Mary Dawn Cunningham left us on November 23, 2023 in the early morning hours. She was widowed on September 24, 2008,after the death of her husband, Ernest Cunningham. She is survived by her daughter Katy Cunningham and her son William Cunningham.

Mary Dawn was born in Alameda on June 7, 1927 to Mary and Mark Melendy. Soon after they came to Humboldt County and lived in Freshwater until they moved into their house in Eureka, on M Street.

Mary Dawn attended Lafayette Elementary School, then Eureka Junior High, Eureka Senior High, where she excelled as a student. After graduating high school, she attended Humboldt State College majoring in education. After graduation she taught 1st grade at Freshwater Elementary for three years.

Friends introduced Mary Dawn to Ernest Cunningham, and a romance began, ending in marriage on December 27, 1949.

They purchased a home in Eureka in 1951, living in that home for the rest of her life. Mary Dawn and Ernest started a family and had two children: Katy Eileen Cunningham and William Ernest Cunningham.

Mary was tremendous homemaker. As well as being a participating mother in her children’s education, she was also active in PTA, Beta Sigma Phi Sorority and the local 4-H Chapter. she was also very knowledgeable regarding local Humboldt County history and wrote number of articles about various local historical events.

She loved to travel and enjoyed the family trips in their small RV, touring around the country.She and Ernie also enjoyed a partnership with another couple, and owned a local laundromat together. After selling the laundromat, Mary and Ernie went traveling in Europe, discovering more information on their family heritages.

Mary Dawn lived comfortably through the rest of her life in the house they purchased in 1951.

Mary Dawn Cunningham passed away gracefully at home at the age of 96, with her children. There will be a graveside service on December 21, 2023 at 11 a.m. at the Oceanview Cemetery. Family and friends are cordially invited to attend.

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The Humboldt County Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved new guidelines for short-term vacation rentals operating in unincorporated areas of the county.

The new rules, which have been in the works for several months, provide a regulatory framework for short-term rentals (dwelling units that are rented to guests for 30 consecutive days or less, through services such as Airbnb or Vrbo) to prevent adverse impacts on the local housing stock and neighborhood character. Of the 34,093 residential units in unincorporated Humboldt County, approximately 567, or 1.66 percent, are currently being used as short-term rentals.

Once the ordinance is approved by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, likely in the next month or so, property owners operating short-term rentals in unincorporated Humboldt will be required to go through a permitting process. Existing operators – anyone who has operated a short-term rental prior to the effective date of the ordinance, which has yet to be determined – without unresolved property violations will be given first priority. 

During the Planning Commission’s final review of the draft document on Thursday evening, commissioners once again wrestled over how many short-term rentals should be allowed to operate in a given area. At an earlier meeting, the commission had agreed to a two percent cap on short-term rentals in the Humboldt Bay region, where housing is already scarce. 

Commissioner Iver Skavdal thought it would be a good idea to extend the two percent cap to some of the county’s “over-impacted” Community Plan Areas, including Trinidad and Westhaven, where short-term rentals comprise between six and eight percent of the total housing stock.

Skavdal

“There’s still a little bit of room between the number of short-term rentals that we have and the two percent [cap], and if all that balance just happened to show up in Trinidad or Westhaven – which is already an overly impacted area – it would seem to be unfair to that part of the community,” he said. “I’m trying to find a way to set another limit so those Community Plan Areas never get over a certain amount, or just hold at their current amount.”

Commissioner Peggy O’Neil agreed, adding that she would like to see short-term rentals “more distributed [throughout the county] to give more opportunity” to operators looking to supplement their income without overwhelming a specific area. 

Commission Chair Noah Levy was a little more hesitant, noting that the “overall purpose of the cap was to ensure housing was available in places where people most need it in the Humboldt Bay Area.”

