A 15-year-old from Ukiah is facing charges for allegedly shoplifting from a convenience store and then assaulting the clerk. Ukiah Police say it happened late Sunday at the Express Mart on East Gobbi. A witness said he saw the kid lift something and he and the store clerk got it back but the kid then allegedly started assaulting the employee. Police say surveillance footage showed the kid hitting the employee in the head, not just with his fist but also with his backpack which contained a metal weight and pruning shears. The 15-year-old is charged with felony robbery and assault with a deadly weapon because of the heavy object in the bag and was taken to the Juvenile Hall.
A Clearlake man has been arrested for murder following a Wednesday morning standoff at a home on James Street. Clearlake Police say someone called for help around 1030am after apparently finding a man dead in the home. Investigators called it a homicide right away based on the evidence and determined that Martin Jimenez, who was still inside a room in the home, was a suspect. They say Jimenez refused to leave the room so the Lake and Mendocino County Regionalized SWAT team was called out. After a few hours of negotiations, they tossed in some chemical agents and Jimenez came out. Police have not named the victim or how he was related to Jimenez.
The wildfire season is winding down, but Cal Fire is still warning of potentially dangerous conditions. Since Monday, crews with the Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit have responded to two fires. One of them burned approximately 1/4 acre to the east of Middletown on the south side of Butts Canyon Road, off Black Oak Hill Drive–the other in the Sonoma County community of Cotati. Major fires happened in early December before. On December 3rd, 1959, a 3,500-acre fire burned in Napa County for several days. Meanwhile, home heating is now a concern as we close in on the cold weather with fire departments saying it’s important to keep fire safety in mind. They say space heaters are to blame for many fires so make sure your wiring is up to the increased load the heaters draw and check that the heater’s tip-over switch is working.
There is a fentanyl awareness presentation coming to Lake County next week. The organization Stop the Void is bringing a fentanyl awareness presentation to several schools around the county for the week of December 9-13. They will also be holding community meetings for parents and concerned citizens hosted at various locations in Lakeport, Upper Lake, Lower Lake and Middletown. For more information on when and where you can attend there’s a link on the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
The City of Fort Bragg has new initiatives to support small businesses. In his November City Manager Round-Up, Fort Bragg City Manager Isaac Whippy says the Fort Bragg Business Boost Fund is offering low-interest loans of up to $200,000 to help local small businesses with growth, job creation, and recovery from pandemic impacts. And Whippy says the Downtown Improvement Grant Program provides grants of up to $25,000 to enhance storefronts, signage, and accessibility, with the goal of creating a more inviting downtown area. And this month the City will launch a new website fortbraggbiz.com which Whippy says will be a one-stop resource for local entrepreneurs.
A Tuesday night fire at a Ukiah business remains under investigation. The Ukiah Valley Fire Authority responded to the fire on Christy Lane at nearly midnight. Battalion Chief Eric Singleton tells the Ukiah Daily Journal that CalFire and other local agencies came out to assist with the fire he says was putting out a lot of smoke. He says the area where the fire started was full of electrical equipment and so far it looks to be accidental and not malicious. No one was hurt.
The Noyo Harbor District says they’ve gotten funding from the California State Coastal Conservancy to upgrade the Marina. Officials say the goal is to better serve the region’s commercial and recreational fishing, adapt to climate change, and support the community’s economic and cultural heritage. The City says the Marina, which dates to the 1970s is in urgent need of modernization with it’s wooden docks, creosote-treated pilings, and poly floats no longer suitable for current demands. They plan to replace the wooden docks with durable concrete docks and transition from creosote-treated pilings to environmentally friendly concrete pilings.
