How many employees at the California State University system were accused of some kind of unwanted sexual conduct in recent years?

Surprisingly, it’s a question no one can answer with confidence even as Cal State, the nation’s largest four-year public university, grapples with the fallout from numerous high-profile cases of sexual harassment and abuse.

A key takeaway from two hard-hitting sets of reports released late last month is that the 23-campus system collects insufficient data.

In one of the reports, the California State Auditor wrote that Cal State lacks “meaningful analysis” to “identify and respond to concerning trends.” The auditor’s report, which was requested by state lawmakers, found that the data on the number of unwanted sexual conduct reports — such as sexual harassment, misconduct, stalking, assault and violence — filed against employees is “unreliable.”

Cozen O’Connor, a law firm the Cal State Chancellor’s Office hired last year to publish more than two dozen reports, wrote that “the current process for collecting data does not result in consistent, reliable data across the system.”

The two sets of reports revealed a huge discrepancy in how many Cal State employees at the 23 campuses were accused of some kind of improper sexual conduct — 1,246 across five years according to the audit and 452 in four academic years according to Cozen.

The reasons for the discrepancy range from imprecise data collection to the addition of new categories of unwanted sexual conduct in the most recent year. Both sets of reports also state campuses don’t use the same software to track improper sexual conduct and don’t log cases the same way.

Buying better software and training more staff to track these reports of unwanted conduct are some of the reasons Cal State estimates it’ll spend $25 million in 2024-25 and unknown sums going forward to adopt all the reports’ recommendations.

“We agree with and will implement the recommendations provided in the audit report, as well as those identified in the Cozen assessment,” wrote Jolene Koester, Cal State’s interim chancellor, to the state auditor.

The importance of good data

Collecting good data is a common watchword of victims’ advocates. Both sets of reports make clear why students and staff will be safer if campuses have a more accurate count of sexual harassment, misconduct, violence, stalking and assault cases.

Complaints against employees can lead to investigations, which may result in additional training, a reprimand or disciplinary action all the way to dismissal for those found to have violated Cal State policy.

But the campuses lack “a sufficient understanding of the volume” of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence, the Cozen systemwide report said. Nor can campuses spot trends in specific locations or academic programs, or even whether a single individual is the source of multiple complaints, the Cozen and audit reports noted. Cozen added that “because the CSU is not tracking data across campuses, an employee who engages in conduct of concern at one CSU university can often seek employment at another CSU without the new university being aware of the misconduct.”

Campuses lack “a sufficient understanding of the volume” of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence.
— Cozen O’Connor’s report

In multiple cases, the auditor’s report flagged issues with campuses that determined employees didn’t violate Cal State policy on unwanted sexual conduct. The auditor’s office wrote that it found “deficiencies that caused us to question the investigative determination about sexual harassment.”

Across U.S. higher education, sexual harassment and assault are rampant. According to a 2019 survey of 33 universities, including three in California, more than 40% of all students reported experiencing a form of sexual harassment since entering college, such as “inappropriate or offensive comments” about their bodies or sexual activities. A quarter of undergraduate women said they were victims of “nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force.”

Competing numbers and data problems

There are multiple reasons why the two sets of numbers of how many employees were accused of unwanted sexual conduct — 1,246 and 452 — are so different.

The first thing to know is that, according to Cozen and the state auditor, neither of their numbers is reliable. But they’re unreliable for different and overlapping reasons, ranging from the types of unwanted sexual conduct Cal State counted to which Cal State documents Cozen and the auditor relied on to finalize their tallies.

One major reason the auditor’s count of 1,246 reports filed against employees is much higher than Cozen’s is because it included more types of unwanted sexual conduct over a longer period of time — 2018 to 2022.

Cozen based its numbers on the official reports campuses submitted to the Cal State’s Chancellor’s Office between 2018-19 and 2021-22. Campuses included the number of reports filed against employees that were limited to several types of unwanted sexual conduct — assault, stalking, misconduct and dating or domestic violence — for the first three academic years in the data set.

Then, in 2021-22, the chancellor’s office began asking campuses for instances of reports against employees — and students — that included two more categories: “sexual exploitation” — a term that refers to sexual coercion, prostitution or recording sexual activity without consent — and a narrower definition of sexual harassment. That narrower definition includes “unwelcome verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature” and offering favors in exchange for sexual acts.

The Cozen reports published the same numbers that campuses sent to the chancellor’s office.But campuses also maintained physical and digital files on many other types of reports filed against employees that weren’t reflected in the tallies sent to the chancellor’s office — and by extension — weren’t reflected in Cozen’s figures.

The auditor’s office took a different approach. It reviewed all those physical and digital files and identified cases that alleged sexual assault, stalking, violence, exploitation, sexual harassment, and other unwelcome sexual conduct. It did this for five calendar years.

That’s how the auditor got to a much higher count than the Cozen reports — it just did the additional work of reviewing the raw data.

