How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Proposition 47 impacts begin for local law enforcement, prosecutors
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A proposition California voters passed last Tuesday to reduce some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors already has gone into effect and is impacting local law enforcement as well as the prosecution of criminal cases.
Proposition 47, The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, passed 58.7 percent to 41.3 percent, based on the Secretary of State's preliminary report on the Tuesday general election.
Based on preliminary voting results, a majority of Lake County voters also supported the measure, 59.5 percent to 40.5 percent, according to the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.
Among the felonies reduced to misdemeanors under the new law are commercial burglaries, forgeries and bad checks, vehicle theft and possession of stolen property where thefts total less than $950; most firearms thefts; and possession of drugs – cocaine, concentrated cannabis, heroin, illegal prescriptions and methamphetamine.
The changes mean some previously arrestable felonies are now only citable misdemeanors, so a person accused of one of the crimes wouldn't be booked into jail but cited and released.
Proposition 47 had major backing by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and retired San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, along with a coalition that included representatives of law enforcement, some victims rights groups, politicians and even faith leaders, including Bishop Robert Vasa, Diocese of Santa Rosa, which oversees Lake County.
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos, Gascón and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen were the only three sitting district attorneys statewide to support the proposition.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson said eight other county district attorneys took no position. “All the rest of us opposed the proposition.”
He said the campaign for the measure ran misleading ads, with very little campaigning from the opposition.
“People were just fooled,” he said.
Now, with the law immediately in effect, “We're really just scrambling to understand it,” Anderson said.
Anderson and other local law enforcement leaders have criticized Proposition 47 for its potential to negatively impact community members.
In September, Clearlake Police Chief Craig Clausen asked the Clearlake City Council to take a position against Proposition 47.
Despite Clausen's concerns about the proposition – he said it was “ill-conceived” and had a large amount of opposition in the law enforcement community and victims' rights groups – the council declined to take any position, as Lake County News has reported.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said he's also concerned about the new law. He said he had supported the California Police Chiefs Association's efforts to oppose the proposition.
“I do not believe that these changes will be good for communities in California as I feel they are further degrading the ability of our criminal justice system to hold offenders accountable for repeated crimes. The laws changed are ones that we deal with on a regular basis in our community,” Rasmussen said.
On Friday, Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey reported that the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Correctional Facility has begun releasing inmates as a result of Proposition 47's passage.
The new law went into immediate effect on Nov. 5, the day after the election, and since then, Downey said his office has released eight inmates due to resentencing by the Humboldt County Superior Court. Downey anticipates additional releases as inmates begin petitioning the courts to have their convictions and sentencing reduced.
In Lake County, “No one's been released yet,” said Anderson.
However, the first set of hearings on cases impacted by the new law will be held on Thursday. Anderson said.
“We're making a bunch of adjustments to the current cases we have,” Anderson said.
Anderson said every one of his prosecutors has cases that will be impacted by the new law. He gave a ballpark estimate of 50 cases that will be see charging changes as a result.
One case that already is seeing changes is that of Gregory Elarms, one of four men charged for a June 2013 Clearlake Oaks home invasion robbery in which a young man was pistol-whipped and shot in the leg.
Elarms appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on Friday, and was ordered to stand trial in the case, Anderson said.
Elarms is facing 10 counts – ranging from robbery to theft of a firearm. It's on that last charge that Proposition 47 required a change. Since the firearm was valued at under $950, that count had to be reduced to a misdemeanor, Anderson said.
“This is going to affect a lot of different cases,” said Anderson, adding that by reducing the charges from felonies to misdemeanors, statutes of limitation also will be impacted.
Anderson said felony cases typically have three-year statutes of limitation, while misdemeanors have one-year limits, Anderson said.
Additionally, because Proposition 47 is retroactive, there are a lot of cases that Anderson anticipates will come up that involve people who are already serving – or have served – time.
In some cases they may already be out of prison but still want their felony convictions reduced. Opponents of the measure point out that reduced sentencing could mean some of these individuals would have rights – such as voting and the ability to purchase a handgun – immediately reinstated.
Anderson anticipates that many cases will be coming back for review or resentencing.
“Next year we could have 200 to 300 coming back,” he said.
Every time one of those petitions is made, Anderson's office will have to review it.
