Celestial Summer Dove Cassman, 35, of Santa Cruz, Calif., was found dead on Thursday, September 1, 2011, in Maui, Hawaii, the victim of an apparent homicide. Photo from the Web site of law firm Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich, where Cassman was employed.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Charges were filed Wednesday against a Santa Cruz man who is alleged to have killed his female companion – a young attorney raised in Lake County – during a visit to the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Gerald W. Galaway Jr., 38, is facing second-degree murder and kidnapping charges for the murder of 35-year-old Celestial Summer Dove Cassman of Santa Cruz, according to Maui County Prosecuting Attorney John Kim.

Cassman, who was born in Hawaii, was a 1994 graduate of Clear Lake High School in Lakeport, according to friends and a biography of her posted on the Web site of the law firm where she worked, Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich.

Galaway and Cassman were reportedly on a visit to Maui, having checked into the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Wednesday, Aug. 31, according to the charging documents posted online by Hawaii News Now, www.hawaiinewsnow.com.

A report released to Lake County News by Lt. Wayne Ibarra of the Maui Police Department, police officers responded to a call regarding a domestic dispute involving a male and a female shortly before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1.

The court documents said that a female witness saw the couple arguing, with Cassman running up to the woman's vehicle to ask for help. Galaway allegedly came up behind Cassman and grabbed her around the neck.

The witness said Galaway picked Cassman up several times and slammed her body on the asphalt roadway, as Cassman fought and screamed for help. He then drug Cassman by her head into shrubs near the rental vehicle, and kept yelling at the witness to leave, which she finally did, going to borrow a cell phone to call 911.

When officers arrived at the scene, in the area of Nakalele Point along Kahekili Highway, they saw a male, alleged to be Galaway, who was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and was nude from the waist down, according to the charging document. When police attempted to contact him he fled and jumped off a cliff into the ocean, where he swam out to sea and screamed for help.

Kim said Galaway fell about 100 feet before going into the water, and was injured as a result.

The Maui Police Department reported that the Maui Fire Department and United States Coast Guard responded to assist in rescuing Galaway.

Cassman was found about an hour after the initial call, and was unresponsive when officers discovered her, the Maui Police reported.

Kim said Cassman was found near the roadside, not far from where the rental car she and Galaway had shared was abandoned.

Court documents said she was found down a small embankment, under a tree. The way her body was found and her clothes were torn suggested she could have been sexually assaulted.

It wasn't until about 6:45 a.m. the day after the incident that Galaway was rescued, according to the Maui Police report.

On the morning of Friday, Sept. 2, officers were airlifted by helicopter to the rock point at Nakalele, where they found Galaway and took him into custody, police said.

The Maui Police reported that Galaway had sustained non-life threatening injuries. He was transported to the Maui Memorial Medical Center.

A hearing regarding Galaway's medical condition was held in the case on Wednesday morning. Galaway wasn't present, according to Kim.

“He's in the hospital under guard,” said Kim.

Kim added, “He's technically not been arrested and booked because I don't believe they can move him because of his medical condition.”

In the mean time, the complaint against Galaway was filed in district court, and the court must now decide when to schedule a preliminary hearing, Kim said.

Galaway was represented by two attorneys in the Wednesday hearing, Hayden Aluli, who did not respond to a message seeking comment, and William Sloper.

Sloper, when contacted by Lake County News, would not comment on the case or Galaway's condition, only offering that Galaway still was considered innocent under the law.

Officials so far have not stated the exact cause of Cassman's death.

“We had an autopsy done on Monday. The report is forthcoming,” said Kim, adding he was not at liberty to say more.

The Maui Police Department's official confirmation of Cassman's identity is pending a positive identification by her family. Ibarra said Wednesday that family members were in the process of traveling to Maui to make the positive identification and complete the notification of kin.

According to her biography, Cassman received a bachelor's degree in political philosophy and art in 1998 from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

From 1998 to 2001 she worked for a nonprofit affordable housing and community building organization in Portland, Ore., and entered UC Davis' King Hall School of Law in 2001. She graduated three years later and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2004.

