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January 17, 2002
And then
there was one
What a difference a year and
a half makes.
In the summer of 2000 the North
Coast was being served by three television stations, each generating
hours of daily news programing. The fierce battle for ratings
and ad revenue between KIEM, KVIQ and KAEF was reported in the
Journal
cover story, "More news, more
often," June 29.
At the time KVIQ, No. 2 in the
ratings with a staff of 20 gathering and preparing news shows,
had increased its programming to 22 hours a week -- up from five.
By comparison, the No. 1 rated news team, KIEM, had a staff of
15 and KAEF, three.
As of last week only KIEM remains.
KAEF was the first to drop local
newscasts, in February of last year. In May KVIQ owners the Ackerley
Group furloughed 12 employees and severely curtailed news coverage.
Ackerley, in the process of selling KVIQ to Clear Channel Communications,
pulled the plug on its Eureka-based newscast last week.
For the time being KVIQ will
retain its Eureka-based sales staff and commercial production
crew as well as veteran reporter Dave Silverbrand.
Silverbrand will contribute
to the 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. regional newscasts that originate from
KTFY. The Santa Rosa station broadcasts 6-9 a.m. daily and has
a popular 7 p.m. newscast for its North Coast viewers.
Sudden death
for redwoods?
In 1995 people in Marin County
began to notice something wrong with their tan oak trees. The
leaves start to turn brown, followed by the appearance of bleeding
cankers in the trees' bark.
Then the oaks died. Sudden oak
death had arrived in California.
The disease, identified as fungal
pathogen phytophthora ramorum, is on its way to Humboldt -- and
it may be capable of infecting the redwoods that have become
the county's emblem.
"There's nothing out there
to stop the spread of a pathogen like this," said Leonel
Arguello, chief of vegetation management for Redwood National
Park. He noted that the disease has been found both to the south
and the north of Humboldt County, and will probably inevitably
spread here.
But there is good news. Researchers
at UC Davis have shown that redwoods have the potential to be
a host tree for the fungus, but there is no evidence to show
that it will prove fatal in the towering conifers.
"To my knowledge, they
haven't made the connection that this thing is killing or even
infecting the redwoods," Arguello said.
If the disease carries over
to redwoods, the consequences could be dire. Not only would the
county lose a symbol, it would also lose its economic foundation.
"The state would almost
certainly slap a quarantine on the movement of raw wood products,"
Arguello said -- including any lumber that hasn't been kiln-dried.
"That has everyone worried."
5th District supervisor race: round 1
Six candidates vying for 5th
District supervisor did their darndest Monday night to tell Orick
residents what they wanted to hear.
Specifically Orick residents
wanted to know what the candidates would do about the lack of
rural law enforcement, the illegal trash dumping, the pot-holed
roads, the confounded rules of the county Planning Department
and dire economic straits of residents who have watched poverty
grow in their community since the establishment on Redwood National
Park in 1968 and the park's expansion in 1978.
They didn't get a lot of answers,
just a lot of sympathy.
Vic Taylor of Trinidad, a retired
administrative analyst for Pacific Bell, said it took him four
years to subdivide a piece of land and he, too, is fed up with
all the rules. "And the Coastal Commission does whatever
it darn well pleases," he said.
John Corbett, recently retired
after 20 years as general manager of the North Coast Co-op, told
a story about his mom's house burning to the ground and her inability
to rebuild in a timely fashion -- until the testing period for
septic systems was over for the year.
Mike Harvey, an insurance agent
who said he is not accepting any donations in the primary, said
the Planning Department was "in need of a little overhaul."
And Ben Shepherd, a retired
elementary teacher and co-owner of A&L Feed in McKinleyville
with his wife, Wendy Wahlund, called planning "a moving
target" that depends on who is at the counter that day.
