Category Archives: Regional News

Agriculture, Articles, Community News, Environment, Regional News, Smith River, Tribal Affairs

Public Asked To Weigh In On Pesticide Use In Smith River’s Easter Lily Bulb Industry

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Conservationists seeking to eliminate the use of “highly toxic pesticides” on Smith River’s Easter lily fields want to give residents and county officials a chance to voice their concerns next week.

Scientists with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board also want to hear from the public as they continue work to develop water quality regulations for commercial Easter lily bulb production in the Smith River area.

Representatives with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Siskiyou Land Conservancy and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation will lead a discussion at 6 p.m. Monday at the Smith River United Methodist Church before going before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

Monday’s public forum will be broadcast live on KFUG Community Radio, 101.1 FM — listen by clicking here.

“We are hoping that affected community members will come to each of the two meetings and help make a compelling case as to why pesticide application needs to be more regulated,” Josefina Barrantes, EPIC’s Del Norte advocate, told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “We want both the water board staff and the Board of Supervisors to hear how the pollution has affected the community so that it can motivate real change.”

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold a public scoping meeting from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday at the United Methodist Church in Crescent City. This meeting will also be held virtually. For more information about efforts to develop waste discharge permit requirements for Easter lily bulb production in Smith River, click here.

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Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Just For Fun, Local Government, Youth

‘Something This Amazing’; Crescent City Cuts The Ribbon On New Pump Track

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Crescent City cut the ribbon Saturday on the first amenity at Beachfront Park built using Prop 68 grant money. | Jessica C. Andrews

Wesley Phillips’ experience with pump tracks is limited — the new course at Crescent City’s Beachfront Park was his first taste.

Though the official grand opening wasn’t until last Saturday, Wesley’s dad, Tom Phillips, said his son had already been practicing. Wesley and his friends Aidan Evans and Landon and Chase Feight were demo riders — zipping over the jumps and scaling the wall ride, the wooden structure towering above the rest of the track — while Tom looked on.

“He’s blown away by it,” Tom said, watching Wesley and his buddies. “He had always ridden bikes and asked [me], ‘Can you build me a jump?’”

As the bike pump track took shape over the last two months, Wesley’s thoughts have been “nothing else but BMX,” his dad says.

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Alerts, Articles, Community News, Curry, Elections

75-Year-Old Woman Injured After Someone Threw an Apple at a Harris/Walz Rally in Brookings

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Curry County Democrats logo

A 75-year-old Brookings woman sustained facial injuries after someone threw an apple into the crowd at a Harris/Walz rally Friday.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear of harassment, said the apple hit her left eye and fractured the orbital bone. She said she sustained scratches to her cornea and has had to put off cataract surgery. She said she had just had surgery on her right eye.

“I was just standing there waving the Harris/Walz sign and, bam!” She told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “We were getting some fair response — people honking horns and waving, so we were all waving back and stuff — and then, wham!”

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Activism, Articles, Humboldt, In Media Res

“Deshelve Sabra” — Marching with Protesters on Wildberries & College Creek Marketplaces

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The flier for the protest | Credit Unknown

“It’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as empires that last forever,” one protester, Ryan, declared before an assembled crowd.

Over 30 people by my count gathered at the Arcata Plaza on Oct. 4th at around 4:30 PM. They stood around one protester holding a Palestinian flag and two others carrying a large banner, reading: “Boycott Sabra Genocide Hummus.” Stragglers made their way from every side of the Plaza and a small marching band began to set up with instruments. Two protesters brought their own drums, another hand bells, to join in the making of noise.

Ryan — addressing the crowd with no bullhorn nor microphone, and who would later describe himself as “not some kind of grand leader, [just] some guy that felt strongly that this should happen,” — continued to address the growing crowd. “It’s a time where many of us feel powerless with the intensified Israeli assault on Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But it’s important to remember that we can look back into our history, and we can look at tactics that have historically worked.”

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Agriculture, Articles, Community News, Economy, Fort Dick, Humboldt

Animal Rights Advocates Sue Alexandre Dairy Over Cruelty Allegations Farm Forward Exposé Raised In April

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A Sacramento-based nonprofit organization combating factory farming and animal abuse in the poultry industry is suing Alexandre Family Farm alleging “rampant cruelty” at their Humboldt and Del Norte County dairy operations.

Legal Impact for Chickens filed its lawsuit in Humboldt County Superior Court last week. The organization’s complaint contains the same cruelty allegations another organization, Farm Forward, outlined in a report released six months ago. In an Oct. 1 news release, Legal Impact for Chickens references that exposé and accuses the dairy of pouring table salt in cows’ eyes to treat maladies, dragging disabled animals across concrete and starving them.

“We saw the exposé and we saw that Alexandre was accused of pouring table salt into animals’ eyes and dragging cows across concrete and starving them,” Legal Impact for Chickens Executive Director Alene Anello told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “Being familiar with California’s animal cruelty laws, we immediately thought to ourselves, ‘that is illegal, we need to stop them.’”

