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The 3.3-magnitude temblor occurred at 2:48 a.m. Sunday, April 10, according to the US Geological Survey.
Its epicenter was three miles west southwest of Anderson Springs, four miles southeast of The Geysers geothermal steamfield and five miles south of Cobb, at a depth of nine-tenths of a mile, the survey reported.
The US Geological Survey received no shake reports on the quake.
A 3.5-magnitude earthquake was reported near The Geysers on March 20, as Lake County News has reported.
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According to the California Department of Finance, there will be more than six million seniors aged 65 and over by the year 2020 in this state.
“Getting older does not mean the end of a person’s driving days,” said California Highway Patrol (CHP) Commissioner Joe Farrow. “It’s the perfect time to evaluate, improve and maintain the safety and mobility of California’s senior drivers.”
With more and more seniors taking to the roads every year, the CHP has received a federal grant that will not only help educate senior drivers and raise their awareness about how to keep safe on the roads, but will ultimately assist in the CHP’s mission of saving lives.
The overall goal of the “Keeping Everyone Safe (KEYS) II” grant is to reduce the number of fatal and injury collisions caused by senior drivers (aged 65 and over) within CHP jurisdiction by 5 percent by Sept. 30, 2011.
To achieve this goal the CHP will launch a statewide public education and awareness campaign focusing on senior traffic safety and mobility.
Television and radio public service announcements and community-based committees will be established. These committees will collaborate to assess the issues most relevant to senior drivers and to make recommendations to address the needs of the senior driving community.
The committees also will include members from public and private organizations, including law enforcement, health and aging professionals, transportation agency representatives and other interested parties.
In addition, CHP personnel will conduct public awareness and educational presentations statewide.
“With California’s senior population doubling in size by 2020, we need to take care of our older drivers, passengers and pedestrians using our roadways,” added Farrow.
This grant is presented in collaboration with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Funding for the “Keeping Everyone Safe (KEYS) II” grant was provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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Lake County Vet Connect officially got under way in March, offering a critical link between homeless and jobless vets and services that they're entitled to receive because of their service.
The group offers twice-monthly events where veterans can sit down with fellow veterans, explain their situations and get the services they need.
Vet Connect's intake and outreach events will take place twice a month – on the second Wednesday at the American Legion Post No. 437, 14770 Austin Road in Clearlake, from 9 a.m. to noon, and the same hours on the third Wednesday in Lakeport at Umpqua Bank, 805 11th St. Both the post and the bank are providing the space for the effort free of charge.
The clinics this month will be held in Clearlake on April 13 and in Lakeport on April 20.
The first Vet Connect took place on March 16, and organizers called it a “tremendous success,” with 26 veterans served in what is expected to be the first of many sessions.
Lucerne vet Frank Parker, president of the United Veterans Council, called the program's goal “a hand up, not a handout.”
Parker was one of the local veterans instrumental in founding Lake County's Vet Connect. He said it was exciting to see so many veterans getting the help they need.
This past January, United Veterans Council of Lake County formed a committee to address the needs of the county's homeless and underserved veterans. Local veterans officials said the committee arose based on the concerns of local veterans organizations and the Lake County Veterans Service Office, which are committed to ending homelessness in Lake County.
Out of that committee came Lake County Vet Connect, the group said.
Parker emphasized that Vet Connect is a combined effort of many groups in the county. He said group affiliations have been put aside in order to join together in a common goal of serving veterans in need.
Parker helped lay the groundwork for the group when, last year, he began researching how to put it all together and make a one-stop experience for veterans. He came across Sonoma County's Vet Connect, which has assisted by offering expertise, guidance and even the forms that will be needed for vet intake.
The research and work that Parker and his fellow veterans did to put together Lake County Vet Connect revealed that “a lot of these services are already available in Lake County,” according to Dan Davi, a Vietnam veteran involved in Lake County Vet Connect.
Parker and the group also created their own Vet Connect handbook, with information on local services available to vets.
Government and nonprofit organizations that will have a presence at the monthly Vet Connect outreach events include Veterans Administration Support Housing, Lake County Veterans Service Office, Lake County Mental Health, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Disability Services and Legal Center, CalFresh for general assistance and food stamps, Employment Development Department, Drug and Alcohol Center, Legal Education, Financial Education, North Bay Veterans Resource Center and Catholic Charities.
The work is complementing that done by the Lake County Veterans Service Office.
“Part of our job is to connect veterans to local resources, to assist in whatever they need,” said county Assistant Veteran Service Officer Bob Penny.
However, Penny explained that he and his staff are so busy working with the Department of Veterans Affairs that they don't always have time to research and keep up with all the programs that are available locally, and which are always changing.
He said Vet Connect has been doing a lot of research and finding new resources.
In one example, a local veteran's roof was damaged by the wind. “He called here to see what might be available,” said Penny.
Penny gave made a call to Parker, who found some assistance through the US Department of Agriculture. “This was something that I didn't know about that Frank did research on and found,” said Penny.
“To have their help in doing this is an immense help to all of our veterans and their dependents in our county,” Penny said.
The background to the effort
Local veterans have put enormous time and preparation into creating Vet Connect to serve their comrades in arms.
Ahead of the official kickoff of Vet Connect last month, a group of veterans involved in the effort gathered in the upstairs community meeting room at Umpqua Bank on 11th Street in Lakeport.
