When Ellen Sarlund gave up her first school to become Ellen Groves, the trustees of Mitchell School, just across Mad River from Blue Lake, began to look for a teacher to take her place. This was 1930 with the Depression not yet six months old. I had been applying for schools but had not thought about this isolated one. When the summer bridge to Blue Lake went out in the fall the only access to the school at West End was the gravelly road from Warren Creek.

Just prior to graduation from Humboldt State, I was informed that two school trustees were waiting to take me to the area to apply for the school at a meeting to be held that night. I was promptly excused from my afternoon practice teaching class.

The trustee who met me at the college door advised, “Don’t apply any lipstick or the trustee in the car will not vote for you. He believes schoolmarms should not be painted.”

The car was an old Model T Ford from the early 20s and the trustee in the car was a portly, aged Irishman. After leaving the Arcata area we chugged through the redwoods and along the pasture fences until we came to the home of the school clerk where I made formal application. The first trustee’s wife invited me to dinner and entertained me during the evening. I was duly accepted as teacher of the eight-grade school and then taken to my home in Samoa.

During the summer I checked out supplies in the school building and learned that I could expect students to be in grades ones, two and three, and six, seven and eight. There were adequate supplies but this school was without water and there was no means of lighting the classroom. In Samoa we burned our electric lights 24 hours a day and we had never seen a water shortage.

I soon learned that water was carried to school every day in a pail. The boys had this job and carried wood from the woodshed to the woodbox every day. We had a big dipper in the water bucket and each child brought a jelly glass to school from which to drink. A community basin served for washing hands.

Radios had been on the market for about four years, but no one in this area had one because there were no power lines. At night there was nothing to do but correct papers. All the families were in bed by 8 p.m. because they had to be up early to milk the cows before the creamery truck came. Dairying was the sole occupation. All the children knew how to milk cows.

I had never seen such a variety of spiders as the book closet contained. The building itself had three very narrow windows on each side of the classroom. All were covered with screens one-eighth inch thick to prevent breakage when the students were playing ball games.

School opened the first week of August with all 22 students appearing quite early to get a glimpse of the new teacher before school started. Five were first graders who seemed frightened. Their parents had informed them what could happen to them if they misbehaved. Later in the day, the older boys found a spider outdoors and placed it on my desk. I abhorred the creatures but in as calm a voice as I could muster suggested, “He doesn’t like it in here. He would rather stay outside.” Much disappointed at my reaction, they dutifully removed the creature to the outdoors.

The school district was a melting pot of European nationalities. Most of the parents had been born in Norway, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. The foreigners followed old country traditions for the most part. At school the children got along together very well unless for some reason the parents intervened.

Hearing a knock on the school door one day, I opened it to find one of the fathers. He offered me a horsewhip to use on his children. I refused it and told him I would never use a whip to punish children.

About the second week of school, children sitting along the west wall were scratching because of poison oak. Cracks in the wall permitted the vines to crawl along and unfold their beautiful leaves inside the building. I felt there was only one thing to do and that was to snip the stems and clear the wall which I did in short order. My skin was apparently immune to the oils.

A pot-bellied stove in the middle of the schoolroom burned cheerfully on cold days. In late afternoon on cloudy days, when the sun went down behind the hill, we could not see to read but I dared not close school until 4 p.m. On those days we had spelling bees or played games.

Being more than 12 miles from a barbershop during the winter was a hardship for these people. One mother sent her clippers to school telling her children they should have me cut their hair. I had done this for my family at home so I tackled the job and no one objected to the soup bowl look. Once in a while an adult came to the ranch where I lived with the trustee’s family asking me to cut hair. One of these adults was “Tiny” Abbott, who had been well-known in boxing circles. He received a terrible looking haircut but he did not complain. He was just glad to get rid of his long locks.

About once a year a so-called big goat from one of the ranches ambled down the road to the school. It was a male South American llama that had been brought into the country before the 1932 llama law was passed. In looking for a non-existent mate it smelled out his owners who were attending school. They were Tony and Mary Vierra, first and second graders. Everyone stayed inside until these tots could push the animal outside the gate and get it headed for home. Llamas are noted for their meanness at times and for their habit of spitting at their enemies.

Following my first year of school, I splurged and purchased a two-year-old Model A Ford which I used to commute to school.

