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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – While the primary election is over, the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office is continuing the necessary work to finalize and certify the June 5 election results.
Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said she has until July 3 to certify the election, but hopes to be finished by the end of this month.
She said Thursday that her office has a lot of vote by mail ballots turned in at precincts as well as provisional ballots still to process. Fridley expected to have tallies on those votes by Friday.
Among the issues that arose during this year’s primary, Fridley said her office received some complaints from county residents who were unhappy about precinct adjustments that resulted from last year’s redistricting process.
She estimated that there are probably 1,000 voters now receiving their ballots by mail rather than having a precinct to vote at due to the changes.
Part of her job during certification is to check the write-in candidates for president and U.S. senator. At this point, those are the only contests that have qualified write-in candidates, she said.
In local supervisorial races and the judicial race – in the latter there were 26 write-ins reported in the initial tally – there are no qualified write-in candidates, Fridley said.
Individuals who want to appear as a write-in candidate must follow a process, which Fridley said includes collecting signatures, filing a statement of write-in candidacy and being qualified to run for the office.
“They they could have their name written on the ballot,” she said. “We could count those.”
But her office doesn’t track unqualified write-ins, she said.
As part of the certification process, Fridley’s office will conduct a public manual tally of a minimum 1 percent of randomly selected precincts for the June 5 presidential primary.
That manual tally will take place beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, June 14, at the Registrar of Voters Office, located in Room 209 on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The selection of the precinct – or precincts – to be included in the manual tally will be randomly chosen on June 14 before the tally begins, Fridley reported.
Fridley said observers are invited to view the manual tally of the ballots, but shall not interfere with the election process.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A fundraiser for the new Kelseyville BMX Park will take place at the Lakeport Speedway on the night of Saturday, June 9.
BMX riders from the area will be strutting their stuff in an effort to raise money to help build and maintain a BMX park in Kelseyville.
The event will take place after racing starts at 6 p.m.
BMX, which stands for Bicycle Moto-Cross, is an athletic sport where specialized bicycles can be jumped over jumps, objects or nothing at all.
Riders are very talented and practice continually to twist, turn and flip their bicycles in synchronized displays of control and talent.
The Kelseyville BMX Group was formed after losing their longtime place to ride on private property.
Going through all of the legal channels with the help and support of Kelseyville parents as well as Supervisor Rob Brown, the group has secured permission to build a public BMX park, located at the Kelseyville County Park on State Street in Kelseyville.
With the support of Dave Furia and Lakeport Speedway, the group is raising funds each Saturday and is currently building the perimeter fence and access lane for the BMX Park in Kelseyville.
The Kelseyville BMX Park will be built and maintained 100 percent by labor and funds donated by the community.
For further information about the project or to donate contact District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown, 707-263-2368; or parent representative Valarie Sullivan at 707-533-3051.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
California will receive federal support to expand a distracted driving pilot program, federal officials announced Thursday.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Thursday released a “Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving” that offers a comprehensive strategy to address the growing and dangerous practice of using handheld cell phones behind the wheel.
The plan outlines concrete steps stakeholders around the country – from lawmakers and safety organizations to families and younger drivers – can take to reduce the risk posed by distracted driving.
While unveiling the plan, Secretary LaHood also announced $2.4 million in federal support for California and Delaware that will expand the Department's "Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other" pilot enforcement campaign to reduce distracted driving.
"Distracted driving is an epidemic. While we've made progress in the past three years by raising awareness about this risky behavior, the simple fact is people are continuing to be killed and injured – and we can put an end to it," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
He added, "Personal responsibility for putting down that cell phone is a good first step – but we need everyone to do their part, whether it's helping pass strong laws, educating our youngest and most vulnerable drivers, or starting their own campaign to end distracted driving."
The "Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving" outlines a plan that builds on the national momentum that Secretary LaHood and USDOT have spearheaded for the last three years.
Recognizing the extent and complexity of the problem, the plan:
- Encourages the remaining 11 states without distracted driving laws to enact and enforce this critical legislation.
- Challenges the auto industry to adopt new and future guidelines for technology to reduce the potential for distraction on devices built or brought into vehicles.
- Partners with driver education professionals to incorporate new curriculum materials to educate novice drivers of driver distraction and its consequences. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show drivers under the age of 25 are two to three times more likely than older drivers to send text messages or emails while driving.
- Provides all stakeholders with actions they can take that go beyond personal responsibility to helping end distracted driving nationwide.
Applying a 'proven formula' to California, Delaware enforcement programs
Coinciding with the release of the "Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving," Secretary LaHood announced that California and Delaware have been selected to receive federal support for pilot projects that will test the effect of increased law enforcement and high-profile public education campaigns on distracted driving.
