How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
“There is broad and deep opposition to the Bush Administration’s effort to gut the Endangered Species Act,” Attorney General Brown said. “It is my hope that the new Obama Administration will take a fresh look at these rules and restore the independent scientific review of projects affecting endangered species, which has been a hallmark of the ESA for 35 years.”
The new regulations, initially proposed by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce in August 2008, largely eliminate a requirement in the Endangered Species Act that mandates scientific review of federal agency decisions that might affect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
The changes allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to permit mining, logging, and other commercial activities to take place on federal land and other areas subject to federal regulatory control without review or comment from federal wildlife biologists on the environmental effects of such activities on endangered and threatened species and their habitat.
The new regulations are the most significant changes to the Endangered Species Act and its implementing regulations in over 20 years.
Now that these regulations have been adopted, many decisions on whether to permit commercial activity on federal land or issue federal permits or licenses will be made at the sole discretion of federal agency project proponents, without input from biological experts at the federal wildlife agencies.
Federal project agencies generally lack adequate biological expertise and have incentives to conclude that their projects will not have adverse affects on endangered and threatened species and their habitat.
The changes also eliminate the requirement to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on species and ecosystems from proposed federal projects.
Federal agencies now no longer need to consider the possible adverse impacts on species like the polar bear from commercial projects that require federal approval or funding such as highway construction and coal-fired power plants.
The lawsuit, which was filed last December in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the Bush Administration:
• Violated the Endangered Species Act by adopting regulations that are inconsistent with that statute;
• Violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the environmental ramifications of the proposed new regulations; and
• Violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not adequately considering public comments submitted by the Attorney General and numerous other organizations and concerned citizens.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit follows three similar lawsuits challenging the regulations filed earlier by environmental groups.
Attorney General Brown’s amended complaint challenging the regulations and comments on the proposed regulations are attached.
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
David Garlow Deason, 69, is accused of the December 2004 murder of his girlfriend, 48-year-old Marie Parlet.
His trial began before Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann in Department 3 on Jan. 6 following jury selection that began in mid-December, said Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
The prosecution alleges that Deason shot Parlet once in the chest and once in the chest from a distance of 18 inches while standing outside of their Lower Lake home. The two had reportedly argued earlier in the day, after which Deason left their residence and went drinking.
Deason was convicted of the murder in February 2006 and sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, as Lake County News has reported.
But an appellate court threw out the conviction in December 2007, ruling that the court had erred in excluding evidence of Deason's alleged high level of intoxication – 0.27 blood alcohol content, more than three times the legal limit, according to court records.
On Wednesday, Langan called to the stand Burt Hirahara, a latent print supervisor with the California Department of Justice, who discussed examining the .38 pistol allegedly used in the murder.
Hirahara explained that “latent” prints are those which are left by a chance touch.
Langan handed him a white box containing the .38, which Hirahara confirmed was the handgun he had examined.
He said he had found no prints on the weapon. Langan asked if that could have been because the person using it was wearing gloves, wiped it down or had very dry hands, which are not conducive to leaving prints. Hirahara suggested any of those scenarios could be the case.
During cross examination, defense attorney Doug Rhoades asked Hirahara if he would expect to get a print off of a checked surface, such as that found on a handgun's handle. Not always, Hirahara replied.
What about the trigger? Rhoades asked. Hirahara said they could sometimes find partial prints in that location.
As to a conducive area for a print to be found, Rhoades asked Hirahara if the metal on the handgun frame would hold prints, and Hirahara said yes.
Rhoades argued that “everything is speculation” about why there is no print on the weapon – including the suggestions that it had been wiped down or that someone had used gloves.
He also asked if the gun was loaded or unloaded when Hirahara received it. Hirahara looked at his notes and indicated he had no information about ammunition.
Next on the stand was Terry Fickies, a retired senior criminologist with the California Department of Justice, who specialized in firearms and tool marks. He also did firearms examinations – commonly known as ballistics.
The .38 handgun in evidence was subjected to three test fires, he said, in order to look at the particular markings that the weapon left on the bullets it fired.
Fickies said in his examination of the test fires and the expended bullet casings from the crime scene, he was not able to find sufficient corresponding characteristics to make a conclusion about whether they came from the same weapon.
“Those bullets could have been fired from this weapon or any other weapon with similar class characteristics,” he said.
He added that the bullets in question were made of lead, and harder to match up when it comes to identifying markings.
Fickies added that certain types of weapons may not leave marks on bullets. “It's just the luck of the draw.”
After an hour-and-a-half-long break to allow for the next witness to arrive, court reconvened after 11 a.m.
The last witness of the morning was 31-year-old Charline Parlet, Marie Parlet's daughter.
Charline Parlet had been in a Santa Rosa treatment program and was released on Dec. 6, 2004, the day her mother was shot.
As Langan began questioning her about the events of that day, Charline Parlet began to weep, recalling how her mother was there at 6 a.m. that day to pick her up and take her home.
