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July 3, 2003
Whither
big box?
Humboldt is not paradise
for larger retailers
by
EMILY GURNON
The new Target store is on its
way, and while the people of Eureka said no to Walmart, the City
Council recently rejected an ordinance that would have restricted
large retail development. So will another "big-box"
store appear on the Humboldt horizon any time soon?
Time will tell, but the fact
is that on a number of counts -- demographics, land availability,
regulatory realities -- the Humboldt Bay region is less than
ideal for the big guys.
A possibility in
Fortuna
Still, rumors continue to circulate.
Consider the case of Fortuna.
The Pacific Lumber Co. has been
talking with a developer about selling a portion of its Fortuna
mill site, just north of Kenmar between Highway 101 and Fortuna
Boulevard, to a big-box retailer. The developer involved may
be Fred Katz -- who floated the unsuccessful idea of building
a new, larger Kmart on the store's Eureka site.
"There have been some discussions
as to the plausibility" of such a development at the PL
site, said Fortuna City Manager Duane Rigge. "This could
come to nothing. Or it could be just what people perceive it
to be: the possibility that PL sells their property to a developer
and the developer tries to put it forward as a regional shopping
center," with three to five large retail stores, he said.
At this stage, Rigge said, "They're
not putting anything on the table." But he said people who
might be worried about Pacific Lumber cutting employees should
take heart. "PL's not talking about eliminating any workforce.
They're talking about relocating it to another site. It's not
like the mill would go away; it would go away in that location."
Nobody directly involved is
commenting about the possible deal. (Neither Katz nor Pacific
Lumber officials returned calls for this story.)
"At this point nothing
has been submitted," said Liz Shorey, Fortuna's city planner.
"I only know the same rumors everybody else has heard."
Fortuna is often mentioned as
a possible site for future development, partly because of its
business-friendly reputation. "We get phone calls all the
time from people who want to do business in the city," Shorey
said. "A couple times a year we might get someone from a
big-box broker."
But there are currently no applications
to the city for a big-box store, she said, and there are very
few, if any, parcels of land that would accommodate one without
a rezoning. "Our commercial zone is mostly built out."
The one development that is
currently in the works is a 60,000-square-foot project east of
Fortuna Boulevard off Kenmar. It will include four buildings
of 15,000 to 17,000 square feet each -- considerably less than
the approximately 40,000 square feet, or about 10 acres, required
for a Walmart-type store.
Sue Long of Wendt Construction,
the builder of that site, said the prospective tenants are confidential.
"But I can tell you it's definitely not a big-box,"
she said.
Obstacles
Eureka presents several obstacles
to big-box development. There's not a lot of vacant land. The
land that is available may be in the coastal zone (where projects
are subject to another layer of regulatory review) or in a wetlands
area or in former industrial zones that need environmental cleanup.
"I don't know of a 10-acre
piece of property in the city of Eureka that is totally clean
and clear and ready for development," said Sidnie Olson,
senior planner for current planning. A developer might be able
to acquire several properties and merge them, however, or buy
an existing site and tear down what's there.
"It's going to depend on
the developer, and what they want to do, and how far they're
willing to go" to accomplish the project, Olson said.
Arcata is probably the last
place a big-box would locate -- given its political stance on
development. (It became one of a few cities across the country
that have set a cap on the number of chain restaurants within
their borders.)
That leaves the unincorporated
areas.
The prime site for a big-box
would have to be somewhere in Humboldt's central population area.
"Certainly, anywhere north of McKinleyville and south of
Scotia/Rio Dell would be definitely outside the window of where
a big-box would consider locating," said Tom Hofweber, the
man in charge of advance planning for Humboldt County.
The last proposal that came
across Hofweber's desk, over a year ago, involved a Lowe's home
improvement store. The company was thinking of building on the
Bracut Mill Yard property along Highway 101 between Arcata and
Eureka.
The problem? Caltrans said a
highway overpass or interchange would be needed to cope with
the added traffic -- at an estimated cost of $6 million or $7
million, Hofweber said.
Lowe's said no thanks.
McKinleyville decided late last
year not to accommodate big-box developments -- or at least those
with a traditional big-box design.
Farther south, Alton could be
developed into a commercial area, and Caltrans is proposing a
highway interchange in the area, Hofweber said.
