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COVER
STORY | CALENDAR
Dec. 19, 2002
Tough financial times at St. Luke Manor
by Geoff S. Fein
St. Luke Manor, the only not-for-profit
nursing home in Humboldt County, needs between $500,000 and $700,000
over the next year to help it stay in operation.
The money, which the Fortuna-based
facility is seeking through a fund-raising effort, is needed
to offset shrinking Medicare payments and the rising cost of
workers' compensation and liability insurance.
"Right now we are pretty
much attempting to do a major campaign to compensate for the
federal and state losses," said Robert Stauff, executive
director of Lutheran Home for the Aging of Humboldt County, the
parent company of St. Luke Manor.
The Board of Directors of the
Lutheran Home for the Aging of Humboldt County will conduct a
grassroots campaign and reach out to prominent residents to help
raise the funds, Stauff said.
Because insurance payments are
billed on a monthly basis, the organization has 12 months to
raise the money.
The financial troubles have
already led to layoffs of some workers and an across-the-board
pay cut.
There are four other nursing
homes in the county, all SunBridge facilities owned by the Sun
Healthcare Group, Inc. [A Nov. 9, 2000 North Coast Journal
cover story, "Nursing Home Neglect," reported that
state inspectors had cited the SunBridge facilities for deficiencies
in the quality of care provided by these homes.]
A turning point for St. Luke
Manor came in 1997. Medicare and Medicaid repayments up until
then were cost-based -- facilities were repaid for the cost of
providing service. But that year the federal government went
to a prospective payment program, a more complex way to determine
what to reimburse, Stauff said.
Under the new format the government
pays in advance for services provided by facilities. St. Luke
Manor's staff must provide the federal government with resident
assessments. The data is used to determine which of 44 payment
categories a resident falls under.
The change in Medicare policy
has adversely affected nursing facilities. For example, if a
resident is admitted to St. Luke Manor due to a hip fracture
and is also under care for cancer, St. Luke Manor is only paid
for care of the hip fracture. The government won't pay for the
additional care related to the cancer, Stauff said.
"[St. Luke Manor] would
eat that cost," he said.
According to a study by the
American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA)
-- a professional organization of long-term not-for-profit facilities
-- Medicaid paid $14 less per day than the cost to care for a
resident.
"For St. Luke Manor, the
gap is $24 less per [resident per] day, or $665,760 per
year in unsubsidized health care costs," Stauff said.
The federal government also
cut $1.4 billion nationwide in nursing home payments in October.
That resulted in a $109,500 loss in revenue for St. Luke Manor,
Stauff added.
Dick Hackett, president of the
Board of Directors of the Lutheran Home for the Aging of Humboldt
County, said in a press release that St. Luke Manor requires
an additional $70,000 a month just to cover its increased insurance
premiums.
The 104-bed facility has also
seen its workers' compensation rates increase by 100 percent
in the past year, Stauff said.
"It's a double whammy,"
Stauff said.
Workers' compensation is a state-run
program that covers employees who are injured on the job (St.
Luke Manor has 150 employees). Liability insurance protects St.
Luke Manor in case a resident is injured on the facility's grounds.
Stauff said the increase in
liability insurance is due in part to 9/11. Liability insurance
rates skyrocketed after the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington, D.C. Another factor in rising insurance costs can
be attributed to liability lawsuits, medical malpractice and
personal injury suits that have wreaked havoc on long-term care
facilities.
Large jury awards have led insurance
companies to increase premiums to health care providers.
In an attempt to ease the financial
strain on facilities like St. Luke Manor, Congress is considering
capping medical liability awards, Stauff said.
While Stauff is turning to the
community for help, St. Luke Manor will continue to control costs
wherever it can, he said.
Ten workers have been laid off,
but no nurses. The layoffs were in housekeeping and laundry services,
Stauff said.
St. Luke Manor has 11 licensed
nurses and 13 registered nurses who administer medications and
do clinical assessments. There are 55 certified nursing assistants
who provide about 90 percent of the direct care of residents,
Stauff said. They handle all of a resident's basic needs, such
as bathing, dressing and dining.
St. Luke Manor also initiated
an across-the-board pay cut of about $1 an hour to its employees.
