Kathryn Gay Fusi
May 13, 1924 - Aug. 26, 2021

Kathryn passed peacefully in her sleep after having chosen to end her years of dialysis treatment. As always, she did things her way.

Kathryn known to her friends as Katie or Kate, was born in San Francisco but raised by her divorced mother in Humboldt County. She recalled of moving frequently because her mother loved to decorate and fix up a home. Once one was completed they needed to find another. She recalled that until high school she never attended a school two year in a row. She graduated from Arcata High is 1941.

In 1942 Katie married her high school sweetheart Ralph. Early in their marriage both worked at the Barrel Factory in Arcata, as did most of their lifetime friends. In 1950 they moved to Ferndale to be dairy farmers. They were successful until the flood of 1955 when they lost everything. The family then moved to Arcata, Ralph going to work at Humboldt Flakeboard and Kathryn the homemaker.

She loved her job in the Humboldt State Library Technical Services and was always taking under her wing her student assistants who were far from home. Kathryn studied book binding and manuscript restoration at Capricornus Bookbinders in Berkeley. She made hand bound books and did rare book restorations for private clients.

When she no longer had younger children to take care of she took in children for day care. She was very attached to the children she cared for, following their lives long after they had outgrown her.

When Ralph decided to learn to fly and bought a plane, he insisted she be able to land it if something should happen to him in the air. She went to CR Ground School with him and did simulator training. Luckily, she was never put to the test.

Prior to his retirement, Kathryn and Ralph spent weekends at their Willow Creek house. She spent many hours canning and preserving the fruit from their orchard. She did not herself retire until her ostomy surgery in 2003 after Ralph passed. She was still working at the age of 79. She went back on occasions when called upon even in her 80s. She actually went to work a few hours in the morning before her surgery, a shining example of the work ethnic they had passed to their children.

Kathryn loved to garden and was always planting slips from friend’s yards or taking cuttings from hers for others. Her fuchsias and rhododendrons were her pride.

A woman of many interests, she took up oil painting, creating dozens of landscapes; learned to crochet, making afghans for her children; and studied ceramics with Grace Alden. An avid believer that you’re never too old to learn, she took numerous cooking classes; became a quilter at the age of 80, making several beautiful quilts; and even studied bonsai.

Anyone who knew her, knew she was a self-proclaimed “tough old bird”, surviving cancer twice. After her 2003 stroke she had to relearn to walk, talk, read and write. It was a long comeback, but she did it.

In 2015 she had to start dialysis. Her electrolytes were continually off and after 5 hospitalizations, dialysis was the answer. Later in 2015 she had a massive heart attack. Even though the hospital wanted to move her to palliative care, ever the phoenix, she was released and recovered.

The family wishes to thank Christopher Lee for his years as her physician, taking her on as a patient when it looked like she would not survive and giving her the will to live.

Katie’s children have no words to express their gratitude to Dr. Allan Mathew, her nephrologist and his staff for giving them more than 6 additional years with her that would not have been possible without his outstanding care and compassion. Dr. Mathew absolutely saved her life on several occasions. The support he gave to Kathryn and her family is immeasurable.

Kathryn was preceded in passing by: her parents, Reid and Wilma Beam; her husband and love of her life, Ralph Fusi; and lifetime best friend, Patricia Hawkes.

She is survived by her children Dennis Fusi Downey; Linda Fusi Arcata/San Pablo; Ron Fusi Arcata; and Randy Fusi Tetonia Idaho. Grand children Shelby Fusi San Pedro, and Ian Fusi Arcata; Great-grandchildren, Shelby’s son Rudy and daughter Alissa San Pedro ; and her sister Lois Pappas of Stockton. And the second set of boys, her “adopted boys” through the years: Clint Hunter; Charles Compton; and Wendell Larkin.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that you tell a member of your family you love them.

Because of the COVID situation, there will be no celebration of life at this time.

With great sadness, the family of Fred W. Thurston announces his death on August 27, 2021 after a long battle with his health.

Fred was born on October 15, 1944 in Eureka, a fourth-generation native of Humboldt County. He attended Eureka High School then went on to graduate trade school to become a meat cutter. He used his skills to work in several meat departments, as well as owning his own grocery store — Cannam’s in Eureka.

