Press release from Rep. Jared Huffman’s office:

Today, Rep. Jared Huffman’s (D-San Rafael) legislation The Katimiîn and Ameekyáaraam Sacred Lands Act passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives and is on its way to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The legislation will place federal lands located in Humboldt and Siskiyou counties in California into trust for the Karuk Tribe. 

“Today, we can finally correct a historic injustice and return sacred land to its rightful owners, the Karuk Tribe. Thanks to the partnership of Senator Padilla and the Karuk’s tireless work, our Sacred Lands Act will now become law. These lands, known as Katimiîn and Ameekyáaraam, are not only majestic, they are central to Karuk history, religion, traditions, and identity. Placing them in trust ensures that the Karuk culture and way of life can endure for future generations,” Rep. Jared Huffman said.

“For Karuk people, the lands covered by our bill represent the center of the world, which is why they deserve unrestricted access to these ancestral sites in order to practice their religion and preserve their customs for future generations,” said Senator Padilla. “Restoring these lands to the stewardship of the Karuk Tribe is a long overdue moral imperative, and I look forward to the President singing our bill into law.”

“It means the world to have our most sacred sites returned to us. The Karuk Tribe appreciates the hard work of Congressman Huffman, Senators Padilla and Feinstein, and their teams. This accomplishment is great for the Karuk People and all of Indian Country,” said Karuk Chairman Russell “Buster” Attebery.

Background
For Karuk people, the land identified in this legislation is the center of the world. The historical village and ceremonial site of Katimiîn is the location of a final series of annual Pik-ya-vish world renewal ceremonies. Pik-ya-vish translates as “to fix it,” how Karuk people approach their responsibility to keeping these places in balance with their cultural and spiritual values. Ameekyáaraam, just down river from Katimiîn, is the site of Jump Dance and First Salmon Ceremony – both vital components of world renewal ceremonies and for pre-contact inter-tribal coordination of fish harvest up and down the river to ensure long-term sustainability of salmon runs. These ceremonies were also ways to keep the world in balance between individuals and families. This area is essential to inter-generational teaching and learning needed to ensure future generations of Karuk people know and understand Karuk culture and customs. 

Currently the tribe has a Special Use Permit with the United States Forest Service (USFS) that allows access to the grounds for ceremony. This access is not guaranteed and in some years the tribe is interrupted by public intrusions during private and sacred components of the world renewal ceremonies. Only USFS lands will transfer to the tribe; all private lands, allotments and existing rights associated with those will be excluded.  

A copy of the legislation can be found here. A map of the Katimiîn area can be found here.

A 25-year-old Tennessee man pleaded guilty this morning to the second-degree murder of a mentally ill man who died 12 days after he was found brutally beaten in an Old Town alley.

Whited.

Connor Oneal Whited, charged with fatally beating 55-year-old Brett Alan Keiling on Sept. 26, 2019, faces 15 years to life in state prison. He is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 27, which is his 26th birthday. Whited has been in custody since about a month after the beating, so he has more than three years of custody credit.

He had been scheduled to enter his plea last week but changed his mind. This morning he was hesitant at times as Judge Kelly Neel advised him of the rights he was giving up by admitting his crime.

“Do you have any questions for me?” the judge asked Whited.

After a very long pause, Whited said, “Am l going to be OK?”

“In prison?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know.”

Neel went on to advise Whited to take advantage of programs while in prison and to avoid conflicts with other inmates.

He must serve the entire term, which with credits will be approximately 12 years, before being eligible for parole. Because he was 22 at the time of the murder, he also is eligible to apply for the state’s Youthful Offender Program.

If accepted into that program he could be eligible for parole a little earlier.

“It’s possible,” Neel told Whited.

Whited’s victim, Brett Keiling, was an Indiana resident who had recently arrived in Eureka. Keiling had a long criminal record in his home state, along with a long history of mental illness.

Whited himself was declared mentally incompetent a few months after his arrest.

Now, Judge Neel told Whited this morning, “You are on medication and doing well, which you weren’t at the time (of the murder.)”

When Whited was arrested, Eureka police said the beating was a targeted attack, not a random crime.

Whited is represented by appointed attorney Joe Judge. Deputy District Attorney Luke Bernthal is the prosecutor.

