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LAKE COUNTY – March is going to be a very exciting month for three of the county’s local watershed groups, along with the citizens who live in the Kelsey Creek, Middle Creek and Scotts Creek watersheds.
Thanks to a $400,000 grant awarded to the West Lake Resource Conservation District, studies will be conducted in these three watersheds that will allow these groups to gather information about both the historical and current conditions of the natural resources in these areas.
These watershed assessments will be used in making management decisions and obtaining funding for restoration, fuel load management, habitat improvement, water quality and various other projects in the future.
In order to put together the most comprehensive documents possible, it is vital that the local communities participate in these studies.
This grant opportunity was specifically designed for the citizens in each of these watersheds to participate in the process, and help in developing the information that goes into these assessments.
The three watershed groups in the participating areas will be holding meetings in March, and citizens in these areas are urged to attend.
Are you concerned about clean air, clean water, fire safety, erosion problems, development, and the day-to-day issues we all deal with? Well, we all live in a watershed, and if you live in one of the three included in this grant opportunity, now’s your chance to share your opinions, your concerns and your knowledge of the area in which you live.
If you reside in the vicinity of Kelsey Creek from Forest Lake on Cobb Mountain to Clear Lake itself, you live in the Kelsey Creek Watershed, and are encouraged to attend the Big Valley CRMP meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. The event will be held at the American Legion Hall, corner of Second Street and Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
If you live in the vicinity of Clover Creek, Sam Alley Creek, the town of Upper Lake, or the areas near the East Fork and West Fork of Middle Creek to Rodman Slough, you reside in the Middle Creek Watershed. Please make it a point to attend the next meeting of the Middle Creek CRMP at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 14. This month’s meeting is being held at the Upper Lake High School Library, 675 Clover Valley Road (corner of First Street and Clover Valley Road), in Upper Lake.
There are a number of communities included in the Scotts Creek Watershed. If you live in the areas of Saratoga Springs, Witter Springs, Bachelor Valley, Blue Lakes, Scotts Valley, Cow Mountain, and Tule Lake to the confluence at Rodman Slough, you live in the Scotts Creek Watershed. The date to mark on your calendar is 6 p.m. Thursday, March 15. The meeting will be hosted by the Scotts Creek Watershed Council and held at the Scotts Valley Women’s Clubhouse, 2298 Hendricks Road, Lakeport.
Each of these meetings will be facilitated by Korinn Smith of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Lakeport. The meetings will be structured to gather the information which will be used to develop the purpose and goals of these assessments. Greg Dills, watershed coordinator for East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts also will be on hand to answer questions and share his knowledge of the process.
This is an opportunity to participate and have a voice in the issues that concern your community. You may be the person that helps to identify an issue others know nothing about!
What do you want your watershed to look like in five, 10 or 50 years? Now's your chance to have a say in the future of your own community. Don’t miss this opportunity to get involved. To quote one of the watershed volunteers, “This is a really big deal!”
For questions or additional information, call Dills at 263-4180 x12 or Linda Juntunen at 263-7950.
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LAKEPORT – After a day of nitpicking newspaper coverage by the defense and nibbling at its findings by the prosecution on Wednesday, there was still no decision regarding a change of venue motion for the trial of Renato Hughes, a young black San Francisco man charged with murder by accomplice of two of his companions in an alleged burglary.
On Wednesday, the hearing of the motion filed by Hughes' attorney Stuart Hanlon concluded 13 hours of testimony with the likelihood that Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann will render his decision when the hearing resumes Friday morning.
Hanlon and his key expert in the hearing, Craig Haney, spent most of Wednesday going over 72 articles from assorted publications regarding the case, which stems from the alleged forced 4 a.m. entry into the Clearlake Park home of Shannon Edmonds on Dec. 7, 2005.
Hughes' companions, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, also black, were fatally shot down by Edmonds after the alleged break-in, where the men were allegedly attempting to steal marijuana that Edmonds claims he uses for medicinal purposes.
