People often say that Humboldt County is a climate refuge. But what does that mean? And after Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed the Southeast — including communities like Asheville, North Carolina, which was also described as a climate refuge — what is still safe in the age of climate-driven megastorms?

Luckily, we have Michael Furniss, adjunct professor at CalPoly Humboldt, and Troy Nicolini, Meteorologist-In-Charge at US National Weather Service, Eureka, on the show to discuss what is known about how climate change may affect Humboldt County. The good news: We are fortunate to have a very stable climate, even in the face of climate change, and that’s not likely to change much. The Pacific is likely to continue to act as our natural air conditioning. The bad news: Warmer temperatures elsewhere are going to increase moisture in the air and energy in storm events, bringing larger and more unpredictable weather. (But nothing like Hurricanes Helene or Milton.)

If we are likely to have desirable weather into the future, what does that mean for future development plans? We will save that for a future episode.

Want to learn more? Check these out!

• Troy Nicolini delivers the Humboldt Bay Symposium Keynote Address: Winds of Change, 2024.
• Is the North Coast a Climate Refuge? Michael Furniss at the Eureka Zoo lecture series, 2019.
• Understanding the 1964 Flood with Michael Furniss.

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The Historian has had mention of Eureka’s famed Baby Orchestra in previous issues but the material has been brief and lacking in some interesting details.

Thanks to Arne Leskinen, a former member of the orchestra now retired in Eureka after a career in sales, we have been able to piece together more information on a group that was once the talk of the town.

In gathering data on the orchestra, Arne has had the help of Norma (Widness) Myrland, another member of the group now living in Mesa, Arizona.

The orchestra, 19 tiny musicians, from 2 1/2 to 7 years of age, was organized in 1929 under the direction of Karl Moldrem and was called the Sherman Thompson Baby Orchestra. It promptly gained attention locally when the children played at churches and for various other groups and community functions. Within a year, the orchestra caught national attention through an RKO Pathe newsreel filmed at the Garden Court of Eureka Inn and pictures of the orchestra appeared in newspapers in the United States and Canada.

The Literary Digest, a popular national publication of that time, ran a Humboldt Times feature story on the orchestra complete with a photo. That story follows:

Not content with Yehudi Menuhin and Ruggiero Ricci, two prodigies of the violin, California produces a whole orchestra of infant players.

Some of our readers may have already made acquaintance of these musicians through the Pathe Sound News. They are looked upon as the possible salvation of domestic music, silenced by the radio and the phonograph. Eureka, California, is the well-named home of the organization, and The Humboldt Times, published there, looks to a world-wide imitation.

About twelve months ago, S.H. Thompson and G.W. Thompson of Eureka, with the aid of Karl Moldrem, violinist and teacher, conceived the idea of the formation of a baby orchestra to interest the parents in giving their children a musical education.

Today that group of nineteen tiny instrumentalists, ranging in age from two and a half years up to seven years old, has brought international fame to Eureka. Hundreds of letters from music teachers, schools of music, chambers of commerce in Eastern cities, and nationally known magazines, have made their way to Eureka inquiring about the tiny musicians. They are in demand at afternoon teas, lodge meetings, churches and luncheon clubs.

Recently the Pathe News company made a special trip to Eureka and took a sound-film, which is expected to show in all parts of the world. The picture of the orchestra is appearing daily in papers throughout the United States, Canada, England, and other countries. The enthusiasm created by their performance has become so great that countless cities are contemplating the organization of such groups, and parents are anxious to have their children learn how to play some instrument.

Although the idea of teaching mere babies how to play a musical instrument, and organizing a group of them to play together, was rather risky, the Thompsons ordered some tiny violins. They realized that it was highly essential that the baby violins be of the highest quality and material, and found it necessary to have them made in Europe. When the tiny instruments arrived they selected a group of youngsters to begin lessons.

Not a single one of the nineteen was able to read either ‘reading’ or music when they began practicing. The most difficult part of the entire effort was teaching the babies the first seven letters of the alphabet to identify the notes on the musical scale, and the first four numerals enabling them to count, according to Moldrem, their instructor. These fundamentals are necessary before note-reading can begin.

Music critics who have either heard and seen the orchestra play here, or have seen them in the Pathe News, have marveled at their team-work.

The intonation and uniformity of bowing shown by the babies has excited wonder.

