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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport is planning to move forward on administering citations to property owners who fail to mow weeds and vegetation in order to lessen fire danger.

During its Tuesday evening meeting, the Lakeport City Council unanimously approved a resolution that declares dry weeds, brush and other vegetation that are creating a fire hazard on vacant and large lots throughout the city a public nuisance.

This follows action the council took this spring to move up the deadline for abating weeds and vegetation from early July to June 1, as Lake County News has reported.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said the intent was to use the administrative citation process, as outlined in the Lakeport Municipal Code, in dealing with property owners who haven’t abated vegetation by the new June 1 deadline.

He said site visits conducted after the June 1 deadline showed there were more than 150 parcels in the city that still have high weeds, and they are in the priority area along the city’s western boundary.

Ingram’s written report to the council included a sample 10-day letter to be sent to property owners who aren’t in compliance. “We will immediately send out these 10-day notices to listed parcels in the resolution.”

The draft letter, which is dated June 21 and can be seen on pages 450 and 451 of the staff report published below, said the nuisance conditions have to be abated within 10 days, but no later than July 6.

Failure to comply with the city’s order by the July 6 deadline will result in the issuance of an
administrative fine not to exceed $100, according to the letter. “Additional administrative penalties may be assessed should failure to comply with this notice be ignored in the amount of $200 for second violations and $500 for each successive violation there after.”

“We did a tremendous amount of community outreach this year,” said Ingram, explaining that they didn’t just inform community members but also reached out to contractors who do weed removal work

Councilman Kenny Parlet said moving the deadline up from after July 4 was a good move.

Ingram said that, previously, the city was sending out notices at the end of August, telling people to mow their weeds. Now, those notices are going out months earlier.

Councilman George Spurr asked if the city had notified the public of the change in dates.

Ingram said yes, that the Lakeport Fire Protection District sent out a notice at the beginning of May, rather than June, informing people of the date changes and regulations.

Parlet moved to approve the resolution, with Councilwoman Stacey Mattina seconding and the council voting 5-0.

In other business, the council unanimously approved resolutions to authorize and direct the issuance of bonds for a solar financing project that Finance Director Nick Walker said is expected to save the city $3.77 million over the project’s life.

The bonds are supposed to be sold in July. “Shortly after that, projects will be under way,” Walker said.

The council also introduced the zone change ordinance for the Pacific West Communities parcel map for a multifamily housing project at 1255 Martin St. and scheduled a public hearing for the second reading on July 17. At that time they will consider the zone change ordinance and adoption of a resolution for a general plan amendment and mitigated negative declaration based on the environmental review/initial study.

On Tuesday the council also voted to cancel its regular July 3 meeting with a short special meeting likely to be called if business warrants it.

The council also held a closed session before the public portion of the meeting began to discuss potential litigation involving Verizon Wireless. No reportable action was taken in that session.

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.

061918 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Authorities concluded that a man found dead near Pine Dell Resort last week was killed by a pipe bomb.

Residents of the area reported to Lake County News that they heard an explosion near the resort – located in the 10900 block of Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake – late on the night of Tuesday, June 12.

Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Corey Paulich said deputies responded to the area of the resort at about 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, June 13, on the report of a male deceased on a hillside.

The dead man was identified as Justin William Westermeyer, 42, of Clearlake, Paulich said.

Paulich said the deputies observed a wound to Westermeyer’s left side and requested detectives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit respond.

After processing the scene and interviewing witnesses in the area, Paulich said detectives determined Westermeyer had detonated a metal pipe bomb on the night of June 12 and was struck by a metal fragment.

An autopsy performed on June 14 confirmed that conclusion, Paulich said.

“All information is that he was alone. There was no information that Westermeyer was making the pipe bomb in an attempt to harm anyone,” Paulich said.

“The sheriff’s office would like to remind the public that these types of devices are very dangerous and illegal,” Paulich 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.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting this week for the purposes of a cannabis workshop.

The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 21, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

On the agenda is the a report from the board chair’s subcommittee, which was tasked with followup on Type 7 manufacturing, or volatiles.

The board also will review possible taxing mechanisms for commercial cannabis businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county and discuss possible fines and penalties for violation of permitting requirements constituting a public nuisance.