Cedar Creek Fish Passage - Project Update from California Trout on Vimeo.

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Press release from California Trout and CDFW:

Nine miles of wild fish habitat on a South Fork Eel River tributary, blocked for more than 60 years, is now accessible once again thanks to a fish passage restoration project recently completed by California Trout, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and partners. Cedar Creek provides a significant portion of the cold water that flows into the Eel River’s South Fork in the summer. With the removal of an 8-foot-high dam on the creek, migratory Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey will have improved access to the creek during all their life stages.  

In fact, on Dec. 7, CalTrout staff observed adult Chinook salmon already spawning above the former dam’s location. These fish likely would not have been able to make it past the dam if it were still in place, given this fall’s low water levels. 

“The initiation and completion of this project is a testament to CDFW’s engineering and fisheries staff and their commitment to restoring California’s natural resources while creating long-lasting partnerships with private landowners such as the Yangshe Gomde Buddhist Retreat Center and restoration groups such as CalTrout,” said Scott Monday, Environmental Scientist with CDFW’s North Coast Watershed Improvement Center in Fortuna who has worked on the Cedar Creek dam removal project since 2017. “This dam may have very well sat in place another 60 years without this crucial collaboration and cooperation.”

The Cedar Creek dam, located approximately 700 feet upstream from the confluence of South Fork Eel River, was left over from a fish hatchery decommissioned after a major flood in 1964. The dam was serving no practical purpose and almost completely blocked fish passage on this otherwise-healthy, cold-water creek. 

Before the construction crew moved in to remove the concrete dam, fish biologists spent many hours finding and moving to safety all the fish and amphibians in the section of the creek that was diverted during the demolition. Hundreds of young steelhead, a juvenile coho salmon and two adult Pacific lamprey were among the rescued fish. 

“The project on Cedar Creek is part of CalTrout’s Reconnect Habitat initiative, with a goal of giving salmon and steelhead access to diverse habitat by removing barriers and getting obsolete dams out,” said Matt Metheny, North Coast Program Manager for California Trout. “Access to the cold-water habitat above the old Cedar Creek dam is now even more important to young steelhead and salmon as climate change warms the South Fork Eel to dangerously high summer temperatures for fish.”   

The Cedar Creek fish passage restoration project aligns with Governor Newsom’s commitment to protect wildlife during the extended drought. Funding for the project came from CDFW and the state Wildlife Conservation Board. Project partners include the Yangshe Gomde Buddhist Retreat Center, McBain Associates, SHN Engineering, Hanford Applied Restoration & Conservation (Hanford ARC), and Ross Taylor and Associates. 

CalTrout completed another important fish passage restoration project on the Eel River in 2018, when it reconnected Woodman Creek fish habitat to the Eel River after more than a century of blockage. The project, with funding and permitting from CDFW’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program, opened up 14 miles of prime spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead and Chinook salmon. 

“The Eel River has the potential to be one of California’s healthiest watersheds for salmon and steelhead populations to thrive,” Metheny added. “Removing the Cedar Creek dam is the latest step in the process to reconnect fish habitat and recover the Eel River to a state of wild abundance.” 

About California Trout 
California Trout partners with numerous government agencies, Tribes, and conservation groups to conduct research, habitat restoration and advocacy, to restore vibrance and abundance to California’s freshwater ecosystems and to keep them that way for years to come. Founded in 1971, CalTrout has been working for more than 50 years to protect salmon and steelhead strongholds, reconnect fish habitat, integrate fish and working lands, steward source water areas, and restore estuaries. 

About the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The mission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

Longtime Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Alan Bongio has stepped down, relinquishing the position he’s held for nearly a decade, according to a statement issued this morning by First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, who appointed him to the commission in January 2013.

Skavdal | LinkedIn

In his place, Bohn has appointed Ferndale resident Ivar Skavdal, who was general manager of GHD Engineering’s U.S. operations before retiring early this year. Prior to that he spent 34 years working for Winzler and Kelly, where he was president/CEO and chair of the board. Skavdal facilitated the merger of Winzler and Kelley and GHD in 2011, according to Bohn.

