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(AUDIO) Gregg Foster is Holding Up!

A transpacific fiber optic cable. A state-of-the-art fish farm. A revamped and reinvigorated university. With a handful of potentially county-altering projects in the works, it feels like Humboldt is going to be busy in the coming years. What does it all mean? Ah.

Gregg Foster, RREDC

On this week’s episode of Humboldt Holding Up — LoCO’s lo-fi podcast thingy — we lay all the optimism about Humboldt’s financial future before Gregg Foster, executive director of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, to get his take on what all this proposed change will look like for our island Humboldt. After a brief summary on the history and function of RREDC, signs of hope up for discussion today include:

• The fat fiber optic cable that is slated to connect Singapore to Eureka, of all places
• Humboldt State University’s plans to retool as California’s third polytechnic school
• Nordic Aquafarms’ vision to turn the decrepit Samoa pulp mill into a land-based aquaculture facility
• A proposed plan to explore Humboldt as a site for a massive offshore wind development
• Humboldt as a desirable place to live for climate refugees
• More!

Click the audio player above or head over to iTunes to hear Foster’s conversation with LoCO’s Stephanie McGeary and Andrew Goff and also be sure to scroll past Humboldt Holding Up guests below. 

PREVIOUS HUMBOLDT HOLDING UP GUESTS:

• #55 Dell’Arte’s Michael Fields
• #54 Llama Wrangler Keagan Trischum
• #53 Crabs President David Sharp
• #52 Ferndale Organic Dairy Farmers Kristina Radelfinger and Dorice Miranda
• #51 Former Arcata Mayor Alex Stillman
• #50 Cooperation Humboldt’s David Cobb
• #49 Ink People Center for the Arts’ Libby Maynard
• #48 Humboldt Bay Social Co-Owner Amy Cirincione O’Connor
• #47 Musician Lyndsey Battle
• #46 Mad River Brewing CEO Linda Cooley
• #45 LoCO Editor Hank Sims
• #44 Humboldt Republic’s Jason Brandi
• #43 Table Bluff Farmer Hannah Eisloeffel
• #42 Logger Bar Owner Kate Martin
• #41 Teacher/Rapper Zach “Zigzilla” Lehner
• #40 Madaket Captain “Zippo” Libby Tonning
• #39 Event Planner Alegria Sita
• #38 Food For People’s Anne Holcomb
• #37 AHHA President Nezzie Wade
• #36 Performance Artist Noël August/Tucker Noir
• #35 Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman
• #34 Eagle House Owner Jennifer Metz
• #33 Absynth Quartet Drummer Mike “Tofu” Schwartz
• #32 HACHR Executive Director Lasara Firefox Allen
• #31 Alchemy Distiller Owner Amy Bohner
• #30 Eureka City Councilmember Kati Moulton
• #29 Eureka City Councilmember Scott Bauer
• #28 Ungraceful Ager Barry Evans
• #27 Arcata City Councilmember Sofia Pereira
• #26 HumBrews Music Booker Laurel Weston
• #25 Eureka City Councilmember Kim Bergel
• #24 Film Commission’s Cassandra Hesseltine and Nate Adams
• #23 Marble Maker Topher Reynolds
• #22 Arcata Playhouse Director Jacqueline Dandeneau
• #21 Humboldt Political Junkie Eric Kirk
• #20 Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes
• #19 Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell
• #18 Arcata Food Aficionado Jada Calypso Brotman
• #17 Body Piercer Jackie Silva
• #16 Dick Taylor Chocolate’s Adam Dick
• #15 FUHS Teachers Mark Thom and Inma Thompson
• #14 Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery
• #13 Savage Henry Co-Founder Chris Durant
• #12 Eureka Street Art Festival Organizer Jenna Catsos
• #11 SCRAP Humboldt Founder Tibora Bea
• #10 Gym Owner Tyler Parr
• #9 Six Rivers Brewery Co-Owner Meredith Maier
• #8 Multicultural Skincare Therapist Levia Love
• #7 Annie’s Cambodian Server and Social Worker Joshua Coppock
• #6 Eureka City Councilmember Austin Allison
• #5 HSU Professor Deidre Pike 
• #4 Pastor Bethany Cseh
• #3 Singer/Songwriter Chris Parreira
• #2 Eureka City Councilmember Leslie Castellano
• #1 Arcata City Councilmember Paul Pitino

Today, June 20th, is the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. (Vice versa in the southern hemisphere.) Today, the interval between sunrise and sunset is at its maximum: 15 hours 7 minutes. (Sunrise in Eureka today: 5.45 am, sunset: 8.52 pm.) It’s downhill from here.

In 2020, a penny costs 1.76 cents to make; a nickel costs 7.42 cents. (Can’t we just drop pennies???)

