The board meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St.

The discussion is timed for 9:15 a.m.

“It's on the agenda because the board wants to know what's going on,” Board Chair Denise Rushing told Lake County News on Sunday.

What's bringing the issue to the board is news of a forced landing that occurred late last month involving a helicopter rented by the sheriff's office from Cutting Edge Helicopters for marijuana surveillance.

On June 30, the sheriff's office issued a report about the incident, which occurred on the afternoon of June 25 at Cow Mountain. The helicopter itself was “substantially damaged” but the crew, including a company pilot and sheriff's Lt. Dave Garzoli, were unhurt.

The original report said that Garzoli was undergoing flight instruction, and while simulating an emergency 180-degree autorotation and power recovery procedure at an altitude of about 500 feet the helicopter's engine failed.

On July 1, the story appeared in this and other local publications.

The sheriff's office later issued a statement explaining that Garzoli – who has a private pilot license – was on his own time during the flight, and that he had an arrangement with the company's pilot to pay for flight time toward his commercial pilot license when not on surveillance or sheriff's office business. The helicopter went to Ukiah to refuel and when it took off Garzoli was paying for the time.

Mitchell told Lake County News at that time that the incident was a “nonevent.”

He explained that Garzoli and the company pilot had been flying on reconnaissance and then, for the hour preceding the forced landing, Garzoli changed his status to off-duty in order to work on his flying.

Mitchell said it was an impromptu arrangement. Garzoli, he said, explained to him in detail his duty status at the time of the crash.

“It was Dave's attempt to avoid the county having any responsibility for it,” said Mitchell, adding that having to explain the duty status was worse for Garzoli than the hard landing.

The crash was covered by the helicopter company's insurance, said Mitchell. “I don't see any liability to the county.”

The story's publication was the first time that members of the board heard about it, said Rushing.

“It has come to the Board's attention that an incident has recently occurred relative to operation of the helicopter leased to the County for the marijuana eradication program,” Rushing's memorandum to the board stated. “This has resulted in in our becoming aware that certain elements of the program may be operating differently than the Board intended when we approved the contracts earlier this year.”

In April, the board approved helicopter rental agreements with Cutting Edge Helicopters, PJ Helicopters and A&P Helicopters for the hourly rates of $490, $700 and $750, respectively, as Lake County News has reported. A federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) grant covers those costs.

After hearing about the helicopter incident, Rushing said at least two board members wanted to discuss the marijuana eradication program, and find out whether or not there is exposure to the county if the department has a pilot operating on county time.

Rushing said the sheriff confirmed that he will be at the Tuesday meeting to answer the board's questions.

“The sheriff is an elected official” and can run his department the way he wants, but Rushing pointed out that the board has oversight responsibilities for the DEA grant.

The sheriff's operational plan with the DEA for the marijuana funding for helicopters states, “In an effort to reduce costs and increase available flight time to our agency; and be able to offer support to surrounding agencies, we intend to begin operating a leased/rented aircraft in-house. Our pilot(s) must receive recurrent and required training pursuant to Title 14 CFR part 61, in order to maintain be capable of flying marijuana recon, interdiction, and investigation flights; as well as manufacturer safety course(s).”

As far as flying in relation to the grant, Garzoli is the only person from the sheriff's office “who's been participating in that aspect of things,” Mitchell said in an interview earlier this month. He said that many agencies end up with certified pilots through the experience they receive in such programs.

Mitchell said his staff has researched having its own aircraft because the cost of leasing helicopters on an hourly basis may not be the best use of money. “It is not intended to be an immediate thing, rather something we've been exploring for awhile.”

He said the DEA grant might increase significant if his department operated its own aircraft.

Rushing said the board wants to look more closely at the grant and the eradication program and discuss it with the sheriff.

“I think we just need to get everything out on the table and understand what is actually happening,” Rushing said.

