LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Sheriff's Department has two new additions to the Public Safety Exhibit at this year's Lake County Fair.

The Sheriff's Department Mobile Command Center will be at the exhibit. Also new this year will be a Megan's Law Station set up inside of the Sheriff's Department Mobile Command Center.

Two laptop computers will access the Megan's Law Public Web site. Citizens requesting to access the Web site will be asked to sign in on a record book at each station prior to accessing the website.

Hours for the Megan's Law Station will be 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Lake County Sheriff's Detective and SAFE Task Force Agent Mike Curran will be on hand to answer questions related to the task force and Megan's Law.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department thanked Wilds Signs for the generous donation of the SAFE Task Force Megan's Law Station banner.

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LAKE COUNTY – Responding to citizens' concerns about the adequacy of an investigation regarding a boating collision last year, Sheriff Rod Mitchell said he is asking the state Attorney General's Office to review the case.

The case involves a boating collision that took place just after 9 p.m. on April 29, 2006, in which a 24-foot powerboat driven by Mitchell's second-in-command, Chief Deputy Russell Perdock, collided with a 27-foot sailboat belonging to Mark Weber of Willows.

The collision severely injured Weber's fiancee, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton, who died days later.

Perdock does not face any criminal charges in the case.

In June, District Attorney Jon Hopkins announced he was pressing charges in the case against Bismarck Dinius, the Carmichael man who was sitting at the rudder of Weber's sailboat, Beats Working II, when the collision occurred.

Dinius faces felony vehicular manslaughter involving a vessel and misdemeanor boating under the influence of alcohol, as he was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.12.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Marine Services Unit Investigator Charles Slabaugh – who Mitchell asked to assist in the initial investigation – found that Perdock had broken federal inland navigation rules by not following the “safe speed” rule, which states that a boat operator should at all time maintain a speed that allows them to stop the vessel “within half the distance of forward visibility.”

Perdock told Slabaugh during an interview that he was going about between 40 and 45 miles per hours for a short period of time – one or two minutes, he estimated – immediately before the crash took place.

Slabaugh did not, however, suggest Perdock be charged in the case, while he did suggest charges against Dinius and also Weber, who he said violated federal navigation rules by not posting a lookout and by allowing his boat to operate without running lights.

Earlier this month, a two-part investigation by Dan Noyes of KGO profiled the case.

In a statement dated Friday, Mitchell said that those recent television news broadcasts “have left many good citizens apprehensive about the adequacy and fairness of the subsequent investigation. I have heard those concerns and they do resonate with me.”

Mitchell continued, “The Lake County Sheriff’s Department must operate unencumbered by doubt. Lynn Thornton’s loved ones and local citizens alike must be able to trust that we are fully open to inspection – in spite of unfortunate stereotypes of rural communities.”

As a result, Mitchell said he contacted the Attorney General's Office Aug. 20 to request that the Department of Justice (DOJ) conduct a review of the investigation conducted by the Lake County Sheriff's Office and members of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Marine Services Unit, who Mitchell asked to assist in the initial investigation.

The Attorney General's Office officially granted Mitchell's request Aug. 22, according to Mitchell's statement.

“I look forward to the outcome of the DOJ’s review and I am committed to accepting all of their findings,” Mitchell said.

“It is typical for law enforcement agencies to protect case evidence until it can be scrutinized in court,” Mitchell said it in his written statement.

In a rural county like Lake, Mitchell said that it is crucial that the small jury pool not be influenced by unvetted information from the media before jurors can be impaneled to hear the case's facts for themselves.

“I will release the DOJ’s findings to the public for review the instant that I am confident that it will not interfere with any local jury selection process,” he wrote.

This will be the second time the California Attorney General's Office has been asked to render an opinion on the case.

Hopkins said before he made the charging decision earlier this year, he forwarded it to the Attorney General's Office to ask for an opinion on whether or not his office should be recused from the prosecution due to the close working relationship it shares with the sheriff's office, as Lake County News previously reported.

At that time, the Attorney General's Office ruled that there was no reason for Hopkins not to prosecute the case, and so sent it back to his office.

It was that request, plus additional investigation and followup by District Attorney's Office staff, that resulted in more than a year between the time of the accident and the charges being filed, Hopkins previously told Lake County News.

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CLEARLAKE – Police had a short vehicle pursuit Thursday night while trying to pull over a teenage driver for speeding.

Radio reports indicated the chase took place on 18^th Avenue.

