UPDATE, June 14: The Eureka Police Department checks in with news that Mr. Young is fine. He’s out of town, visiting relatives.

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Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

The Eureka Police Department is asking for assistance in locating 81-year-old missing person Michael Raymond Young. He is described as 6’2, 260 pounds, grey hair, and blue eyes. He is also known as “Big Mike.”

Young was reported missing on June 8, 2022 but has not been seen since May 25, 2022. He lives in the Old Town area and usually wears beige pants and a red knit cap. Young also walks with the assistance of a cane. He has no vehicle or cell phone. Young likes to frequent local malls and uses the bus for transportation.

Anyone with information on Young is asked to call the Eureka Police Department dispatch center at 707 441-4044. Anyone with past information that might be useful for the investigation may contact the Department’s Missing Person’s Unit at 707 441-4371. Case Number 22-002493

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The early teens can be an incredibly difficult … and, well, awkward … time for youths – braces, hormones, those middle school dances where nobody knows how to act. It is time when kids are becoming young adults, social and academic pressure is mounting, all while they are trying to figure out who they are. And it can be especially difficult for LGBTQ+ youth, who might not have the same level of support as their peers.

That is why Larissa Hul-Galasek, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and Abigail Hudson-Crim, a licensed clinical social worker, have teamed up to provide The Rainbow Village day camp – a safe space for LGBTPQNB2S+ youth, ages 11 to 14, to connect, have fun together and provide support for each other.

“It’s a really important time developmentally for this age group,” Hul-Galasek told the Outpost in a recent phone interview. “Youth are coming into themselves and creating an identity and independence from home and [their] caregivers. They’re also at high risk during that time for substance use, alcohol use and suicide.”

Mental health issues, depression and anxiety among children and teens has been on the rise countrywide over the last few years and became even worse during the pandemic, when young people were forced to be isolated from their peers.

And these risks are even higher for LGBTQ+ youths. A recent national survey on LGBTQ mental health published by the Trevor Project found that 50 percent of LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 17 had seriously considered suicide in the past year and 18% had attempted suicide. The rates were much higher among transgender youth within this group, with one in five trans youth reportedly attempting suicide, compared to one in 10 of their cisgender peers.

When pre-teens and teens are experiencing these types of difficulties, they tend to turn to each other for support, Hul-Galasek explained, as opposed to looking for support from their parents or other family members, like a younger child would. Some LGBTQ+ youths also may not have a supportive family or don’t feel comfortable coming out. They also may be afraid to come out to their friends or peers, for fear of ridicule or bullying.

Providing these kids with an opportunity to connect with each other can help alleviate those feelings of depression or anxiety and help kids build a support network, “so that they know that they belong, they matter and that they have power,” Hul-Galasek said.

Hul-Galasek and Hudson-Crim met when they worked for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Child and Family Services , where they both worked primarily with child welfare cases. They both have a deep care for helping Humboldt County youth. Eventually they both moved on to establish their own private practices and came up with the idea to create this event for LGBTQ+ youth, Hul-Galasek said.

The all-day event will be held on Saturday, July 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Redwood Park and will include lunch and prizes. Activities will include hiking, crafting – creating things like pronoun bracelets or keyrings and pride magnets, private journaling time and guided conversations. Hul-Galasek said that the participants will have an opportunity to anonymously place questions or topics in a jar for conversation prompts. The idea is for the kids to decide what they want to talk about, Hul-Galasek said, and to be able to discuss some of the difficult topics, like depression, discrimination, drugs and alcohol and sex.

If you are interested in participating, you can find more information on rates and sign up at this link. If funds are an issue for you, you can sign up to be considered for a scholarship. Hul-Galasek said that there will be three to five scholarships available to cover the cost of the group. If any parents have extra funds and want to help out, there is also the option to contribute to the scholarship fund. Depending on how many folks contribute, there may be more than five scholarships available, Hul-Galasek said. 

