Many Lake County residents are upset with last week's Press Democrat article (“Health report shows Lake County's death rate is twice the state average”) that claims that the death rate in Lake County is twice the state's average.

The implication being put forth is that people are dying in droves in Lake County due to lack of adequate health care, too many obese people, smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.

A superficial review of this article would scare anyone from considering moving here, and make those of us who live here to consider getting out quickly to save ourselves.

However, before anyone starts making moving plans, a more careful analysis of this article is in order.

Let me start with an example. Compare two hypothetical towns. One has the best health care in the world, the cleanest air and water, no crime, no drug abuse, safe roads. But every resident is over 85.  The other town has smog, poor health care, high crime, drugs abuse, and bad roads, but every resident is under 25. Which one do you think might have the higher death rate?

Obviously, unless the second town's pathologies were so severe to create abnormally high mortality, most people would agree that the first town with nothing but very elderly people would have the higher death rate, in spite of all the benefits of living where they are.

With this in mind, consider the comparison of Lake County's death rate to that of the rest of the state.

The article itself states correctly that the percentage of residents in Lake County over the age of 65 is nearly 20 percent. But note that it does not mention the percentage of people in California over the age of 65. And what is that percentage? Less than 11 percent.

Thus, Lake County has nearly twice the percentage of people who are over 65, the group which has the highest death rate of any age group anywhere in the world!

Why the omission? Was it an intentional attempt to smear Lake County, or was it done innocently due to stupidity?

Either way, it portrayed Lake Country incorrectly and unfairly. Shame on the Press Democrat for allowing such a distortion to be run as reasoned fact.

Any high school statistician knows the writer of this article should have taken the time to adjust for the age factor prior to drawing such an overblown and inaccurate conclusion. Age adjusting a rate is a way to make fairer comparisons between groups with different age distributions.

Any fair-minded person realizes that a county with a higher percentage of elderly people would likely have a higher rate of death when compared to another county, region or state with a much younger population simply because an elderly population is more likely to die and suffer from poor health.

The Press Democrat owes the people of Lake County an apology and a retraction for this grossly negligent article.

Does Lake County have issues? Sure we do. But we have the cleanest air in the state, something the Press Democrat failed to mention, along with some of the best bass fishing in the world.

The question is, why do retirees disproportionately choose Lake County to enjoy their golden years instead of Sonoma County? Only 12.6 percent of Sonoma County is over 65, compared to nearly 20 percent for Lake County.

Why is Sonoma County's elderly percentage so small? Are they killing off their elderly? Is it such a bad place to live that as soon as they retire they get the heck out of there?

Sounds like a scandal. Maybe our local press should investigate that.

Phil Smoley is a Realtor. He lives in Lakeport, Calif.

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Written by: Phil Smoley

Published: 14 September 2013