Eureka Police Department release:

On November 11, 2023, officers were dispatched to the 2900 block California Street in Eureka for a report of a male suspect spray painting a building with graffiti. The male was later located by Officer Myers and Sergeant Eckert and found to be in possession of the spray paint used on the building. The male was arrested on related felony vandalism charges.

Thank you to the observant citizen who called in the vandalism and great work by Officer Myers and Sergeant Eckert!

UPDATE, 2:25 p.m.:

Aileen Yoo, director of news and information at Cal Poly Humboldt, forwarded the following statement, which was shared with the campus on Nov. 9:

Cal Poly Humboldt has been informed that Teamsters Local 2010, which represents approximately 1,000 employees systemwide in the CSU including plumbers, electricians, and other skilled trades workers, intends to conduct a one-day strike on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Contracts with the various unions are negotiated at the CSU system level in Long Beach. At this time, the California State University and the Teamsters have reached an impasse in their contract negotiations but are still engaged in the bargaining process under state law.

If the strike on Nov. 14 occurs, Cal Poly Humboldt and other CSU universities will remain open. Each has contingency plans in place to maintain full operations with as minimal disruption as possible for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Any changes to scheduled activities will be communicated.

Employees engaging in a strike are not entitled to be paid while they’re on strike. Employees who are scheduled to work on Nov. 14 but do not report to work are not permitted to use time off accruals to cover their absences while they are on strike. This applies to all absences unless they were pre-approved by the supervisor, or medical certification is provided documenting the employee was unable to work, or the employee already has a medical certification on file. If an employee’s absence on Nov. 14 is not approved or cleared by medical documentation, that time will be designated as unapproved leave without pay.

Retaliation by any member of the campus community for one’s personal position regarding the labor dispute is inappropriate and unlawful and should be reported to the campus Title IX coordinator. If you have any questions, please contact your supervisor or Human Resources.

During any strike or other activity related to contract negotiations, please remain respectful and patient. As a university community, we share a commitment to providing a positive educational experience for our students, and Cal Poly Humboldt values the important work our employees do every day to make this possible.

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Original post:

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Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters holding plastic-wrapped protest signs marched in the rain outside Cal Poly Humboldt this morning as part of the labor union’s one-day strike across 22 of the 23 campuses in the California State University system.

The strike comprises 1,100 CSU skilled trade maintenance and operations workers, including plumbers, electricians, painters, carpenters and mechanics. The labor organization alleges that CSU has committed numerous unfair labor practices, including interfering with workers’ rights to engage in union activities and offering “insulting” wage proposals.

“CSU has denied workers regular step increases for 28 years, leaving many workers stuck near the bottom of their pay range after decades of service, and CSU pay lags behind comparable University of California Skilled Traded worker pay by 23.6% on average,” the Teamsters say in an informational flier being distributed at the protest.

The group warns that today’s strike could result in delayed deliveries and trash pickup, and it’s expected to halt any construction projects on campuses.

The Outpost reached out to Cal Poly Humboldt for comment and we’ll update this post if and when we hear back. The campus remains open during the strike. 

During back-to-back days at one of California’s largest universities, hundreds of students took to marches, impassioned speeches and megaphones to condemn the mass death that has afflicted Israelis and Palestinians: The attack by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, and the Israeli military response since then. The UCLA demonstrations last week — one Tuesday by supporters of Israel, the other Wednesday by pro-Palestinian students — were common in grief but riven by deep wounds over history and words.

This wasn’t a dialogue, but a thunderous expression of each side’s anguish.

Ever since campus protests in California erupted over the latest explosion of violence, students affected by the crisis have endured profound agony as they watch an escalation of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not seen in decades. Adding to their hurt is a lack of public consensus over what language constitutes prejudice. At the same time, California university leaders are also struggling to strike a balance between First Amendment guarantees and civility.

And as the regents of the University of California meet Wednesday, undoubtedly students will bring their sorrow to a leadership searching to instill comity. While the regents don’t have the matter on their agenda, the morning public comment period is often an electric display of students and employees voicing concern. Late last week, the UC leadership released a statement denouncing bigotry while noting free speech protects vile rhetoric.

The discord is playing out as campus Arabs, Jews and Muslims are witnessing generational traumas that gash their identities like spears, intensifying feelings already on edge.

For Jewish students, the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, in which the Palestinian militant group Hamas murdered 1,200 people, was a grotesque reminder of past perils that have menaced Jewish communities. The massacre was the single largest loss of Jewish life in one day since the Holocaust nearly 80 years ago, which some Jewish students on campus stress is still recent history.

