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KIEM-TV -With the battle between bidders for the Jefferson school property heating up, College of the Redwoods pulls out its offer. The City of Eureka wrote a letter to the College and Eureka City Schools saying they might have to face a lawsuit if they go ahead with this deal.
Tags: College of the Redwoods, Eureka City Schools, Humboldt, Jefferson School, law, lawsuit, Northern California
Posted in Humboldt County News | Comments Off
THE COAST NEEDS YOUR HELP
The Coast is under attack and this time, if the proposal to require the Coastal Commission to pay for all legal services previously supplied by the Attorney General is approved, it will leave the Commission with very limited ability to defend itself in a lawsuit or enforce the Coastal Act.
Tags: attorney, ca, coast, Humboldt, law, lawsuit, Northern California
Posted in Humboldt Blogs, Opinion | Comments Off
Local fans of the Pacific Legal Foundation are silent on the group’s recent loss to the California Coastal Commission.
Tags: Arkley, ca, California, coast, court, Eureka, Home Depot, Humboldt, law, lawsuit, Local, Northern California, pot, Rob Arkley
Posted in Humboldt Blogs, Opinion | Comments Off
Today the Friends of the Eel River (FOER) brought legal action before the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board), in an attempt to stop Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), from destroying two northern California rivers essential to the restoration of California’s once-vibrant billion dollar salmon industry.
The FOER legal action challenges the diversion of almost all of the flow of the Eel River to PG&E’s Potter Valley hydroelectric project (PVP), consisting of two dams and a diversion tunnel. During the dry season, almost 98% of the Eel River flows are diverted into the Russian River. “The State Board has an obligation to ensure that PG&E’s use of water is reasonable and does not harm public trust resources in the Eel River,” noted environmental attorney Ellison Folk, with the law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, however, is damaging the public trust resources by threatening the survival of the remaining populations of the state and federally listed endangered salmon and steelhead, in exchange for a negligible amount of energy it produces.
The action is a result of studies by many of the leading salmon and freshwater experts, including the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), whose data shows that PG&E’s water management system, is drying up the Eel River and over watering the Russian River. Both are lethal to California’s once teeming populations of Coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead. For millennia these fish spawned in freshwaters of the Eel and the Russian Rivers, regenerating their populations so vital to the survival of a healthy ecosystem and to local economies.
FOER was perplexed about why PG&E, an institution that has done good things for the environment, would act in ways so destructive of these rivers and their salmon. “If PG&E ran this project for the benefit of the salmon, they would have to release so much water to the Eel River, that the project would not be economic,” said fisheries biologist, Pat Higgins.
After further investigation, FOER concluded that it wasn’t the energy, but the water. PG&E’s PVP is a water delivery system in the guise of a power plant. Eel river water is moved across watersheds and counties, which creates financial and development opportunities for PG&E, agriculture, and municipal water users. This comes at the expense of endangered species.
Experts state that the amount of energy that PG&E obtains from the Eel River diversions provides, at peak, only 9.4 Megawatts— about the equivalent of four large windmills.
The small amount of energy provided by the dam comes at a high biological and cultural cost, to native species, First Americans (Tribes), and the California public at large.
“We are watching these rivers die needlessly, “said Bill Reynolds, landowner and farmer. “The Eel River is my lifeblood and that of all the riverside economies within its 3,684 square miles, including sport and commercial fishing. It is also the lifeblood of the profound wildlife that feeds on the returning salmon, carrying important ocean nutrients deep into the watershed.” He continued, “With the demise of the salmon will be the loss of one of the largest watershed ecosystems in the State of California. We need to restore the health of the Eel River and Russian River and bring their salmon back.”
Once these rivers supported a rich Alaska-like concentration of wildlife – grizzly bear, wolves, eagles, redwood forests – cycling nutrients back and forth, from ocean to mountain.
