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Library Volunteer Paul Sweeney unpacks and sorts a courier delivery at the main library in Lakeport, Calif., just one of Sweeney’s library tasks. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Do you love your local library? If so, why not volunteer?

Volunteers are an important part of the Lake County Library team, recording more than 270 hours of work per month at all four branches of the Library system.

Between 20 and 25 volunteers assist library staff at all branches and about eighty volunteer literacy tutors teach other adults to read.

Volunteers help the library in a variety of ways and are an integral part of providing quality library service to the public. The library is currently recruiting volunteers for specific positions at all four libraries.

The Lakeport Library is looking for a library aide who could come once a week to help shelve books and put library materials away.

The Redbud Library in Clearlake is looking for two volunteers. The library needs a library aide who could come in once a week to help shelve library materials. They are also looking for someone with experience reading to children to help present library storytime to grade school children in the afternoon on Thursday, as a complement to the toddler storytime.

Middletown Library is looking for a volunteer who can come in once a week to help sort through incoming donations.

Jenny Ornellas, a 13-year library volunteer, looks for books that people have requested. Courtesy photo.

Upper Lake Library is looking for a volunteer who could work weekly on Thursday afternoon to help cover the circulation desk during library storytime.

As a volunteer you will gain skills and knowledge that can help you in your career or your personal life. Students and others can gain community service credit while helping connect the community to books and learning. Anyone over the age of 15 can volunteer at the library.

Volunteers search for books that are requested or missing, and search for books that need to be cleaned, repaired or discarded, while other volunteers shelve books or straighten and organize shelves. Volunteers check in requested items, sort donated books, prepare craft kits for storytimes and inventory the shelves. Some volunteers learn to work at the circulation desk and sort book deliveries.

Besides these specific jobs, the library has many different tasks and welcomes volunteers with a variety of different skills, interests, and abilities. Potential volunteers can fill out a short application in person or online. Previous library work experience isn’t required to be a volunteer.

Be sure to check out the library’s Web site and online application at http://library.lakecountyca.gov by clicking “About” and choosing “Volunteer at the Library.”

You can also visit your local branch, or call the main library in Lakeport at 707-263-8817 for more information.

Jan Cook is a technician at the Lake County Library.
Eduardo Alatorre, from the Taylor Observatory in Kelseyville, Calif., introduces science concepts at library storytimes in Lakeport, Calif. Here Alatorre prepares a demonstration of static electricity for children. Courtesy photo.
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BERKELEY, Calif. – Thanks to a rare cosmic alignment, astronomers have captured the most distant normal star ever observed, some 9 billion light years from Earth.

While astronomers routinely study galaxies much farther away, they’re visible only because they glow with the brightness of billions of stars. And a supernova, often brighter than the galaxy in which it sits, also can be visible across the entire universe. Beyond a distance of about 100 million light years, however, the stars in these galaxies are impossible to make out individually.

But a phenomenon called gravitational lensing – the bending of light by massive galaxy clusters in the line of sight – can magnify the distant universe and make dim, far away objects visible.

Typically, lensing magnifies galaxies by up to 50 times, but in this case, the star was magnified more than 2,000 times. It was discovered in NASA Hubble Space Telescope images taken in late April of 2016 and as recently as April 2017.

“You can see individual galaxies out there, but this star is at least 100 times farther away than the next individual star we can study, except for supernova explosions,” said former UC Berkeley postdoctoral scholar Patrick Kelly, now on the faculty at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Kelly is first author of a paper about the discovery appearing online this week in advance of publication in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The discovery of the star, which astronomers often refer to as Icarus rather than by its formal name, MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 (LS1), kicks off a new technique for astronomers to study individual stars in galaxies formed during the earliest days of the universe. These observations can provide a rare look at how stars evolve, especially the most luminous ones.

“For the first time ever we’re seeing an individual normal star – not a supernova, not a gamma ray burst, but a single stable star – at a distance of nine billion light years,” said Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley and one of many co-authors of the report. “These lenses are amazing cosmic telescopes.”

