Dinius federal lawsuit over fatal 2006 boat crash prosecution settled

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The federal lawsuit filed by a Carmichael man prosecuted for a fatal 2006 boat crash has been settled.

The case – filed by Bismarck Dinius in August 2010 – came to its official conclusion this week.

The federal court formally closed the case docket on Monday. However, Dinius’ attorney, Laurence Masson of Berkeley, said the final actions in the suit occurred at the end of September, when the last dismissal was filed.

Lake County News was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Dinius for comment on the case settlement.

Originally, Dinius had sought $1 million, including punitive damages, alleging violation of his civil rights, conspiracy and corruption.

Masson would not discuss the total amount Dinius received in the case.

However, available court records indicate Dinius received $210,000 as the result of settlement agreements with the county of Lake’s insurance carrier; the insurance company for Russell Perdock, a former command staffer with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office whose motorboat collided with the sailboat Dinius was steering; and Sacramento County, representing Lt. Charles Slabaugh of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, who assisted with the initial crash investigation.

Regarding the length of time the case spent in the federal court, Masson said, “This was a very unusual case because it got into US constitutional law and civil rights issues that aren’t frequently explored.”

The case, ultimately, was going to take extensive time and effort to continue to pursue, Masson said. That, along with there being no guarantee of winning the case, was part of the calculations used in making the decision to settle the case.

As it was, the case had gone on for more than three years, two and a half of which were consumed with what legal theories applied, including what Masson called a very complicated and sophisticated area dealing with malicious prosecution and theories of liability.

“That was a huge battle in this case,” he said.

“It was a horrible and unfortunate event that affected several people and their families,” Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown said this week in response to the official closure of the case. “I am glad that we are finally at a point where we can put this lawsuit behind us as a county and move on to more positive things.”

Criminal case leads to suit

Dinius was steering the Beats Workin' II on the night of April 29, 2006, following a day of racing on Clear Lake when the crash occurred.

Dinius had gone out for an nighttime sail with then-Willows resident Mark Weber – who owned the sailboat – and his girlfriend, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton, and another couple when the boat was hit by a boat driven by Perdock, then a chief deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, who was accompanied by a friend and his daughter.

Thornton was mortally injured in the crash and died several days later.

The night of the crash was extremely dark and it was alleged that the sailboat did not have its lights on.

At the same time, Weber, Dinius and other witnesses alleged that Perdock was driving his boat too fast for conditions. Estimates of his speed have varied between 40 and 60 miles per hour.

The incident would give rise to one of the most disputed and debated legal cases in recent Lake County history.

A year after the crash Dinius was charged with felony boating under the influence causing great bodily injury and manslaughter, and misdemeanor counts of boating under the influence and boating with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.08. Before his trial started in July 2009, the manslaughter charge was dropped.

Neither Weber nor Perdock were charged in the case.

In August 2009, a jury acquitted Dinius on all counts.

In January 2010, he filed a tort claim against the county, which was rejected. That opened the door for the federal case, filed the following August.

Masson said the criminal case destroyed Dinius' family life, caused him to lose his job and left him deeply in debt. After the trial's conclusion, Dinius had told Lake County News that his legal bills totaled about $300,000.

Asked if Dinius had been made financially whole by this fall's case settlement, Masson replied, “All of his legal bills have been covered.”

The sailing community helped him cover expenses from the criminal case, Masson said.

He said the case for Dinius ultimately became a matter of “if he wanted to continue to live with this nightmare through the civil suit or did he want to get this whole thing behind him and get on with his life.”

Unique challenges

Overall, the case presented unique challenges, partly because, in Dinius’ case, he wasn’t convicted, which is the case with most of Masson’s clients in such suits. So the focus was on what did or didn’t happen at the preliminary hearing stage.

Masson said that federal law isn’t as advanced as California law at affording some kinds of protections, such as those requiring Brady disclosures.

He said California law establishes that prosecutors must divulge by the preliminary hearing stage any information that could clear a defendant, as required under the 1963 US Supreme Court case, Brady v. Maryland. Under federal law, however, when those disclosures should take place is still not established.

