Charitable organizations had good reason to fear a decrease in donations just as requests for help increased in the final months of 2008. After all, even people who weren’t struggling were probably antsy about the deluge of bad financial news.

Instead, Del Norte County residents came through. Many of the organizations striving to spread holiday cheer experienced a surge of last-minute giving, including donors they had never heard from before.

Established philanthropists also stood tall. The Wild Rivers Community Foundation doled out $18,000 to 20 food, gift and clothing projects in the region.

If you’ve ever had a few days to make a local move — say to another house just across town or even down the street — you know the feeling. As you get some of your possessions into the new place, you’re living in two worlds, both disorganized.

The Triplicate is going through a similar experience as we relocate to a new residence in cyber-space. If you go to triplicate.com, you’ll be invited to check out the new digs. It’s an airier, more modern-looking Web site, full of potential and room to grow.

Warning signs and a gate are not enough. Unless the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets serious about keeping people off of Crescent City’s breakwater, more people will die on it.

On placid days, anyone might be tempted to venture out on the jetty that splits the sea and affords unparalleled views of Battery Point Lighthouse. And when waves are crashing, thrill-seekers have a hard time resisting the allure, like storm-chasers drawn into a tornado’s path.

Dr. Onik Arian apparently thought he had found some middle ground last Sunday — a break in the storm that would give him time to observe birds from the breakwater as part of an Audubon Society count. But a clearing of the clouds does not guarantee a calming of the sea. Tragedy struck, and we lost a solid citizen — an emergency room doctor in the business of saving lives.

It’s well past time for the Corps of Engineers to get into the same business and block access to the jetty.

There’s no way to keep the most determined people off the breakwater — they could always scramble up the rocks or scale a chain-link fence. But the vast majority of people are basically law-abiding. They just need a little clearer indication that they really aren’t supposed to walk out there. The existing warning signs are as likely to entice as to ward off — if you’re at a scenic high point, it’s just human nature to want to peer over the edge when there’s a sign reading, “Stay Away From the Cliff.”