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Feb. 24, 2005
TRAILER CRASH UPDATE:
The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial
Reward Foundation announced last week that it would contribute
$5,000 to the growing reward fund in the case of the Myrtle Avenue
car crash that took the lives of Cody Wertz and Timothy Robertson
on Dec. 4. (Francis and Carole Carrington of Korbel started their
foundation after the 1999 Yosemite murders of their daughter,
Carole Sund, granddaughter Juli Sund and a friend, Silvina Pelosso.)
Officer Stefanie Barnwell of the California Highway Patrol said
Tuesday that the foundation's offer has already led to possible
new information in the case. "We are following up on some
leads that have come in since the news conference," she
said. The total reward fund now stands at about $15,000. Meanwhile,
no charges have yet been filed against Richard Knife of Eureka,
the owner of the trailer that caused the crash after it was left
in the middle of the road. The CHP forwarded Knife's name to
the District Attorney's Office in late December; Barnwell speculated
that the DA may have been waiting for the final collision report
in the accident, which was completed last week. The CHP said
that it had no reason to believe that Knife was responsible for
moving the trailer into the road.
HSU ISSUES GROWTH REPORT:
A team of Humboldt State University
researchers has released a study on the county's future expansion.
The report, entitled "Room to Grow?," analyzes different
growth rates and scenarios, some of which were proposed by community
groups last year during the debate over the county's ongoing
general plan update. Professors Steve Steinberg and Michael Smith
write that Humboldt County can accommodate future population
growth without building new homes on ranch and timber lands if
it focuses new construction in urban areas. There is a link to
the full report on the university's Web page, www.humboldt.edu.
Look in the Humboldt State News Online section.
FAKE BOMB FOUND AT TARGET:
Eureka police responded last Wednesday
morning to a call from a Target employee who said that a possible
explosive had been found in a store restroom, police said. Police
and fire officials, as well as the county Sheriff's Office explosives
team responded to the scene, where they X-rayed the device and
found that it was a fake.
COLLISION KILLS RIO DELL
WOMAN: A Rio Dell woman was killed
in a head-on car crash Sunday afternoon when an oncoming vehicle
swerved into her lane on Highway 101, north of Spyrock Road near
Laytonville, the California Highway Patrol said. Veronica Joan
Greene, 39, was driving northbound with three passengers in a
2004 Dodge Neon, when Steven Dendas, 54, of Vallejo lost control
of his 1992 Oldsmobile and crossed into Greene's lane, the CHP
said. Dendas, along with Greene's passengers, Steven L. Morehead,
44, of Rio Dell, Jared Valentine, 16, of Ukiah, and Erin Lozano,
17, of Rio Dell, sustained major injuries and were hospitalized,
the CHP said. Greene was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause
of the collision is under investigation.
CHURCH GUILTY, MEEKS NOT:
A jury found Robert Matthew Church,
38, of Miranda guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the killing
of Zachary Stone, 31, of Redway, said Worth Dikeman of the Humboldt
County District Attorney's Office. Church was also found guilty
of personally and intentionally using a firearm in the commission
of the offense and of lying in wait. The killing stemmed from
a 2003 falling out between the two men, who were stepbrothers.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 17. Meanwhile, a jury found
Charles Meeks, 21, of Eureka not guilty Feb. 14 of three counts
of vehicular manslaughter in the crash deaths of Kandie Marie
Charest, 17, her sister Melinda Steele-Charest, 15, both of McKinleyville,
and Alicia Silva, 16, of Trinidad, Dikeman said. The girls were
riding in Meeks' car when it hydroplaned and ran off Highway
101 near Westhaven Drive in December 2003.
NEW BERG BILLS: Last week was a busy one for Assemblymember Patty
Berg (D-Eureka). On Wednesday, she introduced a new bill designed
to make it easier for local governments to operate needle-exchange
programs to help curb the spread of HIV and other blood-borne
diseases. The bill would eliminate the need for county boards
of supervisors to declare a state of emergency every two weeks
in order to operate such programs. The next day, Berg culminated
several months of statewide hearings by introducing the "Compassionate
Choices Act," which would give terminally ill Californians
the right to end their own lives. Currently, only the state of
Oregon has a "right to die" law. Berg said that while
few used the law in Oregon, studies have shown that doctors are
more willing to recommend palliative care and hospice services
near the end of a patient's life. "We know that while a
very small number of patients exercise this right, almost everyone
is helped simply because it's an option," she said. On Monday,
the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the Bush administration's
challenge to the Oregon law.
LOLETA TEACHER SENTENCED:
Fortuna resident Ronald Vernon
McCullough, 59, a former eighth-grade teacher in the Loleta School
district, received a three-year felony probation sentence last
week for soliciting a minor in an Internet chat room. McCullough
had earlier pleaded guilty to the crime. Deputy District Attorney
Andrew Isaac said Tuesday that in addition to the probation sentence,
McCullough will be required to register as a sex offender. Isaac
said he was pleased with the outcome. "Whatever his actions
in this case, I don't think he's had so much as a traffic ticket
up until now," Isaac said. The person McCullough had attempted
to solicit was not, in fact, a 13-year-old Eureka girl, as he
had thought, but a member of Perverted Justice, a volunteer organization
that patrols the Internet in an attempt to find pedophiles and
report them to the police.
WATER TOWER DELAY: Wondering why that new water tower in Eureka just
can't seem to get painted? It's a long process, concedes Jeff
Tedder of the Eureka Public Works Department, project engineer
for the new tower. Workers are painstakingly blasting off all
rust and other impurities, then priming and stripe-coating the
seams. The $1.5 million tower will get an intermediate coat and
then a final coat of paint by mid- to late April, Tedder said.
"If you go to the lengths we're going to here, what we end
up with is a coating system that'll last us 25 years instead
of five," he said. One delay was caused last year when the
first painting contractor was held up on other jobs by the hurricanes
in Florida, Tedder said. The new 500,000-gallon water tower will
provide water for 15,000 customers, or a little over half the
population of Eureka, everyone south of Wabash, Tedder said.
It will replace the old tower, which was built in 1950 and is
not up to current seismic codes. Now for what you really want
to know: the color of the new tower? Blue.
HOMELESS PROVIDERS GET
BIG GRANT: The Humboldt County
Housing and Homeless Coalition -- a consortium of local nonprofit
groups dealing with homeless issues -- announced last week that
it had secured a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development. Elizabeth Conner, executive director of
the Humboldt Bay Housing Development Corp., said that the money
would be split between Arcata House and the county's new Multiple
Assistance Center. She added that she hoped the generous grant
would be the first of many: "Now that we've gotten in their
system, we're going to be putting in applications every year,"
she said.
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE
MONEY: A coffee company conglomerate
is giving money to nonprofits in Northern California. The Starbucks
Grants for Giving Program is offering grants totaling $375,000
to nonprofits and charitable organizations from Santa Clara to
Del Norte counties. Last year, Open Door Community Health Centers
of Eureka was one of 12 organizations awarded money from Starbucks;
it received a grant of $12,000 for a reading program for children.
Visit www.starbucks.com/grantsforgiving
or call (415) 241-0256 ext. 2223 for eligibility and application
information.
No sanctions against DA in Palco case
Schectman appears as new deputy
by HANK
SIMS
The judge overseeing the district
attorney's fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Co. threw
out the company's motion for sanctions against the DA after hearing
from attorneys on both sides last Wednesday.
The hearing marked the first
time that retired Judge Richard Freeborn, formerly of the Lake
County Superior Court, has appeared in the case. Judge Christopher
Wilson voluntarily handed the case over to Freeborn in January,
after a long legal struggle by Assistant District Attorney Tim
Stoen to disqualify him had failed.
Wednesday's pretrial hearing
in the Humboldt County Courthouse dealt with the timber company's
argument that Freeborn should dismiss the case, as the DA's allegations
did not meet certain legal thresholds that would allow it to
proceed.
Freeborn did not rule on the
motion to dismiss -- known as a "demurrer" -- but instead
took the matter into consideration. He is expected to enter a
written ruling on the demurrer sometime in the next few weeks.
Attorney Steve Schectman also
appeared for the first time in his role as a newly deputized
volunteer member of the district attorney's staff. Schectman
gained political prominence last year when he ran as a pro-DA
candidate in the failed attempt to recall District Attorney Paul
Gallegos. Before the recall, he had filed several private lawsuits
against Pacific Lumber.
