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NICE, Calif. – A pedestrian died Monday night after being hit by a vehicle on Highway 20 in Nice.
The name of the victim has not yet been released by the California Highway Patrol.
The incident occurred shortly after 6:15 p.m. in the 3400 block of Highway 20 near the Tower Mart, according to reports from the scene.
Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters arriving at the scene found the victim down on the right side of the highway, scanner reports indicated.
Witnesses at the scene described the victim as an elderly male who lived nearby and the vehicle that hit him as a Jeep Cherokee.
It was not immediately clear if the man was crossing the highway or had been walking along the roadside when he was struck.
The victim was transported to a landing zone at Sentry Market where an air ambulance was due to pick him up.
However, a short time later, the California Highway Patrol reported the victim had died.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After a dry, sunny spell with abnormally high temperatures for the season, Lake County and the rest of Northern California are forecast to experience more rain and cooler temperatures starting this week.
The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement on Monday due to heavy rains anticipated to begin on Wednesday.
A Pacific storm is set to move over interior Northern California early Wednesday, with rain expected to spread over most of the region by Wednesday afternoon, according to the forecast.
The heaviest precipitation is predicted Wednesday night into Thursday morning, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters said the rain is expected to slacken off by Thursday evening, with another, weaker storm system possibly arriving on Friday.
The specific Lake County forecast is predicting between a tenth and a quarter of an inch of rain on Wednesday, with winds of up to 18 miles per hour and gusts in the high 20-mile-per-hour range.
The county's forecast also calls for chances of showers on Friday, with conditions clearing over the weekend.
Daytime temperatures will drop into the 50s during the storms, and are expected to be close to the mid 70s again by the weekend. Nighttime temperatures are forecast to range from the low to high 40s.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man sent to prison 18 years ago for molesting a child is expected to be released from state prison within a matter of weeks because it has been revealed that the key testimony used to convict him was fabricated.
District Attorney Don Anderson said he will file a writ of habeas corpus this week seeking the release of 71-year-old Luther Jones Jr., who is serving a 27-year sentence in state prison.
“We just learned a couple days ago that he's innocent,” Anderson said.
Key to that discovery, Anderson explained, was the recantation by the case's victim, now an adult who came forward to set the record straight.
In March 1998 Jones was convicted of molesting the 10-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend in a case first reported in August 1996, according to Anderson.
Jones had an extensive criminal history that included some felonies and theft cases, said Anderson, but none of those previous cases involved crimes of a sexual nature.
Based on his review of the nearly 20-year-old case, Anderson said the prosecution used the young girl's testimony as well as physical evidence.
Anderson said the girl underwent a physical exam and evidence of sexual contact was found.
“The evidence, I thought, was kind of sketchy,” Anderson said.
He said that Jones also testified on his own behalf.
Following the conviction, Judge Arthur Mann sentenced Jones, who filed appeals in the case. Anderson said the appellate court upheld the conviction.
Recently, however, the victim in the case – now a 30-year-old woman – came forward to say that Jones had not molested her, Anderson said.
Anderson said the woman contacted his office. “It's been eating at her for a long time,” he said. “She wanted to make things right.”
What she told Anderson's staff is that she had straightened out her life and wanted the truth to be known – that she had been told to lie by her mother.
Before the molestation allegations arose, Jones and his ex-girlfriend had ended a custody fight over a younger child who they had together, Anderson said.
In retaliation, Anderson said the ex-girlfriend made her older child lie to authorities about Jones.
Adding to the tragedy of the case, the young girl really had been molested – which explained the physical evidence presented in court, Anderson said.
“As we find out now, she was actually being molested by her mother’s then-boyfriend,” Anderson said.
Anderson said his staff believes the woman. “Her story is very credible.”
He said he has been able to retrieve his office's files on the case, but there is a lot of information missing, including trial transcripts, which he hopes to find.
Due to the severity of the situation Anderson – who had been set to leave for a vacation this week – canceled his plans in order to be able to begin the process of getting Jones freed.
“This has to be done as quickly as possible,” said Anderson.
“On Tuesday I'll be filing a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf,” Anderson said, adding he hopes that Jones could be out of prison within a month. “We're going to do everything we can to expedite this.”
Anderson said his office is taking the lead on the matter and working closely with Angela Carter, who heads up the county's public defense contract, to try to get the matter resolved.
He said he plans to meet with a judge this week, but it's still to be determined which judge will be able to hear the case.
That's because it's likely that as many as three sitting Lake County Superior Court judges may have to recuse themselves due to conflicts, Anderson said.
He said Andrew Blum and Richard Martin were both deputy district attorneys in the Lake County District Attorney's Office at about the time when the case was filed during the late 1990s, and Stephen Hedstrom was then the district attorney.
