LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A system coming into Northern California from the eastern Pacific Ocean is expected to bring with it rain to Lake County and other parts of the region starting on Thursday evening.

The National Weather Service issued an updated special weather statement for Northern California on Thursday afternoon calling for wet and windy weather through Monday.

The agency's forecast said a significant stream of moisture “will continue to interact with a series of fronts through the weekend” to bring widespread rain from Washington southward to Northern California.

Two primary waves of precipitation are expected, according to forecasters.

The first wave is expected to arrive Thursday night and continue through Friday, while the second wave will occur from Saturday afternoon through early Monday.

On Thursday night, the forecast calls for close to an inch of rain across Lake County with wind gust into the 20-mile-per-hour range. More than half an inch of rain is anticipated on Friday, with wind gusts into the mid-teens.

The specific forecast does not include potential rainfall totals for Saturday and Sunday. However, wind gusts into the 20s are again expected on Saturday.

The National Weather Service is forecasting rainfall totals for the two storm waves through Tuesday of between one and two inches in southern Lake County, and ranging up to six inches of rain in the far northern portion of Lake County.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A late night fire burned a motel structure at the sight of the former Wisedas Resort in Clearlake that had survived a fire three and a half years ago.

The fire at 14395 Lakeshore Drive was reported shortly after 11:15 p.m. Thursday.

Firefighters arriving on scene reported that the rear of the two-story structure was on fire.

Nearby residents reported on Lake County News' Facebook page that the fire gave off heavy smoke and embers that impacted the area.

Lake County Fire was first to arrive on scene, and put out the call for assistance from fire agencies around the lake, based on radio reports.

Cal Fire, Kelseyville Fire, Northshore Fire and Lakeport Fire sent resources, with a total of 15 engines, medic units and ambulances reported to be on scene at the height of the incident.

In particular, incident command requested ladder trucks from both Lake County Fire and Lakeport Fire. Cal Fire also brought in resources from its stations around Lake County, including Boggs Mountain.

Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta also directed Central Dispatch to make notifications to Lake County Lakebed Management, Lake County Environmental Health, Lake County Air Quality and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife due to environmental concerns, and Highlands Water Co. because of the draw on the water system.

Sapeta reported over the air that the forward progress on the fire was stopped just after 1 a.m. Friday, with several hours of overhaul anticipated.

Shortly after 2 a.m., Sapeta asked Central Dispatch to notify the Sheriff's Marine Patrol that a “significant amount” of debris was coming off the former resort's back deck and going into Clear Lake.

At around 2:30 a.m., the Clearlake Police Department said the fire had resulted in the closure of Lakeshore Drive between Mullen and Howard avenues, and that a detour would be in place for three hours.

Much of the Wisedas Resort had been destroyed in a February 2013 fire, with the exception of a portion of the motel at the back of the property. Reports from the scene indicated that remaining building was the structure that burned overnight.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NICE, Calif. – The Lake County Public Services Department will host a grand opening later this month to celebrate the completion of new facilities – including a new sports field – at Hammond Avenue Park in Nice.

The grand opening will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at the park, located at 6935 Hammond Ave.

The park's new offerings include a professionally designed, multi-use sports field, parking area, bleachers and a new restroom.

Public Services is touting the park as “an excellent example of the achievements that can be realized when people work together for the betterment of our communities,” and one that will provide another venue for physical activity and community building.

The county acquired the 12-acre property that now makes up the park – located at the corner of Hammond Avenue and Lakeshore Boulevard – in 2005, according to Public Services Deputy Director Kati Galvani.

To date, Public Services has spent approximately $265,000 on the sports field, bleachers, back stop, parking lot, well, landscaping and signage, and $150,000 on the new restroom facility, Galvani said.

Galvani said the sources of those funds were the Quimby Act, which are park development fees that come from new development and help mitigate property improvement impacts; the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund; and some county general fund monies.

There is one more major improvement planned for the park, according to Galvani.

“Eventually, there will be a trail along the outside of it,” she said.

That proposed trail will extend 1,600 linear feet along the wetlands around Hammond Park, and will be built with state grant funds, Galvani said.

In 2014, the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Habitat Conservation Fund Program – which had previously given the county funds for Mt. Konocti County Park – awarded the county $108,450 for the trail and habitat restoration. The grant requires a dollar-for-dollar match from county funds.

Galvani said the county has until 2021 to complete the trail project, under the grant's requirements.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Police arrested a Clearlake man this week after finding him with a rental truck filled with processed marijuana.

Calvin Lavern Jones, 53, was arrested Wednesday for cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sales, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Hobbs.

At 3 p.m. Wednesday the Clearlake Police Department received information from Clearlake Code Enforcement that a U-Haul trailer parked in front of a property in the 16200 block of 20th Avenue contained marijuana, Hobbs said.

