Santa Claus and his reindeer spotted over Paris just before 3 p.m. Photo courtesy of NORAD.

LAKE COUNTY – With Santa preparing to make his Atlantic crossing from Europe to the United States, final preparations to welcome him are in full swing across North America.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported shortly before 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time that Santa was seen near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, where the clock was striking midnight.

Santa has since been spotted near Cartgena, Spain.

From the tracking pattern it appears that Santa and his reindeer will soon begin crossing the Atlantic and heading for the homes of good children in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Meanwhile, in California, state officials gave Santa Claus the OK for a safe landing.

California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer has granted a 24-hour permit waiving all brand inspection and health requirements for nine reindeer slated to visit California on the evening of Dec. 24 and the in early morning hours of Dec. 25.

State Department of Food and Agriculture officials reported that the permit application was filed this week by a rotund, jolly man with a red face and a white beard. He signed his name to the paperwork: “K. Kringle.”

The nine reindeer named on the permit are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.

“We are pleased to grant the temporary waiver to Mr. Kringle,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “We wish him safe travels as he and his reindeer make deliveries to the good children of California.”

NORAD reports that it began tracking Santa in 1955 and it has been a Christmas Eve tradition ever since.

To see Santa's progress, visit Norad's Santa tracking Web site, which is complete with videos and updates every five minutes, at www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm.

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The quake, measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale, occurred at 1:25 p.m., according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicenter was located four miles northwest of The Geysers and eight miles west of Cobb, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake took place at a depth of 1.6 miles.

The US Geological Survey only received one report from someone who felt the quake in Petaluma.

The last time the county experienced earthquakes over 3.0 in magnitude was Dec. 1, when a 4.0 and 3.0 took place near The Geysers and Cobb.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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The attorney for a man facing criminal charges in the case, however, called the Department of Justice's review “meaningless.”

On Aug. 20, citing media reports – among them television broadcasts – about the case that left many county citizens “apprehensive about the adequacy and fairness of the subsequent investigation,” Sheriff Rod Mitchell requested the Attorney General's Office review Sacramento County's investigation and his department's procedures.

One of the factors drawing attention to the case was the involvement of Russell Perdock, a chief deputy with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, who was off duty at the time of the crash.

On the night of April 29, 2006, Perdock – at the wheel of his 24-foot speedboat – hit a 27-foot sailboat driven by Carmichael resident Bismarck Dinius and owned by Mark Weber of Willows.

The collision mortally injured Weber's fiancee, 51-year-old Lynn Thornton, who died May 2, 2006, at UC Davis Medical Center.

Because of Perdock's involvement, Mitchell requested the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office's Marine Services Unit conduct the investigation, as Lake County News has reported. Early in his law career Mitchell had worked as a deputy for Sacramento County.

Mitchell issued a Friday statement in which he related that the Department of Justice contacted him Dec. 10 that they would soon issue written findings in the case.

On Thursday, the findings were hand-delivered to Mitchell, he reported.

“I have determined that the contents of the report will not have an influence on issues pending before the Courts,” he stated. “Consequently, I am releasing the report in its entirety at this time.”

The nine-page report includes a cover letter to Mitchell from George B. Anderson, director of the Department of Justice's Division of Law Enforcement, in which Anderson states, “we did not find any areas requiring further investigation, or a need for policy enhancement based on the information you provided.”

The review's “Methodology” section explains that its scope and methodology were largely determined by Mitchell's request for a review of the investigation's sufficiency, areas for further investigation, and changes or enhancements to department policy.

“It was not the goal of this review to re-investigate this incident,” the document states. “Hence, this review relied expressly on written records and digital imagery generated by the Lake County and Sacramento County Sheriff's Departments, local hospital records and analysis records of the Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services.”

An information interview of Mitchell also was conducted, the review states.

The review recounts the circumstances of the crash, and touches upon one of the most contentious issues surrounding the crash – whether or not Weber's sailboat, Beats Working II, was under way with its running lights on.

Weber and Dinius have contended that the boat's lights were on, and have cited the backup testimony of witnesses who saw the lights. However, the Department of Justice's review referenced the original investigation, which found the lights were not on, pointing to an examination of the switch panel that showed the bow and stern light switches were in the “off” position.