If this event goes well, Hul-Galasek and Hudson-Crim plan to hold more in the future. They also wanted to remind the community of the other wonderful LGBTQ+ resources in Humboldt. There are several groups that focus specifically on supporting queer and trans youth, including the The RAVEN Project, Queer Humboldt and Open Door Community Health Centers gender affirming services. Hul-Galasek also offers LGBTQ+ counseling and gender affirming letters of support for surgery through her private practice, LHG Counseling.

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Do you like Eureka? How about the waterfront? Would you like to see that big ol’ lot by Jack’s Seafood blossom into a cool community hang out, or perhaps a site for food trucks to congregate? Should we have more housing in Old Town? More bike-friendly infrastructure? If you answered “yes” to at least one of those questions, you’ll want to tune in to tonight’s virtual waterfront development workshop.

The proposed “Waterfront Eureka Plan” project area covers about 130 acres between B and Y Streets, including Old Town, the Library District and the commercial bayfront. The City of Eureka plans to develop the underutilized sites and buildings in the area to create “a vibrant waterfront that welcomes new development while preserving community identity and culture.”

The City held a workshop earlier this year to begin the conversation and get a feel for the community’s waterfront priorities. Staff found that many folks are concerned about sea-level rise, housing, crime, blight, recreational opportunities and community gathering spaces. Staff used these findings to develop a survey that can be found here.

During tonight’s workshop, staff will review the survey results and further discuss scenarios, designs and possibilities for future development of the plan area.

The workshop begins at 6 p.m. tonight. Register here.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Camacho-Rubio

On June 8, 2022, at about 7:50 p.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the Samoa area conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that did not have a visible license plate.

Upon further investigation, deputies learned that the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Arcata. The driver of the vehicle, 26-year-old Jesus Armando Camacho-Rubio, was taken into custody without incident. A passenger of the vehicle was detained and released at the scene.

Camacho-Rubio was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle (PC 496d(a)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

In March of 2021, Patches’ Pastries sprung up as an independent bakery operating out of Arcata’s Northtown Coffee. A year later, the trans-owned business is celebrating the opening of its own eatery at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds, where 23-year-old owner and sole employee Patch Fraga is serving up baked goods and espresso four days a week.

Patch Fraga.

The Humboldt County native told the Outpost that he initially moved his business operations into the fairgrounds’ newly renovated commercial kitchen in April, to focus on wholesale orders. However, he and Humboldt County Fair Association General Manager Richard Silacci quickly started discussing the idea of transforming the fairgrounds into a lively year-round restaurant scene similar to Redwood Acres. A month later, Patches’ Pastries is the fairgrounds’ first long-term eatery and Ferndale’s newest cafe.

“I’m opening shop because I’m here baking all day anyway,” Fraga said. “I have a rotating base of items including Belgian waffles and hopefully some savory stuff down the road.”

Fraga and Visit Ferndale hosted a grand opening ceremony for the eatery on May 20. Since then, Patches’ Pastries has been serving cakes, danishes, scones, cookies, muffins and more from the fairgrounds’ Friendship Square, Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Now that his first restaurant is officially open, the fledgling business owner said that he plans to build on his success by hosting unique events inside the fairgrounds.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “With the stage here, we can host some drag shows, late night movies and more fun events — especially ones involving the LGBTQ community, because that’s definitely missing on this side of town.”

While Fraga isn’t aiming to make his gender identity the theme of the bakery, he said that he does want to be transparent with customers and also use the opportunity to promote the visibility of transgender people in society.

“I’m excited to be here and to be that support for people,” Fraga said. “I don’t want customers coming into a situation where things are uncomfortable. But if I put it out there that this is a trans-owned business, people can choose to support me, or not. It doesn’t mean I bake better than the other guy.”

