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LAKEPORT – Lake Family Resource Center's effort to build a domestic violence shelter received another important donation Thursday.
Inspirations Gallery owner Gail Salituri and the gallery's director, Sheri Salituri, presented the center
with a check for $2,200.
This is the first of the LaForge Memorial Fund presentations this year.
The LaForge Memorial was created last year in memory of Gail Salituri's friend, Barbara LaForge, who was violently murdered in October of 2002.
“No woman should be a victim of any sort of abuse,” said Salituri, who gave her support for the effort to work to provide a safe place for abuse victims.
Salituri raffled original artwork, and held silent and live auctions of artwork she created and others donated at her gallery located at 165 N. Main St., Lakeport, to benefit the future home of the domestic violence shelter project.
The Lake County Arts Council joined in to support this cause by inviting Salituri to their Friday Night Flings, where artwork is raffled and sold periodically.
Salituri offered special thanks to local businesswoman Kathy Fowler, who also is a board member for the Lake Family Resource Center.
“Kathy Fowler is always there for me, and with me, during these events to support us in our quest to generate money for the center project,” said Salituri.
She added, “We are just a small business in Lake County, but we hope to serve as an example for reaching out and helping others, and hope our community will join in with us to assist this cause.”
Currently, “Red Hills Road in Fall,” an original oil measuring 24 by 30 inches, is being created for the upcoming Wine and Chocolate event's silent auction.
In addition to this new creation, “Red Hills Road II,” a 24-inch by 30-inch Giclee, will be offered at the event as a raffle item.
Salituri said her next scheduled event will be in March at the First Friday Night Fling at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery.
A sneak peak of the new pieces will be on display this weekend in Inspiration Gallery's windows, 165 N. Main St.
For more information about the fund, call the gallery, 263-4366, or visit Salituri's Web site at www.inspirationsgallery.net/.
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NOTE: This article includes some explicit terms that may not be appropriate for children.
LAKEPORT – A New York man who recently made a gift to the city of Lakeport is facing trial this March for charges stemming from a July 2006 arrest.
Justin F. Lazard, 42, goes on trial March 3 for indecent exposure and annoying or molesting a child, according to Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg.
Lazard – an actor, writer and former model – recently gave a new set of playground equipment to the city, which was dedicated in a small ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, as Lake County News has reported.
The case against Lazard alleges that he was sitting on the metal railing that runs along the sidewalk at the lakeshore in Library Park, just north of the playground area, exposing himself and masturbating during the July 4, 2006, festivities.
Lazard's attorney, Paul Swanson, did not return a call seeking comment on the case.
Lt. Brad Rasmussen of the Lakeport Police Department said Lazard was arrested at about 6:18 p.m. July 4, 2006, after three officers on foot patrol encountered him. Lazard was allegedly sitting alone on the railing, with his genitals exposed.
Rasmussen said Lazard was told to stop but didn't, so the officers grabbed him. Lazard allegedly resisted arrest and began fighting the officers, so Rasmussen tasered him. That gave Lazard the dubious distinction of becoming the first person to be tasered by the police department's new tasers.
There was no evidence that Lazard was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, said Rasmussen, and he offered no explanation for his alleged behavior.
Rasmussen said that, following the taser incident, Lazard received a medical clearance from paramedics at Lakeport Fire Protection District, which is standard procedure after use of a taser on a subject.
Both charges currently against Lazard are misdemeanors, Borg said. The annoying/molesting charge would carry a one-year maximum sentence, while the longest sentence for the indecent exposure charge is six months.
“The most he's facing is one year in county jail,” said Borg. “It would be extremely unusual for him to get that.”
Since Lazard doesn't have much in the way of a criminal record beyond the 2006 charges, Borg said he's more likely to receive probation if he's convicted.
However, Borg added that conviction on the charges would require mandatory registration as a sexual offender in California and possibly New York, where Lazard now lives.
