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September 6, 2001
Charges
filed in Sterns case
The Humboldt County District
Attorney's Office filed felony criminal charges last week against
John Sterns, a Humboldt State University official who was in
charge of fund-raising, alumni relations, radio station KHSU
and several off-campus programs.
Sterns, who has been residing
in San Diego, is expected to be in court Sept. 20 for arraignment.
The charges include two counts
of embezzlement --$46,000 from two accounts --counts of falsifying
government records and four counts of forgery.
An audit report by the California
State University Chancellor's Office released last month detailed
Sterns' activities over the last three years including false
claims for travel, meals and gifts to donors, preparing false
audit reports for KHSU, depleting trust fund accounts to make
university purchases and inflating donation reports by $15 million.
(See cover story, "The
case against John Sterns and HSU," Aug. 16.)
Sterns faces a potential sentence
of up to seven years if convicted of all charges.
Following Sterns dismissal in
March, university officials have restructured his department
and a replacement has been hired. Oversight of KHSU, the Natural
History Museum in Arcata and the First Street Gallery in Eureka
has been assigned to the director of University Relations, Elizabeth
Hans. Maggie Hardy, formerly associate director of the Big Sur
Land Trust, has replaced Sterns as director of university advancement.
Hardy said in a press release
last week, "I'm committed to re-establishing an advancement
program based on integrity."
Commission
meets in Eureka
A tour of the Eureka waterfront
boardwalk project, a workshop on tsunamis and a ceremony recognizing
local coastal heroes are just three items on the agenda when
the California Coastal Commission meets here next week.
Also on the agenda is a permit
for the restoration of 6.8 acres of beach near the now-defunct
Simpson paper mill on the Samoa Peninsula. Simpson proposes to
remove fill soils, pilings and concrete rubble and replace them
with up to 750 cubic yards of sand.
The commission will meet Sept.
11 through 14 at the Eureka Inn. For more information,
call the commission's Eureka office at 445-7833.
Underage
protestors
David Wehrer, 19, of San Francisco,
pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse fortransporting a number
of Bay Area youths to Humboldt County to protest against Pacific
Lumber Co. at an active logging sight. He was placed on probation
for two years.
The juveniles, one of whom allegedly
sought assistance from sheriff deputies after spending the night
in the woods, were taken into custody and released. They had
been left in the woods by Wehrer with inadequate food or supplies,
according to the district attorney's office.
District Attorney Terry Farmer
said he supported the plea bargain, reducing the charges from
felony to misdemeanor, because of Wehrer's age and inexperience.
"This is a fair result,"
Farmer said. "A felony conviction is not necessary to make
our point. However, by this prosecution we wish to reinforce
the message that unlawful timber trespass protests are not only
illegal, they're dangerous. One protest death is one too many,"
he added, referring to the 1998 death of protestor David Chain.
There were further protests
in the area this week, with one protestor arrested.
Wanna buy
a parcel?
Humboldt County Tax Collector
Steve Strawn is preparing to auction off 47 parcels of land Sept.
27 at 9 a.m. for nonpayment of taxes.
The parcels are located in Eureka,
Benbow, Stafford, Rio Dell, Samoa, Manila, McKinleyville, Elk
River, King Salmon, Alderpoint, Bridgeville, Dinsmore, Myers
Flat, Blocksburg and Hoopa.
Parcels may be withdrawn from
the sale if the owner pays the tax due by the day prior to the
auction.
For a list of parcels and general
auction information, contact the Tax Collectors office in the
County Courthouse or visit the website at www.co.humboldt.ca.us/taxcollt/
Conviction
in Yurok site case
James L. Nelson, 44, of Eureka,
was sentenced last week to 30 days in jail, fined $675 and required
to make restitution for damages following his guilty plea to
tampering with a Native American sacred burial site.
Nelson was observed Aug. 28,
2000, by two Yurok tribal members digging into a previously disturbed
archeological site within the boundaries of Stone Lagoon State
Park.
Cattle truck
length reprieve?
Livestock trucks that are 70
feet in length -- five feet over the legal limit -- may be allowed
to continue to use Highway 101 from Leggett to the Oregon border
until 2007.
The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman
Virginia Strom Martin, unanimously passed the state Senate last
week and will be reconciled with a bill from the Assembly before
being sent to the governor for signature.
There IS
a free lunch
Yes, there is a free lunch --
and snacks, too -- available to children in participating child-care
homes and the Humboldt Child Care Council's centers.
The goal of the federal program
is to feed children a variety of food to establish positive eating
habits and promote healthy development.
For information on the Child
Care Food Program, call 445-1195.
No cameras
for Plaza?
A plan to place surveillance
cameras around the Arcata Plaza has been criticized by one of
the people who first suggested it: Police Chief Chris Gallagher.
"Given that the price was
too high and we didn't know exactly how it was going to be put
together, I just decided this probably wasn't the best time to
go through with this project," Gallagher said.
Gallagher said bids for the
cameras' installation were at least $5,000 more than the city
had estimated. Contractors also failed to answer questions about
how the technology would perform crucial functions like identifying
license plates, he said.
