LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Wednesday the California Highway Patrol arrested a Nevada woman who is believed to have set a fire along Highway 29 near Kelseyville.

The CHP’s Clear Lake Area office said it took Nickelina Rose Williams, 38, of Fallon into custody on Wednesday afternoon.

Williams is the latest in a growing list of women over the past two years to be arrested in Lake County for arson.

At 3:06 p.m. Wednesday, the CHP said officers Brian Hanson and Jacob Hoberg were dispatched to a call of a possible wildland fire on Highway 29 near Bottle Rock Road.

Radio traffic indicated there were multiple callers reporting the roadside fire, which was spreading into a field.

When Hanson and Hoberg arrived in the area, the CHP said the officers located a group of motorists who had stopped and were attempting to extinguish a 10-foot by 10-foot fire just off Highway 29’s south shoulder.

The CHP said Officer Hoberg contacted Nickelina Williams, who was walking southbound on Highway 29 near the fire’s ignition point.

Williams denied any knowledge about the fire, however, the CHP said the investigation determined that Williams possessed a lighter and ignition materials matching materials found at the site of the fire ignition point.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Arson Investigator Joe Baldwin also responded and assisted officers at the scene, the CHP said.

Officer Hanson placed Williams under arrest on suspicion of arson less than an hour after the incident was reported. She was later booked at the Lake County Jail, according to her booking sheet.

Williams remained in custody early Friday, with two felony charges of arson and two misdemeanor arrest warrants listed on her booking sheet. She is being held on no bail for the arson counts.

Booking records show that Williams, whose occupation is listed as “fast food,” is due to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Friday.

The CHP said the case remains under investigation. Any witnesses to the incident are asked to call the Clear Lake CHP Office at 707-279-0103.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Police Department is welcoming another new officer to its ranks.

The agency introduced Officer Katie Hutchins as its newest officer on Thursday.

Hutchins is a local Lake County resident and a graduate of Middletown High School, Lakeport Police reported.

She graduated from the Santa Rosa Junior College Public Safety Training Center Police Academy and went on to work as an officer for the Calistoga Police Department before being hired by the Lakeport Police Department.

Hutchins’ hire makes her the fourth female officer now working for the department. That’s the most in its history.

In addition to a growing number of female officers, the department is becoming more diverse in other ways, adding more Spanish-speaking officers and announcing last week the hire of officer trainee, Nicholas Steward, who is black.

“We are excited to have Katie on our team serving the Lakeport community,” the department said in a Thursday statement.

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. — Clearlake Animal Control has two new dogs joining its adoptable canines this week.

The City of Clearlake Animal Association also is seeking fosters for the animals waiting to be adopted.

Another way to help is through donations. A wish list has been posted at Amazon and on Chewy. For those who wish to shop local and drop off items, call 707-273-9440 to schedule a delivery or donate at the association’s Facebook page.

Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.

Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.

The newest dogs are listed at the top of the following list.

‘Charles’

“Charles” is a male American pit bull terrier with a short black coat.

He is dog No. 5190.

‘Luscious’

“Luscious” is a male Weimaraner with a short gray coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 5201.

‘Andy’

“Andy” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short gray and white coat.

He is dog No. 5150.

‘Bear’

“Bear” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brown coat.

He has been neutered.

He is dog No. 3476.

‘Bella’

“Bella” is a female pit bull mix with a short brindle coat.

She is dog No. 5080.

‘Edgar’

“Edgar” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short black and cream coat.

He is dog No. 5189.

‘Mitzy’

“Mitzy” is a female shepherd mix with a medium-length black and white coat.

She is dog No. 4648.

‘Sassy’

“Sassy” is a female American bully mix with a short black coat.

She has been spayed.

She is dog No. 4602.

‘Tanisha’

“Tanisha” is a female shepherd mix with a short orange and white coat.

She is dog No. 4647.

‘Terry’

“Terry” is a male Dutch shepherd mix with a smooth brindle coat.

He is dog No. 4880.

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. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Thursday it canceled a planned public safety power shut-off for 10 Northern California counties due to changes in the weather forecast.

