Left this world to be with her dad Adam F. Kautz, brother Danny Lee Kautz, grandfather Don Cate, grandparents Francis and Ercil Davis, Kautz grandparents, favorite aunt Irene Phillips and others on Dec. 23, 2020.

She was born on Nov 28, 1961 in Arcata to Adam (Bud) and Alma Darlene Cate Kautz.

Nancy lived most of her life in Orick. She graduated 8th grade at Sheridan, Oregon, then moved back to McKinleyville, where she graduated high school.

She started work for Stanton Elliot in the office checking restaurant slips for errors. Then worked as a counterperson in one of his places. She cooked and waited tables at Rolf’s. She worked at Trees Of Mystery, delivered papers for Times-Standard, and served as a caregiver. She even drove a tractor during hay season for Davidson.

Nancy gave herself the name of B–h , which she relished in. A spade was a spade with many colorful words in between. One nurse in the hospital said she was feisty.

She loved her goats Abby and Buddy and dogs Hazel and Handsome.

She was always willing to help anyone if asked or not. She liked doing things for kids and buying socks, blankets or whatever was needed for the homeless in Orick.

Before her foot got bad she loved to walk different trails, sometimes with one of her dogs, or hunting for or hiding marbles with friends.

Nancy is survived by her son Danny Ryan and wife Chelsea Kautz of Orick, her mother Alma Darlene Donicht and husband Ken of Baker City , Oregon, brother Ron Kautz and wife Debbie of Orick , brother Rob Kautz of Caldwell , Texas, stepmother Doris Kautz, stepbrothers Raymond and Gerald Morris, stepsister Iris Martin of McKinleyville, aunt Donna Wetzstein and husband Larry, uncle Bob Cate and wife Bobbie, uncle Richard Davis of Willamina, Oregon, many cousins, nieces, nephews and many other people.

Her special lady friend Ellen Pifferini and late husband Reno of Orick and their children Rick, Steven, Kim and Frank.

Special friends Kathy (like a sister ) Humphreys and daughter Carley, her cookie-baking partner and marble friends, Edie Baker who she helped with many functions and fundraisers and coffee every day, The Hussie, Brie Denlis who helped with her animals, grocery shop and marbles, Jan Box, Betty from the deli.

Nancy will be greatly missed by many, many people.

The family would like donations made to Danny Ryan Kautz, P.O. Box 346, Orick, CA, 95555 to help with cremation and other costs or charity of your choice.

PREVIOUSLY:

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From the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today announced that local COVID-19 data places Humboldt County in the “Red” or Substantial tier under the state’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.”

The adjusted case rate of 12.1 and positivity rate of 4.0% do not meet the threshold for tier reassignment. However, the county met the state’s Health Equity Metric, which aims to reduce disparities by ensuring that no group within a county is disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. 

Under the Red tier, Humboldt will be the only county in the state allowed to have indoor gatherings, movie theaters, fitness centers, places of worship and dining. Local businesses, particularly restaurants and cafes, are urged to move forward cautiously. If virus data worsens or intensive care unit capacity for the Northern California Region dips below 15%, the state would require some sectors to move outdoors or cease operating altogether. 

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman registered strong disagreement with CDPH’s methodology and said he believes that Red tier status could be reversed in coming days. “In many ways, the data doesn’t support this decision,” he said. “Our case rates are the highest they’ve ever been, and our contact investigation teams are tracking more cases, not fewer. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to have a conversation with the state before this decision was handed down.” 

Public Health Director Michele Stephens said that while some businesses will be able to reopen, this is not a victory as much as it is a cautionary tale. “This is not a time to let down your guard,” she said. “Our entire community, including our businesses, should continue to follow COVID prevention measures. Wear a mask. Maintain distance. Wash your hands. As more people are moving around our community, these measures become even more important.” 

Some of the changes to sector operations under the Red tier include:

• Bars, Breweries and Distilleries – Closed.
• Wineries – Open outdoors only.
• Family Entertainment Centers – Open outdoors only.
• Retail – Open indoors at maximum 50% capacity.
• Shopping Centers, Malls, Swap Meets - Open indoors at maximum 50% capacity; Close common areas; Reduce food court capacity to 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
• Museums, Zoos and Aquariums – Open indoors at maximum 25% capacity. 
• Places of Worship – Open indoors at maximum 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. 
• Movie Theaters - Open indoors at maximum 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
• Hotels and Lodging – Close indoor pools, hot tubs and spa facilities; Fitness centers reduced to maximum 10% capacity.
• Gyms and Fitness Centers - Open indoors at maximum 10% capacity; Close indoor pools, saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs.
• Restaurants - Open indoors at maximum 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. 

