On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, Teresa “Mo” Wold passed away at the age of 58 after a long battle with COPD and heart failure.

Teresa was born on August 13, 1962 in Eureka to Wayne and Emilie (Davis) Vahldick. She attended Arcata High School, Class of 1980, earning her GED during junior year while working full time.

In the summer of 1982, Teresa married Rick Wold and they had two children, Rachel and Jason. Though their marriage only lasted 6 years, their friendship remained lifelong.

Teresa was caring, strong willed, independent and hard working. She was an avid music lover, attending countless concerts and dancing freely to the Grateful Dead, blues and rock ‘n’ roll.

Throughout her career, Teresa worked primarily in radio and TV, doing voiceovers and book keeping. In 2007, she earned her AA in business at the College of the Redwoods and went on to become a tax preparer and notary public.

Teresa enjoyed riding horses and while doing so, she met and started dating Steve Pettit in 1992 which led to a 29 year partnership. Together they found a love for riding motorcycles, becoming members of the Humboldt County Fog Dogs, United Bikers of Northern California (UBNC) and Bikers Against Child Abuse (B.A.C.A.). They went on many adventures on their bikes, creating endless friendships and memories along the way.

Teresa was known for her quick wit, infectious smile and wild spirit. She was a dedicated daughter, loving sister, selfless mother and adoring Grammy.

Teresa was preceded in death by her mother, Emilie O’Neil and her father, Wayne Vahldick. She is survived by her step father, Larry O’Neil, partner Steve Pettit, daughter and son in law, Rachel and Chris Boomgarden, grand daughters, Hayley and Emilie Boomgarden, son Jason Wold, brother and sister in law, Jeff and Christy Vahldick, niece Hannah Vahldick, half brother and sister in law, Phillip and Kelly Erskine, nephew and nieces, Thomas, Sarah and Emily Erskine, step brothers Shane, Jim and Larry O’Neil.

A celebration of life will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to B.A.C.A. at PO Box 6891, Eureka, CA 95502.

Teresa “Mo” Wold left a lasting impression with all who knew her. Her big personality lit up a room when she entered, the world will be a darker place without her and she will be forever missed.

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

Delores was born November 28, 1932 in Hoopa. She passed away February 21, 2021 in Hoopa surrounded by family. She was a member of the Hoopa Tribe and of Yurok and Tewa Pueblo descent.

Dee was an avid jewelry maker and well known for her abalone chip necklaces/earrings, sampler necklaces and her manzanita branch display with $1 necklaces and friendship bracelets. She always took great pride in her creation’s necklaces, earrings, dream catchers and pottery and always had them displayed just perfectly. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t make.

Dee was survived by her children Merwin Clark Sr., Clara Clark, Mekila (Tony) Smith, and Randy Clark Sr., her grandchildren; Sunni Ulestad, Carmelita Navarro, Michael (Misqiy’ts) Baldy, Falona (Michael) Bailey, Brentley Clark, Merwin (Virginia) Clark Jr., Felicia (Monica) Luna, Charlena (Rico) Tello, Abigail Luna, Mattaya Smith, Macie Smith, Destiny (Matthew) Douglas, Shelby Clark and Randy Clark Jr. and great grandchildren; Rodney, Merwin III and Brennan Clark, Tajia Ulestad, Cohen Haller, George, Shaun and Mekila Navarro, Jaycee, Bella, Rosaly, Jacklyn and Cy Baldy, Nate Baldy, Kylee and Charles Sorrell, Khoko, Lola, Eliana, Liam, Eliyanah and Jerimiah Bailey, Michael and Clara Tello and Beau Douglas. Siblings; Roger (Diggy) Masten, Marla (Tooie) and Lou Blum, Nancy Redinous and numerous nieces and nephews.