The astronomy team also used Icarus to test and reject one theory of dark matter – that it consists of numerous primordial black holes lurking inside galaxy clusters – and to probe the make-up of normal matter and dark matter in the galaxy cluster.

Einstein ring

Kelly noticed the star while monitoring a supernova he had discovered in 2014 while using Hubble to peer through a gravitational lens in the constellation Leo.

That supernova, dubbed SN Refsdal in honor of the late Norwegian astrophysicist Sjur Refsdal, a pioneer of gravitational lensing studies, was split into four images by the lens, a massive galaxy cluster called MACS J1149+2223, located about 5 billion light years from Earth.

Suspecting that Icarus might be more highly magnified than SN Refsdal, Kelly and his team analyzed the colors of the light coming from it and discovered it was a single star, a blue supergiant.

This B-type star is much larger, more massive, hotter and possibly hundreds of thousands of times intrinsically brighter than our Sun, though still much too far away to see without the amplification of gravitational lensing.

By modeling the lens, they concluded that the tremendous apparent brightening of Icarus was probably caused by a unique effect of gravitational lensing. While an extended lens, like a galaxy cluster, can only magnify a background object up to 50 times, smaller objects can magnify much more.

A single star in a foreground lens, if precisely aligned with a background star, can magnify the background star thousands of times. In this case, a star about the size of our sun briefly passed directly through the line of sight between the distant star Icarus and Hubble, boosting its brightness more than 2,000 times.

In fact, if the alignment was perfect, that single star within the cluster turned the light from the distant star into an “Einstein ring”: a halo of light created when light from the distant star bends around all sides of the lensing star. The ring is too small to discern from this distance, but the effect made the star easily visible by magnifying its apparent brightness.

Kelly saw a second star in the Hubble image, which could either be a mirror image of Icarus, or a different star being gravitationally lensed.

“There are alignments like this all over the place as background stars or stars in lensing galaxies move around, offering the possibility of studying very distant stars dating from the early universe, just as we have been using gravitational lensing to study distant galaxies,” Filippenko said. “For this type of research, nature has provided us with a larger telescope than we can possibly build!”

As for Icarus, the astronomers predict that it will be magnified many times over the next decade as cluster stars move around, perhaps increasing its brightness as much as 10,000 times.

The research by Kelly and Filippenko was supported by funds from NASA, the Christopher R. Redlich Fund, TABASGO Foundation and Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at UC Berkeley.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Sunday marks the six-month anniversary of the beginning of the most destructive wildfires in California history burned and destroyed thousands of homes, and officials said there are signs of rebuilding and progress.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said there are cleared lots and frames of new homes in the areas like Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the October North Bay fires.

A large part of facilitating recovery started with the removal of debris, lots of debris. In the first phase of the debris removal efforts, the Environmental Protection Agency and California Department of Toxic Substances Control collected household hazardous waste throughout seven Northern California counties.

Through coordination with California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and in close partnership with FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. EPA, Cal EPA and CalRecycle, all major work for the removal of fire and ash debris has now been completed in Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma and Yuba counties.

So far, nearly 1.7 million tons of debris, across all seven counties, has been removed, FEMA reported.

Since the Oct. 10 disaster declaration, nearly 4,500 households have been approved for FEMA individual assistance, for a total of more than $15.7 million.

Of this amount, more than $9.6 million has been approved for housing assistance that can assist with home repairs or replacement, rental assistance to be used to find another place to live temporarily while repairs are being made to their home and more than $6.1 million for other needs assistance.

Other needs assistance is a grant to pay for other uninsured or underinsured expenses such as disaster-related medical, dental or funeral costs or personal property losses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is another partner agency that plays an integral role in disaster recovery. The SBA provided assistance to businesses of all sizes, private nonprofits, homeowners and renters in the form of low-interest disaster loans. The SBA has approved nearly 1,200 loans for homeowners, renters and businesses for more than $151 million.

