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County Supervisors Denise Rushing and Anthony Farrington; Farrington's planning commissioner, Cliff Swetnam; local Democratic Party leader Wanda Harris; and Lucerne resident Megan Morgan are among those locals who will converge on Washington for the 44th president's swearing in and the accompanying celebration.
Millions of people are expected to converge on the nation's capitol for the historic ceremony. Attendance estimates range between one and four million visitors to the city of 600,000.
The Reuters news agency reported that officials are expecting that the attendance for Obama's ceremony will far surpass the record of 1.2 million people for Lyndon Johnson's 1965 inauguration.
The entire two-mile length of the National Mall – the area that stretches from the US Capitol to the Potomac River – is being opened in order to accommodate all of those who will witness the swearing in on the Capitol Building's West Portico. In past years most spectators have been confined to the Capitol Building grounds.
The demand for tickets the inauguration ceremonies has been high.
Congressman Mike Thompson's office reported that each member of Congress received 198 tickets – including those for the representative or senator's own use.
Thompson's tickets were quickly allocated, with 1,500 requests – far outstripping the number of tickets available.
Visitors to Washington also will be taking part in the many inaugural balls, 106 in all, according to a compilation provided by the Washington Post. However, there are only a small number of “official” balls, at which either the president or vice president are slated to make appearances.
A chance to see history firsthand
From experienced travelers to first-time Washington visitors, local residents attending the events were unanimous in their desire to take part in a history-making event.
Megan Morgan, 16, flew to Washington, DC on Friday morning. She spoke to Lake County News Friday evening, after having arrived flown into Dulles Airport and arrived at her hotel in Virginia.
The Upper Lake High School junior is traveling with the People to People Student Ambassador Program, a group which invites young people to take part in trips based on citizenship and school test scores.
She's been on previous trips with the group, but this is her first journey to Washington, DC, where she'll spend five days with the 40-member student delegation and another two days sightseeing before returning home Jan. 23.
It promises to be an engaging experience for the young woman, who is interested in the Air Force and foreign relations.
Among the activities that Morgan will take part in this week will include an inaugural ball and attending a special performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
She noted Friday that so far in her trip she had encountered a lot of large crowds in the airports and around the Washington area.
Morgan said she is really excited about the historic week ahead and “being able to witness a part of history firsthand.”
The youngest of four children – she has three older brothers – Morgan said her family is “proud – really proud” that she's making the trip.
For Wanda Harris of Hidden Valley Lake, a leader in Lake County's Democratic Party, this won't be either her first trip to Washington, DC or her first inauguration.
Harris, whose brother was president of a steelworkers organization, attended both inaugurations for President Bill Clinton.
In September, well before the election, Harris and some friends began planning their trip, which allowed them to get plane fare under $300 per person. They also found a condominium near the Pentagon which they rented from a couple, both retired colonels, for a reasonable price. Harris and three friends from Contra Costa County will be joined by in staying at the condo by Supervisor Denise Rushing and her partner.
Thompson's office provided them tickets to the inauguration ceremony, which will gain them entry to the US Capitol grounds and one of the standing areas.
“There's no one who hates crows more than me, but I would not miss this for anything,” Harris said. “I'm so excited.”
Harris said she's preparing for Washington's frigid January temperatures with lots of clothing layers and feet and hand warmers.
Harris leaves Saturday morning for Washington, and will stay until Jan. 24. The itinerary includes the California Ball on Sunday night, where the president-elect is expected to appear. Harris is determined to get a dance with him, and says to watch for a cobalt blue dress, which is what she'll be wearing at the event.
On inauguration day, Harris plans to have a “Lake County loves President Obama” poster in view of a television camera along the parade route.
Staying a full week will allow Harris and her friends some time to take in the sights.
“I'm going to do everything there is to do in Washington,” she said. Although she's been there before, there are some places that she wants to take a little extra time to explore, like the vast holdings of the Smithsonian Museum.
During the week she also plans to meet up with Farrington, as well as Martha McClure and Kendall Smith, supervisors for Del Norte and Mendocino counties, respectively.
Supervisors look forward to once-in-a-lifetime trip
Rushing leaves San Francisco on Saturday morning.
“I've not been to an inauguration before,” said the first-term supervisor from Upper Lake. “This is an historic event.”
She said she began rooting for Obama in the primaries, and is very excited that he was elected.
“I just felt I need to be there,” she said. “It just seems that important.”
Rushing said she believes the inauguration will be a once-in-a-lifetime event that will be very energizing experience for the nation, which she says will be important because in order to accomplish change, everyone will have to work together.
