Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that left two injured last night in McKinleyville.

On Sept. 27, 2021, at about 9:15 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a sports bar on the 1600 block of Central Avenue for the report of a shooting.

Prior to deputies’ arrival, a 49-year-old male victim was transported to a local hospital with gunshot wounds to the arm. He is expected to survive his injuries.

Deputies arrived on scene and located the reported suspect, a 54-year-old male, who had serious injuries to his face. The male was transported to an out of area hospital where he is in critical condition.

Through further investigation, deputies learned that the suspect approached the victim inside the bar and began shooting at the victim. Bystanders inside the bar subdued the suspect, detaining him until peace officers’ arrival. At some point during this incident, the suspect also received serious injuries. No other patrons of the bar were injured as a result of this incident. The relationship between the suspect and victim is unknown and currently under investigation at this time.

Due to the pending investigation and serious nature of his injuries, the suspect has not been arrested at this time and his identity is being withheld.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division is investigating this incident.

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. 

Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department Department:

At about 6:30 p.m. on September 25, Hoopa Valley Tribal Police received a call for service at the Hoopa Valley Tribal Cemetery for the report of a nude female standing next to a fire, which was out of control.

Emilee Risling | HCSO

When the officers arrived, they saw 32-year-old Emilee Risling, who was nude next to the fire. They immediately detained her and requested Hoopa Wildland Fire’s response.

After Hoopa Wildland Fire personnel extinguished the fire, police officers arrested Risling and booked her into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on arson and indecent exposure charges. Hoopa Valley Tribal Police will be requesting prosecution by the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office.

Any community member whose loved one’s grave site sustained damage during this incident please contact Hoopa Valley Tribal Police (phone 530-625-4202) with your information. We take very seriously hurtful and disrespectful acts of this nature against the Hoopa Valley Tribe and our community.

In August, Christopher Rodriguez phoned into an online meeting of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, the 14 volunteers who will draw new congressional and legislative maps that will be used for the next decade.

Rodriguez argued that no matter how the commission determines the state’s 52 congressional districts, Camp Pendleton, the sprawling Marine Corps base in north San Diego County, should be grouped together with the nearby cities of Fallbrook and Oceanside to keep “our military population together.”

If necessary, he argued, the commission should jettison cities farther down the coast, including Del Mar and Encinitas, which are “just completely foreign to us here in North County. They don’t come up here, we don’t go down there.”

Rodriguez introduced himself as “small business owner,” a “Marine Corp combat veteran” and “a father of seven.”He neglected to mention that he’s also an Oceanside city council member — and a Republican running for Congress in 2022 whose prospects could be buoyed by a district that is anchored around the Marine base and his hometown and that excludes the Democratic areas to the south. The current 49th District, represented by Democrat Mike Levin, is 36% Democratic and 33% Republican by voter registration, but the San Diego County portion is about 38% Democratic.

Rodriguez said that his motivation was to advocate for the shared interests of the military communities, and that he was “absolutely” not factoring in his campaign prospects. “Running for office, and being a public servant as a city council member, is completely irrelevant,” he said.

A tight timeline

Since March, the commission has been hearing public testimony on which “communities of interest” to unite in legislative or congressional districts — and which to partition into political irrelevance. It requires arbitrating the competing demands of myriad ethnic, economic and political interests across the nation’s most diverse state.

The full commission meets today and Wednesday in Sacramento. It has until Dec. 27 to submit the final congressional and legislative maps to the secretary of state, the state Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 22. The panel had asked for an extension until Jan. 14, due to the delays in getting the required data from the U.S. Census. But the court-ordered schedule keeps the June 2022 primary on track, as does a scheduling bill signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The stakes are especially high in the northern San Joaquin Valley, the northern Los Angeles suburbs and Orange and north San Diego counties — the sites of California’s most hotly contested congressional races.

Though the commission is prohibited from considering the electoral interests of elected officials, candidates or political parties, there’s nothing that bars any of those players from trying to influence the decisions, nor any laws or rules requiring public commenters to list potential conflicts of interest.

But not disclosing a personal stake may cross an ethical line, said Jessica Levinson, a former member of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission and now a Loyola Law School professor.

