How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Habitat for Humanity Lake County has received a $150,000 grant from the Home Depot Foundation to pursue its veterans home repair program.
The funds were granted to support Habitat for Humanity's 2014 Repair Corps program, an initiative funded by the Home Depot Foundation to help repair, renovate or construct homes in partnership with US military veterans and their families, the foundation reported.
Home Depot said that Habitat’s Repair Corps program has, to date, partnered with more than 280 veteran families across the United States to repair and improve their homes.
“We are very honored to receive this grant on behalf of all veterans in our community,” said Habitat for Humanity Lake County President Richard Birk.
Last week, Birk traveled to Jacksonville, Fla., to meet with Home Depot representatives and other Habitat for Humanity affiliates from around the nation to discuss best practices for serving veterans and maximizing the funds.
They also considered how volunteer assistance from Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate-led volunteer force, can be used to have the greatest impact.
Birk, himself a veteran, met with with fellow vet Fred Walker, the Home Depot Foundation's director and chief operations officer, to discuss the particulars of the grant.
The Home Depot Foundation reported that it is donating $2.7 million to the Repair Corps program this year, bringing the total donations to date to $6.2 million.
The foundation said the funds are part of a five-year, $80 million investment it is making with many different organizations to repair and renovate homes and public housing facilities for US veterans.
This is the second grant Habitat for Humanity Lake County has received from the Home Depot Foundation Veterans Home Repair Initiative for the veterans repair program.
In late 2012 the organization received a $75,000 grant to rehabilitate five veterans' residences, as Lake County News has reported.
With this latest round of funding, Birk told Lake County News that they will repair a maximum of 10 homes. “It's for serious repairs,” he said.
Birk said the repair work Habitat for Humanity performs on the homes runs the gamut from installing wheelchair ramps and widening doors, to roofing, and heating and electrical issues.
In the case of local Korean War vet Robert “Scotty” Veitch, Habitat's improvements on his home included installation of a wheelchair ramp, and widening the hallway and bathroom door. Making his home more accessible gave him new freedom to move about. More on his story can be found here: http://bit.ly/1jWoxSW .
Habitat staff has had a contractor's license since last summer, and can do a lot of the work, Birk said.
However, in cases where there are more difficult jobs like roofing, or if there are complex electrical issues, Habitat instead will use the funds to hire local contractors, Birk explained.
Birk said all of the homes Habitat repairs are tested for gas leaks and carbon monoxide issues, and all of them get new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
On the 100 homes needing critical repair that Habitat has completed so far, the costs have averaged $6,500 per home, he said.
The new funds from Home Depot will go toward work this year, Birk said, with the projects required to be completed by the end of November.
The unseasonal warm and dry conditions have allowed Habitat to continue working through the winter months, he said. “We kept going. Weather hasn't been a problem for us.”
Veterans must meet low-income qualifications in order to be eligible for the program, Birk said.
“We have a list that we're working through right now,” he said of current projects, with three to four about to begin.
However, Birk emphasized that Habitat is continuing to look for applicants and encourages applications.
The Home Depot funds, along with a $100,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development Housing Preservation Grant Program that Habitat received in November, will support more of the repair projects, said Birk.
Those two grants bring Habitat's total for grants for repair work – accumulated over the last several years – up to $850,000, Birk said.
He explained that Habitat for Humanity began with a focus on building new homes for low income families.
However, the organization over the years had received numerous calls – especially from seniors – seeking assistance with home repairs and improvements.
That wasn't in the group's original charter, but Birk said that, based on the amount of requests Habitat received, the group decided to do a pilot program, and took on the challenging search for funds.
The result was that Habitat received a large response to the program. Birk said Habitat believes needed repairs to the county's housing stock form “the biggest issue” that they're now trying to address.
For more information about qualifications or to apply, call Habitat for Humanity Lake County's office in Lower Lake, 707-994-1100.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Brigham Young University's “Living Legends” will perform in Lakeport on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
The event will take place beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Marge Alakszay Center, 350 Lange St. in Lakeport.
Living Legends, a production of the BYU Department of Dance, has performed throughout the United States and in more than 45 foreign countries.
Besides performing around the world, they also performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics for athletes and visitors in the opening ceremonies as well as the Medal Plaza.