But no matter how bad things might get, the company will never
change its not-for-profit status; it can't because of its affiliation
with the Lutheran Church. A benefit to being not-for-profit,
Stauff said, is that not-for-profits provide more hands-on nursing
care. For-profits have to show earnings for their shareholders,
he explained.
"[We] still have to show
a net gain, but it's reinvested in the facility," Stauff
said.
Whether St. Luke Manor's financial
situation could result in the facility closing is unknown. Stauff
said he couldn't predict that. But the facility does have some
assets (such as an apartment complex) that if need be, could
be sold off as a last resort to help raise funds, Stauff added.
"We do have some assets
at our disposal, but we don't want to divest," he said.
If St. Luke Manor were to close,
it could have a large impact on Humboldt County. St. Luke Manor
has 104 beds, of which 102, on average, are filled.
"If we closed our doors
there would be a tremendous gap in service," Stauff said.
Waterworld: An odyssey
through the Eel River lowlands
story & photos by ANDREW EDWARDS
I WAS HANGING OUT THE WINDOW
OF A SEMI, snapping pictures of the wake trailing behind us,
when I realized what a strange situation I was in. Surrounding
the huge diesel Freightliner was what under any other circumstances
would have been described as a lake.
Stretching out in every direction,
the muddy brown water was crosshatched with the tops of fading
fence lines and studded with farmhouses and barns rising out
of the turbid depths like rudderless ships lost at sea.
[Right, farm animals
surrounded by Lake Loleta. Below, a truck slogs down Cannibal
Island Road.]
This was the Loleta b ottoms
on Monday afternoon.
Two weeks ago the North Coast
was in the midst of one of the driest falls on record. Rainfall
was somewhere near 25 percent of normal, and it was unseasonably
warm, breaking record highs in some areas.
Across the Pacific, though,
trouble was brewing. On Dec. 8, super-typhoon Pongsona slammed
ashore on the U.S. territory of Guam. Meteorologists had predicted
it would swing north and miss the island entirely, but, no such
luck. Guam was pounded with over 160-mph winds and 25-foot surf
from the class-five storm, the most severe category. Damage was
catastrophic.
After wreaking that bit of havoc,
Pongsona chugged north into the Westerlies, a west-running air
current that spans the Pacific. These lofty winds broke up the
massive storm into a series of smaller but still potent disturbances.
Swooping pell-mell across thousands of miles of ocean, the whole
violent commotion ended up slamming ashore again -- this time
half way around the world in, you guessed it, Northern California.
After a weekend of drenching
rain, which almost stranded me in Ferndale after I visited a
friend of mine Saturday night, I headed out Monday morning to
document the damage photo journalistically. By then the bulk
of the storm had swept eastward, but the waters of the Eel were
still rising and the overcast skies were still releasing moisture,
though intermittently.
I drove into Loleta around 11,
just in time to see a PG&E line crew working on a power line
brought down by a falling limb the night before.
With Eel River Drive blocked,
they suggested I try Cannibal Island Road instead.
"You'll really get some
good shots out there," said Brian Southworth, a grizzled
PG&E gas line worker from McKinleyville who was helping the
out-of-town crew with repairs.
Down the road, after hydroplaning
through a couple of "puddles" that were a little deeper
than I had imagined, I came to a place where the road just ran
out. Where there had been a concrete road surface and fields
there was only water stretching out to a farmhouse that had water
lapping against its front porch.
A couple of pickup trucks, lights
blazing, came roaring by spitting water from their wheel wells
as they churned up the road, hauling trailers full of lowing
cattle. I had heard on the radio earlier that farmers were advised
to move their cattle to high ground; apparently that was what
I was seeing.
[Mike Hansen,
of Georgia, repairing power lines in Loleta.]
I drove on until the water grew
so murky that I couldn't see the road underneath the driver's
side door, and decided it was time to turn back. I didn't trust
my knowledge of the road well enough to turn around, so I backed
my 1981 Toyota pick-up the hundred yards to solid ground and
headed landward.
As I drove back to Fernbridge,
a large white pickup, one of the ones that had roared by earlier,
waved me over to the side.
Inside were Bobby Niles and
Vince Hackett of Niles Ranch out in the bottoms; they wondered
if I might want to take a ride out in their semi to check out
the flooding first-hand.
