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For young drivers between the ages of 15-20 years old, traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for teens in America. Teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.
“Inexperience combined with speed, a lack of seat belt compliance, distractions, alcohol or any other risk-taking behavior can have deadly results behind the wheel,” said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Unlike a video game, you aren’t given multiple lives and there isn’t a reset button; our goal is to arm California’s youth with enough knowledge to make smart driving decisions.”
The CHP is hoping National Teen Driver Safety Week – Oct. 16-22 – will serve as an important reminder for teens and their parents or guardians to get involved with any number of the traffic safety programs the department offers which are geared toward teen drivers.
The programs include Start Smart, a driver safety education class targeting new and future licensed teenage drivers between the age of 15-19 and their parents/guardians.
In addition, Impact Teen Drivers – a nonprofit, public awareness and education program – is designed to educate teens about the dangers of distracted driving.
There's also Every 15 Minutes, a program focused on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends and many others.
National Teen Driver Safety week was established by the U.S. Congress in 2007. It is observed annually the third week of each October to raise national awareness to teen driver safety issues and encourage safe teen driver and passenger behavior.
“Kids will imitate you and your behaviors,” added Commissioner Farrow. “Parents or guardians can help reinforce what their teen drivers learn in these programs by practicing safe driving habits at all times. This will help our young drivers mature into great drivers for the rest of their lives.”
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The vigil will begin at 7 p.m. at Austin Park, 14077 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.
This event will feature speakers including Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen. Candles and refreshments will be provided.
The Lake Family Resource Center is commemorating Domestic Violence Awareness Month throughout October.
The group wants to call awareness to the tragedy of domestic violence in hope of ending it in Lake County.
This is the 13th year that Lake Family Resource Center has held candlelight vigils in Lake County. The Oct. 17 vigil will be the second in Clearlake.
All are welcome no matter what the weather.
Lake Family Resource Center provides a multitude of services to build family stability and strength. The agency supports Lake County residents in achieving stable, self-sufficient, and healthy families and communities.
Call them at 707-279-0563.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Less than a week after federal officials said they were cracking down on marijuana-related businesses in California, a well-known Mendocino County dispensary was raided on Thursday.
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency were reported to be raiding the garden of Northstone Organics in Mendocino County, according to a report from California NORML.
California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer denounced the raid as a “shameful and despicable” attack on California's most successful legally regulated marijuana cultivation program.
Gieringer and his group reported that Northstone Organics, directed by Matt Cohen, has been a
pioneering participant in Mendocino County's innovative “zip-tie” program to license medical marijuana gardens.
“The DEA is doing nothing but encouraging lawlessness and disobedience to the law,” said Gieringer. “This is a victory for the Mexican cartels.”
The dispensary's Web site also was down on Thursday.
Northstone, which reportedly delivers medical marijuana as far as Southern California, has two employees facing charges for transporting marijuana after being arrested on Sonoma County, according to www.miller-mccune.com.
Federal officials were reported to have been conducting several raids on dispensaries and related organizations around California on Wednesday and Thursday, according to various media outlets.
Raids also were going on elsewhere along the West Coast, with a raid netting 43 arrests taking place in northwestern Oregon Thursday.
In addition, this week federal officials indicated they are intending to go after marijuana advertisements in newspapers, online media and other venues.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – For 47 years, the Kelseyville High School wrestling program hasn't had a home of its own, shuttling between empty classrooms and whatever space was available.
But that's changed, thanks to community donations and thousands of volunteer hours that supported the program's first building, which was constructed over the summer.
On Wednesday afternoon, the new William Miles Turner Wrestling Facility had its official opening, with its namesake – and the founder of the school's wrestling program – on hand to see it open.
Kelseyville High's wrestling program began in 1964, not long after the arrival in the little town of 26-year-old Miles Turner, fresh out of the Army and accompanied by a Tennessee walking horse named Adam, a blue tick hound named Tilla and a bantam rooster.
