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Santa Claus' sleigh, pulled by his nine reindeer, was spotted over Lake County just moments before the stroke of midnight Monday, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD).
NORAD's radar system picked up the sleigh as it left Lake County and headed on to San Francisco and then to Southern California.
The Christmas Eve Santa Claus tracking effort officially ended at 1 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, as Santa and his reindeer finished his worldwide run in Hawaii and returned to the North Pole.
Santa's office issued a statement saying he'll be resting up and starting preparations for next year.
To see videos of his trip and the places he visited, go to www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm.
Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to our friends of all faiths.
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A two-story shake home located at 6369 13th Avenue caught fire late Sunday at about 10:30 p.m., with Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters dispatched shortly afterward, reported Fire Captain Dave Emmel.
Twelve firefighters and four engines from all of Northshore Fire's stations responded, said Emmel, along with mutual aid from Lakeport Fire Protection District.
The house's resident was home when the fire started, said Emmel, but she was able to escape without injury.
The fire was put out by 11:30 p.m., said Emmel, with mop up continuing until about 12:45 a.m.
“We saved a lot of the house but it's not livable,” he said. “It really is a complete loss.”
Emmel said he wasn't sure of the home's value. Zillow.com listed the home's value at just over $125,000.
The woman who lived in the home didn't tell firefighters how the fire might have started, said Emmel, and the cause is still under investigation.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Michael Rather, 61, of Upper Lake is facing DUI charges, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Garcia.
On Sunday night at approximately 6:15 p.m. Rather was driving his 2005 Dodge pickup northbound in the southbound lane of Highway 29, north of Mockingbird Lane near Lakeport, Garcia reported.
Lakeport resident James Davis, 50, was driving south in the highway's southbound lane in a 2001 Dodge pickup, Garcia reported. When Davis saw Rather, he took evasive action and attempted to swerve left when the two pickups collided.
Garcia said Rather's vehicle continued in a northerly direction and went up a dirt embankment, causing his vehicle to roll over before coming to rest in the traffic lanes.
Rather sustained major injuries and was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital by REACH air ambulance, Garcia reported. Davis was not reported injured at the time of the collision.
CHP closed Highway 29 at Highway 20 and at Mockingbird lane for about two and a half hours while extricating Rather from his pickup and investigating the crime scene, as Lake County News reported Monday.
CHP Officer Dan Frederick is investigating the incident, Garcia said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Santa and his nine reindeer – including, of course, Rudolph in the lead – has since passed Atlanta and Charleston, South Carolina, and Knoxville, Tenn., according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Thus far in his trip around the world, Santa and the reindeer have had clear weather and appear to have not had any issues with head winds.
NORAD's map of Santa's progress – see it at www.noradsanta.org. – shows that he's managed to cover all of Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and South America, with his final push taking place in North America.
Going at his current speed, Santa is likely to hit Lake County at close to 12 a.m.
That means that good girls and boys need to make sure the cookies and milk are set out and they're safely in bed so as not to risk losing any holiday goodies.
Tracking Santa's progress around the world began in 1955, when Sears and Roebuck Co. inadvertently misprinted a telephone number for a Christmas hotline that reached the Continental Air Defense Command's (CONAD) commander-in-chief's operations hotline.
Col. Harry Shoup, the director of CONAD operations, had his staff check radar data to see how Santa was progressing on his trip from the North Pole, and they gave updates to children who called to find out Santa's location.
CONAD has since given way to NORAD, which continues the Santa-tracking tradition. NORAD is aided by hundreds of volunteers who spend Christmas Eve at the Santa Tracking Operations Center, answering phones and e-mails from thousands of inquiring children worldwide.
To speak to a NORAD Santa tracker in person, call 877-446-6723 or e-mail
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LAKE COUNTY – With Santa preparing to make his Atlantic crossing from Europe to the United States, final preparations to welcome him are in full swing across North America.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported shortly before 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time that Santa was seen near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, where the clock was striking midnight.
Santa has since been spotted near Cartgena, Spain.
