From the Eureka Police Department

On April 29, 2021, at about 4:00 p.m., officers of the Eureka Police Department responded to the intersection of Buhne and “H” Streets for the report of a vehicle vs pedestrian collision. While responding to the collision, it was reported that the driver and vehicle involved in the collision had left the scene.

Upon arrival officers located the pedestrian on the sidewalk at the southeast corner of the intersection. The pedestrian sustained moderate injuries and was transported by City Ambulance to St. Joseph ER for treatment.

Based on witness statements, officers began searching the area and located the involved vehicle in an alleyway within a block of the collision. The driver, identified as Alan Lee Ladd (58 years old of Eureka), was located four blocks east of the collision location. The driver was evaluated at the scene and DUI does not appear to be a factor. Ladd was ultimately taken into custody and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of hit and run, driving while unlicensed, no insurance and expired registration. His bail was set at $35,000.00.

ABOVE: LoCO self-guided Sky Walk tour

City of Eureka press release: 

Today the City of Eureka announced that on Friday, June 4, 2021, they will hold a special event and ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the official grand opening of the Redwood Sky Walk at Sequoia Park Zoo. The grand opening ceremony will be followed by a weekend of special activities to celebrate the area’s newest, and tallest, attraction.

The Grand Opening weekend activity schedule, which will be announced in the coming days, is designed to allow as many citizens as possible to join in the celebration while limiting each individual activity’s attendance numbers to ensure compliance with California’s reopening guidelines. However, prior to the grand opening weekend, locals will also have an opportunity to experience the Redwood Sky Walk early. Starting Friday, May 14, 2021, visitors to the Sequoia Park Zoo can access the Redwood Sky Walk during their regular zoo visits.

More information about the Redwood Sky Walk experience, including the new pricing schedule, photos, and experience details, is now available at redwoodskywalk.com.

Effective Friday, May 14, 2021, one ticket will provide entry into both the Sequoia Park Zoo and the Redwood Sky Walk. Accordingly, the price of zoo admission will adjust to the following fee schedule:

Adult (13+)

• Humboldt Resident: $14.95
• Non-Resident: $24.95

Child (0-12)  (3-12)

• Humboldt Resident: $10.95
• Non-Resident: $11.95

[UPDATE: Kids two and under free.]

Senior (60+)/Military Student (with active ID)

• Humboldt Resident: $12.95
• Non-Resident: $12.95

Zoo Members

• Humboldt Resident: Free with membership
• Non-Resident: Free with membership

This week, a newly listed four-bedroom house overlooking the Trinidad coastline was featured on the popular Facebook page For The Love Of Old Houses. The custom home includes a spacious kitchen, 3.8 acres of land and a $2 million price tag.

Listing from Sandi DeLuca, Coldwell Banker Sellers Realty.

Of the approximate 143 homes (not including cannabis farms) currently for sale in Humboldt County, 20 are listed for more than $1 million — some for a great deal more. While many of these multimillion-dollar homes are estimated to be overvalued based on the hundreds of days they’ve sat on the market, Humboldt’s houses are selling faster, and for more money than ever before.

Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty agent Dane Grytness told the Outpost that, despite the pandemic, the local housing market is seeing record sales prices this year. In January, the local market surpassed previous price records set in 2007.

“Statistically, yes, we’re at the highest prices we’ve ever had,” Grytness said. “In March of 2020, I lost quite a few escrows. We thought there’d be a crash. Over the next few months — June, July — buyer confidence soared. People said, ‘This isn’t that bad.’ They were cooped up in their houses, but I think a lot of people have been economically successful [despite the pandemic]. A lot of people are unemployed, but I think those people are entry-level workers who aren’t buying homes in the first place.”

With a median household income of $48,041, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019, it’s not surprising that many Humboldt County residents are finding it difficult to buy a home in the present market.

“What we’re definitely finding with bidding wars here is out-of-the-area buyers tend to have more capital than a lot of local buyers,” Grytness said.

Zillow estimates that the average value of a Humboldt County home is $360,353 — an 11.4 percent increase from last year. According to the National Association of Realtors, this rise is following a national trend.

“The median existing-home sales price in March rose by a record-breaking annual pace of 17.2% to a historic high of $329,100, with all regions posting double-digit price gains,” the NAR reported last week. “Median existing-single-family home sales price jumped 18.4% to $334,500, both historic highs.”

Additionally, the Wall Street Journal just listed the greater Humboldt Bay Area as the country’s 13th hottest market on its Emerging Housing Markets Index. This rating is based on expected growth for regional home prices and attractive lifestyle amenities in the area.

