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LAKE COUNTY – County road crews remained at work late Wednesday and were prepared to work through the night as weather forecasters warned of a storm that could bring more snow Thursday.
The National Weather Service issued a snow advisory for southern Lake County that remained in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday.
Forecasters predicted as much as 3 inches of snow overnight in the coastal mountains, with rain expected to arrive and continue through the weekend and into next week.
County road crews continued the round-the-clock work of keeping roadways cleared on Wednesday, said county Roads Superintendent Steve Stangland.
All county roads were open late Wednesday, said Stangland, although chains were required on Elk Mountain and Bartlett Springs Roads in Upper Lake, Socrates Mine Road in Middletown as well as Cobb area roads.
In Cobb, chains were necessary because of ice, Stangland said.
Road crews were busy plowing Wednesday afternoon with plans to continue plowing through the night ifs snow arrived, said Stangland. “We have a normal rotation schedule of another road crew coming in at 4 a.m.”
Stangland estimated that this week's snowfall was similar in size to that as the last snow that hit the county earlier this month.
Snow was still on the ground in various higher-elevation areas of the county, including the Hopland Grade. Light snow was falling in Lakeport around 8 a.m.
On the way to Lake Pillsbury, a lot of the snow had melted off Wednesday night leaving mud, said Mike Shanahan, whose father-in-law owns the Soda Creek Store.
“You can make it in and out,” Shanahan said.
Cobb resident Roger Kinney, who has kept Lake County News apprised of weather and road conditions in that area this week, said the weather climbed to a “pleasant” 40 degrees before temperatures dropped and snow began to fall again late Wednesday afternoon.
Road crews were stationed at the Cobb Shell station and south of Whispering Pines, said Kinney, who added that he still had 8 inches of snow accumulated on the deck of his home, which is located at the 3,000-foot elevation.
The California Highway Patrol reported only a few accidents on county roadways Wednesday, but none appeared to be weather-related. Caltrans reported that all state highways passing through Lake County remained open.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The House voted 260-152 on HR 3963, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (SCHIP).
The final tally on the bill, which is meant to offer millions of families health care for their children, failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override President George W. Bush's veto last year.
Bush has so far vetoed the bill in two different incarnations, with vetoes coming in October and December.
The bill would have continued coverage for the 6.6 million children currently enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), including nearly 1,700 kids in Lake County, according to the office of Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who has been a steadfast supporter of the bill.
SCHIP also extends coverage to 4 million uninsured children who qualify for the program, but aren’t currently enrolled, Thompson's office reported.
Thompson, back to work in the Capitol after undergoing surgery for diverticulitis last month, was one of those voting for the bill Wednesday, according to his Washington spokesperson, Anne Warden.
The Wednesday vote closely followed party lines, with only 42 Republicans offering their support. Only 1 Democrat voted against the bill, according to Congressional voting records.
Thompson called the override failure an “especially devastating blow to millions of families that are struggling under increasingly challenging economic conditions.”
“Thousands of families in Northern California are unable to cope with the rising cost of heat, food, gas and health care,” Thompson said in a Wednesday statement. “And as unemployment in California grows, so does the number of people without health insurance. As our economy worsens, providing health coverage for the children from the neediest families is more critical than ever.”
Thompson accused the president of playing politics with the health of the country's neediest children as the country faces an economic crisis. He added that too many of his colleagues in Congress followed Bush's lead with their votes Wednesday.
“This bill was crafted by Republicans and Democrats and it is supported by 43 governors and the vast majority of Americans,” he said. “Had Members of Congress voted in the best interest of their constituents, today’s veto override would not have failed.”
Economic conditions in California – combined with the state’s budget shortfalls – make expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program especially critical, said Thompson.
With California’s unemployment rate rising – the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the state's December unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, well above the national average of 5 percent – the struggling housing market, and rising gas and energy prices, Thompson is concerned that more families will be unable to provide their children with health care.
Thompson said the second version of SCHIP included changes requested by President Bush after his first veto, such as making sure the lowest-income children are served first.
However, in November the White House criticized the second bill, saying it would cost even more over the next five years than the previous version which the president had vetoed.
On Wednesday White House Press Secretary Dana Perino issued a statement that said Bush strongly supports reauthorizing the program “in a way that puts poor children first.”
The president opposed the “misguided legislation” because it would have expanded SCHIP to higher income households while increasing taxes, Perino said.
In December Congress passed legislation to extend SCHIP to March 31, 2009, legislation which the president supported.
“Ultimately our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage – not to move children who already have private insurance to government coverage,” Perino said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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