Category Archives: Articles

Articles, Community News, Crescent City

‘She will be an asset to the community later, the dog and Jenna’; Future K9 Hero Juno Needs Help

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Jenna Phillips and her K9 partner Juno — seen here in the middle with Catherine Schneider (left) and Gloria Bobertz — earned their AKC Canine Good Citizenship certification on Nov. 18. | Photo courtesy of the Crescent City Police Department. Thumbnail photo courtesy of GoFundMe.

Jenna Phillips can already see herself as a new officer working at the Crescent City Police Department with her canine partner Juno.

At 16 years old, Jenna is a sergeant in the CCPD Explorers Program and is a member of its volunteer K9 crew. Juno, a cattle dog Labrador mix, has appeared at “multiple fundraisers for different things” and has taught youngsters about canine safety.

Juno just passed her AKC Canine Good Citizenship qualification test with flying colors.

“One day, she will be able to be deployed and help find missing persons,” Jenna wrote.

Continue reading ‘She will be an asset to the community later, the dog and Jenna’; Future K9 Hero Juno Needs Help →
Articles, Community News, Education, Transportation

DNUSD Transportation’s ‘Monsters’ Include An Aging Fleet, Dearth of Drivers

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Photo by Persephone Rose

Though she thanked trustees for taking her concerns seriously, Lisa Sedgwick rejected the idea that implementing a digital system for reporting and tracking mechanical issues in district vans would cost $70,000.

Sedgwick, a teacher at Mary Peacock Elementary School, told Del Norte Unified School District trustees on Thursday that free electronic tools exist that allow people to fill out forms that are dated and time stamped and QR codes can make them available when a van is returned after hours.

“If you’re really stuck on having a paper form, which they never tell you when you make a complaint in person [that there’s] this form to fill out — it was never handed to me when I complained about the rotors two years ago — that could be handed to you when you’re handing over the keys,” she said. “There are so many tools that are easy to use and they’re free. There’s no reason to spend $70,000 when you have these tools available.”

Continue reading DNUSD Transportation’s ‘Monsters’ Include An Aging Fleet, Dearth of Drivers →
Articles, Community News, Local Government

Tuff Shed, ‘Nuff Said?

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Photo courtesy of Valerie Starkey

Eric Matson had tiny houses in mind when he and his wife approached Home Depot staff about turning a Tuff Shed into a second home.

Since the “Tuff Shed guy” was at the store, Matson said he and his wife viewed base models and asked if the Denver-based company — which operates a factory in Medford — could extend the overhang, add insulated windows, 2-by-6 exterior walls, a paint job and a gable fence.

The result is the 1,224 square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-story structure at 216 Macken Avenue, which was completed in December 2023. Matson said he paid a total of $140,000. This includes $39,050 for the unit itself plus the concrete pad it sits on, the Home Depot cabinets and carpet and the Ikea island he installed as well as the plumbing.

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Articles, Community News, Local Government

Del Norte Departments Still Plagued By Vacancies, SEIU 1021 Rep Says; Contract Negotiations Between Union, County Continue

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Six weeks after supervisors signed off on the sheriff’s plan to, hopefully, boost recruitment and retention, Norma Williams says vacancies continue to plague county departments, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services.

Williams, chapter president of the Del Norte County Employees Association SEIU 1021, told supervisors on Tuesday that the county’s overall vacancy rate is 30 percent. Most of those vacancies are concentrated within DHHS, where some staff are struggling to serve more than 700 clients, she said.

Wages associated with several classifications fall well below what other similar counties offer, Williams said, giving Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, Trinity and Lassen counties as examples. She said that the vacancy rate equates to $7 million in savings to the county in unpaid salaries and benefits and argued that those dollars should be repurposed to try to make those positions more attractive.

Continue reading Del Norte Departments Still Plagued By Vacancies, SEIU 1021 Rep Says; Contract Negotiations Between Union, County Continue →
Articles, Community News, Local Government, Smith River, Tribal Affairs

Del Norte Supervisors Oppose Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation’s Land-Acquisition Efforts

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Photo by Persephone Rose

Four county supervisors officially opposed efforts by the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation to place more than 24 acres into trust, citing concerns that the land would no longer generate tax revenue for the county.

In a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Tuesday supervisors pointed out that much of Del Norte County consists of public land and is home to “three tribes whose trust land holdings have grown over the past decade.”

“Although each acquisition may seem small, the cumulative impact of continued reductions of the county’s privately held land base — and thus its taxable land base — is significant,” the letter states. “This ongoing trend strains local resources and challenges the county’s ability to serve its residents.”