And that's how I ended up in
the cab of the S.S. Freightliner, mucking its way -- Hackett
at the wheel -- across the soggy dairy bottom lands west of Loleta.
The storm, while not even close
to the worst in memory (the catastrophic flood of 1964), was
far from normal. According to the National Weather Service, rain
of the intensity of Saturday's downpour only comes about once
a decade. It would have produced more severe flooding were it
not for the fact that when it hit the rivers were extremely low
due to prolonged drought.
On the coast, record-setting
amounts of rain -- just under 8 inches in Eureka over the weekend
-- singlehandedly brought the area out of near- drought conditions.
In the interior of southern Humboldt things were far worse, with
Ho neydew recording
nearly 28 inches of rain, 10 inches of that in a single day.
Hackett is a young man, maybe
late 20s, early 30s, with a Fu-Manchu mustache
and a ready laugh. He started telling me about the farms we were
passing, whose cows were whose, whose truck that was stalled
out in the middle of the road. The Niles', the Renners, the Hansens,
the Rochas, all were big dairy names. I asked him if people were
worried about their houses out there in Lake Loleta.
[Vince Hackett,
above, and the wake of his Freightliner, photo at right.]
"No, only thing everybody's
worried about is their cattle right now," he said. It makes
sense. A single good dairy cow is worth around $1,500, with beef
cattle coming in at between $600 and $900.
We passed islands of high ground
where cattle had been placed in corrals, on built-up mounds of
earth, kind of like old medieval fortresses surrounded by a moat.
We passed two dogs standing
wet in the middle of sunken driveways, staring as we passed as
if they wondered where all the dry ground was going.
We came to a point where we
could see that even the fence line of the road had disappeared
into the rising water. We stopped. Three cows and a scruffy black
calf were stranded on a knoll next to a collapsed barn. The engine
on our huge diesel backfired as we came to a stop, startling
the cows and sending them plunging into the water. The calf followed,
leapin g
in the wake of the adults, finally making it across the submerged
road to the higher ground of a farm on the other side.
We turned around and headed
off down a side road toward Cock Robin Island to see the river.
We saw it as we drove out of
the water up the ramp to the one-lane bridge to the island. It
was huge, turgid, churning, laden with debris. As I scrambled
up and down the bridge taking pictures I saw several large logs
bob to the surface and slam into the pilings.
As we continued to the island,
we saw more wildlife than cattle. Hundreds of deer were clumped
together in herds on pockets of high ground. We saw one beautiful
2-year-old buck walking alone through a flooded thicket, maybe
12 feet away. Too bad it isn't hunting season, Hackett remarked,
with genuine appreciation.
[A deer makes its
way through the flood waters. Below, Fernbridge reach es flood stage.]
On our way back from the island
we paused on the bridge; Hackett had noticed something out to
the west. Surf, pounding a couple miles away, seemed to be crashing
higher than a nearby barn.
"That is the most insane
natural thing I have ever seen," I remarked. I crawled out
the window to snap a picture. Suddenly, with a rush of blood
to my legs and an odd tingling feeling at the base of my neck,
the power of the scene hit me. Surf was towering in the distance;
the Eel was battering the bridge we were on; nature was overwhelmingly
in control.
"I think we better get
out of here," I said, and Hackett started up the truck.
We drove back down the clogged
road, following the fence lines. The water had risen visibly.
Hackett told me that if the water got much higher, semis wouldn't
be able to transport empty milk trucks to the dairies because
they would float in the water. The way to avoid that, he said,
is to fill them up with water beforehand for ballast.
When we got back, Niles was
standing at the door of his milking shed with some other ranch
workers.
I thanked them for the ride
and headed back to my pickup.
The river crested at around
25 feet, well over flood stage, but not catastrophically.
"We're happy we get a break
now, with the water going down," Hackett said, when reached
by phone Tuesday morning.
With more storms threatening
for this weekend, we'll see how big of a break it is.
When the president calls
by
JUDY HODGSON
It's not often you get a call
from the President seeking your opinion on a matter of international
significance.