Dee is preceded in death by her spouse of 56 years George (Bud) Clark, daughter Charlene Baldy, parents, Cecil and Lorencita (Boots) Masten, sisters Lorencita (Gosee) Berry, Carmelita Fambrini and Cecil (Honeybunch) Jensen and brother Larry Masten.

It was her wishes not to have a burial or celebration of life.

*If you are one of the lucky ones to have purchased or received one of her beautiful pieces of work please display it proudly and often and remember the beautiful lady who put so much love into it.

Grammy Dee Today

Today we must say our goodbyes
Today we must move forward
Today we must remember all the love you shown and taught us
Today we will not forget
Today we will not hold on
Today we will remember all the love you shown and taught us
Today we won’t say goodbye but see you later
Today we won’t move forward without forgetting where we came from
Today we won’t forget all the love you shown and taught us
Today we love you
Today we miss you
Today we remember all the love you shown and taught us

Dennis Leslie Grate was born April 4, 1937 and died February 18, 2021.

He was born in Olympia, Washington and at the age of 8 moved with his family to Eureka where he spent the rest of his life, met his wife of 64 year, raised his family and lived a life of love, adventure and friends. He never held a grudge and would help anyone who asked for it. He was a bear without a bite. He loved old western movies a good steak, surprising his wife with birthday parties, his dogs and being a Knight of Columbus in the church.

He had a passion for traveling and adventure via RV or cruise ships — it didn’t matter as long as he was discovering something new. He taught his kids how to camp, water-ski, drive, ride motorcycles, mow the lawn, work hard and to enjoy the outdoors.

He is survived by his wife Claudia, daughter Debbie and her husband Lynn Skidmore, daughter Pamela and her husband John Stafford along with grand children Amber, Michael, Brian, Skylar, Danie and Simone; as well as 5 great grand children, numerous cousins and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his daughter Dena, mother Mary, Father Les, brothers Ron and Rick, sisters Sandy and Marsha.

He will be missed by everyone who loved him. A celebration of life will happen when we can all get together again.

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

Harold Lowery
Feb. 25, 1956 - Sept. 27, 2020

Our Father

Our father was a sense of home, a place we always felt comfort, and joy. He was selfless, and honest.

Our father was the son of Henry and Ruby Lowery, father to Morgan and Justin Lowery, stepfather to Kim Hammann McReynolds, father-in-law to Aprill Lowery and Jevon Ward, big brother to Hank Lowery, Andre Lowery, Ruby Lowery, Artina Lowery, Tyrone Lowery, Juanita Lowery, and Jeanette Lowery. He was grandpa to Olivia Purifoy, Makayla Lowery, Jordan Sanders, Taleah Purifoy, Navaya Lowery, Zoe Ward, Ryan Ward and Aven Ward, and Litte Ruby. He was also a nephew, cousin, and friend to countless others.

Our father was the best DJ in the land. He was full of laughter and jokes. He was a huge part of so many lives and hearts. A man that always cherished life and fond memories. He was the one who always taught us to never judge a book by its cover, and how to be a good person. He is hands down the best person I knew or will ever know and I am going to miss him with everything I am made of, we all will.Our father was Hal

Oh, how lucky we are to have had a father so special that we miss him this much. You were a guiding light in our lives and today especially we are reminded that it was a blessing to have known you for as long as we did. and although we cannot be together today on what would have been your 65 th birthday, I want you to know that you are missed more than words can express. You will forever be held in the hearts of many. We love you dad and take comfort in knowing that you are watching over all of us down here.

Love Morgan & Justin

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

Humboldt State University press release:

Humboldt State University student-athletes are cautiously returning to training, practice, and exhibition games this spring.

Under strict health and safety guidelines from the NCAA, Humboldt County Public Health, and the University, this is the first opportunity since the COVID-19 pandemic began for student athletes to return to a bit of normalcy. The careful, deliberate approach to returning can have implications for the future of campus functions like field trips, in-person courses, events, and more.

