Community Your health: FORUM sports digest Ask Dr. Gott Our readers write .............Page 6 ..............Page 3 ...................................Page 4 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Tomorrow: Sunny and very warm 7 58551 69301 0 TUESDAY May 9, 2006 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 148 Number 30 email: [email protected] BUILDING BRIDGES Alleged gas card thief arrested By BEN BROWN arrived. On May 6, a Sheriff’s The Daily Journal deputy was conducting sur- A Ukiah resident has been veillance at Eel River Fuels at charged with using a novel 11:50 p.m. when he saw a solution to rising fuel prices. vehicle pull into the station at Thomas Groff, 40, of Ukiah, the same time the card was was arrested on charges that activated. he stole approximately $3,000 According to the report, the in gasoline from Eel River deputy confronted Groff and Fuels at 3177 North State found him in the act of using Street using a stolen gas cred- the card. A subsequent search it card. of Groff’s car turned up more According to the than one ounce of suspected Mendocino County Sheriff’s marijuana. report, Groff allegedly stole Groff was arrested without the credit card from Eel River incident on suspicion of Fuels sometime between Feb. fraudulently obtaining money, 9 and April 24. In an effort to possession of stolen property, catch the suspect, sheriff’s grand theft, probation viola- deputies left the card open and tions and possession of mari- set up a system that would juana and booked in to the contact deputies on their cell county jail. phones when the card was “I think we’ll see more of used. this with rising gas prices,” “We’ve been setting this up Smallcomb said. “People for a couple of weeks,” said need to keep an eye on their Mendocino Sheriff’s Capt. gas cards.” Kurt Smallcomb. This case remains under Deputies were dispatched investigation for possible fur- to Eel River Fuels several ther suspects and to allow the times between April 28 and Sheriff’s Office time to tie up Isaac Eckel/The Daily Journal May 5 when the card was loose ends. Donald Ballek, the newly hired economic development coordinator and assistant to the city manag- used but each time the suspect Ben Brown can be reached er of Ukiah sits outside the Civic Center on Monday. left the area before police at [email protected] Ukiah’s new business man EDUCATION By BEN BROWN lot of problems,” Ballek said. “It’s a depend on working closely with the The Daily Journal lot easier to keep someone in busi- business community and developing For La Vida, In an effort to increase communi- ness than attract a new one.” a strong network with those who are cation between business and govern- Ballek has long experience work- willing to work for the betterment of ment, the city of Ukiah has hired ing with the business community. He Ukiah and in providing new jobs in Donald Ballek to be the economic was the Main Street Program manag- our area,” said City Manager no decision yet development coordinator and assis- er and assistant Main Street manager Candace Horsley of her new assis- By David Courtland delays teaching some subjects tant to the City Manager. with the state of Kansas. Ballek has tant. Ballek said his job will be to act The Willits News past normal public school also worked as a field representative Ballek said he had already begun Still generally supportive deadlines, yet it’s unclear how as a liaison and intermediary for the Community Development establishing that network by walking between the city and business own- of La Vida Charter School’s many students are following Block Grant program that allocates the town and visiting local business request to be sponsored, that approach. ers. He also hopes to help ease the federal funds for the building of owners. He said Ukiah has many transition of new businesses into Willits school board trustees “That could make it diffi- viable living space for low and mod- exciting businesses such as expressed concerns about cur- cult to tell, for instance, Ukiah. erate income people. “It’s a very complicated job,” Cheesecake Momma that have riculum and costs at their reg- whether a La Vida student is Ballek said. “My primary function is Most recently, Ballek worked as received broad recognition. ular meeting. actually reading at the level to be the business advocate for the project manager for the Ballek said most of the business Margaret Merchat, the state guidelines intend,” said Ukiah.” Northwest Business Development owners he had spoken to see him as board’s legal counsel, said La Merchat. The intersection of business and Division of Kansas, assisting