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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Where there was smoke there was, well, fun, dozens of children, fire engine sirens, hundreds of balloons and, lest we forget, Smokey Bear, on Saturday as the South Lake Fire station held its first-ever open house.
All of this was attendant with a fundraiser for Relay For Life, a national event for cancer survivors.
It was the first in what the Middletown station plans to make an annual event.
“We’re going to get out there in front of everybody,” said one of the 33 firefighters who comprise the Middletown force.
All of the proceeds from the sale of food and refreshments, a $1 charge for a ride on the fire engines and donations will go to Relay for Life which will be held early next month.
The children got a demonstration in hands-on CPR and a “low in the smoke” interactive exercise in which the youngsters crawled under smoke in order to experience what firefighters have to go through during a fire.
Email John Lindblom at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Visit the county’s animal shelter this week and you’ll find a wide array of canines waiting for homes.
Mixes available include hounds, shepherds, Chihuahuas, pit bulls, terriers, retrievers and Pomeranians, most spayed or neutered, vaccinated and ready for new homes.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
'Mary Jane'
“Mary Jane” is a 6-year-old pit bull terrier mix.
She has a medium brown and white coat, weighs 57 pounds and has been altered.
She's in kennel No. 6, ID No. 34818.
Female pit bull mix
This female pit bull mix is 6 months old.
She has a short brown and white coat, gold eyes, weighs nearly 26 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 7, ID No. 35880.
‘Harley’
“Harley” is a 1-year-old hound-shepherd mix.
He has a short black and white coat, weighs 55 pounds and has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 8, ID No. 36031.
Male Chihuahua mix
This male Chihuahua mix is 2 and a half years old.
He has blue eyes and floppy ears, a short tan coat and weighs nearly 7 pounds.
He’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 35885.
Labrador Retriever-pointer mix
This female Labrador Retriever-pointer mix is 1 year old.
She has a short chocolate coat, a green and a gold eye, weighs nearly 49 pounds and has not yet been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 14, ID No. 35876.
Male retriever mix
This male retriever mix is 4 years old.
He has a short yellow coat and brown eyes, weighs 46 pounds and has been neutered.
Shelter staff reported that he’s a very mellow, gentle and well-mannered dog. He gets along great with older, mellow dogs.
Find him in kennel No. 16, ID No. 35734.
‘Sparkles’
“Sparkles” is a 2 year old border collie mix.
She has a short black and white spotted coat, floppy ears and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 20, ID No. 35947.
Pit bull terrier mix
This male pit bull terrier mix is 1 year old.
He has a short black and white coat, weighs 35 pounds and has been neutered.
He's in kennel No. 22, ID No. 35936.
‘Peanut’
“Peanut” is a 5 year old Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix.
He has a short red coat and has been neutered.
Shelter staff said peanut needs a home with no small children.
Peanut is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 35966.
‘Chance’
“Chance” is a 4 year old Labrador Retriever-Shepherd mix.
He weighs 44 pounds, has a short brown and white coat, and has not yet been altered.
Find him in kennel No. 25, ID No. 36034.
Pit bull terrier mix
This female pit bull terrier mix is 2 years old.
She weighs nearly 42 pounds, has a short white and brown brindle coat, and has been spayed.
Shelter staff said she’s a very sweet dog and is great with other dogs. She doesn't appear to have been given much attention but she loves a lap to crawl into, and has a low energy level.
She’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 35823.
Please note: Dogs listed at the county shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Former Brown Administration Resources Secretary Huey Johnson, president of the Resource Renewal Institute, has unveiled the first-ever public “California Water Rights Atlas.”
The atlas can be found at http://ca.statewater.org/water-rights .
This online tool enables citizens, policymakers, media and others to view thousands of current California water rights claims.
RRI is a nonprofit, public interest organization, and is providing this “gift of information” to the people of California free of charge.
The Water Rights Atlas addresses California’s water crisis by opening, organizing, and distilling dysfunctional state-level data to improve efficiency and access for water resource managers and the public.
“For the past century, powerful special interests claimed ownership of both real and imaginary water through political contributions. Other states outgrew this corrupt practice long ago, but not California. The California Water Rights Atlas may be the sunlight that finally breaks the fog bank of chaos and mismanagement that cripples the state’s water system,” said RRI President Johnson.
“California’s water crisis is exacerbated by incomplete, inaccessible data,” Johnson said. “Currently, water rights holders claim they divert, in aggregate, approximately 250 million acre feet of water each year. But California receives just 71 million acre feet of usable water from annual precipitation on average. We’ve created a water rights atlas to provide real-time and open information to create more effective citizen participants.”