The document also explored the issue of Perdock's speed.

His speedboat hit near the sailboat's stern with such force that it went airborne and landed on the sailboat's other side, according to investigative documents. Perdock stated during an interview with Sacramento County Sheriff’s Marine Services Unit Investigator Charles Slabaugh that he was traveling between 40 and 45 miles per hours for a short period of time shortly before the crash took place.

The review found that the law enforcement response – including initial rescue and handling of the parties involved – followed standard law enforcement practice, as did the handling of evidence. It also concluded that Mitchell's request for a third-party investigation was “prudent given the involvement of the Lake County Sheriff's Chief Deputy, even though he was off duty at the time of the incident.”

The investigative reports and records portrayed “a consistent chronology of events with few minor exceptions where date/time errors were made on three medical forms.”

Those errors dealt specifically with the time and date entries on the medical forms when blood draws were taken at Redbud Hospital for Perdock and Sutter Lakeside for Dinius and Weber. In particular, the errors made it appear that Perdock's blood draw was taken nearly 24 hours after the accident; similarly, request for blood draw forms for Dinius and Weber showed incorrect times and dates.

“It is likely that the mistakes on the forms were due to fatigue, or carelessness of staff members in the last few minutes of the calendar day,” the report states.

Ultimately, the report concludes that the investigation “appears complete.”

The Department of Justice review itself appears to contain a few errors, among them the incorrect date of death for Lynn Thornton; it stated she died the day after the accident, not three days later. The name of the chief investigator from Sacramento County also is misspelled throughout.

In addition, the report stated that two Sacramento County Sheriff's investigators “conducted the remainder of the investigation” beginning May 1, 2006. However, investigation records obtained by Lake County News show that two Lake County Sheriff's deputies remained active in interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence after May 1.

Mitchell's Friday statement noted, “Nothing in the DOJ's findings can be expected to relieve the family and friends of Lynn Thornton of their sense of loss. Nor can this report lift the burden of anxiety for all of the people who were directly impacted by this incident.”

However, he concluded that the report should remove from county residents “any remaining doubts or apprehension” about his office's handling of the incident.

Defense attorney reacts to report

In June the Lake County District Attorney's Office charged Dinius with vehicular manslaughter involving a vessel and misdemeanor boating under the influence of alcohol, because he is alleged to have had a blood alcohol level of 0.12, as Lake County News has reported.

Perdock is not facing criminal charges in the case, although the findings of an investigation conduct by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office found broke federal inland navigation rules by not adhering to the “safe speed” rule, which requires that a boat operator at all times maintain a speed that allows them to stop the vessel “within half the distance of forward visibility.”

Victor S. Haltom, the Sacramento attorney defending Dinius, said the review was meaningless and addresses “no issues of consequence” in the case.

Pointing to the review's stated scope, which the document stated was based largely on Mitchell's request letter, Haltom contended in e-mail correspondence with Lake County News, “Thus, this was not an independent review process. In order for it to have been independent, it would have been necessary for the scope and direction of the review process to be determined by the reviewing agency (DOJ), rather than the agency being reviewed (LCSO).”

Haltom, who earlier this year filed a motion to have the District Attorney's Office removed from the case because of its close working relationship with the sheriff's office – which he argued would make it difficult for Dinius to receive a fair trial – said those close connections are ignored in the review.

“The report does not note that Sheriff Mitchell was a groomsman in Mr. Perdock's wedding,” he wrote. “The report does not address the close relationships between the various law enforcement officials involved in this case.”

Nor did the Department of Justice contact him or any representatives of Dinius' defense for the review, Haltom added. “Only one side of the story was reviewed: the necessarily slanted LCSO side of the story.”

The Department of Justice review only looked at the law enforcement reports the case generated plus the “informational interview” of Mitchell, Haltom said, further evidence in his opinion that it was not an independent review.

“This was one government agency's endeavor to determine whether another government agency's conduct can plausibly be characterized as 'good enough for government work,'” he wroted. “Since DOJ's 'Investigative Review' does not fit the bill under this lowly standard, it does not provide a justification for finding that LCSO's investigation was good enough for government work. It plainly was not, as will be seen during the litigation of this case.”

