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November 9, 2000
Willow
Creek left out?
Thumb through your new phone
book and you may get the eerie feeling that something is ...
missing. Like three whole towns.
The 2000-2001 Pacific Bell directory
for Humboldt County is missing the towns of Hoopa, Orleans and
Willow Creek. The towns are normally part of the "additional
communities" section located at the back of the white pages,
along with Orick, Whitethorn, Alderpoint, Garberville, Ferndale
and Petrolia.
It's not Pacific Bell's fault,
said Andrea Hine, a spokesperson for Pacific Bell Directory --
a separate company that puts together phone books for Pac Bell
-- in a telephone interview from San Francisco.
Hine said that those communities
are served by another phone company, GTE. This year GTE was late
getting the white pages to Pacific Bell, which then was late
delivering them to Pacific Bell Directory.
The end result?
"They could not be provided
in time for inclusion in this year's directory."
A call to GTE revealed that
one can order a directory for the missing towns from them by
ordering the Weaverville directory -- for $25.49. Call the Directory
Distribution Center at 1-800-888-8448.
Steelhead
decision 'arbitrary'
Environmental and fisherman's
advocacy groups won an old battle in court last week.
Federal Judge Susan Illston
ruled Oct. 27 in San Francisco that the justification used by
federal regulators for keeping steelhead off the list of threatened
species was "arbitrary and capricious."
At issue was a decision by the
National Marine Fisheries Service not to list Klamath Mountain
Province steelhead as threatened under the Endangered Species
Act. The Klamath Mountain Province, an area defined by NMFS,
covers watersheds north from Redwood Creek to the Rogue River
in Oregon. Steelhead are already listed as threatened on the
North Coast, which runs from Redwood Creek south to the Russian
River.
A coalition of sportfishers
and environmentalists, including Arcata's Northcoast Environmental
Center, sued NMFS in September 1995 to require them to list steelhead.
In March 1998, NMFS officially decided not to list the fish as
threatened, based on promises by the governments of California
and Oregon to implement tough conservation measures.
Tim McKay, NEC executive director,
said that those measures, which were to include tougher forest
practice rules, were never put in place.
"There are long overdue
changes in the forest practice rules," he said. He also
pointed to dams on the Klamath as damaging fish populations and
making a threatened status appropriate.
But the ruling does not mean
that NMFS must list the fish as threatened, said Irma Lagomarsino,
regional director at the NMFS Arcata office.
"The judge did not tell
us to list steelhead. She told us to reconsider our choice. It
was only because of our reliance on state conservation measures
that our decision was considered arbitrary and capricious.
"Theoretically, we could
come back with the same decision with a different justification,"
Lagomarsino said. She pointed out that the agency could choose
any level of protection for the species it deemed appropriate
-- from granting it endangered status, which would result in
extremely stringent regulations, to keeping it off any protection
list.
NMFS has until March 31 to make
a decision.
Sunny Brae
inspection allowed
Sunny Brae residents concerned
about a planned timber harvest on land in the hills above the
Arcata neighborhood scored a victory Oct. 30.
Sierra Pacific, which owns the
land, announced that it would allow a geologist hired by the
Sunnybrae-Arcata Neighborhood Alliance to inspect the site. Residents
are concerned that timber harvesting activities could adversely
affect their property by causing flooding, landslides or erosion.
"I'd like to think they
recognize the validity of our concerns," said SANA spokesperson
Mark Lovelace, but what may have motivated the timber company
was the pending lawsuit.
"If we had lost here in
Humboldt, we would have taken it to the court of appeals,"
Lovelace said -- and a decision could set a precedent, forcing
timber companies to allow inspections in similar cases across
the state.
Sierra Pacific has maintained
that its timber harvest plan has been sufficiently examined by
experts from its own staff, and state and federal regulatory
agencies. SANA's concern was that "none of those agencies
have as part of their charter a mandate to protect private property
adjacent to the plan," Lovelace said.
Lovelace said SANA is different
from other groups fighting timber companies because it respects
Sierra Pacific's right to harvest timber.
"To be fair, I don't think
anyone in our group wants to see this [timber harvest] happen,
but we recognize this is their right. This is what their land
is for."
