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It was reported at about 4:45 p.m. Sunday at 24606 Highway 29 at Bradford Road near Middletown, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Two motorcycles were down blocking the roadway. The CHP report noted that another vehicle may have contributed to or caused the crash, but additional details weren't available late Sunday.
The highway was blocked until shortly before 5:30 p.m., when the CHP reported both lanes had been reopened.
The crash victims were reportedly transferred to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, but their identities and the extent of their injuries was not available from the CHP Sunday.
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Clearlake Police officers were dispatched to the scene at approximately 2:21 p.m., according to Officer Lauren Vance.
Vance said a pickup traveling southbound on Highway 53 failed to stop and hit another pickup that was traveling northbound and making a lefthand turn onto Olympic Drive.
She said neither of the drivers involved sustained major injuries.
Due to a high number of collisions at the site, Caltrans installed stop signs at the intersection in February, with a view to installing a traffic signal in 2012, as Lake County News has reported.
There have been some crashes there since the stop signs went in, but Vance said the number of incidents hasn't been high.
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The collision occurred at 1:15 p.m. on Old Highway 53 north of Konocti View Road, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs.
Hobbs said a Hyundai Tiburon driven by a male subject was traveling north on Old Highway 53 when he crossed over the double-yellow lines into the southbound lane and hit head-on a Ford Explorer with two elderly people riding in it.
The Hyundai's driver died at the scene, while the Ford Explorer's occupants were taken to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake with minor to moderate injuries, Hobbs said.
Clearlake Police and the Lake County Fire Protection District responded to the scene, where Hobbs said the roadway was shut down until about 4 p.m. The Lake County Sheriff's Office also sent a deputy for coroner duties.
Hobbs said the speed limit through that stretch of road is 30 miles per hour, however due to the damage sustained by both vehicles – which he said looked more like what would be seen in a highway crash – he believed that the Tiburon's driver was likely traveling much faster. He said the Explorer was probably traveling slower than the speed limit.
“At this point we can't say he died as a result of this collision,” Hobbs said of the Hyundai's driver.
On Saturday Hobbs didn't release the identities of those involved, as he said he had been unable to verify that family members had been notified of the incident.
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The public is invited to attend Cache Creek Discovery Day, a free, family-friendly outdoor event on Saturday, May 1, at the Bureau of Land Management's Cowboy Camp Equestrian Campground, on Highway 16 just one mile south of Highway 20 in Colusa County, along the Bear Creek tributary to Cache Creek.
The event is geared toward all ages, with special emphasis on youth outdoor-learning about a broad range of topics relevant to the watershed.
Guided hikes along the High Bridge Trail, wildlife viewing, Native American basketry, and displays highlighting stream ecology, local fish, wildlife tracks and signs, native plants, habitat restoration, native pollinators and local agriculture are among the planned activities.
The Cache Creek watershed, which includes the entire Clear Lake basin, encompasses rugged, forested mountains and lakesides in Colusa and Lake counties, ranches and organic farming in Capay Valley, extensive agricultural lands on the valley floor, and the seasonal wetlands of the Yolo Bypass.
It provides a diverse array of functions including winter foraging territory for wildlife such as Bald Eagles, and recreational opportunities for boaters, kayakers and white-water rafters.
Cache Creek Discovery Day is free to the public, and will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A barbecue lunch will be available for purchase at the noon hour (accompanied by live music), or visitors are welcome to bring a picnic.
Cowboy Camp hosts wildlife viewing platforms, creek access, and regular visits by local Tule elk herds. Just up the road are the renowned wildflower fields of Bear Valley, and just downstream is Cache Canyon Park, where rafters find white-water creek access.
This event is sponsored by the Cache Creek Watershed Forum, a tri-county group of natural resource, agricultural, and educational partners, including the following stakeholders: US Bureau of Land Management; Colusa, Yolo, East Lake and West Lake RCDs; the Counties of Lake and Yolo; Cache Creek Conservancy; Tuleyome; Sierra Club Lake Group; UC Davis; and Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.
