Following the 2020, California is set to redraw its legislative maps and for the first time in our state’s history, we are set to lose a congressional seat. What does this mean for Humboldt? Guest Sam Sukaton of the California League of Conservation Voters joins Gang Green to discuss the California Citizens Redistricting Commission and how environmental voters can better harness power to affect change.
While environmental and climate justice advocates have been building a policy agenda for years, we currently do not have the political power in California to act on these solutions at the rate and scale required. The 2021 redistricting process is a unique moment to make key structural change: not only for the next legislative session, but for this final decade leading to the 2030 climate deadline.
California’s Constitution requires that redistricting preserve “communities of interest”—those economic or cultural ties that bind communities together—to the maximum extent possible. The redistricting process begins by soliciting input from the public about what forms their community of interest. Unique public comments are very important to the process. There are two ways you can participate!
Participate in a Communities of Interest Public Hearing!
The Citizen Redistricting Commission is holding virtual meetings based on “zones.” Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity and Del Norte Counties are in Zone A. The Citizen Redistricting Commission is hosting a special meeting for our zone on August 23 from 1-7 p.m. Go to this link to see the meeting agenda and to register to speak! Each speaker will get up to 3 minutes.
Draw Your Own Map!
Don’t want to sit through a public meeting? Can’t make August st? No problem! Submit your testimony online, by email or by mail.
The Citizen Redistricting Commission has set up a cool website where you can draw your community of interest. Go to DrawMyCACommunity.org and follow the helpful tutorials.
You can also provide input to the Commission by emailing: VotersFirstAct@crc.ca.gov (CC us at epic@wildcalifornia.org too!) or by snail mail: California Citizens Redistricting Commission, 721 Capitol Mall, Suite 260, Sacramento, CA 95814. You can even call in your comments to: (916) 323-0323.
On July 15 th , 2021, at approximately 11:00 PM, the CAL FIRE Humboldt – Del Norte Unit
Emergency Command Center (ECC) received a report of a vegetation fire burning near a
structure on Tulley Creek Road near the community of Weitchpec. The fire burned one acre of
grass and brush while threatening structures. Firefighters from Orleans Volunteer Fire
Department, Orick Volunteer Fire Department, Hoopa Wildland Fire Department, and CAL FIRE
worked in steep terrain to contain the fire.
Law enforcement was requested due to the report of a suspect at scene. Officers from Yurok
Tribal Police, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, and CAL FIRE law
enforcement responded. Upon investigation, the fire was determined to have been started
intentionally, and an adult male resident at the fire was taken into custody.
The resident, Laurance Myers, was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for:
• PC 452(c) Recklessly setting fire to any structure, forest land or property
The CAL FIRE Humboldt – Del Norte Unit would like to remind the public that burning within
State Responsibility Area has been suspended. Drought conditions have led to extremely dry
vegetation throughout the state. Fire activity in Northern California has many firefighting
resources already committed to numerous large fires. For more information on how you can
prevent wildfire, visit: www.readyforwildfire.org
It’s getting down to the wire! Monday, July 19, 5 p.m. is the absolute drop-dead deadline for those Arcata citizens who would like to be considered to fill out the remainder of Mayor Sofia Pereira’s term on the City Council.
Still interested? Application packets are available at City Hall, but you’re gonna have to bust ass. One of the requirements is that you need to submit valid signatures of support from verified registered Arcata voters, and it ain’t as easy as you think. (Anyway, City Hall can tell you all about it … or you can click this link to find out more.)
Kayla Johnson, an administrative assistant with the city, told the Outpost earlier this afternoon that a whole slew of people have started the process and may or may not finish it before deadline. Three people, have already qualified. They are: former Councilmember Paul Pitino (!), who was defeated in the last city council election; Kimberley White, a member of the city’s Planning Commission; and Meredith Matthews, a member of the board of directors of the Arcata Chamber of Commerce.
Apart from those three, a whopping 14 people have officially taken interest in the appointment. Among them: former councilmembers Mark Wheetley and Elizabeth Conner, HSU business professor Humnath Panta, reggae DJ Robin Adina Loewensohn and more. Here’s the full list:
QUALIFIED:
Kimberley White
Paul Pitino
Meredith Matthews
APPLICATION RETURNED, NOT YET QUALIFIED:
Bennett Perrault
TAKEN OUT PAPERS:
Elizabeth Conner
Patricia Lai
Robin (Adina) Loewinsohn
Humnath Panta
Matthew Dodd
Mark Wheetley
Clay Adams
Edward Harvey
Katelyn Bourne
Which of these people (and which others) will end up officially in contention for the seat? We should know by Wednesday at the latest.
