Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Medeiros

A correctional deputy was injured Wednesday during an assault inside the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.  

On April 27, 2022, at about 6:10 p.m., a correctional deputy conducting an inmate count within the facility’s maximum security housing unit was assaulted by 27-year-old inmate Austin Michael Medeiros. Medeiros reportedly attacked the correctional deputy with an improvised weapon. The deputy sustained minor injuries as a result of the assault.

Medeiros is currently being held inside the correctional facility on charges of murder (PC 187(a)), assault (PC 240), battery (PC 242), fleeing a peace officer (VC 2800.4) and possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)). As a result of this incident, Medeiros was booked on additional charges of attempted murder (PC 664/187(a)), assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm (PC 245(a)(1)), possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner (PC 4502(a)), manufacturing a weapon in prison (PC 4502(b)), battery on a custodial officer (PC 243.1) and resisting a peace officer (PC 69). 

The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to creating a safe environment for both correctional staff and inmates within our Correctional Facility, and this incident remains under investigation.

###

PREVIOUSLY:

• Man Connected to Suspicious Death in Kneeland Evades Law Enforcement By Fleeing Into the Arcata Community Forest After Pursuit In Victim’s Car, Sheriff’s Office Says
• Suspect, Victim Named in Kneeland Homicide; Public Urged to Be on the Lookout, Motorists Warned Suspect May be Attempting to Hitchhike South
  
• Kneeland Homicide Suspect Arrested in Santa Cruz Yesterday; Suspect Had Loaded Stolen Firearm and Mushrooms in His Possession, Sheriff’s Office Says
• Kneeland Homicide Suspect Transferred Back to Humboldt, Will Be Arraigned Next Week
• TODAY in COURT: Kneeland Murder Suspect Says He Wants to Hire His Own Lawyer
• TODAY IN COURT: Kneeland Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

California air-quality officials have endorsed an updated blueprint for battling climate change, choosing a plan that aims to minimize job losses and costs while slashing greenhouse gases and achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.

California has long been a global leader in addressing the climate crisis, enacting aggressive laws and policies to reduce its carbon footprint. But the state has recently come under fire from activists and some legislators for failing to act quickly enough and relying too much on carbon-trading programs.

The strategy that the staff of the state Air Resources Board plans to unveil in May requires a massive shift away from California’s reliance on fossil fuels and more emphasis on renewable energy sources. The plan, which aims for an 80% reduction of greenhouse gases below 1990 levels by 2050, would cost an estimated $18 billion in 2035 and $27 billion in 2045.

California’s climate change roadmap – called a scoping plan — was first adopted in 2008 and updated in 2013 and 2017. The air board is in the initial phases of its update. A public hearing is scheduled for June, while the board is expected to vote this fall.

The board’s staff last year released four options for discussion. At a workshop last week, air board officials said they will present the board with the option that has the least impact on the state’s economy rather than accelerating the pace of achieving carbon neutrality.

Two of the rejected scenarios would reach carbon neutrality ten years earlier, by 2035, but would cost six to seven times more — between $106 billion and $120 billion in 2035. (Carbon neutrality means the state removes as much planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere as it emits.)

Air board staff said their preferred option, known as Scenario 3, focuses on countering job losses in industries and promoting job growth as the state transitions to renewable energy. Scenarios 1 and 2 had the largest impacts on jobs and the most health benefits for people in heavily polluted areas. Scenario 4 had the least health benefits to communities and the third highest impact on cost and job loss.

“The faster you phase out of combustion you absolutely get huge health benefits and climate benefits – we all know that,” Rajinder Sahota, the board’s deputy executive officer of climate change and research, said during last week’s workshop with industry representatives and environmentalists. “But the longer timeframe gives us more time to actually build that infrastructure and build those energy sources.”

Air board officials said they will propose the option that has the least impact on the economy rather than accelerating the pace of achieving carbon neutrality.

The preferred option has been criticized by both environmental justice advocates and the oil and gas industry.

“We’re gambling with the fate of humanity,” said Kyle Heiskala, a policy advocate at the San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition. “There’s so much at stake here. We don’t have a lot of time to get this right. We need to start making reductions in climate emissions now.”