At the end of this year I found real trouble. It was late April 1932. I arrived at school to find only a heap of ashes and a few rows of cement blocks. Undoubtedly an earthquake sometime before had cracked the chimney. Bystanders the night before reported the ceiling had fallen in and with no water on the premises they had no choice but to watch it burn. Nothing was saved.

With four weeks more of school before summer vacation the trustees hurriedly rented the only vacant farmhouse in the area. It had previously belonged to Milton (Tiny) Abbott and his wife, Ernestine, who had been involved in dairying for a time.

School supplies were hard to get this time of year but we managed. The Blue Lake School offered their double desks which had been used before and after the turn of the century. They had been stored in the basement. Two bedrooms became classrooms — one for the upper grades the other for the lower grades.

The county library had loaned nearly all their school books out but had a room of books from the late 1800s which they gladly shipped to us. With double desks and ancient books we had stepped back into history. Our improvised school, too, was without water and electricity. Added to this was no stove, thus no heat and only one outhouse which we shared. Nothing was important enough to interrupt school in those days. In making the transition, we missed only one school day.

We had all been looking forward to graduation day when we would have a picnic and graduation ceremonies on the river bar with all the families pre sent. Graduates this year, 1932, were Mary DeMello Brazil (now of Fortuna) and the late Walter Gray. That morning the Humboldt skies opened up for a last spring deluge.

With no let up by 11 a.m. the entire community moved into the adjoining cowbarn for games, lunch and graduation ceremonies. It was a day to remember.

Three girls had graduated the year before. All three now reside in Southern Humboldt. After 54 years, the three girls and I met as a group for the first time since 1931. They are Virginia Mell Costa of Loleta, Alva Townsend Hawkins of Ferndale, and Evelyn Kane Ingham of Pepperwood.

Following the burning of the school, Frank Kelly, county surveyor, drew plans for a new school. He had been a former resident of the area and owned a dairy ranch which he leased. With his help and adequate insurance, the new school was ready for occupancy by the last day of July. The building still stands as a private residence.

I taught two years in the old school and two years in the new school. While there I was married and the children put on a grand charivari beating their big pans and kettles with their large spoons. The older children had no trouble in transposing Miss Jones to Mrs. McCormick but the smaller children found this quite a mouthful with the result that I became Miss Cormick.

As was usual in those days, a husband’s duty was to support his wife. Unmarried young women had to fend for themselves, so after a couple of years of married life I was told that my place was at home, as I was keeping a single girl out of a job. During the Depression there were many teachers for every teaching job.

My replacement was Ruth Carroll, who later taught at Arcata High. This was her first school. Other teachers who had Mitchell as their first school were Leslie Stromberg and Ellen Groves.

During the war there was a teacher shortage and I went back into the profession in the Rolph School at Fairhaven, between the ocean and the bay on the North Peninsula, where I had a handful of students in the first six grades.

Connie Merise Pires (Voreis) was born March 31, 1955 to Irene and Billy G. Voreis at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego. Her father was in the Navy and was at sea when she was born. When she was three years old, she moved to Hawaii with her family. She spent four years in Hawaii and then moved to Empire, Oregon near Coos Bay. She was there for 3 1/2 years then moved back to Hawaii and back into the same home on the base she had been in before. She attended Barber Point Elementary School at Barber Point Naval Station. Her teachers always said she was a very helpful student.

When her father retired from the Navy, they moved to Fortuna, and that is where she met the love of her life, Robert Pires, at Fortuna High School. On July 7, 1974 she and Robert got married. They went on to have two beautiful children, Michael and Trisha Pires, and stayed married until September 23, 2017, when Robert lost his short fight with cancer.

Many people knew Connie from the many years she spent working at Ross Dress For Less, and before that at Joann Fabrics. Connie was a seamstress and could do anything from replacing a zipper to making a beautiful wedding dress. She would proudly tell you about the time she made Garth Brooks a country-western shirt, and went to his concert to deliver it.

Connie was such a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend. She enjoyed bowling with her husband in their younger years along with her son Michael. She loved cooking with her daughter and granddaughters, and would often say how we needed to try her new recipe. Connie could often be found on the sidelines at the football field, in the bleachers on the basketball court, or right behind the lanes of the bowling alley. She was such a proud grandmother and was always her grandchildren’s and children’s biggest supporter.

On June 6, 2024 Connie lost her seven-month battle with leukemia and went on to spend her next life with the love of her life.

