Coach’s mother nearly died on trip to South

Steve and Karen Alexander pose for a photo taken by son Ryan Alexander while they were visiting him recently in Tennessee. Photo courtesy of the Alexander family

The Smith River resident suffered a massive brain hemorrhage on Feb. 6 and had to have a brain tumor removed while visiting her sister in Alabama. Karen is the wife of Smith River Baptist Church pastor Steve Alexander and the mother of the church youth pastor, Scott Alexander, who is also the boys basketball head coach at Del Norte High School.

Some of the several hundred people who attended Saturday’s Crescent City Crab, Wine & Cheese Festival await their dinner. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

An estimated 600–800 people walked through the doors of the Cultural Center and about 500 pounds of crab was sold.

“It went extraordinarily well in my opinion,” said Bill Renfroe, the executive director of the Tri-Agency Economic Development Authority.

Two Marin County poets, William Keener and David Seter, will read from their original works at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the library at the College of the Redwoods, Del Norte.

The reading, along with its associated poetry writing workshop the next day, are presented by the college and the Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness (DNACA) and are supported by Poets & Writers Inc., through a grant it received from the James Irvine Foundation.

Keith Richcreek had been missing since last Sunday

After nearly a week of searching, authorities found 85-year-old Crescent City resident Keith Gerald Richcreek’s body on the side of a road in a remote part of Douglas County, Ore., on Friday.

He was located about a mile from his truck, which was found on Thursday and appeared to have gotten stuck when he tried to turn around on a secluded Bureau of Land Management road about 15 miles from Interstate 5 near Myrtle Creek south of Roseburg.

There were no signs of foul play, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and a medical examiner will likely rule on Richcreek’s cause of death early next week.

Appeals Court rules motion was too late

A local group’s legal challenge of Wal-Mart’s planned expansion was recently dismissed for being filed a day late.

The proposed 24-hour “Supercenter” would nearly double the size of the current Crescent City store and offer more merchandise and groceries.

The Crescent Heritage Coalition filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart and Del Norte County in 2008 over concerns about the environment and economic impacts of the expansion.

A bill making its way through the state legislature could add a new member to the board that governs the local airport.

Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro recently introduced a bill that would designate the Smith River Rancheria as a public agency to join the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority.