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Dec. 16, 2004
HERE WE GO AGAIN: If November's 10-candidate
showdown for three Arcata City Council seats wasn't interesting
enough the first time around, there are now seven people vying
for one council vacancy. Not all of the contenders' nomination
signatures were verified by the city clerk by press time, so
here is the likely (yet technically unofficial) list of candidates:
Greg Allen, 53, an ACLU attorney who ran in November's election;
Nicholas Bravo, 30, a university student, also a repeat contender,
notorious for his acrimonious outbursts at past debates; Keith
Erickson, aka "Biome," age and occupation unknown at
press time, can be seen picketing for various causes on the plaza;
Andrew Lord, 31, an environmental analyst and consultant who
had a brief run-in with the FBI last year when he and friends
jokingly sketched nuclear reactors on a cocktail napkin at a
brewery; Mary Scoggin, 42, a Humboldt State anthropology professor
with a specialty in Chinese culture who headed a local disaster
relief effort for Grenada citizens following Hurricane Ivan;
Mark Wheetley, 45, a senior biologist and natural resources planner
with California Fish and Game who has also worked for the Coastal
Conservancy and coached the Eureka High girls' soccer team for
four years; and Michael Winkler, 55, a research engineer with
HSU's Schatz Energy Lab and Arcata Planning Commission member
who began the sustainable agriculture apprenticeship program
at the university. The special election for Elizabeth Conner's
vacated council seat will be held on March 8.
BUSINESSMAN SENTENCED: John Jay Rist,
owner of John's Auto Repair in Eureka, was sentenced to four
years in state prison last week for bilking the U.S. Postal Service
of $861,000 over a period of two years. According to the District
Attorney's Office, Rist, 30, billed the post office's credit
card account for goods and services that the agency had not ordered
at least 87 times between August 2001 and October 2003. Because
each fake bill was for less than $10,000, it took postal service
auditors two years to figure out that they were being scammed.
VETS CENTER BACK
IN COURT: A lawsuit seeking to prevent the transfer of the
former Fireside Inn to the North Coast Veterans Resource Center
by the city of Eureka is scheduled to be heard in Humboldt County
Superior Court on Monday. Attorneys for Eureka businessman Don
Davenport, who opposes the project, have argued that the city
cannot transfer the title to the vets' center because city code
requires that the new facility must serve "substantially
the same purpose" as it did in the past. The proposed vets'
center has already been the subject of another lawsuit, also
by Davenport, that alleges the use as a center would not be allowed
under the zoning. A trial was held Nov. 29; Judge Marilyn Miles
is expected to issue a ruling on that case in the near future.
HELP PROTESTS TO
STATE: Humboldt
Economic and Land Plan (HELP), a pro-development group that has
been critical of the county's land use policies, has filed a
letter of complaint with a state agency over alleged shortcomings
in recently adopted housing element of the general plan. The
housing element gives state regulators an idea of the amount
of land available for residential development, given current
zoning regulations, in unincorporated areas. HELP believes that
what the county has provided is not near enough to meet the likely
demand for new homes. HELP's agent in Sacramento, land use consultant
Kay Backer, said that she is scheduled to meet with officials
at the state Department of Housing and Community Development
sometime before Christmas to discuss the group's concerns. For
instance: nearly 45 percent of the land identified for residential
development is in the remote Shelter Cove area, which is unlikely
to attract new developers. "It's just one example of where
we don't think the county is being realistic," Backer said.
Michael Richardson, a senior planner with the county Community
Development Services Department, said that the housing element
provides for 8,000 new housing units -- and that's with all physical
constraints, such as unbuildable lots and areas with no water
and sewer hook-ups, removed from the equation. Of those, about
3,500 are in the Shelter Cove area -- however, the state only
requires the county to provide for some 2,000 new units between
now and 2008.
