CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Authorities concluded that a man found dead near Pine Dell Resort last week was killed by a pipe bomb.

Residents of the area reported to Lake County News that they heard an explosion near the resort – located in the 10900 block of Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake – late on the night of Tuesday, June 12.

Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Corey Paulich said deputies responded to the area of the resort at about 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, June 13, on the report of a male deceased on a hillside.

The dead man was identified as Justin William Westermeyer, 42, of Clearlake, Paulich said.

Paulich said the deputies observed a wound to Westermeyer’s left side and requested detectives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit respond.

After processing the scene and interviewing witnesses in the area, Paulich said detectives determined Westermeyer had detonated a metal pipe bomb on the night of June 12 and was struck by a metal fragment.

An autopsy performed on June 14 confirmed that conclusion, Paulich said.

“All information is that he was alone. There was no information that Westermeyer was making the pipe bomb in an attempt to harm anyone,” Paulich said.

“The sheriff’s office would like to remind the public that these types of devices are very dangerous and illegal,” Paulich said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council heard a presentation on a proposal to create a tourism improvement district to help bolster the county’s economy and also approved the city’s new 2018-19 budget, a document which includes a number of big projects in the year ahead.

Rachael Taylor, project manager of Civitas Advisors, gave the Lakeport City Council a presentation at its June 5 meeting on a proposal to create the Lake County Tourism Improvement District.

That proposal also is due to go before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. If the board approves the required resolutions, the district’s formation will then go to the two cities for final approval.

At the June 5 council meeting, Taylor said Civitas Advisors is the leading consulting firm for forming special districts; it has formed 86 out of the 101 special districts in California.

Taylor said Civitas Advisors has formed tourism improvement districts in 12 states, and is working on legislation to get them in 14 more.

A tourism improvement district, as Taylor described it, is a stable source of funding for marketing efforts. It’s only for increasing occupancy and room rates for lodging businesses.

The funds are raised through a small assessment and are used to provide services desired by and directly benefiting the businesses that pay the assessment in the district, she said.

Taylor explained that hotels, motels and other accommodations pay the assessment, which is collected by the local jurisdiction – either the two cities or the county. The funds are then managed by a destination marketing organization, a nonprofit that the district already is forming.

She said that tourism improvement districts create a level playing field with no free riders, and also offer transparency and reliability, and a pass-through to guests. The Brown Act and the Public Records Act also apply to such districts.

The district’s revenue won’t go into the local governments’ general funds, as the money doesn’t belong to the government. Rather, it’s a pass-through to guests, just like transient occupancy tax, Taylor said.

Taylor showed a comparison of revenue for tourism improvement districts in other areas around California, among them, Humboldt County, $1.2 million; Marin County, $1.3 million; Mendocino County, $1.5 million; and Fairfield, $800,000.

The assessment proposed for Lake County is 3 percent, in addition to the 10 percent in transient occupancy tax, or TOT, paid in Lakeport, and the 9 percent TOT paid in the county and Clearlake, she said.

The Lake County Tourism Improvement District will be managed by a new nonprofit corporation called Visit Lake County California. Taylor said the new organization’s bylaws and members are still being worked out.

That organization must provide annual reports to the Board of Supervisors, and can also provide them to the cities, she said.

Taylor said the district’s plan is essentially a business plan which sets in line parameters for how the district must operate.

She said the county of Lake will be the lead jurisdiction, and it will be requesting consent from the two cities to proceed at its June 19 meeting. The two cities will need to grant consent to the county to let the district be operated in their jurisdictions. They will then be responsible for helping collect the 3-percent assessment.

In the city of Lakeport, businesses pay the TOT assessments monthly. Taylor said they will pay the new assessment at the same time. The cities and county will be able to keep 2 percent of what is collected in their area to cover their costs.

In explaining the rest of the district budget, Taylor said 20 percent will be set aside for administration and operations, advocacy, insurance, legal and accounting fee. Another 75 percent goes to sales and marketing, while 3 percent is set aside for contingency and reserve.

Taylor said the district can only be set up for a maximum initial term of five years, then it can be renewed up to 10 years. When it comes time for renewal, a process like the current one to form the district will be followed with a new plan for the destination marketing organization. At that point, there will be an opportunity to change the plan and operations.

