NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Officials said Thursday that a UC Davis Medical Center patient who is being evaluated for the Ebola virus is in good condition.

The patient was transferred to the medical center at approximately 9 a.m. Thursday from Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, UC Davis Medical Center reported.

The patient was transferred to the medical center because UC Davis has been identified as a priority hospital for evaluating and treating potential Ebola patients.

UC Davis physicians are in close coordination with Sacramento County’s Public Health Department, the California Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control regarding the patient’s evaluation.

UC Davis has extensive measures in place that protect the health and safety of patients, hospital workers and visitors.

The hospital said the patient’s presence poses no risk to the public or medical center patients.

The isolation room is properly equipped and segregated, and it is staffed by experts who’ve been highly trained to care for patients exposed to infectious diseases, the hospital reported.

Dr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist and deputy director for the California Department of Public Health's Center for Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that it was important to note that the patient hadn't been confirmed for Ebola.

“Whenever there is a person displaying symptoms that may be Ebola, who has recently traveled to Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea, certain precautions are taken including isolating the patient, ruling out other infectious diseases, and testing for Ebola if warranted,” Chavez said.

The California Department of Public Health, in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sacramento County Public Health and U.C. Davis Medical Center, is ensuring that all protocols are in place to protect the public health and will continue to closely monitor the situation, Chavez said.

Last fall, state health officials reported that two patients – one in Los Angeles County, the other in Sacramento County – had been tested for the virus as a precaution. Those cases were negative.

“The Holy Spirit is ever ready to transform our hearts and to lead us further into God’s life of love and holiness.” – Father Leo Joseph

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – St. John's Episcopal Church is preparing a celebration early next month of the life of its retired priest in charge, who died last week following decades of dedicated service.

Father Leo Marie Joseph, Order of Saint Francis, died Jan. 23 at the Little Portion Hermitage in Kelseyville after a nearly five-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was 67 years old.

By the time he came to serve at St. John's Episcopal Church several years ago, Joseph had led a fascinating life of faith, knowledge and travel.

“He was a pretty amazing guy in a lot of ways,” St. John's Episcopal Senior Warden Deborah Smith told Lake County News.

Born Leo Joseph Brown in May 1947 in New York state, he would begin working as an ecclesiastical designer after high school.

After his mother, Marie, died in December 1970, he entered a Mariavite Old Catholic Franciscan religious order in New York City. The Mariavite Church is an offshoot of Poland's Catholic Church that developed at the start of the 20th century.

Two years later, he received the Franciscan habit and became known by his name in religion, Leo Marie Joseph. He was ordained a priest by the Mariavite Old Catholic bishop of Budapest, The Most Reverend Thomas J. Fehervary, who was living in exile in Montreal.

Joseph served as a priest at parishes in New York City and San Francisco.

In June 1990 he made his first contact with Lakeport's St. John’s Episcopal Church. In 1995, the Episcopal Church received him as a life-professed religious and then as a priest in 1997.

Joseph had been active in the beginning gay and lesbian rights movement, and when the AIDS epidemic emerged in the early 1980s, Joseph – who by that point had moved to San Francisco – ministered to the dying and their families.

Smith said the switchover from the Catholic to the Episcopal church “happens a fair amount of time,” noting that Joseph – after working with the gay and lesbian community – was looking for a place that was more welcoming to that group.

“We were open arms,” she said.

In his capacity with the Episcopal Church, Joseph would fulfill priestly duties in Eureka, Fort Bragg, Ukiah and Trinidad, in addition to Lakeport, where he was appointed priest in charge of the 60-member congregation in November 2009.

Continuing his work in church design, Joseph oversaw the construction of a new educational building and the renovation of the parish hall and kitchen at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Fort Bragg, as well as the renovation of the children's chapel and rebuilding of the church interior in preparation for the installation of a new pipe organ – designing many of the details himself – at the Mission of Saints Martha and Mary in Trinidad.

In 2013, he would oversee renovations – including new shingles, insulation and paint – at the Victorian-era St. John's, which the previous year had earned an award of recognition for restoration and preservation by the California Heritage Council, California Trust for Historic Preservation.

