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The crash was reported shortly after 4 p.m. on Bottle Rock Road in front of Pine Grove Resort, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP and Cal Fire responded to the scene, where the male rider was reported to have gone off the roadway.
The rider was reported to be combative, so he had to be sedated in order to be transported via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, CHP reported.
REACH transported the man shortly after 5 p.m. to the hospital, where CHP ordered a blood draw.
The rider, whose name was not available Saturday night, was reported to have suffered minor injuries.
No information was available on the other vehicle reported to have been involved in the crash.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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My friend Jessica mentioned how she was avoiding artichokes because they were so fattening with all of the mayonnaise that she uses with them. I suggested eating them with melted butter with lemon, the favorite accompaniment in our house.
Then in the back of my mind I thought, “Artichokes are healthy and nutritious; why do we always have to serve them with fatty dipping sauces? I can come up with something healthier.” So I started thinking ...
Many people think of artichokes as “fancy food” and eat them only on special occasions, but artichokes are low in calories (60 per average), full of fiber (12 percent of your daily requirement), vitamin C (10 percent of the daily requirement), they’re higher in antioxidants than 993 out of 1,000 other fruits, vegetables, nuts and other foods tested – that’s right SEVENTH highest in antioxidants!
They also have properties that fight cancer, heart disease and harmful cholesterol, and studies are being done that look at how the artichoke may help the liver regenerate. They are a non-starchy vegetable so they are safe for diabetics. Artichokes should be a staple to your diet, not a specialty item.
The origin of artichokes has been lost to history. Some people think they were most likely developed from the cardoon plant by the Romans or the Greeks. There are ancient tile frescoes in Roman ruins that show flowering cardoon plants with small artichoke like flowers. Cardoons and artichokes are closely related, and some people think that cardoon is the artichoke’s forefather, and some vice versa. There is a wild version of artichokes that grows in North Africa. The only thing that we know for sure is that the artichoke originated around the Mediterranean Sea.
The first written mention of artichokes growing comes from Greece and dates to around 300 BCE. When I finally invent my time machine I will definitely go back and find out all of the facts on the artichoke’s origin, and I will correct this article accordingly when I get back.
Queen Catherine de Medici is credited for having brought artichokes to France from her Italian homeland, and her excessive eating of them and feeding them to king Henry II was thought of as scandalous by courtiers. In those days artichokes were considered such a powerful aphrodisiac that only men were allowed to eat them (it’s good to be the king). There are even references that overeating artichokes disturbed the digestion of the Queen Mother after a wedding feast. Wow, talk about interesting historical documents, we don’t know where Jimmy Hoffa is but we know about a member of the royal court in the 1500s having the trots.
Speaking of Jimmy Hoffa (not really, but you’ll get the idea) ... In the 1920s Mafia monopolies and “the artichoke wars” prompted the then-New York Mayor La Guardia to make the artichoke completely illegal in New York City. Only his love for the delicious flower bud caused the law to be rescinded a week later.
California supplies nearly 100 percent of the country’s artichokes. Although the “Green Globe” variety makes up most of the artichokes available on the market both at the supermarket and garden center, there are several different varieties.
The artichoke doesn’t grow well from seeds so most are grown by propagation from existing plants (think of it as God’s cloning). This however is dangerous because it makes most of the artichokes in California so closely related that one good disease could almost eliminate the entire country’s artichoke supply (remember the Irish and the potatoes?).
There are at least 140 different varieties of artichoke but only around 40 are commonly cultivated worldwide. Other varieties include “Anzio” (Italian commercial), “Big Heart”(U.S. commercial), “Campania” (French commercial), “Catanese” (Italian commercial), “Desert Globe”(U.S. commercial), “Fiesole” (French commercial), “Imperial Star”(U.S. commercial), “Purple Italian” (U.S. home garden), “Violetta” (U.S. home garden), “Purple Roscoff”(U.S. home garden) and “Lyon” (French commercial).
I grow my own artichokes, a rare heirloom variety called Romanesco (Italian commercial). If you want to grow your own, you need to know that artichokes like rich soil and cool temperatures. This is why they love Castroville; it has the cool coastal air year-round.
Here in Lake County the summer temperatures are somewhat extreme and will make artichokes wilt to the ground. In order to avoid this sad look in my yard, in the spring I harvest the last of the artichoke flowers and give the plant a few more weeks to grow. But the moment the plants start to whine and shows any sign of distress from the heat, I hack them to the ground with a machete until there is nothing but a stump poking out of the ground. I keep the soil heavily mulched and moist during the summer and the plants survive and completely bounce back when cooler weather returns.
Artichokes contain a natural phytochemical “sweetener” called cynarin, and studies are being done to make it a commercially available product. If you want to do an interesting experiment to test the sweetener in an artichoke do this. Cook an artichoke and pour yourself a glass of wine – any wine will do. Before you taste any of the artichoke, try a sip of the wine and take note of the flavor. Then eat some of the artichoke and immediately sample the wine again. You will notice that the wine has a completely different taste, so much so that you will think that it is a completely different glass of wine. The cynarin left over in your mouth reacts with the sugars in the wine and change the taste. This effect is one of the reasons that restaurants that serve expensive wines don’t serve dishes with artichokes.