busi- “a welcome addition” to the commu- Vida’s independent study cur- “I believe its weakest at the government can sometimes cause ness and communities in an 18-coun- nity. Ballek said he would spend the riculum can’t be easily tied to high school level,” said friction between the two groups. ty region. Ballek has also worked in next few weeks getting to know local California’s standards for Merchat. It’s not fully devel- Ballek said he hopes to deal with retail management, direct sales and business owners and finishing some each grade. oped, students supplement it these and world of other problems has marketing experience in existing programs, but that by the “We think that’s important, with classes at community that can occur before business own- California. He returned to the state to end of the month he hoped to start if not required by law,” said colleges.” ers go out of business or feel the pursue new challenges and opportu- forming a plan. Merchat, who works for the However, La Vida counsel need to leave the city. nities. Ben Brown can be reached at Sonoma County Office of Lisa Corr of Spector, Middleton, Young and “Small businesses are faced with a “The success of his job will [email protected] Education’s School and College Legal Services. Merchat noted La Vida See SCHOOL, Page 16 Crab confidence may be a matter of watching the wind By JOHN DRISCOLL was the third season of a The migration of megalopae form the The Eureka Times-Standard boom, in terms of the tonnage Researchers have tied of crab landed in California. open ocean to near-shore waters is Dungeness crab populations Many didn’t expect it to be four years out to the timing of a good season, to come any- helped along by currents, Shanks and strong spring winds. Is it where close to last year’s 24 Roegner wrote. Those currents are wishful thinking, or could million pound haul. But even their tool add foresight to an without all receipts turned in, governed by wind: When the southwester- unpredictable future? California crab fishermen Fishermen are prone to have brought in 18.5 million ly winds of winter shift to northwesterlies, speculation. pounds -- a $29.5 million the current shifts to run closer to the It’s in their nature to dwell catch. on nature’s cycles, to look for Eureka fishermen haven’t coast. That shift may transport the little some kind of order that can fared quite as well as those in pierce the future and allow Crescent City and Trinidad, crabs closer to shore with it. them to craft their businesses, and an average price of $1.56 some of the trickiest in the per pound reflects more on The California Department of it to be less next year,” said one factor that they believe is nutrient-rich waters from the world. global market conditions than Fish and Game has kept Eureka fisherman Aaron key to crab populations. It’s ocean floor are driven to the Crab fishermen are no dif- the costs of operating a fish- records since 1915, which Newman. “But who knows, wind, specifically the north- surface, unfurling the food ferent, and nearly every one ing boat during record-high could theoretically lend clues. maybe it’ll be better.” west winds that usually tear chain that so many marine of them has an idea about gas prices. Search for a pattern at your An Oregon State across Pacific coastal waters species -- including salmon -- why Dungeness crabs go The question, as always, is own risk. University researcher and a in the spring. The same winds boom and bust. This season what will next year bring? “Personally, I’m expecting federal biologist has isolated cause upwelling, in which See CRAB, Page 16 2 – TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006 DAILY DIGEST Editor: K.C. Meadows, 468-3526 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] POLICE REPORTS at 2:47 a.m. Sunday. Valencia was released after being cited. FUNERAL NOTICES The following were ARREST -- Sebastian compiled from reports Govea Garcia, 35, of [\ hood and early adult years in life, her husband, Ken. Charles Ellis of Seattle, prepared by the Ukiah Stockton, was arrested on sus- KAREN F. KNOLES Scott County, Kansas. She Karen is survived by her Washington, Mark Ellis and Police Department. To picion of driving under the Karen Fern (Ellis) Knoles still maintained farming husband; two daugh- Mike Ellis , both of Scott anonymously report influence in the 900 block of of Ukiah, California, age 60, interests in Western Kansas. ters, Tracey Dooley and City, Kansas; one sister, crime information, call North State Street at 12:14 passed away at the On June 2, 1993, she mar- Crystal Williams, both of Cheri Campbell of 463-6205.