The opening of Fraga’s shop is an important moment in Ferndale’s history. In recent years, the city of less than 1,500 people has made local headlines for racist and antigay incidents that have occurred around town — an issue that’s been perpetuated by Rev. Tyrel Bramwell of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Bramwell last made Humboldt news in February for using a local radio station’s “Community Comment” section to call the Black Lives Matter movement “evil.” However, a quick look at the church’s website shows that Bramwell recently used public airwaves to go on a transphobic rant in April.

Fraga said that these incidents of discrimination likely drive visitors away from Ferndale. However, he added that the reverend’s words may have unintentionally inspired a positive change in Cream City.

“Being openly hateful is never a good way to start a conversation,” he said. “But the response to [St. Mark’s Church] was Ferndale’s first Pride Parade. So I process [intolerance] like that knowing that there’s always a beautiful reactionary movement. Back in the day, things like that happened and nobody said anything. The fact that people in Ferndale came out to the parade to show support, I can only see that as an improvement.”

Despite the ongoing turmoil, another openly gay business has thrived in Ferndale in recent years. Foggy Bottoms Boys co-owners Thomas and Cody Stratton have racked up millions of likes promoting their family farm on social media. As a result, Executive Director of the Humboldt County Visitors Bureau Julie Benbow said that the farm has become a popular tourist destination. 

Thomas Stratton and Fraga say they have been close friends since they first worked together at the Humboldt County Fair Ice Rink in 2018. Before creating his bakery, Fraga helped the Strattons build their successful website. Now, Stratton is actively working on ways to help Fragas business grow.

“It’s always good to have folks who are able to authentically be themselves,” Stratton said about Fraga’s business. “It’s amazing to watch young business people become successful and have others believe in them.”

With the two businesses operating 10 minutes away from each other, Stratton said that Foggy Bottom Boys and Patches’ Pastries are collaborating on new products like waffle dog treats.

“We have Grade B eggs that we can’t sell in grocery stores and we have an opportunity to turn them into dog treats,” Stratton said. “We’re in the research and development phase right now.”

In addition to the local LGBTQ community, Fraga is also an active member of the local Portuguese community. Coming from a proud Portuguese family, Fraga frequently bakes Portuguese-style pastries and rice pudding for his cafe. Last weekend, he was also hired by the Ferndale Portuguese Hall Association to make sweet bread for the annual Holy Ghost Festival.

“Family equals food,” he said.

Raised on a dairy farm in Loleta, the local food industry has been a constant part of Fraga’s life. After selling the family dairy, which supplied milk for the Humboldt Creamery, the Fragas moved to Arcata, where they produced goats milk for Cypress Grove cheese for 20 years.

It was during his teenage years in Arcata that Fraga discovered his passion for baking. Forced to transfer to Arcata High after St. Mary’s closed in 2012, Fraga attracted new friends with homemade cupcakes.

“I was one of two people that transferred to Arcata high,” he said. “My way of getting to know people was saying: ‘Here’s a cupcake.’ That’s my secret way of making friends. I honed my skills and it kind of just turned into a thing.”

After graduating from Arcata High, Fraga decided to pursue a career in the food industry, and in 2018, he graduated from a culinary institute in Portland, Oregon with a focus in hospitality and baking.

Fraga’s parents sold the family goats and essentially retired from the dairy business last year, but Patch Fraga is following in his parents’ footsteps and working to run a successful small business of his own.

“I’m proud of him,” his father Michael Fraga said. “He has always been an entrepreneur.”

In addition to his Ferndale store, Patches’ Pastries goods can be found around Humboldt at Shotz Coffee, Gold Rush Coffee, Northtown Coffee, the Redwood Riverwalk Motel and elsewhere. Fraga will also be open for business during the Humboldt County Fair, where he plans to sell Belgian waffles. With enough success, Fraga said that he hopes to one day hire employees and open up a separate location in Fortuna.

“Since I got here, even though I’m just casually open, I am making enough money to pay rent and pay off equipment like the espresso machine,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to reinvest back into the business. I’m excited to make some profit.”

