Wednesday, 04 December 2024

News

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A 3.2-magnitude earthquake centered near Lakeport was reported early Sunday morning.


The quake occurred at 1:53 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.


It was centered six miles west of Lakeport and 12 miles southeast of Ukiah at a depth of 2.9 miles, the agency reported.


Twenty-four shake reports from five zip codes – Lakeport, Hopland, Ukiah, Forestville and Martinez – had been submitted to the survey by 2:30 a.m.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

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Tulip Hill Winery owner Budge Brown's plane was found Friday, May 20, 2011, in the El Dorado National Forest near Placerville, Calif. It's believed he crashed two days earlier on the way to Tracy, Calif., from Minden, Nev.




The wreckage of a plane identified as the one that was being flown by a missing entrepreneur and winery owner was discovered Friday afternoon, ending a day-and-a-half-long search in a remote area near Placerville.


Robert Henderson “Budge” Brown Sr., 78, of Gardnerville, Nev., was reported missing by his son Wednesday evening after he failed to arrive in Tracy following a brief plane trip from Minden, Nev., as Lake County News has reported.


His son, Jeff Brown, confirmed late Friday that his father's plane was discovered by searchers earlier in the afternoon, a discovery he was notified of at around 4:30 p.m.


A body also was discovered in the wreckage, but it has yet to be positively identified, Jeff Brown said.


Budge Brown was a respected businessman and member of the wine industry, who owned wineries in Nevada and in California, including Tulip Hill Winery in Nice.


He had been expected in Tracy at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, his son said. He had flown the route hundreds of times in his 33 years as a pilot.


Sheriff's officials said there had been no emergency radio traffic received from Budge Brown and no emergency locator transmitter from his plane. Jeff Brown said his father didn't have a flight plan, which is recommended but not required.


The Amador County Sheriff's Office's Search and Rescue Nordic Team, assisted by the Civil Air Patrol and the California Highway Patrol, had conducted a search since early Thursday morning in the southeastern area of Amador County within the El Dorado National Forest, officials reported.


It was there that Brown's Lancair, composite, single engine airplane – which had been tracked by radar – had reportedly dropped from 15,000 to 12,000 feet in altitude before falling off the radar at the 11,000-foot level over the national forest.


The sheriff's office said the Civil Air Patrol had identified the search area based on analysis of radar data and experience with past aircraft accidents.


The region still has snow on the ground, with the Civil Air Patrol said presented “somewhat of a challenge” in the search for the white aircraft.


Ground and snowmobile teams, Civil Air Patrol aircraft and two CHP helicopters were involved in the search, as the area was heavily wooded and covered with 6 to 10 feet of snow, according to an Amador County Sheriff's Office report.


Civil Air Patrol flight crews flew in from Concord, Sacramento, Auburn and Redding with additional aircraft from across the state on alert to assist, and mission management and operations staff working from locations the length of the state, the agency said.


They flew a route search, which meant they were flying the entire path that the plane was to have taken from Minden and Tracy, based upon radar data and other intelligence, according to the Civil Air Patrol.


The Civil Air Patrol said that by Thursday evening four of its planes had flown more than 20 hours on five sorties to find Brown's plane.


On Friday the Civil Air Patrol reported that the search area was expanded, with several of its search aircraft looking for the missing plane in the morning.

 

Finally, on Friday afternoon, the plane was found. “They found it within a mile of where they thought he was down,” Jeff Brown said.


While a body was discovered inside the plane, “They haven't told me whether it's my dad or not,” Jeff Brown said.


He said authorities must still positively identify the body. They will then conduct an investigation into the reasons for the crash.


Brown's friends in the Lake County community expressed their sadness at the crash on Friday.


Lake County Winegrape Commission Executive Director Shannon Gunier called Budge Brown “a great guy” who was generous in his involvement in the community.


Wilda Shock, a member of the Lake County Wine Alliance board, said Budge Brown was the honorary chair of the 2010 Lake County Wine Auction, presented last September at Ceago Vinegarden, neighboring property to his Tulip Hill Winery.


His philanthropy and his support of cancer research were honored during the annual charity event that benefits numerous Lake County nonprofit organizations, she said.


On Budge Brown's Facebook page, “Live to love life” was listed as his favorite quotation.


Jeff Brown said it's not really sunk in yet that his father is gone.


He said he and his father were really close.


“I'm really saddened by him not being here anymore,” he said.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A crash Thursday afternoon between a vehicle and a Kelseyville Unified School District school bus resulted in minor injuries to two students.