The oil industry counters that the air board’s plan is too reliant on the state’s zero-emission vehicle mandates and should focus more on measures that trade, remove and store carbon while still allowing continued use of fossil fuels.

The scoping plan update comes as the extreme effects of climate change continue to devastate the state, which has been pummeled by extreme heat, record-shattering wildfires and a worsening drought. Planet-warming emissions are creating dire consequences that scientists say will be irreversible if the world — including California — fails to meet ambitious carbon-reduction goals.

California is responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gases emitted globally, but it has the fifth largest economy, so it’s in a position to help drive substantial change.

How much the California Air Resources Board should prioritize each strategy for reducing greenhouse gases remains a key tension point for environmental activists and industry leaders.

The staff’s preferred Scenario 3 relies more on carbon capture technologies than a more expensive option, estimated to cost $130 billion by 2035, that instead includes a near-complete phaseout of gasoline-powered vehicles. Officials said their chosen scenario will rely on carbon capture, but not as much as two other scenarios that cost more.

Carbon capture is the practice of collecting carbon dioxide emitted by smokestacks and injecting it into the ground for long-term storage so that it does not warm the planet.

Carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, triggering changes in temperatures, precipitation and other aspects of climate. The changing climate as well as other pollutants emitted by fossil fuels disproportionately affect low-income communities of color, according to a report from the University of Southern California. In California, the transportation sector accounts for about 40% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Each scenario includes measures to mandate zero-emission vehicles, encourage use of renewable biofuels and beef up investments in technologies to capture carbon and remove it from the atmosphere. Each also weighs how the phaseout of fossil fuels could affect job losses and health outcomes of residents living next to major polluters.

Environmental justice advocates wanted the board’s staff to recommend a scenario that included a complete phaseout of fossil fuels by 2045 without reliance on carbon capture and storage. That scenario should have included measures to end oil and gas extraction by 2035 and phase out oil refining by 2045. Instead, they say the agency’s chosen strategy is not prioritizing direct emission reductions.

A debate over California’s landmark carbon market — called cap and trade — continues to spark controversy as the state formulates its scoping plan. Adopted in 2013, the cap and trade system puts a price on pollution. The market allows companies to buy some credits, known as allowances, rather than meet its limits by emitting less pollutants from facilities such as oil refineries.

For years, environmental advocates have argued that relying on carbon markets and engineered carbon-removal solutions allows the fossil fuel industry to buy its way out of emitting less pollution.

Heiskala said by allowing emissions to continue at oil refineries and other sources of pollution, the air board’s plan sets the state back in achieving its goals and harms residents living in heavily polluted areas.

“It’s just backwards,” he said. “The world is looking to California. If this plan is adopted and it has all of this reliance on carbon capture and carbon dioxide removal, the world is going to see that it’s a viable strategy and it effectively just delays action on climate change even further by decades. We just don’t have that kind of time.”

The 2017 scoping plan projected that cap and trade would account for 38% of the state’s emissions reductions. Air board officials have repeatedly said this year’s updated plan will scale back the role of cap and trade. However, it is unclear the weight that cap and trade will have in the new plan.

“We don’t think the scenarios right now are wide enough. They’re not looking at enough possible ways to reach our goals.”
— Kevin Slagle, Western States Petroleum Association

Kevin Slagle, a spokesperson with the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry lobbying group, said oil and gas companies support the state’s move toward renewable energy sources. But he said a too-hasty transition could jeopardize the economy and residents who depend on the fossil fuel industry for jobs.

Instead, he said the air board should abandon all four options and develop a new one that ​​relies more heavily on the carbon market, including cap and trade, to achieve carbon neutrality in the “most cost-effective manner.”

“We don’t think the scenarios right now are wide enough. They’re not looking at enough possible ways to reach our goals,” he said. “There’s a lot of significant issues that have to be studied and understood before you can really just bet on an all-electric future.”

About 152,000 Californians work in the oil and gas industry and an additional 366,000 others have careers whose jobs depend on the industry, according to a 2019 report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. The industry in California contributes $152 billion yearly to the economy, the report shows.

Air board officials project that the job losses would have a minimal impact on the state’s economy — about 80,000 fewer jobs in the fossil fuel industry in 2035 and 120,000 fewer in 2045. The state’s employment sector is still likely to grow from 23.5 million jobs in 2021 to 27.7 million jobs in 2045.

