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MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST – A young man who was found dead in the Mendocino National Forest earlier this spring appears to have died of natural causes, officials are reporting.
As Lake County News reported previously, a young man who was in a remote part of the forest with his father died and his body was recovered by Lake County Sheriff's Office officials March 29 near Hull Mountain.
It was later discovered that the man's body was located in Mendocino County, so the investigation was turned over to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
The young man, identified as Jovanny Perez-Ortiz, 22, was with his father, Alfredo Perez, when he died, reported Lt. Rusty Noe, the Mendocino County Sheriff's chief deputy coroner.
Perez then reportedly walked all day to reach the Soda Creek Store near Lake Pillsbury, where he reported his son's death and authorities were called.
Noe said he was lowered from a California Highway Patrol helicopter into the area where Perez-Ortiz's body was, on a steep hillside. There was no evidence of anyone else being with Perez-Ortiz and his father, Noe said.
This week, Mendocino officials reported the final results of Perez-Ortiz's autopsy and toxicology results.
Perez-Ortiz's toxicology results came back clear, said Tia Turner of the Mendocino County Coroner's Office. Nothing was found in his system that would have caused his death, which has been ruled natural, Turner said.
Last month, Captain Kevin Broin of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said he expected the toxicology tests would play a big role in understanding the young man's sudden death, and said at the time the department would wait for those results before making a final ruling on the death.
Resolution to the case was prolonged, said Broin, because of the involvement of several agencies, including the National Forest.
Noe said Perez-Ortiz was a Mexican national, as was his father, but both had Santa Rosa addresses.
The men were in a very rugged, remote area, said Noe. “They were up in an area where most people don't go hiking.”
Those circumstances had given rise to concerns that the men were there to locate a site for an illicit marijuana garden, which has become an increasing problem in the Mendocino National Forest. Last year, the forest was the site of the largest amount of illicit marijuana seized in the state.
As to what they were doing in the remote area of the forest, Noe said, “There was really no evidence to indicate that they were there to cultivate marijuana.”
Perez-Ortiz's death has been ruled accidental, said Noe, with no signs of foul play.
Mike Ricker, a Redding-based National Forest Service special agent, assisted in the investigation.
“When somebody is lost in the forest or injured, as it becomes more detailed, if they need more investigations done, they refer it to this branch,” he said.
Perez-Ortiz's situation was “a real sad case,” said Ricker.
Ricker said his part in the case was investigating the activities of the two men in the forest.
The Forest Service relies on the sheriff's determination on the cause of death, said Ricker.
On Friday, Ricker – who has since been working on another case – said he hadn't yet determined if he needed to continue an investigation into what men were doing in the forest.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKEPORT – Officers from nearly all of Lake County’s law enforcement agencies on June 2 will team with about 30 local Special Olympics athletes in a run to bring the Northern California Special Olympics Torch to Lake County.
According to volunteer Kristina Navarro, about 25 officers from the California Highway Patrol, the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Probation Department, District Attorney’s Office and Animal Care & Control, as well as both the Lakeport and Clearlake Police Departments, will participate in the ceremonial running of the “Flame of Hope.”
Similar torch runs are being held throughout cities and towns in Northern California, Navarro said, which will lead to the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games.
The Flame of Hope run helps raise awareness of Special Olympics programs and the many athletes who those programs benefit.
There will be five routes for the Law Enforcement Torch Run around Lake County, Navarro reported.
– The Torch Run kickoff will begin at 10 a.m. on Second Street and Clover in Upper Lake, during Wild West Days; that segment of the run will end at Main and Highway 20 at 10:45 a.m.
– The second segment will take place in Clearlake, from Austin Park to Moran's Pharmacy on Lakeshore, from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m.
– The run then moves to Middletown, traveling from Middletown High School to Perry's Deli on Calistoga, lasting from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
– Route four takes place along Main Street in Kelseyville from 1:30 to 1:40 p.m. Runners will travel from Westamerica Bank to Patti's Petals.
– The final leg of the run takes place in Lakeport between 1:50 and 2 p.m. along Main Street. That segment will begin at Natural High school and end at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Martin Street, during the People Services Chicken-Que.
All runners are being asked to come to the closing ceremonies at the fairgrounds.
Those desiring to participate in the run can do so by completing a registration form. For a $25 registration fee, participating runners will also receive a special torch run T-shirt and a ticket to the Chicken-Que.
Proceeds from the torch run will to toward support of the Lake County Speical Olympics program.
For additional information, contact CHP Officer Josh Dye at 279-0103, or Navarro at 349-3689.
E-mail John Lindblom at
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WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, a key provision to reduce waste and abuse of reconstruction funding for Iraq and Afghanistan was included in the 2008 Defense Authorization bill and passed through the House by a vote of 329 to 27.
The provision was based on a bill introduced by Congressman Mike Thompson in the last three Congresses called the War Funding Accountability Act.
"Accountability is no longer optional for the federal government," Thompson said in a statement. "Americans deserve to know where their tax dollars are going, and Iraq and Afghanistan are no exception."
Specifically, the Defense Authorization bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report every six months on the handling of contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Thompson's office reported. The GAO will report on the value of contracts, how the contracts were awarded and whether the contracts are achieving results.
The bill also expands the authority of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction to include all reconstruction funding regardless of source or fiscal year.
"We've found that contractors in Iraq charged $45 per case of soda and $100 per 15-pound bag of laundry," said Thompson. "Brand-new $85,000 trucks were abandoned if they had minor mechanical problems. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that $8.8 billion was handed over to Iraqi ministries with virtually no tracking of what it was spent on. Meanwhile, families and communities are raising money to send our service members armor and supplies."
