Supervisors clarify excused absences

County Supervisor David Finigan had a few choice words for letter-writers who criticized him and other supervisors who didn’t attend the recent LEADN.

Finigan said he missed the annual awards ceremony hosted by the Law Enforcement Administrators of Del Norte County on March 19 because he was busy with the Regional Council of Rural Counties.

“There was a lot of good stuff that was done there, and it was important I be there for the county,” he said Tuesday. “I would ask that people ... at least check before you admonish somebody, especially public officials, on some sort of agenda. Ask where we were.”

A topic of discussion at RCRC includes the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and how that would affect rural counties, Finigan said.

Supervisor Martha McClure said she did not receive an invitation to the LEADN awards.

“I find this coordinated kind of attack, it’s just insulting,” she said, referring to three letters that were published in the Triplicate. “For years I have always attended every one of the awards ceremony. For me, to find this kind of attack that I must have been off doing something else, it’s disappointing.”

Sheriff Dean Wilson apologized for the oversight, saying it was the fault of his office.

“The criticism to the board members is unwarranted,” he said.

— Jessica Cejnar

Take-and-bake must wait

Six people — including a juvenile — were arrested Wednesday in connection with three search warrants executed at a Smith River trailer park, authorities said.

The Sheriff’s Office served search warrants at three residences at the Sunset by the Sea trailer park, finding a small amount of methamphetamine, digital scales with meth residue, $12,000 in cash, four firearms, paraphernalia and fake social security cards and identification cards, said sheriff’s Deputy Richard Griffin.

“It was part of a three-month investigation,” said Griffin. “It’s been a huge problem in the community.”

The drug activity in the trailer park has been on law enforcement’s radar for years, but numerous reports from citizens and the aid of a Neighborhood Watch group helped authorities secure search warrants for the residences, Griffin said.

Among the units searched was  the manager’s residence, Griffin said.

The five adults arrested include:

• Mireya Carrillo, 36, on suspicion of maintaining a residence for drugs, child endangerment and  possessing a controlled substance.

• Juan A. Ramos, 44, for a bench warrant.

• Maria R. Ramos, 34, on suspicion of possessing false identification documents.

• Bernabe Cruz-Luna, 23, for a  failure to appear to court warrant.

• Gerardo C. Uribe, 37, for resisting arrest.

Rikuzentakata before and after the tsunami. A boat that washed up in Crescent City came from the school in the background. Photos courtesy Rikuzentakata City Hall

To recover anything lost in the tsunami that surged 50–65 feet high is cause for celebration — even a high school marine science program’s small boat that washed up on South Beach in Crescent City on Sunday.

“Everything that was lost, we just never expected to find again. That something made it across the Pacific and landed practically on your doorstep, is one of those ‘you can’t make this up moments,’” said Amya Miller, the city’s global public relations officer, from Rikuzentakata by telephone Thursday. “Right now everyone is in sort of a giddy state of shock.”

On Wednesday, Miller used photographs of the goose barnacle-covered boat posted to Rikuzentakata city’s Facebook page to identify the boat’s owner: a teacher from Takata High School told Miller that he was positive that the 20-foot-long boat belonged to the school’s marine sciences program. The town of 23,000 people has a strong aquaculture economy, so students learn how to harvest marine life like oysters, clams and seaweed.

Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson James Fletcher spent hundreds of hours creating Paper Monsters, a game drawing rave reviews from app experts and players.

A Nintendo Entertainment System and assorted video game paraphernalia offer a few hints as to the company’s identity. There are even fewer hints of the success of the company’s smash debut game, Paper Monsters.

The game has earned scores of favorable reviews from publications such as USA Today, Stuff magazine and the technology blog Gizmodo. Apple has featured Paper Monsters within its flagship stores as a demo to be played on iPhones or iPads.

Worried how the sequester may impact federal funding for local roads and schools, county representatives headed to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to make their case to lawmakers.

County representatives will also discuss funding for improvements at the Del Norte County Airport and potential impacts to the Essential Air Service program, which provides subsidies to airlines that serve rural communities such as Del Norte.

“It’s a full two days of trying to advocate for funding for the county,” County Administrative Officer Jay Sarina said. “(The issues) we’ll go over will be Secure Rural Schools funding and roads funding. We’re obviously trying to make an impression as to why that needs to be continued and sustained.”

Sarina and supervisors Michael Sullivan and David Finigan have roughly 15 meetings scheduled with lawmakers, including California congressmen Jared Huffman (who represents Del Norte) and Tom McClintock, Congressman Greg Walden of Oregon and staffers for Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The Del Norters also plan to meet with congressional representatives from Utah and other rural states.

