Del Norte jobless rate inches higher in March
Del Norte jobless rate inches higher in March [Daily Triplicate]
Posts Tagged ‘job’
Ukiah Police cadets fund-raiser planned
Some of the younger looking police around Ukiah may actually be police cadets, not to be confused with the sworn officers they accompany on the job.
PG&E faces SmartMeter rebellion
PG&E is working to replace residential meter readers with high tech contraptions that could lead to 21st century spying.
It’s more than a year away for Eureka but the new meters are causing an uproar in the bay area over invasion of privacy. The meters will be accessed remotely, giving PG&E increased information about electricity and appliance usage in any given house. The new meters will eliminate the need for meter readers.
Yay for less jobs! …oh, what?
Mark Dieteman (pictured) put a lock on his meter and is drawing a line in the sand. “If they show up they are going to have to go through me to get at it,” he said. “It will take a court order and a whole bunch of police officers. PG&E needs to be stopped in their tracks here.”
And now there’s a new worry with the SmartMeters — hackers. Security consultants at InGuardians have found vulnerabilities that could allow internet pirates to manipulate your data, or remotely cut power.
Ukiah Unified board votes to cut more jobs next school year
Ukiah Unified School District trustees voted Tuesday night to eliminate more classified positions from next year’s school budget to cope with the deficit.
Back-to-back DA candidate forums 15th-16th
The real meat of the election season is upon us — it’s debate time.
Candidates for Humboldt County District Attorney are sure to offer fireworks with four candidates running for the job held by Paul Gallegos since 2003.
The first debate will be held Thursday, April 15th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Senior Room of the Arcata Community Center and will air live on Channel 12. The debate will be hosted by the Redwood ACLU and moderated by ACLU chairman Greg Allen.
The second debate starts at 6pm on Friday, April 16 at the Humboldt Area Foundation. Focus will be on animal cruelty cases. More info at the Humboldt Vegetarian Society.
Gallegos, according to his Facebook page, is the “best criminal prosecutor we’ve had in Humboldt County.” His three challengers think otherwise. Tune in to see who makes the case. You be the judge.
Buck Pierce heads to Winnipeg
Buck Pierce heads to Winnipeg [Daily Triplicate]
Del Norte grad continues career as QB in CFL
It’s a new start for Buck Pierce.
The former Del Norte High and New Mexico State quarterback signed a contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League on Monday. He’ll likely compete for the starting job with three other signal-callers when training camp begins.
Gopher Gulch: More magical than I would have believed
Gopher Gulch: More magical than I would have believed [Daily Triplicate]
Some stories are simply so strange, so laden with hidden messages in images we can’t translate, that they beg to be shared. If they teach us anything, it is that there is magic and wonder, that life is more complex, more puzzling, than we’d ever have believed when we were young and thought we knew it all. This is one of those stories.
My daughter Shannan and her co-workers are a tightly woven group. They hold dangerous jobs in a big city and are alert to protect each other. Most of them have been together quite a while and trust that the others are watching their collective backs. They work each other’s shifts as needed, take care of each other’s kids, parents and pets. They cry on each other’s shoulders, stiffen each other’s spines, lend each other money and are generally a loving, supportive family.
Dogwood tree memorial blossoms in Dunsmuir
DUNSMUIR – Babe Ruth played an exhibition game at its ballpark in 1924, trains brought swagger and jobs, but the flowering dogwood may give Dunsmuir its most enduring legacy.
That’s not what Cindy Foreman had in mind last spring when she planted four dogwood trees across the street from her Brown Trout Cafe and Gallery.
She wanted only to create a living memorial to her mother, Mary Kingsford, who had recently died.
After Foreman bought the cafe five years ago her mother often visited and critiqued Foreman’s view of the drab fence line separating the railroad tracks from Sacramento Avenue.
“She would say to me, ‘Honey, you need something planted over there.’ She loved flowering trees, and so I planted dogwoods to honor her,” Foreman said.
Her friends were so moved by the gesture that they wanted to expand the project. “Some community efforts are slow getting started, but this one just caught fire in the town,” said Barbara Cross.
She joined Foreman, Cheryl Petty of Window Box Nursery and Linda Price of Boxcar Gallery on a committee overseeing the plantings.
“We sold over 50 trees in a matter of months,” said Cross, president of the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce. “Most are planted in memory of a loved one.”
The seven varieties – with blossoms in shades of white, pink, deep rose, peach and even an uncommon yellow – will bloom from mid-April through early summer.
The majority of the dogwoods spruce up a section of Sacramento Street that extends to the town’s Amtrak station. Another grouping is in Hedge Creek Park near a waterfall. A few will shed their delicate butterfly-like petals in private yards and through other parts of town.
The dogwood, indigenous to the area, blooms amid fir trees covering the mountains around Dunsmuir. In 1985 it became the town’s official tree.
This year the committee hopes to plant another 50 trees down Dunsmuir Avenue, the main thoroughfare.
Dunsmuir will celebrate its blooming season Saturday, May 29, with a Dogwood Daze festival.
With Kingsford’s living memorial about to bloom for the first time, how does Foreman think her mother would feel about all those blossoms across the street from her daughter’s cafe? “She’d be thrilled,” Foreman said.
DOGWOOD DAZE
For more information about Dogwood Daze, call the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce at (530) 235-2177 or go to http://dunsmuir.com
COPS funding for Covelo deputies likely
The two job slots for deputy sheriffs to live and serve in the remote community of Covelo appear to be safe, despite the fact that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors cut off funding for the jobs on Tuesday.
