The annual quarantine of mussels in California started Wednesday, and the public is advised to not consume any mussels until further notice.

“The quarantine is beginning earlier this year because testing by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has detected elevated levels of domoic acid and high numbers of the algae that produce this toxin,” a CDPH press release states.

Del Norte and Humboldt counties had longer quarantines than usual this year after high levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxins were detected in mussels collected from the area.

Although naturally occurring, both toxins are poisonous, even lethal, to humans at high levels.

The Del Norte County Environmental Health Department recently had mussels tested from Point St. George that were collected on March 30. Although below the federal alert level, the mussels showed a higher level of PSP toxins than typical for this time of year.

Del Norte County Superior Court felony and misdemeanor sentencings for the week of April 19-25 include:

• Donald Jones, 63, Crescent City, was sentenced to 180 days in County Jail and fined $210 for failure to appear; and sentenced to 180 days in County Jail for possession of a dangerous drug

• Gregory Taggart, 46, Klamath, was sentenced to 86 days in County Jail and fined $910 for inflicting corporal injury

• David Silva, 41, Trinidad, was sentenced to two years in State Prison and fined $1,174 for a felony evading police officer

• Robert Bareggi, 62, Crescent City, was sentenced to 48 hours in County Jail, three years probation and fined $1,854 for driving under the influence 

• Kevin Kinman, 49, Crescent City, was sentenced to 90 days in County Jail for a felony violation of community supervision

• Bruce Rodriguez, 52, Crescent City, was sentenced to 45 days in County Jail for a felony violation of community supervision

Horn

Linda Horn, who “has extensive rural hospital experience serving most recently as the interim COO with Sierra View District Hospital in Porterville, CA,” will start at Sutter Coast Hospital on Monday, according to a memo sent to hospital staff.

“Linda will work closely with the Sutter Coast Board of Directors as well as the outstanding management team and medical staff, and will collaborate with me to ensure a smooth transition,” said Mike Cohill, West Bay Region President and Sutter Coast board member, in the memo.

Prior to Porterville, Horn worked as vice-president of Patient Care Services at Mercy Medical Center in Redding.

From 1993 to 2006, Horn was the CEO at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, where she participated in multiple successful hospital accreditation surveys,  “built a strong new medical group, oversaw two large construction projects and consistently ran operating margins over 10 percent,” according to the memo.

Horn was a registered nurse for more than two decades before transitioning to administration, according to a 2004 San Francisco Business Times article.

A Crescent City man apparently angry with Walmart took his frustrations out on cars in its parking lot, causing $1,400 in damage, authorities said.

A man walking through the store’s parking lot around 10:30 a.m. last Friday slashed tires on five vehicles with a hunting knife before he was confronted by a couple, said sheriff’s Sgt. Gene McManus.

The man brandishing the knife, “stopped, turned and asked what they were going to do about it, which is a pretty significant challenge,” said McManus. 

Then the man reached into a backpack he was carrying and pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and kept it at his side as he left the parking lot heading into woods south of Washington Boulevard, McManus said. It was later determined to be a BB gun modified to look like an actual firearm, McManus said.

California Highway Patrol and Crescent City Police officers also responded to the scene, McManus said.

Police Officer Anthony Lopez  eventually apprehended the man in the woods and witnesses identified him as the tire slasher, McManus said.

Bess Maxwell Elementary School’s possible closure dominated Thursday’s school board meeting, but Del Norte District 1 Supervisor Roger Gitlin’s concerns were more red, white and blue.

Gitlin, who appeared before the board as a teacher and private citizen, said many classrooms in Del Norte are not in compliance with state law regarding patriotic exercises. He cited sections 52720 in the California Education Code, which require elementary and secondary schools to conduct patriotic exercises daily, typically reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Gitlin also cited section 52730 in the state education code, which requires schools to provide instruction on the concepts of “pledge,” “allegiance,” “republic” and “indivisible.”

Gitlin said he has brought the matter to the School Board before and was assured that all classes have an American flag and conduct patriotic exercises daily. But he contended that both the district and the County Office of Education are not in compliance with state law.

“I ask you, why wouldn’t this Board of Education teach love of country as prescribed specifically in 52730?” Gitlin asked. “I will continue to appear before this board to make sure that each and every classroom in Del Norte Unified School District and the Office of Education is equipped with an American flag that’s not stuck in a closet because a particular certificated staff chooses not to adhere to the ed code.”

Panel recommends shutting down school; resistance comes fast

Students are dropped off at Bess Maxwell School on Friday. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

School district officials backed away from a committee’s recommendation to close Bess Maxwell Elementary School on Thursday as one by one teachers, parents, volunteers and alumni protested the proposal.

Although the decision to close a school ultimately rests with the School Board, Superintendent Don Olson said the district will search for other means to save money.

“Believe me, we’ve gotten some frank and valid answers from you,” he said. “Your public comment has really set the direction for me. I believe this board will look at other avenues to find ways to keep our district together.”

