Jay Trost and Patrick Hollinger once again deferred to Brad Alcorn when it came to selecting his replacement on the Curry County Board of Commissioners.
Alcorn abstained from voting, but his colleagues appointed his pick — Gold Beach resident Lynn Coker — to the Board after agreeing with Alcorn that the commissioner position is, for now anyway, a full-time job.
“When you look at the totality of all of the people who have applied, the candidate that rises to the top is clearly Lynn Coker,” Alcorn said Wednesday, “and I would be very comfortable knowing that he stepped into my role and took my place.”
On Wednesday, April 9th, the Del Norte Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC) gathered community members at the Family Resource Center for a candlelight vigil and flag-raising ceremony. The ceremony was focused on honoring the lives of those affected by child abuse, remembering those lost, and raising awareness of prevention efforts within the community. It also marked the beginning of Child Abuse Awareness month.
The ceremony started off with the introduction of council members, and opening remarks followed by the lighting of candles symbolizing the past, present, and future of child abuse prevention. Members of the audience were handed electric tea candles before two local youths took the stage to read a short speech while the real candles were lit. Next was the raising of the Children’s Memorial Flag by the Crescent City Police Department Explorers, accompanied by a moment of silence. The original flag was designed by a 16 year old student from Alameda County. According to the CAPC Facebook page, “The Children’s Memorial Flag honors each lost child and serves as a symbol for the protection of children and young people from all forms of violence.”
Del Norte County supervisors gave Crescent City the financial boost it needs to proceed with a project to underground most of the utility lines at its southern gateway.
Four members of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized the transfer of $2.4 million in Rule20 work credits the county has with Pacific Power to the city before they expire in about six weeks.
“Improvements to the city are improvements to the county,” District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey told City Manager Eric Wier, who went before the Board with City Attorney Martha Rice to provide a brief overview of the city’s plans for using those work credits. “We don’t have a current project earmarked for this and so I’m very much for this and hope that you meet the deadline.”
Thumbnail: Del Norte County supervisors Valerie Starkey and Dean Wilson join the former Crescent City Council at a groundbreaking ceremony of the new Battery Point Apartments in September 2024. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:
Opposition to Housing Bill: Though nearly 300 new housing units are being constructed in Crescent City, the City Council opposed a bill the League of California Cities says streamlines development at the expense of local environmental and public review.
Assembly Bill 647 would allow for up to eight housing units — only one of which would be set aside for affordable housing — on lots housing single-family homes, City Manager Eric Wier said, citing the nonprofit organization that advocates for local municipalities.
Introduced by Los Angeles-area assemblyman Mark Gonzalez in February, the legislation would supersede “a lot of our planning ordinances,” Wier said, and would allow those housing units to be developed without review by the Planning Commission or the City Council.
“We are a place-based people,” Emily Reed said as a map of the Del Norte coast appeared on the screen behind her. Gone are the familiar landmarks, the names of local towns replaced with the traditional Tolowa names of the villages that came before. “And the locations of where we are and where we are going hold deep significance.”
Reed is the Administrative Services Director for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation as well as the current president of the Crescent City – Del Norte Chamber of Commerce. Either role could have landed her the gig as first presenter at the 2025 Del Norte Economic Summit, the yearly confab held by the Chamber in which local leaders gather to discuss the community’s collective economic future.
As the Chamber’s executive director Cindy Vosburg explained, the economic summit is “an opportunity to bring the business community together and share what’s happening, what the city’s going to be working on, what the county’s working on. It’s a time to celebrate good things, it’s not the time to talk about what’s bad in our county, but to celebrate what’s good here. It also brings business people together and our local governments together and a lot of good things come out of that type of collaboration.”
The AI Task Force Steering Committee came back to the Del Norte Unified School District Board of Trustees with a draft policy on the acceptable use of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, April 10.
The policy is meant to outline the acceptable uses of AI within schools, with goals to foster safe and ethical use, enhance learning and teaching, and develop digital literacy. It also outlines guidelines for use by teachers, staff, and students. The criteria needed to vet AI tools, frequently asked questions, and the consequences for violating the policy are also included.
(Updated at 4:08 p.m. Monday to clarify the location of the collision.)
