Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On July 27, 2023, at about 12:03 p.m., a community member contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Emergency Communications Center to report a suspicious object resembling a grenade discovered in the brush on a walking trail near Pond Avenue in Scotia.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team was dispatched to investigate and the Scotia Volunteer Fire Department responded to assist.

EOD deputies inspected the object and determined it to be a modified Vietnam-era military submunition. Deputies rendered the ordnance safe on scene. No suspect information is available at this time.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind the public that if you see something suspicious or out of place in your neighborhood, do not touch or move it, but contact your local law enforcement.

Anyone with information about this case 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, reference case number 202303427.

Born November 4, 1958, to Bennie and Jean Henson. Julie grew up in Fortuna with her two brothers and two sisters. She graduated high school in Fortuna. After high school Julie worked in a cabinet shop, and later went to work at Safeway. She was there for 34 years until she retired.

She met her loving husband Ross in 1981, and they were later married in 1983. Julie loved her rose and sharing pictures of her flower garden. But most of all she loved her little dogs. They were pampered like family.

Julie had many friends, and we will all miss her smile. She was part of AutoXpo for a time and was in charge of the antique show. Julie was also a member of Professional Women in Business.

Julie passed on Sunday, July 23rd at the AutoXpo. This was one of her favorite things to do, she lived the cars and talking to the hit and miss engine people.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brother Bill. Julie is survived by her husband Ross, her sisters, Bonnie and Beverly, and her brother Bennie Jr.

There was be a viewing at Goble’s Fortuna Mortuary in Fortuna on Thursday, July 27.

Julie’s ashes will be laid to rest at a later date at the family cemetery in Kettenpom. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Julie’s name can be made to a Miniature Schnauzer Rescue or the local Humane Society.

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Cody Hills didn’t know exactly what he’d seen. 

It was late, sometime around 2 a.m., when the motion-activated LED lights outside his house clicked on. He ventured outside to investigate and heard the sounds of an animal on his deck. That’s when he saw it: the hind end of … something going over the edge of the deck and disappearing into the night.

Could that have been a bear? he wondered.

“The next morning I thought I was going crazy,” he said. “I’d never seen a bear out here. …  I’m used to deer and raccoons.”

Hills is among the handful of people who live full-time on Tuluwat Island, the 280-acre land mass (formerly known as Indian Island) located in the middle of Humboldt Bay. Historically home to two indigenous Wiyot villages and site of the 1860 Wiyot massacre, the stolen island was largely returned to tribal ownership in 2019. 

Could a bear really make it out there? Hills doubted himself, even after he saw that his bird feeder had been knocked over. But then he started talking to his neighbors. One told him about his plum tree, which had been torn apart two nights earlier. (The neighbor initially suspected raccoons.)

Former Eureka Mayor Nancy Flemming, who has lived on the island for four decades, said she, too, found evidence of the animal.

“Yes,” she said when reached by phone this afternoon. “Definitely there was a bear.”

Flemming raises chickens, storing their feed inside a metal trashcan with the lid held down by bungie cord.

”And [the bear] took the lid off the garbage can and turned it over,” Flemming said.

How the heck did it get out there?

”I have no idea,” Flemming said, “although some people have said they can swim, and the deer go back and forth constantly. We see them.” But in the 40 years she’s lived on the island she’s never once heard of a bear out there, much less seen one.

Hills’ dad is Leroy Zerlang, chair of the Humboldt Bay Harbor Safety Committee and operator of the 113-year-old M.V. Madaket, the nation’s oldest passenger ferry, which now offers guided tours of Humboldt Bay.

Reached by phone, Zerlang said nobody on the Madaket has spotted a bear, but he has no doubt that it was there. He took a call from the neighbor with the damaged plum tree, who said all the branches had been ripped off and his raccoon trap had been “totally destroyed and thrown across the yard.”

“My dad tells stories of seeing bears swimming across the bay all the time,” said the 65-year-old Zerlang, who added that deer make that swim regularly.

Zerlang had fun talking to his son about the bear. “I go, ‘How big was the son of a bitch?’ and he said, ‘Bigger than your goat.’ And my goat’s fat!” Zerlang said.

