Betty was born on July 24, 1936 to John and Maude Winkle in Sheridan, Arkansas. She was the middle child out of three daughters, She passed away peacefully at home with her family by her side on March 18, 2022. She was a loving, caring and devoted Mother and grandmother.

She worked very hard her entire life to provide for her two sons. She loved to cook and did so for many years at a few local restaurants such as The Red Pepper, The Alibi and also The Red Lion. Later in life she opened her own home as a private nursing home to care for several different people. She took great pride in doing so and became very close to a few.

Betty was always outside pulling weeds in her yard and chasing the gophers from her garden. She loved planting vegetables and flowers. Her passion has always been her beloved birds. She had an aviary in her backyard that at one point was filled with parakeets and that turned into having larger birds. Her favorite was an African Grey named Kitty, and then a couple more named Pirate and Pompii. And also a sweet Blue and gold Macaw named Cody. They were her lifelong companions and have all went to an amazing home.

Betty is proceeded in death by her eldest sister Nona Ludwig of McKinleyville, her youngest sister Juanita Colpitts of McKinleyville and both of her parents John and Maude Winkle.

Betty is survived by her eldest son Michael Moore (Sheryl), her youngest son Randy Moore and wife Terri, and her grandchildren Shane Moore (Denise), Trisha Perkins (Trampas), Jeremy Moore and Johnny Moore. Also her great grandchildren Tyler Moore (Justine), Brody Perkins, Teanna Perkins, Kinslee Perkins, Taya Moore, Kaden Moore, Shaylin Moore, Mya Moore and Jacob Moore. She also had one great great grandchild Braylon Moore. As well as numerous nephews and nieces.

Our family would like to thank her best friends and neighbors, that quickly became family, David and Beth Erquhart. They cared for her as if she was their own mother. Also her good friends Margaret and Vicky Findahl-Burnett. And I would like to give a very special thank you to those that helped make her wishes possible by helping me take care of her at home until the very end. Without the help of Caren Gleaton, Terri Moore and Natasha Nicholas, and the wonderful people at Hospice of Humboldt, it wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you so very much!

There will be no services held per Betty’s request. She will be greatly missed by many.

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The obituary above was submitted by Betty Moore’s family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

After a long and fulfilled life of 93 years, our mother, Delores Marie Harris passed away in her home with family by her side on March 21, 2022.

The youngest of seven children of Clarence and Ofena Cooper, mom was born on November 2, 1928 in Mineral, Washington. Later the family lived on the coast in the small town of Moclips, Washington. In high school mom met the love of her life, Orren Henry Harris and after dad returned from the service, they were married on June 24, 1946. They resided in Washington for a while and ultimately found their way to Eureka where they lived and raised their three sons, Bill, Jim and Rick and foster son, Kim Lawson.

Mom was busy raising us boys in her younger years but after Bill enlisted in the US Army, Jim was in High School and Rick in Junior High, mom decided she wanted to go to work. She became a Teachers Aide and worked in the City Schools at Zane and Eureka High helping countless kids find their way through the education process for over 21 years. She often claimed that “the aide did the teaching, and the teacher assisted the aide.” Many children became successful because of mom’s commitment to their education.

Along with her teaching profession mom was highly involved with the American Business Women’s Association acting as Board Member and President even after her retirement. She was quite active in the community, and she must have had some aspiration for acting with different roles in the Call it Wild performances including the role of Mrs. Johnson in the Harper Valley PTA. Outside of work and the responsibilities of ABWA, there was golf. Dad played every weekend, often with us boys and mom decided she would take up the game. Of course, she became pretty good at the sport and boasting more holes-in one than the rest of her family combined. She leaves us still holding the record. Like everything else in her pursuits, she became active with the Women’s Golf Association organizing and playing in many tournaments around the county. And like holes-in-ones, she was recognized very often in the Times Standard for her standings in the tournaments, and many of those in the top spot. In retirement, she and dad traveled with golfing friends to play various courses including a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Needless to say, Delores Harris was an inspirational woman who made a difference in the lives of many along her way through life. While we will all miss her greatly, we remain proud and thankful for all she did for our family.