Tech Beat: Use a Web site to engage your visitors
I’ve been building Web sites since 1994. Back then I built an e-commerce store that made real money, a real estate site that did a good job marketing properties, and a directory of local resources.
County makes first job cuts
Seven layoffs out of 25 cuts
The county will stop paying for 25 jobs after a 4-1 vote by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
Show me the Home Depot
[Guest post by Kathy Srabian.]
Home Depot was feeling good in 2005. CEO Bob Nardelli was seeing unlimited growth for the nationwide chain.
In 2006 Eureka hears that Home Depot wants to sit in the proposed “Marina Center” development. The dust raises as locals begin to argue. It gets so thick that no one notices Home Depot has probably lost interest.
Times changed and Mr. Nardelli — with his vision of unlimited growth — was replaced by a new CEO in January of 2007. The new chief, Frank Blake, issued the following statement:
“By building fewer stores, in the best locations, and making sure our existing stores are profitable, our company will be in a much stronger competitive position.”
The Associated Press reported that “Home Depot said it will no longer pursue opening the roughly 50 U.S. stores in its new store pipeline, in some cases for more than 10 years.”
The Home Depot that said they were coming to Eureka is not the Home Depot of today.
- 2007 Home Depot waves goodbye to CEO Nardelli, who ran the company during the proposal to locate in Eureka.
- 2007 Home Depot sells their wholesale construction supply business.
- 2008 Home Depot says it’s closing 15 underperforming stores and scuttling earlier plans to open 50 others.
- 2009 Home Depot cuts 7,000 jobs, closes 34 Expo Design Centers, 5 Yardbird Store, and 7 bath remodeling businesses.
- 2008-2009 Home Depot closes 54 stores nationwide.
- 2010 Home Depot closes 3 stores; announces 1,000 layoffs
The “Marina Center” has become synonymous with “Home Depot.” But do you really think Home Depot is coming here? Convince me with something other than a 2006 North Coast Journal or a pastel picture from the Marina Center website.
Pollution not an issue for Samoa pulp mill
[Freshwater Tissue Co. owner Bob Simpson responds to a recent guest post about the reopening of the mill.]
On behalf of Freshwater Tissue Company, I would like to thank those of you who have taken the time to search for facts rather than recycle the same “Pulp Fiction” for decades.
For the sake of clarification, the only pollution standard the Samoa mill cannot comply with is biochemical oxygen demand “BOD”. In short, BOD is organic sugar. You could just as easily refer to BOD as fish food or plant nutrients. If the Samoa mill was discharging its pollution to the Eel River it would be a problem because both plants and fish thrive on it. Unfortunately, BOD causes plants/algae to grow, which then depletes oxygen and strangles fish. However, BOD in the Pacific Ocean is not an issue or concern due to the size of the receiving water (Pacific Ocean), and because the ocean constantly produces oxygen through wave action and tidal influence. In fact, studies have been conducted over 20 years, which you can confirm through Humboldt State University, that conclude the Samoa mill’s BOD has no oxygen impact to the receiving water, but the fish to thrive at the end of the outfall line. You could accuse the Samoa mill of chumming the fish!
The real issue with the Samoa mill is not about pollution, it is about a 37 year old antiquated EPA evaluation system that regulates BOD regardless of where pulp mill effluent is discharged, i.e., stream, river, lake, or ocean. As you might conclude, EPA’s antiquated regulation of BOD was, and it remains, a politically backed decision supported by industry lobbyist’s to eliminate a perceived environmental advantage over ocean discharging pulp mills, such as the Samoa mill, in comparison to competing pulp mills located on northwest rivers and lakes, and pulp mills located on the shores of the Great Lakes. There are only two pulp mills remaining on the west coast with ocean outfall lines. We are in fact trying to make sure the Samoa mill survives.
Lastly, you should not judge a pulp mill by its age. There haven’t been, nor will there be, any pulp mills constructed in the United States or Canada for over 20 years. A 45 year old pulp mill in North America is relatively young, environmentally superior to pulp mills located in South American and Asian, and the Samoa mill is run be experienced workers who care about the community and the environment that surrounds us. Are you aware Evergreen invested $26 million in environmental and quality improvement projects during its four years of operation? Did you know Louisiana-Pacific invested $175 million in environmental technology during its 28 years of ownership? FTC intends to invest $50 million in its first five years of ownership, most of which will be environmental investment. You shouldn’t judge the Samoa mill by its outer structure. Because the heart of the Samoa mill, which is its environmental technology, is as healthy as can be. To permanently close the Samoa mill would be a monumental mistake.
For those of you in our community too young to remember, a group of men intervened and rescued the Ingomar Club from extinction. We all know how the Ingomar has become an icon for Eureka, and it continues to bring enjoyment for its members. With the support of the entire community, the Samoa mill will set new environmental standards for the pulp industry, provide family wage jobs for 215 employees, and it will support landowners and sawmill owners by providing a market for tanoak logs and pulp chips. Our community needs another Ingomar type story. Remember, United we stand, divided we fall.
Bob Simpson – Freshwater Tissue Company
Bass ad echoes Arkley talking points
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.
Furman to be offered deputy CEO job
Clerk of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Kristi Furman will be offered a deputy CEO job and a raise, according to county CEO Carmel Angelo, regardless of whether the board approves a proposed consolidation of Furman’s office with the CEO’s office.