Not enough growth
But in the end, Humboldt's population
growth -- or rather lack of it -- could put a crimp in any plans
for large new retail.
In the `90s, there was considerable
interest on the part of large retailers in locating here, when
the "growth curves" were looking good, Hofweber said.
"From that standpoint, Humboldt County got on the radar,"
he said. But "the trick for big-box retailers is continued,
sustained, substantial growth," and Humboldt doesn't fit
the bill, he said.
"Our growth is actually
off from what it was," he said. And the people who are moving
in -- to buy the region's increasingly expensive homes -- are
retirees from other parts of the state.
"We're too old," Hofweber
said. "People over 60 will become a much larger proportion
of our population in the coming years." Meanwhile, the number
of people per household has dropped to less than two. "We're
not getting young families, and we don't have the labor base"
to support them, Hofweber said. "Stores want young families."
A better question than where
the next big-box might go is does the community even want one,
said Jacqueline Debets, economic development coordinator for
the county.
Big-box stores usually set up
shop in large metropolitan areas that have more people and more
traffic, she said. In Humboldt, people are accustomed to a different
environment.
"Most people don't want
the population to change dramatically," Debets said. "If
they wanted to live in an area of 10 million people, they'd live
in the Bay Area."
In
the euthanasia room
Meet the two women who
put down animals no one wants
by
HELEN SANDERSON
 Carrying
the drugged blue heeler in her arms like a sleeping child, Molly
Cook [at left in photo] placed it gently on the steel surgical table.
She had brought the dog, a male, from the kennel into this small
concrete room adorned with posters of puppies and kittens. Beneath
rows of colored muzzles was a bowl of dog biscuits -- a final
morsel of comfort to make the animal's departure less frightening,
and the job less painful.
No one in the room knew the
dog's name or his age, although he was not old. He had been tied
to a tree outside the Sequoia Humane Society in Eureka six days
before, as vicious as he was scared. He was yet another abandoned
animal left for someone else to deal with.
Cook and Wanda Regan [at right in photo] , both "euthanasia technicians," are
the people who deal with these unfortunate dogs and cats. They
are the only employees at the shelter with both the qualifications
and the emotional wherewithal to put animals to sleep, as it
used to be termed. Still, the job takes its toll.
While they are sympathetic with
many animal owners who bring their pets to the shelter, both
women expressed frustration with the lack of responsibility that
people take for their cats and dogs. And they expressed resignation
at the horrendous slaughter of eight puppies last week in Blue
Lake.
"I've seen so many cases
of animal abuse over the years that it doesn't surprise me at
all. It just makes me sad," Regan said.
After ending an animal's life,
Cook and Regan usually opt to stay in the office and away from
the public -- the people filtering through the shelter's doors
with pets to leave behind.
"When a person walks in
with a box full of kittens after I just had to put one down,
sometimes I just feel like yelling at them, so I usually stay
back here and calm down for a while," Cook said.
With kitten season in full swing,
the shelter has been inundated with the palm-sized felines. In
total, the shelter is harboring 128 cats and kittens, more than
Cook has seen at any one time in the three years she's been at
the shelter. Last week their office space, equipped with a computer,
filing cabinets and stacks of boxes, took the overflow: a cage
of kittens and a mother cat.
 Occasionally
the women would break from talking about what they do to look
at the kittens playing. They said putting down kittens is the
most difficult part of their job.
"It's not as hard to put
down an animal that's sick, in pain or vicious beyond adoptability,"
Regan said. "But when there's a perfectly adoptable, healthy
kitten that has to be euthanized because there's no room here
-- well, that's the worst."
A woman from Garberville came
to the shelter two weeks ago with 17 kittens, black and brown,
their eyes not yet opened. Cook took 20 minutes to give the woman
a tour of the facility and explain that there was no room at
the inn, so to speak, and that the kittens would eventually be
killed if she left them. The woman drove away without them anyway,
crying.
The bottom line, according to
Kathleen Kistler, director of the humane society, is that people
need to spay and neuter their animals. Although the humane society
does not perform the surgery at their facility, pets leave the
shelter only on the condition that a veterinarian will sterilize
them.
"People continuously drop
off [animals] and they don't see the emotional impact it is has
on our workers," Kistler said. "They work here because
they really care about animals, not to be animal killers."
