In California married persons owe each other, “a duty of the highest good faith and fair dealing” (section 721 of California’s Family Code).

This duty of “good faith and fair dealing” is likened to a trustee’s duty to a beneficiary. How does that lofty duty apply to the conduct of married persons?

It applies to both interspousal transactions (i.e., transfers) and to the management of community property.

Specifically, “each spouse must provide the other spouse access to books at all times regarding any inter spousal transaction,” and “upon request provide true and full information of all things affecting any transaction which concerns the community property.”

The duty is most commonly relevant in the context of community property assets. “… [A]ll property, real or personal, wherever situated, acquired by a married person during the marriage while domiciled in this state which is [presumed to be] community property.” Marital earnings and anything purchased with marital earnings is community property.

Thus, a participant spouse’s retirement account, to the extent of contributions from marital earnings, is community property, even though the account is titled solely in the name of the participant spouse.

Any change of death beneficiaries requires the written consent of the non participant spouse in order to be effective with respect to one hundred percent of the community property retirement account.

Accordingly, if a participant spouse withdraws money from his or her 401(k) retirement account, which included marital earnings, for his or her sole pleasure or benefit and without the non-participant spouse’s knowledge and consent then such conduct would likely violate the duty.

Next, the duty also applies to transactions between spouses, such as when one spouse transfers his or her one-half interest in a community property – like the family home – to the other spouse to make the asset the other spouse’s sole and separate property.

A statutory presumption then applies that that the recipient spouse used undue influence over the transferring spouse to make the other spouse transfer title. An interspousal transfer of a family residence can be set aside by a court unless the presumption is overcome.

What happens when the duty is violated? A claim arises and, “a court may order an accounting of the property and obligations of the parties to a marriage and may determine the rights of ownership in, the beneficial enjoyment of, or access to, community property, and the classification of all property of the parties to a marriage.”

Moreover, even if the spouse who breached the duty subsequently files for bankruptcy the aggrieved innocent spouse’s claim against the bankruptcy estate over the violation may not be discharged.

This is because California’s inter spousal duty of fair dealing creates a trustee relationship between the spouses and a violation of such as duty is non dischargeable if the spouse has, “a culpable state of mind involving knowledge of, or gross recklessness” regarding such duty.

In sum, spouses are each other’s trustees when it comes to how they conduct themselves with respect to any dealings between themselves and the management of community property assets.

Anyone seeking guidance with respect to particular facts should consult an attorney.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, California. Fordham can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County wines are among the top award winners at this year’s American Fine Wine (AFW) Competition, one of the most prestigious wine contests in the nation, held this month in southern Florida.

The honors include best of class captured by Sol Rouge Winery’s “Gypsy Rouge” and several double gold, gold and silver awards to Lake County vintages.

The wins caught the eye of the competition’s co-founder Monty Preiser, a wine and food writer and co-publisher of Preiser Keys to Napa and Sonoma.

“Over the years, we have had a number of world-class wines from Lake County win high medals at the American Fine Wine Competition. While the earliest wines were usually Sauvignon Blancs, the winemakers in the county have matured and are producing other quality varietals,” Preiser said.

“To my mind, this area may be the best Rhône-producing region in the country – just witness the double gold medals of the VIE Roussanne, the Sol Rouge Red Rhone Blend (Gypsy Rouge), and the luscious Sol Rouge Petite Sirah. Kudos to winemaker Bryan Kane, who made all three and is taking Lake County to another level,” Preiser added.

Sol Rouge, a Lake County winery, won the second highest number of medals in the seventh annual AFW competition, according to winemaker Kane. V. Sattui Winery of Napa, which makes more than twice as many wines as Sol Rouge, was the only winery to garner more medals.

“I went to the award ceremony in Napa with all the Napa and Sonoma winemakers,” said Kane, “and I was called up to the podium almost every other category. It was a bit embarrassing – a little unknown Lake County winemaker winning the second most number of medals, including the best in class for Red Rhône Blends for our 2010 Gypsy Rouge, which also came in fourth place for best in show.”

Four Lake County wineries garnered double gold medals with their wines: Sol Rouge’s 2010 Petite Sirah, Moshin Vineyards’ 2011 Late Harvest, Robledo Family Winery’s 2009 Late Harvest and VIE Winery’s 2011 Roussanne.