Hughes, however, is charged with causing their deaths under the provisions of a law that holds the perpetrator of a felony responsible if the felony results in a lethal response.
Hanlon concluded his final argument in the hearing Wednesday afternoon and District Attorney Jon Hopkins was all but finished with his presentation when Mann ended the proceedings.
Hanlon reasserted his position against trying the case in Lake County because of pretrial publicity and the county's racial demographics.
According to research Hanlon has presented, only a little over 2 percent of the county's population is black.
In his final comments, Hanlon told Mann, "The only way you can find (that Hughes) will get a fair trial here is by disregarding the testimony of Mr. (Bryan A.) Stevenson and Mr. Haney. No one is calling this county racist; we're saying he can't get a fair trial."
Stevenson, the executive director of an Alabama civil rights group, and Haney have supported Hanlon's claim that a representative jury cannot be selected for Hughes in Lake County.
"It is speculation on his (Hanlon's) part to make it an emotional issue rather than a judicial one," Hopkins countered. He added that he didn't believe Mann's decision could be decided "simply on numbers."
Hanlon and Haney presented statistics showing that blacks comprise 6 percent of the state's population and pointed out that only nine of the state's 58 counties exceed the state percentage, most notably San Francisco County (13.7 percent), where Hughes lives.
Hopkins questioned if Hanlon and Haney believe that all trials for crimes which blacks are charged with should be tried in those nine counties that exceed the state average in order to get a fair trial.
Hanlon, meanwhile, castigated Hopkins for responding publicly to a document and comments issued by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a civil rights organization in support of Hughes.
Among other things, Hopkins called civil rights-oriented charges by the Baker group a "smokes screen" and he questioned why a well-meaning organization such as this one would comment when he said it didn't know all the facts.
Hanlon said that Hopkins' comments "polarized the community" and by contributing to advance publicity the district attorney was giving "the perception of a problem."
Neither Hanlon nor Hopkins made mention of a document on the letterhead of Hanlon's law firm that surfaced early in the case.
Presumably circulated to raise funds for Hanlon to take over Hughes' defense from Steven Carter, the document asserted that Hughes was being "railroaded" by the Lake County justice system.
Hanlon claimed that he had no knowledge of the document at the time.
Haney occupied the witness stand for easily half of the 13 hours the hearing has taken up so far.
Throughout his time on the stand his theme was the word "allege," which he cited as missing from many of the 72 newspaper articles and other news documents in the case.
Hopkins, however, pared the documents down to 14 by eliminating duplications and sources that prospective jurors in Lake County would never see, such as the Willits News, a law profession publication and comments made on an FM radio station.
Hanlon criticized Hopkins also for failing to bring his own experts to the hearing to refute the findings of Stevenson and Haney.
"The burden's on the defendant," reasoned Hopkins. "I don't think it's my burden to bring in experts.”
E-mail John Lindblom at
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The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the first, and largest, temblor took place at 2:47 a.m.
The quake was recorded at a depth of 1.2 miles, and was centered one mile east northeast of The Geysers, according to the USGS.
About 10 minutes later, a 1.8 magnitude quake followed, the USGS reported, followed by three more small quakes, ranging in size from 1.5 to 1.9 in magnitude, over the next two and a half hours, all centered at The Geysers.
So far this week there have been 15 small earthquakes recorded in Lake County, according to the USGS, most of them centered in or around The Geysers area.
The second-largest quake of the week, at a magnitude of 2.9, took place Sunday morning just after 8 a.m. at a depth of 1.3 miles three miles east southeast of The Geysers and three miles from Anderson Springs, the USGS reported.
A 1.8 magnitude quake was recorded by the USGS on Tuesday at 2:27 a.m. at a depth of seven miles, and centered eight miles from Hidden Valley Lake.
