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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The collision, reported just after 2 p.m., involved two power boats that were located by the Lake County Sheriff's Boat Patrol near Kono Tayee, officials reported.
Along with Boat Patrol, Northshore Fire medics responded to the scene.
There were multiple passengers in both boats, but their names were not available for release Thursday afternoon.
However, Sgt. Dennis Ostini, who supervises the Boat Patrol, confirmed that one out-of-county man was hurt in the crash, sustaining a broken leg and suffering severe bleeding from his head.
Rescuers used Glenhaven's Sea Breeze Resort as a staging area to bring the crash victims to shore, and then transported them to Paradise Cove. There, a REACH air ambulance landed inside the gated community around 3:15 p.m. to pick up the injured man and transport him to the hospital, officials reported.
Boat Patrol towed the two powerboats involved in the crash back to Braito's Marina, where Ostini said they were looking the boats over.
Ostini said investigators didn't believe alcohol was involved.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Lt. Mike Hermann of the Clearlake Police Department reported that Michael Dennis Reid, 62, was arrested Thursday afternoon following the confrontation with officers that allegedly occurred at his home on Reid Lane shortly before 1 p.m.
Hermann said two Animal Care and Control Officers were conducting a welfare check on animals at the residence.
Reid had given the officers permission to enter the property, but after they were there for several minutes Reid was reported to have become upset. He reportedly began yelling at the officers to leave, according to Hermann's report.
Reid then allegedly threatened to shoot the officers and retrieved a rifle, walking towards the officers while continuing the threats and pointing the weapon at them, Hermann said.
The two Animal Care and Control officers got to their vehicles and drove off the property while calling police, said Hermann.
Hermann said when Clearlake Police officers arrived at the scene they arrested Reid without incident.
Reid was booked into the Lake County Jail on two misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a firearm and two felony charges of making criminal threats with the intent to terrorize, according to jail records.
Hermann said the rifle that Reid is alleged to have pointed at the Animal Care and Control officers was retrieved from the scene and taken into evidence.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
John Arthur McKenzie, 57, has been living in Upper Lake but officials from Virginia have been looking for him for years, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
McKenzie was paroled in 1979 after serving time in prison for exploding a railroad bridge in Massachusetts, Bauman said.
Bauman reported that deputies arrested McKenzie early Monday morning on Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa.
Deputies responded to the resort on a report of a man annoying a 13-year-old girl and her aunt, according to Bauman. Upon their arrival, deputies found Konocti Harbor security officers had a man detained, who had identified himself as 57-year-old Jeffrey Arthur Woodward of Upper Lake.
Bauman said the girl and her aunt told deputies that they were standing near the fountain in front of the lodge when the man approached them and initiated a conversation, asking them where they were from. The two walked away from the man but then he approached them again, asking them where the bathrooms were.
The woman and her niece directed the man to the bathrooms and a short time later, he again approached them and allegedly started asking them if they wanted to “fool around,” Bauman said.
McKenzie was told by the woman to cease his advances and to get away from them but he persisted, asking the girl her age, insisting that she had to be 18 when she told him she was not, and continually asking the two if they wanted to “fool around.” Bauman said when the two walked away from the man to find a security guard, he followed them and was subsequently detained by security.
Bauman said deputies found McKenzie to be intoxicated and belligerent when they attempted to question him. He denied annoying the two female, and when he attempted to walk away from the deputies, he was placed under arrest.
Deputies transported him to the Lake County Jail where he was booked for misdemeanor charges of public intoxication and annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age, Bauman said.
It was during the booking process that jail staff became suspicious of the man, who Bauman said was evasive in providing information to booking officers and hesitant to look at the camera for his booking photo.
When his fingerprints were submitted electronically to the Department of Justice, that agency notified the jail there was no record for Jeffrey Arthur Woodward, which made correctional staff increasingly suspicious about the identity he was providing, according to Bauman.
It was a short time later that the jail received another notification confirming the staff's suspicions: Bauman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation database matched the man's prints with those of another subject who was wanted for a federal parole violation.
Bauman reported that, as a result of extensive followup with the FBI and the US Marshal’s Office, jail staff were able to confirm the man's actual name was John Arthur McKenzie and that he in fact had been a federal parolee at large for nearly 30 years out of the state of Virginia.
McKenzie had been convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment for federal offenses relating to the explosion of a railroad bridge in Massachusetts in 1972, Bauman said.
In 1979, McKenzie was paroled but eight months later a warrant was issued for his arrest due to an alleged parole violation, said Bauman. McKenzie has apparently been on the run and evading authorities ever since.
Bauman said McKenzie is currently being held without bail until he is either extradited by the US Marshal’s Service or a disposition is reached by the Lake County Superior Court on his local charges.
