The Redwood Voice team went out to find out the vaccination situation for houseless and low income individuals. After several interviews we gathered enough information to give you the following video:
Category Archives: Community News
Yurok Tribe, KCSD sign permit to upgrade Klamath water system
The following is a PSA from the Yurok Tribe:
The Yurok Tribe and the Klamath Community Services District signed a permit to initiate the installation of a much needed 125,000 gallon water tank on a tribally owned property in Klamath Using a combination of general fund and Indian Health Service grant dollars, the Tribe is funding the design and implementation of this forward looking project, which will greatly improve KCSD’s water storage capacity.
“We are happy to work with KCSD on making our community more water secure,” said Joseph L. James, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “In addition to improving water security, the new tank will support the ongoing expansion of our Tribe. Right now, we are in the middle of a major growth period. We are starting new businesses, creating jobs and building recreation al facilities for all reservation residents. I would like to thank the Indian Health Service for investing in our community.”
“I am really excited about this project and what it means for our community,” added Yurok Tribal Council Member Ryan Ray, who represents the Requa District. “I look forward to working with KCSD so that together we can ensure the water system has the capacity to meet the community’s needs now and in the future. We need a system that can support the growth of our community, especially when it comes to facilities like the emergency operation center. The signing of the agreement represents the first step toward the completion of this critically important project.”
Signed by Chairman James and KCSD Board President Margaret Caldwell, the permit allows the services district to construct the new tank on tribal lands. The KCSD will own and operate the system. The Tribe has already completed the engineering work for the tank installation. The Yurok Planning and Community Development Department will soon distribute a request for bids, which will be used to select a contractor to implement the project.
Crescent City’s Teens Speak Out About Youth Vaping
As a young person in Del Norte, I have seen that vaping is an issue affecting other young people. And I’m not the only one to notice this. A group of Del Norte High School students, part of the organization, Storm,which stands for, standing together and overcoming addiction with a radical movement. led by the NorCal4Health project director, Amber Wier, Went to the City Council meeting on Monday, January 10th, asking them to help with stopping vaping issue hurting our fellow teens. Storm told the council about their experiences with vaping and to ask the city to implement a tobacco retail license, especially one that would ban flavored vape products or limit the places where youth can see these products, with some of the members giving personal stories of their families experiences and some sharing more overall experiences that the youth faced.
When the members of STORM were giving their presentation and sharing their stories, some members had brought up that it was impossible to use the restroom during their breaks, and Council Member Smith said,
“I’m very very concerned that its that big of a problem at Del Norte County High School, where all the kids go to, and the reason I’m concerned is because obviously the staff isn’t doing anything about it. That’s my concern, where’s the staff? Where’s the staff when this is going on in the bathrooms?”
But what would you want the school to do? The current admins are already busy enough dealing with what they already have to do, and even if they hired new people for this, it would cause outrage in a second. Think about this, if the school hired people just to watch their kids inside the bathroom, every single parent would be calling to complain about the invasion of privacy going on at the school, and if they were outside the room, it would be impossible to catch anyone vaping since it’s so easy to hide. Vape pens can be slightly larger than a USB drive. It’s really easy to hide it in a sleeve, glove, pocket, or even in a backpack. In order for the school to be able to catch these vapes, there would be a huge price to pay in the privacy of students, and also a price on the taxpayers for the school to be able to afford the new monitoring systems. And on top of that, no matter what the school put in place, the students could still have their vapes
When the meeting was going on, I decided to contact youth I knew who vaped and tried to find out what their experience with vaping is. None of them wanted to share their names, but I’ll let you know what they told me. I asked all of them if they use nicotine vapes or something else, and if they were flavored. All but 1 told me that they used nicotine vapes, and EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. told me that they have only used flavored vapes. One of them told me, “Yes. the flavored ones are the only ones people get, they’re targeted at teenagers. Everyone knows its bad. It’s just the mentality.” When the youth themselves are saying that they only use the flavored vapes, its something we should consider taking action against.
