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Public Services Director Kim K. Clymire announced Tuesday that the public is invited to the grand opening for the new park on Saturday, May 31, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Music will be provided by the Konocti Fiddle Club from 9:30 a.m. and until 10:30 a.m. and the dedication program will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Refreshments will be served.
Clymire expressed his sincere appreciation to everyone involved in this exciting, community grass roots project, who made it possible.
Improvements for this park – which is Lake County’s newest, measuring one acre in size – that have been completed to date include: playground equipment, sidewalks, 40,000 square feet of lawn area, benches, tables, barbecues, trash cans, bike rack, approximately 40 trees measuring 15 to 20 feet tall that include fruitless flowering pears and plums, valley and red oaks, gingkos, magnolias, chinese pistache, maples, crape myrtles, and raywood ash, plus annual and perennial plants and shrubs.
In addition, the county purchased a building adjacent to the park and plans to turn it into a restroom and Visitor Information Center and that work will start soon. A bid for the perimeter sidewalk, curb, gutter and parking lot will be released soon.
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Jason Kaluna Fugit, 36, will go to the Napa State Hospital where he will receive treatment for his mental illness, said his defense attorney, Stephen Carter of the law offices of Carter and Carter.
Fugit, who worked as an equipment operator, was charged in 2005 with attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery for the attack on his 78-year-old grandmother at her Lucerne home, said Carter.
According to Carter, Fugit tried to kill his grandmother because he thought she was involved in treasonous acts along with the government, which he believed was persecuting him.
Fugit was diagnosed as psychotic by three different doctors, said Carter, with the mental illness stemming directly from severe sexual abuse that took place several years before the incident. He'd had some “not very serious” previous run-ins with the law.
The charges could have brought life in prison. However, Carter said Fugit entered a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to elder abuse. A court trial was held on the manner of his sanity, and the court found that Fugit was insane at the time of the crime.
The case took time to work its way through the courts, said Carter. Because Fugit was found both insane and incompetent to stand trial, he was sent to a Southern California mental health facility where he spent 224 days in treatment before returning to the Lake County Jail.
While in Southern California, Fugit's treatment included adjusting his medications, said Carter, which resulted in a major improvement in his behavior. Fugit's mother told Carter that she felt like she had her son back, thanks to the treatment.
Carter himself said he saw a major change in Fugit, who went from “desperate mental illness” to a quiet demeanor.
Once back from treatment, Fugit went through a restoration of competency hearing and proceedings continued, said Carter.
Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who prosecuted the case, argued for the upper term of 11 years, disagreeing with a proposal for a lesser term put forward by Lake County Probation, said District Attorney Jon Hopkins.
“We agreed that he was insane,” Hopkins said.
Arguing before Judge Arthur Mann on Monday, Carter made the case that the law recognizes that the early plea and the mental illness were mitigating factors that should reduce the sentence. He also argued for some of the sentence to run concurrently.
Mann sentenced Fugit to eight years. Because of his mental health issues, Fugit is being sent to Napa State Hospital, where his family can visit him. Because there is usually a waiting list for the Napa hospital, Carter said Fugit will remain at the Lake County Jail until there is an opening.
According to the California Department of Mental Health, Napa State Hospital is a low- to moderate-security facility located on 138 acres, with bed capacity that allows for treatment of as many as 1,362 adults. All of the individuals treated there arrive through civil or court commitments, with the most frequent diagnoses including schizophrenic, mood, anxiety and personality disorders.
Carter said Fugit's mother, father and grandmother were in court on Monday, and appeared pleased with the outcome. Fugit's grandmother, said Carter, understood her grandson was ill, loved him dearly and and wanted him to get healthy.
“There was a nice closure today,” he said.
According to the law, Fugit is being sent to Napa for treatment and rehabilitation, and sanity hearings could resume during that time, said Hopkins.
Fugit can only be held at the hospital for the maximum amount of time he would have served on the sentence, said Hopkins, unless when the time for release comes he's found to still be a danger.
If that were to be the case, Hopkins said the prosecution can file a petition to have Fugit kept at the hospital as long as he's considered dangerous.
“That means that we approved a plea bargain that can keep him in the state hospital for the rest of his life,” he said. “Based on the brutality he demonstrated in the attack on his grandmother, that is a real possibility.”
Carter said that some people never get out of the mental hospital once committed. However, he added, “That's the exception rather than the rule.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LUCERNE – Lucerne's water system suffered two line breaks on Monday.
A main break occurred along Country Club Drive, with another leak reported on Alta Vista Way, said Gay Guidotti, California Water Service Co.'s customer service representative for Lucerne.
The breaks were reported Monday, said Guidotti.
A contractor was being sent to both locations to repair the breaks, Guidotti said.
She estimated that repairs would be completed Monday. About 6:30 p.m. men were still making repairs along Country Club.
About 12 homes lost water services as a result of the problem on Country Club, according to Guidotti.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Chief Deputy James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that the Lake County “Avoid the Three” DUI Task Force will conduct a the DUI and driver's license checkpoint during the evening hours of Friday, May 23, in the city of Clearlake.
The “Avoid” Task Force is a multi-agency effort led by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to remove DUI drivers from the roads and highways, said Bauman. Participating agencies include Lakeport and Clearlake Police Departments.
In order to optimize the efforts of the Task Force to reduce incidents of driving under the influence, the specific location and hours of operation of the checkpoint will not be disclosed prior to the checkpoint, Bauman said.
Motorists entering the checkpoint can expect to see traffic control patterns, warning signs, and officers on the roadway contacting drivers and screening for signs of intoxication or impairment, and checking driver’s licenses as traffic permits, he noted.
Drivers will be detained for the minimum amount of time possible at the checkpoint, said Bauman.
In addition to the DUI checkpoint on Friday evening, Bauman reported that special enforcement units also will be on DUI Saturation Patrol in and around the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake during the coming Memorial Day weekend looking for intoxicated or impaired drivers.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports