How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Two Clearlake Police officers were injured earlier this month during a confrontation with a Clearlake Park man.
Shehab Ammar, 20, is alleged to have injured the officers, according to Sgt. Nick Bennett.
Bennett said that at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, March 15, Clearlake Police officers responded to the area of 37th and Phillips avenues on a report of a person acting strangely, punching parked and moving vehicles.
When officers arrived in the area a person matching the description began running away from them, Bennett said. He was later observed standing in the roadway on 40th Avenue blocking traffic. When approached the individual ran again.
Bennett said officers were finally able to catch up with the individual – identified as Ammar – in the 4000 block of Eureka Avenue where he suddenly turned on Officer Andy Adams without warning and violently assaulted him.
Other officers arrived on the scene and attempted to subdue Ammar. A Taser was deployed without effect and a police K-9 was also utilized, also without effect. Officers were finally able to subdue Ammar and take him into custody, Bennett said.
Two of the officers involved in the arrest were injured and placed on injury leave, Bennett said.
Ammar also was injured during the incident and taken to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake and later Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, according to Bennett.
Bennett said a warrant for Ammar's arrest was sought by Clearlake Police Department and upon the release from the hospital he was taken into custody.
The charges on the arrest warrant were resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and causing harm to a police dog, Bennett said.
Ammar, listed as a care provider, was booked into the Lake County Jail on Monday. His bail is set at $45,000.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Clear Lake High School will host its second annual powder puff football game on Friday, March 28.
The game gets started at 6 p.m. at Don Owens Stadium, 350 Lange St. in Lakeport.
Powder puff football is when girls play instead of boys.
The teams are coached by varsity football players and – in another twist on the traditional football game experience – boys cheerlead and teachers will officiate.
Powder puff football game organizers Savannah Rasmussen and Alyssa Buendia said the game will pit the senior and freshman classes against a team comprised of the junior and sophomore classes.
Admission is $1 per person.
There also will be a Relay for Life bake sale.
The community is invited to come support this fun-filled family event.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Police detectives have released a composite sketch of a male subject wanted in connection with an attempted kidnapping earlier in March.
Clearlake Police completed the sketch with the assistance of Lakeport Police Department.
On March 9 at approximately 9:45 a.m. Clearlake Police officers were notified that a person had approached a lone adult female in the area of the 6000 block of Crawford Avenue in Clearlake.
The person was driving a black pickup and had stopped near the female and asked if she had any money. He then exited the vehicle and grabbed her wrist and attempted to pull her toward his vehicle, police reported.
The woman broke loose and ran to the closest house where she called the police. Clearlake Police responded to the area but were unable to locate the suspect or his vehicle, according to the police report.
The victim described the suspect vehicle as being a black, newer full size pickup with a chrome grill and silver wheels.
The male subject who is alleged to have attacked her is described as a white male adult with short gray hair, a clean shaven face and a heavy build, approximately 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, and wearing a blue T-shirt.
Anyone with any information on this incident is encouraged to contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For the past century Americans have been constantly going off to somewhere in the far corners of the earth to fight a war. Nine times in all. Enough to give the U.S. the dubious distinction of cops of the world.
Although the nation prides itself on striving for world peace, the reality for the U.S. is there were always wars and there always will be wars with the resulting military casualties.
Given that, Lake County can only hope that there will always be individuals such as Bob Penny to ensure that the U.S. men and women who come back from the wars – sometimes damaged physically, sometimes psychologically – are properly treated.
Often Penny has seen veterans who weren't properly treated before they got to him.
Penny, who will retire after 20 years as a Lake County Veterans Service Officer on Tuesday, April 1, knows what mistreatment is like, not only because of his two decades of assisting war veterans but because he himself experienced mistreatment when he served with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and came home a reviled anti-hero.
“We were physically spit on several times in the '70s,” Penny recalls. “We who were involved in Vietnam were the perpetrators, the bad guys.
“It was a message passed on from every guy who went home. As an individual my main reason for being here for this length of time is to give back to veterans who weren't honored during the time they were in the service.”
Penny says that although, like Vietnam, a majority of Americans came to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, attitudes toward veterans of these wars have improved.
“Back during Vietnam people were against the war and the veterans,” he said. “Nowadays they're against the war with a lot of people saying, 'What the hell are we doing there?' But they're not against the veteran.”
Still, after seeing how Penny was treated, his son avoided the military. Conversely, it became the catalyst for Penny to do all he could to assist veterans for all these years. Seeing to it that they received the full measure of benefits owed to them.
“We're taking care of everybody in the military today because the Vietnam veterans were tired of being treated the way we were,” said Penny.
There's another reason Penny stuck with assisting military veterans over such a long stretch: the military wasn't.
