March, 2026.
On this program, new Senior housing in Crescent City, we have details. Curry County Clerk Shelly Denny talks about election security. Mercury is Retrograde, we talk to an internationally acclaimed astrologer to let you know what that means, and our Phantom Gourmet reviews Zola’s By the Water.
Transcription:
Speaker 1 • 00:15
You’re listening to First Friday, a monthly news magazine program produced at the studios of KCIW Curry Coast Community Radio. First Friday is a partnership between KCIW, KFUG Crescent City, the Del Norte Redwood Voice, Jefferson Public Radio, and the Oregon Capitol Chronicle. First Friday is made possible in part through a grant from the Roundhouse Foundation, from listeners like you, and because of the generosity of Robert “Silky” O’Sullivan, who loves ferns, silly words, beautiful music, and his late wife, Alice. I’m Lorie Gallo-Stoddard, and we begin today with some good news. The Curry County Jail will be getting a big overhaul with upgrades to lighting, plumbing, door locking systems, intercom, and camera systems, all of this courtesy of a federal grant of more than a million dollars. Now we’re told this comes after years of effort by Senators Wyden and Merkley and Rep. Hoyle. This badly needed funding will make the jail safer and more efficient. And it looks like Crescent City could be getting some new homes soon, all part of a revitalization plan that will build a mix of homes and shops in the downtown area. You may not be aware, but a 1964 tsunami destroyed buildings in downtown Crescent City. The area was rebuilt, and as KFUG and Redwood Voice reporter Jessica St. Nar Andrews tells us, that changed the look of the city in a big way and not necessarily for the better.
Speaker 2 • 01:48
If you’ve ever seen old pictures of Crescent City from before the tsunami, a lot of people used to compare it to Ferndale down in Humboldt County, the Victorian village of Ferndale. But things were built back in this kind of like 1970s. It’s just not attractive. they’re not as charming as Ferndale. Absolutely not as charming as Ferndale, for sure. There are a lot of vacancies in the downtown area,
Speaker 3 • 02:24
vacant buildings, and the city’s hoping to change that. Are they looking at
Speaker 1 • 02:29
mixed-use buildings? Are they looking at, you know, business down on the ground floor and then maybe apartments above? Something like that? Yeah, that’s what
Speaker 2 • 02:39
they are looking at. So there are plans to demolish that we used to we used to have an old Daly’s department store and the Daly’s building has been empty for a really really long time and they’re talking about demolishing it and creating a development called the Redwood downtown apartment. It would house affordable housing so about 27 of a unit and then on the ground floor They are talking about this area serving as a business incubator. When is all this
Speaker 1 • 03:12
gonna take place? When are they gonna break ground and start demolishing the
Speaker 2 • 03:16
old Daly building? Yeah, yeah, it actually depends on the funding. The Redwood downtown complex is going to cost 11 million dollars to build approximately. The city had had some funding that the California Department of Housing and community development awarded back in 2024. And then another source of funding from the same department also awarded in 2024 to build at least four units of affordable housing. And so they’ve loaned that to the developer that’s spearheading this project. It’s a community system solutions. And the idea is they have to build these four units by 2030 or else they have to pay the city back. And they’ve they’ve signed a promissory note to do this there and also to attain the rest of the funding needed to build
Speaker 1 • 04:18
this project. So within the next four or five years it looks like downtown Crescent City is going to look very different if this goes through. Absolutely,
Speaker 2 • 04:28
absolutely. And this downtown specific master plan is also a long-term, you know, longer than four years prospects. And they’re still still very much in the developing stages of what they want to see in a downtown, in a new downtown Crescent City. So there are big things
Speaker 1 • 04:50
happening. Jessica tells us this is all part of a long-term plan that’s already tied to other major changes in Crescent City. That includes the redevelopment of Beachfront Park, which has a new bicycle pump track, as well as a showcase and celebration of the local native Tolowa culture. And it wasn’t to celebrate, but to talk about a challenge that brought hundreds to a town hall at the Grangin Harbor. What to do about the unhoused living in Curry County. It’s a challenge with no easy solution, and that’s why the county sponsored a January town hall meeting. It was held at the Grange and Harbor, and it was promoted by commissioners as a listening event. KCIW’s Jason Liddell was at the meeting and joins us now. So Jason, you were there at the meeting. Talk to me about that. How many folks were there? I understand a lot of people weren’t able to enter the building. There was standing room only.
