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NORTH COAST, Calif. – The driver of a vehicle involved in a Friday double-fatal crash on Highway 20 in Mendocino County has been arrested.
Timothy Beltram, 62, of Fort Bragg was arrested on suspicion of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of a drug resulting in death or injury following the solo-vehicle wreck, which occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.
Beltram’s two passengers died in the wreck. The names of the two women – one age 51 of Fort Bragg, the second age 50 of Sacramento – were not released by the CHP on Sunday.
The CHP said Beltram was driving a blue 2002 Ford Focus westbound on Highway 20 west of mile marker 22.34, located between Fort Bragg and Willits, at approximately 30 to 40 miles per hour during rainy conditions.
According to the report, Beltram turned the Ford to the right and drove off the highway’s north embankment.
The Ford overturned multiple times, throwing one of the passengers from the vehicle. She died at the scene, the CHP said.
The second passenger died of her injuries at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital on Saturday, according to the CHP report.
Beltram suffered major injuries, including broken right ribs, in the crash, the CHP said.
The CHP said Beltram and both of his passengers were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation, the CHP said.
Mendocino County Jail records show that Beltram was booked on Saturday morning, with bail set at $200,000.
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.
Timothy Beltram, 62, of Fort Bragg was arrested on suspicion of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of a drug resulting in death or injury following the solo-vehicle wreck, which occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol’s Ukiah Area office.
Beltram’s two passengers died in the wreck. The names of the two women – one age 51 of Fort Bragg, the second age 50 of Sacramento – were not released by the CHP on Sunday.
The CHP said Beltram was driving a blue 2002 Ford Focus westbound on Highway 20 west of mile marker 22.34, located between Fort Bragg and Willits, at approximately 30 to 40 miles per hour during rainy conditions.
According to the report, Beltram turned the Ford to the right and drove off the highway’s north embankment.
The Ford overturned multiple times, throwing one of the passengers from the vehicle. She died at the scene, the CHP said.
The second passenger died of her injuries at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital on Saturday, according to the CHP report.
Beltram suffered major injuries, including broken right ribs, in the crash, the CHP said.
The CHP said Beltram and both of his passengers were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation, the CHP said.
Mendocino County Jail records show that Beltram was booked on Saturday morning, with bail set at $200,000.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Authorities said that two women died Saturday night in a head-on collision near Middletown.
The crash occurred on Highway 29 south of Grange Road at approximately 10:23 p.m. Saturday, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office.
The CHP said two Clearlake women died in the wreck – one age 46, the other age 77 – but did not release their names Sunday pending the notification of next of kin.
The report said that the younger woman was driving a red 2011 Nissan Sentra southbound on Highway 29 south of Grange Road while the older woman was driving a blue 1999 Ford Ranger northbound.
The woman driving the Nissan crossed over the solid double yellow lines, traveling directly into the Ford’s path, which resulted in the head-on collision, according to the report.
Emergency personnel arriving on the scene found one of the women already had died, according to radio reports.
Firefighters then extricated the second woman, who the CHP said also died at the scene.
The report said the Nissan’s driver was wearing her seat belt while the Ford’s driver was not.
The CHP said the cause of 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.
The crash occurred on Highway 29 south of Grange Road at approximately 10:23 p.m. Saturday, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office.
The CHP said two Clearlake women died in the wreck – one age 46, the other age 77 – but did not release their names Sunday pending the notification of next of kin.
The report said that the younger woman was driving a red 2011 Nissan Sentra southbound on Highway 29 south of Grange Road while the older woman was driving a blue 1999 Ford Ranger northbound.
The woman driving the Nissan crossed over the solid double yellow lines, traveling directly into the Ford’s path, which resulted in the head-on collision, according to the report.
Emergency personnel arriving on the scene found one of the women already had died, according to radio reports.
Firefighters then extricated the second woman, who the CHP said also died at the scene.
The report said the Nissan’s driver was wearing her seat belt while the Ford’s driver was not.
