Category Archives: Articles

Local Family Responsible for Community Scares Is Met With Love After House Fire

“I woke up to flames six feet from my bed,” JoAnn Holcomb said. “I could spend hours listing the things lost, I want to list the things we have received. We are blessed to have homeowners’ insurance. While it may not cover the cost of everything, it gives us hope that rebuilding our home is possible.” 

JoAnn and David Holcomb are the owner-operators of David’s Haunted Manor, the only haunted house attraction in Del Norte County. Every year they and their two kids spend weeks putting on a show for the community, and donate a portion of their proceeds to a scholarship fund in collaboration with the Humboldt Area Foundation. 

On Feb. 12, the master bedroom and hallway of their family home was engulfed in flames, forcing them to flee. Luckily, the Holcombs survived with minimal injury.

“Our Haunt family reached out immediately to ask what they could do for us. Some brought clothing, others gave us a place to keep our reptiles and amphibians until a long-term solution is found. Others have offered their hands and all have sent their love,” Holcomb said via text Thursday.

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Trump’s Freeze on EPA Grants Forces Crescent City Harbor Officials To Pursue Other Funding Options For Boatyard

The Crescent City Harbor District was pursuing an EPA Climate Change grant to revitalize its boatyard following Fashion Blacksmith’s departure. | Photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Crescent City Harbor commissioners say revitalizing the port’s boatyard is still among their top priorities, though the federal grant they hoped to use for the project isn’t likely to arrive.

The Crescent City Harbor District had applied for a $20 million Environmental Protection Agency Climate Change grant. Officials planned to use $13 million of those funds to pay for dredging, new equipment and boat haul-out and pier improvements.

Other proposed uses included securing a long-term source of ice for the fishing fleet and hiring new staff to spearhead construction projects at the harbor.

But, due to a Trump administration decision, that EPA grant program will likely end, Mike Bahr, CEO of Community System Solutions told commissioners on Tuesday.

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DNSO Releases Name Of Surf Apartments Resident Killed In Officer-Involved Shooting

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of a Surf Apartments resident who was killed in an officer-involved shooting on Monday.

The deceased is 67-year-old John Spencer, Sheriff Garrett Scott told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. Spencer’s next of kin has been notified, Scott said, and the incident is still under investigation. According to Scott, the CHP from the Southern Division is heading the investigation.

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DNUSD To ‘Sell or Junk’ Dilapidated Vehicles; New Vehicles Are On The Way, Superintendent Says

Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose

Del Norte Unified is planning to sell or junk a plethora of surplus vehicles, the newest of which is a 17-year-old Chevrolet van.

Though most of the vehicles run, none are in good, or even fair condition, DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris told trustees on Thursday. They include six vans, three pickup trucks, a box truck and two buses. Their condition grading ranges from zero to two.

“Zeros are scrap, one is inoperative and two is severe wear and tear,” Harris said. “We don’t have any vehicles on this list that are normal, fair or good. They’re all basically not something we want to put staff or students in.”

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Local Education Officials Are Monitoring Changes at the Federal Level, But Don’t Anticipate Major Impacts

Thumbnail: Del Norte Unified School District logo

Del Norte County’s top education official said he doesn’t anticipate a major impact if the Trump administration makes good on its threat to shut the U.S. Department of Education down.

Del Norte County Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Harris told trustees Thursday that he foresees responsibilities being shifted to other departments at the federal level. There is concern about the Trump administration stopping discretionary dollars that had gone to the Department of Education, but Congressionally-mandated monies likely won’t disappear, Harris said.

“There will be government agencies that oversee them potentially,” he said. “If there is a reduction in funding — we call them Title Funds — just know there are always reductions in Title Funds and always increases to Title Funds. We’ll keep an eye on those as we go ahead.”

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Del Norte Open Door Community Health Center Showcases New State-of-the-Art Mobile Clinic

Thumbnail, video, and photos by Redwood Voice Reporter Aisling Bludworth.

Del Norte Open Door Community Health Center showcased their new state-of-the-art Mobile Clinic to the community at an open house on February 12th.

With a history of mobile services spanning over 50 years, Open Door’s newest addition is providing outreach in Del Norte County, with a current focus on the homeless community. Funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration-American Rescue Plan Act grant, anyone is able to walk into this mobile clinic and receive medical care.

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Harbor District Will Consider Fireworks Regulations

Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

A new set of Crescent City Harbor commissioners on Tuesday will discuss a fireworks ordinance that proposes the same fines Del Norte County adopted in a similar ordinance last year.

The proposed regulations regarding fireworks come after 14 people, including a 3-year-old boy, were injured in an explosion that took place on South Beach last Fourth of July.

According to the Harbor District’s staff report, the ordinance follows a model ordinance the California State Fire Marshal issued. Adopting the ordinance will allow the Harbor District to regulate the possession, sale, use, storage and display of fireworks within its jurisdiction.

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Ocean Gold Seafood Gets Hoist Lease, Promises To Reopen Crescent City Ice Plant

Photo by Paul Critz

Crescent City Harbor commissioners are holding a Westport, Washington-based seafood buyer to its promise to reopen the ice plant Pacific Seafood shuttered in October.

The Harbor District last week entered into lease agreements with Ocean Gold Seafoods to operate hoists on Citizens Dock and to produce ice locally. If the company fails to reopen the plant within six months, the Harbor District will consider that a default of its lease, Interim Harbormaster Mike Rademaker told Redwood Voice Community News on Feb. 10.

“This gives us the confidence the commitment will be fulfilled,” he said via email. “Restoring essential ice production is critical to maintaining the quality of our local seafood as it reaches the marketplace.”

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Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Roundup, Feb. 11, 2024

Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Aegis Treatment Center: County supervisors backed efforts from a medicated-assisted addiction treatment provider to open a brick and mortar clinic in Del Norte County.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey, who is part of the Reaching Rural Initiative to open a mobile MAT program in Del Norte, asked her colleagues to approve a letter of support for Aegis Treatment Center. Currently, those receiving medicated-assisted addiction treatment have to travel back and forth from Humboldt County for that treatment, she said, noting that the round-trip takes about four hours.

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Del Norte Supes OK Retirement Benefit Asset Transfer to PARS Trust, Call For Guidelines Governing Proposed Withdrawals

Photo by Aisling Bludworth

Public Agencies Retirement Service representative Matt Spooner repeated a comment he made to county supervisors a month ago, that a Section 115 Trust with his firm was a “savings account on steroids.”

But contrary to a statement one supervisor made at the Jan. 14 meeting, Spooner, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez and District 5 representative Dean Wilson said Tuesday that Del Norte couldn’t use dollars it places in that trust for anything other than meeting its pension and other post-employment benefit obligations.

Yet, supervisors Valery Starkey and Darrin Short still sought guidance on how the trust funds could be used. Starkey said that any proposal to access money in the Section 115 Trust should come before the Board of Supervisors and be approved with a 4/5ths vote. That way the public could weigh in, she said.

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