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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Come and enjoy spring in Clear Lake State Park on Saturday, April 16, with retired California State Park Ranger Val Nixon.
The two-hour walk will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Visitor Center parking lot and will be a slow walk along Cole Creek, Kelsey Creek and Kelsey Creek Slough.
The walk will cover about one mile of paved road and established trails.
Participants should wear sturdy shoes and bring binoculars, mosquito repellent and water.
Clear Lake State Park is located at 5300 Soda Bay Rd. Kelseyville, and entry into the park is free for those attending the presentation.
Anyone having special needs should contact Clear Lake State Park Sector Office Tuesday through Thursday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 707-279-2267.
For further information on California State Parks go to www.parks.ca.gov .
LUCERNE, Calif. – Robertson and Associates, CPAs and Marymount California University's Lakeside Campus, along with Mendocino College are partnering to teach individuals in the community the ins and outs of the tax codes relating to higher education.
The seminar will be held at the Marymount California University Lakeside Campus, 3700 Country Club Drive, Lucerne, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21.
If you have dreamed of the opportunities a university degree would provide to change your life or if you have children that will be going to college, Robertson's seminar will provide a wealth of useful information for you.
Knowing the tax breaks for adults and children will help you reach your goals.
“It's never too late to go back to school, and it's never too early to learn to save for your children's education,” said Michelle Scully, executive director of the Marymount California University Lakeside Campus.
Ulises Velasco, director of financial aid at Mendocino College, also will be on campus to cover the “basics” of financial aid and how to understand/what to expect.
The workshop is provided as a service to community members at no cost.
For more information call 707-274-6725 or email
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police have arrested a Ukiah man for failing to be properly registered as a sex offender and violation of his probation terms.
Austin Dion Duncan, 25, was taken into custody on Monday, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said that on Monday afternoon Lakeport Police officers were contacted by a citizen who reported having problems with a subject staying off and on at a rental residence without authorization in the city of Lakeport.
The reporting party had reviewed the California Department of Justice Megan's Law Web site and learned the subject was a public disclosure sex offender, Rasmussen said.
Lakeport Police officers conducted a background and records check on the subject – identified as Duncan – who was registered as a transient sex offender in Ukiah, according to Rasmussen.
He said officers also learned that Duncan was on felony Post Release Community Supervision, or PRCS, with a search and seizure clause.
Due to the information they developed, Lakeport Police officers believed that Duncan also was maintaining residence in Lakeport on 16 Street. Rasmussen said the officers went to the residence to conduct a probation search and continue the investigation on Duncan's registration status.
Duncan was located in the residence and detained for further investigation. Rasmussen said the officers determined that Duncan had a regular pattern of staying at the Lakeport residence over the past two months.
Rasmussen said California law requires that Duncan be registered in both Ukiah and Lakeport. However, Duncan had not previously notified the Lakeport Police Department of his residence status.
Officers arrested Duncan on a felony charge of failing to be properly registered as a sex offender and a felony violation of PRCS. Rasmussen said Duncan was transported and booked into the Lake County Jail.
On Wednesday morning, the Lakeport Police Department learned that the Lake County District Attorney's Office had filed a felony complaint against Duncan, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that complaint charges Duncan with failing to comply with California sex offender registration provisions, along with enhancements for having a prior serious or violent felony conviction, in this case, for lewd or lascivious acts.
The complaint also charges Duncan with having two prior prison terms, one out of Lake County Superior Court for a 2010 sex offense conviction and the second out of Mendocino County Superior Court for a 2015 failure to properly register as a sex offender conviction, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said Duncan currently remains in custody on a no bail hold.
If anyone has information on Duncan's activities or residence status in Lakeport over the past few months they are asked to contact Lakeport Police Officer Tyler Trouette by telephone at 707-263-5491, Extension 17, or email at
Individuals also can send a private message to the department on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Lakeport-Police-Department-176101292414821/?ref=settings or can provide information anonymously by texting, via cellular telephone, the word TIP LAKEPORT followed by your message to 888777.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Three new Lakeport Fire Protection District firefighters took their oath of office and had their badges pinned on during a Tuesday evening ceremony.
Jodi Snider, Jordan Mills and Brandon Morin were sworn in by Linda Buckner, secretary of the fire district board of directors, at the beginning of the board's meeting at the main station.
After taking their oaths, each of the young firefighters invited up their fathers, who pinned on their badges. Each then shook hands with Chief Doug Hutchison.
