12.15.07 It has been awhile since our last update to this page and we appologize. There is just not enough time in the day for everything! Hope everyone is having a great December. We are getting ready for Christmas around here, so Merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays. We don't want to leave anyone out. =^)

The 12.3.07 Public Meeting about the Metropolitan wastewater treatment plan is online and is also being broadcast at Access Humboldt. It was an interesting presentation and discussion about the proposal. There were many people from Metropolitan there as they are very concerned about the plan to locate our wastewater treatment plant in their neighborhood as well as irrigate the pastureland with treated effluent. If you look at the agenda for council meetings these days, you will see the potential litigation listed at the bottom. The attorney representing the Metropolitan residents made a good point when he asked the city if they were budgeting in the litigation costs that this plan will undoubtedly encur. The city would need to hire on an attorney with experience in land use issues (in addition to the city attorney we already pay for but doesn't seem to know much about the various issues raised). Part of the problem that the Metropolitan residents are having (above and beyond the obvious) is that the city hasn't disclosed any details about what kind of treatment plant they are proposing so how could anyone evaluate the potential risks, etc. All they know is that we are proposing to put a treatment plant on the old Eel River Sawmill site. We would be pumping the wastewater across the bridge into the new plant, treating it there and then irrigating the pastureland of Metropolitan with the treated effluent as needed. This pastureland surrounds homes and drinking wells as well as borders the certified organic pastureland that provides a living for many families (not to mention some of the best milk around). The plan to annex Scotia is still hanging out there too. That could mean that we would be pumping the Scotia wastewater across the Eel River to Rio Dell and then again across the Eel River to the new treatment plant, along with the wastewater of Rio Dell. The Metropolitan proposal seems to be the only option still being evaluated. In any case, this issue is going to be extremely important to every resident of our town and the surrounding areas. Just about every town is facing tough decisions about wastewater disposal. There are very serious environmental concerns as well as the bottom line and the inevitable rate increases for everyone. It would be great to see more Rio Dell residents participate in this process. It isn't just the residents of Metropolitan that are going to be effected here.

On a different note, there is a rumor going around the mill that Palco is once again compiling a list of employees to lay off. While we hope this isn't true, every time we have heard about this from our sources it has proven to be accurate.

-Sharon

11.15.07 Happy Thursday! Busy as always, the November 6th Rio Dell City Coucnil meeting is now online. If you watch the November 6th meetings, it looks as though they can't even get the audio system or their own tape player working correctly. That's ok we'll get the recording...

This Stinks!

We feel bad for the people in Metropolitan. The plan to put our sewage onto there property is just plain bad. You can see what some of the people being directly effected by this plan have to say at the November 6th Public Hearing. The Rio Dell Times supports the residents of Metropolitan 100%. Rio Dell City Hall needs to find a better way than to turn Metropolitan into our city's toilet. We will be watching this story and documenting everything that we can about it. Maybe other towns can learn from the "mistakes" that keep just happening here. Whoop! There it is!!!

Steve :-)

11.4.07  The agenda is up for the next council meeting.  It will be on Election Day, so make sure to vote before attending the meeting!  The draft Environmental Impact Report for the wastewater treatment plant project will be presented with the first opportunity for public comment.  Note the closed door session topic of "Potential Litigation - Wastewater Treatment."  We haven't even made a public decision on what we are doing and there is potential litigation already.  There was an article recently about the opposition to the treatment plant plans for Metropolitan and the Eel River Sawmill site.  The other plan we have involves an agreement with Palco regarding using their tree farm as a place to get rid of the treated effluent.  I wonder if Palco would be allowed to enter into any kind of an agreement while in bankruptcy and who knows about the future.  The waste to be disposed of is treated effluent that has to meet certain standards but I get a little concerned when we discuss putting our treated waste water upstream of our city water intake.  I can also see why the property owners of Metropolitan, who have land certified as Organic for their dairy cows, wouldn't want the treated effluent over there.  It is possible that they would lose that certification and Rio Dell could be responsible for the loss of value.  Hopefully, there is a third option out there somewhere being evaluated. 

-Sharon =^)

10.30.07  The community event is the paving of Wildwood Ave. Rio Dell California.  Granite construction seems to have all the right tools for getting the job done right.   One of my neighbors is a former employee of Granite Construction.  He tells me that they treated him pretty good.  So far it looks like a pretty good job to me.  It must be tough having to deal with debris migrating onto the new pavement from the crumbling side streets.  I noted that the Fire hall parking lot is damaged already.  A heavy truck hit a soft spot.  Watch out for that one on the skateboards kids :-)  At least they are getting their new road out for the fire engines.  It was pretty pitiful the way it had gotten.  It was quite impressive, the number of patches.

Lots of road work going thru much of our community.  I just love the concrete barrier going in on the extensive repaving of Hwy 101.  The road is so nice that some people treat it like a race track.  Thus it needs bumpers.  Good job engineers, that concrete should really do the trick.  The texture it pretty good too.  I think if you hit it you would slow down quite quickly while the side of your car shreds.

One of our other neighbors isn't so happy, nor is the surrounding neighborhood of May Street.  For those of you who don't know, May street and Wildwood Ave  (near the gateway project) is the relatively new housing project brought to you by Myers Construction.  You can see the mess driving down Wildwood.  Try living there when its raining.  Anyway, I bring this up because our neighbors, as well as the community, were told this work was to be done.  We would like to know when is this work going to be done.  And... Who is going to do it.  We want it done right.  It should have been done before the houses were allowed to go in.  Just as the utilities should have been done before those houses went in.  Who's responsible for this mess?  Could it beee...  _____ !  Enquiring minds want to know!  Also, on that story we heard thru the grapevine that another contractor wanted to build there and had a plan with all the infrastructure but was stonewalled out.                                             Steve :-)

On a final note we hope that Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Dorko and the soldier who was injured with him get well soon. Steve :-)

10.27.07 Here is a schedule of Flu Clinics offered around the county for seniors and people with a life threatening disease.  There is a phone number at public health listed if you have any questions.

The Planning Commission meeting this week has been cancelled.  See you on the first Tuesday of Nov. for the next City Council Meeting. 

That new pavement on Wildwood is awfully nice.  Notice the yellow safety markers on the curb cutouts.  It will be nice to have it all done.  The disruption for the drivers will be worth it once that is done.  On a separate note, the trial regarding Solid Rock Construction and the Rio Dell water project workers that never got overtime pay or prevailing wage is about scheduled to begin on Monday.  There were a number of workplace and safety violations noted.  We will keep you updated on any developments.  Anybody remember those guys working past 5:00pm?  I sure do!                     -Sharon

10.21.07 It has been awhile since this page has been updated, I apologize.    Halloween is right around the corner and then the holiday season is officially here.  The elections are coming up as well.  Vote on Tuesday November 6th or have your absentee ballot mailed in by that date.  If you can't mail it in before hand, take it to a polling location on election day and you can submit it that way.  If someone is going to do that for you, make sure you have signed the envelope to give permission to someone else to turn in your vote.  There are only two things to vote on this time around so it won't take you too long to fill out that ballot.  There is a Fortuna School Board member one and the Harbor Commissioner position. 

Rio Dell has received $30,000 in economic revitalization money (here is the Eureka Reporter story).  Rio Dell also got it's fire rating by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) lowered to a 4 (here is the Times Standard article).  That is a three point drop, from a 7, since the last time Rio Dell was audited back twenty years ago.  Good Job Rio Dell Fire Department!  Never forget that they are an all volunteer force and they have received ratings on par with Arcata Fire.  After the new year, talk to your home insurance agent and ask about any discounts based on the improved rating.

The Ferndale City Council has been having some very heated exchanges about a permit application for a home business by a psychotherapist.  The planning commission had approved the permit and a neighbor had appealed to the council.  The chief of police, by all accounts of those present, interrogated the Doctor about the types of "wackos" he would be treating.  The debate then turned even uglier.  There are a number of letters to the editors of the Ferndale Enterprise based on the events.  The Mayor didn't use his authority to take control of the meeting, neither did the city manager or anyone else.  However, at least the topic being discussed fell under the jurisdiction of the council.  The Rio Dell city council meeting of 6/19/07 public attack on myself and this website was a pretty clear example of the level of protection given to a few very particular people against any others.  It is the cities retaliation that the residents of Rio Dell talk about behind closed doors.  The council, in particular the Mayor that had control of the meeting, chose to take on more liability on behalf of a specific few.  The Brown Act is pretty clear on the council meeting rules and what is not allowable.  The only matters to be brought before the council by public comments relate to those matters that the council has some jurisdiction.  Attacking a family in Rio Dell with knowingly false, vile and disgusting personal attacks is not allowed.  There is a public outcry in Ferndale about the personal attack and unacceptable behavior demonstrated at that meeting, in Rio Dell however there is no public outcry.                                                        ~Sharon

9.28.07 It is officially Autumn now and the weather shows it.  We are not going to have the daylight savings hour change until mid-November this year.  The days are much shorter now and people will have to turn their heaters on soon if you haven't done it already.  Thank you to all who attended and supported the Scotia 8th grade steak feed last night!  It was very successful and a good time was had by all.  Thanks again to C & C Market of Rio Dell for their support and a big thanks to all the parents and teachers that contribute their time and energy to the event.  The kids are really looking forward to their end of the year Bay Area trip.

Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming for little Ethan Hale.  He and his family could use everyone's support as they deal with his very serious health crisis.  A sick child is every parent's worst nightmare. This community has offered wonderful support to the family in the past which will no doubt continue as long as needed.  We really do live in a pretty great little community here.  =^)

The 9.18.07 CDBG loan committee meeting is online, as well as the regular City Council meeting held later that evening.  Watch the loan committee meeting for something interesting.  As the committee was discussing the third loan project for an elderly disabled man, it became very apparent that the project was about to go forward without meeting the city requirement of under grounding the utilities. The home that the gentleman has lived in for 33 years is so decrepit that it is going to be torn down and replaced with a manufactured home.  The project manager from Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA) didn't seem to be aware that the city requires new electrical lines to be under ground, despite his having met and discussed the project with the building inspector.  City Manager Nancy Flemming and Council Member Julie Woodall made it very clear that they would absolutely need to put the utilities under ground but this was news to the project manager.  This is the same type of dispute that has played out over the non-subdivision at Painter and May St.  Notice that all but the last two homes went in with above ground utilities and absolutely no infrastructure improvements at all.  I guess the plan checker and building inspector didn't catch that one, of course they are the same person.  In any case, the new city management caught the obvious problem and the last two homes are getting under ground utilities.  It looks kind of funny, building new housing and then coming back in to put the infrastructure in but that is how things work around here (or at least they did).  The subdivision is getting the sewer and paving work done that any other city would have required be done before the houses were put in.  It shouldn't come as news to the cities own building inspector that utilities must go underground.  It shouldn't be up to the City Manager to point out the code requirements at the loan committee meetings, but I guess it is.  I wish the home owners the best of luck with their projects.  May they have an easier time of it than we had.  This CDBG projects could be a fantastic opportunity for the city and the citizens if only it were run according to the rules, laws, codes, etc.   The new city management is doing a good job in trying to bring Rio Dell around and follow some common sense building plans and such, but they have a lot of entrenched people vested in the old way of doing things.  Good luck to the City!  We wish them all the best luck and success in dealing with the problems that have existed for so very long.    

-Sharon

9.16.07  Hope you are all having a nice weekend.  Can you believe that Fall is almost here!?!  You can tell the school year has begun by the start of fund raisers.  Support your local schools-they need all the help we can provide.  Scotia 8th grade is hosting their annual Steak Dinner as a fund raiser for the end of the year trip to San Francisco.  C&C Market generously helps the school out with some great steaks and all the fixins' as well as lots of labor.  It is very much appreciated by all the kids and their families.  There will be a dessert auction as well that is lots of fun.  Come help a good cause while enjoying a delicious dinner on Sept. 27th.  Call the school or ask a student for tickets.

The Rio Dell City Council Meeting (Agenda) this Tuesday includes an interesting closed door session item about the Scotia Annexation.  We don't know details yet but it is listed, "Real Property Negotiations...Scotia Annexation."  Keep your eyes on this one.  (According to the code cited, Rio Dell has to disclose what property they are discussing and who they are negotiating with) If Rio Dell does decide to take over Scotia, the environmental clean-up and the infrastructure repairs are going to be astronomical!  I doubt that bankrupt Palco will contribute anything to help mitigate the damage.  I have always suspected that Palco/Maxxam were planning on dumping Scotia, as is, onto the backs of Rio Dell and/or Humboldt County.  Don't get me wrong, we love Scotia and want to see the town protected and well taken care of but adding it on to Rio Dell may not be the best way of accomplishing this.  We know lots of families in Scotia that have either lost their jobs (and their homes) or are at constant risk of it.  It is always the working guy who pays the price for the greed of the company's management.  Always!  Keep your eyes open and ears to the ground for any information about Scotia and the Palco bankruptcy.                          -Sharon

9.7.07 TGIF!  September 4th, 2007 Rio Dell City Council Meeting Part 1 Online!  In the video occasionally you will see a camera that is apparently taking some quite intimate and close video of Karen Dunham.  This is not our camera!  The video that we take gives the view of what an audience member would see.  Our understanding is that Access Humboldt would at no cost to the city set up the City Council Chambers with cameras and equipment for live broadcast similar to what they do in the other local towns.  This seems like a pretty good deal.  It would sure help us with the shabby acoustics.  Steve :-) 

8.23.07  Happy Thursday!  Hello to our international friends.  Our log files show many international visitors this month:

Mexico (.mx), and Brazil (.net.br).  Sweden (.se).  Poland (.pl) Romania (.ro) Germany (.de) Netherlands (.nl)

and that is just that last two days folks! 

Also noteworthy:  (osd.mil) The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.  Cool!

We of course get other visits from all across the USA as well.  Thank goodness our servers can handle the traffic.

Further looking back in time in our logs I see a server from Turkey (.tr) http://www.ttnet.net.tr/ visited us back on the 19th.  France (.fr) Back on the 18th.  Australia back on the 13th...  Lots of visits from Mexico...

Who could have guessed our success.  Me the that's who!  Steven L. Wolff :-)

8.19.07  Ding Dong...Avon calling.  If you don't have an Avon rep. already then check out www.youravon.com/sharonwolff   I met a really nice representative, Barbara Remington, at Wildwood Days and signed up myself. 

Wildwood Days Parade video coming very soon.  It was short but sweet.  In future parades, a band would really be a great addition.  Maybe the Scotia Band on a float or a marching band.  A parade needs a band, but it was still very nice.  There will be a slideshow up too.         

Don't miss the field trip up to Dinsmore Plateau on Tuesday.  The council and the planning commission will be taking a look at the site of the future development.  The view alone is worth the trip.  Check out the agenda.  Meeting time is earlier than usual.    -Sharon

8.16.07  What happened to the posted public hearing about the CDBG program?  The notice stated the meeting was to be held at City Hall on Thurs. the 16th at 5:00pm.  There was no cancellation posted yet there was also no meeting.  Anybody know if the public hearing is going to be rescheduled?  We will post any rescheduling that we can confirm.       -Sharon

8.12.07  Sorry it has been a little while since our last update here in Community Events.  We have had family visiting and the usual busy schedule.  School is just around the corner too! 

We will be submitting the 8.7.07 City Council meeting to Access Humboldt for your viewing convenience.  We aren't going to be turning in the 7.10.07 meeting though.  It is too dated now and it is available on our site.  There is just so much we can keep up with!  We will have Wildwood Days footage and slides up soon too.  We have a lot of media from all five days so it takes awhile to put it all together.  It looked like everyone had a great time and we thank the fire department for their hard work.  Good Job!  The live feed that Access Humboldt had promoted either didn't come off as planned or maybe we just missed it.  Anybody know what happened with that one?  It takes a lot to pull off a live event like that. 

Thanks again to all our friends here in Rio Dell and around the world.  We enjoy being able to bring you the community news and public meetings.  Rio Dell is changing fast and really coming into it's own.  It is exciting to see and be a part of.  We are watching the construction down the street that is putting the infrastructure in for the houses already built at Painter and Wildwood.  It is putting the horse in front of the cart but better late than never.  I would imagine any future projects will be required to put in the infrastructure and underground the utilities right off the bat.  It has been a requirement for quite awhile but for some mysterious reason certain developers have gotten around the requirements.  I think our new City management will be keeping a close eye on project approvals and make certain that everyone is playing by the same rules.  It has been so refreshing to see Nancy Flemming and Finance Director Stephanie Beauchaine in action.  They are both working hard for Rio Dell and the community will reap the benefits.         -Sharon

7.27.07 TGIF!  Hello to all our new courthouse friends.  Apparently the case that I had jury duty for settled.  Yee haw!  not that I wouldn't be grateful for being part of the fair trial process.  Our court coverage is in its infancy we are awaiting a couple of cases to come in so that we can bring much more online.  The People vs. Thomas Arthur Applegate file is back before the judge so we haven't been able to access it.  We are also looking at getting another jury trial case that has concluded the judge still has.  This last week had a couple of Judges out on vacation so it has been a little chaotic.

Also:  Marylynn will be getting some footage this weekend of the Fortuna Autorama.  We should have A nice slideshow for the world.  Our log files are showing quite a few interesting visitors.

Finally.  We should at long last be caught up with our videos and have them online by Sunday!  Steve :-)

7.22.07 The 7-10-07 City Council Meeting Part One is now online.  The agenda for this Wednesday's Planning Commission  meeting will be up soon.  Great article about Access Humboldt's plans for the future in today's Eureka Reporter.  It is reported that there will be a live broadcast of the opening day of Wildwood Days on August 1st.  This is very exciting and a big leap into the modern technological capabilities of the internet.  The event will also be broadcast on television after Sudden Link converts the signal. 

