Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Dec. 13, 2020, at about 8 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 1800 block of Elm Avenue in McKinleyville for the report of an assault that had just occurred.

Deputies arrived on scene and contacted a 31-year-old female victim. The victim told deputies that she had gone for a walk, during which she was reportedly attacked from behind by an unknown suspect in the area of Second Road and Elm Avenue. The suspect reportedly pushed the victim to the ground and stole the victim’s debit card and cash.

The suspect is described only as a white male adult, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin build.

This case is still under investigation.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Deck the halls with wows, by golly! This week your President of Positivity is energized by the return of Babetta’s cooking to the Humboldt food scene and now she’s ready to take in local’s Christmas decorations! Let it snow! Luckily, Michaele ran into Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman who just so happens to be out promoting her city’s first Home for the Holidays Decorating Contest, a chance for cooped up citizens to pour some pandemic energy into seasonal sights for their community to enjoy. Here’s a map of this year’s entries. Voting kicks off this week, so stay tuned to the City of Eureka’s social media presences to learn more. Ciao bella!

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Perhaps You’d Like to Explore Previous Mondays With Michaele For Some Reason!

Lasara Firefox Allen is Holding Up

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On the heels of the Eureka City Council’s decision to temporarily prohibit the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR) from operating its syringe exchange program with the city limits, the nonprofit’s executive director Lasara Firefox Allen shares their side of the story on this week’s episode of Humboldt Holding Up.

HACHR Executive Director Lasara Firefox Allen

In addition to discussing their response to the council’s decision, Allen touches on the importance of syringe exchange programs, the other services HACHR provides, the significance of harm reduction and how they developed a passion for the work.   

Click the audio player above to hear Allen’s chat with LoCO’s Andrew Goff and Stephanie McGeary and/or scroll through past interviews below.

Subscribe to Humboldt Holding Up on iTunes!

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PREVIOUS GUESTS:

• 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

The obvious objection to the death penalty is that it can’t be undone. If a prisoner, jailed for life, is subsequently proved to be innocent through, for instance, DNA testing, he or she can be released. There’s no such reprieve for the dead.

In the US, the most notorious example of a reprieve occurred 13 years after five Black and Latino teenagers, the Central Park Five, were sentenced to jail terms in 1989 on the strength of their confessions to a brutal assault and rape. Within weeks of their interrogations, made without the presence of their attorneys, they all claimed to have been intimidated, lied to, and coerced by police into making false confessions. The trial and subsequent sentencing was muddied by full-page advertisements in four New York papers calling for the return of the death penalty, paid for by a real estate developer. Thirteen years later a convicted serial rapist and murderer, then serving a life sentence in New York State, confessed to the crime, which DNA tests corroborated. The verdicts were vacated in 2002, and 12 years later, the city settled with the five for $41 million.

Donald Trump’s full-page ad placed in the New York Times, May 1, 1989, which, according to defense lawyers for the Central Park Five, biased their trial.

The developer, of course, was Donald Trump. Fortunately for everyone concerned, they weren’t executed (and New York formally abolished capital punishment in 2007), although he was unrepentant when asked recently by a reporter if he had any regrets about his role in the affair: “You have people on both sides of that, they admitted their guilt.” (When John McCain retracted his endorsement of Trump in 2016, he said that the candidate’s responses were “outrageous statements about the innocent men in the Central Park Five case.”)

I bring this up now because, as reported by The Washington Post, Trump’s Department of Justice executed more people (eight) in the five months starting in July 2020 than the DOJ did in the previous 50 years (three). Five more are scheduled to die before the new administration begins on January 20, including Dustin Higgs, a Black who didn’t actually fire the shots that killed three women in 1996. The last time a Federal execution took place during the transition of administrations was 100 years ago.

Exoneration of the Central Park Five is hardly unprecedented. According to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil & Constitutional Rights (with updates by the Death Penalty Information Center), 172 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence since 1973. (Any older Brits reading this might remember the case that led to ending capital punishment in the UK, when Timothy Evans was executed for a murder later shown to have been committed by his landlord.)

The usual justification for retaining capital punishment is that it deters homicides. The facts say otherwise, and, in a survey, 88% of criminologists rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The South, for instance, with a murder rate of 6.0 per 100,000, accounts for 80% of all executions in this country; the Northeast, with half the South’s murder rate, had fewer than 0.5% of all executions.

You can read here why the death penalty is counter-productive, inhumane, costly, biased against Blacks, and opposed by most of us—61% according to a 2010 poll. If any of this moves you to action, please consider joining the seven million of us who belong to Amnesty International.

 

Aftermath

Trisha Meili, the jogger who was raped and nearly killed, somehow recovered (doctors at first thought she wouldn’t awake from the coma she was in), resumed jogging and went back to work as an investment banker. In 2003 she published a book, I Am the Central Park Jogger, and now works with victims of sexual assault through a program at the Mount Sinai Hospital. She still has bouts of memory loss.

Three of the defendants supported reform of New York State’s criminal justice practices by advocating methods to prevent false confessions and eyewitness misidentifications. According to Wikipedia, “Among their goals was required videotaping of interrogations by law enforcement; such a law was passed by the New York State legislature and went into effect on April 1, 2018.”