“We have watched as students, professors, and even friends (equate) terrorism with liberation, perpetuate antisemitism, and even celebrate the deaths of our loved ones,” said Bella Brannon, a UCLA student who spoke last Tuesday at a campus demonstration calling on Palestinians to return the more than 200 Israeli hostages who were kidnapped in the Oct. 7 assault. Brannan is president of the campus Hillel.

The event, held a month to the day of the attacks, featured a long dinner table with chairs and place-settings for all of the kidnapped hostages that stretched dozens of feet. Baby bottles taped to the tablecloth signified seats for the children taken by Hamas.

And while supporters of Palestinian freedom don’t necessarily agree with Hamas’ methods, many Jewish groups across the country were outraged that a leading campus voice for Palestinian rights didn’t condemn the Hamas attacks, instead calling them “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance” in a written statement.

Mourning thousands of lives while having to answer for Hamas is part of the frustration for Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian students, including Jews, as the Israeli military continues its bombardment of Gaza to topple Hamas’ rule of the area. The campaign has so far resulted in more than 11,000 deaths since Oct. 7, including at least 4,500 children, according to Gaza health authorities. For many Arab and pro-Palestine students, Israel’s latest response is viewed as a continuation of its violent control of Palestinians — prompting their fervent calls for Palestinian statehood free of Israeli intervention. (While the United Nations envisioned two countries in the region in 1947, only Israel emerged, in 1948.)

“There is no way to work with an occupation that will continue to encroach upon those borders, without addressing that their intentions are to remain annexing, remain displacing, remain ethnic cleansing,” said Mohammed Noroozi in an interview. He’s a fourth-year student at UCLA who helped coordinate the pro-Palestinian rally and march on the campus last Wednesday, a day after the Israeli hostages demonstration.

“How am I supposed to go to class without crying,” Noroozi asked.

Hundreds of students attended the pro-Palestine rally, which also called on the UC system to divest from weapons makers, and appeared slightly larger than Tuesday’s event.

Criticism of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 runs deep among international groups and many American Jewish scholars as well, several hundred of whom have called Israel an apartheid state. Critics of that allegation say it’s misleading and that Israel has a right to defend itself against militant activity.

Israel’s creation led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. Jews fleeing persecution in Europe and anti-Jewish revolts in Arab and Muslim countries made up a large portion of Israel’s early population. Numerous peace deals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fell through in the last three decades.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus

Fearing online harassment or worse, few students who attended last week’s UCLA rallies wished to speak with reporters. Others would only give their first names. One student agreed to have her photo taken but pleaded with CalMatters hours later to avoid publishing her name. “I’m receiving a lot of hate on social media right now,” she wrote.

Alqasim, a fourth-year UCLA student, wore a head scarf synonymous with Arab and Palestinian identity, called a keffiyeh, that concealed most of his face during the rally. He and other students supportive of Palestine fear appearing on a website called Canary Mission, which collects student statements that are antisemitic or critical of Israel and posts their names and images in a searchable format.

Some Jews fear being punished for Israel’s actions, a case of conflating a people and a government that doesn’t represent them, wrote Dov Waxman, a UCLA professor who leads a center on Israel studies. News reports and major Jewish advocacy groups indicate that Israel’s military response has animated a massive intensification of antisemitism domestically and abroad, further alarming Jewish students and their communities.

Muslim and Arab students and their families — and those who appear to be but aren’t — likewise are confronting hateful animus against them, rekindling the memories of Islamophobia that pervaded U.S. civil society after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Last week the Biden administration said bigotry against Jews and Muslims is on the rise at colleges and demanded that campuses stop it.

Members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus wrote a letter last week to the state’s public university leaders to “express our outrage and concern regarding the explosion of antisemitism at University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses in recent weeks.” The letter noted a “barrage” of acts of violence and intimidation against Jewish students and employees. Those include a private social media post attributed to a UC Davis professor in which they threatened “zionist” journalists and UC professors who denounced system leaders for calling the Oct. 7 attack an act of terror.

Hillel, a campus religious group, hosts a rally calling for the release of kidnapped Israelis at UCLA’s Wilson Plaza in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

Last Friday, the Veterans Day holiday and days after the legislative caucus’ public rebuke, the UC system released a statement from its 10 campus chancellors and the system president condemning Islamophobia and antisemitism.

