LAKEPORT, Calif. – The county's animal shelter this week has a selection of mostly large dogs, including puppies.
Labrador Retriever, pointer and husky mixes make up the big dog contingent, while one male Chihuahua is available.
Thanks to Lake County Animal Care and Control’s new veterinary clinic, many of the animals offered for adoption already are spayed or neutered and ready to go home with their new families.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Male Labrador Retriever-pointer mix
This male Labrador Retriever-pointer mix is 14 weeks old.
He is not yet neutered, and has a black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 7b, ID No. 32827.
Female Labrador Retriever-pointer mix
This female Labrador Retriever-pointer mix is 14 weeks old.
She has a black and white coat, brown eyes and floppy ears, and has not been altered.
Find her in kennel No. 7c, ID No. 32828.
Labrador Retriever mix
This female Labrador Retriever mix is 1 year old.
She has a short black coat, weighs 44 pounds and has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 26, ID No. 32639.
Male Chihuahua mix
This male Chihuahua mix is 10 months old.
He weighs 11 pounds, has been neutered and has a short coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 32746.
Male husky mix
This male husky mix is 4 years old.
He has red and tan coloring, weighs 56 pounds and has been neutered.
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Lucerne man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual abuse and child molestation.
On Monday, May 21, Todd Allen Drawdy, 45, was sentenced to state prison for three counts of lewd acts with a child with force or fear, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
An additional year was added to Drawdy's sentence to run concurrently for a probation violation as Drawdy was on informal, misdemeanor probation for annoying and molesting a minor in a previous case, Brooks reported.
Detectives with the Lake County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit arrested Drawdy on Nov. 30, 2011, after they obtained evidence that he had molested at least one young girl beginning when she was 10 years old and continuing for the next five years, according to Brooks.
Brooks said detectives obtained phone call recordings in which Drawdy admitted to some of the allegations while speaking to a member of the victim’s family.
The Lake County District Attorney’s Office declined to handle the case due to a potential conflict, as Lake County News has reported.
The California Attorney General’s Office assumed the case and worked with Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives to locate several more victims, Brooks said.
The charges carried a potential sentence of 30 years to life in prison. The California Attorney General’s Office and the defense made a plea agreement in April, according to Brooks.
The California Attorney General's Office did not return a call seeking comment on the case Friday.
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A tractor trailer that caught fire late Thursday night threatened wildland and resulted in Highway 20 being shut down for several hours as firefighters worked to contain a diesel spill.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash, which took place just east of Clearlake Oaks and east of Hillside Drive, occurred just after 11:50 p.m. Thursday.
A FedEx big rig pulling two trailers caught fire and was fully engulfed by the time that Northshore Fire and Cal Fire responded, according to radio reports.
The driver reportedly got out of the rig. No injuries involving the driver were reported.
Reports from the scene stated that the big rig had gone off the road. The CHP said a trailer went over the wall and was partially in the water.
Firefighters were able to knock down the fire before it got into the wildland. The fire ultimately was contained shortly after midnight to the tractor and first trailer, with partial damage to the second trailer, according to incident commanders.
Highway 20 was reported to be blocked, and officials at the scene indicated the highway would be closed for an extended period of time during mop up.
The crash resulted in a diesel spill into the lake, with the Lake County Office of Emergency Services, the California Department of Fish and Game and Lake County Environmental Health being notified of the spill.
The battalion chief at the scene indicated over the radio that 150 to 200 gallons of diesel had gone into Clear Lake as a result of the crash and fire.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol and Northshore Dive Team also responded to the scene to assist with installing booms to stop the diesel spill from spreading, according to radio reports. It was estimated that up to 700 feet of boom would need to be placed.
The work of placing the booms went on into the early morning hours, according to radio traffic.
Caltrans also was called to put traffic control in place, as there were concerns about potential collisions due to some “near misses” that had occurred in the area.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit is formally opening fire season in Northern California on June 4.
The opening of fire season this year is nearly two weeks earlier than it opened in 2011. Cal Fire reported last week that it already has handled nearly double the fires this year than it did last year, as Lake County News has reported.
The Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit – which includes the counties of Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Colusa and Yolo – is ramping up unit staffing in preparation for deployment of resources to incidents locally and statewide.
On June 4, the unit will staff an engine at each of its 20 stations, as well as 11 fire crews, three dozers and one helicopter.
