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LAKEPORT – A new family event is coming to Lake County, and it’s a 17-year-old's enthusiasm for vintage tractors that has made it happen.
Evan Dills, a life-long resident of rural Scotts Valley, approached neighbors Mike and Stephanie Sutton with his idea for a vintage tractor show a few months ago. The Suttons welcomed the new endeavor, and thought it was a great addition to the activities that The Sutton Family Farm has introduced in recent years.
It’s no surprise that the family that brought Lake County’s first corn maze to the area would welcome the tractor show, to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20.
Evan, and his dad, Greg, are real aficionados when it comes to antique farm equipment. The team has lovingly restored tractors, gas engines and several farm implements, with more projects in the works.
Anyone accompanying the pair on a ride down any country road, will soon hear, “Hey, Dad, did you see that tractor?” Evan, however, will rattle off the make and year like he was around when it was new. When it comes to vintage farm equipment, this young man knows what he’s talking about, and his enthusiasm is contagious.
If you own vintage tractors, antique farm implements, or old gas engines that you’d like to display, call Evan or Greg Dills at 263-1966 to participate. Help shine a spotlight on our agricultural heritage, and be part of this inaugural event.
This year, The Sutton Family Farm opened its corn maze to young and old alike on Oct. 1, and will continue until Oct. 31. Every Friday and Saturday night is “flash-light night,” which has become another popular feature of the corn maze.
Last weekend saw the first cart rides around the farm, in a cart pulled by a beautiful Dutch draft mare. More horse-drawn tours will be available on Oct. 27 and 28, from noon to 5 p.m.
Don’t forget to mark your calendar. On Oct. 20, along with the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off starting at 10 a.m., Lake County will welcome the Vintage Tractor Show. Bring the family to see the display of these farming treasures, and witness some of these wonderful machines in action. While you’re at it, pick out a pumpkin, go for a cart ride, visit the gift shop, and see it you can find your way out of the corn maze.
The Sutton Family Farm, located at 2405 Scotts Valley Road, just outside Lakeport, is the perfect spot to take your family for a memorable outing. It’s the place where new traditions will soon become old family favorites.
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CHP Officer Adam Garcia reported that sobriety checkpoints will be staffed by CHP and allied agency officers who are trained in the detection of alcohol and/or drug impaired drivers.
Drug recognition experts, certified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will be on site to provide on the spot assessments of drivers suspected of drug use, Garcia explaiend. The officers also will be equipped with state of the art handheld breath devices which provide an accurate measure of blood alcohol concentrations of suspected drunk drivers.
“Our goal is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist by targeting roads where there is a high frequency of drunk driving,” said CHP Commander Lt. Dane Hayward.
Hayward explained that a sobriety checkpoint is an effective tool for achieving this goal and is designed to augment existing patrol operations. By publicizing the checkpoint, he added, CHP believes it can deter motorists from drinking and driving.
“Traffic volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, or unlicensed, can be expected to be arrested,” said Hayward. “Our objective is to send a clear message to those deciding to drive while impaired.”
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LAKEPORT – A Lakeport man was arrested last week after the Lake County Narcotic Task Force served a search warrant on his home and seized marijuana and methamphetamines.
A report from Task Force Commander Richard Russell said on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 10, agents from the Lake County Narcotic Task Force with assistance from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Probation Department, Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation served a search warrant at 2603 Hartley Road, Lakeport.
Agents contacted Thomas J. McGann, age 43, and Nicole M. Rosales, age 32, at the residence.
Task force agents had been investigating McGann’s illegal marijuana grow operation for approximately one month, according to Russell's report.
McGann was growing approximately 40 marijuana plants in his yard, which is less than 1,000 feet from Clear Lake High School, Russell reported. As there were no outward signs of the marijuana grow operation being for medical purposes a search warrant was authored and signed by a Lake County Superior Court Judge.
During the service of the search warrant agents located another 122 marijuana plants growing indoors in a portion of the garage which had been converted for the sole purpose of clandestine marijuana cultivation and processing, according to Russell.
More than 120 pounds of processed marijuana was seized from the location along with 28 various types of firearms, including a loaded .44 magnum revolver that McGann maintained on the headboard of his bed, and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, Russell's report stated.
Agents located approximately 10 grams of methamphetamine along with items which tend to prove sales of the drug in McGann’s bedroom, according to Russell. All of the marijuana gardens and the property were maintained under electronic audio and visual surveillance from within the residence.
