News

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.

 

LAKE PILLSBURY – On the 101st anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake, a 4.8 quake shook the Lake Pillsbury area.

The quake hit at 1:42 a.m. on Wednesday morning with 17 aftershocks ranging up to 2.0 as of 6:45 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.

 

Nine more aftershocks – bringing the total to 26 – hit throughout the early afternoon, the USGS reported.

Originally, USGS had ranked the quake as a 5.0, but scaled it back to a 4.8 by mid-morning.

The epicenter of the quake occurred in the increasing seismic area of between the Maacama fault zone and the Bartlett Springs fault 9 miles west of Lake Pillsbury in Northern Lake County.

The depth of the temblor was 3.8 miles.

Lake County News reported earlier this week that a 3.1 quake had hit the Pillsbury area Sunday morning, near the epicenter of Wednesday's quake.

Lake and Mendocino county residents from Covelo to Ft. Bragg, Clear Lake Oaks to Cloverdale reported feeling a light to moderate shaking.

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LAKEPORT – BoardStock has another chance to call Lakeport home this summer, with the City Council voting Tuesday night to invite the community to come and discuss the event coming to town in late September.

BoardStock promoter Rob Stimmel asked the city earlier this month to reconsider allowing the event to take place in and around Library Park, either Sept. 19-23 or Sept. 26-30.

About 20 people came to hear the discussion, which took place toward the end of Tuesday's meeting.

The council didn't invite public comment, however, saying that they would do so at a May 1 workshop.

At the discussion's onset, Councilman Ron Bertsch said he was against reconsidering the issue.

Mayor Roy Parmentier, who has been against the event coming to Lakeport, said, "If we put it on, we're going to get paid for our police and fire department."

Parmentier had said previously he told Stimmel that he would need to pay upfront for the city's emergency services.

If BoardStock isn't based in Lakeport, Parmentier said he's concerned Konocti Vista Casino may host the event, in which case the city will have the same problems but no extra money to pay for police and fire.

Councilman Buzz Bruns said the lake is low, and is likely to be shallow and filled with weeds during the proposed dates in late September. If visitors see the lake that way, he said, they're likely to come away with a bad impression.

BoardStock would be better held earlier in the season, such as June, Bruns suggested.

Councilman Bob Rumfelt said when he made the motion against BoardStock at the March 20 meeting, it was based on the proposal that the city host the event. This latest plan, said Rumfelt, has Stimmel listed as the event's host.

Despite their concerns, Bruns made a motion to discuss the event, with Rumfelt seconding. The council voted 4-1 to hold a discussion, with Bertsch voting no.

Bruns reiterated his belief that the county and city could suffer “a slap in the face” if the lake wasn't at its best in September. “If we had a high lake like we did last year we would have a shot at it.”

For his part, Parmentier said he thinks June is too soon to hold BoardStock.

Responding to concerns about water quality, Stimmel said, “The reality of it is, if we're talking about the quality of the water, unless it's unfit for someone to be in the water, it's not an issue.”

When the event was in Stockton, they had issues with green water, but it didn't bother the competitors or for the television coverage, Stimmel reported.

Stimmel said he couldn't be ready to hold BoardStock by June or August.

“In the past, we had been a September event," he said, with the event held during what he called “the shoulder season.”

Rumfelt asked about the minimum water depth needed for the competition. Stimmel said 4 feet, with the average depth ranging between 4 and 8 feet.

“We want our lake to look good,” said Bruns.

Parmentier asked other council members for their thoughts.

“I just don't see what's changed," said Bertsch, who said the use of city staff time was a primary reason for turning down the previous proposal.

Bruns said he didn't want to see the park fenced and the city having to collect money during the event.

Parmentier reiterated his concern that if the city doesn't allow BoardStock in, Konocti Vista will host it.

Stimmel told the council that the September dates will reduce attendance by 20 to 25 percent, which Parmentier agreed will remove a problem element.

The discussion's result was that the council voted 4-1 – with Bertsch once more voting no – to schedule a May 1 public meeting where they'll hear what the community thinks about having BoardStock in the city at a different time. Until then, negotiations between Stimmel and the city will continue.

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KELSEYVILLE – April 17th was a very special day in the lives of Kelseyville third graders.

The young patriots have been writing letters to our troops to be included in care packages sent to Iraq by Operation Tango Mike. In the course of letter writing, the third graders became pen pals with Sgt. Michael Walters, an eight-year Army veteran.

The 80 third graders assembled to meet with me under the guise of discussing their next effort for care packages for our troops. I asked them to close their eyes and think of the most important thing they would say or ask in their next communication with Sgt. Walters.

While they concentrated, Sgt. Walters entered from the back of the room and joined me front and center. When the children opened their eyes, they were astonished to see their soldier pen pal from Iraq standing before them. There was a collective gasp in the room!

Sgt. Walters hosted a question-and-answer session with his excited little friends. The children were delighted to learn that he enjoys video games and his favorite food is pizza.

The professional young sergeant answered every question asked, emphasized the importance of staying in school and getting an education, and thanked the children for their support and letters.

The visit ended as the students left the room, shaking hands with and thanking their soldier friend for his visit. More than a few of the youngsters were inclined to hug their real life hero.

Sgt. Walters is enjoying 15 days' leave before he will return to Iraq to complete another nine months in his tour of duty there. Home for the military man is Corona.

His visit to Lake County was no small undertaking. This young man made the nine-hour trek on Monday with his fiancée, Cassandra, and his parents. They arrived at the Lakeport English Inn at 8 p.m., where they were greeted with a reception from Operation Tango Mike volunteers and proprietor Karan Mackey.

