Press release from the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services:

Individuals and communities throughout Humboldt County, and beyond, are set to participate in the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill tomorrow.

Held annually on the third Thursday of October, the International ShakeOut Day is Thursday, October 20, 2022, at 10:20 a.m. During the self-led drill, participants practice how to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On”. 

As part of this drill, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) will also be conducting a test of Humboldt Alert, the county’s emergency notification system. Additionally, for those who have the California MyShake App downloaded on their smartphones, the state will be testing the Earthquake Early Warning System with an alert as part of this drill.

“A large, devastating earthquake can occur at any time, without prior notice in Humboldt County.” Sheriff’s OES Manager Ryan Derby said. “The Great ShakeOut drill reminds us of the importance of preparing and practicing for an emergency, because when it’s the real thing- every second matters.” 

Endorsed by emergency officials and first responders, the safe response to an earthquake is to: 

If Possible

DROP where you are, onto your hands and knees. This position protects you from being knocked down by shaking and reduces your chance of being hit by falling or flying objects.

COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand.

• If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath for shelter
• If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall
• Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs

HOLD ON until the shaking stops.

• Under shelter: hold on to it with one hand; be ready to move with your shelter if it shifts
• No shelter: hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.

Or Adapt to Your Situation:

If you have difficulty getting onto the ground, or cannot get back up again without help, then follow these recommendations:

• If you are in a recliner or bed: Cover your head and neck with your arms or a pillow until the shaking stops.
• If you use a cane: Drop, Cover, and Hold On or sit on a chair, bed, etc. and cover your head and neck with both hands. Keep your cane near you so it can be used when the shaking stops.
• If you use a walker or wheelchair: LOCK your wheels (if applicable). If using a walker carefully get as low as possible. Bend over and COVER your head/neck with your arms, a book, or a pillow. Then HOLD ON until the shaking stops.

The ShakeOut drill is free and open-to-the-public, and participants include individuals, schools, businesses, local and state government agencies, and many other groups. To date, over 19.4 million people are registered to participate in this event worldwide.

Learn more about local emergency preparedness at humboldtsheriff.org/oes.

Amanda Dee Freemantle
November 27, 1985 - September 22, 2022

Amanda Freemantle, of Eureka passed away on September 22, 2022, in Ava, Missouri following a hard-fought four-year battle with liver cancer. Amanda was born on Thanksgiving Day November 27, 1985, to Suzanne Shaw- Brady and Jim Lapham in Eureka. Amanda attended local schools, she graduated from Eureka Senior High school class of 2003. Amanda and her high school sweetheart Nick Freemantle married on June 13, 2015. Together they were raising their five beautiful children, Kaidence, Paul, Wyatt, Kodi, and Liam. Amanda’s husband and children were the sunshine of her soul…

Amanda graduated from Columbia College with her AA and continued her education at Humboldt State University. She graduated with her BA in Fine Arts May 13, 2017. Amanda’s goal was to become an elementary art schoolteacher. Amanda was a woman of many, many talents! She illustrated several “Barney Tales” books for local children’s author Noni Morton. Amanda also participated in Arts Alive and Pastels on the Plaza. She entered her artwork with the Arcata Oyster Festival and Arcata Main Street. Amanda was very proud to have her first art show with the Redwood Art Association.

After Amanda’s diagnosis with cancer, she started her rock painting to pass time, she created wonderful, stoned paintings to give to family and friends. When Amanda was little, she wanted to learn how to crochet like her grandma Dee. Grandma Dee taught Amanda and the outcome was cute baby blankets.

Amanda discovered another of her many talents: a green thumb and became an awesome gardener. She was always creating her secret garden retreat, which evolved into her canning and preserving anything she thought she could get her family to eat. Her canned Tuna was a family delight! Amanda enjoyed entertaining family and friends, especially on the holidays. She could cook and bake like no other because many of her baked goods were artistic creations. There was no end to her baking skills!

One of Amanda’s favorite events of the year was hosting her annual Halloween party, every year had a different theme. She created extremely detailed face paintings and costumes for her family and friends. The girl rocked every designshe created. Amanda also discovered her love for photography, she captured the love she had for life in many of her photos, from weddings to her children’s events.

Amanda refused to let cancer dictate how she lived her life. She did her best to live each day to the fullest with high spirits. She was a very tough woman and fought courageously to the very end. One of Amanda’s last posts on Facebook said it like it was, “Amanda is like no other woman you will ever meet - she has the heart of an angel and the spirit of a warrior”. She also posted a note to all of us back in August, “don’t take life for granted, you never know how many moments you’re promised!”