The tier change will take effect one minute past midnight tonight. 

For more information about the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” go to covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/.  

For the most recent COVID-19 information, visit cdc.gov or cdph.ca.gov. Local information is available at humboldtgov.org or during business hours by contacting covidinfo@co.humboldt.ca.us or calling 707-441-5000.

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Shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday, Eureka Police Department’s Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) team served a search warrant at a problem-oriented property in Eureka owned — predictably — by Floyd and Betty Squires, the city’s most notorious slumlords. (See previous posts here and here and here and here.)

The house, located at 204 West Hawthorne, has been a hotbed of violence, apparent drug activity and other headaches, according to neighbor Ashley Underwood, who spoke with the Outpost outside across from the property Tuesday afternoon.

EPD Public Information Officer Brittany Powell tells the Outpost that the search warrant was executed for possible illegal possession of firearms and ongoing nuisance activity. Fourteen people were detained during the search, though all of them were released. 

“This was part of a large-scale investigation at this property due to the ongoing issues,” Powell said.

Eureka Public Works Director Brian Gerving told the Outpost by phone Tuesday afternoon that the property is among a host of Squires-owned parcels that were placed in receivership years ago. “It was in the bankruptcy [proceedings] but was abandoned by the estate, which means it’s back in control of the Squireses,” Gerving said. 

The city recently executed a settlement agreement with Floyd and Betty Squires, and while the case against them is technically still pending, Gerving said he expects it to be dismissed once the agreement is finalized.

In video footage of this morning’s incident, shot by Underwood, an EPD officer can be heard addressing the occupants with a bullhorn: “Occupants of 204 West Hawthorne, this is the Eureka Police Department. We have a search warrant and have the residence surrounded. Come out the back door with your hands up; do it now!”

Photos provided by another neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, show the occupants being taken into custody. Other images reveal the dilapidated condition of the property. 

And here’s some footage of the property shot by the Outpost Tuesday afternoon:

Earlier today, Dr. Ian Hoffman, Humboldt’s public health officer, took questions from the Outpost on the next phase of vaccine rollout, the availability of monoclonal antibodies and whether the county has a working estimate of the number of county residents who have actually been infected with the virus.

Before that, though, Hoffman issued a quick clarification about testing for people who have been exposed to the virus. When should you quarantine? When should you isolate? And when should you get tested after quarantine or isolation?

Video above, rough transcript below.

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Good morning, Dr. Hoffman. Would you care to address the community?

Yes, thank you.

So I’d like to take a minute today up front to talk about what it means to quarantine and isolate, and where testing comes into that. So quarantining process is where someone who has been identified as a contact of someone who has known COVID-19 is recommended to stay in their home, away from everyone else in society, for a period of 14 days. We did recently change that to allow for 10 days if you can’t quarantine for the full 10 days.

If someone is positive for COVID-19 they are recommended to isolate for 10 days, and that has not changed. That recommendation remains the same in Humboldt County as well as across the state of California. There is nothing you can do to change that 10-day isolation period. Re-testing does not shorten the period of time nor lengthen it. It stays at 10 days.

So we’ve been hearing concerns from the community that folks are going out and trying to get retested, that could potentially expose people who shouldn’t be exposed and don’t need to be exposed. If you’re in isolation, you had a COVID-19 positive test, you need to stay home, away from everyone else for those 10 days. So please don’t get retested, please stay home, and if you ever have any questions you can always go to our Humboldt Health Alert website or call the Joint Information Center to ask a question. If you have medical concerns, please call your medical provider. Thank you. 

From the Lost Coast Outpost: “Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal reported that there is now an abundance of monoclonal antibody therapies available nationwide, largely because many doctors are reluctant to administer them and many patients are reluctant to accept them. Last month Dr. Ennis said that he expected it would be several weeks before Humboldt had access to these drugs. Do we have access to them now and are they being used?”

So we do have a very small, limited quantity of these medications in Humboldt County. The physicians who treat COVID-19 are aware of this, in fact they had a meeting earlier this week to discuss its use. The administration of them can be difficult and tricky and requires a special infusion center, something we don’t have here in Humboldt County, but we’re looking at ways to try to utilize the very small quantity that we do have with our partners in the hospitals and other treating physicians in the community.

From the Lost Coast Outpost: “Yesterday’s press release said as of today Humboldt County has been allotted 5,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer and Moderna combined. At what point will these vaccines start being administered to non-healthcare workers?”

Yeah, so we are currently in Phase 1a of the vaccination process which is, you all have heard by now, is healthcare workers and residents of skilled nursing facilities. We are working with our community partners diligently right now to make sure that vaccine gets out as quickly as possible and as safely as possible.

