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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The owner of the Wilbur Hot Springs resort in Colusa County said he plans to rebuild the resort's historic lodge that was badly damaged by a fire last weekend.
The fire occurred last Saturday, March 29, as Lake County News has reported.
Dr. Richard Miller, who has owned the resort since 1972, said Tuesday that he plans to rebuild the lodge, which has been a popular spot for visitors for well over a century.
“We will rebuild and continue to be here for the community as a place of refuge,” said Dr. Miller.
The fire, which witnesses said began in a second story guest room, consumed the second and third floors of the hotel at Wilbur Hot Springs in a matter of hours.
There were no injuries among the estimated 60 guests staying at the lodge at the time. No other structures on the property were destroyed or damaged.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation, according to a Tuesday statement from the resort.
Miller, his wife Jolee and daughter Sarana Miller, and friend Bruce Blake were eating breakfast in the dining hall at around 9:45 a.m. Saturday when a guest approached them to say he smelled smoke upstairs, according to the resort's report.
All four rushed to the scene, accompanied by a few others, and found one of the westside rooms on fire. They attempted to battle the blaze with fire extinguishers but the smoke and flames spread rapidly. Within minutes, the entire upstairs was engulfed in flames.
Following training procedures, staff evacuated the hotel and guided guests to safety a quarter mile from the blaze. Dr. Miller and some staff used fire hoses to try to continue to fight the fire.
Dr. Miller was determined to save his beloved hotel and was forcibly pulled from the scene by his daughter Sarana, who witnesses said saved his life.
By the time firefighters from Maxwell, Williams, Capay Valley, and Lake County arrived, the hotel was beyond saving. Instead, firefighters set to mitigating the damage and securing the buildings surrounding the hotel.
Wilbur’s prized attraction, the hot springs Fluminarium with its three mineral soaking flumes, was untouched by the fire. The hotel was not insured.
Ezekiel Wilbur first opened the hot springs to the public in 1865. The hotel was built in 1915.
Visitors came from far and wide by boat, train, and stagecoach to take in the healing waters from natural hot springs that flowed from an underground reservoir.
The property changed hands several times and was purchased in disrepair in 1972 by Dr. Miller, a psychologist who was seeking a place to create a therapeutic environment for people to heal themselves through exposure to nature and soaking in the sulfur and lithium-rich hot springs waters. Dr. Miller reopened the hotel and bathing flumes to the public in the same year.
Ten years later, Dr. Miller closed Wilbur to the public one week a month to run the internationally-renowned Cokenders program, a residential addiction treatment program.
Utilizing Wilbur’s therapeutic environment and healing waters, he successfully detoxified over 1,500 heavily-addicted patients without medicating or hospitalizing a single one. Other health-related seminars and workshops followed.
The majority of Wilbur’s clientèle have been individuals, couples and small groups seeking a quiet getaway from the hectic pace of city life.
“I always envisioned Wilbur as a cutting-edge preventive and maintenance health facility,” said Dr. Miller. “People come here to rejuvenate, restore, and relax in an atmosphere offering retreat in a natural, safe, dignified and respectful environment.”
Wilbur Hot Springs has been off-grid since its beginnings and was a pioneer in the use of solar power. The European-style hotel had 23 private rooms with shared toilets on every floor and an 11-bed bunk room.
It had gone through several renovations under Dr. Miller’s leadership, including the addition of a third floor. The community kitchen was a favorite feature of the hotel for many guests, who brought their own food to cook and share meals together – or eat privately – in the spacious dining hall or the hotel’s veranda.
Guests relaxed and played music together in the community room or read and napped on large couches in the library. Sarana Miller led popular yoga retreats on site for more than 10 years.
The quiet of Wilbur and its surrounding natural acreage has always been a big draw for guests. Due to its remote location, Wilbur is relatively free of light, air, and noise pollution, making it an ideal place to stargaze and immerse oneself in nature.
A 1,560-acre nature preserve adjoins the 240-acre Wilbur property and features miles of trails for guests to hike and bike, as well as the Fountain of Life geyser, a unique stone monolith which regularly erupts every hour.
In the spirit of Wilbur, plans for renewal are already under way, Miller said.
“Wilbur will reopen very soon, welcoming day use visitors, campers and a limited number of overnight guests in our Solar Lodge,” he said.
Miller reported that there has been an outpouring of community support worldwide in response to the fire.
Community members may make contributions to a fund for rebuilding and staffing. There also will be ways for people to volunteer for the cleanup and rebuilding effort.
For status updates, or for information on how to help, check the Web site at www.wilburhotsprings.com .
