Humboldt Sentinel

Be Scared and Be Prepared
(VIRAL VIDEOS)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Utah native Devin Graham’s video of people cliff jumping in Hawaii will mostly leave you wishing you were there, though
some moments– especially with the point of view cameras–
are a little stomach churning.

They deserve to be.

Cliff jumping or tombstoning sometimes makes the news, and unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

Every summer, many youngsters severely injure themselves or die because they dive off rocks and cliffs – often inebriated – into waters of unknown depths and submerged obstacles.  Some are knocked unconscious; others drown.

We’ve had our fair share of accidents off Big Rock, Sandy Beach, Swimmer’s Delight, and a host of other Humboldt jump spots.  It’s a death wish of sorts if one isn’t thinking about taking the fun jump halfway seriously and with a clear head.

Tombstoning, however, has a long tradition that goes back to ancient tribes – inhabitants of Easter Island or Hawaii, for example – that used cliff jumping as an initiation rite.  Tombstoning is done in such a way that the jumper enters the water from a very high point vertically straight, like a tombstone.  It was practiced with some degree of, well, let’s just say institutional experience, the wisdom and experience and trepidation of those mentors and elders who went before you.  If you didn’t listen to your elders, you were toast.  After all, these were the same guys who navigated thousands of miles across the ocean using only the stars and memory for a compass.

Instead of condemning the activity, we say go ahead and do it if you must– but do it wisely with someone who knows and has carefully checked out the lake, pond or ocean they’re jumping into.  Or simply watch the pros do it.  Heed your elders, because as you can see there are plenty of cool cliff jumping and tombstoning sites all around to live and dive for.

These viral videos by Devin Graham are best seen at full-screen resolution. 

Tarsiers, the Wild Kingdom, and Finding Out Life Isn’t Fair
(VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Freaky, freak, freaky.

Tarsiers are that much and more, as the above video shows.

Don’t worry, it’s safe to watch.  There’s not too much drama and trauma going on.  Just those big bug eyes staring blankly into your soul.

I’ve always been wary of animal flicks ever since they offed Old Yeller.  Some boundaries are sacred and shouldn’t be crossed.  Old Yeller was one of those.  A protective and gentle yellow Lab winning the heart of the frontier family, the faithful old dog was put down because he contracted rabies.  It was one of those unfair endings brutally assaulting and ripping the innocence out of our childhood and leaving us bawling on the floor.

OK, life is unfair.  We get that.  And we’ve never been
the same ever since.  Thank you, Walt Disney.

Then there was the “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin.  He was a  total pain in the ass for any animal crossing his path.  There’s a way to film animals without harassing them and screwing up their day, but this guy didn’t know it.  He constantly had to be poking, taunting and wrestling them, working his schtick to prove what a brave Aussie scamp he was until nature finally canceled his film contract.

You’ll recall it was a benign stingray calling it curtains for Irwin.  This should have been a normally uneventful crossing of paths between man and aquatic beast.  But no-o-o-o…  Mr. Crikey had to  screw with the stingray and catch a spike to the heart.  Nature is all about the quick and the dead.  Nature batted first, not last, with the Crocodile Hunter.  It’s surprising it took that long.

Mutal of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom reflected the realism of nature early on for those who remember.  No longing shots of doe-eyed baby seals and cute furry-faced koalas here, but ’round-the-clock-murder that constituted the natural world and made observing its moments of grace such an ephemeral joy.

Wild Kingdom was hosted by the gentlemanly, avuncular, and dapperly-dressed Marlin Perkins.  Mr. Perkins was an expert on reptiles and particularly venomous snakes, of which he was bitten four times.  Unlike Irwin, however, he survived.

Perkins took his viewers all over the world and was one of the first voices to embrace the idea of conservation and  the protection of endangered species.  He had a particular love of odd animals and was fond of civets, mongooses, hyenas and the wild dogs of Africa.  Neatly dressed in his khaki safari suit, Perkins loved square-offs and showdowns between nature’s Davids and Goliaths– the weasel-like mongoose killing the infinitely more frightening king cobra, a scorpion backing up a coyote with a bad-ass tail display, a six-ounce kestrel pounding the holy crap out of a pigeon in flight.

Mr. Perkins was a stickler for realism.  His show was filmed on location and very often his co-stars, Jim Fowler and Stan Brock, would wind up in some hair-raising struggles with wild animals.  Being the boss and certainly being no one’s dummy, Mr. Perkins usually stood in the foreground when danger was most imminent.  He would remind the viewer just before the commercial break, “If a Bengal tiger ever tries to chew your face off… make sure you have adequate insurance coverage with Mutual of Omaha.”

Jim Fowler, freaked out and frantically pointing at his head, was screaming and yelling as stuff poured out.  Perkins wryly retorted, “Jim is getting quite a workout now, isn’t he!”

A Perfect Fit for Humboldt
(VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Have you ever said to yourself, “Marathons are too easy, and Triathlons are for sissies?”

Well, we haven’t either.  Those races are hard.  Really hard.  Think about it.  The first person to run a marathon actually died.  Yes, he died!  And we surmise he didn’t have fun along the way.

Welcome to a new kind of race:  THE DIRTY DASH.  It’s a perfect fit for Humboldt to do.  Or shamelessly imitate.  It’s independently zany, it’s crazy, and it’s wildly colorful.  A racy race that would cause your Grandma to blush her bloomers.

This dirty race puts all other races to shame.  The Dirty Dash is a mud run obstacle course where military boot camp meets your inner five-year-old fantasy.  It converts boy to man, and then man to swine in a really dirty sort of way.

It’s also fun.  And we mean Way Fun.

You’ll need endurance to trudge up mountains of sludge, courage to overcome uncompromising obstacles, a complete lack of shame to wallow in pits of mud, and then a smile to show how happy you are making it through to the end!

This mud-run obstacle course could become your new guilty pleasure and your Facebook wallpage photo.  Going solo or with some of your dirtiest, filthiest, & uncouth friends, you’ll be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am a Dirty Dasher and there’s no shame in my game!”

Then, and only then, can you proceed to clean yourself off like the cheeky monkey you are.

Eleven 3-5 mile charity races are run throughout the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest– from Oregon to New Mexico– from June through September.  Some of the shorter races also sport a 3 ½ mile shortcut.  Why not?  Everyone loves a shortcut.

They don’t care much about timing the races, either.  It doesn’t matter.  They also run rain or shine, saying:

 “Seriously?  How can the weather be bad?  Shame on you; your glass is clearly half-empty.  If it rains, even better, more mud!  The Dirty Dash is as dependable as (and far less subsidized than) the US Postal Service and goes on rain or shine, global warming or global cooling.

If it gets too hot, feel free to bask in the mud pit for longer and if it gets too cold, feel free to drop into the fetal position with your teammates and cuddle for warmth.

However, rule #1 is safety first, so if there is lightning, we’ll postpone waves and running until it blows over.  In case anyone was wondering, rule #2 is complete and brutal honesty amongst group members, and rule #3 is everyone hooks up with a local.”

Because it’s a family race, there’s only one version to do.  You Dirty Dash however you need to and however long it takes.

You can walk.  Run.  Crawl.  Wallow.  Skip.  Clamber.  Lollygag.  Grovel.  Just be yourself and just finish before sundown so the coyotes and mosquitoes don’t git ya.  You can run in sublime running shorts or dress up in a flashy costume.  Pets and kids are welcome, too, but not necessarily in that order.  They’ll also take you as on as a volunteer and ease you into this dirty lifestyle nice and slow.  Keep in mind there is an age limit.  It’s 106.

You can run it by yourself or with a team of your favorite friends, enemies and friendemies.  Whoever likes to get dirty or whoever needs to simply get down and dirty in the worst way.  Teams may encourage each other, mock each other, or drag each other over obstacles.  “Feel free to clasp hands, smack bottoms, or open mouth kiss,” the rules say.

Did your last personal record run have a 175-foot slop n’ slide in the middle of it?  Probably not.  And a final finale mud pit?  Nope.  Sprinklers and showers and water blasters?  Heavens to Betsy, no.  While we’re at it, let’s throw in a Pig Sty, a Hog Wash, and a Piglet Plunge.  Now
that’s what we call a race.

Wherever they go, runners completely change the landscape to an ultra muddy hue, making for the most interesting and diverse course ever run.  The course itself, as you can see in the video, is full of obstacles ranging from mud pits, water slides, tires, logs, hay bales, wood structures, to just plain mud, more mud, and even muddier mud everywhere.  Uh, did we say mud?

Why do it?  Exercise?  Maybe.  Camaraderie?  Most likely.  Fun?  You bet your mud-balls.  Good cause? Check.  Besides benefitting your cardiovascular system, each muddy Dirty Dash benefits local charities through the registration fees, online donations, water balloon sales, and shoe donations.

In this viral video best viewed at full-screen resolution, cinematographer Devin Graham filmed a Dirty Dash race taking place in Soldier Hallow, Utah.  The race, like most of them, completely sold out in record time.  Let’s face it:
people love to get dirty when it’s socially acceptable.  A good
Dirty Dash race beats a bad diaper rash case.

It’s a perfect fit for our area– and it would be a muddy hit for someone getting it together for the Humboldt peeps.  Half of our towns would turn out to run and watch.  We would, too.  In two shakes of a kitten’s whiskers.

If you know of someone in our running community interested in putting on something similar, share this with them.

Six Rivers Running Club?  HSU?  Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?  The Kinetic Sculpture Race or the babelicious Rutabaga and Humboldt Roller Derby Queens?  Justin Bieber? (Sorry, all you Beliebers).  Send it along …and we’d thank you for it!  We’d love to see them all get a bit dirty.  Sarah Palin and Anderson Cooper, too.  We’d pay for that.

After all folks, this isn’t Survivor.  It’s more like Jackass mixed with Dirty Jobs mixed with America’s Got Talent.  And we’d like to have more fun with like-minded Humboldt folks and friends and cheeky monkeys everywhere.

No time for nattering nabobs of negativism here!  It’s time to smile– and run a muck.

If you’d like to know more, you can find out all about these mud races in this link: 

http://www.thedirtydash.com/

Happy Running.

* * * * * * * *

(For our Humboldt County runners)

Fossilized Egg of Madagascar’s Extinct Bird Expected to Sell for $45K

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

It’s a rare find.  At a foot long and nearly nine inches in diameter, only a few intact specimens are known to exist in
the world. 

Christie’s, a London auction house, is hoping buyers will be egged on to take a crack at this natural wonder:  a massive fossilized egg laid long ago on the island of Madagascar by a now-extinct elephant bird.

Christie’s said yesterday that the oversized egg – laid sometime before elephant birds were wiped out several hundred years ago – is expected to fetch up to 30,000 pounds, or roughly $45,000.

Elephant birds were flightless, fruit-gobbling animals resembling giant ostriches.  Found only in Madagascar, they were the planet’s largest bird, weighing half a ton and stretching nearly 12 feet tall.

Going the way of the Dodo, its extinction was probably brought about by human beings with the last sighting occurring in the latter half of the 17^th century.  It lived in forests, of which Madagascar lost 80 percent of its forest once human beings came to dominate the island.

Experts say the oversized bird takes its name from the writings of Marco Polo. The 13th-century Venetian explorer dubiously claimed to have seen a bird so big and powerful it could snatch up an elephant in its talons and fly off with it.  The real elephant bird, however, wouldn’t have been able to pull off that feat.  For one thing, it was flightless; and for another, it was smaller than an elephant.

Christie’s says the fossilized elephant bird egg up for auction is 100 times the size of an average chicken’s egg.  It’s an average ho-hum size egg as they go.  Larger elephant bird eggs are believed to have been up to three feet in circumference.

The egg is being sold during a travel and science sale on April 24.

If you simply must have it for your collection, you’ll find it listed as item #45 on page 17 of Christie’s online catalogue.

On the other hand, at $45,000 you may not want to put all your eggs in one basket.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct.  We don’t know why.  Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids.

In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt.  Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.”

~P. D. James, The Children of Men

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

–Human Flight at 140 MPH– (VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

There must be nothing quite like the feeling of hurtling yourself across the planet at breakneck speed soaring above like a victorious winged Icarus in a precious ethereal
fast floating eternal moment before falling back to Earth,
a mere mortal once again.

* * * * * * *

This film was done by Devin Graham and the music by Stephen Anderson.

It’s best viewed at full screen resolution.  Other film works by the young Devin Graham that we’ve covered include Trike Drifting and The Phantom of the Opera.

WATER DAY: Exploring Solutions to Improve Eel River Flow and Water– Saturday, March 30 at the Mateel Community Center

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

From our friends at the Eel River Recovery Project:

The third annual Water Day community forum will be held on Saturday March 30, starting at 9 AM at the Mattel Community Center in Redway and running all day.

Admission is free.  Learn from knowledgeable people about water conservation, preventing pollution, organic agriculture and permaculture, forest health and water supply, and… meet the GMO Frankensalmon!

The subject of the meeting is the health of the Eel River and how people can change their land and water use practices to allow it to recover.  The program will feature brief presentations and more lengthy panel discussions aimed at answering community questions and giving people enough information so they can take action to implement water conservation and reduce pollution.

The day will begin with presentations on the health of the Eel River.

Keith Bouma-Gregson is pursuing a doctorate at UC Berkeley and assisting the Eel River Recovery Project (ERRP) with 2013 algae monitoring.  He will talk about why the river has become susceptible to toxic algae and how we might be able to combat it.

ERRP Volunteer Coordinator Patrick Higgins will summarize 2012 water quality, flow and Chinook salmon population assessment results and then he and Keith will join a panel of other experts and volunteers to field audience
questions.

Water conservation is going to be central to getting the Eel River back in good health and the presentation and panel on this topic in the late morning will discuss technology transfer of the successful water conservation project in the upper Mattole River to the Eel River basin.  

Humboldt State University graduate student Sara Shremmer will frame the issues and then join a panel that includes water conservation experts, a hydrologist and someone with knowledge of California water law.

Kristin Nevedal of the Emerald Growers Association will chair a session on sustainable agricultural practices with the aim of reducing water pollution.  Science now is confirming what many observers have noticed:  forest and watershed health profoundly impact water yield.  

During a forest and watershed health session, those in attendance can ask experts how they can help increase water yield, reduce erosion and decrease fire risk through improved management.

Getting shade back on Eel River tributaries would help to cool water, which improves habitat for salmon, but also reduces algae blooms.  A panel of riparian restoration experts will talk about how people get stream-side trees back and possibly acquire grant funds for large scale projects.

The Eel River Recovery Project is the primary sponsor of Water Day III.  Co-sponsors include the Trees Foundation, Mateel Community Center, Sanctuary Forest, Redwood Forest Foundation, Friends of Van Duzen River, EPIC, Friends of Eel, Institute for Sustainable Forestry, Salmonid Restoration Federation, CalTrout and KMUD Radio.

Chautauqua Natural Foods, Pacific Watershed Associates, Bioengineering Associates and the Emerald Growers Association are underwriting the forum.  Los Bagels, Eureka Natural Foods and the Lost Coast Brewery are supporting Water Day with donations.

Doors will open with coffee and bagels at 8:30 AM and the program begins at 9 AM. There is no charge for admission, but donations for lunch will be accepted.

For more information or to volunteer to help on Water Day, call the Eel River Recovery Project at 223-7200 or visit the EERP website.

The Small Matsés Tribe Vs. The World (VIDEO)

Survival For Tribal Peoples

Amazon Indians from Peru and Brazil have joined together to stop a Canadian oil company destroying their land and
threatening the lives of uncontacted tribes.

Hundreds of Matsés Indians gathered on the border of Peru and Brazil last Saturday and called on their governments to stop the exploration, warning that the work will devastate their forest home.

Strategic Town Hall Meeting Saturday

Guest Post by Jack Nounnan
Humboldt Sentinel

Be at the . . .
 
Trinidad Town Hall Meeting
Saturday, March 9, 1 – 4 p.m.
Main Street, Trinidad, Ca.
 
Save Strawberry Rock and its surrounding Redwoods.
Help us turn this into a local community forest.
 
 
Exposing Green Diamond
 
We’ve been building a formidable public outcry in demanding Green Diamond eliminate their forest practices which for generations have been plundering the mountain forests just beyond our backdoors in Trinidad, Westhaven, McKinleyville, Fieldbrook, Kneeland, Blue Lake,  and Elk River.

The practices of clear-cutting and dwarfed trees, lost habitats polluted or damaged watersheds, and loss of untold numbers of creatures defies any good sense of stewardship.  No ownership implies or landlord has the right to devastate hundreds of thousands of acres.
 
To hear them at their recent Bayside meeting was to be assured of all they are doing to benefit nature, its plant life, its creatures and their habitat.

Nonsense!

Take a hike into any of their areas and see for yourself.  See if that’s not outright exploitation run amuck.

And what of the entire world’s critical need of our forest oxygen resource to offset global warming?  We’re part of a global village, all connected, all dependent upon one another.

How has this clear cutting, the exposure of these vast and bare areas continued for so long, as if unnoticed under their almost self-regulating “out of sight, out of mind” operating procedures?

It’s time for real changes in how we perceive our whole environment, our shared environment where we must live and thrive; or if negligent, paying the consequences of these companies practices.  We want legitimate appraisals of our precious environment– and the putting aside of generous shares of their immense perpetuity holdings in perpetuity for becoming real forests again.

Why have they not considered this?  Why must we be put in a position of demanding real care and considerations? We depend upon logic, not one that is fatally flawed, but real logic with a premise of true value.
 
 We’re all for good businesses, but their entire land mass of a giant plantation to harvest for their own profits should never have begun!

How can we all bring greater public notice to their practices?

Please help to spread the word by forwarding this to those immediately affected by their clear cutting and plunder of our homeland forested mountains, and by attending the meeting tomorrow at the Trinidad Town Hall at 1 p.m.

For more information:
 
Friends Of Trinidad Forests
Forest Defenders
Trinidad Tree Sit

Contact person: Abe Brower 707-845-1643

* * * * * * * * *

The Sentinel’s previous article on Strawberry Rock is here.

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

Girls are Awesome (HD VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

The amazing beauty and grace and power of women have no bounds.

The music is Need Your Heart by Adventure Club.  This high-def video is best viewed on the full screen setting.

Need we say more?  Yes.

Share it with someone you know.  Inspire, encourage, and empower them.  There are no boundaries and there are no limits– except for those we place on ourselves.

