UPDATE, OCT. 18 1:15 p.m.: In response to some flipping out from certain sectors of the artistic community, the Redwood Community Action Agency wishes to emphasize that entries do not require a completed work of art as a project proposal.

Rather, entrants may describe the art they propose and submit that description along with samples of previous work.

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From the City of Rio Dell:

City of Rio Dell — Eel River Trail Community Art Wall

Call for Artists and Application

DUE: OCTOBER 28, 2024

Project description:

The City of Rio Dell, with Caltrans’ Clean California Local Grant Program funding, is developing the City’s first dedicated multiple-use trail. Caltrans established the Clean California program to beautify and clean up local streets, roads, parks, pathways, transit centers, and other public spaces. The trail will connect Davis and Edwards Streets along the Eel River (in 2025). It will include trailheads, parking, signage, and a community art installation (see below image).

Information about the project location & art project:

The community art installation element involves commissioning original art for a designated space located at the future Edwards Street trailhead. The art space is 4’8”x 5’8” and will be accompanied by Eagle Prairie Elementary students’ tile artwork (left and right white spaces). The selected artist will incorporate project themes into their artwork (see Application Question #12 for specific guidance on themes).

The artwork will be scanned, re-printed on a substrate (TBD), and scaled to fit the space. The original artwork will become property of the City of Rio Dell and displayed at City Hall or other location. Artists are free to use any material or combination of materials to express their work. This could include (but is not limited to) paint, textiles, digital art, mixed media, or photography. The artist will be paid $2,000 for their original work which includes one high resolution scan (with future use TBD). There is the potential to work with local students in the development of their accompanying art tiles (sampled designs below in left and right open spaces. Compensation will be discussed if so).

Conceptual design of the future art wall.

This Call for Art will fill center space. Side panels will be filled with future student tile art (placeholder images shown below).

How to apply:

Interested artists can fill out the attached application and submit it by email to (along with examples of work and their proposed design) by October 28, 2024. Please see application for complete timeline. [ED. NOTE: Please see the Important Update at the top of this post for clarification, especially if you are the type of artist who believes that they were not given enough time for this project.]

Project timeline and selection process:

The applications will be reviewed by a small panel and three artists will be selected. Final selection will be a competitive vote process decided by Rio Dell residents. Preference will be given to designs with themes appropriate to the trail project (see application for specific guidance on themes). Other selection criteria will be at the discretion of the community review panel.

Timeline for selection:

• October 9 – Call for artists and project information released.
• October 28 – Artist proposals due.
• October 28 – Panel reviewers select top 3 proposals via rubric. Selected artists are asked to present 30% conceptual design sketches by 11/6.
• November 6-13 – Three artist design sketches are put out to the Rio Dell community for a competitive voting process. Final artist is selected Nov. 13.
• November 13 - Artists are notified of the panel’s decision. Selected artists are contracted for work, the other two artists are thanked with $75 award. Selected artist proposes a draft review schedule leading up to final design (two design drafts).
• December 11 – Artwork is completed, artist is paid.
• December 13 - Artwork is scanned and reproduced at scale for future trailhead art space.

The selected artist must execute and agree to comply with the terms of an Artist Agreement prior to, and as a condition of, developing any artwork.

Artist compensation and expectations:

Artists will provide their own high-quality paint, materials, and painting tools at their own expense.

The artist will be paid $2,000 for their artwork (includes one scanned reproduction, with future use TBD). Artists must submit a W9 form and an invoice to receive payment, and payment will take 3-4 weeks on average but could take up to 6 weeks. Submitting a W9 in advance and submitting an invoice quickly upon completion will greatly expedite payment.

City of Rio Dell Eel River Trail Community Art Installation Application

Please fill this out as completely as possible and submit by email to Abixler@rcaa.org by Monday October 28, 2024 by 5 pm

1. Legal Name:
2. Alternate name/ artist moniker (if used):
3. Email:
4. Phone:
5. Address:
6. Instagram/ Social Media link(s):
7. Website:
8. Artist bio – If selected, this bio will be used in the press and elsewhere to promote this project. Please limit your answer to one paragraph of 100-200 words:
9. Artist experience – What is your experience in creating pieces of public art? Please limit your answer to one paragraph of 100-200 words 200 words:
10. Artist vision – What is your vision for the artwork you are proposing? What materials/ paints will you use? Please limit your answer to one paragraph of 100-200 words:
11. Artwork samples – Please attach 2-4 images of artwork you have completed. If possible, at least one of the images should be a large-scale piece of art, public art preferred.

These images will be used to review applications.12. Proposed design – Please fully describe what you propose to create for the trailhead art space, including how your design will capture the project’s themes. You can briefly detail several alternatives (such as featuring people abstractly or not etc.) as desired.