He said the issue is still up in the air in the federal courts, where a heated debate had been going on in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals during the Dinius federal case.

“It is an area that really is ripe for reconciliation,” he said.

Masson believes that Dinius’ criminal defense attorney, Victor Haltom, should have been apprised of a number of issues – among them Brady disclosures – by the time the preliminary hearing took place. Had those facts been disclosed, Masson believes the case would have never advanced to trial.

Some of those issues, Masson said, had to do with Sgt. James Beland, who later was fired and now has a pending wrongful termination suit against the county. Beland was at the scene after the crash and had given Perdock a ride to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for a blood draw.

Through the federal proceedings, Haltom was very helpful in providing details about the criminal trial, Masson said.

Allegations of conspiracy

Masson said his work on the case led him to believe there was a conspiracy to lay the blame on Dinius. “Our investigation into the facts and our analysis of those facts gave us confidence that the conspiracy theory was sound,” he said.

“The bottom line for me was there were just too many weird things that went on in this case to have it explained by anything other than a conspiratorial effort,” he said, adding that he believed local politics played “a significant role” in the case.

He said too many things happened “that were outside the way good police practices would have otherwise dictated things be done,” and he was confident they could have proved conspiracy at least on the part of some persons involved in the case.

“The wrong was so apparent,” Masson said. “Most people’s gut reaction to this thing tells the whole story.”

Some of the irregularities of concern for Masson related to interviews and contacts that he said were not recorded during the course of the original investigation.

He said two sheriff’s deputies had walked through the bars at Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa in the hours after the collision and been told by more than one security guard that Perdock had been there drinking prior to the crash.

Masson said that information about the deputies walking through the bar and speaking to a security guard wasn’t recorded in any reports. “That’s bothersome. That’s critical evidence.”

Perdock has consistently maintained both in interviews and on the stand during the trial that the only alcohol he drank on the day of the crash was half of a beer at his son’s birthday party.

He called the allegations that he was at Konocti Harbor drinking that day “crap,” and a fabrication of people who wanted to be in the news.

The issue of the sailboat’s lights was a key point of contention in the case. The prosecution alleged that the lights weren’t on as required, which they contended was a key factor that led to the crash.

Perdock said there was a witness who changed their story and nine eyewitnesses to the actual collision who said the sailboat’s lights were off.

For his part, Perdock agrees with Masson in some key aspects – including his belief that the case wasn’t handled correctly.

“The case wasn’t investigated properly from the start,” he said.

Like Masson, he said there were witnesses who were never interviewed – including people on the dock when the Beats Workin’ II left for the night sail – and no one from the sheriff’s office talked to anyone he was with before the crash.

Perdock said Weber and Dinius were drunk – both were established to have had blood alcohol levels of 0.18 and 0.12, respectively – and he believes that Weber also should have been prosecuted and Dinius convicted.

He said the entire matter has been sensationalized, and one of the results is that his family has been hounded – he said his children were beaten up at school – and he lost a nearly 25-year-long law enforcement career.

Now working several jobs, including one as an insurance agent, Perdock said many people he knows will no longer speak to him.

“I did nothing to violate Mr. Dinius’ rights,” he said.

“It cost me my career,” he said. “Has it ruined my reputation it the county? Absolutely.”

Reaching settlements

While the county of Lake initially had been named as one of the main defendants, Lake County Counsel Anita Grant said the county and all county defendants – including former District Attorney Jon Hopkins, former Sheriff Rod Mitchell and sheriff’s employees Dennis Ostini, Dean Pick, James Samples, Lloyd Wells and James Bauman – were dismissed in December 2012, with just Perdock and Slabaugh remaining.

Board of Supervisors’ meeting records showed that at the Oct. 23, 2012, meeting, the board voted unanimously out of closed session to tender the county’s defense to the California State Association of Counties’ Excess Insurance Authority.