But even the auditor’s review of digital and physical files didn’t paint the full picture. In some cases, multiple complaints filed against an employee were counted as a single report. Other times, multiple complaints against a single employee were counted as multiple reports. Some campuses had incomplete case files, which may have affected the precision of the auditor’s counts.

“Because of these inconsistencies, we found the data to be unreliable for our purposes,” the auditor wrote.

Importantly, the Cozen and auditor reports had different goals. For example, lawmakers specifically asked the auditor to count how many employees were accused of unwanted sexual conduct. By design, the Cozen reports focused on how Cal State addresses discrimination, harassment, and retaliation according to its own policies and federal rules, wrote the lawyers who shepherded the project, Leslie Gomez and Gina Maisto Smith, in a detailed email response to CalMatters. Cozen produced roughly 1,600 pages of analysis and recommendations for all 23 campuses and the system in the reports, “an arduous task,” Gomez and Smith wrote.

“I think it obviously shows the need for the school to have been collecting this data all along.”
— Shiwali Patel, Director of Justice for Student Survivors and Senior Counsel at the Washington D.C.-based National Women’s Law Center

The latest data from the Cal State campuses also shows how the number of reports against employees can jump when the system tracks more unwanted sexual conduct. Since 2021-22 was the first year that the chancellor’s office sought data from campuses about sexual harassment and exploitation — not just violence, stalking and assault — the number increased in Cozen’s set of reports.

That year there were 255 reports against employees, according to a CalMatters review of Cozen data for all 23 campuses. The year before, Cozen counted 56 reports and about 70 each in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Cozen’s much higher count for 2021-22 is also similar to the auditor’s counts for the 2021 and 2022 calendar years — 193 and 285 reports alleging unwanted sexual conduct by employees, respectively.

“I think it obviously shows the need for the school to have been collecting this data all along,” said Shiwali Patel, who leads policy and litigation on gender-based harassment at the Washington D.C.-based National Women’s Law Center.

More reports of mistreatment likely

The Biden administration is expected to finalize changes to the federal law governing not just unwanted sexual conduct, but also gender-based discrimination. The predicted changes will expand the allegations colleges must respond to — which may increase the number of reports schools will eventually publish.

Gomez and Smith said that Cal State should compile annual reports that include all those data points.

The Biden rules will be the fifth major change since 2011 to federal rules about how colleges should handle violence and discrimination complaints on their campuses. The shifting rules amount to a legalistic whiplash for higher education that is also compounded by evolving state rules, including in California.

The Cozen report notes this constant change is taxing on schools, which must quickly adapt and hire or train more staff knowledgeable in the intricacies of discrimination and harassment prevention policies and enforcement.

In an official statement, Cal State said its count of complaints against employees included violence and assault — and not harassment or exploitation — because federal guidance in 2011 and 2013 emphasized those types of unwanted sexual conduct and not others.

Adding harassment and exploitation to the data collection in 2021-22 “was important to better understanding the frequency and nature of sexual harassment reports, and due to sexual exploitation being newly added to the CSU Nondiscrimination Policy,” wrote Amy Bentley-Smith, spokesperson for the Cal State Chancellor’s Office, in an email to CalMatters.

She provided other possible reasons for an increase in reports that year. One is that students and staff returned to campus as the pandemic subsided. Another is the set of high-profile cases of unwanted sexual conduct at Cal State that prompted more people to come forward with their own complaints.

If Cozen’s “recommendations are implemented with fidelity, we expect that campuses will have more effective practices and systems, and therefore, more reliable data,” wrote the Cozen lawyers to CalMatters.

But better data can only capture what’s reported.

“When we see more numbers reported, that’s actually a good sign” because it shows more “victims feel comfortable coming forward.”
— Shiwali Patel, Director of Justice for Student Survivor at the Washington D.C.-based National Women’s Law Center

At colleges and universities, “most incidents are not reported,” Patel said. And too often she hears of schools refusing to investigate a student’s or employee’s unwanted sexual conduct complaint. Or campuses might punish alleged victims because they violated school policy, such as drinking, disregarding the harassment or assault complaint.

A culture of intimidation may also prevent victims from filing complaints, especially if the alleged suspect holds considerable sway in a niche academic discipline. That’s according to Maha Ibrahim, a senior attorney who represents people alleging harassment, assault and gender-based discrimination at California-based Equal Opportunity Advocates.

If a student or employee is being abused by someone “who has power in that small space,” then the student or employee can lose their ability to complete their research, Ibrahim said. “We see that kind of reticence and under-reporting a lot.”

Paradoxically, Patel thinks “when we see more numbers reported, that’s actually a good sign,” because it shows more “victims feel comfortable coming forward.” It also means the school may take the steps to educate or discipline someone who’s harming students or staff, she added.

Both the Cozen and audit reports proposed dozens of recommendations, including better data collection. The auditor wrote that Cal State’s central office should collect and analyze unwanted sexual conduct reports from all campuses no later than July 2024. The point is to “identify any concerning patterns or trends, such as those involving repeat subjects, particular academic departments, or specific student or employee populations,” the auditor wrote.

