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LAKEPORT – A tree took down a power pole and power lines in an area of Lakeport on Thursday.
The lines and power pole were in the area of Third and Crawford, officials reported.
Brandi Ehlers, a Pacific Gas and Electric spokesperson, said the initial outage was reported at 5:31 p.m. and involved secondary power lines.
She said the outage affected eight customers in downtown Lakeport from 18th to Starkeys Lane and from Clearlake Avenue to Highway 29.
PG&E workers were transporting a new pole through town on Thursday evening. Ehlers said they were replacing the pole and restringing the lines.
She said power should be restored to all customers by 5 a.m. Friday.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – The 29th Annual Clear Lake Splash-In is scheduled to return to Lakeport later this month.
The event will take place Sept. 19 through 21.
Organized by SeaPlane Operations LLC, the Clear Lake Splash-In is the oldest and largest seaplane gathering in the Western United States.
Concurrent with the splash-in is the Lakeport Seaplane Festival at Library Park on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Arrivals and registration begin Friday, Sept. 19, at noon with most activities scheduled for, and aircraft arrivals expected on on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Headquartered at the Skylark Shores Resort, the event utilizes the nearby Natural High School field for on-shore parking of amphibious seaplanes. Land planes use nearby Lampson Field and the Aero Airport Shuttles provides shuttle services to and from the venues.
Exhibitors from Big Foot Air, Delta Seaplane Tours, Norcal Aviation, the Seaplane Pilots Association and Leading Edge Insurance will be providing information and seminars for anyone interested in Flying and Seaplanes.
Community support from Lake County, the City of Lakeport, the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Lake County 4H Club, the Lake County Public Works Department, and the Lakeport School District has made this the local, successful event it has become.
The event draws visitors from throughout the region, with hundreds of people coming to see the planes on exhibit in Lakeport.
Part of the weekend is the Lakeport Seaplane Festival put on by the Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce. Now in its second year, the festival celebrates the annual return of the seaplanes to Lakeport. Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, the L.C. Diamonds will present a free concert in the gazebo at Library Park.
Taking place in Library Park from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, the Festival features seaplane rides, model aircraft flying from 11a.m. to noon. At 12:15 p.m. there will be demonstrations by both Air Station Sacramento's fixed wing C 130 doing a survival equipment drop just off shore and a helo doing a rescue demo in the same spot to follow, seaplane flying exhibitions on the lake in front of the park, vendors, food booths and great fun for the whole family.
Four local car clubs will participate in a “Show and Shine” display of their beautiful cars: The No Name Car Club, Lake County As, Mt. Konocti Antique Auto Club and the Corvettes of Lake County. The Lakeport Fire District will have a booth with an engine on display and the Lakeport Police Department will have information on display as well.
The official opening of the festival will be at 11 a.m. with a parachute jumper landing at the Third Street ramp.
Seaplane pilots from throughout the region, and from out-of-state, attend to show off their planes and see others. Approximately 50 seaplanes are expected to attend, making an interesting day of flight and ground displays. Water bombing contests and spot landing contests will allow pilots to showcase their planes and flying skills.
The Lake County 4H Club will provide food and drink during the day at the Natural High School Field and the Skylark Shores Resort as well as a tri-tip dinner at the Skylark Shores Resort Saturday evening.
See www.clearlakesplashin.com for complete information. Further details will be posted on the Website as times and events are confirmed. Photos from past Clear Lake Splash-Ins are available on the website as well.
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LAKE COUNTY – After several weeks of clear blue skies smoke from Northern California wildfires has begun making its way back into Lake County's air basin.
The smoke that was visible in recent days is from uncontrolled fires burning in the north part of the state, including the Iron Alps Fire along with the Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forest wildfires, Lake County Air Quality Management District officials reported.
Hazy conditions are expected to be temporary with the return of blue skies. Local air quality has been in the good range and is expected to remain in the good range through the weekend, according to the district.
West to southwest winds are expected through Friday, keeping much of the wildfire smoke to the north and east of Lake County.
Some residual smoke may impact areas of Northern California, including Lake County at a much reduced level, until these lightning complex wildfires are extinguished.
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LAKEPORT – Thinking green, living green and developing greener technologies and business models is on a lot of peoples' minds these days. {sidebar id=94}
Some of the most original work going on to make lives greener isn't just going on in think tanks or startup companies; if you want to see the front line of green, you have no farther to go than a local garbage and recycling center.
Lake County Waste Solutions has a franchise agreement with Lake County, and collects trash, recyclables and greenwaste in all unincorporated areas of the county except Middletown, Cobb and the Clear Lake Riviera. They also have the trash collection agreement for the city of Clearlake and for Ukiah.
