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Feb. 10, 2005
ARCATA TO LAX: Perhaps the redwood-guarded North Coast won't
seem so remote come springtime when direct flights to Los Angeles
International Airport take off from the Arcata/Eureka Airport.
Twice daily, beginning April 25, Horizon Air -- a sister of Alaska
Airlines -- will make the one-hour and 40-minute hop to SoCal
in 70-passenger Q400 planes, bypassing its competitor's stop
in San Francisco (though some LAX flights will go through Redding).
Through June 10, special deals for the 1,200-mile round-trip
flight will cost $140. After that, County Public Works Director
Allen Campbell said that "hopefully it will create a little
competition and all the flights will come down [in price]."
The Federal Aviation Administration fronted a $500,000 grant
to Horizon Air to start the ACV to LAX service, with the Eureka
City Council and Redwood Region Economic Development Commission
pitching in $5,000 each.
COUNTY CONSIDERS ETHICS CODE: The Humboldt County Board
of Supervisors took its first look at a proposed new code of
ethics for elected officials and county employees Tuesday. In
a discussion of the proposed code, which was drafted by Supervisors
John Woolley and Bonnie Neely, Board Chair Roger Rodoni repeated
his assertion that codes of ethics, lacking the force of law,
were "not worth the paper they're written on." The
board voted 4-1, with Rodoni dissenting, to ask the county counsel
to more clearly define terms used in the proposed code. Last
year, the Humboldt County Grand Jury asked the county and other
local government bodies to look at adopting ethical codes, and
cited Rodoni's lease of land from Pacific Lumber as one example
of public concern over conflicts of interest among local elected
officials.
FORMER COUNTY JUDGE DIES: Former Humboldt County judge
and community benefactor Charles "Chuck" M. Thomas
died Feb. 1, shortly after moving to his new home in San Miguel
de Allende, Mexico. He was 92. Born in Oregon, Thomas worked
for a short time as a sawmill owner in Whitethorn in the early
1950s, then passed the California Bar exam in 1957 and practiced
law in Eureka and Garberville before becoming Justice Court Judge
in Garberville in 1962. Toward the end of his second six-year
term, charges that Thomas was lenient on SoHum pot growers spurred
a recall effort against him that failed. Soon after, he was elected
to the Humboldt County Superior Court, and retired in 1980. Perhaps
best known for his social commitments, Thomas was recognized
by the Board of Supervisors and the Eureka Rotary Club last year
for his longtime service on behalf of an array of community organizations,
including his work establishing the Area Agency on Aging. Thomas
is survived by his daughter Rosie Pitlock, of Eureka, his son
Charles "Chip" Thomas of San Miguel de Allende, two
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Verda, died
in November 2003. At his request, no service was held. Memorial
gifts can be made to the Angel Fund through the Humboldt Area
Foundation.
LOCAL IRAQ NATIVE REJOICES: McKinleyville resident Haider
Ajina, a native of Baghdad, didn't have his paperwork together
in time to vote in last month's first-ever Iraqi elections, but
that didn't temper his excitement about the country's historic
experiment with democracy. "It was phenomenal," he
said. "I spoke to my 84-year-old grandma, and she and all
my uncles and aunties were very excited about voting." Iraq
allows for dual citizenship; Ajina, who came to the United States
in 1982 and became a U.S. citizen 20 years later, hopes to reclaim
his Iraqi citizenship in time to vote in a referendum on the
country's new constitution scheduled for October.
HSU PROF PROFILED: This week's issue of the New Yorker
features a profile of Humboldt State botany professor Steve Sillett,
whose research on the biology of forest canopies is renowned
in scientific circles. For the article, writer and avid tree-climber
Richard Preston -- author of The Hot Zone, a best-selling
book on the Ebola virus -- followed Sillett up to the tops of
redwoods to report on his discoveries. The issue -- a special
edition marking the 80th anniversary of the distinguished magazine
-- should appear in local stores sometime next week.
GO TOO FAST, FLIP YOUR CAR: A 16-year-old boy escaped
with no injuries after his 1993 Toyota Supra flipped onto its
top shortly before 9 a.m. Feb. 3 on Myrtle Avenue in Eureka.
Thomas Francis Krenek, 16, of Eureka was driving south around
a curve not far from Three Corners when he lost control of the
car, ran off the road, overcorrected and rolled over on the dirt
embankment, the California Highway Patrol reported. Krenek was
going "too fast for conditions" on the dewy road, the
CHP said, but was wearing his seatbelt and was uninjured. Another
crash, later that morning on Myrtle, also resulted in no injuries.
CORRECTION: Last week's
cover story, "The Honeymoon's Over," misidentified
an Humboldt State University award given to David Hankin. He
was the university's 1999 "Scholar of the Year," not
the "Professor of the Year." The Journal regrets
the error. [The online
version has been corrected.]
Environmental scourge of 'diesel dope'
KMUD forum seeks to educate public
by EMILY GURNON
Marijuana cultivation has been
a widely accepted part of the rural Humboldt economy for years.
But the practice has gotten a black eye for one of its lesser-known
impacts: the environmental mess caused by diesel fuel and motor
oil spills.
"Indoor marijuana cultivation
is not environmentally friendly," said Humboldt County Sheriff's
Sgt. Wayne Hanson, head of the Drug Enforcement Unit. That doesn't
surprise him. "If you're committing felonies, why do you
care?"