Turner would later marry, and he and wife, Rowena, raised four children. Their sons and thousands of others have moved through the program since, benefiting from the guidance, discipline and fitness aspects of the sport.
“I'm just so honored, I don't know how to put it into words,” Miles Turner said Wednesday.
The 2,400-square-foot building sits next to the high school's gymnasium, and represents 6,000 volunteer hours and community contributions totaling nearly $300,000, according to county supervisor and local businessman Rob Brown, credited by Principal Matt Cockerton with spearheading the effort.
But Brown said the project's true value is priceless.
“It is the result of hard work, dedication and a commitment by many people that recognized a need, and filled it,” he said at the event.
Brown said what made the project even more valuable to him was that most of the work was done by students.
In fact, students from around the county showed up and worked long hours in the summer heat to help put the building up. According to Brown, the project's motto was, “Building Character.”
The back wall features artwork by Roxie Mynatt and on another wall hangs pictures of all the program's wrestlers who have gone to the state finals. They include Benjamin Turner (Miles Turner's son), 1993; Dwayne Ford and Rena Vega, 1994-1995; Steve Brown, 2000-02; and Adam Whittington, 2003.
Brown told Lake County News that many of the people who contributed to the wrestling room were the same people who supported the multidisciplinary interview center for the District Attorney's Office, completed in 2008.
Brown told the group who assembled for the grand opening that the whole project started off with the donation of a new wrestling mat from Calpine Corp.
“It was nice of them to purchase this for us but, once we got it, I realized we really had no good place to put it,” he said.
He began discussing where the mat could be stored with high school Athletic Director Steve Olson and Cockerton.
That led to the larger project, which was supported by Kelseyville Superintendent Dave McQueen, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook and Brock Falkenberg, senior director of Human Resources/Designated Services at the Lake County Office of Education, who oversees ROP projects.
Brown also offered thanks to his friend Kelseyville High teacher Mike Jones, who offered guidance and assistance on the project.
But the biggest thanks was owed to Turner, who was Brown's own high school wrestling coach. Today, Turner's son, Willy, is a member of the coaching team, along with Brown, Elvis Cook and Adam Garcia.
“We as coaches, aspire to be a positive influence on kids. And, as a coach, I will consider myself successful if, at the end of my career, I can look back and know that I had influenced only half of the young people that this man has influenced,” Brown said.
Willy Turner agreed with Brown's sentiments, crediting his father with being an important influence on the lives of many.
Cockerton also thanked Brown for his effort to make the project a reality, and presented him with a piece of conduit with what had once been wires for the school's fire alarm and telephone systems sticking out one end. Brown had inadvertently dug them up while working on the building. Cockerton suggested he hang the memento over the door.
A list of volunteers and contributors to the project follows.
Adult volunteers
Willy Turner, Boone Bridges, Curt Winchester, Bob Fisher, John White, Jesse Head, Matt Odom, Adam and Kim Garcia, Dustin and Darin Knight.
Contributing businesses and organizations
G.R. Shaul, Pivniska Trucking, Allen Keithly Transportation, Clearlake Lava, Clearlake Redi Mix, Mendo Mill, Kelseyville Lumber, Turner Insulation, Lake County Electric Supply, Big Valley Electric, Totorica Plumbing, Totorica Fire Protection, Northshore Drywall, Jeff Bour Painting, JC Painting, Quality Sheet metal, Calpine Corp. and Caltrans.
Financial contributions
Steve Brookes, Don Borges, Lisa Pope, Vicki Totorica, Ron Bartolucci, Kelseyville Sunrise Rotary and Miles Turner.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The spill resulted from a fuel tanker rollover that was reported just before 2:30 p.m. in the 8800 block of E. Highway 20, a quarter-mile off of the highway, according to the initial California Highway Patrol report.
Initial reports were that 700 gallons of kerosene were spilled because of the tanker rolling over.
