Earlobedus (aer-lobe-dus) was a malady that seemed unique to first-year campers at Boy Scout Camp Tish Tang on Highway 96 just south of the Hoopa reservation. It was said to be a fungus that grew only in the ears of those scouts at camp for the first time. The treatment called for painting the ears and surrounding skin with Mercurochrome, thus giving the patient bright reddish-orange ears. As camp first-aid orderly in 1952, I treated several such cases.

Ray Oliver at the start of the 1951 Explorer Scout week-long wilderness backpacking hike into the Marble Mountains. Photos via the Humboldt Historian.

Earlobedus was the most successful of the usually crude and sometimes cruel jokes visited on the gullible or unwary. Another was to arrange several guys around a nest of big, black ants and trick the victim into standing on the nest while engaged, he thought, in friendly chatter.

Evening campfires on the Trinity River beach across from Tish Tang a Tang Creek provided another trick opportunity. The beach was about half a mile through the woods from camp. When a boy fell asleep, the rest of us would quietly slip away a few yards. We would then throw dirt clods at the sleeper so he would wake up to find himself apparently alone in the dark.

The camp namesake, Tish Tang a Tang Creek, flowed out of the Hoopa reservation across the Trinity River from the camp. The creek name supposedly meant a hook or curve because the creek flowed southward into the northward flowing river, thus causing the creek water to curve northwards.

The more famous camp tricks seldom if ever seemed to work. Among these were dipping a sleeper’s hand in warm water, snipe hunts, and Ex-Lax in somebody’s food — we didn’t dare eat chocolate pudding. One dark night we sent a kid out with the bag and flashlight lo catch snipe while the rest of us went off to chase the elusive creatures to him. We worked our way back to the campfire to find the kid sitting there roasting marshmallows. He made a few profanity laced comments to the effect that we must be pretty dumb to think he would fall for such a stupid trick.

The camp was organized into villages. Three villages — Riverside, Rockefeller Center and Sherwood Forest — consisted of Army surplus, eight-boy squad tents that featured center poles. The poles were constant targets since upon removal, usually late at night, the tent would collapse on the sleepers. To protect the poles, we tried nailing them to wooden floors, tying them to the beds or placing barricades around them. These efforts required inventiveness by pole removers. One tactic called for several “friendly” guys to walk into a tent and stand around the pole talking while one of their number knelt down, apparently to tie a shoelace. That miscreant would remove the nail or cut the rope protecting the pole, then the whole group would run out taking the pole with them. Sometimes the pole would be removed during the daytime when we were all gone swimming or at lunch and carried off into the woods and poison oak, thus forcing us to search for it. One night the inevitable happened; a falling tent pole hit and injured a kid. The camp director, Scout Executive Levi Young, decreed that the pole-stealing would no longer be tolerated.

Tish Tang Camp staff, 1953. From left to right: (back row) unknown, Tom Hill, Jerry Hasz, Rod Trogo, Dan McLellan, unknown, Pete Vallerga, Levi Yonng. (front row) John Burger, Wes Martin, Adelee Hasz, Nile Henderson, Rich Sloma, Zay Jorlano, unknown, unknown.

Sometimes the intended victim outsmarted the trickster. In 1951. we had to put up with a particularly disliked junior staffer I shall call “O” for obnoxious. He seemed to relish alienating people. We ate at long tables in the mess hall — not dining “facility” but “mess hall” — with a staff member at each table. At each meal, an inspector would choose the neatest and sloppiest table. The neatest got a cutout of Marilyn Monroe and the sloppiest, a ceramic pig. These stayed on the tables until the next meal or until other tables earned them.

Marlin Brady, the cook, also disliked O. One lunch, Brady hollowed out half a hot dog and filled it with pepper. We used the table waiter system in which one kid would get the food for the whole table. Brady put the re-closed, pepper-filled hot dog on top of the plate of dogs going to O’s table, and told the waiter to give the plate to O first. O took the pepper dog, bit off the good end and saw the pepper. He put the now half-hot dog on the plate coming to my table. As the plate arrived, a lad from Crescent City grabbed the really hot hot dog, stuffed it into his mouth, and immediately grabbed the pitcher of the bug juice (bug juice was a Kool-Aid type drink in which the dregs of the powder resembled bugs when it settled to the bottom of the pitcher), spilling it, water and food, all over the table. We got the pig that day.

