LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Blood Centers of the Pacific announced the winner of the eighth annual Bucket Brigade Challenge, in which participating fire departments and their communities donate blood in an effort to boost the local blood supply, earn the coveted title for their department and carry the Bucket Trophy for the year.

This year, the Geyserville Fire Protection District won the trophy with Windsor Fire Protection District and Lakeport Fire Department close behind.

Participating fire departments recruited almost 800 blood donors who gave close to 700 pints of blood during a time of critical shortages.

Nineteen fire departments across Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties vied for the winner’s title and the popular Bucket Brigade Trophy.

“Northern California has been experiencing a serious blood shortage, as bad weather in other parts of the country hampers our ability to get our much-needed imports,” commented Lisa Bloch, director of communications for BCP. “But having these Bucket Brigade blood drives makes all the difference for us and for the hospitals we serve.”

The eighth annual Bucket Brigade Awards Luncheon scheduled on Feb. 12th will honor all participating fire departments for their valuable contribution and present the trophy to this season’s Bucket Brigade Challenge winner.

The idea of the Bucket Brigade originally came from the Great London Fire of 1666 that found community members in “brigades” as they passed buckets of water from the city’s water supply to the blaze that threatened their city.

The contemporary Bucket Brigade Challenge brings communities together in the same way – not to fight fire, but to save lives through blood donations.

The need for blood is constant and BCP needs more than 500 donors every day to meet the needs of our community.

To find a drive near you and to make an appointment, visit www.bloodheroes.com or call 888-393-GIVE (4483).

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department has arrested a local man on charges of child abuse and domestic violence.

Joseph Allen-Lee Peters, 25, of Clearlake was arrested in the case, according to Sgt. Nick Bennett.

Bennett said Clearlake Police officer Andrew Adams responded to Burns Valley School on Monday to assist Child Protective Services on a report of possible child abuse.

The 8-year-old child stated he had been struck in the face by Peters, who was known to the family as “Uncle Hose,” Bennett said.

Bennett said the child had obvious signs of recent and prior trauma to his body.

Further investigation revealed that Peters had physically abused other family members as well, Bennett said.

Peters was booked into Lake County Jail for charges relating to the child abuse and domestic violence assault charges. Bail was set at $75,000. He remained in custody on Wednesday, according to jail records.

Investigation into these charges and possibly others are continuing between Child Protective Services and Clearlake Police Department, Bennett said.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to contact Officer Adams at 707-994-8251, Extension 501.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Four suspects facing numerous felonies for an October home invasion robbery in Lower Lake now have another charge against them: murder.

On Friday, a criminal grand jury handed down the murder charge as part of an indictment against Clearlake residents James Robert Conaster, 38; Jesse Gilbert Moncivaiz, 29; Angelita Jeanette Raffa, 28; and Lauren Astor Faumuina, 20, of Middletown.

The murder charge is for the death of 26-year-old Gabriela Rivas Garcia of Clearlake, killed in a head-on collision with Deputy Scott Lewis, who was responding from the Kelseyville area to join the pursuit for the suspects early on the morning of Oct. 3.

Last month Garcia's parents, who she had helped support by sending money home to Mexico, filed a tort claim with the county of Lake seeking in excess of $10 million in damages for the loss of their daughter, as Lake County News has reported.

The four suspects found out about the indictment when they appeared in court on Monday morning for arraignment in the case, and all requested a continuance until Feb. 25, said Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman-Hubert.

“They have the opportunity to challenge the indictment by bringing a motion to do so,” she said.

Lisa Proffitt, Faumuina’s defense attorney, said she’s not yet seen the indictment or the grand jury transcripts, so she couldn’t say Monday what her next action on behalf of her client would be.

The case’s continuance until later this month, Proffitt said, is intended to give her time to look at the documents and decide next steps.

Doug Rhoades, Raffa’s attorney, also said he hadn’t yet seen the documents and so couldn’t offer comment on this latest development in the case.

Lerman-Hubert said she called the defense attorneys last Friday after the indictment was handed down to notify them an arraignment was taking place on Monday. “Nobody expressed a lot of surprise,” she said.

Lerman-Hubert said the four are charged with Garcia's death under the “felony murder” theory.

That theory established that if someone is killed during the commission of a dangerous felony – such as, in this case, robbery and first-degree burglary – the suspects can be charged for murder, even if the death was accidental or unintentional, she explained.