When asked about the organization’s board, Taylor said it is expected to have between seven and nine board members, but could have up to 11. The majority of the board members have to be lodging business owners.

There also will be one seat for the tribes, which can’t be assessed as they’re not part of the district’s jurisdiction. However, Taylor said they have expressed interest in being part of a private contract.

Still another seat will be kept for a party interested in tourism, like the wine industry, she said.

Based on the figures given at the meeting, Lake County’s tourism improvement district is estimated to bring in about $340,000 a year. Taylor said the total number could change if private contracts are added.

Of that amount, 75 percent, or $255,000, will be used for marketing – establishing the brand, logo, Web site and photography – and sales. The plan includes large media buys, including billboards, radio and television, in the Bay Area, with district staff overseeing those efforts or a marketing firm hired to handle that aspect of operations.

The district also is expected to have a part-time or full-time staffer to handle daily operations, Taylor said.

Deputy County Administrative Officer Michelle Scully thanked the council for taking the time to hear about the district.

“It's a big, giant process to do this,” she said, explaining that the work had been going on since last April. She said it has been great to see the county and cities working together on something very forward-thinking and transformative.

Lynne Butcher, who along with husband Bernie owns the 17-room Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake, expressed her support for the district. “We have lots of rooms. We could take a lot more guests at our property.”

She said the only way to market the Tallman is to market the entire county. However, no single property has the resources to do that scale of marketing, which she pointed out is very expensive.

Butcher called the district a wonderful idea. “We wholeheartedly support it.”

Lisa Wilson, general manager of Clear Lake Campground, also offered her support.

“We have a great story to tell tourists about Lake County,” and a professional staff is needed to tell it, she said.

Wilson said she didn’t expect any pushback from guests about the 3-percent assessment, adding that Lake County needs to control its own destiny.

Taylor said there is a petition phase in which they have to have at least 50 percent plus one of hotel/motel owners, weighted for how much of the assessment they will pay, in order to move forward.

As of June 5, Taylor said they had about 46 percent.

As of this week, county staff’s report to the Board of Supervisors said 16 hotels representing 58.6 percent of the total assessment had submitted petitions in favor of the district formation, which allows the board to initiate the proceedings to form the district.

Once the Board of Supervisors approves the resolutions requesting consent from the cities to operate the district in their jurisdictions, Taylor said the matter will come back to the council for final approval.

She said a public meeting also is expected to take place in July to offer an open forum for comment on the district’s formation.

In other business at its June 5 meeting the Lakeport City Council also approved the city’s 2018 budget.

Finance Director Nick Walker said the budget included $13.1 million in revenues and $16.4 million in expenditures.

The difference between those numbers is project-related funds that primarily were received in prior years. He said the majority is $2.5 million for storm-related repairs.

Silveira said the funds are received this year but spent next year, which is why it looks like a deficit.

Lakeport Main Street Association President Barbara Breunig and Executive Director Panette Talia awarded the Business of the Quarter Award to Park Place restaurant, and presented checks totaling nearly $18,000, including $9,800 for the downtown tree project

The council also held a public hearing and authorized Silveira to submit an application to the US Department of Agriculture’s Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program in the amount of $495,000 to construct a sewer main extension to serve the proposed 24-unit affordable multi-family housing project located at 1255 Martin St., and held a public hearing for approval of required resolutions and legal documents regarding the city’s solar and energy efficiency retrofit project financing.

The council also awarded a construction contract to VSS International Inc. for the 2018 Pavement Preservation Program and nominated council delegates for the League of California Cities Annual Conference to be held Sept. 12 to 14 in Long Beach.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center has again been awarded a Local Impact Grant from the California Arts Council, this year for its project “Restore.”

Like Resilience, Restore provides the community ages 12 to 85-plus of all abilities and backgrounds, opportunities to engage in art making and creative writing to develop their creative and artistic voices.

Workshops this year in mixed media, sculpture, creative writing and printmaking begin July 7 and will focus on art in dialogue with nature.

The project will culminate in the reopening of the EcoArts Sculpture Walk at Trailside Park in the early summer of 2019, development of an art trail on Rabbit Hill, indoor exhibits, and a second chapbook of poetry and images.

