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The House approved H.R. 2764 – the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008) – on a 272-142 vote on Wednesday, according to GovTrack.
Congressman Mike Thompson, who was unable to vote on the bill because he's recovering from surgery, issued a Thursday statement on the bill that praised parts of it and criticized others.
“The priorities of the federal budget over the past seven years have been completely out of touch with the needs of American families,” Thompson said in the statement issued by his office. “This spending bill invests in areas that will improve the lives of every American, such as education, health care, the environment and critical infrastructure projects.”
The bill included $227,000 for Lake County’s Middle Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project, which was secured by Thompson.
Anne Warden, Thompson's Washington communications director, said the funds will be used for a feasibility study on the project, which will restore 1,200 acres of wetlands and 500 acres of floodplain in the Clear Lake area.
The restoration project will reconnect the Scott’s Creek and Middle Creek to the historic Robinson Lake wetland and floodplain, as Lake County News has reported. These two watersheds provide 57 percent of the water flow into Clear Lake.
“Restoring Middle Creek will improve our area’s protection from flooding,” said Thompson. “It will also have a very positive effect on the wetlands surrounding Clearlake.”
However, in Thompson's view, the bill has definite drawbacks.
“Unfortunately, this bill also includes billions more for the war in Iraq – a war that has already cost our country $500 billion,” said Thompson, a Vietnam veteran who has been critical of the war since its beginning. “I am extremely frustrated that we continue to fund the president’s ill-advised war without any plans for bringing our troops home.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – A Lakeport gun shop was the victim of a late night burglary that was discovered early Wednesday morning.
Burglars hit Lake County Guns, located at 422 S. Main St., according to shop co-owner Clifton Rakic.
Among the items taken from the shop were a number of .22-caliber rifles, said Rakic.
Lt. Brad Rasmussen of the Lakeport Police Department confirmed late Wednesday that the firearms were stolen from the shop and that police had taken a report on the case.
At 2:43 p.m. Wednesday police and sheriff's office dispatchers issued a countywide officer safety “be on the lookout” for four .22 caliber rifles taken from the gun shop.
When interviewed by Lake County News at 3:30 p.m., Rakic had not yet concluded a complete inventory of stolen items.
However, he acknowledged that at least two and as many as four rifles that had been on display near the broken front window were indeed missing. There was no mention of any missing ammunition.
Rakic approximated the retail value of each weapon to be around $100.
The person or persons responsible had disabled the alarm system by shutting off the electric power before smashing the left front window with a rock, which Lakeport Police collected as evidence, said Rakic.
The storefront's heavy glass is backed by thick steel bars, spaced just inches apart. The perpetrators were unable to gain full access to the shop and were only able to grab those weapons within two or three feet of the broken shards, according to this reporter's observations.
Rakic said this is the first major problem he has had since the store opened a year and a half ago.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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