LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Voters on Tuesday chose a new Lake County sheriff, returned the incumbent district attorney to office, selected a new assessor-recorder, and passed new marijuana rules but failed to give the necessary votes to a sales tax measure to benefit Clear Lake.

The Tuesday primary settled the season's main race – that of sheriff-coroner, with law enforcement veteran Brian Martin winning the sheriff's race with 51.4 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Frank Rivero received 25.9 percent of the vote and Bob Chalk, Clearlake's retired police chief, received 22.7 percent of the vote in the preliminary results posted early Wednesday morning.

In the district attorney's race, incumbent Don Anderson will move on to a second term, taking 59.3 percent of the vote. Lakeport attorney Andre Ross, an ally of Rivero's who had come into the race at the last minute to challenge Anderson, received 40.7 percent.

The race to succeed retiring Assessor-Recorder Doug Wacker also was decided on Tuesday.

Richard Ford, the county's assistant auditor-controller, won the three-way race with attorney Sorhna Li Jordan and bar owner Logan Weiper.

Ford received 50.1 percent of the vote, with Jordan taking 26.6 percent and Weiper 23.3 percent.

In the District 2 supervisorial race, incumbent Jeff Smith led throughout the night, ending with 45 percent of the vote.

He was challenged by Clearlake City Council members Joyce Overton and Jeri Spittler.

For most of the night Overton had run in second place, but when the last of the precincts were counted, Spittler had 27.9 percent of the vote and Overton 27.1 percent, setting the stage for a November runoff between Smith and Spittler.

The race for the District 3 seat on the Board of Supervisors also is going to a November runoff.

It was a six-man race that throughout Tuesday was led by Clearlake Oaks resident Jim Steele, who finished with 32.4 percent of the vote.

John Brosnan of Upper Lake, with 19.2 percent, would edge out businessman Marvin Butler – who came in with 17 percent of the vote and had been in second place most of the evening – for the chance to race against Steele for the office in November.

Clearlake Oaks resident Herb Gura would finish with 15.8 percent of the vote, while fellow Clearlake Oaks residents James Brown and Mark Currier finished with 11.2 percent and 5.4 percent of the vote, respectively.

Regarding county measures on the ballot, Measure N, the county ordinance establishing rules for medical marijuana cultivation that had been forced to referendum, won with a “yes” vote of 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent voting no. The measure needed a simple majority to go into effect.

At the same time, the latest attempt to pass a specific tax to help protect Clear Lake and other water bodies failed.

The Measure L “Healthy Lake” sales tax measure received 63.9 percent of the vote. However, because it was a specific tax that would have dedicated revenues only to the listed water quality projects, it needed 66 percent of the vote to pass.

In other results from Tuesday, winning election and running unopposed were Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen, County Clerk-Auditor Cathy Saderlund and Brock Falkenberg, seeking the county superintendent of schools seat.

Overall voter turnout was low in Lake County's Tuesday primary election.

The preliminary results from the Registrar of Voters Office showed that 28.5 percent – or just over 9,700 of the county's nearly 34,000 registered voters – cast ballots in the Tuesday contest. Of those, 13.4 percent were cast in precincts and 15.2 percent were absentee.

Tuesday's turnout was down from the voter turnout for the June 2010 primary, when 47.5 percent – or approximately 15,559 of a reported 32,763 registered voters – participated, according to Registrar of Voters records.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Authorities are seeking information about a 9-year-old boy who is believed to have disappeared along with his former guardian.

Nathan Ayers, who also goes by the last name of Barsolo, was reported missing last week, according to a report from Clearlake Police Officer Michael Carpenter.

Police said the boy may be in the company of his former guardian, Tracy Barsolo.

Barsolo currently has an outstanding arrest warrant and is wanted by the Clearlake Police Department for questioning, Carpenter said.

Just before 2 p.m. last Friday, the Clearlake Police Department received a call from the child's foster mother. Carpenter contacted the woman, who said Nathan did not return home from Pomo Elementary School that day.

