Fire Safe Council Meeting Moved to Fire Department Training Room

Chairman John Kilburn reports that the FSC will meet Tuesday night March 4 at 6pm in the training room of the Lake Shastina Fire Department due to the arson damage in the Administration building (photo courtesy John Diehm, Lake Shastina News).

The homeowner association is operating from temporary office trailers located in the parking lot and according to a staff person is "open for business as usual". The source emphasized that all electronic records remain intact and that no substantial damage was done to property owners records.

The smoke and water damage is expected to be repaired within three months she said at which time everyone will move back inside the refurbished building.

Snow Geese Pass Lake Shastina

For those of you who happened to see the flocks of geese pass by last week a local birder has identified them. About the birds you saw... they were prob. snow geese, if you saw hundreds, if not thousands. They are migrating through the area about now; prominent marking -- black wing tips with an all-white body Our only crane is the Sandhill crane, with a distinctive reddish patch on top of it's whittish gray head; you would only see a few dozen of these, at most. The other crane-like residents are the egrets (Great and Snowy), again all white, and stork-like, but solitary. The herons (Great blue and night-crowned) would not be all white. So all-in-all, it sounds like you saw waves of snow geese...marvelous! Thanks, Ed Vrable.

If you want to see them up close visit the Tulelake Wildlife Refuge where they are apparently bivouacking on their way north. We saw a number of bald eagles and other birds there as well. The refuge can be reached by taking 97 north to Dorris, then east on 161 along the state line. Watch for the sign and road on your right maybe 20 miles in.

Arson Fires Wound Community

PHOTO/JOHN DIEHM

The Lake Shastina home on Stag Mountain is completely involved in flames as firefighters arrive. An adjacent home, also set on fire by an arsonist, was saved.


LAKE SHASTINA – A series of early morning arson fires set by former Lake Shastina resident Clete White on Feb. 20, burned one home to the ground, damaged two other homes, and left extensive fire and smoke damage to the Lake Shastina Administration Building making it unusable.

The series of events began at 5:30 a.m. for the Lake Shastina Fire Department, law enforcement, and neighboring fire departments. That is when the first dispatch was given summoning the emergency response to a structure fire located on top of Stag Mountain in Lake Shastina.

Although dispatch did not have a good address or location for the emergency, responders had no trouble finding the fully involved structure fire on top of the hill that lit the night sky with flames leaping up to 300 feet in the air. They also had plenty of light to do their jobs between the light of the fire and the full moon reflecting off the lake.

The Lake Shastina engines set up to fight the fire and were soon joined by fire engines from Weed and CalFire. The totally involved two-story home was already a complete loss before firefighters arrived.

About 20 minutes into the suppression effort at 5200 Stag Street firefighters noticed smoke coming from the next door house at 5208 Stag Street. Firefighters made immediate entry into the unoccupied house and quickly extinguished fires set in two of the room in the house.

White had entered the house by breaking a window from the deck that was out of sight of the firefighting effort from the first fire. Because resources were in place for a quick response, that structure sustained minimal fire damage.

That was not the case, however, for the Lake Shastina Administration Building located at 16320 Everhart Dr. Fire inside that building was noticed at 6:15 a.m. by fire crews from other districts who were staging at the adjacent Lake Shastina Fire Department.

White had made his way to the administration building, possibly by using a golf cart stolen from the golf course, and made entry by breaking a window on the west side of the building. He then went through all the offices where he opened file cabinets and using combustible liquids set them on fire.

Although staging firefighters noticed fire inside the building and immediately responded with an interior attack, the abundant fuel source caused the quickly spreading fire to extend into the attic of the building. It took nearly two hours for fire crews to complete extinguish the fire smoldering in the attic leaving numerous vent holes in the roof and ceiling pulled down inside to get to the fire.

Damage to the administration building would have been much more severe if the mutual aid engines had not been staging at the Lake Shastina Fire Station across the street, noted Lake Shastina Firefighter Josh Paulus. Their presence also prevented the arsonist from setting the police-fire station on fire.

Before the day was over, fire engines from many of Siskiyou County’s Fire Department had helped with the emergency. Besides CalFire engines, volunteer fire departments came from Weed, Mount Shasta, Hammond Ranch, Mayten, Shasta Vista, Grenada, and South Yreka.

White was caught and arrested at 6:30 a.m. He had traveled to the Lake Shastina Country Club where he threw a rock through the window and made entry into the building. He was arrested before any fires were set at the Country Club.

After his early rampage was over, one other house at 5103 Stag Mountain Rd. was discovered as an arson attempt. White had also broken into this house but the fire he set went out.

Former Lake Shastina resident Clete James White, 56, was booked into the Siskiyou County Jail on four counts of arson, Penal Code 451(b), and four counts of burglary, Penal Code 459 PC.

He was a former occupant of the 5200 Stag St. home now entirely owned by his ex-wife Patti Hartel. She was not home at the time because she was staying at her parent’s Lake Shastina home.

The Community Services District held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting that night in the banquet room at the Lake Shastina Golf Club Restaurant. At that meeting Lea reported that portable buildings have been ordered to be set up in the administration building parking lot. These offices will be open to the public on Monday, Feb. 25.

