NCRA Meeting Highlights 10/9/13

NCRA Meeting Highlights

A Presentation by NWPco. Operator John Williams began the meeting of the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA). Basically Mr. Williams updated or gave a progress report on the Ukiah Depot Remediation Project.  The $250,000 project now looks to be around $350,000. Mr. Williams again assured he was going to clean the land no matter the overruns.

It was pointed out in the financials that the NCRA is currently $1,091,184 in debt to NWP.co in just interest.

There is a log deck in Willits that is putting 1,500 Hem-Fir logs a month into containers and trucking to Oakland for shipment to China to build forms for a dam project.  The may need 3 million board feet of wood for the project and stumpage fees have went from around $300 to over $600 a stump.

A proposal for fiber optic lines in Mendocino County and Humboldt may be coming soon from Golden Bear Broadband to the NCRA.

NWPco Operator John Williams reported a stoppage in service due to a replacement bridge being built. The contractor and NWPco came to an agreement of 10 days for construction, negotiated from an original 18 days. Another 3 bridge’s south of Petaluma are earmarked for replacement in the future and similar negotiations are expected. 

Marin County NCRA Director Bernie Meyers announced he would not be seeking reappointment to the Board and gave a scathing analysis of the conduct of the NCRA as an organization.  

Pulp Mill coming clean!

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency has taken over the Harbor Districts recently acquired Pulp Mill. They are going to make sure the property is cleaned up properly. The site is considered a SUPERFUND pollution hazard and is on the fast tract for clean up. Then the Harbor District and the local community can put the property into the best use. And yes, the EPA workers are working through the government shutdown due to the urgency of the spill threat to our ocean and bay.

Arkley's Home Poor Meeting. What was that?

So I went to Rob Arkley’s impromptu meeting regarding the home poor and was surprised at what a huge gathering it was. Biggest at the Wharfinger since…..the gala for the Marina Center a few years back. (No I didn’t attend that one, but I drove by out of curiosity) It was standing room only and some were left outside because of Fire Marshal rules. Rob gave a quick introduction and said he wanted to fix the root problems leading to homelessness and create a process for a solution.  He talked of Betty Chinn and Humboldt County Human Service Department and pointed out that ½ the budget and ½ of the workers of the County were part of Human Services Department.  He wants to form a committee to identify what programs are bringing people to Humboldt County and try to find solutions and hold the Board of Supervisors and Eureka City Council members responsible for answers to the issues. Then he passed the meeting on to his secretary Shirley. And she was overwhelmed and had no format to deal with the hour Rob had earmarked for the public to speak and go home to have dinner.

A first speaker came up to speak for the homeless and was not well received and didn’t make much sense.

The next speaker was handpicked, Rocky from the auto shop on 3^rd next to the COOP. Said he has had the shop for years near soup kitchen but the last few years he had direct conflicts from transients every day and had witnessed assaults and dog killings. He said these people chose this lifestyle.  He has to pick up garbage every day and has noticed a drop off in female customers. He said he has had no problems with the Rescue Mission right next door to his shop.

Sylvia DeeRoy said that Arkley presented a false premise. Pointed out to Human Services cuts from the 1980’s. Said poverty was the main problem and the lack of affordable housing an issue. She also pointed out addiction and mental health as problems.

Mike Jones had a story of his youth and his experience of delivering papers in the neighborhood. He told of his shock over the recent cross bow murder. He talked about taking the ferry to Samoa to play on the beach and reminisced of a time where you could feel safe and not worry.

A lady named Sheri spoke of her 3 years in the soup line while homeless and her taking advantage of programs to now being on the cusp of graduating from HSU.

Jill McDonald spoke of her 23 years of experience working with old town and Main Street. She is concerned so much of the transients that she and her family have considered moving.

Joel, who identified himself as a Eureka Senior Counselor for addicts, said these people in the streets are human beings that needed to be held accountable for their actions.

One lady came to mic to talk about the Indian Massacre and to point out the intolerance of Humboldt County when they drove out the Chinese.

Another old town business owner (Bev Wolfe?) said she had 17 years of great business, but the last 5 years were horrible and she would have to move. She was tired of cleaning excrement, piss and vomit from her doorway.

Jackie Dueshel  pointed out the positive of community coming together to clean behind the Bayshore mall only to see it in disarray a year later and have transients hassle her while trying to clean this year.

Jeanie from Henderson Center had faith in the community but said this last year had a lot of “Tweaker” issues.

Kathryn said this was “Cause and effect” and we needed to be patient with people.

John Shelter let it be known that every person was a Human being and pointed out his track record for successfully cleaning and hiring Home poor. He did say there were more than usual out there.

Some observations:

There were protesters outside that were blowing whistles to disrupt the meeting, but most of the time they were drowning out homeless advocate’s speeches and pleas.

Not only was the forum unorganized, the protest against the forum was spotty at best.

 Many of the people at this forum were people I do not normally see at any political events.

It is alarming that this subject has such a large impact to cause this much concern.

Has the problem escalated the last few years? I believe it has.

What is the answer? That is a huge question. We need to address little issues before that big things. I have been public in the past of the need to have Social Services put B & B’s out on the Peninsula and behind the Bayshore so Home Poor citizens can at least go to the bathroom in dignity and not cause environmental issues in our coastal wetlands and beaches.