So what’s causing this meteoric rise? Grytness said it’s mostly a supply-and-demand problem.

“We have more people moving up here,” he said. “It’s probably not as aggressive as everyone thinks, but it’s creating bidding wars on houses. Prices are going up dramatically, but the demand is there and there is significant demand because there’s low inventory.”

As previously stated, there are approximately 143 homes currently for sale in Humboldt County — a drastic decrease compared to past years. According to data provided by Grytness, there were as many as 350 homes for sale in Humboldt County last summer. In 2019, the housing market peaked at approximately 550 homes. In 2018, 650. The data shows that Humboldt’s housing market has gradually been shrinking since at least 2006, when there were as many as 800 homes for sale at one time.

So what would it take for local real estate prices to drop? For starters, Humboldt can build more houses. However, Grytness said this isn’t a feasible solution right now.

“Single-family homes just aren’t being built fast enough,” he said. “Part of the reason is there’s not enough zoning in Arcata to allow for subdivisions. Those take time and the fastest growing areas are McKinleyville and Fortuna where zoning allows for it.”

The construction industry is also currently affected by skyrocketing building material costs. According to the National Association of Home Builders, lumber prices have risen by more than 180 percent in the last year. The New York Times reported in 2018 that these soaring prices are partly due to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canadian lumber that went into effect in 2017.

“This price spike has caused the price of an average new single-family home to increase by more than $24,000 since April 2020,” the NAHB reported earlier this month — a figure based on its standard estimates of lumber used to build the average home.

Grytness said these high costs make construction a bad investment for many local contractors.

“Construction materials are so high that it’s not economical,” he said. “They have been going up for years. It doesn’t make sense to [build].”

But are there actually fewer homes being built in Humboldt? According to limited statistics provided by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the number of single-family homes built in Humboldt County dropped from 62 in 2018 to 44 in 2019. However, the number of approved construction permits for single-family homes held steady in Humboldt County during this same period. Eighty-eight permits were approved in 2018 and 89 permits were approved in 2019.

To help curb Humboldt’s current housing crunch, the County Planning and Building Department has been actively updating its “accessory dwelling unit” policies, allowing more homeowners to build second “mother-in-law” units on their properties. Between 2018 and 2019, local homeowners added 38 new accessory-dwelling units. During this same timeframe, another 86 homeowners were approved to begin construction on these secondary units.

While experts can only speculate about the future of Humboldt’s housing market, Grytness is hopeful that prices will go down.

“What’s going to correct this is rising interest rates and older populations getting vaccinated, which will allow them to relocate, put their homes on the market and let people look inside their homes,” Grytness said. “Or another economic crash.”

While “housing bubble” chatter has been prevalent since the Great Recession of 2008, Grytness said that Humboldt’s real estate numbers aren’t indicative of a market ready to burst.

“It doesn’t feel like a bubble,” he said. “I don’t see a lot of people moving out of the area. The rental market is just as busy. With the influx of people moving here and a lack of inventory, it definitely stresses that this is not a bubble.”

California’s identity, dating back to the Gold Rush, has been based on an idea: This is a place where people want to be. Prospectors. Dust bowl refugees. Immigrants. The Golden State has always lured people seeking work, play and sunshine.

For most of that history, our population went up and up. And so did our representation in Congress. Now, for the first time in our 171 year history, we’re losing a congressional seat.

What happened?

There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives and for the last two decades, California has held 53 of them. But then the U.S. Census Bureau released its 2020 population estimate. Population growth is based on three things: birth rate, death rate and migration — people coming and going. All three trends have been moving in the wrong direction in California.

Our birth rate is at a record low. Our death rate is inching up, not just because of COVID but because the state is getting older. And fewer people are moving here. That’s in part due to tighter immigration rules under the Trump administration. But a lot of people are moving to other states like Oregon, Colorado and Texas.

Demographers call that “net domestic migration” and it’s been increasing all decade. To be clear, none of this means that California is shrinking. Between 2010 and 2020, our population increased by more than 2 million, or 6%.

But it just hasn’t grown as fast as the country as a whole — and not nearly as fast as some of our regional rivals. It feels bad to lose a congressional seat. It should.

One fewer vote in the House means less of a voice in federal policymaking, and one fewer vote at the Electoral College, which chooses the president.

It also means less money.

Federal spending on health care, food aid, affordable housing and more is divvied up based on the census. It’s big money: more than $1.5 trillion across the country. Now California is going to get less of that too.

Going from 53 to 52 also makes life a little more complicated for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Unlike in some other states that are getting more congressional seats, California’s political maps are drawn by an independent panel of 14 volunteers, not politicians.