Camp Tish-Tang was the Boy Scout Redwood Area Council’s summer camp from 1948 to 1964. When Trinity River floods damaged the area camp, it had to be abandoned. It is now a Forest Service camping area. On my last visit some twenty years ago, I was saddened to see that only a very few of the structures — some that I helped build — remained. Much of the building work was done by work parties on the weekends in the Spring. A few days before camp opened in June, a small advance guard would go to set up the camp and get things ready for the camp period, usually three to four weeks. After the camp period, a rear guard would stay for a few days to close up and do other jobs on the road, structures and waterfront area.

Cooking staff at Tish Tang, 1953. left to right: Pete Vallerga, Adelee Hasz (camp cook), and Wes Martin.

The late 1940s and early ‘50s were, of course, shortly after World War II and during the Korean War. Many of the adult staffers had recently served in the military, so that might account for the use of military terms: advance guard, rear guard, mess hall, K.P., first aid orderly, canteen, retreat formation, troops, patrols, latrines, officer of the day and others. We also used quite a bit of military surplus, especially the food. Who could forget the powdered eggs and dried potato cubes? There was also a flat, disc-shaped chocolate candy that had been made in the tropics. The stuff did not melt or get soft in the hand or mouth. We had to break off a piece and chew it for awhile to soften it up. Another favorite was a kind of rubbery cheese that came in big hunks. We had to break off chunks and chew them for a while as well. After a few times, we rather liked the stuff. Perhaps the favorite was the bug juice Kool-aid. The camp was in a valley that got very warm during the day so we all looked forward to the bug juice.

The warmth and humidity seemed to make poison oak grow into big bushes and even small trees. We heard that urine would kill the poison oak. We did our best, but the stuff thrived. Our efforts created another problem — for example, junior staffers had to regularly bring around hoses and water down around the tents and other sleeping areas. Along with the squad tent villages, we had sleeping areas of open-front Adirondack cabins, kiosks and various shelters. It seldom rained during the June camping period.

Sleeping could be a problem when there was a snorer. Don Raffaelli of Eureka told me how his group solved the problem once in 1948. They picked the snorer’s bed — we used military steel cots so many would come to know in later years — and carried it and the apparently very sound sleeper to the river and placed them in the water.

Bugler Nile Henderson at the Camp Dining Hall, 1953.

Then the group waited for the victim to wake up. The bugler put some extra wind into his morning call to make sure the snorer woke to cheers of his tentmates. Camp Director Levi Young failed to see the humor in the situation and put Raffaelli and his co-conspirators to work cleaning toilets. Despite this and innumerable other transgressions, Raffaelli eventually became the Humboldt County Director of Public Works.

Toilets were a major area of attention, as might be expected of the gang of teenage boys. We had a daily health and safety detail to clean them. The smallest boy on the detail would be told by the detail leader — whose title was “the outhouse mouse” — that he. the smallest boy, would have to “go down the hole” in the twofor privies. That meant, he was told, a rope would be tied about his waist and he would be lowered through the hole in the seat to clean the wooden supports inside. After several such threats and even showing the small boy the rope, the outhouse mouse would decide the job was not necessary “this time.”

The privies did not have names as did those at a camp I attended in Wisconsin. There, they were named Coca-Cola for the pause that refreshes, First National for making deposits, and Little Egypt for building pyramids.

When the camping period ended, we had several days when a few of the staff stayed to fold the tents, close the waterfront area, put things away and do various repair jobs. On the last day of the rear guard in 1951, Levi Young decided to take a hike across the river to a box canyon he wanted to look at as a site for future overnight hikes. It was a pleasant hike along a small creek. Coming back later that day. we followed the same trail we had taken in the morning. In the trail, we saw cougar tracks on top of the tracks we had made that morning. The cougar tracks were going the same direction we had. We wondered if the cougar had been thinking of joining the Scouts for lunch. Maybe we smelled too bad.

###

The story above was originally printed in the Summer 2006 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.

On Friday morning, retired U.S. Army Private First-Class Jacob Williams and his wife Meredith unlocked their new – free – home in Fortuna for the first time. 

