---

---

Previously:

• Defendants Plead Guilty, One Sentenced In October Assault Of Solid Waste Management Authority Director At Landfill; Security Concerns At Property Persist

• Following Solid Waste Director's Assault, Staff, Residents, Tell Commissioners The Former Landfill Has Become A 'War Zone'

• Solid Waste Authority Director's Assault Brings Safety Issues At Old Landfill 'To A Head'

Following the assault on its director at the old Crescent City Landfill, the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority approved a no-trespassing ordinance that carries a fine and potential jail time for those who violate it.

The Board of Commissioners for the joint powers authority unanimously approved the ordinance Tuesday. It must then go before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and the Crescent City Council for approval. If both bodies approve the ordinance, it comes back before the DNSWMA Board of Commissioners for final adoption, Director Tedd Ward said.

“The short of it is that state parks, who has a long interest in making sure people aren’t trespassing across the landfill, (said) if there was an elevated ordinance that had signage on the property, they would be happy to enforce that,” he told directors.

The proposed ordinance prohibits dumping, trespassing, hunting, harassing DNSWMA employees and vandalism at all authority properties including the Del Norte County, Klamath and Gasquet transfer stations.

At the Crescent City Landfill, the ordinance bans entering or remaining on the property before sunrise and after sunset; bringing a motor vehicle on the property, including Hights Access Road, at any time of the day; entering the fenced area surrounding the landfill without authorization; and causing projectiles to fall onto the landfill property.

Those who violate the ordinance face fines of up to $1,000 and jail time of up to six months, according to the DNSWMA Tuesday staff report.

Ward said the ordinance will also allow the authority to have “more robust signage” laying out what is and isn’t allowed at the landfill.

He said he’s working with Del Norte County code enforcement officer Dominic Mello and Dave Mason, owner of DDR Cleaning and Hauling, to determine where the signs should go.

The DNSWMA also paid Mason $13,166.44 for installing new gates at the landfill.

During the authority board’s discussion, commissioner and District 3 supervisor, Chris Howard, asked legal counsel Martha Rice if the ordinance gives the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney the teeth to prosecute those who violate it.

Rice answered in the affirmative.

The ordinance's biggest value is it allows California State Park rangers to run trespassers off the landfill, which borders Tolowa Dunes State Park, Howard's colleague, DNSWMA Board Chairman Blake Inscore said.

“What they’re saying to us right now is they don’t have the authority to do anything on our property because we don’t have anything there,” Inscore said, referring to the lack of a no-trespassing ordinance. “But if we have this at least they will.”

Though concerns about trespassing and security at the landfill have been long-standing, they came to the forefront following Ward’s Oct. 8 assault.

Ward encountered defendants Sparky-Lee Wyatt Phillips, 25, and Wendy Lannett DeWolf, 36, as they prepared to enter the closed area of Hights Access Road on ATVs. The assault left Ward with a broken rib, collapsed lung, a cut to his left eyebrow and abrasions on his left arm and inner left leg.

According to Ward’s report of the incident to the DNSWMA Board, the assailants also stole the keys to his home.

Phillips and DeWolf pleaded guilty in November to robbery and assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury in connection with the incident.

On Nov. 20, Del Norte County Judge Darren McElfresh granted Ward a 3-year restraining order against Phillips. The order protects Ward, his wife, Sandra Jerabek and DNSWMA employee Kyra Seymour, according to a Nov. 23 letter from Rice to Ward.

On Nov. 30, Del Norte County Judge Darren McElfresh sentenced DeWolf to spend three years in state prison — the maximum sentence allowed under the defendant’s negotiated plea, according to District Attorney Katherine Micks.

Phillips is currently scheduled to be sentenced on January 11, Ward told the DNSWMA Board on Tuesday.

Phillips faces a three- to eight-year prison sentence, according to Rice’s letter to Ward.

---

SHARE →