The Air Resources Board “is so focused on economics that they’re just basically willing to continue to sacrifice environmental justice communities.”
— Catherine Garoupa White, Environmental Justice Advisory Committee

Daniel Sperling, a member of the Air Resources Board and founding director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, said the oil industry can avoid economic losses by transitioning to cleaner technologies and sources such as hydrogen, biofuels and carbon capture.

“They are a powerful economic force. They employ many people. They play a big role in California’s economy. That’s our challenge – to guide the industry in the least disruptive way to a low carbon future,” he said.

Catherine Garoupa White, a member of the state’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, which advises the board on the scoping plan, said the Air Resources Board “is so focused on economics that they’re just logiesbasically willing to continue to sacrifice environmental justice communities.”

Despite the pushback from environmentalists, Sperling said the proposed scenario is still a “very aggressive” strategy to reduce emissions.

“There’s never going to be a scenario that makes everyone happy,” he said. “At the end of the day, the scoping plan is just a plan – it’s not codifying any rules or any new laws. We need to move on to start thinking about exactly what actions we shall take in terms of incentives and regulations.”

###

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

More than a year after leaving office, former President Donald Trump still looms large over the Republican Party across the country. Seeking to maintain the fierce devotion of GOP voters as he eyes another presidential run in 2024, Trump continues to hold regular campaign rallies that draw thousands of attendees, while his endorsements are scrambling races from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Georgia as he attempts to play kingmaker in crucial primaries.

Not so much in California.

Even as Republican hopefuls in other states compete to prove which of them is most closely aligned to Trump and his agenda, his name is all but absent from campaigns for governor and other statewide offices in California, where he won less than a third of the vote in 2016 and only slightly more in 2020. False claims that he was robbed of a second term through election fraud no longer abound here.

In a handful of potentially competitive races, perhaps the GOP’s best opportunities to snap a losing streak for statewide office that stretches back to 2006, some major candidates are even distancing themselves from Trump and refusing to say whether they voted for the former president.

The strategy suggests their campaigns, before the June primary has even taken place, are already looking beyond the conservative base to appeal to a broader electorate in the November election. That might get a politician chased out of Texas for disloyalty, but it hasn’t caused much of a stir among California Republicans.

Several publicly ambivalent candidates won the state party endorsement at its convention in Anaheim last weekend, in one case over a more pointedly Trump-aligned competitor. The former president’s greatest displays of support were stray memorabilia for sale at vendor booths and a few shout-outs in candidate forums.

Jim Brulte, a former chairperson for the state party, said GOP candidates have no need to cling to Trump because they have a better message to sell to voters this year about the failures of Democratic President Joe Biden.

“If Democrats want to make this election about Donald Trump, I’m happy to have that argument,” he said. “When Donald Trump was president, we had lower oil prices, lower gas prices, we had relatively little or no inflation.”

That’s not to suggest that enthusiasm for Trump has somehow evaporated in California. Republicans, despite representing a shrinking minority of the electorate, still number more than 5 million across the state, and many of them adore the former president.

“We support President Trump, and we support everything that he stands for,” Randall Jordan, chairperson of the Tea Party California Caucus, said at the convention. “We’re hoping that either he runs again, or we have another strong candidate for 2024.”

Days after audio leaked of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield telling a group of Republican leaders that he would push Trump to resign following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, McCarthy appeared to be in minor damage control mode during his convention keynote address on Saturday evening, when he suggested that Trump should have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Republicans hoping for victory in deep blue California nonetheless must strike a careful balance. Trump remains overwhelmingly unpopular across most of the state and Democrats have been able to capitalize on that toxic brand.

Assemblymember Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, a former leader of the Assembly Republican caucus who later left the party because of Trump, said GOP candidates who are distancing themselves from the former president without fully denouncing his attacks on the 2020 election are displaying political cowardice, not courage. Many of them reject Trumpism in private, he said, but won’t go that far in public because they fear losing conservative voters.

“It’s not enough to be quiet. Republicans have to outright reject that behavior,” Mayes said. “You’re playing politics with the fundamentals of our democracy.”