Most of his favorite memories included his time outdoors — hunting, fishing and gardening. Those closest to him enjoyed and appreciated his warped sense of humor. His workplace pranks have become legendary in the community and will be missed.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, Nello (“Bud”) and Mary Thurston, and siblings James Nello Thurston, Robert Thurston, Joyce Van Horn, Gary Thurston, and close friend, Mike McKenzie. Fred is survived by his wife and love of his life of 57 years, Jan Thurston (Sargent), siblings Dennis Thurston and Sharon Thurston, children Andrea (Dave) Hawkes, Marina (Ty) Macy, Patrick (Ruby) Thurston, Lori (Roger) Evers Wick. He was most proud of his eight grandchildren: Mashaeyla Macy, Walkyhr Macy, Rachel Hawkes, Bronson Macy, Chase Thurston, Wyatt Thurston, Alyssa Evers, and Isiah Evers. As well as his numerous nieces and nephews, and his beloved pets Romeo and Bugsy. 

Fred also had many lifelong friends who were considered family. The family would like to especially thank Pam Buckley, Tom Shinamen, Rod Tuxon, and Dr. Don Baird for their support during this difficult time.

To know Fred was to love him, and he will be missed dearly by all. A celebration of life is planned for a later date. Please contact the family on the Facebook page “A Celebration of Fred W. Thurston” for details.

Jiro Oishi died on August 26, 2021. He was born on January 25, 1951 in Tateyama, Chiba, Japan.

He graduated from a Japanese trade school in 1969. He moved from Japan with his wife, Kyoko to Honeydew where they resided since 1992.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Kyoko.

He has taught Aikido in Honeydew since 1992. He loved playing classical guitar, specialized in Flamenco style and knew many classical pieces by heart. He also played ukulele and flute, and enjoyed jamming with his friends. He was well known for his Aikido abilities, his hand-crafting of wooden instruments, basket making, as well as his love of gardening and animals, both wild and as pets.

Unassuming, he lived a simple life of humility, punctuated by his laughter. He was loved by many, and will be missed by all. He leaves behind his beloved dog, Dana.

A gathering of his friends to celebrate his life may be held at a later date. Goodbye, Sensei, Jiro-san.

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

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Thanks to more than $4.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) COVID relief funds, the City of Arcata is able to inject some much-needed money into existing and planned projects that will help the City reduce carbon emissions, improve the Valley West neighborhood, address homelessness and reinstate city jobs that were frozen due to the pandemic, among a few other things.

During a long discussion at its Wednesday night meeting, the Arcata City Council decided exactly how it wanted to allocate the $4,409,087 in ARPA funding. Choosing from a list of 26 suggested uses, the council selected eight projects that the council members felt are in the most need of immediate funding.

After the council took a few minutes for each member to select their top five priorities, the council agreed, first, that it was prudent to reserve $1 million, so that the City can review its progress in about 12 months and be prepared to provide additional funding to projects where needed. After a lot of discussion and number crunching, the council determined that the rest of the ARPA money would go toward the city’s Mobile Intervention Services Team (MIST), establishing a Safe Parking Program, refunding frozen city staff positions, funding Valley West neighborhood support, beautification and economic efforts for the downtown neighborhood near the plaza, a climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions, a City Hall fiber optic/ broadband project and addressing housing needs through the Arcata House Partnership. Here’s a closer look at how those bucks will be spent:

Mobile Intervention Services Team (MIST) — $570,000

As a part of the City’s police reform efforts prompted by the murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, the City has been working to establish MIST — a team of mental health specialists and social workers, who will work with the Arcata Police Department. The idea is that MIST members, instead of only armed officers, can respond to mental health related calls that come through 911.

The $570,000 will fund operations of MIST at 40 hours per week for one year.

Safe Parking Program — $685,000

Approved by the state in 2020 as a way to address the shelter crisis, safe parking programs aim to provide a secure location for unhoused individuals and families who are staying in their vehicles and usually offer people access to bathrooms, drinking water, electricity or other amenities.

