MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake County/City Area Planning Council (APC) and Caltrans are hosting a community meeting to provide an overview of and solicit input on a Highway 29 transportation planning project.
The meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.
The project includes a Highway 29 South Corridor Engineered Feasibility Study and Middletown Community Action Plan.
The project’s purpose is to make intraregional and interregional travel safer and more convenient, reduce congestion and address local community needs.
The Highway 29 South Corridor Engineered Feasibility Study will identify and analyze potential short-term and long-term transportation improvements from the Napa County line to State Route 53.
The Community Action Plan will focus on potential roadway improvements in Middletown, including bike, pedestrian and equestrian alternatives.
This phase of the project is focused on refining the project’s need, completing a detailed traffic analysis and evaluating potential improvement alternatives.
The overall project currently is scheduled for completion in the fall 2013.
Representatives from the Lake APC, Caltrans, Lake County and the project consultant team will provide an overview of the project, answer questions and discuss ideas in an informal format.
Several information stations providing maps and project information will be available.
Three additional community meetings are planned for later in the year.
A new report is focusing attention on the issue of binge drinking and its impact on women’s health.
Binge drinking – defined as consuming four or more drinks on an occasion – is a dangerous behavior that can lead to tragic circumstances.
It’s not often recognized as a women’s health problem but nearly 14 million U.S. women binge drink about three times a month, and consume an average of six drinks per binge, according to a Vital Signs report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes about 23,000 deaths among women and girls in the United States each year, the agency reported.
“Binge drinking causes many health problems, and there are proven ways to prevent excessive drinking,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Effective community measures can support women and girls in making wise choices about whether to drink or how much to drink if they do.”
CDC scientists looked at the drinking behavior of approximately 278,000 U.S. women aged 18 and older for the past 30 days through data collected from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and for approximately 7,500 U.S. high school girls from the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
The report highlights how binge drinking puts women at increased risk for many health problems such as breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease, and unintended pregnancy.
Pregnant women who binge drink expose a developing baby to high levels of alcohol, which can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and sudden infant death syndrome.
In addition, the report finds that about 1 in 8 women and 1 in 5 high school girls report binge drinking.
Binge drinking was most common among women aged 18-34 and high school girls, whites and Hispanics, and women with household incomes of $75,000 or more. Half of all high school girls who drink alcohol report binge drinking.
Binge drinking is of particular concern in Lake County where, according to a 2010 report, “Indicators of Alcohol and Other Drug Risk and Consequences for California Counties – Lake County,” 34 percent of Lake County residents 18 years old and older participated in binge drinking in the study year of 2007, compared to the statewide average of 30 percent.
Of those surveyed, 49 percent of males took part in binge drinking while 20 percent of females did.
The CDC report highlights the Guide to Community Preventive Services, which recommends effective policies to prevent binge drinking.
“It is alarming to see that binge drinking is so common among women and girls, and that women and girls are drinking so much when they do,” said Robert Brewer, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Alcohol Program at CDC. “The good news is that the same scientifically proven strategies for communities and clinical settings that we know can prevent binge drinking in the overall population can also work to prevent binge drinking among women and girls.”
For more information about binge drinking, visit CDC’s Alcohol and Public Health Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol .
Individuals who are concerned about their own or someone else's binge drinking can call 1-800-662-HELP to receive assistance from the national Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lower Lake man who died Tuesday morning after being hit by two separate vehicles while riding his bicycle along a foggy stretch of Highway 29 has been identified.
Lloyd Lee Knight, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crashes, which occurred minutes apart north of Clayton Creek Road Tuesday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The CHP said Knight was riding his bicycle northbound at about 7:44 a.m. when he was hit by a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban driven by 25-year-old Aimee Christine Hubbard of Clearlake.
Knight was knocked into the northbound lane and as he was getting up he was hit again, this time by a 2008 Prius driven by John Weeks, 62, of Hidden Valley Lake, the CHP said.
Hubbard is alleged to have left the scene but reported to the Clearlake Police Department later on Tuesday that she had been involved in the crash, according to the CHP.