Tom Benton, a Vietnam vet from Sonoma County who was a founding member of its Vet Connect, took the men through a practice intake interview, with local vet Kirk Macdonald sitting across from him, playing the part of a veteran seeking services.
Benton led the interview in an easy going manner, explaining to Macdonald that he would next be directed over to some tables where a Veterans Affairs social worker would check his eligibility for health benefits and shelter.
“You're going to have to feel your way through it,” Benton told the vets who watched him work through the process.
He explained the importance of keeping information confidential and also making veterans – some of whom have never approached the system and haven't wanted to – comfortable.
Having veterans work with other veterans helps tear down barriers right away, Benton said.
Helping similar Vet Connect programs get started outside of Sonoma County “is something we've wanted to do for a long time,” said Benton.
Sonoma County's Vet Connect began in November 2007. The founders included eight vets – seven of them, including Benton, having served in Vietnam – and local service providers.
The effort in Sonoma County started out as a way to help homeless vets, said Benton, who himself had been homeless for 18 months at one time. Another of the founding vets also had been homeless.
Over time, the group became so proficient at dealing with large numbers of veterans that Benton said
Sonoma County officials wanted to know how they did it. Benton said it's because they're not a bureaucracy, and can therefore move more swiftly and efficiently.
They're not sure how many vets to expect to serve over time, but they said their outreach will help validate the numbers and the need in Lake County.
Parker also believes that the word will travel, and Benton said that in Sonoma County word of mouth has been a key way of communicating the available services.
Parker said they estimate they will need seven volunteers for each event. They're already getting more offers of help.
To offer assistance in the form of volunteering or donations, of if a local group would like to be an onsite service provider, contact Parker at 707-274-9512 or Kirk Macdonald, 707-263-8449.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Sunday morning fire destroyed a red-tagged residence in Clearlake.
The house, located in the 15000 block of 40th Avenue, was reported to be on fire at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a California Highway Patrol incident log.
Lake County Fire officials could not be reached Sunday for additional information.
Susanah Carlsen, who lives across the street from the structure – which she believed was a mobile home with an add-on – said it was “up in flames” by about 2:30 a.m., and she called the fire department. She estimated that the fire likely began around 2 a.m.
Carlsen said nobody lived at the home, which was red-tagged a few weeks ago, although she noted, that there have been people inside and around it during the past few weeks and especially within the last few days.
She said she didn't know if anyone was harmed.
The structure was still standing Sunday, Carlsen said. “It's pretty burnt up, but all the walls appear to still be up.”
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Tuleyome, a Woodland-based conservation organization, has taken ownership of 620 acres on the south flank of Goat Mountain.
The land is located in Lake County at the headwaters of the upper North Fork of Cache Creek.
The land is an in-holdings in the Mendocino National Forest, the group reported.
The Goat Mountain properties were previously owned by the California Institute of Man in Nature as a part of John Olmsted’s vision for an Across California Trail along the 39th parallel, which is approximately the route of Highway 20.
Olmsted described his vision as an ecological corridor with islands of protected lands – “Beads on a Necklace.”
Other properties that Olmsted helped to protect include Jug Handle State Reserve on the coast, Sutter Buttes in the Central Valley and the Bridgeport covered bridge on the South Yuba River.
Olmsted also helped to build the Independence Trail on the South Yuba that is one of the first handicap assessable nature trails in the nation.
He died on March 8, and will be remembered through his conservation legacy.
“It has been a pretty intensive effort over the past eight months to secure these properties,” said Bob Schneider, Tuleyome’s senior policy director. “The property was in danger of sale for back taxes and there were 30 outstanding Deeds of Trust. We worked through that and the owners of the Deeds of Trust were incredibly generous. It was a pleasure to permanently secure this portion of John’s conservation legacy.”
This was an important purchase for Tuleyome. The group's major project is the proposed Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area. Tuleyome’s proposal ranges over 100 miles from south to north and includes 500,000 of public lands.
“Tuleyome’s proposed National Conservation Area and John Olmsted’s vision for an east-west ecological corridor intersect at the Goat Mountain properties,” said Tuleyome President Andrew Fulks.
The properties, from 2,800 feet to more than 4,000 feet in elevation, are sited on a very large ancient landslide above the upper North Fork of Cache Creek.
The tops of these types of landslides are “lumpy” creating areas of wetlands and springs that have high levels of biological diversity.
“I fell in love with the property when I visited and saw milk vetch with Monarch butterflies,” added Schneider.
He also pointed out that one of the largest sugar pines in the region, “Big Bertha,” is found on the site.
The parcels were once homesteaded and are named White Ranch Glades, Root Glades, Wyman Flat and Addington Springs.
Tuleyome intends to offer tours and educational trips to the Goat Mountain properties.
For more information contact Tuleyome at www.tuleyome.org or 530-350-2599.
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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Local and state fire officials responded on Sunday afternoon to a fire in the High Valley area that turned out to be a controlled burn.
The fire was reported just before 2:30 p.m. along an area of High Valley Road, according to a California Highway Patrol incident log entry.
Radio reports indicated firefighters from Northshore Fire and Cal Fire were responding, with dozers coming from the other side of the county.
By about 4 p.m. Northshore firefighters were leaving the scene and heading back to their stations.
Northshore Fire Deputy Chief Pat Brown said the fire turned out to be a controlled burn.
However, Brown said he intended to follow up on the permit, which wasn't issued through his agency, nor did it appear that Cal Fire had issued it.
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