A new bridge is being built over Gibson Creek. Construction is set to start after the Labor Day long weekend, with pile driving. That should take until the end of next week to be done. They’ll be working Monday thru Friday from 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. and say it will have no impact on traffic. The new bridge is partly for the infrastructure development project for the new Mendocino County Courthouse, south of the Depot property. There will also be other new streets and utilities put in around the courthouse. The bridge will go from Hospital Drive to the south, and it will intersect with the extension of East Clay Street.
A man accused of starting two wildfires in Lake County is headed back after the state said no to a Competency Treatment Plan in Jail. A recommendation was given to the judge in the case of Merrill Craig Brown for Conditional Release Program for the Dept. of State Hospitals to give him meds. He’s pleaded not guilty to two arson counts, but his lawyer said he wasn’t competent to stand trial. That’s when the proceedings were suspended and a doctor was recommended to examine Brown. He’s accused of starting the fires near Lakeport and Kelseyville which were quickly put out. He’s in jail after telling cops he started the fires by accident. He’s held on $100,000 bail. He’s due back in court next week.
A woman wanted after a police chase has been arrested by a Sheriff’s Deputy in Sonoma County. Sadie Bardelmeier was found at a homeless camp in Santa Rosa by police who responded to another call near an elementary school Monday. They say the person they were looking for was gone so they went to the homeless camp which was supposed to have been vacated. The property owner had also recently put up no trespassing signs where police found two people in a new homeless camp. Police say when they tried to get identification on them, the woman have a phony name and was visibly nervous, she then ran off. Police chased her and warned her they had a taser, but she wouldn’t stop. The taser was shot at her and she was captured and gave her real name. She had a $200,000 arrest warrant from Sonoma County for vehicle theft and possession of stolen property and a $5,000 drug-related arrest warrant out of Lake County.
Locals doing their part to help those suffering in Texas after Hurricane Harvey. The Greenview Restaurant is collecting donations thru the Houston Flood Relief Fund which is being organized by Houston Texans player JJ Watt. The chef at the restaurant says everyone in Lake County remembers from two years ago what living thru a disaster is like, saying maybe they can give back to some who helped us.
A boy from Lucerne is recovering after being hit by a car, police say he rode in front of. The CHP says the 10-year-old Ashton Kruenegel had moderate injuries after the crash Monday afternoon. It happened at the intersection of Country Club Dr. and 14th Ave. Cops say the boy was headed southeast and a driver in a white 1999 Dodge Neon was headed east on Country Club Drive. The CHP says the boy rode right into the car’s path and hit its left front bumper, throwing the boy from his bike and hitting the car’s windshield, before coming to the ground. He was taken from the area in REACH air ambulance to UC Davis Medical Center. The Neon driver was not hurt. Police say they do not suspect drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
A man in Oroville’s been arrested after a massive fire destroyed ten homes and damaged five others. Fire officials say hundreds of other homes were threatened by the fire that started Tuesday. The fire is still burning along with several others around the state, including one near Yosemite National Park that closed a popular road into the park, closed the Wawona Hotel and evacuated nearby towns. Earlier this summer 58 homes near the park burned. The fire near Oroville has three more neighborhoods evacuated as the temperatures soared past 100. John Ballenger is accused of starting an illegal campfire. The fire after 41 other homes burned earlier this summer in the same area.
A man accused of running down the chief counsel from UC Berkeley near Guerneville apparently had been arrested several times in the past for public drunkenness and vandalism. The Monte Rio Fire Chief says the suspect, Jonathan Robert Murray Ritter, who was arrested Tuesday grew up in the Cazadero area and was now homeless. He’s accused of running down Christopher Patti last Sunday, then leaving the scene in a BMW. He’s charged with vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run causing death. The Fire Chief says Ritter was known to drink too much and they further accuse him of damaging public property several times. He’s also been convicted going back to 2011 for public intoxication and was arrested earlier this year for trespassing and vandalism, a case he never went to court for.
A new report’s out on the Oroville Dam that says, no, the dam is not leaking. The report after allegations by a catastrophic engineering expert who said the dam faced a breach danger from a serious and a dangerous form of a slow-motion failure mode. The same expert, from U-C Berkeley, who studied why the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. The state Department of Water Resources continues to insist, there’s no risk to the public due to persistent green wet spots near the top left abutment of the dam, saying it’s just natural vegetation growth caused by rain.
The Humane Society of the U-S is bringing a new initiative to voters in Calif, cage free pigs and veal. After the groundbreaking win for the society about ten years ago for more space for egg-laying hens, the society is proposing the “Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act” which would strengthen rules for cage-free hens plus add on strict limits on confining calves and pigs. The CEO of the Humane Society says residents in California know locking farm animals in tight cages all of their life is cruel and compromises food safety. The group says some egg producers are trying to get around the earlier rules set in place by Proposition 2, so their new measure would require eggs come from “cage-free” hens that have 1 square foot of space each. That’s by the year 2019, then by 2021, all hens would have to live in cage-free systems.
Several Calif. mayors are urging the legislature to take on the state’s housing crisis. The mayors of Los Angeles, San Diego and several other cities met with lawmakers in Sacramento this week. They represent the 11 biggest cities in Calif. They say the state’s not putting up enough cash to subsidize affordable housing for low-income people and say there’s too many regulations getting in the way of housing development in areas where home prices are going up fast. There is a package of bills apparently being considered on the matter which include a $4 billion housing bond, a real estate transaction fee and regulatory reform.
The first ever marijuana career fair is planned. The Mendocino Cannabis Job Fair is happening next month in Willits. The Mendocino Cannabis Resource founder and organizer Karen Byars tells the Willits News there will be more than 2 dozen employers and exhibitors with job opportunities or a way at least to meet with the businesses in the county. Byars says she thinks it’s a great chance for employers in the Cannabis field to schmooze with others and raise awareness for the industry as a potential leader in the county. She says the businesses took a survey and more than 40 local employers said they needed trimmers and farming or gardening laborers. She also says they mostly hire contractors or part timers. They also have many other jobs including sales/marketing, accountants/bookkeepers, chefs, budtenders and security. The job fair is September 28 at the Little Lake Grange in Willits.
A woman in Montana is arrested after calling cops to complain about the quality of her meth. Police in Great Falls say the woman called 911 saying she got some “bad meth” which left a bad taste in her mouth. So cops went to Margery Dayrider’s house after she reported a bad reaction like throwing up, a tingling tongue and bad taste in her mouth. She told the cops she did meth 3 times a day, every day, and had never experienced this before. The cop found some meth inside her bra and she was arrested for felony narcotics possession. Plus police found she had other warrants out for her arrest.
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