Bongio has faced a stream of criticism and scrutiny over his behavior and incendiary comments made during an August 18 Planning Commission meeting. During a hearing to consider permit modifications for a mega-home project with multiple permit violations, Bongio railed against local Native American tribes, repeatedly referring to them as “the Indians,” deriding their influence over the project and at one point alluding to a racist stereotype.

Amid the subsequent furor, the Board of Supervisors censured him for his racist remarks and moved to remove him from his position as chair of the Planning Commission. At the time, Bohn said he couldn’t kick Bongio off the commission, saying, “I can’t fire my friend. I’m sorry.”

Here’s today’s statement from Bohn:

Alan Bongio, my Planning Commissioner for the last 10 years and long time Chair of the Commission, has stepped down to focus on his family and business. I appreciate his service in this capacity which is basically a volunteer position. I wish him the best in the future.

I am appointing Ivar Skavdal who has agreed to represent the First District. Ivar is a 7th generation born Humboldter [CORRECTION: Bohn later clarified that Skadval’s grandson is 7th generation; Skadval himself is merely 5th generation] who lives in Ferndale and was educated at Franklin Elementary, Zane Middle School, and Eureka High School.

Ivar attended Humboldt State University and Chico State University. He is a registered Civil Engineer who started as a student intern with Winzler & Kelly Civil Engineering Firm and earned his way to CEO President of the firm in 2002. He facilitated the merger of Winzler and Kelley and GHD in 2011, served as president of GHD USA, and served on the GHD global Board of Directors. GHD has over 12,000 employees worldwide. His experience will serve Humboldt well.

Ivar has recently retired and would like to give back and serve the community that gave him his start. I am excited as we move forward with offshore wind and Nordic Fish Farm to have someone with his expertise who has overseen projects of this size and magnitude. I am fortunate to find someone of this caliber to appoint to the Planning Commission and look forward to his contributions.

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Sue passed away at St. Joseph Hospital from heart and kidney complications on November 15, 2022. She was 62.

She was born to Maryann and Concepsion Sanchez Jr in Encino, Calif. on March 2, 1960. She moved with her family to Eureka in 1969 on her ninth birthday and remained for 53 years.

She attended local schools — Worthington, Zane, Eureka High, and College of the Redwoods. She was married to Dave Morgan for 25 years, until his passing in 2009. They had two sons, Steve and Brad.

Sue was a preschool teacher for many years, being with children was one of her favorite things. As her sons went through local sports, she was their biggest fan, attending all their games sitting in the front row cheering every player on, while their dad was filming every game. If she wasn’t in the front row, she was volunteering in the snack bar or keeping score for another game. Sue loved supporting all local sports and kids who wanted to play the game.

Sue loved arts and crafts and especially drawing her colorful freehand designs. She also loved her weekly lunches with her granddaughter Allie and watching her grandsons play their sports, continuing the family traditions. She never missed a family gathering, as being with her family was most important to her. The joy of her life had been to see her sons marry and become parents, making her a G-ma, as her grandchildren called her.

She leaves behind her two sons and their families, Steve and Whitney, grandsons Parker and Dawson. Brad and Kathy and granddaughters Allie, Kayla, and Taylor; her stepdaughter Lynzi; her mother Maryann and stepfather Bill Smith; sister Leslie and Alex Albright and brother Danny and Pilar Sanchez; stepsister Carla; nephews Vinny Sanchez, Travis Adams; nieces Brittany Sanchez and Terra Adams; sister in-law Melanie Morgan Gosselin and nephews Mike, Travis and Will Morgan and niece Crystal Morgan Mayberry; and sister-in-law Laurie Sanchez. Many more aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father Concepsion Jr., her brother Mark Sanchez, husband Dave and brother in-law John Morgan, grandparents Sam and Lee Basso and Peggy and Concepsion Sanchez Sr.

The family would like to thank all the medical professionals who helped Sue for many years with dialyses weekly and all the care they showed her. She will be missed and remembered often for her warm heart and witty remarks.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Susan Sanchez-Morgan’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

On December 7, 2022, Connie Eitzen died unexpectedly at home. She was seventy-one. Constance Jean Brooks was born in Pomona, CA on Mar 9, 1951 to Ruth D and Donald W Brooks. Connie was a loving, caring, devoted mother and wife to her family; and a ray of sunshine to all who were privileged to know her. We will miss her always.

