Yes, it’s the region’s biggest employer, but well over a hundred Pelican Bay State Prison employees have received layoff notices, and it’s still uncertain how the Fort Dick facility will be affected by budget cuts and possible early prisoner release.

Yes, most of our old-growth redwoods are preserved in state parks, but the governor has seen fit to propose closing those parks (and most others in California) despite their obvious positive impact on an otherwise struggling economy. It may be left up to the National Park Service and private organizations to prevent a redwood catastrophe.

Yes, it’s a substantial contributor to social service programs that provide lifelines to some Del Norte County residents, but many of those lifelines are being severed by Sacramento.

Meanwhile, even as we deal with the still-evolving consequences of budget cuts, the state government musters the energy to aggressively pursue new initiatives that may hamper Del Norte’s ability to live long and prosper.

Here are two examples:

After all, no one denies that some customers of Jerrold Young’s Crescent City insurance company paid for insurance they never got.

Young, who initially faced 28 felony charges, has maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2007. He said to the extent wrongdoing occurred, it was perpetrated by one of his employees without his knowledge.

Judge John Morrison disagreed when he sentenced Young to 30 days in jail earlier this month, saying, “As the head of that agency, it’s your responsibility.”

And yet, there was Morrison philosophizing from the Del Norte Superior Court bench less than 10 days later, saying he had reconsidered. Thirty days was too harsh, the judge said, especially since the jail time could result in Young losing his job as a prison correctional officer.

I had the same fears when the process came to the North Central Coast region. So I applied for, and was given a spot on the stakeholder group for that region. From the very first day, it was clear that most stakeholders came to the process willing to discuss issues and find common ground. Each and every person who wished to speak had an opportunity to be heard.

The MLPA process in my area will create a network of underwater state parks that will span from San Mateo County to Mendocino.  As a stakeholder, my job was to ensure that the system we created was based on current science and public input, so that it works to restore our vital marine resources without putting local fishermen out of business. 

It was challenging working toward consensus with so many views at the table, and while the final plan we developed may not have been exactly what anyone wanted, it was created with the best interests of all local people in mind. Everyone on our stakeholder group understood the need for better management of the ocean; and by working in the spirit of compromise, we were able to reach an agreement.

There’s a tendency to think of the 1,500-plus Pelican Bay workers as the lucky ones around here, pulling in wages and benefits equal to their counterparts in more expensive parts of California. Certainly they earn more than most of the local work force, and we should all be thankful for that because the prison payroll is obviously a big driver of our region’s economy.

So we’re not saying feel sorry for them. Just be kind to them.

Some have received layoff notices, although it’s unclear what down-sizing is envisioned for Pelican Bay’s staff. Most are dealing with 15 percent pay cuts courtesy of the governor’s order that they and other state employees be furloughed three days every month. And consider the state of the prison system that employs them:

• California’s 33 adult state prisons are severely overcrowded. The state is under a federal order to reduce its inmate population from 150,000 to 110,000. Meanwhile, there are already 1,000 staffing vacancies, and the state intends to cut 5,000 more positions over the next two years. In other words, we have too few employees minding too many inmates.

The following is material gleaned from an old leather-bound book, edited by Mr. E. W. Wright, “Marine History of the Pacific Northwest,” published in Portland in 1895.

The Brother Jonathan was built in 1852 for the Long Island Sound trade. When she was completed, she was sold to Vanderbilt to run from Nicaragua to San Francisco. The ship was then sold to John T. Wright who ran her to the Northwest from San Francisco. At this time she was named Commodore. In 1858 she escaped sinking with 350 passengers on board. At this point in her history, she was sold to the California Steam Navigation Company.

There were some legal difficulties over trade and transportation franchises between California Steam and Ben Holladay. When those problems were resolved, the ship was refitted to the tune of several thousand dollars and she was re-named Brother Jonathan. Captain A. M. Burns supervised the refitting and repairs. It is stated that the refitted ship was a “very fair traveler when not too deeply loaded.”

