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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LUCERNE – Lucerne's water system suffered two line breaks on Monday.
A main break occurred along Country Club Drive, with another leak reported on Alta Vista Way, said Gay Guidotti, California Water Service Co.'s customer service representative for Lucerne.
The breaks were reported Monday, said Guidotti.
A contractor was being sent to both locations to repair the breaks, Guidotti said.
She estimated that repairs would be completed Monday. About 6:30 p.m. men were still making repairs along Country Club.
About 12 homes lost water services as a result of the problem on Country Club, according to Guidotti.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Chief Deputy James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that the Lake County “Avoid the Three” DUI Task Force will conduct a the DUI and driver's license checkpoint during the evening hours of Friday, May 23, in the city of Clearlake.
The “Avoid” Task Force is a multi-agency effort led by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to remove DUI drivers from the roads and highways, said Bauman. Participating agencies include Lakeport and Clearlake Police Departments.
In order to optimize the efforts of the Task Force to reduce incidents of driving under the influence, the specific location and hours of operation of the checkpoint will not be disclosed prior to the checkpoint, Bauman said.
Motorists entering the checkpoint can expect to see traffic control patterns, warning signs, and officers on the roadway contacting drivers and screening for signs of intoxication or impairment, and checking driver’s licenses as traffic permits, he noted.
Drivers will be detained for the minimum amount of time possible at the checkpoint, said Bauman.
In addition to the DUI checkpoint on Friday evening, Bauman reported that special enforcement units also will be on DUI Saturation Patrol in and around the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake during the coming Memorial Day weekend looking for intoxicated or impaired drivers.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE OAKS – A Cloverdale man armed with chicken livers won this year's Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Catfish Derby.
The Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association's annual derby ran Friday through Sunday, and attracted near-record numbers – 468 adults and 91 children – with organizers reporting it was a “resounding success.”
Omar Mandujano won the annual fishing event with a catfish that he caught on Friday in Cache Creek, according to derby organizers. The winning fish weighed in at 25.27 pounds and was landed thanks to Mandujano's use of chicken livers.
Mandujano took home a new fishing boat, motor and trailer package for his efforts, organizers reported.
In the children's division, Clearlake Oaks resident Richie Pavoni took the top prize. He used a chartreuse spinner bait with a black crawdad trailer and caught a 21.29-pound catfish on Sunday morning in the Keys canals.
He reportedly exclaimed, “I got a big one,” as he transported his catch via wheeled cooler to the weigh-in station. His reward was a new four-wheel ATV.
Total payout in cash and prizes to other anglers totaled more than $9,000, the business association reported.
The waters were calm and the weather hot for the derby. Attendance this year was slightly below last year's record turnout, according to organizers.
The winning fish in the adult division this year was a few whiskers lighter than last year's winner, a 28-pounder hauled in by a Woodland angler, as Lake County News previously reported.
An estimated 70 percent of anglers participating in the derby came from areas outside of Lake County, including Oregon, Washington and Nevada – even as far away as Oklahoma, organizers reported. That's close to the percentage of visiting anglers that attended last year's event.
A total of 87 fish were caught – 61 by adults, 26 by children – weighing a total of 1,200 pounds, according to a derby summary. Eighteen fish were caught on Friday, 38 on Saturday and 26 on Sunday. All but five of the catfish were released back into the lake.
Mandujano's and Pavoni's winning catches were among those who were returned to the lake to live another day.
Popular spots for landing the fish included Cache Creek, and Rattlesnake and Indian Islands, with many anglers also fishing from the lake's shore, the business association reported.
The derby is the business association's major annual fundraiser, with proceeds donated back to the community for various projects as well as the annual July 4 fireworks display.
Organizers said they're already getting to work in order to plan next year's event.
For more information about the association, visit www.clearlakeoaks.org.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Lake County Office of Education Superintendent Dave Geck said district superintendents will meet Monday for a budget workshop on the revise, which was released May 14.
The May revise, he said, looks slightly kinder to schools than the January budget draft, which proposed $4.8 billion in cuts to education. The revise, he added, has adjusted that number to $4 billion.
North Coast Sen. Pat Wiggins said Schwarzenegger's revised budget “offers little more than a fig leaf for education.”
She added, “We can’t have a world class state with a world class economy without a strong education system – and this budget means our schools will still have to lay off teachers, reduce staff and increase class sizes.”
Although schools won't have a good sense about the shape of things to come until further analysis is completed later in the week, Geck said one of his hopes is to be able to rescind some of the layoff notices given to staff – teachers as well as some administrators – in March.
Across the county, “We sent notices out to 80 out of 530 teachers,” Geck said.
Many teachers, he said, are “holding their breath” to see how the revised budget will pencil out for local schools.
Most of those receiving layoff notices are the newest and brightest teachers, said Geck. The impact on them might be more far-reaching than just losing a job – some may decide to leave the profession altogether.
Also facing cuts are classified employees – bus drivers, custodians and aides.
“If you don't put a face on the pain, people really don't get it,” Geck said.
If schools end up having to cut their budgets across the board, as they originally were told they would have to do, “it will unravel a lot of successful programs up and down the state, and in this county, particularly,” he said.
Lake County is facing cuts to arts and music classes, as well as hits to its efforts at class size reduction, Geck said.
The California Budget Project estimated in a report issued this spring that the governor's initial budget would impact all of the county's 9,270 public school students, with proposed cuts to the five largest funding allocations for public schools equaling reductions of $627 per student.
An Assembly Budget Committee analysis of Schwarzenegger's May revise said a proposal to suspend Proposition 98 funds was withdrawn, and an additional $1.1 billion will be allocated.
There would be no cost-of-living adjustment for K-12 programs, and most K-12 programs would still be subject to the across-the-board cuts proposed in January, with funding also reduced to deferred maintenance, according to the report.
However, the report states that some cuts to special education and other programs would be restored. Additional funding also is proposed through Proposition 98 to assist in recruitment and personnel management, and separate legislation would fund assisting districts in meeting accountability measures.
The May revise will figure importantly in the way districts approach crafting their budgets for the coming year, said Geck, a process which will get under way in June.
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