Subsequently, the county’s liability insurance policy through CSAC-EIA paid a settlement on behalf of the county and all county defendants of $150,000, Grant said.

That settlement agreement was filed in November 2013 and the order dismissing the county of Lake and all of its defendants was entered early the next month.

Of the $150,000 CSAC-EIA paid to Dinius, the county was responsible only for the $10,000 deductible, which County Administrative Officer Matt Perry told Lake County News was paid from the county’s public liability insurance fund.

Money is collected from all departments and is deposited into that fund, Perry explained, with the amount collected from each department based on such factors as experience – or how many claims they have had in the past – and how much exposure that particular department has.

Masson said the settlement from the county of Lake allowed Dinius to keep his home from foreclosure.

“He was in pretty dire circumstances when we settled the first part of the case (with the county),” Masson said, adding that for Dinius that settlement aspect was a difficult step to take. “The dollar amount was not reflective of the injuries he suffered.”

Once the county of Lake was out of the case at the end of 2012, it came down to Perdock and Slabaugh, neither of which the county of Lake represented, Masson said.

He said their representatives didn’t settle at the same time the county of Lake did. “So by the process of elimination it came down to them.”

Masson said of Perdock, “It’s clear that his actions contributed mightily to Lynn Thornton’s death,” and thus he was a key person on which to focus.

Perdock’s insurance company, SafeCo. Insurance Co. of Illinois, did not return a call seeking comment, and Perdock told Lake County News he was only aware of a “ballpark” number that he also did not disclose.

Lisa L. Pan of the Burlingame-based Biernat Law Group, who represented Perdock in the federal action, did not offer comment on the case.

However, Pan also represented Perdock in an action he filed in Sacramento Superior Court last July contending that the federal action was barred by a prior settlement between the parties executed in the wrongful death action brought by Thornton’s estate. That case was settled in 2008.

Referring to the civil suit over Thornton’s death, Perdock said all of the parties agreed not to sue one another, which is why he filed in Sacramento County Superior Court to settle the matter.

Pan provided Lake County News with the executed settlement agreement that resolved both the federal and Sacramento lawsuits, which Dinius signed in August 2013.

In that settlement, the parties agreed that SafeCo. Insurance Co. would pay Dinius $40,000 to settle the matter.

Perdock said there was nothing to Dinius’ case, and he doesn’t believe Dinius would have prevailed if SafeCo. had been willing to fight.

Last September, the last filing in the case was the order dismissing all claims against Slabaugh as a result of the settlement the county of Sacramento reached with Dinius, according to court records.

Steven Page, Sacramento County’s risk manager, told Lake County News that his county paid $20,000 to settle the portion of the case pertaining to Slabaugh.

Case footnotes

Beland, who was terminated in December 2008, has alleged that he was fired in retaliation for statements he made regarding the Dinius case and sued the county seeking millions of dollars after the Board of Supervisors refused to reinstate him based on a hearing officer’s proposal that he get his job back.

He claimed during the 2009 trial that while at the crash scene he had wanted to use a breathalyzer on Perdock, but that he was ordered by another senior sergeant, Dennis Ostini, not to do the test because Perdock was going to have a blood test. Beland later drove Perdock to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake, where that blood test was taken.

Internal affairs documents from Beland’s case, which Lake County News obtained as part of the discovery documents for Dinius’ criminal trial, indicated Beland was terminated on numerous grounds, among them insubordination, dishonesty, willful disobedience and failure of good behavior.

Based on those documents, during one interview it was reported that he gave command staff no less than 11 statements insisting he was ordered not to give the breath test, and no less than 11 statements that he had not received such an order.

Grant told Lake County News this week that Beland’s case is still ongoing – it was the topic of a recent closed session discussion by the Board of Supervisors – and so she could not offer comment.

In another footnote to the Dinius case, last year Haltom was disciplined by the State Bar of California for 11 counts of misconduct involving his work on habeas corpus proceedings for two clients.

The original judgment called for him to be suspended for one year from practicing law, a ruling which he appealed, based on State Bar documents.