“If we essentially freeze the ability for any new, short-term rentals to occur in the places where they’re currently most popular – i.e. Trinidad, Westhaven or Orick – we end up putting more pressure on the communities that have, to this point, been less impacted in terms of the density of these rentals,” he said. “It’s true that having six or eight percent is impactful in Orick or Westhaven … but I guess I see those as being less critical regions for most people in the Humboldt Bay Area to live or find housing.”

West

Commissioner Sarah West noted that the commission had received comments from several people living in those communities. “They have voiced that they are feeling the impact when they look for housing in those areas,” she said.

Commissioner Lonyx Landry added that housing had become less and less affordable near Orick with the proliferation of short-term rentals in the area due to the community’s proximity to Redwood National and State Parks.

After a bit of additional discussion, the commission ultimately agreed to a five percent cap on short-term rentals in Community Plan Areas, with the exception of the inland portion of Shelter Cove “where the standard does not apply” due to specific zoning rules.

Commissioners also wrestled with the issue of transferability and whether a short-term rental operator should be allowed to transfer their permit to another individual, particularly to children or next of kin, in the event of the operator’s death. 

Cade McNamara, a planner with the county’s Planning and Building Department, recommended that the commission make the permits non-transferable to avoid conflict. “We get into kind of a sticky situation when we try to limit what can and cannot be transferred legally,” he said. 

Planning and Building Director John Ford added, “Basically, this is a choice between not allowing transfers or allowing transfers that go well beyond children.”

Mulder

Commissioner Thomas Mulder advocated for transfer of ownership, emphasizing the importance of being able “to pass things down to your children.”

West disagreed. “I just don’t think this is an appropriate avenue to do it,” she said. “As soon as you open up the door to make this pass down you are commodifying it, you’re conferring value … on making a home a commercial use. And I don’t agree with that.”

Skavdal said he had “flip-flopped all over” the transferability issue, but was reluctant to support it. “I have a short-term rental next door to my house, it can be there for generations and generations and it will just remain a short-term rental. I’m not sure I’m in favor of that.”

Mulder suggested that staff put a time limit on transfers to avoid having short-term rentals around long term as Skavdal feared. The commission entertained the idea but ultimately felt it was too complicated and decided to vote on the matter.

West made a motion to approve staff’s current recommendation not to allow transfers, which was seconded by Skavdal. The motion passed 4-2, with Levy and Mulder dissenting and Commissioner Brian Mitchell absent.

The commissioner went over a few smaller points but did not make any additional changes to the draft ordinance. 

Mulder acknowledged the importance of being able to “agree to disagree and respect each other’s difference” and made a motion to adopt the ordinance as is, which was seconded by Landry.

The motion passed unanimously.

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Previously: 

• A New Cap on Airbnbs? County Planning Commission Hears Public Feedback on Proposed Short-Term Rental Ordinance
• Planning Commission Punts Short-Term Rental Discussion to Next Week; New Rules Slated for Approval in Mid-November

On a chilly, rainy day in January 2018, the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse was lifted from its home of 68 years on the bluff overlooking Trinidad Harbor and edged its slow way down to the parking lot at the State Beach.

Nearly six years later, on another rainy day, the 74-year-old lighthouse came to rest Friday on a new permanent foundation at the foot of Trinidad Head. The Trinidad Civic Club, which owns the lighthouse, came to an agreement with the Trinidad Rancheria to place the lighthouse and 2-ton bronze fog bell on its harbor property.

The memorial is an exact replica of the original 1871 lighthouse, still in operation on Trinidad Head’s southern cliff. The memorial was built in 1949 at the end of Trinity Street above the harbor to commemorate fisherfolk and other sailors lost at sea.

When city engineers determined in 2017 that the bluff was slipping away under the lighthouse, the iconic memorial needed a new home. It touched down there in a steady rain Friday as a crane deposited the 25-foot-tall, 40,000-pound lighthouse onto its new foundation.

Work will continue on the foundation and to place the original 2-ton bronze fog bell on the new memorial site.

