Chamber gives yearly awards at its annual soiree

Doctors Kevin Caldwell and Donna Sund were honored as Business Leaders of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The Del Norte Pride Award that honors efforts to improve the community’s appearance was presented by the Triplicate and the Chamber to the city of Crescent City for its efforts in taking down the rotting Tsunami Landing covered pedestrian walkway and sprucing up downtown’s fountain plaza.

Doctors Kevin Caldwell and Donna Sund, who have run their own practice in Crescent City for more than 20 years, were named the business leaders of the year.

Sewage plant passes its first big water test

Some of winter’s highest tides occurred this weekend, pushing waves over the jetty with enough power to nearly blot out the view of Battery Point Lighthouse. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The recent storm served as the plant’s first trial run of a big event, proving the need for the plant’s new capacity, said City Manager Eugene Palazzo and utilities director/associate engineer Eric Wier.

“What happened in the past is the gate would shut and we would have sewage flows in town” if the flow of stormwater was too high, Wier said.

Donald Olson firefighter for 4-plus decades

Donald Ellert Olson Sr. died in his home Sunday, after 57 years as an active community member and more than 40 years as a volunteer firefighter. He was 84.

Olson was chief of the Crescent City Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years, from 1982 to 1997.

“He was truly dedicated to the Fire Department and the people that belonged to it,” said current Fire Chief Steve Wakefield. “He was a tremendous mentor for me ... In the truest sense, he was a great civil servant and he was great for this community.”

GOLD BEACH, Ore. — Former Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese was arraigned in Curry County Circuit Court on Monday on two counts of tampering with drug records and two of second-degree forgery, stemming from two incidents in December when Riese allegedly used forged prescriptions to purchase a controlled substance.

Riese, 48, waived reading of the charges when asked by Circuit Court Judge Jesse Margolis.

Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier appeared by telephone as a special Curry County district attorney, prosecuting the case.

Reductions would hit 232 Del Norters

A federal court order has blocked statewide reductions to in-home supportive services, a program utilized by some 232 seniors, veterans and people with disabilities in Del Norte County.

A 20 percent across-the-board slash in service hours was introduced as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest round of budget cuts, slated to save the state $101.5 billion during the last few months of the 2011–2012 budget cycle.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled last week the IHSS “trigger” cuts were in violation of federal law and likely to cause immediate harm.

School district official picked from field of 6

Richard Holley

Holley, 59, is the personnel director for Del Norte Unified School District and has lived in the town for 32 years. The council appointed him to replace Charles Slert, who resigned earlier in the month.

“I understand how meetings run and how decisions are reached,” Holley said during the 10-minute interview process used to field six applicants at a special council meeting.

Recology deal will be reviewed

There’s a hefty agenda for today’s meeting of the Del Norte  Solid Waste Management Authority Board.

The second meeting of the new  authority board will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Flynn Center.

Many of the items scheduled for today’s meeting will be overviews of specific authority programs and contracts, including the contract with Recology Del Norte and three grants from CalRecycle. These items were requested by the new authority board, which consists of all members of the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors and was implemented in December after years of contention regarding the authority’s activities.

A state law will soon change what age children enter kindergarten.

And the Del Norte County Unified School District will discuss Thursday how to implement these changes locally.

The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 created transitional kindergarten for children who aren’t quite 5 years old by the first day of school.

Currently, students who will turn 5 by Dec. 2 are admitted to kindergarten. The law pushes back that date to Sept. 1, so all children in kindergarten would be 5 years old on the first day of school starting in 2014.

Children coming out of the foster care system will have state benefits a little longer.

Today the County Board of Supervisors will hear how a new law raising the emancipation age of foster youths from 18 to 21 affects Del Norte during the regular meeting at 10 a.m. in the Flynn Center.  

Previously, youths coming out of foster care could opt into longer placement until they turn 24; now they will automatically remain dependent unless they opt out and explain to a judge why they don’t want to participate, said Director of Health and Human Services Gary Blatnick.

His punch killed another inmate

Trevor Lehto was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison in connection with a jail death two years ago.

Lehto, 24, of Crescent City was also fined $1,670 for a voluntary manslaughter charge he pleaded guilty to as part of a deal offered by District Attorney Jon Alexander.

Lehto originally faced a second-degree murder charge after Alexander convinced a local judge  that Lehto acted in a manner he knew to be life-threatening when he struck 33-year-old Jose Rios.

Rios hit his head on the concrete floor of the gym in the Del Norte County Jail in October 2010 and later died from head trauma.