Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On July 23, 2023, at about 7:51 p.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the Eureka area observed a vehicle fail to fully stop at a stop sign. The deputy conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle near the intersection of Harris Street and Sequoia Avenue, and contacted two adult males.

During the investigation, the deputies learned that one of the men, later identified as 26-year-old Benjamin Ervin James Dimmick, provided deputies with a false name. Once properly identified, Dimmick was found to have a local misdemeanor warrant and a felony warrant out of Mendocino County for his arrest. During a search of Dimmick, deputies located nearly 2 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Upon being placed under arrest, Dimmick physically resisted deputies in a failed attempt to flee.  

Dimmick was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of false identification to a peace officer (PC 148.9(a)), possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)) and resisting arrest (PC 148(a)(1)), in addition to a warrant charge of resisting arrest (PC 148(a)(1)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On July 23, 2023, at about 8:09 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Hammond Trail’s south entrance, located off Mad River Road near Arcata, for the report of a vehicle burglary.

Deputies met with an adult female victim whose vehicle window had been broken and her purse stolen. According to the victim, while walking on the trail she received an alert from her bank notifying her of multiple unauthorized purchases, totaling nearly $2,000. When she arrived back at her vehicle, she learned that the burglary had occurred.

Utilizing the victim’s purchase history, deputies were able to track and eventually identify the suspect as 37-year-old Misty Marie Milligan of Eureka. On July 24, at about 1 a.m., Sheriff’s deputies observed a vehicle associated with Milligan traveling in the area of 4^th and R Streets in Eureka. Deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and contacted Milligan and her passenger, 50-year-old Tasha Ticheal Jantz. Milligan was taken into custody without incident. During a search of Milligan and the vehicle, deputies located the victim’s stolen purse, approximately 6 grams of methamphetamine, 4 grams of fentanyl and drug paraphernalia.

Milligan was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of theft by forged/invalid access (PC 484g(a)), possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)) and possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia (HS 11364).

Jantz was found to have an outstanding felony warrant. She was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on warrant charges of convicted felon in possession of a firearm (PC 29800(a)), vehicle theft (VC 10851(a)), DUI (VC 23152(a)) and violation of probation (PC 1203.2(a)).

Each summer the Sheriff’s Office receives reports of vehicle burglaries occurring near recreation sites, such as local beaches and trails. You can protect yourself from vehicle burglaries by taking the following precautions whenever you are leaving your vehicle:

1. Always remove valuables from inside your vehicle. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office commonly receives reports of purses, bags, briefcases and wallets being stolen from vehicles – even those that have been hidden from plain view, such as under a seat. We have even received reports of thieves breaking in to steal a pair of sunglasses. Even if you do not believe the item is of value, remove it from plain site. 
2. Be cautious when storing valuables in your trunk. If your vehicle is equipped with a trunk release button on the inside, car prowlers can easily access your vehicle’s trunk space. While “hiding” items in your trunk may reduce the chance for your vehicle to be a target, the action will not completely protect you from theft. 
3.  Remove garage door openers, key cards, and house, work or car keys from your vehicle.
4. Always lock your vehicle, even if you are home. In public places, it may be tempting to leave your vehicle windows down to avoid vandalism. However, this puts you at even more risk, leaving vehicle registration and insurance information accessible to anyone nearby and increasing your chances of falling victim to identity theft, burglaries at your home and vehicle theft. 

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Blue Lake Fire release:

At 1712 hrs on Saturday July 22, 2023, Blue Lake Fire responded with one Engine and one Chief to the report of a residence on fire with an explosion. While responding to the initial call, it was reported that there was a powerline down in front of the residence. The dispatch included an all call for Arcata Fire, Fieldbrook Fire, Humboldt Bay Fire, and Westhaven fire. PG&E was also in route. The Blue Lake Chief arrived on scene and found heavy fire and smoke coming from the residence, all occupants were outside upon arrival.

The first Engine on scene established a water supply from the hydrant at the end of Buckley Road. Arcata’s Assistant Chief and One Arcata Fire engine arrived on scene and assisted the Blue Lake engine with fire attack. Humboldt Bay Fire arrived with one engine and one Battalion. Fieldbrook Chief, and one Westhaven Engine also arrived on scene. Fire attack established a defensive attack, and had the fire knocked down shortly after. After fire was knocked down, a transitional attack began. PG&E arrived on scene and secured the downed powerline.

After the fire was knocked down and overhaul operations began, all mutual aid resources started to be released at approximately 1800. Blue Lake remained on scene for an additional hour and a half to complete overhaul and investigate the cause of the fire.

There were no civilian or Firefighter injuries and the fire controlled within 30 minutes of the arrival of the first Engine. Damage is estimated at $430,000 and following a fire investigation the cause of the fire was determined to be accidental in nature.

