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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SBX3 13 by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) to restore $16.3 million of state funding to support California domestic violence shelters.
Gloria Flaherty, executive director of Lake Family Resource Center, which is in the process of opening its new Freedom House shelter in downtown Kelseyville, greeted the news with relief. She said it will mean victims can once again get comprehensive services and the center's remaining staff will get some help.
The bipartisan legislation provides a one-time loan from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to fund domestic violence shelters statewide for the 2009-10 fiscal year, according to the Governor's Office.
Officials said the loan will be repaid with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account by June 30, 2013.
“I want to congratulate the many groups that put victims first and came together to find this creative solution that will keep domestic violence shelters throughout the state open,” Schwarzenegger said.
He called the bill “good news for every Californian whose life is devastated by violence in the home,” and noted that it will help ensure domestic violence victims have a safe place to go.
Schwarzenegger had cut domestic violence shelter funding in July by using his line-item veto. Opponents called the move illegal, while Schwarzenegger countered it was needed to balance the budget.
Flaherty noted that, since the funding was cut in July, six shelters in the state have closed and dozens more, including Lake County's, have cut staff and services. Lake Family Resource Center laid off four staff members.
The bill had passed the Legislature with bipartisan support during the special session.
First District Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) said it was a relief that the bill had moved forward, noting that shelters in rural communities have been on the verge of closing their doors.
“The services the shelters provide – counseling, legal, advocacy, medical and housing assistance – are vital to helping victims restore harmony to their lives,” he said.
Flaherty said Lake Family Resource Center expects to get back about 70 percent of its previous budget, which would amount to about $150,000.
She said the solution is a temporary fix, and because of that they won't be able to restore full-time jobs with benefits to those individuals laid off. Instead, they will be forced to offer part-time, temporary positions until they know the funding is stable and continuing.
“We hope Lake County residents will support and participate in our efforts to advocate that the state make domestic violence prevention and intervention a priority by permanently reinstating a state-based grant program again,” said Flaherty.
Domestic violence is a public safety and public health issue, Flaherty said, and the loss of domestic violence shelters would result in critical problems.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY – A man with an extensive criminal history has been arrested for an alleged home invasion and shooting of a Lakeport man that occurred early Tuesday morning.
Thomas Loyd Dudney, 59, of Fulton was arrested at midnight and booked into the Lake County Jail on an attempted murder charge. His bail is set at $100,000.
Dudney is charged for the Tuesday morning attack on 49-year-old Ronald Greiner, who was found hogtied, shot and beaten outside of his S. Main Street home, as Lake County News has reported.
Greiner told authorities that some time during the previous night at least two people broke into his home to assault him and steal his marijuana, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman said Greiner was so badly hurt that he was barely able to talk, but he nonetheless managed to provide a possible identity to at least one of his assailants before being transported from the scene.
Lakeport Fire Protection District subsequently transported Greiner from his home to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, and from there he was flown out of county by REACH air ambulance. On Wednesday Bauman said Greiner was listed as being in critical but stable condition.
With what little information they were able to get from Greiner, the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit began coordinating a multi-agency effort to identify and locate his assailants, Bauman said.
While Lake County District Attorney’s Investigators responded to the Lakeport scene to assist with several search warrants, Bauman said sheriff’s detectives began coordinating with Santa Rosa Police and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department to confirm that Dudney was the suspect Greiner described.
Bauman said Sonoma County law enforcement knew Dudney well, although before the current case he'd had no contact with local law enforcement.
Lake County detectives responded to the Santa Rosa area and joined Santa Rosa Police and Sonoma County Sheriff’s detectives in conducting surveillance on both Dudney’s home in Fulton, and the home of 46-year-old Deborah James of Windsor, Bauman said.
Bauman said the crime scene at Greiner's Lakeport home was processed and the two Sonoma County homes were watched throughout the day Tuesday as authorities waited for Dudney to surface.
Around mid-afternoon, authorities observed Dudney leave his home and subsequent to a high-risk traffic stop of his vehicle, he was taken into custody without incident, Bauman said.
Throughout the day and into the night Tuesday search warrants were executed at Greiner's residence, as well as Dudney’s and James’ homes, Bauman said.
Bauman said a determination about James’ exact involvement, if any, in the incident is pending further investigation. James is an acquaintance of Dudney's and a person of interest in the case, but she was not arrested.
