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Lakeport Police logs: Saturday, Jan. 10
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026
00:00 EXTRA PATROL 2601100001
Occurred at Lake County Law Library on 3D....
Lakeport City Council to get update on Westshore Pool
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will get an update on the Westshore Pool and hold a public hearing on a grant application.
The council will meet for a closed session beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St., to discuss labor negotiations before convening in open session at 6 p.m.
City Manager Margaret Silveira will present to the council an update on the Westshore Pool, which is located on Lakeport Unified School District property.
Silveira's report to the council explains that the city and the school district have a 20-year operating agreement for the pool.
The pool has remained closed past its anticipated February opening due to safety concerns raised by the Division of the State Architect in a December 2003 letter which was discovered by district officials over the Christmas holiday. The state has said the concerns were not addressed in the 10-year interim.
During a special March 27 meeting, the Lakeport Unified School District Board approved a contract with SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists of Willits to do soil stability testing around the pool, as Lake County News has reported. The story on the meeting can be found here: http://bit.ly/1jCsBYN .
“The School Board, City, and County have been working together to address the DSA concerns,” Silveira wrote in her report.
Also on the Tuesday agenda, the council will present a proclamation designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month and California Safe Digging Month, and April 1 as National Service Recognition Recognition Day.
The council will present the Mayor's Plaque recognizing city of Lakeport mayors from 1988 to present.
A public hearing is planned to discuss approval of a resolution of application and direct staff to proceed with the submission of the 2014 Community Development Block Grant Planning and Business Assistance Grant application.
City Engineer Scott Harter will take to the council a proposed resolution ordering the summary vacation of a public service easement located on parcel G within the Del Lago Subdivision, and a request to authorize Silveira to enter into a contract for the purchase of a truck for the Engineering Department.
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan will seek the council's approval to authorize Silveira to sign a sales contracts for the purchase of one equipment trailer.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances, minutes of the regular March 18 meeting and the March 20 warrant register.
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Lakeport man shot and killed after wounding Salt Lake City Police officers
A Lakeport, Calif., man was shot and killed early Friday after shooting and wounding two Salt Lake City Police officers in the city's downtown following a traffic stop.
Christopher Leo Knight, 34, was killed in the confrontation, the Salt Lake City Police Department reported.
Salt Lake City Police Det. Cody Lougy told Lake County News that an officer observed a suspicious vehicle in the area of 300 S. West Temple at approximately 2:16 a.m. Friday.
The agency, said Lougy, has one-man police units, so a second officer was called for backup, and arrived to assist with questioning the two occupants, including Knight, who was the vehicle's passenger.
Lougy said the officers wanted to question Knight further. “They felt he was giving some misleading statements.”
They had Knight get out of the vehicle, at which point he opened fire, Lougy said, adding he did not yet have information on the weapon Knight used.
The two patrol officers – Mo Tafisi, 40, and Dan Tueller, 33 – returned fire and killed Knight at the scene, Lougy said.
Tafisi, a nine-year veterans with Salt Lake City Police, was shot in the arm and released from the hospital Friday afternoon, according to Lougy.
Tueller, who had been with the department just 18 months, was hit in the thigh. Lougy said Tueller remained in the hospital and was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
Lougy said he did not know if Knight had previous contacts with the 410-officer department.
“It is still a very active investigation,” with authorities developing more information, he said.
He said multiple agencies are involved in investigating the shooting, including the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, the Utah State Office of the Medical Examiner, the Salt Lake City Police Homicide Unit and a civilian review board.
Knight, who was born in Napa, is the stepbrother of Jonathan Mota, the Kelseyville man who remains in federal custody and is facing trial later this year for the January 2013 murder of Forrest Seagrave.
Knight was sentenced to state prison in November 1998 for a possession of a controlled substance case in Butte County and an assault with a deadly weapon case in San Joaquin County, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records.
State records showed he was paroled in November 2006 but had parole violations, including an April 2007 arrest by the Clearlake Police Department for resisting or obstructing a peace officer and fighting in a public place.
State records indicated he returned to prison twice – in May 2007 and October 2008 – due to his parole violations.
He was remanded to the county for post-release community supervision in October 2012, according to state correctional records.
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American Red Cross to honor local deputies, paramedic at Real Heroes Breakfast
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Two Lake County Sheriff's deputies and a Northshore Fire paramedic/EMT will be honored next month for saving a Lucerne woman from her sunken pickup last year.
Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Christopher Chwialkowski and Deputy Nicholas La Velle, and paramedic/EMT Laura Carr will be among this year's group that the American Red Cross, Sonoma, Mendocino & Lake Counties will honor for courageous acts at its 11th annual Real Heroes breakfast.
The event will take place beginning at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, April 17, at the Doubletree Hotel in Rohnert Park.
The Red Cross said the breakfast is a highlight event in the local chapter's calendar, as it significantly benefits the continuation of essential disaster aid services and classes the Red Cross provides to support the communities of all three counties.
Heroes are acknowledged in 10 categories which highlight the heroic deeds of community members in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties.
The categories include medical, humanitarian adult, humanitarian youth, law enforcement, environment, rescue professional, education, heroic deed, military and animal.
Chwialkowski, La Velle and Carr will be honored in the law enforcement category.
The three came together in their life-saving effort on the afternoon of March 21, 2013.