Looks like they are getting ready to pave May St., off of Painter St.  I am sure the homeowners will appreciate having a paved road.  This should have been done at the very beginning of the housing project but better late than never.  Keep your eyes on any future developments around town, there are construction projects going on all over the place.  The new city management is doing a good job and we are hopeful that current and future developments will have to follow the same codes as everyone else, no matter who is doing the project.  I have never seen anyone complain about having to follow the rules as long as they are fairly applied across the board.  Keep up the good work!                      -Sharon

7.14.07 The City Council meeting scheduled on 7.17.07 has been cancelled.  No items were pending before the council.  The next scheduled meeting will be 8.7.07, we will post the agenda as soon as it is available. 

There is a planning commission meeting scheduled for 7.25.07 that will include discussion of lot line adjustments and a minor subdivision on Davis St.  The owners of a large lot are wanting to split it into two.  We will post the full agenda as soon as it is available. 

We would like to give the City credit for the infrastructure work being done (finally) at the May St. subdivision off of Painter St.  We have talked about this development before and the way it was approved without having any of the improvements that would normally be required for that type of subdivision.  The work had been brought to a stop as the last two houses were finishing up.  I believe that Interim City Manager John Miller was integral in this as well as current City Manager Nancy Flemming.  The contractor, Myers Construction, had been putting in above ground utilities despite the city ordinances, I heard there was a problem with the sewer hook-ups and there was no paved road (who knows what else was "overlooked").  This project was approved all along the way by the Rio Dell Building Inspector, Arnie Kemp, who is also the plan checker.  So the question is, how did this project get almost to completion without having any of the basic requirements in place?  There are going to be a lot more houses put into this area and we are very relieved to see the infrastructure improvements finally go in.  Better late than never.  It sure would have been a lot easier (and probably cheaper) to put the required infrastructure in before those houses were completed, but oh well. 

We hope this signals a new way of doing business in Rio Dell.  Everyone follows the same laws and codes, no matter who your friends may be.  The citizens of Rio Dell will all benefit from the enforcement of the minimal standards for all construction.  Hopefully things like new houses without driveways (right behind City Hall), above ground utilities, new sidewalks without ADA required access, etc. will become things of the past.  Rio Dell is moving beyond it's history of cronyism and back room deals.  The people of Rio Dell are able to take pride in their city and it's future looks bright.  From what we have heard so far, the development planned for the Dinsmore Plateau could set a new standard in subdivisions for all of Humboldt County. 

Good Job Rio Dell!!                                                                                   -Sharon

7.6.07 TGIF!  Hope everyone had a good safe 4th of July holiday.  It's been madness trying to deal with a huge backup of a failing hard drive array so we are still behind in our videos.  Fear not though our data is secure.  No more Raid 0 array for now unfortunately.  Once I determine which drive is the culprit I will be shipping that sucker back.  This is the second hard drive ever that I have had bug out on me.  Pretty good odds.  All the graphics, audio, and video is custom work on old equipment.  Quality takes time.  As we refine our processes we will be able to bring more, and more.  We have 2 planning commission meetings, and 1 city council meeting still waiting in the wings.  Inappropriate content will be chopped from the most recent city council meeting.  Our goals are to keep the meetings as intact as possible. 

also:  I see they are still playing the old city council meeting on the public access TV.  We have gotten lots of  positive feed back from the community.  In fact the only negative feed back we have ever gotten is from the desperate crony's.  They don't like us to video tape the meetings and put them for the public to see.  It almost breaks my heart ;-)  We want the crooks gone from Rio Dell California!  Many people will just sit on the fence.  That's not our way.  We are proactive.

Finally:  Well $40,000 later the lot at Fireman's Park looks great!  To keep nice of course it should be kept swept clean of gravel.  This is also why new construction should have to pave the drive way.  The gravel works like a jackhammer on pavement every time a car drives over it.  That's also why it is bad to let contractors get away with not paving to the road when they put in new housing.  In any event.  Its always nice to see a job done right!  That was really quick too.  Quite impressive :-)

Have a good weekend!  Steve :-)

7.4.07 Happy 4th of July.  Keep the garden hose handy it's very dry...

6.27.07  Happy Wednesday!  Planning Commission meeting at city hall tonight at 6:30.  Still haven't gotten the last meeting online.  We are quite busy with all of the different projects.   Also the last city council meeting is still coming.  With our new city manager it looks like we are getting some long ignored business taken care of.   The Rio Dell Times makes all the difference.  The good people of Rio Dell can count on us to continue standing up for what is right.  Change is inevitable even in Rio Dell.  It's called progress you embrace it, or get trampled by it.  Steve :-)

6.23.07  Happy Saturday!  We have gotten so much positive response from our new friends at the Humboldt County courthouse that we will be featuring them quite prominently on the web site.  I have gotten to speak with many deputy sheriff's, attorneys, District Attorneys,  the Investigator DA, reporters, victims, witnesses, jurors etc.  Quite exciting, however it has put us a little behind on our media.  Not to worry, it's in the archives and we are bringing it all to our online archive  ASAP.  Some of our select media will continue to be broadcasted on public television.     However, we will not be providing a venue for certain cronies to spew their slander in a desperate attempt to distract from their own actions. 

6.19.07 City Council meeting video will be up as soon as it is rendered, which takes a bit of time. It was an interesting meeting, especially when certain people, that shall remain nameless, spoke during the public comment section about their surfing porn on the internet. They are an avid reader of our site and had clicked on one of the Songs of the Day featured on the front page. This link was to a Saturday Night Live video of a sketch with Christopher Walken, found by Google. After watching the video, this person clicked on a link from the video site and saw a picture of some horrible person "flipping the bird." Intrigued by this, they went further into the links of this now disgusting site and they surfed their way to pornography. The person tried to say that our website linked to porn, which is a load of you-know-what, but some people will try to say anything to distract from their own issues. Needless to say, the SNL video link has been removed and replaced with another link. I spoke with Police Chief Graham Hill about how they could track these types of internet predators and we encourage law enforcement to prosecute these types of degenerates. Just as we encourage the prosecution of people defrauding the taxpayers, using their position of power for personal gain, submitting fraudulent building permits, etc. There is no such thing as a "victimless crime" and eventually there is justice for these types of people. Finally, while I won't mention the name of this delightful person, it should be noted that their spouse was the one parked in front of our home taking pictures of our children on numerous occasions. What kind of a person does that? -Sharon

6.19.07  Happy Tuesday!  Rio Dell city council meeting tonight at 5:30pm.

6.11.07  Car Amnesty Day Cleanup by order of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Looks to be about $40,000.  So I guess it did go over the allotted money of $1,000.  See the June 5th, 2007 Rio Dell city council meeting.  That lot could have lasted several more years if it hadn't been destroyed.  Our new 8.5 million dollar water system probably didn't need the extra car chemicals either.  Oh brother!

Also:  I hope to catch up on the Planning Commission media in the next day or two.  Just in time for the next meeting Wednesday. 

And:  Farmers Market is open for business now for the summer.  Wednesday and Saturdays.  Check them out.

Finally:  Scotia Elementary to get funds to own the gym facilities including bringing the pool up to snuff.  Cool!

Happy Monday :-)

6.8.07  TGIF! 

Scotia 8th graders return from a trip around San Francisco.  Pretty cool!  Tomorrow is the big charity event for a local 5 year old boy who has cancer.  I believe that US Bank is place where donations can be accepted.

6.6.07  Happy Wednesday!  Still catch up time on our new Court section.  The People vs. Thomas Arthur Applegate continues.  There is much more than meets the eye on this one. 

Stay tuned for the final edit of the June 5th Rio Dell city council meeting.  We will try and get an edit for broadcast on this particular meeting.  It will take a couple of days...

5.25.07 TGIF!  This weekend is catch up time on our new Court Section.  See what is going on in Court?  You get just a glimpse.

also:  Catch up time for our video's of recent meetings. 

and:   Heavy patrols of the California Highway Patrol daily between Rio Dell and Eureka.  We are told it is part of a grant for enforcing seatbelt laws.  We have observed many people pulled over at the base of the big hill.  You know the one!  Probably speeders.  I am hearing the echo that you have twice the chance of walking away from an accident if you have your seatbelt on.

Finally: Did you see me on the channel 3 news last night?  I didn't.  Good thing I know what I said huh ;-)  Steve :-)

5.21.07  Happy Monday!  Just a note:  The newest media won't start making it until tomorrow.  Just too busy to get it together.  The next in line is the Planning Commission Meeting...  You can view some of our select media on Channel 12 at various times thru-out the week.  We have to do a couple  extra processes with the audio due to Channel 12's media equipment not being able to handle such low volume levels.  You have people who want to be heard and people that don't.  It's pretty easy to hear the people that speak up.    Steve :-)

5.18.07  TGIF!   Still behind on our media editing.  Hopefully I will be close to being caught up by Monday.  I blame the pesky dual layer "Matrix"  brand dual layer disks.  I should have bought a premium brand.  Doh!  Oh well if at first you don't succeed try try again.  Back to the Costco TDK's.  Fine product.  and Cheap too!  They just aren't dual layer :-(

And:  Surrender is not an Option -Eureka Reporter    I wish somebody had a good Idea of what to do with the current Iraq situation.  I just don't see it...