The crash was reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. Thursday on Kelsey Creek Drive, according to the California Highway Patrol.


The CHP said the school bus driver was not at fault, said Kyle Reams, Kelseyville Unified's director of maintenance and transportation.


“It was a bad situation but the transportation staff did a fantastic job in dealing with it,” said Reams.


Two students sustained minor injuries in the collision, and were treated by emergency personnel, Reams said.


The bus driver, who was shaken by the experience, was uninjured, he added.


Reams said the bus, which the school bus driver was able to drive back to the bus barn from the crash site, also sustained damage, and would be taken out of service until it could be repaired and a mechanic could perform a service check to ensure it was back in perfect running order.


Late Thursday afternoon CHP officers were still on scene and so hadn't been able to produce a full report. Reams said early Thursday evening that he didn't yet have all the information from the CHP on what led to the crash.


The initial CHP reports from the scene indicated the driver of the vehicle that hit the bus was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for a blood draw, raising concerns that alcohol may have been involved.


Reams said that all buses would be running on Friday morning, although the numbers would be different since the damaged bus was taken temporarily out of service.


He said the district also would contact parents on Friday to update them on the incident.


Kelseyville Unified Superintendent Dave McQueen also credited the bus driver with doing “an awesome job.”


He said the situation turned out “pretty good for as bad as it could have been,” adding that he was thankful that everyone was OK.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

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The Lower Lake Stone Jail in Lower Lake, Calif., was built in 1876. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Historical Society.


 


In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Lake County this year, Lake County News is publishing a series of historical stories about the county, its people and places. In this week's story, Camisha Knowlton describes a story from the Mauldin files about the Lower Lake Stone Jail.


The Lower Lake Stone Jail was built in 1876 and is known as the smallest jail in the United States.


It is located on the corner of Highway 29 and Main Street in Lower Lake.


One of Lower Lake’s first stone masons, Stephen Nicolai, built the jail from local materials with the help of John and Theodore Copsey.


The Copsey brothers, thrilled with the completion of the jail’s construction, celebrated in one of the local saloons and became rather rowdy. Hence, the brothers became the jail’s first occupants but didn’t remain so for long.


The Copseys realized that they had not yet fastened the wooden roof down and, being tall men, they were able to lift up the roof and escape.


There is some speculation as to whether John and Theodore got themselves arrested for the sole purpose of being the jail’s first occupants. It would make sense since only they knew that if they were put in jail, they would not have to remain there.


One may wonder why a jail was needed for such a small town. The population in Lower Lake was at 1,000 people and quicksilver mining was at its peak. The Sulphur Bank Mine began mining quicksilver in 1874, and as there were jobs available, more people were drawn to Lake County.


The combination of steady income, liquor and disagreements made this one of the wildest times for Lake County.


As the population continued to grow, crime rose with it. There became an urgent need for civil order, so plans to build the jail began to unfold.


The Lower Lake Stone Jail, although small, has seen quite a bit of action in its time.


Chinese workers at the mines usually smoked opium in moderation. One incident is recorded where moderation went out the window and five Chinese men, extremely high on opium, were thrown into the Lower Lake Stone Jail all at one time.


There was never a guard or watchman for the jail, even when there were occupants. The jail also was without a sanitary facility of any kind and food and water were only provided when absolutely necessary.


After some time, the little jail was closed. For years after it served the county as a gasoline storehouse.


In later years, some townspeople wanted to get rid of it entirely. The Civic Club, Luncheon Club and Native Sons of the Golden West came to the rescue and saved the little building.


It became a California Historic landmark on Oct. 2, 1962.


For more information about the Lake County Sesquicentennial, visit www.lc150.org, join the celebration at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Lake-County-Sesquicentennial/171845856177015 and follow it on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCo150 .


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Kelseyville woman has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription drugs after she crashed into a Kelseyville Unified school bus on Thursday afternoon.


Sandra Jean Burnett, 57, was booked into the Lake County Jail late Thursday night on felony charges of driving under the influence causing bodily injury and being under the influence of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm, and misdemeanor charges of driving on a license suspended for DUI, an addict driving a vehicle and a misdemeanor probation violation, according to her booking sheet.


An initial collision report completed by California Highway Patrol Officer Nick Powell said that the crash between Burnett's 2000 Chevy Prizm and the 1994 Thomas Type 1 School Bus occurred at 2:40 p.m. Thursday on Kelsey Creek Drive south of Wight Way.


