LAKEPORT – The city of Lakeport has announced its fall street sweeping scheduled.

Effective Oct. 19, the city's street sweeping program will take place as follows:

• MONDAYS: N. Main Street and 15th Street to north City Limits (Beach Street).

• TUESDAYS: First Street to south city limits including Esplanade area, Lupoyoma Heights, Lakeport Boulevard, Parallel Drive and Westside Park Road.

• WEDNESDAYS: Second Street to Clearlake Avenue.

• FRIDAYS: Main Street and any areas needing special attention.

Blowing leaves into the street is acceptable, but please DO NOT put them in piles as the street sweeper cannot sweep up piles of leaves.

Please be advised that there may be minor interruptions to the schedule from time to time due to City workloads and availability of manpower.

LAKEPORT – The committee that has spent the better part of the year discussing how to address genetically engineered (GE) crops in Lake County told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that they had not been able to settle on a final recommendation.

In August, the board decided to give the GE Crops Advisory Committee another few months to complete its work in an attempt to come up with a final suggestions.

Meeting since January, the committee has had the proverbial tough row to hoe as it has brought together members from various viewpoints tasked with coming to a point of consensus on a highly volatile and controversial topic.

On Tuesday, Mark Hooper, who has chaired the committee, said they've been unable to reach a recommendation in the three meetings they've held since the Aug. 25 board meeting.

The 13-member group, which also had several alternates along with numerous members of the public at its biweekly meetings, established a level of required consensus that essentially required unanimous approval of all recommendations, according to the committee report.

In addition, committee members and alternates were subject to sometimes vicious attacks by members of the public who attended the meetings, accusing committee members of having personal agendas and in some cases attempting character assassination, according to one member, Victoria Brandon, who also chairs the Sierra Club Lake Group.

As 10 of the committee members and alternates looked on from the audience, Hooper presented draft eight of a white paper that he said is a compilation of research from the committee's four subcommittees. That draft hasn't changed since Aug. 24, he said.

Hooper said a significant amount of work remains to be done on the report, which he said hasn't passed the committee. Other members would dispute the statement about how much was left to do.

But the conclusion that was the same all around was that they couldn't reach a consensus opinion on any of the proposals. “I think that summarizes where we are,” said Hooper.

When Hooper had finished with his report, all five of the supervisors sat silent and stony faced for a few moments before Board Chair Denise Rushing broke the silence.

“I'm disappointed after all this,” said Rushing who, along with Supervisor Rob Brown, had sat in on some of the meetings and offered guidance.

“In the end we just could not agree on a regulation,” Hooper replied.

Noting that one no vote could derail a proposal, Rushing asked, “Is it possible that the standard of consensus was too high?”

Hooper said that with a lower consensus requirement they could have reached some clear conclusions with a unanimous vote, “but I'm not sure that would have been fair to all of Lake County, which was one of the challenges that we had here.”

He suggested that not requiring unanimous votes might have pushed the committee's findings in a different direction. “We would have had a conclusion, but I'm not sure what that would have been.”

Rushing invited other committee members to weigh in.

“We all share this sense of great disappointment, of having invested this much time and effort,” said Brandon, noting that they came very close.

She said only one chapter of the 70-page report hadn't received the committee's full approval but the rest of it – in its outline, main structure and main points – can be seen as representative of the committee's work.

There also were several things the group agreed on, including the belief that growers who participate in a regulatory system should have their privacy assured, according to Brandon. All of the members also said they wanted a GE crop registration system, but the form of it wasn't settled.

“This, I think gives a way forward for the county if the county chooses to take it,” she said.

Brandon said the committee was unwieldy in size, with as many as 20 people around the table at a given time. The meetings also were televised, which also sometimes led to people playing to the gallery and making speeches.

An important result of the committee meetings, Brandon said, was that people who had thought of each other as adversaries had learned to work together and respect each other, which she said will bear fruit on future issues.

Another committee member, Andre Ross, said the committee did a lot of “useful and beneficial work,” with all of the members devoting significant amounts of time and energy to the endeavor.