In addition to the murder charges, all four suspects in the case are charged with home invasion robbery, first-degree burglary, two counts of assaults on Jeffrey Dumas Jr. – whose home it was that they allegedly broke into that morning – and special allegations for weapons possession, Lerman-Hubert said.

Conatser alone is charged with felony evading, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful discharge of a firearm, Lerman-Hubert added.

Lerman-Hubert said the District Attorney's Office has zero tolerance for people who are perpetuating the dangerous home invasions plaguing Lake County.

The grand jury proceeding began in December and was continued due to the holidays, Lerman-Hubert said.

The proceeding concluded on Friday with the indictment, she said.

A preliminary hearing was held last fall for the four suspects, but Lerman-Hubert said the grand jury's indictment will supersede that hearing and the previous criminal filing.

This is the second criminal grand jury proceeding in which Lerman-Hubert has been involved.

She assisted District Attorney Don Anderson last year with presenting another home invasion case – involving the break-in and shooting last summer at the Bogner family's Clearlake Oaks home – to the criminal grand jury, also getting an indictment in that proceeding.

This time around, Anderson assisted Lerman-Hubert, she said. “We did them both together.”

Anderson praised Lerman-Hubert for her performance before the grand jury, saying she did a great job of presenting the case.

The criminal grand jury, which isn't used locally very often, was called upon in this case to help streamline the process because of multiple defendants, she said.

It also allowed for the introduction of new evidence that hadn't been available to the District Attorney's Office at the time of last fall's preliminary hearing, Lerman-Hubert said.

For her part, Proffitt said she believes the confidential grand jury process actually takes more court time, and she said she finds it surprising that the process has begun to be utilized in the local courts.

There could be additional charges in the case in the future, Lerman-Hubert said.

“The California Highway Patrol is still investigating the cause of the accident” that killed Garcia, Lerman-Hubert noted, and once those reports are complete and available to prosecutors she said they will consider if further charges are appropriate.

At that point, Anderson also must consider if Lewis has criminal liability for the wreck, he said in a previous interview.

The CHP has told Lake County News that the reports are expected to be done in March, with the collision under reconstruction by the CHP Northern Division's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team.

The case now goes directly to the trial track. When the defendants return for arraignment on Feb. 25, a trial date will then be set, Lerman-Hubert said.

All four of the case's defendants remain in the Lake County Jail, with bail for each set at $1 million, according to booking records.

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.

California Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin on Wednesday welcomed an “all-in” federal effort to help California cope with extreme drought.

“The effects of this widespread drought are clearly beyond the control of local personnel, services, and facilities in nearly every corner of California,” said Director Cowin. “It will require the combined efforts of all of our agencies to address the public health, economic, and environmental ramifications of this drought.”

Cowin joined U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor and administrators from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Integrated Drought Information System and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wednesday at a Sacramento press conference to demonstrate a united and coordinated federal response to record-breaking drought conditions in California.

Reclamation and NRCS announced the availability of up to $14 million in funding for water districts and farmers to build resilience to drought with projects that improve water management.

The announcement follows action Tuesday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to make $20 million available for agricultural water conservation efforts throughout California.

Federal officials also committed to accelerate water transfers and exchanges and provide operational flexibility as necessary to support projects that might help stretch California’s water supplies.

Reclamation released its 2014 Central Valley Project Water Plan, which outlines numerous specific actions to help water users better manage their supplies through drought.

As California enters a third dry year, the state’s major reservoirs are diminished and the crucial Sierra Nevada snowpack – which melts to supply roughly a third of the water used statewide – was recently measured at a scant 12 percent of statewide average water content for this time of year.

The California Department of Water Resources operates the State Water Project, which captures snowmelt runoff in Northern California to supply 25 million Californians and roughly 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

On Jan. 31, Cowin announced that the 29 water districts that buy water from the State Water Project could expect no deliveries in 2014 beyond those needed to meet critical health and safety needs or that involved water banked from previous years by the water districts.

The across-the-board zero allocation – the first of its kind in the 54-year history of the State Water Project – is intended to preserve reservoir storage in case conditions remain dry.

The allocation may change, but it would take near-record levels of rain and snow in the remaining few months of winter to bring statewide conditions even to average.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Richard Allen, a Jago Bay resident, reported seeing the silhouettes of three mountain lions on a recent morning in the area of Thurston Lake.