“Building on the success of our Resilience Project, Restore is the next stage in our recovery,” said Lisa Kaplan, director at MAC. “With support from the California Arts Council, contributors to MAC and our partners, we will restore places our local community once enjoyed that were destroyed by the Valley Fire. The Local Impact grant for Restore provides us with the means to continue to offer low cost classes to people throughout Lake County, and to further the work we started with the Resilience Project. We are thrilled!”

Middletown Art Center’s Resilience project now has exhibits in five locations in Lakeport at City Hall, the County Courthouse and Main Street Gallery in Lakeport, at Fore Family Vineyards Tasting Room in Kelseyville.

Also currently on view is Resilience: Art In Dialogue with Nature exhibit at the art center, which is a hybrid of the EcoArts tradition and the resilience theme.

This impressive and earthy exhibit includes selections from the Resilience project. Exhibits in Clearlake will open in the coming weeks. Find out more about exhibit locations and hours at www.middletownartcenter.org .

Inspired by Nature’s resilience as a mirror for our community’s recovery after devastating wildfires, the Resilience project provided opportunities to reframe the fire experience, which impacted us all directly or indirectly, into creative expression and aesthetics.

Each exhibit is different, and highlights work by project participants. The Resilience Chapbook, a collection of powerful writings about or inspired by the fire experience, trauma and recovery is now available to preorder on MAC’s Web site or in the gallery.

“I attended the Resilience writing workshops for the last 6 months of Resilience,” explained Georgina Marie, a poet and Lakeport resident who returned to Lake County after the Clayton Fire destroyed her mother’s home. “Under the guidance of accomplished instructors and surrounded by other writers, I was inspired to dive deeply into subjects I may not have otherwise tapped into such as grief, trauma and pain. In doing so, I was able to strengthen my writing, embrace my own resilience and become part of an incredible artistic community. I also attended painting and printmaking workshops, which reconnected me to my painting practice after losing touch with it for many years. I am so grateful for the experience, support, creative outcomes and opportunities for exposure in exhibition and in the chapbook that the Resilience project provided me.”

MAC is grateful to the California Arts Council, and other local partners, agencies and businesses for supporting MAC in providing local, affordable, quality access to the arts and art-making.

The Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175, at the junctions of Highway 29 in Middletown.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org to learn more about the many arts, culture and community happenings at the Middletown Art Center.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission will meet this week to hold hearings on cannabis-related projects and swear in a new member.

The commission will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Documents for the meeting can be found at http://www.clearlake.ca.us/353/Planning-Documents-for-Public-Review.

In commission business, among the first items is the swearing-in of new commissioner, Kathryn Fitts, and the selection of a new chair to succeed Dirk Slooten. Other commissioners are Nathalie Antus, Richard Bean and Carl Webb.

On the agenda are two public hearings for projects proposed by Roy Harris of Clearlake Hydrogarden.

The first is to approve a use permit to allow a commercial cannabis nursery within an existing commercial building located at 2395 Ogulin Canyon Road in a heavy service commercial/light industrial, scenic corridor area with a cannabis business combining district zone, with a development agreement.

In the second public hearing, the commission will consider use permits for distribution and a delivery only dispensary within an existing building located at 14395 Olympic Drive in a heavy service commercial/light industrial cannabis business combining district and a development agreement.

The commission also will discuss holding a special meeting on June 26.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting this week for the purposes of a cannabis workshop.

The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 21, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

On the agenda is the a report from the board chair’s subcommittee, which was tasked with followup on Type 7 manufacturing, or volatiles.

The board also will review possible taxing mechanisms for commercial cannabis businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county and discuss possible fines and penalties for violation of permitting requirements constituting a public nuisance.

According to the meeting staff report, the Thursday meeting is the last in a series of prescheduled cannabis workshops as part of the board’s approved work plan.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Shannon Ridge Family of Wines has purchased Nice Wine Co., located in the town of Nice.

Previously owned by the Larson Family, the purchase of Nice Wine Co. includes a fully functioning winery, bottling line and tasting room.

The facility previously had housed Tulip Hill Winery’s Lake County location and began its life as a bottling site for Vittel brand mineral water.

