Blocking off Ninth Street between L and M streets right in front of the Arcata Playhouse on one side of the street and Holly Yashi Jewelry on the other, the family friendly event will feature live music, giant puppets, stilt walkers, food and craft booths and more.

What exactly is an annular eclipse? It’s similar to a total one, but because of a quirk in the moon’s orbit, it won’t blot out the entire solar disk, leaving a thin ring of light around the sun.

Join in the celestial fun with Creamery neighborswith live music from Lonesome Roses, Colin Vance and Cory Goldman, Jan Bramlett, the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir, The Big Forgive and an acoustic set from Absynth Quintet. Absynth will then move indoors to the Arcata Playhouse stage for a 7 p.m. ticketed performance to finish off the event.

Missing Link records will be spinning their favorite discs throughout the day and the street will come alive with giant puppets and stilt walkers, a kid’s area, dancers from Ya Habibi and a special performance from Samba Da Alegria as well as Kinetic Lab test drives.

Special eclipse viewing glasses will be available along with information on how to view the eclipse safely.

The event is sponsored by Playhouse Arts, Holly Yashi Jewelry, KHUM radio and the Creamery district neighborhood.

For information on the Solar Eclipse Street Festival or the district call (707) 822-1575. Tickets to Absynth Quintet’s Arcata Playhouse performance are available at Wildwood Music, Wildberries Marketplace or at the door.

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Lovelace fails, bring on Brooks

I have always admired and do enjoy being around Alex Stillman so I feel compelled to address the reasons for her endorsement of Mark Lovelace for supervisor. She and many others may not understand the context of those accomplishments.

The redundant fiber optic cable that Mark was involved in is only available to those with a specific subscription not the general public. Mr. Lovelace was absent when Cypress Grove sought to put their dairy goats on agriculture land next to their processing facility in Arcata.

As far as helping them find a place to remain in Humboldt County, Cypress Grove had previously investigated the place they now have in Dows Prairie which was obviously not their first choice. That move ended up eliminating an existing stabling business that housed 35 horses and was residence for two families. And while there has been a lot of energy directed toward the Ridge Trail we are going to have to be a lot more creative to effect its completion as grant monies are drying up.

I support Karen Brooks because I regularly see her at trail meetings, Karen has the marketing background we really need and she shows respect and even appreciation for those with differing perspectives and ideas. She is clearly smart enough to understand that no one political party or perspective has a monopoly on good ideas. Karen for Humboldt please.

Uri Driscoll

Arcata

As seen on Old Arcata Road. Photo courtesy Roger Eckart

Stumped 

Political comment? Not thinking? Same thing?

Roger Eckart

Bayside

Adams brings renewal

It is so easy to become jaded about electoral politics. I’m an eternal optimist and even I have lapses. So much money is spent on campaigns and lobbying and the money-backed congressional results, it becomes hard to see how one person can make difference. Once in a while someone shows up who is different; someone who is not backed by the establishment and is not heavily funded by special interest groups.

Susan Adams has the essential elements of someone who actually looks, feels and will be different when she enters Washington. Her weaknesses: she does not look like, talk like or act like a politician. Her strengths: ditto.

You can learn more about her, SusanAdamsForCongress.com.

Julie Fulkerson

Trinidad

Lovelace a SmartSupe

I would like to set the record straight regarding an accusation made by Karen Brooks against Mark Lovelace recently in a local newspaper. For several years, I have been the point person in Humboldt County educating and organizing around the dangerously unhealthy levels of microwave radiation emitted by PGandE’s Smart Meters. Ms. Brooks reportedly stated that “when PGandE installed Smart Meters he [Mark] didn’t do anything about it, even though people in the district didn’t want them.”

In reality, Mark was one of the few local officials that seriously considered this issue and took action on it. He took the time to meet in person with me and others to listen and discuss our concerns. He sought out information on the issue and spoke to supervisors in other counties to learn what other communities were doing. Mark spearheaded the drafting of letters expressing customers’ concerns. These letters were later approved by the Board and sent to PGandE and the CPUC on behalf of our community.

The Smart Meter issue is not yet completely resolved. However, thanks to Mark and other responsive officials and activists, PGandE customers can now help protect their health and privacy by opting out of a Smart Meter. Mark Lovelace deserves our thanks and our votes for Third District Supervisor for the work he has done on this and many other important issues.

Beverly Filip

Eureka

Creepy birthday to you

How sweet. Last week I got a birthday card from Karen Brooks, whom I don’t know. In it, she promises to advocate for the protection of my privacy. So, stalking down the date of my birth must be Step One in privacy protection?

