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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which Californians rely on heavily during the dry summer months for their water needs, continues to disappoint this winter.
Despite the snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Range over the weekend that gladdened ski and snowboard enthusiasts, it was not enough to offset weeks with no snow at all.
Tuesday's manual survey by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) at the Phillips snow course in the mountains 90 miles east of Sacramento found 0.9 inches of water content in the snow, just 5 percent of the March 3 historical average for that site.
DWR electronic readings for Tuesday indicated the water content of the northern Sierra snowpack is 4.4 inches, 16 percent of average for the date.
The central and southern Sierra readings were 5.5 inches, 20 percent of average, and 5 inches, 22 percent, respectively.
Statewide, 103 electronic sensors found Tuesday's snow water equivalent to be 5 inches, 19 percent of the March 3 multi-decade average.
When DWR conducted the season’s first two manual surveys on Dec. 30 and Jan. 29, the statewide water content was 50 percent and 25 percent respectively of the historical averages for those dates.
The snowpack’s water content this year is historically low for early March. Only in 1991 was the water content of the snowpack lower – 18 percent of that early-March average.
Manual surveys of 180 snow courses this year reveal even less water content – just 13 percent of the early-March average, the lowest in DWR’s records for this time of year.
The difference between electronic and manual surveys is explained by the higher elevation of most electronic sensors, where they receive more snow than many of the lower-elevation snow courses.
After records for dryness were set in many parts of the state in January, two storms in early February delivered enough precipitation at eight northern Sierra weather stations to bring the month’s total up to historical standards there.
That short rainy interlude was followed by three weeks of virtually no rainfall in the northern Sierra, and precipitation at the eight stations since Water Year 2015 began on Oct. 1 is now only 87 percent of average for that period.
Further south, the five-station San Joaquin index is 48 percent of normal, and the six-station index in the Tulare Basin is similarly far below normal at 51 percent.
Weeks of spring-like weather have produced more rain than snow when storms did arrive during California’s warmest winter on record.
California’s historically wettest winter months have already passed, and it’s now almost certain that California will be in drought throughout 2015 for the fourth consecutive year.
Unless this month approximates the 1991 “Miracle March” with significantly more precipitation than normal, the traditional wet season will end on April 1 with an alarmingly low amount of water stored in the mountains as snow.
In normal years, the snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and early summer.
The greater the snowpack water content, the greater the likelihood California’s reservoirs will receive ample runoff as the snowpack melts to meet the state’s water demand in the summer and fall.
The major water supply reservoirs are storing more water this year than last but are still far below the historical average for early March.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s (SWP) principal reservoir, now holds 49 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (70 percent of its historical average for the date).
Shasta Lake north of Redding and the federal Central Valley Project’s (CVP) largest reservoir, is at 58 percent of its 4.5 million acre-foot capacity and 78 percent of its historical average.
San Luis Reservoir, a critical south-of-Delta pool for both the SWP and CVP, is faring better due to recent water deliveries to the reservoir as a component of the agencies’ drought management strategy. San Luis holds 64 percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (75 percent of normal for the date).
Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/current/snow/index.html .
Reservoir conditions are posted at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES .
For a broader snapshot of current and historical weather conditions, see DWR’s “Water Conditions” page, http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/waterconditions.cfm , and the “Drought” pages, http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/index.cfm .
Everyday water conservation tips may be found at http://www.saveourwater.com .
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Two Lucerne residents were arrested in Calistoga on drug charges over the weekend.
George Shannon Wagner, 43, and Brianna Donovan Allen, 26, were arrested for possession of methamphetamine for sale and being under the influence of a controlled substance, with Allen additionally charged with transportation of methamphetamine, according to Capt. Doug Pike of the Napa County Sheriff's Office.
The two were taken into custody on Saturday shortly after midnight by a Napa County Sheriff’s deputy who was patrolling the Calistoga area, Pike said.