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Lt. Brad Rasmussen said the 18-year-old victim reported that she was assaulted by a 23-year-old Lakeport man who she knew.

Shortly before 5 a.m. June 28, Lakeport Police officers were dispatched to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, which reported the situation. Rasmussen said officers responded to the hospital and contacted the victim.

The young woman said she went to the Lakeport home of another acquaintance, which is where she came in contact with the alleged suspect, Rasmussen explained.

The victim said she was raped at the residence, according to Rasmussen. From there, the woman fled on foot and went to a friend, who took her to the hospital.

Rasmussen said sexual assault medical examinations were conducted on both the victim and the suspect. The male suspect hasn't been arrested.

They're also examining the allegation that the woman was incapacitated by an intoxicating substance and wasn't capable of giving consent, Rasmussen added.

“We have a considerable amount of evidence that needs to be examined by the Department of Justice lab,” said Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said police have completed their initial investigation and submitted it to the District Attorneys' Office.

“At this point we're waiting for a decision from the district attorney as to whether or not they will file charges based on our initial investigation,” or if additional information will be requested, including having the DOJ lab work completed, said Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said this is the first rape case reported to Lakeport Police in 2009. Four rapes were reported in 2008.

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The Lake County Sheriff's Office revealed the information as part of a Public Records Act request Lake County News submitted last month.

The recordings relate to a fatal nighttime boat crash that occurred on Clear Lake on April 29, 2006, for which Carmichael resident Bismarck Dinius, 41, is being charged with felony vehicular manslaughter with a boat and boating under the influence.

Dinius was steering the Beats Workin' II, owned by Willows resident Mark Weber, when it was hit by a power boat driven by Russell Perdock, an off-duty chief deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Weber's longtime girlfriend, Lynn Thornton, 51, died a few days later from the injuries she sustained in the crash.

The Lake County District Attorney's Office filed charges in the spring of 2007 against Dinius, alleging he was under way without the sailboat's running lights and that he was drunk while at the boat's tiller, with a blood test showing a 0.12 blood alcohol level.

The investigative report said Perdock was driving his boat too fast for conditions – estimates of his speed by his own account and that of others ranges anywhere from 30 miles per hour to about 60 miles per hour. He was not charged in the case.

In a May 19 hearing in the case, Deputy District Attorney John Langan told the court that he needed additional time to investigate new information in the case.

Part of the investigation, Langan said at the time, involved researching 911 calls reporting the crash that he said “were no longer in existence.”

He told Lake County News in a followup interview later that day, “I was told there was a significant number of calls that came in,” he said. “For whatever reason, those calls were not preserved.”

All the District Attorney's Office had at that time were the 911 calls male from Perdock's cell phone, according to Langan.

Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said in a May 19 interview that the law requires the sheriff's office to retain the 911 calls for 180 days, or six months.

However, the sheriff's Mercom dispatch system keeps the records a full year, meaning the recordings would have been purged from the system on April 29, 2007.

Bauman said copies of 911 calls are released after a request is made to the agency. “We don't provide it without a request.”

That request is then sent to the dispatch supervisors, who track fulfillment of the requests, he said.

Langan, who took over prosecuting the case in February of 2008 from Deputy District Attorney David McKillop, who left Lake County for another job, was himself removed from the case early in June.

On June 12 District Attorney Jon Hopkins made his first appearance as prosecutor and announced he planned to move forward with the case, and would not drop charges, as Langan had suggested might happen.

Information request looks at 911 tape request time line

A few days before Hopkins appeared at the June 12 hearing, Lake County News asked him if it was possible that his office had received copies of the takes previously. He said he wouldn't offer an opinion on that, and since that time has been limited in his comments about the case outside of court.

Following that discussion, on June 10, Lake County News submitted a Public Records Act Request seeking information on any requests that had been submitted for the audio recordings and who made them.

On July 1, Sheriff Rod Mitchell confirmed that the request would be fulfilled. On July 3 Bauman supplied the following information.

