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COBB, Calif. – The community is invited to visit the “Winter Wonderland in Lake County” opening on Friday, Dec. 18, at Black Rock Golf Course in Cobb.
The Winter Wonderland will feature ice skating outdoors, and is free to all.
The skating rink will be open through Jan. 3.
Hours are noon to 8 p.m. weekdays, noon to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. It will be closed on Christmas Day.
Rental skates are provided. Fifty skaters are allowed on the rink at one time, and there may be a wait.
Skate time is limited to 45 minutes. Visitors can get back in line and skate again. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Santa also will visit from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20; and 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21, and Tuesday, Dec. 22.
The Winter Wonderland is sponsored by the Cobb Community Investment Committee and funded by Calpine at The Geysers.
Visit Winter Wonderland on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/904722832930223/ or call 707-987-4270.
Black Rock Golf Course is located at 16451 Golf Road.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Authorities placed Lower Lake schools in temporary lockdown on Thursday morning on the report of a student with a firearm, with a male student later taken into custody off school grounds with a BB gun in his possession.
Lake County Sheriff's deputies and Clearlake Police officers responded to the report, which first came in at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, the two agencies said in separate reports.
Officer Bobi Oakley, the Clearlake Police Department school resource officer, received a cellular phone call from an employee of the Konocti Education Center telling her that they had received second-hand information that a male juvenile on bus No. 6 was in possession of a firearm, according to a report from Sgt. Travis Lenz.
Lenz said the only description of the subject provided at that time was that he was a white male, wearing a red hat and having red facial hair.
The school employee was unaware at that time what school the subject went to after exiting the school bus, but believed it to be Lower Lake High School, Lenz said.
Clearlake Police officers responded with lights and sirens to Lower Lake High School at that time, while maintaining contact with members of the schools in the area to obtain additional information, according to Lenz.
While responding, Officer Oakley received a cellular phone call from an employee at Carlé Continuation High School in Lower Lake, Lenz said, advising they had a male subject who fit the description on the school grounds in one of the classrooms.
Clearlake Police Department dispatch contacted the Lake County Sheriff's Office at that time and requested their response to assist in this investigation, Lenz said.
Once officers arrived at Carlé High School, they responded to the classroom of the juvenile that matched the description. Lenz said sheriff's deputies arrived on scene and assisted the Clearlake Police with safely removing all the children from the classroom.
Once all the children were in a safe location, officers removed the juvenile subject who matched description and, after speaking with him, Lenz said it was determined he was not the responsible subject.
Within seconds of determining that he was not the subject, Officer Oakley received information from an employee of the Lower Lake High school which aided in the identification of the correct individual. Lenz said it was determined that the student had exited the school bus and was possibly walking to Ray's Food Place in Clearlake.
Clearlake Police officers and sheriff's deputies stood by at all the schools in the area while additional units from the Clearlake Police Department responded to the area of Ray's Food Place to attempt to locate the student, Lenz said. In addition, all schools in the area of Lower Lake were put on lockdown for precautionary reasons.
While checking the area of Ray's Food Place, Lenz said he located the juvenile seated at the store's bus stop and detained him.
The subject was identified as a 17-year-old Clearlake resident. Lenz said the juvenile was found in possession of a carbon dioxide-powered BB gun pistol, which upon first glance could be easily confused with a real firearm.
Lenz said the student was placed under arrest at that time and later turned over to the custody of Lake County Juvenile Probation on charges of possession of a BB gun on school grounds and possession of an instrument which has the capabilities of projecting a metallic instrument.
Authorities said the lockdown was raised at approximately 9:10 a.m.
The Clearlake Police Department thanked the Lake County Sheriff's Office for its assistance in this investigation.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – This week a federal jury convicted a former Lake County couple of conspiracy to defraud the United States, with the husband – who has a 1987 conviction for bank fraud in a savings and loan scandal – additionally convicted of one count of tax evasion.