The State Bar’s review department would issue a followup decision last September allowing Haltom to continue practicing law.

However, he is on one year’s probation, which requires he comply with a number of number of requirements, including additional testing and classes through the bar’s ethics school, meetings with a bar-assigned probation deputy and submission of quarterly reports.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 17 January 2014

Marijuana referendum signatures submitted; new county marijuana cultivation ordinance placed on hold

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The opponents of a marijuana cultivation ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors last month have submitted signatures for a referendum to stop the new measure from taking effect.

The coalition of marijuana advocates making up the Emerald Unity Coalition and the Community Alliance to Ban Illegal Cannabis Cultivation submitted the signatures to the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office on Wednesday afternoon, a day before the county ordinance was to have taken effect.

Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said the raw count of signatures submitted totaled 4,222.

Of those, approximately 2,115 signatures – 10 percent of the entire votes cast in Lake County for all candidates for governor in the November 2010 election – must be certified as belonging to Lake County residents who are registered to vote in order to put the referendum before voters in the June 3 primary, according to Fridley.

Fridley and her staff now have 30 business days to certify those signatures. Her deadline is Feb. 28.

The Board of Supervisors on Dec. 17 passed the new ordinance with more stringent guidelines in response to what county officials reported were increased instances of violent crime, environmental degradation and impacts on neighborhoods arising from marijuana cultivation.

The new ordinance called for a ban on outdoor cultivation in community growth boundaries; limited plant numbers on parcels larger than one acre outside of community growth boundaries to six mature or 12 immature plants; prevented grows on vacant parcels; limited indoor grows to 100 square feet or less; kept outdoor cultivation 1,000 feet from schools, parks or other facilities serving children, and 100 feet from water bodies; offered quicker abatement; and made the Lake County Sheriff's Office responsible for enforcement.

Because cultivation is a land use and zoning issue, the board was able to put it into effect after one reading, rather than two, which is the norm for other kinds of ordinances.

The Board of Supervisors office reported that of the last seven zoning ordinances, going back over a two-year period, all of them were adopted after the first reading.

If the new cultivation ordinance had gone into effect on Thursday, it would have superseded the county's interim urgency ordinance approved in July 2012 and extended the following month.

That ordinance also banned grows on vacant parcels and didn't regulate indoor grows.

It allowed for larger plant numbers tied to parcel size: a maximum of six plants on a half acre or less, 12 plants with a 75-foot setback on parcels of half an acre to one acre, 18 plants and a 150-foot setback on parcels one to five acres in size, 36 plants and a minimum 150 foot setback on five- to 40-acre parcels, and a maximum of 48 plants on parcels 40 acres and larger.

Marijuana advocates told the board that they wanted to have the interim ordinance continued, but county officials maintained the ordinance was not succeeding in addressing the problems marijuana cultivation has created in neighborhoods and the county at large.

County Counsel Anita Grant told Lake County News that it's the county's position that, since the new ordinance didn't take effect due to the submission of the signatures – and is on hold until either there is a determination that there were not enough valid signatures or the referendum qualifies and voters decide on the county ordinance in the June primary – the interim ordinance remains in effect.

Community Development Director Rick Coel said the interim ordinance lasts until July 6.

CABICC and the Emerald Unity Coalition reported that they intend to pursue a marijuana cultivation ordinance for the November ballot that won't ban “most outdoor cultivation as the board's ordinance does.”

The proposed ordinance would strictly regulate patient gardens and collective cultivators, and create a self-funded civil enforcement office in the county's planning department to regulate small collectives on larger parcels outside of town, the groups reported.

The groups believe those measure will make it more difficult for “transient criminal growers” to set up operations in Lake County.

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, the groups wouldn't discuss particulars of their proposed initiative, and said they intended to survey “stakeholders” – which they said included not just marijuana users but those who don't use the drug.

However, afterward a Lake County News reporter was told by a group representative that a six-plant limit in residential areas was included in the draft.

