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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lucerne man who resisted arrest and fought with a deputy on Tuesday was finally arrested with the help of a sheriff’s K9.
Michael Sean Shaffer, 27, was arrested for a felony parole violation and resisting arrest, according to his booking sheet.
At approximately 11:45 p.m. Tuesday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies and a K9 responded to an address on Ogden Road in Lucerne in an attempt to contact Shaffer, who had a felony arrest warrant, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Brooks said Shaffer is a known escape risk and had a history of resisting arrest and possessing prohibited weapons.
When deputies knocked on the door of the Ogden Road home and announced themselves, Shaffer exited the house and started running toward Country Club Drive, Brooks said.
The K9 deputy identified himself and told Shaffer to stop or he was going to send the dog. Brooks said Shaffer continued to run and the deputy deployed his K9.
The K9 engaged Shaffer as he collided with a garbage can and fell to the ground. Brooks said Shaffer continued to resist as the deputy struggled to gain control of his hands.
The K9 engaged Shaffer again and he was taken into custody moments later, Brooks said.
Shaffer was transported to the hospital where he received medical treatment for some abrasions, puncture wounds and a laceration behind his right ear which required several stitches, according to Brooks.
Brooks said Shaffer was arrested and transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
Shaffer remained in custody on Wednesday due to a no bail hold, according to his booking records.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
William J. Adams, 59, was transported via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital following the crash, which occurred at 8:20 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The other driver in the crash, 35-year-old Christopher Genho Jr. of Clearlake Oaks, claimed no initial injury but may have possibly suffered shock, the CHP said.
The CHP report said Adams was driving his 2002 Saturn coupe eastbound on Highway 20 at an unknown speed through a series of “S” curves in Lucerne and passing Country Club Drive, with Genho traveling westbound at between 40 and 45 miles per hour in his full-size GMC 2500 panel van.
As Genho was approaching Ogden Road, Adams reportedly drifted across the double yellow lines into Genho’s path, the CHP said.
The crash’s cause is still under investigation, but the CHP report suggested that, based on a brief statement Adams was able to provide as well as that of an independent witness following his vehicle prior to the crash, Adams may have fallen asleep while driving.
That witness and Genho both told the CHP that Adams drifted across the double yellow lines, with Genho attempting to take evasive action by veering the van toward the eastbound lane in order to avoid hitting Adams, the CHP said.
However, Adams unexpectedly swerved back toward the eastbound lane. The CHP said Genho then moved the van back toward the north, with Adams again changing direction.
The front left portion of Adams’ Saturn struck the van’s front left area, with both vehicles coming to rest within the westbound traffic lane. The CHP said the van was oriented in a westbound direction with the Saturn positioned eastbound.
Northshore Fire personnel had to extricate Adams from the Saturn due to his injuries and the vehicle’s condition, the CHP reported.
Reports from the scene indicated Highway 20 was closed briefly as firefighters and CHP worked at the scene.
Officer Nick Powell is investigating the crash.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NICE, Calif. – In the days before the Christmas holiday, Luwana Quitiquit was tired.
The 70-year-old Quitiquit, a respected local Pomo elder and basket weaver, artist and activist, had been the lead plaintiff in a case filed against Robinson Rancheria, whose council was trying to evict her and several others from their homes on the reservation.
It was the latest assault on Quitiquit and her family, who in 2008 were disenrolled by the tribe. Also disenrolled at that time was her mother, who was posthumously removed from the tribe’s rolls.
Quitiquit, who had formerly served on the Robinson Rancheria tribal council, told Lake County News at the time that the move to force her family out of the tribe was purely political and retaliatory.
“I'm ready to fight,” she said in a December 2008 interview. “They're not going to make me cry. I'm going to fight all the way.”
She had continued to fight, even as the tribe attempted to push her from her home, signing up to be the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to fight the evictions. A judge recently had granted a delay in the proceedings until March, according to her sister, Wanda Quitiquit.
But, as sister Wanda pointed out, Luwana Quitiquit was both busy and tired from the battle, and she was struggling with her health.
“You would not believe the stress she was under,” Wanda Quitiquit told Lake County News.
In order to pay for the retainer fee for the attorney representing her and others targeted for eviction, Luwana Quitiquit had just sold one of her exquisitely beaded American Indian dresses, Wanda Quitiquit said.
With money to pay the attorney, Luwana Quitiquit believed things were going to be all right, said her sister.
On Thursday, Dec. 22, she went to bed exhausted. The next morning, her son went to check on her.
“She died in her sleep and we should all be so lucky,” said Wanda Quitiquit, who called her sister her best friend.
Wanda Quitiquit said the fight to battle the evictions at Robinson Rancheria needs to continue on behalf of her sister.
“They can't touch her now,” she said of the tribal council.
Luwana Quitiquit was born in Isleton, Calif., on Nov. 13, 1941, to father Claro Quitiquit, of Filipino ancestry, and mother, Marie Boggs Quitiquit, who came from Robinson Rancheria.
