The well-heeled megadonors spending the most to defend Gov. Gavin Newsom in a near-certain California recall election hail from monied coastal enclaves, mansion-studded Silicon Valley and the toniest and most solidly Democratic parts of Los Angeles.

As for those big donors spending the most to boost the recall and kick Newsom out of the governor’s office — actually, that’s pretty much where they live, too.

A newly launched CalMatters live tracker of the $15.3 million and counting that has poured into either side of the recall shows that though California voters may be divided by geography and class, its major political donors are not.

The financial battle between the “pro” and “anti” campaigns was upended May 20 when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings — an on-again, off-again Newsom ally — pumped $3 million into the effort to beat back the recall. (Hastings gave $7 million to a committee backing a Democratic rival to Newsom in 2018.)

As a result, 95060 in Santa Cruz now sits at the top of the state’s biggest contributing ZIP codes.

The blue ZIP codes that dominate

That single seven-figure contribution, the largest of the campaign to date, only underlines two points that have been clear to political insiders for weeks now:

First, the California’s Democratic Party establishment is aggressively rallying to the governor’s defense.

Second, it has a lot of money to spend.

Hence, the other big donations on the anti-recall side come from Sacramento — home base of the state party and the fundraising arms of influential unions such as the United Nurses Associations of California — and from regular liberal super donors including ag and juice giant Stewart Resnick and from Democratic, deep-pocketed law firms.

The pro-Newsom side has brought in $10.6 million so far, and more support is on the way.

Next week, the California Labor Federation’s executive council is expected to vote on whether to take a position on the recall campaign. It’s a pro forma gesture; no one expects organized labor, a stalwart ally of the state Democratic Party, to sit out the recall.

Steve Smith, a federation spokesperson, said it’s too early to talk exact figures, but that the union umbrella group plans to make “a significant investment.”

As important as the money will be the organizational might. After an election cycle spent socially distancing, “there’s a lot of excitement amongst volunteers to get out going door-to-door again, and that will be utilized to the fullest extent for the recall campaign,” said Smith.

That should help the governor offset a potential lack of support from much of the state’s unionized workforce. Monday, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents some 96,000 state employees, elected Richard Louis Brown as its new president. Brown told Politico the organization would not be supporting Newsom during the recall, a response to pay cuts the governor enacted in the early months of the pandemic.

On the pro-recall side, which has raised $4.7 million, the biggest donors are mostly in Southern California, a hodgepodge of familiar GOP backers and lower-profile millionaires who have had it with the governor.

They include John Kruger, co-founder of the men’s golf and tennis apparel company, TravisMathew, who lives in Huntington Beach but whose Biblically-named campaign committee, Prov 3:9, is headquartered in the San Gabriel Valley of east Los Angeles County. Kruger is the largest single contributor to the recall cause. A spokesperson for the committee told KQED that Kruger is supporting the recall because of California’s public health restrictions on religious gatherings.

Other big recall backers are real estate developer and Donald Trump megadonor Geoff Palmer, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Douglas Leone and Central Valley gasoline tycoon Stan Boyett.

Then, there’s the mysterious DGB Ranch, based in Los Angeles. Though campaign finance filings do not include much information about this entity that contributed $150,000 to the recall effort, there are clues hidden in public records.

The committee’s name matches a $250 campaign contribution to Los Angeles City Council candidate Jose Gardea in 2011. According to the city’s ethics commission, that committee’s address is located in central Los Angeles’ Hancock Park. County property records list the owners of the Tudor Revival mansion — more country club than ranch — as pediatrician Daniel G. Berdakin (initials, DGB) and his wife.

Berdakin, who spent $10,500 on Republican national political causes last year, did not respond to phone calls and emails made to his office, his lawyer and his family foundation.

Though some of the largest sources of cash to the Republican-supported recall effort come from purple-to-blue regions of the state, that doesn’t seem to be true of voters in general. Californians in counties that gave former President Trump a larger share of the vote in 2020 were much more likely to sign the recall petition, according to data from the California Secretary of State’s office.

Newsom backers pulling away in money race

Last week’s donation from Hastings also upset what had been a near balance in financial might between the two sides.

