How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to end the unconscionable delays experienced by veterans when applying for disability benefits. VVA and VMW seek immediate action to prevent further irreparable harm to our nation's veterans.
VVA has a local chapter, 951, that serves the county's large Vietnam veteran population.
The lawsuit demands that the VA provide an initial decision on every veteran's claim for disability benefits within 90 days and resolve appeals within 180 days.
Additionally, the veterans groups ask that the Court grant further relief in the form of interim benefits awards in the event that the VA exceeds these minimum standards of constitutionally-guaranteed due process. These interim benefits will provide veterans with a lifeline of support when it is most needed to facilitate reintegration into their lives back home.
"The failure to expedite veterans' compensation claims creates, at best, the impression that the nation does not respect its veterans," said John Rowan, National President, Vietnam Veterans of America. "America's veterans deserve more, and the VA's failure to fulfill its responsibilities brings dishonor to our nation and can only make the call of military service more challenging."
The VA acknowledges that it takes an average of at least six months to reach an initial decision on an average benefits claim; the actual delay is closer to a year.
Appeals of these initial decisions, which are reversed more than 50 percent of the time, take, on average, more than four years, with some stretching 10 years or more. In contrast, private health care plans – which process more than 30 billion claims a year – process claims and related appeals in less than three months.
"As a matter of both policy and practice, the VA subjects veterans to long delays before receiving any of the benefits to which they are entitled," said Donald Overton, executive director, Veterans of Modern Warfare. "Our hope is that this lawsuit will compel the VA to process veterans' benefits claims more quickly and honor our nation's commitment to those that have defended and served."
"All veterans will benefit significantly from the legal action of VVA and VMW," said Robert Cattanach, partner, Dorsey and Whitney. "The intervention of VVA and VMW is necessary because under federal law individual veterans are not allowed to access the judicial system. Dorsey and Whitney is committed to helping America's veterans quickly secure the benefits they have earned from the VA."
There are approximately 25 million veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces alive today. More than 7 million of those veterans are enrolled in the VA's health care system, and approximately 3.4 million veterans receive benefits.
More than 600,000 VA benefits claims are backlogged – this number will only increase as the 1.7 million troops that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to return home.
"A soldier's transition to civilian life is challenging. The VA's failure to diagnose PTSD promptly and accurately, and the corresponding delay in the award of benefits, plainly results in veterans being denied this critical lifeline," said Dr. Charles R. Figley, PTSD expert and author, of Tulane University. "VVA and VMW's lawsuit will help to reduce this additional and, in many cases, unmanageable stress for veterans."
According to the VA, the suicide rate among individuals in the VA's care may be as high as 7.5 times the national average. Delays in awarding benefits to America's veterans increases the suffering of individuals already struggling with an inability to cope, as the seemingly endless wait for the VA to make a final decision on a claim magnifies the alienation and anxiety that they experience.
For example, the inability to provide basic subsistence support significantly impacts a veteran's ability to maintain economic stability, seek and gain employment, provide and sustain a home, or care for a family. As a consequence, there is a substantial increase in the number of broken families, cases of homelessness and depression caused by the failure to provide disability benefits on a timely basis.
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation's only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans families, as well as to the needs of other veterans and their families. VVA's founding principle is "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another." Visit the VVA online at www.vva.org.
Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW) is a veterans service organization dedicated to serving our nation's most recent war veterans. Its purpose is to support veterans and their families by providing education and information about the benefits America's veterans have earned, assistance in obtaining benefits, advocacy in issues important to our generation, and camaraderie through locally based, national chapters. Visit the VMW online at http://vmwusa.org.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Pursuant to a plea agreement proposed by the District Attorney's Office, Judge Stephen Hedstrom sentenced Jose Manuel Hernandez-Medina, 53, to three years probation, 45 days jail, a fine of $2,295, and no hunting or possession of firearms in any area inhabited by game animals for three years.
Hernandez-Medina's .22 and .308 rifles, digital camera and machete were ordered forfeited to law enforcement authorities as part of the deal, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who oversees all fish and wildlife prosecutions in Lake County.
On July 5, Game Warden Loren Freeman received a call from an informant reporting several males standing around three dead doe deer along Round Mountain Road in the Clearlake Oaks area, according to Hinchcliff.
The informant reported a vehicle license plate number to the warden, who ran the plate to determine the address of the registered owner of the vehicle, Hinchcliff said.
Freeman responded to that address in the city of Clearlake, where he found Hernandez-Medina cleaning blood out of an ice chest. Hinchcliff said that, after further investigation, Freeman found and confiscated three doe deer that had been illegally killed, along with a .22 caliber rifle and ammunition, a .308 rifle, a digital camera and a machete.
Hinchcliff charged Hernandez-Medina with felony conspiracy and six misdemeanor violations of the Fish and Game Code.
On Monday, Hinchcliff said Hernandez-Medina pleaded guilty in Superior Court's Department Four in Clearlake to misdemeanor violations of taking deer when the season was not open, taking deer without possessing a deer tag, and possessing deer without being in possession of a valid hunting license.
Hinchcliff said other charges were dismissed in exchange for those admissions.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
It's called public transit.
“We've had steady growth through the year,” said Mark Wall, transit manager for the Lake Transit Authority.
In the 2007-08 fiscal year, ridership grew by 8 percent in the first, quarter, 15 percent in the second, 20 percent in the third and in the fourth, 27 percent, said Wall.
Those increases were helped by a few factors, said Wall, including improved service on the transit authority's route one, which runs along Highway 20.
But the big jump came when gas prices began climbing steeply. “All of a sudden ridership really went through the roof,” he said.
As a comparison, he points to July 2008's ridership numbers, which hit 30,126, putting it at 45-percent above July 2007.