Lt. Mike Hermann of the Clearlake Police Department reported Friday that Officer Todd Miller was involved in the vehicle pursuit just after 8 p.m., chasing after a 17-year-old male juvenile in a Chrysler Fifth Avenue.

Hermann said Miller was trying to pull the teen over for speeding when the teen took off.

However, the pursuit was a short one; Hermann said it lasted less than a mile when the teen's car began to fishtail, clipped the front of Miller's car and then crashed into a fence and a parked vehicle in front of a residence.

The teen then reportedly jumped out of the car, according to police radio reports, and fled on foot towards 20^th Avenue, where he was pursued by Clearlake Police and a sheriff's deputy with a K-9.

Within about 15 minutes residents in the area pointed out that the juvenile was hiding in the area of 19^th Avenue and he was arrested.

Hermann said no one was hurt, and the police cruiser only received minor damage to the front bumper.

The juvenile male was charged with five different violations, ranging from felonies to misdemeanors, said Hermann.

It also was discovered that the teen wasn't a licensed driver, he said. Hermann didn't have information on who owned the car the teen was driving.

The police have had a lot of contact with the teen suspect before, although not recently, said Hermann.

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What happened here is the FACT that the police presence was an/and was an intimidation. I am from Orange County, California and new to the Bay and Northern California rides. We, down in Southern California, WELCOME the biker community. Something I have NOT seen up here. The biking Community in Southern California brings forth thousands and thousands of dollars in charitable donation dollars to these events.

I have witnessed and have been discouraged in giving my money/dollars to any events up here because of the intimidation I have witnessed up here. When these rallies/events appear, there is a network of "giving." If we are hassled and intimidated by others, we WILL go somewhere else and spend our money ...

You have to remember: We are not all "outlaws" ... for crying out loud: it is the year 2007 ... we are now judges, lawyers, accountants, blue collar workers, paralegals, waitresses, retired, working everyday people making good money, who just love the ride and love to give by the ride ... it is getting harder and harder to do this in Northern California and it is a violation of our civil rights to do so.

Don't be surprised that we start to fight back politically and morally. The Fryed Brothers are a hired music venue which brings in MONEY to these charities ... don't blame it on the music ... blame the bad turnout on the people with closed minds thinking that we who ride motorcycles are terrorists on two wheels. In fact, we are people who ride motorcycles who love this country, who ride with the freedom of giving and with LOVE.

Kathy Hurwitz lives in Alameda.

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CLEARLAKE – Organizers of a weekend motorcycle run are blaming a stepped-up law enforcement presence for the event's poor turnout, while Clearlake's police chief says he and other agencies around the lake were simply attempting to ensure a safe atmosphere.

Georgina Lehne, executive director of the Lake County Community Action Agency, and Joyce Overton, who – when not busy with her work as a Clearlake City Councilwoman – has helped promote the agency's many programs for low-income families, organized the inaugural Blue Heron Run, held Saturday in Clearlake at the old Austin Resort site.

The motorcycle run was to be accompanied by a day of fun events, a concert, vendors and more. But Lehne said the day was a disaster.

She said only 72 riders came to participate out of an expected 300, only four children showed up to take part in the games and activities and vendors did little business. Lehne blamed the event's collapse on local law enforcement, who she said went “overboard” in enforcing the event.

“Both of us are really upset,” she said of how she and Overton felt.

But Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain said Monday he had yet to speak with Overton or Lehne, and didn't know exactly what their concerns were about the event.

For his part, McClain said he was concerned about the event, particularly relating to the band hired to entertain at the run, the Fryed Brothers, and its connections to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

He said he had been warned by specialists in motorcycle gang law enforcement to expect gangs – such as the Hell's Angels, Mullocks and Vagos – to come for the run, and gang members were in fact spotted at the event, he said.

McClain said he was told to expect 200 to 300 motorcycle riders, and that he told Overton he planned for extra enforcement on the event date. Otherwise, he said they had “minimal conversations” about the run.

Clearlake Police partnered with other law enforcement agencies around the county – the Lake County Sheriff's Office, California Highway Patrol and Lakeport Police – to provide coverage for the run, McClain said.

“What we set up this weekend is what I was told has always been done in the past,” he added.

In fact, during the last weekend of March, local law enforcement agencies were similarly out in force because of a poker run held by the Lake County chapter of the Vagos, as Lake County News previously reported.

