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LAKEPORT – One hundred and fifty six fifth graders at Terrace Heights School spent part of Wednesday afternoon visiting with law enforcement and fire officials as part of a program that emphasizes staying free of drugs. {sidebar id=73}
The event, organized by the Lakeport Police Department in conjunction with Lakeport Unified School District, marked the students' graduation from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program – known as DARE.
Taught by Lakeport Police Officer Jarvis Leishman, school resource officer for Lakeport Unified School District who is completing his first year in the job, the 10-week course emphasizes creating a healthy life through healthy choices, including resisting peer pressure when it comes to drug use and violence.
Reaching middle school students with the anti-drug message is critical, said Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke. The DARE program, he added, has a great track record of helping young people stay out of trouble.
“It's OK to be just a good kid,” he told the children.
“We hope you guys realize you are a special group of kids by finishing this program,” Burke added.
He invited the children to visit the police department, and told them they could do any public safety job – fire, police, sheriff, highway patrol – that they wanted.
That's one of the program's added values, he told Lake County News: Introducing children to law enforcement, and helping them form constructive relationships with authorities.
Leishman handed out awards, including the honor of best class to Mrs. Martinez's fifth graders.
As part of the course, students write an essay. Destinee Jones won for her report on methamphetamine. (See accompanying story.)
Each student received a t-shirt, water bottle and some ice cream, which they enjoyed while sitting in the sunshine on a grassy area behind the school.
But the real treat was the chance to see local public safety officers up close and personal.
Lakeport Fire Protection District brought a ladder truck, Lakeport Sheriff's Office deputies brought a SWAT van, California Highway Patrol Officer Erica Coddington visited with the children and several Lakeport Police officers talked about their duties while police volunteers handed out goodies.
But stealing the afternoon's show was Max, Lakeport Police's K-9, an 8-year-old Malinois from the Netherlands who works with Officer Jim Bell.
Bell shared with the students about his day-to-day life working with Max, to whom he speaks in Dutch.
The eager K-9 cost the department $8,000, plus another $10,000 to train Bell to work with him. “He's a very expensive tool for the police department,” Bell said.
Max made quick work of sniffing out a plastic gun replica hidden under a rock under Bell's direction.
But more exciting for the students was when Bell set Max on fellow Officer Dale Stoebe, who was decked out in a large, padded suit. Despite the padding, officers who help with bite training still usually come away with some bruises, said Burke.
Leishman said the DARE program has been taught at Lakeport Unified for a total of six years.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – A Carmichael man will likely know this week if he'll face trial in connection with the death of a woman that resulted from a 2006 boating collision.
The preliminary hearing for Bismarck Dinius, 39, got under way Tuesday in Lake County Superior Court Judge Richard Martin's courtroom.
The proceedings will determine if there is enough evidence to try Dinius on charges of vehicular manslaughter involving a vessel and misdemeanor boating under the influence of alcohol.
On the night of April 29, 2006, Dinius was steering a sailboat belonging to Mark Weber of Willows, when a speed boat driven by Russell Perdock, a chief deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, collided with the sailboat.
Weber's fiancee, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton, was mortally injured and died May 2, 2006, at UC Davis Medical Center.
Dinius was charged because authorities alleged that the sailboat's lights weren't on, and both Dinius and Weber allegedly had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit.
Perdock was not charged, although investigative reports indicated he had violated the “safe speed” rule, which requires that a boat operator at all times maintain a speed that allows them to stop the vessel “within half the distance of forward visibility.”
On Tuesday, Prosecutor John Langan called four people to the stand in the first day of testimony, including Perdock, Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Hoffman, Deputy John Gregore and Boat Patrol Sgt. Dennis Ostini.
Along with the testimony, Langan entered more than a dozen items into evidence, including photographs of Perdock's boat and Weber's sailboat, Beats Workin' II; a large aerial photograph of the region; and several documents and reports from law enforcement and investigating agencies.
Ostini, who oversees the sheriff's Boat Patrol program, was the officer in charge the night the boat crash occurred, according to testimony given in court Tuesday.
He spent more than three hours on the witness stand, answering Langan's questions and being cross-examined by Dinius' defense attorney, Victor Haltom of Sacramento.
Testimony in the case resumes Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., when Haltom is expected to continue his cross examination of Ostini.
The case has given rise to accusations against local authorities that they were attempting to protect Perdock.
A review of the case completed last December by the California Attorney General's Office found the Lake County Sheriff's Office had handled the matter properly, especially in bringing in outside agencies to help with the investigation. However, at the time, Haltom dismissed the review, saying it addressed none of the case's important issues.
Last summer, Haltom also attempted to have the District Attorney's Office removed from the case, but the state Attorney General's Office assisted in arguing against the motion, which a judge denied, as Lake County News reported.
Elizabeth Larson contributed to this report.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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Public Services Director Kim K. Clymire announced Tuesday that the public is invited to the grand opening for the new park on Saturday, May 31, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Music will be provided by the Konocti Fiddle Club from 9:30 a.m. and until 10:30 a.m. and the dedication program will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Refreshments will be served.
Clymire expressed his sincere appreciation to everyone involved in this exciting, community grass roots project, who made it possible.