Powell's report said that Burnett was driving northbound on Kelsey Creek Drive at an unknown speed while the school bus, driven by 39-year-old Shawn Dale Rogers was driving southbound, also at an unknown rate of speed.


Burnett allegedly allowed her vehicle to drive into the school bus' path. Rogers slowed and took evasive actions but was unable to avoid hitting the Prizm head-on, according to Powell.


The crash caused major damage to the Prizm and moderate damage to the bus, Powell said.


Powell said four of the 25 grade school age children on the bus complained of pain but were not transported to the hospital.


Rogers was uninjured, while Burnett reportedly suffered minor injuries, with abrasions to her left elbow and left hand, Powell reported.


Burnett was allegedly under the influence of prescription medication and subsequently arrested, Powell said.


During interviews on Thursday with Lake County News, Kelseyville Unified School District officials had credited Rogers for his response to the situation, as well as other school transportation staff who helped respond.


The bus in question is to remain out of service until fully repaired, but all bus routes were covered on Friday, according to Kyle Reams, the district's director of maintenance and transportation.


Burnett's bail was set at $150,000 on the charge of DUI causing great bodily injury, but the alleged probation violation resulted in a no-bail hold, according to jail records.


As a result, jail records showed that Burnett remained in custody on Friday.


Her booking document indicated that she is to appear in Lake County Superior Court for arraignment on Monday, May 23.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

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Thermal infrared images of Saturn from the Very Large Telescope Imager and Spectrometer for the mid-Infrared (VISIR) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, on Cerro Paranal, Chile, appear at center and on the right. An amateur visible-light image from Trevor Barry, of Broken Hill, Australia, appears on the left. The images were obtained on Jan. 19, 2011.
 

 

 


 


NASA's Cassini spacecraft and a European Southern Observatory ground-based telescope are tracking the growth of a giant early-spring storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere so powerful that it stretches around the entire planet.


The rare storm has been wreaking havoc for months and shooting plumes of gas high into the planet's atmosphere.


“Nothing on Earth comes close to this powerful storm,” said Leigh Fletcher, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and lead author of a study that appeared in this week's edition of Science Magazine.


“A storm like this is rare,” said Fletcher. “This is only the sixth one to be recorded since 1876, and the last was way back in 1990.”


Cassini's radio and plasma wave science instrument first detected the large disturbance in December 2010, and amateur astronomers have been watching it ever since through backyard telescopes.


As it rapidly expanded, the storm's core developed into a giant, powerful thunderstorm, producing a 3,000-mile-wide (5,000-kilometer-wide) dark vortex possibly similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot.


This is the first major storm on Saturn observed by an orbiting spacecraft and studied at thermal infrared wavelengths.


Infrared observations are key because heat tells researchers a great deal about conditions inside the storm, including temperatures, winds, and atmospheric composition.


Temperature data were provided by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal in Chile and Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS), operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.


“Our new observations show that the storm had a major effect on the atmosphere, transporting energy and material over great distances – creating meandering jet streams and forming giant vortices – and disrupting Saturn's seasonal [weather patterns],” said Glenn Orton, a paper coauthor, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

 

 

 

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This false-color infrared image shows clouds of large ammonia ice particles dredged up by the powerful storm. Credit: Cassini.
 

 

 


The violence of the storm – the strongest disturbances ever detected in Saturn's stratosphere – took researchers by surprise. What started as an ordinary disturbance deep in Saturn's atmosphere punched through the planet's serene cloud cover to roil the high layer known as the stratosphere.


“On Earth, the lower stratosphere is where commercial airplanes generally fly to avoid storms which can cause turbulence,” said Brigette Hesman, a scientist at the University of Maryland in College Park who works on the CIRS team at Goddard and is the second author on the paper. “If you were flying in an airplane on Saturn, this storm would reach so high up, it would probably be impossible to avoid it.”


A separate analysis using Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, led by Kevin Baines of JPL, confirmed the storm is very violent, dredging up deep material in volumes several times larger than previous storms. Other Cassini scientists are studying the evolving storm and, they say, a more extensive picture will emerge soon.


The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.


The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.


The European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany operates the VLT in Chile. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.


Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates.


Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


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LUCERNE, Calif. – A man whose car went into the lake Friday evening was rescued thanks to the actions of a passerby.


A 79-year-old man, whose name was not immediately available, reportedly fell asleep at the wheel of his 2009 Ford Focus while driving eastbound along Highway 20 just west of Pepperwood Cove, according to reports from the scene.


