June 12, 2009 08:32 am
One of the real joys that comes from writing these columns is the interesting and often humorous information I come across while researching something totally different.
That’s what happened for this story. I was looking for the words for the school song we used to sing, when this interesting bit of Warrior athletic history was found.
I had contacted a former classmate that I thought might have the words I was looking for. She gave me a publication done by a group of junior students in 1951. She thought maybe the words were in it. They weren’t, but this work, titled ‘Warrior Hoops,’ had the history of the start of basketball at Del Norte High School.
Little did I know that Warrior basketball started in about 1920, not by boys, but by girls.
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June 12, 2009 08:28 am
From the pages of the Del Norte Triplicate of June 1949.
Dutton Lumber Company’s unexpected move to change the location of its proposed dock at a City Council meeting revealed a plan for Del Norte harbor that will mean development for the next 15 years.
Herbert Buckley, executive vice president from Poughkeeppsie, N.Y., and T.W, Tweedie, vice-president of west coast operations from Portland, presented their application to the council for a lease of city property 120 feet in width and 2,500 feet long extending into the ocean from B Street, midway between the existing breakwater and Paul’s dock, explaining this move will enable deep water shipping not feasible in the inner harbor area.
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June 10, 2009 12:36 pm
After my column came out last week, I got a phone call from a gentleman who wanted to know why I left Hawaii. He was curious. It was the same question my twins asked when I picked them up at the airport after their first trip to Hawaii about 10 years ago. But they were angry.
The boys were just 3 and a half when we moved to Grants Pass, but both claim to have vivid memories of life on the island where they were born. They remember swimming in a pool with my father and visiting the zoo in Waikiki. Bring up the subject and they will shake their heads and grumble about being moved from paradise on Oahu to Oregon against their will.
Living on a tropical island was enchanting. Sunny days, balmy nights and the aloha spirit can sweep mainlanders off their feet. Fragrant flowers, wild mangoes and the music cast a spell over you. Just writing about Hawaii last week put me in a trance that led me straight to Starbucks, where I impulsively bought a CD of Hawaiian music called Mele O Hawaii. “Mele” means song or chant in Hawaiian and it also means happy or merry as in “Mele Kalikimaka” (Merry Christmas). They are one and the same in Hawaii.
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June 09, 2009 01:53 pm
Somehow rain and dreary weather during the first week of June always comes as a shock. Every year it’s a shock, which indicates that we’re all somewhat learning-disabled.
I’ve learned to love it, and I’m not the only one. Redwood trees gather every drop and then share. They use some for the new tips on their branches, some to nourish their core and then let the leftovers dribble down to feed sorrel and salmon berries. Eventually a bit of it gets to a creek, which leads to a river which, with any luck at all, leads to the Pacific Ocean.
No matter what your interest, a rainy first week in June is a very good thing. Not only do our redwoods remain healthy, but hikers eat salmon berries. Visitors will go home and tell friends and family about the fresh salmon berries on their morning oatmeal and the sorrel on their sandwiches while camping in the redwoods. And we have the only redwoods in the world.
Those of us with a mushroom craving seek out the little darlings that appear and dissolve in a matter of hours. This warm rain can encourage the eruption of some amazing fungi, many of which can make you crazy or dead, so be careful.
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June 09, 2009 01:51 pm
Vast stretches of the redwoods have turned pink and purple as the wild rhododendrons hit their peak.
You can get glimpses — better than glimpses, really — from the highways. But for the best blasts of color, go just a little deeper into the woods. Damnation Creek Trail off of 101 south of Crescent City and the Hatton and Hiouchi trails off of 199 merited special recommendations from the North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association.
Laura and I pulled off at the Damnation Creek trailhead Saturday. Our objective was to log another section of the Coastal Trail stretching south from there. Despite the front-page article in that day’s paper, we weren’t really thinking about the timing being perfect to immerse ourselves in a rhodie wonderland. But there it was, starting just a couple hundred feet from the parking area.
It’s hard to beat the redwood-rhodie combination, but it’s also a great time to check out the variety of wildflowers that grace the Myrtle Creek trail off Highway 199, near the turnoff for South Fork and Howland Hill roads. And finally, if you haven’t been to Point St. George recently, a feast of low-slung, rock-clinging wildflowers awaits you.
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June 06, 2009 11:29 am
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About 11 years ago Jeanne Akers drove up from Southern California
looking to live closer to her Del Norte County family. Recently
widowed, Jeanne decided to join a local church and settle down.
She chose the United Methodist Church in Crescent City. The first
time she went, Jeanne explained recently, “everybody was so busy, I
finally asked if there was anything I could help them with.” That was
the beginning of a church-oriented volunteer job that some weeks
threatens to occupy all her waking hours except those she spends as a
member of the Sutter Coast Hospital Auxiliary, a weekly chore.
Jeanne is the very embodiment of the faithful, hard-working church
volunteer. There are millions of them across America. Of all faiths and
beliefs, they maintain their churches and temples as they would their
homes, with loving care.
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June 03, 2009 12:00 am
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I was only 23 when I moved to Hawaii in the winter of 1974. I went
because I was accepted in a graduate program at the University of
Hawaii on Oahu. The idea of escaping to an island suited me just fine.
I was stuck in a dead-end job at JCPenney and living with my folks. My
English degree hadn’t opened any interesting doors for me yet.
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June 02, 2009 01:06 pm
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With the helpful information readers provided, I probably could have driven back out to Wonder Stump Road and found the Wonder Stump. Or, as an old postcard described it, the “Del Norte Wonder Stump of Eternal Redwood.”
Somehow, though, it seems more appropriate to leave the subject shrouded in a little of the mysterious fog that pervades and nurtures the redwoods of the North Coast. After all, the folks who research this kind of thing aren’t even sure if they’ve found the tallest of the tallest trees in the world, so what’s wrong with leaving a little wonder in the location of the Wonder Stump?
Besides, like all of us, the Wonder Stump ain’t what it used to be. “It’s about half the size it was,” said one caller.
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Opinion 
