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SB 562, authored by Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), designates $5.3 million to the state Department of Fish and Game to aid coastal salmon and steelhead fisheries restoration projects. Schwarzenegger signed the bill Friday.
On Thursday the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council completely closed commercial and sport Chinook fisheries off California and most of Southern Oregon because of the Sacramento River fall Chinook's “unprecedented collapse,” and the exceptionally poor status of coho salmon populations from Oregon to Washington.
“This is a disaster for West Coast salmon fisheries, under any standard,” Council Chairman
Don Hansen said in a Thursday statement. “There will be a huge impact on the people who fish for a living, those who eat wild-caught king salmon, those who enjoy recreational fishing, and the businesses and coastal communities dependent on these fisheries.”
Schwarzenegger also declared a state of emergency on Thursday in reaction to the salmon crisis.
SB 562 is an urgency measure, and takes effect immediately, according to Wiggins' office. SB 562's urgency clause required a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
The nearly $5.3 million Wiggins' legislation allocates to help fish comes from Proposition 84 – the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act – approved by voters in 2006, according to the bill's language.
“I thank the governor for his prompt action on this bill, which will help protect California’s $100 million dollar salmon industry,” Wiggins said in a statement. “And that industry is not just about fishermen – it extends to tackle shops, processors, ice suppliers, restaurants, native tribes and tourism.”
Enactment of SB 562 will also allow the state to leverage up to $20 million federal dollars for salmon this spring, according to Wiggins' office.
Pacific Fishery Management Council reported Thursday the reasons for the Sacramento fall Chinook stock's sudden collapse aren't readily apparent, however overfishing is not blamed for the situation. Rather, several possible causes – from changing ocean temperatures to human-caused and natural factors are believed to be responsible.
The council has asked the National Marine Fisheries Service’s West Coast Science Centers to lead a multi-agency task force to research about 50 potential causative factors and report back to the council in September.
The California Fish and Game Commission reported that it took emergency action because of the salmon situation, which resulted last week in the closure of the April 5 sportfishing openers south of Point Arena to the U.S.-Mexico Border.
Salmon populations around California face challenges. In February, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network reported that endangered coho salmon populations in Marin County had plummeted. The group reported that coho have already gone extinct in 90 percent of California streams where they once were found.
In the Eel River watershed – the headwaters of which are above Lake Pillsbury in Lake County – coho salmon are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, according to the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project.
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Jose Manuel Arroyo, 25, of Clearlake was arrested shortly before 1 a.m. Friday after he tried to escape from a California Highway Patrol officer following a traffic stop, according to CHP Officer Josh Dye.
CHP Officer Robert Hearn was driving southbound on Highway 29 when he stopped Arroyo's vehicle south of Kit's Corner at about 12:30 a.m., Dye explained.
Arroyo allegedly took off, heading south on Highway 29 at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour with Hearn in pursuit, said Dye.
Other CHP units went out to place a spike strip on the highway south of Kelseyville, according to Dye. However, Arroyo turned off into Kelseyville before reaching the spike strip and, at a lower speed, made his way to an apartment complex on Gaddy Lane.
There, Hearn quickly subdued Arroyo, who Dye said had been alone in the car. The chase was over before sheriff's deputies dispatched as backup could get there.
Arroyo, whose occupation was listed as a laborer, was booked into the Lake County Jail on charges of obstructing or resisting a peace officer, evading a peace officer and driving without a license, and a no-bail immigration hold.
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On Thursday Principal Chris Heller sent a letter to parents, which also was released to the media, indicating an arrest had been made in the case.
On Tuesday, a message left at Middletown High School indicated a bomb had been planted in one of school's lockers, as Lake County News has reported.
Several hundred students, along with teachers and administrative staff, were evacuated while sheriff's deputies, Cal Fire and South Lake County Fire Protection District officials checked the school, officials reported.
The threat, according to officials, eventually was ruled to be a hoax.
Heller's letter, a copy of which was sent to Lake County News on Friday, stated: “In conjunction with the investigators from the Sheriff’s department, a suspect was taken into custody based on solid evidence. We will take appropriate action to insure that this type of situation is dealt with seriously.”
Heller praised students and staff for acting calm during “a potential crisis situation,” and added that student safety is the school's priority and added that Middletown High “will continue to provide a safe educational environment in the future.”
The Lake County Sheriff's Office had no information on the arrest of the suspect when contacted Friday.
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After nearly two months of testimony, the seven-woman, five-man jury found James Wade Roberts, 46, guilty of murdering 63-year-old Ruth Donaldson – with a special allegation of using a deadly weapon – after less than a day's deliberation.
But the trial isn't over yet, said District Attorney Jon Hopkins.
That's because Roberts entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which necessitates a sanity trial, said Hopkins.
"The poor jury was crestfallen when they were told they had to come back for more," Hopkins said.
The trial has lasted several weeks longer than originally anticipated. Hopkins said the trial began Feb. 13 but has encountered delays.
Roberts was alleged to have stabbed Donaldson once with a knife on Oct. 15, 2006, at the home they shared on Mullen Avenue in Clearlake. Hopkins alleged that as Roberts stabbed Donaldson he moved the knife around, damaging her heart and lungs and causing her to bleed to death.
Besides stabbing her, Roberts is alleged to have strangled Donaldson with a 3-foot-long cord, Hopkins added.
During closing arguments on Wednesday Stephen Carter, Roberts' defense attorney, argued that Roberts was delusional and mentally ill, claiming that God told him to kill Donaldson, statements Roberts also had made on the stand.
Roberts' delusions, according to Carter, also included a vast conspiracy theory involving Sept. 11, 2001, the Iraq War and Armageddon.
Carter's psychological expert, Dr. Albert Kastl, diagnosed Roberts with schizophrenic affective disorder, a mixture of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Carter noted during closing arguments.
While Roberts spoke with Kastl, he did not speak with two doctors brought in by the prosecution, Carter said. Those doctors contradicted Kastl's diagnosis, with one suggesting that Roberts' actions were the result of psychosis induced by alcohol and methamphetamine.
Kastl's conclusion – which Hopkins put under rigorous scrutiny on Tuesday, keeping Kastl on the stand the entire day – was reportedly backed up by 18 out of 20 individuals who have evaluated Roberts, according to Carter.
While Carter argued that Roberts had a long history of mental illness and psychotic episodes, Hopkins asserted that Roberts was faking his mental illness – or "malingering" – in order to avoid another prison sentence.
Roberts had admitted to five previous strikes on his record, including a robbery and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, said Carter.
Hopkins added that one of the four assault with a deadly weapon counts resulted in great bodily injury, which landed Roberts in Pelican Bay State Prison.
The trial's sanity phase will begin next Tuesday and possibly wind up by Wednesday, said Hopkins. “I expect it will be rather quick because we've already had all the psychological and psychiatric testimony and we don't have to repeat it all.”
Carter said Judge Richard Martin told the jury the sanity phase is likely to finish by Thursday, but added that it's always difficult to predict how long such proceedings might take.
If Roberts is found sane, he would face a minimum 51 years to life in prison, said Hopkins.
Added Carter, “He's looking at a life sentence under any scheme because of five strikes on his record.”
However, if found insane, Roberts would go instead to a state mental hospital, and could eventually be released on an outpatient basis, said Hopkins. "If he's found insane he won't go to prison."
Carter maintains that his client is mentally ill and that the insanity plea was appropriate for the case.
John Jensen contributed to this report.
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