Around 20 people attended the
hearing Wednesday, most of them associated with the environmental
movement. Forest activists Jeny Card (better known as "Remedy")
and Kim Starr (who also goes by "Verbena") took up
seats in the courtroom, as did Ken Miller of the Humboldt Watershed
Council. Miller is listed as an official consultant to the DA
in the fraud case, which alleges that the company intentionally
deceived the California Department of Forestry and the public
during the 1999 Headwaters Forest deal by hiding critical scientific
research on the effect of timber operations on landslides.
After Freeborn opened the proceedings,
Palco attorney Edgar Washburn told the court that he would argue
that the DA's case was legally deficient in two ways. First,
he said, the company was protected by the "Noerr-Pennington
Doctrine," which holds certain types of communications with
government to be protected as free speech under the First Amendment.
Second, he argued that Section
47 of the California Civil Code gave additional protections from
liability to statements made during the course of official government
proceedings. Such protections had been fully tested in court,
he said.
"I would say this -- the
California Supreme Court has laid down ground rules from Section
47 that are broad and absolute," Washburn said.
When his turn came, Stoen argued
that the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine applied only when people were
engaged in "lobbying," or political activity -- not
administrative proceedings with governmental agencies. In any
case, Stoen said, there was an exception to the doctrine -- known
as a "sham" exception, in which allegedly fraudulent
activity interferes with an agency's ability to do its job --
and that the suit did meet the exception's requirements.
Likewise, Stoen argued that
his case complied with an exception from the privileges of Civil
Code Section 47 because the public had no opportunity to see
the correct landslide information.
Schectman was given the task
of arguing against the company's motion for sanctions, or financial
penalties, against the DA's office for bringing the case.
In a long and sometimes impassioned
argument, Schectman argued that California law clearly stated
that district attorneys could not be held liable for filing a
legal action, and held that the company's request for them amounted
to "a furtherance of their tendency to rely on deceit and
misinformation in pursuit of their goals."
Freeborn twice gently but firmly
reminded Schectman that they were not there to argue the merits
of the case, and asked him to return to the subject at hand.
But the judge eventually struck
the company's request for sanctions without comment. He also
denied another company motion to ban a jury from hearing the
case, saying that he believed he could empanel an "advisory
jury" to help him determine penalties in the case, if it
gets that far.
At the end of the hearing, Washburn's
co-counsel John Behnke asked Freeborn to clarify how and why
Schectman -- whom, as Behnke noted, is a frequent opponent of
the company -- came to appear as a official member of the district
attorney's staff.
"I want it clear and on
the record what the role of Mr. Schectman is here," Behnke
said. "It may have bearing on how we proceed."
Freeborn's reply was curt. "No,
it doesn't," he said simply, inspiring a smattering of laughter
among courtroom observers.
From Humboldt to Hollywood
Local prof helped on production
of Sideways
by
HELEN SANDERSON
Humboldt
State film instructor Tracy Boyd predicted the attention that
Sideways has received. Even when his mentor, director
Alexander Payne, told him that mainstream success would elude
such a "small film," Boyd -- who has worked with Payne
on Sideways and About Schmidt -- believed.
"Maybe it's just because
I'm more naïve than the people around me, but from the moment
I read the script I knehw it would be big," Boyd said.
[Photo at right;
Paul Giamatti, Tracy Boyd and Thomas Haden Church in Santa Barbara
County, at the Cachuma Pass, on the last day of filming Sideways.]
He was right. The quirky, independent
art film about dysfunctional male friends touring Santa Barbara's
wine country garnered an avalanche of awards, including a Golden
Globe and top honors from the Screen Actor's Guild, the
Writer's Guild and Director's Guild. This week, Sideways
heads to the terminally unrewarding Academy Awards with five
nominations, including writing and directing nods to Payne --
the silver screen's reigning king of dark comedy. To Boyd's dismay,
Paul Giamatti, who embodies Miles Raymond, a failed writer and
divorcé with a penchant for pinot noir, was not nominated
for lead actor.
"Giamatti was robbed,"
Boyd said. "He is the best actor I have ever seen; he never
misses a beat."
