Delray Lee Bates, 64 years old, of Klamath, passed away on April 2, 2021.

Family and friends are invited to follow from Wier’s Mortuary at 10 a.m. Sunday, April 11, 2021. Visitation will be held at 121 Redwood Road in Klamath. The funeral service will be held at the Aawok Ada Charles Emergency Operations Center, in Klamath California on Monday, April 12, 2021 at 10:00 am. Burial will follow her last boat ride at Waukell cemetery. Celebration of life immediately after burial at Aawok Ada Charles Emergency Center.

Delray was born October 2, 1957, in Crescent City. Delray was a proud and active member of the Yurok Tribe. She loved spending time along the river, whether it was fishing and camping with her family at Waukell or driving the fisheries boats counting nets and fish. Delray enjoyed attending her family’s Jump Dance ceremony in Pecwan, spending time with loved ones and teaching her sons and grandchildren their culture from very young ages. Delray was a very family-oriented and strong woman. She was proud of her five sons and grandchildren and was considered a mom to many others. Her door was always open for family and friends to come and have a place to rest and eat.

Delray was a fantastic baker and was well-known for her homemade frybread and berry pies. She would hold fundraisers to help get her softball team “The River Riders” into tournaments and would always be on the sideline cheering on and supporting her team. Delray also enjoyed going to bingo, yard sales and traveling. Delray would always have the biggest smile while she was out camping, playing in the snow and spending time with her grandchildren. Holidays and birthdays were always fun/important for Delray, during Halloween and Christmas she would always have the brightest, most decorated house in the community. She would plan months ahead for her son’s birthdays and would go all out for each one of them. Delray had the biggest heart and would always be there no matter who called. She was considered a backbone to many and did anything she could to help others.

Delray is survived by her children and grandchildren Keith Ray (Delray, Sunni); Robert/Fawn Ray (Ratausha, Robert Jr, Rylee, Kaiser, Rhianna, Bobby); Ben Ray/Ryan Colegrove (Ben Jr, Savannah, Tatianna, Gunner, Na-rec, Das, Tek, Ada); Ryan/Tara Ray (Kayah, Darren, Naomi, Ryan Jr, Hunter); Coty/Mistey Bates (Kianna, Keeni, Kellyanne, Kiara). Partner Cliff Ford. Brothers Ted Bates, Ron Bates, Allen Bates, Richard Bates. Sisters Vicky Bates, Michelle Rainer, Lisa Bates. Mother and father Fern and Bruce Bates. And SO MANY MORE nieces and nephews, cousins and loved ones.

Delray is proceeded in death by her grandmother Ada Charles, her mother and father Pauline and Arthur(Pete) Bates, auntie Joanne Moore, uncle Larry Charles, her brothers Bruce Bates, Darren Bates, and Art Bates. Her cousins: Byron Scott, Brenda Snyder, Jesse Donahue, Jenny Hendon, and Jack Scott.. Nephews: Manuel (Scooner) Frease and Nemechay Bates. Niece Natasha Bates and Angel De Los Santos, granddaughter Angel Rose Ray.

Honorary Pallbearers: Keith Ray, Robert Ray Sr., Ben Ray Sr., Ryan Ray Sr., Coty Bates, Cliff Ford, Larry Steele, Ron Bates Sr., Richard Bates Sr., Allen Bates, Arlen Charles, Lloyd Charles, Jeff Britton, James Proctor Sr., Taos Proctor.

Pallbearers: Robert Ray Jr., Rylee Ray, Kaiser Ray, Ben Ray Jr., Gunner Ray, Darren Ray, Arlen Charles Jr., Ira Thompson, Pergish Carlson, Joe Bates, Micah Evans, Shawn Ford, Bear Ford, Ron Bates Jr., Lance Bates, Nic-wec Bates, Jay Bates, Richard Bates Jr., Kai Rainer, Joe Swain, Jack Swain, Jim Swain, Ralph Martinez, John Donahue, Merle Stevenson.

