Photo collage from 2010 memorial service for a veteran at the Garberville Cemetery.

Southern Humboldt Veteran’s Honor Guard will conduct three Memorial Day Services this Monday 5-27-13. The first service is at the Garberville Cemetery at 10 AM. The second is 11 AM at the Briceland Cemetery and the last service is held at the Shelter Cove Lighthouse at 1 PM. The Chaplin will read a list of departed local veterans along with a short invocation.

The Honor Guard conducts a 21 guns salute that ends with the playing of Taps. “Everyone is invited to attend this yearly Memorial Day Tribute, to our fallen heroes,” explained Eugene Womack, Adjutant of VFW Post 6354 in Humboldt.

Photo from Google Maps. The Nickel Creek Trailhead is slightly southwest of the sharp corner on Endert Beach Rd. 

UPDATE 2:30 P.M.: Coast Guard Lt., Bernie Garrigan, says that bringing the woman up was a “challenging hoist.”  By the time the helicopter could return, the elevated risk of night time flying added in as well as the fact the rescuers were not in danger meant that dropping supplies and waiting for the tide to recede so that the VFD and ambulance crews could leave the way they came was “the better answer.”

He had estimated that there were nine stranded rescuers.

Original post below:

Around 5 P.M. yesterday, a woman was reported to have fallen near Endert Beach just south of Crescent City. Emergency crews from the Crescent City Volunteer Fire Dept. and Del Norte Ambulance rushed to the scene. The teams had to hike from the Nickel Creek Trailhead along Endert Beach and crawl through a cave to another isolated cove where the woman was on a peninsula. 

The woman, who reportedly suffered multiple traumas as well as head injuries, received treatment. At this time, it was noted that the tide had come in covering the beach and filling the cave. The Coast Guard was notified and one of their helicopters took out the woman and her male companion by basket.

Darkness was coming on and the Coast Guard chose not to rescue the rescuers.  The helicopter dropped a supply package including blankets. With waves lapping at their feet, the stranded emergency crew (estimated at 11 people) huddled wet and cold on the rocks.  Some began to suffer hypothermia.  

The Sonoma Co. Sheriff’s helicopter eventually arrived and using a harness was able to get the crews out of the waves and up onto a cliff by approximately 12:30 A.M. All were safe and unharmed.

(Note: photo used on main page panel was a LoCO stock photo.)

The less than official competition over who has seen the first young of the Cervidae family this year was claimed by the Redwood National State Park with their photo of the elk mother and calf above which was taken yesterday.

Today, however, twin black tail fawns were spotted in Southern Humboldt.

LoCO encourages you to visit the parks and rural areas to see these beautiful signs of spring. Good luck on getting your own first sighting of the tiny creatures.

Photo used with permission of Terri Klemetson.  She says this photo was taken “[l]ooking south west past the community park.”

UPDATE 10 P.M.: KMUD just posted, “Garberville Fire Chief Kent Scown says the structure fire on Sprowel Creek Road just west of the airport is contained. A few young fir trees also caught fire. Calfire Garberville and Redway firefighters at scene. Resident taken to hospital in private vehicle.”

UPDATE 9:13 P.M.: CHP dispatch is reporting that there was a road closure but traffic control has been provided.  Also the site is reporting that the owner of the structure was transported by a neighbor to the Garberville hospital.

Original post below–––––––––

Reports of a fire out Sprowl Creek Rd. near Garberville. KMUD is saying a structure fire.  One reader says there were five engines headed out that direction.

UPDATE 12:11 P.M.:  Buzzfeed is reporting, “There have been many reports this past hour about Google being down. Don’t worry, Google isn’t down. A major internet provider out of California, Level 3 Communications, is having connection issues with their link to Google.”

UPDATE 12:06 P.M.:  Google coming back up. 

Those using Google Search, Gmail, Google Analytics, Youtube, etc. may be unable to access their sites. Mark Otto, Designer at GitHub and Creator of Bootstrap, tweeted around 11:30 A.M., “Google, Gmail, YouTube are all down. Google has forsaken us.”  But other tweeters noted that the services are working in their area.  LoCO reporter, Kym Kemp, has not had access to a Google site for over 20 minutes. 

The USGS is reporting two earthquakes—one 5.7 at 8:47 P.M followed by another 3.5 at 8:55—occurring near Greenville which is about 20 miles southwest of Susanville.

CHP Press Release:

The Humboldt and Garberville California Highway Patrol (CHP) offices will conduct a joint speed enforcement operation on US 101, in Humboldt County, on Monday, May 27, 2013. This route experiences a high volume of traffic during holiday travel dates and the goal of the CHP is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist on this major Humboldt county thoroughfare.

To assist the CHP in this traffic safety effort, Northern Division has received a federally-funded grant titled, “Reduce Aggressive Driving Incidents and Tactically Enforce Speed (RADIATES).” The CHP Northern Division will plan future anti-speed campaigns between now and
September 30, 2013. 

“All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on our local roadways by speeding,” said Commander Adam Jager, of the Humboldt Area CHP office. This message was echoed by Garberville Area Commander Brett Fabbri, who said, “We must do whatever we can to reduce the number of deaths and injuries on US 101”. 

This operation will focus on enforcing speed laws and other primary collision factors related to aggressive driving. The operation is planned to be in force all day on May 27th. 

Funding for this program was provided from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.