Farm Forward released its exposé, “Dairy Deception: Corruption and Consumer Fraud At Alexandre Family Farm” on April 11.

Continue reading Animal Rights Advocates Sue Alexandre Dairy Over Cruelty Allegations Farm Forward Exposé Raised In April →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Health, Just For Fun

Pump Track Ribbon Cutting Set For Saturday, And Other City Council News

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Crescent City councilors approved bike pump track rules ahead of its Saturday grand opening.

The new rules require users to wear a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads and states that kids under age 12 must be under adult supervision, City Attorney Martha Rice said Monday. The regulations set the facility’s hours from dawn to dusk and limit its use to “non-motorized wheeled devices.”

Anyone flouting those rules will either be suspended from the facility or receive an administrative citation, Rice said. Though the ordinance won’t take effect for another 30 days, the rules will be posted at the pump track’s entrance.

The pump track grand opening will start at 11 a.m. Saturday at Beachfront Park and will include giveaways and riding demonstrations. Kids are also urged to bring their helmets and bicycles. The city and the Del Norte Trail Alliance are sponsoring the event.

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Muni Code Cleanup Uncovers Landscaping Standards Crescent City Councilors Didn’t Realize Existed

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An effort to set parameters for the amount of open space housing developers need to provide their residents made Crescent City councilors realize that the municipal code contains landscaping standards that likely aren’t applied consistently.

Some don’t make sense, Councilor Kelly Schellong Feola said Monday. One example she gave is a requirement that at least one tree from an approved list be planted in a residential front or side yard every 30 feet. The other is limiting the use of non-vegetative material in residential landscaping to 25 percent, Feola said.

“I know a lot of older people that can’t get out and mow their lawns,” she said. “They like to decorate their yards with river rock and such, and this is saying you can’t do that for more than 25 percent of your property.”

It’s these inconsistencies the Community Development Department and the Planning Commission have been working through, according to Ethan Lawton, a planner with SHN, a Eureka-based engineering and planning firm that is contracted with the city. When it comes to landscaping standards in residential zones, developments that are less than four units aren’t required to submit site plans to the city that verifies their landscaping plans, he said.

But, while there’s no special permit required for a single-family home, for example, under the municipal code, city staff should still review those landscaping standards, City Attorney Martha Rice said.

“No building permit should be issued unless [the development] meets these landscaping requirements,” she said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Crescent City, Elections

Harry Adams Announces Write-in Candidacy For Harbor District; Del Norte Ballots Mailed This Week

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Your Vote Counts badge. | Photo: LALeBan via Wikipedia. Creative Commons License

A familiar face has joined the race for Crescent City Harbor District this election, though Del Norters won’t find him on their ballot.

Harry Adams, who’s currently president of the Harbor District Board of Commissioners, announced Friday that he’s running as a write-in candidate. He’s running against Linda Sutter, Annie Nehmer, Dan Schmidt, Devon Morgante and John Evans. Adams said he submitted the signatures he needed to be an official write-in candidate.

“I just feel like my job wasn’t done yet,” he said. “Why quit when you’re just starting to get good at it? I don’t totally agree that three seats should be vacated at one time.”

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government

Fireworks Ordinance Set To Go Before Del Norte Board of Supervisors

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Del Norte County supervisors will get their first look at an ordinance that seeks to discourage folks from bringing illegal fireworks into the community.

The proposed regulations are expected to come before the full Board on Tuesday about three months after a fireworks explosion created a mass casualty incident on South Beach during the Fourth of July.

They’re consistent with an ordinance Crescent City already has on the books, said District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey. The proposed regulations also coincide with an ordinance the Harbor District Board of Commissioners is considering, though Starkey noted that harbor commissioners are considering banning all fireworks.

“That was super important for us to have very consistent ordinances across the board,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “At our last ad-hoc meeting we decided that we couldn’t really move forward with messaging and education until we have those ordinances in place.”

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Articles, Arts & Culture, Crescent City, Economy

Rikuzentakata’s Story Of Survival Prompted RCRC Members to Open Their Wallets, Generate $31,000 for Kamome Foundation

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Rikuzentakata representatives Kyoshi Murakami, Futoshi Toba and Akihiko Ito talk about how their community survived the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. | Photo courtesy of Chris Howard

Chris Howard talks about Del Norte County’s relationship with Rikuzentakata, Japan everywhere he goes, so Kamome’s story isn’t new for his colleagues with the Rural County Representatives of California, or RCRC.

But when he brought Council Chairman Akihiko Ito, Mayor Futoshi Toba and Kyoshi Murakami, senior executive advisor for Rikuzentakata, to the organization’s annual meeting as the keynote speakers last month, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, said Howard, who represents Del Norte County’s District 1.

The three Rikuzentakata delegates told county leaders from across California how their community survived the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and how it led to a now six-year-old Sister City relationship with Crescent City and Del Norte County.

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