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November 2, 2000
Safeway
strike cuts supplies
It's an old-fashioned labor
fight, complete with strike, accusations of greed on both sides
and some inconveniences for consumers.
More than 1,600 employees of
Summit Logistics, the sole deliverer of groceries to Northern
California's Safeway stores, went on strike Oct. 18 in Stockton.
The workers are members of Teamsters Local 439 and had been in
negotiations with Summit over wages, overtime and safety issues.
Some Humbolters have reported
bare shelves in Safeway stores. Local managers declined to comment
about what might be running low, directing all inquiries to the
corporate office in Tracy.
"The impacts that the stores
might be feeling are temporary and not widespread," said
David Bowlby, director of public affairs for Northern California
Safeway, in a telephone interview from Tracy.
Gerry Flanigan, business representative
for Teamsters Local 137 in Eureka, said that Safeway was "trying
to break the unions," and that individuals should shop elsewhere
out of solidarity with the union.
But why punish Safeway for the
fight with Summit?
"Summit is part of Safeway,"
Flanigan said. He claimed that Safeway had tried to get rid of
unions by changing the name of its trucking division in the early
'90s.
"I don't have any idea
what he's talking about," said Martin Street, spokesman
for Summit. He said in atelephone interview that Summit was part
of a large corporation called the Tibbett & Britten group
and even delivered to some of Safeway's largest competitors.
He claimed the Teamsters were trying to prove Safeway and Summit
were the same because that would give them the legal right to
picket Safeway as part of a strike against Summit.
Street has said Summit's proposal
was "quite reasonable" and "the most generous
they will see." Flanigan blamed Summit for trying to do
away with union labor. Negotiations have not resumed, but replacement
workers are making the majority of Summit's deliveries.
FERC decision
delayed
A long-awaited decision by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the amount of water diverted
from the Eel River into the Russian River was postponed at least
another three months last week.
FERC has proposed reducing the
amount by 15 percent. The water supplies development and irrigated
farms in Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin counties, but the lack of
water in the Eel has been blamed for decimating the salmon and
steelhead trout runs that once flourished.
As part of the Endangered Species
Act, FERC cannot officially make its decision without a "biological
opinion" from the National Marine Fisheries Service. That
opinion should detail the proposal's effects on endangered salmon
and steelhead in the Eel. In January NMFS scientists criticized
the current plan for removing too much water, leaving the fish
vulnerable. In June they backed away from the earlier opinion,
saying they needed more time to study the situation.
Sonoma County officials have
said that the plan does not remove enough of the Eel's natural
flows to supply agricultural business interests and human developments
during dry years. The Eel has been drained to feed the Russian
River and produce a marginal amount of electricity since 1908.
A draft of the opinion is due
Nov. 22. The final report should be out in January
Arts education
celebration
The Humboldt Arts Council is
putting on its annual auction, the organization's biggest fund-raiser
of the year, Nov. 5 from 1-6 p.m. This year it is celebrating
arts education.
Council Executive Director Debbie
Goodwin said arts education is an especially important facet
of the arts because it helps bring arts out of the ivory tower
and down to earth. Art doesn't have to sit in a museum, she said.
If taught widely, it can be used to help people deal with their
lives. And that's not just being charitable, she said. Teaching
youths to express themselves creatively can even help keep them
out of trouble.
That's why there has been a
resurgence of interest in and funding for arts education.
"I think traditionally
funding for the arts has always been about traditional audiences
and doing what we've always done, but as foundations have become
thoughtful about how they are advancing public good, they put
more emphasis on community."
Humboldt County is leading the
way with innovative programs that teach people to use art as
a creative outlet. One such program will be receiving the Outstanding
Contribution to the Arts Award -- the Humboldt Docent Council.
Council volunteers have provided arts education to Humboldt children
for 25 years.
There will be young people on
hand to drive home the value of arts education. Music will be
provided by three youth ensembles.
For more information, see this
week's Calendar or call 442-0278.
CAMP ends
season
Deer season in California ended
Oct. 21, but the hunting season for Southern Humboldt's most
sought-after quarry finished two weeks earlier.
The annual Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting, a $250,000 federally funded search for pot
growing in the hills, ended Oct. 3.
This year's results? More than
18,000 plants from 266 outdoor plots. That's in spite the fact
that CAMP had a shorter stay than usual. The helicopter and personnel
used for spotting and destroying the gardens were needed in Southern
and Central California, said Phillip Daastol, a public information
officer with the Sheriff's office.
Daastol said that the continued
pressure CAMP puts on growers has them moving -- although not
necessarily in the geographic sense.
"Our impression is that
they are moving (more) indoors," he said.
Statistics seem to bear him
out: 23,000 plants have been found indoors by the county's drug
enforcement unit this year.
Judge closes
logging hearing
Some environmental activists
were hit with a double whammy Oct. 26.
A large group gathered at the
Humboldt County courthouse to support a request for a temporary
restraining order that would have blocked logging by Pacific
Lumber on land in the Mattole River valley.
The request was denied by Judge
Anthony Edwards of Trinity County, clearing the way for logging.
But many courtroom visitors were upset by Edwards' decision to
exclude the public when he heard the request in chambers.
"It was a shock,"
said one activist, named Sawyer of the Mattole Forest Defenders.
He said that many made the drive from Petrolia just to see attorney
Dan Ehresman ask for the order.
