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- Written by: Lake County News reports
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake County/City Area Planning Council (APC) and Caltrans are hosting a community meeting to provide an overview of and solicit input on a Highway 29 transportation planning project.
The meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.
The project includes a Highway 29 South Corridor Engineered Feasibility Study and Middletown Community Action Plan.
The project’s purpose is to make intraregional and interregional travel safer and more convenient, reduce congestion and address local community needs.
The Highway 29 South Corridor Engineered Feasibility Study will identify and analyze potential short-term and long-term transportation improvements from the Napa County line to State Route 53.
The Community Action Plan will focus on potential roadway improvements in Middletown, including bike, pedestrian and equestrian alternatives.
This phase of the project is focused on refining the project’s need, completing a detailed traffic analysis and evaluating potential improvement alternatives.
The overall project currently is scheduled for completion in the fall 2013.
Representatives from the Lake APC, Caltrans, Lake County and the project consultant team will provide an overview of the project, answer questions and discuss ideas in an informal format.
Several information stations providing maps and project information will be available.
Three additional community meetings are planned for later in the year.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Big Read, an initiative of the Lake County Literacy Task Force, is starting out 2013 with a Chinese New Year fundraiser.
The community is invited to the fundraiser, which will take place at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10.
The 2013 Big Read literature selection is Amy Tan’s novel, “The Joy Luck Club.”
A screening of the acclaimed film version of the book will be the highlight of the February fundraiser, with Chinese New Year refreshments included for all attendees.
The actual program month is scheduled for October of this year.
Tickets are available at the Schoolhouse Museum, at Watershed Books in Lakeport, and at Mt. High Coffee and Books on Cobb and in Hidden Valley.
For those who would like to support this year’s Big Read, yet are unable to attend, tickets may be purchased for the suggested donation of $10 and will be distributed to a Lake County teacher or librarian.
The Big Read committee is grateful for the support of local partners and sponsors for this event, including Mendo/Lake Credit Union, Mt. High Coffee and Books and the Lower Lake High School Culinary Program.
For more information, contact Program Director Robin Shrive at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A federal grand jury has handed down indictments against two Lake County men and two men from Sonoma County in the latest development in a case alleging that the four committed a home invasion robbery dressed as law enforcement officers.
US Attorney Melinda Haag’s office said Thursday that Eric Mendonca, 43, of Middletown and Jack David Pollack, 54, of Hidden Valley Lake made their initial appearances on the new indictment on Wednesday, as did Terry Jackson, 46, of Petaluma.
Mendonca – a former Petaluma Police officer and Lake County Sheriff’s deputy – along with Pollack and Jacksen were arrested Dec. 19 during a raid by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, as Lake County News has reported.
A fourth suspect, 54-year-old Petaluma resident Michael Puckett – who was arrested on Wednesday evening – made his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday morning, the US Attorney’s Office reported. He is next scheduled to appear in court Friday for identification of counsel.
Mendonca has been released on a $50,000 bond, while Jacksen, Pollack and Puckett all remain in custody, according to officials.
The federal grand jury in San Francisco has charged the four men with robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer, Haag’s office announced.
All four of the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco at 2 p.m. Jan. 22 before United States District Court Judge William Alsup.
The men conspired to commit a home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake last Oct. 4, taking 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000 and a variety of other items, according to court documents.
Pollack, who has a well pump business, is alleged to have cased the home, telling the owner he was responding to a call for water well maintenance, case documents stated.
Later, Jacksen – dressed up as a Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy carrying a holstered revolver and wearing a white cowboy hat – is alleged to have knocked on the door and informed the occupants that he was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was there to conduct a search.
The investigation revealed that Jacksen then handcuffed and zip-tied the occupants before searching the house and stealing the marijuana plants.
It’s alleged that Mendonca provided Jacksen with the police uniforms.
During a search of Mendonca and Jacksen’s property in Middletown on Dec. 19 law-enforcement authorities located a holstered revolver, a set of Lake County Sheriff’s Office handcuffs, a white cowboy hat, various firearms and a cellular telephone containing images of Jacksen and Puckett posing in Lake County Sheriff’s Office uniforms with firearms hours before the robbery, officials reported.
Officials said that a search of Pollack’s residence uncovered approximately 20 pounds of marijuana.
The charges and the possible prison sentence each defendant faces are as follows:
Terry Jacksen
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years.
Eric Mendonca
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Jack Pollack
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years;
- One count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine: 40 years, with a five year mandatory minimum;
- One count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years.
Puckett
- One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
- One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
- One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
- One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
- One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
- One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Assistant United States Attorney Randy Luskey from Haag’s office is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Daniel Charlier-Smith.
The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Santa Rosa Resident Agency, Haag’s office said.
Investigators believe that the men may have committed several other similar robberies and are seeking additional victims.
Anyone with information on unreported home invasion robberies in Lake County is encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
010813 Mendonca, Jacksen, Pollack and Puckett federal indictment by LakeCoNews
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A series of small earthquakes that occurred in the Soda Bay area earlier this week caused some county residents to wonder about what triggered them.
Lake County residents are familiar with earthquakes, especially due to the numerous small and moderately sized quakes that are reported on a regular basis in The Geysers geothermal steamfield in the Cobb area.
However, the quakes near Kelseyville – peaking with a 2.8-magnitude quake that occurred on Tuesday afternoon – don’t fit into the normal local earthquake pattern, and Lake County News received a number of comments and inquiries from readers about the reasons for the quakes.
David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, offered some explanations.
“At this point we're just seeing a little flurry of earthquakes,” said Oppenheimer.
The quakes have been centered to the southeast of Mt. Konocti. “There's a whole bunch of mapped faults in the area that are active faults,” Oppenheimer said.
In particular, Oppenheimer said the Konocti Bay fault zone runs right through the area where the quakes occurred.
While the quakes that most people felt occurred on Tuesday, Oppenheimer said there has been a much larger group of the temblors.
Between 9:15 p.m. Monday and 12:19 a.m. Wednesday there were 14 quakes, Oppenheimer said, ranging from quakes of under 2.0 in magnitude up to the largest, 2.8.
The 2.8 and a 2.7 quake that preceded it received a total of 65 shake reports from around Lake County, with some coming in from the Bay Area and even Red Bluff, according to US Geological Survey data.
The quakes, Oppenheimer noted, tended to be shallow.
“They're not under the volcano, which is one of the first issues that would get our attention,” Oppenheimer said.
He was referring to the 300,000-year-old Mt. Konocti, the most prominent volcanic feature of the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which includes a portion of Lake County and also is monitored by the US Geological Survey.
Oppenheimer said it's not uncommon to have more seismic activity in volcanic areas.
“We haven't seen anything that would lead us to believe that it's directly related to the volcanic system,” said Oppenheimer.
He said there have been other, similar instances of flurries of small quakes in that area.
Similar sequences were reported in 1975, 1983 and, most recently, in April of 2008, he said.
It’s likely the string of quakes will last a few days and then die off, he said. “We are aware of it and we're watching it.”
While there's no evidence of Mt. Konocti waking up, if the quakes start to take off, Oppenheimer said USGS will let the community know.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