According to the meeting staff report, the Thursday meeting is the last in a series of prescheduled cannabis workshops as part of the board’s approved work plan.

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.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A crash involving a semi and a car led to a fire on Tuesday evening.

The wreck at Highway 29 and Cruickshank Road in Kelseyville was reported just before 5 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash involved a silver Toyota and a white semi truck, with the truck reported to have gone 20 feet down an embankment.

Just before 6:30 p.m., the semi caught fire, with one report from the scene stating that something was popping inside the semi.

A short time later, the CHP reported that Highway 29 was closed from Bottle Rock Road to Main Street in Kelseyville, with traffic routed around the site.

One-way traffic control through the area was implemented at around 7:15 p.m. with the roadway reopened just after 8:30 p.m., as tow trucks worked to remove the semi and trailer, according to the CHP.

Firefighters reported that the incident was terminated shortly after 9 p.m.

Details about injuries and what led to the crash were not immediately available on Tuesday night.

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.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council heard a presentation on a proposal to create a tourism improvement district to help bolster the county’s economy and also approved the city’s new 2018-19 budget, a document which includes a number of big projects in the year ahead.

Rachael Taylor, project manager of Civitas Advisors, gave the Lakeport City Council a presentation at its June 5 meeting on a proposal to create the Lake County Tourism Improvement District.

That proposal also is due to go before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. If the board approves the required resolutions, the district’s formation will then go to the two cities for final approval.

At the June 5 council meeting, Taylor said Civitas Advisors is the leading consulting firm for forming special districts; it has formed 86 out of the 101 special districts in California.

Taylor said Civitas Advisors has formed tourism improvement districts in 12 states, and is working on legislation to get them in 14 more.

A tourism improvement district, as Taylor described it, is a stable source of funding for marketing efforts. It’s only for increasing occupancy and room rates for lodging businesses.

The funds are raised through a small assessment and are used to provide services desired by and directly benefiting the businesses that pay the assessment in the district, she said.

Taylor explained that hotels, motels and other accommodations pay the assessment, which is collected by the local jurisdiction – either the two cities or the county. The funds are then managed by a destination marketing organization, a nonprofit that the district already is forming.

She said that tourism improvement districts create a level playing field with no free riders, and also offer transparency and reliability, and a pass-through to guests. The Brown Act and the Public Records Act also apply to such districts.

The district’s revenue won’t go into the local governments’ general funds, as the money doesn’t belong to the government. Rather, it’s a pass-through to guests, just like transient occupancy tax, Taylor said.

Taylor showed a comparison of revenue for tourism improvement districts in other areas around California, among them, Humboldt County, $1.2 million; Marin County, $1.3 million; Mendocino County, $1.5 million; and Fairfield, $800,000.

The assessment proposed for Lake County is 3 percent, in addition to the 10 percent in transient occupancy tax, or TOT, paid in Lakeport, and the 9 percent TOT paid in the county and Clearlake, she said.

The Lake County Tourism Improvement District will be managed by a new nonprofit corporation called Visit Lake County California. Taylor said the new organization’s bylaws and members are still being worked out.

That organization must provide annual reports to the Board of Supervisors, and can also provide them to the cities, she said.

Taylor said the district’s plan is essentially a business plan which sets in line parameters for how the district must operate.

She said the county of Lake will be the lead jurisdiction, and it will be requesting consent from the two cities to proceed at its June 19 meeting. The two cities will need to grant consent to the county to let the district be operated in their jurisdictions. They will then be responsible for helping collect the 3-percent assessment.

In the city of Lakeport, businesses pay the TOT assessments monthly. Taylor said they will pay the new assessment at the same time. The cities and county will be able to keep 2 percent of what is collected in their area to cover their costs.

In explaining the rest of the district budget, Taylor said 20 percent will be set aside for administration and operations, advocacy, insurance, legal and accounting fee. Another 75 percent goes to sales and marketing, while 3 percent is set aside for contingency and reserve.

Taylor said the district can only be set up for a maximum initial term of five years, then it can be renewed up to 10 years. When it comes time for renewal, a process like the current one to form the district will be followed with a new plan for the destination marketing organization. At that point, there will be an opportunity to change the plan and operations.

When asked about the organization’s board, Taylor said it is expected to have between seven and nine board members, but could have up to 11. The majority of the board members have to be lodging business owners.

