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- Written by: Lake County News reports
UKIAH, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is trying to recover rifles and shotguns stolen from a Yorkville home late last month.
Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said the guns were stolen during a robbery that occurred in a home on Highway 128.
Two suspects have been arrested in the case, according to Smallcomb – Ukiah residents James Paul Miller, 23 and David Mathew Andrews, 25.
He said the burglary was discovered on the afternoon of Nov. 4. The suspects allegedly made entry into the residence by breaking a window next to the front door. Once inside, they destroyed a closet door with a hatchet and removed several rifles, shotguns, and two handguns that were secured inside.
Deputies were called to investigate the burglary and learned painters had recently been in the residence doing work, Smallcomb said.
Several days later Ukiah Police officers contacted sheriff's deputies and advised they had recovered two handguns from Andrews during a search at a local hotel. Smallcomb said the handguns were registered to the victim of this burglary, and were later determined to be stolen during this burglary.
Deputies interviewed Andrews, who was in custody in the Mendocino County Jail, and he advised them he had committed the burglary and had received information about the residence in Yorkville from his longtime friend, Miller, who is employed as a painter and had recently worked at the Yorkville residence.
Andrews and Miller allegedly went to the residence and Andrews burglarized it for the guns. Smallcomb said Andrews is alleged to have kept the handguns and Miller took the rifles and shotguns.
Smallcomb said deputies responded to Miller's residence and placed him under arrest. Deputies located a .22 caliber rifle at Miller's residence that was not related to the Yorkville burglary, but Miller is currently prohibited from possessing firearms due to a previous battery conviction.
Both Andrews and Miller were booked on burglary and conspiracy charges. Smallcomb said Miller was booked on the additional charge of being a Prohibited person in possession of firearms.
Miller is being held on $105,000 bail, Smallcomb said, with Andrews' bail set at $35,000.
Although the two handguns were recovered, the rifles and shotguns are still outstanding, Smallcomb said.
Anyone with information regarding this burglary is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4086.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Vietnam veterans around the nation affected by Agent Orange have won another battle in the ongoing effort to get recognition for the numerous maladies resulting from their exposure to the herbicide.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reported that it has begun distributing disability benefits to Vietnam veterans who qualify for compensation under recently liberalized rules for Agent Orange exposure.
Coverage has now been expanded to include B-cell (or hairy-cell) leukemia, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease.
The changes took effect Oct. 30.
“The joint efforts of Congress and VA demonstrate a commitment to provide Vietnam veterans with treatment and compensation for the long-term health effects of herbicide exposure,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a written statement.
The US military used Agent Orange – along with a host of other, similar dioxin-based herbicides – to defoliate the jungles in Vietnam in order to take away the cover used by enemy forces in the country. It was sprayed in a variety of ways, including by aircraft and people on the ground.
The VA said that up to 200,000 Vietnam veterans are potentially eligible to receive VA disability compensation for medical conditions recently associated with Agent Orange because of the rule change.
The three new conditions have been added to a list of other recognized illnesses under the VA's Agent Orange “presumption” rule.
“Agent Orange itself is not a claim, it's not a disability,” said Lake County Veterans Service Officer Jim Brown.
The presumptive rule means that it's assumed that if a Vietnam veteran has any of the conditions that they resulted from exposure to Agent Orange, and the VA will grant service-connected disability ratings, said Brown.
The other illnesses previously included in the presumptive rule include acute and subacute transient peripheral neuropathy, which is a nervous system condition resulting in motor weakness, numbness and tingling; the skin condition chloracne, which resembles other types of acne seen more commonly in teens; and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
There's also diabetes mellitus (Type 2); Hodgkin's Disease; multiple myeloma, a cancer that affects white blood cells in bone marrow; Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; porphyria cutanea tarda, which officials said is characterized by liver dysfunction, hair thinning and blistering of skin in sun-exposed areas; and AL Amyloidosis.
The herbicide also is presumed to have caused a host of different types of cancers, including prostate cancer; respiratory cancers; and soft tissue sarcoma, a group of cancers other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma or mesothelioma.
Based on interactions with local veterans services, Brown estimated that about 200 local veterans are dealing with Agent Orange-related health issues.
With the new health conditions added, “I'm sure that's going to increase,” he said.
Brown said he expects that more veterans will come in under ischemic heart disease, which is a condition that is characterized by chest pain, resulting from a reducing blood supply to the heart. He said he knows of local vets who have previously sought benefits due to the condition but were turned down.
Dean Gotham, president of the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said most of the veterans he knows who would be affected by the Agent Orange rule changes already are 100-percent disabled due to other causes.
Veterans advocate for more studies, more help
The VA reported that Agent Orange was the most commonly sprayed herbicide in Vietnam. Altogether, 19 million gallons of herbicide were used in that country. Studies were done that linked it to birth defects and deaths among the Vietnamese population.
