For years I’ve postponed changing my e-mail address as it appears at the bottom of this column. But as I use it less and the other one more, I forget to check the old one, leaving some messages from readers unanswered, and I’m awfully sorry about that.

This address is the sort that just begs for an explanation, and since mid-winter is the time of storytelling, here’s a story that became an email address and a wonderful forever memory. The e-mail address to use if you actually want to reach me is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and our hero is blessed with continued freedom and slow fish.

CAN has many programs to help families’ lives be a little easier

Success is a powerful word. It means a degree or measure of succeeding.

Here at Community Assistance Network, success can be achieved in many ways. At CAN, I believe success means being able to help Del Norte and surrounding communities. CAN has many different services such as food bank, clothes bank, community garden, housing, etc. Every program is to help families’ lives be a little easier.

I am Coordinator for the CANRecycle program. I have been given the opportunity to be involved in helping the community. I make a lot of phone calls, and do some running around, but what makes it so worthwhile is that the community is helping too.

All the donations that are sent to Funding Factory go right back to CAN; and with the cash we receive, it is used to help the needy. It makes me feel so good when we receive donations because I know it will be helping someone.

That’s what I call success; being able to help others less fortunate.

Viola Merritt

Crescent City

From the pages of the Del Norte Triplicate, January 1965.

Devastation from the December 1964 flood in Del Norte County was inspected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Col. Robert Alan, chief of the 12th district, San Francisco, assured local authorities the Corps is ready to move in immediately upon authorization and begin debris clearance.

It was found that the Klamath River has cut a new channel, making a new island just below the glen.

Three-thousand people are homeless in Del Norte County due to the floods and damage is set at $40 million, although this figure is very conservative. Gov. “Pat” Brown has said that it is “impossible” to say when roads would be opened in the Crescent City area again.

All logging and salvage operations along Del Norte’s 40 miles of coastline have also been prohibited. This notice went into effect immediately.

Don Olson is one of those special Del Norters that have lived their whole lives in Crescent City, except for his time in college.

He is a 1972 Del Norte High Warrior graduate and was a talented multi-sport athlete. His interest in Del Norte sports goes both before and after his Warrior career. This makes him a real fun person to interview. It was easy to stray from the topic at hand and look at a lot of Warrior history.

Combining horses and ATVs is a dangerous situation

My friends and I have been coming to Crescent City for 15 years to ride our horses on Kellogg Beach and in the redwoods at Mill Creek. We stay in campgrounds and hotels.

Three years ago we found out ATVs were no longer allowed at Kellogg Beach, making our rides much safer; no longer would the horses be spooked by an ATV flying over the dunes or revving up in the parking lot. Last week a sign appeared at the Kellogg Beach equestrian staging area for the state park allowing ATVs. The sign did not say where they would be allowed to ride, or at what speed.

Combining horses and ATVs is an extremely dangerous situation. Just imagine a young child unloading a scared pony as a teenager squirts by on a loud ATV. Someone is going to get hurt, as this area is very small.

The California State Parks policies are not easy for me to find. Mill Creek Trail was closed for six months last year due to a tree that wasn’t removed; in Oregon, I was unaware of this trail being closed. Now I am not sure if it’s safe to ride at Kellogg Beach.

Perhaps your state parks could work on being more user-friendly to out-of-area tourists. Meanwhile, I will spread the word to local equestrians that their safety will again be endangered in California.

Judy Kerr

Ashland, Ore.

Worth the drive to go to the Brookings Harbor Theater

Maybe it’s not Lighthouse Repertory Theatre and maybe it’s not in our town, but for my family it’s worth the drive to go to the Brookings Harbor Community Theater.

My teenaged children, Mariah and Josiah, are schooled through Castle Rock Charter School; and this is their drama department. Most recently they have been rehearsing the hilarious comedy “The Last Gladiator,” which opens this weekend.

Soon they will begin rehearsals for “Sleeping Beauty and The Beast.” What a wonderful opportunity the theater provides aspiring actors of both the Brookings area and our county.

