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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Two people died early Saturday morning in a solo-vehicle crash just outside of Upper Lake.
The wreck occurred at the roundabout at the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 29 at about 12:15 a.m. Saturday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP Officer Ryan Erickson said a Chevrolet Malibu, with two male occupants, was traveling northbound on Highway 29 at a high rate of speed when it reached the intersection and the driver failed to negotiate the roundabout.
Erickson said that, based on his initial assessment of the scene, the car hit the roundabout and became airborne.
“It flew a distance before it came to rest in its current position,” he said.
At that point, the vehicle was on its roof between two large walnut trees in an orchard on the north side of Highway 20, about 50 feet off the roadway.
Erickson said the car did not hit the trees. He did not know at that time, however, if the vehicle had rolled multiple times before it came to a stop.
The car's driver and passenger, both of whom were wearing their seat belts, were trapped in the overturned vehicle, Erickson said.
Firefighters from Northshore Fire and Lakeport Fire who responded found the men unresponsive, declaring them deceased shortly before 1 a.m., according to radio reports.
While firefighters worked to extricate the bodies of the two men from the car, Lake County Sheriff's deputies and CHP officers walked the scene and looked over the roundabout's island, the concrete structure in the center, which it's believed the vehicle hit. There did not appear to be serious damage to the concrete island as a result of the crash.
Erickson said speed was a factor, with investigators just beginning their work early Saturday to determine what else had contributed to the wreck.
He said the identification of both men was being withheld until their families were notified.
The roadway remained open during the emergency response, with fire trucks and other vehicles parked off the highway.
Firefighters began clearing the scene shortly after 2 a.m. Erickson anticipated CHP officers would be at the crash site for several hours to conduct the investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
SACRAMENTO – Two new executive hires will fill key leadership positions within the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the Foundation for California Community Colleges, incoming Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley announced.
Laura N. Metune, chief consultant for the Assembly Higher Education Committee, has been appointed vice chancellor for external relations and Sandra L. Fried, associate director for state legislative affairs for the University of California, has been selected to be executive director of the Success Center for California Community Colleges, which is operated by the Foundation for California Community Colleges.
“The Chancellor's Office and the Foundation work as one team to support policies and practices that lead to greater opportunities for all Californians,” said Oakley, who takes over as state chancellor on Dec. 19. “Both of these team members possess an extraordinary depth of talent and experience that will provide leadership and support for California’s 113 community colleges as they help more students achieve their educational goals and improve social mobility within our state.”
“The Success Center serves as an important hub for sharing, adoption and implementation of effective practices and policies across the California Community Colleges,” said Keetha Mills, president and CEO of the Foundation for California Community Colleges. “We are thrilled to have Fried join us as we continue to expand the impact of the Success Center and look forward to working with both Fried and Metune to improve student success and completion in our colleges.”
Metune was appointed to the position by Gov. Jerry Brown. In her new role, Metune will oversee a division that represents the Chancellor's Office before the Legislature and executive branch of the state and federal governments. The division is also responsible for formulating and advancing the legislative agenda of the California Community Colleges.
Since June 2013, Metune served as chief consultant for the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, where she prepared bill language, committee amendments, committee analyses and vote recommendations on legislation related to public and private postsecondary education and student financial aid.
Previously, Metune served as bureau chief for the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, as committee consultant for the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and as legislative director for the office of Sen. Carole Migden.
She also served as a legislative consultant for Senate Committee on Business and Professions, Subcommittee on International Trade Policy for the California Legislative Women's Caucus. Metune earned a bachelor’s degree in government from California State University, Sacramento and a CSUS Transfer Agreement Pattern from American River College. Metune starts her new position Dec. 16.
Fried will lead the Success Center, which launched in 2014 to help the California Community Colleges to coordinate its success-focused initiatives and boost completion rates.
Since May 2013, Fried has served as the associate director for Legislative Affairs at the University of California’s office of State Governmental Relations, where she oversees the staff that works on policy issues with the Legislature and Administration.
Previously, Fried oversaw the Assembly Higher Education Committee as the chief consultant, where for six years she analyzed legislation, managed committee hearings, negotiated policy issues and served as the Assembly’s lead staff person on higher education issues.
She also served on the staff of Assemblymember (now Congresswoman) Susan Davis, with a focus on education issues. Fried began her career as a legislative aide for Speaker Willie Brown, where she worked with various legislators on developing and articulating policy priorities through legislation, media, and constituent engagement.