“The acquisition of the Nice Wine Co. helps to fully integrate our farming and winemaking operations,” said Clay Shannon, owner of Shannon Ridge Family of Wines. “We are very pleased to have found our first wine production facility that gives us immediate control and will advance the quality of our winemaking operations here in Lake County.”

Joy Merrilees, director of winemaking and production for Shannon Ridge Family of Wines, will assume the day to day responsibilities for the facility.

Angie Shannon is the national sales manager for the brands.

The Shannon Ridge Family of Wines portfolio is available nationwide, and includes Shannon Reserve, Shannon Ridge High Elevation Collection, Buck Shack, High Valley, Playtime and Vigilance.

LUCERNE, Calif. – A semi driver escaped injury on Sunday when his truck hit an embankment along Highway 20.

The crash occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Oakcrest Drive and Frontage Road in Lucerne, according to the California Highway Patrol.

CHP Officer Jeremy Jensen told Lake County News that the driver of the semi, which was heading westbound, said he had moved to the right to avoid cars coming toward him as he was going around a curve.

The truck hit a soft shoulder and the semi hit the rocky embankment, he said.

A witness report on the CHP’s online incident log also reported that the driver was taking the curve too quickly.

The driver was uninjured, according to Jensen.

Jensen did not have information on the truck’s cargo.

The semi sat against the embankment with cones set up in the roadway to help guide traffic around it while the CHP waited for a heavy tow truck to arrive later in the afternoon to help remove it.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council will meet this week to discuss a housing project parcel map and a resolution to begin abating properties where there is a fire hazard due to overgrown vegetation.

The council will meet in closed session at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, to discuss a potential case of litigation regarding Verizon Wireless before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

On Tuesday the council is expected to approve the necessary resolutions to authorize and direct the issuance of bonds for a solar financing project.

In other business, Community Development Director Kevin Ingram will introduce the zone change ordinance for the Pacific West Communities parcel map for a multifamily housing project at 1255 Martin St. The council also will schedule a public hearing for a second reading of the zone change ordinance and adoption of a resolution for a general plan amendment and mitigated negative declaration based on the environmental review/initial study on July 17.

The council also will consider a proposed resolution to begin the process of abating properties where weeds and vegetation haven’t been mowed.

The resolution will declare dry weeds, brush and similar vegetation creating a fire hazard upon vacant and large lots throughout the city to constitute a public nuisance and direct staff to utilize the administrative citation procedures outlined in Chapter 8.30 of the Lakeport Municipal Code to
abate said public nuisance weeds.

The council also will authorize canceling the July 3 regular meeting.

On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the council’s regular meeting on June 5 meeting; approval of Application 2018-022, with staff recommendations, for the 2018 Lakeside Car & Boat Show event, to be held August 18; approval of a resolution rescinding Resolution 2659 (2018) and revising the Master Pay Schedule in conformance with California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 570.5; approval of an amendment to the agreement between the city of Clearlake, City of
Lakeport and the County of Lake relative to operation of a local public, educational, governmental cable television channel, referred to as the PEG Channel.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

061918 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week will formally appoint the county’s new poet laureate and consider forming a tourism improvement district.

The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 19, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx . Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.

In an item timed for 9:10 a.m., the board will present a proclamation appointing Richard Schmidt as Lake County Poet Laureate for the years 2018-2020.

At that time the board also will present a proclamation recognizing the 50th anniversary of Hidden Valley Lake.

At 10:30 a.m., the board will consider adopting a resolution declaring intent to establish the Lake County Tourism Improvement District, and will follow up by adopting a resolution requesting consent of the city councils of Lakeport and Clearlake to establish the Lake County Tourism Improvement District.

The full agenda follows.

