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“The generosity of Lake County residents and businesses the past 13 years has been heartwarming,” said Thompson, who kicked off the drive on Monday.
The effort has provided thousands of children in the community with Christmas gifts, Thompson said.
He credited the ongoing success of the Toys for Kids Drive to hundreds of individuals and businesses who contribute toys, money, and time to wrap and distribute gifts.
This year, Toys for Kids is partnering with a number of local businesses and public agencies in the annual Christmas toy drive.
Partner groups include Lake Transit Authority, Lake Family Resource Center, Lake County Office of Education-Healthy Family and Healthy Start programs, Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District, Wal-Mart of Clearlake and Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Toy donations may be dropped off at the following locations:
Clearlake: Best Western El Grande Inn, 15135 Lakeshore Drive;
Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake: Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District Office, 19400 Hartmann Road;
Lakeport: Lake County Office of Education, 1152 S. Main St.
Monetary donations can be sent to Toys for Kids, c/o Brad Onorato, P.O. Box 6742, Napa, CA 94581. Nonprofit tax identification numbers are: state of California ID No. 2456994, federal No. 30-0142588.
Toys for Kids is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization overseen by a board of directors composed of county residents.
Board members include Mel Aust and Tami Ipsen, Hidden Valley Lake; Anna Ocon, Clearlake; Peggy McCloud, Lakeport; Bob Minenna, Lower Lake; Margaret Walker-Stimmel, Kelseyville; Dorrie Walker, Lower Lake.
For more information call 707-695-4670.
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Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies arrested Jeremiah Daniel Heilig Monday afternoon, according to a report from sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.
At about 4 p.m. Monday deputies and Willits Police officer responded to the area of Highway 101 and Holland's Lane, where Smallcomb said a motorist had reported that a man dressed in camouflage was standing in a roadside ditch pointing a handgun at passing motorists.
When the deputies arrived on the scene they saw Heilig alongside the highway, allegedly holding an object which appeared to be a handgun, Smallcomb said. Heilig allegedly refused to comply with deputies commands to remain still and leave his hands in view.
After a brief struggle Heilig was taken into custody, Smallcomb said.
Highway 101 was closed for several minutes until it was confirmed that the suspect did not possess an operational firearm. Smallcomb said the gun Heilig had pointed at passing motorists was found to be made of plastic.
Heilig appeared to be confused and offered no explanation for pointing the imitation firearm at motorists, according to Smallcomb's reported. Deputies also found allegedly found Heilig in possession of an illegal "shank" type stabbing device.
Smallcomb said Heilig was arrested for possession of a dirk or dagger, which is a felony, and also was also charged with violation of probation and resisting arrest, and brandishing an imitation firearm. He was transported to the Mendocino County Jail where he was booked on the charges.
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Judge Richard Martin ruled that 26-year-old John Wesley Dunn Jr. would be tried for a charge of rape while using alcohol to prevent resisting.
However, Martin found there wasn't sufficient evidence to warrant Dunn's prosecution on two other counts – kidnap with the intent to rape and assault with the intent to commit a crime.
The kidnap charge alone carried a maximum life sentence, said Dunn's defense attorney, Stephen Carter. The remaining charge carries a maximum eight-year prison sentence.
“I'm very optimistic about the way the case is progressing and we're very eager to get the case to jury trial,” Carter said Monday.
Dunn, who has no previous criminal history, was arrested in August for allegedly raping a 25-year-old female acquaintance who he had driven home following a night of dancing and drinking.
He had been held in the Lake County Jail for three weeks on $350,000 bail before a lengthy bail hearing during which Carter put on more than 15 witnesses who attested to Dunn's character. Judge Arthur Mann ordered Dunn released on his own recognizance at the end of the hearing, as Lake County News has reported.
Dunn's preliminary hearing began late Friday morning and ran the remainder of the day, forcing the court to reschedule for this Friday the preliminary hearing for Joshua Wandry and Deborah James in the beating, shooting and hogtying of Ronald Greiner in October. The need for rescheduling resulted from Carter representing both Dunn and Wandry.
The hearing continued for nearly two more hours Monday morning, with Carter and prosecutor Ed Borg arguing the points of the case before Martin's ruling.
On Friday, Borg had called sheriff's Det. Mike Curran, who interviewed the alleged victim.
The woman, who had been told by a doctor to reduce her alcohol consumption due to an ulcer, said she had a total of five drinks that night.
She went with family and friends to Twin Pine Casino, something they commonly did on Fridays, for drinks and dancing.
While she was there the woman saw Dunn, with whom she was acquainted. She told investigators he was interested in her romantically, but she wasn't interested as she dating someone else.
She told investigators that Dunn bought her and a friend some drinks, and she asked him to dance with her, which he did several times.
According to Curran's testimony, the young woman didn't remember leaving the casino or much else about the latter part of the evening – including the fact that she had trouble walking and had fallen down – only that she woke up the next morning and discovered that she was missing her underwear and had physical discomfort.
Sheriff's Det. John Drewrey, who worked the case with Curran, presented information from the sexual assault exam performed on the victim by a St. Helena Hospital Clearlake doctor.
The doctor observed multiple bruises over the woman's body, including her right thigh, groin, foot and ankle, with superficial scratches found sporadically over her body. The bruises were found to be consistent with the time frame of the events the woman gave investigators.
Drewrey said the doctor stated that he couldn't give a definitive answer about what caused the injuries, but that they were consistent with sexual assault.
The victim, using Drewrey's cell phone, made two “pretext” calls to Dunn to ask him about the evening.
During the first call, the woman asked Dunn if they had sex, which he confirmed that they did. In a second call, he said they had sex in his car after he pulled off the road while driving her home.
