With a pair of bug-eyes swiveling on a stalk nearly 8 feet off the ground, the six-wheeled, 1800-pound Mars rover Curiosity doesn’t look much like a human being.

Yet, right now, the mini-Cooper-sized rover is playing the role of stunt double for NASA astronauts.

“Curiosity is riding to Mars in the belly of a spacecraft, where an astronaut would be,” explained Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “This means the rover experiences deep-space radiation storms in the same way that a real astronaut would.”

Indeed, on Jan. 27, Curiosity’s spacecraft was hit by the most intense solar radiation storm since 2005.

The event began when sunspot AR1402 produced an X2-class solar flare. On the “Richter Scale of Solar Flares,” X-flares are the most powerful kind.

The explosion accelerated a fusillade of protons and electrons to nearly light speed; these subatomic bullets were guided by the sun’s magnetic field almost directly toward Curiosity.

When the particles hit the outer walls of the spacecraft, they shattered other atoms and molecules in their path, producing a secondary spray of radiation that Curiosity both absorbed and measured.

“Curiosity was in no danger,” said Hassler. “In fact, we intended all along for the rover to experience these storms en route to Mars.”

Unlike previous Mars rovers, Curiosity is equipped with a Radiation Assessment Detector.

The instrument, nicknamed “RAD,” counts cosmic rays, neutrons, protons and other particles over a wide range of biologically-interesting energies.

RAD’s prime mission is to investigate the radiation environment on the surface of Mars, but researchers have turned it on early so that it can also probe the radiation environment on the way to Mars as well.

Curiosity’s location inside the spacecraft is key to the experiment.

“We have a pretty good idea what the radiation environment is like outside,” said Hassler, who is the principal investigator for RAD. “Inside the spacecraft, however, is still a mystery.”

Even supercomputers have trouble calculating exactly what happens when high-energy cosmic rays and solar energetic particles hit the walls of a spacecraft. One particle hits another; fragments fly; the fragments themselves crash into other molecules.

“It’s very complicated,” said Hassler. “Curiosity is giving us a chance to actually measure what happens.”

Even when the sun is quiet, Curiosity is bombarded by a slow drizzle of cosmic rays – high-energy particles accelerated by distant black holes and supernova explosions.

In the aftermath of the Jan. 27 X-flare, RAD detected a surge of particles several times more numerous than the usual cosmic ray counts.

Hassler’s team is still analyzing the data to understand what it is telling them about the response of the spacecraft to the storm.

More X-flares will help by adding to the data set. Hassler expects the sun to cooperate, because the solar cycle is trending upward toward a maximum expected in early 2013.

As of February 2012, “we still have six months to go before we reach Mars. That’s plenty of time for more solar storms,” Hassler said.

A stunt double’s work is never done.

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

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Firefighters in Napa County are continuing to work on a fire that began early Wednesday afternoon with an agricultural burn pile that got out of control.

The Soda Fire is located in the 3200 block of Soda Canyon Road, north of Silverado Trail and northeast of the city of Napa, according to a Friday report from Cal Fire.

The fire’s location in steep and rugged terrain was making it difficult to access, and Cal Fire said gusty winds made the going tougher on Thursday.

However, on Friday the winds tapered off, allowing firefighters to expand containment to 75 percent on the 200-acre fire, the agency reported Friday evening.

Approximately 143 firefighters were on scene late Friday, with three engines, eight fire crews and one bulldozer, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said full containment is expected Saturday at 8 a.m.

No evacuations were in place and no structures have been damaged, according to Cal Fire.

Two minor injuries were suffered by fire captains on scene, Cal Fire reported.

Agencies involved in the firefighting effort include Cal Fire, Napa County Fire Department, Calistoga Fire Department, Napa City Fire Department, St. Helena Fire Department, American Canyon Fire Protection District, Napa County Sheriff’s Office and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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 Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Redding man wanted for a parole violation in Mendocino County was arrested in Clearlake early Thursday on a number of charges including possession of stolen, vandalism and alcohol-related charges.

