MARYSVILLE, Calif. – The Yuba Community College District will soon be looking for a new chancellor.
Dr. Nicki Harrington announced Wednesday that she will retire at the end of the academic year, June 30, after more than 35 years of experience in higher education.
“My tenure at YCCD has been quite rewarding and I will always look back at my years here with fond memories,” Dr. Harrington said. “Retiring at the end of this academic year is bitter sweet. I’m sad to leave but at the same time I leave with peace of mind knowing that the district is in sound financial shape and headed in the right direction.”
Dr. Harrington has led YCCD, a multi-college district consisting of Yuba College and Woodland Community College, since February 2002. The district serves southern Lake County through its Clear Lake campus.
“She successfully transitioned us from a single college district to a multi-college district with the accreditation of Woodland Community College as the 110th college in the state, led us through a successful facilities bond campaign, the first in our district’s 84 year history, and strengthened our strategic direction and financial position in a time of economic downturn,” said Xavier Tafoya, chair of the YCCD Board of Trustees. “She will be hard to replace.”
Harrington presided over a time that saw districts struggle with budget cuts and some job losses.
Both she and the district's board of trustees came under fire early last year after the board granted her a more than $29,000 annual raise at the time it was discussing layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.
Harrington said she originally had planned to retire in June 2012, but decided –after extensive review and reflection on the status of the district, its upcoming activities, “and what is best for both the district and me, both personally and professionally” – to retire earlier.
She said this all would be an “opportune time” to pass the baton to a new chancellor, who she said will have a strong executive team and a new board with whom to work to lead the district as it enters its next era.
There are projects under way throughout the district, said Harrington, including at the Clear Lake Campus, where the district last year purchased a property from the Konocti Unified School District to expand the facilities.
Harrington began her career in higher education as a faculty member, and subsequently served in dean, vice president, superintendent/president and chancellor positions.
She has held faculty and administrative positions in both two and four year colleges and universities, and has served in three chief executive officer positions in the past 14 years.
In 2008-09 Harrington served as the 0resident of the Chief Executive Officers of the California Community Colleges, and in 2009 as the chair of the Economic Development Program Advisory Committee for the State of California.
She also sits on the Board of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization (SACTO), and the Sacramento Region’s Linking Education and Economic Development (LEED) Board.
The district – which spans eight counties and some 4,200 square miles of territory in rural, north-central California – reported that it will begin a national search for the next chancellor immediately, with an expected start date of this summer.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Chamber of Commerce reported that it is extending the deadline for Stars of Lake County nominations.
The nominations deadline has been moved to the close of business on Friday, Jan. 28. All postmarked nominations bearing that date will be honored.
For those writing nominations, please keep in mind that details about why your nominee deserves to be awarded a Star of Lake County are very important. The Stars Selection Committee depends upon and makes their final decisions on the details they are provided on each nominee.
The 14th annual Stars of Lake County Community Awards will be held on March 5 at Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino.
Please contact the Lake County Chamber with any questions concerning the nomination process. The Chamber office is located at 875 Lakeport Blvd. at Vista Point, Lakeport, telephone 707-263-5092.
The list of current nominees is as follows.
Marla Ruzicka Humanitarian of the Year
1. Carolyn Wing Greenlee, Kelseyville
2. Ben Finneston, Clearlake
Senior of the Year
1. Edward McDonald, Lakeport
2. Ginger Frank, Lucerne
Volunteer of the Year
1. Gerald Morehouse, Lucerne
Student of the Year-Female
No nominations.
Student of the Year-Male
No nominations.
Youth Advocate of the Year-Volunteer
No nominations.
Youth Advocate of the Year-Professional
1. Michelle Meese, Kelseyville
Agriculture Award
1. Scully Packing Co., Finley
2. Annette Hopkins, AgVenture Program, Lake County
Organization of the Year, nonprofit
1. Lakeport Speedway, Lakeport
Organization of the Year, volunteer
No nominations.
Environmental Award
1. Terry Knight, Lakeport
New Business of the Year
1. Riviera Fitness, Kelseyville
2. Color Splash Photos, Lakeport
3. Common Grounds Coffee House, Kelseyville
Small Business of the Year
1. Lannette R. Huffman, DDS, Lakeport
2. Lake County Jazzercise, Middletown
3. Airport Auto Brokers, Lakeport
4. Lucerne Pharmacy & Alpine Café, Lucerne
Large Business of the Year
No nominations.
Best Idea of the Year
1. Lake County Quilt Trail, All Around Lake County
2. AgVenture, All Around Lake County
Local Hero of the Year
1. Aaron Wright and Rich Swaney, Cal-Trans Workers, Clearlake Oaks
The Arts Award of the Year-Amateur
No nominations.
The Arts Award of the Year-Professional
No nominations.
Woman of the Year
1. Stephanie Lilly, Kelseyville
Man of the Year
1. Brian Grey, DDS, MDS, Lakeport
Lifetime Achievement
1. Allen Gott, Clearlake
Stars of Lake County Sponsors to date are St. Helena Hospital-Clearlake, Jim Jonas Inc, North Lake Medical Pharmacy, Shannon Ridge Winery, Cliff and Nancy Ruzicka, Westamerica Bank, Strong Financial Network, Congressman Mike Thompson, John Tomkins, Lake County Record-Bee and Lake County Land Trust.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – With months of preparation and coaching behind them, some of the county's best young minds will be putting their wits to the test in the county's annual Academic Decathlon competition.
