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This story has been updated with new details, including the man’s name.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – For decades, the man in the yellow boat fishing along docks in Jago Bay had become a familiar and welcome sight to residents.
But neighbors became concerned when they found his empty boat on Tuesday night, and a sheriff’s official confirmed that the man’s body was found on Wednesday.
A Thursday evening report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 73-year-old John Henry Taberner of Richmond.
Sgt. Don McPherson of the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol said Taberner’s body was located by a visiting dive team thanks to a remotely operated underwater vehicle lent to the search by the San Francisco Police Department.
Mary and Norm Benson had seen Taberner fishing along their dock for years, going up under the dock on hot days or tying up to a nearby piling, where there is good fishing.
Although she had only spoken to him once, “We felt like we knew him,” Mary Benson said Thursday, adding that neighbors had reported seeing Taberner in the area regularly for 30 years.
On Tuesday evening, Norm Benson noticed the yellow and white fiberglass boat was down on their home’s beach, in amongst the willow trees, Mary Benson explained.
She said her husband went running down to the beach and found the boat idling in neutral, with no sign of the fisherman.
They placed a call to the sheriff’s office at around 7 p.m. Tuesday, she said.
McPherson said Taberner was last seen with his boat tied to a piling, fishing about 40 feet away from where the boat was found on the beach. The sheriff’s office report said Taberner was last seen at noon on Tuesday.
When the call about the missing fisherman came in on Tuesday evening, officials were in the midst of a search for missing 9-year-old Mikaela Lynch, McPherson said. That search would end Wednesday morning with the girl’s body found in Cache Creek.
On Tuesday night weather conditions were “just brutal” on Clear Lake, said McPherson. “The waves were really bad.”
He said they didn’t have a missing person’s report and didn’t know who was in the boat, so they made sure it wasn’t a navigational hazard and cleared the scene for the night.
McPherson said the sheriff’s office contacted the Clearlake Police Department, which checked the boat ramp at Redbud Park and found a vehicle registered to Taberner parked there.
Clearlake Police, in turn, contacted the Richmond Police Department, which sent officers to Taberner’s home. A neighbor told them that he was watching the house as Taberner had gone fishing on Clear Lake, McPherson said.
After the Mikaela Lynch search ended on Wednesday, officials found that Taberner’s vehicle was still parked at Redbud Park, at which time McPherson said he began to investigate further.
McPherson contacted the county’s Office of Emergency Services coordinators, who gave him another mission number in order to use the out-of-county search and rescue resources that were still on scene after the search for the child had concluded.
Search teams from Placer and El Dorado counties were put on the shore in Jago Bay in the case Taberner had gotten to shore. “We just covered our bases,” McPherson said.
The Sacramento Drowning and Accident Rescue Team – known as DART – sent divers and sonar equipment to the scene, and San Francisco Police sent their underwater search vehicle, which McPherson said was put in the water near where the boat had last been seen tied up.
He estimated they searched for about a half an hour before locating Taberner’s body. The sheriff’s office said the body was found just before 4 p.m. at a depth of 15 feet, about 10 feet from the piling where the boat was tied when it was last seen.
The water temperature in the area was 68 degrees, McPherson said.
McPherson said officials have been told Taberner may have had some medical conditions, and they have some hypotheses that he wouldn’t detail about what may have happened. He didn’t have any information on injuries the man may have sustained.
Conditions may have played a part. “The weather was rough,” he said.
McPherson added, “He was not wearing a life jacket.”
McPherson thanked the assisting agencies for their help, and said that without San Francisco Police’s underwater search vehicle, “We wouldn’t have found him that quick.”
Benson said she had liked seeing Taberner on his regular trips, noting that he had been part of their landscape on the lake.
“We’ll really miss him,” she said.
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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A Stockton man and his son escaped injury on Thursday morning after the semi truck in which they were traveling overturned on Highway 20.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash involving the 1997 Peterbilt tractor-trailer occurred at 5:50 a.m. west of Walker Ridge Road.
Truck driver Benito Guerrero, 45, was heading westbound in the semi, pulling a two-axle flatbed trailer loaded with PVC pipe, with his 11-year-old son as his passenger, the CHP said.
For reasons that investigators have yet to determine, as Guerrero was driving through a lefthand curve the trailer overturned. That, in turn, caused the tractor-trailer to overturn, according to the CHP.
The CHP said the overturned Peterbilt and its spilled load of PVC pipe blocked both lanes of Highway 20, closing the highway down for approximately four hours.
Both Guerrero and his son were wearing their seat belts, the CHP said.
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UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Erica Boomer, an agricultural education teacher and Future Farmers of America advisor at Upper Lake Union High School, has been selected as the 2013-14 Lake County Teacher of the Year.
Tim Gill, senior director of Educational Services at Lake County Office of Education, announced Boomer’s selection on Wednesday.
Boomer will represent Lake County in the upcoming California Teacher of the Year competition.
Each year the school districts in the county select one exemplary teacher as their District Teacher of the Year. A committee of community leaders then interviews these candidates.
The criteria for selection of the Lake County Teacher of the Year is based upon the state and national requirements, which include professional development activities, commitment to the improvement of the educational system, personal attributes, creativity and ability to communicate ideas effectively, and professional skills in delivering curriculum and instruction to students.
This year’s selection committee members included Gill, along with Pamela Bordisso, Nyla Norris, Richard Smith and Wally Holbrook.
Boomer holds a degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she majored in agricultural education with a minor in forestry and natural resources.