Clearlake Police Sgt. Rodd Joseph said Anthony Shane Wilburn, 26, was taken into custody in the case.

Joseph said a Clearlake Police officer was dispatched to a report of a man on a bicycle prowling parked vehicles at Winding Road Motors at 14952 Lakeshore Drive at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

When the officer arrived at the scene he noticed that one of the parked vehicles at the dealership had a shattered window, Joseph said.

While the officer was investigating the parked vehicle, he overhead yelling coming from Flyers, located at 15010 Lakeshore Drive, according to Joseph.

He said the officer drove to Flyers and learned that a subject on a bicycle had just stolen merchandise and food and fled from the store. The suspect was last seen heading behind the business toward W. 40th Avenue.

The officer found the suspect – later identified as Wilburn – behind Flyers, pushing a bicycle and holding a large quantity of food and merchandise, Joseph said.

When Wilburn saw the officer approaching, he dumped his load of merchandise, got on his bike and fled, according to Joseph’s report.

Joseph said the officer managed to catch up with Wilburn and, using his patrol vehicle, stopped Wilburn and arrested him.

After taking Wilburn into custody, the officer found out Wilburn was a wanted parolee out of Mendocino County, Joseph said.

Evidence found at the parked vehicle with the broken window allegedly linked Wilburn to the vandalism, and the property and food that Wilburn dumped was determined to have been stolen from Flyers, Joseph said.

In addition, Wilburn was alleged to be intoxicated and uncooperative with police, according to Joseph.

He said Wilburn was charged with a parole violation, public intoxication, resisting arrest, vandalism, riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol and possession of stolen property. Wilburn was booked into the Lake County Jail, where he remains in custody on a no-bail hold.

Anyone with information regarding this incident or other crimes in the city of Clearlake is asked to call the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251. Callers may remain anonymous.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday, opening arguments took place in the trial of two young local men accused of killing a 4-year-old child and shooting five others in the worst single shooting incident in the city of Clearlake’s history.

Paul William Braden, 21, and Orlando Joseph Lopez, 24, each are facing 15 counts for the June 18, 2011, shooting that killed Skyler Rapp; injured and permanently disabled his mother, Desiree Kirby; and wounded Kirby's boyfriend, Ross Sparks and his brother, Andrew Sparks, and friends Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.

After weeks of jury selection, two separate jury panels have been seated, one to decide on each man’s case.

A third man, Kevin Ray Stone, 29, originally was charged with murder in the case as well, but last November he reached an agreement  in which he pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit robbery, accessory to murder and possession of a .22-caliber rifle by a prohibited person, as Lake County News has reported.

District Attorney Don Anderson told Lake County News on Friday that Stone has not yet been sentenced. Based on previous statements in court, Stone is facing up to 10 years in prison and $64,000 in fines.

Anderson said during opening statements Friday that Stone will appear as a prosecution witness.

Judge Doris Shockley from Yolo County has been brought in to preside over the trial, which is anticipated to be lengthy, in Department 1 in Lake County Superior Court.

Shockley told jurors Friday that the proceedings are right on time, with presentation of evidence and testimony expected to be finished the first week of May.

During the morning session, the “orange” jury, which will decide on Braden’s case, heard opening arguments from Braden’s attorney Doug Rhoades and Anderson.

In the afternoon, Anderson and Lopez’s attorney, Stephen Carter, presented brief opening arguments to the “green” jury.

Before arguments, the court clerk read to each jury the charging documents against each man. Each reading of the lengthy documents took about 45 minutes.

The charges against them include murder, mayhem, numerous counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and many special allegations for, among other things, use of a firearm.

Setting the scene

Anderson told the juries the evidence will show that the events leading to the shooting begin about a week beforehand, with a fight involving a cousin of Kirby’s. The situation escalated when Kirby and Lopez’s brother, Leonardo, allegedly had a confrontation at Walmart a few days before the shooting.

On the night of the shooting, Braden allegedly got Stone to go with him to the neighborhood where Kirby and Sparks lived on the pretense of committing a drug robbery at the home of Curtis Eeds, their neighbor, according to Anderson.

It was from Eeds’ yard that Braden allegedly began shooting over the fence – with Lopez allegedly shooting through a hole in the fence – into a crowd of between 10 to 15 people gathered at Sparks’ and Kirby’s home, Anderson said.

Standing by the barbecue was the 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, who was getting ready to make s’mores.

“He takes a shotgun blast to the back,” said Anderson.

Almost every one of the child’s vital organs – his heart, kidney, liver and his spinal cord – were pieced by 11 shots of double ought buckshot, the district attorney said.

The child collapsed and died at the scene, Anderson said.

Kirby would be hit by two shotgun blasts and would suffer as many as 34 entry wounds covering her right leg and arm. Anderson said she has suffered permanent injuries, and for the rest of her life will have limited use of her arm and leg.

Stone, Braden and Lopez fled the scene, crashed the van that Stone had borrowed from his girlfriend’s cousin, and stashed the shotgun and a rifle. Anderson said Stone will identify a .22 rifle taken to the scene as his.

In addressing Braden’s jury panel, Rhoades told jurors, “Let’s acknowledge one thing up front” – that what occurred the night of June 18, 2011, was a tragedy.

“The question that’s going to be before you is, is Paul Braden responsible for that?” he asked.

Rhoades pointed out that Daniel Loyd, alleged to have shot a Lucerne woman in September 2011, is going to be called as a a prosecution witness against Braden. Anderson told Lake County News that Loyd has information to present against Braden based on statements Braden allegedly made to Loyd in the Lake County Jail.

Rhoades said Loyd has every reason to say what the prosecution wants him to, as do witnesses against Braden who have family connections to Lopez.

Then there is Stone, who fled to Sonoma County after the shooting, Rhoades explained. While Stone was on the run, he arranged to turn himself in to police and then didn’t show up.

“He is no longer before the court on these cases or these crimes,” said Rhoades, adding that Stone’s involvement will be heard by the jury.

While Stone, and Lopez as well, allegedly disappeared after the shooting, Braden stayed in the county, Rhoades said.

“He went home. He didn’t have anything to do with it,” Rhoades said of the shooting.

Rhoades told the jury that nobody can put Braden at the scene except the others involved in the shooting, adding that none of the victims saw Braden there.

In the afternoon session, Carter offered a seven-minute opening in which he told the panel that opening arguments are “all about telling the jury ahead of time what they need to look for.”

Like Rhoades, he raised issues with Stone’s part in the incident, noting, “He doesn’t go immediately to the police and say, ‘You won’t believe what these guys did.’” Carter said Stone has now manipulated himself into a plea bargain.

Carter said it is not a simple case. “There are lots of different sorts of people with lots of different sorts of problems,” with some of the people at the scene high or drunk.

He asked them to remember all of their obligations, pay close attention to Judge Shockley’s rulings and render a fair decision.

The jury panels were ordered to return to court at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29.

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 Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

In the middle of the night on Feb. 13, something disturbed the animal population of rural Portal, Georgia.

Cows started mooing anxiously and local dogs howled at the sky. The cause of the commotion was a rock from space.

"At 1:43 a.m. Eastern, I witnessed an amazing fireball," reported Portal resident Henry Strickland. "It was very large and lit up half the sky as it fragmented. The event set dogs barking and upset cattle, which began to make excited sounds. I regret I didn't have a camera; it lasted nearly 6 seconds."

Strickland witnessed one of the unusual "Fireballs of February."

"This month, some big space rocks have been hitting Earth's atmosphere," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "There have been five or six notable fireballs that might have dropped meteorites around the United States."

It’s not the number of fireballs that has researchers puzzled. So far, fireball counts in February 2012 are about normal. Instead, it's the appearance and trajectory of the fireballs that sets them apart.

