How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The compliance checks of two marijuana grow sites in the Lower Lake area last week resulted in two arrests and the eradication of 158 marijuana plants.
Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Kelseyville residents Frank Phillip Frazza, 23, and 24-year-old Thomas Jameson Whyte were arrested during the checks.
On Thursday, Aug. 2, at approximately 12:30 p.m. the Lake County Narcotics Task Force, a California Department of Fish and Game Officer and Lake County Code Enforcement conducted a compliance check on Cantwell Ranch Road in Lower Lake, Brooks said
Upon their arrival, Brooks said detectives contacted Frazza and Whyte, who have adjoining properties on Cantwell Ranch Road with no permitted structures.
Brooks said both subjects stated they grew marijuana for a collective in Los Angeles and had numerous medical recommendations. Neither Frazza nor Whyte knew any of the subjects listed on the recommendations.
Frazza had 73 marijuana plants growing outside on his property and Whyte had 85 marijuana plants growing outside on his property. Brooks said Whyte also had a large green house on the property for which he did not have a permit.
Both grow sites were determined to be in violation of Lake County Ordinance No. 2977 and all of the marijuana plants were eradicated, according to Brooks.
Both Frazza and Whyte were arrested for cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, Brooks said. They were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
On the nights of Saturday, Aug. 11 through Monday, Aug. 13, the best meteor shower of the year will fill predawn skies with hundreds of shooting stars.
And that’s just for starters. The brightest planets in the solar system are lining up right in the middle of the display.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the nights around Sunday, Aug. 12, as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle.
“We expect to see meteor rates as high as a hundred per hour,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “The Perseids always put on a good show.”
Perseids can be seen any time after 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. The best time to look, however, is during the dark hours immediately before dawn.
Also, advises Cooke, avoid city lights if possible. Faint meteors are easily lost in the urban glare. A visit to the countryside will typically triple the number of meteors you see.
This year’s display is extra-special because of the planets. Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon are gathering together just as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak.
The alignment occurs in the eastern sky before sunrise on the three mornings of highest meteor activity.
On Aug. 11, a 33 percent crescent Moon will glide by Jupiter, temporarily forming a bright pair directly above brilliant Venus.
Red-giant star Aldebaran will be there, too, adding a splash of color to the gathering.
On Aug. 12, the narrowing 24 percent crescent Moon will drop down between Jupiter and Venus. Together they make a bright three-point line in the sky, frequently bisected by shooting stars.
On Aug. 13, with the shower just beginning to wane, the planets put on their best show yet: The 17 percent crescent moon will pass less than 3 degrees from Venus as Jupiter hovers overhead.
Sky watchers say there’s nothing prettier than a close encounter between the slender crescent Moon and Venus – nothing, that is, except for the crescent Moon, Venus and a flurry of Perseids.
It’s only natural, while you’re watching a meteor shower like the Perseids, to count the number of shooting stars you see.
It turns out those numbers in your head are valuable. NASA wants them.
Meteor tallies gathered by amateur sky watchers can be used by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office to study and model the Perseid debris stream.
“We’ve developed an app for Android and iPhones to help amateur sky watchers count meteors in a scientific way and report the results to us,” says Cooke. “It’s called the ‘Meteor Counter’ and it’s available for free in the Android Marketplace and Apple’s App Store.”
For more news about the night sky and citizen science, please visit www.science.nasa.gov .
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Officials on Thursday confirmed Lake County's first West Nile Virus detection of the year.
Public health and vector control officials said the virus was found in a sample of 50 Culex tarsalis – Western encephalitis mosquitoes – collected Wednesday near Upper Lake.
Thirteen human cases of West Nile Virus infection have been reported in five California counties this summer, serving as a reminder that taking precautions is important to preventing this sometimes serious and even deadly infection. No cases have been reported in Lake County thus far.
The best way to stay healthy during West Nile Virus season is to prevent exposure to mosquito bites. West Nile Virus appears throughout most of California, so if you plan to be outside, use a mosquito repellent.
“When properly used, mosquito repellents that have been registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are safe and effective,” said Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait. “People should not rely on products that have not been scientifically tested.”
“Statewide there has been nearly five times the West Nile Virus activity that we had in 2011 at this time,” said Dr. Jamesina Scott, district manager and research director for the Lake County Vector Control District. “Both mosquitoes and West Nile Virus multiply faster when it’s hot, and the recent high temperatures have increased both mosquito and virus activity.”