About 640 eligible Northern California households also participated in the Transitional Sheltering Assistance, or TSA, program to stay in a hotel/motel temporarily at no cost to the survivor, because their primary residence was not safe or able to be occupied, and they could not find a viable rental option.

Currently, roughly 230 families are being housed in a FEMA-provided housing option such as an RV (travel trailers and fifth wheels), manufactured housing units or direct lease of apartments.

In this disaster, as in most, the vast majority of survivors have found their own housing solution. For the relatively small number of people who were unable to do so, a direct housing resource was a potential option for eligible survivors.

These resources are throughout multiple locations in Northern California, including Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Mendocino County, Berry Creek Rancheria RV Park in Butte County and Clear Lake Resort in Lake County as well as individual apartments and private land throughout the seven counties approved for direct housing.

More than 20 families in Mendocino County will move later this month to an RV facility at Lake Mendocino that FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked together to expand and upgrade for interim use by survivors.

Reimbursements to state and local agencies have also been awarded, under the FEMA Public Assistance program. The Public Assistance program is intended to benefit everyone — neighborhoods, cities, counties and states.

Public Assistance dollars help clean up communities affected by disaster- related debris, repair or replace infrastructure damaged by the disaster such as roads and bridges and reimburse for emergency protective measures such as overtime costs for first responders or evacuation and sheltering activities.

So far, more than $271.8 million in public assistance grants has been obligated for eligible disaster–related costs, and the coming months will see millions in additional federal and state assistance to cities, counties, utility districts and other PA recipients.

Significant recovery progress has been made over the last six months, but preparing for future disasters remains essential. Increased flood risks that follow fires will persist for several years, and survivors can increase their financial protection by buying insurance now.

For more information on flood risks after fire, visit the California Department of Water Resources for more information.

For more additional updates on California recovery, visit the disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4344, Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/femaregion9 and www.WildfireRecovery.org.
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Hank Aaron at his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. Wikipedia photo.


“The only thing to do was keep swinging,” Henry Aaron once said, “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field.”

That was Henry “Hank” Aaron’s approach to life on and off the baseball diamond.

In the early 1970s when Hammerin’ Hank was getting closer to overtaking Babe Ruth as baseball’s all-time home-run champion, Aaron needed to remember that mantra more than ever.

He wasn’t worried about nerves making his bat unsteady, or eye unfocused – he was a consummate athlete after all. But as he grew closer to that 715 mark, the hate mail began to arrive in greater numbers than ever before.

This week in history marks several important anniversaries in the march towards equality.

On April 8, 1975, Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians, made his debut as the first black manager of a major league baseball team.

On April 11, 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black major league baseball player when he played an exhibition game as a Brooklyn Dodger.

Among these momentous occasions is Hank Aaron’s story of perseverance in the face of hate.

One year to the day before Frank Robinson broke the color barrier as a manager of a baseball team, Hank Aaron became the world’s leading home-run champion.

Looking back at it as a single event, as a “day in history,” does not do service to the accomplishment.

Aaron’s struggle to that moment on April 8, 1974, was as much an accomplishment as that record-breaking home run itself.

At the time, people were still marching for freedom, advocating for black rights. Battles had been won, but the war was just beginning.

Only a decade had elapsed since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Such deep-seated prejudice and hatred usually takes generations to breed out of society. And here was Aaron, a black man, looking to overtake the record of white baseball’s beloved icon, in the face of the same bigots who hosed peaceful protesters and firebombed black churches.

Hank Aaron had played in the big leagues since 1952. He was a veteran, of both baseball and the racism directed at black athletes. And yet, the nearly 3,000 letters he received each day starting in the summer of 1973 overwhelmed even him.

Hank Aaron in 1960. Wikimedia Commons photo.

Years later, when he was asked about the hate mail, Aaron quietly remarked, “this changed me.” He received so many letters each day that he had to hire a secretary to sift through them. Not all were full of hate, but enough were.