“The first and only request we received from the District Attorney’s Office for audio recordings relating to the Dinius case came in July of 2007, several months after the records had been purged from the system,” he told Lake County News in a detailed e-mail response.

That request also came after charges were filed against Dinius in May of 2007. At that time, McKillop was prosecuting the case, with part-time investigative help from Tom Clements, a retired Clearlake Police lieutenant, according to case records

Bauman said the sheriff's office informed the District Attorney's Office that all audio records relating to the case had been purged from the system at the time of the July 2007 request.

However, they also told the district attorney that they had received a records subpoena for the recordings in October of 2006 from a private attorney in a civil case – eventually settled in 2008 – relating to the crash. That request specifically asked for the calls Perdock made to dispatch that night.

“We had retained a duplicate copy of those calls, notified the DA that those were the only recordings still in existence, and provided a duplicate copy to the DA that same month,” said Bauman, adding that those recordings only included Perdock's calls, based on the specific subpoena request.

However, last week copies of all the calls were discovered, said Bauman.

He said a member of the sheriff's management staff was going through some of her older emails and found one from the supervisor who made the recordings for the records subpoena in October of 2006.

Bauman said that supervisor had wisely made recordings of all the calls – from Perdock and all other reporting parties – that were placed to dispatch to report the crash on the night of April 29, 2006.

“That supervisor left the Sheriff’s Department prior to July of 2007 so we were unaware that all calls relating to the incident had been preserved until this week,” said Bauman.

On Friday afternoon, shortly before Bauman provided the information and time line to Lake County News, he informed Hopkins of the existence of the calls.

Bauman said Hopkins immediately requested a copy of the calls, which Bauman expects will be delivered on Monday.

Jury selection begins Tuesday

The developments in the case take place as jury selection gets set to start this week.

Screening of potential jurors will begin on Tuesday, according to Dinius' attorney, Victor Haltom of Sacramento.

He said he, Hopkins and visiting Judge J. Michael Byrne had a telephone conference last week to go over scheduling details.

Jury selection will continue July 14, 15 and 16, although Haltom said there is a possibility of no proceedings on July 15. Byrne also had warned about that on June 30, saying that, because of the state's budget problems, courts may not operate that day.

Testimony in the trial is expected to start shortly after July 21 in Department One, said Haltom.

He added that the jury will be informed that the trial likely will last until the end of August or early in September, with court expected to be in session Tuesday through Friday, rather than the usual Tuesday through Thursday.

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The end result, after close to 40 minutes of discussion, was to leave the policy in place because it offers the city value in public safety protection.

However, Kevin Burke, the city's police chief and interim city manager, offered to limit the program to within a certain driving distance of the city in order to assuage some council members' clear dislike of the policy.

“The Lakeport Police Officers Association is pleased with the City Council's support for the chief of police,” the association said in a statement issued to Lake County News on Thursday.

Councilman Jim Irwin had the discussion agendized. Irwin, along with some of the other council members, mentioned that he hears a lot of negative feedback and questions from community members about the policy. Council members also brought up the fact that one officer drives to his home in Buckingham and another to Hidden Valley Lake.

Last year's grand jury report also mentioned the policy, said Irwin.

The program has been around for many years, Burke explained. Burke's predecessor as chief, Tom Engstrom, attended the meeting and told the council that the program started in 1991.

Burke said he met with the grand jury to explain the program. One grand juror was very concerned about it, and didn't like seeing a Lakeport Police cruiser outside of the city, he said.

The 2007-08 grand jury report spent a chapter on the Lakeport Police Department's oversight. Its only recommendation was to limit the use of police vehicles “to officers living within or very near the city limits.”

However, Burke said the costs to allow officers to take the car home are relatively low.

On an annual basis, 32,387 miles are put on the police fleet for travel outside of the city, said Burke. Of that, 11,560 miles are for the city's three unmarked cars and 20,827 for its 10 black and white cruisers.