Anderson said the process ahead will include seeking an order for Jones to be transferred from prison to Lake County for further proceedings.
Jones is in very poor health and had been up for a medical parole release that was denied, Anderson said.
A hearing for that proposed release had taken place Oct. 30, with another upcoming on March 4, according to the California Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
Federal court documents show that Jones has filed suits complaining of the care he has received from prison officials for his numerous medical conditions, which include diabetes, issues with his liver and kidneys, hepatitis C and spinal deterioration.
In one of his handwritten filings, he said he was in prison “for a crime that I did not do, WHAT-SO-EVER, and I will continue to try and bring that to light as long as I live ...”
Jones hasn't yet been told of the situation, said Anderson.
As for what legal action may be taken against Jones' ex-girlfriend for forcing her older child to make the false allegations leading to the wrongful conviction, Anderson said that's yet to be determined.
He confirmed, however, that the woman no longer resides in Lake County.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has two young cats ready to jump into new homes this week.
Both of the older kittens are males, one a gray tabby and one mostly white with some tabby markings.
In addition to spaying or neutering, cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are microchipped before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets there, hoping you'll choose them.
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).
Male gray tabby
This young male gray tabby has a short coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 80a, ID no. 4362.
Domestic short hair
This young male domestic short hair has a white coat with gray tabby markings.
He's in cat room kennel No. 80c, ID No. 4366.
Adoptable cats also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Cats_and_Kittens.htm or at www.petfinder.com .
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Little Scarlett Michelle Reordan looks like any other healthy, vibrant and mischievous girl nearing the age of 3.
With her great big grin, sparkling eyes, platinum blonde hair, her penchant for singing lullabies to her family, fishing skills, playful spirit and enthusiasm, nothing really seems amiss.
But in the little girl's short life, she's been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, is undergoing treatment for leukemia and lost her mother to cancer.
“It’s an unbelievable story,” said her uncle, Ron Ladd.
Ladd and his wife Michelle – the sister of Scarlett's mother, Heather Reordan – have become Scarlett's legal guardians. The couple, which have a son in his 20s, are now raising the little girl.
He said Scarlett is doing well, but her leukemia will require close to another year of treatments, although the invasiveness of those treatments is lessening.
“She’s full of life and just having fun,” said Scarlett's father, Edward Mattson.
The story of Scarlett and her family is one of tremendous loss, but also one of incredible, overcoming love that they share not just with each other but with a large network of supportive friends.
Heather's story
A few months before Heather Reordan was due to give birth to Scarlett, her only child, she showed boyfriend Edward Mattson an odd mole that had been troubling her.
Mattson recalls telling her she needed to do something, with her following up with a dermatologist who urged her to wait to have it treated after the baby was born.
Reordan gave birth to Scarlett, her only child, on March 22, 2013. It was a happy time for her and her family.
Afterward, she went forward with having the mole treated. A biopsy was conducted and the diagnosis was stage three melanoma, Ladd said.
Mattson said the doctors had suggested that there may have been a connection between Reordan's pregnancy and the melanoma's development.
In fact, a January study released by the Cleveland Clinic found that melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer – in on the rise in women of childbearing age.
The clinic's new research determined that those at the greatest risk are women younger than 50 who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant. Heather Reordan fit perfectly into that profile.
“After adjusting for age, tumor location, and stage, researchers from Cleveland Clinic's Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Institute discovered that women diagnosed with malignant melanoma during their pregnancy or within one year of giving birth were 5.1-times as likely to die, 6.9-times as likely to experience metastasis, and 9.2-times more likely to have a recurrence. The researchers believe pregnancy hormones may fuel the cancer,” the study noted.
Reordan subsequently went through a year of Interferon chemotherapy treatment. “I begged her not to do the Interferon,” Mattson said, explaining that he was afraid of the treatment killing her.
At that time, the Ladds moved to Lakeport from Crescent City, living right now the road, so they could help with the baby while Reordan went through her treatments.
Ladd said his wife essentially moved in with her sister, going back and forth to their home less than half a mile away when other friends and family came in to assist.
Ginny Reordan, Heather's mother, also practically moved in with her daughter and granddaughter to help care for them both, Ladd said.
The Ladds bonded with their little niece, and it was at that time that the discussion about legal guardianship started, Ladd said.
Then, on Dec. 29, 2014, the unthinkable – and unbelievable – happened: Scarlett was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The diagnosis came about after Scarlett began to inexplicably experience a series of broken bones, a case of ringworm that wouldn't go away and lethargy. Mattson said they took the girl in for tests and her white blood cell count was found to be off the charts.
She began undergoing treatment at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, and fundraisers were held to help the family meet the costs.