Jay Scott Soderling and Jessica Lynn Soderling, who now live in Santa Rosa but previously lived in Hidden Valley Lake, were convicted Tuesday after a five-day jury trial before United States District Judge Honorable Vince Chhabria, according to Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Acting Special Agent in Charge Andrew Toth.
Assistant United States Attorneys Michael G. Pitman and Jose A. Olivera are prosecuting the case, with the prosecution the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Court records show the Soderlings are set to be sentenced on April 5 in San Francisco.
The US Attorney's Office said the maximum penalty for the conspiracy conviction is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, while the count of tax evasion carries the same maximum time in prison and fine.
Jay Soderling was arrested in September 2011 while he was still living in Lake County, as Lake County News has reported.
Officials said the evidence at trial showed that the defendants were both involved in efforts to conceal assets from the IRS to avoid payment of Jay Soderling’s tax liabilities.
Specifically, during 2004 and 2005, Jay Soderling evaded payment of his tax liabilities by hiding money and assets belonging to him in the name of a corporation, prosecutors said.
Subsequently, in 2008 and 2009, after the IRS discovered Jay Soderling was keeping his personal assets in the corporation, he and his wife worked together to further conceal assets by, among other things, moving money from the corporation’s account into a bank account opened for this purpose in Jessica Soderling’s name, the US Attorney's Office said.
Jay Soderling originally was indicted on Aug. 9, 2011, for a single count of tax evasion, with a superseding indictment later filed adding the conspiracy charge against the couple.
In finding Jay and Jessica Soderling guilty of conspiracy, the jury concluded that the evidence demonstrated the defendants obstructed the lawful functions of the IRS by deceitful or dishonest means as charged in the indictment.
In addition, the evidence produced at trial demonstrated that Jay Soderling willfully evaded payment of taxes he owed to the United States.
According to papers filed with the court, beginning in July 2004, the IRS began attempting to collect Jay Soderling’s tax liabilities. He admitted owing the IRS approximately $90,000, but he made written and oral statements to IRS employees misrepresenting his ability to pay the debt.
Among other things, Jay Soderling told the IRS he had no significant assets, that he had negligible income, and that he did not expect his financial situation to change. In reality, he knew that he was well on his way to receiving an enormous financial windfall from several real-estate transactions.
The government also demonstrated Jay Soderling failed to disclose his use of corporate funds to purchase a Dodge Viper, a new boat and other personal items.
Soderling has a criminal record that extends back nearly three decades. In 1987 he and his brother Leif pleaded guilty to bank fraud for stealing millions of dollars from depositors in their roles as directors and officers at the Golden Pacific Savings & Loan in Santa Rosa.
The brothers would serve eight months in prison and be ordered to pay $6 million in restitution to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which they failed to do, going on a $500,000 spending spree while they were on probation.
That resulted in a judge sending them back to prison for six years each. Jay Soderling later would be sent back to prison again for a separate probation violation.
The Soderling brothers, neither of whom had contractor's license, worked for several years in construction in Lake County, leaving behind large bills with local vendors.
Jay Soderling destroyed oak woodlands on an 850-acre property that he owned for a time surrounding Borax Lake, which neighbors claimed he had tried to drain. That land was foreclosed on in 2009 by a Sonoma County developer from whom Jay Soderling had borrowed money.
California Attorney General Kamala has announced the arrest of Alex Morales III, 54, an employee of the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, on bribery charges.
Morales allegedly received bribes in the form of money and a vehicle in return for ensuring that Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) contracts were awarded to the person or company providing the bribe.
“Accepting bribes in exchange for awarding public contracts is illegal and corrupt, and violates the public’s trust in government,” said Attorney General Harris. “My office will continue to hold this individual – and others like him – accountable for their crimes.”
Morales is an ADA statewide coordinator for Caltrans, a role which involves making Caltrans systems, including bridges and public walkways, ADA compliant.
According to the felony complaint, he accepted numerous bribes totaling at least $100,000 over the course of approximately four years.