Haltom added, “The reality of this case is plain. Mr. Perdock's recklessness caused Lynn Thornton's death. He alone is responsible. He knows it. LCSO knows it. The prosecution of Mr. Dinius is a travesty. The DOJ report does not address these issues. It is meaningless, bureaucratic poppycock.”

Case has had previous Attorney General involvement

This isn't the first time the California Attorney General's Office has been called in on some aspect of this case.

As noted previously, Haltom sought to have the District Attorney's Office removed from the case. That necessitated a response from the Attorney General's Office, which appeared in Lake County Superior Court on Aug. 31 and it successfully argued against Haltom's motion.

District Attorney Jon Hopkins told Lake County News earlier this year that he also had asked the Attorney General's Office for an opinion on whether or not his office should prosecute the case and who should be charged before he moved forward with prosecution.

Following a case review the Attorney General's Office found no reason for Hopkins' office not to proceed with the case.

To read the full Department of Justice report, visit the Lake County Sheriff's Web site at http://lakesheriff.com/docs/doj_boat.pdf.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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David Garlow Deason, 68, won an appeal of his February 2006 first-degree murder conviction from the First Appellate District Court on Dec. 14, as Lake County News has reported.

The appellate court found that the trial court erred by not allowing evidence of Deason's 0.27 blood alcohol level into defense testimony or jury instructions.

The alcohol was an important factor in determining whether or not Deason had planned the murder, the appellate court found.

Deason was convicted of the shooting death of 48-year-old Marie Parlet at the home they shared in Clearlake on Dec. 6, 2004, according to court records.

The couple had a disagreement earlier in the day, and Deason reportedly left and went drinking before returning home and shooting Parlet once in the chest and once in the back with a .38 pistol from a distance of about 18 inches, court records reported.

District Attorney Jon Hopkins told Lake County News that Deason will be brought back to Lake County where he'll be kept in custody while Hopkins decides what action to take next.

Hopkins isn't sure when Deason will be brought back, but said it will be early next year, after the appellate court's decision becomes final.

In the meantime, Hopkins said he must discuss the case with the state Attorney General's Office to see if that office suggests further appellate action. The case could also be appealed to the state Supreme Court, he added.

In the original trial transcripts, Deason's defense attorney, J. David Markham, argued that the blood alcohol evidence was critical to understanding the case. He contended it was central to the issue of premediation, which is necessary to proving a first-degree murder charge.

That argument was one with which the state's appellate judges agreed.

Hopkins explained that Deputy District Attorney John Langan, who prosecuted Deason, argued that the defense didn't have an expert who would interpret the amount of alcohol and what it meant with respect to premeditation and deliberation.

Deason's high blood alcohol level was recorded an hour and a half after the murder. Langan argued that Deason was at home alone for an hour after the murder drinking, said Hopkins. The prosecution questioned whether it could be determined that Deason had incurred that alcohol level before the murder or after.

“There would be no way of actually telling how much alcohol was in his system at the time of the killing,” said Hopkins. “In the decision by the appellate court, there was no real discussion of that issue.”

Deason had prior alcohol-related arrests in the 1970s, including three DUIs, as well as a conviction for carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. However, Hopkins said the prosecution did not introduce those cases into evidence.

“It's a rare circumstance where we're permitted to introduce prior conduct to be considered in the guilt phase of the case,” he said.

What's next, said Hopkins, is assessing where the case is now. “We're ready to go back to trial again.”

Hopkins said there are several options for moving forward, including further appellate work by the Attorney General's Office, a retrial on the first-degree murder charges and reaching a negotiated disposition in which Deason pleads guilty to a lesser charge.

The District Attorney's Office also could just dump the case, but Hopkins added, “That's not gonna happen.”

The last time a local murder conviction was set aside was in the 1990s, before Hopkins arrived in Lake County. That case involved defendant Charles Statler, Hopkins said, who was tried by Gary Luck during his tenure as district attorney.