The Lake and Mendocino College-Going Initiative Academic Decathlon will take place on Saturday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Feb. 5, at Lower Lake High School.
This event is modeled after the Olympics by stimulating academic achievement and honoring “athletes of the mind.”
Approximately 75 high school students from 8 teams in Lake, Mendocino and Colusa counties will compete, and each county will send their top-scoring team to the state competition.
The first portion of the competition – not open to the public – will take place Jan. 29 and will consist of a series of academic assessments including written tests in eight subjects, an interview, prepared and impromptu speeches, and an essay. Fifty volunteers from the community will judge these competitions.
This will be followed by the Feb. 5 Super Quiz and awards ceremony. The public is invited to attend on Saturday, February 5, at 3:45 p.m., in the new Lower Lake High School Gym.
In addition to the Super Quiz and awards ceremony, five Lodge at Blue Lakes Scholarships in the amount of $250 each will be awarded.
The Lower Lake High School jazz band and concert choir, The Blue Notes, will perform, and there will be a Poster and Poetry contest display.
Additionally, there will be a 50/50 raffle with proceeds going to the winning Lake County team to help with travel to the state competition.
Sponsors of the event include The Lodge at Blue Lakes, Rosa d’ Oro, Steele, Fetzer, Moore Family, and Six Sigma Wineries, University of California San Francisco, Lake County Office of Education and Cecil’s Take N Bake Pizza.
For information on the Lake and Mendocino Academic Decathlon, please visit www.lakecoe.org/cgi or call 707-262-4162.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on Wednesday lauded the announcement by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan that California organizations will receive more than $227 million in federal grants to provide housing and other assistance to Californians who are homeless.
“Since the recession began, California and the rest of the nation have seen an increase in homelessness,” Boxer said. “These federal investments will help us combat the epidemic of homelessness so people can get back on their feet and off the streets.”
The HUD Continuum of Care grants support homeless programs that provide permanent and transitional housing to homeless people and offer services such as job training, health care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care.
The grants are funded through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
In all, 801 California homeless assistance programs – including efforts in neighboring Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa and Colusa counties – will receive about 16 percent of the total $1.4 billion in HUD grants announced Wednesday.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – For emergency planning purposes, scientists unveiled a hypothetical California scenario that describes a storm that could produce up to 10 feet of rain, cause extensive flooding (in many cases overwhelming the state’s flood-protection system) and result in more than $300 billion in damage.
The "ARkStorm Scenario," prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and released at the ARkStorm Summit in Sacramento on Jan. 13 and 14, combines prehistoric geologic flood history in California with modern flood mapping and climate-change projections to produce a hypothetical, but plausible, scenario aimed at preparing the emergency response community for this type of hazard.
The USGS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Emergency Management Agency convened the two-day summit to engage stakeholders from across California to take action as a result of the scenario's findings, which were developed over the last two years by more than 100 scientists and experts.
"The ARkStorm scenario is a complete picture of what that storm would do to the social and economic systems of California," said Lucy Jones, chief scientist of the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project and architect of ARkStorm. "We think this event happens once every 100 or 200 years or so, which puts it in the same category as our big San Andreas earthquakes. The ARkStorm is essentially two historic storms (January 1969 and February 1986) put back to back in a scientifically plausible way. The model is not an extremely extreme event."
Jones noted that the largest damages would come from flooding – the models estimate that almost one-fourth of the houses in California would experience some flood damage from this storm.
"The time to begin taking action is now, before a devastating natural hazard event occurs," said USGS Director, Marcia McNutt. "This scenario demonstrates firsthand how science can be the foundation to help build safer communities. The ARkStorm scenario is a scientifically vetted tool that emergency responders, elected officials and the general public can use to plan for a major catastrophic event to help prevent a hazard from becoming a disaster."
To define impacts of the ARkStorm, the USGS, in partnership with the California Geological Survey, created the first statewide landslide susceptibility maps for California that are the most detailed landslide susceptibility maps ever created.
The project also resulted in the first physics-based coastal storm modeling system for analyzing severe storm impacts (predicting wave height and coastal erosion) under present-day scenarios and under various climate-change and sea-level-rise scenarios.
Because the scenario raised serious questions about existing national, state and local disaster policy and emergency management systems, ARkStorm became the theme of the 2010 Extreme Precipitation Symposium at U.C. Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, attracting over 200 leaders in meteorology and flood management.
ARkStorm is part of the efforts to create a National Real-Time Flood Mapping initiative to improve flood management nationwide. ARkStorm also provided a platform for emergency managers, meteorologists and hydrologists to work together to develop a scaling system for west coast storms.
"Cal EMA is proud to partner with the USGS in this important work to protect California from disasters," said Cal EMA Acting Secretary Mike Dayton. "In order to have the most efficient and effective plans and response capabilities, we have to have the proper science to base it on. Californians are better protected because of the scientific efforts of the United States Geological Survey."
According to FEMA Region IX Director, Nancy Ward, "The ARkStorm report will prove to be another invaluable tool in engaging the whole of our community in addressing flood emergencies in California. It is entirely possible that flood control infrastructure and mitigation efforts could be overwhelmed by the USGS ARkStorm scenario, and the report suggests ways forward to limit the damage that is sure to result."
The two-day summit included professional flood managers, emergency mangers, first responders, business continuity managers, forecasters, hydrologists and decision makers. Many of the scientists responsible for coordinating the ARkStorm scenario presented the science behind the scenario, including meteorology, forecasting, flood modeling, landslides and physical and economic impacts.