Another defendant, who now works as a speaker and justice reform activist, “donated $190,000 of his 2014 settlement to the chapter of the Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Law School, to aid other wrongfully convicted people to gain exoneration.”

Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission press release: 

The Redwood Region has been open for filming since late June and to date has seen seven completed projects. These projects vary in type and include car commercials, a feature film produced by A24, and a TV show produced by Disney.

From these projects, Humboldt County has seen over $2.3 million in direct spending, with the bulk from the feature “The Sky is Everywhere” aka “Clarinet.” During the seven-week filming, the production spent:

• Local Lodging Costs: ~$750k (including airbnbs and hotels)
• Local Food Spend: ~$23k (not including catering costs because vendor was from out of state)
• Local Vendor Spend: ~$425k
• Local Crew Labor: ~$190k
• Local Background Labor: ~$120k (527 locals hired)
• Total Location Fees Spend: ~$230k (including $22,620 with NHUHSD, and $5,500 with the Eureka City School District)

In addition to the spending, the production also donated to many local entities including:

• Arcata High School’s performing arts dept.
• McKinleyville High School’s performing arts dept.
• Eureka Main Street
• C.A.P.E. (Community Access Project for Eureka)
• Eureka Police Foundation
• Ferndale Chamber of Commerce
• Railroad Grade Association, Fieldbrook
• Crockett Crossing Road Association, Fieldbrook

Del Norte County has received $23,000 in direct dollars. According to the California Film Commission, the economic impact multiplier is $2.95 for every direct dollar spent. This takes into account other expenses, as well as, the money circulating around the county (approximately three times before leaving the area). This makes the total economic benefit for Humboldt at nearly $6.8 million, while Del Norte’s is $67,850, indirectly.

Due to Covid-19, many businesses have had to alter their day to day activities or close temporarily for safety reasons and have had a considerable financial loss due to it. Filming has been one way closed or temporarily closed locations (i.e. school campuses where no students are attending or have limited staff in segregated portion of the school) can supplement their income by renting their locations to productions.

In addition to businesses and schools seeing revenue from renting their locations for filming, some locals rented their residences to the productions. Christine and Gene Callahan’s residence in Fieldbrook became a main location for filming “The Sky is Everywhere.” When asked about the film productions Covid protocols, Christine responded, “That was also a rock-solid part of the whole experience for us. There were the strictest rules in place at all times. We ourselves were tested 6 times in order to be part of the 2 days on set. Every crew member working at our house was completely compliant and all protocols, masks, etc. were maintained. We wouldn’t have done this wild adventure without that certainty. Honestly, we don’t truly know what everyone we worked with for all those months looks like without a mask.”

The Film Commission has been working directly with the local health departments, law enforcement, and the productions to ensure the safety of local residents and the productions’ cast and crew. The industry has been following a twenty-one-page document, drafted by unions, studios, and state health experts, outlining safety measures for filming during the pandemic. All projects have been required to have a compliance officer, safety plan, and follow the state, union, and counties’ guidelines which include being negative before entering the region and testing frequently during production.

The Film Commission has made the determination to pause filming in the Redwood Region immediately due to the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases. At the time of this release, Humboldt County has approved the hiatus, with Del Norte County’s approval pending. Humboldt’s temporary hiatus status has been discussed with the health department and local law enforcement, garnering their full support. All projects that had planned to film in the region will be notified of the hiatus. Protecting the local population and an awareness of the lack of capacity in our local hospitals were the prime considerations when making this determination according to the Film Commissioner, Cassandra Hesseltine. “I feel good about the success and what we were able to accomplish while Covid-19 numbers were low. However, I feel it would be irresponsible to continue filming in the region. We believe it’s best to be proactive and go on hiatus to protect our community at large.”

The Film Commission is aware that two projects have been filmed locally that did not comply with Covid-19 safety plans and filmed without permits. The commission is following up with health officials and law enforcement in regard to illegal productions, permitting issues, and enforcing current health protocols.

The Film Commission is a free service to all productions and can be reached at info@hdnfc.org.

Video by Billy McGlathery

The Arcata Fire District, with support from Blue Lake Fire, Westhaven Fire, Fieldbrook Fire, and Cal Fire Trinidad responded to a blaze on Holly Drive in McKinleyville late Friday night, Arcata fire posted on its Facebook page.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire, which had broken out in the detached garage of home, but the building was destroyed. 

There were no injuries.

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Researchers in the Journal Science report that a chemical in car tires, 6PPD-quinone (pronounced “kwih-known”), is a likely coho salmon killer. The chemical, used as a preservative in tires, was found to kill juvenile salmon in lab tests that replicated concentrations often found in nature. Warner Chabot, executive director of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, joins Gang Green to talk about the research and what California can do to protect its endangered salmon.

AUDIO:

“The EcoNews Report,” Dec. 11, 2020.

LINK:

”A ubiquitous tire rubber–derived chemical induces acute mortality in coho salmon,” Science, Dec. 3, 2020.