The CHP arrested Hubbard on Tuesday on a charge of hit and run causing injury or death. Her bail was set at $50,000. Hubbard later posted the required percentage of bail and was released from the Lake County Jail.
The two crashes remain under investigation, the CHP said.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Big Read, an initiative of the Lake County Literacy Task Force, is starting out 2013 with a Chinese New Year fundraiser.
The community is invited to the fundraiser, which will take place at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10.
The 2013 Big Read literature selection is Amy Tan’s novel, “The Joy Luck Club.”
A screening of the acclaimed film version of the book will be the highlight of the February fundraiser, with Chinese New Year refreshments included for all attendees.
The actual program month is scheduled for October of this year.
Tickets are available at the Schoolhouse Museum, at Watershed Books in Lakeport, and at Mt. High Coffee and Books on Cobb and in Hidden Valley.
For those who would like to support this year’s Big Read, yet are unable to attend, tickets may be purchased for the suggested donation of $10 and will be distributed to a Lake County teacher or librarian.
The Big Read committee is grateful for the support of local partners and sponsors for this event, including Mendo/Lake Credit Union, Mt. High Coffee and Books and the Lower Lake High School Culinary Program.
For more information, contact Program Director Robin Shrive at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man facing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor was in court for arraignment on Tuesday.
David Edward Carr, 50, was in Judge Andrew Blum's courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
Carr was arrested by a Lake County Sheriff's deputy last Saturday, Jan. 5, on several felony charges, among them rape, incest and sodomy, according to his booking sheet.
However, Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg said the only charge against Carr now is continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14.
Borg would offer only limited details about Carr's case, now in its early stages, out of fairness considerations.
He said the charge was for one young victim, and revolved around acts which allegedly began in 2006 and continued until 2010.
The District Attorney's Office reported that, if convicted, Carr could face 16 years in prison.
Carr is being held in the Lake County Jail on $750,000 bail.
On Tuesday, Blum chose to leave Carr's bail at that enhanced amount.
Blum set Carr's next court appearance for 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15, before Judge Richard Martin.
Attorney Doug Rhoades was appointed Tuesday to represent Carr in his case.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A federal grand jury has handed down indictments against two Lake County men and two men from Sonoma County in the latest development in a case alleging that the four committed a home invasion robbery dressed as law enforcement officers.
US Attorney Melinda Haag’s office said Thursday that Eric Mendonca, 43, of Middletown and Jack David Pollack, 54, of Hidden Valley Lake made their initial appearances on the new indictment on Wednesday, as did Terry Jackson, 46, of Petaluma.
Mendonca – a former Petaluma Police officer and Lake County Sheriff’s deputy – along with Pollack and Jacksen were arrested Dec. 19 during a raid by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, as Lake County News has reported.
A fourth suspect, 54-year-old Petaluma resident Michael Puckett – who was arrested on Wednesday evening – made his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday morning, the US Attorney’s Office reported. He is next scheduled to appear in court Friday for identification of counsel.
Mendonca has been released on a $50,000 bond, while Jacksen, Pollack and Puckett all remain in custody, according to officials.
The federal grand jury in San Francisco has charged the four men with robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, possession of a firearm in furtherance of the robbery, conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, impersonating an officer and making a search or arrest while impersonating an officer, Haag’s office announced.
All four of the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco at 2 p.m. Jan. 22 before United States District Court Judge William Alsup.
The men conspired to commit a home invasion robbery in Hidden Valley Lake last Oct. 4, taking 48 marijuana plants valued at $96,000 and a variety of other items, according to court documents.
Pollack, who has a well pump business, is alleged to have cased the home, telling the owner he was responding to a call for water well maintenance, case documents stated.
Later, Jacksen – dressed up as a Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy carrying a holstered revolver and wearing a white cowboy hat – is alleged to have knocked on the door and informed the occupants that he was working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was there to conduct a search.
The investigation revealed that Jacksen then handcuffed and zip-tied the occupants before searching the house and stealing the marijuana plants.
It’s alleged that Mendonca provided Jacksen with the police uniforms.