The gathering served as a welcoming and a wedding shower as Michael and Cassandra will be married on Saturday.

Sgt. Walters and his family departed Lake County with a feeling of deep gratitude. They were grateful for the support Michael has received while deployed and they were appreciative of the warmth and generosity of Lake County residents.

 

 

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BLACK FOREST – On Monday two Cal Fire work crews arrived to begin clearing dead trees and limbs along Soda Bay Road between Golf and Little Borax Road in preparation for a Bureau of Land Management-sponsored community participation on Earth Day, Saturday, April 21.

According to Pat Beedle, a nearby resident, volunteer for the Kelseyville Kids garden, avid golfer, and general advocate of the environment, "It is a about time.”

Beedle, who doesn't mince words, is loaning her golf cart to help distribute water and supplies. "That is the least I can do," Beedle said.

Rich Burns of BLM's Ukiah field office, who lives in Upper Lake, said the activities in the Black Forest this week are part of a fire prevention project. Brush, fallen trees and low limbs will be removed along a one-mile section of the forest bordering Soda Bay Road. That, he said, is meant to reduce the fuel load, or materials likely to burn in the event of a forest fire.

Burns is bringing his family and some staff members to help on Saturday.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday, Carle High School students along with their principal, Bill MacDougall, will arrive to move the materials cut by Cal Fire to a staging area, prepared by volunteer Bob Braito, at Golf Road and Soda Bay.

Local pastor Wayne Scott will hook up a trailer and will help the Carle students bring branches to be chipped (and logs to be given away) to the Golf Road "staging area."

On Saturday Ray Mostin and Adam Nichols will bring their chippers to begin reducing the limbs to chips. The chips will be available to the public at the Golf Road staging area. Logs for next year's winter fires also will be stacked there for anyone interested.

 

Soda Bay Road will be closed from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, from Little Borax to Crystal. Volunteers will gather at 8 a.m. at Soda Bay and Little Borax Road or near Madrone and Soda Bay to clear fuel back 100 feet from the road. Small trees will be removed and limbs trimmed up to 10 feet high.

These materials will be placed next to Soda Bay Road for the chipper operators to collect. The chips will be stored at the Golf Road staging area for the community to use in their gardens. Students from both Kelseyville High, Clear Lake High as well as Kelseyville Kids Garden and Riviera Elementary plan to help.

 

When the volunteers are exhausted, they will be treated to a pizza, salad and dessert lunch, at the Buckingham Clubhouse organized by Julie Berry, Buckingham Homes Association manager. The pizzas are being donated by DJ's piazza and Bruno's Market is providing drinks and desserts. Alhambra water is donating bottled water.

The estimated participation is between 75 and 100 on Saturday.

Volunteers can still join by calling Julie Berry at 279-0829 or Joel Witherell at 279-1124.

Volunteer, the pay is great.

 

 

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LAKE PILLSBURY – A 3.1 earthquake shook the Lake Pillsbury area Sunday morning.

The US Geological Survey reported the quake took place at 7:27 a.m.

The temblor's epicenter was 9 miles west north west of Lake Pillsbury at a depth of 2 miles.

A second quake occurred at 7:53 a.m., its epicenter in the same location as the first, with its depth at 2.5 miles, the US Geological Survey reported.

There has appeared to be an increase in seismic activity in the Lake Pillsbury area in recent weeks, according to US Geological Survey records.

On April 11, two microearthquakes were recorded at the same epicenter as Sunday's quakes. The first, measuring 2.4, occurred at 6:20 p.m. at a depth of 2.1 miles. The second, smaller quake, measuring 1.7, took place at 7:28 p.m. at a depth of 1.6 miles. A small quake registering 1.6 was recorded in the same area near Pillsbury on April 6.

Much of the county's seismic activity remains centered around The Geysers, Anderson Springs and Cobb.

In the past week, 30 small earthquakes have been recorded in those areas, the largest – a 2.7 quake four miles west north west of The Geysers – occurring at 5:23 p.m. Sunday, the US Geological Survey reported.

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CLEARLAKE OAKS – It all started a couple years ago when I noticed some ospreys (large fish hawks with wing spans of 54 inches) building a nest on the cross arms of a Pacific Gas &Electric power pole in our neighborhood on Widgeon Way.

I had seen bird platforms put up near power poles in other locations around the lake so I thought I could just call PG&E, explain the situation and get a platform put up. What happened was a crew came out that day, but they just knocked down the nest and left.

What I didn’t know is that the nests can cause power outages, fires, and even death to the birds when their nesting materials span two or more lines and the nest gets wet in the rain.

This year the ospreys were back and I decided to go higher up in the PG&E hierarchy. After a few phone calls by me I received a call back from Rick Trimble, Clearlake PG&E electric supervisor. He came out to my house that day to look at the nest in progress and promised to do what he could to help solve the problem.

True to his promise, he and his crew – Erik Harms, electric crew foreman and lineman Gerardo Pena (a.k.a. “Bird Man”) – were on the scene Thursday morning, April 12, with a nesting platform built by Bird Man the evening before to mount on an existing PG&E guy pole in the vicinity. The result is pictured.

Contrary to what I and some others may have thought, many of PG&E’s electrical crews do care about birds. They may even have a passion for them – enough so to dedicate their own unpaid time to helping find solutions to nests on power lines.

Harms told me that they often transport osprey eggs from nests that have to be removed to Lake County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Loch Lomond for incubation. Now that is dedication!

Judy Barnes lives in Clearlake Oaks.