Scott said the district is working hard to reduce the risk of mosquito bites and West Nile Virus to Lake County residents and visitors, but there is one area where they still need the public’s help – finding backyard sources like neglected swimming pools or ornamental ponds.
“Just one neglected swimming pool can produce thousands of mosquitoes per day, and cause problems for an entire neighborhood,” Scott said. “Fortunately, mosquitoes are easy to control in these habitats once we know where they are.”
Residents can request service, get mosquitofish, or report neglected swimming pools to the district at 707-263-4770 or www.lcvcd.org .
Officials emphasized that people need to drain standing water sources around their homes that may breed mosquitoes and they need to protect themselves with long sleeves or an effective repellent during dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.
West Nile Virus is transmitted by mosquitoes to a variety of animals and to humans. Mosquito and Vector Control agencies usually detect the virus in mosquitoes, birds and sometimes tree squirrels before human cases appear.
To report a dead bird or squirrel, call 1-877-WNV-BIRD (1-877-968-2473) or visit the California Department of Public Health’s West Nile Virus website at www.westnile.ca.gov .
So far in 2012, the majority of West Nile Virus activity detected through testing of dead birds, mosquito pools, and “sentinel” chickens has occurred in the southern portion of the state, but has appeared as close to Lake County as Contra Costa, Sutter, Glenn and Sacramento counties.
Most people who become infected with West Nile Virus do not show symptoms and will recover uneventfully. Health officials said up to 20 percent of people will develop fever, headache, and other nonspecific symptoms that may last several weeks.
Approximately one in 150 people will develop severe illness known as neuroinvasive disease, health officials reported. People over age 50 and diabetics appear to be at most risk for the more severe forms of disease. There is no vaccine for humans.
A vaccine is available for horses and is strongly recommended because West Nile Virus also can cause serious infections in horses.
For additional information on West Nile Virus, visit http://www.westnile.ca.gov , http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/wnv_factsheet.htm and http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/RepellentUpdates.htm .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday a Clearlake Oaks man received a 312-year sentence for a fatal 2011 shooting, just days after his codefendant in the case received a sentence of just one year less.
Yolo County Judge Doris Shockley sentenced 22-year-old Paul William Braden to what may be the longest sentence to emerge from a local court.
Braden and his codefendant Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr. were convicted of the June 18, 2011, shooting in Clearlake that killed four-year-old Skyler Rapp; wounded his mother, Desiree Kirby; her boyfriend, Ross Sparks; his brother, Andrew Sparks; Ian Griffith; and Joey Armijo.
The men – who were tried together but with different juries – were handed guilty verdicts about a week apart in June for first-degree murder, five charges of attempted murder, two counts of mayhem, six counts of assault with a firearm, a count of discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling, and the findings that numerous special allegations about use of a firearm and other charges were true.
They had allegedly shot into a crowd of friends and family at Kirby’s and Sparks’ home late that night, with the issues between the groups reportedly arising from a fight earlier in the month.
Braden appeared in court alongside his defense attorney, Doug Rhoades. For his sentencing he was dressed in a white and red Lake County Jail jumpsuit, his head shaved close.
Judge Shockley went over the charges and proposed sentences for each based on the Probation Department report.
She then asked Braden if he had anything to say.
“Yeah, I do,” he said.
“I'd like to state that I am innocent, regardless of what anyone in the courtroom thinks,” he began.
He blamed his conviction on a jailhouse informant that he said had zero facts.
Braden also pointed blame at Kevin Stone, originally charged in the murder case along with Braden and Lopez but who reached a plea agreement to lesser charges and testified against both men at their trial.
He called Stone a “self-proclaimed conspirator,” who “testified to save his own ass.” Braden accused District Attorney Don Anderson of letting a murderer get away.
He also criticized Rhoades. “I'd like to think my attorney did the best job he could,” but he said his attorney essentially said he was responsible for the crime.
Braden said many things should have been done better in the case. He said he had wanted to make a statement during the trial but was advised not to do so.
“I was simply convicted off of f***ing hearsay,” he said, then quickly asked that his language be excused.
“Sir,” said Shockley, “you’re going to conduct yourself in this courtroom with respect.”
Braden replied that she had not been respectful, and that “justice is crazy” in this county.
The court received three victim impact statements, from Desiree Kirby's uncle, her grandmother and from Kirby herself.
Kirby asked how Braden could shoot at her home, where her children were present.