But Jill Geist, an environmental
compliance analyst for the city of Arcata, wasn't quite as quick
to bash county planners. She told the gathering that while the
rules for building codes were more black and white, planning
issues are more "subjective" --often require interpretation
by city and county staff.
Daniel Pierce, a machinist who
said his only experience with planning was a neighborhood project
to build a Habitat for Humanity complex, said, "I really
got into this race by accident when two sheriff deputies showed
up at my place with their weapons drawn" in a case of mistaken
identity.
Among the solutions proposed
Monday by the candidates to various county problems were:
Quit wasting money "going
after the marijuana issue" (Pierce). Establish a penalty
for county sheriff deputies who train here and leave in less
than three years for better-paying jobs (Taylor). Allow certain
home-based businesses without special or conditional use permits
(Shepherd).
The Monday forum, hosted by
the Orick Chamber of Commerce, was just the first round in the
race to replace retiring 5th District Supervisor Paul Kirk. If
no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote March 5, a run-off
will be held in November for the nonpartisan office.
-- reported by Judy Hodgson
$5 million
man found dead
Michael Schwartz, who made off
with $5 million of Humboldt Bancorp money in early December,
has been found dead in a West Palm Beach, Fla., apartment.
Schwartz stole the money by
simply driving away with it. Under contract with Humboldt, Schwartz
was responsible for replenishing 140 ATM machines that are backed
with Humboldt Bancorp cash. Schwartz owned the machines, located
at grocery stores, bars and other nonbank locations in New Jersey
and New York.
In December Schwartz was reported
missing by friends and coworkers. A cursory investigation revealed
he wasn't travelling light: An estimated 45 cubic feet of $20
bills, totalling $5 million, were also missing. An arrest warrant
was filed by the FBI Dec. 12.
The trail led to Florida, where
Schwartz was found dead on Christmas. He is believed to have
died by choking on his own vomit after a two-week drinking binge.
Much of the money has been recovered.
About $3 million was hidden at an abandoned beach house close
to the apartment where Schwartz had rented a room.
Ted Mason, CEO of Humboldt Bancorp,
said while he was relieved to hear $3 million had been found,
the money had been covered by insurance.
"This goes a long way to
recovering all our money," he said.
The company plans to continue
funding privately owned nonbank ATMs, Mason said. "We've
been funding 1,350 ATMs across the country for 22 different organizations.
It's a profitable piece of banking."
Karuk skater
to Olympics
A Humboldt County native is
on her way to the Olympics next month.
Naomi Lang and her Russian-born
ice dancing partner, Peter Tchernyshev, won the U.S. National
Championship in LA last week-- for the fourth straight year.
The top two couples automatically qualify to represent the United
States at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
The couple's free dance earned
them three perfect scores of 6.0.
Lang, profiled in a Journal
cover story Dec. 20, is a member of the Karuk tribe, born and raised
in Humboldt County. At age 8, Lang left the county when her mother
graduated from Humboldt State University and moved to Michigan.
Limited coverage of the competition
was carried live on
ESPN 2. A rebroadcast of the
competition highlights will be shown Sunday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m.
on ABC.
T-S reporter
Anderson dies
David Anderson, who reported
for the Times-Standard for more than a decade, is dead
of congestive heart failure at the age of 61. He died Monday
afternoon at Mad River Hospital after losing consciousness on
the way to a doctor's appointment.
A Vietnam veteran and Yale graduate,
Anderson came to Humboldt County in the early 1970s and worked
as a reporter for the Times-Standard. In 1976 he left
to return to New England where he grew up. He worked for the
Lewiston Sun-Journal, in Lewiston, Maine, for several
years and later returned to Humboldt County.
According to the Times-Standard,
he returned to that paper's staff in 1993 as assistant city editor.
He later covered the environmental beat, politics (including
city and county government) and served on the editorial board.
In recent years, he wrote most of the paper's editorials.
