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June 14, 2001
Humboldt
economy down
Humboldt County's economy has
slowed and it isn't a fluke, said Steve Hackett, professor of
economics at Humboldt State University.
"It's more of a trend now,"
Hackett said of the continuing slump. The economy dropped at
the beginning of the year, according to the Index of Economic
Activity for Humboldt County, an economic report which Hackett
produces once a month.
So far, the energy and manufacturing
sectors of the Index have dropped without seriously affecting
retail sales. That changed during the month of April, as retail
sales decreased by 9 percent. Hackett said it isn't yet time
for local retailers to panic, as the decrease may only represent
a blip in local retail demand. "One month off isn't going
to result in any change of business practices," Hackett
said.
But if the decrease continues
for several months, Hackett said, "some retailers who work
on narrow [profit] margins may not be able to operate."
That's especially important because retail employment has increased
as manufacturing employment has decreased.
Luckily, the retail industry
may be about to receive a major boost. Tourist season is upon
us, and it looks like it will be bigger this year than ever before.
The Humboldt County Convention and Visitors' Bureau has reported
record-breaking numbers of requests for information about sightseeing
in Humboldt County. High gas prices have some in the tourism
industry worried, but Hackett said there may be a silver lining,
as residents of the Bay Area choose the relatively close North
Coast rather than more exotic vacation locales.
Hackett said that while "tourism
in Humboldt County is very important," it can't take the
place of other traditional industries. Timber remains the foundation
of Humboldt County's economy, and it is suffering: the logging
industry's index dropped two percent over the month of April.
The sector is now more than 16 percent off from last year and
more than 25 percent less then three years ago.
Part of the problem may be unfair
competition from abroad, Hackett said. There have been allegations
that Canadian timber operators have been "dumping"
softwood lumber in the U.S. market -- that is, selling it at
less than market price. The Canadian firms are able to do so
because they are subsidized by their government. The U.S. International
Trade Commission has conducted an investigation and found that
U.S. timber companies might be hurt by the underpriced softwood
imports; the Commerce Department could impose import duties on
the lumber by as soon as this summer.
Another big Humboldt County
employer may also be about to take a hit. State budget cutbacks
spurred by the energy crisis may resu lt in a further drag on
the Humboldt economy. "Government is a big employer in Humboldt
County," said Hackett.
"With the state spending
so much on energy, we'll see less spending on places like Humboldt
State University," Hackett said. "It's going to be
a bit of a decline."
All the bad news for Humboldt
County notwithstanding, Hackett said the recent economic diversification
has helped cushion the blow. No longer entirely dependent on
the timber industry, Humboldt County is now less economically
volatile.
"Just look at Bay Area,"
Hackett said. "With the dot-com bubble bursting, they're
riding a roller coaster; that's how we used to be with lumber."
PL wins
in court
Court rulings were been handed
down June 1 on two separate cases filed against Pacific Lumber
timber harvesting.
The rulings, both favorable
to PL, clear the way for the company to harvest in two of its
most controversial holdings: The Mattole river valley and the
Freshwater Creek watershed.
Judge Anthony Edwards of Trinity
County denied the Humboldt Watershed Council's request for a
preliminary injunction halting PL's harvest plans in the Freshwater
watershed. He ruled the council failed to show the Freshwater
watershed would be damaged by the harvest. The ruling was not
the final one in the case, but logging can now go forward in
advance of the actual hearing.
"It was a lousy decision,"
said Al Cook, Freshwater resident and member of the council.
Cook said the group is considering an appeal to the ruling.
The Freshwater watershed was
the subject of PL's first "Watershed Analysis," a comprehensive
study which is to guide management practices for the watershed
in years to come. That analysis has been criticized by some scientists
for its technique, and watershed residents have created a "dissenting
report" that more closely reflects their own findings. That
report is now online at www.pcffa.org/fwfish.htm.
Judge Edwards also dismissed
a case -- the same day -- that alleged CDF had wrongfully approved
a plan to harvest old-growth Douglas fir in the Mattole river
valley. The harvesting there has been accompanied by
protests but has continued (See
Standoff in the Mattole, May
31).
The litigation doesn't end with
these two lawsuits, however. Cook said the council filed a suit
June 11 that alleges the Regional Water Quality Control Board
has neglected to enforce water quality laws.
Humboldt:
Ready for methadone?
More than twenty people die
every year in Humboldt County from heroin overdoses, but recent
changes in state law and a new attitude in the community may
herald the introduction of a methadone clinic to help wean users
off the needle.