The performance is a tribute to the ancient cultures of the Americas and the Pacific.
The program will include dances and songs from North America, Mexico, Ecuador, Hawaii, Guatemala, Samoa, Paraguay, Tahiti, Argentina, Bolivia, Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga — performed by talented descendants of the cultures portrayed – all done in elegant costumes.
BYU reported that each year, hundreds of its students audition for the opportunity to pay tribute to their ancestors through music and dancing.
Only the best singers and dancers are selected in the competitive audition process, with all of the Living Legends members being of Native American, Latin American, or Polynesian heritage.
Tickets are $10 each and may be purchased by calling Call Carol Beare, 707-262-5834, or Diane Gill, 707-263-9071.
Tickets also can be picked up at the Clearlake Grocery Outlet, 14806 Olympic Drive, or the Clear Lake Bed and Breakfast, 2 16th St. in Lakeport.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Blue Ridge-Berryessa Partnership, a group of regional stakeholders working together to conserve and steward the Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area, will hold a “State of the Region” panel discussion in Napa on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the Napa County Library, 580 Coombs St.
Panelists will provide an update on programs and policies affecting the region and reflect on conservation trends and the future of resource management and planning in the region.
The panel consists of staff from local, state and federal resource and land management agencies, including Joshua Bush, wildlife biologist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife; John Woodbury, general manager, Napa County Regional Parks and Open Space District; Jeffery Laird, parks manager; Peggie Brooks, chief of the Recreation Resources Division, Bureau of Reclamation; Richard Burns, field office manager, Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office; Jim Wright, north operations division chief, and Mike Wilson, Sonoma-Lake-Napa division chief of pre-fire planning and vegetation management program, Cal Fire.
Founded in 1997, the partnership provides a forum for the public and private land managers to meet and discuss stewardship activities, interests, and challenges.
The group has since grown to more than 100 members, including federal and state agencies, counties and other public entities, local businesses, nonprofit organizations and conservation-minded landowners – all with the common goal of supporting collaborative stewardship of the natural and working landscape of the Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area.
The Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area is approximately 785,000 acres of the upper Putah and Cache Creek watersheds, both tributaries to the Sacramento River basin.
The area is bounded on the east at the base of the Blue Ridge by the Capay and Sacramento valleys, on the west by the Clear Lake basin and the Napa watershed, on the north by the Mendocino National Forest, and extends south to Interstate 80 in Solano County.
It encompasses portions of Lake, Colusa, Yolo, Napa and Solano counties and is part of the Coast Range ecological zone that extends north into Oregon.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Wednesday evening vehicle pursuit ended with the arrests of three Mendocino County residents and the seizure of methamphetamine, marijuana and honey oil.
Sheriff's Narcotics Task Force detectives arrested 55-year-old Randall Wayne Ford and 29-year-old Anthony Aguilar Grayson, both of Ukiah, and Jenna Jo Hatcher, 38, of Redwood Valley, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Brooks said the pursuit began shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force members were traveling eastbound on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff when they observed a white Mazda RX-8 sports car traveling in front of them fail to stop at a stop sign and then pass a vehicle by crossing over the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic, Brooks said.
The detectives activated their emergency lights and siren to conduct an enforcement stop and the vehicle immediately accelerated in an attempt to elude them, according to Brooks.
He said the detectives reported that the Mazda was traveling in excess of 95 miles per hour while crossing the double yellow lines and passing vehicles on a curve in the road.
Detectives also observed a blue bag being thrown from the passenger side window during the pursuit, Brooks said.
The pursuit ended when the vehicle stopped at the end of Pyle Road in Nice. Brooks said the driver, identified as Ford, was immediately detained, as were his passengers, Hatcher and Grayson.
Narcotics detectives recovered the blue bag which was thrown from the vehicle and located approximately three ounces of methamphetamine, Brooks said. In addition, detectives found 96.4 grams of processed marijuana and 35.5 grams of honey oil – or concentrated cannabis – inside the vehicle.
Ford was arrested on felony charges of evading a peace officer, possession of a controlled substance for sale, transportation of a controlled substance, possession of concentrated cannabis, possession of concentrated cannabis for sale and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, Brooks said.
Brooks said Hatcher and Grayson both were arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of concentrated cannabis.
All three were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, he said.