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Last Thursday, the center's bank accounts were drained by a $7,000 levy from the State Franchise Tax Board's Industrial Health and Safety Collections department for back wages to former employees, as Lake County News reported Tuesday.
However, as of midnight Wednesday morning, the funds were returned, said center Executive Director Lee Tyree.
It's a big relief for the center, which found itself unable to cover Meals on Wheels expenses or payroll after the levy hit, Tyree said.
So, what caused the State Franchise Tax Board to change its mind?
For one, the center was getting a lot of help from its friends.
The situation had rallied community members as well as local, state and federal officials – including Supervisor Denise Rushing, Congressman Mike Thompson's district representative Brad Onorato and Assembly member Patty Berg's office – who were doing what they could to intervene on the center's behalf.
Then, on Tuesday morning, Tyree said she received an anonymous phone call from an individual who told her they had seen the article on the center's situation published that day on Lake County News.
She was then instructed about who to call at the State Franchise Tax Board in order to get help in getting the money back. The caller told her that the board can't take funds used for payroll in a case such as this.
Following the caller's instructions, she made a connection with an individual at the tax board who said the money would be returned at midnight Wednesday.
In addition, the board agreed to give the center 30 days to prove it doesn't owe the back wages to the former employees, Tyree said. If it can't prove the wages aren't owed, the center can arrange a payment plan rather than having to pay out a large lump sum.
Tyree on Wednesday was relieved and overjoyed that the funds had been returned. She called the anonymous caller “an angel.”
John Barrett, spokesman for the State Franchise Tax Board, said he couldn't disclose details about the collection action against the center or the levy refund.
Dean Fryer, deputy director of communications for the California Department of Industrial Relations – which also encompasses the state's labor commission – said when employers have judgments against them for delinquent debt such as unpaid wages, the State Franchise Tax Board becomes the collection agency. That's in addition to the board's regular state tax collection duties.
“We have several items in for collections against the senior center,” said Fryer, but those items don't include delinquent taxes.
Altogether, he said the state believes the center owes more than $13,000 for unpaid wages, unreimbursed business expenses, interest and penalties.
The individuals making the claims are four former senior center employees, according to copies of judgment documents Fryer released to Lake County News.
The documents show the labor commissioner held a Feb. 2, 2006 hearing on the claims, which Tyree said were awarded in June of that year.
However, Tyree – who came on as the center's executive director in January – said he only recently had found out about them, and had no warning that the state had intended to collect in the manner it initially did.
Those making claims include Rowland Mosser, the center's former executive director, who was forced out by the center board in August 2005, and three employees who he hired and left the center shortly after he did.
Mosser also is being prosecuted on several charges, including embezzlement and grand theft, in connection with a large sum – as much as $200,000, in one former center official's estimation – that is alleged to have disappeared during his tenure as executive director.
The claims, which total $13,618.29, include:
– Rowland Mosser, $5,193.92 ($2,420, wages; $133.92, interest; $2,640, additional wages accrued as a penalty);
– Sarah E. Weber, $5,360.28 ($1,190.31, wages; $857.60, reimbursable business expenses; $72.37, interest; $1,620, additional wages accrued as a penalty; $1,620, additional wages accrued as a penalty for issuance of nonsufficient funds payroll checks);
– Marie Craig, $2,437.32 ($482.40, wages; $126.72, reimbursable business expenses; $28.20, interest; $1,800, additional wages accrued as a penalty);
– Omega D. Patterson Fox, $626.77 ($599.04, reimbursable business expenses; $27.72, interest).
Last year, the center sold its thrift shop building to the county for $150,000, which allowed it to pay off $33,000 in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service which Mosser – who served with the center from January of 2002 to August of 2005 – hadn't paid, center officials reported.
Barrett said the center is current on all of its taxes to the state.
However, he discovered in going through the center's files this week that Mosser had failed to file the center's 2004 statement of officers for its board of directors, which every corporation – nonprofit or for profit – is require to file with the state, he said.
That resulted in the center having its corporation status suspended with the California Secretary of State, according to state records.
Barrett said there will be a small fine for that – the nonprofit fine is $50 – but it's easy to resolve.
Tyree said she's been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the center.
“This community has really rallied together here,” she said.
Since last Friday, the center has received $1,900 in donations. That kept in motion the center's Meals on Wheels program, which serves thousands of meals to seniors all the way from the Northshore to Blue Lakes and Elk Mountain, Tyree said.
She added that the center was grateful to Thompson, Berg and Rushing, who had stepped up and offered help during the center's crisis.
The center is still facing numerous challenges as it tries to get on an even footing. For information on how to help – whether making a donation of money or time – call the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center at 274-8779.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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