Also lets not forget Vincent Dragone.  Sometimes crime doesn't pay.   Humboldt County appears to have some openings. Suffolk County DA Spota we need you here!  I would have loved to watch that case put together...

More to come.  Steve :-)

5.11.07 TGIF!  Rio Dell Planning Commission walks through downtown -Times Standard.  Rio Dell City Manager Nancy Flemming  and the Concerned Citizens of Rio Dell get a street level look at the downtown of Rio Dell.  We will be bringing the media soon.  We have high hopes that our new city manager can help take out the trash that has blighted Rio Dell for so many years.  Special favors time for the Cronies is nearing an end.  We are for smart growth!  We see that Eureka is having a car amnesty day in the junkyard!  We don't do things that way here...see:  Car Amnesty Day.  Genius at work on that one... 

Also:  I see that the Cable Channel 12 has been playing our media.  It's always nice to have something to watch at two in the morning lol :-)  Just kidding.  I see it's on many times throughout the week.   I see that there are about 800 public access channels across the country...maybe I could do a greatest hits DVD to send out.  Food for thought. -Steve

5.8.07  Happy Tuesday!  The 5.1.07 Meeting is now online.  More soon :-)

5.3.07  Happy Thursday!  I will start off again with it's always nice to see our friends in the community.   I also need to mention that we are a little backlogged around her so the next city council meeting video will be late coming.  Hopefully this weekend.  Of course the big news here now is the sewer rate increase.  If you look at your monthly sewer portion of your water bill.  This number will be going up significantly soon.

Also:  Sharon tells me that the city may have a stay of execution on the sale of some of the cities properties.  We will bring the facts of the matter as they become more clear.

Finally:  I will be checking the status of the new wireless network that we are supposed to have in the library and city hall areas.  Sharon tried it on the 1st with her palm and was met with a login request.  I'll dust off the old laptop and give it a whirl next time I get down that way.  Steve :-)

4.27.07  TGIF!  Chapter 1 of the Planning Commission meeting is online.  The rest will come soon...  It was about a 3 hour long meeting in all.  The part I have edited so far has some really good content.  It's all in the archives now :-)  Anyway patience is a virtue.  the rest will come over the next couple of days.  I could really use a faster computer ;-)

Also:  For our Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy people.  We are told that July 17th, 2007 has been proposed as a cutoff date for filing a claim.  That would be all people who have not been paid prior to the bankruptcy filing this includes unpaid bills, unpaid severance pay etc.  This is important that we get this information out to all our friends in the community.

The hot news of course is the Rio Dell Sewer Rate increases.  Time to pay the bills.  We expect a rate increase will be voted on possibly as soon as the next City Council Meeting Even though we are 15 years past the life expectancy of the current system.  An upgrade was never planned for.  Now we are being fined many thousands of dollars for dumping raw sewage into our water.  It will take a substantial rate increase just to stay afloat..  More to come.  You better believe it!        Steve :-)

4.24.07  Happy Tuesday!  It's nice a sunny day.  Looks like you can view our "Rio Dell Sewer Rate Study Session"  video on Channel 12 Saturday April 28th at 4:30 pm, and Sunday at 1:00 pm.  We have submitted the 4.20.07sewer rate increase meeting for broadcast.  We will post the broadcast times when we get them.  Steve :-) 

4.17.07 Happy Tuesday!  It's a hail of a day :-)  The more the site grows the more I see that it needs to grow.  Some updates will be coming soon for our new Court page and the Parks and Recreation section.  Also city council meeting tonight at 6:30.  4.17.07  Agenda.  More to come!  Steve :-)

4.15.07 Are your taxes filed?  Watch out for free e-file scams!  The only way to do the free e-file is to link off of the IRS.gov site.  Do you know of suspected tax fraud?  Save every taxpayer money by reporting the possible fraud to the IRS.

Speaking of reporting fraud, check out the FBI Public Corruption page.  There are a few of the recent cases brought against government officials linked on the right side of the page.  They include everyone from City Council Members, to Judges to Housing Officials and Law Enforcement.  It just goes to prove that a person might get away with the crime for awhile but it always catches up to them!  Nice to see that many of the cases resulted in actual jail time for these people that misuse the public trust and their positions of authority.  Can you say, "soap on a rope."                    

Hope to see you at any (or all) of the three important meetings scheduled this week.  Monday is the Parks and Rec. Commission, Tuesday is the City Council meeting and Friday is a very important public meeting on the sewer rate increase.  There is no question that your rates are going up, just a matter of how much.  We are getting to pay a high price for past activities and the lack of funding for the sewer.  Large amounts of the sewer budget have been used in the past to cover a variety of expenses, including 50% of the city manager salary (see City Budget).                        -Sharon =^)

4.13.07 TGIF!  What a wonderful day.  Stay tuned for our media.  It will be on public TV soon.  The Rio Dell Times . com Have a nice day!  Steve :-)

4.6.07  TGIF!  Hola Mexico .  "http://www.iam.net.ma"  one of our many Latest international visitors to the Rio Dell Times .com  People sure do seem to love our City Council Meetings :-)

adsl-139-250-192-81.adsl.iam.net.ma - - [06/Apr/2007:11:21:24 -0400] "GET /CityCouncilRioDellCalifornia/6.27.06BudgetMeetingAgenda/ HTTP/1.1" 200 2830 "-" "-"
 

Also:

http://www.intercable.net.co/

ic-dinamica-200-114-12-46.intercable.net.co - - [06/Apr/2007:11:18:36 -0400] "GET /RioDellBuildingDepartmentFraud/ HTTP/1.1" 200 13981 "-" "-"
 

The whole world is learning about Rio Dell California thru the  Rio Dell Times .com.  Not to shabby if I do say so myself.  

Also the rest of the April 3rd city council meeting of Rio Dell California Should be online this afternoon.  I think we have some further bugs worked out for Mozilla browsers.  Unfortunately we don't have Macs online for media testing.  If you can't view the media we can happily provide a limited number of DVD copies on request.  Have a nice sunny day!  Steve :-)

4.4.07  Happy sunny Wednesday!  Chapter 1 of the April 3rd city council meeting of Rio Dell California is now online.  The rest will follow soon. 

Hello to Sean Mclaughlin Executive Director of Access Humboldt and James Carlson CEO and Board Chairman of Carlson Wireless Technologies, inc.  As they know now you will know I met and had a conversation with them about their involvement with new wired and wireless infrastructure that they are helping to implement here in Rio Dell California.  Rio Dell is a main hub for the information super highway, and we are about to get a road upgrade :-)  I am told that there will be a dedicated Gigabit infrastructure put in between the cities and towns thru-out Humboldt for a total of 20 network nodes that will be fibered with a dedicated lines.  This will also be accessible thru local hotspots wirelessly.  It is very exciting to see more bandwidth coming online.  They also suggested that we bring to public television some of our media.  hmmm...  interesting idea.  Nonetheless these activities show great potential and are a welcome upgrade to our county assets.  Have a nice day!   Steve :-)

3.31.07  Happy Saturday! 

Big thanks to Times-Standard  John Driscoll for making some room for us at the Palco Hearing hookup.  I will be writing something up this weekend summarizing what we learned.  Lots of nice people attended which made the event quite fun :-)  It's always nice to hear comments from people in the news on our website.  Look to the "Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy"  area. for the rest. 

Keep smiling!

Steve :-)

3.28.07  Happy Wednesday!  

Hot news: "Times-Standard hosts Palco hearing hookup"  Times-Standard  Looks like Friday is go time!  Of course we will post what all that we can on the subject on our "Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy"  area.

Also:  City Council/Planning Commission Meeting 6:30pm  Tonight!  We will be there!  

More to come.  You can bet your meatloaf muffins with bar b q sauce on it...       Steve :-)

3.22.07  Happy Thursday!  Clear sky and cool.  More media for the March 20th, 2007 City Council Meeting which will be going up soon.  I know that Sharon has a couple of things to write about it as well. 

It has been suggested to us that we put some of our media on public access TV.  Interesting idea.  At some point we may do that.  Perhaps a nice expose'. :-)

I believe we have another record bandwidth usage again this month.  Cool!  Our servers are mighty and can handle plenty more.  If you have not gotten a reply to e-mails you sent us, it may have been blocked by our spam filters.  I understand our e-mail servers have been undergoing some upgrading...

More:  Rio Dell in the other news  Headwaters Fund: Healthy or hijacked?  - Times-Standard Interesting story by John Driscoll. "The largest loan -- $3.6 million -- given out went to the city of Rio Dell to help fund a new water system, a sorely needed piece of infrastructure."  Our 8.5 million dollar water system was tainted with the hazardous fluids from Car Amnesty Day right after it went online.  They should have taken the cars directly to the wrecker for demolition, not a park where families play.  The Fireman's Park parking lot was (and still is) destroyed.  It was old anyway?  Sorry, that's not a good excuse for destroying it! 

