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To be called a “blue moon,” the moon must be full for the second time in a calendar month, which will occur on Thursday, Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve – for the first time in almost 20 years.
A blue moon occurs every two and half years, but the last time there was a blue moon on New Year’s Eve was in 1990 – and the next will be in 2028.
Although the moon will not appear to be blue, the modern definition a blue moon is relatively new, and began in the 1940s, according to NASA.
The Farmer's Almanac of Maine offered a definition of blue moon so convoluted that even professional astronomers struggled to understand it, according to a recent NASA statement. The definition involved factors such as the ecclesiastical dates of Easter and Lent, and the timing of seasons according to the dynamical mean sun.
To explain blue moons to the masses, Sky & Telescope magazine published an article in 1946 entitled “Once in a Blue Moon,” where the author James Hugh Pruett cited the 1937 Maine almanac and opined that the "second [full moon] in a month, so I interpret it, is called Blue Moon."
Philip Hiscock of the Department of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland states that, "The phrase 'Blue Moon' has been around for more than 400 years, and during that time its meaning has shifted,” according to the NASA release.
NASA further stated that if you said that something occurs “once in a Blue Moon,” to a person in Shakespeare's time, they would attach no astronomical meaning to the statement – it only meant something that very rarely occurs, like the phrase the “Twelfth of Never.”
Each full moon also has a name and the full moon on Thursday will be the “Full Long Night Moon,” so named because the Winter Solstice, when the sun “stands still,” occurred on Dec. 21, marking the time when lengthening night begins its decline and the daytime begins to lengthen.
In addition to a full moon and blue moon on New Year’s Eve, which could bathe Lake County in lunar light (cloud cover permitting, as rains are forecast to continue through Friday), a partial eclipse will also be visible from Europe, Africa and Asia.
For more on blue moons, visit the following:
www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/articles/folkloreBlueMoon.html and
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29dec_bluemoon.htm?list193967 .
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
The driver in the collision, Matthew James Craig, 27, of Lakeport, later was arrested for felony driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, according to Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke.
Burke said the collision occurred at 11:35 p.m. Monday.
A 38-year-old woman was in the 1800 block of S. Main Street near the Lakeport Lagoons when Craig allegedly hit her with his 2004 Chevrolet Impala, Burke said.
The area has few crosswalks. Burke said the investigation is still trying to determine where the woman was when she was hit, if she was off the sidewalk and, if so, why she may have been in the roadway.
The woman was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Burke didn't release her name, and didn't have information about her condition on Tuesday.
Craig, who has no previous contacts with Lakeport Police, was booked into the Lake County Jail early Tuesday morning, with bail set at $10,000. He later posted bail and was released, according to jail records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
Jack Oliver, 38, was taken into custody on Dec. 18 following a traffic stop, according to Sgt. Lance Faille of the Yolo County Sheriff's Department.
Faille reported that at about 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18 sheriff's deputies stopped Oliver on Interstate 5 north of Zamora.
Riding with Oliver was 55-year-old Richard Oakley, a transient who had a felony warrant out of Napa County for methamphetamine possession. Faille said deputies found Oakley in possession of hashish and less than an ounce of marijuana.
During the search, deputies determined that Oliver had a counterfeit registration tab, which is a felony, and they additionally found five ounces of marijuana in the vehicle's engine compartment that Oliver allegedly admitted belonged to him, Faille said.
Both Oliver and Oakley were booked into the Yolo County Jail, according to Faille's report.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY – Winter's days may be short, but they can have spectacular endings.
On Monday evening local photographer Ron Keas captured another spectacular Lake County sunset.
Throughout the year Keas has shared his talent for capturing great moments around the county, including morning and evening light shows.
View more of his photos at http://www.3dviewmax.com/ .
The Bureau of Land Management will host free guided hikes on Saturdays in January and February to view wintering bald eagles in Lake County's Cache Creek Natural Area.
Hikes will be held Jan. 16, 23 and 30, and Feb. 6, 13, 20 and 27.
The California Department of Fish and Game reported that the bald eagle is a regular winter visitor in the Cache Creek area, where they can be seen roosting or soaring from mid October through mid August.
California state law classifies the bald eagle as a “fully protected bird.” The bald eagle was added to the federal list of endangered species in 1967, and to the California list of endangered species in 1971 after its numbers dropped to 30 nesting pairs in California.
Use of the pesticide DDT was reported to have had the most effect on the bald eagle's population, although numerous other impacts also were reported to have dropped its numbers, including habitat changes because of timber harvests, agriculture, poisoning and shootings, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
Lake County is reported to have two nesting territories for bald eagles, one in the far north and the second in far south at the Napa County line, according to state records.