LOLETA PLANT FINDS
OPERATOR: The Loleta Community Services District has found
an operator for its wastewater treatment plant -- after months
of searching and a formal order from the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board. The new operator, Mario Palmero,
is someone who moved into the area just recently and heard about
the job through word of mouth, said Christopher Jones, general
manager of the community services district. The water board had
ordered the district to get an operator pronto; wastewater treatment
plants need daily oversight to ensure that raw sewage is not
dumped out of the plant, that chlorine levels are appropriate
and that equipment is operating properly.
COMMITTEE POSTS
FOR BERG, CHESBRO: Assemblymember
Patty Berg of Eureka was reappointed chairwoman of the state
Assembly's Aging and Long-Term Care Committee and state Sen.
Wesley Chesbro will once again take the helm of the Senate Budget
and Fiscal Review Committee.
SUPES OK POT CLINIC:
Driving from Willow Creek to Arcata
for medical marijuana can be difficult. Luckily a new medical
marijuana clinic and growing operation will open in Humboldt's
high country for patients there. The go-ahead decision came from
the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday, following the Humboldt
Patient Resource Center's appeal of the planning commission's
denial to license a new clinic. The Willow Creek facility will
be open for business three days a week.
HAMBURG JAILED: Former North Coast Congressman Dan Hamburg was
hauled off to an Ohio jail last week after attempting to deliver
a letter detailing his concerns about voting irregularities in
the recent presidential election to that state's elections chief.
According to news reports, Hamburg asked to meet Ohio Secretary
of State Kenneth Blackwell at his office; when the secretary
declined, Hamburg refused to leave. Police were called. Hamburg,
who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1992 to
1994, currently heads the nonprofit group Voices of the Environment.
He is a prominent follower of Adi Da, an eccentric guru who owns
land in Trinidad.
RETAIL STAGNANT,
BOARD SAYS: Humboldt County's retail industry has essentially
stagnated since 1978, growing little, if at all -- while the
county's total workforce has grown by 15,000 over the same period
of time. That's the paradoxical conclusion of a new report issued
by the Workforce Investment Board, which will discuss the report's
findings at its regular meeting on Friday, 8:30-9:30 a.m., at
the Humboldt County Office of Education. HSU economics professor
Steve Hackett and local businesswoman Julie Fulkerson, owner
of Plaza Design, will be among the special guests invited to
discuss the report.
CITIZEN ACADEMY
IN FORTUNA: The
Fortuna Police Department is hosting a six-week program to show
residents the ropes of law enforcement. The FPD is taking applications
for its Citizen Academy, which will meet one night a week through
February. Residents will learn about community oriented policing,
use of force and use of deadly force, gangs, self-defense, first-aid
and crime prevention among other police work. Class size is limited.
Call 725-7550 for further details.
MUSHROOM HUNTERS
BEWARE: The onset of the rainy
season means mushrooms are blooming, and the Humboldt County
Health Department is reminding mushroom pickers that certain
fungi can be deadly if eaten. In a press release, Public Health
Officer Ann Lindsay warns gatherers not to overestimate their
ability to discern between edible and poisonous mushrooms, even
when using guidebooks. The health department suggests that an
expert examine wild mushrooms first. Early signs of mushroom
poisoning include stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, and
can result in liver damage or death. Anyone who suspects they
have eaten bad mushrooms should call the 24-hour Poison Control
Center at 1-800-8-POISON.
Investigators raid pulp mill
after complaint
by
HANK SIMS
Nearly a dozen law enforcement
and regulatory agencies descended upon the financially troubled
Stockton Pacific Enterprises pulp mill early this month after
a whistleblower alleged that the company regularly releases dangerous
chemicals into Humboldt Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
On the morning of Dec. 7, state,
local and federal agents -- including representatives from the
California Department of Fish and Game, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Humboldt County Sheriff's and District
Attorney's Offices -- raided the mill, bearing a search warrant
signed by Superior Court Judge Christopher Wilson the previous
Friday.
They took chemical samples at
various sites around the mill, snapped photographs and seized
paperwork and computers in an effort to seek evidence that would
corroborate allegations of environmental crimes made by Dr. Teri
Ard, a chemical engineer and former Stockton Pacific employee,
according to records from the investigation.