Amanda is survived by the love of her life/soul mate Nick Freemantle and their five beautiful children, Kaidence, Paul, Wyatt, Kodi, and Liam. She is also survived by mother Suzanne Brady (Mark), her father James Lapham (Dorothy), her stepdad David Bowerman, her grandfathers, Jim Shaw and Ron Lapham, her in-laws Bob and Nancy Freemantle. She is also survived by siblings, uncles, aunties, cousins, nieces, nephews, and an extremely large group of wonderful friends, especially her soul sister Alisha McNeese. Though she may seem far away, we will never part. For part of her lives on with all of us, forever in our hearts.

Amanda will be greatly missed yet her legacy lives on in all her children, family, and friends. We walk in a better place because of the present she gifted us is love. Our beautiful loving daughter Amanda left of us to spread her wings across the Ocean.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Amanda on this Saturday, October 22, 2022, at 1 p.m. Humboldt Grange 5845 Humboldt Hill Road, Eureka. The celebration will be Halloween-themed in honor of Amanda’s love of the holiday.

Juan Alonso Rodriguez passed away on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at the age of 84.

Juan was born on April 17, 1938 in La Piedad, Michoacan, Mexico. He was raised on a little rancho named “El Pandillo” with his 7 siblings.

At the age of 19 he married the love of his life Esther Rodriguez. Together they started a family and soon Juan realized he wanted more for them so he migrated to the United States in search of a better life. He started out working in agriculture and saved up enough money to bring his wife and three kids to America. He continued working in agriculture in Southern California but shortly moved his family to Humboldt county to work in the lumber industry. Juan and Esther had an additional three kids while living in Eureka, where they also purchased their first home.

Juan was a hard worker and was always looking for new opportunities. In 1983 Juan and Esther opened a Mexican restaurant in Arcata named Alcapulco. It was a family-run business with the help of their children.

In 1992, once all their children were grown, they moved to Fortuna. Juan loved to stay active and he walked around town almost every morning. Everyone always recognized him because he always wore his cowboy hat. One of Juan’s passions was gardening and he would grow tomatoes and other vegetables. He would sell to local restaurants and family friends. Juan was very well known for his kindness and hard work. He was always willing to help any friend or family member. Juan was a family man who enjoyed family gatherings. He will always be remembered by his warm smile, his sense of humor, love for dancing/singing to mariachi music and most of all the love he had for his family.

Juan was preceded in death by his parents Ysidoro and Concepcion, brothers Joaquin and Ramon, sisters Francisca, Guadalupe, Dolores and Consuelo and his grandchild Jesse. He is survived by his wife Esther; sister Carmen; children Ramon, Concepcion (Ron), Gustavo (Lupita), Johnny (Sarah), Joaquin (Sheri) and Jose (Lea); grandchildren Erica (Juan),Monica, Veronica, Alex, Anthony, Hunter, Ariana, Destiny, Natalie, Cecilia, Preslee and Cruz; great-granddaughters Sophia and Jasmine.

A rosary for Juan is planned for Friday, October 21, 2022 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Goble’s Fortuna Mortuary on 560 12th Street Fortuna. A mass will be held on Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 12 p.m. at St Joseph Church on 810 14th St. Fortuna. Reception to follow.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Juan Rodriguez’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Hilda White, born December 12, 1930, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, on October 14, 2022 at the age of 91.

Hilda was born in a small village in Honduras where she spent her youngest days growing under the love and kindness of her father, mother, brothers and sisters. She was the youngest of nine. In those quiet beginnings she developed the deep sense of family and community that would define her character, qualities that endeared her to so many over the course of her life.

She left Honduras when she was 19 years old, immigrating first to Texas where she worked as a waitress. She often recollected that the menu’s grasp of the English language was greater than her own at the time. She recalled this fact frequently and with great pride in her later years when she became well known for her remarkable inability to lose at the game of Scrabble.

As a young woman Hilda’s path led her to a career as a bookkeeper in San Francisco, a city whose personality was as large and as vivacious as her own. In the lively streets of the downtown scene, she made timelessly entertaining memories and met some of her dearest lifelong friends. It was here that she met the love of her life, Al White, a Merchant Mariner in town on shore leave. Al and Hilda were wed in Reno after a six-week courtship, a whirlwind story that they told with increasing fondness and frequency throughout their 49 years of marriage.

In the avenues of San Francisco, they bought their first house and had their daughter, Sandy. They moved to Fremont in 1965, to raise their daughter close to family and made many friends there. Hilda’s kitchen was the site of many extended family dinners as she was an amazing cook. She always had a meal available for everyone and her home was the breakfast spot for neighborhood kids before school. Tortillas and chorizo was usually the breakfast of choice. Al later built a family home along the water in Clear Lake where they moved when he retired. It again became a frequent gathering place for family and neighborhood friends. In the decades thereafter, their grandchildren, nieces, and nephews would visit this home in the summers. Al and Hilda eventually followed their daughter and grandchildren to Eureka in 1995, where they would spend the remainder of their lives watching their grandchildren grow and immersing themselves in the community that they came to call home. Hilda and Al were an open book with one another, embodying a love that was deep and complimentary.

Hilda’s greatest joys in life were her family, her friends, and her church. Above all else she valued the bonds of family and she never let those connections fade with time or distance. She carried such immense pride for her grandchildren that she could not help but regale everyone she knew with stories of their accomplishments. She remembered everyone as the best versions of themselves and she believed this unwaveringly. Hilda never stopped making friends and she never stopped finding new ways to bring comfort to others’ lives. Whether through her deeply personal wisdom or her comical mannerisms and phrases, her feelings of warmth were infectious to all in her company. Hilda also held a fundamental closeness with her faith, and she guided her life by the teachings of Christ. Her Church was her community, one in which she found great solace and fellowship.

Hilda lived for the moments that she could share with other people, whether they were in celebration or in sorrow. She made the brightest moments in life shine brighter because she shared that happiness with you. She also made the heaviest moments in life feel lighter because she shouldered those burdens with you. Her heart knew only love and kindness, and she saw it everywhere she went and in everyone she met. Hilda had an unrivaled ability to make people feel special. Those who knew her were made to believe that there was a space in her heart only for them. If you are one of those people, then you know that this space was real. If there was one woman in this world with a heart large enough to hold the love of everyone she met, it was Hilda White.

Hilda’s life was long and wonderful and filled with love. She spent her final years under the care of her loving and devoted daughter, Sandy, whose support allowed her the time and the dignity to know a comfort that she truly deserved. Sandy’s husband Michael, whom Hilda loved like a son, was a great source of stability and happiness for Hilda, especially during the final years of her life. When her independence waned, she was furthered cared for by a small group of devoted caregivers, Lisa, Cindy, Patrice and Rosanna, all of whom she considered the closest of friends.

For many years Hilda dearly missed the friends and family who had gone before her, especially her beloved Al. Our sadness at her loss is comforted by the knowledge that she is with them now. May she find the peace in rest that she brought so many of us in life.

Hilda is survived by her only daughter, Sandy Bakke (Mike), and grandchildren Brian Bakke (Kristen) and Lauren Bakke Kalfsbeek (Tim). She also leaves behind a large extended family, nieces and nephews and many friends. She loved you all!

A celebration of life will be held for Hilda on Saturday, October 22, at 10:30 am at the Eureka First United Methodist church located at 520 Del Norte Street.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Hilda White’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Judy passed peacefully on October 12, 2022. She was born in Scotia on June 2, 1951, to the parents of Frida and Donald J Walker. She spent her childhood in Ferndale, attending The Assumption School and graduated at Ferndale High School.

She was a very loving and kind mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, wife, sister and friend. She was an avid reader and crafter. She had extraordinary talent in crocheting, sewing and refurbishing furniture. She enjoyed spending time with family and put family first. She was a homemaker until her children were grown and then sought various jobs to keep busy.

She leaves behind Linda Rocha (sister), Robert D Hansen (son), Julie Smith (daughter), Mike Smith (son in-law), Sabrina Kanen (granddaughter), Brenden Hansen (grandson), Kynslie Shockley (great-granddaughter) and numerous other family members and friends. A special thank you to her best friend Linda (Rich) Wright for all her love and support during such a difficult time, you are truly and angel from Heaven.

She was preceded in death by her parents Donald J Walker and Frida Walker, Robert Hans Hansen (husband), Suzanne Richardson (sister).

She wished to not have a funeral, and the family wishes in lieu of flowers or cards to donate to Hospice of Humboldt. Thank you to all the wonderful employees of Hospice of Humboldt for all their support, care and kindness that allowed her to remain home.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Judy’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Gary Schurb was born October 14, 1948. He died October 12, 2022.

