News

LAKEPORT, Calif. – This month the Know Lake County lecture series will feature the Lake County Probation Department.

The free program will take place on Saturday, Aug. 18, at 2 p.m. at the Lakeport branch of Lake County Library at 1425 N. High St.

Chief Deputy Probation Officer Wendy Mondfrans, Deputy Probation Officer Julianna Bisaccio (Investigations Unit) and Juvenile Division Supervisor Kevin O’Brien, will speak about their duties and the services that the Probation Department provides.

The Probation Department is composed of three divisions: the Adult Division, Juvenile Division, and the Welfare Fraud Unit, which contracts with the Department of Social Services to investigate welfare and IHSS fraud.

The Probation Department assesses and manages offender risks, and assists victims through the criminal and juvenile justice process.

The mission of the Probation Department is to continually improve the quality of community life by enhancing public safety, by assisting victims with restoration, and by offering the hope of a more productive lifestyle for offenders.

Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Lake County Library. The library is located at 1425 N. High St. For more information call 707-263-8817.

The monthly Know Lake County lectures feature speakers from a wide array of organizations and disciplines, each representing some aspect of Lake County.

Lake County PEG TV records each Know Lake County program, broadcasts it on cable channel 8, posts it on YouTube and creates DVDs that become part of the Lake County Library’s circulation collection. More information about PEG TV can be found at www.lakecountypegtv.org.

The Lake County Library is on the internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary.

Jan Cook is a technician for the Lake County Library.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After having slowed during the day on Tuesday, the Ranch fire on the Mendocino Complex had another active night, burning more acreage as it moves north through the Mendocino National Forest.

As of Wednesday morning, the complex had burned 363,845 acres, a 10,000-acre increase in a 24-hour period, with containment staying flat at 64 percent, Cal Fire reported.

With the River fire now fully contained at 48,920 acres, the activity continues on the Ranch fire, which Cal Fire said on Wednesday was up to 314,925 acres. Its containment also is at 64 percent.

Cal Fire said the Ranch fire continues to threaten the Mendocino National Forest – where it’s already burning in the Snow Mountain Wilderness and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument – as well as communities located north of the fire perimeter.

Throughout the night, the Ranch fire progressed north, steep and rugged terrain, dry fuel and hot weather continue to challenge firefighters, Cal Fire said.

Overnight, fire crews constructed control lines and implemented new dozer lines, tying together preexisting containment barriers. Cal Fire said crews also continued structure preparation and defense in the communities threatened by the Ranch fire.

On Wednesday, crews are focusing operations on the northwest and northeast edges of the Ranch fire, while continuing to develop strategic plans to slow the northern push towards Lake Pillsbury. The south side of the fire has had no significant events and remains in suppression repair and patrol status.

Mendocino National Forest spokeswoman Punky Moore said that on Tuesday, firefighters reinforced the dozer line along Gilmore Ridge and north through the 2012 Mill Fire scar toward Davis Flat. The operation went well and the line is holding. Construction of the dozer line along Brushy Camp and Noel Ridges was completed.

Work also began on Tuesday on the new dozer line from Lake Pillsbury along Cabbage Patch Ridge toward Little Round Mountain, with that work continuing on Wednesday, Moore said.

Moore said crews patrolled and extinguished hotspots in the Rice Fork homes and Pillsbury Lake areas. Air tankers and helicopters were used to support firefighters on the ground.

On Wednesday, firefighters are patrolling and holding the fireline along Gilmore Ridge and north to Davis Flat, improving the line along Brushy Camp and Noel Ridges, constructing a dozer line from Davis Flat toward Sheetiron Mountain, continuing to look for hot spots near the the Rice Fork homes and Pillsbury Lake, and constructing a contingency line west of
Stonyford to Black Diamond Ridge, Moore said.

In other fire-related news, officials will hold a community meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Potter Valley to discuss the Ranch fire. The meeting will be at the Potter Valley Junior/Senior High School located at 10401 Main St.

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A procession for the firefighter who was killed fighting the Mendocino Complex on Monday is due to take place on Wednesday afternoon.