“He had a unique eye for architecture and detail,” Smith said, explaining that Joseph was instrumental in the restoration work at St. John's, which he wanted to retain its original flavor.

Smith said he also did a lot of work at the Little Portion Hermitage, specifically, designing the chapel.

The Eastern Orthodox icons now featured at St. John's – some of which were brought from Europe – also were Joseph's, and will remain at the church, Smith said.

Joseph over the years had traveled extensively. He had visited Europe, making pilgrimages to Assisi – the home of St. Francis – and to Plock, Poland, where the original Mariavite monastery is located.

He loved art and history, architecture and good food, and Smith said that for a man who originally had become a Franciscan friar – and had taken a vow of poverty – “he loved pomp and circumstance,” as well as ornate art and tapestries.

Joseph also wrote commentaries about various religious and spiritual topics. Two that he wrote can be found at http://bit.ly/1D8dJ9v and http://bit.ly/1BwDIbc .

Smith recalled Joseph's incredible – but dry – sense of humor, and his ability to give parishioners chuckles throughout the sermon.

When he was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, he was given three to six months to live. But, Smith noted, Joseph long outlasted his “expiration date,” and continued in the care of Hospice Services of Lake County longer than any other patient at the time.

While he had some time periods where he wasn't doing well, Smith said he continued on with his work with the church.

“He felt he had a lot of things still left to do,” she said.

With Joseph's health failing, Smith said he stepped down from his duties as priest in charge last fall, with his retirement becoming effective Nov. 1. At the end of October, the church celebrated a special liturgy of leave taking and thanksgiving to mark his retirement.

“He really became too ill to remain involved at that point,” said Smith, explaining that Joseph had become housebound by December.

Smith said St. John's currently has no permanent successor to Joseph, but has an agreement with a priest who is conducting services on the first and third Sundays, hopefully through the end of the year.

She said it's a challenge to find a priest for such a small church in a rural area.

“Father Leo was such a great fit because he was not as worried about things financially, and he was very happy living in Lake County and not being part of a huge congregation,” Smith said.

Smith said the church board – known as the vestry – is working to get back on track in the wake of Joseph's death.

“As sad as we are as far as losing our beloved Father Leo, it's not unexpected. He had prepared us for that,” Smith said.

A memorial service to be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at St. John's, 1190 N. Forbes St.

A reception will follow in the parish hall and committal of the ashes afterwards at Little Portion Hermitage, located at 9233 Highway 175 in Kelseyville.

A version of Joseph's obituary, which he wrote himself, can be found at http://bit.ly/1EpBSMZ .

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. – A weak weather system moving northward from Baja California may bring some small rain amounts to Northern California on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service's forecast for Lake County predicts a 20-percent chance of rain during the day and the night on Tuesday, with less than a tenth of an inch of rain possible.

Altogether, forecasters are predicting a minute 0.03 of an inch for Lake County as a result of the system.

Tuesday is forecast to be mostly cloudy, with light winds, according to the National Weather Service.

The remainder of the week is expected to have mostly sunny and clear weather, with daytime temperatures ranging up in the high 60s and nighttime temperatures in the high 40s, the forecast said.

The National Weather Service reported that many areas around Northern California are registering precipitation amounts for this month that put them below the driest January on record.

The US Drought Monitor's latest report, released on Jan. 22, puts Lake County in the “extreme drought” category, along with about half of the rest of the state, while another large swath of California remains in the “exceptional drought” range.

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.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Three local teenagers were seriously injured on Wednesday when the vehicle they were riding in went off the road and hit three trees.

Ashley Grainger, 16, of Hidden Valley Lake and Clearlake residents Aleesa Varner, 16, and Kayla Varner, 14, all sustained major injuries in the wreck, which occurred at 3 p.m. Wednesday near Middletown, according to the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake area office.

The CHP said Grainger was driving a 2003 Nissan southbound on Spruce Grove Road north of the Jerusalem Grade at an undetermined but high rate of speed for the roadway conditions.

As the Nissan was exiting a sweeping left curve, Grainger allowed the vehicle to go off the west road edge and lost control of it, according to the CHP report.

