Category Archives: Youth

Articles, Community News, Education, Youth

Del Norte High’s First Poetry Out Loud Champion Advances To State Competition

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“I have a lot more hope for the future,” 

J.Rowe, one of the three guest teachers participating in Sunset High School’s Poetry Out Loud competition, came from the Sacramento area to teach poetry to local students. She is a social activist and spoken word artist who explores themes of empowerment, social justice and love through her poetry. The students at Sunset High have a lot of big ideas and the courage required to put those ideas into motion, she says. 

“These students I’ve been blessed to work with are very much ahead of their time.” Rowe told Redwood Voice Community News at the Poetry Out Loud Open Mic event Friday.

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Community News, Crescent City, Guest Submission, Youth

Crescent City Beast Boys Basketball Teams Head to Oregon State Middle School Championships

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This article is a guest submission. To submit your own work for consideration, send your piece to redwoodvoicedn@gmail.com. Photos courtesy of Elijah Brunson.

Written and submitted by Elijah Brunson.

Crescent City, CA – The Crescent City Beast Boys 5th and 7th grade basketball teams are gearing up for the Oregon State Middle School Championships, set to take place in Redmond, Bend, and Sisters, Oregon, from March 14-16.

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Articles, Community News, Youth

Del Norte’s Teen Court Set To Hear Its First Case

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Two weeks after training its first jury, Del Norte County’s presiding judge has referred a case to the new Teen Court program.

The newest wing of the community’s juvenile justice system will hear its first case in about three weeks, said Denise Doyle-Schnacker, who oversees the program.

“We have a volunteer coordinator right now who will meet with the young person and their family,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. “We have two — it’s her and an adult.”

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Articles, Community News, Economy, Education, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation, Youth

Trump’s Attack On Federal Funding Could Impact Del Norters’ Access To Health Care, Senior Services, Education, Local Nonprofits Say

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Open Door Clinic operates a clinic at the Del Norte Community Wellness Center. At a discussion with Congressman Jared Huffman on Monday, the organization’s CEO Tory Starr said he was worried about being unable to serve patients should their federal funding be frozen. | Photo by Persephone Rose

Nearly a week after a judge temporarily blocked a Trump Administration directive to freeze federal funding, Open Door Clinic CEO Tory Starr said his organization is still bracing for the worst.

Open Door operates more than 14 clinics across Humboldt and Del Norte counties, providing behavioral health, medical, dental and obstetrics care to 60,000-plus patients and employing nearly 800 people.

During a virtual roundtable discussion hosted by Congressman Jared Huffman on Monday, Starr said that while a judge hit pause on the directive Jan. 28, guidance he’s received from the Health Resources and Services Administration suggests that federal dollars could still be at risk.

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Articles, Community News, Education, Youth

DNUSD To Seek Public Guidance As It Continues To Develop AI Policies

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DNCOE’s director of information network services showed the Board of Trustees this clip of a Morgan Freeman deepfake during a discussion last year about artificial intelligence in the classroom. Thumbnail courtesy of the Del Norte County Office of Education

A year after he showed trustees a YouTube clip featuring a Morgan Freeman deepfake, Ryan Bahten says Del Norte Unified School District will seek public input as it continues to draft policies around artificial intelligence.

The district will deploy a community survey starting next week, said Bahten, the Del Norte County Office of Education’s director of information network services. The input provided will guide him and other district and DNCOE employees as they differentiate between AI as a tool in the classroom and AI as a potential risk to student privacy.

Bahten said he is aiming to get a policy before the Board of Trustees in time for teachers to begin learning how to use AI next school year.

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Articles, Community News, Local Government, Youth

Del Norte Joins Public Nuisance Lawsuit Against Social Media Giants

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Photo by Ibrahim.ID via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

Del Norte County is joining Sacramento and San Diego counties in a public nuisance lawsuit against tech giants Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap, alleging that those companies have “knowingly targeted and profited from minors’ excessive and compulsive uses.”

County Counsel Jacqueline Roberts and several private law firms filed the suit in Del Norte County Superior Court on Monday.

In its complaint for damages and demand for a jury trial, Del Norte County is seeking an order deeming the defendants’ alleged conduct a public nuisance under California law and enjoining them from engaging in action that further contributes to the alleged public nuisance.

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Articles, Community News, Youth

Del Norte High School Students Welcome Friends From Across the Ocean

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Students from Del Norte High hosted their peers from Takata High School this week. A student delegation of nine visited from Rikuzentakata, Japan to further the sister school relationship between the two communities. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

The relationship between Del Norte and Takata high schools entered a new chapter Monday when a delegation of students from Rikuzentakata touched down in Crescent City for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the plane circled the runway for more than an hour due to fog, nine students and two teachers stepped off the tarmac to an enthusiastic welcome from their host families, the Del Norte High School Japan Club and Kamome Foundation members.

Before they accompanied their host families to pick up their luggage, each student received a gift from their American counterparts, former Japan Club members who are now in college.

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Articles, Community News, Law, Youth

CCPD’s Volunteer K9 Team Brings Eclectic Skill Set To Del Norte; Juno’s Recovery Continues

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Thumbnail: Cain, a member of Crescent City Police Department’s volunteer K9 team, works on his human remains detection skills at the Lake Earl Wildlife Area. Above: The human members of the K9 crew, Cathy Schneider, Jenna Phillips and Gloria Bobertz pose with their canine counterparts. | Photos courtesy of Gloria Bobertz

Cathy Schneider and Gloria Bobertz began working with canines for different reasons, but they have the same philosophy in mind — a good dog never wants to stop.

They don’t have to instill this maxim in their 16-year-old colleague Jenna Phillips. Her dog, Juno, is still going despite being struck by a car last month.

“She’s starting to get up on her own,” Jenna said. “She can take a bunch of steps and she goes back down. The swelling has gone down a bunch. The bruises are gone. The infection in her belly is gone, and she’s more playful.”

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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.

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Articles, Arts & Culture, Community News, Education, Youth

DNHS Band of Warriors Breaks Personal Record At Eugene Field Show

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Del Norte High School performs at the Pride of the Northwest field show in Grants Pass on Oct. 12. | Thumbnail photo courtesy of Dan Sedgwick, video courtesy of Danielle Wood.

Self-competition may be cliché in some circles — a motivational mantra personal trainers use to get clients off the couch. 

But it’s why the Del Norte High School’s Band of Warriors triumphed despite coming in last in their category at the Festival of Bands field show in Eugene on Nov. 1.

“Even though we did get last place, the students didn’t feel that way because we had a massive point increase from where we were and the best score we’ve ever gotten in a competition,” DNHS Music Director Daniel Sedgwick told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. “I’m talking [about] any year before this.”

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