District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard referred to a historical failure to secure resources for wildfire mitigation and recreation as a major reason a Good Neighbor Authority Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service would be good for Del Norte County.
In response to skepticism from county resident and frequent commenter Sam Strait, Howard said the county could use the agreement as a way to get funding to organizations spearheading projects focusing on fuel reduction, watershed and forest restoration as well as trail development. He mentioned the Del Norte Fire Safe Council and the Del Norte Resource Conservation District specifically.
“There are a lot of these Good Neighbor Authorities being put in place throughout the State of California and the Pacific Northwest right now,” Howard said Tuesday. “I’m incredibly encouraged by the open door we’ve seen now with the Six Rivers National Forest, in particular with the staff at the Gasquet Ranger district, in helping us shape what this document looks like.”
Thumbnail photo: The Veterans Memorial Hall served as one of the polling places for the June 2 Primary Election. | Photo by Monique Camarena
Chris Howard said he was ready for the “next leg of the adventure” after final election night results were posted Tuesday, though he lamented at the low voter turnout.
As the evening wound to a close, the Del Norte County District 3 supervisor was ahead of his challenger Lupe Gutierrez based on early results the Del Norte County Elections Office posted at about 9:50 p.m.
County Clerk Recorder Alissia Northrup and her staff will spend the week processing ballots, but Howard is already looking toward his fourth term.
Thumbnail photo: Del Norte County elections staff began a live-stream as they processed on Monday. | Screenshot
Chris Howard received donations from big local names as he seeks to keep his District 3 seat on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.
Howard, who’s running against retired educator Lupe Gutierrez, boasts four-figure donations from Nick and Lisa Rail, Green Diamond Resource Company and Adam Goldstein, an entrepreneur from Burbank who moved to Crescent City.
The amount of the donations Gutierrez received between March 1 and April 23 pales in comparison to her opponent. However, she has spent $6,634.76 in literature, campaign paraphernalia and research, according to her California Form 460.
County supervisors agreed to a year’s extension of the deadline on a line of credit they offered to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority to replace roughly 1,800 feet of chainlink fence.
The fence project is in an environmentally and culturally sensitive area along the beachfront at Del Norte County Regional Airport, Director Sean Rosenthal told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. It’s needed to keep elk from getting onto the tarmac, he said.
“Right now we’re in the design phase and that should be approved any day,” he said. “And then we have to get a Coastal (Development) Permit. And, hopefully, we get all of our plant studies done in time for September construction.”
Thumbnail: This conceptual comparison of a new Behavioral Health Campus versus the current Behavioral Health Branch facility was included in the county’s grant application for BHCIP dollars. | Image courtesy of District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey
Shiann Hogan sees many possibilities for Del Norte County’s new Behavioral Health Campus, but one thing it won’t be is a locked facility.
The deputy director for the county Behavioral Health Branch says the new facility will allow for expanded substance abuse and mental health programming. There will be a new sobering center and a mental health crisis respite center and the facility will complement the new EmPATH unit Sutter Coast Hospital is developing.
But those will be voluntary services, Hogan told Redwood Voice Community News on May 11.
District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Tolowa Dunes SP Closure: Three county supervisors said they fielded calls and complaints regarding the temporary closure of parts of Tolowa Dunes State Park over the weekend.
The California State Parks North Coast Redwoods District authorized the closure of several access points and trails to allow the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation to observe the Lhuk Rite Ceremony. The annual ceremony celebrates the importance of salmon and its annual return to its river habitat.
Before county supervisors approved a lease agreement concerning modular trailers at Williams Drive, Lonnie Reyman asked that they not forget about probation.
The Del Norte County Probation Department had leveraged its good relationship with the buildings’ owners, the Del Norte County Office of Education, and used the space for training and to hold programs for its adult offenders, the probation chief said Tuesday. According to him, there is no other space available for adult programming.
“Over the last five or six years we’ve worked to try and increase that availability we provide to our adult offenders and to be able to provide those programs directly. That is one of the key places we do that,” Reyman said of the trailers at 250 and 254 Williams Drive in Crescent City. “As the county goes through this transition to use that property in a different manner, that will be something I’ll be watching closely. …”
A joint investigation is underway following an officer-involved shooting of a dog during an encounter between two Crescent City Police Officers, a Del Norte County Sheriff’s deputy and a 40-year-old man Tuesday evening.
The dog received medical attention following the incident and is doing well, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. The animal was released to another subject that was on the scene.
Officers encountered Crescent City resident Kevin Watson and a 42-year-old woman at about 11:04 p.m. in the parking lot at the Chevron South gas station on U.S. 101. They had two dogs in the vehicle with them, Griffin said. According to him, one appeared to be a pit bull.
Del Norte County District 3 Supervisor candidates Chris Howard and Lupe Gutierrez sat down with Redwood Voice youth producers Monique Camarena and Aisling Bludworth for an evening conversation last week. | Photos by Jessica Cejnar Andrews
Lupe Gutierrez said she was surprised when people urged her to run for the District 3 supervisor seat.
They were adamant that it shouldn’t go unopposed, she said, which is why she’s challenging incumbent Chris Howard. She says she’s got the character to take on the job and one of her goals is to urge more youth to participate in the government process.
“I’m so disappointed when I look at the demographics and I see that they, the ages of 18 to 45, just don’t participate as much as the older people do,” Gutierrez said. “And sometimes I wonder about that and I know they’re disenchanted. I would really love to bring them back into the government so they can be effective in their own decisions because right now other people are making their decisions for them.”
Del Norte is joining a statewide effort that seeks to shield counties from the “health and human services tsunami” that’s coming with the implementation of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
In an April 14 letter conveying a “multi-year countywide H.R. budget request” to state lawmakers, county supervisors stated that California counties may see an impact of between $6 billion and $9.5 billion due to the federal legislation.
The demand for indigent care is expected to increase, which will force counties to expand their workforce, according to the letter. H.R. 1 will also strain other safety net programs due to people losing access to MediCal as a result.
But there are so many parts, it’s unclear how much of an impact Del Norte County itself will feel.