During a search of Mendonca and Jacksen’s property in Middletown on Dec. 19 law-enforcement authorities located a holstered revolver, a set of Lake County Sheriff’s Office handcuffs, a white cowboy hat, various firearms and a cellular telephone containing images of Jacksen and Puckett posing in Lake County Sheriff’s Office uniforms with firearms hours before the robbery, officials reported.
Officials said that a search of Pollack’s residence uncovered approximately 20 pounds of marijuana.
The charges and the possible prison sentence each defendant faces are as follows:
Terry Jacksen
One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of five years;
One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years.
Eric Mendonca
One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Jack Pollack
One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of felon in possession of a firearm: 10 years;
One count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine: 40 years, with a five year mandatory minimum;
One count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years.
Puckett
One count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years for each count;
One count of robbery affecting interstate commerce: 20 years;
One count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of robbery: Life, with a mandatory consecutive minimum term of imprisonment of five years;
One count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana: five years;
One count of impersonating an officer: three years;
One count of making a search while impersonating an officer: three years.
Assistant United States Attorney Randy Luskey from Haag’s office is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Daniel Charlier-Smith.
The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Santa Rosa Resident Agency, Haag’s office said.
Investigators believe that the men may have committed several other similar robberies and are seeking additional victims.
Anyone with information on unreported home invasion robberies in Lake County is encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 707-262-4200.
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.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A Tuesday evening crash on Highway 29 injured two people and sent one of them to a regional trauma center with major injuries.
The two-vehicle wreck occurred at approximately 5:25 p.m. on the Napa County side of Mount St. Helena, according to the California Highway Patrol's Napa area office.
The names of the two drivers were not immediately available, but the CHP identified them as a 26-year-old Clearlake woman and a 60-year-old Santa Rosa man, both driving late model Toyotas, the models of which were not reported.
The CHP said the Clearlake driver was headed northbound on Highway 29 north of Tubbs Lane at an unknown speed when she attempted to overtake another vehicle that wasn't involved in the crash.
As she was exiting the passing lane she lost control and veered toward the southbound lane, hitting the right front of the Santa Rosa man's vehicle with the front of her Toyota, the CHP said.
The Clearlake driver had minor injuries, including lacerations, while the CHP said the driver from Santa Rosa had major injuries, among them lacerations and a fractured sternum.
An air ambulance landed nearby and transported the man to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the CHP said.
The CHP said no arrests were made.
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. – A man convicted last month of the roadside murders of a Maine couple was sentenced to two life terms on Tuesday.
Judge Andrew Blum sentenced 32-year-old Robby Alan Beasley to two life terms without the possibility of parole for the Jan. 22, 2010, shooting deaths of Frank Maddox, 32, and his wife Yvette, 40, of Augusta, Maine.
A jury convicted Beasley on Dec. 13 of two counts of first degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, special allegations of committing multiple murders, personally inflicting great bodily injury on the couple and personal use of a firearm to commit the murders.
He was accused of killing the couple on the side of Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake, believing they had stolen three pounds of marijuana from his apartment.
Beasley, originally from Maine, had brought the couple from the East Coast to work for him in his marijuana business.
Before he was sentenced, Beasley's attorney, Stephen Carter, said his client wished to make a statement to the court.
“I want to say a few things,” said Beasley, wearing a red and white Lake County Jail jumpsuit and sitting next to Carter at the defense table.
Beasley thanked Blum for a fair trial and Carter for representing him. Then he turned his comments toward his former codefendant in the case, 30-year-old Elijah Bae McKay.
McKay, who had known Beasley while growing up in Maine, had helped Beasley get started in marijuana growing in Lake County, and testified against him at his trial.
McKay had told the court that he had loaned Beasley a 9 millimeter pistol that was used to shoot the Maddoxes to death and had helped Beasley dispose of evidence afterward.
“Elijah McKay is a pathological liar,” Beasley said.
Beasley said that McKay lied about giving him the 9 millimeter handgun, and that McKay had not had the gun at his house but kept it in his marijuana garden, which conflicted with McKay's statements on the stand.
McKay's statement that there had been a birthday cake at his brother's birthday party on the night of the murders, when McKay had said he had gone to pick up Beasley, also was a lie, Beasley maintained.