Blue Lake Fire District would like to thank our allied partners for their assistance during this incident, Arcata Fire Department, Fieldbrook Fire, Westhaven Fire, and Humboldt Bay Fire. We would also like to thank PG&E.

Among the most difficult addictions to witness at San Francisco general hospital’s drug clinic is methamphetamine, which leaves users tearing at their skin and unable to eat, sleep or sign up for help.

The worst part: The clinic workers largely are powerless because unlike with opioid addiction, for which doctors prescribe medications such as methadone, there is no medicine for stimulant use disorder.

“We live day in and day out watching people suffer in a way that’s hard to imagine,” said Dr. Brad Shapiro, medical director of the Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. “They’re just dying in front of us.”

Faced with that immense suffering, California will try a new approach to stimulant addiction: Paying people with gift cards to reward them for staying sober.

This model, known as “contingency management,” rewards people with financial incentives each time their drug tests are negative for stimulants. It’s been shown to have success in clinical trials — and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been using it for more than a decade — but it hasn’t taken off in California. Medicaid previously wouldn’t cover it, so there was no funding to expand its use.

To Shapiro, that’s inexcusable.

“It’s actually, in my opinion, really quite criminal that we’ve gone decades knowing this is an effective treatment and the powers that be have failed to make a pathway for treatment for people,” he said.

The program is expanding now, thanks to a recent waiver by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that allows the agency to cover its costs. California was the first state in the nation to win approval for a contingency management program under Medicaid. The Golden State is launching pilot programs in 24 counties, including San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles. Costs for what collectively is called the Recovery Incentives Program will be reimbursed by CalAIM – the state’s recent expansion of Medi-Cal services.

“All of a sudden we have money to provide this incredibly effective intervention,” said Shapiro, whose clinic is launching one of three pilot programs coming to San Francisco. “So it makes a huge difference.”

Fighting meth with gift cardsFighting meth with gift cards

Shapiro’s clinic focuses primarily on opioid addiction, but more than half of their patients also have a stimulant use disorder, he said.

While the deadly opioid fentanyl gets most of the attention in the drug epidemic in California and across the country, experts say stimulant use is a major — and growing — concern. In 2021, 65% of drug-related deaths in California involved cocaine, methamphetamine or other stimulants — up from 22% in 2011, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. Nationally, there were 15,489 overdose deaths involving stimulants other than cocaine (largely methamphetamine) in 2019, up 180% from 2015, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

And with California in the midst of a dire homelessness crisis, stimulants are wreaking havoc on the state’s unhoused community. Among unhoused residents who use drugs, amphetamines are by far the most common choice, according to a recent study by the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. Nearly one-third of people surveyed reported using amphetamines three or more times a week, compared to just 11% who used opioids with the same frequency. Some people who live on the street reported using stimulants to stay alert at night, when they fear being attacked if they fall asleep.

To combat stimulant addiction among its patients, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital recently launched a six-month contingency management program as part of the statewide pilot. The hospital opened enrollment on July 17, and staff hope ultimately to serve about 50 people. Clinicians will test participants for stimulants once or twice a week. Each time patients test negative, they’ll get a $10 gift card to Walmart or another retailer. The amount of the gift card gradually will increase, for a maximum of $26.50 per test. If they test positive, they get nothing.

Participants can earn a maximum of $599 over the course of the program. That’s because payments of $600 or more must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

The Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on July 20, 2023. Photo by Mark Leong for CalMatters

Santa Clara County hopes to launch a similar program within the next few weeks. So far this year, 70% of the 120 drug deaths recorded in the county involved methamphetamine, according to the Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner.

“We’re all excited to try it and see if it does help retain people in treatment for longer periods of time so they are more successful,” said Tammy Ramsey, program manager for the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System in the county’s behavioral health department.

Contingency management works

Other programs in counties throughout California — including Alameda, Fresno, Nevada, Sacramento and Los Angeles — will follow the same model.

If the trials are successful, Shapiro hopes the state will allow them to expand and serve everyone on Medi-Cal.

The model already has proven effective for the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Dominick DePhilippis, the department’s deputy national mental health director for substance use disorders. The VA started using contingency management in 2011, and as of the beginning of July, the program has treated more than 6,300 veterans. Those veterans have attended about half of their appointments and produced nearly 82,000 urine samples – of which more than 92% were negative for the targeted drug, DePhilippis said.

It’s not just the VA. Of 22 studies testing contingency management’s impact on stimulant addiction, 82% reported “significant increases” in participants’ abstinence, according to a 2021 meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Dr. Brad Shapiro is director of the Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Photo by Mark Leong for CalMatters

Shapiro believes the model works because it replaces the reward a patient’s brain craves (the drug) with a different type of prize.