The CHP said the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The holiday season had its official kickoff on Saturday night with the annual lighting of the Christmas tree in downtown Lakeport’s Museum Park.
The tree lighting capped off the Dickens Faire and Christmas Market, held Saturday.
Hundreds of people gathered around the tree, in front of the Courthouse Museum, while My Divas sang Christmas carols.
The tree was then lit for the coming Christmas season.
The video above shows the market and the Saturday night tree lighting.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Highway 29 was closed for a few hours late Saturday and into early Sunday due to a fatal head-on collision that occurred near Middletown.
The crash, which occurred on Highway 29 just south of Grange Road, was first reported just before 10:30 p.m. according to the scanner and California Highway Patrol reports.
The CHP said a truck and a car were involved in the wreck.
Medics arriving minutes after dispatch found that one person had died and a second person was seriously injured and needed to be extricated from a vehicle. No other individuals were reported to have been involved.
Requests for air ambulances were not filled due to concerns about weather, according to dispatch.
Information was not available early Sunday as to the condition of the second injured person, who medics were reported to be working on at the scene.
The CHP confirmed that the wreck was a fatal and that Highway 29 was to be closed while the scene was cleared.
The highway had reopened shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, the CHP said.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
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.
The crash, which occurred on Highway 29 just south of Grange Road, was first reported just before 10:30 p.m. according to the scanner and California Highway Patrol reports.
The CHP said a truck and a car were involved in the wreck.
Medics arriving minutes after dispatch found that one person had died and a second person was seriously injured and needed to be extricated from a vehicle. No other individuals were reported to have been involved.
Requests for air ambulances were not filled due to concerns about weather, according to dispatch.
Information was not available early Sunday as to the condition of the second injured person, who medics were reported to be working on at the scene.
The CHP confirmed that the wreck was a fatal and that Highway 29 was to be closed while the scene was cleared.
The highway had reopened shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, the CHP said.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
In turn of the century America, going out to the movies was an experience wildly different from today.
To begin with, if you wanted to see a motion picture, you were more likely to find it in front of stores on main street, projected onto a screen by a travelling exhibitor or at a carnival as a part of a vaudeville act.
“Movies” as we understand them did not exist. Instead, motion pictures of under a minute featured scenes of everyday life and usually only consisted of a single scene.
Rarely did these films go beyond two minutes. They were silent, choppy in appearance, sometimes blurry and difficult to follow and they fast became a sensation.
At a whopping 12 minutes long (!), the short 1903 film “The Great Train Robbery” fundamentally changed the experience of watching a motion picture.
When it first debuted at Huber’s Museum in New York City on Dec. 1, the lucky audience present was witness to the first narrative film in history.
Rather than viewing a motion picture for the sheer novelty of seeing simulacra of everyday life, people could now go to a theater to watch a story unfold – to be entertained not just by the magic of the film equipment, but by the artistry of the film director and actors.
The person who dreamed up such a groundbreaking film was Edwin S. Porter, the son of a furniture merchant from Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
When he was 14 years old, Porter dropped out of school and began a spate of odd jobs that would inexorably lead him to his career in the film industry.
He worked for a time as a theater cashier and stagehand and eventually as a machinist specializing in the installation of electrical equipment. In the latter job, Porter contributed to Bradley A. Fiske's development of the electric rangefinder.
In 1893, Porter joined the Navy and served three years. When he returned home to Pennsylvania, he found that his friends had purchased the sole rights to screen films with Thomas Edison's Vitascope projector from promoters and distributors Raff & Gammon.
After working for his friends as a projectionist in Los Angeles and Indianapolis. In 1900, he was asked to come work for the Edison Co. to help them tweak filmmaking equipment and develop new filming techniques.
As Edison’s director-cameraman, Porter began directing and filming more advanced motion pictures, including ones featuring multiple scenes and others with special effects.
In 1903, he developed and filmed “The Great Train Robbery.” The movie opened with a bang – literally, as the film’s outlaw star Justus D. Barnes aimed his gun directly at audiences and opened fire.
