In the same easygoing way he lived his life, John Caldwell Goodrich peacefully drifted into the next world on May 17, 2025. 

Born in Iowa City, Iowa in November 1958 to George D. and Lois Goodrich. The following summer, along with his siblings, George H. Goodrich and Laura Goodrich, the family moved to Arcata, CA so his father could start a job teaching at Humboldt State College. The adventure of a lifetime! 

Packed up with all their belongings (Lois had even managed to get her washing machine into the back of the giant station wagon) they headed west. The family was looking forward to visiting Yellowstone Park to see the geysers and animals. On the morning of their departure from the park, Lois put baby John in the back seat while she loaded the food box into the back of the car. Laura remembers vividly two kids coming to the door of the cabin “Hey Lady, there’s a bear in your car!” Lois ran out and yes, there was a bear in the back of the station wagon headed for the food box. Luckily, the washing machine blocked the bears access to baby John sleeping in the back seat! From the beginning John’s mild-mannered, easy-going nature was his style. 

He was a good soul who loved his family and friends dearly. He was funny, kind, and gentle and sometimes a bit mischievous. As the youngest of the three, John took advantage of opportunities for pay back such as when his mother asked him to look after his older 13 yr. old brother. George was stuck in bed in a full body cast and John would take his sweet time to answer George’s cries for assistance. 

John attended College Elementary School at Humboldt, Stuart Middle School, and Arcata HS. He always had a great posse of friends wherever he went. His interest in woodworking and carpentry started with the ROP program at Arcata HS where he later worked with his instructor on home remodeling projects. He was artistic in his woodworking and if you are lucky, you own one of John’s hand-crafted pieces. 

As kids, John and his brother George rode dirt bikes in the hills of Sunny Brae and raced motocross. His life as a young man was a dream. He married Shelly Rosebrook in 1984, and they had three beautiful boys, Shane, Casey, and Cole. John had a home in Arcata and one in Willow Creek that he built himself. He had a thriving construction business. Many happy summer days were spent camping and in his ski boat exploring Whiskeytown Lake with lots of family and friends. 

His favorite pastimes were fishing, diving for abalone and looking for agates on the beach. John always generously shared his catch. 

John was one of the most agreeable people you could meet and always appreciative of others and things they did for him. He was loyal through and through, always ready to help a friend. John will be greatly missed by his soulmate Diana, his family and his many friends past and present.

Rest in peace, dear sweet brother and devoted dad.

A Celebration of Life to take place later this summer will be announced. Watch Facebook for details. 

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PREVIOUSLY: Avelo Airlines to Launch ICE-Led Deportation Flights Out of Arizona (But Not California, the Company Says)

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Local activists will gather at the Arcata Plaza on Saturday for the Nationwide Anti-Avelo Day of Action, joining protestors in more than two dozen cities in opposing the airline’s involvement in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights. 

The nationwide protest, coordinated by the Coalition to Stop Avelo, comes just two weeks after the budget airline began deporting migrants out of its new hub at the Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) in Arizona. The Anti-Avelo Day of Action is the latest in a series of protests calling the flights “illegal, inhumane and unconstitutional.”

“The company’s multimillion-dollar contract to operate deportation flights for ICE is both deeply troubling and a clear violation of the ‘good faith’ clause in Avelo’s contracts to operate in cities across the country,” the Coalition to Stop Avelo states on its website. “Avelo’s leadership, especially its CEO and Chairman, Andrew Levy, must take immediate steps to realign corporate policy with the rule of law and ethical business practices.”

An online petition to boycott the airline has garnered nearly 39,000 signatures.

The local protest, led by Humboldt Democracy Connections, will begin at Crabs’ Stadium at F and Ninth Streets in Arcata at 11:30 a.m. and proceed to the Arcata Plaza. More information can be found here.

Firor. | Photo via the City of Blue Lake.

Blue Lake’s ongoing political drama just experienced another plot twist as City Councilmember Christopher G. Firor has resigned from office, effective immediately.

Firor, who was appointed by the council last October to fill the seat that had been vacated by Elizabeth McKay, did not cite a reason for his abrupt departure in the emailed notice he submitted at 6:28 on Tuesday evening, roughly two minutes before a council meeting was set to begin. (The email wasn’t stamped as “received” until the following day.)

“This decision was not made lightly, but after careful consideration, I believe it is the right time for me to step down,” his emailed resignation says.

Firor had missed several council meetings in a row. In his application to serve on the Blue Lake City Council, he said he looked forward to “working with the council in a coordinated and collaborative manner with a high degree of respect, trust an openness.”

