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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE OAKS – Officials have offered new information regarding a crash that occurred late Monday.
The collision occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Monday on Highway 20 near Walker Ridge Road, as Lake County News has reported.
Officer Steve Tanguay reported that 23-year-old Josephine Boylen of Oceanside was driving her 2006 Chevy Malibu eastbound on Highway 20, east of Walker Ridge road. Sally Ford, 23, of Stockton was riding as Boylen's passenger.
Tanguay said he didn't yet have information on the crash's cause.
Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown said the area where the crash took place, at mile marker 44.19, has had six major vehicle accidents in the past two years, which Caltrans officials confirmed to Lake County News.
Brown said that they've conducted four rope rescues in the area, all of which use a lot of equipment, manpower and advanced training.
The vehicle went off the roadway and was down a 75-foot embankment, according to Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown. He said a low-angle rope rescue was necessary to rescue the two women from the crash.
Sixteen personnel from Northshore Fire and Lake County Fire Protection districts, and the Williams Fire Authority, Brown said. The response was part of a mutual aid program established between the Williams Fire Authority and agencies in Lake County.
Brown said extrication included using power equipment that had to be lowered down in stokes liter. Both patients were then secured and raised up the hill using rope rescue. With extrication and rescue the first patient was loaded into a medic vehicle within 45 minutes.
Tanguay said Boylen was transported by Lake County Fire Protection District ambulance to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake for minor injuries, while Ford was transported by a Northshore Fire Protection District ambulance to a landing zone, and was taken by REACH to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for moderate injuries.
In all, Northshore Fire has conducted six rope rescues in the last two years, said Brown. Rescue 7511, based at the Clearlake Oaks Fire Station, is set up as a medium Office of Emergency Services rescue vehicle. He said it was purchased by St. Helena Hospital Clearlake, with Northshore Fire purchasing all of the equipment.
Brown added that rope rescue training has been supported by each fire district and the Lake County fire chiefs.
Officer Mark Crutcher is investigating the collision's cause, Tanguay said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Dennis A. Fordham
This is because if you owned the real property for many years prior to the transfer at death, then your tax base is usually low in today’s prices. Preserving your low tax base for your children when they inherit can sometimes be a tricky issue. Let’s now examine two hypothetical scenarios frequently encountered in the administration of a deceased parent’s estate.
The first scenario is where the parents leave their entire estate equally amongst all their children and the trustee or executor wishes to do a so-called “non pro rata” in-kind distribution of the deceased parents’ estate; that is, to transfer title to one residence “in-kind” entirely to one child (usually) and to transfer other offsetting estate assets (e.g., other real property or cash) to the other child(ren).
The real property tax issue raised herein is whether the transfer of the home to one child alone qualifies entirely for the parent to child reassessment exclusion, or whether involves a partial transfer of ownership interest amongst the children (e.g., a disguised sale of the other children’s inheritance rights in the real property to the sole child who ends up with 100 percent ownership).
In order for 100 percent of the property’s value to qualify for the exclusion the transfer must be entirely between parent and child; meaning that no child exchanged or sold his/her inheritance interests in the subject real property as there is no exclusion from reassessment for inter sibling transfers. This means proving that the other child(ren) who did not receive a property interest in the real property received other estate assets such that all children ultimately received an equal share of the estate when the estate is fully settled.
That entails current appraisals of the estate assets (valid at time of distribution) and in-kind and/or cash distributions to the other children that offset the value of the real property received by one child so that the shares of each child are equal.
For example, if you have two children and two residences of equal appraised value then one residence can go from the parent’s estate to each child and be covered by the parent child exclusion. If, however, one residence is say worth $50,000 more than the other, then $50,000 in additional value (cash or appraised property) must also go to the child receiving the lesser valued home.
Next, the second scenario is where the deceased parents’ home is substantially all of their estate’s value and the trustee or executor in settling the estate wishes to give that home to one child but still treat the other children equally with cash.
Here the trustee or the executor must loan cash from a third party – never from the children – both to create liquidity and to reduce the net value of the residence. Then the encumbered property can be distributed to the child who must takes subject to the loan and the other children receive offsetting cash (derived from the loan).
In the end each child ends up with the same value (albeit one with real property and the others with cash). It is imperative that the cash loan not be provided by the child who is to receive the real property, because this will be treated by the assessor as a purchase by that child of the other children’s inheritance rights in the real property – e.g., a sale not exempted by the parent child exclusion.