Please limit your response to 400 words.

Themes to convey include:

• Importance of a clean and healthy river environment (litter free)
• Connection to place (iconic Scotia Bluffs and Eel River bar)
• Respect, stewardship and love for the local riverine environment and wildlife

Convey an overall positive message.

Please email abixler@rcaa.org with any questions regarding themes.

Thank you very much for your interest!

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Big things are happening in and around the Port of Humboldt Bay. First and foremost, in terms of pure scale, we have the federal government’s multi-hundred-million-dollar plans to develop floating wind energy 20 miles off our coast, which would involve transforming our port into a 21st century heavy-lift marine terminal.

On top of that there’s Nordic Aquafarms’ $650 million fish farm approved for construction on the Samoa Peninsula, plus ongoing trail development and a wide variety of established industries such as fishing, oyster farming, seaweed farming, recreation and more.

It’s a pivotal time for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, which has permit jurisdiction over the bay’s harbors, ports and surrounding lands. 

And yet with three seats on that agency’s board of commissioners up for re-election this November, only one has multiple candidates: Division 5, which extends from McKinleyville north to the county line and east to Willow Creek, the Hoopa Valley and surrounding areas. (Division 1 incumbent Aaron Newman and Division 2 incumbent Greg Dale are both running unopposed.)

With the retirement of longtime Division 5 Commissioner Patrick Higgins — who told the Outpost that he plans to further commit to his environmental stewardship work on the Eel River — this seat is wide open.

Enter Jack Norton and Wilfred “Wil” Franklin. 

Both residents of McKinleyville, Norton is a former high school and college athlete who spent the weekends and summers of his youth hunting and fishing with family in and around the Hoopa Valley Reservation. He works for the Blue Lake Rancheria.

Franklin, a former professor of biology and plant science, is now director of the North Coast Small Business Development Center. In 2012 he founded Trinity River Vineyards, working as the winemaker and viticulturist before selling the business a decade later.

The Outpost recently sat down with each of them to talk about their respective backgrounds, the opinions on how best to approach offshore wind development and their visions for the future of Humboldt Bay. You can read about those conversations below.

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Jack Norton’s name will be familiar to many locals, especially those living along the Klamath River. Jack Norton Elementary School, in the remote community of Johnsons on the Yurok Reservation, is named after his paternal grandfather, who was the first member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe to earn a college degree.

The third in a line of four Jack Nortons (including his adult son), he, too, is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Norton is descended from members of the Hupa, Yurok, Karuk and Cherokee tribes, and since 2002 he’s been employed by the Blue Lake Rancheria, where he currently serves as controller for the casino. [DISCLOSURE: The Blue Lake Rancheria is a minority owner of the Outpost’s parent company, Lost Coast Communications, Inc.] 

Norton said he commutes to work with his wife, who is also a financial controller for the Rancheria, though she works on the tribal government side of its operations. 

He was born and raised in Eureka, attending Grant Elementary, Winship Junior High and Eureka High School, but much of his family lived in Hoopa, where he’d often go on hunting and fishing trips with his brothers and grandfather, who “would tell us all kinds of stories,” Norton said. “It was really neat.”

But his real passion growing up was athletics.

“I was a jock,” Norton said with a smile, and as we sat at a table Ramone’s Bakery and Cafe in Old Town Eureka, he spent the next few minutes recalling some of his exploits as both a football player and a wrestler. He was good, especially at wrestling, which earned him a trip on a three-week cultural exchange program to Japan the summer before his senior year. At one point he was ranked second in the state for his weight class, though he disappointed at the year-end tournament, failing to place.

“I kind of choked, I guess,” he said. 

Still, he was good enough to earn a scholarship to San Jose State University, though initially he didn’t stick around for long. Why? He cites a brief conversation with “probably the worst [career] counselor to ever run into.”

“His advice was, ‘Quit school, go get a job for two years, figure out what you want to do, and then consider coming back,’” Norton recalled. “I quit that day.”

He came back to Humboldt and enrolled at College of the Redwoods, joining both the football and wrestling teams. He placed fifth on the Junior College All-American Team for wrestling and eventually returned to San Jose State, where placed ninth in the nation before blowing out his knee. (He tore his anterior cruciate ligament while “hot-dogging” in practice by jumping over three guys.)

Norton graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s in business administration, minoring in economics, and worked a few different jobs before getting recruited by the Hoopa Valley Tribe to be assistant general manager of their economic development corporation.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, I can do that!’” Norton recalled. His tenure there quickly became contentious.

“I narced out the boss,” Norton recalled. “I caught him doing some fraudulent things.”

