Lost Coast Outpost

(VIDEO) HUMBOLDT OUTDOORS: Exploring Trinidad’s 150-Year-Old Lighthouse

Isabella Vanderheiden / Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 @ 2:46 p.m. / Humboldt Outdoors

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If you’ve spent any time up in Trinidad, you’ve surely noticed the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse overlooking the parking lot at State Beach. But have you ever explored its predecessor – the original Trinidad Head Lighthouse?

In today’s episode of Humboldt Outdoors, local documentarian Ray Olson meets with volunteers from the Trinidad Museum Society for a tour of the historic Trinidad Head Lighthouse, which has been in continuous operation since it was built on the southern tip of the rocky outcropping in 1871.

“In the 1800s, dozens of ships wrecked on Humboldt County’s rocky coast, and scores of lives were lost,” Olson explains in the video above. “So, the U.S. government allocated funds to build a series of lighthouses along the coast to guide ships away from hazardous rocks and into [the] safe harbor. … This lighthouse was built over 150 years ago, and yet it still serves as a beacon for ships entering Trinidad Harbor.”

Click “play” on the video above to learn more about the historic landmark and former lighthouse keeper Captain Fred Harrington, who witnessed the highest wave ever recorded in Trinidad while performing his lighthouse duties on Dec. 31, 1913.

Want to see the lighthouse for yourself? The good folks at the Trinidad Museum Society offer free tours on the first Saturday of every month between 10 a.m. and noon. More information can be found here.

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HUMBOLDT HISTORY: The Little Chapel Was a Waterfront Home for Eureka’s Lost and Forgotten

Darrel Bean / Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 @ 7:30 a.m. / History

A picture taken at the Little Chapel shows, from left: LeRoy Beeman, Mr. and Mrs. Davidson and their children, “Mother” Austine Fernleaf, Delia Bean and Darrel Bean. Photo courtesy Darrel Bean, via the Humboldt Historian.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s a mission for the homeless and other less fortunate people named The Little Chapel was located on First Street in Eureka. Below the large letters that proclaimed its name on a neon sign was another phrase: “For there was no room for them in the inn.”

Although this humble establishment was not one that attracted much attention, it was a source of hope and encouragement to the clientele who received a hot meal and a clean bed for the night completely free of charge.

As one entered The Little Chapel the heartening smell of soup or stew was immediately present.

Once a waterfront saloon, the dining room welcomed all unfortunate people. The old bar, still there with its full-length mirror, served as a dining counter where people could sit on old bar stools while eating. On special holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas a full turkey dinner was always served.

The chapel itself seated about thirty people. Another room was used as a dormitory, filled with about twenty double bunk beds. Clean used clothing, socks and shoes were also available.

The pastor and founder of the Little Chapel was an elderly lady named Austine Fernleaf, but she was known to one and all as “Mother” Fernleaf. This humble, soft-spoken lady was held in such high regard by the Eureka City Council that it often invited Mother Fernleaf to open its meetings with prayer. She was also a member of the Eureka Ministerial Association.

Mrs. Fernleaf had raised a family of 10 children of her own. One of her daughters, Mary Vagle, and her husband, Joe, helped in the beginning years of the chapel’s existence. But Mother Fernleaf held the position of spiritual leader until old age forced her to retire when she was around 80.

The chapel operated on faith and thrift. No offering baskets were ever passed around in the services, even though people from local churches visited nearly every night. A box with a slot cut in its top was located on the back wall. This silent container reminded those who “could” that the mission depended on freewill offerings for financial support. Mother Fernleaf was careful to cut costs whenever possible. She even took all the dirty laundry home with her, including the linen from the bunk beds.

Besides the “street people,” many stranded or down and out families often came for help and were never turned away.

The work of cooking, cleaning and serving was done by a staff of two or three men. These men had come to The Little Chapel for help and had stayed on, working for room and board.

Numerous testimonials could be given of others who had found a changed life in this little out-of-the-way chapel. My wife, Delia, and I served as assistants to Mother Fernleaf for six years, from 1958 to 1964, and we became familiar with many stories. Two of these merit special mention.

From left: Darrel Bean (seated), Mother Fernleaf, Joe Vagle and Mary Vagle, the daughter of Mother Fernleaf

LeRoy Beeman was 83 years old when he first came to the Little Chapel, This old gentleman had a very interesting history. He was a Spanish-American War veteran. Later he served as a U.S. Marshal in the Indian Territory before Oklahoma was a state. He also served as Indian Agent to the Kickapoo Nation. Among other duties, he said he had on several occasions delivered criminals to the infamous “Hanging Judge” Parker at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

In another period of his life, LeRoy Beeman said he had worked with two of his brothers in a print shop in McCloud, Oklahoma, where they published the local newspaper. He reminisced how, when he decided to quit chewing tobacco, he nailed the plug of tobacco on the wall and wrote a caption underneath that proclaimed, “Crucified.”

