Homelessness SUCKS. Food insecurity, exposure to the elements, and insufficient rest all contribute to that difficult life. And because of these factors, the COVID-19 pandemic is even more threatening to people who are homeless.
Luckily, there are steps an unhoused person can take to protect themselves! Wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, getting immunized, and safely socially isolating as much as possible are things they can do to help keep themselves safe. Del Norte county has many resources that offer help.
Masks and sanitizers are available at:
-Rural Human Services on 286 M Street
-The Department of Health and Human Services on 880 Northcrest Drive
-Community Assistance Network on 355 Standard Veneer
The Redwood Voice team went out to find out the vaccination situation for houseless and low income individuals. After several interviews we gathered enough information to give you the following video:
As a young person in Del Norte, I have seen that vaping is an issue affecting other young people. And I’m not the only one to notice this. A group of Del Norte High School students, part of the organization, Storm,which stands for, standing together and overcoming addiction with a radical movement. led by the NorCal4Health project director, Amber Wier, Went to the City Council meeting on Monday, January 10th, asking them to help with stopping vaping issue hurting our fellow teens. Storm told the council about their experiences with vaping and to ask the city to implement a tobacco retail license, especially one that would ban flavored vape products or limit the places where youth can see these products, with some of the members giving personal stories of their families experiences and some sharing more overall experiences that the youth faced.
When the members of STORM were giving their presentation and sharing their stories, some members had brought up that it was impossible to use the restroom during their breaks, and Council Member Smith said,
“I’m very very concerned that its that big of a problem at Del Norte County High School, where all the kids go to, and the reason I’m concerned is because obviously the staff isn’t doing anything about it. That’s my concern, where’s the staff? Where’s the staff when this is going on in the bathrooms?”
But what would you want the school to do? The current admins are already busy enough dealing with what they already have to do, and even if they hired new people for this, it would cause outrage in a second. Think about this, if the school hired people just to watch their kids inside the bathroom, every single parent would be calling to complain about the invasion of privacy going on at the school, and if they were outside the room, it would be impossible to catch anyone vaping since it’s so easy to hide. Vape pens can be slightly larger than a USB drive. It’s really easy to hide it in a sleeve, glove, pocket, or even in a backpack. In order for the school to be able to catch these vapes, there would be a huge price to pay in the privacy of students, and also a price on the taxpayers for the school to be able to afford the new monitoring systems. And on top of that, no matter what the school put in place, the students could still have their vapes
When the meeting was going on, I decided to contact youth I knew who vaped and tried to find out what their experience with vaping is. None of them wanted to share their names, but I’ll let you know what they told me. I asked all of them if they use nicotine vapes or something else, and if they were flavored. All but 1 told me that they used nicotine vapes, and EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. told me that they have only used flavored vapes. One of them told me, “Yes. the flavored ones are the only ones people get, they’re targeted at teenagers. Everyone knows its bad. It’s just the mentality.” When the youth themselves are saying that they only use the flavored vapes, its something we should consider taking action against.
The council also talked about how they thought this was a parenting issue, with members saying,
Smith: “Us as a local government, it’s not our job to parent these kids. It’s their parents’s job.”
Inscore: “I agree”
Greenough: “And I’ll just kinda piggyback off that, It really feels like we’re gonna try and parent the parents by limiting their choices.”
But it ignores where most of the students are getting their vapes, Their friends. When talking to these people who vaped, some of them told be they didn’t want their name attached, just because they were worried of their parents finding out, because their parents didn’t know about it, so if the parents don’t know their kids vape, it’s not something that the parents can fix.
I also asked them how their friends who did buy them got their vapes. I was told that some of them did buy them in town, and while this wasn’t all of them, it’s something to consider since even one of the store owners said in the meeting, “The state can pull my license if I sell underage.” but someone is still selling them to youth, so the current California licenses don’t completely stop these sales since it’s still happening.
After the presentation, when the board was discussing if they should do anything, Council Member Inscore said,
“Does big tobacco have the right to try to make money in our community? And if you guys don’t see it that way I’ll respect your opinions, but the bottom line is you’re defending the right for big business to make money at the expense of the health of our citizens, and we know that. There’s no doubt that that’s what they’re doing. They’re making billions of dollars at the cost of our health.”
At the end of the discussion, the council agreed to discuss this further at a late meeting.
The whole discussion between Storm, The City Council, and the public comments was really interesting to watch, and I’d recommend anyone who has some free time to watch it. It’s available at the City of Crescent City, California Youtube page, with the video that was streamed live on January 10th, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVTYz3vXP0g , with the vaping discussion happening between 42:00 and 2:39:14
I’ll finish this off by saying one last thing. People often say that the youth are our future, and right now, some of the youth are telling you that vaping is a problem and that it is hurting their future. Maybe we should listen to them and see what’s going on
The audio version of this report is available for listening!
In August 2021, Del Norte County District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey found out that because Sutter Coast Hospital is overflowing with COVID-19 patients, they had to close their cafeteria to prevent an even wider spread of Covid-19. When she heard this she decided to call out to the community to donate food and water to our healthcare workers to make sure they are being taken care of.
