Events planned around Lake County for July 4 holiday

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County is home to numerous fireworks shows during the Fourth of July holiday, many of which dazzle the skies over Clear Lake, illuminating the water’s surface.

The following is a sampling of fireworks shows and festivals.

For a complete listing, call the Lake County Visitor Information Center at 800-525-3743.

City of Clearlake Independence Day Festivities, Clearlake

Saturday, June 30

A lively parade (from Redbud Park to Austin Park), street fair, musicians, a car show, arts and crafts, food, a worm race competition, and children’s activities all beginning at 11 a.m. complement the evening fireworks show over Clear Lake at dusk. Admission is free. Information: 707-994-9752.

Maxine Sherman Memorial Fireworks Show, Clearlake Oaks

Wednesday, July 4

For a spectacular show, the best viewing area for the Maxine Sherman Memorial Fireworks display is on the water, anchored east of Rattlesnake Island, where the fireworks twinkle overhead and reflect off the waters of Clear Lake. From the shore, Clearlake Oaks Beach on Island Drive is a great spot. Show begins at dusk. Admission is free. Information: 707-998-9563, www.clearlakeoaks.org .

Lakeport Independence Day Festivities, Lakeport

Wednesday, July 4

An all-day street fair with music, arts and crafts, food, and beverages. The day begins with a cardboard/duct tape boat race and ends with fireworks over Clear Lake. Sponsored by the Lakeport Main Street Association and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce. Library Park, between First and Third Streets. Festivities begin at 7:00 a.m. Admission is free. Information: 707-263-5092, www.lakecochamber.com .

Lakeport Speedway Auto Races & Fireworks Show, Lakeport

Saturday, July 7

A colorful fireworks show, sponsored by Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino follows a fun filled evening of auto racing. Admission ranges from $5 (students) to $12 (adults 18 and over) per person. Gates open at 4 p.m., racing begins at 5:30 p.m. Fireworks to follow conclusion of racing. 401 Martin St., Lakeport. Information: 707-279-9577, www.lakeportspeedway.com .

Hospice: Understanding the basics

The following is the first in a series of articles on Hospice Services of Lake County and what the organization offers community members.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Hospice Services of Lake County provides service to any person with a life-limiting illness.  

Many patients feel like their world is shattered, they feel hopeless, overwhelmed, frightened and alone.  

Hospice care helps terminally ill patients and their families cope with the final months of life by providing appropriate medical care and social services.

Comprehensive care provided by hospice gives comfort and support to patients with life-limiting illnesses.

Hospice Services of Lake County is a team of specialized staff that helps patients and families obtain the best quality of life possible at the end stage of the disease process.

Hospice is committed to provide symptom management with dignity, meaning and peace during the last months, weeks and days of a life-limiting illness.

Hospice services can be provided to any person referred to hospice. Although most patients are referred by their physician, patients can refer themselves. Hospice staff will follow up with the physician for required orders and prognosis.

The physician certifies that the patient is eligible for hospice care with a prognosis of six months or less. Hospice services can continue indefinitely dependent on disease progression.

Hospice care is not limited by age or disease. Many life-limiting illnesses and conditions such as heart disease; end-stage lung, kidney, or liver disease; cancer; Alzheimer’s/dementia; ALS; or any disease in a terminal phase are managed by hospice.

Hospice Services of Lake County provides care in whatever setting the patient calls home, including private residences, assisted living facilities or nursing homes.

Hospice services include assessment, treatment and management of symptoms related to the illness which may include pain, nausea, anxiety, fatigue and shortness of breath; assistance with the complex end of life decisions, emotional and spiritual support, with ongoing bereavement services.

Hospice Services of Lake County staff include a team of highly trained individuals such as physicians specializing in hospice and palliative care, registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, hospice aides, medical social workers, spiritual care coordinators, bereavement counselors and trained volunteers.

Special hospice coverage, under Medicare and MediCal, pays for expenses related to the terminal illness.

Hospice Services of Lake County provides care regardless of the ability to pay and will work with the patient and family to resolve financial concerns.

Most patients and family members say that the only regret about hospice services is that they did not make contact sooner.

