Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed a far-reaching water bond passed last week by the California Legislature intended to restore the ailing estuary at the heart of the state’s water system.

Some North Coast interests are trying to band together to propose marine protected areas that fulfill state requirements while trying to retain the most fishing areas.

Searchers have found no sign of a missing Burnt Ranch man in southeast Del Norte County, where he is believed to have disappeared three months ago. 

Coastal Commission OKs 37-unit project

It appears Crescent City’s coastline will have condominiums resting atop a bluff at the corner of Second and A streets.

Earlier this week, the California Coastal Commission took less than a minute to unanimously approve a permit for developer Randy Baugh to move forward with his two-story, 37-unit Coasta Norte project that has been a source of both community contention and bureaucratic red tape since it was introduced more than two years ago.

The quick vote and lack of discussion at Wednesday’s meeting in Long Beach surprised Baugh, who had already made several concessions — including downsizing and altering the overall aesthetics of the condos — to appease various interest groups.

More than 3 lbs. of pot seized with DEA assistance

Five people were arrested and more than 3 pounds of marijuana were confiscated during a string of related drug busts Thursday.

The arrests began in the afternoon and continued into the night.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was in Crescent City to serve a federal search warrant at a house on the 300 block of Lauff Avenue, and during a stake-out DEA agents witnessed a transaction between two suspects that led to the other arrests, said Del Norte County sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Morris.

Archie Thompson today. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

“She didn’t speak English, and I used to make fun of her all the time, but that’s how I learned. She spoke to me every day,” Thompson said. “I learned (Yurok) as I went along. She’d teach me as I went.”

For Thompson, the Yurok language is infused with memories of the sprawling Klamath ranch and the many Yuroks he met there.

“We had a ranch with plenty to eat, and I remember all the old Indians used to come down there to eat, some for days or weeks or months, and we fed all of them, and we didn’t cost them money, and we would talk.

“Sometimes there would be nothing but old Indian people sitting around the stove talking Yurok, and I always remember that.”

Archie Thompson as part of a Del Norte High School graduating class in the ’30s, bottom far right.

“They all laughed and someone would tell a good story. It was all Indian talk, and they wouldn’t talk no white talk at all.”

Many decades later, the 90-year-old Thompson is the elder Yurok who is passing on the language to a new generation. Twice a week, Thompson sits in on Yurok language classes for high-schoolers at Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods in Klamath, where he serves as a living resource, one of a handful of surviving fluent speakers.

Thompson participates in the national Foster Grandparent program, which is run locally by North Coast Opportunities, a regional non-profit.

His work is so valuable that it has been recognized nationally — this year he traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive the Silver Honor in the Mentor Category from the MetLife Foun­dation and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

The trip was a special experience for Thompson. He hobnobbed with First District Congressman Mike Thompson, and he traveled to North Carolina to see his son, Archie Jr., a retired paratrooper with sons and grandsons of his own — Yurok men who speak with incongruous Southern accents. Thompson speaks of his son with evident pride. 

“He’s got a big home back there. He’s not hurting for nothing.” 

Rescue workers carry Amar Kumar away from the wreckage of his tractor-trailer. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

It took rescue workers about an hour using air-powered tools to extract the injured driver from his mangled cab after the accident at about 2 p.m.

He was identified by a California High­way Patrol officer as Amar Kumar, 48.

Kumar was listed in critical condition Thursday night at Sutter Coast Hospital and was being prepared for a flight to UC Davis Medical Center, a Sutter Coast spokesman said.

His northbound truck and trailer crossed the southbound lane just past  Hamilton Road three miles south of town.

The CHP did not have a report available Thursday evening. At 5:20 p.m., authorities were still trying to pull the truck up from the steep hill.

Regional Border Coast Airport Authority members voted Thursday to apply for a $7 million grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to help pay for a new terminal at Del Norte County Airport.

The total cost of the project is expected to be $20-25 million.

The local airport is managed by a joint powers agreement that includes representatives of Crescent City, Del Norte County, the Elk Valley Rancheria and Brookings.

“This is certainly something we want to take advantage of,” said Airport Manager Jim Bernard.

In October, ODOT had a meeting in Brookings and representatives took a tour of the local airport and were “very receptive” and said that the airport qualifies for the grant, Bernard said.

In a similar situation, ODOT gave money to the The Dalles Municipal Airport, which is located across the Columbia River in Washington state, he added.