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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A mortar found in a package at the UPS customer center in Lakeport was safely detonated early Thursday afternoon.
Employees at the UPS center, located at 1275 Craig Ave., discovered the device earlier in the day and contacted Lakeport Police, as Lake County News has reported.
The package containing the mortar was addressed to a Clearlake resident, according to Lakeport Police Lt. Jason Ferguson.
Ferguson said police secured the location in preparation for the Napa County bomb squad, which arrived shortly before 1:30 p.m.
The bomb squad put up a small bunker around the device – which an employee had moved to a nearby field – and used their own explosives to detonate it, according to Ferguson.
“The device was determined to be inert,” Ferguson said.
He said the investigation is ongoing as to the package's recipient and the individual shipping it.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A new study released by the state finds that hundreds of communities around California – including three areas in Lake County – rely on contaminated groundwater sources for their drinking water supply.
The State Water Resources Control Board report, required by AB 2222, found that between 2002 and 2010, 680 community water systems – out of 3,037 – serving nearly 21 million residents, relied on a contaminated groundwater source affected by one or more of 31 “principal contaminants,” with arsenic and nitrate among the most commonly detected.
The report emphasized that those water systems are being subjected to “comprehensive treatment” in order to make the water sources safe. “Although many water suppliers draw from contaminated groundwater sources, most suppliers are able to treat the water or blend it with cleaner supplies before serving it to the public.”
The California Department of Public Health reported that more than 98 percent of Californians on public water supply are served safe drinking water.
“Groundwater contamination remains a challenge, requiring effort by community water systems to ensure their customers are delivered water that is safe to drink,” said State Water Board Executive Director Tom Howard. “This report offers substantive data on the types of contaminants and the extent of groundwater contamination, while offering several options to improve water quality to those residents who need it most.”
Most of the 680 community water systems are located in the Southern California Inland Empire, the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, the Salinas Valley, and the Santa Maria Valley, with Kern, Tulare and Madera counties having the most community water systems with those issues, according to water board officials.
However, the report lists three affected water systems in Lake County: Sunrise Shore Mutual Water Co. in Lower Lake, found with high levels of aluminum; Corinthian Bay Mutual Water Co., located outside of the Lakeport city limits, which has high nitrate levels; and Cal 20 Village in Upper Lake, where high methyl tertiary butyl ether levels were found.
Leah Walker, chief of CDPH’s Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management, said the agency has regulatory oversight of all public water systems in Lake County. She said they have closely monitored these three water systems and worked with them to ensure the water they are delivering to their customers meets California drinking water standards.
She said CDPH regularly reviews water quality data from each system listed in the report and has conducted inspections of all three listed Lake County water systems.
Walker reported that Cal 20 Village has effective treatment for MTBE in the form of granular activated carbon filters.
The water system tested its finished water on a monthly basis during the eight-year time period covered by the report and no MTBE was detected in the finished water. “As such MTBE does not present a health issue in this public water system,” she said.
With Sunrise Shore Mutual Water Co., the system has naturally occurring aluminum in the water from its well. Over the years the water system has drilled several different wells to try and alleviate this issue, Walker said.
The system’s current well, well No. 3, was drilled in 2004. In 2008 the water system installed treatment to reduce iron and manganese in its source water. Walker said this treatment also has reduced the aluminum levels in the finished water.
Since December 2009, the water system has been monitoring its treated water for aluminum concentration on a monthly basis, and of the 32 samples recorded in CDPH's database, four have exceeded the aluminum level of milligram per liter, Walker said.
At the same time, the average values have not exceeded the drinking water standard and the water produced by Sunrise Shore does not present a health issue to its customers, she said.
Regarding Corinthian Bay Mutual Water Co., Walker said it was the system's well No. 1, a standby well, that surpassed the nitrate drinking level standard of 45 milligrams per liter, and therefore CDPH directed the water system to remove the well from service, according to Walker.
She said the water company did just that, then redrilled and installed a deeper seal. Since that time the well has produced water with no detectable nitrate.
The system’s other well has produced water with a very low level of nitrate. However, Walker said the drinking water delivered to customers from these wells does not exceed the drinking water standard and does not present a health issue to its customers.
Walker said CDPH continues to monitor the three water systems and will take additional action if values in the drinking water exceed the respective standards.
In releasing the report, the water board cited a US EPA estimate that California will need $40 billion during the next 20 years for infrastructure development and improvements to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
State Water Board Contaminated Groundwater Report by LakeCoNews
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Understanding and tracking Lake County's unique health needs is the focus of an assessment project that's now getting under way.
A group of local agencies and organizations are partnering for the update to the Lake County Health Needs Assessment.