Mom is preceded in death by her parents, her six siblings, husband Orren Harris, grandsons Billy Harris and Ryan Harris. She is survived by her children Bill (Sue) Harris, Jim Harris and Rick (Lisa) Harris. Foster son Kim Lawson, grandchildren Allen Harris, Jim Harris Jr., Bryan Harris, Kassidy Banducci, Adam Harris, Jenna Harris, and Samantha Walker. Great grandchildren Tyler Harris, Marley Harris, Riley Harris, Noah Walker, Elliot Banducci, Hunter Harris, Brody Harris, Grant Banducci and Madison Forbes.

A special thanks to the care givers of Hospice of Humboldt for comforting mom in her final days. Mom’s wish was to be in her home when that time came. Thanks to son, Jim Harris and granddaughter Samantha Walker, that wish was granted for the past 3½ years.

The family will be gathering privately to celebrate the life of Delores at her home where many family gatherings took place for the past 50 years.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Live in Valley West? Here’s Your Chance to Decide How $15,000 Will Be Spent on Improving Your Neighborhood
• Murals, Fruit Trees and an Outdoor Market May Be Coming to Valley West; Arcata City Council Will Vote on Eight Proposed Projects to Improve the Neighborhood

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Valley West is getting a long-overdue makeover that will included the addition of murals, fruit trees, a new picnic bench and multiple community events and activities, after the Arcata City Council approved a list of eight proposed Valley West improvement projects presented during the Wednesday night council meeting. 

The projects were brought forward by Comunidad Unidad del Norte de Arcata (CUNA) — a project of local nonprofit Cooperation Humboldt — that has been partnering with the City of Arcata to improve the Valley West neighborhood through community connectivity and beautification. 

The eight projects — which include planting fruit trees in Valley West Park, adding a picnic bench and grill to the Hallen basketball court, adding murals to the park and to the court, holding weekend dance classes, weekend theater classes for kids and monthly teen meetups — were selected by Valley West residents through a participatory budgeting process facilitated by CUNA. After gathering community feedback and brainstorming, CUNA developed a list of 12 project proposals. Valley West residents were then given the opportunity to vote on the projects at both an in-person event and online.

The list of Valley West projects selected, in order of highest number of votes

Kimberly White, a coordinator for CUNA, told the council that of the 12 proposals, Valley West residents showed the most support for planting fruit trees in the park. The second most popular was the addition of a picnic bench and grill near the Hallen basketball court and the other top choice was to hold a tianguis (artisan/ flea market). The Valley West residents showed a lot of interest in community activities too, White said, with the addition of weekend dance classes getting a lot of votes, as well as the addition of monthly teen meetups — which will include bowling nights, movie nights and other activities the teens show interest in.

“Our youth out here [in Valley West] — their night on the town is cruising the aisles of Ray’s Food Place,” White said during her presentation to the council. 

The projects will be funded by $15,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, allocated by the city to support Valley West improvements. CUNA estimated the cost of all eight project to go slight over budget, a total of $15,400. In the report presented to the council, CUNA outlined plans to cover the additional $400 by fundraising or dipping into the group’s supply budget. But the council agreed, with permission from Arcata City Manager Karen Diemer, that the City could cover the $400, if necessary.

The council’s decision to approve the projects was unanimous, with Councilmembers Meredith Matthews, Sarah Schaefer and Stacy Atkins-Salazar all expressing enthusiastic support for CUNA’s efforts. Councilmember Brett Watson was absent.

“In city government you usually don’t see $15,000 going very far,” Mayor Atkins-Salazar said during the meeting. “It’s really impressive the ideas and what they’ve come up with to make that amount of money really make a difference in the neighborhood,”

On a sunny afternoon, in front of an enthusiastic Old Town crowd, Cheryl Dillingham — finance manager for the city of Rio Dell — officially announced that she would challenge incumbent Karen Paz Dominguez for the office of Humboldt County Auditor-Controller.

