Lake and Mendocino Counties, along with Sonoma have all entered the Red Tier. Mendocino and Sonoma over the weekend, Lake on Wednesday. The Blueprint for a Safer Economy Framework has shifted as the state hit 2 million doses of vaccine in California’s most vulnerable communities. So this means, restaurants can open with limited capacity, same with fitness facilities, and other indoor businesses. Grocery stores can open with 100% capacity. Lake County will allow in person learning for students in higher grades, mostly in the hybrid model. The Public Health Officer for Lake reports the county should be getting another 2,000-3,000 vaccine doses and that more than 10,000 Lake County residents have received at least one dose, plus those in Tribal communities.
The Sheriff’s Dept. has come across an illegal marijuana grow in Hopland. Last Thursday the dept.’s Marijuana Enforcement Team served a search warrant and found over 3,400 growing cannabis plants and pulled them. They also detained five people there who deputies say were recruited from Sonoma County and were being paid to live there. The property owner was reportedly planning to sell the marijuana to a dispensary. There were ten environmental related violations, but there were no arrests yet as they continue to investigate. They will send all info to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for potential criminal charges.
Ukiah Schools allowing more grades for in person learning as the county hits the Red Tier. The Superintendent of Schools put out a statement Friday, that since the county is moving along, so is the School District, allowing 7-12th graders to come back to campus. Parents also have the opportunity to keep their kids at home too. Starting Thursday kids can start trickling back into class. The Superintendent thanking parents and students for their patience, and says they’re excited to welcome students back. They’re offering tests for any student, but it’s not mandatory. Another piece of info, youth indoor sports can return to competition if they follow strict requirements, including daily testing around each sport and competition for indoor sports and weekly for outdoor sports.
Since over 2 million doses of the COVID19 vaccine have been administered in the more at-risk communities of Calif., Mendocino County, along with a dozen others have been able to move to the Red Tier. The Public Health Officer, Dr. Andy Coren reports it’s due to the hard work, the county got to the next Tier in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. As of yesterday, grocery stores can open to 100% capacity, retailers can open to 50% capacity, same with shopping centers. Museums and churches or other places of worship at 25% capacity. Movie theaters at either 100 people OR 25% capacity, whichever is fewer. Gyms have a max of 10% capacity. Restaurants including wineries, breweries and distilleries serving meals: may now have indoor activities with a max of 100 people or 25% capacity, whichever is fewer. Bars remain closed. Long-term care facilities: may restart in-person visits, while doing screenings for both residents and visitors, and masks.
The owners of Lakeport Cinema 5 and Lakeport Auto Movies are stepping up, turning their locations into vaccination clinics. The Lake County Administrative Officer says the Lotter family is also not charging to use their sites. The same family lost their location in Paradise, due to the Camp Fire…
A woman from Leggett has been arrested after a domestic violence incident was reported to the Sheriff’s office. Deputies say they got a call to a home, finding Sara Godfrey inside. They found she was living with her boyfriend there. The two had been drinking and got into an argument, which escalated into a physical altercation. Apparently, the man tried to leave, and Godfrey tried stopping him, tossing a glass beer bottle his way, hitting him in the shoulder. Deputies say she then chased him and hit him in the face twice. They say he had visible injuries on his face. Godfrey was arrested on domestic violence battery charges and held on $25,000.00 bail.
A woman from Ukiah’s been arrested for vandalism after reports of a bunch of cars with slashed tires. The Sheriff’s Office also reports the woman, they’ve identified as Kimberlee Thompson was also running around with a knife, chasing people. She was id’d to deputies when they arrived. They found her with a folding knife, she was ordered to drop it, but tried running and ignored deputies. They finally nabbed her, then found 19 vehicles had their tires slashed. She’s arrested for vandalism and criminal threats and held on $20,000 bail. Deputies were working on a tally of all the damage.
A man from Ukiah’s been arrested for being drunk in public. Deputies got a call Saturday night about a suspicious person. As a deputy arrived, dispatch reported there was also a report a fire started inside a home. The deputy saw a large plume of smoke coming out of a home close by. The person calling it in says someone started the fire and they tried stopping him. He was identified as Pedro Reynaga who the reporting deputy said showed signs of being high on a stimulant and drunk too. Reynaga also lived in the home on fire with his mom. But the Deputy couldn’t get inside because it was too hot. But mom wasn’t there. Reynaga was arrested for felony arson and booked into the Mendocino County Jail and held on $100,000.00 bail.
A fire reported at a business in Fort Bragg. Early yesterday police reported to the 500 block of N Main Street and found the building fully engulfed in flames, threatening other structures. Officers quickly went to evacuate surrounding buildings and totally closed N Main Street down so firefighters could quickly and safely knock down the fire at the Fort Bragg Auto Shop. Police officers stayed until the fire was put out. They’re not sure the cause of the fire and say there also didn’t seem to be anything suspicious at the location.