Russell Edward Mills of Kneeland, born August 20, 1947, passed away peacefully at his home on April 7, 2021 after several years battling cancer and COPD. He was 73 years old. He was the last of three children born to Robert and Ruth Mills in Methuen Massachusetts. The family soon thereafter moved to Southern California and Russell was raised in Torrance where he graduated from South High School in 1965.

Russell married Patricia, his high school sweetheart, and they made their way to Redding. They later moved to Kneeland so Russell could study forestry at Humboldt State University, and that is where they welcomed a daughter, Liana Dawn, then eventually divorced. He had a short marriage to Karen Price. Russell’s plans for a forestry career were waylaid when he took an opportunity to become a painting contractor. He had his own business as a well-respected commercial and industrial painting contractor in northern Humboldt County for about 40 years. He was very proud of his job painting the Humboldt County Courthouse, and was known for his wallpaper and woodwork at the Eureka Inn, amongst many other jobs through the years. He loved to bid jobs.

Russell wanted to be the best at everything he did. During the 1960s, he surfed the Big Waves through California, Mexico, and Hawaii. He was sponsored by surfing apparel companies in surfing contests and film. He was an avid horseman and he raised his best friends Treasure and Chinquapin from foals while living in Kneeland. He competed in Endurance, Dressage, and Gymkhana riding. He was well known to trailer the horses and ride into the sunset wilderness of California and Oregon.

Russell left behind his wife Nita Brake-Mills of 18 years. They met and dated beginning in 1990 but it took Nita until 2002 to get that knot tied. They married in the Eureka Masonic Lodge, a rare privilege where few marry in the Lodge itself. Nita brought three sons to the marriage, Nicholas Womble, Christopher Allen and Timothy Mellon. Timothy was only eight years old then and Russ raised him like his own and was a father figure to Nick and Chris, who were adults at the time of the marriage. He taught them the art of negotiation. He was known to provide thoughtful, reasoned guidance to them and other youth and friends. Being a person of honor and integrity was always important to him and it showed in his actions and words. He was a role model for all.

Russell was a 50 year Mason. He was raised at Redding Lodge and transferred to Eureka Lodge #79 where he was a Master Mason in 1980 and 2000. He was a member of York Rite and Commandery.

He was a member for many years and current officer of the Eureka Moose Lodge #636. The Moose Lodge was a place where he socialized and made many friends in his later years. He enjoyed attending and volunteering at Sunday breakfasts and Friday night dinners.

Russell is survived by his wife Nita of Kneeland, brother Douglas Mills of Arkansas, daughter Liana Mills of Santa Rosa, stepsons Nicholas Womble, Christopher Allen, Timothy Mellon (Kelsy Strong), nieces Dana and Melissa, son-in-law Steven Thompson, and grandchildren Ariana Mills, Savannah Thompson, Ivy Rae Thompson, Alycia Thompson, and Ezra Mellon. A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at the Moose Lodge #636, 4328 Campton Road, Eureka CA 95003 on Sunday April 18 at 2 pm. Covid precautions will be observed, and part of service may be outdoors weather permitting.

Donations in Russell’s honor and Chinquapin’s name may be made to Miranda’s Animal Rescue, 1603 Sandy Prairie Road, Fortuna, CA 95540, which is Chinquapin’s new home.

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

Local fighter Cass Bell suffered the second loss in his professional career on Friday to competitor Jornel Lugo at Bellator 256.

Bell was on the defensive for much of the fight after Lugo delivered several devastating kicks to Bell’s legs early on. This allowed Lugo to easily outperform Bell in strikes, punches and kicks landed, as well as takedowns.

Thank you all for the love and support,” Bell shared on Facebook following the fight. “Those damn calf kicks [were] definitely no joke. Anyways I will be back at it soon! Love you all!”

Bell was almost submitted by a rear-naked choke at the end of the final round for the second fight in a row, but was able to withstand the hold until the final horn. 

All three judges ruled the fight in favor of Lugo. The match can be watched in its entirety in the video embedded at the top of this story.

Listen Local! Subscribe to Humboldt Holding Up on iTunes!

(AUDIO) Linda Cooley is Holding Up!