“You’re black so you have no business here.”

“I’D LIKE TO KILL YOU!! BANG BANG YOUR DEAD. P.S. it mite happen.”

"Dear Nigger Henry, You are (not) going to break this record established by the great Babe Ruth if I can help it. ... Whites are far more superior than jungle bunnies. . My gun is watching your every black move."

They go on and on. Life mantras were made for times like these. With the aid of his own, Aaron slipped into the sort of calm and quiet efficiency that he had maintained his entire career in the big leagues.

So when he stepped up to bat in the 4th inning on April 8, 1974 in Atlanta, he knew what he had to do. Just keep swinging.

He did more than that; he clobbered the ball, sending it rocketing over the left centerfield wall and propelling his name into history.

As he rounded the bases, the Braves fans went wild, two college students jumping onto the field and running alongside him until security escorted them off the field. The new homerun king was mobbed at home plate by his teammates.

More than 30 years later, Hank Aaron still had his record, only losing it in 2007 when another black baseball player hit his 756th home run.

Even now, Aaron still keeps some of those hate letters. When asked why, he responds, "I read the letters, because they remind me not to be surprised or hurt. They remind me what people are really like."

He wasn’t terribly surprised, then, when he faced the same hatred once more, this time 40 years later.

In April of 2014, following an interview in which he remarked on the challenges then-President Barack Obama faced, Aaron received dozens of racist letters.

They contained the same vitriol, the same spelling errors and the same lack of human decency as the hate mail he had been carrying for decades. The irony was, the letters he received actually seemed to prove the very comments he made in the interview that sparked the outrage in the first place.

“Sure, this country has a black president,” Aaron had said to the reporter, “We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long ways to go in the country. The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts.”

Antone Pierucci is curator of history at the Riverside County Park and Open Space District and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday that a body has been recovered near the site of the vehicle crash that last week killed members of a Washington family, three of whose children have remained missing.

Lt. Shannon Barney said the body of a black female was found in the surf of the Pacific Ocean at Juan Creek and Highway 1 in Westport on Saturday afternoon.

Barney said that location is in the immediate vicinity where, on March 26, the bodies of Jennifer Jean Hart and Sarah Margaret Hart, both age 38, and three of their children, Markis Hart, 19, Jeremiah Hart, 14, and Abigail Hart, 14, all of Woodland, Wash., were found along with their GMC Yukon SUV at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff at the edge of a dirt turnout along Highway 1, as Lake County News has reported.

The bodies of the two women were inside the SUV while the three children were found nearby, two of them on the rocky shoreline and one in the water, authorities said.

None of the family members were belted in and there were no signs of brake or skidmarks, leading authorities to suspect that the crash may have been intentional.

When the wreck was discovered, there was no sign of the family’s three other children – Devonte Hart, 15, Hannah Hart, 16, and Sierra Hart, 12 – who were believed to have been on the trip.

Searches for the children have continued along the coastline up through Friday, but they were called off temporarily for the weekend due to the storms which have brought heavy rains and winds to the Mendocino Coast over the past few days, according to Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten.

Then, just before 2 p.m. on Saturday, Barney said the California Highway Patrol received a call regarding the discovery of the body in the surf.

Barney said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office responded to the location to conduct a coroner's investigation and learned that a couple, vacationing along the coast, observed a possible body floating in the surf near Juan Creek.

The Westport Fire Department had patrolled the area an hour prior but did not see anything, Barney said.

However, Barney said the body was pulled from the surf, onto the beach, by a third bystander where it was later recovered by Westport Fire.

The recovered body appears to be that of a black female but the age and a positive identity could not be determined, Barney said.

That raises the possibility that the body could be one of the missing Hart children, all of whom were black. The couple, who were white, had reportedly adopted all six children.

Barney said there were no signs of the other missing Hart children.

An autopsy will be conducted on Tuesday and the cause of death is unknown, Barney said.