“My property is right across from Thurston Lake and I think a lot of animals live in the lake area because there is no human population,” said Allen. “There's only one house on the whole lake. It's pretty hilly and we see raccoons and things like that.

“But the night in question, just before daybreak, my dog was going crazy. I couldn't get him to stop barking. We got the big flashlight out so we could see what it was he was barking at,” Allen continued. “It looked like three different cats on the side of a hill.”

Allen estimated that the three animals he saw were the size of a small deer or  large shepherd dog.

“They were bigger than cats I normally see,” he said. “Just before dawn you couldn't see their colors as much as the outline and the way they were moving.”

It was the second mountain lion sighting reported to Lake County News in south Lake County in recent months.  

An earlier report was made in December from Hidden Valley Lake. But investigation by Hidden Valley Lake and California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials did not turn up any evidence of a mountain lion's presence.

But Allen said the presence of mountain lions has been established from time to time in the Lower Lake area.

“I see them in the summer a lot,” he said. “I think they go down to the water at Thurston Lake. They come down from a small mountain, where I think a lot of animals live because there is no (human) population. A friend of mine shot a mountain lion right under his porch that was attacking his personal cat. That was a few years ago, but don't kid yourself. They come down here.”

Joshua Bush, a biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said what Allen probably saw was a female with two juveniles.

Bush gave no credence to Allen's suggestion that the mountain lions ventured closer to an area of greater human density was linked to the winter drought conditions in Northern California.

“They don't look at people as a source for food,” he said.

“They might just as well have been tracking deer which is their primary prey,” said Kyle Orr, a Fish and Wildlife warden.

The Fish and Wildlife officials generally agree that there is “nothing to worry about” with regard to mountain lions attacking humans during a drought year.

Orr said that at present there is only one mountain lion attack being investigated in Northern California, which occurred in July 2012 in Nevada County.

Presently, Orr said Fish and Wildlife is attempting to verify an attack that reportedly occurred in the past week in Southern California.

But each of the officials contacted say that mountain lion attacks are “extremely rare” and point out that there have been only 15 verified mountain lion attacks on humans since 1890.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates the population of mountain lions in the state of California at 4,000 to 6,000.

“Our department receives many, many reports of mountain lion sightings and we don't respond to every report of a sighting,” said Lt. Loren Freeman, a Fish and Wildlife warden based in Clearlake Oaks.

Orr said that Allen's sighting of three mountain lions “is not in and of itself a reason for concern.”

With regard to mountain lions becoming more of a threat because of drought conditions, Orr added, “Conditions at this juncture would not cause the mountain lions to venture further than they already do.”

Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Clearlake man was sentenced to seven years in state prison Jan. 31 for setting a fire last summer on Cow Mountain, the rugged recreation area straddling a mountain ridge separating Mendocino and Lake counties.

Kevin Louis Benback-Calhoun, 24, admitted one of two arson charges back on Dec. 12 in Mendocino County Superior Court, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Officials said Benback-Calhoun also admitted to using an accelerant to amplify the fire.  

On the motion of prosecutor Scott McMenomey, a second arson count was dismissed with an agreement that Benback-Calhoun shall be responsible for firefighting costs incurred to fight both fires.  

The district attorney and state fire officials are going back into court in early March, according to McMenomey, to obtain a restitution order for nearly $1 million for fire suppression costs relating to the two Cow Mountain fires.

McMenomey said the restitution hearing will be heard on 1:30 p.m. March 11 in Mendocino County Superior Court.

“We’re talking about significant costs resulting from the use helicopters, an assortment of other equipment, and firefighting crews that were needed to keep these fires from destroying structures and spreading into nearby residential areas,” reported McMenomey.

The first of the two fires – the fire for which Benback-Calhoun was officially sentenced – broke out on June 27 at the intersection of the Cow Mountain access road and Mill Creek Road east of Ukiah.

The second fire broke out on July 28 off of Mill Creek Road near Now Cow Mountain and scorched approximately 400 acres.  

The smoke columns from these fires and fire fighting efforts were watched with concern by people throughout the Ukiah valley. While Cow Mountain is a largely remote recreational area, its proximity to the urban fringes of the Ukiah Valley is historically of concern.

Calhoun’s arrest and prosecution was the result of a cooperative investigation by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office, Cal Fire, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the Clearlake Police Department and the Ukiah office of the California Highway Patrol.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Federal Bureau of Investigation dive team this week recovered skeletal remains from Lake Sonoma.