Unique Fuel Cell Will Provide Power and Heat To Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe

Renewable Energy System To Create Biomass-Generated Hydrogen

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

It hasn’t been reported in the local news, but Ballard Power Systems announced the sale of a 175-kilowatt ClearGen™ distributed generation fuel cell system to the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe of Humboldt County in their press release last week.

The system will be the first of its kind, and with the potential to double the efficiency of biomass-to-power generation, the company claims.  The fuel cell system will be integrated with a “biomass gasifier and syngas purification unit to form an integrated biomass-to-fuel cell power solution.”

Well, that’s the engineer-speak, anyway.  Engineers are complicated folks.  In other words, it will use available biomass to create cheaper, cleaner, and renewable hydrogen gas energy.

The system will convert locally-grown timber –by-product feedstock– into hydrogen-rich syngas, using pyrolysis gasification technology.  This syngas will then be purified, resulting in a high quality hydrogen stream, which will be used to power the ClearGen™ fuel cell system.

If that’s hard to digest, the company has a slick and easy-to-understand 4-minute video primer explaining it all in layman terms.

The fuel cell plant will provide base load power for the Tribe’s commercial enterprises, and by-product heat will be used to warm the swimming pool in an adjacent hotel.

Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe will integrate the ClearGen™ system, biomass gasifier and fuel purification unit with support from the Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC), a research and teaching center affiliated with Humboldt State Uni-
versity’s Environmental Resources Engineering program.

The project is supported by a proposed $1.75 million funding award to the Redwood Coast Energy Authority, a local-government joint powers agency, from the California Energy Commission’s Community Scale Renewable Energy Development Program.  The program focuses on technical solutions enabling communities to rely primarily on locally-available renewable resources to provide electricity at competitive rates.

The biomass power system will be sited at the Blue Lake Rancheria and has the potential to double the efficiency of
generating electricity from biomass.  SERC will function as
the engineering integrator for the biomass system.  SERC
engineers have already pioneered advancements in hydrogen
technology and fuel cells.

We’re eager to work with our partners to bring this system on-line,” said Peter Lehman, Founding Director of SERC.  “It will pioneer a new way to make renewable hydrogen available to produce electricity with fuel cells cleanly and efficiently.”

“It is exciting to be making significant progress toward the Tribe’s goal of exceeding California’s renewable energy standards,” commented Jana Ganion, Energy Director for the Blue Lake Rancheria, “and this type of system may fulfill the energy needs of similar communities through local, renewable resources.”

The energy upgrade project component focuses on energy efficiency, solar energy systems, and heat pumps for residences and businesses, training for equipment technicians, and other initiatives for energy conservation throughout the Mad River Valley Community.  The electric vehicle component will include installation of two charging stations within the Mad River Valley Community, and monitoring the performance of these stations over the course of one year.

“The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe is committed to renewable power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the energy efficiency of our facilities,” said Arla Ramsey, the Tribe’s vice chairperson.  “Biomass-to-fuel cell power is an excellent match for our community and our region, and we see tremendous potential for deployments beyond our own facilities.”

“Using biomass to produce hydrogen is an important enabler for distributed generation applications,” said Larry Stapleton, Ballard Power System’s Vice President of Sales.  “This initial installation will demonstrate a renewable, high efficiency, low emission solution that is cost competitive today in communities relying on diesel generators.”

Ballard Power Systems is a Canadian-based company with production facilities in Mexico.   The company, currently trading at $1.20 a share(BLDP), provides clean energy fuel cell products for a broad range of applications.

* * * * * * * *

Our hat tip goes to Mitch for the heads up.

You can see the Sentinel’s previous article on the Rancheria’s energy plans here.

We’re pleased to see the combined efforts of the Blue Lake Rancheria, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, and SERC’s Peter Lehman bringing innovative technology to Humboldt.

We’re so used to saying that if the end of the world comes, we want to be in Humboldt.  Everything comes here ten years later.

–Hundreds Hurt in Chelyabinsk by Thunderous Blast and Flying Glass– (VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

The sky really is falling and the end is near.

Numerous buildings were damaged and more than 1,100
people suffered injuries, most of them minor, when chunks
of space rock plummeted into the Russian Urals this morning.

A huge meteorite flared through the skies over Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, triggering a powerful shock wave that injured nearly a thousand people, blew out windows and reportedly caused the roof of a factory to collapse.

It came as a complete surprise to all.  The exploding meteorite was not detected by radar or any other early warning systems as it dangerously plowed through the atmosphere towards Earth above Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 930 miles east of Moscow.

Multiple videos immediately posted online showed the meteor’s flaring arc cross the western Siberia sky.  Others included the sound of a loud boom, followed by car alarms, and shattered windows everywhere.  One video showed the hurried evacuation of an office building in Chelyabinsk as
workers fell to the ground in panic and confusion.

“There was panic.  People had no idea what was happening.  Everyone was going around to people’s houses to check if they were OK,” Chelyabinsk resident Sergey Hametov told The Associated Press. 

“We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was– and we heard a really loud thundering sound,” Hametov said.

Another resident described the meteorite’s bright “flash”:  “I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend,” Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name, aid to Reuters.  “Then there was a tremendous flash and I saw a trail of white smoke across the sky and I felt a thundering shock wave that broke and smashed windows.”

“I went to see what that flash in the sky was about,” recalled resident Marat Lobkovsky.  “And then the window glass shattered, bouncing back on me. My beard was cut open, but not deep.  They patched me up.  It’s OK now.”

Another resident, Valya Kazakov, said some elderly women in his neighborhood started crying out that the world was ending.

Initial estimates put the number of injured around 900, with close to 100 people being hospitalized.

Chelyabinsk health official Marina Moskvicheva said as many as 985 people had requested medical assistance in the city, many for injuries caused by broken glass, smashed doors, and flying debris.

No fatalities were reported.

The meteor, which was estimated as weighing 10 tons, cut a remarkably bright and blazing ribbon across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake that could be seen 125 miles away.  The Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement that the space rock entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least
33,000 mph, according to the AP, and exploded with
a shocking blast above Russia at 32,000 feet.

Some authorities in Russia say that the event was a
meteor shower, and not a single meteor, that split off
from an asteroid before entering the Earth’s
atmosphere.

Many Chelyabinsk residents thought the blazing meteor trail and subsequent explosion was a nuclear missle strike at first.  Now, they’re apprehensive the rest of the asteroid’s fragments will rain down on them, the remaining astral chunks following in succession and resulting in additional meteor strikes targeting their region.

On a Beautiful Planet
(VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Get out and try something new today.

Stretch those limbs.  Stretch your spirit.  Stretch the
possible before you.

Reach out to yourself, reach out to another, reach outside. 

It’s another beautiful day in Humboldt, and a fortunate one living on the planet. 

There’s only so much time left.  You only have so many days to give.  This is one of them.

Life and love is short:  86,400 seconds shorter, to be exact.

* * * * * * * * *

The above high-def video is best viewed at the full-screen setting.  You can click off the annoying boxes that appear.

(For Rachael, our beautiful Princess)

SoHum Label GMOs Group Asking You Take Action Now

Rosa Rashall & Isis Austin
Co-leaders, SoHum Label GMOs Group

On December 21, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft environmental assessment of the genetically engineered salmon in which they said that the salmon “would not have a significant impact on the U.S. environment.”  The FDA also concluded the salmon to be “as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon.”

If all goes as expected, the salmon could be available for consumers by late next year.  How

not labeled yet?

This genetically engineered salmon will be the first GMO animal to be approved by the FDA.  These genetically engineered salmon are Atlantic salmon that combines a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and a control gene from an eel-like fish called the ocean pout that cranks out the growth hormone.

The FDA chose to review AquaAdvantage (the patented name for this new “Frankenfish”) as an animal drug, rather than a human food.  In the FDA’s view, the refashioned DNA that is in every cell of the fish’s body is considered a drug, and that’s what the agency is regulating.  If approved, the AquaAdvantage salmon would not only be the first GE animal approved for human consumption, but also the first animal drug that’s theoretically capable of swimming off into the ocean and reproducing.

Michael Hansen, a scientist at the Consumers Union states:

Because AquaAdvantage fish grow many times faster, and become mature much more quickly than wild salmon, they may have the ability to out-compete wild salmon for food, and to reproduce at a much faster rate.  There is no doubt that once the AquaAdvantage GMO salmon escape they will begin to rapidly diminish the wild population.

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a release of just 60 GE salmon into a wild population of 60,000 would lead to the extinction of the wild population in less than 40 fish generations.  This is a horrible thought especially considering how we have been recently celebrating the regeneration of the local salmon population.

GMO salmon are unnecessary.  They are a threat not only to the native salmon population and the fishing industry but most of all, to our biodiversity.

Once these GMO salmon escape into the wild there is no putting them back.  It is like Pandora’s box, so to speak.  What will happen when bears, eagles, otters and humans begin eating GMO salmon for the first time ever?  We just don’t know, but one can only wonder if eating GMO salmon may potentially have the ability to alter the DNA of those consuming it.  Studies regarding eating other types of GMO foods have clearly shown that this is entirely possible.

How do you feel about GMO salmon?  If you think the FDA is making a short-sighted decision, please express your concerns before the FDA public comment period ends.

Please comment before Midnight,  Monday, February 25, EST.

Here is the ACTION ITEM info for FEBRUARY 1st

Please do both action items. If you can’t do it February 1st, you have until the 25th to submit a comment.

 

GLOBAL ACTION~~Call the FDA on Friday February 1st to demand that they halt the approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon.

 

If you are on Facebook, please RSVP to the event here if you haven’t already done so:

https://www.facebook.com/events/533344193357065/ 

 

 

1)  Call AND email the FDA Center for Veterinarian Medicine 

~ Phone: 240-276-9300 ( 9 a.m. -5 p.m. EST) or (TOLL FREE at 888-463-6332 : when prompted, press 3 ‘to speak with an FDA representative,’ then press 6 for ‘animal, drugs & feed.’  This will take you to the office of FDA Center for Veterinarian Medicine.)

Leave your message with your concern about the approval of GMO Salmon with a return number where you can be reached. 

~AND Email:  AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov

 

2)  Leave your comment to the FDA here before the Feb. 25th, 2013 deadline 

~ Docket # FDA-2011-N-0899. http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResults;rpp=25;po=0;s=FDA-2011-N-0899;fp=true;ns=true .  This is extremely important, too. 

Or comment by mail to:

 

Division of Document Management (HFA 305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Ln. Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20852 

 

A sample script of what you might include is as follows:

As a concerned (citizen/mother/fisherman/etc), I ask you not to approve AquaBounty’s transgenic salmon for human consumption.  Genetically modified fish pose a real threat to natural marine species and the long-term effects of consuming transgenic meat have not been sufficiently researched.  Worse, FDA’s approval of transgenic salmon could open the floodgates for genetically modified animals worldwide.  I ask that you reject its approval.

* * * * * * *

Thank you, everyone–  please pass this on.

Rosa Rashall & Isis Austin
Co-leaders, SoHum Label GMOs Group

 

 

 

 

(Images by the Humboldt Sentinel.  Posted by Skippy Massey)

Pushing the Outer Limits of Reality

(VIRAL VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Some people have the thrill-seeking talent, daring desire, and the ability for pushing the normal limits of physical boundaries
to an almost inner death wish level.  It’s something peculiar to being
human.

And most would like to fly.  But if you can’t fly, levitation– if only for a few earthly seconds– comes close to the real thing.

This is the latest installment of the People are Awesome videos that’s gone viral.  Made in high definition, it’s best viewed at the ‘full screen’ level.

People are awesome.  Or incredibly insane.

Levitate song lyrics by Hadouken:

HEART IN MY MOUTH
BUT MY HEAD IN THE CLOUDS YEAH
I CAN FEEL IT RISING
BOUND TO THE EARTH
BUT WE COULD ASCEND YEAH
I’M REALISING…
I FEEL BOTH FEET LIFT OFF THE GROUND
I CAN LEVITATE
WITH EVERY CHORD THAT PLAYS
I CLOSE MY EYES AND LEVITATE…

(For Jake ‘The Snake’ S. at UCSB)

“Mate, I Found a Good One” (VIDEO)

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Some folks have all the luck.

An anonymous amateur prospector in southern Australia
has unearthed a huge piece of gold, reportedly worth more
than $300,000.  The man found the 177 troy ounce nugget
near Ballarat, Victoria.

The prospector passed the gold on to a mining exchange
in Ballarat, reportedly saying, ‘Mate, I found a good one.’

If sold at market value it would be worth just shy of $300,000, but its extreme rarity would mean it be worth far more, according to Cordell Kent, owner of the Ballarat Mining Exchange Gold Shop.

Such a large nugget such may be worth upwards of half a million dollars for individuals and museums desiring to add the unique and rare speciman to their collections.

“If you are silly enough to melt it down, it would be worth just under $300,000 on market value but as a nugget at this size and shape, it’s worth significantly more than that,” Kent said.  “I can’t remember a nugget this big ever
being found locally.”

The exact location and the identity of the lucky prospector
remain secret, but Kent said the “very pure” nugget was
found within 18 miles of Ballarat.

The massive nug was found about 2 feet below the surface of the ground.  The man was using a $6,000 state-of-the-art Minelab GPX5000 super metal detector with a small coil, which meant he was able to find the gold relatively deep underground in an area which had been searched many times in the past.

The prospector said it sounded like the hood of a car going off through his headphones.  He noticed the ground wasn’t disturbed so the area hadn’t been previously searched before.  The Y-shaped nugget was lying flat in the clay and gravel soil below, and when he carefully dug it up, was surprised to find a solid chunk of gold measuring 8.6 inches long , 5.5 inches wide, and having a maximum thickness of nearly 2 inches.

The man had only made small finds before, Kent said, but he was “a person that really deserved it.  Up until yesterday the smallest nugget he had found was a small one, about a quarter of an ounce.”

Kent said the giant nugget is of national and historical significance and he hopes to sell it within Australia.  Given its size, there would need to be special permission granted for it to be exported overseas.  He also predicted there would be a fresh gold rush hit the Ballarat region.

“We’re so far into a gold rush and we have years and years and years of hope ahead of us.  It’s unbelievable.  I’ve got no doubt there will be a lot of people who will be very enthusiastic about the goldfields again,” the Ballarat Courier quoted him as saying.

“It gives people hope.  It’s my dream to find something like that, and I’ve been prospecting for more than two decades.  There’s nothing like digging up money, it’s good fun,” Kent said.

The last reported gold nugget found in the Ballarat region was in July of last year.  That nugget, named Destiny, weighed 117 troy ounces and was discovered in the Golden Triangle region of Ballarat, Bendigo and Stawell of Australia.

A short 23-second video clip of the massive nug can be seen here.

Old-Growth Redwood Tree Flaming, Smoking 70 Feet High

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

On Saturday, December 15 at about 10:30 in the morning, officers from the Arcata Police Department and two engine crews from the Arcata Fire Department were dispatched to the Arcata Community Forest on a report of
a tree on fire, APD reported.

On arrival, firefighters and officers discovered an old-growth
redwood tree with active fire extending about 70 feet up the tree.

The tree, estimated to be about 15 feet in diameter at the base, had likely been on fire for up to 24 hours, based on the extension of fire throughout the tree.

Firefighters used 2500 gallons of water in battling the blaze– but due to the height of the active fire in the tree, were not able to fully extinguish the fire.

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.  Dimming with advancing years, it’s often kept in a far away place separate from the real world of life.

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

Soaked and Soggy:  The Worse is Yet to Come

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel
Treading Water Department

If you haven’t noticed, it’s pretty wet outside.  To the bone.

Weather authorities are urging Northern California residents
to be prepared for possible power outages and flooding on urban
streets and in small streams, along with caution for boaters on the Northern California coastline as a series of storms are expected to bring heavy rain and wind to the Central and Northern California.

Between six and 10 inches of rain will fall on Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties during a five-day period and at least two storm systems, according to the National Weather Service’s Hydrologic Outlook.  It’s not looking good.  In fact, it’s looking downright crappy.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flood watch and wind advisory predicted to wallop the North Coast today and the rest of the week.

The Rivers

The Eel River at Fernbridge is expected to rise into flood stage over the next five days, according to the National Weather Service.  What happens after that is anyone’s guess.  The Mendocino Office of Emergency Services (OES) is advising that the “storm door remains open” for ground saturation and additional weather systems moving in.

“This storm sequence should wet basins down pretty well, making subsequent events much more effective, and the long-range guidance suggests that the storm door is remaining open,” the OES statement said.

That’s bad.  In other words, it’s wet and it’s gonna get more wet.  If you’re near a river, get ready to run for the hills.

The following rivers will rise to ‘monitor stage’—meaning low-lying properties and livestock could be at risk for rising waters:

• The Van Duzen River at Bridgeville
• Klamath River at Klamath
• Smith River at Doctor Fine Bridge
• Mad River at Arcata
• Eel River at Scotia
• South Fork Eel River at Miranda
• Local street flooding and small stream flooding are also possible during heavy rains.

The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services said earlier that major widespread flooding is not expected, but the office will be monitoring the storm with excited anticipation that only disaster specialists could relish and live for.

No Rest for the Wicked

While heavy winds and rain are expected to diminish by Friday, there’s no rest for the wicked.  Heavens, no.  Heavy rains and winds will return by Friday night through Sunday morning, leading to additional river level rises.  It will be an exciting time, the NWS promised, but with rain tapering off by Monday, they glumly added.

The NWS also issued a wind advisory for Humboldt and Del Norte counties today, warning that south winds could reach 40 mph with 55 mph gusts on exposed headlands and points.  The strongest winds are expected this morning but could persist into the afternoon.

This news gave the NWS a little rise and excitement to their radars.  Hearing this, however, some nimwitted noodles and ninny-minded oafs will undoubtedly head for those lofty headlands and forlorn points for a good dose of god-forsaken risky adventure.  Don’t be swayed by these dimwitted buffoons and boneheads, people.  It’s miserable outside.

The service also warned with glee that falling trees and branches pose a major threat and advised people to stay indoors and avoid traveling.  They love this kind of stuff.  Indeed, the streets around Eureka are seeing less traffic than usual today, but the blare of police emergency sirens running to and fro of mischievous incidents, accidents and general weather mayhem-ness is a curious cocktail of sorts for neck-craning oglers.