He’d been living in Blue Lake for just nine months when the council selected him over other applicants, including John Sawatzky, who would go on to win election to an open seat a month later. A community health worker employed by the the Providence-owned Blue Lake Community Resource Center, Firor told the council during the special meeting in October that he’d tried to move to the city earlier, “but it’s hard to get here.”

Facing questions from the council, Firor said he saw a need to build consensus and bridge divides.

“Of course, I want Blue Lake to grow,” he added. “We need it in every which way — more population, more businesses, more tax revenue.” 

The recent political divide in Blue Lake has largely centered on how best to plan for such growth. For years now the city has been out of compliance with state housing law. 

The remaining four members of the Blue Lake City Council will now be tasked with appointing a replacement for Firor. An email to City Attorney Ryan Plotz requesting details on this process and its timeline was not immediately returned. 

[UPDATE, 3:45 p.m.: Plotz replied via email, saying the council has 60 days from the resignation to either make an appointment to fill the vacant seat or call a special election.  “We will call a special meeting to review the process with Council and seek direction on how the Council would like to proceed,” he explained.]

Three of the four remaining councilmembers in Blue Lake are facing voter-initiated recall campaigns.

Here is the text of Firor’s letter of resignation:

Subject: Resignation from City Council

City of Blue Lake,

Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from my position as City Councilor for Blue Lake, effective immediately. This decision was not made lightly, but after careful consideration, I believe it is the right time for me to step down.

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents of Blue Lake. I am proud of the work I have accomplished and I remain deeply committed to the betterment of our community. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside dedicated city staff and engaged citizens. I will always cherish these relationships built during my time on the council.

In conclusion, I look forward to continuing my overarching goal of being a positive and contributory force for this beautiful community, this “Center of the Universe,” my Blue Lake Heaven.

Sincerely,

Christopher G. Firor  

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DOCUMENT: Firor Letter of Resignation

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• Highly Contentious Blue Lake City Council Race is a Nail-Biter, With Many Votes Yet to Be Counted
• Blue Lake’s City Council Election Tie Will Be Resolved By Pulling a Name From a Hat, Essentially
• NAPIER DEFEATS JONES: Blue Lake Election Tie Resolved By Pulling a Name From an Envelope Pulled From a Box
• Flouting State Guidance, Blue Lake City Council Votes Not to Adopt Its Own Updated Housing Element
• The Blue Lake Community is Under the Impression That Its City Manager Has Been Fired, But City Hall Won’t Say Whether She Has Been Or Not
• With the City Manager’s Abrupt Exit, Blue Lake Residents Mount Recall Effort Against Three Council Members
• Blue Lake City Council Finalizes Separation Agreement With Former City Manager Mandy Mager, Appoints Finance Manager Dani Burkhart as Acting Replacement
• SERVED: Three Blue Lake Council Members Were Handed Recall Notices at Tonight’s Meeting
• Blue Lake City Council Approves Nine-Month Timeline to Reach Compliance With State Housing Law

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Press release from Food for People:

Eureka, CA – In conjunction with this May’s National Letter Carriers Food Drive, McKinleyville-based Wild Planet Foods donated 22 pallets of canned salmon to Humboldt County’s food bank, Food for People. The truckload of canned fish weighed 30,888 pounds.

“This donation will make a difference to people all over Humboldt County,” said Carly Robbins, Food for People Executive Director. “We will be able to use Wild Planet’s donation of high-quality protein throughout our network of pantries and to our child and senior nutrition programs too. We appreciate the support of local companies like Wild Planet who are part of this community and their actions show that.”

“The Food for People Letter Carrier food drive presented Wild Planet with another unique way to support communities with quality food donations. We value our ongoing partnership with Food for People because it directly helps people in Humboldt County, where Wild Planet has been headquartered for two decades,” says Ben Carvalho, Global Operations & Sustainability Director.

This donation was made as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Letter carriers around Humboldt County collected donated food on their mail routes May 10th and delivered it to Food for People and their network of pantries. This year, Humboldt residents gave more than 39,000 pounds of non-perishable foods through the drive. With Wild Planet’s donation, the food drive collected a grand total of 70,000 pounds of food.

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Food for People volunteers sort community food donations at this year’s Letter Carriers Food Drive.

UPDATE, 12:56 p.m.: From the Crescent City Police Department:

CCPD has arrested Joshua Roberts, (Age 32), in connection with this investigation.

Officers gathered evidence that Roberts picked up the two individuals we are looking for and drove them out of Crescent City. Officers contacted Roberts on Malone Road in the Crescent City area. Roberts was also on parole and search of his vehicle was completed during our contact with him.