Bruce McCracken and two partners bought the company, formerly known as Timberline, in September 2007. Before becoming a part owner, McCracken had been involved with managing the company's local operations on and off since 1988.
Since purchasing the company McCracken and his partners have made substantial investment in the company, including updating the 20 garbage trucks that serve Lake County in order to meet new California Air Resource Board guidelines, and have replaced 12 trucks in the county's fleet. The company employs 61 people, 32 of them at its Lake County operations.
“I'm a proud papa,” McCracken said of his company.
He's especially proud of the new “split body” trash collection trucks, two of which run in Clearlake and three in the county.
A brand new split body truck runs just under $300,000 and allows both trash and recyclables to be dumped into the same truck and separated into the truck's two holding bins. The trucks make trash collection more efficient, said Julie Price, the company's recycling manager.
The trucks have, however, generated a little public concern.
When they first appeared on the streets and people saw recyclables being dumped with the trash, the company began getting a lot of calls. Juan Ortega, the company's dispatcher, said some drivers were being chased down the street. McCracken said he thinks more people are interested in where their garbage and recyclables go, which gave rise to the reaction.
Even with the new investments, the company has managed to keep its rates low, averaging about $12 per month. “We're not only the lowest in Lake County, we're the lowest in the region,” said McCracken.
Lake County Waste Solutions has plans to expand its Soda Bay Road facility to include a larger transfer station that will be built on an adjacent piece of land. The company and the county are in discussions about having the new transfer station take over for the county's Bevins Street trash collection facility, at no additional cost to customers. The new transfer facility would come online next year.
McCracken said the new center will allow the company to increase its efforts to pull more recyclable items out of the trash. “We think you could see diversion skyrocket in the county.”
The current yard would be used as a recycling buyback center, with more space to welcome customers. The facility also would be covered to be more welcoming in all weather. McCracken said they may even be able to have their own version of “Recycle Town,” the reclaimed materials sales center at the Sonoma County Dump.
Once they collect trash, it isn't just a matter of taking it to the landfill. For a garbage company to take a lot of trash to the dump isn't good for the bottom line, said McCracken. “Taking it to the landfill is what we don't want to do.”
Rather, they're looking at every opportunity to divert more materials from the trash and into cash.
Last November, as an experiment, McCracken and several staffers at their Ukiah facility went through the contents of a garbage truck and sorted it all by hand. They found that as much as 70 percent of what was in the trash was really recyclable.
McCracken said more manufacturers are realizing that it's both less expensive and better for their public image to use materials that can be recycled or are themselves reused. At the same time, the garbage collection industry is changing – and it's not just about trash anymore.
So, what materials do they find in the trash that don't belong? Paper, plastics and construction materials, they say.
In the case of plastics, they can now take all types, rather than just a few as in the past, including plastic bottle caps.
Rigid plastics, such as toys, milk crates and laundry hampers, also now can find a place in the company's blue recycling containers.
As recycling manager, Price's job is to look for businesses that reuse the myriad materials that are found in the trash. She said she has a big “to do” list of materials for which she's looking to find new uses.
Her job also will include a public outreach campaign. The company's new Web site, www.candswaste.com, is set to launch next month and will feature information about recycling and how people can help divert more of the waste stream from the dump.
McCracken said they're always looking at new opportunities to keep things out of the landfill. That led them to sell greenwaste to businesses that make wood chips out of it or, in some cases, to bioenergy companies.
Electronics – televisions, computers and the like – are taken to a Fresno facility where they're disassembled, said McCracken.
Cardboard, much of it produced in China, is usually sold back to recycling businesses in that country, he said.
The company's Ukiah facility will begin accepting clothes and shoes next month from its Mendocino County customers. Price said they have a contract with Goodwill, which takes the clothes. They hope to be able to offer the same service in Lake County in the future.
McCracken said the company's next big goal is to find uses for materials such as food waste and roof tiles.
Price said it's amazing what people will throw away; they're always finding things that can be reused. They said all of their office furniture is reclaimed from the trash. Sitting outside of the offices were four matched wooden chairs in good condition that had been thrown out and which one staffer was taking home.
With recyclables becoming more valuable, the company is becoming more protective of the materials. Lake County Waste Solutions and other local garbage collection companies are keeping an eye out for recycling poachers.
McCracken said it's a growing problem which isn't just illegal but breaks their franchise agreement. “It's potentially tens of thousands of dollars a year.”
