How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two Saturday afternoon crashes in different parts of the county resulted in injuries, with two children flown to an out-of-county regional trauma center.
The wrecks occurred just after 12:30 p.m. near Clearlake Oaks and at about 2:10 p.m. in Lower Lake.
The first crash involved a single vehicle that overturned on Highway 20 near Swanson just east of Clearlake Oaks.
Firefighters arriving at the scene found all of the occupants out of the vehicle and one lane of traffic blocked, according to radio reports.
There were three patients with minor to moderate injuries, reports from the scene indicated. The three injured subjects all were juveniles.
The Northshore Fire battalion chief at the scene requested two air ambulances, with REACH 6 and CalStar 4 responding, landing at the nearby Clearlake Oaks Cal Fire station, according to scanner reports.
Both air ambulances would later lift off en route to UC Davis Medical Center in order to keep the two children together, according to fire officials at the scene.
Just as firefighters were clearing the scene of that wreck shortly after 2 p.m., a three-vehicle crash was reported at the intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 53 in Lower Lake.
Witnesses reported that a silver SUV, a black SUV and a silver sedan were involved, with one person trapped in a vehicle.
Firefighters who arrived at the scene said the northbound lane was blocked with emergency vehicles.
One medic unit was requested to transport a patient who was reported to have major injuries, according to radio traffic and an initial California Highway Patrol report.
The chief on scene also requested an air ambulance because a male patient had cardiac trauma.
However, radio reports indicated that a REACH air ambulance was not available to fly due to heat conditions.
A CalStar helicopter responded but was canceled, with a Lake County Fire Protection ambulance transporting the patient to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.
Additional details will be posted as they become available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Saturday morning Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies shot to death a stabbing suspect who allegedly charged them with the knife he had used to assault a woman a short time earlier.
The deadly confrontation occurred shortly after 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a Sonoma County Sheriff's Office report.
The suspect who was shot to death was not immediately identified by law enforcement.
Windsor Police – which is staffed by Sonoma County Sheriff's Office personnel – dispatched officers at approximately 7:29 a.m. to a stabbing in front of Starbucks, located at 1001 McClellan Drive on the Windsor Town Green, the report said.
Officials said the responding deputies were on scene in less than two minutes and attended the 60-year-old female stabbing victim.
Witnesses reported the male suspect ran north from the Town Green toward the Windsor Police Department parking lot.
There, two deputies confronted the suspect, who was armed with a knife. The report said the suspect refused the deputies' orders to drop the weapon and instead began stabbing himself.
Sheriff's officials said one deputy deployed a Taser on the suspect, but it had no effect.
The suspect then charged the deputies with the knife, at which point the two deputies shot the man, the sheriff's office said.
The man was given medical aid, however, he was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:38 a.m., according to the report.
Both of the deputies involved in this incident have more than 15 years of law enforcement experience, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office reported.
The Santa Rosa Police Department and the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office are investigating the officer-involved shooting under Sonoma County's officer-involved shooting protocol, sheriff's officials said.
HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – The victim of a solo-vehicle crash near Hidden Valley Lake on Friday evening was flown to an out-of-county hospital.
The crash occurred on Highway 29 near Spruce Grove Road just before 7:30 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP said the male driver and lone occupant of the vehicle – described by witnesses as a gray full-sized sedan – reported that he swerved to avoid hitting a deer that had run out in front of his vehicle.
The car went off the road, flipped over and went about 30 feet down an embankment, coming to rest on its roof, the CHP said.
The driver reported hitting his head during the crash, and a REACH air ambulance was called to the scene to transport him, according to radio reports.
REACH lifted off just after 8:30 p.m., en route to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
The wreck followed a number of other crashes around the south county Friday afternoon and evening, including a crash near the Bar X Ranch and a motorcycle crash in Middletown. No serious injuries were reported in those incidents.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force and California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens seized 653 marijuana plants during one of two search warrant services in Clearlake Oaks that occurred this past Tuesday.
No arrests were made in the operation, which occurred the same day as another property in Clearlake Oaks was searched, with nine arrested and large amounts of marijuana seized, according to sheriff's Lt. Steve Brooks.
On Tuesday the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force assisted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife with the service of a search warrant located in the 18000 block of E. Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks, Brooks said. The search warrant was written by California Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel.
Brooks said authorities decided before the service of the search warrant that the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force would conduct the marijuana investigation and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife would investigate any environmental violations.
During the search detectives located a large scale outdoor marijuana cultivation operation involving two large green houses and two large outdoor marijuana plots. Brooks said two vehicles were located on scene along with camping gear and an outdoor kitchen.
While searching the area, detectives observed a Hispanic male running away from law enforcement, several ridges away, according to Brooks.
