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STORY | INTERVIEW | CALENDAR
Feb. 27, 2003
New
report says Humboldt Bay oysters safe
Call it more of the same.
Last July, a report done by
a consultant with Sierra Pacific Industries found elevated levels
of dioxin in commercial oysters in Humboldt Bay, but asserted
that the levels were too low to pose a health threat.
Now a second report by the same
consultant, based on sampling conducted in the fall, has again
found dioxin in commercial oysters -- at even lower levels than
previously.
"The occurrence of dioxins
in oysters and mussels from Humboldt Bay does not pose a significant
health risk to shellfish consumers," according to the Feb.
11 report by Environ, a Bay Area-based consulting firm.
Just as before, activists are
unconvinced.
Patty Clary, with Citizens for
Alternatives to Toxics, a Eureka organization, said that the
levels would have to be 40 times less for the oysters to be safe.
Instead, she said the levels are 10 times lower.
Fred Evenson, an attorney with
the Ecological Rights Foundation, an Oakland environmental group
that is suing Sierra Pacific, said that independent sampling
needs to be conducted of the oyster beds.
After last summer's report,
Marc Lappe, a toxicologist hired by the Ecological Rights Foundation,
recommended that adult males consume no more than a single monthly
serving of six oysters. He said pregnant women "probably
should not eat [Humboldt Bay] oysters" at all.
Exposure to dioxin, a byproduct
of many industrial processes, is "associated with a wide
array of adverse health affects," according to a fact sheet
put out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally,
the EPA has classified dioxin as a "probable human carcinogen."
The Environ report comes seven
months after the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
asked Sierra Pacific to draw up a workplan to perform a "human
health and ecological risk assessment" of Mad River Slough,
which borders the company's lumber mill near Manila.
That decision made taken after
dioxin was found in mussels and crabs in the slough immediately
adjacent to the plant by the Ecological Rights group. The area
is a popular fishing spot.
-- reported by Keith Easthouse
Feds raid Arcata
glassblowing firm
Three owners charged with
selling drug paraphernalia
by
GEOFF S. FEIN
 Ryan
Teurfs, Jason Vrbas and Gabriel Watson, owners of 101 North Glass,
Inc. in Arcata, were each freed on a $10,000 bond Tuesday, one
day after being arrested on federal charges for conspiracy to
sell drug paraphernalia.
The trio must now appear in
U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Pa., on March 7. If convicted,
they could face up to three years in prison and fines of several
hundred thousand dollars.
Co-workers expressed shock and
anger at the arrests. Complaints were aimed in part at federal
agents who raided the business Monday and shut it down, putting
about 50 employees and sub-contractors who rent space at 101
North Glass out of work.
The raid was part of a series
of raids that took place across the country on Monday.
Richard Meyer, spokesman for
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's San Francisco office, said
the nationwide investigation has been going on for more than
a year. He said the DEA was targeting only large scale distributors
of drug paraphernalia.
"Local authorities deal
with the [head] shops," Meyer said.
A press release issued by the
Justice Department on Monday stated that the investigations,
dubbed Operation Pipedreams and Operation Headhunter, are an
attempt to crack down on drug paraphernalia sales over the Internet.
"With the advent of the
Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded,"
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in the release. "The
drug paraphernalia business is now accessible in anyone's home
with a computer and Internet access."
Acting DEA Administrator John
Brown said people selling drug paraphernalia are no different
than drug dealers.
"They are as much a part
of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide,"
he said in the press release.
Dale Gieringer, California coordinator
for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(NORML) in the East Bay, said the raids were an "absurd
waste of law enforcement resources."
The pipes 101 North Glass sells
are just common pipes available at any store that sells pipes,
he said.
"These are artistic [pipes]
with cultural content. The attorney general disapproves of that
culture," Gieringer said. "It's a joke. It's a crusade
by moralists afraid of colorful bongs [instead of] guns."
101 North Coast's Internet site
only offers the company's wares to wholesalers and does not make
sales to individuals.
Teurfs, Vrbas and Watson did
not enter pleas during an arraignment proceeding Tuesday that
attracted about 30 supporters.