There was also concern from
some Arcata residents about the intrusion on civil liberties
that the cameras represented, he said.
"People have a certain
feeling about Arcata and the Plaza -- they want to be able to
be independent," he said.
Gallagher has recommended the
City Council reject the bids and look for other ways to deal
with crime and nuisance behavior on the Plaza. The council will
vote on the issue Sept. 5, after press time.
Jacoby Creek
purchase
"The city of Arcata has
a long history of concern about watersheds and water quality,"
said City Manager Dan Hauser.
That concern is being expressed
in the form of a $2 million land purchase by the city. The buy
would add approximately 650 acres along Jacoby Creek to the city's
holdings of undeveloped space. The purchases are being funded
by grants from the Wildlife Conservation Board, a state agency.
Half the land is located along
the upper Jacoby Creek, adjacent to the city's already-established
Jacoby Creek forest. Already logged once, it contains a few old-growth
cedar trees.
The remaining land is a former
ranch south of Arcata close to Humboldt Bay. It will remain open
for grazing but will be allowed to return to a more natural state,
Hauser said.
"The ability to purchase
both headwaters areas such as the forest and estuary areas such
as the ranch gives Arcata the ability to further protect and
enhance the streams and water quality," he said. By planting
native plant species and allowing the riparian areas to return
to their natural state, the city can help to improve habitat
for the fish that use the stream, Hauser said.
"The bottom line,"
he said, "is that we will have a lot more fish going up
Jacoby Creek."
Also receiving a grant is the
Save-the-Redwoods League, which will buy 280 acres of old-growth
Douglas fir in the Mattole River watershed.
$500,000
for sheriff
"California's rural counties
continually struggle to get funding to address local law enforcement
needs," said 2nd District State Sen. Wesley Chesbro in a
written statement.
That's why he, along with the
Legislature, has passed a bill that will give each of California's
37 smallest counties $500,000 a year in additional funding.
The money will probably be used
for "a combination of extra deputies and extra equipment,"
said Sheriff Dennis Lewis. He wasn't sure how the money would
be allocated, as that decision rests with the board of supervisors,
but "our most critical need is support positions."
"We don't have a person
answering telephones for the detectives' bureau, for example,"
he said.
Lewis said he was worried the
additional money would be used to replace current funding for
the sheriff's department. The county is in a perpetual budget
crunch, and Lewis said it was important the money isn't "used
to pay for something we already do."
"It's supposed to be supplemental,"
he said.
The sheriff's department may
be in line for additional state moneys in the near future. Approximately
$121 million is being spent on juvenile crime prevention, $116
million is going toward community policing and $30 million has
been budgeted to fight methamphetamine production and use. Lewis
said it isn't yet clear how much if any of that money Humboldt
County will get.
Check's
in mail for tribes
The state controller's office
sent $300,000 payments to a number of California Indian tribes
and all of Humboldt County's seven tribes will receive a check.
The $22.5 million released statewide
is the first payment to the California Gambling Control Commission
established under terms of a compact negotiated by gaming tribes
with Gov. Grey Davis.
The share-the-wealth plan calls
for tribes who own video slot machines to make a one-time payment
of $1,250 per machine. Additionally fees based on a percentage
of revenues are assessed for big casinos, those owning 350 or
more machines.
Among the Humboldt tribes who
got checks are two who operate casinos, the Cher-Ae-Heights Indian
Community and the Hoopa Valley tribe. Even though they have gaming
facilities they are considered non-gaming tribes since they have
fewer than 350 slot machines.
This provision is of particular
concern to the Blue Lake Rancheria, which is constructing a new
gaming facility, and to Cher-Ae-Heights, since it is in the midst
of a major expansion project. (See Journal story, "Gambling
on Casinos," June 15, 2000.) Both tribes plan on limiting
the number of machines in their facilities to under 350, thus
avoiding an ongoing assessment and assuring a continued flow
of checks under the provisions of the compact.
Candidates
throw in hats
The pool of candidates running
for office in the fall of 2002 is filling up with familiar faces
as people interested in running for the positions of 5th District
Humboldt County Supervisor and 1st District State Assemblymember
announce their candidacies.
Four Democrats and a Republican
are vying for the 1st District seat occupied by Assemblymember
Virginia Strom-Martin. The district runs from Humboldt County
in the north to Sonoma County in the south. Candidates Ed Robey
and Jim Mastin are both members of local government in the south
end of the district and may be unfamiliar. The only Republican
who has announced is Clay Romero, a gun dealer from Laytonville.
Bob Jehn and Patty Berg, on
the other hand, have been active in Humboldt County. Berg founded
the Area Agency on Aging and led it for 19 years; Jehn, mayor
of Cloverdale, was the chairman of the North Coast Railroad Authority
until last year.
The name Jill Geist might also
ring some bells. Geist, who announced her candidacy to be 5th
District supervisor Sept. 3, has served on the McKinleyville
Community Services District Board of Supervisors for four years.
Her only opponent so far is Mike Harvey, who owns and operates
an insurance agency in McKinleyville.
The deadline for registering
as a candidate is Nov. 26.
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© Copyright 2001, North Coast Journal,
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