All posts by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Articles, Community News, Crime

CCPD Still Searching For Shooting Suspects, Arrest A Third

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Russell Walters Jr. (left) and Russell Walters Sr. (right) | Courtesy CCPD

Crescent City police are still searching for 17-year-old Russell Walters Jr. and his father Russell Walter Sr., 65, in connection with last week’s shooting at the Jedediah Smith Shopping Center.

Police have also arrested a third person, 32-year-old Joshua Roberts, who they say helped the two suspects evade police, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. 

“We have evidence of him picking [Walters Jr. and Sr.] up after the shooting and driving away from the house,” Griffin said. “He’s on parole and a search was done and that’s where the firearms, an AR-15 and semiautomatic handgun were located with ammo and he was arrested [on suspicion of] aiding and abetting.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Local Government

Commissioner Levies Court Complaint Against Crescent City Harbor District, Harbormaster

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Annie Nehmer

The day before she accused Mike Rademaker of falsifying public records, Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer formally petitioned the courts to halt the release of a report looking into the harbormaster’s alleged misconduct.

Nehmer also states in her petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, filed Tuesday in Del Norte County Superior Court, that the Harbor District Board of Commissioners violated the Brown Act by not publicly reporting a May 13 vote to release the report.

The report is based on an investigation conducted by Sacramento consultant HRtoGO, and though Harbormaster Mike Rademaker states otherwise, it is not yet finished, Nehmer told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“We have not received notification that it’s complete or final,” she said.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Community News, Local Government

Harbor Board, Minus One Commissioner, Approve Rademaker’s Contract Amid Insolvency Rumors

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Harbormaster Mike Rademaker

Before asking her colleagues to consider taking protective action against potential insolvency, Crescent City Harbor Commissioner Annie Nehmer stood at the podium, invoked state and federal whistleblower laws and said the port may run out of cash within four to nine months.

There’s been no spending freeze or emergency budget discussion, Nehmer said, and the Harbor District Board in April gave their CEO a $24,000 raise “without disclosing the financial impact or explaining the decision to the public.”

Nehmer urged her colleagues to think twice about continuing to employ Harbormaster Mike Rademaker and voted no when, at the end of a closed-session meeting Wednesday, they finally approved his five-year contract.

Continue reading Harbor Board, Minus One Commissioner, Approve Rademaker’s Contract Amid Insolvency Rumors →
Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Proposed $1,500 Rock Contribution Leads To Debate Over Repairs to Non County-Maintained Roads

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Despite her initial worry that approving a purchase for a private road would open a tin of segmented invertebrates, Valerie Starkey came around to the idea of contributing $1,500 in rock for the Carole Lane area north of Crescent City.

The Del Norte County District 2 supervisor had initially told County Engineer Jon Olson on Tuesday that she would oppose adding the purchase to the budget set aside for repairs to roads not maintained by the county. Starkey’s no vote turned into a yes after her colleague, District 1 representative Darrin Short, made a motion to approve the purchase but only if the rock were used on parts of Carole Lane that are public.

“Just the public road intersections of Carole, Monopoly and Embarcadero,” Short said.

Continue reading Proposed $1,500 Rock Contribution Leads To Debate Over Repairs to Non County-Maintained Roads →
Alerts, Articles, Crescent City, Crime

CCPD Investigating Shooting At Safeway Parking Lot; One Victim Hospitalized

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Updated at 10:18 p.m. to correct the suspects name.

Update May 29 at 1:00PM

CCPD has arrested Joshua Roberts in connection with the investigation regarding the shooting Wednesday evening. Officers gathered evidence that Roberts picked up the two individuals CCPD is searching for and drove them out of Crescent City. Officers contacted Roberts,
who was on parole, and conducted a search of his vehicle. During the search an AR15, semi-automatic shotgun, and several hundred rounds of ammunition were located.

Roberts is currently being held at the Del Norte County Jail, and there are active arrest warrants for Russell Walters, Sr. and Russell Walters, Jr. in connection with the shooting Wednesday evening.

Del Norte Unified School District Director of Communications Michael Hawkins stated that there is an increased police presence surrounding Del Norte schools at this time, including patrols. Del Norte High School has elected to undergo further precautions including entrance monitoring and locking its classroom doors. As of 11:50 AM there have been no apparent threats made to Del Norte County schools, Hawkins told Redwood Voice Community News.

Update at 10:13 p.m.

Crescent City police are seeking the public’s help in finding Russell Walters Jr., the suspect involved in a shooting that took place at Safeway earlier this evening.