To see for yourself, consider the horizontal and vertical lines below:

Since the recall election became all but certain in late April, those opposing it have significantly ramped up their financial efforts. What remains to be seen is whether recall supporters can make up the difference — either later or by other means.

Unlike those fundraising in support of the governor, recall proponents have had to spend their war chest in two stages: first to get the recall on the ballot, then to wage the campaign itself. The first donor blitz was dedicated to accomplishing the first goal, but efforts toward the second will “start again very soon,” said Anne Dunsmore, who runs the largest recall fundraising committee.

She also downplayed the contribution from Hastings. “I’m surprised, with the trouble that (the governor)’s in, that it was only $3 million,” she said.

In the months to come, recall backers could also re-focus their donations to the campaigns of any one of the Republicans seeking to eject Newsom from office. But so far, they haven’t.

John Cox, known for losing badly to Newsom in 2018 and campaigning alongside a Kodiak bear named Tag in 2021, has raised more than $5 million for his bid — though most has come from his own bank account. Former Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner has raised about $212,000 so far, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has pulled in a little less than $120,000 and former Sacramento-area member of Congress Doug Ose reported about $47,000, including $32,400 from himself.

Unlike the general pro- or anti-recall committees, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, candidates can’t receive more than $32,400 from a single donor. That means they’re more reliant on small-dollar donors — and some recall candidates are using a controversial tactic for repeat donations.

As first reported by Politico, online contributions made to both the Jenner and Ose campaigns through their websites are pre-checked to be charged repeatedly and to include “bonus” donations. Donors can opt out of both payment options, but only if they notice them. It’s a fundraising tactic made famous — and to consumer protection advocates, infamous — by the Trump campaign in 2020.

National Republican money fizzles

Last December, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee endorsed the recall effort. Huckabee’s political action committee threw $100,000 behind the effort. That was a sign to some political insiders that the state’s recall could become more than a mere California affair as national GOP donors and media personalities smelled “blood in the water.”

But that wave of red state cash has failed to materialize. Both sides have raised more than 90% of their itemized donations from within California, and the largest contributions from elsewhere have gone to defend the governor.

That includes $500,000 from the Democratic Governors Association. It also includes a $100,000 contribution from the law firm Baron & Budd, which represented 14 California cities and counties in a $1 billion settlement with PG&E for damages from catastrophic wildfires. The firm is based in Texas, meaning that the lion’s share of the campaign money coming out of the Lone Star State is backing the governor.

Darry Sragow, a Democratic political consultant and the publisher of the California Target Book, which tracks campaign finance data, said he sees no evidence that another wave of recall cash is on the way.

The worst of California’s pandemic seems to be over, the economy is rebounding, Newsom’s approval numbers are holding steady and no overwhelming favorite has emerged among the would-be replacement candidates. A statewide poll published this week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 54% of likely voters approve of the governor’s job performance and that only 40% support removing him from office.

“If I’m a Republican donor who is acting reasonably rationally, I just don’t see an argument for throwing a lot of money into the recall side,” he said.

With U.S. Senate, House and redistricting battles across the country, there is no shortage of more likely GOP electoral opportunities, Sragow added. “Republicans want to run the country. I don’t think they think they can run California.”

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CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Eureka Police Department press release: 

On May 25, 2021, Detectives with the Eureka Police Department’s Problem Oriented Policing Team (POP), with assistance from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force (DTF), served a search warrant on 42-year-old Michael Wade Thielen at a hotel on the 200 block of 5th Street in Eureka. The warrant was for possession of controlled substances for sale.

Detectives detained Thielen inside his hotel room. During the search, detectives located a handgun, 2 pounds of methamphetamine, over 1600 Fentanyl pills, nearly 80 grams of heroin, 2000 milliliters of testosterone, 32 Xanax pills, and US currency.

Thielen was transported and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for possession of a controlled substances while armed, possession of controlled substances for sale, and possession of narcotics for sale.

