UPDATE: After this post was published, College of the Redwoods issued a prepared statement, which you can read here. Contractor Flying U Rodeo and the Humboldt County Fair Association issued statements as well. They can both be found here.

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Original post:

Attendees in the grandstands of the Humboldt County Fairgrounds were horrified Saturday afternoon after witnessing two bucking broncos suffer broken legs during the “Outlaw Rodeo College Invitational,” according to witnesses interviewed by the Outpost.

“It was absolutely horrible,” Eureka resident Krista Catlett said when reached by phone Sunday morning. “I’ve been to so many rodeos, went to the PBR [Professional Bull Riders] finals in Las Vegas three or four times, and I’ve never witnessed anything like this before. I don’t understand.”

The injuries occurred during the bucking bronc event, in which riders try to remain in the saddle for eight seconds while the horses rear, spin and buck in an effort to dislodge them.

“A couple of horses ran, and then this big red one — a beautiful red horse — came out,” Catlett recalled. “It was just bucking, trying to get rider off its back and the cinch out of its flank. It came down on a back foot and just snapped his ankle. And it was horrible because the show continued, but the people around us knew what had happened.”

She said a man brought a horse trailer onto the field and somehow managed to coax the injured animal inside. But rather than getting driven off, the trailer remained onsite for a while.

“It was weird,” Catlett said. “The trailer was just sitting there. It was black and it had ‘Wrangler’ written on the side. I don’t know. Maybe they had medication [inside] and they’d already put it down.”

When the second horse broke its leg, Catlett was hiding her eyes behind her hands, she said. To her, all of the horses in the event seemed unusually agitated from the get-go. 

“They were, like, angry,” she said. “Wild. Even while they were back in the holding area, they were rearing up, bucking, kicking — almost trying to get out of this holding pen. … Maybe they had [the horses] cinched too tight, but ‘wild’ isn’t even a good word. They just kept sitting, rearing, pawing. …Every horse that came out of that chute took off full force and just bucked or rolled, ended up on ground or hit the rail. … I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

When she removed her hands from in front of her face, she looked up and saw another horse with a broken leg. 

“It was still trying to buck, and the announcer was saying, ‘Everything’s going to be OK,’ but the stands were emptying,” Catlett said. “People were just leaving. … Girls were just crying everywhere. One girl, over by Cook’s Barbecue, was just sobbing. It was horrendous. Just awful.”

People commenting on Facebook agreed that things looked dangerous even before the injuries happened.

“The way they were kicking rolling and moving just was not right,” one woman wrote. “They were slamming into fences. Falling multiple times. … I would’ve stopped the event within the first few riders. And they didn’t. Devastating. An accident is a one off. Negligence is watching a nightmare unfold and not stopping it.”

The Outpost interviewed another witness to the event, who asked to remain anonymous. We’ll use the name Jason. He sent the following video, which does not include footage of the horses being injured but comes from earlier in the event.

Jason only witnessed the latter horse being injured. He called it a “freak accident” and described the company that organized the event, Marysville-based Flying U Rodeo, as one of the oldest and most professional in the business.

“And believe me when I say they take the utmost care of their animals,” Jason said.

The rider was still in the saddle when the second horse broke its leg, according to Jason, and again, trainers rushed in and managed to load the wounded animal into the back of a trailer. Jason said that what bothered him the most was that the public address announcer told everyone in the stands that the horse would soon be “doctored up and back on the road.”

“You can’t fix a horse’s leg,” he said. “How ignorant for the announcer to just say that. They just lost two horses that they’ll never get back. It’ll be shot, put down and buried.”

Jason said he doesn’t want this double-tragedy “to become some animal-rights thing” or people to start bad-mouthing the rodeo company. But he also said that he thinks maybe the horses being used in the event were too young.

“They probably needed another year before they got out in arena,” he said. “Two other horses could have easily broke their leg the way they were bucking. It was almost as if they didn’t know how to buck.”

The Outpost left a voicemail for Flying U Rodeo and sent an email to the rodeo coaches at College of the Redwoods, which participated in the event. We expect to have more information Monday.

One more video from Jason:

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A supercharged system of warm water off the Pacific Coast threatens to offer a wet and stormy winter. This “super” El Niño is likely to a record-setter, with temperatures already in virtually uncharted territory and months left to continue to climb. Predicting what this super El Niño will do in Northern California is tough but previously strong El Niños — such as 1982-83 and 1997-98 — suggest a likely future: one atmospheric river after another, all winter long. And if it wasn’t already obvious, climate change is likely a significant contributor to the warm ocean temperatures (although El Niño events are a normal weather pattern). Climatologist JP O’Brien joins the program to discuss. 