Mary Ann Madej

Arcata

Shane & Sofia for HCDCC

As a longtime member of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee (HCDCC) representing the Third District who has decided to no longer continue on this important political committee, I am asking voters in the Third Supervisorial District to vote for Shane Brinton and Sofia Pereira in this upcoming election.

Both Shane and Sofia are young members of our community who are active in local politics who will bring much needed progressive and open-minded representation to HCDCC.

Shane, who has actively worked on local campaigns, is running the Norman Solomon congressional campaign here in Humboldt County. In addition to this, he is currently on the Arcata City Council and has been elected and served on the Northern Humboldt High School District.

Sofia is currently running the Stacey Lawson congressional campaign in Humboldt County. While attending HSU, she was the president of the HSU student body. Recently she has organized and is chair of the North Coast Young Democrats, representing Democratic voters age 35 and under.

Both will bring to the HCDCC the needed prospective of a youthful outlook with a community-oriented vision and social and personal responsibility. As an individual who was worked locally on political activities for many years, I find their youthful exuberance to be refreshing.

Let’s give Shane and Sofia the support they deserve and show other potentially politically active young people that they too have the support of other community members. Vote for Shane Brinton and Sofia Pereira on Tuesday, June 5.

Chris Jenican Beresford

Bayside

Solomon’s smart direction

There is a Democratic president in the White House, but sometimes you wouldn’t know it. Barack Obama often seems only too willing to give in to the more Republican ways without much of a fight.

Instead of standing up for the 99 percent, we now have an administration that continues to maintain the defense budget at lofty levels just as his Republican predecessor did.

To make matters worse, the administration has also compromised with the Republicans and allowed the Bush’s tax cuts for upper income earners that would have otherwise already expired to continue on. As a result, there are both misallocated and reduced revenues which together put a substantial squeeze on programs that would otherwise benefit the 99 percent.

What is required is funding for programs to support needed infrastructure which would promote job creation, education which would underpin the future of America, and health care reform which could free us from being pawns of the medical insurance industry.

Norman Solomon is the candidate for our new congressional district who best understands the need for changes such as these, and if elected, would work to reverse the current trends. He is a well-respected progressive who has fought for decades to get the progressive voice heard over the seemingly louder and more pervasive right-wing view presented by Fox News and others. If elected, he would support a Democratic administration, but he would also let them know when he disagrees with them.

For example, he would be an advocate for reductions in the defense budget and a transformation of the current private health care system to a more efficient universal single payer health care system analogous to Medicare for all.

He would also oppose the privatization of Social Security, a failed concept put forth by the preceding Bush administration that seems to be rearing its ugly head again. Solomon is best able to do this because he is running his campaign by individual donations without the use of corporate moneys. This means his efforts won’t be limited after he is elected because of favors owed to others such as members of the defense, medical, or insurance industries.

Some people are supporting other candidates because they say that their candidate is better able to hit the road running. I would say, first look and see what direction the candidate is actually going. In my opinion, Norman Solomon is going in the right direction and has earned my support. His goal is to make America a better place for all of us, and I would hope that that’s the same direction you too would like us to go.

Sherman Schapiro

Blue Lake

Adams for the future

Susan Adams just had a very successful, standing room only, fundraising dinner at the Wharfinger. I want to thank the people who attended for their overwhelming support. Special thanks to the co-hosts for this event; Virginia Bass and Mark Lovelace, Julie Fulkerson, Felicia Oldfather, Dr. Ken Miller, Pam Ford Cavanaugh, Javan and Alex Reid, Bob and Ginny Felter, Anita and Carl Fullbright, Jane Wood Ward, Paul Salzman, Lee and Chris House, Sara Turner and Thea Gast, Marianne Pennekamp and Barbara Kennedy, Midge Brown and Bob Lawton.

Susan Adams, a County Supervisor, nurse, educator, mother and grandmother was welcomed enthusiastically. She talked about her vision of creating green jobs throughout this District as she has done in Marin County.

Susan also talked about her deep roots in our community, where she’s long spent time with her brother and his family in Carlotta and if elected will maintain a residence here. She emphasized her work as a champion for the consumer by winning battles with corporations such as PG&E and Sutter Health to protect families and seniors.

Having worked over 30 years in health care and women’s health, she would work to enact Medicare for all and preserve Social Security for future generations.