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This year’s drought is shaping up to be very, very bad. Juvenile salmon in the Klamath River system are already starting to perish in “catastrophic” numbers, with low flows as the primary cause. It looks very likely that the Eel River will fail to reach the sea later this year, as last happened during the 2014 drought. The soil and the vegetation, especially in the inland areas, are parched, and the likelihood for wildfire is high. Some areas might have problems getting drinking water.

Pretty much everyone who spoke at yesterday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting – during which the board and the public heard from a parade of governmental agency representatives on the front lines of this problem – agreed to these basic statements of fact. What to do about those facts? That’s another question, and one that was agreed to only vaguely, after about an hour and a half of somewhat chaotic deliberation.

Apart from that, there were two other major items on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda. Supervisors and the public got a first look at a draft revision to the county’s firearms ordinances, which would prohibit the shooting of firearms on most of the Samoa Peninsula and elsewhere near “heavily used recreation areas.” And it brought to an end a fairly disastrous (and expensive) effort to outsource parts of its broken payroll system for county employees.

Our Dry Future

“What I’m going to suggest is what a lot of other experts are suggesting, is that this is something more significant than a drought,” said Craig Tucker, a natural resources consultant for the Karuk Tribe, during the morning’s public forum. “In California, nine out of the 11 hottest years on record, and three out of the five driest years on record, have occurred since 2011.”

“So what I’m trying to say is the weather is changing, and this is a change that really has been predicted by climatologists for at least two decades. So what we’re living, here, is not really a drought but a new normal that is being driven by climate change.”

Tucker was one of the eight experts from local, tribal, state and federal agencies invited by Supervisor Mike Wilson to speak to the board about the coming dry year and beyond, with the intention of starting a conversation about what the county should be doing to prepare.

Though most Humboldt County residents are in no danger of running out of water, thanks to the vast untapped capacity of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District’s operations on the Mad River, the same doesn’t hold true for people outside the Eureka-Cutten-Arcata-McKinleyville population core. And that’s leaving aside the devastating impacts of the current drought on our natural systems, which will inevitably lead to wildfire and stress on fisheries.

Kathleen Zontos, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka, kicked off the discussion with an overview of just how bad the current drought year is shaping up to be. Right now, she said, Eureka is at about 60 percent of normal rainfall in this “water year” – October to September. (That number ranges from 50 to 70 percent at different locations around the county.) That’s on top of a dry year last year as well. Given that the bulk of our wet weather has already passed, that means we’re already in drought.

“Weather-wise, the damage has already been done,” she said.

Kurt McCray, chief of the Humboldt-Del Norte Cal Fire unit, said that his agency is preparing for the worst this year. The wildlands are full of dry, dead fuel, he said, and just as importantly the soil moisture level is currently very low. They’ll be staffing up to full firefighting readiness on June 1 this year – about three weeks ahead of normal – and he urged people in the hills to be prepared, by maintaining defensible space around their homes and being prepared to evacuate.

“I want to leave something – a little bit of a trivial fact, but of very significant importance to me,” McCray said. “At one point last fall, five of the six largest fires in recorded California history were burning at the same time in California. So the potential is there, and the conditions are far worse than they were at this time last year.”

Joe James, chair of the Yurok Tribe, said that the Klamath River is already in a state of emergency – the tribe itself has issued a declaration, and so has Governor Newsom – and reiterated that juvenile salmon are experiencing a die-off right now. He urged everyone on the call to reach out to the state and federal government to sound the alarm.

Chris Harris of the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District reiterated that Ruth Lake reservoir is at nearly full capacity, and there’s little danger of running out. (But the district gets its water not only from behind the dam, she noted, but from various tributaries that flow into it. It sucks up water from its Ranney collectors on the banks of the Mad near Blue Lake.)

Harris told the board about a couple of initiatives her district is working on. One: They’re looking to some of their excess capacity for environmental purposes – “in-stream flows,” as she called them – to supplement river water for natural systems in the dry times. Secondly, she said, they’re looking at developing loading stations for water delivery trucks to deliver to communities in need. These could only supply non-potable water, she said, and there are some questions about whether they would have enough scale to meet demand – trucking enough water to meet even a small community’s regular demands would be an enormous, probably impossible, undertaking.