One year from now, the humane
society will become a "no-kill" facility. The shelter
will end its 22-year contract with the county and become an adoption
shelter. The county will then take on the responsibility of harboring
and euthanizing unwanted animals. That will take place at a new
facility planned for Airport Road in McKinleyville.
In the meantime, more animals
continue to flood the shelter, and the women reluctantly accept
the duty that no one else at the humane society has been able
to regularly perform.
By Regan's estimates, the heeler,
also known as an Australian cow dog, weighed less than 25 pounds
but made up for its size with a wild temperament. He had to be
snared before being untied from the tree and brought into the
shelter at the end of a 5-foot pole.
"He was so out of control
I can't imagine that someone managed to get him into a car to
bring him here," Cook said.
Now the dog lay limply on the
black rubber mat covering the surgical table, a tiny portion
of his pink tongue lolling out lazily. (He had been sedated beforehand
in the kennel, known as the "doghouse.") With Cook
watching, Regan shaved a small section of his front leg and wound
a tourniquet around the limb. With a vein protruding she then
stuck the dog gently with a needle. Blood rushed back into the
vial and mixed with the sodium pentobarbital. Regan paused, as
if to allow for a prayer or a final good-bye.
Slowly she pushed the poison
in, withdrew the needle and waited. The dog began to gently snore.
Regan stroked the gray fur of the heeler's sides and kept her
hands close to its ribcage, monitoring the heart. As his pulse
slowed, a hush came over the room. Regan spoke softly, in the
past tense, looking down at the dog dying under her touch. "He
was actually pretty cute," she sighed.
Talking
with Mike Thompson
by
KEITH EASTHOUSE
Congressman Mike Thompson admits
-- grudgingly -- that George W. Bush is popular. But he doesn't
think the president's domestic agenda is in sync with what most
Americans want.
"The majority of Americans
want a healthy vibrant economy. I don't think his domestic agenda
has addressed that. The majority of Americans want an equitable
tax system. I don't think his tax policy and his continued efforts
to reduce taxes in a way that disproportionately affects the
population is what the American people want.
"I don't think the American
people want to be $6.4 trillion in debt," he went on, "or
on a 10-year course of being $12 trillion in debt. I don't think
the American people want to be paying $1 billion in taxpayer
money every day to pay off just the interest rate on our national
debt. In 10 years it will be over $2 billion every day."
He was speaking from his Eureka
office on a recent morning. It may have been chilly and foggy
outside, but it was clear Thompson was just getting warmed up.
"I don't think the American
people want our environment pillaged in the way this administration
seems hell-bent to do. I don't think the American people want
decisions on issues such as Klamath River water flows to be determined
by what is in the economic interests of the few in the upper
basin, [or] have that policy result in the death of 38,000 spawning
salmon.
"I don't think the American
people want a health care system whose delivery will be left
up to a couple of private sector insurance companies and prescription
drug manufacturers," Thompson continued. "The American
people want fairness, they want jobs, clean air, clean water,
good schools. I don't think that is the national agenda right
now."
It was an impressive performance,
even powerful. And clearly heartfelt. But then the Napa Democrat
has always had a reputation for speaking his mind.
He's also proving to be resilient.
It's not easy being a Democratic congressman in the House, where
the Republican leadership regularly stifles meaningful debate;
yet Thompson doesn't display much frustration or fatigue. As
he told another newspaper this week, "I'm not going to stop.
I'm going to keep going."
On Monday, Thompson took part
in a ribbon-cutting ceremony out at the South Spit, which will
be reopened to the public for the first time in six years. Thompson
and others pushed for the rehabilitation of the area, which had
become a refuge for homeless people and transients. The area
will be administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and
will be open to a variety of uses, including hunting and hiking.
But aside from that, Thompson
hasn't had much to beat his chest about lately. His most recent
setback came last week, when his prescription drug plan was denied
a hearing by House leaders. He continues to fight an uphill battle
in the Klamath River Basin, where a more equitable division of
water between North Coast fishing communities and irrigators
in southern Oregon is opposed by the Bush administration. A bill
that would increase funding for salmon restoration efforts faces
uncertain odds, as does legislation that would allow for the
safe disposal of more than 500 million obsolete computers, which
can leak heavy metals into the environment.
Thompson thinks the Republicans'
determination -- or obsession -- cutting taxes could drive the
country to financial ruin. As an example, he pointed to a bill
recently passed by Congress that cuts taxes by $330 billion.