Brooks said 181 marijuana plants were located inside the two green houses, with an additional 472 marijuana plants located within the two outdoor plots. The marijuana grow was located on an undeveloped parcel.
Detectives are still following leads and the Hispanic male who fled on foot was not located, Brooks said.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife assisted with any environmental and water diversion crimes, he added.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Expected triple digit temperatures, low humidity and breezy winds have elevated the fire danger over the next several days, prompting Cal Fire to increase its staffing across many parts of Northern California.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning due to the heightened fire danger that began Friday afternoon and is expected to last through Saturday evening for parts of Shasta, Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Lake and Colusa counties.
On Sunday in the higher country, dry thunderstorms and lightning are possible in the Northern, Central and Eastern Sierra Nevadas.
With the increased potential for new fires, Cal Fire has brought on additional firefighters to staff extra equipment during the high risk days.
“While we are hoping we can make it through the next couple of days with minimal fire activity, we are prepared to respond if Mother Nature doesn’t agree,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire director. “With approximately 94 percent of our wildfires being human caused, we are strongly urging the public to be extra careful and to take the proper steps to prevent wildfires.”
Since Jan. 1, Cal Fire has responded to more than 2,100 wildfires across California that have charred over 50,000 acres.
Fire activity remains significantly higher than average; typically by this time of year Cal Fire would have responded to only about 1,100 wildfires with 8,000 acres burned.
During the red flag warning, Cal Fire urges all Californians to exercise extreme caution outdoors in order to prevent wildfires. A few helpful reminders and fire prevention tips include:
- Don’t mow or weed eat dry grass on windy days;
- Ensure campfires are allowed, and if so, be sure to extinguish them completely;
- Never pull your vehicle over in dry grass;
- Never burn landscape debris like leaves or branches on NO Burn Days or when it’s windy;
- Make sure all portable gasoline-powered equipment have spark arresters.
For more ways to help prevent and prepare for wildfires visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org or www.fire.ca.gov .
California has enacted a new statutory exclusion from change in ownership for local tax assessments that protects certain cotenants (co-owners) from reassessment at the death of a cotenant.
Real property that has been held for a long time is often taxed at a lower value than it would be if its value was reassessed to its current value.
Let us examine the new exclusion, how it fits in with other exclusions, and what it all means
The new exclusion – applicable at the death of a cotenant – protects two cotenants who together own 100 percent of the property, either as tenants in common or as joint tenants provided all the following additional conditions also apply:
- both cotenants must be owners of record for the one year period preceding the death;
- the property must have been the principal residence of both cotenants for the same 1 year period;
- the surviving tenant must obtain 100 percent ownership at the death of the other cotenant; and
- the surviving cotenant must sign an affidavit that he/she continuously resided at the residence as his/her principal residence for the 1 year period preceding the other cotenant’s death.
The foregoing exclusion is clearly most relevant to unmarried persons living together who are not registered domestic partners. It also has some application to some siblings who live at home together.
The new co-tenancy exclusion has overlap with the existing joint tenancy exclusion rules that apply at the death of a joint tenant in the following situations:
- where the joint tenancy was created by transferring ownership from the same persons as tenants in common to themselves as joint tenants; and
- where a spouse or registered domestic partner of an existing joint tenant was added to the joint tenancy; provided that the original joint tenant (whose spouse or partner was added) also remained on title as a joint tenant.
The foregoing joint tenancy exclusions are useful for a wider variety of transfers than the new exclusion (although there is overlap) to which the frequently used interspousal exclusion, the parent to child exclusion or the narrower grand-parent to grand-child exclusion do not apply.
Both rules have application to certain real property transfers between siblings, between aunts & uncles and nieces & nephews, between co-habiting unmarried persons (who are not registered domestic partners), and between other co-owners who are not married to each other.
Let us illustrate each of the foregoing exclusions from reassessment using hypothetical examples.
First, consider two siblings who inherit their parents’ home as tenants in common of record and who each continue to reside together at the home.
The new cotenancy exclusion would apply when the first sibling dies provided they had each lived at the residence for the 1 year period immediately preceding the first sibling’s death.
Then, if the surviving sibling was married or had child and later dies leaving the residence to these persons, the interspousal or parent-child exclusions apply, as relevant.
Second, take the same hypothetical but now say that one sibling does not reside there for the required period. In that case, if the siblings transfer title from themselves as cotenants in common to themselves as joint tenants – perhaps adding their respective spouses and/or registered domestic partners as joint tenants – then the death of the first joint tenant will not trigger a reassessment.
That however, also means that the surviving joint tenant(s) inherit(s) complete ownership of the residence.
Clearly that is not the typical result desired by most persons involved that type of co-ownership situation who usually want to leave their share to their children.
The foregoing rules each have their own nuances that are beyond the scope of this article. Before proceeding to rely on any exclusion consult with a qualified advisor.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at