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In announcing his candidacy for Eureka’s Ward 2 City Council seat via press release this morning, Security National Project Manager Kenny Carswell describes himself as a lifelong Eureka resident who grew up in Ward 2. 

This may well be true (or mostly true, as you’ll read below), but Carswell hasn’t been living in Ward 2 recently. According to property deed records on file with the Humboldt County Assessor’s Office, he just closed escrow on a house in Ward 2 a week ago today.

Carswell re-registered to vote at his new address that very day, and while he was at it he changed his political party registration from Republican to “no party preference.”

Carswell’s previous address was on the 4400 block of Little Fairfield Street, which may qualify as Eureka for the purposes of civic pride and the U.S. Postal Service, but it’s technically outside of city limits, which means that until his recent (or imminent?) relocation, Carswell was not eligible to vote in Eureka’s municipal elections, much less run for a seat on its City Council.

A few of you may recall a post we published 39 days ago reporting on a local realtor who had a client with a very specific real estate wish list. They were looking to purchase a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house “in ward 2 of Eureka … as soon as possible!”

Why such a specific location? we wondered. And what’s the rush? Might it be related to the fact that Ward 2 incumbent Kati Moulton is up for re-election this year and the candidate filing deadline is August 9th (now just four days away)?

Under Eureka’s “True Ward” election system, approved by voters in 2016, candidates for City Council must live within the ward they wish to represent, and only residents of that ward get to cast votes for that particular seat.

The house Carswell purchased last week fits this rather particular bill. It was described in an online listing as “a charming 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom Craftsman home,” and it is in Ward 2! Albeit just barely, and only because the boundary lines were moved three years ago to reflect updated population figures from the U.S. Census.

As for his party registration, that may not technically matter, since Eureka’s City Council seats are non-partisan. But Republicans have not fared particularly well in Eureka’s recent electoral history, and Carswell is by no means the first to ditch the “R” shortly before running for office — see Mike Newman (who switched addresses and de-Republicaned himself in 2010) Chet Albin (who underwent an unconvincing political change of heart in 2013) and Virginia Bass (who left the GOP prior to her 2010 run for the Fourth District seat on the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors).

[UPDATE, Aug. 6, 11:18 a.m.: A reader reminds us that former Fourth District Supervisor Bonnie Neely flopped from longtime R to freshly minted D in 2009. She lost to Bass in the following year’s election.]

Perhaps also worth mentioning: Carswell’s employer, Security National, has dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into both a political campaign and a series of lawsuits aimed at stymieing the City of Eureka’s current housing development plans, which involve the conversion of downtown parking lots into apartment buildings.

Two voicemails left for Carswell today had not been returned by the time this post was published but we’ll update when we hear from him.

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PREVIOUSLY: 

• Is There a New and Mysterious Contender for Eureka City Council’s Ward Two Seat? In Facebook Post, Local Realtor Calls for Help Finding a House to Buy Specifically in that Area ‘ASAP’
• Security National Project Manager Kenny Carswell Announces Bid for City Council Ward 2 Seat

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Ed. note — The Second Ward is currently represented by Kati Moulton, who has announced that she will seek reelection. It includes the Jacobs Campus.

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Press release from Kenny Carswell:

Lifelong Eureka resident Kenny Carswell has announced he is running for Eureka City Council, representing Ward 2. Carswell filed his candidate paperwork with the Eureka City Clerk’s office this morning.

“I genuinely love this community,” Carswell said. “Growing up in Ward 2, I have always felt a strong connection to the people and places that make this area unique.” He added that his goal is to be a voice for the community and residents of Ward 2 and to work to ensure the council remains objective and representative of its citizens.

Carswell grew up and attended school in Eureka. His current civic activities include serving as a Rotarian and a member of the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board.

“I have actively supported my community and wish to be a voice that truly represents the community and residents of Ward 2,” Carswell said. “I will work to ensure the council remains objective and representative of all its citizens.”

