LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An early morning vehicle stop conducted by a Lake County Sheriff’s Patrol Deputy has resulted in two arrests and the seizure of heroin and marijuana.

Arrested were Cory Francis Merk, 27, of Dixon, and 19-year-old Gabriel David Vasquez of Broderick, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

At 2:30 a.m. Tuesday a deputy was on patrol in the area of Highway 53 and Olympic Drive in Clearlake when he observed a vehicle that was traveling ahead of him cross over the solid double yellow lines, Brooks said. The deputy also ran a records check on the vehicle and learned the registration was expired.

The deputy conducted an enforcement stop on the vehicle near the intersection of Highway 53 and Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake. As the vehicle was pulling over, the deputy observed both the driver and passenger make furtive movements towards the rear passenger area, Brooks said.

The deputy contacted Merk, the driver of the vehicle, and explained the reason for the stop, Brooks said. Merk explained he was tired and that was the reason for his poor driving.

The deputy contacted the passenger of the vehicle, Vasquez, who explained he is the owner of the vehicle and is currently in the process of getting it registered. Both Merk and Vasquez denied having anything illegal in the vehicle, according to Brooks' report.

The deputy had both subjects step out of the vehicle and when they did, he could smell the strong odor of marijuana emitting from the rear passenger area, Brooks said.

Brooks said the deputy conducted a search of the vehicle and located approximately 7 ounces of marijuana under some clothing. The area where the marijuana was located also was the same area he could see Vasquez reaching at the time of the enforcement stop.

The deputy asked what was inside the trunk of the vehicle and Vasquez replied that it was only clothing, Brooks said. While searching the trunk area the deputy located several items of clothing, and hidden in the clothing he located a digital scale and a plastic bag containing a brown chunky substance.

Brooks said the deputy removed the bag and scale from the trunk and asked Vasquez what was inside the bag. Vasquez said he did not know what the substance was and denied that it belonged to him. Merk also denied knowing what the substance was and told the deputy that it did not belong to him.

The deputy tested a small amount of the suspected heroin with a NIK kit. The kit flashed a light green color indicating a presumptive positive for the presence of heroin, Brooks said.

Both Merk and Vasquez were arrested for possession of heroin for sales and transportation of a controlled substance. Brooks said they were both transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Tribal Health will hold a health fair in August.

The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.

The fair’s theme is, “To bring health to body, mind and spirit.”

There will be vendors as well as information booths from organizations including Mother-Wise, Easter Seals, Lake Family Resource Center, North Coast Opportunities and more.

For more information call Lake County Tribal Health at 707-263-8382, Extension 201.

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 News readers include some talented photographers, and they shared their best pictures of summer activities and celebrations in a weekend photo contest.

The holiday weekend and summertime around Lake County were the main themes of the photo contest on Facebook, with Lake County News readers sending in a number of great photos of activities going back to the last week of June.

Below is a selection that includes top vote-getters from readers voting on Lake County News’ Facebook page on Sunday. The pictures are presented in chronological order.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Two children died and two drivers were injured – one seriously – in a head-on, two-vehicle crash east of Clearlake Oaks Tuesday afternoon.

In a Tuesday evening report, the California Highway Patrol did not release the names and ages of the two children or the name of a seriously injured 38-year-old woman – all of them from Shasta – who were traveling in a 2001 Toyota Sienna van, pending notification of family.

Steven Chapin, 42, of Finley, a Lake County Special Districts employee, was in the second vehicle, a county-owned 2009 Ford F-450 pickup, according to the CHP and county officials.

The crash occurred at 3:40 p.m. on Highway 20 east of Old Long Valley Road, the CHP said in its initial report.

The woman and the two children were traveling in the van at an unknown speed eastbound on Highway 20, descending a slight downhill grade, with Chapin headed westbound going up the grade, also at an unknown speed, the CHP said.

The CHP said the woman in the van made an unsafe turning movement, causing her vehicle to rotate to the left and enter the eastbound lane.

The right side of the van and Chapin's pickup collided, causing major damage to the vehicles, the CHP said.

The two children, a boy and a girl who were in the van's rear seat and wearing seat belts, were pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said.

The woman suffered major injuries, the CHP said. Radio reports indicated that she had to be extricated from the van.

She was transported by ambulance to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake; from there, she was taken by air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to radio reports and the CHP.