The shut-off, or PSPS, had been set to start early Thursday and was expected to impact less than 100 Lake County customers, just days after another PSPS had cut power to more than 4,000 Lake County customers.

However, PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said later on Thursday that the company canceled the shut-off in the northern portion of its service area as offshore winds trend weaker.

Originally, as many as 29,000 customers across Northern California had been included in early notifications.

Contreras said the scope decreased to about 5,500 customers in 10 counties — Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Napa, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yolo — before it ultimately was canceled.

However, she said gusty winds in the company’s southern service area could potentially prompt a PSPS impacting about 670 Kern County customers in Kern County. Those customers were notified that a potential shut-off could begin early Friday.

She said customers no longer being considered for a PSPS should be aware that unexpected power outages are still possible for other reasons, including debris or wildlife coming into contact with power lines, Contreras said.

“In those cases, PG&E will work safely to restore power as quickly as possible once we determine the system is safe to re-energize, she added.

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. — The search for a man who went missing during a Sunday kayaking trip ended on Thursday, when his body was discovered on the Clear Lake shoreline.

The body of 28-year-old Dylan Rockne Flanagan of San Francisco was found Thursday morning, said Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Paulich said a Cal Fire crew traveling through the area found Flanagan’s body at 10:40 a.m. on the shoreline in the area of Olson Road in Clearlake Oaks.

Flanagan’s death is the fifth on Clear Lake this year, the sheriff’s office reported. Clearlake Oaks has been the site of the majority of those deaths; in early June, there were three deaths in just one weekend, all offshore of Clearlake Oaks.

Flanagan, who had been staying in a vacation rental in the area of Olson Road and East Highway 20 to celebrate his 28th birthday and a job promotion, had gone kayaking Sunday afternoon but didn’t return, as Lake County News has reported.

The conditions at the time were reported to be windy, with high waves on Clear Lake. Flanagan was reportedly not wearing a life jacket.

What followed was a four-day-long search effort led by the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol, with the assistance of Flanagan’s family, friends and co-workers.

During the course of those search efforts, items believed to have been his — the kayak, a paddle, a flip-flop, a water bottle and a hydration backpack — were located throughout the search area, which had included Widgeon Bay to Rattlesnake Island and Clark’s Island.

The Marine Patrol had been running a grid pattern search and also had used side scan sonar.

Paulich said Flanagan’s autopsy is scheduled for next week.

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. — Four days after he was last seen kayaking on Clear Lake, a missing man remains the focus of an intense search around the Clearlake Oaks area, with items that are believed to have belonged to him being found near where he was last seen.

A kayak, its paddle, a shoe and a life jacket are all clues that have been discovered by the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol, along with family and friends of 28-year-old Dylan Rockne Flanagan, who have been looking for him since he failed to return from a kayaking trip on Sunday evening.

Flanagan, a Southern California native who has been working in the San Francisco area, had been staying at a vacation rental near East State Highway 20 and Olson Road in Clearlake Oaks, said Lt. Rich Ward of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Ward said Flanagan was vacationing in Lake County to celebrate his 28th birthday and a promotion at his job.

For the past two years, Flanagan had been working at the San Francisco-based AppsFlyer, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Late Sunday afternoon, Flanagan headed out on Clear Lake, planning to paddle to Rattlesnake Island in what Ward described as a small but standard 8- to 9-foot kayak.

Flanagan’s girlfriend told the sheriff’s office that Flanagan was last seen at approximately 4:45 p.m. Sunday while out in the kayak. Ward said the information they’ve received so far is that he was not wearing a life jacket.

Ward said Flanagan’s girlfriend had called him on his cellphone shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday, at which point he said he was on the kayak and was OK. But her attempts to contact him afterward resulted in the calls going to voicemail.

Winds were high that day, and when the sheriff’s Marine Patrol began searching that night, they ran into similarly rough conditions, Ward said.

On Sunday night, Marine Patrol searched the immediate area of where Flanagan was last seen, and did a visual search of the shoreline along Highway 20 and the Rattlesnake Island area, Ward said.

But Ward said the rough weather and high winds led to Marine Patrol stopping their search efforts until Monday morning after a Marine Patrol boat began taking in water after 11 p.m.

