Pat died on December 20, 2024, after a long bout with heart, kidney, and diabetes problems.

She was born on April 1, 1944, in Camden, New Jersey. Her parents were Florence Martha Robinson (nee Tufnell) and Samuel Robinson. Pat attended grade school in Camden, New Jersey, before moving to California with her parents after high school.

In California, she attended and graduated from Long Beach State with a degree in Russian history and education. In addition, she took several graduate classes. During her time at Long Beach State, she met her future husband, Ron, and they finally got together and married in 1984 after literally chasing each other around the world for 20 years. After graduation, she taught in the Rossmoor School system before later taking a position for nine years with the Department of Defense overseas school system. She taught first in the Philippines for a year, then in Germany for a year, followed by a year in Turkey. Then, to change things, she taught in the inner city schools in Washington D.C. for a year before going to Spain to teach for four years. She returned from Spain to care for her mother until she died in Southern California, after which she taught as a resource teacher in the Long Beach School District.

In 1984, she married Dr. Ronald Chaney and moved to Arcata, where he was a professor at Humboldt State University.

Never to stay quiet for long, she joined the Westhaven Women’s Club and eventually became its president. During this time, she also taught at Morris Elementary School in McKinleyville as a resource teacher while being a member of six different garden clubs. For several years, she was a co-presenter on a KINS cooking show.

Over her life, she traveled to 69 other countries. With her husband, she made four academic trips to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and one to Tibet as guests of their governments. In 1989, she was in Shanghai during the Tiananmen Square protest in the PRC. In addition, together, they made many return trips to Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Pat was an avid gardener, book reader, gourmet cook, party giver, and bridge player. She loved her dogs, Gretchen and Lucky Ducky. In her spare time, she also arranged flowers for the Eureka Symphony. Her last bridge game was held the day before she died unexpectedly. Pat is survived by her sister, Arlene Kemeny, and her husband, Jack; her niece, Lisa Fody; her husband, Ed Fody; their daughter, Samantha; and son Chris. She is also survived by her husband, Ron Chaney, of 40 years old. She will be terribly missed. You left us too soon. A memorial service will be held at Paul’s Chapel on January 18, 2025, at 1 p.m.

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

Gary Arthur Cook
May 6, 1935 - December 11, 2024

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our father/daddy Gary. He passed away on December 11th in the care of Granada Rehabilitation & Wellness Center in Eureka.

Our father was born on May 6, 1935 at the Scotia Hospital to Arthur and Frances (Still) Cook. He was an only child and adored by his parents.

He was a company man with the Pacific Lumber Company, first in the mill then into the main office, where he eventually worked as the personnel director. He was an integral part of the annual PL Christmas Party for the children of all employees. We could hardly wait to pick out our gift and receive our jar of candy — one of the special contributions that our company-owned town (Scotia) provided for our families throughout the years.

Our father enjoyed family time at his parents home in Miranda when we were growing up. The car doors would open and the 4 of us kids would just run to play: rope swings, hammocks, shop, feed the chipmunks, pick huckleberries, hike to have an ice cold cup of spring water in the creek and we will never forget meals on the outdoor patio.

We would also go as a family to watch my brother Jon race motocross. Always an adventure for us, great family time and memories.

Dad was a lifelong 49er and Giants fan. We had the honor of taking him to many games. He and mom would love to ride the ferry to San Francisco to watch the Giants. Dad enjoyed golfing. He was a member at Redwood Empire Golf and Country Club in Fortuna.

After retirement dad would enjoy having coffee with his friends, including Angelo Bettiga, one of his dear friends from our days in Scotia growing up.

He attended Scotia Elementary School, Fortuna High School and San Jose State. Our father worked in his early years at Pacific Bell Phone Company and finished his career with The Pacific Lumber Company for over 30 years.

Our father was married to our mom Marie for almost 67 years, he was preceded in death by our mom who passed away on February 26, 2023. They were married at the Scotia Catholic Church on November 24, 1957. They moved to San Jose where they had their children and met their lifelong friends and Ohana — the Carvalho and Rodrigues Family. Our parents cherished all of their friendships very much and treated them as family.

Thank you to the following for the compassion they showed to our father. Granada Rehabilitation & Wellness and St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Gary was preceded in death by his adoring parents Art and Frances Cook, his father and mother in law Albert and Emma Abare. His loving dog Missy and lifetime friend Fred Depucci. He leaves behind his daughter Maryanne (Harry), sons Jon (Kim), Mike and Tom (Lisa). Four grandchildren: Kristy (Adam), Lexy, Nathanael, Austin. Great-grandson Beau.