Chapin suffered minor injuries and was transported by private vehicle to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, the CHP said.

Both vehicles were impounded for inspection, the CHP said.

The female driver and Chapin were wearing seat belts, according to the CHP.

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, based on the CHP investigation.

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.

LUCERNE, Calif. – Fire officials are investigating the cause of a Monday house fire in Lucerne, which Northshore Fire’s chief said appears suspicious in nature.

The two-story structure, located in the 5800 block of Highway 20, was reported on fire at around 1:30 a.m. Monday, as Lake County News has reported.

By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the structure was fully involved and already badly damaged, according to Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos, whose agency – along with Lakeport Fire – responded to the incident.

The home was believed to be unoccupied when the fire started, Beristianos said at the scene. Two other nearby structures also sustained damage because of the fire.

Later on Monday, Beristianos told Lake County News, “We have reason to believe the fire is suspicious.”

At the scene that morning, Beristianos had reported that there were subjects seen walking away from the fire area, but deputies who responded had been unable to locate them in the area.

He said Monday evening that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was working closely with the Lake County Arson Task Force to investigate the fire.

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.

LUCERNE, Calif. – An early Monday morning fire destroyed a residence and damaged two other nearby structures in Lucerne, with firefighters expected to remain on scene for several hours.

Firefighters were dispatched to the fire, located in the 5800 block of Highway 20, just after 1:30 a.m., according to Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos.

Initial reports indicated a two-story structure on the lake side of the highway was fully involved.

Beristianos said the home, which appeared to be unoccupied, was heavily involved and too far gone by the time firefighters arrived and contained it.

He said the residence appeared to be a total loss, and two other structures nearby also were damaged, but he did not have an estimate of the extent of damage to those additional buildings while still on scene early Monday.

A total of 10 fire units, most from Northshore with mutual aid from Lakeport Fire, responded.

Firefighters cut away tree branches and other vegetation from around the burned house, with smoke still billowing out of a portion of it.

Because Beristianos said there was no water supply for the fire trucks on the side of the highway where the burned home was located, firefighters had to run a hose from across the street at the North Shore Villa senior apartments, leading to the highway shutdown.

California Highway Patrol officers and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies helped control traffic, which was closed down from Lake Street to around the area of Foothill Drive on the town’s eastern edge. Pacific Gas and Electric also sent crews in response to a request from incident command.

Beristianos said at the scene it was too early to tell what might have caused the fire.

However, he said some individuals had been seen walking from the area of the house. Deputies who responded to the area searched for the subjects but were unable to locate them.

The highway was expected to fully reopen at about 4 a.m.

Beristianos anticipated firefighters would be on scene for several hours to conduct mop up and overhaul operations.

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 OAKS, Calif. – A fatal two-vehicle wreck occurred Tuesday afternoon east of Clearlake Oaks.

The crash was reported just before 3:45 p.m. on Highway 20 at Old Long Valley Road east of Clearlake Oaks.

Firefighters arrived on scene to find a head-on collision involving two vehicles – what witnesses described as a maroon van and a white Lake County Special Districts utility truck – according to radio and California Highway Patrol reports.

Radio reports indicated that the driver and two children in the maroon van were not responsive, with incident command asking for three air ambulances.

A short time later, two of the air ambulances were canceled after it was determined that two of the crash victims had died, according to radio reports. The CHP also was confirming that the crash resulted in fatalities.

The remaining crash victim who had major trauma was extricated from the vehicle and transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, where an air ambulance was called to transport the patient to an out-of-county trauma center.

Caltrans reported that one-way traffic was in effect in the crash area.

Special Districts confirmed to Lake County News on Tuesday afternoon that the white full-sized pickup involved in the crash belonged to them, and that the driver was uninjured.

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

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.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A dinner fundraiser to benefit the Lake County Hunger Task Force and Lake Family Resource Center will be held on Saturday, Aug. 3.

“Lake County Bounty” will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Six Sigma Ranch & Winery, 13372 Spruce Grove Road in Lower Lake.

Come enjoy Lake County's bounty at the beautiful Six Sigma Ranch and Winery with award-winning Six Sigma wines and a delicious fresh and alfresco dinner catered by Michelle Malm and Deanna Goff of Kelseyville Unified School Food Services.  
 
The local band “Half Irish” will provide the evening’s musical entertainment.