The fraud involved bonus checks based on inflated figures (gross receipts rather than net profits), and while the tribe took Norton to court over the matter, he prevailed. He also tried to implement more internal fiscal controls for the tribe’s bingo operations, which rubbed some people the wrong way, and eventually, following some reorganization and the election of new tribal council members, Norton was let go.

He decided to view it as an opportunity and enrolled in Humboldt State University, where he earned his master’s degree in business administration. After graduation, he got rehired by the Hoopa Valley Tribe as a grant writer.

“I was a decent little grant writer,” he said, noting that he brought in $1.5 million for a couple of years. He was later promoted to executive director of the tribe’s Office of Research & Development, and in 1994 he was elected to the board of the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District.

After being recruited to work at the Blue Lake Casino and Hotel, Norton served several years at the human resources manager and health plan director before becoming controller in 2018.

Asked what motivated him to run for the Harbor District’s board of commissioners, Norton said it was the economic opportunities presented by offshore wind development. He mentioned the so-called “brain drain” that sees young people grow up and move away due to a lack of good career opportunities — a trend followed by his own son, who works in chemical engineering for a suburb of San Jose.

“On a personal level, it would be nice to have be able to have a position where my son could come back home and apply chemical engineering and make his livelihood here,” Norton said.

As for the macro level, he cited the recent economic downturn with the decline of the cannabis industry. 

“And I think the entire county and all businesses in every sector are feeling that,” he said. “So I think that renewable energy, I’m all for it, yeah. One hundred percent.”

The key, he said, is doing it “the right way.”  Norton attended the offshore wind energy summit convened by the Yurok Tribe earlier this year and said he relates to their concerns. 

“I did meet with them, and they’ve endorsed me for the position,” he said.

I expressed surprise at this, considering the Yurok Tribe’s formal opposition to floating offshore wind energy development on the North Coast. 

Norton said he thinks he sees eye-to-eye with the tribe on the issue. “I re-read some of the stuff they published about the offshore summit, and [Tribal Vice Chairman] Frankie Myers himself … his things was, ‘So long as it’s done right,’” Norton said. (A spokesperson for the tribe confirmed their endorsement of Norton.)

He supports the Harbor District’s 2013 acquisition of the Redwood Marine Terminal II property (former site of the Evergreen Pulp Mill), noting the subsequent EPA-led cleanup of the toxic site, and he believes that the Nordic Aquafarms project is a positive thing.

“We often don’t know where the fish we buy in grocery stores comes from,” Norton said, whereas he noted that this land-based fish farm will be certified safe. 

Speaking more generally, Norton said he would bring a Native perspective to the Harbor District by incorporating “generational thinking” and the concept of world renewal. That includes renewing the local fishery while also working on green port development through public-private-tribal partnerships.

He’s interested in exploring the potential of local “green hydrogen” development, citing the potential to use the fuel in tugboats and other heavy-load transportation vehicles.

“Technology advances in recent years have increased the efficiency dramatically in hydrogen production as well as the safety in the distribution  systems,” he told the Outpost in a follow-up email.

Norton also sees opportunity in federal programs such as New Market Tax Credits, which support remediation and redevelopment of brownfields and blighted industrial property, and the Inflation Reduction Act, “which has made the offshore wind project possible” while incentivizing investment in disadvantaged areas, he said. 

Asked why people should vote for him rather than his opponent, Norton cited his generational thinking, Native perspective and “strong business analytical background … looking at financial statements and seeing where things are working well or not working very well, efficiency-wise.”

Norton remains an athlete (his campaign website notes that he enjoys fishing, hunting, biking and exercise), and he’s excited by the trail development going on around the bay. 

“I’d much rather ride a bike and jog or do something on horseback than ride a little train, you know?” he said. But he had an idea to improve the trails: “Maybe they’ll put some exercise things out every so often, right? I really like those, where you jog for 400 yards or whatever and you go do some sit-ups, some push-ups, other exercise things.”

He smiles again. “I still like to exercise and retain my health. … I think part of world renewal begins with yourself. You gotta be mentally fit, know who you are [and] what do you want to do, and be physically fit as well.”

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We may be in the midst of the most polarized election season in modern American history, but you won’t find any acrimony in this race. In fact, Franklin said he seems agrees with his opponent on most major issues facing the district and would probably even vote for Norton if he wasn’t running for the position himself.

“I think the Fifth District has no bad options this time,” Franklin said in our recent interview. “I think you have two very reasonable, sensible people. …  I think I am a little more positioned than him to have influence because of the different connections I have.”

Those connections, including contacts in government, labor unions and the private sector, have largely been forged via Franklin’s position as director of the North Coast SBDC, though he also cites his experience as an entrepreneur and college professor.

Like Norton, Franklin was born in Eureka and attended Eureka public schools before transferring to Jacoby Creek Elementary, then Arcata High School. He briefly attended U.C. Santa Cruz before returning to Humboldt County.

