How did this prickly rodent get here? Did he float over on some debris created by the tsunami that struck Japan?
A Crescent City police officer drove to the park and checked out the critter in question with the Centners.
The officer described the animal and sent a photo to an official at the Department of Fish and Game, then waited for a call back.
“I guess (Fish and Game) called (the officer) and told him it’s not one of ours — it’s from Japan,” Mike Centner said. “Like they knew what it was, but it’s not from here. The only thing I can think is that it maybe it came in on a tree from the tsunami. But has it been out on the ocean for months? That just seems kind of far-fetched.”
The Centners were told that they could do what they wish with the spiky creature.
They parked outside the Triplicate office with it in a trailer, and it piqued the curiosity of people strolling downtown.
The Centners and Triplicate staff wondered: why in the world would DFG agree to releasing an exotic animal?
Dave Lancaster, Fish and Game biologist for Del Norte and Humboldt, said the department isn't usually too keen on releasing exotic animals into the wild.
It turned out to be a miscommunication. Call it tsunami debris hysteria or just a bad game of “telephone” involving the police, the Centners and Fish and Game.
The porcupine in all likelihood is a North American porcupine, native to the area — not a “dwarf frosted white porcupine” as the Centners guessed after researching porcupines online.
—Adam Spencer
Detective is already missed
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Police Chief Doug Plack presented the department’s most experienced officer with a plaque of appreciation.
“I can’t tell you how much you are an asset for the entire department,” Plack said during a brief speech in which he lauded Doyle’s personal character and his professional record of bringing tough cases to trial.
Doyle also offered a few words to the roomful of peace officers, cadets and well-wishers.
“I think if you can retire with some dignity and the respect of people, then you’ve accomplished something. At one point I had trained every officer in the department. I feel honored that they are here today. I just turned 63 about two weeks ago and now I’m going to have a little more time for myself,” he said.
Maybe not all the time, though.
“I’m very happy to say he’s not going to be leaving us. He was sworn in as our newest reserve officer last week,” Plack said.
—Emily Jo Cureton
Our Golden Gate credentials
Del Norte County played a role in building the Golden Gate Bridge — the iconic image many think of when California comes to mind, or at least San Francisco.
Del Norte is a member of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District that formed in 1928 to build the famous bridge, and our county is getting its due in recent media coverage of the bridge’s 75th anniversary — it opened May 27, 1937.
There’s even a custom-made dress that represents Del Norte. Artist Anandamayi Arnold has made seven dresses out of crepe paper to represent each county that financed the bridge and one for the bridge itself.
She made replicas of the “dresses of the fiesta queens sent by counties around the state to the bridge’s opening in 1937. When she saw them in a photograph, Ms. Arnold, 37, was taken by their matching gowns with ruffled hoop skirts and puffed sleeves,” the New York Times recently reported.
The San Francisco Chronicle also covered Arnold’s dresses, writing, “The counties deserving of the glory are San Francisco, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and, most heroic of all, the tiny county of Del Norte, which paid its share while the nearer counties of Humboldt, Lake and Trinity declined.”
—Kelley Atherton