“Antisemitism is antithetical to our values and our campus codes of conduct and is unacceptable under our principles of community. It will not be tolerated,” the letter said. “Similarly, Islamophobia is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We will work to ensure that those who advocate on behalf of Palestinians can also be confident of their physical safety on our campuses.”

At a recent protest off-campus, Noroozi said a counter-protester spat in his face. He and Middle Eastern and pro-Palestine students CalMatters spoke with said they’ve been called “terrorists” on campus.

UCLA groups have alleged other incidents in which seemingly non-student adults intimidated pro-Palestinian students in the past week. Media and advocacy reports have chronicled other instances of campus Islamophobia, including a driver striking a Stanford Muslim Arab student in a hit-and-run that’s being investigated as a hate crime.

Hateful speech is protected

For colleges, the free exchange of ideas is a central tenet of their existence. Balancing that mission and protecting the emotional and physical safety of students is an ongoing tension.

“The bottom line is that hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment,” said Michelle Deutchman, executive director of the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement at the University of California. Some slogans and posters at campus protests “may feel to some students extremely menacing, extremely threatening, extremely hateful, extremely demeaning, but that does not negate the fact that it is protected and allowed on campus now.”

The center points to effective campus tutorials on free speech, including those issued by UC Davis and Long Beach State.

UC’s letter reiterated Deutchman’s points, citing existing system policy. However, “persistent harassment of individuals or groups, or credible threats of physical violence,” are also examples of “behavior that crosses the line into unprotected speech,” the UC letter said.

Importantly, while speech is protected by the First Amendment, vandalism and violence aren’t.

“Antisemitism is antithetical to our values and our campus codes of conduct and is unacceptable under our principles of community. It will not be tolerated. Similarly, Islamophobia is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
— Statement by the University of California president and 10 campus chancellors

Deutchman, who spoke with CalMatters before UC published its letter, said laws on speech cannot parse the nuance and messiness of campus debate. College administrators must find a way to do more, even if speech is protected.

The UC letter said that the system will soon “announce a series of initiatives to help us address the current climate on our campuses … and improve the public discourse on this issue.”

A separate UCLA faculty letter denounced the campus protest climate, which it said celebrates Hamas and incites violence.

Disputes over rhetoric

At the pro-Palestine UCLA rally, event organizers passed out flyers with words to chants that participants shouted during a march through campus, including “there is only one solution, intifada, revolution!” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That last phrase is a reference to the geographic space that includes Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Students there told CalMatters they regard it as a democratic statement to support Palestinian rights, a common view held by scholars on Palestine.

The rally ended with some students beating piñatas with the likenesses of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden. The Tuesday event had aggressive displays, too. One older participant carried a sign that read: “Hamas, Islam, Death.”

Major Jewish groups say phrases such as “from the river to the sea” are associated with extremist violence against Israel, and by extension, Jews. But Jewish views are diverse on this: The group Jewish Voice for Peace opposes Zionism and has campus chapters, including at UCLA. Waxman, the Israel studies director at UCLA, said the charge of antisemitism can be overused.

“I think it’s important to recognize that even criticism that’s unfair, or excessive or harsh, isn’t necessarily antisemitic,” Waxman said. “That also applies not just to criticism of Israel’s policies, but criticism of Israel as a country, and that includes criticism of Zionism as well. It’s not automatically or inherently antisemitic.”

He signed a 2020 declaration endorsed by hundreds of scholars on antisemitism and related fields that said criticism of Zionism — and references to the area between the river and the sea — are not antisemitic on the face of it.

“The bottom line is that hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment.”
— Michelle Deutchman, executive director of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.

Waxman cautioned that context matters when dissecting slogans. If Hamas supporters chant “from the river to the sea,” the intent of Jewish murder is clear. Others who speak the phrase in the context of a democratic movement that supports equal rights for Jews and Arabs in the region “may not be motivated by antisemitism,” he said. Denying the attachment and history of Jews and Palestinians to the region is also bigoted, Waxman added.

But at least one state lawmaker who’s a member of the Jewish legislative caucus views the existing protest language as antisemitic.

“We know what these slogans mean and it’s disgraceful,” Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democrat from Santa Monica, said at the Tuesday UCLA rally. “I’m not here to tell you what you already know, that Jews have a right to self determination, that anti-zionism is anti-semitism, that the one Jewish state has the right to exist and defend itself.” His district includes a large Jewish population, as well as UCLA.

In a brief interview with CalMatters at the rally, Zbur said calling for intifada and the slogan from the river to the sea are antisemitic. “That’s a direct call for violence against Jewish people,” he said.

