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The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that on Dec. 3 a deputy responded to a residence on Spring Valley Road regarding a residential burglary.
Numerous items were missing from the home including several high caliber rifles, ammunition, motorcycles, televisions and other entertainment accessories, according to the report.
Also stolen was a 1997 Range Rover Defender 90 four wheel drive vehicle, which the sheriff's office said has a body style similar to that of a Jeep Wrangler.
The stolen Range Rover was painted fire engine red with a roof rack and snorkel style air intake system, according to the sheriff's office. This vehicle is very rare and completely restored.
The owner's insurance company has agreed to pay a $1,000 reward for information leading to discovery of the vehicle or apprehension of the suspect or suspects.
The Spring Valley area has had other recent burglaries, officials reported.
On Nov. 23 deputies located a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the living room of a residence on Larches Way in Spring Valley.
The motorcycle was eventually identified as stolen from another residence in Spring Valley, and deputies seized the motorcycle pending notification of the owner.
Anyone with information regarding the stolen Range Rover is asked to contact Lake County Sheriff's Office Investigations Bureau at 707-262-4247.
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MOFFETT Field, Calif. – NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has entered into a five-year Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) to use NASA technology and capabilities to help support the management and mitigation of wildfire disasters.
“The two entities have had an ad-hoc partnership for the last 25 years and this agreement formalizes our working relationship and allows the two agencies to explore new and exciting technology developments and capabilities that support the needs of the people of California,” said Vince Ambrosia, NASA Ames principal investigator and senior scientist of the collaborative effort.
“Cal Fire is proud to formalize its partnership with NASA,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, director of Cal Fire. “Under this agreement we will cooperatively explore the use and future transfer of advanced fire sensing technology. This in turn, will benefit the public we serve by helping CAL FIRE increase situational awareness and response efficiency.”
NASA has developed an innovative visible, infrared and thermal sensor called the NASA Autonomous Modular Scanner (AMS).
The scanner has operated on both NASA’s Ikhana Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and the manned NASA B200 King Air both operated by the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif.
The scanner provides real-time wildfire imaging data over large-scale disaster events in the western United States and particularly in California.
The innovations include performing all processing on-board the aircraft autonomously and relaying the information through a satellite communications system to disaster managers located anywhere in the world.
The system performed flawlessly during several major wildfire events in southern California in 2007 and during the lightning fires in Northern California in 2008.
Those missions were flown aboard the NASA Ikhana UAV. More recently, the team has focused on integration and operation of the sensor aboard the manned B200 King Air aircraft.
“The B200 has more rapid response capability than the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The exciting element is that we have the ability to use different platforms as the mission requirements change,” Ambrosia said.
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LUCERNE, Calif. – The driver and a passenger in a van that ended up on rocks near the lakeshore Tuesday evening escaped injury.
The crash occurred on Highway 20 just east of Lucerne shortly after 5 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The driver was heading eastbound when the right front tire on the white van blew, according to reports from the scene.
When the van left the pavement and hit the shoulder, the soft earth pulled it from the roadway and onto the rocks on the shoreline, about 8 feet below.
The CHP, Lake County Sheriff's Office and Northshore Fire Protection District responded to the scene.
At the scene the driver and lone passenger denied injury and remained on scene viewing the recovery of the vehicle by the tow company.
The crash caused the roadway to be shut down for a brief time.
Gary McAuley contributed to this report.
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The Local Safety and Protection Account, a special account that funds a number of local public safety services – including the Rural Sheriffs Program – that are crucial to local law enforcement and help county district attorneys prosecute cases, is scheduled to end on June 30, 2010.
Chesbro’s AB 9 X1 and AB 66 would ensure this important funding continues so that our communities can remain safe.
“This funding is vitally important to local law enforcement programs, especially in rural California,” said Chesbro, who represents a vast district in far Northern California comprised of rural communities. “It represents the majority of state funding to local public safety. Sheriffs in the First Assembly District tell me that losing this funding will devastate law enforcement services in their counties.”
The funding means about $500,000 per year to sheriff’s departments eligible to participate in the Rural Sheriffs Program.
Six to 10 patrol positions will be eliminated from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department alone without extending the funding for Local Safety and Protection Account, said incoming Sheriff Mike Downey.
“Without this funding it will decimate our patrol force,” Downey said. “There will be a direct impact on the number of deputies we can put on the street. Our law enforcement to outlying areas will cease to exist.”