The first assessment came out at the end of 2010. The first-of-its-kind study offered a glimpse into Lake County's public health challenges, and gave health officials and professionals a critical baseline for creating policy.
Now, as it comes time to update the document, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait said a number of organizations have pooled their resources to make it a “bigger, better needs assessment.”
“It should be completed by later this year,” said Tait.
Among the participating organizations in the Lake County Health Collaborative are the county of Lake, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Lake County Tribal Health, Mendocino Community Health Clinic and Lake Family Resource Center.
Tait said St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake helped kick off the effort and is in a leading role, handling practical aspects of the work including working with the consultant.
The new assessment, she said, will look very much like the previous one in format.
Consultant Barbara Aved of Barbara Aved Associates – who did the previous assessment and has done others around the state – was hired for the new project, which Tait said will offer continuity.
Thanks to having the 2010 baseline information, the new assessment, said Tait, will include some trending analysis to see how the county is doing with its critical health challenges.
She expects it will show some changes, although because the time frame is short they likely won't be major.
The assessment project is expected to cost about $40,000 to $50,000, Tait said. “It's kind of breathtaking, but there's a lot to it,” she said, explaining the amount of data collection and analysis involved.
Central to the process is a community health needs survey that county residents are invited to complete.
Tait said hard copies of the survey are being distributed to various public locations throughout the county.
The one page survey is printed on a sheet of yellow legal-sized paper, with the survey in English on one side, Spanish on the other, she said.
She said they will be collecting the completed surveys throughout the months of February and March.
The survey also can be found online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KeepingLakeCountyHealthy .
In addition to the survey, Tait said there will be several focus groups around the county hosted by the organizations collaborating on the assessment.
The focus groups, said Tait, give another dimension to the study, making sure the assessment isn't “just a dry review of data.”
Sutter Lakeside Hospital is inviting community members to a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28, to hear about the assessment and offer input.
The gathering will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lakeside Wellness Center, 5196 Hill Road East Lakeport.
Vera Crabtree of Sutter Lakeside said those who attend will be asked a number of targeted questions about health.
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NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named “2012 DA14.”
NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.
The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.
At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 11:25 a.m. Pacific Time, the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
Measuring approximately 50 meters wide, 2012 DA14 is about half the size of a football field.
Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object this big come so close to our planet. The asteroid will actually pass closer to Earth than many manmade satellites.
The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .
In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. Pacific Time and continuing through the afternoon at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .
Also, a Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.
To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc .
Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-05) has been reappointed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“It is a high honor to once again be appointed to serve on the House Intelligence Committee,” said Thompson. “Strong, viable intelligence is the most effective way to keep America safe. I look forward to continuing my work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to strengthen our Intel community and make sure they have the resources they need to keep Americans safe.”
Rep. Thompson was first selected to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2007.
The committee has jurisdiction over the intelligence community and intelligence-related activities by the CIA, DIA, NSA, and other agencies of the Department of Defense and the Departments of State, Justice and Treasury.
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
In December Thompson was appointed chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lower Lake High School sophomore won top honors in the annual Poetry Out Loud contest.
Taylor Klemin won the competition – sponsored for the fifth year by the Lake County Arts Council – which encourages youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. Sadie Sheldon, also a sophomore, was runner up.
This program encourages students to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.
Michele Krueger, a poet-teacher with California Poets in the Schools, is facilitating the program’s fifth year in Lake County.
During the competition at Lower Lake High School on Friday, Feb. 8, students competed for the Lake County Poetry Out Loud championship and the opportunity to capture the crown and advance to the state finals next month in Sacramento, according to an arts council report.
In addition to Sheldon and Klemin, competitors included seniors Conner Babcock and Louisa Correa, junior Sylvia Manners, and sophomores Travis Martin and Cheyanne Cacy.
They recited poems by authors Edith Wharton, Kenneth Patchen, Countee Cullen and others.
Held in the Lower Lake library campus, two of Lori White's English honors classes took up the gauntlet to memorize iconic poems spanning several centuries in a very brief period.
Mindful of the judging criteria, these talented students honed their skills and electrified the audience with their powerful interpretations.
Klemin will join more than 50 other county champions in Sacramento March 24-25 for an exciting weekend of competition, with the winner progressing to the national finals in Washington, D.C.
After successful pilot programs in Washington, DC, and Chicago, Poetry Out Loud was launched in high schools nationwide in the spring of 2006 with tens of thousands of students participating.
Poetry Out Loud has grown every year, with more than 365,000 students competing in 2011-2012, and 50 counties participating in California's 2013 competition.
This program is made possible through the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