He said the concerns about GE crops are real, as evidenced by the general public's interest.

Offering a point of constructive criticism, Ross suggested that some committee members and members of the public believed the committee's mandate was resolving the issues, when they were instead charged with coming up with a proposal. In the end, they simply weren't able to complete the task.

Community members Brian Gray and Herb Gura told the board they believed the high level of consensus needed had hamstrung the committee.

Gura, who serves on the Konocti Unified School Board, noted, “Consensus is an admirable standard, but it's also unwieldy,” with one person able to shut down deliberations.

Upper Lake farmer Haji Warf said she attended nearly every meeting and made quite a bit of comment on the process.

Warf, who recently wrote a guest commentary about the need for a GE ban in Lake County, explained her concerns to the board, noting that right now farmers in Lake County adhere to the “first in time, first in right” process, which means they neither have to report what they're growing or stop growing a crop once it's in the ground.

For organic farmers, that could result in their crops being contaminated and their livelihoods jeopardized. Once it's in the environment, it's there forever, she said, changing DNA.

Warf said Lake County has a unique opportunity to go in a different direction.

Rushing asked her how the committee worked. Warf said she didn't feel it was representative of the public at large.

“Until we know more, you really should put a moratorium in place,” she said.

Sarah Ryan, who wasn't on the committee but said she had wanted to be, said the GE crop issue has come up before the board before now.

She was part of a previous effort to have a GE ban put in place in the county, and said the committee's research supports the previously proposed moratorium.

Committee members Steve DeVoto and Michelle Scully both defended the high consensus standard the committee set for itself.

DeVoto said they can't just depend on majority rule, because the minority has rights, and there are many different viewpoints.

Scully said the unanimous degree of consensus the committee set for itself was a gesture to the community “to show that we were really entering into this process in good faith.”

She said people were listening to each other, but she was disappointed that they never got to the point of discussing specifics.

Rushing also asked Scully for recommendations to the board.

“I want a really big gavel first of all,” Scully joked. When Rushing pulled out a small gavel, Scully said, “Bigger than that one. You missed some of the meetings.”

Given more time, could the committee reach consensus, Rushing asked.

“My knee jerk reaction is no,” said Scully, who also noted the committee's size was unwieldy.

She said using a different consensus standard would make it feel like a new process was in place.

Committee alternate Lorrie Gray said the group was very close to a proposal. She said something needed to be done about GE crops. “This isn't going to go away on its own.”

A gardener, Gray took issue with Warf's earlier statement about the committee not being representative of consumers.

At the very least, Gray urged the board to pass a recommendation on a GE labeling law. She said a nationwide poll said 92 percent of respondents wanted to know if they're eating GE crops. Labeling is mandatory in Europe.

“We don't get to be told what we're eating, and that's wrong,” she said.

Melissa Fulton, the Lake County Chamber of Commerce executive director who also sat on the committee, said everyone on the committee learned a great deal. She said Mother Nature began the process of genetically modifying crops ages ago.

Fulton said that, while Lake County farmers don't have to register their crops, farmers on the committee who were voting members were working toward regulation.

“We need to be looking at doing something,” she said. “I'm not quite sure what that is.”

Fulton also mentioned the abuse she took during the public comment period in the meetings.

Finley farmer Phil Murphy thanked all the committee members for the work they put in, noting that they probably did more than he expected them to.

He said some of the remaining issues – such as who should hold the information on GE crop growers – are small once past the issue that something needs to be done, and there's agreement that the community wants local control and oversight.

“I think all the hard work's been done, really,” he said.

Farmer Lars Crail, who also sat on the committee, suggested the committee should reconsider its definition of consensus. He said the county's organic farming industry is growing and should have a voice.

Board suggests changing committee's composition to move forward

Supervisor Jeff Smith suggested the committee be pared down to a more workable number like seven to continue looking at the issues.

Rushing told the committee that although she was disappointed that they hadn't reached a final determination, “That doesn't diminish the amount of work that went into this effort.”

She said there is a lot of public mistrust and anger right now, and it's unfortunate that those who step up to serve are attacked.