Barney said the sheriff's office is investigating the possibility that the body may be one of the two missing Hart girls but identification will most likely be done through DNA analysis, a process that can take several weeks.

It is not uncommon after a significant storm, such as the one passing through the North State currently, to bring items to the surface or wash onto the beach, Barney said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is monitoring the ocean conditions to see when further searches might be safely conducted. Barney said this evaluation includes the possible use of divers if conditions permit.

Authorities are continuing to gather information about the family’s whereabouts in the days before the fatal wreck.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the CHP’s Ukiah Area office at 707-467-4000 or the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-234-2100 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

040518 Hart children missing persons flier by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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Andrew Crowningshield. Photo courtesy of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.


NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Friday a Little River man pleaded guilty to the February killing of the mother of his young child.

Andrew Curtis Crowningshield, 27, changed his plea, entering guilty pleas to the willful, premeditated and deliberate murder of Autumn Renee Smith, 22, of Fort Bragg on Feb. 4, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.

Crowningshield also admitted as true that he intentionally used a 9-millimeter handgun to shoot Smith multiple times, officials reported.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield accepted the defendant's change of plea this morning, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Officials said Crowningshield and Smith had a young child together, and that their relationship had ended more than a year prior to the shooting.

A District Attorney’s Office report said Crowningshield’s plea change averted a scheduled preliminary hearing in Mendocino County Superior Court.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the case investigation, said the shooting was reported just after 9 a.m. Feb. 4 in the 6000 block of North Highway 1 in Little River.

It was there that a man reported that he and Smith had been driving southbound on Highway 1 from Fort Bragg when they saw Crowningshield in his vehicle. Crowningshield followed them, and Smith pulled over to talk to him about their 3-year-old son and when she could pick up the child.

The report said Crowningshield shot Smith numerous times, with her friend reporting that he also was shot at before Crowningshield fled in his four-wheel-drive pickup.

Crowningshield was arrested the following morning in Elk Creek in Glenn County, where deputies took him into custody without incident, officials reported.

Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster personally handled the case. As part of the change of plea, Eyster required Crowningshield to stipulate to a state prison sentence of 50 years to life – 25 years to life for the first-degree murder plus a consecutive 25 years to life for his personal and intentional use of the firearm causing death – according to Eyster’s spokesman, Mike Geniella.

The defendant's matter was referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background report, Geniella said.

The 50-to-life sentence will be formally imposed by Judge Mayfield on June 7 at 9 a.m. in Department B in the Ukiah courthouse. Geniella said anybody interested in this case or this defendant is welcome to attend and watch that proceeding.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – With the six-month anniversary of the North Bay fire storm arriving on Sunday, new legislation setting statewide emergency alert protocols is heading to its first official Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

“The size and scope of wildland fire events in California are only getting worse. It’s clear there are significant shortcomings in our emergency alert system and residents deserve timely notifications and up-to-date information,” said State Sen. Mike McGuire. “Lives depend on the Legislature and governor taking swift action to ensure statewide emergency alert standards are adopted, training is implemented, and funding is secured to ensure communities big and small have reliable alert systems deployed.”

SB 833 was introduced by Sen. McGuire, along with joint authors Senators Bill Dodd and Jerry Hill, and principal co-authors Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Marc Levine and Jim Wood.

The bill will create statewide emergency alert protocols for the first time in California history.

There are several different emergency warning systems available to counties that alert residents through cell phone calls, text messages, and landline recordings.

Some systems require residents to “opt-in” to the alert notifications, and others have limitations on how they can be targeted in specific areas.

SB 833 will require every county in California to adopt the up-to-date wireless emergency alert system with trained operators who can implement an evacuation order using the alert system (or a state sanctioned equivalent system).

The legislation also will set out standards for when counties should use the system, mandate annual training for emergency managers on how to best utilize the system, require that alerts be sent out via landline telephones and mobile phones along with other communication mediums including radio, television and electronic highway billboards, facilitate communication between counties and the state at the start of a disaster, and create guidelines and protocols for when and how the alerts should be sent.

