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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Two lightning-caused fires burning in northern Mendocino County scorched nearly 1,400 more acres on Saturday, along with four more structures, with the total acreage on the fires now topping 40,000 acres.
The North Pass Fires, burning for the last two weeks in the Williams Valley area 10 miles northeast of Covelo, had burned 40,885 acres by Saturday evening, and was 58 percent contained.
The fires are burning both on state and federal lands, including the Mendocino National Forest.
The fires burned another two homes and two outbuildings on Saturday, bringing the total to 16 – seven residences and nine outbuildings.
Approximately 59 structures remain threatened, officials reported, and evacuation orders remain in effect for some areas near Covelo.
Fire officials are asking area residents to stay off the roads within the fire area from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Two additional injuries were reported on Saturday, bringing the total to nine.
Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, which share unified command on the incident, had 1,683 fire personnel assigned on Saturday, as well as 156 fire engines, 24 fire crews, two airtankers, 12 helicopters, 15 bulldozers and 34 water tenders.
Smoke from the fire again pushed into the Lake County air basin, causing a haze over parts of the county.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A couple of NCS Div. V football teams are looking especially strong this early season.
North Central League II/Bay Football teams Calistoga and Tomales rolled to easy victories Friday night, Calistoga beating South Fork, 61-28, and Tomales clubbing Elsie Allen, 68-14.
For Tomales (1-0), a strong Div. V program, the big win over Elsie Allen (0-2) was exactly big news.
But Calistoga, which defeated Cloverdale in its opener the week prior, is suddenly 2-0 – after going 0-10 last year and opening the season as the lowest-ranked Div. V team in the NCS.
In other Friday games, Arroyo defeated Ukiah, 10-6, Fortuna beat Healdsburg, 37-0, and Justin-Siena rolled over El Molino, 53-0.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Clearlake man and two Ukiah residents were cited earlier this week for allegedly purchasing alcohol for minors.
Aristeo Lares-Gonzalez, 36, of Clearlake was cited along with Ukiah residents Jeffrey Murray, 29, and Christopher Knowles, 46, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
On Sunday, Aug. 26, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies conducted an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) decoy shoulder tap operation in the Calpella and Ukiah areas, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.
Smallcomb said the Decoy Shoulder Tap Program is an enforcement program ABC and or local law enforcement agencies use to detect and deter shoulder tap activity.
During the program, a minor decoy – a person under 21 – under the direct supervision of law enforcement officers solicits adults – 21 years of age or older – outside ABC licensed stores to buy the minor alcohol beverages, he explained.
Any person observed furnishing alcohol to the minor decoy is arrested and either cited or incarcerated at the county jail for providing alcohol to a minor, Smallcomb said.
During the operation, the minor decoys were deployed outside ABC licensed stores in the Calpella and Ukiah areas, Smallcomb said.
The decoys contacted several people during the operation, Smallcomb said. Most of the people contacted properly dismissed the minor decoys requests.
In the Calpella area, Lares-Gonzales was observed purchasing and furnishing alcohol beverages to the minor decoys and he was cited, Smallcomb said.
In the Ukiah area, both Jeffrey Murray and Christopher Knowles were observed purchasing and providing alcohol beverages to the minor decoys. Smallcomb said both men were cited.
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- Written by: Rich Mellott
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown coach Bill Foltmer was sitting in his office on Friday afternoon, a few hours before his team kicked off its season against Salesian, when someone asked him what his Mustangs had to do to have a shot at upsetting the visitors from Richmond, who were pulling into town with a 22-game win streak and a No. 2 North Coast Section Div IV ranking.
“We have to score points,” he said, meaning they’d have to score a bunch of points to keep pace with The Pride’s high-octane offense.
“In the past, whenever we’ve played them, we had to score points,” Foltmer said. “It’s never a defensive battle with them.”
Until later that evening, at least, when the large crowd that came to see some offensive fireworks instead witnessed a battle between two defenses that surrendered plenty of yards, but precious few points.
Trailing 3-0 at the half, Salesian finally got into the end zone on Michael Page’s 1-yard run in the third quarter, which held up for a very strange 7-3 victory.
Strange because Page finished with 340 yards rushing in 27 carries as Salesian piled up the yardage in posting its 23rd straight win, but when it came to scoring points, they didn’t add up to much.
But one touchdown was all The Pride needed on a night when the Mustangs were held to a second-quarter Tyler Drew field goal of 22 yards.
“We had a few opportunities on offense, but we just couldn’t take advantage of them,” Foltmer said after the game, sitting in the same chair he occupied a few hours earlier.
As for the Mustangs’ defense, who would have figured it could hold Salesian to a single touchdown?
Here’s a team that out-scored opponents by an average of 30 points a game last year en route to its second straight NCS Div. IV title, and opened last week with a 39-6 win over De Anza.
“I thought our defense played very well. They gained some yards on us but a lot of them were at the end of the half, and they turned the ball over to us on a couple of fumbles, which helped,” Foltmer said.
Middletown also had some success moving the ball, but its 201 yards of offense was less than half of Salesian’s total.
Ben Pike completed 13 of 23 passes for 88 yards and the Mustangs added 102 yards on the ground, led by Drew’s 59 yards in nine carries. But Salesian protected its end zone whenever the Mustangs got within striking distance.
Foltmer was left wondering what it all meant.
“It takes a few games before you get a sense of how good you are or how good your opponent was,” he said. “We’ll know a lot more after a couple of more games.”
Rich Mellott can be reached at