“It’s a little bit like winning something,” Shapiro said. “It triggers that reward place in the brain that otherwise they would be turning to the drug for.”

But Tom Wolf, who has battled addiction and homelessness himself and now advocates for drug policy reform, said he worries using Medi-Cal to fund contingency management will create bureaucratic hurdles to treatment as patients wait for the state to decide if they are eligible. Still, he said, the program is worth a shot.

“At this point I’m willing to try it, basically because we have such a dearth of options for people that are struggling with addictions in California,” he said.

Because of how difficult it is to treat his patients that use stimulants — many of them use methamphetamine every day — Shapiro would be happy if even a quarter of participants significantly reduced or stopped using. There is also concern, as with any type of treatment, that patients will relapse once the program is over, he said. To help prevent that, the hospital will provide six additional months of counseling after the contingency management program ends.

It’s not a perfect solution

Rewarding people for staying sober doesn’t work for everyone. Even before it was covered by Medi-Cal, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital was experimenting with the model in small programs.

One of the participants in those programs, 54-year-old J.W., ended up in the emergency room with heart failure after two decades of methamphetamine use. After his hospital stay, he enrolled in a 12-week program called Heart Plus, which caters to cardiac patients with a history of stimulant use. Every time J.W. did something positive, such as show up to an appointment, take his medication or get a negative drug test, he got to draw a Safeway gift card out of a hat. The cards’ value ranged from $5 to the “elusive” $20, and J.W. — who asked to go by his initials out of fear of being stigmatized for his drug use — estimates he earned about $180 throughout the entire program. He wasn’t working at the time, so the cards helped him get treats such as deli sandwiches and fancy bottles of kombucha.

“It was definitely something to look forward to,” he said. “And it was something fun to spend.”

But it wasn’t enough to get J.W. off drugs. Now that the program has ended, he’s still using methamphetamine — sometimes as often as three times a day — though he says he’s taking smaller doses. And he said he feels much healthier than when he showed up in the emergency room last year, out of breath after the slightest amount of exertion.

J.W. isn’t sure why he didn’t quit using during the program. But methamphetamine has become an entrenched routine in his daily life. He uses upon waking up, in a ritual he compares to having a morning cup of coffee.

“I still kick myself wondering why I didn’t quit altogether,” he said. “There’s no better opportunity.”

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

“I could more easily believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven.”

— Thomas Jefferson, 1807

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Not known for hyperbole, the magazine Skeptical Inquirer had a headline a few years back, “Earthling Slain by Invader from Mars” which sounds more like a National Enquirer lurid page one teaser. (“GRIFTERS HARRY & MEGHAN FIRED!” we learn from a recent issue.) Skeptical Inquirer, in contrast, typically takes the wilder headlines found in other periodicals and scrutinizes them from a scientific standpoint. Thus, tales about UFOs, crop circles, alien abductions and ghosts are usually shown to have rather prosaic explanations on closer examination. (Mr. And Mrs. Spare may be beyond their purview.)

So what’s with the Martian invader headline? Turns out the Earthling was a dog and the invader was a meteorite. That’s the story, at least. First off, and despite Jefferson’s incredulity, meteorites are indeed stones that fall from the sky. And they do sometimes hit people, as Mrs. Hewlett Hodges, of Sylacauga, Alabama, can testify. She sustained hip and abdominal injuries from a meteorite that crashed through the roof of her house in 1954.

But what about the “from Mars” part of the headline? Meteorites don’t come from Mars, do they? Most don’t, true. But a strong case can be made that a few do. Of all the 75,000-odd meteorites that have been collected and analyzed, nearly 300 are quite different from the rest. They’re known as the SNC group, “snicks” to their friends, after the places where they were originally found: Shergotty in India, Nakhla in Egypt and Chassigny in France. Snicks are different from all other meteorites in that they appear to have crystallized less than a billion years ago, that is, three billion years after the asteroids had cooled. (Virtually all “regular” meteorites originate in asteroids.) Also, snicks are odd because they appear to have formed in a strong gravitational field. Where do you find such a field? Most likely, on the surface of a planet or moon. But which one?

The composition of the snicks eliminates Earth and our moon as potential sources. Venus is ruled out because its thick atmosphere precludes any credible mechanism for ejecting planetary material into orbit, leaving Mars as the prime suspect. And at least one of the known snicks has been found to contain tiny inclusions of gas similar the Martian atmosphere. Finally, they have isotope ratios consistent with rocks found on Mars by Curiosity and the other Mars rovers.