Borg said the playground equipment donation Lazard made to the city of Lakeport hasn't been brought up in relation to his criminal case.
However, it's proved to be a thorny issue for Lakeport officials, who at first didn't realize Lazard had been arrested on the indecent exposure charge by police in 2006.
Kevin Burke, interim city manager and police chief, said that Creative Playthings, the Framingham, Mass.-based manufacturer of the playground equipment, contacted city Public Works Director Doug Grider about the donation about six months ago.
“Our public works staff did not know who the individual was,” said Burke, adding that city staff also haven't had contact with Lazard.
However, it came to their attention sometime during the process of formally accepting the equipment that he was the source of the donation, said Burke.
“At that time it was discussed at length amongst city staff about whether or not we should accept the donation,” Burke said.
Ultimately city staff decided to accept the equipment – which came with no strings attached of any kind – because it would offer a substantial benefit to the children who use the park, he explained.
Burke said the city was aware of the potential public perception that it was an attempt by Lazard – who also is the heir to a banking fortune – to buy his way out of trouble.
However, coming from his police perspective, Burke suggested that many people accused of crimes do some kind of restitution.
Considering the sensitive nature of the the charges against Lazard, Burke said he is planning to have city public works staff remove the plaque on the equipment.
The plaque reads:
“This playground is dedicated to the children of Lakeport, CA,
Creating Childhood Memories
Donated by Justin Lazard, 2008.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The quake was reported at 8:16 p.m., centered one mile north northwest from The Geysers and five miles west northwest of Cobb, according to the US Geological Survey.
The US Geological Survey reported that the quake was located one mile north
Late Thursday, six responses – two each from Kelseyville, Middletown and Camptonville, the latter located 175 miles away – reported feeling the quake.
The last earthquake measuring more than 3.0 on the Richter scale occurred on Jan. 4, when a 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded near The Geysers, as Lake County News has reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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WASHINGTON – The House Committee on Ways and Means voted Thursday in support of a comprehensive economic recovery package to provide tax, health and unemployment relief to families while also encouraging businesses to create new jobs.
Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) helped draft and voted in favor of the legislation, which passed the Committee by a vote of 24 to 13.
The bill includes several alternative energy tax provisions authored by Congressman Thompson. The legislation will now be combined with other components of the recovery package from other House Committees into H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for consideration by the full House of Representatives next week.
“We need to make sure that working families are getting help through these tough economic times,” said Congressman Thompson. “By providing tax relief and assistance with health care costs to working families, and making investments that will create green jobs, we’re going to make sure that all Americans will benefit from this recovery package. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure that this legislation effectively and efficiently delivers a boost to the economy, so that taxpayers get the most out of their investment in our country’s future.”
H.R. 598 would also provide tax incentives to businesses to help them expand their payrolls and make broad investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
“Investing in alternative energy is a smart thing to do,” said Thompson. “For example, the solar energy tax provisions I authored will make it easier for businesses and homeowners to have solar panels installed. This will create green jobs and at the same time reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Not only will this help us in the short term, it will also enhance the long-term security and sustainability of our economy.”
The package provides payment incentives to encourage the widespread adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) to modernize American health care, cut red tape, eliminate redundant care and reduce health insurance premiums for millions.
At Thompson’s urging, the bill also allows telemedicine facilities to be eligible for grants. At the markup, Congressman Thompson spoke out against an amendment that would have hurt rural doctors’ ability to use HIT funding. The amendment was eventually defeated.
Thompson also worked closely with committee leadership to make sure that rural communities would be guaranteed their fair share of distressed area bonds. These bonds can be issued by cities and counties to help pay for infrastructure projects and job training programs. As a result of Congressman Thompson’s advocacy, rural areas with lower populations will not be penalized when funds are distributed by the states.
The larger package of recovery provisions that will be considered on the House floor next week include unprecedented accountability requirements.
Funds for projects would be distributed through existing formulas to programs with proven track records. How funds are spent, all announcements of contract and grant competitions and awards, and formula grant allocations would be posted on a special Web site created by the president.