Although not planning to attend an inaugural ball, Rushing said she will take part in a Monday evening event held by Congressman Mike Thompson. Later in the week, she also wants to get in some sightseeing, including visiting the new Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian, before returning home Jan. 23.
On Sunday, Farrington and Swetnam leave San Francisco for Washington.
“I've been to Washington many times but this is my first inauguration,” Farrington said.
He was involved in the movement to recruit Obama to run for president and also helped campaign for Obama in Nevada. Farrington said he wanted to be part of the process for someone he believed in, and is eager to be part of the historic moment of Obama's swearing in.
Once Obama won the election, Obama spoke to friends, and Swetnam indicated his eagerness to go. Then it was a matter of getting tickets from Thompson's office and finding a place to stay. They've found accommodations in Gaithersburg, Maryland, about a half-hour drive from the capitol.
“I really don't know what to expect,” he said.
Like Rushing, they'll attend Thompson's Monday event, and Farrington also will take part in the Draft Obama inaugural event. But they don't plan any sightseeing and will return home on Wednesday. Farrington said he had too many obligations to stay longer.
“It's going to be pretty intense,” he said.
Celebrating the inauguration in Lake County
Here in Lake County, local inaugural celebrations are planned.
The Lake County Democratic Central Committee is holding a celebration at 6 p.m. Jan. 20 at the SawShop Gallery Bistro, 3825 Main St. in Kelseyville. However the event – which will feature live and recorded big screen TV broadcasts of the days events – has sold out.
However, there is still time to reserve a space at an informal gathering scheduled for the morning of Jan. 20 at the Konocti Vista Resort conference center on Mission Rancheria Road outside of Lakeport.
There is no cover charge for the event, where attendees will watch the inauguration ceremony on a big-screen television. Those who want to attend are urged to arrive by 8 a.m. at the latest to buy breakfast and be seated. RSVP to Deb Baumann,
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The 535 members of the Congress will receive a 2.8-percent cost of living adjustment – amounting to $4,700 per member – this month.
At the end of 2008, the salary for all senators and representatives was $169,300, according to Clerk of the House of Representatives Lorraine C. Miller. The salary for the speaker of the House is $217,400 and the salary for the majority and minority leaders is $188,100.
The 111th Congress, which was sworn in on Jan. 6, includes 435 members of the House of Representatives – 178 Republicans, 256 Democrats and one vacancy – Miller reported. There also are 100 members of the Senate.
The largest number of congressional delegates – 53 representatives and two senators – comes from California.
That new base salary now rises to $174,000. In all, the pay raises will amount to just over $2.5 million in the federal budget.
"All 2.7 million federal employees receive a cost of living adjustment most years, which this year has been set at 2.8 percent for members of Congress and other senior federal officials, and 3.9 percent for rank-and-file employees," said Congressman Mike Thompson.
Thompson added, "I did not run for Congress because of the pay. Serving the First District of California has been the highest honor of my career and I am excited to be back in Washington working for change for our district and our country."
The 1988 Ethics Reform Act grants members of Congress the pay raises on an annual basis, unless the House and Senate specifically vote to deny them, which they have done six times – in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2007, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
The year that bill was passed, members of Congress made $99,500.
In comparison, the president of the United States makes $400,000 annually. In 2001 the president's salary was raised to that amount from the $200,000 that it had been from 1969 to 2001, according to Congressional Quarterly's "Guide to the Presidency." From 1949 to 1969, the president made $100,000 a year.
In the wake of the current economic crisis, the raise hasn't been popular with some citizens groups, including the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.
"Members of Congress don't deserve one additional dime of taxpayer money in 2009," said the group's president, Tom Schatz. "While thousands of Americans are facing layoffs and downsizing, Congress should be mortified to accept a raise. They failed to pass most of their appropriations bills, the deficit is on pace to reach an unprecedented $1 trillion, and the national debt stands at $10 trillion. In addition, this Congress has been ethically challenged, plagued with corruption allegations, convictions and sex scandals."
The group had urged lawmakers to start out the year by introducing legislation to freeze congressional salaries at the 2008 rate, a suggestion Congress apparently didn't take.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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“There is broad and deep opposition to the Bush Administration’s effort to gut the Endangered Species Act,” Attorney General Brown said. “It is my hope that the new Obama Administration will take a fresh look at these rules and restore the independent scientific review of projects affecting endangered species, which has been a hallmark of the ESA for 35 years.”
The new regulations, initially proposed by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce in August 2008, largely eliminate a requirement in the Endangered Species Act that mandates scientific review of federal agency decisions that might affect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
The changes allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to permit mining, logging, and other commercial activities to take place on federal land and other areas subject to federal regulatory control without review or comment from federal wildlife biologists on the environmental effects of such activities on endangered and threatened species and their habitat.
