The scenes of the towers exploding and the screams of the fleeing people are etched almost as deeply as the hollow echo of a telephone piercing the bedroom darkness with the news of my cousin’s death that day at the Pentagon, along with 46 others from the county of my northern New Jersey upbringing.

My anger and, yes, hatred, toward the people who committed the atrocities, as well as those on this side of the Atlantic, who with cowardly impotence failed or refused to hunt down those responsible, still wells up during the second week of September.  Which is when, knowing of the personal dividend evil and hatred invariably yields, I know I have to find some measure of value and goodness in the event, lest I become crazed.

The oceanside boulevard has been resurfaced, and fresh paint identifies bicycle/pedestrian lanes on both sides from Hemlock Lane to the northern terminus at Washington Boulevard. Unlike the other sections of Pebble Beach Drive, it’s clear where everyone belongs, and there’s elbow room for all.

For safety’s sake, and for tourism’s sake, the rest of the road needs upgrading as well. One remaining section is in the county, the other is in the city. Both have narrow stretches where pedestrians really have nowhere to go when vehicles are passing. It won’t be easy, because widening the road is going to shave the edges off some yards.

Crescent City doesn’t have a lot with signage to direct visitors to Pebble Beach Drive. Thus many Highway 101 sojourners only know about our urban corridor and South Beach. Someday, when the road is safer for all users, that should change.

AN EXCUSE TO PLAY

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.

That’s why it was so cool to open a parcel the other day and find an advance copy of a book so highly anticipated that The Triplicate has already written quite a bit about it. “A Rare Botanical Legacy: The Contributions of Ruby and Arthur Van Deventer” is no doubt destined for many a local coffee table.

The book celebrates the work of Ruby Van Deventer, a Smith River native who made a monumental contribution to California botany by trekking across the Klamath-Siskiyou region to catalogue some 4,000 species of plant life, and her husband Arthur, a talented self-taught artist who painted almost 500 extraordinary watercolors of Del Norte flora.

This is first and foremost a picture book, featuring well over a hundred of Arthur’s colorful, meticulously detailed portraits of some of this region’s mind-boggling assortment of rare wildflowers.

Assistant Editor Matthew Durkee wrote the story last year about how about 475 of the watercolors were found in the attic of the Van Deventers’ North Bank home two and a half years ago and ultimately preserved digitally with the help of the Del Norte Historical Society and the College of the Redwoods.

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!