Between the Spanish flu (1918) and Covid (2020), global life expectancy doubled. Currently at birth, females can expect to live to 75.6; males = 70.8.

The State of Jefferson was named as a result of a tongue-in-cheek competition sponsored by a Siskiyou County newspaper in 1941. Jefferson beat out “Discontent” and “Bonanza.”

The density of the air on Mars is about one-hundredth that on Earth, so the blades of the little helicopter Ingenuity have to rotate a lot faster than a chopper back here: about 2400 rpm vs 500 rpm.

Speaking of which, the land surface areas of Earth and Mars are about equal (Mars being 100% dry).

The full name of the guy for whom our county is named is Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, 1769-1859. The closest he got to Eureka is 1,195 miles away, Guanajuato City, Mexico. (Where I live part-time.)

A piano is never pitch-perfect, each note of the 12-note scale having the frequency of the 12th root of 2 times the one below it. So it’s exactly double going from one octave to the next, e.g. A4 (440 beats per second) to A5 (880 beats per second).

The most common password is “123456”, second is “password”. Check if you’re using one of the top 10,000 used by hackers here.

Missed the total lunar eclipse early on May 26? The next one visible here will be on May 15, 2022. (Hah! In theory. The last one wasn’t visible in Eureka, thanks to overcast.)

Worldwide, over three million emails are sent every second. (That’s a month’s worth of heartbeats.)

Humanoids have been bipedal for four million years. (Why? So that chiropractors can send their kids to college.)

You see Humboldt’s a potential offshore wind turbine site? A typical offshore wind turbine generates up to about 8 megawatts with today’s technology, with 10-12 MW coming soon. For comparison, the four Klamath dams slated for decommissioning in 2023 together generate 163 MW at full power, about the same as PG&E’s King Salmon station.

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Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, particularly harmful to young children and developing fetuses. Mercury is commonly present in fish, but in wildly different concentrations based on the life history of the species. What local fish species are safe to eat and at what amounts?

Humboldt Baykeeper is there to help. With the help of fisheries biologist and EcoNews guest Ross Taylor, Humboldt Baykeeper tested 70 fish across nine species to examine mercury concentrations. Their results? Long-lived species that eat high on the food web have the highest concentrations and should be avoided by those most sensitive to mercury. Other seafood, like salmon, oysters and clams, are good for eating often because of their extremely low levels.

Want to know if your fish is safe? Download Baykeeper’s one-page summary here.

You can also download the full report, Mercury Testing of Sport/Food Fishes from Nearshore Ocean Waters of Humboldt County, California.

AUDIO:

“The EcoNews Report,” June 19, 2021.

All family, friends, neighbors and those who knew and cherished Juanita are welcome to attend this Joyous Day of Remembrance. Many of you may already know her favorite color was RED so feel free to wear something red as a homage to Juanita and the amazing life she lived and shared with all of us.

Juanita was a long-time resident of Eureka and considered it her home. She was a giving and civic-minded person who cared about others — most especially those who lived in her local Humboldt County community. For many years, Juanita volunteered for the Salvation Army every Christmas and was a voting/election official for her district — in both cases, always brining a smile and good cheer to those she served. Many local residents will remember Juanita from their visits to Sears, Payless and Rite-Aid where she worked and made a career in retail and brightening the day of everyone she crossed paths with.

Juanita was born on February 18, 1954 in Redding and passed away after undergoing treatment for cancer on April 14, 2021.

She wants to be remembered for her service to God and to her community – and most especially as a loving mother to her daughter Yolanda, and sister and aunt to her family. Juanita was a loyal and fun-loving friend and neighbor to so many people during her 45 years in Humboldt County. Her life and example are an inspiration to all who knew her and we will surely miss Juanita’s smile and humor, and most especially her kindness in the days ahead. Juanita’s memorial service will be a Joyful Celebration as per her wishes. We look forward to seeing you there.

A celebration of the life of Juanita Modisett-Claybon — Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 2 p.m. at Cutten Community Church, 2020 Campton Road, Eureka.

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

Following Arcata Mayor Sofia Pereira’s recent announcement that she is stepping down from her position as mayor and councilmember, the Arcata City Council will hold a special meeting on Thursday to officially accept Pereira’s resignation and decide how to fill her seat.

Arcata Mayor Sofia Pereira will step down on June 26

After Pereira’s exit on June 26, presumably Vice Mayor Brett Watson will step in as mayor and the next councilmember in line, Stacy Atkins-Salazar will take on the vice mayor position (the Arcata City Council rotates these positions every year.) The council has two options for filling the vacant council position, which expires in November 2022 — it can choose to either appoint a new council member or call a special election.