Pike said the deputy stopped to conduct a welfare check on their vehicle, which was in the 4800 block of Lake County Highway at Robert Louis Stevenson Park.
During the contact, the deputy found Wagner and Allen to be under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of approximately 5 ounces of suspected methamphetamine, according to Pike.
The pair were arrested and booked into the Napa County Department of Corrections, Pike said.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The jury in the trial of two brothers from San Francisco accused of being involved in a 2013 home invasion robbery returned with its verdicts on Monday, giving each of the men on trial a very different outcome.
The five-man, seven-woman jury found Dion Andre Davis III, 27, guilty of 14 felony counts against him, but deadlocked on two counts of attempted murder in the June 26, 2013, home invasion at the Clearlake Oaks residence of Ronnie and Janeane Bogner, and their adult son, Jacob.
The counts Davis was convicted of were armed robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm on Jacob Bogner, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Bogner, mayhem on Bogner, grand theft of a firearm, vehicle theft, vandalism, making threats of violence to Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Celli, assault with a deadly weapon on Celli, negligent discharge of a firearm, accessory to a robbery or burglary, and conspiracy to commit a robbery or residential burglary.
The jury also found true 21 special allegations for use of a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury on Bogner and entering an inhabited dwelling in concert with others.
When he's sentenced on May 20, Davis is facing a sentence of an estimated 50 years to life, according to District Attorney Don Anderson. Davis will be held without bail until sentencing.
“I wish we'd prevailed,” Bill Conwell, Davis' attorney, said after court.
Conwell said by the time of sentencing he expects to have prepared a motion for a new trial.
As for Davis' brother, 30-year-old Gregory Pierre Elarms, 30, the jury deadlocked on all 10 of the counts against him, a verdict welcomed by his attorney, Doug Ferguson.
Elarms had been charged with robbery, burglary, two firearms assaults on Bogner, two firearm assaults on Celli, grand theft, vehicle theft, vandalism and conspiracy.
“I'm pleased that he got a hung jury,” Ferguson said afterward.
Ferguson had raised doubt about Elarms – who was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred – even being in the county at the time.
However, Ferguson said the case against his client is still up in the air, as the District Attorney's Office is considering retrying Elarms, who is remaining in custody at the Lake County Jail.
Elarms' new trial was set tentatively by retired visiting Judge James Garbolino – on his first trial in Lake County – for April 29, with a status conference set for March 17.
Anderson said he's still contemplating exactly what course to take with Elarms, noting that the margin of not guilty to guilty votes in the deadlocked jury – 7 to 5 – was a “pretty large split.”
In an interview with Lake County News on Monday afternoon, when asked if he was surprised by the verdict, Anderson replied, “No, not at all,” noting that intent is very difficult to prove in attempted murder cases – even harder than in actual murders.
Janeane Bogner said she and her son were unhappy about the deadlock on the attempted murder charges, and with the mistrial for Elarms.
“We're really happy with everything else,” she said, thanking the jury for its work.
Regarding Elarms, “It kinda makes you have a knot in your stomach that either you have to do this again or he’s going to be out there doing this to someone else,” she said.
Davis and Elarms are among five individuals – along with Sean Foss, Tyler Gallon and Jenaya Jelinek, Davis' girlfriend who drove the getaway car – who police said carried out the home invasion robbery.
They were alleged to have arrived at the Bogners' home that morning, forcing their way into the house past Janeane Bogner, whose young grandchildren were in the house at the time.
Jacob Bogner identified Davis as the man who shot him in the left leg and then pistol-whipped him as the others searched the house for money and guns that Foss – a former employee of the Bogners' business Weed Tech – claimed the family had. Foss also is facing trial in the case.
The four men and one woman would take $121 in cash, two old handguns and a pellet gun, and Janeane Bogner's 2002 Cadillac Escalade and flee, later pushing the Escalade down an embankment along Sulphur Bank Drive between Clearlake Oaks and Clearlake.
