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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The two-vehicle accident occurred at about 5:40 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol incident logs. One vehicle had reportedly rolled over and another was reported to be close to catching on fire.
A report from the Ukiah CHP Dispatch Center said that Highway 29 just north of Middletown was shut down because of the collision, with traffic rerouted onto Highway 175 through Cobb. The CHP logs said that traffic was shut down from Butts Canyon Road to St. Helena Road.
Officers confirmed two deaths at the scene at approximately 6:10 a.m., according to the logs. The Coroner's Office was en route to the scene later in the morning.
CHP's Ukiah Dispatch Center confirmed the two deaths at noon Sunday.
Caltrans was notified to activate signs warning of the collision, with a towing service also called to remove the vehicles.
CHP reported that both lanes of the highway were reopened to traffic by 11:47 a.m.
Lake County News will publish an update as soon as more information is available.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT – Lakeport's Main Street was transported back to Victorian times for the fourth annual Dickens Christmas Market on Saturday.
More than 60 vendors lined up both sides of Main Street throughout the day.
Thousands of curious shoppers drifted from First to Fourth streets and back examining a wide range of holiday items and seasonal arts and crafts, many created by local artisans.
Children of all ages enjoyed a ride on a miniature train or rode the now-familiar muledrawn trolley from Eleven Roses Ranch. Hundreds more waited patiently to visit Santa in Santa’s Workshop.
Everyone was treated to live holiday caroling and several persons covering all ages donned period attire to show support of the event, as well as try and win a prize for best costume.
The day was topped off by a lighted Christmas parade at 6 p.m. followed by the city's Christmas tree lighting.
A majority of downtown business owners remained open for this year’s celebration, hosted by the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce. Total attendance estimates was not available at press time.
Contact Harold LaBonte at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT – The story behind the murder this week of a Lakeport man took on an even grimmer tone with the confirmation that the murder victim had recently served time in prison.
Michael Anthony Dodele, 67, was stabbed to death in his home at Space 19 in the Western Hills Mobile Home Park on Tuesday morning.
That same morning, Lake County Sheriff's deputies arrested 29-year-old Ivan Garcia Oliver. Officials reported that Oliver was allegedly covered with blood and made statements admitting to attacking Dodele.
Oliver is from San Diego, where he was on parole for an assault with a deadly weapon conviction, according to a report from the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
A reader tipped Lake County News that Dodele was listed on the Megan's Law Web site, which lists registered sex offenders and their addresses.
A check of the site confirmed that Dodele was on the site, registered at the Lakeshore Boulevard address. The record noted that he was in compliance for registration.
The Lake County Sheriff's administrative office was closed Friday, so Chief Deputy Russell Perdock could not be reached for comment on the case.
Dodele, who also went by the alias Michael Salta, had been convicted of rape by force, according to the Megan's Law Web site and confirmed by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records.
Previously a resident of Sonoma County, records obtained by Lake County News showed that Dodele was committed to state prison in February of 1988 after being convicted of rape in Sonoma County. He received a 26-year sentence.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show that Dodele was discharged from that agency's supervision in February of 2004.
According to court records he later was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital, which is where the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation commits patients including offenders with mental illnesses and those being held under the California Sexually Violent Predator Act, according to state legislation. However, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had no information about his time at Atascadero.
While at the Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County, Dodele took a case to the First Appellate District Court Jan. 23, 2002. His case was argued before the court in San Francisco Jan. 29, 2003.
The court upheld his conviction, and he next appealed to the state Supreme Court, which denied his petition for a review on April 20, 2003.
It is not clear from records if that appeal was an effort to have his original conviction overturned or if it was related to his commitment to Atascadero.
While he was at Atascadero in 2005, Dodele suffered chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack. Doctors found out he had a hyatal hernia, but when they tried to arrange surgery, Atascadero personnel refused to allow the treatment, according to an article about the incident on Echoes of the Gulag, a Web site dedicated to people held under the Sexually Violent Predator Act.
In May 2006 the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of California reached a settlement concerning civil rights violations at state mental hospitals, including Atascadero, according to court documents.
An autopsy of Dodele is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27, as part of the ongoing investigation into his murder, Perdock reported this week.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – State Sen. Patricia Wiggins has had a busy freshman year in the Senate. {sidebar id=35}
Like her North Coast colleague in the Assembly, Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) had nine of her bills signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by the October deadline.
David Miller, Wiggins' spokesman, said the 120-member Legislature sent 964 bills to Schwarzenegger’s desk in 2007, with Schwarzenegger signing 750 and vetoing 214.
Wiggins authored a total of 34 bills. Of those, 14 were approved by the Legislature and sent to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to Wiggins' spokesman, David Miller.