While all the babies show remarkable development, three of them have become particularly proficient in their solo work. These are Dorothy Wade, James Boyias, and Shirley Richards. June Wade, nine years old, and Norma Widness, eleven, take turns as pianists and directors of the orchestra, so that the entire program can be presented by children.

Arne Leskinen recalls traveling around Humboldt County with the orchestra. One trip took him to the Town Hall at Crannell and in close proximity to a child that was to be his wife in later years. Mrs. Leskinen, then six-year old Lois Emenegger, was confined to her Crannell house when she would not consent to letting her mother pull a loose tooth as a condition for attending the orchestra program. She remembers shedding tears and hearing the music drift across the river from Town Hall.

Arne noted that the instructor had charisma, especially with the ladies, and was well liked. “Many cried when he left in 1930-31 for Hollywood.” While at Hollywood Studios, he worked on music for children and later left for New York City where he was involved in publishing violin instruction material.

Special pianists for the orchestra were Norma Widness, 11, and June Wade, 9.

Arne has offered the following information on some of the other orchestra members:

Dorothy Wade: Became a musician in the Los Angeles area and a studio violinist.

James Boyias: Took the stage name of Demetrius and became the most noted of the orchestra members. He moved to Berkeley to study in 1932-33 and toured South America on a concert tour at the age of 12. In 1941 he came back to Eureka and gave a benefit concert. Arne saw him in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1942 after he had left the Air Force. He played semi-pro baseball in Montana for awhile and then went to New York to study music for a year. He spent two years on a concert tour of the U.S., earning enough money to pay back his adopted parents for expenses on his behalf.

He returned to Eureka and worked for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and later the Eureka Police Department before going into car sales. He enlisted again in the Air Force in 1955.

Brigitta and Arne Leskinen: She and Arne were cousins and the two played violin duets. She studied music at San Jose State College and went on to Washington, D.C., and became a concert mistress. She died in 1963. Arne gave concerts at the age of 10 or 12 at the old State Theatre, now occupied by Daly’s store and at Eureka Inn. He played until he was 15 and later made a career in sales. He was born in Berkeley and came to Eureka at the age of 4.

Jack and Bill Lima: Jack is a retired Humboldt State University professor who lives at Trinidad and Bill, the younger brother, is deceased.

Jack Thompson: Entered the insurance and real estate business in Eureka. He died in a car accident on Myrtle Ave. about 10 years ago.

June Gassaway Manfredda: Became an accomplished vocalist and is a resident of Arcata.

Stanley Widness, cousin of Norma Widness, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After Moldrem, the orchestra director, left, his assistant, Ralph Owen, took over and directed the orchestra. Arne lists three people from that group as Guy Keith, a businessman in Texas oil; Ted Hash, a Eureka longshoreman, now deceased; and Helen Mattila Barnett, who, with her husband, operated Ducks Market. Owen later organized a baby orchestra in the Dunsmuir area.

Others in the Eureka orchestra included Shirley Richards, Norma Halvorson, Gloria Moore, Geneviève Ganson, Joyce Haggard, Russell Running, Betty Russell, Violet March, Blossom Fairchild, Jack Madden and Millicent Human.

Apparently a need was felt for a second baby orchestra in Eureka and this group was organized under the direction of Professor E.J. Bonner on Oct. 13, 1931. The Bonner orchestra was featured in the January-February 1981, issue of the Historian. Additional baby orchestra data appeared in the March- April 1981, issue of the Historian.

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Ed. note (from the Outpost): Moldrem went on to found baby orchestras across the land, notably in Los Angeles and New York City, which earned him a write-up in both Time and the New Yorker.

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The story above is from the May-June 1987 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Leon Freitas on Oct 16, 2024.

Leon was born June 12, 1953 on the Island of Flores, Azores where he was the eldest son of Pedro and Maria Freitas.

He migrated to America with his family in 1966 but never forgot his Portuguese roots, learning from a young age about hard work, dedication and love of family. He had a lot to overcome being deaf, moving to a new country, learning a new language, all the while working in the fields and dairies helping provide for his family, which he always did without complaint.

In 1970 he and his family moved to Eureka for work and he attended Eureka High school, graduating in 1972. After high school Leon went to work for Arcata Redwood, performing many different jobs within the mill. No matter what job he held you could always count on Leon to put 100% effort into his work. If he had work in front of him he was relentless until it was completed to his satisfaction. After he left employment with the company as a cleanup person it took two individuals to complete the work Leon did by himself, which is a testament to his upbringing, dedication and pride in his work.

In his later years Leon had a lot of various health issues that eventually led to him being placed in the care of the Carol Sund Butler Valley Home and Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness center. Special thanks go out to the Redwood Coast Regional Center for helping the family throughout this period. The family wants to express their gratitude to everyone who helped Leon with compassionate care they all provided during his stays was very appreciated!

Leon came from a large family. Father Pedro is deceased, Mother Maria, Sisters Maria Owsley, Cecilia Ricci, Fatima Wright, Connie Smeal, Brothers Joe, Pedro, Danny, Tony, Manuel, Frank. Leon had one Son Kenneth Charles Freitas (KC) who currently resides in Washington State. And numerous nephews and nieces.

A celebration of life will be held at the home of Maria Freitas, located at 870 Allard Ave in Eureka on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.

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

UPDATE, 4:44 p.m.:

After this post was published, Eureka City Hall received the latest campaign fundraising form from the “Yes on F” campaign, and it showed yet another six-figure donation tally from Security National, the real estate servicing firm founded by semi-local tycoon Robin P. Arkley, II.

This latest Form 460 reports three donations for the reporting period, which covered the dates of Sept. 22 through Oct. 21. One, which we already reported, was a donation of $363,517.11 made on Oct. 7. Since then, on Oct. 15, Security National dropped another $30,738.76. And back on Nov. 27 the company chipped in $90,333.

What does that bring the company’s total spending on Measure F to? Well, add the $314,415.27 from last year to the $1,303,777.51 it has donated this year, then subtract the $600 that came from other donors and you get $1,617,592.78. That’s how much Arkley’s company has spent trying to pass Measure F.

You want a graph of the “Yes on F” versus “No on F” fundraising? Okay, here:

(Tap each bar or hover over it with your cursor for dollar amounts.)

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Original post:

Holy smokes, folks: We’re just 11 days from Election Day 2024. While many of us may be painfully preoccupied with the (somehow) deadlocked race for president, let’s not take our eyes completely off of the local elections.

Here in the Humboldt County seat of Eureka, the final pre-election campaign finance reports were due yesterday, and the numbers in the city council race reveal a clear fundraising frontrunner: Ward 2 challenger Kenny Carswell has brought in more than double the amount of any of the other four candidates running for the two available seats.

The money race in Ward 4 is tighter, though that’s only because challenger Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong has loaned his own campaign nearly $3,000. (He has only raised $100.)

Below, we examine those numbers in a bit more detail and take a look at how that money is being spent.

Ward 2

Carswell

Carswell is a project manager for Security National, the real estate servicing firm that has dumped more than $1.6 million into the Measure F campaign (see below).

Through Oct. 19 (the cutoff date for the latest reporting period), Carwell’s campaign had raised $9,160.35, including a $1,253.35 loan from himself.

The campaign contribution limit in City of Eureka races is $500 per donor, and in this latest period Carswell obtained max donations from Eureka-based Wahlund Construction, ACGC Construction owner Will Adams, property managers Larry & Lisa DeBeni and Kramer Investment Corp.

Through Oct. 19 his campaign had spent $6,576.24 of that tally, leaving more than $2,500 still in the bank. The expenditures were largely for campaign literature and other materials, including more than $1,000 spent with Eureka-based Times Printing and $1,263.13 spent with Arcata’s Visual Concepts.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Carswell.

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Moulton

Moulton, artistic director of the nonprofit Ink People Center for the Arts who runs a nonprofit creative reuse center in Old Town, brought in $2,473 through Oct. 19, most of it coming via donations of $100 or less. 

During this latest reporting period, she landed max, $500 donations from Operating Engineers 3 District #40 PAC, AFSCME (presumably the Local #1684 PAC) and Eureka property manager David Bruce Mulhern. She also got a $100 donation from the Chris Rogers for Assembly 2024 campaign.

Moulton’s campaign had nearly tapped out its bank account, spending all but $82 through the reporting deadline. Expenditures included $1,000 on radio ads, nearly $500 for a DJ and snacks at a candidate block party and $234 on yard signs.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Moulton.

Ward 4

Syphanthong

As noted above, Syphanthong, owner of Lucky Star Realty, loaned his campaign all but $100 of its $3,082.35 total thus far. That $100 came back in September from Chuck Ellsworth, the retired former owner of AllPoints Signs.