While they were driving through Clearlake in a Chevy Malibu Jelinek said Davis had bought her, they were spotted by Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli, who pursued them to the area of 16th Avenue.
There, the men fled the car, with Davis shooting four rounds at Celli from the .40 caliber Glock pistol he used to shoot Jacob Bogner. The prosecution said the bullets – traveling at chest height – missed Celli by a matter of 5 feet.
Police took Jelinek into custody first, pulling her from the car, while the men – with the exception of Elarms – were arrested following a standoff with a SWAT team at the home of a relative of Davis. Elarms would be arrested the following July.
Testimony in Davis' and Elarms' trial began at the end of January, with closing arguments wrapping up on Thursday and the jurors being given the case to begin deliberations that afternoon.
The verdicts
Court convened at about 11 a.m. Monday in order to render the verdicts. At that point, Garbolino had been informed that the jurors had deadlocked on all charges relating to Elarms.
However, before Garbolino would take the verdicts for Davis, he and the prosecution and defense had to discuss a matter out of the jury's presence relating to verdict forms.
“It appears that the jury was not given a proper form to fill out for the charges that have been alleged,” he said, explaining that the wrong wording was on the forms for nine of the charges.
He was concerned that had the forms been worded differently, it might have changed the jury's deliberations.
Anderson told Lake County News that it was essentially a clerical error, from cutting and pasting into different documents, that had slipped by everyone – his staff, defense attorneys and the judge.
It was agreed upon by the prosecution – Anderson and Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch – as well as Conwell that new forms be given to the jury.
When the jury was brought in, Garbolino informed them of the wrong language on the forms – including, in the case of the burglary verdict, the use of language relating to the attempted murder charge.
“That makes a difference,” said one male juror.
Garbolino then apologized, dismissed them for lunch and asked them to return at 1 p.m., at which time they finished filling out and reviewing the forms and were back in court for the verdict reading within 15 to 20 minutes.
When court reconvened in the afternoon, only Conwell and Davis were sitting at the defense table.
Jury foreman Steve Merchen, questioned by Garbolino, confirmed the jury had deadlocked on the two counts alleging the attempted murders of Jacob Bogner and Tim Celli. Jurors indicated that the deadlock was five voting guilty, seven voting not guilty.
Garbolino declared mistrials on those two counts, which Anderson later asked to have dismissed.
The judge then went over each of the 14 main charges and 21 special allegations to confirm the jury's verdicts.
Garbolino also raised the issue of a male juror who had been replaced by an alternate during deliberations. Before the original juror was dismissed, the jury had reached guilty pleas on Davis for the vehicle theft and vandalism charges. When the alternate was subbed in on Friday morning, the jury had to begin deliberations again.
During the verdict hearing, the court attempted – but failed – to reach the former juror by phone, and Garbolino said he would prepare an order for the man to come to court on April 1 for the purpose of speaking to him about the case.
At that point in the proceedings, Anderson asked that the attempted murder charges against Davis be dismissed, which Garbolino did.
The judge then thanked the jurors for their service in a trial that he acknowledged had absorbed a few months of their time. “It has not been easy,” he said.
The jury backstory
Juror Jack Cowan told Lake County News following the verdict reading that once the jury began deliberations, it started by listening to the 911 call that Janeane and Jacob Bogner made.
They also had the court reporter read back to them Gallon's testimony at trial, which Anderson said his investigators had been able to verify. Cowan said he had issues with the credibility of Gallon, who himself still faces trial in the case.
Regarding the deadlocks on the attempted murder charges, Cowan said he had questioned what Davis' actual intent was, and if he had meant to kill Jacob Bogner and Tim Celli. That issue, he said, was key to the inability for the jury to reach verdicts on those charges.
And while Cowan said he believes in his heart that Elarms was part of the home invasion, he said the evidence wasn't there to convince all 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said Janeane Bogner's misidentification of another man – San Franciscan Dexter Currington – in an early photo lineup didn't come into play in the jury's decisions related to Elarms.