The legislation will also mandate that all emergency alert systems be opt-out, no longer opt-in.

During the October 2017 Firestorm, thousands of residents in the path of the fires didn’t receive any notifications or emergency alerts.

The fires destroyed more than 6,000 homes, scorched more than 170,000 acres, caused billions in damage, and resulted in the death of more than 40 residents.

Santa Rosa Fire Chief Tony Gossner will testify in support of SB 833 Tuesday, which will be heard in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Supporting SB 833 are the California Fire Chiefs Association; California Professional Firefighters; Fire Districts Association of California; California Ambulance Association; League of California Cities; Rural County Representatives of California; City of Santa Rosa; County of Napa; County of Sonoma; Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers; and the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council, among many other groups.
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Giovanni Madrigal-Rincon, 19, of Clearlake, Calif. Lake County Jail photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Clearlake man has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges for an armed robbery at a fast food restaurant last month.

Giovanni Madrigal-Rincon, 19, was in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, at which time his defense attorney, Ed Savin, entered not guilty pleas to all counts and denied all special allegations.

Prosecutor Art Grothe said Madrigal-Rincon is facing 11 counts and three special allegations for the armed robbery, which occurred on March 27 at the Clearlake Jack in the Box restaurant on Dam Road.

Madrigal-Rincon is charged with two counts of kidnapping for the purpose of robbery, three counts of robbery, two counts of kidnapping, three counts of assault with a firearm, one count of resisting or delaying a peace officer, and three special allegations for being armed with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, personal use of a firearm and having been released on his own recognizance.

The Clearlake Police Department’s report on the incident said that officers responded to the Jack in the Box just before 2 a.m. March 27 after a lone masked gunman took three employees at gunpoint, forcing one of them to take him to a safe in the building.

The robber took an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing in a silver four-door vehicle, police said.

At around 7 a.m., police located Madrigal-Rincon at a hotel in the city, taking him into custody after a short foot pursuit. At that time, police said he was wearing the same clothes and was in possession of a shotgun that resembled the one used in the robbery.

Police said at the time of Madrigal-Rincon’s arrest, the bulk of the money stolen was not located.

On Tuesday Judge Stephen Hedstrom set Madrigal-Rincon’s preliminary hearing for April 16.

At that time, there also will be coordination and a hearing of another pending case against Madrigal-Rincon, who is charged with discharge of firearm in grossly negligent manner and giving false information to officer in an incident that occurred on Sept. 8, 2016. That case is scheduled for trial on May 16, Grothe said.

Jail records show that Madrigal-Rincon is being held on $2.2 million bail.

On Tuesday, Savin said he wanted a bail study and review, which Hedstrom declined to do at that point, noting it will be up for review in the future.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Dudleya succulents seized by California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers in Humboldt County, Calif., on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Photo courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers have made another arrest this week in their ongoing battle against a rising poaching trend on the North Coast of Northern California with international connections.

CDFW arrested Taehun Kim, 52, and Taeyun Kim, 46, both of Korea, and Liu Fengxia, 37, of China for poaching more than 2,300 Dudleya succulent plants near Trinidad in Humboldt County.

Charges include illegal take of the plants and felony conspiracy, among others, officials said.

Poachers profit financially from the illegal take of Dudleya by stripping plants from sea cliffs and shipping them overseas to other countries, including Korea, China and Japan, where they are prized by some for decorative purposes, CDFW reported.

On April 4, wildlife officers intercepted and seized 1,334 of the plants in boxes on their way to be shipped overseas. An additional 1,000 Dudleya were found in the suspects’ hotel room during the service of the search warrant.

The overseas market value of the plants is between $40 to $50 per plant, resulting in a conservative value estimate of over $90,000.

The removal of Dudleya can result in environmental degradation of habitat and a destabilization of bluffs and cliffs on the coastline. Illegal harvesting is also alarming because California hosts a number of Dudleya species and subspecies that are rare or at risk of extinction.

