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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The message from the chiefs and the Air Quality Management District comes a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the same request, asking California residents not to buy even safe and sane fireworks this year because of the fire danger, according to a Sacramento Bee report.
With the resource demand of fire agencies depleted, any additional wildfires – even if they are small – will overburden firefighters and further degrade local air quality, they reported.
The statement put out by the fire and air quality officials Thursday urged county residents to enjoy the county's many larger fireworks shows that are conducted in a fire-safe manner – over the lake and far from personal exposure to individuals.
Safe and sane or personal fireworks only are allowed to be used or sold within the city of Lakeport and are illegal in all other parts of the county and the city of Clearlake, fire officials reported.
City Manager Jerry Gillham said they are moving ahead with allowing several nonprofit groups to have fireworks booths in the city this year.
Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells said safe and sane fireworks are an issue because many people purchase them and then take them outside of the city limits.
“Safe and sane fireworks will still start fire in grasslands,” he said.
He added that the fireworks need to stay within Lakeport's city limits, where they can be displayed in certain areas.
Wells noted that fines for illegal fireworks usage are going up.
On Wednesday California State Fire Marshal Kate Dargan issued a statement in which she put illegal fireworks traffickers on notice. "Consider this your first and only warning,” she said. “We don't care if you do it for fun or profit ... We are determined to put a stop to it.”
Illegal fireworks in California include sky rockets, bottle rockets, Roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers and other miscellaneous types of fireworks that either explode, go up in the air, or move about the ground in an uncontrollable fashion, according to Dargan's statement. Any device that has not been classified as "Safe and Sane" ("State-Approved") in California is deemed by law to be "dangerous" and "illegal."
She said that Senate Bill 839, which became effective Jan. 1, increased the penalties for illegal fireworks while also removing a number of legal, procedural and practical hurdles to enforcing illegal fireworks statutes in the state.
SB 839 – whose supporters included the California State Firefighters Association, California Fire Chiefs Association and Cal fire – can raise the fines for illegal fireworks, depending on the gross weight of the fireworks found to be in a suspect's possession, to as much as $50,000 and/or not more than 1 year imprisonment in a state prison or county jail, according to Dargan.
In addition, parents may be held liable for any fire damage or injury caused by their children using illegal fireworks, Dargan reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The National Weather Service in Sacramento has issued a special weather statement for Lake County forecasting an upper level flow to move up from Southern California some time Friday into Saturday, which should help clear out some of the smoke filling the Clear Lake basin.
However, the flow may just exchange the current smoke with smoke from other nearby fires.
But more troubling is the threat of thunderstorms to return to the surrounding mountains starting on Friday.
With 54 fires started by lightning strikes in the Mendocino National Forest last weekend, the National Weather Service forecast for more storms with limited moisture is not welcome news, although moisture with these storms should increase through the day on Saturday.
Nighttime thunderstorms are a possibility through the weekend for most of Northern California, where fires are still raging – many of them unattended – according to the National Weather Service.
To track lightning strikes, visit http://www.sloweather.com/lightning.htm.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 30, was due in Lake County Superior Court Thursday morning.
He's accused of the murder of Michael Dodele, 67.
Oliver is alleged to have stabbed Dodele to death in the trailer Dodele recently had moved into in the Western Hills Mobile Home Park in Lakeport. He also is facing charges for having been in possession of shank he had fashioned from a toothbrush in the Lake County Jail.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said the Thursday preliminary hearing was canceled because Oliver didn't have an attorney to appear with him.
Oliver's defense attorney, Bruce Laning, last week left his position with Lake Legal Defense Services Inc., which provides indigent defense services in Lake County, said Stephen Carter, who administers the program.
Hinchcliff said the case was held over until Monday, at which time they'll discuss rescheduling the preliminary hearing.
"I think it's just going to be continued to August to get an attorney appointed for him," said Hinchcliff.
Carter agreed that the case may not return to court until August, which he said will be determined Monday.
This isn't the first time Oliver's preliminary hearing has been delayed.
His preliminary hearing, which will determine if he will be held for trial, was originally scheduled for May.
Oliver had been transferred by the US Marshal's Office to San Diego County, where he's facing federal charges in an illegal dumping case, as Lake County News has reported.
Although officials had assured Hinchcliff that Oliver would be back in Lake County in time, he didn't arrive in time for the hearing, having been taken at one point to Kansas City.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The state Assembly already approved AB 2747 by a 42-34 vote on May 28. The bill now heads to a vote of the full Senate.
The bill, which had effectively been stalled by religious and professional groups, reportedly gained new momentum late Wednesday when a series of last-minute hallway negotiations prompted the Catholic Church to drop its opposition.
Once Catholic representatives and a group of oncologists were satisfied that the bill was not an endorsement of assisted suicide, Assembly Bill 2747 was approved in both the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“This bill is about information, plain and simple,” said Berg, D-Eureka, who drew a firestorm of controversy in recent years for her attempts to enact an Oregon-style Death With Dignity law in California. “This bill does not make anything legal that isn’t legal now. But it does say that you can’t keep a patient in the dark just because you’re uncomfortable talking about dying.”
Opponents had been leery of AB 2747, which they feared could be a stalking horse for another attempt at allowing patients to control their own dying.
Californians Against Assisted Suicide, a group that opposes the bill, say it's another attempt by Berg and Levine to get an assisted suicide bill passed. Berg and Levine's Compassionate Choices Act legislation has failed over the past three years.
In staff analysis of the bill, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund argued against AB 2747, saying “the information and timeframes set forth in the bill are not always medically or legally appropriate, and the bill fails to require that information be provided to surrogates or family members when appropriate.” The group also argued that that medical prognoses often are wrong and physicians can't be sure when patients will die.
Berg's office reported that she overcame uncertainty about the bill by amending it to remove mention of the existing medical practice of palliative sedation, in which patients are kept under continual sedation while they die.
She also took a number of minor, clarifying amendments designed to make clear that the bill had nothing to do with her previous efforts on Death With Dignity.
“I think we’re finally getting to a place where we can put patients first,” said Berg. “What we’re talking about is the right to be informed.”
In testimony, Berg pointed to a recent study funded the federal government which found that patients who were told what to expect in their final days fared better during the dying process than those who received no such information.
The study said informed patients were less likely to be depressed, more likely to receive hospice care; and their families were better able to deal with their deaths than the uninformed.
The study also pointed out that only one in three terminally ill patients were likely to receive thorough information about their conditions. Berg’s bill aims to turn those numbers around, at least in California.
Among supporters of the bill are the California Medical Association, the California Psychological Association, California Nurses Association, California Commission on Aging, AIDS Project Los Angeles and Conference of California Seniors.
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