Speaker 4 • 05:41
>> I was really shocked when I was driving up. I was driving right by the Grange Hall, and I saw just a crowd of people when I went Am I even going to be able to get in?” and not a single file line, but a wide blob of a line. And for four walls of a building, by the time I got to the end of the line, and the doors opened, there was probably another hundred
Speaker 1 • 06:15
– So this is something that really caught the public’s attention.
Speaker 4 • 06:19
– This was the biggest turnout for an event like this I’d ever heard of.
Speaker 1 • 06:22
Yeah. – And what was your sense of the room? Like what were people talking about?
Speaker 4 • 06:30
– I was impressed by the atmosphere in the room. I’d been to a previous town hall and this one was remarkably civil. People came up with their thoughts and their complaints. There was no, from what I heard, any down talking or anything derogatory, but many sides were expressed. Sides of compassion for unhoused population and problem solving around the trash pickup. There were opinions expressed about more prosecution and fining and jail time. And there were some people, I was really impressed by Cody Miller, who runs the Vaudeville Pizza, where he went up and with as little emotion as possible, he did a really good job of just saying, here are the facts of how my business is being affected. And he wasn’t editorializing in one way or the other. And–
Speaker 1 • 07:17
Well, how is his business being affected?
Speaker 4 • 07:19
They’ve had a lot of security issues, a lot of vandalism. It sounds like a lot of days, his employees have had to come in early to help clean up from some of the effects of the people that are living there unhoused and losing money from less business.
Speaker 1 • 07:37
– So it sounds like there’s a lot of talk about some of the issues that the unhoused have caused. Are there any solutions? What are the next steps?
Speaker 4 • 07:48
– I think Tim’s was there by a few people. Father Burning got to speak first and I was really stricken by his proposal. He was talking about a, I think the best way to describe it is a transitional housing sort of property that’s modeled after a program in Medford called Road Retreat, where there’s a section of land and it’s housing for people who are unhoused, but it’s also infrastructure. It’s also showers, it’s also electricity, it’s also things that people can use to live a more normal life and get those basic human needs met before they’re able to then have the wherewithal to seek employment and seek things like that. And Rogue Retreat, according to Father Bernie, has been really successful and he hopes to do something here called Checo Retreat.
Speaker 1 • 08:32
That was KCIW reporter Jason Liddell and he tells us the county plans to use what was learned in a follow-up workshop. We will, of course, be following this story and we’ve put a link to the entire January meeting that Jason was talking about on our website. That’s KCIWnewshub.org. KCIWnewshub.org. And U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley spent some time in Curry County recently. He spoke at a town hall on January 10th in Port Orford, answering questions and speaking about everything ranging from clean water to Social Security. Merkley says he’s worried about folks who depend on Social Security to pay their bills because unless we figure out a way to continue to fund it, he says within the next six years, those checks so many depend on will be cut by about 25%. So we asked the Senator what’s being done now and here’s what he said.
Speaker 5 • 09:27
So Social Security, the trust fund, will be depleted in about seven years, so within my next term. I am handing out at the town hall today a survey listing kind of six or seven strategies on how we save Social Security and asking people to fill out these and then hand them back in. I did this over a decade ago, and I held work groups around tables across the state, and And people basically said, look, at least lift the ceiling on the amount of income that is subject to Social Security premiums. At that time, that would about solve the problem. Now we may need to do more than that. For example, apply the premiums to capital gains as well as regular income. So what I’m pressing for is for the Budget Committee to hold hearings, because they have jurisdiction. And so I’m the ranking Democrat. I’m trying to get the ranking Republican, Lindsey Graham, to hold hearings on this. He said he will. Because why do we postpone addressing something so important? I mean, there are solutions. And I’m absolutely convinced we will enact a solution. Because the political imperative and the policy imperative will come together. Congress is not going to let the promise of Social Security fall flat.
Speaker 1 • 10:45
Again, that was Senator Jeff Merkley, who held a town hall meeting in Port Orford last January. KCIW was there and recorded it, so you can watch it start to finish on our website, kcinewshub.org. That’s kcinewshub, all one word,.org. And it’s also where you’ll find a copy of Senator Merkley’s questionnaire about Social Security, as well as a copy of Ringing the Bells, the 10 Rules of Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook. In it, Merkley talks about changes the Trump administration is making that affect all of us here in America. Senator Merkley says he’s very concerned about free and fair elections, about due process, free speech being silenced, and the justice system being weaponized to punish so-called enemies of the Trump administration. Now, we reached out to the Curry County Republicans multiple times to get their take on all of this, but have yet to get a response to our request. If you’re a regular traveler on Highway 197 or 199, you’ll want to listen up. Redwood Voice and KFUG reporter Jessica Sainar-Andrews tells us why.