During the Vietnam era many veterans offshore also were exposed to chemical testing such as in the “Big Tom” Navy test and Project SHAD, as Lake County News has reported.
Getting recognition for Agent Orange-affected veterans has been a long and often difficult process.
While the VA gave special access to health care to veterans exposed to Agent Orange beginning in 1978, it took until 1981 to offer such vets priority medical care.
Veterans with medical problems related to the herbicide began to receive disability compensation from the VA in 1985.
In 1991, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act, which established an initial list of diseases presumed associated with exposure to the herbicide agents.
Gotham said the national Vietnam Veterans of American leadership is heading up the work to gain additional recognitions and assistance for Agent Orange-related conditions.
In June, the organization issued a statement in which it said that Vietnam veterans are more than twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as the rest of the population, and the same was true for other presumptive conditions, including prostate cancer.
“This points, yet again, to the need for federal funding of additional research into the adverse health impacts on Vietnam veterans, on our children, and on our grandchildren, by respected independent scientific entities outside of the VA,” the organization stated.
The statement continued, “The clear need for such research is even more pressing today, given the number of Vietnam veterans who have died well before their time in the last 20 years, and the number who are continuing to die early because of the ravages resulting from exposure to Agent Orange/dioxin in Southeast Asia.”
Gotham said it's those “intergenerational effects” on the children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans that still need to be studied.
“It turns out Agent Orange causes genetic damage,” he said.
Because Agent Orange causes sterility issues and can result in damaged sperm, “There's a whole lost generation that people don't even know about,” Gotham said.
He said a study was done on children in Vietnam and how they were affected but a study so far hasn't been done in the United States on the children of veterans. “It pisses us off,” Gotham said.
Because of an anticipated surge in Agent Orange-related claims, the VA has launched new initiatives to modernize processes and handle claims through automation and operational improvements, the agency reported.
The VA reported that survivors' benefits may be available for spouses, children and dependent parents of Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
While providing initial payments or payment increases to the 200,000 veterans who will qualify under the new rules will take several months, the VA nevertheless encouraged veterans to apply for help if they qualify.
Veterans interested in applying for disability compensation under one of the three new Agent Orange presumptives should go to www.fasttrack.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A longtime county employee was arrested over the weekend on allegations of felony vandalism.
Sandra Rose Thompson, 57, of Lakeport was taken into custody by Lakeport Police just after 12 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, according to Lake County Jail records.
Thompson works in the Lake County Recorder's Office. County records indicate she has worked for the county for 29 years.
Lakeport Police Department's acting Chief Brad Rasmussen said that two units were dispatched to an address on Lupoyoma Heights just after 11 p.m. Friday on the report of a vandalism.
When they arrived they met with a witness who reported seeing Thompson out in the street yelling, said Rasmussen.
A Lakeport Police log entry stated that the reporting party said Thompson was seen carrying a bat or golf club.
Rasmussen said Thompson allegedly smashed out the front and back passenger windows of a pickup owned by her boyfriend.
The boyfriend was not at the residence when the incident is alleged to have happened, Rasmussen said.
Thompson was reportedly still at the scene when officers initially contacted her. Rasmussen said she was arrested for felony vandalism after further investigation.
Vandalism is charged as a felony when the damage is in excess of $400. Rasmussen said further investigation is needed to determine the actual cost of the damage Thompson is alleged to have done to the pickup.
Rasmussen said the matter will be sent to the District Attorney's Office for further review.
Bail was set at $10,000 and jail records indicate Thompson later posted bail and was released.
Thompson is to appear in court on Tuesday, according to jail records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
James Porter, 32, was arrested for burglary on Nov. 5, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Smallcomb said the burglaries Porter is alleged to have committed occurred on the mornings of Nov. 1 and Nov. 4 at PG&E offices and a storage facility on N. State Street in Ukiah.
Porter, along with possible additional suspects, is alleged to have cut fences and padlocks to get into the properties, removing large caches of copper wiring, along with numerous work tools from the location, Smallcomb said.
The approximate loss was in excess of $5,000, according to Smallcomb.
On Nov. 5 Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies received information that Porter attempted to sell the stolen property at a location in Willits. Smallcomb said Porter was subsequently arrested.
Deputies later learned where the stolen property was located, recovered it and released it back to PG&E, Smallcomb said.
Smallcomb said Porter admitted to both burglaries, as well as previous thefts he had conducted at the PG&E offices.
Porter was subsequently transported and booked into the Mendocino County Jail on the listed charge. His bail was set at $15,000. Smallcomb said Porter also was on probation at the time of the thefts.
The investigation is continuing into a possible second suspect who assisted Porter in the thefts, Smallcomb said.
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