As the statewide coordinator for the AMBER, Silver, and Blue Alert programs, the California Highway Patrol understands that time is of the essence and is using technology to help expedite the recovery process.
“Whether a child or at-risk adult has gone missing or a dangerous suspect is on the run, time and details are vital,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. “Using technology gives everyone involved in the process another tool to reach the appropriate audience with the information.”
As part of the various notification procedures when an alert occurs, the CHP’s Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center, or ENTAC, will distribute the critical information to cell phones in the affected geographic area through the Wireless Emergency Alerts program, also known as WEA.
As a result, millions of consumers with WEA-capable devices and services are armed with potentially lifesaving information.
Due to the limited number of characters available through the WEA, the CHP is now embedding a link in each message that will direct the user to the public-facing Web site at https://www.chp.ca.gov/news-alerts.
Once there, the user will find all active alerts, along with access to related flyers that can be downloaded and distributed.
Social media is also being used to help expedite and grow the audience for alerts distributed by the CHP.
The public, media and law enforcement are encouraged to follow a new Twitter account managed by ENTAC – @CHPAlerts. Posts from this account will be limited to active AMBER, Silver, and Blue Alerts.
Since July 2002, the CHP has issued nearly 300 AMBER Alerts for abducted children.
Less than a decade later, in January 2011, California enacted the Blue Alert system to apprehend individuals wanted following the violent attack of a law enforcement officer; eight Blue Alerts have been issued to date.
Two years later, the Silver Alert system went online in California and there have been nearly 1,400 alerts issued for missing, at-risk adults since January 2013.
This week, California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued two executive orders to further assist communities recovering from devastating fires.
One helps ensure students displaced by this month’s Camp, Woolsey and Hill fires are able to return to school as soon as possible and another extends the state’s prohibition on price gouging during emergencies for counties recovering from July’s Mendocino Complex, Carr and Klamathon fires, as well as counties impacted by numerous wildfires last year, including the Tubbs, Nuns, Atlas and Thomas fires.
The order related to the Camp, Woolsey and Hill fires includes provisions to facilitate the use of temporary school facilities and waivers for requirements related to class size, outdoor physical education and school district residency.
The full text of the executive orders signed today can be found here and here.
Earlier this month, the governor secured a presidential major disaster declaration to bolster the statewide emergency response and issued an executive order to streamline recovery efforts.
Gov. Brown also met with residents impacted by wildfire in Butte and Ventura counties, joined the President to discuss recovery efforts and survey Camp and Woolsey fire damage and held briefings on the ongoing response with top federal, state and local fire and emergency management officials at the Incident Command Post in Camarillo and Chico and at the State Operations Center in Mather.
A state of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles, Ventura and Butte counties and California secured direct federal assistance to further support the impacted communities – within 24 hours of making the request. F
Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits have also been made available for workers, business owners and self-employed individuals who lost jobs or had work hours substantially reduced due to the wildfires in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Information on the resources available to residents impacted by the fires can be found at http://wildfirerecovery.org/.
The California Department of Water Resources on Friday announced an initial water allocation of 10 percent for the State Water Project contractors for the 2019 calendar year.
Allocations often change as hydrologic and water supply conditions change.
“Even with the recent rainfall, Water Year 2019 has started dry and many of the state’s largest reservoirs are below average for this time of year,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “With California’s extreme hydrology, we have to plan for a wet or dry year.”
The Department’s initial allocation for 2018 was 15 percent. The final allocation for 2018 reached 35 percent. The lowest initial SWP allocation was 5 percent in 2014 due to the record drought.
Reservoir storage, snowpack, precipitation and releases to meet local deliveries are among several factors used in determining allocations.
Lake Oroville, the SWP’s largest reservoir, is at 29 percent capacity and 48 percent of average for this time of the year. Shasta Lake, the Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir, is at 48 percent of capacity and 80 percent of average.
San Luis Reservoir, the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States where water is stored for the SWP and CVP, is at 57 percent of capacity and 96 percent of average.
DWR transports SWP water to 29 SWP contractors which serve more than 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. The 2019 initial allocation amounts to 427,167 acre-feet of water.
DWR’s California Data Exchange Center website shows current water conditions at the state's largest reservoirs and weather stations and measures current rain and snow precipitation.
