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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Fire Protection District will hold a special mail ballot election this spring in an effort to pass a new parcel tax to help fund the district’s operations.
The district board of directors has called a special election to put “Measure M” before voters on Tuesday, May 7.
Voters will be asked to impose the parcel tax to continue to provide fire and emergency medical services.
Measure M is estimated to bring in $1,206,000 million annually to the district, whose financial struggles prompted the fire district board in the fall to accept a budget that laid off three full-time firefighters, as Lake County News has reported.
The polls will be open between the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The abbreviated statement of the measure to appear on the ballot is as follows:
“To decrease response times and increase fire protection/emergency medical services by increasing staffing at fire stations; and to maintain/replace outdated firefighting equipment, shall the Lakeport Fire Protection District Measure repealing existing fire protection services taxes and levying a tax of $6.14 per benefit unit annually on each parcel of property in the District be adopted, estimated to raise about $1,206,000 annually; until ended by voters, with independent community oversight and all money staying local?”
Measure M requires a two-thirds majority vote – or a 66.7-percent supermajority. If it gets that number or better in yes votes, then the District’s Ordinance No. 1819-01 will become effective July 1, 2019.
Arguments for and against District Measure M must be typed and submitted to the Lake County Registrar of Voters, Lake County Courthouse, Room 209, 255 N Forbes St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-2372, no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, March 11.
The Registrar of Voters Office said written arguments may be submitted by the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors or any member or members of the board, or any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of such voters and associations may file a written argument for or against any district measure.
No argument shall exceed 300 words in length. No more than five signatures shall appear with any argument.
All arguments must be accompanied by the “Statement That Argument Is True And Correct” as required by Section 9600 of the CA Elections Code provided by the Registrar of Voters office, stating the printed name and signature or printed names and signatures of the person or persons submitting it or, if submitted on behalf of an organization, the name of the organization and the printed name and signature of at least one of its principal officers.
Only one argument for and one argument against District Measure M shall be selected for printing and distribution in voter information pamphlets included with mailed ballots. Authors of a selected argument may prepare and submit a rebuttal argument not exceeding 250 words to the Lake County Registrar of Voters no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, March 18.
Carol Huchingson, the county’s administrative officer and the interim registrar of voters, will notify the author, or authors, of selected arguments in writing of the procedure to submit a rebuttal argument.
The district board of directors has called a special election to put “Measure M” before voters on Tuesday, May 7.
Voters will be asked to impose the parcel tax to continue to provide fire and emergency medical services.
Measure M is estimated to bring in $1,206,000 million annually to the district, whose financial struggles prompted the fire district board in the fall to accept a budget that laid off three full-time firefighters, as Lake County News has reported.
The polls will be open between the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The abbreviated statement of the measure to appear on the ballot is as follows:
“To decrease response times and increase fire protection/emergency medical services by increasing staffing at fire stations; and to maintain/replace outdated firefighting equipment, shall the Lakeport Fire Protection District Measure repealing existing fire protection services taxes and levying a tax of $6.14 per benefit unit annually on each parcel of property in the District be adopted, estimated to raise about $1,206,000 annually; until ended by voters, with independent community oversight and all money staying local?”
Measure M requires a two-thirds majority vote – or a 66.7-percent supermajority. If it gets that number or better in yes votes, then the District’s Ordinance No. 1819-01 will become effective July 1, 2019.
Arguments for and against District Measure M must be typed and submitted to the Lake County Registrar of Voters, Lake County Courthouse, Room 209, 255 N Forbes St., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-2372, no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, March 11.
The Registrar of Voters Office said written arguments may be submitted by the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors or any member or members of the board, or any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of such voters and associations may file a written argument for or against any district measure.
No argument shall exceed 300 words in length. No more than five signatures shall appear with any argument.
All arguments must be accompanied by the “Statement That Argument Is True And Correct” as required by Section 9600 of the CA Elections Code provided by the Registrar of Voters office, stating the printed name and signature or printed names and signatures of the person or persons submitting it or, if submitted on behalf of an organization, the name of the organization and the printed name and signature of at least one of its principal officers.
Only one argument for and one argument against District Measure M shall be selected for printing and distribution in voter information pamphlets included with mailed ballots. Authors of a selected argument may prepare and submit a rebuttal argument not exceeding 250 words to the Lake County Registrar of Voters no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, March 18.
Carol Huchingson, the county’s administrative officer and the interim registrar of voters, will notify the author, or authors, of selected arguments in writing of the procedure to submit a rebuttal argument.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has identified the Kelseyville man who died in a two-car collision on Highway 101 on Monday afternoon.
Luis Enrique Gonzalez Recinos, 22, died in the wreck, according to Capt. Greg Van Patten.
Just after 4 p.m. Monday, Gonzalez Recinos was driving a 2013 Mercedes northbound on Highway 101 near mile post marker 7.46 at approximately 65 miles per hour when the car began to skid out of control, according to the report from the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.