“I was a pretty classic Humboldt State student who took seven years to graduate,” he said.

He majored in botany with an eye toward environmental engineering and teaching. (“I really love teaching,” he said.) He went on to earn his master’s degree in mycology — specifically, ectomycorrhizal fungi and the symbiotic relationships of living organisms in conifer forests.

After working for a couple of years in San Luis Obispo’s wine industry, Franklin and his then-girlfriend/now-wife moved to Pennsylvania, where she was from, so she could pursue her master’s in education. Franklin got a job teaching botany and plant science at Bryn Mawr College, and the couple had two children.

“It took us a good 11 years to get back to Humboldt,” Franklin said, noting that they wanted to raise their kids here. (Their eldest is now enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College and their son is a high school sophomore.)

His wife quickly landed a job teaching at St. Bernard’s, but Franklin had trouble finding a college teaching gig. Instead, he decided to take another approach.

“I basically built a business so I could do something,” he said. That “something” was wine-making, employing his experience in San Luis Obispo and his knowledge of horticulture and plant biology. Franklin found a landowner near Willow Creek who had “the oldest vines in Humboldt County,” he said.

The company he formed, Trinity River Vineyards, was based entirely in Humboldt County, using dry-farmed vineyards in the Willow Creek American Viticultural Area, the county’s only AVA.

“I was able to navigate how to become an entrepreneur, how to build a brand. I was the workhorse, the brains, the winemaker and the viticulturist behind Trinity River,” Franklin said, though he was not an owner.  He decided he’d rather earn a salary than have the albatross of debt hanging over him. He helped grow the business for about a decade. Trinity River Vineyard was sold in 2022 to a partner in Mendocino.

In his current role at the SBDC, Franklin said, “I’m now combining my love to teach with this entrepreneurial stuff in small business. And now I basically teach and advise small businesses. I will bring that kind of local knowledge and local respect and understanding for conservation and economics Humboldt Bay.”

Franklin said his stances on many issues facing Humboldt Bay are complex, not easily relayed as soundbites. 

“I’m pro union in general, except … the reality of Humboldt County is that’s not how the economics of our workforce work here,” he said. “You would actually have unintended consequences if you push [for union jobs exclusively] when the labor force is not here.”

He was referring in large part to the jobs that will come with the Nordic Aquafarms project and offshore wind energy development. A labor agreement for the latter proved controversial, but Franklin said he’d work to balance business interests with his stance as an environmental conservationist. (He’s on the board of the nonprofit Friends of the Dunes.)

“I’ve seen the forests get raped and filled the rivers with silt, right? It makes me cry,” he said. “You know, this is who I am, at heart. I ran a business here and understand that those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. … We can protect Humboldt Bay — which is an absolute gem and a common-wealth resource — and have some smart development.

Like Norton, Franklin addressed the “brain drain” that’s been fed by departing young people as well as a trend of disinvestment in rural America.

“Our population has peaked; our jobs peaked before that,” he said. “It’s bigger than just in Humboldt, and if we’re not careful, it’s a positive feedback loop — you get smaller and smaller. And that’s fine, but I have kids here, and I want them to maybe come back. … How do you change the trajectory of that disinvestment cycle and give Humboldt County a new identity, a new brand around renewable resources, around maybe offshore wind and aquaculture around our bay?”

That bay, he said, is our “unfair advantage” in competing for outside investment. 

“We can’t be Silicon Valley. We can’t be Sacramento or Redding. But we have something that they don’t have,” he said. “So I feel compelled to try to change that trajectory of disinvestment. … If we can do it right, I’m for new businesses coming here [with] sustainable, living-wage jobs.”

Again, this echoes what Norton said. The key is doing it “right.” But what does that mean?

Franklin said that, in principle, he’s not in favor of giant, global corporations coming in and extracting wealth from our region, and he’s hesitant to go against the stated position of local “tribal and indigenous knowledge.” (In addition to the Yurok Tribe, the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation have also come out in opposition to offshore wind on the North Coast.)

“I mean, we’re living through the biggest example of colonial capitalism, not listening [to indigenous people] when we built dams on the Klamath,” he said. “At the same time, we have broken our environment, and it’s very urgent that we get off of fossil fuels.”

With sea-level rise, Tuluwat Island, considered by the Wiyot to be the center of the universe, will be underwater if climate change is not addressed quickly and meaningfully, he said.

“It’s gonna take immediate, massive effort to change what we’re doing to the plane,” he said. “I think that urgency actually trumps everything else at the moment. … We have to find a way forward.”

Supporting small, local businesses may be the ideal, but that’s not the economic model of the energy sector, he noted. Still, he thinks local businesses stand to benefit from the industry through robust community benefit agreements and the development of ancillary activities in the supply chain.