But other data overhauls may take more time. The audit said Cal State should require every campus to use the same software to track unwanted sexual conduct and ensure all campuses are logging the cases the same way. The auditor states that should be done by July 2026.

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

TIJUANA – María Guadalupe Cruz has been trying every day since January to get on the Biden administration’s electronic waitlist, so she could seek asylum in the United States for her and her family.

The 32-year-old mother left Honduras in 2021 with her husband and two children after local gangs tried charging a “war tax” on her home that she couldn’t pay, she said.

Organized criminal gangs fighting for territory near San Pedro Sula, the northern city where Cruz’s family lived, have progressed from extorting protection money from businesses to collecting it from households, she said.

“I told them I couldn’t pay, so they gave me 24 hours to abandon the country,” she recently told CalMatters, at the Tijuana shelter where her family lives in a tent. “And they said if we ever came back, they’d kill us all.”

Migrants wait in line to receive toiletry items at Moviemiento Juventud 2000 in Tijuana, Mexico on July 26, 2023. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

The family had traveled along the northern border of Mexico, trying to find an access point where they could legally approach the United States to seek asylum.

Now it’s up to technology. The Biden Administration requires asylum seekers to seek asylum appointments through its CBP One smartphone app.

But so far Cruz, like thousands of others, has been unable to get an appointment through the Customs and Border Protection’s app using her cell phone. Mexican and U.S. authorities are blocking people without appointments from even approaching land ports of entry, contributing to increased risks at the Mexico-California border.

“I don’t want to try to throw ourselves across the (border) because I know it’s a crime,” she said. “Even though migration isn’t a crime, I just want to do everything legally. We just want to follow the rules — whatever they are — because if we don’t, and they send us back to Honduras, we’ll be killed.”

Legal challenges to asylum rules

What exactly those rules are seems to become less clear every day, she said.

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled in July that the Biden administration cannot restrict how individuals apply for asylum, even by requiring them to use an app.

The Biden Administration has appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to block U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar’s decision. The administration indicated it plans to fight the issue all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

The legal challenge could disrupt what had been a downward trend in the number of unauthorized border crossings at U.S. border cities, Biden administration officials warn. That outcome could substantially impact California, where many migrants arrive hoping to find more humane treatment than at other places along the 2,000-mile stretch of border.

“We just want to follow the rules — whatever they are — because if we don’t, and they send us back to Honduras, we’ll be killed.”
María Guadalupe Cruz, asylum seeker

In Texas last week, two migrants drowned near Eagle Pass, where the state has installed razor wire and floating buoy barriers in the Rio Grande to deter migrants. Although the Texas Department of Public Safety denies either migrant died from getting entangled in the barriers, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blasted the Texas governor, calling the buoy system a ‘death trap.’

“No good person would do this,” said López Obrador at a recent news briefing in Mexico City.

California seen as safer

By contrast, California officials tout the state’s more welcoming and humane border. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has declined to comment on the federal asylum ruling or on California’s specific plans should the court’s stay be lifted, allowing more asylum seekers entry.

Maria Guadalupe Cruz, a Honduran migrant staying at Movimiento Juventud 2000, tries to login to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection One Mobile Application on July 26, 2023. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

The officials have said California has helped 423,000 people since April 2021, with “temporary services and travel coordination,” and spent $1.3 billion since 2019, helping the federal government provide humanitarian services to new arrivals at the border.

“While the federal government is responsible for immigration policy and processing, California has served as a model of partnership for a safe and welcoming border, undertaking humanitarian efforts in border communities,” wrote Scott Murray, deputy director for public affairs and outreach programs for the California Department of Social Services, in a statement.

California has long been home to the largest number of immigrants in the United States. According to the American Immigration Council, they make up more than a quarter of the state’s population and a third of its labor force, and they contribute $124.3 billion a year in taxes.

The Golden State has worked around limits in federal law that bar many immigrants — those with and without legal status — from social programs. That has meant building its own, state-funded programs. But California still struggles to protect its most vulnerable citizens from such issues as wage theft and substandard housing.

The judge’s order lifting Biden’s asylum rule requiring migrants to use the app was set to take effect this week, though the federal government received a stay while it argues its case to a higher court.

A right to request asylum

In addition to requiring migrants to use the app, the Biden rule, known as the “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways,” blocks those who attempt to enter the country between designated ports of entry.

Federal law says anyone fleeing persecution may request asylum once they get a foot on U.S. soil, no matter how they got there — whether they used an app first or not, the judge said. The Immigration and Naturalization Act passed by Congress in 1965 spells that out further, saying any immigrant who has arrived in the U.S. may apply for asylum “whether or not at a designated port of arrival.”

The Biden administration argues its rule — put in place when COVID restrictions known as Title 42 ended — encourages legal pathways for immigration. The administration notes there has since been a dramatic drop in unauthorized border crossings.

“The bottom line … is that no policy that endangers lives, tramples on due process and unlawfully denies some people the right to seek asylum can be considered a success.”
Eleanor Acer, director of refugee protection at Human Rights First

Advocates say the policy amounts to an asylum ban that is harmful and not working.