Three county employees wrapped up the testimony: Hank Seemann, the county’s deputy director of public works; John Ford, its planning director; and Ryan Derby, the county’s emergency operations manager.

And then the board got on to the sticky question about what to do about this grave state of affairs.

What to Do

The testimony from the experts lasted just about an hour. The amount of time supervisors deliberated on their testimony – taking public comment, asking questions of panelists, their staff and each other, proposing and voting on motions – took about double that amount of time.

One thing that loomed large during the discussion: Whether or not Humboldt County should itself declare a state of emergency in regard to the drought – if not now, then at some point in the near future.

Supervisor Madrone was all for immediate action. “I really firmly believe we need to pass a proclamation, like, today,” he said. “I want to advocate for getting that done sooner rather than later.” But Supervisor Bohn was strongly against such a move, at least at this point, citing the fact that the county is already operating under emergency declarations relating to homelessness and COVID. (Earlier, during his presentation to the board, emergency operations manager Ryan Derby warned that at this point any actions taken pursuant to a local declaration of emergency would have to be funded locally – that there aren’t any federal or state dollars available yet.)

Supervisor Bushnell, meanwhile, repeatedly expressed caution about taking any significant action at this moment, given, she said, that the board had not heard any testimony from the agricultural and cannabis communities about the subject. (During the public comment period, Bushnell’s appointee to the county’s planning commission, Thomas Mulder, railed against the speakers that kicked off the discussion: “I know you’re asking for people to be polite, but I feel that the way in which the presentation was structured was an attack on our rural property rights,” he said.)

There was much back and forth and some side discussion. What about the water impact of new “megagrows”? Most of the new permits being approved these days are small and preexisting operations, said Planning Director John Ford. (Though people calling in during the public comment period charged that those preexisting operations are growing in size.) What about groundwater resources in the Eel River Valley – wells and such – that are covered by the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act? (Scientists are currently studying the relationship between those underground supplies and drought conditions on the surface, said Public Works Deputy Director Hank Seemann, and should have answers next year.)

One concrete proposal was offered: Supervisor Mike Wilson, echoing Craig Tucker’s comments about our climatological “new normal,” suggested that the county should create a new position – a “sustainability and resilience coordinator” – that could be the local point person for policy relating to climate change, and could also seek funding for the county’s adaptation efforts. Many other California counties have already created such a position, he said.

Finally, Wilson put forward a motion for the board’s consideration. It came in two parts – one: that staff come back with a drought update in four to six weeks, and to have some policy options for the board to consider; and two: that the board discuss, at a future date, the option of hiring a sustainability and resilience coordinator.

Wilson: Yes. Bass: Yes. Madrone (surprisingly): No. Bohn (with a bit of a laugh): No. Bushnell: No. Motion fails.

Bass, as the board’s chair, prepared to move on the next item on the agenda, saying “Well, this has been an interesting day already.” But Madrone, who had been largely silent during the back-and-forth among the other supervisors, chimed in, saying wanted to justify his seemingly out-of-left-field no vote. Madrone said he supported all the aspects of Wilson’s proposals except one: Four to six weeks was too slow.

“I’m looking to take action not in four to six weeks,” he said. “I think we ought to be acting today, and if not today then in a week or two, but I very much support the [sustainability and resilience] position that was suggested.”

“Would you like to make a motion to that half of the item?” Wilson asked. “Because we’ve now just sent a message that we don’t want that. And that message is going to be heard loud and clear. So would you like to make a motion of something you want to see happen here today?”

Thus began another 20-odd minutes of hair-pulling discussion about things like parliamentary procedure, about what sort of time frame would be reasonable for staff to do the new work requested of them without pulling them from other duties. Eventually, two new ideas were thrown into the mix: That the board could direct county staff, now, to put out statements to the public that we are in a serious drought crisis, and that everyone should conserve water and practice fire readiness; and two, that Derby, Seemann and Ford could be formally appointed to a task force that would study policy options for a county drought response, and that this task force would report back to the board as soon as possible.

Madrone made two separate motions to incorporate those two ideas into Wilson’s previous omnibus motion, and both of Madrone’s motions passed unanimously.