Carpenter said Nathan was entered into Missing Unidentified Person System. Police also are working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and California Department of Justice Missing Person Unit, which issued an alert on the missing boy.

Clearlake Police officers conducted an extensive search in order to locate Nathan, and have followed up on all leads, without success, Carpenter said.

Nathan, who turns 10 in November, is described as a white male, with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He is 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. When he was last seen he was wearing a red sweatshirt, green shirt, blue jeans and black and white tennis shoes.

Tracy Barsolo is described as a white female adult, approximately 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing approximately 160 pounds, with red hair and hazel eyes. She may have recently changed her hair color, according to police.

Carpenter said there is no vehicle associated with Barsolo or the child.

Anyone with information should contact Officer Bobi Thompson at 707-994-8251, Extension 510.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A harassment and discrimination suit filed by a former Lake County Sheriff's deputy is set to go to trial in federal court in San Francisco next month.

Jury selection in the trial for Michael Morshed's civil rights claims against the county of Lake will begin on June 9, according to federal court records filed on Wednesday.

Jocelyn Burton of Oakland-based Burton Employment Law, who is representing Morshed in the case, did not offer a comment when contacted by Lake County News.

The county of Lake is being represented by an outside law firm, Porter Scott of Sacramento.

Porter Scott attorney John Whitefleet said he had no comment about the case when contacted by Lake County News.

County Counsel Anita Grant also would not make a statement on the case, saying it’s the county’s policy not to discuss pending litigation.

Morshed, who is of Iranian descent, was employed by the Lake County Sheriff's Office from 1990 until May 17, 2010, according to court filings.

Among Morshed's claims are that he was the target of derogatory comments about his ethnic background, was subjected to a hostile work environment, was the target of retaliation and was denied opportunities for promotion.

In late April the county of Lake filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Morshed couldn't establish prima facie claims of discrimination or retaliation because the county's actions against him – including a failure to promote him – “were based on nondiscriminatory, non-pretextual reasons,” and that he could not prove that the county had a custom, policy or practice of unlawful discrimination, retaliation and/or harassment.

On May 1, US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers signed an order granting parts of the county of Lake's motion for summary judgment in Morshed's case, and denying other parts.

Specifically, Rogers ruled in favor of the county with regard to two Morshed allegations of discrimination based on national origin, one specifically related to denial of promotion; and two separate allegations of retaliation; and violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 based on denial of a promotional opportunity and retaliation.

However, Rogers denied summary judgment regarding two causes of action regarding hostile work environment due to national origin and a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 regarding hostile work environment.

Background to the case

Morshed initially filed a discrimination complaint with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, in June 2009.

Early the following year, Morshed was placed on administrative leave after it was alleged that he took an investigative report regarding a correctional officer in order to have it posted anonymously on the Internet. Details about the investigation are available here: http://bit.ly/12J1792 .

In the documents accompanying the search warrant sheriff's staff obtained for Morshed's home, it was alleged that Morshed took the actions in support of then-sheriff's candidate Frank Rivero, who in November 2010 won the election.

Morshed eventually was terminated in May 2010 by the sheriff's office. Court records indicate that Morshed was fired not because of the allegation of stealing a computer file but for insubordination for failing to answer questions during an administrative internal affairs investigation.

In March 2012, the EEOC issued a determination concluding that there was reasonable cause to believe the county of Lake had discriminated against Morshed by subjecting him to harassment. However, the EEOC concluded it was unable to conclude that Morshed was denied promotion because of his national origin.

The EEOC also concluded that the county of Lake had engaged in discriminatory acts, and in November 2012 issued to Morshed a right to sue determination.

He filed the federal suit in February 2013.

Rivero is one of the chief witnesses expected to testify on Morshed's behalf and discuss his own allegations of racial harassment while serving as a deputy in the department, according to the witness list.

