Possible COVID-19 exposure at the Mendocino County Assessor-Clerk Recorder’s offices means a temporary closure of the office. There’s no re-opening date yet, just sometime later in the month. They ask that you watch their website for more information. There will however be a small number of Elections staff in the office to complete the extended candidate filing deadline which is this Wednesday. They’re also preparing the ballot and sample ballots to be mailed out. They’re following the Public Health Orders including social distancing and wearing face masks while they’re working in the office. If you have an appointment, they’ll call to cancel or reschedule.
A man from Willits has been arrested after reports of a domestic violence incident. The Sheriff’s Dept. reports getting a call last Friday finding Victor Lopez outside the home. His wife looking through the man’s phone and found he had texted another woman so Lopez says she pulled his hair as he tried leaving the house. But deputies say he forgot his phone so he went back for it and the couple argued some more. The woman says as Lopez left her finger was caught in his hair and he punched her in the face and threw her to the ground. He was arrested and held without bail due to a parole violation.
A call from a family in Willits about a family member threatening them ends in that man’s arrest. Last Tuesday morning deputies found Jacob McKey at the residence where family members say he was threatening one of them with death. McKey demanded deputies leave. They removed another family member and left McKey alone, but he left the house and shined a flashlight at deputies which turned into a laser, then deputies heard several gunshots. Deputies left the scene and called for backup. Deputies finally talked the guy down, he came out of the home unarmed and was arrested for having several firearms and criminal threats. He’s held on $500,000.00 bail.
The end of a long criminal case after two bodies are found in a parked van along Highway 20 in Fort Bragg. The Sheriff’s office says they got a report in October of 2013 to the bodies in the 31000 block of Highway 20, the area of Bark Dumps. Deputies found Jim Tat Kong and Cindy Bao Feng Chen dead in the van. They said at the time they had been shot in the back of their heads. Several law enforcement agencies worked on the incident and came up with a suspect, Wing Wo Ma. He was arrested 5 years ago in Oakland by the FBI on drug charges. He was held until 2017 without bail and was indicted on several charges including murder with a firearm, corruption, bribery of officials and conspiracy. Last November he was convicted and last week sent to prison for life.
A small airplane has crashed in Williams on its way to Mendocino County. Friday night the Lake County Sheriff’s Office got a report from the Williams Soaring Center about the overdue aircraft, a MINI Glider. It left Lampson Airfield that afternoon. The aircraft was found in Lakeport and deputies found the pilot, the only one in the aircraft, dead. The FAA was called and along with the NTSB will investigate the crash. The pilot has been identified as 89 year old Matthew Herron of San Rafael.
There’s a new homeless shelter in Lakeport. Hope Harbor’s Covid-19 Center is at the old Juvenile Hall, the third location for the shelter. It’s actually the Elijah House Lake County Shelter as Hope Harbor’s contract has ended. Elijah House reports all juveniles who were in the location were moved to Red Bluff. Elijah House Foundation hails from Oroville and has three other locations in Butte, Tehama and Contra Costa Counties. They were the only agency to bid to take over the shelter when Hope Harbor’s contract ended. Their contract runs thru October.
A man on parole from prison has been found by CHP and Caltrans workers near the Highway 101 onramp to Talmage in Ukiah. Officers say the man died even though they tried to save him. His probation officer says he was released from prison early because of the safety restrictions at Calif. prisons due to COVID-19. The man’s probation officer says the state should do more to protect released inmates, like this man, who ended up on the street without support. The man was incarcerated at Soledad State Prison and due to be released in November. He got a bus ride to the Ukiah area and apparently had no transitional housing. It appears to be a drug overdose.
Major surge of coronavirus cases in Mendocino County over the weekend, with 70 confirmed positives. The Mendocino County Public Health Office reported 19 cases yesterday and 51 Saturday. They say Saturday’s massive caseload was due to test results and a new lab being used. 34 of the results were from July 31st to August 8th, this past Saturday. There are now 450 total cases of COVID-19 in the County. Also the Board of Supervisors is getting tough on enforcement, approving a contract with a security guard company to monitor folks in quarantine, focusing on those who are refusing to stay inside. 13 people are in the hospital and one in the ICU. 10 people have died from coronavirus in Mendocino County.