In lieu of flowers you can donate to the Humane Society for our father’s love of dogs.

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

Press release from Humboldt Bay Fire:

At approximately 3:30 am on Friday January 3rd, Humboldt Bay Fire (HBF) was dispatched to a reported structure fire at the 1000 block of 4th Street with reported victims trapped. HBF responded with a first alarm assignment consisting of two fire engines, one ladder truck, and a Battalion Chief.

The Battalion Chief arrived on scene first and reported smoke visible from the building, and requested more assistance from neighboring Fire Departments, activating a second and third alarm. Truck 8181 arrived on scene, entered the burning building and rescued two critical burn victims that were both treated by HBF paramedics at the scene then transported to St. Joseph Hospital via City Ambulance. E8115 and E8112 arrived on scene and assisted with fire attack. The rest of the structure was confirmed to have no other trapped victims. Fire control was achieved in approximately 20 minutes. PG&E responded and secured all utilities to the structure.

The pre-fire value of the structure was approximately $565,000 with estimated fire loss totaling $50,000. During the initial removal of the victims, 3 of our fire personnel sustained minor burn injuries. One was treated at scene by HBF paramedics and two were later treated at St. Joseph. Additionally, 4 other civilian burn victims, who were not at scene upon our arrival, arrived at St. Josephs Hospital with burn injuries from this incident.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation with the assistance from EPD due to suspicious circumstances. This is an active and ongoing investigation and anyone with information is asked to call EPD’s Criminal Investigation Unit at 707-441-4300.

Humboldt Bay Fire would like to thank our mutual aid partners from City Ambulance, Arcata Fire, Samoa Fire, Fortuna Fire along with the Eureka Police Department and PG&E who all assisted directly with the incident or provided coverage for the rest of the emergency calls in our area while the fire was being mitigated.

Humboldt Bay Fire would like to remind everyone that if you see smoke immediately call 9-1-1. Prompt activation of the 9-1-1 system will ensure quick response for emergency services.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, the world suddenly lost a beloved 100-year-old ex-President of the United States.

How do we, as a nation, deal with an event of this magnitude? Perhaps we bravely muddle through with our lives for a couple of weeks, until such time as we can set aside a full day to contemplate the man and his deeds, and in doing so shed some of the trauma we have been carrying deep inside ourselves since we got that terrible news.

On Tuesday, the Humboldt Board of Supervisors will consider giving county employees an extra paid holiday to do just that. President Joe Biden has declared Thursday, Jan. 9, a national day of mourning for his predecessor — a fellow one-term president representing the Democratic Party — and Board Chair Michelle Bushnell has brought forward a proposal to make that day a paid day off for county employees.

“President Carter was the thirty-ninth President serving the United States from Jan. 20, 1977 to Jan. 20, 1981,” notes the staff report on Bushnell’s proposal. (Minor correction: Actually, Carter was the first and only person to serve as president of the United States during this time.)

The staff report continues:

President Carter is remembered as a man of character and compassion. He was a heroic champion of global peace and human rights. Under his presidency, the Department of Education and the Department of Energy were created. Carter is also remembered for his critical work on nuclear nonproliferation with the signing of the Panama Canal treaties and the 1978 Camp David Accords. After his presidency, he continued as a global leader who advocated for peace and fundamental human rights for all.

Did you know that the Panama Canal Treaties and the Camp David Accords did so much to advance the cause of nuclear non-proliferation? Yet another reason to mourn.

Assuming the Board of Supervisors does the humane thing and gives the county’s approximately 2,500 public employees a paid holiday to recover from the shock of Carter’s passing, how might they most productively spend that time, so as to get back to providing taxpayer-funded services with whole hearts and maximum efficiency?

In his proclamation, President Biden has a suggestion:

I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.

This will undoubtedly happen. So don’t expect to find a parking spot at church on Thursday.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, in the Supervisors’ Chambers on the first floor of the Humboldt County Courthouse (825 Fifth Street, Eureka).

Press release from the Humboldt County Superior Court:

April Van Dyke | Image via campaign website.

April A. Van Dyke was elected to the position of Superior Court Judge, County of Humboldt, in March 2024. She will be sworn in on January 3, 2025, and will begin her judicial duties in a family law assignment.

