LAKEPORT
Clearlake Oaks man enters plea of not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in fatal hit-and-run
William Len, 48, was present and not in custody for an arraignment hearing, entering a not guilty plea to all counts and has denied the special allegations in a case of hit-and-run that killed a woman from Nice.
The Court has appointed Thomas G. Feimer as counsel for the defendant.
The matter has been set for a master calendar call hearing and preliminary hearing which have both been set for February, 2023.
The defendant faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit and run with permanent injury or death.
The charges stem from an incident in June after Amanda Arney was struck and killed by a vehicle after midnight while she walking east on Highway 20, west of Sayre Avenue.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Arney was cast down an embankment, resting near a fence – partially concealed by vegetation.
The victim’s body was located hours later that same morning, where she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Len was arrested by CHP after a thorough investigation and the execution of search warrants with an assist from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. He was booked into the Lake County Jail and has since bailed out and has been released.
—Lori Armstrong
SAN FRANCISCO
California trucking company to pay $71K penalty for three spills into Lake County waterways
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week a settlement with the owner and operator of Steve Wills Trucking and Logging LLC to resolve claims of violations of the Clean Water Act. Tanker trucks transporting milk from the Steve Wills facility near Fortuna, California, were involved in three separate driving incidents, all of which resulted in discharges of raw milk into waterways. One of the three incidents resulted in the death of a driver.
“Improper transport of goods can negatively impact waterways and compromise the safety of workers,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “When companies fail to manage substances that have the potential to impact waterways the local community, environment, and worker safety is put in danger.”
On Jan. 19, 2020, a tanker truck carrying raw milk on Highway 20 near Glenhaven, CA overturned down an embankment and released raw milk into Clear Lake. On April 12, 2020, a second incident took place when a truck on Highway 20 near Clearlake Oaks, CA overturned down an embankment and released raw milk into Clear Lake. Finally, on Dec. 11, 2021, a truck on Highway 20 east of Lance Road in Lake County overturned down an embankment into Grizzly Creek, a tributary of Cache Creek.
Drivers were cited for the January 19 and April 12, 2020, incidents. The third incident is still pending the results of an ongoing investigation.
Steve Wills Trucking and Logging agreed to a penalty in the amount of $71,967 to resolve claims that the company discharged to Waters of the United States without a permit, which is a violation of the Clean Water Act.
U.S. law requires the safe management of materials to protect public health, the environment, and limit the need for costly and extensive cleanups. It is unlawful to discharge pollutants into Waters of the United States, except as authorized by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued under the Clean Water Act.
For more information on reporting possible violations of environmental laws and regulations visit EPA’s enforcement reporting website.
Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. Connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter.
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
California election results near final form
And then there was one.
Just one California race for a U.S. House of Representatives seat remained too close to call as of Tuesday, two weeks after the Nov. 8 election: With about 335,000 unprocessed ballots left to count, Republican farmer John Duarte was leading Democratic Assemblymember Adam Gray by fewer than 1,000 votes in the new, open 13th District anchored in the middle of the Central Valley.
Two other California House seats went to Republicans this week: On Tuesday, GOP Assemblymember Kevin Kiley beat out Democrat Kermit Jones for the new 3rd district, which stretches from the Sacramento suburbs down the Sierra to Death Valley.
And on Monday, Republican Rep. David Valadao — the only member of California’s current GOP House delegation to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump — defeated Democratic Assemblymember Rudy Salas to win the 22nd District centered in the fiercely contested political turf of Bakersfield.
The key takeaway: If Duarte beats out Gray for the House seat, it will mark the GOP’s most successful push this electoral cycle into blue territory in California, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis. But otherwise, California’s House races were largely a wash: Neither side managed to unseat any of the opposing party’s vulnerable incumbents.
- Moving on to the state Legislature: Although seven Assembly seats and two Senate races have yet to be called, one thing is clear: The group of lawmakers sworn into office on Dec. 5 will be the most diverse in state history, with a record number of women and LGBTQ+ members. The policy impact, however, remains to be seen.
- Matt Lesenyie, an assistant professor of political science at CSU Long Beach, told my colleagues Ariel Gans and Sameea Kamal: “What’s actually going to get a committee hearing is really determined by party leadership. And so, you would like to think that having more diversity is going to change how we look at problems and all that — but the gatekeeper is still the Democratic Party leadership within either house.”
The state Assembly is set to get a new leader in June, when Robert Rivas is slated to take over from longtime Speaker Anthony Rendon. - Sheng Thao, a progressive Democrat backed by labor unions, was elected mayor of Oakland. Thao will be the first Hmong-American woman to lead a major U.S. city and, at age 37, will also be Oakland’s youngest mayor in 75 years, according to her campaign. “Fifteen years ago, I was living in my car with my baby,” Thao said in a statement. “Moving forward, we are going to work to make Oakland the most proactive city in California on housing and homelessness. … I have never felt more hopeful about Oakland’s future, or more determined to lead the fight for it.”
—Emily Hoeven, CALMatters
