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NORTH COAST, Calif. – The annual quarantine on sport-harvested mussels gathered along the Mendocino Coast is now in effect.
The quarantine is in effect because testing by the California Department of Public Health has detected elevated levels of domoic acid and high numbers of the algae that produce this toxin.
“The quarantine is in place to protect the public against poisoning that can lead to severe illness, including coma and death,” said California Department of Public Health Director and State Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman. “It is critical that the public honor this quarantine, as toxins found in mussels have no known antidotes. These toxins are not reliably destroyed by cooking.”
This quarantine, which typically starts on May 1 and ends Oct. 31, protects the public from paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and domoic acid poisoning (DAP).
Both of these toxins are linked to plankton consumed by filter-feeding animals, including bivalve shellfish, like mussels. The majority of human cases of PSP illnesses occur between spring and fall.
“Last year’s toxin levels resulted in extended warnings and quarantines in some areas,” added Chapman. “It’s very important that the public be aware of the current conditions.”
PSP affects the central nervous system, producing a tingling around the mouth and fingertips as soon as a few minutes after eating toxic shellfish.
These symptoms are typically followed by a loss of balance, lack of muscular coordination, slurred speech and difficulty swallowing. In severe cases, complete muscular paralysis and death from asphyxiation can occur.
Symptoms of DAP, also known as amnesic shellfish poisoning, can occur within 30 minutes to 24 hours after eating toxic seafood.
In mild cases, symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache and dizziness. These symptoms disappear completely within several days. In severe cases, the victim may experience difficulty breathing, confusion, disorientation, seizures, permanent loss of short-term memory, coma and death.
Commercially harvested shellfish are not included in the annual quarantine. That’s because all commercial shellfish harvesters in California are certified by the state and subject to strict requirements to ensure that all oysters, clams and mussels entering the marketplace are free of toxins.
More information about the quarantine, PSP and DAP can be found on the CDPH Annual Mussel Quarantine FAQ Web page, www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/MusselQuarantineFAQ.aspx .
For updated information on quarantines and shellfish toxins, call the CDPH Biotoxin Information Line (1-800-553-4133).
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A Middletown man died on Friday night as the result of a crash that involved five vehicles and injured several people in Rancho Cordova.
Ivan Cecil Calvin, 51, died in the crash, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office confirmed to Lake County News on Monday.
In a report issued by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office – which contracts with the Rancho Cordova Police Department – the agency explained that the crash occurred just before 11:15 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the intersection of Folsom and Sunrise boulevards, resulting in the closure of streets in the area for several hours.
Rancho Cordova Police officers and Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the location in response to numerous calls from people reporting the crash, officials reported.
Officials said preliminary information suggested that a Volvo sedan – driven by Calvin – was traveling westbound on Folsom Boulevard at an extremely high rate of speed when it collided with a Range Rover SUV traveling southbound on Folsom Boulevard through the intersection.
The collision initiated a chain reaction in which three other passenger vehicles were struck, the sheriff’s office said.
Calvin was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.
The sheriff’s office said a 4-year-old boy who was a passenger in the Range Rover was ejected from the vehicle and thrown into the street. He sustained injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.
The driver of the SUV, the child and occupants from three other vehicles all were transported to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries, which were not reported to be life-threatening, officials said.
The report said the crash remains under investigation by the Rancho Cordova Police Department's Traffic Motor Unit.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The second annual list ranking the country’s best bass lakes has been released by Bassmaster Magazine.
Michigan’s Lake St. Clair took the No. 1 spot, while Falcon Lake, which was last year’s No.1, fell to seventh.
Texas’ Sam Rayburn Reservoir took the second spot, while Clear Lake was ranked No. 3.
Lake Guntersville, Ala., and Lake Erie – which stretches through Michigan, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania – landed in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
“It is truly amazing how much a fishery can change in the span of 12 months,” said BassmasterMagazine Editor James Hall. “Most bass anglers, including me, figured Falcon would be ranked No. 1 for the next decade. However, the fishing there has been tough because of drought and fishing pressure. And based on the metrics we use to create the list, then rank the lakes, Lake St. Clair deserved the title of best bass lake in America.”
St. Clair’s smallmouth population is legendary, but it is the emergence of its largemouth fishery that solidified its No. 1 ranking.
Elite Series pro Jason Christie won the most recent B.A.S.S. event there with a three-day total of 67-4. But the most astounding fact from that July tournament was that 135 of the 147 pro anglers boated five-fish limits every day, with more than two tons of bass being weighed in.
The metrics used to create the rankings included catch rate and shock data from state wildlife agencies; a survey of B.A.S.S. Nation conservation directors and presidents based on tournaments held across the country; and a survey of 3,500 B.A.S.S. members across the country to detail nontournament lakes.
To finalize the rankings, Bassmaster enlisted a panel of outdoor writers, Elite Series pros and fishing industry insiders.
“The process is as all-encompassing and data-driven as we can make it. Our goal is to identify the hottest lakes in the country so fishermen don’t have to worry about doing the research,” Hall said. “An angler can look at this list and know that the lakes are very healthy, and the odds of having a fantastic day on the water are high.”
He added, “One of the biggest jumps was Chickamauga Lake in Tennessee. That body of water is on fire right now with 40-pound limits being caught. It was 61st last year, and climbed to the sixth spot this year.”
Lake Okeechobee (Fla.), San Joaquin Delta (Calif.) and Toledo Bend Reservoir (Texas) round out the Top 10.
For the complete listing of lakes and details on the fisheries, visit www.Bassmaster.com/top100 .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday, May 1.