Deputy District Attorney Paul
Hagen, who is heading the case for the DA's office, declined
to comment while charges were pending.
Court records show that in late
October, Ard -- a 36-year-old Eureka resident who was hired less
than a year ago to serve as the company's environmental manager
-- told employees of the Regional Water Quality Control Board
that Stockton Pacific routinely violated environmental regulations.
She alleged that the mill's owners considered penalties for violating
rules cheaper than fixing problems that resulted in pollution.
"She indicated that the
pulp mill management is not concerned about violations and look
at the fines as a cost of doing business," wrote agency
staff members in a memorandum describing their conversation with
Ard.
Specifically, Ard said that
the company illegally disposed of "black liquor" --
a toxic by-product of the pulp-making process -- by dumping it
into the mill's collection system, which discharges legally permitted
waste into the ocean. In addition, she alleged that employees
dumped spent chemicals into storm drains. On at least one occasion,
she said, wastewater tainted by highly alkaline lime stores was
allowed to spill into the bay.
Ard told water quality officials
that pulp mill management attempted to cover up the alleged violations
by cleaning up the mill before water quality inspectors were
scheduled to visit the site. She said also that she was demoted
after repeatedly bringing violations to the attention of the
mill's ownership, and was eventually locked out of her office
and barred from the company's computer system. She indicated
she was taking vacation and was seeking other employment.
A copy of the Water Quality
Control Board staff's memorandum was given to Lt. Jon Willcox,
a law enforcement officer with the California Department of Fish
and Game. On Nov. 2, Willcox and several members of the District
Attorney's Office interviewed Ard in Eureka.
"During the course of the
interview, [I] found Teri Ard to be intelligent, articulate and
credible," Willcox wrote to Wilson in applying for the search
warrant. "[I] did not sense that Dr. Ard was operating on
any hidden agendas of any kind, nor providing us with information
outlining specific alleged violations out of spite, vindictiveness,
revenge or for personal gain."
Ard, who holds a bachelor's
degree in pulp and paper science and a doctorate in chemical
engineering, could not be reached for comment. Stockton Pacific
CEO Stephen Fleischer did not return calls.
The joint investigation comes
at a time when Stockton Pacific Enterprise's financial woes have
been at the forefront of the news. In November, mill employees
took a 15 percent pay cut in order to keep operations afloat
while a buyer is sought. The company owes over $500,000 to the
Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, and around $30 million
on the loan that allowed the company to buy the mill in August
2003.
Company officials have said
the mill will close if a buyer is not found by the end of the
month.
AVA publisher pulls up Mendo
roots
by
HANK SIMS
A pugnacious newspaper publisher
who delighted and appalled North Coast readers for almost two
decades has set up shop in Oregon.
Bruce Anderson, whose Anderson
Valley Advertiser had a small but devoted readership in Humboldt
County, began publishing AVA Oregon last month, after
selling his Mendocino County paper and relocating to Eugene over
the summer.
So far, the left-wing editor
who happily skewered bureaucrats and "tofu totalitarians"
in the local environmental movement seems right at home.
"If you think Arcata's
a politically correct place, try Eugene," he said. "You
have a lot of these associate professors -- like 35 years old.
They're your multiculturalist and language police, but they totally
miss the big picture," such as endemic poverty in the region.
Since taking over the Anderson
Valley Advertiser in the mid-'80s, Anderson has attracted
a national readership with his unique combination of scathing
wit and muckracking reportage. At the same time, he frequently
invoked the wrath of critics by stretching the boundaries of
what many would consider acceptable newspaper content -- including
publishing fictional interviews with former Congressman Doug
Bosco and Earth First! activist Judi Bari, assuming that readers
would take them as satire.
Anderson's reputation -- he
is often portrayed as the last of the old-school American newspapermen
-- has made his move north an attractive subject for feature
writers at large papers. The AVA Oregon launch was greeted
with profiles in the Oregonian, the Sacramento Bee
and the New York Times. Anderson said that the trade magazine
Editor and Publisher is scheduled to run a cover story
on the new publication next month.