(I had to leave early to check in on softball, so I did miss some speakers.)

North Coast Rail Authority Meeting 9/11/13

The first order of business at this month North Coast Rail Authority meeting was actually a revisit of a proposed Agreement with Parallel Infrastructure for property audit services to audit encroachments and Right Of Ways (ROW).  Minor changes were made to this heavily worded agreement, but hopefully this will give the district a better understanding of their assets.  The vote was unanimous to approve of the agreement. 

The second item on the conduct of business was possible approval of “Update to Policies and Procedures” for Fee Schedules.  The fee schedules are for property owner’s costs to use the NCRA ROW to access their properties. This would be separate of Parallel’s scope of work.  Some of the agreements date back to the 1920’s and are very minimal and some the NCRA has not received any compensation. Uses for the ROW’s by private owners and public agencies are negotiated on a case by case basis.  Between Windsor and Willits there are 260 agreements. There was a question of what the market will bear or tolerate and whether we were current on the agreements. I asked for this item to be referred to the Property Committee to design a baseline standard boiler plate “Fee Schedule.”

The third item was concerning the sale of11 acres of excess property near the Ukiah train depot. We are trying to sell 4.5 acres of property to the state Administration Offices of the Courts (AOC) to build a new Mendocino County Courthouse. The project has now been whittled down to 3.7 acres. The actual liable entity for the clean-up of the site is Union Pacific, but it was determined the legal action to force them into clean-up would delay the process to non-existence.  The clean-up costs are being paid by North Western Pacific Company (NWPco) and Cal Trans is has been promised the first 10% of the sale to reimburse funds for the original property acquisition.  I asked the operator of NWPco what the threshold was for cleaning up the site. He said there was no threshold and would make sure the land is cleaned up.  The site could be worth upwards of 10 million dollars. A presentation by the NCRA to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) will hopefully move the sale forward in the near future. Much of the proceeds from the sale will go to NWPco for payback debt incurred by the NCRA to the operator of the rail line.

Item four was a request for additional speeder event to the Apple Festival in Fortuna. Mayor Doug Strehl made the motion and I seconded and the motion passed.

NCRA Property Specialist Doug McCorkle reported on the failed TIGER grant for rail expansion. Out of 530 submitted applicants only 37 were awarded.

Operators Report: NWPco Operator John Williams announced that NWPco received the “Jake Safety Award” for short line rail. NWPco has been doing work for SMART south of Guerneville digging 42 inch trenches for conduit. He announced that all other SMART work has been curtailed until well into next year. NWPco has picked up more business in the grain industry, but lags in lumber. They are still operating at a loss according to the operator. The goal short term is expanding service to Cloverdale and then growing to Redwood Valley where the operator has identified substantial traffic base in the form of Lumber and aggregate. Mr. Williams said there is rumblings that SMART may try to expand to Healdsburg. 

Mr. Williams would like to see an excursion train on the Northern end of the line. He felt the least expensive track to do this would be from Eureka to Fortuna. His second pick would be Samoa to Arcata. He would really like to see freight service around the bay but admitted he had not identified product.

City of Eureka looking for help at over $15 an hour!

The City of Eureka is looking for teams for this coming fall Basketball League for adults. League starts in October. They are also looking for Referees and are paying between $18.20 and $22.12 per game based on experience. I have played nearly 40 years in this league!

State of Jefferson coming our way?

The state of Jefferson is a great discussion subject and has a bit of romantic fantasy, but is this practical? I get a felling this subject matter will come to Humboldt in the near future since Siskiyou County has voted for secession from California due to their perception of non representation at the State government level. Don't know how I feel about that.

Humboldt County Democrats leaderless! And Grumpy!

The Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee (HCDCC) met last night in a HOT packed headquarters. 2nd District Assembly hopefuls John Lowry and Hezekiah Allen were present as well as Eureka City Schools candidate Lisa Olliver and College of the Redwoods trustee candidate Ginger Olsen. Speeches were a given and received well.

Lots of people in the community thinks the HCDCC is a kind of Kumbaya type lefty organization, and nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing we can marginally agree about is that we are all Democrats. What flavor of Democrats is all over the map.  

Eureka City councilperson and HCDCC President Linda Atkins resigned her position due to personal reasons and Vice Chair Milt Boyd expressed his undesire to serve the board as President. Then the craziness ensued. Estelle Fennell, County Supervisor from District 2 and HCDCC member, nominated former labor leader Jim Smith of AFSME. Linda Atkins nominated longtime HCDCC executive member Bob Service and was seconded by member Heidi Benzonelli. What a pleasant surprise! Two great candidates when hope were for anyone to step forward. Both then gave speeches. Bob wants to expand the HCDCC media presence and be active at a state level. Jim expressed his concerns of the financial well being of the HCDCC and wanted to focus on fund raising to help out Democratic candidates. Vote was done by secret ballott. Guess what? The vote was tied! Phillis Seawright made a motion to table another vote until next months meeting. Others argued that there needed to be another vote immediately. After much discussion that vote was tied! So a second vote was taken and the motion passes to kick the can to next month.