As Humboldt beer drinkers will recall, ‘twas back in late 2019 when it was announced that the Yurok Agricultural Corporation was purchasing Mad River Brewing Company and its destination Blue Lake taproom, in the process making the three-decades-old business and beloved local institution one of only a handful of tribally owned breweries in North America.

Linda Cooley, beer boss

For Linda Cooley, Yurok tribal member and Mad River’s new CEO, the acquisition has been a dream, as its led to her seeing her people represented in spaces where they’ve historically been invisible.

“I got to walk into Safeway the other day and I saw the word ‘Yurok,’” Cooley noted to LoCO, referencing the “Yurok Country Certified” emblem that now adorns all of MRB’s products. “I never thought in my whole entire life that that would be possible … but here we are as Native people seeing our tribe’s name in these big chain stores and it’s unbelievable.”

On this week’s episode of Humboldt Holding Up, Cooley chats with LoCO’s Andrew Goff and Stephanie McGeary about the new role she unknowingly spent much of her professional life preparing for while also sharing some of the tribe’s plans for MRB going forward. Topics include:

• Growing up in Humboldt and getting her start in beer with Anheuser-Busch and Eel River Brewery  
• The Yurok Tribe’s decision to become one of only a handful of tribes to own a brewery and battling stigmas surrounding Native Americans and alcohol 
• Carrying on the established Mad River Brewery traditions 
• Sharing the Yurok story with the world via new labels and products like their hard seltzer “Undammed”
• The headache of buying a business just before a global pandemic  

To get to know Linda, click the audio player above or direct your phone here to listen in the Podcast App (where you can also subscribe!). And do scroll through our growing audio rolodex of past Humboldt guests below.

• LoCO Editor Hank Sims
• Humboldt Republic’s Jason Brandi
• Table Bluff Farmer Hannah Eisloeffel
• Logger Bar Owner Kate Martin
• Teacher/Rapper Zach “Zigzilla” Lehner
• Madaket Captain “Zippo” Libby Tonning
• Event Planner Alegria Sita
• Food For People’s Anne Holcomb
• AHHA President Nezzie Wade
• Performance Artist Noël August/Tucker Noir
• Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman
• Eagle House Owner Jennifer Metz
• Absynth Quartet Drummer Mike “Tofu” Schwartz
• HACHR Executive Director Lasara Firefox Allen
• Alchemy Distiller Owner Amy Bohner
• Eureka City Councilmember Kati Moulton
• Eureka City Councilmember Scott Bauer
• Ungraceful Ager Barry Evans
• Arcata City Councilmember Sofia Pereira
• HumBrews Music Booker Laurel Weston
• Eureka City Councilmember Kim Bergel
• Film Commission’s Cassandra Hesseltine and Nate Adams
• Marble Maker Topher Reynolds
• Arcata Playhouse Director Jacqueline Dandeneau
• Humboldt Political Junkie Eric Kirk
• Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes
• Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell
• Arcata Food Aficionado Jada Calypso Brotman
• Body Piercer Jackie Silva
• Dick Taylor Chocolate’s Adam Dick
• FUHS Teachers Mark Thom and Inma Thompson
• Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery
• Savage Henry Co-Founder Chris Durant
• Eureka Street Art Festival Organizer Jenna Catsos
• SCRAP Humboldt Founder Tibora Bea
• Gym Owner Tyler Parr
• Six Rivers Brewery Co-Owner Meredith Maier
• Multicultural Skincare Therapist Levia Love
• Annie’s Cambodian Server and Social Worker Joshua Coppock
• Eureka City Councilmember Austin Allison
• HSU Professor Deidre Pike 
• Pastor Bethany Cseh
• Singer/Songwriter Chris Parreira
• Eureka City Councilmember Leslie Castellano
• Arcata City Councilmember Paul Pitino

Photo: James Tressler.

We live in Sultantepe, or Sultan Hill. In the Ottoman days, much of the area was hunting grounds for the sultans, my wife tells me. The hill, and those surrounding it, stretch languidly along the shores of the Bosphorus. At the end of our street, you can look out and see the Martyrs’ Bridge, as it was renamed after the failed military coup in 2016, which we remember all too well.