Despite his decision to quit, he would pinch off small bits from the plug when he thought his brothers weren’t looking. His brothers found out what he was doing, and dipped the plug in the acid solution that they used to clean the type in the print shop. LeRoy’s mouth became so sore he had to stop sneaking tobacco for good.

In later years, LeRoy came to Blue Lake and served as city clerk for some time.

At age 83 he was diagnosed as having a hole in his diaphragm. Doctors at the Veterans’ hospital in Vallejo advised him that he had a short time to live, and that he should settle his affairs soon. LeRoy, who had always been an avowed atheist, began to wonder if he had been wrong about the value of religion. He visited several churches but didn’t feel comfortable. Then he remembered Austine Fernleaf, who had once founded a church in nearby Korbel. After learning she was now operating a little mission in Eureka’s “skid row” area, he found its location. There, he reported, he not only discovered spiritual peace, he was healed from his physical affliction.

Beeman lived for another 17 years, faithfully attending nightly services at the mission, and testifying about his amazing experience. When others scoffed and called him a liar, he would say, “I don’t care whether you believe it or not. It’s true anyway!” Shortly after his hundredth birthday LeRoy Beeman died at the Veterans’ Hospital in Vallejo.

Another regular attendee at The Little Chapel was Bill Early. A well-known Eurekan who rode the ferry across the bay to work for the Hammond Lumber Company, Bill was a confirmed bachelor who eschewed cars to walk very spryly everywhere he went. During the 1930s and ‘40s he led a popular song and comedy act called “The Samoa Nuts,” which performed around the Eureka area.

The Bill Early stories are endless. Local oldster Bill Inskip recalls sitting at the bar of the Varsity Club in the long-gone Revere Hotel in Eureka’s Old Town. He heard a loud war whoop and turned to see Early standing on his hands in the doorway with an alarm clock tied to one arm as a wrist watch. Already about two sheets to the wind, he walked across the room, still inverted, propped his feet up against the bar, and yelled, “Ain’t anyone gonna buy me a drink?”

With everyone roaring with laughter, and his feet still draped over the bar. Early then went into his patented sales pitch for “Professor Pumpernickle’s Pink Pills,” followed by other sure-to-win-a-drink acts.

After years of wild behavior. Bill Early is said to have found a life-changing experience of faith one night at the Little Chapel, and it became his church for the remainder of its existence. During services he would stand with a huge smile and tell of his change and how he had poured bottles of whiskey down the sink and never touched it again.

The Little Chapel has faded into history. But in my mind’s eye I can still see Mother Fernleaf standing behind her pulpit, tears flowing from her eyes as she spoke her message to the dirty, unshaven and sometimes drunken people. Her heart expressed love for every one of them, and they knew it.

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Ed. note from 2024: Back issues of the Humboldt Standard put The Little Chapel at 322 First Street. The building that bears that address today is certainly not The Little Chapel.

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The story above is from the Spring 1999 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.

The Blue Lake City Council Race Could Very Well End in a Tie. Here’s How It Would Get Decided.

Ryan Burns / Friday, Nov. 29, 2024 @ 10:15 a.m. / Elections

Blue Lake City Hall. | Image via the City of Blue Lake.

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This year’s city council race in Blue Lake is looking quite likely to wind up with an exact tie for third place with three available seats in what has been a contentious election. It’s the kind of scenario political wonks keep tucked in their back pockets to counter the claim, “My one vote won’t matter.”

Per the latest tally, released by the county elections office on Wednesday, here is the vote count for each of the seven candidates in the race:

Michelle Lewis-Lusso: 285
John Sawatzky: 250
Adelene Jones*: 245
Kat Napier: 245
Christopher Guy Firor*: 233
Christopher B. Edgar*: 210
Verda Winona N. Pitts: 148

*incumbents

As you can see, Jones, the incumbent councilmember and mayor, is tied with challenger Kat Napier.

With more than 65,000 ballots cast countywide, just 446 remain to be processed, according to Humboldt County Clerk/Recorder and Registrar of Voters Juan P. Cervantes. That includes 53 provisional ballots and 393 vote-by-mail ballots, most of which arrived without a signature or with a signature that didn’t match the one on file. Cervantes said those voters have been contacted to ensure they have every opportunity to get their votes counted.

