From left, spelling bee winners from Joe Hamilton School include fifth-grader Monique Camerena (first), third-graders Morgan Throop (first) and Megan Levy (second), and second-graders Chia Lee (second) and Kai Zendaejas (first). Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

100 students compete in annual spelling bee contest

It was a battle of words Monday night as 100 students competed in the annual Del Norte County Spelling Bee held at Crescent Elk Middle School.

Students in second through eighth grade from eight local schools were placed in separate rooms according to grade level. A proctor would read off a word and contestants had 25 seconds to write it down. After four wrong spellings they were eliminated.

When the dust cleared, three first places were won by Joe Hamilton Elementary School students, two by Redwood  and one each by Castle Rock and Mountain School.

Friday at Joe Hamilton School, some of the winners talked about their exploits.

One of them was Monique Camerena, 10, who took first place in the fifth-grade category. It was her fourth year competing.

“This is my first time that I won first place,” she said.  “I practiced  for a couple of hours every day. I got a lot of compliments from my parents and teachers.”

In a true test of friendship, Joe Hamilton third-graders Morgan Throop and Megan Levy, both 8, competed for the No. 1 spot, which came down to the word “decipher.”

“It was hard to go against Morgan ’cause she’s my best friend,” said Megan, who came in second.

“Yeah, especially ’cause we were sitting right next to each other,” said Morgan. “It was really good though, it was amazing. I didn’t even study.”

“Remember, your dad is going to read this,” admonished Megan.

Mike Melovich frequently buys, improves, and then sells properties in the Del Norte market. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Kinney, a broker associate for Bayside Realty, said recovery in the Del Norte County housing market has a U-shape. Prices start to drop and continue to decrease before hitting bottom, she said. Prices then stay low for about three years before they start to rise again, Kinney said.

“The market’s stabilized,” she said. “Short sale properties got eaten up before prices started to rise, which makes it a strong market.”

In a Feb. 1 report on the 2013 Business Outlook Conference, the Curry Coastal Pilot reported that residential sales in Del Norte County totaled 253 in 2012, up from 167 in 2010.

Del Norte County real estate agents sold 112 stick-built single family homes in 2008 for an average price of about $244,260, according to statistics compiled by real estate investor Mike Melovich. Homes sold in 2008 spent an average time of about 215 days on the market, he said.

In 2012, real estate agents sold 184 stick-built single family homes for an average price of $174,000, Melovich said. Homes spent an average of 255 days on the market.

“More people are coming into the market place,” Melovich said. “Between 2008 and now 72 more homes have been sold. (The market) is improving.”

Melovich moved from Pacifica to Del Norte County in 2002 and has been purchasing properties and re-selling them since then. He invests in stick-built bank-owned homes, rehabilitates them and sells them primarily to first-time homebuyers. This process takes an average about six months, he estimated.

Suzanne Fluharty of the Yurok Tribe Environmental Program collects mussels from Wilson Creek Beach to be tested for toxins in December. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Six weeks’ harvest left after ban is lifted

Soon after Yurok Tribal member Josh Norris moved to Del Norte County eight years ago, he started sharing in a traditional Yurok practice, mussel gathering.

Every winter, Norris’s family and friends harvest dozens of mussels during minus tides, holding big mussel feeds and even canning mussels to eat the tasty shellfish throughout the year.

This winter was different.

In October, the California Department of Public Health issued a ban on collecting certain shellfish, including mussels, in Del Norte and Humboldt counties due to dangerously high levels of a biotoxin that accumulates in shellfish and can harm humans — even kill in some cases — known as Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxins.

The PSP toxin levels detected in mussels from Wilson Creek Beach last fall were the highest levels ever detected in Del Norte County, 75 times greater than the federal alert level and 16 times higher than the Del Norte County’s previous record.   

On Friday, the state finally lifted the ban on gathering shellfish after mussels sampled from Del Norte and Humboldt coasts showed that PSP toxins had finally dropped below the level of concern.

That leaves only six weeks of harvesting before the annual shellfish quarantine kicks in from May 1 to Oct. 31, which is implemented statewide due to higher levels of the toxin found during the summer time.  

115,000 acres adjacent to Redwood NP offered

On Monday, Green Diamond Resource Company went public with a proposal for a 10,500-acre conservation easement on its land adjacent to Redwood National Park that would forever protect the property from development or subdivisions. The proposal would also allow the national park to build a public trail along Redwood Creek through Green Diamond land.

“This is a unique public-private partnership that will limit development and provide future public access along Redwood Creek, while allowing ongoing management of the adjacent forest,” said Neal Ewald, VP and General Manager of Green Diamond in a press release issued Monday.