They say the drop in numbers is artificial, because Title 42 led to a significant increase in “repeat” crossings by migrants who were sent back across the border only to attempt crossings multiple times a day.

Besides, advocates say, regardless of whether the app policy is working or not, it’s illegal.

“The bottom line … is that no policy that endangers lives, tramples on due process and unlawfully denies some people the right to seek asylum can be considered a success,” said Eleanor Acer, director of refugee protection at Human Rights First, a New-York based international human rights organization.

Desperate and in danger

Christina Asencio, also a director at Human Rights First, said increasingly unsafe and inhumane conditions in Mexico are making people desperate while waiting for an app appointment. Many are attempting irregular crossings.

Asencio said in the two months since Biden’s rule took effect, her team of researchers has spoken to a Venezuelan family who was kidnaped and tortured in Reynosa by members of an organized criminal group, a Honduran woman who was raped while sleeping in her tent in the encampment in Matamoros and a Central American man who was kidnapped and tortured.

She said she also met asylum seekers who “would tie cable wires around themselves and their children for fear that while they were sleeping, their children would be abducted from them.”

The federal judge agreed that families may not be safe waiting in Mexico. “The record suggests that migrants waiting in Mexico are at serious risk of violence,” wrote Tigar.

David Pérez Tejada Padilla, regional Baja California delegate for Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, issued a warning in July to migrants in Baja California to not to be fooled by smugglers who may later abandon them in extreme heat, pointing to several recent life-threatening incidents.

“The best, fastest and safest thing to do is to process your asylum application to the United States through the CBP One application, through which they authorize 12,000 entries per month from Baja California,” said Pérez Tejada.

Risks of crossing

Pérez Tejeda said approximately 10,000 migrants arrive each month in Baja California, south of San Diego and Imperial counties. They come from 46 different countries, although the majority come from Mexico and Latin America.

He said U.S. border authorities process through the app about 370 asylum seekers a day in Tijuana and 70 in Mexicali, totaling approximately 3,080 people processed weekly, he said.

“We want more people to get across safely and orderly, instead of doing it by irregular ways through the desert, rivers and mountains, risking their lives with high temperatures,” he said.

The delegate highlighted a few incidents in July when migrants’ lives were endangered by smugglers encouraging people to cross into the United States without CBP One appointments.

In one incident a 9-year-old girl got separated from her family in the Tijuana river canal at night. Her family was trying to cross illegally with about 60 people. Border Patrol agents found her unharmed the next day in Imperial Beach. Authorities said she was being reunited with her family.

“We want more people to get across safely and orderly, instead of doing it by irregular ways through the desert, rivers and mountains, risking their lives.”
— David Pérez Tejada Padilla, regional Baja California delegate for Mexico’s National Institute of Migration

Another incident involved a 14-hour rescue in La Rumorosa, a mountainous area with steep ravines between Mexicali and Tecate. Five people, including a 4-year-old child, were severely dehydrated by the time they were pulled out of a ravine by Grupos Beta, the rescue arm of Mexico’s federal migration agency, Pérez Tejeda said.

He added that Mexican border authorities also found 17 migrants from south Mexico who were apparently tricked into getting into a fake Customs and Border Patrol truck in Mexicali, south of Calexico in Imperial County. The truck was painted with green CBP logos and had a false US government license plate, he said.

Choosing to stay or go

Pérez Tejeda said authorities on both sides of the border are concerned about migrants getting stuck in car trunks in higher than normal temperatures, as they attempt to cross the border undetected.

The choice to wait or to try to cross isn’t always so easy, said José María García Lara, director of the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter in Tijuana.

“The coordination is good between the United States and Mexico on these agreements to bring order,” he said, “but unfortunately, they forgot the human side, and the humanitarian side of the people who come here to the border with problems of insecurity. And they should be a little more sensitive and understand that these communities need help.”

José María García Lara, founder and director of Movimiento Juventud 2000, in his office on July 26, 2023. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters

The family that got separated from the 9-year-old girl had waited at the shelter for more than a month before deciding they could no longer stay put in Tijuana, he said.

The Cruz family at the Tijuana shelter, and dozens of other families from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela and Haiti are still waiting in tents at the border. García Lara said with legal rulings constantly changing the rules, families have a hard time understanding what they’re supposed to do.

Chelsea Sachau, managing attorney at Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, agrees.

“If you think that it is hard and you struggle to understand asylum laws … imagine how overwhelmed and heartbroken you would feel if your life depended on understanding it, if your child’s life depended on you understanding a system that’s been designed for you to fail at every step along the way.” she said.

Cruz says she and her family plan to continue waiting, hoping to cross legally.

“If we have to keep waiting, well, we’ll just have to keep waiting,” she said.

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

She was a shining light to all that knew and loved her….

She is now shining from above to light the way for all of us down here.

Bettie Mae (Praus) Marcum-Albright peacefully passed away on July 6, 2023, at the age of 91, with her family by her side.