If during Thursday’s meeting, the council chooses to hold a special municipal election, it will also need to adopt a resolution declaring the election for Nov. 2, 2021. If the council chooses to appoint its own council member, it would need to do so within 60 days of the vacancy.

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PREVIOUSLY: Arcata Mayor Sofia Pereira Stepping Down to Take Job as Humboldt’s New Director of Public Health

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Also during Tuesday’s special meeting, the council will review and possibly adopt the city’s 2021-22 budget and the city’s master fee schedule, which will set public service fees for residents for the next year.

Coming out of the pandemic, Arcata is certainly in a better financial condition than it was last year, though the city’s economic recovery still has a long way to go. The good news is Arcata expects to see increases in its primary general fund revenue sources, with sales tax revenue estimated to increase by 12% from the previous year, transaction and use tax (TUT) by an 23% and transient occupancy tax (TOT) by an 18% increase from 2020-21.

Though the upcoming budget reflects increases in revenue, it also retains some of the cuts made last year, especially to personnel. “The budget reflects some regrowth but retains several of the key reductions from the 2020/2021 budget such as freezing six staff positions, including two police officers, plus one over hire police officer; two maintenance workers/crew leaders (1 in streets and 1 in parks); one community development specialist; one recreation coordinator and reduced the police assistant to 0.75 FTE,” the staff report states.

The Arcata City Council special meeting will be held Thursday, June 24 at 5:30 p.m. You can view the full agenda and directions on how to participate here.

You can view the full proposed 2021-22 budget here.

UPDATE, 3:07 p.m.: More scenes from the fire

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UPDATE, 2:57 p.m.: Highway 255 is still fully closed at the scene of the fire — basically, across the road from the town of Samoa.

Troy Smith, assistant chief with Samoa Fire, tells the Outpost’s Andrew Goff that about five acres have burned at this point. “We’re still working this and it’s going to take quite a bit of time,” Smith said.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

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UPDATE, 2:36 p.m.: There are a few different spot fires at the location, the Outpost’s Andrew Goff reports. Hand crews are working to knock them down, but it’s windy out there on the peninsula, and the winds are kicking up the flames.

Short video montage below.

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A wildlands fire broke out on the Samoa Peninsula about within the last hour. A light, hazy smoke is billowing into Eureka from across the bay, and traffic is backed up on Highway 255/New Navy Base Road.

Firefighters from area agencies have been dispatched to the site — including from fire districts as far away as Kneeland, according to scanner traffic.

The Outpost’s Andrew Goff is en route to the fire, which appears to be in the neighborhood of the Dog Ranch. We’ll update when we have more information.

PREVIOUSLY

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An Arcata man pleaded guilty this morning to murdering his older brother during a psychotic episode at their mother’s 11th Street home.

Steichen.

Jacob Eli Steichen, 35, stabbed 39-year-old Aaron Steichen to death on Sept. 20 during a family gathering. Today Judge Kaleb Cockrum accepted his pleas to second-degree murder and personal use of knife. But because it’s agreed Jacob Steichen was legally insane at the time, he will not be sent to prison.

“We will stipulate that he’s NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity),” Deputy District Attorney Jane Mackie told Cockrum. “He will be sent to a state hospital.”

Defense attorney Russ Clanton said Steichen is on anti-psychotic medication and his symptoms have improved. Clanton stressed that Steichen, despite the medication, understands the legal process and the consequences.

Steichen, appearing via videocamera from the jail, told the judge the medication “does not hinder me.”

Informed that his crime was a serious and violent felony, also known as a strike, Steichen asked “Will this be a strike?”

“Second-degree homicide is a strike,” Cockrum told him. After speaking privately by phone with his attorney, Steichen said he wanted to go forward with his plea.

A few days after the killing, Beverly Steichen, mother of both men, spoke publicly about her younger son’s mental illness and the family’s increasingly desperate attempts to find help. For five weeks before the day he stabbed his brother in the heart, Jacob had been locked in his bedroom, refusing to come out.

During that time, the mother said, Jacob lit fires, screamed threats and threw burning trash out the window. He believed people were planning to harm him. She said the family pleaded for aid from various agencies. They were told repeatedly not to force entry into the room.

Three days before the murder, Beverly Steichen was informed that a mental health team would come to her home the following Wednesday. Jacob killed his brother on Sunday, as Aaron and his two other siblings were playing board games.

“There was a lot of consultation with not only Mr. Steichen but with his family,” Clanton said during the hearing this morning. “The family played a significant role in reaching this resolution.”

The next step will be for a state agency, Conrep, to make a recommendation on which hospital Steichen will be committed to for treatment.

A hearing on that issue is scheduled for July 15. In the meantime, Steichen is being held without bail.