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LOWER LAKE – A young Lower Lake man, a set of identical twin brothers and a female Army helicopter pilot who served in Iraq were among the 131 new officers sworn in during graduation ceremonies Friday at the California Highway Patrol’s Academy in West Sacramento.
A report from the CHP noted that this class of cadets represents the second wave of the first major expansion of the CHP in decades.
CHP Deputy Commissioner Joe Farrow and Will Kempton, the director of Caltrans, addressed the graduates, and family members pinned badges on the new officers.
The Barnes family of Lower Lake added another CHP officer to its ranks at the Friday ceremony, according to Officer Josh Dye of the Clear Lake CHP office.
Orrin Barnes, son of Officer Mark Barnes, a longtime member of the Clear Lake office, was among Friday's graduates, said Dye. Mark Barnes has served in road patrol, the Lake County Narcotics Task Force and in the CHP's Investigative Services Unit as an auto theft investigator, among various other assignments.
Orrin's older brother, Craig, graduated last year from the CHP Academy, said Dye, and is serving in the Hollister-Gilroy CHP office.
CHP service is “a whole family affair” for the Barneses, said Dye.
Officer Orrin Barnes is slated to join the Mojave CHP office, according to Dye.
None of the graduates, said Dye, are headed for the Clear Lake office.
“We don't have anyone coming here right now,” Dye said.
Clear Lake is part of the CHP's Northern Division, which Dye said includes Mendocino, Williams and Colusa, and stretches north to the Oregon border. There are eight CHP divisions statewide.
The entire Northern Division is having staff shortages, said Dye, but some places are worse off than others, and that's usually where the newer officers are sent.
The CHP has a rigorous recruitment process, according to recruitment information on the CHP's Web site.
Candidates go through a written exam, physical ability test, psychological written exam and interviews, with tests scheduled across a five-week period. Those candidates selected also must undergo a background investigation and a medical exam.
The academy lasts six months, during which cadets receive a salary, the CHP reported.
Upon graduation, new officers receive an annual base salary of $56,880, with annual 5-percent base salary increases annually until they reach the top salary step of $69,144. But shift pay differentials and other pay incentives raise an officer's potential top step annual income to $90,552.50.
Many may think only of patrol officers when they consider the CHP, but there are many other positions as well, from academy staff members to canine officers, mounted police, air operations, background investigator, Capitol Protective Services, field training officer, auto theft investigator and more.
For more information visit the CHP online at www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/html/officer.html.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKE COUNTY – The trial of a young San Francisco man accused of the murders of two companions is set to take place this fall.
Renato Hughes, 22, is accused of the deaths of Christian Foster and Rashad Williams, which prosecutors allege took place during a break-in of a Clearlake Park home in December 2005.
Although Hughes did not personally shoot the two men, the District Attorney's Office charged him with homicide under a “murder by accomplice” statute.
That law allows him to be tried for the deaths because, even though he didn't pull the trigger, he was alleged to have taken part in a felony liable to result in a “lethal response” – in this case, homeowner Shannon Edmonds shooting the two men as they ran from his home.
Retired Alameda Superior Court Judge William A. McKinstry, who will hear the case, met with District Attorney Jon Hopkins and defense attorney Stuart Hanlon on Thursday morning to set the trial date.
Hopkins said pre-trial motions will begin in October in Superior Court's Department 3.
Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and members of the chapter's Legal Redress Committee – which she also chairs – attended the morning's proceedings.
Also in attendance were Hughes' mother, Judy, and Sheila Burton, mother of Rashad Williams, Bakheit reported. Judy Hughes has attended all of her son's hearings, said Bakheit, and was the one who contacted the local NAACP chapter to ask them to be involved with monitoring her son's case.
Bakheit reported that the court set jury selection for Oct. 23-25, with the trial itself expected to get under way at 9 a.m. Nov. 6.
The trial originally had been scheduled to start May 10, but Hanlon's effort to get the trial moved from Lake County preempted that plan.
