WEEKEND EDITION
Inside
Couples in Buisness and reader Love Lines
FRIDAY, February 14, 2020 S E R V I N G O U R C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 1 8 7 9 • W W W. T R I P L I C A T E . C O M
Candidates forum informs the public By Jessica Goddard Staff Writer
C
The seven candidates sit before filled pews at the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors forum on Monday, Feb. 10. Photo by Jessica Goddard.
hurch and state were not so separate at the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors forum held by True North Organizing Network on Monday night, Feb. 10. Within the stone walls and stained glass
County considers aesthetics of wireless facilities D
windows of the United Methodist Church in Crescent City, the seven candidates sat in front of the filled church pews, ready to inform the public on their stances. “I care about what happens in Crescent City. I want to stay here and invest my life and my talent, so the people who govern this city matter to me,” said Sar-
ah Elston, a teacher who attended the forum. Pastor Dana Port orchestrated the amicable forum in which community members stepped forward to ask four previously agreed upon questions and one audience question selected that night. Each candidate was given the opportunity to answer the question.
The question which issued the most concrete responses from the candidates was that of ending homelessness. The question, “What would you do as a county supervisor to end homelessness in Del Norte County?” was answered in the following ways: More Forum on Page A5
Ghost Hunting
By David Hayes Staff Writer
el Norte County staff presented its first draft Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors of a new ordinance to govern the aesthetics of wireless communications facilities on county right of ways. Deputy County Counsel Joel Campbell-Blair said the need to craft the regulation came after a telecommunication company sought to install small-site cells or wireless communication facilities. “They presented us with an agreement basically that they’d be conditioned to an encroachment agreement,” Campbell-Blair told the supervisors. “That didn’t really offer us control over the ascetics or siting that most jurisdictions like to exercise.” So, county staff decided to explore an ordinance by researching other jurisdictions to set standards for the size, noise, color, maintenance and other details. First, Campbell-Blair said staff learned they were limited by both federal and state laws on how Del Norte County could govern the issue. He said in 1996, the federal government passed the Telecommunications Act that preempted most of the field of telecommunications and wireless internet providers. “While we can regulate it to some extent, we can’t prohibit it, pass any law that has the effect of prohibiting it, and we can’t regulate the radio frequency emissions that comes out of those things. We have to allow it. But we can assert some control over where, when and how,” Campbell-Blair said. He added the county is further limited by state law that says the county’s public right of ways has to allow telephone companies to use the space as long as they don’t “incommode,” or hamper, the public use. Campbell-Blair said staff devised a simple ordinance that creates an administrative permit to go along with the encroachment permit and the building permit. It also comes with an attached resolution that has design criteria, such as color, blending and height. This will be a $200 administrative permit fee plus whatever building encroachment costs and a $270 recurring fee that the FCC says is presumptuously reasonable, Campbell-Blair said. “We will generate a little revenue off of this. Enough to cover our costs for inspecting, siting and reviewing and More Ordinance on Page A2
Greg Honeycutt, a behavioral therapist in Crescent City and founder of Tryad Paranormal Investigations in Crescent City, performs an impromptu session at the Crescent City Cemetery to try and pick up spirit voices. Photo by David Hayes.
Tryad Paranormal seeks answers By David Hayes Staff Writers
W
hen it comes to the paranormal, experts say thanks to modern technology, it’s easier than ever to capture evidence of the unexplained. However, it’s also easier than ever to fake that evidence, making it difficult to convert the skeptical unless they’ve seen it themselves. For Greg Honeycutt, a behavioral therapist in Crescent City and founder of Tryad Paranormal Investigations, he became a believer early in life. “I had my first experience at the age of 4 at a house I lived at — it wasn’t a reflection, it was a full-on apparition in the mirror that looked back me. It was frightening, I was only 4 years old. Terrifying,” Honeycutt said. “I was haunted for a while when I was living there. It
was a demonic haunting. The church had owned the house at one time. It was the church rectory. I don’t know what led it to be haunted by something evil, but... sure enough. So, my first experience was pretty scary.” Since then, he explored and developed his fascination with the paranormal. “When I was old enough to get a driver’s license, I’d drive around looking for abandoned places to explore. Sometimes, these places were haunted. The doors would slam. I’d hear a noise. Something odd would happen. Catch something on the camera,” Honeycutt recalled. Not every occurrence was part of an investigation. “After the 2011 tsunami, I was a guard out at the harbor during the cleanup of the boats that had sank,” Honeycutt recalled. “We were out there late at night and could hear voices, people talking. It was really strange. My friend heard a
little girl laugh at him.” He eventually founded Tryad Paranormal Investigations and brought his search for the unknown to Crescent City about six years ago. He and his group of five fellow believers have investigated locations throughout Del Norte, Humboldt and Curry counties. “We did a lot of urban exploration, that developed into a lot of ghost hunting because we have experiences out in old houses,” Honeycutt said he’s seen a lot of things while living here but doesn’t like to disclose the locations to preserve them and protect them from vandals. Ghost hunting shows have popularized the profession, including “Ghost Hunters” and “Ghost Adventures.” While they each purport to capture evidence, Honeycutt said they each have their degree More Ghosts on Page A2
It’s go time for Girl Scout cookie season By David Hayes Staff Writer
L
ast weekend, the living room and entrance hallway to Pam Wilder’s Crescent City home were overtaken by more than 1,200 cases of cookies. And not just any cookies. It was more than 14,000 boxes of your favorite Girl Scout cookie. That’s right — it’s Girl Scout cookie sea-
son. Wilder is Crescent City’s Girl Scout Cookie Program Manager, thus each year she receives the massive delivery to dole out to the nine local troop leaders on “go day” Feb. 10. Expect to see pop-up tents at a business near you this weekend. “An amazing piece people miss is this is the Girl Scouts’ biggest program for fundraising and is also the biggest
INDEX Crosswords................................................ A5 Crossword Answers ....................................B4 Calendar.....................................................B1 Classifieds...................................................B3
girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world,” Wilder said. The selection of returning cookies include: • Traditional thin mints • Samoas (caramel deLites) • Lemonades • Tagalongs (peanut butter patties) • Do-si-dos (peanut butter sandwich) • Trefoils (shortbread) • Thanks-a-Lot (short-
bread dipped in chocolate) • S’mores • Caramel Chocolate Chip • Gluten free Toffee-tastic “The biggest, most exciting new cookie this year is the Lemon-up,” Wilder said. “It’s a lemon cookie with lemon glaze on bottom. So refreshing, so good.” She added there are eight different say-
FORECAST FRIDAY
57 42
SATURDAY
53 41
ings on the containers, including “I’m a go getter,” “I’m a leader” and “I am gutsy.” Wilder said her own two daughters will be joining the sales fray, which helps to fund many aspects of the Girl Scouts’ programs. “It’s raising funds so Girl Scouts can do amazing things, like going to camp. Plus so many entrepreneurial elements are taught to girls like
money management, running a business, learning what customers want and public speaking and interacting with people on a personal level,” Wilder said. In preparation for cookie season, Wilder said the scouts have weekly or bi-weekly meetings to teach them how do to make change and other money skills More Scouts on Page A3
TIDES SUNDAY
49 39
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW
Sat Fri Sun 1:12AM 1:52AM 2:33AM 6:51AM 7:45AM 8:44AM 12:46PM 1:40PM 2:39PM 7:23PM 8:04PM 8:47PM
$1.50