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Department of Water Resources snow surveyors on Tuesday found the Sierra snowpack boosted by late-season storms, but still far below normal as the spring melt fast approaches.
Coupled with this winter’s scant rainfall, the meager snowpack – containing only 32 percent of average water content for the date – promises a gloomy summer for California farms and many communities.
State officials said 2014 is on track to perhaps be California’s fifth or sixth driest year, with its final ranking to be determined.
“We’re already seeing farmland fallowed and cities scrambling for water supplies,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “We can hope that conditions improve, but time is running out and conservation is the only tool we have against nature’s whim.”
After a bone dry December and January, February and March storms brought some promise to the state, but have not broken the drought’s three-year grip as reservoirs, rainfall totals and the snowpack remain critically low.
Tuesday’s manual and electronic readings – at the time of year the snowpack normally is at its peak before melting into streams and reservoirs – record the snowpack’s statewide water content at just 32 percent of average.
Electronic readings indicate that snowpack water content in the state’s northern mountains is 23 percent of normal. The electronic readings for the central and southern Sierra are 38 and 31 percent of normal, respectively.
This is dismal news for farms and cities that normally depend on the snowpack – often called California’s largest reservoir – for a third of their water. And reservoirs are not making up the difference.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s (SWP) principal reservoir, is at only 49 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (64 percent of its historical average for the date).
Shasta Lake north of Redding, California’s and the federal Central Valley Project’s (CVP) largest reservoir, is at 48 percent of its 4.5 million acre-foot capacity (60 percent of its historical average).
San Luis Reservoir, a critical south-of-Delta reservoir for both the SWP and CVP, is a mere 42 percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (46 percent of average for this time of year) due both to dry weather and Delta pumping restrictions to protect salmon and Delta smelt.
Snow surveyors from DWR and cooperating agencies manually measure snowpack water content on or about the first of the month from January through May to supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic readings. This year’s final manual survey is scheduled for May 1.
On Jan. 31, with no relief in sight after the winter’s first snow survey on Jan. 3 found more bare ground than snow, DWR set its allocation of State Water Project water at zero. The allocation has not been increased.
The only previous zero allocation (water delivery estimate) was for agriculture in the drought year of 1991, but cities that year received 30 percent of requested amounts.
Despite the “zero” allocation, DWR has continued to deliver water essential for health and safety and nearly all people and areas served by the State Water Project also have other sources of water.
Deliveries could still be boosted by improving hydrology.
The final State Water Project allocation for calendar year 2013 was 35 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet requested by the 29 public agencies that collectively supply more than 25 million people and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.
In 2012, the final allocation was 65 percent of the requested 4 million acre-feet. It was 80 percent in 2011, up dramatically from an initial allocation of 25 percent. The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.
The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of Delta pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.
Although 2013 was the driest calendar year on record for much of California, last-minute November and December storms in 2012 – the first year of the current drought – replenished major reservoirs to somewhat mitigate dry conditions. That comfortable reservoir cushion is now gone.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The service of a search warrant by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force has resulted in three arrests, the seizure of 4 ounces of methamphetamine and 540 Oxycodone pills.
Clearlake residents Dino Eugene Lagomarsino, 50, 62-year-old Thomas Richard Griffith and Holly Ann Ogarey, 47, were arrested following the search warrant service, which occurred on Thursday, March 27, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
At 2 p.m. March 27 narcotics officers and patrol deputies secured a residence located in the 15000 block of Cass Avenue in Clearlake. Brooks said the residence was secured for a search warrant, after receiving information that large quantities of controlled substances were being sold from the premises.
When narcotics officers arrived at the residence, they contacted and detained Lagomarsino, who was standing in the driveway. Brooks said Griffith was seen going into a spare bedroom and slamming the door shut. Deputies forced the spare bedroom door open and detained Griffith. They also detained Ogarey, who was located inside the residence, without incident.
At 5 p.m., narcotics detectives secured the search warrant, which they immediately served at the residence. Brooks said detectives located and seized approximately 1 ounce of methamphetamine which was setting on a table inside the spare bedroom where Griffith was found. There was a digital gram scale, a cane sword and a replica firearm in the bedroom which were also seized.
Hidden inside the spare bedroom couch, detectives located a metal tackle box containing numerous quantities of prepackaged methamphetamine, hydrocodone, lorazepam and morphine pills, Brooks said.
Detectives noticed an unopened UPS shipment package sitting on the living room floor. The package contained 540 5-milligram Oxycodone pills. Detectives located evidence at the residence indicating the 540 Oxycodone pills had been presold for $2,800, according to Brooks.
