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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Academic Decathlon teams from Upper Lake High School and Willits High School recently traveled to Sacramento to compete at the state level competition.
The three-day competition, which took place March 15-18, included testing their knowledge of this year’s topic of “Imperialism: The Age of Empire: as well as their skills in essay, speech and interview.
Granada Hills Charter High took the champion spot for their second year in a row with a score of 51,913.30 out of a possible 60,000.
That school's team will advance to the national competition April 26-28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, along with large school title winner El Camino Real High/LAUSD; St. Francis High/Southern California Private Schools, the medium school title winner; and University High/Fresno County, the small school title winner.
Upper Lake, competing in Division Three for small schools, scored 30,769. Willits, competing in the same small schools division, scored 27,142.
Decathletes competed in Economics, Art, Music, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Science, Super Quiz, Essay, Interview and Speech.
Although neither the Willits nor Upper Lake teams will advance to the national competition, Christine Randall of Upper Lake High beat out 565 other students from the state of California to bring home the bronze medal in Language & Literature.
Randall and Aaron Ramirez from Willits High both earned a gold medal for earning the highest overall score for their respective teams.
The experience of being a decathlete goes beyond learning about the yearly subject and competing for medals.
Students and coaches work hard to develop a variety of skills that will benefit them later in life including test taking strategies and public speaking.
At the state competition students get the opportunity to meet hundreds of students from throughout the state and attend a mixer/dance after all competition is done.
According to Tammy Serpa, the regional coordinator, “All of our decathletes and coaches should be proud of their efforts at the state competition. They represented the counties well and displayed tremendous pride and sportsmanship throughout the competition.”
Before the school year is out, coaches will be recruiting new team members and study material will be distributed to get a jump start on next year’s competition.
The 2013 topic will be Russia, including a science focus on space exploration and literature selection of “Doctor Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – She's small, curious and looking for a new family.
Delilah is a young dog who came to the shelter with a litter of puppies, some of which already have been adopted. Her previous owner was moving out of state and so had to give her up.
Believed to be a border collie/terrier mix, Delilah is small – she weighs only 25 pounds – is good with children and other pets, and looking for a loving home.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 32044.
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 .
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 .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
SACRAMENTO – Department of Water Resources (DWR) hydrologists on Monday reported that water content in California's mountain snowpack is only 55 percent of the April 1 full season average.
"An unusually wet March improved conditions, but did not make up for the previous dry months,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “The take-home message is that we’ve had a dry winter and although good reservoir storage will lessen impacts this summer, we need to be prepared for a potentially dry 2013."
Snowpack water content is measured both manually on or near the first of the month from January to May, and in real-time by electronic sensors.
This month’s survey and electronic readings are considered the most important of the year, since early April is when the state's snowpack normally is at its peak before it begins to melt into streams, reservoirs and aquifers in the spring and summer months.
The mountain snowpack normally provides about a third of the water for California's households, industry and farms.
Electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 78 percent of the April 1 seasonal average.
Electronic readings for the central Sierra show 51 percent of the April 1 average. The number for the southern Sierra is 39 percent. The statewide number is 55 percent.
On March 1, snowpack water content was only 34 percent of the April 1 average in the northern mountain ranges, 28 percent in the central Sierra, and 29 percent in the southern Sierra. Statewide, the early March snowpack water content was 30 percent of the April 1 seasonal average.
On April 1 last year, snowpack water content readings were 173 percent of the April 1 average in the northern mountains, 161 percent in the central ranges, 155 percent in the south, and 163 percent statewide.
California has above average reservoir storage as summer approaches thanks to runoff from last winter’s storms.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, is 107 percent of average for the date (84 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity). Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project's largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 104 percent of average (86 percent of capacity).
DWR estimated it will be able to deliver 50 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of State Water Project (SWP) water requested this year by the 29 public agencies that supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
A 50 percent allocation is not severely low, state officials said.
Wet conditions last year allowed the State Water Project to deliver 80 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet requested for calendar year 2011.
The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.
The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years due to pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.
Statewide snowpack readings from electronic sensors are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ .
Historic readings from snowpack sensors are posted at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/rpts1/DLYSWEQ .
Pick-a-Date snowpack water content readings are at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action .
Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action .
See DWR’s new Water Conditions page at http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/ .