Boyd is intimately in tune with
every aspect of Sideways, from the plot, the lighting,
locations, set design and editing, because he was what's
known as a "factotum" for the movie. Generally, Boyd
was a roaming conduit for Payne, helping the director unify the
entire ensemble.
"When Alexander asked me
what I wanted to do on this film, I said, `I'll do anything,'"
Boyd recalled. "I think he appreciated that. So my job became
creating a job for myself, to see what area needed help and going
there."
While most of his work was behind
the scenes, watch for the footage of animals, grapes, bees and
bottles that were edited into a split screen montage. Those are
the shots Boyd directed.
"I never thought any of
it would be used in the film. It blew my mind," he said.
Boyd, a burly,
bearded 32-year-old with friendly brown eyes, said that his Midwestern
sensibilities and interest in philosophy was the foundation of
the fast friendship he and Payne formed in 2000. They met in
Arcata, when Payne served as a judge for the 33rd Annual Humboldt
International Short Film Festival. Boyd was pursuing a master's
in film at HSU at the time, and was co-director of the film fest.
[Photo at left:
Director Alexander Payne and Boyd deep in thought at the Los
Olivos Winery.]
A year later, Payne asked Boyd
to be his personal assistant on About Schmidt, an offbeat
comedy starring Jack Nicholson as an unfulfilled, retired businessman.
Boyd dropped everything to join the shoot -- opting to fail some
of his classes.
The education he received outside
of the classroom -- working beside Payne and even starring in
a scene with Nicholson (which was later trimmed in editing) --
was an easy trade-off.
While Boyd admits that HSU's
film department has troubles -- namely dwindling funds and staff,
and a stalled graduate program that is not admitting new students
-- he maintains his instruction at HSU prepared him for Hollywood.
"HSU will never be cutting
edge -- a lot of high schools have more up-to-date equipment,"
he said. "But when I got to Hollywood I knew more than people
who had been in the industry their whole lives. HSU teaches you
how to make films without money. Making good films is not about
having the right gear, it's about understanding characters."
Theater and film Professor Glen
Nagy said that Boyd's transition from Humboldt to Hollywood was
a natural progression.
"It doesn't surprise me
at all how well he's done in Hollywood," Nagy said. "He
has the right personality; he can see the big picture and instantly
understand how he fits into the mix."
In 2003, Boyd completed his
thesis film, That Art Thou -- an award-winner at
the local film festival -- before graduating. That summer he
left the North Coast again to reunite with Payne in Southern
California to work on Sideways.
The result has been even better
than he expected: Boyd was impressed with the mass appeal that
the film was able to generate. It has reportedly raked in $54
million in ticket sales, and has been credited with sharply boosting
sales of California's pinot noir.
"What made [Sideways]
so well-liked is that it speaks to people who are generally
ignored in film," Boyd said, alluding to the roles of Miles
and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) who showcase the flawed, complicated,
lost and somewhat neurotic adult in all of us.
"The beauty of Alexander's
films is that they are not cartoons. There are no damsels in
distress, no heroes. The characters are complex, everyday people
with struggles," he said.
When the semester ends in May,
Boyd will head back to L.A. to work with director Mike Cahill
on King of California, a film Payne is producing.
Swapping the relaxed, small-town
nature of Arcata that he has grown to love for the slick, superficial
culture of Los Angeles is a sacrifice, Boyd said, but a necessary
evil of pursuing a career in feature filmmaking.
"If you want to make cars
you go to Detroit, if you want to make films you go to L.A.,"
Boyd said. "Otherwise, I'd love nothing better than to live
in Humboldt permanently."
Further down the road, Boyd
hopes to begin working on his own film, Bob Takes on the World,
which he wrote over the span of three years with Andy Rydzewski,
an HSU graduate.
"It's like a cross between
Forrest Gump and Being There. It's centered around
a town square, and how gentrification and strip malls threaten
this town's way of life," he said.
Hey, Arcata has a town square
"My secret wish is to shoot
the film here, but film people get afraid of this area because
of the [rainy] weather," Boyd said.
"We'll see; it's still
a few years down the road. I don't want to be so focused on succeeding
that I miss what's happening now."
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