Not long afterward, according to Thompson, Tom DeLay, a powerful
House Republican from Texas, vowed on the floor of the House
that more tax cuts are coming. The next day, Thompson said, DeLay's
"on television signing a bill that increases the debt limit
by $1 trillion."
"Americans need to start
connecting the dots because our grandkids are being saddled with
a debt today that they're going to have trouble paying off,"
Thompson added.
Are Republicans trying to defund
the federal government?
"That's my read. My read
is that the more money they are able to cut loose is fewer dollars
to pay for programs, and that they're somehow suggesting that
government programs are bad. But these are the same programs
that build highways and roads and bridges and overpasses. Whenever
anyone is stranded off the coast of Humboldt County it's a federal
vessel or helicopter that goes out and rescues you. It's Social
Security. It's Medicare. It's veterans' retirements and veterans'
health care. All good programs.
"Having said that, we need
to show constant vigilance to make sure that these programs are
doing what they are supposed to do and that we're getting the
best bang for our taxpayer dollars," Thompson went on. "But
that's different than spending all the money so you can't fund
the programs. Doing that all you do is make the cracks more wide
and [allow] more people to fall through the cracks. If that's
the agenda, that's going to cripple our domestic economy."
On international matters, Thompson
said he had two concerns about the situation in Iraq. One is
that American forces have yet to find Saddam Hussein. With 200,000
American soldiers in the country, he's worried that chemical
or biological weapons could still be used against U.S. troops.
"I've always thought he has had [chemical and biological
weapons]," Thompson said.
Thompson's other complaint is
that the administration deceived the public in making its case
for going to war with Iraq. "We were told that our country
was at immediate risk if we didn't go into Iraq and topple this
dangerous regime. We know now that that was not the case. We
know now that the data [the administration] presented to the
American Congress and the American people was shaky at best."
Grand
Jury finds utility tax flaws, juvenile hall overcrowding
The Humboldt County Grand Jury
found a number of things to criticize about the city of Eureka's
utility users tax, which voters extended through 2007 by a narrow
margin last November.
Since the city accepts lump
sum payments from those collecting the tax, there are no itemized
statements of exactly where the money comes from. Therefore the
city cannot audit the account to make sure everyone pays who
is supposed to pay.
The 2002-03 Grand Jury Report,
released Tuesday to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors,
also concludes that due to fairness issues, Eureka should quit
taxing cell phone users and TV services, and it should notify
large utility users that they may have have been overcharged
by paying in excess of the city's $1,000 cap.
Perhaps the prickliest issue
of all raised in the jurors' report: the direct tie established
by the City Council between the tax and police raises.
"Police personnel, and
their political action committee, were encouraged to support
[the tax] for their own monetary self-interest.
"The grand jury recommends
that the City of Eureka refrain from promising future salary
increases subject to voters' approval of a taxing measure"
which is set to expire by law.
For the second year in a row,
the grand jury faulted the county for overcrowding in juvenile
hall. The 26-bed facility often has up to 40 detainees, the report
noted.
The Board of Supervisors said
there is some federal funding available that could help the problem,
but the county doesn't have the money to match grants and to
provide the additional staff that would be required.
The grand jury report also reported
on the following:
Jurors investigated the deaths
of four inmates of the Humboldt County Correctional Facility
during 2001. One inmate died of a head injury that occurred prior
to arrest. He had been booked into the county jail by an Arcata
police officer who failed to mention to jail personnel that the
person had been kicked in the head during a fight. The jury recommended
that the APD create guidelines for providing information concerning
prisoners' physical well-being. A second inmate died that year
from cardio-respiratory failure due to alcohol and drug intoxication.
Two more died by suicide; one suffocated using a plastic bag,
another hung himself from a doorknob using his own socks.
While investigating the death
of an invalid under the care of an in-home care provider, jurors
found that the state of California pays workers who care for
disabled people even though some are untrained and have not had
their backgrounds checked. The jury has recommended that the
Board of Supervisors publicize a registry where trained caregivers
are listed.
The jury examined the county's
lack of response to reports of animal abuse at the Band of Mercy
animal refuge, some of the complaints dating back to 1994. Because
no county department oversees nonprofit animal refuge facilities,
complaints of neglect were ignored. The refuge was condemned
in 2002 and its owners convicted of animal abuse. The jury recommends
that the county establish oversight procedures.