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PREVIOUSLY: Sheriff Honsal is Refusing to Allow a Dying Man’s Organs to Be Donated. Parents and a Donor Organization Say He Won’t Explain Why.

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In a dramatic reversal, Humboldt County Sheriff-Coroner William Honsal this afternoon met with the parents of 38-year-old Eric Matilton at St. Joseph Hospital, where Matilton has been on life support since attempting to hang himself in the county jail on Nov. 17, and told them that he will now allow them to pursue the donation of their son’s organs. [CORRECTION: The Matiltons met with Honsal at the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office.]

“I have agreed to have a forensic pathologist assist with the organ donation and also do the autopsy,” Honsal said in a text to the Outpost. “Doing it this way achieves both objectives and [allows us to] still adhere to our protocol.”

Honsal had previously indicated that departmental protocol mandated a thorough investigation into any death that occurs while in law enforcement custody, which rendered organ donation impossible, a stance that appeared to contradict provisions of California Health and Safety Code explicitly allowing organ donations from people who died “under circumstances requiring an inquest by the coroner.” 

The unexpected reversal was a welcome surprise to Matilton’s family and those working to facilitate organ donation.

“Hallelujah!” said Robynn Van Patten, chief legal and administrative officer/executive vice president of Donor Network West, the organization that has been working with the family to facilitate the organ donations.

Reached by phone, Eric’s father, Clyde Matilton, said he and his wife, Jeanine, met personally with Honsal at the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office.

“The only way this meeting came about was because of the publicity,” Clyde Matilton said. “That was kinda like the last hope for us.”

According to Clyde, Honsal apologized for not contacting them personally before today while saying the delay gave him time to investigate the situation and figure out a way to facilitate the two medical procedures. Honsal also told them that he hopes to be able to update county protocol so this doesn’t happen again, Clyde said.

“You know, [he was] saying all the right things,” he added.

Van Patten said she’s now busy working to facilitate the donation of Eric Matilton’s organs. “So we’re calling the pathologist who’ll be present,” she said. “He’s gotta come up from San Diego. The O.R. [operating room] is being set up for tomorrow.”

Van Patten added that she plans to be there personally.

Donor Network West had previously identified four compatible donors for Eric Matilton’s organs, including a Los Angeles resident who was in line for a heart transplant. But with the planned organ donation in jeopardy in recent days, those matches may have fallen through.

“This has been in such a state of insecurity that if other matches come up for those individuals, they’ll go with those,” Van Patten said. The contract pathologist coming up from Southern California will need to conduct testing to determine the stability and viability of Matilton’s organs, she added. “We’re in the process of re-allocating [the organs]. We need time to assemble the team.”

Clyde Matilton said he and his wife had to fight hard to honor their son’s desire to be an organ donor, and they take some solace in the fact that it’s now likely to happen. They’re hoping the pathology exam, autopsy and organ removal can take place as soon as tomorrow, though it may not happen until Sunday as the various parties involved assemble the necessary team.

Nonetheless, after sitting with their son on life support and in police custody for nearly two weeks, things appear to finally be moving in the right direction.

“It was a relief,” Clyde said regarding today’s developments. “We’re really happy this is happening, but my son is still dead. Now we gotta go do that, but I really am happy this is happening. He’s gonna save people’s lives.”

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[NOTE: This post has been updated to include comments from Honsal, Van Patten and the Matiltons.]

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UPDATE, 4:07 p.m.:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office issued the following press release:

Eric Matilton was placed in custody at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on November 3, 2023, for brandishing a firearm and a parole hold. On Friday, November 17, 2023, he was found in his jail cell by correctional deputies following an apparent suicide attempt. Rescue efforts were initiated and performed, and he was subsequently transported to the hospital for treatment.

As a result of this incident, Mr. Matilton’s injuries have been determined to be non-survivable.