Born on June 20, 1932, in Dickinson, North Dakota to Agnes and Clemens Praus, Bettie was the middle sibling to two brothers, Robert and Raymond - both of whom she loved dearly. Her early years took her from North Dakota to Montana, eventually landing in Springfield, Oregon for high school. Upon graduating, she met the love of her life, Richard Lee Marcum (our father), and they made their home in Eugene, Oregon.

Bettie held a special place in her heart for her younger brother’s wife Glenda, who was like a sister to her for life.

Bettie and “Dick” (Richard) journeyed through several homes over the years and during that time, they welcomed two children into the world, a son, Douglas, and a daughter, Susan. By 1962, they finally set down roots in Eureka (Humboldt County), where they lived out their lives.

Full of life, love, and laughter, our mother Bettie made our childhood fun and exciting. When we were young, she took up a job at Humboldt State College (yes, it was just a college then) working in the bookstore. We often remember her coming home from work excited with a new story to tell us. She created many friendships there that she cherished throughout her life.

Mom left Humboldt State University (it had become a university by then) around 1972, moving on to work at the College of the Redwoods’ bookstore. Her friend circle widened at CR. A few years later, she returned to HSU and began working in procurement, where (guess what?) she made even more new and cherished friends!

Sadly, during this time, our father Dick fell ill with cancer. After a brave two-year battle, he passed away in 1984. They were married for 32 memorable years. His passing greatly affected Mom. Knowing Mom was not one to be alone, he had assured her before passing that he would “find someone” for her.

A few months after Dad’s passing, Mom met Don Albright through some mutual friends. They hit it off and shared a blissful marriage of 23 years, until Don’s passing. Their time together was filled with adventures—trips, annual escapades to Palm Springs, cruises, dances—and of course, they cherished the friends they made along the way. It truly was a “match made in heaven.”

Don was the grandfather that Bettie’s granddaughters grew up with. Don had 3 children, and our families quickly blended, enjoying several years of fun and friendship. Don’s grandson Jason, his wife Jackie, and their three wonderful boys were always close to Mom and our family. Don was a wonderful man and very loved by us all.

Mom started facing health issues as she aged, leading to her decision to move to Timber Ridge in McKinleyville in October of 2022.

With her health declining, she moved to Renaissance, at Timber Ridge, where she spent her final months. And guess what? She made many more friends who cared about her as much as she cared about them.

Mom touched so many lives that it would fill an entire book to list everyone that was special to her. Please rest assured that she loved each of you and that you have a special place in her heart.

Bettie was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, both husbands, and several friends and relatives. She is survived by her children (Doug and Sue), and their spouses, her grandchildren (Vanessa and Amber) and their spouses, her three great-grandchildren, her “sister” Glenda Praus, and numerous nieces, nephews, and friends, all of whom she loved fiercely. Father Thomas Diaz was another special person in her life who she regarded as a second son.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the team at Timber Ridge, Renaissance, and Hospice for their care and support. We truly don’t know what we would have done without you – we know that Mom loved you all.

A celebration of life will be held in September at the Eureka Elks Lodge. It’s challenging to reach everyone she touched, so please email sueringwald@yahoo.com for more information.

Richard Danford Ecker, 84, of Fortuna, passed away peacefully on June 29, 2023, surrounded by his family. Richard, fondly known as “Dick” to his friends, was born to Danford and Alma on December 3, 1938 in St. Louis, Missouri. While Dick always liked to say he was born in “misery”, aka Missouri, Dick grew up in a happy household as an only child with his parents. When Dick was young,the family moved out to California to be closer to Danford’s sister, Nell, who lived in the Valley with her family. The Ecker’s drove across country for four days straight and settled in Hollywood.

When Danford got a job with the California Forestry Department, they moved to Alhambra to be closer to Danford’s work in Arcadia. Alma also worked at the AAA office in San Gabriel and together they created a comfortable life for their family.

Dick and Danford had a special bond that was partly based on their love of baseball that would last Dick’s entire life. From a young age, Danford would take him to games and Spring Training Camps to include Casey Stengel Park in Glendale (N.Y. Yankees), Brookside Park in Pasadena (Chicago White Sox) and Parris Hill in San Bernardino (St. Louis Browns). Collections of ticket stubs and programs with signatures of players speak volumes to Dick’s true love of the game. Throughout his youth, Dick was active in sports and loved baseball and football the most. One of Dick’s fondest memories was when he played baseball with one of his first coaches, Al Goodman. Dick would not only be friends with Mr. Goodman, but would eventually end up buying his sporting goods business from him.

Dick attended Granada Elementary School and then Alhambra High School, where he excelled at both JV football and baseball. Dick worked by sweeping floors for Mr. Goodman at his sporting goods store, W.A. Goodman & Sons, to make extra money.

Dick’s other passion during his youth was for sports cars, and he owned an Alfa Romeo Spyder, red with black interior. Dick, with his girlfriend Ann, joined a car club and would attend Rally’s and go on excursions regularly. Dick continued to work at W.A. Goodman’s after High School and would eventually go on to marry his first wife, Ann.