Will Adams, president of ACGC, Inc. (Adams Commercial General Contracting), said, “I have known Kenny Carswell for some time and think he will make an excellent addition to the Eureka City Council. As Eureka hopes to grow and redevelop, we are going to need level-headed, practical people like Kenny in positions of leadership.”

At a recent meeting of supporters, Carswell told attendees that advocating for the needs and concerns of Eureka’s residents while engaging with and listening to community members is truly important and something he genuinely values and enjoys.

Carswell’s deep love for Eureka drives his desire to serve on the council. He is passionate about making a positive impact.

“I am dedicated to prioritizing the collective voice by making decisions that correspond with the consensus of the majority. I deeply love Eureka, and it would be a privilege to represent my Ward on this council,” Carswell added.”

The presentation was unassuming, just a handful of picture books arrayed on the side of a bookcase — the ABCs of a Pride parade, biographies of the gay World War II codebreaker Alan Turing and 50 LGBTQ+ people who made history, the sex education manual “It’s Perfectly Normal,” a retelling of the Stonewall riot and “My Shadow Is Pink,” in which a young boy explores his gender identity.

But when Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau heard a complaint from a constituent that Clovis librarians had put together a graphic Pride Month display for the children’s section, he was concerned enough to check it out. It wasn’t the type of material that he thought should be available alongside books about skunks and pirates.

“I don’t like a kid going in there and seeing ‘I can choose to be a boy or girl,’” Brandau said. “It didn’t seem age-appropriate, especially without the parent being involved.”

After flipping through the books, Brandau said he left the library in June 2023 “horrified” by images he believed were too sexually explicit and topics he felt were too mature for young readers. He began reaching out to local officials elsewhere — in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky and Texas, where library book controversies have become commonplace — to learn what they were doing.

Last November, Brandau led Fresno County in creating one of California’s first citizen review committees for library books, which could soon decide whether to move material with “sexual references” and “gender-identity content” to a restricted area where it could only be checked out with a parent’s permission.

Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau stands outside his office in the Fresno County Hall of Records on Aug. 1, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

The committee, which has not yet been selected, is already a lightning rod for fears about parents’ rights, censorship, the politicization of libraries and LGBTQ people being pushed out of public life again. Supporters say they are concerned about sexual content, not LGBTQ themes, and they do not want to ban books from the library entirely.

Tracy Bohren, a queer mother of two from Clovis who helped rally local LGBTQ residents against the committee, said adults who object to books about gay and transgender people are applying their own biases to sexualize material meant to help children understand the world. She said it’s important to have library books about marginalized groups available to LGBTQ kids who don’t come from supportive homes and need the message that they are loved.

“Somehow in the ‘we need to protect kids’ platform that they have stated, trans kids, LGBTQ kids, have not been considered part of that population that they need to protect,” Bohren said.

Now the book battle has become another front in the intensifying clashes between more conservative pockets of California and the state’s liberal government over values and local control. A bill on track to pass the Legislature before the session ends on Aug. 31 would effectively outlaw book review committees and other policies that limit access to materials at public libraries — potentially shutting down Fresno County’s efforts before they ever get off the ground.

“It appears to me that they believe that children are best educated and raised as wards of the state,” Brandau said. “We have age limits for movies. We have age limits for alcohol. And it’s not unreasonable to have age limits on sexually graphic material.”

Books bans surging nationwide

Though disagreements over what constitutes suitable reading material for young people are nothing new, public libraries have been thrust into a pitched culture war over the past few years as conservative activist groups across the country organized to demand more books be removed from collections.

The American Library Association has tracked a massive increase in the number of books being challenged at schools and libraries, which soared by 65% in 2023 to a record 4,240 titles. Nearly half featured LGBTQ or racial themes, according to the association.

Many Republican-led states have subsequently embraced policies requiring schools and libraries to remove books with any sexual content — including nudity, masturbation and homosexuality — or keep them in a separate adult section. New statewide restrictions have taken effect in Utah, Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee in recent weeks.