The myth of how artichokes came to be tells how Jupiter/Zeus (whether you are reading the Roman or Greek version) came to lust for a beautiful girl named Cynara and took her as a mistress to Mt. Olympus. When she became homesick and snuck off to visit her mother, the god of thunder became enraged and hurled her back to earth as the artichoke plant. The artichoke’s Latin name commemorates this – Cynara scolymus.
So how could I fail while dealing with this fantastic plant? Well, I wanted to make a healthier dipping sauce for artichokes, but all I managed to do is shorten my life by clogging my arteries with cheese. This is now my wife’s new favorite dipping sauce for artichokes. I’ll head back to the drawing board.
Parmesan cheese dipping sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
½ cup sour cream
6 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese (as little as 5 ounces will work)
2 tablespoons white wine
White pepper to taste
Put the butter and flour in a pot on medium heat. As the butter melts whisk the flour together so you get a paste. Continue cooking this for about two minutes; the color should change very slightly to a blonde highlight.
Although it’s not necessary, I recommend you microwave the milk for 30 seconds. This will keep the splattering down as you add it to the butter/flour mixture (called a roux).
Add the milk slowly to the roux, whisking constantly to combine. The mixture will start to thicken fairly quickly, so reduce the heat to low at this point. Sprinkle in about one-third of the cheese, whisking constantly. You want the cheese to melt as slowly as possible, because melting quickly will cause the cheese to clump up and make a poor sauce.
Stir the cheese mixture until all the cheese is melted and then add another third in. Whisk until that’s melted and then ... that’s right, add the final third and whisk until melted. Then add the sour cream, wine and pepper. Mix thoroughly and then ladle into dipping cups. Serve with cooked artichokes.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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Chrissy Pittman, a firefighter/paramedic with Northshore Fire Protection District, said firefighters were dispatched at 7:55 a.m. to the fire on First Street, between Main and Government streets.
The single-story home with a large attic was fully engulfed when firefighters from Northshore Fire's Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne stations responded, along with a ladder truck from Lakeport Fire, said Pittman.
In all about 20 firefighters, including a chief and battalion chief, worked on the fire, she said.
The house's Victorian-type construction was a challenge for firefighters, said Pittman. “It took quite a while to actually get in and knock the fire down.”
Pittman said the fire was contained at just after 10 a.m., with another two and a half hours required for mop up.
There were conflicting reports about whether or not someone was in the house when the fire started, said Pittman. Firefighters had received information that children were in the home, but no one was in the house when firefighters arrived.
The house is a complete loss, said Pittman. Damage estimates are not completed.
She said the fire's cause is under investigation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The awards were presented at the sixth annual California Law Enforcement Challenge conference in Sacramento, which was part of a daylong traffic safety symposium in Sacramento sponsored by the CHP.
CHP offices and police departments throughout the state competed against similar-sized departments for the honors.
“I want to congratulate all of the award winners for their dedication to serving their communities and saving lives on our roadways,” said Business, Transportation and Housing Secretary Dale Bonner.
The Clear Lake CHP office was recognized with the Occupant Protection Award, which it received for notable efforts to promote and enforce occupant protection laws.
Lt. Mark Loveless, the Clear Lake office's new commander, along with Sgt. Mike Thomason and Officer Robert Hearn, accepted the award.
Officer Adam Garcia, whose duties at the Clear Lake office include acting as public information officer and media contact, also received a special award for individual achievement for 2007.
The Northern CHP Division selected Garcia for the award from the Office of Traffic Safety and CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow based on his “exceptional traffic safety efforts” and for going “above and beyond the normal call of duty.”
Seven other CHP officers from around the state, along with eight police officers and deputies from other agencies, also were honored with individual awards.
The California Law Enforcement Challenge awards showcase the best and most innovative programs produced by traffic safety organizations throughout the state.
The programs are designed to increase usage of seat belts/child safety seats and curtail impaired driving and speeding, which are the three primary causes of death on California roadways.
“It is programs like these that have contributed to the lowering of California’s Mileage Death Rate (number of fatalities per 100 million miles driven) to a record low of 1.18 this past year,” noted Dr. David Manning, Regional Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The awards presentation followed a busy Labor Day weekend for local CHP and other local law enforcement agencies.
The CHP's Northern Division, which includes Lake County and stretches across Northern California to the Oregon border, had two fatal crashes and two fatal victims this past Labor Day, including a fatal motorcycle collision here in Lake County at Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa, Garcia reported.
That compares with two fatal collisions and five fatalities in the Northern Division during the 2007 Labor Day weekend, according to Garcia.
In addition, there were 72 driving under the influence arrests this past weekend across the region, compared to 68 in 2007, he said.
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The case of Gerald Frank Stanley, 63, was before Butte County Superior Court Judge Steven Howell on Thursday morning.
Stanley was sentenced to death in February of 1984 for the murder of his wife, Cynthia, who he shot while she sat with her father at his resort in Nice in August of 1980.