Rushing wanted to see the committee's work continue, with some modifications, so they could come up with recommendations that the committee could fully debate.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington said the board needed to tell the committee where it stood, and if they wanted some regulation or not.

Rushing said that, for her part, the committee came close on arriving at oversight, review and control recommendations. She didn't think a complete ban was ever a reality with the group, but she said she would definitely support oversight.

Farrington said she struggled with the status quo. Checks and balances were needed, he added.

Brown said he doesn't seen an imminent threat from GE crops, nor does he believe the controversies surrounding them.

If the board wanted to see the committee continue in a small form, he was fine with it.

However, he added of the committee, “I think their work is done.”

Smith disagreed. “I think we can come up with some really great things out of this, still.”

Broc Zoller, another committee member, said the board needed to give the committee direction or else nothing would result. “I think we are not going to come up with anything, we are going to continue to flounder.”

Rushing passed the gavel to Farrington and moved to direct the committee to pare itself down to seven members to continue working on recommendations, and to require a different level of consensus that would permit at least one no vote. Smith seconded and the board voted 3-2, with Comstock and Brown voting no.

Comstock said he wanted to add to the motion in order to support it, so Rushing moved to reconsider. Smith seconded and the board voted 5-0.

Offering an amendment to Rushing's motion, Comstock said he felt strongly that the smaller committee's composition should represent the original categories on the committee.

Rushing accepted the amendment, Smith seconded, and the board voted 4-1, with Brown voting no.

The committee is expected to meet again soon to attempt to choose the seven members to continue on with the process.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

LAKEPORT – The future of Lampson Airport and the status of projects to develop it was the subject of a lengthy Board of Supervisors discussion last week.

The item was part of the afternoon session at the board's Oct. 6 meeting.

Public Works Director Brent Siemer presented to the board a status report on the airport, which has an annual budget of $71,400. Of that amount, the county usually gets $10,000 from the state, but that was wiped out this year and now is being picked up by the county's general fund, for a total general fund contribution of $60,400.

The airport also takes in $11,000 in rents and leases, said Siemer. Both of the airport's 25-year leases expired this year, and one of the companies hasn't renewed.

A recent appraisal revealed that the county needs to raise its leases significant, which Siemer said will be unexpected new income for the county.

The airport has several potential revenue sources, including a $150,000 annual federal grant that can be rolled over for three years, plus $750,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration for a high priority project that was gained through the efforts of Congressman Mike Thompson. Siemer said those funds are earmarked toward wastewater improvements to the airport.

That funding would become the source of considerable concern during the meeting, as the funding's window of opportunity may be expiring this year.

Siemer suggested projects including developing a fueling facility that could quickly pay for itself, as well as the construction of 20 T-hangars which also would repay the county.

He also said that if the county hired an aggressive full-time airport manager the airport could become self-sustaining.

The airport also has drawn the interest of the US Forest Service, which wants to use a quarter of the county's airport property to store helicopters. Siemer said the Lampson location is considered preferable to Ukiah, where helicopters get fogged in a lot.

Siemer said he is working with the Community Development Department to put together federal and state environmental documents to further develop the property.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington, in whose district the airport is located, was none too pleased with Siemer's report or his suggestions for the airport.

In particular, there was no mention in the plan of completing a wastewater transmission line from Lampson to the city of Lakeport. The agreement for that line, which Farrington worked on several years ago, took two years to complete.

Farrington wanted to know why the transmission line wasn't in the report.

“Because I need to know when do I get a toilet to flush,” said Siemer, who said there wasn't a need for that expanded sewer capacity now, and constructing the lines only to let them be unused would be expensive.

Farrington said there was a “disconnect” between the board's wishes and what Public Works was suggesting.

“This is a shift in policy that isn't consistent with this board's position and direction and the direction that was given to your predecessor,” Farrington said, referring to retired Public Works Director Jerry Shaul.

He was further concerned because he received information from Thompson's office that the $750,000 was at risk of being lost if it isn't used. The county had put aside additional money that, with the grant, totaled about $1.1 million for airport projects.

