News
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE PILLSBURY – A 3.1 earthquake occurred early Thursday, and was followed by several more quakes over the course of the morning.
The 3.1 quake, centered eight miles west northwest of Lake Pillsbury along an unnamed fault, was recorded at 7:40 a.m. at a depth of 4.1 miles, the US Geological Survey reported.
Within five minutes, a second quake in the same area occurred, measuring 2.6 in magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey.
Five more smaller earthquakes followed over the next three hours, ranging up to 2.4 in magnitude, the US Geological Survey reported. Two were centered in the same location as the first two quakes, two others were nine miles west northwest of the lake, and one was six miles north of the lake.
Over the past month, seismic activity has become a daily occurrence in the Lake Pillsbury area, according to US Geological Survey records.
Since the start of April there have been eight earthquakes measuring 3.0 in magnitude or above. The largest, a 4.8 magnitude quake, took place on April 18, as Lake County News previously reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Thompson criticized President George W. Bush's Tuesday veto of an emergency spending bill for the Iraq war that included a timeline for withdrawing the troops.
Thompson's office issued a statement in which he said Bush's veto “signals his determination to keep this war going indefinitely.”
Bush's veto comes as a bill Thompson authored, which includes a similar call for a timed withdrawal, moves through Congress.
The veto also canceled emergency funds for rural areas like Lake County through an amendment to renew the county payments law, which funds counties based on historic timber receipts.
The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act, HR 1591, passed the House on a narrow 110 to 60 vote in March, as Lake County News previously reported. A Senate version of the bill also passed, before ultimately going to the president's desk this week, where it was vetoed.
The bill included increased funding for military and veterans' health care, allocations to improve the readiness of stateside troops and military housing allowances.
However, it also called for withdrawing US troops by Aug. 31, 2008.
Because of the timeline aspect, President Bush had said for months he would veto the bill, which Thompson and others in Congress knew early on.
Although this wasn't the bill he wanted, Thompson said in March he and others in Congress who were against emergency supplementals supported it, calling it “the most responsible bill we could have passed given the divisions in this very diverse Congress.”
Thompson's statement noted that even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that a timeline such as was included in HR 1591 “communicates to the Iraqi government that this is not an open-ended commitment.”
“Our troops have done what we sent them to do,” Thompson stated. “It's now time for the Iraqis to bring peace to their country. We need to show the Iraqi government that we're serious about the benchmarks we've set for them. Just asking them to meet the benchmarks hasn't worked for four years. This bill sets a realistic timeline for making progress in Iraq."
Thompson also took issue with Bush's criticism of domestic emergency aid that was included in the bill, including money to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, aid to farmers who suffered agriculture disasters, and fund schools and roads.
Included in the Senate version of the bill was an amendment to restore funding to an updated version of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, commonly known as the county payments law, according to the office of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, one of the authors of the amendment and the original bill.
California's most recent allocation from the bill was $68 million, of which $1 million came to Lake County. That $1 million, in turn, was divided between the county's road department and area schools, with about $240,000 going to Upper Lake's high school and elementary school, according to the Lake County Office of Education.
Thompson said the bill isn't “pork,” but is meant to offer emergency aid. He added that Bush should put funding requests for the war through the annual budget process, where they belong.
“He has sought to hide the true costs of the war by continuing to use emergency supplemental funding bills, while criticizing the emergency domestic funding the supplemental should be used for,” Thompson said.
The bill also would have included help for those in Northern California affected by the decision to divert water for salmon, which not only resulted in killing salmon but taking away income from thousands of families, Thompson said.
Other funds would have helped fund the county's veterans facilities, including Walter Reed Hospital. Last week, Thompson said he visited the hospital, which he said he's done regularly since the war began. “I met a soldier who had traveled 300 miles for his 14th surgery because he couldn't get adequate care at his local veteran's hospital.”
The veto of HR 1591 doesn't bode well for a bill Thompson introduced earlier this year, HR 787, the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, which also includes a timeline for withdrawal.