The Payroll Debacle

After a lunch break, the board got back to business. First up: An embarrassing about-face on its choice of a payroll software vendor, which had been a major point of contention in last year’s war between Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez and much of the rest of county leadership.

County payroll has been broken for a long time. Disregarding Paz Dominguez’s defiant protest, the county chose a new software vendor in an effort to fix the problem – Automatic Data Processing, or ADP. They didn’t come cheap: The county was to pay one-time costs of $146,000 and about $359,000 per year for the pleasure of using ADP systems.

What we learned yesterday: Despite receiving such an astounding amount of cash, ADP hasn’t been able to get their systems to work with vagaries of Humboldt County payroll. Or, if you’d like to place the blame the other way, Humboldt County payroll hasn’t been able to adapt itself to the vagaries of APD’s system. In particular, according to the staff report:

Through this process the project team has identified significant limitations associated with the ADP platform that have the potential to create considerable risk for the county. These limitations are functionally related to position control, multiple pay assignments, mandated equal opportunity reporting, and the ADP system’s inability to handle the county’s five-digit decimal point salary configuration. These shortcomings have profound implications for agency operations and create financial risk.

… which, to this untutored but somewhat software-savvy observer, seem like a) the kinds of things you could figure out before forking over $146,000, and b) the kinds of things a software company could fix for $146,000. That is an editorial aside.

But this was not the moment for recrimination, apparently, and the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to cut bait on the whole deal without much discussion. Human Resources Director Linda Le offered thanks to everyone, and most especially Paz Dominguez, who participated in the attempt to implement ADP, and several other department heads chimed in to say that cutting off ADP was the right decision.

Payroll is still more or less broken. Treasurer/Tax Collector John Bartholomew, always a level head, hoped that this would be a learning experience.

“I feel badly for the amount of time they had to expend to come to that determination,” Bartholomew said, speaking of the county staff who were tasked with implementing ADP and eventually came to the decision to ditch it. “But at the same time, they’re launching into the next stage of this process to figure out what the best payroll system is for the county in good fashion.”

“Next time around, we’ll find the right solution to these problems.”

Soon: No Shooting on the Spit

No action was taken, but the county took its first look at a revision to its firearms ordinance. The main points: When passed, there will be no shooting allowed on most of the Samoa Peninsula, or within 150 yards of any “heavily used recreation area” or any occupied building not belonging to the shooter, anywhere in the county.

Supervisor Bohn took some pains to verify that this would not be a hardship on local duck or goose hunters, since they’re not hunting on the Peninsula much anyway, and also that this would not affect the Redwood Gun Club, the target range just to the north of Ma-l’el Dunes. The Gun Club is indeed on the Samoa Peninsula, but is just outside the proscribed range in the new ordinance.

The revision to the ordinance has been in the works for quite a while now. It was prompted by an informal target range that had been set up just outside the town of Samoa, on property owned by local developer Dan Johnson’s company.

The board will revisit the new firearms ordinance at a later date – probably next week’s meeting.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On May 25, 2021, at about 9:46 p.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the area of Central Avenue and School Road, in McKinleyville, observed a vehicle stopped in the middle of the roadway.

As the deputy approached the vehicle to offer assistance, the vehicle accelerated and fled at a high rate of speed. The deputy pursued the vehicle for approximately 1.8 miles, observing the vehicle commit multiple vehicle code violations. The vehicle yielded near Central and Horrell Avenues, then began to back up at a high rate of speed, colliding with the deputy’s patrol car.

Deputies conducted a high-risk traffic stop on the vehicle following the collision. The driver of the vehicle, 46-year-old David Andrew Niedrich, was detained. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) was requested to respond to conduct a DUI evaluation and collision investigation. Niedrich was later arrested by CHP officers and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol (VC 23152(a)) and evading a peace officer (VC 2800.2).

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.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office press release:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has received an increased number of reports regarding unsafe target shooting on the Eel River bar near Fernbridge putting residents and livestock at risk.  

The Sheriff’s Office reminds the public that pursuant to Humboldt County Code Section 915.5, target shooting with firearms is prohibited on the Eel River bar at/near Fernbridge.  

