Assemblymember Damon Connolly joins the program to break down what was a historic legislative session. The legislature made major revisions to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) with the stated purpose of helping to build more housing but some folks — like Assemblymember Damon Connolly — are concerned that the legislature may have gone too far and a “clean-up bill” is needed. Asm. Connolly shares his thoughts on how we balance environmental protection with the “Abundance agenda” sweeping Sacramento. 

The legislature is set to distribute billions of dollars from the state climate bond. What is coming for the North State that excites the Assemblymember? 

And we celebrate a win. Governor Newsom recently signed AB 263, legislation sought by the Yurok and Karuk Tribes and sponsored by Asm. Rogers, Connolly and Ramos. What responsibilities does a legislator have when representing sovereign tribal nations? 

On November 1932, Ruth Dunn, a pretty 26-year-old physical therapist, rode the Pickwick Stages from Los Angeles to Humboldt County to assume her duties as a therapist with the county. She recalls her excitement coming into the redwood country and seeing the big sign announcing the Humboldt County line. Since then her role in the county has been that of an angel for many generations of crippled children who, even in their late adulthood, still recall her smile and skillful hands, and many keep in touch with her, attributing their successful and active lives to her patience and professional dedication.

It was Tony Costa, one of Ruth’s crippled children and now a grandfather, who suggested this article be written, bringing attention to Ruth’s contribution to Humboldt County health care.

Runn Dunn. Photos via the Humboldt Historian.

Ruth, one of a family of six, always loved children. She was among the first class to graduate from Highland Hospital in Oakland. A few years later, she registered in Los Angeles and was called as a private nurse to the Malibu beach house of George Olsen, a band leader, and his wife, Ethel Shutta, a follies dancer, to care for their child. She was driven by their chauffeur when the child was scheduled to visit his pediatrician.

Life at Malibu was colorful because the Olsens were involved in making the movie “Whoopee,” and Ruth’s room was next door to that of houseguests Eddie Cantor, the star of the show, and his wife Ida. She thought them both charming. Weekends she observed the movie crowds socializing from one house to the next along the beach. She preferred playing cards with the chauffeur and his wife.

The child’s pediatrician, Rothman, suggested Ruth learn physical therapy and teach posture at a private girls’ school, a job that seemed far too dull for Ruth. She did, however, go on to study physical therapy at Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, received her certificate, and was recommended for the position in Humboldt.

The need for a therapist was dramatized by the polio epidemics of the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Those of us who were children then recall summertime meant polio season. Often the fear in the minds of parents and children clouded the joyful, sunny days of summer vacation. Newspapers with big, black headlines and dramatic stories recorded the epidemics as they spread across the country. The Pathe Newsreels often showed the feeding of polio patients encased iron lungs with only their heads protruding. Every class in school had one or two victims of the crippling disease to remind us that the mysterious affliction could strike at home as well, and as soon as a case was reported locally, was on the alert.

“Don’t get too tired — perhaps you shouldn’t go swimming,” was often heard, for one of the myths was that one caught it from swimming. Frequently several in a family would succumb. Humboldt County’s polio patients, as well as children with other crippling diseases, awaited Ruth at the County Hospital. She checked in with Lantz Smith, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, “…in the Eureka Inn where the bar is now located.” He was also chairman of the Crippled Childrens’ Dr. Philip Committee, comprised of active community leaders who were generously supporting the program for crippled children. Whenever a case was brought to her, she had to clear it with Smith and the committee at the Eureka Inn. This was the Depression, and money was scarce.

“I always came back to the office smelling like a cigar,” she laughed. “Whenever they rejected a patient, I would have the parent take my report to them, and they would always accept my recommendation. They were concerned, big-hearted men.”

The Kiwanis Club was especially active in helping the program, and each year the committee and doctors took the children, therapists and volunteers to Dr. Orris Myers’ summer home near everyone Miranda for an all-day picnic, an event many of the children remember as special indeed, for there was great camaraderie among them. They supported and felt comfort for one another in their fight to recover the use of their bodies.