In fact, Thompson's bill calls for the troops to be brought home by March 31, 2008, months earlier than HR 1591's provisions. Sen. Barack Obama's SB 433 is the companion to Thompson's bill.
Many of HR 787's provisions were included either directly or in modified form in HR 1591, said Anne Warden, Thompson's spokesperson.
Is Thompson concerned that if his bill passes Congress, it, too, will ultimately die on the president's desk?
No, said Warden.
“His bill is helping to continue the pressure on the president, and we're going to keep that pressure on until we have a plan for ending the war,” she said. “The party is in line with that thinking and Rep. Thompson is going to continue pushing his bill as meaningful plan for Iraq.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – A woman who recently was sought in connection with an alleged kidnapping of a Glenn County child may not face kidnap charges after all, according to Glenn County authorities.
The Glenn County Sheriff's Office was seeking Tabitha Pasalo, 24,who lives between the Grindstone Rancheria in Glenn County and the Big Valley Rancheria near Lakeport.
Glenn County Sheriff's Det. Travis Goodwin said Wednesday that his department recently located Pasalo in Lake County and interviewed her about the situation.
Based on that interview and the other evidence in the case, Goodwin said the Glenn County District Attorney's Office has decided not to file kidnap charges against Pasalo.
Dwayne Stewart, an assistant district attorney with Glenn County, said the case is still open, and it's not the policy of his office to discuss open cases.
On April 21 Pasalo allegedly took a 2-year-old child from his home at Grindstone and brought him to her brother's home in Lakeport, according to Lt. Rich Warren of the Glenn County Sheriff's Office.
Warren said Pasalo's brother, John Pasalo, 22, may be the child's father.
Lake County Sheriff's deputies helped locate the child the next day, said Warren.
John Pasalo was arrested for felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest for trying to escape with the child, LCSO Chief Deputy Russell Perdock previously reported.
Lake County Jail records show John Pasalo remains in custody on those charges with no bail set.
As to why no charges have yet been filed against Tabitha Pasalo, Goodwin said investigators are looking at her claim that she took the child from his mother, 20-year-old Dahnna Burrow, for his own safety.
Goodwin said they're now looking at the question of whether or not the child was actually being harmed, which could have justified Pasalo's actions. “We have to answer that question before we can deal with the kidnap situation,” Goodwin said.
Asked if it's possible Burrows could end up facing charges, Goodwin said, “Anything is possible.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – With the appeals court denying a change of venue motion, a young San Franciscan facing murder charges for the death of two companions during an alleged December 2005 break-in is scheduled to go to trial here this month.
Renato Hughes, 22, was arrested Dec. 7, 2005, the same day as he and two other men, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, are alleged to have broken into the Clearlake Park home of Shannon Edmonds.
Edmonds reportedly shot Williams and Foster as they fled the scene. It's Hughes, however, who is facing charges for their deaths; a state statute allows those accused of committing a felony which is likely to result in a lethal response to be held liable for any deaths that may occur.
As Lake County News previously reported, Hughes' attorney, Stuart Hanlon of San Francisco, had filed a change of venue motion with Lake County Superior Court.
Hanlon said Hughes – who is black -- can't get a fair trial in Lake County due to the county's predominantly white population and other factors, including pre-trial publicity.
On March 2, Judge Arthur Mann denied the motion.
However, on April 10, Hanlon filed a petition for a writ of mandate and a stay of Mann's ruling with the state's First Appellate District Court, according to court documents.
Last week, the appellate court denied Hanlon's petition to have the order reversed and the venue moved, the court reported.
That means the way is clear to proceed with trial in Lake County.
In addition to two charges of murder, Hughes is facing felony charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and attempted murder, according to records from the Lake County Jail, where he has remained for the year and a half since his arrest.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins said motions in the case will begin May 8, with jury selection set for May 10.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
How to resolve AdBlock issue?