Based on a witness list filed May 16, Morshed's team also intends to call Morshed himself to testify, along with Chris Macedo, recently appointed interim undersheriff by Rivero, who Morshed is accusing of making racial comments against him; former Sheriff Rod Mitchell; sheriff's employees Nicole Costanza, Darren Daskam, Andrew Davidson, Eric Keener and Lyle Thomas; former sheriff's employees Jim Beland, Mike Curran, David Garzoli, Gary Hall, Brian Lande, Patrick McMahon, Russell Perdock and Kip Ringen; and Dave Brown, a retired District Attorney's Office investigator.

The county’s attorneys also intend to call Mitchell and Macedo as witnesses, along with Brian Martin, a former sheriff's lieutenant who had investigated Morshed for the leak of the investigative report; Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke, who while serving as Lakeport Police chief in 2009 sat on a sergeant's promotional interview panel; former sheriff's Capt. Cecil Brown; Davidson; expert witness Don Vilfer; Special Agent Brian Cardwell of the California Department of Justice, who investigated the thumb drive that it's believed Morshed used to copy the investigative report; county Human Resources Director Kathy Ferguson.

Lt. Steve Brooks also is expected to be called to testify about being subjected to racial discrimination and harassment by Morshed.

While all of these individuals are listed as witnesses, Lake County News has learned that several of them have not been subpoenaed and did not even know there was pending litigation.

Morshed’s job performance, demotion at issue

For its part, the county's legal team is focusing on Morshed's performance history to explain the issues with his advancement, including his demotion from sergeant in April 2006 after having sex with a subordinate sheriff's office employee in a marked patrol vehicle.

In his filings, Morshed said he was told that he would be reinstated to his sergeant's position after one year, and that he subsequently watched others be promoted, and that he suffered retaliation – in the form of denied overtime, time card scrutiny and “unwarranted internal affairs and criminal investigations and, ultimately, his termination” – after speaking with a county investigator and submitting the EEOC charge.

As proof of retaliation, Morshed cites statements attributed to former Sheriff Rod Mitchell about being “disappointed” in Morshed's EEOC filing.

There also was a June 2010 commentary published by Lake County News in which Mitchell – in the process of addressing Rivero's public statements about an internal affairs investigation in violation of an order not to discuss the matter – stated, “Rivero’s closest allies are former law enforcement officers who proved to be professional victims too.”

The commentary can be found at http://bit.ly/1k6q47N .

The county intends to call as an expert witness the former sheriff of Sacramento County, John McGinness, who will testify that the disciplinary actions Mitchell took against Morshed were not excessive “given the nature of the conduct in which Mr. Morshed engaged while representing LCSO and being compensated by their constituents for critical public safety services.”

McGinness goes so far as to say that the discipline given Morshed for having sex in a marked patrol car with a subordinate sheriff's office employee was “lenient,” and “provided him ample advantage in terms of minimal consequences for egregious misconduct in the line of duty.”

McGinness' statement on his intended testimony also notes that Morshed failed to document and follow up in a timely manner on an assault on a county middle school campus that resulted in injury and had, as a possible motivation, an element of affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan. “Morshed demonstrated a gross dereliction of his fundamental duties as a peace officer by failing to take swift and proper action.”

Other issues with Morshed's performance include spending excessive time at his personal residence when he should have been on patrol and the publishing of the investigative report online.

McGinness concludes that he sees “no evidence whatsoever” to suggest any improper treatment of Morshed by the county of Lake or the sheriff's leadership.

Rivero also has an EEOC claim against the county alleging harassment and discrimination that he filed in May 2009, before Morshed filed his claim.

Grant said Rivero’s EEOC claim remains unresolved.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The three men seeking to win this year's sheriff's race met for a candidates' forum last week.

Challengers Bob Chalk and Brian Martin and incumbent Frank Rivero took part in the forum, held last Tuesday, May 13, in the Board of Supervisors' chambers in the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.

Lakeport Public Works Director Mark Brannigan acted as the moderator.

During the forum the three candidates answered questions submitted by the community and outlined their priorities.

The video of the forum, which ran 74 minutes, can be seen above in its entirety.

It was the last in a series of primary season debates cosponsored by the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and Lake County News, with McKenzie Paine of Velocity Video producing the video.