The remains were first located on Dec. 9, according to Lt. Carlos Basurto of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Bureau.

On that day, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office received a report that possible skeletal remains had been located in the lake at a depth of 100 feet by a recreational diver, according to Basurto.

On Dec. 10 and again on Dec. 12, the Marin County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team made several attempts to retrieve the remains, Basurto said.

The depth of the dive and poor visibility made the retrieval extremely difficult. However, Basurto said the dive team was able to confirm the presence of skeletal remains and retrieved several large bones from an area underneath the bridge at Lake Sonoma.

Because of the complexity of the dive, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the FBI Technical Dive Team, Basurto said.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the FBI dive team was able to retrieve the majority of the skeletal remains, according to Basurto.

At this time the remains are unidentified and the case is being investigated by the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office, he said.

Anyone with possible information regarding these remains is asked to contact the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office at 707-565-5070.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lower Lake County Waterworks is seeking applicants to fill a vacancy on its board of directors.  

Interested applicants must reside within the Lower Lake Waterworks District’s boundary.

Applications are available at the Lake County Courthouse, Clerk of the Board Office, Room 109, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport, or online at www.co.lake.ca.us .

If you have questions regarding this vacancy, please contact the Clerk to the Board at 707-263-2371.

Membership on the advisory board is voluntary.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on California’s roadways.

In 2011 alone, more than 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving crashes.

The California Highway Patrol is encouraging all motorists to make the conscience decision that could literally save their life: “Do not text and drive.”

Distracted driving is a serious safety concern for all drivers. Not only do they put themselves at risk, multitasking drivers increase the risk of injuring or killing their passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians or innocent victims traveling in another vehicle.

“Driving is a complex task, requiring a motorist’s full attention. Anything that diverts the driver’s attention from the roadway, even for one or two seconds, could result in tragedy,” said Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The bottom line, whatever the distraction, 'It’s Not Worth It!’”

Part of the CHP’s strategic plan is to reduce distracted driving in an effort to save lives.

To accomplish this goal the CHP is asking all drivers to put away cell phones and decide to improve their driving habits.

In addition, the CHP is engaged in a yearlong, grant-funded Adult Distracted Driving traffic safety campaign.

By the conclusion of the grant, Sept. 30, 2014, a minimum of 60 distracted driving enforcement operations and at least 500 traffic safety presentations will have been completed statewide.

In 2012, CHP officers issued more than 168,000 citations for handheld cell phone or texting violations statewide. That is an average of 14,000 distracted driving citations a month.

“I want to encourage every motorist to abstain from texting while driving,” added Commissioner Farrow. “Together we can keep the roads safe and reduce the number of deaths, injuries, and collisions throughout California.”

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man found to be driving on a suspended license was taken into custody for child endangerment.

George James Watchman, 49, was arrested on Tuesday morning, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday a Lakeport Police officer on patrol observed Watchman driving a Ford minivan in the area of N. Forbes Street and Clearlake Avenue, Rasmussen said. The officer was familiar with Watchman and knew that his driver's license was suspended.

Rasmussen said the officer followed Watchman in an effort to catch up to him to make an enforcement stop.

Watchman, who the officer believed to be attempting to elude police, began making quick and abrupt turns onto and off of side streets in the area, Rasmussen said.

The officer continued to attempt to catch up to Watchman and was able to get him to pull over in the 900 block of N. Main Street, according to Rasmussen.

Upon contacting Watchman in the driver's seat, Rasmussen said the officer found a 3-year-old boy, who was not visible to him before the stop, unrestrained in the front passenger seat.  

Based on the fact that the boy was in the front seat, not in a car seat, and because of Watchman’s driving, the officer believed that Watchman willfully endangered the boy by placing him in a situation that exposed him to injury, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said the officer arrested Watchman for child endangerment and driving on a suspended driver’s license, and transported him to the Lake County Jail, where bail was set at $5,000. Jail records indicated he later posted bail and was released.

Watchman was arrested by the Lakeport Police Department on March 1, 2011, for willful cruelty to a child, later was convicted of a felony for the charge and sentenced to probation, Rasmussen said.

This investigation is being forwarded to the Lake County District Attorney's Office for review in regards to the current charges and to the Lake County Probation Department regarding a probation violation charge, Rasmussen said.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks woman was arrested on Monday after she attempted to pass a fraudulent check for nearly $9,800 that she claimed she had received from the city of Clearlake, with a deputy also finding in her possession a number of checks, credit cards and financial information belonging to other people.

