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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Unit Chief Eric Hoffmann of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection – or Cal Fire – Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit announced beginning 12:01 a.m. Sunday, June 1, all permits for open burning within State Responsibility Area and Local Responsibility Areas under contract to Cal Fire are suspended.
Chief Hoffmann produced an official proclamation declaring a suspension of burn permits for the counties of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo until the close of fire season.
Agriculture, land management, fire training, and other industrial-type burning may proceed if a Cal Fire fire official inspects the burn site and issues a special permit.
Campfires are allowed in designated campgrounds, or in established facilities on private property, with permission of the jurisdictional authority.
Persons doing burning under special permit must also check with their regional air quality management district for addition regulations and requirements.
Experience has shown that suspending open burning is an effective way of preventing fire escapes, especially as California enters the summer season period of hotter and drier weather.
Although all fires cannot be prevented through a burning suspension, their numbers can be significantly reduced.
Cal Fire reminds everyone that it is each individual’s responsibility to use fire safely and to prevent fires that destroy lives, property and our wildland.
Key fire prevention efforts include developing and maintaining a 100 foot defensible space around structures.
Use fire safe practices with mechanized equipment. Spark arrestors are required on exhaust producing tools (mowers, chain saws, etc.).
If dry grass needs to be cut, use a string trimmer and work in the early part of the day when temperatures are cool and humidity is higher. Never cut dry grass with a metal blade.
For additional information contact Cal Fire or your local fire agency at www.fire.ca.gov .
Researchers with NASA's Operation IceBridge have completed another successful Arctic field campaign.
On May 23, NASA's P-3 research aircraft left Thule Air Base, Greenland, and returned to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia marking the end of 11 weeks of polar research.
During this campaign, researchers collected data on Arctic sea and land ice – both repeating measurements on rapidly changing areas and expanding coverage into new, unsurveyed regions. The mission also released two sea ice data products and provided a professional development opportunity for three science teachers.
Starting with sea ice
IceBridge's campaign began on Mar. 10 when NASA's P-3 research aircraft left Wallops for Thule. For the first part of the campaign, researchers studied Arctic sea ice from Thule and Fairbanks, Alaska.
Early in each campaign IceBridge spends a week in Alaska to survey sea ice north of Alaska. In addition, researchers study sea ice conditions across the entire Arctic Basin traveling from Thule to Fairbanks and back.
IceBridge's sea ice measurements help researchers understand how Arctic ice is changing, particularly those forecasting how sea ice coverage will change over the summer.
To meet the need for timely ice thickness measurements IceBridge releases a quick look data product before the end of the campaign that gives an almost real-time look at sea ice.
This quick look product first debuted in 2012 and is joined this year by a new data product that uses IceBridge data together with measurements from the European Space Agency's satellite, CryoSat-2, to show ice thickness across the entire Arctic Ocean.
The new CryoSat-2 data product compares well with IceBridge's quick look data, which Nathan Kurtz, sea ice scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said is nice to see.
Looking at the land
After surveying sea ice for four weeks, IceBridge turned its attention to land ice southern half of Greenland, moving its base of operations to Kangerlussuaq.
From there researchers spent three weeks surveying the ice sheet and coastal glaciers such as Jakobshavn Glacier, the most rapidly-changing ice stream in Greenland.
Nearly half of the surveys flown from Kangerlussuaq fell into a new category known as baseline missions, which are to be flown each year.
The seven baseline missions covered areas experiencing dramatic change, such as Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq glaciers on Greenland's east coast and the Jakobshavn region in the west.
These flights were joined by two surveys designed around future ICESat-2 ground tracks, giving researchers measurements to help connect datasets from IceBridge, ICESat and ICESat-2.
The Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq baseline flight was of keen interest because of prevailing weather conditions in the area, so mission planners kept an eye on the region.
“We tried it to get it every day for three weeks and never saw a good opportunity to go for it,” said John Sonntag, Airborne Topographic Mapper senior scientist, at NASA Goddard.
But on the last day of the Kangerlussuaq deployment, the forecast showed that cloudy conditions in the southern part of the survey area would clear for a few hours.
By rearranging the flight plan the team was able to move arrive in those areas as they cleared and collect data over the entire flight line.