But it might not matter for Blue Lake. Only about 1 percent of votes countywide were cast by residents of that city (pop. 1,172), so there’s probably just a handful, if any, Blue Lake ballots left to be counted. Even if there are more than that, it might not untie the race.

Consider: There were more than 2,000 ballots counted between the third and fourth post-election reports. Twelve of those came from Blue Lake voters. After the third report, Jones and Napier were tied at 243 votes apiece. With the fourth they secured two more votes apiece and thus remain deadlocked.

So what next? Cervantes explained that if a tie remains in place after all ballots are counted and the official results are finalized, California Elections Code 15651 outlines the procedures for deciding the race. Unless the City of Blue Lake adopted a provision prior to the election to resolve ties through a special runoff election, the race will be decided via a random selection process — drawing straws, in other words.

Election code calls this process as “determination by lot,” but it amounts to the same thing: a random selection. In this case, the Blue Lake city clerk, as the elections official for the city council race, would oversee the procedure.

Theoretically, there could also be a recount, though Cervantes said that a tie does not automatically trigger one. Any registered vote can request a recount after the official results are certified, which is expected to occur by December 3. To ask for a recount, the voter must submit a written request by 5 p.m. on the fifth day following certification, per California Elections Code 15620-15624.

However, the cost of the recount must be paid by the person who requests it. “They are required to cover the first day’s recount costs upfront, and payment is repeated for each additional day the recount continues,” Cervantes explained in an email to the Outpost. “Costs are calculated based on the actual expenses incurred by the county.”

So there you have it. For you Blue Lake residents who elected not to cast a ballot this time around, feel free to post your confession in the comment section below.

OBITUARY: Forrest Ashley Hayden Sr., 1967-2024

LoCO Staff / Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 @ 6:56 a.m. / Obits

Forrest Ashley Hayden Sr. began his journey home at sundown on November 23, 2024, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and loved ones at Providence Hospital.

Forrest was the youngest son, born to Richard Pete Hayden and Eleanor Quinn on July 31, 1967. Forrest was a proud full blooded Native American warrior of Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk decent and an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. He was born at Mad River Hospital, raised in Trinidad, and spent most of his teenage/adult years in Eureka.

If you ever took a ride with him around town you might’ve heard him fondly point out a sidewalk or parking lot he had a hand in building, as he was a concrete worker. Aside from his children being some of his proudest achievements, he might’ve mentioned skydiving a time or two … or countless times. He was known for his enthusiastic tellings of his life stories, and was a very avid believer in Bigfoot. He was strong in his beliefs and if he had his mind set there was no one that could make him think otherwise. He loved spending time at the river with his family and loved ones, going fishing, visiting Kenick, attending the brush dances and festivals.

Anyone lucky enough to have met Forrest knows he had an endearing energy under his seemingly stoic and rough exterior that you couldn’t help but fall in love with. He could make anyone smile with his wide toothy grin or his little snicker after cracking a joke. He took great pride in his long black hair and was often known for this attribute. With all this being said, a few may tell you he was also quite the ladies man.

Forrest was a beloved son, brother, father, uncle and friend. He is survived by his sisters Leona Hayden and Cynthia Brissette; brothers Richard “Pete” Hayden Jr. and Michael Brissette; nieces and nephews Nicole, Dwane, Shania, Michelle, Daniel, and Michael Brissette Jr, Joey Montgomery, Richard Hayden II, Danielle and Angel Muro; his children by Eva Petersen, Lisa, Amber, Crystal, Forrest Hayden Jr.; daughter by Kristie Starr, Mariah Starr; daughter by Sandra Shell, Ashley Hayden; children by Kristi Dortch, Ariona and Kendall Hayden, step-son Brandon Dortch; grandkids Illyanna, Trey, Cruz, Ezra, Kaden, Jazmin, Daniel, Lincoln, Jeremiah, King, Judah, Ki-Kya, Ina, Jakobe, Kehniwh, Beau, Innana, Kitsay, Dahlia, Mattison, Kosos, and Scarlett. To name a few close cousins: Raymond and Charles Hayden, Rhonda Bigovich, Herman and Shannon Quinn, Valerie and Elvira Hayden. His long-time girlfriend Lorann Aubrey and many more great nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

He is preceded in death by his mom (Eleanor) and father (Richard), sister Michelle Muro, daughter Destiny Hayden and cousins Eddie and Alfred Hayden.

Services being held at Sanders Funeral Home at 11 a.m. on November 30. Reception to follow, location TBA.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Forrest Hayden Sr.’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Humboldt County Agrees to Pay $150K to Settle Lawsuit Accusing a Sheriff’s Deputy of Excessive Force

Ryan Burns / Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024 @ 2:53 p.m. / Courts , Government

The door to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at the county courthouse. | Google Street View.