The vehicle traveled sideways on the road's west dirt shoulder before sideswiping two trees and then hitting a third tree head-on, the CHP reported.

The CHP said both Grainger and Kayla Varner suffered a collapsed lung and fractured spine, while Aleesa Varner had a fractured collarbone.

Drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash, the CHP said.

The CHP said all three of the girls were wearing their seat belts.

Officer Rob Hearn is investigating the crash.

Email Elizabeth Larson at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that the median sales price of single family residences was up in 2014, as compared to the previous year.

In Lake County, prices rose from $149,000 in 2013 to $169,000 for 2014, a 13.4-percent increase, the association reported.

The number of units selling in 2014 decreased by 16.8 percent, falling from 880 units in 2013 to 732 units in 2014. The trend of a higher median price and less units selling was a trend that was seen statewide, the organization said.

Distressed sales, homes sold after foreclosure or for less than what was owed, declined from 40.5 percent in 2013 to 26.4 percent in 2014, according to the report.

That's still higher that the state average. The California Association of Realtors reported in November that the statewide percentage of sales of distressed properties was 9.5 percent.

Cash-only purchases made up 32.4 percent of the sales in 2014 which was down slightly from 34.9 percent of the sales in 2013.

The report said conventional loan financing made up 35 percent of sales and FHA financing made up 12.7 percent.

USDA loans were the next prevalent type of loan and they made up 5.3 percent of the sales, the association reported.

USDA loans have qualifying factors such as income and the selling price of the home. Potential buyers should contact a qualified lender to determine if they qualify for this type of loan. All loan types have qualifying factors, but they vary from loan type to loan type.

Land sales in the county had a total dollar sales volume of $13.5 million with 221 sales. The association siad that was down from 2013 land sales of $17.8 million and 250 sales.

Over the last 10 years the year that had the highest volume and number of sales was 2005 when $94.4 million was the dollar volume and 1,217 sales were recorded, according to association data.

Commercial sales in 2014 saw a significant increase in dollar volume when compared to 2013. In 2013 the sales volume was $4.4 million on 22 sales and in 2014 the volume was $11.8 million on 21 sales, the association reported. In 2014 there were five sales greater than $1M which contributed to the increase in the volume of sales.

Yvette Sloan, this year's LCAOR president, said 2014 showed signs of the real estate market returning to a near normal housing market, with price increases starting to move upward at a moderate pace.

“This should be positive news for buyers who have been putting off the purchase of a home. With interest rates still low this will give more buyers a chance to participate in the purchase of a home,” Sloan said.

NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

2014

– Median price: $169,000
– Median days to sell: 76
– Units Sold: 732

2013

– Median price: $149,500
– Median days to sell: 75
– Units Sold: 880

December 2014

– Median price: $152,000
– Median days to sell: 94
– Units Sold: 53

November 2014

– Median price: $187,000
– Median days to sell: 111
– Units Sold: 55

December 2013

– Median price: $151,500
– Median days to sell: 86
– Units Sold: 77

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – California Department of Water Resources (DWR) snow surveyors are likely to encounter above-normal temperatures and below-normal snowpack when they conduct their second survey of the wet season on Jan. 29.

California’s drought, now in its fourth year, is characterized by both a lack of precipitation and much warmer than normal temperatures.

Calendar year 2014 was the warmest ever in California since record-keeping began in the 1800s. The early-December storms blew in on warm weather, and the snowpack – which satisfies 30 percent of California’s water needs in normal years – is far below its average water content in late January.

DWR’s first manual survey of this season, conducted on Dec. 30 at the traditional site near Echo Summit on Highway 50 east of Sacramento, found just 4 inches of snow water equivalent, only 33 percent of average for that snow course on that date.

Statewide, the snow water equivalent was 50 percent of the multi-year average for Dec. 30.

That average has shrunk in the past month as above-normal temperatures have prevailed, not only on California’s coast and in the Central Valley but in the mountains as well.

The statewide snow water equivalent on Monday, as calculated using more than 100 sensors in the Sierra Nevada Range, is 4.3 inches, just 27 percent of normal for this date.

