HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – The search for a local man who disappeared while fishing in Hidden Valley Lake on Tuesday is set to resume on Thursday morning.

Authorities have so far not released the name of the 42-year-old Hidden Valley Lake man, who went missing at about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

His overturned kayak was found anchored to the bottom of the reservoir, according to sheriff's Sgt. Don McPherson.

Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Marine Patrol, assisted by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and the Northshore Dive Team, searched the lake's northeast end on Wednesday using side-scan sonar.

McPherson said that the search for the man will continue Thursday morning.

He said a cadaver dog is being brought in to begin a search in the morning. To aid the dog’s effectiveness, the dog will ride the lake's waters in a California Department of Fish and Wildlife low-profile boat.

The search, McPherson added, will be in a high-probability area of the lake.

John Lindblom contributed to this report.

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.

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – On Wednesday morning search teams continued efforts to locate a Hidden Valley Lake man reported missing on the community's lake the previous day.

Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue and Sheriff's Marine Patrol were on scene early in the morning to search the lake's northeast end for the man.

Det. Kellie Joseph, who serves as Search and Rescue coordinator, said the 42-year-old man – whose name has not been released – disappeared at approximately 8 a.m. Tuesday while he was fishing.

She said the disappearance initially was reported to Hidden Valley Lake Security Services, which contacted the sheriff's office at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Joseph said Cal Fire initially came out to help search on Tuesday, with Marine Patrol following up. The search was curtailed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, with personnel returning to the scene at around 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Sheriff's Sgt. Don McPherson said searchers found the fisherman's overturned kayak anchored to the bottom of the lake not far from where he had been fishing.

McPherson said they didn't know if the kayak – which held the man's fishing equipment – had tipped over and the anchor fell out, or if he had been anchored when the kayak tipped over.

Along with McPherson's Marine Patrol boat, the search has been joined by two boats from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which brought sophisticated side scan sonar system to assist with the search, McPherson said.

In addition to Santa Clara's team – all of whom are divers – McPherson said the Northshore Fire Dive Team was on scene.

As of shortly after 11 a.m., McPherson said the search was using the side scan sonar, but noted that the divers were prepared to go into the water when needed.

In a post on its Facebook page, the Hidden Valley Lake Association asked that boaters remain off the lake while the search is active.

Elizabeth Larson contributed to this story.

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

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Community organizers have come together to make the site of Upper Lake’s old feed mill accessible for use as a community garden for Lake County residents.

When Bernie and Lynne Butcher, owners of the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Café in Upper Lake, first bought the property in 2005, their intention was to build more affordable housing for the town's residents.

That changed, however, when the Great Recession hit.

“The economy went to hell, and we put that project on hold,” said Bernie Butcher.

Since then, the site of the old feed mill has sat empty and purposeless.

However, since last year, when the couple was approached by a member of the community about the possibility of turning the historic space into a garden for all, its potential has grown exponentially.

“The original plan was to just donate the property,” Bernie Butcher said. “But as we’ve gotten into it, it seems like we’re facilitating it more and more.”

The couple contacted members of the Lake County Hunger Task Force and North Coast Opportunities for support and they came through.

The Lake County Hunger Task Force works with several organizations, groups, gardens and individuals to bring food to the most vulnerable – namely, the elderly and the county’s youngest citizens.

Task force board members Lorrie Gray and Mary Beth Woodward have piloted a backpack program that focuses on making sure children have enough food to eat during the school year, specifically over the weekends when school lunches on which many students depend are no longer available.

According to Gray, the need for access to healthy food is greater than ever since the closure of many of the county’s summer school programs.

Gray hopes that some of the food harvested from the garden during the spring and summer months can be given as fresh food to the program’s beneficiaries. Most of the food donated to the program is nonperishable but also lacks the nutritional value found in fresh fruits and vegetables.

North Coast Opportunities has been serving Mendocino and Lake Counties for 45 years and works extensively to promote community involvement and the advocacy of disadvantaged groups.