“It’s good to hear from the parties about how the lines would benefit and harm them, but we kind of want to know who is speaking to us,” she said. “Knowing who the messenger is allows us to evaluate the message.”

Sara Sadhwani, chairperson of the California Citizens Redistricting Commisssion. Photo courtesy of the commission

Sara Sadhwani, the commission’s chairperson, said while more disclosure could be helpful, rules set by voters in the ballot measure that created the panel don’t require speakers to detail any partisan affiliations.

“We very much take our commitment to the process seriously, to ensure whoever wants to call in can,” she told CalMatters. “And we recognize that some of those might be candidates or people representing those candidates, even if they don’t acknowledge their connection. At the end of the day, the key piece for us is ensuring all Californians have a chance to weigh in.”

Sadhwani said the commission does receive input that appears coordinated — all basically repeating the same point — but said she and other commissioners don’t give those arguments any more weight than ones from a lone caller.

“We’re keeping our eyes open for some of those smaller voices that might otherwise get drowned out by these louder coordinated efforts,” she said.

“We very much take our commitment to the process seriously, to ensure whoever wants to call in can. And we recognize that some of those might be candidates or people representing those candidates, even if they don’t acknowledge their connection.”
— Sara Sadhwani, California Redistricting Commission Chairperson

Hiding true identities?

There have already been numerous examples of citizens failing to mention their partisan affiliations while making recommendations to the redistricting commission couched in nonpartisan language.

On Sept. 18, Ada Briceño, who called herself a “labor organizer” from Stanton, urged the commission to put the “very different communities” of north and south coastal Orange County into different districts.

“North Orange County, where I live, is the home to immigrants from around the world,” she said. “South Orange County reflects more of the wealthy, large beachfront homes that most people see on TV.”

Only especially politically plugged-in listeners — or those with the spare time to play detective — would know that Briceño is chairperson of the Orange County Democratic Party.

Ada Briceño, chairperson of the Democratic Party of Orange County. Photo courtesy of the party

Asked why she didn’t disclose that, Briceño said her party role isn’t relevant. What is relevant, she said, is her 25 years as a leader with UNITE HERE 11 and as an organizer in Anaheim’s redistricting in 2015 and 2016, as the city transitioned from at-large to district elections.

“I feel like those are hats that I hold that are really ingrained and very cemented,” she said. “I just felt that it was critical that if I have a little bit of time to speak, I feel that it is crucial to highlight those issues.”

Also in the Sept. 18 hearing, two callers who only gave their first names took the opposite position from Briceño.

“The environmental issues facing the beaches of Orange County are unique enough to Orange County to warrant being brought under the control of a single congressional district,” said Austin, who described herself as a Dana Point mother of two with a background in geomorphology.

Unified representation of the coast would be “helpful as we consider climate change and rising sea levels,” added David, a resident of Leisure World Seal Beach.

Both the phone number fragment and the biographical description listed “Austin” match those of Austin Eisner, whose husband Alexander Eisner is a law partner of Shawn Steel, the former chairperson of the California Republican Party. He is married to U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel, who narrowly ousted Democratic incumbent Harley Rouda in November 2020 to represent coastal Orange County. Rouda is running again in 2022, trying to retake his seat in the 48th District, which is currently 33% Democratic and 38% Republican by registration.

Eisner did not respond to requests for comment.

The information provided by “David” suggests that he is David Harlow, chairperson of the Leisure World Republican Club. Harlow confirmed to CalMatters that he had called in, but said it was not on behalf of the Republican Club. “Leisure World is kind of a closed community and everything that we do is how it would affect our community,’” he said.

He said that in hindsight, “maybe I should have said something” about his Republican affiliation. “But I don’t think I’m that important for it to mean anything,” he added.

Taking partisanship out

In 2008, California voters passed Proposition 11, handing the once-in-a-decade task of drawing 40 state Senate and 80 Assembly districts to the independent commission. Two years later, voters added the state’s 53 congressional districts to the commission’s duties.

Its task is more difficult this year because for the first time ever, California lost a U.S. House seat after the 2020 census. Its work may also be more consequential: Democrats hold a slim 220-212 majority in the U.S. House, while Republican-leaning states are gaining seats after the census.