Bequests – or gifts – in a will or a trust can require a beneficiary to meet a “condition precedent” in order to receive the bequest.
Only if the condition is met does the beneficiary’s interest vest. Must a condition precedent always be satisfied?
If a requirement becomes impossible to fulfill, a beneficiary may sometimes still inherit if he or she did what he or she could to fulfill the requirement before it became impossible.
That was an important issue decided by the California Court of Appeal, First District Court in Schwan v. Permann (A151070 and A151073).
In 1999, Walter C. Permann, a successful business owner, established a trust that included three employees as beneficiaries.
Mr. Permann openly attributed much of his success to their loyalty. He also wanted these employees to continue working for his company after he died in order to help his wife with the company.
Accordingly, Mr. Permann conditioned the gifts on their still working for his company when he died.
However, before Mr. Permann died, he sold his company. Nevertheless, he did not amend his trust to reflect the sale. He even continued to tell these employees that they were taken care of in his trust.
After Mr. Permann died, a lawsuit ensued amongst all possible parties over who was a beneficiary.
The lawsuit raised various legal issues including whether the foregoing “condition precedent” prior to vesting – regarding employment at Mr. Permann’s death – was ambiguous because the Trust did not address the possibility of the business being sold.
Under California law, the express terms in a will or trust are given their plain and ordinary meaning, all words are given effect, and external (extrinsic) evidence is used only if necessary to clarify an ambiguity within the document in order to give effect to the testator’s intention.
Here, the condition precedent was unambiguous as the words had a plain meaning even though they did not contemplate the possible sale of the business.
Resolving whether the condition precedent still applied to the employees – who were still employees when the business was sold – rested on whether the settlor primarily made the employee gifts to benefit the beneficiaries or to see that the requirement itself was satisfied.
The court looked outside the trust at the extrinsic (external) evidence that demonstrated the decedent’s long relationship with the employee beneficiaries. The court then applied the Doctrine of Impossibility found in California case law; even though its codification within the probate code was repealed.
The court recognized California law’s favorable treatment of gifts to employees and the unfairness of upholding the condition precedent. Also, California law limits the application of conditions precedent.
The court found a way out of its dilemma through the Doctrine of Impossibility: A condition precedent may be removed if its satisfaction becomes impossible provided that doing so is consistent with the settlor’s intent.
Although Mr. Permann could have amended the trust after the sale to remove the contingency, the court found that his not doing so did not evidence his intent to disqualify two employee beneficiaries who still worked for his business at the time of sale.
The third employee, however, was removed as a beneficiary due to the fact that she no longer worked for the business when it was sold.
Given Mr. Permann’s appreciation and desire to reward his employees – whom he said “were taken care of” even after he sold the business – he would have wanted this favorable result.
No one intends for their estate planning to fail, but people do fail to plan. Here, Mr. Permann failed to update his trust after he sold his business.
Had he either addressed what happened to the employee gifts if the business were sold or later updated it to address the issue then much litigation would have been avoided.
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.
Mars has just received its newest robotic resident. NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the Red Planet after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (485-million-kilometer) journey from Earth.
InSight’s two-year mission will be to study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all celestial bodies with rocky surfaces, including Earth and the Moon, formed.
InSight launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California May 5. The lander touched down Monday, Nov. 26, near Mars' equator on the western side of a flat, smooth expanse of lava called Elysium Planitia, with a signal affirming a completed landing sequence at 11:52 a.m. PST (2:52 p.m. EST).
"Today, we successfully landed on Mars for the eighth time in human history,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “InSight will study the interior of Mars, and will teach us valuable science as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon and later to Mars. This accomplishment represents the ingenuity of America and our international partners and it serves as a testament to the dedication and perseverance of our team. The best of NASA is yet to come, and it is coming soon.”
The landing signal was relayed to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, via NASA's two small experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, which launched on the same rocket as InSight and followed the lander to Mars. They are the first CubeSats sent into deep space.
After successfully carrying out a number of communications and in-flight navigation experiments, the twin MarCOs were set in position to receive transmissions during InSight's entry, descent and landing.
From fast to slow
"We hit the Martian atmosphere at 12,300 mph (19,800 kilometers per hour), and the whole sequence to touching down on the surface took only six-and-a-half minutes," said InSight project manager Tom Hoffman at JPL. "During that short span of time, InSight had to autonomously perform dozens of operations and do them flawlessly – And by all indications that is exactly what our spacecraft did."
