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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday will hold a special meeting with the city planning commission to discuss marijuana rules before holding its regular meeting.

The council and commission will meet beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, in the council at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

The council members and commissioners will hold a joint workshop to review possible amendments to the Lakeport Zoning Ordinance concerning the development of procedures for the allowance of commercial cannabis uses within the city.

The council’s regular meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

During the meeting, the council will present a proclamation designating the month of October 2017 Domestic Violence Awareness Month to representatives of the Lake Family Resource Center.

Police Chief Brad Rasmussen also will introduce new Lakeport Police Officer Casey DeBolt.

Under council business, Public Works Director Doug Grider will take to the council a proposed resolution approving the city’s SB 1 – or Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 – project list for fiscal year 2017-18, and amending the city budget to account for anticipated Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account funds in the amount of $26,923.

Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on Sept. 19; the Sept. 25 warrant register; adoption of the resolution accepting construction of the Giselman Street Overlay Project by Team Ghilotti Inc. and authorize the filing of the notice of
Completion; adoption of a resolution reorganizing the makeup of the Lakeport Economic Advisory Committee; authorization for staff to close portions of N. High Street and Lakeshore Blvd at Sayre Street, conduct traffic controls at other intersections along the route between the 1800 block of N. High St., and the LUSD campuses on Lange Street on Oct. 4, 2017.

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.

100317 Lakeport City Council-Lakeport Planning Commission joint meeting by LakeCoNews on Scribd

100317 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd

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The replica saber-toothed cat, California's state fossil, at the Courthouse Museum in Lakeport, Calif. Photo by Kathleen Scavone.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – When we hear of a bear or mountain lion sighting here in Lake County, we get excited – but place yourself firmly in your “time machine” and picture a creature such as the saber-toothed cat of yesteryear.

OK, you'd need to travel back farther than yesteryear – more like 15,000 years, and since the saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis (californicus) was around for about 42 million years, that would have placed the saber-toothed cat in the Eocene epoch to the Pleistocene epoch.

According to E. Breck Parkman, RPA, senior state archaeologist, California State Parks, Bay Area and Sonoma-Mendocino Coast Districts who is an award-winning archaeologist with over 30 years of experience, the area in California's North Bay in the late Pleistocene era was "grander than anything imaginable."

He compares the land then “to the famous Serengeti Plains of East Africa as described in early historic times.”

Parkman hypothesized that a great grassy valley lay where the bay is now located, and that there was an array of grazing wildlife, including mammoth, mastodon, camel, horse, bison and other herbivores.

There were also ferocious predators like saber-tooth cat, short-faced bear, lions and more. The flying exotics, such as huge vultures and condors, cast their shadows over the prairie then, as well.

An information board in the Courthouse Museum where the replica skull of the saber-toothed cat is found, states, "The extinction of the saber-toothed cats may have been related to the decrease of the larger animals on which they preyed. There is some evidence that the mastodon was the favorite meal of some later-day species of the saber-toothed cats; both lasted in North America only until the end of the Pleistocene. Saber-toothed cats are the most famous California Ice Age fossil. Smilodon californicus was one of the last surviving members of the formidable felines called saber-toothed cats."

It is believed that the diet of saber-toothed cats also included other enormous herbivores of the era such as rhinos and elephants, when they would pounce upon their prey's throat or abdomen. Their specially adapted long teeth would then pierce blood vessels to hasten the kill- perfect for stabbing and slicing.

According to California's Department of Conservation, the saber-toothed cat fossil became designated as the state fossil in January of 1974. Information found on their www.CA.gov Web site states, "This species was one of the last surviving members of a long ancestry of formidable felines called saber-toothed cats."

Saber-toothed cats were thought to be about the size of today's African lion, but twice as heavy. Sabertooths had relatively light hind limbs, with muscular, well-built and exceedingly powerful front limbs.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also formerly wrote for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake is making progress on addressing illegal dump sites, an effort which has been aided by a partnership with a community group.

The city recently partnered with Citizens Caring 4 Clearlake, or CC4C, to tackle a vacant property at 3704 Koloko St. that had become an illegal dump site, according to City Manager Greg Folsom.

Folsom said volunteers from CC4C began sorting recyclables from the trash-covered property in early September.

On Sept. 14 and 18, Clearlake Code Enforcement and Public Works personnel removed the recycling and loaded trash into dumpsters with a backhoe, Folsom said.

CC4C volunteers continued working on the site until completing the clean up this week, according to Folsom.

“The amount of garbage on the site was just insane,” said Code Enforcement Supervisor Lee Lambert. “We assisted in removing over 60 cubic yards of garbage, 61 tires, 2,000 pounds of scrap metal, 2,400 pounds of scrap wood, a bunch of appliances and other junk, not to mention three abandoned vehicles that we had towed away using Abandoned Vehicle Abatement funds.”

