Monthly Archives: November 2025

Articles, Crescent City, Local Government

Crescent City To Set Cap On Cannabis Retailers, Disallow Indoor Cultivation

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Thumbnail photo by Jennifer Martin via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.

Crescent City councilors endorsed a Planning Commission request to modify the city’s commercial cannabis law to disallow indoor cultivation within city limits.

But, while planning commissioners also recommended limiting the number of retailers to eight, councilors opted for a stricter cap.

“As long as these business owners are obeying the rules and acting professionally, limiting it to five would be very reasonable,” Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler told her colleagues Monday.

Continue reading Crescent City To Set Cap On Cannabis Retailers, Disallow Indoor Cultivation →
Articles, CC Harbor, Local Government

Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to clarify a statement from Harbormaster Mike Rademaker. The discussion over Measure C’s language and “priority order” occurred in 2019 between the harbor’s legal counsel at the time, Bob Black, and Del Norte County counsel Elizabeth Cable, Rademaker told Redwood Voice.)

Though their colleague Annie Nehmer said it read more like a wishlist, Crescent City Harbor commissioners approved a facilities plan they’ll take to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

The Harbor Facilities Plan is a requirement of Measure C, the transiency occupancy tax measure voters approved in 2018 to allow the Crescent City Harbor District to pay its loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and make much-needed capital improvements.

On Wednesday, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said if the USDA is agreeable to reducing the district’s annual loan payment, it could tap into its Measure C revenue to do those capital improvements.

Continue reading Harbor Adopts Facilities Plan, USDA Negotiations Expected To Resume ‘Very Soon’ →
Articles, CC Harbor, Environment, Infrastructure

State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

State water quality officials are seeking answers from the Crescent City Harbor District about a hazardous waste issue concerning the former Fashion Blacksmith site.

Harbor commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to increase the scope of work that Eureka-based consultant SHN performed to include taking additional samples from a pile of sediment that’s in the water. 

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is seeking two additional samples from the bottom of the pile that’s in the water, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told commissioners. It’s seeking more information about the levels of aluminum, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, titanium and zinc. 

Continue reading State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site →
Articles, Crime, Local Government

Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process

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Thumbnail photo: Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper struck Grants Pass resident Megan Postma at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 near Crescent City on April 19 and continued driving. | Photo by Heather Polen

Hooper |Courtesy LinkedIn

A Del Norte County judge on Thursday rejected a probation officer’s recommendation to let Randy Hooper’s felony DUI causing injury charge stand, deciding to follow a plea agreement offered to the defendant by the state Attorney General’s Office.

If Hooper lives up to the terms of the plea deal, his charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, said attorney Keith Morris, who was designated as deputy attorney general for the case. But the judge told Hooper to expect to do some jail time — up to 90 days — when his sentence is reviewed in March, Morris told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“He will serve some time in jail,” Morris said. “The judge followed the plea bargain we extended.”

Continue reading Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process →
Articles, Environment, Infrastructure, Transportation

Dean Wilson Proposes Mitigation Exemptions For Counties With Vast Swaths of Public Lands

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Thumbnail image: Dean Wilson mentioned a tunnel project around Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City as a potential project that would require Caltrans with mitigation requirements. | Image courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Five months after his colleague suggested banking county properties for mitigation purposes, District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson said he’s searching for someone who can propose legislation that would exempt counties like Del Norte from that requirement.

Wilson said Wednesday that his proposed legislation would apply to Del Norte County and others that house vast swaths of public and tribal lands. To illustrate why a mitigation exemption is critical to Del Norte, he pointed to two impending projects on U.S. 101 — the tunnel bypass around Last Chance Grade and efforts to protect the highway from sea level rise near South Beach.

Wilson also mentioned a runway safety project the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority completed about 12 years ago. In that situation, the requirement came from the California Coastal Commission. And while the BCRAA spearheaded the project, it fell to the county to find the land to meet those mitigation requirements.

Continue reading Dean Wilson Proposes Mitigation Exemptions For Counties With Vast Swaths of Public Lands →
Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short and his District 3 colleague Chris Howard were absent. Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Grant confusion: Three supervisors endorsed two Crescent City grant proposals, though it took a last-minute visit from City Manager Eric Wier for them to arrive at that conclusion.

