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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – If you have old unpaid traffic tickets, June is the last month to qualify for a special ticket amnesty program that is attempting to collect millions of dollars in unpaid fines across California.

The program – which ends Saturday, June 30 – offers a 50-percent reduction on qualifying old unpaid traffic infraction tickets.

“The amnesty program is a golden opportunity for drivers with old unpaid traffic tickets to clear their records at a reduced amount,” Margie Borjon-Miller, Administrative Office of the Courts, said in a written statement. “And it helps the courts, the state and local governments to generate revenues that would have otherwise gone uncollected.”

While no specific number will be available until after the program concludes, state finance officials estimate that millions of dollars could be collected. A final report to the legislature on the amnesty program is due this fall, according to state officials.

The Administrative Office of the Courts reported that superior courts throughout California already have resolved thousands of cases and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees and fines as a result of the program, which began Jan. 1.

In the program's first three months, the Superior Court in Fresno County had collected about $92,000, the Tulare Court about $266,000, the Kings Court about $64,000, the Madera Court about $17,000, and the Stanislaus Court generated approximately $194,000 in revenue, the Administrative Office of the Courts reported.

From Jan. 1 through March 31, Lake County collected $61,989, according to Treasurer-Tax Collector Sandra Shaul, whose department oversees collections duties for the county.

In April and May, the county collected another $25,283, Shaul said. That's a five-month total of $87,272.

Shaul estimated that the county is likely to collect about $120,000 by the time the amnesty program ends.

But that’s just a fraction of what’s owed to the county, according to Shaul.

“The total delinquent court debt is monumental; 34,707 cases totaling $29,947,000,” Shaul told Lake County News. “Of those, there are 12,794 amnesty eligible cases totaling $11,878,283.”

Most of the delinquent cases are more than 10 years old and have been sent to at least two collection agencies not including the tax collector, Shaul said.

“The oldest fines ones have been to three collection agencies,” she said. “There are more new fines each month than fines paid.”

Parking tickets, DUIs and reckless driving citations are not eligible, the Administrative Office of the Courts reported. Drivers should contact the superior court in the county where the citation occurred to verify if they are eligible for the amnesty program.

While the program ends June 30, the last business day of the month is Friday, June 29.

Anyone with questions about amnesty or whether they have eligible fines, can call the Lake County Collection Division at 707-263-2583.

Shaul said all amnesty payments made between now and June 30 must be in full with secured funds.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A man serving a state prison sentence for a 1986 Upper Lake murder has died just as he was due to be released on compassionate grounds.

Carl Hampton Wade, 66, died of natural causes at 3:20 a.m. Thursday, May 31, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Wade was sentenced to 16 years to life for the shooting death of John Karns.

Wade shot Karns in the chest, then came back to shoot him in the head. He buried Karns' body the next day, then fled to Colorado, where he shot and permanently disabled another man.

Last month, the First Appellate District Court of Appeals ordered that Wade be released to live out the remainder of his life with his sister in Chico, as Lake County News has reported.

The appellate court overturned Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum's ruling last November that Wade should remain in prison due to concerns about public safety.

Blum also had doubts about the medical evidence presented in the proposal for Wade's release, which included statements by doctors that he had less than six months to live.

The appellate court's unpublished May 17 decision had ordered Blum to release Wade.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff said the matter never made it to the local court calendar for a hearing because Blum reportedly signed Wade's release order last week.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Registrar of Voters said Monday that she and her office were misrepresented in recent campaign advertising in support of a marijuana cultivation initiative.

Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said the Lake County Citizens for Responsible Regulations sponsored by the Lake County Green Farmers Associations paid for a political advertisement in both the Lake County Record-Bee and the Penny Slaver “which was an erroneous and inappropriate message that appeared to indicate that the Lake County Registrar of Voters supported Measure D.”

Fridley added, “This advertisement was printed without my permission and I would never publicly support or oppose a political issue in Lake County.”

The ad stated that, “according to the Lake County Registrar of Voters” Measure D accomplishes items including land use regulation and legal controls, things that Fridley said she has never stated about the measure.

Fridley said the sample ballot booklet her office printed and distributed includes the full text of Measure D, County Counsel Anita Grant’s impartial analysis of the initiative, and the arguments submitted in favor of and against Measure D as well the rebuttal arguments.

“The Registrar of Voters responsibility is to provide unbiased voting information to voters and not to promote any measure or candidate being voted on in Lake County,” Fridley said.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium will offer viewings of the historic transit of Venus on Tuesday.

The observatory will offer the viewings from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

When Venus passes directly between Earth and the Sun, it will appear as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun.  

The Tuesday transit will be the last one until 2117.

The observatory's solar telescopes will allow a great opportunity to experience this event. For your safety, solar viewing glasses will be provided.

Visit the Transit of Venus Web site at www.transitofvenus.org/education/video-new-media .

Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane, Kelseyville.

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