“This is the third project where the city has partnered with Citizens Caring 4 Clearlake to make a significant improvement to an area,” said Folsom. “This particular project was in the middle of a neighborhood that is now tremendously nicer. We could not have achieved this without the support of CC4C and the great work they are doing to clean up our city.”

More information on volunteering with Citizen’s Caring 4 Clearlake is available at www.cc4cl.org/.

An illegal dump site at 3704 Koloko St. in Clearlake, Calif., shown on Thursday, September 28, 2017, after city employees and volunteers with Citizens Caring 4 Clearlake completed cleanup. Photo courtesy of the city of Clearlake.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – A festival filled with German culture, food and wiener dogs will take place in downtown Lakeport this weekend.

Oktoberfest 2017 will take place on three blocks of Main Street on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Oktoberfest is featuring German music from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Beer Garden and on Main Street.

The Clear Lake Clikkers will perform at 11:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. featuring dances to German music.

The street dance beginning at 4 p.m. will have the talents of Jimi Z’s band until 7 p.m.

Jimi Z and Golden Gate Meat Co. are again sponsoring a $1,000 cash giveaway with the winners being drawn at 6:30 p.m. at the bandstand on Main Street. Tickets are $5 each or four tickets for $20.

A variety of arts, crafts and food vendors will be staged along Main Street all day. Unique offerings for early holiday gift selections will be found and German food choices as well.

ScramBallz, which was featured at the Lake County Fair, will be on hand with fun for kids and adults.

Also during the day, Oktoberfest offers such fun activities as the doggy costume contest at 1 p.m., open to all breeds with a first place cash price.

A highlight is the World Famous Dachshund Derby Race, open only to dachshunds, sponsored by Rainbow Ag in Lakeport.

A “beer pong” competition sponsored by the Clearlake Club will be held in the intersection of Second and Main streets. Also appearing during the day will be the Amazing Divas.

Oktoberfest costume contests for adults and children will be held at the stage on Main Street between Second and Third streets at 3 p.m. Cash prizes will be awarded to best adult couple, best adult and best child (ages 0 to 12) costumes.

The Oktoberfest official emcee is Bert Hutt a member of the Lake County Chamber Board of Directors is an accomplished thespian/musician who will entertain and inform throughout the day.

Of course an Oktoberfest worth its weight in gold can’t happen without lots of beer, and there will be plenty available.

Tasting tickets will be sold for a large variety of microbrews during the afternoon on Third Street, where domestic beers and wonderful Lake County wines will also be offered for sale. O’Meara Bros. Brewing Co. and Eagle Distributing are sponsors of the beer garden.

For more information visit www.oktoberfest-lakeport.com or contact the Lake County Chamber at 707-263-5092.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control continues to offer a big group of working dogs to new homes this week.

This week’s available dogs include mixes of cattle dog, Chihuahua, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, pit bull and terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

This female terrier mix is in kennel No. 3, ID No. 8515. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Terrier mix

This female terrier mix has a short white coat.

She already has been altered.

Shelter staff said she is deaf.

She is being offered for a low adoption fee.

Find her in kennel No. 3, ID No. 8515.

This male Chihuahua is in kennel No. 5, ID No. 8558. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male Chihuahua

This male Chihuahua has a short tricolor coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 8558.

This male terrier is in kennel No. 6, ID No. 8573. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Male terrier

This male terrier has a short brown coat.

He’s in kennel No. 6, ID No. 8573.

This male German Shepherd is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 8551. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a long black and tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 8551.

This male Doberman Pinscher-cattle dog mix is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 8478. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Doberman Pinscher-cattle dog

This male Doberman Pinscher-cattle dog mix has a short blue, black, tan and white coat.

He’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 8478.

This female adult cattle dog is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 8480. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female cattle dog

This female adult cattle dog has a short red coat.

She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 8480.

This female cattle dog is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 8479. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female cattle dog

This female cattle dog has a short black and white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 28, ID No. 8479.

This female cattle dog is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 8464. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female cattle dog

This female cattle dog has a short brown coat.

She’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 8464.

This male cattle dog-hound mix is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 8462. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Cattle dog-hound mix

This male cattle dog-hound mix has a short gray coat.

He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. 8462.

This female cattle dog is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 8476. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female cattle dog

This female cattle dog has a short red coat.

She’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 8476.

This female Labrador Retriever in kennel No. 33, ID No. 8477. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Female Labrador Retriever

This female Labrador Retriever has a short black coat.

She’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 8477.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A long-running case involving the former treasurer of the Middletown Colts Youth Football and Cheer Program has resulted in a restitution ruling that the defense attorney in the case called “off the wall” and is expected to result in an appeal.

