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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Firefighters from local and state agencies are on the scene of a wildland fire in the Double Eagle Ranch area east of Clearlake Oaks.
The Double Fire, located off of Highway 20 and Mule Skinner Road, was first reported just before 6 p.m., according to Cal Fire.
Shortly before 7:15 p.m. the fire was reported to have burned between 55 and 60 acres, with no containment. Initial fire reports estimated it had the potential to grow to several hundred acres in size.
Northshore Fire, Kelseyville Fire, Lake County Fire and Cal Fire were among the fire agencies working on the fire.
Cal Fire air tankers were hitting the fire from the air, while ground units worked the rugged terrain, based on radio reports.
Some of the high voltage power transmission lines that pass through the area had fallen, making conditions more dangerous for firefighters.
Radio traffic indicated the fire, located on the south side of Highway 20, was moving east. Winds in the canyon where the fire was burning also are reported to be increasing, and pushing the smoke with increasing strength.
The California Highway Patrol reported that one lane of Highway 20 near the fire area was closed.
Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Middletown girl is recovering after being attacked by a pit bull earlier this week.
Eleven-year-old Serena Mcevoy suffered multiple bite wounds on her head and upper body during the attack, which occurred at around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in the 23000 block of West Road.
“She's really scared right now,” said Serena's mother, Ronni Berg.
Recounting the attack on Thursday, Serena credited Jon Henry, father of her friend Kacie, for saving her life.
Henry, an Army veteran, shot and killed the dog after it attacked Serena and then charged him.
Lake County Animal Care and Control and the Lake County Sheriff's Office have been investigating the attack, but so far have not been able to prove who is the dog's owner, according to Lake County Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson.
“Officially, as far as were concerned, we don't have an owner on the dog that did the biting,” Davidson told Lake County News.
Said Berg, “There's no question of whose dog it was, they just can't prove it.”
She said there have been ongoing issues with dogs owned by a woman who lives in the neighborhood.
“We've had problems with those dogs,” she said. “They get out, they roam around and they growl at my children.”
Tuesday was the first day of school in the Middletown Unified School District. Serena and her friend Kacie Henry came home from school and went to get Kacie's dog from the neighbor's home, Jon Henry said.
According to Henry, their dog had gotten out and gone to the home of the woman with the problem dogs. He said the woman has been feeding all of the neighborhood dogs but denying it.
He said the two girls went up to the woman's trailer and knocked, and the pit bull jumped out at Serena.
Henry said Serena backed up and fell down, and the dog bit her head and her back, and eventually got ahold of her left arm. As the dog was attacking Serena, Kacie hit it and yelled at it, trying to get it to stop.
Henry was working on his electric fence when he heard the girls screaming.
He ran into his house, grabbed his brand new shotgun and ran out the door. On the way, he jumped the horse gate, ran through the corral and hurdled a 5-foot wire fence with the gun in his hand.
As he ran into the neighbor's driveway, he saw to his left Serena running toward him. There was “blood everywhere,” and she was holding her left arm. He also saw the dog coming at him.
“It was running toward me at full speed,” said Serena. “It saw Jon and went after him.”
Henry moved to his left and the dog passed him and stopped. Henry said he fired instantly, putting the blast right into the dog's chest. The dog ran another 20 feet before collapsing.
“I grabbed Serena and Kacie and just started running up the road to the house so I could treat her,” said Henry, who is an EMT.
As he was taking the girls back to his home, he said the neighbor came out to try to start arguing with him.
He said Serena's wounds appeared to be superficial but he was concerned the underlying damage could have been extensive. Henry said the girl had puncture wounds in the upper arm, head and back. He tried to control the bleeding, and then called 911 and the girl's parents.
Davidson said the number of puncture wounds Serena suffered illustrated that the dog was repeatedly biting the girl.
South Lake County Fire Protection District paramedics responded. Henry said they packaged up the girl and transported her to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake. He said Serena said that she was glad that she had been the one attacked and not Kacie.
Serena told Lake County News that she has her arm in a sling but doesn't have any stitches because of the risk of infection, which also is preventing her from returning to school until next Tuesday.
“I only know pit bulls that are nice,” the girl said, adding that she never thought any pit bull would try to attack her.
Davidson said Animal Care and Control Officer Nehemiah White, who is investigating the case, has gotten four different stories about who owned the dog that attacked Serena.
When Animal Care and Control and sheriff's deputies were on the scene Tuesday, Davidson said neighbors pointed them to a house where they believed the dog had been living. It was red tagged and appeared to have been a former marijuana grow house. There appeared to be numerous other grows int the neighborhood as well.