CONTRACT CHANGE ORDERS

6.1: Consideration of (a) Contract Change Order No. 2 to contract between the county of Lake and Granite Construction Company for Eastlake Elementary SRTS & CDBG Project, in Clearlake Oaks, CA, Bid No 16-16, Federal Aid No. SRTSL-5914(097) for an increase of $6,827.65; (b) Contract Change Order No. 3 to contract between the county of Lake and Granite Construction Company for Eastlake Elementary SRTS & CDBG Project, in Clearlake Oaks, CA, Bid No 16-16, Federal Aid No. SRTSL-5914(097) for an increase of $18,036.14; (c) Contract Change Order No. 4 to contract between the county of Lake and Granite Construction Company for Eastlake Elementary SRTS & CDBG Project, in Clearlake Oaks, CA, Bid No 16-16, Federal Aid No. SRTSL-5914(097) for an increase of $8,024.91; (d) Contract Change Order No. 5 to contract between the county of Lake and Granite Construction Co. for Eastlake Elementary SRTS AND CDBG Project, in Clearlake Oaks, CA, Bid No 16-16, Federal Aid No. SRTSL-5914(097) for an increase of $26,622.52; (e) Contract Change Order No. 6 to contract between the county of Lake and Granite Construction.

CONSENT AGENDA

7.1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held June 5, 2018.

7.2.: Adopt proclamation recognizing the 50th Anniversary of Hidden Valley Lake.

7.3: Adopt Proclamation appointing Richard Schmidt as Lake County Poet Laureate for the years 2018-2020.

7.4: Adopt a resolution creating extra help videographer series classifications and a senior Human Resources (HR) analyst classification.

7.5: Approve budget transfer in the amount of $12,000 to purchase a folding machine manufactured by Pitney Bowes, and authorize the chair to sign.

7.6: Approve Amendment 2 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Manzanita House for adult residential support services and specialty mental health services for Fiscal Year 2017-18 in order to add an additional patch rate to the current agreement and authorize the chair to sign.

7.7: Authorize advanced step salary (step 5) appointment for Ronald Yoder, retired planner to storm water and grading inspector II (Extra Help).

7.8: Authorize advanced step hiring of Scott Poma as district attorney investigator II, step five.

7.9: Sitting as Lake County Watershed Protection District Board of Directors, approve waiver of the 900 hour limit for quagga mussel ramp coordinator Edward Jones.

7.10: Approve a late travel claim reimbursement for out of state airfare to Social Worker Supervisor Sandra Miller in the amount of $1095.92 to pick up a dependent child.

7.11: Authorize mileage reimbursement for on-site construction inspectors for Anderson Springs Sewer System.

7.12: Authorize advanced step 5 hiring of Mark Dellinger for extra help construction inspector.

7.13: (a) Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Megabyte Systems Inc. for FY 2018-19 MPTS property tax system maintenance and Online Business Property Filing Licensing/Support, in the amount of $186,389.35 and authorize the chair to sign; and (b) approve web services addendum to the agreement between the county of Lake and Megabyte Systems Inc. for FY 2018-19 online tax bills and e-payment processing services, in the amount of $4,413.84, and authorize the chair to sign.

TIMED ITEMS

8.2, 9:10 a.m.: (a) Presentation of proclamation appointing Richard Schmidt as Lake County Poet Laureate for the years 2018-2020; and (b) presentation of proclamation recognizing the 50th anniversary of Hidden Valley Lake.

8.3, 9:15 a.m.: Hearing, nuisance abatement hearing request for Toby Coleman; 3905 Gaddy Lane, Kelseyville CA, APN: 008-028-34.

8.4, 9:30 a.m.: Public hearing, consideration of appeal of planning commission’s approval of Deviation DV 16-01 for Parcel Map PM 15-03; AB 18-01 APNs 024-049-07 and 10 Supervisor District 1.

8.5, 10 a.m.: Presentation to the board by County of Lake Environmental Health and Eric Rapport of the State Water Quality Control Board regarding the Lake County Local Agency Management Programs for onsite wastewater treatment systems.

8.6, 10:30 a.m.: Consideration of a) adopt resolution declaring intent to establish the Lake County Tourism Improvement District; and b) adopt resolution requesting consent of the city councils of Lakeport and Clearlake to establish the Lake County Tourism Improvement District.

UNTIMED ITEMS

9.2: Consideration of (a) Eastlake Sanitary Landfill solid waste disposal fees and (b) amendment one to franchise solid waste hauler contracts.

CLOSED SESSION

10.1: Employee disciplinary appeal (EDA 18-01) Pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54957.

10.2: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(2)(e)(3): Claim of Global Discoveries Ltd.

