A man has been arrested in Laytonville after reports of a car being vandalized. Deputies reported to the 3000 block of Spy Rock Road last Wednesday finding a Toyota truck parked in front of a home with hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage. The suspect was described to deputies as a man with tattoos who went into their unlocked home without knocking. The victim coaxed the guy outside and a neighbor chased him away. He was later identified as a neighbor of theirs, Robert Bell, who deputies say had bleeding hands from a cut after vandalizing the truck. The blood was inside the truck too. His probation officer was called after he was seen earlier in the day running around screaming with no clothes on. He was also sweating and acting bizarre. He was eventually found and arrested for felony vandalism and violation of probation and held without bail.
The Dixie Fire is now the second largest single wildfire to burn in the state of Calif. And over the weekend fire officials reported at least eight people were missing after the town of Greenville was devastated by the wildfire. The fire was still threatening thousands of buildings over the weekend, scorching land larger than the size of New York City. The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office reported the missing residents, five of them from Greenville, a gold rush era town in the Sierra Nevadas. The fire has burned almost 490,000 acres and is just 21% contained. Over the weekend four firefighters ended up in the hospital after they were hit by a fallen tree branch. Also, after PG&E admitted they thought their equipment may have started the massive inferno, the judge overseeing their parole, for the San Bruno explosion asked for the utility to explain its role in the fire’s ignition.
Like other towns in the state of Calif., suffering through yet another drought, the village of Mendocino is running critically low on water. In a report in the Guardian newspaper, the town goes global, to be known now as a historic hamlet with rugged beaches, scenic hikes, charming bed-and-breakfasts and boutique galleries, and nearly no water. The newspaper reports even though the town is near several major rivers, creeks and springs, the town relies on shallow wells for its water, which are historically low. The town trucking water in at twice the amount it has been because of a shortage of water in surrounding areas too. Some local eateries are setting up outhouses outdoors, instead of allowing customers to use their bathrooms. Some businesses telling the news site, if the water shortages go on much longer, it might close them down after they just started to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
A man in Laytonville has been arrested after a call to the Sheriff’s office about a guy threatening he had a gun. Deputies went to the parking lot of Harwood Park, finding Levi Lamoureux, who they say did not have a gun. They also found out there was no crime committed, but they found there was a pickup order for the guy from County Probation for violations of his probation. And they received another call about Lamoureux possibly stealing a flag from a local Laytonville business. But the flag was found so he wasn’t charged with anything. But Deputies say the guy acted hostile and tried to resist arrest and threatened them. They eventually arrested him but say he had physically assaulted them. Two deputies had visible injuries after. Lamoureux was also taken to a hospital for medical clearance. The Deputies did not require medical treatment. Lamoureux is now charged with various crimes and held without bail.
Another massive fire, barely contained in Northern Calif. the Monument Fire burning in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Several hundred people have also been evacuated as the fire explodes to over 50,000 acres with only 3% containment. The fire has triggered evacuations and warnings, destroyed 10 residences, 15 outbuildings and 1 commercial building. The firefighters on the line say the fire is one of the fastest growing they’ve seen. The fire is predicted to spread to Junction City and resources have already been placed there. Firefighters have been challenged by the weather, with temperatures in the 90s with single digit humidity. And it’s supposed to be hotter and drier this week.
A group of people who live in Graton have filed a lawsuit after approval of wastewater treatment from the town of Occidental. The Graton Community Services District board voted back in May to use a trucking depot as its wastewater treatment facility. But the group says the depot on a tiny piece of land is against state law, because there was not environmental impact report. The suit filed in June to get the decision overturned. The group also says the district can try again by putting forth an environmental report correcting errors in a consultant report saying there would be “no significant unavoidable impact” on air quality, noise, traffic and 18 other factors.