The per-gallon cost on the police department's gasoline contract through Helms Petroleum is $2.71, said Burke, for a total gas cost of $4,712 per year.

Counting oil and other vehicle needs, the total program cost would be $7,616, which could fluctuate by about $1,000 if gas prices rise, said Burke.

The department's requested budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year is $1.7 million, with officers making an average annual salary of between $40,000 and $50,000, according to an estimate Burke gave to Lake County News on Thursday.

The policy hasn't affected the longevity of the nine-year-old fleet, said Burke.

He said he's had some inquiries about the policy, but when he explains it and its safety benefits, that satisfies the concerns.

“The ability to summon those cars on a rapid basis if needed is a significant public safety advantage for the city of Lakeport,” Burke said.

He added that most people are happy to see a police car parked in their neighborhood, although some aren't. “It's certainly a minority view.”

Citing the officers who are Buckingham and Hidden Valley Lake residents, Councilman Bob Rumfelt asked where it stopped. What if an officer lives in Ukiah or Santa Rosa? Burke replied that they could exclude officers from the policy on a case-by-case basis.

Engstrom told the council that the policy was put in place in 1991 by his predecessor, Chief Jim Campbell. That year, the department lease-purchased nine six-cylinder Ford Tauruses so they could implement the program.

During his tenure, Engstrom said officers taking home their assigned vehicles had to live within the county and had to be within a 30-minute response time of the city.

He said he used the policy as a recruitment tool, mentioning it on flyers used to seek officer candidates.

“So I don't know if this might be a meet and confer item but that's how we advertised it,” said Engstrom.

Those cars were sold in 1996 and he bought 10 Crown Victorias. At that time, the department also grew from 12 to 14 officers thanks to a federal grant. In 2001, Engstrom sold the cars and purchased the current fleet.

Mayor Ron Bertsch asked about accidents. Engstrom said in his time as chief the only crash involved a car hitting a deer.

Community member Ron Rose told the council, “It's use, not abuse, is what really counts.”

Bertsch, who said he wanted the policy written down, said it seems like too much for the department to spend.

Public Works Director Doug Grider defended Burke's efforts to be fiscally responsible.

“Kevin's worked hard at putting his budget together like all the rest of us,” he said.

If Burke, as a department head is bringing the council a balanced budget, “That's what you pay him for,” said Grider, who suggested the council look at whether or not the police department's overall budget is sound rather than dwell on the smaller points, a point with which Bertsch didn't agree.

Grider added, “All of our budgets are greatly reduced from what they were three years ago,” with department heads hacking them “down to the bone.”

Although moments earlier he had questioned expense, Bertsch then said, “I don't think this is an issue about money,” but public perception.

“Who's showed up here to complain about it?” asked City Attorney Steve Brookes.

Irwin said he agreed with Bertsch that it was about perception, not cost.

Burke asked Irwin about the concerns people were bringing to him. “They know that the city is tight,” said Irwin.

Noting that, ultimately, it's up to the council to decide, Burke remarked, “I gave up trying to please everybody a long time ago.”

Rumfelt said he supported leaving it up to Burke to handle.

Bertsch told Burke, “We have one City Council member who argues with you every other month about this,” referring to Councilman Roy Parmentier, who said most of his issues aren't about that particular policy.

“I think each council member needs to make up their mind on this issue,” said Burke, adding that he hoped Parmentier would reconsider.

Explaining his understanding of the policy, Brookes said because of the “big lake in the middle” of the county, it makes sense for officers to be able to respond to anywhere in the county from their homes and in their assigned vehicles because of a greater emergency response need beyond Lakeport's limits.

He said the city will have a meet and confer obligation with the police union if the council chooses to get rid of the policy.

Council member Suzanne Lyons said that now that the council is equipped with the information they're able to respond better to citizen complaints and questions.

Upper Lake resident Betsy Cawn said she came from a metropolitan community where there was activism to integrate the police with the community, which this policy does.

