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November 23, 2000
Children's
emergency shelter may close
Humboldt County supervisors
are considering the closure of the county emergency shelter for
children and the move has foster parents and others concerned.
"In reality, if they close
the shelter we have no place in Humboldt County to allow kids
to be housed and assessed while we figure out the next step,"
said Brian Nunn, president of the Foster Parent Association of
Humboldt County.
Nunn's objections are at the
center of the debate over closing the shelter.
No one claims that the shelter
is the ideal setting for assessing children who have been removed
from their homes. Many agree that the shelter has had problems
-- most serious was the accidental death of a 13-year old girl
in May after her nightgown caught fire.
What foster parents and others
are primarily concerned about is that the closure may leave a
hole in the social services network.
The children's shelter was started
in 1991 as part of a state pilot project to provide such shelters.
Humboldt County was not part of the original program, but when
Alameda County dropped out, Humboldt applied for its space. The
county purchased two buildings that had been a long-term care
facility for the elderly. One was used for the Healthy Moms program
and the other became the children's shelter.
"The shelter was created
to give dependents and children who are in protective custody
emergency care and assessment," said Randy Mayers, placement
supervisor with the county's Child Welfare Services and former
director of the shelter. He said that in recent years the shelter
has taken on the additional function of "providing placement
for high-needs children" -- something she says it was never
meant to do and is not appropriate for.
Phil Crandall, director of the
Department of Health and Human Services, said his department
wants to close the shelter and substitute a network of foster
parents because homes are simply better for kids than institutional
settings.
"In a time of trauma for
kids, we are more interested in looking at home-like settings
and parent-like figures, which is very different from the shifts
of staff they see at an institution," Crandall said.
"I agree that homes are
the best place to have kids," Nunn said, but some foster
parents are concerned about children with escalating needs that
they may not be properly prepared for.
At-risk children are classified
by mental health and child care professionals as being one of
14 levels, with 14 corresponding to the most problematic children.
Humboldt County currently can only accept children up to level
nine -- except for temporary stays in the shelter. All high-level
children have to be moved out of the county for permanent placement.
Peter La Vallee, executive director
of the Youth Services Bureau, said he is concerned foster parents
were going to "get in over their head" with troubled
children. YSB runs two group homes for children, places that
provide a higher level of care than foster homes but are homier
than hospitals or mental institutions.
La Vallee said he has had experience
with the problem of bad placement. Once a child was placed in
a group home who required more care than the home could offer.
"We felt the placement
was inappropriate and the social worker felt the placement was
inappropriate, but it happened," he said. "Within a
few days we discovered the kid's behavior was out of control
and required constant restraint and attention. He was beyond
our resources and eventually ran away."
Ironically, the group home was
then cited for not providing adequate supervision.
La Vallee's story is relatively
benign compared to worst-case scenarios involving a extremely
high-risk child being placed in a foster home ill-equipped to
handle him or her. Nunn said in his experience, high-risk children
are capable of all the disturbing behaviors of high-risk adults.
"They could be extremely
violent, they could kill animals, threaten adults. Mentally they're
just not able to be in a foster home," La Vallee told the
Journal.
But Crandall said such fears
are overblown. Such children are extremely rare and he said that
with an expanded menu of services to support foster parents,
there is little they could not handle. The children would be
assessed for mental health issues on an outpatient basis and
then temporarily placed with a foster family.
Troubled children could be placed
with "therapeutic foster parents" -- foster parents
who receive additional training and may even have staff on hand
to provide the child with 24-hour supervision.
La Vallee and Nunn remain skeptical
of the plan, but both expressed the hope that a solution could
be found. Nunn said the community needs to develop a strategy
to address the overall issue of foster care and high-risk kids.
He said he hoped this could be an opportunity to have that discussion.
La Vallee said he "isn't
opposed" to Crandall's plan and hopes that it works.
"I just want the department
to be thinking about the impact on the community -- what happens
when these kids blow out of foster care? We're worried they're
going to be sent to us and we won't be able to help them."
-- reported by Arno Holschuh
Better late
than never
It's a little bit late, but
Humboldt County immune systems are about to get a shot in the
arm.
Because of a problem getting
an influenza virus to grow, this year's batch of vaccine against
the disease has been delayed. It's just now arriving at drug
stores, doctor's offices, the county health department and some
workplaces.
There are three strains of flu
virus in each vaccine and a new vaccine must be made every year
to deal with the constantly mutating virus, said Susan Wardrip,
immunization coordinator for the County Public Health Department.
"This year, one of those
strains did not grow as well as expected."
Plenty of the vaccine has now
been made and is being shipped out. The department's vaccine
clinics will begin Nov. 27. They are open to individuals 65 and
older and people with a life-threatening condition with a prescription.
Others, Wardrip said, should call their doctor or drug store
to sign up.
Wardrip said it may be a few
weeks before you can get the vaccine, but that it's still worth
taking.
"Humboldt County's flu
season doesn't start until the end of December and lasts until
March or April," she said.
Weather
observer reprieve
Human weather observers at the
Arcata-Eureka Airport were given a little more time in an 11th-hour
decision made this week by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA had planned to start
using the Automated Surface Observer System to alert incoming
pilots to dangerous weather beginning Nov. 15. Once the system
is in use, human weather observers would not be able to communicate
with the pilots, even though they would remain at the airport
for two weeks after implementation.
Critics, including airport administrator
Dan Horton, have said that the automated system may not be able
to detect and warn incoming planes about the low-lying fog that
plagues the airport.
Rep. Mike Thompson led the effort
in Washington to keep the human observers, at least until safety
concerns can be addressed. After correspondence and staff meetings
failed to achieve a delay, Thompson called FAA administrator
Jane Garvey Nov. 14. She extended the human observers' contract
just hours before it would have expired.