Supervisors agreed to sign a letter of support for Crescent City’s efforts to obtain a Sustainable Planning Grant through Caltrans for its Redwood Highway Multi-Modal Transportation & Land Use Plan. They also approved a support letter for the city’s pursuit of California Ocean Protection Council grant dollars for its Coastal Resiliency Plan.

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy →
Community News

CCHD Board Chair Seeks To Censure Dan Schmidt; Weber Says Schmidt Publicly Revealed Confidential Information

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Thumbnail photos: Gerhard Weber (left), Dan Schmidt (right) | Courtesy of ccharbor.com.

A month after he added his name to a now-stalled effort to recall Dan Schmidt, Gerhard Weber sought his colleague’s censure before relinquishing his role as ringmaster of the Crescent City Harbor District.

Weber, who presided over his final meeting as CCHD Board chairman on Wednesday, said he felt partially responsible for “all the circus that is going on.” He acknowledged that he publicized his proposal to officially reprimand Schmidt 24 hours ahead of Wednesday’s special meeting, but argued that his allegations against Schmidt were “nothing new.”

“Some of those items are months old,” Weber said. “Some of the items, newspapers, have been written about. There’s nothing that hasn’t been discussed less than three weeks ago.”

Continue reading CCHD Board Chair Seeks To Censure Dan Schmidt; Weber Says Schmidt Publicly Revealed Confidential Information →
Articles, Curry, Local Government

Judge Sides With Curry County BOC Against Sheriff Over Access To Some Documents, But Says Commissioners’ Order Was Overbroad

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Ward

Thumbnail photo: Screenshot

The day after an Oregon circuit court judge issued a final ruling that vindicated the Curry County Board of Commissioners, Jay Trost pushed back against accusations that he and his colleagues aren’t transparent.

Speaking from the dais at a meeting Wednesday, Trost noted that it was those accusations that led to a now-abandoned recall campaign against him and his colleague Commissioner Patrick Hollinger. Trost argued that they were the ones being transparent while Sheriff John Ward hasn’t provided a public safety update to the Board in more than a year.

“I’m grateful for the recent ruling and we will now have court-ordered access to the information that we have been requesting for over a year,” Trost said.

Continue reading Judge Sides With Curry County BOC Against Sheriff Over Access To Some Documents, But Says Commissioners’ Order Was Overbroad →
Articles, Crime

Mother, Daughter Ordered To Pay Restitution As Part of Plea Deal In Embezzlement Case, Face Probation And Possible Jail Time

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

A Crescent City mother and daughter are facing probation and up to 60 days in jail after pleading no contest to embezzling between $22,000 and $23,000 from a local cleaning business.

Wendy Malone, 61, and her daughter, 33-year-old Kaitlin Malone–Smith, were ordered to pay about $22,000 in restitution to Corinne Higgins, co-owner of Wen-Cor Cleaning, as part of a plea agreement reached on Thursday. Malone was Higgins’ partner in the business, according to Keith Morris, who prosecuted the case for the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office.

According to Morris, both defendants are ordered to pay the full restitution amount by Dec. 10 or they will be in breach of the plea agreement.

Continue reading Mother, Daughter Ordered To Pay Restitution As Part of Plea Deal In Embezzlement Case, Face Probation And Possible Jail Time →
Articles, Gasquet, Infrastructure, Smith River, Transportation

Caltrans May Use Bollards As Visual Incentive To Reduce Speeding on 199; Pedestrian Killed After Being Struck By Car On Oct. 26, CHP Reports

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Thumbnail Photo by Akampfer via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.

A month after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1014 into law, the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission’s Tamera Leighton said Caltrans is working on a more visible incentive to get people to slow down on U.S. 199.

During a U.S. 199/197 safety update at Tuesday’s DNLTC meeting, Leighton, the agency’s executive director, said that Caltrans is eager to move forward on the use of traffic bollards to discourage unsafe passing in Gasquet. The regional transportation planning agency will also be conducting outreach in Hiouchi to gauge community opinion on a similar project, she said.

During her update, however, Leighton told commissioners that she and District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who represents Gasquet and Hiouchi, are running into roadblocks when it comes to receiving information about collisions in the area from the California Highway Patrol. She characterized it as a misunderstanding and pointed to a recent fatality that occurred on U.S. 199 as an example.

Continue reading Caltrans May Use Bollards As Visual Incentive To Reduce Speeding on 199; Pedestrian Killed After Being Struck By Car On Oct. 26, CHP Reports →