10.3: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): (a) Appointment of Water Resources director (a) appointment of Community Development director.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police took a Lakeport man into custody early Sunday following a vehicle pursuit, and they’re asking community members for any information they may have about the driver in the lead up to the incident.

Travis Lorin Criss, 44, was arrested after the chase, the Lakeport Police Department reported.

At 2 a.m. Sunday two Lakeport Police officers encountered a silver Mitsubishi Lancer in the downtown area. At that point they hadn’t initiated a traffic stop, but the vehicle abruptly turned and rapidly accelerated causing the officers to lose sight of it, the agency said.

A short time later an officer again spotted the vehicle at which time it again accelerated rapidly to a high rate of speed into the residential neighborhoods west of downtown, according to the police department report.

The officer initiated a traffic stop and a vehicle pursuit began with the vehicle continuing to travel at a high rate of speed and making abrupt turns, police said.

Police said the officer lost sight of the vehicle at which time the pursuit was terminated for public safety.

Officers remained in the area looking for the vehicle and at approximately 2:20 a.m. they began receiving 911 calls reporting a subject we were looking for in residential backyards in the area of Second and Crawford streets. Police reported that the officers then located the suspect vehicle abandoned with the motor and tires still warm.

While continuing to check the area, officers located a male subject walking down the street. Police said the man had stickers from weeds attached to his pants that matched stickers one of them got on their pants from a field they checked near the suspect vehicle.

The man was detained and identified as Criss, who police said was found to be wanted on a warrant out of Ukiah. Criss was stumbling and emitting a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage.

Criss was arrested and during a search incident to arrest, the keys to the Mitsubishi Lancer were located on his person, police said.

Criss was arrested for the warrant, misdemeanor intoxicated driving and for the felony charge of fleeing from law enforcement with disregard for public safety. He was taken to a local hospital for blood testing and then booked into the Lake County Jail on bail of $40,000 but has since posted bail and been released. Police said his vehicle was towed and stored.

The Lakeport Police Department thanked the alert citizens who called 911 to help direct them to Criss’ location. Without their assistance he may have eluded capture.

Police said the incident remains under investigation and they are requesting that anyone with information contact us by sending us a private Facebook message @LakeportPolice, sending us an anonymous text message from your cell phone by texting the words TIP LAKEPORT followed by your message to the number 888777, by calling us at 707-263-5491 or by emailing investigating officers Casey Debolt at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Kaylene Strugnell at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The agency said there has been a high number of intoxicated driving incidents in the city of Lakeport this year and it is taking an aggressive stance against it.

“We thank all those community members who assist us in trying to eliminate the dangerous act of intoxicated driving, on both alcohol and drugs, that continues to put peoples lives at risk. With your help we can save lives together. Call 911 to report intoxicated drivers,” the department said in its Sunday statement.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters are nearing full containment on a wildland fire near Lower Lake that began on Saturday afternoon.

The Creek fire was first reported shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday in the 9400 block of Rocky Creek Road at Morgan Valley Road.

Units from Cal Fire and Lake County Fire responded. Cal Fire resources including a helicopter and dozers helped fight the fire.

In just over an hour the fire grew to 32 acres, at which point retardant lines were around it, according to radio reports.

By evening, the fire remained at 32 acres, with containment at 95 percent Cal Fire reported.

Also on Saturday, fire was reported along Highway 20 near Lake Mendocino.

The California Highway Patrol’s incident logs indicated that a tire came off a trailer, which may have been the cause of that fire.

The Mendocino County fire was reported to have caused traffic delays for a few hours along that stretch of highway.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

America has certainly seen its fair share of noteworthy political speeches.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and George Washington’s Farewell Speech number somewhere among the top.

We’ve also seen some stinkers, from William Henry Harrison’s presidential inauguration speech that lasted hours and went nowhere but to his early demise from when he contracted pneumonia to any one of Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush’s speeches where they mispronounced “nuclear.”

But possibly the most tone-deaf speech of them all came from one of America’s greatest political thinkers: Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton was born and raised in the East Indies – the Caribbean – until he travelled to British Colonial America to attend college.

While attending Kings College (later Columbia University) in New York City, young Hamilton made a name for himself as an adroit orator and cutting political essayist. Hamilton’s politics would always tend towards the elitist, believing that the best government was the one with the most mechanisms in place to limit direct democracy. His was a government of a strong central authority, a government many suspected closely resembled England’s monarchy.