Farrington said the wastewater transmission line agreement called for hooking Lampson into the city's system, and in turn the county would upgrade a city pump station.

He said he was additionally “disturbed” that that Public Works was only now getting to the environmental documents after six or seven years.

“There's so many issues it's hard to stay focused,” said a clearly frustrated Farrington.

Farrington said there have been developers interested in working with the county to develop the property, some of which were stonewalled, which he said may stretch back to before Siemer's arrival.

“There's a lot of problems with what's before us as a body,” Farrington said of Siemer's status report. “I think there is a lot of miscommunication that's going on.”

Farrington said the county also doesn't need to acquire any more property at the airport.

But he remained focused on Siemer's suggestion that the county abandon plans for the wastewater transmission line and look instead at an onsite facility. “In fact I'm really dumbfounded that we're even considering that.”

Siemer responded by trying to address Farrington's multiple concernss, saying they were close to having enough money to build the transmission line, which the general fund will have to maintain. He said the project doesn't meet the FAA's guidelines for use of the funds.

He said if he makes the transmission line his main priority, it will be time consuming and he won't be able to work on other parts of the airport plan.

Siemer said he was working as fast as he could on the plan in answering Farrington's concerns about the environmental documents. Farrington pointed out he had been with the county for about a year and a half.

Farrington said he wanted to hear the other board members' thoughts on the airport's status.

“If we can't even build a sewer line I'm struggling to see us fully develop fuel facilities and hangars on our 14.5 acres,” he said, adding that he's baffled that the Basin 2000 project – which hooked up facilities around the county in order to transport wastewater to The Geysers – could be done in less time than it took to begin the airport sewer line.

Supervisor Rob Brown asked what was the time frame for the funds. Farrington said Thompson's office had suggested the deadline to use the money may be this year.

Brown agreed that the environmental documents should have been under way a long time ago, since they would be required regardless of what the county chooses to do at the facility.

Supervisor Jim Comstock asked Siemer about the potential cost of a self-contained wastewater system versus connecting to the city. Siemer said it could be a few hundred thousand dollars to try to do something on site. However, he said that option doesn't work well, since the property doesn't perk.

“For my part, I wish we had a better airport here, for a lot of reasons,” said Board Chair Denise Rushing. “But it seems like right now is the worst economic time to try to make it happen.”

Rushing said there's a risk involved in developing the facility, and she didn't know if it was a good idea to move forward. “These are pretty difficult times to try to make something big happen,” and if it's done it needs to be done right, she said.

Referring to the agreement with the city of Lakeport, Farrington read a paragraph that said, in part, “The county recognizes a health hazard exists,” thus the impetus for the transmission line.

Airmen indicate interest in building hangars

During the discussion, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said concerns about using the FAA funds for the transmission line is one of the reasons it hasn't been built yet.

Cox said he seriously doubted the FAA was going to let the county use the funds to build a transmission line that might not be used.

He said the county had set aside money in its budget for the sewer line in hopes of seeing an industrial park develop with the resulting jobs.

If they can't use the federal funding, Cox said at some point the county will need to forgo the money and look elsewhere.

During public comment, Damon Trimble of the Lake County Airmens Association said the group had approached Shaul about a dozen years ago to offer to fully fund and build 12 hangars.

“To say we were stonewalled, you're being very polite,” he said.

Trimble said the group was interested in partnering to develop the hangars, at no cost to the county. “We would like to just make sure that you folks are aware that we're ready, willing and able to work with you to develop those dozen hangars, two dozen hangars, whatever the right number is.”

The county can then take the leases for the hangars and use it to build another row of them, Trimble said.

He explained that the airport has many needs, including a new north-south runway, which would allow for better instrument approaches.

“That's a big ticket item, obviously,” he said. “A new runway is almost cheaper than adding length onto our current runway.”

Trimble said the airport is not a revenue generator, but is a public service to bring people into the county. He said the airmen want to make sure it's a break-even proposition.

