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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Caltrans is planning a community meeting next week to discuss a paving project along two local highways as well as safety measures at a south county intersection that has been the scene of two fatal crashes in just over a year.
Caltrans is partnering with the Middletown Area Town Hall – or MATH – to host the meeting, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, located at 15500 Central Park Road.
Caltrans Area Construction Engineer Alan Escarda and other Caltrans representatives, along with paving contractor Granite Construction, will meet with the group, according to announcements from MATH Director Mike Tabacchi and Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.
The meeting will focus on a multimillion dollar paving project on Highway 29 and Highway 175 as well as safety concerns at the intersection of Highway 29 and Hartmann Road.
Regarding the intersection, a Caltrans safety improvement project is under way there now.
The agency is installing flashing beacons to alert drivers traveling along Highway 29 of cross traffic.
A Clearlake woman died there last month after she was broadsided by a semi truck while attempting to turn onto Highway 29. In May of 2010 an elderly Rodeo woman died after the vehicle she was riding in was hit, also while pulling onto Highway 29, as Lake County News has reported.
Also a topic of concern for south county residents is the paving project.
Last year Caltrans paid International Surfacing Systems $2.1 million to complete chip sealing on 12 miles of Highway 29 from the Lake/Napa County lines to the Coyote Creek Bridge and 8.5 miles on Highway 175 from Cobb to Middletown.
A larger aggregate was used, with the result being that area residents questioned the roadway's safety and the wear and tear on their vehicles, sentiments they expressed at a special town hall with Caltrans last October.
Caltrans District 1 Director Charlie Fielder pledged at the time to have the area resurfaced, and in March the California Transportation Commission approved $13.3 million to repave that area as well as to improve portions of Highways 175 from 4.9 miles east of the Lake/Mendocino County line to the junction of Highways 175 and 29 near Lakeport, and near Kelseyville from the junction of Highways 175 and 29 to Middletown.
The repaving project is scheduled to start in August, Caltrans said.
In his announcement on the meeting Tabacchi said MATH wanted to acknowledge how responsive Caltrans has been to the community's concerns over the past year.
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On Tuesday Gov. Jerry Brown announced that California has dispatched a team of experts to assist in the Yellowstone River oil spill response.
The deployment of California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) staff was approved after the state of California received a request from the state of Montana for mutual aid assistance following a pipeline break on July 1.
“California is well prepared to deal with oil spills. Our training and experience allowed us to help the Gulf Coast states during last year’s massive spill, and it lets us help Montana now,” said Brown.
DFG's Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) is deploying an incident manager, pipeline technical specialist, response operations manager, environmental specialist and a shoreline assessment expert to the site for 14 days.
On July 1, a break occurred in a 12-inch pipeline owned by ExxonMobil which resulted in release of crude oil into the Yellowstone River approximately 20 miles upstream of Billings, Mont.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported an estimated 1,000 barrels of oil entered the river, which was in flood stage, before the pipeline was cut off.
California will be reimbursed for all costs associated with its assisting in the response, the Governor's Office reported.
“We have worked hard to develop our oil spill response staff in California,” said Scott D. Schaefer, OSPR acting administrator. “We deployed 70 Fish and Game personnel last year to the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Requests for our assistance from other states serve as a testament to our team’s knowledge and skills.”
CalEMA and DFG have been coordinating the mutual aid assistance with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer’s office, the Montana State Emergency Coordination Center and the Montana Department of Military Affairs.
OSPR was formed by legislation in 1991 in response to two significant oil spills: the 11-million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 and the 416,000 gallon American Trader oil spill in Huntington Beach in 1990.
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On June 7, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a flash of X-rays coming from the western edge of the solar disk.
Registering only “M” (for medium) on the Richter scale of solar flares, the blast at first appeared to be a run-of-the-mill eruption – that is, until researchers looked at the movies.
“We'd never seen anything like it,” said Alex Young, a solar physicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. “Half of the sun appeared to be blowing itself to bits.”
NASA has just released new high-resolution videos of the event recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The videos are large, typically 50 MB to 100 MB, but worth the wait to download.
“In terms of raw power, this really was just a medium-sized eruption,” said Young, “but it had a uniquely dramatic appearance caused by all the inky-dark material. We don't usually see that.”