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) director and State Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman has issued a health advisory and the “State Health Officer’s Report on E-Cigarettes: A Community Health Threat,” warning Californians of the toxicity of electronic cigarettes.

“E-cigarettes contain nicotine and other harmful chemicals, and the nicotine in them is as addictive as the nicotine in cigarettes,” said Chapman. “There is a lot of misinformation about e-cigarettes. That is why, as the state’s health officer, I am advising Californians to avoid the use of e-cigarettes and keep them away from children of all ages.”

E-cigarettes are battery operated devices, often designed to resemble cigarettes that deliver a nicotine-containing aerosol.

E-cigarettes have many names, especially among youth and young adults, such as e-cigs, e-hookahs, vape pens, vape pipes or mods.

The liquid solution (e-liquid) used in e-cigarettes typically contains nicotine and is commonly referred to as “e-juice.” It is sold in a variety of candy, fruit and alcohol flavors.

Studies find a significant rise in e-cigarette use each year, especially among young adults and teens.

New California data shows that e-cigarette use among young adults, ages 18 to 29, increased from 2.3 percent in 2012 to 7.6 percent in 2013.

Young adults in California are three times more likely to use e-cigarettes than those 30 and older. Likewise, e-cigarette use among U.S. teens has surged.

In 2014, teen use of e-cigarettes nationally surpassed the use of traditional cigarettes, with more than twice as many 8th and 10th graders reporting using e-cigarettes more than traditional cigarettes.

Among 12th graders, 17 percent reported currently using e-cigarettes vs. 14 percent using traditional cigarettes.

Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait noted in a past interview with Lake County News that e-cigarettes are a health concern locally.

Lake County has high smoking rates, and Tait said e-cigarettes have not shown value in reducing the smoking rate, while at the same time hooking young people early on the habit.

In recent years, Lake County's high rate has started to decrease some, but Tait is concerned that e-cigarettes could impact that improvement.

“We could lose all those gains,” she said.

The state report also showed that between 41 and 50 percent of stores that have a license to sell tobacco in Lake County are selling e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes also increasingly have been sold by individuals.

Last summer, the Lake County Health Services Department became the first county department to be smoke-free, banning the use of all tobacco products – including e-cigarettes – at its facility on Bevins Court in Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.

Along with an increase in use of e-cigarettes, there has been a spike in calls to the California poison control centers related to exposures to nicotine-containing e-liquids and accidental e-cigarette poisonings – from 19 in 2012 to 243 in 2014. More than 60 percent of all those e-cigarette related calls involve children 5 years and under.

“The e-cigarette cartridges and e-liquid bottles are not equipped with child-resistant caps, often leak, creating a poisoning risk by ingestion or by skin or eye contact,” warned Dr. Chapman. “These products are not safe.”

Other key findings in the report include:

– Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can harm brain development.
– E-cigarettes do not emit a harmless water vapor, but an aerosol that has been found to contain at least 10 chemicals that are on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.
– E-cigarettes are not FDA-approved cessation aids.
– Between 2011 and 2013, e-cigarette advertising jumped more than 1,200 percent and used marketing tactics to appeal to youth. Those tactics include the use of cartoon characters which is prohibited in traditional cigarette advertising.

Chapman also announced that the public education and media efforts to counter e-cigarettes are just beginning.

CDPH intends to partner with health, medical, child care and education communities to educate consumers about the dangers of e-cigarettes, and plans an advertising campaign in the near future.

The California Tobacco Control Program was established by the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988. The act, approved by California voters, instituted a 25-cent tax on each pack of cigarettes and earmarked 5 cents of that tax to fund California’s tobacco control efforts.

These efforts include supporting local health departments and community organizations, a media campaign, and evaluation and surveillance.

California’s comprehensive approach has changed social norms around tobacco use and secondhand smoke.

It is estimated California’s tobacco control efforts have saved more than one million lives and have resulted in $134 billion worth of savings in health care costs. Learn more at www.TobaccoFreeCA.com .

State Health e Cig Report by LakeCoNews

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County's young drivers are encouraged to sign up for a special class offered by the California Highway Patrol that aims to educate them about their responsibilities behind the wheel.