Eureka Sues Humboldt County

Reporting out of closed session at the beginning of the Eureka City Council’s meeting on Tuesday evening, City Attorney Autumn Luna said the council had voted unanimously, with Councilmember Kati Moulton absent, to initiate litigation against the County of Humboldt and Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez.

Reached for comment on Wednesday morning, Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said the Auditor-Controller had failed to adequately respond to a letter from the City Attorney requesting remit payment of the City’s outstanding property tax revenue. “What [the Auditor-Controller] is asking of us is not appropriate,” Slattery told the Outpost.

In the letter, the city attorney asserted that the Auditor-Controller’s failure to distribute the City’s “statutorily guaranteed tax revenue funds” was in violation of Revenue & Taxation Code § 96.1 which states, “property tax revenues shall be apportioned to each jurisdiction pursuant to this section … by the county auditor.”

The letter continued, “Your own website acknowledges your responsibility to ‘apportion and distribute to the various entities the property tax monies collected by the Tax Collector.’ Instead of calculating and distributing the funds as required by law, you are asking that the City of Eureka calculate and file a ‘claim’ in order to receive its funds.”

Luna’s letter asserted that this calculation is “a fundamental aspect” of Paz Dominguez’s duties as a public official, and therefore she cannot delegate it without specific authority from the state legislature. 

Slattery said the letter “did not receive adequate attention” and, as a result, the City decided to take legal action.

Fiscal Year 2022-23 Budget Proposal

The council took a third and final look at the budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23. After two years of significant budget cuts, the City of Eureka is expecting a $1.6 million budget surplus in the upcoming fiscal year.

City Finance Director Lane Millar noted “a large improvement” in the budget forecast for the City’s major funds, specifically the General Fund, for fiscal year 2022-23. “Things are going really well, so how do we [continue to] increase that number?”

Millar went through several options to achieve the council’s goal of building up six months of reserves, as discussed during the council’s last meeting on the subject. He suggested making annual contributions to the reserve over the course of 15 to 20 years rather than a more aggressive five to 10-year plan which “could become risky in the future.”

“When I put these [options] together … and I look at the average based on those options, I think anything close to the average, which is 16.4 years, is a good target,” he said. “…In terms of the amounts, I think something that reflects the average of both the beginning and end amount for all these different options for a total of $927,000 is also a good midpoint. … I think that builds in some flexibility.”

Because the City has a budget surplus in FY 2022-23, it could begin with a higher amount, Millar suggested. Down the road, the City could adjust or lower the amount to grow over time.

Before turning to the council for discussion, Millar acknowledged an oversight in the City Attorney’s budget to the tune of $110,000. “That was my mistake. I’d like to transplant it into our non-departmental division within Fund 650 where the City Attorney lives,” he said. “… Her budget showed a growth rate of, like, 62 percent … but that true figure is more like 39 percent.”

Councilmember Leslie Castellano asked about the possibility of creating a policy to maintain the six-month reserve plan to ensure it stays on course. Millar said staff had planned to bring a policy proposal forward in late August or early September but said he wasn’t sure “if you can set that in stone.”

Castellano made a motion to adopt the budget for fiscal year 2022-23, as amended, which was seconded by Councilmember Kim Bergel. The motion passed 4-0 with Moulton absent.

Vacation Rental Update

The council also received an update on the management of vacation rentals in the City. Earlier this year, the City hired a consultant to take an inventory of vacation dwelling units, such as Airbnbs or VRBOs, “to get everybody registered and into compliance,” Slattery said. 

In the coming weeks, operators will be able to register their vacation rentals through the City’s website, Millar explained. “You’re just registering for the purposes of paying your taxes. … Once you get in and you’ve identified your address and provided the contact information, this is where you can go report and pay your taxes.”

This is the first step in a very long process of getting vacation rentals permitted through the City, he added. 

Councilmember Scott Bauer raised concern about the impact of increasing vacation rental properties given the City’s critical housing needs. “When do we cut it off?” he asked. “When do we say, ‘If you’re not in in six months, we’re going to create a limit to the number.’ I think we should create a limit to the number of vacation dwellings we have.”