"These fireballs are particularly slow and penetrating," explained meteor expert Peter Brown, a physics professor at the University of Western Ontario. "They hit the top of the atmosphere moving slower than 15 km/s, decelerate rapidly, and make it to within 50 km of Earth’s surface."

The action began on the evening of Feb. 1 when a fireball over central Texas wowed thousands of onlookers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"It was brighter and long-lasting than anything I've seen before," reported eyewitness Daryn Morran. "The fireball took about eight seconds to cross the sky. I could see the fireball start to slow down; then it exploded like a firecracker artillery shell into several pieces, flickered a few more times and then slowly burned out." Another observer in Coppell, Texas, reported a loud double boom as "the object broke into two major chunks with many smaller pieces."

The fireball was bright enough to be seen on NASA cameras located in New Mexico more than 500 miles away.

"It was about as bright as the full Moon," said Cooke.

Based on the NASA imagery and other observations, Cooke estimates that the object was 1 to 2 meters in diameter.

So far in February, NASA's All-Sky Fireball Network has photographed about a half a dozen bright meteors that belong to this oddball category.

They range in size from basketballs to buses, and all share the same slow entry speed and deep atmospheric penetration.

Cooke has analyzed their orbits and come to a surprising conclusion: "They all hail from the asteroid belt—but not from a single location in the asteroid belt," he said. "There is no common source for these fireballs, which is puzzling."

This isn't the first time sky watchers have noticed odd fireballs in February. In fact, the "Fireballs of February" are a bit of a legend in meteor circles.

Brown explained: "Back in the 1960s and 70s, amateur astronomers noticed an increase in the number of bright, sound-producing deep-penetrating fireballs during the month of February. The numbers seemed significant, especially when you consider that there are few people outside at night in winter. Follow-up studies in the late 1980s suggested no big increase in the rate of February fireballs. Nevertheless, we've always wondered if something was going on."

Indeed, a 1990 study by astronomer Ian Holliday suggests that the “February Fireballs” are real.

He analyzed photographic records of about a thousand fireballs from the 1970s and 80s and found evidence for a fireball stream intersecting Earth's orbit in February. He also found signs of fireball streams in late summer and fall.

The results are controversial, however. Even Halliday recognized some big statistical uncertainties in his results.

NASA's growing All-Sky Fireball Network could end up solving the mystery. Cooke and colleagues are adding cameras all the time, spreading the network's coverage across North America for a dense, uninterrupted sampling of the night sky.

"The beauty of our smart multi-camera system," noted Cooke, "is that it measures orbits almost instantly. We know right away when a fireball flurry is underway – and we can tell where the meteoroids came from." This kind of instant data is almost unprecedented in meteor science, and promises new insights into the origin of February’s fireballs.

Meanwhile, the month isn't over yet. "If the cows and dogs start raising a ruckus tonight," advises Cooke, "go out and take a look."

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

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The California Department of Water Resources will conduct this winter’s third snow survey on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The agency said it's expected that manual measurements of snowpack water content will corroborate the low electronic readings from remote sensors up and down the state’s mountain ranges.

Electronic readings today indicate that statewide, water content in the snowpack is only 30 percent of normal for the date, and 25 percent of the average April 1 measurement when the snowpack is normally at its peak before the spring melt.

Surveyors from DWR and cooperating agencies will fan out to numerous sites for the third of five manual snow surveys made each winter to forecast the amount of frozen water that will trickle into streams, reservoirs and aquifers when the snow melts this spring and early summer.

Persistent dry weather this winter caused DWR on Wednesday to reduce its estimate of the amount of water the State Water Project will deliver this calendar year.

The reduction was from 60 percent to 50 percent of the slightly more than four million acre-feet requested by the 29 public agencies that distribute water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland, the agency reported. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.

