Passed away on March 15, 2023 at his home surrounded by his family and friends after a very long and valiant fight with cancer. He was 72.

Bill McCarthy was born on December 8, 1951 in Sacramento to William Joseph McCarthy and Joyce Elaine Anderson.

He graduated from Burbank High School in 1970. Bill worked from the time he was 14. He was the vice president/co-founder of Wild Planet Foods, which was established in 2005. He retired due to his illness in March of 2018.

He has lived and traveled all over the world and always lived life to the fullest. He was loved by all. He enjoyed Harley-Davidson, hunting, fishing, all types of music, sports and was an amazing cook and foodie.

Preceded in death by his brother Randy Thomas McCarthy, who passed on Aug. 17, 2019. Survived by his son, Sean Kelly McCarthy and sister Stacey (McCarthy) Medinas; his stepdaughter, Athena Rogers; grandchildren Ronan Abram McCarthy, Virgil Zink, and Autym Jones; his beloved nieces and nephews Sara Dawn Higgins, Jacob Yadao, Jackson Medinas, Collin McCarthy, and Riley McCarthy; and his Loving Partner Joyce Hill.

Celebration of Life will be held on April 29 from 2-5 p.m. at the Eureka Elks Lodge 445 Herrick Ave, Eureka. In lieu of flowers please donate to California Cancer Crushers P.O. Box 3654 Eureka, Ca. 95501. cancercrushers@gmail.com, 707-498-7231.

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A wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend passed away at home, surrounded by her loved ones, March 10, 2023 in McKinleyville.

Billie was born December 4, 1934 in Oklahoma to Elmer and Emma Campbell. She was one of four children.

Billie moved to Bakersfield, California with her family when she was a young child.

Billie married the love of her life, R.V. Hillegeist, in 1950. Billie and R.V. started their family shortly after and eventually settled in Humboldt County. They raised their three children — Kit, Julie, and Paul — in Kneeland. In the late 1970s their final move was to Mckinleyville.

Billie’s life revolved around her family. Billie’s joy in life was having her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren around her. She would host Sunday dinners, holidays and family get-togethers at their home.

R.V. and Billie enjoyed many years together camping, hunting, fishing, gardening and visiting family in southern California. Most of all, Billie enjoyed being a grandmother. She was known as Grandma Billie to so many. She loved having her grandchildren over and spending time with them.

Billie is preceded in death by her parents Elmer and Emma Campbell, husband R.V. Hillegeist, son Wayne Keith (Kit) Hillegeist, two infant daughters, and sister Shirley Coinner, and many extended family.

Billie is survived by her daughter Julie and son-in-law Kenny Turner; son Paul and his wife Lynn Hillegeist; grandchildren Jess Turner-Kirkpatrick and her husband Michael Kirkpatrick; Justin Turner; Kyle Turner and his wife Jennica; Troy Hillegeist and his wife Dani; and Matthew Hillegeist; great- grandchildren Bailey, Jack, Dean, Presley, Elias, Brielle, Aubrey; loving sister Dana Armer; and brother Archie Campbell.

Billie’s family would like to thank P.A.C.E and Agape. A very special thank you to cargivers Jennica, Dani, Iris, Cherly, Susie and Rhonda. The family appreciates you more than you’ll ever know.

There will be a small service for immediate family later this summer.

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HUMBOLDT TODAY: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office releases stats chronicling last year’s exploits; a Humboldt County Supervisor tours a fish farm in Denmark; plus, Cal Poly Humboldt has a new Dean of Students. Those stories and more in today’s online newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.

FURTHER READING: 

• Sheriff’s Office By the Numbers: County’s Law Enforcement Arm Releases its 2022 Annual Report, With Scads of Charts and Graphs About Every Aspect of its Operations
• Supervisor Arroyo Will Take Us on a Photographic Tour of Nordic Aquafarms’ Denmark Fish Farm During Tomorrow’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Meeting
• California Lawmakers Want to Know Why Billions in Spending Isn’t Reducing Homelessness

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

Want to LISTEN to HUMBOLDT TODAY? Subscribe to the podcast version here.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On April 15, 2023, at about 11:27 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Samoa area for the report of an armed robbery.  

Deputies contacted a 45-male-victim and learned that the robbery reportedly occurred near the intersection of New Navy Base Road and Cookhouse Road. The victim told deputies that he was walking along the roadway when he was approached by an unknown dark-colored truck with two male occupants. The men reportedly brandished firearms at the victim, demanded he drop his belongings and threatened to kill him. The men then took the victim’s belongings and fled. The victim did not sustain physical injuries during this incident.

The suspects remain outstanding at this time. They are described as follows:

• Suspect One: White male adult, approximately 30-years-old, medium build and short hair. He was last seen wearing a blue-colored jacket and dark pants.
• Suspect Two: White male adult, thin build, with facial hair and possibly long, “slicked back” hair. He was last seen wearing a green jacket.   

This case is still under investigation. Anyone with information about this case, the suspects or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539, reference case number 202301773.

PBS has a new digital series called “Untold Earth,” which explores weird and awe-inspiring corners of the planet in and easily digestible format. It’s produced in cooperation with Nature magazine and the great Atlas Obscura website.

The first episode — which you can watch in its entirety above — is a very handsomely shot look at the old-growth forests of Redwoods State and National Parks. Redwood experts guide us through the unusual ecology of old-growth redwood trees, current management practices and the cultural importance of the trees to the Yurok Tribe.

In other words: This might cover old ground for most of you, but again: Beautiful cinematography. It’s worth eight minutes of your time.

Find below: The trailer for the entire series.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On April 13 and 14, 2023, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office investigators and representatives from the Arcata and Fortuna Police Departments conducted a sex offender registration compliance sweep throughout the County of Humboldt.

During this sweep, law enforcement attempted to contact registered sex offenders to ensure each offender was in compliance with state requirements and living at the locations which they provided during registration. Pursuant to California Penal Code 290, sex offender registrants are required to register in person with the law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction where they reside. The registrants must also comply with several registration requirements, such as updating their registration annually and informing law enforcement when any changes have been made to their address or registration information. Failure by a sex registrant to keep law enforcement notified of an address change or registration information is a crime and can be punished as a felony or misdemeanor.

During this two-day compliance sweep, 154 registrants were found to be in compliance and 16 registrants were found to be out of compliance. Detectives are completing follow-up investigations into the individuals found to be out of compliance and anticipate cases to be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for review and prosecution.

There are a total of 433 sex registrants in Humboldt County. This month’s operation is part of an ongoing effort to do smaller, more frequent 290 sweeps to reduce violent sexual offenses in the county through proactive surveillance and arrest of habitual sexual offenders, and strict enforcement of state registration requirements. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is a participant in the Region II Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team, and these enforcement efforts are funded through the SAFE grant.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank participating agencies for their assistance in this operation.

Additional Resources:

• https://meganslaw.ca.gov/faq.aspx
• https://humboldtgov.org/DocumentCenter/View/69388/Sex-Offender-Registration-Requirements

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Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to share with the community our 2022 Annual Report. The new report, and previous years’ reports, can be viewed online or downloaded at this link..

In this report you will find information on every division of the Sheriff’s Office. This publication is only a snapshot of what the Sheriff’s Office accomplishes daily throughout the county. There are things our personnel do every day that make a difference and go unnoticed. We pride ourselves in that. The Sheriff’s Office is blessed to have the community’s trust and support.

As public servants, we value all lives above our own and we are always ready go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure our community and citizens are protected. We can’t do this job alone. We value our tribal public safety partnerships with Hoopa, Yurok and Blue Lake Tribal Police. We also want to recognize it takes a team of volunteers to assist us with carrying out our goals. We want to thank those volunteers that assist us with Neighborhood Watch, Search and Rescue, Coroner duties, Animal Shelter Care and Maintenance, Sheriff’s Citizens on Patrol, Community Emergency Response Teams, and our beloved Chaplains.

We look forward to continuing our pursuit to build trust and relationship with our community, to solve problems together and make Humboldt County a safe place to live, work and play. If you are interested in learning more about the Sheriff’s Office or our mission, vision and values, please visit our website at humboldtsheriff.org, like us on Facebook HumboldtSheriff, or follow us on lnstagram @HumboldtSheriff or Twitter @HumCoSO.