Holding one of his two young sons on his hip, Williams said the house marked a “monumental moment” that would change the course of the family’s life. 

The home was gifted to Williams through the Military Warriors Support Foundation’s (MWSF) Home4WoundedHeroes program in collaboration with Wells Fargo, a partnership that has provided more than 400 “mortgage-free” homes to wounded veterans across all 50 states. MWSF has donated 500 more homes through other partnerships – providing each recipient with three years of financial mentoring after move-in to help them manage the property taxes, insurance and maintenance that homeownership entails.

The Williamses learned that they were selected for a home on former Arkansas Governor and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s TV show (Huckabee) in February.

###

“It was like a burden had been lifted,” Williams told the Outpost, explaining that the family had been attempting California homeownership through other avenues and programs, but kept running up against “closed doors.”

Williams joined the military in 2006, serving as an airborne infantryman with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Ft. Richardson, Alaska. Less than a year later, in Iraq, a roadside bomb went off next to his convoy, injuring his neck and leading to the loss of his right hand. It was his 20th birthday. 

Williams, who has received a Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other honors, said he has no regrets.

“Losing a hand was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me,” he said, adding that he uses the two degrees he has received in theology since to counsel other veterans, first responders and families.

The steady increase of home prices since the 1960s has added to the unique set of challenges that veterans – and especially wounded vets – face in securing housing upon returning from service. 

“Homeownership and affordability is such a critical factor right now; it’s really difficult for wounded military veterans given some of their circumstances,” said Kären Woodruff, senior vice president of community relations at Wells Fargo, explaining that many experience periods during which they are unable to work.  

Home prices on the North Coast have fallen since reaching record highs in 2020 and 2021 (Fortuna, Arcata, Eureka and McKinleyville were all included in a survey of California cities “where home prices are dropping significantly” last month), but only six of the 37 homes for sale in Fortuna this week were listed at or below $400,000, according to Fortuna Community Development Director Shari Meads.

“While these prices are significantly below what is found in other parts of California, the Humboldt County economy still makes them unattainable for many,” Meads wrote the Outpost via email.

The Williamses first visited Humboldt from their Redlands, Calif., home in April, and the move-in on Friday was the family’s second time seeing the city they now call home.

Woodruff explained that the Homes4Heroes program works by matching the needs of vets and their families with communities in which bank-owned homes (foreclosures) become available.

“We really want the veteran and their family to be successful in that community,” she said.

Speaking to the crowd assembled to welcome the family, which included Second District Humboldt County Supervisor Michelle Bushnell and Field Representative in Congressman Jared Huffman’s Eureka office Andrew Cairns, Williams said that he and his wife are not only here because of the home they were given, but also because of what they can give.

“There’s work to be done in this community,” he said, “Our lives have been changed, and we hope to impact and change other people’s lives.”

Williams was one of two veterans to receive a mortgage-free home from MWSF and Wells Fargo this Flag Day, the other provided in Littleton, NC.

The Military Warriors Support Foundation Homes4WoundedHeroes program is open to veterans wounded in either combat or training and unmarried Gold Star spouses whose partner was killed in action. Applicants must be honorably retired (or separated) from the military, must not have a current mortgage, and must intend to use the home as a primary residence. 

At a special meeting Wednesday night, the Arcata City Council voted to place a three-quarter percent sales tax measure on November’s ballot. If approved by voters, the tax would generate about $2.6 million of revenue annually, going into effect in April 2025.

The agenda item came just after the Council approved Arcata’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Although the City’s finances are stable at the moment, budget deficits are present and expected to continue over the next several years. 

“The city has done a really good job of laying a good solid fiscal or financial foundation. But when we look out, we’re looking at budget deficits every year going forward,” said Director of Finance Tabatha Miller.

“We’re looking at running into the negative, and you can do that for a few years, especially if you have some reserves saved up like we do. But there’s a point when you cross that line, and it’s a problem.”

Councilmember Kimberley White chimed in: “We wouldn’t want to get into the position of where the county is right now.” 

“No, we do not,” Miller agreed, “we do not want to be in a crisis.” 

The Transactions and Use Tax (TUT) ballot measure could help avoid a crisis.  If passed, it would increase Arcata’s current sales and use tax rate of 8.5 percent to 9.25 percent. Miller said that the county is expected to put a similar .75 percent sales tax on the ballot, meaning that Arcata residents would soon pay a ten percent tax if voters approve both measures. 