Confirmation of a successful touchdown is not the end of the challenges of landing on the Red Planet. InSight's surface-operations phase began a minute after touchdown. One of its first tasks is to deploy its two decagonal solar arrays, which will provide power. That process begins 16 minutes after landing and takes another 16 minutes to complete.
The InSight team expects a confirmation later Monday that the spacecraft's solar panels successfully deployed. Verification will come from NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars. That signal is expected to reach InSight's mission control at JPL about five-and-a-half hours after landing.
"We are solar powered, so getting the arrays out and operating is a big deal," said Hoffman. "With the arrays providing the energy we need to start the cool science operations, we are well on our way to thoroughly investigate what's inside of Mars for the very first time."
InSight will begin to collect science data within the first week after landing, though the teams will focus mainly on preparing to set InSight's instruments on the Martian ground. At least two days after touchdown, the engineering team will begin to deploy InSight's 5.9-foot-long (1.8-meter-long) robotic arm so that it can take images of the landscape.
"Landing was thrilling, but I'm looking forward to the drilling," said InSight principal investigator Bruce Banerdt of JPL. "When the first images come down, our engineering and science teams will hit the ground running, beginning to plan where to deploy our science instruments. Within two or three months, the arm will deploy the mission's main science instruments, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) and Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instruments."
InSight will operate on the surface for one Martian year, plus 40 Martian days, or sols, until Nov. 24, 2020. The mission objectives of the two small MarCOs which relayed InSight’s telemetry was completed after their Martian flyby.
"That's one giant leap for our intrepid, briefcase-sized robotic explorers," said Joel Krajewski, MarCOproject manager at JPL. "I think CubeSats have a big future beyond Earth's orbit, and the MarCO team is happy to trailblaze the way."
With InSight’s landing at Elysium Planitia, NASA has successfully soft-landed a vehicle on the Red Planet eight times.
"Every Mars landing is daunting, but now with InSight safely on the surface we get to do a unique kind of science on Mars," said JPL director Michael Watkins. "The experimental MarCO CubeSats have also opened a new door to smaller planetary spacecraft. The success of these two unique missions is a tribute to the hundreds of talented engineers and scientists who put their genius and labor into making this a great day."
JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The MarCO CubeSats were built and managed by JPL. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.
A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES, and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), provided the SEIS instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the HP3 instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.
The Lopez family: Lily, Jose and children. Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity Lake County.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Nov. 10, Habitat for Humanity dedicated its 30th Lake County home, welcoming Jose and Lily Lopez and their family into the Habitat community.
The Lopezes hosted family, friends and Habitat staff in celebrating their new home.
After having lived in a crowded, unaffordable situation previously, the Lopezes and their three children are excited to have their own home, as well as a large yard in which the children and the family dogs can play.
“I’d given up hopes of this ever happening for us,” said Jose Lopez. “If this opportunity hadn’t come up, I don’t know where we’d be.”
Lily Lopez added, “I was willing to do anything to make this happen. Habitat worked hard with us to get our home complete, and it’s great to finally have somewhere to be home.”
If you or someone you know are low income Lake County residents in need of safe, affordable, decent housing, you are encouraged to call Habitat for Humanity at 707-994-1100, Extension 106, for more information or an application packet.
You can also stop by the office at 15312 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake, Tuesday through Thursday, for the application and to speak to the family selection staff.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors has approved a new resolution that establishes the way members of the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board are to be selected, and also directed staff to set up a meeting with city of Lakeport and fire board representatives to further discuss the selection process.
Concerns about the selection process for the five-member board began to ramp up in late summer, as the district’s financial problems became urgent, ultimately leading to the acceptance of a new budget that required laying off three full-time firefighters, as Lake County News has reported.
The Lakeport Fire Protection District Board is the only appointed fire district board in the county; the rest are elected.
At its Nov. 20 meeting, the board considered and ultimately approved a resolution that County Counsel Anita Grant – who worked with the attorneys for the fire district and the city of Lakeport – presented that established a protocol for appointing the members.
The resolution said that the appointments made by the county and city have been determined according to each entity’s proportionate share of population within the Lakeport Fire Protection District based on the 2010 census and redistricting data presently available.
