Mendocino County Ca

A former drifter linked by DNA on a discarded cigarette butt to a Mendocino County homicide that remained unsolved for three decades has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Robert Vaughan, 49, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to using a firearm to kill Gerard Vincent Sullivan, 20, in Navarro in 1975. Vaughan, who already is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for killing a woman in Lake Tahoe in 1991, will get another seven years to life under a plea agreement.

Four boaters forced to abandon ship when their vessel began taking on water in churning seas were rescued Monday morning by the U.S. Coast Guard a dozen miles off the Mendocino County coast. The Coast Guard reported receiving a call from the four men, who had been sailing from San Francisco to Seattle, about 1:30 a.m. as they prepared to board a life raft in 10- to 15-foot seas.

The center of the nation's anti-biotechnology movement these days is in Northern California, where Mendocino County voters will decide March 2 whether to ban genetically modified organisms. Measure H would prohibit genetically modified plants and animals from being raised or kept in the county, although processed food made with genetically modified ingredients would be allowed on store shelves. Success could galvanize similar movements from Vermont to Hawaii.

Oil giant Chevron Corp. is seeking permission from federal regulators to build a wave energy project off Mendocino County. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced plans this week to speed the licensing process for new wave and tidal energy projects, citing the benefits of the emissions-free sources of power. There are about 57 applications pending before the agency. Chevron said its facility would be capable of generating enough power for 48,000 U.S. homes. The San Ramon, Calif.

In 1982, a Vietnamese farmer plowing his field unearthed two human leg bones and what he thought was a sock. A practicing Buddhist, the farmer took a small piece of bone and placed it in the household ossuary, honoring the dead.

Oil giant Chevron Corp. is seeking permission from federal regulators to build a wave energy project off Mendocino County. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced plans this week to speed the licensing process for new wave and tidal energy projects, citing the benefits of the emissions-free sources of power. There are about 57 applications pending before the agency. Chevron said its facility would be capable of generating enough power for 48,000 U.S. homes. The San Ramon, Calif.

Retired firefighter Jim Wattenburger came from behind to edge incumbent Richard Shoemaker by five votes in a hard-fought runoff for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. Shoemaker, who held a 20-vote lead on election night, saw his victory disappear after county election officials tallied 377 absentee ballots that were not counted Nov. 2. The final count, released Monday, showed 3,113 votes for Wattenburger and 3,108 for Shoemaker.

The Ukiah Unified School District has lost millions of dollars in state aid because area schools have lost 600 students in the last five years, officials said. "The impact is really being felt," said Supt. Ray Chadwick. Enrollment in Mendocino County's largest school district has dropped 9% during the last five years, falling from 6,923 students in the 1999-2000 school year to 6,349 this year.

A popular Mendocino County tourist train could be rolling again by next summer. A federal bankruptcy court has accepted a $1.4-million bid from the Sierra Railroad to take over the "Skunk" train. The Skunk shut down its 40-mile run through the redwood forests of the Mendocino coast after Labor Day when its parent company went broke. If the new owner gets the train running as planned, it will be good news for the financially struggling Fort Bragg area.

Unapologetic Boonville editor Bruce Anderson has begun serving a 55-day jail sentence for socking a school administrator during a board meeting in Pt. Arena. Anderson, 48, entered the Mendocino County jail in Ukiah rather than write an apology to the people of the county.

With 100% financing from the Bank of America, a nonprofit conservation group has purchased 50,000 acres of redwood forest along the Mendocino County coast north of Fort Bragg for $65 million and plans to use it for commercial timber harvesting while shielding the land from development.

Even the silence is different here. Despite a woodpecker working furiously on the eaves of a not-too-distant water tower and the buzz of tractors trolling, the quiet--like the canopy of fog--settles around you, pulls you in and ultimately disorients you. I wake early to a dense, poetic mist on the vineyards and the local folk and bluegrass show "Humble Pie."

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of a man believed to be his sister's boyfriend. The victim's body was found in a van Tuesday with multiple gunshot wounds, Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. Kurt Smallcomb said. The teen, whose name was not released, was arrested a few hours later. Investigators are seeking additional possible suspects. A tribal spokesman said the suspect is a member of the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians, but the victim was not.

NARROW roads twist and turn alongside streams and past apple orchards, redwoods tower over everything, and you have to keep a sharp eye out for deer and wild turkeys. In Mendocino County, vineyards do not yet dominate the landscape but decorate it, scattered here and there rather than being crammed one on top of another. This is California wine's northern frontier. Tasting rooms are uncrowded and friendly and, though mostly bare bones, the wines poured are often of astonishing quality.

In 1982, a Vietnamese farmer plowing his field unearthed two human leg bones and what he thought was a sock. A practicing Buddhist, the farmer took a small piece of bone and placed it in the household ossuary, honoring the dead.

A former drifter linked by DNA on a discarded cigarette butt to a Mendocino County homicide that remained unsolved for three decades has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Robert Vaughan, 49, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to using a firearm to kill Gerard Vincent Sullivan, 20, in Navarro in 1975. Vaughan, who already is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for killing a woman in Lake Tahoe in 1991, will get another seven years to life under a plea agreement.

While federal agents prowled remote mountain areas on a sweep to uproot marijuana, local authorities were forced to send their eradication teams home because of funding problems. Mendocino County is disbanding its marijuana team today because the state has not renewed its funding. The sheriffs of Trinity and Humboldt counties plan to dissolve their teams unless they get state help.

A skateboarder was killed while being towed by a vehicle on the road, police said. Robert Powers, 20, of Monte Rio was found lying on the road unconscious with head injuries. He died after being airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, police said. James Crowl, 22, of Monte Rio was allegedly driving the car that was pulling Powers. Crowl was found nearby after authorities arrived.

Retired firefighter Jim Wattenburger came from behind to edge incumbent Richard Shoemaker by five votes in a hard-fought runoff for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. Shoemaker, who held a 20-vote lead on election night, saw his victory disappear after county election officials tallied 377 absentee ballots that were not counted Nov. 2. The final count, released Monday, showed 3,113 votes for Wattenburger and 3,108 for Shoemaker.

The Ukiah Unified School District has lost millions of dollars in state aid because area schools have lost 600 students in the last five years, officials said. "The impact is really being felt," said Supt. Ray Chadwick. Enrollment in Mendocino County's largest school district has dropped 9% during the last five years, falling from 6,923 students in the 1999-2000 school year to 6,349 this year.