Arcata City Manager Karen Diemer explained that, similarly to when the City established temporary tent shelters when shelter-in-place orders came into effect, city staff would seek out and invite people who are staying in their vehicles to move to the established sheltering area.  

A temporary tent sheltering site set up in an Arcata parking lot in the early pandemic days

“The idea is that we could offer access to additional provisions — access to electricity, access to charging, access to food, access to bathrooms, access to security at night,” Diemer said during Wednesday’s meeting. “One of the lessons learned from sheltering during the pandemic is that we stood up the parking lot shelters really quickly and the residents of those shelter areas would have really liked to have had fencing and to be secure at night.”

Diemer said that the City is still working to determine an exact location for the safe parking and is currently reviewing several different options. The funding will go toward staffing and providing services to the site, including porta potties, electricity, a potable water station and access to an off site laundry facility.

Refunding City Staff Positions — $519,000

Like so many cities, Arcata was forced to make some extreme budget cuts due to the financial impacts of the pandemic, including temporarily cutting or reducing quite a few staff positions. Luckily, because Arcata’s 2021 budget was not as grim as initially anticipated, some of the positions have already been refunded. Now with the ARPA funds, the city is able to refill six more frozen positions, including one police officer, three maintenance staff members (one crew leader and two workers), a recreation coordinator and a community development specialist.

Initially, the city was looking to unfreeze two police officers positions, but there was some debate among the council members on the city’s need for additional sworn police officers at this time. While Councilmember Emily Goldstein did not feel that the city should hire any police officers and should focus on funding other community services, several other council members felt that the police department is severely understaffed.

Ultimately the council found a compromise, by agreeing to unfreeze one police officer position and decided to fund an additional maintenance worker position instead. Mayor Brett Watson said that he felt the city could really use more maintenance workers right now, especially for our local parks and trails that have not been kept up during the pandemic.

Valley West Neighborhood Support — $217,500

For years the City of Arcata has been looking for ways to improve what many people think of as Arcata’s red-headed step-child, Valley West. Recently, the City partnered with Comunidad Unida del Norte de Arcata (CUNA) — a Cooperation Humboldt project — to  work to improve the quality of life of Valley West residents.

This funding will help support and expand CUNA’s efforts, which include conducting community outreach, hosting community cleanup days and focusing efforts on improving Carlson Park and working toward the development of some kind of Valley West community center.

Climate Action, Reducing Carbon Emissions — $500,000

Though all of the council members agreed that some funds need to be directed toward climate action, there was a bit of debate on the amount. Toward the beginning of the conversation, Councilmember Meredith Matthews urged the council to allocate $1.5 million of the ARPA funds toward efforts to combat the climate crisis. Mayor Watson, however, felt that was too high of a figure.

During the public comment period, several community members urged the council to focus more of its spending on reducing carbon emissions. Haley Connors-Keith, who was speaking as a representative of Redwood Coalition for Climate and Environmental Responsibility (RCCER), said that $500,000 was “not going to cut it” and requested that the council also put the $1 million it had set aside toward decarbonization efforts. 

The $500,000 will go toward implementation of the city’s Climate Action Plan, replacing the city’s heating and ventilation system with an electric system, helping cover costs for purchase of electric/hybrid vehicles and the implementation of an “Arcata All Electric Initiative” grant program to help residents or businesses transition to electric systems. 

The council agreed that, in addition to these projects, the city needs to look at all future projects through the lens of addressing the climate crisis.

“I just want to say that we all realize that climate change is here and it’s a crisis and we all take it very seriously,” Councilmember Matthews said during the meeting, encouraging the public to take action as well. “We can do what we can as a council, but we definitely bear a personal responsibility as well.” 

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Additionally, the council allocated $408,000 to help address additional housing needs in Arcata and will work with Arcata House Partnership to identify its financial needs. The City will also put  $200,000 toward “economic recovery” and  beautification efforts of the G and H Street corridors leading to the Arcata Plaza and $180,000 will be used to establish a fiber optic broadband connection between City Hall and the City’s corporation yard. 

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PREVIOUSLY:

Arcata City Council Will Decide How to Spend $4.4 Milion in COVID-19 Relief Funds; Lobby Group Wants the City to Prioritize Reducing Carbon Emissions

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On Friday, September 3, 2021, at about 1:15 AM, a Eureka Police Department officer conducting a patrol check at Cooper Gulch (1720 Tenth Street, Eureka) observed a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot.