Last Thursday the p hone
rang in the Eureka offices of Santiago Cruz [photo at left],
editor of the North Coast's Spanish-language newspaper, El
Heraldo. After Cruz was put on hold for 35 minutes, Mexican
President Vicente Fox came on the line and the two men chatted
about issues regarding Mexican nationals living in the U.S. That
three-minute conversation was incorporated into Fox's weekly
radio broadcast Saturday throughout Mexico.
"It was a very big honor
to be asked my opinion," Cruz told the Journal Tuesday.
The main subject of the radio
program was the controversial new Mexican identification cards.
Fox is urging all Mexican nationals to get the new high-tech
card to ease travel between the two countries, especially since
9/11. They replace the old laminated photo cards that were easily
duplicated and were not accepted as valid identification by other
countries. The Mexican government is hopeful the cards will serve
as valid identification no matter where in the world Mexicans
travel or work.
Cruz, who received the very
first card issued in California in April in a ceremony at the
Mexican Consulate in San Francisco, told Fox the cards have benefits
other than travel for Mexicans in California.
"Many of the local banks
[in Humboldt] now accept them. Mexicans can open checking or
savings accounts and they can use the service to send money back
to Mexico," Cruz said.
They also could come in handy
for identification purposes if a Mexican is stopped by the police.
"It gives law enforcement
an opportunity to identify Hispanics. Police spend a lot of time
doing the checking now," he added, and Mexicans without
valid identification are often detained unnecessarily.
The size of a regular VISA or
Mastercard, the cards are meant to be carried at all times by
Mexicans outside their own country. They are not meant to replace
passports, visas and proper work permits.
So why is the card controversial?
Because the Mexican government
issues them to all Mexican citizens with birth certificates and
official documents such as driver's license or school IDs regardless
of their citizenship status. In the U.S. that includes Mexicans
in the country legally and those without U.S. visas or work documents.
"People worry that this
will give undocumented workers legal status" if California
and other states recognize the new card, Cruz said. "But
that's not the purpose. It is so we can identify ourselves as
Mexicans when we go to the bank here, or back to Mexico, or to
the Mexican consulate to request assistance."
About 1 million cards have already
been issued to the estimated 8.5 million Mexicans in the U.S.
Some California counties have already officially recognized the
cards.
"San Francisco, Oakland,
Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Orange County . . . but not Humboldt
-- not yet."
Cruz said there is another good
reason for the card -- a psychological one.
"It gives us an identity.
When we are in our own country, we don't have to prove we are
Mexican. But here it is different. This card is a way of being
supported by our government. It's a security."
Cruz said his brief talk with
President Fox was very emotional for him personally. "He
asked where I was from. I told him Eureka."
Later Fox's staff called to
thank Cruz for his participation. They told him when Fox got
off the telephone with Cruz he asked, "A donde esta Eureka?"
Rent runs into the Redwood Curtain
by
BOB DORAN
WHEN THE PRODUCTION CREW FOR
THE musical Rent arrived in Arcata last Tuesday for a
three-show run at Humboldt State University, they had a lot less
gear than was expected.
Typically the traveling version
of the show looks and sounds just like the New York production.
That's because four semi-trucks haul an elaborate set, lights
and sound system from one venue to the next.
After performing last week in
Santa Cruz, the Rent convoy headed north. "Our first
truck was stopped [around Laytonville] because it was too long,"
said Melissa Chacon, the show's production stage manager.
The company's 72-foot long trucks
were pulled over by the California Highway Patrol because they
exceeded the length limit on combination vehicles: 65 feet for
the section of Highway 101 north of Leggett. They could go no
further.
The incident was one more example
of the price to be paid for living behind the proverbial "Redwood
Curtain."
According to Mike Cipriano,
information officer for the Highway Patrol, there is no legal
way to enter Humboldt County with any combination vehicle longer
than 65 feet; that includes truck-trailer rigs and recreational
vehicles towing cars or boats.
He said that the section of
two-lane highway that runs through Richardson's Grove State Park
is too narrow, as are areas near Confusion Hill and another section
between Garberville and Leggett. That is prone to rock slides.
"And you can't get off
I-5 on to [Hwy.] 299," he continued, because of sharp turns
on that route over Bighorn Summit and Oregon Mountain. Nor can
you drive longer trucks south from Crescent City on Hwy. 101,
or on Highways 199 or 36.