Walters will be charged with attempted homicide, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin said. CCPD is working with the Del Norte County District Attorney to obtain an arrest warrant in case the suspect leaves the area, Griffin said.

According to the police chief, Walters was seen leaving the area as a passenger in a black Chevrolet Traverse. The vehicle has a disabled license plate, number EP007. Griffin said his department is actively working with the DA’s office and the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office.

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Articles, Education, Local Government, Youth

Contract Negotiations Between DNUSD, Teachers Union Commences; Board Approves AI Policy

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Thumbnail photo: Members of Del Norte Unified School District’s AI Task Force discuss a draft policy with the Board of Trustees in this April photo. | Photo by Guiming Xiong

Superintendent Jeff Harris was absent. Among the items discussed at Thursday’s Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting.

DNTA negotiations begin:

Del Norte Unified School District is not in a position to offer salary increases to teachers during the 2025-26 fiscal year, Superintendent of Business Jeff Napier told trustees.

Napier presented DNUSD’s first proposal for its 2025-26 contract with the Del Norte Teachers Association a little more than two months after a stalemate between the two parties concluded with help from state mediators.

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Articles, Education, Youth

Route Cancellations, Delays Prompt Parents To Take Bus Woes To School Board

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Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose

Melissa Endert went before the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees two days after bus service to her children’s school was canceled.

Endert, who lives in Crescent City while her kids attend Smith River School to be near their father who is a special education teacher, said finding out at the last minute that the bus wouldn’t be showing up was a sacrifice for her and left many parents scrambling.

“That’s a hardship for community members who are not like myself, who don’t have a spare car or don’t have time set aside to get their kids to school,” she said. “The district stresses that students should come to school every day. If buses aren’t running they can’t attend school. If they come to school an hour late, they’re missing breakfast, they’re missing time and they’re stressed, they’re hungry, they’re anxious and they’re worried and it’s already a long bus route.”

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Community News

Curry Voters Reject Law Enforcement Levy For A Second Year; Hollinger Gives Recitation On Presentation From Sheriff’s Association Rep

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Sheriff John Ward

Thumbnail photo by Ken Lund via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License

Two days after Curry County voters rejected a property tax levy to fund patrol deputies and dispatchers, the sheriff took solace from the narrower margin of failure compared to the effort the Board of Commissioners spearheaded in 2024.

“It was 70-30 [last year],” Sheriff John Ward told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “And this year, the breakdown was somewhere around 60 percent-to-40 percent.”

According to the results from Tuesday’s election posted on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website, 60.20 percent of the Curry County voters who cast a ballot rejected the proposed “five-year option tax for Curry County law enforcement. According to the results, 39.8 percent approved it.

Continue reading Curry Voters Reject Law Enforcement Levy For A Second Year; Hollinger Gives Recitation On Presentation From Sheriff’s Association Rep →
Articles, Humboldt, Law, Local Government

Eureka Council Quashes Camping Ordinance With One Member Saying It Targets Status Rather Than Conduct

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Thumbnail photo: A man who identified himself as Ray told the Eureka City Council on Tuesday that he’s been homeless for 25 years. He asked the City Council to approach the issue with humanity. | Screenshot

Despite their city manager’s attempt to paint it as a means of getting people the help they need, three Eureka City Councilors decided that a proposed ordinance restricting camping and sitting or lying on the sidewalk is criminalizing homelessness.

City Manager Miles Slattery also presented letters from philanthropist Betty Chinn and Eureka Rescue Mission Executive Director Bryan Hall on Tuesday endorsing the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD program, which is specifically referred to in Bill No. 1040 C.S.

But Eureka City Councilor G. Mario Fernandez pointed out that though the LEAD program offers “case management and supportive services,” he’s not aware of any social workers who support it. The city already has regulations governing obstructing public walkways and aggressive conduct prompting Fernandez to question why Eureka needed additional camping laws.

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Articles, Community News, Education

Library Director Tenders Resignation As Trustees, Staff Fight For Del Norte Reads

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Literacy means resiliency, stability and survival for Del Norte County, Terrin Musbach wrote in a letter she plans to send to state library officials.

Musbach, program coordinator for Del Norte Reads, read her letter before library trustees on Monday about six weeks after the California State Library recommended the local program not participate in the state’s literacy program.

But, while trustees agreed to partner with Musbach and petition the state to let Del Norte Reads rejoin California Library Literacy Services, they also received a letter of resignation from their library director, Phyllis Goodeill.

Continue reading Library Director Tenders Resignation As Trustees, Staff Fight For Del Norte Reads →