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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Sherrill and Howard Foster and Sheila Burton's lawsuit against Shannon Edmonds and his ex-girlfriend, Lori Tyler, concluded following a Dec. 12 settlement conference facilitated by a federal court judge, according to Russell Robinson, the attorney for the Fosters and Burton.
The families sued over the deaths of their sons, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, both 22, who were shot to death as they fled from Edmonds' and Tyler's Clearlake Park home in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 2005.
Robinson said the settlement is governed by a confidentiality agreement, so the monetary amount cannot be disclosed.
The San Francisco law firm Cesari, Werner and Moriarty represented Tyler. Dennis Moriarty, one of the lawyers representing Tyler, did not return calls seeking comment on the case.
In a Sept. 25, 2008, letter to federal Magistrate Bernard Zimmerman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Tyler's attorneys noted that she was unemployed and on disability. “Like defendant Edmonds, Ms. Tyler has no funds to contribute towards a settlement ...”
Allied Insurance, which court records noted was the liability insurance carrier at the time for Edmonds and Tyler, paid the settlement.
“We have settled with our policy holder and as far as we are concerned the matter is closed,” said Liz Christopher, a media spokesperson for Allied and its parent company, Nationwide Insurance.
Christopher added that the company does not discuss the details of private policies.
In 2007 the Foster and Burton families filed the lawsuit against Edmonds and Tyler in federal court, alleging that the shootings were racially motivated and followed a fight, as Lake County News has reported.
Edmonds allegedly shot Christian Foster and Rashad Williams as they ran from his home. Their families have denied they were there to take part in a break-in, which is what the District Attorney's Office alleged had led to the shootings.
The District Attorney's Office did not file charges against Edmonds, who is white, for shooting the two young black men, saying they did not believe they could successfully prosecute him based on the available evidence.
Officials did prosecute the young mens' friend, Renato Hughes, for their shootings under the provocative act law, which allows a person to be prosecuted for any deaths that occur during a violent crime in which they are alleged to have taken part.
The case led to accusations of racism and allegations that Hughes could not get a fair trial in Lake County. His trial was moved to Martinez and he was acquitted this past summer of the two mens' deaths, but found guilty of burglary and assault with a firearm, and sentenced to eight years in prison. He is appealing the conviction.
The families' suit alleged that Rashad Williams' and Christian Foster's civil rights were violated.
The lawsuit was amended after its original filing to add the city of Clearlake, the county of Lake and 100 unnamed individuals – believed to have been Clearlake Police or Lake County Sheriff's employees at the time – as defendants.
The Foster and Burton families alleged that Edmonds was a known drug dealer. They added the local governments to the suit for allowing Edmonds and Tyler “unlawfully to sell recreational drugs, to possess firearms, to use minors in unlawful sale of recreational drugs, and for failing to protect persons such as Christian and Rashad.”
In May, federal Judge William Alsup dismissed the case against the county and city, as Lake County News has reported.
The case was set to move to trial in September of 2009. However, with the federal claims against the jurisdictions dismissed, Robinson said the federal court was losing its jurisdiction over the case.
Zimmerman, a magistrate judge, kept the case in federal court, however, and asked the two sides – including Allied Insurance – to sit down to the Dec. 12 settlement conference, Robinson said.
Robinson said the parties reached an agreement by day's end.
“It was not an easy case to settle,” he said, crediting Zimmerman for bringing the two sides together.
The families willingly settled the case, but it isn't a truly satisfying conclusion, he said.
“You can't bring their kids back,” said Robinson.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – Unemployment rates in Lake County, California and the nation are continuing their steep upward climb, according to new government reports. {sidebar id=116}
California's unemployment hit 9.3 percent in December, up from 8.4 percent in November, according to the state Employment Development Department (EDD). In December of 2007, unemployment in California was at 5.9 percent.
The US unemployment rate was 7.2 percent for December, up from 4.9 the previous year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Lake County, December's unemployment rate was at 13.1 percent, the highest local rate since March of 1997, according to EDD records. That was up from the 12.4 percent rate last November.
Lake County's December 2007 unemployment rate was 9.6 percent, with 2,420 people out of work. This past month, approximately 3,430 people were out of work locally, a growth of 1,010 people added to the unemployment rolls over a year's time.
California lost 78,200 nonfarm jobs in December, and had 257,400 fewer jobs in December 2008 than it did the previous year, according to the EDD.
In all, California has 1,732,000 unemployed workers – a number that was up by 166,000 from November and up by 653,000 compared with December of 2007. Those who were unemployed included 785,200 who were laid off and 125,300 who left their jobs voluntarily.
The rest were either new entrants or reentrants into the labor market, or persons who completed temporary jobs, according to a federal household survey.
Not all of those on unemployment are receiving any help. The EDD reported that 655,445 people across the state received regular unemployment insurance benefits during the December survey week, compared with 593,670 in November and 451,098 in December 2007.
EDD reported that new claims for unemployment insurance were 87,979 in December 2008, compared with 80,920 in November and 56,984 in December of last year.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, nationwide, payroll employment fell by 524,000 jobs in December and by 1.9 million over the last four months of 2008, with job losses being “large and widespread across major industry sectors.”
The actual number of unemployed nationwide increased by 632,000 in December to reach 11.1 million, the bureau reported.
Since December 2007, when the recession is recorded as starting, 3.6 million people have become unemployed across the nation, which caused the national unemployment rate to climb by 2.3 percentage points.
Government looks at solutions
In a statement on the recent unemployment report, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is fighting for “aggressive economic stimulus” in the state's drawn out budget negotiations.
“Our increasing unemployment rate makes it clear that the crisis in our nation’s economy that has led to job losses is completely tied to our state budget shortfall,” Schwarzenegger said.
