Karin Elke Stogner
May 5, 1959 - May 18, 2024

Karin Elke Stogner passed away on May 18th, 2024, shortly after her 65th birthday. Born on May 5, 1959 to Georg and Waltraud Knaupp in Bad Nauheim, Germany, Karin spent her childhood and teenage years growing up working for her family’s roofing company, and held various professions throughout her 20s, such as a lifeguard and teacher.

In the late 1970s, she met Glenn “Teddy” Stogner, a member of the US Army stationed in Germany, and the two eventually fell in love and were married. After years of moving back and forth between the US and Germany, they settled in her husband’s hometown in North Carolina, where Karin struggled to adapt to a country where she did not speak the language well. During this period, Karin had four children, one of whom tragically passed away in 1988. Over time, they decided to leave North Carolina, and after trial and error, settled permanently in Eureka in 1990. During these early years of her life in the states, Karin worked as a social worker and as a food bank truck driver.

Upon arriving in Eureka, Karin and her husband spearheaded improvements in the “Housing Authority” apartment buildings, being responsible for initiatives such as a park being built for the residents in front of Waremart (now WinCo), putting up fences to protect residents’ privacy, making minor apartment upgrades, and personally delivering bread and food to residents who could not make it to the food bank themselves.

After losing the love of her life to a heart attack in 2003, Karin followed her passion and attended the North Coast Bible Institute to earn her pastoral certification and become a minister and pastor. During this time and after graduation, she co-led a program that helped women who were victims of domestic violence get back on their feet, as well as those in jail looking to better themselves. She also assisted with GriefShare at Faith Center Foursquare Church, a place where people who lost loved ones could get support. Most people came to know her as the Gentle German Giant, as she towered over many people at 6‘2” and had an infectious personality you couldn’t resist chatting with.

When the programs ended in the early 2010s, Karin became more focused on being a mother and grandmother, and spent most of her days relaxing at home, watching true crime shows, and playing her Facebook games.

Karin was preceded in death by her father, Georg; her husband, Glenn; and her son, Christopher. She is survived by her daughters, Kimberly and Stephanie; her son, Timothy; grandchildren, Jayden, Anabella, and Xavière; and chosen family, Jolene Rowen and Ethan Thompson. She was also survived by family in Germany, including her sister Astrid; her brother, Jörg; her estranged mother and brother, Waltraud and Hans-Gerd; and several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life is not planned, but for any questions, feel free to contact her son Tim at Tim.G.Stogner@gmail.com. Karin’s life passion was helping the homeless and women who were victims of domestic violence, so to help carry on her memory, consider donating to organizations such as the Eureka Rescue Mission or Humboldt Domestic Violence Shelter.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Karin Stogner’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Frances Jenett Lowe passed away on May 31, 2024, peacefully in her sleep at the age of 89; only 18 days away from her 90th birthday. She was born to Albert and Cora Gee in De Queen, Arkansas on June 18, 1934. Frances was only 16 years old when her husband Jim first laid eyes on her. Never did he look at any others after that, and were they married on July 9, 1951, in Vancouver, Washington. They settled in Blue Lake, where they raised three wonderful children, two sons and one daughter. They were blessed to build their dream home in Arcata where they tenderly cared for their five grandchildren. They were happily married for 51 years. When she lost her husband Jim in 2002, she focused all her attention on spending as much time as she could with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother who was always available for her family. Frances will always be remembered for her love of gardening with special attention to her roses. Hummingbirds always brought that special smile to her face that people will remember her for. Her generous ways were infectious to all. Her love for family and her sisters was unsurmountable. Her and her sisters Wilma, Sally and Eunice had such an incredible bond that all sisters should have. She was able to spend most of the last two years of her life living with her grandson Aaron, his wife Dakota and their two kids. Making special memories with her great-grandchildren that they will never forget.