Robert DeRego, owner of Sticky Grove, heard Valerie’s plea and decided to give back to the community that’s unique to his dispensary business. Redwood Voice Reporter E. Corcovelos Interviewed Rob to get more information on how he was going to give back to his community.
E. Corcovelos You wanted to give out some of your products to medical professionals. How did that all start?
Robert DeRego Actually, we saw Supervisor Starkey’s post about giving something back to healthcare workers, and started thinking of what I could do. And a couple of people came to the window in scrubs on, and got something—they seemed to be in a hurry. I figured that’d be an easy way to get back and show to me, and I thought maybe so far it’s been underutilized. If anybody wants to take advantage of that, we would like to help out anybody and show a little love that’s being shown at the hospital right now.
E. Corcovelos What does it entail exactly?
Robert DeRego It’s been underutilized so far. We’ve got a few regulars that help out infusion center in different places like that. But I have a couple of gummies, some joints if somebody comes in with an order and generally been trying to take care of them on that, we kind of had a budget for it in mind, and so far it’s nowhere been near exhausted.
E. Corcovelos Are you going to stop this anytime? Is it just going to go until your budget runs out for it?
Robert DeRego You know, I’m not sure. Sometimes I get jaded with our local government, but the community is just great. And so we’ll do it until it until we can’t do it. And so far, I haven’t had any sign that I can’t do it. Nobody is exhausting my resources on it. And maybe in the future, we’d like to recognize retail workers as well. And so we might switch gears here if we can get the hospital empty to say thanks to the retail workers in a similar way.
E. Corcovelos Oh, that’s so cool, man. So people just show up in their scrubs and be like “I’m a medical professional“?
Robert DeRego Yeah, and I’m stoned a lot of the day. Sometimes you might need to save scrub, or there’s something to remind me a little bit, but I’ve got masks on the window there. And the masks on the window are trying to remind me to look for scrubs. Sometimes I do forget there. And still, I probably might forget. So any little gentle hint to remind me is helpful in these situations.
E. Corcovelos I think that’s really cool personally. And it’s just a way to give back, and I dig it.
Robert DeRego Yeah, I was afraid some people will say, hey, these people don’t have time for this. But actually, if you’re working, the only thing I’ve ever done is food service and that kind of thing. And then you’re working on a high paced environment, it’s so hard to get to bed when you do have a chance. All of a sudden you’re wound up. And so I think some people could take some benefit out of that when they do get a chance to go to bed, to actually get to bed for a few hours. I know our medical community’s up against quite a quite a really proud and grateful to them.
So if you are a medical worker in need of some help relaxing or even falling asleep after a long shift, head on over to Sticky Grove. Let Rob know you work for the medical field, and he will give you the hook up.
The following is a press release from the Yurok Tribe.
In response to the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region, the Yurok Tribal Council voted to close the Yurok Reservation for three weeks starting today.
“We are taking every available precaution to protect our elders, individuals with preexisting health conditions and the whole community. Since the start of this emergency, we have exercised an abundance of caution because we know the potential impacts of widespread disease,” said Joseph L. James, the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “We will reopen when we see a consistent decline in infection rates. The closure is one part of a comprehensive plan to prevent the spread of the illness.”
“We need everyone to play active role in stopping the spread of the virus,” said Serene Hayden, the Yurok Tribe’s Incident Commander. “We strongly encourage residents to practice all of the personal safety measures, such as wearing a face covering in public, avoiding large gatherings and staying home as much as possible.”
To date, there have been 15 COVID-19 cases on the reservation, ten of which were confirmed late last week. In addition to wearing a mask while outside of the home, reservation residents are advised to refrain from travelling off-reservation unless it is for essential purposes, such as medical appointments and visits to the grocery store. COVID-19 testing is available five days per week in Klamath and Weitchpec.
The COVID-19 Temporary Closure Order applies to nearly all non-residents. Those authorized to enter the reservation include but are not limited to the following: essential Tribal staff, law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, commercial service providers, social service providers and through travelers driving on the local highways and county roads.
On March 13, 2020, the Yurok Tribal Council declared a state of emergency to activate the Tribe’s incident management team. In early April, the Tribe closed the reservation following a local rise in COVID-19 cases. A phased reopening of the reservation began in October when there were far fewer instances of the illness and local non-essential businesses were allowed to resume operations on a modified scale. The conditions did not permit a full reopening. However, the tribal government is functioning at full capacity with non-emergency staff working from home.
The Yurok Office of Emergency Services recently moved the Yurok Reservation to Tier 1 on the community risk level chart, which is the most restrictive stage. Humboldt and Del Norte Counties are also in Tier 1.
All non-essential tribal buildings are currently closed. Pem-mey and Pek-Tah Fuel Marts were deemed essential. Both facilities have altered operations to keep patrons and staff safe. The Redwood Hotel Casino is closed to tourists, but essential personnel will continue to occupy a small number of rooms.