He said the state's fiscal problems can't be solved without working to stimulate the economy, and he's pushing for four elements he believes are immediately necessary: spending reductions, increasing revenues, making government run more efficiently and stimulating the economy by putting people back to work and helping families stay in their homes.
Economic stimulus for the entire nation is a stated goal of legislation at the federal level.
Last week, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson reported that the House Ways and Means Committee, of which he is a member, voted 24-13 to support a comprehensive economic recovery package – HR 598 – that is making its way through Congress. The legislation is due to be combined with other legislative components into HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Thompson is advocating for rural areas to receive a fair share of bond funding in the legislation that is targeted at infrastructure projects and job training programs.
During his first weekly address on Saturday, President Barack Obama discussed the $825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, which he said will jumpstart the economy and tackle unemployment.
“Just this week, we saw more people file for unemployment than at any time in the last 26 years,” he said, noting that experts agree that if nothing is done the nation's unemployment rate could reach double digits.
Some of the plan's key points involve creating four millions jobs over the next few years while building new infrastructure – such as 3,000 miles of new electric grid transmission lines – weatherizing millions of homes, securing ports, renovating schools and protection health insurance for millions of Americans who face losing it.
Republicans in Congress, including Sen. John McCain and House Minority Leader John Boehner, are skeptical of the proposal.
In a Sunday appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Boehner warned against raising taxes during a recession, and was critical of the plan favored by Obama and a reported majority of Democrats.
“We need an economic rescue package, but we all want one that works, one that helps small businesses, helps American families, helps create jobs and preserves jobs in America, and what we see with their plan is a lot of spending that I just don’t think will work,” Boehner said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
County staff will provide updates on the redevelopment process and other issues, and community organizations will cover the local volunteer efforts.
The agenda includes gathering additional community input on redevelopment questions and the Lucerne clubhouse.
This is your opportunity to participate in an open forum discussing critical issues of concern to the Lucerne Community.
The Lucerne Senior Center is located on Country Club Drive between 9th and 10th streets.
For more information, contact Rushing at 263-2368 or
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- Details
- Written by: Ross Christensen
I stopped by the Kitchen Gallery in Lakeport to pick up some things and asked Lexie Firth if she could recommend someplace for lunch. Without hesitation she said Molly Brennan’s, just a few doors down, right there on Main Street. She continued to say that they had a fantastic shepherd’s pie, great fish and chips, and many different types of beer.
So I walked down the block and I was seated quickly and took note of the room. The early industrial look of the old Main Street buildings gives the appearance that Molly Brennan’s has been in business for over a century. It has a very Irish pub décor to it with natural brick walls, wood floors, and the almost stereo-typical UK beer advertisements.
The menu if full of the type of food you would expect from a pub-style restaurant. It’s a good-sized menu, not pages full of meaningless dishes trying to please everybody. On the menu was Guinness Irish stew (don’t think that didn’t tempt me), bangers and mash, salmon, burgers, even salads, appetizers, and soups. This is basic meat and potatoes cuisine; if you’re looking for truffles, foie gras and caviar you won’t find it here. My Anglophile wife could happily eat at Molly Brennan’s every meal for a month and never get bored.
I asked my waitress, Jessica, if Molly Brennan’s had either a signature dish or something that she recommended, and without hesitation she said the fish and chips. I love fish and chips so Jessica was already doing great.
The lunch crowd started to fill the room quickly and I was asked to move from my table to the bar to make room for the swelling population, and I’m OK with that. The move allowed me to more closely watch Jessica, the sole waitress on duty, as she swiftly but deftly managed to take care of every table without ignoring anyone. Normally a lone waitperson tends to get flustered under a lunchtime crush but not today. Jessica moved swiftly yet unhurriedly through the room as if she practiced moving around the room blindfolded in her spare time.
The other patrons at the bar were openly talking to each other even though they didn’t know each other. People were talking about their plans for the day, the depth of the lake and how Californians don’t know the meaning of the word cold like people from the Midwest do. As I sat there listening to everyone around me I started to realize that Molly Brennan’s isn’t a reasonable copy of an Irish pub, it was an authentic Irish pub! I’d bet that the only person who wouldn’t feel welcome there would be someone carrying a snake.
My food came in a reasonable amount of time and I was happy to see that it was a full plate of food. The fish was cooked just right and had a crunchy breading. The fish itself was moist and hot, and sat on top of a side of coleslaw that was a surprising discovery, it was one of the best coleslaws I’ve ever had. There seemed to be a hint of orange to it, which by itself will get me to come back just to try it again. The plate included a caper tartar sauce (I love capers so Jessica’s recommendation was spot on!).
Personally I think there are only two ways to make fish and chips: you either do a great job or you screw it up. There’s no middle ground, and no best ever, just great or bad. Molly Brennan’s did a great job. In addition to the caper tartar sauce, salt, fresh pepper (in a grinder), ketchup, and malt vinegar were all offered with the meal. I just can’t pass up malt vinegar with deep fried fish, can you?
The fries … oops sorry, chips, were lightly seasoned and obviously freshly made. For all of the people who don’t watch the BBC everyday, in the United Kingdom French fries are called “chips” and potato chips are called “crisps.” As the great Irishman Oscar Wilde said, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.”
Molly Brennan’s has a beautiful Web site with all of the information about the restaurant that you could need. The Web site alone makes you feel like you’re in a pub. There’s a calendar of events, and the whole menu for you to browse at your own convenience, but I caution you, it’ll make you hungry!
They also have a Myspace page ... it’s probably best if you just browse for their page when you get to Myspace than for me to type out the link, so if you can’t get enough of the Irish pub community it’s a nice place to visit.
Molly Brennan’s hours of operation are Monday, Wednesdays and Thursday, 11a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11a.m. to 2 p.m. (closed Tuesdays).
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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