Russell also reported that Lake County Animal Control was requested to remove the two large dogs McGann had roaming the property to protect his “cash crop.”
McGann claimed the marijuana was for medical purposes but was unable to produce any valid marijuana recommendations but his own, according to Russell. Numerous other Proposition 215 marijuana recommendations were located but were beyond the legal expiration date of one year.
Agents seized all of the above listed items of evidence except for six mature marijuana plants and 8 ounces of processed marijuana, according to the report. These are the amounts allowed by law under Senate Bill 420 and 11362.77. of the California Health and Safety Code.
McGann was arrested for cultivation of marijuana, possession for sale of marijuana, committing a felony while in possession of a firearm, possession for sale of methamphetamine, cultivating marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of a dangerous weapon, being armed with a firearm while under the influence of a controlled substance and other related offenses, Russell's report explained. He was booked at the Lake County jail prior to being released on bail.
Nicole Rosales, who does not reside at the suspect's residence, was released without charges.
“It has become common practice within Lake County and the surrounding areas for individuals to grow large amounts of marijuana for sale attempting to use the legal protection of the medical marijuana initiatives,” Russell stated in the report. “This has created a major problem for law enforcement and our local communities who now have to deal with the threat of violence and associated crimes involved with the overwhelming marijuana cultivation and sales industry.”
Russell added, “Without legislative changes regarding the growing and sale of marijuana this issue will continue. Violence associated with this illegal activity will rise and our already strained law enforcement resources will be further depleted.”
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LAKE COUNTY – A Kelseyville man has been sentenced to state prison for the molestation of two young girls.
Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine reported that on Monday Judge Arthur Mann sentenced Ronald Kenneth Craig, 66, to the upper term of four years and eight months in prison for sex crimes against the two girls, ages 6 and 14.
Mann imposed the maximum prison sentence after denying the defendant’s motion for probation, according to DeChaine.
DeChaine prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Detective Mike Curran of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Craig had pleaded guilty to two felony counts of child molestation on April 27, DeChaine reported.
With regard to the 6-year-old girl, DeChaine said Craig pleaded guilty to attempting to commit a lewd or lascivious act with a minor under the age of 14 years in violation of penal code sections 664/288(a).
Attempting to commit a lewd act with a child under the age of 14 – in this case, with a 6 year old – is categorized as a serious strike in California, DeChaine reported. As such, any future felony conviction can result in the doubling of the new sentence.
With regard to Craig’s 14 year old victim, Craig also had pleaded guilty to committing a lewd act with a 14 or 15 year old in violation of penal code section 288(c), according to DeChaine.
DeChaine said when a defendant is accused of certain sex crimes in different counties, Penal code section 784.7 permits the prosecution of those crimes in a single jurisdiction.
The crime involving the 14-year-old victim was committed in Sacramento County, DeChaine reported. However, the Lake County District Attorney’s Office successfully obtained approval from Sacramento to prosecute Craig in Lake County for the crime involving his 14-year-old victim.
Craig was arrested on Aug. 4, 2006, and was booked into the county jail, DeChaine said. Throughout the year-long prosecution of the case, Craig has been held in custody with bail set in the amount of $250,000.00.
Craig also had been charged with annoying or molesting a third victim, an 8-year-old boy, according to DeChaine. The charge involving the boy was a misdemeanor charge in violation of penal code section 647.6(a) and was dismissed as part of the negotiated plea.
Though dismissed, DeChaine said it was dismissed in a manner that permitted Judge Mann to consider the allegation involving the boy in determining the appropriate prison term.
All three children alleged that Craig offered or gave them small amounts of money in conjunction with of each offense, DeChaine said.
Family members of each of the victims provided emotional victim impact statements at the time of Craig's sentencing, according to DeChaine. Crystal Martin of the Victim Witness Division of the District Attorney’s Office works closely with victims of sexual assault and provided needed emotional support in the courtroom.
After hearing arguments from the attorneys, Judge Mann imposed the maximum sentence despite the fact that Craig had no prior criminal record, said DeChaine.
The court found that despite Craig having no prior record, he took advantage of a position of trust, and also found that the 6-year-old victim was particularly vulnerable, warranting the upper term sentence, DeChaine reported.
When Ronald Craig is released from prison, DeChaine said he will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
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LAKEPORT – Businesses in Lakeport’s Willow Tree Shopping Center on 11th Street have a new landlord – Safeway has purchased the property.
“We closed escrow and we are now the proud owners,” said Safeway spokesperson Espe Greenwood.
