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LAKEPORT, Calif. – With a total of 253 lots, the Lake County Fair Junior Livestock Auction on Saturday afternoon set a new record for total sale proceeds, and has likely set new records in most categories of sales as well, fair officials said.
After years of flirting with the barrier of $300,000, the total proceeds finally broke through to a total sale worth $300,660.75.
Steers, lambs, hogs, meat goats, turkeys, rabbits and chickens were offered during the auction, with grand champion winners crossing the auction block at the start of the program.
Tom Powers, owner of Lake County Electric Supply in Lakeport, purchased the first lot. The grand champion 4-H market hog was shown and sold by 4-Her Wyatt Smith of Lakeport. The prize pig weighed 260 pounds and sold for $11.50 per pound.
“It's a real indication that the community supports youth programs like 4-H and the Future Farmers of America,” said Fair Chief Executive Office Richard Persons. “Those programs teach kids about agriculture, which is Lake County's largest economic sector, and also about teamwork, sportsmanship, honor, and responsibility.”
Persons added, “We're proud of the community efforts to support these programs. Many of these kids save the money they make for college or other educational efforts, and eventually return to Lake County to become farmers and ranchers, so in the long run the whole community benefits.”
In recent years, the sale has been split into two sales rings which operate at the same time, making for a total sale length of around three and a half hours and providing buyers with plenty of time to visit the rest of the Lake County Fair, Persons reported Saturday.
Persons said other popular activities on Saturday included the racing pigs, the amateur talent competition and the 4x4 truck pulls.
The fair marks its last day on Sunday, with a full day of attractions, including Sunday's main event, the California State Finals of the WGAS Motorsports tuff truck, ATV and buggy races in the main grandstand. In its 12th year, the popular show will start at 7:30 p.m.
Regular admission prices for the 2011 Lake County Fair are $10 for a regular ticket, $6 for a senior over age 60, and $6 for children ages 6 through 11. Children under 6 years old are admitted free.
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The Deer fire was contained at 3 a.m. Saturday at less than a half acre. Containment means there is a line around the fire and it is no longer spreading, while control means the fire is extinguished.
Control was expected by 3 p.m. Saturday.
The fire started in the Deer Valley Campground, which is located on the southwest side of the Upper Lake Ranger District, as Lake County News has reported.
Forest officials said the cause is still under investigation.
Resources working on the fire this morning include a 20-person California Conservation Corp crew, two engines and one water tender.
The Mendocino National Forest entered into fire restrictions on Saturday morning. Under these restrictions, fires, campfires, charcoal fires or stoves are prohibited on the national forest unless in approved designated recreation sites, which includes Deer Valley Campground.
“This summer the Mendocino National Forest has been very fortunate when it comes to wildland fire,” said Acting Forest Supervisor Lee Johnson. “We would like Forest visitors to help us continue this by being safe when using fires in designated areas, complying with fire restrictions and reporting smoke when they see it. By being aware we can all help protect the Forest’s resources from human-caused wildfires.”
Fire season typically ends in late fall following a series of drenching, measurable rains in the mountains.
As a reminder, the following activities are also prohibited as part of the fire restrictions:
Smoking except within an enclosed vehicle or in the designated recreation sites listed above.
Welding or operating an acetylene or other torch with an open flame.
Using explosives.
Possessing, discharging or using any kind of fireworks.
For more information, please contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316, or visit www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino.
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At this very moment one of the fastest spacecraft ever launched – NASA's New Horizons – is hurtling through the void at nearly one million miles per day.
Launched in 2006, it has been in flight longer than some missions last, and still has four more years of travel to go.
New Horizons headed for the lonely world of Pluto on the outer edge of the solar system.
Although astronomers now call Pluto a dwarf planet.
“It's actually a large place, about 5,000 miles around at the equator," said Alan Stern, principal investigator for the mission. “And it's never been explored.”
Indeed, no spacecraft has ever visited Pluto or any dwarf planet.
“This is a whole new class of worlds,” said Stern. “To understand the solar system, we need to understand worlds like Pluto.”
Pluto is a resident of the Kuiper Belt, a vast region beyond the orbit of Neptune.
“The Kuiper Belt contains a thousand dwarf planets or more – a whole zoo of them!,” said Stern. “Dwarf planets are, in fact, the most numerous class of planets in the solar system, and probably in the whole universe."
Pluto is a world of mysteries.
For one thing, Stern wonders, what are the molasses-colored patches on Pluto’s surface seen by the Hubble Space Telescope?
Some scientists think they could be deposits of primordial organic matter. “New Horizon's spectrometers will help us identify the kinds of organic molecules on Pluto. We expect to find something pretty interesting,” Stern said.
Hubble recently contributed more intrigue by spotting a new moon circling Pluto – bringing the total to four.
Composite Hubble images of Pluto now resemble a miniature planetary system. New Horizons will hunt for even more moons as it approaches the dwarf planet.
The probe is primed for detective work – equipped with instruments capable of “knocking the socks off anything Voyager carried.”
