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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A young man who died after being shot during a late night robbery will be honored at a memorial service this weekend.
Forrest Seagrave, 33, died last Friday, Jan. 18, after being shot at Mt. Konocti Gas and Mart on Main Street in Kelseyville. He had worked at the gas station since 2006.
His memorial service will take place beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at Kelseyville High School – 5480 Main St. – where he was a student. The memorial will be held in the school's student center.
Hundreds attended a candlelight vigil for Seagrave at the gas station last Saturday.
Friends have remembered Seagrave as a caring and generous young man, whose consideration for others made the violence of his death just that much more shocking.
Detectives continue to follow every lead in the killing in an attempt to find the suspect, who fled into the night after the shooting.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest and conviction.
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The California Department of Water Resources will conduct this winter's second snow survey on Tuesday, Jan. 29.
The second snow survey each season is the first comprehensive look at the snowpack in which all snow courses active in the statewide network, approximately 250, are measured manually.
In comparison, just 15 to 20 courses typically are manually measured in the initial surveys. The manual surveys – conducted on or about the first of the month from January through May – supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic sensors up and down the state’s mountain ranges.
One focus of attention on Jan. 29 will be the manual survey conducted near Echo Summit. This combined with the information gathered from all the manual surveys and the electronic sensors will give a comprehensive picture of statewide snowpack conditions.
Electronic readings on Thursday indicated that water content in the statewide snowpack is 97 percent of normal for the date and 53 percent of the average April 1 reading, when the snowpack is normally at its peak before the spring melt.
The snowpack normally provides about a third of California’s water supply as it slowly melts into streams, reservoirs and aquifers in spring and early summer.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's principal storage reservoir, is at 113 percent of its average level for the date, 75 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity.
Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 112 percent of its normal storage level for the date, 75 percent of capacity.
However, San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, an important storage reservoir south of the Delta, is at only 77 percent of average for the date, 60 percent of its capacity of 2,027,840 acre-feet.
San Luis is a critically important source of water for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, the Department of Water Resources said.
An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
Conditions between now and early spring will determine the amount of State Water Project water the Department of Water Resources will be able to deliver this calendar year.
The current estimate is that Department of Water Resources will be able to deliver 40 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of water requested by the 29 public agencies that distribute State Water Project water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.
The final State Water Project allocation for calendar year 2012 was 65 percent of requested deliveries. The initial delivery estimate for calendar year 2011 was only 25 percent of requested State Water Project water.
However, as winter took hold, a near-record snowpack and heavy rains resulted in deliveries of 80 percent of requests in 2011.
The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.
The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of pumping restrictions to protect Delta fish – was in 2006.
U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) on Wednesday introduced legislation to keep lawmakers from being paid during a default or shutdown of the federal government.
The “Government Shutdown and Default Prevention Act” would prevent members of Congress and the president of the United States from being paid retroactively after a government shutdown, and also would prevent them from being paid if the public debt limit is reached and the government defaults on its financial obligations.
“A default on our nation’s debt or a deliberate shutdown of our government would be a disaster for our economy and hurt millions of Americans,” Sen. Boxer said. “This legislation would send a simple message to members of Congress – if you take these actions that will severely harm the American people, you don’t deserve and won’t receive a paycheck.”
“This is common sense legislation that ensures that lawmakers are held accountable for a failure to act in the best interest of our economy and nation,” said Sen. Casey. “Playing roulette with the credit standing and functioning of the United States government is simply an unacceptable risk to the security of middle class Americans.”
Boxer and Casey introduced the same legislation in the 112th Congress, which passed the Senate in March 2011 by unanimous consent. However, the House refused to act on the measure.
Economists and business leaders have warned that a default would have catastrophic impacts on the global financial system and the U.S. economy, and a government shutdown would hurt millions of Americans by disrupting Social Security checks, benefits for veterans and paychecks for our troops.
In recent weeks, there have been concerns about the possibility of a default on the nation’s debt or a government shutdown, although lawmakers on Wednesday reached agreement on temporarily raising the debt ceiling through May.
Currently, members of Congress and the President are treated differently from millions of other federal employees because they are paid through mandatory spending required by law (2 U.S.C. 31 and 3 U.S.C 102) rather than through the annual appropriations process.
The Boxer-Casey bill would fix this inequity by saying that the president and members of Congress “shall not receive basic pay for any period in which there is more than a 24 hour lapse in appropriations for any Federal agency or department as a result of a failure to enact a regular appropriations bill or continuing resolution OR if the Federal Government is unable to make payments or meet obligations because the debt limit … has been reached.”
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A county supervisor is organizing a community town hall for early next month in order to discuss public safety in Kelseyville, where the community has been shaken due to a fatal shooting during an armed robbery.
Supervisor Rob Brown said he has scheduled the town hall for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the Kelseyville High School Student Center, 5480 Main St.
The call for the town hall comes less than a week after 33-year-old Forrest Seagrave was mortally wounded during a robbery at Mt. Konocti Gas and Mart – located across the street from the high school – where he had worked for several years.
Seagrave was shot late Friday, Jan. 18, after a confrontation with a masked suspect who, after shooting Seagrave, took a small amount of cash and fled the store.
Lake County Sheriff’s detectives continue to investigate Seagrave’s murder and search for the suspect, described as a male, approximately 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, with a thin build. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and gloves, and fled on foot.
Brown led the effort to raise the $10,000 reward now being offered for information leading to the suspect’s arrest and conviction.