Detectives had cleared all three residences by Tuesday night and Dudney was transported to the Lake County Jail and booked for attempted murder, Bauman said.
He added that the investigation into the incident is continuing, with investigators exploring the possible motive for the alleged home invasion and attempted murder, as well as the possibility that there are other suspects.
Dudney, whose occupation on his booking sheet is listed as “disabled,” has previous convictions going back 35 years, beginning with a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation provided Lake County News with a list of records show that Dudney has been sentenced to state prison seven times since 1974 from Tulare, Fresno and Sacramento counties.
Previous convictions include receiving stolen property, drug sales and possession, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, disregard for public safety and possession or manufacturing a weapon.
Corrections records show that Dudney was released on parole in July of 2008 and his parole ended this past April, after which he appears to have moved to Sonoma County.
Dudney is tentatively scheduled for arraignment on Friday.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY – After four and a half decades, the Miss Lake County Pageant is facing more than its fair share of challenges as it seeks to rebuild in the wake of turmoil in its leadership and concerns over its finances.
Contestants have struggled to get their scholarship money following the departure of Trish Combs, who was the pageant's executive director for three years.
After Combs moved to Washington state last year, the Miss California Organization granted a franchise agreement to Tino and Kathy Gamber, who Combs had recruited to lead the organization.
But concerns about the pageant's finances, and Combs' unwillingness to turn over any accounting, caused the Gambers to step away, as Lake County News has reported.
The state pageant then asked Sandra Orchid and Carla Butler to take over the local pageant's leadership, which they did last December.
But with no financial records or legacy funds from past years, Orchid and Butler have been faced with trying to put together a pageant with, essentially, no funds, which has caused them to have to reschedule the pageant to January.
Insight into how the pageant runs
Cheryl Herrick, who ran the Miss Lake County Pageant for 20 years before recruiting Combs to succeed her in 2005, explained that the pageant signs a franchise agreement with the state pageant, which is renewed annually.
She said when she ran the pageant – backed by a nine-member committee – there was no queen's closet, that they had a few dresses and a handful of swimsuits to help contestants.
The last year she ran the pageant, 2005, they gave out $18,000 in scholarships, an “unusually large” amount compared to the $5,000 to $6,000 given out in average years, based on the number of girls in the event, which usually averaged around eight or nine. One year they had 17 contestants.
Herrick said scholarship money was raised through various sources, including annual fireworks sales, which she said usually netted about $8,000 at most.
With a City Council vote in June, those fireworks sales now are gone, although a ballot initiative is set to go to city voters this November. That initiative will allow the city's voters to restore the sales, as Lake County News has reported.
Herrick said the local pageant organization was never audited by the Miss California Organization. However, she was required to make a yearly report on scholarships.
The local pageant also has to follow certain guidelines for handling the program and scholarships in order to be considered a preliminary pageant for Miss America, she said.
Herrick said she ran the program year-round, with a short break during the holidays. After she retired in 2005, Herrick said she no longer stayed involved in the local pageant, although she's judged a few other pageants since then.
Red flags arise
Karen Wilson, the director of the Miss Lake County Outstanding Teen competition and the local pageant's committee secretary, said she and Combs were “glued at the hip” when Combs was the pageant's executive director.
“It was the best year and a half of my life, I can tell you,” Wilson said, recalling Combs as being a dynamic and positive person.
Wilson said Combs put a lot of money into the pageant. “Everything she did was first class.”
But, at some point, Wilson added, “Something appears to have gone terribly wrong, whether it's personal or financial.”
It began with small things. For instance, Wilson was puzzled when Combs told her not to contact pageant contestants with instructions on how to claim their scholarships.
She said executive directors sometimes will send out letters telling contestants what they've won. In 2008, Wilson wanted to do just that, but Combs told her not to, saying it would teach the girls responsibility to figure it out for themselves.
“Little did I know that the girls sometimes just don't ask for it,” Wilson said of their scholarship money.
The issue of who had the organization's check book arose shortly before Combs left the area.
For Wilson, who had worked in a bank for 16 years, not being able to find financials was a “danger sign.”
“It got to the point I was afraid to ask,” she said, adding that she knew something was wrong.
Shortly before Combs left, she put out more of her own money, writing Wilson a personal check to cover a hotel room in Fresno for a pageant-related trip.
Wilson said she hasn't attempted to speak with Combs about the situation since she left.
