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CLEARLAKE – The Department of Defense and the US Marine Corps on Wednesday offered limited new details regarding the death of a local Marine killed Monday in southern Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Ivan I. Wilson, 22, of Clearlake died while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Monday, the Department of Defense reported Wednesday afternoon in its formal identification statement.
First Lt. Curtis Williamson, spokesperson for the First Marine Division, said the incident that took Wilson's life occurred Monday.
Few other details about the circumstances surrounding Wilson's death were available due to security concerns, said Williamson.
That included Williamson not being able to confirm that Wilson was killed as the result of an improved explosive device, a piece of information communicated to his family by the Marine Corps on Monday, according to a previous statement by family friend Ginny Craven.
“It's tantamount to basically telling the insurgents, 'That method is effective and continue to use it,'” Williamson said.
Wilson received a posthumous promotion from private first class to lance corporal, Williamson said. Promotions after death aren't rare, but neither do they happen in every instance of a soldier killed in action, he added.
The first Marine from Lake County killed in the current Middle Eastern military conflict, Wilson also was the 560th US casualty in Afghanistan since coalition military operations began there in 2001, according to icasualty.org. In all, 897 coalition soldiers have died and thousands of Afghans since 2001.
Violence has been escalating in Afghanistan in recent months, with casualties for US and coalition forces higher than those in Iraq during the same period, icasualty.org statistics show.
The violence and resulting deaths are blamed on an apparent strengthening in southern Afghanistan of a Taliban-led insurgency.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a July 22 interview on PBS's “News Hour with Jim Lehrer” that coalition forces in Afghanistan are seeing “more sophisticated attacks more often by terrorists,” according to an article by the Armed Forces Press Service.
Mullen also is quoted in the article as saying the increase in attacks comes at a time when that country's police force and government are underdeveloped. Also lacking, he said, is border security along the Pakistani border, where terrorists appear to be staying.
A 2004 graduate of Clearlake Community School, Wilson enlisted in the Marines on Sept. 11, 2005.
The Department of Defense said Wilson was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Twentynine Palms. He was serving in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Here at home, on Wednesday morning flags at the county courthouse were lowered to half-staff in Wilson's memory.
County Public Services Director Kim Clymire told Lake County News that the flags, lowered at the suggestion of Supervisor Rob Brown, will remain at half-staff until next Monday, July 28.
Jones and Lewis Funeral Home of Lower Lake confirmed Wednesday that they will be handling Wilson's services, but they had no information yet on when the services would take place.
Neither Williamson nor the Marine Corps Casualty Office said they could release information on when Wilson was to be brought home to his family.
Because Wilson was killed in action while on active duty, the Marines will be in charge of carrying out a funeral complete with military honors, said Rich Feiro, firing party commander for the United Veterans Council's Military Funeral Honors Team.
The team, which has provided funeral honors at hundreds of funerals for local veterans who have left active service, plans to attend the services and stand in formation to honor the young Marine, Feiro said.
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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH INFORMATION ON THE PRECISE SOURCE OF THE SMOKE.
LAKE COUNTY – Cal Fire said Wednesday that the thick smoke clogging the county's air basin is coming from other North Coast wildland fires, and isn't the result of any new fire activity in the county.
Cal Fire's St. Helena command center reported receiving thousands of calls from concerned Lake and Sonoma County residents on Wednesday morning, as conditions became smokier.
Residents in Hidden Valley Lake told Lake County News that heavy smoke was coming into their area.
In response, Cal Fire sent out helicopters to scout the south Lake County and north Sonoma County area, but they found no new fires.
Lake County's Air Quality Management District had advised on Tuesday that changing wind patterns could result in more smoke coming back through Lake County, brought here primarily from fires on the National Forests.
With this year's already devastating fire season well under way, Cal Fire isn't discouraging residents from being vigilant. The agency suggests calling fire officials if they see a column of smoke emerging from the ground.
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Ten-year-old Jacquelyn Newton of Seaside, who was visiting Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa with her family, was hit Saturday by a pickup truck driven by 35-year-old Dennis Olson of Kelseyville, as Lake County News reported.
A UC Davis Medical Center official told Lake County News on Tuesday that the girl was in good condition.
California Highway Patrol Officer Josh Dye said the child suffered a partially collapsed lung, right leg fracture, and lacerations to her liver and spleen laceration as a result of the collision.
CHP arrested Olson on charges including hit and run and driving under the influence causing bodily injury.
On Monday evening, an 8-year-old Lower Lake boy also was flown to UC Davis Medical Center after he had a collision with a pickup, according to CHP Officer Mike Humble, who did not have the boy's name.
Humble said the boy, who was riding a motorcycle near his home on Riata Road, collided with a pickup truck pulling a horse trailer driven by Annette Jean Holley, 44, of Lower Lake.
“It appears that he's a fault,” said Humble, who did not have further information on the particulars of the incident.
The boy suffered a cut to his face and complained of abdominal pain but who was otherwise OK, Humble said.
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The Caltrans turn lane project is meant to increase the safety in the area, where accidents have been known to happen.
Contractor Argonaut Construction of Santa Rosa began work on the project April 21, according to a Caltrans road bulletin.
But earlier this month work stopped, said Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.
“We've widened the road and paved, but the project got put on hold,” said Frisbie.
That's because the new pavement didn't turn out correctly, said Frisbie, which will require Argonaut to repave it.
However, once the pavement is redone, the roadway will be striped and the turn lane completed, Frisbie said.
“We're expecting it to be done soon,” he said. “We don't have an exact time frame.”
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