While the town hall is meant to discuss recent events like Seagrave’s shooting, Brown said it’s meant to also address other public safety issues related to the Kelseyville community.
Over the last month the Kelseyville area has been the scene of other violent crimes, including the shooting in the face of a young Clearlake man during a fight in the Clear Lake Riviera.
No arrests have been reported in that case, and no information from officials has been forthcoming about a man who was stabbed numerous times earlier this month and then taken into town and left at Mt. Konocti Gas, as Lake County News has reported.
For the Feb. 7 meeting, Brown said he has invited representatives from the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, Lake County Probation and State Parole.
While there are many things to discuss at the meeting, Brown said the bottom line is that the community must do everything possible to take back control of Kelseyville.
“I am committed to doing everything within my ability to make sure that Kelseyville is a safe place for us, our businesses and our families,” Brown said in an email he sent to community leaders announcing the town hall. “With your help we can make this happen and together we will take back our home.”
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After a year of improvements in its employment picture, Lake County finished 2012 with joblessness ticking up slightly.
The Employment Development Department said Lake County’s preliminary December unemployment rate was 15.1 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the revised November rate.
At the same time, Lake County’s unemployment in December was down compared to the 16 percent seen locally in December 2011, the agency reported.
Across California, unemployment was 9.8 percent in December, remaining unchanged from November, but showing improvement from the year-over comparison of 11.2 percent, the Employment Development Department reported.
The U.S. unemployment rate also was unchanged in December at 7.8 percent, down from 8.5 percent in December 2011, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state’s report for December showed California’s nonfarm jobs totaled 14,398,800, a decrease of 17,500 jobs over the month.
The number of people unemployed in California was 1,805,000 – down by 1,000 over the month, and down by 255,000 compared with December of last year, the state said.
Lake County had 3,770 unemployed in December, compared to 3,620 in November. In December 2011, Lake County had 4,080 unemployed, according to state records.
Dennis Mullins of the Employment Development Department’s North Coast Region Labor Market Information Division said total Lake County wage and salary employment decreased 30 jobs between November and December as construction and tourism made seasonal job cutbacks.
He said Lake is down 180 jobs over the year, with seven industry sectors gaining or going unchanged and four declining.
Year-over job growth occurred in trade, transportation and utilities, up 10 jobs; private educational and health services, 10; and other services, 20, Mullins said.
Mullins said industry sectors with no change over the year were farm, manufacturing, information and financial activities.
Industry sectors with decline over the year included mining, logging and construction, -30; professional & business services, -10; leisure and hospitality, -100; and government, -70.
Lake County’s unemployment rate ranked it No. 50 among the state’s 58 counties. Unemployment rates and rankings for Lake’s neighboring counties include Colusa, 23.7 percent, No. 57; Glenn, 14.4 percent, No. 43; Mendocino, 9.5 percent, No. 20; Napa, 7.9 percent, No. 9; Sonoma, 7.7 percent, No. 8; Yolo, 11.7 percent, No. 32.
Looking at the state job picture
The Employment Development Department said there were 496,500 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during the December survey week, compared with 391,870 in November and 536,442 in December 2011.
The agency said new claims for unemployment insurance were 51,545 in December 2012, compared with 39,879 in November and 80,276 in December 2011.
Regarding the job picture in various industry sectors, the state report said three categories – construction; information; and educational and health services – added jobs over the month, gaining 16,800 jobs. Educational and health services posted the largest increase over the month, adding 9,200 jobs.
Eight categories – mining and logging; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; financial activities; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; other services; and government – reported job declines over the month, down 34,300 jobs, the state said. Trade, transportation and utilities posted the largest decrease over the month, down 11,200 jobs.
In a year-over-year comparison – December 2011 to December 201 – the state said nonfarm payroll employment in California increased by 225,900 jobs, up 1.6 percent.
Seven categories – construction; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; and leisure and hospitality – posted job gains over the year, adding 277,400 jobs, according to the report.
The agency said leisure and hospitality posted the largest gains on a numerical basis, adding 60,700 jobs, up 3.9 percent.
The Employment Development Department report said the information sector posted the largest gains on a percentage basis, up 4.7 percent, adding 21,100 jobs.
Four categories – mining and logging; manufacturing; other services; and government – posted job declines over the year, down 51,500 jobs, the state said.
Government posted the largest declines on a numerical basis, down by 31,500 jobs or a 1.3 percent decrease, while the report said the “other services” category posted the largest declines on a percentage basis, decreasing by 1.7 percent or 8,400 jobs.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After Wednesday’s rain in Lake County, meteorologists say there’s the potential for more rain through the weekend.
The National Weather Service said a slow moving low pressure system was responsible for bringing rain and mountain snow to interior Northern California on Wednesday, with more precipitation expected Thursday.
The low pressure system prompted forecasters to release a hazardous weather outlook for Lake County and some other Northern California areas.
Unsettled weather will continue through the weekend, with another, colder storm from the Gulf of Alaska to bring rain more rain as well as snow in the mountains, the National Weather Service said.
There are chances of showers through the middle of Thursday morning, when the weather is expected to clear and the sun to come out. Friday will be partly sunny, with chances of showers returning that evening and continuing through Sunday, according to the forecast.
Light winds also are expected, with daytime temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s, the forecast said.
The National Weather Service said the weather is expected to clear early next week, with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday predicted to be partly sunny, with temperatures rising into the high 50s.
Nighttime temperatures for the next seven days are expected to be in the mid to high 30s, according to the forecast.
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