Remembering the day caused Parlet to break down, covering her face with her hands and saying, “I can't do this, you guys – I can't.”
Judge Mann called a 10-minute recess and had the jury removed from the courtroom. Parlet told the prosecution and her Victim-Witness advocate that she couldn't sit on the stand and look at Deason because she was so angry.
Deason – dressed casually in a pullover sweater and dark slacks – sat looking down at the defense table.
Mann excused Parlet and brought the jury back in to excuse them until Jan. 21. He informed the jury that a stipulation of Parlet's previous testimony will be prepared and read at that time, which will mean she will not have to return to the stand.
Langan told Lake County News that he expects to rest his case after reading the stipulation to the jury next week. At that point, Rhoades likely will begin presenting his defense of Deason.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Game Warden Loren Freeman said he received a report earlier this month of a bull elk that had been killed, possibly in the Clearlake Oaks area.
Freeman said a couple and their daughter were at a Clearlake Oaks gas station on a Sunday afternoon when the daughter spotted a large elk in the back of a Ford F-250 pickup, covered with a blue tarp.
The girl didn't mention the elk to her parents until some time later. Freeman said he got the report about five days after the alleged sighting.
So far, Freeman said he has been unable to substantiate the case.
According to Fish and Game hunting regulations for 2008-09, hunting in Lake County for tule elk in the Cache Creek area may only take place in October, with a limit of one elk per person. Only five tags total are allowed for that area. Elk in the Lake Pillsbury area are protected and may not be hunted.
The Cache Creek herd has been a target of poachers in recent years. In August 2007, three bull elk were found killed along Cache Creek in southern Lake County, as Lake County News has reported.
Freeman said he wants to pursue the investigation on this recent alleged poaching case if he can get more information from the public.
He asks that anyone who saw a Ford F-250 pickup with a blue tarp covering a large object, driven by a white male between the ages of 30 and 35 in the Clearlake Oaks area, call the toll-free CalTIP number, 888-DFG-CALTIP (888-334-2258).
The number is used to report poaching and polluting cases, and is good 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Officials ask that those using the tip line give the fullest possible account of the incident including the name, address, age and description of the suspect, vehicle description, direction of travel, license number, type of violation and when and where it occurred.
Tips may be made anonymously, however, rewards of up to $1,000 have been paid to callers who supply information that leads to an arrest.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge sentenced Gerardo Soto-Gonzales, 33, to one felony count of arson to forest land for setting fires on Aug. 22, 2008, that burned more than 45 acres, according to a report from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
Two additional, identical arson counts against Soto-Gonzalez were dropped, although the court was allowed to consider them, according to officials.
Soto-Gonzalez, a Mexican national who has a Clearlake address, was represented by attorney Philip De Jong, who did not return a call seeking comment on the case.
The prosecution, led by Deputy District Attorney Damon Gardner, alleged that on Aug. 22, 2008, Cal Fire helicopter pilots spotted Soto-Gonzalez setting the fires in the Mendocino National Forest, northwest of Lake Pillsbury near Big Signal Peak.
US Forest Service and Cal Fire responded to the area to fight a wildland blaze that became known as the “Island Fire,” located on private property within the forest, according to the prosecution.
Cal Fire helicopter pilots dropped off fire crew members and made trips to get water to fight the fire, officials reported.
As they were making trips for water, the pilots noticed a smaller fire upwind from the original fire. The district attorney's report said the pilots switched their priority to the second fire where, once over it, they spotted Soto-Gonzalez, who was wearing camoflage.
On another trip to fill the helicopter's bucket with water, pilots discovered three more fires were burning close to the second fire. The report noted that as the pilots flew over the westernmost fire they again saw Soto-Gonzalez.
He reportedly was running west from the last fire and then was seen kneeling down by a brush pile and setting it on fire, according to the district attorney.
Soto-Gonzalez was reportedly forced down by the helicopter's rotor wash and that allowed the pilots to positively identify him.
The situation resulted in the fire crew that the helicopter dropped off having to be removed from the area for their safety because the newly set fires began to surround them, according to the prosecution.
Gardner told Lake County News on Thursday that a Cal Fire officer arrested Soto-Gonzalez on a forest road adjacent to the fire area, a lighter in his possession. Once on custody Soto-Gonzalez confessed to starting the fires.
Soto-Gonzalez gave some reasons for his actions, “but it's only speculation” as to why he set the fires, said Gardner.
A marijuana growing operation was reportedly located nearby.
The fire investigation determined there were three spots where a lighter had been used to set the fires, which burned 45.2 acres at a suppression cost of more than $175,000.
Soto-Gonzalez has remained in jail since his August arrest, said Gardner. During the trial the defense mentioned that Soto-Gonzalez has an immigration hold against him.
Although his legal status in the country is a question, Gardner said Soto-Gonzalez will serve his prison time and then be processed by the federal government for the immigration issue as soon as he is released.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
