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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Kelseyville Presbyterian Church will hold its annual Spring Rummage Sale on Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1, at the church, located at 5340 Third St., behind Westamerica Bank.
Hours on Friday are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a bag sale all day Saturday.
There will be lots of great items from which to choose, including clothing for the entire family, outdoor items, furniture, glassware, small electronics and more.
Hot dogs and homemade chili are on the menu for lunch, served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
For more information, call the church office at 707-279-1104.
All proceeds go to the Presbyterian Women for local outreach programs.
SACRAMENTO – Sen. Mike McGuire, chairman of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, will convene the 44th annual Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum Wednesday, March 29, at the State Capitol.
California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham and Eric Sklar, president of the state Fish and Game Commission, headline this year’s list of speakers and presenters.
The forum – “Fisheries in a Changing Climate” – will include presentations and discussion focusing on crab, salmon, lobster, sea urchins, aquaculture, seafood marketing needs and the governor’s proposed damaging increases to commercial fishing landing taxes.
The agenda features presentations by state agency leaders, commercial and recreational fishing representatives, aquaculture producers and fish processors.
“We have to protect and preserve California’s fisheries and we’re deeply concerned about the future based off of threats from the federal government and the exorbitant fees being proposed by the governor’s office,” McGuire said. “Next week’s joint committee will be focused on the current state of the fleet and aquaculture industry, along with a look to the future and how we can work together to ensure its historic success.”
In addition to the disastrous seasons for crab, salmon, urchins and sardines, which are the result of poor ocean conditions the last few years, the Department of Fish and Wildlife recently proposed an excessive increase in commercial fish landing taxes to augment the department’s budget – a topic that will be raised at next week’s fisheries forum.
“Balancing a $20 million Fish and Wildlife budget shortfall on the shoulders of our commercial fishing industry – with landing tax increases exceeding 10,000 percent – is simply unacceptable and we will fight this proposal,” McGuire said.
The hearing begins at 12:30 p.m. and will be held in Room 2040 of the Capitol. The public is welcome to attend the hearing. There is no cost to attend.
The hearing will be live-streamed via the Senate web site: http://senate.ca.gov/ .
For more information about the Fisheries Forum visit the Committee Web site at: http://fisheries.legislature.ca.gov/ .
Asthma is a chronic condition. Like high blood pressure or diabetes, asthma usually cannot be cured.
But it can be controlled. When you have asthma, your airways are too sensitive to a number of triggers, or substances you may breathe in.
Some examples are pollen, pet dander, mold, dust, smoke, and many others. People with asthma can develop symptoms when exposed to these triggers.
The airways become inflamed, and the airway muscles tighten. This can cause wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. Some people with asthma have symptoms every day, though most people with asthma have symptoms less often.
The key to controlling asthma is to take your medicine regularly. There are a number of safe and effective medications to treat asthma. Treatment generally starts with inhalers. There are two main types of inhalers.
One type is the quick-relief or rescue inhalers. The main one is albuterol, which can be sold under names like Alupent, Proventil, and Ventolin. The other type is the long-term or controller inhalers. Examples include Asmanex, Qvar, and Flovent.
Rescue inhalers are used only when there are symptoms and they generally provide relief in 10 to 15 minutes. They relax tight airway muscles, so you can breathe more easily.
Controller inhalers can take up to one week to start working. They don’t provide immediate relief, but they do help control asthma and can prevent symptoms from developing in the first place. These inhalers need to be taken daily to be effective. They work by reducing airway inflammation, which is one of the causes of cough and wheezing.
To be most effective, both types of inhalers need to be used correctly. If you use an inhaler, make sure your doctor or pharmacist shows you how to use it. There are also pills available for asthma, and your doctor will sometimes prescribe these if the inhalers are not providing enough relief. When a person needs pills for asthma, it is important to keep using your inhalers also.
Sometimes an asthma attack can become so severe an Emergency Room visit is required. If your symptoms become worse even after using a rescue inhaler, or if you are so short of breath that talking is difficult, a visit to the ER is advisable.
Fortunately, proper use of rescue inhalers and long-term controller inhalers can usually prevent daily symptoms and reduce the chance of severe asthma attacks.
Partnership HealthPlan of California is a nonprofit community based health care organization that contracts with the State to administer Medi-Cal benefits through local care providers ensuring Medi-Cal recipients have access to comprehensive, cost-effective health care. PHC provides quality health care to over 565,000 Medi-Cal members. Beginning in Solano County in 1994 PHC now provides services to 14 Northern California counties – Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Trinity and Yolo.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Congressman Mike Thompson will host his 26th annual Lake County Ravioli Dinner on Saturday, April 1.
The event will return for its second year to Boatique Winery, 8255 Red Hill Road in Kelseyville.
From 5 to 7 p.m., dine amongst a fabulous collection of restored, rare antique wooden boats. Enjoy the fine wines of Lake County, with live music by Travis Rinker, modern fingerstyle guitarist, and a fantastic raffle.
The event provides a perfect time to catch up with Thompson, hear firsthand what is happening in Washington, DC and what he is working on in Lake County.
Tickets for the pasta dinner are $25 for adults, and children under 12 years are free.
