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COBB, Calif. – A 3.7-magnitude earthquake was reported near The Geysers geothermal steamfield early Tuesday.
The quake occurred at 3:11 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.
The survey said the quake was recorded at a depth of 1.4 miles, and was centered five miles northwest of The Geysers, 13 miles southwest of Clearlake and 15 miles north of Healdsburg.
Some Lake County News readers reported being jolted awake by the quake.
Shake reports were submitted to the US Geological Survey from Cloverdale, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Middletown, Napa and St. Helena.
A 4.5-magnitude quake occurred three miles northwest of The Geysers on Jan. 12, as Lake County News has reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A local child whose battle with cancer touched the hearts of community members has died.
Ronnie Dekeyser III – a boy with a big laugh, who liked the outdoors, sports, bikes, monster trucks and camping – ended his fight on Monday afternoon, according to his family.
“Ronnie passed away today at approximately 1:00 pm. He went peacefully, surrounded by people who love him up to the moon. I miss my baby already,” his mother, Jennifer Hittson posted on Facebook shortly after his death.
Ronnie was 11 years old.
The community at large learned about the child's battle with an inoperable brain tumor this past fall, when he was named an honorary Lakeport Police officer, one of the dreams he chased and accomplished during his all-too-short life.
Ronnie suffered from diffuse pontine glioma, a cancerous brain tumor that is one of the most challenging tumors to treat, according to cancer experts.
The condition is inoperable, and researchers have found that neither chemotherapy nor radiation are effective in the long-term.
Diffuse pontine glioma remains a condition that doesn't appear to be well understood, and survival rates are low: A December 2012 paper in Frontiers in Oncology by researcher Katherine E. Warren quoted statistics that noted the average survival rate for children with the condition is less than one year from diagnosis.
However, it appeared that Ronnie, at least for a little while, was beating the odds.
Ronnie was diagnosed with the condition at age 5. Then, three years ago, when he was 8, the tumor became inactive.
Last spring the family got its first indications that the tumor had become active once more, which was confirmed by subsequent medical tests over the summer.
At that point, Ronnie was still able to pursue some physical activities, and his family worked to help him fulfill some of his dreams.
That's when the Lakeport Police Department welcomed Ronnie into its ranks as an honorary police officer.
Ronnie's family said he had wanted to be a police officer someday, and so Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen administered the officers' oath to Ronnie on Oct. 2 as family, friends, police and city staff, and city council members looked on.
Department personnel outfitted Ronnie with a full police uniform and duty gear, and he accompanied Lt. Jason Ferguson on patrol and went out for a cup of decaffeinated coffee at Rene's Café with officers.
His duties with the department continued when, on Oct. 11, he led the Lakeport Homecoming Parade down Main Street.
In the months ahead, however, Ronnie's ability to continue pursuing his dreams became increasingly difficult as his health deteriorated.
Fundraisers took place to help his family afford to take him on some of the trips he still wanted to make.
At the same time, his parents sought traditional and alternative treatments alike to save his life, but nothing worked.
In December, shortly before Christmas, the family got news that the tumor had grown again and was crushing the boy's vital nerves.
Friends and complete strangers alike reached out to help the family. Kelseyville Fire personnel came to offer help and Sutter Lakeside Hospital loaned the family a bed to make Ronnie more comfortable.
Over the heartbreaking final weeks, Hittson continued to post updates, almost daily, on her son's battle, and thanked those who had offered their assistance.
The Lakeport Police Department's members issued a statement Monday night expressing their sadness at Ronnie's passing.
“The Lakeport Police Department and its entire family are saddened by the passing of Officer Ronnie,” the statement said. “Ronnie was an inspiration to all of us and we were so blessed to have him be a member of this department. We will forever cherish our time spent with him, having him ride along and be a part of our law enforcement family.”
The department's statement added, “Our law enforcement family wishes to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Ronnie and we thank you so much for allowing us this wonderful opportunity to be a part of this amazing young man's life.”
Ronnie leaves behind his dad, Ron Dekeyser; mom, Jennifer Hittson; his two younger brothers, Daniel and Blaine; faithful pup Tila; and many family members and friends, some of whom he never met, but who were rooting for him all the same.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) will hold an informational forum on the Affordable Care Act and its new benefits on Saturday, Jan. 25.