The master bedroom had numerous quantities of packaged methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and a digital gram scale. Brooks said detectives also located a working surveillance system which monitored the exterior of the residence.
In addition to the four ounces of methamphetamine and 540 5-milligram Oxycodone pills which were seized, detectives also located and seized an additional 44 5-milligram Oxycodone pills, 31 2-milligram Lorazepam pills, 33 1-milligram Lorazepam pills and 13 30-milligram Morphine pills, Brooks said.
Lagomarsino was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of controlled substance paraphernalia and being under the influence of a controlled substance. Brooks said Ogarey was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia.
Griffith was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession/purchase for sale of a controlled substance, possession of a cane sword and being under the influence of a controlled substance, Brooks said.
All three subjects were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. Bail was set at $25,000 each, with jail records indicating that all three later were released after posting the required percentage of bail.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
This story has been updated with the names of the crash victims.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif – A single vehicle crash on Highway 29 north of Red Hills Road has claimed the lives of two Clearlake men, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Jarried Ray Meyer, 22, and Dallas Dalton Schell, 20, died in the wreck, which occurred at approximately 4:50 a.m. Tuesday, according to the report from CHP Officer Kory Reynolds.
The report said Meyer was driving a silver 2002 Infinity G20 southbound on Highway 29 north of Red Hills Road at an unknown speed when, for an unknown reason, he caused or allowed his vehicle's right side tires to go off the west edge of the highway, causing him to lose control.
The vehicle veered back across the highway's north and southbound lanes before hitting a tree, the CHP reported.
Both Meyer and Schell were pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said.
The CHP said both men were wearing their seat belts.
The cause of the collision remains under investigation.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Fire officials are continuing to monitor the scene of a fire that burned a historic Colusa County lodge on Saturday.
Located just inside Colusa County near Williams, the Wilbur Hot Springs main lodge, built in 1915, was damaged in the fire, which broke out Saturday morning, as Lake County News has reported.
Dr. Richard Miller, who has owned the resort since 1972, confirmed to Lake County News in a brief email that “not one guest was injured” in the “sad fire” that badly burned the resort.
The resort's Web site, www.wilburhotsprings.com , has a brief notice posted on it that states, “We are not currently taking reservations; the hotel is temporarily closed and the phones are down.”
Several fire agencies from around the region responded to the blaze, which was first dispatched at 9:58 a.m. Saturday, according to Kara Alvernaz of the Williams Fire Department.
Alvernaz said Williams sent two engines, a water tender and an air and light unit, Maxwell Fire sent an engine and a water tender, Sacramento River Fire sent a water tender, Capay Valley had two engines and a water tender at scene and Northshore Fire's Clearlake Oaks station sent an engine.
It took firefighters just over 30 minutes to get to the lodge, which the roads being muddy and slick due to the recent rains, said Alvernaz.
Furnishings on the first floor were saved thanks to the work of Northshore Fire, whose personnel worked to protect that part of the building, according to Deputy Chief Pat Brown.
On Saturday, an initial report from Northshore Fire personnel on scene pointed to the possibility that the fire may have started in the resort's kitchen, but Alvernaz said Monday that the information they have received from witnesses is that the point of origin was a second story bedroom.
That's where Elk Grove residents Jana and Kelly Couch believe the fire started, possibly due to a heater. They've also shared that information with Williams Fire.
In addition to the couple, another person at the resort – who did not wish to be named – told Lake County News they had gone into the kitchen for a fire extinguisher after the fire started and saw no flames, also pointing to a second floor origin.
Jana and Kelly Couch arrived at the resort on Friday, intending to spend a relaxing weekend.
“It didn't quite turn out that way,” said Jana Couch.
It was her second time at the resort, where this past weekend a guest chef had been brought in to prepare meal.
That morning she and her husband had finished breakfast in the dining room and had gone back to their room, where she did some reading and waited for the resort's office to open.
As she headed out of their apartment, she got a whiff of smoke.
She looked up as she was walking down the ramp, saw flames coming out of a second story window and started yelling to alert people there was a fire.
The fire moved fast through the old building, and likewise resort staff moved quickly to gather the 60 guests who had reportedly been staying there at the time, do a head count and firmly get people away from the building. The propane also was immediately turned off, Couch said.
She and her husband were able to grab clothes, a wallet and an iPad, but they couldn't get to their mountain bikes, which had been propped up against the building.
“I was really impressed by how calmly the staff handled things,” Couch said.