Ann Adams, 71, of Lucerne was driving her pickup along Highway 20 west of Lucerne when she went off the roadway and into Clear Lake, as Lake County News has reported.
The pickup quickly sank as passersby stopped and tried to help Adams, who was trapped inside.
Chwialkowski arrived, borrowed a sledgehammer from Frank Haas of the Callayomi County Water District – who had stopped to call 911 – pulled off his uniform and swam out to Adams' pickup, using the hammer to bust out a window.
La Velle and Carr also arrived and went into the water to help with the rescue, bringing Adams safely to shore and moving her into a Northshore Fire ambulance. She had injuries to her right arm and left leg.
The Board of Supervisors presented certificates of commendation to Carr, Chwialkowski and La Velle – along with Haas and Lucerne resident Doug Arnold, who had assisted with the rescue – on April 9, 2013.
Following is a snapshot of all of the heroes to be honored at the breakfast.
Medical: Sara O'Donnell, who co-founded the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County, the first nonfacility based cancer resource center from Marin County to the California-Oregon border.
Humanitarian Youth: Riley Orton, who organized numerous drives and fundraisers for children in the region and abroad.
Humanitarian Adult: George Kennedy is second biggest contributor of time at the Ukiah Senior Center, spending more than 35 hours per week running the lunch program among other duties.
Law Enforcement: Lt. Christopher Chwialkowski, Deputy Nicholas La Velle and paramedic/EMT Laura Carr. These three first responders rescued a 71-year-old woman whose truck was completely submerged in Clear Lake following a crash.
Environment: Nick Papadopolous and Gary Cedar co-founded www.CropMobster.com , an online platform that connects food producers to hungry consumers through crowd-sourcing on the Internet.
Rescue Professional: Paul Bradley, Donald Ricci and Deputy Chris Mahoney. The three men airlifted several rescue volunteers, trapped on the side of a large cliff, to safety following their nighttime rescue of an injured hiker.
Education: John Bribiescas co-founded Schools Plus, a nonprofit program developed to save and supplement enrichment programs throughout Santa Rosa schools.
Animal Hero: Chris Kittredge has volunteered with Canine Companions for Independence for more than 20 years, raising dozens of puppies to become service dogs for people with disabilities.
Military: Tim Blair founded Transformational Sailing in 2002, a program that helps military veterans and others suffering from PTSD.
Heroic Deed: Jason O'Donnell, Heath Blackwell, Ken Butler, Jack Johnson, Robert Winn recovered the body of diver Craig Willes two days after rescue crews had given up their search.
Visit the Red Cross online at http://www.redcross.org/ca/santa-rosa .
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Council member health benefits on Clearlake City Council agenda
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the Clearlake City Council will discuss council member benefits and whether to continue them at current levels or seek other options.
The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, for a closed session regarding public employee discipline, dismissal and release before the open session begins at 6 p.m.
During the meeting, the council will present three proclamations, one declaring April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, recognizing April's National Volunteer Week and April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day.
Under business items, the council will hold the discussion on council member health benefits.
City Manager Joan Phillipe's report to the council explains that the issue is on the agenda based on council consensus.
“It was going to be part of the budget discussions but on further consideration it was felt that having the discussion prior to the budget workshop(s) made more sense,” Phillipe wrote.
She said there also is interest in seeing if there is the possibility of providing lower cost coverage, a project that's still in progress.
The cost of providing the coverage is $827 monthly, $9,924 annually for a single person; for single plus one person it's $1,617 monthly, $19,404 annually; and for a family, the cost monthly is $2,170 and $26,040 annually, Phillipe reported.
Currently, three council members are at the single plus one level, and two are at the family level, with total costs to the city totaling $110,292 annually, according to Phillipe's report. The annual cost to provide single coverage for the council members would be $49,620.
Phillipe noted that it's a matter of city policy to provide the benefits, although she understands that at one point during the past decade the benefits were temporarily suspended due to budget issues.
She said options available include continuing the benefits with no changes, providing coverage to council members only, providing coverage at any level for the council members but having them cover costs for remaining family members, or providing no health insurance coverage at all.
“These costs are based on currently premium rates which are anticipated to increase in the next budget year,” she wrote. “If the city is able to negotiate a reduced cost health insurance package with employees, there would be additional savings to the city. This is a meet and confer item not open for discussion at this time.”
In other council business, the Clearlake Waste Solutions Annual Report will be presented and the council will discuss a letter in support of SB 1262, which concerns regulation of medical cannabis.
Planned discussions regarding a request from Lake County Youth Services to use city-owned property on Golf Avenue located next to the youth center and a proposed amendment to the youth center lease to provide for no-cost use of the Clearlake Senior Community Center for fundraisers will be continued to the April 10 meeting.
Items on the consent agenda – considered to be noncontroversial and accepted as a slate with one vote – include warrant registers; authorization to purchase 25 X-2 Taser units with holsters; request for authorization to execute contracts with Coastland Civil Engineers for design engineering and Green Valley Engineers for construction management in amounts not to exceed $38,490 and $15,000, respectively, for the city's Highway Safety Improvement Program Safety Project; consideration of approval of a proposal from Terry Krieg, CPA, for audit services; consideration of rejection of claim from Daniel York for unspecified damages; consideration of rejection of a claim for damages from Smiley Harris; and consideration of the CDBG program application for the 2014 program year.
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