CDFW enforcement initially identified this trend earlier this year, in part, after determining that a man was shipping Dudleya out of a Mendocino post office to China.

In recent months near Point Arena in Mendocino County, wildlife officers cited three individuals for a series of misdemeanor violations including illegal take and trespassing.

The charges were elevated by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office to felony conspiracy and grand theft, based upon the value of stolen plants.

On Jan. 29, one man was apprehended with approximately 50 succulents, and on March 6, two men were cited after being apprehended with 1,400 succulents.

Authorities said the individual in the January incident pleaded guilty to the illegal take of plants and received a sentence that included three years of probation, a $5,000 fine and 240 hours of community service. The March case is pending.

“We have seen a remarkable amount of concern over this from botanists and the public alike,” said CDFW Deputy Director and Chief of Law Enforcement David Bess. “A public tip started this investigation and ultimately uncovered an international conspiracy to poach Dudleya succulents and ship them overseas for profit. A critical part of the Department’s mission is to protect and manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.”

Law enforcement personnel from the U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and East Bay Regional Parks, in addition to representatives of the California Native Plant Society, or CNPS, U.C. Santa Cruz Botany Department and local citizens, assisted with the investigation.

CDFW personnel have replanted the seized succulents in the areas where taken whenever possible with assistance from CNPS and U.C. Santa Cruz botany experts.

Anyone who believes they are witness to unlawful poaching or pollution activity is encouraged to call CalTIP, CDFW’s confidential secret witness program, at 888-334-2258 or send a text to tip411.

Both methods allow the public to provide wildlife officers with factual information to assist with investigations.

Callers may remain anonymous, if desired, and a reward can result from successful capture and prosecution.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week Lake County Animal Care and Control has a shelter filled with big dogs – and a few puppies – ready to enjoy spring with new families.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of German Shepherd, Great Pyrenees, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, shepherd and Siberian Husky.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

This female shepherd mix puppy is in kennel No. 2a, ID No. 9732. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female shepherd mix puppy

This female shepherd mix puppy has a short black and tan coat.

She is in kennel No. 2a, ID No. 9732.

This female shepherd mix puppy is in kennel No. 2b, ID No. 9733. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female shepherd mix puppy

This female shepherd mix puppy has a short tan coat.

She is in kennel No. 2b, ID No. 9733.

This female pit bull terrier in kennel No. 7, ID No. 9588. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Pit bull terrier

This female pit bull terrier has a short brown and blue coat.

She’s in kennel No. 7, ID No. 9588.

This male pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 9591. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix

This male pit bull-Labrador Retriever mix has a short black coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 9591.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 12, ID No. 9657. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a short black and tan coat.

She's a sweet and friendly girl who walks nicely on a leash and appears to know basic commands.

She is in kennel No. 12, ID No. 9657.

“Samson” is a male Siberian Husky mix s in kennel No. 17, ID No. 9727. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Samson’

“Samson” is a male Siberian Husky mix.

He has a long gray and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 17, ID No. 9727.

“Camilia” is a female German Shepherd mix in kennel No. 20, ID No. 9694. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Camilia’

“Camilia” is a female German Shepherd mix with a long black and brown coat.

She’s in kennel No. 20, ID No. 9694.

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Onyx’

“Onyx” is a female shepherd mix.

She has a medium-length black coat with white markings, and already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 4174.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 9708. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 9708.

“Atlas” is a male Labrador Retriever mix with a short tan coat in kennel No. 26, ID No. 9712. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Atlas’

“Atlas” is a male Labrador Retriever mix with a short tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 9712.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9706. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9706.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 9710. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 28, ID No. 9710.

This female German Shepherd is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9709. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a short black and tan coat.

She’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9709.

“Oso” is a male Labrador Retriever-Great Pyrenees mix in kennel No. 31, ID No. 9798. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

‘Oso’

“Oso” is a male Labrador Retriever-Great Pyrenees mix.