After law school, Cassman worked for three years for McDonough Holland & Allen PC in Sacramento. In 2007 she returned to Santa Cruz to join Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich, where she continued working in public and municipal law.

Bay Area media has reported that Cassman served as deputy city attorney for the coastal communities of Half Moon Bay, Capitola and Santa Cruz through her work with Atchison, Barisone, Condotti and Kovacevich.

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090711 Gerald Galaway Court Filing

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites.

Images show the twists and turns of the paths made when the astronauts explored the lunar surface.

At the Apollo 17 site, the tracks laid down by the lunar rover are clearly visible, along with the last foot trails left on the moon. The images also show where the astronauts placed some of the scientific instruments that provided the first insight into the moon's environment and interior.

“We can retrace the astronauts' steps with greater clarity to see where they took lunar samples,” said Noah Petro, a lunar geologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who is a member of the LRO project science team.

All three images show distinct trails left in the moon's thin soil when the astronauts exited the lunar modules and explored on foot. In the Apollo 17 image, the foot trails, including the last path made on the moon by humans, are easily distinguished from the dual tracks left by the lunar rover, which remains parked east of the lander.

Views of the Apollo 14 landing site as seen from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The paths left by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell on both Apollo 14 moon walks are visible in this image. (At the end of the second moon walk, Shepard famously hit two golf balls.) The descent stage of the lunar module Antares also is visible. NASA released the image on Tuesday, September 6, 2011. Image by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU.

“The new low-altitude Narrow Angle Camera images sharpen our view of the moon's surface,” said Arizona State University researcher Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. “A great example is the sharpness of the rover tracks at the Apollo 17 site. In previous images the rover tracks were visible, but now they are sharp parallel lines on the surface.”

At each site, trails also run to the west of the landers, where the astronauts placed the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package to monitor the moon's environment and interior.

This equipment was a key part of every Apollo mission. It provided the first insights into the moon's internal structure, measurements of the lunar surface pressure and the composition of its atmosphere. Apollo 11 carried a simpler version of the science package.

One of the details that shows up is a bright L-shape in the Apollo 12 image. It marks the locations of cables running from the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package's central station to two of its instruments. Although the cables are much too small for direct viewing, they show up because they reflect light very well.

The higher resolution of these images is possible because of adjustments made to LRO's orbit, which is slightly oval-shaped or elliptical.

“Without changing the average altitude, we made the orbit more elliptical, so the lowest part of the orbit is on the sunlit side of the moon,” said Goddard's John Keller, deputy LRO project scientist. “This put LRO in a perfect position to take these new pictures of the surface.”

The Apollo 12 landing site, as photographed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA released the image on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

The maneuver lowered LRO from its usual altitude of approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) to an altitude that dipped as low as nearly 13 miles (21 kilometers) as it passed over the moon's surface. The spacecraft has remained in this orbit for 28 days, long enough for the moon to completely rotate. This allows full coverage of the surface by LROC's Wide Angle Camera. The cycle ended Tuesday when the spacecraft returned to its 31-mile orbit.

“These images remind us of our fantastic Apollo history and beckon us to continue to move forward in exploration of our solar system,” said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

LRO was built and managed by Goddard. Initial research was funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. In September 2010, after a one-year successful exploration mission, the mission turned its attention from exploration objectives to scientific research in NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

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An image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showed the Apollo 17 landing site. NASA released the image on Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

Austin Cone, 16, ran away from his foster home in Kelseyville, Calif., on Saturday, September 3, 2011. Photo courtesy of Nicole Reimers.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A local family is asking for the community's help in locating a teenage boy who ran away over the weekend.

Austin Cone, 16, was reported to have run away from his foster home in Kelseyville on Saturday morning, according to his stepmother, Nicole Reimers of Cobb.

Reimers said she contacted the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which issued a “be on the lookout” for the boy.

He is suspected to be in Lakeport with a friend, Reimers said.

His Facebook page showed evidence of updates from him after he ran away on Saturday.

The teenager is described as a white male with blue eyes and reddish-blond hair that is extremely curly. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighs 130 pounds.

Reimers said she does not know what clothing he was wearing when he ran away Saturday morning.