Hanlon has told Lake County News that he does not believe a black man, such as Hughes, can receive a fair trial in Lake County because of its mostly white demographic.
Judge Arthur Mann ruled at the beginning of March that the trial would stay in Lake County. However, in April Hanlon took his case to the state's First Appellate District Court, which ruled April 26 to support Mann's decision.
In May, Hanlon took the case to the state Supreme Court, which on May 23 also upheld Mann's ruling, clearing the way for the trial to move forward.
As Legal Redress Committee chair, Bakheit said it is her responsibility to watch the case and make sure Hughes' civil rights aren't violated. She said she and fellow committee members have been attending hearings since January 2006.
She said NAACP's interest in the case isn't based on ethnicity, and they're not trying to take sides. “It's not our place to decide his guilt or innocence.”
Bakheit said the group intends on attending the entire trial when it starts in the fall.
“Every step of the way – we have been there, we will continue to be there,” Bakheit said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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CLEARLAKE – The day after it closed its Clearlake thrift store and laid off four staff members, the Clear Lake Animal Welfare Society board was moving ahead with plans to keep its voucher program together and address issues relating to its building.
The board has emphasized that CLAWS will continue its voucher program, which helps low-income applicants afford spay-neuter services for their pets.
Over the past five years, CLAWS has paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars to reimburse local veterinarians who honor the vouchers.
In recent weeks, issues with the thrift store's condition and losses in sales as compared to last year led the board to the layoffs and closure, said Board President Laurelee Roark.
The issues were compounded when the state Division of Occupational Health and Safety (OSHA) sent them a letter June 5 regarding a complaint lodged by employee Veronica Morgan regarding allegations of black mold, rodents, sewage backups and holes in the roof.
On Thursday, in response to OSHA's request for a response, Roark sent the agency a letter answering each of the complaint's points, saying that the issues had either been resolved or were not as portrayed in the complaint. With regard to the mold concern, she said there were no mushrooms and that she only saw a small, quarter-sized dark area that she could not confirm was mold or mildew.
The CLAWS store closing and layoff Wednesday was the culmination of several months of tension between the board and employees, among them Morgan and Executive Director Lisa Pecchenino.
Last month a petition requesting the resignation of the three board members – Roark, Marilyn Ferrante and Leslie Wood – surfaced, signed by an estimated 600 residents around the county.
The petition does not state who started it, and both Pecchenino and Morgan say they don't know who is responsible. Roark said she and the other board members haven't seen the petition.
Since the petition starting being publicized, Roark said she and other board members have begun receiving anonymous, threatening phone calls at their homes and work.
The one thing both sides appear to agree on is that the disagreements came to a head at a March board meeting.
Pecchenino, who joined CLAWS as a full-time employee in December 2003, said that at that March meeting she asked for more autonomy in organizing its “Calendar Girls” fundraiser. and told the board they needed “boundaries” because she felt they had bullied and harassed her for months.
When she made that request, she said, “All hell broke loose,” alleging that boardmembers spent the rest of that meeting verbally attacking her.
But Roark said it didn't happen that way, and that the issue was a matter of Pecchenino struggling with the board for more control and less accountability.
Why CLAWS shut the thrift store
The thrift store's viability is another point of disagreement between the board and employees.
For the last nine months, Roark said the Clearlake store has been operating at a $3,000-per-month deficit.
CLAWS' profit and loss statements show that the store made $14,320.45 from January to April, which is approximately half of what the store made during the same period last year. Roark attributes lower sales to the economy.
Coupled with the expenses to run the store, the halving of store profits – which from January to April amounted to about $3,500 less per month – caused CLAWS to run at a loss, said CLAWS bookkeeper Marlene Wentz.
Despite those numbers, Pecchenino said she believes sales at the thrift store are about the same as they ever were, and that the closure was an excuse to dismiss the staff.
She said the store also fulfilled an important community service, providing a place where people could buy clothing, appliances, books and more at affordable prices.
The store also is important to securing grants, she said.