Humboldt County Code prohibits target shooting with firearms in a public place within one-half mile of any state highway (915.5-6). Additionally, areas utilized for target shooting must have a 20-foot-tall backdrop of earth behind the target (915.5-8).

The Eel River bar near Fernbridge is within one-half mile of a state highway and does not have the required safe shooting backdrop, therefore, it is unlawful under County Code to conduct target shooting in that area. Violation of this code is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment, or both (915.5-9).  

Additional locations prohibiting the discharge of firearms can be reviewed here: https://humboldt.county.codes/Code/915

Anyone witnessing illegal target shooting is encouraged to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On May 25, 2021, deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) served five search warrants to investigate illegal cannabis cultivation in Southern Humboldt County. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Environmental Health - HazMat Unit, Humboldt County Code Enforcement, CAL FIRE and the California State Water Resources Control Board assisted in the service of the warrants.

Five parcels were investigated during the service of the warrants. The parcels did not possess the required county permit and state license to cultivate cannabis commercially.

During the service of the warrants, deputies eradicated approximately 21,028 growing cannabis plants. Deputies seized and destroyed over 40 pounds of cannabis bud. Deputies also located and seized one firearm.

Assisting agencies found the following violations:

• Six water diversion violations (up to $8,000 fine per day, per violation)
• Sixteen depositing trash in or near a waterway violations (up to $20,000 fine per day, per violation)

Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies.

No arrests were made during the service of the warrant. The case will be forwarded to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office for review.

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.

Manuel Augusto Morais, age 88, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 21, 2021, at home surrounded by his loving family.

He was born April 10, 1933, in Faial, Azores, Portugal, to Jose Joaquim Morais and Rosa Augusta Da Silva. He is survived by his wife, Maria Rita Morais of McKinleyville; daughter and son-in-law, Lenda M. Leal and Francisco Paulino Leal of McKinleyville; daughter and son-in-law, Helena M. Ward and Donald D. Ward of Merriam Woods Village, Missouri ; Granddaughter, Rachael M. Leal of McKinleyville California; Grandson and wife, Manuel M. Leal and Kelly P. Leal of McKinleyville; Granddaughter and husband, Andrea M. Goodwin and Rocky W. Goodwin of McKinleyville; and Grandson Anthony M. Leal of McKinleyville; Great Grandchildren, Jacob L. Goodwin, Marianna P. Leal, Ethan L. Goodwin, Damian T. Leal, Manuel P. Leal and Vincent R. Leal; former son-in-law, Antonio T. Leal and one sister, Elvira Da Rosa of Canada. He was predeceased by his brother Jose Morais; and three sisters, Fernanda Terra, Adelina Serpa and Helena Alves.

Manuel was an adventurous and brave man. In 1959 he and his pregnant wife ventured from their home in the Azores, Portugal, seeking the American Dream. He began his work life in the sawmill pulling green chain and instantly became known and respected for his work ethic, tireless strength and energy. His ambition drove him to explore an opportunity that would enable him to work for himself and create a life and legacy for his family. Bricklayer by trade, he ended up in the dairy and cattle business for over fifty years. His force of nature enabled him to accomplish his dreams and provide for his family for generations to come. Manuel was proud of his accomplishments in life, but he never forgot his humble beginnings.

Manuel was a proud member of the Portuguese community and his pride was reflected in his support of traditional Portuguese religious celebrations held annually at the Portuguese Hall in Arcata. His support of the Portuguese Hall was appreciated by many. He was known for his donations of beef from his cattle business to prepare the meals served by members of the committees to the community at these religious events. His generosity extended to individuals throughout the Portuguese community and in his birthplace.

It is with saddened hearts that we bid farewell to Manuel. He will be remembered for his generosity, his love of family and friends, pride of accomplishment and strength, as well as his big red pickup truck, and let’s not forget that black cowboy hat, leather jacket and boots.

Funeral services, including a rosary, will be held at 1 p.m., Thursday, May 27, 2021, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Arcata, for those who wish to attend. Interment will be in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery immediately following the church services.

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