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May 5, 2001
Coastal
Commission status?
The California Coastal Commission,
which has regulated development along California's shoreline
for 30 years, was ruled unconstitutional April 24.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge
Charles C. Kobayashi said the commission's appointment structure
violated the state's constitutionally mandated separation of
powers doctrine. The commission is part of the executive branch,
which appoints a third of its members, but each of the state's
legislative bodies selects another third of its membership. The
appointment system was designed to ensure the commission would
not be controlled by any one interest and could remain independent.
The ruling is not a death sentence
for the commission -- yet. The decision will be appealed and
while the issue raised is serious, the commission has weathered
dozens of legal challenges from developers unhappy with its often
strict environmental decisions. But it is the first time that
a judge has agreed with developers about what they claim is an
overpowered agency.
Mark Bassara, an attorney with
the Sierra Club, said in a Press Democrat report that
the commission was widely supported by California citizens. The
commission "ensures the vast majority of California residents,
the ones who cannot afford to live on the beach, are ensured
continued access to it."
Waste winners
announced
Necessity is the mother of invention
-- and in an ever-smaller world, Humboldt County residents are
inventing new ways to reduce the amount of resources they consume
and waste they produce.
Humboldt County's Waste Reduction
Award winners, announced last week, include such innovators as
the Humboldt State University dining service, which has started
to use food scraps as pig feed; St. Vincent De Paul, which takes
appliances and mattresses out of the stream of waste heading
into the landfill and rebuilds them for sale in its thrift stores;
and Peter Bloom, who has instituted a program at the Humboldt
County Hazardous Waste Facility that identifies reusable toxic
substances, like paint, and makes them available to the public.
The awards are given out every
spring by the county's Integrated Waste Management Program. For
a complete list of recipients, call 268-2217.
HSU
people of year
"I do a lot of volunteer
work," said Mimi Black, Humboldt State University's Woman
of the Year in what has to be the understatement of the year.
Black founded the Court-Appointed
Special Advocate club at HSU, which helps foster the work the
children's advocates. Of course, she is an advocate herself in
addition to being an educational surrogate parent for children
with developmental disabilities, running a career fair for women
in science, teaching a science class at Sunset Elementary, serving
as president of the pre-med club and EMT-1, a club for emergency
medical technicians, and being the captain of a Relay for Life
team. She's also a full-time -- that's 40 hours -- worker and
the adoptive parent of a child with a developmental disability
(See cover story, Feb. 4, 1999.)
And when she's got a spare moment
she does genetic research.
How does she do it?
"I do my 40 hours a week
at night working at a group home," she said. "Sometimes,
I get to sleep!"
Joining Black as the HSU Man
of the Year is Panama Bartholomy. As an active environmentalist
and a member of student government, Bartholomy is an advocate
for energy conservation, increased recycling and fossil fuel
reduction.
Bartholomy is being honored
not only because he raises his voice; he also dirties his hands.
He was one of the brains behind the Campus Center for Appropriate
Technology's biodiesel lab, a project that began producing vegetable
oil-based fuel.
"He is not afraid to challenge
the status quo, but listens carefully to arguments both pro and
con," said Associated Students General Manager Joan Tyson,
who nominated Bartholomy for the award.
Don't
pick them mussels
The annual mussel quarantine
has been issued by the state Department of Health Services. The
order is established for all species of mussels found along the
California shoreline including all bays, inlets and harbors.
The harvest of mussels, in effect
from May 1 through Oct. 31, is prohibited due to the possibility
of a naturally occurring substance that is highly toxic. Harvest
of mussels for bait is allowed, however they should be broken
open at the time of harvest and adequately labeled.
A warning has been issued in
addition to the mussel quarantine advising the public that the
dark part of all clams and scallops must be discarded and not
eaten because any paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin present
would be concentrated in the dark parts. As will all shellfish,
clams and scallops should be taken only from areas free of sewage
contamination and should be thorough cleaned before cooking.
For further information, call
the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services,
445-6215.
KEET's fund
drive
Say you're watching a public
television documentary on World War II and you get curious about
Gen. Douglas MacArthur. You'd probably head to the library or
the Internet to find out more about the man with the corncob
pipe. Within a couple of years, you can just press an interactive
button on the TV remote and find all you want to know.
That's because KEET-TV is preparing
to be the first television station in Humboldt County to switch
to digital broadcasting. The new technology allows several data
streams to be broadcast simultaneously. That could mean either
different programs or programs and complementary information
like biographies.
