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COBB, Calif. – The portion of Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest behind Cobb Elementary School will be temporarily closed to the public due to the presence of logging machinery and clearing operations over the next few months.
The Friends of Boggs Mountain will pass on any information as to when Cal Fire plans to reopen any part of the forest.
Until then, all trail maintenance will be on hold until they are allowed back to do work.
For questions regarding Boggs, please contact the forest manager or forest aide at 707-928-4378.
For updates on Boggs, follow Friends of Boggs Mountain on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fobmca .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As part of its ongoing efforts to provide special services to the community, Hospice Services of Lake County is offering a free volunteer orientation and training for adults aged 18 and over who feel like making a difference.
Orientation begins on Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The orientation is followed by two days of training on Saturdays, Aug. 13 and Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Orientation and trainings will be held at the Hospice offices at 1862 Parallel Drive in Lakeport. All training materials and lunch on both Saturdays will be provided free of charge.
This non-medical training provides the new volunteers with knowledge and skills for visiting patients in hospice care and offering bereavement support to the patient’s loved ones and family members.
Patient support volunteers give non-medical support, companionship and practical, caring help to hospice patients and offer respite to the caregivers.
Bereavement volunteers provide support to loved ones and grieving family members at camps and support groups.
Training is provided by guest speakers who are experts in their respective fields. The new volunteers will learn new skill sets and practical information to become successful hospice volunteers.
To reserve space and for information contact Hedy Montoya at 707-263-6270, Extension 136, or email
LUCERNE, Calif. – Friends of Locally Owned Water, or FLOW, will meet on Saturday, July 16.
The group will meet for its board meeting at 11 a.m. at the Northshore Community Center – formerly the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center – located at 10th and Country Club.
Public comment is welcome.
Shooting deer across a lake?
Question: Is it legal to shoot my rifle across open water to the other side?
Say I am on one side of a lake and see a legal deer on the other side (let’s assume it’s 200 yards, not a good long range shot).
Can I shoot across the lake or pond or river? (Larry E.)
Answer: It is never advisable to shoot over water due to the potential for a ricochet. But, it is legal to shoot the deer as long as both you and the deer are on property where it is legal to hunt and you have permission to hunt the area.
Sport fishing from a commercial boat?
Question: I have a friend with a commercial urchin boat who invited me to come out with him.
Would it be legal for me to fish off the boat and to maybe even dive and do some spearfishing from the boat?
I would stick to fish and not take any urchin while down diving. (Anonymous)
Answer: No. Under Fish and Game Code, section 7856(f): “A person shall not take or possess a fish on a commercial fishing vessel under a sport fishing license while that vessel is engaged in a commercial fishing activity, including going to or from an area where fish are taken for commercial purposes.”
Commercial boat captains may take friends and family out to fish from their boats when they are NOT engaged in commercial fishing.
All commercially caught fish or invertebrates must be off the boat before the boat leaves the harbor for a trip where the captain and passengers will be engaged in sport angling, diving, hoop netting or setting traps for crabs. They must commit to one or the other type of trip ahead of time.
Oh deer, oh road kill
Question: I hit a deer while driving a few nights ago. The dang thing jumped right out in front of my car at the last minute while I was only going 35 miles per hour. It lived but it got me wondering whether I could have legally taken it home.
If I field dress a freshly killed deer that’s been accidentally hit by a car, and even if I don’t have a deer tag, I don't see why I could not take it. Otherwise, it would just rot on the side of the road and go to waste.
I’m not a road-kill eater, but if I killed a deer by accident, I wouldn’t mind taking it home and eating it and keeping the skin. (Anonymous)
Answer: Unfortunately, this would not be legal. Road-killed wildlife may not be retained. Only authorized personnel of state and/or local agencies are permitted to dispatch and remove injured or dead animals.
Even if you were a licensed California hunter with the appropriate tags to take the deer, you cannot legally tag that deer and take it home.
Deer may only be taken with rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers, muzzleloaders and archery equipment. Motor vehicles are not included in this list of legal methods of take.
Although FGC, section 2000.5(a), states the accidental taking of game by a motor vehicle is not a violation of the law, it does not authorize the possession of animals taken by a collision with a vehicle.
You may wonder why this is the case since it seems like it would be a waste of a deer to not be able to place a tag on it and perhaps save another from being taken.
The reason is that some poachers would use the “collision” excuse to take deer at night with their vehicle and just attach their tag to justify the action.
Using two rods to reach bag limit?
