Pacific Halibut season dates ................ A11
Transportation improvements ............. A9
SERVING DEL NORTE COUNTY SINCE 1879 www.triplicate.com
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
Crescent City, CA
Weapons used in violent crimes cannot be sold under state law By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Triplicate
Crescent City will soon begin selling guns in has been storing in the police evidence locker. The city council voted unanimously to authorize the police department to sell the guns, some that were used in crimes, but many simply left behind over the last few decades. Police Chief Richard Griffin told the council one huge task he has undertaken is cleaning out the evidence locker. Much of the evidence has been destroyed or turned virtual, but the department has done nothing to date with the
100-plus guns it has been storing. “This started when I took over,” Griffin said. “We did an audit of certain things. One of the main ones was the evidence room. It’s been a couple of years.” Griffin said the evidence room was packed with evidence from the ‘70s on and was so full the door could barely open. He said while the department has been able to make some gains in cleaning out old evidence, it had two options for the council to consider in regards to firearms. State law allows police departments to either destroy firearms or sell them through a
licensed federal firearms dealer. “I know when I took over, you could barely open the door to the evidence room,” he explained. “I could show it to you now and you can almost walk to the back.” The department has found at least 100 firearms, many than can be disposed of. Any weapon used in a murder case must be held for 99 years and weapons used in other violent crimes must also be stored for a certain amount of time. “Anything that qualifies as an assault weapon cannot be sold
Contributed photo
Crescent City to sell guns from police evidence locker.
Please see GUNS, Page A2
City council extends virtual meetings for 30 days
Mysterious creatures showing up along shoreline
By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Triplicate
Courtesy photo from the Seaside Aquarium
The pyrosomes are most commonly found in tropical waters, but stormy ocean conditions are known to bring the mysterious creatures as far north as Alaska.
By JEREMY C. RUARK The Triplicate
Folks that live and visit the coast between Northern California and Oregon are discovering sea pickles on the sandy beaches. The Seaside Aquarium reports the sea pickles or sea squirts, known as pyrosomes, are washing up all along the coast. “We came across one on the beach yesterday, but we have reports of hundreds down on the
beach in Florence,” the aquarium’s Facebook post reads. People adding their comments to the aquarium’s post state that they have found the sea pickles at Cannon Beach, Tierra del Mar, Manzanita and Lincoln City. One person wrote, “No doubt from the volcano area off Tonga,” referring to a recent undersea eruption that recently trigger small tsunami waves along the Oregon Coast. The pyrosomes are most com-
monly found in tropical waters, but stormy ocean conditions are known to bring the mysterious creatures as far north as Alaska. As the ocean currents change with the seasons, beachcombers have been finding an abundance of pyrosomes along the hightide line. The aquarium states in its post that Pyrosoma atlanticum is the most observed species found along Oregon and California beaches. They are described as
a rigid, bumpy, pinkish-gray tube about the size of a finger. Throughout the world pyrosomes can range in size from a few centimeters to over 30 feet long, but the common Pyrosoma atlanticum reaches a maximum length of two feet. “These totally tubular critters are actually known as a colonial tunicate, a mass of thousands of smaller organisms with a rigid notochord (a simplistic backbone),” the aquarium post reads.
File photo
Rising COVID cases pushed the number of people in the hospital to 10 over the weekend, but hospitalizations fell to three as of February 1.
New death reported as cases reach record high By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Triplicate
Active COVID-19 cases in Del Norte County reached a new high this week with Del Norte County Public Health reporting 384 active cases and 661 cases reported in the last two weeks. Del Norte County also reported a 42nd COVID-linked death, although information on the latest victim was not available. One bit of good news amid the Omicron surge in Del Norte County is hospitalizations remain relatively low, with only three people in the hospital. That
aligns with a report from Public Health Officer Dr. Aaron Stutz, who said he does not expect the Omicron surge to push Sutter Coast Hospital to the brink. The report of three in the hospital on February 1 was a big drop from 10 just the day before. As of February 1, Del Norte County has reported 5,166 COVID cases over the last two years with 42 deaths. More than half the total cases have been in people ranging in age from 18 to 49, with 22% in children 17 and under, 16% in those ages 50 to 64 and only 8% over age 65.
After a rash of seven new cases reported at Shutter Creek Correctional Institute last week, only one new case was reported in the prison this week. Since the beginning of the pandemic 371 cases have been reported at the prison. In Del Norte County schools, the information this week as cloudy with the district reporting staffing shortages due to a large number of COVID cases has made it difficult for the district to update its COVID dashboard where it has been sharing information with parents. The school district did adjust
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its quarantine rules to align with the county public health rules. The new policy requires anyone who tests positive to quarantine for five days, where they can return to school if they have a negative test. Without a test, all COVID-positive students and staff must quarantine for 10 days. If students or staff are in close contact with someone with COVID, only those who are not fully vaccinated are now required to quarantine. According to public health, 54.4% of all residents over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated with 7% partially vaccinated.
The city council is Crescent City will continue to meet virtually as the COVID-19 pandemic rages in Del Norte County. At their last meeting in January, the city council voted 4-1 to continue the virtual meetings for another 30 days while promising to look at the issue again during its first meeting in February. The council voted in December to move to virtual meetings for a month due to the COVID surge, and with that time ending, council members had to decide whether to extend the virtual sessions or return to in-person meetings. “Cases continue to rise in our community,” City Manager Eric Wier told the council. “Over the last weekend, there was 127 cases. Thankfully, hospitalizations have not risen significantly.’ Wier said the county did change its quarantine policies, allowing many COVID-positive residents to return to normal life after five days. He said being able to meet virtually has a lot of positives. “For us, going to virtual meetings has allowed us to meet fully as a council when we would not have been able to,” Wier said. “There are a plethora of cases out there. It is not uncommon to be in close contact with some of the cases and needing to quarantine or isolate.” After hearing from Wier, the council discussed how to move forward. “I would like to have seen Dr. (Aaron) Stutz here and seen a presentation from him to see where we are going with the surge before we made this decision,” Mayor Jason Greenough said. Wier explained Stutz was working at the hospital that night, but he said the public health authority expects the surge to continue into February. Wier said the county was expecting the hospital to handle the surge OK. “In a perfect world, we should be in the Flynn Center,” Councilor Blake Inscore said. “With 127 cases this weekend and hospitalizations up to five, I’m OK with this.” Inscore suggested having an item on the agenda at the council’s first meeting this month to change back to in-person if the numbers allow. Please see MEETINGS, Page A2
INDEX Crossword................................................A3 Classifieds................................................A5 Crossword Answers..................................A6
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