Finally:  Nice broken sign still at the Humboldt Gables Motel next to city hall.  The owner, Dave, is working very hard to clean up the motel and bring visitors into the community.  He should be thanked by the community for his efforts. The replacement sign will not be cheap.   Any help out there for a small business in Rio Dell?  We understand that DJ's was recently stiffed on promises of assistance by the city on some repairs to their sign.  Thanks to our friends for the info and keep it coming.  It's pretty clear by our web logs that we are getting some attention.  As the citizens become more and more organized, their collective voices will get louder and they will be heard.  Have a nice day!   Steve :-)

*******************************

3.21.07

3.21.07  Pretty Sign :-)  The Arrow is pointing down Center Street towards the Eagle Prairie School.  More to come...

3.19.07  The Rio Dell Times . com  has gotten some updated information on the "non-subdivision" we wrote about below.  As we have mentioned before, a number of the problems stem from approving the project as individual houses rather than the subdivision they so obviously are.  A prior owner, quite awhile ago, had created the lot lines but they were not developed for whatever reason.  The new developer proceeded with their plans for eight identical houses and has plans for a whole lot more once they get the zoning changed.  The subdivision could have been identified at the time the plans were approved but they weren't.  The code regarding subdivisions says that a project of more than five residences requires underground utilities, which would have been the case here but again, they got all the way through the approval and permitting process as individual projects.  The construction began in earnest with no infrastructure improvements since none were being required.  The city management changed hands along the way and someone (If I had to guess, I would probably guess John Miller) was wise enough to recognize a subdivision when they saw one.  They now want the infrastructure improvements that should have been required at the start.  The developer is not wanting to put in the infrastructure for just those 3 houses on Pine St. (off of May St.) that currently have no utilities because they are working on the larger subdivision and want to do it as part of that larger project.  So that leaves the 3 houses with no utilities and no prospect of services any time soon.  PGE is waiting to do anything until they get something in writing from the city saying it is ok to do the above ground utilities that the developer had proposed from the beginning.  

What Rio Dell seems to be lacking is any type of consistency in building requirements, no matter who the developer is.  Does the city want underground utilities for all new homes built in the city limits?  How about driveways that actually connect to the city street?  There are a couple of new residences on First Ave. that have the underground utilities and it really looks great to not have all those power lines over head, especially in the heavily congested downtown area.  These are the exception however.  The new house right behind City Hall, built by Enos Construction, has above ground utilities and no driveway, just a concrete pad in front of the garage.  Is this the standard we want for Rio Dell?  We are hoping that the new city manager will help to establish the building guidelines that will be applied to every new project consistently.  Even if there are old time lot lines on a piece of land, a subdivision is a subdivision and should require the infrastructure to go along with it.  "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..."                         -Sharon

    Pine St. Rio Dell

3.17.07  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  It is a beautiful day in Rio Dell and many people are out enjoying the nice weather.  There is a St. Patrick's Day dinner and dance at the Scotia Fire Hall that looks like a lot of fun and great food. 

We have written about the "non subdivision" built by Myers Construction on Painter St. near Wildwood Ave. in the past and the fact that they were approved as individual projects so no infrastructure improvements were required.  What we have seen now takes that to a whole new level.  The last two homes built on the gravel road have been sold but the owners are not able to move in yet because there are no services to the houses.  That's right, no services!  No electricity, no gas, no sewer hook-ups and by the looks of the garden hoses running from a neighbors property, no water either.  (We will be posting pictures very soon)  How can you sell a home these days with absolutely no services?  The other six homes all have above ground lines running from the closest power pole but there isn't a pole close to these houses.  Is PGE going to put in a new power pole even though all the new code requires underground utilities?  I wonder if the six homes all got waivers from the city for the above ground lines?  Shouldn't the plan checker or the building inspector be catching this type of thing?  In Rio Dell, both functions are done by the same person (see Rio Dell Building Dept. Fraud).  We are hoping the new city manager will start to tackle the problem of shoddy construction and shady deals in Rio Dell.  This town could be a lot more than what it is if the laws applied to everyone in Rio Dell equally.

This will be something to keep a close eye on since the owners of the property are hoping to build a lot more houses on that lot after they get the city to change the zoning on Wildwood Ave. from commercial to residential.   -Sharon

3.13.07  Happy Tuesday! It's a little overcast here in Rio Dell California today.  Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy Page has been updated with a Letter from one of our families.  We will bring as much news online as we can on this high impact problem.  More good people being hurt!

Also:  We will be updating older material due to its relevance to city hall i.e.  the March 3rd 2006 City Council Meeting of Rio Dell California. 

And:  Looks like the 101 Cafe is up for sale.  They didn't last very long.  Not many do.  It's like they say if your going to do a business.  It's location location location.  City Hall should spread their money around to all the businesses.   If you want to know what's going on in Rio Dell California watch were the money goes.  Who gets the money to maintain the City Vehicles?  Was a contract bid out.  Inquiring minds want to know.   :-)

Final Note:  With the current "Rio Dell Building Department Fraud"  smart business is to just not do business in Rio Dell California.  We are hopeful the newly appointed City Manager Nancy Flemming will change that.  Have a nice day!  Steve :-)

3.11.07 A beautiful day in Rio Dell!  Remember to set your clocks forward an hour or you will be late to work tomorrow. =^) 

It was announced in the last council meeting that the planning commission will be receiving an application for a major subdivision at Wildwood Ave. and Painter St.  This proposed development was the subject of some very good debate at a prior council meeting.  The project would require changing the current zoning along Wildwood Ave. from commercial to residential.  This is an issue that requires the public to speak up about what they want for the new and greatly improved gateway area to Rio Dell.  There has been a lot of money spent and work done on this important entryway into the city, what should that area become now?  This is a prime piece of real estate in Rio Dell with easy on and off access to Hwy 101 that would make it desirable to a commercial business.  We could see a nice family restaurant, store, or many other possible businesses doing very well in that location.  It is unrealistic to think that the commercial projects can be directed towards the small, old downtown area and the existing storefronts.  The next planning commission meeting will be on March 28th at 6:30pm.  We will post the agenda as soon as it is available. 

Check out the Parks and Recreation Commission agenda for their meeting this Tuesday.  Should there be dog training classes inside the city tennis courts?  There will be a discussion of grant opportunities for recreational activities along the waterway as well as comments by the new city manager Nancy Flemming on her vision for Rio Dell.     -Sharon

3.9.07 TGIF!  Another rainy day.  Nice work on the new Memorial Park sign.  It looks pretty good.  A nice finishing touch might be to take the Christmas lights down. 

Also:   Look for lots more on the "Pacific Lumber Bankruptcy."  The question that we keep hearing is .  What about the under funded retirement account?  To get insight of what is going on with that and other important questions check out the Bankruptcy 101 video.    We will follow this story closely.  More to come... Steve :-)

3.6.07  Happy Tuesday!  City council meeting tonight.  Here is the Agenda.  We are there baby  ;-)

3.1.07  Happy Thursday!   March already.  Wow!  The year is just flying by isn't it.  There is a nice article on our new City Manager Nancy Flemming in the Times-Standard.     Steve :-)

2.28.07  Happy Wednesday. 

2.26.07  Earthquake this morning  Check it out!  Looks like it was a 5 Maginitude = 10 times what a 4 is.  Happy Monday! 

2.24.07 Welcome to the new Rio Dell City Manager, Nancy Flemming! She was chosen for the position this morning after a closed door session of interviews. Flemming was formerly the Mayor of Eureka and should bring some good experience into the position.

It was an interesting turn of events after the City Manager position had been held open for so many months, perhaps in anticipation of a certain somebody's return to Rio Dell. The position was vacated long ago by the illegally appointed then Mayor Jay Parrish, who would have been eligible to return legally to the job in the very near future. The job was then filled by Police Chief Graham Hill and then by John Miller, formerly of Planwest. Miller stepped into the job during the turmoil of the annexation process and willingly took on a number of issues that he could have easily ignored given his very temporary position. It was clearly stated at the start of Miller's tenure that he was only filling in for a brief time and the position still needed to be filled permanently. No action of any kind was taken by the Council to advertise the job or in any way look for a new City Manager. We believe the Council (or at least one of the Council members) intended to leave the job vacant until Parrish could legally return to the position. As Miller's term was coming to an end, he brought up the need to actually look for a replacement. This was the first public disclosure that nothing at all had been done up to that point to fill the critical position. The Council agenda had been listing a closed door item of "pesonnel-city manager" ever since a citizen had asked the Council what they were doing to fill the job. Despite being listed on the agenda, nothing was actually done until after Miller brought it up again and urged immediate action to fill the job.