For more information please contact Greg Dills at the East and West Lake Resource Conservation District, 707 263-4180, or download a flyer at www.lakelive.info/ccwf/CCDD10flyer.pdf.
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It was another Good Friday for the Funk. I remember in about 1970 when Larry Graham premiered the original version of Graham Central Station at the long-gone Keystone Berkeley. It was an Easter weekend then as well. Mr. Graham must feel his element ‘round this time of year.
The main floor of the Regency Ballroom is near capacity at three minutes before show time on April 2. The balcony is sparse but starting to fill rapidly also. An exciting buzz fills the crowd.
The DJ is spinning mad R&B, the Isley Bros., Esquires, Teddy P., Rick James, etc.
It’s 9 p.m. The lights dim. There’s a band up there tuning up. Must be Slave. They look too young to be Slave. The lead singer is Mr. Donny P. The rhythm section is male. A woman on keys. Two women background singers.
The original version of Slave recorded a large catalog of music for the Cotillion, Atlantic and Ichiban labels from 1977 through 1995.
The band kicks of a slew of hits and riffs that tantalize the funky nostalgia cortex in the brain. Pleasure central of the auditory realm. “Watching You.” “Just A Touch Of Love.”
The band performs a medley of hits, some originally by Slave, some not, culminating with the monster hit “Slide.” People are up dancing. The bass player is really bringing it, knowing that the King of the Funky Bass is up next.
Just before 10:30 p.m. the lights again dim, eliciting a roar of approval from the assembled.
Suddenly a marching tempo of snare, tom and bass drum is heard from the rear of the room. Led and punctuated by new GCS member and seeming Drillmaster Ashley Cole, the new Graham Central Station marches toward the stage in cadenced precision, chanting the GCS cheer, “Gee, cess ess, the baddest band from east to west ...”
As the crowd gradually becomes aware of what’s really happening, the roar of approval transcends into a deafening, sonic, out-of-many one voice.
When they reached the stage, the group reprised the anthemic a capella “Entrow,” from their first self-titled album:
“We been waiting for so long, waiting to play for you some of our songs
cuz we been waiting …”
The band launches into the frenetic crowd pleasers “Ain’t No Fun To Me” followed by “It’s Alright.”
At the end of the opening two-song medley – which really had the folks dancin’, sangin’ and swayin’ – Larry attempted to address the crowd. They would not let him. They were already overcome.
The crowd’s out-of-many one voice returned in pure, uncut, unadulterated adulation. The true original sound of San Francisco Bay Area Funk had returned. It was truly a magic, emotional moment.
The King of the Funky Bass pounds his chest and points to the crowd, silently speaking volumes over the seismic ovation. It goes on for a good five minutes, a grateful crowd, thankful for being itself again and unspoken, heartfelt, telepathic ebb and flow of love from the Bass master.
And so it went. Song after song. Much of the Graham Central catalog as well as the baritone hits of Larry Graham as vocalist. An arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” lifted the whole room.
They graced the staged fully for two and a half hours, proving fully that they are not only fit to tour Europe, but fully poised to introduce the Funk to the legions some three generations later.
For those of you who weren’t born when it happened, Larry Graham, before Gee Cee Ess, was the original bass player for the much-heralded co-creators of Funk, Sly & The Family Stone. Graham invented the slapping or thump and pluck method of bass playing which has influenced legions of bass players in his wake.
This group broke so much new ground with its hybrid mix of Church of God In Christ Holy Ghost rhythms, psychedelic rock, Stax/Motown altered offerings that, not only made Sly a favorite musician of Jazzster Miles Davis, the group heavily influenced Herbie Hancock as well.
The testimony to that is the Funk friendly fusion period of the 70’s that pointed toward the Family Stone as the source of inspiration.