A Jonas Oil fuel tanker had rolled down a hillside while making a delivery to a private residence. The driver reported to officials that he tried to miss the branches of a tree that had encroached into his lane by driving onto the right shoulder.
However, the road's shoulder was soft and the truck slid off, rolling two to three times, according to estimates from officials at the scene.
The truck came to rest on its passenger side – approximately 100 feet off the roadway – against an oak tree. One of the tank's vent caps was damaged, causing the spill.
The driver reported to officials that only three of the tank's four compartments contained some amount of fuel, though it was unknown just how much remained after a morning of deliveries.
Officials at the scene said the driver was wearing his seat belt and was able to get out of the truck on his own. He reported being unharmed and denied medical attention, but was assessed by a paramedic on scene. He later was taken to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake for a mandatory blood draw, as is common in crashes.
Jonas had representatives on scene shortly after the incident occurred, providing assistance and information to the incident command set up at the scene.
The initial fire crew on scene disabled the trucks electrical system and set up a hazardous materials leak containment system. The Lake County Hazmat Unit arrived on scene and then secured the damaged area and stopped the leak.
After an assessment by officials on scene, it was determined that in order for the tow company to recover the vehicle safely, a “stinger operation” would have to occur, in which the fuel tank's compartments are tapped and drilled into and then vacuumed of there fluid contents into another tanker.
This operation requires a minimum of six hazmat trained personnel, but only three of Lake County's team were available to respond, so a mutual aid request was made to neighboring Mendocino County's Redwood Empire Hazardous Incident Team, and they responded.
Two tow and recovery trucks were called in from Pope Valley; they winched off the tanker to provide stabilization so the crews could work safely around the vehicle.
REHIT arrived approximately three hours into the incident, and a plan was made involving the four agencies on scene – Northshore Fire, Cal Fire, Lake County Hazmat and REHIT. As night fell, crews worked together getting equipment to the site.
In just under an hour, the stinger operation was able to remove 1,085 gallons of kerosene were removed from the truck.
Officials said it will be determined how much of the trucks kerosene was lost once the truck's delivery logs were scrutinized.
The tanker's maximum capacity was 2,800 gallons, but with an unknown amount delivered, hazmat officials estimated somewhere between 100 to 600 gallons spilled onto the hillside.
The crews had a debriefing and the all the command staff had high praise for the teamwork of the agencies on scene.
Northshore Fire Protection District responded with a chief, deputy chief, two engines, medic unit, rescue, support unit and water tender; Lake County Fire responded with the hazmat unit and a division chief; Cal Fire responded with an engine; and also responding were the California Environmental Health Agency, California Department of Fish and Game and CHP.
Nearly 30 emergency personnel were on hand representing the six agencies.
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On Wednesday Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) joined 32 members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to President Obama urging him and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to act immediately to address our country’s troubled housing market.
More than two million homeowners in California owe more on their homes then their homes are worth, which equals 30 percent of all California homes with mortgages.
“Our economy will continue to suffer and taxpayer confidence will never return if we do not help hard working families navigate through this mortgage nightmare,” said Thompson. “Nothing the FHFA or the Administration has done is working and Californians are the ones who are suffering. Families are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to keep roofs over their heads. Doing nothing is not an option. Today we are calling on the White House and the FHFA to step up and take immediate action to help our communities and hard working middle-class families who just want to keep their homes.”
Specifically, the letter calls on President Obama to urge the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish a plan to refinance all mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and to push for a major principal reduction plan for underwater homeowners, such as modifications in coordination with Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings.
The delegation is also asking that a “Homeowner’s Bill Of Rights” be instituted, which would apply to Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Federal Housing Finance Agency FHFA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and private servicer modification programs.
That program would make the process homeowner-friendly, eliminate needless obstacles to effective modifications, and ensure accountability and establish an appeals process.
The full text of the letter is below.
October 11, 2011
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
As Members of Congress from California, we are writing to express our continuing concerns about the ongoing housing market decline and the manner in which the financial institutions are handling delinquent mortgages, mortgage modifications, and foreclosures. We believe that these institutions are failing to act in good faith and that there are immediate steps your Administration should be taking to address the devastating problems facing homeowners.