Not long after that, Dick was drafted into the military and would end up stationed in Texas. Dick attended basic training at Ford Ord and was then stationed at Fort Hood as Military Police (MP). During Dick’s two-year service from 1961-1963, he had the honor to be assigned to President Kennedy’s protection detail when visiting the base. Dick was honorably discharged from service when his time was served right at the time of the Kennedy assignation. Had that timing been different, his active-duty time could have been much longer. Dick remained in the Army Reserves until 1967, but returned home with Ann and their dog, Boo-Boo, to settle in an apartment in San Gabriel.

It was there they met their lifelong friends, Harry & Jean Schumacher, who lived in the same complex. Truly a “Ricardo’s and the Mertz’s” friendship, the two couples spent a lot of time together traveling to San Francisco, going to weekly dinners and were on a local bowling team.

Dick regained his employment with Al at W.A. Goodman’s and was eventually given an offer to buy Al’s parent’s house in Monterey Park, since they were aging and would be moving elsewhere. Dick and Ann were anticipating starting a family during this time, but when that became a medical impossibility, they instead turned their excitement to the adoption of their first child, Archer Danford Ecker, born April 29, 1966. Archer was a handful from a young age but was also his dad’s pride and joy as they, too, shared a love of sports, much like Dick and his father. Arch was exposed to all kinds of sports because of Dick’s job at the sporting goods store but loved hockey the most. Dick got Arch up on skates and playing hockey when he was very young, and Dick became a coach where they won many championships and tournaments over the years. Eager to grow their family, they adopted their second child, Tracy Jean Ecker, born April 23, 1970. Arch was involved in this process as much as possible, even “picking out” his sister from the choices of babies that were ready for adoption. Shortly after getting Tracy, the family bought their next home from a relative of Ann’s in north Alhambra.

Dick’s next move would be to buy the sporting goods store from his friend and boss, Al, and together with his partner Chuck Poehler, they made a go of it! They moved the business into downtown Los Angeles and the small athletic equipment supplier grew to producing uniforms for baseball, hockey, football and others, to include the Dodgers, Kings and many other premiere sports organizations. Dick and W.A. Goodman & Sons were known for their personal service and Dick would oftentimes have to bring in his best seamstress in the middle of the night after a trade announcement so they could sew on the new players name on the back of the jersey before the next day’s photo opportunity. Dick explained that they would sew the names into the fabric ; not the patches that you see on today’s uniforms.

Dick and his family remained in Alhambra for many years while Dick ran the business and raised their children until Dick eventually decided to part from his family as he grew weary of the “hustle and bustle” of the city and corporate America. Dick stayed in Southern California on his own and close with his children but began enjoying the outdoors and backpacking in his local mountains. In 1980, fate brought Dick and Deborah, his current wife, together, even though they were living different lives in different parts of the County. Dick attended a class entitled “Advanced Wilderness Survival,” while Deborah attended a “Beginning Backpacking” class from the same teacher on the other side of town. Apparently, the teacher taught both classes the same, a beginning class in backpacking. Dick stuck it out, bringing his topo maps and compass to class and helped teach the class. In the end, both classes combined for an overnight backpacking trip, and the rest they say…is history! Dick and Deborah were married in 1984 in a simple and small and beautiful ceremony. Dick and Deborah backpacked every weekend in the Angeles National Forest and loved being out in the High Sierra’s. One trip took them to the Trinity Alps where Dick met Deborah’s brother, Stephen Nesvold, and sister, Vikki Nesvold, along with her boyfriend, Marty King. They both fell in love with Humboldt County and decided to ditch the city life and move. At the same time, Deborah’s brother Tom, along with his wife Terri, decided they wanted to explore life outside of where they currently lived in San Diego as well so the four of them decided to finally move to Humboldt County and join their family members, Steve and Vikki.

Dick and Deborah bought 80 acres on the top of Buck Mountain, which they later found out was called “The Lawyers Cabin” and lived the country life. They spent their time hiking, fishing and enjoying their life together but after five years, a real winter came and at 5,000 feet above sea level they were either snowed out or snowed in for half of the year. Reality set in and they moved back into town and eventually settled in Fortuna. Deborah resumed her banking career and Dick settled into his role as the best “house spouse” ever! Dick and Deborah attended the annual Dixieland Jazz Festival every year and kept active in local clubs and political committees. Friday night dances at the local Moose Lodge were a weekly event and kept them active and social with their friends. Dick loved to cook and made sure he had dinner ready when Deborah came home. Deborah has a binder of all of his special recipes that many of his family re-create regularly. Dick was a master at the BBQ and loved being out in the backyard with his dogs amongst the flourishing vegetable garden and beautiful wisteria tree. Dick was a husband, father, Grandpa, Great- Grandpa, Uncle, friend and master Rummikub player. He was always up for a lively talk about politics, sports and the condition of the world as we know but was a sensitive and heartfelt man at heart and was an undying romantic. We all loved to listen to his stories and adventures of the past.