The Cal Fire Honor Guard and family will be escorting Draper City Fire Battalion Chief Matt Burchett from Ukiah to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The procession will begin at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at approximately 2:30 p.m. at Eversole Mortuary, located at 141 Low Gap Road in Ukiah, concluding at the Sonoma County Airport, located at 2200 Airport Blvd in Santa Rosa.

The procession route will proceed north on North State Street, to west Lake Mendocino Drive, entering Highway 101 southbound, taking exit 495B onto Airport Blvd traveling west to the Sonoma County Airport.

A link for directions and route can be found here: https://goo.gl/maps/DuqBHuRvXUG2 .

Anyone wanting to view the procession are asked to be in a safe area and line the streets of Ukiah or Santa Rosa along the procession route.

Please stay off State Highway 101, law enforcement from multiple agencies will be involved
during the procession.

Please adhere to any instructions they may have along the route.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Kelseyville man who previously served a state prison sentence for a 2010 hit-and-run crash that killed a local restaurateur has been arrested for another hit-and-run crash that injured a woman on Sunday.

James Walter Nightingale, 38, was taken into custody by the California Highway Patrol on Sunday afternoon, the CHP reported.

The CHP said that at 2:35 p.m. Sunday Nightingale was driving a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the parking lot of Pomo Pumps on Highway 20 in Nice.

Mia Quintero, 26, of Nice, was stopped in the gas station parking lot in her 2013 Chevrolet Malibu with passengers Angela Hoaglen, 46, of Nice, and a 3-year-old female from Nice, the CHP said.

For reasons still under investigation, Nightingale accelerated in reverse, hitting the front of Quintero’s vehicle. The CHP said Quintero and her passengers were not injured.

Nightingale – who was reportedly acting in a bizarre manner – then attempted to leave the scene, accelerating northbound through the parking lot and going over a concrete curb before he went into the eastbound lane of Highway 20, broadsiding a 2016 Jeep Latitude driven by 25-year-old Bradley Pape of Roseville, according to investigative reports.

Carrie Blake, 21, of Roseville, a passenger in Pape’s vehicle, suffered minor injuries and was treated and released at the scene, the CHP said.

After the crash, Nightingale fled the scene, leaving the bumper to his Jeep behind, according to reports on the crash.

Nightingale was located and detained on Highway 20 just east of Pomp Pumps a short time later and placed under arrest on felony charges of hit-and-run and driving under the influence of drugs, specifically, methamphetamine, according to the CHP and the Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

The CHP said DUI is suspected as a contributing factor to the crash.

On Tuesday afternoon, Nightingale appeared in Lake County Superior Court for arraignment, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.

Hinchcliff said he has preliminarily charged Nightingale with felony DUI causing bodily injury to the driver or passenger of another vehicle, which carries a maximum potential sentence of three years in prison.

So far, Hinchcliff said he’s received CHP reports on the incident that are “very minimal” and will require extensive additional supplemental investigation and reports.

Nightingale previously has been prosecuted for both DUI and hit-and-run, as well as vehicular manslaughter for the death of 57-year-old Zino Mezoui, a Kelseyville restaurateur.

On the afternoon of Sept. 24, 2010 Nightingale – who was on probation and driving on a suspended license – hit and mortally injured Mezoui, who was out for a ride on his motorcycle, at the intersection of Seigler Canyon Road and Highway 29.

Nightingale fled the scene and ditched his Chevy Suburban, leading to a major search for him by local law enforcement. With the help of an attorney, he would agree to turn himself in five days after the crash that killed Mezoui.

In February 2011, Nightingale entered no contest pleas to felony hit-and-run resulting in death or great bodily injury, misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and driving on a suspended license, and also admitted to violating his probation for two separate cases, one involving driving under the influence, the other driving on a suspended license.

In April 2011, Judge Stephen Hedstrom sentenced Nightingale to four years in prison for the Mezoui case.

During the course of the Mezoui case, it was revealed that Nightingale had five misdemeanors cases against him from 1995 to 2010, including a driving under the influence charge in Sonoma County in 2007 that later was reduced to a lesser “wet reckless” charge and a DUI charge in 2009 for which he was placed on five years probation.

Nightingale remains in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $40,000, according to jail records.