Solar physicist Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC calls it a case of “dark fireworks.”
“The blast was triggered by an unstable magnetic filament near the sun's surface,” he explained. “That filament was loaded down with cool1 plasma, which exploded in a spray of dark blobs and streamers.”
The plasma blobs were as big as planets, many larger than Earth. They rose and fell ballistically, moving under the influence of the sun's gravity like balls tossed in the air, exploding “like bombs” when they hit the stellar surface.
Some blobs, however, were more like guided missiles.
“In the movies we can see material 'grabbed' by magnetic fields and funneled toward sunspot groups hundreds of thousands of kilometers away,” noted Young.
SDO also detected a shadowy shock wave issuing from the blast site. The “solar tsunami” propagated more than halfway across the sun, visibly shaking filaments and loops of magnetism en route.
Long-range action has become a key theme of solar physics since SDO was launched in 2010. The observatory frequently sees explosions in one part of the sun affecting other parts. Sometimes one explosion will trigger another ... and another ... with a domino sequence of flares going off all around the star.
“The June 7th blast didn't seem to trigger any big secondary explosions, but it was certainly felt far and wide,” said Young.
It's tempting to look at the movies and conclude that most of the exploded material fell back--but that wouldn't be true, according to Vourlidas. “The blast also propelled a significant coronal mass ejection (CME) out of the sun's atmosphere.”
He estimated that the cloud massed about 4.5 by 1015 grams, placing it in the top 5 percent of all CMEs recorded in the Space Age.
For comparison, the most massive CME ever recorded was 1016 grams, only a factor of ~2 greater than the June 7th cloud.
The amount of material that fell back to the sun on June 7 was approximately equal to the amount that flew away, Vourlidas said.
As remarkable as the June 7 eruption seems to be, Young said it might not be so rare.
“In fact,” he said, “it might be downright common.”
Before SDO, space-based observatories observed the sun with relatively slow cadences and/or limited fields of view. They could have easily missed the majesty of such an explosion, catching only a single off-center snapshot at the beginning or end of the blast to hint at what actually happened.
If Young is right, more dark fireworks could be in the offing. Stay tuned.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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The message, “Slow or Move Over for Workers, It’s the Law,” will stay posted through July 22.
Caltrans also will begin a new billboard campaign and issue a public service announcement to television stations statewide reinforcing the “Move Over” message.
In May and June, three Caltrans highway workers died on the job within 48 days – the most in such a short period of time.
Since 1924, 178 Caltrans workers have lost their lives in the line of duty.
“Our goal is to do everything we can to keep our highways safe,” said Acting Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Motorists must slow down, watch out for highway workers, and safely move over a lane when they see flashing amber lights on Caltrans or other emergency vehicles.”
The joint safety effort by Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the California Office of Traffic Safety will educate the public on the importance of moving over a lane to protect highway workers and CHP officers.
The CHP will provide the Move Over safety message during their morning traffic updates on broadcast stations statewide, and officers will be on the lookout for motorists not following the law.
“This traffic safety campaign isn’t about writing citations, it’s about providing a safer work environment for everyone who does business along the side of a highway,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The only way to prevent tragedies from occurring on the side of the road is by giving
emergency personnel, highway workers, and the public adequate space.”
The DMV will display the Move Over safety message on electronic signs in 135 field offices, and highlight the law in its handbook and written driver’s test, where it will appear along with Slow for the Cone Zone information.
“Our collective goal is that motorists will become more attentive as they drive,” said DMV Director George Valverde. “With continued cooperative efforts such as the Move Over campaign, we can further improve highway safety."
The departments will update their web sites and social media pages, such as Facebook and Twitter, to reinforce the Move Over message.
“When we see Caltrans, law enforcement, emergency medical services, tow trucks, and other emergency or construction vehicles next to the roadway, they are there for one purpose - our safety,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director for the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Let's keep them and
ourselves safe by giving them plenty of room to operate.”
The Move Over law, which took effect in 2007, was amended in 2009 to add Caltrans vehicles displaying flashing amber warning lights to the list of vehicles for which motorists must move over if safe to do so or slow down.
To date, 45 other states have enacted similar laws requiring motorists to move over or slow down.
