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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Centennial Celebration for Upper Lake’s Hammond Library will take place, rain or shine, on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the library, located at Second and Main streets in Upper Lake.
The Centennial Celebration will feature entertainment, refreshments, speakers, Model A cars and special exhibits to recognize the historic library’s 100 years of service to the community.
The public is invited to wear fancy hats in the spirit of 1916.
For more information call the Hammond Library at 707-275-2049.
The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Sutter Lakeside Hospital staff are hitting the streets to bring preventative education to Lake County.
Beginning Thursday, Oct. 13, hospital staff members will pledge to educate five friends or family members about the signs and symptoms of stroke using key ring tabs printed with the “BE FAST” acronym. More than 300 staff members are participating.
“We use the acronym ‘BE FAST’ to make it easy for people to remember the symptoms of a stroke. It stands for ‘balance, eyes, face, arms, speech, and time’,” said Nicole Lamm, RN, Emergency Department nurse manager. “While many people know the signs of a heart attack, fewer people know what a stroke looks like.”
A stroke is caused by the interruption of blood flow to the brain caused by either a blocked artery or the leaking of a blood vessel, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The signs of a stroke include loss of balance, change in vision, one-sided facial drooping, inability to raise both arms and slurred speech.
During a stroke, a victim loses 32,000 brain cells per second.
“Time is brain,” said Lamm. “That’s why recognizing a stroke and calling 911 right away gives the patient the best odds of a successful recovery. Often a victim doesn’t know he or she is having a stroke, so it’s up to the people around him or her to recognize what’s happening and get help.”
Staff are participating in the grass roots education initiative as part of Sutter Lakeside’s yearly education fair, a time when staff refresh clinical skills through presentations and hands-on practice.
“Community stroke education give the residents of Lake County the tools they need to BE FAST when they see the signs of a stroke,” said Lamm.
Sutter Lakeside Hospital serves as the only Certified Stroke Center in Lake County, and uses telemedicine technology to connect patients with top neurointerventionalists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
“We strive to bring the best medical care to Lake County,” said Lamm. “The first step is education.”
Morgen Wells is Community Relations and Fund Development coordinator.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is conducting an art contest to select the design for the state’s 2016-17 upland game bird stamp.
The California Upland Game Bird Stamp Art Contest is open to all U.S. residents ages 18 and over. Entries will be accepted from Nov. 14 through Dec. 5.
This year’s stamp will feature the California quail, the state bird. Entries must include at least one California quail, preferably in a habitat or setting representative of California.
Entries will be judged on originality, artistic composition, anatomical accuracy and suitability for reproduction as a stamp and a print.
The contest will be judged by a panel of experts in the fields of ornithology, conservation, art and printing. The winning artist will be selected during a public judging event, with the date and location to be announced later.
An upland game bird validation is required for hunting migratory and resident upland game birds in California.
The money generated from stamp sales must be spent on upland game bird-related conservation projects, education, hunting opportunities and outreach.
CDFW sells about 175,000 upland game bird validations annually. Any individual who purchases an upland game bird validation may request their free collectable stamp by visiting www.wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/collector-stamps .
For collectors who do not purchase a hunting license or upland game bird validation or for hunters who wish to purchase additional collectible stamps, an order form is also available on the Web site.
For contest information and entry forms, please visit www.wildlife.ca.gov/upland-game-bird-stamp .
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake announced that it has completed its second installation of a cutting-edge wastewater treatment system to eliminate built-up organic sludge at its Southeast Regional Wastewater Plant.
This follows dramatic results achieved by the Blue Frog System by Absolute Aeration, LLC, during a pilot study in the plant’s North Lagoon, which became virtually sludge-free roughly 10 months after installation.
The second system, which was installed the week of Aug. 22 in the South Lagoon, is expected to achieve similar results.
Both ponds treat roughly 0.5 MGD and had previously used high-horsepower aerators that consumed significant energy and were not effective in eliminating accumulated organic sludge.
Prior to the pilot study, the plant was incurring an annual dredging fee of $1,000 per dry ton, which translated to an annual cost of roughly $150,000, not including the cost of inspecting and cleaning the chlorine contact ditch, estimated at $15,000 to $20,000 per year.
During the spring of 2014, the county began extensive research and analysis of available alternatives to eliminate dredging. The goal was to identify affordable treatment and disposal methods that would reduce the plant’s annual dredging expense and have a positive impact on the receiving environment.
The Blue Frog Patented Technology had proven its effectiveness in dozens of municipal wastewater applications nationwide by digesting built-up sludge in situ, eliminating the need to mechanically dredge the waste.
The pilot project went online in the North Lagoon on Oct. 30, 2014, and began delivering results almost immediately, according to John Sparkes, site superintendent for the plant.
Just 86 days after installation, the Blue Frogs had eliminated 49 percent of the stored sludge in the pond, reducing the sludge depth from 5 feet to 2.55 feet. By the second quarter, it had dropped by almost 62 percent.
“Our North Lagoon is now essentially sludge-free,” said Sparkes, in June 2016. “We have a system that can eat through virtually anything very quickly, and we are fine-tuning the process to support our system’s on-going compliance needs. The pond sludge has reached equilibrium, and we are preparing to install the Blue Frog System in the South Lagoon later this year.”
Sparkes also noted that the plant’s power bill had been reduced by 16 to 18 percent for the year, yielding an estimated savings of $34,000 to $36,000 annually. Since the initial installation, the Blue Frog System has also been installed in Lake County’s Kelseyville and Northwest facilities.
Rick Roberts, Co-Inventor of The Blue Frog System, said that selecting for the indigenous facultative organisms that are already present in the pond is a natural way to optimize in situ sludge digestion and eliminate mechanical dredging.
“The Blue Frog patented process gently mixes the available nutrients and microbes, facilitating the new growth of a vast number of newly produced bacteria,” said Roberts. “These microbes are then distributed at the sludge water interface on the bottom of the lagoon to begin the process of organic sludge digestion.”
For more details about Blue Frog Technology visit www.BlueFrogSystem.com .
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Tuesday afternoon vehicle crash temporarily shut down a portion of highway just outside the Lake County line.
The California Highway Patrol reported Tuesday afternoon that Highway 175 just east of mile post marker 8.1 Mendocino, near the Mendocino/Lake County line, had been shut down due to the solo-vehicle crash.
According to reports from the scene a vehicle went off the road and down a 100-foot ravine just before 1 p.m.
Radio reports indicated that Cal Fire helicopters 101 and 104 helped remove the patients from the ravine with the use of a stokes basket.
At least one of the crash victims was transported to Lampson Field, where a REACH air ambulance was to transport them to an out-of-county hospital, according to radio reports.
Just after 2:45 p.m., the CHP said the westbound lane had reopened, but the eastbound lane remained closed.
The CHP did not give a time estimate for when the highway would fully reopen.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Forecasters have issued a hazardous weather statement for parts of Northern California including Lake County due to the potential for heavy rain late this week and into early next week.
The National Weather Service said a series of weather systems are predicted to move into Northern California from late Thursday through early Tuesday, bringing several waves of rain, cooler temperatures and snow in higher elevations above 7,000 feet.
Based on National Weather Service models, some of the precipitation that's expected over Northern California is coming from remnants of Typhoon Songda, which National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite images showed to be passing southeast of Japan on Monday night.
The storms could potentially bring several inches of rain across the region, based on the forecast.
Lake County's specific forecast calls for chances of rain beginning on Thursday and continuing early into the new week.
Daytime temperatures are expected to be in the low 60s, while nighttime temperatures will be in the high 40s.
Email Elizabeth Larson at