The Winery SF’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon – technically a Lake County wine, according to winemaker Kane – won double gold and was selected Best Cabernet Sauvignon in America under $25, which also happens to be the same award it captured in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition this January.

The list of additional winners included Cache Creek Vineyards’ 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon (gold), 2010 Petite Sirah (silver) and 2012 Celebration Chardonnay (silver); Langtry Estate & Vineyards’ 2012 Sauvignon Blanc (silver); Robledo Family Winery’s “Mamma Maria’s” (silver); Saddleback Cellars’ 2009 “Black Rock” Zinfandel (gold) and 2009 “Black Rock” Petite Sirah (silver); and The Winery SF’s Reserve Chardonnay (silver).

Sol Rouge Winery’s awards, in addition to the Best of Class, included gold medals for its 2010 Cabernet Franc and 2011 Gypsy Blanc, as well as silver medals for its 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011 Viognier, 2010 Syrah and 2010 Zinfandel.

Complete results from the American Fine Wine Competition are online at www.americanfinewinecompetition.org .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Sutter Lakeside Hospital Foundation reported that donors in Lake County and the surrounding area surpassed the $85,000 Heart Health matching grant goal by raising more than $113,000 in 2013.

Funds were raised over a 12-month period and will be matched with an $85,000 grant from Sutter Health.

Sutter Health’s matching grant program allows each affiliate to choose a program or a piece of technology to fund through charitable gifts.

If the hospital can raise funds through philanthropy for half the cost of the equipment or program within a year, Sutter Health will match these donations dollar-for-dollar.

Sutter Lakeside Hospital decided to focus its 2013 fundraising efforts on heart health; specifically, the foundation chose to replace the hospital’s decade-old echocardiogram.

The County Health Status Profiles 2013, published by the California Department of Public Health and California Conference of Local Health Officers, reports that Lake County ranks fourth in the state for deaths due to coronary heart disease.

The new echocardiogram allows technicians to perform more than 35 inpatient and outpatient diagnostic tests using 3D digital color images.

These images can be stored and retrieved to appear alongside current test results so that cardiologists can note any changes in a patient’s condition.

“The foundation exists to add value to the patient experience at Sutter Lakeside,” said Foundation Board Chair Dr. Mark Buehnerkemper. “Our little hospital does a fantastic job of offering a depth of services and technologies that most people expect to find in bigger cities. We are honored that so many people in our community actively invest philanthropic dollars to support quality health care right here at home.”

“We’re humbled, as we not only met our goal of $85,000, but we exceeded it by over 25 percent,” said Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson. “I know that Lake County is an economically-challenged community, but our donors are committed to ensuring that our patients have access to the equipment that they need. This is one of the things that sets Lake County apart and it’s one of the reasons that I’m proud to work at Sutter Lakeside.”

The new Philips IE33 echocardiogram and the latest software will arrive at Sutter Lakeside Hospital this spring.

To find out how to give to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, visit www.sutterlakeside.org/giving .

Astronomers for the first time have peered into the heart of an exploding star in the final minutes of its existence.

The feat is one of the primary goals of NASA's NuSTAR mission, launched in June 2012 to measure high-energy X-ray emissions from exploding stars, or supernovae, and black holes, including the massive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.

The NuSTAR team reported in this week's issue of the journal Nature the first map of titanium thrown out from the core of a star that exploded in 1671. That explosion produced the beautiful supernova remnant known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A).

The well-known supernova remnant has been photographed by many optical, infrared and X-ray telescopes in the past, but these revealed only how the star's debris collided in a shock wave with the surrounding gas and dust and heated it up.

NuSTAR has produced the first map of high-energy X-ray emissions from material created in the actual core of the exploding star: the radioactive isotope titanium-44, which was produced in the star's core as it collapsed to a neutron star or black hole.

The energy released in the core collapse supernova blew off the star's outer layers, and the debris from this explosion has been expanding outward ever since at 5,000 kilometers per second.

"This has been a holy grail observation for high energy astrophysics for decades," said coauthor and NuSTAR investigator Steven Boggs, UC Berkeley professor and chair of physics. "For the first time we are able to image the radioactive emission in a supernova remnant, which lets us probe the fundamental physics of the nuclear explosion at the heart of the supernova like we have never been able to do before."

"Supernovae produce and eject into the cosmos most of the elements are important to life as we know it," said UC Berkeley professor of astronomy Alex Filippenko, who was not part of the NuSTAR team. "These results are exciting because for the first time we are getting information about the innards of these explosions, where the elements are actually produced."