Ms. Van Dyke has worked in public defense for 14 years. After graduating from McGeorge School of Law, she devoted her career to advocating for those who could not afford an attorney. She acquired extensive trial and litigation experience throughout her career, some of which was spent as a public defender in San Joaquin County. In 2019, she moved to Humboldt County where she continued her dedication to public service as Deputy Conflict Counsel, prior to becoming a solo practitioner.

During her years of devotion to public service, Ms. Van Dyke worked on the California Public Defenders Association Legislative Committee for over two years. She also drafted SB923 which was codified in Penal Code §859.7.

Presiding Judge Kelly L. Neel stated that, “The Court is pleased to welcome Ms. April Van Dyke to the Humboldt County Superior Court bench. We look forward to continuing our commitments to our community and have every confidence that Judge-Elect April Van Dyke shares our dedication to the same.”

“I am deeply honored and incredibly grateful to Humboldt County for granting me the opportunity to serve as a Superior Court Judge. This is a responsibility I take on with great humility and a steadfast commitment to upholding the integrity that this position demands and deserves,” stated Ms. Van Dyke.

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Humboldt winter is in full effect! This onslaught of rain has flooded and closed numerous roads across the county, prompting Eureka’s National Weather Service (NWS) office to issue a flood advisory for folks living along the coast and other flood-prone areas of Humboldt County. 

“Showers and possibly thunderstorms are expected to move through much of the area this afternoon,” according to the NWS. “Small hail, gusty winds and locally heavy rainfall are expected with the stronger storms.”

Flooding has closed State Route 254 (Avenue of the Giants) between Holmes Flat and Barkdull roads, near Pepperwood. There is no estimated time of reopening, according to Caltrans District 1. Check out the Caltrans Quickmap for current road conditions.

Several county-maintained roads have been closed in response to the deluge. The Humboldt County Department of Public Works provided the following list of flooded roads:

• Old Arcata Road between Graham Road and Jacoby Creek Road
• Berta Road
• Mitchell Road at Browns Road
• Freshwater Road at Howard Heights Road
• Freshwater Road at 1/2 mile west of Howard Heights Road
• Howard Heights Road
• Pine Hill Road between Elk River and Meyers Avenue
• Little Hookton between Tompkins Hill Road and Highway 101
• Walnut Drive at Redwood Street (one lane flooded)

The following roads are closed:

• Mad River Road at Tyee City
• Chemise Mountain Road
• Coffee Creek Road
• Eel River Road at Hookton Road
• Telegraph Road at the water treatment plant
• Jack Shaw Road Bridge

Folks living on Titlow Hill can expect two inches of new snow today. The road is open to the towers but all vehicles should carry chains, according to Public Works.

More information on county road conditions can be found at this link.

California lawmakers are proposing steps to protect K-12 students and families from mass deportations — although the real value of those proposals may be symbolic.

A pair of bills in the Legislature — AB 49 and SB 48 — would keep federal agents from detaining undocumented students or their families on or near school property without a warrant. The bills are a response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to deport undocumented immigrants, a move which could have major consequences for schools in California, which funds its schools based on attendance and where 12% of students have at least one undocumented parent.

Both bills would make it harder and more time-consuming for agents to enter schools or day care centers. But they can only delay, not stop, arrests.

“In no way can these bills override federal law,” said Kevin Johnson, a law professor at UC Davis. “But the bills respond to a great concern in the community that it’s not safe to take your children to school. … I can’t emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.”

AB 49, proposed by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, would require immigration agents to obtain written permission from the superintendent before coming onto school property. It also bars agents from being in rooms where children are present. SB 48, introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Long Beach, would prohibit local police from cooperating with federal agents — such as assisting in arrests or providing information about families’ immigration status — within one mile of a school. It also bars schools from sharing student and family information with federal authorities.

School districts have also doubled down on their efforts to protect students and families. Los Angeles Unified has partnered with legal aid organizations to assist families and instructed schools not to ask students about their immigration status. San Francisco Unified has similar policies.

“(San Francisco Unified) is a safe haven for all students regardless of citizenship status,” Superintendent Maria Su wrote to the community after the November election. “SFUSD restates our position that all students have the right to attend school regardless of their immigration status or that of their family members.”

Schools as safe havens

Schools have long been safe havens for immigrant students. Under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, public schools must enroll all students regardless of their immigration status and can’t charge tuition to students who aren’t legal residents. And since 2011, federal guidelines discourage agents from making immigration arrests at schools, hospitals, churches, courthouses and other “sensitive locations.”