An NCAA survey found that student-athletes, like other young adults, are reporting higher levels of mental exhaustion, anxiety, and feelings of depression during the pandemic. Higher rates of distress were reported among female, LGBTQ, and POC athletes.

Students, faculty, staff, and community have all made adjustments to slow the spread of the virus. All of the University, as a whole, worked diligently to have an opportunity for students to return to the classroom and activities,” says Jane Teixeira, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics & Recreational Sports. “A return to sports activities has had a real impact on student-athletes. You see it everyday when you watch these young people participate, you see it in their academic performance.

“Although this isn’t an ideal situation for anybody, I know my team and others are grateful to get back to playing in any capacity,” said Macy Thomas, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Co-President and Volleyball player. “Some of our teams are getting travel games put on the schedule so that is a huge win for them. We have extensive safety protocols in place to ensure we can have another successful semester. Go Jacks!”

Extensive safety protocols will be in place for the health of the student-athletes and coaching staff, as well as the opposing teams. Following best practices set by professional sports leagues and others, universities have been divided into regional “pods,” limiting the interaction between athletes from different schools.

The Lumberjacks started the return to participation process in Fall 2020 and continue this Spring following County Public Health, NCAA, and University protocols including testing on a regular and consistent basis. Protocols include:

• Consultation with Humboldt County Public Health officials

• Frequent testing — teams in competition will be tested three times a week

• Small group practices

• Wearing face coverings on campus and on the road

• Travel-related quarantines

Each team will be on the road for multiple games over the course of two to three weeks. None of the games are part of regular conference competition, which is not occurring this year.

Athletes are being housed primarily in athlete-designated buildings, suites, and apartments. As with any campus resident, all students traveling out of Humboldt County are required to complete a 14-day quarantine before they return to their assigned room space. Athletic teams will be following the same process and upon their travel return, will be housed in separate facilities and/or apartments to quarantine for 14 days prior to them returning to their assigned room space.

“We are able to accomplish this largely on our ability to test frequently, these athletes are some of the most frequently tested individuals in the county,” says Cris Koczera, Emergency Coordinator and Interim Risk Management Director.

Athletics training, practice, and travel will help HSU return to other activities safely, when possible. The success of these teams will inform the continuation of field trips, additional face-to-face instruction, campus events, and other engagements. The University is hoping to be able to apply the protocols and guidelines that are successful to the broader campus in Fall 2021.

Men’s Basketball will be the first to travel, currently scheduled to play games this weekend against Academy of Art. They will continue with Dominican, Fresno Pacific, and Simpson, with dates and times to be announced. Go to hsujacks.com for updated information.

Though no spectators will be allowed, games will be available to stream online for a small fee by the host institution, and Athletics will be sharing information about the games on its website and social media.

“I cannot express how the opportunity to return to a sense of ‘normalcy’ has had an exponential positive mental health effect for students and staff to return to the ‘physical lab’ of the field or court,” says Teixeira. “Our student-athletes love to play. They’re motivated to be exemplary and play safely during the pandemic. The continued support of Lumberjack Athletics, our student-athletes, HSU, and the amazing Humboldt County community is greatly appreciated. We are in this together and #WeRUnitedJacks.”

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After more than 50 years growing irises, tulips and lilies in the fertile farmland of the Arcata Bottoms, the owners of Sun Valley Floral Farms are preparing to leap headlong into the commercial cannabis industry with the construction of a 23-acre hoop house operation that would rank among the largest legal weed grows in North America. 

The plans laid out in a 95-page initial study, published in December, call for 193 temperature-controlled hoop house-style greenhouses spread over 1 million square feet (22.96 acres), plus office/administration buildings, a propagation facility, stormwater detention basins, a new wastewater treatment system and a 66-space asphalt/concrete parking lot. 

The industrial-scale operation is slated for the former site of the Simpson Lumber Mill, a 38.2-acre plot of land (currently two parcels) between 27th Street and Foster Avenue, directly south of Sun Valley’s existing flower farm facilities. 