The forum will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave.
Enrollment in Covered California, the state's new marketplace for affordable, quality health insurance, opened on Oct. 1, 2013.
At the forum, constituents can learn how to enroll and receive information about what benefits and options are available to them.
To RSVP, please contact Maira Ayala at 707-226-9898 or email
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Relay for Life Lake County is inviting the community to the kickoff event for the 2014 relay.
It will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, at TJ's Downtown Bar and Grill, 370 S. Main St. in Lakeport.
Whether you are a veteran or a new participant, team captain, committee member or haven't been involved so far, you're encouraged to attend.
Relay for Life brings the community together to celebrate cancer survivors and to remember those who have lost their battle. The goal is to get one step closer to a cure.
At the Tuesday event there will be raffles, music, guest speakers, handouts, team sign ups and fun.
For more information contact Angie DeMaria at 707-245-9743 or
California has received an “F” grade for “access to emergency care,” ranking 42nd in the nation, according to the 2014 American College of Emergency Physicians’ state-by- state report card on America’s emergency care environment.
The “access to emergency care” mark reflects the serious lack of on-call specialists who provide critical, specialized care like obstetricians and gynecologists, neurologists and cardiologists; a below-average number of trauma centers; a lack of inpatient hospital beds; inadequate psychiatric services; serious emergency room overcrowding and patient boarding; and the lowest number of emergency rooms per person in the nation.
Low Medi-Cal reimbursement rates also place a strain on California’s health care system, according ot the report. Repeated cuts to Medi-Cal reimbursement result in fewer physicians accepting Medi-Cal patients, causing inadequate access to primary care for Medi-Cal recipients.
According to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Medi-Cal patients were most likely to be in the ER for serious conditions that might have been prevented from progressing had they had better access to primary care.
“We’re not surprised California is failing in ‘access to care’,” said Dr. Thomas Sugarman, president of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
“The fact of the matter is that when you repeatedly slash Medi-Cal reimbursement, physicians won’t participate in the program, and patients are left with nowhere to go but the ER where we see everyone regardless of their insurance status,” said Sugarman. “This report card shows that Californians are paying for past budget cuts with their health.”
Another factor affecting California’s failing grade for access to care is the number of inpatient psychiatric beds.
According to the report card, California only has 18 psychiatric beds per 100,000 residents, while the national average is 29 beds and even Mississippi has 52 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people.
Without sufficient psychiatric resources in the community, psychiatric patients are taken to emergency rooms, where they use a disproportionate share of resources without receiving the psychiatric care they need, based on the report.
With the huge shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, those patients languish in the emergency room for hours, days, and in some instances weeks, awaiting transfer to a facility where they can be treated for their psychiatric condition, according to California ACEP.
Not only is this harmful to psychiatric patients, but it creates crowding in the emergency room for all other patients in need of medical treatment, California ACEP said.
The report card indicates that patients need improved access to a complete network of physicians who can provide ongoing health care and mental health care.
As California implements the Affordable Care Act, California ACEP said legislators and regulators must take action to improve access to care by continuing recent efforts to increase mental health funding and by improving Medi-Cal reimbursement rates so patients can see a physician before their conditions deteriorate and they end up in the emergency room.
While California received failing marks for access to care, it also received a C+ in “medical liability environment” on the report card.
California’s emergency physicians face high medical liability insurance premiums, approximately $39,135 on average and no additional liability protection for Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act-mandated emergency care.
California also may face an attack on the California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act through a ballot initiative that would make it easier to file meritless health care lawsuits, increase health care costs and further reduce access to care.
Weakening the reform act could have a disastrous impact on the emergency care safety net. Without the protections of MICRA, physician malpractice premiums will skyrocket once again. The financial pressures on emergency physicians- who are independent contractors, not hospital employees – are immense, according to California ACEP.
“Higher malpractice premiums translates to fewer dollars for direct patient care – fewer emergency physicians per shift, and longer wait times for all patients who walk into an ER to get care,” noted Dr. Sugarman, “Without MICRA, increased insurance premium costs for emergency physicians threaten the emergency care safety net for all of California’s patients.”
California ACEP has long argued that California’s emergency room crisis can’t be ignored.