There were over 500,000 salmon in the Eel River Basin before the operation of PG&E’s PVP hydroelectric operations. Last year’s count came in at fewer than 500. And on the Russian River, the threat to endangered salmon and steelhead is equally dire. During the peak spawning months, the diversion of Eel River water into the Russian River creates flows that have been too high for fish in critical reaches of the Russian River; flows which must be reduced by a mandate of NMFS’ Russian River Biological Opinion 2008.
The Eel River is the third largest producer of salmon, and second largest producer of steelhead in the state. It contributed to what was a billion dollar a year salmon industry in California that is now moribund due to mismanagement of water resources. The Eel River was considered a world-class fishery, but now sports fishing and its economic contribution to the region is virtually nonexistent.
Historically the Eel River fishery also once sustained the First American people on the Eel River, as well as along the North Coast, from Eureka to Bodega Bay.
“It’s not too late,” said Nadananda, Executive Director of FOER. “But we must act quickly as the fish are on the verge of total collapse. We would like to work with PG&E and SWRCB to restore this extraordinary jewel of the public trust.”
Given the enormous benefits of restoring the Eel River’s fisheries, economic, scenic, and recreation values, there are relatively small costs for doing so. FOER challenges the State Water Resource Board (SWRCB) to eliminate PG&E’s current water rights for the PVP to protect public trust resources on the Eel River, and prevent unreasonable use of water. This Petition could be granted on its own and in conjunction with the SWRCB’s reconsideration of operations at Lake Mendocino and flows of the Russian River.
The decline of California salmon can be viewed as dominos falling. The Eel River salmon were the first to fall, then the Klamath/Trinity River and now the Sacramento/San Joaquin. All are caused by a combination of dams, diversions and watershed mismanagement. Restoration of the Eel River’s endangered salmon species would restore a fishery whose potential economic value exceeds $50 million annually and thousands of jobs – and stop the freefall of one of California’s largest and richest river systems.
About Friends of the Eel River
Friends of the Eel River (FOER), was founded in 1994 and has been acknowledged and praised for its devotion to the monitoring, defense and advocacy of the Eel River watershed. Through the education and support of residents, businesses and visitors in this third largest watershed in California, FOER has become a formidable challenger of large corporations and public agencies in the interest of preserving California’s North Coast public trust resources. FOER is supported by over 2500 members, a solid volunteer base, a large contingent of scientists and fisheries experts, sport fishing alliances, river enthusiasts, and concerned citizens who are working together to meet the challenges to the Eel River’s watershed integrity.
In addition to many legal interventions and victories on behalf of the Eel River, FOER has allied with advocates of the Russian River watershed to address the damages caused by the Eel River’s diversion to the Russian River; specifically the high flows that are threatening the State and federally listed Russian River’s endangered species of salmon and steelhead. Through this alliance, Friends of the Eel highlights the need for bioregions to work together for the benefit of watershed integrity. Healthy forests, soils, fish, wildlife, air, and rivers are all of our concern and legacy. For more information visit http://www.eelriver.org
Additional information about the FOER legal action before the State Water Resources Board, including the legal petition, protest, and exhibits, can be found at: http://www.eelriver.org/news_updates.php
Tags: California, Eel River, Humboldt, lawsuit, Mendocino, Mendocino County, Northern California, PG&E
Posted in Humboldt County News | No Comments »
John Silver discusses the political and economic policies of former President Ronald Reagan in a new certificate program at City College of San Francisco that trains community health workers to help former inmates navigate the medical system. Many class members are ex-inmates themselves or relatives of ex-inmates.
SAN FRANCISCO – About two dozen City College of San Francisco students leaned forward in their wobbly desks on a recent evening as they debated personal responsibility, the role of correctional officers and the fear of going to the doctor.
Many of these students are former inmates and family members of inmates. The course they’re taking is part of the country’s first certificate program for post-prison health workers, which trains participants how to handle ex-inmates’ chronic health problems and negotiate the barriers that hinder access to care.