The council also talked about how they thought this was a parenting issue, with members saying,
Smith: “Us as a local government, it’s not our job to parent these kids. It’s their parents’s job.”
Inscore: “I agree”
Greenough: “And I’ll just kinda piggyback off that, It really feels like we’re gonna try and parent the parents by limiting their choices.”
But it ignores where most of the students are getting their vapes, Their friends. When talking to these people who vaped, some of them told be they didn’t want their name attached, just because they were worried of their parents finding out, because their parents didn’t know about it, so if the parents don’t know their kids vape, it’s not something that the parents can fix.
I also asked them how their friends who did buy them got their vapes. I was told that some of them did buy them in town, and while this wasn’t all of them, it’s something to consider since even one of the store owners said in the meeting, “The state can pull my license if I sell underage.” but someone is still selling them to youth, so the current California licenses don’t completely stop these sales since it’s still happening.
After the presentation, when the board was discussing if they should do anything, Council Member Inscore said,
“Does big tobacco have the right to try to make money in our community? And if you guys don’t see it that way I’ll respect your opinions, but the bottom line is you’re defending the right for big business to make money at the expense of the health of our citizens, and we know that. There’s no doubt that that’s what they’re doing. They’re making billions of dollars at the cost of our health.”
At the end of the discussion, the council agreed to discuss this further at a late meeting.
The whole discussion between Storm, The City Council, and the public comments was really interesting to watch, and I’d recommend anyone who has some free time to watch it. It’s available at the City of Crescent City, California Youtube page, with the video that was streamed live on January 10th, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTYz3vXP0g , with the vaping discussion happening between 42:00 and 2:39:14
I’ll finish this off by saying one last thing. People often say that the youth are our future, and right now, some of the youth are telling you that vaping is a problem and that it is hurting their future. Maybe we should listen to them and see what’s going on
Nourish Yourself with Coastal Connections’ New Cooking Class
Nourish yourself, mind and body, with Coastal Connections’ new cooking class for youth aged 14-21! Over the course of 6 sessions, develop your cooking prowess and learn to mix it up in your diet! It’s free, hands-on, and sure to be a whole lot of fun. Explore a growing healthier relationship with food preparation, cooking, and of course the fun part: eating! Registration includes a student workbook, nutrition resources, and even raffle prizes for each class to assist in building your very own healthy living toolbox.
This class comes both virtually and in-person. The virtual series will be happening every Monday from January 31st to March 14th, 3pm and 4:30pm on Zoom. The in-person series will be happening every Thursday from January 20th to February 24th, 4pm to 5:30pm at the site itself.
For more information you can call (707)464-3060, or stop down at Coastal Connections down on 475 K Street in Downtown Crescent City, California. Again, that’s (707)464-3060. Come cook with us!
Welcome to the Friendly City! Fortuna’s Passed Ordinance Criminalizes Camping
On December 6th, the Fortuna City Council passed an ordinance that would criminalize camping throughout most of the city. Officials say it’s a much-needed remedy to problems caused by unhoused residents, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California says the proposed regulations are both illegal and cruel.
The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor for any person to camp, occupy camp facilities, or use “camp paraphernalia” in residential and commercial zones that cover the majority of the city’s jurisdiction. It would criminalize camping in any public place between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. — plus the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. “unless there are no sleeping spaces practically available in any shelter or if there does not exist any viable alternative to sleeping in a public place.”
At the December 6 council meeting, city councilmembers Mike Johnson and Jeremy Stanfield said they hope the ordinance has “teeth” to deal with people who’ve been sleeping in front of businesses and in other public places. Councilmember Mike Losey agreed, saying, “I think our citizens are just going to relish being able to call in and report some of these violations and then see action taken to stop some of this.”
The Fortuna City Council conducted a second reading of the proposed ordinance and again voted unanimously to implement it. The new anti-camping laws will take effect on Jan. 19th.
