COVER
STORY | PUBLISHER | DIRT
PREVIEW
| THE HUM | CALENDAR
June 9, 2005
TAXPAYERS LEAGUE
SUIT: Not since last year's Calpine
controversy has Eureka been quite as shaken up as it is now,
after the Humboldt Taxpayers League filed suit against the Eureka
Redevelopment Agency and developers Glenn Goldan and Dolores
Vellutini last Thursday. The suit has already given birth to
a full-page Times-Standard ad, a flurry of heated e-mails
between the two sides and impassioned Sunday morning commentary
in at least one neighborhood grocery. Things looked to get hotter
still Wednesday afternoon at the Samoa Cookhouse (after the Journal
went to press) as Goldan and Vellutini promised to confront their
accusers at the Taxpayers League's regular monthly meeting. At
its base, the lawsuit alleges that Goldan and Vellutini -- both
of whom are building high-profile developments on the Eureka
waterfront -- have legally improper relationships with the Redevelopment
Agency, an arm of city government. Both of them became members
of the city's Redevelopment Advisory Board, a citizen panel that
makes recommendations to the agency, in 1994; since that time,
both contracted with the agency to develop waterfront lots. In
his filing with the court, Neil Shapiro, the Taxpayers League's
Monterey-based attorney, argues that the two's public and private
roles amount to a legally prohibited conflict of interest. In
their defense, Goldan and Vellutini said that they have always
stepped aside when any matter pertaining to their personal business
came before the board, even on contracts that they had not yet
bid on but possibly intended to. They also questioned the League's
motives and its timing -- one of the contracts in question was
signed as early as 1995.
AUGUST CASE HELD UP: The questioning of jurors in the trial of Fortuna
Councilmember Debi August was delayed on Monday, after the forewoman
of the Humboldt County Grand Jury that accused her of improper
activities in office voluntarily released a trove of new documents
to Judge John Feeney after allegedly being told to destroy them.
According to a report in Tuesday's Times-Standard, former
grand jury forewoman Judith Schmidt told the court that her successor,
Darlene Marlow, had told Schmidt to delete the material in question
from her computer. Instead, Schmidt retained an attorney and
submitted it to the court. The Times-Standard said that
Schmidt would be questioned by attorneys this week. Attorneys
on both sides of the case are under a gag order and could not
comment on the story.
PEPPER SPRAY MOTIONS FILED:
Attorneys on both sides of the
"Pepper Spray Eight" case have filed their post-trial
motions -- and it would seem that last month's ruling in favor
of the activists has done little to settle the matter in the
minds of the disputing parties. On the one hand, attorneys for
Humboldt County and the city of Eureka are asking Judge Susan
Illston, the San Francisco federal judge who oversaw the most
recent version of the trial, to reverse the jury's decision.
Nancy Delaney, the attorney representing the city and the county,
said Tuesday that such a move was necessary in case Illston became
inclined to order her clients to pay the other side's attorneys
fees -- an order Delaney said she considered unlikely, though,
as the jury awarded the activists only nominal damages. Meanwhile,
attorneys for the plaintiffs have asked the judge to issue an
order banning police from using pepper spray against nonviolent
activists. The court is scheduled to hear arguments for both
motions on June 27.
COURT PROTECTS FED POT
BUSTS: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled
Monday that federal agencies have the right to arrest and prosecute
medical marijuana patients, despite California's ground-breaking
Proposition 215, which legalized the drug for patients whose
doctors prescribed it to them. The ruling will have no effect
on state law, which is administered locally by the offices of
the sheriff and district attorney. Redway lawyer Ed Denson, a
specialist in marijuana cases, said that he didn't think the
court's ruling would lead to an intensified federal crackdown
on medical marijuana users in California. The feds just don't
have the resources, he said. "Because of practical matters,
they've been limited to prosecuting very large cases," Denson
said. "They've been very reluctant to do anything under
a thousand plants, and there are very few medical cases in that
range." However, he said, some growing cooperatives run
by patients or clinics could conceivably be large enough to draw
the Drug Enforcement Agency's attention.
IHSS WORKERS RALLY FOR
RAISE: The county's In-Home Support
Services workers presented petitions with over 2,000 signatures
in support of their demands for a raise to the Board of Supervisors
on Tuesday. Currently, the workers -- employees of the county's
Health Department who take care of elderly or infirm people in
their own homes -- earn only the state minimum wage, with no
hope of advancement, according to Sarah Sherburn-Zimmer, an IHSS
employee active with the United Domestic Workers Union. However,
she said that state and federal grants will fully compensate
the county for IHSS wages up to $9.50 per hour, including health
insurance. Hitherto, the county has not acted on the workers'
demands. Sherburn-Zimmer said that she hoped the petitions would
wake them up. "We're sure they want to do the right thing,
and we want to show them that it's a priority for the community,"
she said Monday.
CAL CONNECTED IN TOWN:
Humboldt County residents are used
to psychedelic buses, but a psychedelic RV? That swirly orange-and-green
monstrosity roaming local streets this week belongs not to upscale
Deadheads but to California Connected, the statewide public television
news magazine. The show is returning to the county to film two
specials on the region, with segments on Pacific Lumber, juvenile
mental health and plans to build a wave-powered electrical plant.
Autumn Doerr, the show's road trip producer, explained Tuesday
why the show films so many of its pieces in Humboldt County.
"It has a little bit of Alaska feel to it," she said.
"People go there to start over." The shows will air
on local public television affiliate KEET-TV, Channel 13, on
June 17 and June 24 at 10 p.m.
NEW HUMCO GOVERNMENT GUIDE: In an effort to
promote informed participation in Humboldt County government,
the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County has published "A
Citizen's Guide to County Government," a free pamphlet with
detailed information about elected and appointed offices, intergovernmental
bodies and other public agencies. The 21-page guide includes
descriptions of functions and services, contact information and
more about the Superior Court, the Board of Supervisors, city
councils, school district boards, county revenues and budgets
and many others. Copies of the free guide are available online
at www.lwvhc.org/vote/guide.htm or by calling the League of Women
Voters of Humboldt County at 442-9252.
E-WASTE ACCEPTED: Arcata and Eureka
community recycling centers will offer free electronic waste
collection this weekend. E-waste includes computers, scanners,
printers, microwaves, stereos, cell phones, VCRs and similar
items. The centers will not be accepting appliances such as refrigerators,
washers and dryers. Normally, electronic waste is only accepted
at the Eureka location, which usually charges a fee of 25 cents
per pound. Arcata collection will be held Saturday from 10 a.m.-3
p.m. at the recycling center's10th and N sts. location. The Eureka
location will collect e-waste Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Waterfront
Drive at the parking lot facing the bay. Enter from the foot
of Washington St.
CORRECTION: In last week's story
on a meeting between the Pacific Lumber Co. and Mattole residents
("Palco rolls out Mattole
watershed plans," June 2), geologist Gary Simpson was
mistakenly identified as an employee of the Pacific Lumber Co.
In fact, Simpson works for SHN Consulting Engineers & Geologists,
and his comments were intended to laud the fact that Palco had
engaged independent local scientists such as himself to work
on company studies. The Journal regrets the error.
Rally 'round the Bird
Eureka city councilmember,
neighbors feud over wild peacock
by Helen Sanderson
No one is denying that the caterwauling
mating call of a peacock can be annoying.
But whether or not the sound
is so vexing that it warrants inclusion on Eureka's City Council
agenda and calls to police is a question that has residents of
one Eureka neighborhood joining forces to protect a semi-wild
specimen from City Councilmember Mike Jones' crusade to banish
it from the city.
Around October, the peacock
showed up in Eureka's Fifth Ward near the corner of Huntoon and
C streets. It has been there ever since, often in the yard of
Kathleen Becker and her partner, Linda Byrd.