When updated census data or other reliable population info becomes available in the future, each entity’s proportionate share of population may change. Should that be the case, the document calls for the county and city to meet and confer in good faith to determine whether it’s necessary to change the proportionate number of appointments to be made by each entity.
Initially, the resolution calls for appointments to be made as follows: There will be two vacancies on the district board as of Jan. 1, 2019, one to be filled by the county and one by the city, with the terms of the remaining three district board members to continue until Jan. 1, 2020. At that time the county shall appoint two district board members and the city one board member.
It was explained during the meeting that whether the board seats should be filled by appointment or election is, ultimately, up to the fire district board.
Supervisor Rob Brown said he supported making the seats elected.
“This resolution will not stop that determination. It just simply sets the stage for the appointments,” said Grant.
There was no public comment and the board approved the resolution 5-0.
With the protocol now set, county staff said they would advertise for applicants for the one position to be appointed by the county at the start of the year.
Brown raised the issue that a meeting the board had directed he and Supervisor Tina Scott to have with city and fire board officials to discuss the selection process hadn’t happened. “Are we just going to disregard that?”
Lakeport City Manager Margaret Silveira said she had been involved in the discussions on the resolution and was comfortable with what the attorneys produced. The protocol is set to be presented to the Lakeport City Council at its Dec. 4 meeting.
“I was told there was going to be a meeting but we weren't contacted,” she said.
Brown said he didn’t have a high comfort level with the situation. “This issue with Lakeport Fire Department isn’t just a formality. It’s a mess. It’s a real mess,” he said, explaining it’s a mess because it affects public safety, and not just in the Lakeport district but in neighboring districts.
Grant said the protocol in the resolution simply establishes a mechanism for appointments, and she encouraged the board to have a meeting with other officials if they have concerns. She said the resolution resolves how appointments are to be made and under what circumstances to get back on an even keel. “It’s not intended to do anything more than that.”
Scott took Brown’s comments to mean she hadn’t been involved in meetings about the matter, which he maintained he hadn’t said.
While she also supports going to election, Scott said, “You’ve made it sound like I’ve been absent.” Scott added that it’s her district. “I’m actually not really sure why you are stepping all over this.”
Brown said his concern was that a meeting the board had directed happen didn’t occur. As far as it being her district, he said it has a tremendous impact on the Kelseyville Fire Protection District, whose ambulances have been getting called out due to Lakeport’s needs.
Board Chair Jim Steele received consensus from the board to direct staff to set up the previously directed meeting.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County has seen heavy rainfall this week, and forecasters are calling for more rain through this weekend and into next week.
The National Weather Service issued a short range forecast from Friday through Sunday that anticipates more heavy precipitation in the West, including snow for the Sierra-Nevada and the Rockies.
The short range forecast said a wet, active weather pattern is expected to continue through the weekend for the Western U.S., particularly in California and also areas downstream across the Rockies.
“A vigorous upper low and associated frontal system” brought heavy rainfall with embedded thunderstorms across California, along with heavy snow over the higher terrain of the Sierra-Nevada, through Thursday night
As that system moves toward the southern Plains on Friday night, forecasters said a new storm system will arrive across the Pacific Northwest, which will bring another round of heavier precipitation to areas including southwest Oregon and Northern California Friday night and Saturday.
There also will be a new round of heavy snowfall is expected over the Sierra-Nevada and also portions of the Cascades, based on that forecast.
Because of the heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service said there are concerns for some flash flooding in California and especially in and around the burn scar areas. “In fact, the Weather Prediction Center has highlighted a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall for these areas.”
A flash flood warning had been in effect earlier in the week for burn scar areas – including the Mendocino Complex in Lake County and the Camp fire in Butte County – but on Thursday night no new flash flood watch had been issued for those areas.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for showers Friday through Saturday, with a break on Sunday.
Chances of showers are again forecast from Monday through Wednesday night, the forecast said. There also are chances of winds with speeds ranging in the low double digits.
Temperatures will range from the high 40s to the mid 50s during the day from this weekend through the coming week, with nighttime temperatures down to the low to mid 30s.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Local organizers are once again planning and raising funds for the annual “Wreaths Across America” event this holiday season.