He attributes the increase in recycling poaching to two main reasons – the lagging economy and the prices of materials skyrocketing.”
Because of those higher prices, metal thefts also have been a concern in some parts of the state. He said ATT has a number they ask recyclers to call if someone appears with a spool of copper wire.
However materials prices recently have begun falling; some of that may be due to factories in places like China, where the need to improve air quality during the Olympics led the country to temporarily close down some of its factors, Price said.
Some of the company's future goals include looking at alternate fuels for garbage trucks. For now, they're still running on diesel, although McCracken said garbage companies in other parts of the country are looking at hybrids. “Something's coming,” he said.
The dream, said McCracken, is that someday trash itself could be used for fuel, an idea he said “is not too Jetsony.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – Sheriff's officials are looking for a Lake County Jail inmate who walked away from a work assignment on Wednesday afternoon.
Leticia Flores Batres, 34, of Santa Rosa, a minimum security inmate assigned to Lake County Animal Care and Control, was last seen by animal control staff cleaning kennels with fellow inmates at about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Captain James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported.
About a half hour after she was last seen, Animal Care and Control – which is now located next to the Lake County Jail – notified jail staff that Batres was missing after searching the area, Bauman said.
After conducting their own search of the Animal Control and jail grounds – which included a formal count of the jail housing units – jail staff confirmed Batres had walked away from her work assignment outside of the jail facility, said Bauman.
Several sheriff’s patrol units responded to the apparent escape and commenced with an extensive search of the area for Batres. Bauman said that, a short time into the search, one deputy located the jail-issued denim shirt rolled up and discarded behind the Animal Care and Control facility along with her jail identification tag.
All potential routes leading away from the animal control and jail facilities were thoroughly searched but Batres had yet to be located late Wednesday, according to Bauman.
Batres is described as a Hispanic female adult, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 135 pounds, with medium length black hair and brown eyes. Bauman said her tattoos include a “band” on her left ankle, a heart on her upper right arm, and “Flores” on her back. She is believed to be still dressed in blue denim jail issued pants, a white T-shirt and jail-issued shoes.
Batres was classified as a minimum security inmate who was booked on May 29 for a Lakeport Police Department bench warrant for transportation of a controlled substance, Bauman said. She was serving a 365-day sentence and had an Immigration and Naturalization hold placed on her.
Bauman said Batres has an alias of Leticia Hernandez Flores. Officials recently discovered she also has an outstanding misdemeanor warrant of arrest out of Sonoma County for contempt of court and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Leticia Batres should immediately notify the Lake County Sheriff’s Department at 263-2690.
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NORTH COAST – One group in Lake County and three in Mendocino County will receive a total of $445,860 in transportation planning grants, Caltrans reported this week.
The groups applied for the funds, which were awarded on a competitive basis for fiscal year 2008-09, according to Caltrans.
The Transportation Planning Grant program complements the Governor’s Strategic Growth Plan for transportation, which reduces congestion below today’s levels while accommodating future transportation needs from growth in the population and the economy, Caltrans reported. The Governor’s Strategic Growth Plan incorporates GoCalifornia, a plan designed to decrease congestion, improve travel times, and increase safety.
Lake County/City Area Planning Council will receive $160,000 for their “State Route 53 Corridor Study.”
This project will evaluate current and future traffic conditions, with a primary emphasis on access points, including future interchange locations and designs, and develop preliminary long-term plans to address highway and local road needs.
The city of Fort Bragg will receive $75,889 for their “South Fort Bragg Bicycle and Pedestrian Access Plan.” It involves reaching out to under-represented citizens and developing a comprehensive plan to improve pedestrian and bicycle mobility and access along the busy South Main Street corridor.
Mendocino Council of Governments will receive $148,000 for their “Community Action Plan – City of Point Arena,” which will create a downtown streetscape and parking plan by evaluating crosswalk locations, bike lanes, pathways, current parking, traffic circulation and access, and the existing discontinuity of sidewalks.
MCOG and Mendocino Transit Authority will receive $61,971 for their “Commute Transportation Study for Mendocino County.”
The project will focus on the development of a Commute Transportation Plan between the outlying inland communities of Mendocino County to the city of Ukiah, and the potential demand for commute service between the Willits and Ukiah areas to Sonoma County.
Transportation Planning Grants are intended to promote strong and healthy communities, economic growth, and protection of the environment.
In accepting these grants, these groups agree to be a partner with Caltrans in its common mission to improve mobility and the quality of life in California.
Funding for these grant programs is contingent on the passage of the 2008-09 State budget.
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