"My neighbors have all
said to me, `He's beautiful, he's special,'" Becker said
last week.
Though it often frequents other
homes as well, the bird has become such a part of Becker/Byrd
household that they have given it a name -- "Punjab,"
after the peacock's native pecking grounds in India.
So when animal control officers
arrived at Becker and Byrd's house on June 1 asking to go into
their yard to capture the peacock, Becker said no.
"I wanted to do some research
about this first and see what other neighbors thought about it,"
Becker said.
It was only after this incident
that they found out that the neighbor most opposed to the peacock's
presence was their representative on the city council, Mike Jones,
who had brought the matter to the city council weeks earlier
after it had kept him awake several nights.
Becker decided to take action.
After talking to some nearby neighbors the next day, and finding
that other people liked the peacock, Becker canvassed the neighborhood
with a petition.
Twenty-five neighbors from 19
households in the area where the bird roosts signed the petition
stating that they "consider [the peacock] more of an asset
than a detriment to our community. We are advocates for this
animal and do not wish to see him harassed, impounded, or harmed
in any way."
At the May 17 council meeting,
Jones requested city staff to explore how the city should go
about removing the peacock from the area. He said that neighbors
had contacted him to complain about the noise.
No action was taken at the meeting,
but City Attorney Dave Tranberg said that staff has looked into
the issue and that it is animal control's job to settle the dispute
and possibly find a new home for the bird.
Some neighbors see Jones' measures as blatant
impudence and a waste of the council's time and taxpayers' money.
"Two weeks ago someone
broke into my ATV trailer and took some wrenches," said
Bud Nees, a retired postal worker who has lived in the neighborhood
for 34 years. "My renters' window in his car was smashed,
and nothing is ever done. But when they use city resources to
hunt down a bird -- the only nuisance is [Mike Jones], and he
doesn't represent the people in his neighborhood. He didn't ask
any of us what we thought."
Animal Control Officer Rob Patton
said Eureka police are is still looking at how they should proceed
with the issue, and that one option is to relocate the bird to
the Trinity Lake ranch of another officer who keeps a flock of
peacocks.
According to Patton, residents
from three neighborhood locations have called Animal Control
to complain about the peacock.
The dispute between Jones and
the neighborhood's pro-peacock faction came to a head Saturday,
when Nees heard someone shooting a BB gun down the alley. From
his driveway, Nees saw Punjab fly off a fence, letting loose
with four or five loud squawks as he descended into a neighbor's
yard.
Nees, 71, ran down the alley
to where the shots came from -- Mike Jones' yard. He questioned
Jones' son, who is in his 20s, about the gunshots.
"I asked the kid, are you
shooting at that bird and he said, `What's it to you?'"
Nees recalled, adding that he told the young man to leave the
bird alone.
"And he says something
to the effect of, `I'll shoot anything I want.' One thing leads
to another and he says, `I'll jump over the fence and come down
there and we'll have it out.' And I said, `Come on.'"
Meanwhile, Becker called 911
while Byrd went outside to see what was going on. By that time,
Jones and his wife had arrived.
"They started shouting,
`It's not your business, get out of here,'" Byrd later said.
"Then the son says, `Why don't you go back and kiss your
girlfriend.' He said, `I can have a friend come over and beat
you up.'"
Jones said that his son was
not shooting at the peacock. Public Information Officer Suzie
Owsley confirmed that police did not find evidence that the bird
was shot at.
"[My four sons] have all
been taught not to shoot the bird," Jones said. "They
shoot cans, Pepsi cans, root beer cans. When I was a kid I did
the same thing. I may have even shot a bird once."
The police have been to the
Jones' house before, when Becker called them after one of Jones
boys allegedly shot at robins in her yard a few months ago.
Becker and Byrd said that they have been
the target of petty harassment from the Jones' for years. According
to the couple, who are avid gardeners, their rose bushes have
been cut down and plants run over with a truck by the Jones boys,
who have also yelled homophobic taunts like, "Kill all the
fags!"