I will also note that Julie Timmons is going to organize a separate Democrat of the Year (DOTY)dinner in protest of the proposed Ingomar Club venue.

Treasurer Phillis Seawright officially resigned her position. This is the most unthankful and difficult position a person could have on the HCDCC. She has been threatening this for sometime and had requested for years to have help. She closed her notebook in gesture to being done. Then a check was handed to her for deposit and she said, "I guess I can do this another month."

See ya next month!

Union Victory! Love it when workers win. 31 workers win $247,681 judgement! Thank you Carpenters local 751!

Workers from all over the country were recruited to work on building a new Holiday Inn Express in Eureka. Redwood Coast Hospitality LLC, owned by Shailesh Patel and Jayshree Patel Revocable Trust, hired general contractor Jansen Construction out of Oregon. Jansen then subcontracted construction work to PacWest Contracting LLC another Oregon outfit. Neither contractors are licenced to do business in California. Pacwest hired workers as "Independent Contractors" so they could underpay to the point that they were paid by "piecework" that could actually leave them being paid less than minimum wage. Workers were forced to use their own tools and weren't provided adequate safety equipment. And then to top it off......their checks bounced. A perfect storm of workers being ripped off.

What to do if you are that worker? Humboldt County no longer has a Labor Commissioner locally, and the closest office is in Redding. So that is not a great option. So some decided to visit the local
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 751 office at the Labor Temple. Even though they were not union workers, they knew the union would protect their workers rights! And they did. The local filed a report of labor law violations against the project and won! Not only that, but another subcontractor from Oregon named Lupton Construction working on the project was fined for Cal/OSHA violations.

The investigation was conducted by the California Labor Enforcement Task Force that was formed to battle "Underground Economy." The Department of Industrial Relations release says: "Businesses operating underground generally violate those laws that are designed to protect workers and California's economy. Skirting income taxes, not carrying workers compensation insurance, failing to provide required workspace safeguards and paying employees less than what they are owed are common practices of underground businesses. These underground operations subsequently require lower overhead, giving unfair advantage to the illegal businesses over legitimate, law-abiding employers."

Now you workers! Go sign up to be union! "UNITED WE BARGAIN, DIVIDED WE BEG!"

So instead of "Pulp Mill" project, maybe "Humboldt Bay Redwood Dock Project?"

So far I have heard a few ideas for the old pulp mill site. First the fun stuff:
1. Indoor Softball
2. Roller Derby
3. Zip line to beach
4. Bungee Jumping
5. Drive Inn
6. AstroTurf Sports Fields
7. Surf Store Room and showers
8. Bait Shop
9. Golf course ala Bandon Dunes
10. Bed and Breakfast

And the mundane practical stuff:

1. Wind Turbine

2. Water Export

3. Bio Char Pellet Mill

4. General Cargo/Domestic Barge

5. Bottled water or beer plant

6. Energy-Pressure Retarded Osmosis

7. Water cooled Data base computers large scale

8. Aquaculture-Shell fish and Fin fish

9. Wave energy Buoy manufacturing

10. Marciano cherry production

11. Sea Vegetable production-edible kelp and sea weed

 

Any other good ideas? Or even bad ideas!

 



Check out Harbor CEO Jack Crider's presentation for more stuff about the Harbor.

4 More Years! Samoasoftball runs unopposed for Harbor Commissioner.

Might as well get some good use out of my campaign statement for 2013:

My wife Robin and I have lived, worked, and raised two sons within eye sight of the Humboldt Bay. Like you, we care deeply about this community treasure.

Currently I serve as your 4th Division Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation Commissioner. With this election I am requesting for your support in continuing proactive, forward-thinking leadership to the district.

During my term the Commission has created the setting to retain good jobs that pay decent wages by supporting our aquaculture and fishing industries, encouraging light industrial growth, and investigating infrastructure needed to support short sea shipping.

We can increase recreational opportunities and transportation options around our bay by creating bicycle and pedestrian trails to connect our communities, while protecting the publicly owned railroad right-of-way for future possibilities.

Finally, we can spearhead environmental restoration projects to preserve the fragile ecosystem that supports so many of our waterfront-dependent businesses and activities.

I am the past President of Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers local 49 and former union organizer. I am currently on the Board of Directors for the North Coast Rail Authority and Humboldt Domestic Violence Services. I am also the President of Mad River Softball Association.

I miss Artic Circle. And Hometown! Past Eureka eating franchise road trips?

Missing some of those chain eating places that were in Eureka. Take these road trips if you have to! Mileage included.

10. Little Caesar’s Pizza- 156 miles to Klamath Falls Oregon. Just bland Pizza, but good memories for the kids eating, “Pizza, pizza!” Was on Broadway in Eureka.

9. King Table Buffett-662 miles to Torrance, California. Haven’t been to one of these in years! I remember my son Jordan piling up on different colored Jell-O’s.  Remember the real looking Santa Claus Dude? Was on 4^th at the current Gonsea place.

8. Arby’s-150 miles to Redding. All right. Not Great. All over everywhere but here. Was in Mall.  

7. Quizno’s-150 miles to Redding. Seriously. No Quizno’s? Used to have 2. On 5^th and Broadway.

6. KFC-111 miles to Brookings, Oregon. Never know how much you miss a place until it is gone. Was at Burre Center where Churches fried yucky chicken is.  

