Mendocino County 4th District Supervisor Dan Gjerde has resigned effective tomorrow. Gjerde’s term was set to run through the end of December but he reportedly announced Tuesday that he would be stepping down at the end of this week because he’s gotten a job as a transportation planner with the North Coast Caltrans District Office and it starts next week. Mendo Voice reports Gjerde has contacted the Governor’s office and asked the Governor to appoint Fort Bragg Mayor Bernie Norvell to the seat immediately. Norvell had already been elected to the seat in March when Gjerde announced he was not running for reelection and Norvell was expected to be sworn in to the seat in January. Now that will happen as soon as the Governor agrees to the appointment.
A Middletown man has been killed after his bicycle collided with a pickup truck on Dry Creek Cutoff Road Monday night. The CHP says the 73-year-old man was riding on Dry Creek Cutoff around 5pm approaching Highway 175 when he crossed in front of the truck driven by a Yuba City man who was on 175. Investigators say the pickup driver tried to swerve to avoid the cyclist but didn’t make it and while South Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters tried to help him, he died at the scene. The CHP says the bicyclist was not wearing a helmet. The truck driver reportedly stayed on scene and was cooperating with the investigation.
There’s a prescribed burn scheduled for Friday in Ukiah as long as weather conditions are right. The Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance says a group of fire agencies including CalFire are planning what they call an ecocultural broadcast burn on the Traditional lands of Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians Pinoleville Pomo Nation starting Friday morning around 9am and lasting until around 3pm. They say local residents are advised to close windows and doors to prevent smoke getting in and there is a potential for some residual smoke overnight and into Saturday.
A repeat drunk driver has been convicted by a Mendocino County jury. The Mendocino DA’s Office says Jose Pacheco, Jr. of Lakeport, was found guilty Tuesday of driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 or greater after investigators say his BAC was at least .15 at the time of the incident in June. Pacheco had a previous DUI conviction in 2022 in Mendocino County and was still on probation from it. He’ll be sentenced November 20.
An Albion man is facing drug and weapon charges after being pulled over by Fort Bragg Police on Sunday. Charles Gielow was pulled over around 5am on SR-20 for some sort of code violation but police say a records check confirmed he had two outstanding felony warrants and was on active Post Release Community Supervision out of Mendocino County. A search of the car then allegedly turned up $1500 in cash, brass knuckles, a digital scale, meth, fentanyl, heroin, and some prescription drugs. If you know any more about this case you are asked to call Fort Bragg Police.
An apparent dog attack has reportedly left a Mendocino County teen with major injuries. The Sheriff’s Office confirms to the Redheaded Blackbelt news site that the 15-year-old girl suffered life-threatening injuries in the incident which happened in a remote area near Bear Pen Road in Piercy. The girl had to be airlifted to an out-of-county hospital where her current condition is now known. Investigators say there had been a dog reported loose at the time that was back with its owner but that person has not been identified or found. While so far there appear to be no witnesses to the attack to confirm it was a dog, investigators say her wounds are consistent with a dog attack.
A teenage boy who died when the crabbing boat he was on capsized near Bodega Bay Saturday was apparently the survivor of a school shooting in Rancho Tehama in 2017. 17-year-old Johnny Phommathep II of Corning was one of six people aboard the boat which was out for recreational Dungeness crabbing when it capsized in rough waters. An 11-year-old boy was found alive but the other four people are still missing. The Press Democrat reports in 2017 Phommathep was shot twice in the leg when someone opened fire on his family’s car in the attack at the school, injuring his mother and two brothers and killing several people.
California Proposition 32 to raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour looks to have failed. The Secretary of State’s unofficial election results as of last night show the No votes at 52%. Prop 32 would have raised the current statewide minimum wage of $16 an hour to an immediate $17 for businesses with 26 or more employees and smaller companies doing it next year. And the larger businesses would hike it to $18 next year with smaller companies doing it in 2026.