They have recently been awarded grants to launch two programs by the US Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which will increase the amount of locally grown food served in school cafeterias.

Last June, Tammy Alakszay, community action coordinator of North Coast Opportunities, and Upper Lake High School students who are members of Upward Bound, removed invasive blackberries and weeds from the plot.

Upward Bound is a federally funded program that encourages high academic performance and prepares first-generation college students to attend and graduate from a university of their choice.

Through the combined efforts of the Butchers, NCO and the Lake County Hunger Task Force, the unused space on the feed mill site has become a vision, not just for people to come and put their hands in the soil, but to help bring fresh healthy food to a growing number of hungry, and to mobilize at-risk youth into giving back.

“I don’t know how many people we will be serving. We don't yet have all the details lined out,” said Gray. “But if we build it they will come. That’s what we’re hoping anyway.”

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, more than 25 percent of Lake County residents live below the poverty line, with Lake County consistently ranking in the bottom 10 of the state's 58 counties.

Data provided by the California Department of Education revealed that in the 2013-14 school year – the most recent available year for reporting – 72.7 percent of Lake County's children qualify for free or reduced price lunches, compared to the state average of 59.4 percent.

In Upper Lake, the elementary and high school districts have 81.1 percent and 84.5 percent of students qualifying for the free or reduced meals programs, respectively, while just down the road in Lucerne, it's 87.4 percent.

After working with NCO and the Lake County Hunger Task Force to erect several dozen elevated planting bins at the beginning of March, the Butchers are ready for the property to open for public use.

The Butchers and other organizers decided to use elevated beds on top of the concrete foundation of the old feed mill, which was left in place after it was demolished.

Woodward praised the idea. “The elevated beds are so much better anyway. These beds eliminate one of our major problems: Gophers! Gophers cannot get in. They are also much better for our backs. It makes gardening much easier. It requires less weeding and another great plus now with the drought is that it does not use as much water as in ground gardens.”

Most community gardens sell shares or smaller plots of the space to members of the community for a minimal price. Members can tend their plot, as they like, taking home whatever produce they have successfully grown by their own hand.

The Upper Lake Community Garden will be different. “Volunteers work in the garden,” said Butcher. “Produce will be distributed by the Hunger Task Force.”

Anyone can be involved in the garden’s development. The hope is that people from all over Lake County will be a part of the garden and that all who participate will benefit from the garden as a whole instead of from individual plots.

“We will donate to the senior centers and food pantries,” Gray said. “All food is weighed as it is harvested, and we keep track of how many pounds we produce over a season.”

There are many visions for the garden. Gray mentioned an orchard of fruit trees in a patch left uncovered by concrete. Woodward pointed to the edge of the foundation where she can imagine a line of tomato plants this summer.

Butcher has his own ideas. “It would be nice to have a garden shed where tools and things could be stored,” he said.

And while many things remain uncertain, one thing is clear: the Upper Lake Community Garden is and will be different from the others.

The plot that once served a historic purpose in the past, now serves a new purpose for the future.

For more information about future plans for the garden contact Tammy Alakszay, community action coordinator, North Coast Opportunities, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , 707-994-4647, Extension 123, www.facebook.com/pages/North-Coast-Opportunities-Inc/100766653323474 , www.ncoinc.org/ ; or Lorrie Gray, board member, Lake County Hunger Task Force, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , 707-277-9227, www.facebook.com/LakeCountyHungerTaskForce .

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

Following the lowest snowpack ever recorded and with no end to the drought in sight, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Wednesday announced actions that will save water, increase enforcement to prevent wasteful water use, streamline the state's drought response and invest in new technologies that will make California more drought resilient.

“Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow. This historic drought demands unprecedented action,” said Gov. Brown. “Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible.”

For more than two years, the state’s experts have been managing water resources to ensure that the state survives this drought and is better prepared for the next one.

Last year, the governor proclaimed a drought state of emergency. The state has taken steps to make sure that water is available for human health and safety, growing food, fighting fires and protecting fish and wildlife.

Millions have been spent helping thousands of California families most impacted by the drought pay their bills, put food on their tables and have water to drink.

The following is a summary of the executive order issued by the governor on Wednesday.

Save water

For the first time in state history, the governor has directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions in cities and towns across California to reduce water usage by 25 percent.

This savings amounts to approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of water over the next nine months, or nearly as much as is currently in Lake Oroville.

To save more water now, the order also will:

– Replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought tolerant landscaping in partnership with local governments;
– Direct the creation of a temporary, statewide consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with more water and energy efficient models;
– Require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to make significant cuts in water use; and
– Prohibit new homes and developments from irrigating with potable water unless water-efficient drip irrigation systems are used, and ban watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

Increase enforcement

The governor’s order calls on local water agencies to adjust their rate structures to implement conservation pricing, recognized as an effective way to realize water reductions and discourage water waste.

Agricultural water users – which have borne much of the brunt of the drought to date, with hundreds of thousands of fallowed acres, significantly reduced water allocations and thousands of farm workers laid off – will be required to report more water use information to state regulators, increasing the state's ability to enforce against illegal diversions and waste and unreasonable use of water under Wednesday’s order.

Additionally, the governor’s action strengthens standards for Agricultural Water Management Plans submitted by large agriculture water districts and requires small agriculture water districts to develop similar plans.

These plans will help ensure that agricultural communities are prepared in case the drought extends into 2016.

Additional actions required by the order include: 

– Taking action against water agencies in depleted groundwater basins that have not shared data on their groundwater supplies with the state;
– Updating standards for toilets and faucets and outdoor landscaping in residential communities and taking action against communities that ignore these standards; and
– Making permanent monthly reporting of water usage, conservation and enforcement actions by local water suppliers.

Streamline government response

The order:

– Prioritizes state review and decision-making of water infrastructure projects and requires state agencies to report to the Governor’s Office on any application pending for more than 90 days.
– Streamlines permitting and review of emergency drought salinity barriers – necessary to keep freshwater supplies in upstream reservoirs for human use and habitat protection for endangered and threatened species;
– Simplifies the review and approval process for voluntary water transfers and emergency drinking water projects; and
– Directs state departments to provide temporary relocation assistance to families who need to move from homes where domestic wells have run dry to housing with running water.

Invest in new technologies

The order helps make California more drought resilient by:

– Incentivizing promising new technology that will make California more water efficient through a new program administered by the California Energy Commission.

The full text of the executive order can be seen below.

040115 Governor's drought executive order

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Rescue teams spent Tuesday evening searching for a missing fisherman in Hidden Valley Lake.

The Hidden Valley Lake Association issued a brief notice on its Facebook page about the situation late Tuesday night.

The association said the search was to continue on Wednesday morning at first light.

Members of Hidden Valley Lake Security Services and the Lake County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue teams are taking part in the search, according to the association.

“Residents/boaters are requested to remain off the lake while the search is active,” the association said.

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Monday released the 2015 Report of Registration that shows a drop in the number of registered voters in Lake County and across the state.

The report shows that 72.7 percent of eligible Californians were registered to vote as of Feb. 10, 2015.

A total of 17,717,936 Californians are currently registered to vote – down 337,847 since the last off-year report, but up 531,405 from two years earlier, Padilla's office reported.

“While registration rates fluctuate year-to-year, the stubborn truth remains that more than a quarter of otherwise eligible California citizens are not registered to vote,” Padilla said. “If we are serious about increasing voter turnout in California, we must do more to increase voter registration in California.”

Secretary Padilla is calling for a new motor voter law that would seamlessly register voters when they get a driver's license or renew one. Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law a similar measure earlier this month.

Padilla called the Oregon law “a model for California.”

In the last two years, the percentage of voters registered statewide with the Democratic Party decreased by 0.7 percent and voters registered with the Republican Party decreased by 0.9 percent.