5. Skippers-237 miles to Roseburg, Oregon. Cheap Seafood. We need one of these! Was on Harris.

4. Taco Time-271 to Klamath Falls, Oregon. It was the tater tots I tell ya. I had some last September and I really liked it. Was on 5^th heading out of town across from Kinko’s. It became Lila’s Taco Shop afterwards and was really good too.

3. Shakey’s Pizza Parlor-242 miles to Oroville, California. Loved their buffet! Lots of choices. On 4^th across from McDonald’s.  

2. Home Town Buffett-150 miles to Redding, California. Freaking miss this place! All you can eat cheap! It is about quantity! Used to be on the Mall.

1. Artic Circle-315 miles to Newport, Oregon. Mushroom Burger with fries and their “special” sauce buried on everything! With a lime Rickey! Used to be on 5^th.  Artic Circle now has a franchise policy to not allow any in California. Were we to blame?

"Trucking by Water!" Container Port revisited.

Stas Margaronis did a presentation about the possibility of "Short Sea Shipping" in the form of a new 4,000 ton Container Ship that would cost about 30 million dollars shipping containers from Stockton to Eureka. Currently there are about 400 trucks from Stockton area distribution plants travelling to Eureka. And about 200 local trucks heading to Stockton. Stas said that the turnaround time for his concept was 25 hours and all those trucks could be replaced by this Ship that would travel to our port 2 times a week. This would actualize a 66% reduction in emissions compared to trucks. Also there is cost savings. It costs $1,500 per truck to haul goods from Stockton, compared to $1,100 by ship. A saving of $400 a load!

Currently there is a successful pilot project working from Oakland to Stockton that travels 75 miles. Stockton to Eureka would be around 300 miles.

There were arguments in the room about the use of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) use of the ship over the use of diesel fuel.

Financial obstacles were also identified. 15 million for container dock with 7 acres upland properties for temporary storage. All together Stas felt it would probably initially take a 60 million dollar investment. He felt a joint partnership between the Port of Stockton and Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District would be mutually profitable.

BST Train Feasibility presentation tonight!

The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District will be hosting a East/West/North/South Rail Analysis presentation by BST engineering out of the state of Washington. At Woodley Island. Meeting starts at 7pm and the presentation is at the end of the agenda.

Worst songs you probably heard of!

I am a self-avowed radio channel surfer and many times I will turn to songs that I will quickly change to the next when these songs come up. Some are older and some newer. Links for them are here on my blog.  

10. "Macarena"  Los Del Rio-Can’t turn it off fast enough!

9. "Hollaback Girls"  Gwen Stephanie. I loved early Gwen, this one is just irritating.

8. "Rumour has it" Adele-Love some of her stuff but this just bugs me. Make the skin crawl.  

7. "Ebony and Ivory"  McCartney and Jackson-I don’t know who thought this would be a good idea, it was not.

6. "My Humps"  Black Eyed Peas-Really. Have you ever listened to this? Unbearable.

5. "Your having my baby" Paul Anka-Didn’t anybody tell Paul this would be the cheesiest of songs of all time?

4. "Seasons in the sun" Terry Jacks-Will change the channel every time this comes on. And this made it to #1?

3. "My Sharona"  The Knack-When Robin and I first got married our new neighbors played this full blast for what seemed months! Ironically their next door neighbor ended up touring with Rush with an opening band called the Boogies.

2. "Hotel California" Eagles-I just don’t get their appeal overall.

1. "The Joker" Steve Miller- I pretty much could have put any Steve Miller Band song here. I hate em all.

North Coast Rail Authority meeintg July 2013

The first order of business was the appointments of the new Directors to NCRA committees. Alex Stillman and I were appointed to the Finance Committee. Alex was also appointed to the Properties Committee.  

Next up was a Resolution supporting CalTrout Fisheries Restoration of Bridge Creek, which is about 12 miles south of Scotia.  The removal of rails was not a big issue since that part of the line had “Blown Out.” Restoration preemption was also a big issue. North Western Pacific company (NWPco) operator John Williams said he was in favor of an excursion train with this rail line. After much discussion and amendments to resolution the item passed unanimously 9-0.

CalTrout’s second Resolution concerned Restoration of Woodman Creek near Laytonville.  The 200ft of rail that was proposed to be removed is classified as “active railroad.” NCRA project engineer Dave Anderson pointed out that obstacles were in the 29 miles between Willits and Woodman Creek that needed to be addressed, namely:

14 slides
 

 6 tunnels
 

22 bridges

The project is well isolated and far into the future. In both restoration cases it was pointed out that this would help mitigate the issues for the future use of the rail, so why not address this now? Operator John Williams said that “money is the root of this issue!” He said he would support the project if it was well defined. He also pointed out that the 1 million dollar estimate for the replacement bridge would likely be 7-10 million and that the project would affect 2,000ft and not 200ft. The resolution with amendment’s passed unanimously 9-0.  

Last conduct of business for the day was whether to approve an agreement with Parallel Infrastructure (PI) to audit the Rail Line for Right of Ways (ROW) and to identify encroachments.  Passed unanimously 9-0.