California is not at the center of this conflict, though it has faced scattered fights over school materials, including a high-profile showdown last year between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Temecula school board that tried to ban an elementary school social studies textbook because it incorporated a lesson about assassinated gay politician Harvey Milk of San Francisco. In response, Newsom signed a law to penalize local districts that block books for including the history or culture of LGBTQ people and other diverse groups, while voters recalled the school board president in June.

The public library in Huntington Beach Nov. 11, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for Cal Matters

Besides Fresno County, the city council in Huntington Beach, the iconic Orange County surf community, has also voted to create a citizen committee to review children’s library books, part of a broader push by local officials to establish a bulkhead against progressive California policies. In the latest salvo of a bitter brawl over the political future of the city, opponents are collecting signatures to place a repeal of the review board before voters next spring.

These incidents caught the attention of Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat, who said public libraries are cornerstone institutions that should provide all Americans with a diverse range of perspectives.

“Teens exploring gender identity issues absolutely should have access to books that speak to their experiences and that may provide support or guidance,” he told CalMatters.

His proposal, Assembly Bill 1825, would require public libraries in California to establish a clear policy for choosing books, including a way for community members to voice their objections, but would prohibit banning material because it deals with race or sexuality. It also clarifies that library material can include sexual content that’s not obscene and leaves to the discretion of librarians where to display those books, though they could not prevent minors from checking them out.

“At the center of this bill is the fundamental respect for professionally trained librarians to be making the decisions as to what book titles and how to present them to the general public,” Muratsuchi said.

The measure has received the support of the California Library Association. Peter Coyl, the director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library and a member of the association’s intellectual freedom committee, said librarians want to provide people with information, not pornography. While parents have the right to decide what their own children read, he said, libraries need to have materials available to serve their full communities, including families with same-gender couples and children who are questioning their identities.

“Not every book is meant for every reader,” Coyl said. “You can’t then take your belief about what’s right for your child and apply it to everyone else.”

The bill, which won overwhelming approval in the Assembly in May and has advanced smoothly through Senate committees since, must pass the Legislature by the end of August to reach the governor’s desk. A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor would not comment on pending legislation.

If it is signed into law, it could still potentially face legal challenges from defenders of library book review committees, who argue the bill prevents parents from protecting their children from adult material.

“How do we make sure our public libraries really are tools that can be used by everyone?” said Diane Pearce, a city councilmember in Clovis, a fast-growing and Republican-leaning Fresno suburb. “We want to empower our parents in this situation and the state is telling us that they can do it better than we can.”

LGBTQ families feel targeted

The debate over the book review board in Fresno County has been deeply enmeshed with anxieties around LGBTQ rights, particularly transgender youth, underscoring how advocates on either side see the committee in starkly different terms.

Clovis City Councilmember Diane Pearce posted these photos on Facebook on June 28, 2023, warning constituents: “Might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library.” Photo via Diane Pearce’s Clovis City Councilmember Facebook page

As Brandau was researching his proposal last summer, the issue blew up publicly when Pearce posted a warning on Facebook that people “might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library” alongside photos of the Pride display and a page from a book about gender identity.

Pearce said she does not object to LGBTQ content, but rather to graphic sex education books and others dealing with “transgender ideology” being targeted to young children, which she said are not appropriate themes for that age.

“I looked at it as a public service announcement,” Pearce said. “I believe that parents should be involved in their children’s exposure to that. Those issues are controversial.”

Pearce asked her city council colleagues to send a letter to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors seeking a solution, though they did not ultimately agree.

That effort mobilized local members of the LGBTQ community, such as Boren, who said the library skirmish is part of a broader pattern of religious conservatives in Fresno County overlooking or discriminating against LGBTQ families.

The Clovis school district was one of the first in the state last year to require parental notification when a student changes their name, pronouns or gender identity — a policy that the Legislature and Newsom recently made illegal in California, effective in January and pending several lawsuits.