As first reported by the Times-Standard, City Attorney Ryan Plotz crafted the ordinance, with input from Fortuna Police Chief Casey Day, to address complaints about the local homeless population while attempting to navigate the terms of the landmark 2018 Martin v. Boise ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District.
In that case, the Ninth Circuit panel found that it’s unconstitutional to charge criminal penalties “for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter.” The Eighth Amendment bars punishing a person “for lacking the means to live out the ‘universal and unavoidable consequences of being human,’” the court found.
Day said his department’s approach will begin with a “soft launch” of the ordinance, offering education and literature to the city’s unhoused offenders while working with partner organizations. Even with habitual offenders — those who refuse to adhere to the city’s ordinance and refuse help — the department plans to issue some kind of “warning citation” before charging them with a crime.
City Councilmember Mike Losey asked whether his officers will “make some effort to determine whether there are beds available in Eureka, say, at the homeless shelter.” Day said it would be their “overarching goal to provide that type of assistance.” In the event that they find someone “open minded” and seeking help, he said “we really do try to facilitate that by making those phone calls and/or even, in past practice, arranging transportation to those facilities.”
The City of Fortuna does not have any homeless shelters, however in interviews with the Outpost, City Manager Merritt Perry and Plotz said police officers have offered to drive people to shelters in Eureka and Arcata.
The decision has caused many cities across the western United States, including Eureka, to redraft their own anti-camping ordinances. It’s also left a good deal of confusion in its wake as cities grapple with the lack of specifics in the ruling. Plotz said courts have struggled to interpret the language in the Boise decision for not being specific enough to provide real guidance. Fortuna’s ordinance bans camp paraphernalia, which it says “includes, but is not limited to, tents or tent-like structures, cots, hammocks, personal cooking facilities and similar equipment.” The definition explicitly excludes blankets, sleeping bags or bedrolls. A lot will be left up to individual officers’ discretion, he said.
The Boise decision “doesn’t specify a distance in terms of what’s considered available or not,” Plotz said in a phone interview. “It’s one of the areas that Boise has received some criticism from the League of California Cities for not providing that type of detailed guidance.”
Perry told the Outpost that Fortuna approaches the issue of homelessness regionally. When Fortuna recently received $400,000 in CARES Act funding to address homelessness, it wound up giving the money away. They made an agreement with the City of Eureka to put half of that towards their UPLIFT Program, and put the other half towards Arcata House [Partnership]. “So we’ll find a way to get people to where there is shelter” — assuming they’re willing to go, he added.
At the Dec. 6 meeting, Plotz told the council that the Fortuna Police Department has largely stopped criminal enforcement of its anti-camping regulations as a result of the Boise case, and residents have noticed an uptick in the number of people building temporary shelters and lying in front of businesses on Main Street.
“[…] the aim of the Martin v. Boise case was to prevent cities from criminalizing sitting, sleeping or lying on public property,” says Plotz. “It does not speak to the larger issue of camping and the things that that comes with, including the erection of temporary shelters.”
The ACLU of Northern California disagrees with Plotz’s assessment. In a statement sent to the Outpost last week the organization says:
“The Fortuna City Attorney’s claim that focusing on ‘camping’ rather than “sleeping” makes their ordinance legal is false and misrepresents Martin v. Boise…It covers “the unavoidable consequences of being human,” which includes the need for shelter, cooking, and having some personal possessions available.”
Additionally, the suggestion from one councilman that residents of Fortuna will “relish” calling in to report unhoused people attempting to survive outdoors suggests a concerning lack of empathy for the plight of unhoused people […]”
Day said this ordinance represents a needed update to regulations in “The Friendly City.” At the public meeting two weeks ago he stated, “I really feel strongly that for the public morale and health and safety of the community, that this revision to the municipal code is exactly what our community needs.”
Yurok Tribe Issues Emergency Declaration to Raise Awareness About MMIW
Series of human trafficking attempts occur on reservation, surrounding area—the following is a PSA from the Yurok Tribe:
Today, the Yurok Tribal Council issued an emergency declaration in response to a spate of missing persons and attempted human trafficking incidents on the reservation and in Arcata, where there is a disproportionate number of cases involving missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW).