The day after his partial sighting, which occurred week before last, Hills went searching around the perimeter of his property, investigating for clues, and before long he found a single footprint in the mud, roughly as wide as a man’s hand and in the unmistakeable shape of a black bear’s paw.

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Austin Reeder, human-wildlife conflict specialist for the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, said he took a report about the bear sighting last week. 

“We do have quite a few bears in Humboldt County, and they can get all sorts of places,” Reeder said. “It doesn’t surprise me that one would swim out to Tuluwat Island. Anyplace there’s a food source a bear will tune into that and head towards it.”

He said CDFW personnel try to work with residents to make sure their trash and other potential ursine-tempting items are secured so bears will return to their natural habitat.

Hills hasn’t seen any signs of the bear since he spotted that footprint, nor has Flemming.

“Hopefully it left,” she said.

Press release from the Fortuna Police Department:

On Monday, July 24, 2023 at approximately 8:45 PM the Fortuna Police Department received a report of a shooting in the area of 16th and L Streets in Fortuna.

Fortuna Officers and Detectives found that subjects in a gray colored sedan drove by, stopping in the roadway near 16th and L Streets in Fortuna, firing rounds from a handgun at two subjects parked in a silver SUV at that location. The expended bullets struck the parked vehicle, fortunately missing the victims in the vehicle. The suspects fled the scene and the victims fled, contacting law enforcement.

Through investigation the suspects were identified and on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at approximately 6:03 PM officers located and arrested the suspects on the railroad tracks behind the 300 block of 9th Street in Fortuna without incident.

Miguel Angel Moreno (age 19) was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges:

• California Penal Code Section 664/187(A), Attempted Homicide
• California Penal Code Section 26100(c), Discharging a Firearm from motor vehicle at subjects in motor vehicle

Orion Ruben Ramirez (age 18) was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges:

• California Penal Code Section 182(a)(1), Conspiracy to commit crime
• California Penal Code Section 32, Accessory

No parties were injured and this crime was determined not to be a random act of violence, the victims were specifically targeted.

A 58-year-old man was found deceased inside the bus stop located near the corner of Fifth and K streets in Eureka Wednesday evening. 

The Eureka Police Department tells the Outpost that Humboldt Bay Fire and paramedics were initially dispatched to the scene and attempted life-saving measures on the individual to no avail. A toxicology report is expected to take four to six weeks and EPD is checking area business’s security footage. No foul play is expected at this time.

We will update if we hear more. 

College of the Redwoods release: 

Bear River Rancheria and College of the Redwoods (CR) have established a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to temporarily house CR Residence Hall students at the Bear River Hotel at the same rental rate as dorm rooms. Additionally, the college and the hotel have arranged a free, twice-daily shuttle service for students Monday through Friday to and from the college.

College of the Redwoods is one of only 12 California Community Colleges to offer dormitory accommodations. In recent years, more students are having trouble finding affordable housing off-campus. The strategic location of the Bear River Hotel ensures that students will have convenient access to the college’s facilities and resources, minimizing commute time and expenses.

This partnership aligns with CR’s commitment to offering a supportive environment for its diverse student population, ensuring that no student in need of housing will be turned away.  

“We are delighted to enter into this partnership with the Bear River Tribe,” said Dr. Keith Flamer, President of College of the Redwoods. “These additional housing options will allow our students to fully immerse themselves in their academic journey without the burden of finding suitable accommodation elsewhere.” 

The signing of this MOU marks the beginning of an exciting new partnership between the Bear River Tribe and College of the Redwoods, which may expand to include construction of a regulation-size NCAA artificial turf baseball field alongside the softball field on Bear River Rancheria, where CR teams may practice and compete.

For at least another year and a half, California employers won’t be able to follow In-N-Out’s lead in banning workers from wearing masks on the job.

The state’s COVID-19 workplace rules protecting workers’ rights to decide for themselves whether to wear face coverings are locked in at least until February 2025 and could be extended.

Those regulations prevented the iconic Irvine-based burger chain from applying its new policy prohibiting workers from wearing face masks in its home state, where it operates about 70% of its restaurants.

Instead, In-N-Out’s mask ban will apply to workers at its restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah. It has a total of 116 locations in those states.