She is asking anyone who sees the teen to contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Reimers said he may be violent if confronted.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office can be reached at 707-262-4200.

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David Mills of Kelseyville, Calif., was arrested by narcotics detectives on Friday, September 2, 2011. Lake County Jail photo.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Kelseyville man has been arrested after narcotics detectives found him with what is believed to be methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Lake County Narcotic Task Force detectives arrested David Bradley Mills, 50, of Kelseyville for possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia, according to Michelle Gonzalez of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Gonzalez reported that on Friday, Sept. 2, at approximately 5:15 p.m. Lake County Sheriff’s detectives attached to the Narcotics Task Force pulled over a GMC SUV for traffic violations.

Mills, the driver of the vehicle, acknowledged that he was on searchable probation, Gonzalez said.

A search produced a glass pipe, commonly used for smoking methamphetamines, and a silver container in which there was a plastic bag containing a white, crystalline substance, according to Gonzalez.

Mills was arrested and transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility. On testing the substance it flashed blue, a presumptive positive for methamphetamine.

On Thursday Mills remained in the Lake County Jail on a no-bail hold for the alleged probation violation.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

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On Tuesday Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) strongly criticized the proposed new fire fee on homeowners in State Responsibility Areas.

Rural homeowners in a SRA would be required to pay $175 for their homes, plus extra fees on other structures, in addition to a fee based on the acreage of land, which could add up to $3,000 per year for some cattle ranchers and other resource land owners, according to Chesbro's office.

In a letter to Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfield, Chesbro called the fees “grossly inequitable to rural residents.”

“As a member who represents large areas of Sate Responsibility Areas, these bills would be economically devastating to many of the constituents I represent,” Chesbro said. “I find it inequitable to charge someone who inhabits a one-room cabin or mobile home on the North Coast the same fee that would be charged to someone living in a million dollar home in the Southern California hills.”

Chesbro will voice his opposition and encourage his colleagues to vote against the legislation at Tuesday's Assembly Budget Committee hearing at the state Capitol.

The hearing time and location is yet to be announced, but Chesbro's office said it likely will be held upon adjournment of the Assembly Floor session on Wednesday. His office said the hearing may be available on www.calchannel.com or www.assembly.ca.gov.

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Acting Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty told members of the California Congressional Delegation that, without an extension or reauthorization, the department will be unable to continue existing transportation projects across the state.

In the Aug. 29 letter, Dougherty said that thousands of active state and local transportation projects – valued at $23 billion – would grind to a halt within weeks of the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30 without action by Congress to extend the funding.

Matt Rocco, a Caltrans spokesperson, told Lake County News that local projects that could be delayed due to not having the funding are the paving on Highways 29 and 175, the rehabilitation of Highway 53 – which includes a traffic signal at Olympic Drive in Clearlake – and an in-place recycling of pavement on Highway 20 west of Highway 53.

The current surface transportation legislation, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), expired in 2009, Caltrans reported.

Congress has extended the act seven times, but the latest extension expires on Sept. 30, according to Caltrans.

The federal government currently provides about $3.4 billion per year for transportation projects across the state.

To read the Acting Director's letter to the California Congressional Delegation, see below or visit www.dot.ca.gov/docs/CaltransDirectortoCalCongress_29August2011_FINAL.pdf.

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082911 Caltrans Letter on Federal Funding

An upper level low will approach the California coast drawing in monsoonal moisture, which is predicted to trigger dry lightning across the northeastern section of California including Lassen, Modoc, Siskiyou and Shasta counties, Cal Fire said.

“The forecasts indicate weather conditions could be similar to the lightning siege we experienced in 2008 when the state saw nearly 2,000 lightning sparked fires,” said Chief Ken Pimlott, director of Cal Fire. “Cal Fire's firefighters are ready to respond if more fires do break out, but we especially need the public to be extremely cautious, because we don't need any additional fires.”

In response to the predicted dry lightning, Cal Fire is moving fire engines and resources into the areas expected to see an increased fire danger.

As this low moves into Nevada on Thursday, it will shift winds to the northeast creating breezy and dry conditions Thursday night into Friday across most parts of Northern California, including the areas where the dry lightning is predicted to hit, Cal Fire said.

