News

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol will conduct a sobriety checkpoint in Lake County on Sunday, April 14.

“The desired result is to save lives and make the roadways safe for both our community residents and those visiting our beautiful county,” said Lieutenant Greg Baarts, commander of the CHP’s Clear Lake Area office.

The sobriety checkpoint will be staffed by officers who are trained in the detection of alcohol and/or drug impaired drivers.  

Drug recognition evaluators, certified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will be on site to provide on the spot assessments of drivers suspected of drug use.

The officers also will be equipped with state of the art handheld breath devices which provide an accurate measure of blood alcohol concentrations of suspected drunk drivers.    

“Traffic volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs can expect to be arrested,” said Baarts. “Our goal is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist by targeting roads where there is a high frequency of drunk driving.”

He added, “DUI enforcement patrols, as well as sobriety checkpoints, are effective tools for achieving this goal and are designed to augment existing patrol operations. By publicizing our efforts, we believe that we can deter motorists from drinking and driving.”

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Lake County’s annual Relay for Life event a month away, community members who are part of the crusade to put an end to cancer are out in force, raising funds and awareness.

Relay for Life takes place from 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, to 10 a.m. Sunday, May 19, at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport.

Event committee member Stacey Folmar said relay teams are working right now on fundraising for the event.

“Our teams have so many wonderful and creative fundraising ideas going on this year,” said Folmar.

If you wake up tomorrow morning and see a purple saddle  in your yard, don’t panic, said Folmar; it’s just the Relay For Life team Relay Riders saddle that has been moving around Lake County collecting donations.

She said the fundraiser is called “Don’t Be Saddled With Cancer” and it’s been going on for the last few weeks.

It will cost a fee to have it removed from the yard, just like it did with those who found pink plastic flamingos and a huge purple angel in their yards, she said.

Folmar said Relay for Life is an overnight event where participants come together to walk around a track, have lots of fun, camp out in tents and – most importantly – remember those they have lost to cancer and honor survivors.

Relay For Life is the largest nonprofit fundraising event in the world and has been for many, a life- changing experience.

For more information about this year’s event, or to sign up, visit http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY13CA?pg=entry&;fr_id=48945 .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The 19th annual Heron Days birding bird tours next month will offer a unique and closeup view of the county’s wide and beautiful array of birdlife.

The tours will take place on Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5, and are 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.

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.

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 online purchase at www.redbudaudubon.org or call 707-263-8030.

It is the designated number the public dials in the event of an emergency: 9-1-1.

Throughout the state, public safety dispatchers with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) answer nearly 20,000 calls for assistance every day.

As a law enforcement agency with approximately 900 dispatch personnel, the CHP knows these highly trained professionals are the first line of defense and play a critical role in saving lives.

To honor the dedication and lifesaving efforts of 9-1-1 professionals everywhere, the CHP joins with the U.S. Congress in recognizing April 14-20, 2013, as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

“Our dispatchers and emergency call takers are handling the vast majority of the state’s wireless 9-1-1 calls, ensuring appropriate assistance is quickly provided to those in need,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “These caring professionals are also an important resource for officers in the field, providing valuable information to them during the course of their daily duties.”

With 25 communications/dispatch centers statewide, the CHP handled approximately 9.2 million calls for service last year, 7.1 million of which were wireless 9-1-1 calls.

In addition to recognizing the hard-working public safety communicators, the CHP offers the following tips as a part of National 9-1-1 Education Month:

• Be prepared to provide your name, telephone number, address or location, and a detailed description of the incident being reported.
• Listen carefully and let the dispatcher ask questions and guide the conversation.
• Answer questions clearly and calmly, and follow all directions provided by the dispatcher.
• Be prepared to provide a physical description if an emergency involves a criminal suspect.
• Wireless telephones may not tell the call-taker where you are. Use a landline to report an emergency whenever possible.
• Remember, 9-1-1 is only for life-threatening emergencies. Misuse of the emergency 9-1-1 system is a crime and can result in a delay for callers with real emergencies.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Kelseyville man has been arrested on multiple charges of sexual abuse and child molestation.

Brian Barrett Stasko, 22, was arrested on Wednesday, April 3, in San Diego County, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Brooks said Stasko was arrested by the San Diego Sheriff’s Office on a felony warrant obtained by detectives of the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit.

The warrant was the result of an ongoing investigation into the sexual assault of a 13-year-old juvenile which occurred in November 2012, Brooks said.

Stasko was booked into the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility on Tuesday, where he currently remains in custody with bail set at $1 million, Brooks said.

Stasko was charged with aggravated sexual assault on a child under the age of 14, committing lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of great bodily injury on the victim or another person, according to Brooks.

His booking sheet indicated Stasko was to appear in court on Wednesday.

LAKEPORT, Calif. –  The Lake County Rodeo Association will hold its Rodeo Kickoff Dance later this month.

The event, a fundraiser for the 84th annual Lake County Rodeo, will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, April 27, in Fritch Hall at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.

The doors and bar opens at 5 p.m., with a buffet style barbecue tri tip and chicken dinner served from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dancing to the Blue Rock Country Club band begins at 8 p.m.

On hand that evening will be 2012 Lake County Rodeo Queen Jocelyn Bennett and 2012 Princess Makenna Kidd.  

The search is on for the 2013 queen and princess; applications can be found at www.lakecountyrodeo.com . Young women interested in speaking with Jocelyn and Makenna about the competition will be able to do so at the dance that evening.

Major dance sponsor this year is family-owned Chapel of the Lake Mortuary.  

A live auction has prizes including a two-person duck hunt, which includes food and lodging; Marlin Saddle Gun 336W 30/30 lever action; and a one week stay at a QM Resort in Lake Tahoe or Sparks, Nev. In addition guests will have the opportunity to win many great raffle prizes.  

Tickets are $25 per person and can be obtained at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, 707-263-5092, credit cards accepted or Rainbow Ag at the front counter.  

For further information, call Dance Chair Angel Purdy at 707-349-1991.

The 84th annual Lake County Rodeo will be held at the fairgrounds in Lakeport at 7 p.m. Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13.

The 2013 Platinum Spur Sponsor this year is Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino, who has held that position for 12 years.