"It was not only irregular
but unlawful," said Terry Francke, general counsel for the
California First Amendment Coalition in Sacramento.
Francke said that in order to
justify holding the proceedings outside public view, Andrews
would have to "make specific findings as to why it furthers
the public good."
PL General Counsel Jared Carter
has said there is nothing unusual about Andrews holding the proceedings
in his chambers.
The case concerns a rare lichen,
Usnea longissima, which the Mattole Forest Defenders claim
to have found on land that PL planned to harvest. The Defenders
notified the California Department of Fish and Game, which in
turn wrote an e-mail to the Department of Forestry, which regulates
logging -- and had approved the PL timber harvest plan for that
plot of land without knowing that Usnea was present.
Spokesperson Mary Bullwinkel
said the company has since sent a botanist to locate the lichen
and has mitigated any possible damage to it. She said no Usnea
was found on the THP itself, but that there was some on an
adjacent piece of land.
"One hundred-foot buffers
have been marked around the lichen in which no equipment will
be operated," Bullwinkel said.
William Condon, an environmental
specialist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said
that while the lichen could "potentially be affected by
the harvesting," PL had "provided an analysis of potential
effects" with which he was satisfied.
Local residents and activists
from the Forest Defenders say they plan to confront loggers when
they come to harvest, Sawyer said, but no treesits or other more
extreme tactics are planned at this time.
In related news, an attempt
by the Environmental Protection Information Center to get a preliminary
injunction stopping logging on another piece of PL land in the
Mattole Valley was denied. The case concerns the amount of analysis
PL was required to undertake in the 53-acre parcel. Judge Cissna
ruled Oct. 25 that in all likelihood enough analysis was done
and a injunction was not justified.
The case has yet to be tried
on its merits, but EPIC contends that unless a preliminary injunction
is issued PL could harvest the land before the court could make
a decision.
EPIC had originally scored a
victory when it won a last-minute stay Sept. 8 that stopped PL
from harvesting the land until the case for a preliminary injunction
could be heard.
Paul Mason, an attorney with
EPIC, said the organization was going to take the case back to
the Court of Appeal, where it originally won the stay in September.
Arcata poll
released
According to a poll of Arcata
voters taken last week, the race for City Council should be a
horse race, at least for the place and show positions.
The telephone survey by Professor
Mark Larson's empirical research class at Humboldt State University
showed Mayor Connie Stewart favored with 45.7 percent, incumbent
Bob Ornelas in second with 26.6 percent, and challengers Dwayne
Goforth and Michael Machi tied for third place at 19.1 percent.
Larson said that the error margin
for the random sample is plus or minus 5 percent with a confidence
level of 95 percent -- meaning a statistical tie for second between
Ornelas, Goforth and Machi.
The other three candidates in
the race polled a few points lower. Susan Brinton had 15 percent,
Ron Hagg 12.1 and Donn Filbert 7.2 percent. Looking at third
place with the margin for error factored in, Brinton is statistically
tied with Goforth and Machi.
The poll is based on opinions
of 387 randomly selected registered voters who said they are
"likely to vote." Over a third of those polled, 36.4
percent, said they still didn't know who they would vote for.
The voters were also asked about
Measure P, Arcata's 3 percent Utility Users Tax, and according
to poll results its passage seems likely. Only 28.2 percent said
they would vote against the tax, 43.7 percent said they would
vote yes, another 28.2 percent were still undecided. Since it
is not a property tax like a school bond, passage of Measure
P requires only a simple majority, not two thirds of the vote.
Humboldt
County parties
Humboldt County residents enjoy
some unusual parties -- and we're not talking about raucous festivities
here.
Statistics from the Humboldt
County Board of Elections show 11 percent of Humboldt County's
77,830 voters belong to parties other than the Republicans or
Democrats. That's more than twice the statewide percentage.
Greens lead the way with 5,259
voters, then the American Independents with 2,009. There are
811 registered Libertarians, 318 Reform Party members and 91
Natural Law members. Some 411 other Humboldters are members of
even smaller parties.
Of the two major parties, Democrats
continued to hold the statistical edge over Republicans, 32,965
to 23,501.
Fuel reduction
meetings
The 1999 Megram fire near Willow
Creek cost Humboldt County a lot of blood, sweat and tears to
put out -- but extinguishing the fire was only part of the work.
The Forest Service is planning
a fire-prevention effort that will thin fuels to prevent another
blaze so catastrophic.
The proposal is to reduce fuels
in burned stands and create fuel breaks. The Forest Service is
asking citizens attend public meetings Nov. 8 at the Trinity
Valley Elementary School in Willow Creek at 7 p.m. and Nov. 9
at the Redwood Acres Turf Club in Eureka.
For more information, call Julie
at 441-3561.
Million-dollar
boo-boo
When Congressman Mike Thompson
announced Oct. 24 that the King Range National Conservation Area
had received a $1 million grant, he stated the money would "go
a long way toward ensuring that future generations will continue
to enjoy these lands."
Hope we've got a backup plan.
It seems that sometime last week, that grant was nixed.
Chris Chauncey, a legislative
assistant in Thompson's Washington office, said "He wasn't
sure how it all fell out," but that some key congressional
approval had been withheld.
While the mechanism may remain
obscured, Chauncey said the result is clear: "The money
that had been set aside is no longer set aside."
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