LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport Fire Protection District competed with a number of fire districts around the region in the seventh annual Bucket Brigade Blood Drive Challenge, placing second for its effort.

The event, which began late last year, brought in more than 800 donors and 700 units of life-saving blood, according to Blood Centers of the Pacific.

The flu and weather impacted December and January collection efforts, but the blood drives by the various fire districts helped the blood bank maintain an adequate blood supply.

Windsor Fire Protection District took first place for the fourth straight year with 134 donors, followed by Lakeport Fire with 110 donors.

Geyserville Fire Protection District and Healdsburg Fire Department tied for third place, with each bringing in 75 donors.

Cal Fire Petaluma/Wilmar Volunteer Fire Department placed fourth with 73 donors, with Sebastopol Fire Department’s 70 donors earning it fifth place.

Thanks to efforts like these, Blood Centers of the Pacific provided more than 100,000 pints of blood to patients last year throughout the 50 Northern California hospitals it serves – including all Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino county hospitals.

Over the past week, patients who received blood included a 12 year old boy and a 3 year old boy with leukemia, a 30 year old man with lymphoma, a 19 year old girl with cystic fibrosis, an infant girl with respiratory failure, a 9 year old girl with heart failure, a 28 year old woman who needed fetal transfusion and a 20 year old male with a heart defect.
 
For more information about Blood Centers of the Pacific and how you can help visit www.bloodheroes.com .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A pedestrian was injured Tuesday evening after being hit by a vehicle.

The crash occurred at about 6:30 p.m. on S. Main Street and Lupoyoma Avenue, according to radio reports. Lakeport Fire Protection District firefighters and Lakeport Police responded.

The vehicle involved was reported to have been a minivan, with reports from the scene indicating that the victim was a female.

Radio reports indicated that firefighters initially asked for an air ambulance to land at Sutter Lakeside Hospital, then asked for the helicopter to land closer, at the old Natural High School property in the 800 block of N. Main Street.

REACH 6 reported lifting off at about 7 p.m., headed for Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

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. – After six and a half years, a popular Kelseyville restaurant is moving to a new location outside of Lakeport.

Zino’s Ristorante and Catering closed its Soda Bay location on Dec. 30, but plans to start out 2013 with a new home at Rancho de la Fuente, 2290 Soda Bay Road.

“It was time to move on,” said owner Jan Mezoui.

Mezoui said she’s looking forward to having a larger venue at Rancho de la Fuente.

She said the restaurant will reopen on Valentine’s Day – Thursday, Feb. 14.

Mezoui and her late husband, Zino, opened the restaurant together in July 2007.

He was a well known restaurateur in Sonoma County and after moving to Lake County wanted to get back to work.

In September 2010, Zino Mezoui took his motorcycle for a ride and was mortally injured after a driver hit him and left the scene. The driver in the crash later was arrested and sentenced to prison.

Jan Mezoui continued on, keeping her husband’s dream alive, with the support of a community that had respected his talent as a chef and loved his zest for life.

The new version of Zino’s will have the French and Italian fare and fine dining experience that fans of the restaurant have come to expect, she said.

She said her chef, Mark Linbeck, is making the move to Rancho de la Fuente.

Zino’s will be open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with dancing afterward, according to Mezoui.

Reservations are required for the Valentine’s Day grand reopening, with reservations recommended for Friday, Feb. 15, through Sunday, Feb. 16, she said.

Mezoui said the restaurant will continue to feature music. She has a disk jockey lined up, and on Feb. 16 popular local pianist David Neft – who often performed at the the restaurant’s previous location – will be featured, Mezoui said. She expects to host more live performers in the future as well.

To make reservations or for more information, call the new Zino’s at 707-263-5061.

Visit the restaurant online at http://www.zinosonthelake.com/ .

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.

Snow surveyors on Tuesday reported that water content in California’s mountain snowpack is below average for the date.

Manual and electronic readings taken Tuesday morning record the snowpack’s statewide water content at 93 percent of average for this time of year. That is 55 percent of the average April 1 measurement, when the snowpack is normally at its peak before the spring melt.

The snowpack normally provides about a third of the water for California’s homes, farms and industries as it slowly melts into streams, reservoirs and aquifers in the spring and early summer.

“We’re still seeing decent snowpack conditions due to storms in late November and early December,” said Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin. “Those early season storms also erased the deficit in our reservoir storage, but relatively dry weather this month is once again a reminder that the weather is unpredictable and we must always practice conservation.”

Electronic readings indicate that the water content in the northern mountains is 97 percent of normal for the date and 59 percent of the April 1 seasonal average.

Electronic readings for the central Sierra show 90 percent of normal for the date and 54 percent of the April 1 average.