Just after 9:30 a.m. Monday, Marine Patrol units located a dark green kayak that they believed to be the one Flanagan had used in the area of Widgeon Bay. Ward said there was no evidence of the boat being damaged.

Flanagan’s friends, family and co-workers have been important partners in the search. Ward said they’ve been scouring the area, and his employer hired a private helicopter to help in the search effort.

Ward said seven or eight members of that group went over to Rattlesnake Island and searched it for Flanagan, but didn’t find him.

They did, however, find a kayak paddle they believe he used on the island’s north end on Tuesday, Ward said.

Other clues Ward said they’ve found include a flip-flop, a water bottle and a hydration backpack.

Although initial statements indicated Flanagan wasn’t wearing a life jacket, Ward said a life jacket was found at the entrance of the Keys. He added that such equipment flies out of boats every day on the lake, so its discovery may not be significant in the search for Flanagan.

Because they don’t know where Flanagan might have gone into the water, Ward said the Marine Patrol is running a grid search with three boats from Widgeon Bay to Clark’s Island. Side scan sonar also has been used across two-thirds of that area but so far it hasn’t located him.

Ward said it’s like looking for a needle in a stack of needles.

At the same time, Ward said searchers have continued to encounter challenging conditions, from Clear Lake’s low water levels — the lowest in four decades — to shifting winds.

Based on his knowledge of the lake, Ward surmised that Flanagan’s kayak began taking on water in the rough conditions and he went into the lake between Widgeon Bay and Rattlesnake Island.

That night there were whitecaps due to the winds which could have capsized the boat. At the same time, Ward said Flanagan could have been disoriented as to his location.

“You could be an Olympic swimmer and not make it to shore if you knew where shore was,” said Ward, adding that many people don’t realize the magnitude of the waves on Clear Lake.

The concern now is that the search has moved from rescue to recovery.

Ward said he spoke with Flanagan’s father, who is remaining hopeful, but also realizing that the search is shifting to a recovery operation.

Nonetheless, Ward said, the family indicated its members intend to continue searching for Flanagan for the next few days and will remain in Lake County through the week.

Ward said the sheriff’s office is maintaining its full staff of marine units to continue searching as long as the weather permits.

Flanagan, who is 6 feet, 1 inch tall, was last seen wearing a navy-colored Hawaiian shirt, straw hat and pink shorts.

The sheriff’s office asks that anyone with information about Flanagan contact the Central Dispatch nonemergency line at 707-263-2690.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Clearlake Oaks woman pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that she shot her boyfriend to death in early July, with a judge setting her preliminary hearing for next month.

Tammy Sue Grogan-Robinson, 57, appeared in Lake County Superior Court before Judge J. David Markham via Zoom from the Lake County Jail on Wednesday morning.

Grogan-Robinson is charged with killing 56-year-old Charles Vernon McClelland of Rohnert Park.

Deputies found the body of McClelland, Grogan-Robinson’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, in the Clearlake Oaks residence where she was living on the morning of July 7.

The discovery of McClelland’s body followed Grogan-Robinson going to the hospital to claim she had been sexually assaulted.

An autopsy would later determine that McClelland had been shot multiple times. The District Attorney’s Office said in its charging document that Grogan-Robinson used a handgun in the killing.

Investigators concluded the shooting was unjustified and premeditated, pointing to Grogan-Robinson sending texts to a friend the night before the killing, stating her intention to shoot McClelland.

She was arrested on Aug. 18 in Missouri, where she has family. Authorities extradited her back to Lake County, where she was booked into the jail on Sept. 11.

Concerns about public safety and Grogan-Robinson being a flight risk led Judge Markham to order she be held without bail at a Sept. 28 hearing.

During the brief Wednesday court appearance, attorney Mitch Hauptman — acting on Grogan-Robinson’s behalf — entered not guilty pleas to murder and assault with a firearm, and denied each of the special allegations, which include intentionally discharging a firearm causing death, personal use of a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury.

At Hauptman’s urging, Grogan-Robinson agreed to a time waiver that would not require her preliminary hearing to be held within 30 days of the plea entry.