And one week after that — Wednesday, July 28 — there’ll be a special meeting in council chambers to put questions to those officially qualified candidates. What would you ask a potential member of the Arcata City Council? The city would like to know! See below.
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Press release from the City of Arcata:
The
Arcata City Council will be appointing a replacement for Sofia
Pereira, who stepped down from her seat on the Council to take on a
new role as Humboldt County’s Director of Public Health.
An
Arcata City Council Candidate Forum will be held on Wednesday,
July 28 at 6 PM to
give Arcata residents and community members the opportunity to get to
know the candidates and provide input during the process.
The
forum will be held in-person in the Council Chamber at Arcata City
Hall, located at 736 F Street, and available virtually on Zoom.
In
preparation for the forum, the City is developing a list of questions
for the candidates, and community members are encouraged to
participate in the process by submitting their questions in advance.
Questions from the public may be submitted by filling out a short
three-question form, which can be found here.
Members of the public will also be able to submit questions in-person
for consideration.
Potential
candidates who wish to be considered for the open seat on the Council
are required to turn in their completed Arcata City Council
application materials by 5 PM on Monday, July 19. Once all
applications are received and nomination signatures are verified, an
official list of candidates and candidate statements will become
available for public review here.
The
new Council Member is expected to be sworn in at the beginning of the
Wednesday, August 18 City Council meeting.
For
more information on the Arcata City Council Candidate Forum, please
call 707-822-5953.
Miranda’s Rescue, the beloved sanctuary for local in-need animals, has announced that they will be opening their fourth thrift store to help fund their do-goody operations. As stated on the organization’s Facebook page, the new location will be located on the Arcata Plaza in the space formerly occupied by Sidelines Bar, which lost its liquor license after a protracted battle with authorities.
“The goal of one day having a store on the Plaza has been in place for years,” Miranda’s announcement reads. “And now the reality of a goal almost completed is within our sights.”
The plan is to open the store on Aug. 2. Read Miranda’s Rescue’s announcement below:
Humboldt County Sheriff William “Billy” Honsal had been on the job for less that three months when, in June of 2017, an Outpost investigation revealed that employees in his department had been breaking the law — knowingly or unknowingly — for years.
Specifically, deputies working in the Public Administrator Bureau had been selling items from the estates of the recently deceased to fellow deputies, their family members and other county insiders. Automobiles, electronics, furniture, a firearm and more were sold with minimal documentation at prices well below market value.
In California, public administrators are responsible for handling the estates of people who’ve died without a will and/or an appropriate person willing to act as an administrator. The officials and their deputies are expected to protect the departed’s property from waste, loss and theft. Insider deals like those that were being made in Humboldt County are a violation of California Government Code Section 27443. Each instance of this crime is punishable by a $1,000 fine, up to a year in the county jail or both, and anyone found guilty automatically forfeits his or her office.
Honsal | File photo.
When the story broke four years ago, Honsal promised transparency and accountability.
“I believe we’re going to get to the bottom of this — how often it has occurred and where it started,” he told the Outpost. He also said, “I’m happy that it’s out in the open. … And so if [the investigation] uncovers that there needs to be disciplinary action taken, we will take that action.”
There were allegations that the corruption dated back years, spanning multiple coroner-public administrators. Information, including sales receipts, soon emerged showing that Frank Jager, a former coroner-public administrator who was then Eureka’s mayor, was involved in many of the transactions under review, including his own purchase of a Chevrolet S10 pickup from the estate of a man named Dewey Vrzina.
The Outpost‘s subsequent investigation found receipts from illegal sales dated at least as far back as 2013, and Honsal said publicly that no fewer than six active employees had illegally purchased property via the Public Administrator Bureau. We asked Honsal at the time whether Chief Deputy Coroner-Public Administrator Ernie Stewart was aware of California Government Code Section 27443 during the time these sales were taking place.
“Those are the kind of questions the public needs to know,” he replied. “As far as criminal conduct and the statute of limitations, I’m not sure what we can do. But the fact is that the public deserves to know.”
Five weeks after that initial interview, the California Department of Justice agreed to take over the investigation from District Attorney Maggie Fleming’s office, and for the next three years plus, the state agency refused to release any information about the status of the inquiry, even to confirm or deny its existence.