Statler, according to Hopkins, killed another man with a cast iron skillet, which a federal appeals court ruled wasn't necessarily a deadly weapon.

“Our heads are still spinning over that legal analysis,” said Hopkins.

The Statler case, he added, ultimately was resolved with a plea bargain.

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THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED REGARDING THE NAME OF ONE OF THE SEARCH AND RESCUE VEHICLES. 

CACHE CREEK WILDERNESS – Emergency personnel from Lake and Sonoma counties teamed to rescue a Sacramento man Friday evening after he was injured while visiting the Cache Creek Wilderness Area.

Northshore Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Pat Brown, the incident commander for the rescue, reported that Northshore Fire District was dispatched at 3 p.m. Friday to a male subject with a broken leg.

The man was said to be four miles downstream from the Cache Creek Wilderness Area parking lot just off Highway 20, Brown said.

The reporting party had walked out the four miles and called on the emergency call box located on Highway 20, Brown explained. The report noted that the male victim had been in the water but was out and on the bank with an angular leg fracture.

Initial dispatch for Station 75 (Clearlake Oaks) was expanded to include Station 80 (Lucerne), Lake County Fire and Cal Fire, said Brown.

Northshore Fire District had one ambulance, two four-wheel-drive engines and an Urban Search and Rescue Vehicle – with total man power of 10, said Brown. Lake County provided a command vehicle with two personnel and Cal Fire provided one engine with a crew of three.

Once units were on scene and trying to locate the victim – 27-year-old Andrei Vihodet of Sacramento – rescue crews asked Brown to request the assistance of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office rescue helicopter, Henry One.

Rescuers were especially concerned about the approaching darkness and dropping temperatures, Brown said.

Northshore and Lake County rescue personnel were able to drive to within a mile of the victim and started hiking in with rescue equipment, Brown said.

Henry One located Vihodet and landed nearby, said Brown. Vihodet was flown to the command post – the Cache Creek parking lot – to Medic 175 at 5:16 p.m. and transported to Redbud Hospital. Henry One returned to the victim’s location and transported a family member back to the parking lot.

Brown added that all safety equipment left the wilderness area at 6:40 p.m.

A combined effort from fire personnel and Sonoma County Sheriff's rescue helicopter made the rescue successful, said Brown.

Brown said Northshore Fire District would like to thank Sonoma County Sheriff's rescue helicopter, Henry One, for the great work and its availability to help Lake County for the rescue.

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Nancy Anderson, 66, was injured when her 2000 Ford Taurus went off the road and hit the tree at 11:53 a.m., according to California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Garcia.

Anderson was driving westbound on Point Lakeview Road, east of Sunset Ridge Drive, when she failed to negotiate a right curve in the road, said Garcia.

Anderson's vehicle went off the road's north edge and struck a tree, said Garcia.

The crash left Anderson with severe injuries that were not, however, life-threatening, said Garcia. Her vehicle also received major damage.

There were no passengers or other vehicles involved, Garcia added.

Kelseyville Fire's ambulance transported Anderson to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment, according to Garcia.

CHP Officer Steve Curtis is investigating the incident, Garcia reported.

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The crash occurred at about 6:14 p.m. on Highway 29 just north of Mockingbird Lane near Lakeport, according to the California Highway Patrol's incident logs.

Two pickups – a Dodge Ram and a Ford – collided, the CHP reported.

One of the pickups rolled over onto its side, trapping one person inside, according to the CHP. Wood debris was reportedly scattered over the roadway.

The collision blocked both the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway, the CHP reported.

Officials closed that portion of the road, which is only two lanes, to traffic while the rescue took place.

The person trapped in the vehicle was extracted and lifeflighted to the hospital shortly before 7 p.m., according to the CHP logs.

One of the vehicles involved, the CHP reported, was towed for evidence.

No information on the identifies of the people involved in the crash was available Sunday night.

The CHP reopened the highway at 8:47 p.m. about two and a half hours after the crash occurred.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Students in the Kelseyville Kids Garden Club at work. Photo by Thelma Dangel.

KELSEYVILLE – A local school's program to introduce children to gardening is reaping benefits beyond produce – it's teaching children responsibility and the joy of growing one's own food.