This Web site will include explanations from governors, mayors or others making funding decisions personally certifying that the investment has been fully vetted and is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.
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Rowland Mosser, 64, of Lucerne, went before Judge Richard Martin along with his wife, Jayne Sleeper Mosser, 61.
The Mossers were arrested last April. Rowland Mosser was charged with four felony counts including embezzlement, grand theft by an employee, grand theft and keeping a false record of government funds, while his wife faces a single felony count of committing grand theft, as Lake County News has reported.
Rowland Mosser was the center's director from July 2002 to August 2005.
Deputy District Attorney Gary Luck is prosecuting the case, alleging that the theft and embezzlement activities occurred between Jan. 1, 2005, and Aug. 12, 2005.
Defense attorney Judy Conard represented Rowland Mosser, with Mitchell Hauptman defending Jayne Mosser.
The proceedings lasted close to three hours and were punctuated by frequent breaks as Luck and the two defense attorneys waded through the detail-heavy case.
Anticipating that the hearing would not be finished on Wednesday – and it wasn't – the Mossers waived their right to a continuous preliminary hearing.
On the stand for the entire time was Ron Larsen, a retired captain with Clearlake Police who was hired as an investigator by the District Attorney's Office in March 2007, specifically for the purpose of investigating the senior center's finances, which also had been the center of a grand jury investigation.
Larsen recounted interviewing witnesses – including former center board members and employees – who gave information on alleged financial irregularities.
Former center board member Marilyn Johnson spotted Mosser at a bank in mid-2005, where he allegedly had a $15,000 check made out to the center. Larsen recounted that Johnson stated that Mosser cashed the check, paid in cash the wages of several employees who were with him, and then left with the remainder of the money.
Larsen also interviewed Jim Swatts, who in 2005 was elected chair of senior center's board of directors. He and Mosser had a “strained” relationship, Larsen said, using Swatts' words.
Swatts told Larsen that he asked Mosser in August of 2005 to present a financial statement on the center during the open portion of a center board meeting, which Mosser refused to do. Mosser did, however, reportedly present it to the center board in closed session.
In the mean time, Swatts reportedly began to discover more about the center's financial situation, including levies on bank accounts and outstanding judgments against the center, and finding out that some food distributors would only take cash or provide no services at all because of money the center owed them, said Larsen.
At the August 2005 senior center board meeting, Mosser presented the financial report to the board in closed session, along with his typed resignation. Larsen said that Swatts directed the center secretary at that time to prepare a document stating that Mosser was on immediate leave and that he needed to turn in his keys to the building.
Defense raises numerous objections
As Larsen presented his findings under Luck's questioning, Conard and Hauptman did their best to trip up the prosecution, firing objection after objection at Luck's questions.
In all, at least 33 objections were lodged, faulting Luck for failing to provide foundation, asking leading questions or attempting to introduce hearsay. Martin sustained several of the objections.
The rapid fire of objections prompted Luck at one point to explain that he had had conversations with the defense about how he would be allowed to present his evidence at the preliminary hearing through Larsen's statements, rather than having to present voluminous documentary evidence.
With the defense appearing to disagree with how the hearing should go, Luck explained that if he had to begin going through the documents piece by piece – and there are an estimated 13,000 pieces of paper in the prosecution's case – a continuance would be needed to retrieve all the documents.
“The case is overwhelming as it relates to paper,” Luck said, adding that the investigation itself took a year and a half to go through all of the documents.
Luck said the need to introduce documents now also could extend the preliminary hearing by several days. “I was trying to do, in one day, work that will probably require three to four days,” he said, with multiple exhibits to be entered into evidence.
Martin directed Luck to present as much of his case as he could, since the judge had delayed four other cases that had been set for trial on Wednesday. “I want to use this day and get the most value out of it that I can,” Martin said, noting that the courts are struggling to keep up the their caseloads.
