LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week honored a longtime planning commission on his retirement, discussed upgrades to City Hall and considered changes to the meeting schedule for the Parks and Recreation Commission.

One of the council’s first items of business on Tuesday was honoring retiring Lakeport Planning Commissioner Harold Taylor, who stepped down in December after 14 years of service.

Mayor Mireya Turner presented the proclamation to Taylor, who she said “conscientiously executed the duties associated with his position.”

During his tenure on the commission, Turner said Taylor was instrumental in the updating, review and implementation of the 2009 General Plan Update, 2009 and 2014 Housing Element Updates, and adoption of the Lakeport Lakefront Revitalization Plan in 2017.

Turner said Taylor’s knowledge of construction development practices “provided invaluable insight and benefit to the decision making process of the Planning Commission, most specifically in regards to the 2010 Martin Street Senior Apartments and 2017 Martin Street Multi-Family apartment projects which have and continue to provide greater affordable housing opportunities to the community.”

Taylor received a standing ovation from the council and the audience.

Afterward, he said he would be keeping his eyes on things.

Following the proclamation presentation to Taylor, the council unanimously voted to appoint Kipp Knorr to the Lakeport Planning Commission to fill Taylor’s term, which expires Dec. 31 2018. Knorr was the only applicant.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram went to the council to ask for direction on a proposal to remodel a portion of City Hall in order to make it more customer friendly. This year’s city budget has $70,000 set aside for the project.

He said staff was seeking the council’s input on priorities and its permission to go out and beginning seeking area contractors to do the work.

He said the goal is to create a “one-stop customer service center” that will update the layout of the lobby and other public areas, clustering customer services in one location and allowing for staff to help more people at a time.

City Manager Margaret Silveira said that, currently, the finance window can only serve one person at a time, which can back up a lot.

The proposed changes outlined in Ingram’s written report include relocating the Community Development Department public window from its current location to the main lobby and adjacent to the Finance/Utility customer service window; providing public counter space large enough to view building plans and serve multiple customers at once; creating more usable space to accommodate Finance Department Staff and serve multiple customers at once; create a public window compliant with the American with Disabilities Act; allow for storage area in the council chambers for extra tables and chairs currently stacked at the back of the room, and moving the council chamber doors beyond the entry to the conference room to reduce conflicts between the users of those space.

Staff also suggested the council consider related improvements that include a City Hall security system upgrade, constructing a fur wall along the north building concrete wall in order to achieve greater energy efficiency within the entire building, and repairing the exterior building coating to prohibit water seepage through concrete exterior walls currently creating efflorescence in the council chambers.

Ingram said the primary goal of the discussion was to seek council input, have staff put together proposals and solicit responses and cost estimates.

Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve moving forward on going out for proposals, with the council voting 5-0.

In other business, the council, after a lengthy deliberation, decided to go against a staff recommendation to make Parks and Recreation Commission meetings quarterly and instead make them monthly. The current ordinance doesn’t specify how often the commission – established in 1984, needs to meet.

Staff had said the number of meetings and meeting times were cumbersome, according to some commission applicants. It also requires staff time to attend the meetings, which staff has had to cancel repeatedly over the past 16 months. During that time, there have only been six meetings.

Commissioners refused to compromise with a reduced meeting scheduling, arguing that they wouldn’t be able to get anything done.

The council also approved a proposed resolution authorizing the police department to conduct criminal background checks for commercial cannabis licensing purposes. Such background checks are a requirement in the city’s new commercial cannabis ordinances.

In other business, the council voted 5-0 to appoint Pamela Harpster, Dan Peterson and Andy Lucas to the Lakeport Economic Development Committee effective immediately, with those terms expiring Dec. 31, 2019.

There was no reportable action coming out of the council’s closed session to discuss property negotiations related to 800 N. Main St., 810 N. Main St. and 910 Bevins St., Turner 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.

020618 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Teams from Middletown and Upper Lake will compete in the Lake County Mock Trial competition next week.

The two teams will once again face off in the courtroom on Monday, Feb. 12, in Lake County Superior Court, located on the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport.

The first round will take place from 9 to 11 a.m., with the second found of competition from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

The two teams will take turns both as prosecution and defense in the fictional case of People v. Davidson, which involves first degree murder and a pretrial argument on the Fourth Amendment.