And with Republicans expected to draw districts to their advantage in states they control, in the 2022 election, it’s crucial for Democrats to hold on to all 42 of their congressional seats in California, and maybe flip four GOP-held seats they are targeting, to have much hope of keeping control of the House and Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as speaker.

The California redistricting commission’s members are pulled from applicants winnowed by the state auditor. Current and former elected officials and their staffers, lobbyists, big donors or family members are disqualified. The first eight are randomly selected, and they pick the final six. The panel is split with five Democrats, five Republicans and four members with no party affiliation.

The commission was designed to strip elected officials of the power to draw their own districts, a process full of backroom deals and shrouded in partisanship and secrecy. A growing number of states have adopted this more transparent, more independent process to prevent gerrymandering, though some new commissions have already split into partisan camps.

As early as the California citizen commission’s first redistricting following the 2010 census, it became clear how difficult it is to completely remove politics from the process. As detailed by ProPublica, California Democrats organized a statewide campaign, disguised as grassroots activism, by drafting a small army of advocates, elected leaders and innocuously-named nonprofits to lobby for districts to favor the party.

In response, the commission issued a 2016 report that acknowledged the lobbying, but said it carefully analyzed and evaluated all contributions, and “maintained its absolute independence as citizen representatives for all of California.”

The report said the commission debated having some kind of eligibility criteria, but that proved “largely unnecessary.” It did, however, urge future commissions to discuss potential manipulation of public input.

“This suggestion is not meant to discourage commentary or the mobilization of speakers but simply to point out that it is possible to ‘stack’ testimony or mislead the Commission,” the report says.

Current commission chairperson Sadhwani, a Los Angeles County Democrat who is an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College, said some of the safeguards in the process include that all conversations about redistricting must be open to the public, and that all comments are available in a public database. She also said the commission will post each proposal weekly so the public can see the maps.

Despite the potential pitfalls, public participation is a key selling point for the commission.

“It’s a thousand times better than a dude like me going in to meet with the state’s top elected leaders smoking cigars and drawing lines,” said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., which provides voter tracking services to both Democratic and Republican campaigns.

“The most important thing is for the commission to have a clear set of standards and values,” he added. “If you have good footing as to what you want to achieve in the redistricting process and what kind of values you have, it’s hard for someone to trick you into drawing bad maps.”

###

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

Carole Ann Marie Morgal passed away peacefully in her sleep August 29, 2021, after a fast, yet brutal, battle with ovarian cancer. She was just 44 years old.

Carole was born prematurely to parents Richard Frederick Morgal and Mari-Lynn Irene in Huntington Beach. Her father took many photos of Carole during her first year of her life with his brand-new camera. Carole was not interested in smiling for the camera, so her dad had a huge collection of photos with everything but a smile. For this reason, he nicknamed her “The Curmudgeon.” Then when Carole was barely a year old, he lost his own battle with skin cancer. When Carole was four years old, her mother, Mari, passed away from respiratory issues, and Carole ended up living with her aunt, uncle and cousins.

Carole’s childhood was filled with many activities. From the age of 5 until 18 she participated in Camp Fire Boys and Girls. This is where she learned to be an excellent crafter using found objects. She enjoyed mentoring the younger kids and teaching them how to create things. Carole attended Lakewood High School for her first three years, where she played soccer, volleyball, was in drama, and took honors classes. After her junior year, Carole moved to Bend, Oregon to finish her senior year at Redmond High School. After high school Carole furthered her education at Humboldt State University. She majored in journalism and quickly started working at KRFH – “Radio Free Humboldt.”

After college Carole moved to Cologne, Germany for two years. When she came back to the states, she moved to Leucadia to be near her brother, Richard, and that is where she met her future husband, “Ric.”

Carole left Southern California and returned to Humboldt, and Ric followed shortly after.

In 2006 Carole Ann was hired by Patrick Cleary at Lost Coast Communications to be the first live DJ on KWPT The Point. Carole poured her full self into it.