“Can you manage your life outside an institution without someone managing it for you?” asked Clifton Martin, a City College student who spent 20 years in and out of prison on drug and robbery charges and now works for a drug counseling organization.
The first group of students will graduate this spring. Other schools around the country are watching the program as a possible model for shoring up county-led indigent care programs and saving public health dollars by catching diseases early, getting parolees into primary care and reducing the number of emergency room visits.
“People may not have gotten good health care or health education in prison,” said Tim Berthold, chairman of the health education department. “As a consequence, … they might be particularly reluctant to access health services on the outside.”
About 120,000 California prison inmates are now paroled every year. Over the next two years, the state may also reduce the overall prison population by more than 40,000 inmates to comply with a federal court order.
Because of IV drug use, unprotected sex and tattooing, rates of HIV infection are nine times higher among prison inmates than the general public. Hepatitis C rates are at least 10 times higher, according to a 2009 report from the Rand Corp.
With an aging prison population, chronic diseases such as advanced diabetes, hypertension, asthma and cancer are all common.
“Incarceration is pathogenic,” said Donna Willmott, who teaches the class on the health effects of incarceration. “It creates ill health, and it complicates ill health people already have.”
Willmott’s students learn how to manage these diseases. But they focus even more on the challenges of delivering care to ex-inmates.
“There’s an assumption that they will not be treated well or with dignity,” said Berthold. “There’s real discrimination, and the fear that it will happen everywhere.”
So many problems were detailed in a lawsuit against California’s prison health care system – insufficient facilities, long wait times, even deaths – that a federal receiver has been appointed to oversee it.
Because many of the students were once incarcerated themselves or have family members in and out of prison, they know firsthand what their future patients have experienced and the obstacles they face when they get out.
“Incarceration strips you of responsibility for yourself,” Martin said during Willmott’s class. “You get three meals a day, your laundry is done for you, even your medication is brought to you.”
Hands flew up around the circle of desks during the discussion. You can’t relinquish responsibility like that, says Johnny. What about kids who grew up in jail and never learned responsibility? asks Desiree. You get broken down, Jessie says. People go in fine, but they come out with post-traumatic stress disorder, Norell says.
“I was in the best shape of my life when I was in the penitentiary,” student Kevin Mitchell said. “I spent days laying on my bunk dreaming what to do when I got out. But when I hit the streets, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
Willmott helps put the personal stories into context.
“What is the purpose of prison and jails? Why is there this instrument for social control?” she asked. “How does that impact people’s health?”
The public’s health is also at issue. When chronic diseases go untreated, people can land in emergency rooms with advanced illnesses that are expensive to treat, with taxpayers often picking up the tab.
Even if prescriptions are called in to community pharmacies, parolees rarely pick them up, according to a University of Texas study. Co-author David Paar says parolees don’t have practice navigating the health care system.
“If you call to verify an appointment, you get 10 minutes of phone tree. If you’re like me, you get irritated and you hang on,” Paar said. “A lot of those patients don’t have those life skills, so they call their crack dealer who lives down the street and get their crack.”
That’s a scenario that the City College program is trying to prevent by training workers to coach parolees through difficult times. They learn how to walk patients through the health care system and help them find housing, employment, and mental health and substance abuse services.
Administrators expect this year’s graduates to find jobs at nonprofits, county public health departments, and specialty centers like San Francisco’s Transitions clinic, which treats ex-inmates only and offers internships to the program’s students.
“They trust me because they know I’ve been there, done that,” said Juanita Alvarado, a former inmate who’s now a community health worker at Transitions.
Funding for such training programs is hard to come by, and City College is already scrambling to cover next year’s costs. But advocates believe that such care for parolees will save money in the long run by controlling disease, preventing emergency room overuse and reducing recidivism.
And, at least for some former prisoners, the City College program provides an opportunity for them to find work that leverages their incarceration history, instead of forcing them to hide it or make excuses for it.
