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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Academic Decathlon students tested their knowledge of World War I on Saturday in a scrimmage event.
Eleven students from Kelseyville High and six students from Upper Lake High were early risers as they arrived at the Lake County Office of Education Clearlake Office to take seven subject exams.
Students challenged themselves in mathematics, art, economics, social science, music, science and language/literature.
Although no medals are awarded for their performance at this scrimmage, results are given to the coaches and students.
These students – along with the rest of their teams and schools from around the lake – will meet again on Jan. 25 for the speech and interview portion of the completion and then for the last part of the county competition on Feb. 1.
For more information about the Academic Decathlon, please contact Tammy Serpa at
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Friday Congressman Mike Thompson was honored for his years of work to make sure service members who were subjected to the Department of Defense’s chemical weapon testing are able to receive full medical care and disability compensation for their service-connected medical conditions.
In late 2002, the DOD revealed for the first time that between 1962 and 1974 it had tested harmful chemical and biological agents by spraying them on ships and sailors.
These tests – known as Project 112, which included Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense (SHAD) – exposed at least 6,000 service members without their knowledge to harmful chemical and biological weapons, including some of the most deadly chemicals on Earth: Vx Nerve Gas, Sarin Nerve Gas and E. coli.
Thompson was presented his award on Friday in Vallejo at the Cal Maritime Academy by Cal Maritime graduate and former Senior Navy Officer Jack Alderson.
Alderson commanded some of the ships used in the Project 112/SHAD experiments. He has since been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, several types of skin cancers, prostate cancer and doctors have found four occurrences of asbestos in his lungs.
As a senior officer, Alderson was notified of some military chemical tests performed on animals on his ship while he was in service. Once he started getting sick, he asked Thompson to investigate whether or not there could be a link between his health problems and Project 112/SHAD.
“It is a high honor to receive this recognition from a true American hero,” said Thompson. “I will not stop working until every veteran who was unknowingly subjected to these harmful chemical tests gets the full benefits they have earned.”
Many veterans who were subjected to chemical tests as part of Project 112/SHAD have developed serious medical issues but do not currently receive priority care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or disability benefits because the VA does not officially recognize any long-term health consequences from exposure to the chemical agents from these specific tests.
In 2002, Thompson led Congress to direct the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a study of the health effects associated with the chemicals used during Project 112/SHAD.
Numerous reports by other agencies and departments within the U.S. government, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say exposure to these substances have long-term health consequences.
However, after five years of research, the IOM study found no connection existed between the substances tested and the health problems now widely seen among known SHAD veterans.
As a result, the VA does not recognize any long-term health consequences from the Project 112/SHAD tests.
The IOM has since conceded that the first study did not adequately sample the full universe of Project 112/SHAD veterans, and that the study panel could not obtain sufficient information to assess levels of exposure to specific agents.
The initial study also failed to account for the job and duty assignments of various personnel on board all the ships and tugs involved in the chemical testing. Because of this, the first study failed to take into account the different levels of exposure.
For instance, some personnel were exposed during training and testing to multiple weapons, experimental vaccines, trace elements, stimulants, and decontamination agents, whereas other personnel would have had limited exposure because of where they were stationed.
For these reasons, Congress passed a provision in 2010 co-authored by Thompson requiring the VA to contract with IOM for a second study considering the health impact on veterans that were part of Project 112/SHAD.
If the scientific study by the IOM finds a connection between the chemical testing and long-term health consequences, the VA will likely be compelled to provide all service members exposed to this testing priority medical care and full disability compensation.
“Jack, and all the people who served with him, deserve to know the truth,” Thompson continued. “If we don’t get these service members the care they need, then how can we ask our current service members to put their lives on the line knowing that harm from the enemy may not be the only danger they encounter?”
Thompson added, “Many brave men who served our country are now sick or have passed away because of Project 112’s chemical and biological testing. It is our duty to right this wrong and get our service members the care they need.”
For more about Project SHAD, see this Lake County News story from 2008: http://bit.ly/A55Q89 .
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A man convicted of a 1995 Lake County murder was denied parole following a hearing earlier this week.
On Tuesday, the state Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for convicted murderer Fred Gene Stillman, 55.
Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff attended Stillman's lifer hearing at California State Prison Solano in Vacaville, where Stillman is housed, to argue against his release.
A jury found Stillman guilty of second degree murder in the stabbing death of Bart Jackman, and also convicted Stillman of the assault with a knife on Michael Betts, the District Attorney's Office reported.
Stillman originally was prosecuted by then-Deputy District Attorney Gary Luck and was represented by defense attorney Judy Conard.
On Jan. 29, 1996, Superior Court Judge Robert Crone sentenced Stillman to 16 years to life. Stillman's minimum eligible parole date was Dec. 29, 2009.
According to the investigative reports, on July 28, 1995, Stillman found out from his wife and 16-year-old daughter that the girl had been involved in a verbal altercation with some individuals at Austin’s Resort, and that when they left the area the children of a friend had been left at the resort.
Stillman armed himself with a knife and gave his daughter a baseball bat for protection, and the three of them returned to Austin’s Resort.
According to Stillman, when they returned to the resort, a group of people tried to attack them so they left the area, and he stopped outside the Landmark Lounge in Clearlake Park to make a phone call.
Witnesses reported that Stillman’s daughter was standing outside the bar door and Bart Jackman, who had been inside the bar with Michael Betts, asked her to leave because she was underage. This started a verbal altercation between Jackman and Stillman’s daughter.
Stillman approached Jackman and they started shoving each other. At that time Stillman’s daughter began hitting Jackman with the bat.
Based on the investigation, the Stillmans started to leave and Jackman approached and tried to take the bat away from the girl.
At that point another physical altercation started between Stillman and Jackman and witnesses saw Stillman hitting Jackman. Betts intervened to assist Jackman and he also was hit by Stillman.
Stillman, while hitting Jackman and Betts, used a knife to do so. Jackman suffered stab wounds to his aorta, lung and liver and died. Betts suffered stab wounds to his chest and abdomen and survived.
During the altercation, Stillman also accidentally stabbed his daughter in the leg.
Stillman was arrested a short distance away hiding in some bushes, and the knife used to stab Jackman and Betts was recovered.
Hinchcliff appeared at the parole hearing to ask the Board of Prison Hearings commissioners to deny Stillman parole on the grounds that he still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released.
In addition, Hinchcliff argued that Stillman failed to sufficiently participate in prison rehabilitation programs that would alleviate that danger.
At the commencement of the hearing Stillman asked if he could stipulate to a three-year denial in exchange for a waiver of the hearing, potentially to avoid the commissioners granting a longer denial.
The Board of Prison Hearings commissioners accepted the waiver and issued a three-year denial of parole.
Stillman’s next parole hearing will be in 2016, and a representative of the Lake County District Attorney's Office will be appearing at that hearing, Hinchcliff reported.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – With Daylight Saving Time ending this weekend, it's also the right time to check smoke alarms to make sure they're working.
Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3.
Also this weekend, as part of the effort to help reduce the number of home fire fatalities, Cal Fire is reminding all Californians to make sure they have working smoke alarms in their homes.
Nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths result from fires in homes with no working smoke alarms. A little attention to these important life saving devices can go a long way in increasing your chance of surviving a devastating fire.
“Smoke alarms give you and your family an early warning when there is a fire so you can quickly escape to safety,” stated California State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover. “Making sure you have a working smoke alarms in your home will help keep you, your family and guests safe.”
Smoke alarm safety tips:
- Place properly installed and maintained smoke alarms both inside and outside of sleeping areas and on every level of your home.
- Interconnected smoke alarms are best, because if one sounds, they all sound.
- Get smoke alarms that can sound fast to all types of fires. Cal Fire recommends that every residence and place where people sleep be equipped with ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms or dual sensor smoke alarms, which contain both ionization and photoelectric smoke sensors.
- Inspect, test and clean smoke alarms and change alkaline batteries at least once every year, or when the alarm signals (“chirps”) the end of the battery life. You can use a date you already know, like your birthday or when you change your clocks as a reminder.
- Follow manufacturer’s instructions if you have a 10-year smoke alarm which uses a long-life lithium battery.
- Never paint over a smoke alarm.
- Replace your smoke alarm at least every 10 years.
- Practice exit drills so everyone understands what to do when they hear a smoke alarm.