A learning experience
While in Kangerlussuaq, IceBridge also hosted three high school science teachers – one each from the United States, Greenland and Denmark – who joined the team to get a closer look at IceBridge's science.
This was the third year that IceBridge has provided a research experience for teachers, who plan to take what they learned back to their students.
Russell Hood, a physics teacher from Anchorage, Alaska, came to Kangerlussuaq through the National Science Foundation-funded PolarTREC program, an education organization that teams qualified teachers with scientists doing research in the Arctic and Antarctic.
PolarTREC strives to improve science education by giving teachers a first-hand look at real-life research and promoting collaboration between scientists and educators.
Since returning from Greenland, Hood has been busy preparing for the end of the semester and is currently planning future classroom activities based on his experiences with IceBridge.
“I am planning some lessons that begin with an overview of IceBridge and end with my students using archived data to research and draw some conclusions,” said Hood.
Back north
On April 25 the IceBridge team packed up and returned to Thule for the last four weeks of the campaign, this time focusing mostly on land ice.
During this span the team collected data on coastal glaciers in northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic and parts of the Greenland Ice Sheet, with one flight to measure sea ice near the North Pole.
IceBridge flew several repeats of previous missions – such as surveys of Petermann and Humboldt glaciers – which is vital for understanding long-term changes to ice sheets and glaciers.
Researchers also carried out new missions, measuring bedrock shape in northeast Greenland and covering a new set of lines to be measured by ICESat-2.
With 46 survey flights in the books, IceBridge returned to Wallops where instrument and aircraft technicians started removing instruments from the NASA P-3.
Researchers will now spend the next few months processing data from the campaign and mission planners will start getting ready for IceBridge's future campaigns.
In late August, a new airborne mission known as the Arctic Radiation – IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment, or ARISE, will begin. ARISE will use a large suite of instruments to collect data on the atmosphere and on Arctic sea ice.
In October, IceBridge will return to Punta Arenas, Chile, to survey Antarctic ice, and next March the mission will return to Greenland, this time aboard NASA's C-130 aircraft.
For more information about NASA's IceBridge Mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/icebridge .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Bay Area company's nearly yearlong effort to purchase Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa has come to an end.
On Saturday afternoon, Resort Equities President Grant Sedgwick said his firm's attempt to acquire and redevelop Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa failed after more than 10 months of planning and feasibility studies, and seeking investors.
Sedgwick said Resort Equities had determined that acceptable financing for the resort's planned acquisition and $100 million redevelopment did not appear to be available at this time.
County Supervisor Rob Brown, whose district includes the Konocti Harbor property, expressed his disappointment at the news.
“We had a lot of hope in this,” Brown said.
The resort had been a major economic engine for the county, bringing business to other resorts and to local restaurants, and serving as a major contributor of transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, to county of Lake revenues.
It closed in November 2009 and the buyers faced the need of completing significant upgrades.
Resort Equities had signed a purchase agreement last Aug. 1, as Lake County News has reported.
A statement on the sale's failure was released jointly by Resort Equities and WhiteStar Advisors – the asset manager for the resort’s current owner, Lakeside Haven, the convalescent trust fund for Local 38 of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Journeymen – on Saturday afternoon.
While the financing situation “may change over the next several months,” the statement noted, “with continued economic recovery, the purchase contract required that a firm decision to proceed had be made by May 31.”
Brown said county staff had done its part to try to assist the sale and resort renovation.
“Our staff worked really hard and did everything they could to make it work for them,” said Brown.
At the same time, James Bishop, principal at WhiteStar Advisors – which a federal court had made the resort's asset manager in 2007 – acknowledged in the Saturday statement that Resort Equities' proposed redevelopment strategy had received “outstanding support and encouragement” from Lake County officials.
County planning staff and other local officials had held meetings at the resort last fall to assess what the buyers needed to do, and the project had been fast-tracked in the planning process.
Last December, the Lake County Planning Commission had unanimously approved a mitigated negative declaration, a major use permit and shoreline variance for Resort Equities' renovation plans.
The plans included building a new 75-unit hotel and 15 two-story fourplexes, demolishing 121 existing rooms, renovating another 150 rooms along with the pool and main lodge areas, building 175 new boat slips, expanding and repairing the resort's system of docks and piers, creating more parking and greater shoreline access, and offering 164 timeshare and fractional ownership units at full buildout.