According to the case brief, Casey Davidson, a resident of the town of Acorn, Calif., faces a felony count of first degree murder for the death of Alex Thompson, another young resident of Acorn and member of Ultra Nats, an extremist nationalist group.

The prosecution alleges that Davidson murdered Thompson using Davidson’s walking stick in the same park where a political rally had just taken place during the morning of Sept. 14, 2017. The defense argues that Davidson did not murder Thompson and has an alibi for what happened at the time of Thompson’s death.

Based on the brief, the pretrial issue in People v. Davidson focuses on whether it is a search under the Fourth Amendment for the government to obtain routinely collected GPS location data from a third party.

At the end of each round, the judge will announce his verdict.

After the completion of both rounds, scoring will be completed and the county winner announced in a short ceremony in which students will receive certificates for their performance.

The winning team will travel to Orange County in March for the 37th annual California Mock Trial Finals, hosted by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, and compete with teams from 33 other counties.

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.

With 88 reported unprovoked shark attacks and five fatalities worldwide, 2017 was “just an average year,” according to the University of Florida International Shark Attack File.

While the 88 reported attacks are slightly higher than the most recent five-year annual average of 83, the five fatalities are just below the average of six deaths per year.

Of the 88 attacks, 60 percent (53) occurred in the U.S. Australia had the second-highest number of attacks with 14, including one fatality.

Lindsay French, who manages the database housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, said the slightly higher than average attack numbers were expected as human populations continue to climb and people spend more time in the water.

“It really was just an average year, and significantly, the U.S. saw no shark attack fatalities for the second consecutive year,” French said. “While we don’t put too much emphasis on year-to-year changes, a slight increase is expected as beach tourism and water sports gain in popularity. And as has been the case for years, Florida saw more attacks (31) than any other state while Volusia County led the state in reported attacks with nine, 29 percent of Florida’s total.”

Worldwide, Reunion Island had three unprovoked attacks and two fatalities. Ascension Island, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Indonesia and South Africa each had two attacks, with one fatality occurring in Costa Rica. Brazil, the Canary Islands, Cuba, Egypt, England, Japan, the Maldives and New Zealand reported single attacks, with Cuba’s attack resulting in the country’s first fatality since the 1930s.

“The hotspots we’re keeping an eye on are Ascension Island, which had its first attacks since the 1800s, and Reunion Island, which had two of last year’s five fatalities,” French said.

In the U.S., other states reporting attacks were South Carolina (10), Hawaii (6), California (2), with single incidents in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Fifty-nine percent of the attacks worldwide involved board sports. French said this group spends a large amount of time in the surf zone, an area commonly frequented by sharks.

“We need to remember we’re going into a shark’s natural habitat when we enter the water,” French said. “Water sport activities often unintentionally attract sharks because of splashing, paddling, kicking and wiping out. But the number of unprovoked attacks is remarkably low considering the billions of people who participate in water sports each year.”

French said the world’s shark populations continue to suffer as a result of overfishing and habitat loss.

“On average, unprovoked shark attacks cause six fatalities worldwide each year,” she said. “But fisheries kill about 100 million sharks and rays annually, so there’s definitely a real need to conserve these animals and their habitat to ensure their long-term survival. They play an important role in marine ecosystems.”

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to give county administrative staff direction to begin the work of putting a 1.5-cent sales tax before county voters this June.

The 4-0 vote – with Supervisor Jeff Smith absent – came as part of a discussion on last month’s series of community visioning forums to educate the community about the county government’s deepening financial challenges.

The five forums were broken down into one in each supervisorial district.

County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson said that at the meetings they showed posters with the board goals as well as department challenges.

To a great extent, the board’s goals are in sync with with the community’s needs, Huchingson said.

She said the loss of property and sales tax revenues due to the recent disasters, combined with increasing cost of services thrust upon the county by state government “has created a serious and growing revenue gap.”

In the past, the county could use reserves to bridge the gap. “The day of fiscal reckoning is here,” she said. “The situation is no longer sustainable.”

The second purpose of the forums was engaging the public in helping county leaders prioritize community services and develop consensus around budget and financial solutions aimed at eliminating that revenue gap.

Huchingson said the forums originally were set to take place in the fall, but had to be delayed due to the Sulphur fire, the sixth disaster in 36 months.