Susan Adams’ agenda for an America that Works is to create jobs by ending tax cuts for millionaires and reinvest that money into infrastructure, schools and the economy. It was agreed that a vote for Susan Adams is a vote for a Congress that works.

I would also like to thank my committee, Barbara Carolan, Jane Woodward, Susan Penn, Nancy Starck, Irma Watts, Donald Forrest Sharon Ferrett, Sarah Peninsi and Jennifer Coriell.

Pam Cahill

Bayside

War of the Worlds

In my mail this week I received an extreme and exaggerated hit piece by Karen Brooks against Mark Lovelace. The first things I noticed were two pictures of the Plaza Point affordable senior housing project in Arcata. Karen prominently features this project as a very negative example of what she terms, “social engineering,” which Mark would supposedly impose on all of us if he is re-elected as county supervisor.

In addition to being mayor of Arcata, I have donated hundreds of unpaid hours of my time as the energy analyst on this fine project. Apparently Karen prefers that the site of Plaza Point be left as a gravel parking lot rather than be high-quality, solar-powered affordable housing for seniors in easy walking distance of downtown Arcata with close to zero energy bills for residents.

From the Brooks mailer: Are all of the residents in the 28-unit Plaza Point complex supposed to live instead in sprawling farmhouses? And what about the multiple high-density housing developments festooned with Brooks for Supervisor signs in Arcata, operated by Brooks’ own major backer, Steve Strombeck?

Karen’s target is even stranger because Plaza Point is a Danco project in Arcata, a project in which Mark and Humboldt County have no involvement.

I support Mark for supervisor because he works for policies that offer a wide variety of housing for people of all incomes. Mark supports more compact development which protects our farms and forests and reduces costs for Humboldt County to provide services. Before he became supervisor Mark led the successful effort to both save the Sunnybrae Forest and keep it as a working forest.

I reject the myths and fantasies offered by Karen Brooks and support real, affordable and sustainable choices that Mark Lovelace works for every day.

 Michael Winkler

Arcata

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If I were to walk into Plaza Design and steal $320 worth of merchandise that would be considered a crime, correct? If I dropped off several calendars to Plaza Design and they then owed me $320 and never paid, would that not also be considered a crime? I would love to see this reported in the Arcata Eye’s crime report but that’s unlikely.

Artists and other consignees to retailers are at the mercy of that retailers business practices and they are also at the mercy of the lenders to that business. Many consignees and people who purchased furniture were fortunately compensated. As far as I know, those of us who were owed money did not get paid.

Arcata Eye, March 7, 2012: “AEDC Secures Plaza Design, Contacts Creditors”

“Susan Seaman said the action was taken to protect creditors, including customers who may have paid for items as well as artists, craftspeople and others who had items there on consignment. Seaman said AEDC was now attempting to contact the numerous creditors consignees, beginning with those who had called the organization asking if they were going to get what they were owed, or their property back.

“We haven’t been able to put together what’s been sold,” Seaman said. “We’re scheduling times to meet people there and make sure they get back their stuff.”

So says this article in the Arcata Eye.…

In a phone call to Seaman on April 18, she told me I would have to contact Peter Labes, Plaza Design owner to get paid my calendar money. Labes has an unlisted phone number and the PD’s Umpqua Bank account has no funds. Where did that money go?! If it is in the hands of AEDC, then they should pay up. Hundreds of dollars of that money is mine. I’m wondering if I could have cashed those checks if the AEDC had not abruptly shut down PD in the manner they did. Neither party is owning up to the responsibility of compensating what is due to the artists.

What I would like to know is who and how many other artists were screwed out of the money owed to them. I’m interested to find out and to talk about what we can do about it….

Sam Camp

Arcata

Share the road with bikers

As a motorcycle enthusiast, I respectfully remind the people of Humboldt County that federal, state and local highway safety, law enforcement and motorcycle organizations shall proclaim May as  “Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.”

“Motorcycles are vehicles with the same rights and privileges as any motor vehicle on the roadway. Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month is a national initiative aimed at getting motorists and motorcyclists to “share the road” with each other.” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

As summer months approach, bringing warmer weather conditions and rising fuel costs, more people are taking to the road on two wheels in order to go to work as well as take part in tourist activities. Not everyone has the same or adequate skills for motorcycling, but even the most skilled and well prepared rider can encounter an inattentive driver operating a four- wheeled vehicle with negative results, usually for the motorcyclist.

With motorcycles fatalities on the rise, it is important to remember that motorcyclists are more vulnerable than those in other types of vehicles. Motorists should always look for motorcycles by checking mirrors and blind spots before entering or leaving a lane of traffic and at intersections.