Tony Costa describes this aspect vividly. Costa was a handsome nine-year-old with curly black hair when he contracted polio on Aug. 5, 1935. He recalls how a sharp pain ran up his spine at first; the next day he had a high fever and lost his ability to use his muscles. It was a week before a diagnosis was made, and a quarantine sign was posted on the front of his home. Dr. Lane Falk was his doctor, but when it was determined that he had polio, Tony was turned over to Dr. Charles Falk because he had no children. Doctors feared the disease too.

Tony was placed in the isolation ward behind the TB School by the County Hospital on Harrison Avenue for three weeks. During this time, no one was allowed to visit him. His poor mother, devastated by the situation, collapsed. He is forever grateful to his cousin Marie Cummins, who came every night and stood outside until he fell asleep, and later, with her husband Dave, visited him nightly when he was in the hospital. His mother continued under medical care, and when he was released from the hospital, he went to live with Dorlinda Rocha.

When his fever subsided at the isolation ward, he could move a little. He was then taken to a private room at the main hospital and later to the ward with the other children, where he stayed for two years.

Those years were filled with pain, boredom and loneliness. But the children tried hard to fill the void — and did with mischief. “We were real devils,” Tony recalls. “Lots of spitball, water and pillow fights. My chief regret is losing two years of education.” Later Sister Alphonse helped him catch up when he entered seventh grade at the convent school.

It was during his hospitalization that Ruth gave him his life-saving therapy. Like sunshine she came into the lives of these children. As Tony describes: “She was always smiling and joking, but she was a stern taskmaster and made us do our exercises, which could be very painful.” It was her massaging that Costa remembers the most. “She had very strong, knowing hands that worked our muscles like dough, and it made us feel good.”

Beyond the massage and exercise to stimulate the muscles, Ruth supervised nurses who applied hot packs on the new cases of polio. Volunteers, including Hazel Myers, Dr. Orris Myers’ wife, helped with this task. There was also a large tub, called a “Hubbard Tank,” used for therapy in warm water. This was later moved to the hospital.

Although Ruth was a dedicated professional, she enjoyed a social life with the nurses and new friends she made in Humboldt. She hadn’t been here long before an energetic young reporter, Dwight O’Dell, came to interview her and proceeded to court her. They married in 1934 at the home of Assemblyman Robert Fisher and his wife Bess near Carlotta. In 1936 the O’Dells had a son, whom they named Robert, after their friend. Robert now lives in London, England, with his wife and family.

For several years Ruth, known as “Mrs. O’Dell” to the children, worked in the old county building at Sixth and J streets across from the Sumner Carson house (now replaced by the Times-Standard newspaper building).

She recalls the county building well: “As you entered, the therapy office was on the left, the Agriculture Department on the right, and the probation offices were upstairs. At first the children were brought to me.”

Tony Costa remembers those trips. Frank Machado, crippled by multiple sclerosis; Melba Carlson, impaired by a severe arthritis; and he were driven to their treatments in a taxi by Cliff Kirkemo, who owned his cab, and was paid by the county with March of Dimes funds for the service. The children became close friends.

Frank Machado was always cheerful, according to Ruth. As a man, after he had successfully operated his own store in west Arcata for many years, he traveled to Portugal to visit the village of his family, where he rode at the head of a parade the villagers formed to honor him. When he returned, he visited Ruth, who claims she’ll never forget his joy in describing this climax to his life.

“I just loved all those children,” she says, “and it always thrilled me to see them succeed as so many have.”

A source of pride for Tony Costa, his wife Joanne, and their family is the large, attractive home which, in spite of his handicap, he built largely by himself, “…with a little help,” he grins. “I did carry the stone and mix the mortar for the huge fireplace and hearth.”

Ruth’s career as a therapist continued, with two short breaks, until 1957. The period at the Sixth and J streets house did not last long. Instead of having the children come to her, she went to the children at the hospital.