Continuing through his reports on various witness statements, Larsen recounted interviewing Lucerne resident William Ellis, a longtime center member and treasurer who was involved before, during and after Mosser's tenure.
Ellis told Larsen that he did financial reports for the center board of directors, compiling the reports by going through receipt books and bank statements. By early 2005, Ellis stated that he had trouble getting the information from Mosser, who would never get him the full information he requested.
In reviewing the documents in the case, Larsen said he went through “boxes and boxes” of documents and records at the center, reconciling checking accounts and bank statements, cashed checks and computer files from before, during and after Mosser's time as executive director.
When Mosser became executive director in 2002, the senior center had seven checking accounts, said Larsen. By early 2005, four of the accounts had been closed, with the remaining three accounts hit with court-ordered levies, which resulted in any money being put into those accounts being sized by creditors.
Larsen also stated that he had discovered a payment from center funds for the electricity bill at the Mossers' home on Sixth Avenue in Lucerne.
Investigator examines bank accounts
In order to access records on the Mossers' bank accounts over a period of several years, Larsen served a search warrant at Westamerica Bank's Upper Lake branch.
From March 2003 to August 2003, Larsen calculated about $167,600 in deposits in the form of checks with Jayne Mosser's name on them from the Emmett A. Larkin Co.
Based in San Francisco, the Emmett A. Larkin Co. provides “full service execution, clearing and custody services for other broker dealers and investment advisors,” according to the company's Web site.
Hauptman objected to the statements, asking their relevance. Luck replied that he was attempting to show that the Mossers had money coming in from investments.
“Within a two-year window, all that money was gone,” said Luck.
At the time the Mossers' checking account was closed in 2005, they had no source of income besides Rowland Mosser's income as the center's executive director, Luck explained.
“When their money disappears, that's when the Lucerne Senior Center's money disappears,” Luck alleged.
Luck said that the couple enjoyed a lifestyle that resulted in them spending the money down in a “very short period of time.”
In 2002, the Mossers had less than $10,000 in deposits in their checking account. That increased slightly after he went to work for the senior center. By 2003, the Larkin deposits begin, totaling more than $167,600.
Throughout 2004, there was just over $24,000 in deposits in the Mossers' account, said Larsen. By the time the account was closed in February of 2005, the account was overdrawn by $483.
Larsen used documents he found at the senior center – receipts and copies of checks – to calculate $28,538.75 in reimbursements the center paid to Jayne Mosser from January to August of 2005.
Former center employee Aura Thomas also spoke with Larsen, explaining how she paid the center's bills, did the payroll, kept records and handled cash during her time there from 2004 and 2005. Thomas compiled financial reports based on information Rowland Mosser provided.
According to Larsen, Thomas said Jayne Mosser was at the center a lot, and did a lot of shopping for the center, turning in the receipts for reimbursement.
Larsen outlined the center's debt in August of 2005, when Rowland Mosser left. He calculated more than $40,000 that was owed to major creditors, with many more smaller debts outstanding as well.
In contrast with the center's deteriorating financial condition, Larsen testified that a California Department of Aging official provided him with the amounts of money that the agency allocated to the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center over a period of several years.
The breakdown is as follows: 2002-03, $77,992; 2003-04, $81,431; 2004-05, $88,709; 2005-06, $38,888 for first half of the year, Larsen said.
He also testified that Brenda Pier, a certified public accountant who worked for the Lucerne center from 1998 through November 2004, said she eventually left her post because she was unable to get “accurate, up-to-date financial information” from Rowland Mosser.
Larsen said on Jan. 30, 2008, he served a search warrant at the Mossers' home on Sixth Avenue. He found no records there relating to the senior center or its bank accounts, or any other information relevant to the case.
Luck asked Larsen to go over deposit amounts into the senior center's accounts from 2002 to 2005.
Larsen's calculations suggested that the numbers changed dramatically. In 2002, the accounts had $66,164 in deposits, followed by $73,295 in 2003.