Tickets cost $50 per person, with $30 of each ticket being tax-deductible. Event tickets may be purchased from the Lake Family Resource Center, 707-279-0563, and online at http://www.lakefrc.org/ .

All proceeds help continue the acquisition and distribution of healthy, nutritious foods to the hungry within our community.  

Learn more about both organizations and the opportunities for you to join in at the event.

The Lake County Hunger Task Force’s mission is that no one should go to bed hungry, while the Lake Family Resource Center’s mission is to “strengthen our community one family at a time.”

LAKEPORT, Calif. – When the 84th annual Lake County Rodeo opens this week, more than 200 California Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association contestants will be ready to compete.

The rodeo takes place Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 12, at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St. in Lakeport.

Professional cowboys and cowgirls will keep the excitement going throughout the two-day event, joined by local performers competing in local barrels both nights and local team ropers on Saturday night.

Local event competitors will be vying for a part of the entry purse, silver buckles and also $500 in
added money supplied by R.B. Peters Trucking and Coyote Valley Pharmacy.

Local team ropers can enter by contacting Johnny and Debbie Jones at 707-279-8316; local barrel racers can sign up at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, 875 Lakeport Blvd., at Vista Point in Lakeport, telephone 707-263-5092.

There is still time to enter your youngsters from ages 4 to 8 years in the cutest cowpoke contest (Friday only) or the mutton bustin' Friday and Saturday.   

The cutest cowpoke – boys and girls – each will receive a silver buckle courtesy of sponsors Clear Lake Junior Horsemen and Scotts Valley 4H Horse Group. A silver buckle will be awarded each night to the mutton bustin' winners, courtesy of CJS Ranch Supply in Middletown.

Rodeo professional announcer Don Jesser will announce the rodeo astride his paint horse, Crusher.  The rodeo clown this year is Charlie TooTall, the world's smallest barrelman.  

Whether it's Lake County's own Clear Lake Junior Horsemen performing their synchronized drills or the Diablo Ladies Drill Team from Livermore, the action never stops either night.  

Presale tickets are available at various locations all round Lake County: CJS Ranch Supply, Middletown; Barreda's Lower Lake Feed; Red & White Market, Clearlake Oaks; Lakeview Market, Lucerne; North Shore Sentry Market, Nice; Lakeport Grocery Outlet; Rainbow Ag, Lakeport; and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

A large number of vendors will be on hand throughout the rodeo with arts, crafts and hats, plus lots more and a huge variety of food to enjoy as you watch all the events. Cow chip bingo is fun to play with a chance to win $250 on Friday night and $500 on Saturday night.

Saturday evening the annual Rodeo Dance sponsored by Eagle Distributing/Budweiser will feature Lake County's own Lou Derr and Bootleg playing under the stars.

The Lake County Rodeo Association, a group of volunteers and residents of Lake County, work and plan all year to produce the annual rodeo. All that planning and effort alone does not bring the rodeo to the community.

Without Platinum Spur Sponsor Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino, Bronze Spur Sponsor Shannon Ridge Winery, Eagle Distributing and the following individuals/businesses, the rodeo could not happen:  Rob and Kim Brown, Westgate Petroleum, Les Schwab Tire Centers, Kathy Fowler Auto Center, Lakeport Speedway/Furia Construction, Lakeport Grocery Outlet, Kelseyville Pharmacy, Coyote Valley Pharmacy, Strohmeier's Auto Center, R.B. Peters Trucking, Lyndall's Sport Spot, CJS Ranch Supply, Rainbow Ag, Clear Lake Jr. Horsemen/Scotts Valley 4H Group, Bicoastal Media, Lake County Record-Bee, Lake County Fairgrounds, Lakeport Fire Protection District Volunteers, Lakeport Disposal, Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 951 and the Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to those mentioned above, there are a host of community members who volunteer their time and energy to make sure all the details are handled.  

Visit www.lakecountyrodeo.com for more information and get your tickets now to enjoy an American tradition, the 84th annual Lake County Rodeo.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Marin County jury hearing the case of a former Lake County Sheriff’s deputy accused of having sex with a minor has hung on all of the charges.

The jury ended its deliberations on Monday after deadlocking on the charges against Derik Dion Navarro, 41, whose trial began last month.

“They hung on all 16 counts,” said Navarro’s attorney, Mitchell Hauptman of Lakeport.