The young mother recalled her young son through tears. “He was such a happy little boy, with so much potential, and you took that away.”
Last November, when Skyler would have turned 5 years old, Kirby said she took cupcakes to the cemetery.
She said she had worked hard to give her children a happy life.
“The fact that you sit there with a grin on your face kills me inside,” she said.
Kirby called Braden evil. “You took my son's life, you ruined my life.”
Shockley sentenced Braden to a determinate sentence of 27 years in prison and an indeterminate sentence of 285 years to life, for a total of 312 years in prison. He received one year longer than Lopez due to the court having found him guilty of having a previous state prison term.
He also was ordered to pay $66,550 in restitution to the victims and received 417 days credit for time already served in jail.
Finally, Shockley took off her glasses and spoke directly to Braden.
“I’ve put a lot of thought into what to say to you, Mr. Braden,” she said.
She said his demeanor had been exactly as the victims in the case had described. “You were cold and calculating and didn’t appear to care.”
Shockley said she believed Braden still had a conscience left, but that she didn’t believe he could yet comprehend the magnitude of what he had done. She said she hoped he eventually could grasp it and make amends for it.
He was looking at “a tough road” in state prison, she added.
It was indicated in court that Braden will appeal his conviction and sentence. Lopez's attorney, Stephen Carter, filed his appeal in court on Tuesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Fall semester classes at Yuba College begin next week, but there’s still time for students to enroll.
Classes at the Clear Lake Campus and other campuses throughout the district begin on Monday, Aug. 13. Across the lake, Mendocino College classes begin the following week, on Monday, Aug. 20.
Yuba College College spokesperson Miriam Root said there are still classes available for students to enroll in but it’s important that they get in as soon as possible so that they can meet with a counselor and take the placement exam.
She said the best place for students to start is at http://clc.yccd.edu/ and click on “apply now,” which will get students started. They also can call 707-995-7900.
The enrollment fee that is set by the state is $46 a unit, Root said.
Three new buildings are under construction on the Clear Lake Campus – located at 15880 Dam Road Extension – and will be ready in time for the fall semester, Root said.
The Measure J-funded projects include the 16,000-square-foot “A” building, which will house the library and students services center.
The 5,000-square-foot “B” building will be home to the campus’ well-respected culinary arts program, complete with dining and instructional areas, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a multipurpose room.
Biology and chemistry lecture rooms and classrooms will be found in the “C” building, also 5,000 square feet, which will be located at the campus’ academic core.
College officials reported that other campus improvements include a new campus entry road that includes a sidewalk to Dam Road Extension; new student and faculty parking areas; a new service road connection to Dam Road Extension; a new courtyard/plaza connecting the “A” and “B” buildings; a new ADA accessible “path of travel” from lower campus to upper campus; a new roof on the welding building; and HVAC improvements to existing buildings.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases on Wednesday in the trial of a Lakeport man accused of killing his neighbor based on the incorrect belief that the man was a child molester, with the defendant in the case taking the stand as the trial’s final witness.
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, is accused of stabbing 67-year-old Michael Dodele more than 65 times at his trailer at Western Hills Mobile Home Park in Lakeport on Nov. 20, 2007.
The prosecution alleges that Oliver believed, mistakenly, that Dodele was a child molester after seeing him on the Megan's Law sex offender registration Web site. However, Dodele actually had rape and attempted rape convictions, with his victims being adult women.
The defense has asserted that Oliver killed Dodele in self-defense, which is what Oliver maintained happened during his Wednesday testimony, in which he recounted asking Dodele if he had touched his young son.
Oliver said he stabbed Dodele dozens of times in self defense. “My eyes were closed, I didn’t stop until I realized the struggle was over and he was already dead.”
Oliver portrayed himself as a young father fearing for his son’s safety, who found himself in a life or death struggle. But in the face of the prosecution’s questioning he became increasingly defensive and argumentative.
As Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff pursued an aggressive line of cross-examination on Oliver – questioning how the vast majority of this testimony had never been shared with law enforcement – Oliver stated, “I’m the victim here.”
“Are you?” Hinchcliff asked.
Before the jury was seated Wednesday morning Judge Arthur Mann held a half-hour-long hearing with Hinchcliff and defense attorney Stephen Carter on several issues, including whether the prosecution would be able to present to the jury information about a 2001 conviction Oliver had for an assault with a knife.