She said the visioning forums were a “resounding success,” attracting a total of 620 residents. The videos are available on the county Web site at http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Directory/Administration/visioning.htm as well as the Lake County News YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

Considering community response

Hutchinson showed a slide with the highlights of community members’ input, including increasing economic development, marketing the county to increase tourism, grant writing, developing a robust volunteering program to fill the gaps, enhancing collaborative efforts in the community especially with local tribes, redesigning business practices and improving service delivery, strengthening the county workforce, tapping cannabis for a revenue stream, disaster prevent, and taxes – keeping up with delinquent tax sales and consider a sales tax measure such as the cities have implemented.

“We were really pleased with the quality of response received from so many members of the public,” who Huchingson said asked good questions and made good suggestions to save money or increase revenues.

The county also distributed a four-question community survey, Huchingson said. As of Feb. 2, the county had received 298 completed questionnaires, 208 of them dropped off at the forums and the remaining 90 submitted electronically or via email.

Huchingson said community members were asked to rank the top 11 core services, which are departments and agencies funded by property, sales and gas tax.

The community ranked the following in highest priority order: Public Works/roads, sheriff’s office, libraries, senior programs, code enforcement, parks/museums, animal control, district attorney, veterans programs, agriculture and probation, she said.

The core services people felt were more deserving of increased funding were roads, the sheriff’s office and libraries, Huchingson said.

She said there also was a lot of community input about the importance of programs that benefit families like libraries and museums that.

The core services people were most willing to see decreased were agriculture, parks and museums, probation, and a tie between the district attorney’s office and veterans programs, Huchingson said.

Because agriculture is a major industry in Lake County, Huchingson said staff concluded survey respondents were not affiliated with that industry and didn’t use its services.

The low ranking for veterans services came as a surprise considering the large number of veterans who live here and the general support for veterans in the community, she said.

Supervisor Rob Brown said agriculture isn’t a drain on local government like some other services that are necessary. He said the agriculture community, while small lin number, pays the largest amount in tax per capita.

He suggested looking at more grant funding and instead of cutting back on things like parks, instead consider not adding more. Brown said they also need to look at departments that used to be funded by grants but aren’t any longer.

Huchingson said the cities have implemented sales taxes, and the survey showed that when asked if they would support a county sales tax, 72.48 percent of survey respondents supported it, with 24.49 percent opposed it and 3.02 percent leaving the question blank.

The county followed up with a telephone survey in which they asked about the most important core services. There were 300 respondents.

Responses were as follows: law enforcement, 32.8 percent; roads, 24.8 percent; senior programs, 13.5 percent; veterans programs, 6.8 percent; animal control, 4.9 percent, agriculture, 4.2 percent; libraries, 2.7 percent; parks, 2.4 percent; other (not on list), 1.1 percent; undecided/don’t know, 6.7 percent. The responses also were broken down by supervisorial district, which gave slightly different rankings.

The survey also asked about a sales tax increase. Responses were: yes, strongly, 35 percent; yes, somewhat, 19.9 percent, for a total yes response of 54.9 percent.

That’s contrasted with no, somewhat, 5.7 percent, and no, strongly, 34.1 percent, for a total no response of 39.8 percent. Those who didn’t know or were unsure totaled 5.2 percent.

“These results aren’t as compelling as we got from the surveys, but we think that’s understandable, because these were just simply cold calls, made to people without any kind of background, and people who attended the forum heard a considerable amount of background on our financial reality,” Huchingson said.

The poll also broke down support for a sales tax measure by district:

– District 1: yes, 64 percent; no, 33 percent; unsure, 3 percent.
– District 2: yes, 57 percent; no, 40 percent; unsure, 2 percent.
– District 3: yes, 52 percent; no, 43 percent; unsure, 4 percent.
– District 4: yes, 51 percent; no, 40 percent; unsure, 8 percent.
– District 5: yes, 53 percent; no, 41 percent; unsure, 6 percent.

Huchingson said it was interesting that there appeared to be support in districts 2 and 4, which are home to the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, respectively. Both of the cities last year began implementing new 1-cent sales tax measures.

Department heads share response to forums

Huchingson thanked the community and county staff for participating. The community’s response will help create a road map to address the county’s challenges.