So the theory is that an ancient meteorite impact on Mars jetted surface material into space where it slowly spiraled sunward. Millions of years later, one chunk of what had been Mars fell to Earth on June 28, 1911 near Alexandria, Egypt. The oft-repeated claim is that a fragment of the “Nakhla” meteorite hit a dog, instantly vaporizing the creature. Although a farmer claimed to have seen this, there were no other witnesses and nothing remained of the dog so…Skeptical Inquirer or National Enquirer material? Your guess is as good as mine.

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It’s been a rough month for the staff at Singing Trees Recovery Center. 

Less than a month after reopening Singing Trees, a drug detox and rehab facility located in Southern Humboldt, the new owner, Amber Rose Bedell, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment – her third DUI arrest since 2016 and her second for child endangerment, according to state and county records.

Although Bedell has very little to do with the day-to-day operations at the facility, staff say her “unhealthy choice” has “affected not only the facility but also residents and employees.”

“Unfortunately it has affected people calling us and coming in,” Singing Trees counselor Marilynne Walpole told this Outpost in a phone interview this afternoon. “You know, even though we’ve had this chaos, the counselors have been able to focus on the clients and give them the best possible service and they’ve all been making great progress. We’ve been trying to stay focused on them and not on the outside stuff that keeps happening.”

Walpole offered her apologies to the community and emphasized her commitment to Singing Trees’ residents.

“We want to thank the community for being understanding, for being forgiving and, you know, and recognizing that we have no control over what other people do, just how we cope with them,” she said. 

When asked whether Bedell still owns the center under her nonprofit Pure Solution Family Services, Walpole said Bedell is “technically leasing it” from the previous owners Pattie and Chuck Watson. She emphasized that Bedell has “not been involved with any part” of the programming at the center. 

“[Pure Solutions] is still technically the owner, but I think I’ve seen [Bedell] maybe four times since January,” she said. “There’s a perception that she’s guiding us but – not anything towards her – we have been the ones that have done everything there. Our Program Manager Courtney [Bell] and her family did all the renovations. I’ve done the program content and the policies and procedures. Aside from doing the lease with the [previous] owners she hasn’t been involved. She’s basically the money person.”

In addition to the recent controversy surrounding Bedell’s arrest, the center’s phone has been on the fritz due to ongoing issues with Frontier and Suddenlink. 

“We’ve had issues before but it’s never gotten to the extent that it is now where people are unable to reach us,” Walpole said. “And if people can get through, you know, sometimes I’ll be in the middle of a conversation and the call will just drop.”

They shifted their main line to US Cellular but are still working with Frontier and Suddenlink to straighten out the issues with their landlines. In the meantime, Walpole encouraged people seeking services to get in touch via email. Singing Trees’ Program Manager Courtney Bell can be reached at courtney.bell@pure-solutions.org.

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Singing Trees released the following statement via PRWeb:

Singing Trees Recovery Center has been the center of controversy for the past few weeks as the new owner of Singing Trees made an unhealthy choice that has affected not only the facility but also residents and employees. Singing Trees Recovery Center remains open and is independently operated by a professional on-site staff team who will continue building a unique and beneficial program for all Singing Trees residents.

Singing Trees Recovery Center employees sincerely apologize for the situation and any negativity and/or distress it has caused residents, their loved ones, and the community. The employees remain steadfast and committed to all past, present, and future residents. Singing Trees aims to continue to have strong, positive communication within the team, making this a learning experience while having compassion and empathy.

“I would like to convey that the employees of Singing Trees have kept the resident’s safety first and foremost while maintaining ethical boundaries at all times,” states program manager Courtney Bell.

About Singing Trees Recovery Center:

This situation allows Singing Trees Recovery Center to display its core tools and belief systems, which include honesty, integrity, faith, empathy, and how to move forward in difficult and public controversy. Singing Trees Recovery Center is grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve the community in a much-needed capacity, while helping educate individuals so they may implement the tools they learn to have a healthy and successful recovery.

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Previously: 

• ‘It Was the Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Had to Do’: Singing Trees Owner Closes the Beloved Recovery Center After 31 Years Of Serving the Community
• After Closing Its Doors Late Last Year, Singing Trees Recovery Center Will Reopen Next Week Under New Ownership
• New Owner of Singing Trees Recovery Center Arrested for DUI and Child Endangerment, and in Odd Interview She Denies That the State Revoked Her Therapy License. (It Did.)

Rob Arkley is back at it again! This time with a new ballot initiative that would block new affordable housing in downtown Eureka and rezone the former Jacobs Middle School site for dense housing. (To be clear: more density is great! But Eureka City Schools, which owns the site, has already turned down an offer from the city to purchase the lot and California Highway Patrol is deep in negotiations to purchase some of the land.)

Jen Kalt of Humboldt Baykeeper and Matt Simmons of EPIC join the show to discuss Arkley’s previous ballot initiatives—whatever happened to the Marina Center?—and the consequences of the ballot initiative should it pass.