In the event that an in custody death occurs inside the correctional facility, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and all county law enforcement agencies have signed an agreement to ensure that in custody deaths are investigated by the county’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT). Protocol requires that every in custody death must be fully investigated, including the completion of a forensic autopsy, by a contract pathologist. A forensic examination will be used to make a final determination of the cause of death. This protocol is in place to ensure a transparent, evidence-based investigation is completed and sent to the District Attorney for review.

As Mr. Matilton is an organ donor whose family desires to honor his wishes, Sheriff Honsal consulted with counsel, the District Attorney, subject matter experts and a forensic pathologist to see if there was a way to honor Eric’s wishes. As a result of these consultations, the Sheriff has agreed to have a forensic pathologist involved to pursue the donation of Eric’s organs and perform the autopsy to ensure investigation protocol is followed. The Matilton family was also consulted, and the donor network is now making these preparations.

Upon completion of the CIRT investigation, the Humboldt County District Attorney will review all facts and evidence in this investigation to conclude if there is any criminal liability.

PREVIOUSLY: 

• Eureka Police Issue Statement on Today’s Officer-Involved Shooting Near the Library
• BREAKING: Eureka Police Department Investigating Officer-Involved Shooting Near the Library

The Eureka Police Department has released additional information on the events that ended with officers shooting and killing a man who fought with them after fleeing from a traffic stop near the Ingomar Club over the weekend.

The man killed has been identified as 31-year-old Cutten resident Matthew Williams. Read EPD’s telling of his death below: 

This press release is an update to the November 26, 2023 officer involved shooting with information current as of today.

On November 26, 2023, at about 9:36 a.m., a Eureka Police Department officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for expired registration, on M Street, north of 2nd Street. When the vehicle stopped, the right front passenger immediately exited the vehicle and began fleeing on foot; the male ran east along a walkway north of the Ingomar Club and towards the northside of the Humboldt County Library. The officer conducting the traffic stop did not pursue the male.

While the officer who conducted the traffic stop remained with the vehicle and its two occupants, nearby officers responded to check the vicinity for the male who fled. An officer located the male as he was attempting to scale a fence to the north side of the Clara Mayberry Park, which was closed. Utilizing verbal commands, the officer attempted to gain voluntary compliance for the male to stop. However, the male refused to comply and a physical altercation ensued.

A second officer arrived to assist. The male then produced a pistol which he held in his right hand. During the altercation, the male was able to manipulate the firearm’s slide, chambering a live round.

Photo of the firearm in the male’s hand, captured from the officer’s body worn camera

Photo of the male chambering a live round, captured from the officer’s body worn cameras

At this point during the altercation, shots were fired by officers and the male was struck by the gunfire. It’s unknown at this time if the male fired his handgun during the altercation.

The male was then quickly detained and life-saving efforts were immediately provided by officers followed closely by Humboldt Bay Fire. The male succumbed to his injuries while on scene. An autopsy is scheduled to be performed which will provide further details on the extent of the male’s injuries. The male has been identified as 31-year-old Cutten resident, Matthew Robert Williams.

Matthew Robert Williams

Williams was found to be in possession of 42 grams of fentanyl, a large amount of cash, and had several outstanding felony warrants for his arrest. The firearm Williams possessed has been determined to be a ghost gun. (A ghost gun is an un-serialized and untraceable firearm.)

The officer that conducted the original traffic stop left that location to assist the officers who had been involved in the shooting. The vehicle and occupants left the area and were later located by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The occupants were interviewed and the vehicle was towed as evidence.

Firearm recovered from Williams

The shooting was captured on one of the officer’s body worn camera. However, the body camera from the second officer suffered a malfunction and did not capture the incident.

All body worn camera and audio footage will be released in accordance with state law.

One officer has over 7 years of experience in law enforcement. The second officer has over 4 years of experience in law enforcement. Their names will be released at a later time in accordance with state law. Both officers suffered minor injuries as a result of the altercation and incident. The officers have both been placed on paid Administrative Leave per department protocol.