When advocates rallied against the review committee proposal before the board of supervisors last fall, Bohren said officials ignored their expressions of support for the library and seemed only concerned with serving their constituents who aligned with their ideology.

An art display in the children’s section in the Fresno County Library Clovis Branch on July 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

“I feel like it was contrived,” she said. “It’s one specific group of people — Christian nationalists — who are deciding what is appropriate or not appropriate for my children to see.”

Brandau said opponents fundamentally misunderstood his proposal, known as the Parents Matter Act, which he already considered a compromise. No books will be banned, he said; the committee will merely move material to a restricted section of the library that parents can access if they want, allowing Fresno County to set its own community standards for what books should be readily available to children.

He said he took months to develop a policy that was “not targeting one lifestyle,” though he acknowledged that language limiting “gender-identity content” and other “content deemed age-inappropriate” encompasses books about sexuality and transgender people.

“I’m not against this material. I’m against it at the wrong age,” Brandau said. “If this didn’t involve children, it’s not the biggest deal on the planet.”

Librarians under siege

California librarians say morale in their profession has plummeted in recent years. The backlash to certain books has fomented public distrust of their intentions and stoked a host of stressful and sometimes terrifying new threats — protesters, prank calls, bomb threats and “First Amendment auditors,” who record their encounters with library workers on their phones.

“These are things we never worried about before,” said Coyl of the Sacramento Public Library. “It’s not what we signed up for as library workers. And it is probably the worst that it’s ever been.”

Books on shelves in the children’s section at the Fresno County Library Clovis Branch on July 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Some libraries that have not faced a huge number of book challenges are making precautionary changes to their policies, such as requiring that demands come from someone who proves that they actually reviewed the material and not allowing another challenge if the library keeps the book on the shelf.

“Not every book is meant for every reader. You can’t then take your belief about what’s right for your child and apply it to everyone else.”
— Peter Coyl, Director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library

The tumult has stretched even to liberal California communities not used to conflicts over cultural values. Programs where drag queens read stories to children have become a particular flash point. Two years ago, members of the far-right militia group the Proud Boys stormed a drag storytime at a library in the East Bay city of San Lorenzo.

The library in Redwood City, on the San Francisco peninsula, started a drag queen story program remotely during the pandemic. When it hosted the event in-person for the first time in 2022, several groups protested that the library was grooming and indoctrinating children. The protesters included people associated with the Proud Boys and a local homelessness nonprofit with an evangelical Christian affiliation, according to Derek Wolfgram, interim director of Redwood City’s parks and recreation department.

Wolfgram, a past president of the California Library Association, said he tries to use these situations as an opportunity to engage positively with the community. The evangelical nonprofit wanted to host a Bible storytime in response to the drag queen event, so the library created a series of story hours with faith leaders of different denominations, which Wolfgram said has been popular and appeared to draw new library users.

He recalled another exchange with a man who said the library didn’t have enough books with conservative viewpoints. Wolfgram asked for a list of recommendations, some of which were already in Redwood City’s collection and at least one — “Why I Stand,” the memoir of NBA player Jonathan Isaac — that the library added. It has since been checked out several times.

“Don’t tell me what you want to take away from anybody else. Tell me what you want to add so you feel included,” Wolfgram said.

Parents divided over review committee

In Fresno County, another Pride Month has come and gone and the library book review committee still has not launched. The deadline for applications was in April, but more than three months later, the board, which will primarily be selected by county supervisors, remains vacant.

Brandau said he received more than 40 applications, which he is reviewing. He expects to finish interviews and choose his two representatives to the committee by the end of the month.

“We have age limits for movies. We have age limits for alcohol. And it’s not unreasonable to have age limits on sexually graphic material.”
— Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau

A spokesperson said the library is waiting to receive direction from the review committee before it moves any material. In the meantime, the Clovis branch put together an elaborate Pride display in June, with a case of featured books, a historical timeline and, in the children’s section, a banner depicting melting popsicles of every color in the rainbow, with the slogan “Love is Love.”