This past March, a federal judge ruled that a new competency hearing needed to be held to determine whether or not Stanley was mentally fit to stand trial decades ago.
The Stanley case was moved to Butte County for trial due to pretrial publicity, as Lake County News has reported.
On Thursday, District Attorney Jon Hopkins was in Oroville for a hearing in which Hayward attorney Jack Leavitt was seeking to be appointed Stanley's attorney in place of public defender Dennis Hoptowit.
Hopkins said the hearing took quite a while, as Stanley's extensive appellate court history was discussed.
In a phone interview this week, Stanley told Lake County News that he wanted Leavitt – who he has worked with for several years – appointed to take over his case.
Leavitt, who Lake County News also spoke with this week, traveled to Oroville in the hopes of being appointed to represent Stanley.
Both men have stated that they are seeking to shut down the appeals process for Stanley, who said he wishes to have an execution date.
Stanley anticipated being able to speak via conference call at the Thursday hearing.
However, Judge Howell didn't choose to have Stanley phone in, and dismissed Leavitt's attempt to replace Hoptowit, said Hopkins.
That decision, said Hopkins, was based on Stanley's past actions and a perceived lack of credibility. “He seems to change his mind drastically about his lawyers.”
The federal court also stated that it believed Stanley is manipulating and delaying the case, said Hopkins.
The judge found no indication that Stanley really wanted to substitute in another lawyer, said Hopkins.
“Stanley has had too many manipulative bites at the apple,” said Hopkins.
That means that Hoptowit will remain Stanley's attorney.
However Hoptowit is about to begin a murder trial, said Hopkins, so his availability may be limited for some time.
Hopkins said a status conference on the case is scheduled for Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m.
At that time they will discuss whether they can hold a retrospective competency hearing in Stanley's case.
Whether or not the case can be moved back to Lake County – which Hopkins believes is possible after the passage of more than two decades – is still up in the air.
The competency hearing itself may be difficult to hold this year, said Hopkins.
Leavitt could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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At the Drought Summit hosted by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Director Lester Snow announced the creation of a 2009 Drought Water Bank, a program designed to facilitate water transfers.
“We are in the midst of a drought right now and California potentially faces another dry year in 2009. It’s clear that we must find solutions to our water crisis,” Snow said. “A water bank provides a valuable tool to help provide water to communities who need it most. This is just one of the many ways the state is working to address the drought.”
Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman, Secretary for Food and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura, State Water Resources Control Board Executive Director Dorothy Rice and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director Don Glaser participated in the summit.
Information about the state’s water and reservoir supply, drought modeling and forecasts of future water allocations, financial and programmatic assistance and other efforts to help water contractors, local water agencies, farmers and all state water users cope with the drought.
A significant recent action was the expedited funding of $17 million in Prop 50 Drought Assistance Program grants last week to local water agencies and districts to implement water saving projects.
At the summit, local agencies had the opportunity to share examples of how a lack of water is affecting their communities and made recommendations about how the state can support local water agencies, large and small, as they grapple with the shortages.
On June 4, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-06-08 declaring a statewide drought, which directed state agencies and departments to take immediate action to address the dry conditions. He also issued a State of Emergency Proclamation for nine Central Valley counties (Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern) to address that area’s urgent water needs.
For the Northern Sierra, this spring and summer were the driest on record since 1921. In addition, 2007 and 2008 made up the ninth driest two-year period in 88 years of record keeping for the Northern Sierra.
Statewide precipitation for the six-month period February through July 2008 was 45 percent of average – the fourth driest of 114 years on record.
State reservoir capacities are at severe lows, with Folsom at 31 percent, Shasta at 34 percent and San Luis at 13 percent.
By the end of this water year (Sept. 30), Lake Oroville will reach its lowest carryover storage since the drought of 1977.
Clear Lake's levels are just slightly above those at this time last year, according to DWR's California Data Exchange Center.
The water shortage is affecting the state’s economy, slowing down development projects and forcing growers to fallow land. For example, farmers in northern San Diego County are stumping avocado trees and pulling out citrus trees due to water shortages. The Westland Water District reports that one-third of the farmland is being fallowed this year, at a loss of at least 500 jobs. The California Department of Food and Agriculture reports the result of the drought is a $260 million loss to the state’s ag industry this year.
Preliminary information shows that the 2009 water year likely will also be severely dry. State water planners are preparing for a protracted drought by instituting a variety of programs intended to conserve water and stretch the state’s resources.
To implement the 2009 Drought Water Bank, DWR will purchase water from willing sellers, primarily from water agencies upstream of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
This water will be transferred using State Water Project (SWP) or Central Valley Project (CVP) facilities to water agencies that are at risk of experiencing water shortages in 2009 due to drought conditions and that require supplemental water supplies to meet anticipated demands. Water acquired by the 2009 program would be available for purchase by public and private water systems in California based on certain needs criteria.
Water supplies from the 2009 Drought Water Bank will be open to all water providers who can obtain water from the Delta either directly or by exchange with other water providers who have access to Delta water supplies from the SWP or CVP.
For additional information about the drought, visit the Department of Water Resource’s drought web page at www.water.ca.gov/drought.
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