In January, a federal grand
jury in Pennsylvania indicted the three Arcata men along with
about 50 others from across the country.
The company had about $50,000
to $100,000 worth of inventory at its 550 South G Street location.
According to one employee who was at the store during the raid,
an agent asked that the company's security cameras be turned
off during the search.
Fern Thomas, the company's bookkeeper
and Vrbas' fiancee, said it looked like a lot of the company's
inventory had been seized.
Agents arrived at 101 North
Glass in 15 different vehicles and a U-haul truck to haul items
away. For seven hours federal agents blocked the entrance to
all the businesses in the small industrial complex.
101 North Glass employees arriving
for work Monday were not allowed to enter the business.
DEA agents took boxes of the
company's inventory of glass pipes and other glass merchandise
along with the company's computers and record books, according
to several employees.
"Hundreds of people who
blow glass won't be able to get [their] raw materials,"
said one employee.
Thomas, 29, was at Vrbas' home
when the feds showed up.
"I wasn't worried at first,"
Thomas said. "I thought [they were at the] wrong house."
Agents then cuffed Thomas and
Vrbas for more than two hours while they searched the house.
Eventually Thomas was released.
According to Thomas, agents
told her she could leave, or stay and remain handcuffed until
they finished their search.
Among the items taken from Vrbas'
home were photos albums. Thomas couldn't say what was in the
albums; but agents returned one of the books with all the pictures
removed.
She told another co-worker that
all of the company's manufacturing equipment is still there,
but if any of it is used to make pipes it will be confiscated.
The company's computer server
was also seized. It contains all of 101 North Glass' financial
information. Thomas was told the DEA won't return it for at least
30 days. Until the computer is returned employees may not get
paid, she added.
"They have all our info,
all our files," Thomas told a co-worker.
Thomas spoke with Vrbas from
the Humboldt County Jail on Monday night. She said all three
men were doing fine.
"They are very concerned
about their employees and their families," Thomas said.
Power
pole spraying is back
It was recess at Maple Creek
School in Korbel Monday. Children emerged from their classrooms
only to be enveloped in a chemical fog.
"When the kids went our
for their break, they could all taste or smell it. Their eyes
were burning," said Cathleen Carnes, the school's superintendent.
Carnes had noticed that work
was being done on the telephone poles across the street from
the school, weed whacking and the like, but hadn't known they
were spraying herbicides around the base of the poles.
"I'm pretty distraught.
I really just thought they were doing it manually," she
said.
It is not clear whether the
spraying was being done by a contractor of the Pacific Gas and
Electric Co., or SBC, which recently bought out Pacific Bell.
An informal moratorium on power
pole spraying was negotiated with PG&E by supervisor Jimmy
Smith three years ago.
In recent weeks, spraying has
been reported all over the county, and in response, citizen groups
are once again taking up the banner against it.
"We want to put together
a statewide movement to get this stopped," said Patty Clary
of the Eureka based Californians for Alternatives to Toxics.
She said spraying had been done
near organic farms, well heads, springs, schools, all without
the residents' consent.
In McKinleyville, Carnes went
over and asked the workers what they were spraying. They said
it was Garlon 4 and Oust, both industrial herbicides. They were
spraying them in 10-foot circles around the poles to prevent
the weeds they had whacked from growing back. They told her the
chemicals were perfectly safe, and that rain would soon make
it go away.
"I don't believe a word
of it," she said.
When the students were picked
up by their parents, even the littlest of them said they had
"tasted something yucky," said Carnes, who has received
several calls from distressed parents.
Carnes said the school was not
notified in advance that the spraying was going to take place.
"Had I known [the spraying]
was going to happen I would not have had my kids at school today,"
said Gina Maskill. Her children Chandler and Chloe were both
at school that day.
Daly
building solution in the works
by
JUDY HODGSON
The Daly Building complex may be sold to the lowest bidder --
not the highest -- in a complicated transaction being proposed
by Humboldt State University officials to the city of Eureka.