From the tracking pattern it appears that Santa and his reindeer will soon begin crossing the Atlantic and heading for the homes of good children in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Meanwhile, in California, state officials gave Santa Claus the OK for a safe landing.
California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer has granted a 24-hour permit waiving all brand inspection and health requirements for nine reindeer slated to visit California on the evening of Dec. 24 and the in early morning hours of Dec. 25.
State Department of Food and Agriculture officials reported that the permit application was filed this week by a rotund, jolly man with a red face and a white beard. He signed his name to the paperwork: “K. Kringle.”
The nine reindeer named on the permit are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.
“We are pleased to grant the temporary waiver to Mr. Kringle,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “We wish him safe travels as he and his reindeer make deliveries to the good children of California.”
NORAD reports that it began tracking Santa in 1955 and it has been a Christmas Eve tradition ever since.
To see Santa's progress, visit Norad's Santa tracking Web site, which is complete with videos and updates every five minutes, at www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm.
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David Garlow Deason, 68, won an appeal of his February 2006 first-degree murder conviction from the First Appellate District Court on Dec. 14, as Lake County News has reported.
The appellate court found that the trial court erred by not allowing evidence of Deason's 0.27 blood alcohol level into defense testimony or jury instructions.
The alcohol was an important factor in determining whether or not Deason had planned the murder, the appellate court found.
Deason was convicted of the shooting death of 48-year-old Marie Parlet at the home they shared in Clearlake on Dec. 6, 2004, according to court records.
The couple had a disagreement earlier in the day, and Deason reportedly left and went drinking before returning home and shooting Parlet once in the chest and once in the back with a .38 pistol from a distance of about 18 inches, court records reported.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins told Lake County News that Deason will be brought back to Lake County where he'll be kept in custody while Hopkins decides what action to take next.
Hopkins isn't sure when Deason will be brought back, but said it will be early next year, after the appellate court's decision becomes final.
In the meantime, Hopkins said he must discuss the case with the state Attorney General's Office to see if that office suggests further appellate action. The case could also be appealed to the state Supreme Court, he added.
In the original trial transcripts, Deason's defense attorney, J. David Markham, argued that the blood alcohol evidence was critical to understanding the case. He contended it was central to the issue of premediation, which is necessary to proving a first-degree murder charge.
That argument was one with which the state's appellate judges agreed.
Hopkins explained that Deputy District Attorney John Langan, who prosecuted Deason, argued that the defense didn't have an expert who would interpret the amount of alcohol and what it meant with respect to premeditation and deliberation.
Deason's high blood alcohol level was recorded an hour and a half after the murder. Langan argued that Deason was at home alone for an hour after the murder drinking, said Hopkins. The prosecution questioned whether it could be determined that Deason had incurred that alcohol level before the murder or after.
“There would be no way of actually telling how much alcohol was in his system at the time of the killing,” said Hopkins. “In the decision by the appellate court, there was no real discussion of that issue.”
Deason had prior alcohol-related arrests in the 1970s, including three DUIs, as well as a conviction for carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. However, Hopkins said the prosecution did not introduce those cases into evidence.
“It's a rare circumstance where we're permitted to introduce prior conduct to be considered in the guilt phase of the case,” he said.
What's next, said Hopkins, is assessing where the case is now. “We're ready to go back to trial again.”
Hopkins said there are several options for moving forward, including further appellate work by the Attorney General's Office, a retrial on the first-degree murder charges and reaching a negotiated disposition in which Deason pleads guilty to a lesser charge.
The District Attorney's Office also could just dump the case, but Hopkins added, “That's not gonna happen.”
The last time a local murder conviction was set aside was in the 1990s, before Hopkins arrived in Lake County. That case involved defendant Charles Statler, Hopkins said, who was tried by Gary Luck during his tenure as district attorney.
Statler, according to Hopkins, killed another man with a cast iron skillet, which a federal appeals court ruled wasn't necessarily a deadly weapon.
“Our heads are still spinning over that legal analysis,” said Hopkins.
The Statler case, he added, ultimately was resolved with a plea bargain.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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