During the search officers located an AR15 and Semi-automatic shotgun, along with several hundred rounds of ammunition. Roberts is being held at the Del Norte County Jail. We also have active arrest warrants for Russell Walters Sr. and Russell Walters Jr. in connection with the original shooting incident.

If you have information on their location please call dispatch 707-464-4191, or message our Facebook account.

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Original Post: The Crescent City Police Department is seeking a suspect in a shooting incident that occurred in the Crescent City Safeway parking lot Wednesday evening. Video of the event is making the rounds on social media.

CCPD has released an image of a man they believe to be Russell Walters, Jr., their suspect in the case. The image comes from a video posted by a witness to the incident, which was posted to social media. You can watch that clip below:

Our colleague Jessica Cejnar Andrews at Redwood Voice Community News reports that one victim was transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to their abdomen. 

The Crescent City Police Department posted the following to its social media channels:

We are currently looking for Russell Walters Jr. for attempted homicide. He was last seen leaving the scene at the Safeway parking lot in a dark colored Chevy Traverse with a California license plate of EP007. We are working with the District Attorneys Office to secure an Arrest Warrant if he flees the area. Please call dispatch if you have any information about his location.

We are still processing the crime scene and actively investigating as well.

Walters is pictured in the photo in the passenger seat.

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Press release from the Arcata Fire District:

Arcata Fire Department responded to an injury traffic accident on Highway 101 near School Road last night, involving a vehicle overturned in the grass with a trapped occupant. The incident, dispatched at 9:30 PM, required a multi-agency extrication effort due to the complexity of the entrapment.

Arcata Fire initially dispatched two engines and a Duty Officer. Upon receiving information from California Highway Patrol (CHP) that a victim was trapped, additional resources were immediately requested. This brought in a third Arcata Fire station, Blue Lake Fire Department, Fieldbrook Volunteer Fire Department, and CalFire Trinidad, each contributing an engine to the scene.

The first Arcata engine arrived to find the vehicle on its side, pinned against a tree just south of the School Road off-ramp, with one person trapped inside. All three Arcata engines worked to stabilize the vehicle and meticulously cut it away from both the tree and the victim. Blue Lake Fire and CalFire personnel assisted significantly with the extrication.

The rescue proved to be highly technical, as the victim was severely pinned by the tree resting against the vehicle. After a challenging operation, the victim was successfully extricated and transported to the hospital by Arcata Mad River Ambulance.

Arcata Fire Department extends its sincere gratitude to its mutual aid partners: Blue Lake Fire Department, Fieldbrook Volunteer Fire Department, and CalFire, for their swift response and critical assistance in this complex incident.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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Cynde Soto, a quadriplegic who requires around-the-clock care, has been on Medi-Cal for most of her life. Recently, she came into a modest inheritance, about $8,000, that has helped cover her daily expenses. But it also means that she would lose her state health insurance under a proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom has proposed restoring a $2,000 limit on an individual’s assets — including savings accounts and property other than a home and a car — and $3,000 for couples to qualify for Medi-Cal. Anyone 65 and older or disabled who exceeds that limit would be ineligible. Newsom also is proposing a cap on how much home care Medi-Cal enrollees like Soto could receive.

In unveiling the proposal, Newsom said that California has a “spending problem” and needs to make “difficult choices” to address the state’s $12 billion deficit, which he attributed in part to growing Medi-Cal costs. His proposal would save the state $94 million this budget year and more than $500 million the next year, according to the governor’s budget document.

But health advocates say that it’s almost impossible for someone to live with just $2,000 in assets in California. Rent often exceeds that amount, and medical expenses not covered by insurance quickly add up.

Advocates say Newsom’s proposal unfairly targets people with disabilities and the elderly — those who are most likely to need full-time care and have fixed incomes.

“It’s draconian — $2,000 is no safety net for people,” said Kim Selfon, an attorney with Bet Tzedek, a legal services organization in Los Angeles.

For Soto, a Medi-Cal limit on assets would mean she would either lose the caretakers who help her bathe and eat or have to spend all of the money except for $2,000. With the inheritance, Soto said she can afford repairs to her Long Beach condo and buy medical supplies that Medi-Cal doesn’t cover, such as bandages or nutritional drinks to supplement her diet.

“It’s not cheap being disabled,” Soto said. “I’m really scared. I cannot live without my help.”

When asset limits were lifted, Medi-Cal enrollment surged

Some lawmakers and disability advocates have argued against the asset limit for years. They say it forces people into poverty and hasn’t kept up with rising inflation and cost of living.