Helen Finch's enthusiasm and talent for gardening are no secret, especially to those who have visited her annual Art in the Garden event.

In 2006, Finch volunteered to form the Kelseyville Kids Garden Club for fourth and fifth graders at Kelseyville Elementary School.

The number of students has grown from 30 to a crowd of 50 who come after school on Tuesday and Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m. Children meet in a classroom to form teams and discuss the day's objectives and then it's off to the garden.

As a member of Trowel and Trellis Garden Club-Mendo-Lake District, California Garden Club Inc., I wanted to view their garden and it was time well spent.

Children's activities include digging, turning, amending and preparing the raised beds for seeds or seedlings that they have already grown in cell packs. Their tools are regular sizes. After their work they are taught to clean up before their gardening time is over for the day.

They weed, string, stake, fertilize, and finally harvest and enjoy their veggies and flowers.

Sometimes the children help to prepare a meal; other times, Helen and the parent/grandparent/neighbor volunteers prepare something for them to try.

For the children, cooking is very engaging; no one wants to be left out. While I was visiting, the girls set the tables and brought me a few flowers to enjoy.

Helen also has the children involved with the Free Kitchen Project at the Kelseyville Senior Center. Once during each season, the children are invited to harvest vegetables, prepare a meal and serve it to the people who come to dinner on the first Sunday of the month.

Helen is a very knowledgeable, patient gardener and teacher.

Many members of the community, Big Valley Lions in particular, have generously donated many of the items from the children's garden club wish list. Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club has also been very supportive and made the school's club their Christmas project this year, providing most everything else on the list, including not one, but two much-needed picnic tables.

Some very thoughtful restauranteurs at Marcie's Brick Grill, Saw Shop Bistro and DJ's Pizza have provided the very important compostables that feed the garden.

There is a wonderful staff of other volunteers who spend as much time as they can at the garden or working behind the scenes. They include Margaret Eutenier, Pat Beedle, Teresa Marks, Andrea Anderson, Cindi Browzynski, Karen Long, Theresa Mather and Mary Bogle.

If you would like to share some of your time in the garden with Helen, she would love to hear from you. She can be reached at 707-279-9400.

The children learn to raise vegetables and flowers from Helen Finch, who volunteers to teach the club. Photo by Thelma Dangel.

Community clubs have helped provide equipment, picnic tables and other things on the club's wish list. Photo by Thelma Dangel.

Another view of the raised beds where the children garden. Photo by Thelma Dangel.

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Church member Ginger Frank (foreground) and District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing dig in their shovels during the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the planned Thornton-Canady Community Center in Clearlake Oaks on Thursday. Several church and community members took turns at the shovel as part of the official beginning of construction for the center, which will be available to the entire community. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.

CLEARLAKE OAKS – A small, heartfelt ceremony on Thursday afternoon broke ground on a new community center that will offer services to young and old alike.

Members of Clearlake Oaks Community United Methodist Church, Supervisor Denise Rushing, county Deputy Redevelopment Eric Seely and other community residents gathered for the 1 p.m. ceremony, held at The Plaza at the site of the planned Thornton-Canady Community Center.

Church member Ginger Frank said the 4,350-square-foot, one-story building will feature a 400 square foot reading room which will also be used for senior day care; a 2700 square foot recreation room where teens and children can play basketball and badminton, and where community meetings and other special events can be held.

The center is named for the church's late pastor, Bill Thornton, and his wife, Associate Pastor Ruth Canady.

The Rev. Dr. Rick Schlosser, the church's senior pastor, led the ceremony, which included blessings and prayers for the property and its future purposes. Schlosser asked Canady to be the first to take a shovel and turn the soil at the site of the planned center.

“When we first came here, Bill had a vision,” said Canady.

Thornton and Canady worked with the church for years to help set changes in motion in Clearlake Oaks, which was acknowledged during the brief ceremony.

County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, who couldn't make the groundbreaking, sent along a letter with Rushing expressing his sincere appreciation to all those involved in the project.

“This facility, along with the reconstruction of The Plaza and the new Nylander Park, will make Clearlake Oaks a model for other communities in Lake County,” Cox wrote.