- Keep your smoke alarm working. Never remove batteries from your alarm.
For more information on smoke alarms, visit the Cal Fire’s Web site at http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_smokealarms.php .
Some Halloweens are scarier than others.
Ten years ago, in late October 2003, space weather forecasters experienced a frission of dread when two gigantic sunspots appeared.
Both had complex magnetic fields that harbored energy for strong explosions. If the spots turned toward Earth and erupted …
That's exactly what happened. From Oct. 19 through Nov. 7, 2003, there were 17 major eruptions on the sun, including a record-setting X28 flare.
One after another, CMEs (coronal mass ejections) slammed into Earth's magnetosphere, causing geomagnetic storms and Northern lights seen as far south as Florida and Texas.
On Halloween itself, many trick or treaters witnessed blood-red auroras – very spooky indeed.
At the peak of these “Halloween Storms,” as solar physicists began to call them, airlines had to re-route polar flights to lower latitudes, the power went out in parts of Sweden, and more than half of NASA's satellite fleet experienced problems ranging from temporary shut-downs to permanent damage.
The FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (a network of radio transmitters that improves GPS navigation for aircraft) was offline for approximately 30 hours due to the storm, and the Japanese ADEOS-2 satellite was severely damaged.
Fast forward 10 years to October 2013, and the sun is storming again.
A week before Halloween 2013, a new coven of big sunspots appeared. As of Oct. 31, they had unleashed more than half a dozen major flares including four X-class events.
Earth is not experiencing the same kind of effects as 10 years ago, however, because the eruptions have not been as energetic and, moreover, most of them have missed our planet. This makes the Halloween Storms of 2013 less scary than their 2003 predecessors.
An X2-class solar flare recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Sept. 29, 2013.
“This spate of activity is inconsequential when compared to the 2003 events,” recalled Joe Kunches, a longtime forecaster working at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.
He pointed out that geomagnetic storm indices now are an order of magnitude smaller than they were ten years ago.
Nevertheless, the current storms are remarkable because they are the “flariest” thing to come along in a while. Solar activity waxes and wanes in 11-year cycles.
In 2003, the sun was ramping down from a strong Solar Max. The potent Halloween storms of that year were, if not actually predicted, at least not surprising. 2013 is different.
The current solar cycle is one of the weakest in a century. This makes the mini-Halloween Storms of 2013 a bigger surprise even as they do less damage.
Also mitigating the damage in 2013 is a decade of improvements in space weather forecasting.
Using data from NASA science spacecraft such as the twin STEREO probes and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, NOAA analysts are able to predict the arrival of solar storms with better accuracy than ever. This gives satellite operators, NASA mission controllers, and airline flight planners extra time to safeguard life and property.
Ultimately, the ending of this spooky tale may require a re-write. Why? Because it's not over yet. As Halloween 2013 comes and goes the sun is still peppered with large and active sunspots.
One of them may yet send a powerful flare and CME directly toward us, sparking storms akin to the ones from a decade ago.
When you knock on the door and shout “trick or treat,” you never know what you might get when the door opens. The sun is much the same way.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NICE, Calif. – A vehicle stop conducted by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force has resulted in on arrest and the seizure of methamphetamine.
Christopher James Bynum, 55, of Nice was taken into custody on Wednesday night, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
At 9:30 p.m. Wednesday a narcotics detective noticed a motorcycle traveling in front of him on eastbound Highway 20 in Nice with a tail light which was not working, Brooks said.
Brooks said the detective conducted an enforcement stop in the area of Lakeview Drive and Highway 20. As the motorcycle was pulling over he noticed the driver throw something into the grass as he came to a complete stop.
The detective contacted the driver, who he identified as Bynum, and examined what Bynum had thrown, which appeared to be wadded up paper, Brooks said.
Brooks said the detective opened the paper and located four bags containing a white translucent crystalline substance, which he recognized to be methamphetamine.
Bynum admitted that he was going to both sell and use the methamphetamine the detective had located. He also told the detective that he was not selling too much dope and that the people up the street were more of a problem than he was, Brooks said.
Bynum was arrested for possession of methamphetamine for sale, transportation of a controlled substance and destroying or concealing evidence. Brooks said Bynum was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.