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. – Firefighters on Tuesday kept the Mendocino Complex to its smallest daytime growth total so far in the nearly three weeks it has burned, while the situation still remained critical enough that a new mandatory evacuation order was issued in Glenn County and a new Mendocino National Forest closure took effect.

Cal Fire said the complex reached 354,910 acres by Tuesday night. That was a 500-acre increase during the course of the day, with total containment rolling back by 4 points to 64 percent.

The River fire was fully contained at 48,920 acres on Monday. Patrol and suppression work continues in that area, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said the Ranch fire increased to 305,990 acres, with containment at 64 percent.

Firefighter numbers were increased once again on the complex, with personnel up by more than 300 to 3,505. Other resources assigned included 258 engines, 84 water tenders, 33 helicopters, 59 hand crews and 72 dozers.

On Tuesday morning, officials also identified the firefighter who was killed the previous evening on the Ranch fire as Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett, 42, of the Draper City Fire Department in Draper City, Utah.

Officials said that throughout the day Tuesday the Ranch fire progressed northward, heading farther into the Mendocino National Forest.

Fire crews patrolled communities in the northern portion of the Ranch fire – including the area around Lake Pillsbury – scouting fire lines and gathering intelligence to prep and assess plans for continued structure defense, Cal Fire said.

On the northwest and northeast edges – areas that stretched from Potter Valley to the west to the Colusa and Glenn County lines to the east, according to fire mapping – Cal Fire said crews spent the day constructing control lines with the intention to introduce firing operations in the coming days.

Cal Fire said crews will continue to construct and improve lines, utilizing advantageous topography and existing control lines to create barriers.

The south side of the fire near the Northshore communities has had no significant events and remains in suppression repair and patrol status, Cal Fire said.

On Tuesday afternoon, in response to the Ranch fire continuing into the southwest corner of Glenn County, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office upgraded an evacuation notice for the Pleasant Valley area of the Mendocino National Forest to a mandatory order.

The area includes the Mendocino National Forest boundary west to the Lake County line, south to the Colusa County line and north to Forest Road 20N07 also known as County Road 308, according to the order.

The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office said areas east of the Mendocino National Forest boundary to County Road 306 and north to County Road 308, including the town of Elk Creek, remain under an advisory evacuation notice.

Also on Tuesday, the Mendocino National Forest issued a new order closing a large area of the Mendocino National Forest, including the entire Upper Lake Ranger District and part of the Grindstone Ranger District, due to activity from the Ranch fire.

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.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council is planning a special meeting to go over several items of business, including contract amendments and a proposed urgency ordinance relating to smoke shops.

The council will meet beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

On the agenda is consideration of an interim urgency ordinance adopting a 45-day moratorium on the establishment of tobacco retailing businesses, smoke shops, or hookah and vapor lounges within the city.

The report from City Manager Greg Folsom and City Attorney Ryan Jones explains that they’re proposing the urgency ordinance because the city has been approached by a company that wants a business license to open up a smoke shop on Lakeshore Drive.

“The City’s zoning ordinance does not distinguish between tobacco retailers, smoke shops, or hookah or vapor lounges and any other type of retailer,” the report said.

If approved, staff would begin to work on a permanent ordinance that would be presented first to the planning commission, Folsom and Jones said.

Also on the agenda is consideration of two contract amendments, including one for construction design services during the Country Club/Kings Lane Pavement Rehabilitation Project. It would allow for an additional $3,240 to Coastland Civil Engineers, with an allowance for up to 10 percent for additional unforeseen contract amendments.

Another amendment for construction design services would allow for an additional $4,880 plus up to 10 percent for unforeseen amendments to Coastland on the Dam Road Extension Project.

The council also will consider awarding the restriping and bike lane project to Chrisp Co. for $287,567.50, with a 10-percent amendment allowance.

In other business, the council will take up staff’s proposal to reject all bids for the Harbor Lane/Highlands Harbor pavement rehabilitation project and will consider a $92,000 contract with Foster Morrison Consulting for consultant services to develop a new city local hazard mitigation plan.

Also on Tuesday, the council will consider a letter of support for the Adventist Health-St. Joseph Health Partnership.

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.