The bribes were presented in monthly cash payments ranging from $1,800 to $12,000, and also through a bribe in the form of a new white Ford sports utility vehicle.
The arrest came after a nine-month-long investigation by the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation, Special Investigation Team.
Special agents served four search warrants leading up to the arrests, including some at state office buildings.
All agencies involved, including Caltrans, fully cooperated with the Attorney General’s Office investigation.
“We have a set of values that drive Caltrans and this behavior is not consistent with those values,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “If an employee goes outside of those values, they don’t have a place in this department.”
California Attorney General's Office - Morales complaint.pdf
The State Water Resources Control Board adopted a resolution on Tuesday authorizing the allocation of $5 million in funds to help California residents on private wells and small water systems who are facing water emergencies.
The funds, which will be administered by nonprofit organizations, will help individuals that have an immediate drought-related water shortage or outage.
The $5 million will fund interim and permanent solutions such as new wells, well rehabilitation, and consolidation into new or existing public water systems.
The funding will expand and augment the existing grant and low-interest loan program nonprofit organizations are currently offering through a U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded program.
Nonprofit organizations must prioritize funds to serve disadvantaged individuals or communities with an annual median household income less than 80 percent of the statewide median income, but may provide assistance to other communities as well.
On Nov. 13, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Executive Order directed the State Water Board to use up to $5 million of the $15 million appropriated from the Cleanup and Abatement Account for drought-related drinking water emergencies to assist those on private wells and small water systems.
California has been dealing with the effects of an unprecedented drought. To learn about all the actions the state has taken to manage our water system and cope with the impacts of the drought, visit www.Drought.CA.Gov .
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The board of Upper Lake's newly consolidated school district held its first meeting on Tuesday night, choosing the board leadership, the district name and discussing hiring a superintendent.
The State Board of Education gave its approval last month to election waivers needed to finalize the unification of the Upper Lake Union Elementary School District and the Upper Lake Union High School District, as Lake County News reported.
That gave Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg the go-ahead to appoint the new unified district's board.
He selected Don Meri, Mel O'Meara and Diane Plante from the elementary district board and Keith Austin and Claudine Pedroncelli from the high school district board.
Falkenberg helped lead the Tuesday night meeting, held over the course of three hours in the Upper Lake High School library.
After Falkenberg administered the oath of office, key items of business the five-member board decided included acceptance of bylaws and the decision to name the new district the “Upper Lake Unified School District.”
The board members then elected O'Meara as board president and Plante as clerk, and determined during the meeting that they would be meeting twice a month initially, on the second and fourth Tuesdays, in the Upper Lake High library.
Another key item was the discussion about selecting a superintendent.
During the meeting, Falkenberg presented four options, which he likened to lanes on a highway, for the superintendent selection process.
Those four options included:
– Lane one: Work with the current administrative staff. Upper Lake High School Principal/Superintendent Patrick Iaccino has expressed interest in the position.
– Lane two: Hire or appoint a short-term, temporary superintendent, such as a retiree.
– Lane three: Hire a consultant to act as the superintendent on an interim basis.
– Lane four: Hire Falkenberg to do double-duty in his job and as the district superintendent until a permanent hire is made.
The board also spent a portion of the meeting in closed session to discuss the superintendent hiring issue.
When board members emerged from behind closed doors just before 9 p.m., Falkenberg said there was no reportable action taken.
However, he said the board did decide to form a subcommittee to decide the next steps in the superintendent selection process.
That subcommittee will include O'Meara, Plante and Falkenberg.
Regarding the closed session decision to form a subcommittee, Falkenberg told Lake County News after the meeting that he thinks board members want to spend more time exploring the next steps.
“Nothing was eliminated from consideration,” he said.
Falkenberg said the board members want to conduct due diligence on the very critical decision of choosing the new superintendent, adding that, at this point, he doesn’t think the board is ready to commit to a permanent superintendent candidate.
The board will meet again at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22.
Email Elizabeth Larson at