She urged council members to better quantify complaints they receive and not use terms like “a lot of people tell me.”

Noting Burke is asking for a new fleet of cars in the budget, Irwin asked how the policy affects the number of cars the department could buy. It wouldn't, said Burke.

Burke added that there is an important rationale – beyond community safety – to letting officers take home cars. When cars are assigned to the officers, they take pride in them and carefully maintain them, some meticulously so. That doesn't happen with cars that are run 24 hours a day, he said.

Irwin asked if allowing officers to drive the cars home could raise a worker's compensation issue. Burke said the liability isn't any greater than having them drive around the city.

Rumfelt made a motion, which Lyons seconded, to leave the policy up to Burke. It was decided that a vote wasn't necessary, that direction would suffice, and the motion was withdrawn.

Burke said he can revise the policy to look more like it did when Engstrom was chief.

On Thursday Burke told Lake County News that he's still deciding how a codified policy will look. He said it will require officers to live within the county, with some type of mileage limit – probably within 30 miles of town.

Take-home car policy is common amongst local, regional agencies

Mike DiMiceli, assistant executive director of the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, said policies allowing peace officers to take home cars is a decision made by each agency.

“Very often it's predicated on a work assignment,” he said.

Taking cars home grew out of a philosophy that originated in the 1970s and 1980s about providing coverage, DiMiceli explained.

DiMiceli said that various car-related policies often develop based on a staffing level requiring officers to be available at certain times, or when resident officers are assigned to rural or remote areas.

There are a whole host of reasons revolving around the job that make take-home cars more than just a benefit to the officer; in such cases, DiMiceli said it raises awareness, can help crime prevention and increase the agency's capability to respond to certain situations.

He said a number of departments throughout the country went to take-home cars primarily for those reasons.

Lake County News conducted an informal poll of local and regional law enforcement agencies to ask if they have a policy allowing sworn officers to take home their vehicles. Most do have such policies on their books.

Sheriff Rod Mitchell said his office has 63 cars – 22 unmarked and 44 marked – that go home with patrol deputies and command staff.

The policy is open to any sworn peace officer who lives within the county. Mitchell said the policy has been in effect for at least 10 years, and went into effect during his first term.

He said he was grateful to the Board of Supervisors for implementing the policy, which he said helps vehicles last longer and establishes a high visibility of deputies in the community. He said he's never received a complaint about the policy from citizens; usually, people express satisfaction with the patrol presence.

Officer Steve Tanguay of the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake office said their officers aren't allowed to take patrol cars home. Only the office's commander is allowed a take-home car, which is unmarked.

At Clearlake Police Department, a take-home car policy has been in effect for well over a decade and is part of the memorandum of understanding between the police union and the city, said Lt. Mike Hermann.

Officers must live within the city to take part, while the policy is open to administrators regardless of whether they live in the city or not, Hermann said.

“If something major comes up it's easier to call guys and have them respond from where they're at,” which is the main reason for the policy, said Hermann. He said it's not uncommon for the department to call officers and summon them immediately to a scene.

At Santa Rosa Police Department, Sgt. Lisa Banayat said command staff, the chief and detectives on an on-call status – one detective per unit, on call for a week at a time – may take vehicles home. However, the vehicles are subject to mileage restrictions for those officers who live out of town. Banayat said the policy currently is being revised.

Commander Steve Potter of the Napa Police Department said the agency's two K-9 officers are allowed to take their cars home, and investigators and administrative staff can take home cars if they living within a certain radius of the police department.

“Other than that, our vehicles are all left here at the police department,” he said.

Patrol Captain Justin Wyatt of the Ukiah Police Department said their department isn't able to provide a take-home car policy for its 17 patrol officers. However, the department's five detectives and four administrative staffers are allowed to take home unmarked cars.

Larger agencies can't usually have a policy allowing cars to be taken home, said Mitchell. “The fleet would be enormous.”