Resort Equities also had planned to affiliate the resort with an international hospitality brand in order to gain access to a worldwide reservations system.
In December, Sedgwick had estimated escrow could close in the first half of March, an estimate which later was pushed back to May.
Bishop said that the property will continue to be marketed for sale and that Sedgwick’s group would be welcome to restart negotiations should financing alternatives become more available to them.
Brown said Konocti Harbor is a complicated property, and the resort business is a complicated one.
“There's got to be somebody out there that can pull it together,” Brown said. “We've just got to find them.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The District Attorney's Office on Friday released the final investigative report detailing its findings in a deputy's shooting of a suspect who rammed a police officer's car in January, ruling the shooting was justified.
District Attorney Don Anderson's report focused on sheriff’s Deputy Jay Vanoven's shooting of James Ellis Smith of Santa Rosa early on the morning of Friday, Jan. 3.
Eastham found Smith in the process of burglarizing Hillside Honda in Lakeport, with a chase ensuing and leading outside of the city limits, with Vanoven joining the pursuit along the way, officials reported.
When Smith went off the road in the area of Riggs Road, he rammed his pickup into Eastham's patrol car. Anderson said Eastham got out of the car and Smith appeared to be about to ram into the vehicle again – and possibly hit Eastham in the process – when Vanoven shot Smith.
Vanoven fired six rounds at Smith, striking him in the body cavity, elbow and head, Anderson reported.
Vanoven “fired his firearm as a result of what he believed to be a credible threat to the life and safety” of Lakeport Police Officer Joe Eastham, according to Anderson's report.
Smith was flown to an out-of-county trauma center before being returned to the Lake County Jail.
Jail staff found him unresponsive in his cell on May 10. Despite attempts to revive him, the 37-year-old Smith was pronounced dead.
A few days before he died, Smith had been offered a plea agreement that would have had him facing prison time for burglary and the vehicle pursuit, but not for the ramming incident, as Anderson said it was going to be a challenge to prove Smith had the intent to harm Eastham.
The sheriff's office has not disclosed the results of Smith's autopsy, which took place within the days after his death.
Anderson's full report on the shooting is below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S FINAL REPORT
REGARDING OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING OF
JAMES ELLIS SMITH ON JANUARY 3, 2014
INTRODUCTION
On January 3, 2014, officers of the Lakeport Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Department conducted a vehicle pursue of James Ellis Smith that started at Hillside Honda on Main Street Lakeport and concluded on Riggs Road in Lakeport. James Ellis Smith had been found in the act of burglarizing Hillside Honda.
At the conclusion of the chase, James Ellis Smith ran his vehicle off the roadway. Smith then rammed his vehicle into the patrol car of the Lakeport Police Officer. When it appeared that Smith would be ramming the patrol vehicle and/or officer again, a Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy fired his service weapon at Smith striking him three times. Smith was taken into custody without further incident.
It is the findings of this office that the Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy was justified in discharging his firearms in defense of the other officer.
FACTS
On Friday, January 3, 2014 at about 4:17 a.m., Officer Joe Eastham of the Lakeport Police Department was dispatched to a report of an alarm activation at Hillside Honda on Main Street, Lakeport. On his arrival Officer Eastham observed near the front door of Hillside Honda a Chevrolet pick-up parked facing south in the northbound lane of Main Street.
A subject, later identified as James Ellis Smith was placing a rope in the back of the pick-up. Smith got into his vehicle and started to flee the area with Officer Eastham following. Information was later developed that James Smith was in the process of burglarizing Hillside Honda.
James Smith fled north on Main Street, then west on C Street. Smith made a U-turn proceeded east of C Street then south on Main Street. Smith proceed at a very high rate of speed on Main Street, then turned west on Lakeport Blvd. continuing at a high rate of speed. Smith turned north bound on Highway 29 with Officer Eastham in pursuit.
Hearing the call for assistance from Officer Eastham, Deputy Jay Vanoven and Robert Murray respondent from the Sheriff’s Department on Martin Street. Deputy Vanoven was the lead car and Deputy Murray behind him. Deputy Vanoven joined the pursuit as Smith and Officer Eastham sped north on Highway 29 at speed in excess of 100 m.p.h.