Carole was determined to get the station’s name out into the community, so she designed crazy parade floats (single-handedly, in her off time, from her garage), with live bands playing music for the Rhododendron Parades for many years, along with crazy costumes that she created as well. She participated in many different community events, such as Pastels on the Plaza, where she would knock out amazing artwork of outstanding classic rock artists, or the Shuck and Swallow oyster-eating contest. She built sand sculptures for Friends of the Dunes. Over the years, she created a lot of art and creatures including rock and roll Gnomes, Christmas oddities and she added more events each year. Carole also invented the Food for Fido event on The Point radio station, which was a fundraiser for local animal causes and agencies in Humboldt. She was a huge fan of all animals, big and small. Really the only animals she did not enjoy were snakes and wild rodents.

Carole was extremely intelligent but rarely boastful. Her often mismatched socks in color or length was by personal preference. She was tenacious, and rarely left any project unfinished. If you were a true friend of Carole’s, she was loyally in your corner forever. And if you crossed her, you would likely end up in the other category, with no hope of ever exiting.

Carole could find treasure in many of the local thrift stores and upcycle it with all sorts of doodads, hot glue and glitter. Many trophies were made by Carole for her coworkers and for the local bands of the Classic Cover contest that she created to get live and local music onto her classic rock station.

Carole and Ric were married in May of 2011 in an intimate outdoor wedding overlooking the ocean in San Diego, with just a few friends and family present.

Carole became the programming director for all four radio stations at LCCI. The vision, innovation and tireless creative energy that transformed The Point made her perfect for the new position.

Carole was always a great cook. She was also very giving and generous to marginalized and handicapped people. During the holidays she would often cook larger meals to include extra guests at her home. During the pandemic, she and her best friend Kelly began baking together via Zoom. Occasionally family and friends would get together over Zoom for game and trivia nights.

There was one more game night after Carole and Ric went to San Diego to receive treatment for cancer in June. No one knew they would be saying goodbye to her before the end of August.

Carole Ann was preceded in death by her father, Richard; her mother, Mari; grandfather Paul and grandmother Dorothy. She is survived by her husband, Ric; her brother, Richard; nephew, Jasper; many cousins, aunts and uncles; and her two sweet cats, Nigel and Maggie.

There will be a Celebration of Life and spreading of her ashes at a yet to be determined date. Carole loved the Redwoods and the river, and it will be near them that we will gather when it is safe to do so.

Carole Ann’s husband is now left with all the medical bills. If anyone wishes to donate, a GoFundMe page link is here. Also, if you wish to listen to a 10-minute audio snippet from Carole’s tribute day on The Point radio station and a photo sampling of the art and creatures she made, visit the KWPT The Point Facebook page.

###

Ed. note:

We at the Lost Coast Outpost — KWPT’s sister site on the Internet — worked with Carole Ann for the last 10 years and some, and we just want to say that it’s hard to imagine the company without her energy, without her bugged-out eyes and her aggrieved outrage at the world’s injustice — to The Point, to classic rock in general and to herself in particular. It was the fuel that fed her remarkable furnace.

She could laugh at herself as easily as she could laugh at you, and that made her a very fun person to be around at company-wide meetings and holiday parties and the like. We will miss her very much.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Carole Ann Morgal’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Brenda Mitchell Swenson was born July 10, 1966 and passed away unexpectedly on August 20, 2021.

Brenda grew up in the Hoopa Valley and lived there all her life. She was proud to be a Hoopa Tribal member. She attended Hoopa Elementary and Hoopa High School. As a young girl she spent many hours at the Trinity River with her siblings and mother. They also spent many summers camping at Fish Lake and Whiskeytown Lake.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Thelma and Gary Mitchell; her daughter, Angelina; her son, Mike, sister, Lisa Mitchell; brother Jimmy Mitchel; nephew, Peter Stewart and grandparents Peter and Grace Masten.

She is survived by her husband Walter Swenson, son, Gary Blacksmith, grandson KC Canez, brother, Richard Stewart, nephews, Gary, Milton, Gordon, Keenan and Richie Stewart, Aiden, Vincent, Michael Mitchell-Ammon and niece Samantha Mitchell- Ammon and many cousins.