Navarro was on trial for allegedly having sex with a minor over the course of a year, beginning when she was 14 years old in 2005, as Lake County News has reported.

At the time of the alleged acts, Navarro was a sheriff’s deputy.

The allegations came to the attention of sheriff’s officials early in 2007, and following an internal affairs investigation Navarro was fired in April 2007 and arrested on the charges a week later.

The case encountered a number of delays, and after District Attorney Don Anderson took office at the start of 2011 prosecution of the case was taken over by the California Attorney General’s Office.

That was due to a conflict of interest that arose because Anderson – before he was elected – had represented Navarro in an administrative hearing regarding his sheriff’s office employment.

In December 2011, the Attorney General’s Office – with the support of the victim and her family – reached a plea agreement with Navarro in which he pleaded guilty to one count of felony unlawful intercourse with a child under age 16.

Had the plea been accepted by a judge, it would have resulted in a three-month jail sentence for Navarro, but he would not have been required to register as a sex offender.

However, the following month Judge Andrew Blum rejected the agreement, calling it “ridiculously lenient.”

In April 2012, Navarro won a change of venue in the case. Hauptman successfully argued that growing media coverage spurred by public comments made by Sheriff Frank Rivero – who also had approached the Attorney General’s Office and sent a letter to Blum to stop the deal – had created an atmosphere in Lake County where Navarro could not get a fair trial.

The matter subsequently was assigned to the Marin County Superior Court, where it originally had been set to go to trial late in the fall of 2012. However, there were several more delays, resulting in the trial not starting until this past June.

Hauptman said the presentation of evidence in the trial lasted from around June 10 to June 19, at which point the jury started deliberations.

Not long after deliberations started, the jury indicated it was having challenges, he said.

“They had come back within a couple hours indicating they were hung,” said Hauptman.

The jurors continued to try to come to a unified conclusion over the next few weeks, but by the time they emerged on Monday they had come to no agreement on any of the counts, he said.

The vast majority of the counts were hung 6-6 or 5-7, said Hauptman. “Nothing even close.”

Hauptman said Navarro is due back in Marin County Superior Court on Aug. 2, at which time the prosecution is expected to announce what steps it will take next.

“Their choices are, try to settle it, dismiss it or do it again,” said Hauptman.

The case, he added, has been hard on everybody involved.

Lake County News contacted the California Attorney General’s Office to find out what steps the agency would take next in the case. A response was not immediately available early Tuesday afternoon.

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 – State fire officials have had hundreds of new fires to fight around California this past week.

There were 400 new fires last week that burned about 2,400 acres according to Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant in this week’s “Fire Situation Report,” which can be seen above.

Dozens of those fires had been sparked by thunderstorms that moved over Northern California early last week, Berlant said.

As of Monday evening, the largest fire in Cal Fire’s jurisdiction was the Chariot Fire in San Diego County.

The fire began on Saturday. By Monday night it had burned 4,700 acres and was 15 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

With more hot weather anticipated ahead, California residents are reminded to be mindful of fire danger and to take the necessary precautions, including keeping defensible space around their homes.

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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – “Weathervane,” the 43rd quilt block on the Lake County Quilt Trail, has been placed on Scully Packing, located at 2180 Scotts Valley Road in Lakeport.

This location was the Scotts Valley Fruit Exchange, built in the early 1930s, and also the Ice House in the 1950s.

The pattern “Weathervane” was chosen to honor the memory of Adele Burris Grothe, a lifelong resident of Scotts Valley and Lakeport.

Her father, Clyde Burriss, was a founding member of the Scotts Valley Fruit Exchange in the early 1930s.

“Dell” delivered many loads of pears to the shed, both as a grower’s daughter and a grower’s wife.

“Weathervane” is sponsored by Jenny Campbell, daughter of Adele. The colors purple, red, yellow and blue were chosen for the block to replicate the colors Adele used in quilts she lovingly created for all her family members.

The GPS location of “Weathervane” is Latitude: 39.06, Longitude: -122.94.

The Lake County Quilt Trail is an agricultural and tourism project designed to promote community pride.

The 8-foot by 8-foot quilt block was drawn and painted by the Lake County Quilt Trail team, a group of dedicated quilters, graphic artists, painters, writers, carpenters and a videographer.

For more information about the Lake County Quilt Trail visit www.lakecountyquilttrail.com or go to the quilt trail’s Facebook page.