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The first publicly visible activity of the 2010 Census is ahead of schedule, officials reported this week.
The address canvassing operation will be conducted out of 151 local census offices across the U.S., including Northern California offices in Oakland, Stockton, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Rosa.
Address canvassing operations will run from April 6 through June 12 in Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco and Stockton.
Later, address canvassing operations will run April 20 through June 26 in Santa Rosa.
In most cases, census workers will knock on residents’ doors to verify addresses and inquire about additional living quarters on the premises.
Nationwide, more than 140,000 census workers will participate in the address canvassing operation; a critically important first step in assuring that every housing unit receives a census questionnaire in March 2010.
In Northern California, approximately 5,400 people will carry out the address canvassing operation.
The countdown to the 2010 Census is officially one year out on April 1.
“The 2010 Census will be the largest peacetime mobilization in our nation’s history,” said Ralph Lee, Seattle Regional Director at the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Seattle Regional Census Center is headquartered in Bothell, Wash., and coordinates census operations for the five-state territory of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.
The Northern California area includes Watsonville along the coast as well as Stockton in the Central Valley.
The US Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States be counted every 10 years.
“The goal of the census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place,” Lee said.
The census is used for reapportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the distribution of more than $300 billion in federal dollars every year to state and local governments.
Over the last several years, the Census Bureau has been actively working on updating its geographic databases and master address files.
From implementing the Local Update of Census Address (LUCA) program where more than 11,500 tribal, state and local governments participated in a review of the Census Bureau’s address list for their area, to increasing the precision of the GPS mapping, many advances have been made to compile the most comprehensive listing of addresses in the nation.
The operation will use new hand held computers equipped with GPS to increase geographic accuracy. The ability to capture GPS coordinates for most of the nation’s housing units will greatly reduce the number of geographic coding errors caused by using paper maps in previous counts.
This is the first census to include group quarters (such as dormitories, group homes, prisons and homeless shelters) in the address canvassing operation, which should improve both the accuracy and coverage of the final count.
There will be one final opportunity to add new home construction in early 2010 prior to the mailing of the census questionnaires.
Census workers can be identified by the official Census Bureau badge they carry. During the address canvassing operation, census workers may ask to verify a housing structure’s address and whether there are additional living quarters on the property.
Census workers will never ask for bank or social security information. All census information collected, including addresses, is confidential and protected by law. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with the FBI, the IRS, CIA, Welfare, Immigration, or any other government agency. No court of law or law enforcement agency can find out respondents’ answers.
All Census Bureau employees — including temporary employees — take an oath for life to keep census information confidential. Any violation of that oath is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.
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COBB – A local man is in custody in Utah, where he's facing federal prosecution for allegedly attempted to lure a 13-year-old Utah girl to travel to his home and have sex with him.
Robert Laverne Davison, 40, of Cobb was in federal court in Salt Lake City on Monday for his first appearance in the case before Judge Magistrate David Nuffer. At that time Davison pleaded not guilty.
A 12-week investigation conducted by the Centerville, Utah Police Department, the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations led to an indictment, issued Feb. 4, against Davison alleging the one count of coercion and enticement that took place between June 1 and Nov. 13, 2008.
If convicted, Davison faces a potential maximum penalty of life in federal prison with a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, according to the US Attorney's Office in Utah.
The investigation began last November when the Centerville Police Department was contacted regarding a missing 13-year-old girl, the agency reported.
Law enforcement found the girl at a Salt Lake City bus station the same evening as she was reported missing. Officials reported the girl was waiting to board a Greyhound bus to California. The case alleges that Davison persuaded a third party to use a credit card to purchase the bus ticket in this state.
Officials found that the girl had been in contact with a man she knew only as “Bear” – alleged to be Davison – while playing an Internet game, “World of Warcraft.” The teen and Davison allegedly began chatting through instant messaging, and officials believed he convinced the girl to meet him in California.
The Centerville Police Department contacted the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to assist in the investigation, which the FBI also joined.
Task force agents performed forensic scans on computers at the girl’s home and her cell phone. The information on the computers led investigators to believe that Davison was engaging in sexually explicit conversations and intended to have the girl travel to California for sexually related purposes.