With the production crew stuck
in Laytonville, Roy Furshpan, director of CenterArts, who brought
Rent to town, was faced with a difficult decision -- pull
together a complicated production on the fly with limited resources,
or cancel three eagerly awaited performances. He chose to fall
back on the old adage, "the show must go on."
A local company with a shorter
cab was called in, one of the three trailers was hitched to it,
and the northward journey was resumed, albeit in reduced form.
"The truck that made it had all of our props and our costumes,"
explained Chacon. "[But] we did not have the set, we didn't
have our sound equipment and we didn't have our lighting equipment."
CenterArts staff quickly put
together a simplified lighting design utilizing the Van Duzer
system. The sound equipment was more problematic -- every character
in the show uses a wireless headset microphone and there is typically
a live band on stage to back up the singers. Because they did
not have their state-of-the-art sound system with elaborate headset
monitors for the band, the musicians had to be placed in a room
off-stage.
Most of the action takes place
using tables and chairs that were on the prop truck. CenterArts
came up with a makeshift scaffolding to approximate the rest
of the set.
Chacon saw the challenges as
a return to the show's roots. "Like any Broadway show, Rent
started out with a bare minimum," she said. "A lot
of shows start in workshop form then get huge with automation
and all sorts of complicated stuff. Rent never really
got to that. It isn't necessary to tell the story.
"What I explained to the
actors was, without our set and the lighting cues to throw focus
and create the moods, it falls on the actors, it's extra work
that they need to do. I think they did a great job working together
dealing with the elements they had to deal with."
GOV.WATCH
by GEOFF S.
FEIN
Target EIR
approved
After more than
two hours of public comment and debate, the Eureka City Council
unanimously approved a new 136,000-square-foot Target store
to be built on the former Montgomery Wards property. The council
voted 5 to 0 Tuesday night to finalize the Target environmental
impact report and to give the Minnesota-based company its coastal
development permit.
Some residents
said they were concerned Target would impact local retailers
and create a traffic nightmare on the north end of Eureka. But
council members said they felt assured that traffic mitigations
would work to ease any congestion that occurs around the new
store.
John Dewes,
senior site development manager for Target, said the traffic
improvements planned for V Street, 4th and 3rd streets will actually
reduce the amount of time drivers have to wait at traffic lights
by almost a full minute.
Councilman Chris
Kerrigan said the city has the responsibility to look out for
the economic health and well-being of Eureka.
Dewes said the
new store will hire between 150 and 200 employees, with about
a third of those in full-time positions. But Dewes could not
say how many of those full-time jobs would be in management.
Since 2000 Target
has bought up 35 Montgomery Wards stores. Target has converted
29 of those stores so far to Target stores. The stores were purchased
through federal bankruptcy court.
-- City Councilwoman
Virginia Bass Jackson was elected by her colleagues to become
vice-mayor. She will fill in for Mayor Peter La Vallee when he
is out of town or unable to attend the council meeting. Ironically,
Bass Jackson defeated La Vallee in 2000 for a seat on the City
Council.
-- The Eureka
Fire Department will get a grant to purchase 44 Self Contained
Breathing Apparatuses and to start a respiratory protection program
consisting of annual physical exams including heart testing of
all fire department personnel. The grant as approved totals $173,117
with the Federal Emergency Management Agency funding 90 percent.
The City of Eureka will provide the remaining $17,311.
-- Humboldt
County and the Sequoia Humane Society reached an agreement
on an 18-month extension to continue providing animal services
in the county. Humboldt County and City of Eureka officials are
working on plans for a new shelter facility. The county will
pay $35,412 a month for animal services. The county will incur
an additional cost to create one full-time animal control position.
The costs are expected to be shared among the county and the
cities of Arcata, Blue Lake and Eureka.
A new shelter
is in the early planning stages. The county is looking to build
a new animal care facility in Eureka off of Hilfiker Lane behind
Pierson Building Center. Preliminary cost for a new animal shelter
is $1.5 million. Concerns were raised, however, that the proposed
site may be contaminated by oil.
-- Humboldt
County Community Services Director Kirk Girard laid out the first
plans for the Headwaters Fund policy manuals. The proposal
establishes several funding opportunities for non-profits, governments
and businesses.
