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March 22,
2001
Loggers
converge
The 63rd annual Redwood Region
Logging Conference rolls into Redwood Acres this Thursday, Friday
and Saturday.
The conference is a chance for
forest resource professionals to gather and for logging equipment
to be displayed.
Historic steam donkeys, locomotives
and other antique logging equipment are just a few of the items
that will be on display at the largest logging equipment show
in California.
This year's theme, Balancing
Forests and Forest Communities for Eternity, will be addressed
with keynote speakers, daily activities and events.
On Thursday, more then 2,000
students from Humboldt County schools will visit the conference
to participate in Education Day. The students will learn about
logging, forestry, wildlife and fire safety.
The sawmill shoot-out contest
is on Saturday at 11 a.m. and is open to any with a portable
sawmill. The contestants will be judged on the amount of board
that is cut per hour, lumber recovery, board feet of lumber vs.
log scale and the board feet per hour vs. the cost of the sawmill.
Admission to Redwood Acres Fairgrounds
is free. Gates are open Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
and on Saturday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Thompson:
no drilling
In hopes to further protect
the fragile California coast, a proposal to permanently ban offshore
drilling was introduced in Congress last week.
The proposal is in response
to concerns that existing restrictions could be challenged by
a president eager to boost production.
The legislation, called the
Coastal States Protection Act, would require the secretary of
the Interior to permanently halt mineral leasing activity in
federal water adjacent to any coastal state with a similar moratorium
in its own water.
Drilling in state water in California
has long been banned, and the passage of the federal legislation
would mean no new drilling off California's fragile coastline.
The legislation was introduced
by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and co-sponsored by Rep.
Mike Thompson, D-Calif. Both members of Congress hail the bill
as "critical to protecting California's precious coastal
areas."
Federal water off California
is already protected by a congressional moratorium that must
be renewed annually. A presidential moratorium also prevents
new leases through 2012, but drilling foes say both could be
overturned by Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration.
However, during President Bush's
campaign, he said he would respect the existing moratorium on
offshore drilling leases in California.
Democratic lawmakers are not
taking any chances.
"California is defined
by our coastline," Thompson said. "There is a renewed
threat to jeopardize its future with short-sighted oil exploration.
This is a timely measure that will provide us with added protections."
The legislation, introduced
with six other California members of Congress, will be sent to
the Resources Committee for consideration.
Economy
up, cool-down ahead
High energy prices and a fall-off
in demand for forest products are dragging the Humboldt County
economy down, according to the latest Index of Economic Activity
for Humboldt County. The Index, produced each month
by Professor Steve Hackett at Humboldt State University, actually
increased 2.4 percent over the month of January -- but problems
loom ahead, Hackett warned.
One thousand fewer people had
jobs in January than in December. That raised the unemployment
rate to 6.7 percent -- a 1.2 percent increase in just one month,
a trend that will likely continue.
"I think there's going
to be an additional downturn before this thing turns around,"
Hackett said.
Energy prices have a lot to
do with the problem. The timber industry, still a cornerstone
of the Humboldt County economy, has been hit hard by the energy
crisis. Many mills kiln-dry their lumber using natural gas, and
the spike in prices for that fuel has "had a big impact
on energy-intensive manufacturers who are already operating on
a narrow profit margin," Hackett said.
In addition, waning consumer
confidence nationwide has led to a slowdown in new home construction.
That has hurt timber concerns already weakened by the energy
crunch.
Statistics collected from all
of 2000 show that the manufacturing sector in Humboldt County
is beginning to diversify. Although 100 jobs were lost in the
timber industry last year, other manufacturing businesses created
170 jobs to pick up the slack. Normally, diversification shields
an economy from wild swings because as one sector suffers another
will flourish.
The energy crunch has hurt almost
all manufacturing businesses. John McClurg, president of the
Arcata recycled glassware company, Fire and Light, said the natural
gas crisis has been "a major hit."
"In December and January,
we paid five times as much for our gas as we did last year."
The effect on the company has been immediate and dramatic. Unable
to absorb the cost increases, the company raised its prices by
10 percent. McClurg said he is investigating other methods of
firing the glass kilns, but has not found a suitable alternative.
Increases in energy rates are
having one environmentally positive effect. Electricity consumption
in Humboldt County has dropped 15 percent since October 2000.
But it's a mixed blessing.
"I strongly favor energy
conservation," Hackett said, "but normally there's
a correlation between economic activity and energy consumption."
Equinox
out, Big Lagoon in
The Vernal Equinox or changing
of seasons has always been a time for celebration at Equinox
School. A note on the school's website explains the school's
name. "Equinox, the time when the sun's center crosses the
equator and everywhere day and night are of equal length -- a
moment of balance and harmony -- a time of change . . ."