"It was close," said
Liz Murguia, Thompson's district representative in Eureka.
World-class
sherpa
Does the name Jamling Tenzing
Norgay mean anything to you?
Not only is he the son of one
of the first two men to climb Mount Everest, he has also climbed
it himself, and he's coming to speak at the College of the Redwoods
Nov. 29.
Norgay is a sherpa, a member
of the ethnic group indigenous to Nepal's high country. Sherpas
have been a part of Everest expeditions since the beginning,
doing the hardest and most dangerous work in expeditions -- often
for one-tenth what a western guide would be paid.
Norgay will address issues facing
sherpa culture like commercialism and the influx of western climbers
that have changed his home forever. He will also talk about the
sherpa perception of the world's highest mountain and what it
was like to be up there in 1996, when several climbers lost their
lives in a storm.
The talk is part of CR's Book
of the Year program, which highlights one book and encourages
teachers and students to approach it from several disciplines
ranging from mathematics to English. This year's book is Into
Thin Air, a bestselling account of the disastrous 1996 climb,
by John Krakauer, who was on an expedition that lost both its
guides.
For more information on the
program, call 476-4358. For details on Norgay's talk, see this
week's calendar.
Funnyman
in Ferndale
The town you are most likely
to see Jim Carrey in right now is Whoville. The actor is starring
in a filmed version of the Dr. Suess classic How The Grinch
Stole Christmas, set in the quaint confines of that fictional
town.
Come March, you may see him
in Ferndale.
The Bijou, a feature film starring Carrey as a blacklisted
writer, wants to film in Ferndale, said Jensen Rufe, Humboldt
County film commissioner. The city is negotiating with the producers
over the terms of a filming permit.
In the movie, the ostracized
Carrey loses his memory after a car accident, finds a new home
in a small town and is mistaken for a soldier killed in WWII
(and you thought The Grinch was farfetched).
"I can say that they want
to do the majority of the film in Ferndale. Carrey would be up
here for a good chunk of the time, I think," Rufe said.
He estimated that the movie would be shooting in Ferndale for
about five weeks.
Residents of the Victorian village
have expressed concerns that they may not be able to park or
access residences and businesses along Main Street. The movie
Outbreak was filmed in Ferndale in 1994 and many residents
were upset at the how the movie "took over" the town.
"In March or April when
they want to be shooting, that's not really a peak tourist time,"
Rufe said. He pointed out that while Outbreak may have
caused inconvenience, it also left an estimated $3 million in
the county economy. He also said that the company has been trying
to come up with creative solutions, such as hiring high school
students to do valet parking while parking lots and streets are
closed.
Rufe, a filmmaker himself, said
he had been trying to convince the production company, Castle
Rock Pictures, to film Bijou in Ferndale for months. After
he had lost contact with them for a few months, he pulled out
the heavy artillery: A basket of Humboldt County goodies.
"There was some Sjaak's
chocolate, Larrupin' sauce, Abruzzi's dressing."
They got back in contact pretty
quickly after that, he said.
Critical
choices meetings
The update of Humboldt County's
General Plan moves into its next phase with a series of five
"Critical Choices" workshops to be held in coming weeks
at the Woodley Island Marina Conference Room. Planners have already
met with special interest groups and held community meetings
in regions affected by the plan. The Critical Choices workshops
will dig deeper into specific issues raised and add new ideas.
Workshops have the same schedule.
They begin at 6:30 p.m. with a summary of issues and priorities,
move on to brainstorming solutions, identification of critical
choices and data needs, and end with "next steps."
Wednesday, Nov. 29, the topic
is circulation focusing on the 101 corridor, trails, pedestrian/bicycle
access, the railroad, trucks and airport noise.
Thursday, Nov. 30, the discussion
revolves around development of all sorts -- housing, commercial,
industrial and residential.
Tuesday, Dec. 4, hazards and
preparation for emergencies are on the agenda including flooding,
wildfires, fire protection, earthquakes and other geological
disasters.
Wednesday, Dec. 5, planners
look at building communities with an emphasis on community design
and character and a discussion of signs, billboards and buffers
between land uses.
The last workshop, Thursday,
Dec. 6, examines issues relating to management of natural resources
including timberland, preservation of agricultural lands, drainage,
erosion and water quality.
The end product of all this
talk is a Critical Choices Report which will be discussed at
a joint Board of Supervisors/Planning Commission workshop in
February.
For more information contact
the Community Development Services Department at 268-3704 or
got to www.co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/gp/default.htm
on the web.
Crime
stats at HSU
Bob Foster, chief of the HSU
police department, said that HSU was in the top three or five
CSU campuses in terms of safety.
"I think the thing we have
going for us is our geographical location and the fact we have
small-town influence," Foster said.
Statistics show there were very
few violent crimes last year -- no robberies or murders, and
only one recorded assault -- down from seven in 1998.
There were 20 arrests for liquor-law
violations on the campus and 24 for drug abuse. (By comparison,
Chico State University, once rated the No. 1 party school in
the nation, had 17 and 18, respectively.)
Arrests are only part of the
story, however. Foster said officers have managed to curb the
drinking and drug problem on campus by taking a "more assertive
approach to alcohol and drug abuse," which may lead to more
arrests but also results in a smaller overall problem.
The number of discipinary actions
taken (not arrests) for such offenses has dropped to 62 from
132 two years ago. By comparison, Chico had 629 disciplinary
actions for drugs and alcohol this year.
Foster said the biggest crime
problem on campus remains petty theft. "It's the book bags
and small items, sometimes a bicycle."
For the complete set of crime
statistics for HSU, go to http://ope.ed.gov/security.
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