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Cathy Wilson went to the council with her proposal to organize the cleanup, which is scheduled to take place along Lakeshore and Olympic drives on April 19.
Wilson told the council that the cleanup is based on the Keep California Beautiful campaign.
The idea, which has support from the Clearlake Chamber of Commerce, is to put together teams of people to pick up trash, pull weeds, sweep sidewalks, knock down cob webs on vacant buildings and wash down an estimated 137 street signs, said Wilson.
Wilson has so far done an amazing amount of preparation. She has spoken with Bruce McCracken of Clearlake Waste Solutions about providing a street sweeper on the event day, and added that McCracken said he would send a truck to pick up the collected bags of trash from the cleanup's headquarters at Austin Park.
In addition, she has contacted Caltrans about spraying weeds at Highway 53 at Lakeshore, the county's transit services about cleaning their covered rider enclosures (which is done monthly but will be done specially for the event) and is drafting a letter to area merchants asking them to participating in the event by cleaning up their storefronts to the street.
“Maybe we can all do this together,” Wilson said of the volunteer effort.
She said there will be waivers of liability for volunteers, who she'll be seeking out in the next month.
Signups also will take place the day of the event, which will get started at about 9 a.m. and last until between noon and 1 p.m.
Wilson also suggested the city could repaint crosswalks, many of which aren't in bad shape but could use some sprucing up.
On April 19, Wilson plans to assign participants to teams, which will work along the streets accompanied by small pickups, which will bring supplies – drinking water, trash bags, first aid kits – and also pick up trash.
Local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts may also take part, and would work in Austin Park, said Wilson.
“Kudos to you for getting involved,” said Council member Judy Thein. “I applaud you for wanting to do this project.”
Thein asked about Wilson's plans to clean up Lakeshore Drive. Wilson said she intends to start at the intersection with Highway 53 and have groups work along lengths of the street. If they have time, they'll also do feed streets. But if they don't have enough people, Wilson said they'll concentrate on pickup up trash.
“When it's all said and done I hope the public will notice and they'll realize we're all working together,” said Wilson.
She said her focus is to encourage business owners to take part and think about the areas in front of their stores.
Overton asked City Administrator Dale Neiman about putting up city signs to make the day safer for volunteers, which Neiman said they could do.
The council voted unanimously to authorize staff to help the effort.
For more information contact the Clearlake Chamber of Commerce, 994-3600.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Hail was reported in areas of the county Saturday, including the Northshore and Cobb in the early afternoon and near Lakeport later in the day.
One cloud burst of hail saw cars sliding on Highway 29 and led to at least one traffic collision with no injuries shortly before 5 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
In the Cobb area, resident Roger Kinney reported the temperature dropped 12 degrees between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. A light, wet snow began to fall, followed by heavier snow and hail. He estimated the snow and hail continued for about 30 minutes.
Ice that formed on local roadways later in the evening was blamed for a two-car collision on Highway 20 just east of Highway 53 just after 8 p.m.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Morgan Matthew Jack, 31, was in court Friday, where he pleaded not guilty to allegations that he killed Paul Womachka last summer, according to his attorney, Stephen Carter.
Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who is handling the prosecution but was unable to attend the Friday court appearance, said Jack is facing a murder charge plus a special allegation of using a knife in the crime's commission.
Hinchcliff said Gary Luck, the retired district attorney who now works with the District Attorney's Office on a part-time basis, stood in for him at Jack's hearing.
Carter, who currently is representing James Roberts in his murder case, said Jack is due to return to court for a preliminary hearing on April 8.
It's estimated that the preliminary hearing will last about three days, said Carter.
“That's a fairly long preliminary hearing,” he said, adding that such hearings usually only take two hours.
As to the specifics of what the District Attorney's Office is alleging, Carter said he didn't want to discuss those at this point because he feels there already has been a lot of pretrial publicity, and more could hurt Jack's chance of getting a fair trial here.
“I hope he can get a fair trial in this county,” said Carter. “We haven't examined that very closely yet.”
Carter said he hasn't ever had to take a trial out of Lake County, and is a firm believer in the fairness of local juries.
The process of determining if Jack can get a fair trial locally will begin following the preliminary hearing.