For more, check out Senator McGuire’s recent townhall on this super El Niño.

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Press release from the incident management team:

Public Information: 530-625-2124
Hours: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
Email: 2026.mp18@firenet.gov
Incident Website: linktr.ee/MilePost18Fire

Acres Burned: 5,202 | Containment: 14% | State Date: 8/7/26 | Personnel: 1,434

Operational Update:

Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped moderate fire activity Friday. Crews made steady progress on the south section to protect the community of Hoopa. They have actively been in the mill creek area to add hose lay, structure protection and sprinklers.

On the eastern perimeter, firefighters began removing hazardous trees along Highway 96 to reduce the threat of roll out and improve safety for firefighters. Crews also continue to find and extinguish scattered pockets of heat along the 96 corridor.  

Aircraft completed a retardant line north of the fire. This will act as a holding feature that the firefighters will use to slow the spread of the fire to the north. Crews worked overnight to strengthen it by using strategic burning actions to burn remaining fuels between the fire’s edge and the retardant line.

A few small spot fires occurred near Big Hill Ridge, but firefighters quickly moved around them to contain the spots. Big Hill Lookout has been wrapped for protection, and a contingency line has been constructed in-between the fire and the lookout should the fire approach.

Dozer crews have been working with resource advisors and have completed a line out to Two-Mile Road. The fire continues to back slowly downslope near Oil Springs Road.  

Weather:

Crews are expected to make steady progress today, supported by rising humidity and cooler temperatures that will temper fire behavior. Increased humidity across the fire area will help fuels be less receptive to fire and stray embers. Cooler temperatures are forecast across the next few days. 

Evacuations:

Orders: HIA-E002A, HIA-E014D.

Warnings: HIA-E001B, HIA-E002B, HIA-E003, HIA-E004, HIA-E006, HIA-E014A, HIA-E014C, HIA-E014E, HIA-E014F.

Closures are subject to change at a moment’s notice. Please check protect.genasys.com for the most up to date alerts.

Road Closures:

Highway 96 remains closed north of Hoopa due to fire activity. Closures are also in place for Hostler Ridge Road, Mill Creek Road and Big Hill Road.

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No one, to my knowledge, has ever noted a resemblance between Berkeley and Ferndale — at least not until recently, when I did.

Here’s how it came about.

I arrived at the U. C. Berkeley campus in the fall of 1964, a freshly minted freshman from a small high school situated in the mountains of Southern California. I was unprepared for the transition.

As someone once said, “U. C. Berkeley, but more than that, you hear it,” and hear it I did, every day on my way to and from class as I passed the tables and talkers arrayed before the campus’s south entrance. There were long-haired Maoists, trying to sell you on Chinese Communism; there were crew-cut Christians, promoting Presbyterianism and other faiths; there were others whose eloquence was beyond me, and whose arcane causes I never understood. But the one I remember best was a full-uniformed member of the American Nazi Party, who always drew a crowd and then sweated under his cap as he fanned the flames of hostility. One day, after I’d left campus, he was chased down Bancroft Avenue by a part of his audience he’d angered too much.

And then the U. C. administration cracked down on the sidewalk speakers, and the Free Speech Movement was born. Now I made my way not past the proselytizers of pedestrians, but past phalanxes of police and crowds of protesting demonstrators. I saw college cops drag Mario Savio off the stage of the campus’s Greek theater when he tried to make an announcement over the microphone. I realized that while some speech may be free, for other speech you pay a price.

So what does any of this have to do with Ferndale, you might ask? The answer to that question takes us back ninety-two years, to another time when freedom of speech was an important issue, although in this case it had more to do with freedom of song.

Die Wacht am Eel

The song came from a ranch house in the Sage Road section of the lower Eel River’s so-called “Island”:

Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall … (A call roars like a thunderbolt)

… and continued on for several stanzas, followed by a stirring refrain, the conclusion of which gave the song its name:

Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhein! (Solid Stands, and staunch, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!)

It was an old and popular German patriotic song, sung thousands of upon thousands of times with fervor and feeling, but on this occasion it was sung at the wrong place and the wrong time. It was 1917, not long after America’s entry into World War I, and the location was within earshot of one of the singer’s daughters, Clara Ammer, who thereby heard it.

Heard it and reported it.