He said they believe that the neighbor in question was a “quasi” owner for less than 30 days.
That same woman was cited on Thursday by White after she was reported to have been walking two of her dogs off leash the previous night.
Davidson said Serena's family can move forward with pursuing a civil matter if they choose.
He said Animal Care and Control doesn't have a history of reports involving dog issues in the neighborhood where the attack took place.
When residents told White that they had a number of problems, he asked if they had reported them and they said no because they didn't think Animal Care and Control would do anything, Davidson said.
“If you don't report it, how are we supposed to do anything about it?” asked Davidson.
In such cases, Davidson said it's important for community members to report problems. “It's not fair to judge us if you don't even give us a chance.”
As to possible health issues involving the dog that attacked Serena, Davidson said the dog's body has been submitted for rabies testing.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The service of a search warrant by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force Wednesday afternoon has resulted in one arrest, the seizure of marijuana and a firearm.
Vicente Lemus Vargas, 25, of Kelseyville, was arrested for possession of marijuana for sales, cultivating marijuana, being armed while committing a drug offense and driving a motor vehicle without a license, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
On Wednesday narcotics detectives secured a search warrant for a land parcel located in the 5000 block of Konocti Road in Kelseyville, Brooks said. At 3 p.m. that same day, detectives served the warrant at the property.
Narcotics detectives entered the property and conducted a search. They described the property as a vacant land parcel with a small outbuilding, an open carport and a small chicken coop, Brooks said.
Detectives located a small campsite consisting of two beds. Next to the beds they located and seized a loaded 12 gauge shotgun and approximately four pounds of processed marijuana packaged into one pound bags, according to Brooks.
He said detectives also located and seized 55 marijuana plants growing on the property. They searched the area and were unable to locate any suspects.
After detectives secured the property they noticed a vehicle, which was known to be affiliated with the property, drive past the address on the wrong side of the road, Brooks said.
Narcotics detectives conducted an enforcement stop on the vehicle and contacted the driver, identified as Vargas. Brooks said Vargas admitted he was the person responsible for cultivating marijuana on the vacant land parcel.
Vargas was arrested and transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Thursday afternoon in Mendocino County Superior Court, a Hopland man entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter in a fatal stabbing case dating to 2008 on Hopland Rancheria.
The plea by Timothy Slade Elliott avoided a costly retrial of his disputed murder case surrounding the September 2008 death of Samuel Brandon Billy, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
On March 28, the First Appellate District Court directed the local court to reexamine the trial. At issue was whether Elliott, 40, of Hopland, got a fair trial in 2010 and whether he deserves a new one.
He claimed his public defender, Linda Thompson, was ineffective legal counsel and deprived him of his right to a fair trial, according to case records.
Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson denied the motion for a new trial at the time, and Elliott was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
An appellate attorney in September 2012 asked for a new trial based on “a prima facie case of ineffective assistance of trial counsel,” according to a March 28 order from the First Appellate District Court, which directed the local court to re-examine the trial.
County contract medical examiner Dr. Jason Trent testified in Elliott's 2010 murder trial that a knife – the alleged murder weapon – placed in evidence could certainly have made the 6.7-inch stab wound that killed Billy in September 2008.
In 2012, Trent changed his mind and in two sworn statements in Elliott's appeals process, said he thought the knife did not make the wound and that he had thought the knife blade in question was 3- to 4-inches, rather than the 1.65 inches it actually was.
Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Thursday granted Elliott a new trial, citing the lack of credibility surrounding Trent's changing testimony.
Elliott's attorney, Jan Cole-Wilson, and Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira told Judge Moorman that they had reached a stipulated agreement to reduce the murder charge against Elliott to voluntary manslaughter.
Elliott, who has already served five years in prison, faces a maximum sentence of seven years under the announced agreement.
Moorman set Sept. 10 as the date of sentencing for Elliott.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A special enforcement operation in Clearlake this week netted 10 arrests.
Officers from the Clearlake Police Department, Lake County Probation and Lakeport Police Department conducted the operations on Wednesday, according to a report from Clearlake Police Officer Tomas Riley.
Riley said the operation focused on subjects on post release community supervision (PRCS), Parole and Probation.
He said officers went to numerous listed addresses for subjects on PRCS, parole and probation.
As a result the following subjects on PRCS, parole and probation were arrested:
– Kala Smith, 22, for a felony warrant out of Lake County and probation hold out of Mendocino County.