The 50 percent allocation is not severely low, and could be increased if stronger hydrologic conditions develop, according to DWR. Last year, an unusually wet year, the final allocation was 80 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet requested.

The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007. DWR said the last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of fishery agency restrictions on Delta pumping to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.

This winter’s unusually dry conditions to date have principally been caused by a high pressure ridge along California’s coast that has diverted most storms to the north.

One bright spot this year is the state’s good reservoir storage, due to conserved runoff from last winter’s storms.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is at 102 percent of average for the date (72 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity), Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 95 percent of its normal storage level for the date (69 percent of capacity).

San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, an important storage reservoir south of the Delta, is at 104 percent of average for the date (89 percent of its capacity of 2,027,840 acre-feet).

San Luis is a critically important source of water for both the State Water Project and Central Valley Project when pumping from the Delta is restricted or interrupted.

Statewide, reservoir storage is 110 percent of normal for the date.

Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ.

Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action.

See DWR’s new Water Conditions page at http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – After several days of near record-high temperatures, snow is in the forecast for this weekend.

A high-pressure system that brought unseasonably high daytime temperatures to most of Northern California for the past few days moves out and weather forecasts predict returning to more normal temperatures for February with an expected high today in the mid-50s.

As the high-pressure system that brought warm daytime temperatures moves out of the area, a low-pressure system moves through, bringing a slight chance of rain showers early Sunday morning, with a slight chance of rain and snow showers and snow levels forecast to be at 3,400 feet, lowering to 2,500 feet throughout the day according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

The possibilities for rain and snow showers continue through Monday with snow levels down to 2,200 feet as daytime high temperatures top-off in the 40s and overnight lows continue dip below freezing.

Chances for rain and snow remain in the forecast throughout the week according to the National Weather Service, with daytime highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s.

For up-to-the-minute weather visit http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_events&;Itemid=309 .

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Most people who have heard about special needs trusts are familiar only about the Testamentary Special Needs Trust.

Testamentary trusts are established at the death of the person establishing the trust pursuant to his trust or will.

Stand-alone Special Needs Trusts, however, are established while the benefactor is alive. Let us compare these two trusts.

First, the Stand-alone SNT can receive assets from multiple persons wishing to provide for the well-being of the person with special needs.

This can be a real cost saving to the family and encourage giving by persons who might otherwise be discouraged by the cost of establishing a special needs trust. That is, only one special needs trust would be established to allow multiple benefactors to make bequests into the same special needs trust.

Second, when the benefactor dies, or perhaps becomes disabled, the assets inside Stand-alone SNT remain immediately accessible to assist the person with special needs from the date the trust is established.

The Testamentary SNTs are not immediately accessible until the share belonging to the special needs trust is transferred into the special needs trust. That delay can be avoided by having assets inside a Stand-alone SNT that are always accessible to the trustee of the special needs trust

Third, the Stand-alone SNT is a single purpose trust. A Testamentary SNT, on the other hand, is a subtrust created within the scope of the broader revocable living trust document.

Accordingly, the Stand-alone Trust has more provisions specifically relevant to special needs trust.

The most important provisions typically pertain to the oversight and replacement of the trustee (usually by a trusted family member), the distributions at the death of the special needs beneficiary, and the amendment of the special needs trust if necessary to conform to new laws affecting special needs benefits.

Fourth, the assets transferred into the standalone trust are not answerable to the creditors of the estate of the deceased benefactor.

Provided that the benefactor transferred assets into the Stand-alone SNT at a time when he or she was solvent, those transferred assets are removed from the benefactor’s estate.

They are not subsequently answerable to the benefactor’s own creditors, whereas the assets within the benefactor’s living trust, on the other hand, are answerable for the debts of the deceased benefactor.

If these assets are the assets with which the benefactor intended to fund the Testamentary SNT, then what is actually transferred into the special needs trust may be less than intended (after the creditors are paid).

Finally, establishing the Stand-alone SNT and administering it while the benefactor is still alive, allows an opportunity to become familiar with the rules related to administering such a trust.