Anderson was featured on the
cover of the Journal in 1997 in connection with his involvement
in theater. He was one of the founders of the Pacific Art Center
Theater in Arcata and appeared in many productions including
Waiting for Godot and The Merry Wives of Windsor,
in which he played Falstaff.
An avid birdwatcher, Anderson
wrote for and edited Birding In and Around Arcata, a guide
to local birdwatching funded by the city. In December he participated
in the annual Christmas bird counts, something he had done for
years.
Although Anderson had requested
no services, a gathering is planned for Sunday at 2 p.m. at 231
Dean St. in Manila. For more information, call 442-4525.
Uniontown
Kids closes doors
"I'm perfectly willing
to pay for good child care," said Tina Wood. "I'm just
unable to find it."
Woods, a staff development coordinator
at Mad River Community Hospital, isn't alone. More than 20 families
who take their children to Uniontown Kids, located in Arcata,
are about to lose their child care.
"We've been given 30 days
notice," she said.
The child care center closure,
caused by financial considerations, worries parents who say the
brand of care given there is unavailable at other providers.
"I think the biggest concern
is the lack of care for infants and toddlers," said Pam
Lindstrom, Uniontown Kids' co-owner. Her center accepts children
as young as six weeks, and that's hard to find.
Care for small children isn't
the only facet of Lindstrom's operation that will be difficult
to replace. Uniontown Kids is a center-based program -- not located
in a caretaker's home. That means there are several adults present,
so one can call in sick without throwing a wrench into the works,
Lindstrom said. It also allows the center to remain open long
hours, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. And Uniontown Kids provided what's
called curriculum-based care -- care that follows an educational
curriculum.
Wood said she and her husband
have scoured the area looking for another source for curriculum-based
care and have come up empty-handed.
"Most places have a waiting
list of six months," she said.
The need for care may exist,
but financial conditions do not support continued operation of
the school, Lindstrom said. "The business has been operating
in the red for the last two years. We've just run out of fiscal
resources."
The center charges about $550
a month for infant or toddler care but was becoming unable to
meet the financial burden of proper equipment and staff levels.
Lindstrom, who also owns the
Moore Avenue Children's Center and works as the principal at
Worthington Elementary in Eureka, said she is a "kid person."
As such, she loved being able to provide the service but said
she could not justify the financial sacrifices necessary.
"When you're having to
cash in your retirement to pay someone's salary, you have to
re-examine your commitment," she said.
An award
for the road
The Humboldt County District
Attorney's child support enforcers are among the best in the
state. Too bad the program is being dismantled.
The Department of Child Support
Services, until this year a part of the District Attorney's office,
hunts down deadbeat parents. Last year the office had a 92 percent
success rate. The state recognized that success with an award
and a $90,000 check at the Jan. 8 meeting of the Humboldt County
Board of Supervisors.
But the state giveth and the
state taketh away. The program was forced out of the DA's office
by a state law passed last year.
Many DAs have had trouble meeting
their obligations to enforce child support and "frankly,
some DAs don't take this that seriously," said Humboldt
County DA Terry Farmer. Failures at some big DA offices led the
Legislature to make child support an independent department across
the state.
That may make the program less
effective, Farmer said, as the new department won't carry the
authority of the DA.
"If you were a parent,
which letter would you respond to quicker: The one from the DA
or the one from some group called the Bureau of Child Support?"
Philps,
Lewis may be liable
A Jan. 11 decision by a federal
court has restored the possibility of legal liability for using
pepper spray to two Humboldt County law enforcement officials.
Sheriff Dennis Lewis and Chief
Deputy Gary Philps were named in a lawsuit filed by environmental
activists who had pepper spray swabbed on their eyelids during
1997 logging protests.
On three different occasions,
activists who had chained themselves together were swabbed multiple
times across the eyes with liquid pepper spray or sprayed in
the face at close range. Neither the application method nor the
close distance were recommended by the chemical's manufacturer.
The protests of the pepper spray
incidents were widely broadcast on national and international
television.