I’d like to express my thanks to Dori Blodgett and the many others that support this effort, not only for this invaluable educational opportunity but also for a theater that provides high quality entertainment featuring local talent.

This sort of undertaking is what differentiates us from Anywhere, USA, and goes to make our corner of the world the unique community it is. Thank you, Brookings Harbor Community Theater.

Evan Wise

Gasquet

Kudos to hatchery for bringing back a key natural resource

I want to say kudos to Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery and any other entities involved with the abundance of salmon and steelhead this year.

You have brought back one of our main natural resources. I thank you, the environment thanks you and I’m sure many smokehouses in the area thank you.

Misty LeMunyon

Crescent City

Will sediment from Klamath end up in our local harbor?

In regard to the Wednesday article, “Supervisors hold off on signing pacts,” one of the possible impacts of Klamath River dam removal that I have not seen discussed is the possible threat to the harbor from the release of millions of tons of sediment.

It has been my observation that the sand in the ocean migrates northerly along the coast. The harbor already has a problem with sedimentation because the breakwater acts to trap the sand on its northern migration.

My concern it what will happen in the harbor when millions of tons of sediment are released down the Klamath River?  Will a great deal of it end up in the Harbor?

Greg Peck

Crescent City

Maybe I spent too many years in snowy environs, but when a county road crew is scraping sand off the road instead of spreading it on, you know something unusual is afoot with the weather.

The Triplicate’s Bryant Anderson photographed the sand-removal operation at the same time he was capturing images of another strange sight courtesy of last week’s storms: a wintertime congregation of at least a hundred pelicans huddled near the north end of Pebble Beach.

Knowing I’m a pelican admirer, he was thoughtful enough to call me so I could drive out and take my own photos. There was a break in the rain, if not the wind, and I snapped away at the horde from close range. A few at a time would spread their considerable wings and take off with Castle Rock and gnarly waves in the background. The setting, plus the luxury of unlimited picture-taking that digital photography affords, produced a shot good enough to illicit e-mail oohs and ahhs from my inland friends and relatives.

When I moved to Hawaii in January of 1974, I was impressed by the hospitality of the people there. Whether local or transplants, the folks I met were kind and generous, especially when it came to sharing their food.

I was on the bus going home from work one night and sat next to a lady with a pan of sweet-smelling shoyu chicken on her lap. She must have sensed that I was hungry because without saying a word she carefully folded back a corner of the foil cover and picked up a chicken thigh. “You take,” she said.

One afternoon at Ala Moana Park I watched a large family having a picnic and I smelled the barbecue. A man who appeared to be in charge of the hibachi waved me over. “You like teriyaki?” he asked as he gave me a stick of marinated beef cooked to perfection.

I grew accustomed to accepting mangoes, guavas and papayas from neighbors who had so many falling from their trees that they insisted I was doing them a favor.

Co-workers brought their homemade cakes and cookies to our office or malasadas (Portuguese donuts) from Leonard’s Bakery. Leonard’s is a legend in Hawaii and a favorite place for locals to stop on their way to work.

Hawaii was a special place and time for me. Many of the foods I was introduced to there are unique to the islands. Here in Del Norte we have our own local foods and our own brand of hospitality.

Recently I visited our friend Norma who sent me home with two live crabs just off a boat. Saturday, Sarah left this message, “We caught steelhead today. Call if you’d like some.” I called her right back and within hours possessed a filet big enough to serve four hungry people.

It’s wonderful to receive crab and steelhead from people I know, but the mushroom story I’m about to tell you celebrates the generosity of a perfect stranger.

January is a hard month, right up there with February only longer. The addition of a couple weeks of serious storms doesn’t help. My muscles are sore from tensing every time the wind hits this dear old house like a fist and things go bump in the night.

I’m wildly grateful to be retired and to have health, a home and food when so many in the world are truly suffering. In January, even those who sleep indoors and have jobs often leave for work before daylight and return home after dark. It’s too wet to play outdoors and too cold to hold still indoors.

This is the time of year when people with cabin fever begin to rethink their choices. Running away to hustle pool in a big city starts to sound like a viable employment option.