News

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several new dogs including a rare breed, the Akbash.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Akbash, boxer, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, pit bull and shepherd.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

‘Jaelyn’

“Jaelyn” is a female Chihuahua with a short tan coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 11861.

‘JessJess’

“JessJess” is a male Chihuahua with a short tan coat.

He’s already been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 9, ID No. 11862.

‘Sarra’

“Sarra” is a female Akbash with a medium-length white coat and green eyes.

Shelter staff said she should go to a home with no cats, small dogs or livestock.

She’s in kennel No. 12, ID No. 11855.

Pit bull terrier-boxer mix

This female pit bull terrier-boxer mix has a short tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 11825.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a short black and brown coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 23, ID No. 11842.

‘Little Foot’

“Little Foot” is a white male Akbash with a long white coat and gold eyes.

Shelter staff said the right home for him will not have cats, small dogs or livestock.

He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 11854.

‘Blossom’

“Blossom” is a female pit bull terrier with a short blue coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 28, ID No. 11864.

Female shepherd

This female shepherd has a medium-length red coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 11826.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

In honor of Women's History Month, the achievements of Dr. Nancy Grace Roman are being commemorated.

In a time when women were discouraged from studying math and science, Dr. Roman became a research astronomer and the first chief of astronomy at NASA.

She earned her Ph.D. in astronomy in 1949 from the University of Chicago in 1949.

Known today as the “Mother of Hubble,” she was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality and establishing NASA’s program of space-based astronomical observatories.

Dr. Roman died on Christmas Day, 2018, at the age of 93.

Hear her recount her story in the video above.

To learn more about Dr. Roman’s life and work, visit the American Institute of Physics Web site and read an in-depth oral history from an interview she gave in 1980s.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police said a young male juvenile was responsible for setting a fire in a student bathroom at Terrace Middle School in Lakeport this week.

The fire occurred on Monday morning, prompting a school evacuation, as Lake County News has reported.

Firefighters arriving at the scene quickly knocked down the fire and students later were able to go back to class, officials said.

The Lakeport Police Department and Lakeport Fire Protection District began an immediate investigation into the fire’s cause, which quickly was found to have been intentionally set.

A $600 reward also was offered for information leading to the identification of the responsible individual.

Lakeport Police Lt. Jason Ferguson told Lake County News that a young male juvenile was identified as having set the fire.

Due to the sensitivity of the case, Ferguson did not release any other specifics, including the child’s age.

Terrace Middle School includes grades fourth through eighth.

Through the investigation and interviewing other students, police were able to identify the responsible child, Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the boy brought a lighter to school and was lighting toilet paper in the bathroom to show off.

The boy lit some toilet paper that flew up and hit the toilet paper dispenser, which caused the fire, according to Ferguson.

Because the boy is so young, Ferguson said he was not referred to Lake County Probation, which handles juvenile cases.

Due to changes in laws over the last few years, police couldn’t even speak to the child directly, according to Ferguson.

“It’s really complicated now,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the parents were notified and the school will handle any disciplinary issues.

Interim Lakeport Unified School District Superintendent Patrick Iaccino said Friday that the middle school administration is dealing with the situation, and is following state education code and district board policy as it relates to student matters of discipline.

Iaccino said that he didn’t yet have a dollar figure on the damage the fire caused to the bathroom.

As for the $600 reward that was offered, “We are going to have a meeting next week to determine who actually came forward, how many persons and how to disperse the money,” Ferguson said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday, the preliminary hearing of the man accused of setting the Clayton fire and a host of other fires in 2015 and 2016 wrapped up another week with testimony from three investigators.

The preliminary hearing for Damin Anthony Pashilk, 43, of Clearlake entered its eighth day on Friday.

He’s charged with 23 counts for setting the Clayton fire in August 2016 and 15 other fires between July of 2015 and August of 2016, as well as an attempted start of a 17th that self-extinguished.

Branden Smith, a Cal Fire battalion chief and law enforcement officer who participated in the surveillance of Pashilk in the summers of 2015 and 2016, returned to the stand after having given testimony earlier in the week.

Smith had been involved in placing GPS trackers on a green Subaru station wagon and a silver Chrysler Sebring that Pashilk had been known to drive in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The tracker, which Cal Fire received clearance to use through a search warrant, needed to be replaced on a regular basis due to battery life. Smith said the trackers were placed or swapped out while the Subaru was parked at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown, and on the Chrysler while it was parked in front of Pashilk’s Koloko Street home in Clearlake.

Smith said the surveillance team used both visual observation and the GPS tracker’s Web-based tracking program to follow Pashilk’s movements. The days could be long and uneventful while waiting for Pashilk’s vehicle to move, and then the officers assigned would coordinate to follow him, sometimes for hours on back roads.

Smith said that, based on his past work in investigating arsons, Pashilk’s driving pattern had significance, as Smith has learned that those who intentionally set fires tend to scout or drive specific routes looking for a location to ignite a wildland fire. On that day, the opportunity didn’t appear to have presented itself.

However, on Aug. 25, 2015, the day the Arrowhead fire burned in Clearlake, Smith said he tracked Pashilk in his green Subaru toward the area of Arrowhead and Eastlake Drive. When Smith followed Pashilk’s route in reverse, he found a small fire on the south side of Eastlake Drive where the GPS showed Pashilk’s car had just been.

The fire was 10 feet by 10 feet at that point. Smith notified other surveillance officers then called 911 shortly before 4 p.m.

Smith said he had tracked Pashilk in that same area on Aug. 20 and 23, 2015.

The following summer, on July 23, 2016, the Western fire burned on Western Mine Road. The following month, on Aug. 18 – three days after Pashilk’s arrest – Smith interviewed a resident of Western Mine Road who had made a report to the the arson tipline about seeing a vehicle like Pashilk’s silver Chrysler Sebring driving by at a high rate of speed at about the time the fire started.

On Aug. 4, 2016, Smith again was again surveilling Pashilk, who drive from Clearlake to Lower Lake, turned onto Morgan Valley Road, to Berryessa Knoxville Road and then on to Pope Valley and Middletown to Twin Pine Casino. Smith said no fires were found along that route.

On Aug. 7, 2017, Smith was following Pashilk when the GPS tracker showed he turned onto a dirt road near Lower Lake before taking off. Smith saw a fire where Pashilk had stopped and went to photograph and report it. He said a man stopped and began trying to put out the fire, which Smith stopped him from doing, explaining that it had a slow rate of spread and it was more important to preserve the evidence.

Smith also was first on scene of a fire he discovered on Aug. 9, 2016, after he went to check an area on Seigler Canyon Road where the GPS tracker had shown Pashilk has having stopped for a few seconds.

On Aug. 13, 2016, the day the Clayton fire started, the tracker showed that Pashilk’s Chrysler had been on Clayton Creek Road for about a minute and a half just before 5 p.m., which is the time the fire is reported to have begun.

Smith said he followed Pashilk to the Jack in the Box parking lot in Clearlake where he was seen with a woman, watching the fire, a short time after he left the scene of the fire.

At about 7 p.m. that day, Smith said he saw and spoke to Pashilk and the woman on a frontage road a few hundred yards from the Clayton fire. Smith, who was posing as a freelance photographer, asked them if they lived nearby and they said yes, which Smith knew wasn’t true.

After Pashilk was arrested for driving on a suspended license on Aug. 15, 2016, Smith and another Cal Fire officer were responsible for searching the Chrysler at the Clearlake Police Department. They seized evidence, which they photographed, cataloged and packaged.

Items taken for evidence included a meth pipe with white residue inside, paper towels, whole and torn paper napkins, marijuana joints, two lighters, burned and unburned paper matches, a torn paper cup, miscellaneous paper and plastic materials, cigarette papers and binoculars.

