News

 

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A vehicle fire just outside of the Lake County line on Friday shut down Highway 20 and resulted in a small vegetation fire nearby.

Officer John Waggoner of the California Highway Patrol's Williams office said the fire in the fifth-wheel travel trailer began at 10:20 a.m.

Waggoner said 65-year-old Edward Alexander of Fort Bragg was towing the trailer with his pickup westbound on Highway 20 just east of Highway 16 when he looked in his mirror and saw smoke.

Alexander pulled over to the right as far as he could but was still partially blocking the westbound lane, Waggoner said.

At that point, the fire started spreading in the trailer. Waggoner said Alexander was able to unhook his pickup and get it away from the trailer.

Waggoner said the trailer fire sparked a vegetation fire.

Luckily, with a Cal Fire station located nearby, firefighters were able to quickly respond, Waggoner said. “They were able to get a jump on this fire before it got too far.”

Cal Fire spokesperson Suzie Blankenship said the fire burned up the hill from the trailer. In all, a total of four acres were burned.

Blankenship said there were no structures threatened and no injuries.

Cal Fire sent a helicopter, three engines and 15 firefighters, and a battalion chief, while the Williams Fire Department sent one engine and one water tender, with one water tender coming from Colusa, Blankenship said.

Waggoner said the trailer was a total loss, burning down to its frame.

The highway was completely closed for about an hour in order to let fire equipment access the trailer, Waggoner said.

Once the fire was extinguished, the highway was reopened with traffic control. Waggoner said the highway was completely reopened at 12:45 p.m.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

 

 

 

 

My last article discussed the power of attorney for personal care. That article discussed how to authorize an agent to handle financial and property issues largely related to your personal care. This article discusses how to make your health care wishes enforceable.

The Advance Health Care Directive, the Do-Not-Resuscitate Order, and the Physicians Order for Life Sustaining Treatment are the primary documents to be aware of. Let's examine them.

The Advance Health Care Directive ("AHCD") has two primary purposes: first, to express your health care wishes; and second, to authorize a health care agent to make medical decisions on your behalf only when you become incapacitated.

For example, whether or not to receive heroic life-sustaining treatment when in an irreversible vegetative state; whether or not to receive pain killing medicine if terminally ill even if it hastens an inevitable death; and whether or not to donate organs.

But the directive can also say who should be allowed to visit you while you are in hospital; what kind of human contact you want to be allowed; and how your funeral should be conducted. Your AHCD agent will have access to your confidential health care information and be authorized to make decisions on your behalf consistent with the wishes you express in you directive.

Various printed AHCD forms are available. The California Medical Association ("CMA") form is widely used and recognized by California hospitals. It can be ordered by phone at 800-882-1262 or online at http://www.cmanet.org. California also has its own version of the AHCD form.

A health care directive, however, cannot by itself prevent emergency responders from administering life support such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). For persons who do not wish to have CPR and who wish to allow a natural death to occur, it is necessary to have either a "do not resuscitate" (DNR) form or a "physician's order for life sustaining treatment" ("POLST").

The Emergency Medical Services ("EMS") DNR form issued by the CMA is the older approach. A DNR form must be signed by the physician and the patient. A Medic-Alert bracelet should also be obtained and worn at all times so that emergency responders can immediately identify the person's DNR status. DNR forms require consultation with a physician and a physician's signature.

The more recent two page POLST form is much broader than the DNR form. Like the DNR form it requires a consultation with a physician. Unlike the DNR form, which serves only to say, "no CPR", the POLST form requires a broad discussion with the physician regarding the degree to which medical

treatment should be given on a wide range of issues: resuscitation, medical conditions, use of antibiotics, artificial nutrition, and other life sustaining treatments.

For example, the POLST form can be used to authorize that CPR be performed to restore one to a worthwhile condition of health, but otherwise to forego CPR.

POLST forms are signed by the physician and the patient, and are a doctor's order. The POLST form is

intended for a person who has a serious illness. It should accompany you wherever you go at all times. California's POLST is printed on bright pink stationary, but it can be printed on white paper too.

For more information regarding the POLST visit, www.capolst.org.

The POLST form, however, does not replace the AHCD. Only the AHCD allows you to authorize an agent to make health care decisions for you and to express your wishes regarding organ donation, funeral arrangements, and other concerns. Everyone should have an AHCD.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A man who has previously done prison time for his part in a 1980s savings and loan fraud case in Sonoma County has been indicted for felony tax evasion.

Jay Scott Soderling, formerly of Healdsburg and now reported to be living in Hidden Valley Lake, was arrested on Wednesday on one count of tax evasion, according to a report from United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Scott O’Briant, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division.

Soderling, 54, made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday before federal Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, the US Attorney's Office reported.