By JOHN DIEHM

Shastina News Writer/Editor

Chili Dump Set for April 26

Lake Shastina's chili dumpers have announced plans for their 6th annual Chili Dump to be held Saturday April 26th at the Community Center. Festivities this year will include a chili-tasting contest, drawings for valuable prizes, live music, and of course the by now famous Chili Dump itself.
Doors open at 6pm but seating is limited so make your reservations early by calling the RSVP line 938-0385 right away. Tickets are only $2 and you need to bring your own eating utensils, bowls, and beverages. Please also bring enough chili to feed your group and, if you wish to participate in the chili tasting contest, a small amount in a separate container for that purpose.
This event is usually sold out every year so don't delay. Call 938-0385 and reserve your seats today.

Bomber Mystery Solved !

Well, we were close. It was a bomber and it was WW II, June 10th of 1943 to be exact. But it was a B-24E in the 7th Bomb Group from AAF Salinas, CA. Pilot A.J. Thornburg and four additional crew were lost. I called for the full accident report and Missing Air Crew Report and will have more details when that arrives. I am also going to scour the microfilm at the library of the Siskiyou Daily News and the Mt. Shasta Herald for that date and subsequent weeks.

For those of you interested in this kind of research the key was the state military museum in Sacramento (916-442-2883) whose director, Dan Seddy pointed me toward http://aviationarchaeology.com (no "www.") where we drilled down through the AAIR database by country, state, and finally, town. Facinating site.

For fun I'm also checking Cal Trans because they filled the area when they constructed Interstate 5 and may have recorded any wreckage they found. I'm also chasing down the forest fire possibility through Cal Fire in Yreka. Finally, I'll try to take a photo of the oil pressure guage that Jim Kottinger has and include it with my next installment when the full accident report arrives.

Editor

The B-17 Mystery Grows

Bob Gray saw the wreck site from the air and Jim Kottinger saw it on the ground. He even has an oil pressure guage from the wreckage. So why can't we find a news story in the local papers? Dennis Freeman, the main man at the COS library searched all the paper archives for "bomber" and came up empty. If Dennis can't find it nobody can.

So did this crash happen or not? I've queried the National Archives, the Air Force Historical Society, the Mt. Shasta Herald, the Siskiyou Daily News, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the Sisson Museum, the State of Jefferson Historical Society, and of course the ultimate authority . . . . Google!

How can you have two eyewitnesses and no printed record? According to Bob Gray the aircraft went in just north of where old Highway 99 crossed the SP tracks. About where Skinners Truck Repair is now.

And even more intriguing, Jim Kottinger thinks the pilot knew about a small dirt air strip just off Deetz Road (covered over now by Plum Rd.) and just didn't have enough altitude to reach it.

Facinating stuff. Two crewmen died. And nobody wrote about it????

Does anybody out there know anything about this?

Editor

Strength in Numbers

My husband and I had lived in Yreka for over 35 years. Most recently we lived on a street (area) that had begun to deteriorate and the disheveled conditions of vehicles, trash in the front, miscellaneous articles littering the front yard were all to common place.

I agreed to move to Lake Shastina primarily due to the CC and R's and the assumption that they would be addressed and enforced consequentially eliminating the type of neighborhood we were about to leave.

The reality that the rules are not always enforced has been a very real source of frustration, disappointment and anxiety to me. I can easily produce photographs if anyone desires, of house after house out of compliance. I refer to ARTICLE VIII Use of Property and Restrictions, specifically Section 8.8 Garbage, and, Section 8.9 Storage. These sections are frequently referred to as "street scene".

I'm not sure who reads these posts as this is my first experience with this site. If anyone else has the same concerns maybe we could team up and approach the Association. There being "strength in numbers" I feel credence would be given to a number larger than one.

Thank you,

JoAnn Michael

B-17 Crash Near Truck Village in the 40's

My friend Will Bullington and I were chatting about the history of the old county airport north of Montague and how it was originally built to assist bombers in distress during WWII and he mentioned that his parents had told him about a B-17 that went down by Truck Village in Mt. Shasta during the war and started a forest fire, causing the area to be mostly brush to this day.

Intrigued, I went to the museum in Yreka but was unable to find any record of the incident. I have calls in to archival experts at both the USFS and CDF and will post comments to this story when I learn more but in the meantime is there anyone out there with any knowledge of this crash? Perhaps retired firefighters or residents of the Truck Village area? Or even parents and seniors who were in the area then?

Will said residents were calling the Sheriff's Department for some time afterward with recoverd parts of wreckage, even 50 caliber ammo so there may even be some artifacts here in our community in somebody's attic!

Please comment if you know anything.

Editor

SHELTIES, ANYONE?

There are maybe a dozen sheltie owners here in Lake Shastina and we're looking for new arrivals to join us in our annual roundup. We get together in the summer for a potluck meal at one of our (fenced) homes and celebrate the herd. They all run loose and we owners have fun trying to capture them all on film.

