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August 24, 2006
Above: Firefighters at the Bar Complex fires
refill a water tanker using Jerry England's mining dredge. Photo
by Carmen England.
THE HILLS BURN | GOD, GUNS, BREW | INFRARUPTURE
THE HILLS BURN:
Those massive fires up northeast of here continued to turn
great swathes of wilderness to ash last week, but as of Tuesday
afternoon firefighters were gaining the upper hand on most of
them. In all, numerous fires in the Shasta-Trinity, Six Rivers
and Klamath National Forests have so far burned about 70,000
acres in the roughly square-shaped part of the state bound by
Highways 101, Interstate 5, Highway 36 and the Oregon border.
Some of the lands to go up in smoke have been in popular recreation
areas, others uncomfortably close to roads and homes.
According to the latest updates, the biggest of
the big fires -- the roughly 19,000-acre Bar Complex, which was
sparked by lightning nearly a month ago -- was still proving
problematic. The fire, located roughly 20 miles northeast of
Willow Creek, was only 44 percent contained. Five hundred firefighters,
nine helicopters and numerous other pieces of heavy equipment
were working on the fire as best they could, but the extreme
terrain in the area and other obstacles prevented commanders
from predicting when they might have it fully under control.
A few miles to the north, just west of Orleans,
over 400 firefighters are still battling the 15,700-acre Orleans
Complex fires. Commanders estimated the blazes to be only 50
percent contained, but were optimistic that they could cut the
fires' capers before the end of the month. Salmon River Road,
which had been closed for two days as the flames cut toward the
blacktop, was reopened Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the three separate fires belonging to
the Uncles Complex ravaged separate areas of the Marble Mountains
and Trinity Alps Wilderness areas, over 13,500 acres in total.
The so-called Rush Fire in the Trinity Alps has been contained;
the other two fires, in the more remote Marble Mountains, are
tougher nuts by far -- responders now estimate that those two
won't be completely contained until October.
-- Hank Sims
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GOD, GUNS, BREW:
What a way to start of the school year! St. Bernard's Catholic
School is holding a gun auction this week at Miles Hall -- "over
at the elementary campus," said the school secretary. Two
hundred and eight firearms belonging to a now-deceased Trinidad
man will be sold by Humboldt County Coroner Frank Jager as part
of an estate sale. "He was a gun collector," Jager
said of the man. I'd say so! The guns, some of which have never
been used, range in price from $50 to $4,500. Bidding is open
only to law enforcement and gun dealers, who received invitations
in the mail, but the public can come look at the merchandise.
Hurry. The sale ends Friday, Aug. 25, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Principal Pat Daly said he had no reservations
about renting the space to host the gun auction, as school is
not in session yet. "It has nothing to do with the school,
besides renting the facility," he said, though he added
that Jager is an alumnus of St. Bernard's. Jager said Tuesday
while he realized it was a bit unusual to host a gun sale at
an elementary school, he chose St. Bernard's because it is near
the coroner's office, which is tight for space. "There is
a room next door at Mental Health, but they didn't like the idea
of having a bunch of guns there and I agree with them,"
he said.
Humboldt County Office of Education Executive Assistant
Janet Frost said Tuesday she does not believe that public schools
are permitted to sell guns on campus, though a separate entity
might be able to sell guns to benefit the school off school property.
"It's similar to having alcohol or smoking on school grounds,"
she explained.
Oh, that reminds us! Save the date -- Friday, Sept.
15 -- for St. Bernie's next big event, Oysters and Ale. The school
fundraiser includes two pints from Lost Coast, oyster shooters,
live auction and root beer floats. Admission is $25. 21+ Call
for tickets. 443-0641.
--Helen Sanderson
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INFRARUPTURE: Saturday
afternoon, just as you were finally getting around to throwing
a little soap and hot water on that sinkful of dirty dishes,
an announcement on the radio released you from the chore. A break
in a natural gas line, out Highway 36/Mad River way, necessitated
sudden conservation by residents. Turns out a 15-foot section
of Line 177, the main, 12-inch pipeline that brings gas to Humboldt
from Red Bluff, had separated. That triggered the gas alarms
placed along the pipeline, says Lisa Randle, spokesperson for
PG&E. PG&E called it "a significant leak,"
although repairs were made by Sunday afternoon. About 40 customers
a few miles from the rupture had their service interrupted. The
normally gas-fired Humboldt Bay Power Plant temporarily switched
to using fuel oil. And the rest of us got off guilt-free from
doing the dishes -- until Sunday afternoon. PG&E is investigating
the leak, but doesn't think earth movement, of the seismic or
landslide kind, had anything to do with it.
The next infrastructure excitement came on Monday
afternoon in Arcata, as city officials and cops cordoned off
a watery section of town north of the Plaza. Broken water main.
-- Heidi Walters
TOP
While you were out
by HEIDI WALTERS
Hi, students and profs. Nice to see you.
While you were away, we too had a heat wave. Southern
Humboldt -- ridiculously triple-digit. And up in Arcata, we melted.
One day -- it was maybe 68 or 70 degrees -- some people missed
a showing of Clerks II one evening at the Minor, when
the theater's projection room overheated. Sure, we know some
of you would have been content just to sit in the warm, silent
dark and secondhand sniff the pot smoke seeping down from the
apartment above. But anyway.
While you were away, we had the usual summer flings:
4th of July, gay pride, kinetic sculpture race, oyster bash,
umpteen Grange benefits -- you missed it, ha ha.
 While you were away,
we voted: Measure T passed, Gallegos won, some supervisor candidates
advanced to the fall showdown. We'll spare you the details.
While you were away, life went on.
Fires
On June 21 around 9 p.m., as the bats -- considered
good luck -- stirred from their nap under the protective mantle
of the New Fortune restaurant's mansard roof and the people in
the dining area opened their fortune cookies, a fire started.