The council will have a chance to consider limits on vacation rentals once the registration and compliance process is complete, Slattery said. 

The council did not vote on the item but directed staff to bring the matter back to the council at a future date.

A recording of the meeting can be found here.

Good news for fans of delayed gratification — or delayed disappointment, as the case may be: Not even half the ballots cast in Humboldt County this primary election have been counted yet, and the final results might not be known for up to a month.

Humboldt County Elections Manager Juan Pablo Cervantes tells the Outpost that it’s difficult to say just how long it will take to tally, verify and report the whopping 20,417 ballots that remain unprocessed. That’s more than the 14,844 Humboldt County ballots accounted for in the unofficial results from yesterday. 

Final results must be certified by July 7, according to Cervantes. In the meantime, he said, the Elections Office will continue to post results each Friday.

Granted, the outcomes of most local races were already evident by the wee hours election night. (Congrats to Sheriff William Honsal, Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes, Assessor Howard Lahaie and Treasurer-Tax Collector Amy Christensen, all of whom ran unopposed.)

Other races can be categorized as nearly certain, barring some nigh unimaginable change in fortunes. We’re talking, here, about Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone, who ended election night up by more than 22 percentage points over challenger Larry Doss; as well as Cheryl Dillingham, who accumulated more than three times the vote total of incumbent Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez; Deputy District Attorney Stacy Eads, who built a massive lead over nearest competitor Adrian Kamada; and Alex Stillman, a grand dame of Arcata politics of yore who appears bound for a return to City Council.

Granted, with so many ballots uncounted, there’s certainly a mathematical possibility that any or all of those races could yet be flipped upside down, but don’t count on it. There’s no plausible reason to expect the remaining votes will break in a significantly different pattern than what we saw yesterday, especially in this post-COVID era of universal mail-in ballots.

Still, there are a few unanswered questions! Chief among them, arguably, is whether Natalie Arroyo can remain above 50 percent of the vote in the Fourth District and thereby avoid a November runoff with Mike Newman for a seat on the Board of Supervisors.

A potentially bad omen for Arroyo on that front: The votes actually trended in the opposite direction as results trickled in last night. 

Arroyo started out strong, garnering 53 percent of the mail-in votes from the Fourth District, compared to Newman’s 32.3 percent. But the (much smaller number of) ballots turned in on Election Day broke in Newman’s favor, 46.2 percent to Arroyo’s 36.9 percent. (Arroyo’s colleague on the Eureka City Council Kim Bergel came in third.) If that trend continues, Arroyo and Newman can look forward to another five months of campaigning.

The race to become the county’s next clerk-recorder/registrar of voters is also up in the air. Cervantes, who on election night was in the awkward position of tallying ballots that included his own name, is currently trailing fellow challenger Tiffany Hunt-Nielsen, 40.66 percent to Nielsen’s 46.29 percent, with Benjamin Hershberger nabbing the other 13 percent and change. [CORRECTION: Registrar of Voters Kelly Sanders tells the Outpost, “Juan is not involved in the scanning or tabulation of ballots for the June 7th election. I recruited our former Clerk, Recorder & Registrar of Voters, Carolyn Crnich, to assist me with scanning and tabulation of ballots for this election.”]

You can probably expect a runoff here, though Nielsen’s lead grew a bit as last night wore on, so it’s entirely possible that she could accumulate enough in the coming weeks to reach the 50 percent-plus-one needed to win outright. So could Cervantes, for that matter!

Measure J, which would implement a 12 percent hotel tax within the county’s unincorporated areas, has a commanding chance at passing with 63.28 percent support thus far. Measure K, which would re-up the county’s $1 vehicle license fee for abandoned vehicle abatement, has nearly 80 percent support. We’ll go ahead and call that: It passed.

As for the rest? Settle back and stay tuned.