She was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. She is survived by her husband George Eitzen; sons Kelley and Steven, brother Larry Brooks (Michelle), and numerous cousins and extended family who loved her dearly.

Connie moved from Pomona to Eureka in 1964. Graduated from Eureka High in 1969. She married the love of her life (and soulmate), George Eitzen, on May 10, 1969 — they were married 53 yrs. She was an active member of First Covenant Church of Eureka. Connie was loving and generous to all, extending encouragement, comfort and assistance to so many in their time of need. She would regularly provide rides, or go to the store for elderly friends who needed help or were housebound. She would find bargains, and then deliver the treasure to the Rescue Mission. Whatever the need, she was ready to meet it. Although she loved all animals, she especially lavished love and affection on every dog that was fortunate enough to cross her path — she was the perfect dog-mom. She would adopt dogs that many would consider unadoptable. She always had goodies at hand for her four legged friends.

Although we are broken hearted with her passing, we know she is now in heaven with her Lord and Savior. We celebrate her life, and it was a life lived well and unselfishly. A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m. on Feb 4, 2023 at First Covenant Church, 2526 J St., Eureka, CA. (The service will be streamed live at that time — fcceureka.org.)

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Eureka Rescue Mission, P O Box 76, Eureka, CA 95502 (http://www.eurekarescuemission.org).

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The day after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Humboldt County in the early morning hours, emergency responders descended on the small city of Rio Dell, whose residents felt the brunt of the violent temblor.

By this afternoon, roughly 65 percent of the city’s homes had been inspected and 26 had been red-tagged, designating them as unsafe to inhabit. That means that roughly 65 local residents have been displaced, a number that will likely climb as inspections continue. Several homes slipped off their foundations. Others saw their brick fireplaces collapse, leaving gaping holes in their exterior walls.

Of those displaced, nine people stayed at an overnight shelter that’s been set up at Fortuna’s Rohner Park. Three others were referred to free hotel rooms. City staff assumes the rest were able to stay with nearby friends or family.

Another 37 homes have been yellow-tagged, meaning they were damaged in the quake but remain safe enough to live in.

At a press conference this afternoon, Rio Dell City Manager Kyle Knopp said staff revised yesterday’s estimate — that about half of the city’s homes had been inspected — downward.

“We did focus initially on the primary damage zone in the northeast corner of the community, so we do expect to the red-tagging to increase but not significantly,” he said.

As of this afternoon, power had been restored to more than 80 percent of Rio Dell’s households, according to Knopp, but the town’s damaged water system is taking longer to repair.

Shortly after the quake struck, city staff members learned that a series of cracks in the city’s water lines were leaking, causing the level in the main supply tank to decrease rapidly. Worried about maintaining enough water for fire suppression, the city shut the whole system down, leaving about 1,400 customers without water.

Today, crews worked to repair the cracks and check supply lines. They started from the main water tower above the city and proceeding systematically, from high to low elevation, sending water into the pipes a few blocks at a time, checking for leaks and then proceeding to the next segment.

Around 10:30 this morning, Knopp was at the north end of Wildwood Avenue, the city’s main drag, checking pipes alongside Water Superintendent Randy Jensen, Public Works Leadman Andres Lopez and other city employees.

“We want to try to restore as much as we possibly can,” Knopp said. “However, we do have several large breaks.”

Still, he was optimistic.

“We’re hoping to get 50 percent of water subscribers reactivated by 6 p.m., and we think that’s achievable,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work, but we have a great team — both the city workers and private contractors who have come on board to assist the city in this effort.”

Knopp explained that re-pressurizing the system can be complicated because it’s very unusual for these pipes not to have steady outward pressure from the flow of water inside. When the system shuts down, the reverse happens: the pressure from the surrounding soil pushes inward.

Once the stream is turned back on, Knopp said, “You can have a whole bunch of unintended consequences, like the water hammer effect. … So it’s actually a lot more complicated than people think, and it really requires a very, very good knowledge of the local system, which Randy has. I mean, he knows the system inside and out.”

At the time, water service had been restored to only about 210 customers. By 1 p.m. that number hadn’t changed. Those lucky enough to have water in their pipes still need to boil it if they plan to consume it, Jensen said. He and Lopez looked a bit dazed.