The new regulations are the most significant changes to the Endangered Species Act and its implementing regulations in over 20 years.
Now that these regulations have been adopted, many decisions on whether to permit commercial activity on federal land or issue federal permits or licenses will be made at the sole discretion of federal agency project proponents, without input from biological experts at the federal wildlife agencies.
Federal project agencies generally lack adequate biological expertise and have incentives to conclude that their projects will not have adverse affects on endangered and threatened species and their habitat.
The changes also eliminate the requirement to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on species and ecosystems from proposed federal projects.
Federal agencies now no longer need to consider the possible adverse impacts on species like the polar bear from commercial projects that require federal approval or funding such as highway construction and coal-fired power plants.
The lawsuit, which was filed last December in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the Bush Administration:
• Violated the Endangered Species Act by adopting regulations that are inconsistent with that statute;
• Violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the environmental ramifications of the proposed new regulations; and
• Violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not adequately considering public comments submitted by the Attorney General and numerous other organizations and concerned citizens.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit follows three similar lawsuits challenging the regulations filed earlier by environmental groups.
Attorney General Brown’s amended complaint challenging the regulations and comments on the proposed regulations are attached.
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David Garlow Deason, 69, is accused of the December 2004 murder of his girlfriend, 48-year-old Marie Parlet.
His trial began before Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann in Department 3 on Jan. 6 following jury selection that began in mid-December, said Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
The prosecution alleges that Deason shot Parlet once in the chest and once in the chest from a distance of 18 inches while standing outside of their Lower Lake home. The two had reportedly argued earlier in the day, after which Deason left their residence and went drinking.
Deason was convicted of the murder in February 2006 and sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, as Lake County News has reported.
But an appellate court threw out the conviction in December 2007, ruling that the court had erred in excluding evidence of Deason's alleged high level of intoxication – 0.27 blood alcohol content, more than three times the legal limit, according to court records.
On Wednesday, Langan called to the stand Burt Hirahara, a latent print supervisor with the California Department of Justice, who discussed examining the .38 pistol allegedly used in the murder.
Hirahara explained that “latent” prints are those which are left by a chance touch.
Langan handed him a white box containing the .38, which Hirahara confirmed was the handgun he had examined.
He said he had found no prints on the weapon. Langan asked if that could have been because the person using it was wearing gloves, wiped it down or had very dry hands, which are not conducive to leaving prints. Hirahara suggested any of those scenarios could be the case.
During cross examination, defense attorney Doug Rhoades asked Hirahara if he would expect to get a print off of a checked surface, such as that found on a handgun's handle. Not always, Hirahara replied.
What about the trigger? Rhoades asked. Hirahara said they could sometimes find partial prints in that location.
As to a conducive area for a print to be found, Rhoades asked Hirahara if the metal on the handgun frame would hold prints, and Hirahara said yes.
Rhoades argued that “everything is speculation” about why there is no print on the weapon – including the suggestions that it had been wiped down or that someone had used gloves.
He also asked if the gun was loaded or unloaded when Hirahara received it. Hirahara looked at his notes and indicated he had no information about ammunition.
Next on the stand was Terry Fickies, a retired senior criminologist with the California Department of Justice, who specialized in firearms and tool marks. He also did firearms examinations – commonly known as ballistics.
The .38 handgun in evidence was subjected to three test fires, he said, in order to look at the particular markings that the weapon left on the bullets it fired.
Fickies said in his examination of the test fires and the expended bullet casings from the crime scene, he was not able to find sufficient corresponding characteristics to make a conclusion about whether they came from the same weapon.
“Those bullets could have been fired from this weapon or any other weapon with similar class characteristics,” he said.
He added that the bullets in question were made of lead, and harder to match up when it comes to identifying markings.
Fickies added that certain types of weapons may not leave marks on bullets. “It's just the luck of the draw.”
After an hour-and-a-half-long break to allow for the next witness to arrive, court reconvened after 11 a.m.
The last witness of the morning was 31-year-old Charline Parlet, Marie Parlet's daughter.
Charline Parlet had been in a Santa Rosa treatment program and was released on Dec. 6, 2004, the day her mother was shot.
As Langan began questioning her about the events of that day, Charline Parlet began to weep, recalling how her mother was there at 6 a.m. that day to pick her up and take her home.
Remembering the day caused Parlet to break down, covering her face with her hands and saying, “I can't do this, you guys – I can't.”
Judge Mann called a 10-minute recess and had the jury removed from the courtroom. Parlet told the prosecution and her Victim-Witness advocate that she couldn't sit on the stand and look at Deason because she was so angry.