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Arrested were Ira Blue Bowes, 19, and Gabriel Azbill Bowes, 27, according to Sgt. Scott Poma of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
At 7 p.m. Saturday, July 9, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies and Round Valley Tribal Police officers responded to a reported shooting at the intersection of Concow and Yuki boulevards, Poma said.
Tribal Officers arrived to find Kenneth Hanover Sr., 44, of Covelo, lying in the street. Poma said Hanover had been shot in the mouth and the shoulder.
Hanover was transported by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where his condition is listed as stable, Poma said.
Poma said the investigation at the scene revealed that a physical fight between two family groups of American Indian men had escalated until Ira Bowes allegedly shot Hanover Sr. in the mouth and shoulder with a handgun.
Bowes fled the scene on foot and was later located at a Hopper Lane address and arrested without incident, Poma said.
Gabriel Bowes is alleged to have assisted in the planning and execution of the assault, transporting the weapon to the scene and hindering the investigation, Poma said. Gabriel Bowes was arrested at a Little Lake Way address.
Gabriel and Ira Bowes were booked into the Mendocino County. Jail booking records showed that Ira Bowes was arrested for attempted murder, with bail set at $750,000, while Gabriel Bowes was booked for assault with a firearm, drawing or exhibiting a firearm, felon/addict in possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit a crime, with bail set at $40,000.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Growers and wineries in the Big Valley and Kelsey Bench areas of Lake County are working together to submit two separate American Viticultural Area (AVA) applications to the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau in Washington, D.C.
The proposed Big Valley AVA will include all of Big Valley.
The boundaries are Highland Springs Road and Manning Creek on the west, the shores of Clear Lake on the north, Cole Creek along the base of Mount Konocti to Konocti Road on the East, and Bell Hill Road to the south.
The proposed Kelsey Bench area starts at Konocti Road in Kelseyville and extends southeast to Bottle Rock Road and Cole Creek Road along the Red Hills AVA’s eastern boundary.
It follows the eastern shore of Kelsey Creek south to the bottom of Kelsey Creek Drive. The western boundary follows Adobe Creek Road to pick up the boundary line for the proposed Big Valley AVA at Bell Hill Road to the point of beginning at Konocti Road in Kelseyville.
The U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau, a component of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, defines an American Viticultural Area as a designated winegrape growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with specific and clearly-defined boundaries.
The AVA system has been in place since the 1980s, and had recognized more than 200 regions as of January 2011.
The purpose behind AVAs is to identify the unique growing characteristics in a certain area, including weather, soil, history and microclimates. AVAs are listed on premium wines and are used by wineries to help market unique flavor profiles of the various winegrape varieties grown in that region.
An AVA specifies a geographical location from which at least 85 percent of the grapes are grown used to make that wine.
“In my opinion, the project is long overdue,” said David Weiss, Big Valley grower and chairman of the Big Valley, Kelsey Bench AVA Steering Committee.
“We have all seen the success of the Red Hills and High Valley appellations in helping build the Lake County brand and our reputation as a premium winegrape region. Big Valley and Kelsey Bench represent our original grape-growing acreage where local growers including the Dorns, Holdenrieds, Lyons and Euteniers first planted winegrapes,” Weiss added.
Funding for the project was provided by growers, wineries and the Lake County Winegrape Commission, all of whom have supported previous Lake County AVA projects.
Growers in both areas have donated their time and resources, helping to supply the information needed to put the two projects together.
“The most challenging part to these AVA projects is setting the boundaries, and that involves more than growers working together. History, unique soils and weather; all must be identified as the same in each AVA,” said Rick Gunier, whose firm was hired to do the research and submit the two applications.
Gunier and others held several meetings over the last three years, collecting and incorporating all of the information needed to define the two regions.
“These boundaries are a major part of what defines a region and the process took months of research as well as many grower meetings and interviews,” said Gunier.
Soil and weather experts were used to accumulate the information as well as verify that all of the data was correct.
“The Big Valley and Kelsey Bench are Lake County’s oldest winegrape growing regions,” said Gunier. “There are already excellent wines coming from both. Now what we need to do is get the word out so that people know.”
A more detailed definition of the boundaries, along with other supplemental information can be obtained by contacting Project Manager Terry Dereniuk at
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