A reminder from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to stay away from young wildlife. Lake Co News reporting spring’s the time for some wildlife to give birth, and it may be a time when some people try to interact with young wildlife, especially if it seems they’ve been abandoned. They remind it could actually be more harmful than good for the wild animal. They can’t generally survive if taken from their habitat. Adult deer can leave their young in tall grass or brush and young mountain lions are also left alone a lot. The state agency reminds anyone taking a young animal from the wild has to notify them or they have to bring the animal to a state and federally permitted wildlife rehabilitator within 48 hours.
To learn more about how to live and recreate responsibly where wildlife is near, please visit CDFW’s Keep Me Wild website at www.keepmewild.org.
Emergency evacuations the subject of a talk with researchers from the University of California at Berkeley in Lakeport for Spanish-speaking residents. They’re trying to find out about how emergency evacuations went during the Mendocino Complex fires. Researchers want to see how vulnerable populations were impacted, specifically Spanish speaking households. There’s been several focus groups in Northern Calif about emergency evacuations during the October 2017 firestorm, fires the same year in Southern Calif, and the Mendocino Complex fires. The study paid for by Cal Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies and funded by 2017’s gas tax act.
Those interested in joining the focus group can find more information (in Spanish or English) by calling (925) 895-7897.
A man found dead inside a rented home in Clearlake from carbon monoxide poisoning. Police say they went to the home March 20th and had the air sampled for possible hazardous materials by the Lake County Fire Protection District, but none were found. They say there was no heat source to the home, no carbon monoxide detectors or maintained smoke detectors. They say it also looked as though the man had been using a propane heater for heat. Toxicology reports show carbon monoxide poisoning as the suspected cause of death. After the death Code Enforcement and investigators checked 20 other properties owned by the same landlord, finding the same heating issues, and other substandard conditions. All homes got smoke detectors and the property owners got violation notices and administrative citations.
A man from Clearlake arrested for having a bunch of cash and drugs. Police say Peter Hart was pulled over for a traffic stop last Friday and cops found more than an ounce of suspected meth and over $1400 in cash. He was also out on bail after another arrest in January. He was charged for suspicion of possession and transportation for sales of methamphetamine. He’s arrested again on the same charges with an enhancement of committing a felony while on bail. They then went to his home the next day, finding about four pounds of processed marijuana, paraphernalia and evidence of other sorts of drug sales and over $10,000 in cash. Additional charges are now possible.
Pretty quick deliberation in Mendocino Superior Court, then a guilty verdict for a woman accused of crimes with her husband. The jury only took an hour before returning with the verdict against 68-year-old Susan Mary Miller, formerly of the Anchor Bay/Gualala area. She was accused of being an accessory to felonies or being an accessory after the fact, someone who knows a perpetrator committed one or more felonies, aids that perpetrator, with intent they may escape arrest, conviction, and/or punishment. This after her hubby shot a neighbor and attempted to also shoot the neighbor’s wife because of some gravel being spread out on a shared road. She then lied to cops about it. Cops found she also video’d the shooting and didn’t give that to investigators and deleted it instead. She’s due back in court in June for sentencing.
A man accused of stealing the identities of dozens of people in Butte County has been arrested. Police say James Dye was making phony checks with those identities, some of them were Camp Fire victims. He was busted near a Walmart in Oroville for suspicion of identity theft of more than 10 victims, creating fictitious checks, forgery, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools. Cops first tipped off to the crimes in January when an elderly victim in Oroville had his identity stolen with checks ripped off out of his mailbox. Dye arrested last week for an outstanding warrant, then when his car was searched, they found he had more than 40 other possible identity theft victims. They also found cash, ripped checks from the first victim and other evidence of the crimes.
A couple more cases of measles confirmed in Butte County. The Butte County Department of Public Health confirms there are now six confirmed cases, one is a young child, the others are all adults. Both the latest patients have passed the infectious period. Officials asking anyone who gets the virus to self-report if they had been to any public places at the time. They’ve got a couple of public places identified: a Chico Safeway Store on Mangrove, March 21st around lunchtime, and the Northern Valley Indian Health’s Chico Children’s Center, March 28th, between 2:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Really no treatment except supportive care until it’s gone.
A real estate mogul and his wife in the Bay Area caught up in the college admissions scandal are pleading guilty. Bruce and Davina Isackson are accused of using stock they owned in Facebook to bribe people to get their daughter into UCLA. They’ve also publicly apologized saying it was their duty to set a good example for their children, but instead harmed and embarrassed them by their misguided decisions. Their lawyer says they’ve also agreed to cooperate in the case. Bruce charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and his wife the same. She’s free on one-million-dollar bond, he’s released on conditions. They’re accused in the “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal along with actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin. The parents face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted by a jury.