The new technology doesn't come
cheap. The switchover, mandated by the Federal Communications
Commission, will cost $4.6 million. KEET-TV is starting a capital
campaign to fund the project; $2.9 million will come from government
grants, but the station needs to raise the additional $1.7 million
from the community.
The station received a boost
last week when a locally produced program was honored with an
Emmy nomination. The National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences nominated KEET-TV for its "Engineering Is Everywhere"
program, which looked at engineering feats on the North Coast.
The nomination, for a public service community program produced
in Northern California, is the first the station has received.
Gang
activity on North Coast?
"You know how things work
themselves up to a point and then explode? That's where we are
right now," said Simona Keats, coordinator of the Gang Risk
Intervention Program (GRIP) in Humboldt County.
Gang activity on the North Coast
was back in the spotlight last month after 13 arrests were made
at the conclusion of a gang investigation known as Operation
Black Widow. The FBI and Sonoma County law enforcement cooperated
in a three-year $5 million investigation into activities of a
gang run by inmates of Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte
County. The gang is believed to have been responsible for at
least seven deaths as part of a rivalry with another gang over
the drug trade. Their ground forces were actively operating in
Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Keats said that while Operation
Black Widow did not involve Humboldt County, (District Attorney
Terry Farmer declined to comment), that doesn't mean an absence
of gang activities.
"What I am seeing is more
students getting involved in gang activities," Keats said.
What type of activities? "More
drug trafficking, more assaults and more activities to get themselves
initiated into gangs."
Keats said while the potential
had been there, an increase in activity was triggered by "people
coming in from out of town and getting these kids a mindset about
becoming more violent and more open to substance abuse."
Now she sees kids wearing certain colors that signify gang affiliation,
often to gangs from outside the area. Even the gang targeted
by Black Widow -- the Nuestra Familia -- has been claimed by
some here, Keats said.
Prior to this year, Keats said,
"Kids were `grouping' but not being violent. Now it is much
worse within the groups." The substances abused have gone
from alcohol and marijuana to cocaine and heroin, she added.
State Sen. Wesley Chesbro wrote
a letter to Gov. Gray Davis in the wake of the Operation Black
Widow arrests, asking for state funding for an anti-gang task
force. The task force would coordinate law enforcement efforts
in Sonoma, San Jaoquin, Monterey, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda,
North Santa Clara, Merced, Madera, Tulare, Fresno and Kings counties
-- but not Humboldt.
"I plan on calling Wes
Chesbro myself about that [omission]," said Keats.
In addition to the GRIP program
to provide alternatives to gang activity, Keats said she and
police chiefs are pursuing a gang-suppression grant from the
federal government.
"We have gang prevention
and intervention components but we don't have the suppression
component, which would be cooperation between probation, police
and the district attorney."
Some suppression of gang activity
exists at the school level.
"We do what any other school
does," said Pat Faeth, principal at Zoe Barnum Continuation
School in Eureka. "We don't allow the wearing of colors,
bandanas or hairnets. We don't allow students to wear certain
types of jewelry, like one with dollar signs or Uzis on them,"
because they are signs of the drug trade.
Faeth meets with other high
school principals and Keats once a week to compare notes, and
Zoe Barnum hosts midnight basketball every weekend to give kids
something to do besides hang out on the streets.
And although he acknowledges
there is a problem with gangs in Humboldt, Faeth said it isn't
the same as in other parts of the state. Coming to Eureka from
Hayward, he said gang activity is "light compared to where
I came from" and the differences between groups of kids
"are as much culturally based as gang-based."
He said the system at Zoe Barnum
has been successful. He said he can't convince kids to leave
gangs -- and they may participate in gang activities after school
-- but he does make the school safe.
"You just have to lay down
the law," he said. "We say, `This is the last stop,
there isn't anyplace to go if you can't make it in continuation
school.'
"We've had members of various
gangs be in the same classroom together. That's life: You have
to be able to get along and function in society without going
after your enemies all the time."
-- reported by Arno Holschuh
CR's new
four-day week
As Humboldt businesses look
at how they can minimize the effects that rolling blackouts will
have on them this summer, College of the Redwoods is looking
to what it can do to help prevent them.
The college will switch to a
four-day workweek this summer as part of its energy conservation
program. Employees will work nine- or 10-hour workdays Monday
through Thursday to compensate for the loss of Friday.
Joe Porras, director of facilities
and maintenance for CR, said that even though workers will be
spending the same number of hours at work, the new scheduling
will allow for conservation. The computers and lights employees
need to work don't draw that much energy, he said, but heating
a building up in the morning does. That energy is lost when everyone
goes home at night.