The Grant Fund
will offer three awards worth a combined total of $400,000 a
year for specific projects. The Headwaters Fund Board would determine
an annual theme for the grant. The grant would require a 50 percent
match for project implementation and a 25 percent match of planning
and assistance projects. The supervisors could also allocate
mini-grants worth a combined total of $10,000 to help fund certain
projects immediately.
The second grant
-- the Community Investment Fund -- will be a combination of
loans and grants with matches of between 50 and 75 percent.
The Headwaters
Board is not expected to be named until late January. The grant
programs won't be implemented until at least late February.
Elections chief out
The Humboldt County Board of
Supervisors unanimously approved Humboldt County Clerk and Recorder
Carolyn Crnich adding registrar of voters to her title.
The supervisors' action means
current county elections official and County Administrative Services
director Lindsey McWilliams is out of a job.
The supervisors also approved
appointing Kim Kerr, deputy county administrative officer, to
head up the newly created General Services department. That department
will oversee administrative services (which handles real property,
building maintenance and purchasing) and risk management.
McWilliams was elected Humboldt
County Clerk in 1990. In 1996 he became Administrative Services
director and the elective position of county clerk was eliminated.
He has been at the helm of the county elections office for 11
years.
McWilliams said he learned he
was out of a job last Wednesday. The whole thing has been a surprise
to him, he said.
As he was packing his belongings
Tuesday morning, McWilliams said the county had not given him
any reason for the change.
"I had no performance evaluation,
nothing," he said.
Humboldt County Administrative
Officer Loretta Nickolaus said she recommended the elections
department get a "face lift."
"This election went pretty
well, but previous [elections] had some glitches," she told
the supervisors.
Nickolaus said the reshuffling
is an attempt to streamline county costs in the upcoming budget
year.
"We are trying to brace
ourselves for tough times," she told the supervisors. She
said Kerr's position as deputy county administrator will not
be filled. That move is expected to save the county $70,000 annually.
McWilliams said he hasn't spoken
with any of the supervisors since learning he'd be out of a job.
"There doesn't seem to
be much point [to it]," he said.
Supervisor John Woolley said
he could not discuss the issue because it's a personnel matter.
But Woolley did say during Tuesday's
meeting that it "does make sense for the county recorder
to take on elections."
"I want to make sure that
Lindsey's [McWilliams] hard work and talent are still available
to the county," Woolley said.
Supervisor Paul Kirk said placing
elections under the Recorder's office will give the county a
better shot at running elections. By cross training the Recorder's
staff it will increase the size of the elections staff, he said.
The new General Services Department
will employ 62 county workers who will transfer in from their
current offices.
Crinch is expected to receive
a 10 percent salary increase raising her salary from $75,000
to just over $82,000. Kerr will be paid $80,500 in the new job.
Panel restricts
OHVs
The California Coastal Commission
has taken a stand against a federal agency's plan to allow year-round
off-road vehicle use on the South Spit of Humboldt Bay.
In an 8-3 vote at a meeting
last week in San Francisco, the commission determined that off-road
vehicle use could not occur on the spit's "wave slope"
(the area touched by tides) during the nesting season of the
snowy plover, which runs from March 1 through Sept. 30. The plover,
a federally protected shore bird, nests in open, sandy areas
just beyond the reach of the sea.
It's not clear what impact the
commission's action will have on a management plan for the spit
crafted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which administers
the narrow strip of land between the bay and the Pacific.
While federal law required the
BLM to submit the plan for the commission's approval, it's possible
the agency can simply ignore the commission's determination.
In that event, according to a coastal commission employee, the
commission might have no recourse but to sue.
In addition to allowing OHV
use year-round, the BLM's management plan calls for a variety
of improvements, including enhancing plover habitat and public
access.
Farmer
urged to not settle
Thirty-one Humboldt County health
practitioners have signed a letter urging outgoing District Attorney
Terry Farmer to delay settling liability claims against Sierra
Pacific Industries until health studies pertaining to its Arcata
mill are completed.
The letter was made public at
a press conference in Eureka held by Californians for Alternatives
to Toxics. The studies, by the California Department of Health
Services, are assessing the health risk of eating shellfish and
fish tainted with dioxin from waters in the vicinity of the mill.