“Part of the trauma of this [earthquake] is that it has impacted the employees of the city, and they’re asked to come out,” Knopp said.

“Abandon ship and come do this,” Jensen phrased it.

Lopez’s own home, like many in the city, sits on a post and pier foundation, and it had shifted off its footing during the quake. He’s worried that there may be water leaks under the house.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Don’t have time to go under there and check yet.” 

Rio Dell’s problems have been exacerbated by poor or non-existent cell service. 

“This is the worst,” he said. “This is the most obnoxious thing. I’m going to switch from Verizon because, yeah, I get no data. I’m borrowing one of our secretaries’ cell phones that has a connection [via another provider]. … We’re really annoyed by Verizon. They have a tower up here. We assume that the generator ran out of gas because … yesterday, everything was working great. And then around 10 a.m. yesterday all of our phones, everything, just everything died.”

Even the copper land line at City Hall, which was supposed to serve as a backup option, had gone out. 

Knopp said he’d called Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell earlier in the day to see if the county’s Office of Emergency Services could “light a fire” under Optimum, the land line server, and Verizon.

“Because it really, in this day and age, it’s really crippling,” he said of the communication blackout. “It’s delaying everything. Everything takes ten times longer to communicate. That’s a real problem.”

Up the road at City Hall, a line of porta-potties sat in the parking lot. A water truck filled with potable water was also there, allowing residents to come by and fill five-gallon buckets or other containers so they can at least flush their toilets.

Since this morning, a steady line of vehicles has snaked around the back of the fire hall as local residents queued up to receive donated flats of bottled water.

Hundreds of pallets of donated water bottles have been arriving on a staggered basis, allowing fire personnel and other volunteers to distribute them to thirsty families throughout the next few days as necessary, according to Fire Chief Shane Wilson.

“Right now we’re just responding to immediate-need incidents,” Wilson said this morning. “We’re distributing water and assisting the public in any way that we can.”

The water was donated by the Humboldt Redwood Company, Sysco Foods, Safeway and the California Office of Emergency Services.

Inside the fire hall, 300 hot lunches were served to hungry families from noon to 2 p.m.  Local nonprofits, including Food for People, had volunteers show up to the water distribution line to hand out meals and non-perishable food for local residents to take home. Food has also been donated by Sysco Foods and Grocery Outlet, and the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services is helping to coordinate resources.

“It’s been tremendous,” Wilson said.

Local residents can come to the fire station to charge their devices, grab some snacks “and just maybe sit down for for a while,” he added. It’s open 24 hours a day and typically has water and hot coffee available. Knopp said he hoped to have showers available at the hall by this afternoon.

Around 10 a.m. Jody and Christine Holland were inside the hall with their two sons, ages four and eight. The whole family looked exhausted.

“We’ve got no power, no water,” Christine said. “We’re unable to see to clean our house up. There’s glass all over.”

The Hollands’ younger son has hypopituitarism, a rare condition in which the pituitary gland doesn’t make enough of certain hormones. 

“We have to keep his meds cold and we can’t even really do that right now without any ice packs or power,” Christine said. Jody’s work crew was planning to bring the Hollands a cooler and ice packs later in the day.

Their elder son has been diagnosed with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD. The past day and a half has been rough on him, Christine said. The family lives in a 45-unit low-income apartment complex, and the owner doesn’t allow residents to use generators or bring candles inside.

“We’re all huddling in our king size bed to stay warm, so there’s four of us in there and us parents are getting bopped in the face,” Christine said. City officials have said it could take a week or more before everyone in the city gets their water supply back. How will the Holland family get by?

“Unknown,” Christine said. “I haven’t got enough wet wipes for the kids. We’ve all got medical issues.” She said the family survived yesterday on half a gallon of water.

Jody said he’s lived through previous earthquakes, including the one that hit this region exactly a year before Tuesday’s. 

“This one hit us harder,” he said. “This is the first time with no water and no food.”

At the fire station, they loaded up on both.

Outside, the line of vehicles continued to move through the parking lot as volunteers hauled out shrink-wrapped flats of bottled water and loaded them into trunks and backseats.

“How many do you need?” one volunteer called out to the driver who’d just pulled up.

“Two,” replied the man behind the wheel, motioning to his wife in the passenger seat beside him. “She’s eight months pregnant.” 

