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Vector Control District Manager and Research Director Dr. Jamie Scott reported Thursday that routine surveillance detected the virus in a sample of 31 Culex stigmatosoma – the banded foul water mosquito – collected near Kelseyville on Friday, Sept.
Scott reminded county residents that any source of standing water can produce mosquitoes, and that residents can help protect their community by maintaining their pools to prevent mosquitoes, and to letting the district know of unmaintained swimming pools and spas.
“Our employees have been working hard to make sure that neglected swimming pools are not producing mosquitoes,” said Scott. “A single unmaintained pool can produce hundreds of thousands mosquitoes per week, and those mosquitoes can fly up to five miles away.”
She said that one neglected swimming pool increase an entire community’s risk of mosquito bites and mosquito-borne illness.
West Nile Virus has been detected in Lake County every year since its arrival in 2004, but only three residents have become ill from WNV infection in that time. Scott attributes the low incidence of West Nile virus disease in Lake County residents to the district’s vigorous efforts to control mosquitoes.
The Vector Control District regularly traps and tests mosquitoes throughout the county to identify the areas that are at highest risk, and target those areas for source reduction and treatment.
The district reports that mosquito activity – particularly for the Culex mosquitoes that transmit WNV – has been very high in some localized areas of the county.
While mosquitoes are an important part of the environment and cannot be eliminated completely, the district works to reduce mosquito populations near places where people live and recreate to prevent disease.
The district recommends that residents dump out buckets, wading pools and other sources of water where mosquitoes develop; avoid being outside when mosquitoes are active, especially near dusk and dawn; wear long sleeves and pants and use a mosquito repellent – always read and follow label directions – if they are outside when mosquitoes are active.
The Lake County Vector Control provides free mosquito-eating fish to Lake County residents for use in animal water troughs, ornamental ponds and out-of-service (“green”) swimming pools.
Residents are urged to call the district at 707-263-4770 or visit the district's Web site at www.lcvcd.org to request service if they are having problems with mosquitoes or if they want to request mosquitofish.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man was arrested last week for smoking marijuana at the Lake County Fair with a minor.
Jesse Matthew Chavez, 24, was arrested for felony selling/furnishing marijuana, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and felony parole violation on the night of Friday, Sept. 2, according to Michelle Gonzalez of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Matthews, who is on parole, was sharing a marijuana joint with a minor when apprehended by Lake County Sheriff’s Narcotic Task Force detectives, Gonzalez said.
A subsequent search of Chavez turned up a green glass smoking pipe, with burnt marijuana residue inside, two lighters, and a plastic bag with a green leafy substance identified as marijuana, in his pockets. Gonzalez said Chavez did not have a medical marijuana recommendation.
He was arrested and transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility. He remained in custody on Thursday due to a no-bail hold on the parole violation, according to jail records.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Charges were filed Wednesday against a Santa Cruz man who is alleged to have killed his female companion – a young attorney raised in Lake County – during a visit to the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Gerald W. Galaway Jr., 38, is facing second-degree murder and kidnapping charges for the murder of 35-year-old Celestial Summer Dove Cassman of Santa Cruz, according to Maui County Prosecuting Attorney John Kim.
Cassman, who was born in Hawaii, was a 1994 graduate of Clear Lake High School in Lakeport, according to friends and a biography of her posted on the Web site of the law firm where she worked, Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich.
Galaway and Cassman were reportedly on a visit to Maui, having checked into the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Wednesday, Aug. 31, according to the charging documents posted online by Hawaii News Now, www.hawaiinewsnow.com.
A report released to Lake County News by Lt. Wayne Ibarra of the Maui Police Department, police officers responded to a call regarding a domestic dispute involving a male and a female shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1.
The court documents said that a female witness saw the couple arguing, with Cassman running up to the woman's vehicle to ask for help. Galaway allegedly came up behind Cassman and grabbed her around the neck.