(Sierra Pacific did not return
calls for this report.)
Health care
boss in the box
The purchase of General Hospital
by its largest competitor, St. Joseph, has created "a lot
of rumor and concern in the community," said Dr. Scott Sattler,
host of the cable access show "Doc in the Box." In
an attempt to find answers to some of the questions, Sattler
will be interviewing St. Joseph CEO Mike Purvis on his show Nov.
12 at 8 p.m.
"The best way to deal with
the issues is through access," Sattler said. He noted that
Purvis has had access to the public through newspaper articles
(including the Journal's "One on one with St. Joe
CEO" Oct. 19) and through paid advertisements, but the community
had not yet had direct access to Purvis with its questions.
Sattler plans to devote the
last 40 minutes of the program to questions from the viewing
audience. "Doc in the Box" airs on cable channel 12,
Arcata's public access, educational and government television.
Call 826-3169 for details.
New New
Age mag debuts
A new publication based in Eureka
is the fulfillment of a dream for two women.
The glossy quarterly, "Continuum
Magazine -- Many Paths, One Voice" is subtitled "a
magazine of higher consciousness." It contains articles
on channeling, lightwork, holistic health, angels, past lives
and political issues.
Anna B'nai is Continuum's editor.
Devra Ann Jacobs is the magazine's ad designer and director of
marketing.
"Anna actually had a dream
about the magazine about six years ago," said Jacobs. "Around
the same time I was living in Arizona and I was told by a channeler,
`You are going to own a magazine. You are going to bring words
to the Earth that will help heal the planet.' At the time I was
a barber. I laughed at him and said, `OK.'"
The women met over the phone
four and a half years ago when Jacobs called a psychic hotline
on her birthday.
"I am a psychic myself
and I had a lot of friends who were psychics. Normally I wouldn't
call a psychic hotline -- I didn't believe in those things. I
was one of those self-righteous psychics who believed that real
psychics didn't work on those lines. But for some reason I had
this urge to call a psychic line. When I called, the lady who
answered said, `Write down this number and call me back.' That's
how we met. She said she had been waiting for me to call, she
had a pre-thought that I was going to pop up in her life,"
Jacobs said.
While they never met face to
face, the two women became "phone friends" and talked
off and on for years about their respective spiritual journeys
and the need for a source of information that covered more than
one spiritual path.
Three months ago they decided
to create an all-inclusive spiritual magazine. B'nai quit her
job in Minnesota, sold her house and most of her possessions
and moved to Eureka.
The women put the word out to
a number of spiritual websites that they were looking for material
for a magazine. They quickly found themselves swamped with articles
from around the world, enough material for a 160-page magazine.
Jacobs convince B'nai they would have to keep it to 80 pages
for the first issue.
"We started off planning
on a little local thing, but it went international within five
weeks," Jacobs said. "We've been contacted by bookstores
in Australia, England and Canada asking how they can get the
magazine. We have printed 10,000 copies and will be printing
20,000 total."
The magazine is available at
some area bookstores or from its website www.continuum-magazine.com.
Teaching
the teachers
If teachers are responsible
for giving your kids the education they need to survive in today's
world, who is responsible for teaching them how? If your children
are lucky, someone like Humboldt State University education Professor
Ann Diver-Stamnes.
Diver-Stamnes has been named
California's Teacher Educator of the year by the Credential Counselors
and Analysts of California, an organization that includes the
University of California, California State University, private
colleges, and county offices of education.
Diver-Stamnes has worked in
high schools in suburban Southern California, rural Oregon and
the Watts section of Los Angeles. She writes, administers mentoring
programs, holds workshops and teaches at HSU.
Mussel quarantine
ends
The annual mussel quarantine,
imposed by the Humboldt County Department of Public Health, was
lifted Oct. 31. The quarantine is put in place to protect the
public against paralytic shellfish poisoning, a danger every
summer.
Results of routine testing show
that the mussels are again safe to eat. For more information,
call 445-6215.
Camels and
cowboys
A recent antismoking effort
uncovered both good and bad news: Kids are involved in the movement
against smoking, but they are also already being regularly exposed
to tobacco advertising.