The Mercedes spun counterclockwise and into the path of a 2001 Toyota driven by 21-year-old Redwood Valley resident James Wakefield Jr., who the CHP said was traveling southbound.
The Toyota’s front end hit the side of the Mercedes, the CHP said.
The CHP said Gonzalez Recinos died at the scene, while Wakefield was transported to a nearby hospital.
The crash remains under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Luis Enrique Gonzalez Recinos, 22, died in the wreck, according to Capt. Greg Van Patten.
Just after 4 p.m. Monday, Gonzalez Recinos was driving a 2013 Mercedes northbound on Highway 101 near mile post marker 7.46 at approximately 65 miles per hour when the car began to skid out of control, according to the report from the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.
The Mercedes spun counterclockwise and into the path of a 2001 Toyota driven by 21-year-old Redwood Valley resident James Wakefield Jr., who the CHP said was traveling southbound.
The Toyota’s front end hit the side of the Mercedes, the CHP said.
The CHP said Gonzalez Recinos died at the scene, while Wakefield was transported to a nearby hospital.
The crash remains under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
State bill on universal background checks on gun purchases passes first committee on bipartisan vote
The bill will next go to the Assembly Floor for a vote of the full State Assembly.
Passing AJR 4 will put California’s Legislature on record demanding U.S. Congressional passage of and a Presidential signature on House Resolution 8, by Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act.”
“This success is particularly meaningful today, because the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 will be considered for a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow. I will do everything I can to support Congressman Thompson’s efforts,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Nearly 1200 children have been killed by guns in our country since the Parkland Shootings in Florida last year[i]. I simply cannot understand why Congress has not acted to pass a measure which prevents criminals and the mentally ill from bypassing checks on their ability to obtain weapons, especially ones meant for no other purpose than to hurt or kill human beings.”
Introduced by Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), H.R. 8 requires uniform and universal background checks on all gun purchases and transfers.
The law would obligate unlicensed gun sellers to perform background checks on gun purchasers and transferees by requiring them to utilize licensed dealers to sell and transfer firearms.
Current federal law includes a loophole that allows unlicensed firearm dealers to sell at gun shows, online, and in person without performing background checks on purchasers.
This is a significant omission, as gun offenders overwhelmingly obtain their guns without a background check through private sales.
The bipartisan group of federal coauthors to this federal legislation shows that confronting gun violence and protecting our communities is important to both sides of the political aisle.
The vote in Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday makes the State Legislature’s effort to support H.R. 8 a bipartisan endeavor as well.
“This is not about keeping guns away from law-abiding people, hunters, recreational shooters, or people seeking to defend their homes, businesses, and properties. I am disappointed by the weak excuses provided during the committee hearing by the small number of opponents of today’s action,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Any claim that background checks don’t stop crimes is aiding and abetting criminals’ unchecked access to firearms being used on our nation’s innocent bystanders and children.”
Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa Counties, parts of Colusa, Solano and Sonoma Counties, and all of Yolo County except West Sacramento.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has released a California Department of Justice report on immigration detention facilities in the state.
The report is the result of Assembly Bill 103, which passed in 2017, requiring the DOJ, over a 10-year period, to report on: conditions of confinement; the standard of care and due process provided to detainees; and the circumstances around the apprehension and transfer of detainees to facilities.
This initial report is intended to provide increased transparency around immigration detention facilities in California.
The report is an important step forward in understanding the conditions under which civil immigration detainees are living, including their access to critical health and legal resources.
“We’re committed to upholding the welfare of all people in California, including those in local detention facilities pending immigration proceedings,” said Attorney General Becerra. “At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to review detention facilities in our state and shine much-needed light on civil detention conditions.”
Although immigration detainees’ experiences vary drastically within and across facilities throughout the state, DOJ found a number of common challenges, including:
– Prolonged periods of confinement without breaks, with some detainees confined in cells for up to 22 hours a day;
– Significant language barriers, compromising medical and legal confidentiality;
– Difficulties with access to medical and mental health care, increasing the risk to detainees of a major medical or mental health incident;
– Obstacles to external communication, limiting detainees’ abilities to contact family or other support systems; and
– Barriers to access to legal representation, leaving many detainees to navigate the complexities of immigration law themselves.
During the last three years, detention facilities in California, including those operated by local governments, have held more than 74,000 immigration detainees, including individuals as young as 13 and as old as 95, from over 150 different countries, such as Argentina, Armenia, Canada, China, Cameroon, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ghana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.
Detainees were held for more than 50 days on average, with the longest stay at a single facility exceeding four years.
Immigration detention facility review by DOJ is ongoing. For this report, DOJ conducted one-day visits to all 10 civil immigration detention facilities in the state that were operating when AB 103 became law. DOJ comprehensively reviewed three public facilities: Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County and West County Detention Facility in Contra Costa County.
The full report is published below.
Immigration Detention 2019 by LakeCoNews on Scribd
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Continued rainfall, a rising lake level and saturated ground led to flooding of some Lake County roadways on Tuesday.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service’s observation stations around Lake County indicated that rainfall across the county over the previous 48 hours ranged from nearly 3.5 inches in Upper Lake to more than 9 inches in Whispering Pines near Cobb.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, the US Geological Survey’s gauge on Clear Lake indicated the lake’s level was 8.37 feet Rumsey, a rise of about three-quarters of a foot in 24 hours. Flood stage is 9 feet Rumsey and above.
The National Weather Service is anticipating more rain on Tuesday night – up to 2 inches – and into Wednesday. All of Lake County remains under a wind advisory until noon on Wednesday and a flood warning until Thursday night.
The Lake County Public Works Department’s most recent report on road conditions, issued just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, said the following roads are closed:
Kelseyville
Argonaut Road: Closed between Big Valley Road and Thomas Drive.
Bell Hill: Closed at Adobe Creek low water crossing due to flooding.
Clark Drive: Closed from Soda Bay Road to Gaddy Lane due to flooding.
Lakeport
Scotts Valley Road: Closed from Highway 20 to packing sheds due to flooding.
Soda Bay Road: Closed from Stone Drive to Cal Packing Road due to Adobe Creek jumping the bank and; closed from Big Valley Road to Highway 175/S. Main Street.
Lower Lake
Candy Lane: Closed to all traffic between Joseph Trail and May Hollow Road due to a culvert failure. This will be an extended closure as work to fix cannot commence until the water stops flowing.
Middletown
Dry Creek Cutoff: Closed at the low water crossing
Nice
Lakeshore Drive: Closed from Stokes Avenue to Hammond Avenue due to flooding.
Upper Lake
Laurel Dell Road: Closed to two-way traffic from Scotts Valley Road to Mid Lake Road due to flooding.
Scotts Valley Road: Closed from Highway 20 to packing sheds due to flooding.
On Hill Road near Lakeside Heights, the road remains open to two-way traffic, but Lake County Public Works said it anticipates that the slide will jump the K-rails at some point on Tuesday night, night, closing one lane of the roadway.
Lake County Public Works said Highland Springs Road remains open despite a mudslide at mile post marker 5.5.
In the city of Lakeport, officials said Esplanade Street flooded on Tuesday and was closed.
In neighboring Sonoma County, authorities issued an evacuation order for many communities along the Russian River, which is forecast to go above flood stage at 6 p.m. Tuesday and to crest 46.1 feet at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Evacuation shelters are being opened at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts and the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Grace Pavilion.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake said that on Tuesday it closed Thompson Harbor at Redbud Park in the interest of public safety due to Clear Lake’s rising level.
Due to the storms in the region, the water level of Clear Lake reached monitor stage – 8.0 feet Rumsey – on Tuesday morning, with the lake expected to reach flood stage, 9.0 feet Rumsey, later in the week.
Those high water levels make the docks at Thompson Harbor unsafe. As such, the city reported that its Public Works crews detached the floating docks from the concrete ramps to keep the
docks from being damaged by the rising water level.
The city said the ramps at Thompson Harbor are not safe to use when the docks are detached. The docks will be reattached when the water level recedes back to 8 feet Rumsey.
Boaters should also be aware that a mandatory 5 mile per hour boating speed limit takes effect when Clear Lake reaches 8.0 Rumsey for at least 24 hours.
The speed ordinance requires boaters operating a motor boat within one-quarter mile or less of a shoreline to maintain idle speed.
The ordinance was approved by the Board of Supervisors during the 2017 flood to minimize wake damage to lakeshore properties and to help ensure the safety of boaters operating while heavy debris loads are present on the lake.
“We are disappointed to have to take this action as it impacts the ability to launch out of Clearlake,” said City Manager Greg Folsom. “Fishing and tourism are significant drivers of our economy and we will reopen Thompson Harbor as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Due to the storms in the region, the water level of Clear Lake reached monitor stage – 8.0 feet Rumsey – on Tuesday morning, with the lake expected to reach flood stage, 9.0 feet Rumsey, later in the week.
Those high water levels make the docks at Thompson Harbor unsafe. As such, the city reported that its Public Works crews detached the floating docks from the concrete ramps to keep the
docks from being damaged by the rising water level.
The city said the ramps at Thompson Harbor are not safe to use when the docks are detached. The docks will be reattached when the water level recedes back to 8 feet Rumsey.
Boaters should also be aware that a mandatory 5 mile per hour boating speed limit takes effect when Clear Lake reaches 8.0 Rumsey for at least 24 hours.
The speed ordinance requires boaters operating a motor boat within one-quarter mile or less of a shoreline to maintain idle speed.
The ordinance was approved by the Board of Supervisors during the 2017 flood to minimize wake damage to lakeshore properties and to help ensure the safety of boaters operating while heavy debris loads are present on the lake.
“We are disappointed to have to take this action as it impacts the ability to launch out of Clearlake,” said City Manager Greg Folsom. “Fishing and tourism are significant drivers of our economy and we will reopen Thompson Harbor as soon as it is safe to do so.”