Improvements for this park – which is Lake County’s newest, measuring one acre in size – that have been completed to date include: playground equipment, sidewalks, 40,000 square feet of lawn area, benches, tables, barbecues, trash cans, bike rack, approximately 40 trees measuring 15 to 20 feet tall that include fruitless flowering pears and plums, valley and red oaks, gingkos, magnolias, chinese pistache, maples, crape myrtles, and raywood ash, plus annual and perennial plants and shrubs.
In addition, the county purchased a building adjacent to the park and plans to turn it into a restroom and Visitor Information Center and that work will start soon. A bid for the perimeter sidewalk, curb, gutter and parking lot will be released soon.
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Jason Kaluna Fugit, 36, will go to the Napa State Hospital where he will receive treatment for his mental illness, said his defense attorney, Stephen Carter of the law offices of Carter and Carter.
Fugit, who worked as an equipment operator, was charged in 2005 with attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery for the attack on his 78-year-old grandmother at her Lucerne home, said Carter.
According to Carter, Fugit tried to kill his grandmother because he thought she was involved in treasonous acts along with the government, which he believed was persecuting him.
Fugit was diagnosed as psychotic by three different doctors, said Carter, with the mental illness stemming directly from severe sexual abuse that took place several years before the incident. He'd had some “not very serious” previous run-ins with the law.
The charges could have brought life in prison. However, Carter said Fugit entered a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to elder abuse. A court trial was held on the manner of his sanity, and the court found that Fugit was insane at the time of the crime.
The case took time to work its way through the courts, said Carter. Because Fugit was found both insane and incompetent to stand trial, he was sent to a Southern California mental health facility where he spent 224 days in treatment before returning to the Lake County Jail.
While in Southern California, Fugit's treatment included adjusting his medications, said Carter, which resulted in a major improvement in his behavior. Fugit's mother told Carter that she felt like she had her son back, thanks to the treatment.
Carter himself said he saw a major change in Fugit, who went from “desperate mental illness” to a quiet demeanor.
Once back from treatment, Fugit went through a restoration of competency hearing and proceedings continued, said Carter.
Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who prosecuted the case, argued for the upper term of 11 years, disagreeing with a proposal for a lesser term put forward by Lake County Probation, said District Attorney Jon Hopkins.
“We agreed that he was insane,” Hopkins said.
Arguing before Judge Arthur Mann on Monday, Carter made the case that the law recognizes that the early plea and the mental illness were mitigating factors that should reduce the sentence. He also argued for some of the sentence to run concurrently.
Mann sentenced Fugit to eight years. Because of his mental health issues, Fugit is being sent to Napa State Hospital, where his family can visit him. Because there is usually a waiting list for the Napa hospital, Carter said Fugit will remain at the Lake County Jail until there is an opening.
According to the California Department of Mental Health, Napa State Hospital is a low- to moderate-security facility located on 138 acres, with bed capacity that allows for treatment of as many as 1,362 adults. All of the individuals treated there arrive through civil or court commitments, with the most frequent diagnoses including schizophrenic, mood, anxiety and personality disorders.
Carter said Fugit's mother, father and grandmother were in court on Monday, and appeared pleased with the outcome. Fugit's grandmother, said Carter, understood her grandson was ill, loved him dearly and and wanted him to get healthy.
“There was a nice closure today,” he said.
According to the law, Fugit is being sent to Napa for treatment and rehabilitation, and sanity hearings could resume during that time, said Hopkins.
Fugit can only be held at the hospital for the maximum amount of time he would have served on the sentence, said Hopkins, unless when the time for release comes he's found to still be a danger.
If that were to be the case, Hopkins said the prosecution can file a petition to have Fugit kept at the hospital as long as he's considered dangerous.
“That means that we approved a plea bargain that can keep him in the state hospital for the rest of his life,” he said. “Based on the brutality he demonstrated in the attack on his grandmother, that is a real possibility.”
Carter said that some people never get out of the mental hospital once committed. However, he added, “That's the exception rather than the rule.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LUCERNE – Lucerne's water system suffered two line breaks on Monday.
A main break occurred along Country Club Drive, with another leak reported on Alta Vista Way, said Gay Guidotti, California Water Service Co.'s customer service representative for Lucerne.
The breaks were reported Monday, said Guidotti.
A contractor was being sent to both locations to repair the breaks, Guidotti said.
She estimated that repairs would be completed Monday. About 6:30 p.m. men were still making repairs along Country Club.
About 12 homes lost water services as a result of the problem on Country Club, according to Guidotti.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Chief Deputy James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported that the Lake County “Avoid the Three” DUI Task Force will conduct a the DUI and driver's license checkpoint during the evening hours of Friday, May 23, in the city of Clearlake.
The “Avoid” Task Force is a multi-agency effort led by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to remove DUI drivers from the roads and highways, said Bauman. Participating agencies include Lakeport and Clearlake Police Departments.
In order to optimize the efforts of the Task Force to reduce incidents of driving under the influence, the specific location and hours of operation of the checkpoint will not be disclosed prior to the checkpoint, Bauman said.
Motorists entering the checkpoint can expect to see traffic control patterns, warning signs, and officers on the roadway contacting drivers and screening for signs of intoxication or impairment, and checking driver’s licenses as traffic permits, he noted.
Drivers will be detained for the minimum amount of time possible at the checkpoint, said Bauman.
In addition to the DUI checkpoint on Friday evening, Bauman reported that special enforcement units also will be on DUI Saturation Patrol in and around the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake during the coming Memorial Day weekend looking for intoxicated or impaired drivers.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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