The ARkStorm Scenario is the second scenario from the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project led by Jones, which earlier created the ShakeOut earthquake scenario. More information about the ARkStorm Summit is online. The ArkStorm Scenario, USGS Open-File Report 2010-1312, is also online. Visit www.usgs.gov.
The Rev. Dr. Charles Harlow and wife of 66 years, Marian, visited the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lake County in Kelseyville, Calif., on Sunday, January 16, 2011. Harlow's topics included Dr. Martin Luther King, with whom he attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Photo by Kathy Windrem.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – It was a moment of simple kindness that turned out to be the beginning of an important and lasting friendship.
A young Charles Harlow arrived in 1949 at Crozer Theological Seminar in Chester, Penn., to take his place at the school.
The father of two had traveled cross country from Portland, Oregon, with wife, Marian, and their two children who became sick with chicken pox. Harlow's children and wife stayed with his mother-in-law on the East Coast as he went on to report to Crozer.
When he arrived at seminary, Harlow was late, had no money and was worried, as he had only six months left on his GI Bill for school.
The first person he met was a young man three years his junior who also was a student there.
The young man's name was Martin Luther King Jr.
“He put his hand out and said, 'May I help you?'” Harlow, 85, and now a resident of Clearlake, recalled.
Together the two young men made their way up to the main lodge, King helping tote his fellow seminarian's bags.
It was the start of a deep and true friendship, one in which the two young men would discuss spirituality and God, faith and humanity.
They wrote papers, studied and prayed together. And Harlow, like other of King's friends, would watch King's majestic and ultimately tragic trajectory as a leading voice in the nation's civil rights movement.
To friends like Harlow, King would remain “Martin,” a man who when he prayed did so “as if he had a personal acquaintance with God,” and cared enough for people to risk – and ultimately lose – his life, a fear his friends had had for him for many years.
King was in Harlow's prayer chain – as was his wife, Coretta – exchanging occasional letters and phone calls with Harlow until King's life was ended by an assassin's bullet on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old.
While the assassin may have cut short the life of the dreamer, the dream survived, with King leaving his imprint on the nation's heart. The civil rights movement of which he was a part would continue forward under the leadership of many young men and women who shared his vision, ultimately impacting the sensibilities of people of all ethnicities.
Harlow was one of those who worked for equality, a man who says he's radical “but not really” and points out that Jesus of Nazareth never demanded worship, but asked people to follow him on his difficult path, which included loving one's enemies.
“It's far easier to worship Jesus than listen to him,” said Harlow.
Harlow, now retired from ministry with the United Church of Christ, shared his memories of King with Lake County News in an interview on Sunday, the same day that he spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lake County in what one member described as a mesmerizing talk.
Different backgrounds, but a heart for truth
Harlow and King had very different backgrounds, but intellect and interest brought them together.
King was the son and grandson of ministers, raised in the faith and devout. He was a man of huge intellect matched by an equally deep spirit. But the world in which he was born judged him more by the color of his skin than by his abilities.
Harlow was a young white man from the streets of Chicago. He wasn't raised a Christian which, he reflected, was in many ways a benefit. He said it meant he didn't have to unlearn beliefs that may have made his journey of faith more challenging.
“I didn't have anything to unlearn other than the streets,” he said.
At 16 he found himself in the Marines, stationed in the South Pacific before Pearl Harbor.
One night he was standing watch in a village, recalling, “the moon was bright, bright, and the beams of the moon showed the buildings below me.”
The church there was made from pounded sea shells, “and it just glistened” in that bright moonlight, he said.
Harlow was speaking that night to a native man about his belief in Christianity. The man told him that accepting the faith “means that I can stand up and be me.” Harlow said that, to a young man from the streets, that meant something – that he didn't have to be ashamed of who he was.
He started reading and got a New Testament from a chaplain. When he asked where to start, the chaplain suggested the earliest book, written by the Apostle Mark.
“I ran into the Jesus I wanted to follow,” said Harlow.
Later, he came to California on a hospital ship after having taken ill. He recovered, met his future wife Marian – they would raise three children together – and decided he wanted to go to college, although he hadn't attended high school.
He would go on to attend business college and college, with Harlow deciding to attend the seminary, which he did from 1949-1953. King was reportedly at the seminary from 1948 to 1951.
During their time together at seminary, Harlow said he and King talked about Harlow's service in the Marines, as well as more otherworldly questions.
“We talked back and forth a lot about spirituality – what was it, what is it,” Harlow said.
They also would study religious leaders and world figures like Mahatma Gandhi, an important influence for King, according to Harlow.
King was an excellent student, “I mean top drawer,” said Harlow, adding that while he was good, King surpassed him.
“He was always seeking out new approaches to life and to meaning,” Harlow said.
Harlow today remembers that the young King enjoyed life, always was attired in the best suits, and disappeared every weekend to visit Philadelphia.
Later, after seminary, they would exchange letters, Harlow noting regretfully that he didn't keep King's letters, not realizing how famous he would someday become.
King also called him once to ask him to come to Selma, Alabama, where King led marchers in March of 1965. Harlow said he couldn't get there because of his other responsibilities, which he said saddened him.
Harlow and other of King's friends from seminary kept in touch. “We all knew what was happening with him,” said Harlow, including the threats against King and the fears for his safety.
Working the dream
Even as a young seminarian, it was clear that King had big goals. “He wanted to help people be free, everybody knew that. How, nobody knew, neither did he,” said Harlow.