CABICC's membership includes the Lake County Green Farmers and Citizens for Responsible Regulation, which led a referendum against a previous county marijuana cultivation ordinance and later put forward Measure D in 2012.

That initiative allowed grows as large as 12 plants on residential-zoned lots of a half-acre or less and invoked the Lake County Right to Farm Ordinance to protect growers from nuisance complaints.

Measure D failed in a 65 percent to 34 percent vote in the June 2012 primary, according to Lake County Registrar of Voters Office records.

John Jensen contributed to this report.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 15 January 2014

Supervisors to consider Lucerne Hotel elevator and ADA plan, annual office of education report

LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors will receive an annual education report, and discuss plans to add an elevator to the Lucerne Hotel and to make the building – set to become a college campus – fully compliant with federal disability access laws.

The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.

At 9:45 a.m., the Lake County Office of Education will present its annual report to the board.

Under untimed items, County Administrative Office staff will present a proposed Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan for the Lucerne Hotel

Marymount California University and the county of Lake have a lease agreement that covers Marymount's plans to open it as a college campus this year. Undergraduate classes are set to begin this fall.

In an item carried over from last week's meeting, the board will consider the proposed plans and specifications for the elevator that must be added to the Lucerne Hotel in order to make it fully accessible.

The full agenda follows.

TIMED ITEMS

9 a.m., A-1 to A-4: Approval of consent agenda, which includes items that are expected to be routine and noncontroversial, and will be acted upon by the board at one time without discussion; presentation of animals available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control; consideration of items not appearing on the posted agenda, and contract change orders for current construction projects.

9:05 a.m.: Citizen's input. Any person may speak for three minutes about any subject of concern, provided that it is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors and is not already on the agenda. Prior to this time, speakers must fill out a slip giving name, address and subject (available in the clerk of the board’s office, first floor, courthouse).

9:10 a.m., A-5: Presentation of proclamation launching Move More 20+14 celebrating the health benefits of regular exercise in Lake County.

9:30 a.m., A-6: Public hearing, consideration of proposed ordinance amending and revising Article VIII of Chapter 9 of the County of Lake Code of Ordinances for regulation wells and preservation of groundwater.

9:45 a.m., A-7: Presentation of Lake County Office of Education Annual Report.

NONTIMED ITEMS

A-8: Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports.

A-9: Consideration of appointments to the following: Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee, Law Library Board of Trustees and the Lower Lake Cemetery District Board of Trustees.

A-10: Consideration of proposed Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Transition Plan for the Lucerne Castle.

A-11: Carried over from Jan. 7, consideration of proposed plans and specifications for the Lucerne Castle elevator.

CLOSED SESSION

A-12: 1. Conference with labor negotiator: (a) county negotiators: A. Grant, L. Guintivano, S. Harry, M. Perry, A. Flora and C. Shaver; and (b) employee organization: Deputy District Attorney's Association, Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officers Association, Lake County Employees Association and Lake County Safety Employees Association.

A-12: 2. Conference with real property negotiator, (a) property located at: 3980 Gard St., Kelseyville (APN 024-081-01); (b) negotiating parties for county: Supervisor Rob Brown, Child Support Services Director Gail Woodworth, County Administrative Officer Matt Perry and Deputy County Administrative Officer Alan Flora; for seller, Kelseyville Unified School District representatives; (c) under negotiation, lease terms.

A-12: 3. Conference with Legal Counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Government Code Sec. 54956.9(d)(1): Estate of Hatfield v. Trujillo, et al.

A-12: 4. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation pursuant to Gov. Code Sec. 54956.9 (d)(4): Decision whether to initiate litigation (one case).

A-12: 5. Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code Sec. 54956.9(d)(1): Beland v. County of Lake, et al.

CONSENT AGENDA

C-1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings held on Jan. 7, 2014.

C-2: Adopt Proclamation launching Move More 20+14 celebrating the health benefits of regular exercise in Lake County.

C-3: Adopt resolution designating an entity to assist county jail inmates in applying to a Health Insurance Affordability Program and to act on behalf of county jail inmates applying for Medi-Cal.