If the board was inclined to close an elementary school, there would be one more year of evaluation and study before its members would make a final decision, Olson said.

Equipment for the installation of 1,232 solar panels is lifted by crane to the roof of Walmart on Tuesday morning. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Cranes hoisted 1,232 solar panels to the roof of the local store Tuesday. Installing them will take about four weeks, said store manager Nick Gonnella. The company’s goal is to have from 5 to 35 percent of the store’s annual energy costs reduced by solar energy, he said. 

“Utility expenses are pretty expensive,” Gonnella said on Wednesday, his face sporting a rosy hue — the first sunburn he’s received since relocating to Del Norte County. “Just cutting (our costs) by 20 percent, if that ends up being what it is, is a huge benefit to the store.”

Walmart plans to install solar panels on more than 100 California stores this year, Gonnella said. This adds to the 100 rooftop solar installations it already installed at stores in Arizona, California and Ohio, as well as a 1-megawatt utility-scale wind turbine at a distribution center in California, according to a corporate press release. 

The corporation’s goal is to produce or procure 7 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually, according to the release, and to reduce the energy needed to power its buildings by 20 percent by 2020.

“This is really one of our corporate initiatives among other sustainability projects,” Gonnella said. “Our goal as a company is to get to the point where we produce zero waste.”

‘Very definition of cronyism,’ Gitlin calls arrangement

A proposal to create a volunteer deputy public health officer position prompted Del Norte’s newest supervisor Tuesday to question the ability of the current public health officer to do his job from his home in Santa Barbara.

Supervisor Roger Gitlin, who pulled the item off the consent agenda, unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a motion to require that the public health officer live in Del Norte County at least 180 days of the year. He also questioned Health and Human Services Director Gary Blatnick on the salary that Public Health Officer Dr. Thomas Martinelli earns and the hours he works. 

Gitlin said that four physicians from Del Norte and Curry counties are interested in the public health officer position. He cast the dissenting vote when the Board approved the deputy position 4-1.

“The Board’s passing of a volunteer deputy public health officer at the request of Director Blatnick is analogous to placing a Band-Aid on an open wound,” Gitlin said in a written statement Wednesday. “The placing of this item on the consent agenda speaks to the issue that this item would not have reached the level of public scrutiny demanded. (Yesterday’s) decision is the very definition of cronyism.”

Martinelli, who came to Del Norte County in 1982 and founded Crescent City Internal Medicine, has been the county’s public health officer since 2005. He said he moved to Santa Barbara in October 2011, but still has a home in Del Norte and spends about a week each month there working with public health nurses and environmental health officers.

Martinelli said he also works in various clinics at Pelican Bay State Prison and acts as a consultant between the prison and Sutter Coast Hospital.

Car chase reaches speeds of 90 mph before the crash

A short car pursuit led to the arrest of two local men and confiscation of a loaded gun, authorities said.

Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Donaldson attempted to pull over a vehicle on Childs Avenue in Crescent City after it ran a stop sign around 12:15 p.m. on Monday, but the driver refused to stop, said sheriff’s Commander Bill Steven.

The pursuit hit speeds up to 90 mph but ended quickly when the car crashed into a fence at the end of Meridian Street, Steven said.

The driver, Adam Nott, 25, of Crescent City, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, evading a peace officer and driving without a license. Authorities found a loaded .38-caliber handgun in the car, Steven said.

Nott’s passenger, Zachariah Dungan, 30, of Crescent City, fled the car and was located about an hour later covered in mud in a swamp west of the cemetery, Steven said.

The board of the public district overseeing solid waste and recycling in Del Norte County chose Mary Wilson as its recommended public member Tuesday.

The Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority heard from seven applicants for the position, ranking each after asking a few questions. 

Ray Martell, who has an extensive solid waste management background, tied for first place in the rankings with Mary Wilson, owner of Ocean World, who has become involved with local solid waste issues through her membership on the Del Norte Solid Waste Task Force in the past 18 months.

County Supervisor and authority board member Roger Gitlin nominated Wilson, who won the appointment on a 3-1 vote, with City Councilman and board member Rick Holley dissenting. Wilson’s appointment will still have to be voted upon by the Crescent City Council and the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

When asked what is “the most pressing issue” regarding solid waste management, Wilson said maintaining the current contract with the landfill near Medford, as that will keep costs low. 

Controlling garbage costs proved pertinent since at the same meeting the authority board approved increasing the rates charged at the transfer station and for garbage and recycling collection service. The rate increases, based on the consumer price index, were requested by Hambro/ Waste Solutions Group (operator of the transfer station) and Recology Del Norte (garbage collection company). The increases are written into the contracts that each company has with the authority.

Rates will rise 21-81 cents more per month for residential collection, and 44 cents to $15 more per month for commercial collection. The transfer station rates will rise $2.30 per ton. All rate increases are effective July 1.