No Details Yet on Camp 1 Crash; City Closes Dog Park Over Health Concerns; Sidewalk Contractor Slices AT&T Line; Happy Fourth of July
We’ve been trying to get the details of what happened out at Camp 1, but with the holiday weekend and the CHP office running full tilt, we may have to wait until Monday. We don’t mind waiting to get the facts, even if many readers have already moved on.
One of our most‑read stories this March came from a weekend when we requested every crash report at once. Officer Marin at CHP spent considerable time helping us, and to our surprise, every single crash that weekend was listed as suspected DUI. We want to check back and see what happened to all those cases, but court files have become nearly inaccessible — far harder to obtain than CHP reports.
We’ve included that context along with the case we heard about out at Camp 1/Egg Take. There’s a serious drop‑off and no guardrails heading from Camp 1 back toward Highway 20, but it also sounds like this incident may have occurred at a campsite. We’ll update when we have confirmed details.
The reason it’s important to slow down and look into these cases is that when someone is injured, the DUI paperwork often comes later. In many of these situations, the driver doesn’t actually go to jail at the time of the crash. We continue to be astonished by how many local collisions turn out to involve suspected drunk driving, and we want readers to understand that reality too.
If you lost your AT&T phone service Thursday, thank the sidewalk construction contractor in front of Rite Aid in Fort Bragg
Boy, those new ADA sidewalks in Fort Bragg look fantastic. On Thursday we learned that one of the crews working on them accidentally sliced through the AT&T line serving local cell customers, leaving many without service. How many? We couldn’t find out — it’s a holiday weekend, and most of the people who know these things are out of the office.
But you can’t blame the field crews. There were roughly ten AT&T trucks on scene and a dozen or more workers helping the sidewalk contractor repair the cut while we watched and asked questions. Eventually one of them laughed and said, “Ok dude, now we have to get back to work here.”
City dog park on headlands closed.. city note says health concerns for dogs
Again, we tried to reach somebody this weekend and didn’t get through. The oceanfront dog park on the Noyo Headlands — at the end of Cypress Street — was closed yesterday by the City of Fort Bragg. We attempted to reach John Smith for clarification but couldn’t connect on short notice. The posted sign simply says the closure is for “health reasons.”
The rumor making the rounds is that someone complained about the old wood chips from Wiggly Giggly Park, which were dumped there years ago and may have fungi or something similar. If it were anything more serious, we’re confident the city would have told us.
The dog park also has a future expansion area attached to it, and people are already using that space. It’s larger, and dog owners have volunteered time and materials to shore up the fencing. That’s the spirit — this community wants to help the city make this fabulous dog park work.
To reach the future dog‑park area — currently being used in the present by friendly dogs and their overly chatty humans — you have to drive all the way to the north end.
And that’s where we leave it on this Fourth of July Friday — a town buzzing with holiday traffic, half the experts out of their offices, and a handful of stories still waiting for daylight and answers. The Camp 1 crash, the dog‑park closure, the sliced AT&T line, all of it reminds us how much happens here in a single week and how often we’re chasing facts through voicemail.
But Mendocino never stops showing its character. Dog owners shoring up fences at the future park. Crews working shoulder‑to‑shoulder to fix a severed line. Neighbors swapping rumors, checking on each other, and keeping an eye on the coastline. That’s the part that never goes dark.
We’ll have more coming later — when the offices reopen, when the reports land, and when the weekend settles. For now, enjoy the holiday, keep your pets safe, and keep an eye on the horizon. Mendoland always has another story on the way.