He said there will be some ways his office can fight such petitions, such as citing dangers to the community or any sex offenses involved.
“It's going to be a drain,” at least initially, for his staff and for his budget, with Anderson explaining that there is no additional funding to cover the costs associated with the proposition.
Rasmussen said he's concerned about the offenders – who were previously convicted of felony violations and either put in jail or placed on probation – who will now have their convictions reduced to misdemeanors and be released back to the community with no further custody time or supervision by probation.
Then there is the issue of future offenders who may only be cited for misdemeanors where before we could have booked them for felonies.
“As an example, we deal with a large amount of theft crimes including shoplifting and before offenders with a certain number of specified prior convictions could be prosecuted as felonies, but now cannot be,” he said.
Although Rasmussen anticipates more people being released from jails due to the new law, local jails “were already full due to AB 109 and will continue to fill due to it in the future, eventually leaving no room to house misdemeanors including new arrests for possession of dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.”
There also are other unintended consequences, he said.
“What some may not know is that these changes also affect the felony and misdemeanor arrest laws and applications for search warrants when peace officers are dealing with the crimes that were reduced to misdemeanors,” Rasmussen said.
Due to the immediate changes, “We have had to spend time training staff and making procedural changes over the past few days,” Rasmussen said.
In reference to the new law's name, Anderson questioned how that releasing felons makes the street safer, adding that he can't believe that Californians really wanted to let more felons and drug dealers out of the state's prisons.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Lakeport Planning Commission to discuss Soper Reese, Lake County Vector Control plans
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Lakeport Planning Commission will discuss a request to abandon a portion of city right-of-way and Lake County Vector Control's request for a zone change and general plan amendment.
The commission will meet beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
On Wednesday the commission will consider a right-of-way abandonment request from the Lake County Arts Council and the Soper Reese Theater.
The arts council has initiated a request for the city to abandon a 5.4-foot strip of the Martin Street right-of-way to allow for the ongoing renovation of the building, located at 275 S. Main St.
In July, the Lakeport City Council gave its conceptual support to the right-of-way abandonment request, as Lake County News has reported: http://bit.ly/1rt1eRj .
The commission also will consider Lake County Vector Control District's application for a zone change, general plan amendment and environmental review for its properties at 408 and 410 Esplanade St. and 35 C St.
Planning Services Manager Andrew Britton's report to the commission on the request explains that because there are incompatible Lakeport General Plan and Zoning designations existing on some of the district’s land, the city has requested that the district submit the general plan amendments and zone change applications.
“These actions are necessary in order for the District to move forward with plans to expand and modernize the property,” Britton wrote in the report.
Britton's report explains that Lake County Vector Control has developed a capital improvement plan – for funds raised in a benefit assessment approved by voters in 2009 – which includes the purchase of land, the merger of parcels, and the replacement of the existing laboratory building with a new building.
“This will allow the District to connect their lab operations to the administrative operation, provide desk space for technicians, enhance laboratory workspace, comply with safety standards for working with infectious agents and pesticides and meet Federal ADA access requirements,” Britton wrote. “The District also intends to replace and/or reconfigure or expand the existing garage and shop building to provide secure off street parking for vehicles and improve access to their site.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Officials work on election canvass; absentee, provisional vote counts continuing
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The official canvass for Tuesday's general election is under way, as election officials in Lake County and across the state work to count remaining absentee and provisional ballots.
While officials reported preliminary results from Tuesday, the counts won't be final until the official canvass is completed, according to Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley.
In addition to preliminary precinct counts, on election night Fridley said her office processed and counted vote-by-mail – or absentee – ballots received by her office by Oct. 31.
In the 28-day canvass period, Fridley said she and her staff have a total of 5,536 absentee and provisional ballots yet to count.
That's compared to the approximately 6,053 provisional and absentee ballots that still remained to be counted after the June primary, as Lake County News has reported.
The breakdown of the Lake County ballots still to be counted during the general election canvass is as follows, according to Fridley:
– Vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail and received on Nov. 3 and 4: 1,545.
– Vote-by-mail ballots returned by mail from military and overseas voters: 27.
– Vote-by-mail ballots received at our counter on Nov. 3 and 4: 341.
– Vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at the polls on Election Day: 2,686.
– Provisional ballots voted at the polls: 678.
