LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – It’s “flu” season and the Lake County Public Health Division will once again host its community influenza vaccination clinics.

Getting vaccinated is a great way to avoid getting the flu. Anyone 6 months of age or older is encouraged to get a flu vaccine.

Being careful to use good hygiene is another way to protect yourself and those around you. If you cough or sneeze, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or the crook of your arm instead of your hands.

A virus can easily be passed from your hands to the things you touch. Wash your hands often and use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water aren’t available. Try not to touch your face with your hands. A virus can enter your system through the membranes of your eyes, nose and mouth. Protect yourself by avoiding close contact with anyone who is sick.

Choosing a healthful lifestyle can also help to keep you well. Getting enough sleep, eating nutritious foods, drinking plenty of water and staying physically active can help to maintain a healthy immune system. Together, we can help to decrease the spread of influenza in our community.

The symptoms of the flu include a temperature of over 100 degrees F combined with a cough, sore throat, body aches, headache and a lack of energy. If you are ill, stay home to keep from infecting others.

Lake County Public Health is offering seasonal flu vaccines for $2.

Scheduled clinics for the seasonal flu vaccines are as follows:

Clearlake

• Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Road.

Middletown

• Thursday, Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Calpine Visitors Center, 15500 Central Park Road.

Lakeport

• Tuesday, Nov. 1, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Public Health Division, 922 Bevins Court.
• Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Public Health Division, 922 Bevins Court.

Flu vaccinations also are available in a variety of locations such as your primary care provider and local pharmacies.

The Lake County Public Health Division wishes community members a healthy and happy fall and winter season.

Please call 1-800-794-9291 or 707-263-1090 with questions.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Just in time for Halloween, on Friday preschoolers and their parents participating in story time at the Lakeport Library learned about drains on their home energy use in the form of “energy vampires.”

About 30 children took part in the reading time with Barbara Green, library technician and children's programs coordinator, and Pacific Gas and Electric's “energy vampire,” Deanna Contreras.

The presentation showcased the toolkit funded by PG&E which is available for checkout at all Lake County library branches at no charge.

The toolkit contains a Kill-A-Watt meter, which is a small device which measures the amount of energy consumed by electrical appliances. Armed with information, residents can make informed decisions about whether to replace an old appliance and the importance of unplugging electrical devices when not in use.

PG&E will show customers how to use the Kill-A-Watt meter by connecting the meter to common appliances like a fan, lamp, and hair dryer during the interactive library demonstration.

The toolkit is available to be checked out for at least a week. Each kit contains a meter and instructions in English, Spanish and Chinese.

As part of the event, parents also received information about Energy Saving Myths.

The program was launched in 2012 in an effort to enhance energy efficiency in the communities PG&E serves.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is now accepting applications for apprentice pheasant hunts in 17 counties throughout the state.

The hunts, which will be held on various dates throughout November and December, are specially designed to provide an educational and memorable experience for new hunters, youth hunters, women hunters, mobility-impaired hunters and families.

These CDFW-sponsored opportunities are available at the following locations:

• Fresno County (Mendota Wildlife Area);
• Imperial County (Imperial Wildlife Area);
• Kern County (Bakersfield and Stockdale Ranch);
• Los Angeles County (Peace Valley);
• Madera County (Chowchilla and Hensley Lake);
• Merced County (O’Neill Forebay Wildlife Area and Merced);
• Napa County (Napa-Sonoma Wildlife Area);
• Plumas County (Green Gulch Ranch);
• Riverside County (Robinson Farms and San Jacinto Wildlife Area);
• San Bernardino County (Camp Cady Wildlife Area);
• San Diego County (Oak Grove);
• San Joaquin County (White Slough Wildlife Area);
• San Luis Obispo County (Santa Margarita and Ray Azbill);
• Siskiyou County (Shasta Valley Wildlife Area);
• Solano County (Grizzly Island Wildlife Area);
• Tehama County (Sacramento River Bend Area);
• Yolo County (Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area).

More details – including hunt dates, types of hunts offered and how many hunters each event will accommodate – can be found online at https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/dfgspecialhunts/default.aspx .

These apprentice hunts are provided by CDFW’s Upland Game Bird Special Hunt Program, in cooperation with many volunteer organizations. They provide a high-quality, educational experience that builds upon the lessons taught in hunter education classes.

They also provide additional public hunting opportunities for upland game birds on both public and private lands.

Applicants are reminded that nonlead ammunition is required for hunting pheasant in California, unless the hunt is taking place at a licensed game bird club.

Before venturing out to hunt, please review the new nonlead requirements at www.wildlife.ca.gov/hunting/nonlead-ammunition .

For more information about the application process, please call 916-445-3452.

Garrison Keillor has used a number of George Bilgere's poems on “The Writer's Almanac,” and I've used several in this column, and it seems neither of us can get quite enough of this writer's clear, honest and moving work.

This poem is from a recent issue of “River Styx.” Bilgere lives near Lake Erie and his most recent book is “Imperial,” from The University of Pittsburgh Press.
 
The Forge
 
I remember watching my father stop
halfway up the driveway because my tricycle
was blocking the way to the garage,
and how he solved the problem
by picking up the tricycle by the handlebars
and smashing it through the windshield
of our brand new family station wagon,
his face red with scotch, his black tie
and jacket flapping with effort, the tricycle
making its way a little farther with each blow
into the roomy interior of the latest model
as the safety glass relented, the tricycle
and the windshield both praiseworthy
in their toughness, the struggle between them
somehow making perfect sense
in midday on our quiet suburban street,
the windshield the anvil, the trike the hammer,
the marriage the forge, and failure
glowing in the heat, beaten
and tempered, slowly taking shape.
 