During the recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, conservative talk radio host Larry Elder galvanized Republican voters by railing against the governor’s coronavirus mandates and other liberal policies in the state. Then Newsom successfully flipped the approach on Elder, hammering him in ads and at campaign events as “the most Trump of the candidates” and “even more extreme than Trump.” Newsom ultimately defeated the recall by nearly the same massive margin as he won the governorship in 2018; Elder passed on a rematch this year.

Newsom seems eager to replicate the strategy. On a Zoom call with campaign volunteers Tuesday, he accused Brian Dahle, who received the Republican Party endorsement for governor and is his most likely challenger this fall, of supporting the Jan. 6 attack and refusing to publicly acknowledge that Biden won the presidency.

“This guy is Trump through and through,” Newsom said.

A state senator and seed farmer from rural Northern California, Dahle once spoke at a Trump rally in Redding in June 2016, declaring the region “Trump country.” This campaign, he is much more circumspect.

Dahle has politely expressed that he would support Trump if he is the Republican nominee for president again in 2024 and then quickly shifted to a critique of Newsom’s record. He has heavily touted his bipartisan credentials, telling CalMatters that he would be a better partner to Democratic lawmakers at the Capitol than Newsom has been.

Dahle shrugged off Newsom’s criticisms Tuesday, slamming the governor for trying to “distract, deflect, deny” as “every civic institution in California crumbles.” In a statement, he said there was an active investigation into Jan. 6 and “people who violated the law should be prosecuted, those who were exercising their free speech rights should be protected.”

But he notably did not affirm the 2020 election results, even after CalMatters pushed his team to clarify Dahle’s position on Trump’s conspiracy theory about widespread voting fraud. In a TV interview a day later, he said: “Joe Biden is our president, no doubt.”

Jenny Rae Le Roux, a Republican business owner who has raised more money than any candidate running against Newsom other than Dahle, does not appear to have made any public statements about Trump, though she recently announced that his former political director, Chris Carr, would serve as a senior adviser to her campaign.

Republicans in California can afford to be less deferential because the state is largely off Trump’s radar. He has endorsed in more than 140 races this year, according to the election tracking website Ballotpedia, but none in California.

So while the U.S. Senate campaign in Ohio, for example, has devolved into a slugfest over Trump’s endorsement, there is more room in California for a candidate like Shawn Collins, a Navy veteran and lawyer who finished third in the state party gubernatorial endorsement vote, ahead of Le Roux.

Collins told CalMatters that he did not vote for Trump — or Biden, whom he confirmed is the “legitimately elected president” — in 2020.

In an interview earlier this month, Collins said he “loved a lot of the things that Donald Trump was doing,” including signing a bill to reduce some federal criminal sentences that “was one of the most significant pieces of legislation for Black and brown people since the Civil Rights Act.” But he said Trump’s messaging on issues such as election fraud undermined his accomplishments and made it difficult to mark his name on the ballot.

“I left it blank,” Collins said. “I was just torn on it.”

Collins, who is Black, said he is running for governor to build a bigger tent for the Republican Party, with a message of family values, faith and fiscal conservatism that he believes will appeal to minority communities. He said he was most frustrated that the “California GOP has kind of hitched its wagon to the national message” at the expense of offering solutions to problems more relevant to Californians’ lives. Arguments over voter fraud, he added, are discouraging the conservative base from turning out for elections.

“We need to create our own brand of the GOP out here in California,” he said. “We’re not doing a very good job of offering an alternative.”

Republicans’ best shot at statewide office this year may be Lanhee Chen, who is running for controller pledging to act as an independent fiscal watchdog for the state and who has raised more money than any other Republican statewide candidate. A former political adviser to 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Chen has repeatedly declined to say whether he voted for Trump, including during an interview this month with CalMatters.

Chen condemned what happened on Jan. 6 as an “abomination” and an “attack on democracy,” said those involved “should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” and declared that Biden was “legitimately elected as the president of the United States. I don’t have any question or qualm about that.”

Still, he dodged several direct questions about his support for Trump, emphasizing his “capacity for independent thought” from his party. “I didn’t serve in his administration. I was not asked, nor did I seek to serve in this administration,” Chen said. “There is a[n] overwhelming interest in looking backwards rather than forwards. And I think the future of the state will not be defined by former President Trump.”

