Steve Crist prepares the dredge barge for Saturday’s opening act. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

It is long overdue. Siltation has filled in the access channel to depths of less than 3 feet in some spots.

For some boats, low or minus-tides almost always guarantee hitting bottom in the access channel, forcing fishermen to stay docked or at sea until it’s safe to move.

As important and long awaited as dredging of the federal channel has been, the fact that it is beginning just before the Dec. 1 start of commercial crab season has local officials expecting a busy harbor in the next couple months.

“I would rather have had the dredge come at a different time,” said Harbormaster Richard Young. “But our choice was dredging now, or no dredging this year. It’s just time to get it done.”

The channel is the only route crabbing vessels can use to go between the harbor and the sea, so the dredge will be operating around the clock in a very busy area, Young said.

“The channel is not that wide, but the dredge will be working on one side or another so boats will be able to pass,” Young said. “They will be sinking the pipe to keep the area as clear as possible.”

The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Young said that he has been in close contact with Pat Royce, the representative of AHTNA Engin­eering, the firm that received the corps’ contract for dredging Cres­cent City’s fed­eral channel.

“I’ve talked extensively with Pat and told him what to be aware of,” Young said. “They understand how important both crab season and dredging are for the area.”

Young said that the dredge, operated by Nehalem River Dredging, will begin running Saturday and will dredge around the clock until the job is done.

The shoe (now empty) that was discovered by kayakers. Anyone with in­formation about the case should contact the Sheriff’s Office. Photo courtesy of Sheriff's Office

No other re­mains were found, said sheriff’s Com­mander Tim Athey.

The right foot found Sunday did not appear to have been forcefully removed from the leg, he said.

Nearby kayakers noticed a shoe sticking up from the sand. They paddled to the shore to inspect the brown leather, mid-top lace-up shoe and discovered the foot inside.

Athey said authorities combed the surrounding area to see if they could locate any other body parts.

It was unknown whether the foot belonged to a male or a female.

The foot was sent to Oakland for DNA testing, and the results will be fed into a missing person database.

Athey said the deputy coroner made contact with the several police agencies to determine if they knew of a missing person the foot might have belonged to.

Since 2007, seven feet in running shoes have been located along shores in the Richmond area of British Columbia area, and so far only one body has been identified as being the origin of one of the feet, according to Associated Press articles.

When a human body is submerged in the ocean, feet and other extremities often detach naturally, experts said.

Five people were arrested in a chain-reaction of incidents after authorities responded to a reported burglary in progress on Spruce Street. Two of the suspects were apprehended inside the house.

“The investigation really started with a rash of property crimes,” said sheriff’s Detective Bob Barber. “Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 11, there were 34 reported residential burglaries and 22 vehicle burglaries. That’s in just 10 days.”

Teresa Gokey, 32, and Krystal Evans, aka Krystal Thompson, 28, were arrested at the Spruce Street residence, Barber said. Both are Del Norte County residents.

“Most of law enforcement knows Krystal as Krystal Thompson,” he said. “Both have prior prison time.”

A series of leads led to the subsequent arrests of Uldericco Benavides, 32, John Mernice Gassaway, 53, and his nephew John Timothy Gassaway, 31. All three men are residents of Del Norte County.

The Gassaways and Benavides were arrested on suspicion of receiving and possessing stolen property; Gokey and Thompson were arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary.

Crescent City Harbor Commission members may soon be spending more of the harbor’s money on their own insurance coverage.

In a 3-2 vote after sometimes testy  exchanges, commissioners directed staff to explore increasing insurance coverage for themselves Tuesday night at the behest of Chairman Jack Reese.

Reese said he placed the issue on Tuesday’s agenda because he thought he had dental coverage until he found out otherwise during an office visit.

“We should get the same benefits as all the other staff,” Reese said. “We don’t get life, dental and vision, and considering the amount we get paid, and the amount we do, I think we deserve the same benefits as other employees.”

Commissioners are paid approximately $320 per month.

The proposed increase would expand commissioners’ current medical insurance coverage to include dental, vision and life insurance, and would provide them the same amount of coverage as full-time harbor employees.