Polio continued its course until 1955 when the Salk vaccine was finally approved for general use. Other crippling diseases have not been as effectively attacked. However, as Ruth points out, therapy and surgical techniques have improved. It was difficult in the early days because there was no orthopedic surgeon in Humboldt. “We depended on Dr. Howard Markel from San Francisco, who came here to hold clinics and care for our patients.

“Today,” Ruth continued, “we have discovered among aging former polio victims a weakening of the muscles, a postpolio syndrome.”

Among her patients in the later years was John Argo, who had a career with the city schools. He says that he owes much to Ruth for her patience in treating him after polio. “Therapy is very tedious and repetitive, but she would always keep my spirits up.”

Ruth has many happy memories of successes, but she has tragic memories too. Young Jim McGowan was a plucky youngster who eventually was placed in an iron lung. Ruth had to leave the county for a brief time to follow her husband, and it broke her heart to leave this little fellow, for she knew he did not have long to live.

Her patients were not always children. Ruth was called in to help adult patients too. During one of the later epidemics, she met Rasmus Beck, born near Ferndale, grandson of an early Danish settler. “He was an exceptionally strong man who had loved his work as a cowboy,” she said, “and seeing him immobilized with polio was particularly moving for me.” By then alone, they each discovered a deep mutual attraction and eventually married. Rasmus, strong and determined, recovered enough to earn his living at a new occupation. “He was a wonderful cook and gardener,” Ruth said, “and we were happy together until he died in 1972.”

Ruth found children adapted to paralysis more readily than adults, for the disease seemed to hit older persons harder. “For children life goes on,” she said. “What was most painful was mothers being ill and marriages breaking up under the stress.” Often she volunteered to nurse older patients because it was difficult to find nurses willing to help, especially on weekends. She nursed Dr. Philip Rummel and his wife when they were stricken.

Today, at 86, Ruth enjoys her own home and friends in Eureka, among them many of her former special children. “I just loved those kids—like my own,” she said. Undoubtedly her loving was the underlying secret of her success and the wellspring of her joyous personality that even now fills any rooms where she is with sunlight.

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The story above was originally printed in the September-October 1992 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.

George Allan Hurt (Jim)
January 5, 1930 – September 22, 2025

George Allan Hurt (Jim) passed away Monday, September 22nd, 2025, peacefully at The Hospice House in Eureka, at the age of 95. Jim was born on January 5, 1930, to Ruby and George Sr. Hurt. He was raised in Fresno on the family farm. Jim was the youngest sibling. He had a brother named Johnny and seven sisters: Nita, Laura, Betty, Ina, Lula, Joyce and Donna.

Jim started working at the age of nine, helping his dad on the farm. He would be milking cows at 3 a.m., among other jobs on the farm.

Jim got drafted into the Army on February 6, 1951. Jim fought on the front line for the Korean War. He was very proud to become a vet and of all his accomplishments and loved to tell stories about it. He was discharged December 19th, 1952.

Jim married Virginia Lessley, and together they had two children, Tommy and Sandy, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandkids. Later they divorced. Jim moved to McKinleyville in February of 1962, which was where he met the love of his life, Margie Wilson. They bought a house at 3263 Barnett Ave in McKinleyville and married May 14, 1966. They started a family. Jim adopted three of Margie’s kids and had three together with Margie: Guy Hurt (Kathy), Kim Hurt (Carrie), Jimmy Hurt (Larisa), Tony Hurt, Andrea (Johnny).

Jim had grandkids: Brad Hurt, Stephanie Martin, Jaden Hurt, McKenzie Hurt, Steven Pigon (Jessica). He also had great-grandkids: Kaden Martin and McKenzie Martin. Jim also had lifelong friends: Hazel Perini, Dorann Wolf, and Katie Coventry.

Over the years Jim worked for Mad River Plywood, then Simpson. He was a caretaker for Camp Bauer. He worked for Weyerhaeuser Plywood Mill and Blue Lake Forest Products. When Margie became ill, Jim would push Margie up and down McKinleyville in her wheelchair. He wore out his hips and had four operations.