He has a medium-length black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 9798.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Posted On

COBB, Calif. – A 3.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in the Cobb area early Saturday morning.

The quake was reported at 12:37 a.m. Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey.

The survey said the quake was centered two miles west southwest of Cobb, three miles northeast of The Geysers geothermal steamfield and fives miles northwest of Anderson Springs, just inside the Lake County border.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of half a mile.

As of 3 a.m., the survey had received 15 shake reports, several of them coming from Kelseyville, Middletown and Lower Lake. Reports also came in from Calistoga, Saint Helena, Winters and Grass Valley.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Posted On

Dennis Fordham. Courtesy photo.


Unlike some other states, particularly Delaware, California does not allow so-called “silent trusts” – trusts that limit the disclosure to trust beneficiaries of the existence, terms, assets, liabilities and administration of an existing trust.

Nevertheless, some trustees subject to California law still fail to notify death beneficiaries and heirs on the death of a settlor, and also fail to report and account to the trust beneficiaries even though required to do so.

Beneficiaries and heirs, therefore, do well to consult an attorney regarding their legal rights, when these rights take effect, and what they can do to enforce them.

While a settlor of a revocable living trust is alive and competent – can amend or revoke his or her trust – the trustee’s duty to report and account is owed to the settlor alone.

The trustee does not have to disclose anything to the death beneficiaries or settlor’s heirs. The settlor’s death or incapacity to amend or revoke the trust, however, makes the living trust irrevocable.

Once irrevocable, the beneficiaries can request a copy of the trust and information about its assets, liabilities and administration to the extent such is relevant to their own beneficial interest in the trust estate.

The trustee must then provide a statutory notice to the deceased settlor’s surviving beneficiaries and all heirs, including disinherited heirs.

The notice tells the recipient that he or she is entitled to request a complete copy of the trust, who and how to contact the trustee, and the time limitation to contest the trust.

A trustee who fails to provide such notice is legally responsible for all damages, attorney fees, and costs caused by the failure unless the trustee has made a diligent effort to comply with the notice requirement.

A beneficiary or heir may then sue the trustee for any breach of trust, and petition for a trust accounting replacement of the trustee.

Furthermore, the trustee must then keep the beneficiaries reasonably informed as to the trust’s ongoing administration.

Sometimes, in order to protect legal rights, a beneficiary may need to pursue legal remedies during the settlor’s lifetime.

In Drake v Pinkham (2013) 217 CA4th 400, a daughter lost her right to contest her disinheritance because she waited until after her mother died.

Even though she had believed that her mother was incompetent while alive she waited until after she had died. The delay prevented the mother’s capacity to amend her trust from being examined.

If some or all of a decedent’s trust estate is held in further trust for the lifetime of a beneficiary this can create tension between the current beneficiary and the future beneficiaries who stand to receive what remains.

Consider the deceased husband who leaves his or her estate in further trust to his surviving wife from a second marriage, for her lifetime benefit.

The trust provides the surviving wife with all the trust income and for the possible invasion of principal if necessary, but only if the surviving spouse has exhausted her own resources.

The deceased husband names his wife as trustee and his own children as the future beneficiaries.

The wife as trustee does not have to account to the children during her lifetime. The children may, however, be concerned that their stepmother is disregarding the terms of the trust and taking more than she is allowed, to the detriment of the children.

What rights have the children?

The children are entitled to a copy of their deceased father’s trust, at his death, and to request information from their stepmother regarding trust administration as relevant to their future beneficial.

If no reports are provided or reports show a likely breach of trust then the children can object to the report and can petition to compel an accounting and for trustee to be replaced.

Trustees are more often motivated to fulfill their duties, get compensated and avoid litigation. If a beneficiary nevertheless confronts the issues discussed above they need a qualified attorney to review their situation, and provide specific legal guidance and representation.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235. His Web site is www.DennisFordhamLaw.com.

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