Del Norte County Chief Probation Officer Tom Crowell avoided formal probation of his own Tuesday.

Crowell pleaded no contest to a single count of theft by embezzlement as part of a plea deal with the state Attorney General’s Office that also included a delayed entry of judgment.

The deal offers Crowell the opportunity for a clean slate if he attends gambling addiction counseling and steers clear of gambling establishments for two years and pays a $661 fine.

“If he meets these conditions, the case will be dismissed,” said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office.

Crowell did not attend the hearing, nor has he been required to appear at any of his previous hearings. He will not have to appear at future hearings for reports on his progress either, court documents state.

On a site that lies in the watershed of the North Fork of the Smith River, just north of the California-Oregon border and west of Highway 199, a mining company has proposed exploratory drilling for nickel.

Although future mining claims are prohibited within the Smith River National Recreation Area,  the proposed site lies just outside the NRA boundaries.

In mid-February, Red Flat Nickel Corp., a Portland-based company mostly-owned by a British investment company, received a limited license from the Oregon Water Resources Department to divert up to 10 gallons per minute for mineral exploration drilling from March 31 to Nov. 1 of this year.

Dubbed the Cleopatra Site, the proposed water diversion is about 12 miles west of O’Brien near the southeastern tip of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area.  The water would be diverted from an unnamed tributary of Taylor Creek, which flows into Baldface Creek, one of the primary tributaries of the North Fork of the Smith.

Humboldt State University’s Lori Dengler checks out a boat, found on South Beach, on Monday in the Sheriff’s Office parking lot. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

“This is the first piece of debris that we will be sending through the consulate (general of Japan),” said Sherry Lippiatt, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s California regional coordinator. “There hasn’t been any other debris in California with unique markings that could possibly be traced back to the tsunami.”

NOAA officials hope that the Japanese writing on the boat, thought to be the vessel’s registration numbers, can be used to find out whether it washed to sea with receding tsunami waters, a technique that has worked to identify other boats washed ashore on the West Coast.

Around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, local authorities received a 911 call regarding four men attempting to haul a boat from Crescent City’s South Beach near the closed Beachcomber Restaurant, “probably to take it home, because it doesn’t look that bad for what it’s been through,” said Del Norte County Sheriff’s Commander Bill Steven.

Symbols in Japanese will be used to trace the boat’s origin. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

“It’s certainly the first thing that has enough information where we might be able to clearly trace it to the Japan tsunami,” said Lori Dengler, professor and chair of the HSU Geology Department and a member of the tsunami work group. Dengler traveled to Crescent City on Monday to collect information like the Japanese registration numbers, along with other members of the tsunami work group.

Alexander’s cases to be assigned to other officials 

The Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office began its transition Monday into a new phase that doesn’t include District Attorney Jon Alexander.

Alexander was rendered ineligible to practice law Sunday following his State Bar trial in which he was found to have committed three acts of misconduct, leaving Assistant District Attorney Katherine Micks in charge and trying for a seamless transition.

“I plan to meet with all of the heads of law enforcement agencies over the next few weeks,” said Micks.

She said she will be gauging what agencies will seek from her office and any issues that need to be addressed.

She said she hasn’t decided whether she will seek an additional prosecutor to fill the void left by Alexander. He was placed on unpaid administrative leave Friday after State Bar Judge Lucy Armendariz delivered her decision regarding his case. 

Del Norte County supervisors today will consider using money received from the acquisitions of the Mill Creek and Goose Creek additions to fund an internal loan program, purchase new sheriff’s vehicles and install a new phone system.

Several years ago the county received $5 million when the Save the Redwoods League bought 25,000 acres of land in the Mill Creek Watershed belonging to Stimson Lumber Company, County Administrative Officer Jay Sarina said. That land became part of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. 

The county received another $500,000 when the Smith River Alliance purchased private land in the Goose Creek Watershed and added it to the Smith River National Recreation Area, Sarina said.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will discuss transferring $500,000 from those funds to its internal loan program. Supervisors will also vote on a loan request of $131,808.70 to purchase three patrol vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office, Sarina said.

The staff is also requesting an internal loan of $173,150.87 to cover a purchase agreement with Frontier Communications of America to initiate the second phase of a project to update the phone system at the Flynn Administrative Center and other county offices.

“We have an old system that needs to be replaced,” Sarina said. “You would think phones would be cheap, but there are so many phones we’ve got to buy. (The system) is expected to have a life of at least 15 years.”