Ford's bail was set at $35,000, and booking records indicated he was no longer in custody Thursday evening after posting the required portion of bail.
Jail records showed that Hatcher also had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for her arrest and Grayson had an additional misdemeanor charge of destroying or concealing evidence. Bail for each was set at $25,000, and both posted bail and had been released by Thursday evening.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks man was arrested by Ukiah Police after a chase that occurred earlier this week.
Victor Branko Rodin, 49, was arrested following the chase, which occurred on Monday afternoon, according to a report from Ukiah Police Capt. Justin Wyatt.
At about 4:30 p.m. Monday Ukiah Police officers responded to the parking lot at Anton Stadium at 506 Park Blvd. for a domestic disturbance, Wyatt said.
Callers reported seeing a man and a woman arguing, and saw the male subject – identified later as Rodin – get into a white Ford pickup and drive the vehicle in circles in the parking lot, smoking the tires, Wyatt said. Rodin then left in the vehicle, with witnesses giving his description and that of the pickup to Ukiah Police.
Wyatt said a responding officer spotted Rodin's pickup and attempted to stop it in the 800 block of N. State Street. Rodin refused to stop and proceeded northbound, refusing to yield to the officer’s lights and siren.
The pickup ran the red light at the intersection with Low Gap Road, causing cross traffic to swerve to avoid a collision, and proceeded westbound on Low Gap Road, Wyatt said. The vehicle reached speeds of 50 miles per hour then turned southbound onto N. Bush Street, running the stop sign.
The pursuit continued through several intersections to Walnut Avenue, where Rodin turned westbound, failing to stop for all posted stop signs, and continued at about 30 miles per hour until reaching the area of Todd Grove Park, according to Wyatt.
Rodin then circled the park five times at about 20 miles per hour, with officers pursuing. Wyatt said Rodin was seen talking on a cellular telephone and looking back at the pursuing officers.
Additional Ukiah Police Officers and Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies responded to assist with the pursuit, and Rodin swerved around one of the police vehicles before circling the park another time then proceeding to the Anton Stadium parking lot, Wyatt said.
Wyatt said Rodin then stopped the vehicle and was taken into custody without further incident.
Rodin is on parole in Lake County for threats. Wyatt said Ukiah Police officers have had several contacts with Rodin, who appears to now be living in the Ukiah area.
Rodin was arrested for felony vehicular evasion, reckless driving and violating parole, and booked into the Mendocino County Jail. Jail records showed that Rodin's bail was set at $135,000.
In a footnote to the story, it was Rodin who in February 2008 was the focus of a missing person call at a Cobb Mountain home that led to an officer-involved shooting involving then-Deputy Frank Rivero, who was elected Lake County sheriff in November 2010.
Rivero responded to the scene along with another deputy and encountered Rodin in the home. Rivero shot at Rodin, who was unarmed, but did not hit him.
It was the investigation into that shooting and allegations that Rivero had changed his story about why he shot at Rodin that led to the Lake County District Attorney's Office placing Rivero on a list of “Brady” officers with credibility issues early last year, as Lake County News has reported.
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – An early Thursday morning fire destroyed a Hidden Valley Lake home.
The fire in the 19000 block of Stinson Road was first dispatched shortly after 2:30 a.m., according to radio reports.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Gradek said the structure involved was a two-story, 3,400-square-foot log home, with heavy timber construction.
Gradek said the man who was in the home at the time the fire broke out was able to safely evacuate and call 911.
By the time firefighters arrived, the fire was on both the first and second stories of the house, with flames coming out a side window, Gradek said.
Gradek said it took “quite a while” to get the fire knocked down, estimating it was 5:30 a.m. before the blaze was controlled.
He said firefighters had issues with water supply during the incident. There were no hydrants in the area, and so water tenders had to haul the water in to fight the fire.
Cal Fire and South Lake County Fire had a total of three engines and two water tenders on scene, with Lake County Fire sending a mutual aid engine, Gradek said.
Gradek said the home was a total loss. “We were able to save some vehicles, but that's about it.”
He said the total fire damage is estimated at $460,000.
The home's resident told firefighters that he thought the fire may have started in his laundry room, Gradek said.
Gradek said the fire's cause remains under investigation.
Email Elizabeth Larson at