Deason – dressed casually in a pullover sweater and dark slacks – sat looking down at the defense table.
Mann excused Parlet and brought the jury back in to excuse them until Jan. 21. He informed the jury that a stipulation of Parlet's previous testimony will be prepared and read at that time, which will mean she will not have to return to the stand.
Langan told Lake County News that he expects to rest his case after reading the stipulation to the jury next week. At that point, Rhoades likely will begin presenting his defense of Deason.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Game Warden Loren Freeman said he received a report earlier this month of a bull elk that had been killed, possibly in the Clearlake Oaks area.
Freeman said a couple and their daughter were at a Clearlake Oaks gas station on a Sunday afternoon when the daughter spotted a large elk in the back of a Ford F-250 pickup, covered with a blue tarp.
The girl didn't mention the elk to her parents until some time later. Freeman said he got the report about five days after the alleged sighting.
So far, Freeman said he has been unable to substantiate the case.
According to Fish and Game hunting regulations for 2008-09, hunting in Lake County for tule elk in the Cache Creek area may only take place in October, with a limit of one elk per person. Only five tags total are allowed for that area. Elk in the Lake Pillsbury area are protected and may not be hunted.
The Cache Creek herd has been a target of poachers in recent years. In August 2007, three bull elk were found killed along Cache Creek in southern Lake County, as Lake County News has reported.
Freeman said he wants to pursue the investigation on this recent alleged poaching case if he can get more information from the public.
He asks that anyone who saw a Ford F-250 pickup with a blue tarp covering a large object, driven by a white male between the ages of 30 and 35 in the Clearlake Oaks area, call the toll-free CalTIP number, 888-DFG-CALTIP (888-334-2258).
The number is used to report poaching and polluting cases, and is good 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Officials ask that those using the tip line give the fullest possible account of the incident including the name, address, age and description of the suspect, vehicle description, direction of travel, license number, type of violation and when and where it occurred.
Tips may be made anonymously, however, rewards of up to $1,000 have been paid to callers who supply information that leads to an arrest.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Mendocino County Superior Court Judge sentenced Gerardo Soto-Gonzales, 33, to one felony count of arson to forest land for setting fires on Aug. 22, 2008, that burned more than 45 acres, according to a report from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.
Two additional, identical arson counts against Soto-Gonzalez were dropped, although the court was allowed to consider them, according to officials.
Soto-Gonzalez, a Mexican national who has a Clearlake address, was represented by attorney Philip De Jong, who did not return a call seeking comment on the case.
The prosecution, led by Deputy District Attorney Damon Gardner, alleged that on Aug. 22, 2008, Cal Fire helicopter pilots spotted Soto-Gonzalez setting the fires in the Mendocino National Forest, northwest of Lake Pillsbury near Big Signal Peak.
US Forest Service and Cal Fire responded to the area to fight a wildland blaze that became known as the “Island Fire,” located on private property within the forest, according to the prosecution.
Cal Fire helicopter pilots dropped off fire crew members and made trips to get water to fight the fire, officials reported.
As they were making trips for water, the pilots noticed a smaller fire upwind from the original fire. The district attorney's report said the pilots switched their priority to the second fire where, once over it, they spotted Soto-Gonzalez, who was wearing camoflage.
On another trip to fill the helicopter's bucket with water, pilots discovered three more fires were burning close to the second fire. The report noted that as the pilots flew over the westernmost fire they again saw Soto-Gonzalez.
He reportedly was running west from the last fire and then was seen kneeling down by a brush pile and setting it on fire, according to the district attorney.
Soto-Gonzalez was reportedly forced down by the helicopter's rotor wash and that allowed the pilots to positively identify him.
The situation resulted in the fire crew that the helicopter dropped off having to be removed from the area for their safety because the newly set fires began to surround them, according to the prosecution.
Gardner told Lake County News on Thursday that a Cal Fire officer arrested Soto-Gonzalez on a forest road adjacent to the fire area, a lighter in his possession. Once on custody Soto-Gonzalez confessed to starting the fires.
Soto-Gonzalez gave some reasons for his actions, “but it's only speculation” as to why he set the fires, said Gardner.
A marijuana growing operation was reportedly located nearby.
The fire investigation determined there were three spots where a lighter had been used to set the fires, which burned 45.2 acres at a suppression cost of more than $175,000.
Soto-Gonzalez has remained in jail since his August arrest, said Gardner. During the trial the defense mentioned that Soto-Gonzalez has an immigration hold against him.
Although his legal status in the country is a question, Gardner said Soto-Gonzalez will serve his prison time and then be processed by the federal government for the immigration issue as soon as he is released.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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