National Wreaths Across America Day will take place this year on Saturday, Dec. 15.
Each year, millions of Americans come together to remember the fallen, honor those that serve and their families, and teach the next generation about the value of freedom.
This gathering of individuals and communities takes place in local and national cemeteries in all 50 states as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
A new theme is chosen annually to help supporters focus their messaging and outreach in their own communities. This year’s theme is "Be their witness."
The inspiration for this year's theme stems from the 2009 drama "Taking Chance," which was based on the experiences of U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who escorted the body of a fallen Marine, PFC Chance Phelps back to his hometown in Wyoming from the Iraq War.
Through the Wreaths Across America program, we are ensuring that the lives of our men and women in uniform are remembered, not their deaths. It is our responsibility as Americans, to be their witness and to share their stories of service and sacrifice with the next generation.
In 2017, more than 1.5 million veteran wreaths were placed on headstones at 1,422 participating cemeteries around the country in honor of the service and sacrifices made for our freedoms, with each name said out loud.
This will be Lake County’s 11th year participating in the Wreaths Across America program.
In the first year, seven ceremonial wreaths were placed for the seven divisions of the military during a WAA Ceremony at the Hartley Cemetery in Lakeport.
Since that first year, ceremonies are being held at five locations including Hartley, Kelseyville, Upper Lake, Lower Lake and St. Mary’s.
Youth organizations are reaching out for sponsorships to place as many wreaths as possible on veterans’ gravesites and anyone is invited to participate. Just let them know you would like to volunteer by going to the www.wreathsacrossamerica.com, look for the volunteer button and set yourself up as a volunteer at one of the five cemeteries and then you will receive up-to-date information by email.
Boy Scout Troop 42 in Lakeport, Girl Scouts in Kelseyville, the Lake County 4-H Group and FFA will be accepting donations for wreaths until Dec. 3.
Individual sponsorships cost $15 for one wreath and the family option costs $60 for four wreaths, small businesses can fund 10 wreaths for $150 and corporations can sponsor 100 or more wreaths for $1,500 or any amount can be sponsored for $15 per wreath.
Toni Funderburg, coordinator of Wreaths Across America in Lake County, said that sponsorship forms can be picked up at Lakeport Tire & Auto Service, 1901 S. Main St. in Lakeport, call 707-263-5422 and they will fax or email you a sponsorship form, or go to www.wreathsacrossamerica.org and sponsor a wreath and payment can be made with a credit card.
Please make sure to designate the cemetery and sponsoring group.
“When we come together to place wreaths, there are people from the left and the right, it doesn’t matter your faith or your politics. We are there as Americans,” said Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America. “Our mission welcomes anyone to join us in remembering those who gave their lives for our freedom, including our freedom to be different from one another. And now, more than ever, we want to help people find common ground with one another by supporting our military and their families.”
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County’s district attorney said he will go before the Board of Supervisors next week to respond to questions about his spending, including vehicle costs and travel for conferences.
District Attorney Don Anderson, who will leave office at the end of this year once his second term expires, came under fire at the board’s Nov. 20 meeting, which he did not attend because he was returning from a conference in Southern California.
However, Anderson told Lake County News this week that he didn’t have time to prepare a report for the board’s meeting last week and that he intends to provide the requested information at the Dec. 4 meeting.
Supervisor Rob Brown asked that the matter regarding Anderson’s spending – including use of county credit cards, reimbursements, mileage and maintenance of county vehicles – be put on the Nov. 20 agenda, and at that meeting he told his colleagues that the situation had been going on for some time.
Since May of 2017, Brown has been researching issues with Anderson’s spending. Beginning in the spring, Brown has been submitting Public Records Act requests to the county seeking information on Anderson’s use of his county-issued credit card and vehicle.
Brown accused Anderson of using his county credit card and vehicle for private purposes ranging from campaigning to out-of-county trips for his private law practice. He also alleged that he’s seen Anderson drinking alcohol at various bars and restaurants and then driving his vehicle, which he has reported to law enforcement.
Acknowledging that the issue should have brought this up sooner, Brown said he had not been brought to the board before the Nov. 6 election so as not to appear political.
Anderson was on the ballot this year in the race for Lake County Superior Court judge. He ultimately lost to Deputy County Counsel Shanda Harry in a runoff decided earlier this month. Brown’s son, Steven, ran for district attorney this year but lost to Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones in the June primary.