Speaker 3 • 11:48
Curry County motorists should be prepared for delays on US-199 and California State Route 197 through Delmark County starting this spring. Construction on the 197-199 SAFE STAA Access Project is expected to start in April, Caltrans Deputy District 1 Director Richard Mullen said. At a Delmark County Board of Supervisors meeting last week, Mullen said the closures will occur from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The actual schedule has yet to be finalized, however. The 197-199 Safe STAA Access Project aims to widen lanes and modify curves at seven spots on Highways 197 and 199. It seeks to make the corridor safer for large trucks, though conservation groups arguing otherwise held the project up in court for nearly a decade. Caltrans has selected Arcata-based McCullough Construction as the project’s general contractor, though final contract approval is still pending, department spokesman Miles Cochran said. Once the contract has been finalized, scheduling discussions are going to get a little bit more serious, he said. The STAA 197/199 project will require blasting in the narrows on U.S. 199 Mullen-Tolt supervisors. In addition to minimizing debris going into the Smith River, Construction crews will have to remove material from the highway before reopening it to traffic, he said. The STAA 197-199 project is expected to last about a year. Caltrans will coordinate with the Oregon Department of Transportation to ensure motorists are informed of the closures, Mullin said. For Redwood Voice and the News Hub, this is Jessica St. Nar Andrews.
Speaker 1 • 13:36
You’re listening to First Friday, a monthly news magazine program for the southern Oregon coast. First Friday originates from the studios of KCIW, Curry Coast Community Radio. KCIW is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. We depend on listeners like you so we can report the news, and we can always use your support. To find out more about what KCIW does, how you can donate, or be a part of it all, just go to KCIW.org. KCIW.org.
Speaker 6 • 14:09
Hello, listeners. This is your man on the street, Troy Lea, with some Valentine’s Day suggestions for you. have a special somebody, I have some special and romantic ideas to surprise them with this year. How about a nice horseback ride on the beach or maybe through the redwoods? Crescent Trail Rides creates a peaceful escape into nature. It’s a unique way to experience our unspoiled coastal wilderness. And what’s more romantic than a horseback ride? Find out more when you go online to CrescentTrailRides.com. All one word. Not into saddles? Well, just trade the sand for the sea and go on an awesome Valentine’s Day whale watching tour. Go to my friends at Stella’s Adventures and get more information on how you can do that. It’s amazing. Or maybe you might be in the mood for a nice romantic picnic. Well, Battery Point Lighthouse and its museum are sure a great choice. This is an active lighthouse and you might not know that the oil lamps were first lit on December 10, 1856. Not into picnics either? Well, there are a lot of restaurants to take that special someone to in Crescent City. Find out more when you were to eat and other and activities when you go on to visit Del Norte County website. Now that is visit Del Norte County, all one word also. Oh, and please don’t forget to tune in to KCIW.org 100.7 to my show, The Rainbow Connection. You can hear me, Troy Lear, every Friday, live at three o’clock. And I’m planning a special Valentine’s Day show filled with love songs and stories that go with them. So text in your request at 541-661-4098. So keep listening to KCIW.org and to me at The Rainbow Connection. Until next time, this is Troy, Man on the Street, and I’m wanting all my listeners to enjoy this Valentine’s Day holiday. And you know what? That’s the tea.
Speaker 1 • 16:42
Welcome back to First Friday. I’m Lori Gallo-Stoddard and we turn now to immigration and what’s going on here in Oregon. You may be aware, Oregon has laws that makes it illegal for local government officials and public employees to help immigration authorities like ICE. So it’s against the law here for the sheriff or police to help ICE or to give them information. Now this also applies to information coming from public libraries, courthouses, the DMV, or social services like county health. But it’s important to know that those sanctuary laws do not stop federal officers like ICE from making immigration arrests in Oregon. These laws only stop local government officials and employees from helping with those arrests. And here in Oregon, the state is making it very clear that it doesn’t like the way ICE is making its immigration arrests. has filed multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration. These lawsuits argue that ICE activities violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, particularly regarding due process and illegal searches. And the ACLU Oregon has filed another anti-ICE lawsuit, saying ICE has and is using tear gas and other chemicals on protesters, and that it’s affecting neighborhoods and children. Now all of this, along with widely circulated video of shootings, killings, violence by ICE officers across the nation was behind a January 31st national demonstration. Americans turned out by the thousands in more than 300 cities nationwide to rally against ICE. Here in Curry County, hundreds showed up in Port Orford, Gold Beach, and Brookings. We talked to some of the folks in Brookings. They were lined up on Highway 101 at Fifth Street. They say they’re concerned about the tactics they see being used here in Oregon and across the country.