There also will be one seat for the tribes, which can’t be assessed as they’re not part of the district’s jurisdiction. However, Taylor said they have expressed interest in being part of a private contract.

Still another seat will be kept for a party interested in tourism, like the wine industry, she said.

Based on the figures given at the meeting, Lake County’s tourism improvement district is estimated to bring in about $340,000 a year. Taylor said the total number could change if private contracts are added.

Of that amount, 75 percent, or $255,000, will be used for marketing – establishing the brand, logo, Web site and photography – and sales. The plan includes large media buys, including billboards, radio and television, in the Bay Area, with district staff overseeing those efforts or a marketing firm hired to handle that aspect of operations.

The district also is expected to have a part-time or full-time staffer to handle daily operations, Taylor said.

Deputy County Administrative Officer Michelle Scully thanked the council for taking the time to hear about the district.

“It's a big, giant process to do this,” she said, explaining that the work had been going on since last April. She said it has been great to see the county and cities working together on something very forward-thinking and transformative.

Lynne Butcher, who along with husband Bernie owns the 17-room Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake, expressed her support for the district. “We have lots of rooms. We could take a lot more guests at our property.”

She said the only way to market the Tallman is to market the entire county. However, no single property has the resources to do that scale of marketing, which she pointed out is very expensive.

Butcher called the district a wonderful idea. “We wholeheartedly support it.”

Lisa Wilson, general manager of Clear Lake Campground, also offered her support.

“We have a great story to tell tourists about Lake County,” and a professional staff is needed to tell it, she said.

Wilson said she didn’t expect any pushback from guests about the 3-percent assessment, adding that Lake County needs to control its own destiny.

Taylor said there is a petition phase in which they have to have at least 50 percent plus one of hotel/motel owners, weighted for how much of the assessment they will pay, in order to move forward.

As of June 5, Taylor said they had about 46 percent.

As of this week, county staff’s report to the Board of Supervisors said 16 hotels representing 58.6 percent of the total assessment had submitted petitions in favor of the district formation, which allows the board to initiate the proceedings to form the district.

Once the Board of Supervisors approves the resolutions requesting consent from the cities to operate the district in their jurisdictions, Taylor said the matter will come back to the council for final approval.

She said a public meeting also is expected to take place in July to offer an open forum for comment on the district’s formation.

In other business at its June 5 meeting the Lakeport City Council also approved the city’s 2018 budget.

Finance Director Nick Walker said the budget included $13.1 million in revenues and $16.4 million in expenditures.

The difference between those numbers is project-related funds that primarily were received in prior years. He said the majority is $2.5 million for storm-related repairs.

Silveira said the funds are received this year but spent next year, which is why it looks like a deficit.

Lakeport Main Street Association President Barbara Breunig and Executive Director Panette Talia awarded the Business of the Quarter Award to Park Place restaurant, and presented checks totaling nearly $18,000, including $9,800 for the downtown tree project

The council also held a public hearing and authorized Silveira to submit an application to the US Department of Agriculture’s Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program in the amount of $495,000 to construct a sewer main extension to serve the proposed 24-unit affordable multi-family housing project located at 1255 Martin St., and held a public hearing for approval of required resolutions and legal documents regarding the city’s solar and energy efficiency retrofit project financing.

The council also awarded a construction contract to VSS International Inc. for the 2018 Pavement Preservation Program and nominated council delegates for the League of California Cities Annual Conference to be held Sept. 12 to 14 in Long Beach.

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.
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The former Nice Wine Co. in Nice, Calif., has been purchased by the Shannon Ridge Family of Wines. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Shannon Ridge Family of Wines has purchased Nice Wine Co., located in the town of Nice.

Previously owned by the Larson Family, the purchase of Nice Wine Co. includes a fully functioning winery, bottling line and tasting room.

The facility previously had housed Tulip Hill Winery’s Lake County location and began its life as a bottling site for Vittel brand mineral water.

“The acquisition of the Nice Wine Co. helps to fully integrate our farming and winemaking operations,” said Clay Shannon, owner of Shannon Ridge Family of Wines. “We are very pleased to have found our first wine production facility that gives us immediate control and will advance the quality of our winemaking operations here in Lake County.”

Joy Merrilees, director of winemaking and production for Shannon Ridge Family of Wines, will assume the day to day responsibilities for the facility.

Angie Shannon is the national sales manager for the brands.

The Shannon Ridge Family of Wines portfolio is available nationwide, and includes Shannon Reserve, Shannon Ridge High Elevation Collection, Buck Shack, High Valley, Playtime and Vigilance.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement for a large portion of Northern California, including Lake County, due to a forecast of excessive heat and fire weather danger later this week.

A summary the National Weather Service issued said a rapid warming and drying trend is in store this week with high pressure building over the region.

The forecast calls for hot temperatures from Friday into the weekend. The special weather statement said conditions will increase the potential for heat-related illnesses for those exposed to prolonged outdoor heat, especially the elderly, children and other sensitive groups.

Raising the concerns for fire danger is a combination of gusty north winds and the region’s dry early summer conditions.

The specific Lake County forecast calls for temperatures in the high 90s, peaking on Saturday just under the century mark.

Temperatures are forecast to roll back into the high 80s early next week.

Winds with gusts into the mid-teens are expected on Wednesday night, based on the forecast.

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.
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Resilience at the Middletown Art Center in Middletown, Calif. Photo courtesy of the Middletown Art Center.


MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center has again been awarded a Local Impact Grant from the California Arts Council, this year for its project “Restore.”

Like Resilience, Restore provides the community ages 12 to 85-plus of all abilities and backgrounds, opportunities to engage in art making and creative writing to develop their creative and artistic voices.

Workshops this year in mixed media, sculpture, creative writing and printmaking begin July 7 and will focus on art in dialogue with nature.

The project will culminate in the reopening of the EcoArts Sculpture Walk at Trailside Park in the early summer of 2019, development of an art trail on Rabbit Hill, indoor exhibits, and a second chapbook of poetry and images.

“Building on the success of our Resilience Project, Restore is the next stage in our recovery,” said Lisa Kaplan, director at MAC. “With support from the California Arts Council, contributors to MAC and our partners, we will restore places our local community once enjoyed that were destroyed by the Valley Fire. The Local Impact grant for Restore provides us with the means to continue to offer low cost classes to people throughout Lake County, and to further the work we started with the Resilience Project. We are thrilled!”

Middletown Art Center’s Resilience project now has exhibits in five locations in Lakeport at City Hall, the County Courthouse and Main Street Gallery in Lakeport, at Fore Family Vineyards Tasting Room in Kelseyville.

Also currently on view is Resilience: Art In Dialogue with Nature exhibit at the art center, which is a hybrid of the EcoArts tradition and the resilience theme.

This impressive and earthy exhibit includes selections from the Resilience project. Exhibits in Clearlake will open in the coming weeks. Find out more about exhibit locations and hours at www.middletownartcenter.org .

Inspired by Nature’s resilience as a mirror for our community’s recovery after devastating wildfires, the Resilience project provided opportunities to reframe the fire experience, which impacted us all directly or indirectly, into creative expression and aesthetics.

Each exhibit is different, and highlights work by project participants. The Resilience Chapbook, a collection of powerful writings about or inspired by the fire experience, trauma and recovery is now available to preorder on MAC’s Web site or in the gallery.

“I attended the Resilience writing workshops for the last 6 months of Resilience,” explained Georgina Marie, a poet and Lakeport resident who returned to Lake County after the Clayton Fire destroyed her mother’s home. “Under the guidance of accomplished instructors and surrounded by other writers, I was inspired to dive deeply into subjects I may not have otherwise tapped into such as grief, trauma and pain. In doing so, I was able to strengthen my writing, embrace my own resilience and become part of an incredible artistic community. I also attended painting and printmaking workshops, which reconnected me to my painting practice after losing touch with it for many years. I am so grateful for the experience, support, creative outcomes and opportunities for exposure in exhibition and in the chapbook that the Resilience project provided me.”

MAC is grateful to the California Arts Council, and other local partners, agencies and businesses for supporting MAC in providing local, affordable, quality access to the arts and art-making.

The Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175, at the junctions of Highway 29 in Middletown.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org to learn more about the many arts, culture and community happenings at the Middletown Art Center.
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A semi crashed into an embankment along Highway 20 in Lucerne, Calif., on Sunday, June 17, 2018. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News.


