Opinion

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Written by: Roy Disney

Published: 27 January 2010

The Lakeport Fire Department would like to thank the following people and organizations for their contributions to the Bucket Brigade blood drive held at the Lakeport Fire Station on Jan. 16. It was a competition between 40 Northern California fire departments and Lakeport came in at second place, generating 119 donations.

Thank you to the community for coming in and making your blood donations. It was the key element of the events success.

We would also like to thank Linda Buckner, Amanda Kane, Pam Lausten and Becky Hirscher, for their help in the event, as well as the entire Lakeport Fire Department.

Thank you to Bob Mayer for organizing the Clear Lake High School students and assisting and donating to the blood drive.

Thank you to the Lake County Fair for donating the tables and chairs for the event.

Thanks for helping to promote this annual event go to the Lake County Record-Bee, Lake County News, radio stations KXBX, KNTI, KWNE and the many businesses that displayed our posters.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone again next year.

Roy Disney is vice president of the Lakeport Volunteer Firefighters Association.

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Written by: Tobie Edmonds

Published: 25 January 2010

On Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, at approximately 12 p.m. I was traveling southbound on Highway 53 when a vehicle traveling northbound made a left turn on to Olympic Drive in front of me. There was no time to react or take defensive maneuvers due to the other vehicles close proximity to me at the time that they made the left turn. The result was a head-on collision between my vehicle and the vehicle that had turned in front of me.

Lake County Fire Protection District quickly responded to the incident and initiated treatment upon their arrival. I was transported to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake by Lake County Fire Protection District medics.

Due to bad weather conditions in Sacramento and Santa Rosa I was unable to be airlifted to trauma centers in those cities. Instead I was airlifted to Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport which is a lower level trauma center then the ones located in Sacramento or Santa Rosa.

The cost of the flight from Clearlake to Lakeport was $24,000. Injuries sustained included back, chest and neck pain as well as difficulty breathing. It is unknown at this time if there will be any long-term effects from the injuries sustained.

Like many other Americans I have no medical insurance and may have to pay all the medical expenses myself unless the other driver's insurance pays. I am also now without a vehicle to go to and from work, doctors appointments, or to get my kids to and from school.

Highway 53 at Olympic Drive is a dangerous intersection for anyone who has to travel it. There is great risk for anyone who has to enter or exit the highway to turn onto or from Olympic Drive due to the cross traffic on the highway traveling at 55 miles per hour with no traffic control devices such as stoplights to allow traffic to safely enter or exit the highway.

Being such a hazardous intersection and having been fortunate to have survived a serious accident in that intersection I fully intend to seek improvements at this location before someone else in unfortunate enough to be seriously injured or even killed.

I intend to meet with Caltrans, the county Board of Supervisors, and the city of Clearlake to seek improvements and encourage any other accident victims or family members of victims that have lost their lives to join me in bringing about these improvements.

Tobie Edmonds lives in Lucerne.

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Written by: Broc Zoller and Toni Scully

Published: 24 January 2010

This is in reply to Dennis Jones, whose car was inadvertently sprayed by an orchard applicator.

Agricultural spray operators are trained to always be observant, especially at the end of rows with the potential for passing cars. It can be difficult while negotiating a turn to cut off spray manifolds at the precise time to prevent movement of fine spray near the ends of rows. This challenge can be compounded by the speed of oncoming traffic. The operators accomplish this task most of the time without incident.

Signs are placed at the spraying sites so that passing motorists can be reminded to be watchful for a sprayer that may be nearing the end of a row, or for droplets that may not have completely settled. We certainly do not want to spray cars, and we ask passing motorists to assist us in this effort by proceeding slowly and perhaps waiting for unintended residue to settle. Please bear with the farmers and spray operators trying to do a good job while being sensitive to the needs of people passing through our rural areas.

It sometimes does take a number of spray trips through an orchard or vineyard in the course of a season to avoid many plant diseases and insect perils. Pears, in particular, are a very difficult crop to produce, owing to a number of potential problems. The pear industry has been extremely proactive over the last 30 years in funding research (primarily with the University of California) to reduce pesticide usage for pest and disease management.

These integrated pest management (IPM) methods have included the development of weather-based disease control models for bacterial and fungal diseases which require exact timing of preventative treatments based on weather conditions. Lake County pear growers were instrumental in developing mating disruption techniques for control of our primary insect pest, the codling moth. This technology has greatly reduced the number of sprays required to protect the crop from destructive worms.

The pear industry is committed to funding ongoing research toward improved cultivation methods and spray reduction in the face of increased concern about the use of pesticides and the spiraling cost of these materials. These efforts have resulted in the California pear industry being awarded a national USEPA Environmental Stewardship Award in the 1990s and in the Lake County pear industry being chosen as recipients of two statewide CDFA Integrated Pest Management Innovator Awards in the 2000’s.

As a result of this work control sprays which remain necessary continue, but at lower levels with decreased frequency. Our new “softer” chemicals are specific to various pests and break down naturally in the environment and more rapidly than many older materials no longer used. They are applied only when indicated after careful monitoring of insect traps and bacteria counts as predicted by weather models.

We continue to fund research to be good stewards of the land, to improve our farming methods, and to work to keep Lake County a place in which we are all pleased to live and work.

Broc Zoller lives in Kelseyville and Toni Scully lives in Finley.