An important lesson King taught the world is how one can make a dream reality. “He worked his dream,” said Harlow. “Not many people work their dream. They just dream.”
Harlow added that a dream “has to have a working edge on it,” otherwise it's mythological, and he believes people are responsible for their dreams and goals, which he said are part of the miracle process of life in which everyone participates.
He pointed out that the original version of King's famed speech given at the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington in August 1963 hadn't contained the words “I have a dream.”
King was only supposed to speak about eight minutes, and it wasn't until the speech was under way that he decided to improvise and use the “I have a dream” theme. Harlow said it came from a stump speech – much as most ministers, including Harlow, have – that King had given at churches all over the South.
“He had a deep caring process in his life,” said Harlow. “He really cared, and that's a tough one because a lot of people voice terms of caring, but that's all it is.”
King put his life on the line in caring for others, Harlow said. “Not many people find that comfortable.”
He remembered King trying to calm people in January 1956 after his home was bombed in the wake of the Montgomery bus boycott, telling people not to react in violence because they shouldn't allow themselves to lower their expectations.
“He called me one time and I said, 'Martin, is your life insurance paid up?' And he said, 'I don't have any life insurance',” Harlow remembered.
King was aware of the dangers, as did those who knew him. But Harlow believed that King had confronted the idea of his death and was able to walk free of it. Based on their conversations, Harlow said, “Death wasn't bothering him.”
The day before his death, on April 3, 1968, King delivered his “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech in Memphis, Tenn., in which he referenced threats and warned of “some difficult days ahead.”
“But it doesn't matter with me now,” King said. “Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
Today, in light of so much strife worldwide – and especially in the wake of the recent assassination attempt on an Arizona congresswoman and the murders and attempted murders of several of her constituents – Harlow said King's message remains one of peace.
“The bottom line for Martin's life was nonviolence,” said Harlow, imagining that if King had lived – he would have been 82 on Jan. 15 – that he would have been actively engaged in the anti-war movement, and trying to help people live peaceful, meaningful lives.
While some people may want to wait to change the world, said Harlow, “There is no better time to build a peaceful place than right now.”
Special thanks to Kathy Windrem of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lake County for her help in contacting Dr. Harlow for this story, as well as for her picture that accompanies the article.
THE LAKE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT HAS ORDERED THE REMOVAL OF PREVIOUSLY APPROVED VIDEO CLIPS THAT WERE POSTED ON THIS STORY. A SPECIAL HEARING WEDNESDAY RESULTED IN THE DECISION.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man facing two murder charges for the deaths of a Maine couple early last year appeared for the first day of his preliminary hearing Tuesday, when the main witness was his co-defendant in the case, who took the stand to testify against him.
Robby Alan Beasley, 30, sat beside his attorney Stephen Carter during a day of testimony in which 28-year-old Elijah Bae McKay recounted the events that led to the January 2010 shooting deaths of Yvette and Frank Maddox of Maine, as well as the gruesome circumstances of their deaths on the side of Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake.
Beasley and McKay are each charged with two counts of murder, along with special allegations of committing multiple murders in the first or second degree, committing the offenses with the intent to inflict great bodily injury on the victims and using a 9 millimeter firearm. Beasley also is alleged to have had a felony conviction in Maine for criminal threatening with a firearm.
McKay – clad, like Beasley, in a black and white jail jumpsuit – remained handcuffed throughout his nearly two hours on the witness stand, as Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe and Carter took turns questioning him.
Looking on from the gallery was his attorney, Richard Petersen of Ukiah. Peterson watched but didn't interject in any of the proceedings.
McKay stated during his testimony that he was not offered a deal in exchange for his testimony and only was receiving limited immunity for his statements.
He said he had decided to testify in recent weeks after investigators showed Petersen an arrest warrant for McKay's fiancee. McKay also was told that his young son would be taken away.
The story McKay shared with the court Tuesday was one set against the background of an old friendship with Beasley, with marijuana growing and the large amounts of money it brought leading to tensions and, allegedly, the deaths of the couple, who Beasley had invited to come west to work for him trimming marijuana.
However, Beasley later came to believe they had been responsible for stealing from him several pounds of marijuana, which McKay testified led to Beasley planning to kill them.
Before McKay took the stand later in the morning, Grothe called to the stand two witnesses, Elvin Sikes and Tyreshia Celestin-Willis. Grothe had filed a motion regarding his intent to put on both witnesses, who offered certain amounts of hearsay testimony, which normally is not allowed in the evidence code.
However, Grothe said a new law allows the use of hearsay against a subject who was attempting to make a witness unavailable. In this case, he suggested Beasley had done so by killing the Maddoxes, who had made statements about Beasley to Sikes and Celestin-Willis.
Grothe noted the information could be stricken, and Carter agreed to go forward with the testimony.
Sikes recalled allowing the couple to stay with him after Yvette Maddox came to him in early December 2009, crying because they had no place to stay. “They wanted to go back home so I told them they could stay there for a little bit, until they got the means to go back home.”
Yvette Maddox told Sikes about mailing “packages” back to Maine, and Frank Maddox mentioned his plans to take Beasley to the airport, which Sikes advised against. Sikes said Yvette Maddox told him that she had her husband go get “the stuff that was owed to them,” meaning marijuana, but he didn't take it to mean they were stealing.
After Sikes was off the stand, Carter withdrew his support of going forward with the use of the hearsay, saying it would result in a potentially large body of information that would have to be stricken.
Judge Richard Martin said he wanted to hear all of the evidence before deciding whether or not it should be considered.