NWPco Operator John Williams announced that the company has survived 2 years of rail service. He said the Federal Rail Authority had removed the Emergency Order from the rail also.  So far there is 62 miles of service in Marin and Sonoma Counties. He passed out pictures of rail and passenger cars delivering 500 passengers to Sears Point Raceway. He was proud to point out that there have been no injuries on the rail line. He was still hoping for TIGER grant funding to help completion of rail line to Cloverdale.

Oh yeah, by the way, the NCRA is broke. That was pointed out repeatedly during the meeting. Hope this last meeting won't literally be the last!

 

Operating Engineers Local 3 endorses Richard Marks for Harbor Commissioner!

The Operating Engineers Local 3 Executive Board endorsed my Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation & Conservation District Commission Re-election. Besides a more than kind monetary donation, they also offered phone banks with phone bankers! With literature and public backdrop for the press. I was overwhelmed with their decision. I hope to garner the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Northern California Regional Council next! (I collect retirement from the UBC from past service.)

Plan "B" would be for me not to have an opponent but I am not counting on that.

NCRA meeting quote by Alex Stillman: “Where we come from we don’t hold our fish hostage!”

So last Wednesday was my first meeting since I was appointed by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors as a Director of the North Coast Railroad Authority. There are 8 other Directors from Marin to Humboldt County. The other Directors seemed to be familiar with playing in this sandbox forum and I didn’t know where the shovels were hidden. So endure with my report.

The first report of the day was by Merritt Perry Senior Project Manager with GDH Consulting. He has been working on the study of the Rail/Trail between Arcata and Eureka. He said the project could run about 18 million. I asked if there had been any discussion on potential plans with Cal Trans to include Samoa to Arcata and was told there were no plans currently or in the future for that portion.

The next item on the agenda was the “Skunk” train tunnel collapse issue. It looks like it will cost $300,000 to reopen. According to past studies the “Skunk” has over 20 million dollars impact in Mendocino County.  Director Hemphill spoke of riding the “Skunk” since 1952 and pointed out that it was the only way for his Boy Scout troop to get to their camporee location. We approved a Resolution to go out to Mendocino governmental entities to help finance repairs.

We had much discussion over the possible sale of land adjacent to the Ukiah Railroad Depot. North Western Pacific Co. (NWPco.) is going to pay to clean up the property to the tune of $250,000. A representative for Cal Trans claimed that for NWPco. to help clean up property and then get paid back loan debts was actually a conflict of interest. The possible remediation and loan paybacks are moving forward.

Next we discussed the Development and Issuance of a Request for Proposals for Restoration Work in the Eel River Canyon. Cal Trout wants to do some creek restoration at Woodsman Creek near Laytonville. The project would include removing 200 feet of rail and future bridge installation once the rail is restored in the area. (On one side of this project has a collapsed rail tunnel and a landslide that has taken out the rail bed completely) Miles of trout habitat fixed until that time. Director Alex Stillman said, “Where we come from we don’t hold fish hostage!” California Trout was on the agenda just for discussion. There seemed to be procedural questions as to whether this was supposed to be on the agenda as an action item. No action was taken on this item and the petitioner Darren Mierau and NCRA Executive Director Mitch Stogner would work on language to bring back to the Directors in the future.

Property Specialist Doug McCorkle updated on filing for a 3 million dollar Tiger Grant Application with the US Transportation office for rail service restoration from Windsor to Redwood Valley. He said the odds were about 5% to for the grant to be approved.

Operator John Williams expressed his desire to have rail service in the near future to Cloverdale. Main products to railed from there would be Lumber and Aggregate. He is working on private funding besides the Tiger Grant. He feels the Ukiah Depot “Dirty Dirt” is actually owned by Union Pacific’s (UP). But it looks like the “Dirty Dirt” has been handed down to the NCRA, and he said he will clean the “Dirty Dirt”.  Mr. Williams said current NWPco. business volumes were low and his company was at a “Negative Cash Flow” and blamed that in part by lack of consistent delivery due to “Turnout” issues created by Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) line. He felt that the completion of the SMART would lead to more business next year.  

I have heard that people have been testifying at public meetings that Alex Stillman and I are rail obstructionists and anti-rail. Could you at least call and ask?  

Samoasoftball......King of Softball. Another season starts.

Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Richard Marks the best friging softball player you’ve ever met.

Just ask the opposing teams in the 4 leagues I’m in this summer. I flat out rake. You could populate a small country with all the pitchers I've taken deep.

I just spent three hours in the batting cage and hit the @#%$ out of the ball. Line drives, big flies, opposite field shots. I can do it all. Some kids next to me in the cages were staring and pointing at me. I can’t blame them. They’ve probably never seen a late 50’s man wearing Oakley Blades and batting gloves who can hit bombs like me. Especially not with shorts this tight.

This season, I’m making sure we sweep all 4 leagues. Especially the Men’s League at Arcata. We were two outs away from winning that baby last year and now I can taste it. I’ve gotta get my hands on that 10-foot plastic trophy and tee shirt. It’s all I think about.
Rumor has it the league winners get 2 free pitchers at Big Pete’s Pizza after the season. No way we lose with the trophy, shirts and 78 ounces of Bud on the line.