The investigation led to the Feb. 4 indictment and a subsequent arrest warrant issued for Davison.
On Feb. 12, the FBI went to Cobb, where they arrested Davison.
Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said sheriff's deputies assisted the FBI in the arrest and search warrant service.
During the search of Davison's house officials found two firearms, Bauman said.
Bauman said that Davison is a convicted felon and is not allowed to have firearms. He did not have information on Davison's previous conviction.
The FBI chose not to file charges against Davison for the firearms, but the sheriff's office plans to pursue it. “We have submitted a complaint to our local district attorney,” Bauman said.
Local officials have had two previous contacts with Davison, said Bauman, but neither involved him being charged with a crime. In a June of 2007 contact Davison reported being the victim of domestic violence.
Davison remained in custody in California for more than a month before being transported by the US Marshal's Office to his Utah court appearances, according to a March 17 letter to Kevin Barry, assistant US attorney for the Northern District of California, from Barry J. Portman, a federal public defender for the district.
In that letter, Portman also called attention to a large and inoperable hernia that Davison has “that could burst at any time, resulting in a life threatening situation.”
During the court appearance Monday, Judge Nuffer ruled that Davison will stay in the custody of the US Marshal's Service pending his trial due to concerns of flight risk, previous history and the discovery of the firearms. Nuffer also ordered that Davison been seen by Davis County, Utah medical staff.
U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett L. Tolman called the Davison case “another graphic reminder of the threats we continue to face in protecting our children from Internet predators.”
Davison is scheduled to go on trial June 1 before Judge Dale A. Kimball.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The action comes at a time when the state’s official unemployment rate currently stands at 10.5 percent.
Here in Lake County, an initial Employment Development Department report for February shows that the county's unemployment rate is 15.9 percent, as Lake County News as reported.
AB 23 X3, authored by Assemblyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose), will provide an additional 20 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to California workers who have already received benefits for the current maximum duration of 59 weeks.
The funding will come from federal stimulus dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
“This legislation enables California to gain up to $3 billion from the federal government in 2009 without creating an additional cost burden for our state,” said Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), who voted to pass AB 23 X3.
The bill, which was previously approved by the Assembly, cleared the Senate by a vote of 38-0, and now heads to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature.
The second bill, AB 29 X3 – co-authored Assemblyman Coto and Assemblyman Martin Garrick (R-Carlsbad), establishes an “alternative base period” to determine if jobless individuals have earned sufficient wages to qualify for unemployment benefits.
The ARRA will provide California $839 million in federal funds to support the unemployment program if this bill is implemented.
California's existing base period excludes earnings in the last three to six months of employment. AB 29 X3 specifies that unemployed persons who fail to qualify for benefits under the existing base period would then have their eligibility determined under the alternative base period, in which earnings as recent as one to three months may be counted.
“AB 29 X3 is essential for the tens of thousands of seasonal workers who are currently unemployed in California,” Wiggins said.
AB 29 X3, which passed the Senate on a 31-7 vote, also includes efficiencies in the dispute resolution process between employers and workers by allowing for telephone participation during hearings of the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.
The bill, which now heads to the Assembly for a final vote, also provides assurance that employers are notified when a former employee files for benefits.
“The most important thing we can do right now to help our economy and the day-to-day lives of Californians is to make sure those who are unemployed have the cash to pay their bills and feed their families,” said Senate President pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). “The Legislature and the Schwarzenegger administration moved quickly and worked as a team to make the needed changes to guarantee these much needed federal funds. I look forward to continuing to build on this positive momentum.”
Last Saturday, the Employment Development Department began opening its unemployment insurance call centers on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in order to meet the higher demand.
The agency's staff also will remain available to file unemployment insurance claims or assist customers in submitting questions online for response. Claims will be filed and issues resolved within five days.
Call center phone numbers are 800-300-5616 (English) or 800-326-8937 (Spanish).
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday announced the appointment of a former Lake County prosecutor to a judgeship in Merced County Superior Court.
David Moranda, 56, of Merced, has served as chief deputy district attorney and previously deputy district attorney for the Merced County District Attorney’s Office since 1993.