Smith said the paper products found can be used for setting fires. He added that he's arrested arsonists in the past who were using binoculars to watch the fires they set.

The next day, Smith interviewed the woman who Pashilk had been seen with and who lived at the same property. She said Pashilk had taken her to look at fires, but didn’t explain which ones. She also was the Chrysler’s registered owner, telling Smith Pashilk had bought it for her but drove it more than she did.

Jason Cox, a district attorney’s investigator, also testified on Friday. He conducted mapping, video sequencing and followup interviews for the investigation.

In September 2015, he contacted a 9-year-old girl and her family regarding a fire on Woodland Drive in Clearlake on Aug. 13, 2015. The girl initially had been interviewed by a Cal Fire officer on the day of the fire, and Cox conducted a followup interview with her and her parents.

The girl said she was in her front yard, facing Woodland Drive, when she saw a vehicle parked in a turnout across the street. She said she saw an item dropped from the vehicle before it left, and then the fire started.

Cox said the girl showed him where she was standing and were the fire started, about 100 feet apart. He also showed her pictures of cars – including Pashilk’s Subaru – and she said Pashilk’s car was similar to the one she saw, although she thought the windows were darker.

He also followed up with the woman on Western Mine Road who saw a silver car leaving the area at about the time the fire started there on July 23, 2016, and did a video recreation on Sulphur Bank Drive in an area where a Cal Fire officer reported seeing Pashilk’s Chrysler shortly before a small wildland fire was found.

During his testimony Cox showed videos of Pashilk’s Chrysler in the area of the North Branch fire on July 29, 2016, near Clearlake.

The last testimony of the day came from Cal Fire Deputy Chief James Engel, who has sat alongside Chief Deputy District Attorney Rich Hinchcliff at the prosecution table throughout the preliminary hearing.

Engel oversaw the investigation of the series of fires in eastern Lake County in 2015 and 2016 that Pashilk is charged with setting.

After Pashilk’s Subaru was seen numerous times on surveillance cameras near fires, Engel wrote the search warrant – signed mid-August 2015 – for Cal Fire to use the GPS tracker.

Engel said the investigation was named “Kiko,” a name assigned to it that was drawn from a random bank of names that Cal Fire establishes each year to give to criminal investigations.

Testimony will continue on Wednesday.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service is reporting that rain and snow are possible in parts of Lake County this weekend.

At the same time, a flood warning for Clear Lake remains in effect.

Flood stage begins at 9 feet Rumsey, the special measure for Clear Lake, and as of 12 a.m. Saturday the lake was at 9.82 feet Rumsey.

Despite the rain and snow forecast, the lake level is expected to continue to recede over the coming week.

The Lake County forecast calls for rain and light snow showers on both Saturday and Sunday, particularly in the Cobb, Kelseyville and Northshore areas.

Conditions are expected to be clear for most of next week, with the exception of Tuesday, when there are again chances of showers.

Winds ranging close to 25 miles per hour are in the forecast for Saturday night, with gusts closer to 20 miles per hour on Sunday night and single-digit wind speeds on Monday.

Nighttime temperatures this weekend and into next week will range from the mid 30s to low 40s, and daytime temperatures vary between the high 40s and mid 50s.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – It’s once again time to “spring forward.”

Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 10.

At that time, clocks will go forward one hour as California goes from Pacific Standard Time to Pacific Daylight Time.

Since 1966, most states have been changing the clocks twice a year in order to save an hour of daylight.

Federal and state officials urge people to use Daylight Saving Time as a reminder to replace the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and to test or replace batteries in NOAA weather radios.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration report that most alarms need a new battery at least once a year.

Also, if your smoke alarm is more than 10 years old, replace it with a new alarm and battery.

The National Fire Protection Association reports that:

– Three out of five home fire deaths result from fires in properties without working smoke alarms;
– More than one-third (38 percent) of home fire deaths result from fires in which no smoke alarms are present;
– The risk of dying in a home fire is cut in half in homes with working smoke alarms.