I just bought all new equipment for this season and you should see the extra long stripped baggy baseball pants I got. Super tight. I picked up a new set of wristbands, a tube of eye black and a pair of 3-inch mud cleats, you know, just in case I need to break up a double play. I also got to get my hands on one of those $350 Miken Ultra II bat for a little extra power. It may cost me a week’s retirement pension, but screw it, when I start cranking 400-foot shots it will be worth it.

I can’t wait for that first at bat. I’m bringing a tape deck to the game, so that I can blast The Scorpions when I walk to the plate. Nothing gets me fired up to play ball more than The Scorpions. Except maybe Metallica, but I’ll save that for the playoffs.

I feel sorry for the other teams. They have no idea what I’m about to unleash on them. Actually, I don’t feel sorry for them. You think that anyone felt sorry for me when that bastard coach cut me from the Babe Ruth baseball team? You think Babe Ruth or Dave Kingman felt sorry for the other team when they took them deep? They should have known better than to get into a league with me.

This year I’m focused. I practiced like a son of a bitch in the winter at Samoa Field with Les Charter and I got the call to play catcher. That’s right, the main show baby. Only the best play behind the plate. I have to be sharp, so no more beer during the games. I’m going to wait until after the game to starting pounding cold ones and I’m still going to drink you under the table.

My initials might as well be M-V-P. That stands for Most Valuable Player for all you non-softball players. The League starts next week. I may take the week before off to prepare.

Why do I take softball so seriously?

You kidding me? You’re just jealous! See you at the ball park!

King Richard

President Mad River Softball Association

Man Assaulted with Chain in Old Town. Humboldt Politics. Welcome back to the Jungle Stevie!

My buddy Steve Harris has just moved back last week to Humboldt County after a 5 year stint of working the San Jose area for the Operating Engineers local 3 Dist. 90. He is now the District Representatve for District 40 and lives in Rio Dell. I let him know Tuesday that I was going before the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to ask for consideration for a board appointment to the North Coast Railroad Authority and it might be contentious. So Steve being the friend he is, showed up and spoke on my behalf. I was honored to be selected. Someone locally was upset about my appointment and called Steve's boss to complain! Not here a few days and I am getting him in trouble. So today we are going to lunch and I turned on A street in Eureka to go to Old Town. Two guys were running in front of my truck and one of the guys was wielding a chain and beating the crap out of some guy who finally just rolled on the ground yelling. Steve (About 6'3" and big build) jumped out of the truck and got between the guys. (The guy with the chain was every bit as big as Steve.) He yelled that he was ripped off by the guy he was beating and jumped on his bike and took off. The victim kept yelling at the guy but made no sense. Welcome back to the Jungle Stevie. Or as Merle would say, "What a hell hole!"

Skunk Train in jeopardy.

Skunk Train needs your help! Collapsed tunnel is the big issue.

Samoasoftball appointed to North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) board.

Hank Sims reports on my appointment as NCRA board member. Controversial? Didn't mean to be. Rumor flying around is that I threatened 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass that I would run against her if she didn't support me. Pure BS. I would never run against Virginia and have a great working relationship professionally and socially with my fellow past Myrtletown neighbor.

March against Monsanto!

Caught this on Tom Sebourn's blog. 2nd and I at 10:30am in Eureka. I will be out of town so someone cover for me!

Sign hanging over our bed says it all. Nearly 40 years later.

2013 Softball Tournaments

May 18^th & 19^th-SOP’s Memorial Classic: Fortuna. 3 game Guaranteed $250. Metal bat. (Note this is a 2 day tournament.) Contact Sam at 707-845-3064 or Toye 707-599-5928 for more information.

May 25^th-Doctor Bob and “Scatman” Memorial Tournament: Weaverville. 3 Game Guaranteed $200. Metal Bat. One Day. Contact Todd at 530-739-5681.

June 1^st & 2^nd-“Lewiston Bash” : Lewiston.$200. Metal Bat. Contact Jesse Para at 530-227-0541.

June 2^nd-“ 0-2 & Barbeque!”:  McKinleyville. $125. CO-ED Wood Bat. Contact 707-839-9003.  

June 15^th-SAC “First Chance” Invitational: Arcata. 3 Game Guaranteed. $199. USSSA Metal Bat. One day. Contact Richard Marks 707-445-3432.

June 22^nd NSA Invitational: BLD Redding.  Contact www.nsacal.net.

June 29^th & 30^th-“Firecracker” Invitational: Crescent City. 3 Game Guaranteed. $250. Metal Bat. Contact John Horner at 707-951-2397.

July 13^th & 14^th-3^rd Annual “Redwood Coast Grand Slam”: Eureka. 3 Game Guaranteed. Freaking only $125! ASA and USSSA metal bats! Contact Steve Enes at 707-441-4245.

July 6^th and 7^th-“Belated 4^th of July Invitational”: Arcata. (Tentative) 3 Game Guaranteed. $199. Metal or Wood Bat. Contact Richard Marks 707-445-3432

July 13^th &14^th-“Budwieser Shoot Out!”: Ukiah. 3 Game Guaranteed. $300. ASA. (Better bring your “A” game and team for this.) Contact 707-463-6714

July 20^th & 21^st-“Battle of the Border!” Invitational: Crescent City. 3 Game Guaranteed. $250. Metal Bat. Contact John Horner at 707-951-2397.