She was from a big family, with a total of 15 siblings.
She grew up on Union Island in the Bay-Delta area near Stockton, where she and her family were employed as farm workers.
Her interests and activism took root there, but grew beyond the boundaries of a youth spent in farming.
While in her 20s she worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and in November 1969 she took part in an earlier “occupy” movement, when she and other American Indians decided to occupy Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.
Her family said she was one of the first Indians to step foot on the island as part of that occupation, remaining there until its end two years later, in 1971.
Her older brother Lawrence Thompson, who died in 2009, also had been involved in the Alcatraz occupation, captaining a boat that transported people from San Francisco Pier No. 40 to the island.
In the years that followed the Alcatraz occupation, Luwana Quitiquit continued her education. In 1977 she received her bachelor's degree in sociology from U.C. Berkeley.
Since then, she had become known as a talented scholar, researcher and grant writer, and worked to address challenges facing natives in Indian Country.
Her family said she even went on to visit New Zealand and Australia. Indigenous leaders there encouraged her to work to preserve her Pomo culture and heritage.
Luwana Quitiquit studied Pomo basketry – renowned weaver Mabel McKay was among her teachers – and owned and operated the Pomo Fine Art Gallery in Lucerne’s Harbor Village Artists complex.
She traveled around the state to share her talents, going to Albany last month to take part in an American Indian art show with her son, Alan Harrison.
“Luwana taught a cultural wellness class at the health clinic that became a class model for other tribal clinics in California,” said friend Sandy Elgin. “She was, and still is, a legend with a gentle spirit that will live on forever.”
Luwana Quitiquit is survived by her three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, 11 of her siblings, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her son, Tyrone A. Douglas; her parents and four of her brothers.
Quitiquit's obituary can be viewed here: Luwana Quitiquit, 1941-2011 .
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Office of Education reported Tuesday that recently announced mid-year state budget cuts include massive and unequalled reductions to much-needed transportation funds for rural and small school districts.
As a result, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook said Lake County school districts are again preparing to deal with more reductions to funding for education and schools.
This time, however, the proposed cuts are in the middle of the budget year, lack specificity and are based on disproportionate funding allocations for school districts that provide necessary but not mandated transportation, he said.
Holbrook said the Lake County schools revenue limit funding per-student has been reduced over the last five years by approximately $1,300 per-student, and local schools are now preparing for an additional $13.10 per student mid-year reduction.
In addition, transportation funding will be reduced by 51.5 percent, which Holbrook said will result in a loss of approximately $875,000 to Lake County schools.
The mid-year cuts in transportation raise many issues for Lake County’s schools, Holbrook said.
Lake County schools and parents rely heavily on home to school transportation – in the form of school buses – to get their children to school, Holbrook said. Due to the county’s geography and walking distances to school, a higher percentage of local students ride the bus.
While home to school transportation is not a state-mandated program, Holbrook said it is a critical service ensuring that students attend school on a regular basis, and average daily attendance (ADA) is the primary determiner for school funding. Simply discontinuing school transportation service is not a viable solution for Lake County schools.
Another issue raised is the apparent lack of fairness in how the reductions in transportation funds will be calculated, according to Holbrook.
The 51.5-percent reduction is planned to be applied in January to a decades-old base-funding appropriation that varies from district to district. Holbrook said the result of this approach will be a disproportionate reduction of dollars on a per-student basis.
According to the chart below, total Lake County reductions per-student will range from a low of $60 per-student to a high of $157, Holbrook said.
In addition, state transportation funds allocated to Lake County schools already have been reduced and do not fully cover the cost of providing transportation, Holbrook said.
In 2011-12 Lake County school transportation entitlements have been reduced by $435,000, thereby requiring local school districts to allocate more than $1,803,000 of scarce regular education dollars to maintain the current level of service, he said.
As an example, Kelseyville Unified School District’s initial transportation allotment was $442,359 and was reduced to $354,616 in July, Holbrook said. Now that allocation will be reduced again by 51.5 percent, leaving just $171,989 as the state funded amount.
Kelseyville’s regular education budget will now need to fund $277,230 of the total transportation costs, which Holbrook said amounts to $449,219.
Lastly, Holbrook said the timeline for implementation of mid-year reductions is problematic.
Schools cannot simply reduce personnel costs, he said.
Most, if not all, school districts are subject to collective bargaining agreements requiring them to adhere to strict procedures for notification and communication related to reducing staff, Holbrook said. In order to fairly and efficiently implement any reductions in staff, a minimum of 60 to 90 days is required, thereby reducing the potential savings in the remaining school year.
While it may be overly optimistic to expect that education would be held harmless from future cuts until the budget stabilizes, the reductions could be applied in a more equitable fashion, he said.
The same dollars generated in the 51.5 percent reduction to transportation could be achieved by a statewide “across the board” reduction of $42 per student, Holbrook suggested.
Holbrook is encouraging local parents to consider contacting Lake County’s state legislators to encourage them to quickly address this issue.
“Together we can make a difference,” Holbrook said.
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