LAKE COUNTY – The last day for residents of Lake County to take advantage of the current Waste Tire Amnesty program will be Saturday, Feb. 27.

Up to nine passenger or light pickup tires, with or without rims, will be accepted at no charge. The charge for oversized passenger tires during the amnesty is $5 without rims and $7.50 with rims. The amnesty does not apply to commercial, farm or heavy equipment tires.

Tires can be delivered to either South Lake Refuse & Recycling at the entrance to the Eastlake Landfill on Davis Street or to Lake County Waste Solutions at 230 Soda Bay Road in Lakeport. The Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling provides the funding for the amnesty program.

California law prohibits anyone from hauling more than nine tires without a permit. If you have tires bigger than 8R19.5 or more than nine tires, please call 707-263-1980 for additional information.

Customers are asked to show proof of residency and sign a form showing the number and origin of the tires. No commercial tire, auto repair or salvage businesses are allowed.

Beginning March 1, 2010, the recycling centers will resume charging $2 for passenger tires without a rim and $3 with a rim. Recycling fees for oversized passenger tires are $10 without a rim and $150 with a rim.

KELSEYVILLE – On Feb. 27 Lake County Special Olympics is hosting a “Polar Plunge” at the county park in Kelseyville.

At noon individuals and teams will be dressed up to take the cold plunge into Clear Lake.

These special people have been been collecting pledges to support Lake County Special Olympics. All Lake County sports are funded by donations made to Lake County Special Olympics.

The group must raise $20,000 a year to support over 100 athletes who participate in sports such as basketball, track and field, golf, weight lifting and bowling.

All money raised will support local athletes by purchasing uniforms, equipment and transportation.

This event will help keep our county wide Special Olympics program going strong.

Special Olympics helps developmentally disabled athletes learn about healthy habits and social skills while developing athletic ability. The program is offered to participants at no cost. This year round program cannot exist without the financial support of our community.

For more information or to make a donation go to www.sonc.org/polarplunge , be sure to click on Kelseyville to make a local donation. Donations may also be sent to Lake County Special Olympics, P.O. Box 94, Lakeport CA 95453.

For additional information phone Steve or Peggy Buchholz at 707-279-4280.

While no projects in Lake County are planned, several projects in Mendocino County that may impact Lake County commuters are included here.

MENDOCINO COUNTY

Highway 1

– Construction of a retaining wall about three miles north of Elk will continue. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays. Contractor – Granite Construction of Ukiah.

Highway 20

– Construction of a retaining wall 0.4 mile east of Three Chop Road will continue. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Motorists should anticipate five-minute delays. Contractor – Granite Construction of Ukiah.

Highway 101

– An emergency culvert replacement project at the northbound 101 onramp of the junction of Routes 101/271 has begun. Work hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays. A full ramp closure will be in effect. A detour is available. Contractor – Mendocino Construction Service of Willits.

For information pertaining to emergency roadwork or for updates to scheduled roadwork, please contact the California Highway Information Network (CHIN) at 1-800-GAS-ROAD (1-800-427-7623).

Nicholas Moberg (left, second grade) and Isabelle Moberg (right, kindergarten) were two of the LCICS students that helped raise funds for Haitian relief efforts. Photo courtesy of Valerie Moberg.

MIDDLETOWN – On Saturday, Jan. 23, the Lake County International Charter School (LCICS) held a bake sale fundraiser to help support Doctors Without Borders and their lifesaving efforts in Haiti.

LCICS students, teachers and parents baked all of the goodies and worked together to sell them to area residents at tables outside both the Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake Hardester’s, raising $400 to send to this world-respected organization.

The effort fit both the school’s international focus as well as its desire for community outreach.

PTC President Gina Kerr said, “It is hard for us to express how grateful we are to our school community and the communities of Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake for the many donations we received in such a short time this past Saturday. One hundred percent of the funds raised will be sent to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian relief efforts.”

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, the organization provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.

LCICS is a tuition-free, K-8th grade public, school that is an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) World school™ and WASC accredited, providing students with an inquiry-based, enriched education in a nurturing environment. At LCICS, students are taught to become competent and self-motivated individuals with a commitment to life-long learning, enabling them to reach their full potentials as literate, knowledgeable, principled and responsible global citizens of the 21st century.

For more information about LCICS call 707-987-3063 or go online to www.lcics.org .

The Patti Mattingly Award is awarded by RCRC to a policymaker who has demonstrated leadership on rural issues and an understanding of the unique challenges that rural communities face.

RCRC recognized Chesbro and Nielsen for working across party lines to forge solutions for rural communities and to prevent Sacramento from balancing the state’s budget problems on the backs of rural counties.

“It is with much appreciation that RCRC selects Assemblyman Chesbro for his important work on behalf of rural counties in the State Assembly,” said Supervisor David Bradshaw of Modoc County, RCRC’s chairperson. “Assemblyman Chesbro’s efforts helped the state’s rural counties meet the challenges of a very difficult 2009 Legislative Session.”

“RCRC member counties cannot thank Assemblyman Chesbro enough,” added Supervisor Dave Finigan of Del Norte County. “He was vital in securing the passage of SB 65, which provided an exemption to counties with a population under 40,000 from experiencing deferrals in state payments. Without passage of this bill, many rural counties could have faced dire fiscal straits.”

RCRC also cited the following actions in 2009 by Assemblyman Chesbro:

• Author of AB 283, which seeks to enact an extended producer responsibility program to minimize the amount of solid waste handled by local governments and create new, green jobs.

• Author of AB 754, which seeks to ensure that counties receive federal mental health services funds in an expedited manner.

• Worked to ensure that any alternative custody/early release of state prisoner proposals contain adequate protocols with counties.

• Author of AB 648, which seeks to allow rural hospitals to hire physicians directly, thereby allowing for more physicians to practice in rural areas.

• Worked closely with RCRC staff in the discussions on water policy and opposed legislation to impose a difficult new mandate on rural counties for groundwater monitoring.

RCRC’s Patti Mattingly Award was established in memory of former Supervisor Patti Mattingly of Siskiyou County, who had tremendous courage and commitment and an ability to promote constructive solutions surrounding rural issues. Recipients are selected by the RCRC Board of Directors.

RCRC is an association of 31 rural California counties that advocates before the Legislature, Congress and state and federal government agencies on behalf of rural issues.

Headquartered in Sacramento, RCRC’s governing board is comprised of county supervisors from member counties.