Prior to that, he served as a deputy district attorney for the Lake County District Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 1993, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 1986 and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in 1981.
Moranda earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
He fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position on Dec. 26, 2008.
Moranda is a Democrat.
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CLEARLAKE – A man currently on leave from his duties as a Clearlake Police officer was arrested earlier this week on charges of driving under the influence and possession of a firearm.
Michael William Hansen, 24, of Oroville was arrested Monday following a traffic stop on Highway 20, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol's Williams office.
Just before midnight on Monday the Colusa County Sheriff's Office notified Williams CHP officers of a possible drunk driver on Highway 20 west of King Road near Williams, the CHP reported.
CHP officers responded from Williams and arrived on scene to find a Colusa County Sheriff's deputy had stopped Hansen, who had been traveling westbound, because his vehicle didn't have a rear license plate light.
The CHP report said that, after making the stop, the deputy contacted Hansen and observed signs of alleged alcohol intoxication.
CHP officers subsequently conducted field sobriety tests on Hansen and arrested him for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.
The sheriff's deputy who pulled Hansen over searched the vehicle and found several firearms and a small amount of marijuana, according to the report. Hansen had a prescription from his doctor for the marijuana.
Hansen was transported to the Colusa County Jail, where he was booked on charges of driving under the influence and possession of a firearm, the CHP reported.
Jail records indicated that Hansen was released on his own recognizance following his booking, and was not required to post bail.
Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain said Hansen is a city employee, but “has no peace officer standing at this point.”
McClain, who said he was limited by what he could say because of personnel matters, said Hansen had been on leave for some time prior to the arrest on Monday.
Hansen, who has commuted to his Clearlake job from his home in Oroville, was involved in a fatal shooting last June, as Lake County News has reported.
He shot 63-year-old David Vestal to death after Vestal allegedly confronted Hansen and other police officers with a .410 shotgun. Police were responding to a report of a fight at York's Mobile Home Park.
A District Attorney's Office report issued in February concluded that Hansen's actions were justified.
In February, Vestal's daughter, Shavon, filed a $32 million lawsuit in federal court over the shooting. The suit names Hansen, McClain, the city of Clearlake and Clearlake Police.
Shavon Vestal's attorney, Don Anderson of Lakeport, said he hasn't yet received the district attorney's report on the shooting. The case alleges that David Vestal had no shotgun based on four independent witness statements, as well as statements from Shavon Vestal and her boyfriend.
Anderson said he understands a shotgun was recovered at the scene, “somewhere near” David Vestal's body.
He said he doesn't anticipate Hansen's arrest becoming an issue in the civil lawsuit, “but strange things happen so you never know.”
District Attorney Jon Hopkins confirmed officials found a shotgun at the scene.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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CLEARLAKE – A high-risk sex offender being sought by local officials appears to have fled to Nevada.
Stoney Martin Prior, 31, is being sought in Humboldt County, Nev., according to the county's sheriff's office, based in Winnemuca.
Authorities there received information that led them to believe that Prior may be in the McDermitt, Nev. Area – on the Nevada-Oregon border – after leaving California earlier this month.
Officials reported that a blue van that Prior may have left California in was located last week in McDermitt on the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, home to the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe.
Prior was released from state prison on March 12 and returned to the south Lake County area, as Lake County News has reported.
The day after his release, he allegedly removed a GPS ankle bracelet being used to track his movements. Clearlake Police said he was on Main Street in Lower Lake when the bracelet was cut off.
A Clearlake citizen reported seeing Prior in a gold 1980s sedan on 40th and highway 53 in Clearlake on March 17, according to a police log entry from that date.
The California Attorney General's Megan's Law Web site reported that Prior was incarcerated for “assault with intent to commit rape, sodomy or oral copulation.”
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was not able to furnish Lake County News with specifics about Prior's conviction or the terms of his release before the end of the day on Wednesday.
Prior is an American Indian, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has his name, “Prior,” tattooed on both his left and right arms.
Law enforcement urges anyone who sees Prior not to approach him.
Instead call 911 or, if it's not an immediate emergency, Humboldt County, Nev., Undersheriff Curtiss C. Kull at 775-623-6419 or Clearlake Police at 994-8251.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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