The group said that if everyone assumes these problems will take care of themselves, that there will always be an open emergency room when they need one, “the safety net will continue to unravel to the point where the nearest emergency room might be an hour away instead of five minutes – and that will be the difference between life and death.”
California ACEP is a not-for-profit association representing California’s emergency physicians, who see and treat all Californians regardless of their ability to pay, providing more than 11 million emergency care visits each year.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – On the Middletown map, the Chauncey W. Gibson building sits at the intersection of Calistoga and Calloyomi streets. But townsfolk will tell you that it sits where the past intersects with the present.
The official dedication of the smallish structure on the property to the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center that for more than 80 years served as the Middletown Public Library will not occur until early May. But the past and present have already come into contact there.
It was a serendipitous occasion this past summer when community leader Voris Brumfield, about to have lunch at a restaurant across the street from the Gibson building, looked out the window and saw a man who seemed vitally interested in the structure.
“I was sitting there watching him and thought he was a building inspector or something,” said Brumfield. “So I went out and introduced myself and asked him his name. He said, 'My name is Gibson.'”
The stranger, in fact, was Chauncey Gibson's great-nephew.
“He just happened to be driving through – from where I don't know – on his way to his home in south Lake Tahoe,” said Bob Kauffman, facilities manager for the Gibson Museum project, picking up the story from there. “About two weeks later we had a check from him with stipulations and a Gibson family genealogy for the museum.”
Gibson was a successful turn-of-the-20th-century Oakland, Calif., businessman who had a vacation home in Middletown.
In 1929 he offered to fund the construction of a permanent library for the town if the community would provide the land. The townspeople responded to his offer and the new library was dedicated in May 1930, a month before Gibson died.
Good fortune also has attended the latest Gibson building project, for which on Saturday the first fundraiser – a concert by Karen Melander-Magoon and keyboard accompanist AJ Franks – was held at the new Middletown Senior Center, which shares space with the new home of the Middletown Library on Washington Street.
From Calpine, two ore cars from the Socrates Mine era eventually will sit out front of the museum.
The cars were secured by Calvin Higgins, a Calpine employee and Gibson Museum Committee member.
“There were, like, four of them sitting up on a hillside and I was always interested in them,” said Higgins. “Calpine owned them because it covers a lot of acres. About seven square miles, I think.
“Then when the museum project was started I went to the landowner and asked if he would consider donating two of them to the museum. He got right back to me and said, 'They're yours,'” Higgins recalled.
With proceeds of more than $4,000 from Saturday's sold-out fundraiser – including $2,000 from the District Attorney's Office's Alternative to Community Service program – treasurer Judy Kauffman said nearly $25,000 has been raised for the project, with another $4,500 promised.
The project has tapped into a gold mine of volunteer labor and donated materials, including $1,100 in building supplies from Hardester's Market, $350 worth of paint from Kelly-Moore in Ukiah and free use of the Middletown Senior Center for Saturday's fundraiser.
“The interior is looking wonderful. Clean and bright. It's much too wonderful to describe,” said project committee member Nina Bouska.
Bouska said Judy Kauffman and Linda Moran dragged old furnishings out of the storerooms and, with elbow grease and a little wax, made them look like new.
“Bob Kauffman and Tom Moran took up the time-worn linoleum in the tiny bathroom and found newspapers from the 1950s, still intact enough to yield a few clippings,” said Bouska. “A security system has been installed and new deadbolts installed on the doors.”
More than anyone else, Bob Kauffman championed the conversion. He, alone, painted the interior walls and took charge of preserving the building's Spanish tile floors.
But, Bouska said, “A handful of volunteers have donated several thousand hours of labor and a good deal of pocket cash and supplies.
“The main problem is getting the handicap access and repairing the floor, which is badly cracked in places,” she said.
A contractor has been hired to construct the handicap ramp to ensure it meets federal Americans with Disabilities Act specifications. That is the only part of the overall project not being done by volunteer labor.
Although it is small for a museum, the Gibson building is a critical piece of the Middletown community tapestry. Without it, Middletown's own history might someday be forgotten.
How to contribute: To donate, go to www.cgibsonmuseum.com and scroll down to the bottom left of the page for a “donate” button. Checks also may be mailed to the Gibson Museum, P.O. Box 31, Middletown, CA 95461.
Email John Lindblom at