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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department's North Coast Region reported that the county's unemployment rate for August was 7.1 percent, down from 7.5 percent in July.
However, Mullins pointed out that the number was higher than August 2006, which registered a 6.4 percent jobless rate.
August's 7.1 percent compares to a seasonally unadjusted rate of 5.4 percent for California and 4.6 percent for the nation, Mullins reported.
Surrounding county unemployment rates included 8.7 percent for Colusa, 5.2 percent for Mendocino and 4.6 percent for Sonoma, according to Mullins. Marin had the lowest rate in the state with 3.9 percent and Imperial County had the highest at 20.7 percent.
Lake County ranked 41 out of 58 counties for its August unemployment figures.
Mullins reported that the county's total industry employment grew by 360 jobs (2.3 percent) between August 2006 and August 2007, ending the year-over period with 16,060 jobs.
Year-over job growth occurred in farm; natural resources, mining and construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation, and utilities; financial activities; private educational and health services; other services; and government, according to Mullins.
Year-over job losses occurred in professional and business services, while the information and leisure and hospitality industries had no change, Mullins reported.
The farm sector led industry gainers adding 190 jobs for the year, according to Mullins' report. Trade, transportation and utilities was up 50 jobs, and private educational and health services and government each gained 40. Financial activities added 30 jobs and the natural resources, mining and construction category gained 20. Manufacturing and other services were up 10 jobs each.
The professional and business services sector was the single decliner for the period, dropping 30 jobs, Mullins noted.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The California Highway Patrol incident logs reported eight collisions during the course of the day.
They included:
– A solo vehicle that went off the road at 9011 Soda Bay Road near Kelseyville at 12:48 a.m. No injuries were reported.
– A collision between a car and a pickup took place at 12:12 p.m. on Highway 29 across from Bell Park. Minor injuries resulted.
– Two vehicles were reportedly involved in a collision on Highway 175/the Hopland Grade at 2:58 p.m., with both cars going off the roadway. No injuries were reported.
– No injuries reported from a collision involving two vehicles on westbound Highway 20 at 3:20 p.m.
– Another crash occurred on the Hopland Grade at 4:01 p.m., involving a Honda Accord and an SUV. Minor injuries were reported and both vehicles needed to be towed. The accident blocked the eastbound lane of the highway.
– At 5:31 p.m. a vehicle hit the embankment on a blind corner while traveling westbound on Highway 20 just west of Tower Mart in the area between Clearlake Oaks and Lucerne. No injuries resulted.
– Another collision with no injuries occurred on eastbound Highway 20 at 6:42 p.m. Only one car was involved.
– At midnight, a vehicle was reported off the roadway on Highway 20 at mile marker 42. No injuries were reported.
In other road- and weather-related news, a boulder was reported in the road at one area along Highway 29 after 3 p.m.; and water was reported running across the roadway at Emerald and Borenbega Drives in Kelseyville just before 5 p.m.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT – The annual Seaplane Splash-In made big waves Friday, as seaplanes landed on Clear Lake and taxied into town for this year's event.
From late morning until sundown land-based aircraft were landing at Lampson Field at a rate of four per hour.
The first plane to splash into Lakeport arrived at just after 11 a.m., a perfectly restored 1949 Piper owned by Presten's Aero Photo Service that is used for air-to-air photography.
By 2 p.m. 15 airplanes had ramped out and were parked for public display on the ball field at Natural High School.
As expected, several of the aircraft from last year's event were on hand, including the world's only registered Piper Apache on floats.
Despite this week's change in the weather, the fun is expected to go on as planned throughout the weekend.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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- Written by: Sophie Annan Jensen
On Thursday they received notices in the mail that the water they had been consuming since July of 2006 exceeded maximum contaminant levels of total trihalomethanes. {sidebar id=11}
Long-time use – defined as drinking two liters a day for 70 years – may increase the risk of getting cancer and may cause liver, kidney or central nervous system problems.
On Friday, Cal Water employees hand-delivered boil water notices throughout Lucerne, stating "this precaution is necessary due to exceeding legal levels for turbidity from recent rains."
Representatives of Lucerne's two water groups, Lucerne Community Water Organization and LucerneFLOW, could not be reached for comment on the town's water situation Friday.
John Graham, the company's water quality project manager, said the boil water notice is expected to be in effect through the weekend.
He explained the scanty recent rain was not the real problem, and the two notices are related. Current lake conditions of increased organic matter which could be pathogens require disinfecting the water before distribution, which increases the trihalomethane level.
Both Graham and Bruce Burton, director of the Drinking Water Field Operations Branch of the California Health Services department in Santa Rosa, explained the risky trihalomethanes form when organics in the lake combine with chlorine.
"Over the last couple of weeks we have been experiencing quality problems," Graham said. "Last year's mild winter gave us a respite from typical water quality issues. But in the last two weeks we've seen a change, a musty odor and things growing."
Graham said the lake's pH measurement, which indicates its ability to absorb acid, has been changing rapidly, "sometimes every 15 or 20 minutes."
He added he is sure other systems which rely on Clear Lake's water are also "being challenged by it," but Cal Water's situation is different because its plant is "at the end of its life cycle."
Burton said the turbidity is a measure of particulate matter in the water. He said an engineer in his office had contacted other water systems around the lake and "all are meeting standards. Seasonal changes in lake water are creating challenges, and systems have found water more difficult to treat. For instance, they are having to backwash more often. Clear Lake water is not easy to treat, because of seasonal changes."
The new Cal Water Lucerne plant, which is under construction on Highway 20, should be in operation by this time next year, Graham said. It will use a membrane and ultra-violet system, which minimizes the need to add chlorine.
Burton said his office was notified at 4 a.m. Friday that the Cal Water plant had problems, and directed the boil water notice.
Graham said the turbid water was released at about 9 a.m. and would not reach the furthest part of the system before about 11:30 a.m.
The company brought in four employees from its Oroville and Chico offices to distribute the boil water notices, said Graham.
The boil water notice deliveries continued all afternoon. Central Lucerne residents received notices between 3 and 4 p.m.
A moratorium on new hookups to the Lucerne water system has been in effect since July 2007, when Burton's office recommended it to the California Public Utilities Commission.
E-mail Sophie Annan Jensen at
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