Good quality of life at the end of life is not an elusive concept at hospice. Hospice Services of Lake County is here to support you and your loved ones.

For more information about Hospice Services of Lake County, visit www.lakecountyhospice.org or call 707-263-6222.

Faith Lykken, RN, is director of patient care for Hospice Services of Lake County, based in Lakeport, Calif.

CLIMATE: California sea level projected to rise at higher rate than global average

The sea level off most of California is expected to rise about one meter over the next century, an amount slightly higher than projected for global sea levels, and will likely increase damage to the state’s coast from storm surges and high waves, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Sea levels off Washington, Oregon and Northern California will likely rise less, about 60 centimeters over the same period of time, according to the report.

However, the report said an earthquake magnitude 8 or larger in this region could cause sea level to rise suddenly by an additional meter or more.

Global sea level rose during the 20th century, and projections suggest it will rise at a higher rate during the 21st century.

A warming climate causes sea level to rise primarily by warming the oceans – which causes the water to expand – and melting land ice, which transfers water to the ocean.

However, sea-level rise is uneven and varies from place to place. Along the U.S. West Coast it depends on the global mean sea-level rise and regional factors, such as ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns, melting of modern and ancient ice sheets, and tectonic plate movements.

California Executive Order S-13-08 directed state agencies to plan for sea-level rise and coastal impacts and asked the Research Council to establish a committee to assess sea-level rise. Oregon, Washington, and several federal agencies joined California to sponsor the study.

The report estimates sea-level rise both globally and for those three states for the years 2030, 2050 and 2100.

The committee that wrote the report projected that global sea level will rise 8 to 23 centimeters by 2030, relative to the 2000 level, 18 to 48 centimeters by 2050, and 50 to 140 centimeters by 2100.

The 2100 estimate is substantially higher than the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s projection made in 2007 of 18 to 59 centimeters with a possible additional 17 centimeters if rapid changes in ice flow are included.

For the California coast south of Cape Mendocino, the committee projected that sea level will rise 4 to 30 centimeters by 2030, 12 to 61 centimeters by 2050, and 42 to 167 centimeters by 2100.

For the Washington, Oregon, and California coast north of Cape Mendocino, sea level is projected to change between falling 4 centimeters to rising 23 centimeters by 2030, falling 3 centimeters to rising 48 centimeters by 2050, and rising between 10 to 143 centimeters by 2100.

The committee noted that as the projection period lengthens, uncertainties, and thus ranges, increase.

The committee’s projections for the California coast south of Cape Mendocino are slightly higher than its global projections because much of the coastline is subsiding.

The lower sea levels projected for northern California, Washington and Oregon coasts are because the land is rising largely due to plate tectonics.

In this region, the ocean plate is descending below the continental plate at the Cascadia Subduction Zone, pushing up the coast.

Extreme events could raise sea level much faster than the rates projected by the committee.

For example, an earthquake magnitude 8 or greater north of Cape Mendocino, which occurs in this area every several hundred to 1,000 years with the most recent in 1700, could cause parts of the coast to subside immediately and the relative sea level to rise suddenly by a meter or more.

“As the average sea level rises, the number and duration of extreme storm surges and high waves are expected to escalate, and this increases the risk of flooding, coastal erosion, and wetland loss,” said Robert Dalrymple, committee chair and Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Most of the damage along the west coast is caused by storms, particularly the confluence of large waves, storm surges, and high tides during El Niño events.

Significant development along the coast – such as airports, naval air stations, freeways, sports stadiums, and housing developments – has been built only a few feet above the highest tides. For example, the San Francisco International Airport could flood with as little as 40 centimeters of sea-level rise, a value that could be reached in several decades.

The committee also ran a simulation that suggested sea-level rise could cause the incidence of extreme water heights in the San Francisco Bay area to increase from about 9 hours per decade, to hundreds of hours per decade by 2050, and to several thousand hours per decade by 2100.

The study was sponsored by the states of California, Washington and Oregon; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; U.S. Geological Survey; and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter.

Panel members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the academies’ conflict-of-interest standards.

The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion.

For more information, visit http://national-academies.org/studycommitteprocess.pdf .