A native of San Diego, Fried graduated from the University of California, Davis with degrees in history and economics. Fried starts her new position in January.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation composed of 72 districts and 113 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.
For more information about the community colleges, please visit http://californiacommunitycolleges.cccco.edu/ , https://www.facebook.com/CACommColleges or https://twitter.com/CalCommColleges .
A campaign to reduce the number of collisions caused by impaired drivers, supported by the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety, will focus on education and enforcement.
“Statewide Impaired Driving Enforcement,” or SIDE, runs for one year, from Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017.
The SIDE grant will enable the CHP to conduct additional driving under the influence saturation patrols, DUI checkpoints, and traffic safety education efforts throughout California.
A saturation patrol is a concentrated enforcement effort that targets impaired drivers by observing moving violations.
During a sobriety checkpoint, law enforcement evaluates drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment at certain points on the roadway.
A saturation patrol is generally spread over a larger geographic area than a sobriety checkpoint.
“Reducing impaired driving through education and enforcement remains a high priority, and this campaign provides us another opportunity to further that goal,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “As a public safety organization, we will continue to do everything in our power to promote safety on California’s roadways.”
The Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System of the CHP shows that in 2014, impaired driving collisions in California resulted in 645 deaths and 10,478 injuries. Each of these collisions represents a preventable tragedy that had a profound effect on all those involved.
The CHP will also actively participate in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign as part of the continuing efforts to remove impaired drivers from the roadway to prevent injuries, property damage, and the loss of life.
The CHP reminds the public to call 9-1-1 if they see a suspected impaired driver and only if it is safe to make a call. Callers should be prepared to provide a location, direction of travel, and vehicle description.
Drivers are also reminded to plan ahead: designate a sober driver, call a friend or family member, or call a cab or rideshare service. There is always a better option than getting behind the wheel while impaired.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In a column in July regarding the passage of Medi-Cal Estate Recovery reform, I said that estate recovery will apply much less often with respect to Medi-Cal beneficiaries who die after Jan. 1, 2017.
As we approach the effective date more information regarding its implementation is becoming available.
Under the new law, California will only recover with respect to assets held in the “probate estate” of a deceased Medi-Cal beneficiary unless an exception applies, such as, they are survived by a spouse, a child under 21 years of age or a disabled child.
The foregoing restriction to recovery against a probate estate and the exception when a spouse survives are major changes from current law.
Presently Medi-Cal estate recovery applies to all assets in which the decedent retained a continuing interest at the time of death, including assets in the decedent's living trust, unless the decedent was survived by a disabled or minor child in which case no recovery applies.
Probate is the court-supervised administration of a decedent’s estate. Probates, generally speaking, are either testate, when the decedent’s will is admitted to probate, or intestate, when the decedent does not have a will. Having a will, therefore, does not avoid probate.
One thing that is new and exciting is that Medi-Cal Estate Recovery does not apply when the deceased Medi-Cal recipient is a survived by a spouse. Even if assets pass to someone other than the surviving spouse the foregoing exception to recovery applies.
The exception regarding a surviving spouse mirrors the longstanding existing exemptions for surviving disabled or minor children. That is, the very existence of a surviving spouse, disabled or minor children (under age 21) exempts the decedent's entire estate from Medi-Cal recovery, regardless of whether or not any of the decedent's assets are received by such persons.
Next, what is included in a person's probate estate, and thus potentially subject to recovery, will also be greatly reduced.
As previously reported, under the new law assets passing outside of a formal probate will no longer be subject to Medi-Cal Estate recovery. Assets held in a trust, because they are not subject to probate, will also not be subject to Medi-Cal Estate Recovery.
The same is true for joint tenancy assets, life insurance, annuities and pay on death bank accounts that pass by survivorship and without probate to a surviving owner or beneficiary.
Thus it is important to make sure alternative death beneficiaries are named in order that a living beneficiary is likely to receive the asset outside of probate.
Of significant comfort to many persons receiving Medi-Cal is that small estates of California decedents' under $150,000 in gross value are also excluded because they are not subject to formal probate proceedings.
Previously, I had reported that such small estates would presumably be subject to Medi-Cal recovery but that is not the case.
Likewise, court petitions to confirm title to real property belonging to a small estate are not probate proceedings and thus do avoid Medi-Cal Estate recovery.