On Saturday, Clearlake put four additional cars on duty, with two officers assigned to each car, he said. In addition, Lakeport, the sheriff's office and CHP each sent three cars for a total of 13 vehicles.

Lehne said she had reports that motorcycle riders were being turned away from the event by police. McClain countered by saying that police didn't begin patrolling the event until the poker ride left at 11 a.m. Police saw only about 60 motorcycles at the time, said McClain, who was himself patrolling the event during the day.

“I'm not sure what we in law enforcement did that would have harassed, intimidated or caused people not to come,” said McClain.

Clearlake Police had no issues that day within the city limits, said McClain, with no traffic stops, citations or arrests.

“We wanted to make sure everyone was safe and protected for this event,” he said.

CHP Officer Josh Dye said that agency conducted a few minor traffic stops during the day, wrote one ticket in Kelseyville and another at the intersection of Highways 53 and 20.

Vic McManus of Kelseyville, a member of the North Bay Motorcycle Association, led the four-and-a-half-hour poker ride with a friend.

He said they immediately noticed attendance was much lower than expected, and saw a police presence, but said that's not unusual for motorcycle events.

McManus said as they left for the run, entering Highway 53 toward Clearlake Oaks, he saw Clearlake Police and CHP parked by the side of the road. They weren't controlling traffic, as he said law enforcement have done at other events.

Going down through the intersection of Highway 53 and 20, McManus said he saw five enforcement cars waiting. As soon as the pack rolled through the intersection, the officers and deputies immediately pulled over the 100 or so motorcycles in an area with no road shoulder.

Officers went through the crowd, chastising everyone for having not stopped at the stop sign, said McManus.

“They were really unprofessional,” said McManus, a former correctional officer with the Lake County Jail who said he and other motorcyclists were “treated like criminals.”

Along with Clearlake and Lakeport Police, the sheriff's office and CHP, McManus said he saw Drug Enforcement Administration agents, and officers from Lake County's Probation Department and District Attorney's Office.

McManus said he saw no such law enforcement presence at the last local motorcycle poker run he attended more than a month ago sponsored by Lakeport's Ironhorse Creations.

He and his friend actually turned the pack around and went back the other way, opposite of their original plans, and took the backroads toward Kelseyville and Lakeport.

At one point McManus said a CHP officer broke into the middle of the pack of riders with his car and allowed cars to get in between the bikes. “That was a horrible risk to the riders,” said McManus.

McManus said he spoke with CHP Commander Dane Hayward and Sheriff Rod Mitchell Monday evening, and that he understood their concerns about motorcycle gangs.

He said he felt law enforcement could have done a better job interacting with the riders and being more friendly and welcoming to visitors.

Lehne estimated the event lost her agency as much as $15,000. “It was just a mess.”

She said she's still figuring out the losses. “I only know it wasn't a success.”

Lake County Community Action Agency still has hundreds of tickets to sell for a Harley motorcycle giveaway, and she's afraid that the agency's programs will be affected by the losses. “It takes a long time to get that money back, if you ever do,” she said.

 

Lehne said she is considering presenting a bill for the lost funds to the Clearlake City Council at its Thursday meeting.

 

As for the event's future, “I think it's done. I really think it's done.”

McClain said his goal was to be as supportive as possible while keeping the city safe. “I think that's what the community expects from me.”

If you'd like to purchase one of the tickets for the Harley motorcycle drawing, contact Lake County Community Action Agency, 995-0495. 

 

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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CLEARLAKE – Clearlake Police are looking for the suspects who riddled a Schultz Avenue residence with bullets early Monday morning.

A report from Clearlake Police Officer Tim Hobbs said that several residents reported gunshots in the 3900 block of Schultz Avenue at 3:30 a.m. Monday.

One of those calling the incident in to the police reported their home had been hit by numerous bullets, according to Hobbs' report.

No injuries were reported to residents of the homes, Hobbs reported.

Hobbs' report states he and Officer Dominic Ramirez arrived onscene within minutes of the call and saw a vehicle returning to the area of the shooting.

The vehicle then fled the scene, crashing into a tree a short distance away, in the area of Valley and Mullen avenues, Hobbs reported. The occupants of the vehicle fled the scene on foot.

Hobbs and Ramirez found two firearms in the vehicle that they believe were used in the shooting.

No arrests have been made but the investigation, led by Hobbs, is continuing.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Hobbs at Clearlake Police Department, 994-8251.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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