To others, the discourse over language misses the point.

“You just need to be able to watch and see what’s going on in Gaza to realize that that is the true horror of where we should be focused, rather than condemning students for actually advocating for justice and equality,” said Ussama Makdisi, a history professor at UC Berkeley who teaches courses on the Middle East and Palestine.

One-state or two-state solution?

A key debate in the Israel-Palestine crisis is whether the region should have two independent countries or a single united state.

Paige Martin, who’s Jewish and attended last week’s pro-Israel demonstration, said she supports peace for everyone and a two-state solution. The fourth-year UCLA student noted that “I don’t agree with everything that the state of Israel does, but I believe it’s important to have a homeland for the Jewish people.”

Alqasim, the student from last week’s pro-Palestinian rally, said that he supports two countries, as long as that means equal rights for Palestinians in Israel as well.

A Palestinian student named Amy who also attended the rally, said, “when we advocate for a two-state solution it equalizes both sides.” To her, the issue is that of “an occupied people and an occupier.”

During the event for Israeli hostages, a student shouted “free Palestine!” before walking away. The crowd jeered at him. CalMatters approached the student, who granted a brief interview but would only identify himself as Joseph.

“I feel for everyone whose family has been taken hostage,” he said. “But you cannot justify 10,000 civilians dead in exchange for 240 hostages. That’s a non-comparison.”

As he pulled away, he added, “I support a two-state solution where the Palestinians and Israelis both have viable states to live together peacefully.”

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

Dennis Carl Myers, known affectionately as Denny, passed away on October 28, 2023 at St. Joseph Hospital with his wife, Gay, and his daughters, Carie and Erin, by his side. He was born on July 3, 1942 in San Francisco. His family moved to Eureka when he was nine years old. Denny was well known for his passion for cars. This began when he bought his first car at age 11.

In his earlier years, Denny attended local schools graduating from Eureka High School, where he laid the foundation for his future endeavors. He went on to achieve great success as the 1967 Super Stock Champion at Redwood Acres Raceway and many other races, showcasing his talent and love for motorsports. He proudly rebuilt his cherry red 1940 Ford sedan and anyone who knew Denny would understand why it was necessary to install a Chevrolet engine into this Ford. He loved to drive it and took great pride in showing it around town on special occasions.

Denny lived and loved Humboldt County raising his family locally. Family meant everything to Denny as he worked hard to provide for everyone through all of the joy and chaos a large family can offer…often with laughter and always with love. In 1975, Denny and his business partner, Dave Harrison, founded Old Town Muffler, an establishment that thrived under their leadership for many years. Denny’s commitment and expertise in the automotive industry left a lasting impact on the community, still felt to this day. He retired in 2006, leaving a legacy of hard work, dedication, and determination to provide quality service.

Denny was a kind, funny, and supportive individual who brought joy to those around him. He had a passion for various hobbies, including stamp and sports card collecting. His keen interest in these activities allowed him to build an impressive collection over the years. Denny also had a talent for predicting the weather, loved going to the movies (especially loud action ones), and watching sports on the weekends. He maintained a well-organized shop where he enjoyed tinkering with and building things, particularly related to cars. He also reveled in watching his granddaughters, Leitala and Vaiana, excel in sports and Matila and Alusi racing around the yard in the motorized Jeep. It warmed his heart that maybe they were taking after him in his love for motorsports.

Denny is survived by his loving wife, Gay Myers, and his daughters, Carie (Ken), Kelly, Deana (Scott), Amy, and Erin (Eddy) and his sons Craig and Kevin (Melissa); his 12 grandchildren, Logan, Megan, Cameryn, Skyler, Anthony, Leitala, Natallia, Vaiana, Matila, Alusi, Dakota, and Sawyer; his nine great-grandchildren, Jayden, Elsie, Daxton, Payten, Briella, Dylan, Ashton, Asher, and McKenzie; his nephew, Dennis; and his niece, Faryn. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, David and Hulda Kaski; his mother, Ellen Myers; and his sister, Renie Myers.

Denny leaves behind his good friends, Bobby and Judy Hixson, Marvin and Jeanne Taylor, Gary and Sheila Forbes, Mel and Judy Sample, Ray Beck, and Ray Conti. Denny’s memory will forever be cherished by his family, friends, and all those who had the pleasure of knowing him.

The family would like to thank Dr. Abdali, Dr. Urva, Dr. Thompson and nurses Kim, Toni and Crystal in the Progressive Care Unit at St. Joseph Hospital for taking such good care of him.

