At approximately 12:17pm today, the Arcata Fire District was
dispatched to a residential structure fire in the vicinity of Park and Sutter Roads in
McKinleyville. The first arriving units were directed by bystanders to access the fire on
Children’s, off Sutter Road. Battalion Chief Campbell located the fire and reported a single
story, wood-framed residence with 50% fire involvement and completely filled with smoke.
The engine from the McKinleyville station initially began extinguishing the fire from outside
of the building. One crew member sprayed water while the other searched rooms from the
exterior using a thermal imaging camera looking for potential trapped occupants. There
were extended response times for a second engine due to multiple calls occurring in the
District at the time of dispatch. Calls that occurred during the incident were handled by
neighboring agencies. Chief Justin McDonald commented, “This is exactly what the fire
service is about. When there is a fire, we all help each other out, regardless of where the
incident might be occurring. Neighbors helping neighbors.”
With the location of the fire occurring at the dead end of a long graveled roadway, the
nearest fire hydrant was several hundred feet away on Sutter Road. Incoming engines
were able to provide additional water by extending the hose from the hydrant at the street,
blocking and closing off Sutter Road until the fire was controlled.
At 12:39, the Incident Commander reported fire control with extensive overhaul of the
remainder of the structure and that the primary search was complete. No occupants were
located, structure damage only. The Incident Commander, Battalion Chief Campbell stated,
“The location of the fire was difficult to find and we are thankful for the local residents who
directed us to the correct location. Unfortunately, the home was still a complete loss.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is believed to be accidental in nature.
Arcata Fire District would like to thank our neighboring agencies for assistance both at the
scene and for covering our stations. Fieldbrook Fire, Westhaven Fire, and CalFire Trinidad
had resources at the fire, while Humboldt Bay Fire was reassigned to cover the District.
Arcata Fire would like to remind the community to make sure your street name and house
address are visible and well-marked so that emergency personnel is able to quickly locate
an address during all weather conditions and day or night.
The current marquee at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts. Photo: Andrew Goff.
###
Appearing on KINS Radio’s “Talk Shop” program on Memorial Day, businessman Rob
Arkley vowed to take political and legal action against the city of
Eureka’s “crazy” initiative to convert city-owned parking lots
into housing.
“It was tried to
be done in the dark of night, and it’s kind of a miracle I even
found out about it,” said Arkley of the city’s housing push,
which the Outpost and other
local media outlets have reported on for nearly a year.
“Now we’re
organized, there’s going to be litigation and I think we can almost
bet – because Newsom’s having a recall anyway – I think we can
probably put a ballot initiative on the ballot to prevent it. Or,
alternatively, maybe we’ll just go directly at the people who tried
to do this in the stealth of night.”
Arkley, who splits
his time between Humboldt County and Baton Rouge, owns the Security
National group of real estate and finance companies, and was a major
player in local politics in the 2000s. He started his own newspaper,
the Eureka Reporter, in an
effort to take down the Times-Standard.
He bought the disused Eureka
rail yard known as the “Balloon Track,” killed a city council
study of the site and funded a successful ballot initiative to
rezone it for a planned development that would include a Home Depot.
(The project was never built.)
Yesterday, at about 2:41 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 600
Block of Ishi Pishi Road near Orleans for the report of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Prior to
deputy’s arrival, the victim haled a neighbor who transported the victim to the Orleans Volunteer
Fire Department. Medical personnel rendered aid and the victim was transported by ambulance
to a local hospital where he is expected to recover.
Deputies investigated the incident and it
appears no other people beside the victim were involved and there is no known public safety risk.
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.
With a deluge of dollars flowing into California’s coffers from state taxpayers and Uncle Sam, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed on a budget plan that would spend slightly less than what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed, while still pouring billions of dollars into helping Californians recover from the pandemic.
“This is a historic budget,” Assembly Budget Committee chairperson Phil Ting said in a video conference with reporters. “It’s the largest budget in California state history.”
With leaders of both houses of the Legislature on the same page, negotiations now turn to Newsom as they work to reach a final agreement before June 15. Here are a few key areas the two sides must reconcile as they make decisions that will impact millions of Californians.