Dennis A. Fordham is an attorney licensed to practice law in California and New York. He earned his BA at Columbia University, his JD at the State University of New York at Buffalo,and his LL.M in Taxation at New York University. He concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning and aspects of elder law. He can be reached at dennis@dennisfordhamlaw, by phone at 263-3235 or at his office at 55 First St., Lakeport.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
UPPER LAKE – Upper Lake High School's academic decathletes put on a strong performance in the California Academic Decathlon over the weekend, with one student capturing 10 individual medals.
The team, led by former academic decathlete and first-year coach Anna Sabalone, placed sixth out of 20 teams in Division 3, the category for small schools, according to the final results released by state officials on Monday.
This year's topic was Latin America. The competition took place in Sacramento.
Upper Lake's team consisted of Kyle Coleman, Courtney Havrilla, Belarmino Garcia Jr. and alternate Sarah Barnes, honors category (grade point averages of 3.75 to 4.0); Marisa Feliciano-Garcia, Stephanie Tregea, Thonyoon Chao and alternate Hannah Johnson, scholastic (GPAs of 3.0 to 3.74); and Chae Carter, Ben Mullin, Megan Morgan and alternate Brenda Mendoza, varsity (GPAs of 2.99 and below). Sabalone is head coach, with Steve Harness acting as assistant coach.
The competition emphasizes teamwork. However, one Upper Lake student emerged as a star in the competition – Ben Mullin, who was among the county competition's most decorated individual academic decathletes.
Mullin was the highest scoring student in Division 3's varsity category, with a point total of 7,172.1. Overall, he was ranked 41st amongst highest-scoring students. More than 500 students from 39 counties competed.
In addition to winning top honors for the division's varsity category, Mullin also placed first amongst Division 3 varsity students in the Super Quiz and social science; tied for first in interview and speech; and placed second in art, economics, essay, language and literature, and music.
Mullin's teammate, Marisa Feliciano-Garcia, won second place in the Division 3 scholastic category for her performance in the interview.
The overall winner for all divisions was Ventura County's Moorpark High School, with 50,752.9 points.
Upper Lake scored 35,444.5 points in competition, up from the 34,736 points it scored to win the Lake County Academic Decathlon title in February, as Lake County News has reported.
Finishing ahead of Upper Lake in Division 3 were Acalanes High School, Contra Costa County, 37,879.9 points; Marysville High School, Yuba County, 36,087.8 points; Ponderosa High School, El Dorado County, 35,849 points; Summerville High School, Tuolumne County, 35,694.2 points; Davis High School, Yolo County, 35,523.9 points.
Overall, Upper Lake's team finished 46th out of 60 teams in large, middle and small school divisions.
In the Super Quiz, Imperial County's Central Union High School placed first in Division 3 with 4,005 points. Upper Lake finished 12th overall in the Super Quiz, with 3,340 points. Los Angeles Unified's El Camino High School topped all divisions in the Super Quiz with 5,650 points.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
High school officials notified parents Monday that a message indicating a vague bomb threat toward the school's campus was left on the Middletown High School office's voice mail.
“At the point that the message was heard the fire alarm was pulled and all students were evacuated onto the softball fields or held at the front of the school, and then moved towards the fields,” Principal William Roderick said in a letter to parents and students.
Roderick said law enforcement was contacted immediately.
Fire officials and sheriff's deputies responded to the scene as parent Lynn Figone was dropping off her two children at Minnie Cannon Elementary, which is on the same site as Middletown Middle School and Middletown High.
Seeing the situation unfold, Figone decided to keep her children with her and wait until the situation was resolved.
“Once the sweep was done and I could return the kids to school they were a bit scared and confused about why someone would do that,” said Figone.
Deputies did a sweep of the campus while students were kept clear. “After checking the facility, and careful consideration and evaluation of the threat by law enforcement, as well as school administration, the decision was made for students to return to campus,” Roderick told parents.
Roderick said the bomb threat is part of an ongoing Lake County Sheriff's investigation. “When the person or people responsible for this threat are caught they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Last April, a message was left at the school that a bomb had been planted in a school locker, resulting in the school's evacuation while the school grounds were searched, as Lake County News has reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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