“If we can get the project labor agreements that also take into account our local workforce that’s non-union, we can do this and have it be a win-win, and not a detriment to the bay,” Franklin said. “It sucks that there might be weird turbines that are in our viewshed. At the same time, it could be something that we’re proud of.”

Earlier this year, Franklin traveled with a local cohort of government, nonprofit and private sector leaders to New Bedford, Mass., where they toured Vineyard Wind 1, the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. New Bedford, an old fishing town, has been “completely rehabilitated as a [wind energy] staging ground” with education/safety training systems and auxiliary services, he said. 

Franklin believes the same is possible here in Humboldt County, though he said he’d like to see “a lot more studies” about the industry’s potential impacts to the local salmon fishery and other environmental resources.

Through his role at the SBDC, Franklin is also involved in the region’s WindLINK Initiative, a collaborative effort between Humboldt County’s Economic Development Division, the Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce, Northern California SBDC and Norcal Apex Accelerator. [ADDENDUM: The effort also includes the Redwood Coast Chamber Foundation (an affiliate of the Greater Eureka Chamber) and the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RREDC).]

“The four of us are are in the process of developing a consortium that is focused around maximizing … the opportunity for our local workforce,” Franklin said.

He’s also currently enrolled in the third and final semester of a graduate-level certificate program on offshore wind development and economics through the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with tuition covered via a stipend from the county.

“There’s one class on the engineering of turbines, and, you know, the physical aspects of engineering turbine development and energy production. There’s another semester on permitting and licensing, all the EPA and [California Environmental Quality Act] steps, and another one on community engagement and community benefits,” he said. “So it’s the whole cycle of everything we know about offshore wind development.”

With that education under his belt, Franklin believes he can turn around and teach local business owners how to make the most of the coming opportunities.

“We’re really well positioned to teach a lot of this here … to take what I [learned] from the year-long course and put it into hour-long sessions, all-day sessions, you know, seminars — to really start working with key businesses to ramp up their capacity to really be part of this.”

Franklin argued that the knowledge he’s gained about the offshore wind industry combined with his scientific knowledge, business connections and entrepreneurial efforts make him the best candidate for this available seat on the Harbor District’s board of commissioners.

“I honestly think my background in science, understanding the ecology of the bay, understanding the business of the bay  … overlaps really well the Humboldt Bay Harbor Commission, to influence the decision-making there to maximize benefits for our local businesses,” he said. “We have to do something right and take responsibility for the asset we have, which is the bay and this wind.”

Community benefit agreements could ensure that Humboldt County gets to keep a portion of the energy being generated, and cheap, abundant energy could, in turn, allow the county to attract new businesses such as data centers, battery centers and more, Franklin argued. However, it might require the local community to think a bit differently than it has historically.

“We’re pretty anti growth up here, and for good reason,” he said, “particularly since we’re one of the last places that’s truly beautiful and safe [with] clean air coming off the Pacific Ocean.” But he thinks economic growth is possible without despoiling those assets.

In an emailed follow-up to our interview, Franklin said he wanted to make sure that he’d articulated the clear difference between himself and Norton.

“[W]hat I was trying to demonstrate is [that] my highly connected network and established relationships will allow me to influence the narratives,” he wrote. “I’m just fortunate to be in a position to have the ear of the movers in both Humboldt economic development and environmental conservation.”

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For more information on each candidate, you can check out their campaign websites. Here’s Norton’s and here’s Franklin’s. 

Every morning, tens of thousands of incarcerated individuals in California prisons must work a job they did not necessarily choose. They cook and serve meals. They keep the facilities clean. They collect, wash and distribute laundry.

If prisoners decide to stop reporting to their assigned jobs, or if they attempt to prioritize educational or rehabilitative programs during their mandated work hours, they won’t simply risk losing the job — they face disciplinary infractions. For lifers, a writeup documenting refusal to work spells almost certain doom toward hopes of parole.

“If you don’t go to work, we’re gonna punish you – and they do,” said J Vasquez, a former prisoner who is now an activist with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. “I remember the first time I saw a man cry, like he broke down because he had just lost his mother. And he was still forced to go to work under threat of punishment. It’s like the guy can’t even take a day off or a couple of days to grieve.

“These are the type of things that really undermine people’s healing, undermine rehabilitation — and really, it doesn’t make much sense, right?”

California voters are now deciding whether to ban those compulsory assignments for people in jail or in prison. Proposition 6 would change the state constitution to repeal a provision that has allowed forced labor as a form of criminal punishment since the state’s founding.

California lawmakers placed the measure on the ballot with nearly unanimous votes, and passionate activists are campaigning for the initiative around the state.

But it’s far from certain that the measure will become law. Limited polling on the initiative shows likely voters are leaning against it.