On October 4, 2010, we wrote to your Administration requesting help for struggling homeowners who were at the mercy of mortgage servicers. Our letter included dozens of cases from throughout California that highlighted systemic problems in the way financial institutions handle mortgages and the foreclosure process. Since then, we have held meetings with the Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and others outlining the enormous obstacles facing our constituents who are trying to save their homes. Additionally, in March 2011, a group of Members requested a meeting with the Vice President to discuss ways the Administration can be helpful. We continue to hear from our constituents that servicers are uncooperative, misleading and even deliberately obstructive and we have not seen successful efforts from your Administration in response.
In September 2011, RealtyTrac released data that showed that one in every 226 housing units in California had a foreclosure filing during the month of August alone – more than twice the national average. The data also showed that California had a staggering 55% increase in foreclosure notices in August, the second highest in the nation. Numerous reports indicate that our housing troubles are worsening. Each foreclosure represents a missed opportunity for a family to stay in its home. We cannot afford to allow this to continue.
We therefore respectfully urge you to take the following actions:
Urge the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to use its conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow all mortgages currently owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that meet basic criteria the opportunity to refinance at historically low market rate. This would allow homeowners to reduce their monthly mortgage payment by hundreds of dollars — reducing the number of defaults and preventing foreclosure.
Secure a far greater number of meaningful principal reductions for underwater homeowners. One promising possibility would be a temporary reduction in the interest rates of certain homeowners who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, so that the entirety of their monthly payments would go to paying down their principal balances for five years. Coordination with the bankruptcy process would make these reductions more likely to succeed than other types of loan modifications, while also limiting the program to those who truly need it and avoiding the administrative failures that have plagued many other initiatives. Such a plan could be implemented for mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as we believe that such a plan would be entirely consistent with FHFA’s obligation to minimize taxpayer losses in the Enterprises. This plan could also be implemented as part of the nationwide settlement currently being negotiated by a group of state attorneys general.
Institute a “Homeowner’s Bill Of Rights” that would apply to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Home Affordable Mortgage Program, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and private servicer modification programs and include the following:
Make the process homeowner-friendly: Establish a single point of contact; require servicers to review documents within a timely fashion and disclose information about the process; and ban “advanced fees.”
Eliminate needless obstacles to effective modifications: Allow for flexibility in the debt to income ratio; end the requirement that homeowners be delinquent in order to be eligible for a loan modification; cease dual tracking; and prohibit servicers from reporting adverse credit information while trial or permanent modification is underway.
Ensure accountability and establish an appeals process: Create an Office of Consumer Advocate; conduct random audits of modifications; and establish an independent appeals process for homeowners who believe their modifications have been improperly rejected or handled in violation of program rules.
These are actions that can be taken immediately by your Administration to help address the overwhelming problems facing our constituents. We understand that these are not the only actions that must be taken, and we will continue to work in Congress on behalf of struggling homeowners to encourage recovery in the housing market and to prevent similar problems in the future.
Our current economic crisis began in the housing market. Until the housing market is stabilized, our economy will not be able to fully recover. We hope you will act in the best interest of the American people who are facing extreme hardships to keep homeowners in their homes and stabilize the economy.
Mike Thompson
Joe Baca
Karen Bass
Xavier Becerra
Howard Berman
Lois Capps
Dennis Cardoza
Judy Chu
Jim Costa
Susan Davis
Anna Eshoo
Sam Farr
Bob Filner
John Garamendi
Janice Hahn
Mike Honda
Barbara Lee
Zoe Lofgren
Doris Matsui
Jerry McNerney
George Miller
Grace Napolitano
Laura Richardson
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Linda Sanchez
Loretta Sanchez
Adam Schiff
Brad Sherman
Jackie Speier
Pete Stark
Henry Waxman
Lynn Woolsey
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