What might otherwise have been merely a nostalgic foray into the Volkslieder of the Fatherland became, under the recently passed Espionage Act, a federal offense. Within a few months one of the singers — carpenter, rancher, and naturalized citizen Chris Ammer — was convicted of violating the Act, his singing (which must have been astoundingly stirring) and pro-German statements apparently having the effect of promoting the “success of … [the] enemies” of the United States, which was prohibited by the new law.

Ammer’s alleged antics had come to the attention of authorities in early November of the previous year, when Clara Ammer called the sheriff’s office, “seeking protection for herself and her mother,” after they had fled their home following an argument with Chris Ammer over “his defense of the Kaiser.” Two weeks later, Chris was arrested on two charges of disturbing the peace, such disturbance consisting of using “disloyal language” and having “cursed the Flag, the President, and the country.” Rumors from Ferndale indicated that if Ammer persisted in “his treachery toward the country,” he would be “in danger of rough handling, or worse, at the hands of his neighbors.” Perhaps prompted by the Ammer incident, Ferndalians staged a “grand union patriotic meeting” at the end of the month, during which a “chorus of fifty voices” sang not only the “Star-Spangled Banner,” but also “Proud Flag of the Free” and “Flag of Freedom.”

In January 1918 Ammer pleaded guilty, was fined $200, and was given a ninety-day suspended jail sentence. This resolved his legal difficulties in Humboldt County, but he was about to swim in a bigger pond. In early March a federal grand jury in Sacramento indicted Ammer for violation of the Espionage Act. The Enterprise carried the news on its front page, while just above the masthead the paper ran the exhortation: “Buy War Savings Stamps and Help Swat the Kaiser.” The tone of the Ammer article made it clear that the Enterprise hoped that Chris would be swatted too. While Ammer awaited trail in federal court, he faced additional legal action when his wife Mary sued him for divorce, citing “cruelty” as the basis for ending their thirty-seven-year marriage.

Ammer’s trial was held in the federal court at Eureka in July. Four persons testified against him. The main witness was his daughter, Clara, who repeated the claims she’d made to the county sheriff’s office, adding that her father had also rejoiced “over the defection of Russia,” had sung German songs, including “The Watch on the Rhine,” at a neighbor’s house, and “had driven her from her home because she was active in patriotic work.” Another witness “told of hearing what she believed to be German songs,” while Elizabeth Fulmore “testified about Ammer’s refusal to contribute to the Red Cross.” Found guilty of committing these offenses, Ammer was sentenced to five years in the McNeil Island Penitentiary in the state of Washington.

Ammer had plenty of company. In all, over fifteen hundred Americans were prosecuted for violating the Espionage Act and its subsequent amplification, the Sedition Act, and more than one thousand were convicted. The IWW — Industrial Workers of the World — saw more than one hundred of their leaders brought to trial under the acts; all of them were found guilty, including the well-known Big Bill Haywood, and the “Wobblies” were toppled into torpidity by what amounted to a patriotic purge. Anarchist Emma Goldman also went to prison, as did Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs. Part of Debs’ crime had been denouncing the Espionage Act as undemocratic. When the top Democrat of them all. President Woodrow Wilson, was asked by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer to pardon Debs, Wilson replied “Never!” It was left to Wilson’s successor. Warren G. Harding, to provide the pardon. Meanwhile, Debs polled over 900,000 votes in the 1920 presidential election while still in prison.

Ammer did not suffer the wrath of Wilson as Debs did. In March 1919, the Associated Press reported:

Unduly harsh sentences imposed on a number of persons convicted during the war emergency of violating the espionage act will be corrected from time to time through executive clemency by President Wilson …

To that end, Wilson had just commuted fifty-two sentences and granted a complete pardon in another case. One of the first commutees, as another article reported, was Chris Ammer, whose sentence was reduced from five years to two. He wound up serving only about ten months at McNeil Island. Ammer retained his American citizenship, but it was in Germany that he died in 1937, while there having no doubt heard “Die Wacht am Rhine” to his heart’s content.

The Ammer House still stands today, a 107-year-old, three-story Victorian, complete with a pair of requisite palm trees — the first “butterfat palace,” or “moo mansion,” that you encounter as you approach Ferndale. If you turn right on Sage Road and drive past it you’ll find no monument to Chris’s unsanctioned singing, but you are nonetheless passing one of the battlefields of First Amendment rights, just as Bancroft Avenue in Berkeley — so far from the cows and creameries of Ferndale — was in the 1960s.