A Corvette parked outside the county coroner’s office in 2017 matched the description of one sold to a sheriff’s deputy from the estate of a man who’d recently died. | File photo.
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In the meantime, Honsal ordered his employees to return all items they’d purchased from estates managed by the Public Administrator since February 2015, when the bureau officially came under the umbrella of the Sheriff’s Office. He also implemented a new policies and procedures manual and a conflict-of-interest policy that officially — if redundantly — prevented sales to sheriff’s office employees, their relatives, county officials and anyone else who “may pose a potential ‘Conflict of Interest,’ either actual or perceived.”
Finally, this past November, Senior Assistant Attorney General James Root sent a letter to District Attorney Fleming saying the state had wrapped up its investigation.
“Based on our review, we have closed our file and will not pursue criminal charges in the matter,” the letter said.
No doubt this news came as a huge relief to Honsal and his employees, but for the public, big questions remained unanswered: How far back did this activity go? How widespread was it? Did administrators and deputies know these transactions were illegal? If not, why not?
In early December, Honsal emailed some responses to the Outpost.
“I have requested the [Department of Justice’s] criminal investigation be forwarded to my office for review. Once I have that investigation, I will complete my internal investigation and review of this case … ,” he wrote. “I am aware that since the Sheriff’s Office took over in 2015 there have been violations of Section 27443 of the Government Code. Once I have all the facts, I will hold those employees accountable for their actions.”
Over the next six and a half months, the Outpost regularly checked in with the Sheriff’s Office to ask about the status of Honsal’s internal investigation. In mid-April his office received a copy of the Department of Justice’s investigation report, but Honsal’s inquiry continued.
Just this morning, Honsal provided the following statement via email:
The internal affairs investigation regarding the Public Administrator’s Office is now closed. The policies and procedures for the Public Administrator have been updated to ensure alignment with the Government Code and best practices throughout the state. All Public Administrator employees have been properly trained and certified by the California Association of Public Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators.
The remaining property has been sold through an online auction pursuant to policy, procedure and applicable laws. Our office cannot comment on employee discipline due to confidentially rules.
With that, Honsal appears to have wrapped up the matter entirely. Both the Department of Justice and the Sheriff’s Office refused to provide copies of their investigations, saying such records are exempt from disclosure.
The county’s Human Resources Department recently confirmed to the Outpost that at least six Sheriff’s Office employees who either oversaw the illegal sales or personally bought property via the Public Administrator Bureau remain employed by the county.
As for those big questions, the ones to which Honsal once said the public deserves answers — questions such as who knew what when, how the corruption began and how widespread it got — they’re still lingering. The public’s right to know was evidently eclipsed by the government’s disclosure exemptions and confidentiality rules.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has recovered the remains of four individuals from the site of a small airplane crash Thursday, July 15, 2021, near Dinsmore.
The decedents have been identified as:
Henry Punt, age 69, of Los Angeles County;
Steve Sanz, age 63, of Orange County;
Jacquie Ann Figg, age 56, of San Bernadino County;
Kenneth John Malinowski, age 62, of Sacramento County.
No additional occupants are believed to be outstanding at this time. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office sends our deepest condolences to the families of those lost in this tragic accident.
During their initial response and investigation, Sheriff’s deputies learned of many heroic acts taken by witnesses and nearby community members in an attempt to provide assistance to the victims and prevent the progression of the associated fire. These actions of great bravery have not gone unnoticed and likely saved many additional lives and property by averting a potential wildfire. The Sheriff’s Office is grateful for the partnership of local organizations and our community, who continue to answer the call to serve their fellow community members in the greatest time of need.
Further investigation of this incident will be conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. For additional information and media inquiries regarding this investigation, please contact the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
A slow-moving fire crept across the dunes just south of Table Bluff County Park for several hours Thursday evening burning several grassy acres. Fire personnel babysat the blaze until the wee hours. LoCO is not officially aware of the cause of the fire.
Humboldt Bay Fire released the following on their Facebook page:
Yesterday evening, CAL FIRE requested assistance from Humboldt Bay Fire with a wildfire spreading from the base of Table Bluff / the South Jetty. The fire burned over 20 acres before it was extinguished.
From there, a crew of your Humboldt Bay Firefighters are now covering the CAL FIRE Trinidad area as resources move across the state responding to incidents.
Please keep all your Humboldt County Firefighters in mind as they continue to battle this year’s fire season.
On Friday morning a large burn scar was visible from the Table Bluff overlook. Video taken during and after the incident can be found below.
