The California Department of Fish and Wildlife warning to stay away from baby deer even if it seems abandoned. Moms like to hide their fawns they say, in tall grass or brush, for hours on end as they look for food. The Dept. says they get calls annually for fawns separated from their moms and removed from the wild by concerned members of the community. They say since it’s hard to place them at a sanctuary or elsewhere, they end up getting euthanized because they can’t survive in the wild on their own. They say if you suspect a fawn has been abandoned to leave it and call your local Fish & Wildlife office. And do the same if you remove a young animal from the wild or take it to a permitted wildlife rehabilitator within 48 hours. It’s also a crime to keep them as pets, you could be fined up to $1,000 and/or get six months in jail.
Some Trinity County August Complex survivors are suing the US Forest Service. Apparently a group of survivors have been meeting up and plan to file federal tort claims after losses from the massive inferno. The group met last weekend to fill out claims. A tort claim can be not only financial, but also can include physical injury and emotional distress among other injuries.
The Sonoma County District Attorney has recused her office from the case against the mayor of Windsor, now accused of sexual abuse or rape against six women. DA Jill Ravitch says the state Attorney General’s Office informed her they’d take over immediately to review the reported incidents against Mayor Dominic Foppoli and if appropriate, any charges or prosecuting would also be handled outside her office. She apparently asked the state agency Sunday to take over after allegations by someone in her office against the mayor came out, which would mean a conflict of interest in any investigation.
A special meeting is being held in the Town of Windsor to discuss demanding the mayor resign after allegations of sexual assault and rape against him. The meeting tomorrow night with the public over zoom. It all started last week when the San Francisco Chronicle reported 4 women over 16 years had accused the Mayor Dominic Foppoli of various sexual misconduct, harassment and rape charges. Then over the weekend a couple more allegations surfaced and the mayor put out a statement denying it all.
There’s a trio of new cops in Fort Bragg. The city announced recruiting new officers, Jarod Frank, Antoinette Moore, and volunteer Patrick Smith who were sworn in to office as official city employees yesterday. Smith is volunteering as Police Chaplain. He’s also a veteran and dog trainer and became Peace Officer Standard and Training certified to take on the position. Police officer Jarod Frank hails from Sacramento and was working in the Los Rios Police Department where he served for several years. And the new Community Service Officer Antoinette Moore comes from Santa Rosa, but has worked in Ukiah in the past. She has also been a firefighter in the past.
Money is being raised to help the long closed down Noyo Theater. They closed due to the pandemic over a year ago, and have now planned a fundraiser. On May 4th, which is the 81st anniversary of the theater, and Star Wars Day, the owners are playing the classic John Wayne film “Dark Command” which was shown back in the 40’s on opening day. They’re just asking for donations to come in to see the film which they’re running for a week. There’s also a Go Fund Me for anyone who wants to help the cause and they’re offering private screenings too. They’re trying to get to $50,000 as it’s been costing them $5,000 a month just to maintain, even though they’re still closed.
The Lakeport Schools Superintendent has appointed a new board member. The announcement by Superintendent Jill Falconer about Jennifer Williams-Richardson and the school nurse was recognized for her work during the pandemic. Nurse Diane Gunther wasn’t at the meeting last Thursday, but the superintendent noted her work. The board also approved buying a massive air filtration system for offices and other communal spaces. The ones purchased reportedly filter out 99.5% of harmful ultra-fine particle. They also approved coming up with an indoor air quality improvement and conservation program with COVID related money.
A lot of students who would generally go to community college in person are taking a break. That’s the word from a new report from the Calif. Community Colleges chancellor’s office. The office says there were massive enrollment drops during the pandemic. Over 260,000 less students enrolled last fall compared to in 2019, before the pandemic surfaced. California’s community college system is the largest in the nation with around 2 million full and part-time students. The numbers dropped almost 17% last fall after already being lower before the pandemic. EdSource reports the biggest drop in enrollment was at the College of the Siskiyous where they saw 56% of its students drop off. Then it was Reedley College in the Central Valley, with a 39.5% drop.
There are now six new Little Free Libraries in Ukiah. The Rotary Club put them up over the weekend after months of work. They are installed in or near city parks just like tens of thousands erected worldwide. The local Little Free Libraries were put up Saturday at Nokomis Park, McGarvey Park and Oak Manor Park. You can take a book, but you have to return it or trade in another book instead. Apparently the plan in the works for over a year where Rotarians were working it out. They continued to meet on Zoom, then over the weekend had their first in person meeting since the pandemic broke out. They are still meeting over Zoom though, every Tuesday at 12:15 p.m.
A new report says testing for COVID19 in Calif. has gone way down. The latest report from the State Dept. of Public Health showed the rate of testing was off over 60% since January’s peak. The lowest in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz County, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Alameda and San Mateo the past three months. And testing is down across the nation. But as testing is down apparently the prevalence of new strains are hard to follow. Calif. also has a couple of its own variants of the virus. All of the splintered strains are growing. And the one that’s the worst, from Brazil, which is more resistant to treatments, along with the South African variant, which beats vaccines, are both also up.
The new construction at Lucerne Elementary is complete. There’s a new kindergarten building, with two large classrooms, large enough for social distancing. They replace two portable classrooms. Each of the new classrooms are over 1,100 square feet, have their own bathroom, a work/storage room and outside storage. The school started to build the classrooms in the height of the pandemic, last spring. They had their final construction walk through over winter break. Then students and teachers started to trickle back in in February.
The Clearlake City Council is having two public hearings, but it’s still capped capacity due to the pandemic. The regular meeting tonight at 6 in council chambers and on the city’s YouTube channel or local cable. There’s also Zoom participation. There will be a proclamation read for the departing Public Health Officer, Dr. Gary Pace. Then Thursday, the council is having their two public hearings, one for a development agreement for a commercial cannabis operation on Olympic Drive, the second for a proposal for a grant application for funding through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program.
Not many counties moving forward in the color coded COVID19 system. The state makes the announcements each Tuesday. We reported last week Inyo and Merced were the only ones left in the Purple Tier. Inyo looks to be finally getting to Red, but not Merced, that may take until the end of the month. 31 counties are now in the Orange Tier and 21 in Red. The numbers for this week have not been put online yet, but that should happen soon. Mendocino is in Orange and Lake is in Red, but expected to move to Orange by tomorrow. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is also on hold for the moment as there have been reports that six women had blood clots, possibly from getting the vaccine. About 7 million doses have been administered so far including around 900,000 in Calif. And the state might also have as many as 1.2 million single shot doses in providers’ inventory.
Limits on church and other indoor worship services have been lifted after the Supreme Court ruled against coronavirus public health mandates. But the Calif. Department of Public Health is still discouraging indoor gatherings and says there should still be limits to 25% of a building’s capacity for the two-highest levels of the four-tier Blueprint to Reopen the Economy. The Center for American Liberty filed a bunch of lawsuits against the Blueprint for churches. The center’s founder says the Governor should have lifted the restrictions long ago, saying the state’s been targeting the faith community saying it’s discriminatory treatment which deprives the community of their fundamental right to worship.