Boggs says that the information will help astronomers build three-dimensional computer models of exploding stars, and eventually understand some of the mysterious characteristics of supernovae, such as jets of material ejected by some.

Previous observations of Cas A by the Chandra X-ray telescope, for example, showed jets of silicon emerging from the star.

"Stars are spherical balls of gas, and so you might think that when they end their lives and explode, that explosion would look like a uniform ball expanding out with great power,” said Fiona Harrison, the principal investigator of NuSTAR at the California Institute of Technology. "Our new results show how the explosion's heart, or engine, is distorted, possibly because the inner regions literally slosh around before detonating."

Expanding supernova remnant

Cas A is about 11,000 light years from Earth and the most studied nearby supernova remnant. In the 343 years since the star exploded, the debris from the explosion has expanded to about 10 light years across, essentially magnifying the pattern of the explosion so that it can be seen from Earth.

Earlier observations of the shock-heated iron in the debris cloud led some astronomers to think that the explosion was symmetric, that is, equally powerful in all directions.

Boggs noted, however, that the origins of the iron are so unclear that its distribution may not reflect the explosion pattern from the core.

"We don't know whether the iron was produced in the supernova explosion, whether it was part of the star when it originally formed, if it is just in the surrounding material, or even if the iron we see represents the actual distribution of iron itself, because we wouldn't see it if it were not heated in the shock," he said.

The new map of titanium-44, which does not match the distribution of iron in the remnant, strongly suggests that there is cold iron in the interior that Chandra does not see. Iron and titanium are produced in the same place in the star, said UC Berkeley research physicist Andreas Zoglauer, so they should be similarly distributed in the explosive debris.

"The surprising thing, which we suspected all along, is that the iron does not match titanium at all, so the iron we see is not mapping the distribution of elements produced in the core of the explosion," Boggs said.

He and his UC Berkeley colleagues also launch balloon-borne high-energy X-ray and gamma-ray detectors to record the radioactive decay of other elements, including iron, in supernovae to learn more about the nuclear reactions that take place during these brief, catastrophic explosions.

"The radioactive nuclei act as a probe of supernova explosions and allow us to see directly into densities and temperatures where nuclear processes are going that we don't have access to in terrestrial laboratories," Boggs said.

NuSTAR continues to observe radioactive titanium-44 emissions from a handful of other supernova remnants to determine if the pattern holds for other supernovae as well. These supernova remnants must be close enough to Earth for the debris structure to be seen, yet young enough for radioactive elements like titanium – which has a 60-day half-life – to still be emitting high-energy X-rays.

This work was supported under NASA No. NNG08FD60C, and made use of data from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, a project led by Caltech, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NuSTAR mission instrument manager William Craig of UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory is also a coauthor of the Nature paper. Zoglauer conducted computer simulations of NuSTAR's detectors before launch, and continues to monitor the radioactive background in the detectors to correct observations.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Public Services Director Caroline Chavez has announced the schedule for the 2014 docent-led hikes at the Mount Konocti County Park.

The dates are:

• Saturday, March 29;
• Saturday, April 12;
• Saturday, April 26;
• Saturday, May 10;
• Sunday, May 18;
• Sunday, June 8.

Tom Nixon, retired State Parks ranger and member of the Konocti Trails Team, leads the docent tour program.

Docent guides will lead the hikes which will include visits to the historic Downen Cabin and the top of Wright Peak.

The docent guides are knowledgeable about the mountain and its geology, history, flora, fauna and even folklore.

There also will be an optional climb to the top of the Cal Fire lookout tower for hikers 18 years or older who sign a release of liability form.

This moderately strenuous hike lasts approximately four hours and will cover six miles. Hikers are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes, bring a lunch, water, daypack and binoculars/camera. Minors are welcomed when accompanied by a responsible adult.

Hikers will meet at 8 a.m. at the Mount Konocti County Park parking lot, which can be accessed from Konocti Road in Kelseyville. Hikes will be canceled if inclement weather occurs.

Reservations are required due to limited space and must be made by March 14 for the first scheduled hike. April 1 is the reservation deadline for the remaining hikes. Reservations can be made by calling the Public Services Department at 707-262-1618.

In its monumental 2011 acquisition, the county of Lake purchased 1,520 acres of land on top of Mount Konocti to create the new Mount Konocti County Park. This land is now placed in public hands for perpetuity.