She is survived by her son James Lowe and wife Ida, daughter Carol Beason, sister Eunice Richmond and her husband Robert always known as Bob. Grandchildren: Elizabeth Williams and her husband Justin, Sarah Beason, Jason Lowe and his wife Rhonda, Ashley Brown and her husband Brandon, Aaron Lowe and his wife Dakota, along with 9 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great grandchild, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She is preceded in death by her parents Albert and Cora Gee, her husband Jim Lowe, one son David Lowe and grandson James Beason; sisters Wilma Brown, Sally Wilson and her husband Cecil; brothers Robert Gee and Donald Gee and his wife June.

Her wishes were no formal funeral services, just a simple graveside service which will be held on June 15, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata, which all friends and family are welcomed to attend. After service has concluded all are welcomed to join a small celebration of her life at Aaron and Dakota’s home in Fortuna.

Janet Darlene Waddell Eastburn lost her heroic fight to cancer May 8, 2024. Janet was born October 23, 1972 in Fortuna. She grew up in Rio Dell and attended Fortuna Junior Academy from first to tenth grade. She graduated from Rio Lindo Adventist Academy in 1990. She was a lifelong member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In 1999 Janet gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Kitana, and in 2019 she was blessed with a granddaughter, Saphira. Janet married Kenneth Eastburn in 2020 and they have had the privilege of raising Saphira for the last five years. Saphira was Janet’s joy and her reason to fight her illness far past the time the doctors gave her.

Janet loved fast cars and spent a lot of time helping with the races at Redwood Acres. She loved to spend time birding and collecting flowers with her mother. She was an amazing cook and baker. This past year she crossed several items of her bucket list, including swimming with sharks in the Bahamas. Her favorite thing though was to spend time with her family and friends at the beach. She loved to play in the waves and sink her toes in the sand. The ocean was where she went find balance and restore her peace.

Janet is survived by her husband, Kenneth Eastburn, her daughter Kitana Neller, her granddaughter Saphira,her sisters Robyn Waddell, Kimberly Unruh, and Valerie Wikander, her brother Timothy Elwell, and her niece Robyn Meija, plus aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who miss her dearly. She was proceeded in death by her mother Barbara Kanen and her son Arman, who she is waiting to meet at Jesus’s return. Janet loved the Lord with all her heart and knew the next thing she would know is her Savior telling her, We’ll done, my Daughter.”

Per her request a party to celebrate her life is being planned for July 27 at 1 p.m. It will be held at her friends: 790 Ireland St in Rio Dell.

An Outpost reader sent us the following screenshot last week, shortly after a New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies he committed as part of a “hush money” scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election:

That’s kind of odd, right? For a local TV news station to “Love” react to such a blatantly religious and partisan post? (The Del Norte Republicans Facebook page has since deleted the post after commenters objected to the Christ-Trump comparison, but the Outpost confirmed that North Coast News “Loved” that thing.)

As it turns out, whomever is managing the station’s social media account has a history of “Love” tapping right-wing religious content, including anti-LGBTQ posts from one particularly divisive Ferndale pastor.

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Perhaps it’s a bit less surprising once you learn that North Coast News, the local ABC affiliate broadcasting as KAEF in Eureka, is among the whopping 193 TV news stations owned or operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, a media conglomerate known for its overtly conservative political tilt. 

KAEF’s Redding-based sister station KRCR, aka “the Northstate’s News,” is also Sinclair-owned. The local affiliates have produced some award-winning reporters and popular TV news personalities over the years, including Nazy Javid, who’s now an anchor over in Redding. 

But as PBS NewsHour reported a few years back, Sinclair often mandates that every single one of its stations run its “clearly conservative editorials and features” verbatim.

North Coast News did not respond to emails seeking comment on its social media activity. We’ll update this post if we hear back. 

In the meantime, here’s a 2018 montage displaying the kind of lockstep messaging broadcast by Sinclair-owned stations across the country.

Press release from Friends of the Eel:

PG&E announced on Friday, May 31 late last week that it will request a 7-month extension from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in decommissioning the Eel River dams. Stakeholders were expecting the utility to file its Draft Surrender Application plan with FERC this month, with a final version due in January 2025. PG&E now says it will file the draft plan in January 2025 and the final version in June 2025.