None of Clearlake Oaks' projects would have been possible without community involvement and support, said Cox, who credited the church and its members for helping make the community's dreams become realities.

“The renaissance that Clearlake Oaks is undergoing is a direct result of this community's resolve,” Cox wrote.

Cox said he was confident that Pastor Thornton “is looking down upon those gathered at The Plaza today with a smile on his face.”

Rushing added, “I am continually awed by the power of the heart and – when people decide to come together – what is possible.”

Seely added that Clearlake Oaks' community members are “building on each others' successes.”

Schlosser said the church family is dedicated to making the community better. He credited Canady for her guidance in teaching about the power of a small group of people who are willing to open their hearts.

He added that he hopes the center will be a place of welcome to everyone.

Church and community members shared how the power of teamwork and prayer had made a difference in Clearlake Oaks.

“I see such a fresh breeze blowing into this town,” said Steve Alden, the former chair of the church's building committee.

Ken Young, a Clearlake Oaks resident and a staffer at the Community Care HIV/AIDS Project-Drop In Center, said when he and his wife moved to the town seven years ago, it was a very different place. Meth labs were all over the Oaks then, he said.

“There's physical evidence that things are changing,” said Young.

Frank said construction on the building began last week. The ground where the building will sit had been raised and leveled with fill. Trenching for the slab and retaining walls scheduled to start after Christmas, Frank said.

The steel building cost $149,000, and came in pieces which need to be assembled, a process which will start in January, said Frank.

The finish work on the building's inside will be completed with volunteer labor.

Schlosser estimated that the total cost of the building and assembling its shell will reach $175,000, funds which the church accumulated through fundraisers and a loan from the California Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Eventually, the goal is to include a commercial kitchen in the building, said Frank, which is likely to raise the total construction cost to about $300,000.

Anyone interested in donating time or money to the effort is encouraged to call church treasurer Margaret Medeiros at 998-9563; or Associate Pastor Ruth Canady, 928-4453.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Clearlake and Lakeport in the coming years.

New equipment purchases and increased special traffic enforcement measures are on tap as a result of a

recent $143,250 AVOID Anti-DUI Program grant awarded by the Office of Traffic Safety to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Cecil Brown reported Sunday.

The AVOID Program began in 1973, according to the program's Web site. It brings together law enforcement agencies in countywide clusters to crack down on drunk driving and reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries that result from DUIs.

Since 1974, 35 counties and 350 law enforcement agencies have joined the program, its Web site reports.

Locally, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Clearlake Police Department and the Lakeport Police Department will work together under the grant, according to Sheriff Rod Mitchell.

“We are pleased to have an opportunity through this grant to assist the other law enforcement agencies with combating the dangers of DUI,” Sheriff Rod Mitchell said in a statement issued by his department. “Individually, the agencies do a good job combating this problem. Collectively, we all do a great job with it.

“It is my hope that the AVOID grant activities will have a measurable impact on increasing the public’s safety,” Mitchell continued. “Although the grant funds only staff time from the sheriff’s department and the police departments of Clearlake and Lakeport, the California Highway Patrol has been extremely generous with their support of AVOID program.”

Brown reported that the grant activities will specifically target those who drive under the influence and those who drive while their driving privilege is suspended.

Locally, that will be done through DUI/driver’s license checkpoints, DUI saturation patrols, warrant/probation sweeps and court sting operations where DUI offenders with suspended or revoked driver's licenses get behind the wheel after leaving court, Brown reported.

The first DUI/license checkpoint to take place locally under the AVOID grant will take place later this week, said Brown.

The grant provides funding for equipment and overtime to conduct special enforcement activities, Brown reported. Reimbursement for overtime will be available to the sheriff’s office and the police departments.

The provided equipment will include public education materials, checkpoint supplies, field breathalyzer equipment and a trailer with workspace and equipment hauling capability, said Brown.

“When more people buckle up and drive sober and safely, we save lives. It’s just that simple,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “This grant will help make Lake County just that much safer of a place to live and work.”

Funding for the grant comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Brown reported.