Grothe then called to the stand Celestin-Willis, who got to know the Maddoxes in late 2009.
She recalled an extremely upset Yvette Maddox coming to her house and telling her that Beasley had stated, “You're in my town, I'll make you come up missing,” and that her husband didn't protect her. Shortly afterward, Frank Maddox drove up to Celestin-Willis' house and Yvette Maddox ran and hid in the closet while Celestin-Willis told Maddox that his wife was not there.
Celestin-Willis said she had seen the couple with as much as a pound of marijuana, and was aware they were trimming it, noting that marijuana wasn't her “scene.”
Old friendship, new trouble
McKay followed Celestin-Willis to the stand, offering the information that set the stage for the couple's arrival in Lake County.
He recounted meeting Beasley about 15 years ago while they were in grade school and remaining friends throughout the years.
About five years ago McKay came to California, getting into construction in San Jose before trading in his apartment to live in tent and grow marijuana in Mendocino County. He later made two trips to Maine to sell some of his marijuana.
Last year he said he didn't go to the East Coast to sell marijuana, as he had 35 pounds to sell – at $2,500 per pound for product grown outdoors – and it was safer to stay in California and sell it.
He said Beasley was continuing to get in trouble with the law in Maine, and he invited him to come west and work with him about two and a half years ago, which Beasley eventually did. “He's a smart, hard worker,” McKay said of Beasley.
Beasley later split off and began doing his own indoor growing operation in Clearlake, and in 2009 – not long before McKay was set to go to New York state on a fishing trip – Beasley told him he wanted to have the Maddoxes come out and work for him.
“He discussed bringing them out to help them get on their feet,” said McKay, who had never met the couple before their arrival.
He said that Beasley vouched for the two, and told him he had been in prison with Frank Maddox and thought he was a good guy.
But when McKay returned from his trip and began working with the couple, he said he wasn't pleased with their work. He said Frank Maddox tried to claim he was trimming more marijuana than he did, they bickered with other trimmers and were asking McKay to help them get drugs.
McKay said he didn't find them very smart, and following an argument with Frank Maddox he fired them.
He said he told Beasley, “I didn't think they were working out and they should go home. He let them stay in his apartment instead.” Previously, they had been staying in a tent on an outdoor grow site McKay had.
But McKay testified that the relationship between the couple and Beasley started going bad. The couple were fighting and appeared to have become hooked on methamphetamine, causing Beasley to throw them out. But they didn't want to return to Maine and ended up living with another friend – Sikes had testified to taking them in.
On Christmas Day of 2009, Yvette Maddox was arrested for public intoxication. McKay said that the pair was angering people, with a woman pulling a gun on them at one point.
“They were making enemies as well as friends with the locals,” McKay said.
He said it was his policy not to get involved with local residents. “I kept it as a rule to stay out of everybody's business.”
McKay was on a trip to Boston in early January 2010 when Beasley called to tell him that the Clearlake apartment where Beasley grew marijuana had been robbed.
Someone small had used a screwdriver to force open a window, remove an air conditioning unit and crawl through, leaving small, muddy footprints that appeared to belong to a woman. Those footprints led to a sliding door where it appeared that it had been opened for two larger people, who also left muddy footprints.
The kind of indoor pot that was stolen from Beasley sold for about $3,500 a pound, McKay said.
When Beasley told McKay he planned to stay at the apartment to guard his marijuana, McKay told him to go to his home and get an unregistered, black 9 millimeter handgun that McKay had purchased in San Francisco. It had a 15-round clip and, in McKay's opinion, would be better for Beasley to use to defend himself than the six-shot .357 he had.
During his testimony McKay stated that the gun in question was one he carried with him in the marijuana grow because a mountain lion stalked him as he watered the plants.
He testified that the couple had held the gun that killed them, as he had left it with them for protection against the mountain lion, too.
McKay returned home on Jan. 19, at which time Beasley told him he had dug a hole and planned to kill the couple, who he suspected were responsible for the theft of his marijuana.
It was a plan McKay said he didn't think Beasley would carry out. “We talked about killing people before and never done it.”
Beasley also had talked about pulling out all of their teeth to prevent identification. McKay said he had commented to Beasley that it would be easier to cut their heads off. He also noted during testimony that Beasley offered him $20,000 to kill the couple during a lengthy and heated discussion. McKay turned the offer down.
He said Beasley planned to ask the couple to drive him to the airport on the pretense that he had to fly to see his family because his grandmother's death. McKay said Beasley acted out how he would tell the story, even making himself cry.
McKay said he tried to talk Beasley out of the plan. “They're from Maine, I'm from Maine. Everything seemed bad about it to me.”
He continued, “He told me he had dug a hole and was going to kill them, I figured anything was better than that.” McKay said he suggested that Beasley instead shake the couple down and get them to confess that they had stolen his marijuana.
Then on the night of Jan. 22, while he was at his brother's birthday party, McKay received a call from Beasley asking for him to come pick him up. McKay found him walking along Morgan Valley Road, near where the couple's pickup was parked.
“He had blood on his clothes,” said McKay.
Later in testimony, as McKay recounted picking Beasley up, he said his friend “looked really distressed and said he was going to hell.” When McKay asked where the gun was, Beasley responded that no one would ever find it.
McKay took Beasley back to his home, let him shower, burned Beasley's clothes and backpack, and both of their phones, before taking Beasley back to his own home. Afterward McKay returned to his brother's birthday party, trying to pretend nothing had happened and having birthday cake.