Despite that, Chen was warmly received at the state party convention. His candidate booth saw a constant flurry of activity throughout the weekend, which ended with delegates endorsing his candidacy.

Party activists also backed Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who identifies with the “hard middle” of the political spectrum, over Eric Early, a vocal Trump supporter who vows to investigate California elections, in the race for attorney general.

Conservatives hope that rising anxiety over crime could sweep Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta out of office, and Hochman has played his campaign extremely cautiously in a bid for crossover appeal, refusing to take a position on numerous controversial issues.

He, too, repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether he voted for Trump in an interview with CalMatters this month. Hochman said voter privacy is “one of your sacred fundamental rights” and whether he supported the former president did not matter because it would not affect how we would enforce the law as attorney general.

“When people use Trump…Trump is a placeholder for a series of actions, policies, and statements,” Hochman said. “Trump’s not on the ballot.”

###

CalMatters reporter Sameea Kamal contributed to this story. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Sharon Loyce Aslanian
March 8, 1952 – April 22, 2022

Sharon L. Aslanian, 70, passed away peacefully at home after a courageous five-year battle with Corticobasal Syndrome.

While the two wouldn’t meet until some twenty years later, Sharon was born in the same hospital in Salinas, California as her husband, Greg. She was raised and spent most of her childhood in Southern California living in Ojai, La Jolla and Poway. Sharon and Greg met and fell in love after Sharon’s family moved to Salinas in 1970. In 1978 they were married on the shores of Lake Tahoe then moved to Truckee, California fulfilling Sharon’s lifelong dream of living in the mountains where they raised their three daughters, Adria, Amber and Danielle.

While raising their family, Sharon also worked as a children’s ski instructor and later ran a licensed children’s day care out of their home. Her passion for working with children led her to return to school to become a teacher. She began this process at the University of Nevada, Reno. In 1990 Sharon and her family moved to Humboldt County where Sharon completed her education at Humboldt State University (HSU), earning her elementary teaching credential in 1995. She was hired the following year to teach fourth grade at Marshall Elementary School.

During her time with Eureka City School District Sharon worked at Marshall, Lincoln and Grant Elementary Schools. After retiring in 2009 she supervised student teachers through HSU. She was also a member of the Fieldbrook Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary.

Sharon was an exceptional woman whose beauty and kindness always stood out. She was selfless in her love of friends and family. Her strength in the face of adversity was ever present in her life. Her strength when joined with her life-long love, Greg, became an unbreakable bond that lasted through to her final day. Family and friends will always see Sharon as an incredibly capable woman who pursued her passion as a teacher, a mother, a grandmother and as a devoted wife. You could pull into the Aslanian home almost anytime and see Sharon and Greg gardening, cooking, baking, hosting dinner parties or creating something beautiful. Together they cared for others in a way that exemplifies service, including caring for Sharon’s mother in the final years of her life. The traditions and values Sharon instilled in her family will last for generations, as will her legacy of strength.

Sharon’s greatest pleasure was traveling and spending time with her daughters and granddaughters, Amara Gomez-Aslanian and Ayla Aslanian-Ryon. The family would like to convey their appreciation to the many people who supported and cared for Sharon throughout her challenging journey and all the incredible staff at Hospice of Humboldt.

Friends and family are invited to join in the celebration of Sharon’s life on July 23, 2022. For more information and to RSVP visit www.CelebrateSharonAslanian.com.

Those wishing to contribute to Sharon’s memory are asked to make donations to Eureka City Schools Early Childhood Literacy or Hospice of Humboldt. For more information or to donate visit www.CelebrateSharonAslanian.com/donations.

###

Patricia (Pat) Ann Reimonenq of Alhambra, California, passed away Monday, April 11, 2022 in her home in Eureka, 18 days shy of her 82nd birthday. She is preceded in death by her parents, James Barton of Hinckley, Ohio and Evelyn Harper of St. Catharines, Ontario; and her son Edward (Eddie) Nelson of West Covina, California. She is survived by her husband and the love of her life, Lee Reimonenq of New Orleans, Louisiana; brother, Bill Barton of Alhambra, California; daughters Suzan Matthews of Arcadia, California and Kristen Nelson of West Covina, California; granddaughter Rowan Baker of Eureka; and grandsons Christopher and Jeoffry Matthews of Upland, California.