Dick is survived by his wife, Deborah of 39 years of Fortuna; his daughter, Tracy (Michael) of La Verne; his four grandchildren, Kenneth Ecker of Topeka, Kansas; Stephanie Pruett (Jacob) of Bakersfield; Bradley Benschop of La Verne; Lauren Gonzales of La Verne; great-granddaughter Hazel Pruett of Bakersfield. Deborah’s brothers and sister: Fred Nesvold (Pin) of Flagstaff, Arizona; Tom Nesvold (Terri) of Vista; and Vikki Nesvold-King (Marty) of Maui. He is pre-deceased by his son Archer Danford Ecker and his brother-in-law Stephen Nesvold. Nephews and nieces: Freddie Nesvold of Lafayette, Indiana; Nona Nesvold-Clements (Scott) of Waynetown, Indiana; Chris Nesvold (Lea) of Sacramento; Alex Nesvold (Melissa) of Windsor; Trevor Nesvold (Lea) of Santa Rosa; Elissa Nesvold of Eureka; David Nesvold of Oceanside and Rachel Nesvold-Bouworth (Mike) of Escondido. A lifelong lover of dogs, Dick is survived by his current companion, Cooper, who was also at his bedside while he passed. Dick has had many other special dog companions throughout his lifetime and is pre-deceased by Duke, Rebel 2, Butch & Eubie, Rebel 1, Shadow, Rebel, Sandi and Boo-Boo.

Please consider making a donation to one of our local animal shelters on behalf of Dick to the Sequoia Humane Society 6073 Loma Avenue, Eureka, CA 95503 and Redwood Pals Rescue P.O. Box 2913, McKinleyville, CA 95519. Please join us for a celebration of life honoring Dick on Saturday, September 2nd, 2023 at Rohner Park in Fortuna at noon for a BBQ and 1 p.m. for a service. Please bring your laughter and stories to tell!

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

Robert (Bob) Allen Rode had the good fortune of celebrating two milestones this past Monday, July 31. The first celebration was making it to his 98th birthday. The second was passing on to eternal life to be with God. Bob was born July 31, 1925, in Los Angeles. He was the youngest of 3 children. He had a brother, Harold, and a sister, Geraldine. Growing up in the depression, Bob’s dad, Theodore (Ted) kept busy as a carpenter in the Los Angeles area, always being able to provide for the family. His mom, Carolina (Lena) was a homemaker and always had an extra meal for a homeless person in need. In high school, right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bob was a messenger courier during the California coast blackouts when there was fear of invasion from Japan.

Bob was drafted into the army in 1943. After initially training in the anti aircraft division, he was then transferred to infantry replacement. Bob served In Italy, initially arriving in Naples and eventually ended up in Florence as the war progressed. After the war, Bob finished out his enlistment at Fort Benning, Georgia, achieving the rank of sergeant.

After the war, Bob returned to Los Angeles and started working for Rode Brothers Hardwood Flooring, a company started by his uncles in 1930. He would go on to spend the rest of his career working at Rode Brothers.

Bob met Carolyn Ellen Ferree at Hollywood Lutheran Church. They had known each other prior to the war, but started to spend more time together in 1947, upon his return from the army. They were married October 21, 1949 and had three kids; Ellen, Allen and Thom and lived in the San Fernando Valley until 1981. In 1981, Bob took an early retirement so that he and Carolyn could buy their five acre mini-farm in Hydesville and fulfill their lifelong dream of “country living.” They raised a couple of cows, chickens, eggs, fresh vegetables and fruit trees. They truly enjoyed the cooler climate and rural lifestyle. Carolyn passed away from cancer on October 29, 1984. Bob married Carol Dillingham on January 16, 1988. Bob and Carol lived at the Hydesville mini-farm and enjoyed spending time with their kids, grandkids and great grandkids until his passing.

Bob is preceded in death by his first wife, Carolyn, parents, Ted and Lena, siblings Harold and Geraldine and inlaws Royal and Jewell Ferree and Harriet Ferree. He is survived by his second wife Carol, his children, Ellen, Allen and Thom, stepchildren Sherry, Rochelle, Arlene and Bob, grandchildren, Jason, Gregg, Joshua, Jessica, Karin, Jenny, Eric, Russell, Valerie, Ashleigh, Kyle,Dean, Emily and Sarah. Great grandchildren, Jazmin, Sybastian, Ruan, Royal, Johnnie Joe, Jericho, Zephaniah, Henry, Joann(Jo Jo), Matthew, Reed, Quinn, Jack, Zane, Calvin, Tyler, Tobie, Taylor, Luke, Jackson, Caroline, Jasper, Ryan, Nathan, Selah, and Liam-Jean. Bob is also survived by nieces Judy and Kathleen and nephews Jim and John. Bob loved his family and they loved him; he was the ultimate family man.

A graveside service will be held at Sunrise Cemetery in Fortuna on Friday, August 11 at 2 p.m. A reception will immediately follow at the Hydesville Community Church.