He was born in Eugene. He moved here when he was six months old. He lived his entire life in Eureka, graduating from Eureka High School in 1966. After high school he spent two years in the US Army, one of those in Vietnam. Upon returning from the military, he graduated from College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State University.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Frankie; his daughter, Kelli Wood and her husband Karston and two granddaughters Kaia and Mia; his stepson, Lonnie Jimboy and his wife Linda and grandchildren Marisa and Joe; and his sister, Sharon Pierce Capp

After graduating from HSU he owned and operated Sequoia Saw and Supply. He grew the company that his father started from a home garage to a successful company operating not only in Eureka, but also in Little Rock, Arkansas and Sparta, Tennessee.

He was a magnificent woodworker. Frankie and he built their summer home in Salyer and spent 30 years going there multiple times each week. He remodeled his home several times and recently totally redid the home where he died. He was a great antique refinisher and in later years spent much time building tables and furniture from exotic wood that he collected. Those who have pieces of his work are very fortunate.

Never one to linger, he was an avid sports follower, yard gardener, lawn mower, basically a very hard worker. Sherman, (General Bob) was always loyal to his local friends and enjoyed the time he spent with them. He rode his bike nearly every day. Recently he was growing multiple kinds of dahlias. He was about to build a new garage/shop to use for his woodworking.

His death was totally unexpected. He had just received a clean bill of health from his doctors. He was sitting at his desk waiting to go to get a haircut when Frankie found him. He was peacefully sitting with his feet up on the desk and the ever-present toothpick in his mouth when she went to see if he had left yet.

No services are planned at this time. Please donate to your favorite charity.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Gary Schurb’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

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After Arcata city staff learned that some community members, business owners and event organizers are a little confused when and where sidewalk vendors are allowed in town, the Arcata City Council will consider adopting new rules around sidewalk vending on city property and right-of-ways. 

During tonight’s meeting, the council will review a draft resolution that would potentially replace the city’s existing Plaza Vending Program – through which people can currently apply for a permit and pay and to vend on the Arcata Plaza – and establish clearer regulations for vending on sidewalks throughout the city. 

If adopted, the resolution would prohibit sidewalk vending on roadways or median strips, within 30 feet of an intersection, within 20 feet of a driveway and within 20 feet of a fire hydrant, electrical box or other emergency facility. The resolution would also prohibit sidewalk vending within 200 feet of a farmer’s market or other special event (the vendors for those events obtain their permits through the event planners.) Sidewalk vending would be allowed in parks, but not on the lawn or landscaped areas, according to the draft resolution. 

The resolution also establishes requirements for solid waste management, requiring that all sidewalk vendors provide at least one trash bin and one recycling bin for customers. Prior to closing up shop, the vendor would also be required to pick up any recycling or waste within a 15-foot radius of the vending location. If the vendor is selling food, they must comply with all of the City’s single-use container requirements, providing only fiber-based compostable foodware, charging 25 cents for disposable containers and offering a 25 cent discount for customers providing their own container. Food vendors must also visibly display a valid health permit from Humboldt County Department of Environmental Health.

To be clear, sidewalk vendors include people selling food, beverages or wares from their person or from a non-motorized vending cart. So this resolution would not apply to food trucks, which obtain a different type of permitting. It would also not apply to special event vendors. 

Since this is the council’s first discussion of the proposed resolution, the council will most likely give direction to staff and another draft of the resolution will come back before the council at a later date. You can view the full draft resolution here. 

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Also during tonight’s meeting the council will discuss possible changes to the city’s Short-Stay Vacation Rental Ordinance, which caps the number of vacation rentals permitted in Arcata at 100, excluding rentals where the owner lives on the same property as the rental unit. 

During a meeting in June, the council discussed potential changes to the ordinance, including lowering the cap and changing or removing the exemption. Some concerns were brought up during that meeting surrounding the exemption and the ability of owners to occupy a property with multiple vacation rentals. However, some community members pointed out that the exemption helps ensure that more vacation rentals are operated by Arcata residents, instead of owners living out of the area. 

Tonight staff will present the council with more information and public feedback it gathered on the ordinance. The council will discuss eliminating or changing the owner-occupied exemption, changing the cap on the number of rentals permitted in the city, and whether or not the ordinance should include a “operator limitation” – which would limit the number of vacation rentals a single person can operate. 

If the council provides clear direction on these amendments during tonight’s meeting, then the ordinance would come back for adoption in December. 

The Arcata City Council meets tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 19) at 6 p.m. at Arcata City Hall – 736 F Street. 

You can view the full agenda and directions on how to participate here.