Carter had argued that the information could be harmful to his client. “The evidence shows substantially so far that Mr. Dodele died by my client's hands, by the use of a knife,” Carter said. However, he added that the circumstances of just how that happened are the subject of the trial.
Mann ruled that Hinchcliff could use the 2001 conviction to impeach Oliver's testimony should he take the stand.
He also ruled that Dodele's convictions for raping adult females – four of them between 1976 and 1987 – and two attempted rape convictions for cases from 1977 could be introduced to the jury, despite Hinchcliff's objections that Oliver didn't have that information at the time of the killing.
Carter argued, “In fairness to my client, the jury should know what kind of person Mr. Oliver dealt with that day,” and his propensity for violence.
On another matter, Mann determined that Hinchcliff could not introduce evidence about Oliver being found in possession of a shank in early December 2007.
At the same time, Mann determined Hinchcliff could present testimony about Oliver physically assaulting a fellow jail inmate who was a registered sex offender in December 2007, finding it was relevant to the issues of motive and intent.
Investigator testifies to interviewing child
Hinchcliff's first witness of the day was Deputy Mike Curran, a sheriff's office veteran who has investigated more than 1,000 child sex assault cases.
Curran was at the scene the day of Dodele's death, assisting with gathering evidence and recording the scene.
He confirmed that Dodele had no convictions for child molestation, with his rape and attempted rape victims being adult women.
Curran interviewed Oliver's then 4-year-old son. Oliver had told investigators that Dodele tried to harm his son, and Curran talked to the child to determine if something had actually occurred.
The child told Curran than an “old man” had touched his genitals, but Curran said the boy didn't identify who the man was and couldn't say when it happened. Curran also showed the child a photo lineup with a month-old picture of Dodele; the child didn't identify anyone in the lineup.
He said he developed no information that Dodele touched the little boy.
Hinchcliff's last witness was sheriff's Det. Dennis Keithly, who was a correctional officer in December 2007.
Keithly was transporting a group of jail inmates from the courthouse to the Lake County Jail when Oliver stepped out of line and lunged at another inmate who was a registered sex offender, slamming the man into the wall.
“I said, 'You really don't like those 290 guys, do you,'” Keithly recalled, with “290” signifying the penal code entry requiring sex offender registration.
Keithly said Oliver asked him if he had ever seen or heard anything that made him sick in his guts, adding that was how he felt about sex offenders.
“Those guys are wrong,” Keithly remembered Oliver saying.
Defense begins its case
Carter called Oliver to the stand Wednesday afternoon.
Oliver recalled moving to Lake County from San Diego a few months before the killing to live with his girlfriend Cathleen Ferran and their 4-year-old son in a duplex at the trailer park.
He said he did odd jobs around the park, and put out a flyer to do painting and odd jobs.
“I really liked moving into that place,” he said, with families and children making the park seem comfortable and safe.
However, he became very scared when he saw a strange car pull up to the park with a person inside beckoning to his son. When he approached the vehicle it sped off.
He reported the incident to park manager Lacey Kou, who sat down with him in her office and pulled up the Megan's Law Web site. Oliver said he didn't see the charging information about Dodele, and said it was Kou who told him – wrongly – that Dodele was a child molester.
Oliver said he and Kou agreed – at the suggestion of the park owner – that they would speak to park residents; she would approach those who spoke English and Oliver, who was bilingual, would meet with the Spanish speakers.
But Oliver said he soon became frustrated. “Nobody cared. Nobody gave a crap. They didn't want to hear what I had to tell them.”
He estimated it was about four days after he got the Megan's Law printout from Kou that Dodele was killed.
In the interim, “I was very upset, very brokenhearted. I felt alone.” Oliver said he didn't know what to do, had never felt such stress, and was having trouble sleeping, eating and concentrating.
It was a about a week before he found out about Dodele being a sex registrant that Oliver became frightened when he briefly lost track of his son at the park. The child came out of a common yard shared by Dodele and a family whose children were the little boy's playmates.
According to Oliver, his son told him that he had been playing with an old man who had touched his genitals. Oliver admitted never reporting the issue to law enforcement or even his girlfriend, saying he didn't know what to do and he had no proof.
He said he should have talked to Ferran because things could have turned out better. “I didn't seek the help that I should have sought. I'm sorry.”