In an interview with the Outpost on Monday, Sun Valley CEO and President Lane DeVries said the domestic cut flower business has been hammered in recent years by steadily rising expenses, including California’s successive increases to the minimum-wage, the elimination of an overtime pay exemption for agricultural workers and rising health insurance costs. 

“The flower business is in a tough spot,” DeVries said, noting that 80 percent of the flowers sold in the United States are imported from countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. “In most cases our customers are unwilling to accept cost increases. To the contrary, due to the Walmart and Amazon effect, we now operate in a business environment where customers expect price reductions.”

Sun Valley was also hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the industry to a virtual standstill just as the company was gearing up for the 2020 Easter holiday. “We lost millions and millions and millions of flowers, just blooming away in our greenhouses due to shelter-in-place orders,” DeVries said.

These challenges represent an existential threat to Sun Valley as it currently exists, and DeVries said transitioning to cannabis may be necessary for the company’s survival.

“It would allow our company to continue operations and continue the employment of 450 employees,” he said. “The wellbeing of them and their families is depending on the approval of this project.”

The project applicant is technically a separate corporation, Arcata Land Company, LLC, though, like Sun Valley, it’s led by DeVries, and in our conversation he lumped the two interests together.

He also revealed that while the public has just started to become aware of these plans for an industrial-scale cannabis farm — a Facebook post from Saturday generated close to 400 comments and more than 150 shares — the companies have been laying the groundwork for years. A traffic impact study, cultural resources investigation, wetland delineation and other studies have all been completed, and on a parcel adjacent to the planned grow site, Arcata Land Company already has a licensed and permitted processing, manufacturing and distribution facility.

Arcata Land Company is seeking a permit for the grow operation, about three-quarters of which (17.2 acres) would be light-deprivation greenhouses with the remaining one-quarter (5.7 acres) operated as mixed-light. The company also needs permits (or agricultural exemptions) for construction, grading, the wastewater treatment system and three natural gas boilers to provide temperature control within the hoop structures.

The land here is outside the Coastal Zone and zoned Heavy Industrial, which means there are no size limits for a cannabis cultivation operation, per the county’s Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance. A little over six acres of existing hoop structures would be converted from flowers to cannabis. The rest will need to be built. The project is expected to require an estimated 52 acre-feet of water per year, with irrigation supplied by an on-site groundwater well that generates 1.8 acre-feet (576,000 gallons) per day, according to the initial study.

Once this operation is up and running, which DeVries said could happen within the year if all goes to plan, it’s expected to require up to 116 full-time equivalent employees. That’s 76 more than the 40 workers employed at the existing greenhouses on the property. 

“[Sun Valley’s] local employment base is an integral part of the North Coast economy,” DeVries said. “We want to continue operations. We want to stay in Humboldt County. We want to grow and be here for many more years to come.”

But if the reactions to Saturday’s Facebook post are any indication, this project is likely to face significant public resistance when it comes before the Humboldt County Planning Commission on March 18. While a number of people expressed support for the potential benefits to the local economy, others appear gobsmacked by the sheer size of the proposal and say they’re concerned about environmental impacts including the smell, traffic, groundwater, biological resources and more.

James Cotton and his wife Kim Puckett, who put up the Facebook post, live about 800 feet from the project, and he’s angry that the county didn’t do more outreach to neighbors. He’s spoken to a couple who were notified that the county had prepared a draft mitigated negative declaration (MND), a document that states all environmental impacts of the project can be reduced to insignificant levels. (This is a less-extensive level of review than what’s required with a full Environmental Impact Report, or EIR.)

But other neighbors, like himself and his wife, were not notified — even though some live closer to the project than those who were, he said.

“There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. … Three other people on this cul-de-sac did not receive a notice.” Cotton said he believes the county conducted inadequate consultation of stakeholders, which could be grounds for a lawsuit.