Lake County News obtained a copy of a certified letter Safeway sent to businesses dated Aug. 23 notifying them that as of Aug. 22 Safeway had taken ownership of the shopping center.
Safeway purchased the shopping center from Seagulls Unlimited, a Santa Cruz-based company which, according to Lake County Assessor’s Records, purchased the property in November of 2000.
Greenwood said negotiations took place all the way up to the last minute.
Safeway has been in that location since 1981, said Greenwood. The store employs 100 people.
The shopping center is divided into two parcels – 979 11th Street, an 8.4-acre parcel, and 1071 11th Street, which is 3.9 acres, according to Lake County Assessor Records. The transfer amounts for both properties totaled $16 million in 2000.
Terms of Lakeport’s Safeway purchase were not disclosed.
Safeway’s 2006 annual report noted that the corporation had 1,761 stores across California, the Western United States, the Chicago metropolitan area and the Mid-Atlantic region, along with Canada.
Of those 1,761 stores, the company owns 40 percent of them, the report states.
With the purchase of the Lakeport store, Safeway now owns both of its Lake County stores. The Clearlake Safeway store, located at 14922 Olympic Drive sits on a four-acre parcel that the company purchased in 1990, according to Lake County Assessor’s Records, with a transfer amount of $3,161,500.
The corporation’s decisions to buy real estate depends on a lot of factors, said Greenwood. She added that buying stores it leases isn’t necessarily a trend for Safeway.
In the case of Lakeport’s store, Greenwood said the company chose to buy for a lot of reasons, which she didn’t specify. “It’s very hard to say that any one thing stands out from the rest.”
MAJOR REMODEL PLANNED
Greenwood said Lakeport’s Safeway is slated for a remodel which will convert it to the company’s new “Lifestyle” store format.
The Lifestyle store will have “the bells and whistles,” said Greenwood, including an expanded wine section featuring local wines, a larger floral department which will feature bouquets and arrangements for special occasions, and an expanded bakery with a hearth oven.
The remodeled store also will include more energy efficient refrigerators and new lighting, with the company changing from fluorescent lights, said Greenwood.
All of those changes are meant to reduce the company’s environmental footprint, reduce costs and make Safeway more competitive, Greenwood added.
The remodel also will increase the size of the store from 40,342 to 46,982, according to plans submitted to the Lakeport Community Development Department. Greenwood added that most Safeway stores are in the 40,000 to 55,000 square foot range.
Greenwood said the company plans to invest more in its properties. Safeway conducted 276 Lifestyle remodels in 2006, according to its annual report.
The remodel plans include removing the parking along the front of the store and moving handicapped parking out into the first rows of the main parking area.
The front façade and the sides of the Safeway building will undergo significant changes, according to the plans submitted to the city, which were drawn up by Nadel Retail Architects of Sacramento.
The building's front overhang will be removed, and decorative touches including planters and a wooden trellis will be added. The two main entrances will remain in their current locations. An area also will be added for a pharmacy.
The plans are being reviewed right now, said Community Development Director Richard Knoll.
He said he believes the remodel will go to the Lakeport Planning Commission for approval in November or December.
“If everything went in a quick order they’ll probably be ready for a building permit in spring,” said Knoll.
TENANTS DISCUSS EXPECTED CHANGES
John Peterson, chief operating officer of Mendo-Lake Credit Union, told Lake County News that his company was notified of Safeway’s plans to purchase the complex during the first week of July.
The plans Safeway has submitted to the city’s Community Development Department include moving a portion of the shops between Safeway and Longs Drugs. Specifically, the shops that would be removed are leased by orthopedic hand surgeon Rebecca Jensen, Willow Tree Dental, Advance America and Bandbox Music.
Ron Benkelman, owner of Bandbox Music, said he has been in his location near Safeway since February of 1999. “This is the best location I’ve had in the county,” said Benkelman.
Bandbox Music has been in business in Lake County for 51 years altogether, said Benkelman, who purchased the business in 1990. During that time the business has had six locations. “This is by far the nicest.”
He said his business benefits from the foot traffic in that part of the shopping center.
Safeway is offering Benkelman the chance to move to another area of the shopping center, he said.
So far, Benkelman said he has been offered a spot near Longs, but nothing has been finalized. He also doesn’t know when Safeway will expect businesses to move under the new leases, and said merchants like him want to know that date.
Greenwood said Safeway will definitely be relocating some of its tenants. “It will be happening next year.”
