Sixty years ago, the 1960-61 sports scene at Eureka High School had gotten off to a slow start. The football team had finished with a 2-5-1 record that included two losses to arch rival Arcata by a combined total of 6-76.

Basketball season was about to commence, but times were different then. There was no McKinleyville High School. There was a Big 4 conference consisting of Arcata, Del Norte, Eureka, and Fortuna, and a Little 4 conference made up of Ferndale, Hoopa, St. Bernards, and South Fork. Conference play would consist of playing everyone in their own conference twice and the teams in the other conference once. This was the first year with this new format. In years past, each team played all the other schools twice. On the court there was a jump ball at the start of each quarter, there was no shot clock, and no three point shot.

In addition to the rules and scheduling changes, each school fielded a “lightweight” and “heavyweight” squad. There were no varsity and junior varsity squads based on age. A point system was assigned to an individual based on age, height, and weight, and if their total was under a certain amount, they could be a lightweight even if they were a senior.

With basketball season starting, Eureka was the pre-season favorite. We had finished second the last two years behind Fortuna. Our record against them in that two-year span was 1-3 but we had broken their twenty-five game win streak with our sole victory over them. We always had problems with Arcata and our record for the previous two years against them was 1-7. We had dominated everyone else in the Big 4 and Little 4. We were probably favored because of my presence at center at 6‘8” and having led the league in scoring and been a unanimous All-League selection the previous year.

However, there was more to it than me. This year there was a team chemistry that had been lacking in the 1959-60 season and the other players were pretty good in their own right. One of the pictures shows and lists the team members. I want to mention the other starters, all juniors. Our point guard was Bill Goodwin, an excellent ball handler and a deadly shooter, especially at free throws. The other guard was Larry Sample, probably the best athlete on the team, a good shooter and ball handler who would occasionally do the most unexpected things, usually for the better.

The forwards were Randy Teach and Tom McGuire, who were steady rebounders, defenders, and scorers. A sixth person, Mike Walsh, had transfered over from St. Bernards and as he got familiar with our system, he was like an extra starter.

In addition to the team members was our coach Mark Melendy. Mark was a star quarterback at Eureka as well as Humboldt State. In between the two, he was a belly gunner on a B-17 bomber in WWII. His philosophy was demonstrated when I first made the team as a sophomore and he gathered us for our first team meeting. He told us we were there to have fun. As I was digesting that he followed up with, “If any of you think losing is fun, you can leave right now!” The season started remarkably with wins over Willits, 61-33; and Ashland, 59-38; and then we headed off to Weed. Weed was a perennial powerhouse in their area and would give us a good test. As the air is thinner in Weed at 5,000 feet, the altitude posed a problem for those of us used to living at sea level.

Our Friday night game with them was nip and tuck and at the end of the regulation game, we were tied and went into overtime. We were told a few hours after the game that at that point the official scorer, a Weed supporter, had made an error and that Weed had actually won by one point, but since it was their error we went to overtime and prevailed 56-52.

In the Saturday night game I picked up an early foul and it wasn’t too long until I picked up a second foul. I averaged about one foul a game and it became apparent that they were running plays designed to get me to foul out of the game, which I did with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter. At that time Weed had a slight lead and held on to win 51-56.

We went back to the coast to prepare for the preseason Big 4 tourney. We played Fortuna on Friday at Arcata, and host Arcata would play Del Norte the same evening, and the losers and winners would play each other on Saturday. Our game against Fortuna started as usual. During warm ups, their center, Don Jacobsen, and I would chat at mid court. We had played each other so many times we were friends. He always grouched that as the second tallest player in the league at 6‘4”, he hated our match-ups often called the “Battle of the Titans” as he wasn’t close enough to my height. For the first time, we had a fairly easy win. The next night we played Arcata. It was a difficult game with the Arcata defense playing defense loosely on my teammates in order to sag into the key and help defend against me. This ploy did not work in the third quarter because with the extra room my teammates took and made all ten shots. The Arcata jinx was buried as we went on to win, 58-39.

We played one more pre-season game against Arcata. It was a pre-lim to a Harlem Clowns game. It was a very hard fought game that we won by only two points. At this point I was averaging just under twenty-two points per game and just over two fouls.

The first week-end of league play saw victories over Arcata and Ferndale. This led to two things of note: On the following Monday the physics class was celebrating because our instructor had told us that if I scored fifty points over the weekend, he would cancel the test on Monday. I had 15 and 35 thus the test was canceled. But it also caused another issue to surface.