The Sonoma Air Attack Base will be opened on June 16, staffing one air tactical aircraft and two tankers, with a support ground crew.
On June 25, Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit will achieve peak staffing including 31 engines, five dozers, 11 fire crews, three fixed wing aircraft and one helicopter.
To meet peak staffing needs for the 2012 Fire Season, the unit augments its permanent work force with the hiring of seasonal firefighters. Seasonal firefighters receive training in wildland and structural fire firefighting, as well as, required certification in hazardous materials and emergency medical response.
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Tim Streblow reminded residents they also can prepare for fire season by making their properties fire safe by creating a 100 foot of defensible space zone around their homes and outbuildings.
“Creating a defensible space increases the survival of a home during a wildland fire incident, as well as providing fire fighting personnel the upper hand in battling a wildland fire on their property,” Streblow said.
California Public Resource Code 4291 addresses the mandatory maintain of 100 foot of defensible space around structures.
For information on how to create a fire safe home visit Cal Fire's Web site at www.fire.ca.gov or contact your nearest Cal Fire facility.
On Monday, June 4, there's going to be a full Moon. According to Native American folklore it’s the Strawberry Moon, so-called because the short season for harvesting strawberries comes during the month of June.
This strawberry’s going to have a bite taken out of it.
At 3 a.m. am Pacific Daylight Time, not long before sunrise on June 4, the Moon passes directly behind our planet.
A broad stretch of lunar terrain around the southern crater Tycho will fall under the shadow of Earth, producing the first lunar eclipse of 2012.
At maximum eclipse, around 4:04 am PDT, 37 percent of the Moon's surface will be in the dark.
Because only a fraction of the strawberry moon is shadowed, astronomers call this a partial eclipse. But it's totally beautiful.
The eclipse is visible in North and South America, Australia, eastern parts of Asia and all across the Pacific Ocean.
On the Atlantic side of the United States, the eclipse occurs just as the Moon is setting in the west – perfect timing for the Moon illusion.
For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects.
In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon – cameras prove it – but the human brain insists otherwise.
The eclipsed Moon, hanging low in the west at daybreak on June 4, will seem extra-large to US observers east of the Mississippi. The fact that the extra size is just an illusion in no way detracts from its visual appeal.
The Sun-Earth-Moon alignment that causes this eclipse is the second of three rapid-fire celestial line-ups.
First there was the annular solar eclipse of May 20, when the Moon moved between Earth and the sun to turn our star into a “ring of fire.”
The lunar eclipse of June 4 reverses the order of the Earth and Moon, so that the Moon is eclipsed instead of the Sun.
Finally, we have the transit of Venus on Tuesday, June 5, and Wednesday, June 6, when the second planet moves directly between the Earth and sun.
Backyard astronomy doesn't get much better than this.
Wake up before dawn on June 4 and savor the sweet eclipse of the Strawberry Moon.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A former codefendant took the stand on Thursday to testify about his part in the events that led to the shooting that killed a child and wounded five others at a Clearlake home last June.
Clearlake resident Kevin Ray Stone, who turns 30 this weekend, took the stand on Thursday morning in the trial of Clearlake Oaks residents Paul William Braden, 22, and 24-year-old Orlando Joseph Lopez, charged with the death of 4-year-old Skyler Rapp and the wounding of his mother, stepfather and three others on June 18, 2011.
Stone also would be the main witness on the last day of witnesses presented by District Attorney Don Anderson, who rested his case Thursday afternoon after three months of testimony. The defense teams will begin to present their cases next week.
Stone originally was charged with several counts of murder and other serious felonies along with Braden and Lopez, who he allegedly drove to the scene of the shooting on Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake.
However, last fall – after negotiations with Anderson – Stone reached a plea agreement in which he pledged to testify against Stone and Lopez in exchange for being charged with being an accessory to the murder after the fact, conspiracy to commit robbery and being a prohibited person with a firearm, all of which could see him serve a total of 10 years and four months in prison.
Stone had first taken the stand briefly on May 17, but his testimony was rescheduled after it was discovered that Anderson’s notes from meetings with Stone had not been shared with the defense attorneys – Doug Rhoades, who is defending Braden, and Stephen Carter, who is acting on behalf of Lopez.
Stone testified to having a serious methamphetamine habit at the time of the shooting, which led to him selling the drug to support his own use. “It very much controlled my life.”
He had know Braden and Lopez prior to the shootings, and had socialized with the latter, as they lived in the same Clearlake apartment complex.