A man from Willits has been arrested on various charges after he was pulled over over the weekend with drugs and weapons. Deputies pulled a car over Saturday night and thought the driver, Francisco Duenas, who was alone at the time, seemed like he was high. They searched the car and found a loaded unregistered semi-automatic pistol with no serial numbers (Ghost Gun) and an attached loaded 30 round magazine was located in the vehicle. Since he’s a convicted felon he’s not allowed to have any sort of firearms or ammo. So he’s now charged with Unlawful Possession of a controlled substance while Armed with a Firearm, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Ammunition, Felony Carrying a concealed Firearm and being in Possession of Firearm while under the influence of a Controlled Substance and held on $35,000.00 bail
A busy meeting planned for the Lake County Board of Supervisors. It’s a hybrid meeting in person and on Zoom, or the county’s Facebook page. The board will sit as the Watershed Protection District Board of Directors to look over a purchase agreement with Michael Mountanos for 124 acres of land in Nice at nearly $1,500,000 to be part of the Middle Creek Restoration Project. The board will also take up the first phase of the Lake County Recreation Center Feasibility Study and hear from the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport who’ve approved the second phase. There will also be a pandemic update as they’ve been hearing over the last year and a public hearing will be held of an appeal of a Vicious Animal Abatement Case from Lower Lake.
Air is bad in Mendocino County as the massive Dixie Fire and now the Monument Fire’s smoke drifts our way. The air quality has been listed as unhealthy for sensitive groups and the Mendocino County Air Quality Management District reported the air will stay poor until some of the fires stop burning. But the National Weather Service says it could shift with the wind too and they hoped the air quality would improve over the weekend. But smoke could hang over the valley with lingering haze.
A new report says as the surge of coronavirus continues in Mendocino County, more people are getting vaccinated. Dr. Andy Coren, the public health officer says testing has been going up which shows people are concerned. He says there have also been a lot more people appearing at county vaccination clinics. The Daily Journal reports Dr. Coren reported sixteen people were in the hospital, as of last Friday, and almost half were in the Intensive Care Unit. They also confirmed a woman over 55 had died from the virus. And another who had taken the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, had previously died, but he gave the caveat, that there were other co-morbidities that were at least partly responsible. He also mentioned a case had popped up at Applebees Grill and Bar in Ukiah and anyone who had visited between Thursday, July 29th and Saturday, July 31st, may have been exposed. We are also back to mandatory facial coverings in the county.
The Lake County Grand Jury has a report out on sewage and local pollution. The report says there was a spill into Clear Lake that didn’t exactly get a rapid response. The Record Bee reports even though assertions were made by staff that strike teams had been put together and sent when needed, not so much. The report says meetings and communication with local homeowners showed that certain agencies didn’t respond in a way that resulted in resolutions for over a year. It also claimed that some property owners were misled and told they should submit a claim with the County even though homeowners didn’t want to. The report also said County staff didn’t follow through on how the claims should legally be filed. The Grand Jury also said the County didn’t give homeowners proper documents to the jury to inspect.
It’s already happening. College students are sending in proof they’ve been vaccinated against COVID. The deadline is not until the end of September, but fall classes are starting at some state universities next week. There are also a bunch more classes this fall than there were last fall, so there are some earlier deadlines to meet. Any students or staff members unable to meet the deadlines, or get their required exemption will have to be tested for the virus every week. Tens of thousands of students have already uploaded their vaccination records to third party databases so schools can keep track, but medical records are kept confidential.
The state of California has hit another COVID19 record, 4 million infections. The record hits as the delta variant takes hold in the state, bringing back mask mandates and other safety precautions once again. The number of hospitalizations and deaths are rising, but are still lower than when the pandemic first surfaced and a winter surge followed at the end of 2020. But last week we were seeing over 10,000 new cases each day, the last time that happened was before the vaccination was widely available, mid-February. The worst was over 40,000 daily cases in Calif. though. The Governor told reporters last week the pandemic could be over in a month if everyone got the vaccine, calling it a choice, “at the end of the day”.