Denise Johnson, Lake County's Animal Care & Control director, said Pecchenino was correct about the need to show granting organizations another source of income.
But Roark said closing the store “is the only way to keep the voucher program safe.” She said it was a hard decision to make, but repairs and other issues gave them no other choice.
Pecchenino said she and Morgan are considering a lawsuit against CLAWS for harassment, but that they don't want to take money away from helping animals.
Both women and their families have their homes on the market and plan to leave Clearlake as soon as they're able.
“We're going to move on and CLAWS is not,” said Pecchenino.
Looking at the group's finances
CLAWS' Form 990s, which income-tax exempt organizations are required to file with the Internal Revenue Service, shows the group's income and expenses over the last several years, including veterinarian costs to cover its spay-neuter voucher program and employee wages.
Over the last five years, CLAWS has provided $237,075 to pay for spay-neuter services for those community members whose income levels qualify them for assistance.
The Form 990s show the following:
– 2006: revenue, $146,185 (grants, $7,699); expenses, $140,545 (veterinarian costs, $22,182; wages, $50,228); total assets at start of year, $194,816; total assets at year's end, $195,617.
– 2005: revenue, $131,028 (grants, $0); expenses, $174,658 (veterinarian costs, $48,144; wages, $56,848); deficit, $43,630; total assets at start of year, $240,501; total assets at year's end, $194,816.
– 2004: revenue, $181,121 (grants, $7,983); expenses, $188,479 (veterinarian costs, $52,387; wages, $65,740); deficit, $7,358; total assets at start of year, $120,728; total assets at year's end, $240,501. (In 2004, CLAWS bought its Clearlake thrift shop building for $112,567.)
– 2003: revenue, $188,137 (grants, $0); expenses, $111,508 (veterinarian costs, $45,988; wages, $25,303); total assets at start of year: $40,883; total assets at end of year, $120,728.
– 2002: revenue, $99,572 (grant amounts were not separated from contributions); expenses, $67,924 (veterinarian costs, $31,547; wages, $7,858); total assets at start of year: $8,057; total assets at end of year, $44,146.
Between January and April of this year, CLAWS' financials show the group put more than $6,100 into its voucher program. Roark estimated that the vouchers average $100 per animal – some are higher, some are lower, based on what procedure is being done and what the pet owner can afford. That rough estimate equals altering services for about 600 animals.
That $6,100 figure for 2007 is about half of what CLAWS paid in vouchers from January through April of 2006.
Roark attributes the reduction to the loss of veterinarians at both ends of the lake, and therefore fewer vets to schedule procedures and honor the vouchers.
Voucher program remains active
Dr. Debra Sally, the veterinarian who works most with CLAWS, confirmed that there are fewer vets and less availability to honor vouchers.
Sally said she has worked with CLAWS since the 1990s, and that the group has made responsible pet ownership responsible for many people who otherwise couldn't have afforded it and educated people about pet overpopulation, which she said is an “overwhelming problem.”
She said she has always worked well with both the CLAWS board and staff to provide spay and neuter services for both dogs and cats through the voucher program. Over the last three years the program has become more efficient and given out more vouchers.
Sally estimates she currently does 40 spay or neuter operations a month in the voucher program. She's the only south county vet clinic to honor the vouchers, she said, because vets lose money on them. “It's a community service,” she said.
She said she plans to continue to honor CLAWS' spay-neuter vouchers, adding she had no reason to believe CLAWS won't continue to pay for them.
Going beyond signing vouchers
Johnson said Wednesday she was shocked to hear of CLAWS' situation, noting that Animal Care & Control has had a close working relationship with CLAWS over the years.
Johnson said CLAWS does “so much more than sign vouchers,” which includes its effort to educate the community about spaying and neutering pets.
She said she hopes the group continues its work, not having those services would be “devastating to the community.”
Johnson said animal groups are emotionally charged, and she's seen situations where emotions override an organization's mission. “The animals and the community are what suffer.”