Connie is survived by her mother, Irene Voreis; son, Michael Pires (Elena); her daughter, Trisha Pires; her grandchildren Michael Pires, Mikaylah Bengtson, Prince Latimer and Kharma Latimer; her sisters, Debra Voreis, Donna Voreis and Teresa Voreis; her brother Loren Voreis; and many other nieces, nephews, family members and bonus children she acquired over the years.

We will be having a family reunion style celebration of life at Rohnerville Park in Fortuna on October 6, 2024 at 12 p.m.

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Longtime Humboldt County fisherman Ron Sturm, who lived most his life in Fairhaven, passed away on August 13, 2024 in Eureka. Ron was a commerical fisherman and worked on many boats in the bay and up and down the West Coast. Ron was a crabber. Ron long-lined for black cod and dragged for bottom fish. Ron trolled for both salmon and tuna, and also fished for swordfish. Ron was a good addition on any deck and a great storyteller and a great friend. Ron was a US Marine veteran and was very talented. He knew how to sing and play his guitar.

He was preceded in death by his parents Sharril W. Sturm and Rosella Sturm and brothers Ross Sturm and Eddie Sturm, all from Fairhaven. Ron is survived by his daughters, Heather Sturm and Veronica Sturm; three sisters, Sharylin Roberts and husband Clarence and niece Eva Mills; sister Shelly Hernandez and her husband David; and Lori Genelly and husband Robert and nephew Ian; niece Amii Orton and nephew Andrew Benson; and numerous other nieces and nephews. Ron’s ashes will be spread by friends in the fishing grounds where he spent much of his life.

Rest in peace, brother.

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Katherine Longshore vividly remembers when Sharlya Gold, a children’s book author, visited her class at Bloomfield School in 1981. At the time, Longshore and her peers were making their own story books, stapled together and illustrated by hand. Gold, who was participating in the Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival, wrote a note in Longshore’s project: “I hope you enjoy writing your own books.”

“I still have the book,” Longshore said in a recent interview with the Outpost. “It really stuck with me – that this is something that people actually do. People actually write the books that are the stories that I love to read.” 

Longshore eventually published a young adult novel herself and returned to the festival as an author. She visited Arcata High and McKinleyville Middle, where Longshore led a small workshop with students who were interested in writing. 

“It was like the highlight of my career, to feel like it kind of came full circle,” Longshore said. Now, she is a member of the Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival committee and serves as its communications person, working to connect authors from around the nation to Humboldt’s youngest readers – even those in the most rural corners of the county. 

Every other year, the festival brings 25 authors from far and wide to as many Humboldt students as possible. Each author travels around the area to visit two or three schools, where they lead writing workshops, teach art classes, play music or simply talk about their book with the students. Afterwards, all 25 authors gather for a public book sale and signing celebration at the Humboldt County Main Library in Eureka. 

For the festival’s 50th anniversary this year, the writers will visit 59 schools in total, on Oct. 17 and 18, then convene at the Humboldt County Main Library in Eureka on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. See who’s who here, and where they are going here.

As it turns out, being a children’s book author is a darn cool job. Many full-time children’s authors spend half their time considering what it’s like to live as a child and the other half meeting actual children. Because writing children’s books isn’t usually a profitable job, some authors supplement their income via school visits. Those can cost a school hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on who the author is and where they are going. 

But the Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival is different. Something about it inspires authors to visit for free.

“Our festival is unique,” Longshore said. “As far as we know, there are no other children’s author festivals that operate this way in the entire country.”

There are a few things that make it special. 

“One of the things that I really like – I do a lot of speaking – and one thing that’s very different about speaking in Humboldt is that I get to speak to these tiny schools out in the middle of nowhere,” said Gennifer Choldenko, a veteran author of the festival who is returning this year.

The festival is also unusual because it is entirely volunteer-powered – from the organizers to the authors, no one gets paid – and it has survived a remarkably long time. [CORRECTION: The authors do get a small honorarium, funded by a grant from the Humboldt Area Foundation.]

“Places will try to do it, and it lasts maybe three years and then collapses,” said Wendelin Van Draanen, an author who is new to Humboldt’s festival this year but has been visiting schools for more than two decades. “So 50 years is extraordinary.” 

It’s a big undertaking. Planning the whole thing – from securing travel and lodging, to selecting the authors, to coordinating with schools – takes the full two years in between each festival, Longshore said. But the event has drummed up more and more popularity over the years, drawing donations, sponsorships and support from dozens of local businesses, nonprofits and community members. Though the authors aren’t paid for the school visits, their travel expenses and accommodations are covered. 

Over the years, the festival has brought no shortage of whimsy and joy to the county. Linda Lorvig, a coordinator who has been involved with the event for more than 30 years, recalled some of her favorite memories of the festival during a recent phone call. There was the time Bruce Hale, an author whose books sometimes concern insects, visited Kneeland School and the superintendent pranked him by setting out edible bugs for lunch with the students. 

“He grabbed all of the different bugs and put them on his plate, sat down and ate the bugs, and kept commenting: “crunch, crunch, ooh, these are just like popcorn!” Lorvig recalled. “The kids just sat there, I guess, in awe of an author that would do that.” Some kids ended up trying the bugs, too.

There are the legacy authors, like Robert D. San Souci, who used to write a thoughtful inscription in every book he signed. The line at his table was always long, Lorvig said, and San Souci often stayed to autograph books long after the event was over. He almost missed a plane because of it once. 

“He was a wonderful man. He loved coming here to see us,” Lorvig said of the author, who passed away in 2014. “He said we were his family up here.” 

Perhaps that’s why the festival has survived for half a century; it’s become a celebrated piece of Humboldt’s community, which knows how to show the authors a good time. (It is said that one author, Pamela Service, was so charmed by the area that she decided to move to Humboldt from the Midwest after visiting for the festival.) This year the authors will visit the Redwood Skywalk and stay at the Carter House Inn.

“We do have such a beautiful county and such a good community here that I think that that’s really appealing, even to somebody who might not normally consider doing school visits without some kind of recompense,” Longshore said.

Of course, the main purpose of the event is connecting authors with young readers, which is valuable to both.

“I’d never met an author when I was a kid. It would have made such a difference in my perception, I think,” said Van Draanen. 

Meeting an author “has a long-lasting impact that goes far beyond that day or that book or that year, even,” Van Draanen said. “It impacts kids in a way it’s almost hard to describe.” Van Draanen is best known for her 2001 chapter book “Flipped,” which has been translated into several languages and adapted into a film. But Van Draanen especially loves meeting fans of her 18-book Sammy Keyes series, which is about a witty 13-year-old who solves mysteries.

“There’s an immediate love that you feel for each other – like I’m the creator of this thing that impacted them so much, and they are somebody who has embraced it and has led it into their heart and their life,” Van Draanen said. “There’s no way you can really describe how that is. It’s awesome.”

The author visits – and children’s books in general – are also an opportunity for kids to learn and talk about current events and misunderstood topics.

Maureen McGarry, a local watercolorist and art teacher, will be a participating author for the first time this year. Her self-illustrated book “Louie Learns a Lesson” is about Aleutian Cackling Geese, which migrate from Alaska to Humboldt Bay each winter. They were once endangered but have since bounced back – both thanks, in part, to humans. 

“It is a conservation success story – that we actually can fix some of the messes we’ve made, and how important it is to focus on doing that,” McGarry said. 

“That feeling of empowerment is so important for, especially, young people to feel.”

Meanwhile, Choldenko plans to share her new book “The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman” with the middle school-age students she visits. One character in the book is in the foster care system. 

“It’s hard enough being a foster kid without kids thinking you’re weird, and so gaining some compassion in the audience [is a goal],” Choldenko said. “I think there’s not a lot of understanding about what it is like.” 

At the end of the day, though, what matters to Choldenko is telling a good story. 

“I want to create characters that the kids really respond to, that they see parts of themselves in, or see kids that they know in,” she said. “My first job is to make kids love reading.”

All are invited to the book signing celebration on Oct. 19 at the Humboldt County Main Library in Eureka. Throughout the month of October there will also be a display about the history of the festival at that library, and the Morris Graves Museum will open a poster display from festivals past. 

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Technically, weed and hemp are the same species: Cannabis sativa. But there used to be a working distinction between the two: Ingesting cannabis/marijuana/the dank herb gets you high, while hemp is a sturdy fiber best used to make paper, rope and certain food products.

However, under California’s legalized cannabis marketplace, where weed is strictly regulated but hemp is not, unsavory entrepreneurs have taken advantage of that loophole by genetically juicing the levels of certain intoxicating chemical compounds in the more loosely regulated hemp, allowing them to sidestep a lot of red tape and sell their high-inducing hemp products at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops.  

The state has been looking at various ways to close this loophole, though local officials have been concerned about unintended consequences. Last month, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors issued a letter of opposition to proposed legislation, AB 2223, unless and until it was amended to prevent “hemp” (which can be grown anywhere in the U.S. and shipped across state lines) from competing with Humboldt-grown cannabis in the legal marketplace. 

That controversial bill remains stuck in the state Assembly for now, but today California Governor Gavin Newsom took matters into his own hands, issuing proposed emergency regulations that would nip these quasi-legal hemp sales in the bud. (Pun sort of intended, with apologies.)

Humboldt County officials are stoked. Below is a county press release, which is followed by a release from Newsom’s office.

Governor Gavin Newsom today issued proposed emergency regulations to protect youth from the adverse health effects of dangerous hemp products. The products contain intoxicating levels of THC and do not go through the highly regulated cannabis environment, and are sold across the state, especially beverages and food products. Humboldt County officials today supported these regulations and look forward to working with the legislature, stakeholders and the Governor on a more permanent solution.

Rex Bohn, Humboldt County First District Supervisor: “Hemp was never meant to intoxicate. That is why the state went through years and years of hard work, thousands of hours and meetings with every agency and stakeholder under the sun to develop a thorough program to regulate the intoxicating nature of THC through cannabis. Allowing companies to bring in intoxicating hemp products across state lines, and potentially internationally, flies in the face of everything we have done in Humboldt and throughout California to get this right. The emergency regulations announced today are a good first step towards a more comprehensive solution.”

Michelle Bushnell, Humboldt County Second District Supervisor: “I appreciate the Governor taking action today to stop the madness. Our cannabis cultivators and everybody involved in the supply chain have to satisfy so many regulations, to protect the public health, environmental impacts, and they do it at incredibly significant costs. Humboldt County has worked very hard for years to make sure THC and cannabis is brought to market in a way that is acceptable to the people of Humboldt and California. We cannot allow hemp to simply skirt the rules for financial gain.”

Sofia Pereira, Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services Public Health Director: “Humboldt County Public Health stands with the Governor in protecting youth from intoxicating hemp products.”

Ross Gordon, Humboldt County Growers Alliance Policy Director, Origins Council Policy Chair: “From seed to sale, the lack of parity in regulation between hemp and cannabis has become completely untenable. While only the federal legalization of cannabis can truly solve these problems, we applaud the Governor for taking a meaningful step forward to close intoxicating hemp loopholes and move towards a more rational cannabis policy.”

While the regulations take effect upon approval of the Office of Administrative Law, the state legislature would need to develop law to deal with this issue long-term.

To that end, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 13 issued a letter opposing unless amended a bill that would have created a parity issue for state-licensed cannabis farmers by allowing incorporation of high-THC hemp products and cannabinoids into the licensed supply chain. The letter states “The sales of high-THC hemp products at licensed cannabis dispensaries sourced from anywhere in the U.S. when significant regulatory discrepancies exist between hemp and cannabis cultivation places thousands of small California businesses (cannabis farmers) and particularly those in Humboldt County at a competitive advantage.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors recognizes the need to address hemp, but this must be accomplished in a manner that respects the regulatory system put in place for cannabis cultivation.”

###

Gov. Newsom offered this quote: 

We will not sit on our hands as drug peddlers target our children with dangerous and unregulated hemp products containing THC at our retail stores. We’re taking action  to close loopholes and increase enforcement to prevent children from accessing these dangerous hemp and cannabis products.

And his office issued the following release?

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today issued proposed emergency regulations to protect youth from the adverse health effects of dangerous hemp products. The regulations, proposed by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), strengthen California’s ability to stop the peddling of intoxicating hemp products to California’s children. The new regulations require that industrial hemp food, beverage, and dietary products intended for human consumption have no detectable THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids per serving, create a minimum age to purchase hemp products to 21, and limit the number of servings of hemp products to five per package.

The emergency regulations respond to increasing health incidents related to intoxicating hemp products, which state regulators have found sold across the state, especially beverages and food products. Children are particularly at risk should they consume these products. Studies show that use of these products can negatively impact cognitive functions, memory, and decision-making abilities in developing brains.

“Intoxicating industrial hemp products can cause illness and injury to California consumers,” said Tomás Aragón, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer. “We are working to ensure products in the marketplace comply with state laws that protect consumers against these public health risks and have proposed emergency regulations that will improve protections for consumers.”