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A Fort Bragg man was arrested over the weekend after he allegedly kicked in a man's door and doused him with gasoline.
Ryan Patrick Coppola, 27, was arrested on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, criminal threats and vandalism, and misdemeanor domestic battery, according to Sgt. John Gregore of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Gregore said that at 12:45 a.m. Saturday, March 31, sheriff's deputies were dispatched to an address on Deer Park Drive in Lower Lake on the report a male who had kicked in the front door to the residence and poured gasoline on the occupants.
When deputies arrived, the victim said he had been with some friends earlier in the night at Maynard’s Sports Bar in Lower Lake, Gregore said.
While the deputies were there, they saw Coppola, who they knew. Coppola recently had broken up with his girlfriend, who was homeless and temporarily staying at the residence in Lower Lake, Gregore said.
The man told deputies that Coppola got into a physical altercation at the bar, but neither he nor his friends were involved, according to Gregore.
After leaving Maynard’s, the victim and some friends went to his house and were sleeping in a front room of the home, Gregore said. The victim woke up to Coppola kicking in his front door and entering the residence carrying a gas can.
Coppola then allegedly started pouring gasoline on the male victim and the interior of the residence, Gregore reported. According to witnesses, Coppola said something about burning the victim.
Gregore said Coppola then noticed his ex-girlfriend lying on a couch in the home. Coppola picked her up off the couch and threw her to the floor.
The male victim said he ran outside his house and Coppola pursued him into the street. Coppola continued to chase him until a neighbor came outside to investigate the commotion. Coppola then left in an unknown direction, according to Gregore.
Gregore said deputies could smell the strong odor of gasoline coming from the victim’s clothing and the inside of his residence. Deputies were unable to locate Coppola at the scene.
Several hours later, deputies located Coppola and arrested him. Gregore said Coppola was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. Bail was set at $25,000.
Coppola, whose arrest sheet lists his profession as jeweler, later posted bail and was released, according to jail records.
NICE, Calif. – Preliminary work on a roundabout near the Northshore town of Nice is under way.
The roundabout will be built at the intersection of Highway 20 and the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff, just west of Nice.
Granite Construction received a $2.6 million contract to build the roundabout, according to Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.
Frisbie said the total project cost – including purchase of additional property for right-of-way – is $4.6 million.
In 2007 Caltrans identified the need for an update to the intersection to increase its safety, Frisbie said.
“At that point we realized we needed to do something,” Frisbie said.
He added, “A major issue there was the collision rate.”
The intersection’s historic collision rate was five times higher than the statewide average for similar intersections, according to Caltrans.
When addressing safety issues at intersections, Frisbie said Caltrans usually considers traffic signs and roundabouts.
“The roundabout was the best option for this intersection,” he said.
Caltrans anticipates the intersection’s new roundabout will reduce the number and severity of collisions.
Another goal is to slow traffic, especially eastbound traffic entering Nice, Frisbie said.
The agency also said the roundabout will lower vehicle emissions by lessening idle times compared to a traffic signal.
Other associated improvements will include sidewalks, enhanced drainage and median islands that will allow pedestrians to cross the highway, Caltrans reported.
Frisbie said the preliminary project work is taking place now, which has included the clearing of some nearby trees.
He said it won’t be until the middle of April that construction work impacting traffic will begin.
Once under way, the project should move quickly, he said.
“We’re expecting it to be completed by this winter,” said Frisbie.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Three cats – two tabbies and a tortie – are prepared for adoption at the county’s animal shelter this week.
Two of the cats already have been altered, which lowers the cost for adoption and expedites the process for finding them new homes.
Cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed and microchipped 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 there, hoping you'll choose them.
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).
Brown female tabby
This female tabby is 7 months old.
She is a domestic short hair mix with brown coloring.
Find her in cat room kennel No. 6, ID No. 32070.
‘Kitty’
“Kitty” is a female domestic short hair mix.
She is 1 year old and has dilute tortie coloring.
She already is spayed.
Kitty is in cat room kennel No. 77, ID No. 32158.
Male tabby
This male gray and black tabby is 3 years old.
He weighs 10 pounds, has a short coat and a docked tail.
He already has been neutered.
Find him in cat room kennel No. 52, ID No. 32041.
Adoptable cats also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Cats_and_Kittens.htm or at www.petfinder.com .
Please note: Cats listed at the 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.