The weather service received reports of trees down on the Avenue of the Giants and some flooding on small roads near Fernbridge today,
the Times-Standard reported.  Local utilities and safety agencies are
on alert for potential power outages and hazardous conditions that could result from the storm; however no major outages were reported by PG&E yet.  Crews are on standby and happily looking for overtime.  Friday is payday.

The Coast Guard is urging people to avoid low-lying beaches and other coastal areas including jetties and rocky areas during the stormy conditions, as “large waves can quickly and unexpectedly sweep a wobbly person from these areas.” 

Ocean enthusiasts are also urged to avoid the water during storm conditions, according to the Coasties.  Mariners are urged to check safety equipment to make sure it’s working before launching, but only if “it’s necessary to get under way.”  Heck, it’s always necessary to get underway, Coasties believe.  Their motto?   The higher the wave, the cooler the breeze.  Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.  Drunk Skippers and Gilligans do the same.

The Coast Guard advises boat owners to check moorings and anchoring arrangements because vessels not properly secured during a storm can break free, often as a result of worn lines, not enough lines, or an improperly sized anchor or chain.  Thus your vessel becomes a hazard to nearby vessels.  They encourage vessel owners and operators to take extra precautions during these strong winds and heavy seas.  Just don’t get swept into the water doing so.  They like rescuing you; but like anyone else, they’d prefer to stay warm and dry and comfy in their cozy beds and quarters.  We fully agree.  It’s hard to beat Grandma’s feather bed.

Gimme Shelter

The Times-Standard reported Eureka’s extreme weather shelter will likely be open for the next several nights, Eureka Main Street Executive Director Charlotte McDonald said.  The Eureka Rescue Mission is near capacity, and heavy rains and high winds prompted the shelter to open.

”It would be irresponsible for any of us to not have that available,” McDonald said.

Yes, it would be, Charlotte.  Thank you.  Shelter is good.  We’d rather be homeless in Malibu, but it is what it is.

The Eureka Rescue Mission provides intake to the shelter between 5:30 and 6 p.m. at 110 Second Street in Eureka.

The City of Eureka announced sandbags are available to citizens who experience flooding during upcoming weather.  Sand bags and sand can be picked up near the City’s corporation yard at 945 West 14th St.  More information is available by calling Public Works Operations Manager Frank Mathes at 441-4253.

You just can’t have enough sand.  Otherwise, Public Works hope you’ll leave them alone after you’ve had your fill.  They’ll be busy running around unclogging drains, shoring up other weather-related disasters, and watching with wonder just how much larger Eureka’s infamous potholes can become.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kym Thompson said that stormy weather brings an influx of dogs to the county animal shelter.  Windy weather can cause gates to blow open and fences to blow down, allowing dogs to escape.  Noises, high winds, and freaky weather spooks pets.

”Lots of things scare dogs,” Thompson said. “They just take off and run.  When inclement weather is coming — if it’s at all possible — bring your dog inside,” Thompson said.  Good advice.  We like to be inside during raging storms, too.  Arabs brought their horses inside their tents during crazy sandstorms.  It’s just better in there.

To locate a missing pet, call the Sheriff’s Animal Shelter at 840-9132 or visit www.petharbor.com, which is updated hourly with pets turned into the shelter.

The Quick and the Disaster-Prone

Pacific Gas & Electric urged customers to prepare for possible power outages.  They don’t want you to be a dim bulb.  Precautions to take include:

• Keep battery-powered flashlights and radios with fresh batteries ready, and to listen for updates on storm conditions and power outages.  In the past, KHUM, KMUD, and KHSU delivered.  Many beady eyes glowed in the dark listening to KHUM’s Cliff and Amy Berkowitz broadcasting live from their living room couch during our mighty windstorms that had cut power across the County for five days.  Their voices were as reassuring to us as Xanax.  If Amy and Cliff could do it, we told ourselves, so could we!
• If your phone requires electricity to work (as cordless phones do), plan for alternate communication, such as a standard telephone handset, cellular phone or a pager as a backup.  Yelling works.
• Freeze plastic containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be put in your refrigerator or freezer during an outage to keep foods from spoiling.  Yeah, that’s always our first priority when danger’s knocking at our door.  Nothing worse than soggy Tater Tots.
• Embrace the living.  Assume any downed power lines are live, stay away from them, and call 9-1-1 to report them.  Notify PG&E at 800-743-5002 if you survived.
• Before reporting a power outage, check to see if other neighbors are affected.  If only your residence is without power, check circuit breakers and/or fuse boxes because life is going to suck for you real fast.  If that’s the case, say hello and move into  your neighbor’s house.
• PG&E advises that people need and like food.  And holiday hot toddies.  Having some available for basic survival needs and dampening, flagging spirits when the going gets tough is a wise and prudent move.

Not to be left out, Humboldt Bay Fire also provided a longer list of storm preparedness rules to go along with those slick circulars they mail out:

• Have a plan, dummy. Be prepared for the storm by obtaining items such as batteries, flashlights, and a weather radio ahead of the storm’s arrival.  Otherwise we hope those swimming lessons come in handy.
• Stay informed of changing weather conditions.  Like, look outside, look both ways, and take a gamble.  Life has risks.
• Only go out into the weather if you must.  Yeah, we look forward to being soaking wet, too.
• When driving in inclement weather, slow down. Allow for additional time to get to your destination.  If you drive like hell, you’ll soon be there.
• Be aware of standing water on the roadways which may cause vehicles to hydroplane.  It may look like fun, but you’ll end up plowing into Mrs. Wilson’s petunias.
• Use your headlights during wet weather.  It’s good to see who’s plowing into you after hitting Ms. Wilson’s petunias.
• Look out for debris on roadways such as rocks, trees, and limbs.  Especially as they fall from above onto you.
• High winds may make operation of vehicles difficult.  Really?  The things we learn through trial and error.
• Watch out for downed power lines.  Do not attempt to approach a down power line.  Don’t touch them unless you enjoy living life vicariously and enjoy getting zapped into the next afterlife.
• Be aware of rapidly rising streams and flooding on roadways.  Do not attempt to cross flooded roadways unless you have nine lives and a spare boat in the trunk.  There may be a swift current that can cause a vehicle to be swept away.  Remember the Poseidon Adventure?
• If you are using a generator, use it only outdoors.  If you thought cigarettes were bad, wait until you get a load of diesel and gas exhaust in your humble adobe putting you fast to sleep.
• Only fuel emergency generators when they are cool to avoid fuel fires.  Remember the Towering Inferno?  How about the time you nearly burned the house down making the deep-fried turkey?
• Get yourself a good pair of rubbers (Oh, get your head out of the gutter, people; we mean rain boots.  Like the cute ‘lil red numbers adorning the adorable piglet above).  Have several umbrellas on hand since they’ll be turned inside out like pretzels in short order.  Remember the Perfect Storm?  They didn’t have umbrellas.  Look what happened.
• Be on the Lookout (BOLO) for zombies.  Ammo and fire axes are always good to have on hand.  Remember Day of the Dead?  Road Warrior?  Wizard of Oz?
• If you hear Cliff and Amy on the radio, pack up your stuff, grab the pets, and split.  It’s gonna be bad, really bad.

Forecast:  Doom and Gloom

Here’s the weekend forecast, as if you can’t read and didn’t know what’s already coming by now:

• Thursday:   Rain.  The rain could be heavy at times.  Southeast wind 22 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.  New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches are possible.  Not bad; you can handle it.
• Thursday night:   Rain.  The rain could be heavy at times.  Wind gusts as high as 39 mph.  New precipitation amounts between three quarters and
  one inch are possible.  Your patience will be tested.
• Friday:   Showers– could be heavy at times.  Gusts as high as 22 mph.  That’s not good.  OMG.
• Friday night:  More rain– heavy at times.  OK, that’s enough.  Make it stop!
• Saturday:   Rain on top of rain.  Black ants will organize a mass invasion into your house.  ARWWGH!!
• Saturday night:   Raining cats and dogs. The rain could be heavy at times; the cats and dogs obese.  They said it’s going to be cloudy?  No duh.  Rain, rain, and did we say more rain?  Your gutters will be overflowing, your septic system sogged.  Toilets will overflow.  Beer ran out long ago.  It’s a crappy day.
• Sunday:   More freakin’ RAIN!  You’ve been inside for four days now!  The smell of mold is pervasive.  We’re going nuts.  Going off the rails on a crazy rain?
• Sunday afternoon:   Not only did they say rain but they had to add there will be a 100% chance of precipitation.  Consider tanning sessions.  You’re looking mighty pasty.  Put Noah on speed dial.  Dread hearing Cliff and Amy soon.
• Sunday night:   Showers on top of rain on top of showers likely?   Prepare to rust.  Sweet Pete, haven’t we had enough?  We thought global warming was a myth, the GOP and Koch Bro’s told us.  Like, how many different ways can you describe showers and rain?  It’s becoming like Eskimo snow.  Tempers are on edge.  Shoes and socks are wet.  Dog smells.  There’s no sun in sight and the BBQ and Jazzercise seasons are long gone.  Even Sudoku and Words With Friends can’t save us now.  And just wait until your iPod, iPhone, and iPad batteries go out.  No more iStuff for you!  Hunker down for three more weeks of the Big Grey.  That is, if the liquid sunshine ever stops coming down.
• Long Range Forecast:   Honolulu’s looking good right now, but we’d settle for Death Valley.

In short:  embrace cabin fever.  You’re gonna love the rain while walking circles through the Bayshore Mall looking for exercise like a cheeky monkey looks for papaya.

 As a reminder, the public can check road conditions by calling 1-800-427-7623, or visiting www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi.  Power outages can be viewed online at www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/outages.  Just sayin’.

Stay warm and dry.  It’s going to be a long and wet haul.  Fortunately, no earthquakes or tsunamis have been scheduled that we know of.  Save your sanity and patience in the meanwhile.  Curl up with some hot minty tea and a good disaster book.  War and Peace.

It could be worse.  A whole lot worse.

The Willits News, Mendocino Beacon, Times-Standard, NWS, and Mendocino OES contributed to this report– along with tongue-in-cheek comments and images for a rainy day.

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

Posts Google Earth Cannabis Video For All to See

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

This just came over the news wires an hour ago:  an aerial tour of Humboldt County’s marijuana plantations called the ‘Green Rush Google Earth Tour’ posted on YouTube.

Made by the Humboldt State Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, illicit or legal marijuana cultivation in the Emerald Triangle is now out there for all to see in concise and easy pinpoint fashion. All in the interests of scientific research, of course.

The HSU Institute advised about the silent, 4-minute video documenting the location of grows from the air:

The grows are prolific, large, and exposed.  There does appear to be significant building, grading, non-permitted road and structure construction, and environmental degradation from the few representative samples shown.

Taken using GPS coordinates and pinpointed with red dots, you may want to see if your bud farm was photographed and exposed– or that of your neighbors.  If so, you may want to start harvesting your weed if you haven’t already done so, and begin some squeaky-clean sweeping and mopping up operations soon.  And start being environmentally responsible.

The question may be:  do law enforcement or the Feds know about this?

Undoubtedly and unequivocally so.  If we found it, they already did long ago.  Seeing as how the HSU marijuana research group posted their clip on YouTube today– and it’s now making the news wires in a high profile, public, and nondiscretionary sort of way– we’d have to say, ‘Yes.’   And we were probably the last ones to find out about it.

This is the same group inviting Humboldt County’s pot growers to talk to them so they could “collect data” and ”conduct research” to assess how much impact the marijuana industry has.

The HSU marijuana institute says their mission and objectives are to:

Create a high-profile Institute within Humboldt State University for the purpose of providing marijuana policy analysis…  Serve as a clearinghouse of marijuana related research engaging in the.. collecting, analyzing, and disseminating of data to the public and to policymakers …and collaborating with institutions and agencies.

…To improve the economic, social, physical, and environmental health of individuals and communities through the scientific study of marijuana.

(We) design, conduct, analyze, and disseminate research… to policy makers, researchers, health professionals, businesses, and the media.

We surmise the Institute will be addressing this video and the information they gathered at their upcoming seminar November 27 at HSU.

There is no privacy in this age of technology.  Or trust.  What’s in your backyard?

* * * * * * * * *

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

“No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists” states NOAA

By Charles Douglas
Humboldt Sentinel

A general tsunami warning has been issued for the West Coast of North America after a 7.7 earthquake struck  the Queen Charlotte Islands area of British Columbia, Canada, just south of the Alaskan Panhandle at 8:04 p.m. tonight.

“No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” stated the official bulletin of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, a project of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Nonetheless, NOAA did issue a general regional warning for coasts located near the earthquake. Any swells that were generated by the earthquake, which occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, would be expected to reach Crescent City at about 10:53 p.m. tonight.

No evacuations of areas along the North Coast of California or the South Coast of Oregon are planned at this time.

UPDATE: According to Humboldt State University geology professor Lori Dengler of the Redwood Coast Tsunami Working Group, the surface wave at a detection station measured only a few inches high. The warning only remains in effect for the British Columbia Coast from the northern tip of Vancouver Island, as well as the southeastern coast of Alaska.

Wednesday’s UFO Meteor Lit up Skies With a Fiery Boom and Finish

–Photos of the Dazzling Display; More Meteors to Come This Weekend–

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

The Twittersphere, Facebook, and switchboards from Sohum
to Monterey lit up like a Christmas tree over the meteor
streaking across the sky Wednesday evening in a glorious
blaze of fire.

“I looked up and it was like one single firework going across the sky,” one observer said.

“I’ve seen shooting stars before.  This was much brighter, much bigger and it seemed closer.  We saw the sky light up like lightning, a ball of fire shooting across the sky with a long tail.”

The bright flash and loud boom that stunned residents and lit up the sky around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday was likely a large chunk of rock — something around the size of a microwave to a small Hyundai — that was part of the circulating debris left over from the formation of the universe, or from the collision of two asteroids, said Ben Burress, a staff astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.

The meteor probably entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a blazing speed of 10 to 20 miles per second, breaking the sound barrier and creating the sonic boom as it traveled faster than the speed of sound then began to burn up, Burress said. 

It was moving in a south to north direction.

Some heard the boom, others heard what sounded like an earthquake.  All said it was an impressive display.

Did it entirely burn up as it tore through the sky?  Or could chunks of fiery rock, known as meteorites, have struck somewhere throughout the area? 

No one knows, although Burress fielded several calls from people hoping to go on a mad dash to try to find some. 

Small pieces of meteorite, aside from being uniquely interesting, are also valuable.  Because they mostly burn up in the atmosphere and are hard to locate, they are considered rare; even the smallest specimens may command up to $1,000 and more.  If you’re lucky enough to find a piece, you’ll know immediately.  A meteorite is unlike any other rock you’ve come across:  heavy, metallic, oddly shaped and pockmarked from its long molten journey through space and the atmosphere.

Photographs showed the fireball breaking up as it plunged, Burress said, so if there are any pieces they are likely to be very small.

The meteor happened to blaze across the sky at the same time the Earth is passing through a stream of dusty rocks that follows Halley’s comet.  That typically lights up the pre-dawn sky with shooting stars at this time of year.

But that is believed to be merely a coincidence since this meteor came from the opposite direction as the comet, Burress said.  Because the meteors from Halley’s comet streak out of the constellation Orion, astronomers refer to them as “Orionids.”

People are still buzzing about one of most memorable sky events seen in years, but don’t be disappointed if you missed it.  You’ll have another chance to see more shooting stars early this Sunday morning, Oct. 21, which will be prime viewing time for the Orionid meteor shower.  You might also catch a few on Saturday, too.

Numerous other shooting stars should be in view this weekend, although probably nothing as dramatic as Wednesday’s event.

And that’s only if our infamous fog barrier on the North Coast clears.

As it does each year, early fall brings crisper air and better visibility for the Orionid meteor shower.  This year’s best viewing will be in the several hours around midnight October 20 and before dawn on October 21.

Orionid meteors appear to fall from above the star Betelgeuse, the bright orange star marking the shoulder of the constellation Orion.  At its late-night peak, this year’s shower is expected to produce around 25 meteors per hour.  The first-quarter Moon will set around midnight, so its light won’t interfere with the celestial show.

Photo credit:  Bruce Anderson
(Posted by Skippy Massey)

Farm Bureau, other opponents fail to show up

By Thomas Bradshaw
Humboldt Sentinel

As of today, Humboldt County is on record in favor of labeling food as “Genetically Engineered” if is is directly contaminated by genetically modified organisms.

The decision came at this morning’s Board of Supervisors session where all of one opponent appeared from the public to condemn Proposition 37, the Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act; only newly seated First District Supervisor Rex Bohn was persuaded enough to dissent from his colleagues in a 4-1 vote.

“I’m so concerned that the Farm Bureau and so many of the organic dairies are confused,” Bohn said. “I’m confused.”

Attempting to clear up the confusion, Label GMOs campaigner Rosa Rachel contested the assertions of lone opponent Denver Nelson, a Cutten resident and dairy farmer, who claimed that genetic modification was a 3-billion-year-old process.

“The process bears no resemblance to selective breeding,” Rachel said. “This is new, this is a lab creation, it is not natural.”

Aside from his dairy farm in Loleta, Nelson said his family also owns a farm in Iowa that grows genetically engineered corn. He said Prop. 37 would be just as useless as Prop. 65, a 1986 law approved by California voters which banned the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals into drinking water. Prop. 65 likewise required warning labels at businesses which sold products containing such carcinogens.

“It’s another example of government intervention that really is not beneficial to anybody,” Nelson said.

Every other public speaker disagreed, including representatives of the North Coast Co-Op and Eureka Natural Foods. The only farmer on the Board of Supervisors, Fortuna cider baron Clif Clendenen, was the one who put the matter up for a vote today.

“Let’s let the consumers decide,” he said.

His point was echoed by Supervisor Mark Lovelace, who said it was a teachable moment.

“If somebody believes [genetic engineering] is a good thing, they should want to differentiate that in the market,” he said. “It just helps consumers be informed, it’s not a pejorative.”

The food producers themselves have weighted in heavily across California in an attempt to persuade their own consumers about the merits of GMO labeling. Over $25 million has been raised to defeat Prop. 37 as of today — over $4 million from Monsanto (a biotechnology megacorp) and Dupont (a chemical megacorp) and over $1 million from Pepsi, BASF, Bayer, DOW Agrisciences, Nestle, Coca-Cola and Conagra. Supporters of Prop. 37 have raised a little over $2.6 million, including $1.1 million from osteopath and alternative healthcare advocate Joseph Mercola, $770k from the Organic Consumers Fund and $610,709 from Nature’s Path Foods.