Oliver also acknowledged asking Israel Bojorquez to come to his home the morning Dodele died to tell him he didn't want him around his son. Bojorquez has since transitioned to a transgender woman and testified on the first day of the trial to being assaulted by Oliver. Oliver said he and Bojorquez had argued and she tripped and fell on her way out of the home.
Later that morning, Oliver went to Dodele’s house to gather some painting equipment that he needed which had been used by Dodele to paint inside his trailer. He said he had no weapons on him when he went to Dodele’s.
Oliver said Dodele took him inside his trailer and showed him his painting work in his bedroom.
For several days beforehand, Oliver had testified to praying for guidance on what to do. While they were standing in Dodele’s’ bedroom, Oliver said he heard a voice in his head that said, “Ask him, ask him.”
So Oliver asked Dodele if he had attempted to fondle his young son. “He immediately turned into somebody else,” said Oliver, recounting Dodele cursing at him and whipping out a black knife that is among the key pieces of evidence in the trial.
He said Dodele had the knife in his right hand and pulled back to stab him overhand. Carter and Oliver did a limited reenactment so Oliver could illustrate his account.
Carter held the knife, in a plastic evidence tube, in his right hand as Oliver reached out with his right hand to grip Carter’s wrist. Some of the bailiffs and correctional officers in the room moved up toward the front of the courtroom while Oliver was near the knife.
According to Oliver, when he grabbed Dodele’s wrist, the knife went into the web of his right hand. He said he pulled the knife away and they began to struggle; he alleged that Dodele tried to get the knife away from him, telling him he would kill him when he did.
Oliver said the struggle happened very quickly. He used the black knife to stab at Dodele, telling the court that his eyes were closed during the stabbing. Oliver said he stopped when he realized Dodele was on the ground and dead.
He acknowledged trying to wash off his bleeding hand and attempting to clean his blood from Dodele’s residence. Oliver said he took Dodele’s cell phone to call 911 but got scared and didn’t.
It would be Ferran who called 911. “I can't believe my son's mother called the cops on me,” he said.
Oliver said he went to his home, changed clothes and was going to flee, but “chickened out” and stayed put. He said he threw both the black knife and a silver knife he had in his fishing kit out his bathroom window.
When sheriff’s deputies kicked down his door, Oliver said he was on the floor, feeling faint due to blood loss.
Prosecution questions credibility of account
When his turn came to question Oliver, Hinchcliff began by asking him if he was aware that the vast majority of the story he gave on the stand was never told to sheriff’s detectives.
Oliver said yes, because he didn’t trust them at the beginning of the case and he didn’t trust them now. He accused investigators of attempting to put words in his mouth throughout their interview sessions with him, trying to paint him as a cold-blooded killer.
At times as Hinchcliff questioned him, Oliver gave rambling answers that strayed off the topic. He became angry when, at one point, Hinchcliff misstated his son’s first name.
Hinchcliff asked Oliver why he tried to use bleach to remove his blood from a rug in Dodele’s home. “I just had killed a man. I never done that before nor had I ever planned to,” Oliver replied.
When Hinchcliff pressed Oliver on why he stabbed Dodele 65 times, Oliver replied, “That was beyond me. I do not have an answer for that.”
Recalling Oliver’s earlier statements about having his eyes closed during the stabbing, Hinchcliff asked if he had just gotten lucky and managed to hit Dodele in so many key places on his body.
“What do you think, I’m a ninja?” asked Oliver
“That’s what I’m wondering,” Hinchcliff replied.
Hinchcliff asked if Oliver went into a rage during the stabbing. Oliver said yes.
“This thing that happened wasn’t something that was intended,” said Oliver. “Yes, a man is dead because of me. I had his blood on my hands. The evidence was clearly shown to you. It wasn’t what I wanted.”
When Oliver left the stand Judge Mann had the court clerk read a prepared statement on Dodele’s prior convictions for rape and attempted rape.
The defense then rested, and Hinchcliff briefly recalled Deputy Corey Paulich, the case’s lead investigator, who said that during questioning Oliver had identified the black knife as his.
Carter questioned Oliver’s statement about the knife in the interview, which was not videotaped. He said the evidence wasn’t clear, and questioned what Paulich did to clarify it. Paulich said he was there to testify to the statement having been made, and that he wrote a report based on Oliver’s statements that was part of the case.
Judge Mann and the attorneys will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday to discuss jury instructions. The jury will then return at 9 a.m. Friday to hear closing arguments, receive the jury instructions and begin deliberations.
Email Elizabeth Larson at