Housing for people who are homeless
Lawmakers agreed with most of Newsom’s proposals to spend billions of dollars to alleviate homelessness, mostly by buying hotels and motels. But they differ on the timing. The Legislature proposes spending $8.5 billion in new funding over two years, compared with the governor’s $6.8 billion in the next year alone.
“We want to provide housing for our unhoused people, we do not want people living on the streets in California,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat who leads the Senate budget committee.
The Legislature allocates $1 billion in annual funding for cities and counties to address homelessness over the next four years, with lawmakers saying the funding will be tied to strong oversight and accountability. Newsom did not include such ongoing, flexible funding for local governments in his budget.
“This actually would be the first of its kind,” said Chris Martin, policy director at Housing California, whose organization has been pushing for such funding for years. “This is the first time we’re putting a general fund allocation to the issue voters claim is number one.”
Rebuilding public health
Pandemic-weary local public health officials had criticized Newsom’s budget for not including any significant money to rebuild the state’s public health infrastructure battered by COVID-19. The Legislature took care of them, calling for an additional $200 million annually to help public health departments add staff and modernize equipment.
“California legislators have taken the lessons of COVID-19 to heart and put forward a plan … so California is never again underprepared and under resourced when the next public health crisis hits,” Michelle Gibbons, executive director of the County Health Executives Association of California, said in a statement.
Overall, the Legislature’s plan sets aside $403 million annually to address what it called “the decades-long underinvestment in our public health system that left us less prepared to address the pandemic.”
It also sets aside another $100 million annually for community health organizations working on health equity and racial justice issues — funding Newsom did not include. Skinner said the pandemic had laid bare the need for more attention to the interplay between race and health.
“When we look at who died of COVID, you’re far more likely in California to die of COVID — and across the country — if you’re Black or brown,” she said.
“The funding that we have created in that regard is going to go very much to community-based entities who have the direct relationships with those people in our communities that are experiencing this disparity.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom presents the breakdown for his $267.8 billion budget revise in a program dubbed ‘California Roars Back’ at the Secretary of State building auditorium in Sacramento on May 14, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters.
Helping undocumented immigrants
Legislators want to go further than Newsom to provide a state-funded safety net for undocumented immigrants, who are excluded from most federal benefits, including food aid, unemployment insurance and stimulus checks.
The Legislature wants to make low-income undocumented immigrants 50 and older eligible for Medi-Cal, the government-subsidized health insurance plan, while Newsom proposed offering it to those age 60 and up.
Lawmakers also proposed spending $550 million annually to offer food aid to California immigrants currently left out of the federally-funded CalFresh program, including undocumented immigrants, young adults brought to the country illegally as children, and immigrants from countries affected by armed conflict or natural disaster. Newsom’s budget did not include any food aid specifically for immigrants.
“We have the highest rate of hunger insecurity that we’ve faced since the 1960s, so we have huge historic investments towards ending hunger,” Skinner said.
Increasing access to college
More students would get financial aid and the University of California would offer more spots to in-state students under the Legislature’s plan to infuse the higher education system with cash — significant proposals that Newsom did not include in his budget.
Lawmakers want to spend $613 million to bolster the state’s main financial aid program, the Cal Grant, which they have long sought to overhaul. The expansion would happen in phases, with 133,000 more community college students eligible this fall and another 50,000 students added in 2022.
“It’s a huge, huge proposal for higher-ed, and it also ensures that not only do you get more access to UC and CSU, but that you’re going to graduate without any debt.” — Assembly budget Chairperson Phil Ting
The Legislature also proposes to spend big to free up enrollment space at public universities, including the state’s three most sought-after campuses –– Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego. The Legislature wants to pay those three campuses to not enroll about 900 out-of-state students a year, freeing up more than 2,700 slots in three years that would go instead to California residents, starting in fall 2022. Because out-of-state students pay much higher tuition, the state would pick up the tab for that lost revenue, totaling $180 million over three years. The ultimate goal is to cap out-of-state undergraduate enrollment at the three coveted campuses at 18% –– making good on a budget deal from several years ago.
Lawmakers’ budget proposal also includes $67 million to add 6,200 enrollment slots across the entire UC and $81 million to add 9,400 slots at Cal State campuses. The expansion would take effect in fall 2022.
They also want to spend $540 million so that college students would have to borrow less or nothing for college.