Pat was many things over the course of her life: skilled florist, compassionate saleswoman, accomplished realtor, lifelong learner, avid church goer, sharp-witted joker, formidable poker player, attentive homemaker, and rebellious “motorcycle mama,” to name a few. However, it was Pat’s capacity to give that defined her life.

As a mother, grandmother, and wife, she allowed her family the privilege of never knowing the burden of cooking, cleaning, gardening, and bookkeeping from dawn to dusk, and usually even a little bit later. Every birthday, holiday, and minuscule achievement merited an elaborate celebration, or at the very least, a congratulatory card. As a friend, phone calls and online scrabble games kept lifelong friendships alive, even from hundreds of miles apart. As realtor, she worked tirelessly with immigrant and single-mother clients that her counterparts refused to help, making lifelong friends in the process. As a member of the Eureka United Methodist Church, she made weekly flower arrangements for the altar from her garden and never missed the opportunity to crochet a scarf or hat for those in need. And as a community member, she offered what little she had to her favorite charities and organizations, such as the Sequoia Park Zoo, the Sequoia Humane Society, and the Audubon Society.

To those who had the honor of knowing her, Pat’s love and generosity made all the difference in the world. She certainly died knowing that she made that difference.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Sequoia Humane Society.

###

Doris Gail Lunsford went home to her Lord and Savior on April 22, 2022.

She was the fifth child born to Herman and Velva Lunsford on April 11, 1949 in Fresno.

She attended school in McKinleyville from elementary to high school and then to College of the Redwoods. She was a member of New Hope Church of God.

She loved playing Bingo, counting Egrets (“Praise the Lord” birds) by the road on the way to Eureka, playing the accordion, listening to music, singing, camping and fishing, coloring, saying “Bubba Don’t!”, watching Wagon Train and Family Feud, playing games, visiting with and talking to her numerous friends and family.

She faced multiple health adversities with amazing fortitude.

She was preceded in death by her daughter Frances Elizabeth Darling.

She is survived by her daughter Maria Lanette Gomes, her grandson, Justin Smith, as well as her brothers; Herman & Juanita Lunsford, Kenneth & Marilyn Lunsford, Douglas Lunsford, Jonathan & Patty Lunsford, Carson & Carol Lunsford, Bradley Lunsford plus her sisters; Katherine Fulton, Sharon Cain, Linda Trimm, Irene & Jim Hopkins along with numerous nieces and nephews with many bonus kids and grandkids.

Memorial Services to be held at New Hope Church of God, 2022 Sutter Rd. McKinleyville on Saturday April 30, 2022 at 1 p.m. Potluck to follow.

###

PREVIOUSLY: Two Fishermen Missing on Humboldt Bay; Coast Guard Conducts Search Overnight

# # #

The Coast Guard has announced it has ended its search Scott and Josh Arbaugh, a father and son who went missing while fishing Tuesday evening.

More from Coast Guard officials below:

The Coast Guard suspended its active search for two overdue boaters near Humboldt Bay, Wednesday evening.

Missing is 68-year-old Scott Arbaugh and his son, 49-year-old Josh Arbaugh.

Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews, Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay 29-foot Response Boat-Small crews and Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento C-27 Spartan aircrews, with assistance from Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Eureka Police Department, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other good Samaritans searched. Cumulatively, crews searched 247 square miles over 54 hours with no signs of the missing men.

Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay command center watchstanders were notified at 8:48 p.m. Tuesday by the missing men’s family, reporting that the two men had launched their 16-foot boat late Tuesday morning from Fields Landing to test their motor.

Watchstanders directed the launch of the Air Station Humboldt Bay helicopter crew and Station Humboldt Bay boat crew at 8:50 p.m.

At 11:52 p.m. the helicopter crew located the missing boat, partially submerged approximately half a mile northeast of King Salmon with no signs of occupants.

The Coast Guard crews, Humboldt Bay Sheriff’s Office, Department of Fish and Wildlife and Humboldt Bay Fire continued their search through Wednesday.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.