Robert Schulz, HSU director
of physical services, confirmed Tuesday that the HSU Foundation
has received three offers -- all well below the amount paid by
HSU for the property in 1998. However, the Foundation favors
the lowest bidder, as yet unnamed, because of the developer's
financial ability and commitment to turn the historic Sweasey
Theater, part of the Daly complex, into a performing arts center.
"We are asking for cooperation
from the city of Eureka to participate in a solution," Schulz
said.
City Manager David Tyson said
the "cooperation" HSU is asking for is a discount on
the note owed to the city by HSU of up to $150,000.
Taxpayers may ask, since HSU
estimates its own loss-to-date on the project to be $168,000,
why would the city offer to take a $150,000 bath as well?
Because if the old Daly department
store and the Sweasey Theater were back under private ownership
and renovated, that could mean $35,000 to $40,000 more in property
tax revenue flowing to the city each year.
Tyson, who is recommending the
city offer no more than $100,000 of assistance, said it is conceivable
the city could recover its investment in as little as three years
following renovation.
In addition, the city could
boast of another restored historic building, a gem along the
F Street corridor, and a venue that could be used for theater,
dance and music performances such as the annual Dixieland Jazz
Festival.
The request from HSU was expected
to be heard by the city's Redevelopment Advisory Board Tuesday
night for a recommendation before it goes to the City Coucil
next week.
The HSU Foundation purchased
the Daly complex for $700,000 using a no-interest loan from the
city's Revelopment Agency. The principal was reduced to $515,000
when the Daly parking lot was deeded to the city.
Schulz said the Foundation's
loss-to-date, $168,000, includes five years of maintenance costs,
and architectural and seismic feasibility studies on the Sweasey.
That loss figure also includes about $65,000 made in payments
on the principal, leaving a balance owed of about $450,000.
The university officials abandoned
plans for the Daly complex in 2000 after they received estimates
of $8 million from architects and could not identify any major
financial backers. The property has been in escrow with two previous
developers and both sales fell through.
City Manager Tyson said the
current transaction is consistent with earlier directives passed
by the council. The council said it would consider financial
help only if a private buyer were found to develop the theater
as HSU had promised to do.
"We also need some guarantee
that should the developer be unable to perform as promised, that
the Foundation be held accountable [for the city's loan discount],"
Tyson added.
In a memo to the Redevelopment
Advisory Board, Tyson recommended a three- to five-year time
period for completion of the rehabilitation work by the owner.
HSU is also requiring the anonymity
of the buyer, who is promising a renovation effort of at least
$1 million for the theater that may forever be a financial drain.
"Like any performing arts
venue, [it] is essentially a long-term philanthropic interest
without a positive revenue stream," Schulz wrote in a memo
to Tyson.
Schulz said the "identity,
capabilities and intent of the development by the purchaser"
would be disclosed to and accepted by Tyson on behalf of the
city prior to the loan discount and sale.
Property negotiations by public
agencies are confidential until finalized.
Gallegos
takes on PL
District Attorney Paul Gallegos
has come out with both guns blazing in a case filed against the
Pacific Lumber Co. earlier this week.
In essence, the case alleges
that the company and several of its subsidiaries hid scientific
data that could have led to a curtailment of logging on its timberlands.
The DA's office is contending
that the company lied in its representation of the severity of
landslides in Jordan Creek, located upstream of Humboldt Redwoods
State Park. The office also says the company suppressed the distribution
of several key environmental documents.
Gallegos is seeking $250 million
in restitution for the alleged violations.
Local environmentalists are
ecstatic.
"I'm flying. This is the
best thing that has ever happened," said Ken Miller, a member
of the Humboldt Watershed Council, and a longtime opponent of
PL, in a phone interview Tuesday. "My god, finally we have
a champion who has some power."
When Gallegos came into office
he sent out a letter to many of the local environmental and property
rights groups, saying that he believed it was his duty, under
California's constitution, to enforce certain environmental laws
and asked for any input the groups thought would be helpful.
The DA's office declined to
comment on the case, citing ethical rules that prevent them from
biasing anyone against their opponents. Pacific Lumber could
not be reached for comment.