Newsom agreed to raise the limit to $130,000 per person in 2022. Then in 2024, the limit was erased completely. Now Newsom wants to bring back the original limit of $2,000, an amount that was set in 1989.

This would reinstate complex rules about wealth and property that kept thousands of seniors and disabled people from qualifying for Medi-Cal. Under those rules, an individual’s first home and car are exempt, but other properties count toward the $2,000 limit. The balance of a 401k or retirement account are exempt, although payouts are considered income. Life insurance, cash on hand and savings accounts also count towards the limit. Even certain types of funeral plots count.

The test would apply only to people 65 and older as well as those with disabilities, which creates a financial cliff for those about to turn 65. Medicare, which many seniors use for health insurance, does not cover long-term care and requires some co-pays, so many people use Medi-Cal to supplement their Medicare benefits.

In a recent Assembly hearing, Newsom administration officials said when the limit was eliminated, far more people enrolled in Medi-Cal than anticipated, contributing to the state’s growing costs. Between 112,000 to 115,000 people enrolled compared to early estimates of just 40,000, said health care services director Michelle Baass.

Seniors make up a small portion of all Medi-Cal enrollees, but they’re about twice as expensive as the average enrollee because they use more medical care. The elimination of the asset test last year contributed to most of the senior enrollment growth and cost the state about $500 million more than expected, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Still, lawmakers during the hearing questioned the prudence of kicking seniors and people with disabilities off of the program and whether it would actually save money in the long run.

Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Democrat from Santa Clarita, said these groups would need more expensive care like nursing home stays or homeless services if the asset test were reinstated.

“This is going to lead to more homelessness of seniors and the disabled. That’s what’s going to happen, and that will cost our state money too,” Schiavo said.

Making it ‘more expensive to age in California‘

Al Sanderson, one of Selfon’s clients, says that’s exactly what would happen to him. The Redondo Beach resident broke his neck three years ago in a surfing accident that left him paralyzed.

Sanderson said his monthly rent costs more than the asset limit. He has significant savings as a former high school physical education teacher and baseball coach that he uses to pay for utilities, transportation and things that his kids need now that he no longer works.

If he got kicked off of Medi-Cal and lost his caretakers, Sanderson said he would lose his independence.

“How am I going to pay people to come help me? How am I supposed to survive and live? I’d have to go to a nursing home,” Sanderson said.

Without full-time home care, both Sanderson and Soto would most likely end up in nursing homes, a more expensive option that is covered by Medi-Cal. The state pays on average more than $114,000 per person each year for nursing home care, according to Justice in Aging, which pushed for the elimination of the asset test. In contrast, the average annual cost of in-home care is less than a quarter of that, $25,400 a year.

“How am I going to pay people to come help me? How am I supposed to survive and live? I’d have to go to a nursing home.”

AL SANDERSON, REDONDO BEACH RESIDENT

Kevin Prindiville, executive director of Justice in Aging, said Newsom’s proposal would “make it more expensive to age in California.”

California’s elimination of the asset test came under fire this month from congressional Republicans, who claimed that it allows the “wealthiest Californians” to get free health care. But lawyers with legal aid organizations that help people enroll in Medi-Cal say that’s not happening.

Regardless of their assets, Medi-Cal enrollees still need to meet income limits, which are currently 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $1,800 per month, said Linda Nguy, a lobbyist with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

“Our clients are not millionaires,” Nguy said. “We’re talking about people with very low incomes who aren’t able to access the health care services that they need.”

Ronald Dallatorre, 58, enrolled in Medi-Cal just two months ago. He had been looking forward to getting caretakers to help him at his Compton home so that his wife could take a break.

Dallatorre got sick with COVID-19 in April 2020. He spent four weeks on a ventilator and almost a year in a hospital. Now the former heavy duty mechanic has Guillan-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system, causing muscle weakness and numbness.

Dallatorre uses a wheelchair and can’t move his hands. His wife quit her job with L.A. Unified School District to take care of him full-time. The Dallatorres also own a second home that a close family friend lives in, rent-free. Under the proposed budget, Dallatorre would be ineligible for Medi-Cal because of this property.

“Our clients are not millionaires. We’re talking about people with very low incomes who aren’t able to access the health care services that they need.”

LINDA NGUY, WESTERN CENTER ON LAW AND POVERTY

If he is kicked off Medi-Cal because of the asset test, Dallatorre said his medical costs would still be covered through his wife’s insurance, but they can’t afford caretakers. His wife would have to continue as his full-time support.

“I worked 40 years of my life never receiving help, always paying taxes. I was glad to do it because I thought maybe when I need it, somebody will be able to help me,” Dallatorre said. “I didn’t know how stupid the system is.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.