In 1969, at the mother of all Rock Festivals, Woodstock, was held in upstate New York in front of more that a quarter of a million folks. Carlos Santana, whose band also played wonderfully at Woodstock, is quoted as saying “Sly & The Family Stone outplayed them all.”
Since the dissolutions of the original incarnations of Sly & The Family Stone and Graham Central Station, Larry has stayed busy. He reinvented himself as a soulful balladeer in 1979 with the album and single “One In A Million You” which was nominated for Best R&B Performance, Male.
Throughout the 80s he released a string of successful albums as well as a duet with Lady Soul Aretha Franklin.
In the 90s he collaborated musically with Eddie Murphy followed by an evolved unit of Gee Cee Ess featuring former Sly band mates Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini.
Incidentally Larry was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of Sly & The Family Stone and received a Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer award in 2001 as well. He has also become affiliated with Prince and remains in constant collaboration with him musically.
Currently, in April of 2010, Larry Graham & Graham Central Station are touring Europe since the aforementioned April 2 debut in San Francisco. Early press reports indicated that Gee Cee Ess is killing them with the Funk.
New U.S. dates have are being added to their itinerary for the month of June including New York, D.C. and Minneapolis. Additionally, a new CD is in the works.
For more information on Larry Graham including an audio interview done on April 12 go to www.larrygraham.com. There will be rebroadcast on In The Free Zone at KPFZ 88.1 FM on April 23 at 3 p.m.
Keep prayin’, keep thinkin’ those kind thoughts!
T. Watts is a writer, radio host and music critic.
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This should not be neglected because should one die during the divorce proceedings the surviving spouse can still inherit under the deceased spouse’s will, if named as a beneficiary.
Likewise, the surviving spouse may still inherit if named as a designated death beneficiary on any pay-on-death policy – such as life insurance, retirement plans, etc. – notwithstanding a decree of legal separation; the decree does not terminate the marital status.
Filing the dissolution petition, however, limits each spouse’s ability to change their estate plan.
Prior to filing, a married person can unilaterally control the disposition on death of their one-half share of any community property assets and all of their separate property assets.
Upon filing the dissolution petition and issuance of a summons, however, the automatic temporary restraining order (“ATRO”) immediately imposes four different rules. Let us examine these rules.
First, the ATRO absolutely prohibits each spouse from cashing, borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, auto or disability, held for the benefit of the spouses and their children for whom support may be ordered. This is to prevent either spouse or their children from being harmed from any detrimental changes to insurance.
Second, the ATRO also restrains each spouse (1) from transferring any property, real or personal (except in the usual course of business or for necessities of life); and (2) from changing the death beneficiaries named on any nonprobate asset (such as retirement plans, annuities and revocable living trusts).
Either the prior written consent of the other spouse or a court order is needed to accomplish any changes.
Third, the ATRO, however, still allows each spouse to revoke a revocable living trust, or other nonprobate transfer, and also to sever a joint tenancy, provided that notice of any such change is filed with the court and is served on the other spouse before the change takes effect.
Severing the joint tenancy, and thereby creating a co-equal tenancy in common, is important to prevent the other spouse from inheriting the entire joint tenancy estate should one spouse die while the joint tenancy remains in effect.
Fourth, the ATRO also allows each spouse, without notice or permission, to create, modify or revoke a will; create an unfunded revocable or irrevocable trust; and otherwise modify a nonprobate transfer, such as a trust, in a manner that does not affect the disposition of the property – for example, changing the designated successor trustee of an existing trust.
Thus, either spouse – without the permission of the other spouse or a court order – can create an unfunded living trust that would be funded on death by way of a pour-over will in order to effectuate estate planning changes.
The drawback is that a probate of the pour-over will is needed in order to transfer assets into the trust.
In summary, persons getting divorced are well advised to update their estate plan in case they should die prior to the decree of dissolution of marriage, and their existing estate plan in favor of the estranged spouse be given effect.
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