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KELSEYVILLE – The California Highway Patrol is investigating an early morning crash on Tuesday in which a car slammed into a laundromat.
A report from Officer Adam Garcia of the Clear Lake area CHP office said that at 4:35 a.m. Tuesday a 17-year-old female was driving a 2005 Ford car westbound on Gunn Street in Kelseyville at a high rate of speed.
Gunn said the girl lost control of the car and collided with a wooden fence on Gunn near Saderlund Street.
Garcia said the car then turned back across Gunn Street, traveled off the south road edge and collided with the Launderland Laundromat before coming to rest inside the building.
The collision caused major damage to the structure of the laundromat and total damage to her vehicle, according to Garcia.
The teen is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision, said Garcia. She was subsequently arrested for suspicion of DUI.
The investigation into the collision is continuing, Garcia reported, led by CHP Officer Steven Curtis.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKE COUNTY – Increasing southwest winds combined with an unseasonably strong low pressure system off the coast will sweep a chance of rain into Lake County overnight bringing cooler temperatures for today and tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento (NWS).
But until that happens, a red flag warning for fire danger has been issued due to the current low humidity and increasing winds by the NWS.
Breezy Southwest winds will blow in from the coast across interior California later today and into this evening bringing cooler temperatures and increasing clouds, NWS reported.
Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms may occur in the evening and overnight in Lake County. Tomorrow will be overcast with a 40 percent chance of light rain, predicts the NWS.
The NWS predicts a return to warmer and drier conditions which are more typical by the end of the week.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
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KELSEYVILLE – A long-held dream of many local history lovers is beginning to take shape.
Within the next two weeks, the Ely Stage Stop – believed to be one of the county's oldest stick-built buildings – will begin its move from its current location along Highway 29 to its new home as a museum on Soda Bay Road.
The stage stop was built around 1859 to 1860, said Eric Seely, the county's deputy redevelopment director.
Seely probably knows more about the stage stop than anyone. Since joining the county a year and a half ago, he's worked with the Lake County Historical Society to make the project a reality.
Before than, he worked for two years on the project while employed by Beckstoffer Vineyards – who owns the land where the building is currently located, and donated the building to the county.
Beckstoffer also donated a five-acre parcel and a one-acre easement along Soda Bay Road where the Ely Stage Stop and a new museum will be located.
The county will own the building, said Seely, but the historical society will operate it.
Seely and members of the historical society met at the museum site Friday evening to go over the project's status and walk the property.
It was the last of three public meetings in the process of developing the museum's master plan, Seely explained, which is necessary in order to finalize the site and get grading and building permits.
The stage stop building will set atop a hill along Soda Bay Road. Historical Society President Randy Ridgel pointed out that the view is to die for, and he's right: the museum will look out across a meadow framed with oak trees toward the slopes of Mt. Konocti.
“For a change, the actual site is more dramatic than the artist's rendition,” said Ridgel who, along with wife Jackie, have worked to make the dream a reality.
Below the museum, situated so as not to obstruct that incredible panorama, will sit four historic barns that will house historic farm equipment and other implements and displays, Seely said.
Greg Dills, who chairs the historical society's Ely Stage Stop committee, said they have one barn that needs to be moved by the end of August. He's also wrapping up negotiations on the other barns, he said.
The project won't be done all at once, Seely explained. “We're doing this project as funding permits. We're doing it in stages.”
The first phase will include the house move and installing a new roof, Seely said. Future phases will include a wraparound porch; the house's complete restoration with modifications to make it adhere to existing building code; and developing water, power and phone utilities.
“We're still looking at a couple of years,” he said.
The house originally didn't have a kitchen, said Seely; that was in a separate building. While they know a lot about the house, they haven't been able to find photos of it dating before the 1940s.
As much as possible, original materials are being saved for reuse. The house's chimney will eventually be reconstructed with the original bricks.
Two of the original windows are still extant, and will be used as template for new windows to replace missing windows, Seely said. Shortly after Beckstoffer donated the building, one of its largest windows, made with a type of wavy glass common in old homes, was broken by a vandal who tossed a brick through it.
The historical society, said Seely, has received “very substantial” financial contributions to support the stage stop museum. They've also received a lot of help in the form of volunteer time.
The house will begin its move this next week, Seely said. A Bay Area contractor who received the $60,000 contract to move the house will take it west to a staging point where it will be moved across the highway in preparation to travel cross country.
Officials including Caltrans, AT&T, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the county, the contractor who is moving the house and the subcontractor will meet at 10 a.m. July 18 at the site where the house will be moved across the highway to finalize their plans.
At about 6 a.m. Sunday, July 29, Highway 29 will be closed for a few hours as the house is moved across the highway, said Seely.
The next day, Monday, July 30, the house will begin its trek overland, Seely said, moving around springs, crossing one creek on a specially constructed bridge, and continuing to its hilltop location.
“The big day is going to be the final push up the hill,” said Seely.
The house move is likely to last about a week in total, Seely estimated.
To learn more about how you can help the project, contact the historical society at its Web site, http://lakecountyhistory.org, or contact Seely at 263-2580.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LOWER LAKE – A fire that burned 100 acres of grassland beginning Sunday afternoon has been contained.
Cal Fire officials reported that firefighting crews finished the process of mopping up after the blaze on Monday, when the fire was finally out.
The fire was located near the Noble Ranch subdivision off of Spruce Grove Road.