John Gerardi, executive director of Right to Life of Central California, is among the applicants waiting to find out whether he’ll be on the committee. The Clovis father of three “frequent library-goers” under the age of 10 said he wants to move books about sexuality that he believes are being presented to children who are far too young.

On several library visits, Gerardi said, his wife has found books in the children’s section that included explicit material that did not seem appropriate for the marked grade level, such as “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth. The sex education comic book for 8- to 10-year-olds has been one of the most challenged books in the country in recent years because of its frank discussion of sexual topics. Gerardi objected to an image that depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub and a passage about the meaning of the word sexy.

An image from the sex education comic book “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub, which some parents argue is too graphic for the children’s section of the library. Photo courtesy of John Gerardi

“Some of these books just seemed completely inappropriate for healthy childhood development around sex,” Gerardi said.

Gerardi said he has lost confidence in library officials, who he believes have been dismissive of parents’ concerns even though they are not all experts on early childhood development.

“There’s this idea that they have access to some secret hidden knowledge that we don’t have. And I just don’t think that’s true,” he said. “I think that appropriate presentation of sexual themes to children is something that the taxpayers who are paying for this darn library can understand.”

Others are seeking positions on the library book review committee precisely because they do not believe it should exist at all.

“It’s absolutely disgusting trying to control a public library that way,” said Jamie Coffman, a Fresno mother of four children ranging in age from 2 to 11. She said it’s a parent’s job to monitor what their kids are reading, not anybody else’s, and people should trust the librarians’ judgment about what books they put on the shelves.

Coffman said she submitted her application with vague answers that she hoped would conceal her true intention to “take it down from the inside.” She has yet to hear back.

Raised in a conservative, Southern Baptist family, Coffman said reading helped expose her to other viewpoints as she was growing up. She worries that society is moving backward on accepting diversity and said she’s scared that her own children might have fewer books available to them.

“You can’t hide the world just to make your children into who you want them to be,” she said.

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

Siddiq Steven Kilkenny received the gift of life on May 29, 1946 and grew up nurtured with love by his Irish and Azorean family in Vallejo. He ran everywhere, played games with the neighbor kids, but also loved his own backyard where he built tree forts with his brother Phil and cousin Dan. An energetic multi-sport athlete at St. Vincent’s High School, he then chose to play football for the HSU Lumberjacks from 1966-1968.

During his final college years, Steve developed a passion for antiwar and social activism, co-leading the HSU student strike following the 1970 bombing of Cambodia, and engaged in many activities in the environmental movement and local politics, including the beginnings of the Northcoast Environmental Center and the Stop at Four committee.

In the early 1970s, Steve began practicing meditation and yoga and in 1976 took the name Siddiq when he became a student of Sufi Pir Vilayat Khan. Siddiq, with dear friends, started the local Dances of Universal Peace. He went on to practice with many wise and genuine spiritual teachers over the years.

This depth of practice led him to become a leader with vision. For nearly 30 years he directed the Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. In this role, Siddiq was in on the beginning of one of the first Early Head Start Programs in the United States and he started the now influential California Head Start Association. For dozens of years, he contributed his leadership to county organizations including the First Five Commission, the Humboldt Child Abuse Prevention and Coordinating Council, the Every Child Collaborative and the organization now known as the Humboldt Health Foundation.

He served 10 years as an Arcata School District Trustee and built strong collaborations between social services, school districts and law enforcement to protect children and families in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Siddiq sang with the McKinleyville Community Choir, nurtured the Eureka Symphony board, and was president of the Arcata Zen Group.

Siddiq loved climbing to the top of mountains and swimming in deep mountain lakes. He especially loved the Kilkenny land near the headwaters of the Eel River, which has been in the family for six generations. There he welcomed the wildlife, played his guitar and had fun with his loved ones, watching the snow melt off 8,000-foot Mount Hull. He also repaired roads, trails, ancient cabins, and anything else on the land that needed fixing.

With joy, Siddiq tended his two-acre garden on Campbell Creek in Arcata, filled with tree ferns, redwoods, maples, roses, dahlias, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, dogwoods, redbuds, blueberries, raspberries, huckleberries, apples, pears, plums, figs, lemons and many other plants and trees.

Siddiq drew people in with his twinkling eyes and smile and held them close with his empathy and sincerity. He was known for his heartfelt laugh, his vibrancy and aliveness. He was wise and kind and loving. A gentle soul, whose spirit will live on in all those he touched.

The center of his life was his beautiful and loving partner Matina. Together for 50 years they grew into each other, becoming each other’s greatest teachers and the deepest of friends. There are no words to convey the joy and happiness they shared. Their deeply loved sons Francis and Chris, joined by Francis’ beloved spouse Sandra Herdt and daughter Tasha, enriched his life beyond measure. In addition to his wife and children, Siddiq is survived by three sisters (Carolyn Cadloni, Patrice Gavin, Jeanne Kilkenny Turk), two brothers (Phil Kilkenny and Paul Kilkenny), nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews, sisters and brothers-in-law; hundreds of cousins among whom he was an elder, several surrogate children and grandchildren and many fascinating friends and co-travelers.

Matina and Siddiq loved to travel and made many pilgrimages throughout Europe, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Central America, North Africa, the Azores, Japan and Nepal.

Siddiq was led to the great threshold by a very rare and incurable cancer on July 24, 2024. He returned to stardust with deep gratitude for a life of awe, wonder and great love. Love that was returned many times over from many people and from the mountains, rivers, and the richness of life.

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

Kenneth “Ken” Starkey passed away surrounded by his family on May 29, 2024, after suffering a stroke late in 2023. Ken lived his entire life in Humboldt County, born January 4, 1948, at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka.

Ken grew up in Arcata and became a successful local businessman and community leader. Like his brother, Russell “Rusty” Starkey, and sister, Marilee “Dee Dee” Hadley-Taylor (nee Starkey), he attended Stewart Middle School and later played football and basketball at Arcata High School before attending California Polytechnic University, Humboldt (then Humboldt State University) where he also played football. While attending college, Ken worked for his future father-in-law, Reno Orlandi at Marino’s Club (just off the Arcata Plaza) with many of his friends. He married his high-school sweetheart, Judith Orlandi, in 1970 and eventually welcomed two sons, Adam and Kory. Ken and Judy separated in 1990.

Like his father, Ken was active in supporting Arcata High School after graduating in 1966. Ken and several high-school friends donated their time to the football and basketball programs for many years, staffing the officials’ table.

Ken worked for his father at Warren, Starkey and Grey Insurance Agency prior to establishing the Ken W. Starkey Insurance Agency in 1981. Ken operated the insurance agency in the Sunny Brae Shopping Center for nearly 20 years prior to moving to a larger location on Samoa Boulevard and merging to become Anderson Robinson Starkey (part of the Shaw Group) in 1998. He eventually retired in 2013.

During his lengthy career serving the local community’s insurance needs, Ken was an active member of the Arcata Rotary Club (and was a Paul Harris Fellow). Ken supported many community-focused initiatives during his tenure with Rotary and found his true passion in helping with the annual Arcata High School Wrestling Tournament.

Ken married Linda Diane Holt in September 1997. He became a stepfather to Linda’s two daughters, Mikell and Cherese.

Sharing his father’s love of the outdoors, Ken made many trips to Grouse and Spike Buck Mountains where the family maintains a hunting cabin on the Old Joe Green homestead (of approx. 160 acres). “The Mountain” as it became known was a source of adventures for family and friends who hunted, fished and camped there over generations.

Ken is preceded in death by his parents, Clarence LeRoy “Poppy” and Marion Margaret “Mimi” Starkey and his wife, Linda. He is survived by his siblings, sons and stepdaughters and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and cousins. Ken valued his close and loving relationships with them all.