The officer also saw a man and woman loitering nearby at the skate park. The officer inspected the skate park and found what appeared to be fresh gang-related graffiti which included white supremacist/power symbols.

Upon further investigation, the officer located evidence associated with the graffiti vandalism inside the vehicle and on the male. Upon questioning, the male, Shawn Anthony Miller (age 32 of Eureka), confessed to the vandalism.

Miller was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for 594(b)(2)(A) PC (Vandalism) and eleven (11) bench warrants. Miller’s female companion also remains a suspect in this case but was released at the scene pending further investigation.

A discarded spray paint bottle was collected from the location for further evidentiary analysis.

City of Eureka Community Services staff quickly removed the graffiti this morning.

“This is an example of great, proactive police work by the officer,” said Eureka Police Chief Steve Watson. “Racism and hate have no place in our community and will not be tolerated.”

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Sept. 2, 2021, at about 4:19 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence on the 7900 block of Elk River Road for the report of a burglary that had just occurred. The victims were able to provide a description of the suspect vehicle believed to be involved.

As deputies were enroute to the residence, they observed the suspect vehicle traveling on Elk River Road near Ridgewood. Deputies conducted a felony traffic stop on the vehicle and detained four occupants. Inside the vehicle, deputies located numerous tools reported to be stolen from the residence.  

Through further investigation, deputies determined one of the occupants of the vehicle, 23-year-old Steven Isaiah Nathaniel Gambrell, to be directly involved with the burglary.

Gambrell was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of burglary (PC 459/461(a)) and violation of probation (PC 1203.2(A)(2)).

The three remaining occupants were released at the scene pending further investigation.

This case is still under investigation.

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.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Drug Task Force Busts Suspected Eureka/Hoopa Fentanyl Ring, Which They Believe Led to Several Overdoses — Including That of a 13-Year-Old — in the Valley

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Press release from the Hoopa Valley Tribe:

The Hoopa Valley Tribal Court has issued an order excluding Warren “Pops” Sloan IV from the exterior boundaries of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. The order took effect on August 19, 2021, and was issued in response to a petition filed by Chairman Joe Davis and the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council.

The exclusion of Sloan from the Reservation is part of the Tribe’s larger effort to address the issue of dangerous drugs, including fentanyl, being sold in Hoopa. Sloan, a 24-year-old tribal member, has been implicated in drug-dealing that led to the tragic deaths of two Hoopa youths. Both Stephanie Lewis, 19, and Mercidez Mosier, 20, died from apparent overdoses caused by fentanyl pills that are believed to have originated from Sloan.

The Humboldt County Drug Task Force, with the assistance of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department, has been investigating Sloan because of his connection to these tragic overdoses as well as his association with known fentanyl dealers. As part of that ongoing investigation, Drug Task Force officers observed Sloan in Willow Creek attempting to purchase a large quantity of fentanyl pills known as “perc30.” These opioid street drugs are extremely dangerous and Chairman Davis and the Tribal Council are committed to removing them from the community.

Before issuing its order, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Court held a telephonic hearing attended by Hoopa tribal leaders and witnesses who were ready to provide testimony. During the hearing, Sloan stated that he opposed exclusion and asked for time to obtain an attorney. The Tribal Court decided an immediate exclusion order was warranted but agreed to hold another hearing on September 16, 2021, at which point it will determine whether any modifications to the exclusion order are appropriate.

At the next hearing the Tribal Council will be urging that the exclusion order be kept in place.

“This is just one step in the process to accomplish our goals relating to drug abuse on the Reservation and in our Tribal Community” said Chairman Davis. “The Tribal Council wants everyone to know that we will no longer stand for it. More recommendations for exclusion will be heading to Tribal Court and we will be working hard to address the crisis that is our drug epidemic in many other ways. This will be a well rounded approach that will include efforts in: education, treatment, outreach, job opportunities, and addressing historical trauma, mental health, and poverty. We are thankful for the support of these efforts we have received from the Hoopa Community as well as the Humboldt County Drug Task Force.”