July 20^th & 21^st-“Mountain Bash”: Weaverville. 3 Game Guaranteed. $220. Metal Bat. Contact Jesse Para at 530-227-0541.

August 10^th & 11^th-“Del Norte Wood Bat Invitational”: Crescent City. 3 Game Guaranteed. $250. 11” ball in use. Contact John Horner 707-951-2397.

August 10^th & 11^th-“Samoa Athletic Club Invitational”: BLD Redding. 3 Game Guaranteed. $199. USSSA “E” & “D” Division. 1 home run per inning.  Contact Richard Marks at 707-445-3432.

August 17^th & 18^th-Humboldt Domestic Violence Services (HDVS) 3^rd annual “Heart of the Redwoods Invitational”: Arcata. 3 Game Guaranteed. $225. USSSA Metal Bat.

August 23^rd thru 25^th-“Coors Light Boneyard Bash”: Medford. 48 Hour Tournament. Metal Bat. Lots of teams! Jesse Horning 775-997-8000.

Sept 7^th & 8^th-“Tomaso’s Wood Bat Invitational”: Willow Creek. $250. Wood Bat. Contact Richard Marks at 707-445-3432. Can only handle 10 teams. Full each year. First 10 to pay up front.

Sept 7^th & 8^th-“SAC Valley Invitational”: BLD Redding. USSSA “E” & “D” Division. 3 Game Guaranteed. $199. Contact Richard Marks at 707-445-3432.

Sept 14^th-“TMS Softball Invitational”: BLD Redding. Metal Bat. Contact Mark Madrone at 530-941-8463 for more information.

Sept 21^st and 22^nd-“SAC Last Chance!” :Invitational: Arcata. 3 Game Guaranteed. $199. USSSA Metal Bat. Contact Richard Marks at 707-445-3432

I am sure I have missed some and I know that Medford and Redding will be hosting tournaments almost weekly in October thru December. If you want to play most of these, you have my number!

Mad River Softball Metal Bat Update.

To answer some confusion: The proposed metal bat division will be held on Tuesday or Thursday nights. Yes, you or your teams can play in both wood bat and metal bat leagues. Doubleheaders can be arranged for Southern Humboldt or Crescent City teams. USSSA sanctioned bats with sticker are the legal metal bats. Seniors over 50 are allowed Mikan Ultra's. We will be using Dudley Thunder 44 core balls with .375 Compression tentatively. Home Run rule will most likely be 1 per inning or 5 per game and then equalizer. I will let managers decide the best fit.

Metal Bat Teams so far! Tentative of course. Meeting May 22nd at Arcata Community center.

1. Lets Play Ball!

2. Ofer's

3. SAC

4. Snow Leopards

5. SOP

6. Bear River

7. Monster

8. Batting Cages

9. Solo Sports

10. Les Schwab

Am I missing any team moving from wood bat to metal?

They are Back! Indian Island Egrets!

Their back! Driving across the Samoa Bridge I noticed a flock of Egrets in the Monterey Cypress trees on Indian Island. Summer must be around the corner! Every year they show back up to nest. There is some concern about how much longer that they can use the island, as the trees are not native and were planted in the 1860's. They might be closing in on their life span.

Best Foo Foo Burger places in Eureka.

This last weekend I was in a softball tournament in Redding. While there I had a chance to go to Five guys burgers and the next day go to In N Out burger. (Just what is in that In-N-Out special spread?!) I know we don't have these places but it made me wonder once again, what is the best places for a burger, besides the fast food places. Here is an updated list for best places in Eureka! (Not elsewhere in the county.)

10. Waterfront Cafe. Want blah foo foo? This is it. Needs something to perk it up.

 

9. Village Pantry. Can be really good, or really so so. Hit and miss.

8. Kristina's. This place is trying too hard to go classy. But they are consistent.

7. Fresh Freeze. Good sloppy burgers!

6. Stars. Funny how one bad experience can turn you off on a place. Many think this is the best though.

5. Mike Drive up. Love their fries. Burgers are up and down. They sure are grumpy there! Be sure to wear an Obama shirt to see their reaction!

4. Amy's Delight. Go there at lunch time and be shocked at how many burgers they sell! No frills but good old style burgers.

3. Double AA. Double good or what's with that? You just don't know what you will get each trip.

2. Surfside Burger Shack. I used to think this place was just all right. But the longer they have been open the better they get! Even though they serve grass fed beef.

1. Cafe Nooner. The King of the Eureka Foo Foo! You won't be disappointed. Way under my radar, but this place is classy and good!

Yes, there are others that deserve notice like Cafe Marina, Ingomar Club, Sizzler, Adels, Golden Harvest, Avalon, Lost Coast........but this is just one man's opinion. And we all know samoasoftball loves his food!

Batter up! Spring League starts May 5th!

The Mad River Softball Association is hosting an adult wood bat Sunday softball league starting May 5th at the Arcata Community Sports Complex. Teams play double headers starting no earlier than 12:30pm. Free agent players without teams will be placed on teams. Players must be at least 16 years or older. For more information contact (707) 445-3432 or email Samoafog@aol.com.

