Tag Archives: redwood voice

Articles, CC Harbor, Environment, Infrastructure

State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

State water quality officials are seeking answers from the Crescent City Harbor District about a hazardous waste issue concerning the former Fashion Blacksmith site.

Harbor commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to increase the scope of work that Eureka-based consultant SHN performed to include taking additional samples from a pile of sediment that’s in the water. 

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is seeking two additional samples from the bottom of the pile that’s in the water, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr told commissioners. It’s seeking more information about the levels of aluminum, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, titanium and zinc. 

Continue reading State Water Board Sends Notice to Harbor District Over Hazardous Waste At Former Fashion Blacksmith Site →
Articles, Crime, Local Government

Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process

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Thumbnail photo: Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper struck Grants Pass resident Megan Postma at Sand Mine Road and U.S. 101 near Crescent City on April 19 and continued driving. | Photo by Heather Polen

Hooper |Courtesy LinkedIn

A Del Norte County judge on Thursday rejected a probation officer’s recommendation to let Randy Hooper’s felony DUI causing injury charge stand, deciding to follow a plea agreement offered to the defendant by the state Attorney General’s Office.

If Hooper lives up to the terms of the plea deal, his charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor, said attorney Keith Morris, who was designated as deputy attorney general for the case. But the judge told Hooper to expect to do some jail time — up to 90 days — when his sentence is reviewed in March, Morris told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

“He will serve some time in jail,” Morris said. “The judge followed the plea bargain we extended.”

Continue reading Del Norte Judge Rejects Recommendation To Let Hooper’s Felony DUI Causing Injury Charge Stand; Victim Says She Felt ‘Pushed Aside’ During Legal Process →
Articles, Environment, Infrastructure, Transportation

Dean Wilson Proposes Mitigation Exemptions For Counties With Vast Swaths of Public Lands

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Thumbnail image: Dean Wilson mentioned a tunnel project around Last Chance Grade south of Crescent City as a potential project that would require Caltrans with mitigation requirements. | Image courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Five months after his colleague suggested banking county properties for mitigation purposes, District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson said he’s searching for someone who can propose legislation that would exempt counties like Del Norte from that requirement.

Wilson said Wednesday that his proposed legislation would apply to Del Norte County and others that house vast swaths of public and tribal lands. To illustrate why a mitigation exemption is critical to Del Norte, he pointed to two impending projects on U.S. 101 — the tunnel bypass around Last Chance Grade and efforts to protect the highway from sea level rise near South Beach.

Wilson also mentioned a runway safety project the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority completed about 12 years ago. In that situation, the requirement came from the California Coastal Commission. And while the BCRAA spearheaded the project, it fell to the county to find the land to meet those mitigation requirements.

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Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short and his District 3 colleague Chris Howard were absent. Among the items discussed at Wednesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

Grant confusion: Three supervisors endorsed two Crescent City grant proposals, though it took a last-minute visit from City Manager Eric Wier for them to arrive at that conclusion.

Supervisors agreed to sign a letter of support for Crescent City’s efforts to obtain a Sustainable Planning Grant through Caltrans for its Redwood Highway Multi-Modal Transportation & Land Use Plan. They also approved a support letter for the city’s pursuit of California Ocean Protection Council grant dollars for its Coastal Resiliency Plan.

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Support City Grants, Discuss DHHS Contracts, Retirement Benefit Policy →
Articles, Crime

Mother, Daughter Ordered To Pay Restitution As Part of Plea Deal In Embezzlement Case, Face Probation And Possible Jail Time

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Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter

A Crescent City mother and daughter are facing probation and up to 60 days in jail after pleading no contest to embezzling between $22,000 and $23,000 from a local cleaning business.

Wendy Malone, 61, and her daughter, 33-year-old Kaitlin Malone–Smith, were ordered to pay about $22,000 in restitution to Corinne Higgins, co-owner of Wen-Cor Cleaning, as part of a plea agreement reached on Thursday. Malone was Higgins’ partner in the business, according to Keith Morris, who prosecuted the case for the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office.

According to Morris, both defendants are ordered to pay the full restitution amount by Dec. 10 or they will be in breach of the plea agreement.

Continue reading Mother, Daughter Ordered To Pay Restitution As Part of Plea Deal In Embezzlement Case, Face Probation And Possible Jail Time →
Articles, Gasquet, Infrastructure, Smith River, Transportation

Caltrans May Use Bollards As Visual Incentive To Reduce Speeding on 199; Pedestrian Killed After Being Struck By Car On Oct. 26, CHP Reports

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Thumbnail Photo by Akampfer via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.

A month after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1014 into law, the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission’s Tamera Leighton said Caltrans is working on a more visible incentive to get people to slow down on U.S. 199.