Shannon Leann Flores, 32, was arrested Monday afternoon, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Brooks said that at 3 p.m. Monday a patrol deputy was dispatched to the Kelseyville Westamerica Bank for a report of check fraud.

He said the deputy contacted Flores at the bank and asked to see the check she was attempting to deposit.

Flores retrieved the check from her wallet and gave it to the deputy. The check was written out to Flores for the amount of $9,762, and it appeared to be from the city of Clearlake, Brooks said.

Flores told the deputy she had received the check from the city of Clearlake, because the city had recently purchased property from her to build a road on, Brooks said.

She went on to tell the deputy that she had just received the check in the mail and had arrived at the bank to cash it, according to Brooks.

Brooks said Flores then began to change her story and said she did not know why someone would just give her a $9,762 check in the mail.

Central Dispatch conducted a records check of Flores and advised she was on searchable probation for theft, he said.

The deputy contacted a bank employee who said Flores had arrived at the bank and attempted to cash the check, Brooks said.

Due to the amount, the bank employee contacted the city of Clearlake to verify the validity of the check. Brooks said the bank employee was told the check was fraudulent and was supposed to be for the amount of $175, payable to a business in Lakeport.

The business had already contacted the city of Clearlake and reported they had not received the check, due to their mail being stolen, Brooks said.

A search of Flores’ vehicle revealed she had possession of numerous checks, credit cards, identification cards and financial information for several different people. Brooks said all of the aforementioned items were seized as evidence.

Flores was arrested for forgery, burglary and possession of stolen property, Brooks said.

As Flores was being transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility, she told the deputy she was in possession of a pipe, which was concealed on her, according to Brooks.

Brooks said that when Flores arrived at the jail, a female correctional officer conducted a search and retrieved a glass pipe, which was seized as evidence.

The deputy inspected the pipe and noticed it was loaded, which meant the pipe contained methamphetamine and was ready to be smoked, Brooks said. The approximate gross weight of the methamphetamine retrieved from the pipe was .42 grams.

Brooks said the deputy had the additional charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia added to Flores’ booking.

Flores' bail was set at $15,000. Jail records indicated she posted the required percentage of bail and was released.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through it anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A security check conducted at a local casino Jan. 31 resulted in the arrest of a Kelseyville man and the seizure of nearly 7 grams of methamphetamine.

Deputies arrested 53-year-old Earl Wayne Davis, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.

At 9:45 a.m. last Friday, Jan. 31, two patrol deputies conducted a security check at Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport, Brooks said.

As the deputies were walking through the casino, they noticed a male subject sitting at one of the slot machines. The subject – who Brooks said later was identified as Davis – was showing signs of being under the influence of a central nervous system stimulant.

Deputies observed that Davis was continuously clenching his jaw and was rubbing his fingers in a circular motion. Brooks said they also noticed that his left eye was constantly twitching and they could visually see his rapid pulse by watching the carotid artery on his neck.

The deputies contacted Davis and as they were talking to him, they noticed his pupils were extremely constricted. They asked Davis when the last time he had used methamphetamine and Davis said it had been at least a week, Brooks said.

Believing Davis had used more recently than what he said, Brooks said the deputies walked him outside the casino to conduct a field sobriety check.

As they were walking outside, a deputy noticed that Davis kept putting his hands pockets after he was told to stop, Brooks said. The deputy asked Davis if he had anything illegal in his pockets and he admitted to having some “meth.”

The deputy administered several tests which Davis failed. Davis then told the deputy that he had smoked some methamphetamine prior to his arrival at the casino, Brooks said.

Brooks said Davis was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

A deputy located a glass pipe in his pocket, which is commonly used to ingest methamphetamine. Brooks said the deputy also located in Davis’ pocket five plastic bindles containing a white crystalline substance which the deputy immediately recognized as methamphetamine.

Based on the way the methamphetamine was packaged, the deputy believed it was for sales and not personal use. Brooks said Davis admitted he was going to sell each bindle for $40. The bindles were later weighed and had a gross weight of 6.74 grams.

Davis also was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sale, transportation of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, Brooks said.

Brooks said Davis was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.

Davis' booking sheet showed his bail was set at $35,000. He later posted the required percentage of bail and was released, jail records indicated.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.