The report found Eureka police
to be uncooperative when asked to provide information to the
grand jury regarding citizens' oversight and the city's response
to grievances. Three EPD officers declined to testify when asked
by the jury. The jury recommended that the Eureka city manager
encourage EPD to comply or risk a formal subpoena.
jury noted a warning from the
county's Human Rights Commission: The county is becoming more
polarized due to increased incidents of racial tension, economic
disparity and sexual orientation. The jury is advising the Board
of Supervisors to develop additional mediation programs to ease
cultural conflicts and to establish a computerized filing system
to record complaints. The jury also found that vacancies on the
commission and an inadequate filing system make it harder for
the county to look into potential human rights violations brought
before the agency.
-- reported by Judy Hodgson
and Helen Sanderson
Puppy
killers caught
Two brothers have been arrested
and charged with felony animal cruelty for the slaughter of a
litter of eight puppies in Blue Lake last week.
Adam and Paul Curtright, both
in their 20s, were arrested by police on Monday and are in custody
at the Humboldt County Jail.
Some of the 6-week-old pups
were shot; others had their throats slit. One had its skull crushed.
A ninth puppy that has since been named Lucky was shot and had
its leg shattered, but is recovering.
Blue Lake City Councilman Sherman
Schapiro found the dead puppies in some brush while on a morning
jog.
After the killings made headlines,
Blue Lake Police received a number of anonymous calls. A few
callers expressed suspicion that an adult dog at Paul Curtright's
Arcata residence matched the description consistent with the
puppies -- thought to be border collies or McNabs. After surveying
Curtright's residence, police saw what appeared to be the mother
dog scramble out from under Curtright's trailer, attached to
a large chain. Curtright was eventually arrested, along with
his brother, who lives in McKinleyville.
In memory of Lucky's litter
mates, the Sequoia Humane Society will offer discounted fees
for spay and neutering this fall. Call 442-1782 for more information.
Arts
Council scales back
Like so many other organizations
that use public funds, the Humboldt Arts Council is tightening
its belt.
Driving the cutbacks is the
anticipated demise of the California Arts Council, which until
recently provided the HAC with $41,000 a year. Another funding
source, the $1 million Lila Wallace endowment, is also in trouble
due to poor performance of stock investments.
The loss of the California Arts
Council funding will bring an end to the area's thriving Artists
in Schools program, according to HAC board president Sally Arnot.
"Humboldt County has something
like 60 artists-in-residence in schools that were funded by a
state/local partner program. Without the $41,000 from the state,
those positions will disappear. To me that's the saddest thing.
The impact will really hit the children."
To further save money, Arnot
said that the Morris Graves Museum of Art would no longer be
open on Wednesdays, and that the number of shows per year is
being reduced. Additionally, the gallery will begin requesting
a $3 donation for entry on all days except during the monthly
Arts Alive! events.
Finally, HAC is turning to attrition.
While the executive director, Guy Joy, who recently announced
that he is stepping down, will be replaced, the woman who is
replacing him, Barbara Garza, will not. She has been serving
as the organization's development director.
Joy, who will retain his position
on the board of directors, said the organization is in a transition
stage. "We're definitely shifting from being grant-funded,
as most nonprofits are, to an earned income organization."
Oyster operation
curtailed
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
has ordered Coast Seafoods to stop planting or seeding new oyster
beds near the eelgrass habitats of Humboldt Bay.
The cease and desist order,
which took effect Monday, was issued because of the potential
danger to the eelgrass and the aquatic life it supports, said
David Ammerman, regulatory biologist with the corps.
According to the Environmental
Protection Information Center (EPIC) in Garberville, Coast Seafoods
has been farming oysters in Humboldt Bay since 1950, and, in
the process, "destroying extensive areas of eelgrass beds
that are vital nurseries to many important fisheries, such as
Dungeness crab, herring, rockfish, salmon and steelhead."
The company has 15 days to respond
to the order in writing, Ammerman said. Meanwhile, it is allowed
to retain the existing oyster beds until those are ready for
harvest.
The company did not return a
call seeking comment.
From bad
to worse
The state budget deadlock is
imperiling the College of the Redwoods' fall semester. Meantime,
the $38 billion state deficit is forcing further budget cuts
at Humboldt State University.
