Girl, 15, and woman, 46, say they didn’t know their attackers

A 15-year-old girl was assaulted during a possible rape attempt by a group of unknown males near the high school Monday evening and authorities have made no arrests, the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

In an apparently unrelated incident, a Crescent City woman reported being raped by a stranger early last Saturday, according to the Crescent City Police Department. No arrest has been made in that case, either.

The teen was assaulted by three to five males in a field near Del Norte High School, said sheriff’s Detective Ed Fleshman, who added, “There’s additional stuff that we’re looking into that would indicate sexual assault.”

“It doesn’t appear that she knew them,” said Fleshman about the  assailants. “The assault was ended when a Good Samaritan interrupted.”

Fed funds delayed for local land deal

An impending acquisition that would transfer about 5,400 acres of private timberland in the Hurdygurdy Creek watershed to the U.S. Forest Service will likely take longer than expected because of the loss of some federal money.

Initially, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allocated $1 million in its 2010 fiscal budget to help the Smith River Alliance buy the property from ALCO Holdings, LLC and turn it over to the Smith River National Recreational Area.

But according to Smith River Alliance Executive Director Grant Werschkull, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., decided to eliminate that funding from the budget to allow more time for his agency to work with Del Norte County and come to agreeable terms on the acquisition.

“It would have been great if we got it,” Werschkull said of the $1 million. “It just means things will happen on a slower basis.”