Hobbs said U-Haul rental vehicles are commonly used to transport large amounts of marijuana. 

He said officers responded to the location and located a U-Haul trailer parked in front of the property.

Officers contacted Jones, who was standing near the trailer. Hobbs said officers observed 40 large plastic storage containers containing processed marijuana inside the trailer and in the property’s driveway. 

Jones was interviewed and admitted to owning the marijuana, which he transported to Lake County from a grow location in another county, Hobbs said.

Hobbs said Jones subsequently was arrested and later booked into the Lake County Jail. His bail was set at $15,000, and he later posted bail and was released, according to jail records.

The property was secured in anticipation of a search warrant being approved. Hobbs said officers subsequently obtained a search warrant issued by the Lake County Superior Court to search the property.

During the service of the search warrant approximately 1,340 pounds of partially processed and processed marijuana along with 522 growing marijuana plants were seized, Hobbs said.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A Ukiah man died of his injuries after being hit by a vehicle on Tuesday night while walking across Highway 20 near Upper Lake.

In its Wednesday report, the California Highway Patrol did not release the name of the 46-year-old man who was mortally injured in the crash, pending notification of family.

At approximately 7:08 p.m. Tuesday the pedestrian was crossing Highway 20 from Main Street to Bridge Arbor North, the CHP said.

At the same time, Randy James Vess, 61, of Clearlake Oaks was driving his 2015 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup eastbound on Highway 20, approaching the intersection with Main Street/Bridge Arbor North at approximately 45 miles per hour, the CHP said.

The CHP said Vess' pickup hit the pedestrian, who later died of his injuries. Vess was not injured.

Investigators determined that Vess was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the collision, while the CHP said it did not yet know what level of impairment, if any, the pedestrian had at the time he was hit.

The CHP said the cause of the collision remains under investigation.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters said that Oct. 24 is the deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 8 general election.

Registrar Diane Fridley said a completed voter registration form must be either personally delivered to the Registrar of Voters Office – in Room 209 on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport – on or before Oct. 24, or postmarked on or before Oct. 24 and received by mail by the Registrar of Voters Office.

Residents may personally phone the Registrar of Voters Office to verify if their voter registration information is correct and up-to-date, Fridley said.

Fridley said residents may register to vote at the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, phone staff at 707-263-2372 for a form to be mailed to them or register to vote online by visiting http://registertovote.ca.gov/ .

Registration forms also are available at most local post offices, libraries, city offices, and chamber of commerce offices, according to Fridley.

Section 2101 of the California Elections Code states, “A person entitled to register to vote shall be a United States citizen, a resident of California, not imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.”

Fridley also advised new residents of Lake County, and registered voters who have moved to a new address, changed their mailing address within the county or changed their name that they need to register or reregister to vote no later than Oct. 24.

If you are a registered voter and your mailing address has changed, official voting materials (state information pamphlets, sample ballots, vote-by-mail ballots, etc.) cannot be forwarded to another address and will be returned to the sender by the postal service, Fridley said.

For voters impacted by the recent wildland fires, Fridley said that homeowners who lost their homes in the fire but who plan on rebuilding their homes on the same property in the future may continue to use their pre-fire residence address for this election and upcoming elections until they can return to their homes.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office reported Wednesday that absentee, or vote-by-mail ballots, will be going out in the mail this week.

Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley informed voters who are registered to vote as a permanent vote-by-mail voter and voters who do not have a polling place site due to residing in a mail ballot precinct that their vote-by-mail ballots are scheduled to be delivered to the San Francisco Sorting Facility by her department's printing vendor on Friday, Oct. 14.

Fridley said the absentee ballots going out total 21,532 pieces of mail.

Voters should receive their official ballots by mail within a week or so of the mailing date, Fridley said.

Registered voters who will be unable to vote at their polling place on Election Day – Nov. 8 – may request a vote-by-mail ballot by phone, fax or mail, according to Fridley.

Fridley also said that permanent vote-by-mail voters and mail ballot precinct voters who have not received their ballot in the mail by Oct. 24 are advised to either contact her staff by phone at 707-263-2372, or personally visit the Registrar of Voters Office – located on the second floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport – to be issued another ballot.

She said the request for a replacement absentee ballot must be received by the Registrar of Voters office no later than Tuesday, Nov. 1, in order for the vote-by-mail ballot to be mailed.

For those not requesting replacement ballots by mail by that Nov. 1 deadline, Fridley said that, beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and continuing until the close of the polls at 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, vote-by-mail ballots are available to voters who are unable to go to their polling place on Election Day.

During this period, voters must appear in person at the Registrar of Voters office to apply for and obtain a ballot, Fridley said.

Voters who are unable to appear in person during this period are advised to phone staff for instructions
on how they may be issued a vote-by-mail ballot, she added.