Del Norte County’s assistant county administrative officer has been charged with felony hit and run and with driving under the influence in connection with a two-vehicle collision that took place Saturday evening.
Randy Hooper, 44, was booked into the Del Norte County Jail and released on $225,000 bond, according to the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Portal. According to the California Highway Patrol’s public information officer, Pete Gonzalez, the collision took place on Sand Mine Road just east of U.S. 101 near Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 at about 10 p.m. Saturday.
The other party in the incident sustained possible minor injuries, Gonzalez told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. Though the report on the incident is not yet complete, Gonzalez said it didn’t appear that either party had passengers in their vehicles.
Gonzalez was unable to say how far from the scene of the accident officers detained Hooper. According to the DNSO’s Public Information Portal, the sheriff’s office was the arresting agency.
Charlaine Mazzei acknowledged the truth in a statement Chris Howard made at the last Board of Supervisors meeting: There’s no word yet on whether the Del Norte Senior Center will get the federal dollars it needs to feed more than 800 individuals.
But during a conversation with Redwood Voice Community News last week, Mazzei, the senior center’s executive director, added a couple of caveats. One, things change every day, and two, the Area 1 Agency on Aging will contribute $96,000 to the program.
“That’s going to help a lot, but it really is kind of patching things together because we have no clue when the state is going to do anything with the CDBG,” she said. “They kind of do things in their own time. We can’t reliably say, as of this date, we’re going to have funding.”
Digital Event Flyer for the “Community Office Hours” event.
Chris Rogers was elected to represent California’s 2nd Assembly district last year. This Northern California district is sparsely populated in comparison to other Californian regions, meaning there is only one representative tasked with covering Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, and Sonoma counties. This poses a stark contrast relative to the twenty-seven representatives afforded to Los Angeles County.
As such, Rogers has quite a bit of ground to cover during his week “off” to consult with his constituents. Not just geographically, but ideologically. These five counties embody wildly different cultural values and economic realities – not only from the rest of California, but from each other.
In addition to attending the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit, Rogers hosted “community office hours” at Paragon Coffee House on Wednesday. The event drew 20 to 30 of his constituents, young and old, who gathered around the assemblyman’s table in a small corner of the cafe.
Brookings Mayor Isaac Hodges declined his appointment as Brad Alcorn’s replacement on the Curry County Board of Commissioners, the county announced Friday.
In a letter to the Board of Commissioners — and provided to Redwood Voice Community News by Brookings City Council President Andy Martin — Hodges said he would be unable to fulfill the responsibilities of county commissioner “due to my personal and professional obligations.”
“I believe it is in the best interest of the county to respectfully decline the appointment,” Hodges wrote. “I sincerely apologize for the additional work and time this decision has caused.”
On Friday, Martin said praised the work his colleague and the entire City Council has done to foster transparency and openness in the City of Brookings. There have been few closed executive sessions since the community’s new city manager, Tim Rundel, was hired, Martin said, and more city businesses and workshops have been open to the public.
“Isaac brings institutional knowledge about Brookings to the Council and a common sense approach to local governance,” Martin said. “We will continue to be fortunate to have him as our mayor.”
The new deadline to apply for the county commissioner position is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Those who had submitted applications previously will be considered for the post and don’t need to submit a new position.
The Board will conduct interviews and make a decision at a special meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Those who are interested in applying for the position can visit the county’s website or visit the Board of Commissioners Office in person at 94235 Moore Street in Gold Beach.
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Brad Alcorn essentially chose his predecessor on Tuesday, though he didn’t vote.
Praising the way he approached a shoplifting incident involving the now-former city manager that eventually led to City Council recalls about a year and a half ago, Alcorn recommended Brookings Mayor Isaac Hodges to take on the role of Curry County commissioner.
Before making his recommendation, however, Alcorn said he doesn’t have a personal relationship with Hodges, though they have interacted with each other in their capacity as elected officials. Alcorn said Hodges also reached out to him after he submitted his application for the commissioner seat.
“It was very in depth and it was very detailed and the questions Isaac was asking me were pretty deep questions about our issues,” Alcorn said of their conversation. “I could sense in our conversation your desire to move things forward and continue to progress [on] the positive things we’ve been able to impact here. And, man, did you do your homework and research, and I applaud you for that