On the day of the shooting, he had been at his then-girlfriend Leighann Painchaud’s apartment before working on a Chevy Blazer he owned that was broken down in the Clearlake Park area.
That night he wanted to go and get more meth to sell, so Painchaud borrowed her cousin’s minivan to drive to meet a drug contact.
He said he had been asking Lopez for weeks about someone they could rob. That night Lopez allegedly texted him to say he knew of a target for such a robbery, or a “lick,” and that he also had the “strap” – or a gun – necessary for the robbery.
Stone, who said he liked guns, said he was more interested in trying to buy the gun from Lopez.
He also explained how that, in Clearlake, “dope is like currency,” with he and many others he knew using the drug in place of money.
With his girlfriend’s cousin’s car, Stone went to pick up Lopez and another man who had a rag across the bottom half of his face. That second man later would identify himself as “Paul” to Stone, who realized it was Braden.
Braden allegedly was holding a sawed off shotgun with a pistol grip, and Lopez had a similar gun, said Stone, who testified to driving back to Painchaud’s apartment, where he picked up a .22 rifle.
The three then left, with Stone taking the back ways toward Clearlake Park. Stone said Braden was telling him to drive better. “I remember it kind of struck me as odd.”
Braden also allegedly told Stone that he was wanted for murder.
Braden and Lopez directed Stone to drive to the home of Curtis Eeds, who he knew. “We were acquaintances at first and then I ripped him off,” said Stone, recounting how he substituted fake drugs during a $150 drug sale to a male subject at Eeds’ home a few weeks before the shooting.
Eeds was alleged to be a Norteno gang member while Stone said he was a Sureno.
At the shooting scene
Stone parked around the corner from Eeds’ home and he said he and the two other men made their way, single-file, through Eeds’ backyard, crouching down along the fence. Stone said he believed they were going to rob Eeds.
Stone said he could hear people talking and laughing.
“We were right here, along the fence, and that's where I heard the first boom,” said Stone.
Stone said he saw Braden, who was “right on the fence,” shooting the shotgun. “He was just pumping off rounds.”
According to Stone, he heard a total of about five to six shots, and said he thought Braden was shooting over the fence.
Lopez, at the same time, was stopped in his tracks, looking up at Braden, with his gun partially raised. Stone said he never saw Lopez shoot the gun.
Stone said he turned and ran, with Lopez coming right after him. Braden caught up with them at the car a few moments later.
They went speeding away from the scene. “I was freaking out so I just floored it. I didn't turn on the lights or anything,” said Stone, adding that he was yelling at Braden, who was sitting calmly in the backseat.
Stone crashed the vehicle nearby, and the three jumped out and began running. They threw their guns into some bushes near a home on Woodland Drive. Stone also threw the vehicle’s keys there. He then ran a different direction from Stone and Braden, and ended up staying the night at an acquaintance’s.
Stone said he never fired his gun, although he said it went off accidentally during the drive to the scene.
One of the reasons Stone said he was testifying was because he was being blamed for the murder, and he wanted to get the truth out.
“A 4-year-old kid got shot. I don't care who you are, that's not acceptable,” Stone said.
The day after the shooting, which was Father’s Day, Stone went to the home of the mother of his children. She said she had received a text warning that people were coming to kill him. Stone said she subsequently gave him a ride to Santa Rosa, where he stayed with friends.
Four days after the shooting, Stone spoke with Clearlake Police Officer Michael Ray, who tried to convince Stone to turn himself in. Stone initially agreed to meet Ray at the downtown mall, but didn’t show up because of another officer who was coming with Ray.
Stone would later be arrested by Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies along with Painchaud, who had brought a neighbor’s vehicle with her to Santa Rosa. That vehicle was reported stolen after Painchaud didn’t return it.
Anderson would have Stone identify the .22 rifle he admitted to carrying that night, which was strapped into a long, white evidence box.
Also on Thursday, Clearlake Police Det. Tom Clements was recalled to the stand to testify to statements Stone had made to him during interviews last year.
Stone told Clements that he didn’t know if Lopez had shot his gun, and he also told Clements where the guns were deposited. Clements and another officer would go to look for them.
Officer Andrew Jones also was recalled to the stand, testifying to finding Stone’s .22 rifle shortly after 9 p.m. on the night of July 4, 2011, in the 14000 block of Woodland Drive.