We look forward to meeting the new City Manager and we wish her all the best. John Miller will be a hard act to follow for anyone. Miller is not returning to Planwest, he has accepted a position as a County Planner. The City owes a debt of gratitude to Miller for his hard work and willingness to step into the difficult job, even if only temporarily. -Sharon

2.23.07  TGIF!   Snow in the surrounding mountains.  Lots of stuff going on behind the scenes that we just can't talk about right now.  Let's just say that we got a huge score for the good guys!  My World War II vet / Marine grandpa calls it a can of worms.  That about sums it up.   We will continue to document what is going on here. We appreciate our friends in the community who draw the connecting lines between the people and provide history.  Information is one of our most valuable resources for solving problems.  Keep up the good work.  Every tip helps.  Keep them coming and thanks again.  I am told that some e-mails are lost in the system.  If you don't get a reply from us.  Please keep trying until you do.  We try not to have any that go unanswered.

Also:  Do over of the February 20th, 2007 City Council Meeting  Saturday at 9 am according to the Times-Standard.  Like we posted earlier, the meeting was not properly posted.  Interim City Manager John Miller is on top of it.  Too bad we can't get him to stay.  We like him!  He is very professional and hard working.  We believe that the interviews for the position are a sham, and that  "Jay Parrish" will be brought back.  This is popular opinion among our friends that we talk to.  Time will tell.  Supposedly there are two more interviews for the position in a closed door session tomorrow.  Nepotism is alive and well in Rio Dell California...only time will tell.  Stay tuned.

Finally:   Look for more notes from Sharon and updates on the February 20th, 2007 City Council Meeting and the subsequent do over.   More to come.  Steve :-)

2.21.07  Heavy Rain today.  The water is rising... 

Last nights City Council Meeting is online now!  I will try and get up some of the special moments. 

Stay tuned   Steve :-)

2.16.07  TGIF.  It's dry and overcast here in Rio Dell California.  Sharon will have meeting notes up soon on the Parks and Recreation committee meeting. 

Topics:  Still no track for Rio Dell School sounds like the most important news discussed.  What's up with that?  It's been a few years now dangling this thing in front of the kids.  A track is a good thing! It sounds to me like city hall has other ideas for our "Rubberized Asphalt Grant" i.e.  Car Amnesty Day reparations.  etc.  Either that or they are just dangling it in front of the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department. As a possible solution to the pulverized asphalt that they are stuck with  now.

Other news.  The Eureka Reporter has let go their only Reporter who has been covering Rio Dell  Mike Morrow.  Seems curious that you would do this with all the news surrounding the Palco Bankruptcy, Annexation,  and Rio Dells financial, and personnel trouble.  We of course will keep as much coverage on events public as we can.  It's time for Rio Dell to grow up.  Transparency in government is essential to weeding out, and keeping out corruption.  Communities that allow fraud and corruption.  Make a nice place to live for those who do these bad things. 

We'll catch you later!   Steve :-)

2.1.07  Happy Thursday :-)  Not for recently laid off Palco workers who are getting stiffed on there severances!   See:  "PL severance packages on hold"   -Times-Standard  Families are counting on this money that is owed to them!  This is all being done remotely from a Texas bankruptcy court :-(

Other news:  We are told that several agencies are investigating the Car Amnesty Day Damage to Fireman's Park here in Rio Dell California.  The pollution that has been introduced into the new 8+ Million dollar water system is an assault on the health and development of the children  in our community.  We take this issue very seriously here!  The cars should have been taken to the junkyard to crush.  Not the children's park!!!\

Finally:  Dj's Burger Bar Rock's!  What local Rio Dell Citizen doesn't know that right. We were there last night, and it was standing room only.  They definitely need to expand.  These are the kind of family businesses we need to attract and keep in Rio Dell.  Vote with your dollars.  It does make a difference...  Steve :-)

1.29.07  Hello to our International visitors.  Pretty Cool!  dslnet.212-29-37.ip56.dokom.de  I think its Denmark, though  I'm not for sure.  Anyway its amazing all of global visitors we have.  We are quite literally telling the whole world what is going on in Rio Dell California (Good, Bad, or Otherwise).  When we put it on the net.  It's forever baby.  Did you get that :-)  I need a map of the globe so I can start covering it in pretty colored push pins.  Anyway come back often there is lots more coming...

Steve :-)

1.26.07  TGIF :-)  Still no relief for the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department on the Car Amnesty Day Damage.  So far the city just steam rolled out the torn up blacktop.  The Rio Dell Times position is that the city needs to fix the mess and send the bill to the wrecker.  Leaving the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department holding the bag is pretty low.  The place is toxic now and stinks.  Just go take a whiff if you dare.  This all started clear back last October and still continues.  This pollution goes right back thru the towns new 8 +  Million dollar water system.  Question:  How do you get the poison out of the system once its in?  Answer:  One glass at a time.  Here you go kids drink up...

Steve

1.25.07  The January 23rd Annexation Study Session is online...

1.17.07  Quite an interesting Meeting last night.  I can't wait to edit some of the clips.  What's going to happen next?   :-)  Anyway stay tuned for the entire video, and some clips of the real action.   It's been a busy week talking with our local friends.  There is a lot going on with this Car Amnesty Day and the other Rio Dell Times front page items...

Also:  Lots of hits for some reason on our old 2005 More Wildwood Days Archive.  I have yet more Wildwood Days 2006 to put up as time permits.

1.16.07  Happy Tuesday!   Here is the Agenda for tonight's City Council meeting at City Hall Rio Dell California.  Come join the fun :-) 

1.12.07 TGIF!  A printable copy of Deputy City Clerk of Rio Dell California: Karen Dunham's Deposition is online now.  By special request.

More to come...

1.9.07  Happy Tuesday.  It's supposed to be cold and clear.  By special request I will be magnifying  a couple of "The Depositions"  to represent full size printable pages.  Hope that helps with some of our local citizens printing needs.  Stay tuned.  

Also:  More Car Amnesty Day! media coming.  We need a tanker truck of dish soap to clean this mess up.  Nice work.  They should at least let us go 4 wheeling in the demolished parking lot.  I don't think it could be tore up much more than it is.  I wonder how many times the booms have been run over on Wildwood Avenue?  Ever see a semi drive thru town?  I wonder what those things do when a 25 ton semi-truck squishes them on the drains they were put there to presumably protect.  At least the Former Illegal City Manager, Jay Parrish and his pals were able to get a nice green paint job on the curbs with a decorative fish emblem on "be good to the environment day..."

Finally:  The City of Rio Dell California is getting hammered with lawsuits because under the law their actions are wrong.  People with legitimate cases bring them.  Since the city is now having to sell off its property.  We need to know as a community, how much is left that can be sold to continue paying for these suits?  Where can we put our bids in on this land we are liquidating?  Spread the word.  These properties are worth a fortune to developers!    Especially at these low low prices.  +  Water rights.  The wells were used to feed water to the City of Rio Dell.  They must be worth something.  They might even go across the auction block.  The auctioneer of course gets their cut.  That's the cool thing about auctions.  They will sell pretty much any asset.  We will see what develops...

1.6.07  Happy Saturday!  Thanks to my good friend Scott up in Eugene Oregon for this cool website boing boing . net  I like the painting of the electric cord.  Check it out! 

Also:  Smaller versions of the January 2nd, 2007 Meeting of the City Council of Rio Dell California video  Will be online probably late tonight.  It all has to be down converted so it takes a significant amount of time. 

Anybody remember that "Surplus"  the City claimed we had?  See:  "Cronyism here in Rio Dell California USA!"  And their pal  Mr.  "Rio Dell Building Department Fraud"  Maybe a little more Evidence Code 940, when the same people bring their pal Parrish back.   See:  Former City Manager Jay Parrish's Deposition.  They can't hide from the facts...

More to come...  Steve  :-)

1.5.07  TGIF!

1.3.07  Bills won't wait!  Desperate City of Rio Dell California to sell off land assets.  Wow, and we just came off of boom times.  Bad time to sell real estate around here now...maybe one of the pals can get a good deal on some land.  Interim City Manager John Miller puts it all out there quite clearly.  Here is the video of:

January 2nd, 2007 Meeting of the City Council of Rio Dell California

I will try and put a couple of shorter clips of some of the action...

1.1.07 City Council Meeting tomorrow 1.2.07 Meeting Agenda Check it out!  Council to meet despite national day of mourning for Ford -Eureka Reporter.

see also:  National Day of Mourning for President Gerald R. Ford

What a difference a year makes in the weather.  Blue skies today.  It is now the Year of the Pig / Boar! 

Happy New Year!!!

12.27.06  Hello to our visiting Italian server  i.e.  telecomitalia.it  Cool!  Add it to the list of our international visitors.  They found us through a Yahoo search.     RioDellTimes.com   Rules!    More to come..  You can count on it!  Steve :-)

12.24.06 Merry Christmas Eve!  The Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department cruised around giving out candy canes for the kids.  Lots of fun.  Looks to be a rainy Christmas this year.  Typical of the Northwest.  I like the rain myself,  it makes the air nice and clean.  'Tis the season to be Jolly Fa la la la la la la la la ;-) 

More Wildwood Days 2006

Picture and Video by Marylynn Wolff

Have a Merry Safe Christmas!!!