As a general rule, families of less than four were given one flat while larger families received two.

“We’re trying to ration,” explained volunteer and Rio Dell resident Katrina Rumley. “If they’ve got kiddos or lots of animals we’ll give ‘em two.”

Many of those passing through the line appeared to be in good spirits, happy to see friends and load up on drinking water.

“We’ve had our PJs on for two days,” one resident remarked with a smile, speaking to a volunteer from her car window.

Rio Dell resident Cynthia Dobereiner was in a jokey mood as she pulled her full-sized pickup through the line. Asked how she was holding up she replied, “I’m doing all right!” She then added, “People are gonna start stinking — no showers! I’m not gonna want to be around my husband. Maybe that’s not a bad thing!” She laughed.

Volunteers handed her four chicken pita wraps that had been wrapped in foil. “Thank you guys very much,” Dobereiner said. “Thank you so, so, so much. … Our fire department is the best!”

Like other locals, she was surprised by the strength of this latest earthquake. 

“The sound was like a freight train coming through my bedroom, honest to God, and I was sound asleep,” she said. “But I noticed my fan, the ceiling fan. I’d never seen it rock out of the hole by the pin, in and out,” she said, mimicking the motion with her hands. “And all of a sudden the lights went out and I was like, ‘God’s gonna take me now! It’s gonna land on me!’ It was amazing. It was the worst [earthquake] I’ve ever been in in my life.”

At the Dollar General store across Wildwood Avenue, a cleaning crew was working to dig out from the extensive mess of products that had tumbled off the shelves. An entire aisle of beverages had fallen to the floor, their containers shattering, the mixture of fluids drenching the boxes of cereal that had fallen from the shelves across the way.

Outside, wheelbarrows and shopping carts full of sticky, ruined products awaited the next dump run. 

“We already took away one dump trailer load, ” said Lisa Hunter. The owner of this Dollar General lives on the east coast and had hired her husband’s company, Hunter and Son Construction, to do the cleanup, she said.

A passing motorist pulled her sedan into the parking lot.

“Are you open?” she called out. The workers said they weren’t, but one of them offered, “There’s batteries for free over here! Batteries and candy!” Some Duracell double-As were on a folding table. The candy appeared to have been all snatched up.

A brief press conference was held at City Hall at 2 p.m. Knopp relayed the good news that power had been turned on for most of the city. Unfortunately, almost immediately afterwards, a fire erupted nearby, inside a single-family house on the 700 block of Ireland Street.

Wilson reported that firefighters responded quickly, and with the water on board their engine they were able to knock it down and contain it before it spread. The damage was mostly limited to one room and its contents, with a little bit of spread into the attic. The cause is not yet known, but Wilson said it could be related to the resumed electrical current.

“Radiant heat can come from an outlet … with debris impacted contacts, metal objects or anything,” he said. “Heater devices that are left plugged in and maybe had some fall off [shelves]. I mean, it could be a number of things.”

The city has had three confirmed fires since the earthquake, including one sparked in the immediate aftermath by a displaced hot water heater.

Knopp reiterated the importance of the boil water order.

For those who’ve had their water service restored, he said, “you can still use it for bathing, you can still use it to flush toilets, but it is not safe raw out of the tap for consumption. So it is important for that to boil your water before you drink it. It will be some time before we are able to test the system to make sure that it [meets] clean and safe drinking water standards, so that’s at least a week or maybe longer before we can have the water become potable.”

Garbage dumpsters have been placed along Wildwood Avenue so that Rio Dell residents can dump spoiled food and earthquake debris. Tomorrow, cleanup kits will be available for pickup at the fire hall, supplying residents with brooms, garbage bags, etc.

Noting that the region’s business community has been impacted, Knopp encouraged local business owners to log onto the website for the county’s Economic Development Division tomorrow to fill out a survey.

“We really need all businesses to fill this out, whether you’re in Rio Dell or Garberville or Fortuna — anybody who’s been impacted by this earthquake, we really need you to fill out the form to participate in the survey that regards economic and job losses to your business.”

He also encouraged members of the business community to check out the websites for the Regional Economic Development Commission and the Small Business Development Center for additional information and assistance.

The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services is operating a non-emergency line for welfare checks and other information: 707-268-2500.