"On Friday when we aren't
here the boilers will not operate at all," Porras said.
He said that would save about one-fifth of CR's energy consumption
this summer.
CR already has an efficient
computer-controlled heating and ventilation system, but has still
seen energy costs rise almost 60 percent --$800,000 -- in the
last year.
Prop 215
in court
The debate over medical marijuana
in Humboldt County continued in Judge Bruce Watson's courtroom
last week as Sheriff Dennis Lewis was held in contempt of court.
Lewis has refused to follow
Watson's order to return approximately one ounce of pot to medical
marijuana patient and provider Chris Giauque. Giauque had the
marijuana confiscated during a traffic stop in 1999. Under Proposition
215, he was not convicted of any crime.
Lewis said his refusal to return
the pot is due to fear that he would be breaking federal law.
Watson suspended the contempt
charge until June 8 in order to allow a federal court to hear
a complaint Lewis has filed. Lewis has said he wants the federal
court to decide what he should do with the marijuana.
As the debate over what 215
means for law enforcement continues its way through the courts,
some debate on the merits of marijuana as a medicine will take
place May 6 at 8 p.m. on channel 12, Arcata's public access station.
The program Community Health Watch will host a discussion between
District Attorney Terry Farmer, Dr. Jay Davis of Mad River Hospital,
Lt. Randy Mendosa of the Arcata Police Department and Mike Goldsby,
director of St. Joseph's Family Recovery Center.
K-SLUG hits
airwaves
If you are 18-34 years old and
feel like no radio station in Humboldt County suits your musical
preference, twist your dial to 94.1 FM, KSLG-FM -- aka K-Slug.
The new "alternative rock"
station began broadcasting officially at noon Tuesday, May 1,
from studios in Ferndale. It's owned and operated by Lost Coast
Communications, the same company that runs KHUM-FM, "radio
without the rules."
Lost Coast Communications Music
Director Mike Dronkers describes the new format as "kind
of alternative rock. It's a hybrid because the actual genre called
`alternative' has become quite the opposite. We hesitate to use
the term. But if you look on the alternative charts, that's the
kind of bands we'll be playing."
Among those on the play list
so far: Radiohead, Weezer, Green Day, Moby, G-Love and Special
Sauce, Cold Play, PJ Harvey and U2.
The 94.1 frequency became available
three years ago. "We applied for it and so did Eureka Broadcasting,
KEKA-KINS-KWSW," said Cliff Berkowitz, Lost Coast's program
director.
The two applications came at
a time of transition for the Federal Communication Commission.
When the papers were filed, new licenses were awarded on the
basis of community service. Then a new system based on the highest
bidder was put in place. But, as Berkowitz explained, "Those
who had already applied were left in limbo land. There were no
rules for us, so they decided to go to a private bid process."
That left it up to the two applicants
to decide who would get the station. Berkowitz paid $70,000 to
Eureka Broadcasting to withdraw its bid and came away with the
frequency.
Lost Coast was given three years
to begin broadcasting. "We had to scramble to get investors.
At the time we were in pretty tough financial shape, but since
then we hired R.J. Blount as our general manager/sales guru and
we were able to raise the funds from local investors. We got
it together at the last possible second."
So far K-Slug has hired two
deejays. John Matthews, who used to work at KPFK in Los Angeles,
will be on from 6 a.m.-noon. Then Joe Butterworth takes over.
"He's going by the moniker,
Dr. Sid Reagan III, bastard child of nine Republicans,"
said Berkowitz.
Dronkers explained that the
new station utilizes a new music format. "We're not using
CDs. The whole thing is actually on MP3s. We have our entire
music library on seven MP3 data CDs. We're starting with about
500 songs. MP3s are not just for music pirates any more. Basically
our entire library will be on a hard drive so we can call stuff
up instead of having to put a CD in the player."
This allows the staff to preprogram
hours of airtime so they don't have to remain at the controls.
For the time being the "live" deejays like Matthews
will only be in the studio for four hours out of a six-hour shift.
The rest of the time the station is run by a computer.
According to Berkowitz Lost
Coast Communications will expand its radio empire some time soon.
"The plan is to purchase
radio stations in small and medium markets," he said. "We're
looking at places that need good local live radio. We're bucking
the trend of buying a group of stations and hooking them all
up to a satellite."
COVER
STORY | ARTS ALIVE! | CALENDAR
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© Copyright 2001, North Coast Journal,
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