The cars pass back and forth on the bridge between Europe and Asia, and beneath it in the brilliant turquoise-colored water pass the broad ships bound for the Black Sea to the north and to the south, the Marmara Sea, which leads to the Dardanelles and the Mediterranean.

The streets of Sultan Hill are narrow and beat, with apartment buildings and houses rising up on both sides. Here and there you see a few yali, or seaside mansions, painted in bright, lovely colors, embroidered with rich gardens, and they stand proudest of all, the top floors commanding all the best views of the city.

We live in a tiny one-bedroom ground floor flat that we purchased a couple years ago. After years of living with what I could manage to carry in a bag, first in Prague and then Istanbul, it has been quite a change to settle down, to know each day where I am going to sleep and wake, to look out onto our small garden, the grass tall and a rich green from all the recent rains, and know that it is ours, and that pandemic or no, we always have a place to call home.

Each day after I finish teaching we take our son Leo out for a walk. If it’s not raining or too cold, as it has been in recent days, we use the stroller; otherwise Ozge carries him in the kangaroo pack. We walk through the quiet streets, down the steep hill to the busy boulevard near Mihrimah Sultan mosque. There are the usual jammed assortment of cafes and shops, the inevitable Migros supermarket, the street cats and notoriously fat sea gulls and pigeons over in the broad, flat square that looks out at the long thin span of Bosphorus passing along the waterfront.

To give Leo something colorful to look at, we head over to the covered bazaar, navigating the crowds, letting him point to the shiny fish, the fresh fruits and vegetables, and the other things on offer before circling back to grab daily necessities at Migros. The shopping done, and having let Leo look at the birds for a while, we head back up the hill to the neighborhood. Leo is just old enough to walk on his own, so we stop at a park and let him walk around. He likes the swing best and loathes to share it with the other children in the neighborhood. He always seems to be the smallest boy on the playground, but he is a natural-born diplomat, an ambassador, walking with a kind of disconcerted, wondrous royalty. I’m sure he’ll soon get over that, but for now it’s nice to see him greeting the world, and the people around him, with the manners and airs of a tiny, slightly unsteady conqueror.

The park itself sits at the center of a plaza, and at the top of Sultantepe. Here you get the full view of the bridge and strait. But that is only background; the foreground consists of a high school, which only recently reopened; a pharmacy, a stationary shop, bakery, an ev yemekleri, or “home cooking” restaurant, and two market stores, or bakkal. There are no bars or pubs anywhere in the neighborhood, and though you see women both covered and uncovered, covered is the norm. The tone is conservative, like the majority of Uskudar neighborhoods. The Turkish men tend to greet each other with “Salaam alaikum,” more than “Merhaba” or “Iyi gunler.”

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When I first moved to Istanbul a decade ago, like most expats I greatly preferred places like Kadikoy or Besiktas. I never imagined myself living in a conservative neighborhood like Sultantepe. Why would I want to live there? But these days, being older and settled down, it’s not so bad. The streets are safe and mostly quiet, the people easy going, polite. At the bakery, for example, which is run by a covered woman and her husband, they always smile and make a fuss over Leo. “Peanut!” they say, or “My dear!” to which Leo stares back in that shy deserving way all young children have. Same goes with the guy who owns the corner market. As he tallies up the groceries, he always waves at Leo and says hello. The older ladies in the neighborhood pass by and say, “Masallah!” It makes me think back to my bachelor days in Kadikoy, where I always felt like a yabanci everywhere, everyone asking “Where are you from?” and worrying about being overcharged. Nowadays, walking with my wife and Leo, I am treated, if not like a local, at least less like a foreigner. I guess eniste is the term, “in-law.” I’ve graduated to in-law.

After three years, I have gotten to know a few things about Sultan Hill. I’m learning, very slowly, something about being a husband and father. Sultan Hill is not an exciting place if you are young and single, but as I said it is a great place to raise a family. And as a safe place to hunker down during a pandemic, I can recommend it highly. One day this pandemic will end, and we can again venture out to explore new vistas, be travel writers and all that, but until then we must make do with the circumstances and the places that we have.