Because it would join the general fund, uses for the revenue are unrestricted, Miller said. The revenue could help fund the city’s community ambassador program, juvenile diversion counselors, a new community center in Valley West and general infrastructure maintenance, among other things. 

Councilmember White said that an effort to educate community members about these services might be important before November. 

“It’s these programs that we’re going to lose, if it doesn’t pass,” White said. “I feel like our constituents need to hear that – in particular the community ambassador program.” 

In an April survey of Arcata voters, 72 percent of 567 respondents said they would support the tax. 

“That’s a pretty good number going into putting it on the ballot,” Miller said. 

###

Prior to the tax discussion, the Council approved the City’s $87.6 million spending plan for the fiscal year 2024-2025, which begins on July 1st. 

Arcata is looking at a deficit of about $3 million, with just $84.5 million in projected revenue in the coming year. However, the City has built up reserves over the last few years that will cover any shortfall. 

Those reserves, totaling $15.9 million in Arcata’s general fund, are equal to around 299 days of operations, Miller said in an email to the Outpost.

“So if your general fund stopped taking money in tomorrow, you could almost get through a full year of operations just on your reserves […] which is something that puts us in good stead,” Miller said at the meeting. 

“When we start talking about structural deficits and some of the challenges we have, I do want to just commend the council and the city on really sort of putting us in a solid position so that we’re not panicking.” 

One of the more noteworthy deficits is the stormwater fund. For several years, maintenance to the City’s stormwater drainage systems has amassed more costs than revenue, resulting in a structural deficit. This year, the projected cost for upkeep of stormwater systems is nearly double the amount the City expects in revenue for the fund, coming from property assessment fees, grants and other sources. The City Council approved a Stormwater Rate Study last year, which is expected to provide some direction on how to financially stabilize the situation should wrap up in late 2024.

During a presentation to the council, Miller reviewed how proposed spending reflects the City’s goals and highlighted some projects Arcata will fund this year.

A bulk of the spending – $39.8 million – will go toward capital improvement projects. This year, some of that work includes safety improvements along Old Arcata Road and design updates to the Annie and Mary trail.

Meanwhile, the general fund is expected to spend $24.4 million in the upcoming fiscal year to support general city operations. At the meeting, Miller presented a pie chart showing how those funds will be distributed. 

During discussion, Councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar noted that the budget allocates $75,000 for the Mobile Intervention & Services Team, or MIST, a partnership between the Arcata Police Department and the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. The service joins police and mental health professionals to help people experiencing mental health crises. 

Atkins-Salazar said the Council hasn’t received statistics demonstrating the success of that program, and wondered whether the funds would be better spent elsewhere.

“That doesn’t mean that valuable work isn’t being done,” she said. “But it’s hard to justify spending when we’re not sure.”

Atkins-Salazar said she’d like to hear a report on MIST, and, depending on the outcome, reallocate that money to the community ambassador program. Other council members agreed.

The Council unanimously approved the budget, which you can read in full here.

###

Local Indigenous leaders hope to reignite the conversation around traditional cultural fire practices in an upcoming multimedia stage play, “Wusatoumuduk: We Make It Burn,” set to premiere at the North Coast Repertory Theater (NCRT) this weekend. 

The production, which will be partially depicted in Soulatluk, the language spoken by the Wiyot people, delves into the cultural and ecological importance of traditional fire management practices. The story follows the journey of a young Wiyot woman grappling with her identity as she learns about fire ecology in college and how modern practices conflict with traditional tribal land management techniques.

“She’s learning what it means to be Wiyot and what it means to take part in traditional practices, including cultural fire,” Michelle Hernandez, co-artistic director of “Wusatoumuduk,” told the Outpost in a recent phone interview. “It’s taken modern science a while to get on board [with the practice] but we’ve been talking about how important it is for ages. … I’m an artist, not a scientist, and this is my way of bringing this conversation to a wider audience.”

