How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
I was broadcasting on Internet radio when I received a text message that Michael Jackson had died. I thought it was a gag. Then I lost my Internet connection and my phones started ringing. It was true. On the heels of Farrah Fawcett this morning. Wow. My business day was effectively terminated at that point.
When my Internet connection returned, I noticed it was saturated with the agony and ecstasy of the Michael Jackson legend. I’m glad that I don’t have cable television. Aural stimulation is plenty for me.
As I write this I’m listening to the Jackson 5’s second album, “ABC,” and I’m getting a good visual of the young, exuberant MJ.
I’ve called several friends and colleagues to get their take on the phenomenon, Michael Jackson.
M says: “My earliest memory of Michael Jackson was him at about the age of 8 on television singing with his brothers. I just thought he was the cutest little something that could be. I had no idea he would develop into the icon he became. Even though I’m older than him, he made me feel younger than him as I grew up. I just adored him and when I heard it on television today, I just went down to the floor. What I’m having a problem with is how the media can’t separate what he allegedly did in his personal life from his sheer artistic genius. We are all human and subject to error … I’ve been meaning to purchase the 25th anniversary edition of “Thriller” and “We Are The World.” I called Barnes and Noble almost immediately and they were already sold out. I had to order them …”
A says: “It’s a devastating thing to lose two icons in one day. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. I was in the military during the Vietnam War era when Michael Jackson came out with “ABC.” We marked time with him. It’s like when you’re a child and your parents mark the door frame or the wall to indicate how tall you were. Then to know that he had a painful childhood and the ridicule he endured as an adult because he was different, not perfect enough for some people. His music, though, moved the spirit of people. I don’t care what you say about him, he had a global effect on people. Tonight, a whole ocean of tears will fall. People were married and made love on Michael Jackson music, babies were conceived …”
R says: “The comparison to Presley is almost frightening. When you go that far you have no where else to go. Celine Dion says it the best. She says how you continue to try to beat yourself? You have no one else to out do so you try to out do yourself. Once you reach that pinnacle of success you have to learn how to coast through it. Celine went to Las Vegas and relaxed. Hendrix and others blasted themselves right out of here. Michael’s exit was slower. They are saying he was pretty sick. They also just reported that his will stipulates the Beatles catalog goes back to Paul. That he regretted losing Paul’s friendship.”
And so the saturation continues. CNN reported on the story well into the night. Well, into the ocean of tears that A refers to above.
Me? I agree with Michael’s intonation at the beginning of “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”:
“You know I was, I was wonderin’, you know, if we could keep on
because, the force has got a lot of power and
it make me feel like
it make me feel like … Oooh.”
I believe the King of Pop has returned to the force from whence he sprang.
Keep prayin’, keep thinkin’ those kind thoughts.
*****
Upcoming cool events:
Bill Noteman & The Rockets play the Lakeport Summer Concerts at Library Park, 200 Park St., on Friday, June 26, at 6:30 p.m.
The Neville Brothers, Jeffrey Osborne, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Eric Bibb, Elvin Bishop, Denise Lasalle and more at the Monterey Bay Blues Festival from Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, 2004 Fairgrounds Road, Monterey, CA. Telephone, 831-394-2652 or online www.montereyblues.com .
Smokey Robinson in concert, 7:15 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa, 8727 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville. Telephone, 800-660-LAKE, or online at www.konoctiharbor.com .
The Four Tops in Concert, 9 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Cache Creek Casino Resort, 14455 Highway 16, Brooks. Telephone, 888-77-CACHE, or online at www.cachecreek.com .
T. Watts is a writer, radio host and music critic. Visit his Web site at www.teewatts.biz .
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKE COUNTY – After a month of cooler-than-normal temperatures in Lake County and throughout Northern California, the weekend weather is predicted to heat up and usher in hot summer temperatures.
After a pleasant Thursday afternoon, the mercury is forecast to begin climbing through the weekend according to The Weather Channel, beginning Friday, with temperatures predicted to reach the mid- to upper-90s.
Be prepared for daytime highs to be near or over 100 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday as hot summer temperatures return to Lake County and much of Northern California, The Weather Channel predicts.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento (NWS), has issued a special weather statement for Lake County and interior California as a strong high pressure system builds over Northern California from the eastern Pacific.
Overnight temperatures will drop to the upper 50s to low 60s.
If you're planning on outdoor activities in Lake County this weekend – and there are several to choose from (follow the link for "calendar" at the top of the page) – the NWS reminds everyone to avoid strenuous activity during the heat of the day and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.