The Ukiah School Superintendent sending out a letter to parents as summer vacation winds down and Distance Learning for the fall semester kicks off soon. The school district looking at different models for online learning. They’re asking for flexibility from parents at this uncertain time. The superintendent says they heard mixed results from parents and say some had a good experience, while others didn’t. She says there will be a dramatically different experience with more time for online live learning from a credentialed teacher, with common structures across each school and classroom, staff professional development specifically for distance learning, and software enhancements. They’re also continuing with food distribution of free breakfast and lunch this year.
At least three businesses in Mendocino County continue to struggle with COVID-19 outbreaks including Sherwood Oaks Skilled Nursing. Dr. Noemi Doohan says it’s being contained with the help of the County, Adventist Health, the State, and employees at Sherwood Oaks. There were no new deaths within the last week. Ukiah Post Acute Care has had 5 employees test positive, but no residents. At Walmart, it’s not considered an outbreak because there have to be 3 employees sick who were connected by close contact, which is being investigated. Environmental Health was there cleaning over the weekend. There is no new information from this morning on any of the outbreaks.
There will be a lot more public access in the South Cow Mountain Off Highway Motorvehicle Management area. That’s due to the just finished acquisition of a ranch near Lakeport. The Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office reports the acquisition was the almost 1,400-acre Blue Oak Ranch which is right beside Highway 175 near the town of Lakeport. The ranch was paid for with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the California State Park Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division Grants Program.
It’s getting to be that time of year, when bears have foraged and start to end up in neighborhoods. With that a warning for parts of the state including in Lake County. In Clear Lake a cub was hit by a car on Highway 20 near Paradise Cove. That was at the beginning of June, then a few weeks later, 2 cars hit a bear on Highway 29 near Lower Lake. Four bears hit by cars in Yosemite and another one walked onto a golf course in Truckee during a PGA event in the last several weeks. There have been a bunch of reports of bears seen in and around Lassen National Park. And a black bear was seen at the end of June wandering on the beach in Glenhaven.
The Lake County Public Health Office releasing more info on COVID-19 which seems to be holding steady, but reports with testing difficulties could change that. Dr. Gary Pace reports the county at 220 cases, that’s 25 more cases, but over a one week period. Dr. Pace reported Friday there were 24 active cases and 194 recovered. There was however a second death in the county last Wednesday. The first was reported on July 3. Nobody is in the hospital currently. The test positivity rate sits at 4.6 percent, something Dr. Pace says is manageable. He did report on long waits for tests with some saying it’s taken them seven to 10 days or longer for their test results. He says that led to Quest modifying their procedures and outsourcing more work.
The driver of a pickup truck that rolled over the weekend died, but the CHP says it’s because he bailed from the truck and jumped off a bridge. The California Highway Patrol says the driver rolled the pickup on the East Fork Russian River bridge Saturday. The Ukiah office for the patrol says around dinner time Saturday they got a bunch of 911 calls about a crash on Highway 20 just west of the Bushay campground entrance, then people called to say the driver jumped off the bridge. Deputies found the pickup truck on its side, blocking the highway on the bridge. The incident is being investigated.
The top public health official in the state has resigned a couple of days after the state says it fixed the issue of test results taking too long. The Press Democrat reports Dr. Sonia Angell resigned Sunday, but no reason was given in her resignation letter to her staff. And the California Health and Human Services Agency has not expanded on why she left either. The Gov. thanked her for her service. Now the position will be filled on an interim basis by the VP of external engagement for California Health Care Foundation.
PG&E has been ordered to do a better job inspecting their high-voltage power lines, to hire more tree-trimming supervisors and upgrade its record keeping on how old its electrical equipment is. It’s all part of their criminal case and bankruptcy after multiple disastrous and fatal wildfires dating back several years. The work all part of the criminal case after the San Bruno explosion, for which the utility was on probation. The conditions to prevent any more wildfires following the Camp fire in Butte County 2 years ago.
The first case of an inmate contracting coronavirus has been reported in the Mendocino County Jail. Apparently it was a man who had been extradited from out of state on a Mendocino County warrant. They’re supposed to be quarantined for 14 days before coming into the prison and a test to make sure there’s no infection upon arrival showed a positive. So the inmate is now isolated in the facility. They’re being monitored there with the help of Mendocino County Public Health.
