Tag Archives: crescent city news

Articles, Infrastructure, Transportation

Long-Awaited STAA 197/199 Project To Start Construction In The Spring, Caltrans Says

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Thumbnail image: The 197/199 Safe STAA Access project, which includes widening U.S. 199 and State Route 197 in several areas is scheduled for construction starting this spring. | Map courtesy of Caltrans

The likelihood that further litigation will stall a long-awaited project to widen lanes and modify curves on State Route 197 and U.S. 199 is low, Caltrans District 1 representatives told Del Norte Local Transportation commissioners on Tuesday.

The state transportation department expects to solicit bids for the 197/199 Safe STAA Access project in October with proposals coming in between Nov. 4 and Nov. 7, Project Manager David Melendrez said. Contract approval is expected in December and construction will start some time during the spring, he said.

“It is moving forward. It has support from everyone in our district and it also has support from people in Sacramento [at a] pretty high level up there,” Melendrez told commissioners.

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Articles, Infrastructure, Transportation

Roundabout Not Likely To Be Funded For Elk Valley Cross Road, U.S. 101, Caltrans Says

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Thumbnail photo: Caltrans officials and Del Norte Local Transportation commissioners discussed safety improvements to the intersection of U.S. 101 and Elk Valley Cross Road. | Image courtesy of Google Maps

Though acknowledging that a roundabout would help reduce the number of collisions on U.S. 101 at Elk Valley Cross Road, it’s unlikely Caltrans will receive the funding to construct it, Safety Investigator Clark Davis said.

Davis told Del Norte Local Transportation Commissioners on Tuesday that they agreed with its assessment that the collision rate at the intersection exceeded the state average. But with most of those crashes involving drivers that aren’t seeing the approaching traffic behind the car they’re trying to avoid, there isn’t much Caltrans can do, Davis said.

“We can’t make the cars invisible,” he said. “The best we can do is improve some signing and some delineation, which is what we’re planning to do.”

Continue reading Roundabout Not Likely To Be Funded For Elk Valley Cross Road, U.S. 101, Caltrans Says →
Articles, Crescent City, Crime, Emergencies, Law

Three Children Are Safe After Law Enforcement Arrest Male Suspect Following Hours-Long Standoff

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Thumbnail photo: Law enforcement with the Crescent City Police Department, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, Pelican Bay State Prison’s CERT Team and others secure the scene after an hours-long standoff ended with four children being taken into protective custody and a male and female suspect arrested. | Photo by Heather Polen

Four children are in protective custody Monday evening after officers from multiple agencies engaged in a standoff with a 50-year-old man that lasted more than seven hours.

Three of the youngsters, ages 1, 2 and 4, were in the Crescent City apartment with Robert William Thraen when officers responded to the area to conduct a welfare check at about 10:30 a.m., Police Chief Richard Griffin told Redwood Voice Community News. 

Griffin said they were able to get the children to safety and arrest the suspect after he decided to have his officers break the window to open the front door — a technique he called a breach and hold. 

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Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Local Government

Blake Inscore To Be Guest Speaker At Sister Cities International Summit in Japan; Delegation Will Visit Iwate Prefecture

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Thumbnail photo: A delegation from Rikuzentakata celebrates the inaugural Kamome Festival in Crescent City in 2023. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Blake Inscore called his guest speaker role at a Sister Cities International Summit in Japan his “last big push for tourism as well as for our community” before he moves onto the next chapter of his life.

Part of the World’s Expo 2025 in Osaka, Inscore said every U.S./Japan Sister City was invited to attend the summit, which will be held from Sept. 16-19. His opportunity to re-tell the story of Crescent City’s evolving friendship with Rikuzentakata not only puts it on as large a world stage as the Tokyo Olympics did back in 2021, it represents what many Sister Cities don’t have.

“Sister Cities International has been very intrigued and they want us to show how a Sister City can work together with government-to-government relationships,” Inscore told the Crescent City Council on Monday. “[Many Sister Cities] don’t have a city council or a mayor or anybody else that’s engaged with wanting to see this happen. And, frankly, this is a win for us.”

Continue reading Blake Inscore To Be Guest Speaker At Sister Cities International Summit in Japan; Delegation Will Visit Iwate Prefecture →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Curry, Environment

Crescent City Leaders Reaffirm Support For Permanent Mining Ban On North Fork Smith River

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Thumbnail image shows map of the proposed 58,000-acre expansion of the Smith River National Recreation Area. | Image courtesy of Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office.

More than eight years after the Obama Administration issued a 20-year mining ban for the North Fork Smith River in Oregon, the Crescent City Council reaffirmed its support for legislation that would make that prohibition permanent.