An attorney for Lewis claimed
the sheriff was immune from prosecution. Under a legal standard
called "qualified immunity," law enforcement officials
can be exempt from prosecution for force used in the line of
duty -- if the force could have been considered reasonable.
The 9th District Court ruled
that Lewis and Philps did not qualify for immunity.
"Taking the facts as we
presented them, no office would have considered that amount of
force reasonable -- or constitutional," said Brendan Cummings,
attorney for the protesters in a phone call Tuesday.
The case has been bouncing back
and forth through the legal system for years. The original trial
ended in a hung jury in 1999. A mistrial was declared and the
case dismissed. The protesters appealed to the 9th District and
succeeded in getting the case reinstated against the county.
Last week's decision reinstates
the two officers as defendants. The case is expected to go to
trial this year.
Pesticides,
forest fires
The California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection didn't sufficiently study the side
effects of firebreaks, according to a recent ruling by San Francisco
Superior Court Judge David Garcia.
Garcia's Jan. 7 decision may
halt the implementation of CDF's new Vegetation Management Plan.
He ruled that CDF needs to examine the impacts of using herbicides
to keep vegetation from growing back in firebreaks -- even if
it isn't CDF applying the chemicals.
The vegetation plan is intended
to reduce the likelihood and severity of future wildfires by
clearing shrubs and small-diameter trees. In southern California,
the CDF has executed controlled burns in chaparral country since
1981.
In the late 1990s CDF began
drafting a new plan that would include the construction of firebreaks
on private timberland. Once the firebreaks had been cleared,
however, CDF would leave the maintenance to the property owners.
And maintenance means herbicide
use, said Patty Clary, executive director of Californians for
Alternatives to Toxics. If CDF knows herbicides will be used
as a result of its program, the state carries the responsibility
for studying the environmental impacts.
"You can't just write an
environmental impact report about taking these trees out without
including how the fuelbreaks will be maintained," she said.
But that's exactly what CDF
did: A discussion of herbicide use in the draft version of the
plan was deleted in the final version. CDF officials argued that
because they didn't plan for the use of herbicides, they shouldn't
have to study the impacts.
However, "CDF had a duty
to evaluate and consider the use of chemical controls because
the use of herbicides was part of the program as defined in the
draft," Garcia said in his ruling.
Garcia's decision will temporarily
stop CDF from clearing brush under its new plan. It is unclear
when a new or revised plan will be produced.
CDF did not return calls for
this report.
Trespass
charges dropped
The charges filed against five
protesters arrested for trespassing on Pacific Lumber Co. property
Oct. 24 have been dropped.
"The people who had seen
[the protesters trespassing] were not able to say that the defendants
in court are the same ones," said Terry Farmer, Humboldt
County district attorney.
The protesters had been gathered
to talk to loggers heading into the "Hole in the Headwaters."
The harvest of the second-growth timberland has been controversial,
because the land -- barely -- lies within the boundaries of the
Headwaters preserve. PL, which owns the property, began harvesting
this summer.
Sawmill
sale pending?
Eel River Sawmills, the beleaguered
Fortuna mill that has threatened for months to go out of business,
announced this week that it has found a buyer.
The Jan. 14 press release says
the company "has entered into an agreement to sell substantially
all of its operating assets to Eel River Acquisition Corp."
That includes 24,000 acres of timberland and the Fairhaven Power
Plant in Samoa.
Who is behind that corporation
is not clear at press time. Dennis Scott, CEO and president of
the sawmill, declined to comment, saying only that Eel River
Acquisition was a privately held Nevada corporation.
ERS has barely been holding
its head above water for years (see "Going, going, gone?," Journal cover
story, Oct. 25, 2001). After warning
workers that they might be laid off over Christmas, the company
said it had two buyers interested in the sawmill facilities.
There is no mention of when
the sale would be finalized.
COVER
STORY | CALENDAR
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