During awards, where were other supervisors?

Tuesday evening, the very best of our community were honored at the Cultural Center as the Law Enforcement Administration of Del Norte County honored those who have gone beyond the point of just doing their jobs.

I was in the audience of several hundred as Pelican Bay, the California Highway Patrol, Probation, Search and Rescue, Sheriff’s Office and Crescent City Police Department were shown the community’s appreciation with the presentation of plaques.

I saw Mayor Rich Enea, City Council members Ron Gastineau, Rick Holley and Kathryn Murray, and City Manager Eugene Palazzo.

I noted there was only one representative from the county in attendance: Supervisor Roger Gitlin. Where were the other supervisors? Is this event so unimportant to them, they don’t even bother to show up?

I am embarrassed by the absence of most of the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors Martha McClure, David Finigan, Gerry Hemmingsen and Mike Sullivan, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

Randy Christoffersen, Crescent City

Amazed at hypocrisy of local district attorney

Hypocrisy knows no limits. In these last few days before the Bar decides the fate, career-wise, of our local district attorney, I sit in absolute amazement of his hypocritical outlook.

Recent news reports may have left some people with the wrong impression regarding the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s upcoming decision — on April 9 — to adopt the Pacific Coast Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP).

These stories have implied rampant overfishing of forage species — like sardines — that the FEP supposedly will address by reducing catch limits on these fish in order to maintain a food source for bigger species like salmon and albacore.

However, this simply isn’t true.

The council authorized development of the FEP to “enhance the Council’s species-specific management programs with more ecosystem science, broader ecosystem considerations and management policies that coordinate Council management across its Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) and the California Current Ecosystem (CCE).” 

The FEP’s first initiative proposes to protect unmanaged lower trophic level forage species such as Pacific sandlance and saury, which are currently not fished, by “prohibiting the development of new directed fisheries on forage species that are not currently managed by the Council, or the States, until the Council has had an adequate opportunity to assess the science relating to any proposed fishery and any potential impacts to our existing fisheries and communities.” 

In contrast, anchovy, sardines and market squid, officially known as coastal pelagic species (CPS), are already well managed under both federal and state fishery management plans, which prescribe precautionary harvest limits.

When I had my dream come true and I was able to come back to Del Norte High School in the fall of 1980 as a coach and athletic director, I got here just in time to watch 1982 graduate Dawn Bellatti thrill Warrior fans during her junior and senior seasons.

Dawn was an outstanding three-sport athlete. In the fall she would take her talents to the volleyball court, in the winter she took to the basketball courts and in the spring she would take to the track.

As a freshman Dawn started her Warrior career right away as a member of the JV volleyball team.

The volleyball program was coached by Sharon Wold and assisted by Cindy Shellabarger. Sharon was the coach that started the volleyball program.

As a sophomore Dawn was again a solid member of the JV squad. As a junior she played on the varsity team during what was to be coach Wold’s last season as she turned the program over to Debbie Musch, who was coaching the JV team.

In Dawn’s senior year playing for Debbie she was selected the Most Valuable Player.

Dawn started her basketball career the same way, playing JV before moving to the varsity squad in her junior year playing for longtime coach Chuck Blackburn.

Chuck has high praise for Dawn’s outstanding defensive play, which helped the Warriors defeat Eureka in a close game 52-51.

What do Easter and Passover have to do with each other?

It’s so easy to think of them as the two distinctly different occasions that they are — yet they are inextricably linked for Christians.

God gave the Jewish people specific instructions for remembering how they were freed from Pharaoh’s slavery. Those instructions concluded with a special meal — the Passover seder — and it was right after Jesus celebrated this meal with his disciples that he was arrested and the events leading to his crucifixion were set in motion. Next week is the seven-day event of Passover that culminates with the Seder on Saturday.

The celebration of Passover for the Jewish communities of Curry and Del Norte counties will begin at sunset Monday. Temple Beth Shalom will host its Seder (or ritual meal) at 4 p.m. next Saturday, March 30.

This will take place at the Coast Guard Auxiliary Hall, 140 Marine Way, and the public is invited. Just bring a potluck item, and  $5  to join in this joyous festival commemorating the story in Exodus in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

In the book of Exodus (which, by the way, is in both the Torah and the Bible) the story is told of how God instructed Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, and what it took for Pharaoh to finally let them go.

Ten plagues were inflicted upon Egypt before he would release the Israelites — plagues of insects, frogs, locusts, and water turning to blood, but only after the death of every firstborn did Pharaoh relent.

From the pages of the Crescent City American, March 1930.

Members of the Crescent City Fire Department held a banquet in the Childs Hall on Monday evening, March 2, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the organizing of Crescent City Fire Engine Company No. 1, with 42 members and guests present to partake of the bounteous supper prepared from what had been left over from the supper served at the annual Masque Ball Saturday night.

Five members of the original company answered “HERE” when the roll was called by Fire Chief Bill Nohl, they being as follows: J.L. Musick, Joe P. “Nemuck” Crawford, Nick Johnson, A.J. “Judge” Ahern, and T.B. Culter.

During the banquet, Frank Starry, acting as toastmaster, made a very nice little talk and presented Belvy Wagner with a large bronze medal as a token of the high regard in which the members of the company hold him, for his services rendered as “Chief Engineer” during the fire that broke out in the Crescent City hospital two weeks ago. Mr. Wagner also had the honor of being the first member to drive the new fire engine to a fire.

The evening was spent at card playing and a general good time, with Grant Francis serving in the capacity of general host, custodian and merrymaker.

New feed store built

Oliver Morton, proprietor of the Del Norte Feed Store, has started work on a new building that will house his feed store, on the corner of Second and G streets. 