The first blow was delivered
last Wednesday, when State Controller Steve Westly announced
that he wouldn't be able to release around $200 million to the
state's 108 community colleges this month. Why not? Because the
state Legislature has not approved a budget for the current fiscal
year, which began on Tuesday. Another $200 million that the colleges
are expecting in August may also be unavailable if the budget
impasse continues.
The bottom line is that there
may not be money available to pay the salaries of roughly 1,000
CR employees. In the past when the Legislature has been unable
to adopt a budget in time for the new fiscal year, employees
have still been paid. It was assumed that once the budget was
passed, it would cover those expenses. But a recent state Supreme
Court decision bars Westly from allocating monies to community
colleges that don't have budgets.
Two days after the CR bombshell,
HSU officials made public their own bad news: a proposed 30 percent
student fee increase to cope with the possibility that $9.5 million
may need to be taken out of this year's budget. The estimated
spending rollback is $1.4 million higher than the cut proposed
in Gov. Gray Davis' budget. Recently, the state Legislature has
been debating additional cuts to the California State University
system budget.
Even if the additional cuts
are not necessary, every major program and service, from academic
affairs and athletics to support services and class size, would
be seriously affected, according to university officials.
Headwaters
appeal
The state has appealed a lawsuit
brought by Pacific Lumber Co. that claimed water regulators did
not have the authority to monitor the company's logging operations
in the "Hole in the Headwaters."
Attorney General Bill Lockyer
filed the opening motion in the case Monday with the 1st District
Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
Pacific Lumber sued the state
in 2001 after the State Water Resources Control Board ordered
the company to monitor the water quality of the south fork of
the Elk River, near a logging operation, in the 720-acre Hole
in the Headwaters, an area retained by PL as a part of the Headwaters
Forest deal.
The company's logging had already
damaged the north fork of the Elk River and other rivers, the
state argued.
The company asserted that since
the Department of Forestry had already issued a timber harvest
plan for the site, which did not include water quality monitoring,
the water board did not have the authority to require PL to monitor
the water.
The state disagreed.
"The analogy we offer is,
just because someone has their driver's license, that does not
mean they can go around willy-nilly dumping their oil into rivers
and streams," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the Attorney
General's office.
Humboldt County Superior Court
Judge J. Michael Brown sided with PL. The state is appealing
the lower court's ruling.
PL did not return a call seeking
comment on the case.
Polluter
fined
The owner of Figas Construction
of Eureka was fined $50,000 for water pollution and diversion
of a stream, the Humboldt County District Attorney announced
last week.
Robert Leslie Figas, 48, pleaded
guilty on June 24 to two misdemeanor counts: for polluting water
by dumping dirt where it could pass into Telegraph Creek, and
for unlawfully diverting, obstructing or changing a stream.
The state Department of Fish
and Game investigated the case when witnesses reported seeing
a bulldozer dump a load of soil into Telegraph Creek, upstream
from Shelter Cove.
Various agencies worked with
Figas and his co-defendant, Robert Hemberger, to prepare a work
plan and repair the damage, which threatened Shelter Cove's drinking
water. Hemberger pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in the matter
last year, and was fined $20,700.
Half of Figas' $50,000 fine
was suspended, and he was placed on 24 months probation.
The plea bargain indicates "business
as usual in Humboldt County is over," said Deputy District
Attorney Paul Hagen.
Seeking
funds
The Arcata volunteer fire department
has begun a $3 million to $5 million fund-raising effort to build
a new station on land purchased by the group a couple of years
ago.
When built, the station will
house the department's new $550,000 ladder truck -- which is
too big to fit in any of the existing stations. (It is currently
being housed in a temporary building behind the Mad River fire
station.)
The three stations used by the
department -- Arcata, Mad River and McKinleyville -- all have
10-foot doors, and the new station will need 14-foot doors in
order to accommodate the truck, said Asst. Chief Ed Trigeiro.
The 2-acre property, which was
purchased by the volunteers and not the fire district, is located
at 11th and M streets in Arcata, and includes the Bug Press building
as well as a vacant lot and a couple of garages, Trigeiro said.
The department, which is staffed
by 12 paid personnel and 49 volunteer firefighters, is responsible
for covering a 62-square-mile area that includes McKinleyville,
Arcata, Bayside, Manila, several miles up Fickle Hill Road and
as far as Essex Lane off Highway 299.
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