As is standard protocol within Humboldt County, the multi-agency Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) is handling the criminal investigation. Upon completion, the investigation will be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

Eureka Police Department has initiated an Internal Shooting Review that will run concurrent with the criminal investigation being conducted by CIRT. The Internal Shooting Review determines whether involved officers followed departmental policy, identifies potential policy and procedural changes, and any training needs. Once completed, this report will be reviewed by the City of Eureka Independent Police Auditor (IPA) who will report to the Community Oversight on Police Practices (COPP) board.

This is an on-going investigation. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Detective Bailey with the Eureka Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit at 707- 441-4215 or DA Investigator G. Hill at 707-268-2553.

Some context:

• ”Calif. water district loses appeal to state Supreme Court,” E&E News

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Press release from the Hoopa Valley Tribe:

With four words, the California Supreme Court thwarted agribusiness giant Westlands Water District’s years-long scheme with the federal Bureau of Reclamation to rubber stamp a permanent water contract. The contract would have discounted Westlands’ massive debt to the United States taxpayers and evaded Westlands’ and Reclamation’s responsibilities to restore California fisheries decimated by the sprawling Central Valley Project.

“’Petition for review denied.’ That is the Supreme Court’s entire decision, and it is the right decision,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis.

“From the Fresno County trial court’s first decision in 2020 to the Supreme Court’s final decision this week, every judge who reviewed the record saw what the Court of Appeals called `strained arguments’, `materially incomplete’ documents, references to documents that `did not exist’, and a contract `not sufficiently definite to be binding and enforceable’,” said Council Member Daniel Jordan.

“Westlands thrived in a culture of corruption during the Trump Administration, when the contract was written,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Director Michael Orcutt. “Westlands and Reclamation have brought our fishery to the brink of destruction.”

In the water contract, Reclamation states, falsely, that Westlands had “fulfilled all of its obligations” and had made “full repayment.” Before federal accountants could confirm that, Reclamation signed Westlands’ contract in February 2020, and later withdrew key financial documents from public scrutiny.2

“They might have gotten away with it,” said Vice Chairman Everett Colegrove, “if it hadn’t been for the skill and dedication of the legal teams assembled by Trinity County, San Joaquin County, Central Delta Water Agency, South Delta Water Agency, North Coast Rivers Alliance, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Planning and Conservation League, Center for Biological Diversity, and many other nongovernmental organizations.”

“Time’s up,” said Council Member Isaac Bussell. “Secretary Haaland needs to rip up that contract and write one that does what federal law requires: meet trust responsibilities for Hoopa’s fishery, collect hundreds of millions owed by Westlands and other CVP contractors for fishery restoration, collect future restoration payments, and end once and for all Westlands’ assault on our property rights and sovereignty over the Trinity River fishery.”

“Next week, President Biden will convene a Tribal Nations Summit,” said Chairman Davis. “I will be there to remind his Administration that its commitment to honor trust responsibilities to protect tribal sovereignty and resources means water contracts like the one the California Supreme Court struck down have no place in the Bureau of Reclamation.”

The case is: Westlands Water District v. All Persons Interested in the Matter of the Contract Between the United States and Westlands Water District Providing for Project Water Service, San Luis Unit and Delta Division and Facilities Repayment, Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District Case No. F083632 and consolidated with Case No. F084202 (September 1, 2023).

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In case you haven’t noticed, Humboldt’s local ladies have been kicking butt in the sports world the past year, with women from our area winning medals, being inducted in halls of fame, and becoming national champions. Now another local woman has joined the ranks, helping her paintball team win the National Xball League (NXL) World Cup Championship games in November. 

The team, the San Francisco Sirens, placed first in the women’s amateur division at the world cup in Miami and includes one of our own – Scout Cobine, who owns and operates Humboldt Paintball in Fortuna. Cobine has been playing with her teammates for about a decade, and said that it’s because they’ve been together so long that she and her team were able to bring home the title. 