Retired Judge David Herrick has ordered Carol Outen of Middletown to repay approximately $48,006 in the grand theft case filed against her in 2014.

Outen, the football and cheer program’s treasurer for 12 years, pleaded no contest in the case in January 2015 and the following month was sentenced to three years’ felony probation, 12 days in jail, which was fulfilled with credit for six days at the time of her arrest and other credits, and was ordered to pay restitution.

Outen’s case has sparked deep divisions amongst many community members, some vilifying her and others defending her.

The divisions seem only to deepen when considering the complex nature of the case, the varying viewpoints of what occurred and the fact that the case involves a popular youth sports league, which is reported to serve more than 100 south county children.

Detractors say she hurt children and the community, violating trust.

Friends say Outen, who grew up in Middletown, has over the years paid to help cover the costs for children who couldn’t ordinarily have afforded to participate and even covered the costs of their equipment.

Both Outen and her attorney, Angela Carter, acknowledge that she had wrongly moved money around between the program’s accounts and her own personal business accounts, which Outen explained was a way of floating checks to keep her business afloat during the recession.

“Carol entered a guilty plea in this case because she knew that moving the money around was not legal,” said Carter, adding that Outen made an early admission in the case to that fact.

Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who handled the case, said the grand theft occurred in 2010 and 2011, based on the investigation.

“It took us a long time to do the restitution hearing,” said Abelson. “It’s probably the most complicated financial case I have ever dealt with.”

Abelson said Outen was moving money in between the football team’s account and her husband’s business account and her personal account on a daily basis in order to cover payments and avoid bounced checks.

She said Outen also would put money back, although she said a lot of cash from the gate and snack shack didn’t appear to have been deposited.

In an interview with Lake County News, Outen said that she had been depressed, wasn’t paying bills and was “letting things go” during the time period for which she was prosecuted because she was afraid she was going to lose her livelihood and her residence.

She admitted she was floating checks in order to save her home and business, All Weather Heating and Cooling, during the continuing impacts of the recession, which Lake County was still experiencing at the time.

She said she was not conducting the activities during football season.

“In my head, I knew I was doing wrong,” she said.

Outen said she was not putting the league in jeopardy or taking from the football team. “That’s how I justified it to myself. Still wrong.”

She acknowledged that the league did not have internal controls in its handling of finances. She said other people besides herself had access to cash, but she doesn’t think anyone stole anything. However, she pointed out that she didn’t have control of the money all the time.

“We ran it pretty stupid,” she said.

Nord, who would become the chief witness against Outen in the case, said she discovered the situation and ultimately reported it to law enforcement.

“October of 2011 is when information just kind of fell into our laps,” Nord explained.

Nord’s husband was contacted by a man he knew who runs the Rohnert Park print shop where shirts and sweatshirts are printed for the team. He was told a check for $3,500 written by Outen had bounced, and that she was not returning his calls.

The man called back the following month, saying another check had bounced, Nord said.

Nord said she went to the organization’s board of directors to ask questions and was told that no one was allowed to look at the group’s books.

She said she started calling vendors and finding out bills weren’t being paid.

Outen said Nord confronted her about the transfers between accounts after Nord did some research and found that a bill to Riddell wasn’t paid on time.

“We had a meeting and I came clean with her, telling her that I had been floating checks back and forth but never took any of (the) Colts’ money,” Outen said.

In May 2012, Nord – whose daughter is a cheerleader and husband has been a coach – took over as treasurer after Outen was relieved of her duties and was handed the group’s records.

Outen said she gave the league $6,700 when she left the treasurer’s position, funds that aren’t accounted for in the recent restitution ruling. Abelson also reported that Outen had paid the league back about $6,000.

Nord said Outen had no paper trail, so she went through and reconstructed what Outen’s checkbook register should look like. As part of that process, she concluded that money was being moved around on a daily basis.

Nord said that in a six-month period of time Outen wrote $40,000 in checks. She could find no deposits for snack shack and gate receipts, or registration fees.

The first season she was treasurer, Nord said the league had to do a lot of fundraising and get sponsors, a process that took two more seasons to complete.

During that time they also worked through the process of buying all new equipment – uniforms and helmets – because she said they were told that none of the helmets would pass safety inspections.

Nord alleged that Outen didn’t pay the league’s insurance the last year she was treasurer. “They were not covered by any insurance in the 2011 football season.”

In response to the issues of equipment and insurance, Outen said she had not purchased inferior equipment for the children, and that she had gotten advice from a local football coach on the best helmets to purchase, which she said she had reconditioned as required.

Regarding the insurance, Outen said they were denied insurance for a year due to a number of people using it as their primary insurance, resulting in numerous claims.

Outen provided Lake County News with emails and a spreadsheet from an insurance company confirming that medical coverage was denied to the league because of 37 claims – amounting to just over $6,000 – submitted by players in the 2010 policy year.