The county-owned land is contiguous with an additional 821 acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

For more information on Mount Konocti County Park, or to access a downloadable map, visit www.konoctitrails.com .

With California experiencing its worst water shortage crisis in modern history, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Wednesday joined Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez to announce legislation to immediately help communities deal with the devastating dry conditions affecting our state and provide funding to increase local water supplies.

“This is a call to action. We must all do our part to conserve in this drought,” said Gov. Brown. “The state is doing its part by providing immediate funding for drinking water, food, housing and assistance for water-conserving technologies.”

The legislation provides $687.4 million to support drought relief, including money for housing and food for workers directly impacted by the drought, bond funds for projects to help local communities more efficiently capture and manage water and funding for securing emergency drinking water supplies for drought-impacted communities.

In addition, the legislation increases funding for state and local conservation corps to assist communities with efficiency upgrades and reduce fire fuels in fire risk areas, and includes $1 million for the Save Our Water public awareness campaign – which will enhance its mission to inform Californians how they can do their part to conserve water.

“Without enough rain and snow this winter, we need to capture as much water as we can through any means possible. Water agencies around the state have projects ready to go to capture and distribute more of the water that’s now lost to evaporation or simply flowing out to the ocean. They simply need money to get those projects done,” said Senate President pro Tem Steinberg. “We don’t have to ignore environmental protections, raise fees or get bogged down in political arguments over projects that will take many years to produce a single drop of water. It’s time to focus on what we can do right now.”

“By making smart use of these funds, we can alleviate and prevent some of the worst impacts of the drought and, at the same time, make badly needed improvements to our water system that will benefit California for years to come,” Speaker Pérez said. “These targeted responses will have tangible results, but the solution requires more than legislation and investment. Every Californian needs to be a part of the solution, and we strongly urge every person in our state to take action to conserve water.”

In addition to the funding provided by the legislation, the bill calls for the California Department of Public Health (DPH) to adopt new groundwater replenishment regulations by July 1, 2014, and for the State Water Resources Control Board and the DPH to work on additional measures to allow for the use of recycled water and storm water capture for increasing water supply availability.

The bill also makes statutory changes to ensure existing water rights laws are followed, including streamlined authority to enforce water rights laws and increased penalties for illegally diverting water during drought conditions.

The bill also provides the California Department of Housing and Community Development with the greatest flexibility to maximize migrant housing units.

Several of the proposals included in this package were proposed in the Governor’s January budget, but will now be expedited.

Highlights of the legislation include the following.

Enhancing water conservation and improving water supplies

• $549 million from the accelerated expenditure of voter-approved bonds, Proposition 84 and Proposition 1E, in the form of infrastructure grants for local and regional projects that are already planned or partially completed to increase local reliability, including recapturing of storm water, expand the use and distribution of recycled water, enhance the management and recharging of groundwater storage and strengthen water conservation.
• $20 million transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) for direct expenditures and grants to state and local agencies to improve water use efficiency, save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from state and local water transportation and management systems.
• $14 million for groundwater management across the state, including assistance to disadvantaged communities with groundwater contamination exacerbated by the drought.
• $10 million transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fund for the California Department of Food and Agriculture to invest in irrigation and water pumping systems that reduce water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
• $10 million transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fund for the DWR to establish a grant program for state and local agencies to implement residential, commercial or institutional water efficiency projects that reduce water and energy use.
• $15 million from the General Fund for Emergency Drinking Water Fund to address emergency water shortages due to drought.
• $13 million from the General Fund to augment the California Conservation Corps and local community conservation corps to expand water use efficiency and conservation activities and to reduce fuel loads to prevent catastrophic fires.

Assisting Californians disproportionately impacted by the drought

• $25.3 million from the General Fund for food assistance, which will be structured to maximize the potential federal drought assistance that can be provided to provide food assistance to those impacted by the drought.
• $21 million from the general fund and federal funds for housing related assistance for individuals impacted by the drought.

With California facing one of the most severe droughts on record, Gov. Brown declared a drought State of Emergency last month and directed state officials to take all necessary actions to prepare for water shortages.

Gov. Brown met with President Obama about crucial federal support during the ongoing drought last week, and the state continues to work with federal partners to ensure a coordinated drought response.

Brown and the administration have also expressed support for federal legislation introduced by Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Representatives Jim Costa, Tony Cárdenas and Sam Farr.