Gallegos' action comes less
than a week after he vowed to the Journal that his office
would not sit idly by if environmental laws were being trampled
(see "Fresh Air," Feb.
20).
Bag
hits snag
The task force charged with
reviewing a plan to sell Mad River water to an Alaska businessman
for transport to Southern California is recommending that the
Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District board of directors look
at the legal ramifications before proceeding further.
Among the questions raised at
last week's meeting was whether, in the event of a sale to a
bulk water exporter, international trade laws would kick in and
impair the district's ability to control its own water.
Ric Davidge of the Anchorage-based
Aqueous Corp. has maintained that there are no trade issues and
that suggestions to the contrary are "purposeful misrepresentations
meant to scare folks."
Davidge wants to haul upwards
of 20,000 acre feet of surplus water in huge 880-foot bags. He
had been hoping to get a letter showing the water district's
intent to move forward on the project.
The task force is composed of
representatives from the district's water customers: the cities
of Arcata, Eureka, McKinleyville, Blue Lake, Manila, Fieldbrook
and Samoa Pacific Cellulose, which operates a pulp mill on the
Samoa Peninsula.
Although most cities said the
water district should proceed cautiously, Arcata and Manila have
come out in complete opposition.
Some water district board members
have said the district should consider putting the idea out for
bid instead of just dealing with Aqueous.
The water district will meet
next month to further discuss Davidge's proposal.
Site
chosen for animal shelter
A proposal to build a state-of-the-art
county animal control facility is moving forward.
A site off Hilfiker Lane behind
Pierson's Building Center in Eureka has been proposed for the
structure. The shelter would have 120 dog kennels and more than
80 cat kennels, and cost between $1.5 million and $4.5 million.
It would employ between 14 and 16 people. The facility is scheduled
to open late next year.
Last year the county decided
to stop contracting with the Sequoia Humane Society for animal
control services, which include spaying and euthanasia. The organization
had requested a budget increase and a new facility.
In late January the county formed
a task force with the objective of building its own facility.
"They determined that it
would be more cost-effective for them, in the long run, to build
their own shelter," said Kathleen Kistler, head of the humane
society. "Our only concern was what kind of shelter they
would build."
Shelter staff would be under
the command of the county sheriff's office. For the first time
it would include a humane officer, whose job in part would be
to monitor animal cruelty and neglect cases.
John Falkenstrom, Humboldt County's
agricultural commissioner, stressed that the facility would both
cut costs and provide quality animal care.
"We don't want to put these
animals in a cargo container; we don't want to warehouse them,"
Falkenstrom said. "We want it to be a professionally built
and run facility."
More
time for Trinity study
Researchers with the U.S. Department
of the Interior will now have until July 2004 to complete a study
that could allow for more water to flow down the Trinity River.
On Monday, U.S. District Court
Judge Oliver Wanger extended the deadline by almost seven months.
The original deadline was this December.
Wanger has also asked that two
progress reports be submitted to him between now and the July
2004 deadline.
Members of the Hoopa Valley
Tribe traveled to Fresno to make their case for extending the
timeline to Wanger. The tribe is also appealing Wanger's earlier
decision to cap Trinity River flows to the amount allowed in
a dry year, regardless of how much water is available.
The tribe does not want to see
a repeat of last year's fish kill on the Klamath River. Back
in September, approximately 33,000 salmon were killed along the
Klamath; most of the fish were headed for the Trinity, which
runs through the Hoopa reservation.
The report will offer alternatives
for Trinity water diversions. The interior department will review
the findings and choose one of the options.
Wanger is also seeking a declaration
from the federal government on increasing flows to what is called
for in a normal or wetter-than-normal year. Wanger is expected
to make a decision sometime next month.
The suit stems from a 2000 decision
by then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to restore almost half
of the Trinity's water from above Lewiston Dam down to the river.
Westlands Water District sued to continue rerouting water to
the Sacramento River for irrigating farmland, for power generation
and to protect the delta smelt, an endangered species in the
Sacramento River Delta.
Westlands is also hoping to
get the delta smelt removed from the endangered species list.