“I had a moral obligation to say something when I knew what was going on,” Nord said of her reasons for reporting the case to authorities.

Nord credited then-sheriff’s Det. Doug Dahmen with getting the criminal case against Outen moving forward.

Outen said Dahmen contacted her and asked her if she would be willing to come and speak with him without counsel. “It said yes as I had nothing to hide.”

She said she visited him and answered his many questions truthfully. “He told me that he didn't know if it would go anywhere but if it had he would contact me again since I was so willing to go talk with him and allow me to turn myself in.”

Outen said she heard nothing for months – until the day Dahmen and two deputies showed up at her home to arrest her. She said Dahmen refused to tell her why she was being arrested.

She said the case would drag on for months, with the District Attorney’s Office saying it didn’t have the needed discovery. Outen said she called Dahmen, who told her to only speak to her attorney. He later called her back and said a plea bargain was being offered and if she didn’t take it he would slap her with a felony for every check she wrote back and forth.

At that point, Outen said she agreed to take the plea – against the judgment of her attorney at the time, Stephen Carter – and accept punishment for floating the checks.

Making the case for restitution

Abelson said Nord was the main witness for the restitution hearing which took place this summer and led to Judge Herrick’s ruling at the end of August.

“It was really hard to figure out what the actual loss was,” said Abelson.

The prosecution presented Nord’s reconstruction of the records during the time period of the investigation. Abelson said Nord kept meticulous records, so they relied on her estimates and figures to come to a projection of what was lost.

In her victim’s impact statement for the league, Nord alleged that the league lost $117,000.

Carter hired forensic Certified Public Accountant Jeffrey Mallan of Santa Rosa to assess what Outen owed the league in preparation for the process of determining the restitution amount.

Mallan has nearly 30 years of experience in accounting, having formerly served as accounting and finance officer for McClellan Air Force Base, worked for the Department of Defense as well as a number of prestigious accounting firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hemming Morse Inc. He also has experience giving testimony in both civil and criminal cases.

As part of his testimony at the hearing, Mallan presented his assessment, explaining to Lake County News in an interview that he wasn’t hired to investigate the case as a whole, merely to quantify the monies taken for the purpose of arriving at a figure for restitution.

Pointing to the league’s continuing lack of internal controls, which presents an issue with tracking cash, Mallan said, “There is no way to recalculate it correctly.”

So, unlike the numbers Nord provided and that the prosecution presented, Mallan didn’t attempt to calculate a possible cash total, explaining there wasn’t adequate information to correctly do it.

The prosecution had presented a gate receipt schedule from 2012 to 2015 that showed an upward trend of $7,300 to $9,000. However, Mallan said, “To get an actual number, there's nothing to back it up.”

He also questioned the difference between the 2012 to 2015 time period used to calculate the restitution estimate and the actual period for which Outen was prosecuted, pointing out that those later years were economically better years than 2010 and 2011 and the prosecution’s calculation of what was lost doesn’t take that into account.

He said the lack of internal controls makes it hard to know if there was any “pillage” between what was taken at the gate or the snack shack and what was counted at the end of the night.

“I think they need to beef up their internal controls at these games,” he said, suggesting a cash register at the snack shack and counters and tickets at the gate.

He said he didn’t work off of the league’s numbers. Rather, “My report is based on the bank statements, the actual information that was presented,” along with receipts.

Mallan’s report shows a cumulative balance of money taken and repaid in chronological order. The total funds paid to herself or her business came to approximately $61,976.44, with $934.50 in bank charges incurred, for a subtotal of $62,910.94, according to Mallan’s tabulations.

He said reimbursements to the league totaled $63,487.45, and concluded that Outen not only repaid the league fully but overpaid by approximately $576.51.

Based on his examination of the available financial records, Mallan wrote, “Carol Outen would appear to borrow funds from MYFL and then reimburse the MYFL for those borrowed funds during the period from May 2010 through January 2012. In addition, Carol Outen appears to have made purchases on behalf of the MYFL, using cash that she held and with funds from her and her husband’s company. Therefore, Carol Outen does not appear to owe any further monies to the Middletown Youth Football League. “

Without internal controls, there is no way to properly track cash and no way for Mallan to quantify it, he said.

As a result, he acknowledged there always will be a question out there about the amounts involved and what Outen owed.

Mallan said he’s done a number of embezzlement cases. “Usually, all I see is money being taken,” he said.

However, this time, he saw money being taken and then being paid back.

“This is misappropriation of assets, clearly,” he said. “There’s no denying that.”

He added, “Usually, an embezzler is not going to pay it back.”

Judge weighs testimony, gives ruling

During his late August ruling, Herrick took in the testimony from Mallan and Nord, Abelson said.