“Trying to take care of two people with cancer at the same time is a little overwhelming,” Ladd said.
In addition to a benefit dinner held last February, an online fundraiser was started for Scarlett. That fundraiser is ongoing, and can be found at www.gofundme.com/scarlettmichelle1 . As of Saturday, $11,000 of the $20,000 goal had been raised.
A trust account for Scarlett also is available at Westamerica bank, account No. 2352178897.
Making decisions
At the time of Scarlett's diagnosis, Reordan's cancer was in remission. However, on April 1, 2015, doctors told her that it had come back, and with a vengeance, Ladd said.
Mattson believed the stress from dealing with Scarlett's leukemia caused Reordan's own health to deteriorate. “This was just killing Heather inside,” he said.
Ladd said everyone had hoped for the best, but by the time doctors found that the melanoma had come back, there already were four or five tumors. And from there, the situation grew bad very quickly.
“We don’t even know the count on the number of tumors she had,” said Ladd. They had metastasized throughout Reordan's body, including her bones and brain. “It just went all through her real fast.”
Based on the research the family had done, they found that from the initial diagnosis to stage three melanoma, the average lifespan is around five years or less, Ladd said.
“I think she hoped to have a little more time than she did, but was fully aware of the gravity of the situation,” he said of his sister-in-law.
Mattson said Reordan had originally been given a two-year survival estimate after the cancer recurred. Then the timeframe was reduced to nine months, as tumors continued to grow throughout her body, one making it likely that her arm would have to be amputated.
“Who wants to live like that?” he asked.
Although Mattson is heavily involved in his young daughter's life, Ladd said it was the consensus of the entire family that the Ladds should become Scarlett's legal guardians. “It's just an option that made sense, really.”
He added, “Michelle and Heather have always been really close.”
Ladd said he too had been close to his sister-in-law, his wife's kid sister, who he had known since she was a child.
Mattson agreed, explaining that he and Reordan had always agreed that, if something happened, Scarlett should live with the Ladds, noting the closeness between Michelle Ladd and Scarlett.
As a result of the fundraisers held for the family, Lakeport attorney Judy Conard donated consultation time to help do the legal guardianship work, Ron Ladd said.
Conard did all of the required paperwork, filing the necessary petition which resulted in letters being sent out to family members, notifying them of the legal guardianship process, none of which was disputed, he said.
The Ladds met with a court-appointed investigator, who visited their home, did a thorough background check, and met with Reordan and Mattson.
The matter then went to court, where a judge – agreeing with the investigator's findings – ruled that the Ladds should take on legal guardianship.
Ladd said the certified documents making he and his wife's legal guardianship of Scarlett official arrived on Aug. 17, 2015.
Two days later, on Aug. 19, Heather Reordan died. She was 36 years old.
“I believe she was almost hanging on those last few days to make sure everything was going to be OK with the baby,” Ladd said.
“Everybody loved her,” Mattson said of Reordan. “We miss her so much.”
A team effort
In the months since then, the Ladds have been settling into the routine of raising a young girl.
“It's been part of a team effort with other family and friends,” said Ladd, emphasizing they didn't do it on their own, and that there were too many people to name who form their support network. “We’ve had a lot of help.”
Mattson is actively involved with his daughter, and lives just down the street from the Ladds.
Mattson said Reordan had a lot of friends who have stepped up to offer their help. “She was just an easy person to be friends with,” he said, and those many friends have given incredible support.
In the midst of the family's changes, the county was hit by three large wildland fires. Ladd, a maintenance worker for the city of Lakeport, found himself with greater duties during the Valley fire particularly, as all local governments came together as part of the response.
At the same time, Scarlett came into the “maintenance phase” of her chemotherapy treatment. She's now making monthly – not weekly – trips to the Bay Area for the treatments, which require she be placed under anesthesia while the chemotherapy is administered into her spinal cord.
“The prognosis is great. Everything is right where they had hoped it would be,” Ladd said.
Because of her illness and her suppressed immune system, she hadn't been able to be around other children, which her family knew would be important for the already friendly and charismatic little girl to develop social skills.
But her uncle said she's been able to start attending preschool on a limited basis, going a few hours a day, four hours a week, and it's going well.
Still, once a month, she has to have her white blood cell counts checked. “You really have to be careful,” he said, explaining that a fever could put her in the hospital. “They tell us, let her be a kid, but use some common sense.”
Her circle of adventures had widened otherwise.
Ladd shares a lot of photos on his Facebook page of Scarlett's activities – which include frequent fishing trips with her uncle on the lakeshore.
She likes fishing, and is pretty self-sufficient, even getting out her own worms. “She’s awesome. She can reel her own pole in,” he said, adding, “I don’t think she does anything wrong.”