In addition to the prepositioning of fire engines, Cal Fire also is staffing all reserve fire engines, staffing additional inmate fire crews 24 hours a day and plans to hold all personnel on duty.

Cal Fire reported that it is in close communication with local, state and federal partners including the U.S. Forest Service, the California National Guard and the California Emergency Management Agency.

Cal Fire is urging Californians to remain extra fire safe and help prevent new fires.

A few helpful reminders and safety tips include:

• Any mowing or weed eating should be done before 10 a.m. (and NEVER during extremely dry conditions).

• Never use lawn mowers in dry vegetation.

• Ensure campfires are permitted and, if so, be sure to extinguish them completely when done.

• Never pull your vehicle over in tall dry grass.

For more ways to help prevent wildfires visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org or www.fire.ca.gov.

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The catch is that these schools, though part of local school districts, are on stateside bases and 94 percent of their students are military children.

There are 160 public schools on stateside bases, evidence of a bygone era when the only way to send military children to racially integrated schools was to build them on base. Other public schools are on bases because local communities lacked means to ensure military kids got a quality education.

All of these public schools on base were at one time under control of the Department of Education.

Twenty are still “owned” by the Department of Education even though all are run now by local school districts, explained Robert Gordon, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy.

The feeling on Capitol Hill is that military families suffer enough stress, with multiple war deployments of parents, that they shouldn’t have to watch public-run schools on base deteriorate because local school budgets have been hit hard by a deep recession and slow economic recovery.

So as part of the fiscal 2011 defense appropriations bill, Congress took the unprecedented step of adding a quarter of a billion dollars to be used to repair, renovate or replace schools previously thought to be the sole responsibility of local school systems and local taxpayers.

Working with local education agencies, the $250 million will be aimed at 30 or fewer schools whose facilities are rated by DoD engineering teams as “failing” due to rundown conditions or inadequate capacity, or as “poor” both in physical condition and in limited space, Gordon said.

More than half of schools found to be in most need of renovation are on rural Army bases including Fort Sill, Okla., Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort Polk, La., and Fort Riley, Kan. Public schools in need also are on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Naval Support Activity, Norfolk, Va., Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Wheeler/Schofield Army Airfield, Hawaii and other bases.

Here’s a link to a full list of the schools, where red and yellow bars indicate facility conditions of “failing” or “poor” and over capacity greater than 30 percent or 16 percent: http://cs.mhf.dod.mil/content/dav/mhf/QOL-Library/Project%20Documents/MilitaryHOMEFRONT/Leadership/Public%20Schools%20on%20Military%20Installations%20Priority%20List.pdf.

An assessment that place base schools into lower tiers of disrepair is concerning but not surprising, said Candace Wheeler, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. A lot of public schools on base are just very old, she said.

“Although many need upgrading or renovating, that doesn’t speak to the quality of education going on inside,” Wheeler added. “Many of them are doing an excellent job of educating our military children.”

Gordon said quality of education in these schools varies by district, as is true across the country. A point he preferred to emphasize is that every school on a military base is safe to attend, even those rated as failing.

“We don’t put our kids in unsafe schools,” Gordon said.

Wheeler said NMFA feel it’s time for public schools on base to be a “shared responsibility” of DoD and local districts. They are, after all, “on their installations [and] educating military children.”

In setting aside $250 million, Congress made “a very good start,” she said. NMFA hopes that isn’t viewed as a one-and-done appropriation.

DoD did not seek money to repair public schools on base and doesn’t plan to, Gordon suggested. But the $250 million is now “part of a larger strategic blueprint to increase quality education for our military children.”

He doesn’t know how far the money will go to address needed repairs. Defense officials won’t start allocating cash to projects until they meet with school districts to learn more about school needs.

“I can tell you that on the list of 160 schools, almost 50 percent of them are in good condition and have no capacity issues,” Gordon said.

When we noted that half of the schools were not in good shape, Gordon acknowledged that the condition of facilities could impact learning. But more important factors, he said, are “are good teachers, good curriculum, good principals [and] good superintendents.”