Anti-war
play in Blue Lake
 The Lysistrata Project is a worldwide theatrical
effort with 694 theater groups in 41 countries and all 50 states
reading from Aristophanes' ancient Greek comedy on Monday, March
3.
The story concerns a women's
revolt against war. Led by Lysistrata, the women of Athens, fed
up with the Peloponnesian War, barricade themselves in the Acropolis
withholding sex from their husbands until the men agree to lay
down their swords and make peace with Sparta.
Fast-forward 2,400 years: Swords
are now weapons of mass destruction, and the play is being presented
to voice opposition to the war on Iraq. New York actors Kathryn
Blume and Sharron Bower conceived the Lysistrata Project in early
January of this year.
"Before we started Lysistrata
Project, we could do nothing but sit and watch in horror as the
Bush Administration drove us toward a unilateral attack on Iraq,"
Blume said. "So we e-mailed all our friends and put up a
web site. The response has been enormous."
Bower added, "Many people
have e-mailed us to say how distraught they feel about the war.
Now they feel empowered to do something to foster dialogue in
their own communities."
In New York City, dozens of
teams of actors and directors will read Lysistrata in
public spaces throughout the day, culminating in an all-star
reading with Mercedes Ruehl in the title role joined by F. Murray
Abraham, Kevin Bacon, Peter Boyle, Kyra Sedgwick, Lori Singer,
David Strathairn and others.
On the West Coast, Julie Christie,
Alfre Woodard, Christine Lahti, Mary McDonnell, Barbara Williams,
Eric Stoltz, Ed Begley Jr. and Jose Zuniga will stage a reading
in Los Angeles. "At least for the record of history we have
to let it be known that millions and millions opposed this war,"
said Christie.
Tisha Sloan of Dell'Arte heard
about the project three weeks ago and organized a Humboldt County
reading to be held at 7 p.m. March 3, at Dell'Arte's Carlo Theatre
in Blue Lake. "As theater people, it seemed there should
be some way to voice our feelings about what's going on,"
said Sloan, "something more unique than going to a protest.
I know I've been feeling restless and wanted to do something."
Sloan enlisted Donald Forrest,
Sue Greene, Mara Neimanis, Jackie Dandeneau, Emilia Sumelius,
Steve Tenerelli and Stephen Buescher, all from the Dell'Arte
organization, plus Humboldt theater veterans Bob and Lynn Wells,
Leah Tamara, who directed The Vagina Monologues, and Zach
Rouse from JinRickshaw's Laramie Project.
"It feels good to know
that this is happening all over the world, that people are all
doing this at the same time with the same message, reading the
same story," Sloan said. "And it's not hard-to-understand,
dry, Greek complicatedness," she emphasized. "It's
very accessible."
"Don't let the Greek title
scare you away," agreed Sue Green. "The script is great,
very contemporary. It rhymes and it's quite bawdy. It's kind
of like the Cat in the Hat meets Queen Latifah."
Admission is by a voluntary
$10 contribution, which will be sent to humanitarian aid organizations
working in Iraq. Reservations are recommended. For further information,
call Dell'Arte at 668-5663.
Fiber
optic complaint flops
California Public Utilities
Commission Administrative Law Judge Anne Simon has rejected a
complaint filed by the Redwood Technology Consortium (RTC) and
the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RREDC) against
Caltrans.
The complaint sought to force
an early conclusion to the stalemate between the state transportation
agency and the communications company, SBC, over fees for the
installation of a fiber optic line to serve the North Coast.
Turns out they had the wrong
agency. According to a letter from the judge to RTC and RREDC,
the state Public Utility Code requires "that a complaint
be brought against a `public utility.'" While SBC is a public
utility, Caltrans is not, it's a state agency, "the commission
therefore does not have jurisdiction," Simon ruled.
What next? According to Tina
Nerat of RTC, one option is to amend the complaint to target
SBC.
Carcass
crisis
Eureka Protein Co., which handled
about 60 dead horses and cattle per month, shut down its operations
last week, leaving ranchers with no place to dispose of carcasses.