Farmer, in a telephone interview,
denied that he is rushing to settle with the company before he
leaves office next month.
"The most important priority
is that the case either proceed or be resolved as is appropriate.
Whether it's done during my term is less important than that
the appropriate resolution happen."
Farmer said that the potential
violations at the plant include both civil and criminal penalties.
Concerns about the mill, long
known to harbor contamination, were sharpened earlier this year
after potentially hazardous levels of dioxin were found in shellfish
near the plant. Additional tests found concentrations of dioxin
in commercial oysters out in the bay.
In addition to the District
Attorney's office and Sierra Pacific, the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board and the California Fish and Game
Department have been involved in the talks. Notably absent has
been the Ecological Rights Foundation, an environmental organization
whose two-year-old lawsuit against the company prodded the water
board into more closely regulating the mill.
The group recently won a legal
victory when a federal magistrate judge ruled that Sierra Pacific's
Arcata mill has been in violation of the Clean Water Act since
1995.
The absence of environmentalists
in the talks has led to fears that a deal favorable to the timber
company is in the works.
When asked why environmentalists
are not at the table, Farmer said "the input of all essential
parties will be listened to."
The twister
that wasn't
New Ferndale Mayor Frank Taubitz
had spent the weekend surveying the damage, including a downed
telephone poll that was rumored to have been smashed by a tornado.
Tornado? Yes they do happen
here, said National Weather Service meteorologist Nancy Kaytis-Slocum.
Around 10 a.m. Saturday an area
of intense turbulence was detected off Cape Mendocino. A warning
went out that a tornado was on the way, its projected path up
the Eel River Valley. The twister was never visually confirmed
on land, however. The power pole was more likely downed by normal
high winds.
Taubitz said he was glad he
had nothing catastrophic to report when reached by phone on Monday.
He added that a multimillion dollar creek restoration project
had performed beautifully. Francis Creek, which has a history
of flooding downtown during major rain events, stayed obediently
within its banks during this one.
In other Ferndale news, authorities
suspect downed power lines were the culprit in a fire that took
out a vacant house Sunday night. Firefighters said the storm
was a mixed blessing: wind fueled the fire, but the rain helped
contain and extinguish it.
Spoiled
weekend
Things were heating up at the
Arcata Co-op last weekend when power outages caused freezers
to go out, causing an estimated $40,000 in damages.
The power went out in the storm
early Saturday morning causing the store to close, and stay closed,
until 10 a.m. the next day.
The Co-op was not prepared for
the length of the power outage -- over 24 hours -- and had a
backup generator only strong enough to run lights and registers.
That level of backup is pretty
standard in the industry. Calls to Safeway and Wildberries in
Arcata confirmed that generators large enough to run the refrigeration
system were uncommon.
New Co-op general manager Len
Mayer said in a phone interview that previously the cost of a
more powerful backup generator was prohibitively expensive, but
with this weekend's losses management may reconsider.
"It didn't make sense [previously]
because in the past the longest power outages had been two or
three hours, at least in anybody's memory," Mayer said.
He said he recognized that in
an area as isolated as Humboldt, it made sense to at least have
enough back-up power to keep one walk-in freezer going. Until
that is available, however, he said other backup options are
under consideration, such as refrigerated trucks
The Co-op called up local non-profits
including the Arcata Endeavor and Humboldt Women for Shelter
to donate the food it couldn't keep.
According to Mayer, the $40,000
loss is less than 1 percent of the store's yearly gross revenues
of $16 million.
Also, insurance is expected
to pick up at least some of the tab.
Internet
companies sold
Two local Internet companies,
Northcoast Internet and Tidepool Internet, have been sold.
Northcoast Internet's parent
company, Internet Ventures Inc., is consolidating its markets.
The two companies were sold
to InReach Internet, a Stockton, Calif.-based Internet Service
Provider (ISP). InReach Internet provides Internet service to
remote areas like Yreka and Yosemite.
Northcoast Internet and Tidepool
Internet have a combined subscriber list of about 4,000, said
Barry Klein, manager of both companies.
Northcoast Internet, the first
ISP in Humboldt County, has been around since 1994; Tidepool
Internet is 5 years old.
Even though both companies are
handing off service to another ISP, subscribers will be able
to continue using their own e-mail and web addresses.