12.21.06  Happy Thursday!  Here is some more of our "Samoa Island visit."  Hello again to our many visitors who personally and digitally drop by.  Thank you to all our new friends  for the compliments on our ongoing concrete project.  You can see it clearly  in Palco's aerial photos.  Pretty cool!  We have tons and tons of media that I just haven't had time to get online.  As I have said before, our archives are bursting at the seams.  More to come of course :-)

Also:  Beware the turn southbound off of 101 up to Winco (by the Mall).  Our son Richard, and his friends had a car accident the day before yesterday afternoon involving a semi against an Oldsmobile.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  We are told that there are around 6 accidents a day there.  Yikes!  I myself avoided an obviously intoxicated bicycler who was going the wrong way down and crashed right in front of the Suburban.  What a dipstick!

Finally:  Hey we are Time Magazines person's of the year.  Yee Haw!  Of course we know the power of the information age.  TTFN  Steve  :-)

12.18.06  Happy Monday!  Here is some birds of a feather flocking together :-)

Brrr...  It's C O L D...   Steve :-)

12.16.06 Happy Saturday!  It's cold!  Maybe White Christmas this year?  It's raining now after a small reprieve.  Sure seems cold enough for snow though...

Wow!  The jeep at the bridge has finally been removed.  The appearance of the city really means a lot.  We are glad to see that its gone.

also:  There will be no city council meeting this Tuesday.  There were no agenda items according to the posted notice.

finally:  The December 12th Annexation Meeting had some very noteworthy commentary, by some local citizens as well as the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department.  I will try and update more of this particular meetings page with some shorter clips.  Stay tuned...  Steve :-)

12.13.06 Wet weather cause of accident -Times-Standard. 

12.12.06  Happy Tuesday!   We had a nice lightning display last night.  Lots and lots of rain!  We could see the lightning here in Rio Dell but could not hear the thunder.  Friends in Eureka could here the thunder, but did not see the lightning. 

There is an Annexation meeting tonight at 6:30 PM at the Eagle Prairie School.  Everyone we have talked too so far is against the Annexation.  Scotia will be infected with the same Building Department Fraud that Rio Dell has endured and continues to pay the price for. 

Other News:  City Council Person Melissa Marks.  Hits the Mark!  She has brought up an important safety issue that needs the attention of the City.  At issue is the concrete staircase that is built straight up the side of the hill with no landings, or other safety measures.   This is something that Ms.  Marks has brought to the attention of the council repeatedly.  These safety concerns are important to keep on the front burner. 

Pictures of Staircase

Speaking of safety concerns.  How about some fresh paint, and reflectors around town.  Just a guess, but I bet that the crosswalk that crosses Monument at Wildwood hasn't been painted for years.  School children as well as other foot traffic walk this Route daily.  Kind of ironic that some of the Birds of a feather bragging about painting the street drainage, while more important painting around town is ignored year after year.  These are the same drains that now have booms around them trying the quell the flow of oil and other spills leftover from Car Amnesty Day.  If you watch the video you will notice that they were not catching the fluids while crushing the cars.  In the later pictures however they implemented high tech buckets to catch the spills.  This all drains right next to the new 8.5 Million dollar water system.  The recent rains should wash much of the toxins away right?  Meanwhile the same wrecked jeep greets our visitors right at the Eagle Prairie bridge.  How ironic.

Here is a list of some of the fluids etc that leak from some of the approximately 300 local and non local cars that were crushed:

Antifreeze, Transmission Fluid, Power Steering Fluid,  Differential Fluid, Gear Oil,  Axle Grease,  Brake Fluid, Gasoline, Asbestos from old brake shoes, lead. 

Did I miss any?  Needless to say the EPA isn't very happy.  Hopefully at least the lot for the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department will be repaired.  It's a huge mess right now! 

More to come!   Steve  :-)

12.8.06  TGIF :-)  the RioDellTimes.com was at the city halls tree lighting ceremony.  The Baptist Church Choir caroled with Santa close at hand.  City halls decorations looked nice.  Kind of surreal with all the fog.  The Baptists seem to be the most active churches in the community of Rio Dell California...

What the?  Correction to yesterdays headline.  We thought Car Amnesty Day was over!  But now the signs are back up.  Note:  It has not been up for weeks.  You can see the dirt on the front of it from just laying on the ground.  It was such a nice paintjob too.  Also the no trespassing signs are back up around the lot.  They also have not been up for weeks.  The whole place smells like old motor oil.  There has been a dry spell, but now it's raining.  Hopefully the city's new 8.5 Million Dollar water system will filter any contaminants that leak past the booms and sand bags.

Finally:  Pigmy Goat Mauled by dogs -Eureka Reporter Never mix Dogs and Goats!  Thank goodness for Miranda's Rescue.  Poor goats going to have to be a pirate now with only one eye.  Have a nice day!  Steve :-)

12.5.06  City Council Meeting tonight at 6:30.

Still Car Amnesty Day! I notice that the car crusher had to be moved, no doubt because the forklift can't operate effectively in the torn up area's.  The whole lot is going to need to be redone now.  

Notice:  Make sure you don't play ball in Fireman's Park or the parking lot....that would be bad. See More Rio Dell Genius at work.  This is what happens when you let a  Redneck loose with a computer and a stapler ;-)

Also:  Hello toour local and out of area visitors.  I notice from our logs that we continue to get visitors from Japan.  Cool!  The bots, of course, are still picking us up daily.

Here is an example of a Bot:

crawl-66-249-65-143.googlebot.com - - [05/Dec/2006:14:45:40 -0500] "GET /CommunityEvents/NoLoiteringatthePark/ HTTP/1.1" 200 4160 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)"

We get picked up by hundreds of bots who help spread the word.  That's all for now.   Have a nice day!  Steve :-)

12.4.06  Happy Birthday to our oldest daughter Marylynn.  We are very proud of her! 

Other news: Still Car Amnesty Day! Oh brother!  The Rio Dell Volunteer Fire department parking lot has been for the last month the dumping ground of junked cars from around the county, and it's still continuing.  The damage is extensive, and we wonder who is going to fix it.  No Christmas decorations for the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire department....maybe I can dig a picture up from last year for comparison.  Meanwhile, Rio Dell City Hall has lots of lights and decor.  How ironic.  I am told that there will some sort of lighting ceremony at City Hall this week. 

Scotia is already decorated and lit up.  It's quite nice. 

Steve :-)

12.1.06  Hot off the Fiber:    Palco is cleaning house and getting rid of a bunch of workers, including the entire night shift.  Long term employees Fired!     You read it here first unless you are one of the 100 Fired :-(

11.29.06  Happy Wednesday!  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We blew out of here for the holiday for a huge party that my very cool Mother and Father-in-Law threw.  Sharon's family is coast to coast as well.  We had family from Seattle, New York, Arizona, etc.  Quite a fun gathering.  One of our relatives is a wine distributor, so we had plenty of Vino :-) 

Also:  It is Still Car Amnesty Day.  The Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department has become the southern Humboldt County Junk Yard.  Anything that leaks into the water will eventually be taken back up into our shiny new 8 and a half million dollar Water System.  Some pollution is going into the River, we saw it!  If you look at some of our Car Amnesty Day footage.  You can see it too...  We are told another 20 more Cars are still expected in.  They have been receiving cars since October.

Finally:  the November 28th, 2006 Wastewater Treatment Study Session is Online!  This is an important issue.  There is a cease and desist order on the City of Rio Dell and major changes will need to be made to our existing system.  Including possibly purchasing 250 acres of property in Metropolitan for irrigation.  This is going to mean that a LOT of money is going to need to be coming in from somewhere.  This is an issue facing many communities around us and it has resulted in substantial rate increases in other towns. 

Try here for more technical information:  Waste Water Irrigation Systems

11.17.06 TGIF :-)  Blue sky and cool here in Rio Dell California.  Hello to our regulars.  We have gotten some great feedback from around the community :-)  The most exciting local event right now is Car Amnesty Day.  Maybe not exciting to some, but to us it's more heavy metal action :-)   So you find you are ready to unwind to some real heavy action.  You can check out Car Amnesty Day.  It should be car amnesty month.  We are told that they are getting more cars, and it will  probably be another 2 weeks working on it. The fire department parking lot is trashed!  When it's all said and done.  Looks like the final tally will be somewhere around 250 cars.

Also: We hear that Palco has hired a Sacramento firm to come and do some public relations. Closed to the press!  Pesky reporters are always doing that reporting the news thing.  I'm guessing that they will bring in a sociologist.  What is going on here is certainly worth studying and learning from.  Either way it will all be in the database what "they" decide to put there. Scotia is costing Palco a fortune, that's why they need to get rid of it.  Hello?  Who's making this deal anyway?  Palco has yet to make an offer, and we are trying to sweeten their deal with Exemptions.  Personally I don't want the  Rio Dell Building Department Fraud and "the contractor friends" to spread to Scotia.   These people are what keeps Rio Dell down. Backroom deals aren't good for anyone except those with the pass to the back room.  Whatever we can publish we will.  There is much more than meets the eye.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Especially old buzzards.  Have a great day!  Steve :-)

11.8.06 Happy Day after election!  Looks like Republicans are seeing blue across the country.  Congratulations to all who can step up and take the challenge.  Here locally the finally tally is not in yet due to many absentee ballots .  You can see some of the results over at the Times-Standard.  A lot can change as those absentee ballots come in... :-)

Also:  We will have the updated news on last nights City Council Meeting soon...