For the second time, a local group’s legal challenge of Wal-Mart’s planned expansion into a 24-hour Supercenter could be thrown out because of a missed deadline.

The expansion would almost double the size of the current store on Washington Boulevard to include groceries and more merchandise.

The Crescent Heritage Coali­tion  filed a lawsuit last year against Del Norte County and Wal-Mart over concerns about the environmental and economic impacts of the expansion.

Del Norte County Superior Court Judge William Follett recently ruled in favor of the county and Wal-Mart.

The group’s lawyer, Brett Jolley of Herum and Crabtree Attorneys in Stockton, filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 10 — no reasons were included. The coalition’s previous attorney had missed an earlier deadline.

An appeal must be filed within 60 days of notification of a judge’s ruling.

The fate of the new terminal at Del Norte County Airport is now in the hands of the California Coastal Commission.

Two commissioners and Eileen Cooper, representing the Friends of Del Norte, have separately appealed the county Planning Commission’s approval of a coastal development permit for the new terminal.

The permit would allow the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority to use the land south of where the terminal currently sits along Dale Rupert Road.

This would mean filling in wetlands and cutting down trees east of the road, which the appellants would like to avoid.

The appeals will go before the Coastal Commission on Dec. 10 in San Francisco. Commissioners will determine whether the issues raised in the appeals need to be looked at closer.

The project approved by the Planning Commission calls for a new road going through the woods to the terminal, which would be on the current road.

Crescent City Council members became funeral planners of a sort Monday night after resigning themselves to the fact that the large stand of Monterey cypress trees in front of the courthouse will be cut down.

When city officials first learned of the California Administrative Office of the Courts’ plan to remove the trees because of poor health and falling branches, they wanted to fight the state and try to keep at least some of the cypress stand intact.

But after two arborists — one chosen by the state and one chosen by the city — both recommended complete removal of the tress, which are considered landmarks under city ordinances, bravado turned to capitulation, and council members sought ways to at least remember the cypresses as they are today.

“Once these trees come down,” Councilman Charles Slert said, “they’re down forever.”

Slert suggested the trees be used for more than “wood chips” and be incorporated into something artistic, such as a sculpture garden, that could help beautify Crescent City. Other council members said the trees should be documented with photos or made into plaques, both of which could be kept at the Del Norte County Historical Society’s museum.

Utility workers from Pacific Power are expected to start trimming branches from the cypress trees as soon as today, and an arborist hired by the state will likely begin full removal operations  Monday. It should take about 10 days to take out the trees, and road closures are not planned, though there will probably be parking restrictions on H Street in front of the courthouse.

Ray Watson stands amid the soaked interior of Our Daily Bread Ministry’s building on Harrold Street. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Bringing gusts of nearly 50 mph and more than an inch of rain, the storm tore off a new roof that was being installed on the building that houses Our Daily Bread Ministries  and caused a slide that briefly closed Highway 199.

“We are expecting two more storm systems in the next week,” said Doug Boushey of the National Weather Service. “Thursday and Friday we will be seeing possibly stronger winds and another inch of rain, and Saturday we have a colder front moving in.”

Winds often precede rain in storm fronts, Boushey said, and the wind really picked up at about 8 p.m. Monday.

The slide occurred at 8 a.m. Tuesday seven miles north of Gasquet on 199, and closed the road for less than an hour.

The storm’s worst local damage happened hours earlier.

At about 10 p.m. Monday, the uncompleted new roof at Our Daily Bread, 1135 Harrold St., was torn almost completely off, sending 20-foot-long metal roofing panels flying across the neighborhood.

The new roofing material was ripped off the building by the high wind. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

“As we got out to check on it, one of the panels fell on the hood of my car. We got it off and went straight to Shop Smart to get out of the way.”

Many of the panels of the new roof had not yet been fastened down, just slid into place, said Ray Watson of Our Daily Bread.

On Tuesday morning, the building — a large pole barn type of warehouse with metal siding — looked like a tornado had touched down.