California became the first state to allow medicinal cannabis use when voters passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, and then in 2016, voters legalized the recreational use of cannabis. California’s cannabis industry is strictly regulated to ensure that businesses operate safely, products are labeled and tested to be free of contaminants, and that children are prevented from accessing cannabis products. However, without stronger laws and regulations, hemp manufacturers can skirt the law to produce and market hemp products that contain THC. 

The new regulations ban any detectable quantity of THC from consumable hemp products such as beverages, food, and dietary products to protect youth and mitigate the risk of adverse health effects. 

The emergency regulations will also bring the sale of hemp products more in line with restrictions currently seen in the California legal cannabis market by limiting serving and package size and establishing a minimum age of 21 to legally purchase industrial hemp food, beverage and dietary products.

“The Department of Cannabis Control welcomes these regulatory reforms,” said Nicole Elliott, Director of the Department of Cannabis Control. “These rules are a critical step in ensuring the products in the marketplace align with the law’s original intent, and we are committed to working with our state partners to enforce state law.”

These regulations will take effect immediately upon approval by the Office of Administrative Law. Sellers must begin to implement purchase restrictions and remove consumable hemp products containing any levels of detectable THC from shelves. State regulators, including the Department of Public Health, the Department of Cannabis Control, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), and state and local law enforcement officials, will begin immediate enforcement action. 

“The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will enforce all California laws and regulations impacting ABC licensed locations,” said Joseph McCullough, Director of ABC. “ABC will be contacting licensees and stakeholder groups to make them aware of the new regulations so they can ensure they are in compliance once the regulations go into effect.”

“Our cannabis and tobacco inspectors are out in the field every day so that consumers can know that the items on store shelves are legal in California, properly tested, labeled, and taxed,” said Nick Maduros, Director of CDTFA. “We will continue working with our colleagues at the state and local levels to educate retailers and enforce California law.”

The draft regulations can be found here.

Lissie Rydz found a note.

She’d been getting a lot of them on her doorstep since she and her roommates had set up a free pile full of books, clothes, and even spare change out in front of her Arcata house in July — thank you notes, promises to drop off items later, compliments — but this one was negative.

“Please stop putting your free stuff on the sidewalk,” it read. “Put it in your own yard. It attracts trash, makes a mess, and is not o.k. per city of Arcata code. Thank you.”

Rydz was hurt and a little surprised. The free pile, organized on a hand-painted yellow bookshelf, wasn’t what she would call a trash heap. She also didn’t think the shelf’s location on a part of the sidewalk that jutted into the street was a cause for concern either.

“It really hurt,” Rydz said. “I look at it as an altar. I tidy it up every day. I felt watched.”

Rydz has received many thank-you notes from grateful free pile users …

There’s a longstanding tradition in Arcata of people putting out their unwanted items out in front of their homes, free for the taking. But recently a backlash has started to crop up.

Signs taped to fences and posts on the local social media service Nextdoor rage against the piles. Anti-free pilers cite Arcata municipal code section 5481, which says that building occupants are responsible for removing rubbish that blocks sidewalks or could be bad for property or people.

Many piles aren’t as well-taken care of as Rydz’s. Some are full of waste such as old particle board. Some have been uncurated for too long, exposed to the elements and rotting. One along 27th Street frequently blocks a fire hydrant.

“For some reason, these piles are proliferating these days,” reads one Nextdoor post from an account named “Paula Proctor.” “They make our city look trashy by inviting more junk piles … please be more responsible citizens and have some pride in where we live.”

Proctor declined a request for an interview.

Morguine Sefcik, the environmental programs manager for Arcata’s government, said there has been a noticeable uptick in the amount of complaints they’ve been getting about the free piles since late August.

When the stuff is left on private property and is in good shape, Sefcik said the city likely has no problems with it.

“It’s like a garage sale,” Sefcik said. “Somebody’s managing that garage sale, and when they’re done, they’re going to figure out the next step for their things and manage it. And with free piles, if there was somebody with stuff on their own private property — not on city property — and they were managing this, and it wasn’t getting wet, damp, dispersed, thrown around, trashed, then it could be something that could be okay.”

If items are rotting and piling up, becoming what she called a “garbage issue,” they’ll usually respond with letters and share information about places to donate. If the items are left on public property, it has to be thrown away. All electronic waste, such as cell phones or televisions, has to go all the way to the Eel River Transfer Station in Fortuna. The city doesn’t get a special rate to throw garbage away — all waste disposal is charged at market rate.