Syphanthong loaned his campaign $1,672.68 during the previous campaign reporting period and dropped in $1,309.67 this time around. 

The campaign spent all but $547.15 of his mostly self-loaned war chest, with about $440 going toward a campaign kickoff event and $1,139.09 spent at Staples for yard signs.

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Syphanthong.

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Bauer

Bauer, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, raised $4,213 through the latest deadline.

That includes max, $500 donations from five labor unions:

• Central Labor Council of Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties AFL-CIO,
• Operating Engineers 3 District #40 PAC,
• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5,
• AFSCME Local #1684 PAC and
• Building and Construction Trades Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

Somewhat strangely, Bauer’s campaign had spent only $415.92 through Oct. 19, leaving almost all of that fundraising amount — $3,847.08 — yet to be spent. 

Click here to read the Outpost’s interview with Bauer.

Measure F

Why didn’t we make a graph for the Measure F pro/con fundraising? Well, because the “Yes on F” campaign had yet to file its latest Form 460 by the time this post was published.

Does that mean the campaign blew the deadline? Not necessarily. If the paperwork was sent in the mail and postmarked by yesterday’s date, it will still be considered “on time.” Eureka City Clerk/Assistant City Manager Pam Powell said that’s exactly how the “Yes on F” folks did it in the last reporting period. If we hear back from anyone at the city before the end of business hours Friday, we’ll update this post.

In the meantime, we can report that on Oct. 15, Measure F sponsor Security National Master Holding Company tossed another $30,738.76 into the campaign, bringing its total up to a whopping $1,618,192.78, with all but $600 of that coming directly from Security National.

Obviously, there are no campaign contribution limits on ballot measures, and as previously reported, Security National’s spending has made this the most expensive ballot measure in Eureka history.

If we did make a “Measure F” graph, that sucker would be laughably lopsided. The latest campaign finance report from the “No on F” campaign brings its total raised to $22,140.38, or 1.37 percent of the “Yes on F” campaign.

The top donations this reporting period include $1,000 from SEIU Local 2015 Issues PAC and $500 from Eureka retiree George Ellinwood.

The “No on F” campaign also received a non-monetary campaign donation from self-employed artist Jennifer Catsos valued at $250 during this latest period. She has donated $900 worth of services to the campaign this year.

This campaign still had $7,360.63 in the bank as of Oct. 19, though it also reported having $4,350.01 in outstanding debts. Most of the money the campaign has spent ($4,350.01) went to Times Printing for campaign literature.

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[CORRECTION: This post has been corrected from an earlier version to reflect that Syphanthong is running against Bauer in Ward 4.]

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With 11 days to go before Election Day, voters of Humboldt County are already turning out as if American democracy is on the line. And hey, maybe it is!

As of 1 p.m. Friday, the Humboldt County Elections Office had received 18,018 ballots, according to Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes. For comparison, 11 days before the March primary the office had received just over half that many: 9,245 ballots.

“Our total registered voter count is approximately 82,000, meaning about 22% of voters have already cast their ballots,” Cervantes said.

Asked what he attributes this trend to, Cervantes said it’s hard to say for sure, though he suspects it has to do with at least two factors: outreach from his office and the potentially massive stakes of this year’s presidential election.

“We’ve put a lot of thought and energy into encouraging turnout through outreach efforts, earned media, radio ads, social media, tabling, and our approach of meeting people where they are,” Cervantes said in an email. “Even so, this level of engagement is beyond our expectations. It’s clear that folks feel this is a big election — though, of course, we think they all are!”

If you still like voting in person, there will be 13 vote centers operating across the county, including some that have been open since Oct. 7. They’re open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on early voting days and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5.

Click here for more information on all of your voting options, and for contact information for the Humboldt County Elections Office.

Alana Hackman made a TikTok. 

Almost 5 million people liked it. 

Hackman was surprised — but not too surprised. 

“I feel like I’ve always wanted [social media] fame in some way, just because I’ve done so much work there in social media,” Hackman said. “So I feel like it was bound to happen.”

Hackman, 22, is a journalism major at Cal Poly Humboldt and a bona fide TikTok sensation, and has been for a couple weeks — and maybe for a couple more. 

The video, posted Oct. 2 and scored to the song “Laterals” by Fat Coda Studios, shows Hackman making her roommate’s boyfriend perform an interpretive dance as trade for letting him stay the night. 

