Thumbnail photo: Passengers board Advanced Air’s inaugural flight from Crescent City to Hawthorne on March 17, 2024. | Pnoto by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Nearly three weeks after President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, Greg Burns helped Del Norte County supervisors unpack how it may affect their constituents.
Burns, a representative with Thorn Run Partners, Del Norte’s advocate in Washington D.C., started his presentation to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday by mentioning a program not included in the legislation — the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act.
The lobbyist touched on the Essential Air Service Program, the Community Development Block Grant program, a funding proposal from California’s senators on behalf of the Veterans Memorial Hall as well as the Last Chance Grade project’s long-awaited final environmental clearance.
Thumbnail photo: Del Norte Search and Rescue volunteers in May returned to an area where a Smith River woman went missing while picking mushrooms in January 2024. | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Search and Rescue
An earlier authorization will enable Del Norte County supervisors to award federal Title III dollars to Search and Rescue as well as the Gasquet Fire Protection District, according to Community Development Director Heidi Kunstal.
Kunstal had initially asked the Board to choose between the two agencies. But on Tuesday, she told supervisors that a different pot of Title III dollars might be more appropriate for Search & Rescue, which sought $45,361 to buy a Ford F150.
After assuring them that she would bring SAR’s application and a separate report back to the Board at its first meeting in August, supervisors directed Kunstal to proceed with processing Gasquet Fire Protection District’s request for $47,511.50 for Atlas 1200 repeaters and other equipment at the Camp Six communications site.
Thumbnail photo: California Coastal Commissioners met with California Department of Fish and Wildlife Scientists and Smith River Alliance representatives at Pacific Shores last year. | File photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:
Timber Harvest Near Hunter Creek Subdivision:
Supervisors agreed to send a letter to Cal Fire outlining their concerns that a Green Diamond timber harvest plan could impact drinking water and increase wildfire risk in the Hunter Creek Subdivision.
The proposed letter came from District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson, who said he attended a presentation the timber company held for residents in the Klamath area subdivision. Green Diamond’s West Tepo Timber Harvesting Plan encompasses 294 acres, 60 percent of which will be clearcut, he said. Forty percent of those 294 acres will be set aside for selective harvesting, Wilson said.
Thumbnail photo: Though it’s owned by the state, the Del Norte County Courthouse houses the District Attorney’s Office and the Probation Department. | Amanda Dockter
Pointing out that Del Norte County has 23 youth under its supervision, according to her most recent statistics, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said a feasibility study to determine how their needs would be met during the rehabilitation of the county jail seemed unnecessary.
Coming about a month after she and her colleagues approved a proposal to house adult inmates at the Youth Opportunity Center building while the jail is under construction, Starkey said Tuesday she worried that having to go through a feasibility study would delay the process.
“I feel it’s one extra layer,” she said before voting against the county’s proposal. “And I don’t know necessarily why we’re doing this now and in this process.”
If it wasn’t already obvious that the Crescent City jetty isn’t the safest place to explore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to double down on that message.
But it won’t be through allowing local law enforcement to issue citations, City Manager Eric Wier said Tuesday.
“There were some concerns with the implementation of citations with it being Army Corps property and [in the] sheriff’s jurisdiction,” he told Redwood Voice Community News. “The thought was let’s try to make it as safe as we can and then we’ll see what other avenues are needed.”
Thumbnail photo: Crescent City firefighters Beau Smith, Dave Bowdish and Eugene Starkey received commendations from Fire Chief Kevin Carey for distinguished service after facing a dangerous subject armed with a “knife-type weapon.” | Screenshot
Crescent City Fire Chief Kevin Carey applauded three of his firefighters, not only for facing a dangerous subject armed with a “knife-type weapon,” but for providing aid to that person when law enforcement shot him.
Carey awarded distinguished service commendations to Capt. Beau Smith, Engineer Dave Bowdish and Firefighter Eugene Starkey, who had responded to a call for an individual covered in blood on the beach near Anchor Way on June 27.
The chief praised their decision to call on law enforcement for help when the patient approached firefighters, saying it showed great courage and situational awareness.
The Civil Grand Jury painted a rosier picture of the Del Norte County Jail this year, commending the sheriff’s office on steps taken to address the issues last year’s investigation uncovered.
However, after touring the facility in January, five Grand Jurors still had concerns ranging from stained and filthy walls and floors to an inmate property room that was so malodorous some members didn’t want to enter.
Much like last year, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott acknowledged the truth in the Grand Jury’s report, though he said addressing many of those concerns is outside of his control. As for the unsanitary property room, Scott said the Measure R Oversight Committee has already approved an emergency purchase of a vacuum sealer his staff can use to better store inmates’ belongings.
Thumbnail photo: Jamie R. Watson | Courtesy of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
A 40-year-old Pelican Bay State Prison inmate is back in custody after he was reported missing from the minimum security facility at about 11:50 p.m. Friday.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested 40-year-old Jamie R. Watson at about 7:12 a.m. Saturday, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott told Redwood Voice Community News. According to the sheriff, Watson was spotted on Mud Hen Road near Lower Lake Road. The sheriff’s office arrested Watson and took him to the Del Norte County Jail before turning him back over to Pelican Bay authorities, Scott said.
“It sounded like the guy had an injured ankle so he couldn’t get away easily,” the sheriff said. “He was apprehended and the sheriff’s office took him back to Pelican Bay.”
Thumbnail image courtesy of the Gold Beach Police Department
A Curry County woman is suing the City of Gold Beach and one of its police officers, alleging that the officer, Kenneth Moore, exercised excessive force when he shot her twice during a traffic stop on Jan. 23, 2024.
Sharon Johnston-Corson sustained two bullet wounds in her shoulder, according to the complaint filed on her behalf in the United States District Court in Medford on Wednesday. One of those shots caused a pulmonary contusion and resulted in bullet fragments being lodged inside her left lung.
The complaint also states that after shooting her, Moore pulled Johnston-Corson out of her Subaru and forced her face-down on the ground to handcuff her in violation of Gold Beach Police Department policy stating that “individuals subject to force ‘should not be placed on their stomachs for an extended period of time as this could impair their ability to breathe.’”
On its face, the Del Norte County Civil Grand Jury’s report on Alissia Northrup’s office might appear mundane.
Unlike other agencies the citizen-led watchdog group delved into, there were no alleged violations of state law to investigate nor were they acting upon a citizen complaint. Del Norte’ county clerk-recorder said she invited the Civil Grand Jury to observe the counting process for mail-in ballots on Nov. 5, 2024
“I wanted to make sure I had someone completely unbiased, someone there that could report out if they saw anything they thought was wrong or inappropriate,” Northrup told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. “It’s another layer of transparency.”