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Oppose Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation’s Land-Acquisition Efforts →
Articles, Community News, Law, Youth

Del Norte Juvenile Offenders Can Be Housed in Mendocino, Supervisors Say

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Four Del Norte County supervisors on Tuesday green lit a proposal to house juvenile offenders in Mendocino County. But they urged Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman to use that option as a last resort, with District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short stating that “there’s probably more gang activity prevalent” in Mendocino than in Shasta County.

Del Norte County maintains agreements with Humboldt and Shasta counties to house wards in their juvenile detention facilities. Humboldt is the first option and Shasta is currently the second, though there are times when probation officials there have declined to hold Del Norte youth as well, according to Reyman.

Two Del Norte County youth are being detained, Reyman told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. One is at the Humboldt County Juvenile Hall in Eureka and the other is at the Shasta County Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility in Redding, he said.

Continue reading Del Norte Juvenile Offenders Can Be Housed in Mendocino, Supervisors Say →
Articles, CC Harbor

Crescent City Harbor Roundup, Dec. 3, 2024

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Harbor Commissioners learned about a grant the district is pursuing that will help revitalize the former Fashion Blacksmith boatyard. | Photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Among the items discussed at the Dec. 3, 2024 Crescent City Harbor District meeting:

New Board Business: A new set of Harbor Commissioners chose Gerhard Weber as their Board president last week and went with Annie Nehmer, one of three newcomers to the Harbor District, as its secretary.

Commissioners also volunteered for a plethora of ad-hoc committees focused on personnel, infrastructure, legal affairs and policies and procedures, special events, community outreach and the Harbor District website. According to Interim Harbormaster Mike Rademaker, while each committee dives deep into its focus area, any changes would come before the full Board.

Continue reading Crescent City Harbor Roundup, Dec. 3, 2024 →
Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Infrastructure

New Harbor Board Pulls Back From Finding Short-Term Solution To Ice Plant Dilemma

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Photo by Paul Critz

Crescent City Harbor commissioners are still committed to securing a long-term source of ice at the port, but they decided that seafood processors will be on their own when this year’s commercial Dungeness season starts.

While ice is a concern for the commercial fishing fleet, it’s mostly the seafood processors who rely on it, Commissioner Rick Shepherd told his colleagues on Dec. 3.

A new set of commissioners last week directed Interim Harbormaster Mike Rademaker to focus on securing funding from the National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, a NOAA Fisheries program. The Harbor District would use those grant dollars to entice more seafood processors, particularly those focusing on shrimp, to set up shop at the harbor.

Continue reading New Harbor Board Pulls Back From Finding Short-Term Solution To Ice Plant Dilemma →
Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Environment, Science

Cal Poly Humboldt Prof. Discusses Why Today’s 7.0 Temblor Spawned A 6-8 Inch Tsunami In Crescent City

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Map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Lori Dengler said she wasn’t surprised that Thursday’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake only produced a tsunami that topped out at roughly 8 inches in Crescent City.

But, while Dengler, geology professor emeritus at Cal Poly Humboldt, is still going through the reports and is speaking with the media about today’s temblor, she said one of the outcomes might be a rethinking of how the U.S. approaches tsunami evacuations.

“The Tsunami National Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska has developed a template for if an earthquake happens here and it’s in this magnitude range, this is what we do,” Dengler, whose expertise is in geophysics, earthquake and tsunami hazards and hazard reduction, told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “Because this earthquake was so relatively close to the coast and their preliminary magnitude was 7.3, it immediately triggered a tsunami warning from basically Santa Cruz to Central Oregon.”

Continue reading Cal Poly Humboldt Prof. Discusses Why Today’s 7.0 Temblor Spawned A 6-8 Inch Tsunami In Crescent City →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government

Council Chooses Gateway Design, Urges Staff To Engage With Businesses Before Embarking On Street Name Change

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Nearly 80 percent of those who responded to a Crescent City survey said they preferred a sequence of gateway elements incorporating waves and dolphins to welcome folks to the Beachfront Park area. | Screenshot

After a community outreach campaign netted 561 survey responses and more than 100 shares on Facebook, Crescent City councilors chose a gateway that draws on its residents’ relationship with the ocean.

Seventy-six percent of those who responded to the city’s survey also supported changing Front Street’s name to Beachfront Drive, Crescent City Manager Eric Wier told the Council on Monday. But the potential name change could disadvantage local businesses, Wier said, costing them thousands of dollars.

“The hard costs are somewhere between $7,000 on the low end for the permitting, the licensing, all the changing of business cards — all those types of pieces,” he said, adding that he spoke with two business owners on Front Street. “Then if you get into search engine optimization and the actual loss of revenue if that’s done the wrong way or at the wrong time, it could be tens of thousands of dollars. Upwards of $50,000. It’s not a small item and it should be one that’s dealt with carefully and intentionally.”

Continue reading Council Chooses Gateway Design, Urges Staff To Engage With Businesses Before Embarking On Street Name Change →