Last month the Lake County Sheriff's Office received an arrest warrant for Jack in the Womachka case. He was booked into the Lake County Jail on Feb. 28 after being returned to the county from San Quentin State Prison, where he was held on a parole violation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Claudia Madrid, 62, of Kelseyville was arrested for DUI, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Garcia.
Garcia said that Madrid was driving her 2002 Ford Escort southbound on Highway 29 south of Highland Springs Road on Friday at 7:48 a.m. when she went left across the double yellow lines and struck 33-year-old Shawna Witt's 2002 Mazda Tribute head on.
Witt was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital with minor injuries, said Garcia. She had a minor passenger who is not listed as being injured.
Madrid sustained minor injuries and also was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where she was treated and released to the custody of the CHP, said Garcia.
Garcia said Madrid was then booked into the Lake County Jail for DUI.
Officer Greg Baxter is investigating the collision, Garcia reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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NICE – County Animal Care and Control officials are investigating a case in which a puppy was dragged behind a vehicle.
The incident, involving an 11-week-old male German shepherd puppy, took place on Tuesday night at Robinson Rancheria Casino's parking lot, according to Sara Schramm of Lake County Animal Care and Control. It appeared to be accidental.
A man who was visiting the county with his family from out of state had the puppy tied to his bumper, said Schramm.
The man apparently was diverted between his children and talking on his cell phone, and didn't notice that the puppy wasn't in the car after the back hatch of his van was closed by another adult in the group, according to Schramm and eyewitness Marcia Porter.
Schramm said an off-duty Animal Care and Control officer happened to be in the area and saw the man take off with the puppy still tied to the vehicle.
The off-duty officer couldn't get to his vehicle in time to try to stop the man, said Schramm.
Meanwhile, Porter took off in pursuit of the man to stop him.
She said by the time she got out of the parking lot and onto the highway the man, who was very upset, had already pulled over and picked up the pup, who she estimated was drug less than a quarter-mile. Porter went with him to Wasson Veterinary Clinic in Lakeport, where she said she takes her own animals.
Animal Care and Control officials were searching for information on the incident Thursday, trying to identify the owner, when they found the dog was at Wasson Memorial.
Wasson Memorial confirmed Thursday that the puppy was being cared for there.
The puppy had abrasions that, in some areas, wore his skin down to the bone, but Wasson representatives said the pup otherwise was actually doing fine.
Schramm said the incident appeared accidental. However, she added, “We're investigating it internally.”
An investigation could take a few weeks to complete, Schramm said.
Porter said she and a friend are donating $200 to help the family with vet bills, which are reportedly several hundred dollars.
She asked community members to donate to Wasson to help the family, which she didn't feel could afford to pay the high bills.
The puppy's injury is a reminder, Animal Care and Control officials said, of the importance of paying special attention when traveling with pets.
With better weather on the way, more people will be taking pets for rides in cars. Officials caution pet owners to secure their pets properly in vehicles and make arrangements to ensure animals aren't left in hot cars or other potentially dangerous conditions, such as being secured to the outside of a vehicle.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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That's the message from the California Highway Patrol, as part of its continuing efforts to curb drunk driving.
Officer Adam Garcia of the CHP's Clear Lake office reported that extra officers will be on the lookout for impaired drivers this weekend who are celebrating St. Patrick's Day, which occurs this year on Monday.
Additional patrols with officers working overtime are funded by grants from the state Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Garcia reported.
CHP says its message is very simple: party responsibly, which means planning to have a designated driver if you expect to be consuming alcohol as part of your celebrating.
“All we are asking is for people to do the responsible thing: plan ahead,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Have someone who won’t be drinking do the driving, take public transportation or make plans to spend the night where you are celebrating.”
Last year during St. Patrick’s Day weekend 16 people were killed and 304 injured in DUI involved collisions statewide, the CHP reported.
Garcia reported that, fortunately, there were no fatalities locally during that same time period.
Statewide, a total of 1,250 drivers were arrested for DUI by the CHP on St. Patrick's Day, which occurred on a Saturday in 2007. Locally, there were three DUI arrests on March 17, 2007.
“This is about saving lives, not about how many people we can arrest,” said Farrow. “Do your part. Don’t drink and drive.”
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