– Joseph Carson, 30, for possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property and a parole hold.
– William Cramer, 30, for a parole hold.
– Deanna Inman, 52, for a probation violation.
– Nigel Powers, 40, for a probation violation.
– James Larabee, 40, arrested and released with a citation for driving on a suspended license.
– A 17-year-old juvenile, arrested and released with citation for a probation violation.
The following subjects who are not on PRCS, Parole or Probation were arrested:
– Viktoria Truscott, 40, arrested and released with citation for possession of controlled substance paraphernalia.
– Aaron Gibson, 52, arrested and released with citation for a misdemeanor warrant out of Lake County.
– Raymond Calas, 22, arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail for a misdemeanor warrant out of Lake County.
Additionally, during the operation officers located a license plate for a stolen vehicle at Joseph Carson’s residence. The stolen vehicle was recovered at a separate location and the owner notified, Riley said.
As a result of the enforcement operation three subjects were found to be providing false addresses to probation and holds will be issued, according to Riley.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Patricia “Pat” Wiggins, who represented the North Coast in the state Legislature, has died.
Wiggins, 73, died early Thursday morning in Sonoma County after a long illness.
Wiggins' life included public service as a member of both the California State Assembly and California State Senate.
“Pat lived life to the fullest,” said Guy Conner, Wiggins' husband of 30 years. “As a parent, friend and public servant, Pat’s considerable talents and vivacious personality leave the people she touched far better off.”
Wiggins' successor in the state Senate, Sen. Noreen Evans, adjourned the Thursday morning Senate Floor Session in Wiggins' memory.
Evans remembered Wiggins as a very strong woman. “She was not only my former colleague on the Santa Rosa City Council; she was my friend, and my hero and really my older sister because everywhere Pat went, I seemed to follow.”
Wiggins worked to achieve significant local and statewide policy changes that reflected her love of the North Coast and its way of life, including adopting “smart growth” provisions in state planning and funding critical research on the phylloxera virus that devastated vineyards in the 1990s.
“Pat was a great friend and tremendous public servant. I've known her since before I started my career in public office,” said Congressman Mike Thompson. “She was with me in my earliest campaigns. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for her guidance. Pat devoted her life to public service and to the idea that each of us has a responsibility to make our communities better places. Because of her work, Sonoma County has been left stronger for our kids and grandkids.”
A native Californian from Pasadena, she moved to Santa Rosa in 1984.
She was elected to the Santa Rosa City Council in 1994, serving thru 1998. In 1998, Wiggins won election to the State Assembly. She served three terms, left the Assembly in 2004, and was elected to the State Senate in 2006.
Wiggins retired from the Senate in 2010 after her term ended.
She put herself into the public spotlight despite developing a profound hearing deficit later in life, which required technologically advanced hearing aids to overcome.
Wiggins rarely spoke of her condition and never let it affect her work. While some doubted that a severely hearing-impaired person could even effectively campaign for office, her policy achievements while in office showed a determination and spirit that defined her public service record.
She leaves a legacy of cooperation and innovation, one that shows what communities can do when they pull together.
“We are enormously grateful for Pat’s tireless work on behalf of our community and wine industry issues,” said Linda Reiff, executive director of the Napa Valley Vintners. “Pat gained our respect and admiration because she was willing to step up and take on some pretty weighty topics when others were afraid to do the right thing. She was the first to say ‘yes’ to help us pass legislation that allowed us to tax our vineyards in order to build more housing for farmworkers. And, our Napa name protection law never would have been passed without her early and constant leadership.”
Wiggins actively nurtured the development of other people for public office. She played a key role in the election of literally scores of local and state elected officials from the North Coast, changing the landscape of local elected bodies toward a more progressive and publicly accountable frame of mind.
Wiggins was blessed to have a large group of close friends, many of whom came to visit and reminisce with her about their time together, both in and out of politics.
“Pat was always very dedicated to her work, but she did like to kick back and have fun,” said her longtime friend Marty Roberts. “We shared many wonderful trips to the coast and even drove across country one time with her husband Guy and my dog Molly. She had a wonderful laugh and a twinkle in her eye.”
Wiggins is survived by her husband, Guy; her two stepsons, Steve Silverman of Scottsdale, Ariz., and James Silverman of Owings Mills, Maryland; and her four grandchildren, Shane, Ava, Leah and Solana.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3.
Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the Sonoma Land Trust or to the Pat Wiggins Fund at Conservation Action Fund for Education.