The family wishes to thank the staff and management at McKinleyville Timber Ridge for their kindness and support of Ken during his residency. The family would also like to thank the entire medical and nursing staff from Hospice of Humboldt for their compassionate care.

Per his wishes, Ken was laid to rest together with his departed wife next to his parents at Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata.

A celebration of life open house will be held for friends, business associates and family at the Plaza Grill View Room (in the historic Jacoby’s Storehouse (780 7th Street, 3rd Floor, Arcata) from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Hospice of Humboldt in Ken’s memory.

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

LoCO published GOU #1 on January 5, 2015. Titled “New Year’s Thoughts about Aging,” I managed to riff on senior discounts, erectile dysfunction, angina, moussaka, pedometers, travel and prostate cancer. All in 412 words. Which sort of was an omen for Things to Come, i.e. my short attention span is mirrored by the variety of topics I’ve messed about with during the subsequent not-quite-ten years. Let’s see, I wrote about:

Zorba the Greek, nudity, Christianity, insomnia, death, Clint Eastwood, GMOs, vulvas, the end of the Roman Empire, gluten, bike helmets (pros and cons), gravity, tides, exercise, Layla, mondegreens, Prague, dildos, vaccinations, spam, Kill Bill, BLM, Nigerian scams, almonds, PDT, Beirut, movie film frames, heroin, Palenque, Islamophobia…

…and that was just in the first 50! (I doubt either of us has the patience to check all 500.) All in all, I’ve written nearly a third of a million words for the Sunday LoCO. None of it exactly deathless prose, but I do give myself credit for never missing a deadline. I didn’t know I had it in me!

“How do you come up with your ideas?” I’m sometimes asked. I don’t, that is, there’s no process I follow in deciding what to write about for next week. It just happens. I’ll be reading something (I read a lot), chatting to someone in Ramones or OTCC, paddling my kayak (harbor seals below, pelicans above) at peace with the world…and there it is. A topic, sent by one or more of the Muses. Clio (Muse of History) has been especially kind to me, as has Urania (Astronomy) and, if I’m particularly blessed, Thalia (Comedy). You can’t just invoke a Muse, of course, they only come when they’re least expected. I guess I made all the right offerings to them in some previous life.

That third-of-a-million is currently calling me. Our lives don’t usually incorporate such large numbers, but I can think of a couple of exceptions. When Louisa and I walked the Camino de Santiago some years back, 540 miles in 30 days, I estimated that represented a million steps. Then there’s breathing: 6 breaths a minute, that’s…Hey Siri, what’s 6 times 60 times 24 times 365.25 x 81?…255, 616, 560 breaths to date. Heartbeats? Half a million a year (the distance to the moon and back in miles).

And that’s where my mind goes, i.e. all over the place. Maybe it’s time to take a break.

Yup, that’s what I’ll do. Let go of my regular-as-clockwork (excepting the two clocks on Second Street in Old Town Eureka, they haven’t been regular in years) columnar rant. I’ll just be writing from now, as they say in Friends’ Meetings, “As the spirit moves me.” When I might actually have something worthwhile to say.

Thanks all of you for following and commenting, you know who you are. Thanks Hank, thanks Angie. It’s been a fun run.

The Northwest Forest Plan turns 30 this year. The Plan, which governs federal forest management within the range of the northern spotted owl, was a first of its kind: a landscape level ecosystem management plan. While the Plan has been a success on many fronts, it is also showing its age. Climate change and tribal sovereignty were issues that were never well-addressed in the original plan. Now, the Forest Service is moving forward on amendments to the plan to update it to better reflect modern issues and modern needs on public forests.

To help direct that amendment, the Forest Service has convened a “federal advisory committee” of concerned citizens to provide recommendations. This week’s guest, Susan Jane Brown of Silvix Resources, is one of the co-chairs of the advisory committee. She shares her perspective on the Plan and potential amendments on this week’s episode.