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Lawsuit Accuses Humboldt Sheriff’s Deputy of Assault, Battery and Excessive Force in Arrest of Unhoused Man

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The Humboldt County government has agreed to pay $150,000 and provide additional training to Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies to settle a lawsuit that accused Deputy Sheriff Ryan Campadonia of using excessive force during the traffic stop and arrest of an unhoused man in Garberville last year.

As part of the settlement, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal issued a letter to the plaintiff, Darrin Dickson, in which he acknowledges that Campadonia “escalated the situation … without attempting any initial de-escalation measures” when he broke the driver’s side window with his baton. Dickson had been living in his vehicle at the time of the incident.

The suit, which was filed on Nov. 1, alleged that while breaking the window, Campadonia’s baton struck Dickson in the face, and glass from the shattered window got in his right eye, causing a corneal abrasion and bleeding cuts on his face and scalp. It further accused Campadonia of grabbing Dickson by the throat, elbowing him in the face and having his vehicle impounded, against office policy, as retaliation against Dickson for exercising his constitutional rights.

“This incident did not meet the high standard of conduct we uphold at the Sheriff’s Office,” Honsal says in his letter, which quotes from his office’s use-of-force policy and mentions only the window-breaking, not the other allegations.

Dickson’s attorney, Benjamin Mainzer, said this settlement, including the public acknowledgement from Honsal, represents a significant step forward.

“The HCSO has now committed to implementing corrective measures intended to prevent what happened to Mr. Dickson from happening to anyone else,” Mainzer said in an emailed statement. “As a direct result of this lawsuit, Deputy Campadonia and all members of the patrol division will now receive additional training. This commitment to improvement and accountability would not have been possible without Mr. Dickson coming forward.”

Earlier this year the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury recommended that the county establish a civilian oversight board for the Sheriff’s Office, saying such independent review “promotes good management, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability without interfering with the Sheriff’s Office’s enforcement and investigative functions.”

But Honsal opposes the call for civilian oversight, saying the community can always hold him accountable at the ballot box.

“The Sheriff is elected by the people to provide the oversight over all the duties and responsibilities of the Sheriff’s Office,” he argued.

Honsal was hand-picked as the undersheriff and de-facto successor of former Sheriff Mike Downey in 2013 and then elevated by the Board of Supervisors to the role of interim sheriff in 2017. He ran unopposed in 2018 and 2022.

Humboldt County was also named as a defendant in the suit, alongside Campadonia and the Sheriff’s Office. The county rejected a claim for damages that Mainzer’s office submitted on behalf of Dickson in March.

Campadonia, a four-year veteran with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, earned just shy of $158,000 in pay and benefits last year, according to data collected by Transparent California. The $150,000 settlement will be paid from the county’s risk management fund.

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DOCUMENT: Honsal’s letter to Campadonia

(VIDEO) ‘Twas a Beautiful Day For an Old Town Parade

Andrew Goff / Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024 @ 2:22 p.m. / :)

As LoCO prepares to release you all for the long Thanksgiving weekend, we thought we’d share something with y’all that will hopefully elicit a similar smile as it did for us.

Earlier today in Old Town, the fine folks from The Artist Corner at Gaining Ground staged their second annual Thanksgiving Parade, which starred members of Humboldt’s disabled community. After a tour of duty that took them from the Gazebo and back again, the marchers settled down for a noon pizza party to celebrate getting their steps in.

Good weather, pizza and community. There is much to be thankful for. Have a nice, restful weekend, friends.

THEY GAVE: Rotary Club of Eureka Serves Up Hundreds of Turkeys and a Couple o’ Hams

LoCO Staff / Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024 @ 1:42 p.m. / :)

Lucky Thavisak, current Rotary Club of Eureka President; Bryan Hall, Executive Director, Eureka Rescue Mission; Carly Robbins, Executive Director, Food for People and Past-President Rotary Club of Eureka; and Matthew Owen, Past-President Rotary Club of Eureka | Submitted

Rotary Club of Eureka release:

For the 8th consecutive year, the Rotary Club of Eureka donated turkeys to local homeless shelters, food banks, schools and other non-profits.
This year we donated 240 turkeys and two hams to local non-profits, such as the Eureka Rescue Mission, Betty Chinn Foundation, Food for People, Redwood Adult & Teen Challenge, Salvation Army, Boys & Girls Club of the Redwoods and Northern United Humboldt Charter School.

(VIDEO) HUMBOLDT OUTDOORS: Exploring Trinidad’s 150-Year-Old Lighthouse

BOOKED

JUDGED

CHP REPORTS

ELSEWHERE