The witness said Galaway picked Cassman up several times and slammed her body on the asphalt roadway, as Cassman fought and screamed for help. He then drug Cassman by her head into shrubs near the rental vehicle, and kept yelling at the witness to leave, which she finally did, going to borrow a cell phone to call 911.
When officers arrived at the scene, in the area of Nakalele Point along Kahekili Highway, they saw a male, alleged to be Galaway, who was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and was nude from the waist down, according to the charging document. When police attempted to contact him he fled and jumped off a cliff into the ocean, where he swam out to sea and screamed for help.
Kim said Galaway fell about 100 feet before going into the water, and was injured as a result.
The Maui Police Department reported that the Maui Fire Department and United States Coast Guard responded to assist in rescuing Galaway.
Cassman was found about an hour after the initial call, and was unresponsive when officers discovered her, the Maui Police reported.
Kim said Cassman was found near the roadside, not far from where the rental car she and Galaway had shared was abandoned.
Court documents said she was found down a small embankment, under a tree. The way her body was found and her clothes were torn suggested she could have been sexually assaulted.
It wasn't until about 6:45 a.m. the day after the incident that Galaway was rescued, according to the Maui Police report.
On the morning of Friday, Sept. 2, officers were airlifted by helicopter to the rock point at Nakalele, where they found Galaway and took him into custody, police said.
The Maui Police reported that Galaway had sustained non-life threatening injuries. He was transported to the Maui Memorial Medical Center.
A hearing regarding Galaway's medical condition was held in the case on Wednesday morning. Galaway wasn't present, according to Kim.
“He's in the hospital under guard,” said Kim.
Kim added, “He's technically not been arrested and booked because I don't believe they can move him because of his medical condition.”
In the mean time, the complaint against Galaway was filed in district court, and the court must now decide when to schedule a preliminary hearing, Kim said.
Galaway was represented by two attorneys in the Wednesday hearing, Hayden Aluli, who did not respond to a message seeking comment, and William Sloper.
Sloper, when contacted by Lake County News, would not comment on the case or Galaway's condition, only offering that Galaway still was considered innocent under the law.
Officials so far have not stated the exact cause of Cassman's death.
“We had an autopsy done on Monday. The report is forthcoming,” said Kim, adding he was not at liberty to say more.
The Maui Police Department's official confirmation of Cassman's identity is pending a positive identification by her family. Ibarra said Wednesday that family members were in the process of traveling to Maui to make the positive identification and complete the notification of kin.
According to her biography, Cassman received a bachelor's degree in political philosophy and art in 1998 from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
From 1998 to 2001 she worked for a nonprofit affordable housing and community building organization in Portland, Ore., and entered UC Davis' King Hall School of Law in 2001. She graduated three years later and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2004.
After law school, Cassman worked for three years for McDonough Holland & Allen PC in Sacramento. In 2007 she returned to Santa Cruz to join Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich, where she continued working in public and municipal law.
Bay Area media has reported that Cassman served as deputy city attorney for the coastal communities of Half Moon Bay, Capitola and Santa Cruz through her work with Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Kelseyville man has been arrested after narcotics detectives found him with what is believed to be methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
Lake County Narcotic Task Force detectives arrested David Bradley Mills, 50, of Kelseyville for possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, according to Michelle Gonzalez of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Gonzalez reported that on Friday, Sept. 2, at approximately 5:15 p.m. Lake County Sheriff’s detectives attached to the Narcotics Task Force pulled over a GMC SUV for traffic violations.
Mills, the driver of the vehicle, acknowledged that he was on searchable probation, Gonzalez said.
A search produced a glass pipe, commonly used for smoking methamphetamines, and a silver container in which there was a plastic bag containing a white, crystalline substance, according to Gonzalez.
Mills was arrested and transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility. On testing the substance it flashed blue, a presumptive positive for methamphetamine.