She said the Gambers did everything possible to get the money and the financials straightened out, but they couldn't succeed.
The entire situation has come down to jumping through hoops “to the point of ridiculousness,” said Wilson.
While Wilson still characterizes the situation as “a mess,” she said the current committee is working well together, and both Orchid and Butler have paid a lot of money out of their own pockets in order to push forward.
Wilson said she's also briefly talked to a sheriff's deputy about the case.
Combs said she was working with Arnhym to get things sorted out. “I just need to get this cleared up. I'm worried about the girls. I'm worried about the program.”
However, pageant officials disputed that claim. They also disagree with Combs' assertion that her daughter Saundra, a former Miss Lake County, started the queen's closet in 2006 to help other contestants. Combs told Lake County News that the dresses and clothes belonged to her daughter.
Combs said she has been to Lake County several times and went to the sheriff's office to discuss the investigation, which she said has “cost me a lot of money.”
“So much energy is being put into making me look bad,” she said.
Regarding the organization's funds, Combs said she has an out-of-area accountant, who she did not name, who handles the money. Information about the pageant's current financial situation were not provided by Combs, and an attempt to contact the accountant, whose name was provided by another source, was unsuccessful.
Combs had indicated over the summer that she intended to organize an August pageant that didn't materialize.
She said the former Miss Lake County Web site, www.misslakecounty.org, still belongs to her, and she can be contacted through it by contestants who want to collect their scholarship money. She also can be e-mailed at
Combs also said the name “Miss Lake County Scholarship Organization” belongs to her.
“I will do whatever it takes to continue the program,” she said.
Building a new organization
Bob Arnhym, president and chief executive officer of the Miss California Organization, said he's been trying to counsel the various sides, and keep an overview of what's happening.
“We have absolutely no relationship to them financially,” he emphasized.
Arnhym said it's up to the pageant's participants to apply for their scholarships. “They must pursue it,” he said.
He said he's spoken to investigators and to Combs' attorney, and has urged to her to put together financial documentation, including an income and expense statement. “On a number of occasions she has promised to do this.”
Because he hasn't been contacted by creditors or contestants, Arnhym said, “I can't say that she has outstanding bills that she hadn't paid.”
He said that the Gambers have asked for an accounting of the money, and Combs said she would acknowledge that.
Ultimately, Arnhym said he needed to leave the issues up to the local committee.
“It's frustrating for me,” he said. “I'm sure it's frustrating for others in the community.”
Arnhym said he doesn't want “to let anything like this slide.” He said that, while he doesn't have a legal obligation to the local pageant, he feels that he has a moral obligation.
With no money and no financial records from the past leadership, no August pageant was held. The local committee initially planned to reschedule for November, but late last month, the local committee made the decision to push the pageant back further, to January 2010.
Orchid said she hasn't had any time to even think about organizing a pageant so far, because she's been so busy trying to track down the amounts that are owed to the past contestants. And there's other money, besides that set aside for scholarships, that hasn't been accounted for yet, said said, because no records are available.
On a brighter note, Orchid and Butler have received the all clear to move forward for another year from Arnhym, who last month issued them a new franchise agreement.
Combs did not respond to further questions from Lake County News this week regarding outstanding payments to contestants, the pageant's leadership or finances.
It's now a rebuilding process. Getting the local pageant off the ground will require about $5,000, Orchid explained.
“This pageant is really important because it is a small county,” she said.
For those interested in donating time or money to assist the new organization, visit its new Web site, www.misslakeco.org or contact Sandra Orchid at
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
Up to 20 percent of students in some Lake County Schools were absent from the classroom last week, according to a joint report Tuesday from the Lake County Public Health Department and the Lake County Office of Education.
Although reasons for absence are not tracked in detail, much of the drop in attendance is attributed to a rise in influenza cases, according to Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait.
Only hospitalized cases are currently reportable to local public health authorities, but a rise in influenza-like-illness has been evident through informal tracking of outpatient cases and calls from the public, Tait reported.
Testing at the state’s Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory indicates that the Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Influenza A virus continues to be the predominant strain of influenza A that is currently circulating, officials reported.
“It is safe to assume that the increase in flu-like illness is attributable to this new virus,” Tait said.
Tait said that, up until now, Lake County has had only four hospitalized cases resulting from Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Influenza A. Most cases can be treated at home and resolve like other forms of influenza.