Every year the two of them looked forward to the Pony Express Parade, where you could watch Jim pushing Margie in the parade. The town of McKinleyville gave them a nickname, “The McKinleyville Walkers.”

Jim never knew a stranger. He always had his arm out waving to people, even if he didn’t know them. On January 1, 2012, after 46 years of being married, Margie passed away. Jim missed her dearly and kept busy tinkering in his shed, fixing anything that needed fixing. He still was in the Pony Express Parade, this time riding his 3-wheel bike.

Tony and Jim joined the club; they would lift weights and walk on the treadmill. The staff and customers were impressed at how well a 95-year-young man could be so fit. Tony and Jim would go to church, North Fork Full Gospel. After church you could find them at Ramone’s Coffee Shop drinking coffee and chatting away. Tony took great care of his dad until the end.

To send flowers to the family in memory of George Allan Hurt, please visit our floral store.

Visitation on October 13, 2025, at 2 p.m., followed by a Memorial Service at Gobel’s Fortuna Mortuary, 560 12th Street, Fortuna, CA 95540.

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PREVIOUSLY

• Judge Holds Providence St. Joseph to Prior Agreement as Emergency Abortion Care Lawsuit Proceeds

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Press release from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office:

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced filing a motion for a preliminary injunction in People of the State of California v. St. Joseph Health Northern California. On September 30, 2024, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit in Humboldt County Superior Court alleging that Providence St. Joseph Hospital (Providence) in Eureka, California violated multiple laws — including California’s Emergency Services Law (ESL), the state level analogue to the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), and the Unruh Civil Rights Act — by refusing to provide emergency abortion care when needed to save the life and health of patients.

Most recently, on August 29, 2025, the Humboldt County Superior Court left a stipulation and order in place that Attorney General Bonta secured from Providence, ensuring that women of Humboldt County have access to emergency abortion care, and ordered the People to file a preliminary injunction motion. In the motion for a preliminary injunction, Attorney General Bonta once again details the harrowing stories of two women, Jane Roe and Anna Nusslock, who were harmed by Providence’s unlawful conduct.

Absent judicial intervention, Attorney General Bonta underscores that they will not be the last, particularly in light of Providence’s newly announced, unlawful policy dictating that a physician may only perform an emergency abortion if it is the “only alternative to the certain death” of the mother.

“Providence is currently the only available option for women in Humboldt County to seek emergency pregnancy care. Despite previously assuring my office, the court, and the people of California that it would follow state law and allow women to access emergency abortion care, Providence is seeking not only to go back on its word, but to make things far worse by requiring ‘certain death’ before allowing doctors to offer treatment,” said Attorney General Bonta.

“We refuse to let that happen. We are filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to ensure that Providence continues following state law. This is not a game. It can be a matter of life or death.”  

Two Providence policies are at issue. The former — under which Jane Roe and Anna Nusslock were treated — allowed the physicians to intervene once the patient’s “life is at risk.” However, under Providence’s newly announced policy, even a substantial risk to the patient’s life would not be enough: a physician may only perform an emergency abortion if it is the “only alternative to the certain death” of the mother. While the new policy requiring certain death before intervention has not been implemented due to the prior stipulation and order entered by the court, Attorney General Bonta argues in the motion for a preliminary injunction that both versions of the policy violate the ESL. 

If you were denied an abortion you needed in a medical emergency, or if you were denied any other emergency medical care, you can contact abortion.access@doj.ca.gov. Attorney General Bonta recently announced the launch of a statewide survey to assess how hospital emergency departments are following emergency reproductive healthcare laws. Results from the survey will inform oversight, guide enforcement efforts, and ensure hospitals are fully complying with the ESL.

A copy of the motion for a preliminary injunction can be found here. 

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After years of searching for new office space, the Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE) is expanding its operations to the former CVS location at 1105 Myrtle Avenue in Eureka, just one block away from the agency’s headquarters. 

Escrow for the sale of the property is expected to close on Oct. 31.