On Thursday Mills remained in the Lake County Jail on a no-bail hold for the alleged probation violation.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
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An upper level low will approach the California coast drawing in monsoonal moisture, which is predicted to trigger dry lightning across the northeastern section of California including Lassen, Modoc, Siskiyou and Shasta counties, Cal Fire said.
“The forecasts indicate weather conditions could be similar to the lightning siege we experienced in 2008 when the state saw nearly 2,000 lightning sparked fires,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, director of Cal Fire. “Cal Fire's firefighters are ready to respond if more fires do break out, but we especially need the public to be extremely cautious, because we don't need any additional fires.”
In response to the predicted dry lightning, Cal Fire is moving fire engines and resources into the areas expected to see an increased fire danger.
As this low moves into Nevada on Thursday, it will shift winds to the northeast creating breezy and dry conditions Thursday night into Friday across most parts of Northern California, including the areas where the dry lightning is predicted to hit, Cal Fire said.
In addition to the prepositioning of fire engines, Cal Fire also is staffing all reserve fire engines, staffing additional inmate fire crews 24 hours a day and plans to hold all personnel on duty.
Cal Fire reported that it is in close communication with local, state and federal partners including the U.S. Forest Service, the California National Guard and the California Emergency Management Agency.
Cal Fire is urging Californians to remain extra fire safe and help prevent new fires.
A few helpful reminders and safety tips include:
Any mowing or weed eating should be done before 10 a.m. (and NEVER during extremely dry conditions).
Never use lawn mowers in dry vegetation.
Ensure campfires are permitted and, if so, be sure to extinguish them completely when done.
Never pull your vehicle over in tall dry grass.
For more ways to help prevent wildfires visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org or www.fire.ca.gov.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Sonoma County man being sought in connection with an alleged June 4 assault on two rival motorcycle gang members has turned himself in to authorities, but another man who allegedly was involved is still being sought.
Joshua Leo Johnson, 35, of Santa Rosa surrendered at the Lake County Jail at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to a report from Michelle Gonzalez of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Johnson, who the sheriff's office said is the vice president of the Sonoma County chapter of the Hells Angels, is being held on $500,000 bail for participating in a criminal street gang, and remains in custody pending a bail hearing.
Gonzalez said sheriff's detectives placed a “1275” hold on Johnson, which requires him to account for the origin of his bail.
Johnson is the third person to be arrested in the case. Nicolas Felipe Carrillo, 32, of Geyserville and 33-year-old Timothy Robert Bianchi of Petaluma, also alleged to be Hells Angels members, were arrested last month in Sonoma County following the service of search warrants, as Lake County News has reported.
Carrillo and Bianchi also are being held in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $500,000 each, with similar 1275 holds, according to jail records.
Still at large in the case is another alleged Hells Angels member, 41-year-old David Daniel Dabbs of Santa Rosa, who also is being sought on a no-bail warrant out of San Diego for alleged kidnapping and torture, Gonzalez said.
Dabbs should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and officials have warned that members of the public should not attempt to approach or apprehend him.
The felony arrest warrants for the men were secured after a two-month investigation following a June 4 incident at Konocti Vista Casino in which the four allegedly beat 39-year-old Michael Burns – a validated Vagos motorcycle gang member – and 48-year-old Kristopher Perkin, Gonzalez said.
The entire incident was recorded on the casino’s video surveillance system, and the suspects were identified through the assistance of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Santa Rosa Police Department Gang Task Force and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department Gang Task Force, according to Gonzalez.
On Aug. 25 SWAT teams from the FBI, Santa Rosa Police Department and the Petaluma Police Department assisted Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives in serving four arrest warrants and search warrants on members of the Sonoma County Hells Angels in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, which led to the arrests of Carrillo and Bianchi, Gonzalez said.
Bianchi was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, battery, fighting in a public place and a gang enhancement, while Gonzalez said Carrillo was charged with battery, fighting in a public place and a gang enhancement.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of David Dabbs is encouraged to call local law enforcement or the Lake County Sheriff’s Office's Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.
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