In honoring Denny’s life, we remember his kindheartedness, sense of humor, and unwavering support for those he cared about. May he rest in peace, forever remembered for his contributions to his community and his love of family.

A celebration of life will be held on December 9 at 1 p.m. at The Athlete Factory, 2734 Hubbard Lane, Eureka. Food will be provided by the Vainuku family.

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Jacquelyn (Jackie) Seaman died at her home in Eureka on October 10. Jackie was the oldest child of Buddy Seaman and Yoshiko Miyagi. When she moved to the United States from Okinawa with her father and little brother, Richard, she became the maternal figure in her brother’s life.

Jackie never had her own children, but she always had a mother hen personality, taking a genuine interest and care for everyone who came into her life, whether it was her family, co-workers, customers and their families, or the animals that roamed the property at Recology, where she worked. She especially loved the chickens. She was like a chicken whisperer.

Jackie moved to Humboldt to help Richard open the Fieldbrook Family Market. She was the deli manager, where she enjoyed cooking for her regulars. She prepared the school lunches for Fieldbrook School and loved to see the kids when they would come into the store. She took great enjoyment joking with the regular morning coffee crew and helping them with their crossword puzzles each morning. She doted on the employees, who she thought of like family.

Jackie was an artist, working with pastels, watercolor, acrylic and mostly photography. When her nieces were young, they would tell elaborate stories about swimming and dancing French fries and she would illustrate them, to the kids’ delight. She would take Madi on what they fondly called “bubble gum trips” where they would stop by a gas station and buy a stockpile of bubble gum, then drive around to look for somewhere scenic to take pictures, usually featuring cows and birds.

At North High School in Riverside, Jackie was a popular athlete, lettering in badminton and volleyball. She was also a cheerleader. She started working at Kmart in high school and ended with a job in management by the time she left. She spent the bulk of her career as a letter carrier in Riverside, California, garnering recognition from her department and some enduring friendships.

After she moved to the United States, Jackie continued to stay in contact with her family in Okinawa. As the only one who spoke both languages, she acted as a bridge between her American family and her Okinawan family including her mother, her half-brother, Kazuo and her cousin, Yasushi.

Jackie was preceded in death by her father and mother. She is survived by her brother, Richard; sister-in-law, Susan and nieces Rowan and Madeira, as well as her half-brother, Kazuo.

A memorial/art-show of Jackie’s work is being planned for early 2024. Friends are welcome to come share stories and memories and take a piece she made. Please contact susanseamaneureka@gmail.com if you want to stay informed when more details about the event are available.

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Cynthia Gail Hebard
August 30, 1954 – November 3, 2023

Cindi passed away with her family around her, holding her hands and giving her unconditional love and support at the end of a long, hard fought battle with COPD and emphysema.

Born to William Leslie “Les” Hebard Sr and Calista June “Pat” Mell (Owsley) in Roseburg, Oregon; she moved to Eureka at a very young age. She attended Pine Hill Elementary School, Jacobs and graduated from Eureka Senior High School in 1972.

Survived by her husband Stephen Wolke, her “Pop” Jon R. Mell, her brothers, “Burgie” Bill Hebard and Jon B. Mell, her sister Wendy Starr, her son, R. Morgan W. J. (Kayla) Chapman, her daughter Jaycie (Brian) Chapman Shearer, her grandchildren, Anthony Riley Lovel, G. Hayden N. Lovel, Aurora Rose Chapman and Stella Rose Chapman.

She is proceeded in death by her first daughter and first true love, Nicole Spring Romano (March 21, 1974 – July 23, 1974 ), her mother, Pat Mell and father, Les Hebard.

Cindi was a force to be reckoned with. She was a fierce and independent woman who was never to be told how to live her life. She had a strong work ethic, believing you work for what you want and respect what you have. She was quick witted and brutally honest with her beliefs and feelings. She wanted the best for everyone she met but also had no problem calling you a dumbass, telling you what you did wrong and what you needed to do to fix it. She was a smart, stubborn, clever, loving woman crammed into a tiny firecracker of a package.

As a single mother most of her life, she always worked hard at various jobs to stay self-sufficient. She cleaned houses, did interior and exterior painting, bartended and any other job she could find to support her children.