The vehicle went off the highway and into the lake and was partially submerged, with the man trapped.


A passing motorist, Amy Goszulak-Zingone, dove into the water and pulled the man from the sinking car, according to an account she shared on the Lake County News Facebook page.


She reported that the man was shaken up but OK.


When dubbed a hero by other readers on the Facebook page, she said, “I don't feel like a hero. I didn't have time to think about anything; I was on auto pilot! I'm just glad he is okay!”


She said the man asked her how he could ever repay her for saving his life. “I told him if he wanted to repay me, he needs to pay it forward. Help someone else who needs it, just like I did,” she said.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

SACRAMENTO – On Thursday, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced a $241 million settlement – the largest recovery in the history of California's False Claims Act – with Quest Diagnostics, the state's biggest provider of medical laboratory testing, to recover illegal overcharges to the state's medical program for the poor.


“In a time of shrinking budgets, this historic settlement affirms that Medi-Cal exists to help the state's most vulnerable families rather than to illicitly stoke corporate profits,” said Harris. “Medi-Cal providers and others who seek to cheat the state through false claims and illegal kickbacks should know that my office is watching and will prosecute.”


The settlement with Quest is the result of a lawsuit filed under court seal in 2005 by a whistleblower and referred to the Attorney General's Office.


In a Thursday statement, Quest Diagnostics maintained that it had done nothing wrong.


“Our laboratory testing services for Medi-Cal were priced appropriately, and we deny all allegations in the complaint,” said Michael E. Prevoznik, senior vice president and general counsel of Quest Diagnostics.


Prevoznik said Quest Diagnostics operates with the highest standards of integrity and fairness. “California's interpretation of the Medi-Cal 'comparable charge' regulations created uncertainty and resulted in an intolerable business environment for us,” he said. “This agreement allows us to put the lawsuit behind us and provides for an orderly process for resolving any remaining interpretation issues. We also intend to pursue other avenues, including legislative action, to ensure clear regulatory standards in California for the clinical laboratory industry.”


The lawsuit alleged that Quest systematically overcharged the state's Medi-Cal program for more than 15 years and gave illegal kickbacks in the form of discounted or free testing to doctors, hospitals and clinics that referred Medi-Cal patients and other business to the labs.


California law states that “no provider shall charge [Medi-Cal] for any service … more than would have been charged for the same service …to other purchasers of comparable services …under comparable circumstance.”


Yet, Quest is alleged to have charged Medi-Cal up to six times as much as it charged some other customers for the same tests. For example, Quest charged Medi-Cal $8.59 to perform a complete blood count test, while it charged some of its other customers $1.43.


California law also prohibits Medi-Cal providers from soliciting and receiving “any kickback, bribe, or rebate, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in valuable consideration of any kind… [in] return for the referral, or promised referral, of any individual…for the furnishing … of any service” paid for by Medi-Cal.


Harris' office said an investigation revealed that Quest systematically offered doctors, hospitals and clinics low prices for lab tests in return for referrals to Quest of patients, including Medi-Cal patients. Quest then charged Medi-Cal a higher price to make up the difference - resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to the Medi-Cal program.


Under the state's False Claims Act, any person with previously undisclosed information about a fraud, overcharge, or other false claim can file a sealed lawsuit on behalf of California to recover the losses, and is entitled to a share of the recovery in some cases. Such individuals become plaintiffs and are known as “whistleblowers,” “qui tam plaintiffs” or “relators.”


In this case, the whistleblowers were Chris Riedel and his company Hunter Laboratories. Hunter Laboratories found it could not compete in a significant segment of the marketplace where major medical laboratories such as Quest offered doctors, hospitals and clinics far lower rates than they were charging Medi-Cal. Riedel and Hunter were represented by Niall P. McCarthy of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP.


The Attorney General's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse conducted an intensive three-year investigation that uncovered widespread abuse of Medi-Cal by medical testing laboratories in California.


Based on facts disclosed in the complaints, the California Department of Health Care Services, which administers the Medi-Cal program, launched an independent statewide audit of medical laboratories. Through reform of industry pricing practices stemming from this case, Medi-Cal is expected to save hundreds of millions of dollars.


“This agreement sends a strong message that fraud against the state and its Medi-Cal program will not be tolerated,” said Toby Douglas, director of the Department of Health Care Services. “I commend our department's employees and the Department of Justice for working successfully in pursuit of compensation and justice for the state and its important health care programs.”