The first “Start Smart” class of 2015 will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. this Saturday, Jan. 31, at the CHP's Clear Lake Area office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

The CHP is offering the free traffic safety class for newly licensed and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians.

The Start Smart program is aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents happen, but collisions are 100-percent preventable, the CHP reported.

The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 20 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Young drivers, particularly 16- and 17-year-olds, have high fatal crash rates because of limited driving experience and immaturity that often result in high-risk behavior behind the wheel,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported.

In a report to Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explained that “teen drivers, due to a combination of immaturity and inexperience, have a higher propensity for risk-taking behaviors than do older and more experienced drivers. Research and crash data tell us that teen drivers are less likely to buckle up, and more likely to speed or drive too fast for prevailing conditions.”

In addition, the report explained that other factors that teen novice drivers at greater risk of crash involvement include driving late at night, driving while impaired by alcohol and driving in the presence of teenage passengers.

The CHP's goal in the Start Smart classes is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of collisions.

Start Smart is designed to provide an interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people, the CHP said.

The program also focuses on responsibilities of newly licensed drivers, responsibilities of parents/guardians and, collision avoidance techniques, according to the CHP.

“The CHP is committed to mitigating traffic collisions involving young, inexperienced drivers, because they are preventable.” said Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the Clear Lake Area office. “Start Smart is an excellent program that promotes safe driving for young new drivers.”

Paredes told Lake County News that he wants to expand the Start Smart program and improve its effectiveness, possibly tying it at some point in the future to a court diversion program for driving infractions for young people.

He'd also like to work with local high schools to promote traffic safety.

Although high schools as a rule no longer have driver education courses, it’s Paredes’ view that the schools have a strong interest in their students being safe on the road.

Space is limited for the Jan. 31 Start Smart class. For more information or reservations, call CHP Officer Kory Reynolds at 707-279-0103. 

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. – Once again this week Lake County Animal Care and Control has a kennel full of dogs needing new homes.

Breeds ranging from Chihuahua and Pomeranian to Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd are available upon an approved application.

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.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

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”).

'Joseph'

“Joseph” is a male Chihuahua mix with a short brown coat and big ears.

He's in kennel No. 3, ID No. 1609.

Female Pomeranian mix

This female Pomeranian mix has a medium-length white coat.

She's in kennel No. 4, ID No. 1619.

'Snoopy'

“Snoopy” is a male shepherd mix with a short tricolor coat.

He's in kennel No. 12, ID No. 1650.

Boxer mix

This young female boxer mix has a short tan and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 13, ID No. 1649.

Pit bull mix

This female pit bull terrier mix has a short black coat.

She's in kennel No. 16, ID No. 1380.

'Rascal'

“Rascal” is a terrier-Chihuahua mix.

He has a short black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 25a, ID No. 1430.

'Copper'

“Copper” is a male terrier mix.

He has a short brown and white coat.

Copper is in kennel No. 25b, ID No. 1429.

Great Dane mix

This male Great Dane mix has a black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 26, ID No. 1582.

Great Dane mix

This male Great Dane mix has a black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 27, ID No. 1581.

Labrador Retriever mix

This male Labrador Retriever mix has a short tan and brown coat.

He's in kennel No. 28, ID No. 1577.

Border collie mix

This male border collie mix has a medium-length black coat with white markings.

He's in kennel No. 29, ID No. 1517.

German Shepherd mix

This male German Shepherd mix has a black and tan coat.

He's in kennel No. 32, ID No. 1623.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

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.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Napa County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying two men who were seen in the company of a woman who hours later was found mortally injured on Highway 29 last November.

Maria Cruz Pascual Bejar, 57, of Rohnert Park, was found lying in the roadway in the 4100 block of Highway 29 near Old Lawley Toll Road shortly before 4:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16. Authorities said Lake County residents driving through the area had found her, as Lake County News has reported.

Emergency personnel found that Bejar was suffering from major injuries resulting from being run over by a vehicle, according to Capt. Doug Pike of the Napa County Sheriff’s Office.