Also not a factor in the Elarms case, according to Cowan, was the testimony of sheriff's Det. Doug Dahmen, who the defense asserted – and the prosecution acknowledged – made several key mistakes in the investigation, including not following up on the alibi evidence given to him by Currington, who was arrested in September 2013.
Currington would remain in the Lake County Jail until March 2014, when he and his lawyer David Markham directly approached the District Attorney's Office with the evidence of his innocence. The charges were then dropped.
Outside of the courtroom, Cowan – who said that overall serving as a juror had been “a very good experience” – found out from Anderson that Davis had a previous prison term for robbery. That was information that the prosecution hadn't been able to disclose to the jury during trial.
Cowan said the jurors all had gotten along well during the weeks of testimony. It wasn't until deliberations started that the juror who later left began to have issues getting along with the others.
On Friday morning, after the man didn't appear, Cowan said they knew he wasn't going to come back. The alternate was then subbed in.
A case management conference for Foss and Gallon is set for April 1, said Anderson. He said he has made an offer to Foss' attorney, with Foss expected to go on trial next.
Anderson said he has not yet made an offer to Gallon.
On Monday night, Janeane Bogner said it amazed her to think that an incident that took only 15 minutes could have affected so many people, and all of it based on someone's stupid idea.
“I just hope it doesn't happen to somebody else,” she said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Police have arrested a local man who they say harassed and threatened a neighbor, charging him with a hate crime.
On Sunday, Thomas Gerard Byrne, 34, was arrested on a felony hate crime charge and a misdemeanor charge of brandishing a replica firearm, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs.
At 3 p.m. Sunday a 51-year-old Clearlake resident who is of Hispanic descent came to the police department to report harassment from a neighbor, Hobbs said.
During the investigation by Officer Michael Dietrick, police learned that Byrne had been constantly harassing the victim by calling him racist and derogatory names, and telling him to go back to Mexico, according to Hobbs.
At about 2:30 p.m. that day, while the victim and his 10-year-old daughter were in their front yard, Byrne made more racist comments then pointed what the victim thought was a sawed-off, short-barreled shotgun at him and his daughter, Hobbs said.
Hobbs reported that Byrne then cycled the pump action of the shotgun and pretended to fire it at the victims.
Dietrick contacted Byrne at his residence at about 4:40 p.m. Sunday. Hobbs said Dietrick gained consent from Byrne and located a pump action BB gun that looked like a short-barreled shotgun inside his residence.
Byrne subsequently was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail, Hobbs said.
Byrne was booked on the charges, with bail set at $15,000, according to his booking sheet. Jail records indicated he later posted the required percentage of bail and was released.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Officer Michael Dietrick at 707-994-8251, Extension 502.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Danville man was flown to a regional trauma center on Sunday morning after his motorcycle struck a guardrail on Highway 175.
Gerard McHugh, 69, was involved in the crash, which occurred near Arroyo Vista Road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds.
At 10:55 a.m. McHugh was driving his 2009 BMW motorcycle westbound at an unknown speed when, for reasons still being investigated, he allowed the motorcycle to go off the north roadway edge, where Reynolds said it hit a guardrail.
Reynolds said McHugh was flown by REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with a possible fractured right leg.
Drugs and alcohol are not suspected in the collision, which Reynolds said is still under investigation by Officer Matt Norton.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A Hayward man escaped serious injury on Sunday after his pickup crashed into a tree along Highway 29.
California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds said Joshua Herpe, 36, was the driver in the crash.
At 8:15 p.m. Sunday Herpe was driving his 1997 Nissan Pathfinder northbound on Highway 29 near Doten Road at an unknown speed when, for unknown reasons, he allowed his vehicle to go off the roadway and hit a tree, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said Herpe suffered a laceration to his forehead and was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital by Kelseyville Fire Ambulance.
Drugs and alcohol are not suspected to be factors in the collision, which Reynolds said is still under investigation by CHP Officer Jeremy Jensen.