1b has not completely been determined by the state, by CDPH, as to all of the different folks who will be in 1b. We have some early ideas of who that will be, which includes anyone age 75 or older, as well as a large number of non-healthcare, frontline workers which likely would include teachers, first responders, people who work in agriculture and industries that cannot distance, grocery store workers…

So there’s a lot of people in that and they’re really working right now to figure out where in those tiers of phase 1b each of those individuals will be. What we hear from the state right now is that there’s hopeful expectations that we could start moving into 1b in late January or early February. Of course these estimates are tied to vaccine production, distribution and and other concerns that could come up. So we will definitely keep everyone informed as we know more and that’s what we know about the process right now.

From the Lost Coast Outpost: “Do you have any estimate of the percentage of the county’s population that has been infected? One that includes both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases or diagnosed and undiagnosed cases?”

So we know what our total case count is in the county currently,   and if you take that number and divide it by the population it’s roughly or just over one percent. So those would be the definitively diagnosed patients who, both asymptomatic and symptomatic, got a PCR test confirming that they have COVID-19. There are many estimates of how many we miss, you know, roughly potentially five times that number. So we could say potentially upwards of five percent of Humboldt County has been infected with COVID-19 at this point, leaving the vast majority of us, you know with vulnerability and susceptibility to COVID-19.

Secretary Mark Ghaly’s Tuesday afternoon update on COVID spread in California, cued to the relevant moment.

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The state’s Department of Health and Human Services downgraded Humboldt County from a “purple tier” to a “red tier” county this afternoon, meaning that it now categorizes the COVID pandemic in the county as “substantial” rather than “widespread.”

The move — based on recent per-capita rates of new cases, positive test percentages and “health equity,” with the latter being a measure of the virus’ disproportionate spread among disadvantaged populations — makes Humboldt one of only four counties in the state outside of the most restrictive tier.

The change in status could mean that new business activities in the county could become allowable soon, subject to local orders. For instance, under state guidelines restaurants may serve customers indoors again, and gyms may open with limited capacity.  

Humboldt County was the only county in the state to move up or down a tier this week.

We’ll probably get more information on this move from the county’s Joint Information Center later today, and we’ll update when we do. Until then, you can get more information on the differences between red and purple tiers from the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy website.

On Monday, the North Coast’s own U.S. Congressman, Rep. Jared Huffman, introduced a bill with Rep. Jackie Speier (D- Hillsborough) that would prevent members of Congress from bringing firearms onto Capitol grounds. 

Huffman has been sounding off on social media about this issue in recent weeks, calling attention to the incendiary rhetoric of a few gun-loving colleagues on the other side of the aisle. 

For example, he recently retweeted a message from Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins that referred to Joe Biden’s election as the culmination of a “conspiracy to dismantle America.”

“Folks,” Huffman wrote above the retweet, “under current House rules, this guy is allowed to have assault weapons in the United States Capitol. He’s allowed to bypass security and do whatever he wants with his guns, unlike everyone else in the Capitol.”

Higgins, who has spoken at anti-government militia group rallies, remains a reserve law enforcement officer despite allegations from his former chief that he resigned from the Opelousas Police Department to avoid facing discipline for striking a suspect in handcuffs and lying during an internal investigation. In September, responding to protests over the police shooting death of Trayford Pellerin, Higgins issued a warning on Facebook, threatening to kill protesters who showed up with guns:

Look, fair warning.

If this shows up we’ll consider the armed presence a real threat. We being We, the People, of Louisiana.

One way ticket fellas.

Have your affairs in order.

Me?… I wouldn’t even spill my beer. I’d drop any 10 of you where you stand.

The post was removed from Facebook, and according to local news station KATC Higgins responded by doubling down. 

“America is being manipulated into a new era of government control,” he wrote. “Your liberty is being threatened from within. Welcome to the front lines, Ladies and Gentlemen. I suggest you get your mind right. I’ll advise when it’s time to gear up, mount up, and roll out.”

Huffman also recently called attention to freshmen Congress member Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who campaigned with a handgun strapped to her hip and plans to bring that Glock pistol onto Capitol grounds. She and her husband own a gun-themed restaurant called Shooters Grill, located in the town of Rifle, Colo. Hill Reporter notes, “[Boebert] and the waitstaff all openly carry firearms while serving dishes called ‘Guac 9’ and ‘Ballistic Chicken.’”

In a Nov. 30 Facebook post, Huffman announced his intention to pursue repeal of the 53-year-old rule that exempts members of Congress from the firearm ban at the Capitol. He said the rule was inspired by “race riots” in Washington, D.C., adding, “Members, mostly white men, were afraid and wanted to have their own guns just in case.”