“It was probably the hardest piece of cake I ever ate,” McKay said.
The next day Beasley showed up with two new cell phones, one for each of them. Beasley was dressed in a full set of rain gear so he wouldn't leave traces, and they took the Maddoxes' truck and left it on Jerusalem Grade Road near Middletown, with a full tank of gas and the keys in it. McKay said they hoped someone would take the vehicle.
In the days after the murders, McKay said Beasley recounted that he had asked them to take him to the airport, but they didn't realize that going down Morgan Valley Road wouldn't take them there.
At one point Beasley asked them to pull over in a turnout so he could urinate, and Frank Maddox got out with him to do the same, McKay said.
While the two men were out of the truck, McKay testified that Beasley allegedly pulled the 9 millimeter out and cocked it, holding Frank Maddox at gunpoint and pulling Yvette Maddox from the truck.
During the confrontation that ensued, the couple wouldn't admit to stealing the marijuana, and McKay said that Beasley shot Frank Maddox in the leg, and Yvette Maddox fainted or was “playing opossum.” Frank Maddox then reportedly told Beasley he had better finish him off because he was going to kill him if he didn't.
McKay said Beasley then shot Frank Maddox in the head, doing the same to Yvette Maddox. Beasley then allegedly dragged their bodies down the nearby embankment. When the couple still showed signs of life, Beasley allegedly shot each of them in the head a second time.
As McKay left the stand, he looked toward Beasley and said testifying was “the last thing I ever wanted to do.”
After McKay left the stand the court heard briefly from Beasley's girlfriend, Kim Vanhorn, who said that during a jail visit he wrote on his hand, asking her if they found the gun.
Lake County Sheriff's Det. Tom Andrews also testified about computer and cell phone evidence extracted from equipment found at Beasley's apartment during service of a search warrant.
Grothe stated previously that the District Attorney's Office was waiting to make a decision about how to pursue the prosecution, whether it would be a death penalty case or life without the possibility of parole.
His new boss, District Attorney Don Anderson, will be involved in that ultimate decision. Anderson sat in on a portion of the afternoon portion of McKay's testimony.
The preliminary hearing will continue Wednesday morning, and is expected to last through Thursday afternoon.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Rotary Club of Clearlake is preparing for its primary fundraiser of the year.
The annual “Seafood Boil and Auction” will be held on Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Clearlake Senior/ Community Center on Bowers Road.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; dinner served at 6:30 p.m.
“This is a well-attended event with people coming from all around the lake as well as from out of the area to participate,” Marvin Carpenter, promotional chairman said.
The $60 ticket price includes salad, bread, tri-tip, single lobster tail plus an all-you-can-eat seafood boil including crab, shrimp, fish, clams, mussels, crawfish, sausages, corn-on-the-cob and potatoes.
Dinner tickets also include dessert, two cocktail beverage tickets and limitless soft drinks, bottled water and coffee. Shannon Ridge Winery will be offering wine tasting from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for an additional charge as well.
“This is our primary fundraiser of the year. We depend on the proceeds from the event to ensure that our club can continue the many wonderful contributions we make to the community,” Carpenter said.
“We maintain the baseball fields, give away dictionaries to our third graders and award scholarships to our college-bound high school seniors,” Carpenter said. “We also support a Rotaract Club at the college and an Interact Club at Carlé High School, which will provide the primary servers for the Seafood Boil.”
The Rotary Club of Clearlake also was instrumental in the creation of the athletic field at Lower Lake High School, participated in the development of Austin Park and continues involvement in projects benefiting Southshore Little League, Big Brothers and Sisters, the senior/community center building and Anderson Marsh Historical State Park.
The club also participates in a student foreign exchange program and is assisting with funding for the Safe House project for homeless teens.
“In addition, there are numerous contributions made annually of both dollar contributions and contributions of time to service projects by the Rotary membership, which is comprised of local business persons,” Carpenter said. “We’ve also been involved in many international projects through Rotary International, which has existed since 1905. The motto of Rotary is ‘Service Above Self’ and we have made a difference in our community following that motto.”
The event will include live and silent auctions. Rotary Club President Terry Stewart will once again be serving as the evening’s auctioneer.
Advance ticket purchase is advised as the event usually sells out before the date.
To buy tickets or contribute auction items contact any Rotarian or call Ginger Kite at 707-349-0122, Serena Stona at 70-994-0294 or Marvin Carpenter at 707-994-5650.
Checks payable to Rotary Club of Clearlake may be sent to PO Box 549, Clearlake, CA 95422. Credit card purchase is also available.
Michelle Scully (left) and Lorrie Gray stayed warm with help from the folks at Umpqua Bank in Lakeport, Calif., as they distributed boxes for the Bountiful Gift Box Fundraiser in December 2010. The effort raised nearly $5,000 to help fight hunger in Lake County. Courtesy photo.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Organizers report that the Bountiful Gift Box Fundraiser for the Lake County Hunger Task Force held last month was a great success.
The goal was to sell 100 boxes at $40 each and it was achieved.
“From the outset, the response was incredible,” said organizer Michelle Scully. “We received emails for orders the very first day.”
The gift boxes contained two layers of Comice pears and apples, a bottle of Lake County wine and walnuts.
“We were blown away by the immediate response of Six Sigma Ranch and Winery,” said Scully. “The very first day Christian Ahlmann offered us all the white wine we would need.”
Wonderful red wines were donated by Brassfield and Wildhurst Wineries as well as local growers Randy Krag and Erica Lundquist who made a personal donation of Steele Wine produced from their Round River Farm.
