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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A vehicle stop conducted Sunday night led to the arrests of five men and a male juvenile, the seizure of $66,000 in cash and nine fighting roosters, some of which showed signs of abuse and injury.
Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said deputies arrested Oscar Salvio Barajas, 35, of Chowchilla; Valentine Valencia Chavez, 37, of Stockton; Francisco Zavala Infante, 28, of Los Angeles; Anthony Alarcon Jimenez, 31, of Merced; Ociel Mendez, 26, of Chowchilla; and a 17-year-old juvenile male.
Brooks explained that at 8:40 p.m. Sunday a sheriff's deputy noticed a green Ford Expedition with a defective brake light traveling westbound on Highway 20 in Upper Lake. The deputy conducted an enforcement stop on Highway 20, near Old Lake County Road in Upper Lake.
The driver was identified as Jimenez. Brooks said the deputy explained the reason for the stop and asked Jimenez for the vehicle registration.
The front passenger, who was identified as Mendez, opened the glove box to retrieve the registration. The deputy immediately noticed a hypodermic syringe in the glove box when it was opened. Brooks said the deputy also detected the odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle and noticed a small amount of loose marijuana on the floor of the vehicle.
During a search of the vehicle, deputies located $24,000 cash which was loose on the floor. All six of the vehicle's occupants denied ownership of the $24,000 and said they did not know who it belonged to, according to Brooks.
He said deputies located an additional $42,000, which was the combined total seized from all six subjects.
The vehicle also contained nine roosters which had been physically altered for fighting purposes. Brooks said the roosters' wattles and combs had been cut because they bleed easily and can interfere with the birds as they are fighting. This is a common procedure performed on fighting roosters, which is also referred to dubbing.
Deputies located a bag in the vehicle which contained numerous metal spur blades which are razor sharp. Brooks said the spur blades are attached to the roosters' legs and are used during the fights to cut the opponent bird. Some of the spur blades located had what appeared to be dried blood on them.
He said the bag also contained several leather spur covers which are used during the prefight sparing. The roosters were kept in individual cardboard boxes and each bird had its weight written on the box.
The deputies inspected the birds and noticed some had visible injuries to their head and beak area. Lake County Animal Control responded to the scene and confirmed the roosters were abused and being used for fighting purposes. They took possession of the roosters and transported them to their facility, Brooks said.
During the interviews, the subjects in the car advised deputies that they were from Merced, Chowchilla and Stockton. Brooks said the men stated that they had traveled to Lake County for a rooster show, but never made it. One of the subjects said they went to a rooster show at a ranch off of Highway 20 in Lake County, where subjects were fighting roosters for money.
Jimenez, Mendez, Barajas, Chavez and Infante were arrested for cruelty to animals, making/taking bets on contest, possession of fighting bird equipment, possession of fighting roosters and permitting a bird fight. They were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, Brooks said.
Bail for Barajas, Jimenez and Mendez was set at $15,000 each. Jail records indicated they later posted the required percentage of bail and were released, while Chavez and Infante remain in custody on immigration holds.
The juvenile was arrested for possession of bird fighting equipment and possession of fighting roosters. He was transported to Lake County Juvenile Hall and booked, Brooks said.
Brooks said the $66,000 was seized pending asset forfeiture proceedings.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Two men were arrested Sunday on charges of drug manufacturing and child endangerment after a concentrated cannabis oil lab they were alleged to have been operating resulted in an apartment fire.
Matthew Richard Carr, a 24-year-old transient, and 22-year-old Dylan Alex Nevarez of Clearlake were arrested in the case, according to Sgt. Nick Bennett of the Clearlake Police Department.
At 3 p.m. Sunday Lake County Fire Protection District responded to an apartment fire at the Adagio Apartments, located on the 15000 Block of Olympic Drive in Clearlake, Bennett said.
After extinguishing the fire in the apartment the firefighters observed items in the apartment that appeared suspicious and they subsequently notified the Clearlake Police Department, according to Bennett.
Det. Travis Lenz responded and observed items used for extracting concentrated cannabis oil – also known as “honey oil” – from marijuana. Bennett said those items, which included butane bottles and other apparatus used in this manufacture process, also caused the apartment fire.
Bennett said Carr and Nevarez had been in the apartment with four children, ranging in age from 1 month to 2 years.
He said both Carr and Nevarez were arrested on charges of manufacturing a controlled substance and child endangerment, with both booked into the Lake County Jail.
Both men remained in custody on Tuesday evening, with bail for each set at $100,000, according to jail records.
Anyone with any information on this incident is encouraged to contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake's eighth annual “Andy Day” will be celebrated this Saturday, April 12.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Austin Park Skate Park, also known as Andy Johnson Memorial BMX/Skatepark.
Andrew Johnson was a young BMX and skateboard enthusiast in Clearlake who helped lead the efforts to have a skate park built in Austin Park.
Once the skate park was built Johnson switched from skateboarding to riding a BMX bike, quickly growing in his skills.
While the rivalry between BMX riders and skateboarders can resemble the rivalry between skiers and snowboarders on the winter slopes, Johnson's dual talent and friendly, outgoing approach helped him to bring the skateboarders and the BMX riders together as one big group that could enjoy the skate park together.