But Trump said he plans to eliminate the “sensitive locations” guidelines, and the conservative Heritage Foundation, which published the right-leaning Project 2025 manifesto, is encouraging states to charge tuition to undocumented K-12 students. That could set up the possible overturn of the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing access to school for undocumented students. The foundation’s rationale is that government agencies such as schools are already overburdened and need to prioritize services for U.S. citizens.

“The (Biden) administration’s new version of America is nothing more than an open-border welfare state,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, wrote. “No country can sustain or survive such a vision.”

Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, said he was inspired to author AB 49 just after the election, when he listened to the concerns of immigrant students in the political science class he teaches at El Camino Community College in Torrance.

“It became clear there was more and more fear among my students, not only for themselves but for their families. The fear of families being torn apart is very real,” Muratuschi said. “We want to send a strong message to our immigrant students that we’re going to do everything we can to protect them.”

‘Too scared to speak up’

For most undocumented families, deportation would mean a plunging into poverty and in many cases, violence. Nahomi, a high school senior in Fresno County whom CalMatters is identifying by her middle name because of her immigration status, described the threat of deportation as “a major worry for my family and I. Our lives could change completely in a blink of an eye.”

“I can’t emphasize enough how important this is, how vulnerable undocumented immigrants feel right now.”
— Kevin Johnson, law professor at UC Davis

Nahomi and her parents arrived in California in 2011 from the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa, Mexico, an area plagued by widespread violence. They initially planned to stay until Sinaloa became safer, but once they settled in the Central Valley they decided the risks of returning outweighed the risk of deportation, so they stayed. Nahomi’s father works in construction and her mother is a homemaker, raising Nahomi and her younger sister.

While she and her family fear deportation, Nahomi is not afraid to attend school. She said schools can help families know their rights and help children feel safe.

“I feel very welcomed and safe there,” she said. “It is a very diverse high school and I just feel like any other student. … (But) a lot of these families are probably too scared to speak up about doubts they might have.”

Politically unpopular?

Patricia Gándara, an education professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, said the risk of federal agents arresting students at schools is probably small. It’s unclear how many children in K-12 schools are undocumented, but it’s probably a relatively small number, she said. In any case, immigration enforcement that affects children almost always sparks public outcry from both parties, she said.

“Some people might say they’re anti-immigrant, but it’s another thing entirely when the family up the street, whom they’ve known for 20 years, suddenly gets deported, or your kid’s best friend gets deported,” said Gandara, who’s studied the topic extensively. “It’s politically very unpopular.”

Still, the proposed bills could send a powerful message that schools are safe places, she said. Immigration crackdowns can have a significant impact on student attendance, a Stanford study found, which can lead to less funding for schools, particularly low-income schools that enroll large numbers of immigrant children.

Immigration crackdowns can also lead to an increase in bullying, anxiety and general uncertainty on campus, not just for immigrant children but for everyone, Gándara said. Teachers, in particular, experience high levels of stress when their students’ safety is endangered, she said.

Schools can’t rely solely on state laws to protect immigrant families, though. They should partner with local nonprofits to provide legal services and other support to families who need assistance.

“Schools are one of the last places immigrant families feel safe,” Gandara said. “But as soon as (federal agents) move into schools, they’re not so safe any more. These bills say, ‘We’re not going to sit back and let this happen. Not all of government is against you.”

California ‘one of the best places to be’

Both bills are awaiting hearings in the Legislature. Tammy Lin, supervising attorney with the University of San Diego Immigration Clinic, expects California to continue to take steps to protect undocumented families, but political conflicts will be inevitable.

The incoming Trump administration is likely to battle California and other left-leaning states over immigration matters. Even within California, conflicts are likely to erupt between state leaders and those in more conservative regions, or even between agencies in the same area. In San Diego County, for example, the Board of Supervisors ordered the sheriff’s office to not notify federal immigration officers when it releases suspected undocumented inmates from jail, but the sheriff refused to comply.

Lin also said she wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing education to undocumented children, potentially paving the way for other immigrants’ rights to be reversed.

“It’s a slippery slope,” Lin said. “Immigrants know this, which is why there’s immense fear and uncertainty right now. But bills like these show that California is still one of the best places you can be.”

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Suriyah Jones, a member of the CalMatters Youth Journalism Initiative, contributed to this story.

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