However, along with increased numbers of outpatient influenza patients, there has been an increase in hospitalized cases suspected to be infected with the 2009 H1N1 strain and awaiting laboratory confirmation, said she.
Lake County Public Health and Lake County Office of Education have been working closely together on influenza issues since the first appearance of the new H1N1 pandemic strain virus in Spring 2009.
“School districts continue to provide teachers, school staff, and students with information and support in regards to ways to protect against the flu,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck.
Geck said schools throughout the county have emphasized good hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and cleaning of frequently touched environmental surfaces.
Lake County Office of Education Healthy Start and AmeriCorps programs most recently collaborated with county schools in disseminating H1N1 information at back to school nights and facilitating classroom based “Germ” lessons for students.
“The first concern was educating our students on healthy habits, such as hand hygiene,” said AmeriCorps Director Rob Young. “Promoting healthy habits limits the spread of germs, which reduces the chances of becoming ill with the flu.”
Young believes “the second concern is distancing the healthy students from the sick students.”
Of concern is whether parents are keeping ill children home while they are infectious with influenza.
Although guidelines from the Centers from Disease Control say that children can return to school 24 hours after resolution of fever (without the use of fever-reducing drugs), Lake County Public Health recommends adhering to earlier recommendations that call for seven days at home in addition to being fever-free for a full twenty-four hours. This more conservative approach considers that children may shed virus for longer periods of time than adults.
“The hope is to keep schools open, if possible, recognizing that wholesale dismissal of kids from school creates hardships for families and may result in greater transmission of infection in other settings, such as informal daycare arrangements,” said Tait.
However, the current approach requires the cooperation of all families and staff to keep ill persons away from the classroom.
“It is probably not possible to keep infectious people away 100 percent of the time because they may become contagious a day before their symptoms develop,” said Tait. “Effective control of disease transmission requires a combination of excluding infectious persons and good infection control measures in the classroom.”
Lake County Public Health will continue to work closely with Lake County Office of Education and individual schools as necessary to monitor absenteeism related to influenza illness.
“Although we still hope to avoid school closures, that option will be considered if we believe that ongoing transmission of infection is occurring in the classroom, as opposed to other settings where students congregate,” said Tait.
The new Pandemic 2009 H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive in significant quantities in November, said Tait.
Currently, small supplies are available through several local clinics and doctors’ offices that treat young children. As larger quantities of vaccine arrive, more widespread vaccination efforts will help to curtail the spread of influenza, she said.
Since the regular seasonal influenza may eventually surface at any point during the flu season, both adults and children are also encouraged to be vaccinated with both seasonal influenza vaccine and, when it becomes available, H1N1 Pandemic influenza vaccine, officials reported.
Information about vaccination opportunities for Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Influenza A vaccine will be provided as soon as it is available.
Information on the virus can be found at www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/discond/Pages/SwineInfluenza.aspx .
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The hearing will take place at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Cristallago, which has a Tuscan theme, is to be located on 860 acres along Hill Road in the north Lakeport area.
The plan, which is being proposed by developers Matt Boeger's and Mark Mitchell's Cristallago Development Corp., includes 650 single family homes, 325 resort units, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, a trail system, clubhouse, spa, conference center and nature preserve.
The commission held off on certifying the project's environmental impact report (EIR) at its Sept. 10 meeting, as Lake County News has reported.
However, the five-member commission is expected to make a decision on the document Thursday, at which time they'll also consider amending the general plan to allow for the project as well as rezoning some of the land and approving a general plan of development.
Community members will be able to offer comments during the meeting.
Cristallago's final EIR and comment letters can be found online at the County's Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us .
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The body of 51-year-old Dennis Wade Regusci was found by a friend floating in the ocean near the 40000 block of S. Caspar Drive on Monday, according to a report from Lt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Noe said Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were called to the scene at about 8 a.m. Monday, where they met a friend of Regusci's who had found him at the bottom of a bluff and in the water, unresponsive.
Deputies called Mendocino Fire and Rescue to recover Regusci's body, Noe reported.
The investigation revealed that Regusci had left his home at 4:30 p.m. Sunday to go fishing, according to Noe.
Regusci didn't return home, and the next morning family called the Fort Bragg Police to report him missing, Noe said.
The family friend was contacted and knew where the victim liked to fish, Noe said. The man subsequently went to that location and found Regusci.
Noe said the investigation revealed that Regusci had slipped and fallen into the water. The exact cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy.