Smith exited the freeway at the 11th Street/Scotts Valley road off ramp. Smith and the pursuing officers turned west bound on Scotts Valley road and accelerated to a high rate of speed. Smith turned west off on to Riggs road. At the first 90 degree turn Smith failed to navigate the curve and drove off of the road in a corral. In going through the corral Smith drove through a telephone pole size fence post and became entangled in thick cable being used as a fence.
Smith briefly came to a stop as Officer Eastham drove to a position behind Smith’s vehicle and started to exit his patrol vehicle. Deputy Vanoven parked his vehicle to the south of Officer Eastham and exited his vehicle, anticipating a foot pursuit. The total time of the pursuit was 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
Smith immediately put his vehicle in reverse and quickly accelerated at a high rate of speed for the distance. With Officer Eastham still in the vehicle, Smith rammed the back of his Chevrolet pick-up truck with the left front of Officer Eastham’s patrol vehicle. The collision appeared to be very violent crash for the distance traveled by Smith’s vehicle. The collision caused substantial damage to the patrol vehicle.
James Smith later stated that he was attempting to flee the crash scene and drive to Cow Mountain in order to escape to Ukiah.
Smith then put his vehicle in drive and then in four wheel drive, then accelerated forward. The vehicle’s forward movement was prohibited by the cables being wrapped around the front and rear axles. As the Smith vehicle lunged forward it was quickly stopped by the cable. Smith’s vehicle veered to the right as he continued to try and break free.
Deputy Vanoven from his position believed Officer Eastham was out of his vehicle and standing somewhere near it. Deputy Vanoven from his position was able to see Smith looking back at Officer Eastham. He also observed what appear to be the Smith’s quick movements toward Officer Eastham. Deputy Vanoven believed at that time that Smith was attempting to ram Officer Eastham’s vehicle or Officer Eastham himself.
Deputy Vanoven fired six rounds at James Smith. Smith was hit in the body cavity, elbow and head. From the time of the collision between Smith’s vehicle and Officer Eastham’s vehicle to the time of the shots were fired by Deputy Vanoven was three seconds.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
The relevant California statutory and case law regarding this matter is set forth below.
Although no person died in this incident, the principals found in Penal Code Section 196 are relevant “Homicide is justifiable when committed by public officers and those acting by their command in their aid and assistance, either--
1. In obedience to any judgment of a competent Court; or,
2. When necessarily committed in overcoming actual resistance to the execution of some legal process, or in the discharge of any other legal duty; or,
3. When necessarily committed in retaking felons who have been rescued or have escaped, or when necessarily committed in arresting persons charged with felony, and who are fleeing from justice or resisting such arrest.
In Munoz v. City of Union City (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 1077, 1102, the court held that an officer “may use reasonable force to make an arrest, prevent escape or overcome resistance, and need not desist in the face of resistance.” “Unlike private citizens, police officers act under color of law to protect the public interest. They are charged with acting affirmatively and using force as part of their duties, because “the right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it.”
“‘[Police officers] are, in short, not similarly situated to the ordinary battery defendant and need not be treated the [17] same. In these cases, then, “… the defendant police officer is in the exercise of the privilege of protecting the public peace and order [and] he is entitled to the even greater use of force than might be in the same circumstances required for self-defense. Munoz, supra, 120 Cal.App.4th at p. 1109.
In Martinez v. County of Los Angeles (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 334, 349, the court held “The test for determining whether a homicide was justifiable under Penal Code section 196 is whether the circumstances ‘reasonably create[d] a fear of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to another.” citing Martinez v. County of Los Angeles (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 334, and Brown v. Ransweiler, 171 Cal. App. 4th 516, 533
In this matter, the officers were involved in a high speed pursuit of a fleeing felon at speeds over 100 m.p.h. When the vehicle drove off the roadway it immediately drove through fencing and became entangled in thick cable. At this point the vehicle would not have been able to proceed forward. The officers at the scene would not have been able to know the vehicle could not escape.
James Smith intentionally backed his vehicle up at a high rate of speed crashing violently into Officer Eastham. Smith later tells officers that he only intended to escape to Cow Mountain. If this was Smith’s true intentions, it is impossible for the officers to have known. It is more practical and within the scope of good police work for the officers to react as though Smith intentionally rammed the patrol vehicle.