The North Coast Tobacco Education
Project, a public health project of the St. Joseph Health System,
recently held a contest as part of its effort to curb tobacco
marketing in retail stores (dubbed "Three feet and below").
Children were asked to design posters that would convince tobacco
retailers to think about the consequences of placing tobacco
ads at kids' height or near the candy and gum. More than 160
children designed posters, far outstripping the organizers' expectations
-- but most of the posters included the cowboys and camels associated
with tobacco advertising campaigns.
Tobacco education project spokesperson
Nick Oritz said in a statement that "the entries suggest
... very young children are being exposed, often accidentally,
to images that have a lasting `branding' effect on their young
minds."
Students
travel to Holland
Four Humboldt State University
students will be travelling to The Hague in the Netherlands next
week for an unusual cultural experience. Rather than shopping
for tulip bulbs and strolling along picturesque canals, they'll
be discussing global warming -- with other American students.
From Nov. 13 through 24, the
Netherlands will host a summit where world leaders will meet
to try to hash out differences arising from the Kyoto Protocol.
Representing the United States
inside the summit will be members of the Clinton administration,
including Vice President Al Gore. Outside the summit about 200
U.S. college students, including HSU students Panama Bartholomy,
Sera Passalaqua, Teah O'Neill and Mike Roscom, will hold a parallel
student summit organized by Greenpeace.
Dan Ihara, executive director
of the Center for Environmental and Economic Development in Arcata,
said the students will try to "hold negotiators at the summit
accountable to environmental interests rather than just special
interests."
Wine Gala
raises big bucks
The first annual College of
the Redwoods Autumn Vintage Wine Gala was a smashing success.
The auction, held Oct. 28 at the Eureka Inn, raised more than
$140,000 for the college.
"The gala has been our
traditional college fund-raising event and this year's wine auction
added a new twist," CR President Casey Crabill said in a
statement.
The proceeds will help fund
a high-tech career center for CR and the community.
Fighting
oblivion
John Ross, once a fixture of
the North Coast literary scene, returns to Arcata Nov. 12 to
for a book signing and reading at Northtown Books celebrating
the publication of his latest book, The War Against Oblivion
Zapatista Chronicles 1994-2000.
Ross has spent most of the last
two decades in Latin America reporting on social and political
movements. He was among the first to report on the uprising in
Chiapas led by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation he calls
"the first post-Communist, post-modern guerrillas in Latin
America."
Ross describes The War Against
Oblivion as "an attempt to remember."
"It tells of the war against
the memory of the past that's being obliterated. It tells of
the Indian peoples, of their right to exist and their incredibly
long and difficult history. And it gives the details of what
has happened in the last six and a half years in the jungles
and high lands of Mexico in relation to the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation. Unless we put it all down on paper, they're
going to say it didn't happen."
This is Ross' fifth book on
Mexico. Rebellion from the Roots won a 1995 American Book
Award. His "political guidebook," In Focus
Mexico, came out in 1996. The Annexation of Mexico from
the Aztecs to the IMF was published in 1998 and Tonatiuh's
People, his "novel of the Mexican cataclysm," was
published in 1999.
Ross will be at Northtown Books
in Arcata from 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12. The bookstore is at
957 H St.
Strom-Martin,
Chesbro get `A's
Assemblymember Virginia Strom-Martin
has received a grade of 100 percent from the Congress of California
Seniors for her voting this legislative session. The organization
credited Strom-Martin with advancing the causes of nursing home
reform, affordable prescription drugs and better pay for in-home
supportive services workers.
Strom-Martin not only voted
for bills favored by the seniors' congress, she authored one
of them. The bill, which aimed to stop scams linked to estate
planning, did not pass the Legislature. Strom-Martin has said
she will try again next year.
"We simply have to do more
than we have been doing to address the needs of this growing
segment of California's population," Strom-Martin said in
a statement.
State Sen. Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata,
has received an A+ from Planned Parenthood of California. Chesbro
said in a statement "As a pro-choice legislator, I am pleased
to have achieved this voting record on legislation which would
protect reproductive freedom in this state."
Chesbro scored 100 percent on
the family-planning organization's criteria. For a list of the
bills Chesbro voted for (or against) to achieve the rating, point
your web browser to www.ppacca.org.
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