“People stated whether they wanted their gift box to contain red or white wine, so the surprise was in which winery the wine would be from. It was awesome to know that people would be receiving product of such high quality,” said Scully.
Paula Bryant, community relations director of Umpqua Bank in Lakeport, expressed enthusiasm for the project early on and offered the bank's use as the delivery site.
“Umpqua Bank always strives to support our local communities,” Bryant said. “By purchasing the 'Bountiful boxes' it gave us the opportunity to give wonderful Lake County grown products to our customers as well as being able to support a very worthwhile cause. We certainly hope this program will be continued every holiday season.”
Scully said of the bank, “Umpqua's enthusiasm helped us realize early on that this idea could be successful.”
The staff at Umpqua continued their community support in small ways as well. “It was so cold the day of the deliveries we were freezing in the parking lot where we'd set up the deliveries so they'd be easier for people to pick up,” Scully said. “Everyone in the bank was super kind and they brought us hot coffee to take the chill off.”
Little did they know how successful the Bountiful boxes would be – the total amount raised for the HTF was $4,766. Donations were made in addition to box sales.
Lorrie Gray of the HTF was amazed at the support. “Michelle Scully and Scully Packing, the Lake County Winegrape Commission and its members, Lake County Walnuts and Seely Farm Stand established a limit of 100 'Bountiful boxes,' and all were sold within a brief two-week span. The revenues gained from this wonderful collaboration will help our community garden program, as well as our canning program for many years to come.”
Amazingly, demand exceeded supply, Scully said. “We could have sold more boxes if we had continued on past the Dec. 17 delivery date but we’d pretty much wrapped it all up by then.”
The boxes included locally produced pears, wine and walnuts and got a warm reception from recipients. Courtesy photo.
Gray added, “It is gratifying to live in a place where such generosity exists. The public response to this effort was overwhelming. Lake County produce of all kinds makes 'eating local' a no-brainer. We have some of the best fresh food in the world at our doorstep, and folks responded to that.”
Scully seconded Gray's observations. “Lorrie and I met a couple of years ago when we were serving together on a committee. Over time we realized that although our life experiences and direction of approach might be different, we shared a common passion – the issue of hunger.”
She said the HTF approaches that issue by helping people grow and preserve their own food.
“We're on the farming side in our family business and to me, those of us in farming are in it to feed people,” Scully said. “It's a natural relationship, just approached from different angles. I'd much rather work with someone towards a common goal than sit around talking about how we're different.
Scully called Gray “a wonderful person and she knows how to get things done,” adding, “I appreciate that in a person. There's so much need and anguish in the world, it's easy to become overwhelmed by that pain and not know where to begin.”
She added, “Although this project is just a drop in the bucket as far as that goes, I keep a quote from Mother Theresa in my head which says 'If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.' In my mind I sort of thought of each box as one person.”
So the question is: Is this a one-time effort or will it be back again next Christmas season?
“People's heartfelt response to the project just touched me deeply,” Scully said. “The best part, beyond almost $5,000 being raised, was that it was just a win-win for everyone. Everyone we had contact with was happy about the boxes – happy to purchase them, happy to know what a good cause the funds were going towards, and happy to give them. People who received them were thrilled to receive them.”
She said the feedback they received was that people were dismayed at how commercial Christmas gifting had become. “They were thrilled to give a gift that did something positive for their community.”
Scully said most people do want to help, to reach out, and they are just looking for an avenue to do so that speaks to them personally. “It was a wonderful experience and it created a network of people who want to remain connected for future efforts,” she said.
So to answer the question, Scully said they're definitely considering bringing the boxes back for Christmas 2011.
“But first I want to ensure that all the producers who donated their products are in a position to continue on with that,” she said. “I do think it’s an idea that can sustain itself and accomplish two very worthwhile goals – supporting a beneficial hunger outreach in our community and showing off our awesome Lake County products too.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A project to widen and improve a portion of Highway 29 is moving forward, state officials said Tuesday.
Caltrans reported that additional biological surveys will soon begin in order to complete the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the Lake 29 Improvement Project in Lake County.
This project proposes to widen an eight-mile segment of Route 29, from near Diener Drive to the
junction of Route 29/175 near Kelseyville, in order to accommodate projected growth, improve traffic flow, and increase overall safety by providing a four-lane highway that meets current design standards.
New environmental regulations have been enacted over the last few years which require additional biological surveys of wetlands and California Red-legged Frog habitat.
These new surveys will cover a larger area than previous surveys. They will begin soon and will take several winter seasons, resulting in a final EIR in the spring of 2015.
Caltrans has refined the project to address comments received at the public open house/public hearing held August of 2007, and has worked to reduce costs and environmental impacts.
Caltrans is also working to identify ways of constructing the project in smaller phases in order to more easily obtain funding.
Dennis Rollins, left, with Henry Anderson, who recently donated $5,000 to the Westside Community Park effort in Lakeport, Calif. Courtesy photo.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Westside Community Park Committee recently received donations totaling $10,000 from local supporters, the committee has announced.
A gift of $5,000 was made by an anonymous donor in memory of Emilia Gahret.
“The donor wished to contribute to a lasting community endeavor that Mrs. Gahret would have supported,” said Committee Financial Officer Jeff Havrilla.
The second donation, also in the amount of $5,000, was made by Henry Anderson of Lakeport, a member of the local Pearl Harbor Survivors Association chapter.