The meeting will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the conference room at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
Agenda items for Wednesday include a report on Lakeport’s branding efforts, a discussion of regional economic development, committee member reports and business outreach efforts. They also will schedule future speakers and meetings, and there will be the opportunity for citizen’s input.
At the end of the meeting there also may be a site visit to the Carnegie Library, for which the group is looking at possible future uses.
The committee advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members do not have to be Lakeport residents. Current members include Mireya Turner, Melissa Fulton, Carol Hays, Barbara Johnson, George Linn, Nina Marino, Wilda Shock, Bill Eaton and Taira St. John. City staffers Andrew Britton and Margaret Silveira are ex-officio committee members.
The committee is next scheduled to meet from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 5, at Lakeport City Hall.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The US Attorney’s Office has dropped the case against a Middletown man indicted earlier this year in a case alleging conspiracy in a home invasion robbery, while it has reached a plea agreement with another defendant and is moving forward with the cases against two other men.
Earlier this month US Attorney Melinda Haag’s office dismissed without prejudice its case against Eric Mendonca, who in January was indicted along with Petaluma residents Terry Jacksen and Michael Puckett, and Jack David Pollack of Hidden Valley Lake on suspicion of having robbed a Hidden Valley Lake resident of his marijuana, as Lake County News has reported.
Calls and emails to the public information office of the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California regarding the case were not returned.
“The case against Eric should not have been brought,” Mendonca’s federal defender, Elizabeth Meyer Falk, told Lake County News in an email.
During raids in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake last December, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took Mendonca – a former Lake County Sheriff’s deputy and Petaluma Police officer – into custody along with Jacksen and Pollack, while Puckett was arrested in January.
In January a federal grand jury charged the four men with robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer.
The men had been accused of committing an October 2012 home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake, where 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000 and a variety of other items were taken, according to the indictment.
Pollack, who owns a well pump business, allegedly had cased the home. Later, Jacksen – who had been staying on property rented by Mendonca in Middletown – arrived, allegedly dressed as a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, and told the home’s occupants that he was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was there to conduct a search. The home’s occupants were tied up and the marijuana plants were stolen.
According to the original case documents, Mendonca had been alleged to have provided Jacksen with the police uniforms.
During a search of Mendonca and Jacksen’s property in Middletown on Dec. 19 items including guns, a set of Lake County Sheriff’s Office handcuffs and a cellular telephone containing images of Jacksen and Puckett posing in Lake County Sheriff’s Office uniforms with firearms were discovered, according to case documents.
On March 13, US District Court Judge William Alsup signed an order to sever the case of Mendonca from his codefendants.
“Having heard a long day’s worth of testimony over the truthfulness or not of the search warrant affidavit, the Court is concerned that the case against Eric Mendonca has been built on innuendo and surmise rather than admissible evidence and that possibly he is an innocent man,” the order stated.
“Mr. Mendonca wants a speedy trial to vindicate himself, but his co-defendants do not,” the document continued. “The Court is further concerned that forcing Mr. Mendonca into a large trial, whenever it may eventually occur, with other co-defendants on unrelated issues will prejudice his right to a fair trial. Removing Mr. Mendonca from the mix will also simplify the later, larger trial.”
The March 13 severance order indicated Mendonca’s trial was to be set for late April, but just a few weeks after that order was filed, the US Attorney’s Office followed up by dismissing the indictment against Mendonca only without prejudice, which means the case could be filed again at a later time. Judge Alsup signed that dismissal order.
The cases against Mendonca’s codefendants, however, have proceeded, according to court records.
Jacksen reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. On April 16 a change of plea hearing was held for Jacksen before Judge Alsup, at which point documents indicated Jacksen pleaded guilty to one of the seven counts against him, namely, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The court accepted Jacksen’s plea and ruled he was convicted as charged.
The count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years’ imprisonment, a maximum three years’ supervised release and a fine that could go as high as $250,000, based on the indictment.
As a result of the plea agreement, the government will dismiss the remaining counts at sentencing, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. July 23. The matter was referred to probation for a presentence report.
In Pollack’s case, a motion hearing has been set for May 14, and a bond hearing for Puckett is set for Thursday, May 2, before Judge Laurel Beeler.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The 19th annual Heron Days bird tours event is Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5, sponsored by the Redbud Audubon Society.
The event features 90-minute pontoon-boat birding tours to see nesting birds and wildlife at two different locations on Clear Lake this year.
On Saturday, May 4, boats will leave from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. from the boat launch docks at Lakeside County Park in Kelseyville. The boat tours will go north along the shoreline of Clear Lake to the heron rookery near Corinthian Bay.
Sunday, May 5, boats will leave during the same hours from the boat launch docks at Redbud Park in the City of Clearlake. The boat tours will visit the heron rookery in Anderson Marsh at the south end of Clear Lake.
Each boat will have an experienced Audubon guide to explain the birds being seen on the tours. Besides several species of nesting herons and egrets, tour guests may see nesting osprey and cormorants, yellow-headed blackbirds, and Western and Clark’s grebes in courtship displays where they “dance” in pairs across the lake surface.
Boat tour tickets are $20 each and are available for on-line purchase at www.redbudaudubon.org or call 707-263-8030.
The other activities held at past Heron Festivals have been discontinued, including speakers, exhibit booths, and children’s activities.
With attendance reaching 2,000 people in recent years, the Heron Festival had grown to a point requiring over 200 Audubon volunteers and four months’ planning time for the all-volunteer festival managers. Consequently, this year’s event focuses only on the birding boat tours.