Wheeler made a similar point.

More than a million of 1.2 million military school-age children are educated off base, mostly in public schools, and unaffected by these plans.

The House Appropriations Committee first sounded an alarm on physically deteriorating schools for military children in 2008, focusing then on 195 schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity. DoDEA schools educate 86,000 military children in 12 foreign countries, seven states and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rica and Guam.

DoD teams rating the physical conditions at DoDEA schools gave a “failing” grade to 40 percent and an “under-maintained” rating to another 39 percent. Those statistics were shared with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in a July letter from a dozen U.S. senators who urged him to work with Congress to help give military children the schools they deserve.

Defense officials say they are in the second year now of a six-year plan to repair or replace 134 DoDEA schools in poor or failing physical condition. The fiscal 2012 budget request seeks $550 million to “recapitalize” 15 schools, a figure that hints at how far $250 million might go toward reviving 30 or so public schools on base.

Those are schools with “urgent” needs, Gordon said.

“We do take this seriously,” Gordon said about conditions at these schools. “But we feel our kids are getting [a good] education.”

Meanwhile, DoD continues to assess the quality of education at DoDEA schools, reviewing curriculums to measure strength of studies in technology, mathematics and language skills, and weighing the effect of frequent deployments by parents on their children’s education, Gordon said.

To comment, send e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111.

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From left, Joshua Leo Johnson, 35, of Santa Rosa, Calif., surrendered himself at the Lake County Jail in Lakeport, Calif., on Sunday, September 4, 2011. He was being sought in connection with an assault on rival motorcycle gang members on June 4, 2011, in Lakeport. Still at large (right) is 41-year-old David Daniel Dabbs of Santa Rosa, Calif. Photos courtesy of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Sonoma County man being sought in connection with an alleged June 4 assault on two rival motorcycle gang members has turned himself in to authorities, but another man who allegedly was involved is still being sought.

Joshua Leo Johnson, 35, of Santa Rosa surrendered at the Lake County Jail at 7 p.m. Sunday, according to a report from Michelle Gonzalez of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Johnson, who the sheriff's office said is the vice president of the Sonoma County chapter of the Hells Angels, is being held on $500,000 bail for participating in a criminal street gang, and remains in custody pending a bail hearing.

Gonzalez said sheriff's detectives placed a “1275” hold on Johnson, which requires him to account for the origin of his bail.

Johnson is the third person to be arrested in the case. Nicolas Felipe Carrillo, 32, of Geyserville and 33-year-old Timothy Robert Bianchi of Petaluma, also alleged to be Hells Angels members, were arrested last month in Sonoma County following the service of search warrants, as Lake County News has reported.

Carrillo and Bianchi also are being held in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $500,000 each, with similar 1275 holds, according to jail records.

Still at large in the case is another alleged Hells Angels member, 41-year-old David Daniel Dabbs of Santa Rosa, who also is being sought on a no-bail warrant out of San Diego for alleged kidnapping and torture, Gonzalez said.

Dabbs should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and officials have warned that members of the public should not attempt to approach or apprehend him.

The felony arrest warrants for the men were secured after a two-month investigation following a June 4 incident at Konocti Vista Casino in which the four allegedly beat 39-year-old Michael Burns – a validated Vagos motorcycle gang member – and 48-year-old Kristopher Perkin, Gonzalez said.

The entire incident was recorded on the casino’s video surveillance system, and the suspects were identified through the assistance of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Santa Rosa Police Department Gang Task Force and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department Gang Task Force, according to Gonzalez.

On Aug. 25 SWAT teams from the FBI, Santa Rosa Police Department and the Petaluma Police Department assisted Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives in serving four arrest warrants and search warrants on members of the Sonoma County Hells Angels in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, which led to the arrests of Carrillo and Bianchi, Gonzalez said.

Bianchi was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, battery, fighting in a public place and a gang enhancement, while Gonzalez said Carrillo was charged with battery, fighting in a public place and a gang enhancement.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of David Dabbs is encouraged to call local law enforcement or the Lake County Sheriff’s Office's Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.