At that time Eureka had two newspapers, The Humboldt Times, distributed in the morning, and the Humboldt Standard, distributed in the late afternoon. They had two different sports editors. The Times had Al Tostado, a part time St. Bernards coach and ardent supporter of St. Bernards. The Standard had Don Terbush, who was the uncle and father figure to his two nephews who were my neighbors.

Mr. Tostado wrote an inflammatory article indicating that my teammates were under instructions to feed me the ball in the fourth quarter. He compared that to a Del Norte player who was such a gentleman that after scoring 26 points, he asked to be taken out of the game. The article is in my scrapbook with my mother’s hand-written notes on it pointing out I only played one minute in the 4th quarter and other disclaimers. We had a team meeting where I proclaimed I liked scoring points and we kept playing our game.

Coach Melendy usually took the first string out if we had a 20 point lead. If that occurred in the first half we would start the second half and if we started to pull further ahead he would pull us again. The only time that he did not follow this script was against Hoopa. On the way to the game he pulled me aside and said that Hoopa was playing in a new gym and people were coming from up and down the valley to see me play. He told me to give them a show. At half time I had 20 points and in the third quarter another 20, including a half court shot at the buzzer. He then took me out.

In league play, there were two games of note. The first was against South Fork. I learned some background information on this game when I gave rides home from Stanford on different breaks to Jack Monschke, a starting guard for South Fork. I will use the information that I gained a year after we played to set the stage.

Leading up to our game, I was averaging close to 30 points a game and 0.8 fouls. The South Fork team was averaging about 28 points per game. The South Fork coach wasn’t happy with those stats and decided that I was not to score a lot of points, and instituted a game plan that consisted of two large people following me all over the court when they were on defense and when they were on offense they would not try to score but just stall to use as much time as possible in order to keep the ball out of our hands. Remember, at that time, unlike now, there was no shot clock that mandated you shoot the ball and at least hit the rim within thirty-five seconds of gaining possession of the ball.

When we won the opening tip, I went to my corner of the court and even though I did not have the ball there were two fellows pinning me in the corner with their arms raised to deny me the ball. The other three were in a zone against my remaining four teammates. This took us by surprise, to say the least, and we did not score initially. When South Fork came down, they went into their stall. At the end of the first quarter they were ahead 4-1. More of the same occurred in the second quarter but we ended up ahead 6-5 at the half.

Coach Melendy wasn’t pleased at the half, not with us, but with the other coach and said, “OK, if they want to play that way let’s go out there, get the opening tip, score a basket and we will stall the second half.” What I learned later was South Fork had intended to play a regular second half. The second half started, we got the opening tip but rather than take the ball down and work it in for a close shot like the coach instructed, Sample dribbled down and threw up a fifteen foot jump shot and made it. We held them and went into our stall.

They did not contest our stall, and for a few minutes Goodwin was actually sitting on the ball while the defenders stayed away from him. By the end of the third quarter, we were up 17-9. In the fourth quarter they closed the gap and we were ahead by one with a minute or so to go and Goodwin and Sample were dribbling out the clock when Goodwin was fouled. He calmly sank two free throws putting us up three, and South Fork was allowed to dribble the length of the court and make a lay-in to end the game in our favor, 20-19. They achieved their goal of keeping it close and holding me in check as I only had 4 points and no fouls.

The other game of interest was against Del Norte at their gym. The first half was a hard fought contest that ended up with us ahead 30-28. Coach Melendy, called the third quarter “the best basketball” he had seen. It wasn’t so much of a team effort, but Larry Sample just took over and made unbelievable shots. The most memorable incident had to be explained to me during the quarter break.

Del Norte had stolen the ball, and as they were taking it to their end, they lost it to us, and because of that I was ahead of the rest of the team getting back on offense. As I got to the free throw line, I turned and saw all my team mates still on the other end of the court but I didn’t see the ball. Then I heard a bam/swish noise as the ball hit the backboard and went through the net. The ref held up two fingers for a basket and though I didn’t know what had happened, I trotted down to defense.

What had happened was that Sample had the ball and glanced up at the clock as he neared half court and saw that there were only two seconds left, so he let go with his half court shot that he made. When the buzzer didn’t go off he realized that there had been 1:02 left on the clock. That shot put us up 16 points and the Del Norte coach, Maciel, wandered over to our bench and asked Melendy what the heck was going on? We won by 23.

Our last game was against Fortuna, which we won to end up 10-0 in league play and 16-1 over all. We had planned to make our standard trip to Yreka for a post-season tournament, as Eureka had done for the last eight years or so. At this point Don Terbush came forth and told Coach Melendy that he knew some people in the Bay Area, and he thought he could get us an invite to the prestigious Tournament of Champions.