Are Our students too Drugged to learn? How do we fix the broken education system?

I don’t know what happened over the years to dummy down our educational system. Or did we drug it down?

When I went to school in the 60’s and 70’s the system seemed pretty straight forward. You came to school, you listened to the teachers, who were usually working alone and were graded A through F on your ability. Or by Grade point average which was 0-F, 1-D, 2-C, 3-B or 4-A. There were no above 4.0 point averages. You could not go over 100%! Whoever started this trend of giving scores higher that perfect have done a disservice to students. If kids were in need of special attention they were a small percentage and had their own class. Students were disciplined physically, (Spanked or swatted) and knew the repercussions of their actions.

What has changed? The over active or “hyper” kid of my time has been diagnosed as “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Now here is something to blow you away, around 20% of students in the US have been diagnosed with ADHD. Add the 2% Autistic Autistic children and 1.3% with Mental Retardation and other physical special needs and you have almost 25% of the students in the US designated as “Special Needs!” 11% of these kids are on the drug Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and others are on other drugs! Each school district is mandated under law to have 1 on 1 teacher aids to help with education. And with a 22% of the general population of students coming from impoverished families, doesn’t this put poor school districts at a disadvantage in teaching the public?  

Even with such help, our students lag way behind other industrial nations in education. Is it drugs? Why do our students use 5 times the amount of Ritalin compared to other countries? Why has the drug use of Ritalin risen 700% over the last 10 years? Wrong diagnosis? Push by Pharmaceutical companies?

What are the solutions? I don’t know if our education system is too broke to fix. Help me out here.

Happy Easter and City of Eureka votes to apply for funding for East/West Railroad Feasability Study.

 

Went to todays “Special Meeting” of the Eureka City Council about sending a resolution to Cal Trans and apply for a grant in the amount of $295,000 for an east/west rail feasibility study. City of Eureka Consultant David Hull gave a presentation to the Council and said they were under a time crunch and needed to file the necessary paperwork by a April 2^nd deadline. City staff was contributing $17,500 as a cash support or “match” for their time provided. Newly formed Organization Land Bridge Alliance would be kicking in $35,000 as a matchinf fund themselves. David felt a “Privately” financed only would fail with garnering permits in the future and that is why “Public” funding was being solicited.

Councilperson Linda Atkins wanted to know why there was such an emergency for this funding and felt it was inappropriate to call a special meeting on “Good Friday.” She felt there was a need for more public input and pointed out the funding would not be available until 2014 anyways.

The Public was invited to speak after other councilmembers spoke briefly of their support to the resolution:

Loraine Parnell- Why the special meeting? Was the Consultant to blame for short notice?

Pete Oringer- Member of the Timber Heritage Association and Land Bridge Alliance felt it was proper to apply for Public Grants to “augment” and “foster” the process and that it would give the project an advantage with environmental issues.

Jessica Hall- Baykeeper’s representative had some concerns about the concept. She was questioning what Eureka’s role in the project and what the ramifications the city may face.

Susana Munzell- Member of the Land Bridge Alliance and Chair of the Humboldt Bay Harbor Working Group spoke in favor of the study.

Debbie Provolt- Pointed out the constraints of transportation, and the “Freight in, freight out” disadvantage that drives goods prices up for Humboldt. Felt this was a great step forward.

John Grobey- Former HSU Economics Professor pointed out that he was assigned in the 80’s to look into this for the Army Corp of Engineers and came to the conclusion that linkages between the Port and Land made no sense without each other. His observation of the North/South after the closure of rail service led him to believe that continuing rail service in the that direction make no sense. Supports the East/West concept.

Sid Berg- Said it was long shot, but we needed to do something to keep workers local.

Dave Schneider- Dock owner. Pointed out the loss of hundreds of jobs around the bay. Blamed some of problem on regulation and some on transportation structure and bad goods movement.  

Back to Council for deliberation:

Linda Atkins- Had problem with using Public funds for this project and felt the decision should be put off to a further date.

Marian Brady- Felt our weaknesses with “In and out” transportation halts prosperity and would support the project.

Melinda Ciarabellini- Was supporting resolution and didn’t want a “Missed Opportunity. “

Lance Madsen- (By remote) Wanted to see further harbor development. Supported Resolution.

Mike Newman- Eureka Mayor Pro Tem. “Baykeepers don’t want Harbor Development or more business! We need wages and jobs!” He pointed out that the short notice was not that important to him and said getting the “Rail Connect” committee together was a hard to do even once a month because of their geographic issues.

Linda Atkins- Closed council discussion by saying she had problems with the calling for a “Special Meeting” and felt there was no emergency. She said she was all for business, but this project would be something for her Grandchildren or their grandkids to enjoy. She publically said she was not against the rail or the project, but felt it should be privately funded and if they were going to use public funds there should be more time to discuss since the council never had discussed in the past “Using $300,000!”

The Resolution passed 4-1 Linda Atkins dissenting.

Cheap Houses in Arizona!

Houses in Phoenix area are going cheap! What is weird is that they are almost doubled new residential building permits from 2011 (6,795) to 2012 (11,615).