IN OUR SPIRIT OF THE NORTH COAST, WE LEARN ABOUT TWO HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI WHO CREATED A COMPANY ALMOST 30 YEARS AGO THAT HAS BLOSSOMED INTO A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS AND MAKE GIVING BACK TO TH

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Another voice has been added to a growing chorus that says Security National, owner of the polluted Eureka Balloon Track, is stonewalling the California Coastal Commission.

Followers of the controversy know that SN has, in recent months, turned 180° by waving the flag of the Regional Water Quality Control Board — as if the conservative banking class had suddenly embraced a system of regulation.

But it appears Water Quality Executive Officer Catherine Kuhlman won’t be played like that.  In a letter to Security National henchman Randy Gans, she echoes other recent remarks about how SN is stonewalling the California Coastal Commission.  Even better, Kuhlman isn’t offering a skirt for SN to hide behind in its lawsuit against the CCC.

The Coastal Commission has requested from you additional information as part of that appeal process. It is our understanding that you have not yet provided that information and have filed suit against the Coastal Commission, asserting, in part, that pursuant to Public Resources Code section 30412(b) the Coastal Commission does not have the authority to take any action that would conflict with the implementation the SIRAP. We disagree, however, that the Coastal Commission is taking any action that is in conflict with a determination by the Regional Water Board relating to water quality. Our concurrence with your SIRAP was conditioned upon your obtaining all required permits, including a coastal development permit, and was not intended to, nor do we believe it could, supplant the independent regulatory authority of the Coastal Commission or any other agency…

Our concurrence with your proposed SIRAP recognized that several of the activities you proposed required permits from other agencies, which you have not obtained.

Security National is owned by local big shot and failed banker Rob Arkley.

Download the full letter or read it here.

It has been a season of inconsistencies for the Del Norte High varsity softball team.

After winning its third straight conference title in 2009 and making
it within a game of the Northcoast Section playoffs Division III
championships after winning it all the year before, things have been
more challenging for the Warriors in 2010.

Tune into KMUD from 7-8 Thursday night to hear blogger Erik Kirk and Journal editor Hank Sims talk local politics.

In the contentious race for 4th District Supervisor, Virginia Bass supporters accuse donors to Bonnie Neely’s campaign of buying favor from the longtime Supervisor and Coastal Commission Chairwoman. They claim Neely’s future votes are bought and paid for.

But a 2006 campaign disclosure from the Bass for Mayor campaign gives a peek into how Virginia operates (click to enlarge):

Following a donation of “office rent” to the campaign valued at $4,500, Bass appointed Kneeland resident Lee Ulansey to the Eureka Planning Commission.  The situation was fraught with weirdness, as we noted at the time:

One wonders what makes a “rural lifestyle” podium-pounder from Kneeland suitable for the Planning Commission in Eureka — the city where all hill folk will be rounded up and forced to live like rats in cages following the [county] General Plan Update, according to his supporters.

Ulansey owns a few properties in the rat’s-nest-by-the-bay, maybe that’s a sufficient qualification.

To make room for Ulansey, Bass pushed aside qualified commissioners who wanted to continue to serve, justifying the unusual move with an inarticulate defense about new blood.

Yet for other board appointments she followed normal procedure and re-appointed longtime members who wished to continue their positions.

The appointment was shot down when Bass failed to get a 4/5 vote required to approve an appointment from outside the city limits.

Ulansey’s name is written on the campaign statement form to replace Kramer Investments, which is crossed out.

In the current election cycle, Ulansey has donated $1500 to the Bass campaign.

So what can those developers slash HumCPR supporters expect from their generous monetary support to the Bass campaign if she wins?

Favors, apparently.

Triplicate staff writer

Service honors five who died at St. George Reef

On April 5, 1951, disaster masquerading as a rogue wave struck the St. George Reef Lighthouse.

As members of a five-man Coast Guard crew were being lowered to the sea, a wave washed over the launch, filling it with seawater.

The extra weight of the water proved too much for the ring securing the mooring cable to the boat. It tore loose, dropping the bow of the boat and sending the crewmen plunging into the frigid Pacific.

Three crewmen, Stanley Costello, Bertram C. Beckett, and Wilber J. Walker died that day.

Observers of the Eureka Balloon Track are noticing heavy equipment rolling through the toxic mud to move Schmidbauer’s log deck.

Thanks to recent weeks of heavy rain the log trucks sink into the sludge and then disperse it down Broadway.

This stirring of downtown’s dioxin stew comes at a time when property owner Security National is stonewalling the Coastal Commission over the property, and Humboldt County residents debate the danger of moving toxins around the property before full characterization of the site.