PLEASE avoid distractions such as texting.

It is just as important that riders be visible to other motorists and obtain proper training and licensing, wear the appropriate protective gear, and always respect the rules of the road.

By increasing education and awareness of the importance of safe riding and the need for mutual respect for all motorcyclists and motorists, we can continue in our efforts to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities on the highways and back roads of our glorious Humboldt County.

Please look twice, and save a life. Motorcycles are everywhere.

Please Share The Road!

Phylis Geller

Arcata

Cheese mill alternative

   I just read the Cypress Grove article in the Eye. Although I felt it had a disparaging attitude towards those against the Cypress Grove Cheese Factory expansion, the article did show the complex nature of the situation.

I don’t think anyone at the Planning Commission’s meeting was unsupportive of the Cypress Grove Cheese Factory.

What most people did not support was the elimination of Agriculture in the name of “Agriculture.” The proposal is to triple the size of the existing 13,000 sq. feet cheese factory to 37,000 sq. feet. This will put more than .5 of an acre of fertile, self-watering Arcata bottomland under compacted crushed rock and rebar reinforced concrete.

This isn’t a four-inch slab of barn concrete, it is industrial code gravel, rebar, and concrete. If our WPA sidewalks are any indication, it will seal off the soil from food growing for more than a century.

This project was justified because it is “Agriculture.” Here our laws fail us. A better statement of Agriculture would be: The use of sun, soil, and water to produce food (vegetables, grains, milk, meat). What Cypress Grove is doing is “food transformation.” They are taking a basic Agriculture food (goat milk) and transforming it into a different product (goat cheese). The question we all need to ask is: Does “food transformation” have priority over “food production?”

Could the Emmi Corporation find an already impacted Arcata site for a second cheese factory? I suspect they could, if they had the Will to do it. The Arcata Flakeboard site was suggested, as it is large and has excellent truck access. Emmi discounted it because of the hygiene requirements of cheese making. But did they even try to explore this possibility with Arcata City?

The owners of the Flakeboard site, Hambro, owes Arcata $2.2 million. Seems like a deal could be struck, the building razed, and, there you have it; a concrete slab, ready for a hygienic building!

With the human population increasing exponentially (seven-plus billion) and millions of acres of fertile farmland disappearing under “Development” (42,000,000-plus acres since 1982 in USA), our great grandchildren will be hard pressed to feed humanity. New Cypress Grove concrete on Arcata’s fertile farmland will only add to that problem.

 Craig Knox

Arcata

Ag requires buildings

I note Craig Knox’s letter in the May 9th issue in which he is critical of of the Cypress Grove Cheese Factory expansion and suggests that perhaps a disparaging attitude exists about the long-term critics of the entire project as chronicled in these pages. I suggest that perhaps what irks folks about much of the opposition, and what Mr. Hoover was talking about in his open letter to himself, is the appearance of extreme mental contortions to rationalize and camouflage what is essentially just a NIMBY issue. Nobody wants to admit that they are simply exercising their Constitutional rights to just hate it and be agin’ it no matter what some hippies on the City Council once said about conserving and using prime ag land.

Now Mr. Knox has proposed a finely nuanced, hair-splitting, Rube Goldberg mental construction which opposes the physical construction of of a half-acre concrete slab which will expand the capacity of the CHEESE factory which it was clearly billed as from the beginning as Mr. Knox seems to acknowledge. Now, suddenly, after all these months we have the proposition that cheese is not actually an agricultural product (!?!) but is “transformed” from raw goat milk by Cypress Grove operatives. This is bad!?!?

For at least the last thousand years or so, in order to produce food, it has been necessary on farms to devote some of the surface area to a driveway, service roads, barns, storage and, oh, yeah, a home for the farming family. The Romans had excellent concrete and the Appian Way lasted for centuries. It’s simply impossible for humans to live without some impact and some percentage of any given producing acreage will be paved over or built on, no matter how groovy and organic the managers may be.

Mr. Knox wrote: “The question we all need to ask is: Does ‘food transformation’ have priority over ‘food production?’” I don’t know. Does exhalation have priority over inhalation? Does bread have priority over flour? Does pudding have priority over rice? Does yogurt have priority over milk? Does beer have priority over barley, hops, yeast and water? If the California Olive Ranch presses its own olives on their property, have they now “transformed” the ag. olives into non-ag. olive oil? Have they violated some ethical standard? No.

Cheese-making has been a boon for humanity since at least Neolithic times because it allowed for the concentration and preservation of nutritious milk. Does anyone honestly think that the neighbors in the Q Street imbroglio or the current controversy really gave a damn about feeding the masses? Come on. When seven billion starving people show up like a cloud of locusts, they might get to plant something, but not ‘til then.

The rest of the letter may have merit, I don’t know. The dubious introduction puts the entire letter in a bad light. It would seem much more sincere and authentic if the first paragraph was just NIMBY, NIMBY, NIMBY for four or five lines and then on to the Emmi Corp. and Arcata Flakeboard, etc.

I once cared for goats and they are not my favorite animals. I also hate goat cheese, but if others like it, I’m glad they have a state-of-the-art production and dispensary resource.

Well, I thought they did. Why is everybody’s dispensary being hassled?

Timothy Crlenjak

New Writer of the Purple Rage

Livid in the USA

Eureka

Kind, thoughtful PG&E 

To Humboldt State University Administration, Arcata Main Street and Arcata Chamber of Commerce:

It was recently brought to my attention that PG&E had planned a large construction project for all day tomorrow at Seventh and H streets that involved trenching, clearing out and replacing a large gas transmission line, blocking a traffic lane, operating heavy equipment, etc. While the project did not involve cutting gas service to businesses, it nevertheless would cause a large and unsightly hole in the street, traffic congestion and possible gas odors.

Since this is Commencement weekend for Humboldt State University and one of the busiest weekends of the year for Farmers’ Market, our Downtown businesses, and the University, I asked PG&E to consider changing their plans to perform the work on another weekend. I argued it would be in extreme bad form to have such a construction project in our Downtown district during a time when our city and the University is working hard to look as welcoming as possible to thousands of out of town visitors.

I am very pleased to report that PG&E has agreed to change their plans and will schedule the work for another less busy weekend in the future.

Please join me in extending our sincere gratitude to PG&E for their kind and thoughtful support on this very important weekend. Special thanks to PG&E representative Alison Talbot for her incredible responsiveness on this issue!

 Randy Mendosa, city manager

City of Arcata California

St. Mary’s School closing 

Following the completion of the current School Year on June 15, 2012, St. Mary School in Arcata will close. This closure is for reasons of very low enrollment and escalating costs. The enrollment is currently 26 students.

The decision to close the School comes after a lengthy evaluation process which involved the Finance Council of St. Mary Church, the Superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, and Bishop Robert Vasa, head of the Diocese of Santa Rosa. All are in agreement with the decision to close the school.

I ask all persons to receive this news as best they can. Kindly know of my prayers for the current School families and the School personnel who are directly affected by this decision. Know as well of my gratitude to all who have given support to the School—whether time, talent, or treasure. For over 50 years, St. Mary’s School has been forming students for responsible lives as members of the Church and as citizens of our global society. We are thankful for what has been achieved and the closing of the School does not alter this wonderful record.

Reverend Gerard Gormley, pastor

St. Mary Church, Arcata

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In the early morning hours of October 24, 2010, Alvarado entered a Humboldt State University residence hall and sexually assaulted a female victim.  Another resident assisted the victim and the defendant fled the building.

Shortly thereafter, the defendant physically assaulted two additional residents before entering another residence hall where he assaulted additional victims before being subdued by law enforcement.

According to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who acted as prosecutor in the case, Alvarado pleaded guilty to each assault of which he was accused, which included sexual penetration with a foreign object,  false imprisonment committed against a second victim, and assault with a deadly weapon (a wooden board) involving a third victim, all felonies.  Alvarado also pleaded guilty to eight counts of misdemeanor battery involving multiple victims.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11, 2012 and faces up to six years in state prison. Upon his release, Alvarado will also be required to register as a sex offender.

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HUMBOLDT – On Monday, May 14, 2012, Leon Alyious Bigleggins, 27, of Willow Creek, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse resulting in death.  Both counts included great bodily injury enhancements inflicted on a child under five years of age.

On July 24, 2010, a four year old boy, hereafter referred to as John Doe [real name: Dylan Blount-Chambers – Ed.] was brought into Mad River Hospital after he had stopped breathing.  After failed attempts to resuscitate him, the child was pronounced dead by Mad River Hospital medical personnel.

Dylan Blount-Chambers

While attempting to resuscitate Doe, medical personnel noted extensive bruising over his body and notified the Department of Health and Human Services and Law Enforcement.  The Arcata Police Department arrived and secured the scene and body until the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department arrived.

On arrival, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department determined there was reason to suspect that child abuse may have caused the child’s death.   A subsequent autopsy revealed that John Doe died of blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen, the later leaving a torn intestine which resulted in sepsis.  Further investigation revealed that Doe had been in the care of his grandmother and Leon Bigleggins for at least two weeks prior to his death.

Through investigation, Doe’s fatal injuries were attributed to Bigleggin’s treatment of the child and the defendant was charged with murder, child abuse and assault on a child causing death.  The grandmother was not charged.

Leon Alyious Bigleggins

The trial was set to begin on Monday, May 14, 2012.  At that time, Bigleggins agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, which is the voluntary killing of a human being without malice but with great bodily injury, and child abuse causing great bodily injury. This plea was submitted on the basis that the defendant did, in fact, inflict great bodily injury on John Doe resulting in his death but the killing was without premeditation and/or malice.  The defendant agreed to be sentenced to 18 years and four months.  Both offenses are serious and violent, qualify as strike offenses and will require the defendant to serve at least eighty-five percent of his prison sentence.  In addition, the defendant agreed to waive any and all appellate rights associated with the case and the plea.

According to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, the plea agreement was supported by the child’s mother. “There really is no “justice” in a case like this,” Gallegos said. “Perhaps the closest we could come to was when the defendant stood in court today and openly admitted his guilt and took responsibility for his actions. Our thoughts, as always, go out the family of the victim.”

Gallegos also extended deep appreciation to all the agencies and medical personnel involved in the case.  “These cases are incredibly difficult for first responders. The Arcata Police Department, Sheriff and Coroner’s Office as well as the Mad River Hospital personnel and cooperative witnesses facilitated the gathering of the evidence needed to resolve this case,” he added.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8, 2012 by the Honorable Judge Timothy Cissna.

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Donny Duane McCoy

APD Press Release

DOWNTOWN – On Sunday, May 13  at 1:40 a.m., officers from the Arcata Police Department responded to a physical fight in progress in the 900 block of H Street.

Upon the officers’ arrival, the fight was over and the participants had fled the area. The officers located a 22-year-old male adult injured at the scene.  The man had substantial facial injuries as a result of the fight and was transported to Mad River Community Hospital for treatment.

The investigation resulted in the identification of 23-year-old Donny Duane McCoy, of Fortuna, as the perpetrator of the assault.  

Later that day, at 4 p.m., officers from the Fortuna Police Department located McCoy at his residence in Fortuna. He was taken into custody without incident.

McCoy was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for a violation of 245(a)(1) PC, Assault With a Deadly Weapon.

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A March 14 cannabis haul at a Lewis Avenue whole-house grow included 232 pounds of harvested, trimmed and processed pot and about an ounce of hashish which had been grown under 27 lights and ballasts. Arcata Police said the house consumed 14,000 kilowatts of electricity per month – nearly 30 times the average residential household usage The resident had enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) Program, which cut the electricity bill in half. All of the voluminous contraband and equipment was loaded into APD’s cannabis caboose, above, to be booked into evidence. Photos by KLH | Eye

Kevin L. Hoover

Eye Editor

ARCATA – A tax on excessive residential energy use could wind up on the November ballot. As presently conceived, the tax would be levied against homes which use more than 300 percent of the baseline usage.

The rate could be somewhere between five and 15 cents per kilowatt hour over the baseline.

Figures from 2009 indicate that some 1,200 of the more than 7,000 Arcata residences exceed the baseline rate. Had a tax been in place that year, the City could have generated $2 million in revenue.

The City’s Energy Committee will consider the matter in depth in a public meeting Monday, May 21. The committee has been discussing the matter for years out of concern that extraordinary electricity consumption, largely by illegal grow houses, is offsetting energy conservation gains and negating Arcata’s greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

Between 200 and 2006, electricity usage in Arcata increased 30 percent or more than nine million kilowatt hours, a per capita increase of 24 percent. This while conservation efforts elsewhere in California have kept electricity usage fairly constant over the last 30 years.

Along with much-needed tax revenue for strained City coffers, stated goals of the proposed tax are reduction in energy use and “development of funding strategy to implement projects which could offset the environmental effects from the increase in residential energy usage.”

Implementing the tax would incur costs. PG&E estimates a $500,000 to $800,000 cost for implementing billing based on usage instead of residential, commercial or industrial classification and to charge a different rate to a subset of customers. Placing the measure on the ballot would cost between $10,000 and $12,000.

The City  is concerned about unintended consequences of the tax. Some home medical equipment, for example, can consume extraordinary amounts of electricity.