In addition to state of the art spectrometers, New Horizons wields one of the largest and highest resolution interplanetary telescopes ever flown. It's called LORRI, short for Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager.
“At closest approach to Pluto – about 10,000 km up – LORRI can resolve details almost as well as a spy camera. The view will be incredible. If we flew this instrument over Earth at that altitude, we could see individual buildings and their shapes,” Stern said.
What will we see on Pluto?
Some researchers say we could spot icy geysers. Some say we could see those surface deposits of organic material. Stern said simply, “There could be all kinds of surprises! It's a first exploration of a new kind of planet.”
Heading far from home, “New Horizons is like Noah's Ark – our ship has two of everything, for backup,” said Stern. “Two heaters, two computer systems, two of everything except the scientific instruments. And even those have capabilities to back each other up.”
When New Horizons reaches Pluto it will have traveled nine and a half years – longer than any spacecraft has ever flown to reach its main target. To save power and reduce wear and tear, it hibernates3 much of the time. But all systems will be ready to spring into action upon arrival in 2015.
Mark your calendar.
Dauna Coulter works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A suspect in the July murder of a Willits man has been arrested.
Arone Schnebly, 35, was arrested Saturday evening, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Schnebly is facing charges for the murder of 40-year-old Joseph Litteral of Willits at the Bu Shay Campground in Willits on July 20. A second man also was shot and seriously injured.
At 5 p.m. Saturday law enforcement learned from a source that Schnebly was in the Willits area and was likely in a vehicle, Smallcomb said.
Willits Police made a vehicle stop and found Schnebly inside the vehicle. Smallcomb said Mendocino County Sheriff's Office detectives subsequently arrested and booked Schnebly at the Mendocino County Jail.
Smallcomb said a second suspect in the murder, 30-year-old William Hale Crocker, is still at large.
Anyone with information on Crocker is encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4086.
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A quick and thorough investigation by a sheriff's deputy and sergeant has led to the arrests and charging of three local men for a late August home burglary.
Thomas Joseph Peterson, 32, of Cobb and Kelseyville resident Keith Henry Lemler, 53, were arrested by Deputy Joe Dutra on Sunday, Aug. 21, with Dutra taking 20-year-old Alex Paul Martinez of Kelseyville into custody shortly after midnight on Monday, Aug. 22, according to arrest records and court documents.
On Aug. 23, the District Attorney's Office filed charges against the men that included first degree burglary, possession of stolen property and vandalism, with Peterson charged with a special allegation of a prior prison term, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Court records showed that Peterson served state prison time for a 2003 conviction for possession of a controlled substance as well as a 2004 jail escape.
All three of the suspects appeared in Lake County Superior Court on Friday morning, where they pleaded not guilty to the charges, Hinchcliff said.
If convicted each could face up to six years in state prison, with Peterson facing an extra year if convicted of the special allegation, according to Hinchcliff.
They all remain in the Lake County Jail, with bail for Peterson set at $40,000, and Lemler and Martinez each being held on $30,000 bail.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office would not provide additional information on the case despite repeated requests from Lake County News.
A Public Records Act request to inspect the case documents submitted in person by this reporter on Friday was denied by sheriff's Lt. Chris Macedo, who cited “pending adjudication” of the case as a reason for withholding the information.
However, investigative reports obtained as part of the court record showed that Dutra and Sgt. Corey Paulich conducted an investigation into the burglary of a Kelseyville home that led them to the three suspects.
The residents had reportedly been on vacation and returned to find the home burglarized, reporting it on Aug. 21, the documents showed.
Dutra and Paulich arrived and began the investigation, taking a report on the stolen property. A vehicle parked at the home also had been vandalized, with its driver's side window broken out, based on the investigation.
The case came together quickly, with documents showing that Dutra and Paulich connected the dots, identifying and speaking with the suspects, and recovering the property they allegedly stole, which the burglary victims identified.
Hinchcliff said Dutra and Paulich did good investigative work on the case.
The result was that all three of the suspects had been taken into custody by the morning following the report of the burglary, according to the case chronology.
Hinchcliff said Peterson, Lemler and Martinez are set to appear for a preliminary hearing on Monday, Sept. 19.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The fire at the Deer Valley Campground – located 12 miles north of Upper Lake, off of Forest Road M1 and Deer Valley Road – was first reported at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday, and required a short-term evacuation of some campers, according to radio traffic.
When firefighters arrived they reported some campers already were leaving.
Reports from the scene indicated firefighters received information that the fire may have been caused by fireworks.
The fire, measured at a quarter acre, burned in manzanita, heavy brush and timber, according to radio reports.
The US Forest Service responded to the scene along with Northshore Fire, officials reported.
The fire was declared contained just after 3 a.m., at which time campers were allowed to return, the reports noted.
Extensive mop up was required, with the incident commander anticipating firefighters would have to remain on scene for several hours.
The US Forest Service took over command of the first shortly after 3:30 a.m., according to radio reports.
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