PG&E encouraging safe planting
In celebration of California Arbor Week, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is asking customers to remember the importance of planting power-line friendly trees.
If a tree is not planted in the right place and is near too many power lines, it is subject to removal and it can cause public safety issues and power outages, according to a PG&E press release.
“Safety around power lines is always important, especially when it comes to planting trees. There are hazards to avoid both above and below the ground. Trees that are small when planted may grow to heights that can interfere with overhead power lines and lead to outages. They will require pruning or even removal,” said Joe Horak, senior manager for PG&E’s North Bay Division, in the same news release. “California Arbor Week is the perfect opportunity for residents to learn about safe tree planting and the various tree options that provide all the scenic and qualityof-life benefits while avoiding power lines and other utilities.”
When planting a new tree near power lines outside of high fire-threat districts, leave space for it to remain at least 10 feet clear of all power lines throughout its lifespan, including crown expansion and ensure it is no taller than 25 feet at maturity.
In high fire-threat districts plant only low-growing, fire resistant shrubs near power lines. This can extend the defensible space around your property. For more information regarding defensible space visit www.readyforwildfire. org. Call 8-1-1 at least two days before planting trees or landscaping to have underground power lines and other utilities marked.
Visit www.pge.com/ righttreerightplace to learn about up-to-date planting guidelines near power lines and download a free guide for planting in your area.
After two days of deliberations, a Solano County Superior Court jury late Friday found a 45-year-old Vallejo man guilty of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury for the shooting of another man in late 2018.
Agreeing with the prosecution’s case after more than 10 court days in Department 1, jurors convicted Costello Blackwell on two counts: 1) attempted murder, with several enhancements, including intentional discharge of a firearm, a shotgun, that wounded Teiquon Cortez, 29, on Nov. 1, 2018, at his living space, a trailer in the 700 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane; and 2) assault with a firearm.
Blackwell’s sentencing date is pending because he is alleged to have committed two prior strikes, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Wood told The Reporter on Monday.
A court trial on the prior strikes is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March 23, also in Department 1, Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman’s courtroom, in the Justice Center in Fairfield. A court trial is one in which a judge, who hears attorney arguments and the evidence, makes a final decision about the court case.
At sentencing, Blackwell faces a maximum punishment of life in prison, with the possibility of parole, depending on the sentencing decision made by the judge. He likely will face additional time if the prior strikes are found to be true.
Blackwell’s defense attorney, John Coffer, could not be reached for comment at press time Monday.
Blackwell faces more legal jeopardy in a pending murder trial in connection to a February 2018 shooting that is believed to be linked to circumstances surrounding the shooting of Cortez, a previously incarcerated person who, during the trial, was in Solano County Jail custody on a recent commercial burglary charge.
During court testimony late last month, an investigator for the defense, Eugene Borghello said Cortez told him during a Solano County Jail interview in January 2019 that Blackwell allegedly shot him twice with a shotgun for “threatening Mr. Blackwell’s wife.”
Following up quickly with another question, Coffer asked, “And did he say he was a witness to a murder?”
“Yes,” Borghello, of the Special Investigations Group in Fairfield, said.
During the trial, Cortez said he witnessed Blackwell, a co-worker at Royal Transport, a Vallejo moving firm, fire one shot from a handgun on Feb. 10, 2018, the bullet striking and killing Daryl Huckaby, 47, who was in an RV that later crashed on Tuolumne Street.
Blackwell is a co-defendant with another man, Daniel Anthony Street, 34, of Hercules, in connection with the murder. They face a preliminary hearing in the case at 9:30 a.m. July 7, also in Department 1. Deputy District Attorney Bill Ainsworth leads the prosecution.
During the attempted murder trial, Wood presented more than a dozen witnesses, including, besides Cortez, Vallejo police investigators, physicians, cellphone tower experts, and at least one person who aided Cortez after being wounded and then walked across the street to a Shell gas station, where bleeding profusely from shotgun wounds to his left elbow and back, received some first-aid before Vallejo paramedics and police officers arrived.
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