Mendocino deputies find a sex offender who’d been living in the county for nearly a decade without registering his new address, which is illegal. A Deputy reportedly found out about Troy Mihalcean who has lived in Calif. since 2013 without registering after moving here from Illinois. Apparently the man is a registered sex offender there and was told he had to register within 3 days of arriving, but never did. So Mihalcean was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender and booked into Mendocino County Jail, He was released though because of the zero bail restrictions with the pandemic.
A man on parole in Mendocino County in trouble again as deputies find he had cut off his electronic ankle monitor. The Sheriff’s Dept. reports on Friday Travis Bonson was arrested again in Willits. He was found in his car and his parole officer was called. They requested Bonson be arrested for violating his parole terms. He was booked and held without bail.
Another week of illegal marijuana cultivation gardens gone bust. The Sheriff’s Office reports a fourth week of enforcement turned up over 500 plants in Willits, which were eradicated. The growing was happening in non-permitted structures, without a County Cultivation Permit, or State Cultivation License. Those responsible reportedly voluntarily got rid of the plants to avoid penalties. At one farm, they yanked out 345 plants and the second, another 129 plants were abated. Last week they were in Laytonville and found the same, non-permitted structures and no permits, and that person pulled out 450 plants to avoid further trouble. Another 1371 non-permitted commercially cultivated cannabis plants were discovered, and voluntarily abated too.
A man in Ukiah’s busted by deputies for domestic violence. A woman called dispatch to say her boyfriend, Fredy Reyes-Rubio had kicked and punched her while she was on the bathroom floor. When they arrived they found the couple had gotten into an argument while he was drinking whiskey, and he punched the woman in the head, then hit her in the head with a small portable speaker. She got to the bathroom, where the attack continued. The woman was able to call 911. Deputies say she had visible injuries so they arrested Reyes-Rubio for domestic violence battery and booked him into the Mendocino County Jail where he was held on $25,000.00 bail
The Sheriff’s office says they’re out looking once again for that red-bearded man accused of twice ripping off the same house in Elk. The Sheriff’s Office says yesterday they went out searching again for William Evers, described as a 40 year old white man, 6 foot 1 inch tall, 180 pounds with brown eyes, brown hair and reddish facial hair with either a skull or a multiple skulls tattoo on his right upper arm, “Demon face” tattoo on his upper left arm and unknown prominent tattoo on his chest. He’s considered armed and dangerous. This was a planned search over multiple days so residents will see law enforcement in the area. He’s wanted for a string of local home burglaries. Anyone with info is asked to call the Sheriff’s office or the Sheriff’s office Tip Line.
A man has drowned in Lake Berryessa. The Napa County Sheriff’s Office sent rescue divers out Sunday and found the 25 year old man who drowned while swimming at the lake. The man identified as Marcos Salvador Grijalva Pocasangre of Guatemala. The second person to drown there in two weeks. The latest man was apparently an experienced swimmer. His friends said he was trying to swim from one end of a cove to another. His body was found about 15 feet from shore near McKenzie Ridge about 2½ hours after he disappeared in water 12 to 15 feet deep. Police say they’re not sure why he drowned or if he may have been impaired somehow. It’s nine days after a 22 year old man from San Jose died in the reservoir. Billy Dy was also described as an experienced swimmer.
Several volunteers showed up to help clean up the Clear Lake shore. Lake Co News reports it was a hot day last Saturday when a couple dozen people showed up for the Water Resources Department’s AmeriCorps CivicSpark Fellows event. It went for about four hours and included Lake County Special Districts, the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, C&S Waste Solutions and Lake County Public Services. The agencies led the volunteers to Library Park in Lakeport, Redbud Park in Clearlake and Lucerne Harbor Park where they collected over 1,300 pounds of waste. The city manager of Lakeport said they were thankful for the help.
CalFire is reminding about the misuse of “safe and sane” fireworks. The fireworks go on sale in hundreds of communities across the state today. The safe and sane fireworks are allowed in the city of Lakeport, but only from Thursday to Sunday. If they are not considered safe and sane, like sky-rockets, bottle rockets, roman candles, aerial shells, firecrackers and other types that explode, and go into the air, or move on the ground uncontrollably, fines in the tens of thousands can be imposed. Plus, there could even be jail time. As we’ve been reporting the state has zero tolerance for the use and sale of illegal fireworks and you could be held responsible for a fire, including fires starting by safe and sane fireworks.
The City of Willits reports both of the reservoirs are at normal capacity for this time of year. The Willits Public Works Director says they’re at 83%, which is an average year. Both the Centennial and Morris reservoirs send water to residents and businesses in the city limits and to some others outside the city. They allow zero recreational activities at either reservoir. They are south of town and part of the Eel River Watershed. It’s the third biggest watershed in the state of California with headwaters in Lake County, forks also flow through Mendocino and Trinity counties before the river pours into the ocean in Humboldt County. Water gets pumped by new solar panels that operate the city’s water plant from the lower reservoir, Morris, to the treatment plant before getting into town.
The Mendocino County Grand Jury has come in with a report on the Parks and Rec department. After a citizen’s complaint an investigation was launched into the agency and an alleged loss of about $2,995,000 in grant money. The money for work on Hwy 20 on land owned by the department for use as an off highway vehicle park. The review regarding matching funds and a contract for work on fencing. The grant funding has now been pulled and a suggestion made that any board member involved in the grant applications should resign. There had been a planned 18 hole public golf course on the land in question, but there were problems that turned up in the environmental impact report. But apparently parks and rec decided to move forward anyway, but with the off road vehicle park instead.
No masks or social distancing required at the latest Fort Bragg City Council meeting, and those there say it felt like normal times again. But for the hybrid format with residents allowed to Zoom in like they did all during the first days of the pandemic. The meeting had all your normal times event mentions like the fireworks show which is happening off the Noyo Headlands parking lot this weekend. They also talked about the new ball courts at the C.V. Starr Community Center and rebuild of the old gym, or East Gym at Town Hall. The council also approved of some new electric vehicle charging stations, updated a bunch of city pay plans and engineering services connected to the city’s economic development of the old mill site.
The recall election against the Governor is moving forward, but maybe sooner than we expected. Republican legislators say it’s unfair though, that their counterparts from the Democratic party are trying to get the election moved up. They say Democrats acted unfairly by passing a bill to get the recall date at least a month sooner than under state law. So now it’s on the Governor’s desk for signature to change existing state law. For their part, Democrats say it seems like something the recall supporters would want. They gathered the needed 1.7 million signatures to get the recall on a ballot, which was supposed to happen later this year. Without the recall, Newsom would have been up for re-election next year.