Question: If I am using a two-rod stamp and I have four fish in my bag (daily bag limit is five fish), can I still use two rods or do I have to only fish with one rod as I only need one more fish to reach my limit? (Kyle M.)
Answer: You may continue using two rods in the scenario you describe but once you catch the last fish in your limit, you must immediately pull in the other rod.
Stocking my home aquarium?
Question: Is it legal to take any marine life or rocks from the California coastline for use in an in-home aquarium? (James H.)
Answer: Finfish may not be transported alive from the water where taken except under the authority of a scientific collecting permit or a marine aquaria collector’s permit.
The removal of live rocks (rocks with living marine organisms attached) is also prohibited in some areas, including marine sanctuaries and state parks.
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
John D. Grutzmacher
June 28, 1933 - July 7, 2016
John David Grutzmacher passed away on July 7, 2016, in Roseville, Calif., after a brief period of declining health.
He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years Carmalita (Carm), and their three children Daniel, Martha and Raymond, and their spouses.
After an early career with the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Descanso Gardens, John decided that working for himself would be more rewarding and he became a successful piano tuner and enjoyed his many individual clients and most notably was proud to tune for the L.A. Music Center.
After retiring to Kelseyville, Calif., in the mid-1990s, John and Carm successfully raised seven guide dog puppies for the San Rafael chapter of Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Family prefers donations in his memory may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital at www.stjude.org .
Memorial Mass will be held at St. Mary Immaculate Catholic church in Lakeport on Thursday, July 14, at 1 p.m.
For further information please contact Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary at 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The murder trial of a man accused of carrying out a fatal drive-by shooting last July in Clearlake is under way.
On Friday opening statements took place and the first witnesses were called in the trial of Billy Raymond Mount, 36, of Clearlake, who is accused of the July 2015 shooting that claimed the life of 40-year-old Steven Galvin, also of Clearlake.
Judge Andrew Blum is presiding over the trial.
The District Attorney's Office has charged Mount with homicide, assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm – in this case, a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Mount previously served a prison term for a 2007 felony robbery case, according to court records.
He's also facing numerous special allegations, including shooting a firearm from a vehicle, discharge of a handgun, personal use of a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury and being a member of a criminal street gang. Regarding the latter, the prosecution alleges that Mount is a known skinhead.
One of the key issues in the case is that, shortly before he died, Galvin identified a man other than Mount as his attacker.
The prosecution alleges that it has evidence to support Mount as the shooter, but the defense is arguing that Galvin's statements about his attacker – which were some of the last words he spoke – must be heeded.
In her opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman said Galvin, also known as “T-Bone,” was walking alone through a residential area on 35th Avenue in Clearlake at around 3:40 p.m. on July 2, 2015, when a little white truck pulled up and two gunshots rang out.
Galvin was shot in the back, and died within an hour at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, according to the statements in court on Friday.
Lerman said Galvin was “shot in cold blood, on the street, in broad daylight.”
Firefighters and officers arriving on scene found Galvin on the ground, writhing in pain. He was mumbling and difficult to understand.
However, he spoke clearly when Clearlake Police Det. Ryan Peterson asked him, “Who did this to you?”
“Cyclops,” Galvin would say, four different times.
The individual known as “Cyclops,” however, isn't Mount, but Clearlake resident David Cox, who in court was identified as a known skinhead and white supremacist.
Cox was located and detained within an hour of the shooting, said Lerman.
“The story could have ended there,” said Lerman. However, it doesn't, she added.
Rather, the prosecution maintains that Galvin was unable to tell the whole story.
Within days, Clearlake resident Sean Whiteman would tell police that he was driving the pickup witnesses saw at the scene, and that it was Mount who had used a handgun to shoot and mortally wound Galvin.
Lerman said Whiteman also led police to the handgun that they believed was used, based on forensic evidence, and Mount's DNA and fingerprint was found on a CD cover in Whiteman's truck.
Explaining why Galvin would have named Cox – or Cyclops – as his attacker, Lerman said Galvin knew Cox was angry at him. Cox believed Galvin had stolen his tablet computer and was reported to have told other skinheads to go after Galvin, who he had a confrontation with two days before the shooting.
Mount and Cox would meet about an hour before the shooting, with Mount later reported to have been riding around town with Whiteman in his little white pickup.
Cox, who Lerman said has a criminal history like many of the case's witnesses and key players, has been granted limited immunity in the case.
Defense attorney Andrea Sullivan told the jury during her opening statement, “Sometimes things are exactly as they seem.”
Sullivan argued that it was Cox, not Mount, who was the gunman responsible for fatally shooting Galvin. She said the situation between Cox and Galvin had escalated to the point where they had pulled guns on each other on more than one occasion, and she argued that Cox had multiple chances to commit the slaying.