“This bill is the most significant piece of legislation that I’ve seen in the past four years,” added Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman. “Assemblymember Chesbro understands the seriousness of the situation and has stepped up to be a friend of law enforcement.”
Principal coauthors of this legislation are Assemblymember Cathleen Galgiani and Senators Michael J. Rubio and Lois Wolk.
Coauthors are Assemblymembers Bill Monning, V. Manuel Pérez, Steven Bradford, Jose Solario, Norma Torres, Bob Wieckowski and Mariko Yamada and Sen. Noreen Evans.
The legislation is supported by the California State Sheriffs Association, California Police Chiefs Association, California Peace Officers Association, Chief Probation Officers Of California, California Narcotic Officers Association, California District Attorneys Association, California Coalition Of Law Enforcement Associations, California Fraternal Order Of Police and Peace Officers Research Association Of California.
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MARTINEZ, Calif. – The Middletown Mustangs held an imposing 21-7 lead with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of the North Coast Section (NCS) Division IV final in Martinez Saturday night, but couldn’t hold on and ultimately lost to the Salesian Pride 28-21 in overtime.
It was the second year in a row the Mustangs lost their final game in overtime.
“Another heartbreaker,” Mustangs Head Coach Bill Foltmer said about the loss, “and it seems like we’re the ones that have been coming up on the short end of the stick here.”
For the first three quarters, the NCS final was dominated by defensive play on both sides – a very different scenario from Middletown’s season opener, when these two teams last played each other.
“When you look back at that game, both of our defenses were terrible,” Pride head coach Chad Nightingale said about their previous encounter. “One thing that’s really happened (since then) is both of our defenses have gotten a heck of a lot better.”
That was certainly true of the Mustangs, when they used their resolute defensive skills to stop an impressive 13-play, 65-yard Salesian opening drive at their own 14-yard line.
But the Pride is a well-rounded team with a potent offense that includes a mix of solid running coupled with precision passing from quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, and they weren’t denied on their second possession when running back Aaron Prier took it in from four yards out to give Salesian a 7-0 lead.
“Well, you could see how athletic that team was,” Foltmer said about the Pride. “They’re running every formation at you, and they’re motioning this and that.”
After Jereomy Hoefer carried the ensuing Salesian kickoff 63 yards downfield to the Pride 30-yard line, the Mustangs rallied behind the lengthy runback to score their first touchdown of the game, capped by a one-yard Jake Davis airborne dive above the goal-line pile.
With staunch defense on both ends, the score stood tied at 7-7 until the third quarter.
That’s when the Mustangs took the lead on a run-only drive from their two powerful backs, Davis and David Pike, and Davis scored his second touchdown of the night, this time from two yards out.
Middletown held the 14-7 lead going into the fourth quarter, until John-Wesley Davis picked off an errant Woolsey pass and ran it back to the Salesian 30-yard line.
The Mustangs need just two plays – a 29-yard run from Hoefer and a 1-yard push from Jake Davis for his third touchdown of the game – to take advantage of the Salesian turnover.
With just eight minutes left in the game and having scored the last two touchdowns, Middletown seemed firmly in control and on their way to winning the title championship.
“We had momentum, we were up by 14 points,” Foltmer said about the lead.
But the feeling was short-lived, and the momentum quickly shifted.
Salesian’s Marcial Malic took the subsequent Danny Cardenas kickoff 53 yards downfield to the Mustang 39-yard line, and after a 15-yard personal foul against Middletown’s Luke Parker was added, the Pride started the drive needing only 24 yards to score.
And score they did, just three plays later, on a four-yard carry from Prier.
“More than anything else, our kids didn’t quit,” Nightingale said about his team. “I didn’t need a Vince Lombardi speech when we were down 21-7. They were successful because they believed they could be successful.”
After stopping the Mustangs with a three-and-out, Salesian needed just nine more plays on their next drive to tie the score at 21-all with a one-yard quarterback keep from Woolsey and just 1:51 left on the clock.
“Once the momentum goes away from you, there’s not anything you can do,” Foltmer said about the forth quarter Salesian rally. “And you could see it in our kids.”
The 21-21 tie score held until regulation play ended, when the NCS uses what is commonly referred to as a “Kansas tiebreaker” for overtime games, where both teams receive the ball on the opponent’s 10-yard line and have just four plays to score a touchdown followed by a point after attempt.
