Someone in Redwood Valley reported seeing a UFO. The National UFO Reporting Center got a report at the beginning of October, that someone in an RV saw a large object in the sky through a window in the roof of their vehicle. Mendo Fever reports the reporting party said they saw a large X lighting up the sky and slowly flashing. Another person nearby also apparently saw the object too. The news site says the person who saw it remains anonymous.
A woman from Clearlake Oaks found guilty of killing her ex-boyfriend is going to prison for 50 years. 58-year-old Tammy Sue Grogan-Robinson was convicted last month of the shooting death of 56-year-old Charles Vernon McClelland of Rohnert Park. You may recall at the time, Grogan-Robinson made up an elaborate story about her ex’s death, and a sex assault. The judge sentenced her to 25 years to life for first-degree murder, and another 25-years-to-life for an enhancement for the use of a firearm for the July murder.
A man killed last week in a house fire near Guerneville has been identified. 68-year-old Walter Moore died last Wednesday in the fire about five miles out of the town. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office reports the home was in an isolated area off dirt roads and a large tree blocked the way in. The fire burned almost an hour before firefighters could gain access. The home was totally destroyed, and the victim’s body was found during mop up of the fire, which remains under investigation.
Some tobacco companies took California’s recent ban on flavored products all the way to the Supreme Court. But the Supremes sided with voters in California. R.J. Reynolds and others were trying to get the high court to stop the ban before it officially starts Dec. 21st. Lawmakers had first passed the ban two years ago, but it stalled as tobacco companies got petitions signed and got the matter onto the ballot, which backfired. Nearly two-thirds of voters said they didn’t want flavored tobacco, vape juice or menthol cigarettes in Calif. So the tobacco companies filed a lawsuit the day after the election. The lower courts tossed it and they appealed all the way up.
Surface water contamination is being tied to cannabis grows. A new study by the Water Quality Research Journal by Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations ecologists and others say after six years of monitoring illegal grows, they found illegal and banned pesticides in water, in areas below the grows. As you probably know, surface water in national forests is critical habitat for various species, and supposedly provides clean water to rural communities, agriculture, municipalities and Indigenous tribes. Samples were taken at four sites on national forests in Calif.
Candle lighting ceremonies are planned in memory of those lost before us. The candle-lighting in Lakeport today and Lower Lake Thursday put on by Hospice Services of Lake County. Today at Hospice Services Bereavement Center in Lakeport at 5 p.m. with a special tribute to veterans by the Lake County Honor Guard and a reading of poetry. Then at the Lower Lake event on Thursday will be a musical performance and message of remembrance presented by Adventist Health and another poetry reading. That event at the Lower Lake Historical School House Museum at 6:30pm.
For more information, call the Hospice Services of Lake County office at (707) 263-6222 or visit the agency’s website, www.lakecountyhospice.org.
A college professor at Chico State reportedly told someone he worked with he had purchased a weapon and ammo and talked up mass school shootings. The shocking story comes out during a Zoom meeting with others on campus yesterday. A biology teacher/lecturer told over 600 students and faculty members that she felt threatened and said she was “truly terrified” of the other professor. The Chico State President, who was on the call said the story would be investigated. The accused is a tenured professor who’s also accused of sexual relations with a grad student he was supervising. While being investigated for that, he allegedly made the shooting threat. He was suspended Friday.
Some large gifts have been handed out by the Lake County Wine Alliance this holiday season. Lake Co News reports dozens of local nonprofits and schools were the recipients last night at the yearly distribution of proceeds from the September Wine Auction. The event was at the Bell Haven Resort, Flower Farm and Event Pavilion in Kelseyville. Record donations were also received at the auction which in turn will help almost 30 nonprofits and all five county high schools. The Wine Auction has distributed over two million dollars since the auctions began. Last year they gave out a record $250,000, but this year was even more historical, with the biggest gifting yet, $300,000.
As the lockdowns related to the pandemic hit, more of us were dining outside. Now several restaurants in the North Bay will be keeping their outdoor seating in place. Due to state public health restrictions on indoor dining, “parklets” or wooden, open-air structures for outdoor dining popped up all over the country. A new report says North Bay cities from Sausalito to Petaluma and Napa are looking more and more like European towns, where parklet like settings are the norm. Some of the towns and cities will keep the parklets and charge a yearly fee to the establishments. In Santa Rosa for example, city leaders said the restaurant industry’s business margins weren’t so great so the parklets opened a whole new world for them.