The commission has until the end of this year to draw maps for the 2022 election — including cutting the state into 52 congressional districts instead of 53. Someone, somewhere will lose that seat.

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

It is with great sadness that we report the sudden death of our dear Mom Koungsa Young (78), who passed away on April 20, 2021. Koungsa was born in Laos on May 10, 1942. There she began her sixty-year marriage to Sing. Koungsa, Sing and their seven children were forced to leave Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam war.

After spending nearly two years in a refugee camp in Thailand, they were able to immigrate to the U.S. after being sponsored by a Catholic parish in Des Moines, Iowa.

From there they had brief stops in Phoenix and Los Angeles. They settled down away from big city life in Humboldt County and have lived here for the past 32 years.

Koungsa was a strong woman with a fierce spirit. She dealt with diabetes most of her life and was a three-time survivor of breast cancer. Her greatest joys were gardening, raising chickens and governing her family with an iron fist. She was a feisty woman with a strong voice and an even stronger heart.

Koungsa is survived by her husband Sing, six children, six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. She follows her daughter Genevieve (Lang) to heaven. They are finally united after all these years, and she is finally free of her body’s sickness and pain.

Although gone from this world, her spirit and legacy lives on through her remaining family. We will continue to honor her life of sacrifice and toil, and will always remember her unrelenting love and devotion.

You were the glue that held our family together and a Mom to us all. Your absence is deeply felt. We wish you a safe journey to heaven. You are now free of pain and worry. Thank you for living your extraordinary life with us for as long as you could. We’ll see you again someday. We love you very much, Mom.

Many thanks go to the Open Door Community Health and Wellness Center and their teams of angels. Special thanks to Dr. Ellen Taylor who took care of Koungsa for more that twenty years. Thanks to all the wonderful people at St. Joseph’s Hospital, including Dr. Fellow, the oncology team, the chemo and radiology teams and any other angel that helped prolong her life.

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

Ray Stephen Douglas died peacefully at home in Rio Dell at the age of 65, on April 5, 2021.

Ray was born on Feb. 12, 1956 in Jackson, Tennessee. He moved to Encinitas when he was in elementary school. He attended San Dieguito High School and then Torrey Pines High School. Ray was a gifted athlete and played football and ran track while in high school, and once received a trophy for the most touchdowns in one season for San Diego county. Ray enjoyed watching pro sports and stayed a loyal fan of the San Diego Padres and the Chargers all of his life.

Ray became a father for the first time when his daughter Shayna Douglas was born in October 1976. Ray worked in construction during much of the 1980s, mastering drywall, painting and other indoor finishing work. Ray met his wife, Rose, in 1990, and they were married soon after. They had a son, Ray, in August 1991 and a daughter, Sarah, in April 1993. In 1991 Ray began working at ATI, Inc in Escondido making Snap-On Tools. When that job moved out of state, Ray began working for Sumitomo Metal Mining in Oceanside, making Sony TV and computer screens until that job moved out of the country.

In 2003, Ray and his family moved north to Rio Dell. Ray said of all the places he had lived in California that Humboldt County reminded him most of his beloved hometown in Tennessee. Ray worked at Peterbilt in Eureka and then worked at the Evergreen Pulp Mill as a spout man until the mill closed in 2008. Family was everything to Ray. He called his wife his angel, and he adored his grandchildren.

Ray was an avid motorcyclist since his teens and always wore a bandana to cover his long hair which became his signature look. He was a member of the motorcycle club “The Highway Kings” in San Diego. He loved his custom Harley. When asked what his favorite color was Ray always said it was “chrome”. Ray was well known for his amazing cooking and BBQ, regularly cooking for family, friends, and neighbors. Ray loved music and played guitar. He often shared his favorite music on social media with his friends. Ray had a green thumb like his mother and grew a variety of vegetables and flowers.

Ray was preceded in death by his parents Sarah Florence Thompson and James Stephen Douglas and his grandparents Robert and Beatrice Thompson and RV and Jenny Douglas. Ray is survived by his wife, Rose, his children: Shayna Marie Douglas, Ray Franklin Douglas, Sarah Rose Douglas, and his grandchildren: Destiny, Tayzia, Tamiyah, Alonte, Alanah (Shayna’s children), and Lyla Rei (Sarah’s daughter) and his great grandchildren: Freddie Zayne (Tayzia’s son) and Zimara (Destiny’s daughter), his closest friends/ “brothers”: Frank and Manuel Rodriguez, Larry Thompson, and Henry Williams and as well as his six sisters-in-law, several cousins and many other family and friends.