Modesto Tallow Co., the parent
company of Eureka Protein, closed its Humboldt County site to
reduce its operating costs. Eureka Protein trucked the dead animals
to Modesto where the carcasses were turned into fertilizer.
With no place to take dead livestock,
some ranchers may resort to burying animals on their property,
which is illegal. Others could just dump carcasses into rivers
or gulches.
Butchers and restaurant owners
who used Eureka Protein to dispose of meat scraps and grease
have somewhere else to turn -- North State Rendering, based in
Chico.
A spokesman said the company
doesn't have a facility in Chico to process dead livestock.
Now
you see it....
In a performance that would
make a magician jealous, the Arcata City Council last week wiped
out a $1 million debt left over from a 1998 loan from the city's
redevelopment agency (RDA).
In 1998 the RDA loaned the city
$1.2 million to finance a new community center. A year later
the city repaid $200,000. The remaining $1 million was to be
repaid from the city's forest fund and the sale of the D Street
Neighborhood Center. But the city was unsuccessful in finding
a buyer for the site.
Clamming
up
Clam Beach, a gathering place
last year for the annual 420 marijuana celebration, may be a
less appealing partying venue this time around.
Citing endangered species concerns
among other things, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
is considering closing the beach to vehicles around the time
of the event, held every April 20.
The rationale behind the 420
celebration is something of a mystery, although it may have to
do with the belief that marijuana contains 420 active chemical
compounds.
People from all across the country
flock to Humboldt each year to partake in the 420 celebration.
The event is usually held at Redwood Park in Arcata, but as authorities
have cracked down there, celebrants have shifted to Clam Beach.
The county says it doesn't have
enough personnel to keep tabs on the mass of people who show
up at Clam Beach. Another concern is that the Western snowy plover
nests along the beach during the spring. The bird is listed as
an endangered species.
Paying
up slowly
Habitat for Humanity has been
given a year to pay off $21,000 in sewer and water fees to the
McKinleyville Community Services District.
Instead of having to make a
one-time payment, the nonprofit organization is being allowed
to pay off the debt in installments.
Habitat for Humanity, which
builds housing for low-income families, had hoped to get the
fee lowered. But the district's board of directors said the law
did not allow that.
Tom Marking, MCSD manager, recommended
that the board deny the request because Habitat for Humanity
had been aware of the fee before it started the project, a nine-unit
affordable housing project under construction on A Avenue.
Unlike other developers, Habitat
for Humanity cannot pass the cost of the fees onto home buyers.
The group relies on volunteers
and donations. Buyers do not need a downpayment and the homes
are sold without any interest and at no profit.
Jacoby
school damaged
An electrical fire early Saturday
morning damaged a portable classroom at Jacoby Creek Elementary
School.
According to Eric Grantz, superintendent
and principal, the fire started in the classroom's attic.
Grantz said he is working with
insurance adjusters to determine the cost of damage and the length
of time it will take for repairs.
The room was home to a junior
high school social studies class. Between 25 and 30 students
will temporarily attend class in the school's library, Grantz
said.
Isn't
pork grand?
Humboldt County and the Pacific
Northwest stand to reap millions now that the House of Representatives
approved a 2003 spending bill that includes $450,000 for Martin
Slough sewage system upgrades and $2.2 million for Sudden Oak
Death research and eradication.
Rep. Mike Thompson announced
the news on Feb. 13. The funds are part of the Omnibus Appropriations
Bill for fiscal year 2003 which began Oct. 2002.
Other projects receiving funding:
$200,000 to expand the Humboldt Alzheimer's Resource Center;
$225,000 for the Eureka Fisherman's Dock; $90,000 for Arcata
House Transitional Housing Program for families and individuals
who have lost their homes; $4.5 million for the Humboldt Bay
Harbor dredging, operations and maintenance; $500,000 for Schatz
Energy Research Center to develop renewable fuel cell technology.
The bill also includes $90 million for Pacific Salmon Recovery
Fund divided between Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and
Native American tribes; and a $500,000 grant for a buyback program
which authorizes a $50 million industry loan to groundfish fisherman
in California, Oregon and Washington.
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