The numbers for the southern Sierra are 91 percent of average for the date and 51 percent of the April 1 average.

The Department of Water Resources and cooperating agencies conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from January to May.

The manual measurements supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic readings from sensors up and down the state.

The Department of Water Resources currently estimates that it will be able to deliver 40 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of State Water Project water requested for this calendar year by the 29 public agencies that supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland. The delivery estimate may increase as more winter storms develop.

The final allocation of State Water Project water in calendar year 2012 was 65 percent of requested deliveries.

The allocation was 80 percent in 2011, 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.

The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of restrictions on Delta export pumping to protect sensitive fish species – was in 2006.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal reservoir with a capacity of 3.5 million acre-feet, on Tuesday was at 75 percent of capacity, 113 percent of average for the date. Shasta Lake north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s principal storage reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, today is at 76 percent of capacity, 111 percent of normal for the date.

An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Lower Lake High School is participating in “No Name-Calling Week,” which takes place Monday, Jan. 28, through Friday, Feb. 1.

During the nationwide event, schools attempt to reduce bullying.

Teacher Nancy Harby and part of the school’s leadership class have worked together for several weeks to create multiple displays, signs and activities for the week, including a library exhibit showcasing books on bullying, posters and artistic designs in the glass case outside the library, and even entering an online contest.

The idea of No Name-Calling Week came from the book “The Misfits” by James Howe.

The book is about a group of bullied seventh graders who advocate for a much safer school.

Typically, the focus of No Name-Calling Week is on fifth through eighth graders and it takes the place of the normal curriculum.

In the case of Lower Lake High, the event has been tailored to the school’s needs.

Rather than changing curriculum or interrupting class time, there will be lunch time activities and bulletin reminders to be a good person and to promote a safer image.

The effort also reminds students that they must be the change they want to see.

For more information visit www.nonamecallingweek.org .

Lacey Amaral is a freshman at Lower Lake High School in Lower Lake, Calif.

Agricultural irrigation in California's Central Valley doubles the amount of water vapor pumped into the atmosphere, ratcheting up rainfall and powerful monsoons across the interior Southwest, according to a new study by University of California, Irvine scientists.

Moisture on the vast farm fields evaporates, is blown over the Sierra Nevada and dumps 15 percent more than average summer rain in numerous other states.

Runoff to the Colorado River increases by 28 percent, and the Four Corners region experiences a 56 percent boost in runoff.

While the additional water supply can be a good thing, the transport pattern also accelerates the severity of monsoons and other potentially destructive seasonal weather events.

“If we stop irrigating in the Valley, we'll see a decrease in stream flow in the Colorado River basin,” said climate hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, senior author on the paper, which was published online Tuesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The basin provides water for about 35 million people, including those in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

But the extra water vapor also accelerates normal atmospheric circulation, he said, “firing up” the annual storm cycle and drawing in more water vapor from the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Central Valley.

When the additional waves of moisture bump into developing monsoons, Famiglietti said, “it's like throwing fuel on a fire.”

He and colleague Min-Hui Lo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling who is now at National Taiwan University, painstakingly entered regional irrigation levels into global rainfall and weather models and traced the patterns.

“All percent differences in the paper are the differences between applying irrigation to the Central Valley and not applying it,” Famiglietti said. “That's the point of the study – and the beauty of using computer models. You can isolate the phenomenon that you wish to explore, in this case, irrigation versus no irrigation.”

Famiglietti's team plans to increase the scope of the work to track how major human water usage elsewhere in the world affects neighboring areas too.

A better understanding of irrigation's impact on the changing climate and water availability could improve resource management in parched or flooded areas, the team suggested.

COBB, Calif. – A 3.0-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Cobb area on Tuesday morning.

The quake, which occurred at 8:45 a.m., was centered two miles north northeast of The Geysers geothermal steamfield, four miles west southwest of Cobb and six miles west northwest of Anderson Springs, according to a preliminary report from the US Geological Survey.

The survey said the quake was recorded at a depth of 2.1 miles.

One shake report had been filed by noon from Calistoga, according to US Geological Survey records.

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Clean Water Action has awarded Assemblymember Mariko Yamada its “Clean Water Champion” award in recognition of her leadership on water and environmental issues in the recently completed 2011-2012 legislative session.  

She earned similar honors in 2009-2010.

Assemblymember Yamada, who represents Lake County, was one of just 13 out of 120 legislators to earn this award.

“Assemblymember Yamada has shown leadership on the issues that our members care about including ensuring safe drinking water for all communities, preventing pollution at the source, promoting the public’s right to know about toxins they are exposed to, and stopping attacks on our fundamental environmental protections,” said Miriam Gordon, Clean Water Action’s California director.