“I don’t like public speaking or politics,” said the candidate, kicking off a four-minute campaign speech. “I’m really most comfortable doing accounting and dealing with numbers. I’m here today, speaking to you, because there is an urgent need to fix the county’s accounting and reporting, and I’m asking for your vote as your Auditor-Controller.”

A 12-year employee of the Auditor-Controller’s office and former interim leader of the department, Dillingham holds a bachelor’s degree in math and an MBA from Humboldt State, and said she has performed every job in the office. She said her experience makes her “uniquely qualified” to understand “the challenges facing the department and how to correct them.”

“Audits and financial reports may sound dull and unimportant, but that’s the job,” Dillingham said. “Not getting the work done on time does not create transparency for the public. It does not foster trust in government.”

Under Paz Dominguez, the Auditor-Controller’s Office has been chronically late in submitting required reports to state agencies, which has placed grant funding at risk, and Dillingham sought, late in her speech, to make this concrete.

“Children’s services, social programs, homelessness issues, food insecurity, trails, roads, conserving forests, economic development, environmental protection, affordable housing — all of these important programs are put at risk by the failure to get annual audits done on time,” she said.

Dillingham was introduced by three speakers: Department of Health and Human Services employee Mychal Evenson, who briefly ran for the position before dropping out in favor of Dillingham; former Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace; and Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes. Each of them attested to the candidates bona fides.

“I’ve really stayed out of politics since dropping off the Board of Supervisors six years ago,” said Lovelace. “But when I heard Cheryl Dillingham was running to be our next Auditor-Controller I had to get involved. Because I had the opportunity to work with Cheryl for eight years when I was on the board, and I know her to be extremely capable, competent, responsible and easy to work with. And she’d be a great Auditor-Controller for Humboldt County.”

In keeping with the tenor of the event, Lovelace’s references to Paz Dominguez’s rocky stewardship of the office over the last three years were kept oblique. He talked about the critical importance of the office to a vast array of local services, including those not offered directly by the county, and lauded Dillingham’s hard-working ethos and her aversion to “drama.”

“The better the Auditor-Controller is doing her job, the less you’ll be hearing her name in the news,” Lovelace said.

Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes — who led the crowd in a chant of “Dil! Ing! Ham!” before commencing her comments — praised the candidate for her work with the city, especially singling out her timeliness and her ability to communicate complicated ideas to the council.

She also warned that Humboldt County stands to lose out on the massive amount of funding trickling out to local governments from the federal infrastructure unless it gets its financial house in order.

“Probably the largest infrastructure bill of our generation has been signed by the president,” she said. “Humboldt County has to get its books in order, and it has to do it fast, so we get all the benefits. All the cities, all the townships, everyone in Humboldt County can benefit if Humboldt County gets its books in order. And that’s what Cheryl Dillingham can do.”

Numerous notable government employees and elected officials were in attendance, including Supervisors Virginia Bass and Rex Bohn, Department of Health and Human Services Director Connie Beck, Economic Development Director Scott Adair, Treasurer Tax-Collector John Bartholomew and more.

Find a Facebook video of the event posted by North Coast News below:

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Eager children gathered outside at Lafayette Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon to witness an unusual event – a helicopter landing next to the school playground. The helicopter was flown in by the US Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay to give the kids a chance to see the aircraft up close. 

After the helicopter successfully landed, Quincy Brownfield, principal of Lafayette Elementary, addressed the students. “To begin, we would like to extend a HUGE thank you to these skilled pilots for such a spectacular landing,” Brownfield said to the crowd. “Not only is this helicopter landing a great way to celebrate our military connected students but it is also a perfect opportunity to celebrate Lafayette’s partnership with the US Coast Guard.”