Despite their well-heeled campaign spawning massive television and radio campaigns across the state and push poll phone calls which have reportedly been received in Humboldt County already, Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said he hadn’t heard from a single opponent until this morning.

“I personally don’t care, it wouldn’t bother me at all, but I understand that some people do,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything in [Prop. 37] that will destroy everything.”

After the motion prevailed, Sundberg followed up with a warning to voters.

“Just because the Board of Supervisors endorsed it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t do their own homework,” he said.

The latest poll from Pepperdine University puts support for Prop. 37 at 65% of likely voters. The electorate will decide on Nov. 6.

(Editor’s note: Our former news director Gabriele Fellows interviewed Rachel about the Label GMOs campaign while she was petitioning to put this initiative on the November ballot.)

Mr. Sims Scores Humboldt’s Pictures

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

It’s shocking.

In the 35-picture series of Goodbye, Mom and Pop: 35 Large-Scale Grow Operations in the North Coast Backwoods, Hank Sims and Kym Kemp of the Lost Coast Outpost have definitively shown marijuana’s destructively growing impact in Humboldt County for the first time.  It’s a major photo score of what’s taking place in our backyard when folks get footloose, fancy free, and, well, grossly greedy.

Obtained from law enforcement sources, the Lost Coast Outpost’s photographic slide show illustrates what some cannabis cultivators are doing while underscoring what’s also taking place:  logging clearcuts, illegal road building and unpermitted structures, water diversions, and the like.  Please, people.  If you’re going to be clandestinely illegal, at least be ethically upright.

Understand, each of the 35 pictures appear to be of a separate grow op.  Multiply this by thirty-fold and you get an idea of what’s really been going on behind the scenes.

Some things the pictures can’t show are the greedy grower’s dirty little weed secrets:  water diversions sucked up from local sources, the loss of wildlife, diesel and chemical spills, and the fertilizer, pesticide, and silt runoff slipping into the nearby creeks, rivers, and watersheds.

Mr. Sims writes:

The Lost Coast Outpost recently acquired a set of images from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force that sort of shakes us out of this stupor. These are aerial photos of grow scenes throughout the North Coast that were taken between 2009 and 2011. These seem all to be on private land in the boondocks, and the scale of operations they depict are sometimes hard to credit. Many of them depict illegal grading, massive landscaping and/or tree-falling, and voracious water usage. The Aquarian live-lightly-on-the-land ethos seems to have bypassed these types entirely.

We suggest giving the photographs a look here if you haven’t done so already.  With 179 comments, the issue has generated a fair amount of controversy across the board from different sides of the Humboldt spectrum.

As Mr. Sims said, “Holy moly, but some of these things are huge.”

 Photo credit:  Lost Coast Outpost

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Tulare Joins Multi-City Suit Against Dow, Shell

By Philip A. Janquart,
Courthouse News Service

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – The City of Tulare is the latest municipality to join the now 20-plus lawsuits filed against Dow Chemical and Shell Oil Companies on Monday, claiming the manufacturers knowingly sold fumigants consisting of toxic 1,2,3-Trichloropropane (TCP) to farmers looking to terminate a problematic species of worm.

The chemical has leached into dozens of municipal water wells, according to the Superior Court complaints.

The nematode, or roundworm, is broken into about a million different species, falling into either the “free-living’ or parasitic categories.  Farmers in California’s 22,500-square mile Central Valley have fought the pest with various products manufactured by Dow, Shell and co-defendant Occidental Chemical Corporation since the 1940′s, and extending through the 1980′s.

TCP is the byproduct of certain chemical processes used in the manufacturing of commercial soil fumigant products.

“TCP has unique characteristics that cause extensive environmental contamination and a corresponding threat to the public health and welfare,” the complaint states.  ”In particular, TCP does not readily absorb to soil particles.  Rather, once it is applied, it is readily transported through the subsurface and into groundwater.  In addition, TCP is known to be persistent;  it does not readily biodegrade or chemically degrade naturally in the subsurface.”

The toxic chemical is also very difficult and costly to remove.  It’s not something the people should have to pay for, said San Francisco attorney Todd Robins.

“This is a potent carcinogen and very expensive chemical to clean up,” Robins told Courthouse News.  ”The bottom line is that the disadvantaged communities in the Central Valley should not have to choose between clean water and affordable water.”

Wilbur Ellis and J.R. Simplot Companies, along with FMC Corporation, are also listed as defendants since they are responsible for using products containing the toxic chemical that is contaminating municipal wells and water supplies.

There are no safe levels for TCP.  It is known to cause liver and kidney damage, blood disorders and cancer in animals, according to the complaint, and is “known to the State of California to cause cancer for the purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.”

Of particular consternation to plaintiffs is the fact that, “The TCP contained in soil fumigant products containing TCP served no beneficial purpose,” the complaint states.

“It’s the hazardous waste stream that Shell and Dow put into barrels and convinced farmers to put in the ground for them,” Robins said.

The complaint also claims the companies tried to hide the presence of the toxic chemical and that the manufacturing defendants, ‘by agreement and understanding, knowingly pursued to plan, design, and/or conspire to market and promote products they knew to be dangerous to the environment,” the complaint states.  ”In particular, these defendants engaged in joint activity for the specific purpose of suppressing, concealing and/or minimizing information regarding the toxicity and persistence of TCP.”

The California Central Valley stretches 450 miles south of Redding to Bakersfield and is 40 to 60 miles wide, sitting between the Pacific coast mountain ranges and the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi mountain  ranges.

* * * * * * * *

You are what you eat.  And drink.

Whether or not you choose to buy and eat organic foods and/or support the organic model is a matter of personal choice.  However, agri-business practices that systemically contaminate people– or municipal water supplies— is simply intolerable and unacceptable.  Choose wisely.  Poisoning the village well was once punishable by death.

The cancer-linked substance TCP is a ‘garbage chemical,’ a leftover by-product of the plastic-making industry.  State and federal regulators are working to regulate its use.

Tulare, an agricultural growing powerhouse joining the lawsuit with 20 other plaintiffs, merits concern and pause for our chemically-laden agricultural practices taking place in the nation’s bread basket.  Other cities waiting in line with lawsuits include Kern County, Clovis, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, Visalia, Delano and Lamont.

Plenty of people in the water business are paying close attention, too.  There are two dozen public water systems suing the manufacturers and distributors.  It’s expected there could be hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to clean up this cancer-linked toxin in the Central Valley.

Our grandparents once told us, “We didn’t know what ‘organic’ was then.  It was the 1940s and everything we ate and grew on the farm was organic.  We just didn’t happen to know it at the time.” 

They lived full, healthy, and rich lives well into their 90s.

The City of Tulare’s filed lawsuit can be viewed here.

More on the TCP suits can be found here, here, and also here.

This article is by the kind courtesy of Courthouse News Service and Philip A. Janquart.  It has been slightly abridged. 

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

Judge rebukes petitioners challenging state’s Environmental Impact Statement

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale Reinholtsen issued a favorable verdict for Caltrans in the case of Lotus v. Department of Transportation today.

In this high profile case, a group of individuals and organizations including the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Center for Biological Diversity, and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CAT), objected to Caltrans’ Environmental Impact Statement (EIR) for the Richardson Grove Improvement Project, claiming the state agency was going too fast and too far, and proposing to cut too many trees for their planned expansion and alignment of Highway 101, located in the Richardson Grove State Park south of Garberville.

Judge Reinholtsen not only  disagreed, he sounded downright surprised, alarmed, and irritated in his ruling, rebuking the petitioners for, well, …truthiness.

He declared at the beginning of today’s decision:

“Caltrans is not going to cut down or otherwise remove any old-growth redwoods from Richardson Grove State Park.  There is absolutely no basis in reality for believing that Caltrans ‘wants’ to ‘destroy’ old-growth redwoods. The evidence is quite obviously and overwhelmingly to the contrary.”

Ouch.

He concluded:   “The Court has not found a violation of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) at this time.”

Not one?  Not even a teensy-weensy minuscule one?  Nope.  Nada, ixnay, no way.  In short:  kaput.

The Court addressed– and wholeheartedly rejected– the polemic allegations and objections to Caltrans’ analysis and their EIR in a 30-page, politely scathing, summary opinion.

Caltrans said, and the Court agreed, that changes to the existing alignment will be minor and made without removal of any old-growth redwood trees in order to allow industry-standard sized trucks access through this portion of Highway 101.

As the court repeatedly emphasized in its decision today, the project was planned and designed to avoid removing any old-growth trees, and multiple measures are in place protecting the surrounding trees throughout the grove.

The Court did, however, decide that it needed additional information regarding a small part of the project.  Judge Reinholtsen asked Caltrans for proof that it’s adopted a reporting or monitoring program designed to ensure employment of ‘impact minimization measures’ that were discussed in the environmental study.  Seen as a token measure by some, the parties were requested to meet and agree on a time and place for Caltrans to present this additional information to the Court.

Today’s ruling now brings the controversial Richardson Grove project closer to a validated resolution.  Under study for ten years, plans for Highway 101 and the Richardson Grove Improvement Project have been in the works since 2006.  Today, a significant obstacle potentially clouding the project was lifted to the delight of Caltrans and its pro-growth road widening advocates.

With the Court’s strongly worded ruling rejecting the petitioners’ arguments, Caltrans says it will proceed quickly to comply with the State Court’s remaining request and finalizing the re-survey of nearly 1,500 trees ordered by the Federal Court in its April, 2012, decision.

* * * * * * * *

You win some and you lose some.  This isn’t the last you’re going to hear of this– a Redwood Summer tree sit is inevitably just around the corner.

Ryan Burns of the North Coast Journal has more to say about Judge Reinholtsen’s ruling in his article today.

SoHum’s Redheaded Blackbelt Kym Kemp adds additional details and reader’s comments.

(Posted by Skippy Massey)

HWMA questions need for full Environmental Impact Report

By Eric Black
Humboldt Sentinel

Efforts to ban single-use plastic bags are picking up steam in Humboldt County, but some local businesses have already voluntarily eliminated plastic from the checkout counter.

At its meeting on June 14, the Humboldt Waste Management Authority board directed staff to conduct an initial study, and to report back to the board later this summer. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, may require the passage of a detailed environmental impact report prior to passage of an ordinance. Alternatively, staff may determine that the drafting of a simpler, negative mitigated declaration is sufficient under state law.

Not all retailers are content to sit back and wait, though. Murphy’s Westwood Market in Arcata and Ray’s Food Place in Mckinleyville have recently joined the growing number of retailers who no longer provide single-use plastic bags to customers.

“It was a test, at first, to see how it would go. It’s been received really well by the community…” said Murphy’s Supervisor Stephanie Aufdermaur. “People ask for plastic, and when we say ‘we don’t carry it anymore,’ it’s usually not a negative response. It’s usually ‘Wow! Good for you.’”

Each incorporated city in the county, and the County of Humboldt itself, will ultimately decide individually whether to pass a bag ban ordinance. The City of Rio Dell has already that said that it’s not interested.

The End is Near Unless you Behave

By Skippy Massey

Humboldt Sentinel

“Roses have Thorns and Silver Fountains Mud

Clouds and Eclipses stain both Moon and Sun

and Loathsome Canker Lives in the Sweetest Bud.”

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 35

Eclipses have always foretold of disasters and downfalls throughout the annals of time.  An eclipse usually meant some bad Juju was in the works and a major disappointment headed on its way.

In ancient China, a solar eclipse was called the “sun-eating dragon.” The Incas believed it was caused by a demon eating the sun. In India, pregnant women were cautioned to stay inside during an eclipse.

Columbus duped the Jamaican natives into believing God was about to curse and punish them with “pestilence and famine” by displaying a “sign in the sky” if they didn’t pony up ample supplies of food quickly for the marooned Spaniards in February of 1504.  Columbus, after consulting his 1474 edition of Johannes Mueller’s Calendarium, correctly predicted the impending full eclipse both as a sign of his godliness and driving the point home.  The eclipse occurred on schedule, the frightened natives acquiesced and were consequently held in subservience, and the Spaniards feasted unusually well.

This evening’s stellar solar eclipse will be visible from Eureka and points North, South, and East in a 150-mile long swath– depending on whether our dubious marine layer and high clouds roll in through the late afternoon obscuring the view, dampening expectations, and delaying the imminent destruction of the Earth and its inhabitants.

This will be the first annular solar eclipse seen in the continental United States since 1994.  Miss this burning ring of fire and you won’t catch another one for decades.  That is, if you and the planet are still here.  Life’s a gambit.

Yes, it will be a dark, quiet, and mysteriously cool event as 96% of the sun is obscured by the passing moon at the height of the eclipse, leaving only a halo of the sun’s former existence and a few angelic rays visible to those watching in awesome wonder or loathsome terror from our little patch of tenuously shaky ground.

No, it won’t be the end of the world despite popular belief.  For now.  The Earth is expected to recover from this rare cataclysmic event.  So will you, too, if you haven’t been staring into the sun like you’ve been told to do– and can properly believe and behave.

The partial eclipse begins at 5:09 p.m. The peak will start at 6:25 p.m. and last for about 4 minutes.  The eclipse will end at 7:36 p.m.

Sunset today is at 8:32 p.m.  The sun is expected to rise tomorrow morning unless something goes horribly wrong.

Viewing Opportunities

The eclipse will be visible most anywhere in Humboldt County if skies are clear.

The Astronomers of Humboldt club will be hosting a public viewing that begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Kneeland Airport on Kneeland Road, about 13 miles up the hill and east of Freshwater Road and Three Corners Market.  Just follow the line of cars ahead of you and turn left after Kneeland School to get there.

The club will have a public viewing with eclipse glasses, pinhole cameras and telescopes with special filters that allows the observer to view the sun without harming the eyes.  The club ‘urges’ folks to bring a picnic dinner and stick around for some star gazing after the eclipse.  We hope they have s’mores and lemonade.  We get mighty hungry and thirsty after an evening of lusty viewing.

Please buckle up, avoid the too-many-chug-a-lug beer drinking masses driving back down the hill, and watch out for that tree after the sun’s fun and hell-hath-no-fury eclipsical event is over.  Brakes and quick reflexes are good.

The Arcata Playhouse is hosting a free family block party.  “The party will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday on Ninth Street between L and M streets in Arcata, featuring musical stages, food and a kid’s area,” someone-in-charge said.

The words soul and solar go together like fish and bicycles in Arcata.  Expect bongo drums beating, Nag Champa incense burning, and New Age messages heralding dank hope and glorious doom throughout the thoroughfares of Arcata until the sun shows itself to the true believers once again.

Chanting Sri Seuss’ Cat In the Hat mantra, “I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny, funny, funny.  Om,” perhaps the planet will be saved from impending peril and the bad vibe scene by Arcata’s shamans and pasta headed rasta elite working their totem and crystal magic restoring balance to the world.  It couldn’t hurt.  Every little bit helps.

Viewing Tips For the Unaware or Those Who Will Soon Learn

As if you haven’t heard this umpteen million times, here we go again once more for the dim, dull-witted, and blind-in-the-mind viewer.

Important: Never look at the sun directly, even when it’s in eclipse. Doing so can cause permanent eye damage and blindness.  Even though it excruciatingly hurts like skin catching on fire, people do it anyway.  People also spontaneously combust.  We don’t know why.  It happens.  Like kids picking psychedelic mushrooms, there’s gonna be a few noodleheads with burned-out retinas making their guest appearances at hospital ERs as surely as the sun will shine.  And don’t call us Shirley.

So we repeat again:  Sunglasses ARE NOT SAFE for viewing the sun!  No, no, and no.  Don’t even go there.  Unless you are so dense even light bends around you.

Here are some tips to safely view the eclipse and join others worshippers watching as the moon crosses between the Earth and the sun.

Eclipse glasses: These are made from cardboard with dark lenses you can safely view the sun through.

Welding glass: No. 14 welder’s glass is dark enough to view the sun. Glass used in most welding helmets is not this dark, however. Layering welding glass of different darknesses won’t work. Only No. 14 is safe.

Projectors: These come in two types — a long box or a pinhole cut in cardboard. The concept is the same for both; viewers don’t look directly at the sun but watch a projection of it on the ground or on a light piece of paper or cardboard.

Making a Viewing Box Your Mother Would Approve Of, Even if You Do Look Dorky:

Note: Keep in mind that the longer the box, the bigger your pinhole image will be. The image size is 1/100th the length of the box.

Find or make a long box or tube — 5 to 6 feet is best. You can also tape two boxes together to make a longer box.  Cut a hole in the center of one end of the box.  Tape a piece of foil over the hole.  Poke a small hole in the foil with a pin.  Cut a viewing hole in the side of the box.  Put a piece of white paper inside the end of the box near the viewing portal.  Point the end of the box with the pinhole at the sun so that you see a round image on the paper at the other end.

If you are having trouble pointing, look at the shadow of the box on the ground. Move the box so that the shadow looks like the end of the box (so the sides of the box are not casting a shadow). The round spot of light you see on the paper is a pinhole image of the sun. Do not look through the pinhole at the sun. Look only at the image on the paper or cardboard.

Viewing Card

Get two pieces of cardboard. Make sure at least one piece is white or tape a piece of white paper over it. This will be your viewing screen.  Poke a pinhole through one piece of cardboard.  Hold the piece of cardboard with the pinhole in it as far from the white piece as you can to get as large as an image as you can.

Your Furry Hands Can’t Go Blind

You can also use your hand to make a pinhole and project the eclipse onto a piece of paper. Hold up both hands with your fingers overlapping at right angles. The holes between your fingers make pinholes.

Weather Forecast

The National Weather Service is predicting partially clear skies today with a high near 61* in Eureka and 65* in Kneeland.  After the sun sets, temps will dip into the lower 50’s as the night cometh.

“Goodness comes out of people who bask in the sun, as it does out of a sweet apple roasted before the fire”  (Charles Dudley Warner)

Bask in the sun.  Roast sweet apples.  Enjoy life.  Eat out more often.  But don’t toast those retinas.  You’ll need them for running very, very fast when the humongous earthquake and gnarly tsunami sweep us into the ocean next month.  Don’t worry, be happy, behave and stay tuned.

Update:  Cliff Berkowitz captured the best photos of the local eclipse we’ve seen taken from his Henderson Center porch.   Heidi Walters and the North Coast Journal posted pictures of the happening Kneeland solar party in progress.

Humboldt County’s astounding beauty and apparent serenity disguise some truly disturbing health numbers

By Richard Kipling
California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting
University of Southern California

I don’t want to beat up on Humboldt County. I’ve driven through it a few times and it’s quintessential far northern California — beautiful, alluring, with Redwoods everywhere (the county motto is The Home of the Redwoods), a scenic coastline, pretty towns, friendly folk. The kind of place that sets an urban mind to wondering:  Could I live in this lush green paradise?

I’d like to spend more time there, for sure. But after a close look at the latest California Department of Public Health statistics, I might want to remain a visitor and not a resident. The county’s astounding beauty and apparent serenity disguise some truly disturbing health numbers.

The department recently released its County Health Status Profiles 2012, which provides a fascinating look at the leading causes of death for the years 2008-2010 for each of the state’s 58 counties. I just slalomed through 19 categories of death rates and Humboldt was a blinking neon sign. Let me take you on a tour.

In its overall death rate from all causes, Humboldt ranked next to worst, 57^th, with 865 deaths per 100,000 people. That compares to, say, Santa Clara County, with 509 deaths/100,000, or Marin County with 527. Quite a spread.

Or try the next category, deaths from all cancers. Humboldt ranked 56^th, with 185 per 100,000. I looked for another California county with a similar population number and poor, rural Imperial County fit the bill. Its numbers? 126 per 100,000, about a third lower.

Comb through the categories and there’s hardly any relief in the rankings for Humboldt County: deaths from colorectal cancer – 51^st; lung cancer – 40^th; female breast cancer – 51^st; prostate cancer – 52^nd; diabetes – 49^th; Alzheimer’s – 41^st; coronary heart disease – 39^th . Some of these constitute the county’s not-so-bad health outcomes – as if being ranked 41^st out of 58 is something to celebrate. I don’t pretend that they do.

But back to reality. For stroke, the county ranks dead last, 58^th, and is the only county in the state that failed to meet the “healthy people 2010 national objective” for that category.

The numbers are numbing. In deaths from chronic lower respiratory, it ranks 54^th; liver disease, 50^th; accidents, meaning unintentional injuries, 56^th; suicides, 55^th; firearm deaths, 52^nd; and drug-induced deaths, 57^th.

Overall, it ranks 50^th or lower in 13 of the 19 categories.

What could possibly explain this? Many of these categories line up with the characteristics explored in a 2008 study of suicide by the mental health branch of Humboldt County’s Department of Health and Human Services. It concluded that counties with high suicide rates “are largely rural, have lower median household income and 85 percent of counties had a higher proportion of people living in poverty as compared to the national percentage.”

A number of rural California counties fit this profile, Humboldt among them. The Census Bureau shows that Humboldt County’s poverty level is substantially higher than the state average, and its household income is one-third lower.  But other California counties have income and poverty profiles just as bad – in some cases considerably worse – without the widespread health problems.

Perhaps the mix of poverty and rural character is a factor, creating a physical and socio-cultural isolation that could be affecting health.  The physical isolation is made emphatically clear by Census figures: Humboldt’s density is 38 persons per square mile; the state’s average is 239.

In Humboldt County, the isolation we outsiders perceive as beauty may affect locals differently. Just think about the weather and the land. With rainfall averaging from 40 to 100 inches a year, perhaps there is a psychological dimension these statistics only hint at. The county encompasses 2.3 million acres, 80 percent of which, according to the county, “is forestlands, protected redwoods and recreation areas.” Eighty percent unsettled. Now that’s isolation.

* * * * * * *

Reprinted by permission of the author, Mr. Richard Kipling and the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting, University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

The California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting partners with news organizations across the state to produce in-depth reporting on health-care issues of importance to consumers and policymakers.  Mr. Richard Kipling is Managing Editor.

Original article by Mr. Richard Kipling and information about the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting can be found here.

(Posted by Skippy Massey for the Humboldt Sentinel)

Willow Creek timberlands subdivision approved by Planning Commission

By Gabriele Fellows
Humboldt Sentinel

The Planning Commission “chopped” one parcel into two Thursday night at their regular monthly permits meeting.

The board cast  a 4-1 vote on Apr. 5 in favor of subdividing a 640-acre timberland parcel owned by the McLean Survivors’ Trust.

Located in the Willow Creek area, the two new parcels are surrounded by U.S. Forest Service timberlands, specifically fast growing Douglas-fir trees.

Commissioner Denver Nelson probed the applicants’ representative as to why the Forest Service wasn’t considered a potential buyer.

“The funding is not secure,” explained Chris Carroll.

Nelson also wanted to know why they were separating the land into two 320-acre parcels. Carroll claimed that it would be easier to sell the second parcel this way and that they “hope the new owner uses the second property for timber harvests.”

Helping prepare the groundwork to pass the land into new hands, proceeds from the sale would be put back into the McLean Trust. The McLean Trust is operated by the Fortuna-based McLean Foundation which donates money to projects of a humanitarian nature.

The zoning of the current parcel is Timber Production Zone. Under this zoning classification, trees can be harvested and one residential unit can be built for the caretaker of the land.

The Planning Commission waived the requirement that the property owner undertake a site suitability study to determine whether each parcel could sustain a dwelling. Vice Chair Ralph Faust was concerned that whomever bought the new parcel would use it solely for residential purposes.

The property is surrounded by a vast amount of trees and cannot be easily accessed by the outside world. The main road that winds up through the area is owned by the US Forest Service and is not maintained by the county. If the road snows over during a heavy blizzard or floods due to rain, property owners would be responsible for fixing their own road.

Faust was skeptical about the idea of the subdivision; using the example of characters in the story of Humpty Dumpty, he stressed that once it’s subdivided it won’t “come back together again.” He did not want future liability created for the county and cast the only dissenting vote.

In other business, the commission made a decision regarding ‘tie’ votes. In the event of future meetings with an odd number of absent Commissioners where votes might become deadlocked, the matter will be automatically forwarded to the Board of Supervisors.

The next meeting of the Planning Commission is scheduled for April 19 at 6 p.m. at the County Courthouse. An introduction to the Environmental Impact Report on the General Plan Draft will take place and the public is invited to make comments.

Only 21 days remain to qualify state initiative for November ballot

By Gabriele Fellows
Humboldt Sentinel

Renewable energy availability might reduce power plant demand

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

A new round of eco-groovy tax credits is in the offing, assuming a bi-partisan bill from the North Coast’s representative makes it through a bitterly divided federal legislature.

HR 4096, known as the STORAGE bill (Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy 2012 Act), would provide incentives to individuals and businesses when they invest in energy storage systems — the kinds of devices which keep excess energy generated when energy is in low demand and then supply it when peak demand returns.

According to a press statement from the office of Congressman Mike Thompson (Dem. – St. Helena), the tax credits and subsequent storage device implementation would reduce consumer electric bills, improve alternative energy source reliability and make the entire electric grid more efficient and secure.

“When it comes to addressing American’s energy challenges, we need to use every tool in the box,” Thompson stated. “These tax incentives will move us closer towards energy independence by making our electric grid more reliable, using energy more efficiently, reducing costs and creating jobs.”

Introduced by Thompson and New York Congressman Chris Gibson (Rep. – Kinderbrook), the legislation would hand a 20 percent tax credit to businesses and factories which generate energy via large compressed air systems, flywheels and large arrays of fuel cells and batteries. An even bigger 30 percent credit would go to households and businesses which purchase energy storage systems for their properties.

Companion legislation in the form of S 1845 was introduced in the U.S. Senate last fall by Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingman and Maine Republican Susan Collins. The sponsors point to the presently inefficient alternative energy electricity infrastructure as justification to set up storage systems which can deliver during high demand periods; they hope this reduction in peak stress on the grid will eventually reduce the number of power plants needed.

For the curiously aware of Humboldt County…

By Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

SNIPPETS, RUMORS, HEARSAY MURMURS, AND THE LINKS:

MISSING MONEY: After being alerted by the Yurok Tribe, the Del Norte District Attorney’s office issued warrants Thursday for two Eureka biologists and a former Yurok tribal forestry employee suspected of embezzling over $900,000. It’s alleged the trio submitted false invoices related to spotted owl research following the tribe’s discovery of missing items during an inventory search. 

The Times-Standard has updates by Megan Hansen and Thadeus Greenson this weekend:

Saturday, February 25: Court documents outline how three biologists allegedly used an elaborate system of fake invoices, false purchase requests and electronic bank transfers to embezzle more than $900,000 from the Yurok Tribe during a three-year period in ’Court Documents Outline Alleged Embezzlement from Yurok Tribe- Former Yurok Tribe Forestry Director Still Wanted on $1 Million Warrant’

Sunday, February 26: When news spread Thursday that a pair of respected Eureka biologists were arrested for their alleged roles in an elaborate embezzlement scheme, the reaction was stunned disbelief: ’Shock, Disbelief Follow Arrests- Biology Community Has Trouble Digesting Embezzlement Allegations’

Moral principle is a looser bond than a large stack of easy cash.

EPIC SETTLEMENT for attorneys and steelworkers. The California State Assembly approved a $5.5 million dollar payout Thursday to the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) settling legal fees for their 2008 landmark victory against the Pacific Lumber Company and the California Department of Forestry. $3.5 million will go to attorneys who worked on the case and $2 million goes to the United Steelworkers union as plaintiffs. The bill awaits the Governor’s signature.

Pacific Lumber, MAXXAM, and Charles Hurwitz were unavailable for comment.  They were nowhere to be found after skipping town, evidently.

LAND GRAB GRANTS: The North Coast Journal reports the state Wildlife Conservation Board approved two major grants of nearly $2 million acquiring lands protecting riparian habitat. The City of Arcata received a $650,000 grant to acquire 22 acres expanding the 793-acre Arcata Community Forest and the Northcoast Regional Land Trust nabbed $1,228,750 for 1,622 acres just east of Willow Creek.  They’re just not making land like they used to.

HUMBOLDT, WASHINGTON, AND WEED: Daniel Mintz of The Arcata Eye reports that County supervisors Lovelace and Sundberg met with federal Department of Justice (DOJ) officials on their recent trip to Washington DC.  No doubt tired of being stonewalled locally by Northern California’s U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, Mr. Lovelace and Sundberg reportedly ‘established an ongoing dialogue’ with her Washington boss about the locally unpopular enforcement actions against medical marijuana.  If you haven’t noticed, Humboldt’s got a good business thing going on.  Mr. Mintz has more to say in his article, ‘Supes Give Cannabis Gripes to Feds’.

MORE CITY MONEY: The Eureka City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to draft applications for $2 million in California Community Development block grants. The applications request funds for an east-to-west railroad feasibility study, formulation of a business-friendly plan for the City, a first-time home buyers program, and over a million dollars for the new Open Door Community Health Center on Tydd Street. The applications will be brought back to the council for final approval at a future meeting, the Times-Standard reports.  With redevelopment monies dead in the water, Community Development block grants are looking better all the time.

IN ‘N OUT: The Eureka Police Department is accepting applications for the Chief of Police position while interim Chief Murl Harpham considers retirement after 55 years of service. Egads. We’re not sure we’d want to do anything that even feels good for that long.  The City fired Police Chief Garr Nielsen after four years on the job in a controversial move that sparked a public outcry from some sectors. Since his firing, Nielsen has filed a claim against the city seeking damages in excess of $10,000, alleging it violated his contract by failing to give him annual performance reviews, merit pay increases and other benefits.

MEAN STREETS: Death and kidney damage by a thousand ruts, cracks, and crevices.  It may not be sexy or exciting or interesting, but we hope the City of Eureka finds the time and money in their busy day for a basic priority: repairing the deteriorating streets. Calked, cobbled, and patched over the years, they are a complete and disgusting mess, with potholes, chuckholes, sinkholes, crack holes and black holes abounding throughout the Fair City.  The roads are so poor the City can’t even pay attention.  Don’t defer any longer from properly fixing and maintaining them.  That’s what our taxes pay for.  Or so they say.

MEANER STREETS: “One hundred pounds soaking wet, Felix Omai (age 57) doesn’t strike terror into most people. But last fall during a solo Occupy Movement protest she frightened a CHP officer so badly, she says, that he ‘just about punched’ the camera she was trying to photograph him with back into her face.  She says her cheekbone was sore for weeks afterward. By the end of the encounter, Omai had broken ribs and was transported to Eureka jail,” writes Redheaded Blackbelt’s Kym Kemp.

While cooler heads could have prevailed on both sides, no one deserves to be treated or injured this way from what we read.  We can also appreciate the fact that Felix is refusing to be bruised and battered, shanghaied and fried any further by the legal wheels of justice that are turning.

Ms. Kemp asks what society is gaining by having law enforcement respond so forcefully to a 57 year old, 100 pound woman hanging bedsheets on a bridge in her article, ‘Bedsheets on a Bridge: Protests Meet Police in an Occupied America’. 

Ernie gives his take, too, in ’Omai, Felix, What Have You Wrought?’

THE GALL OF IT ALL: The Bayshore Mall has a new owner. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2010, General Growth Properties , the second-largest mall owner in the United States, announced it would “spin off” 30 of its malls under the ownership of a new company, Rouse Properties. Eureka’s Bayshore Mall made the list. General Growth chose the selected 30 properties because they have similar “opportunities,” company officials insist. A high vacancy rate has plagued the mall in recent years but the coming of Wal-Mart to Eureka is a marriage made in heaven, many believe.  When the going gets tough, the obese will go shopping for cheap stuff.

We still haven’t forgotten that City officials blatantly omitted the very existence of WalMart to citizens until the cat was finally let out of the bag, as first reported here in the Sentinel.  The City Manager and Council still haven’t explained why they were so silently mum on the matter, pretending it didn’t exist, they didn’t know, or you simply don’t need to know.  It sets a terrible precedent.  Public officials and city managers may be wise to keep a secret, but not half as wise as those with no secrets to keep.

Let’s run the People of WalMart one more time.  You know it’s got a catchy tune that rings home.

CR STANDS FOR  Continuously Reprimanded:   The problems at College of the Redwoods have been going on for years but the longstanding CR Board of Trustees doesn’t seem to get it. CR may lose its accreditation in January of next year. What does that mean? Ryan Burns cuts to the chase in his North Coast Journal article, ‘Edge of Oblivion’, saying that unless CR gets it’s act together:

“…Chaos would ensue. Class credits from CR would no longer be transferable to four-year universities; attendance would plummet; government funding would evaporate. It would be the doomsday scenario, and for a college that serves more than 9,000 students across a district the size of Maryland, the fallout would be devastating.”

Perhaps it’s better to have loafed and lost than never having loafed at all?

FLAKE AND BAKE:  The Arcata Eye reports 69 jobs and millions of dollars were lost with the recent closure of Arcata’s Humboldt Flakeboard manufacturing plant.  This leaves the City of Arcata with two challenges – recovering the money it loaned and preventing the plant from falling into prolonged disuse.

BENBOW LAKE ENDANGERED: California State Parks officials are considering the permanent removal of Benbow Dam because the cost of maintaining the aging structure and complying with environmental regulations has become prohibitive. The removal of the dam means the loss of Benbow Lake, a popular tourist attraction and recreational site for 80 years. To re-install the seasonal dam, State Parks must renew its permit every five years.  But the cost of the permit and required studies are estimated at $6 million dollars — and with no guarantee it would be approved.

At the same time, the Benbow Lake State Recreational Area is slated for closure July 1. The trick for finding solutions, we believe, is what Sacramento legislators have been telling us for years. Stop thinking of it as “your” money.

WE’RE IN THE MONEY: The U.S. Highway 101 bypass around Willits received its final permit last week, paving the way for construction of the $200 million bypass project on 1,670 acres of right-of-way– as soon as the California Transportation Commission designates funding. The project will ease Highway 101 traffic around the town of Willits avoiding congestion and stoplights, reducing delays, and improving safety. Merchants are looking forward to having Main Street return back to normal, according to the Willits Economic and Development Department.

Life is too short for traffic and the longest journey begins with a turn of the ignition key.

HOME SWEET HOME: Home prices fell to their lowest point in more than 10 years in January but that helped to lift the pace of home sales, according the National Association of Realtors report. Home sales jumped 4.3% in January. The median home price in January fell 2% from December to $154,700. That’s the lowest price reading since November 2001, before the run-up in home prices that became known as the housing bubble. New home starts by builders have been rising, according to an industry survey. A large inventory of home in foreclosure still hangs over the market, serving as a drag on the price of existing homes.

HOME SWEET CRUDE: Have you noticed the price of gas lately?  Bloomberg reports oil prices are fluctuating near a nine-month high, due in part to the geopolitical tensions with Iran that continue to simmer. In contrast, Wednesday’s Energy Department report shows that U.S. crude supplies rose 1.35 million barrels, or 0.4 percent, since Feb. 17. The addition would leave supplies at their highest level over the last 5 months.

Curiously enough, Humboldt County leads the way by sporting the highest gas prices in the nation, prompting County Supervisors sending a letter pleading for petroleum relief to none other than the President of the United States. Might as well start at the top, they believe. Some old-timers will remember officials and citizens asking the State Attorney General to investigate high gas prices 25 years ago– which went suspiciously nowhere and remain unanswered to this day.

Tom Sebourn opines in his blog,

They used to tell us that demand was too high and domestic refining capacity was too low, and that was what was driving the cost of gas and diesel fuel here in the US. The fact is, today’s domestic demand is at a 15 year low for gas and diesel, and due to expanded exploration during the Bush and Obama administrations the country has too much oil and too much refined fuels…

…There is no domestic shortage of oil, gas or diesel. There is no shortage of refinery capacity and there is no shortage of manipulation by the main stream media trying to manipulate the US public into thinking that we need to drill in sensitive coastal waters and national parks to avoid $5-dollar a gallon gas. If we stopped the exports, prices would go down– but we can’t because we are not a democracy, we are a republic that favors international free trade over our own financial and physical well being.

Tell that to the Renner Company.  With analysts believing we’ll hit $5 a gallon gas by summer, it will be cheaper to mail your car on vacation.

IF YOU THOUGHT 3-D MOVIES WERE THE COOLEST THING, wait until you see this demonstration:  3-D printers can replicate physical objects on demand. Future uses, aside from space tools, include medical applications making custom fitted artificial joints, teeth, and ears for your soon-to-be bionic body.

THE WEEKEND CALENDAR:

SATURDAY’S INDIAN ISLAND CANDLELIGHT VIGIL:  Please join members of Table Bluff Reservaton-Wiyot Tribe for the Annual Indian Island Candlelight Vigil held the last weekend every February to remember those who lost their lives in the 1860 Indian Island Massacre and help heal the community.

This event will be held rain or shine on Saturday, February 25 at 6 p.m., on the West End of Woodley Island. The first vigil was held on the last Saturday of February in 1992 and has been held each year since. A fire is lit, a Wiyot elder lights their candle from the fire and from that candle all candles are lighted. A moment of silence is observed, a prayer is given remembering all who have gone before us, songs are sung, poems are read, and one leaves with a feeling of accomplishment.

This may be the first memorial for the lives lost where the Wiyot, other Indian nations, and the non-Indian communities have come together to create a process that helps heal the whole community.

Indian Island was and is the center of the Wiyot world. On the island a ceremonial dance would be held to start the new year. The ceremony may have been called the World Renewal ceremony. All people were welcomed, no one was turned away. The ceremony would continue for at least seven to ten days. It was held at the village site of Tutulwat on the northern part of the island. Traditionally the men would leave the island and return the next day with the day’s supplies. The elders, women and children were left to rest on the island along with a few men.

The massacre took place at such a ceremony on February 26, 1860.

THE HISTORY OF INDIAN ISLAND:

Indian Island has always been a sacred site to the Wiyot people, given to them by the Creator as the center of our world. It is the resting place of centuries of Wiyot ancestors and where other Indians of the area were invited for the World Renewal Dance.

The 1860 massacre of Indian Island’s inhabitants and visitors abruptly ended Wiyot occupation and centuries of ceremonial dancing and celebration. Most of the men among the Wiyot celebrants had traveled to the mainland during the night in order to replenish supplies when, during the early morning hours, a group of settlers paddled their boats over to the island and massacred as many as 100 women, children and elders. Only one newborn child survived. This was coordinated with massacres at two other village sites around the bay and dealt a crushing blow to the Wiyot people.

Indian Island, with its ancient shell mounds and rich history, remains an important symbol for many Northern California Native Americans. The Wiyot Tribe returned to the Island in 2000 with the purchase of a 1.5-acre parcel. In May of 2004, The Eureka City Council made history when they unanimously approved a resolution to return 40 acres, comprising the northeastern tip of Indian Island to the Wiyot Tribe.

After 140 years, the tribe has begun clean up and restoration of the land, and are seeking to re-establish its cultural connection to the island by once again hosting the World Renewal Ceremony on original locations with plans to build a place where traditional ceremonies can be restored to the island.

The 500 enrolled Wiyot tribal members hold an annual Candelight Vigil of remembrance and healing, and the entire community is welcome.

DIRECTIONS:

Located in Humboldt Bay between Eureka and Samoa, the vigil is at the West end of Woodley Island. To reach the view point and historic marker, take the Samoa Bridge (Hwy. 255)  and exit at Woodley Island. Drive all the way and park at the west end, then walk a few yards north of the Fisherman’s Memorial Statue.

Happenings, Events, Groups, Walks, and Other Good Stuff:

Friday, February 24

Saturday, February 25

Sunday, February 26

Other entertainment can also be found here.

Movies, reviews, times and trailers are here.

WORD

Americans are motivated by money, not ideals. Washington is the home of despicable trickery at elections, under-handed tamperings with public officers, and cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for shields and hired pens for daggers. I am disappointed. This is not the republic of my imagination.

- Charles Dickens, 1842

New developments loom on the horizon for 2012

By Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

NO SURPRISE HERE: The United States lead the world in GMO (genetically modified organism) plantings with 170 million acres in 2012 that produced 95% of the nation’s sugar beets, 94% of the soybeans, 90% of the cotton and 88% of the feed corn, according to The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) and USA Today.

Worldwide, 395 million acres of farmland were planted in biotech crops in 2011, 30 million more than 2010.

The ISAAA report released February 7, 2012, said a record 16.7 million farmers in 29 countries growing biotech crops on 395 million acres represents a 94-fold increase planted since 1996, making “biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent history.”

The amount of land devoted to genetically engineered crops grew 8% last year, down from 10% growth in 2010. Nearly 90% of the global area planted to these crops was in just four countries – the US, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil. In contrast, less than 3% of cropland in India and China is planted almost exclusively in one crop – genetically modified cotton. Only two biotech crops are grown in the European Union: a tiny amount of its feed corn and just 245 acres of potatoes.

U.S. farmers and those in developing countries increased plantings of genetically modified crops around the globe in 2011, despite resistance from Europe and those who think such crops should carry special labels.

Genetically engineered food has had its DNA artificially altered with genes from other plants, animals, viruses, or bacteria, in order to produce foreign compounds creating desired traits in that food. Different than selective breeding or cloning, this genetic alteration is performed through experimental biotechnology and not found in nature.

BIOTECHNOLOGY’S GMO DEFENDERS AND DETRACTORS

AN INDUSTRY ADVOCATE and GMO supporter, Dr. Cathleen Enright is the Executive Vice President of Food and Agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).  In response to Tuesday’s ISAAA’s findings, Enright gave the company’s corporate line stating in a press release:

“This year’s ISAAA report further confirms what we have known all along:  that agricultural biotechnology is a key component in sustainable crop production. Biotechnology provides solutions for today’s farmers in the form of plants that yield more per acre, resist diseases and insect pests, and reduce farmers’ production costs, pesticide applications and on-farm fuel use.  History has taught us that embracing innovation and modern science can help us solve the world’s most pressing problems.  People who really want to combat hunger, to keep food costs affordable, to protect the environment and to mitigate climate change are adopting agricultural biotechnology and embracing the solutions that it provides.”

GMO advocates like Dr. Enright claim that genetic engineering boosts crop production and lowers costs. Currently the plants are often genetically modified to resist weed killers, diseases, or to generate their own insect repellent. Proponents such as Monsanto, the largest producer of GMO seeds, maintain fruits and vegetables last longer if they are genetically modified, can be stored longer and shipped farther without waste or spoilage, and be manipulated to be ‘more nutritious.’ Certain genetic modifications make plants less susceptible to common pests while drought, salt, frost and heat resistance are improved.

GMO critics, however, maintain companies like Monsanto merely desire to boost their own bottom line profits by developing these so-called ‘Frankenfoods’. Monsanto can sell more of the company’s products such as Roundup (an herbicide used in conjunction with, and specifically complementing, its ‘Roundup Ready’ GMO seeds) and control the global food supply using proprietary patents and selling its ‘terminator seeds’. Like hybrid seeds, terminator seeds saved by the farmer from a year’s previous crop will not reproduce or grow properly, forcing new seed sales from Monsanto every year. Monsanto has sued farmers who have complained that their fields were contaminated from cross-pollination by the company’s GMO plants.

Some believe GMO crops on the whole are systematically destroying food and seed biodiversity throughout the globe– and that Monsanto has been trying to monopolize the global seed market through its practices. Fears over these crops also include possible health concerns, worries about damage to traditional agricultural practices, and strong feelings that these bio-engineered foods are simply “unnatural.”

Critics point out  that government scientists have found the artificial insertion of DNA into host plants can increase the levels of known toxicants in foods, introduce new toxicants or allergens, and reduce the nutritional value of foods. The level of uncertainty surrounding the safety of genetically engineered foods has led the American Academy of Environmental Medicine to recommend that physicians prescribe a GMO-free diet to all their patients. Foods grown from genetically modified seeds have been observed to cause toxic and allergic reactions in animals consuming them, and longer term feeding studies found infertility, stunted growth, and high infant mortality in lab animals.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: Salmon, Alfalfa, and More

TWO CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES for genetically engineered food loom on the horizon: the possibility that the Food and Drug Administration will approve in the coming year a farmed, engineered salmon species genetically designed to grow faster, and the re-introduction of genetically engineered alfalfa.

Massachusetts-based AquaBounty is seeking U.S. approval to market its engineered Atlantic salmon which contains a gene from another fish species, the Chinook salmon, to help it grow twice as fast as normal.  If approved by the FDA, it would be the first genetically altered animal for human consumption in the United States. Seeing genetically modified salmon as a potential solution to environmental concerns associated with salmon aquaculture, AquaBounty discounts fears the gene-altered salmon might accidentally escape into the wild and affect other fish because they will be sterile, all-female fish raised in land-based facilities.  AquaBounty is also developing “trout and tilapia designed to grow faster than their conventional siblings,” according to the company’s website.

Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter and two other consumer groups petitioned the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday to subject the new genetically engineered salmon to a more rigorous review process than is now in place before the fish can be approved as safe to eat.  They point out the way these salmon are created substantially alters their composition and nutritional value. AquaBounty’s own study showed that genetically engineered salmon may contain increased levels of a hormone linked to breast, colon, prostate and lung cancer.

Genetically engineered salmon is a new development. “Animals are different from plants. A genetically engineered animal is a whole different thing. Not having them labeled is disturbing,“ says Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union in Yonkers, N.Y.

Genetically modified alfalfa was banned after a lawsuit in 2007, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ban in 2010. Opposition came in part from organic farmers, fearing that genetically modified alfalfa pollen could contaminate organic alfalfa fields, making it impossible for that alfalfa to be sold as organic and marketed as organic cow feed. “That will really threaten one of the core organic products, which is organic milk,” Halloran said. 

Mark McCaslin of Forage Genetics, which helped create the alfalfa seed with Monsanto, is looking towards the future. “About 10 to 20 percent of the seed planted this year will be Roundup Ready—probably about 5 million acres. If we look out five years ahead, it’s reasonable to expect that one third to one half of all alfalfa fields could be Roundup Ready,” McCaslin said.

Future GMO crops likely to be commercialized by 2015 include rice, eggplant, potatoes, and wheat. While industry advocates say drought resistant, nutritionally enhanced, and higher yield crops are expected in the near future, critics insist the industry has fallen short of these promises in the past.

Companies are also developing genetically modified farm animals, although none have been approved by the FDA. Proponents argue that faster growing, healthier, more nutritious and disease-resistant animals would help feed the world’s growing population, but many ethical, environmental and health questions remain unanswered.

SAVING AN INDUSTRY

MEANWHILE, genetically-engineered papayas recently went on sale in Japan, according to the Voice of America news. The newly introduced “Rainbow” papayas are the only gene-altered fruit on the market today in Japan, a country with strict laws regarding GMOs including a requirement that they be labeled as such – a rule that does not exist in the United States. The papaya’s arrival in Japan comes as advocates in the United States press the government to require labels on all GMO foods.

Released in 1998, the Rainbow papaya was developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Dennis Gonsalves and colleagues who claim the Hawaii-grown papaya is the best in the world. “Go and taste it,” Gonsalves said.

But taste wasn’t the only reason Gonsalves developed it. In the 1990s, a ring spot virus ravaged Hawaii’s papaya groves leaving the industry bordering on collapse. They engineered the papaya’s genetic makeup to produce a small piece of the virus’s outer shell in its cells, triggering the plant’s immune system.

“It’s almost like a vaccination,” Gonsalves noted, “and just like vaccinated people, the genetically-engineered plants do not get sick with the virus,” he said. Gonsalves added the piece of virus won’t harm people because tests showed it breaks down in three seconds in the harsh environment of the human stomach.

“It virtually saved the papaya industry in Hawaii,” Gonsalves said, “So now, Rainbow papaya accounts for 80 percent of Hawaii’s papaya.”

According to Gonsalves and his colleagues, fighting the virus was only half the battle. They had to convince their biggest customer – Japan – that the fruit was safe to eat. It took more than a decade of tests before Japanese regulators were satisfied. The last hurdle was labeling. Japan requires that all GMOs be labeled. That’s also the law in the European Union and many other countries, but not in the United States.

Or in California, for that matter.  But that may change.

THE 2012 CALIFORNIA LABELING INITIATIVE

AN INITITIATIVE for the November 2012 ballot called the ‘California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act’ seeks to require labeling.

Not all Californian are convinced GMOs are either safe or ethical. While the debate over GMOs and their impacts rages on, polls indicate 80% of Californians want products with GMOs labeled as such.

Initiative supporters and consumers alike believe they have the right to know what’s in their food– and whether or not they want to eat it.

In the 150 countries around the world where labeling is required–including the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, and China—GMO products are in less than 5% of the food in grocery stores. In the United States, a conservative estimate by the Grocery Manufacturers Association is that GMOs are in 80% or more of the processed food eaten every day. Currently, the only way to avoid GMOs is to buy exclusively organic products. Labeling would change this.

No matter where you are in California, initiative organizers say if you want to make labeling GMOs become a reality, you should visit the state organization’s website at labelgmos.org. and contact your local group about gathering signatures.

LOCAL EFFORTS IN HUMBOLDT

LOCALLY, Southern and Northern Humboldt County organizers will be joining the statewide coalition of 150 groups gathering 800,000 signatures for the ‘Right to Know’ GMO labeling effort starting February 21.  Community members are invited to join together, meet other volunteers, watch a short film about the importance of labeling GMO foods, and receive signature gathering training, instructions, and petitions.

The Southern Humboldt branch will have a signature gathering workshop on Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 5 to 6 p.m. at Calico’s restaurant in Garberville. Call Rosa Rashall at #986-7469 for more information.

The Northern Humboldt group is hosting their signature gathering orientation at the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT) on the Humboldt State University campus, 1 Harpst Street, in Arcata on Friday, February 25, at 5 p.m. The Northern Humboldt group also holds campaign initiative meetings every Sunday at 4 p.m. at Sun Yi’s Academy of Tae Kwon Do in Arcata. Call #707-223-0424 for more information.

For more details on the local campaign and how to participate, visit http://www.labelgmos.org/humboldt or find them on Facebook.

THE POSSIBILITIES of better living through science and technology are as endless as they are controversial. Perhaps many genetically modified foods introduced in the near future will prove to be safe. Will most or all of them be safe? Nobody knows.  A 2011 Canadian study indicated the blood of 93% of pregnant women sampled and 80% of their umbilical-cord blood contained a pesticide put into GMO corn by Monsanto.  Further studies are necessary  to validate these controversial and non-peer reviewed findings.

“We’ll see in 20 years, after the guinea pigs”—consumers—”have all used these products,” says George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the nation’s largest organic-farming cooperative. “I’m really disillusioned.”

Scientists and FDA regulators have concluded time and time again that labeling is unnecessary and bioengineered foods are perfectly safe. “The FDA has no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding,” the agency said in their 2001 guidance document.

One thing is for certain, however. The GMO advocates, their lobbyists, and food manufacturers will fight tooth and nail against California’s labeling efforts. The industry knows that if foods are labeled “genetically engineered,” the public will shy away and won’t take them. The industry’s not stupid.

They already know what Birke Baehr, an 11-year old homeschooled kid from North Carolina, thinks.

Additional Reading and Sources for this Report:

YouTube Primer: ‘What is Genetically Modified Food?‘
Why We Don’t Need GM Food
Latest GMO News, Articles, and Information
Facts About GMOs
Fun Facts About GMOs
California Initiative to Label GMOs
USA Today: ‘Genetically Modified Foods Had Bumper Year for 2011’
Voice of America: ‘Genetically-Modified Papaya Hits Shelves in Japan’
GM Crops: Top Ten Figures and Facts (a GMO pro-industry piece)
Huffington Post: ‘GMO Salmon: US Consumer Groups Petition FDA for Tougher Probe of Engineered Salmon’
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) press release: ‘More Farmers Favor Biotech Crops’
The Daily Beast: ‘Obama’s Organic Game’
NPR: ‘Politics Heating Up Over Labeling GMO Foods’
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bioengineering Draft Guidance Report, 2001 (updated 2009)
ISAAA Executive Summary released February 7, 2012: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops, 2011

See for yourself the future of plant and animal biotechnology: here’s the Monsanto website and the biotech seeds they sell, AquaBounty’s GM Salmon page, and ISAAA’s Genetically Modified Plant Approval Database. Looking safely from a distance is good.

Caution urged in King Salmon, other low-lying areas around Humboldt Bay

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

A flood watch is in effect tomorrow in the Humboldt Bay area.

The Eureka office of the National Weather Service issued the warning due to the timing of a high tide combined with a storm surge bringing strong southerly winds, which is “expected to cause coastal flooding late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.”

The King Salmon area was particularly noted in the notice, as were other low-lying areas around Humboldt Bay. Additional flooding is also possible around high tides on Thursday and Friday mornings as astronomical tides continue to rise and southerly winds are expected to remain elevated.

Residents are urged to stay alert for later warnings, and take all precautionary actions to protect property. Moderate to heavy rains are set to start tomorrow and continue for a week straight on the North Coast of California.

For the Curiously Aware of Humboldt County

By Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

IT’S A MIRACLE THEIR KIDNEYS MATCHED and a great story. Kym Kemp pens a column underscoring the simple goodness of Humboldt’s people.

Kym writes, “Some people give hearts as Valentine gifts, but two days after the holiday this year, Shannon Robinson is giving a total stranger, Travis Chagolla, her kidney. The little town of Myers Flat in southern Humboldt County is the scene of a very large act of Random Kindness…”

Large it is. Read her touching story. When Kym’s passionate about something her soul flows onto the page along with the words.

Kym added:

“The operation will take several hours and (Shannon) will have to rest for 4-8 weeks afterward. She has a young daughter at home. She won’t be able to work. How will she pay the rent? Shannon’s friends have convinced her to let them hold a fundraiser to help. On February 4th, they’re throwing a benefit at Beginnings in Briceland. There is going to be a spaghetti feed, beer and wine, a raffle and music…Raffle tickets can be purchased at the Myers Flat store and cafe as well as Signature Coffee in Redway.”

KIEM-TV’s Kelly May also reported on Shannon and Travis’ story.  While we don’t solicit random acts of shill, we do acknowledge those of kindness. It’s the right thing to do.  If you’d like to help, please look at Shannon’s donation page here.

NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON:  It’s freezing outside.  Lynette’s Norcal History Blog announced that due to low temperatures the Extreme Weather Shelter will open.  Please pass this on to any who might need the information. She says,

We were ready to have a test run of Eureka’s Extreme Weather Shelter for the homeless when Mother Nature jumped the gun.   A hard freeze warning for TONIGHT prompted the opening of the Extreme Weather Shelter at the St. Vincent’s Dining Facility  at 35 West 3^rd Street, in Old Town, Eureka.

I am posting this in case someone out there sees someone who needs shelter for the night. Please send them to the Eureka Rescue Mission, 110 2nd Street in Eureka.

If the Mission is at capacity, folks will be sent to the Dining Facility–OR IF YOU FIND FOLKS WHO ARE NOT COMFORTABLE AT THE MISSION, HAVE THEM TELL THE MISSION INTAKE FOLKS AND THEY WILL SEND THEM TO ST. VINCENT’S AFTER INTAKE.

Coordinator Steve Bell is at the Dining Hall to welcome folks and between St. Vincent’s and the Rescue Mission, Eureka can provide shelter to everyone who wants to be indoors tonight. We even have donated dog kennels so folks with animals can be sure their pets are safe. Please help us to help those who need it most…

ERNIE IS ALWAYS RIGHT in his roundabout way. This time he came up with the Annoying Biggest Stories of 2011 in his column. The stories are those which have been underreported locally and without conclusive forthcoming answers. Here’s Ernie’s ‘Top 3’, in his words:

1) “‘Who pooped and peed on the bank?’ (They never did find out) I was always told that a lawyer or a news anchor-person was never supposed to ask a question unless they already knew the answer.”

2) “Sometimes I wish they would tell us things like ‘Why the Eureka officials kept the fact that Wall-Mart was coming to town such a big secret.’ That would interest the heck out of me. How does it happen that a town that knows everything and can’t keep even a small secret, keep the fact that a frickin’ Wal-Mart is coming to the Bayshore Mall. You’d think that would be important for people to know!”

3) “How many of us know that they were going to pave Garberville’s Redwood drive but our supervisor gave the money away to fix the road between Eureka and Arcata? What, you say? Garberville hasn’t been paved since the trees were planted and the power lines were under grounded. Why didn’t we know about the money giveaway until it was practically a done deal? I wouldn’t have even known about the money being given away if it weren’t for Mark Lovelace saying something like, ‘I think that we should ask the people of Garberville how they feel about this.’ Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to scream bloody murder in time, so OUR Dist 2 Supervisor Clif Clendenen gave out road money to throw on the “Safety Corridor” between Eureka and Arcata.”

“Most people don’t have the time to decide how to spend county money. They split the county into 5 supervisor districts and then elect 5 supervisors to watch-out for our interests. How the heck does giving Garberville street money to Eureka and Arcata represent us in any way!?”

“…OUR supervisor, who has the most rural roads in the whole county, voted to give road money to the most expensive nightmare in Humboldt. Plus it is Highway 101! A state highway. The state has other means of raising money. The county doesn’t. Where is the news service that explains this to us?”

Ernie added:

Redwood Drive… is crumbling. The street looks like an unmade bed.

Before the vote was taken, Mark Lovelace said that he thought something this important should be given a little more time for public input. After the delay, Clif Clendenen broke the tie and voted to give the state the funding! Now, I would expect Eureka and Arcata to vote for it, so it was no surprise when they did. But, I did not expect the supervisor from the most rural district in Humboldt Co. to give away the funding.

The other two rural districts voted against giving away the funding. I had just assumed that OUR supervisor would vote against it. I thought that it was a no-brainer! Imagine my surprise. I probably would not have even known about the vote if it hadn’t been for Mark Lovelace.

Ernie Branscomb, a voice of reason and ever so the SoHum advocate, makes a good point. We believe this is an important issue worthy of a response.

We hope Supervisor Clendenen will offer an explanation either here or at Ernie’s Place before the upcoming election. It’s a sticky sore point stuck between State monies, County road repairs, and 2nd District constituents.

Clif, your peeps are calling. Line 1, line 2, and line 3 are on hold and blinking.

SNIPPETS, RUMORS, HEARSAY MURMURS, AND THE LINKS:

HOW MUCH CAN A DOLLAR BUY: Humboldt County has imposed a $1 fee per every vehicle registered since 1992. In the past year the County raised $133,454 to tow away 3,316 abandoned vehicles—about $40 per car/bus/camper/boat littering the roadsides and public domains. Supervisor Jimmy Smith said the fee has “helped clean up many areas and has been a practical tool literally saving a lot of neighborhoods and disputes.” Unfortunately, extending the fee supporting the abatement of these environmental eyesores requires Humboldt County to place it on the June primary ballot for voter approval– costing somewhere between $15,000 and $40,000. Ouch.

WHETHER OR NOT they appreciate the President and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Ferndale nonetheless scored a cool $8.8 million  low interest loan and grant completing their state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility without rate increases for 1,500 customers, as Mary Bullwinkel reports. Soon you will only be smelling Cream City’s fresh dairy-air.

PUTTING THE RUMOR TO REST: Vegetarians unite. In-N-Out Burger is not preparing to move into the former Arctic Circle site in Eureka nor does the popular burger chain have any plans of coming to Humboldt County.  But, did we tell you that Walmart is already here? Yes, we did. But let’s leave you smiling on a happy note.

WE LOVE HUMBOLDT. The people and community. More than a unique place, Humboldt occupies a special presence of mind for all of us. We love the pride of ownership and our local products. We apparently love cheese and beer, too.

YES, IT’S BEEN DRY. Abnormally so. 10.29 inches of rain for a season that should be seeing nearly 20 inches this time of year. The rivers are low and this could have dire consequences for young fish. Fire officials say a continuing dry spell could create an early wildfire season. But it’s still early. The good news is that rain is on the way, perhaps as early as Wednesday, January 18. Keep your fingers crossed unless you’ve been enjoying the drought weather and sunny skies lately. Mow your grass and get your gardening done.

ALSO DANGEROUS FOR FISH is the North Coast fishing report, courtesy of the Times-Standard and Kenny Priest for angling aficionados.  Pray for rain.

WE HAVE CRABS Jack Durham tells us the commercial crabbing season opens Sunday.  “At almost exactly 1 second after midnight on Saturday, Cap’n Zach Rotwein will pull up the first pot of crabs. He’ll deliver them to Trinidad Pier Sunday morning and they should be cooked and ready to be sold by 11 a.m.,” Jack says.  They are reportedly “fat and sassy.”  Who knew?  Make it happen, Cap’n.

WATERSHED ADVOCACY GROUP TAPS FRESH FLESH: The Humboldt Beacon reports attorney Scott Greacen is the new Friends of the Eel River Executive Director.

LATEST OCCUPY EUREKA HAPS: Angered over a series of emails supporters say created an “unlawful government conspiracy to vilify and suppress” their demonstration, District Attorney Paul Gallegos says he had no intention of raising alarm about the group but was concerned about public safety. Covered well and fairly in Grant Scott-Goforth’s, article, County E-mails Outrage Occupy Eureka; D.A. Says Tents Posed Safety Risks, it’s an interesting twist of conspiracies depending upon whom you speak to.

RYAN BURNS AND THE JOURNAL report in this week’s piece, The Debt Divide, just how the economic crisis affects regular people compared to big corporations using bankruptcy to weather the storm like… Well, we can’t name names and spoil that surprise for you. You’ll have to see for yourself.

HANK SIMS PREDICTS Eureka’s Crazy Train will be riding off the rails after endorsement by the City Council this Tuesday.  Attorney and rail advocate Bill Barnum insists it’s merely a request investigating alternatives.   Mr. Sims has been following the developments of the proposed 125 mile East-West rail corridor requiring a $250,000 feasibility study and construction price tag of half a billion dollars, though no one really knows how much it will cost or who will pay for it.  Picking up steam, citizens may want to see what the Eureka City Council has in mind this Tuesday, January 17, at 6 p.m. following Councilmember Newman fast tracking the Phantom Train onto the calendar.  If you haven’t been filled in, the Sentinel has the back story here.

REMEMBER FUKUSHIMA? Dr. Josh Strange, writing for the Two Rivers Tribune newspaper, states in his informative article that disaster is still brewing:

“Serious health problems are already on the rise in Japan with numerous sewage plants in Tokyo testing positive for radioactive iodine-131 showing that people are consuming contaminated food and water. In the Fukushima area, a wave of serious health problems continue…

Closer to home, debris from the tsunami have recently been washing up in large clumps in British Columbia months earlier than anticipated… scores of ring seals and walruses have been coming ashore since July with hair loss, bleeding lesions, liver spots, and failing immune systems. Biologists have ruled out viruses and are now having samples tested for nuclear radiation from Fukushima, which is consistent with the symptoms being observed.

What does this mean for us here on the West Coast?” he writes.

You’ll have to read his stellar article to find out the rest of the story. Dr. Strange is a fisheries biologist working for the Yurok tribe. A graduate of Arcata High School, Josh earned his graduate and doctorate degrees from the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences before coming home to live and work. From his biography:  “Joshua became passionate about river restoration at the age of 16 when he also trained to become a professional river guide, subsequently guiding some of the most remote and challenging runs in the West. His step-father is a Yurok Tribal elder and Joshua is blessed to have been raised with a diverse cultural perspective. Joshua lives in Hoopa, the largest Tribal reservation in California, where he pursues the dream of sustainable community on a farmstead with his family.”

The Two Rivers Tribune never fails to amaze us with its fine reporting. Dr. Strange’s article is one of the best that we’ve combed through this week. A local boy who’s doing good for his environment and community– his work is certainly deserving a read by the wider audience of Humboldt.

THE WEEKEND CALENDAR:

Events, Happenings, Lectures, Walks, Music and Stuff:

We’re thinking the Pastime Silent Movie Orchestra– The Fortuna Concert Series– presenting a classic Buster Keaton silent film accompanied by a live combo on Saturday, January 14 at 7:20 p.m. at the Monday Club in Fortuna is gonna be a good time for the family.  After all, free popcorn is included!  Under the direction of Franklin Stover, Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman is accompanied by the live combo Pastime Silent Movie Orchestra.  If you think Buster Keaton was great, wait until you get a load of Franklin Stover.   Folks, you’re in for a real one-of-a-kind musical treat.   Franklin might play one of his unusually rare Prussian instruments.  Who knows?  His repertoire is vast.  And why 7:20 p.m.?

There’s all sorts of other things happening this weekend.

Arcata has it going on FRIDAY:  Arts! Arcata, everybody wang chunging to the 80s Dance Party at the Jambalaya, the March Fourth Marching Band at Humboldt Brews, and the movie Friday (a stoner comedy-drama-buddy film, if you didn’t know) at the Arcata Theatre Lounge.  Blue Lake has the Naive Melodies, a tribute cover to the Talking Heads over at the Blue Lake Casino.  If you’re in the mood and around SoHum there’s the Mateel Comedy Cabaret at the Community Center.

SATURDAY has Guitar Shorty singing the blues at the Riverwood Inn and more.

SUNDAY has more than a few pancake, waffles, and breakfast things cooking, Redwood Region Audubon Society sponsoring a field trip through the wildlife and landscape areas of Potawot Health Village early in the morning, the Congressional Candidate’s debate is sparring the Mateel Community Center at 2 p.m. along with a John Lennon life and musical tribute gig at Arcata’s Cafe Veritas in Westwood Center later in the evening.

MONDAY has the City of Arcata’s Bowl of Beans benefit honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and local youth.  Eureka will be hosting its own annual presentation at the Adorni Center.  We think. Here was last year’s Eureka event, mixed in with an proto-Occupy Arcata Plaza gig headed up by Jack Nounnan, courtesy of KGOE’s Tom Sebourn and the Sentinel:

You can also take in a rose pruning workshop or a tea ceremony.  So many choice, so little time.

See the listings below for more details:

Friday, January 13

Saturday, January 14

Sunday, January 15

There’s some good flicks playing out there, too.

Movies, times, trailers, and IMDb reviews are here.

COMING UP:

While it may be a pricey ticket ($47) at the Arkley Center on Thursday, January 19, comedian Gabriel Iglesias is worth every bit if you like laughing your fat bottom off.  If you’ve seen him perform, you know what we mean.  He’s good.  And getting richer.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, FILM, AFRICA AND SALMON:

ACCESS HUMBOLDT is kicking off 2012 with two film presentations. Travel Photography and More— Swaziland, Africa by local photographer, Gary Todoroff, is featured Thursday, January 19, at 6pm, in the Eureka High School Lecture Hall. Mr. Todoroff has a vast background in aerial, commercial, and fine art photography. His lecture documents an abandoned mining town transitioned into a self-supporting community for orphan care in Swaziland, Africa. Along with an inside look at a vibrant community, Gary will describe the techniques he used as the town’s resident photographer. He’ll also be teaching a 2-hour workshop series, beginning Wednesday, January 18, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. for photographers.

Also featured will be an environmental documentary by Thomas Dunklin Friday, January 27 at 7 p.m. Dunklin is a fisheries geo-videologist and producer of documentary videos surrounding salmon, restoration, and salmon culture. His work encompasses underwater views from the Smith and Klamath Rivers, watershed restorations projects, Klamath dam and other amazing underwater wildlife footage. Questions and answers will follow Dunklin’s selected work. Movie trivia, prizes, and a reception will follow at the adjacent Access Humboldt Community Media Center.

Each presentation is $5. All are welcome to attend.  The seats are comfortable, the people and food good, and the price is right for supporting Access Humboldt and independent media. What isn’t there to like?

Favorite Quote(s) of the Week:

You’re never more alive than when you’re almost dead. You recognize what’s valuable. Freshly, as if for the first time, you love what’s best in yourself and in the world, all that might be lost…. You find yourself studying the fine colors on the river, you feel wonder and awe at the setting of the sun, and you are filled with a hard, aching love for how the world could be and always should be, but now is not.

~Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.

~Alfred E. Newman

Cream City’s Council weighs in with their concerns over use of roads

By Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Residents and ranchers alike packed the Ferndale City Hall to voice their increasing disapproval of the Shell Wind Bear River Wind Turbine Project presented by staff from HSU’s Schatz Energy Lab and Shell’s WindEnergy, Inc.

The fourth such meeting held on the controversial project, Shell WindEnergy had asked the Ferndale City Council not to make any decisions at Thursday’s council meeting. Ferndale City staff, however, had previously recommended the council direct Humboldt County officials to ‘re-scope’ the project, asking for updated information from the various agencies involved due to changes made since January’s 2010 original scoping document.

Ferndale Mayor Jeff Farley asked the public to hold back any applause and address questions and issues directly to the council. After the 4-hour meeting concluded, the Ferndale City Council voted unanimously sending two ‘letters of concern’ to the County: asking County officials to reevaluate the project’s scope, and opposing the transport of turbine equipment through Ferndale’s streets.

The council, Farley said, wants the County to take another look at the project’s impact on noise, traffic, air quality, and property values, and to obtain a more detailed evaluation of the costs of decommissioning the wind farm. Farley claims Ferndale hasn’t received answers to these questions, especially how the city will be adversely affected by the large concrete, dump, and water trucks, cranes and other vehicles transporting heavy equipment through the streets of Ferndale to the project’s site on Bear Ridge, 6 miles south of town. Shell representatives visiting the council earlier provided updated information including the potential option of using helicopters to bring in components.

The Ferndale City Council ultimately decided not to oppose the wind turbine project altogether until it reviews the information contained in the environmental impact report to be released this spring.

The Times-Standard quoted Mayor Farley summing up the city councils’ recommendation this way: “We said, ‘no, we’re not going to do that’ because the EIR isn’t out yet and we want more information. At this point, we’re not getting the answers as fast as we want. This isn’t their first rodeo for wind turbines.”

Ferndale City Manager Jay Parrish said most of the council’s concerns involve the impact of transportation, but the city is open to hearing about alternatives.  “I think the council in general approves of alternative energy systems, but when it’s in your backyard, you need to look at it real close,” Parrish said.

Shell WindEnergy Response

Pana Ratana, Business Development Advisor for Shell WindEnergy, said that “the company understands the community’s concerns and the council’s wishes to have more information, (but) it’s simply too early for the council to take a position opposing any of the project’s components,” according to the Times-Standard.

“We are disappointed that the city of Ferndale has decided to take any position on the transportation plan at this time. The city council is making a premature decision based largely on incomplete information. We will continue with our plans to host an open house in the spring to provide the latest information and updates,” Ratana said.

The Proposed Project, Plans and Merits

Shell WindEnergy’s project proposes installing approximately 25 wind turbines on private property along Bear River Ridge above Ferndale and Rio Dell, producing 50-75 megawatts of generation capacity– enough renewable electricity to power over 18,000 homes. The project’s boosters claim the wind farm will bring in millions of investment dollars from Shell Wind over the next 20 years, plus 120 full time employees during construction and six to 12 full time employees to maintain the wind farm.

The project’s equipment would be barged into Humboldt Bay, unloaded at a yet-to-be determined offloading site, and trucked down Highway 101. According to the North Coast Journal article by Keith Easthouse, Shell has analyzed five different routes: three going through or near Ferndale, and two going out of Rio Dell. All have their inherent problems. Helicoptering of components to the site is a possible option—but only in part.

It’s expected that large trucks would make 850 trips to deliver components and another 2,500 trucks would be needed for construction. 3 million gallons of water would be needed. Construction vehicles would make 60 round trips daily through Ferndale, as proposed. Five miles of new road would be built for use during construction, along with three weather towers, a power-collection system, a substation and 12 miles of new power lines. The turbine blades are 150 feet long, the towers rising nearly 260 feet tall, and each of the 3 tower pieces, shipped separately, run 85 feet in length. The housing generators at the top of the towers, called nacelles, weigh 40 tons apiece—and would be undeliverable by helicopter due to their immense weight.

Humboldt County Senior Planner John Miller said the County wants Shell to do a more detailed analysis of how the turbine components will be transported to the ridge before completing the draft environmental impact report. “The trucks are fairly long, so they need to narrow down what roads need to be improved,” he said, adding that Pacific Gas and Electric is also involved working on how power will get to the regional grid.

Blight, Environment, and Energy Concerns

Some critics of the project, including residents of Ferndale, believe the project will do nothing to enhance energy availability for Ferndale citizens– and that the presence of windmills will blight the landscape.