No structures were damaged and no injuries reported, according to Cal Fire's incident command center.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Cal Fire reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LOWER LAKE – A fire that broke out Sunday afternoon along Spruce Grove Road quickly spread to 100 acres in the area's rugged terrain.
Cal Fire spokesperson Suzie Blankenship said the fire was reported at 3:32 p.m. along Spruce Grove Road near the Noble Ranch subdivision, south of Lower Lake and four miles northeast of Middletown.
Cal Fire, South Lake Fire Protection District, Lakeport Fire Protection District and Lake County Fire Protection District responded, said Blankenship. A total of 10 engines, two helicopters, two air tankers, an air attack, four fire handcrews, three dozers and one water tender fought the blaze.
The fire quickly moved from a flat area into steep terrain, said Blankenship, burning up grass and oak woodland and reaching 100 acres in size.
Firefighters on the ground and in the air struggled to control the spreading fires, which were several hundred yards apart yet close enough to impede the air strikes from both the helicopters and fixed wing tankers.
Dust devils raced across the flat lands, whipping up the wind and flames, and spreading the fire quickly over several more acres.
The tankers dropped retardant while the two helicopters scooped water from nearby ponds. The helicopters required refueling after flying for more than and hour and 45 minutes.
Several homes were threatened but Cal Fire reported that no structures were lost.
Blankenship reported Sunday evening that the fire was 50-percent contained.
Area residents at the scene reported hearing what they thought sounded like a power transformer exploding and reported seeing downed power lines. Witnesses also said fire was seen around the lines shortly thereafter.
However, Cal Fire's Blankenship said the fire's cause was still under investigation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LUCERNE – California Water Service (CWS), which owns the Lucerne water district as part of its Redwood Valley District, has filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a 21.3 percent rate increase, to become effective on July 1, 2008 or later, and a 3.4-percent increase the following year.
In its announcement of the application, which covers several other districts, the company said that for the average residential customer using 7 Ccf (700 cubic feet), or 5,236 gallons, of water per month, the monthly water bill would be $14.31 (48 cents per day) higher the first year and $2.76 (9 cents per day) higher the following year.
The application is for review of CWS centralized services costs, which were last reviewed in 2004. The company said costs for centralized services provided to all districts have increased, including those for water quality testing, engineering, maintenance, information systems, accounting, and conservation
programming. After the CPUC reviews these costs, Cal Water will be allowed to allocate them proportionally to all districts.
The CPUC recently adopted a streamlined processing plan to review Cal Water’s entire operations starting in 2009. The current application is an interim request to transition to the new schedule.
Among increased costs the company hopes to cover with the new rates are: Increased allocated company benefits costs for health care, pension, and retiree health care,$25.5 million; increased other general expenses, $8.3 million, and increased allocated general payroll expense, $8.3 million.
Lucerne Community Water Organization (LCWO), which intervened in the company's last rate increase request, is reviewing the current application. At its monthly meeting Thursday, July 12, LCWO made no decision on whether to intervene in the current request. Scheduling decisions made on Thursday by an administrative law judge for the CPUC are not yet available. LCWO's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 9, 7 p.m. at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center,Country Club Drive at 10th Ave.
The company's proposed schedule would open settlement negotiations on December 26, 2007, with hearings before the CPUC in San Francisco from January 11 through 15, 2008.
In an apparent effort to avoid the kind of public outcry which occurred in Lucerne in 2005 when CWS announced its request for a 273-percent rate increase, the company is asking that some increases be deferred and recovered subsequently.
It requests “authority to institute a rate deferral with subsequent recovery for the Salinas and Visalia districts to avoid rate shock issues associated with requested large percentage increases. Applicant requests recovery of $4,856,600 deferred from rates in Salinas by instituting a $0.126 surcharge on all water sold for a period of sixty months. Applicant requests recovery of $8,078,600 deferred from rates in Visalia by instituting a $0.111 surcharge on all water sold (and an equivalent flat rate surcharge) for a period of sixty months.”
The rate increases proposed in other districts covered by this application are:
Chico District by $6,380,400 or 49.1 percent in July 2008, $1,651,100 or 8.5percent in July 2009, and by $1,651,100 or 7.9 percent in July 2010;
East Los Angeles District by $7,193,200 or 36.5 percent in July 2008, $2,034,800 or 7.6 percent in July 2009, and $2,034,800 or 7.0percent in July 2010;
Livermore District by $3,960,900 or 31.2 percent in July 2008, $942,200 or 5.6 percent in July 2009, and by $942,200 or 5.4 percent in July 2010;
Los Altos-Suburban District by $5,172,500 or 30.5 percent in July 2008, $1,189,100 or 5.4 percent in July 2009, and by $1,189,100 or 5.1 percent in July 2010;
Mid-Peninsula District by $5,435,100 or 23.7 percent in July 2008, $1,634,200 or 5.8 percent in July 2009, and by $1,634,200 or 5.5 percent in July 2010;
Salinas District by $5,119,700 or 29.8 percent in July 2008, $3,636,900 or 16.3 percent in July 2009, and by $2,271,300 or 8.7 percent in July 2010;
Stockton District by $7,474,600 or 29.0 percent in July 2008, $1,422,400 or 4.3 percent in July 2009, and by $1,422,400 or 4.1 percent in July 2010;
Visalia District by $3,651,907 or 28.4 percent in July 2008, $3,546,440 or 21.3 percent in July 2009, and by $3,620,482 or 17.6 percent in July 2010.
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