Facing pressure due to the potential for a prison sentence, as well as threats that his fiancee would be arrested and their young son taken into state custody, Beasley said McKay lied and was rewarded by the prosecution.
Beasley said he and McKay had been enemies throughout high school due to a fight between McKay and Beasley's younger brother.
In his written statement to the court, which was included in the Probation Department report, Beasley said he hadn't talked to McKay until 2005, when McKay came back to the East Coast for a visit. McKay, he said, was looking for a ride back to California and Beasley, who had been laid off, agreed to drive him.
Beasley said he returned home and it was in the summer of 2008 that McKay called him to ask for help, because his partner in the marijuana business had been arrested. Beasley said his probation with the state of Maine was violated after that point.
In court on Tuesday, Beasley accused McKay of fabricating a conversation he testified that the two of them had on Jan. 20, 2010, in which they discussed scaring the Maddoxes rather than Beasley killing them.
Addressing the prosecution, McKay said, “If you don't care about the truth, who does? Because Elijah McKay lied to everybody.”
He insisted McKay was a sociopath who can't tell the truth. “The truth is, I was wrongly convicted based on lies and manipulation, not truth and facts,” said Beasley.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe said the Probation Department's report – which proposed the sentence Blum ultimately delivered – “adequately and thoroughly covers” the case, and he agreed with its recommendations.
“Inasmuch as it's not sworn, I will choose not to address the defendant's statement,” Grothe said.
Blum found that there were no factors in mitigation in Beasley's case, as the crimes involved great violence, he had previous convictions and a prison term, his convictions had become increasingly violent and his past performance on parole or probation was not satisfactory.
Blum sentenced Beasley to a term of life without the possibility of parole for the murder of each of the Maddoxes, to be served consecutively.
The additional 23 years, which Beasley must serve first before beginning the life prison terms, was for the various enhancements for which he had been convicted. Beasley also was ordered to pay restitution and fines.
Carter filed an appeal of Beasley's conviction during the Tuesday afternoon sentencing.
Beasley had three other cases pending, two of them fugitive complaints from Maine. Grothe moved to dismiss all of those additional cases, suggesting that the state of Maine could work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine how to proceed. Blum accepted the motion to dismiss.
The sentencing hearing took just under 20 minutes before Beasley was remanded into custody and taken from the courtroom.
No family members of the Maddoxes were present to deliver victim impact statements. Instead, such a statement from Frank Maddox's younger sister, Alicia, was included in the Probation Department report.
She wrote of her brother, “I know many people may not be able to see past the way his character has been painted, his history, or some activities that he may or may not have been engaged in, but I see him for who he really was. My Big Brother.”
She said her older brother was more involved than most brothers, “because he was always trying to fill our father's shoes.”
She added, “He was the lighthouse in our childhood when my father died, and again when our mother died when we were just reaching adulthood.”
He also supported her when the father of her three children died. “Frank was more than an ordinary guy, he was an extraordinary brother; he was my confidant, my hero, my best friend and the last family I had left in this world.”
She said he wasn't a saint, but neither was he “a devil, coward or bad man.” He leaves behind four children and five nieces and nephews, she said.
Frank Maddox came to California to start a new life, according to his sister. He grew up in the gardening business and believed he was going to have legitimate job. She said Beasley lured him and his wife to their deaths with lies.
Alicia Maddox told Lake County News that her family thanked all of those who put in the hard work to put Beasley away, and shared a video tribute she made for him, which can be seen below.
In her comments she addressed Beasley, stating, “you took the only family I had left in this world, and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, but years will soon pass and you will find yourself without anyone you started your life with, friends and family will have to cope and move on without you. life will go on for them. And someday I hope you finally ask yourself if taking them from us was worth it, if your three pounds were worth three lives."
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A series of small earthquakes that occurred in the Soda Bay area earlier this week caused some county residents to wonder about what triggered them.
Lake County residents are familiar with earthquakes, especially due to the numerous small and moderately sized quakes that are reported on a regular basis in The Geysers geothermal steamfield in the Cobb area.