The number of registered voters with no party preference has increased by 2.7 percent.

In Lake County, the report also showed a decrease in the number of registered voters from February 2013 to 2015, despite an increase in the number of people eligible for voter registration.

In February 2013, out of 46,896 eligible voters, there were 35,132 registered voters, or 74.91 percent, the report showed.

That compares to February 2015, when there were 49,108 eligible voters and 32,965 registered voters, or 67.13 percent voter registration, according to the report.

In Lake County there were voter registration decreases across the major parties, but slight growth amongst the Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties, with the largest increase in the “no party preference” category.

In fact, the 9,027 Lake County voters – or 27.38 percent of overall registered voters – who chose no party preference placed the county No. 4 statewide for registration under that category, following much larger urban counties of San Francisco (31.46 percent), Santa Clara (30.18 percent) and San Diego (27.41).

The February 10, 2015, Report of Registration reflects updates to voter registration rolls in California’s 58 counties, including the removal of registrants who have passed away, moved out of state, or have been determined to be ineligible to vote, as well as the addition of new registrants.

The complete report is at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/voter-registration-statistics/ror-odd-year-2015 .

By law, statewide voter registration updates must occur 60 and 15 days before each general election, and 154, 60 and 15 days before each primary election.

One update is published in each odd-numbered year with no regularly scheduled statewide election.

The registration totals for the six qualified political parties and voters who have no party preference follow are shown in the chart below both for the state and for Lake County, specifically.

033115 State Voter Registation Report Stats

During California Teen Safe Driving Week – April 1 through 7 – the California Highway Patrol, California Office of Traffic Safety and Impact Teen Drivers will continue to emphasize the most deadly impact to teen drivers – reckless and distracted driving.

Moreover, teens will learn that their number one killer is 100-percent preventable, if drivers and passengers make good decisions.

“People are starting to understand that everyday behaviors, such as texting, eating, applying makeup, or reaching for something, can be lethal when done behind the wheel,” said Dr. Kelly Browning, executive director of Impact Teen Drivers. “In a recent study, over 98 percent of people reported that texting behind the wheel is dangerous, but 75 percent still report doing it. The propensity for people to rationalize distracted driving behavior – the ‘not me’ mentality – is a big part of the problem.”

“One of the most difficult tasks for any officer is notifying parents that their teenager was killed in a traffic collision, and it is even worse when the crash was totally preventable,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “Young drivers may not realize the magnitude of the aftermath of a fatal collision, and the emotional toll it takes. It is up to all of us – family, friends, experienced drivers – to set the right example, avoid distractions behind the wheel, and focus on our own driving.”

Research clearly shows that it is the cognitive distraction, not the manual distraction that presents the greatest risk behind the wheel.

“We overestimate our abilities to multitask behind the wheel – the reality is our brain is not set up to do multiple tasks at once and do them well,” said Debbie Hersman, president and chief executive officer of the National Safety Council. “A moment of distraction behind the wheel – even one time – can have devastating consequences.”

Impact Teen Drivers uses a multifaceted approach to educate teens and communities about the dangers of reckless and distracted driving.

Through the What Do You Consider Lethal? program, teens are engaged and empowered to make good decisions behind the wheel and spread the safe driving message to their peers.

In parent-teen workshops, parents are taught that they are the primary influencer of their teen’s driving attitudes and behaviors – and that “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work.

During California Teen Safe Driving Week, law enforcement agencies emphasize the need for a strong combination of education and enforcement to change driving attitudes and behaviors.

They also stress that distracted driving injuries and fatalities are 100-percent preventable.

“We need to make distracted driving socially unacceptable, like driving under the influence of alcohol,” said Rhonda Craft, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “By combining education and enforcement to prevent distracted driving, we will make the roads safer for everyone.”

California Teen Safe Driving Week marks the beginning of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – It's time to get out the brooms and dustpans.

The annual Downtown Lakeport Clean Up Day is planned for Saturday, April 25.