Yamada is being recognized in part for her support of a package of bills affirming a human right to water and supporting the rights of small, disadvantaged communities to gain access to safe drinking water.

“I am honored by Clean Water Action's recognition,” said Assemblymember Yamada, "Access to clean and affordable drinking water is fundamental to health, life, and commerce, and a human right we must never take for granted."

Gordon noted that Yamada was one of four legislators who received a 100 percent rating on Clean Water Action’s list of 13 bills considered in the 2011-2012 session.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, former Assemblymember Jared Huffman and Sen. Noreen Evans – the latter Lake County’s representative in the California Senate – also received perfect scores.

“These legislators had the courage to stand up for our environment,” Gordon said. “They recognize that pollution prevention, environmental protections and transparency about industry practices lead to cost savings and economic growth.”

Clean Water Action is a 1.2 million member national organization. With 52,000 members in California, the organization’s goals include clean, safe and affordable water, prevention creation of environmentally safe jobs and prevention of health-threatening pollution.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Super Bowl is one of America’s most-anticipated and watched sporting events of the year, an opportunity for family, friends, and fans to gather together and root for their team.

However, the celebration can quickly turn to tragedy when partygoers exercise poor judgment and fail to designate a non-drinking driver.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) joins with the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Football League and TEAM (Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management) to spread an important safety message to the public about designating a sober driver on Super Bowl Sunday – Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk.

“Make the responsible decision to designate a driver who can provide a safe ride home, someone who is abstaining from drinking that day,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Impaired drivers destroy thousands of lives every year by simply getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.”

According to the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, alcohol was involved in nearly 25 percent of collisions on Super Bowl Sunday 2010, the most recent year that finalized collision data is available.

Those 211 alcohol-involved collisions resulted in the death of six people and injuries to 124 others throughout California.

The CHP will work with law enforcement agencies throughout the state to discourage the public from driving under the influence (DUI), and to try to remove those drivers who are impaired before they injure or kill themselves or others.

On average, the past three years (2010-2012), the CHP has made nearly 450 DUI arrests on Super Bowl Sunday throughout the state.

The public is also encouraged to be a team player by calling 911 if they suspect a drunk driver. Callers should be prepared to provide the vehicle’s description, license plate number, location and direction of travel.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A combination of gratitude and generosity led a local woman to make a large donation to the Kelseyville Fire Protection District’s effort to purchase new rescue equipment.

Jan Thompson, who lives in the Riviera West area of Kelseyville, has donated $10,000 to help complete the purchase of a new all-terrain vehicle that will assist with accessing areas that other district equipment can’t reach.

“We were right at $13,000, and she put us right over the top,” Kelseyville Fire Chief Mike Stone said of Thompson’s donation.

Thompson was visiting downtown to run errands earlier this month, and while at WestAmerica Bank across the street spotted the colorful fundraising sign – a thermometer painted by students with the Kelseyville High School art department – in front of the firehouse.

Stone said the department had been raising funds for about six months in order to purchase a Polaris six-wheel ATV to assist with rescue operations on Mt. Konocti – where a 1,500-acre county owned park is located – since the district’s ambulances aren’t four-wheel drive.

The district’s goal, however, isn’t just to use the vehicle in its boundaries, but to make it widely available to other agencies for rescues in remote parts of Lake County, Stone said.

By the start of this month, the department had raised $13,000 of the $23,000 needed to purchase the vehicle and fully outfit it with lights, radios, helmets and other necessary fire equipment. A trailer for it also is needed, according to Stone.

Most of the donations came from individuals and organizations, including $3,200 from Homestake Mining Co., $6,000 that was donated through the District Attorney’s Office Alternative to Community Service program and $500 from Bottle Rock Power LLC, according to a list of donations the agency provided.

Stone said the fire district also had a pancake breakfast at the Kelseyville Pear Festival in September, raising just over $1,900.

Kelseyville Fire was preparing for a push to raise the rest of the funds in order to purchase the ATV by springtime, before more hiking and park activities resumed, Stone said.

That’s when Thompson saw the thermometer fundraising sign.

“I was curious as to what they were raising money for,” she said.

So she called and asked, and they told her about the ATV. She asked if the money donated would stay with Kelseyville Fire, with agency officials ensuring her that the money stayed with them, but the vehicle could be loaned out when needed.

“It was important to me that it stay in Kelseyville,” she said.

Thompson then arranged to visit the firehouse. She sat down with district staff and asked how much they needed if they were to buy the fully equipped ATV the next day.

They told her $10,000. When Thompson said she would give that amount, she said they didn’t seem to believe her at first. Then she wrote the $10,000 check.

Stone, who wasn’t in on the meeting, had left early for the day and said he got a phone call from staff. They asked if he was sitting down.