However, the quakes near Kelseyville – peaking with a 2.8-magnitude quake that occurred on Tuesday afternoon – don’t fit into the normal local earthquake pattern, and Lake County News received a number of comments and inquiries from readers about the reasons for the quakes.
David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, offered some explanations.
“At this point we're just seeing a little flurry of earthquakes,” said Oppenheimer.
The quakes have been centered to the southeast of Mt. Konocti. “There's a whole bunch of mapped faults in the area that are active faults,” Oppenheimer said.
In particular, Oppenheimer said the Konocti Bay fault zone runs right through the area where the quakes occurred.
While the quakes that most people felt occurred on Tuesday, Oppenheimer said there has been a much larger group of the temblors.
Between 9:15 p.m. Monday and 12:19 a.m. Wednesday there were 14 quakes, Oppenheimer said, ranging from quakes of under 2.0 in magnitude up to the largest, 2.8.
The 2.8 and a 2.7 quake that preceded it received a total of 65 shake reports from around Lake County, with some coming in from the Bay Area and even Red Bluff, according to US Geological Survey data.
The quakes, Oppenheimer noted, tended to be shallow.
“They're not under the volcano, which is one of the first issues that would get our attention,” Oppenheimer said.
He was referring to the 300,000-year-old Mt. Konocti, the most prominent volcanic feature of the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, which includes a portion of Lake County and also is monitored by the US Geological Survey.
Oppenheimer said it's not uncommon to have more seismic activity in volcanic areas.
“We haven't seen anything that would lead us to believe that it's directly related to the volcanic system,” said Oppenheimer.
He said there have been other, similar instances of flurries of small quakes in that area.
Similar sequences were reported in 1975, 1983 and, most recently, in April of 2008, he said.
It’s likely the string of quakes will last a few days and then die off, he said. “We are aware of it and we're watching it.”
While there's no evidence of Mt. Konocti waking up, if the quakes start to take off, Oppenheimer said USGS will let the community know.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A Clearlake Oaks man injured in a collision in late November has died of his injuries.
Robert Roberts, 80, of Clearlake Oaks died on Dec. 14 of injuries he sustained in a crash on Nov. 20, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds.
Roberts had been involved in a head-on crash at the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 53, known as the “Y,” according to the CHP.
Roberts was driving a 2002 Chevrolet S-10 pickup with 64-year-old Mary Roberts, also of Clearlake Oaks, as his passenger when they were hit head-on by a 2002 Oldsmobile Alero driven eastbound by Leslie Uboldi Jr., 52, of Eureka, the CHP reported.
Uboldi had failed to stop for the intersection's stop sign and hit Roberts' pickup while traveling at about 60 miles per hour, according to the CHP report. The force of the crash ejected Mary Roberts, who was not wearing a seat belt, from Roberts' pickup.
Originally, Roberts had been taken to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for treatment of major injuries, the CHP said.
Reynolds said Roberts had later been taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and then, on Dec. 6, was transferred to a Cloverdale health care facility, where he died.
Reynolds did not have information on whether charges might be brought in the case.
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. – The Western Air Defense Sector will conduct air defense exercise Felix Hawk over the Cloverdale area on Thursday, Jan. 10.
Felix Hawk is designed to test WADS’ intercept and identification procedures for a variety of scenarios involving possible hostile aircraft.
Residents in the Cloverdale and Garberville areas may observe F-16 aircraft, C-21, and Cessna 182 aircraft participating in the exercise between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
These training flights are coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.
In the event of inclement weather the exercise will be canceled.
These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure WADS’s rapid response capability.
WADS has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the western region since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
WADS and its eastern counterpart – Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y. – are part of the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.
CONR, as the continental United States geographical component of the bi-national command NORAD, provides airspace surveillance and control, and directs air sovereignty activities for the CONUS region. CONR and its assigned Air Force assets throughout the country ensure air safety and security against potential air threats.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD fighters have responded to more than 5,000 possible air threats in the United States, Canada and Alaska, and have flown more than 62,500 sorties with the support of Airborne Warning and Control System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft.