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LUCERNE – A controlled burn that took place above Lucerne Wednesday is scheduled to continue Thursday.
The fire, which the Northshore Fire District's Lucerne office reported was taking place on the Jones Ranch, was noticeable along the Northshore. But officials said there is nothing to worry about.
Late in the day, a Cal Fire helicopter and plane were dispatched over the area to look for what was believed to be a wildland fire.
Cal Fire's incident command center said that fire turned out to be another controlled burn near Paradise Cove.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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COW MOUNTAIN – An early morning collision between a dirt bike and a four-wheeler sent three people to area hospitals and resulted in one arrest for driving under the influence.
The accident was reported to the California Highway Patrol at 6:36 a.m. on the Lake County side of Cow Mountain, according to CHP incident logs.
A report from CHP Officer T.R. Hester explained that Blake Allen Edwards, 20, of Redding was riding a Kawasaki KX4500 dirt bike northbound on a dirt trail in the area of the Red Mountain campground when the accident occurred.
Coming downhill on the trail from the other direction was Colt Samuel Vincent Ross, 21, of Ukiah, who was riding a Yamaha Raptor four-wheel motorcycle at “a high rate of speed,” Hester reported. Melinda Diane Hicks, 20, of Redding was a passenger on Ross' four-wheeler.
As Edwards was traveling through a curve, he saw Ross fishtailing towards him, Hester reported.
Both vehicles collided head on, according to Hester's report. The collision ejected both men from their motorcycles.
Hicks was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial with major injuries, CHP reported. When contacted by Lake County News, the Ukiah CHP office refused to state the extent of Hicks' injuries.
Edwards and Ross both sustained minor injuries. Edwards was taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center where he was treated and released.
Ross sustained minor head injuries and was taken to Sutter Lakeside. The hospital released him later in the morning.
Hester said Ross failed a field sobriety test at the collision scene. Ross was arrested after his release from the hospital for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs causing injury, in this case to Edwards and Hicks.
Ross was booked into the Lake County Jail on $10,000 bond. He bailed out of jail later on Wednesday.
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LAKE COUNTY – The California Highway Patrol had a busy weekend, making several arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
The CHP held a sobriety checkpoint from 6 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday. The checkpoint was located along Highway 53, north of Highway 29, according to CHP's Ukiah dispatch.
Officer Josh Dye of the CHP's Clear Lake office reported that officers stopped 507 vehicles, administered 14 field sobriety tests, made four DUI arrests, impounded two vehicles for 30 days each, and cited four people for driving while unlicensed.
“All in all it was a pretty good checkpoint,” Dye said in an e-mail statement.
In addition to the checkpoint, Dye reported there were eight other DUI arrests from Friday through Monday.
Two of those arrests were for individuals involved in two separate crashes – one on Friday and one on Monday.
Two other crashes during the holiday weekend – both on Saturday – were not DUI-related, according to statistics Dye provided.
The CHP also made one arrest for public intoxication and another for a warrant during the weekend, Dye reported.
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SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, the state Senate voted 35-1 to approve urgency legislation to create a light brown apple moth advisory task force.
The bill, SB 556, was introduced by Sen. Patricia Wiggins.
SB 556 would create a task force to advise Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura on the apple moth and the environmental and economic impact of its spread across the state.
Kawamura would choose the task force members, who would then be responsible for submitting a report to him on the apple moth issue by Sept. 1.
The moth, native to Australia, was discovered in the Bay Area in February, and has since spread to nine counties – Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and San Mateo.
The latest situation report from the Department of Food and Agriculture and the US Department of Agriculture shows that trapping is going on in 45 counties – including Lake – with 23,048 traps out and 3,348 moths confirmed.
As a result of the pest's spread, both the Department of Food & Agriculture and the USDA have instituted quarantines and special inspection requirements on plant materials originating from the counties where the moths have been found.
The moth has an estimated 250 host plants, including pears, grapes, citrus, ornamentals and stone fruits.
Wiggins said the apple moth “poses a significant threat” to the state's agriculture industry. Key to protecting that industry, she said, is understanding the potential impacts of the moth's presence and aggressively controlling its spread.
Now that it has been approved by the full Senate, the Wiggins bill eads to the Assembly for consideration. Because it is considered urgency legislation, SB 556 would take effect immediately upon signing by the governor.
SB 556 is supported by the Family Winemakers of California, California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, California Association of Pest Control Advisors, California Association of Winegrape Growers, California Citrus Mutual, Nisei Farmers League and the Wine Institute, Wiggins' office reported.
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KELSEYVILLE – A collision between a big rig and a car resulted in major injuries for occupants of the car and traffic delays along Highway 29 Tuesday afternoon.
The accident, which took place on Highway 29 at the Highway 281/Kit's Corner intersection, was reported to the California Highway Patrol at 3:41 p.m., according to CHP incident logs.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a Nissan Sentra pull out from Highway 281/Soda Bay Road in front of a Helms fuel truck.
Witnesses believed as many as five people were inside the Sentra. Three people were trapped inside the car, CHP logs reported.
Two air ambulances were called, transporting two crash victims to Santa Rosa Memorial, eyewitnesses at the scene reported. Incident logs reported one of the people transported was Lacie Espinoza, the Sentra driver.
The roadway was reopened at just after 5 p.m., the CHP reported. At that point, fuel was still being unloaded from the big rig.
No further information on the collision was available from the CHP.
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MIDDLETOWN – Sheriff's deputies arrested a Middletown man on Friday for possession of machine guns and a silencer.
A report released Tuesday by Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Cecil Brown said Dale Robert Runnings, 45, was arrested May 25.
Brown reported that sheriff's detectives Brian Kenner and Steve Brooks, Sgts. Dave Perry and Corey Paulich, and Deputy Gary Frace served a search warrant on Runnings' Middletown home.
The warrant, said Brown, ordered the officers to search the property for machine guns and silencers, the possession of which are felonies under California law.
During the search, Runnings directed the officers to two machine guns – an M11-A1 .380 caliber sub-machine gun and a Sten MkII 9 millimeter sub-machine gun. Brown said officers also found a silencer which could be attached to the barrel of the M11-A1.
In addition, high capacity magazines for both weapons were seized, along with illegal fireworks, Brown reported.
Officers arrested Runnings, a construction worker, on felony counts of possessing the machine guns and the silencer, according to Brown's report.
Runnings, who was booked on $20,000, was still in the Lake County Jail Tuesday night, jail records showed.
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