Brown questioned why Anderson is continuing to go to conferences to learn to be a better district attorney when he’s about to leave office. “There is no purpose for the county to be paying for that, especially given the financial situation that we’re in.”
He added that it’s important to address so as to maintain some level of public trust and to hold everyone – including public officials – accountable.
Sheriff Brian Martin told the board that he also has a county-issued credit card and explained that it’s used for a variety of things, including day-to-day operations.
“Taking that away from a department head is going to have some unintended consequences,” Martin said.
Martin said that the state attorney general has authority over the district attorney and sheriff, so that would be an appropriate agency to consider any possible misuse of funds, as would the civil grand jury. He said there is no statute of limitation for misappropriation of funds.
Brown complained during the meeting that the District Attorney’s Office did not give him the information he wanted in response to his Public Records Act requests. He said mileage wasn’t accurately reported and he got reams of records about things like toner purchases.
County Counsel Anita Grant said she didn’t believe there is a current protocol to record the mileage information Brown was seeking, and that county staff has supplied the information she had requested after reviewing the requests.
Brown told the board that he thought that any conferences during the remainder of Anderson’s term shouldn’t be attended by him but by the district attorney-elect, Krones.
“I don’t think Don Anderson should be going anywhere at our expense from now on except out the door,” Brown said.
Upper Lake resident Gene Paleno asked the board about what role the public should have if there is malfeasance in office. Brown said he will ask for an independent review.
Supervisor Tina Scott was concerned that the board had no evidence in front of them as proof of misconduct by Anderson.
Board Chair Jim Steele said that, for him, the charge from Brown was enough. He said the board owed it to the community to perform budgetary oversight.
Brown moved to direct County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson to advise Anderson that he is to make no further purchases for training and travel for himself through Dec. 4 unless it’s approved by Huchingson.
The motion included the board’s invitation to Anderson to come and give a report on spending on Dec. 4. If he declined, the prohibitions on spending would remain in effect through the end of his term, an action the board can take under its budgetary authority.
The board approved the motion 4-1, with Supervisor Moke Simon the lone dissenter.
On Wednesday, Anderson said he received an email from the county about the spending prohibition. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he said, explaining that there is no training coming up.
He said that on Nov. 15, the day the board’s agenda was posted for the Nov. 20 meeting, he was at a conference in San Diego. He didn’t return to work until the afternoon of Nov. 20, after the board had met.
Anderson said no one has asked him why he attended the California Narcotic Officers' Association annual conference in San Diego.
So Lake County News asked him the reason.
He responded that there were many little reasons, from reviewing new equipment for investigations to lobbying.
But the main reason he cited was meeting with members of a training company that he’s used before, who have tentatively agreed to come to Lake County and provide classes on search warrants and police officer testimony for free. It’s a training opportunity Anderson wants to open up to law enforcement agencies in addition to his own staff. He said he hopes to finalize an agreement with the company on Dec. 6.
In answer to Brown’s allegations about him doing private practice cases out of county, Anderson acknowledged that he has done such cases, and said he legally can do them. He said in eight years, he’s probably done five or six different cases and only been paid for one of them.
When he makes the trips to do such work, he combines them with county-related work, such as a recent meeting he had with other regional districts attorney regarding wildland fire-related cases.
He called the questioning of his spending the results of a “personal vendetta” by Brown, adding, “I don’t know why.” Anderson said he also was aware that Brown has been following him around and “kind of stalking” him.
Anderson said he and his staff are now preparing a report to present to the board on Dec. 4, and that he’ll present all the records of his vehicle and credit card use, including records pertaining to his personal credit card.
“I don’t care. I’ve got nothing to hide,” Anderson said.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Rotary Club of Clear Lake will hold its 26th annual Community Christmas Dinner and Celebration on Saturday, Dec. 8.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Burns Valley School multipurpose room, 3620 Pine St. in Clearlake.
A warm, delicious ham dinner with all the trimmings will prepared and served by one of Lake County’s most generous service clubs, the Rotary Club of Clear Lake.
The meal is free for all who wish to attend.
In addition to the meal, children will get to visit Santa and his elves, where they will receive a souvenir photo and a toy.