Funeral arrangements were with Paul’s Chapel in Arcata. A graveside service at the Hoopa Cemetery will be held on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 12 p.m. Due to COVID, there will not be a gathering after the internment.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Brenda Swenson’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Eric John Selser was born in San Jose on November 24, 1970. Cancer took his life, and he passed away at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka on August 27, 2021.

Eric was a lifelong resident of Humboldt County and proud of it. He loved the 49ers and was usually wearing their colors. He was an avid outdoorsman. He loved fishing, camping, river trips, swimming and mycology. He had the greenest thumb and was a fantastic gardener and landscaper. Eric was very active and regularly could be seen riding his bike all over Old Town Eureka, or roller skating/rollerblading, often singing loudly while doing so. He was passionate about music.

At home, he loved to annoy his mom by belting out Pink Floyd at the top of his lungs, repeatedly and often. Eric’s cooking and baking skills were always appreciated by his family as he was quite the home chef, and he cooked for his busy mom several nights a week. Eric was a natural artist, dancer and singer, getting paid to design logos, entertaining family and friends by break dancing, and constantly singing until throat cancer took his voice. He also loved fireworks and would make his own “boom booms” for Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve every year.

Eric was a bit of a troublemaker in his teenage years but got back on track and graduated with honors from Boonville High School in 1988. At 18, Eric loved and helped raise his former girlfriend Shellie Johnston’s son, Joshua Johnston. He never stopped loving them even after their little family parted ways 13 years later.

Quoted from his sister Melissa’s Instagram: “He was a weed smokin’, Pink Floyd lovin’, rule breakin’ wild man. He taught me how to fish, and how to scramble on rocks at the river. You’d never catch him without a 49ers hat on. Roller skating or riding his bike to Old Town for a festival. He played music too loud and sang too loud and pissed people off a lot. I loved his handwriting, and he was a great artist. Full of facts, smart and a smart-ass. He had only one tattoo that read “I Mom.” He died at 50 but lived 100 lives. I’ll miss him so much.”

We will miss him so much.

Eric is survived by his mother Kasha Burton, his father John Selser, his sisters Laura Trevino and Melissa Frei, his nephews Kem Prochko and Mason Trevino, his aunts Loree Adkins and Elizabeth Salisbury, his cousins Martin Delamater, Kevin Salisbury and James Salisbury, and his “father from a previous life” Jerry Basist.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in the name of Eric Selser to the American Cancer Society. A private family celebration of life was held on September 11, 2021.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Eric Selser’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Bradley Zimmer hit a homer off his brother Kyle Zimmer.

Baseball is the best. pic.twitter.com/lP6aukIZyJ

— MLB (@MLB) September 27, 2021

All Humboldt Crabs are brothers but not all brothers are good enough to be Humboldt Crabs.

Former Crab and current pro for Cleveland’s MLB team Bradley Zimmer hit a solo home run against his brother, Kansas City Royals pitcher Kyle Zimmer this afternoon.

Both brothers played their college ball at the University of San Francisco. But unlike his older brother, 28-year-old Bradley Zimmer spent his college offseason playing outfield for your Humboldt Crabs in 2012.

That same year, Kyle Zimmer was taken fifth overall in the 2012 MLB Draft. In 2014 Bradley Zimmer was drafted 21st overall in the MLB Draft, but beat his brother to the pros and saw his first big-league action in 2017. Kyle Zimmer was eventually called up by the Royals in 2019.

This wasn’t the duo’s first time facing off in the MLB, but Bradley Zimmer got the best of his bro this afternoon and helped lead Cleveland to an 8-3 victory.

Zimmer roughhousing with his brother on the field in August. | MLB

This year, Bradley Zimmer has a .228 batting average with 8 home runs, 31 RBIs, 42 runs and 13 stolen bases in 94 games played for Cleveland. His brother, meanwhile, has a record of 4-1, with a 5.12 ERA, 44 strikeouts and 2 saves in 50 games with the Royals.

The home run was Kyle Zimmer’s seventh surrendered home run of the season.

###

PREVIOUSLY: (VIDEO) Former Humboldt Crab Blasts First Home Run in Second MLB Game