The action continued unabated for 12 minutes, as the story of an outlaw band’s failed attempt at robbing a train unfolded scene by scene.
This film featured a number of firsts. For the first time in film history, scenes were shot “on location,” which in this film’s case was on train tracks somewhere in New Jersey, in addition to the studios.
It was the first to use modern film techniques, such as multiple camera positions, filming out of sequence and later editing the scenes into their proper order. And for western fans out there, it was one of the very first western films ever produced.
Audiences in New York City, where the film was initially released, raved about it. His film’s success allowed Porter more freedom within the Edison Co. to create his own one-reel films.
After leaving the Edison Co. in 1909, Porter continued in the film industry on his own for two decades with success.
The crash of the stock market at the end of the 1920s, however, doomed Porter to spend the final years of his career taking any old job he could find as a machinist.
He died with little fanfare in a hotel in New York City in 1941. His films, however, live to this day in the thousands of subsequent movies that built upon his work.
Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The annual Lake County Burn Ban for 2018 will be lifted as of 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 26, the Lake County Air Quality Management District reported.
Burn permits are required for all outdoor burning in the Lake County Air Basin.
On the same day, Cal Fire is lifting the burn ban in the State Responsibility Area, as Lake County News has reported.
Burn permits will be available for purchase after 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 26.
Contact your local fire agency for a burn permit or the Lake County Air Quality Management District, 707-263-7000, to obtain a smoke management plan.
A smoke management plan is required for all burns over 20 acres in size, multi-day burns, standing vegetation burns, whole tree or vine removals over one acre, and other burns where significant smoke impacts may occur or sensitive receptors may be impacted.
A fee is required for all burn permits, payable at the time the permit is issued.
Burn permits (agricultural and residential) and smoke management plans are $27, while land development/lot clearing burn permits are $81.
Only clean dry vegetation that was grown on the property may be burned.
Residential burn permits require a one acre or larger lot, a burn location that is located at least 100 feet from all neighbors and at least 30 feet from any structure. Lot clearing/land development burns require special permits available at your local fire agency.
Burn only the amount of material that can be completely consumed during the allowed burning hours. Read your Burn Permit carefully and follow all the conditions. Consider using the vegetative waste pickup provided with your waste collection services or composting as an alternative to burning leaves.
Please be considerate of your neighbors. A permit does not allow you to create health problems for others. You can be liable for health care costs, fines, and other costs resulting from your burning.
Lake County’s joint fire agencies and air quality management district’s open burning program has incorporated both fire safety and air quality management since 1987.
Burn permits are required for all outdoor burning in the Lake County Air Basin.
On the same day, Cal Fire is lifting the burn ban in the State Responsibility Area, as Lake County News has reported.
Burn permits will be available for purchase after 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 26.
Contact your local fire agency for a burn permit or the Lake County Air Quality Management District, 707-263-7000, to obtain a smoke management plan.
A smoke management plan is required for all burns over 20 acres in size, multi-day burns, standing vegetation burns, whole tree or vine removals over one acre, and other burns where significant smoke impacts may occur or sensitive receptors may be impacted.
A fee is required for all burn permits, payable at the time the permit is issued.
Burn permits (agricultural and residential) and smoke management plans are $27, while land development/lot clearing burn permits are $81.
Only clean dry vegetation that was grown on the property may be burned.
Residential burn permits require a one acre or larger lot, a burn location that is located at least 100 feet from all neighbors and at least 30 feet from any structure. Lot clearing/land development burns require special permits available at your local fire agency.
Burn only the amount of material that can be completely consumed during the allowed burning hours. Read your Burn Permit carefully and follow all the conditions. Consider using the vegetative waste pickup provided with your waste collection services or composting as an alternative to burning leaves.
Please be considerate of your neighbors. A permit does not allow you to create health problems for others. You can be liable for health care costs, fines, and other costs resulting from your burning.
Lake County’s joint fire agencies and air quality management district’s open burning program has incorporated both fire safety and air quality management since 1987.