“Today, we are asking our local, state and federal partners to take a stronger stand against the trafficking of Native women and girls,” said Joseph L. James, the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “While human trafficking and abductions have been all too common in the Humboldt County area, I ask all of our members to be extra cautious at this time. If you have to go into town, please take someone with you and let a family member know when you expect to return.”
In the last month, the Yurok Tribal Court received reports from seven Yurok women, including mothers with young children, who were approached by would-be traffickers. Thankfully, all were able to make it to safety. In mid October, Emmilee Risling was declared missing. The Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribe, in conjunction with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, implemented a coordinated, month long effort to locate her, but she has not been found. The Hupa woman was last seen near Weitchpec on the Yurok Reservation. The Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes are offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to Emmilee’s safe return.
The Tribal Council issued the emergency declaration through a resolution, which speaks to the underlying cause of the MMIW crisis. According to the resolution: “The intergenerational impacts of 170 years of violence, trafficking and murder through missions, massacres, forced relocation, state sanctioned indentured servitude, boarding schools, widespread removal of children from their families through the child welfare system, disproportionate incarceration, police violence, and high rates of gender violence are still playing out to this day, and directly contribute to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.”
Per capita, native women and girls are victims of human trafficking at a much higher rate. Tribes across the US are advocating for additional resources to confront this indelible issue. In 2020, 5,295 indigenous people were reported missing to the National Crime Information Center. At the end of the same year, 1,496 were still missing. Last year, there were 18 cases involving missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in California, according to a report produced by the Yurok Tribal Court and the Sovereign Bodies Institute (SBI). The actual number is likely much higher because MMIWG cases are poorly documented at the state and federal levels. A third of all cases in California occurred in Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, despite the sparse populations in these areas Even worse, murders of Native women in the state are seven times less likely to be solved.
“Every one of our families has been impacted by this issue. It cannot be allowed to continue,” said Chairman James.
During the past two years, the Yurok Tribe has substantially increased its capacity to respond to MMIW cases both on and off of the reservation. In 2019, the Yurok Tribal Court, in partnership with SBI, started the To’ Kee Skuy’ Soo Ney wo chek’ (I Will See You Again in a Good Way) Program to combat the crisis. The Program aims to improve the efficacy of MMIW investigations and establish an enhanced level of protection for Native women, girls and two spirit individuals in California, one of the top five states for MMIW cases The program is also developing the first MMIW database in the state. Additionally, the Court formed the Office of the Tribal Prosecutor, which aids in the investigation and prosecution of MMIW and domestic violence cases in all jurisdictions.
Similar to the Yurok Tribe, most tribes are located in rural areas, where law enforcement is minimal due to enduring inequities in federal funding. Predators intentionally target rural and tribal lands because there is less chance of getting caught. MMIW cases, including local incidents, often involve multiple law enforcement jurisdictions, making investigation infinitely more challenging. Prior to the formation of the Tribal Court’s MMIWG2 Program, the Tribe had no formal way to influence off-reservation cases. In many states, including California, Tribes are further hindered by Public Law 280. Public Law 280 grants the state jurisdiction over most violent crimes. When federal legislators determine where to distribute tribal law enforcement dollars, tribes in PL 280 states are often left out. There is no doubt that PL 280 has contributed to the inordinately high number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Humboldt County.
“The quantity of MMIW cases in the local area and across the country is staggering. This needs to change and it needs to change now,” concluded Chairman James.
Here are helpful tips to avoid being a victim of human traffickers:
- When in public, be cognizant of your surroundings.
- Travel in groups.
- Trust your instincts.
- Be suspicious of strangers who reach out via social media.
- Take swift action – if someone makes you feel unsafe, leave immediately and report it to law enforcement.
- Learn self defense.