C-4: Authorize Community Development Director Rick Coel to appoint Michael Lockett chief building official.

C-5: Adopt Resolution ratifying Resolution No. 2013-1 of the County Medical Services Program (CMSP) Governing Board and the provisions set forth in Section 17600.50(a) of the California Welfare and Institutions Code regarding the distribution of 1991 State Health Realignment funding that would otherwise have been allocated to the CMSP Governing Board and the counties.

C-6: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Forensic Medical Group Inc., for FY 2013-14 forensic pathology services (fee schedule per memorandum dated Dec. 31, 2013), and authorize the chair to sign.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 12 January 2014

Lake County Housing Commission receives HUD funds; Section 8 waiting list reopens

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For the first time in four years county officials are opening a waiting list for low income residents under federal Section 8 guidelines, with the county also receiving news that it’s received a new housing grant.

The Lake County Housing Commission is among more than 50 public housing authorities in California to receive awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD announced last week that it had awarded more than $7.1 million in grants on Dec. 31 to help California residents receiving housing assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program to gain access to education, job training and employment.

The Lake County Housing Commission received a grant totaling approximately $62,691, HUD reported.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors doubles as the Lake County Housing Commission Board of Directors, plus one additional public member, Deborah Figueroa, county officials reported.

The Lake County Social Services Deputy Director Jennifer Fitts said the Lake County Housing Commission primarily administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental subsidies for up to 224 tenants.

Fitts said the program is intended to serve the low-income elderly, disabled and families. There also are some tenants that move here from other counties who bring their vouchers with them.

She said the timing for the grant is good as Social Services is now opening the waiting list to take new applications for the first time in several years.

The waiting list was last opened in September 2009, Fitts said, at which point 150 applicants were added to the list.

“Vouchers are reissued as they become available; it has taken more than four years to move through that list,” she said.

Lake County’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waiting list, which reopened Jan. 8, is accepting preapplications from 100 extremely low-income households, according to Fitts.

Only Section 8 tenants are eligible and all of tenants are encouraged to enroll in the Family Self Sufficiency program. Fitts said the county averages 25 participants.

Social Services has two Section 8 Housing eligibility workers that provide these services, as well as performing eligibility determination and home inspections for Section 8, she said.

“The funds we receive are used to pay administrative costs of providing FSS (Family Self-Sufficiency) services; which constitute a small part of the Section 8 program. We've received them for several years now so the funding isn't new,” she said.

Nationwide, the Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program awarded $56.8 million, HUD reported.

The funding will help public housing authorities across the country to hire or retain more than 1,000 service coordinators who will work directly with families to connect them to the supportive services that meet their individual needs and to become gainfully employed, HUD reported.

“This is a modest investment that can make a world of difference for families looking to find their path to self-sufficiency,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a written statement. “As America’s economy continues to recover, it’s critical that we work to make sure every American has the skills and resources they need to successfully compete for jobs in the 21st Century.”

HUD reported that the service coordinators retained or hired through these programs work directly with residents to connect them with local organizations that provide education and job training and placement opportunities, as well as childcare, counseling, transportation and computer and financial literacy services available in their community.

The agency said the program also encourages innovative strategies that link Housing Choice Voucher assistance with other resources to enable participating families to find employment or increase earned income, to reduce the need for rental or welfare assistance, and work toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.

Participants sign a five-year contract that requires the head of the household to obtain employment and no longer receive welfare assistance at the end of the five-year term, according to HUD.

As the family’s income rises, a portion of that increased income is deposited in an interest-bearing escrow account, HUD said.

If the family successfully completes its contract, HUD said the family receives the escrow funds that it can use for any purpose, including paying educational expenses, starting a business or paying debts.

Household qualifications, income guidelines, and preapplication forms for Lake County residents may be picked up at 15975 Anderson Ranch Parkway in Lower Lake or at most Social Services agencies. Forms also can be mailed upon request.

For additional information call Lake County Social Services at 707-995-4649.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 12 January 2014