Playing a part in his final ruling was Herrick’s conclusion that Outen deposited little cash – Abelson said only about $2,000 for the two-year period covered by the investigation – and so he accepted Nord’s estimates of how much cash should have been brought in based on Nord’s records during her time as treasurer.

Abelson said Herrick came up with the amount he believed the league should have earned, discounted it about 5-percent for inflation and came up with the number of $48,006.

“The judge made an off-the-wall decision that was not based on the facts that he was presented with,” said Carter.

Carter said Herrick had noted errors in Nord’s accounting and disregarded Mallan’s testimony.

“I’m going to encourage Carol to file an appeal,” Carter said.

Outen said Herrick’s ruling didn’t account for Costco receipts she presented for items she had purchased for the league, the fact that the league had changed colors and so had a big boost in revenue when people bought new uniforms or the amount of fundraising that is now being done, as opposed to the very little being done when she was on the board.

It also didn’t take into account that she gave waivers to children to help them afford to play in the league.

As part of that overall amount, Outen said the judge said she owed the league $12,000 for registration fees – in a league of only 120 children.

Carter said the hearing itself was like a football game, with cheering and yelling in court when things didn’t go Outen’s way.

She said she also was confronted and harassed by a community member outside the hearing.

Outen said she’s been ridiculed, threatened and harassed over the last few years, but she doesn’t want to create more drama, that she wants it to be over.

“Carol suffered a lot of harassment and deep regret over this case,” said Carter. “But she did the right thing nonetheless.”

She added, “I’ve become friends with her over the course of my representation and know her to be a kind, sweet, gentle person. I guess any amongst us in the community who have never done anything wrong or made any mistakes in our lives can throw the first stone.”

On the other side, Nord said people have attacked her for doing what she thought was right by bringing the matter to law enforcement.

While Carter felt the ruling went too far, Nord felt it didn’t go far enough based on her estimate of the league’s total loss.

Abelson said the goal is to get the terms of Outen’s probation modified and extended to cover the time period in which she’s paying the restitution amount. Outen has been on probation since February of 2015, and it’s set to end this coming February.

Outen said she doesn’t yet know how much money she will be required to pay on a monthly basis or the possible impact on her probation.

The process of paying restitution or moving forward with changes to Outen’s probation is likely to be stalled with the filing of an appeal.

One thing that may strengthen Outen’s chances at succeeding in seeking an appeal of the ruling is Dahmen’s involvement in the case.

Dahmen’s performance in the investigation of a Clearlake Oaks home invasion investigation that occurred in 2013 led to questions about the truthfulness of statements he made to his superiors at the sheriff’s office and to the District Attorney’s Office about failing to follow protocols in turning over evidence that proved the innocence of a suspect.

The District Attorney’s Office previously confirmed that Dahmen was placed on the “Brady list” of law enforcement members who have credibility issues before he left the county’s employment in April 2015, as Lake County News has reported.

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.
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ANDERSON SPRINGS, Calif. – Community members and officials from all levels of government gathered in Anderson Springs on Saturday morning to celebrate another significant step forward in the rebuilding of south Lake County after the Valley fire.

State Sen. Mike McGuire hosted the groundbreaking event for the new Anderson Springs wastewater system and the beginning of the process to rebuild dozens of new homes in a ceremony at the Anderson Springs Recreation Center.

Numerous dignitaries from local, state and federal agencies were on hand, including Congressman Mike Thompson, Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Jodi Traversaro of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Cal Fire Northern Region Chief Scott Upton, Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg, Sheriff Brian Martin, Supervisor Rob Brown, Supervisor Moke Simon, Special Districts Administrator Jan Coppinger, as well as State Water Board staff, Anderson Springs’ homeowners group, and representatives of numerous other groups and agencies that have served in the response and recovery.

The heartfelt event marked another step in Lake County’s ongoing recovery from the Valley fire, which began on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015.

The third-most damaging fire in California history, the Valley fire that burned more than 76,000 acres and close to 1,300 homes, and resulted in four confirmed fatalities.

Southern Lake County continues to show the ravages of the fire. The hills above the recreation center are gray and dotted with the remains of thousands of still-standing blackened trees, and the rebuilding process across the fire area has been plagued by delays and struggles for survivors.

However, hope and resilience were the themes of the day.

“This morning is truly a milestone event,” said McGuire.

Thanks to the efforts of McGuire and cooperation between the county of Lake, the state of California and the federal government, construction of the $10.5 million new wastewater system is set to begin soon. The Board of Supervisors is expected to award the bid for the project at its Oct. 17 meeting.

The wastewater system will allow 119 homes to be rebuilt that otherwise couldn’t be and will also allow full buildout of the community’s 350 lots, McGuire said.

