Teenagers looking for summer work in the great outdoors may be in luck.

The Lower Trinity and Mad River Ranger Districts within the Six Rivers National Forest are seeking motivated and enthusiastic individuals who will be 15–18 this summer for paid employment opportunities in its Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program.

Each district crew will consist of six members who will work full-time for eight weeks, June 17–Aug. 9. 

Applications must be received no later than April 15, 2013.

Applications for the Lower Trinity Crew can be requested via e-mail from Kristen Lark at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or can be picked up at Hoopa Valley High School and the Lower Trinity Ranger Station. Applications should be sent to the Lower Trinity Ranger District, Attn: District YCC Coordinator, Highway 96, P.O. Box 68, Willow Creek, CA 95573.

Applications for the Mad River District YCC crew can be requested via email from Bernie Ross at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or picked up at Southern Trinity High School and the Mad River Ranger Station. Applications should be sent to the Mad River Ranger District, Attn: YCC Coordinator, 741 State Highway 36, Bridgeville, CA 95526.

The Crescent City Harbor District is looking for vendors and musicians for the Tall Ships Festival, scheduled for April 20 and 21.

The annual visit of the Tall Ships, replicas of historical 18th and 19th century sailing vessels, is always a popular event, and this year the harbor district is looking to complement the event with festivities.

“We are seeking vendors for the festival — artists, craftspeople and food vendors,” said Nancy Suksi of the harbor district.

Space rental is $30 per day, and vendors must provide a certificate of insurance.

Members of the Police Explorers open the Tuesday night event at which 46 awards were made by seven agencies. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

The Law Enforcement Administrators of Del Norte County hosted the annual ceremony, and 46 awards were handed out by seven agencies. 

The late sheriff’s Deputy Harold Esparza was the first person to be recognized and was given two awards in memoriam: a service award by Sheriff Dean Wilson and a lifetime achievement award from District Attorney Jon Alexander.

Esparza became a sheriff’s deputy in 1994 and worked in various capacities as a jail correctional officer, D.A.R.E officer and a bailiff until his death last year. He was also a volunteer for the Del Norte Search and Rescue Team for 12 years and a volunteer firefighter for the Crescent Fire Protection District for 15 years.

“He was beloved by all of us,” said Wilson, fighting back tears. “He was a very gentle giant.”

Crescent City Police Chief Doug Plack honored Yeng Lo with the officer of the year award for his commitment to the community, dependability and courtesy.

It was a full house at the Cultural Center for the awards ceremony. See more photos on A2 and at triplicate.com/photos. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Ruth Rhodes

Rhodes presentation to be at CR tonight; musical set for Nov.

Del Norte County has a colorful past, one not always fully appreciated or understood by the young people who grow up here. A play scheduled to debut in November explores this disconnect, but folks can get a sneak preview tonight of how the production materialized.

College of the Redwoods English professor Ruth Rhodes will present “This is Crescent City: The Making of a Musical” at the CR Del Norte campus tonight at 6 p.m. in the library.

“Rhodes’ program, part reading, part sing-a-long, part discussion, explores what it takes to turn a creative idea into a full-length musical. ‘Celebrity’ performers as well as audience members will help provide a sneak preview of scenes and music from this original stage production,” said a CR press release.

“‘This is Crescent City’ is the story of history teacher Norman Randal, who inspires a small cadre of students to explore the roots of their town’s history. Their discoveries force the students to confront the demons of Crescent City’s past — as well as their own,” said the release.

The idea for the musical came to Rhodes when she was standing with her friend Geneva Wiki overlooking sea stacks off the coast of the Smith River Rancheria.

Wiki told Rhodes that her great-great-grandmother, a Tolowa woman, escaped genocide from settlers by living on one of those sea stacks and while there she even gave birth to a son — Wiki’s great-grandfather. 

Action is taken despite in spite of concerns about costs

The Crescent City Council gave final approval for a $5.38 monthly residential sewer rate increase Monday despite some citizen complaints and concerns that the move may result in higher rent for some residents.

The council’s unanimous decision also increases water rates for multi-family residential properties in the city and county by 62 cents per 100 cubic feet. Light commercial water rates in the city and county will increase by 46 cents per 100 cubic feet. Heavy commercial water rates in the city and county will increase by $1.12.

The water and sewer rate increases will take effect May 1.

The sewer rate increase is the last installment of a $30 increase that was approved by the City Council in 2007, according to City Manager Eugene Palazzo. 

The last increase was originally planned for June 2010, but was deferred after the city was able to extend a 20-year loan for the wastewater treatment plant expansion project to a 30-year loan, according to a staff report.

The expenditures in the city’s sewer fund currently outweigh its revenues by $650,000, according to Palazzo. The rate increase is expected to increase revenue by about $300,000.

During public comment, county resident Wilma Lucero asked the Council to consider other ways of raising sewer revenue and keeping the wastewater treatment plant in compliance with state environmental laws short of a rate increase. To many homeowners, $5 more per month is a struggle, she said. 

The recreational ocean salmon season for Crescent City and Eureka will run from at least Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, based on ocean salmon season alternatives released Wednesday.

Like last year, commercial salmon fishing from the Oregon border to Humboldt South Jetty may be limited to as little as two weeks from Sept. 16 to Sept. 30, with as little as a 3,000-chinook quota. Last year, commercial salmon trollers in Eureka (and, to a smaller extent,  Crescent City) reached the 6,000-chinook quota fast enough to close the season in about four days.

Next week, there will be two opportunities, one in Eureka and one in Coos Bay, Ore., to comment on the alternatives at meetings held by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the federal agency that manages West Coast fisheries.

Ben Doane, the representative for the Klamath Management Zone Fisheries Coalition, a group representing recreational and commercial fishing interests in the KMZ, attends the PFMC meeting that crafts seasons to advocate for the region’s interests, including the last meeting in Tacoma, where the alternatives were developed.

Doane said KMZFC prefers the longest possible recreational season for both the Oregon and California zones, but it prefers the commercial alternatives that limit fishing to September in order to give sport fishermen more of an opportunity.

“It’s a balancing act of giving everyone a shot at the available resource,” Doane said.

A man suspected of leading authorities on a pursuit near Stout Grove was later captured on the bank of the Smith River on Tuesday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A CHP officer tried to pull over a vehicle missing its front license plate that was driving in the Bertsch Tract area around 8:45 a.m., but the driver instead led the officer onto Howland Hill Road into Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, said CHP Sgt. Del Gray.

The suspect, later identified as Robert L. Phillips, 25, slid off the road and got the vehicle stuck on a dirt shoulder before bailing out, Gray said. 

“We found the abandoned car and didn’t know which way he ran,” said Gray, adding that the car was reported stolen from Crescent City last weekend and contained a small amount of methamphetamine.

Officers continued to search and notified people in the area they were looking for a suspect, Gray said.

Authorities eventually received reports from fishermen that Phillips was seen swimming across the Smith, Gray said.

Phillips was located near a river bank in Hiouchi close to Monument Drive around 2 p.m., Gray said.

Phillips was arrested on suspicion of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance, transporting a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, evading a peace officer and resisting.

Reach Anthony Skeens at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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.