PG&E is beginning to make payments to communities in Northern Calif. victim to wildfires caused by the utility company’s failing equipment. Those with claims are supposed to get around 30% of the amount they are owed as part of the company’s massive bankruptcy settlement. There were over 71,000 claims for businesses and homes, and also due to deaths caused by the fires. The first installment to those with substantiated claims. The trustee in charge of the whole thing says they’re working fast to verify the claims, but there’s a lot of regulations to peel back before the payments go out. He says they’re doing that as fast as they can, while following the letter of the law. The Fire Victims Trust manages the $13.5 billion dollars PG&E agreed to pay out for the October 2017 firestorm and and two fires in Butte County, one in 2015 and the Camp fire in 2018.
A public hearing is set with the Lake County Board of Supervisors regarding a county-owned property labeled surplus which is part of a land swap with the state so the Lakeport Armory can be turned into a new sheriff’s administrative headquarters. The matter at their tomorrow morning after supervisors hear an update from the Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace on the pandemic. After the board will consider resolutions and hear from the public on the property on 18th Ave. in Clearlake which is surplus. They will then authorize the property exchange agreement with the state of California for the Lakeport Armory property for a bigger and more modern Sheriff’s headquarters. And in exchange the state can use the 15.5-acre property in Clearlake for an affordable housing development.
In Lakeport the City Council will get an update on the pandemic and discuss goals for the next fiscal year.
The Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace will update the council tomorrow night about their COVID-19 numbers. The council is also going to present a proclamation to Pace, who’s leaving the job next month, to honor his work during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Two people have died in a head on crash outside Middletown. It happened Saturday night on Highway 29 near the entrance to the Bar X Ranch. The California Highway Patrol reports a white van and a black pickup truck tangled together, blocking the highway. They noted major injuries to two people trapped in one of the cars. An air ambulance was requested at the Middletown Fire Station, but one of the trapped victims died before they arrived. When firefighters tried getting the second victim out, they found they were also gone. The CHP had to bring in light towers and heavy debris removal equipment to clear the roadway.
Close call in Caspar as a vaccination clinic was set up, but only about a third of the appointments filled. Mendocino Coast Clinics, Adventist Health and local pharmacies were also administering the vaccine on the coast on Friday, so only 200 out of the 750 appointments were filled. But apparently before the end of the day several hundred more appointments were filled and over 80 people were on a waiting list, no shots were wasted. Volunteers getting the word out helped get all of the doses into arms. Since calls were being made at first to those eligible in tiers 1A and 1B, later in the afternoon, the age requirement was lowered to 16 years. Board Supervisor Ted Williams and others sent texts around that there were spots available. He had 5,000 on his list.
The National League of Cities has elected Lakeport City Councilmember Mireya Turner to be on three committees. The group advocates for the 19,000 cities, towns and villages, covering over 218 million Americans. They work with leaders in those cities, all similar in size, type of other characteristics. Turner is representing not only the City of Lakeport, but also the Redwood Empire Division of the League. That includes not only Lake, but also Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. She’s on the Community and Economic Development Committee which comes up with policies and works on issues such as housing, community and economic development, land use, recreation and parks, historic preservation, and international competitiveness.
The state Insurance Commissioner says car insurance companies have been gauging residents during the pandemic, overcharging millions of dollars. Commissioner Ricardo Lara says the insurers must come up with a plan to give money back to drivers. Apparently, some of them did cut back on premiums by about 9% between March and September 2020, but they were supposed to cut as high as 17% due to a major drop off of property damage and bodily injury claims. State Farm said earlier it was going to send back $400 million to 3.5 million California policyholders.
Someone in Fort Bragg reportedly found a double-amputee veteran in his wheelchair, sitting in the middle of a sidewalk outside a CVS Pharmacy. Harry Swets, used to live in Fort Bragg. Friday, March 3rd, the veteran was left in the area by a Veteran’s Affairs shuttle bus. Someone spotted him trying to maneuver himself along the sidewalk in socks and no shoes. It was also a cold rainy day. The woman who saw him posted his picture on Facebook. His daughter saw it, but she lives in Santa Rosa. The woman who found him called police. The man was apparently looking for his bank, but it had gone out of business while he was in the hospital in San Francisco. They left him there with all of his personal items. The hospital says he was discharged following all procedures. In the end the woman who found him and a local man helped pay for Swets to stay in a motel. Then he went to Ukiah the next day on a bus where his daughter met him.
That was quick. As the county announced they were once again looking for a Cannabis Czar, today the county announced a new hire. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved hiring Kristin Nevedal to manage the county’s cannabis program. She started today. Nevedal has experience in the field. She was the co-director for the Humboldt Institute of Interdisciplinary Cannabis Research and an associate faculty member for the Humboldt State University Sociology Department. She was appointed by the Governor to be on several of the Bureau of Cannabis Control subcommittees. She is the founder of the International Cannabis Advisory Farmers Association and was an education director for the Emerald Cup and the co-founder and vice president of the Humboldt Growers Association.