– Provisional ballots voted at the Registrar of Voters Office: 259.
Regarding reasons for provisional voting, Fridley explained that such ballots are used in cases where the residential address a voter provides does not match his or her voter record due to moving within
Lake County; a voter was issued a vote-by-mail ballot but did not vote the issued ballot because it was misplaced or the ballot was never received by mail; or the voter did not vote at his or her assigned voting precinct.
When eligibility is determined by staff, provisional ballots will be entirely counted, partially counted or not counted, Fridley said.
Fridley said that after the election has been certified, provisional voters can call the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 to find out if their vote was counted and if not, why it was not counted.
Statewide, a total of 1,705,281 ballots remain to be counted during the official canvass, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen's office.
“Now that voting by mail is the most popular way to vote in California, county elections officials generally need the full month to verify voter records and tally all valid ballots,” said Bowen, California’s chief elections official. “Every valid ballot returned to county elections officials by 8 p.m. on election day is counted in every election, regardless of the margin in any particular contest.”
While several small counties like Alpine, Glenn, Plumas and Sierra are reported to be finished with the canvass, remaining counties have as few as 37 ballots to process – as in the case of Modoc – to as many as 301,435 in Los Angeles County, based on the unprocessed ballot count Bowen's office provided.
Bowen said county elections officials have a number of tasks to complete as part of the official canvass.
Those include remaking ballots that machines cannot tabulate because of wrinkles, smudges or other damage; hand-counting votes for qualified write-in candidates; ensuring signatures on each vote-by-mail ballot envelope matches the signature on the voter’s original voter registration application; researching all voters who cast provisional ballots to ensure each person was registered to vote and did not vote more than once; and sorting all vote-by-mail ballots by precinct so they can be manually audited.
Elections officials also must manually audit 100 percent of the ballots from 1 percent of the precincts in the county to ensure the results are accurate and manually audit 100 percent of the voter verified paper audit trail to ensure votes cast on direct recording electronic machines were tabulated accurately, Bowen said.
There there is the required auditing of all materials returned from polling places to ensure all ballots – voted, unvoted, spoiled, provisional, vote-by-mail, surrendered vote-by-mail – are accounted for, along with auditing all voting equipment to ensure it was properly secured and was not tampered with, according to Bowen.
Bowen said county elections officials have until Dec. 2 to ensure every eligible ballot is counted accurately and certify final election results to her office.
In turn, Bowen said she has until Dec. 12 to review the materials, resolve any reporting discrepancies and compile the 58 county reports for complete election results.
Once Fridley is done with her work, she will submit the canvass to the Board of Supervisors in early December, at which point the board will vote to certify the final results.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Carnegie Library study, Wellville initiative on Nov. 12 LEDAC agenda
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet next week to discuss a feasibility study of proposed uses for the Carnegie Library and an initiative to improve community health.
LEDAC will meet from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
Among the main items on the group's agenda is an update on the Carnegie Library Reuse Feasibility Study.
Earlier this year, the Lakeport City Council approved the hiring of San Francisco-based Garavaglia Architecture to complete the study.
The firm has so far held a public meeting and given an initial update to the council.
LEDAC Chair Wilda Shock reported that the committee will discuss the reuse parameters for the 96-year-old building suggested by the consultants, and review and discuss sections of the reuse feasibility study.
In other business, LEDAC members will get a recap and discuss next steps on the Oct. 9 Lake Leadership Summit, held at Marymount California University's Lakeside Campus in Lucerne.
They also will discuss the implementation of the “Wellville” initiative, including a Thursday planning workshop and a Nov. 21 summit.
In August, Lake County and four other communities from across the United States were selected to participate in the five-year “Way to Wellville” Challenge to produce visible improvements in several health and economic vitality measures.
There also will be committee member reports and reports on business outreach efforts, and citizen input.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members do not have to be Lakeport residents. Current members include Chair Wilda Shock and Vice Chair Mireya Turner, along with Carol Cole-Lewis, Bill Eaton, Melissa Fulton, Pam Harpster, Christine Hutt, George Linn, Paula Pepper-Duggan and Taira St. John. City Planning Services Manager Andrew Britton and City Manager Margaret Silveira are ex-officio committee members.
The committee is next scheduled to meet from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, at Workforce Lake, 55 First St.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