In the fall, she took part in the Lakeport Halloween parade for schoolchildren, in which she was dressed as a princess. She was escorted by her little friend Jaden, who devotedly held her hand throughout.
This Christmas she was at an age where her uncle said she started to really get into the celebration, enjoying singing the songs and watching the old favorites on television such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
She attended the downtown Lakeport Christmas celebration and got to sit on Santa's lap, asking for a real monkey.
Luckily, family friends obliged not with real monkeys but with stuffed ones after Ladd posted photos of her with Santa on Facebook.
The family has been able to get insurance to cover Scarlett's treatment, but there have been other costs, such as the trips to the Bay Area needed for Scarlett's appointments, and the fact that Michelle Lad had to give up her full-time job in Willits and now works part-time when she can.
“The bottom line is, it’s going to be very expensive,” Ron Ladd said, adding that they have no idea of the dollar figure.
However, for him, the most important thing he wants to communicate is the family's gratitude for the incredible support it has received from the community.
“I can’t even tell you how generous everyone has been,” he said.
In the midst of growing into her new life, Scarlett still has memories about the old.
When Heather Reordan was dying, Michelle Ladd sat down with Scarlett and told her that her mommy was really sick and that they couldn't fix her this time, and that she wasn't coming home but going to heaven.
Ron Ladd said the little girl asks about her mother, and he and his wife have researched how to handle her questions in the best ways possible.
“We don't to sweep it under the rug,” but want to deal with it, he said, adding that they keep pictures of Reordan all over the house.
Today, “She’ll tell people, unsolicited, that her mom is in heaven. I don’t know that she grasps that concept,” Ladd said of Scarlett.
Sometimes, Scarlett says she wants her mommy, which he said is a pretty normal reaction for a child that has endured what she has. The family does the best it can to respond to her.
“Who knows what’s right sometimes,” Ladd said.
Mattson said that he sees in his young daughter the same strength and intelligence that defined her mother. “Heather was the strongest woman I ever met in my life,” he said. “It’s the same thing I could say about my daughter. She’s just that way, too.”
Even at barely 2 years of age, she had stopped crying during the medical procedures she was required to undergo, which included plenty of needles and blood draws, her father said.
Reordan would have been 37 on Jan. 14. The day was pouring down rain, Mattson remembered. He spent the day with his little daughter.
But spring is right around the corner, and with it new life and another reason to celebrate – a happy and healthy Scarlett will turn 3 years old on March 22.
“I think we'll have a little party,” Mattson said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The Owl
By Wendy Videlock
Beneath her nest,
a shrew's head,
a finch's beak
and the bones
of a quail attest
the owl devours
the hour,
and disregards
the rest.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – What is common, but rarely seen, mysterious and heard in Lake County's night hours? Of course, it's the owl.
We have many varieties of these night-dwellers here in our county.
According to McLaughlin Reserve's bird list the following owls have been spotted at the reserve: barn owls, Western screech owl, great horned owl, northern pygmy owl, burrowing owl, long-eared owl, short-eared owl and northern saw-whet owl.
The saw-whet owl doesn't voice a typical owl's hoot, but instead, sends out sequence of whistles that, as its name implies, replicates the sound of a rhythmic saw.
According to the book, “1001 Questions Answered About Birds” the great horned owl has an extremely low range of hearing, and can't hear high-pitched sounds emitted by songbirds, however, it can perceive the mouse's squeak.
Owls are fascinating creatures to study with their swooping, soundless wings, piercing eyesight and their unique accoutrements which allow for their amazing predatory feats: their talons, specialized beaks and sense of sight.
Owls' eyes are able to see not only during the day, but are enlarged to aid in picking out prey in low-light or nighttime situations. These special, tubular eyes are what permit this extra-sensitive eyesight. Like humans, they have binocular vision, while most birds possess monocular sight.
The owl also has a specialized set of muscles in their necks that allow for speedily swiveling his neck 270 degrees of a circle!
These deadly raptors need a large amount of food, and prey on mice, rabbit, skunk and other birds. They possess a high metabolism and can consume up to the amount of their body-weight in prey each day.
Owls don't chew food, but swallow it down in large gulps – feathers, fur and all. Then, their gizzards eliminate the waste in the form of a tidy pellet which resemble an oval fur-ball several inches in size. If you happen upon an owl pellet you will find tiny bones and bits of soft fur all in one tidy package!
Owls have been depicted as symbols of wisdom in many ancient cultures. For example in Greece the goddess of wisdom was symbolized with an owl. In the Celtic tradition owls were linked with stealth, wisdom and also as the source of hidden truths.
However, many Native American tribes connected owls with death, while some, like the Dakotas considered owls as protectors of their warriors.
For more information visit The Owl Pages, http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?location=North+America , or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/id .
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