“No, not at all,” he said in response to the question of whether the government is providing enough services to vets. “They just pass the veteran through and let the VA handle him.”
Ginny Craven, founder of of Operation Tango Mike, agrees with Penny.
“There's been a lot of brain injuries,” including post traumatic stress disorder, she said. “A lot of guys are coming home with injuries that are not visible. They need to be made a priority. We need to refocus our priorities and take care of those serving in our military before others.”
Penny saw combat and was injured while serving aboard a PBR (patrol boat, river) in the “Brown Water Navy” that plied the rivers and inlets of Vietnam. He still walks with a limp. But he walks proud.
“He's caring and very professional,” said Frank Parker, president of the United Veterans Council of Lake County, who has known Penny professionally for a decade. “He does everything in his power to make sure that the veterans know what they're doing when they apply for the benefits they've earned. He's just an outstanding individual.”
Craven, whose Operation Tango Mike organization sends monthly care packages to deployed troops, and has worked with Penny in coordinating welcome-homes and send-offs.
“He's tenacious,” she said. “When he goes to bat for (veterans) he really goes to bat. He never gave up on a case; he took them through the system.”
The toughest cases for Penny's were ones involving young veterans of 19 or 20 whose lives have been ruined by post traumatic stress disorder.
“Some of them were very severe and are just going from day to day trying to live and function, which is very difficult for them,” he said.
“They've been exposed to IEDs (improvised exposive devices) that have damaged their brains so bad they can't even take care of themselves anymore. There's nothing that's going to make that better. We give them money because of their disabilities, but they aren't able to function on their own again. They'll never be able to hold a job,” he said.
“There are treatments that help but nothing to get these people back to the way they were. It's very hard to take emotionally when you're dealing with that,” Penny added.
How does he, personally, feel about the U.S. military?
“I think it has a purpose,” he said. “Sometimes as veterans we feel that our military services are misguided and that, at times, maybe the legislators that guide the military. The purpose of what we do is not always for the purpose of what they state.
“So you wonder what their reason really is for going to war. Most veterans question why they're there.”
Email John Lindblom at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Westside Community Park Committee recently received two donations from the estates of former local residents.
In announcing the donations, Committee chairperson Dennis Rollins expressed appreciation to the two donors and their families for providing financial support toward the development and operation of the park.
The Donna Schipper Foundation provided a gift in the amount of $5,000, said Rollins.
According to Schipper’s niece, Wendy Wetherell, Schipper resided in Lakeport from the early 1990s until her passing in 2005. She was a retired real estate agent from Southern California.
While living in Lakeport, Schipper was active with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program and a member of the Lakeport Elk’s Lodge.
Although she had no children of her own, she was a supporter of programs that impacted youth, the community and music.
Jennifer Strong of the Strong Financial Network had assisted in obtaining the Schipper Foundation donation, according to Rollins.
The Henry E. & Mary R. Anderson Family Foundation donated $2,000.
The gift is the most recent in a lengthy donation history beginning in 2004 by the Anderson Family Foundation, according to Rollins.
The current contribution brings the total received from the family and its foundation to $48,000, Rollins reported.
The Andersons were ranchers and the owners of natural gas wells in the Central Valley before retiring to Lakeport.
Henry Anderson, best known as one of Lake County’s last two Pearl Harbor survivors, died in January. His wife, Mary, died in 2011.
Henry Anderson began donating to the park’s development because of his close friendship with Westside Community Park founder Charlie Jolin.
The Westside Community Park is under continual development on 60 acres of land owned by the city of Lakeport.
Development is carried out by the Westside Community Park Committee, a registered nonprofit organization of volunteers.
Approximately 10 acres are currently developed and used by local sports leagues and individuals.
The park is located off of Parallel Drive behind the Kathy Fowler Auto Dealerships in Lakeport.
Information on donating or assisting with development can be obtained from the Park Committee’s Web site, www.westsidecommunitypark.org , or by calling Rollins at 707-349-0969.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Plans are under way for the first Wild West Strawberry Ice Cream Social and Street Festival on Saturday, June 7.
The event is sponsored by the Upper Lake Community Council, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Northshore Fire Protection District, Upper Lake PTO and the Northshore Business Association.
The day begins with the Northshore fire breakfast, served from 7 to 10 a.m.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Upper Lake Parents and Teachers Association will host a children's carnival and the Lake County Horse Council will hold a horse show.
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Odd Fellows will hold the ice cream social and a variety of bluegrass bands will perform. Various food concessions and merchandise vendors will be available throughout the day.
For more information, contact Debbie Hablutzel at 707-275-2000 or Byron Green at 707-275-9515.