For those wishing to volunteer to help CLAWS continue its mission, call the CLAWS main number, 994-9505.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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CLEARLAKE – Citing lagging sales and serious building repair issues, the Clear Lake Animal Welfare Society closed down its Clearlake thrift store Wednesday morning and laid off all four of its employees.
CLAWS Board President Laurelee Roark emphasized that CLAWS itself will continue its work on behalf of animals, and that the layoffs and closure were necessary in order to keep the nonprofit's spay-neuter voucher program safe.
Board members Roark, Leslie Woods and Marilyn Ferrante called an emergency 11 a.m. meeting with staff in front of the store, where they made the announcement, handed out final checks and collected keys and CLAWS materials from staff.
Three police officers stood nearby as Roark read a letter to employees explaining the board's decision, which was attributed, in part, to the store running at a $3,000-per-month deficit for the past nine months and building repair issues.
“It's hard to believe you guys are acting in good faith,” Veronica Morgan, one of the employees laid off, said to the board members Wednesday.
The store itself was closed Tuesday after Lisa Pecchenino, the executive director, said they opened the shop that morning to find it flooded with water. Roark and Pecchenino said they were unable to locate the leak.
On June 5, the state division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) sent a letter to CLAWS, notifying them of a complaint involving possible health and safety violations filed with their office.
Employee Veronica Morgan said Wednesday she filed the complaint last month, citing black mold and mushrooms growing out of the building's middle wall; plumbing issues with raw sewage entering the work area; holes in the roof and collapsing walls; extension cords being used as permanent wiring; and rodents and spiders in the building.
An individual who supports the CLAWS employees took the City of Clearlake a copy of the OSHA complaint. City Administrator Dale Neiman confirmed Wednesday that the city had received the OSHA document.
Scott Spivey, the city's chief building inspector, said he and Senior Code Enforcement Officer Janine Lowe spent an hour at the store Tuesday to see what the situation was.
“We had no intention of red-tagging the place,” Spivey said.
Walking into the building, which is located a few doors down from City Hall, Spivey said, “I smelled mold right away.”
In addition, he and Lowe found a number of different violations and safety issues for the workers.
Neiman said that, because of the seriousness of the health and safety concerns, he directed Code Enforcement staff to contact the county's Environmental Health Department.
“We have an obligation to deal with the problem and I think Environmental Health does, too, so it's best if we coordinate,” Neiman said.
Spivey said OSHA is the lead enforcement agency on this. He added that with CLAWS closing their doors, the problem is over. If the building is sold, the new owners will be responsible for bringing the building up to code, Spivey added.
As to the responsibility for making the repairs, Pecchenino and Roark told contrasting stories. Pecchenino said the board wouldn't let her move ahead with repairs; Roark said they had given Pecchenino instruction to deal with the mold issue, which she said Pecchenino told her was completed.
The Clearlake store's closure follows that of the Lakeport store, which Roark said took place last spring after the landlord doubled their rent to $2,000 a month.
Plans for moving forward
Roark said CLAWS has several plans for moving forward.
First, CLAWS is considering selling or leasing the Clearlake store, which it bought several years ago from Supervisor Ed Robey, said Roark. However, they've made no definite decision.
As to the store's inventory, Roark said the plan is to have a couple of sidewalk sales and liquidate the store's inventory.
On the grant side, she said former board member Myra Wendt has agreed to volunteer time to follow up on the largest grant CLAWS receives.
Regarding vouchers, Roark said, “The plan right now is to write vouchers in Lakeport and in Clearlake. Where exactly and when exactly we don't know.”
In addition, CLAWS will have a big dog fix at Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic in Lakeport toward the end of August.
The three board members will take on most of the responsibilities formerly covered by employees, but they'll need extra volunteer help, Roark said. They're already receiving calls from people willing to help.
For those wishing to volunteer, calls the CLAWS main number, 994-9505.
Tomorrow, Lake County News will take a look at CLAWS' financials and the rift between the board and employees.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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