For now, that is the view from Sultan Hill: we are happy to report that we are well, if bored, and thankful for the splendid views of the Bosphorus, for the good neighbors who are not too nosy, and with good work to be done. Best of all, we are happy and blessed to have a family, health, good work to be done, and a place to call home.

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James Tressler, a teacher and writer, is the author of several books about Istanbul, including “Letters From Istanbul,” “Inside Voices” and “Strait Fiction.”

For some, they’re “old dishrags on sticks,” an ever-growing threat to native plants, the poster child for invasive species. For others, they’re a boon, healing the scars wrought by fires and clear-cut logging, softening the blemishes left by quarrymen, soothing the blight of naked road cuts. Usually and generically referred to as “pampas grass,” Cortaderia selloana, what we usually see around Humboldt is actually a different species, Cortaderia jubata, aka “jubata grass” or “Andean pampas grass.” Or “that damn weed.” Save your wrath or pleasure for jubata, not pampas grass.

True pampas grass really does come from the pampas of South America, in particular from Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It seems to have arrived in California in 1848, through the efforts of the former head gardener of the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden. In 1828, at age 53, James Tweedie quit his job and country and emigrated to Argentina, where he collected native plants and sent seeds all over. According to an old article in Pacific Horticulture, “The [pampas grass] plumes were in great demand throughout Europe, and in this country in the 1880s there was hardly a parade without pampas grass plumes to decorate the floats.”

A veritable forest of jubata grass softens the scars of a quarry on the Big River Trail south of Mendocino. The quarry was last worked in 2002. (Barry Evans)

Jubata grass — the weed! — is made of hardier mountain stuff, coming from the Andes of Ecuador, Peru and Chile. It seems to have arrived here more recently, via a nursery in Nancy, France. According to the same article, it wasn’t even mentioned in Sunset’s Western Garden Book until 1976. While the comparatively tame pampas grass works best in gardens as an ornamental, confining its seeds to the local environment, jubata plumes (harking back to my riff on sperm counts two weeks ago) “spill theirs just anywhere.” Because of its sharp leaves, it was once planted by foresters as a barrier to deter deer from eating young shoots after logging. (“Cortaderia” comes from Spanish “cortar,” to cut.) Again quoting from Pacific Horticulture, “Later, however, the grass itself crowded out the young seedlings. In the 1960s Georgia Pacific had to abandon 1,100 acres in California’s Humboldt County to jubata grass as there was no economical way to control it.” Can any reader offer details?

The reason jubata is so prolific — and therefore hated — compared to its pampas cousin is, wouldn’t you know, sex. Pampas comes in female and male versions, needing both to participate for fertilization to occur. Well yeah, you say. However, all-female jubata has a nifty trick up its sleeve: it reproduces by apomixis, that is, it fertilizes itself. (Back to two weeks ago — is this the answer to falling sperm counts?) Once mature — which apparently takes no time at all — the plants shed their seeds, thousands at a time. No declining population problems with these guys, that is, gals.

Being botanically-challenged and as one who hasn’t had to deal with the threat of invasive species, I really have no idea just how dangerous is the spread of jubata grass. I trust you’ll enlighten me in the comments.

One of Humboldt’s favorite homegrown stars, Sara Bareilles was just recently back for a visit with the fam and managed to find some time to record a couple of tracks at Bongo Boy Studio in McKinleyville with Chief Recording Engineer Dominic Romano.

“This morning I got the absolute honor to work with one of my longtime musical inspirations and artistic heroes,” Romano posted on his Instagram Friday, along with a couple of pics of Bareilles in the studio. “Yes she’s incredible in real life. I could listen to her sing the alphabet and start sobbing from emotion. Super fun and down to earth and I’m crossing my fingers that next time she’s in town she’ll need to record again.”

According to Romano’s post, the music they recorded is for Bareilles’s upcoming television series, Girls5Eva. The show — created by Meredith Scardino (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and starring Bareilles alongside Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton), Paula Pell (Saturday Night Live) and Busy Phillips (Dawson’s Creek, Cougar Town) — is a musical comedy about a one-hit girl group from the ‘90s, who reunite 20 years later for another shot at stardom. It is set to premiere May 5 on Peacock.

Check out the Girls5Eva trailer below to see our local gal in action.