Bejar died as she was being flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, with an autopsy revealing that she suffered multiple blunt force trauma consistent with being struck by a vehicle, Pike said.

Napa County Sheriff's detectives are now seeking information about two men seen with Bejar the night before she died, according to Pike.

Pike said the two men are Hispanic, with one being between 28 to 40 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 10 inches in height, with a medium build, and black hair and a goatee. The second man is 25 to 35 years of age, 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a heavier build and short, dark-colored hair.

Bejar lived and worked in Rohnert Park, Calif., and spent her final day – before she was found in Napa County – in the Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa area, Pike said. Friends said she did not own a car and routinely traveled by bus.

About 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15, the victim left home for the Santa Rosa Plaza. Following her shopping trip, she visited Quincy’s Pub and Grill in Rohnert Park. Pike said she arrived there around 6 p.m. and appeared to be alone.

Later, at about 8 p.m., she was captured on video at the Mi Ranchito Mexican Restaurant in Cotati, where she met up with two unknown Hispanic male adults at the bar, Pike said.

Pike said all three of them left together at around 10:30 p.m., and she was seen holding hands with one of the males, who had a goatee.

The trio then traveled to the Casa Del Mar restaurant in Santa Rosa. They arrived there about 11 p.m. and were again captured on video. According to witnesses, the victim and her male companions remained there dancing until 12:30 a.m. Nov. 16.

In an effort to identify Bejar's two male companions, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office has posted video of her and the two men on YouTube; the video can be seen above.

Investigators are asking anyone who may know the identity of the victim’s two male companions to contact the Napa County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Bureau at 707-253-4591, leave an anonymous tip with Napa Valley Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-450-9543 or text a tip to 274637 with “NVCS” at the beginning of the tip.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Friday, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA) held a series of meetings and site visits in Lake County.

The meetings focused on Lake County’s unique water needs, the value of nonprofits in the community, and issues of importance to seniors, students and educators.

“Lake County is a gem in the Third District. It’s a dynamic community with much potential, but pollution and the risk of invasive species in Clear Lake and the watersheds hold this region back,” Garamendi said. “Our meetings on water issues were productive, and it was good to hear from students and seniors about the issues that they care about. I look forward to bringing the issues we discussed to Washington.”

The morning began with a conversation at Marymount California University on water resource issues facing Lake County, including the impact of invasive species, water quality, and the need for federal and state partnerships to improve water conditions, particularly in Clear Lake.

Following this conversation, Garamendi, a former deputy secretary of the U.S. Interior Department, joined several local officials and experts for a site tour of the Middle Creek Restoration Project, which would reconnect reclaimed lands to their natural wetland state thereby improving the watershed’s health and Clear Lake’s water quality.

The conversation included Lake County Supervisor Anthony Farrington, Lake County Supervisor Jim Steele, Lake County Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger, Lake County Public Works Director Scott De Leon, Lake County Community Development Department Director Richard Coel, Lake County Administrative Officer Matt Perry and Lake County Senior Administrative Analyst Jill Ruzicka.

After the site tour, Garamendi visited a homeowner in Lucerne whose roof was damaged during a major storm.

After she reached out to Garamendi’s office, a Garamendi staffer connected her to Hammers for Hope, a nonprofit program organized by Calpine. They subsequently repaired the roof.

Garamendi talked about the importance of preserving funding for federal grants to help worthy nonprofits that are transforming lives for the better.

Garamendi then returned to Marymount California University to meet with college representatives and student leaders from several regional institutions of higher learning, including Marymount, the Clear Lake Campus of Yuba College, and the Lakeport campus of Mendocino College.

They emphasized the importance of career development and opportunities available to them to pursue four-year degrees.

One representative described the regional schools as “education for people that life happened to,” pointing out that many local college students have worked in the private sector for years before deciding to resume their education.

Garamendi pledged to continue supporting education funding and financial aid in Congress.

The Lake County work day ended at the Live Oak Senior Center in Clearlake Oaks. There, Garamendi met with more than 50 seniors and community members for an hourlong conversation on issues important to them.