In a memo, the company said it wants to “emphasize the importance of customer service. And the ability to show our Associates’ smiles and other facial features.”

It is allowing employees to wear masks if they present a medical note that “clearly states the reason for the exemption.”

In-N-Out released a different masking policy for employees in California and in Oregon that leaves the choice to mask up to each individual worker. That approach complies with California and Oregon standards that provide continuous protections to employees.

“Keeping the right to mask is more about our freedom and power to make decisions that will keep us safe at work.”
— Ingrid Vilorio, Castro Valley Jack In the Box worker and SEIU member

In a way, the split is a reminder of California’s more cautious response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Democratic state was the first to order its residents to shelter in place and shut down non-essential activity. Throughout the pandemic, state health officials have updated guidelines and rules to adapt to evolving transmission patterns.

In-N-Out went along with those rules during the pandemic, although the company contested local indoor vaccine mandates in the fall of 2021. Its refusal to check customers’ vaccination records led to temporary shutdowns of restaurants in San Francisco and in Pleasant Hill of Contra Costa County, according to press reports.

Cal/OSHA, the agency charged with ensuring occupational safety in California, earlier this year updated its COVID-19 requirements. Among them: “Employers must allow employees to wear face coverings if they voluntarily choose to do so, unless it would create a safety hazard.”

California employers can require masks

California employers can go a step further and require workers to wear a mask, as long as they also provide flexibility for someone who can’t wear one due to medical reasons or a disability.

The state’s pandemic-related regulations for employers have gradually eased, but employers are still required to take several steps in the interest of protecting workers, according to Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 prevention regulations.

These include:

• Notifying employees of COVID-19 cases in the workplace.
• Providing face coverings and free tests to employees during workplace outbreaks, which is defined as at least three cases during a seven-day period.
• Improving indoor ventilation and air filtration to prevent transmission.

California labor organizations plan to continue advocating for public health rules that protect fast-food workers.

Ingrid Vilorio, a Castro Valley Jack In the Box worker and SEIU member, said fast-food employees often lacked basic protections during the pandemic.

“That’s why workers like me went on strike and even testified during Cal/OSHA meetings on the need for emergency safety standards that would keep our colleagues, customers and families safe,” she said.

“Keeping the right to mask is more about our freedom and power to make decisions that will keep us safe at work,” Vilorio added.

Why fast-food workers might want masks

Cal/OSHA enforces its rules with inspections following complaints or accidents, the agency said in an email. It also conducts scheduled inspections.

Alicia Riley, an assistant professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz who conducted health equity research during the pandemic, said the In-N-Out memo to employees struck her as narrow.

“It assumes a lot about why someone would want to wear a mask. It doesn’t consider the situation we know many workers, especially fast-food workers, are in, which is that they’re not living alone,” Riley said. “They may not be at high risk of serious illness, but they may live with someone who is.”

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court sided with an employer in a case in which a Bay Area woman sued her husband’s employer after she became severely ill when he caught COVID on the job and brought it home. The court ruled she could not claim workers’ compensation.

Riley said In-N-Out’s mask ban highlights workplace inequities the pandemic exposed. For example, cooks were among the 25 occupations with the most excess deaths in 2020, Riley’s research has shown.

“They may not be at high risk of serious illness, but they may live with someone who is.”
Alicia Riley, assistant professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz

New COVID outbreaks

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are down from three years ago, but recent outbreaks show some risk remains.

Just last week the Los Angeles County public health department reported an uptick in COVID-19 cases and in virus concentration in wastewater following the July 4th weekend. The department said it also is seeing new outbreaks in nursing homes, where residents are highly susceptible to illness. In the span of two weeks, the department said it had opened 23 outbreak investigations.

Because the virus will continue to be around, public health experts say workplace rules, such as allowing workers to mask if they choose, make sense.

“When we think of a broader public health perspective, measures that help us reduce transmission of any disease that are minimally impactful on other individuals are certainly things we should be interested in maintaining,” said Shira Shafir, an epidemiology professor at UCLA.

“Being able to maintain a workforce, being able to minimize the risk of an outbreak occurring at a facility, these are things that are within the best interest of the business as well as in the best interest of the public,” Shafir said.

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Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

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