The proposed 10,500-acre easement would be on Green Diamond land upstream from Redwood National Park and along Bald Hills Road, including several miles of main stem Redwood Creek and the Panther, Garrett and Coyote Creek drainages, according to the release.

The area covered by the easement would continue to be managed for timber production by Green Diamond, which manages almost 400,000 acres of timber land in Del Norte and Humboldt counties.

Redwood National Park acting superintendent Dave Roemer said  one of the key benefits that the easement would provide for Redwood park “is protecting the watershed of Redwood Creek.” 

Del Norte High’s marching band will trade in their old, frilly uniforms from more than two decades ago for a brand new outfit that is easier to wear and more up-to-date.

The Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees approved an allocation of $15,000 from the district’s general fund to help pay for the new uniforms. Del Norte High School’s Music Boosters organization has come up with a matching amount of $15,000 for the new uniforms. About $6,000 of the matching funds have come from private donations from local businesses, said Music Director Dan Sedgwick.

“The uniforms are desperately needed,” he said, adding that at least two generations of students have worn the band’s current uniforms, which were purchased 22 years ago. “There’s a family in town that has seven kids who all went through band in high school and all seven of them have worn these uniforms. The oldest graduated high school the same year I did.”

The new uniforms cost about $400 each. The high school music department will purchase a minimum of 75 uniforms, according to a letter Sedgwick and Nina Burgess, Music Boosters president, sent to the school board.

Purchasing and shipping new uniforms, which will come from Illinois-based company DeMoulin, will take about three to five months, according to the music department’s letter. 

A burglar stole a flat-screen TV from the Grace Lutheran Church on Sunday.

The burglary was discovered and reported around 11 a.m., said Diana Stanley, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.

It appeared the culprit came in through an unlocked door that led to the youth room of the church located at 188 Cooper Avenue, Stanley said.

An inmate at the Del Norte County Jail is suspected of smuggling drugs into the facility.

Jason L. Popken, 39, of Crescent City, was arrested on contraband-related charges after methamphetamine was discovered in a storage unit near his bunk on Sunday, said Diana Stanley, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.

Popken had recently been released for a couple of days for medical reasons and returned back to finish his 180-day sentence related to a conviction for possessing a dangerous drug, Stanley said.

Authorities found 0.4 grams of methamphetamine, which Popken denied was his, Stanley said.

Del Norte Triplciate / Bryant Anderson Before and after: Reconstruction of rock slope walls last fall, above, and the walls today as work is about to resume, below.

Harbor staff received word from the California Coastal Commission on March 8 that in-water work could begin immediately, a departure from the commission’s previous stance that certain construction could not recommence until Jun. 1.

Crescent City Harbormaster/ CEO Richard Young said that Dutra Construction, the lead contractor for the inner boat basin project, will begin construction on rock slope walls as early as Monday and pile driving should begin sometime this week.

“We’re happy they can get started on the RSP (rock slope protection),” Young said Thursday. “Everybody has acknowledged that we’re behind on the schedule, so having a few more months to work is a big plus for us.”

Bess Maxwell and Pine Grove are still under consideration

An advisory committee of district staff and community members has narrowed a list of elementary schools it may recommend for closure to two — Bess Maxwell or Pine Grove, School Board members were told Thursday.

The committee will weigh the pros and cons of closing either school, said Steve Godla, Del Norte County Unified School District’s assistant superintendent of instruction and educational services. This will include visiting both sites and speaking with teachers, classified staff and other stakeholders, he said.

The committee includes retired teacher Karen Brohmer; Del Norte High teacher Dave Bokor; California School Employees Association local president Patti Rommel; district transportation director Pat Jensen; Del Norte Ambulance president Ron Sandler; Robyn Holt, co-owner of Western Valley Insurance; Realtor Kurt Stremberg; and community members Patty Berg-Nelson and Andre Cramblit.

Cognac was taken from Smith River store Thursday

Authorities are looking for a man who may have walked out of a Smith River liquor store Thursday with a bottle of cognac valued at $3,700.

Two young adults, a man and a woman, had purchased alcohol earlier in the day at All Star Liquor, off U.S. Highway 101 in Smith River, said Marisa Larson, manager of the store.

She said they then returned for more booze around 5 p.m. 

While the woman was being helped by a store employee and another employee was taking alcohol to the counter for the man, he apparently shoved a bottle of Richard Hennessy — priced at $3,700 — into his pocket and walked out of the store, Larson said.

The bottle of cognac was in an open display on the floor, she said.

The woman then made her purchase and left as well, Larson said.

Employees did not realize the bottle was missing until a short time later as they were walking down aisles taking inventory, Larson said.

The whole theft took about 20 seconds, Larson said after she watched the surveillance video that captured the theft.

The surveillance tape and credit card receipts from the purchases the two made during the day have been forwarded to authorities, Larson said.

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