The partnership Brownfield was referring to is a Partners in Education (PIE) program – an educational partnership that some schools have adopted as a way to promote community engagement and bring schools and other organizations closer together, while providing the students with additional learning opportunities. The agreement between the USCG Sector Humboldt Bay and Lafayette includes classroom presentations from Coast Guard members on things like water safety, a mentor program, and guided field trips to Coast Guard facilities. The USCG also participates in school events and assemblies (like the one on Wednesday) and provides the school with emergency supplies, Brownfield told the Outpost.

The helicopter preparing to land

Some of Sector Humboldt Bay’s personnel stay in housing right across the street from Lafayette Elementary, which is part of what prompted the partnership, Brownfield said. Several of student’s parents also serve with the Coast Guard, so it is also a way to get some of the parents more involved with the school. After a couple of false starts prior to COVID, Brownfield said, the program was officially launched last August and will continue until one of the parties decides to end the agreement.

April is the Month of the Military Child and Wednesday’s event was also held to celebrate the children whose parents serve, not only in the Coast Guard, but other military branches. At Wednesday’s event many of the children, teachers and administrators wore purple shirts in support of the military kids and the military students of Lafayette were honored during an assembly on Wednesday morning, Brownfield said.

“Because it’s not just the people in uniform who serve, it’s the entire family,” Brownfield told the Outpost.

After the helicopter was safely landed in the school’s field, several students presented the coasties with a gift — a piece of collaborative artwork created by Lafayette’s fifth grade class. After that, the students took turns touring the helicopter (with strict instructions not to flip any switches) and asking the coasties questions.

Ryan O’Neill, an aircraft commander for Sector Humboldt Bay, thanked the students for showing their appreciation to the Coast Guard. “We’re very happy to be here today and we really appreciate this awesome artwork,” O’Neill said to the students. “It’s gonna go up at the base and it’ll be there probably forever.”

Scroll down for more photos from Wednesday’s event.

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To the delight of many and the chagrin of some, Eureka will embrace a more sustainable way to move about and explore the city this spring with a new e-scooter system. 

The City of Eureka entered into a contract with Bird Rides Inc., a Santa Monica-based electric vehicle company, late last year to launch a one-year e-scooter pilot program.

“Our mission is to improve the quality of life in cities by reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and providing affordable and reliable alternative transportation options,” Bird representative Michael Covato said during a presentation to the Eureka City Council on Tuesday. “The way our system works is very similar to some of the bike-share systems you might already be familiar with.”

To access the scooters, users will download the Bird app on their smartphone, create an account, watch a brief safety tutorial video and scan a QR code to unlock the device. Those without smartphones will be able to access the device through Bird’s text-to-unlock feature.

“At the end of their ride, the user is required to photograph the scooter to prove that they have parked it appropriately,” Covato said. “Part of our technology includes a real-time [artificial intelligence] feature that can detect whether the scooter is actually in frame within that photograph. If an individual tries to pull a fast one and snap a photo of their feet, the system will actually kick them back and oblige them to take a photograph of the scooter itself.”

Wheeeee! | Screenshot from Bird’s presentation to the council.

The scooters cap out at 15 mph and are equipped with a headlight and brake lights to ensure high visibility during low light conditions. They are also subject to geo-fencing technology that determines where the scooters can and cannot go.

Bird will employ a local fleet manager with an annual salary of about $70,000 to oversee the day-to-day operations of the 100 scooters and make necessary repairs.

To further incentivize safe riding behavior, Bird introduced the industry’s first “helmet selfie feature,” which provides a credit to the user’s next ride if they snap a pic while donning a dorky helmet.

“This is done in combination with an ongoing helmet campaign that we have throughout the entirety of the United States, where any of our users can request — right from our company website or right through the mobile application — to have the helmet shipped directly to their door for no cost other than $9.95 shipping and handling,” Covato said. “I’m a little biased, but I think they’re pretty cool.”