Native communities have used small, intentional burns as a form of land management for thousands of years. The practice was essentially eradicated with European colonization and the forced relocation and genocide of native people who had historically maintained the landscape. In 1850, the California legislature passed the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, which outlawed intentional burning in the newly formed state. Decades later, the U.S. Forest Service implemented its “10 a.m. policy,” which decreed that all fires must be extinguished by 10 o’clock the morning after their initial report to eliminate fire from the landscape. 

The last century of restrictive fire suppression practices has resulted in increased fuel loads (dried grasses, trees, dead leaves, etc.) across the landscape that allow fires to burn longer, hotter and faster, making them more difficult to manage.

For decades, tribes across Northern California have advocated for “good fire” to be reintroduced to the landscape. Various state and federal agencies have implemented prescribed burning practices to remove excess vegetation, but some tribal leaders want to see a more intentional approach to land stewardship.

“The Wiyot people – and many, many other Indigenous peoples across the country – have used cultural fire to help us survive,” Wiyot Tribal Councilmember Marnie Atkins, one of the lead writers for “Wusatoumuduk,” told the Outpost. “Not only did we use fire to manage the landscape [and] keep our communities as fire resistant as possible, but we also used fire to care for the land. Some plants thrive after a fire, not the huge, devastating fires we see now, but the pointed burning of specific plants. We have a reciprocal relationship with the land – we ensure the plants and animals are healthy and well, and they keep us healthy and well.”

Atkins hopes the play will diminish some of the anxiety surrounding cultural burning practices. “I think there is still apprehension among people who think this is something new,” she said. “It’s not new, but I do still hear the apprehension and concern. Understanding the generational, observational knowledge of a landscape and plants and what they need is important – that’s where [tribal communities] come in. We’ve engaged with these spaces for time immemorial.”

Atkins has been looking for a way to bring the subject of cultural fire to a wider audience, either through an educational or artistic medium. Two or three years ago, she struck up a conversation with Calder Johnson, NCRT’s managing artistic director, and asked him if he could help her turn the idea into a stage production.

“In my mind, the place to start was through education and what better way to educate than with art,” Atkins said. “I had been mentioning wanting to do this project for a bit and, one day, Calder happened to be at a meeting where I was talking about this idea. Being as awesome as Calder is, he said that if NCRT could ever be a partner or support this work, or even if I needed help writing a grant, I should reach out.”

“I was more than happy to help Marnie make this idea happen,” Johnson told the Outpost. “Marnie is an incredible person and the whole concept was very inspiring to me. … This is a massive crisis that we have on our hands, and it’s good to see that more entities like CalFire and other state agencies incorporating native knowledge into an effective response, but it still needs to move faster.”

Atkins and Johnson applied for a few grants and secured funding from the California Arts Council, the Upstate Creative Corps and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

A few other people eventually joined the project, including artistic directors Michelle Hernandez and Zuzka Sabata, who worked together on the Bartow Project, as well as community contributors, Maggie Peters, Kate Droz and Solomon Everta. 

Lynnika Butler, the Wiyot Tribe’s linguist, has also worked closely with the writing team to translate various words and phrases in the play into Soulatluk.

“I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to reintroduce Wiyot phrases and language to the public sphere,” Atkins said. “[The Wiyot Tribe] has been working on language revitalization for a very long time. Some people have said it is a ‘dead language’, but a language isn’t dead if you have speakers and the ability to learn your language – and we have all of that. … [Soulatluk] isn’t dead, it’s just sleeping.”

The play will also incorporate shadow puppetry developed by James Hildebrandt and performed by Jay Gehr, as well as animations developed by Chantal Jung.

“The animations will be incorporated into the play,” Hernandez explained. “There is a lot of storytelling in this play – all traditional Wiyot stories – and when that happens, we will play an animation of the story as the characters are telling them. The shadow puppets are another aspect of that. It’s like the story is coming to life.”

The production team will host a free stage reading of “Wusatoumuduk” on Saturday and Sunday, a sort of first draft of the play. Attendees are encouraged to provide feedback in a community “talkback” session after the play.

The writers will incorporate that feedback into a future rendition of the production, which, Atkins hopes, will begin to take form in the coming months. But first, they need to secure additional grant funding. Her ultimate goal is for the play to serve as a foundation of sorts for similar projects on cultural fire. 

“Maybe this play will make its way throughout the state or beyond,” Atkins said. “If it resonates with other native communities, maybe they will want to produce this play in their community and add in changes that address their local concerns or put it in their language. We see this as a foundation to build upon. … Maybe we can make a difference.”

There will be two separate stage readings of “Wusatoumuduk: We Make It Burn” on Saturday, June 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 16 at 2 p.m. More information can be found in the flier below.

###

Victor Dale Lee
Born January 24,1949
Passed April 22, 2024
Age 75

Victor was born Jan 24, 1949 in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended and graduated high school at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Wisconsin. He briefly returned to Texas to attend college, but moved back to Wisconsin to marry Judith Wagner (Lee), whom he had met while attending St John’s.

They had one son, Christopher Lee. There they owned and operated a small homemade candle store.

Like many other young people of his generation they were inspired by the Summer of Love. They embraced the hippie counterculture and relocated the family to San Jose in 1974. He spent the majority of the next 30 years working and living in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, at one point living on the waterfront in Alameda.

In 2006 he made the move to retire to Eureka. In 2015 Victor remarried Linda Robb, but sadly was widowed in 2020. At the time of his passing, he was a resident of The Lodge in Eureka, where he had several friends in the community. .

Victor was an avid reader his entire life, and enjoyed spiritual books and thought provoking sci-fi. He was an avid 49ers fan, and he loved the views of Humboldt County redwoods and the California coast.

Sadly, on April 22, 2024 Victor lost his long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Ayers Family Cremation prepared him for his final wishes — to have his ashes scattered at sea in the Pacific Ocean he loved. He will be missed.

Catherine Ellen Barnes
August 31, 1950- March 13, 2024

Catherine Ellen Barnes went to do God’s Laundry. Her departing flight was out of Eureka, CA. She loved the sensation of flight, as she would bungee jump over the waters of Mexico.

Born in Long Beach, Calif. to Betty Jean Hubbard (Barnes /McElhill) and Philip Barnes, she spent time as a young person fishing in Humboldt County with her Grandmother Harriet “Jane “Hubbard. Having raised her daughters Wendi D. Wood, Deborah L. Hart and Karyn B. Hart in Martinez, Calif. — children of her marriage to Gregory E. Hart — she moved to Eureka in 1996 to enjoy the ocean with her grandchildren Kelli Wood, Kevyn Harris, Dylan Hart Arnold and Gage Hart Arnold.

Being an excellent cook, she taught them how to run a proper kitchen and make pies. Any child under her influence emerged with excellent comprehension of the English language. She loved babies and considered her job done when they were able to speak in complete sentences. The friends of her children were taken under her wing as family, most notably Missy Ferguson.

As a woman of many great talents, best known publicly for her masterful capacity in physical therapy, fitness instruction, massage therapy and paralegal services. Catherine retired from the City of Eureka after her years as a fitness instructor at the Adorni Center and also was a member of the team at The Spa Personal Choice, certified in Swedish and Esalon Massage earned at The McKinnon Institute.

Known personally for her ability to laugh at every challenge life lobbed her way. Cat always landed on her feet.

Survived by Marge Barnes, Mark and Jeanette Barnes, children, grandchildren, nephew Philip and nieces Marcy, Valerie and Camila.

Brother Mark Barnes says:

My sister was at her best when she was caring for others… which was especially evident when she was caring for the elderly in the latter stages of their earthly lives.

This was her special gift.

Her daughters would say their mother took doing laundry to an art form. Those of you who knew Catherine, Cathy, Cat personally will need no interpretation of these thoughts and instructions of hers, to be read upon her passing. The rest of you… just try to follow along.

• “I have gone on to do God’s laundry and offer a massage if one is wanted” 
• “At my passing, in lieu of flowers, go to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy yourself a present.” 
• “Cancel all my book and movie clubs… immediately!” 
• “Bury me in this cooking apron.”
• “Bury me wearing these green gardening gloves.”
• “After settling my affairs, if there is any money left over, spend it buying booze for my memorial.”
• “I love to eat.”
• “If you insist on having a memorial, make it a potluck and use real plates, knives and forks. No plastic allowed.”
• “When it’s time to go… it’s time to go!”