Farrington asked his fellow board members for support on continuing to develop the environmental documents needed to develop the airport, moving forward on the transmission line construction and beginning the process of forming a community services district. He also wanted to follow up with Thompson's office about the federal funds. The goal is a full-service airport.

In addition, Farrington wanted to direct staff to begin a dialogue with the airmen and any other interested parties about creating a vision to develop the 14.5-acre parcel the county owns at the airport.

The board, by consensus, agreed to Farrington's suggestions, which Siemer took as direction.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

NORTHSHORE – On Sunday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) that will restore 1,400 acres of wetlands in the Clear Lake Basin.

AB 74, the Middle Creek and Hamilton City Flood Damage Restoration and Ecosystem Act, will restore Clear Lake habitat that includes open water, seasonal wetlands, in-stream aquatic habitat, shaded aquatic habitat and perennial wetlands.

“The governor didn’t sign many bills this year, but by signing AB 74 he clearly recognized the importance and public benefit of this bill,” Chesbro said. “In addition to wetland restoration, habitat improvement and increased flood protection, the project funded by this bill will have a significant positive financial impact on the county.

 

“The Lake County economy took a big hit this year as a result of the algae infestation in the lake,” Chesbro said. “The restoration will significantly improve the water quality of Clear Lake and help reduce these algae plagues. The project – funded with $48 million in federal and state money – will also create new, green jobs in Lake County.”

The project area is located at the north end of Clear Lake in the area bounded by State Highway 20 and Rodman Slough.

This area was "reclaimed" between 1900 and 1940 by constructing levees, creating a slough and “reclaiming” approximately 1,200 acres of lake bottom and shoreline wetlands for agricultural purposes.

An analysis estimates the project will reduce by 40 percent the amount of phosphorus entering Clear Lake from Middle and Scotts creeks. Reduced phosphorus concentrations in Clear Lake would potentially reduce the chlorophyll concentrations by 33 percent, which will reduce the amount of algae that grows in the lake.

The project will also restore up to 1,400 acres of the 7,520 acres of historic wetlands in the Clear Lake Basin that have either been lost or severely impacted. Restored habitat includes open water, seasonal wetlands, in-stream aquatic habitat, shaded aquatic habitat, and perennial wetlands. Additional upland habitat will be protected adjacent to the wetland and stream areas.

In 1958, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers added to the levee system, “reclaiming” an additional 200 acres of shoreline wetlands. These projects resulted in the physical isolation of more than 1,600 acres of wetland and floodplain from the largest tributaries of Clear Lake. The levees constructed by the Corps are owned and maintained by the State of California.

The levees in the project area are up to three feet below design grade, are prone to slope failure, and have inadequate cross-section. The levees were never constructed to proper standards and are the most prone to failure during a major flood event.

The Corps has determined that the levees provide only a four-year level of protection (the levees were designed to provide a 50-year level of protection) and will overtop during a 35-year flood event, unless emergency flood measures are implemented.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors sponsored AB 74.

The bill received support from the Sierra Club Lake Group, The Nature Conservancy, Lakeport Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lake County Land Trust, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Tribe and West Lake Resource Conservation District.

LAKEPORT – Lakeport City Hall will be closed on Monday, Oct. 12.

Officials report the offices will be closed in observance of Columbus Day.

The offices will reopen for normal business on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Lakeport City Hall is located at 225 Park St., Lakeport.

LAKE COUNTY – Lake County's first shipment of H1N1 vaccine is expected soon, and it will arrive close on the heels of a large allocation of federal funds meant to help control the flu pandemic that continues to affect people across the state and the nation.

As of Thursday, the California Department of Public Health reported 2,510 hospitalizations and 188 deaths attributed to H1N1, also known as the swine flu.

Here in Lake County, there have only been four hospitalizations so far, said Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait.

Tait said the county is expected to soon receive a “very small” allocation of 700 H1N1 doses, with more to follow as the vaccine becomes more widely available.

In neighboring Mendocino County, officials reported Thursday that they expect to receive an initial 900-dose allocation and FluMist vaccine and a total of 13,700 doses of both FluMist and injectable vaccines throughout the winter.