LUCERNE, Calif. – A semi driver escaped injury on Sunday when his truck hit an embankment along Highway 20.

The crash occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Oakcrest Drive and Frontage Road in Lucerne, according to the California Highway Patrol.

CHP Officer Jeremy Jensen told Lake County News that the driver of the semi, which was heading westbound, said he had moved to the right to avoid cars coming toward him as he was going around a curve.

The truck hit a soft shoulder and the semi hit the rocky embankment, he said.

A witness report on the CHP’s online incident log also reported that the driver was taking the curve too quickly.

The driver was uninjured, according to Jensen.

Jensen did not have information on the truck’s cargo.

The semi sat against the embankment with cones set up in the roadway to help guide traffic around it while the CHP waited for a heavy tow truck to arrive later in the afternoon to help remove it.

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.
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Interim Clearlake Police Chief Tim Celli swears in new dispatcher Chelsea Banks on Monday, June 18, 2018, at Clearlake City Hall in Clearlake, Calif. Courtesy photo.


CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Monday, June 18, interim Clearlake Police Chief Tim Celli swore in new dispatcher Chelsea Banks.

Banks transferred over to dispatch from Code Enforcement where she was a technician for several years.

“With the hiring of Chelsea Banks, we are back up to fully budgeted staffing in dispatch,” said Celli.

“Chelsea did a very good job in Code Enforcement and we expect that she will be an excellent dispatcher,” said Clearlake City Manager Greg Folsom. “Being fully staffed in dispatch is important so that we can keep our officers out on the street protecting our citizens.”
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission will meet this week to hold hearings on cannabis-related projects and swear in a new member.

The commission will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Documents for the meeting can be found at http://www.clearlake.ca.us/353/Planning-Documents-for-Public-Review.

In commission business, among the first items is the swearing-in of new commissioner, Kathryn Fitts, and the selection of a new chair to succeed Dirk Slooten. Other commissioners are Nathalie Antus, Richard Bean and Carl Webb.

On the agenda are two public hearings for projects proposed by Roy Harris of Clearlake Hydrogarden.

The first is to approve a use permit to allow a commercial cannabis nursery within an existing commercial building located at 2395 Ogulin Canyon Road in a heavy service commercial/light industrial, scenic corridor area with a cannabis business combining district zone, with a development agreement.

In the second public hearing, the commission will consider use permits for distribution and a delivery only dispensary within an existing building located at 14395 Olympic Drive in a heavy service commercial/light industrial cannabis business combining district and a development agreement.

The commission also will discuss holding a special meeting on June 26.

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.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council will meet this week to discuss a housing project parcel map and a resolution to begin abating properties where there is a fire hazard due to overgrown vegetation.

The council will meet in closed session at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, to discuss a potential case of litigation regarding Verizon Wireless before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

On Tuesday the council is expected to approve the necessary resolutions to authorize and direct the issuance of bonds for a solar financing project.

In other business, Community Development Director Kevin Ingram will introduce the zone change ordinance for the Pacific West Communities parcel map for a multifamily housing project at 1255 Martin St. The council also will schedule a public hearing for a second reading of the zone change ordinance and adoption of a resolution for a general plan amendment and mitigated negative declaration based on the environmental review/initial study on July 17.

The council also will consider a proposed resolution to begin the process of abating properties where weeds and vegetation haven’t been mowed.

The resolution will declare dry weeds, brush and similar vegetation creating a fire hazard upon vacant and large lots throughout the city to constitute a public nuisance and direct staff to utilize the administrative citation procedures outlined in Chapter 8.30 of the Lakeport Municipal Code to
abate said public nuisance weeds.

The council also will authorize canceling the July 3 regular meeting.

On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on June 5 meeting; approval of Application 2018-022, with staff recommendations, for the 2018 Lakeside Car & Boat Show event, to be held August 18; approval of a resolution rescinding Resolution 2659 (2018) and revising the Master Pay Schedule in conformance with California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 570.5; approval of an amendment to the agreement between the city of Clearlake, City of
Lakeport and the County of Lake relative to operation of a local public, educational, governmental cable television channel, referred to as the PEG Channel.

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.

061918 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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