“I really look forward to holding future community visioning forums,” she said, explaining that future events will focus on the long-term economic vision for Lake County.

She thanked the department heads who participated, many of them in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.

Public Services Director Lars Ewing said he was disappointed at the input about parks and museums. Economic development was raised during the process, and he challenged them to find any economically vibrant community that doesn’t have a vibrant parks, museums and trails system, adding that he didn’t want to focus on a “depression era mindset.”

Public Works Director Scott De Leon said he was glad for the opportunity to give his message, explain why things are difficult and the roads are in bad condition. He said he got good questions from people and had good interactions from citizens afterward.

County Librarian Christopher Veach said he appreciated attending the meetings and hearing from people, and said many people told him it was hard to rank the services.

Sheriff Brian Martin commendend Huchingson for putting on the forums.

“For me, the results weren’t that surprising,” he said, as far as everyone wanting a safe community.

One of the issues talked about during the forums is his agency’s average 30-minute response time, which he said he wants to see improved.

Huchingson then returned to the public input highlight list from the forums, which included economic development, marketing/tourism, grant writing, volunteer, community collaboration, redesign of business practices for improved service delivery, strengthening the county workforce, cannabis, disaster prevention and taxes.

“Frankly the way I view this list is a really cool to do list, a list for us to get busy around,” she said, noting many of them are reflected in the board’s goals.

She said she wants to bring forward some slight revisions to the board’s goals to embrace the suggestion list.

“I think it’s time for staff to get busy with these things, and I hope your board will be supportive of that,” Huchingson said.

Board takes up sales tax proposal

Huchingson then turned to a request for the board to consider directing staff to pursue a sales tax.

The board could consider a tax just in the unincorporated county or one that covered the entire county, including the two cities, where she said it appears there is support.

In the cities, sales tax already is 1.5 cents higher than in the county, she said.

If the county pursued a 1.5 cent sales tax in the unincorporated area, she said it would level the playing field, help address fire recovery and bring in an estimated $4.5 million annually. A one-cent tax would generate $3 million annually.

A sales tax that included the cities as well would have to be capped at half a percent, as the cities already are taking up 1.5 percent of the 2-percent cap, she said. That also would generate $3 million.

“We lean toward leveling the playing field, because it’s what our constituents are accustomed to paying,” she said of the 1.5 percent sales tax, noting if they want to move forward with developing Lake County, they would need additional revenues.

As for next steps, County Counsel Anita Grant said the first is to prepare a resolution to put the measure before voters and to prepare a general tax ordinance.

By Feb. 27 it could be in front of the board, said Grant, with Huchingson adding that the intention is to have it on the June ballot.

Board Chair Jim Steele asked about a possible sunset, saying he believed there would be more support for it. Grant said it’s common to see 10-year tax increases.

Huchingson said a tax for 10 years would provide great resources to the county. The sales tax would have an oversight committee, which she suggested have two board members, representatives from her office, a department head, members of the public and the auditor controller.

During public comment, county residents Cheryl Carr and Phil Murphy spoke against the sales tax. Carr accused the county of mismanaging funds and giving raises it couldn’t afford, with Murphy also raising the issue of raises and previous failed sales tax attempts, which were different due to being special taxes anding a supermajority of 67 percent to pass.

Lake County News later asked Huchingson to respond to the issues raised about raises for staff.

She said that in 2015 there was a change in the way employee retirement expense was paid for most county employees, requiring that each employee pick up his/her employee contribution. At the same time there was a 3-percent cost of living increase, or COLA, the first since 2007.

“Despite that COLA, salary expense paid from the General Fund is less than it was in 2009/2010,” Huchingson said.

Supervisor Tina Scott said wishing won’t fix the county’s financial problems, and acknowledged that the county will need to do other things as well.

Brown said he was willing to put the tax on the ballot to let the voters decide. He said there are some things the county has got to do differently.

Steele said there are things holding the county back in the area of economic development, some of which have come to the surface and are being prioritized, and said the entire Northshore is economically disadvantaged. He said he didn’t see the county handling its financial problems any other way than the sales tax, and supported a sunset to the tax, which Brown also supported.

“I think we need to prove to the voters that we’re going to spend this money wisely and improve Lake County,” said Scott.

Steele said it’s necessary to get the county past the disasters that have impacted it.