That way, if experience shows that any adjustments are needed they can be made under the supervision of the benefactor who may be the initial trustee or the trust protector (i.e., person who can replace the trustee).

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com .

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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Middletown woman sustained major injuries and had to be flown to a trauma center following a Wednesday evening crash.

Wendy Lynn Cordar, 43, was hurt in the incident, which occurred at 4:50 p.m. on Highway 175 at Santa Rosa Avenue, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP said Cordar was driving westbound on Highway 175 west of Middletown in a 1990 Ford Ranger. At Santa Rosa Avenue her pickup went off the north shoulder and hit a utility pole and an oak tree head-on.

Reports from the scene indicated that Cordar was trapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated by firefighters.

The AT&T utility pole snapped as a result of the crash, according to reports.

An air ambulance transported Cordar to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for major injuries, the CHP reported.

The CHP report said Cordar was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash, and alcohol does not appear to be a factor.

The crash remains under investigation, the CHP 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 Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A travel trailer was destroyed in a Friday evening fire.

The trailer, located on Mission Rancheria Road at Big Valley Rancheria, was being used as a residence, according to Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells.

Lakeport Fire sent two engines, one truck and seven firefighters, and Kelseyville Fire sent one engine and two firefighters, according to Wells.

Wells said the trailer was a total loss, and burned all the way to the ground.

The person who had been living there was gone by the time firefighters arrived, Wells said.

He added that there were no injuries.

Wells said firefighters didn’t know the fire’s cause, but noted that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was looking into possible leads as to who may have been responsible for the fire.

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 Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A search effort was under way Thursday night in the Cow Mountain area, where officials were attempting to locate a lost man.

Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams, along with K-Corps and CalStar 4, were working into the early morning hours attempting to find the man, according to radio reports.

Based on latitude and longitude coordinates CalStar gave, it located the man in an area near the Whitethorn trail off of Trail No. 15 in the wilderness area, on an eastern facing slope one ridge over from the Cow Mountain repeater site, according to radio reports.

The area was estimated to be about two miles by ground from the Mendocino County side of the wilderness area, based on reports from the scene.

However, CalStar’s pilot said there was no place to land safely due to vegetation and terrain, so he gave latitude and longitude coordinates to help the teams locate the man.

With CalStar 4 running low on fuel, it had to leave shortly after 10:30 p.m.

Shortly after 11:30 p.m., the missing man – who was calling 911 on a cell phone with a low battery – reportedly told a dispatcher that he was shaking, couldn’t stand and was out of water after drinking the one bottle of water he had with him some time before.       

Search teams were moving into the area on foot and four-wheel motorcycles early Friday morning.

Additional details about the search and the missing man were not immediately available.

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 Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Two Lucerne men were arrested Tuesday for allegedly burglarizing an Upper Lake home.

Royce Edward Katzer, 43, and 27-year-old Dominic Dennis Lucero were arrested in the case, according to Capt. Chris Macedo of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

At approximately 5:43 p.m. Tuesday, the homeowner arrived home to find an unknown man leaving his home carrying items from the home. Macedo reported that the homeowner went to a nearby home and called the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived, they contacted Lucero, who stated that he was helping his father, Royce Katzer, clean up the property, Macedo said.

Lucero also stated that Katzer made arrangements with the homeowner to clean the property as it was allegedly in foreclosure, according to Macedo's report.

Katzer returned to the home some time later and told deputies that he had received permission from the homeowner’s son to remove items from the residence, Macedo said.

The property owner was on scene and denied that permission was given. Macedo reported that the homeowner ultimately placed Katzer and Lucero under arrest for burglary.

Sheriff’s deputies transported Lucero and Katzer to the Hill Road Jail to be booked. Jail records showed Lucerne was booked for felony burglary, while Katzer was booked for felony burglary and petty theft.

Katzer and Lucero remained in custody on Wednesday with bail for each set at $50,000, according to jail records.

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