InReach Internet can be reached
at 1-888-467-3224 or at info@inreach.com.
New ICU
finished
The long-awaited intensive care
unit at Mad River Community Hospital has finally opened its doors
to patients. The hospital had been working for nearly two years
on the project.
The Arcata hospital spent $400,000
transforming its ICU unit into a new six-bed facility.
The new ICU has updated equipment,
such as an advanced heating and air conditioning system. Included
in the new ICU will be two isolation rooms for patients with
contagious diseases.
The hospital has also repositioned
the nurses station to reduce noise for patients. New emergency
call buttons have been built in the ICU's monitoring system.
Supplies have also been moved closer to patient areas and the
new ICU unit allows for better patient visibility.
Originally the plan was for
a quick remodeling of the ICU; however as the project was redesigned,
state agencies entered the picture to oversee the work. The state's
involvement expanded the time frame of the project from four
months to two years, according to hospital administrators.
Time for
good-byes
At its last meeting of the year,
the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors said good-bye to one
of its own along with several long-time county employees.
Fifth District Supervisor Paul
Kirk, a supervisor since 1994, will officially leave office in
January. He and his wife will be moving to Siskiyou County.
He acknowledged staff and his
colleagues for working through tough budget issues. That team
spirit will be needed as the county works on future budgets,
Kirk said.
District Attorney Terry Farmer
was also recognized for his 20 years as the county DA. Farmer,
who is married to Supervisor Bonnie Neely, said he wanted to
thank the voters of Humboldt County for electing him five times
to run the District Attorney's office.
"I love this job, it's
been a good gig," Farmer said. "It's tough to leave
something you enjoy so much."
Farmer lost in his reelection
bid against Eureka attorney Paul Gallegos.
Although there has been speculation
as to Farmer's next job, he said he would have more to say by
the end of the week.
Neil Prince, county auditor-controller,
retired after 29 years on the job. He was appointed to the position
on November 1, 1973.
Michael Giacone will fill the
remainder of Prince's term, which ends in January.
Humboldt County Sheriff Deputy
William K. Porter retired after 28 years in law enforcement,
which included work as a bomb technician for the sheriff's department.
Lieutenant Ronnie Dale Lee retired
after 29 years in law enforcement. He began his career as a deputy
marshall with the Humboldt County Marshall's Office, in 1973.
He was promoted to Marshall in 1979 and served in that capacity
until December 1998.
The Marshall's office, which
has been incorporated into the Sheriff's Department, used to
be in charge of court security.
Chamber
head leaving
Marlene Stuart, executive director
of the Arcata Chamber of Commerce for more than a year, announced
her resignation last week.
She said the job demanded too
great a time requirement. She will leave the post on Dec. 27.
Mushroomers
beware
Mushroom collectors, especially
amateurs, are being warned by the Humboldt County Health Department
to be cautious when gathering wild mushrooms. Many poisonous
varieties of mushrooms resemble edible versions.
People should not eat wild mushrooms
until a mushroom expert has examined them and determined they
are safe to eat, said Dr. Ann Lindsay, county health officer.
Eating poisonous mushrooms can
cause cramping, abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhea, liver damage
and death.
Anyone who experiences illness
after eating wild mushrooms should call the California Poison
Control System (800)-876-4766.
Starting
fresh
Fourteen of 37 graduates of
the College of the Redwoods Police Academy have been hired by
law enforcement agencies in California, with 10 finding work
in Humboldt County.
The Humboldt County Sheriff
hired three of the graduates: Patrick Bishop, Todd Fulton and
Andrew Russell Wahlund.
The Eureka Police Department
hired two graduates: Louis Altic and Jen McCollum. The Fortuna
Police Department also hired two and the Trinidad Police hired
one.
Humboldt State University hired
one graduate and another will work for the Humboldt County Special
Investigations Unit on welfare and fraud cases.
CORRECTION
The city of Eureka halted tree-cutting
on a project to install a new elevated water tank on Dec. 6,
one day after a North Coast Journal story about the project
came out (see "Get ready for the twin tanks," Dec.
5). A subsequent article in last week's issue wrongly stated
that the cutting was proceeding.
COVER
STORY | CALENDAR
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