Supervisor Moke Simon agreed that they needed to do something and this is one step in moving the county forward.

Scott moved to approve moving forward on the sales tax proposal, which the board approved 4-0.

In other business, the board gave direction to move forward on releasing a request for proposals for a classification and compensation study and supported developing a compensation philosophy statement.

The board also presented a proclamation designating the month of February 2018 as Black History Month and Celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday and received an update on status of the consolidation project for CSA No. 16, which involves Paradise Valley Water System and the Clearlake Oaks County Water District .

Also on Tuesday, the board appointed Sara Brucker, Rosario Morris, Brandy Perry, Carla Ritz and Jami White to the Child Care Planning and Development Council and Douglas Domer to the Glenbrook Cemetery District Board.

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 city of Clearlake is planning a public forum on its police chief recruitment later this month.

City Manager Greg Folsom said the forum will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

“We want to hear from the citizens about the types of qualities they feel are important to seek out in our next chief of police,” said Folsom. “The chief is critical to helping us meet our strategic goal of making Clearlake a statistically safer city.”

With the retirement in December of Chief Craig Clausen, the city has appointed Lt. Tim Celli as acting chief. He’s taken on the responsibilities of the position for the past two years but told Lake County News he doesn’t intend to apply for the job on a permanent basis.

Last week during a special meeting, the Clearlake City Council voted to hire Ralph Andersen & Associates to lead the recruitment for a new police chief, as Lake County News has reported.

At the same meeting – before the council took action on the item – Councilman Russell Perdock delivered his letter of resignation from the council because he said he intends to apply for the police chief’s job.

Folsom said the city is hosting the Feb. 26 forum in order to allow community members to give input to the recruiter regarding the traits that would be desirable in city’s next chief of police.

After this meeting, Folsom said the recruiter will begin the process of seeking out qualified applicants for the position.

It was estimated at last week’s special council meeting that a new chief could be hired within 12 weeks.

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. – On Wednesday, the Clearlake Police Department welcomed its newest officer.

Interim Chief Tim Celli administered the oath to new Police Officer Steve Hobb during a brief Wednesday ceremony, according to City Manager Greg Folsom.

Officer Hobb has been in law enforcement for 16 years and was in the U.S. Navy for 10 years prior to his career in law enforcement.

“I am excited to be a part of the Clearlake Police Department and look forward to getting out and serving the community,” Hobb said.

“We continue to add quality officers to our police department and we are pleased to have Officer Hobb join our Clearlake team,” said Folsom. “He brings extensive experience in law enforcement that will definitely help him to hit the ground running.”

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Mendocino College announced that its registered nursing program is ranked as one of the best in California.

A No. 8 ranking from among the 131 programs reviewed by www.RegisteredNursing.org places the program among the elite nursing schools in the state.

“Ranking within the top 50 programs is an honor and being selected in the top 10 is a remarkable accomplishment which reflects the commitment, dedication, and ability of our graduates and the expertise of our nursing department,” said Superintendent/President Arturo Reyes.

The Mendocino College nursing program has grown accustomed to success.

It has boasted 100 percent first-time pass rates of the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX-RN, by their students for the past three out of four years.

This achievement could not have been possible without strong leadership, an exceptional team of instructors, and highly motivated students.

The ranking process assesses nursing programs by several factors, but the primary criteria is the 1st time NCLEX-RN exam pass rates from past and present years.

The NCLEX-RN is a required exam that measures the competencies needed to perform as an entry-level Registered Nurse. It must be passed before a nurse receives a license to practice.

Nursing schools considered in this ranking include community colleges, University of California, and California State University Registered Nursing programs. Mendocino College ranked above California State University, Sacramento; California State University, Channel Islands; California State University, San Marcos; University of California, San Francisco; Sacramento City College; California State University, Long Beach; California State University, Chico; California State University, Los Angeles; San Diego State University; Santa Rosa Junior College; University of San Diego; San Jose State University; and numerous other programs. All nursing programs and their rankings may be viewed at www.registerednursing.org .

Mendocino College currently offers a two-year Registered Nursing Program and an LVN to RN Bridge Program.

Students who successfully complete the program are awarded the Associate of Science Degree in nursing and are eligible to sit for the California State Board of Registered Nursing licensing exam.