In the late ‘80s she decided to become her own boss and opened a cafeteria on the 3rd floor of the Caltrans Building in Eureka. She named it “The Pothole” and Caltrans (at first) was not amused. She owned that business for nearly 20 years and ran it single handedly every day, Monday - Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In the beginning, when her children were small, she would take them to work with her, get them ready for school in her back office and take a 20 minute “break” to drop them off. She would work the rest of the day, close the restaurant, run errands, pick up kids and always ended the day with a homecooked dinner. In mid-2006 she decided to close her cafeteria due to rising costs and shrinking profits. In 2003 she started at the Eureka Post Office as a weekend rural carrier for the Hydesville, Carlotta and other surrounding areas. During this time, she met her husband, Steve Wolke. They dated for a few years before getting married on October 16, 2008, just recently celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary.

As Cindi was an excellent cook, loved baking and canning and was a very driven person, she started her next small business, Granny Be Jammin in 2007. She had her kitchen licensed and certified as a “home kitchen” with the city and county and began her next business endeavor. She was extremely proud of her business and made many friends and lifelong customers along the way. Her products were sold at Kneeland Glen Farm Stand, at Pierson’s in their holiday store and she rarely missed a flea market in any of the surrounding towns. She also had a steady customer base that knew all they had to do was call and order at her home number. She specialized in Low-Sugar Fruit Jams and personal pies of many different varieties. She also was known for her breads, cookies, and other treats that she thought up. She was also known for donating her products to the various activities and school events her grandchildren participated in; often being found volunteering her time to ensure her daughter was running a smooth and successful snack bar. (Thanks, momma)

Cindi was an avid gardener and loved the outdoors. She would use the items from her organic backyard garden in her business. She grew multiple types of berries, fruits and vegetables. When her garden wasn’t producing what she needed, she always knew who to reach out to for picking permission to ensure her products stayed organic and great quality. Cindi also taught her older grandchildren how to make jams and different pies so her knowledge would be sure to get passed to the younger generation.

She also loved camping. For many years every summer she would reserve the same spot at Swimmers Delight, load up her two kids, whatever dogs she had, one tent, a lot of food and would spend a week camping, cooking, playing, water coloring river rocks, sketching the scenery, searching for fossils and making magical memories with her most prized possessions, her children. Once she had grandkids, they became her newest camping companions. Another of her favorite things was agate hunting at the many beaches she had access to. She truly loved nature and all it had to offer.

Cindi was an animal lover, always possessing some type of animal. Her house always had at least one dog, but no more than 5 at any given time and most years a cat or two. When her children were young, she wanted them to know what farm life was like, so there were always chickens and ducks to care for. She even adopted 3 cows and raised them in her back yard. She loved her wild birds that she fed, all her little hummingbirds that would come back yearly and nested in the same spot in her patio, her backyard chickens and even the little spider that lived in her lamp next to her bed.

Her home was always open to her family, friends and kids’ friends, making them feel welcomed and cared for. She was usually loved, always respected and even sometimes feared by the many people that knew her and called her family or friend.

She did a lot of things and touched a lot of people during her short 69 years on this earth. She never missed an opportunity to let her kids and grandkids know how much she loved them. Her presence is and will be extremely missed by her family and friends but knowing she is not in pain, is in a better place and will always be with us, we will continue in the hopes of making her proud.

A memorial in celebration of her life will be held after the holidays for all that would like to attend. The date and time are still undetermined, but we will keep all updated.

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Carolyn (known as “Cotton” to everyone she knew) Rutherford was born November 20, 1946 in Vinita, Oklahoma to parents Roy and Edna Foust. The family moved to Arcata when she was just six months old. With the exception of six months in Oklahoma and about eight years in Ukiah she was a lifelong Humboldt County resident.

She raised two sons and was a second mom to all of her sons’ friends (most of whom called her mom). Cotton loved sewing and drawing. She had an art booth at the Eureka Flea Market until it closed and enjoyed socializing with the friends she made there.

As the seventh of nine children she had a great multitude of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews and she adored them all. But her pride and joy were her three grandchildren and she lit up whenever they were around. Between friends and family, and friends of family, and family of friends, her house was never empty. After many years of declining health Cotton passed away peacefully on November 10th.

She was preceded in death by her father, Roy, her mother Edna, brothers Bill, Ray, and Wayne, her sister Edna June and her husband Pete.

She leaves behind her son Jesse Grammer and his wife Vickie of Bayside, her son Bill Grammer of Redding, her grandson Will Grammer and his three children of Astoria Oregon, her grandson Timothy Grammer of Central Point, Oregon and her granddaughter Miranda Grammer and her three children of Medford, Oregon, and also a brother, three sisters, and a great number of nieces and nephews.

Cotton was loved by all of them, and will be greatly missed.

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