The drug is taken orally in
a clinical setting, eliminating the risk of disease transmission,
and users are taken out of the illegal drug marketplace.
But for the last six years county
supervisors have had good reasons not to fund a methadone clinic,
said Ann Lindsay, Humboldt County Health Officer and president
of the Humboldt-Del Norte Medical Society. Such a clinic would
have required using funds from an already overtaxed drug treatment
budget. It would have meant further reducing the number of slots
open for addicts wanting help with quitting drugs other than
heroin.
That's changed since last year,
when a new state law that builds a firewall between methadone
funding and other funding went into effect. Funding for a methadone
clinic would now come from a separate funding stream than funding
for other drug treatment programs. "That political development
is what makes this possible at all," Lindsay said.
2nd District State Sen. Wesley
Chesbro has been pushing for another helpful political development.
A bill he authored and recently shepherded through the state
senate would require insurance companies to pay for drug treatment.
That could mean dollars for drug treatment programs, including
methadone clinics.
"My goal," said Sen.
Chesbro in a phone interview from Sacramento, "is to provide
treatment for every person with an addiction who wants or needs
help."
But the biggest obstacle hasn't
been the financial strain but rather opposition in the community.
Lindsay said "there was a nasty fight about methadone eight
years ago that had to do with its location" -- no one wanted
a clinic in their back yard.
Community acceptance of the
idea is growing, Lindsay said. "I think there is a greater
awareness and acceptance of drug treatment." She pointed
out that Proposition 36, which mandates treatment rather than
jail for non-violent drug offenders, passed by a large majority
in Humboldt County.
"A methadone clinic can
be a good neighbor," Lindsay said. The clients come for
a short period every day and leave without committing a crime;
reducing crime is one of the motivations for having a clinic,
Lindsay said.
"People need to ask themselves
if they want treated addicts or untreated addicts,"said
Sen. Chesbro. "The fact is that addiction is in every one
of our communities right now."
If Humboldt decides it wants
a methadone clinic, there are providers who are willing to setting
one up, said Tom Antoon, program manager for Humboldt County's
Alcohol, Tobacco and other drug programs. Antoon said a local
physician and a company from San Francisco had both expressed
interest.
Antoon said he shares the reservation
many in the treatment community have about methadone: It is itself
an addictive drug. But he said the question he asks himself is
"if someone's going to continue to use, what's better --
getting them off completely or engaging in a harm-reduction model.
They're on a medicine of known dosage and purity and they're
not using a needle."
Antoon said his final goal is
for an addict to go completely straight, but "you know some
people aren't going to quit right off the bat. I'd rather have
a live patient to deal with than a dead one."
Sturgeon
to be listed?
Another North Coast fish may
soon receive the dubious honor of being listed under the Endangered
Species Act.
The green sturgeon, a large,
longlived fish that spawns in the Klamath River, has become threatened
with extinction, according to the three environmental groups
filing the petition.
The Environemntal Protection
Information Center in Garberville, along with the Center for
Biological Diversity and WaterKeepers Northern California, claim
that overfishing and habitat loss have combined to reduce the
fish's numbers by 90 percent.
If granted protection, the sturgeon
would join the coho and chinook salmon, which are both already
protected by the ESA in the Klamath River.
A
life at the fair
Barbara Darst has been involved
in fairs since the day she was born -- literally. The 34-year
veteran of the fair industry and retiring business manager of
the Redwood Acres Fair was born at the county fair in Antioch.
"I always joke that my
mother put a hex on me," she said.
For whatever reason, Darst's
life has been devoted to fairs. She entered her first fair competition
when she was 5, started working concessions stands when she was
13, and naturally gravitated towards fairs when she finished
college.
In the three decades she's worked
fairs, she's seen "every kind of emergency except childbirth,"
Darst said. She's not afraid to get her hands dirty, and can
be found looking at the plumbing or working in a flower bed as
well as poring over numbers behind her desk.
That kind of dedication is necessary,
said Larry Ford, chief executive officer of the fair. Darst will
be at the fairgrounds from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day from
now until the fair ends, he said. "You've got to like this
work to do it."
Darst definitely likes her work
but is happy she'll be able to retire now. She and her husband
plan on raising cattle on a ranch outside Snow Camp. Darst said
that ranching "was more of a hobby" to her.
"Sure, you have to go and
mend fences," she said -- but even that is nothing to this
veteran of the fair life, because "you get to work at your
own pace."
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