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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
County Road Superintendent Steve Stangland said Thursday that during a recent road inspection a county road crew discovered a hole had developed in the deck of the bridge on Witter Springs Road, crossing Dayle Creek.
The small, single-lane bridge is a wooden structure, and is at least 55 years old, Stangland said.
As a result of discovering the hole, Public Works closed Witter Springs Road to all traffic two miles north of Highway 20 at the bridge, effective immediately.
Traffic will be detoured on East Road to Bachelor Valley Road and back to Witter Springs Road in order to avoid the bridge area, Stangland reported.
He said signs have been posted at the intersection of Witter Springs and East roads to warn drivers.
“We're trying to do everything we can so nobody gets caught off guard,” he added.
Stangland said the road around the bridge will be closed for quite a while as the roads department considers its options: fixing the bridge or completely replacing it.
Right now they're pricing repairs and will weigh those estimates against full replacement, he explained.
Part of the decision also will rest on the looking at hydrology reports, said Stangland. “It may be that the structure is undersized just for the creek channel.”
The road closure remains in effect until further notice, Public Works reported.
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Supervisor Denise Rushing will host the event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the Odd Fellows Hall, 9480 Main St.
A similar event was held in Spring Valley in August, giving residents the chance to hear from the officials who will respond in times of disasters and emergencies.
Speakers on Saturday will include Kurt Herndon, Upper Lake Elementary superintendent; Rick Winer, Upper Lake Middle principal; Patrick Iaccino, Upper Lake High principal/superintendant; Chief Jim Robbins, Northshore Fire Protection District; Chris Rivera, Lake County Office of Emergency Services; Rachelle Henry, Upper Lake Water District; Betsy Cawn, Senior Support Services; Wolfgang Liebe, U.S. Forestry; and Pat Lynch, Upper Lake Flood Prevention.
Rushing also will speak about the Lake County Fire Plan.
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The report – issued just after noon on Thursday – noted that, effective immediately, Witter Springs Road will be closed to all traffic two miles north of Highway 20 at the bridge due to bridge deck failure.
Traffic will be detoured on East Road to Bachelor Valley Road and back to Witter Springs Road in order to avoid the bridge area, according to the report. Signs are in place to alert drivers.
Public Works' report said the closure will remain in effect until further notice.
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Sheriff Rod Mitchell confirmed at 11 a.m. that the search for 22-year-old Matthew Richard Zanoni was being called off, based on the determination of search leader, Lt. Gary Basor.
An official statement written by Basor that was released later in the day said that, as of Wednesday morning, the search was “scaled down significantly,” but would continue with the assistance of the Lake County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue Teams, as well as with the continued efforts of the Lake County Sheriff's Department Marine Service Patrol.
Zanoni is described as a white Caucasian male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 145 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes, according to Basor. He was last seen wearing board shorts and white socks. Zanoni was not wearing as shirt.
Zanoni was a passenger on an 18-foot Tracker pontoon boat when he went into the water, Basor reported. The boat was stopped about 100 to 150 feet offshore from Shag Rock, located just west of Buckingham peninsula, and some of its passengers had gone swimming.
Witnesses told authorities that Zanoni had been drinking alcoholic prior to the accident and that he wasn't wearing a life vest when he went into the lake, according to Basor's report.
The Lake County Sheriff's Department Marine Patrol first responded to the Rattlesnake Island area, based on the initial reports, Basor reported. When they arrived and couldn't find the boat they made a followup call and found that the incident occurred near Shag Rock.
Basor said when the deputies arrived, witnesses reported that several attempts were made by those on the pontoon boat to locate Zanoni.
Minutes after arriving, deputies requested that the North Shore Dive Team assist the sheriff’s department in the rescue efforts, said Basor. Members of the North Shore Dive Team made several dives that afternoon.
Beginning Sunday and lasting through Tuesday at 5 p.m., members of the North Shore Dive Team, the Lake County Search and Rescue Dive Team, as well as divers from Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties continued searching for Zanoni, Basor reported.
Basor said Thomas Tessier of Santa Rosa-based Aqua-Tech Inc. also volunteered to help, bringing his highly sophisticated drop sonar equipment for the search effort. Tessier helped search for a drowning victim on the lake in May.
The team – which Basor said was composed of highly trained professionals – assisted in more than 100 drop search positions in the given search area, which covered over one million square feet within the waters of Clear Lake.
Each location identified as a potential location for Zanoni was checked and searched, said Basor, but recovery efforts were temporarily slowed when civilian vessels also searching for Zanoni entered the search area causing concern for the diver’s safety. The boats were directed to leave the immediate area.
Family taking its own measures
Jennifer and Laura Zanoni, Matt Zanoni's sisters, were angry that the search was called off.
They said officials told them that they needed to “let nature take its course,” with Matt Zanoni's body expected to surface in about two weeks due to decomposition.
The sisters also were concerned because they said witnesses on the boat reported there were fishermen in the area who saw Matt Zanoni go into the water, yet the fishermen left quickly after the accident and didn't stay around to give a statement to sheriff's deputies.
They insisted that alcohol couldn't have been a major factor, as they were told by witnesses that he only had a few beers before he disappeared over the boat's side.
Jennifer Zanoni said she began making calls at 8 a.m. Wednesday, asking various agencies around the state for help.
Basor's report, however, said he had been in contact, and had been contacted, by some of those other agencies, including the US Coast Guard, and all agreed that every immediate effort to recover Zanoni has been tried.
“There's only so much we can do,” Chief Deputy Russell Perdock of the Lake County Sheriffs' Office told Lake County News.
He said the sonar equipment volunteered by Aqua-Tec was better than that used by Sonoma County.
Perdock also asserted that the Zanonis had told the other agencies that it was a rescue operation, not a recovery, which it had technically been since Sunday.
The Zanoni family plans to hire their own divers, who are scheduled to begin searching for Matt Zanoni on Saturday.
“Right now we're just trying to focus on finding that body so we can have some closure,” said Laura Zanoni.
Jennifer Zanoni asked for anyone who saw the incident to call her at 480-4254.
Basor reported that the investigation into the incident's cause is continuing.
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