"We know from the success of national efforts like 'Click It or Ticket' that combining good laws with effective enforcement and a strong public education campaign can – and does – change unsafe driving behavior," said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. "Now, along with two great state partners, we're using this proven formula to help tackle distracted driving."
DOT is providing California and Delaware with $2.4 million of federal support for pilot programs that will examine whether increased police enforcement coupled with paid media and news media coverage can significantly reduce distracted driving over a widespread area.
The California program will take place in the Sacramento Valley region comprising eight counties and 3.8 million residents, while the Delaware program will be conducted statewide.
Both projects are expected to be under way in fall 2012.
The multi-market efforts in these states mirror the approach used in smaller-scale demonstration projects completed in 2011 in Hartford, CT, and Syracuse, NY.
The 2011 pilot projects found dramatic declines in distracted driving in the two communities tested – with texting dropping 72 percent in Hartford and 32 percent in Syracuse.
In 2010, at least 3,092 people were killed in distraction-affected crashes – accounting for approximately one in every ten fatalities on the nation's roadways.
Meanwhile, among the findings from NHTSA's first nationally-representative telephone survey on driver distraction released earlier this year, more than three-quarters of drivers reported that they are willing to answer calls on all, most, or some trips.
Survey respondents acknowledged few driving situations when they would not use the phone or text, and yet reported feeling unsafe when riding in vehicles in which the driver is texting and supported bans on texting and cell phone use.
Almost all respondents (about 90% overall) reported that they considered a driver who was sending or reading text messages or e-mails as very unsafe.
Nationwide, 39 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Guam ban texting behind the wheel. Ten states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Guam prohibit all hand-held cell phone use while driving.
To learn more about NHTSA's efforts on distracted driving visit www.distraction.gov .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A week before its union-represented nurses were set to go out on another one-day strike, Sutter Lakeside Hospital has reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining contract with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
According to reports from Sutter Lakeside and the union, negotiations on Wednesday night led to an early Thursday morning agreement after hospital officials withdrew all concession proposals.
“Our nurses play an integral role in providing patients in our community with quality care,” said hospital Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson. “We are very pleased to bring closure to this process and to reach agreement on a new contract for our nurses.”
Carrie Roth, a medical surgical registered nurse at the hospital and a member of the CNA nurse bargaining team, called the tentative agreement “a major victory” both for nurses and patients in Lake County.
She added, “Our new contract enhances our ability to provide our patients with the care they deserve.”
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United represents 120 registered nurses at Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
Roth said Sutter Lakeside's nurses will meet on Monday, June 11, to ratify the new contract.
On Monday the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United had announced that the nurses they represented at several hospital around Northern California – including Sutter Lakeside – were preparing to walk out on June 13.
However, once the agreement at Sutter Lakeside was reached Thursday, the union withdrew its official notice of intent to hold the one-day strike in Lakeport on June 13. The union said a strike at other Bay Area Sutter hospitals is still set to go forward.
Sutter Lakeside nurses had previously participated in a one-day strike on May 1, as Lake County News has reported.
During that one-day walkout, Roth had told Lake County News that Sutter Lakeside's nurses were more united than ever, and determined to continue working on settling contract negotiations.
Sutter Lakeside's withdrawal of concessions “provides a significant contrast with other Sutter Bay Area hospitals where corporate executives are demanding more than 100 sweeping concessions that would erode patient care conditions and RN standards,” the union said in a Thursday afternoon written statement.
Roth said there were some small takeaways but they were smaller than what the hospital originally sought.
She said it came down to give and take between the bargaining teams.
“We're realized we have an obligation to the community and our patients,” and so they stuck it out to come to an agreement, Roth said.
“It's been a long haul,” she said, with the nurses' original contract ending in 2010.
She said the nurses and hospital will have to go back to the table to begin work on a new contract in June 2014.
For now, however, Roth said the nurses are happy and ready to get back to work caring for their patients.
Sutter Lakeside did not reveal any of the details concerning the tentative agreement or contract negotiations, which it said will be forthcoming upon ratification of the contract.
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United did offer some basic details of the agreement, which the union said includes new patient care protections, enhanced autonomy of charge RNs to utilize independent professional judgment in accepting patient assignments – including meal and break coverage – and workplace violence protections.
There also are to be modest wage improvements – including a new pay scale with additional pay steps with a new 20-year longevity step – and layoff and severance protection and compensation, the union said.
Other points the union said are included in the tentative agreement are enhanced daily cancellation language that considers the severity of patients’ illnesses, and new admissions, prior to canceling RNs from their shift; improved just cause/disciplinary action language and protection for RNs; new language that allows charge nurses to carry out their patient advocacy roles with full union protections; and improved leave of absence policies relating to medical, family care, military and professional leaves.
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