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The frog, made famous by Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," is a California native once abundant from the Central Coast to the Sierra Nevada foothills, and also in Lake County.

The suit was one of 13 filed last week challenging the Bush administration's political interference in management of 55 endangered species and 8.7 million acres of public land.

Suits over six other species were filed in November. Earthjustice filed the California red-legged frog suit on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity.

At issue is an April 13, 2006, Endangered Species Act rule, adopted by the service, that revised the "critical habitat" for the California red-legged frog by reducing it from 4.1 million acres to approximately 450,000 acres.

The service agreed to revise the frog's critical habitat rule as a result of a closed-door settlement between industry and the service that was approved over the objections of a coalition of conservation groups.

The California red-legged frog's critical habitat rule is one of several dozen species decisions that may have been manipulated by former Interior Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, who resigned in disgrace in May.

Both the Inspector General and Government Accountability Office have ongoing investigations in political interference by MacDonald and others in Endangered Species Act decisions.

This isn't the first time the service has been challenged in court over the California red-legged frog and its critical habitat. Following a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups in 1999, the service initially agreed to designate the subspecies' critical habitat, even though the agency was under a statutory duty to do so since the species was listed in 1996.

"The red-legged frog won't survive unless we protect its habitat" said Mike Senatore, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, "Julie MacDonald's interference is inexcusable. She is an endangered species death star."

"We're headed back to court not only to protect Mark Twain's celebrated jumping frog, but also to protect the scientific integrity of the Endangered Species Program," said Erin Tobin of Earthjustice. "The California red-legged frog, once common across the state, appears to have been the victim of politics. We urge the Department of the Interior to promptly revise the frog's critical habitat and fix the mess created by Julie MacDonald and possibly others."

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Julie MacDonald improperly influenced the scientific integrity of the frog's critical habitat rule in an attempt to reduce protections for the frog for the benefit of developers and other special-interest groups.

The service conceded on Nov. 23 that the frog's critical habitat "should be revised," but suggested it would only do so "as funding is made available."

The service decided to reconsider six other species listing and critical habitat decisions influenced by MacDonald, but conservation groups argue that the controversy extends well beyond Julie MacDonald and these seven species decisions.

The Center for Biological Diversity has pledged to file suit over 55 species whose protections were illegally overturned by MacDonald or other high-level officials.

Spurred by documents uncovered by the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, lawmakers recently have called for a wider review of Julie MacDonald's decisions.

The General Accounting Office is currently looking into the process by which the service arrived at its decision to revise the seven species listing and critical habitat decisions.

At the request of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Inspector General agreed to reopen his investigation and broaden it to consider whether there was improper political interference with the science in 18 species decisions.

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The House approved H.R. 2764 – the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008) – on a 272-142 vote on Wednesday, according to GovTrack.

Congressman Mike Thompson, who was unable to vote on the bill because he's recovering from surgery, issued a Thursday statement on the bill that praised parts of it and criticized others.

“The priorities of the federal budget over the past seven years have been completely out of touch with the needs of American families,” Thompson said in the statement issued by his office. “This spending bill invests in areas that will improve the lives of every American, such as education, health care, the environment and critical infrastructure projects.”

The bill included $227,000 for Lake County’s Middle Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project, which was secured by Thompson.

Anne Warden, Thompson's Washington communications director, said the funds will be used for a feasibility study on the project, which will restore 1,200 acres of wetlands and 500 acres of floodplain in the Clear Lake area.

The restoration project will reconnect the Scott’s Creek and Middle Creek to the historic Robinson Lake wetland and floodplain, as Lake County News has reported. These two watersheds provide 57 percent of the water flow into Clear Lake.

“Restoring Middle Creek will improve our area’s protection from flooding,” said Thompson. “It will also have a very positive effect on the wetlands surrounding Clearlake.”

However, in Thompson's view, the bill has definite drawbacks.

“Unfortunately, this bill also includes billions more for the war in Iraq – a war that has already cost our country $500 billion,” said Thompson, a Vietnam veteran who has been critical of the war since its beginning. “I am extremely frustrated that we continue to fund the president’s ill-advised war without any plans for bringing our troops home.”

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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