In the summer of 2002, before
Jones was elected to council, the family posted a placard in
support of Proposition 22 -- a 2000 state measure that banned
gay marriage -- on the back of their house, facing into Becker
and Byrd's back yard. It was not visible to any other household.
Jones said that Byrd and Becker
vandalized the Prop. 22 sign when it was in his front yard in
2000 and he kept it as a memento. (Becker denies vandalizing
Jones' sign, but did admit that she had taken a sign from someone
else's front yard.) He said that he did not know that his sons
placed the sign on the back of the house years later.
As for their comments he said,
"Boys will be boys."
Eureka's mystery blogger
by
HANK SIMS
When Dan Rather and 60 Minutes
ran a story on President George W. Bush's military service based
on shaky documents last year, the universe of on-line diary-scribblers
and unpaid Internet commentators known as "bloggers"
jumped on the case, proving the documents false and forcing a
personnel shake-up at CBS News.
In January, bloggers seized
upon and published supposedly off-the-record comments made by
CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan at the annual Davos World
Economic Forum. Jordan had said that he knew of instances when
U.S. armed forces deliberately targeted journalists in Iraq;
after his words became public, he was forced to resign.
The pseudonymous local blogger
Captain Buhne doesn't have such grand ambitions -- at least,
not yet. But over the last few months, his Buhne Tribune
has made an earnest attempt to influence Humboldt County news
coverage.
But unlike many of the more
well-known national media bloggers, Buhne is less concerned with
a publication's politics than with its prose.
"I am dumbfounded by the
number of newspapers in this town, and yet not a single one deviates
from the same boring, official angle on every story!" he
wrote in a recent e-mail interview.
To that end, Buhne, who said
that he is a Humboldt County native in his early 30s and a "media
addict," has tweaked the noses of various local newspapers
with satirical, scandal-mongering posts. Early last month, it
was the Times-Standard's turn, as a classified ad soliciting
local nude models "between the ages of 18 and 20" for
an adult website received Buhne's scrutiny.
A few weeks later, his attention
turned to the Eureka Reporter, a newspaper that so prides
itself on its patriotism that it carries a regular column entitled
"Essence of Americanism." Noticing the Reporter's
nameplate, which features a fluttering U.S. flag, Buhne looked
up federal regulations on the use and display of the flag and
discovered that the newspaper was apparently in violation of
several of them.
In particular, federal law states
that the flag may not be used for "advertising purposes,"
may not be printed on material that is intended for one-time
use and may not have writing printed on it. (The Reporter's
initial "T" is superimposed over the flag in the paper's
logo.)
"Here's what you can do:
Boycott this traitorous rag until it cleans up its act,"
Buhne wrote. "Contact the publisher -- right now -- and
cancel any subscription or advertisement placed with them Finally,
demand an apology -- in writing -- to our brave men and women
of the armed forces, who daily shed blood to protect our nation."
Though the words may have been
harsh, Buhne said by e-mail that he isn't really all that concerned
about what the paper does with its logo. Rather, he issued a
challenge to the Reporter, and all other local papers
-- if you don't want to suffer such indignities, publish something
interesting and stop condescending to your readers.
"Does any young, starving
reporter really think `the Dixieland Jazz Festival is a great
time for all,' or whatever?" Buhne asked in an e-mail. "Or
that Pastels On The Plaza is newsworthy, for the same reasons,
every year? Of course not. He's probably got Metallica on his
iPod, and he's forcing himself to be interested in whichever
lame event he's been assigned to cover."
The Buhne
Tribune can be found at buhnetribune.blogspot.com.
COVER
STORY | PUBLISHER | STAGE
DOOR | DIRT
PREVIEW
| THE HUM | CALENDAR
Comments? Write a
letter!
© Copyright 2005, North Coast Journal,
Inc.
|