Articles, Crime, Local Government

‘Does Ice Have Access To These Cameras?’ Concern Over Automated License Plate Readers Reach Del Norte County Supervisors

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Thumbnail photo: The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office have six automated license plate reader cameras from Flock Safety at several intersections in the community including Northcrest Drive and Washington Boulevard. | Photo by Heather Polen

Three days after the local use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras came up at a Crescent City Council meeting, Del Norte County Employees Association Vice President Eva Lopez voiced a concern she said many staff members have.

“Does ICE have access to these cameras,” she asked Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott on Thursday, “or will they?”

Lopez wasn’t alone in questioning the sheriff at the second of two budget workshops. Though his colleagues approved the DNSO’s contract with Flock Safety for six cameras more than a year ago, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard called for a renewed discussion of their use. 

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Articles, Crime

Commenters At City Council Meeting Raise Concern Over DNSO’s Automated License Plate Reader Camera At Northcrest and Washington

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Thumbnail photo: The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office’s automated license plate reader camera from Flock Safety at Northcrest Drive led to questions from the public at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting. | Photo by Heather Polen

Del Norte County’s sheriff says he understands the concerns commenters raised before the Crescent City Council on Monday about an automated license plate reader (ALPR) camera at Northcrest Drive and Washington Boulevard.

But in a rural area with few safeguards and only three deputies on duty during a shift, having “those eyes out there” to foil a kidnapping or any other crime is worth it, he told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday.

“For now, it’s a three-year safeguard,” Sheriff Garrett Scott said of the six Flock Safety cameras his office purchased in May 2025. “If, God forbid, we do have a kidnapping or something horrific at one of our schools or in the more populated areas, they’re a proven resource.”

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City To Start More Storm Drain Work on F Street

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Thumbnail photo: Crescent City is using CDBG and Measure S dollars to complete a storm drain replacement project on F Street from the mid block of 3rd Street to 5th Street. | Image courtesy of the City of Crescent City.

With the final two blocks of Front Street nearing completion, Crescent City staff on Monday say they finally have the Community Development Block Grant dollars needed to start another long-awaited project.

It involves replacing the storm drain on F Street between the mid block of 3rd Street to 5th Street. It’s the third phase of the original Front Street storm drain improvement project, Public Works Director Dave Yeager told the City Council. 

In addition to extending the new storm drain system to 5th Street with new inlets and junction boxes, new sidewalk will be installed as will ADA-compliant street corners

“We’re trying to abandon the lines that are running underneath private properties and put them on a proper trajectory toward Front Street,” Yeager said.

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Recap, Aug. 3, 2026

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Thumbnail photo: Del Norte High School’s digital sign. On Monday, the Crescent City Council allowed Crescent Elk Middle School to display an electronic sign of its own. | Photo by Monique Camarena

Councilman Steve Shamblin was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Digital Signs, School Edition: Councilman Jason Greenough voted with the rest of his colleagues to allow Crescent Elk Middle School to display a digital sign, but not before he noted how ridiculous he thought the topic was.

Coming after the City Council in February approved an ordinance governing the size and location they would allow such electronic displays, Greenough said the regulations were unnecessary. Allowing Crescent Elk to have a digital sign is an exception for another governing body, he said.

“We don’t have a huge problem with signs, but we passed an ordinance to regulate them for our businesses and so, well, our businesses and everyone else,” Greenough said. “The schools are an unintended victim of our regulation of everybody’s ability to have just a sign in front of their property.”

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Articles, Community News, Health

North Coast Rape Crisis Team To Move To New Location

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Thumbnail photo: Courtesy of the North Coast Rape Crisis Team

It took nearly nine months, but Amanda LeBlanc says she may have found a new home for the North Coast Rape Crisis Team’s Del Norte office.

LeBlanc, the nonprofit’s executive director, said her team reached out to their community partners and local realtors trying to find a new commercial space to lease. She looked at a space that may serve her team’s needs on Friday, but will need help to turn it into a safe space for children and adult survivors of sexual assault.

“I’m waiting for the final yes it’s yours, but what we will need help with absolutely are the construction costs because you’re not allowed to use state or federal grant moneys for construction,” LeBlanc told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “All of that is going to have to come out of general funds, which is unrestricted funds from individual donors or foundations or from our partners and, perhaps, the community in order to get it set up.”