E-mail Terre Logsdon at
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KELSEYVILLE – With its eye on building a new center to serve local students, Mendocino College has entered escrow on a 14-acre parcel slated to be the future home of its Lake Center, but the plans may face some challenges.
On June 3, the Mendocino College Board of Trustees approved entering into escrow to buy the land, owned by Kelseyville farmer Greg Hanson, according to Mike Adams, the college's director of facility services and a county resident.
The property is located in the 3300 block of Merritt Road in close proximity to the new Kelseyville Lumber home center.
The college will pay the agreed-upon price of $770,000 from proceeds of Measure W, a facility improvement bond measure voters approved Nov. 7, 2006, Adams said.
Measure W authorizes $67.5 million in bond funds for upgrades to college facilities in Ukiah as well as new centers in Willits – where property also is currently being purchased – and Lake County, according to the college's quarterly bond report, issued in March.
Originally, the Measure W budget called for spending $15 million on the Lake Center, but that has since been reduced to $7.5 million, of which more than $132,000 had been spent as of March on items including surveys, legal fees and consultant services.
The choice of the Kelseyville site over Lakeport surprised city officials, who carried on a steady campaign to keep the center there. The college's current county center is located in rented buildings at 1005 Parallel Drive in Lakeport.
Lakeport Redevelopment Agency Director Richard Knoll said it was a “big disappointment” that the college wouldn't be making its home in the more centralized location of Lakeport, where services are readily available.
He said the city made no secret about wanting to keep the college there, suggesting several potential locations – some of them similar to the nearly two dozen sites now being scrutinized for a new county courthouse location.
“I think that Lakeport is the place for the college and I think that more of an effort, frankly, should have been put into trying to find a site here that worked for them,” Knoll told Lake County News on Wednesday.
The plan also has caused concern for the Lake County Farm Bureau and Sierra Club Lake Group, who are concerned that the property is zoned for agriculture.
“We're going to fight this one root and branch,” Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon said. “Quite aside from the assault on ag land, we think community colleges belong in communities, in locations serviced by public transit and bike lanes and where amenities ranging from restaurants to concerts – essential adjuncts to education – are readily available.”
The college began looking in Kelseyville after its favored choice, a 31-acre parcel located at 2565 Parallel Drive in the newly annexed part of Lakeport, fell through at the start of this year, Adams said.
Tom Adamson, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based developer who bought the land in 2005, had previously proposed building a 130-lot subdivision on the site, as Lake County News has reported.
Adams said the college had looked at the property for almost two years, and spent a year actively working with Adamson on a purchase proposal.
However, the property's appraised value came in at $1.53 million, well under Adamson's $2.9 million asking price, said Adams.
“The property owners wanted more for the property than we were willing to pay, and we weren't willing to exercise eminent domain to acquire it,” Adams said.
Settling on a new location
Adams said college officials had a long list of other possible sites in Lakeport, as well as several in Kelseyville, they also had been looking at during that time. With the Parallel Drive site off the table, they began looking at those other locations.
Knoll said the college told the city they wanted a fairly large parcel, on the order of the Adamson property. He said the city proposed the Indian Prayer Hill/Campbell Hill area, as well as south of Lakeport Boulevard, and west of S. Main Street and Highway 29.
“They posed a couple of possibilities, but some of them didn't have any roads going to them,” said Adams.
Adams said college officials didn't think they could find a site in Lakeport to meet their needs, so they began looking more closely at Kelseyville for a site no smaller than 10 acres.
They had to be mindful of regulatory matters dealing with seismic issues, soils, being outside of a two-mile radius of the airport, highway access and turn lanes, and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements that the topography not be too steep, he explained.
Availability of water and sewer services also was important; Adams noted that water and sewer lines extend to the site.
“Visibility was an issue that was important to us,” he added.
The Merritt Road property they ultimately chose wasn't on the market at the time.
Hanson, whose family has been farming in the county for several generations, heard that the college was looking for property, and he thought his land might be perfectly suited for the campus.
Purchased by Hanson in 1991, the land currently is a Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. He plans to continue farming grapes, walnuts and pears on another 52-acre parcel he owns.
Adams and Hanson, who are friends, took a Lake County Farm Bureau board member's invitation and attended the group's regularly scheduled meeting on June 10 to give them an update on the plan.
Farm Bureau Executive Director Chuck March said the item wasn't on the agenda so there was very little discussion.
“The board was pretty much caught off guard on it,” he said.
March said the Farm Bureau board will have it on their July 8 agenda.
Under their current policy, they're definitely opposed to the college building the campus on agriculturally zoned land, and will evaluate the process for lodging formal complaints, said March.