The Pride won the coin toss, elected to start on offense, scored in the air on their first play – a 10-yard bullet from Woolsey to Davion Mize – and added the extra point.
“Now the Middletown kids,” Nightingale said about scoring first in overtime, “you know their stomachs are a little bit tighter because they’ve got to make sure they score to equal.”
Trailing 28-21, the Mustang’s overtime got off to a rocky start with a five-yard false start penalty, and they were unable to make up the yardage needed to convert the touchdown.
“What everyone always says is ‘defense wins championships’,” Jake Davis said about the overtime loss. “They stopped us for that last touchdown and we didn’t stop them, so their defense won the championship.”
“Hats off to Bill Foltmer and his staff – a great Middletown team, and a great group of seniors led by Jake Davis,” Nightingale said about the Mustangs.
“I don’t think anybody thought anything other than the fact that Middletown would be the toughest game we would play all year long.” Nightingale continued. “That’s a great team, that’s a great staff and we didn’t expect anything different.”
“It was a heartbreaker, wasn’t it?” Foltmer said about the overtime loss. “It’s like it’s there, and you’re reaching for that and then – boom – it’s just sucked away.”
Foltmer continued: “For me, I couldn’t be prouder of these kids. I think the mark of a coach is, ‘Did your kids play hard for you?’ And these kids played their hearts out for me, so there’s really no negatives for me to say about anything in this game.”
“I feel bad for the kids, I feel bad for the community,” Foltmer lamented. “All the people that drove an hour and 45 minutes here – the place was packed with Middletown fans, they threw a little breakfast for us before we got on the bus, people were lined on the street when we left town – I mean, I couldn’t ask for more support from our community.”
“I feel like, God, we just let this opportunity slip away from us,” he said.
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Michael Gil Truscott, 31, was arrested in October 2009 for the shooting death of 30-year-old Anthony Cruz on Sept. 4, 2009, as Lake County News has reported.
But on Monday the case was dismissed, according to Stephen Carter, Truscott's defense attorney from the Carter & Carter Law Offices in Lower Lake.
“That means that the District Attorney's Office has realized that they cannot prove their case based on the witnesses and investigation they have to date,” Carter said.
Carter added, “Without going into detail, it is safe to say the prosecution had some huge witness credibility issues to overcome.”
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said that the case is not going to be closed, and that the investigation is continuing.
“Since charges were originally filed, we conducted an extensive amount of investigation that has resulted in other information that we were previously unaware of,” he said.
Because of that information, Hinchcliff said the District Attorney's Office didn't believe it could convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Truscott committed the charged offenses.
“We've come to the point where if we take this to trial now, we believe there's a strong likelihood that we're going to lose this case,” he said.
If that were to happen, jeopardy attaches, and Truscott couldn't be recharged in the future, Hinchcliff said.
Hinchcliff said that, because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, he couldn't discuss other possible suspects.
Cruz was at the window of his Spruce Avenue home in Clearlake when he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to police reports.
Clearlake Police Department investigators alleged that Cruz was confronting someone in his yard who was allegedly stealing marijuana from him when he was fatally shot.
Carter said marijuana trimmings were recovered at the scene, but a firearm was never located.
Truscott was arrested and charged based in part on a confrontation he allegedly had with Cruz in public several weeks before the shooting, Carter said. It was alleged that Cruz beat Truscott severely during that fight.
When Truscott was located and arrested a month and a half after the shooting he was in a state prison in Tracy on a parole violation.
Truscott was placed on a parole hold as a result of prior convictions against him and booked into the Lake County Jail on Nov. 23, 2009, where he has remained since on $1 million bail.
Carmen Walsh, a 40-year-old Clearlake resident, was arrested as an accessory after the fact in the homicide. Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine said the case against Walsh was dismissed on Nov. 6, 2009, due to lack of evidence.
DeChaine also wouldn't comment further on the case, noting, “The investigation had not stopped since the night Mr. Cruz was killed.”
The dismissal came about a month before the case's jury trial – which had been expected to last eight weeks – was set to begin, Carter said.
Carter said he was pleased with the result. “My view has always been that the state of the evidence was such that this case was going to end in either a dismissal or an acquittal at jury trial,” and it was a good decision to save potential jurors the time and expense of a lengthy trial.
On Monday morning Truscott remained in custody at the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport. A remaining violation of probation charge also was handled Monday and Truscott was released from custody by day's end.
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