COBB, Calif. – A 3.2-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Cobb area on Friday night.

The US Geological Survey's preliminary report said the quake was recorded at 10:23 p.m.

The epicenter was located three miles west northwest of Cobb and 12 miles southwest of Clearlake, at a depth of 1.7 miles, the US Geological Survey reported.

As of just before 11 p.m., the US Geological Survey had received shake reports from Kelseyville and Middletown, as well as Geyserville and South San Francisco.

A 3.7-magnitude quake occurred near The Geysers geothermal steamfield on Jan. 21, 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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport Police officer used a Taser to subdue a suspected gang member who resisted arrest and was found to be in possession of a sawed-off shotgun and a meth pipe.

Oscar Javier Arevalo, 22, was arrested Thursday afternoon, according to a report from Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

At approximately 2:17 p.m. Thursday a Lakeport Police officer patrolling the area of Armstrong and Polk streets noticed a suspicious subject carrying a backpack in the 100 block of S. Polk Street, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said the officer noticed that the subject – later identified as Arevalo – began walking rapidly and turned to watch the patrol vehicle. As the officer turned around to further watch Arevalo, he noticed that Arevalo walked into the driveway and carport of a residence.

Arevalo then walked out of the driveway with the backpack on and continued walking north on S. Polk Street. Rasmussen said the officer got out of his vehicle to contact Arevalo and noticed that he took the backpack off and placed it behind a garbage can.

The officer contacted Arevalo and noticed that he was very nervous. Rasmussen said the officer determined that Arevalo did not live at or know anyone at the residence and attempted to detain him until he could conduct further investigation and check the residence.

Arevalo resisted and then fled on foot. The officer gave chase and caught up to Arevalo, who continued to resist, Rasmussen said.

The officer fired his Taser, striking Arevalo, who fell to the ground but continued to resist. Rasmussen said the officer was able to take control of Arevalo and handcuff him. Arevalo received minor injuries during the incident.

The backpack was recovered and searched, and a loaded sawed-off .410 shotgun, methamphetamine smoking pipe and what is believed to be a face cover crafted from a black t-shirt were located, Rasmussen said.

Arevalo was arrested for possession of a sawed-off shotgun, carrying a loaded firearm in public as a suspected gang member, carrying a concealed firearm in public as a suspected gang member, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance smoking pipe, according to Rasmussen.

Arevalo was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for medical clearance and then booked into the Lake County Jail, Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said Arevalo has a prior arrest in Sonoma County for possession or manufacture of a dangerous weapon and participating in a criminal street gang, and a prior arrest and conviction in Lake County for manufacture or possession of a dangerous weapon.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department said it has received reports of additional gas thefts that have occurred in the city this week.

Since Sunday night, 11 separate gas theft cases have been reported in the Lakeport city limits, according to police.

Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday Lakeport Police officers were dispatched to the 800 block of Third Street to investigate the report of fuel thefts from three vehicles in that area, according to Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said an estimated 60 gallons of gasoline were taken from those three vehicles.

Based on the investigation so far, police believe the fuel thefts on Third Street occurred early Tuesday morning, according to Rasmussen.

He said officers believe these newly reported thefts are related to the eight gas thefts reported on Sunday and Monday nights in the area of Del Lago, 15th Street and the 1800 block of S. Main Street.

A white Ford Ranger with passenger side fender and bumper damage was spotted at the scene of a gasoline theft in the 1800 block of S. Main Street, Rasmussen said.

Witnesses also have reported seeing two male subjects associated with the pickup at the S. Main Street theft site, according to police.

Rasmussen said the driver was described as a white male adult, 19 to 23 years old, with a thin build and short hair, and wearing a flat bill cap.

The second suspect, for whom there is not a detailed description, is believed to have been casing the area or acting as a lookout, and was left behind when the driver fled the scene, Rasmussen said.

Citizens are advised to continue to watch for and immediately report suspicious activity to police.

Anyone with information on any of the fuel thefts is asked to contact the Lakeport Police Department at 707-263-5491 or by private Facebook message at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lakeport-Police-Department/176101292414821?ref=stream .

If a theft is seen in progress, call 911.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A fire early Friday morning destroyed a Clearlake Oaks home.

The fire was first dispatched at around 5 a.m., according to Northshore Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Pat Brown.

