Sources of messages will be scrambled

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has implemented a new way for citizens to submit anonymous tips about crimes.

People can now send a text from their cell phone to a program that will scramble any personal identifiers and pass pertinent information about crimes to the Sheriff’s Office.

“The nice thing is that it’s anonymous,” said Sheriff Dean Wilson, adding that providing a way for information to be passed along via text will reach out to a younger culture entrenched in cell phone use.

Michael Leib of Grants Pass saw his first gray whale Monday in Crescent City. Del Norte Triplicate/Adam Spencer

But to the untrained eye, whale watching can be tricky, requiring  advice from an experienced whale watcher. Volunteers from Whale Watching Spoken Here will provide tips at Brother Jonathan Vista Point, at the top of 9th Street, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day through Saturday.

Whale watchers saw seven gray whales on Monday, with 61 people stopping by, hoping to catch a glimpse.  Volunteers Alan Justice and Eva Marie Klaas handed out several “I saw my first gray whale!” stickers to those that who had their first sightings.

Owners have until February

Dog owners have until February to renew their licenses and ensure their canines have rabies shots.

There are about 4,000 dogs in the county that are properly licensed and about 8,000 whose owners have failed to properly document them with the county, said Ken Smith, agricultural commissioner for Del Norte County.

“It’s extremely important to get your dog a rabies shot and license them,” said Smith. Failure to do so could present a public health risk, considering there are numerous wild animals in the county that could infect dogs with the virus, he said.

A local man was arrested on Christmas after authorities received a report he had sex with an underage girl, authorities said.

Tommy Miller, 30, of Crescent City, was arrested around 9:30 p.m. for suspicion of unlawful sex with a minor, oral copulation with a person under 14 and burglary.

There will be minor traffic delays in Gasquet off U.S. Highway 199 starting Tuesday.

Pacific Power will doing utility work from Gasquet Flat Road to just east of Middle Fork Gasquet Road from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

One-way traffic control will be in effect and motorists should anticipate five-minute delays.

Man makes his residence a display case

Adrien Nash shows off the Christmas wonderland that exists year-round in his Hiouchi home. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The Hiouchi resident has been collecting all things Christmas for many years and has transformed one room into what could be any family’s living room the morning of Dec. 25 after the presents have been open.

“Christmas is the greatest thing the human race has ever come up with,” Nash said.

Items could make burglaries easier

A burglar stole a locksmith’s tools earlier this week, equipping the person with the ability to access houses and cars with greater ease, authorities said.

A man reported Sunday that sometime during the night his storage was broken into and a master key, key duplicator and decommissioned magnetic signs for his business were stolen, said sheriff’s Commander Tim Athey.

The residence of former Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese was searched by authorities Wednesday in connection with a criminal citation issued to him in Brookings on Dec. 12

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office Felony Investigations Unit and a Brookings Police Department detective searched the house around 4:30 p.m., looking for a medical prescription pad, but none was found, said sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Morris.

“We were looking for any evidence of a prescription that had been obtained fraudulently,” said Morris. “We didn’t find anything.”

Loren Bommelyn of Smith River Rancheria tells the tale of Tolowa killed at the Yontocket site in 1853 during a candlelight vigil Wednesday. Del Norte Triplicate/Adam Spencer

On Wednesday night, the third annual Candlelight Vigil honoring the Tolowa Dee-ni’ (people) killed at Yan’-daa-kivt (Yontocket) in the 19th century attempted to move past the pain by acknowledging the massacre.

The vigil offered a time to reflect on the more than 450 Tolowa  killed in 1853 by white settlers pushing into the area, but it’s also a time to give thanks to the surviving ancestors who kept the Tolowa people in existence.

“The people that went through this horrible massacre,  the second largest in United States history, they did not die in vain,” said Smith River Tribal Chairwoman Kara Brundin-Miller. “They made us stronger for it, and I feel like it has brought us all together again.”