Mobile and manufactured homes are already excluded from probate under California law and for that reason will not be subject to Medi-Cal recovery under the amended law. The same is true for unpaid compensation not exceeding $15,000 that is due the decedent for services in the US Armed Forces.
From 2017 onwards, Medi-Cal beneficiaries can absolutely protect their assets from estate recovery by making sure that their estate is not subject to a formal probate.
So long as less than $150,000 in gross value, excluding mobile homes or assets passing to a surviving spouse, remains in the decedent's name (outside a trust or other non-probate asset) and is not transferred to beneficiaries under formal probate Medi-Cal Estate Recovery does not apply.
Dennis A. Fordham, Attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at
Forty-seven years ago, humans first set foot on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. That success would not have been possible if not for the team of 400,000 people who worked to ensure the success of the mission and the safety of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
One of those 400,000 people was Margaret Hamilton.
On Nov. 22, President Barack Obama awarded Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution that led to Apollo 11's successful landing.
The very first contract NASA issued for the Apollo program (in August 1961) was with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop the guidance and navigation system for the Apollo spacecraft.
Hamilton, a computer programmer, would wind up leading the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (now Draper Labs).
Computer science, as we now know it, was just coming into existence at the time.
Hamilton led the team that developed the building blocks of software engineering – a term that she coined herself.
Her systems approach to the Apollo software development and insistence on rigorous testing was critical to the success of Apollo.
As she noted, “There was no second chance. We all knew that.”
Her approach proved itself on July 20, 1969, when minutes before Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon, the software overrode a command to switch the flight computer’s priority system to a radar system.
The override was announced by a “1202 alarm” which let everyone know that the guidance computer was shedding less important tasks (like rendezvous radar) to focus on steering the descent engine and providing landing information to the crew.
Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon, rather than aborting the approach due to computer problems. In fact, the Apollo guidance software was so robust that no software bugs were found on any crewed Apollo missions, and it was adapted for use in Skylab, the Space Shuttle, and the first digital fly-by-wire systems in aircraft.
Hamilton was honored by NASA in 2003, when she was presented a special award recognizing the value of her innovations in the Apollo software development. The award included the largest financial award that NASA had ever presented to any individual up to that point.
This week, Hamilton was honored again – this time at the White House. President Obama selected her as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The highest civilian award of the United States, it is awarded to those who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
Watch the ceremony below. Hamilton's presentation is at the 41:20 mark in the video.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Get in the holiday spirit with sounds of joy when the Old Time Fiddlers Association continues its monthly First Sunday Fiddlers’ Jam sessions in the Ely barn.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, they'll be performing beautiful Americana music with a possible sprinkling of holiday cheer to get you in the spirit.
Come ready to clap your hands and tap your toes. They'll even make room for those who want to get up and dance.
This is a free, family friendly event for all to enjoy, young and old alike.
The fun begins at the museum at 11 a.m. with the fiddlers playing in the barn from noon through 2 p.m.
Come early to enjoy all of the newest museum acquisitions and displays. Enjoy the music with beverages and tasty treats provided by the docents. Bring your own wine and sip it in Ely Stage Stop wine glasses that are available for purchase. Take a musical break from all of that holiday shopping.
Save the date of Saturday, Dec. 17, for the Ely Christmas Marketplace with Santa. Local artists will be selling their handcrafted goods in the barn from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day.
Food will be available for purchase from A Passion for Food. Join the museum volunteers and docents for a wonderful day on the museum grounds with Santa. He will be taking a much-needed break from the North Pole to roam the grounds and join hayrides with the children, weather permitting.
Both events will help promote the growth of the Ely Stage Stop Blacksmith shop and further the interaction of the local community with the history of Lake County and the Ely Stage Stop.
The Lake County Historical Society’s Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum is located at 9921 State Highway 281 (Soda Bay Road) in Kelseyville, near Clear Lake Riviera, just north of Hwy 29-Kit's Corner.
Current hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Private tours can be arranged by appointment. Facilities are available to support events, conferences, or family gatherings. Celebrate a wedding, reception, special anniversary or family reunion.
Note that the museum will be closed both Saturday, Dec. 24, and Sunday, Dec. 25, for the Christmas holiday.
The Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum welcomes more docents to greet visitors and share information on our history, our current displays, and our planned events. Volunteers for maintenance and construction projects are also needed.
Visit www.elystagestop.org or www.lakecountyhistory.org , check out the stage stop on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elystagestop or call the museum at 707-533-9990.