Another $7.2 million in low- or no-interest CalHome loans will allow dozens of homeowners to rebuild, plus there is another $4.5 million from Housing and Community Development for infrastructure, according to McGuire.

Aguiar-Curry said during the event that she is seeking another $5 million in relief funds for the county.

Anderson Springs – with the exception of a fraction of its homes – was devastated by the Valley fire.

At one point, the fire was burning so fast and hot that it was consuming 48 acres a minute, McGuire said.

“If hell existed on Earth, it was the Valley fire,” he said.

It proved to be one of Lake County’s toughest moments, but McGuire and the many others present on Saturday would agree that the disaster also brought people together and showed the county at its resilient best – neighbors helping each other, strangers reaching out to lend a hand – and creating as significant a story as the fire itself.

The county’s unshakable spirit, said McGuire, is what led to the achievement in efforts to rebuild Anderson Springs, a key achievement in the overall recovery.

He also was quick to acknowledge that the process has been neither easy nor quick, and that there is a lot of work still to be done.

Congressman Mike Thompson said the Valley fire, for all of its devastation, didn’t put a nick in Lake County’s spirit.

He recalled returning from the East Coast to respond to Lake County during the fire. Thompson said he had been at ground zero after Sept. 11, 2001, he’s seen the aftermath of earthquakes and served in Vietnam.

Yet Thompson said there was nothing that could have prepared him for what he saw as he rolled into Middletown, an area he has represented for decades. He found much of it unrecognizable in the immediate wake of the fire. Homes were burned to ash, vehicles were melted, dreams destroyed.

He also called the Anderson Springs wastewater project “a game changer.”

There was abundant praise during the event for local leaders, including Sheriff Brian Martin, who McGuire has dubbed the state’s hardest working sheriff, as well as county supervisors Rob Brown and Moke Simon, all of them having had a presence during the fire.

In the case of Simon, at that point he wasn’t yet a county official, but as tribal chair of the Middletown Rancheria he opened the tribe’s facilities at Twin Pine Casino to help shelter evacuees.

Traversaro, who along with McGuire and Martin took a harrowing ride through the Valley fire in hours after it began, said she’s always inspired by Lake County, where she’s seen not just the community’s resilience and grace but the heroism and leadership of local officials.

Coppinger, who has taken over as the head of Lake County Special District since the fire, said, “I still choke up when I think of that day and this fire,” recounting watching the fire’s smoke plume build from her home at the base of Cobb Mountain.

She said the Anderson Springs wastewater project has been both the most challenging and the most rewarding project of her career.

“This project is actually moving at lightning speed,” she said, noting the comparative speed of government processes.

During the ceremony Aguiar-Curry, McGuire and Thompson also caught Supervisor Brown off guard by presenting him with a plaque for his work in both the Valley and Clayton fires, filling roles that spanned not just his normal job as supervisor but also including everything from directing traffic for evacuees, structure protection, running shelters, coordinating response and, more recently, doing building inspections to help fire survivors get their homes completed.

The ceremony ended with dignitaries and Anderson Springs community members ceremonially tossing shovelfuls of dirt in front of the recreation center to symbolize the new building to come.

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.

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Scientists taking a new look at older data from NASA's longest-operating Mars orbiter have discovered evidence of significant hydration near the Martian equator – a mysterious signature in a region of the Red Planet where planetary scientists figure ice shouldn't exist.

Jack Wilson, a post-doctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led a team that reprocessed data collected from 2002 to 2009 by the neutron spectrometer instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

In bringing the lower-resolution compositional data into sharper focus, the scientists spotted unexpectedly high amounts of hydrogen – which at high latitudes is a sign of buried water ice – around sections of the Martian equator.

An accessible supply of water ice near the equator would be of interest in planning astronaut exploration of Mars.

The amount of delivered mass needed for human exploration could be greatly reduced by using Martian natural resources for a water supply and as raw material for producing hydrogen fuel.

By applying image-reconstruction techniques often used to reduce blurring and remove "noise" from medical or spacecraft imaging data, Wilson's team improved the spatial resolution of the data from around 320 miles to 180 miles (520 kilometers to 290 kilometers).

"It was as if we'd cut the spacecraft's orbital altitude in half," Wilson said, "and it gave us a much better view of what's happening on the surface."

The neutron spectrometer can't directly detect water, but by measuring neutrons, it can help scientists calculate the abundance of hydrogen – and infer the presence of water or other hydrogen-bearing substances.

Mars Odyssey's first major discovery, in 2002, was abundant hydrogen just beneath the surface at high latitudes. In 2008, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander confirmed that the hydrogen was in the form of water ice.

But at lower latitudes on Mars, water ice is not thought to be thermodynamically stable at any depth. The traces of excess hydrogen that Odyssey's original data showed at lower latitudes were initially explained as hydrated minerals, which other spacecraft and instruments have since observed.