“It’s a huge, huge proposal for higher-ed, and it also ensures that not only do you get more access to UC and CSU, but that you’re going to graduate without any debt,” said Ting, a San Francisco Democrat.
Gerald Martin Carlson April 16, 1946 - May 14, 2021
Pops left the
building after one hell of a 75-year show. Those of us who were
fortunate enough to have played a part in his movie are feeling a
tremendous loss, for he was a character that we all loved to see
enter the room. He had a way of making connections out of small
conversations and throughout the years forged friendships that made
everyone into family. In retrospect, I think the most beautiful part
of his life was how many people he united through his uncanny
quirkiness.
“Oh … sure, I
know Jerry!”
I’ve seen many
life-long relationships start with those exact words. He was a good
mood waiting to happen and he found pleasure in making people smile .
The hardest part for me personally has been seeing so many of his
folks hurting since he passed. He loved each and everyone of you the
same … with all his heart.
I could crash the
memory chip on a NASA supercomputer telling stories and naming names
of those who impacted his life. I’m sorry that I don’t have the
strength to finish a proper obituary.
He is survived by
all of you because he considered all of you family.
Funeral arrangements
are out of my hands and I’m planning on something for June 22.
###
The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Jerry Carlson’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.
From the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office:
Twenty-nine-year-old Daniel Raymond Aubrey was sentenced today to serve one
year in jail and was given a three-year formal probation term by Judge Kelly Neel after
Aubrey pled guilty on May 5 to two felonies: attempted carjacking of a Eureka resident
and battery on a peace officer with infliction of great bodily injury; and a misdemeanor
battery charge.
Aubrey.
The convictions stem from events of October 8, 2020, when Aubrey, while under
the influence of methamphetamine, attempted to push the female driver of a van parked
outside the Courthouse Market on 4th Street in Eureka.
The passenger successfully
thwarted his attempts and pulled Aubrey outside the van. Another citizen flagged down
EPD Officer White, who was able to intervene as Aubrey made a second attempt to
steal the van, during which Aubrey punched the driver twice in the face. After a brief
struggle, Aubrey fled but was apprehended by officers. Aubrey violently resisted and bit
Officer White’s right index finger causing significant injury.
Aubrey faced a maximum 9-year prison sentence and Deputy District Attorney
Jessica Acosta argued he should be sent to prison for his violent crimes. Aubrey was
represented by Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada.
A DUI crash nearly set off a series of disasters on Hatchery Road yesterday evening, after a downed power pole sparked a string of fires, sent an active electrical line splashing into a popular swimming hole and cut power to nearly 2,000 residents in Blue Lake, Arcata, Fieldbrook and McKinleyville.
Lamont Douglas. | HCSO
California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Craft told the Outpost that 27-year-old Lamont Douglas was booked into the Humboldt County Jail on DUI charges after his vehicle crashed into the power pole near the intersection of Hatchery and West End Roads at approximately 7:12 p.m.
The downed lines ignited several grass fires along Hatchery Road. The fires were captured on camera by local artistRyan Jensen, who was jogging along the roadway at the time of the crash. The remarkable footage shows Jensen rushing to stomp out the flames before continuing on his jog.
“All of a sudden the power line started going off,” Jensen said. “Looked like the 4th of July right over my head.”
Blue Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief David Vainuku confirmed with the Outpost that Jensen successfully put out all of the fires before firefighters arrived on scene. Other than a few singed leg hairs, Jensen reportedly escaped the ordeal unharmed.
“This river and forestland are so special to me,” he said. “I’m so stoked I was able to be in the right place at the right time.”
In addition to the fires, firefighters said the downed pole also caused an active power line to fall into the Mad River near the Hatchery Road bridge, a popular swimming hole — especially on Memorial Day.
Miraculously, Chief Vainuku said that no swimmers were in the water at the time of the crash.
PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras told the Outpost that the downed line could have resulted in an emergency situation.
“It’s common to have power lines run across bodies of water across Central and Northern California,” Contreras said. “It is possible the line was energized when it came down. PG&E Public Safety Specialists regularly meet with first responders in Humboldt County about how to handle downed power lines and other electrical emergencies. If anyone sees a downed line, low hanging or broken equipment, assume it’s energized, stay away and call 911 because it is an emergency situation.”
PG&E responded to the scene and restored power to all affected customers by 4:02 a.m. today.
