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The new year will bring a handful of new traffic safety laws for California.
These changes to current law, or additional laws, were passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.
As part of the continued mission of saving lives, the California Highway Patrol is seeking to educate the public on some of the new rules of the road taking effect at the beginning of next month.
Child safety seats (AB 53, Garcia)
Although this law was passed during the 2015 legislative session, it takes effect Jan. 1, 2017.
Children under 2 years of age must ride rear-facing in an appropriate child passenger safety seat. Children weighing 40 or more pounds, or standing 40 or more inches tall, are exempt.
California law continues to require that all children under the age of 8 be properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seat in the back seat of a vehicle.
Vehicles: Use of Wireless Electronic Devices (AB 1785, Quirk)
Motorists are no longer permitted to hold a wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device while driving a motor vehicle.
Rather than holding the device, it must be mounted in the 7-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver or in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield nearest to the driver.
Another option is to affix the device to the dashboard in a place that does not obstruct the driver’s clear view of the road and does not interfere with the deployment of an airbag.
The law does allow a driver to operate one of these devices with the motion of a single swipe or tap of the finger, but not while holding it.
Driving under the influence: Ignition Interlock Device (SB 1046, Hill)
This law requires a driving under the influence (DUI) offender to install an ignition interlock device (IID) on their vehicle for a specified period of time in order to get a restricted driver license or to reinstate their license.
The law also removes the required suspension time before a person can get a restricted license, provided that the offender installs an IID on their vehicle.
The law extends the current four-county (Sacramento, Los Angeles, Alameda, Tulare) DUI IID pilot program until Jan. 1, 2019, at which time all DUI offenders statewide will be required to install an IID to have their license reinstated.
Vehicle Motorcycles: Lane Splitting (AB 51, Quirk)
Current law does not change; lane splitting by a motorcyclist remains legal if done safely.
This bill defines lane splitting as driving a motorcycle, which has two wheels in contact with the ground, between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane.
The bill permits the CHP to develop lane splitting educational safety guidelines in consultation with other state traffic safety agencies and at least one organization focused on motorcycle safety.
School Bus Safety: Child Alert System (SB 1072, Mendoza)
This law requires all school buses, school pupil activity buses, youth buses, and child care motor vehicles used to transport school-age children to be equipped with a “child safety alert system.”
Every school is required to have a transportation safety plan with procedures to ensure that a pupil is not left unattended in a vehicle.
Charter Bus Safety Improvements (SB 247, Lara)
All buses manufactured after July 1, 2020, will be required to have emergency lighting fixtures that will turn on in the event of an impact or collision.
The law also requires a bus company to ensure the driver of the charter bus provides oral and written, or video instructions to all passengers on safety equipment and emergency exits on the bus prior to any trip.
Tour Buses: Safety Inspections (AB 1677, Ting)
This new law requires the CHP to develop protocols for entering into a memorandum of understanding with local governments to increase the number of inspections for tour buses operated within their jurisdiction.
For complete information on bills enacted in 2016, please refer to the Legislative Counsel Web site at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/ .
The nationally recognized Capital Fellows Programs administered by the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento, announces the availability of applications for the Capital Fellows Programs.
The programs offered are:
· California Senate Fellows;
· Executive Fellowship Program;
· Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship Program;
· Judicial Administration Fellowship Program.
These fellowships offer the unique opportunity to work for 10 to 11 months as a full-time paid staff member in the California State Assembly, California State Senate, California Executive Branch or the California Judiciary.
Fellows participate in policymaking, program development and implementation and gain first-hand experience in the governance and leadership of California.
Two thousand alumni have participated in the Capital Fellows Programs, and the ranks of former fellows include judges; members of the United States Congress and the State Legislature; state and local government officials; corporate executives; community and nonprofit leaders; and university professors, administration and staff.
Prospective Capital Fellows must have a bachelor’s degree (in any major) by Sept. 1, 2017, and a demonstrated interest in state government and public service.
Applicants may apply to one or more of the programs that meet their interests and qualifications.
Recent graduates, graduate, postgraduate and mid-career applicants are welcome to apply.
Applicants with any party affiliation are welcome to apply, including Republicans, Democrats, and people affiliated with third parties or no party at all.
For detailed information about the fellowships and applications, visit www.csus.edu/calst/programs .
The application deadline for all four fellowships is Feb. 13, 2017.
If you have questions regarding the Capital Fellows Programs, please contact the Center for California Studies at 916-278-6906 or
There are times when a single word in a poem is so perfect a choice that it pops like a firecracker, and I'll let you guess which word did that for me. A hint: it's a modifier.
The poem is by Anya Krugovoy Silver, who lives in Georgia, from her new book, From Nothing, from LSU Press.
Just Red
I stand in Walgreens while my mother sleeps.
The store is fluorescent and almost empty.
My father is ailing in a nursing home,
my friend is dying in the hospital.
What I want tonight is lipstick.
As pure a red as I can find—no coral
undertones, no rust or fawn. Just red.
Ignoring the salespeople, I untwist tubes
and scrawl each color on my wrist,
till the blue veins beneath my skin
disappear behind smeared bars. I select one.
Back in my mother's apartment, silence.
I limn my lips back out of my wan face.
There they are again: smacky and wanting.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited submissions. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 byAnya Krugovoy Silver, “Just Red,” from From Nothing,(Louisiana State University Press,2016). Poem reprinted by permission o fAnya Krugovoy Silver and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – At Christmastime, the home of Kim and Steve Bauer needs to be seen to be believed.