And change is coming for the
Arcata alternative elementary school. After 30 years, the school's
board of directors voted March 1 to cease operation as a private
school as of June 30, 2001.
Equinox has been facing the
same problems as many schools in Humboldt County: Shifting demographics
have led to declining enrollment. The drop began seven years
ago, according to John Schmidt, the school's director and one
of four full-time teachers.
"We redoubled our scholarships
and increased advertising and outreach," he said. "Still
enrollment went down."
The enrollment decline has caused
the school to operate at a loss for the last three years. After
borrowing $30,000 to meet expenses during the current year, the
board looked at options.
"We realized that unless
we dramatically decreased our programs or increased class size
we could not continue to operate," said Schmidt.
While the closure marks the
end of Equinox, the site will not be empty and the students enrolled
there will not be forced to switch to public schools. Big Lagoon
Charter School, which began operation for the 2000-2001 school
year under the direction of former Humboldt State University
Professor Jean Bazemore, is planning on taking over the Equinox
campus.
The charter school is operating
a K-8 program for 24 students at Big Lagoon School and a high
school program for 16 kids at the former Merryman's restaurant
in Westhaven.
When the single school Big Lagoon
District opened its doors to Bazemore, it was facing a more severe
enrollment problem than other Humboldt schools.
"Five years ago we had
80 kids," said Principal Bill Hawkins. "Next year,
without the charter kids, we would have had 20."
The school board saw the charter
school as "an opportunity to keep the lights on," and
Hawkins helped write the charter for the new school. The transition
has been smooth. The charter school is running at capacity at
least at the K-8 level.
"Some of the students come
from within the district's boundaries, which stretch from Orick
to around Larrupin' Café north of Trinidad. But most charter
kids come from elsewhere. Parents drive from Arcata, Blue Lake,
McKinleyville -- even from as far away as Ferndale.
"Humboldt County was ripe
for a charter school," said Hawkins. "There seems to
be a lot of people here interested in alternative education.
That's why Loleta has a charter school, Mattole has one, Freshwater
has one.
"The content-driven standard-based
curriculum we have now, with the testing and accountability,
is good up to a point. But in Humboldt County a lot of parents
don't see that as the important thing for their children. That's
why we offer an alternative."
The parents who were sending
their children to Equinox had found their alternative. And they
were paying for it. While some students receive scholarships,
tuition is $3,100 a year. Charter schools are publicly funded
and do not charge tuition, hence the economic advantage.
When the word came that Equinox
would have to close, parents did not have many choices. (All
other nonreligious alternative schools and private elementary
schools that began in the 1970s have already ceased operations.)
"Parents in Arcata were
showing interest in Big Lagoon Charter School," said Hawkins.
"If we have a lot of parents sign up, we have to find a
site. It just so happens that a site may be available in Arcata
-- the old Equinox site."
While it was relatively easy
to convert a classroom at the Big Lagoon School into a K-8 charter
campus, the transition from Equinox, a private school, to "the
Arcata Campus of Big Lagoon Charter School" is tricky. State
law does not allow private or parochial schools to change into
charter schools.
"This is not a private
school converting to a charter," said Hawkins. "Otherwise
I wouldn't be doing this. It's an opportunity to parents to come
on board with a charter school."
Big Lagoon Charter School will
rent the Equinox campus, which will still be owned by Equinox.
There will be an open hiring process for staff, and everyone
involved assumes that Equinox's teachers, some of whom have been
teaching there since it began, will apply for the jobs.
Deciding who gets to attend
the Arcata campus is another matter. According to Hawkins, the
charter petition gives first priority to those who live in the
Big Lagoon district and to parents who work in the district.
"After that it goes to
first-come, first-served to a point where we have to have a lottery
because there's too many. And that's what's happened."
Parents who attended a March
11 meeting to learn about the school discovered that almost all
the openings were filled and all they could do was get on a waiting
list. The biggest problem was with kindergarten openings for
the fall. There are 27 applicants and the ideal class size of
15 will be expanded to 17. The deadline was extended to March
14.
How will they decide who gets
to be a BLCS kindergartner? "The petition says you have
to put all the names in a hat and do a lottery," said Hawkins.
The lottery was held Friday,
March 16. All classes are full except grade 3 which, as of press
time, has several openings.
Long-term
care credit
People who care for elderly
loved ones at home may get some help. Under the new long-term
care credit, Californians who provide care to elderly family
members may be eligible for a $500 tax credit.
For more information on how
you can apply for the tax credit, call 442-3763, ext. 221, or
talk to your tax preparer.
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