At this time there was no North Coast Sectional tournament or state championships. The Tournament of Champions was held at Harmon Gymnasium, the home court of the U.C. Berkeley Bears and consisted of the champions from seven central California leagues and one at-large team. It was recognized as the northern California championship tourney. Coach asked us if we wanted to go, and we certainly did. Mr. Terbush worked his magic and we were offered the at-large bid. We accepted and then sat on the information so that Mr. Terbush could break the story in the Standard. Mr. Tostado got wind of what was going on, but could only print rumors as no one would confirm the story. Yreka was mad that Eureka was backing out and we were never invited to their tournament again.

The tournament line-up was set with other teams being: McClymonds (Oakland), Livermore, Monterey, Redwoods (Marin), Sacred Heart (San Francisco), Vallejo and Richmond. As we were the number eight-seeded team we had the honor of playing the number one seed, the Richmond Oilers, who were 24-0 and known for their full court press where they defend you closely all over the court rather than just down on their defensive end.

We had two weeks to prepare for our game We had practiced against the press before and usually it did not bother us. To better ourselves, Melendy asked his brother-in-law, Ernie Cunningham if he would reassemble his St. Bernards squad and press us. I recall them using extra people to harass us even more than normal.

We didn’t know what to expect as we set off on what was then a two-day trip to the Bay Area. We were told that most Bay Area people thought we may not play in shoes, and another pre-season story about Richmond surfaced: “If they can keep their center out of jail, they will do well!”

Harmon Gymnasium was different than we were used to. It seated 8,000 and the seats were at a very steep angle. The McClymonds team was playing before us and they rolled out a cart with a bunch of head phones and a microphone so the coach could talk to them over the very noisy cheering section. It was, to say the least, different.

The account of the game, which we won 48-42, is aptly described in Don Terbush’s article from the Humboldt Standard, which follows.

Loggers Beat ACAL Champs 48-42, Play Vallejo High Tonight by Don Terbush Standard Sport Editor

BERKELEY—Eureka, in its greatest showing of the year, provided California cage prepdom with its most stunning upset as the underdog Loggers rose to undreamed of heights in securing a 48-42 Tournament of champions win over the previously invincible Richmond Oilers Thursday night.

Nearly 6500 onlookers converted Harmon Gymnasium in sheer pandemonium, as the Oilers’ 24-game skein snapped.

The Loggers, led by the brilliant, ball-hawking play of Bill Goodwin took a 5-4 lead with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter and pulled steadily away to record what must rank as the upset of 1961 in high school cage circles.

…Goodwin, a 5-11 junior guard, enjoyed his finest 32 minutes of high school basketball. He pulled in nine of Eureka’s 32 rebounds, tallied an equal number of points, including five-for-five at the free throw line, set up countless scoring plays with precision passing and ball-handling, and thwarted Richmond’s full-court press on numerous pressure-packed occasions.

A majority of teammate Larry Sample’s 13 points came as a result of Goodwin’s feed passes. Center John Murray, one of the TofC’s most publicized players, topped rebounding with 11 and contributed 12 points. Most of the 6-8 senior’s brightest moments came in the second half. …Eureka jumped ahead with 3:50 remaining, and then two layins by Goodwin and Sample added up to a 10-5 first quarter lead. During the first period the Oilers went six minutes without scoring a point.

We then proceeded to lose our next two games, but we had left our mark as our win over Richmond was called the biggest upset in tournament history. After the championship game that McClymonds won both Goodwin and I were named to the ten-man all tourney team. Along with McClymonds we were the only teams with two people selected. Other post season honors saw me selected to the All Northern California first team. In our own league I was a unanimous first team selection plus Goodwin and Sample were placed on the second team. Teach and McGuire were honorable mention.

Some fifty years later our team was selected as the second team to be inducted into the Eureka High School Hall of Fame. In 2011, that honor was also bestowed upon me as an individual player. As part of my “Poster,” I selected a picture of me being guarded by Don Jacobsen of Fortuna so that he could tell his friends he was in the Eureka High Hall of Fame.

After graduation, two of our team, Albonico and Norton, were killed within three months in separate auto accidents. Four of us attended Stanford as undergraduates; myself, Goodwin, Walsh, and Oswald. Another, Teach, received a Ph.D from Stanford. Hibler would go on to earn a Ph.D from Oregon State University.

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The story above was originally printed in the Spring 2021 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.

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).