Once the property is secured, HCOE’s architect will get to work on the designs for new offices and meeting rooms, as well as some repairs to the roof and minor improvements to the building’s exterior. If everything goes according to plan, the site should be ready for staff in the next two years.

“Right now, it’s just an empty box, but it’s going to be a really beautiful space,” said Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes. “We’ve been looking for a new space for about three years, but have been unsuccessful in finding a property that meets our office needs, including parking for our 80 to 90 staff.”

The Franklin Campus, located behind the Burre Center, has served as HCOE’s primary headquarters for many decades. A few years back, HCOE began renting office space at two locations on E and H streets to accommodate its rapidly expanding staff. Those combined leases cost the district approximately $20,000 per month, according to Davies-Hughes.

“If you think about that, over the course of the year, that’s almost a quarter of a million dollars that we’re not investing and not getting any equity on,” he said. “We’ve been here since 1853… and we intend to be here for a very long time in the future, so it’s not going to be too long before we actually see cost savings. As responsible stewards of public funds, we want to try to make sure that we’re building for the future of HCOE.”

Davies-Hughes could not confirm the final sale price of the two-acre property since escrow hasn’t closed, but he did note that the asking price from CVS Pharmacy Inc. was $2.6 million. The funds will come from the agency’s general fund.

Once staff are moved into the new offices, HCOE plans to reconfigure its main campus to bring on more student-focused services and programming. 

“This will enable us to move some of the office staff that we have [at the Franklin Campus] over to the CVS site and actually open up some classroom space for some additional student programs and expand the career and technical education opportunities that students have,” Davies-Hughes said. “I think it’ll provide some efficiencies for our organization so that we can provide students and staff at Humboldt County schools with more effective services.”

Hat tip to Sage Alexander at the Times-Standard, who first reported this story on Thursday.

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PREVIOUSLY

• Trump Administration Pulls Funding for ‘Fantasy Wind Projects,’ Including $426 Million Grant for Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Terminal
• Humboldt’s Offshore Wind Terminal Project ‘Full Speed Ahead’ Despite Federal Funding Cuts, Says Harbor District Executive Director

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The Trump administration may be doing its darnedest to kneecap the nation’s burgeoning offshore wind industry, but California remains bullish on the renewable energy sector. 

On Wednesday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded an $18,250,000 grant to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District to advance the design of the district’s planned Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal.

That represents just a drop in the fiscal bucket compared to the $435 million in federal funding that the feds recently yanked away from the Harbor District, with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy suggesting that money should instead go towards “revitalizing America’s maritime industry.”

But Harbor District Executive Director Chris Mikkelsen recently told the Outpost that the agency is moving “full speed ahead” on plans to develop a new industrial terminal on the Samoa Peninsula designed specifically to facilitate development of floating offshore wind projects.

This latest CEC grant, which was first announced in March but not officially awarded until this week, is part of the commission’s Waterfront Facility Improvement Program. 

“These funds will advance the Heavy Lift Marine Terminal Project through expanded technical studies, further examination of mitigation measures for community and environmental impacts, and expands our robust community engagement, ensuring equitable development of the terminal project,” Mikkelsen said in an email to the Outpost. 

The Harbor District’s goal with this project, according to its grant application, is to build a modern heavy lift terminal that will serve as “a primary west coast facility for the manufacturing, import, staging, pre-assembly, and vertical integration of large offshore wind energy components.”

California has established a goal of developing 2 to 5 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045. 

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Oct. 9, 2025, deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team served two search warrants to investigate illegal cannabis cultivation in the Island Mountain area. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management assisted with the service of the warrants.
The parcels did not possess the required county permit and state license to cultivate cannabis commercially.

During the service of the warrants, assisting agencies discovered multiple water pollution violations, which carry fines of up to $20,000 per day, per violation. Deputies eradicated approximately 280 cannabis plants and seized more than 1,092 pounds of processed cannabis bud and shake. Deputies also located and confiscated 15 pounds of hash.

Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies. No arrests were made during the service of the warrant. The case will be forwarded to the DA’s Office for review.

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.