He spent several days reading through the 95-page initial study, plus the 1,300-plus pages of supporting documents in the draft MND, making notes about where he believes the report falls short. Among his concerns are potential reductions to agricultural land, impacts to surrounding groundwater wells, the adequacy of bird surveys, visual blight and — not least of all — the odor.

“My wife, daughter and neighbor are asthmatic and triggered by the smell of cannabis,” he wrote in one of his notes on the draft MND.

Other neighbors are similarly concerned. An email chain forwarded to the Outpost includes messages from several Arcata residents to Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson. 

“Can you please explain what the health and safety risks of an operation of this magnitude would mean so near to our homes; to schools, the church; to gardens and orchards; to two Community Supported Agriculture food producers; and to the parks and recreation areas in this area?” asks Carol McFarland.

Puckett writes, “This has the potential to severely impact our quality of life and to negatively affect the value of our home, our largest financial asset. There are numerous problems with the study that need to be addressed before this goes any further.”

Greg King, executive director of the Siskiyou Land Conservancy, writes, “This project would completely change the character of not just the immediate area of Sun Valley, but the entire west side of Arcata, from 11th to 27th Streets, and the rural ag communities of the Arcata Bottoms.” He adds that the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department “apparently hasn’t met a gigantic, world-changing industrial cannabis grow it doesn’t like.”

Some of the outrage concerns the 30-day deadline to comment on the draft MND, which is set to expire Friday. (Comments can be sent to the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department at 3015 H St. Eureka, CA, 95501 or Senior Planner Rodney Yandell at ryandell@co.humboldt.ca.us.)

But Humboldt County Planning & Building Director John Ford told the Outpost on Wednesday that the public still has plenty of opportunity to comment. As noted above, the project is expected to come before the Planning Commission on March 18.

“People are free to submit comments up to the day of the meeting,” Ford said, though he added that If they want their comments to be attached to the staff report for that meeting, they should probably submit them by March 10.

Ford sounded a bit surprised by the amount of public interest in this project. “This one’s bringing people out,” he said. Regarding the level of public notice his department conducted, Ford said state law and county policy require them to notify everyone who lives within 300 feet of a proposed project.

“We typically go 450 to 500 feet just to be generous and make sure we’re not excluding folks,” he said, but he acknowledged that the buffer may seem small considering the size of the parcels in question here.

DeVries, for his part, said, “We are confident that we can address any concerns from neighbors in the community, and we have a proven track record as a good operator in Humboldt County.”

Odor from the plants will be controlled using fans that direct airflow through the hoop structures to a carbon filtration unit, according to the initial study. “In the event that carbon filtration is inadequate,” the report says, “odor neutralizers such as Ecosorb, which is a water-based product that contains a proprietary blend of natural plant oils and bio-based surfactants that effectively adsorb to odor molecules, neutralizing their smell, may be utilized.”

“We are confident odor will not be an issue,” DeVries said.

He also insisted that local growers shouldn’t be intimidated by the massive size of this proposed operation. (People on Facebook noted that it would rank in the top 10 largest commercial greenhouse grows in North America, according to one industry website.)

“It’s not necessarily our intent to be competitive with other Humboldt County operations,” DeVries said. “A better way to look at this — this project helps Humboldt stay relevant in the California cannabis market.” Large-scale cannabis farms are being developed in other counties, threatening to displace Humboldt from its role as the preeminent cultivation region, he said.

”We’re not looking at competing with local growers; we’re actually looking at ways to cooperate with local growers. … We anticipate leasing with commercial cannabis operators, and we look forward to sharing our operational excellence at scale,” DeVries said.

With the level of public interest this project is already generating, it’s safe to expect an influx of public comments for next months Planning Commission hearing. If the commission approves the project, stakeholders will have 10 business days in which to appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors, which would have final say on approval. 

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DOCUMENT: Initial Study and Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration [really big pdf]