It burned and burned, everyone escaped unharmed, people cried.
Fire investigators said it started somewhere around the water
heater. Today the establishment stands charred-roof empty up
there in Northtown, and the number in the phone book is disconnected.
Later in the summer, lightning stabbed the inland
mountain region repeatedly, starting fires which over time merged
into rampaging behemoths of smoke, flame and doom. They're still
burning. Up there, cough, ash, rolling trees and skedaddle. Down
here, barbecued sunsets.
Heroes
Two particularly big-hearted men died this summer,
activists who worked to make the planet a better place for everyone,
mentors referred to as "mountains" by their friends
and colleagues.
 On
June 26, Humboldt State University education professor Eric Rofes
died of a heart attack in Provincetown, Mass., where he was finishing
work on his 13th book. Rofes was a leader in the gay rights community
-- in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, in the world -- and in raising
awareness of gay men's health issues, "building a gay men's
health movement that expanded beyond HIV and AIDS," as the
June 28 San Francisco Chronicle put it. "He organized
conferences and summits that have led new health agencies to
form in cities across the country and internationally."
And he was funny, say his friends. A memorial for Rofes will
be held this Friday, Aug. 25, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the Founders
Courtyard at HSU.
On July 30, long-time Northcoast Environmental
Center executive director Tim McKay died of a heart attack while
birding at Stone Lagoon. McKay is remembered fondly for his packrat's
diligence in collecting information, his passionate love and
devoted defense of nature and the North Coast environment, his
larger-than-life gentle persona and the many battles the NEC
has engaged in over the years. This Thursday, Aug. 24, at
1 p.m., KHSU is hosting a special report on McKay's life,
with interviews of friends and excerpts from "The Econews
Report," which McKay hosted and produced for the radio station
for more than 25 years. The program will re-air Wednesday,
Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Monuments
Yeah, you saw 'em. More beloved "gates"
that arose in your absence to flank numerous entrances to the
Humboldt State University campus. Curved, buttery stucco elegance
exclaiming "Here stands an Institution of Higher Learning"
-- or cruel architectural reminders of missionary oppression
of native people? You decide. Have fun.
Clones
Earlier this August, two cloned mules clip-clopped
into local headlines as they prepared to race in the Humboldt
County Fair. Idaho Gem and Idaho Star, born in May and July respectively,
of 2003, to surrogate mares, had already raced through other
Cali-town news pages, spreading the story of their arrival on
this planet as harbingers of hope for cancer patients and as
really fast mules whupping the other mules on the California
racing circuit. The mules are clones of a fetus from the union
of a quarter horse mare named Mesmerizer and a jack donkey named
Coalee McGee, who've also produced a number of other swift racers,
the natural way, over the years. The cloned mules were created
by a team of University of Idaho and Utah State University scientists
to further research into calcium regulation in human cells. And
to win races.
Crabs
The gleeful, record stats: 42 wins, 13 losses.
New manager Matthew F. Nutter stepped in to replace Ken "Shorty"
Ames, who retired last year. Nutter was a Crabs pitcher and a
member of the Crabs Board of Directors. The Crabs also have a
new president, Randy Robertson, who takes over from John Fesler.
And, after the last game of the summer, after the band stopped
sending happy notes reverberating into the hilltop neighborhood
above the ball field, the grass was scraped away. They're hoping
for improvements for next year. New bleachers? New lights? New
snack shack? New dugouts? Better traffic control around the snack
stand? They're "skeptical," as their website says,
and yet full of giddy hope.
Birds
They gathered in beaky droves, those pelicans,
accompanied by flocks of gulls. All along the coast and sloughs
they soared in long regimental lines, low above the waves and
beach, casting predatory shadows. They splashed and stabbed the
water of the Mad River Slough and crowded each other on half-submerged
snags, gobbling up anchovies and sardines smothered in marshy
green sauce.
 Meanwhile,
the people who spy on birds filed surreptitious little reports
with the Northwest California Bird Alert. One agent reported,
for instance, that on July 6 he saw seven grasshopper sparrows
on the south side of Bear River Ridge. And on July 9, another
agent noted the appearance of 56 marbled murrelets in the "big
water area" north of King Salmon, consorting with two rhinoceros
auklets. Meanwhile, same day, a Tennessee warbler appeared by
the Eel River downstream of Rio Dell, while up on Table Bluff
a Pacific loon was sighted. And on July 13, on the South Spit,
a crested caracara stood brazenly on the waveslope, eating a
juvenile river otter.
Seafarers
Wherever you were, most of you weren't rowing across
the Atlantic Ocean from the United States to the United Kingdom.
Local bird expert Ron LeValley's son, Dylan, was, however, doing
just that. He and his team left New York Harbor on June 10 and
rowed 3,100 nautical miles, bumping into the shore at Falmouth,
England on Aug. 22. They and their trusty rowboat beat three
other teams to win the Shepherd Ocean Fours Rowing Race.
Culture
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence raised loads
of cash to bring us the play Hedwig and the Angry Inch
(see this week's calendar section ). Be thankful, be impressed.
Meanwhile, down on the river, Reggae on the River hosted record
crowds in its expanded venue which includes the new spot at Dimmick
Ranch. On the club scene, Kelly O'Brien's in Eureka closed and
reopened as the Red Fox Tavern, Muddy Waters coffee house in
North Arcata changed hands and, for the time being (until the
paper comes off the windows), is selling coffee from a cart on
the front stoop. We hear it was bought by a puppeteer -- yay!!!
Oh, and Northtown Books changed hands, with Dante now at the
helm. Jambalaya also changed hands, and the new owners are returning
it to some semblance of its long-ago self -- a place to hear
live bands.
TOP
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