Jones was the last witness Anderson called before resting his case.
Court is set to resume on Wednesday, June 6.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Every ~ 120 years a dark spot glides across the Sun. Small, inky-black, almost perfectly circular, it's no ordinary sunspot. Not everyone can see it, but some who do get the strangest feeling, of standing, toes curled in the damp sand, on the beach of a South Pacific isle ....
City odors drifted in from Plymouth, across the ship, shoving aside the salt air. Sea gulls fluttered upward, screeching, as the sails snapped taut. The wind had changed and it was time to go.
On August 12, 1768, His Majesty's Bark Endeavour slipped out of harbor, Lt. James Cook in command, bound for Tahiti.
The island had been "discovered" by Europeans only a year before in the South Pacific, a part of Earth so poorly explored mapmakers couldn't agree if there was a giant continent there or not. Cook might as well have been going to the Moon or Mars.
He would have to steer across thousands of miles of open ocean, with nothing like GPS or even a good wristwatch to keep time for navigation, to find a speck of land only 20 miles across. On the way, dangerous storms could (and did) materialize without warning. Unknown life forms waited in the ocean waters. Cook fully expected half the crew to perish.
It was worth the risk, he figured, to observe a transit of Venus.
"At 2 pm got under sail and put to sea having on board 94 persons," Cook noted in his log. The ship's young naturalist Joseph Banks was more romantic: "We took our leave of Europe for heaven alone knows how long, perhaps for Ever," he wrote.
Their mission was to reach Tahiti before June 1769, establish themselves among the islanders, and construct an astronomical observatory. Cook and his crew would observe Venus gliding across the face of the Sun, and by doing so measure the size of the solar system. Or so hoped England's Royal Academy, which sponsored the trip.
The size of the solar system was one of the chief puzzles of 18th century science, much as the nature of dark matter and dark energy are today. In Cook's time astronomers knew that six planets orbited the sun (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto hadn't been discovered yet), and they knew the relative spacing of those planets.
Jupiter, for instance, is five times farther from the Sun than Earth. But how far is that … in miles? The absolute distances were unknown.
Venus was the key. Edmund Halley realized this in 1716. As seen from Earth, Venus occasionally crosses the face of the sun. It looks like a jet-black disk slowly gliding among the sun's true spots.
By noting the start- and stop-times of the transit from widely spaced locations on Earth, Halley reasoned, astronomers could calculate the distance to Venus using the principles of parallax. The scale of the rest of the solar system would follow.
But there was a problem. Transits of Venus are rare. They come in pairs, eight years apart, separated by approximately 120 years. Halley himself would never live to see one.
An international team did try to time a Venus transit in 1761, but weather and other factors spoiled most of their data. If Cook and others failed in 1769, every astronomer on Earth would be dead before the next opportunity in 1874.
Cook's expedition is often likened to a space mission. "The Endeavour was not only on a voyage of discovery," writes Tony Horwitz in the Cook travelogue Blue Latitudes, "it was also a laboratory for testing the latest theories and technologies, much as spaceships are today."
In particular, the crew of the Endeavour were to be guinea pigs in the Navy's fight against "the scourge of the sea" – scurvy.
The human body can store only about six week's worth of vitamin C, and when it runs out seamen experience lassitude, rotted gums and hemorrhaging. Some 18th century ships lost half their crew to scurvy.
Cook carried a variety of experimental foods onboard, feeding his crew such things as sauerkraut and malt wort. Anyone who refused the fare would be whipped. Indeed, Cook flogged one in five of his crew, about average in those days, according to Horwitz.
By the time Cook reached Tahiti in 1769, he'd been sailing west for eight months – about as long as modern astronauts might spend en route to Mars.
Five crewmen were lost when the ship rounded stormy Cape Horn, and another despairing marine threw himself overboard during the 10-week Pacific passage that followed.
Endeavour was utterly vulnerable as it angled toward Tahiti. There was no contact with "Mission Control," no satellite weather images to warn of approaching storms, no help of any kind. Cook navigated using hourglasses and knotted ropes to measure ship's speed, and a sextant and almanac to estimate Endeavour's position by the stars. It was tricky and dangerous.
Remarkably, they arrived mostly intact on April 13, 1769, almost two months before the transit. "At this time we had but very few men upon the Sick list … the Ships compney had in general been very healthy owing in a great measure to the Sour krout," wrote Cook.