Click the link to read the “Resolution of the Yurok Tribal Council MMIW Emergency Declaration”
Del Norte Reads: A Program For All Aspects of Functional Literacy
The information of this message comes from Del Norte Library District Literacy Coordinator Danny Clark.
Could you use assistance with your reading? How about assistance with basic computer skills; like word processing, writing a resume or setting up an email? Do you need help preparing for your GED or HiSET? Are you learning English as a second language and would like to improve your reading, speaking and listening skills?
Del Norte Reads is here to help with all this and much more!
Del Norte Reads — a grant and donation funded nonprofit organization aimed at helping community members with all aspects of functional literacy — is a library program that works in conjunction with the Del Norte County Library District to provide free literacy services to community members. They proudly provide assistance with reading, writing, math, computer literacy, GED prep and much more.
They are looking for compassionate volunteers to tutor our hard working learners. We provide materials and training. Even an hour or two a week can make a huge impact in the lives of the program’s learners.
All of Del Norte Reads’ services are free and they are more than happy to provide accommodations for a diverse group of learners.
If this program sounds like something you or someone you know would enjoy being a part of this program, you can call them at (707) 464-7072 or stop by and see them in person at 1080 Mason Mall suite 9. More information is available at the Main branch of the Del Norte County Library.
Help Wanted: 16-24 Year Olds Out of Work & School Impacted by COVID-19
The Wild Rivers Community Foundation is conducting a survey to understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on the youth of our community, primarily those aged 16 to 24 out of work and out of school. The data gained from this research will support the operations of various social programs and has a vital role in serving the underserved youth of our community.
You can access the survey with the bit.ly link: bit.ly/DNYSurvey (note that the link is case-sensitive.) You can also scan the QR code on their flier, which has been included below. All participants will receive a $10 coffee gift card and will be entered to win 1 of 4 $100 VISA Gift Cards.
Fire on Howland Hill: An Interview with Lathrop Leonard
Here at KFUG and Redwood Voice Paul Critz and yours truly, Oliver Corcovelos, interviewed Forester Lathrop Leonard to talk about the one acre fire over on Howland Hill and give an update about the fire, what it’s affecting, and how it all started.
Lathrop Leonard
We discovered a week ago Sunday but suspected was going on for almost two weeks prior to that, there was a lightning storm you may recall that came through and started another fire in the park that we put out fairly quickly. But this one nobody noticed because it was just kind of smoldering up in the tree tops for a number of days before it managed to make its way to the ground and start spreading and putting up enough smoke for people to realize it was out there.
Paul Critz
And initially, when you discovered that a week ago this last Sunday, what was the extent of it then? How many trees?
Lathrop Leonard
So it was about an acre on the ground and about five trees were burning up in the canopies. And so what happened is one of these trees probably got on fire from the lightning. And once it started burning actively up there embers and pieces of the tree, I mean, sometimes just little embers and other times big branches, like 100 pound branches would fall to the ground on fire. And then that all lit the ground on fire and it spread on the ground and even from tree to tree. And so we ended up with about five trees on fire when we discovered it and started actively suppressing that fire.
Paul Critz
Oh, my gosh. So you did something that I had never heard being done before, and that was installed sprinkler systems. Is that correct?
Lathrop Leonard
That’s right. We had some regular sprinklers like you would see in your yard on the ground so that if something fell out of the tree, it fell on the wet material so that it wouldn’t start another top fire. But then we also needed to get water where the fire was. And so we had a series of ropes and things that were pulling these sprinklers and the typical brass garden hose that people may be using in their yard. We’re hauling a bunch of those up there attached to hoses to help put this thing out.
Paul Critz
Wow. Now, is that like, ad hoc? Is this something that is commonly done or is just a fix that you guys made up?