Instead, the preliminary hearing has been set for 8:15 a.m. Nov. 17, in a department that will be assigned at a Nov. 12 hearing.

Also on Nov. 17, Hauptman is again asking that Grogan-Robinson’s bail be reviewed.

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. — Pacific Gas and Electric said Wednesday night that it has scaled back the size of its planned public safety power shut-off scheduled for early Thursday morning.

The company — which had conducted a public safety power shut-off, or PSPS, on Monday and Tuesday due to high winds — said another shut-off also was being triggered by weather and dry conditions.

Originally, the second shut-off this week, set to start shortly after 12 a.m. Thursday, was to include 29,000 customers in 12 counties.

But by Wednesday night, PG&E said it had scaled back the planned PSPS to about 6,000 customers in 11 counties in response to the incoming weather system, which is weaker than the one earlier this week that prompted the first of the two PSPS events.

Nearly 1,800 Lake County customers originally had been included in the original notifications. PG&E said Wednesday night the number of Lake County customers expected to be impacted had been reduced to 94, of which three are in the Medical Baseline program.

The Lake County customers included in the Thursday PSPS are in the Cobb and Middletown areas, and east of Lower Lake.

In addition to Lake, these are the counties to be impacted in the Thursday PSPS:

Butte: 768 customers, 69 Medical Baseline customers.
Colusa: 553 customers, 38 Medical Baseline customers.
Glenn: 376 customers, 22 Medical Baseline customers.
Kern: 664 customers, 34 Medical Baseline customers.
Napa: 468 customers, 22 Medical Baseline customers.
Shasta: 721 customers, 53 Medical Baseline customers.
Solano: 1,026 customers, 72 Medical Baseline customers.
Sonoma: 127 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers.
Tehama: 1,227 customers, 126 Medical Baseline.
Yolo: 250 customers, 5 Medical Baseline customers.

Due to the small number of Lake County customers, PG&E will not open a community resource center locally.

Information about the PSPS can be found here.

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. — On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Lake County Parks & Recreation will host a community meeting to solicit public input for potential improvements and increased recreational opportunities at Mount Konocti County Park.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the Kelseyville Elementary School Multi-Use Room at 5065 Konocti Road.

“Mount Konocti is not only one of our county’s most definitive landmarks, it offers extraordinary opportunities for outdoor recreation,” said Lake County Public Services Director Lars Ewing. “Views from Wright Peak Summit have long captured the imagination of local residents and visitors alike. We want to build on what Mount Konocti County Park has to offer, and your input will help inform our next steps.”

Those who attend this in-person meeting are strongly encouraged to take appropriate COVID-19 precautions (social distancing; face coverings; hand washing), to ensure all participants can safely engage in this important community discussion.

All residents and people otherwise connected to Lake County are encouraged to respond to the Mount Konocti County Park survey.

Comments, questions and other input can likewise be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Just as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. finished restoring power to 25,000 customers across portions of the state on Tuesday night because of a public safety power shut-off, the company said it is preparing for another possible shut-off beginning early Thursday.

Just over 4,000 Lake County customers — most of them in the south county — were included in the public safety power shut-off, or PSPS, that began early Monday and was completed by Tuesday night.

PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras told Lake County News on Tuesday night that all Lake County customers impacted by the PSPS had their power restored by that point.

After the all clear was called by company meteorologists on Monday night, and before restoring power, PG&E crews patrolled power transmission equipment to look for damage.

PG&E said preliminary data shows at least four instances of weather-related damage and hazards in the PSPS-affected areas, including vegetation on lines.

The company said that wind-caused damage could have resulted in wildfire ignitions had it not de-energized power lines.

While PG&E has completed this latest PSPS, it’s already looking at another.

The company said Tuesday night that it is continuing to monitor another weather system expected to bring dry offshore winds to Northern and Central California.

As a result, it may need to call a second PSPS this week to reduce wildfire risk.

PG&E said it began sending two-day advance notifications on Tuesday to approximately 29,000 customers in small, targeted portions of 19 counties and four tribes who could be affected by this next PSPS, which could begin early Thursday.