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Arts & Culture

Art Scene: Juried Multimedia Exhibition, Art in Public Places, Community Drum Circle

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Here are this week’s Arts Notes from the Del Norte Association of Cultural Awareness (DNACA):

  • Aug. 20: DNACA is hosting its 35th Annual Juried Multimedia Exhibition at the Del Norte County Courthouse. Artists may enter up to two pieces of artwork, with the requirements that: the art is original, was completed in the last two years, and can be hung on a wall. The largest size the art can be is 24 by 30 inches, including the frame. Art can be dropped off at the courthouse on Aug. 20 between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and will be displayed through Oct. 22. There is an entry fee of $10 per piece. For more information, visit DNACA.net, email office@dnaca.net, or call the office at (707) 464-1336. 
  • On display until Aug. 20:  As part of its Art in Public Places Program,  DNACA presents Portraying Nature’s Beauty — a solo exhibition of mixed media art by local artist Linda Evans. View her collection at the Del Norte County Courthouse, 450 H St. in Crescent City. The courthouse is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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Articles, Environment, Infrastructure, Local Government

County Supervisors Adopts Drought Resilience Plan, Task Force

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Thumbnail photo: A rain-swollen Smith River from Slant Bridge. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Though he said drought isn’t a major concern in Del Norte County, Sr. Environmental Health Specialist Houawa Moua introduced the Board of Supervisors to a resiliency plan for preventing water shortages in vulnerable communities.

The Del Norte County Drought Resilience Plan applies to domestic wells and water systems that have between five and 14 service connections, he said Tuesday. The plan includes a risk assessment and short-term and long-term strategies for responding to a potential water shortage. 

The state legislation requiring communities to adopt a resiliency plan — State Senate Bill 552, which was signed into law in 2021 — also requires counties to establish a drought and water shortage preparedness task force.

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Articles, Education

After 16 Years, Don McArthur Retires From DNUSD School Board

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Thumbnail photo: DNUSD Trustee Area 1 representative Don McArthur (center) is flanked to the left by Charlaine Mazzei and Frank Magarino and to the right by Abbie Crist and Michael Greer. | Photo courtesy of DNUSD.org

Before he bid Don McArthur a happy retirement, DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris gave him and his colleagues an idea of just how long he’d been on the School Board.

“We were talking at the graduation,” Harris said. “Every kid who walked across the stage, you were on the School Board when they were in kindergarten.”

Three of McArthur’s colleagues on the Board read and approved a resolution honoring his service. The resolution applauds McArthur’s “strong commitment to public education” and his “genuine desire to do what is best for students.”

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Articles, Local Government, Transportation

Airport Director Discusses BCRAA’s Reduced 2026-27 Budget, Line Of Credit From Del Norte County

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff

Two weeks after they extended a line of credit to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority, Del Norte County supervisors on Tuesday approved an airport authority budget its director said was balanced after “we trimmed and trimmed.”

BCRAA’s 2026-27 budget calls for projected revenues and expenditures of about $6.78 million, down from the $13.73 million the authority’s original 2025-26 budget called for and the $13.74 million that was in its revised budget. 

Fewer grant-funded projects expected this fiscal year is the main reason for the difference, Airport Authority Director Sean Rosenthal told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. Those projects include rehabilitation of Runway 18-36 and the purchase of an airport fire rescue truck, both of which were paid for with Federal Aviation Administration dollars, he said.

“It’s those really large projects that make the airport budget fluctuate so,” he said. “Probably this would be one of the leaner years, but that’s, again, due to the fact that we have less projects than we did last year. The next one will be when we do Runway 12-30 in a few years.”

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Articles, Environment, Local Government

County Supervisors Vote To Send ‘Very Soft’ Offshore Oil Drilling Opposition Letter Despite Chris Howard’s Objections

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Thumbnail photo: Oil platforms off the coast of Seal Beach, Calif. | Photo by Mike Peel via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard warned his colleagues a third time about sending a letter to the federal government outlining Del Norte County’s opposition to offshore oil drilling.

Del Norte County’s letter is in response to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Section 312 evaluation of the California Coastal Management Program. While he called it mild, Howard said he worried about any fallout the county may experience as a result. He was especially concerned about the $2.1-$2.7 billion tunnel bypass around Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City.

“I’ve expressed concerns about federal funding for our tunnel project and an administration that seems to be very vindictive as it relates to funding projects where communities take an opposition to those federal policies,” Howard said Tuesday.

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