Help keep the town looking bright and clean by joining fellow residents, and property and business owners for a morning of scrubbing, weeding and cobweb dusting.

The cleanup effort will take place from 7 to 11 a.m. Meet at Museum Park on Main Street.

Bring weeding tools, brooms, dustpans, long-handled cobweb dusters and ladders.

There will be complimentary donuts, water and hot beverages for all volunteers, as well as community service certificates for those who need them.

The cleanup is sponsored by the Lakeport Main Street Association.

For more information call the association at 707-263-8843.

It's déjà vu all over again.

For the third time in less than a year, skywatchers in the United States can see a total eclipse of the moon.

The action begins at 3:16 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on the morning of April 4 when the edge of the moon first enters the amber core of Earth’s shadow.

For the next hour and 45 minutes, Earth's shadow will move across the lunar disk, ultimately swallowing the entire Moon at 4:58 a.m. PDT.

East of the Mississippi River, the eclipse will be interrupted by sunrise. People can see only a partial eclipse. West of the Mississippi River, people can see the whole thing, including totality.

“Totality” is when the Moon is fully inside Earth's shadow. Some total eclipses last for more than an hour.

In this case, however, totality spans just 4 minutes and 43 seconds – a result of the fact that the Moon is skimming the outskirts of Earth's shadow rather than passing centrally through it.

The brevity of the eclipse highlights the importance of watching the clock: Be outside no later than 4:58 a.m. PDT to witness the red Moon!

Why red?

A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky.

Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is under way.

You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it's not. The rim of the planet looks to be on fire.

As you scan your eye around Earth's circumference, you're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb when viewed from Earth.

The total eclipse of April 4, 2015, is the third of four total lunar eclipses separated by approximately six months, a phenomenon astronomers call a “tetrad.”

Such a closely-spaced succession of eclipses is a fairly rare occurrence.

The complete list of dates is April 15th, 2014; Oct. 8th, 2014; April 4th, 2015; and Sept. 28th, 2015.

Set your alarm before sunrise on April 4th, and enjoy the show.

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The California Department of Water Resources found no snow whatsoever on Wednesday during its manual survey for the media at 6,800 feet in the Sierra Nevada.

This was the first time in 75 years of early-April measurements at the Phillips snow course that no snow was found there.

Gov. Jerry Brown observed the survey, which confirmed electronic readings showing the statewide snowpack with less water content on Wednesday than any April 1 since 1950.

Attending the survey with Gov. Brown was DWR Director Mark Cowin, who said Californians can expect to receive almost no water from the meager snowpack as it melts in the coming weeks.

“Today’s survey underscores the severity of California’s drought,” he said. “Water conservation must become a way of life during the worst drought in most Californians’ lifetimes.”

Wednesday’s readings are historically significant, since the snowpack traditionally is at its peak by early April before it begins to melt.

Electronic readings on Wednesday found that the statewide snowpack holds only 1.4 inches of water content, just 5 percent of the historical average of 28.3 inches for April 1. The previous low for the date was 25 percent in 2014 and 1977.

The Phillips snow course, which has been surveyed since 1941, has averaged 66.5 inches in early-April measurements there.

Four years ago Wednesday, the measured depth at Phillips was 124.4 inches. The deepest April 1 Phillips measurement was 150.7 inches in 1983, and the lowest previously was 1.04 inches in 1988. 

Electronic readings indicate the water content of the northern Sierra snowpack on Wednesday was 1.4 inches, 5 percent of average for the date. The central and southern Sierra readings were 1.5 inches (5 percent of average) and 1.3 inches (5 percent) respectively.

Wednesday's manual survey was the fourth of the season conducted for the news media at the Phillips snow course just off Highway 50 near Sierra at Tahoe Road 90 miles east of Sacramento.

When DWR conducted the first three manual surveys on December 30, January 29 and March 3, the statewide water content in the snowpack was 50 percent, 25 percent and 19 percent, respectively, of the historical averages for those dates. 