The three new firefighters will be full-time limited term staff, which Hutchison explained means they will serve an initial term of 18 months and then can sign up again to continue.
He said they will receive full-time pay and some – but not all – of the district's benefits.
They will be permanently assigned to a four-person shift, which Hutchison said helps build cohesiveness.
Hutchison said his three new staffers recently completed their training. That included work at South Lake County Fire's training facility and a two-week orientation in the district's operations and guidelines.
He said Mills and Morin previously had worked for Lakeport Fire as volunteers, and Snider had been a volunteer and reserve firefighter with Kelseyville Fire.
Hutchison said the addition of Mills, Morin and Snider brings the district up to full staff. Altogether, the district has 12 full-time firefighters plus Hutchison, and 12 volunteers.
“We're stable at this point,” he said of the district's staffing.
Each shift is staffed by four people, Hutchison explained. However, over the last few years, he said the district has been trying to fill the fourth position on every shift on a daily basis due to being short-staffed.
Add to that, the challenges of increasing call volumes. “We've been increasing steadily,” said Hutchison, noting an annual 5- to 10-percent call increase, particularly with regard to medical aids.
Hutchison said Lakeport Fire recently applied for a four-year grant that would help it implement a reserve program like that in place at Kelseyville Fire.
He said the grant funding would raise the staffing by 12 reserves, increasing the per-shift personnel from four people to six, allow them to hire on reserves full-time when positions open, plus pay for personal protective equipment, training costs and mandatory pre-employment physicals for 12 individuals.
That grant was submitted in March, with Hutchison noting it will be at least three months before they hear if they're successful.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The effort to restore a building to house the Clearlake Visitor Center is moving forward once again.
The city of Clearlake purchased the 1.5-acre property at 14295 Lakeshore Drive, next to Highlands Park, in 2011, as Lake County News has reported.
An old garage on the property was demolished last spring, with the house on the property to be used for the visitor center.
On Wednesday, April 6, the committee in charge of preparing the building to house the visitor center met to plan the restoration.
The project has been on hold for the last few months and the committee reported that it is looking forward to getting under way.
The committee reported that a lot has been done, with a lot more yet to do.
A new front door has been ordered and the windows have to be uncovered. Interior and exterior wall work will be put out to bid next week. Volunteer exterior cement work has been secured and will start soon.
The committee is looking for volunteers to help with interior projects.
The following help is needed from people with basic construction know-how: hanging light fixtures, cabinetry work, wood flooring work and painting. Experienced tile workers also are needed.
To volunteer please contact Jim Scholz at 707-994-1545.
UKIAH, Calif. – Friends of the Mendocino College Library, an affiliate of the Mendocino College Foundation, is hosting mystery author Waights Taylor Jr. for its third reading in the spring reading series.
He will be reading from his new novel, “Touch of Redemption,” on Thursday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in Room 4210, upstairs in the new college library. The college is located at 1000 Hensley Creek Rd. in Ukiah.
Admission to the event is free.
In “Touch of Redemption,” the second book in the Joe McGrath and Sam Rucker detective novels, the two men embark on a difficult journey – an attempt to find the murderers of Joe’s father 25 years ago.
It is 1948 in segregated Alabama, and Joe, a white man, and Sam, a black man, face numerous obstacles, the least of which is the racism and bigotry of the time, while struggling with the challenges of solving a murder case a quarter century old.
New York Times Best Selling Author Sheldon Siegel said this about Taylor's first mystery, “Kiss of Salvation”: “Kiss of Salvation takes us back to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in 1947 Birmingham. It’s a murder mystery, a history, and an in-depth study of evolving times in the American South. Deftly written and immensely readable, Taylor paints a picture of a complex era in American culture. Highly recommended.”
Waights Taylor Jr. was born in Birmingham, Ala., and spent his young, formative years growing up in the segregated South.
After graduation from the University of Alabama in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, his professional career included 24 years in the aviation industry and then 22 years in management consulting.
When his professional career was coming to an end, he turned to writing.
He is an author, a poet and a playwright. His first book, “Alfons Mucha's Slav Epic: An Artist's History of the Slavic People,” was published in 2008.
His first chapbook of poetry and short stories, “Literary Ramblings,” was published in 2010. His second book, “Our Southern Home: Scottsboro to Montgomery to Birmingham – The Transformation of the South in the Twentieth Century” was published in October 2011.
“Touch of Redemption” was released in March 2016. He now lives in Santa Rosa.
For more information about the reading or the author, please check the college Web site at www.mendocino.edu or call John Koetzner at 707-468-3051.