There will be a memorial service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1444 Ross Hill Road, Fortuna) on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 1 p.m. (Social distancing and masks are required.)

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

Maxine M. Maples (Friesen) passed into the loving arms of her Savior on Saturday, April 24. Maxine was 94, born on February 27, 1927, in Dallas, Oregon, into a family of German descent. Maxine was one of 9 children. While her parents Jacob and Katherina preferred the German language, Maxine and her siblings were encouraged to speak only English, reflective of that era. In her 16th year the family moved to Medford, where Maxine graduated from Medford High School in 1945. Soon after, she moved to San Francisco where she found work as a secretarial clerk. Playland in San Francisco was a favorite destination for Maxine, where she enjoyed the roller coaster. At Playland, on one Saturday in 1947, Maxine was approached by a young, broke sailor trying to sell a fountain pen, needing the proceeds for cab fare back to his ship in Alameda. That young sailor, Wayne Maples, convinced Maxine to pay for them both to ride the roller coaster. They were married six weeks later, on April 5, 1947, after an all- night drive to Minden, Nevada, where they woke the justice of the peace to perform an early morning ceremony. Thus, beginning a union and journey that would last 74 years.

Upon Wayne’s discharge from the USN he and Maxine located to Tempe, Arizona, to be near Wayne’s parents. Their first of five sons, Michael, was born there in 1948. In 1950, the young family of 3 traveled to visit Maxine’s family who had just relocated to Eureka. At Maxine’s request her and Michael remained in Eureka for a longer visit while Wayne returned to his power company job in Tempe. Just a few days later Maxine received a call from Wayne announcing that the family was moving to Eureka. Permanently. Maxine was overjoyed to be locating near her family. She would forever refer to that phone call as her greatest answer to prayer. Their first home was public housing where what is now Winco.

Over the next 12 years Wayne & Maxine added 4 sons to their home. Bruce in 1951, twins Roger & Rodney in 1954, and Dale in 1962. Maxine, our Mom, had 4 loves. First, Mom’s faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ became the foundation of her whole being. From that, she never wavered. She made sure her five boys, and her husband, knew the path to her Savior. She was an active and faithful member, with Dad, in the Eureka Nazarene Church. There, she sang in the choir, served as missionary president, and made her lifelong friends.

Second only to her love for Jesus, was her endearing affection for her husband and our father, Wayne. In that also, she never wavered. After arriving in Eureka, Wayne was blessed to find work as an apprentice plumber and in 1960, started a plumbing company. He borrowed the seed money for that venture from his mother-in-law. So, it was also Mom’s investment from the beginning. Whatever ups or downs the company experienced, it was Maxine and Wayne pulling together through their hard work ethic. As time went by and travel became possible, they traveled the world; from China to Israel, and from cruises through the Panama Canal to the Alaskan Inside Passage. Mom and Dad were the perfect example of two, being one.

Third, mom loved her boys. Though she longed for a daughter, it was not to be. As we five boys reflect, Mom could have used a girl to soften our home a bit, perhaps. Mom’s affection for us was obvious as she always, until this day, wanted to know every detail of our lives. In her later and twilight years, Mom became a living book relaying the life stories of her boys to anyone nearby - friend or stranger. In her eyes we could do no wrong, though we sometimes did.

Lastly, Mom loved her grandchildren - all 22 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. The saddest day of all was the day her grandson Michael, 6, passed away. Along with oldest son Mike (Debbie), the scars remained. Some of the grandkids lived close, some not so close. Mom and Dad wore out several motorhomes traveling to see them all.

Finally, it must be said that Mom, along with Dad, loved Eureka. For 72 years they both enjoyed love returned from this community. We boys are grateful to have shared in that love of this community.

Maxine was preceded in death by seven of her siblings, and by her grandson Michael. She is survived by her husband Wayne Maples, her five sons - Michael (Debbie), Bruce (Linda), Rodney (Sonja), Roger (Janice) and Dale (Jillaine) - and by her brother Wilfred Friesen, and lastly by her 21 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Special thanks to Lorraine Sylvia and Rosanna Bruhnke who lovingly cared for Mom, at home, in these last years. Thanks to Hospice for stepping in during the last week and assisting the family for the best care options.

There will be a memorial service for Maxine at the Eureka Nazarene Church (2039 E Street) on May 8, at 2 p.m. The adjoining Redwood Christian School gymnasium will be employed to facilitate appropriate social distancing.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Eureka Nazarene Church Youth Group. 2039 E Street, Eureka, CA 95501.