The Centers for Disease Control reported last week receiving orders for 600,000 doses from states and major US cities.

Tait said that the vaccine is manufactured in a variety of forms, each one intended for different age groups and people with different health conditions. The vaccine expected to arrive initially is a live virus nasal spray that can only be used in healthy, non-pregnant persons, ages 2 through 49 years.

The first vaccine doses are recommended for healthy children ages 2 through 9 years, and people who are eligible to take the nasal spray vaccine who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, Tait said.

Local health officials are now working on planning for the next set of doses to arrive, which Tait said are expected in waves over the next few weeks, with many more doses set to arrive in mid-November. Over time it's expected that there will be plenty of vaccine for everyone who wishes to be immunized.

Because of the limited doses available in the first shipment, local health officials said only health providers who have requested the nasal spray vaccine and who treat patients in these groups will receive initial supplies.

While Lake County's health officials are planning for how to distribute the vaccine, they're getting assistance from state and federal officials.

On Monday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order to support and facilitate the state’s aggressive approach to addressing the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. Schwarzenegger's order is meant to cut through contracting red tape to more quickly obtain goods and services to fight the spread of the virus' spread.

Schwarzenegger's office reported that the state also is expanding surveillance to detect increased pandemic activity, continuing development of clear guidelines for the public, working with local health departments to ensure health care facilities can respond to a surge in the need for patient care, and strengthening communication lines with medical providers and the public to get out information.

The federal government also is putting a lot of money behind the effort.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to appropriate $270,229 in federal funds to assist with carrying out the federal Centers for Disease Control's health emergency response and hospital preparedness program.

“There are several supplemental pots of money within these supplemental funds, some of it for planning, some of it for planning with hospitals and some if it for just actual vaccination campaigns,” said Tait.

The funds approved Tuesday are for planning and response activities that Tait said the county has been doing since May.

She expects another large chunk of funding – an estimated $193,000 – also could be available to the county for its efforts against H1N1.

The amount of funding far surpasses the resources given to the seasonal flu, which Tait said has a significant impact every year.

The additional resources for H1N1, said Tait, are motivated by the greater risk to the general public posed by the newer virus.

“With the pandemic strain, the vast majority of the population is susceptible,” she said.

Most people have developed an immunity to the seasonal flu strains, but the H1N1 is brand new and most people haven't been exposed to it, she explained.

Unlike the seasonal flu, younger age groups – including children and pregnant women – are more frequently hospitalized with H1N1, said Tait. “Most cases occur in people under age 50.”

However, seniors remains at risk for complications, especially if they have underlying health problems, Tait said. “We may be vaccinating the seniors later on in the season,” when more doses arrive, she added.

Surveillance around California has picked up an increase in H1N1 cases, which are expected to continue to go up, Tait said.

“The rule of thumb is, prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” said Tait.

With her small staff of about four, two of which are part-time, Tait is hoping to add more staff through the grant funding to help with a massive local vaccination campaign planned for H1N1.

She estimated that they'll try to do 10 times as many vaccinations as they normally do, which would mean reaching as many as 40,000 of the county's 65,000 residents.

“We've never vaccinated as many people for seasonal flu as they're proposing that we try to do with this vaccine campaign,” she said.

That will make it more necessary than ever for the Health Services Department to draw on its partnerships with local medical providers – hospitals, clinics and pharmacists, she said.

There also are plans for special clinics, starting around mid-November when more vaccine becomes available, according to Tait.

She said people can receive both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines at the same time, but the guidelines call for receiving a shot for one and the nasal mist for the other.

She said the different considerations about which flu vaccines to give can be “mind boggling,” and she plans to keep issuing updates to help answer peoples' questions.

“People should prepare to be confused,” she said. “We'll straighten it out but it does take some thought.”

Tait continues to urge basic steps to avoid H1N1 and other flu varieties, from covering your nose and mouth when sneezing, to frequent handwashing, and regular cleaning of frequently touched surfaces and staying home when ill to avoid exposing others.

“This year, more than ever, we have to think about how we affect our friends and neighbors,” she said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .