A single-vehicle crash in the middle of Fernbridge shut down traffic in and out of Cream City for a few minutes today. The driver had minor injuries and refused treatment but the car was mashed pretty good. Photo: John Matthews.
###
Earlier today we brought you news of a new state levy on rural landowners , and promised you a fancy map to help you determine whether or not your parcel would now be subject to a $150-per-structure assessment for fire protection. Is your land within what’s known as a State Responsibility Area – an area where CalFire is the official fire company?
Well, we failed insofar as the fancy map went. But if you click here you can download a PDF of State Responsibility Areas in Humboldt County. Is your place in yellow? Then get ready to cough up $150 per building.
Questions?
Answer: No. From the bill’s text :
4211. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) “Structure” means a building used or intended to be used for human habitation. For purposes of this subdivision, a building includes, but is not limited to, a mobilehome or manufactured home. The board shall exclude from this definition building types that require no structural fire protection services beyond those provided to otherwise unimproved lands.
###
There was another sad drowning death reported today, this time in the relatively placid Mattole. The Sheriff’s Office reported that the body of a 25-year-old man was found in the river yesterday afternoon; investigators discovered that the man had gone to the river the day previous to teach himself how to swim.
Full press release here .
###
Personnel-ity Disorder! For years, local government at all levels has been lightning-quick to deploy a very specific “shut up, I don’t have to tell you” strategy when it comes to scandal. And it always works! When questions from reporters or the public start to fly fast and furious, our public servants have merely to reclassify whatever they’re asking about as a “personnel matter.”
End o’ story, douchewads!
Well, it’s high time someone took a hard look at the actual particulars of when this defense may actually be deployed, and when it may not. So that’s on the to-do list. In the meanwhile, in case you missed it, Daniel Mintz, the county’s top freelancer, notes that District Attorney Paul Gallegos is the latest to exercise the “personnel” exemption, in response to the alleged mismanagement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funds .
Meanwhile, over at the NCJ , Scott Brown – friend of the LoCO – makes a pretty strong case that the Eureka City Council is way out of bounds in claiming the personnel defense in the case of the firing of ex-EPD Chief Garr Nielsen .
CLICK TO MANAGE