For more information about the Mendocino College nursing program, call 707-467-1018 or visit www.mendocino.edu/department/nursing.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of an armed man who was fatally shot by a deputy in Nice on Monday.

Jason Richard Sienze, 35, of Madera, was the man who died in the incident, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.

Paulich said Sienze was shot and killed by Deputy Ben Moore after Sienze brandished a handgun at the deputy.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit has been conducting a followup investigation into the events leading up to the officer-involved shooting, Paulich said.

He said Sienze is believed to have committed several felony crimes in the hour leading up to the shooting.

Sienze had ties to Lake County and had been here for the past two months. Detectives determined Sienze also had a history of thefts and felony assault, Paulich said.

At approximately 11:40 a.m. Monday a male fitting Sienze’s description was observed by witnesses in the area of Marin Street in Nice acting strangely and talking to himself. A 2003 Chrysler Sebring that has been linked to Sienze was located wrecked and abandoned in the area of Buckingham Way, Paulich said.

Paulich said that at approximately 11:42 a.m. a male fitting Sienze’s description was seen in the 3000 block of Highway 20 knocking on doors and asking for money. It was reported that he was acting strangely and talking about going back to prison.

Sienze is believed to be the suspect of a burglary that occurred in the 3000 block of Highway 20. Four firearms that included one handgun and a 1987 black Chevy pickup were stolen, Paulich said.

Then, at approximately 11:54 a.m. a male fitting Sienze’s description – who was driving the black Chevy pickup that had been stolen from the residence on Highway 20 – was contacted by a concerned citizen who lived on Nice Road, Paulich said.

Paulich said the male driving the pickup pointed a handgun at the concerned citizen and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. That pickup was later located off the road at the end of Nice Road.

Sienze then went to another residence on Nice Road where he forced entry into the residence. There was a female with a young child inside the residence. Paulich said the female retreated to the bathroom with her young child and locked the door.

Sienze took keys from the residence and used the keys to steal a 2006 Ford F-350 pickup. Paulich said Sienze drove the stolen truck down a hillside to Lakeview Drive.

Paulich said Sienze was contacted by law enforcement personnel in the area of Lakeview Drive and Burpee Drive.

Sienze brandished a handgun at Deputy Moore who then fired several rounds from his rifle at Sienze, killing him, Paulich said.

Paulich said Moore has been employed with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for 12 years as a correctional officer and deputy sheriff.

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information regarding Sienze and his activities in Lake County are asked to contact Det. Jerry Pfann at 707-262-4236 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The district attorney said this week that he will not seek the death penalty for the man who killed his own father and a friend, shot a woman and a California Highway Patrol officer, and shot at several others in an October shooting rampage.

Alan Leroy Ashmore, 61, of Clearlake Oaks is facing 21 felony counts, a misdemeanor and two dozen special allegations for the shootings, gas station robbery and setting two wildland fires that occurred on the morning of Oct. 23.

Among the special allegations is one for multiple homicides, which District Attorney Don Anderson told Lake County News in a previous interview makes Ashmore eligible for the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole if he is convicted.

However, this week, Anderson told Lake County News, “We will not be pursuing the death penalty.”

Anderson said of Ashmore, “He’s an old man,” who has very little criminal background before the shootings.

Ashmore is charged with killing his 85-year-old father, Douglas Ashmore, and his longtime friend, 64-year-old Richard Eugene Braden, as well as shooting Cantra Hoeck in the foot.

CHP Officer Steven Patrick arrived at the scene and met with witnesses who told him about the shootings, Anderson said.

Patrick drove on and saw Ashmore’s SUV at the intersection of Anchor Village and Keys Boulevard. Anderson said Patrick got out of his car, and that’s when Ashmore shot at him with a shotgun.

Anderson said the shotgun slug ricocheted off the CHP car’s door frame and hit Patrick’s bulletproof vest in the abdominal region.

Despite being injured by the slug’s impact, Patrick got back in his car and joined the pursuit that ultimately captured Ashmore. Patrick’s commander, Lt. Hector Paredes, has called Patrick’s actions heroic.

During the time he was at large, Ashmore shot at a number of other individuals, robbed a gas station and led authorities on a chase in which he lit two wildland fires before surrendering at a roadblock on High Valley Road.

In November Ashmore entered a not guilty plea in the case.