The Farm Bureau had opposed the Kelseyville Lumber project in 2003 due to concerns about encroachment into ag lands and the lack of buffers.
Brandon said the Sierra Club looks forward to working closely with the Farm Bureau and Lake County Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hajik “in sinking this very bad idea.”
Planning, studies still ahead
Just what the college facility might look like, and how large it will be, are still to be determined, said Adams.
He and Mark Rawitsch, the Lake Center's dean of instruction, attended a Wednesday meeting to discuss concepts for the property.
Adams said they hope in a few months to have conceptual drawings of what the campus might look like and how it will fit into its environment.
There's a lengthy due diligence process for the college to complete, he said, as well as the possibility of a full environmental impact report and other California Environmental Quality Act documents due to the agricultural location.
The proposed campus property will need to be annexed by Lake County Special Districts for sewer and water services, and that process would go through the Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), Adams said.
The approval process in some other ways will be notably different from that encountered by most projects.
For one, the college isn't subject to zoning rules, and if the Farm Bureau wanted to oppose the project, its concerns would have to be lodged with LAFCO, said Adams.
Knoll explained that state law contains a provision allowing the college board of trustees to vote to override local zoning laws. “That's a political decision,” he said.
It becomes more of a political issue, Knoll suggested, to build a facility on a vineyard in a county that prides itself on its wine production.
Adams and Rawitsch said it will be a few years before anything is done on the land.
“We currently don't have a state match, and there may not be one coming any time soon,” Rawitsch said of funding for the project.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday that he plans to look into the case of a Carmichael man who is being tried for a fatal 2006 sailboat crash.
Sailors and supporters of 41-year-old Bismarck Dinius have posted dozens of messages on Brown's Facebook page since June 18, calling on Brown to take over handling of the case.
On the night of April 29, 2006, Dinius was at the tiller of a sailboat that was hit by a powerboat driven by Russell Perdock, an off-duty sheriff's deputy. Willows resident Lynn Thornton – fiancée of the sailboat's owner, Mark Weber – was mortally wounded and died days later at UC Davis Medical Center.
Dinius has been charged with vehicular manslaughter involving a boat because he allegedly was under way without running lights, which he, Weber and several witnesses dispute. He's also facing a boating under the influence charge because he allegedly had a blood alcohol level of 0.12 at the time of the crash. Perdock was not charged.
Dinius' attorney, Victor Haltom of Sacramento, has filed a motion to have District Attorney Jon Hopkins and his office recused from the case.
That motion – due to be heard June 30 – is Haltom's second attempt to have Hopkins and his office removed from the case.
The sailing community, which has been outspoken in its defense of Dinius since charges were filed against him in the spring of 2007, began posting on Brown's site late last week, calling the case everything from a “mess” to a “fiasco” and a “travesty.”
The first post, by Alan Bock, called on Brown to look into the case.
Most posts followed on Friday and over the weekend, with more sailors and supporters joining the effort on Monday and Tuesday.
Around 1 p.m. Tuesday Brown responded.
“Re: the Lake County comments on my wall – I’m talking to the DA and I’m looking into it. There’s conflicting claims – the preliminary hearing transcript is voluminous,” Brown wrote.
“I can confirm that's from him and that it speaks for itself,” Attorney General's Office spokesman Scott Gerber told Lake County News on Tuesday afternoon.
Gerber said he had no other information on the case or its status at this point.
Hopkins wouldn't confirm any discussions with Brown.
He told Lake County News on Thursday that he didn't want to comment on anything to do with the case at this time.
Hopkins, who said he is doing a “a complete in-depth analysis” of the case, is preparing for the June 30 motions hearing.
He announced on June 12 that he was moving forward with the prosecution, after taking over the case from Deputy District Attorney John Langan, who was the assigned prosecutor since the start of 2008.
Langan had told visiting Judge J. Michael Byrne at a hearing on May 19 – the original trial date – that he might have to drop the case if District Attorney's Office investigators weren't able to complete their investigation of new information by June 30, the new trial date Byrne set.
The new information included supporting statements about orders given to former sheriff's Sgt. James Beland, who said he wanted to give Perdock a breathalyzer test on the night of the crash but was forbidden to do so.
New witnesses also had come forward to allegedly place Perdock at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa in the hours before the crash, as Lake County News has reported.
Perdock told Lake County News last month that he didn't set foot on the resort that day.
Following Brown's online announcement, sailors continued to make posts on his Facebook wall, thanking him for considering the case.
By Tuesday night approximately 70 messages on the Dinius case had been posted since the first messages were left last week.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