Fish and Game also reported that bald eagle numbers and the territories they inhabit also are increasing across the state.
Participants in the January and February hikes will meet at the Redbud Trailhead parking area, eight miles east of Clearlake Oaks on Highway 20 at 10 a.m. The trailhead is just west of the North Fork Cache Creek Bridge (38° 59' 13.20" N, 122° 32' 22.50" W).
The four-mile hikes last three to four hours. The trail includes a steep 600-foot climb in the first mile, so hikers should be in good physical condition.
Hikers should wear sturdy hiking boots suitable for wet conditions and dress for cold weather. They should carry water, a lunch and binoculars, as most eagle sightings are at a distance. Hikes will be canceled in rainy weather.
Those who join the hikes will enjoy scenic vistas of the Cache Creek Canyon, where eagles often soar over the creek or perch in streamside trees. Participants often spot other wildlife including tule elk, golden eagles, osprey, herons, red-tailed hawks and egrets.
Those interested in participating should reserve space for a specific date by calling the BLM Ukiah Field Office, 707-468-4000.
Early reservations are suggested for the popular hikes, which are limited to 25 participants each.
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At an Oct. 14 meeting held in Clearlake, the district's board voted to lay off 56 classified employees, as Lake County News has reported. That number later was adjusted to 58.
The college reported that the job losses will occur at the district's Marysville, Woodland and Clear Lake campuses, as well as district offices.
The layoffs are set to go into effect on Jan. 22, according to college spokesman Adrian Lopez.
The district, which covers eight rural counties including a portion of Lake, had a $48 million budget in the last fiscal year, and is expected to have just over 7,800 full-time students this academic year, according to a message Chancellor Nicki Harrington released earlier this fall.
The Yuba Community College District is facing a $4 million reduction in its operating budget due to state budget cuts, and 84 percent of the college's budget is spent on personnel costs, according to district officials.
California School Employees Association (CSEA) unit negotiator Donna Veal-Spenser said layoff notices have been coming out since the board's Oct. 14 vote.
Between retirements and layoffs she reported a total of 76 positions that could be lost – 51 at the Yuba College main campus in Marysville, 19 at Woodland and six at Clear Lake. Veal-Spenser said all of those numbers should change.
“It's bad,” she said.
Since the October vote – which was greeted by picketing employees who crowded into the meeting chambers, asking board members to consider other measures to meet the fiscal shortfall – the situation has changed, thanks to efforts on behalf of staff, faculty and administration.
In November, the college board of trustees unanimously passed a resolution requesting that all district staff make concessions to help offset state budget cuts, Lopez reported.
The board asked all of the college's employee groups to take reductions equaling a 3-percent pay cut. District management staff also took cuts or made voluntary concessions, which amounted to $65,000.
Other cost-cutting measures the district has reported taking include not filling positions left vacant by resignations or retirements, reducing adjunct – or part-time – faculty positions, cutting department operating expenses and compressing academic schedules.
Based on those concessions, grant funding and an employee resignation, the board of trustees was able to restore four positions at its Dec. 9 meeting, according to Lopez.
The positions in question included the director of Yuba College's Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program – which young science and engineering students had asked the board to spare at the Oct. 14 meeting – two science lab technicians at Woodland Community College and a campus operations specialist at Beale Air Force Base.
Also on Dec. 9, the college board of trustees told Harrington to bring back a budget with 1 percent less of a reserve – totaling about $450,000 – in order to restore more of the positions slated for layoff, Lopez said.
The district's chief negotiator then met with the employee bargaining units on Dec. 11, Lopez reported.
The negotiations have gone in a positive direction, Veal-Spenser said.
The classified employees voted on Dec. 15 to accept a memorandum of understanding with the district that includes employees taking four furlough days during the fiscal year, she said.
There also may be some future discussion regarding retirement incentives, she added.
Veal-Spenser said they're hoping to see at least half of the layoffs restored, but she said that all of it depends on negotiations with the district.
“We don't know yet what positions are going to be brought back for sure and what the district is going to be proposing,” she said. “We're still going to have to hold their feet to the fire.”
While classified and management staff have provided concessions, some other units – like police and adjunct faculty – haven't yet, Lopez said.
The board's next meeting is Jan. 20, just two days before the layoffs go into effect, Lopez said.
In order to continue trying to save as many jobs as possible, “Meetings will be taking place between now and then,” Lopez said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