Wilson's team concentrated on those equatorial areas, particularly with a 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) stretch of loose, easily erodible material between the northern lowlands and southern highlands along the Medusae Fossae Formation.

Radar-sounding scans of the area have suggested the presence of low-density volcanic deposits or water ice below the surface, "but if the detected hydrogen were buried ice within the top meter of the surface, there would be more than would fit into pore space in soil," Wilson said.

The radar data came from both the Shallow Radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter and would be consistent with no subsurface water ice near the equator.

How water ice could be preserved there is a mystery. A leading theory suggests an ice and dust mixture from the polar areas could be cycled through the atmosphere when Mars' axial tilt was larger than it is today.

But those conditions last occurred hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago. Water ice isn't expected to be stable at any depth in that area today, Wilson said, and any ice deposited there should be long gone.

Additional protection might come from a cover of dust and a hardened "duricrust" that traps the humidity below the surface, but this is unlikely to prevent ice loss over timescales of the axial tilt cycles.

"Perhaps the signature could be explained in terms of extensive deposits of hydrated salts, but how these hydrated salts came to be in the formation is also difficult to explain," Wilson added. "So for now, the signature remains a mystery worthy of further study, and Mars continues to surprise us."

Wilson led the research while at Durham University in the U.K. His team – which includes members from NASA Ames Research Center, the Planetary Science Institute and the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology – published its findings this summer in the journal Icarus.

Reanalysis of 2002-09 data from a hydrogen-finding instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter increased the resolution of maps of hydrogen abundance. The reprocessed data (lower map) shows more "water-equivalent hydrogen" (darker blue) in some parts of this equatorial region of Mars. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona.
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Thomas Everett Knight, 31, of Lower Lake, Calif., was arrested on Thursday, September 28, 2017, after sheriff’s deputies found him in possession of a suspected explosive device. Lake County Jail photo.


LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A Lower Lake man has been arrested after authorities found him in possession of what appeared to be an explosive device.

Thomas Everett Knight, 31, was arrested on an outstanding arrest warrant and a felony charge of possession of a destructive device, according to Sgt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

At 1:15 p.m. Thursday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a traffic stop in the area of Quarterhorse Lane in Lower Lake, Paulich said.

Paulich said the deputies stopped the vehicle as they believed it was occupied by Knight, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Deputies found Knight was a passenger in the vehicle.

While deputies were conducting a search of the vehicle a suspicious device was located. Paulich said the device had a black rubber casing and was wrapped with duct tape.

Paulich said the device also had a long fuse coming from the top. Knight told the deputies that the device was explosive in nature.

Assistance was requested from the Napa County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad, which responded to the area and safely detonated the device, rendering it safe, Paulich said.

Paulich said Knight was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail where he was booked.

Knight remained in custody early Saturday with bail set $15,000, according to jail records. He is tentatively scheduled for arraignment on Monday.

A suspected explosive device found in the possession of Thomas Everett Knight, 31, of Lower Lake, Calif., on Thursday, September 28, 2017. The device later was destroyed by a bomb squad. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
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Free copies of the Big Read’s “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel are available at Lake County Library branches and at Big Read events in October while supplies last. See www.lakecountybigread.com to sign up and to learn more about the Big Read in Lake County. Courtesy photo.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – In “Station Eleven,” the Big Read novel by Emily St. John Mandel, physical survival looms large after the Georgia Flu kills billions of people across the world.

Without modern commerce, medical treatment, and transportation, people are on their own for food, medicine and so many other things we take for granted.

All during October the NEA Big Read in Lake County will feature “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel.

The NEA Big Read is a communitywide reading program where community members are all encouraged to read and discuss the same book.

The public is invited to join the Lake County Library’s Big Read to discuss Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel that examines life and death, faith and fate, music and drama, arts and technology, and power and control.

The Big Read will highlight the physical side of survival in a series of events covering medical questions, survival skills, and food.

Dr. Karen Tait of the Lake County Public Health Department and Tammy Carter of Sutter Lakeside Hospital tackle medical issues.

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Lakeport Library learn how your local Public Health department detects and takes action to prevent the spread of disease and what everyone can do to help.

Dr. Tait will present this free program. “Surviving the Apocalypse: Fact and Fiction” will be the topic on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. at Lakeport Library when Tammy Carter of Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s Infectious Disease Division helps sort out fact from fiction while discussing the pandemic that forever alters civilization in “Station Eleven.”

In a world without commercially available food, people will need to rely more on wild food than we do.

The culinary program of the Lake County Campus of Woodland College will prepare and sell “survival-camp food,” a delicious venison stew at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Come for lunch and a presentation featuring “Station Eleven.” A Shakespeare skit and an activity that focuses on “more than survival” will follow lunch.