Indoor growing requires a source
of electricity for the lights, and -- in rural areas off the
grid -- that power is supplied most often by diesel generators.
While such generators can be run responsibly, the pot growers
too often rig them with questionable wiring and install no containment
tank around them in case of spills.
The results can be disastrous.
"If [diesel is] not properly
contained and stored in a safe place, it can have harmful environmental
impacts, affect aquatic species and affect public health,"
said Melissa Martel, senior hazardous materials specialist with
the Humboldt County Environmental Health Division. "It's
definitely a concern for us."
In an effort to educate the
public about the problem, Beginnings Inc. in Briceland has organized
a radio call-in forum, scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday,
Feb. 11, on KMUD 91.1 FM, 88.3 FM in Northern Humboldt.
It's a touchy subject in an
area where a look-the-other-way attitude prevails when it comes
to pot.
Peter Ryce, executive director
of Beginnings, said the forum's organizers are not condemning
marijuana growers. "I don't know who they are. I don't really
care. I just don't want them polluting my environment, my watershed."
"What we're going to try
to do is come up with a range of solutions: how to install a
generator safely, how to deal with your diesel containment. That
might encourage people to take steps on their own to alleviate
the problem."
Large-scale pot growing started
to move indoors after the state's CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana
Planting) helicopters buzzed rural parts of the county en masse
beginning in 1983, finding huge outdoor weed plantations.
Growing indoors not only gives
cover to the illegal activity, it also increases its potential
profit: Indoor pot farms can produce three or four crops every
year, Hanson said. Humboldt County now ranks No. 1 in the state
in marijuana seizures from indoor grows: 40 percent of all indoor
seizures come from here, he said.
The diesel generators supplying
power for the 1,000-watt grow lights can be as big as a small
pickup truck. They are sometimes buried underground, which can
be a fire hazard, or rigged with plastic water tubing instead
of proper fuel lines. They are often placed in dubious locations,
such as right beside creek beds -- greatly increasing the potential
for contaminated water -- because the depth and the surrounding
trees help to muffle the machines' drone. Some growers even use
water tanks to store the diesel fuel, officials said.
One of the reasons people are
talking more about the issue lately may be because the smaller,
mom and pop pot growers don't want law enforcement sniffing around,
said Larry Bruckenstein, the warden in the Garberville office
of the state Department of Fish and Game, who has responded to
a number of diesel spills affecting streams.
"If you've got a little
grow going in," he said, "the last thing you need is
the cops showing up in the area."
City Council spars over appointment
by HANK
SIMS
The effort to name a new member
to the Eureka Planning Commission is no closer to resolution
after last week's 3-2 Eureka City Council vote rejecting Mayor
Peter La Vallee's second nominee to the seat.
At its regular meeting, the
council rejected the nomination of Robert Fasic, a former attorney
with a specialty in land-use issues and current owner of southern
Humboldt's Heartwood Institute. Councilmembers Chris Kerrigan
and Mary Beth Wolford voted to approve Fasic.
In December, the council turned
down La Vallee's first choice for the position -- Xandra Manns,
a retired urban planning professional who worked in the Bay Area.
On that occasion, a majority of the council sided with Councilmember
Mike Jones, who expressed concern that Manns -- a member of the
Green Party -- was politically not a good fit for the commission.
At last Tuesday's meeting, Councilmember
Jeff Leonard laid blame for the politicization of the normally
nonpartisan position at the feet of the mayor, and decried the
effect the brouhaha was having on the council and the community.
"I'm worried that this
council that we're going to have a split down the middle -- the
same kind of split you see in Sacramento, the same kind of split
you see nationally -- where people don't talk issues any more,
they don't share ideas," Leonard said at the meeting. "They
just count up the number of players on their team."
In a follow-up discussion, Leonard
accused La Vallee of trying to "bully" the council
and decried La Vallee's guest editorial in the Times-Standard
the previous weekend. The editorial accused local developers
of organizing an effort to keep La Vallee's appointments off
the commission and called upon citizens to support his choices.
Leonard said that although he
thought Fasic a qualified candidate, the political atmosphere
was now such that he could not in good conscience support his
appointment.
La Vallee countered that he
was not to blame for "politicizing" the appointment
process, as his nominees were being rejected for something other
than their professional qualifications.
"I have offered this council
two candidates who I think clearly have the skills," he
said.
In previous interviews, La Vallee
said that Jones and Leonard -- who together form a council subcommittee
that reviews La Vallee's appointments -- indicated that they
would have preferred to see developer Steve Strombeck named to
the commission. The Eureka Reporter, a newspaper owned
by local businessman Rob Arkley, editorialized in favor of Strombeck
last month. Strombeck withdrew his name from consideration last
week.
Despite Leonard's wishes, there
are indications that partisan politics stand to increasingly
become part of the debate. The executive board of the Humboldt
County Democratic Central Committee will discuss whether the
organization should take a position on the standoff at its meeting
Tuesday.
Committee Chair Patrick Riggs
said Monday that he didn't follow the arguments against approving
Fasic put forth by Leonard -- a fellow Democrat -- and wondered
how Leonard's actions would tone down the "politicization"
of the office.
"I don't understand why
voting to reject the mayor's candidates would solve that,"
Riggs said.
One current member of the Planning
Commission who wished not to be named said that while the city
council standoff was disturbing, it had no effect on the commission's
regular business. Outgoing Commissioner David Edmonds has agreed
to continue serving until a new member is appointed.
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