And lastly, this joke found amongst her files…

• “When I die, I want to go peacefully, like my grandfather did, in his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.”- Will Rogers

No public service will be held. We invite you to privately celebrate and honor her as you wish. Read a book. Laugh with the funny pages. Touch high quality textiles. Walk the beach. Go fishing. Eat great food. Swim. Grow plants. Watch the birds. If you wish, support Friends of the Redwood Library, Food for People, The Rescue Mission or Hospice of Humboldt.

###

Humboldt County will soon have a new resource in its efforts to help people suffering from acute mental health issues. Opening later this summer, the Hyperion Crisis Residential Treatment Facility, located at 528 N Street in Eureka, will offer ‘round-the-clock care for people who might otherwise be sent to the Sempervirens Psychiatric Hospital or left to fend for themselves at home or on the street.

“This facility will not only improve a long-blighted site in the neighborhood, but will provide a safe location so people can stabilize and get connected to necessary medical treatment,” Fourth District Humboldt County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo told the Outpost via email.

With initial funding coming via a $2 million in state financing, the facility will offer patients room, board and a variety of services, including psychiatric care, case management, access to housing resources and more, all billable through Medi-Cal. 

Jack Breazeal, deputy director for behavioral health with the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), said that many of the folks who wind up in Sempervirens (aka SV) arrive in a state of grave disability or destitution, “meaning they’re up there because they kind of lost their ability to take care of themselves and meet their basic needs.”

Many of these people are homeless and suffer from substance use disorder alongside their mental health issues. “I mean, it is not a good spot,” Breazeal said. “So to think that SV is going to fix everything in their life in a few days is not reasonable.” 

At the crisis residential treatment facility, people will be able to stay for up to 45 days, with the average stay at similar facilities across the state lasting about two weeks. It will be an outpatient facility, meaning people can leave whenever they choose, but those who stay will be assigned a case manager, a therapist and psychiatrist, and they’ll be linked up with other outpatient services. 

Housed in a renovated duplex, the facility has a capacity of 10 patients at a time, with five double-occupancy bedrooms. The county has contracted the Yuba-City-based nonprofit Willow Glen Care Center to operate the center with its own staff of nurses, case managers and mental health workers. Willow Glen already operates such crisis care centers in more than half a dozen Northern California locations.

“I appreciate that Willow Glen staff will provide 24-hour-a-day staffing to support people staying at the site as well as the community that surrounds the home,” Arroyo said. “I’m very grateful to the funders and partners in this effort!”

Breazeal elaborated about who will most benefit from this new facility and the services it offers. Some patients will be those who’ve recently been released from Sempervirens but who may worry that without more help they’ll decompensate and sink quickly back into the thoughts and behaviors that got them hospitalized in the first place. 

Others might be people who, say, wind up in a local emergency room in distress but who, after evaluation, don’t quite meet the criteria for a mandatory 5150 psychiatric hold. Hospital employees or other health care professionals can recommend a stay at Hyperion, which may help prevent the need for acute hospitalization.

Meanwhile, Sempervirens’ 16 beds are often fully occupied, and Breazeal said his grand hope is that the new Hyperion center will relieve some of that pressure. 

“I really am excited about that,” he said. “That’s what’s going to end up happening.”

A substantial subset of people who wind up at Sempervirens are under the legal guardianship of the county, conserved per the terms of the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act. These people are sometimes held as SV because the county has not managed to find an available long-term care placement. Once Hyperion opens, some such patients can stay there while they wait, according to Breazeal.

The big benefit to this facility, he added, will be the ability to ensure that residents are taking their medications as prescribed.

“That’s where we generally lose people, is on that med compliance,” Breazeal said. “In this place we will get at least 14 days of ongoing medication into your system and get you a rhythm of taking them and making sure that you have a case manager [who will] take you to the pharmacy and get your meds and then take you back to your residence.”

Residents will also be able to get checkups and other appointments through Open Door Community Health Centers.

Care provided at the facility will be covered by Medi-Cal reimbursements and the Mental Health Services Act, a tax on millionaires passed by California voters in 2004.

The county is hoping to open the Hyperion Crisis Residential Treatment Facility by Aug. 1.

“I am very hopeful about its impact on the community, both at our level with Sempervirens, with the local emergency rooms, and then the community at large,” Breazeal said, “just really clearing up some congestion and getting people the help they need.”