.

The unit concludes when sterile soil is reached, with no cultural evidence. On average, this was approximately 16 inches deep.

A chert broadstem projectile point found in one of the excavation units by Christa Westphal, an archaeologist from the Feather River Ranger District on the Plumas National Forest. The point is approximately 3,000 years old and drew attention from PIT participants based on its size, age and that it was intact. Courtesy photo.

“I’ve gotten to do every job,” said PIT Volunteer Desiree Scott, who came to the project from San Rafael. “I can screen, I can dig, I can help out with paperwork.”

This is Scott’s second PIT project. Her first was a survey done on the Pike National Forest in Colorado, which was different from the hands-on experience she has had working on an excavation project.

Among her favorite experiences with this PIT project was learning new skills, as well as the diverse group of people working on the project and camping out all week.

“At night we talk about what everybody found,” Scott added.

Each morning, the group goes over safety and the plan for the day before travelling from the Masterson Group Campground to the project site, which Scott said was helpful.

Christa Westphal, an archaeologist from the Plumas National Forest Feather River Ranger District and Chico State University student, said her favorite part was “learning more about prehistoric archaeology.”

Wesley Thomas of Paradise came to the Mendocino National Forest for his first PIT project. He joined his son Lowell Thomas, an archaeologist from the Mendocino National Forest Grindstone Ranger District.

“I love it. It’s wonderful to be around all these intelligent, nice people who love what they’re doing with a lot of patience and a lot of knowledge that they share,” Wesley Thomas said. “If they had these going on for a month at a time I would do them all summer.”

This is Lowell Thomas’ third PIT Project working as an employee. He said his favorite part of the experience is, “seeing how much the volunteers enjoy the experience for the first time and seeing the cultural material that they didn’t know was on the Forest.”

The PIT project on the Mendocino National Forest was the fourth this season for Jim Blaes from Atascadero. He is scheduled to participate in another project next month in Markleeville, south of Lake Tahoe.

“I’ve enjoyed all of it … all I’ve been privileged to do,” Blaes said.

“I like working with these two guys, too,” Blaes laughed, nodding to Wesley and Lowell Thomas, who were working in the same unit.

The PIT Project site this year was first identified during the Keeran Timber Sale in 1976. Artifacts have been found at the site for decades and the site is in an area where there is a lot of disturbance that has brought items to the surface.

“We look around more (here) and find more and more each time,” Dugas said.

At the conclusion of the project, the units were filled in and forest archaeologists will process the information gathered.

The units loop down towards a watering hole, which Dugas speculated was the draw to the site as a base camp.

The diverse group of PIT volunteers included students, professors, retirees, and working professionals who wanted to learn more about archaeology and prehistoric cultures.

“We appreciate all the help from the PIT volunteers,” Dugas added. “It’s been a great week and we are glad we were able to share the experience and have a safe and successful project.”

PIT is a volunteer program with the Forest Service that provides an opportunity for the public to learn more about archaeology and historic preservation working side-by-side with Forest Service archaeologists and historians at sites across the United States.

For more information on the PIT program, or to apply to participate on a PIT project, please visit www.passportintime.com.

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Desiree Scott (far right) from San Rafael investigates the chert broadstem projectile point found by Christa Westphal, an archaeologist from the Feather River Ranger District on the Plumas National Forest as Deanna Commons (far left) an archaeologist from the Mendocino National Forest and Grindstone District Archaeologist Curt Fair look on. Courtesy photo.

Four Caltrans workers have died in traffic-related incidents in the last year. Three of them were killed within 48 days, during May and June.

Those deaths reversed a steady trend of reduced fatalities, which is partially attributed to the Slow for the Cone Zone public awareness campaign established in 1999. A total of 178 Caltrans workers have died on the job since 1924.

“Motorists often automatically slow down when they see police or CHP officers,” said Caltrans Interim Director Malcolm Dougherty. “We also want them to slow down for Caltrans vehicles and equipment.”

The CHP officers will park their patrol vehicles within work zones.

Caltrans hopes that the presence of the officers will help to slow traffic or encourage vehicles to move over at least one lane from a highway work zone, as required by the Move Over law.

“Adhering to this law can mean the difference between life and death,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The only way to prevent tragedies from occurring on the side of the road is by giving emergency personnel, highway workers and the public some space.”

The CHP will also employ one or more additional enforcement vehicles at some work zones.

Officers will be on hand to ensure safety, and will ticket violators that are traveling too fast in work zones.

The need is significant. Caltrans currently has some 800 ongoing construction contracts valued at more than $10 billion.

The Move Over law, which took effect in 2007, requires drivers to move over a lane when emergency vehicles displaying flashing lights are present. It was amended in 2009 to add Caltrans vehicles with flashing amber lights.

Caltrans, the CHP, the California Office of Traffic Safety, and the Department of Motor Vehicles are working as partners to increase awareness of the law – through the Internet, public service announcements, billboards and the media.

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