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Bismarck Dinius, 40, was in Lake County Superior Court Monday to find out possible court dates.
Dinius is charged with vehicle manslaughter involving a vessel and boating under the influence.
On April 29, 2006, he was steering a sailboat owned by Willows resident Mark Weber which was struck by a speedboat driven by Russell Perdock, a chief deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Weber's fiancee, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton, was fatally injured in the crash and died a few days later at UC Davis Medical Center.
The prosecution, led by Deputy District Attorney John Langan, asserts that the boat was under way without running lights and that Dinius had a blood alcohol level of 0.12 that night.
Dinius' Sacramento attorney, Victor Haltom, has argued that the crash, ultimately, was the fault of Perdock driving his speedboat too fast at about 9 p.m., and that the sailboat Dinius was steering did have working lights that were on.
Perdock has not been charged in the case, although he, Dinius, Weber and Thornton's son are involved in a civil suit over Thornton's death.
After a lengthy preliminary hearing that wrapped up in June, Judge Richard Martin ruled that Dinius would stand trial.
On Monday, Judge Robert Crone discussed with the prosecution and defense future court dates.
The parties will meet in November to enter motions in the case to be followed by a trial readiness conference in December.
Dinius' trial is tentatively set to begin on Jan. 13, 2009.
During Monday's proceedings, Haltom indicated he planned to file a motion requesting the charges be dismissed due to insufficient evidence presented at the preliminary hearing. Dinius also waived his right to a speedy trial.
After court, Dinius told Lake County News that he and Haltom are looking forward to the opportunity to confront and question the prosecution’s witnesses in the less restrictive forum that a full-blown jury trial offers.
Haltom indicated that his office would continue examining the activities of law enforcement personnel involved on the night of the incident as well as the investigation that followed.
Lake County News had no opportunity to speak with prosecutor Langan after the hearing.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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The announcement was made at the association's July 15 meeting by President Alan Siegel.
The election will be limited to the original seven candidates and will be conducted in September, Siegel said. The ballots will be counted on Sept. 16 and the annual meeting will be conducted on Sept. 20.
The attending candidates at the meeting agreed to the new election. Until a new board is elected the current board will remain in office.
The errors that were brought to the attention of the association office by several residents were twofold.
In the instructions on the ballot it said to vote for four of the candidates, however it also said in another part of the ballot to vote for only two.
The ballot also called for a signature so it was no longer considered a secret ballot as required by state law.
In an attempt to remedy the situation the association office sent out an additional mailer to clarify the ballot. However, because the ballot required a signature it was conceded to be invalid by the board and a new election was called.
Lynn Farmer suggested at the meeting that the association should look into using a mediator to help resolve some of the issues between property owners and the association.
“We can use all the help we can get and it is something that we should look into,” said Siegel.
During the president's comments near the end of the meeting, tempers began to flare with over half the audience on their feet because of a heckler who was disrupting the meeting. Two people left the meeting during Siegel's remarks.
“There are about six to eight people who are very vocal against the association,” said Siegel. “They have conducted a letter writing campaign and some were given guest commentaries in the Record-Bee. They are bullies that are mean to the association, they are mean to the secretaries, they are mean to everybody and they need to be stood up to.”
He continued, “There are less than 30 violations that are currently going on and these people want to disband the association. The association is working hard to protect the property owners rights … they would have to be incredibly stupid to do away with the association.”
At the end of his speech Siegel got a round of applause from many of the 35 or so who attended.
Siegel later remarked that his life was threatened in an online forum by one of the dissenters. “If they are such a large group, why didn’t they all show up?” he asked.
Much of the current controversy in the association stems from conflicting acceptance of its covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) which can be viewed on the association's Web site, www.clrca.com.
Darrell Watkins, a candidate for the association board, stated, “When CC&Rs have not been amended according to the governing document and the association says they have, that's fraud. They're deceiving the homeowners.”
According to the state, the current CC&Rs and bylaws are outdated and require new ones to be drafted and approved. This needs a majority of a quorum to ratify.
The current CC&Rs state that, “Approval by written ballot is valid when the number of approvals equals or exceeds a majority of the ballot votes cast, and the number of ballot votes cast equals or exceeds ten percent (10%) of the membership eligible to vote.”
Watkins, John Stoddard and others insist that the quorum needed is 50 percent of the votes plus one to ratify. They hold that there never has been a quorum reached so the current CC&Rs are invalid.
The association has spent thousands of dollars to write new documents and made several attempts to get them ratified but fell short of 50 percent plus one.
“This is the same problem that the Mt. Konocti Water Co. has,” said Siegel. “They can’t reach this quorum to change from being a ‘for profit’ to a ‘not for profit company.’”
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The quake was reported at 10:33 p.m. two miles east southeast of The Geysers, four miles southwest of Cobb and four miles west northwest of Anderson Springs, the US Geological Survey reported.
The depth of the quake was 2.1 miles, officials reported.
The US Geological Survey received 20 reports from people in eight zip codes who reported feeling the quake.
Only one person in Lake County – in Middletown – reported feeling the shaking, while the most reports, 13, came from Healdsburg.
The last quake larger than a 3.0 in magnitude to occur in Lake County took place May 29 when a 4.1-magnitude quake was recorded three miles southeast of The Geysers, according to Lake County News records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Bob Reynolds said no exceed of a health-based state or federal air quality standard is expected through Tuesday.
Using the Federal Air Quality Index (AQI) for particulate matter, Lake County’s air quality is expected to be in the good range but may reach moderate range, Reynolds said. The AQI for particulate is expected to remain well below 101 where an unhealthy alert is given.
Smoke intrusions into the Lake County Air Basin last week resulted primarily from the Yolla Bolly complex and remainder of the Lime complex which remain largely uncontained, Reynolds said. Several uncontained wildfires continue to burn in Northern California resulting in occasions of smoke, haze and degraded air quality.
Though progress has been made on wildfires remaining on federal land, much of the Lime Complex area is rugged and remote and is unlikely to be completely controlled soon, he said.
The Soda Complex wildfire was reported contained as of Sunday, and no uncontained fires remain in Lake County, as Lake County News has reported.
Winds are expected to predominantly be west through northwest and prevail through Tuesday, Reynolds said. This should keep smoke from these major ongoing wildfires to the north and east of the Lake County Air Basin.
He said moderate air quality conditions may develop overnight, if east or north winds occur, but at a much reduced smoke impact as compared to last Thursday should they occur.
Presently, the skies are blue and winds are expected to keep the smoke generated by the Yolla Bolly and Lime Complex wildfires out of Lake County through Tuesday, Reynolds said.
Residual smoke can be expected to remain throughout all areas of Northern California, including Lake County until the numerous lightning caused wildfires are out. Reynolds said all fires are presently dispersing smoke to a higher height and diluting more during transport, partially mitigating any transport of smoke from distant fires.
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