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Lt. Greg Baarts is the new commander of the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area office, based in Kelseyville, Calif. Courtesy photo.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The local California Highway Patrol office has welcomed a new commander, who brings with him an extensive law enforcement background and roots on the North Coast.

Lt. Greg Baarts took over the leadership of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office in May, with his appointment becoming official at the start of July.

The 43-year-old North Coast native and father of three succeeds Lt. Mark Loveless, who accepted a commander position in the Trinity River area, 45 minutes from Redding.

Baarts said his emphasis is keeping local roadways safe and drivers informed, which he hopes will lead to a reduced number of collisions and driving under the influence cases.

“Our job is to save lives,” he said.

Baarts, who has been in law enforcement for 20 years, is a second-generation law enforcement professional.

His father, Mert Baarts, was a 32-year veteran of the CHP, serving as a commander at the CHP's Garberville and Humboldt offices. The senior Baarts worked with Steve Davis and Jerry Mills, now-retired Clear Lake commanders, as well as two current Clear Lake area officers, Sgt. Bill Holcomb and Officer Kory Reynolds.

“It's a small world,” said the new commander.

Baarts' sister is a retired CHP sergeant and his brother is a sergeant with the Ukiah Police Department.

After serving in the military Greg Baarts decided to get into law enforcement, but he said he wasn't sure at first that he wanted to be in the CHP due to its focus on traffic.

He began his law enforcement career as a deputy in the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. Baarts later served for six and a half years at the Ukiah Police Department, where he worked as a detective and was a drug task force member. He also did a stint with the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office as an investigator.

Eventually, he decided that the CHP was really where he wanted to be. “When I joined the highway patrol I had a lot of prior experience,” he said.

He said the CHP offers its employees the chance to go anywhere in the state, fly airplanes and helicopters or do motorcycle patrol. They also have the opportunity to undertake plain clothes assignments, such as protective details for the governor and other dignitaries; work as an auto theft investigator; or be a drug task force agent.

“It's a very highly respected agency and it's a very professional agency, and that's what attracted me to the highway patrol,” he said.

In 1998 he entered the CHP Academy. The agency doesn't allow lateral transfers from other agencies, so Baarts – at age 30, with wife Teresa and two small children at home – found himself back at school for the 27-week academy.

“It's pretty brutal,” he said of the academy. Although he was in the Army and was an infantryman, “It was harder than that.”

But he passed, and his first assignment was central Los Angeles. “It's a training ground,” he said of the busy Southern California area.

It took him two years to be able to return to the North Coast, when he received an assignment in the Clear Lake office. He was in Lake County from 2000 to 2001 before he was transferred to Ukiah. He promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the Crescent City Area for one year.

From there he spent six and a half years in Garberville before he got the opportunity to promote to lieutenant and return to lead the Clear Lake Area office.

In his new job he'll oversee an office that currently has 21 officers – 25 are budgeted, with four so far unfilled – as well as three sergeants, three clerical staff and one auto technician.

The office continues to pursue grants – like the Five Alive grant that runs out later this month – to reduce drunk driving crashes and motorcycle related crashes. The office's grant writer, Sgt. Dave Stark,

has been successful at bringing grants to the office that help buff up their resources.

Baarts said the Clear Lake office is unique because it has many officers who have been there for a long time, and have roots in the community and a stake in keeping Lake County safe.

“Everybody that's here wants to be here,” Baarts said.

The local office also has a lot of depth both in experience and investigative skills, with Baarts pointing to the office's many talented officers.

While much of Baarts' time will be spent running the office and handling administrative duties, “I try to get out as much as I can” to stay proficient at working the road and keeping his officer backed up. As

such, he worked a recent DUI checkpoint.

One challenge Baarts will have to face is the state budget, which makes an already challenging job harder.

“We're feeling the pain like everyone else but we're getting by,” he said. “If it gets worse I'm not sure what's going to happen.”

Baarts, who has been married for 18 years, has a 17-year-old daughter, a 15-year-old son and a 7-year-old son. He coaches football, and enjoys fishing and camping with his family.

He said he plans to stay in the area for a while, and wants to be actively involved with the community.

“I'm perfectly happy being here,” he said. “This is home for me.”

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