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SERVING DEL NORTE COUNTY SINCE 1879 Crescent City, CA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024

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Board Seems to View County Salaries Differently Negotiator Deborah Muchmore (no pun intended). The two issues appeared to collide in public comments, and it grew contentious. Public Speaker Sam Strait expressed his “disgust” supervisors quibbled over “nickles and dimes” for compensating deputies a living wage which Strait said was $10 an hour less than the State average. The discussion became contentious when significant raises were voted for administrative staff which might add several thousands onto upper level administrative salaries. Strait strongly criticized the pending approval of administrators who he says “sit in cozy offices while rank and file employees salaries are so low.” Public Speaker Linda Sutter said, “five percent raise is outrageous! Sutter condemned supervisors and with a high level

BY ROGER GITLIN Country Media, Inc.

The Del Norte Board of Supervisors discussed and passed items 32 and 38 on Tuesday’s Agenda, both unanimously. • Item 32 extended the authorization for the Sheriff to hire new employees at a step higher than A but no higher than Step C, as initially approved by the Board in May, for a period of six months. The extension for an additional six months was approved. • Item 38 approved and adopted Salary Resolutions for Unrepresented Classifications including Elected Dept. Heads, Appointed Dept. Heads, Assistant Dept. Heads, Deputy Branch Directors, Confidential Classifications, and Undersheriff Classification. The Board approved a five percent increase as recommended by the Board’s Chief

of sarcasm and scorn in her comments saying, “50 cent increase in hourly wages to employees… you are so generous.” She stated the Board’s position on the increase resembled Bell, California which has been labeled a corrupt city, according to the Los Angeles Times. Norma Williams, SEIU 1021 Chapter president was a bit more subdued but nonetheless expressed her disappointment with the Board’s decision to compensate unrepresented employees with the increase while stalling in addressing rank and ﬁle Union employees. Williams stated, “We (represented union members) provide all the services to the public. The public contacts us and expects services. When it comes to employees, you (supervisors) get pretty damn stingy.” Williams predicted a grim future of employee ﬂight unless

the Board addresses salary disparities. Board response included a fair amount of frustration. Supervisor Valerie Starkey said, “I’m a little ﬁred up. Some of the information (presented) is inaccurate.” Starkey said she was constrained from commenting because of Closed Session protocol. The Triplicate has offered P.2 Guest Commentary opportunities to all Supervisors including Supervisor Starkey. With the exception of Board Chair Dean Wilson, no other supervisor has opted to

contribute to The Triplicate for individual comment. To date, Starkey’s claims of ‘inaccuracies” have not been substantiated.

County Seal

Unofﬁcial Results Released from 2024 General Election BY ROGER GITLIN Country Media, Inc.

An additional 4,000 Vote-byMail ballots were dropped off just before 8pm Election night and most were counted Friday afternoon, November 8. No changes from the previous tally have taken place. Registrar of Voters Alissia Northrup has tallied an additional 1624 ballots, Thursday, November 14 at 2pm. The votes have not been added to the gross

unofficial Del Norte County vote. Local election for Harbor Commission is as follows: The vote is unofficial until certification. 30 days after the November 5 election. • DAN SCHMIDT • ANNIE NEHMER • JOHN EVANS are the top three vote-getters… • Devon Morgante trails Evans by 123 votes. • Linda Sutter remains in the

#5 position • Write-in candidate Harry Adams rounds out the six candidates running for the three openings on the Harbor Commission. • Measure H $59 million DNUSD school bond and • Measure I $120 million College of the Redwoods Facilities Bond are heading for defeat. Both needed to pass at a 55 percent threshold but failed to reach even the majority vote.

The Golden State Contributes to Keep the House Red California takes a major credit for this event, flipping ten Blue counties to RED; thus flipping possibly two Congressional seats. According to the extremely close-count races and acknowledging at least 10 of 58 counties have flipped to RED, since the 2020 National election. Orange goes from Blue to Red. Orange County becomes the second coastal county joining Del Norte to turn RED. The margin was narrow with a 49.2 percent for President-elect Trump, leading a 48.2 percent Kamala Harris votes. Orange

BY ROGER GITLIN Country Media. Inc.

At the time of publishing this article, the House of Representative appears to tenuously remain in Republican control. The current tally of the 435 Congressional seats shows the count at 217 Republicans and 207 Democrats. 219 is the magic number for House control. If the trend remains and the House stays RED, President-elect Trump 47 will have swept the Big Three, The Trifecta: Presidency, U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

County gave the majority of its votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Riverside County ﬂipped to RED giving President Trump 49.7 percent to Harris 48.2 percent margin. Butte County ﬂipped RED with 49.5 yo 47.7 percent. San Joaquin County went RED to 49.9 to 47.5 percent. Other counties turning Republican include Nevada, Merced, and Stanislaus counties. The battle for the House continues.

Courtesy graphic

County electoral map of California

Del Norte Celebrates Its Vets BY ROGER GITLIN Country Media, Inc.

Armed Forces Veterans honored their own on Veterans Day Monday November 11. Dreary skies cleared to sunshine at exactly 10AM with the iconic cannon blast commencing the Parade. 19 ﬂoat entries traveled the route down H St to Point of Honor at the S Curve.

VFW Post Commander, Lt. Colonel David Cooper (ret.), welcomed luncheon attendees and recognized vets from, the US Army, US NAVY, United States Marine Corps, The U.S Air Force, US Coast Guard and the US Space Force. After the Invocation, Star Spangled Banner, Pledge of Allegiance and keynote address by Air Force Staff Sergeant, Gladys Erickson, a chile con carne lunch was served. Please see VETERANS Page 8

INDEX

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