A Lake County man arrested for the murder of a 2-year-old boy last spring will reportedly have a preliminary hearing next month. Last week a continuance was granted for Fernando Lugo-Garcia who pleaded not guilty to several charges and special allegations for the incident in March of this year when a two-year-old Clearlake boy was shot during a party on Uhl Ave. The Record-Bee reports there have been several delays in getting him an attorney and last week a judge granted his latest attorney more time to prepare. He is being held on no bail.
The weather is being connected to two weekend deaths in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office says on Saturday morning a bystander called REDCOM dispatch to report a vehicle in the flood waters of the Russian River near Mays Canyon Rd. and Highway 116 in Guerneville. Patrol deputies and Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit deputies arrived at the scene with Sonoma County Fire and Monte Rio Fire but by the time they were able to get to him he was pronounced dead. Around the same time Santa Rosa police got a call about a body in Piner Creek. The Press Democrat reports because there is so little information as to how they got there, the Santa Rosa PD Violent Crimes Investigations Team is looking into that one.
The Commercial Dungeness crab season has been pushed back again.The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says they are still looking at a high risk of whales getting tangled in crab fishing gear from the Mendocino County line south to the Mexican border. Meanwhile north of us, they are seeing high levels of domoic acid found in the crab samples. The next round of DFW assessments will be done around December 5 with an aim toward opening the commercial crabbing by December 15.
If you have damage from last week’s Atmospheric River storm, Mendocino County officials would like you to complete a Damage Assessment Survey. You can access the survey at the website MendoReady.org. They point out that this is just an initial damage assessment survey and completing it does not guarantee eligibility for Disaster Assistance. The County says the survey results will be analyzed to determine whether the County will be able to get money from any state or federal disaster relief programs.
Several Mendocino and Lake County tribes will receive millions in funding to address housing and homelessness from two programs announced Friday by Governor Gavin Newsom. The Governor’s Office says the Tribal Homekey program is aimed at helping to overcome historical barriers to securing funding for affordable housing development with 10 awards totaling just under $71 million to fund 172 permanent, affordable rental housing units in rural communities in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Humboldt and several other counties. Meanwhile, Newsom also announced $20 million for the Tribal Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention programs to help 37 federally recognized tribes in California address homelessness.
The Hopland Fire Protection District has some new radio communication equipment thanks to a grant from the California Fire Foundation. The District says they were chosen for a 2024 California Statewide Specialized Equipment Radio Project Grant which allowed them to buy six new handheld radios for its team. The goal of the grants is to bolster communication during emergencies and they say they are used in all of their swift-response scenarios during wildfires, vehicle accidents, medical emergencies and more. They say they got them just in time for last month’s Red-Flag Warnings.
A long time social and environmental leader of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians has passed away. Priscilla Hunter died November 16 at the age of 77. The Mendocino Voice reports she was widely known as a tribal leader and environmental activist credited with much of the work of preserving the Pomo cultural heritage. In the 1950’s her family was terminated from tribal recognition with their eviction from the original Coyote Valley Rancheria with the creation of Lake Mendocino. In the 1970s her family regained federal tribal recognition and helped develop the new Coyote Valley Band of Pomo. She was a Tribal Administrator and Chairwoman and sat on the California Indian Gaming Association and California Native American Heritage Commission.
The Ukiah Players Theater has two new people at the helm but they are very familiar to UPT audiences. Evan Gaustad has taken over as Artistic Director and Crystal Cook-Fischer is now the Business Director. Gausted has been in plays at UPT since he was a kid although since then he has worked in Los Angeles as an actor and writer and for the last nine years has taught at SPACE as well as UPT. Cook-Fischer was also a young actor in Willits and Ukiah and then became UPT’s box office manager and then lobby manager. They tell the Daily Journal in addition to live performance they are bringing in films including a collaboration with the Mendocino Film Festival. And next summer they are putting on a comedy camp and running a comedy sketch troupe.