Thompson said the Defense Authorization is meant to make sure tax dollars to to where they belong -- “protecting our troops, not lining the pockets of contractors.”
He added, “This bill will scrutinize every single contract and contractor to ensure it's in the American public's best interest."
The provision was strongly supported by the Blue Dog Coalition, of which Thompson is a member. This group's sole purpose is to promote fiscally responsible government spending.
This action comes on the heels of a damaging report issued by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction detailing continued and egregious abuses in the government's funding of the war in Iraq, Thompson's office reported.
Inadequate facilities and non-functioning equipment built by highly paid contractors, insufficient monitoring of government contracts and billions of dollars unaccounted for due to inefficiencies and bad management are just a few of the examples of waste, fraud and abuse detailed in the report.
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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.
LAKEPORT – A Lakeport couple was acquitted this week of felony charges in a case alleging possession and cultivation of drugs for sale.
A jury listened to testimony for two weeks, and on May 14, returned verdicts of not guilty on all felony counts against William and Janice Hodges, according to attorney Doug Rhoades, who represented William Hodges. Janice Hodges was defended by attorney Mitchell Hauptman.
The couple had been charged with possessing both methamphetamine and marijuana for sale, illegally cultivating marijuana and maintaining a place for the sales or use of controlled substances, Rhoades reported.
Janice Hodges was separately charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance, Rhoades said. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty to that charge as well.
The jury returned a single guilty verdict for both on a misdemeanor charge of illegally possessing a hypodermic syringe, according to Rhoades.
Both Hodges were arrested following police and Narcotics Task Force raid of their home in Lakeport on July 8, Rhoades said. Police seized several items of alleged contraband, including cash, methamphetamine, packaging materials, weapons and 62 marijuana plants of various sizes from the couple’s back yard.
The defendants maintained that the growing marijuana was legal, and within the guidelines of California’s Compassionate Use Act (Medical Marijuana), Rhoades said.
Both defendants, and another adult, for whom Mrs. Hodges acted as caregiver, had valid marijuana use certificates at the time of the raid, Rhoades said. The defendants disavowed any possession or sales of controlled substances.
The defendants will appear before the trial judge, Richard C. Martin, on May 21 in Department 2 of the Superior Court for sentencing on the single misdemeanor, Rhoades reported.
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WASHINGTON – On Thursday, an amendment introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson to prohibit gang-activity in the military passed the House as a part of the 2008 Defense Authorization bill.
The amendment revises military command policy to prohibit service members from associating with criminal street gangs, whether on duty or at home.
Thompson introduced the amendment because a growing number of gang members in the military are returning to the streets armed with combat training, putting local law enforcement at a dangerous disadvantage.
"Gang members with military training present a serious danger to society," said Thompson in a statement. "We must work to stop this disturbing trend while it is still emerging."
The FBI has documented members of nearly every major street gang on both domestic and international military installations. The FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center released a report on Jan. 12 that detailed gang-related activity in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Findings include:
– Since 2004, the FBI and El Paso Police Department have identified more than 40 military-affiliated gang members stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas.
– Officials at Fort Hood, Texas have identified nearly 40 gang members on base since 2003.
– Nearly 130 gang and extremist groups have been identified at Fort Lewis in Washington in the past 24 months.
"I realize that some gang members join the military to change for the better and those folks would not be affected by this amendment," said Thompson. "But some are not there to change. This amendment would require the military to identify street gangs so that it can either help to weed gang members out of service or deter them from gang life."
Thompson's amendment was included in the FY 2008 National Defense Authorization bill (H.R. 1585) by a voice vote last night. The measure authorizes $503.8 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the national security programs of the Department of Energy (DoE), and $141.8 billion to support ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during fiscal year 2008.
The Defense Authorization passed the House 329 to 27. This measure was lauded for improving our military readiness, which has been seriously depleted from the multi-year wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It also includes funding to equip our troops with better equipment, armor and training and funding to provide our service members with better health care, pay and benefits.
"This is a first step toward stopping gang members from getting in the military in the first place," said Thompson. "I'm also going to keep working with the FBI, the military and local law enforcement to keep these dangerous criminals off our streets."
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SACRAMENTO – The Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a bill by Assemblywoman Patty Berg that would protect Californians from the kind of red tape fiascos that kept doctors from Hurricane Katrina victims.
“Emergency response should be free from red tape during disasters,” Berg, D-Eureka, said in a statement. “These are life and death situations.”
Assembly Bill 64 would require California officials to recognize the out-of-state medical licenses of emergency volunteers during a declared state emergency, according to Berg's statement.
At the same time, Berg said the bill would create a system for California’s health care workers to register their credentials so that other states could benefit from their expertise in a disaster.
During the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, volunteer doctors and nurses were prevented from giving aid because they lacked Louisiana medical licenses, Berg reported.
Dr. Dan Diamond, a physician from Seattle, told the San Francisco Chronicle that it took five days for him and other doctors to get on the ground in New Orleans as opposed to 48 hours during the Indonesian tsunami aftermath in 2004.
“Each hour a doctor or nurse is delayed is an hour that a Californian goes without help,” said Berg. “Red tape should not cause Californians to die.”
Assembly Bill 64 is part of a multi-state effort to create a national registry. Kentucky enacted similar legislation, and six other states have introduced legislation.
AB 64 now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
For more information about Berg and her legislation, or to contact her office, visit her Web site at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a01/.
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