LAKE COUNTY – Candidates in this year's sheriff's race are appearing on the KPFZ 88.1 FM show, “Senior Moments.”
Candidate Francisco Rivero appeared on the show last Thursday, with the show set for rebroadcast at 2 p.m. this Tuesday, May 10.
Candidate Jack Baxter will be interviewed from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Thursday, May 13.
LAKE COUNTY – “The Law Show” on KPFZ 88.1 FM will host two live, on-air debates this month for candidates in the district attorney and sheriff's races.
From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 15, all three candidates for Lake County's district attorney – incumbent Jon Hopkins, and challengers Douglas Rhoades and Don Anderson – will square off in the KPFZ studios for what is likely to be their final debate of the campaign.
All three started their campaign season with individual appearances on “The Law Show” and promised to appear together.
All three sheriff’s candidates – Sheriff Rod Mitchell and challengers Francisco Rivero and Jack Baxter – have confirmed that they will appear on the show from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 29.
The show hosted Mitchell and Rivero in their first debate which aired on KPFZ several months ago. Both have been campaigning hard and, along with Baxter, are ready to wrap it up with this final verbal joust.
Tune in to 88.1 FM from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on these two Saturdays and hear what these candidates have to say. Thanks to the “Word Weavers” for giving up their 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. time slot so the show can extend the time for these special broadcasts.
Phone lines will be open. Call the studio at 707-263-3435 or toll-free at 800-763-KPFZ (5739).
The California Redevelopment Association (CRA) and a host of cities and counties – including Clearlake, Lakeport and Lake County – sued the state over its plan to require redevelopment agencies statewide to transfer $2.05 billion in local redevelopment funds over the next two years.
That plan came out of legislation passed last July, AB X4 26, which was part of the state budget.
CRA's arguments had included the assertion that AB X4 26 substantially impairs existing obligations of redevelopment agencies and that it is a violation of equal protection laws.
However, on Tuesday Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly upheld AB X4 26 and also denied a request for a stay on the transfer of funds to the Supplemental Revenue Augmentation Funds (SERAF) on May 10.
Connelly found that the SERAF payments to schools are “reasonably related” to redevelopment’s statutory purposes. CRA argued that under this logic any state program could be, conveniently, called “redevelopment.”
“We strongly disagree with Judge Connelly’s decision which effectively says the Legislature has unlimited discretion to redirect local redevelopment funds to any purpose it wishes,” said CRA Executive Director John Shirey.
Shirey said the CRA Board of Directors voted unanimously in a special meeting Tuesday to authorize an appeal of the decision.
He said CRA's board also authorized seeking from the court of appeal a temporary stay so that agencies do not have to make payments on May 10.
The request was filed Wednesday, with a decision hoped for by week's end, Shirey said.
Shirey said CRA continues to believe that “taking local redevelopment funds and using them to fund State obligations is unconstitutional.”
CRA said it's urging redevelopment agencies not to make payments before May 10 but to be prepared to do so should the Court of Appeal deny or not act upon the stay request.
The redevelopment agencies in the state due to make the biggest payments are Los Angeles, $70.9 million; San Jose, $62 million; San Diego, $55 million; and Oakland, $41 million.
Lakeport Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll broke the news to the Lakeport City Council at its meeting Tuesday night.
Knoll told Lake County News on Wednesday that the city – whose redevelopment plan was adopted in 1999 – stands to lose $313,005 this year.
“Not only do we have this year's payment but we have another payment next year,” he said.
That second payment will amount to $64,380, according to the CRA table of city and county payments.
“This is not refundable,” said Knoll. “This is an outright take, the way we view it.”
He said this year's payment is equal to roughly one half of the agency's total tax increment revenue for a year. That tax increment is the agency's sole source of revenue.
“When it comes down to it, really for us, there will be very little left to work with, for this year anyway,” he said.
Those funds would have supported additional work on projects like downtown improvements, the city's facade program and a pedestrian safety project on Armstrong Street, Knoll said.
But those projects will now have to wait, said Knoll. “That's the direct result of the fact that the state is taking local revenues.”
Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman said Clearlake is due to pay out the most of the county's three redevelopment agencies, at $1,014,736 for this fiscal year.
The reason for the higher amount, he said, is that the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency generates more tax increment revenue than Lakeport or the county at large.