Congratulations to the hard-working students who can be proud of their efforts to learn last year, and congratulations to the parents who provided their children with support and encouragement and a quiet place to study.

Finally, congratulations to the teachers whose belief in their students’ ability to learn and whose diligent focus on teaching key standards in motivational ways gave students the will and desire to learn. Let’s do it again!

Our local public schools have served Del Norte County’s children for well over 100 years.  Through all those years we have had a seat and a teacher for every child every fall. This year is no exception. Schools will open for registration Aug. 20.  Those new to the community should call now for school enrollment information: 464-0202. 

Students’ first day of school is Tuesday, Sept. 1. We are opening before Labor Day since Labor Day comes so late this year. Students attend classes Tuesday through Friday, Sept. 1-4, followed by a day off for Labor Day on Monday, Sept. 7. Then it’s back to school again Tuesday through Friday, Sept. 8-11, and on through the rest of the year.  Graduation 2010 will be here before we know it!

You could lose access forever to shore-side and open-ocean fishing, clamming, and driftwood-gathering areas — and possibly even local beaches through a state process controlled by private interests that is currently unfolding in our area.

Here are the lies used to justify spending tens of millions of our state dollars to close more of our local marine waters.

•  Fish stocks in our state waters are in trouble.

At this time, according to both federal and non-federal experts, there are no local fish stocks being over-fished off the West Coast.

• Marine reserves are needed to protect habitat.

State and federal laws include gear restrictions that protect habitat from fishing activities.

The first inclination is to be simply transfixed as the smoke clears and the wreckage gradually comes into focus.

As far away as Del Norte County is from Sacramento, it’s hard to imagine a populace more affected than ours by the state government meltdown.

Those of us who work for the state — more than 1,500 at Pelican Bay State Prison alone — are now dealing with 15 percent pay cuts and impending layoffs.

Those of us who depend on social services funded by the state — and there are many in our relatively poor community — face the loss of critical aid as more impacts of budget cuts filter down.

Then there are the college students who will pay higher tuition and fees to attend more crowded classes — if they can even enroll in the classes they need as the higher education system shrinks.

This weekend, the parks will be getting some much needed attention courtesy of the Wild Rivers Coast Leadership Class sponsored by The Ford Family Foundation in its multi-year commitment to building leadership in the region.

The class, specifically designed to include both communities (not to mention two states), has been working since last September to develop a tangible leadership building project, including planning, designing, fundraising and implementation. Due to the unique make-up of the 27-member class and the connection between the two communities, the class chose to implement the project as mirror images in both Brookings and Crescent City at their respective Kidtown parks.

Improvements will consist of rubberized pathways for access in both parks, new chips for the Crescent City park and an access ramp at the Brookings park, in addition to some smaller cosmetic upgrades.

The leadership class recognized the importance of these two gems as  stepping stones to improving community health in our region, especially given the pride of ownership that they produced when they were first built by community hands more than 10 years ago, as well as the fact that children need places for safe healthy recreation.  Kids remain a cause that everyone can wrap their arms around.

I recall another great newsman, Edward R. Murrow, who shined and then faded in much the same way. He had the tenacity and spleen to hold up the mirror, eventually defeating an American monster named Joseph McCarthy, but he couldn’t halt the invasion of the newsroom by ad/ratings-driven entertainment and sensationalism that, quarterbacked by CBS President William Paley, steamrolled him like Sherman’s march through Atlanta.

So too, Walter Cronkite. Pushed into retirement by Paley at 65, ironically at the height of his popularity, “the most trusted man in America” was forced to give way to a CBS youth movement in the form of Dan Rather.  From my teen years to adulthood, I watched as Mr. Cronkite pulled off both the tough and joyful chronicling of our national experiment and experience — from presidential assassinations to the civil rights movement, convention and campus unrest to a walk on the moon. Only once in memory did he ever allow his emotions to drift into editorialization — briefly describing the insanity of war and a failed military action 10,000 miles around the world, which, given not his popularity, but his ultimate veracity and our belief in it, caused Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to eye a second term, with the fateful words, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”