After Smith rammed the patrol vehicle he accelerated forward. Again his forward progress was limited due to the cable being wrapped around his axles.
Deputy Vanoven sees Smith looking back at Officer Eastham. The slowing forward movement of Smith’s vehicle, the abrupt stopping along with the drifting to the right would reasonable have made it appear that Smith’s vehicle was slowing, stopping and starting to reverse direction in the direction of Officer Eastham. This gave the perception that Officer Eastham was under attack from a vehicle being used as a deadly weapon and that his life was in immediate danger.
The above information has been verified by MAV tape recordings, statements of officers and the scene and the suspect’s own statements.
FINDINGS
It is the findings of the Lake County District Attorney that Deputy Jay Vanoven fired his firearm as a result of what he believed to be a credible threat to the life and safety of Officer Eastham. Deputy Vanoven’s conduct under this extreme stressful situation was motivated by his desire and duty to protect a fellow officer. The perception of Deputy Vanoven was reasonable under the circumstances. Therefore, it is the findings of this office that Deputy Vanoven’s use of his firearm was justified.
________________________________
Don A. Anderson
Lake County District Attorney
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A Ukiah man escaped injury in a single-vehicle crash early Friday with a utility pole that shut down a portion of Highway 20 for several hours.
Josenrique Lupian, 18, was the driver involved in the crash, which occurred just after 5 a.m. Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Lupian was driving a 2006 Toyota Tacoma eastbound on Highway 20 east of Scotts Valley Road at 50 miles per hour when he swerved to avoid a deer in the roadway and hit a utility pole, the CHP said.
The CHP said the crash caused utility lines to fall across both lanes of the highway.
Traffic was diverted onto Scotts Valley Road for several hours while repairs were made, according to the report.
Lupian was wearing his seat belt and didn't suffer injury, the CHP said.
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, which the CHP said remains under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The service of a search warrant this week led to the arrest of an Upper Lake man and the seizure of marijuana, hash oil, firearms and cash.
Trenton David McCluskey, 35, of Upper Lake was arrested as a result of the search warrant service, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Brooks said narcotic’s detectives secured a search warrant for a residence located in the 14000 block of Elk Mountain Road in Upper Lake on Wednesday, and served it on Thursday at approximately 7:20 a.m.
When detectives entered the residence they detained 36-year-old Tanya Louise Lane without incident. A short time later, McCluskey arrived at the residence and he was also detained without incident, Brooks said.
During the search detectives located an indoor grow in the garage which contained 49 marijuana plants. Brooks said the plants were reported to be in an early vegetative state.
Detectives located 47 marijuana plants inside a hoop-style greenhouse, which was set up just outside the garage. The plants in the greenhouse were reported to be flowering, Brooks said.
Brooks said narcotics detectives located an additional 16 marijuana plants, which were growing outside and scattered throughout the yard. A total of 112 marijuana plants were eradicated from the property.
During a search of the residence detectives located 9.43 ounces of hash oil, which was seized as evidence. Brooks said they also located a butane hash lab and 120 canisters of butane gas.
The butane is used to strip the tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, from the plant. This method of THC extraction is extremely dangerous, due to the use of flammable gas, Brooks said.
Detectives also located and seized two semiautomatic handguns and two 12-gauge shotguns from the residence, according to Brooks.
Brooks said detectives located a room inside the residence, which was specifically used for the purpose of processing and packaging marijuana. Inside the room they located a large amount of packaging materials, 9.3 pounds of processed marijuana, three individually packaged 1 pound bags of processed marijuana and 18 pounds of bulk marijuana shake.
The shake is the plant material that is left over after trimming the buds. Brooks said the shake also is what’s predominately used to manufacture hash oil.
Also located inside the processing room was $16,512 cash, which was determined to have been earned through the illegal sales and distribution of marijuana. Brooks said the marijuana was seized as evidence and the cash was seized pending asset forfeiture proceedings.
McCluskey was arrested for manufacturing a controlled substance, cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and for being armed while in the commission of a felony. He was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, Brooks said.
Bail for McCluskey was set at $100,000. Jail records indicated he had posted the required percentage of bail and been released by Friday.
Brooks said detectives decided not to arrest Lane at the residence and are submitting the report to the District Attorney’s Office for complaint.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force will can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