That's because Clearlake's redevelopment agency is the oldest, with its redevelopment plan accepted in 1990, he said.
The CRA table of payment shows that Clearlake must make another payment next fiscal year of $208,716.
The Lake County Redevelopment Agency was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in December 2000 and the Northshore project area was formed in June of 2001, said County Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely
The agency is due to pay $764,000 this fiscal year and another $155,000 next year, according to County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, who also is the county's redevelopment executive director.
“We budgeted for the entire loss so it won't require that we make any further adjustments to our current budget,” he said.
Cox added that, even with the decision, the county's redevelopment agency budget “will remain well in balance and we will continue making progress in our Northshore redevelopment communities.”
He said he hates not being able to keep local tax dollars in Lake County for local projects. “The state really needs to figure out a better way of balancing the state budget,” he said. “For whatever reason they seem incapable of doing so.”
Seely said that the CRA feels that they have a good case and can win a favorable decision on appeal.
“If we don't succeed with the appeal, the concern is, there may be future takings of our local redevelopment money from our project areas to fund the state,” he said.
Seely said cities, counties and redevelopment agencies are working on another front to prevent the state from funding its debt on the backs of local jurisdictions.
He pointed to the Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Protection Act of 2010, whose proponents submitted 1.1 million signatures to the state on April 29 in order to qualify it for the November 2010 ballot.
According to its Web site, www.savelocalservices.com, the measure would prohibit the state from borrowing local property and gasoline tax, prevent it from taking locally levied taxes – such as parcel and sales taxes – or transit funding, and offer additional constitutional protections to prevent the state from raiding redevelopment funds or shifting redevelopment funds to other state purposes.
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Glenn Jenkins, 35, was shot multiple times at a home in Lucerne early Monday morning, as Lake County News has reported.
The suspected shooter, 35-year-old Daniel Scott Beaty of Lakeport, was arrested the following day after a brief foot chase with detectives in Nice.
Beaty was booked on numerous felony charges, including attempted murder, and is being held without bail, according to jail records.
Jenkins remained hospitalized in stable condition on Wednesday, according to Capt. James Bauman.
As a result of the ongoing investigation, Bauman said detectives have identified several other people believed to have been involved in the shooting.
On Wednesday at about 9 a.m., 23-year-old James John McClean of Lakeport – who was believed to have been with Beaty when he fled the scene Monday – was located by detectives in the city of Clearlake and arrested without incident, Bauman said.
Then, at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Bauman said detectives located 21-year-old Christopher Don Secord of Lakeport in the area of First and Brush streets in Lakeport and arrested him without incident.
Also on Wednesday, detectives located and arrested 57-year-old Alan Wayne Monroe at his home in Lucerne at about 3 p.m., Bauman said.
McClean was booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm and battery with serious injury. Bauman said McClean is being held without bail pending his appearance before a judge.
Secord also was booked at the county jail on felony charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, and battery with serious injury. He, too, is being held without bail pending an appearance in Lake County Superior Court, Bauman said.
Monroe has been booked for felony accessory to attempted murder. He is being held with a $10,000 bail.
The investigation thus far has revealed that Beaty, McClean and Secord all allegedly went the Third Avenue home in Lucerne early Monday morning looking for Jenkins, Bauman said.
Both Beaty and Secord were allegedly armed with handguns. After Jenkins had been shot, Bauman said Secord reportedly fled the area on foot and ditched his gun several blocks away before leaving the area entirely.
Beaty and McClean allegedly drove straight to Monroe’s home in Lucerne after the shooting, ditched the gun Beaty had in a nearby creek, and talked Monroe into driving them out of the area to avoid capture, Bauman said.
Both guns have been recovered and no further arrests are anticipated, Bauman added.
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District, will hold a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) graduation ceremony for approximately 230 fifth and sixth grade students from Terrace School on Wednesday, May 5.
The graduation will be held at 6 p.m. at the school, located on Lange Street.
The 10-week classroom program was taught by Lakeport Police School Resource Officer Stephanie
Green.
The curriculum covered resisting peer pressure, drug abuse resistance, healthy relationships and confidence in making healthy choices.
Prior to completing the program all students were required to complete a report reflecting what they learned from the DARE program and how it affects their personal decision making.
DARE is an international program that is used throughout the United States and approximately 43 other countries. It’s designed to educate children with resisting drugs and violence.
For further information go to www.dare.com.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf.
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