Over 27 million people have watched it, and it’s spawned thousands of videos of people shimmying as payment; everything from husbands getting funky to watch football to people dancing for dinner to a woman asking her husband to boogie while she’s in labor.

Social media is second nature to Hackman. She’s worked six or seven social media jobs for a variety of organizations, such as Peer Health or KRFH student radio. Her thumb is constantly on the pulse of what’s popular. She figured the video would be popular because it had some things that many obscenely popular TikToks do: Women making men do something in a light-hearted way and a funny, novel concept. She does admit that it wasn’t all just her though. 

“I can’t take all the credit,” Hackman said. “His dance moves are really good. That was all him.”

The video only shows a fraction of the dancing. Hackman said the boyfriend danced for around five minutes. He was indeed allowed to stay, though Hackman made it clear that he always would have been able to stay over and they were just having fun. 

As with everything on the internet, it has its critics. She’s not letting it get her down. 

“At first it was a little ‘Um, OK,’’ Hackman said. “But then I also thought, ‘Oh, it’s the internet.’ People just say anything. But it was funny. I feel kind of bad in the same sense, because [Hackman’s roommate and her boyfriend] aren’t really on social media, and I’m the social media freak. So I felt bad. I feel like I’m exploiting them, and people keep asking me to remake stuff and ask him questions and other things. I’m, like, no! It was a one-hit thing. You just gotta let it be.”

Though Hackman and the people in the video have been getting recognized out on the street or in the Co-Op, she doesn’t plan to let the success go to her head.

“I’m still Alana,” she said. “Trends come and go so fast … [you should] make people dance more though. That’s a fun barter. Barter more and make people dance as a result of that. It brings joy to life and a light-heartedness to demands.  I would have never known he could dance like that if I didn’t make him.”

PREVIOUSLY: 

• Conflicted Board of Redwood Coast Energy Authority Declines to Accept ‘Free’ Nuclear Power From Diablo Canyon
• Redwood Coast Energy Authority to Reconsider Its Decision to Decline ‘Free’ Nuclear Power

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Given the opportunity for a do-over thanks to a process error last month, the board of directors for Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) reversed course and decided to accept an allocation of nuclear energy into the mix of power it purchases on behalf of local ratepayers.

Unlike last time around, when the board expressed a lot of internal conflict over the decision, yesterday’s hearing at Eureka’s Wharfinger Building proved almost unanimous, with only Board Chair and Arcata representative Sarah Schaefer voting to reject the allocation. However, the board opted to accept the nuclear energy for only one year, while using the proceeds to invest in its renewable energy portfolio.

The vote required the RCEA board to make an exception to the agency’s Energy Risk Management Policy, which bans long-term nuclear energy procurement.

Diablo Canyon was supposed to be shut down by the end of 2025, but with California’s renewable energy development lagging behind schedule, the state legislature approved a $1.4 billion loan to PG&E to keep it operating through 2030. As part of that deal, all jurisdictional entities under the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) are paying a share of the costs, and they all have the option of receiving an allocation of the power generated by Diablo Canyon.

RCEA Community Strategies Manager Brytann Busick told the Outpost via email that the board deliberately chose to make this a short-term agreement.

“This opportunity to accept or reject the Diablo Canyon allocation will be brought before the Community Advisory Committee and Board of Directors each subsequent year until 2030,” Busisk said. “Community input would be sought again. Based on the acceptance of the allocation, there will be no impact on customer electricity bills.”

Reached by phone, RCEA Eureka representative Scott Bauer, who previously voted against taking the allocation, said the decision to keep Diablo Canyon operating was made by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state government, so the only decision left to community choice aggregators like RCEA was whether to accept the “free” nuclear energy or stand on principle given the environmental implications, including the challenges of long-term nuclear waste storage.

This time around, the board chose to take the power that ratepayers are paying for.

“The end result was we’ll accept it but review [that decision] yearly, with hopes that maybe in a year or two we have so much renewables in our portfolio we can say we don’t want [nuclear] in our power mix,” Bauer said.

Specific allocation amounts have not yet been published, but according to an RCEA staff report, the local agency’s allocation would likely only meet about 2% of its 2025 power portfolio. 

Bauer said the savings won’t be enough to dramatically slash ratepayer bills.

“I did the math,” he said. “As a ratepayer the rebate would be 60 to 70 cents per month, which is pretty much insignificant.”

Instead, he said, RCEA plans to invest the savings in the development of more renewable energy sources.