Local couple’s grandson plays for the Saints

Charleston wraps up Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game in New Orleans on Jan. 24. AP Photo

But many folks in Del Norte County’s version of Crescent City will be Saints fans Sunday, thanks to local connections.

Jeff Charleston, 27, is a backup defensive end who also sees a lot of playing time on special teams. He played his college ball at Western Oregon and Idaho State. He joined the Saints in 2008 after once playing for their Super Bowl opponents, the Indianapolis Colts.

Proposal pursues ‘balance’ between fishing, protection

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The yellow area shows Crescent City’s prime commercial and sport rockfishing, while the red area is the proposed marine reserve, according to the North Coast Workgroup The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The state-sponsored Marine Life Protection Act Initiative includes an option that allows MPA proposals to be submitted by individuals and groups outside of the official process.

These external proposals were due Monday. While eight were submitted, there was one that a majority of the officials from counties and municipalities along the North Coast signed off on, along with many representatives of tribes, the fishing industry and environmentalists.

5.9 quake far less severe than Jan. 9 temblor

Humboldt County was rocked by a magnitude-5.9 earthquake Thursday, but officials said there were no immediate reports of major injury or damage from the second large temblor to hit the area within a month.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake struck at 12:20 p.m. about 35 miles northwest of the community of Petrolia and nearly 50 miles west of Eureka. The shaking was felt within a 150-mile radius, as far north as southern Oregon and as far south as Sonoma County, according to the USGS Web site.

Gutierrez running for state supt. of public instruction

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Gutierrez stressed the importance of vocational education for students, parents’ rights and local control over schools at a Del Norte Republican Women’s Federation meeting Thursday.

The state superintendent is a non-partisan elected official who oversees the public school system.

A Crescent City driver struck and killed an Oregon man in Harbor on Wednesday night, according to the Oregon State Police.

There are no charges pending, according to OSP Lt. Gregg Hastings.

A field of four candidates vying for the vacant North District seat on the Yurok Tribal Council was whittled to two after a special primary election Wednesday, according to unofficial voting results.

Smaller boats still fishing, big ones move on

Regina Marie crew member Corey Morgan, left, and Will Eldredge of LCZ Unloaders unload crab from the Regina Marie on Tuesday. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Local processors and fishermen say that California’s Dungeness crab season, which opened Dec. 1, started strong, but in January the number of crabs per pot dropped dramatically.