Speaker 2 • 18:27
My name is Louise Abbott. I’m here because I believe ICE is immoral and illegal in terms of their actions.
Speaker 7 • 18:34
I’m here because our rights are being stolen.
Speaker 1 • 18:38
What’s your name and why are you here?
Speaker 8 • 18:40
Because of ICE. Name’s Barry.
Speaker 9 • 18:44
I’m here because I believe in this country and we can do better than this. My name’s Kate.
Speaker 7 • 18:49
I’m Sophie and I’m here because we have to continue the battle to make our presence known and our point of view.
Speaker 10 • 18:56
I’m Ron and I want no Nazis in America.
Speaker 7 • 19:00
I want people to wake up and realize that we’re in danger. Yeah, so we’ve got to keep going.
Speaker 11 • 19:06
I’m here because I’m an American and I believe in the Constitution and our Constitution is being broken all the time. It’s not being followed and we’re in the state, in the grip of fascism, I believe, and I think we need to stop it.
Speaker 12 • 19:24
My name is Janice and I’m here because we have to melt the ice.
Speaker 13 • 19:29
My name is Miles and I’m here trying to save my country.
Speaker 14 • 19:34
I’m a trans man and living in America right now is awful and scary and you know people are getting murdered. And it’s, we gotta, we gotta say something, we gotta do something.
Speaker 15 • 19:45
My name is Linda and I’m just here to raise awareness about what’s going on with the ice activity throughout Oregon and also the other parts of the country and also to make sure that our black and brown communities are safe.
Speaker 16 • 20:01
My name is James and I’m here to fight for democracy.
Speaker 17 • 20:05
My name is Carol I’m here because I believe in due process and we the people and love thy neighbor and so on. Vicki and I’m here because the very core of our
Speaker 1 • 20:16
democracy is under attack. North County Indivisible’s Joy May was one of the local organizers. She came to Brookings armed with anti-ice science and a lot of
Speaker 9 • 20:28
energy. And Joy, you’re from Port Orford? I am. And you’re here in Brookings? I am. Why? Well, I belong to the group Indivisible North Curry County that gets these rallies going and advertises them. So I came down to make sure they’re set up with signs and sort of the protocol for rallies and to enjoy such a great crowd in Brookings. Thank you all so much. It was great to have you here.
Speaker 1 • 21:00
You too. There’ll be another one. We’re told 85 people showed up in Brookings, another 78 were in Gold Beach and 42 in Port Orford. The rallies were all peaceful. There were no conflicts that were reported or that we saw. The Gold Beach Visitor Center scavenger hunt for Goldie B Rogue is officially underway. Goldie B is Gold Beach’s local otter and even though she’s a stuffed animal, she’s also Gold Beach’s spokesperson. And if you find her, you could win a super duper prize basket. So from February 1st through March 31st, stop by any or all of the businesses participating in the Gold Beach scavenger hunt and look for Goldie. She’s hiding somewhere in the store and if you find her, let someone know and you’ll get a raffle ticket. Bring that ticket to the Gold Beach Visitor Center to enter the drawing for what we’re told are two amazing gift baskets. Drawings for those baskets will be held on the last day of February and the last day of March. Each gift basket is filled with gift certificates, home decor, mugs, and a lot more and you could win one. Want more information? Call 541-247-7526. That number again 541-247-7526. 541-247-7526. Food prices are out of sight so folks are doing whatever they can to save money. Now imagine spending nearly $20,000 to buy a steer and have it butchered and then being told “don’t eat the meat.” Well, that’s what happened to folks in Crescent City. KFUG and Redwood Voice reporter Jessica Sainar-Andrews has the story.