Two quakes hit near Lake Pillsbury on Tuesday, a 2.3 magnitude at 5:27 a.m. and a 2.5 at 2:50 p.m.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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NICE – A Monday traffic stop led to a Southern California man's arrest on various drug charges, including possession of LSD.
Lt. Patrick McMahon of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday that Deputy Mike Brown stopped a vehicle driven by Jeffrey B. Myers, 27, of Bellflower at 11:50 p.m. Monday.
Brown stopped Myers for a mechanical violation, and for weaving on Highway 20 near Lakeshore Boulevard in Nice, McMahon reported.
When Brown contacted Myers, he detected the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle, said McMahon. Myers told Brown that he was returning home to the Los Angeles area after a visit to Arcata in Humboldt County.
While investigating the odor of marijuana, McMahon said Brown recovered a glass bottle of LSD from the Myers' jacket pocket.
The bottle contained approximately 20 milliliters of suspected LSD in liquid form. McMahon said a subsequent search of the vehicle led to the seizure of almost 1 pound of psilocybin mushrooms, 8 ounces of marijuana, 32 grams of hash (concentrated cannabis) and one gram of Dimethyltryptamine or “DMT,” a hallucinogen.
Most of the items were recovered from the trunk of the vehicle, McMahon noted.
Brown subsequently arrested Myers, McMahon reported.
Myers's booking sheet shows that he faces one misdemeanor and five felony charges, including possessing and transporting a controlled substance for sale, possession of LSD and possession of concentrated cannabis.
He remains in the Lake County Jail on $66,000 bail.
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Residents in Lakeport, along with others areas in Lake County, started their day with falling snow, frozen sidewalks and hazardous road conditions.
While rain was predominant throughout the day, the NWS has issued a winter storm warning for Lake County and a hazardous weather outlook for inland Mendocino County that will last overnight and into Wednesday afternoon.
The NWS predicts that 2 inches of snow will fall to nearly 1,000 feet overnight - with overnight temperaturess in the mid 20s to low 30s.
During the next 24 hours to 36 hours, the NWS believes the hazardous weather across Northern California will continue, with significant snowfall totals possible above 1,500 feet - with nearly a foot of snow possible below 4,000 feet.
Twenty-four to 30 inches of snow may fall over the higher elevations by Wednesday afternoon, according to the NWS.
Six to 10 inches of snow are forecast above 4,000 feet, with 2 to 6 inches possible above 2,000 feet in Lake County and above 1,500 feet in inland Mendocino County overnight.
Strong winds are also possible with localized gusts up to 45 mph which may cause white-out conditions overnight and into tomorrow.
On Wednesday, snow levels are expected to stay in the 2,000-foot range, with high temperatures in the mid-40s at lower elevations.
A winter storm warning means significant amounts of snow, sleet and ice are expected or will occur, according to the NWS, making travel very hazardous or impossible.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
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LAKE COUNTY – With snow falling in the higher elevations, commuters need to be prepared for adverse conditions as they travel area roads and highways.
The California Highway Patrol reports that Mount St. Helena is now closed due to snow, according to Josh Dye, public information officer for the Clear Lake CHP office.
This afternoon, the county's Public Works Department reported that four-wheel drive and chains are required on Elk Mountain Road, Bartlett Springs Road, Bottle Rock Road and Gifford Springs Road.
As for area highways, at 3 p.m. Caltrans reported no delays or restrictions on Highway 175 over the Hopland Grade.
However, earlier in the day, due to the snowy condition across Highway 175 to Hopland, chains were required on all vehicles except those with both four-wheel-drive and snow tires on all wheels.
For those traveling along Highway 101, Caltrans reported chains or snow tires were required from seven miles north of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the junction of Highway 175 in Hopland. There also were chain requirements near Willits, Caltrans reported.
No traffic restrictions are reported for Highways 20, 29, 53 or 281, according to Caltrans.
Please use caution when driving, and be particularly cautious of ice on the roadways.
Lake County News will update you on any adverse changes in weather conditions.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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