“Silence is subversive” — Eric Hoffer

Kathlene S. Rizzo was born November 18, 1953 at the Air Force base in Mountain Home, Idaho to Bonnie Springer and Gerald Schwab. Kathlene was a survivor from the first day she drew a breath. She was a twin, born at just a few pounds in the 50s. Her twin Christine lived only nine days before meeting her Creator. Kathlene was the oldest of six; four sisters and one brother. As a young person Kathlene grew up in New York in the Bronx, lived in New Jersey, and Connecticut with her family.  

Kathlene was 18 when she met her husband Kenny. She left him but kept his name, and traveled the country. Finding herself in a variety of places she found herself doing different jobs including bartending, pulling wire on a construction site, waitressing, and volunteering at homeless shelters and a domestic violence shelter. At age 28 Kathlene had her first and only child, Mara, in Visalia after moving closer to her family. Kathlene was a single mother, providing and supporting Mara on her own with chosen family and close friends. In 2000 Mara moved to Humboldt to go to college and two years later Kathlene left her life in Visalia to move to Humboldt, too. She lived in Eureka until she died at age 72 on August 9, 2026 from pancreatic cancer. 

Kathlene, who died with 37 years of sobriety from drugs and alcohol, spent her life in Humboldt taking care of those she could. She always had time and a bent ear for someone who needed to talk. She knitted hundreds of hats and handed them out to anyone who might ever be cold. In fact, if you are reading this,  you have likely received a hat, scarf, blanket, household item, pair of shoes from Kathlene. She loved to make people laugh, swore like a sailor, had tattoos and a kind eyes. She loved to read, loved listening to and watching the ocean,  and was a regular at coffee shops in Old Town for many years. She regularly took walks down by the bay. Despite many obstacles and difficulties with her health, she persevered with strength. She was a tremendous support to her daughter and taught Mara about being a self-reliant woman. 

Kathlene is preceded by her mother, Bonnie Schwab, and her father, Gerald Schwab.

Kathlene is survived by her daughter Mara and wife Cassie, and their children Augustus and Ezekiel, her very good friend Barbara who she shared more than three decades of friendship, her siblings Lynn Mathias (Delmer), Renee Nanna (Bo), Debbie Sparshott (Steve), Stacy, Jerry and many nieces and nephews. Kathlene’s family is very grateful to Palliative Care and Hospice of Humboldt for caring for Kathlene  in her final weeks.

A private celebration of life will be held in Humboldt. In honor of Kathlene, please consider making a donation to Humboldt Domestic Violence Services. The website to donate is https://www.hdvs.org/

It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of a beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend.

Louis Edward Duncan was born January 3, 1933, in Wakeeney, Kansas.

Louis lived most of his life in Trinidad, where he and his wife, Eva, raised six children. Louis was employed as a senior saw filer for Simpson, Korbel for 40+ years, where he received awards for creating equipment to make work more efficient, which was later patented.

Louis was an avid hunter and fisherman, taking his family on camping adventures and making many fond memories. He was also a master woodworker and made many gifts for family and friends in his retirement. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Eva Jean Duncan; his son, Louis Gene Duncan; and a grandson, Louis “Buddy” Duncan.

Louis is survived by his children, Sherry Thomson, Lois (Gary) O’Neil, Sandra Quinn, Louise Duncan and Dwyane (Ellen) Duncan. His grandchildren, Rob, Ryan, David, Dena, Ronnie, Ray, Melvin, Dwyane “Bear,” Callie, Darcey, Kasey and Selena, as well as several great-grandchildren and many close friends.

The family would like to give special thanks to Gary, Lois, Ronnie and Ashley ONeil for the loving care they gave him this past year. Also to Valerie, Dave and his grandson David Lara for staying with him so he could be at home in his passing.

We will be celebrating a life well lived on September 5, 2026, at Ocean Grove Lodge in Trinidad from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. It will be a potluck, so bring a favorite dish and join us in sharing memories with family and friends.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Mile Post 18 Hoopa - FIRE EVACUATION ORDER 

Effective as of August 14, 2026

Due to fire activity on the Mile Post 18 Hoopa Fire the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has issued an EVACUATION ORDER for the following zone:

HIA-E014-D
Commonly known: Big Hill
NORTH OF Hostler Creek
SOUTH OF Mill Creek
EAST OF Hostler Point
WEST OF Marchel Creek

You must leave immediately. Do not wait. A temporary evacuation point has been established at the Hoopa Neighbor Facility 11860 HWY 96, Hoopa, CA 95546.

Conditions are subject to change at anytime. Please visit protect.genasys.com to view the interactive evacuation map.

For more information regarding the Fire, current impact and evacuation areas, please go to humboldtsheriff.org/emergency, visit Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services or call 707-441-5000.