Brown said when firefighters arrived minutes later, the second story of the home already was well involved.

He said the woman living in the home had been on the first floor when the fire broke out. She woke up and was able to safely get out of the structure.

Brown said firefighters worked on protecting other nearby structures from the blaze.

He said there was also an issue at the scene regarding access to water, which required bringing in two Northshore Fire water tenders and a water tender from Lake County Fire Protection District.

In addition to the water tenders, there were three Northshore Fire engines and a total of 12 firefighters, three chiefs and six personnel from the Northshore Fire support team, Brown said.

The house was “a total loss,” with Brown estimating damages totaled $100,000.

As for the cause, “We have an idea but it's still under investigation,” Brown said.

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

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Office of Education is offering two upcoming community information sessions to provide a general overview of new education initiatives.

The sessions, set for March, will cover the Local Control Funding Formula, Common Core State Standards, Smarter Balance Assessment System and Local Control Accountability Plan.

The sessions will be presented by Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook; Tim Gill, senior director of Educational Services; Brock Falkenberg, senior director of Human Resources and Student Programs; Stephanie Wayment, educational specialist; and Shelly Mascari, director of communication.

“In the coming months, we will be experiencing some of the most significant changes in education funding and practice in the past three decades,” said Holbrook. “The implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula and passage of proposition 30 will see funding funneled more to the local level and slowly restore education funding levels similar to five years ago. These sessions are intended to help community members gain a better understanding of these changes.”

The Lake County Office of Education is offering two opportunities for community members to attend.

The first will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at the Lake County Office of Education offices, 1152 South Main St., Lakeport. The building is located on the corner of the three-way stop at Main Street, K Street and Lakeport Boulevard. Park and enter in back.

The second session will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at the Clearlake Creativity School, 6945 Old Highway 53, Clearlake. Traveling on Highway 29 from Lower Lake, turn left on Old Highway 53 and travel 0.4 miles. The Clearlake Creativity School is on the left, just past Lakeview Terrace Apartments.

No reservations are required to attend the sessions.

For more information, visit www.lakecoe.org or contact Shelly Mascari at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A man sought for vehicle theft was arrested on Tuesday evening and his girlfriend was taken into custody after she allegedly pushed an officer and kicked out a patrol car window.

Clearlake Police officers arrested 22-year-old Lloyd Ryan Lewis and Candace Marie Conzet, 25, both of Clearlake, according to a report from Sgt. Tim Hobbs.

At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Clearlake Police officers responded to a residence in the 3000 block of 10th Street to locate and arrest Lewis, who Hobbs said had just been identified as the suspect in a case involving a 1966 Ford Mustang that was reported stolen on Monday.

Upon arriving at the residence, Officer Elvis Cook and his canine partner Max went to the rear of the residence in case Lewis fled out the back door or a window, Hobbs said.

Hobbs said he contacted Conzet in front of the residence, and she stated that Lewis had left the home on foot about 15 minutes earlier.

Conzet agreed to walk Hobbs through the residence to verify Lewis was not there. As Hobbs was approaching the front door, he saw Lewis through a window walking quickly toward the rear of the residence.

Hobbs said he yelled for Lewis to stop and Lewis ran to the door, opened it and went outside. Once Lewis was outside, Cook yelled for Lewis to stop or he would deploy his K9. Lewis ignored the warning and ran away from Cook.

As Lewis ran around the rear corner of the residence and out of Cook’s view, Cook released Max, who apprehended Lewis a short distance away, Hobbs said.

While Cook was securing Max and Hobbs was attempting to place Lewis in handcuffs, Conzet was yelling and screaming at officers. Hobbs said Conzet approached Cook and tried to push him away from Lewis several times.

Once Lewis was placed into handcuffs, Conzet started running away and ran out to the street. Hobbs said Conzet was caught and arrested for resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer, and placed into the rear seat of a patrol vehicle.

Hobbs said that once Conzet was in the vehicle, she kicked one of the rear windows out of the window frame. As a result, she was additionally charged with vandalism.

Lewis was arrested for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest. Hobbs said Lewis was briefly treated by medical personnel from the Lake County Fire Protection District at the scene prior to being transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for further treatment.

After Lewis was medically cleared for incarceration, both he and Conzet were transported to the Lake County Jail, Hobbs said.

Lewis' bail was set at $15,000, with Conzet's set at $5,000, according to jail records. Both were booked early Wednesday morning.