Besides providing compensation to the whistleblower under statutory guidelines, the settlement is designed to reimburse the state's Medi-Cal program and the Attorney General for expenses in investigating and prosecuting false claims actions. The total that will flow to the state is $171 million.


The settlement also requires the Quest to report information to assist the state in determining Quest's future compliance with Medi-Cal's pricing rules.


Similar cases are still pending against four other defendants, including Laboratory Corporation of America, commonly known as LabCorp, the second largest medical laboratory service provider in California. Trial is scheduled for early next year.


Also assisting in the case was the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


Among those in the Attorney General's office who were instrumental in this case: Aviva Burmas, Sharon Crotteau, Vincent DiCarlo, Dennis Fenwick, J. Timothy Fives, Brian Frankel, Alissa Gire, Jennifer Gregory, David Guon, Sharon Harris, Brian Keats, Eileen Landon, Larry Menard, Kelli O'Neill, Susan Park, Kim Reed, James Shannon, Annette Silva, Jill Spitz, Claude Vanderwold, Lawrence Wold, Mark Zahner, and Gary Zerbey.


A copy of the original complaint can be found at http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_releaseid=1705&y=2009.


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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A 3.6-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Bay Area Saturday evening.


The quake was recorded at 7:04 p.m. two miles south southeast of Hercules, eight miles north of Berkeley and 17 miles north northeast of San Francisco, according to the US Geological Survey.


The depth of the quake was 6 miles, US Geological Survey records showed.


The survey reported receiving 3,977 shake reports from 182 zip codes as of 2 a.m. Sunday.


Most of the reports were from around California, although one was from Graham, Wash.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

The search for the owner of Tulip Hill Winery, who went missing Wednesday while flying his plane from Nevada to the Central Valley, was continuing in a remote area of Northern California on Friday.


On Wednesday afternoon, Robert “Budge” Brown, 78, was supposed to meet his son, Jeff Brown, in Tracy, Calif., but when he didn't arrive by early evening Jeff Brown said he alerted authorities and the search began.


Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's Pacific Division, said that the plane Brown was reported to have been flying, a Lancair Legacy with the tail number N121J, departed around 4 p.m. Wednesday from Minden, Nev., for a private airstrip near Tracy.


“The pilot was not communicating with, or being tracked by, air traffic controllers,” Gregor said.


Gregor said the FAA received the information about the overdue at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.


Brown was reported to be the only person on board the plane, according to his family and the FAA report.


Jeff Brown said the search is focusing on the Bear River Reservoir area off of Highway 88 near Placerville and above Jackson.


He described the search area as very rugged and densely forested, with a significant amount of snow reported to be on the ground.


He said it's “not a place you want to go down in an airplane, for sure.”


Jeff Brown said that he had spoken to his father early on Wednesday afternoon. His father wanted to have dinner with him that evening, and was excited to be leaving for a trip to Mexico with a friend the next day.


He asked his son – also a pilot – about the weather conditions. “He said that he was going to wait for some weather to clear in the Minden area and that he'd probably leave around 4 p.m. and he'd see me about 4:30 p.m.,” Jeff Brown said.


However, by 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jeff Brown said he began calling his father's friends to find out if anyone had seen him. “What worried me is he didn't call the people he normally calls.”


When it became clear no one had seen Budge Brown, the authorities were called. On Thursday morning the Civil Air Patrol and the Amador County Sheriff's Office initiated a search by air and ground, Jeff Brown said.


It appeared that Budge Brown wasn't on any kind of a flight plan, which isn't required although is strongly recommended, his son explained.


He said his father had made the same trip hundreds of times since he learned to fly in 1978.


Jeff Brown said a forensics specialist worked to try to track a radar signal believed to have been from Budge Brown's plane.


They found an airplane flying on a commonly followed course from Minden to Tracy, he said.


“Based on radar returns, it looked like the plane started deviating somewhat and then descending in altitude at a pretty rapid rate,” Jeff Brown said.


Based on that information, Jeff Brown said authorities identified the area where they believed the plane had gone down and started the search, after checking on whether he could have landed at any of the airports along the way.


“I believe the search is going to continue on for several more days,” Jeff Brown said.


He added, “We're really confident something will happen today.”


He said he and his family are hoping that the search can continue until his father is found.


Jeff Brown said his father loved airplanes and flying. “He was always trying to be better,” and had become an accomplished pilot in his 33 years of flying, his son said.


The Brown family also been active in the wine industry in other parts of California and in Nevada.