At their home at the corner of First and Hoover streets in Clearlake Oaks, the couple have set up an annual Christmas display that draws visitors from around the county.
Some people, just driving by, had to pull over on a recent night to wonder at it.
“You just brought some joy to my life tonight,” said a woman who stopped to take pictures of the display.
“Oh, this is beautiful,” a man driving by in a minivan said through the window to the Bauers.
The Live Oak Senior Center bus also recently made a pass so its riders could enjoy the display, Kim Bauer said.
The Bauers have been doing the display for about five years, taking a break last year due to the illness of Steve's father.
This year, they were back at it, wanting to make it bigger and better than ever, both as a tribute to their family member and a celebration of the season.
Kim Bauer said it takes about a month and a half to cover nearly every inch of their home and yard with lights and decorations of every kind.
On the roof is “Rex,” the dinosaur from Toy Story, wearing a Santa hat and holding a present in his mouth, while he moves his head side to side. A sock monkey sits on the chimney, while nearby the Grinch and Santa Claus are perched on the roof.
In the yard there's a nativity scene, along with Scooby Doo, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, Tigger and other lighted characters, some of them moving.
Steve Bauer is a roofer, so he does the rooftop decorations. His wife said he also painstakingly works to create the lighted outline of a Christmas tree on one very sloped part of the roof.
Their energy bill runs about $1,200 a month during the holiday months. Kim Bauer credited her boss, Dean Pick of First Pick Builders, for helping them out this year with a generator that is helping cut the cost a bit.
However, the expense, for the Bauers, is worth it.
“People really like it,” Kim Bauer said of the display.
The display generally is on through the evening, until about 9:30 or 10 p.m., Kim Bauer said.
One night, an elderly man drove all the way from Kelseyville to see the Bauers' light extravaganza. But by the time he arrived, it was after 10 p.m. and the lights had been turned off.
He knocked on the door, explained how far he had come, and offered to pay them $5 to turn the lights back on. Kim Bauer said she was happy to oblige for free so he and his wife could enjoy them.
For the Bauers, they hope their seasonal effort brings some enjoyment to peoples' lives.
They invite people to come by and see it while it's still up. Kim Bauer said the display will be in place through Jan. 4.
Not ones to be satisfied with their light spectacular, they're already planning for next year, and how much more they can add to their display.
If Kim Bauer could build up, she would, and she's been trying to figure out how to extend the display. She mused about putting a Santa Claus in a tree at the corner of her property.
“Next year,” Steve Bauer said in a soft but determined voice, “it will be bigger.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Children around Lake County have received Christmas surprises this holiday season thanks to the generosity of a celebrity chef and restaurateur who now makes his home here part-time.
This past week, a truckload of toys purchased by Guy Fieri arrived in Lake County, according to Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin.
Fieri is the star of several cooking shows, including “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and “Guy's Grocery Games,” as well as an author and owner of numerous restaurants across the United States,
Martin estimated that more than 150 children received gifts through Fieri's efforts.
This year, the literal truckload of gifts included 46 bikes, which the sheriff's office augmented with helmets, Martin said.
Martin said the toys arrived in the county on Monday, and on Wednesday were delivered to children in foster care, at the local rancherias and those who were served by the District Attorney's Office Victim-Witness Division.
In addition, Martin said his deputies were given toys to distribute to children who they knew could use some help at Christmas.
Fieri, Martin said, knows that some children don't get as much as they should at the holidays.
This is the second year Fieri has donated toys to Lake County children, said Martin.
Fieri, who has a ranch in the south county, also made a point during the Valley fire last year of visiting first responders – including firefighters, law enforcement officers, the prison kitchen crew, and support staff at the command post in Lakeport – to offer support and encouragement, Martin said.
Martin said Fieri also headed up the effort to present the sheriff's office employee appreciation dinner. “He's truly a generous person.”
Fieri, who comes from a small town – he's from Ferndale in Humboldt County – has made a point of paying it forward and sharing his success.
He's also involved with a toy run in Sonoma County that benefits children that are served by a number of Northern California organizations, according to a statement he made earlier this month on his Facebook page.
Martin added of Fieri, “I'm glad he calls Lake County home, even if it's for part-time.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
"Rocking around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Every couple tries to stop"
– from "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree" by Johnny Marks
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – According to the History Channel we enjoy the green of a holiday tree, and have since before Christianity, because evergreen trees and bushes were special in winter solstice festivities.
In times past greenery was placed across doors and windows in hopes that disease and bad spirits would be kept at bay.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere we note the shortest day and hence, the longest night arrive annually on Dec. 21 or 22.
Back in the 1740s the Pennsylvania settlers displayed what is thought to be the first of the American Christmas trees, while the tradition of Christmas trees in North America is said to have originated in Canada in 1781.
Our state of California joins three others – Wisconsin, North Carolina and Oregon – as the preeminent Christmas tree growing states in the U.S., according to the Web site www.history.com .
The site also states that some of the most popular trees sold are Douglas fir, white pine and scotch pine.
Trees were adorned with fruit, nuts and candles, until Thomas Edison's team found a way to employ electric lights on trees.
A popular tree adornment, tinsel, now made of plastic, once contained lead and was prohibited for sale by the U.S. government.
Today we enjoy placing garlands, candy canes, ornaments and gingerbread on our trees, with a topping of an angel or star.
The tree decorating technique known as “flocking” to simulate a snow-covered tree made its debut in the 1800s when trees were wrapped in cotton.
Trees of a similar style of flocking were depicted in Hollywood movies of the 1940s and 50s, when the style was adopted by those in the West Coast's warmer climates.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.