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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT – Looking at Tyler Hayes, the words “small but mighty” come to mind.
The 18-year-old Clear Lake High School wrestler's small, sculpted frame weighs in at 103 pounds. He's polite, soft-spoken and friendly, and has a firm handshake as an introduction.
But once he steps onto the wrestling mat, the fierce competitor comes out.
On Friday morning Hayes will begin competition at the State Wrestling Championships at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena. He's the only Lake County wrestler to reach that competition this year.
He'll have to win two out of three matches on Friday in order to advance into the weekend competition, explained his coach, Mike Humble, who has guided the Clear Lake High wrestling team for eight years.
The entire Hayes family – including parents, grandparents and siblings – left Thursday to make the trip to Bakersfield.
He's had a strong career as a high school wrestler, medaling at the North Coast Section championships for three years. This year he was league champion for his weight group, the smallest of 14 weight classes, said Humble.
Wrestling takes dedication and stamina. After-school practices take place five days a week and last between three and a half and four hours, said Hayes. They include a 2.7-mile run, two hours of wrestling and, on some days, weight training. Then there are weekend tournaments.
Hayes competes in track and field and runs cross country, which has given him endurance, another good trait for a wrestler to have, Humble said.
While doing all of that, Hayes maintains straight As in his school work.
Assessing Hayes' talent, Humble pointed to his strengths. "For his weight class, he's very strong, so strength is a big factor in his abilities."
Hayes also walks onto the mat with confidence. When he loses, dad Gary points out, he tends to learn from it and come back, beating the same opponent he lost to in their next meeting.
“I have to go in with the attitude I'm going to win,” Hayes said.
His trip this weekend caps off some strong years for his team, which has struggled to fill all of its weight classes consistently, said Humble, who wrestled at Petaluma High School and works as a California Highway Patrol officer.
Yet, the 16-member team has been getting stronger, said Humble. “The kids that we get through here are quality.”
That may be helped by the middle school wrestling program. Hayes and Humble spent Wednesday afternoon working with the younger children, two of which included Hayes' younger sisters.
Hayes himself began wrestling at a young age, in the fourth grade, coached by Rob Brown and Ronnie Campos. His older brothers, Michael and Benjamin, also wrestled.
“It's fun,” Hayes said of his family's enthusiasm for the sport. “We all like it.”
That's despite the fact that Hayes has had his fair share of injuries, ranging from putting out his back to a separated shoulder and an injured ankle.
During the last few years local wrestlers have gone far, says Humble. In 2006, Steve Franklin of Middletown High and David Laird of Clear Lake High both competed at the state meet. Franklin went all the way to the National High School Wrestling Championships, while Laird finished ninth at state – just one slot away from a trip to nationals.
In 2007, Clear Lake wrestlers Justin Mills and Michael Knoppman competed at the state meet.
Hayes definitely wants to keep wrestling, so he's looking at attending Santa Rosa Junior College. Coach Humble said the school has a good record of getting wrestlers placed a colleges and universities. Hayes said he's thinking about enlisting in the Coast Guard.
What is it that keeps him working hard at this tough sport?
“I like that it's one on one,” said Hayes. “When you're out there, you make a mistake, it's on you.”
He added, “When you get your hand raised after a match, it's a great feeling.”
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Morgan Matthew Jack, 31, of Nice is being charged with the June 2007 murder of 39-year-old Paul Womachka.
On Feb. 15 the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported receiving an arrest warrant for Jack for Womachka's murder.
Womachka went missing after reportedly giving Jack a ride from Robinson Rancheria's casino to Big Valley Rancheria in the early morning hours of June 27, as Lake County News has reported. His body was found in his taxi minivan two days later, submerged in Big Valley Rancheria's marina.
On Thursday Jack was brought back to Lake County from San Quentin State Prison, where he had been housed after violating his parole for a 2001 conviction, which he received for possessing a blank check that did not belong to him.
Jack is being held on $530,000 bail for the first-degree murder charge. Booking documents showed that he is due to appear in court March 3.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Clearlake Oaks resident Leona Butts, a Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association board member, is devoted to fighting Schwarzenegger's proposal, which would close Clear Lake State Park, Anderson Marsh State Historic Park and 46 other parks around the state.
The petition drive began in January, within days of Schwarzenegger's announcement of the closure plan.
Butts said Thursday that her phone continues to ring with requests for more petition forms. In addition, she's receiving packs of petitions in the mail daily. People also come to Butts' home, bringing their completed petitions.
All of that started, she said, when she began circulating petitions with her return address at local meetings. She's also e-mailed hundreds of people about the effort.
Local businesses such as Umpqua Bank have petitions available for customers to sign, and Butts said they've forwarded her a stack of completed petitions as well.
Other places to find a petition include the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport, the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce, Wild About Books in Clearlake and Watershed Books in Lakeport.
As of Wednesday, Butts had just under 1,500 signatures in hand, a number which doesn't count those gathered by some other groups around the county, such as the Sierra Club.
Butts said she hopes to gather several thousand signatures to help convince the governor to take his park closure proposal off the table.
For more information or an e-mailed petition, community members are invited to call Butts at 998-3027.
Petitions also can be downloaded at http://redwood.sierraclub/lake.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LUCERNE – On Tuesday a Lucerne man received a $1,000 fine and a year's probation for his part in an illegal dumping case involving Morrison Creek.
James Re, 46, a professional painter, reached a plea agreement with the Lake County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday morning, before his trial was scheduled to begin, said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Moffatt.
In early February 2007, painting materials from Re's business were found dumped in the beleaguered Morrison Creek, said Moffatt. The creek has been a frequent target of illegal dumpers.
Lake County News was unable to contact Re's defense attorney, Ernest Krause, for comment.
According to a witness statement submitted as part of the case, Lucerne resident Lenny Matthews reported the dump site after first seeing it on Feb. 9, 2007.
Less than a week later, on Feb. 15, 2007, Matthews returned to the site and found newly dumped materials – including bags of trash containing paint cans as well as exposed, unbagged cans of paint, and oil seeping into the ground. The following day an acquaintance of Matthews' went to the site and found a piece of paper with a name and address on it, which belonged to Re.
A Fish and Game warden eventually cited Re, said Moffatt.
Re was charged with three counts related to dumping toxic materials in a state water body, with one of the charges relating to harmful effects on wildlife.
Moffatt said Re pleaded no contest to all three of those counts.
A fourth count stemmed from the commercial quantity of the paint that was dumped, said Moffatt.
Re claimed he had paid a friend to properly dispose of the materials for him, according to Moffatt.
That friend was 49-year-old Michael Collins Sr., who was found dead on Robinson Road on Jan. 28. Collins was found with a pickup load of trash and a shovel, and appeared to have been dumping materials when he died.
With Collins no longer a possibility as a witness, Moffatt said the fourth charge was dropped, because it couldn't be proved that all the materials belonged to Re.
Moffatt said the case was helped by the fact that they found billing statements amongst the dumped materials that came from Re's business.
Illegal dumping cases aren't common when it comes to prosecution, said Moffatt, because they're hard to prove unless – as in Re's case – evidence of who owns the dumped materials can be found.
“This is the first kind of dumping case that I can think of,” Moffatt said.
Re must pay a $1,080 fine and will serve one year's probation, said Moffatt.
Although Moffatt said Re cleaned up the dumped materials after they were found, the plea agreement included a stipulation reserving the District Attorney's Office's right to hold a future hearing for restitution costs if the county has to do any additional cleanup.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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