None of the eyewitnesses identified Mount as the shooter, according to Sullivan. “Not one.”
She added that Whiteman has been discredited and there is no physical evidence in the form of DNA, gun residue or fingerprints linking Mount to the killing.
“The prosecution in this case is based on a theory,” a theory that Sullivan argued has its foundation not on the evidence by on “smoke and mirrors.” She urged the jurors to give Galvin justice by actually listening to him.
Officers, paramedic testify
Witnesses on the stand on Friday included Clearlake Police Det. Elvis Cook and Officer Matthew Huot, who were among the first officers who arrived at the shooting scene, finding Galvin on the ground in the middle of a home's front yard.
Both men would also go to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, where Galvin was transported in anticipation of meeting an air ambulance but died before he could be flown out.
Cook also would go looking for Cox at the Kingfisher Mobile Home Park, where he lives with his grandmother, but didn't find him. Cook then went to a home on Maple Street that Cox was known to frequent, and it was there that Cox was found and detained by police.
Jason Trudell, a paramedic with the Lake County Fire Protection District who responded to the scene and assisted with transporting Galvin to the hospital, also testified.
Trudell recounted that it was difficult to get answers out of Galvin, who was having trouble breathing and moving around a lot. Galvin was vague about what had happened to him, first telling paramedics that he was assaulted, and later saying he was shot.
It took a few minutes for paramedics to find the exit wound, which was very small and on the right side of Galvin's chest, with no external bleeding. Galvin also appeared to be coughing up fluid tinged with blood, which indicated to Trudell that he had a possible lung injury.
On the way to the hospital landing zone, Galvin's vital signs dropped and he lost consciousness, Trudell said. Galvin's vital signs then briefly improved before his pulse stopped and paramedics diverted him to the hospital emergency room, where he died.
Also testifying on Friday was Det. Peterson, the case's arresting officer. As part of his testimony, Lerman played a brief video taken from Peterson's body camera, which he activated at the scene.
The footage showed Peterson arriving at the shooting location on 35th Avenue, getting a camera from his car and documenting the location before making his way over to the paramedics and Galvin, who was lying face down on the ground and writhing.
Galvin clearly stated the name “Cyclops” when asked who was responsible for his attack. He also said, “Help, I need some air,” then gasped and kept repeating “air.” Yet he pulled off an oxygen mask paramedics attempted to put over his face.
Peterson said he knew Cox as Cyclops. As Clearlake Police's gang enforcement officer, Peterson had met Cox about a year before the shooting. He said Cox had come to his attention in part because of his very distinctive appearance; Peterson said Cox's face is covered with tattoos, and when Cox met Peterson he identified himself as a skinhead who recently had been released from prison.
At the shooting scene, Peterson and his fellow officers canvassed the neighborhood, speaking to witnesses and looking for evidence.
Three days later Peterson would later contact Jeremy Green, a friend of Mount's, at a red-tagged home where Green, who is homeless, has been staying for some time.
During the investigation, Green had told Peterson that Mount admitted to him that he had shot someone. However, Green – who was brought from the Lake County Jail to testify in the trial – appeared to change his story while on the stand.
Green said he had been high on drugs when Peterson had spoken to him last July, and that because he was scared of police he told Peterson what he thought Peterson wanted to hear.
He also claimed that he only remembered parts of the conversation with Peterson, that he didn't recall bringing up Mount and the shooting to Peterson, and that the questioning in court was confusing him.
“Mr. Green, you don't really want to be here, do you?” asked Lerman.
“No,” he said. Lerman followed up by asking if he didn't want to hurt his friend. He said no.
He said he and Mount – who he thinks of as a brother – were driving around with Whiteman in the white pickup and doing drugs on the day of the shooting. Green recalled the day as mostly “a blur.”
Green also recounted stopping to buy drugs at the Maple Street house where Cox frequented, and Cox and Mount having a conversation in a back room. Afterward, Mount was “a little distracted” and upset, but calmed down.
During cross-examination by Sullivan, Green said he had been afraid that he was going to be implicated in the shooting.
When Sullivan asked if he would lie to protect Mount, his friend, Green said, “I haven't lied yet.”
The trial will continue at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 13.
Mount's trial is among three murder cases currently in trial or set to go to trial, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff said another four murder cases are set for sentencing or other proceedings, and two more homicide cases are set for preliminary hearing or are pending preliminary hearing and not yet set for trial.
Email Elizabeth Larson at