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2015 by George Bilgere, “The Forge,” (River Styx, Vol. 95, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of George Bilgere and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

On Monday, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced a series of efforts to protect nearly 10,000 soldiers from attempts by the Department of Defense to reclaim the enlistment bonuses they were paid upon reenlisting during our nation’s wars Iraq and Afghanistan.

“These brave men and women signed up to serve our country, and believed that the country would have their back in return,” said Garamendi. “It is beyond my comprehension that our veterans are being forced to repay the bonuses that they have relied on. I will do everything in my power to require the Department of Defense and the California National Guard to allow our veterans to keep the money they were promised. If the Pentagon says this requires a change to the law, then let’s change the law.”

He continued, “Bottom line: our veterans should not pay the price for mistakes that were made by recruiters. I am authoring legislation today to prevent the Department of Defense from seeking to force our veterans to pay back these bonuses, and I am publicly urging the National Guard Bureau, the Department of Defense, and Office of Management and Budget to get a head start by granting waivers on any erroneously paid enlistment bonuses that fall within their authority.”

The Department of Defense claims that they are required by law to seek to reclaim bonuses that were paid in error or through misrepresentation.

Garamendi's first legislative fix involves amending the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 as follows: "None of the funds authorized to be appropriated in this act may be used to recoup any monetary incentive or associated interest issued for the purpose of recruitment or reenlistment given to any member of the National Guard of any state between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2008."

This language would put a halt to the recoupment of incentive payments until a permanent solution can be implemented.

Garamendi is continuing to investigate the legal barriers and mechanisms which led to this misguided policy and will pursue every avenue to ensure that guardsmen are better protected in such matters going forward.

Hearing loss, including tinnitus, which is a ringing, buzzing or other type of noise that originates in the head, is the most prevalent service-connected disability among veterans, with more than 30 million veterans suffering from a form of it due to frequent exposure to loud noises from weaponry and aircraft.

Because of the pervasiveness of hearing loss among veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is recognizing October as Audiology Awareness Month by highlighting important VA research on the subject and advances made in treating Veterans with hearing loss.

“VA researchers have a rich history of contributions to audiology,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. David J. Shulkin. “From working with the National Institutes of Health to develop and evaluate hearing aids to a comprehensive protocol for managing tinnitus at VA and other audiology clinics nationwide, VA is proud to be a leader in this field.”

VA researchers conduct a wide range of studies in audiology – from biomedical investigations to large clinical trials and epidemiologic database studies.

Much of the work takes place at VA’s National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research in Portland, Oregon, one of the world’s leading facilities for research in the field.

Studies include older veterans whose hearing problems have been compounded by aging and younger veterans who may have suffered hearing loss as a result of blasts in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Recent VA research includes the following:

• In 2013, researchers at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System published the results of a study comparing group and individual visits for hearing aid fittings and follow up. The team found no differences in how well the hearing aids performed, or how often they were worn. They concluded that group visits could reduce costs while providing community support for patients.
• In 2014, VA researchers in Loma Linda, Calif., linked exposure to jet propulsion fuel with auditory processing problems – changes that occur inside the brain rather than the ear.
• A 2015 VA study yielded promising results on transcranial magnetic stimulation as a tinnitus treatment. The therapy involves holding a magnetic coil to the head. The team now hopes to conduct a larger trial.
• A 2016 study of nearly 200 veterans with tinnitus explored the impact of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on how Veterans manage the hearing condition, and offered guidance for clinicians.

Below are a few examples of ongoing studies:

• VA researchers in Pittsburgh, Sioux Falls, Omaha and Portland are collecting data from nearly 470 veterans to learn more about auditory complaints in those who have been exposed to blasts. The team will focus on the interplay among hearing problems, traumatic brain injury, and PTSD.
• A VA trial aims to improve monitoring of hearing changes caused by the drug cisplatin, used to treat cancer. Some 4,000 veterans receive the drug in a typical year, and up to 40 or 50 percent will experience some hearing loss or tinnitus. The researchers say early detection can prevent significant damage.
• Together with a lab group at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, VA researchers are seeking biomarkers – including cellular changes – that could warn of impending hearing loss. The work is expected lead to new preventive measures or treatment.

In addition to VA’s audiology research work, the Department announced last month – ahead of National Audiology Awareness Month – that veterans who need routine audiology appointments will be able to directly schedule them, without the need for a referral from their primary care provider. The move is expected to get veterans into appointments more quickly. The new expedited process was piloted at three VA sites last year and is now being rolled out nationwide.

For more information VA’s audiology services, visit www.ncrar.research.va.gov . Information about VA research on audiology may be found at www.research.va.gov/topics/hearing.cfm .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Mediacom and C-SPAN announce the start of this year’s annual student documentary competition, and encourage middle school and high school students to participate in the video documentary competition known as “StudentCam.”

Students are asked to create a short five- to seven-minute video documentary and submit it online between Nov. 1, 2016, and Jan. 20, 2017.

This year marks the 13th annual StudentCam competition, and a new topic is chosen each year to encourage students to work in teams or individually to enhance their understanding of U.S. government.

Students are asked to present their views on a topic that coincides with this year’s general election: “Your message to Washington: What is the most urgent issue for the new president and Congress to address in 2017?”

Cash prizes of up to $100,000 in total will be awarded to winning documentaries.

Winners will be announced in March 2017 and the top-rated videos will be televised on C-SPAN in April.

Complete competition details and entry forms are available on the C-SPAN StudentCam Web site http://www.studentcam.org/ .