During the brief arraignment, Soderling entered a not guilty plea and was assigned Geoffrey Hansen as his defense attorney, according to case documents. Assistant US Attorney Tom Moore is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kathy Tat.

Following the hearing, Judge Corley signed an order directing the US Marshal to release Soderling on his own recognizance.

An investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division led to the prosecution, the IRS and US Attorney's Office said Thursday.

A federal grand jury indicted Soderling on the tax evasion charge on Aug. 9. An arrest warrant was issued the same day, and the US Attorney's Office succeeded in having the court seal the indictment in order not to tip off Soderling to his pending arrest.

The indictment stated that Soderling, the owner of Ripp It Earth Movers, willfully attempted to evade paying $161,155.44 in federal income and employment taxes due for tax years 1995 through 2004.

He allegedly placed assets in the names of nominees, dealt in currency, caused debts to be paid through and in the name of nominees, submitted a false financial statement to the IRS and made false statements to an IRS revenue officer, according to court documents.

The case against Soderling also alleges that he used funds from a nominee bank account to pay creditors, spend for a Hawaiian vacation, a Mastercraft boat and trailer, and a Dodge Viper.

He faces a maximum of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000, the US Attorney's Office said.

This isn't Soderling's first brush with federal prosecution.

Soderling and his brother, Leif, pleaded guilty in 1987 to bank fraud for stealing millions of dollars from depositors in their roles as directors and officers at the Golden Pacific Savings & Loan in Santa Rosa, based on case documents.

Court documents stated that the Soderlings did eight months in prison and were ordered to pay $6 million in restitution to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Rather than making payments on the restitution, however, a 1990 Fortune Magazine report said the Soderlings went on a $500,000 spending spree while on probation. A judge sent them back to prison for six years each.

After the Soderlings were released, Jay Soderling found himself back in federal court once again for violating his probation. In December 1997 Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman sentenced Soderling to six more months in prison, according to the case history.

Over the last several years the brothers had been involved in unlicensed construction activities in Lake County and racked up large bills with local vendors. Ripp It Earth Movers is not licensed by the California Contractors State License Board, and neither of the Soderlings currently has an active contractor license, according to the board's online license database.

Neighbors of some of Jay Soderling's building projects in the Clearlake Park area told Lake County News that he attempted to harass and intimidate them. Soderling also clearcut oak woodlands on property he owned surrounding Borax Lake.

At one point in 2008 Jay Soderling had set up a pump to try to empty out Borax Lake. This reporter witnessed the setup, which neighbors later brought to the attention of state officials.

Neighbors told Lake County News that Soderling was trying to empty the lake to develop the land as part of a large subdivision.

According to a Santa Rosa Press Democrat article, Soderling had borrowed money from Sonoma County developer Clem Carinalli and backed up the loans with the 850-acre Borax Lake property. Carinalli foreclosed on the Borax Lake land in 2009.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

080911 Jay Soderling Indictment

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Lake County Family Resource Center’s recent decision to vacate its facility in Clearlake in response to indoor air quality health concerns raised by health officials has prompted questions from the public about possible health impacts of geothermal gas releases on the surrounding neighborhood.

Lake Family Resource Center, on the advice of county health officials, moved out of their Clearlake building last month, as Lake County News has reported.

Natural geothermal activity is not uncommon in Lake County and residents of the Burns Valley neighborhood in the city of Clearlake have seen the signs of bubbling gas releases in puddles and smelled the rotten egg odor associated with sulfur gases for years, according to a Thursday report from Lake County Public Health.

Occasionally, those gases accumulate in enclosed spaces, causing health and safety concerns. However, Public Health reported that while the smell of sulfur can be a tip-off that geothermal gas vents are in the area, the odor does not correlate with the level of danger.

In fact, the human nose can detect hydrogen sulfide gas at levels even lower than what is measurable with detection equipment. Other geothermal gases may not produce any odor, according to the report.

While local agencies have responded to occasional geothermal gas concerns in Lake County for decades, they stepped up the frequency of air quality testing in the Burns Valley neighborhood starting two years ago in order to better understand the patterns and significance of the geothermal gas releases.

Over the years, Konocti Unified School District also monitored the air quality at Burns Valley Elementary School and twice arranged for indoor air quality studies by an outside party. Health officials said neither study detected measurable levels of concern in classrooms.

A continuous outdoor air monitoring device is operating at Burns Valley Elementary school under the supervision of the Lake County Air Quality Management District. The Konocti Unified School District plans to do further indoor monitoring.

The report said that ongoing evaluation of the geothermal gas releases in the neighborhood continues to be a subject of interest to numerous agencies, including Lake County Environmental Health and Public Health, Lake County Air Quality Management District, Konocti Unified School District, Lake County Fire Protection District and the city of Clearlake.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.