The decline reflects California’s significantly lower precipitation and the warming trend that made this winter the warmest in the state’s recorded history. What precipitation there was fell mostly as rain due to warmer temperatures.

In what were considered normal precipitation years, the snowpack supplied about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and summer. The greater the snowpack water content, the greater the likelihood California’s reservoirs will receive ample runoff as the snowpack melts to meet the state’s water demand in the summer and fall.

Little precipitation has fallen in Northern California since early February.

The eight weather stations there that have been monitored for generations have recorded 31.7 inches since the beginning of Water Year 2015 on October 1. That is 76 percent of the historical average for April 1.

Further south, the five-station San Joaquin index has recorded 13.7 inches, 41 percent of normal for today’s date, and the six-station index in the Tulare Basin is similarly far below normal – 10.3 inches, or 42 percent of the April 1 average there.

California’s historically wettest winter months have already passed, and the drought is now firmly rooted in its fourth consecutive year.
 
The major water supply reservoirs are storing more water this year than last but are still far below the historical average for early March.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal reservoir, now holds 51 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity (67 percent of its historical average for the date).

Shasta Lake north of Redding and the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir, is at 59 percent of its 4.5 million acre-foot capacity (73 percent of its historic average).

San Luis Reservoir, which serves both the SWP and CVP, holds much more water than it did one year ago due to recent water deliveries to the reservoir as a component of the agencies’ drought management strategy.

San Luis holds 66 percent of its 2 million acre-foot capacity (73 percent of normal for the date).

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 70th quilt block on the Lake County Quilt Trail is “Crossed Canoes.”

The location of this quilt block is on the corner of Fourth and Forbes streets in Lakeport at 225 Fourth St.

Professor John Overholser established the Lakeport Academy in 1884 at this site.

Previously used as Lakeport Grammar School, this building was moved from up the hill down to the corner of Fourth and Forbes so a new grammar school could be built up the hill.

Joseph F. Edmunds had a harness shop in the lower story of the first academy.

The new academy had four pupils on opening day, but 16 before the year was over.

Professor Overholser taught alone for two years. Later his assistants were Miss Rooney, Miss Eloise Boone and Miss Sara Haycock.

In 1890 Overholser built a two-story academy west of what is now Del Lago.

The Lakeport Academy continued until the formation of the Clear Lake Union High School District.

In the 1900-01 school year the Lakeport Academy ended and the building was leased to the new school district. Professor Overholser became the science instructor in the new high school.

This building, now owned by Carole and Alexander McGeogh, is a private residence.

Their son, who lives on the property, helped renovate the house. He bought a canoe and enjoys the
benefits of living by the lake.

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

The 4-foot by 4-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 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-Quilt-Trail/187014251326163?fref=ts .

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Sheriff's deputies have arrested two people for a Sunday afternoon stabbing.

Matthew Shaun Williams, 26, of Clearlake, along with a 15-year-old male – whose name was not released due to his age – were taken into custody on Sunday, according to a Monday report from Sgt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Paulich said that at approximately 1:13 p.m. sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the area of Elem Drive in Clearlake Oaks for a reported brandishing of a knife.

While deputies were en route, a second caller reported a physical fight and a possible stabbing, Paulich said.

When deputies arrived they located a male subject who had a puncture wound to his left side. Paulich said the victim was transported by air ambulance to an out-of-county hospital for treatment. 

As of Monday, the victim remained in the hospital in stable condition, Paulich said.

Paulich said deputies located several witnesses in the area who identified Williams as being responsible for stabbing the victim and also identified the juvenile as having been involved in the assault.

Deputies subsequently took both Williams and the teen into custody for felony assault with a deadly weapon, Paulich said.

Williams was booked into the Hill Road Correctional Facility, where he remained in custody on Monday afternoon, with his bail set at $25,000. Paulich said the teenager was booked into the Lake County Juvenile Hall. 

Paulich said the motive for the attack is still unclear. Detectives from the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit are continuing the investigation and interviewing additional people. 

Paulich asked anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.