A status conference in the fraud case of former Humboldt Creamery CEO Rich Ghilarducci scheduled to take place this week has been postponed. Ghilarducci, who faces a single felony charge of making false statements to an agricultural bank, is now
Castle Rock keeps principal, staff [Daily Triplicate]
Board turns down federal funds, goes with local changes
Castle Rock Charter School and its principal will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
At a packed meeting last week, dozens of students, parents and
teachers urged the Del Norte County Unified School District Board to
keep the school open in light of being named as low-achieving by the
state.
There was a similar turnout Thursday.
After hearing that the School Board would not be applying for
federal grants that would force drastic changes on Castle Rock and its
staff, the crowd burst into applause.
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is seeking comments on proposed changes to the quality and quantity of water discharged by the new Willits sewer plant.
The comment period ends April 30 with a public hearing to consider any objections scheduled for 8:30 a.
A 60-year-old Laytonville man was found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his home Sunday. An autopsy has been ordered.
Terry Allen Cohen had been scheduled for a mental competency hearing Friday to determine whether he was fit to face a retrial for the 2008 murder of Sean Jason Piper.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is set to hold an administrative abatement hearing today to consider whether to authorize the serving of inspection warrants on what is reportedly an illegally subdivided property in the Titlow Hill area.
North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, had a packed day Thursday, making seven stops in a marathon day spent meeting with constituents, hearing concerns and explaining legislation.
The Ukiah City Council will hold a series of budget workshops on various budget topics leading up to the annual budget hearings scheduled to take place in June.
Witness recalls night of shooting [Daily Triplicate]
Murder suspect will also face kidnap charge
A 23-year-old local woman recounted her harrowing tale of survival at a preliminary hearing Tuesday for the man accused of killing Crescent City resident Amy Kaufmann.
Austy McCann testified she was with Kaufmann the night she was murdered at a house on P.J. Murphy Memorial Drive in Klamath, and was standing face-to-face with the suspected killer when he turned the murder weapon on her and asked her why he should let her live.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is expected to authorize the Humboldt Waste Management Authority to take bids to process recyclable materials collected in unincorporated county solid waste franchise areas at its meeting today.
The jury trial for James Robert Stanko, who faces charges of murder and armed robbery, was moved to May in a trial confirmation hearing on Monday. Humboldt County public defender Ken Robinson submitted a motion Monday to continue Stanko’s trial,
As noted in an earlier thread, 4th District Supervisor hopeful Virginia Bass is employing a dirty tactic of standing aside to keep her hands clean while purportedly unrelated groups sling mud at her opponent.
However, a few specks of grime appear to be lodged under her fingernails.
In a new television ad, Bass resurects her 2006 campaign platform of Jobs, Jobs, Jobs but fails to list any accomplishments in the last four years. So to fill the 30-second commercial she says “we can’t just say ‘no’ without hearing all the facts.”
It’s safe to assume Bass is piggy-backing on the propaganda slung by Rob Arkley’s various front groups accusing Bonnie Neely of somehow single-handedly stopping Arkley’s Home Depot development.
With no substance to offer, Bass appeals to community ignorance regarding what went down at that fateful Coastal Commission meeting in December. Despite the city’s best efforts, the Commission followed well-established protocol by granting a hearing on the appeal of the project. If and when Team Arkley provides additional information requested by the Commission, that hearing will be scheduled, and the city/Arkley presentation on the project will be heard. Neely asked staff to set the hearing ASAP.
But what Neely didn’t do, which is apparently her big evil crime, was ask the Commission to change the rules — just this once! — and allow city officials and Arkley lawyers to present their case right then and there. She didn’t plead with her fellow Commissioners to allow Councilman Jeff Leonard to “ramp it up.” Worst of all, she didn’t cave to political pressure in the form of advertisements, press conferences and hastily crafted last-minute letter to allow a dog-and-pony show ahead of schedule.
Even if Neely fervently believed the appeals had no merit, she alone could not have changed the day. It takes a total of 3 Commissioners to agree to hear from the applicant, which would result in a whopping 3-minutes at the podium — apparently plenty of time to address staff’s 82-page report.
At the basis of this very expensive shenanigan is the hope by Bass, Leonard and the Arkleyites that voters are as ignorant as those fools pretend to be. As pointed out by the Times-Standard, the blogs, and even the city’s own staff, the chances of them making a presentation at that particular meeting were slim to none.