Water information is a public right.
According to the California Constitution’s Public Trust Doctrine, the state’s water is a public resource to be managed by the government on behalf of the people.
“Information about water use, management, and governance is a public right,” said Johnson. “But without effective access to water rights information, citizens have been at a disadvantage. Well-connected special interests have been able to use information as power, to muscle others out of line when water is scarce. The new atlas puts every citizen on equal footing with the most powerful special interests.”
Johnson said problems with the state’s data infrastructure have directly contributed to cumbersome, inefficient water management and marginal civic engagement. He said inconsistent and incomplete data resulted in wasted time, wasted money, and wasted opportunities.
“Increasing pressure on California’s water resources makes opening this state-level information to engaged citizens, conservation nonprofits, water rights holders, journalists and other agencies crucial,” said Johnson.
In 1979, the Governor’s Office of California published the California Water Atlas, a book dedicated to providing citizens with a strong starting point to tackle looming water scarcity and give clarity to a complex system. The atlas tells the story of water supply, management, history, and governance through elegant maps and graphics.
This California Water Rights Atlas is the first in a series of new visualizations that will comprise a next-generation edition of the California Water Atlas.
This atlas enhances and modernizes the systems-based perspective by leveraging real-time feedback, citizen participation, and open data.
It encourages smart, balanced, transparent and rapid decision making on water at the state level by sharing its complex management information. This is particularly important given the increasing urgency and impacts of climate change on demand, supply and use.
“Until now, data about California’s complex water rights system has been woefully unorganized, inconsistent, and difficult to navigate,” said Director of Research Laci Videmsky. “Information was scattered across many sites, and users were confronted by multiple data formats with few options for automated retrieval.”
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Caltrans said around-the-clock work on the Highway 53 rehabilitation project near Clearlake will start on Sunday.
The project includes installing a traffic signal at Olympic Drive, widening shoulders, adding and lengthening turn pockets at intersections, and repaving more than four miles of Highway 53 from just north of 40th Avenue to just south of Route 20. Caltrans said work is anticipated to be completed this fall.
Work hours will be 8 p.m. Sunday through 3 p.m. Friday, 24 hours per day, Caltrans reported.
One-way traffic control will be in effect, and motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays.
Caltrans said the work schedule is anticipated to last six weeks, and will help ensure the project will be completed on schedule.
Additionally, Olympic Drive will be closed at Highway 53 from Tuesday, April 16, through Friday, April 19.
The contractor is Teichert Construction of Davis.
For the most current road information on all California State highways, call 1-800-427-7623 (1-800-GAS-ROAD) or visit www.dot.ca.gov .
COBB, Calif. – A moderate-sized quake was reported in the Cobb area on Saturday afternoon.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 3:22 p.m. four miles west southwest of Cobb and 14 miles southwest of Clearlake.
It was recorded at a depth of 2.4 miles, the agency reported.
By 5 p.m. the survey had received two shake reports, one from Middletown, one from Richmond.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Glenn County officials are investigating the discovery of the body of a so-far unidentified man in a county creek.
Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said Saturday that the death is considered suspicious, and that his county has no reports of a missing person that would match the case so far.
Jones said the body was found the previous evening in Stony Creek, west of Hamilton City.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Hamilton City Fire Department as three local teenagers had gone swimming in Stony Creek at around 6 p.m., he said.
The teens were drawn to a stench near the edge of the creek, and when they followed the smell they came upon a human body, according to Jones.
The three went back into Hamilton City and reported the situation to the Hamilton City Fire Department, which in turn called the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office, Jones said.
Jones said patrol deputies met the three young people and transported them back to Stony Creek where the teens showed the deputies the location of the body.
He said deputies found the badly decomposed remains of what appeared to be a male adult in a shallow area of still water on the north bank.
The area subsequently was sealed off and Jones and his Major Crimes Unit detectives were called to the scene, he said.
Due to darkness, the scene was guarded throughout the night by members of the Glenn County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team, Jones said.
Investigators returned Saturday morning, processed the scene, took aerial photographs and the body was removed at approximately 9:30 a.m., Jones reported.
Pending autopsy, there is no known cause of death, and Jones said the race and identity of the subject are not known. The body is therefore classified as a John Doe.
The death is highly suspicious and a body dump has yet to be ruled out, Jones said, adding that it also is not known how long the body had been in the water.
Jones said further information will be released as it becomes available.