Other guests were still eating breakfast, in the spa or hiking at that time. “I think there were numerous people who lost all of the possessions that they brought,” she said.
Couch said that she believed it could have been a far more dangerous, and potentially deadly, scenario had the fire started at night.
Alvernaz said Williams Fire kept an engine and a water tender on the scene throughout Saturday night and into Sunday to monitor for hot spots, with that crew returning midday Sunday.
She said Williams' assistant chief and a firefighter went back to the resort on Monday to continue to check for potential flare ups.
Alvernaz said the fire department isn't finished with its work at the site, with tarps and hoses still ready in case a flare up occurs.
She said the entire first floor and a portion of the second of the three-story building remain standing.
However, Alvernaz added, “We still have it all roped off.”
People are prohibited from entering the scene, she said. “Nobody is to enter until we get a building official up there.”
Due to Monday being Cesar Chavez Day, Alvernaz said Williams Fire had not been able to contact a Colusa County building official to respond to the property and determine if it was safe to enter the first floor.
No dollar estimate of damage has been reached, Alvernaz said.
Alvernaz confirmed to Lake County News that Wilbur Hot Springs is not contained within any fire district, but is instead located within the State Responsibility Area, which usually is covered by Cal Fire.
However, Cal Fire did not respond, according to Alvernaz, with Deputy Chief Pat Brown of Northshore Fire also confirming that the agency wasn't at the scene.
“Williams Fire has responded up there automatically forever,” said Alvernaz, adding, “But it is not actually in our fire district. We are just the closest fire department and we have always responded up there.”
She said there are two nearby Cal Fire stations – in Leesville and at the corner of Highway 20 and Highway 16 – but both are seasonal and not currently open.
Cal Fire did not immediately to respond to a request from Lake County News for information about its coverage of that portion of the State Responsibility Area, where property owners must pay annual fire fees.
Because the resort isn't in a fire district and didn't have fire insurance – a matter reportedly related to the building's age and location, not a lack of effort on the part of the resort owners – fire officials said a full investigation into the fire isn't anticipated to take place.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The case has been dropped against one of five suspects charged in a June 2013 Clearlake Oaks home invasion robbery, shooting and standoff with law enforcement.
On March 27, charges were dismissed against Dexter Lee Currington, 22, of San Francisco, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.
Currington and four other codefendants were indicted last fall for the home invasion at the home of Ronnie and Janeane Bogner in Clearlake Oaks.
The Bogners said several suspects forced their way into the home that morning, shot the couple's adult son, Jacob, in the leg and pistol-whipped him. Janeane Bogner and her young grandchildren were able to hide in another room at the time.
The suspects then fled, taking with them a car they had brought and stealing Janeane Bogner's Cadillac Escalade, which later was found totaled and down a steep embankment off of Sulphur Bank Drive in Clearlake Oaks.
Tyler Christopher Gallon and and Sean Douglas Foss of Clearlake and San Franciscans Jenaya Drevelyn Jelinek and Dion Andre Davis II would be arrested in Clearlake later that day following a standoff that began after they allegedly shot at police.
Information was developed by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office that Currington was the fifth suspect in the case and the one who had escaped capture, Anderson said.
Anderson convened a criminal grand jury which indicted the four initial suspects who were in custody – along with Currington, who at that point had not yet been arrested – last Sept. 3.
Currington was arrested Sept. 12 by San Francisco Police on an arrest warrant issued by the Lake County Superior Court. He was booked on charges of attempted murder of a police officer, attempted murder of the victim of a home invasion, robbery, burglary and auto theft.
However, since Currington's arrest last fall, Lake County District Attorney’s Office investigators developed information that brought into question Currington's guilt, Anderson said.
Last Thursday, Currington and his attorney, David Markham of Lakeport, met with District Attorney's Office investigators regarding certain exculpatory evidence, according to Anderson.
Anderson said that, based on all the information gathered, it became clear that there was insufficient probable cause to hold Currington for the crimes.
He said that Currington was immediately taken before Judge Andrew Blum, who granted the district attorney's motion to dismiss Currington from the case.
Anderson commended Markham for bringing the information to the attention of the District Attorney's Office investigators and for his cooperation with them, which ensured Currington's early release.
The investigation into the identity of the last suspect is continuing, said Anderson.
Meanwhile, Davis, Gallon, Foss and Jelinek are still awaiting trial.
They remain in the Lake County Jail, with bail for Davis set at $1 million, bail for Gallon and Foss each at $500,000, and Jelinek's bail totaling $250,000, according to jail records.
Email Elizabeth Larson at