And we're working on ways to support sheltie rescue efforts, too. There is an organization in Sacramento dedicated to finding homes for abandoned or abused shelties and since Sally and I have three rescue dogs we're motivated to assist.

But there are other breeds here too, needless to say. Are you interested in meeting others with your breed?

Write me.

Bruce

Is Anyone Interested in Starting a Private Library Here?

Sally and I read a lot and we both use the library in Weed and Mt. Shasta to supplement the books we buy but sometimes the hours of operation or the weather (or both) make that difficult. We also tend to accumulate books and end up giving them away after reading them which seems sort of wasteful.

So I'm wondering if a small, private library located here in Lake Shastina would benefit others in this same situation. It would probably be relatively easy to build up a supply of books over time, and probably not impossible to build or acquire (some folks bought shelves from Redding's library for $100) shelving.

The larger issue would be where to house the collection so that volunteers could readily staff it. Would someone's home work? Space in someone's garage?

Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions?

Editor

Lake Shastina Fire Safe Council
Agenda Note: With my absence at last meeting, coupled with the death of
Tom’s Father, my apologies for any errors. JGK

Tuesday – 6 P.M. Feb. 5th, 2007 LS Admin Conference Room

February Lake Shastina Fire Safe Council meeting was canceled due to too many members ill or temporally out of town on business. Next LSFSC meeting 6 PM, Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at community Administration meeting room, 16320 Everhart Drive, Lake Shastina, CA. Public welcome."

Sincerely,


John G. Kilburn
Secretary LSFSC

CC&R Corner

By Will Bullington, CC&R Compliance Officer

February 2008

Recently I received two anonymous complaints in the mail. These notes were not signed, had no return address and report on “a violation of the Lake Shastina CC&R’s” (shed construction design). I will quote the rules enforcement procedures as adopted by the Governing Board:

1. Reports of Violations. Violations may be brought to the Association's attention in a variety of ways, including by the observation of Association staff or members of the Board. The Association may also be made aware of violations through reports from owners. All such owner reports must be received in writing before they will be acted upon. Any owner reporting a violation of the Rules consents to the open use of his or her report and agrees to cooperate in the Association's investigations and enforcement actions, including any related hearings. No requests for confidentiality in this regard will be granted. Basic fairness to the owner accused of violating the Rules, and the Association's need to ensure that adequate evidence of a violation exists, require nothing less.

In this particular case one address did not exist and the other was a shed that was approved in 1992. In fact I have a list of 82 approved sheds in Lake Shastina and many do not meet the current minimum construction standards that were adopted in 2000. Anonymous complaints get the Colonel North treatment.

Even Siskiyou County will not allow anonymous complaints about code violations. It often surprises me and law enforcement officers a person’s lack of gumption when it comes to contacting their neighbors. We will live next to someone for 10 years. See them everyday, smile, wave and occasionally we will be bold enough to talk across the fence line about the weather or “is this your kid’s ball?” If your neighbor blasts their stereo or their dog keeps knocking over your trash, it is hard to walk across to their home, knock on the door and say, “hey, would you please mind not doing that?” It is nice when we know our neighbors enough to be familiar with their names, where they work at, and some personal items about them. Not enough to be deemed nosey but if a strange car is there, or they are gone on vacation and water is running out the front door, or flames are seen through the window, you might just pick up the phone and call the right people.

If you politely contact your neighbor about something such as their dog barking all day while they are gone, and they don’t respond, or respond in a matter you don’t like, please by all means call the police. I have been surprised by calls from home owners about neighbors putting things on their property or driving on their lot. I get called and contact the “violating parties” and am always asked why the neighbor did not contact them first. The “violating party” is now angry and at some point will invariably make a point of saying something to their neighbor. I will then get the call from the original complaining party and asked why I “dimed them off” when they wanted to be anonymous. I don’t know I guess it’s because you don’t need CSI to figure out which neighbor complained about the car parked on the street in front of their house for a month, etc.

The argument may be made that you pay me “to be the bad guy,” and granted that is true. (I have had to contact one lady about multiple problems such as described above. The last time I called she said, “You don’t ever call me with good news, do you?”) I was introduced to a homeowner’s daughter recently as “the bad guy that has to go around and tell people they are doing things wrong” while we all sat in a busy doctor’s office waiting room. I got some pretty interesting looks from people.

Many issues that you may want to pay the “bad guy” to take care of for you are best handled by you. The processes for CC&R violations are long and cumbersome. I have to send out a 30 day courtesy notice to someone for a barking dog and if the dog stops barking, guess what, that is the end of it. If the dog barks again next week, the process is repeated. We are currently looking at amending the current discipline process for repeat offenders but even then the CC&R section on barking dogs is vague on what constitutes a violation. This same issue has been, and is currently being addressed, by cities and counties about what by criminal law makes “maintaining a public nuisance” a violation when it comes to a barking dog. Many jurisdictions require at least three separate homeowner’s complaints in order to cite someone for a disturbance of the peace. Ask any street cop what they hate about barking dog calls and they all say the same thing: “why don’t people just go over and talk to their neighbor about their dog first?”