Tahiti was as alien to Cook's men as Mars might seem to us today. At least the island was comfortable and well provisioned for human life; the islanders were friendly and eager to deal with Cook's men.
Banks deemed it "the truest picture of an arcadia (idyllic and peaceful) … that the imagination can form." Yet the flora, fauna, customs and habits of Tahiti were shockingly different from those of England; Endeavour's crew was absorbed, amazed.
Perhaps that is why Cook and Banks had so little to say about the transit when it finally happened on June 3, 1769. Venus' little black disk, which could only be seen gliding across the blinding sun through special telescopes brought from England, had a powerful rival: Tahiti itself.
Banks' log entry on the day of the transit consists of 622 words; fewer than 100 of them concern Venus.
Mostly he chronicled a breakfast-meeting with Tarróa, the king of the island, and Tarróa's sister Nuna, and later in the day, a visit from "three handsome women."
Of Venus, he says, "I went to my Companions at the observatory carrying with me Tarróa, Nuna and some of their chief attendants; to them we shewd the planet upon the sun and made them understand that we came on purpose to see it. After this they went back and myself with them." Period. If the King or Banks himself was impressed, Banks never said so.
Cook was a little more expansive: "This day prov'd as favourable to our purpose as we could wish, not a Clowd was to be seen … and the Air was perfectly clear, so that we had every advantage we could desire in Observing the whole of the passage of the Planet Venus over the Suns disk: we very distinctly saw an Atmosphere or dusky shade round the body of the Planet which very much disturbed the times of the contacts particularly the two internal ones."
Cook also observed the "black drop effect."
When Venus is near the limb of the sun – the critical moment for transit timing – the black of space beyond the sun's limb seems to reach in and touch the planet. This makes it very difficult to say precisely when a transit begins or ends.
The effect was not fully understood until 1999 when a team of astronomers led by Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizona studied a similar black drop during a transit of Mercury. They proved the distortion is caused by a combination of solar limb darkening and the point-spread function of the telescope.
Cook's observations were clearly affected. Indeed, his measurements disagreed with those of ship's astronomer Charles Green, who observed the transit beside Cook, by as much as 42 seconds.
This was a problem for observers elsewhere, too. When all was said and done, observations of Venus' 1769 transit from 76 points around the globe, including Cook's, were not precise enough to set the scale of the solar system. Astronomers didn't manage that until the 19th century when they used photography to record the next pair of transits.
Cook wouldn't dwell on these matters; there was a lot more exploring to do. Secret orders from the Navy instructed him to leave the island when the transit was done and "search between Tahiti and New Zealand for a Continent or Land of great extent."
For much of the next year Endeavour and her crew scoured the South Pacific, searching for a continent that some 18th century scientists claimed was necessary to balance the great land masses of the Northern Hemisphere.
At one point they were out of sight of land for almost two months. But the terra australis incognita, the unknown "south land," didn't exist, just as Cook thought all along.
Along the way Cook met the fierce Maori of New Zealand and the Aborigines of Australia (encounters both races would lament in later years), explored thousands of miles of Kiwi and Aussie coastline, and had a near-disastrous collision with the Great Barrier Reef.
Later, during a 10-week stopover in Jakarta for repairs, seven seamen died of malaria. The port city was densely populated by people and diseases. Cook left as quickly as possible, but the damage was done.
Ultimately 38 of the Endeavour's original company (and eight who joined later) perished, including astronomer Charles Green.
"The ship's 40% casualty rate wasn't considered extraordinary for the day," writes Horwitz. "In fact, Cook would later be hailed for the exceptional concern he showed for the health of his crew."
On July 11, 1771, Cook returned to England at Deal. The survivors had circumnavigated the globe, cataloged thousands of species of plants, insects and animals, encountered new (to them) races of people, and hunted for giant continents. It was an epic adventure.
In the end, the transit was just a tiny slice of Cook's adventure, overshadowed by Tahiti and sabotaged by black drops. But because of the voyage Venus and Cook are linked. In fact, it might be said that the best reason to watch a transit of Venus is history.
Decide for yourself. On June 5-6, 2012, Venus is due to cross the face of the Sun again. The event will be Web cast, broadcast, and targeted by innumerable sidewalk telescopes. In other words, you can't miss it. See http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html for more information.
Look into the inky black disk. It can carry you back to a different place and time: Tahiti, 1769, when much of Earth was still a mystery and the eye at the telescope belonged to a great explorer.
