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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT – As a bass fishing tournament this past weekend was attracting hundreds of visitors to Lakeport, another group of visitors had law enforcement on alert.
Lakeport Police Det. Norm Taylor said the Lake County chapter of the Vagos, an outlaw motorcycle gang, held a poker run around the county over the weekend, basing it out of Lakeport's Buckhorn Club bar.
The gang, said Taylor, is spread across all of California and into Mexico, with chapters in Nevada and Hawaii, and in some East Coast locations.
The Vagos are a criminal street gang, said Taylor. Over the years, Vagos members around the country have been indicted for weapons and drug violations, conspiracy to commit homicide, kidnapping and much more, he said.
A report from the California Attorney General's Office states that there are 47 outlaw motorcycle gangs in California; among the most prominent, the report says, are the Hells Angels, Mongols and the Vagos.
In recent years the Vagos, founded in Southern California, have shown an increased presence in Northern California, the report noted. The Vagos reportedly have 33 chapters with 300 members statewide.
As far as local gangs go, Taylor said the Surenos have been much more criminally active and visible than the Vagos, which are spread out across the county. Sureno gang members are implicated in the stabbing of a young Clearlake Oaks man in Library Park last month.
Local Vagos have been arrested before, but none of them have been charged with being members of criminal street gangs, said Taylor. He added that the Vagos have been “relatively low key” as far as criminal activity locally.
Taylor estimated between 50 and 60 motorcycles were included in the weekend run, which was billed as a benefit for the Fallen Riders Trust. About half of those riders were “average folks” who enjoy taking part in poker runs, he said. Riding alongside them were 24 Vagos members.
At the event police identified Vagos members from Lake County, Redding, Nevada, San Jose and the Sacramento area, said Taylor.
Last September, Lake County's Vagos chapter held its inaugural ride, said Taylor. That event, he said, caught police completely off guard. “We were not aware of it until it was already happening,”he said.
No arrests were made, he said. But after that experience, he said, Lakeport Police wanted to be prepared in case another run took place.
The department has been tracking gang activity, he said, which helped them find out about this latest gathering.
The ride was held on the weekend of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Hells Angels. Although the two gangs aren't considered rivals, there is tension between them in Northern California, said Taylor. He said he didn't believe there was a direct correlation between the ride and the anniversary.
Taylor said the county has a gang task force that includes members of several local law enforcement agencies.
As part of the enforcement effort last weekend, Lakeport Police had assistance from California Highway Patrol, Clearlake Police, Lake County Probation, State Parole and Lake County Narcotic Task Force. He declined to say just how many officers were on the street keeping track of the Vagos ride.
Taylor said authorities tightened enforcement – specifically of vehicle codes – in order to keep things in order.
There were no criminal incidents, Taylor reported, and no noted interference in the bass tournament.
There were, however, three arrests made, said Taylor. One of those was a Vagos gang member, arrested by the Lake County Narcotic Task Force.
Taylor said Lakeport Police will continue watching the Vagos activity. “We have a local chapter so I expect we will continue to see similar type activities go on in the future – at what frequency is still to be seen,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The fire above Bartlett Springs was reported at 3:24 p.m., according to Cal Fire – formerly known as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fire was originally believed to have been located at Pinnacle Rock, but later officials located it on state-managed lands at Hogsback Ridge.
Between 10 and 15 acres of timber burned, but by nighttime the fire was contained by firefighters from the Northshore Fire Authority and four Cal Fire hand crews.
Three Cal Fire engines – two from Lake County, one from Ukiah – responded, along with a Forest Service engine, Cal Fire reported.
Two Cal Fire helicopters, one from the Tehama-Glenn station and the second from Boggs Mountain, made repeated trips up the mountain to drop water on the fire. The helicopters staged in a field across from Ceago del Lago along Highway 20. Cal Fire Engineer Phil Mateer of Lakeport said one of the copters made about 30 trips.