Another question is whether or not the tax would include participants in PG&E’s CARE program for low-income customers. The program is exploited by industrial cannabis growers, whose illegal income is not reported, and amounts to a subsidy for the illegal manufacturing activity.

Excluding CARE customers, many of whom use the program legitimately, would cut revenue roughly in half.

The revenue projections were based on 2009 data, which could be out of date. Updated figures were expected from PG&E this week.

The figure of 1,200 houses exceeding baseline energy use (500 of which are on the CARE program) is similar to estimates made by law enforcement in 2007. At that time, 700 to 1,000 Arcata residences were considered to harbor illegal grows – a figure hotly contested by some cannabis advocates.

The council vote to pursue the matter was 4–0, with Councilmember Susan Ornelas absent.

The City will mount a vigorous public education program to help ensure participation in whatever decision is made. “We really want public input at this stage in the process,” said Deputy Environmental Services Director Karen Diemer.

The Energy Committee is will consider the matter at its Monday, May 21 public meeting. Recommendations developed at that meting could shape the council’s final decision. Below, the Energy Committee agenda.

ENERGY COMMITTEE AGENDA

COUNCIL CHAMBER MONDAY MAY 21, 2012

736 F STREET, ARCATA 5:30 P.M.

Special accommodations for the disabled who attend City meetings can be made in

advance by contacting the City Clerk at 822-5953. Assistive listening devices are

available.

I. ROLL CALL – Ruthanne Cecil, Melanie Faust, Mike Kowalski, Nate McKeever,

Gwelen Paliaga, James Robinson, Jim Zoellick

II. Approval of Minutes – March 19, 2012 and April 23, 2012

III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS

This item is provided for people to address the Committee on matters not on the

agenda. At the conclusion of all oral communications, the Committee will

respond to statements. Any requests that require action will be set by the

Committee to a future agenda, or will be referred to staff.

IV. OLD BUSINESS

A. Make Recommendation to City Council on High Energy Use Tax (60 minutes)

B. Make Recommendation to City Council on Community Choice Aggregation

(30 minutes)

V. NEW BUSINESS

A. Develop Quality of Life Indicators (10 minutes)

VI. STAFF REPORTS

A. Redwood Coast Energy Authority Update (10 minutes)

B. Energy Efficiency Community Block Grants (EECBG) Project Update and New

Project Discussion (10 minutes)

VII. COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS (5 minutes)

VIII. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Transportation Safety/Energy Committees joint sub-committee

research & blue print framework

Electric Vehicle Procurement for City Fleet

Arcata Forest Fund/Plan It Green conference planning

Biomass and Greenhouse Gas Generation

Collaboration with City of Eureka Energy Committee on items of

mutual interest (ex. CCA etc.)

IX. ADJOURNMENT

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12:06 p.m. A man was reported hanging upside down in a tree, and a witness was fearful that he might plummet to earth. Reads the dispatcher narrative: “Out with one, in a tree.”

• Wednesday, April 11 2:22 a.m. A Union Street apartment dweller reported frickin’ laser beams being shone into his apartment.

10:51 a.m. The town crier, or blithering howly-growler, as the case may be, made his nightly rounds at 10th & O streets.

3:14 p.m. A mother complained that her daughter may be within 20 yards of a cannabis grow, something prohibited by the custody agreement. An officer didn’t locate the father or child at his business, and found no violation.

3:49 p.m. A car blazed down Fickle Hill Road at impressive speed, its driver jabbering on a cell phone. The car was located downtown and the owner sent a warning letter.

5:50 p.m. A lower H Street resident reported a fearsome foursome of abrasive neighbors antagonizing him at every turn. Just recently, while walking past his front door, one of the caustic quartet greeted him in felicitous fashion with, “I wish you would die, motherfucker.” And on this day, when the resident meekly tried to say, “hi,” he was further reviled with blatantly ageist rhetoric to the effect of, “Fuck you, old man.”

10:05 p.m. A resident in the 1300 block of H Street reported her home burgled. Stolen was $200 cash, three portable computers, an iPod and chargers. Total loss: $8,000.

• Thursday, April 12 2:07 p.m. A gray-bearded man in a trench coat was reported making his way across the Seventh Street freeway overpass with a claw hammer in his hand.

3:22 p.m. People caught picking fiddlehead ferns at Aldergrove Marsh were told not to. The succulent spirals are popular in Asian cuisine.

8:13 p.m. At Cedar Drive and Ponderosa Way, a pizza delivery driver reported a rock thrown at her piemobile, and the manager said the vehicle had been vandalized. It all added up to an arrest for delicious mischief.

10:27 p.m. 

Out on the Way named Wisteria

The thudding was not so mysteria

A house emanated

Percussipatations

Police tamped the drumming hysteria

• Friday, April 13 5:53 a.m. An upper H Street resident reported a strange person sleeping in his living room. Police found the person not only strange, but drunk, and packed him off to jail. While they were there, they found some signs stolen from the City of Arcata, Caltrans and Humboldt County Public Works, and recovered them.

11:25 a.m. A woman rented a car in her name, but it was actually for her daughter and her boyfriend, who were instructed to return it “by Friday.” That was two months ago, and since then the fun-loving couple drove it to San Francisco and Sacramento, and have refused to return it. With the rental company threatening to file stolen vehicle charges, an officer called the young rascals and told them to return the car.

12:34 p.m. The arboreal majesty of Redwood Park proved an enchanting spot for three men in a van to inject drugs into their circulatory systems, as witnessed by a passerby. Police soon interviewed six vein-glorious vansters and had their syringemobile towed.

11:07 p.m. 

Loud drumming was sound for the sight

Of marchers reversing the blight

Of sexist oppression

A noisy procession

Marched downtown to Take Back The Night

11:46 p.m. At a lower H Street address well familiar to police, a woman’s voice was heard saying “go home” over and over for 10 minutes. Police didn’t find her, just two other people who hadn’t heard anything like that.

• Saturday, April 14 2:32 a.m. A vehicle with bikes tied to the back was parked in a G Street alley, blasting music and ejaculating beer cans from the windows.

4:33 a.m. An unhappy man told University Police that he’d be “taking matters into his own hands,” a bad idea on multiple levels. The matter apparently didn’t escalate.

6:04 a.m. Just one vehicle was left overnight on the Plaza to block spaces at the Farmers’ Market, a significant improvement over years past. It was towed.

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APD Officer Chris Wilson waits at the north end of the wooded area adjacent to the Jacoby Creek School campus in case the suspect is flushed out. KLH | Eye

APD Press Release

BAYSIDE – On Friday, May 11 at about 9:45 a.m., officers from the Arcata Police Department were dispatched to Jacoby Creek School on the report that a male subject had entered the school grounds and was trying to lure children into the bushes by saying he needed help.

Police at JCS this morning. KLH | Eye

The subject fled the area on foot when a teacher was summoned. Officers searched the area upon arrival but were unable to locate the subject. At about 11 a.m., Officers were dispatched back to the scene on the report that the subject had returned to the school grounds and was last seen jumping over a fence. Officers arrived on scene and with the help of an Arcata Police K-9 they searched the area. As a safety precaution the school was locked down during the search. 

Due to the dense wooded and marsh terrain, officers were again unable to locate him.

Jacoby Creek School students and staff described the subject as a white male adult in his early 30s, clean shaven; short brown buzz cut hair, brown eyes, about 5 feet, 10 inches, 160 lbs. with a long face. He was further described as wearing a black t-shirt under an olive green windbreaker and dark blue jeans.

The subject never made physical contact with the students. The Arcata Police Department is continuing its investigation and is asking for the help of the public to identify the male subject. Anyone with information on his identity or whereabouts is encouraged to contact the Arcata Police Department at (707) 822-2418.

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James Burke

APD Press Release

ARCATA COMMUNITY PARK – On May Friday, 11  at about midnight, Officers from the Arcata Police Department were dispatched to the HealthSPORT facility at 300 Community Park Way, on the report of a burglary alarm sounding.  The responding Officers checked the facility and located an unsecured door.  Additional officers helped secure the exterior of the building and the interior was checked.  A person could be heard inside.  An Arcata Police K9 Officer was not on duty and the Eureka Police Department was contacted to assist.

Before the EPD K9 Officer could arrive, a male was seen fleeing the rear of the building.  Officers chased him.  Following a short foot pursuit, James Burke, 39, of Galt, California was detained.

The building was searched with the EPD K9 Officer and no other suspects were located.  The investigation into the incident discovered that a theft was attempted in the business.  Interior video security camera images were reviewed and Burke was determined to be the suspect in that attempted theft.

Burke was arrested for Burglary and Probation Violation.  He was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and held in custody.

Links between Burke and other burglaries in the Arcata area are unknown.  The Arcata Police Department was assisted in this incident by the Humboldt State University Police Department and the Eureka Police Department.

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