Can you feel the sand between your toes?
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
A trustee is required to keep complete and adequate records for both tax and non tax reasons under California and federal laws.
First, a trustee has a duty to account to beneficiaries, and to report information about trust assets, liabilities and finances when requested by a beneficiary with a current vested interest.
Second, a trustee has duties to pay required taxes and report to federal, state, and local taxing authorities. California charitable trusts also must notify and report to the California Attorney General.
Records to maintain fall into three broad categories: (1) legal documents; (2) a trustee’s log (diary); and (3) financial, asset and tax documents.
Let us consider each category.
A trustee should keep all original legal documents and correspondences. The record keeping system entails document folders and an index. The original trust document and all its amendments and any restatements should be preserved.
Likewise any other legal documents pertinent to settling the trust – like promissory notes, court orders, tax documents, accountings and correspondences to beneficiaries, attorneys, accountants and others – should be kept.
The foregoing only works to the extent that matters are documented. Hence trustee, or his or her attorney, will not rely simply on oral communications with beneficiaries but will follow up in writing to document oral communications.
A trustee should keep a chronological trustee log (diary) from the very outset. Entries should detail all time spent (on a daily basis), discretionary decisions, meetings, travel and out of pocket expenses in furtherance of trustee duties.
A detailed log will show the basis for all discretionary trustee decisions: The legal authority relied upon; the professional advice that was obtained; and the critical information and documents that were considered in making the judgment.
For example, consider a trustee with discretionary authority over whether or not to keep paying a beneficiary’s college tuition.
The trustee will diary his or her consideration of the beneficiary’s academic performance, extenuating circumstances, and any other factors relevant to deciding whether the beneficiary is likely to complete a degree.
The importance of a detailed trustee log becomes all too apparent if and when a beneficiary ever challenges a trustee’s actions or objects to the amount of trustee’s fees.
The reasonableness of trustee fees depends in part on the time, effort and complexity involved. The trustee diary should document such factors.
A formal trust accounting to beneficiaries discloses all trust assets and transactions (i.e., receipts of income, payment of expenses, disposition of assets, and distributions to beneficiaries).
In order to have the information necessary to prepare an accounting that meets California legal requirements, a trustee will need to keep all inventories, appraisals, invoices, income receipts, bank statements, canceled checks, check ledger, tax returns, a trustee log, any prior accountings, and anything else with relevant information.
For example, take a payment to a contractor for a repair to a residence owned by the trust to get it ready for sale.
The accounting will need to say what repairs were made, to what residence and whether or not the contractor is related to the trustee; in addition to showing the amount and date of the payment. A contractor’s invoice, with this information, is, therefore, a necessary document to keep.
How long a trustee preserves the records varies.
For tax reasons records are usually kept three years after the filing of a tax return, but some records must be kept for up to seven years.
For non tax reasons, beneficiaries have three years from receipt of an accounting to file objections; this can be reduced to 180 days by the trust instrument (with a special warning notice provided with the accounting).
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Funds from the latest round of financing from Caltrans will be heading to Lake County for public transit.
Caltrans said Thursday that it has awarded approximately $350 million in grants to improve public transit across California.
An estimated 80 projects will upgrade transit service, purchase eco-friendly buses, modernize transit stations and create jobs throughout the state.
“These projects are a direct investment in our state's public transit system and will help energize California’s economy,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Not only will these projects help create jobs, they will also reduce traffic congestion,clean the air, and provide Californians with more viable alternatives to rising gas prices.”
The grants are funded through Proposition 1B, the 2006 voter-approved transportation bond, which is providing $3.6 billion over a 10-year period to improve public transit in California.
In Lake County, Lake Transit Authority will receive $1,366,525 for five replacement buses. The funds come as Lake Transit has continued to see increased demand for its services and record ridership.
Other notable projects around the North Coast that will receive funds include an award of $283,936 to Humboldt Transit Authority for 30 foot replacement vehicles.
Among Lake's neighboring counties, the Napa County Transportation Agency will receive $178,743 for replacement vehicles; the city of Santa Rosa will receive $889,008 for replacement buses; Sonoma County Transit will receive $2,056,707 to purchase a 40-foot bus; Glenn County Transportation Commission gets $561,142 for a Glenn Ride vehicle replacement; and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments in Yolo County has been awarded two grants, one for $2.6 million for a fixed route bus replacement and the second for $197,183 to replace two double deck buses.