“It’s an early first read,” said Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California, which released a poll last month that showed 50% of likely voters opposing Prop. 6. “I wouldn’t say it’s losing. In the field right now before the election, that’s where it gets interesting.”

No one organized a campaign to oppose Prop. 6, and yet the measure appeared to face an uphill climb as mail-in voting began this month.

“It’s scary and frustrating,” said Vasquez. “It’s scary, because you don’t get many shots to run a ballot measure.”

Low-budget campaign for Prop. 6

Now, supporters are organizing phone banks and speaking of their lived experience whenever they can. It’s a low-budget effort, with supporters raising about $1.1 million for the measure.

“Once we message this, people begin to understand what we’re talking about,” said Matt Reilly, Prop. 6’s lead political strategist. “We have terrific grassroots organization in various L.A. communities. We want people affected by this to be the voice for our campaign.”

Prop. 6 landed on the ballot after a similar proposal failed in 2022. The state Finance Department at the time estimated it would cost $1.5 billion because the state might have to pay inmates more money for their work. Today, most of them earn less than 74 cents an hour.

This year, supporters of the proposal adjusted it to continue voluntary work assignments with pay determined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Several other states, including Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont, recently have banned forced labor in prisons. Some activists characterize the campaigns as efforts to wipe out a legacy of slavery; and California’s measure moved forward after the state’s Reparations Task Force drew attention to the harmful effects of discriminatory policies against African Americans.

Prop. 6 supporters say the measure would compel state prisons to prioritize rehabilitative programming rather than busywork that does not necessarily help an inmate prepare for life after incarceration.

“When a person has access to rehabilitation, we’re all safer. Right now, we spend $14 billion per year on prisons, with a failure rate of 70% in terms of recidivism. When we talk at a high level about these facts, we win people over,” said Jay Jordan, founder of the advocacy group Center for Social Good.

California’s total corrections budget is expected to top $18 billion this year, with $14 billion coming from the state general fund. About 42% of prisoners released in 2019 were convicted of new crimes within three years, according to the state’s most recent report on recidivism.

Is Prop. 36 influencing polling on forced labor?

Democratic Assemblymember Lori Wilson of Suisun City, who sponsored the bill that placed Prop. 6 on the ballot, said the measure could be lagging because of broad support for another criminal justice initiative on the November ballot, Proposition 36.

Polls show voters favor Prop. 36 by wide margins. It would lengthen criminal sentences for certain drug and theft charges, and it would steer some people convicted of multiple offenses to treatment instead of incarceration.

“Prop. 36 is messing with the numbers out there,” Wilson said, arguing that support for the better-publicized Prop. 36 could be influencing voters’ first impressions of Prop. 6.

The measure to ban forced labor in prisons does not have a big warchest for advertising, but a number of large public employees unions and Democratic Party leaders have endorsed it.

Wilson said winning over undecided voters is an “easy conversation” when supporters get an opening to talk with someone.

“Rehabilitation lines up with our goals. We’re saying we want them to be rehabilitated, but if we continue forcing them to work, then we’re not making it the priority,” she said.

“I’ve never seen a judge – when sentencing a person to prison – they never sentence them to work. This is part of that original sin of slavery when slaves were brought to our state and worked alongside prisoners,” she continued.

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Joe Garcia is a California Local News fellow.

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

Donadina “Dona” Domingo, 92 went to meet her lifetime dancing partner, Ernie, on September 28, 2024, surrounded by family at the home she shared with him for over 50 years in Eureka.

Dona was born December 10, 1931, in Porterville to Luz Hernandez and George V. Cavinta Sr. When Dona was four, she and her sister Frances found themselves in the care of their father and close family after the passing of her mother Luz. Dona worked in the tomato fields with the rest of the family and friends, and in the produce sorting plant with her beloved Auntie Angie. Dona spoke fondly of her “Filipino Gang” of kids that worked and played together, showing she was able to find joy even in hard labor as long as she was with people she loved. Dona was very close to her cousins and sisters: The Fab Five. They would meet annually at Auntie Angie’s house in Porterville to reconnect and relive their “glory days.”

Dona attended St Anne’s school in Porterville until 1941 when the family moved to Oakland. There she attended St. Mary’s school and graduated from Holy Names High School in 1950.

After high school, Dona worked for Edward Brown & Sons Insurance Company in San Francisco. In 1951 she met and married Nestor “Ernie” Domingo and they moved to Oakland where they had their first two daughters, Stephanie (1953) and Lisa (1955).

In 1958 Ernie accepted the Court Reporter job in Crescent City, relocating the family from the big city of Oakland to the quiet north coast in Point Arena. Dona would talk about how the airport would call them to get the weather report, specifically the fog, and how they would watch the whales during their migration. In 1962 Ernie was offered a job in the Humboldt County Municipal Court, which brought them all to Eureka.