Shannon Gunier, executive director of the Lake County Winegrape Commission, said she was heartbroken at the news about Budge Brown, who she called “a great guy.”


The Brown family has been active in Lake County's wine industry, where in 2003 they purchased and began renovating the the old Vittel water bottling facility on the outskirts of Nice.


Gunier said she and her husband, Rick, worked with the Browns on locating at the facility. She'd also ridden with Budge Brown in his plane.


“We were just so excited to have him invest in Lake County,” she said.


Under the Brown family's guidance the Vittel facility, once used to bottle water from Bartlett Springs, was transformed into the Tulip Hill Winery, which – true to its name – is festooned each spring by a multicolored carpet of tulips.


“We've tried really hard to be active in the community,” said Jeff Brown, who grows some of the grapes used for the company's wines in Tracy.


Gunier said the Browns had indeed been great supporters of the county, and she was hopeful that there might be a happy ending to the search.


Budge Brown also has been noted for his philanthropy.


In 2005, following the death of his wife of 48 years, Arlene, who lost a battle with cancer, he founded Cleavage Creek Wines, based in Napa, which raises money for cancer research.


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

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Jennifer Lyon, with the Parks Division of Lake County Public Services, hangs a Lake County Sesquicentennial celebration lamppost banner at Lucerne Harbor on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Courtesy photo.
 

 

 

 



LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In preparation for Lake County’s 150th anniversary celebration, commemorative banners are being raised in communities around Lake County this week.


Local business associations agreed to hang the banners, and in some communities, local merchants have stepped up to purchase the necessary banner brackets.


The Keeling-Barnes Family Foundation donated $2,500 in grant funds for the creation of the signature 150th celebratory lamppost banners to be raised in communities throughout Lake County.


The striking 150th logo and lamppost banners were designed by local artist Gerri Groody who donated her time and talent to the project. The lamppost banners were created by RAH Outdoor Media of Middletown.


To coincide with the community banners, the county of Lake also raised a celebratory banner on the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport and on both County-operated museums: the Lake County Historic Courthouse Museum in Lakeport and the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum in Lower Lake. The courthouse and museum banners were created by Signs of Randy Hare of Clearlake.


The sesquicentennial celebration kickoff event will be held on Friday, May 20, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Old Courthouse Square in front of the Historic Courthouse Museum, at 255 N. Main St. in Lakeport.


This event kicks off the 150th celebration, which will continue through the summer and fall with a presence at several major annual events held in each community.


The banners will be in place throughout the summer and fall, for approximately 150 days, to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the creation of Lake County on May 20, 1861.


In honor of the celebration, Lake County Museum staff developed a sesquicentennial time line that depicts key events and happenings in Lake County over the past 150 years. Seven-foot-long posters of this time line will be on display in each community. Smaller-sized versions of the time line will be available for sale at the kickoff event.


In addition to its generous donation toward the lamppost banners, the Keeling-Barnes Family Foundation also has presented the community with a challenge grant – if community donations to the 150th effort reach $2,500, the Keeling-Barnes Family Foundation will match that with an additional $2,500, which, in effect, doubles the impact of those donations.


To donate, please send a check made payable to “Friends of the Lake County Museum – LC 150” and address it to: Friends of the Lake County Museum, c/o Lake County Historic Courthouse Museum, 255 North Main St., Lakeport, CA 95453. The Friends of the Lake County Museum is a local 501(c)(3) organization and the fiscal agent for the LC 150 effort.


For information about donating, call 707-263-4555 or send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


To discover more, go online to www.LC150.org for information about Lake County sesquicentennial activities and events and for a fascinating look at historical video vignettes of life in Lake County in the 1860s. This site is updated regularly, so check back often.


Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

 

 

 

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Lake County Public Services Buildings and Grounds crew members unfurl a Lake County Sesquicentennial banner above the entry to the Lake County Courthouse on Wednesday in advance of Friday

Upcoming Calendar

5Dec
12.05.2024 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Kelseyville Senior Center remodel meeting
5Dec
12.05.2024 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Clearlake City Council
7Dec
12.07.2024 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Farmers' Market at the Mercantile
7Dec
7Dec
12.07.2024 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
‘A Christmas Carol’ radio performance
14Dec
12.14.2024 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Wreaths Across America
14Dec
12.14.2024 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Farmers' Market at the Mercantile
21Dec
12.21.2024 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Farmers' Market at the Mercantile
24Dec
12.24.2024
Christmas Eve

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