In 2004, the deposits began to drop, with the accounts showing $43,078 in deposits. By the following year, the deposits had fallen to $2,812.
Larsen said deposits began to climb again in late 2006, with $11,384 between August and the end of the year, and $11,942 in funds recorded in deposits from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, 2007.
During Mosser's last few months at the center, he had organized a duck race fundraiser. Ellis told Larsen that Mosser had said he didn't have the more than $1,200 needed to pay a t-shirt maker for the shirts, which Ellis did as a donation to the center.
As Luck began attempting to enter documents into evidence, Hauptman and Conard objected, questioning how the documents were prepared. At least one of the four documents Luck addressed Wednesday appeared to have been hung up by those objections, while Martin overruled other objections.
After the several hours of complex testimony, the court recessed shortly after 3 p.m. The hearing will continue on Feb. 10, which will give Luck and Larsen an opportunity to prepare their documents in an effort to convince Martin to hold the Mossers for trial.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Wildhurst Vineyards, Steele Wines, Shannon Ridge Winery and Shed Horn Cellars are among the producers receiving the Best of Class distinction for their wines, according to judging results posted recently.
More than 60 professional judges tasted over 4,700 wines earlier this month. The public will have an opportunity to sample the competing wines on February 28 in San Francisco.
“It’s not surprising to see that Lake County wines are among those chosen as the best by the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition judges,” said Shannon Gunier, executive director of the Lake County Winegrape Commission. “Our wineries are making some of the top vintages in the nation. California and the rest of the country is hearing about Lake County because of our wine.”
“Lake County made a very good showing at this competition,” Wildhurst winemaker Mark Burch agreed.
Wildhurst’s 2007 Reserve Chardonnay took Best of Class in the “Chardonnay: $14 to $19.99” category. Burch noted that Wildhurst also garnered awards for its 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (double gold), 2007 Home Ranch Zinfandel (Gold), and Merlot (silver) in their respective categories.
Both the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc have been “very consistent” winners in competitions since 2006, according to Burch. The Chardonnay is produced from “outstanding stock” and is competing with cooler climate Chardonnays, he explained. Chardonnay from our region “is getting a lot of interest.” As for the Sauvignon Blanc, Burch looks to produce a 2008 with “more intensity” this year and continue the award-winning reputation.
Cabernet Sauvignon from Lake County took the top honors in two categories.
Shed Horn Cellars and Shannon Ridge Winery took Best of Class in the “$25 to $34.99” and “$15 to $24.99” divisions, respectively.
Both award winners can be credited to winemaker Mike Wood, according to Adawn Wood who, along with Mike, owns Shed Horn Cellars.
The Woods are “so excited” to have won, said Adawn, because the wine came from “a little winery” – 400 cases produced each year – which entered its first competition only last year.
At the Orange County Fair, Shed Horn received a gold for its 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and a silver for its 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. Mike Wood, also the winemaker for Shannon Ridge, has 26 years of winemaking experience, said Adawn, but this year was Shed Horn’s first time competing in the San Francisco Chronicle’s contest.
Touted as the “largest competition of American wines in the world,” the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition features a record number of competitors from throughout the United States. This year’s Sweepstakes winners include four from California, one from New Mexico, and another from New York.
Other Lake County award winners include Ceago Vinegarden (gold, “Merlot up to $14.99,” and gold, “Syrah/Shiraz $15 to $24.99”), Langtry Estate (double gold, “Cabernet Sauvignon $5 to $44.99”), Writers Block (gold, “Petite Sirah”), Benziger Family Winery (gold, “Bordeaux Blends $45.00 and over”), Steele (gold, “Dry Rose” for its Cabernet Franc Rose), Brassfield Estates (gold, “Zinfandel $15.00 to $24.99”), and many silver and bronze winners.
For a complete list of winners, including additional Lake County winery and vintage winners, see the San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Competition Web site, www.winejudging.com/medal_winners_2009/index.html.
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