“We’ve been together for over 10 years as a team,” Cobine told the Outpost in a recent phone interview. “We’ve been through so many ups and downs and we’ve had the rug pulled out from underneath so many times. And as a squad, we’re like a family. We work together really well. We communicate really well.”

Cobine said that the win was a wonderful end to what was otherwise a very difficult season. Prior to this season, Cobine’s team had long played pro as the Sacramento Diamonds, until they were recently sold to a team in St. Louis. When the team learned about this and were told they would have to travel to Missouri to practice, they were not very excited. Traveling that far was not really feasible for most of the team, Cobine said, so they had to back out of their professional spot. 

When they called the NXL about it, Cobine said, they were told that they could still play in the amateur division. Without a coach and without any financial backing, the team traveled to Chicago for the Windy City Major games in September, where they placed second. After that, the team found sponsorship and a coach, Anthony Portillo, through Fairfield Extreme Sports. 

“[Anthony] was absolutely phenomenal and coached us into a first place win, in hopes of getting us back to our pro spot,” Cobine said. 

Cobine, 35, has been playing paintball most of her life. She was first introduced to the sport at about 12 years old, by her brother, who took her out to shoot in the woods off of Freese Avenue in Eureka, near the McKay Tract. She did not exactly fall in love with the game the first time, and Cobine said the experience was actually “awful” — she was the only girl playing, and all the boys were super mean to her. 

Her love for the game began a few years later, when Cobine was about 15 or 16, and she was introduced to airball, a term for competitive paintball played on a field with blow-up, air-filled bunkers. Someone took her to play at the airball field in Fortuna, which she now owns, and when she played the game on the field, she was completely won over and hasn’t stopped playing since. 

In high school Cobine began training with then-Humboldt paintball team Trainwreck. During her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college, Cobine would play with the team every week at a field near Sacramento called Wild Adventure Paintball. Every Sunday for two years Cobine would get up at 3 a.m. to drive down to the field, and drive back up the same night and be back to class on Monday morning. 

During that time, Cobine met a couple of women paintball-players who she clicked with and they started hanging out and playing together. Eventually the women asked her to join their Sacramento team, and she has been playing with them ever since. Having previously played with mostly male teammates, Cobine said she was a little worried about how she would get along with a women’s team, but said it turned out to be wonderful. 

“It just turned out to be the most wonderful experience of my life,” Cobine said. “Like they have just turned into my absolute family.” 

Paintball – which basically consists of shooting the opposing team with paintballs – includes a lot of different types of play, with varying team sizes and ways of scoring the game. Cobine’s team plays Xball, which consists of five players on each team trying to score as many points as possible in the allotted time. If you want to learn more about how the game is played, here is a video that explains it better than this ignorant reporter ever could:

Cobine took over the paintball field in Fortuna about eight years ago, starting with some gear she bought from a friend who was closing down his own paintball business. She started out with six paintball guns, a set of bunkers and a compressor,  and has now grown the business to two full fields, offering 50 gun rentals.

Even with running a business, Cobine makes the roughly four-and-a-half-hour drive down to Fairfeild for team practice once to twice a month, and also has to travel for tournaments during the season. Cobine is also a mother of three – a five-year-old, eight-year-old and a 12-year old — and sometimes has to travel with some or all of the kids in tow. 

The paintball field does get pretty good business, Cobine said, but it’s still not always enough, especially in the winter months, when not nearly as many people come out to the field. To help make ends meet, Cobine also works nights at Winco. 

But the business of her life does not stop her from continuing to play with her team, which she says is incredibly important for her. Cobine said that she already has most of her next paintball year planned out, with the Sirens next headed to the Las Vegas Major in March. In the meantime, Cobine wants to focus more energy on the paintball business and hopes that reading this might inspire people to come check out Humboldt Paintball, whether they are a seasoned player, or have never tried it before. 

“I’m a local from Humboldt and I’ve found something in such a small area that completely changed my life,” Cobine said. “You never know what you’re going to get into.”