For the past eight years she has been an instructor at Upper Lake High School, where she helped develop AESA, a California Partnership Academy, which is a hands-on interactive, academic approach to Alternative Energy and Sustainable Agriculture.
She started the ag program at Upper Lake Elementary School in 2005 and has successfully gained grant funds to establish the program.
“My students have found great success in the ag program,” she said. “Through my ROP Agricultural Mechanics class, students have had a part in building the school farm. They have learned construction principles while building the barn; they can build a fence, trench water lines, and weed-whack and rotor-till like champs!”
“Erica is more than just a teacher; she is the single reason why students succeed. Erica has that amazing ability to take her subject matter and make it come to life for her students,” said Patrick Iaccino, superintendent and principal of Upper Lake High.
Boomer best describes her passion for teaching. “Sometimes I wonder, ‘Why am I doing all of this?’ Then the bell rings and my students come in excited to see if the chicks have hatched yet, and I remember I am doing this because I love seeing the spark of interest in them. Agricultural education is more than growing food and fiber; it’s developing and nurturing a love for country life and respect for those around you. I love Lake County and I love my job.”
The outstanding district teachers of the year for 2013-14 are Travis Lyons, Konocti Unified School District; Sharon Olson, Kelseyville Unified School District; Louise Owens, Middletown Unified School District; Hank Smith, Upper Lake Union Elementary School District; Tresa Thorley, Lakeport Unified School District; and Doreen Walstad, Lucerne Elementary School District.
Boomer and the district teachers of the year will be honored for their exceptional achievement at an event this fall.
For more information on the upcoming award ceremony, please contact Shelly Mascari at the Lake County Office of Education,
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A standoff in Clearlake Oaks ended late Wednesday night with a man who had held law enforcement at bay for several hours taken into custody.
The standoff was first reported shortly before 5 p.m. at a home on Fourth Street, between Schindler and Shaul streets, as Lake County News has reported.
Witnesses reported that it ended at approximately 10:43 p.m. after SWAT team members broke down the home’s door and also broke some windows to gain entrance.
The 52-year-old male suspect was taken out of the house in handcuffs, with law enforcement continuing to go through the house afterward, witnesses said.
Radio reports indicated the suspect was taken to the hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his left calf, which he reportedly received at about 5:30 p.m. He also was reported to be under the influence of alcohol.
The standoff began after the suspect allegedly shot a woman with a pellet gun.
The woman, Brenda Austin, said she had gone to the home to discuss a vehicle. She said the suspect became angry and he allegedly shot at her twice, hitting her with the second shot.
She showed Lake County News what appeared to be a pellet gun wound in her left hip.
After being injured, she said she left and called 911, and said she also left the alleged assailant a phone message saying she had called law enforcement.
When deputies arrived, scanner traffic indicated that the man had shot at them several times either with a pellet gun or a small caliber gun.
Jesse Langhorne, who lives on Schindler Street, said he heard someone yelling, “Drop the gun” repeatedly. Then he said he heard several loud gunshots from what he believed was a sheriff’s deputy.
Law enforcement agencies from around the county responded, among them the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Staged out on Highway 20 near Shaul were Northshore Fire Protection District personnel.
Immediate neighbors of the home reported being told to leave their residences. CHP and sheriff’s staff continued to push residents and onlookers back, finally cordoning off portions of Shaul and Schindler and all of Fourth Street.
A negotiator called in to the man, trying to convince him to leave his home and come out. A second negotiator arrived later, and she also took turns trying to get the man to surrender.
It was reported at the scene that power and water had been cut to the home, with lights being set up outside of the home. SWAT team members appeared to be using strobe lights on the home’s exterior after dark.
As the night wore on, the temperature dropped and winds kicked up in the neighborhood, finally causing many neighbors who had clustered outside in groups watching the incident to return to their homes.
Neighbors said the man has lived in the area for some time, and that he may possibly have shared the home with roommates.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The increased cloud cover and cooler temperatures on Wednesday and overnight are ushering in chances for rain throughout Northern California – including Lake County – on Thursday.
Expect occasional light rain Thursday along with breezy southwesterly winds and daytime highs only reaching into the upper 60s, according to Western Weather Group Lake County.
Although the chance for rain will dissipate throughout the day, temperatures are forecast to remain cool again on Friday, with highs just a few degrees warmer with clearing skies.
The weekend is expected to be sunny, with highs in 70s, rebounding back into the 80s by Sunday.
Overnight lows are forecast to reach into the 40s, but cooler valley areas may see temperatures dip into the 30s.
Forecasters expect Saturday morning will be the coldest morning over the next few days as temperatures begin trending back upwards.
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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – An armed standoff occurred at in Clearlake Oaks Wednesday at approximately 5 p.m. after a man reportedly shot several times at officers there possibly with a pellet gun.
One woman suffered a minor injury after being shot in the left hip. Her wound appears to be from a pellet gun.
According to reports the armed man barricaded himself in a home located on Fourth Street between Schindler and Shaul streets after the woman who had been shot called 911.
Multiple agencies responded with as many as nine units including a SWAT team.
Nearby residents were evacuated, just before 6 p.m. authorities called for Pacific Gas and Electric to shut off power to the residence. Water and power has been cut to the residence in an effort to force him outside.
Law enforcement negotiators attempted unsuccessfully to contact the man by telephone.
After being unable to reach the man by phone, a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy used a loudspeaker during the standoff. The negotiator repeatedly told the man to put the gun down and exit the residence but received no response.
Later authorities offered water to the man in an attempt to get him to exit the residence.
This article will be updated with video from the scene.
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