11.5.06  Happy Sunday :-)  There is a lot going on Tuesday besides the elections. 

See:  11.7.06 Agenda for

Once again the City is losing money and lawsuits.  How much money?  Where is it coming from.  Who is really paying these exorbitant legal fees.  Where does the buck stop in Rio Dell.  I would compare the way that city hall operates to the SS Titanic.  The decks are awash in red ink.  The end result will be bankruptcy for the City of Rio Dell California.

Also:  We find great interest in another item:

Exemptions already?  What is this all about?  We will bring the info as we can get it.

Finally:  "Experience and new energy for Rio Dell" -Times Standard  It sounds like the -Times Standard had a tough choice between 4 of the five candidates.

10.31.06  Happy Halloween :-)  Beware of the Phantom Business in Rio Dell.  Here's a free  "Wolff Computer Solution" for you.  While in Explorer you can hold your control key down and move your scroll wheel to adjust the size of the text on your screen...

Also:  Car Amnesty Day.  Check it out!  I will have the video of last nights meeting up soon.  Another meeting tonight at the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department.  5:30 pm.

And:  Looks like our More Wildwood Days "2005"  was pretty popular with a Japanese router at about 2:52 am our time.  Pretty cool!  They must have googled in or had a bookmark.  That is was their first and only landing at the RioDellTimes.Com  in recent days anyway.  With the amount of bots that poke around here we must be replicated on about 100 different databases now.  I expect to see many visitors from around the world as time progresses. Keep Smiling!  Steve :-)

10.28.06  Happy Saturday!  Don't forget to roll your clocks back tonight.  One hour more to sleep in.  Yee Haw! 

Annexation Meeting October 31st.  5:30pm at the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department.

Tech Memo:  It has been brought to our attention by a nice local lady of the community that the new release of Fire fox 2.0  can't handle our Windows Media Files yet.  We expect that there will be a fix to this soon.  As soon as there is one we will post it.  We are glad to provide free DVD copies of the online media for the good citizens of Rio Dell California .   Just e-mail Sharon or Steve  @ RioDellTimes.Com  of Course...

Finally for now.  Hello to all the Googler's Yahooer's etc. who are finding us.  I notice in our web log that we were hit today by Hunter College  Located on Park Avenue New York City New York.  Cool!  We are subject to quite a few roaming web robot searches daily.  Rio Dell California is quickly becoming a famous place online :-) 

10.25.06 Happy Wednesday!  Last nights City Council meeting video is online as well as a the Rio Dell General Plan Fall 06 PDF  Check it out!    Car Amnesty Day is coming up.  Staging area is at the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department... Call Carla at Rio Dell Police Department to find out more.  They have roughly 100 cars lined up so far.

10.24.06 Eureka teen shot multiple times, dies -Eureka Reporter  

 Son was unarmed, says grieving mom -Times-Standard

10.23.06 Happy Monday!  We are pulling much of the old stuff off of the site to make room for new stuff.  However we will keep the stuff related to the "Rio Dell Building Department Fraud"   readily available as a service to other potential victims.   Birds of a feather flock together.  We have the county for our inspections now.  Thank goodness :-) 

Also:  Don't forget there is a Rio Dell City Council Meeting tomorrow at 6:30 followed by an Annexation meeting.  We will be there.  Keep smiling...  Steve :-)

10.20.06  TGIF :-)  Hello to the Tiny Paws daycare Kids and staff who stopped by for a visit today :-)  It's always nice to see the little ones out exploring.  We got to show off our orange tree, strawberry plants, blueberry bush etc. that are amongst our very cool concrete work.  The teachers do a superb job of keeping all the kids corralled. 

Other news:  "Residents call for meeting, seek change in council direction" -Eureka Reporter We will follow this story closely.  There is certainly more than meets the eye.  The names are what is important here...  More to come  Steve :-)

10.13.06 TGIF :-)  The Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department Page has been updated.

10.12.06 I will be writing the meeting notes for the annexation meeting this weekend.  There were stories published in both the Times Standard and The Eureka Reporter regarding the meeting.  They both mentioned briefly the need for a special fire district tax assessment on the Scotia area but I don't think they explained the importance of this issue fully.  In essence, the annexation is likely to not be approved by LAFCO (according to the city planner) in it's current form.  There will have to be quite a lot more revenue coming in to cover the costs associated with an entire second fire station.  I will expand on this in the meeting notes.                -Sharon

10.9.06  Annexation meeting scheduled for tomorrow night, Tues. at 6:30pm.  The Fiscal Analysis presentation will include the cities general fund and also the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department.  The Scotia and Rio Dell Fire Departments would merge with the annexation.  We are sorry to hear that the Fire Department's haunted house is cancelled this year, along with the holiday crafts bazaar and bingo night.  There are two conflicting versions of why the cancellations.  The official version is that the fire hall is being remodeled.  The unofficial version, posted on the front door of the fire hall, is that there aren't enough people left in the ladies auxiliary to put on bingo night.  We have heard from a few residents with ties to the department that there is a power struggle with a few of the ladies in the auxiliary.  Whatever the case may be, it is important to all of us that our firefighters are supported as they perform their very dangerous volunteer jobs.  Our community is safer because of them and I would hate to think that some in-fighting is affecting their support structure. 

Have you played Bocce' yet?  It is a nice way to spend some time with family and friends, as we like to do.  Except for being accosted by local contractor Joe Enos while playing with the kids, it is relatively peaceful.  For some reason, Enos felt the need to stop by the court specifically to tell us how to properly treat their Bocce' court.  That was interesting since our boys helped work on the court, along side the Mormon Bishop and the boy's church group.  Perhaps he should save his advice for the people spitting sunflower seeds all over the court, allowing their dogs in the court, throwing trash all over or slashing the posted rules.  We know you need the approval of the local building inspector for the homes you are building, but don't allow yourself to be used by the inspector to bother us on his behalf (see building department fraud).  There is no such thing as being "everybody's friend."  A person makes the choice to be on the side of the lawful or they choose the side of the law breakers.  You can't have it both ways.  Enos stated he has been involved in past First Time Homebuyers projects and worked alongside contractor Joe Buccola and building inspector Arnold Kemp.  Perhaps the ongoing federal investigation into the First Time Homebuyers program and the work being done around Rio Dell is starting to get to the people deeply involved.  We shall see.  In the mean time, we will go about our lives and ignore the people that have a vested interest in the status quo around here.  We will be working towards the greater good for all the folks in Rio Dell that don't have "friends" in City Hall to do them special favors.                    -Sharon

10.6.06 TGIF :-)  October 7th at 12:05 AM is our 1 year anniversary for the RioDellTimes.com.  Yee Haw Ma!  We are thrilled to bring public as much as we can.  Stay tuned for more! 

Also:  Another Meeting Tuesday October 10th at City Hall. More Details to follow soon... Steve :-)

10.4.06  Happy Rainy Wednesday!  Check it out...   10.3.06 Meeting Video is online.  Meeting notes will follow probably this weekend.    Keep Smiling!  Steve :-)

9.30.06  No loitering at Fireman's Park!!  That's right, no loitering at the park.  Check out the new rules. 

Come meet the candidates for Rio Dell City Council at Wednesday's Farmers Market.  That is Wed. 10/4/06 between 3-6pm.  I do not know if all of the candidates are able to attend but any chance to meet the folks and discuss the various issues is good.  The Times-Standard is running a two part series on the candidates.  Here is the link to the first article.  This election coming up is very important for a number of reasons.  In addition to a majority of Council positions being open, there are a number of ballot issues that affect everything from school funding to public funded political campaigns.  You should have received a pretty thick booklet outlining all of the various things on the ballot.  It takes quite awhile to read through so you better start early.  I always try to follow the money.  Who is backing the various issues.  That tells you quite a bit.  The League of Women Voter's puts out some very good, non-partisan information at their site. 

The Scotia 8th Grade Steak Feed was a success with over 500 people served a delicious dinner.  The dessert auction was a lot of fun as people tried to out-bid each other for the goodies.  All proceeds go towards the class trip.  The school couldn't offer things like this trip to San Francisco without the support of the community.  We think the school and the community are terrific and the support they receive from businesses and individuals is outstanding.  Keep up the great work!    One of our biggest fears with the annexation is that the Scotia School does not have enough students to remain open.  The school receives their support from Palco currently and that has allowed them to remain open despite the small number of students.  I hope that we are wrong and both Rio Dell and Scotia schools remain open as they both have a lot to offer.                         

-Sharon

Former City Manager Jay Parrish's Deposition

You will notice Evidence Code 940. mentioned quite a bit.