Four councilors on Monday agreed to draft a letter to U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkely and Ron Wyden, who represent Oregon, reminding them that the Smith River is where Del Norte County’s drinking water comes from and that they’ve advocated for protecting its headwaters for more than a decade. Councilor Daran Dooley was absent.

But though Grant Werschkull, executive director of the Smith River Alliance, said such legislation is necessary for the January 2017 mineral withdrawal order to be permanent, he’s not sure if it will be approved this year.

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Articles, Crescent City, Crime, Curry

CCPD Helps Curry County Sheriff Apprehend Man Suspected Of Abusing Children

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

Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin credited the purchase of a Cellebrite Forensic Analyzer for being able to help the Curry County Sheriff’s Office track down a Texas man suspected of abusing children.

Appearing before the Crescent City Council on Monday, Griffin said that Curry County Sheriff John Ward had posted a press release to his agency’s Facebook page, thanking Crescent City for helping with the forensics in a recent Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce case.

According to Ward’s press release, he and Sgt. Zane Van Zelf arrested 32-year-old Matthew Arthur Anderson at his home in the central part of Curry County on Aug. 7. Gold Beach Police Sgt. David Vershall assisted them.

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Articles, Crescent City, Infrastructure, Local Government

Crescent City Council Recap, Aug. 18, 2025

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Thumbnail photo: Construction began on the Fred Endert Municipal Pool’s roof on Monday. | courtesy of Andrew Goff

Councilman Daran Dooley was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

CDBG grant: City Councilors authorized staff to establish a new fund for the $1.8 million it received in 2024 Community Development Block Grant dollars.

According to City Manager Eric Wier, about $300,000 of that money will go toward the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods for its Pacific Pantry program while another $1.5 million will be used to establish a business loan program.

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Articles, Emergencies, Health, Infrastructure

Analysis Finds Del Norte Ambulance Meeting ‘Minimal Requirements’ Though Response Time to Klamath, Gasquet Can Exceed 30 Minutes

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Thumbnail photo: Del Norte Ambulance is meeting the terms of its contract with Del Norte County, an analysis of the emergency medical system found. | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Ambulance

Del Norte Ambulance is meeting the minimum requirements of its contract with the county, an assessment of the community’s emergency dispatch system found.

This conclusion is contrary to what several local fire chiefs reported to the Board of Supervisors more than two years ago when it considered awarding the ambulance company sole operating rights in Del Norte.

But the assessment, conducted by EndPoint EMS Consulting LLC, stated that the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office is unable to provide emergency medical dispatch services or provide data on 911 medical call reports. Response times to remote areas in the county often exceeded 30 minutes, and there was a lack of understanding and coordination between Del Norte Ambulance and fire department personnel.

Continue reading Analysis Finds Del Norte Ambulance Meeting ‘Minimal Requirements’ Though Response Time to Klamath, Gasquet Can Exceed 30 Minutes →
Articles, Arts & Culture, Community News, Crescent City, Infrastructure

Crescent City Council Approves Small But Significant ‘Kick Off Moment’ For Tolowa Cultural Trail At Beachfront Park

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Thumbnail photo: The canoe node will be one of the first interpretive elements to be constructed as part of the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature at Beachfront Park. | Image courtesy of Crescent City

Crescent City councilors on Monday approved an agreement with the contractor that will lay the groundwork for the Tolowa Cultural Trail at Beachfront Park.

The city’s agreement with Tidewater Contractors to do the excavation, grading and improvements needed to install the first three interpretive elements seems small, especially after the City Council accepted a $2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation earlier this month.

But Public Works Director Dave Yeager pointed out that it’s taken roughly five years of collaboration, public outreach and pursuing and cobbling together funding from eight different grants to get the city to the “kick off moment” for the project.

“We’re breaking ground as we say with this project,” he told councilors, adding that Crescent City is managing eight grants connected with the Tolowa Cultural Trail. “This is a very small segment, but as the city manager also mentioned, we need to get some of this installed by Nov. 30.”

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Articles, CC Harbor, Crescent City, Emergencies, Regional News

Kamchatka Tsunami May Have Caused More Damage to Crescent City Harbor Than Thought, Assessment Continues

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Thumbnail photo: Crescent City Harbor and Pacific Power staff assess damage done to H Dock from a series of tsunami surges spawned by an 8.8 earthquake near the Kamchatka Peninsula. | Photo by Heather Polen.

Crescent City Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said a series of tsunami surges that swept into the inner boat basin may have caused “closer to $1 million” in damage on Wednesday.

H Dock bore the brunt of the energy, Rademaker said, but the concrete structure of the docks are “mostly still in good shape.”

“The metal connecting plates are sheared all over,” he said via text message just after noon on Wednesday, “and the 1.5 inch electric cabling will have to be completely replaced.”

Continue reading Kamchatka Tsunami May Have Caused More Damage to Crescent City Harbor Than Thought, Assessment Continues →