In my naivety, I thought creationism, under the guise of “Intelligent Design,” would have taken a deep decline after the “Dover” trial 18 years ago. Good luck with that. A recent Pew poll found that Creationism/Intelligent Design is still alive and well in the Land of the Free. The poll found that 40% of us think God created humans in the past 10,000 years. And even if you don’t believe in the Genesis account, we—average we—hold the opinion that our species evolved under God’s guidance. Only 22% of us believe that God had no role in the making of humans. 

Some 2,500 years ago, a bunch of Jewish exiles in Babylon came up with their own creation myth, one that extolled their claim of being “the chosen ones.” The stories codified in the Book of Genesis was written long before DNA sequencing had been developed, so it’s no wonder that folks back then thought in terms of, not only Jewish exceptionalism, but human exceptionalism, aka anthropocentrism. The claim is that our species is central, the most important entity on Earth (or, taken to extremes, in the universe). From that, it follows that we’re both separate from, and superior to, “nature.” Animals and plants are merely resources, put here for our benefit. 

Those Iron Age folks didn’t have DNA sequencers, but we do. We know—unless the entire enterprise of molecular biology is a vast conspiracy—that we share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos. Seven million years ago, we were the same species.

“Dover” (above) refers to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, which pitted pseudoscientific “experts” against actual scientists. The former claimed that the complexity of life, including various biological organs—eyes come in for particular attention—is just too great to be explained by natural selection, and therefore God must have created it, and us.

(Ironically, the Father of Evolution may have thought the same. Darwin wrote, “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one…from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” He added the italicized words to the second edition of Origin of Species, but later regretted it.)

In the Dover trial, evolutionists countered the “complexity” claim saying:

1. Even if the theory of evolution was wrong, that doesn’t automatically lead to the conclusion that “God did it.” Evidence against evolution doesn’t constitute evidence for design.
2. The emergence of, for instance the eye, is readily explained. A process that started with the spontaneous appearance of a circular patch of photoreceptor cells—perhaps 600 million years ago—can evolve into full-blown eyes. The idea is that mutations naturally led to a slight improvement in each generation, and creatures that can detect prey better than their peers have a slight reproductive advantage over their peers.

The anti-evolution, pro-creation crowd at the Dover trial was organized by the Discovery Institute, founded in 1991 with the aim of “spreading creationism in its Intelligent Design incarnation, its overarching goal being the replacement of materialism in science and life with the idea of God,” to quote evolutionist Jerry Coyne.

Eighteen years later, the Discovery Institute hasn’t gone away, and currently has about 40 employees. After the ruling from the (Republican!) judge in the Dover case—that teaching ID alongside evolution violates the separation of church and state, ID being thinly-veiled Biblical creationism—the DI has abandoned its original goal. Instead of aiming to have Intelligent Design taught in public schools, it now focuses on highlighting problems with the theory of evolution (which isn’t hard to do, it’s complicated!) and with reminding us that we’re not machines. 

As if we’d know.

Frank X Gloeggler Jr. passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 2, 2023. He chose to have a simple death at his home with his best friend Liea and his beloved pets, a golden retriever, Goose and a cat, Mir at his side.

Frank was a dedicated Certified Public Accountant with an office in Fortuna and an office in Garberville. He loved life and his clients. He worked until his death in July. He was born September 5, 1943, in Palo Alto to parents Frank and Rose Gloeggler. He graduated from Mountain View High School, served in the United States Air Force, and graduated from San Jose State College.

During Frank’s lifetime he was surrounded by three families besides his birth family: former belated wife, Audrey and her daughter, Carolyn Albee, as well as her two daughters; former wife, Connie Goucher with three children and a grandson, Ryan, that he was very fond of and helped raise; best friend, Liea and her five children, 22 grandchildren and one great grandson. He is survived by two sisters: Barbara Hooper (Jim) and Margie Chaffin (Bill), niece: Mary, and nephews: Alan, Joe, and John.

Frank spent his lifetime helping others in whatever way he could best serve them. He loved children, cars, animals, nature and food. He once said, “I fix things; that is what I do.” He was a true gentleman to the day he passed.

Wednesday, August 16th, a funeral Mass will be held at 3 p.m. at St. Joseph Church located at 810 14th Street, Fortuna, CA 95540. Military Honors and a reception will be held after Mass at Goble’s Fortuna Mortuary at 560 12th Street, Fortuna, CA 95540. Please come and share memories, food…lots of food, and laughter, as Frank would have wanted us all to do.

There will be a slideshow and an opportunity to share feelings. For those of you who are not able to attend, there will be a live feed for the service available on Facebook.

Thank you all for your kindness and love. To his past employees, specifically Connie B. in Garberville, he was so proud of the excellent work that you all did as a team. Thank you all very much for helping us through this time. I pray you all know just how much you all meant to this gentleman. I think we all agree that he was a spectacular man with a huge heart and a strong laugh. Everyone he met he treated with respect. Frank lived by his word and tried to make the most of every moment he had.

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