Tickets can be purchased in advance, at the door the day of the event or at www.mikethompsonforcongress.com .
For more information, please call Mary Jane Bowker at 707-226-8989 or
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Thursday, the Lake County Fire Protection District received unexpected but very good news – its Measure D parcel tax has passed.
The Registrar of Voters Office finished certifying the March 7 special election on Thursday afternoon, with the final results showing the measure got more than the needed two-thirds supermajority to go into effect.
The final ballot count released by Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley showed the measure passing by 67.4 percent to 32. 6 percent.
It needed at least 66.7 percent to pass because it is a specific tax. That meant that it required at least 1,314 “yes” votes. It got 1,325, just 11 more than it needed.
“We’re so happy,” Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta told Lake County News early Thursday evening.
The preliminary election results, released on the night of March 7, had suggested that the measure was failing by a narrow margin of approximately 10 votes, for an overall “yes” vote of 66.3 percent, or 1,133 ballots, to a “no” vote of 33.7 percent, or 565 ballots, as Lake County News has reported.
Still, Fridley’s office had up to a month to complete the work of the final election canvass, which included counting another 303 ballots – most of them vote-by-mail, otherwise known as absentees – that were not part of the preliminary election night tally.
In a March 10 report, she said those 303 ballots included 135 absentee ballots dropped off at the polls on the day of the election; 87 absentee ballots postmarked on or before March 7 and received at her office by the mail-in deadline of March 10; 49 absentee ballots that needed review for various reasons; and 32 provision ballots.
As it turned out, those ballots held the key to the shift in Measure D’s outcome, which went from a preliminary 66.3 percent preliminary yes vote to a 67.4 percent final yes vote. The shift in the no votes from preliminary to certified counts went from 33.7 percent to 32.6 percent, respectively.
The final vote count showed 1,325 votes in favor of Measure D, and 642 votes against it, according to Fridley’s certified numbers.
The final canvass also showed that 1,971 ballots were cast in the special March 7 election, of which 1,647 were absentees and 324 were cast at precincts. Total voter turnout was 23 percent of the 8,578 registered voters in the district, which covers 17 total precincts.
Measure D’s increase to the “yes” column was a 1.1 percent shift from the preliminary tally. In recent elections, the only measure to have a more significant shift toward a positive outcome in the final count was the city of Clearlake’s Measure V road sales tax, passed in November, which also needed a supermajority win.
After the preliminary Nov. 8 count, Measure V had a 67.3 yes vote, which after the final count of additional absentees and provisionals increased by 1.5 percentage points to the 68.8 percent reported at the conclusion of the final canvass in early December, as Lake County News has reported.
Good news and next steps
Sapeta said Lake County Fire Protection District’s phones were off the hook on Thursday afternoon as numerous people found out the finally tally results before district officials did.
With more than two weeks of nervous waiting now over, Sapeta said the good news was like a breath of fresh air for the district. He and the board had expected that they might have to look at cutting services or going back to voters at an upcoming election if the measure didn’t come through.
Sapeta said Measure D taxes livable space on parcels, not outbuildings, garages, barns or other structures. So the increase for people paying the current Measure F parcel tax of $60 on permitted dwellings will instead pay a total of $120, with Measure D canceling out Measure F.
Measure D does not impact the district’s fire mitigation fee, he added, which remains $1 per square foot.
Sapeta said Measure D is expected to bring in between $300,000 and $400,000 in additional revenues each year for the district.
That increased revenue will create financial sustainability in the district’s operations, which Sapeta said has been his goal since becoming chief several years ago.
The Lake County Fire Protection District currently has 23 paid staff to serve a 165-square-mile area that encompasses the city of Clearlake and Lower Lake, the county’s most populous area.
The district reported that its number of calls for service have grown by 267-percent over the last 20 years and is expected to continue to grow.
Currently, Sapeta said the district averages about 5,200 calls for service annually, from emergencies such as fires and vehicle crashes to medical aids.
Earlier on Thursday, in the hours before he found out Measure D had passed, the Lake County Fire District had 18 medical aid calls, and on three of those events had to call in Northshore Fire on mutual aid for coverage, Sapeta said.
“It was kind of monumental,” he said of the day’s heavy call load, adding that it put the importance of the passage of Measure D in perspective.
By this time next year, Sapeta said, he hopes calling for mutual aid in such situations won’t be necessary.
Next steps, said Sapeta, include the district board meeting to carry out the required formalities, including accepting the election results.
He’s then prepared to begin a full local and statewide recruitment for a total of six new full-time staffers, including three firefighter-emergency medical technicians and three firefighter-paramedics.
Those six new positions will fully staff Lower Lake Fire Station 65, which had been a main goal of Measure D, Sapeta said.
He said he’s hoping to have those six new jobs filled as soon as possible.
“There’s a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s all good work,” he said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A power outage was reported west of Upper Lake on Thursday afternoon.
Pacific Gas and Electric said the outage, first reported just after 2 p.m., is expected to be resolved by 4:15 p.m.
A cause was not immediately reported.
The outage impacts 451 customers from the area of Witter Springs west to Blue Lakes and south into Scotts Valley, based on a PG&E outage map.