“Ridership is up particularly on any route that goes a long distance,” Wall said.
Big ridership changes were noted on route one along Highway 20 and the Northshore, which increased in passengers by 55 percent; route three from Calistoga to Middletown; route four, running between Clearlake and Lakeport on Highway 29; and route seven to Ukiah.
“The bad news was we were overbudget,” said Wall.
Rising fuel prices, which increased the numbers of people using the bus, also proved a primary cause of the budget overrun. Wall said the authority had planned to spent $289,000 on fuel for the year, but ran over by 16 percent, ending up at $333,800.
In the past year, the authority also changed contractors, with Laidlaw's contract ceasing in July of 2007, to be succeeded by Paratransit Services, said Wall. “It's been a much better situation this year with our new contractor.”
Wall, who also manages Del Norte County's transit authority, notes that bus ridership is up all over the state.
Lake County is on the high end, noted Wall, higher even than some urban areas when it comes to the increases in use it's seeing. That's because people move to transit services more when they live in areas where there are greater distance to travel.
Wall noted that Del Norte County is seeing even more new ridership than Lake, thanks to revisions in its transit system.
That's one big concern here in Lake County – how to make the service more available and useful to a wider range of customers.
“Over the years we've seen a wide variety of people who use the service, but most of them are low income,” he said.
However, Lake Transit recently conducted a ridership survey, said Wall. “We're getting people we've never heard from before.”
Employees in some county offices are using the transit to go to work, and Wall said Social Services now wants to sell monthly passes at their site.
Wall said they're working on a transit development plan, which includes adding more commuter-oriented runs on routes one along the Northshore and four, between Clearlake and Lakeport.
One way to expand the service is to add to its range of hours. Most routes run from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, said Wall, with only one going until 8 p.m.
He said the authority has just applied for a grant to add morning and evening runs between Clearlake and Calistoga with connections to Lakeport, and an evening run between the Lakeport and Clearlake.
But the hope of expanding the service may be hampered by the state's raiding of transit assistance fund monies, which comes from sales tax. Those funds have been gobbled up by the state budget process the past two years, which Wall said will likely happen again this year.
“We're supposed to be receiving more money from state than likely to see,” said Wall.
Transit agencies all over the state want to expand their services but are being hampered because those funds are drying up, said Wall.
While Lake Transit would like to revise its services to meet greater demands, Wall said the process will have to move more slowly than they would like and will be predicated on the availability of money.
If gas prices remain high, Wall said he expects over the long term for transit to become more like it used to be, with more private ownership and less public subsidies.
In the mean time, Lake Transit is focusing on some small changes that can have big returns, such as having its service and routes added to Google's transit tracking service. They're also installing a new bus tracking system to see if buses are running on time, since late buses have proved a problem for the system.
They are planning for several new route changes next January and February, with a third bus route set for Clearlake, and modifications being considered for a few of the other routes as well, said Wall. If they get their grant, they may be able to run some routes more often, especially during commute times.
The eventual goal for route one along the Northshore, said Wall, is to have hourly bus runs. Those runs used to take four hours, and now are down to two.
In the fall of 2009, Lake Transit is aiming to add another Lakeport route, which will move from the city's northern area down to Konocti Vista Casino, looping through town and onto the freeway.
Wall added that Lake Transit is partnering with the Area Agency on Aging to do a senior transportation project between Clearlake Oaks and Spring Valley.
Another challenge for the future is enough buses, and the right kind of buses, to enable Lake Transit to meet its growing demands.
Lake Transit currently has 20 buses but it needs more, with two on order, said Wall, and three more, smaller buses also soon to be ordered. Depending on the state budget, more also could be purchased soon to both enlarge the fleet and replace aging buses.
Wall said the authority's buses are diesel. They're discussing other possible fuel alternatives as they look at the future, with hybrid vehicles offering promise. Hybrids using compressed natural gas tend to run between $400,000 and $500,000 for a new bus, compared to $200,000 for a new diesel bus, said Wall.
Biodiesel also might work if a consistent local or regional source were available. However, Wall added, “It's got a lot of problems for us to use.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes, Lakeport.
At 9:05 a.m., the commission will hold a public hearing to consider a mitigated negative declaration based on initial study for a major use permit.
Peacock Associates Inc./Metro PCS has applied for the project, and proposes replacing a 120-foot guy wired lattice tower with a new 120-foot self-supporting lattice tower. The project is located at 9280 Konocti Road, Kelseyville.
South Lake County Fire Protection District has applied to purchase an approximately 13,720 square foot parcel to use as a parking lot at 15476 Graham St. A public hearing will be held on the proposal at 9:40 a.m.
At 9:45 a.m., a public hearing will take place to consider a mitigated negative declaration based on initial study for a parcel map. Glen Rolfe has applied to renew an expired tentative parcel map to subdivide approximately 15.76 acres located at 1000 Robin Hill Road in Lakeport in order to create three parcels.
The Vintage Faire subdivision also will be on the Thursday agenda and the subject of a 10:10 a.m. public hearing for considering of a subsequent negative declaration based on initial study for general plan of development.
De Nova Homes is proposing a one-year time extension of the subdivision's general development plan; the proposed project is located at 20740 and 20830 State Highway 29, Middletown.
The final public hearing of the day is set for 10:40 a.m. The hearing will be for an administrative appeal (AA 08-03) of the Community Development Department's determination to deny issuance of a Certificate of Compliance.
The appellant is Edwin Rohner, proposing a Certificate of Compliance on their parcel after a lot line adjustment was recorded that appears to have erased any underlying parcels of record. The project is located at 5087 State St., Kelseyville.
Planning Commissioners include Monica Rosenthal, District 1; Gary Briggs, District 2; Clelia Baur, District 3; Cliff Swetnam, District 4; and Gil Schoux, District 5.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}