In announcing the delay, PG&E expresses support for the still vague proposal for the New Eel-Russian Facility. This proposal would see a dam-free diversion from the Eel River to the Russian River constructed and managed by the newly formed Eel Russian Joint Powers Authority. PG&E is working with the proponents of the New Eel-Russian Facility (Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Humboldt County, Round Valley Indian Tribes, California Trout, Trout Unlimited, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife) to develop a surrender application MOU “that aligns with PG&E’s Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan.”

It would appear that PG&E hopes a short delay now will prevent a longer delay later. We are wary, however, that PG&E appears to be giving ground on their previous position that arrangements for a potential continued diversion will not delay Eel River dam removal. The Eel River’s native fish don’t have time to spare, and Eel River residents have waited long enough to see the justice that is dam removal.

Meanwhile, residents of Humboldt County continue to demand a free-flowing Eel River as soon as possible. Last month a group of nearly 60 dam removal enthusiasts floated the river from McCann to Dyerville, waving banners of support for freeing the Eel River.

Learn more or support local organizations working to Free the Eel at eelriver org, or tribresearch.org.

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Humboldt County First District Supervisor Rex Bohn may have been half kidding when referred to yesterday’s special meeting of the Board of Supervisors as “doomsday,” but County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes wasn’t amused.

“That wasn’t exactly the connotation I’d like to start off with but yes, Supervisor Bohn,” she said before introducing the reason for the gathering: With the county government staring down the barrel of its second consecutive annual budget deficit in excess of $10 million, the board was being asked to consider a dozen potential money-saving measures.

The 12 options varied in significance and complexity, and over the course of the meeting’s four-hour runtime they generated varying degrees of angst and support from department heads. 

In preparation for the day’s hearing, staff from the County Administrative Office had conducted an employee survey and met with department heads to get a sense of each one’s priorities and to gauge potential institutional resistance.

“I do just want to acknowledge that this is a stressful topic for staff, for your board [and] for department heads … ,” Hayes said. “[T]here are a lot of feelings around these topics.”

For example, Assistant CAO and Chief Operating Officer Karen Clower said department heads voiced strong opposition to the prospect of mandatory employee furloughs, but a majority of them would support closing offices to the public on Fridays to allow employees to focus on their workloads.

Other options being explored include various ways to centralize services, which Clower said would serve to increase resiliency, lead to better succession planning and allow for more collaboration.

One such option would create a “one-stop” permitting shop by locating Planning and Building, Public Works Land Use and Environmental Health in one location. Another would involve switching to a system with a county executive office, wherein a CEO would oversee the county’s appointed department heads and their respective departments. (Under the current system, department heads report directly to the Board of Supervisors.)

Clower went through each of the dozen proposals one by one, detailing department head feedback and the costs of pursuing each of them. As outlined in a report prepared for the meeting, staff recommended pursuing some options, further analyzing others and rejecting the remainder.

Her presentation took about an hour, and by the end of it Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson was a bit overwhelmed.

“This list is too big for normal humans to analyze and digest and make, you know, robust decisions on [during a single session],” he said. Instead, Wilson recommended making a few preliminary decisions at this meeting and pursuing others through a more systematic “iterative process.” He went on to offer his initial thoughts on the various proposals before the board.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone addressed the subject of a recent report from the Civil Grand Jury, saying it’s “foolish” to be leasing property when there are opportunities to purchase buildings and consolidate services into under-used facilities.

“You’ve got to start making some shifts in order to make anything happen,” Madrone said. The county is getting ready to set its 2024-25 fiscal year budget, and if all budget requests get approved it would result in a roughly $13 million deficit, he noted. 

“And then that leaves us 10 million in our reserves, and what next year?” Madrone asked. “We’re out of money. We’re done. We have no options whatsoever but to start laying everybody off and all kinds of crazy decisions that would have to be made.”