Then there are the environmental concerns. According to the Northcoast Environmental Center article by Sarah O’Leary, while the wind turbine generators would produce electrical power with less carbon impact on the atmosphere than fossil fuels, the blades could harm imperiled species, including bats, migrating birds, spotted owls and commuting marbled murrelets.

Jim Zoellick

Just how much renewable energy will be generated by this project and where will it be delivered is another matter to be considered.  Jim Zoellick of HSU’s Schatz Energy Center said that the answer is far more complicated than turbines simply generating power for 18,000 homes.  “The power generated locally would go into the local grid,” Zoellick said, adding that a complicated accounting process allows different entities to actually receive the credit for the renewable energy.

Zoellick gave the example of the new Blue Lake Biomass Plant, which sells its power to San Diego Gas & Electric. The power is not actually shipped to San Diego, he explained, but that company receives credit to help it meet state requirements for renewable energy generation. Zoellick said that if energy generated by renewable sources – such as wind projects, biomass and even wave energy – should exceed Humboldt County’s needs then the first plant to have output turned down would be PG&E. He noted that climate change is the biggest environmental threat of all. “More than anything, we need energy efficiency and conservation. There are no easy answers and no choices that have no impacts,” Zoellick said.

Shell WindEnergy will finish studying the transportation issues raised by the Ferndale city council and determine whether to proceed with the Bear River Turbine Project—with or without Ferndale’s approval– in the last half of 2012. The project, if given the green light and not hitting further roadblocks, could possibly be finished by 2014 depending how cooperative Ferndale’s residents and city council are in warming up to Shell’s proposed plans of allowing transportation through their town.

They admit, however, that the wind project’s approval ultimately lies within the County’s larger sphere of influence and jurisdiction– and not necessarily the little Victorian village itself.

“We’ve been doing fine since 1854 without Shell,” Ferndale Councilman Ken Mierzwa noted during Thursday’s city council session, voicing his disapproval.

(The Times-Standard, Humboldt Beacon, Ferndale Enterprise, Northcoast Environmental Center, the North Coast Journal, National Wind Watch, Humboldt County Community Services Department and the Humboldt Herald contributed to this report)

*********

Comments from around the local web:

“The wind technology can’t pay for itself. The turbines are subsidized by the government green scam dollars. A natural ridge line will be forever polluted by these turbines. Bird migration will be hindered too. All for a few mags of power. It is not worth the effort. But some workers will have a job and the manufacturer will reap millions in transferred wealth.”

“The wind farm will benefit its landlords. That’s about it. The county has a brand-new gas fueled plant at King Salmon – and its own supply of gas.”

“While the new power plant supplies much of electrical needs the county has (almost) NO redundancy for our electricity and gas demands. The “all our eggs in one basket” approach to energy use seems both foolish and shortsighted. We live in far too volatile and remote an area to get away with that strategy for long.”

“Aren’t these the same people who shout ‘Drill Baby Drill’ when it comes to oil?”

“Everyone that knows anything about birds knows that wind turbines kill thousands of birds. It takes an especially heavy toll on raptors.”

“Just like Walmart: if the people don’t want it, it shouldn’t be forced on them.”

“I prefer wind turbines on a ridge to oil derricks offshore. The turbines of today don’t pose the same danger to birds as the older ones did and certainly not the level of threat posed by oil spills.”

“So where will the First District Supervisor candidates (Annette De Modena and Rex Bohn) fall on this issue? This could become a very interesting discussion.”

“Labeling industrial wind-driven Electricity Generation Installations as farms is a bit misleading. Wind isn’t “farmed”.  Corn is farmed. Wind is harnessed and electricity is generated. These installations are power plants with substations. 1-2% of electricity is created from foreign oil (Search it). And to date, coal plants remain online in order to support wind-driven plants coming online with fluctuating supply (search it).”

“The Ferndale City Council Decision was MONUMENTAL. They actually listened to the people who elected them: the people who will be impacted by this project. Thousands and thousands of vehicle trips, (10,000 plus) during the middle of the summer and tourist season traversing the streets of Ferndale. Streets that have clay infrastructure pipes. And streets that certainly were not built to handle 340,000 lb nacelles being transported upon 13 axle, 72 tire, articulated vehicles that require a 40′ clear span to transport certain parts of this project. There is absolutely no benefit to the town of Ferndale except for the bribes Shell WindEnergy offers under the name of a community investment program. But for the general population there are lots of reasons why the citizens of Ferndale overwhelmingly asked its council to say NO TRANSPORTATION thru Ferndale.”

Additional Information about the Bear River Wind Turbine project can be found here:

The Schatz Energy Research Center Turbine Project 3-D Visualization Tool and Tour
The Times-Standard
The National Wind Watch website of archived articles
The Northcoast Environmental Center
The North Coast Journal
The Humboldt Herald
The County of Humboldt Community Services Department website and related links
The BRW Project proposal, Humboldt County Planning Department pdf, 2009
The US Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Report of Proposed EIR and EIS

Hank Sims and the Lost Coast Outpost have an interesting take– and reader’s comments– in their September 21 column, Shell Wind Project: Ferndale Has Plenty of Hot Air

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) striking photograph of Wind Turbines Churning the Air Over the North Sea (credit  and thanks to Ponder z)

$12,000 down, $2,500 to go for new dog, handler training

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

With Officer Bryon Franco’s K-9 partner Jimi close to retirement, the Eureka Police Department’s K-9 Unit has launched a fundraising campaign to buy another patrol dog. About $12,000 has already been raised to get a new dog and provide training for the handler, but $2,500 more is needed to buy a bullet- and knife-resistant vest to protect the dog. Anyone wishing to contribute may send a check to the EPD K-9 Fund at 604 C Street, Eureka, CA. 95501.

The Eureka Police Department continues to be amazed by the generosity and support shown by our community.  A special thanks goes out to the Eureka Police Foundation, which is funded by community support, whose purpose is to assist the Eureka Police Department in obtaining needed equipment and resources.  The Department would also like to give recognition to the Eureka Oxygen Company, The Northcoast Employer Advisory Council, and Lithia Dodge of Eureka for their most generous support.

Even individuals and businesses outside of Eureka were major contributors to this important public safety cause.  They clearly understand EPD’s K-9 teams are used all over the county to assist other local agencies and not just within the city limits of Eureka.  EPD would like to extend our sincerest gratitude toward all those whose generosity and support has made the purchase of a new police K-9 possible.

EPD is still in the fundraising mode for the purchase of a bullet and knife resistant vest to protect the K-9.  These cost about $2,500.00.  Anyone wishing to contribute may send a check to the “EPD K-9 Fund” at our address (604 C Street, Eureka, CA. 95501).

Headwaters Fund and other grants sought to pay for management plan

By Charles Douglas
Humboldt Sentinel

Humboldt County Supervisors voiced their unanimous support this morning for the creation of a Humboldt Bay Region Community Forest along the eastern border of Cutten and Myrtletown.

Although occasionally tied in with more controversial plans to turn a part of the McKay Tract of forestlands into a high-end housing and strip mall development site, the idea of a county-owned public forest has brought together the landowner, Green Diamond timber company, the Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit land conservation group, and various local stakeholders.

Along with a 2,000 acre publicly-owned forest envisioned for phases one and two, phase three would provide for a 5,500 acre conservation easement east of Ryan Creek, allowing Green Diamond to continue timber harvesting under the understanding that the land could not be subdivided and converted to non-timberland use.

The proposed Humboldt Bay Region Community Forest

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Humboldt County to provide,” Byrd Lochtie of the League of Women Voters told Supervisors. “I heartily support a community forest and I’m glad to hear that most of you do too.”

The move would triple the size of lands currently under the County Parks and Trails system managed by the Department of Public Works, but their director, Tom Mattson, claims that the acquisition wouldn’t impact the county’s General Fund.

“Public Works believes the next step is to develop a management plan that provides the framework for an economically self-sustaining community forest based on robust community engagement and input,” Mattson stated in his report to the Board.

To this end, his department has already submitted a concept proposal to the Cal-Fire Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program to develop this plan, and Supervisors also backed his move to seek support from the Headwaters Fund, whose members the Board also appoints.

As the county hasn’t completed their study to ensure that they could manage the proposed community forest in a revenue-neutral way, Mattson pointed to TPLs work with the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. to serve as interim owner of the 640-acre phase one of the project. RFFI already manages the 50,000 acre Usal Redwood Forest in Mendocino County, and they’ve offered to be the applicant for funding from the state River Parkways Grant Program.

While State Fish and Game was on hand to offer their full support for the community forest as a means to protect the Ryan Creek watershed and help recover populations of threatened Coho Salmon, more strident enviros sounded a note of caution as to Green Diamond’s larger agenda.

Jeremy “Farmer” Jensen from Earth First! noted that some of the proposed areas were downstream from currently operating tree sits in the McKay Tract in Cutten, put their by his “affinity group” to prevent residential and commercial development.

“There are some areas that are so significant that they need to stand on their own,” Jensen said. “I don’t feel like anybody feels like they’re giving in to preserve this forest.”

In giving the green light to the concept and the applications for outside funding, Supervisors also formed a working group with Public Works, Community Development Services, County Counsel Wendy Chatin, County Administrative Officer Phillip Smith-Hanes, the Humboldt County Forestry Review Committee and the University of California Cooperative Extension Forest Advisor’s Office.

Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace of Arcata, whose district encompasses the Myrtletown area, asked to be the direct Board representative to this working group. First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith quickly shot down this idea, as he pointed out the immediate impacts this proposal would have on development plans in the Cutten area of his district, not to mention the water and environmental quality implications downstream in Virginia Bass’ Fourth District in Eureka. The adopted motion clarified that the entire Board will liaise with the working group.

If implemented, the Forest Review Committee, made up of Community Development Director Kurt Girard, Assessor Mari Wilson and seven voting members appointed to four-year terms by the Board, would oversee management of the community forest. All seven public members are required to be registered professional foresters.

Richard Miller finally settles years-old lawsuit filed by county

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

A long-awaited settlement of an illegal dumping case is finally in the payment phase.

After 17 violations of environmental regulations and hazardous materials handling laws were discovered over the span of an eight-year investigation and lawsuit, Richard Miller, the former owner of Redwood Motorsports in Eureka, is due to pay $100,000 to settle the case.

Under the terms of the agreement reached by the office of District Attorney Paul Gallegos, Miller will additionally reimburse more than $28,000 in costs to the county, as well as complete the removal of an illegally abandoned underground storage tank.

The original investigation was initiated in 2003 by the Division of Environmental Health, an arm of the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. DEH director Melissa Martel pursued the investigation, during which her office discovered that Miller had dumped toxic materials in local storm drains. Miller was also charged with failure to provide personnel training, failure to provide required paperwork and illegal transportation of hazardous waste.

An additional investigation in 2005 revealed that Miller’s hazardous waste was being illegally stored in Carlotta in large drums which were deteriorating and leaking waste oil, solvent and gasoline into the soil. Due to these contamination issues, Miller was required in the terms of the settlement to clean up both properties.

“This case illustrates that it really doesn’t pay to disregard the rules,” deputy district attorney Christa McKimmy stated in a release. “We hope that businesses recognize this and act responsibly to protect our environment.”

Since the judgement against him was entered earlier this year, Miller has already paid $28,000 in cost recovery, along with over $13,000 towards the $100,000 penalty.

“Sadly, toxins and pollutants dumped into our sensitive waterways and ecosystems don’t simply disappear,” Gallegos stated in a release. “They linger in our environment and do untold damage for years to come. The sooner we can catch and stop perpetrators like Miller, the more effective we can be in limiting that harm.”

Martel noted that fines such as these are levied against polluters only after other efforts to obtain compliance have been exhausted.

“While local agencies work hard to educate the public about community about hazardous materials laws and regulations, sometimes fines and penalties are warranted,” she said. “We do our best to keep Humboldt healthy.”

Congressman Thompson announces new funding from USDA Bioenergy Program

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

Federal funding is set to help one local firm expand their production of advanced biofuel.

Yokayo Biofuels of Ukiah is to receive more than $24,000 in rural development funds, according to a release today from Congressman Mike Thompson (Dem. – St. Helena).

“Yokayo Biofuels is a model of how green businesses can grow our economy,” Thompson stated. “Not only are biofuels good for our environment, growing the biofuel industry will lessen our dependence on foreign oil and spur green job creation.”

Yokayo uses vegetable oil as feedstock for its biodiesel — a requirement to be eligible under the Bioenerg Program for Advanced Biofuels, which is administered by the USDA. Yokayo also landed a $110,000 grant from the USDA last month for Biodiesel Trans Esterificaiton, which is a process of transforming grease into fuel.

“2010 was a rough year for biodiesel, but thanks to increased funding from government agencies this year, including this grant from the USDA, Yokayo Biofuels has been able to increase its staff from ten to eighteen employees, and is well-positioned to continue growing.” Yokayo CEO Kumar Plocher stated.

Thompson lauded these investments to build a biofuels industry that grows a green economy and reduces the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Upgrades made to energy efficiency and generation across tribal lands

By Paul Mann
HSU Now

As the sun rises over the mountains, a glimmer of light reflects off the Yurok Tribe building in Weitchpec, Calif. The glint of sunlight bounces off an array of new solar panels, recently installed with the help of Humboldt State’s Schatz Energy Research Center—the newest energy project in a partnership that spans over a decade.

The Yurok tribal building in Weitchpec, Calif., is adorned with a new, 15.7-kilowatt solar electric array. The array, installed by local solar experts Roger and his Merry Band of Solar Installers, is one of many projects in more than a decade of collaboration between the Tribe and HSU’s Schatz Lab.

Since 1999, Schatz Lab has worked with the Yurok Tribe on several grants, studies and energy projects to improve sustainability. Past projects have included a fuel-cell system to provide back up power to a radio repeater station, a feasibility study for hydroelectric and wind energy development and energy audits of over fifty tribal households and multiple government buildings.

Most recently, local solar experts, Roger and his Merry Band of Solar Installers, outfitted the Tribe with a solar electric system. The Tribe also performed energy efficiency upgrades in its Weitchpec tribal office and is working to install energy efficiency upgrades at its Klamath office.

“Stewardship is a huge element of tribal culture,” says Sophia Lay, a tribal planner and the project manager for this undertaking. “The key elements here were to be more sustainable and to lower our energy use.”

Funding for the projects came from the Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Originally, that funding was to be used to conduct a retro-commissioning study for the Klamath office, install a solar panel system and enact certain retrofit projects. Retro-commissioning studies are used to identify existing structures and systems that could be altered to improve energy use. However, from 2005 to 2007, the Tribe and Schatz Lab had already performed an energy-needs assessment to identify such opportunities.

“Rather than spend money on a report to identify issues, we decided to do some of the retrofits we already knew about,” Lay says. Schatz Lab worked with the Tribe to adjust the project proposal and the Department of Energy agreed to award the grant without requiring a retro-commissioning study.
Instead, that funding went to other projects. The tribal building in Weitchpec received energy efficiency upgrades to its heating and cooling systems and occupancy sensors for its lighting system.

“Small changes like this are really beneficial,” Schatz Lab engineer Richard Engel says. “They’re relatively simple. They make sure no equipment is running unnecessarily. And they save energy.”
Additionally, the building received a 15.7-kilowatt solar electric array. That system was increased from a 13.6-kilowatt system after the price of photovoltaic equipment went down.

Schatz Lab engineers also developed an interactive interpretive display for the lobby of the Weitchpec tribal building. The full-color, touch-screen display allows users to get information on the energy efficiency upgrades of the project, including the real-time energy production of the new solar array. Information from the interpretive display will also be accessible online.

“The display definitely catches your attention as soon as you walk in the door,” Lay says. “If the information doesn’t get people’s attention right away, the fact that it’s interactive will.”

Work at the tribal building in Klamath is currently underway. Those energy efficiency upgrades include weatherizing seals on doors and installation of ceiling fans to improve heating and cooling and prevent stratification. In a room with high ceilings like the Klamath building, stratification occurs when warm air rises and doesn’t circulate with the colder air near the ground. On a cold day, that means the heat has to be turned up much higher to heat the air near the ground. Ceiling fans will also help to circulate air and keep people comfortable on a hot day, without resorting to energy-sapping air conditioning.

As this project winds down, Schatz Lab and the Yurok Tribe have already submitted another grant proposal, this one to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to continue to explore and implement actions to create a more sustainable community.

“Personally,” Lay says, “I learned a lot from this project, and that will carry over into my other projects in terms of energy efficiency.”

Local Mateel Foundation seeks injunction against Disney

By Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

Finding excessive levels of lead on the brass door knobs at Minnie’s House, the handle of the Sword in Stone, stained glass windows in Cinderella’s Castle, brass chains, drinking fountains, and other items throughout Disneyland, the Eureka-based Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation is seeking a court injunction to force the theme park to remedy the problems or post health notices.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Eureka based eco-group filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court in April against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. Inc., alleging toxic levels of lead were found.

In June and December the Mateel Justice Foundation conducted wipe testing in various places within Disneyland to mimic what happens when children touch lead-tainted items. In those tests, participants wiped their hands with a laboratory towelette and touched windows, brass chains and door knobs throughout the park.  They then wiped their hands with a second towelette to be analyzed by an independent laboratory.

“These tests found hand lead exposures at the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan Ride and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of 1 microgram, 9.75 micrograms and 5.82 micrograms respectively,” the Mateel Foundation said. “A wipe sample taken from a stained-glass Pinocchio window in the dining area of Village Haus restaurant found a lead exposure of 350 micrograms.”

“We are asking the court to force Disney to take steps that should have been taken when we first told them that children at Disneyland are in danger of illegal lead exposures,” said local attorney and Mateel President, William Verick.

Under state law, warnings are required if exposure for average users exceeds 0.5 micrograms per day.  Excessive levels of lead are considered toxic.  Lead attacks the nervous and reproductive systems, causes cognitive and behavioral changes and increases the risk of cancer.

Disney rejected the lawsuit allegations maintaining the park posts adequate warnings about lead-tainted fixtures and figurines, as required by state law, according to Court documents.

“We have not seen the papers that we are told are being filed, so we cannot comment specifically. However, we believe that Disneyland Resort is in full compliance with the signage requirements of state law,” Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said.

The Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation, located at 424 1st Street in Eureka, is a nonprofit group that has filed dozens of environmental suits against major companies contending they violate California’s Proposition 65 toxics law.