The campus is located at 15880 Dam Rd. Extension in Clearlake. For information call Pamela Bordisso at 707-995-7914.

To wash down their wild food and avoid diseases found in impure water, people could well turn to brewing their own beer.

Two local breweries, O’Meara Brothers Brewing Co. at 901 Bevins St. in Lakeport and Kelsey Creek Brewing Co. at 3945 Main St. in Kelseyville have created “Station Eleven” brews in honor of the Lake County Big Read.

No longer able to pop into the local store and buy what they need or call the neighborhood repairperson to fix broken things, people would have to relearn old skills to survive.

On Saturday, Oct. 7, will be the Forgotten Skills Fair at the Courthouse Museum from 1 to 5 p.m. 255 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

Local artisans will demonstrate old skills such as spinning yarn, washing clothes on a washboard, butter churning, pottery making, and flint knapping, just like the survivors in “Station Eleven.” This event is free.

Free copies of the book will be available at all four Lake County Library branches and at Big Read events in October while supplies last.

Free versions of “Station Eleven” are available for download on the library’s online catalog as well as print and audio copies.

Learn more about the book selection and planned events, and sign up for the Big Read email updates on the website www.lakecountybigread.com.

Jan Cook is a technician with the Lake County Library.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – An Upper Lake man died late Friday night when he crashed his motorcycle along Highway 20 in Mendocino County.

The Ukiah Area office of the California Highway Patrol did not release the man’s name on Saturday pending the notification of kin.

The CHP said the crash occurred on Highway 20 west of Old Lake County Road near mile marker 41.43.

Just before 10:40 p.m. Friday the man, riding a green 2013 Kawasaki motorcycle, was traveling eastbound on Highway 20 at a high rate of speed that the CHP said was in excess of 100 miles per hour.

The CHP said that, for an unknown reason, the Kawasaki left the roadway and hit a reflector post.

The motorcycle then continued in an easterly direction, overturning multiple times, according to the CHP.

The rider and motorcycle then hit a rock pile south of the roadway, the CHP said.

The CHP said the man, who was using his safety equipment, was declared dead at the scene.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the CHP.

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.
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NASA's New Horizons – the fastest-ever spacecraft at launch – left Earth in 2006 and hurtled through the void at nearly one million miles per day toward a mysterious world on the solar system’s outer edge.

Three billion miles (4.8 billion km) and 9 and a half years later, the spacecraft flew-by its target: Pluto.

First-time close-up photos of that incredible dwarf planet revealed wonders such as nitrogen glaciers flowing across the surface, mountain ranges rivaling the Rockies, possible ice volcanoes, and areas that are geologically active.

The incredible isn’t over.

New Horizons is on its way to new discoveries deeper in the Kuiper Belt – a region inhabited by ancient remnants from the dawn of the solar system.

New Horizons’ next mission is to execute a close flyby of Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019.

At about 20 miles across (30 kilometers), 2014 MU69 is more than 10 times larger and 1,000 times more massive than typical comets.

“MU69’s orbit indicates it is a cold classical Kuiper Belt Object, one of the most primordial objects in the solar system,” explained Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator. “Additionally, a recent telescopic observation made from Argentina leads us to believe that MU69 may be part of a binary pair, or two objects orbiting one another.”

Meanwhile, there’s more news about Pluto.

Images recently analyzed from New Horizons’ cameras revealed what appear to be small, low-lying isolated clouds – the first to be seen on the dwarf planet.

Stern said, "If there are clouds, it would mean the weather on Pluto is even more complex than we imagined."

Other data and images from the spacecraft are showing that Pluto’s brightest surface region is among the most reflective in the solar system. Why is the surface so reflective?

Stern explained that, “The atmosphere can snow, making bright surface deposits.”

Another recent New Horizons discovery is landslides on Pluto’s moon Charon. These are the first landslides seen in the Kuiper Belt.

The discoveries are far from over.

The last bits of science data from the spacecraft’s July 2015 Pluto flyby reached Earth on Oct. 27, 2016.

Over the next few years, scientists on the New Horizons team will be scrutinizing the data.

At the same time, the spacecraft will be exploring MU69, other KBOs, and the surrounding territory to solve more mysteries about the far reaches of the solar system.

New Horizons instruments have been hard at work since well before the spacecraft arrived at Pluto.

The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument has been measuring the composition and density of high energy charged particles in the Sun’s outer heliosphere.

New Horizons’ Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument collected solar wind observations en route from Earth to Pluto and is still collecting them out in the Kuiper Belt.

New Horizons also has a dust detector, built and conceived by students on the New Horizons team, which detects impacts of particles from asteroids and comets.

By 2021, New Horizons will make observations out to 50 times the distance from the Earth to the sun.

The incredible keeps coming.

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