Leaving items outside for long amounts of time can also harm the environment. Damp weather breaks things down, turning usable items into trash and microplastics; rain washes it into creeks and into Humboldt Bay.

“It’s also very unsightly,” Sefcik said. “It makes people feel pretty bad to see trash. And if any of these items are blocking streets or sidewalks, it just really affects people’s ability to move around and access their community.”

Arcata’s government prefers that instead of creating free piles, people with things they don’t want any more would donate them to a thrift store or recycle them. Recology customers in single-family homes can get two free bulky item pick-ups a year. The city has started putting out flyers and leaving brochures in areas where the piles often crop up.

Rydz doesn’t see donation as a cure-all. She helps run her free pile specifically to give things away so people don’t have to pay for them. Making people buy the same things they could have picked up for free from the side of the road runs contrary to that mission.

“Things cost money again if they’re donated,” Rydz said. “People say, ‘Oh, just go donate it!’ And then some people can’t afford it.”

Rydz does think there is room for reconciliation between free pile lovers and the haters.

“I hope that people come from a place of curiosity instead of just saying, ‘Oh, why is this stuff appearing?’” Rydz said. “Knock on my door. We can compromise.”

Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services press release: 

Environmental health officials are reminding community residents to be on the lookout for harmful algal blooms after two dogs died a short time after swimming in a small pool off the Eel River near Fernbridge on Thursday, Sept. 5. 

Warm water and abundant nutrients can cause cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae, to grow more rapidly than usual causing “blooms.” These blooms are termed “harmful algal blooms,” or HABs, and can produce toxins and taste and odors that cause health risks to humans and animals. 

Freshwater HABs can appear as dark green, blue-green, black, orange or brown water or can occur as mats and sometimes create scum or foam on the riverbed or on the water. However, toxins produced by HABs may be present without visual indicators. 

Typically, cyanobacteria warnings come out between late July and early August, coinciding with low flows and sustained high temperatures in the inland areas which may contribute to cyanobacteria growth in local rivers and lagoons.

Since 2001, there have been 12 documented dog deaths locally where the dogs died shortly after swimming in Big Lagoon, the South Fork Eel River or the Van Duzen River. In each instance, water samples confirmed the presence of cyanobacteria in the water. Additionally, in July 2021, the confirmed presence of cyanobacteria in the Trinity River east of Willow Creek is believed to have contributed to a dog’s death that had occurred weeks before. 

Most algal blooms in California contain harmless green algae, however, it is difficult to test and monitor the many miles of local rivers with conditions that readily change. To stay safe, it is best to assume that all algal blooms have the potential to contain toxins.

Officials recommend the following guidelines for recreational users of freshwater areas:

• Keep children, pets and livestock from swimming in or drinking water containing algal scums or mats—especially those occurring in slow or stagnant water.

• Rinse your dog with clean water after swimming as toxins may still be present on their fur.

• Adults should also avoid wading and swimming in water containing algal blooms. Try not to swallow or inhale water spray in an algal bloom area.

• If no algal scums or mats are visible, you should still carefully watch young children, warn them not to swallow any water and bathe with clean water after swimming.

• Fish should be consumed only after removing the guts and liver and rinsing fillets in tap water.

• Never drink, cook with or wash dishes with water from rivers, streams or lakes.

• Get medical attention immediately if you think that you, your pet or livestock might have been poisoned by cyanobacteria toxins. Be sure to tell the doctor or veterinarian about possible contact with cyanobacteria or algal blooms.

• Join or support one of the many watershed and river organizations. 

To learn more about cyanobacteria and harmful algal blooms, visit the state of California’s website at www.mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/index.html.

To report a bloom, e-mail CyanoHAB.Reports@waterboards.ca.gov or call 844-729-6466 (toll free). Blooms can also be reported via the “bloomWatch” app which is available for free download on iTunes or Google play.

For information on conditions in Humboldt County, contact the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services Division of Environmental Health at 707-445-6215 or 800-963-9241. Photos of suspected blooms can also be emailed to envhealth@co.humboldt.ca.us.

Example of a potentially toxic bloom of cyanobacteria. (Photo by Rich Fadness and Keith Bouma-Gregson, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board [NCRWQCB])

Anabaena, a toxin-producing cyanobacteria, in and around dying green algae. (Photo by Rich Fadness, NCRWQCB)