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The California Report shines its light northward and takes a closer look at the PALCO bankruptcy proceedings. Listen to today's show here:

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Trifecta. Photo by Elizabeth Mackay.

You knew he had the up-and-coming trail-centric activist types nailed down. But did you know that he's also pocketed the establishment?

That's Third District Supervisorial candidate Mark Lovelace, flanked by the once and future Wes Chesbro and outgoing Supervisor John Woolley. In other words: The two leading representatives of the machine that has run Arcata -- and much of the North Coast -- for the last 30-odd years. They are to unveil their Lovelace endorsement today.

Cue the boilerplate:

"Mark is passionate about the well-being of our community and he has the experience to use that passion effectively and practically," said Woolley. "His emphasis on smart, planned growth strikes the right balance and reflects his diversity of experience. He has the proven leadership ability to move us forward on this and other important issues."

"We know that Mark will work to preserve our unique small-town way of life, while growing our economy," [Chesbro] said.

So Lovelace has threaded the needle, squared the circle, done the impossible -- united the trail activists and the old train-based establishment behind his candidacy. Is there anyone else? In the Third District: Not really. If you're Bryan Plumley, Lovelace's principal opponent, you're feeling mighty lonely right now.

Click through for the entire Chesbro-Woolley press release.

Woolley and Chesbro endorse Lovelace for 3rd District Supervisor Seat

Outgoing 3rd District County Supervisor John Woolley and former State Senator Wesley Chesbro announced today that they are throwing their support behind Mark Lovelace, who is running for the seat that Woolley will be vacating, when his term ends later this year.

Woolley, who has served on the Board of Supervisors since 1997, said that he gave the endorsement "a lot of thought" and that he is confident that Lovelace is right for the job.

"Mark is passionate about the well-being of our community and he has the experience to use that passion effectively and practically," said Woolley. "His emphasis on smart, planned growth strikes the right balance and reflects his diversity of experience. He has the proven leadership ability to move us forward on this and other important issues."

Chesbro, who held the seat of 3rd District Supervisor from 1980-1990, agrees.

"We know that Mark will work to preserve our unique small-town way of life, while growing our economy," he said.

Lovelace said that he is proud to have the endorsements of both Woolley and Chesbro, and that he appreciates their many years of hard work and dedication to the community.

"It's an honor to have their support and to know that they have
confidence in my ability to move Humboldt County forward," he said.

According to an Associated Press story published yesterday, we here in Humboldt County will soon get to experience the joy of living under remote-controlled aerial electronic surveillance. Who says war brings no peacetime benefits?

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service has bought a pair of flying drones to track down marijuana growers operating in remote California woodlands.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the pilotless, camera-equipped aircraft will allow law enforcement officers to pinpoint marijuana fields and size up potential dangers before agents attempt arrests.

Rey said there are increasing numbers of marijuana growers financed by Mexican drug cartels using California's forests to stage their operations.

"We're dealing with organized efforts now — not just a couple of hippies living off the land and making some cash on the side," Rey said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

Yes, this is going to play really well here on the ground. Especially following yesterday's mass uprising against the county's odd new dope-bust tactics.

UPDATE: Much more from the Sacramento Bee.

SIDE NOTE: Did the AP really title its report "Pilotless Drones to Battle Pot Growers"? Believe it or not, that's probably a sly AP in-joke referencing the following SF Chronicle podcast, which is legendary:

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The Times-Standard is running a piece today on a yesterday's drug raid by the Humboldt Drug Task Force and the Eureka Police Department in the 300 block of West Del Norte Street. That's City Councilman Larry Glass' neck of the woods. And the article mentions a recent community meeting Glass organized which included the Eureka police chief, the head of the Humboldt Drug Task Force and the Eureka fire chief.

"It's been in progress for a long time, but I think the meeting gave a nice little push over the top," Glass said, adding that he received plenty of calls from constituents on Thursday, once word of the raids got out.

"They are just ecstatic -- that's the best way I can put it," Glass said. "They feel empowered that their voices had finally been heard and something had been done about it."

Many people at that meeting expressed concern about the property, and some said that it had been in the "deplorable" state the police found in it in yesterday for well over a year, but nothing had been done about it. Why was that? they asked. What does the city need to clean places like this up? More money, the agencies responded. Well then tax us, the man said.

One man in the front row said he knew it was a meth lab. Jack Nelson, who heads up the drug task force, asked him how he knew for certain. They told me themselves, the man said, and I've seen smoke coming from the place at night. Nelson told the gathered crowd that he was more than willing to listen to people's complaints about problem properties, but he needed evidence. Take pictures, he said; record the activities of the inhabitants.

Now we're being told that the neighbors feel empowered. That's not the vibe I got from the meeting -- please correct me if I'm wrong. My read on the situation is that it takes getting the chief of police, the head of the drug task force and the fire chief into one room and shaming them publicly in order to get them to act summarily.

If you didn't know already, next Wednesday, April 9, Soroptomist International will be holding a fundraiser, "Take a Walk in Her Shoes," to give prominent male members of the community an inkling of what it's like to be a woman -- or at least to know what it feels like to wear high heels. (For details see the NCJ's calendar section this week.)

In the same shoe vein, trolling YouTube today for recently-posted Humboldt-related videos, I ran across Leftshoe the Bunny Slipper (parts 1 and 2), which, perhaps for the first time in cinematic history, narrates the vicissitudes of a slipper's life. The film -- a slipper rather than a sleeper hit-- was shot on location in HumCo in 2006 and directed by Montel VanderHorck III of Mercy Me Productions , Arcata. It's full of sole and worth watching:

In a meeting last night, Siskiyou County supervisors voted unanimously to oppose the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River -- three of those dams are in Siskiyou County proper. The board also opposes the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. County representatives have been present at the settlement talks over the past two years and have consistently voiced concern over dam removal, saying that it will lead to a drastic reduction in property values and a significant cut in tax revenue for the county. Herald and News reports:

"We reaffirmed we don’t believe dam removal is in the best interest of the county," [Supervisor Jim] Cook said after the meeting. "In the separate resolution, we said we’re opposed to the current settlement agreement." ...

Siskiyou County’s opposition was not expected to kill the agreement, but stakeholders said Tuesday they weren’t sure how the supervisors’ votes would impact the settlement process.

Cook believes that provisions of the agreement should be implemented.

"There are a number of things that are positive, things that can be done without dam removal," he said, citing promises by tribes not to pursue lawsuits, the opening of discussion between different interest groups, proposals to improve salmon populations and guarantees of water supplies for Upper Basin irrigators.

Read our earlier post on the subject here.

On Thursday, April 3, at 3 p.m. there will be a "multi-cultural" poetry reading at the HSU library on the second floor in the "Fishbowl Room". Poets who will be reading include Mary Hope Whitehead Lee, Daryl Chinn, Marlon Sherman, Dick Stull, Barbara Curiel, Jerry Martien and Mark Shikuma. Enjoy!