The new paper has enlisted a
number of Beaver State writers, including the former director
of sports information for the University of Oregon and several
local free-lance journalists. Many of the columnists who wrote
for the old AVA -- including Petrolia resident Alexander Cockburn
and Anderson's son Zack, an experimental writer of fiction and
sports commentary -- will continue to contribute.
So far, AVA Oregon has
published stories about a fistfight between Bush and Kerry supporters
in downtown Eugene during the run-up to the recent election,
the alleged inanity of Oregon's native right-wing radio talk
show hosts and Anderson's own travails in getting the paper up
and running.
Some of the paper's content
continues to touch on North Coast issues. In a caustic profile
of political consultant Michael Grossman -- whose firm, the Seattle-based
Fifty Plus One, produced television advertisements advocating
the recall of District Attorney Paul Gallegos last spring --
reporter Hart Williams reveals that two of those ads won national
awards from the American Association of Political Consultants.
Reached at his Eugene home last
week, Williams -- who has written for the Oregonian, the
Los Angeles Times and numerous other mainstream papers
-- said that his weekly column in the new AVA is done for love,
not money.
"I get to write the kind
of journalistic pieces that always get quashed by editors at
other publications," he said, adding that he heartily approved
of the paper's motto, a saying that is attributed to publishing
magnate Joseph Pulitzer: "Newspapers should have no friends."
"That's the way it ought
to be," he said "The Fourth Estate is supposed to keep
tabs on these people."
But Anderson conceded that lack
of friends could jeopardize AVA Oregon's chances of getting
off the ground. Though he said the paper is carried by retail
outlets in every part of Oregon and is selling fairly well, his
current weekly circulation of around 1,000 will have to improve
if the venture is to survive beyond January.
It appears that may be an uphill
battle. In last week's issue, Anderson told readers of his frustrated
attempts to get the paper into Portland's venerable Powell's
Books. He capped the story with a fervent wish that the store
be "eaten by Amazon.com."
Closer to home, Sundance Natural
Foods -- a Eugene health-food store -- stopped carrying the paper
last week, apparently after receiving complaints from its clientele.
In an e-mail to Anderson, store owner Gavin McComas explained
that the decision was literally based on his understanding of
the principle of karma.
"I have the ultimate responsibility
to decide what constitutes nourishment and what policies and
practices express our sense of kinship with all sentient beings,
in particular our customers, staff and vendors," McComas
wrote.
Even though such reactions may
spell trouble for the paper, Anderson seemed disinclined to tone
things down in an effort to placate his potential distributors.
"Yes, I'm having trouble
with the PC people -- these people that fancy themselves on the
cutting edge of everything that is true in America," he
said. "A bunch of adenoidal little assholes."
AVA Oregon can be found
on the web at www.avaoregon.com.
The other Anderson Valley Advertiser, which was bought
by Boonville resident
David Severn, can still be found at many local outlets in Arcata
and Southern Humboldt.
Regional Visitor Publications
purchased
AN OUT-OF-TOWN CORPORATION HAS
BOUGHT A Eureka publishing company that specializes in promoting
tourism on the North Coast and Oregon. Regional Visitor Publications,
which puts out the Humboldt Visitor
magazine, The Palette, a
magazine featuring local art, and Humboldt Kids' Digest, was sold to CHC Corp., whose president, Gregg
Gardiner, lives in Hawaii, and whose parent company, 101 Inc.,
is based in South Carolina. Regional Visitor Publications was
created by Scott Ryan and Damon Maguire, former HSU students
who have run the company for 22 years. Maguire, who plans to
stay on with the company as a consultant, said that under the
new company the tourism magazine will expand, and there will
be more color pages in the upcoming edition of the Humboldt
Visitor. "We are excited to pass the Visitor magazines
on to CHC Corp.," Maguire said. "They are an established
publishing company with lots of experience in tourism marketing.
They will do a great job with the magazines and they have the
ability to expand the network to other regions."
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