Fire crews, a few engines and a dozen were still on the scene after 8 p.m. mopping up, according to Cal Fire's incident command.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, Cal Fire reported.
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Harold LaBonte contributed to this article.
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- Written by: John Jensen
CLEARLAKE OAKS – A structure fire on hilly Widgeon way in Clearlake Oaks Tuesday afternoon sent four people to the hospital with fire-related injuries.
Black smoke billowing into the sky above Clearlake Oaks was first spotted by a conservation crew traveling past in a bus, said Northshore Fire Chief Jim Robbins.
Between 15 and 18 Northshore firefighters were dispatched, and were soon joined by firefighters from nearly every department around the lake and Cal Fire, as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is now known, Robbins reported.
The fire destroyed the first structure – a three-level hillside residence – caught another home on fire and set the grassy hillside ablaze, Robbins said.
Nearly three acres of wildland were charred before Northshore firefighters and mutual aid departments were able to extinguish it, said Robbins.
The steep hillside made fighting the fire more difficult, Robbins said. “You could only fight it from two sides."
Robbins commented that it was odd that the fire consumed a hillside full of green grass. "You would never have believed it," he said. "Grass doesn't usually burn when it's green."
Three firefighters and the occupant of the first structure to catch fire were sent to the hospital, Robbins reported.
The firefighters were transported to Sutter Lakeside in Lakeport with smoke inhalation injuries, said Robbins, while the occupant was transported to Redbud Hospital in Clearlake.
E-mail John Jensen at
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- Written by: John Jensen
LAKEPORT – The effort to build a new county animal shelter came one step closer to reality Monday, with officials gathering to break ground on the long-awaited project.
More than 20 people showed up for the Monday morning ceremony, held at the new shelter location on Hill Road.
County Supervisors Denise Rushing, Ed Robey, Anthony Farrington and Jeff Smith, along with Animal Care & Control Director Denise Johnson and County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, took up shovels to turn the ground in anticipation of the project's first phase.
Behind the group a piece of heavy equipment waited quietly to begin preparing the ground for the site of the new 6,800-square-foot shelter.
During the ceremony, County Public Works Director Gerald Shaul described the genesis of the project. {enclose Groundbreaking_Animal_control.mp3}
The shelter effort is about about saving lives, said Johnson. "Our only goal is to save lives and promote adoption.”
The current shelter was built in the 1940s, and is both outdated and too small. The new $2 million shelter will ultimately have twice the current capacity for dogs with a total of 72 kennels, and have 30 to 40 more cages for cats, Johnson said.
The new facility will have the space to quarantine sick animals and protect healthy animals from disease, Johnson said.
"In our facility we didn't have any way to separate them," she said, "so a lot of lives were lost.
"Here we won't be so overcrowded, especially in the cat area,” she added. “We've had some serious overcrowding in the cat room. The building is just not big enough. This new building will have a lot of space."
The two-phase project will include preparing the ground for the facility by removing several trees, flattening out a hill and installing sewer, water and power lines. Phase one is estimated to be completed in 30 days.
The shelter's phase two will include the construction of a 3,400-square-foot building that will house Animal Care & Control's office and indoor kennels, Shaul said, as well as a detached, 3,400-square-foot kennel building.
After the ceremony concluded with a dog digging up a bone on the site of the groundbreaking, Johnson stressed that much credit was due to the assistance of Shaul.
"It's been really nice to have his support and his guidance," she said.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the shelter fund, donations may be mailed either to Lake County Animal Care & Control, 887 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport CA 95453 (write "shelter donation" on your check), or Lake County Animal Services Shelter Fund, P.O. Box 662, Lakeport, CA 95453.
For more information about helping animals locally, including adopting pets or education, visit the following Web sites: Lake County Animal Care & Control, www.co.lake.ca.us/countygovernment/animalcontrol/animalcontrol.asp; or Lake County Animal Services, www.lakecountyanimalservices.org.
E-mail John Jensen at
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