The truth is the Bonnie-haters got what they wanted — a false pretense upon which to claim victimhood and blame Neely in order to boost her opponent in the 4th District supervisor race.
As noted in an earlier thread, 4th District Supervisor hopeful Virginia Bass is employing a dirty tactic of standing aside to keep her hands clean while purportedly unrelated groups sling mud at her opponent.
However, a few specks of grime appear to be lodged under her fingernails.
In a new television ad, Bass resurects her 2006 campaign platform of Jobs, Jobs, Jobs but fails to list any accomplishments in the last four years. So to fill the 30-second commercial she says “we can’t just say ‘no’ without hearing all the facts.”
It’s safe to assume Bass is piggy-backing on the propaganda slung by Rob Arkley’s various front groups accusing Bonnie Neely of somehow single-handedly stopping Arkley’s Home Depot development.
With no substance to offer, Bass appeals to community ignorance regarding what went down at that fateful Coastal Commission meeting in December. Despite the city’s best efforts, the Commission followed well-established protocol by granting a hearing on the appeal of the project. If and when Team Arkley provides additional information requested by the Commission, that hearing will be scheduled, and the city/Arkley presentation on the project will be heard. Neely asked staff to set the hearing ASAP.
But what Neely didn’t do, which is apparently her big evil crime, was ask the Commission to change the rules — just this once! — and allow city officials and Arkley lawyers to present their case right then and there. She didn’t plead with her fellow Commissioners to allow Councilman Jeff Leonard to “ramp it up.” Worst of all, she didn’t cave to political pressure in the form of advertisements, press conferences and hastily crafted last-minute letter to allow a dog-and-pony show ahead of schedule.
Even if Neely fervently believed the appeals had no merit, she alone could not have changed the day. It takes a total of 3 Commissioners to agree to hear from the applicant, which would result in a whopping 3-minutes at the podium — apparently plenty of time to address staff’s 82-page report.
At the basis of this very expensive shenanigan is the hope by Bass, Leonard and the Arkleyites that voters are as ignorant as those fools pretend to be. As pointed out by the Times-Standard, the blogs, and even the city’s own staff, the chances of them making a presentation at that particular meeting were slim to none.
The truth is the Bonnie-haters got what they wanted — a false pretense upon which to claim victimhood and blame Neely in order to boost her opponent in the 4th District supervisor race.
[Guest post by Xandra Grube.]
On January 27, 2010, Freshwater Tissue Company owner Bob Simpson applied for a permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) to discharge waste water from the proposed production of toilet paper at the Samoa Pulp Mill property into the Pacific Ocean. On March 29, 2010, the Water Board sent a letter advising interested parties that a draft NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit is available for review and that the Water Board will consider the draft permit and associated order at its June 10, 2010, meeting.
The letter states that the Freshwater Tissue Company (FTC) has already “acknowledged that it cannot immediately comply with the applicable Effluent Limitation Guidelines established for the production of Bleached Kraft Pulp and Unbleached Kraft Pulp.” Therefore, the letter states, the Water Board is proposing a “companion cease and desist order” the specifics of which are not yet available. Presumably, the cease and desist order is intended to be in place until the mill is able to meet the discharge requirements. The letter states that unless there is “significant public comment“ or objection from the federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), a permit adopted on June 10, 2010, will become effective on that date. The public comment period will end on April 29, 2010.
At an informational hearing held on March 25, 2010, at the Wharfinger Building, Water Board staffer Charles Reed summarized the history of the Samoa Pulp Mill with regard to waste water discharge requirements and violations. This mill has continuously been in violation of water quality standards. He also stated that the federal regulators want all pulp mills to comply equally to standards, i.e., a pulp mill in Virginia or Indiana should not be impacting the population surrounding it any more or less than a pulp mill in California does.
Many people in the know do not believe the pulp mill will be able to reopen because there are so many agencies whose standards and requirements need to be met. However, it appears that some directive is coming down from the governor’s office to expedite the reopening of the pulp mill by putting the mill on a schedule of compliance. Given the past history of violations of water and air quality standards, it looks like an enforcement nightmare ahead.
A preliminary hearing for defendants in a November shooting east of Covelo continued in Superior Court Wednesday.
James Allen Norton, 29, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of assault and battery, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and violating parole. Norton is being held in jail without bail pending his parole hearing.