After the war, as the new nation struggled to survive a deep economic recession, the leading politicians gathered in Philadelphia to rethink how they operated their government.

Back in 1775-76, the Continental Congress first wrote the Articles of Confederation. At the time, winning the war against England looked like a longshot.

When the separate colonies came together to oppose English aggression, they needed a document that laid out the powers of each colony and how they were supposed to cooperate to win the war.

The result of these deliberations: the Articles of Confederation. The fundamental flaw, as far as men like Alexander Hamilton and George Washington were concerned, was that under the Articles, each colony (soon-to-be state) was a sovereign country.

As independent entities, they agreed to join in confederation. Each colony, through its delegates elected to Congress, had equal say on matters relating to the confederacy. Every piece of legislation had to be unanimously agreed to – meaning just a single colony could hold up Congress indefinitely.

This had been the primary culprit for the chronic lack of supplies that time and again nearly starved Washington’s army during the war. After a decade being the law of the land, the Articles of Confederation had reached their end.

Hence, the convening of this new convention in Philadelphia in 1787 – the Constitutional Convention.

Who were these men, whose genius went into creating a country that thrives to this day? Well, they were certainly not representative of most Americans at the time.

There were 55 delegates; all of them were white and all of them men. A majority were lawyers and wealthy landowners. Most were the type of aristocrats that Alexander had striven to be since first stepping foot on American soil. The average age was 42 years old; meaning 32-year-old Alexander Hamilton was one of the youngest to attend. The oldest man in attendance was 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin.

In theory, the convention had been called only to amend the Articles, not throw them out the window. But on May 30, a man named Edmund Randolph presented a plan to the convention, chiefly formulated by James Madison, that proposed to do just that. The following week or more of debate pretty much established that this convention would walk away not with revised Articles, but a completely new framework.

Throughout these debates, Alexander Hamilton sat quietly on the sidelines – peculiar behavior for a man known for his long speeches. His friends and allies were equally confused. They couldn’t understand why Alexander, usually so vocal about everything, just sat there. Some thought that being so young compared to the other delegates, Hamilton was deferring to their seniority.

In the end, Alexander Hamilton did what he did best. On June 18, 1787, he rose from his seat one afternoon during the debates and began speaking. He spoke, and he spoke, and he spoke some more.

After six hours had passed, Hamilton sat down, probably to a great sigh of relief from the other delegates.

Hamilton would later regret some of the things he said in his speech, but at the time he spoke his ideas with the same wit and energy as he had always done. We have no written transcript of the speech, but James Madison and others did take notes as Hamilton rambled on.

To begin with, Hamilton scoffed at the idea of so much democracy in a national government. Of all the men in that room, Hamilton probably had the lowest opinion of the wisdom of the common people. He had seen angry mobs too many times to have much faith in the masses.

He pointed to the Virginia Plan proposed by James Madison, which gave a lot of power to the people and laughed. “And what even is the Virginia Plan,” he asked, standing and sweating in the hot, stifling room, “but democracy checked by democracy …?” Instead, Hamilton set out his own plan; let’s call it the Hamilton Plan.

Under the Hamilton Plan, the nation would elect a president and a senate.

So far so good, thought most of the delegates.

The president and senate would then have their positions for life, so long as they maintained “good behavior.” Although he didn’t say it, he envisioned that both the president and the men of the Senate would come from the elite of the states – no rabble here, please.

What? A term for life? How is that any different from a monarchy?

In addition to a senate and a president, there would be another legislative body, the House of Representatives. Those men would be elected directly by the people and would serve a term of three years.

Okay, not bad.

And then Alexander Hamilton, in a moment of unusual poor judgement, started to praise England’s form of government.

That was the last straw for many delegates. In the coming years, his political enemies would point to this speech as evidence that Hamilton favored monarchy.

Alexander Hamilton would go on to make several other blunders over the course of his career in politics, but none that persisted as long as his speech at the Constitutional Convention.

Nevertheless, he achieved a level of power and influence that rivaled the president before his eventual murder at the hands of Aaron Burr during that famous duel in 1804.

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.