Speaker 3 • 22:43
Patty and Harry Adams say they are out $17,665 after meat from a steer they bought at the fair last summer came back from the butcher’s inedible. A local Future Farmers of America youth raised the animal and auctioned it off at the Delmart County Fair on August 2nd. The addams sent it to Bussman Mobile Ranch Butchering in Bandon, one of two butchers the fairgrounds offered to auction participants. After three months of leaving voicemails no one responded to, Patty was told to pick her meat up at the fairgrounds. That evening, she said, a fair employee told her not to eat the meat. Each year, kids with 4H, FFA, and Grange spend months raising pigs, goats, lambs, and other livestock to show before judges and, hopefully, sell at the junior livestock auction, one of the fair’s annual highlights. Fair officials had been offering Bussman’s butchering to participants for years, Rep. Doug Wakefield said. Calling the situation a mess, Wakefield said he wasn’t sure why meat sent to Bussman came back spoiled. He had purchased a hog and two lambs this year himself and was in much the same boat as the Adams’. “I was trying to get a hold of them, and they were just nonresponsive,” he said. “When we finally did get the meat, obviously their freezers had been turned off at some point. It was frozen when we got it, but a lot of the meat I personally had bought was green,” he said. Del Norte County Fairgrounds CEO Kimberly Floyd said that the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s legal division was handling the situation. CDFA Representative Jay Van Ryn confirmed that the state is working with the Del Norte Fair and the company to make the buyers whole, but said no litigation had been filed. Efforts to reach a busman representative were unsuccessful. The listed phone number for their shop was not functional. Patty Adams said that she and her husband were looking forward to being able to fill their freezer and gift local meat to family and friends. It’s also a way to support kids who use the money they earn to go to college. She said she hoped people aren’t gun-shy about participating in this year’s auction. For Redwood Voice and the News Hub, this is Jessica Sanar Andrews.
Speaker 1 • 24:47
From money lost to money found, or rather money raised, the Chetco Activity Center is back in the black, and it’s all because of a very special couple. This is a follow-up to a story we told you about a few months back. Our Jason Liddell has the very good news to share.
Speaker 4 • 25:03
The Chetco Activity Center in Brookings has been incredibly successful in their recent fundraising campaign. They have raised almost $80,000 to go toward general operating costs for the center. Half of that $80,000 came from a very generous couple who matched the CAC fundraising goal, Roger and Jenny Mitchell. I got to sit down with both to get the scoop. Here’s Roger.
Speaker 18 • 25:23
We lose around $6,000 every month.
Speaker 4 • 25:28
Yes, $6,000. Among all of the charitable services the CAC provides, including daily meals at the center, on wheels deliveries and tax preparation help and more, the Checo Activity Center is operating at a loss.
Speaker 18 • 25:42
We get grants from wherever we can from the government, federal money for Meals on Wheels and congregate meals which are served in here five days a week.
Speaker 4 • 25:55
Doesn’t nearly cover it. The Checo Activity Center has been around for a while. Built in 1987, it naturally is in need of some improvements and repairs.
Speaker 18 • 26:05
To continue, we need a new elevator, or the old one repaired. It’s an old building, it’s going to need a new roof.
Speaker 4 • 26:13
They offer meals to their guests for a suggested donation, but our senior community doesn’t get turned away for not being able to afford it.
Speaker 18 • 26:20
We serve about 63 Meals on Wheels lunches every day. We deliver five days a week and frozen meals on the Saturday and Sunday. We ask for a donation of $7 per meal.
Speaker 4 • 26:38
That would only bring it up to a break-even point. Even generous people like Roger and Jenny can’t keep organizations like this running all on their own. It takes a community.
Speaker 19 • 26:47
We’re hoping someone else will be similarly inspired to pick it up after us.
Speaker 4 • 26:53
I’ll be following up with the Activity Center in the future to get more information. For KCIW News, I’m Jason Liddell.
Speaker 1 • 27:01
That’s all the time we have for now. Thank you for joining us today on First Friday. First Friday is a monthly news magazine program produced at the studios of KCIW Curry Coast Community Radio. KCIW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We depend on your generosity to keep the doors open and the rent paid. KCIW is proud to be an Edward R. Murrow award-winning station. Our news department is always looking for new reporters. Go online to kciwnewshub.org to find out how you can join us. That’s kciwnewshub.org. Thank you again for listening, and a special thank you to Robert Silke O’Sullivan, who loves silly words, beautiful music, his late wife Alice, and the truth. I’m Laurie Gallo-Stoddard, and on behalf of all of us here at KCIW and KFUG, thank you for joining us.