Drewrey also reported speaking with a friend of the alleged victim who said she was “falling down drunk” and had slurred speed at the end of the evening.
Dunn told Drewrey during an interview that the woman had come up to him at the bar, grabbed him by the shirt and asked him to drive her home. He asked if she was sure that she wanted to go, she said yes, and they left.
Surveillance video of the two – which Borg showed at the end of the day Friday – showed them walking out of the casino with their arms around each other. Dunn had told detectives that he was trying to help her walk, and at one point picked her up while helping her to his car.
Dunn told detectives that, on the drive home in his 1998 Ford Mustang, the young woman tried to get on top of him. He pulled over behind a former restaurant location and they had sex in the vehicle there.
Afterward, he took her back to her home, where her sister was babysitting the woman's young daughter, whose birthday it had been that night. The young woman vomited when the got to her house, and then Dunn helped put her on the couch before leaving.
Borg said Dunn is set for arraignment on the single charge on Jan. 19. 2010.
“It will not go to trial very soon,” Borg told Lake County News on Monday.
He estimated that, due to the number of cases currently on the court calendar, the case won't come to trial until April or May at the earliest.
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Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown reported that district firefighters responded to an out-of-control fire in a fireplace at an Old Long Valley Road home at 2:50 p.m. Saturday.
Brown said the first unit on scene reported heavy smoke showing from a two story home with exterior flames from the roof and chimney. Dispatch was increased to a full structure dispatch.
With smoke down to the floor of the second floor and flames from two walls on the first floor, Brown said firefighters began an interior fire attack. They pulled ceilings and walls while multiple chain saws opened up the exterior of walls and roof area.
Northshore Fire resources sent to the scene included one battalion chief, three engines and the newly acquired water tender, Brown said.. Mutual aid was requested from Lake County fire with one engine and one water tender responding. A total of 16 personnel fought the blaze.
Brown said firefighters placed salvage covers in the living room and kitchen area. The exterior wood chimney had to be pulled from the roof which also was done by crews from Northshore and Lake County firefighters.
He estimated total damage to the large home was $40,000.
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The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office reported that William Haley, 50, of Ukiah died while being booked into the county jail on Sunday morning.
Haley, who had been stabbed in an incident Saturday, was arrested after he allegedly assaulted a Ukiah Police Department officer who was investigating the stabbing incident, according to the report.
Following the stabbing, Haley was taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center for treatment of the stab wound to his arm and was medically cleared before being transported to the Mendocino County Jail.
Haley, who sheriff's officials reported was intoxicated, was cared for throughout the night by jail medical staff for the stab wound.
On Sunday morning shortly before 9 a.m., Haley became unresponsive while going through the booking process.
Corrections personnel and jail medical staff assessed Haley, summoned the Ukiah Fire Department and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Fire department personnel arrived and transported Haley to Ukiah Valley Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
The incident is being investigated by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office-Detectives Unit, Mendocino County Sheriff's Coroner and the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
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The National Transportation Safety Board released the findings late Friday.
The crash, at Crazy Creek Air Adventures in Middletown, killed Hidden Valley Lake pilot Robert Sean Boylan, 44, and Harold Harvey Chouinard, 63, of Cotati, as Lake County News has reported.
The report, completed last week by aviation accident investigator Eliott Simpson, explained that Chouinard's Schleicher ASW-27 glider and the Piper PA-25-235 tow plane piloted by Boylan collided at about 11:15 a.m. Nov. 28 during the landing approach at the Crazy Creek gliderport.
The two aircraft had departed to begin their flights only about 10 minutes before the crash, with Boylan towing Chouinard, Simpson's report stated.
Witnesses at the scene observed Boylan release Chouinard's glider about six miles west of the airport at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, the report explained.
After the release, Boylan turned back toward the airport, with Chouinard flying north along an adjacent ridgeline before turning southeast toward the airport, the report said.
“According to witnesses, both aircraft entered the downwind leg of the northwest runway about the same time, with the glider on the right downwind and the airplane on the left downwind,” the report stated. “The witnesses observed both aircraft continue on the downwind, and turn onto their respective base legs about the same time. As the aircraft simultaneously turned to final they collided.”
The report added, “The witnesses reported that neither aircraft performed any abrupt or evasive maneuvers prior to the collision.”
The wind at the site was reported to be between 25 and 35 knots from the north, Simpson noted.
Simpson's investigation – which had run close to two days at the crash site – found that both the glider and plane came to rest about 1,300 feet east of the approach end of the runway.
The report said that the airplane was located 40 feet north of the runway centerline, with the glider located 400 feet to the southwest. The debris path consisted of outboard sections of the glider’s right wing, and a three-foot section of the airplane's right wing tip.
A 2-foot-long section of the glider’s right wing tip was located with the main wreckage of the airplane, adjacent to the right wing leading edge, Simpson reported.
Simpson told Lake County News last week that it could take several months for the National Transportation Safety Board to issue a final report on the crash's probable cause.
According to NTSB records, there have been 20 fatal air crashes in Lake County since 1962.
In those 20 crashes, 40 people have died. Four crashes in the Lakeport area accounted for a total of 14 deaths, the most of any area in the county.
The worst crash in terms of loss of life occurred on Sept. 29, 1990, near Lakeport, when a Lockheed PV-2 nose-dived into Clear Lake after a low pass – estimated at about 50 feet over the lake – over a gathering of seaplanes.
The plane stalled and went into the lake, killing the pilot and seven passengers.
The board's final ruling on that crash's probable cause was that the pilot failed to maintain air speed while pulling up from the low pass.
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