He suggested temporarily moving the Planning and Building Department out of the dilapidated old hospital building it shares with the Sempervirens Psychiatric Health Facility (on Wood Street in Eureka) and constructing a large multi-story structure in its place with parking on the ground floor. 

One quick aside about that: As if to illustrate the dire conditions of that building, a waterlogged ceiling tile fell onto Planning and Building Director John Ford’s desk over the weekend. 

“Obviously, the roof above is leaking,” Ford said when reached via email. “The mess has been cleaned up, and there is a trash can sitting on my desk to collect the dripping water.  I understand Building Maintenance will come back tomorrow to put sealant on the roof to stop the leak and replace 3 ceiling tiles.”

Here are photos of the damage, submitted by Ford:

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“This does not seem to be structural, and so the cost [of repairs] is [limited to] the staff time, sealant, and ceiling tiles,” he told us via email.

Regarding other potential cost-cutting possibilities, Bohn said he recently read that artificial intelligence will soon enable grant applications to be filled out in half a day, where previously it took mere humans as long as five days. Bohn also spoke in favor of losing staff through attrition but not via layoffs. 

When it came time for department heads to address the board, Connie Beck, the director of the Department of Health and Human Services, said she was opposed to the idea of creating new administrative costs in the form of a county executive office. 

“To me, this feels like a revenue grab on the backs of our most vulnerable people in our community,” Beck said. “I’m not opposed to a different reporting structure. I’m really opposed to adding additional costs to our budgets right now.”

Other department heads encouraged the board to be careful and meticulous in its decision-making processes. Some voiced concerns about consolidating services such as human resources, public information officers and information technology. Others expressed frustration with the limited range of answers available in the survey that had been distributed. 

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said she’s interested in exploring the CEO model and supportive of the proposal to close county offices to the public on Fridays. Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell made a multi-part motion, including these components:

• proceed with the plan to close certain offices (those that “are able”) to the public on Fridays with “ample” public messaging about that change
• evaluate the consolidation of IT security
• revisit other centralization plans whenever “better budget times” allow
• review the “one stop” permitting plan
• review the potential combination of Public Works’ Facilities Management unit with the County Administrative Office’ compliance team for the Americans With Disabilities Act, and
• hold further discussions about the CEO model with individual board members and department heads

Bohn suggested that on weeks with holidays, county offices should remain open to the public on Fridays. Otherwise, on weeks with Monday holidays, those county offices would be closed to the public for four days straight.

Bushnell said she’d worry about how confusing that might be in terms of messaging to the public. Bohn let the matter drop. Wilson expressed appreciation for the department heads on behalf of the board, and the motion passed unanimously.

Press release from the County of Humboldt:

The Humboldt County Department of Aviation will hold a full-scale emergency simulation training exercise on Wednesday, June 5, between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon. It will take place at and around the area of the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV), located at 3561 Boeing Ave. in McKinleyville.

The exercise will be loud and includes participation by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay, Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, several local fire departments, ambulance providers, the American Red Cross, airline personnel and many others.

During the exercise, those in the vicinity of ACV should expect to hear sirens and see emergency lights and participants with mock injuries crying for help. Airport visitors should also expect to see law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services personnel responding to a simulated emergency. First responders will be using emergency radios, and traffic flow may be temporarily affected near the airport. Please plan accordingly.

There are no planned street closures and airport operations will not be impacted as a result of this training exercise.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires all certified commercial airports perform a full scale mass casualty training exercise every three years. The purpose of the exercise is to train airport staff and local first responders on how to respond to an emergency at ACV. The emergency simulation is intended to provide a real-time, realistic experience of a mass casualty incident and allow airport partners and first responders from several partnering agencies to practice together, assess their emergency response procedures and solidify strong operational relationships.

The training area will be closed to the media. Media inquiries regarding this exercise should be directed to cgallardo@co.humboldt.ca.us.

For more information on the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport, please visit FlyACV.com.