Johnson died in a car crash on April 14, 2006, at the age of 18.
His efforts and impact on the youth in the Clearlake community has had a lasting effect. The skate park was renamed the Andy Johnson Memorial BMX/Skatepark in 2008 in honor of his legacy.
Many riders and skaters also plan on riding in memory of Johnson on Monday, April 14.
Come on down and ride with all your friends, listen to some live music, eat some hot dogs and take part in the available raffles.
Bands currently slated to play are Cosmic Tea, Hexifiend and As All Else Fails.
Raffles will offer BMX goodies and other miscellaneous prizes.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two men were sentenced on April 3 for illegally spotlighting deer in Lake County last year.
Salvador Buenrosto Cacho from Sunnyvale and Francisco Mendoza Robledo of Yakima, Wash., entered pleas in the case last week, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff reported that last Sept. 1, local California Fish and Wildlife wardens Mike Pascoe and Patrick Freeling were involved in a nighttime investigation and surveillance operation in an effort to catch poachers during the early A Zone deer hunting season in Lake County.
Assisting the wardens was a Department of Fish and Wildlife aircraft looking for illegal spotlighting activity, Hinchcliff said.
It is illegal to use any artificial light while in possession of a firearm to look for game animals, or to kill a game animal after hours of darkness. Hinchcliff said “spotlighting” is a common illegal method used by poachers to kill wildlife illegally.
At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 the operators of the aircraft contacted the wardens on the ground and advised they had spotted a vehicle spotlighting in the Pine Mountain area of the Mendocino National Forest, north of Upper Lake. Hinchcliff said the aircraft operator provided the coordinates to the wardens on the ground and advised lights could be seen shining from both sides of the vehicle from the side windows.
The wardens on the ground responded and detained the suspect vehicle and its two occupants, Cacho and Robledo. Inside the vehicle wardens located two hunting rifles, including a loaded rifle, and two flashlights, one of which was found stuffed in between the seats that was still on, Hinchcliff said.
The suspects initially claimed they were doing nothing wrong, and had just been taking a bath in the Eel River. Hinchcliff said the men also advised the wardens they did not believe them when told aircraft had spotted them spotlighting.
On Oct. 1, Hinchcliff, who also files and supervises the prosecution of fish and wildlife crimes, filed charges against the suspects for spotlighting, possession of a loaded rifle in a vehicle, hunting at night and fraudulently obtaining a California hunting license.
The case was set for trial on April 3. On the morning of trial, as prosecutor Danny Flesch was getting ready to select a jury, the suspects changed their pleas, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchliff said Robledo pleaded to possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle and Cacho pled to spotlighting and hunting at night.
They were each ordered by Judge Michael Lunas to pay $1,155 in fines, sentenced to three years probation including no hunting for three years, and ordered to forfeit a Savage 7 millimeter rifle and Ruger 77MKII rifle for destruction, according to Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff praised the local Fish and Wildlife wardens for another successful case in which wardens worked diligently to protect local wildlife from poachers.
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Julianne Carter, a student representing Coyote Valley Elementary School, achieved individual Highest Honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually.
Competing in the Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge, Julianne achieved a perfect score of 20 on the second of three challenges to be held this school year.
Nationally, only 32 sixth graders achieved this result.
Julianne said her study for the test was fun.
“I look over the list and study the meanings of each word,” she explained. “I look up synonyms, antonyms and various forms of the word that might have different meanings. My family and I have a game we play where we each try to use the word in a story or sentence in as many different ways as possible. It is a game we play when we are in the car.”
Julianne has another WordMasters Challenge test coming up later this month.
“I am excited for the next test,” she said. “It gets harder each time because the words from the last test can also appear on the new test. It is cumulative. Also, this is the first year we are taking the test on the computer. The normal test taking strategies of crossing off the wrong answers and circling the two that you narrow down are not as easy to apply on a computer. I think that will add some challenge to the test.”
Julianne isn't just talented when it comes to language; she's also a gifted musician, who has been accepted to study violin this summer at the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan: http://bit.ly/1jKrxBc .
The WordMasters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships.
Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight.
They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
For more about the WordMasters Challenge program, visit http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee, or LEDAC, will review its goals for this year and get an update on the county's marketing program when it meets this Wednesday, April 9.
The meeting will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at WorkForce Lake, 55 First St. in Lakeport.
Jill Ruzicka, senior administrative analyst for the county of Lake's marketing program, will offer a presentation on the destination marketing strategy for 2014 and beyond.
The main discussion topic for the meeting will be the review of the 2014 LEDAC goals and implementation.
The agenda also includes updates on regional economic development, the Carnegie Library feasibility study, committee reports and business outreach efforts.
LEDAC advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members do not have to be Lakeport residents. Current members include Chair Wilda Shock and Vice Chair Mireya Turner, along with Carol Cole-Lewis, Bill Eaton, Melissa Fulton, Pam Harpster, Christine Hutt, George Linn, Paula Pepper-Duggan and Taira St. John. City staffers Andrew Britton and Margaret Silveira are ex-officio committee members.
The committee is next scheduled to meet from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 14, at Lakeport City Hall.
Email Elizabeth Larson at