An estimated 1,774 Lake County customers — 116 of them in the Medical Baseline program — are expected to be impacted in the next PSPS, which locally could begin between noon and 2 a.m. Thursday.

Those customers are located north of Clearlake Oaks, south and east of Lower Lake, and in the Cobb and Middletown areas.

Three community resource centers — where impacted residents can get water and snacks, charge medical and electronic equipment, and get updates on the outage — are planned for Lake County should the shut-off come to pass.

They will open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the outage, and will be located at the Live Oaks Senior Center, 12502 Foothill Blvd., Clearlake Oaks; Little Red Schoolhouse, 15780 Bottle Rock Road, Cobb; and Twin Pine Casino and Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.

Information about PSPS events can be found here.

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. — The Lake County Planning Commission will meet this week to discuss several cannabis projects, a billboard permit extension and teleconferencing rules.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The agenda is here.

To participate in real-time, join the Zoom meeting by clicking this link.

The webinar ID is 962 4983 4811, the pass code is 138203.

Access the meeting via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,96249834811#,,,,*138203# or dial in at 669-900-6833.

The meeting also can be viewed on the county’s website or Facebook page.

At 9:05 a.m., the commission will consider adoption of the Assembly Bill 361 findings authorizing teleconference meetings during a state of emergency.

At 9:10 a.m., a public hearing will take place to consider the approval of a major use permit sought by Charles Collins and High Caliber Farms.

The project requests three A-Type 3 medium outdoor cultivation licenses and one A-Type 13 self-distribution license for commercial cannabis cultivation and distribution, with 37,466 square feet of canopy on a 78-acre property at 12194 White Rock Canyon Road in Upper Lake.

At 9:15 a.m., the commission will hold a public hearing to consider a request from LaMonica Signs for a five-year extension for a major use permit for an existing billboard at 255 Soda Bay Road in Lakeport.

A public hearing timed for 9:25 a.m. will consider a major use permit sought by Brian D. Pensack and Garrett W. Burdick of Lake Vista Farms LLC for 15 acres of outdoor commercial cannabis canopy area within five fenced cultivation areas, up to 25.8 acres, at 2050 and 2122 Ogulin Canyon Road in Clearlake.

The cultivation accessory items include portable toilets, trash enclosures, vegetative waste storage area, 2,500-gallon water storage tanks at each cultivation area, and Conex shipping containers and/or 8-foot by 8-foot storage sheds or similar for storage of pesticides, fertilizers, and hazardous materials, with an onsite nursery within an existing barn.

The commission also will hold a public hearing, timed for 9:20 a.m., for an amendment to an original use permit for Coast Oak and Carl Tharp at 7560 Highway 29, Kelseyville.

The project proposes to convert 14,080 square feet of mixed light commercial cannabis cultivation to 15,000 square feet of outdoor commercial cannabis cultivation.

Also on Thursday, the commission is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. to consider reimbursement of up to $1,008 for out of county travel to a conference hosted by the California County Planning Commissioners Association in Eureka, which will be held Oct. 15 and 16.

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’s agenda for this week includes discussing issues about the downtown and upcoming area projects.

MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, via Zoom. The meeting is open to the public.

To join the Zoom meeting click on this link; the meeting ID is 935 1671 5770. Call in at 669-900-6833.

At 7:10 p.m., the group will get an update from Supervisor Moke Simon, followed by a discussion at 7:25 p.m. of the trash problem in downtown Middletown.

Laurel Bard of the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center will give an update on upcoming area projects at 7:40 p.m. and Monica Rosenthal will lead a discussion ahead of a vote on a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. grant for Lake County’s municipal groups at 7:55 p.m.

At 8:10 p.m., there will be public comment for items not on the agenda, followed by an 8:20 p.m. discussion regarding moving back to in-person meetings.

The final item on the agenda, timed for 8:25 p.m., is about agenda items for the Nov. 11 meeting.

The MATH Board includes Chair Rosemary Córdova, Vice Chair Monica Rosenthal, Secretary Lisa Kaplan, and Ken Gonzales and Paul Baker.

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.

For more information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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.