Topics addressed included the state of America’s shipping industry, investments in water improvements and roads, the cleanliness of Clear Lake, ways to address poverty and homelessness, Lucerne’s privately owned water system, the need to close Guantanamo Bay, the latest on the Affordable Care Act, the need for war authorization and the security threat posed by ISIL.

Historical California vegetation data that more than once dodged the dumpster have now proved their true value, documenting that a changing forest structure seen in the Sierra Nevada has actually happened statewide over the past 90 years.

A team of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, UC Davis and the U.S. Geological Survey compared unique forest surveys collected by UC Berkeley alumnus Albert Wieslander in the 1920s and 1930s with recent U.S. Forest Service data to show that the decline of large trees and increase in the density of smaller trees is not unique to the state’s mountains.

“Older, larger trees are declining because of disease, drought, logging and other factors, but what stands out is that this decline is statewide,” said study leader Patrick McIntyre, who began the research while a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and now manages biodiversity data for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Forests are becoming dominated by smaller, more densely packed trees, and oaks are becoming more dominant as pines decline.”

The authors found that the density of large trees declined in all regions of California, with declines up to 50 percent in the Sierra Nevada highlands, the south and central coast ranges and Northern California.

“Based on our data, water stress helps to explain the decline of large trees,” McIntyre said. “Areas experiencing declines in large-tree density also experienced increased water stress since the 1930s.”

The increased density of smaller trees is usually attributed to fire suppression statewide, he noted.

Scientists debate the cause of the decline of larger trees, which has been observed in other parts of the world as well, but many suspect that larger trees need more water than smaller trees to withstand droughts and disease.

Co-author David Ackerly, a professor of integrative biology, said that stressed forests and the loss of large trees could exacerbate the global carbon situation, especially since many are hoping that forests will soak up more and more fossil fuel emissions.

“There’s no question that if you are losing large trees, you are losing the standing carbon in the forest,” he said. “Loss of these big trees and the impact of drought stress become a big concern going forward in terms of its impact on the carbon cycle; they can turn a carbon sink into a source of carbon released to the atmosphere.”

The results may help forecast future forest responses to climate change, and in particular suggest that increased temperatures and changing water availability may lead to large-scale changes in forest composition throughout western North America.

The study was published online last week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Oaks taking over California forests

One change the study observed occurs repeatedly throughout California’s history, as documented by paleoclimatic records in pollen, McIntyre said. Oaks are becoming more prevalent, replacing pines. Pines tend to dominate during cooler, wetter periods.

“Our study shows that areas of greater water stress tend to be dominated more by oaks than by pines, a signal we see despite variation in logging and fire around the state,” McIntyre said.

The study might never have happened if Wieslander’s data, stored both in Sacramento and at Berkeley, had not been saved several times from the trash bin, said co-author Maggi Kelly, UC Berkeley cooperative extension specialist and a professor of environmental science policy and management (ESPM).

Wieslander acquired the vegetation data while he worked for the California Forest Experiment Station, a Berkeley outpost of the U.S. Forest Service and the forerunner of UC Berkeley’s Department of Forestry, now part of ESPM.

“This is really an astonishingly broad and detailed depiction of vegetation in California at that time and it’s important that through its nearly 100-year life it has almost been lost a number of times,” she said. “Patrick’s is one of the largest and most comprehensive looks at this historic data set in comparison to comparable contemporary data.”

Most of the plots, maps and photos have been digitized thanks to efforts by Kelly, co-author James Thorne of UC Davis and campus librarians who saw future value in the data.

Digitization and the study were funded by the Keck Foundation through the Berkeley Initiative on Global Change Biology (BiGCB), as part of an ongoing effort to create an ecological informatics engine, or EcoEngine, for analyzing historical digitized data relating to ecological change.

“All these records are now brought together in digital form in the EcoEngine, which will allow more people to plumb the data and ask more questions, such as, What about logging? What do the photographic records show?” Kelly said. “We need to remember that there are a lot of valuable collections of data that we can use to make inferences about the future.”

Other co-authors are Christopher Dolanc of UC Davis and Alan and Lorraine Flint of the USGS California Water Science Center in Sacramento.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.