One hundred scooters zipping around Eureka might sound a little overwhelming, but fear not: Bird plans to deploy the scooters in increments during the initial rollout.

“On an average day, you could expect to maybe see somewhere between 65 to 80 out,” Covato said. “That number, again, will fluctuate, but the city will have access to all that information and a live map of where those vehicles are and how many are alive at any given time.”

Best of all, it’s free (to the city)! The agreement will automatically renew for another 12 months unless either party provides non-renewal notice before the end of the term.

“Functionally what this is is a public transportation network,” Covato said. “Given the analysis that we’ve done long-term and given the sheer volume of microtransactions we can be profitable, meaning that we will not be requiring any subsidy from any party within the city of Eureka.”

Turning to questions from the council, Councilmember Natalie Arroyo asked about the rate of theft of e-scooters and how the company handles vandalism of its devices. The rate of stolen, or “churned,” vehicles hovered between 0.42 and 0.44% throughout 2021, Covato said, noting that the company has developed a “sophisticated set of parameters” to mitigate the risk of theft.

“What that means for a fleet the size that we’re looking at for Eureka is you might not lose a single device throughout the course of the entire year,” he said.

Councilmember Scott Bauer said he’s ridden the scooters while visiting Sacramento and enjoyed the experience so much that he actually bought one. “I love the service,” he said. “…I’m sure I’ll still use scooters when they come up.”

Councilmember Kim Bergel asked where the scooters could be ridden since vehicles are not allowed on public sidewalks or along the Waterfront Trail. City Manager Miles Slattery noted that motorized vehicles with combustible engines are not allowed on the trail, but said electric scooters are good to go.

“These are supposed to be used just like a bicycle,” he said. “They’re not supposed to be ridden on the sidewalk and they follow the same rules and regulations as it relates to a bicycle.”

Covato acknowledged that every city is unique and said the company would be willing to make adjustments to Eureka’s fleet to best suit the city’s needs.

“I think it is important for us to make sure that we are approaching Eureka from a fresh perspective and making the adjustments based on the riding behavior once we see a little bit more of that transportation data,” he said. “We are, as I mentioned, operational in over 400 cities globally, so we can take some of the experiences that we’ve had from 100 million-plus trips to make sure that we introduce as much as possible to the implementation.”

During public comment, Colin Fiske, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, raised concern that the scooter fleet would detract from efforts to create a regional bike share system with the City of Arcata and CalPoly Humboldt.

“The research shows that for these micro-mobility options to be most effective in diverting car trips, they really need to be integrated with transit,” he explained. “I hope that the city will do whatever it can to encourage and incentivize the integration of both this system, as well as a bike-share system, with the transit system.”

Fiske asked how the scooter fleet would impact parking in Eureka, noting that geofencing technology “has not yet grown enough” to differentiate between parking on the sidewalk and a parking space.

“I think that the city needs to figure out some method if there isn’t one already for ensuring that the public access on the sidewalk isn’t blocked, particularly for people with disabilities or people who have vision issues where that can be a major issue,” he added.

The council did not vote on the item as the City has already entered into an agreement with Bird. The launch date has yet to be determined but Bird said the scooters will roll out sometime this spring.

You can learn more about the e-scooters in the informational video below.

Today’s beautiful 70-degree weather will be will be short-lived, as rain, Gale-force winds and mountain snow will all be possible in the coming days.

Eureka’s National Weather Service office predicts that temperatures will cool significantly by tonight across the greater Humboldt Bay Area, with an anticipated low of 46 degrees.

Gale-force winds along Humboldt’s coastal waters will produce 16 to 30-mph onshore winds tomorrow. Gloomy weather will also return, with patches of fog, possible rain and a high of 56 degrees in Eureka.

On Sunday night, light mountain snow is expected across highway passes in Trinity, Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. The snowfall will persist through Monday.

Rainy weather is forecast for the Humboldt Bay Area starting Sunday and is expected to persist through Wednesday.