Lathrop Leonard
Well, you know, I don’t know if anybody who’s been doing this outside of California state parks, but it’s something that we’ve been kind of developing and improving over the years over the last, I don’t know, maybe ten or twelve years or so in parks. Mostly, we seem to have more of these down in humble Redwoods State Park area, but certainly we’ve been putting them out up here and within Redwood, national and state parks, as this one, of course, is in Jedi Smith Redwoods, all those that happens everywhere, and we just have to kind of adjust and each fire up there is a little bit different so that the techniques kind of change a little bit and evolve over time as we figure out what works best in each situation, the last resort, if we can’t put it out from the ground is we’ll send a tree climber into a neighboring tree, and then they can squirt water from there. But obviously, tree climbing. That’s something Arbors and other folks do. We have some folks that are specially trained in climbing trees, but anytime you’re getting off the ground like that, it’s kind of a heads up from a safety standpoint. So we’d rather risk hoses and people’s lives.
Lathrop Leonard Forester For California State Parks and the go to guy to talk to about the fire on Holland Hill. All of us at KFUG and Redwood Voice thank you and all the firefighters working on this to keep our community safe and appreciate the lengths you go to to protect our redwoods.
Sticky Grove Gives Back To Hospital Workers
In August 2021, Del Norte County District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey found out that because Sutter Coast Hospital is overflowing with COVID-19 patients, they had to close their cafeteria to prevent an even wider spread of Covid-19. When she heard this she decided to call out to the community to donate food and water to our healthcare workers to make sure they are being taken care of.
Robert DeRego, owner of Sticky Grove, heard Valerie’s plea and decided to give back to the community that’s unique to his dispensary business. Redwood Voice Reporter E. Corcovelos Interviewed Rob to get more information on how he was going to give back to his community.
E. Corcovelos
You wanted to give out some of your products to medical professionals. How did that all start?
Robert DeRego
Actually, we saw Supervisor Starkey’s post about giving something back to healthcare workers, and started thinking of what I could do. And a couple of people came to the window in scrubs on, and got something—they seemed to be in a hurry. I figured that’d be an easy way to get back and show to me, and I thought maybe so far it’s been underutilized. If anybody wants to take advantage of that, we would like to help out anybody and show a little love that’s being shown at the hospital right now.
E. Corcovelos
What does it entail exactly?
Robert DeRego
It’s been underutilized so far. We’ve got a few regulars that help out infusion center in different places like that. But I have a couple of gummies, some joints if somebody comes in with an order and generally been trying to take care of them on that, we kind of had a budget for it in mind, and so far it’s nowhere been near exhausted.
E. Corcovelos
Are you going to stop this anytime? Is it just going to go until your budget runs out for it?
Robert DeRego
You know, I’m not sure. Sometimes I get jaded with our local government, but the community is just great. And so we’ll do it until it until we can’t do it. And so far, I haven’t had any sign that I can’t do it. Nobody is exhausting my resources on it. And maybe in the future, we’d like to recognize retail workers as well. And so we might switch gears here if we can get the hospital empty to say thanks to the retail workers in a similar way.
E. Corcovelos
Oh, that’s so cool, man. So people just show up in their scrubs and be like “I’m a medical professional“?
Robert DeRego
Yeah, and I’m stoned a lot of the day. Sometimes you might need to save scrub, or there’s something to remind me a little bit, but I’ve got masks on the window there. And the masks on the window are trying to remind me to look for scrubs. Sometimes I do forget there. And still, I probably might forget. So any little gentle hint to remind me is helpful in these situations.
E. Corcovelos
I think that’s really cool personally. And it’s just a way to give back, and I dig it.
Robert DeRego
Yeah, I was afraid some people will say, hey, these people don’t have time for this. But actually, if you’re working, the only thing I’ve ever done is food service and that kind of thing. And then you’re working on a high paced environment, it’s so hard to get to bed when you do have a chance. All of a sudden you’re wound up. And so I think some people could take some benefit out of that when they do get a chance to go to bed, to actually get to bed for a few hours. I know our medical community’s up against quite a quite a really proud and grateful to them.
So if you are a medical worker in need of some help relaxing or even falling asleep after a long shift, head on over to Sticky Grove. Let Rob know you work for the medical field, and he will give you the hook up.