Of those 14 bills, Schwarzenegger signed nine and vetoed five, Miller reported.
This year comprised the first half of the two-year, 2007-08 Legislative Session, Miller reported. He said Wiggins has 13 other bills that she introduced in 2007 that are still alive going into 2008 while, at the same time, discussing potential bills with her staff for the 2008 legislative year.
During this session, Wiggins – a member of the Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee – called for an audit of the Yountville Veterans Home and held a hearing on the matter Aug. 29.
She also worked on agricultural issues, with four ag-related bills – including Lake County's pear shed bill and legislation to get more funding for state efforts to fight the light brown apple moth – receiving the governor's signature.
Legislative highlights for 2007
Among her bills signed this year by the governor, Wiggins reported that she is most proud of her environmental and ag-related legislation, including SB 319, which extended a labor law exemption allowing Lake County minors to work longer hours during pear harvest.
“Given the support of my colleagues, and the governor, on my bill, SB 319, I am optimistic that we will be able to pass new legislation, some time in the near future, to eliminate the sunset date altogether, and make this very productive provision of law permanent,” Wiggins said.
Her disappointments included Schwarzenegger's veto of SB 565, which had sought to establish a position to oversee health care management at the Yountville Veterans Home. In his Oct. 12 veto message, Schwarzenegger said the bill was unnecessary because he said such a position already existed. He said the bill also infringed on his authority to administer state agencies and programs.
Wiggins said she also was disappointed by Schwarzenegger's veto of SB 678, which would have enabled Napa County to purchase the property known as Skyline Park from the state (the county currently leases the land for a nominal annual amount); and his veto of SB 861, which would have allowed the North Coast Railroad Authority to reallocate some of its funds toward environmental cleanup.
Wiggins said she was saddened that SB 623, her bill that would have covered the cost of drug co-payments for seniors and other individuals under the Medicare Part D program, died in the Legislature.
“Clearly, this year did not lack for disappointments, but I think it is important to keep things in their proper perspective,” said Wiggins. “We have yet to implement a strategy for reforming health care, which has of course been frustrating, but we are still working at it and I remain hopeful that something will come together in the near future.”
She added, “On a personal level, while I am disappointed, and in some cases perplexed, over the Governor’s decision to veto some of my bills, I am nonetheless appreciative of the fact that he did, in the end, sign nine of my bills into law this year.”
With one exception – SB 556, an “urgency” measure establishing the Light Brown Apple Moth program within the state Department of Food & Agriculture – all of the new laws created by Wiggins' legislation will take effect next January.
Those bills signed into law and brief explanations follow.
– SB 106: Ratified the gaming compact between the state and the Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, allowing the tribe to operate up to 99 gaming machines at a fuel mart and future gaming facility on its reservation.
– SB 108: Expands the types of nonprofit organizations able to allow wine orders to be taken by wineries at their events to include civic leagues, social organizations and “voluntary employees’ benefit associations (this is an expansion of AB 1505, a 2003 bill by then-Assemblywoman Wiggins).
– SB 319: Extends to Jan. 1, 2012 an exemption to state labor law allowing minors in Lake County (16-17 years of age) to work up to 10 hours a day and up to 60 hours a week in agricultural packing plants during the harvest season (when school is not in session).
– SB 556: Creates the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) program within the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
– SB 568: Authorizes counties to administer necessary medications to inmates diagnosed as mentally ill and found incompetent to stand trial (the bill requires that the drugs be administered utilizing a medically approved protocol at a county jail facility, in the same manner as at an in-patient unit or state hospital).
– SB 581: Transfers the Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Award System (a program that provides a small monthly stipend to people who do perform long service to their communities as volunteer firefighters) from CalPERS to the California State Fire Employees Welfare Benefit Corp.
– SB 701: Reinstates the California Forest Legacy Program, which had expired in 2007 (the program, which is designed to protect forest land, including working forests, from development pressures, is necessary for the state to receive federal funds for forest conservation).
– SB 773: Allows 43-foot cattle trailers to be used in transporting livestock over certain parts of Highway 101.
– SB 813: Clarifies that a specific section of the state elections code does not apply to runoff elections (the legislation was necessary due to a conflict which arose following the 2006 race for district attorney in Mendocino County).
“We expanded or extended existing laws, and created some new ones, in areas which will benefit the state as a whole,” said Wiggins.
Looking ahead at the 2008 legislative year, Wiggins said her top priorities include the wine industry, fish and game, smart growth, waste diversion, rural telephone rates and North Coast railroad issues.
Wiggins would be termed out of service in the Senate in 2014.
Visit her Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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