Benkelman said the last owners treated the property badly and didn’t make an effort at upkeep, a statement with which Lynn Fegan, owner of Catfish Books, agreed.
The experience with Safeway as a landlord has so far been positive said Fegan, who added that she made out her first rent check to Safeway for the month of September.
Fegan, who has owned the store for 14 years, said Catfish Books has been in the same location for 27 years, since the shopping center was built.
She said last year her business was up 35 percent. However, with the change in ownership and the plans for demolishing one part of the shops, Fegan said she’s unsure of what the future will hold for her business.
The big question, she said, is will she be required to move or will Safeway choose to not renew her lease, causing her to close?
The other major change tenants expect is a raise in rent.
Benkelman said he is prevented by the terms of his lease from discussing his current rental rate, but said he expects it to rise to $15 per square foot per year, which for his 1,200 square foot shop would equal $1,500 a month, a price he said is much more in line with Pleasanton’s rates than Lake County’s.
“All change is for the good. All change is uncomfortable,” said Benkelman.
Greenwood said Safeway is committed to improve the shopping center. “We’ll definitely invest a lot of money in this property to make it nice.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Tom Smythe of the county’s Water Resources Division said the area is immediately adjacent to the old Utopia Mine along the road shoulder outside of Lucerne.
The Utopia Mine was open for two years about the start of the 20th century, Smythe explained.
“We have a grant to do hot spot monitoring around the county for mercury to determine if there’s any mercury hot spots in the Clear Lake Watershed,” said Smythe.
That’s what led to the discovery of the higher mercury levels, he said.
One sample showed the presence of mercury at 17 parts per million in sediment, said Smythe, as compared to a normal mercury found in the lake’s upper arm, which measures about 1 part per million.
Smythe said the county is doing additional monitoring to try to determine how extensive the mercury is at that spot, and what it might be adding to the lake’s sediments.
“That testing is still ongoing,” said Smythe, and is located on the shoulder in the road cut.
The mine had two adits – or horizontal shafts – that came out on the shoreline, Smythe explained, and are located in Caltrans' right-of-way.
Smythe said it’s believed Caltrans plugged those shafts with concrete in the 1960s, although the agency hasn’t found the records to prove its involvement.
“We're pretty sure it was Caltrans,” said Smythe.
There is a total maximum daily load (TMDL) stakeholder group of which Caltrans is a member, said Smythe. The group looks at issues surrounding minerals affecting the lake's health. “We have been keeping this group apprised of what we've got.”
The ball may be in Caltrans’ court as far as mitigating the site, said Smythe.
On Sept. 10 the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board sent a letter to Caltrans saying that Caltrans needed to submit a plan within 90 days of the letter's date to explain what they will do to address the mercury levels.
Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie Jr. confirmed that Caltrans received the regional water board's letter.
“We are in the process right now of performing our own soil and water testing in that area,” said Frisbie.
As soon as Caltrans has samples back, it will formally respond to the regional water board, Frisbie said – hopefully within the 90-day window.
If the tests confirm the regional water board's findings, Caltrans will have to put measures in place in order to keep the mercury from going into the lake, said Frisbie.
Frisbie said he found information online that said the mine shut down in 1908.
FINDING NOT AN IMMEDIATE HEALTH CONCERN
Smythe said Water Resources is still investigating the area, which he said is not an immediate health concern.
The area's mercury levels are minor when compared to those found at the Sulphur Bank Mine, said Smythe.
“Overall I think it's a small source of mercury,” he said.
The Utopia Mine, one of numerous mercury mines that operated around Lake County at one point, may not even be the source of the mercury, said Smythe.
It could be that it's just another area that's naturally rich in mercury and cinnabar, Smythe suggested. Because of that, they took cinnabar samples for analysis.
The area that's giving off the mercury is “pretty small,” said Smythe. The outcropping he saw was less than one square foot in size. But mercury is toxic even in small amounts, he added.
Smythe said no similar sites with such elevated levels have been found.
Mercury is naturally occurring in Lake County. Smythe said other areas, like the east end of High Valley, also have high levels of mercury, which comes up in the region's volcanic soils.
In the Coast Range, said Smythe, mercury tends to be deposited in mineral springs and associated with geothermal fluids.
Some springs still actively deposit mercury; as examples, Smythe pointed to one near the Turkey Run Mine along Highway 20 and one near Wilbur Springs in Colusa County.
Along with mercury, geothermal springs along the border of Lake, Napa and Yolo counties also deposited gold, said Smythe.
“Geologically, that's what happens,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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