His post continued:

Today, the Capitol is one of the most fortified and secure places on Earth, including heavily armed, specially trained Capitol Police all over the place. Even the most paranoid member of Congress could not justify why they need guns at work. Yet some members insist on it. And the ones who are loudest about it always seem to be the most brazen and reckless — the ones most likely to cause an accident or something worse. 

Now think about everyone who is gathered in the House Chamber during a State of the Union Address or a speech by a foreign leader to a joint session of Congress. Imagine your favorite unhinged members of Congress sitting there with guns. Maybe one of the new GOP members who subscribes to the Q-Anon conspiracy theory and believes Trump’s lies about election fraud. Maybe one of the members who talks rapturously about carrying out violent biblical prophecies. This isn’t the plot of a Tom Clancy novel; it’s a very real security problem and a ticking bomb that nobody wants to think or talk about. …

Huffman said he has been quietly pushing the Capitol Police Board to close the loophole for the past two years, with no real progress. “It is just a matter of time before an unspeakable tragedy happens, and I prefer to prevent it,” he wrote.

His cosponsor of the bill, dubbed the No Congressional Gun Loophole Act, knows all about unspeakable tragedy. Speier worked as an aide to Rep. Leo Ryan and in 1978 accompanied him on a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Guyana, investigating allegations of human rights abuses by Jim Jones and his disciples in the Peoples Temple. 

In the ambush that set off the infamous Jonestown Massacre, Speier was struck by five bullets and left for dead on a jungle airstrip, where she waited 22 hours for help. Ryan was among the five people killed in the attack. That same day, more than 900 cult members committed suicide or were murdered at the Peoples Temple compound.

Speier, who still carries two bullets in her body from the incident, has said that the experience “absolutely molded my philosophy and my zest for work and for life.”

Here’s a press release from Huffman’s office, issued Monday:

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and Representative Jackie Speier (D- Hillsborough) introduced the No Congressional Gun Loophole Act, which would exclude Members of Congress from the Capitol Police Board’s exemption for firearms on Capitol Grounds. While in the Capitol and House office buildings, the legislation would explicitly prevent Members from carrying firearms, nullifying the Capitol Police Board regulations that allow this, and would require Members of Congress to comply with District of Columbia gun safety and registration requirements. Currently, the over-50-year-old regulation exempts Members of Congress from the firearm rules that apply to everyone else who visits or works at the U.S. Capitol.

“Threats of political violence are on the rise, and it makes all of us less safe if Members of Congress and their staff don’t have to comply with gun safety standards,” said Rep. Huffman. “Members should not be above the law. These outdated and dangerous rules, that apply to everyone else who visits and works in the halls of Congress, must be modernized for everyone’s safety.”

“As a survivor of gun violence, I know what it’s like to battle for your life after being shot five times and left for dead. And statistics show that accidents happen when there are firearms around. The existing exemption for Representatives increases the risk of gun violence for Members, staff, and the public. It’s long past time we close the Member loophole and protect all who enter the Capitol complex,” Rep. Speier said.

This bill follows a recent letter to House leadership led by Rep. Huffman requesting a change in House Rules for the 117th Congress to ensure that Members of Congress are held to the same firearm safety rules as the public while they are on Capitol grounds. These actions were catalyzed by escalating rhetoric and threats of political violence, as well as increased attention to the current rules during Freshmen Member Orientation following the 2020 election. Currently, Members of Congress are exempt from the firearms prohibition in 40 U.S.C. § 5104 under the Capitol Police Board’s regulations.

Huffman and Speier were joined in this legislation by Representatives André D. Carson (D-IN) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

If you break your leg or need heart surgery, your insurance covers it. But that hasn’t always been true for mental illness and substance use disorders. A new 2021 law in California could improve that, broadening the list of mental health conditions insurers must cover. In the past, state law only required treatment for nine serious mental illnesses. Even before the pandemic, more than half of Californians said most people with mental health conditions couldn’t get the help they needed. Some families even dropped private insurance to qualify for treatment in the public mental health system. California’s new law will expand the list of conditions commercial insurers must cover. It includes medically necessary care for all mental health and substance use disorders.

During the pandemic, our nation’s mental health is getting worse. Nearly a third of people say they’re anxious or depressed.

Over and over, legislation to expand mental health coverage and enforcement in California failed. The insurance industry blocked past attempts to change the law. It says new requirements would increase consumer costs. The new law’s supporters disagree. They say it will greatly expand access to mental health treatment in the state, and make California a leader for the rest of the country.

Keep watching CalMatters.org for more in-a-minute videos about other new laws taking effect in 2021 — a smaller tally than usual given that the coronavirus pandemic dominated the Legislature’s 2020 session.

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