“They come to community college with the goal of independence, the goal of standing on their own two feet,” Berthold said. “Many have a mission to give back to their communities, where some of their individual strengths can really be assets in the public health field.”
Hermann Bormann, majoring in social work, is part of the first-in-the-nation program. Its aims include providing jobs for former inmates and saving taxpayer dollars by reducing emergency room visits.
Tags: California, court, employment, Humboldt, inmate, job, law, lawsuit, Northern California, prisoner, robbery, San Francisco, sex
Posted in State News | Comments Off
A Crescent City citizens group challenging an expansion of Wal-Mart into a “superstore” saw their efforts thrown out of court after an appeal was filed a day late.
Tags: attorney, California, court, Crescent City, District Attorney, hearing, Humboldt, Humboldt County, law, lawsuit, Local, Northern California, Paul Hagen, Walmart
Posted in Del Norte County | Comments Off
The Westlands Water District, the powerful farm irrigation agency in the San Joaquin Valley, has quit its membership in a leading statewide water association.
Tags: California, court, Delta, homeless, Humboldt, law, lawsuit, Northern California, Sacramento, San Francisco
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Appeals Court rules motion was too late
A local group’s legal challenge of Wal-Mart’s planned expansion was recently dismissed for being filed a day late.
The proposed 24-hour “Supercenter” would nearly double the size of the current Crescent City store and offer more merchandise and groceries.
The Crescent Heritage Coalition filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart and Del Norte County in 2008 over concerns about the environment and economic impacts of the expansion.
Tags: California, court, Crescent City, Del Norte County, Humboldt, law, lawsuit, Local, Northern California
Posted in Del Norte County | Comments Off
Most dairymen named in a state lawsuit in December appear to be accepting a settlement offer that would cut in half what they allegedly owe. The deal offered by the Attorney General’s Office and the California Department of Food and
Tags: attorney, California, Humboldt, Humboldt County, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Local
Posted in Times-Standard | Comments Off
The executive director of the California Coastal Commission responded Thursday to a pair of lawsuits challenging the commission’s authority to hear an appeal of a preliminary cleanup plan for the proposed Marina Center development, calling the…
Tags: California, coast, Humboldt, Humboldt County, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Local, Marina Center
Posted in Humboldt County News | Comments Off
Environmentalists filed suit today against the California Department of Fish and Game, alleging its review of a statewide trout-stocking program is inadequate.
Tags: California, court, fishing, Humboldt, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Northern California, Sacramento
Posted in State News | Comments Off
A Mendocino County deputy’s lawsuit that included allegations of wife swapping and other sexual shenanigans at the lonely Sheriff’s outpost in Covelo was quietly dismissed late last year.
Tags: Covelo, lawsuit, Mendocino, Mendocino County, Northern California, sex, sexual
Posted in Mendocino-Lake Counties | No Comments »
A few dozen people attended a press conference Tuesday morning to announce the filing of a lawsuit brought against the California Coastal Commission by supporters of plans to clean up the blighted Balloon Track property, where the proposed Marina Center development is slated to be built.
Tags: Balloon Track, California, coast, Humboldt, Humboldt County, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Local, Marina Center
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A new group called Citizens for a Better Eureka has joined with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) to sue the California Coastal Commission for “blocking plans to clean up the Balloon Track property.” 
Tags: Balloon Track, Bonnie Neely, California, CAMP, coast, Eureka, hearing, Home Depot, Humboldt, Humboldt County, Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Local, Northern California, pot
Posted in Humboldt County News | No Comments »
Changes were made to California’s disability access laws within the last year to help businesses battle “drive by” lawsuits, and a workshop on Friday aims to help local enterprises understand what they need to do.
Tags: California, Eureka, Humboldt, Humboldt County, Humboldt County News, law, lawsuit, Local
Posted in Events | Comments Off