“Anderson has been a financial supporter of the park since construction first began in the late 1990s,” Havrilla said. “His continued support is greatly appreciated.”
These funds will be used to finish the portion of Westside Community Park’s phase two development that is currently under construction.
Havrilla said the committee plans to have three soccer fields, a regulation baseball field and a Little League field completed by this fall.
The park is accessed from Parallel Drive via Westside Park Road in Lakeport.
In announcing these donations, Havrilla said, “The majority of the funds used to construct the park have come from individuals in our community. This truly is a grassroots community effort.”
The Westside Community Park Committee consists of 17 community members. The officers, in addition to Havrilla, are Dennis Rollins, chair; Hugh Mackey, vice chair; and Carol Thorn, secretary.
Anyone wishing to contribute to the park construction can do so by sending a tax-deductible contribution to Westside Community Park Committee, 440 Main St., Lakeport, CA 95453.
Information about the park can be obtained by calling Dennis Rollins at 707-349-0969.
An aerial view depicting the Lake County Land Trust's Big Valley Wetlands project. The project area is outlined in red, with tributary streams and wetlands identified in blue. Photo courtesy of the Lake County Land Trust.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two of Lake County’s most active and visible conservation groups – the Lake County Land Trust and the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch – are working toward complementary goals in an effort to protect the natural beauty and wildlife of Clear Lake.
Longtime Lake County conservationist Peter Windrem – instrumental in the 2004 passing of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, the 1984 creation of the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area in the Mendocino National Forest, and president of the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch – spoke last week about the historical and environmental importance of the hitch, also known as the chi, a large minnow endemic to Clear Lake.
“It’s as spectacular as any salmon run,” Windrem said to the Hidden Valley Lake Rotary Club about the yearly upstream migration of the hitch to spawn, which typically occurs in March.
“I’ve been giving talks about the hitch for several years,” Windrem continued, noting its precipitous decline in Clear Lake in the last 20 years, in an attempt to raise awareness of its plight and save the species from extinction.
That goal dovetails conspicuously with the land trust's recently-identified No. 1 priority, the Big Valley Wetlands project, an effort to protect a nearly five-mile stretch of largely undeveloped shoreline extending south of Lakeport to just west of Clear Lake State Park.
According to Lake County Land Trust President Peter McGee, part of the goal of the Big Valley Wetland project is the protection of Adobe Creek and Kelsey Creek, two tributaries that feed into Clear Lake and still experience significant yearly chi migration.
“The acquisition of these lands is like a pipe dream,” McGee said, adding, “It’s going to be a piece-by-piece deal that’s going to take 150 years.”
The land trust, which manages the 123-acre Rodman Slough Preserve at the north end of Clear Lake, identified the Big Valley Wetlands project as their No. 1 priority after facilitating the Bureau of Land Management’s purchase of the Black Forest on the northeast side of Mt. Konocti.
The group also owns and operates Rabbit Hill, a seven-acre preserve located in Middletown and acquired in 1999.
McGee, who said the land trust has some 400 members, noted his organization has just finished a biological assessment survey of the Big Valley Wetlands project area, and recently finalized a priority list for the property involved in the conservation site.
“We’re still at step one,” McGee said, “but we’re making progress.”
Noting the cooperative nature of the land trust in working with landowners and stakeholders to achieve common goals, “You don’t want people to be frightened; you want people to buy into the goals,” McGee said.
“It’s not a conservative/liberal thing,” McGee said about county conservation efforts, adding, “It cuts across the political spectrum.”
Both McGee and Windrem cite the extinction of the splittail – another fish endemic to Clear Lake – in the 1970s as cause for concern about the plight of the chi, with Windrem adding, “the hitch is on an extinction trajectory.”
In his talk, Windrem mentioned six potential causes for the steep decline in the hitch population: creek levees built in the 1950s which caused gravel backup in the streams; gravel mining in the 1950s and 1960s; weirs built in Clear Lake tributaries to protect bridge footings and inhibit chi from swimming upstream to spawning grounds; the introduction in the 1960s of the non-native silversides, which eat
zooplankton, a primary chi food source; the introduction, also in the 1960s, of Florida largemouth bass, which eat chi during their spring migration; and the introduction in the 1980s of threadfin shad, which also eat zooplankton.
Windrem noted that, unlike salmon, chi cannot jump over barriers to travel upstream, and need clean, plentiful gravel beds to lay their eggs.
“Everything that harmed the hitch was introduced because of economic gain,” Windrem said, calling it “a death sentence.”
In addition to removing or modifying barriers in creeks that would allow the hitch to reach historic spawning grounds, Windrem cited completion of the Middle Creek Restoration Project as a goal beneficial to the chi, saying it “could be extremely helpful because it would give more area for protection of the young hitch and protect them better against those predators.”
He also noted local American Indian tribal involvement in protecting this natural resource. “The tribes have been aggressively seeking some grant funding through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” he said, adding “that has happened just recently, within the last three or four years, so that’s encouraging.”
Windrem called the plight of the hitch urgent. “We will lose something terribly important about Clear Lake and our history if we lose the hitch.”
“The hitch are, in many respects, like lots of other species that are under assault,” Windrem said, “and how we try to deal with that and save them is what we as humans are having to do around the globe, and this is ours. This is ours.”
For more information about the hitch and the Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch, visit http://lakelive.info/chicouncil/index.html, where you can sign up to receive email updates about the spring chi migration.
For more information about the Lake County Land Trust, go to www.lakecountylandtrust.org/index.htm, where you can obtain volunteer information or donate online.
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