The family grew when Dona and Ernie took over the care of her 1 1/2-year-old half-brother George Cavinta, Jr. (J.R.). following the death of his mother in an automobile accident. He was followed by the birth of their third daughter, Teresa (Tere’) in 1968.

Dona worked at the Arcata Justice Court then transferred to the Humboldt County Municipal Court and retired in 1992. Dona & Ernie hit the road as soon as they retired. They loved to travel and visit with family and friends as well as every golf course they could find.

Dona was a Girl Scout leader and a member of the Marine Corps Auxiliary League. She could always be found side by side with Ernie at every event he was involved with: Coast Central Credit Union board member events, Knights of Columbus and all the Filipino parties. If there was a dance floor, that’s where you would find them. She enjoyed knitting, having crafted many blankets, scarves, and baby hats — a testament to the immense love and care she had for those in her life. “Murder She Wrote”, “Days of our Lives” or the Spanish vocals of Vicki Carr would accompany her as she knitted and folded laundry or cleaned, but her most favorite thing was to cook or bake for her family. She loved a full dinner table surrounded by her family enjoying everything she made for them. She even “adopted” family when she included HSU students Ernie met to Sunday dinners.

Dona is preceded in death by Luz Hernandez (mother), George V. Cavinta Sr. (father), Nazario Domingo (father-in-law), Nestor “Ernie” Domingo (husband), Robert Ramos (brother), Carmen Vivid (sister), Lisa Domingo (daughter).

She is survived by her daughter Stephanie Domingo-Russell (Alan) of Cupertino, son George “J.R.” Cavinta (Diana) of Arcata, daughter Teresa Domingo-Chase (Matt) of Eureka.

She is also survived by her beloved grandchildren CJ & Nico (Claire) Russell, Marena Domingo-Young (Dave), Sierra Domingo Cullen, Briana, Georgie, Andrew & Gabby Cavinta; and two great-grandchildren, Wesley and Milo Russell, her sister Frances Rooney, goddaughter Robbin Bankston, as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews who will miss her dearly.

Dona was fortunate to have amazing caring friends that the family are eternally gratefully for: Jackie Fleming, Lynn McKenna, Dottie and Jerry Williams, Lupe & Bernie Casarez, Carley May-Schlesinger, Dr. Paul and Kathy Windham, Camille Brown, Carolyn Miller, her rosary group and the wonderful local Filipino community. Her absence will be felt as deeply as the love she shared.

The family would like to thank everyone for all the kindness and heartfelt condolences they have received during this time. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in the memory of Dona to St. Bernard’s Church.

Rosary for Dona will be held Friday, February 28 at 5 p.m. The funeral mass will be Saturday, March 1 at 1 p.m. followed by a reception at the Parish Hall.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Dona Domingo’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

An independent police oversight group has found that the Eureka Police Department, despite dealing with a high number of complaints and large amounts of multitasking, is completing internal reviews of officer misconduct quickly and correctly.

That information comes from documents released ahead of the OIR Group’s quarterly  Community Oversight Police Practices meeting, which will be held Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Eureka City Council chambers and is open to the public. 

The OIR Group is a Los Angeles-based independent police auditor that reviews internal investigations about officer misconduct for cities across the country. The group praised EPD’s internal review system. 

“EPD’s command staff clearly remains committed to internal accountability: as exemplified by two cases involving supervisors, EPD is willing to formally hold all employees, regardless of rank or tenure, formally accountable for their actions,” reads the OIR Group’s quarterly report. “This commitment is not to be taken lightly in an agency of EPD’s size. Unlike larger agencies that have dedicated Internal Affairs staffing, EPD’s command staff and supervisors are tasked with a myriad of responsibilities yet take the requisite time to investigate complaints of possible misconduct with rigor.”

One of the incidents the OIR Group investigated was the Nov. 26, 2023 shooting of 31-year-old Cutten man Matthew Williams by EPD officers Jeremy Sollom and Nick Jones. The OIR Group criticized EPD for not interviewing Sollom and Jones the day of the shooting (EPD said it was difficult to do same-day interviews because their legal team is based in the Bay Area). They did commend them for having the EPD supervisor in charge of the investigation observe the interviews later. 

Overall, the OIR Group didn’t find too much to criticize EPD for this quarter, unlike last quarter when the OIR Group made several different suggestions on how the department handled the Cal Poly Humboldt occupation.

