Opponents of the Marine Life Protection Act have a new blog and a petition that needs to be wrapped up by April 19.

The purpose of the website is to provide “information and conversation space for people who want to prevent the MLPA Initiative from closing all recreational and subsistence fishing, abalone diving, and mussel and seaweed harvest around the mouth of the Mattole and Punta Gorda.”

The petition can be found at these locations:

Petrolia Store
Honeydew Store
The Yellow Rose, Petrolia
Valley Grocery, Ferndale
Valley Lumber, Ferndale
Nielsen Co., Ferndale
R&S Livestock, Ferndale
The Palace, Ferndale
The VI, Ferndale
Grundman’s, Rio Dell
Murrish Market, Hydesville
Shamus T-Bones, Carlotta
Sport & Cycle, Fortuna
Napa Auto, Fortuna
Wildwood Saw Shop, Fortuna
Humboldt Creamery, Fernbridge
Bucksport, Eureka
Pro-Sport Center, Eureka
Humboldt Trade & Pawn, Eureka
Marcelli’s Shootery, Eureka
Mad River Outfitters, Arcata
Ace Hardware, Sunny Brae

[Guest post by Carl Young]

It’s finally official. Thirty-five years after the war ended in Vietnam, a welcoming home for the Veterans of the Vietnam war has been established.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill last September, AB 717, which calls for an annual “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” on March 30. The Board of Supervisors, and local cities will be doing resolutions supporting it. Sadly, local veterans are deeply split on the issue of even having a day for Vietnam veterans.

Our country was deeply divided during the Vietnam war, and at times some people were hostile to the returning veterans. Those memories still haunt some Vietnam veterans. The damage done to our fellow Vietnam veterans, and their families, is incalculable. Many will never see their “Welcome Home,” because they prematurely died due to aliments associated with their military service.

I support the establishment of this long overdue day of remembrance, in which 58,000 U.S. troops died and more than 300,000 were wounded. These statistics don’t include the number of suicides, mental health, destroyed families and the illnesses directed associated with our service.

Additionally there is the possibility that many other birth defects and aliments suffered by our children are because of their parents exposure to Agent Orange. The Department of Veterans Affairs only recognizes a few birth defects like Spina bifida.

I think Daniel L. Lawrence, President, of the Humboldt Memorial Chapter 781, Vietnam Veterans of America summed it up well, “We are the only defenders of freedom in this country to be vilified, berated and shunned by our own people. If this resolution brings peace to many Vietnam vets then I am all for it. It’s said that time heals all wounds. I guess not enough time has passed for me to heal my wounds. I am pleased that our country has chosen to not place the blame for this current war on those who doing the fighting. instead placing the blame where it belongs on our so called leadership. For all the problems these new veterans will face, being shunned by their own people will not be one of them.”

Maybe, California’s enactment of a special day to recognize Vietnam veterans will encourage other states to follow, someday making it a national holiday. I also support the idea of establishing a similar day for the forgotten veterans of the Korean War. It’s the very least we can do for those who served so faithfully.

I encourage everyone to attend the reading of the Resolutions with the following government agencies: Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, on March 23, at 9:00 a.m; the Fortuna City Council meeting on March 15 at 6:00 p.m.; Ferndale (already presented March 4th); Rio Dell March 16th at 6:30Pm and the City of Arcata March 17, at 6:00 p.m. As far as I know, there aren’t any other plans locally to recognize this special day for Vietnam veterans on March 30.

Lastly, I would like to thank the folks at the Eureka VA and Mental Health Clinics and our local Vet Center for the excellent care they provide. I’m hopeful the VA can further support local medical and mental health providers and our veterans through the “fee basis” program, and the establishment of local VA speciality clinics. The professionalism of the staff has been remarkable, as well as the coordination of care with local providers.

The 6.5 earthquake was the lead story on the websites of both CNN (domestic edition) and Fox News for at least a couple of hours. Their TV news coverage was strikingly similar. Neither had any live video coverage and both seemed to be clueless as to whether there was any damage or injuries. The anchors obviously had no clue where Eureka or Ferndale were located, and neither gave mention to the possibility of tidal waves. The “destruction” was overhyped, to put it mildly.

A press release issued by the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services stated that, “The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has received NO reports of injury.” Although that may be true, the statement itself is a bit misleading. Make no mistake. There definitely WERE injuries. The HCSO may not have been notified of any, but we know for a fact that there have been many minor injuries. My wife suffered a badly bruised foot while falling down during the quake in Eureka and my father-in-law in Rio Dell fell and injured both his head and ankle. Neither thought their injuries were serious enough to make a trip to the hospital. I’m sure that this was the case in many homes throughout Humboldt County.

Local residents largely took the incident in stride. This was definitely much more the case with Humboldt natives than with those who have only lived here for a short time. Being a lifelong resident myself, I wasn’t very worried. I had more of a here we go again attitude than anything else. Obviously, this was not the case with everyone though. The biggest threat that earthquakes such as this seem to pose is to senior citizens who are often alone and tend to be wobbly on their feet. Fortunately, nothing too terrible seems to have happened this time around though.