The Yurok Tribe has mounted a comprehensive effort to confront the public health, social and economic aspects of the COVID-19 crisis. Tribal staff have delivered thousands of food boxes and PPE to Yurok elders. Students have received high quality distance learning tools. The Tribe implemented a forgivable loan program for Yurok businesses. It has also distributed direct aid to Yurok elders, families and individuals as well as many other types of assistance too.
For additional information on the Tribe’s COVID-19 response effort, please visit Yurokoes.org or the Tribal government’s primary social media pages. If you have a question, please call the Yurok Tribe’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-888-225-8952.
News Now is a co-production of KFUG Community Radio, Wild Rivers Outpost, & Redwood Voice. You can listen live to News Now live every other Wednesday at 5pm on 101.1 FM or kfugradio.org. On tonight’s stories:
On Tonight’s Stories: The COVID-19 Pandemic is surging all across our nation, including right here in Del Norte County. A positive new agreement has come around on the Klamath River Dam Removal. CalTrans looks into refining new routes that would move around Last Chance Grade. You can listen to these and many, many more on this production of News Now, linked below.
The following is a press release from the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation.
As a precautionary measure, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Tribal Council agreed to close the physical offices of the Tribal Government operations until Monday, December 21, 2020. Recently we have had multiple governmental employees test positive for the COVID19 Virus.
Contact tracing has been performed, and those with second or third-party exposure to known positive cases have been identified. They are currently isolating and will be required to test negative before returning to work.All staff will be continuing to work from home, and there will be no reduction in pay. Staff will be contacted by their supervisors to facilitate this new 100% remote-work status.
Critical services for Tribal Members will continue through electronic means, including email, telephone, and other telecommunication services. This closure is an effort to curb the possible spread of exposure throughout the organization.
We will also be taking the necessary steps to sanitize and clean our facilities and equipment. Staff will also be required to test negative for the COVID19 virus prior to returning to on-site operations.
News Now is a co-production of KFUG Community Radio, Wild Rivers Outpost, & Redwood Voice. You can listen live to News Now live every other Wednesday at 5pm on 101.1 FM or kfugradio.org. On tonight’s stories:
On Tonight’s Stories: Oops, it’s all election! And it’s LIVE! (Or, well, the recording of the live show.) Discussion and updates on the election as they happened with commentary from the Redwood Voice Crew—Persephone Corvid Rose, Gwendolyn Rose Lucas, and Avi Critz—alongside KFUG Station Manager Paul Critz. But in other news things to give you a break in-between, Pelican Bay experienced its first cases of COVID-19, and there will be prescribed burnings near Orick. You can listen to all of this on this episode of News Now, linked below!
Our present year has been one of departure from norms, and, regardless of what we might prefer, that has spread into voting in this year’s elections, now on the extremely near horizon, as well. These changes affect both Humboldt and Del Norte County in many ways, and will change the way voters engage with the polling process for the foreseeable future.
All registered California voters should have received a mail-ballot after October 5th. If you have not received your ballot, it is recommended you contact your County Clerk’s Office. You can contact the County of Del Norte Elections Office at (707)464-7216. You can also contact the County of Humboldt Elections Office by calling (707)445-7481 to request a voting ballot be mailed to your address, or ask for additional information.
The Election Offices of Del Norte County and Humboldt County have partially set aside in-person polling stations as a measure against the COVID-19 Pandemic. For the sake of voter health and cleanliness, ballots will instead be dispatched and collected by mail.
Mailed ballots will be counted up until November 20th so long as it is postmarked by November 3rd; this is a result of recent emergency legislation passed in order to ensure that, in this changed environment, with oft-delayed mailing times, every Californian vote is counted with some allowance for adjustment to what may be an unfamiliar voting method to some. All mail ballots sent by November 3rd and received prior to the 20th will be vetted by county staff in order to ensure authenticity.
If you would like to vote in person, you will be asked to surrender your vote-by-mail-ballot, or, in absence of possession of a mail ballot, by voting a provisional ballot. Those who will be dropping their ballots off or voting in person due to either preference or lack of alternative options should remember to take care to remain masked, hygienic, and aware of their proximity to others as both common courtesy to fellow voters and themselves. The official drop-off locations for ballots in Del Norte County are the Flynn Center, Senior Center, and City Hall.
If you would like to vote in person, in-person voting assistance stations will re-opened in 18 locations across Del Norte County, but only for November 3rd, “Election Day” itself, as well as 9 locations across Humboldt County, for both Election day, as well as the three days proceeding it.
And remember, once again, that as with most things during quarantine, voting is more easily, safely, and responsibly done from home (by mail), if at all possible.
Station Manager Paul Critz takes the charge on gathering the team for a discussion on the 2020 Election, and, more specifically, the process of voting. What’s it like for the youth? What’s it like for marginalized folks? What was different? What are you hoping for? What exactly IS Cottagecore? All this and more in this sweet little production, linked below!
Telling the untold stories of Del Norte and Tribal Lands through amplified youth voices.