At that point, he said he was expecting bad news, not the news of the unexpected gift.

Stone said they immediately ordered the ATV, which is set to arrive this week.

Thompson, a retired teacher who has lived in Lake County full-time since 1974 – and whose family had a vacation home here 15 years before that – explained that the fire department has always been there for her and her family.

Around 1995, she became seriously ill with meningitis, and it was Kelseyville Fire that came to the rescue. She said it took her years to fight back from the disease’s crippling effects.

“The fire department saved me, there’s no doubt about it,” said Thompson.

The district also was there when her elderly parents needed medical assistance, and Thompson has an additional soft spot for firefighters since her brother was one.

Stone said Thompson will get to take the new ATV for a spin, in honor of her generosity.

Thompson said she wished she had known earlier that they needed the funds.

But if Thompson and others want to continue to help the district, they’ll get the chance: Stone said the district is going to hold an ongoing, active fundraising campaign.

“There’s always going to be something that’s needed,” he said.

Besides having the new Mt. Konocti County Park in its jurisdiction, the district serves a 90- square mile area that includes one of the county’s most populated areas as well as extensive wildland. Last week’s Becks Fire on the side of Mt. Konocti was within the district.

For community members who want to make a donation to help the district in acquiring its new equipment, they can all Kelseyville Fire at 707-279-4268 or visit the district’s Chip In account at http://kelseyvillefirevolunteers.chipin.com/purchase-of-an-all-terrain-rescue-vehicle .

The account is for general needs, although it is named for the ATV fundraiser; it had been set up and ready for launch when Thompson made her donation.

The district now is beginning to raise funds for other major equipment purchases, including a new ambulance and, later, a new engine, Stone said.

For that effort, said Stone, “We’re going to need a bigger thermometer.”

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the arrest of three suspects who have been charged in a mortgage fraud scheme targeting struggling Northern California homeowners.

Six Web sites allegedly used by the suspects to advertise their scheme have been intercepted and redirected to a resource page on the California Attorney General’s Web site.

The felony complaint alleges that Ronald Vernon Cupp, 58, of Santa Rosa, deceived homeowners by falsely advertising a way to “kill” their mortgage debt on six websites including www.wekillyourmortgage.com .

Cupp was assisted by Randall Gilbert Heyden, 69, of San Rafael, and Angelle Wertz, 38, of Santa Rosa, a public notary who allegedly certified phony legal documents.

Cupp allegedly recorded fraudulent documents, which would only delay a foreclosure, not actually satisfy the preexisting mortgage debt.

“Vulnerable California homeowners thought they were working to save their homes but were actually the victims of a fraudulent scheme,” Harris said. “Today, it’s not enough to dismantle the brick-and-mortar aspect of a criminal operation; we need to shut down criminal operations in cyberspace as well.”

Cupp, Heyden and Wertz are charged in a 57-count complaint alleging theft, forgery, notary fraud and recording of false documents. They were booked at the Sonoma County Jail on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Cupp and Heyden are being held with bail set at $500,000 and $75,000 respectively. Wertz was released but ordered to appear for arraignment on Friday, January 25.

Through Cupp’s business, North Bay Trust Services, homeowners would often allegedly pay upfront fees of between $1,000 and $10,000 and sign a promissory note or new mortgage for a phony offer to eliminate their mortgage debt.

Requiring up-front fees is illegal in California. The suspects would then allegedly record fraudulent documentation purporting to be the attorney for the homeowner’s actual lender and then relinquish the mortgage and record a new deed of trust in favor of North Bay Trust Services.

The debt to the original lender was never actually satisfied.

The following six Web sites have had their service suspended pursuant to a court order at the request of the Attorney General Harris’s eCrime Unit:

http://www.northbaytrustservices.com/
http://wekillyourmortgage.com/
http://santarosatrustandtitle.com/
http://sonomafidelitytitle.com/
http://cortemaderafidelityandtitle.com/
http://marintrustandtitle.com/

These pages have been redirected to the California Attorney General’s Web site ( http://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/doj-investigation ) where individuals are able to file an online complaint form if they believe they may have been the victim of the scheme.

The arrests were a result of a joint investigation by the California Department of Justice Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, Marin County District Attorney’s office, Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and Santa Rosa Police Department.

Below are tips for homeowners on how to avoid mortgage fraud schemes:

• Never pay an up-front fee for mortgage-related services. It is against California law and should be reported to the California Department of Justice.
• Be skeptical of third party phone or online solicitations.
• Do not give your personal financial information, such as your bank account number, social security number or the name of your loan servicer, to a solicitor. Your bank or loan servicer already has this information.

For free, trustworthy advice, on mortgage related matters call a HUD approved counselor – 888-995-4673.