OK, by now those of you who are so inclined have filled out your brackets for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Which is a shame, because you really could have benefitted from the following information: Gonzaga University will win the national championship.

Del Norte High’s season is long over, the annual Crescent City Jaycees tournament is in the books, but the arrival of spring always heralds prime time for hoops at the higher levels.

The pros, ehh, they’ll be playoff-ing until practically summer. But the men’s and women’s college tournaments are things of beauty, three weeks of single-elimination games that begin today for the men.

Just think of it: As of this morning, 64 teams in each tournament can win the championship simply by putting together a six-game winning streak. Compare that to the sordid world of college football, where the only way to play for a national title is to crack a code dictated by biased pollsters and absurdly programmed computers.

And in office pools everywhere, we get to play along by making our picks, plunking down a few bucks and kibitzing with co-workers – the most wholesome way to gamble on sports.

Regionalization, rural population a lethal mix

I attended the meeting for the proposed regionalization of Sutter Coast hospital. I also read the story of the same meeting (“The doctor makes his case,” March 14). The meeting was hosted by Dr. Greg Duncan chief of medical staff at Sutter Coast Hospital. It was a very good meeting, very informative and well presented.

Nowhere in either venue was the impact on the local community residents mentioned. Del Norte County is composed of many small, isolated communities, 20 or more miles from Sutter Coast Hospital. In the event of a medical emergency, the first responders are the local volunteer fire department or the Yurok tribal emergency response team. If it is determined that further treatment is needed, an ambulance is called or the patient is transported by private auto.

Under  regionalization, it’s possible there would fewer beds available for emergencies. If the beds were all in use, then the patient would have to be moved to another hospital. In our remote area, that would mean going east, north or south. All of the choices are 50 to hundreds of miles from Crescent City.

The expense of surface ambulance or air transport will be hundreds of dollars. This expense will fall on the patient or family of the patient. Most of our residents are on a fixed income and the expense will be overwhelming.

Together at last: ‘Star Wars,’ ‘regionalization’

During a presentation by Dr. Greg Duncan on the Sutter Coast Hospital controversy, the hospital’s chief of staff poked fun at how Sutter Health executives have been referring to physicians who oppose “regionalization.”

“The physicians have been termed the ‘rebel alliance’ by our CEO — that’s how he refers to us when he talks to department managers. I’m not sure if he realizes that by that analogy, Sutter Health is the Death Star and the CEO would be Darth Vader, but he’s the one that brought it up.  I’m just carrying the analogy to the next logical step,” said Duncan.  

The doctor, who was once a self-described timid public speaker, has become quite comfortable with punchlines.

The forum was hosted by the Del Norte Tea Party Patriots.

— Adam Spencer

Special traffic advisories

Green hats, green beers and maybe some green faces — for those who drink too many, anyway.

The California Highway Patrol is advising people to take caution and plan for safe rides home for those Del Norte denizens celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this weekend; whether it be designating a driver or boosting the local economy by hiring a taxi.

Then on Tuesday, Klamath-area drivers will get some special encouragement to buckle up.

Ocean waves fill a unique space in human experience.

“Modern quantum physics and ancient mysticism alike tell us that all life is made up of waves — light waves, sound waves, radio waves. Even physical matter, that which appears solid, is little more than a field of energy, vibrating at a certain frequency. Waves. The ocean surf we ride is the only form in which wave energy can be experienced on a human scale,” writes Tim Baker in “High Surf: The World’s Most Inspiring Surfers.”

But just because we can see a wave or ride it doesn’t mean we can easily understand how it works.

Surfers, unsurprisingly, know well the importance of watching and understanding waves before trying to ride them. Often seen standing around the edge of the beach looking like they’re being social, they may in fact be studying the waves — a task that can take some time — to know where the set is and where the wave breaks.

Wave height, direction, frequency and rhythm are important in understanding not only waves to ride but waves to avoid. For the beachcomber, potentially deadly sneaker waves (described in the last Vista Point column, “Science of sneaker waves: Seeing isn’t always believing,” March 5) fall in the latter category, and wave science is making headway in discovering the secrets of how and when they form, and why, counterintuitively, they’re more likely to occur when seas appear calm. 

A basic primer on what is well-understood: Ocean swells and waves are mostly caused by wind, typically from storms many thousands of miles away. Sometimes more than one set of swells will move through an area, products of different storms in different places and swells of different size, frequency and direction. 

What is wrong with affirming gun rights?

In response to Richard Wendt’s March 12 letter, “More important issues than grandstanding vote,” I want to thank Supervisor Roger Gitlin for asking members of the Board of Supervisors to affirm their belief that the 2nd Amendment is important to assure American citizens have the right to own weapons without all the creative ways liberals are trying to impede our rights of ownership.

The question that comes to mind is: Since there is no harm in affirming this Amendment, why the hesitation? This “president” has no qualms in cherry-picking this amendment as the one to destroy.

Remember Fast and Furious? This “president” refuses to allow the investigation to follow a natural course to determine who is responsible for several thousand guns going from Arizona to Mexico, killing a Border Patrol agent and hundreds of Mexicans.

I understand each elected official took the oath to uphold the Constitution but that is a general oath. By specifying the 2nd Amendment the oath becomes specific and personal. Refusing to affirm this right may put into question how strongly Supervisor Martha McClure’s belief in ownership of guns by Americans may be.

Why this is grandstanding is beyond me. I have yet to see Supervisor Gitlin do any grandstanding. He has asked honest questions and is a breath of fresh air on the Board of Supervisors.

Marlowe Thompson, Crescent City