To date, Proposition 1B has provided $1.7 billion in funding to more than 700 transit projects statewide, with 216 completed, according to Caltrans.
NOTE: The unedited footage of the fire scene has some graphic language in the background. The audio can be muted.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A Friday night fire destroyed a garage and several race cars belonging to a popular local race car driver and his family.
The fire, reported at about 8:45 p.m., occurred in the 5100 block of State Street in Kelseyville, according to radio traffic.
Witnesses reported seeing thick plumes of black smoke and open flames, and hearing explosions in the area. Dispatch indicated people were inside the structure when the fire was first reported.
Firefighters at the scene reported that the garage was fully engulfed when they arrived.
Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, whose agency responded along with Kelseyville Fire, said the garage belonged to Lauren Snider, a driver at Lakeport Speedway and a professional auto mechanic.
Wells confirmed there were people in the garage working on cars when the fire broke out. A cause was not immediately available.
“Nobody was hurt,” said Wells.
The explosions that were reported resulted from igniting fuel and exploding motors, said Wells.
One sprint car was backed out, but Wells said the garage was a total loss, along with its contents, which he said included race cars and boats.
“They lost a lot,” he said.
No other structures were damaged, Wells said.
Kelseyville Fire sent three engines, Lakeport Fire sent one and the California Highway Patrol assisted with traffic control, according to Wells.
Firefighters remained on scene late Friday. Engines were clearing the scene at around 11 p.m., and the incident was terminated at approximately 11:10 p.m.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – There were no injuries in a late Thursday night crash along Highway 20 that involved a FedEx tractor trailer and two other vehicles, and officials said a large diesel spill that resulted from the wreck was contained before it reached Clear Lake.
The crash occurred at about 11:45 p.m. Thursday on Highway 20 east of Clearlake Oaks, according to the Friday report from California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds.
Reynolds said Joseph Shanks, 37, of McKinleyville was driving a FedEx big rig towing two trailers eastbound on Highway 20 at 40 miles per hour west of Clearlake Oaks.
Stephen Wooldridge, 29, of Clearlake also was driving eastbound on Highway 20 behind the FedEx truck in his 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe, Reynolds reported.
Wooldridge attempted to pass the FedEx truck when he observed a westbound 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Sarah Hail, 18, of Eureka, according to Reynolds.
Wooldridge turned to the right but struck the right front of the Cavalier. Reynolds said Wooldridge’s vehicle veered off the Cavalier and then struck the FedEx truck.
Reynolds said the FedEx truck struck the rock guard rail on the south shoulder, which ruptured the right side fuel tank spilling diesel fuel onto the roadway.
The FedEx truck continued over the guard rail and into Clear Lake. Reynolds said the truck and one of its trailers then caught fire.
Northshore Fire Protection District responded and extinguished the fire, Reynolds said. Reports from the scene early Friday morning had indicated that the fire had been contained to the big rig and the first trailer.
Caltrans also responded to the scene and contained the fuel spill to the roadway, said Reynolds. Radio reports had estimated has much as 200 gallons of fuel had been spilled. Reynolds said none of it reached Clear Lake.
A Lake County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol unit also responded and assisted Northshore Fire in placing containment booms in the water, officials reported.
There were no injuries reported in the collision, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the collision is still under investigation by CHP Officer Ryan Erickson.
GLENHAVEN, Calif. – A Fairfield man has been arrested by deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol for operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Sean Brian Stafford, 30, was arrested on Tuesday, May 29, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday the Lake County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol responded to a report of an unresponsive subject slumped over the steering wheel of his boat in the Glenhaven area of the lake, Brooks said.
The boat was reported to be traveling in circles and had collided with a dock, according to Brooks.
Deputies responded to the north end of Glenhaven and observed a green boat moving slowly in a circle. Brooks said the operator – identified as Stafford – appeared to be unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel.
The Marine Patrol deputy was able to pull alongside the circling boat. Brooks said the deputy attempted to wake Stafford to have him turn off the engine by yelling at him and pounding on the deck of his boat.
Brooks said it took three to five minutes to wake Stafford and get him to turn the engine off.
Stafford failed to complete the field sobriety tests as demonstrated and was arrested, Brooks said.
Stafford was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked for operating a watercraft under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Bail was set at $30,000.
Jail records indicated Stafford later posted bail and was released.