The Warm For The Winter program will be on hand again this year. The program offers free new and gently used coats, winter clothing, sleeping bags and blankets. These gifts are also free of charge. Thank you to Joyce Overton for starting this program and Charmaine Weldon for continuing it on behalf of the Rotary Club of Clearlake.
Joining the event again this year will be Worldwide Healing Hands. Dr. Paula Dhanda along with medical and community volunteers from Worldwide Healing Hands, will offer free health screenings and referrals.
New this year, Lake County Public Health will be on hand offering free flu shots to children and adults alike. These free flu shots will be administered as medically indicated.
Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, Calif. Photo by Andy Hagedon. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Fishing League Worldwide, the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, announced Monday the complete professional angler roster for the upcoming 2019 FLW Tour season, the 24th season of the FLW Tour, which will include a Lake County angler.
The field will be showcased along the 2019 FLW Tour, which features seven regular-season tournaments around the country with competition kicking off at Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Jan. 10 to 13, in Brookeland, Texas, and culminating with the world championship of bass fishing – the FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton, Aug. 9 to 11, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Among the 170 professional anglers competing will be local angler Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, who will be competing in his fifth season on the tour.
Reese has career earnings of more than $494,000 with FLW and has four career top-10 finishes at the sport’s top level on the FLW Tour.
There was enormous demand to compete on the 2019 FLW Tour, with 210 anglers registering for a slot on the prestigious tournament circuit in its final year of priority registration before switching to a strict qualifying process and a 150-pro field in 2020.
The top award at each tour event is $125,000 with $300,000 going to the winner of the FLW Cup. Since the final field exceeds the published payout basis of 150 pros, FLW will survey all 170 participating pros to finalize the 2019 payout structure.
“With the demand we saw this year to join the FLW Tour, we couldn’t be more eager to kick off another season at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in January,” said Bill Taylor, FLW’s senior director of tournament operations. “FLW has long been the home to some of the most decorated bass anglers in the sport, and with the expanded live coverage at all of our Tour events this year, we are more than ready to show off their skills at some of the best fisheries in the world.”
The 2019 FLW Tour roster is headlined by a stout contingent of bass-fishing heavyweights, including three-time Angler of the Year (AOY) and 2003 FLW Cup champion David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, 2015 AOY and 2011 FLW Cup champion Scott Martin of Clewiston, Florida, and two-time Angler of the Year Bryan Thrift of Shelby, North Carolina. They’ll be joined by bass-fishing legends Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Oklahoma, and Larry Nixon of Quitman, Arkansas, as well as three former FLW Cup champions – John Cox (2016), Brad Knight (2015) and Darrel Robertson (2002). The 2019 Tour will also feature 34 rookies from around the country.
The complete FLW Tour roster for 2019 can be found at www.FLWFishing.com .
2019 FLW Tour regular-season schedule:
– Jan. 10 to 13: Sam Rayburn Reservoir Brookeland, Texas. Hosted by the Jasper County Development District.
– Feb. 7 to 10: Lake Toho, Kissimmee, Fla. Hosted by Experience Kissimmee and Experience Kissimmee/Kissimmee Sports.
– March 7 to 10: Lake Seminole, Bainbridge, Ga. Hosted by the Bainbridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.
– March 28 to 31: Grand Lake, Grove, Okla. Hosted by the City of Grove and Cherokee Casino Grove.
– April 11 to 14: Cherokee Lake, Jefferson City, Tenn. Hosted by the Economic Development Alliance, Jefferson County.
– May 2 to 5: Lake Chickamauga, Dayton, Tenn. Hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic and Tourism Council.
– June 27 to 30: Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y. Hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau.
– Aug. 10 to 12: FLW Cup – Lake Hamilton, Hot Springs, Ark. Hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
FLW announced last week a greatly expanded FLW Live schedule for the 2019 season as part of its commitment to growing the sport of tournament bass fishing and bringing more publicity to the anglers who fish its circuits.
The live on-the-water broadcast will air on days three and four of all FLW Tour regular-season events from the boats of the tournaments’ top pros.
Originally airing from 8 a.m. to noon during FLW Tour events, the FLW Live on-the-water program has been extended two hours and will now broadcast from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Every weigh-in will be broadcast on www.FLWFishing.com.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the sport’s top anglers on the FLW Tour on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
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