Some of the internal investigations the OIR Group looked at:

• A man parked in a place where camping isn’t allowed accused EPD officers of harassing and antagonizing him after they asked him to move. EPD decided the officers acted fairly after reviewing body cam footage.
• An EPD employee claimed their boss was often hostile and was creating a toxic work environment. Employee interviews showed that was true. EPD decided the supervisor had violated their code of conduct, but they did not create a toxic work environment.
• An officer called out sick, but another EPD employee saw them out walking their dog on a trail a while away from their residence later that day. The officer said he was sick, but had to exercise his dog away from people for their safety. He did say he understood that it wasn’t a good look. EPD decided the allegations were baseless.
• Two EPD officers arrested someone trespassing on private property and found some drugs on them. The arrestee later complained that they were treated poorly by the officers and also said they were forging documents. The EPD couldn’t find any evidence of either charge, nor could they find the complainer.

“This quarter’s review demonstrates that the Department continues to uphold its commitment to thoroughness, fairness, and accountability in its investigative processes,” the quarterly report reads. “The Department has actively sought our feedback and incorporated recommendations, a testament to its openness to external review and its continuous effort to refine internal practices.” 

Larue.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Tuesday, October 15 at about 4 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies responded to the report of a domestic disturbance with possible shots fired at an apartment complex on Orchard Lane in Redway.

Deputies responded to the location and located a significant amount of blood and other physical evidence which indicated a disturbance had occurred inside one of the apartment units, but it appeared the individuals involved were no longer at the location. The Sheriff’s Office received numerous phone calls from additional reporting parties indicating the involved individuals had fled the location and had been seen traveling southbound on Redwood Drive in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

Deputies and law enforcement personnel from numerous agencies canvassed the area and ultimately located the vehicle parked at a residence on Mill Road in Redway. Immediately upon law enforcements arrival, numerous subjects fled on foot into the wooded area south of that location towards Evergreen Road. Law enforcement established a perimeter in the area and began investigative efforts to determine what had conspired.

One of the involved subjects that fled from law enforcement was identified as Joseph Larue, age 38, of Redway. Initial reports identified Larue as the primary aggressor in the initial domestic violence incident, and indicated Larue had been injured during the incident after sustaining a gunshot wound to the face/head. Larue was described as having face/neck tattoos and wearing a dark t-shirt and black or blue jeans during the time of the incident. Larue was also believed to be seen concealing a firearm in his waistband prior to fleeing from law enforcement on foot. A Humboldt Alert was issued to residents in the area indicating the reason for the increased law enforcement presence in the area and instructing them to remain inside their homes.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Division and California Highway Patrol were requested to assist with the search/apprehension of Larue. CHP fixed wing and helicopter aerial assets, along with Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s), were utilized to assist SWAT and K9 personnel during the ground search. After an extensive search, in which all available resources were exhausted, law enforcement personnel were unable to locate Larue.

Joseph Larue is described as a white male adult with dark hair, brown eyes, face and neck tattoos, approximately 6’ tall and weighing approximately 185 lbs. He is believed to be armed with a firearm and was last seen wearing a dark t-shirt and black or blue jeans.

As a result of this incident, arrest warrants will be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for Larue for felony domestic violence, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person. Larue is also currently a wanted fugitive associated with felony animal cruelty charges out of Oregon stemming from a January 2024 investigation.

If anyone has information about this crime or Larue’s whereabouts, they should contact the HCSO. Anyone who sees Larue is urged to refrain from approaching him and call 911 immediately.

This case is still under investigation.

Anyone with information about this case 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.

There was another threat investigation and another lockdown at a Eureka City Schools campus yesterday evening — this time at Winship Middle School, in Cutten.

Details about the threat are hard to come by at the moment. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the case, did not return email seeking information on the incident.

But Micalyn Harris, executive assistant in the Eureka City Schools’ Superintendent’s Office, told the Outpost that the district became aware of the threat at around 5 p.m. and instituted a “soft lockdown” that lasted about an hour.

Since school was already out, Harris said, the lockdown only affected an afterschool program on the campus and a football program unaffiliated with the school, which was using the campus’s field.

Eureka High School — another of Eureka City Schools’ campuses — has been dealing with a spate of bomb threats or shooting threats over the last couple of weeks, with at least three received in October so far.

The following message went out to Winship families from Principal Kristi Puzz last night:

Dear Families,

This evening, we became aware of a potential threat made toward our campus. Out of an abundance of caution, students in our after-school program were immediately placed in a soft lockdown, and families were contacted to pick up their children.

The Sheriff’s Department was promptly notified and conducted a thorough investigation. Following their review, they determined that the threat was not credible.

School will resume as normal tomorrow, with an added presence of sheriff’s deputies on campus for everyone’s continued safety and reassurance. Additionally, staff will be addressing this incident with students tomorrow, discussing the seriousness of making any kind of threat, to ensure that all students understand the importance of maintaining a safe and respectful school environment.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Respectfully,

Kristi Puzz