During a U.S. 199/197 safety update at Tuesday’s DNLTC meeting, Leighton, the agency’s executive director, said that Caltrans is eager to move forward on the use of traffic bollards to discourage unsafe passing in Gasquet. The regional transportation planning agency will also be conducting outreach in Hiouchi to gauge community opinion on a similar project, she said.

During her update, however, Leighton told commissioners that she and District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who represents Gasquet and Hiouchi, are running into roadblocks when it comes to receiving information about collisions in the area from the California Highway Patrol. She characterized it as a misunderstanding and pointed to a recent fatality that occurred on U.S. 199 as an example.

Continue reading Caltrans May Use Bollards As Visual Incentive To Reduce Speeding on 199; Pedestrian Killed After Being Struck By Car On Oct. 26, CHP Reports →
Articles, Environment, Local Government, Science

Restoring Elk Creek Would Enhance Crescent City’s Ability to Withstand Flood, Tsunami, Smith River Alliance’s Grant Werschkull Says

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Thumbnail: Aerial shot of the Elk Creek watershed looking west toward the Pacific Ocean. | Photo courtesy of Smith River Alliance and Stillwater Sciences

Smith River Alliance Co-Director Grant Werschkull acknowledged that breathing new life into Elk Creek’s wetlands could be an economic boon for Crescent City.

But to illustrate his point that restoring the tidal channels and swales would make a difference during a tsunami or a flood, he pointed councilors to a 2015 New Yorker article about the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the massive earthquakes it is capable of generating and its threat to coastal communities like Crescent City.

“The title is the ‘Really Big One’,” Werschkull said, referring to the article. “Seismologists, the experts that we have, participated in that (article) and it talks about how we are right now at a date when it is timely that it could happen.”

Continue reading Restoring Elk Creek Would Enhance Crescent City’s Ability to Withstand Flood, Tsunami, Smith River Alliance’s Grant Werschkull Says →
Articles, Local Government

Recap: Crescent City Council Has A Vacancy to Fill, Discusses Accessory Dwelling Units, Appoints New Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem

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Thumbnail: Councilor Daran J. Dooley, middle, resigned last month, meaning that his former colleagues are now tasked with appointing his successor. | File photo by Aisling Bludworth

Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:

Vacancy: Though one member of the public argued for leaving the seat vacant until next year, city councilors directed staff to begin advertising for a replacement for Daran Dooley, who resigned on Oct. 21.

According to City Attorney Martha Rice, the new appointed city councilor would serve until the November 2026 election. At that point, the seat would be up for a vote and whoever won the election would serve until the term ends in November 2028, the city attorney said.

The alternative was a special election that could be done in the spring through mail-in ballots or in conjunction with the November 2026 midterm election, Rice said. The current City Council could also choose to leave the position vacant until November 2026, the city attorney said.

Continue reading Recap: Crescent City Council Has A Vacancy to Fill, Discusses Accessory Dwelling Units, Appoints New Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem →
Articles, Emergencies, Local Government

Greenough Urges Councilors To Reach Out to U.S. Senators To End Government Shutdown

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Thumbnail: Marina MacNeil and Dominique Richcreek, staff members at Pacific Pantry, distributes food in Smith River in this September 2024 photo. Pacific Pantry has expanded its hours in the wake of uncertain SNAP benefits as a result of the federal government shutdown. | File photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Crescent City Councilor Jason Greenough argued that writing to the U.S. senators who represent California, urging them to help end the federal government shutdown wasn’t political.

In response to concerns from his colleague Candace Tinkler, Greenough pointed to the disruption in food stamps, potential impacts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the Crescent City Housing Authority, as well as federal employees who are going without pay.

“Our senators have both decided to continue to vote to keep the government shutdown,” Greenough told his colleagues on Monday. “So we at least need to have a discussion about communicating with them to hopefully get this fixed if it is still shut down by our next meeting.”’

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Articles, Health, Infrastructure, Transportation

Transportation Commission Kicks In Funding For Road Improvements Related To Homeless Shelter

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Thumbnail image courtesy of the Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services

Transportation commissioners provided support for two Del Norte County projects on Tuesday, including one associated with its emergency homeless shelter and micro village campus.

The Del Norte Local Transportation Commission awarded a total of $572,240 to Del Norte County for the Williams Drive Access Improvement for Vulnerable Road Users Project. According to the DNLTC’s staff report, $492,240 is coming from Regional Surface Transportation Program funding and $80,000 is coming from Transportation Development Act dollars.

Del Norte received two Highway Safety Improvement Program grants totaling $441,260, but the estimated project cost is more than $1 million, Assistant County Engineer Rosanna Bower said in a Sept. 22 letter to the commission. The $572,240 funding shortfall includes a required local match for the two grants of $49,030, she said.

Continue reading Transportation Commission Kicks In Funding For Road Improvements Related To Homeless Shelter →