A man in Middletown has been arrested after deputies on routine patrol saw him walking amongst several cars behind a convenience store, thinking he might be tinkering with the cars. The deputy went up to the guy, identified as 26 year old Travis Minor of Kelseyville, who said his car ran out of gas. But the deputy knew he’d been arrested before for doing the same thing. He was stopped and given a field sobriety test, to see if he was high. The deputy couldn’t get a straight answer out of Minor about his car so he was arrested for being high. The deputy also found he had a Mercedes key on him and saw a Mercedes down the street from the convenience and the key matched it. But the car had just been reported stolen. The owner of the car was apparently an acquaintance of Minor’s but he didn’t have permission to take the car. Minor was booked into jail for being Under the Influence of a Controlled Substance and Vehicle Theft.
A Local Assistance Center is opening in Mendocino County for those impacted by the Hopkins Fire. But it’s not happening for a week and a half. The Center is a single location where people affected by a fire can tap into disaster assistance relief programs and services. Several different representatives from local, state, nonprofit and other agencies come to the Center to help victims. It’s happening for Hopkins victims in Redwood Valley, next Thursday, October 7th from 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM at the “Old Jehovah’s Witnesses church”. They’re requiring masks and social distancing due to the pandemic and will have hand sanitizer, and conduct health screenings.
For more information, please contact the Disaster Recovery Team at (707) 234-6303 or disasterrecovery@mendocinocounty.org.
A man from Willits has been arrested after a domestic violence situation. The Sheriffs Office reports getting a call two Tuesdays ago to the 20000 block of South Main Street in Willits finding the couple, a 47 year old woman, and 50 year old Kelly Fonsen, who the woman said had been drinking with her all day. Deputies say the pair got into an argument and the woman was injured and needed medical attention. She was taken to the hospital for treatment and Fonsen was arrested for Domestic Violence Battery and Battery Causing Great Bodily Injury and booked into jail on $25,000.00 bail.
Two men have been arrested for drugs and weapons charges, one of them also had a fake police badge. Deputies got a call two Tuesdays ago to a burglary next to the Leggett Volunteer Fire Department. Apparently firefighters spotted a couple cars and two men nearby loitering. A Fire Captain approached and one flashed a badge, saying they were a US Marshal, but then took off. Deputies saw the two cars on the 101 in Laytonville and stopped one. Daniel Gorman was stopped and detained while the car was searched, a replica gun was found with drugs and blank ammo. At the same time a CHP officer saw the other car parked and contacted Austin Shealor who was on parole and found he was involved in the earlier burglary. He was also found with drugs. He too was arrested. The charges for both included Burglary, Conspiracy, Carrying a Loading Gun, Wearing a Peace Officer Badge fraudulently and Possession of Narcotic. Gorman was held on $15,000.00 bail and Shealor was held on No Bail due to his parole.
A couple in Laytonville have been arrested for Robbery, Burglary and Conspiracy. The Sheriff’s Office says a week ago Sunday they got a call to reports of a robbery, but a woman reported there, Miranda Mullins of Willits was already gone. Deputies say they found another woman had cashed a large check with Jacob Sanderson of Ukiah. Then a couple days later Mullins walked into that woman’s home without knocking and demanded money. And the woman thought she had a gun so she gave her money and Mullins left with Sanderson and a third party. They were found after a BOLO alert and arrested. Mullins and Sanderson were booked on $150,000.00 bail.
The State Legislature has unanimously approved bills to try to avert these catastrophic fire seasons we’ve been dealing with for years. The Governor signed a new law that creates a “dedicated workforce” who are charged with overseeing wildfire prevention and preparedness. The bill authored by Assemblyman Jim Wood creates a new branch of the office of the State Fire Marshall to work year round only on fire prevention, including fuel reduction and hardening homes. There are already several programs with Cal Fire in play that would all come under this one new branch.
Yuba Community College is working with PG&E for a microgrid power station at the School’s Lake County Campus. The College District’s Governing Board has approved Woodland Community College, part of the Yuba Community College District, will get a temporary microgrid power station in front of the campus. Apparently it’s only during wildfire season, so this fall, because when wildfires happen, power is turned off as part of PG&E’s public safety power shut-off events. So the Lower Clear Lake area would continue to get power. The college’s board approved the move this spring. The temporary and permanent stations will give power to a one-two mile area during any intentional power downs.
A man has reportedly died near the Wildwood Campground after being crushed by a tree. Mendo Fever reported hearing about the incident on the scanner this weekend. The report that paramedics were called to the 29000 block of Highway 20 near the campground after the elderly man was hit by the tree and killed. No word how the incident occurred.
Six more people have died due to COVID19 in Mendocino County. And this is a report from Friday, during the Public Health Officer, Dr. Andy Coren’s regular update. There have now been 82 people who have died from the virus in the county. Dr. Coren reported almost 89-percent of those hospitalized are not vaccinated, adding “the vaccines are very effective against severe disease, hospitalizations, Intensive Care Unit admissions, and deaths.” Also on Friday, he reported more than a dozen people were in the hospital with the illness, five in an ICU, where there remains only 18-percent capacity. Dr. Coren says the surge of cases has slightly leveled, but he expects more again after Halloween and the year end holidays. He also spoke about booster shots, but there’s no guidelines from the state on that yet.
The judge that’s been handling the PG&E case for months heard from the utility about the Dixie Fire. The company says they had considered turning off the power on the line that they believe may have been involved in the massive fire. They also answered who’s allowed to turn off power in an emergency and why it took so long to get to the scene of the dangerous line. The company says a distribution operator can shut off a line, and one considered that on July 13th, but apparently they found a circuit breaker was closed and no excessive ground current was found. They also say there was no indication of an emergency. The company told the judge they continue investigating after a tree fell on the so-called Bucks Circuit line. It was ranked as the 11th most dangerous line they had.
The Governor has signed a new climate-spending bill for about $15 billion dollars. The money would be used for zero-emission school buses, starting smarter agricultural practices and to pay for help in urban areas living in so-called “heat islands” and more. The Governor was at the Sequoia National Forest last week near a massive fire saying the spending was needed due to the “challenges of extreme weather patterns.” The bills were part of the last spending package in the budget which his opposition says didn’t have money water storage projects for new reservoirs, something voters asked for back in 2014. The bill includes money for wildfire prevention like clearing dead trees and brush that start fires and make them more intense. More for drought response like water recycling. And for ways to battle extreme heat like tree planting and boosting green space.
A man from Lucerne reported missing last month is still missing. 63 year old Ronald Meluso was last heard from August 18th and reported missing about a week later. The Sheriff’s Office reports he may not have a car and has not tried to reach family, friends, or law enforcement to get help. They also say he has not been returning phone calls. Relatives also told deputies the behavior was out of character for Meluso. Deputies have been searching ever since in multiple areas and have served several search warrants too. They’re asking anyone who may know where Meluso is to call the Sheriff’s Office.
We’re getting close to the end of California’s eviction moratorium. The moratorium put in place when the state shutdown during the height of the pandemic. This Thursday tenants will have to find a way to make good on back rent or risk being removed by their landlords for not paying rent. The Press Democrat reports about 7% of tenants are behind on rent in Calif. which adds up to an estimated $3.5 billion in debt. Renters will still have some protections until next March like applying for rent relief from the state.