He was back in court on Jan. 30, at which point Anderson said his preliminary hearing was set for Feb. 22.

Anderson said the last of the sheriff’s office investigative reports have come in on the case, and they’re about an inch and a half thick.

He said the charges against Ashmore so far remain the same, but Anderson said his staff will be doing “heavy review” of the case as they prepare for the preliminary hearing and trial.

Anderson said he had considered taking the case to a criminal grand jury, but has so far decided not to pursue that avenue, at least not yet.

“We’re not going to do the grand jury as long as the prelim goes within a reasonable amount of time,” Anderson said.

Andrea Sullivan is Ashmore’s attorney.

“We’re ready to go,” she said in looking ahead at the preliminary hearing.

“There’s a lot of witness statements and a lot of reports,” she said, with a total of about a dozen witnesses and multiple crime scenes to take into consideration.

“From the defense point of view, the preliminary hearing is probably one of the easier parts so it, because we’re not obligated to put any testimony on,” Sullivan explained.

Another development in the case is that Patrick returned to work on Jan. 23, exactly three months after he was injured in the shooting.

“He’s back working the road and he’s OK,” said fellow CHP Officer Joe Wind, one of the agency’s public information officers.

Wind said the pool car that Patrick was driving had to have its door replaced due to the damage from the shotgun slug that ultimately hit Patrick.

“He’s very, very lucky,” Wind 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.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall is set to hear the latest on several community projects, including an updated Dollar General store application and a proposal to improve safety on a portion of Highway 175, and will meet candidates for its board.

MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, at the Middletown Community Center, 21256 Washington St.

Meetings are open to the community, and offer the opportunity for additional public input on items not included on the agenda.

On Thursday, under discussion items, MATH will get an update on a $12.5 million Caltrans project to improve safety on a 2.5-mile portion of Highway 175 from Putah Creek to Dry Creek.

Lake County Community Development Director Bob Massarelli will give the group the latest on a resort and residential project on the Guenoc property, the planning department backlog and road repair in Anderson Springs.

There also will be a discussion of Texas-based Cross Development’s pursuit of a use permit modification to reduce the size of the planned Dollar General store at 20900 Highway 29 from 9,100 square feet to 7,225 square feet.

A portion of the meeting will be dedicated to meeting the new MATH Board candidates, who include Joe Sullivan, Courtney VanLeuven, Margaret Greenly and Fairlight Ahlgren.

The MATH Board includes Chair Claude Brown, Vice Chair Linda Diehl-Darms, and members Lisa Kaplan and Gregg Van Oss.

Secretary Fletcher Thornton has stepped down since the January meeting.

MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.

Meetings are subject to videotaping.

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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 Clearlake City Council this week will discuss possible improvements to the city’s ball fields, hold the first reading of an amendment to the city’s commercial cannabis ordinance and discuss use of funds for code enforcement.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

It will follow a special 5 p.m. meeting in the chambers for the council to consider the midyear budget update.

During Thursday’s regular meeting, the council will present a proclamation declaring February as Black History Month.

Under business, the council will discuss possible improvements to the baseball fields and potential expansion of a use agreement with South Shore Little League regarding Haverty Field and the Redbud Field ballfields.

The council also is set to consider awarding a contract for design services for the Highlands Park Improvement Project to Melton Design Group for an amount not to exceed $94,420.

Two public hearings also are on the Thursday agenda.

The first is for the purpose of considering approval of a resolution approving committing Community Development Block Grant Program income funds for code enforcement and an updated program income reuse agreement.

In the second hearing, the council will hold the first reading of a commercial cannabis ordinance amending the existing ordinance, which contained some confusing language and resulted in an urgency ordinance to prevent cannabis businesses on the west side of Highway 53.

Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers and consideration of continuation of a declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9 and ratified by the council on Oct. 12 in response to the Sulphur 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department is alerting the community to a new scam attempting to steal money from people under the guise of parking ticket collection.

The agency said it was notified by a citizen on Monday who had received an email advising that they received a parking ticket with links to download the ticket or pay it online.

The email was listed as from “City Police Department” but it was not a police email address.

“This is a scam, we do not send out email related to parking ticket billing,” the department said in its advisory.

If you receive one of these emails, as shown below, do not open any links but immediately delete it.