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Operation Dry Water is a joint program of the California Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW), the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Marine enforcement agencies will be out in force on California waterways the entire weekend of June 27 and 28 looking for boaters operating their vessels while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, according to sheriff's Capt. James Bauman.

Specific enforcement tactics will vary from agency to agency but generally, the statewide effort will include increased patrols, boating under the influence checkpoints, and boater education.

According to the National Transportation and Safety Board, recreational boating accidents are second only to highway accidents in the number of transportation fatalities.

A boat operator with a blood-alcohol content of 0.10 percent is estimated to be more than 10 times more likely to die in a boating accident than an operator with no alcohol in their system.

Alcohol obviously impairs a boater’s judgment, balance, vision and reaction time, but it is dangerous for passengers as well.

Intoxication can result in slips, falls overboard and other dangerous accidents. It also can increase fatigue and susceptibility to the effects of cold-water immersion, as well as result in inner-ear disturbance which can make it impossible for a person suddenly immersed in water to distinguish up from down.

Under state law, an operator is considered under the influence when they are operating a vessel with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or above.

A person convicted of operating a vessel while under the influence on the first offense can receive up to a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, or both a fine and jail time. State boating under the influence (BUI) laws pertain to ALL boats, from canoes and rowboats to even the largest vessels.

This weekend in Lake County, the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol will be deploying additional deputies and boats in the afternoon and evening hours from Friday through Sunday on the waters of Clear Lake.

Patrol teams will promote boating safety education, BUI awareness and conduct directed and heightened patrols for operators boating under the influence.

There will be zero tolerance for anyone found operating a boat on the waters of Clear Lake while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, officials reported.

There will be arrests and some boaters will face the consequences of boating under the influence, said Bauman.

He added that officials want people to be safe and have fun on Clear Lake, but they would much rather make an arrest than have to tell a family member or friend that someone has been taken from them as the result an alcohol-related accident.

Michael Ricardo Hardy, 42, was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation into grows in Lower Lake and east of Clearlake Oaks, according to Sheriff's Capt. James Bauman.

Bauman said that the investigation into the grows began on May 15, when sheriff's officials conducted aerial surveillance over south Lake County.

There, two separate marijuana grows were sighted off of Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake and at the Double Eagle Ranch in Clearlake Oaks, Bauman said.

Subsequent to followup investigations into both of the grows, search warrants for both sites were signed by Superior Court Judge Richard Martin on June 4 and on June 11 both warrants were served by members of the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit and federal agents with the Bureau of Land Management, according to Bauman.

The search warrant for the Morgan Valley Road location was served at 9 a.m. Friday, said Bauman.

Neighbors reported seeing helicopters in the area as the raid took place.

Bauman said that, upon their entry to the approximate 40-acre property, detectives located and detained Hardy near two of five grow sites which were being irrigated by a 50,000 gallon water bladder.

Hardy told detectives he had been hired about one month prior to caretake the property but he would not identify who hired him, said Bauman.

Detectives found several medicinal marijuana recommendations during the search of the property, two of which belonged to Hardy, Bauman reported. Two firearms were also located in a shed near a tent where Hardy was apparently residing.

A total of 1,749 marijuana plants were seized from the property and Hardy was arrested. Bauman said hardy was subsequently booked at the Lake County Jail on felony charges of cultivation, possession of marijuana for sale and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. He posted $10,000 bail the day following his arrest.

The second search warrant for the Double Eagle Ranch property was served at about 1 p.m. on Friday, June 11, Bauman said.

Detectives found and eradicated approximately 1,213 marijuana plants, said Bauman. However, the property was unoccupied and no arrests were made.

He said 17 medicinal marijuana recommendations were posted throughout the property; however, 16 of the recommendations were for individuals residing outside of the county.

Bauman said that case is pending further investigation into the identity of the property owner and those responsible for the marijuana grows.